#I love the story so much. it has a better story than some actual singleplayer story-driven games I’ve played

[autumnal-prince]

My Time at Evershine

I guess they're reworking Project ME into a more PC/Console friendly version. (This does kind of make it feel like everyone who was given access to Project ME were just unpaid beta testers but...I won't dwell on that too much)

I played Project ME on and off (at least until it stopped working on my device) but I just couldn't fully get into it what with it being a mobile game and all (and unavailable to emulate on Nox). So I am looking forward this as the third My Time game.

I do still have...concerns...though. I'll just put them under a cut if you're interested but be warned: Long winded and probably poorly articulated rambling ahead. TL;DR: Not loving the art style and I'm a bit pessimistic about certain game mechanics.

The first thing is the direction of the art style. It's almost too far from the style of Portia and Sandrock. I know a lot of people complained about that with the previous games. If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone complain about the MC looking like a child or harping on the character proportions...I'd be pretty rich by now. That being said, the the cartoony style was part of the charm and uniqueness of the other games. My Time at Portia is distinct, you really can't mistake it for any other game (like how when you see Code Lyoko, you know it's Code Lyoko and not possibly another show). Even the slightly less cartoonish style of Sandrock still retains that charm. Project ME kept up the Sandrock style so I was hoping if they brought it to PC it wouldn't change much but clearly that isn't the case. With the more realistic style it's lost it's uniqueness. Several people have already pointed out that this new direction makes it look too much like other games (I see a lot of comparisons to Palia and Dreamlight Valley in the YouTube comments) and I can't help but see MiHoYo's signature anime-esque style myself. I'm not saying it looks bad. It looks amazing! It just doesn't look like My Time.

Another thing for me is that it's more of a city builder than a building/farming life sim. Those elements are still there obviously but...trying to build up the settlement takes a lot of time and planning (again, I played Project ME so I already have a feel for this feature) and you're left with little time for the core elements of the game. Hell, I struggled to keep up with commissions while working on the settlement and keeping up relationships and collecting materials AND exploring. I constantly felt like I wasn't making any actual progress. It became stressful and if there is one thing these type of games shouldn't be, it's stressful. Hopefully they'll balance it out better here than in ME.

Lastly, and I know this one is something a lot of people will disagree with me on, but I already have a fear of them focusing too much on multiplayer/co-op. I know there is a (very) vocal group of people who constantly demand multiplayer to be shoved into every. single. game. And when developers kowtow to that demand, singleplayer always suffers. Always. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be implemented for those who want it or if the developers themselves want it but...some of us just want to be left alone to enjoy the story. Especially in a game/genre that is, at it's core, supposed to be a singleplayer experience. Sometimes though, developers focus so much on pleasing multiplayer gamers that they completely neglect the singleplayer campaign. Hell, that almost seemed happen with Sandrock (thankfully, it didn't but it got precarious for a hot minute during early access). This is somewhat two-pronged, too. Usually, you can ignore multiplayer stuff in a game if it also has singleplayer but it's become more common to force the multiplayer/co-op feature onto players recently. Such as locking features of the game or putting up a roadblock in story progression unless you play with other people. I dropped Magic Awakened after only playing for a few weeks because of this. When you can't enjoy a singleplayer storymode without having to do co-op tasks or something it ceases to be singleplayer (and fun...for people like me). I know Pathea wanted to expand on the multiplayer feature for their next game, I just hope they don't expand so much that it destroys the main, singleplayer experience.

To reiterate, these are personal concerns. I know this comes across as whiny and I'm not trying to be but I guess I've just become pessimistic. That being said, I am genuinely looking forward to this game. I've supported Pathea for a long time and I don't plan on dropping that support unless they do something horribly unforgivable (which I honestly don't foresee).

[lordfrezon]

Baldur’s Gate 3

10/10

Spoiler free

Let me tell you a story.

In 2015 I got accepted to a Master’s program at Northeastern and for the first time in my life I was living in my own (room in an) apartment.  The school work for the Master’s was pretty easy and my job equally so, so I was left with a bunch of free time.  I proceeded to fill that free time by starting playing Dungeons and Dragons, since the game looked fun and my nerdy ass sister had been talking it up.  I went to my college’s tabletop club, gave my pitch for a game I wanted to run (yes, I ran a game of D&D before I had ever played in one. It was... a decision.), joined another game that sounded interesting, and then posted a facebook comment that hey, that Star Wars tabletop game you were running sure sounded like fun, Shawn.

