morsmanbacklog-blog

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No. 7: Dust: An Elysian Tail

Disclaimer: Right now I am about nine hours in to Dust: An Elysian Tail, and I think I am going to have to put it down for now; it would seem that the game is not optimized for Windows 10, which makes launching it a pain and at times impossible. I will say what I can, however.

The metroidvania is one of the most enduring and influential genres of games out there, and for good reason; the core progression of exploration, finding new abilities, and using said new abilities in old locations to gain access to previously barred areas or upgrades is a genius and incredibly rewarding game design. Like an RPG, the metroidvania keeps the player engaged with the promise of tangible rewards that affect gameplay, but unlike the typical RPG, the metroidvania’s rewards are usually immediately gamechanging, obtained in a very particular way, and oftentimes necessary for progression. In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, for example, one may increase his or her acrobatics skill enough to where he or she can jump over entire buildings (and even double-back while mid-air, oddly enough), but in Super Metroid, one will find boots that immediately doubles Samus’ jump height. In short, the matroidvania, while not inherently better than the RPG, distills the RPG down to its most rewarding aspects.

Of course, one of the great things about video games as a medium is that one never needs to be completely confined to one genre or another. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not a 2D side-scroller and is not often described as a metroidvania, but its gameplay loop could not be described as anything else. Dark Souls, which is possibly my favorite game of all time, is most certainly an RPG, but it bears many metroidvania elements in its interwoven world and well-placed shortcuts throughout it. Another blending of the two genres, which also happens to be game fate chose for me this time around, is Dust: An Elysian Tail, a beautifully hand-painted side-scroller that is rich in story and almost equal parts metroidvania and RPG.

Dust: An Elysian Tail begins in a forest that must also serve as a dump for JRPG stereotypes because Dust, the game’s protagonist, awakens with little memory of who he is and is almost immediately approached by a wise, talking sword called the Blade of Ahrah. No, the sword is not soon followed by a rebellious princess, but instead by the sword’s guardian, a flying cat/bat named Fidget which is just as, if not more, conventional. From there, the newly-formed trio fight their way to the town of Aurora which has been overrun with monsters. It is here where the plot thankfully diverges from the boilerplate JRPG fare and hints at a tragic connection between the invading monsters and Dust’s past. I will say no more on that, though, because I shouldn’t, and because I focused mainly on side-quests before simply launching the game became too frustrating to carry on.

Something that is essential to know before playing Dust is that it was developed almost entirely by one man with a few exceptions including the soundtrack and voice acting. Animator Dean Dodrill taught himself how to code and turned a dormant idea for an independent, animated feature into a full-fledged, action RPG.  Polygon’s Samit Sarkar’s great story on Dodrill and his experience making Dust reveal him to be a loving father and husband that put an incredible amount of passion and hard work into this labor of love that impresses in many ways.

The fact that Dodrill taught himself how to code so that he could make Dust makes it all the more impressive that the game plays as well as it does, which is to say, very well indeed. Combat is frantic and engaging, requiring the player to get familiar with a few sword combos and your ally, Fidget’s, magic system which becomes more powerful when used in conjunction with Dust’s sword. For instance, Fidget can shoot a number of weak magical orbs that do little damage by themselves, but become a deadly spectacle when caught in the whirlwind Dust can create with his sword. This is an especially useful feature given that the screen can fill with seemingly dozens of enemies at a time and the violent, magical storm serves as much-needed crowd control.

As was mentioned before, Dust is a blend of both metroidvania and RPG elements. I cannot tell you how many small tunnels, slippery vines, and stone pillars silently taunted me for not yet having the needed item or ability to traverse such obstacles. At the same time, fallen enemies and treasure chests provided me with experience to level up my health, attack, magic, and defense, as well as materials used to craft different armor, weapons, and useful jewelry. It is a satisfying blend of two of my favorite genres that rewards both combat and exploration equally.

 I will say, however, that neither elements are executed perfectly. exploration can be a chore; the hand painted environments do not always do a good job at communicating, say, where a ledge appears to end and where Dust will actually fall from it. This can be especially annoying in areas with small ledges with long drops or deadly spikes between them. In addition, fighting, though enjoyable, is oftentimes unavoidable, with exits magically blocked until all enemies are defeated. This makes a certain amount of sense during a first run-through of an area, but not so much when you are retreading old ground and just want to get somewhere quick. 