And since then I’ve been hooked.

At some time in the past two years, D&D (or tabletop roleplaying in general) became my favorite game, supplanting Magic the Gathering.  I can’t tell you the exact date, but I know this because when I was brainstorming for writing this earlier today, I realized that that was the case. 

The reasons for this are pretty numerous, and a lot of it falls on how MtG has gone really downhill of late, but I want to focus on the positives here, and my primary love of D&D is how you are able to have as much fun as you are able to.  You’re engaging in a collaborative story where the goal is to ensure that you and 3-6 other people all are enjoying yourselves.  It’s very intimate in a way that few things are and even when the story might be meh or you might be off your game on a particular day, there’s always that feeling that other people are enjoying themselves and that alone makes your day better.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is that in a video game.

When the trailers first came out, I found the game compelling but was turned off by it going into early access since I was interested in the main story and getting through that so at the time, I was kinda meh on the whole thing.  When I heard it was actually coming out I was pretty interested and I played a bit of the early access, finding it enjoyable but again, wanting more, wanting the long quest with a solid end in sight.  I wanted to build a story, not just play a turn based game.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long.  One of my best friends got me the game, and we started playing it, ready to dive into the world together.

Immediately, I was hooked, because the base mechanics of D&D are very fun and the story was engaging.  Getting to know the characters, solving quests, and obviously being annoying to my buddy brought just so much joy.  We went out of our ways to ensure that our respective romances went well, and listened to each other, with me accepting that his vampire boyfriend was ok and him accepting my gith girlfriend was a zealot and not to be trusted.  It was an experience that we made together to ensure we were both having a good time.

I’m not sure that the experience would have been the same if I had played it singleplayer my first time through, but there is still a substantial amount of that collaborative storytelling in the game even if you are the only human.  You need to ensure that your NPC companions are happy if you want to romance them, or if you just want to see some cool sequences.  There’s a lot of ways that you can run into quests and more often than not, “kill everything that moves” is unlikely to get you what you want.

Ok so I’ve gone into what the game is, but why is it good to play as, ya know, a video game?  Because I can just run a D&D game (please don’t ask me to I’ll say yes and I don’t have the time), why should I install this program?

BG3 streamlines a lot of annoyances that can pop up in normal D&D.  Obviously, you don’t need a DM, and the “DM” of the game is telling a good story with good narration and well-acted NPCs and everything people always want from a good D&D session.  It’s not going to replace D&D completely since it’s only one story, but it’s a damn good story.

The gameplay is fun and engaging.  It solves a lot of problems with baseline D&D mechanics by streamlining them, making them less relevant, fixing them for use in a video game, and just overall making the best form of D&D possible.  There’s a few spots where I’m like “ok why did you do this instead of what D&D already had” but those were few and far between.  The gameplay is a solid turn-based RPG with a plethora of options, with combat taking place in varied locales where lines of sight, high ground, and all sorts of other conditions need to be taken into account to win.  Or you can just shoot lighting at everyone, that normally does the trick.

The story, as mentioned, is engaging and gripping.  There are narrative setups and payoffs, characters from hour 2 come back in hour 42, your actions actually matter.  It’s refreshing to know that I won the game thanks to a series of decisions I made from the first town that I had to keep reiterating across all three acts.  I wasn’t able to just go through the game with my brain off, I had to think about my actions and what consequences they would have for every character, myself included. 

There are three difficulty levels.  I played on the Balanced difficulty and it was reasonably challenging at parts and laughably easy at others, but I have been optimizing D&D characters for 8 years straight now, so... that tracks.  But I know a lot of people think the game is super hard and others think it’s too easy, so *shrugs*.  Difficulty isn’t really a selling point for me on games, all I can say is you can customize your playthrough at least a bit.

I finished the game last night.  It took me probably 60 hours.  I started a new playthrough 4 hours ago. 

This game is great.

[tuxxydo]

Heya! :D For the CODZ ask game:

2) Favorite map(s)?

8) Favorite individual CODZ character(s), and why?

9) Least favorite individual CODZ character(s), and why?

10) Any popular characters you think are overrated?

11) Any characters you personally find to be underrated?

Hi!

2. TranZit and Origins! ESPECIALLY on singleplayer. those maps have some of the best singleplayer experiences for a zombies map, ever.

8. My answer in a previous ask was Russman. So i'm gonna do favorite NPC instead and that'll be the devil dogs you have to feed in MOTD. My cutie patooties! and the hell's retriever and redeemer are rlly fucking cool weapons.

9. My answer in a previous ask was the panzer. So i'm gonna do a PC instead and for that i'm just goin with the SoE cast. Admittedly i don't have a reason besides; they're the one cast of characters i have no connection too. And that goes for any Bo3/Bo4 crew that wasn't primis, ultimis and victis. I'm a very old-fashioned fan who stopped playing zombies at Bo2 (and only got into Bo3 recently and still haven't played Bo3's specific DLC maps) so yeah.

10. Ultimis AND Primis without a doubt. Ultimis was always scene as The Crew™ when you think of CODZ so of COURSE everyone likes them. And then Primis are just retconned-into-better-people versions of Ultimis so ofc they're liked as well (and sometimes liked even more). But all the love that Ultimis and Primis is given was not diverted to crews like Victis—who were a VERY POLARIZING crew when TranZit came out. I was young at the time and even EYE was aware of how mixed ppl felt about victis.

Ppl have come around to them eventually, but the damage was already done. And now Victis' only chance in the story were as the middle men to set in motion they're own demise. And Treyarch felt so apathetic toward them that they aren't even acknowledged in the recent Dark Aether Storyline. Not even a wink or a nod or anything. But yup, let's focus on an older Samantha Maxis who falls in and out of the dark aether without once seeing Victis. Oops I'm ranting lemme dial it back...

Basically. Ultimis and Primis. And Samantha can catch a stray too lol. I don't hate any of these characters, but they're overwhelming popularity definitely influenced the direction of the story (why else do you think Treyarch made Richtofen basically immortal? Also yes I am bitter about victis thx for asking).

11. Marlton.

Now this is rich of me to say cus—admittedly—he's my least favorite out of the victis crew. But i rlly feel like he's the least interesting one. Stu has the zombie-eating cult and richtofen in his head. Misty (despite having 0 connection to the plot with her past like Marlton) actually has a reason to fight against the zombies which is out of revenge for killing her dad (unless that information has been retconned or is just straight up untrue). She also seems to be the leader of Victis, already making her way more important than Marlton. And Russman was connected to Broken Arrow—which not only connects to 115 and the zombies, but it also connects to the avocado and everything to do with tranZit basically.

Marlton, unfortunately, has nothing going for him. He was in nuketown? I guess? That was never rlly expanded on. And I feel bad, cus some of his lines are actually pretty funny. But the only thing he rlly has going for him is his (reciprocated) crush on Misty. The other members have grown to stand out on their own I feel like, but Marlton is pretty much stuck in being "the smart one," and the Russman Broken Arrow shit shakes that cus the only reason Russy isn't as "smart" as Darlington is cus of his dementia

[robotwrangler]

Tbh playing Warframe is worth it just for Ordis. Like don’t get me wrong, loads of other stuff about it is wonderful too, but he is genuinely such a highlight of the game to me & I never once in my life thought I’d say that about an npc in an MMO of all things

[scope-dogg]

Long post about Mass Effect below

I noticed that there’s a big mass effect trilogy remaster coming out and it just made me think back on how badly the ball was dropped with that series. When the first game came out it immediately became perhaps my favourite game of all time, it was the kind of game where I was tearing up at the ending and then immediately started up a new playthrough the instant the credits got done rolling. The game was extremely jank and rough around the edges and it ran like total shit on the 360, but I loved it anyway because I fell in love with the lore of the universe, the characters and the story. It was one of those games where I’d play it in the most obsessively completionist manner possible, doing every singe sidequest possible, talking to every character on the ship after every mission, browsing the ingame codex for hours on end and dosing up on lore. When it was confirmed that Mass Effect 2 was in development I had such high hopes, of course I wanted to see the gameplay tightened up and the technical side of things improved, but more than that I just wanted to see more of the universe, get more of the universe to explore and learn more about it, and I was especially excited at the possibility that the choices I’d made, especially the massive ones in regards to the council at the end of ME1, would carry forward and really shake up the way the fate of the universe would pan out in the long term.