       The internet’s hold on me became all too clear when soon after appreciating the Don Bluth-esqu (An American Tail, The Land Before Time), hand-painted characters and environments of Dust, I thought of how much NSFW Dust fan art there must be floating around this very website. I also picked up hints of one of my favorite games as a kid, Jazz Jackrabbit, as I looked into the huge eyes of Dust’s anthropomorphized characters. After a little research, I was surprised to discover that my hunches and feeble artistic eye were right on the money; not only is Dust: An Elysian Tail inspired by Don Bluth’s An American Tail, but Dean Dodrill, also animated Epic’s gun-toting green rabbit. And yes, the internet certainly has delivered for those who thought the game was great, but wanted to explore how its characters behaved in settings not found in the game, such as ones involving tentacles, for instance. 

                                                          Nice

If you look at Dust’s characters and think they don’t look so far off from real-life furries, you will be pleased to know that the second result from a Google search of Dodrill is a page dedicated to him on WikiFur, the “free encyclopedia written by and for the Furry community”. Yes, I am aware that the term “furry” does not always carry with it a sexual connotation, but sexual or not, those with a particular pension for anthropomorphized animals have certainly taken note of Dodrill’s creations. Dodrill, however, who is also sometimes called ‘Noogy’, comes from a much older tradition of using animals to tell meaningful, human stories such as The Rats of Nymh or Watership Down, and is not interested in indulging viewers in their appetites for wondrously fit animals in compromising situat...

                                                         Oh...

Okay, so Dodrill’s animals are more human than any Disney character, and some of his older illustrations kind of just look like super models wearing mascot heads.

That Does it for Dust: An Elysian Tail, or as much as I can say about it, at least. I think I will treat myself and allow one game of my choosing as a Christmas/New Years gift to myself. 

I choose... Salt & Sanctuary.

Also, I think I will try writing multiple, shorter posts for each game I play. I have no reason to expect people to read multiple-page reviews from me, a logistics manager, who writes about random games as a hobby. I should also just be writing more often than I do. 

Anyway, I hope you all had a splendid New Year. Here in Kansas we had a windchill of about -20°. Stay warm and make reasonable New Years resolutions that are not so far outside of your current ability that you become discouraged and drop them completely. 

Games that you may enjoy:

Super Metroid

Guacamelee

Cave Story

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No. 6...kinda: Destiny 2

I want to preface this post by saying that I have not been able to put in nearly the amount of time necessary to give Destiny 2 any sort of review. As it stands, I have completed most of the main campaign, and find myself drawn away from the main story into other activities such as the crucible and public events. my wife and I have also been deep in the charming and nostalgic clutches of Mario Odyssey. I know others have shared similar sentiments, but with Breath of the Wild and now Odyssey, I feel a child-like enchantment in these games that reminds me of when I first played Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 at my friend Chase’s house nearly 20 years ago. These games show that, while simply replicating and polishing the old can make one sentimental, that familiar but long-gone sense of wonder won’t come back unless people take risks and tread new ground. 

So, Destiny 2, or, just a couple things that I have taken from my time with the game so far.

First, I should say that I am thoroughly enjoying Destiny 2. As has been the tone of many of the game’s reviews, much of what there is to like about the game are what game journalists often refer to as “quality of life” improvements rather than major changes one might expect from a sequel (though I am not sure how valid those expectations are these days...). What this means for Destiny 2 are things such as an improved UI, a more streamlined and less time-consuming way of getting around the game’s worlds, more chances at loot, and other small changes. That is not to say that Destiny 2 should be thought of as some sort of glorified patch or expansion pack - it is a big game that can stand on its own- but given the many issues that hindered the otherwise great original Destiny, those quality of life improvements are what returning players were hoping for more than anything else in Bungie’s sequel. 

A discernible storyline was also high on the list of needed changes for Destiny 2 after the first game’s story was marred by development woes and was accessible only to those who scoured grimoire cards online. Though Destiny 2′s story is an improvement over its predecessor in that it is not a chopped up skeleton of what could be narrative, coherent does not mean compelling, and from where I am in the game’s main story, it seems that Bungie was satisfied with providing a simple “save the universe” plot rather than anything with real depth. As I stated above, I am not through the main campaign, so my opinions could change.

I want to be clear, I am enjoying Destiny 2 immensely. Bungie is getting better and better at making repetitious gameplay not only hold my attention because of the chance of a rare drop, but because it is actually a delight to play. I am reminded of the hours I spent playing the original Halo on legendary; even if I had to repeat a checkpoint a dozen or more times, the quality of the shooting and the freedom that the game allowed kept the difficulty from detracting from my enjoyment. At the moment I do have one major complaint, however: Destiny 2′s writing is getting insufferable.