When the game finally came out, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really what I was hoping for. While the combat was much improved over ME1, I couldn’t help but feel like everything else was pared back too much - like, levelling and loot in ME1 weren’t all that well done but I was still really disappointed to see how they were all but stripped out in the sequel. I especially hated how crap sidequests on uncharted worlds were, they were basically just short combat sections with almost nothing in the way of meaningful dialogue or choices to make. Like, don’t get me wrong, uncharted worlds in ME1 felt like the maps were procedurally generated and the Mako had wacky controls, but they still managed to pull off the right atmosphere of going to these dangerous and remote places on alien worlds, and there was some legitimately intriguing stuff going on in some of those sidequests, and it was honestly a little infuriating to see all that basically get the axe entirely instead of getting some polish. I also just felt like the additions to the lore and story were disappointing. I was excited to find out about how society in the Terminus systems was different from Citadel space and meet some new alien races, but that didn’t really happen - I guess they tried with Omega, but that just felt like a mildly edgier version of the Citadel. The only new alien race aside from the Collectors they introduced were the Vorcha and I guess the Batarians if you didn’t play the DLC for ME1, but neither ended up being all that interesting. People remember ME2′s story fondly because of the characters, and I agree that the characters are great, Legion and Mordin especially stand out though all of your squadmates and major supporting characters on the ship are great (except maybe Jacob I guess) as are each of their accompanying stories that get resolved through their loyalty missions, but I think that the actual core plot of ME2 isn’t good at all. The whole thing about you dying and coming back to life seems like it was done just to have the excuse of having a timeskip happen, and I never felt particularly compelled by the Illusive Man or Cerberus as a faction - they were in a sidequest chain in ME1 technically but I still felt like they kind of came out of nowhere and never really fit into the grand scheme of things properly - there’s nothing that they really enable Shepard to do differently that wouldn’t have already been justified by you being a Spectre. The revelations about the Collectors and ultimately what they were doing with the colonists they were kidnapping felt really stupid and pointless apart from giving you an excuse to have a really cheesy and out-of-place final boss. The final mission was only exciting because of the tension of potentially losing one or more of your squadmates than because of what the actual consquences of failure for the galaxy were if you failed. There was no compelling antagonist to square off against like Saren in ME1, and ultimately the whole thing felt kind of pointless - it wasn’t until later after the trilogy was done that I realised that you could take ME2 out of the equation entirely and it wouldn’t make that much difference, but even in those moments as the credits were rolling after I beat the game for the first time, I was struggling to make up my mind about whether I’d actually enjoyed the game or not. I mean, it wasn’t like the game was bad or anything but I was thinking more about the opportunities that they missed rather than the good things they added. I was really missing that sense of discovery and exploring an alien galaxy that the first game had and got left by the wayside for the second. I did start up a new playthrough after that like I did with ME1 but IIRC I didn’t bother finishing that playthrough.

Then along came ME3. Everything about that game is depressing. The whole path of the plot and just the unrelenting apocalyptic tone of the game in general feels like it’s actively punishing you if you actually like the setting, characters, lore and so on and so forth. I know a lot of people like the Citadel DLC that they released because it lightened the tone a bit, but even with that I find it hard to set aside the fact that the universe is literally ending while you’re trying to take a break from it all with how hard the rest of the game beats you over the head with it. How bad the endings were even with the “fix” DLC that got added is a horse that’s been thoroughly beaten to death by now, but it’s not just the endings either. I already didn’t like the Illusive Man or Cerberus and had a hard time buying them as an organisation with the kind of reach and pull they had as portrayed in ME2, but seeing them turn into the Hellghast in ME3 not only betrays that portrayal of them as an org that works through subterfuge but also stretches my disbelief beyond breaking point, plus it brings you into contact with Kai Leng who has to be up there as one of the most obnoxious rival characters in any videogame ever. Otherwise, it did a few things that ME2 did slightly better and some things slightly worse, and didn’t really do anything to recapture the stuff that made ME1 so memorable to me that ME2 skipped out on. And then there was the way that Javik, the game’s most interesting new squadmate by far, was preorder DLC, and then there was the multiplayer that you were kinda forced into playing if you wanted the best ending in the singleplayer (for all the difference that made) and was riddled with lootbox microtransactions (the first major implementation of that in a AAA game IIRC.) The coup de grace for me was when dipshit vidya journalists circled the wagons around Bioware and were taking a dump on angry and disappointed fans who were demanding a change to the ending. Like, looking back I think there was a lot of histrionics involved with that from the fanbase, and let’s just say that the Bioware fanbase has earned a reputation for being particularly turbulent, but even so I really couldn’t stand the attitude that they were taking and it made me hate the game itself by proxy that much more. (I honestly think that entire saga set the stage for Gamergate two years later.)