                                                            ugh...

So, what do I mean by this? As good of a voice actor as Nathan Fillion is, the charming cheekiness he is known for has been dialed up in Destiny 2 to the point where it seems to have set the tone for much of the game’s writing. This roguishness that Fillion also brought to a lesser degree with his character, Buck, in Halo: ODST  and Halo: 5, is welcome when outnumbered by other personalities that anchor the player to the dire nature of the situation (i.e. the threatened destruction of the sun or an alien invasion), but most characters in Destiny 2 take every chance to make stupid jokes and asides. It is as if the writers were on a strict diet of Joss Whedon and CW shows while writing the game’s dialogue.

Those gripes aside, I look forward to what Bungie has in store for the game’s future. Anyone who enjoyed the first entry should find enough here to bring them back for another go. Though the increased prominence of microtransactions is disappointing, I have not felt at all disadvantaged by my choice not to partake. Destiny 2 is certainly a complete game without investing more money past the initial purchase, that is, until the DLC is released.

Because I am still playing Destiny 2 and the before-mentioned titles on the Switch, I am not going to pretend that my impressions on the next Steam game will be posted soon. I wish I could dedicate more time to playing and writing about games, but I do have a 9-to-5 job (6:30-2:30, more like). I will, however, draw the next game and see if that can’t pull me away from my current loves.

Whenever I get around to it, that next game shall be...

Dust: An Elysian Tail

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No. 5: The Bridge

The Bridge opens with a man sleeping beneath an apple tree. As the screen pans down on the man a prompt appears: left and right arrow keys being pressed alternatively, indicating for the player to repeat the action on his or her keyboard. One would reasonably expect that pressing the side arrow keys would cause the man to move left or right as they do in almost any other side-scroller, but that is not the result in The Bridge. Instead, the entire world begins to tilt with each corresponding key press, and the player, if they are familiar with the fictional account of Sir Isaac Newton and an apple tree, will proceed to shake the world until an apple falls on the sleeping man’s head.

This world-tilting mechanic goes far beyond recalling stories told at the introduction of high school Physics, however, as it quickly becomes apparent that each puzzle is a bit of a playground of Newton’s laws of motion. One’s own momentum and that of potentially deadly objects is often in need of consideration in The Bridge’s numerous puzzles.

Newtonian physics is only part of The Bridge’s equation, as anyone who has ever seen M.C. Escher’s Relativity or Waterfall will immediately recognize that every one of the game’s puzzles is made of similarly impossible constructions. As was the case with the also Escher-inspired Monument Valley, the player must operate in environments that meddle with our conceptions of depth, line continuation, and other Gestalt principles of perception. 

                                                         Relativity

The goal of most of The Bridge’s levels is to obtain keys that unlock doors to the next stage. The challenge comes from understanding the twisted architecture of each level as well as how the environment interacts with gravity and motion. death and the loss of crucial items is possible, but thanks to a Braid-like time reversal mechanic, experimentation is never punished. There is a vague, existential narrative that is communicated through text between the game’s chapters, but it truly takes a backseat to the gameplay.

The Bridge is a fun playground for a time, and a game that seems like it was born out of much imagination and curiosity, but I do think that, as the game goes on, it begins to require aimless wandering and trial and error rather than calculated problem solving. Elements such as objects that operate in their own, tractable gravitational field complicate some of the later levels to a point where I felt more lucky than smart for completing them. The game is short enough, though, and can be completed before the unnecessary elements become unbearable. 

There are other, better puzzle platformers out there. Braid is clearly a huge influence on The Bridge, and I would highly recommend that to anyone who has the slightest interest, especially for the precedent it set for modern platformers. The Bridge does bring a distinct art style and interesting mechanics to the table, and I think it is worth checking out for its creativity alone if you can get it on the cheap or in a bundle like I did.

Before I go, I wanted to say that I will probably start adding a section of game recommendations that are either mechanically or tonally similar to the ones I cover. I already mentioned Braid, and I will use that as my main recommendation for this post. Braid nails its mechanics and art style so well, and its story is an example of what narrative in video games can be.

Ok, so the next game is Destiny 2. This is not a result of chance; Destiny 2 was released on PC yesterday, and I am excited to play it and share my thoughts. 

I hope anyone who reads this has a spooky Halloween.

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No.4: Viscera Cleanup Detail

There is an episode of Polygon’s (now cancelled?) podcast, CoolGames Inc., in which Griffin and Nick conceive of a game in which players go into an Overwatch map, postgame, and clean up the mess left by its many heroes. The hosts of CoolGames Inc. were a hilarious duo that knew much more about games than I do, but I think they may have forgotten for a moment that this meta, behind the scenes, cleanup game, though not set in the Overwatch universe, already exists in the form of Viscera Cleanup Detail.

Viscera Cleanup Detail (which I will refer to as VCD) is divided into a generous amount of self-contained scenarios, ranging from mining facilities to futuristic greenhouses to low-grav space stations. Each location is meant to look and feel like it belongs in a typical, sci-fi first-person shooter, but the difference here is that the events of *generic, sci-fi shooter title here* have already taken place and it is you, the janitor’s job to clean up the mess. 

Each level tasks the player with disposing of the mutilated corpses of scientists and aliens (or Santa’s elves and teenagers, in the case of the two DLC maps I played) as well as the many blood spatters and various other kinds of waste strewn about. A mop for wiping up blood, gloved hands for picking up trash and stray limbs, and a nosed tool used for sniffing out messes must be used in order to clean up the place and achieve a good score. 

As mundane as that sounds, mopping and throwing things away (albeit, in an incinerator or a wood chipper) is all you do in VCD. There is a dead end, nine-to-five vibe throughout the game, as made known through the briefings before each level reminding you of how expendable you are. The ho-hum nature of your job mixed with the unceremonious disposal of dozens of mutilated bodies is morbidly humorous for a time, but the joke doesn’t remain fresh even to the end of one of the game’s many levels. Turning on a boombox and scrubbing off the words “save us” written in blood is a good gag, but it became particularly stale and even uncomfortable when I was supposed to take down headless teenagers, hanging by their feet or pinned to a wall by a knife through their throat. 

 A video game centered around cleaning anything, even, dead bodies, does not sound like a winner; that is where VCD’s loose physics come into play. Due to clumsiness of the player’s character, and the ease at which things can be knocked over or spilled, it is much easier to make a mess than it is to clean one. In this way, VCD is similar to Surgeon Simulator; it intentionally makes simple tasks much more difficult than they ought to be for comic effect. 

Unfortunately, VCD is also similar to Surgeon Simulator in that it is a silly proof of concept that struggles to entertain past a few minutes of playing around with the game’s physics. After the initial chuckles, I realized that the game expected me to actually try to completely clean these environments, some of which take an average of three hours to 100% according to their description in the main menu. Bodies and organs bloody up anything they come into contact with, and stepping into blood will result in more mess to mop up due to the footprints left thereafter. The mop, a tool that must be used extensively throughout each level, will get so bloody after a few thrusts that it actually begins to wipe more blood onto the floor or wall if not dunked into a bucket of water. That bucket of water, however, will get bloodier as you continue to wash your mop, and will eventually cover the mop in blood instead of cleaning it if used too many times. It is a smart system, but much like kids who play with toy vacuums and lawnmowers, it stops being fun when it becomes a chore. 

Though I did not particularly enjoy the cleaning portion of VCD, my experience has probably been hampered by a number of things. Firstly, I can see how messing around in VCD’s levels with friends would be more fun than playing alone like I did. I stand by my critiques, but I imagine that multiplayer would be pretty fun for a while. Secondly, I have been diagnosed with OCD, and if you know anything about that disorder, you will understand how one suffering from it might read Viscera Cleanup Detail as Anxiety Simulator.

                   Or, Anal Fixation Simulator for the Freudians out there

Well, that’s it for Viscera Cleanup Detail. I should say that, in two weeks, both Super Mario Odyssey and Destiny 2 will be in my possession, so I may take a break from the usual random game drawing to get in on the ground floor with those games.

And the next game is…

The Bridge…

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No. 3: BlackShadows

I do not want to dwell too long on BlackShadows; it is a bad game that was clearly made on a budget and is only $2.99. This game does not carry with it any broken E3 promises, predecessors that it failed to live up to, or a history in development hell. BlackShadows is simply a poorly realized game that no one is talking about and can easily be skipped. I will say a few things, though.

The game begins with a black screen and a woman (the player’s character) explaining some scientific research in which she is a participant. Apparently, many people have been experiencing the same nightmare, and it is making the m disappear in real life. The woman, along with other researchers, has decided to deliberately enter this dangerous dream to learn more about it, and hopefully bring it to an end. As soon as that opening monologue ends, the screen illuminates slightly to reveal a dimly lit basement/storage area with shelves and what looks like gas canisters. It is not long after that the few mechanics of the game become clear: find keys to unlock doors, and find batteries to keep your flashlight from going out, lest you meet a swift and noisy death. Oh, and don’t press the escape key; that will close the game, forcing you to listen to the lengthy opening once again, should you decide to reopen it, which I would not recommend.

The fact that this game scared me at first is not a great achievement; the setting is mildly spooky and the quickly draining flashlight battery does make one anxious for a time. Add two jump scares and you have a game that, at times, reaches Five Nights at Freddy’s levels of thrills. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that nothing can happen to the player unless the flashlight goes out, and the game becomes a tedious race against time with the most annoying and repetitive footstep sounds I’ve heard in gaming. The saving grace is that every time you die, the previously opened doors remain open. Perhaps you will die two or three times, but it should not take more than 25 minutes to reach a grassy area that triggers a closing monologue and a message thanking you for playing the game. Your guess is as good as mine as to why the game decides to end there.

                                                       Silly old bear

The flashlight mechanic is the only thing that keeps BlackShadows from being a visually and narratively unimpressive walking simulator (not being used derogatorily). That is not to say that being forced to constantly switch the flashlight on and off in order to slow the insane pace at which its batteries die is any sort of fun. It isn’t. Constantly turning on and off the flashlight while squinting at shelves in the hopes of seeing a tiny key is more stressful than scary, and I would have put the game down without beating it had I not read a Steam review complaining about how short it was.

 Brevity in a bad game is not a praise by any means, but it was a relief to be through with this one so soon. BlackShadows was, however bad, an appropriate way to kick off the spookiest month of the year. Take it away, Mr. Skeltal.

Ok, Let’s look at what is next...

Viscera Cleanup Detail. Let’s do this.

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No. 2: Fallout 4

When I drew Fallout 4 as my second game I was tempted to revise the conditions of this blog; I had already put over 80 hours into the game, and wasn’t sure I had the chops to write on one so divisive. Besides, the very reason for this blog is that I get around to trying out the games that I let pile up underneath triple A titles like this one. In the end, though, I want this blog of mine to be as much about writing and thinking about video games as it is playing them, and Fallout 4 is certainly one that elicits some thinking.

I went to bed at a decent hour on November 9, 2015, the night Fallout 4 was released. Now, I was just as excited as anyone for Bethesda’s next open-world RPG, but unlike those who stay up for midnight releases, I’d much rather get up early than hold off sleep to enjoy a new game (yeah, I have also been known to find stray Werther’s Originals in my pockets. Why do you ask?). besides, the game was downloading on my PC as I slept and was pretty much ready to play when I awoke. By the time I left for class the next morning I had made my character, lost my wife and child, and had a shootout in Concord. I was thrilled to be back in post-apocalyptic America, and according to critics, so was everyone else. 

Well, it has been almost two years since Fallout 4′s release, and it would seem that those initial, positive reviews don’t reflect the current sentiment toward the game. whether it be coming from my gaming friends or lengthy think pieces around the web, the general feeling of disappointment toward Fallout 4 reminds me now of these first reactions to The Phantom Menace in comparison to its standing today as one of the worst Star Wars movies. Many of us, including myself, may have been blinded by the updated graphics and new features that came along with Fallout 4, but the sheen has since worn off, and the game we have now fails to deliver on many levels.

Because Fallout 4 not only had to live up to the rest of the Fallout franchise, but also Bethesda’s long lineup of revered, open-world RPG’s, there is extensive writing around the web about the myriad ways in which the game disappoints. Redditers subscribed to the r/gaming subreddit may be familiar with the numerous infographs or charts comparing Fallout 4 to Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas like the one below, usually in order to show how great New Vegas’ story and quests are in comparison to Fallout 4′s. I tend to agree with these critiques, but I also have never heard anyone argue from the opposing side, making it seem like those making and posting these comparisons hate Fallout 4 more than they actually like New Vegas. 

Oddly enough, I do not see many comparisons being made between Fallout 4 and Fallout 3, which would seem appropriate seeing as both games were made by the same developer and written by Emil Pagliarulo. Has Fallout 4 improved upon Fallout 3? The latter certainly has its critics, but I will get on with my time with Fallout 4.

                           Want me to play a game? show me the charts.

I started a new file shortly before beginning this blog, so I went ahead and picked up where I left off, which was right after saving a ragtag group of survivors from raiders at Concord. To spice things up this time around, I have been using the ENB and weather overhaul mod, PILGRIM, which makes the wasteland look and sound appropriately unsettling. I highly recommend the mod given that the game, though it certainly doesn’t look bad, seems oddly colorful and cheery at times. 

As far as the story goes, I cannot speak for the whole thing because, despite playing Fallout 4 extensively, I never reached the end, though I believe I got rather close in my first playthrough. That fact in itself may speak toward the quality of the main quest, but I tend to go off the beaten path fairly quickly in all open-world games, including, yes, the apparent gold standard of storytelling, New Vegas. It is the side-quests, hidden journal entries, and environmental cues requiring us to fill in the gaps that give Bethesda’s worlds any sort of narrative edge. This fact makes games in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series so attractive; they are big worlds that reward exploration. One almost gets the feeling that Bethesda feels obliged to cobble up some mainline quest in their games when the side quests and general goings-on in the world were enough. When there are worlds inside paintings to enter, vampire cults to find, and evil orphanage headmistresses to kill, saving the world once again seems a lot less interesting. 

Fallout 4 is no different from Bethesda’s other RPG’s in this regard and is arguably worse due to the fact that the protagonist is not simply a voiceless avatar for the player to inhabit, but a fully voiced character who has had his world destroyed in every figurative and literal way imaginable. I cannot begin to fathom my reaction to my wife being murdered, my remaining family being kidnapped, and my world being nuked, but it probably would not involve returning long-past-due library books.  All games like this require some amount of suspending disbelief; a main draw is the freedom of the open world, which almost requires letting the protagonist behave inconsistently with his or her character.  Having a protagonist that can actually speak, though, makes it all the more awkward when I am not particularly interested in those goals; I begin to feel like the cordyceps fungus I saw in Planet Earth as I lead my unwitting character away from his own goals and toward my own.

As I said before, I have yet to finish the game’s main questline, but I am fairly confident that the leader of the before mentioned survivors, Preston Garvey, is Fallout 4′s main antagonist. If the player should choose to keep in contact with Preston after Concord (which I strongly discourage), he will soon saddle him or her with seemingly countless settlements to care for. What does taking care of a settlement mean? It could mean nothing. You could clear the designated settlement areas of raiders and then let the place go without food, water, or power. This is the route I take and the one I would recommend. You could let the evil Preston Garvey distract you from finding your son and stopping The Institute by doing his job for him, but why would you do that?

                         I hate so much about the things you choose to be  

Yes, on paper being able build your own buildings, assign jobs to settlers, and generally sprinkle your own creativity into the Fallout universe sounds like a great idea, and it is, just not when crudely put into a completely different type of game. The settlement mechanics, though somewhat restrictive, are not all that bad either; there are some impressive creations to be found around the web, but that is not the point. The point is that this is a huge part of the game that takes up a lot of space on the map, so it detracts from and interrupts the greater Fallout experience. There was something special about being able to afford a house in Oblivion or earning that small home in Fallout 3, but the settlement system takes away that sense of home and accomplishment by drowning the player in it. Oddly enough, I think this problem could be improved upon if there were fewer settlements, and if they were much more difficult to obtain, but as is, the settlement system is, in my opinion, the worst addition to Fallout 4. 

Though I stand by all that I have said thus far, I have now put around 100 hours into this game, and no amount of complaining on my part will negate that fact. You can tell me that the story is not compelling, that the settlement system doesn’t belong, that the dialogue choices are needlessly vague, or that the number of quests does not amount to that of New Vegas. Those critiques are all valid and make Fallout 4 the lesser of the three first-person Fallout titles. The key is to accept 4′s faults and enjoy what is great about the game as well as its many, welcome changes and gameplay improvements, such as better player movement and combat, an extensive crafting system, and a more varying and rewarding loot hunt.

What brings me back to Fallout 4, however, is the same gameplay loop that has drawn me to each of Bethesda’s games; there is a huge world and enough rewards and stories strewn about to keep me exploring it. The disappointment of the main quest is not as bad when I have quests of my own each time I play, like when I fought my way to the bottom of an abandoned hospital only to be jumped by a deathclaw, or when a yao guai chased me up a fallen tree in the woods. In the end, we play new installments in series such as Fallout and Elder Scrolls more for what has remained the same rather than what has changed, and those elements remain intact in Fallout 4. 

Though I initially dreaded drawing fallout 4, I believe being forced to ponder the game for a while has brought be to a greater appreciation of it, despite its many flaws. In fact, I will probably keep playing it on the side when I can, even after posting this, and perhaps get my hands on the story DLC next time it goes on sale. I will make sure to write if I have any additional thoughts. 

Ok, let’s see what we have next...

Blackshadows...What is Blackshadows?

P.S.Before I draw the next game, I have something to say about these types of games in general. Seeing as I was playing more for writing this blog rather than simply enjoying it as a game, I decided to be a bit more reckless with my items. I ate a lot of food, threw a lot of grenades, and generally didn’t play with the “but what if I need this later?” mentality. I ended up enjoying the game a lot more. it was better experience overall to just use what I had and get rid of what wasn’t useful. 

P.P.S. I do not plan on all of my posts being this long. Many will be shorter. I am going to write my honest thoughts and opinions on each game I play, that is all I can guarantee, but Fallout 4 has so much going on within and outside of the game that it required a longer post.

[morsmanbacklog-blog]

No. 1: The Swapper

Given that I do not have any sort of devoted reader base that I know of (having but one post thus far), I won’t bother with a long apology for taking so long to write a second post. Long story short: my wife and I adopted a dog (Obi — he’s the best), our apartment building had major plumbing issues, and life is just plain busy in general.

Anyway, amidst the other responsibilities and furry distractions of life, I have found a few hours (13!) to begin my descent into my Steam library backlog. I asked my phone to pick a number between 1 and 225, and, in its infinite, randomized wisdom, the ol’ Google produced the number 84, which corresponds with The Swapper on my long list of games. Ok, Google, I’ll play your game.

I received The Swapper in the Humble Indie Bundle 11. It looks like that bundle had some winners, though I’m not sure which game in particular convinced me to purchase it; probably Fez and Dust: An Elysian Tail. I have always been interested giving this sci-fi pluzzle platformer a try, however, given its great reviews. It’s those overwhelmingly positive reviews that makes it difficult to come to grips with the fact that I wish I enjoyed playing The Swapper more than I did.

                                                Before I get into that, though, let me do my best to explain The Swapper according to my understanding. As was stated above, The Swapper is a sci-fi puzzler that takes place largely in a now-empty space station. Something has happened to the crew and its fate seems to be tied to some sentient, igneous-looking rocks as well as a peculiar device called the swapper. Much like the portal gun, the swapper gun is the eponymous device on which the game rests its case. The player finds this tool early in the game and must take advantage of its various mechanics in order to traverse the space station and solve its many puzzles.

Learning how the swapper gun operates is relatively simple, though becoming skilled with it and remembering its limitations rightfully remains a challenge throughout the game (or at least as far as I got). The wielder can make up to four clones of his or herself as well as shoot the swapper gun at one of the clones in order to gain control of that particular clone. All of the clones mimic the exact movements of the player-controlled clone, a mechanic that was quite humorous to mess around with in the early stages of the game, but one that became the main limitation (aside from not being able to create infinite clones) in the games puzzles. Death, a minor inconvenience that only results in having to restart the current puzzle, comes when the player-controlled clone dies.

                                                Memories of Braid

Dying, interestingly, became one of my favorite mechanics in The Swapper. The nature of many of the game’s puzzles require that your clones meet their demise, usually by falling to their death, a grim necessity that may remind players of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. Dozens of clones will be unceremoniously killed while solving difficult puzzles or while simply getting around in the space station. There is no way out of this with your hands clean, and there is no way to know which clone will come out alive.This is a theme that the game hints at throughout, and though I was not able to finish The Swapper before writing this, I would hope it is given more attention in the game’s conclusion.

The Swapper’s puzzles take place in contained rooms throughout the space station, and the goal of most of them is to have the player-controlled clone reach an orb that can be used to access other areas in the game. New elements and challenges get introduced to the puzzles as the game progresses, and many turned out to be quite difficult for me. My main frustration with the puzzles was not their difficulty (though some did frustrate me quite a bit), but rather their place within the game’s world. Only a small portion of the game allowed for me to uncover its intriguing (if vague) story through reading passengers’ correspondence or visual cues before I was forced to enter another isolated puzzle, reminding me, yet again, that I was playing a video game, so I should do video game things. Rather than the puzzles complementing the larger story, they seemed to interrupt and fracture it. The experience felt as if I were trying to read a science fiction short story but every few sentences was a page of crossword puzzles.  

That being said, the game has a fantastic atmosphere that truly succeeds instilling a sense of isolation. I felt a similar loneliness playing The Swapper as I did while watching one of my favorite sci-fi films, Moon, and it also has a similarly haunting yet beautiful soundtrack.

The non-gameplay elements of The Swapper add up to make what could be a great game or even a movie, but I grew tired of the swapping mechanics and the awkward relationship between the puzzles and the rest of the game. Don’t hear me discouraging anyone from playing this game, however; it certainly is the product of smart and devoted developers, and I would love to come back to it someday.

I hate leaving a game unfinished, but I think that clocking over 10 hours into a game is certainly enough to put it down without guilt. It’s time draw another game.

And the game is...

oh shoot. It’s Fallout 4...

[morsmanbacklog-blog]

Having existed at different times on either side of the console/PC gamer chasm, I have been able to experience the pros and cons of both types of systems. Though I greatly appreciate the streamlined and accessible nature of game consoles, I have mostly come to prefer the less restrained and ultimately cheaper experience I have had with my PC. They can be a headache to work with, but issues such as frame rate caps, modding Fallout, or whether or not Spotify will be available on my system, are not problems I need to consider. One of the greatest assets of the PC is also a great first-world-problem curse, however. What I refer to is the ease at which one can amass an insurmountable backlog of unplayed or partially-played games thanks to the likes of Humble Bundle and the numerous sales Steam puts on each year.

Sure, a lack of time can be attributed to the fact that I cannot get to the, as Steamleft.com puts it, 84 days and five minutes (and counting!) worth of video games I have in my Steam library. I admit, however, that there is something more psychological than a lack of free time keeping me from playing games that I bought with such excitement; I believe that the ease in which I received these games has turned my lifelong hobby into a hunger to own, not play, games and a fear of missing out on the fleeting sale.

Speaking my language, and yes, I forgot how to take a screenshot on Windows.

I first downloaded Steam when I bought Fallout: New Vegas to test out my first laptop in 2010 (it didn't perform well). Three years later I discovered humblebundle.com and I bought a bundle that included indie games such as Proteus, Hotline Miami, and Little Inferno—10 games in all. My Steam library jumped from two (I believe I also bought Terraria somewhere between New Vegas and the bundle) to 12 games. I was blown away by how cheaply and quickly I could get new games and I wanted to play them all. Though I never completed any of the games in the bundle, I did play most of them and even put in over 10 hours in Intrusion 2 (a fun side-scrolling shoot-'em-up that I had never even heard of before then). Now I have a category of games in my library titled "need to play" that is almost 30 games long. These are games that I truly want to play and trust that I would find a lot of enjoyment out of them (the main reason any of us play games at all), but I fear I have become more like someone who purchases comics to slip them, unread, into a plastic sleeve, and display them on a shelf.

Unlike the comic collector, however, (and there is nothing wrong with collecting if that is the goal) I do not find enjoyment in collecting these digital games; I fully intend to play them, but I am always looking to take the next game off of my wishlist or play games that promise easy gratification such as Rocket League (not to knock on Rocket League). I bought Salt and Sanctuary in June, excited to see what a 2D Souls-like would be like, but I have yet to touch it. I cut my teeth on point-and-click adventure games like Kings Quest VII and Torin's Passage, yet there is Grim Fandango Remastered, never opened.

This brings me to the reason for this blog; it is time I truly took advantage of this huge (and I know there are many with larger libraries) pile of games of mine. Until I at least try the games I got for so little, they will remain a waste of money regardless of how cheap they were. For this reason, I have decided to play each game in my Steam Library at random and write on my findings. Many games will be good, even great. Some will be abysmal, but they will be picked without prejudice, and each will be given the time it deserves.

There are a number of omissions and stipulations

1.I am not excluding games that I have played already. Those are fair...game...as well.

2. I will not play free betas of games that tagged along with the full version of a game (e.g. Skull Girls ∞Endless Beta∞).

3. I  will not play a sequel to a game if I own and have not yet played the previous installment. Sequels do not exist within a vacuum and should be viewed within the context of their predecessors.

4. While I vow to give each game a fair shake, the type of game and its quality will determine how much time I give it. I would like to give each game at least five hours of my time, but that is not something I can always guarantee.

5. I will not necessarily put down or stop writing on a game once I pick up a new one.

6. Lastly, these are not the only games I plan to play or write about. For instance, I plan on getting Destiny 2 when that arrives on PC in October and I still play consoles fairly frequently.