Eventually when ME Andromeda ended up being a stillborn flop, it didn’t even really move the needle for me that much because ME3 had already set the bar so low. Worse though is that the first game was retrospectively ruined for me. Like I said earlier, I was a hyperfan for that game when it came out, but now I can’t go back to it without thinking about the disappointments that followed it, and its flaws stand out extra hard now. After I beat it for the first time it was my number 1, now I’m not sure it’s in the top 10. There’s probably the added factor that I played it to death and know it almost off by heart which takes the shine away, but that’s also the case for some of my other all-time favourites like Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Ace Combat 2, or Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, but those never really dropped in my estimation the way Mass Effect did. Honestly to this day I’m still waiting for someone to do another star-hopping sci-fi RPG in the same vein as Mass Effect and to pull it off well, because at this point I’m all but certain that it’s not going to be Bioware that does it, not with the new one they’ve got coming in the works or the trilogy remaster.

[radramblog]

Star Wars Battlefront II (the good one)

My nonfunctional internet is preventing me not only from finishing off my essay, not only from watching the lecture that I would have shown up for were it not for mediary COVID restrictions, but it’s also stopping me from writing anything here that would require any sort of research or confirming details. That leaves me with less options that I would have thought.

Browsing through my Steam collection for ideas on what to talk about, and something jumped out at me pretty quickly.

Star Wars Battlefront II (the 2005 game, not Star Wars Battlefront 2, the sequel to the EA remake much maligned for malicious microtransactions) is a first/third person shooter that, while showing its age, remains one of the best games the franchise has ever put out. This is, of course, an opinion coming from someone who has yet to play Knights of the Old Republic, but it feels like Star Wars as a franchise has more misses than hits. So what makes this one land?

While I’m woefully unfamiliar with the early 00s shooters that Battlefront II was competing with (aside from Counter-Strike Source, but I’d argue that’s a different target market), I am extremely familiar with this one. I think part of why Battlefront II is so fondly remembered is on account of it being almost a gateway game for people getting into shooters in general- I for one played it extensively on my mate’s PS2 in primary school, and later on someone else’s PSP, and I doubt I would later have clicked so strongly with Halo if I hadn’t.

But what Battlefront II has more than anything else I feel is ambition. After the conclusion of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars’s universe was big, and the developers seemed interested in representing about as much of what we see of it’s style of warfare as they possibly could. As a result, the maps are a glorious smattering of worlds and terrains, loving and detailed recreations of places from the various films as well as a few that are probably new (I might just not remember them), each drizzled with vehicles and turrets and resources. Each of the game’s four factions share the basic units with very few differences (except for the Super Battle Droid), making them easy to understand and grasp for newer/younger players, with the complexity of each’s unique units paying off those willing to grapple with their weakness and play to their strengths. Some are definitely better than others, but that isn’t especially obvious at first. The basic classes reflect tropes seen in other games and while again some falter it’s not by enough that picking them in the wrong situation is a guaranteed blunder.

There are, of course, the heroes, major characters from the series granted to a player who’s doing pretty well, and I feel like this is another pretty well handled mechanic, even if a little awkward. There are enough of them, and they’re distributed enough between maps and factions, that they don’t tend to feel stale, and it’s pretty obvious that while they can absolutely ruin a team it’s also pretty easy to mishandle them. Unfortunately, heroes are related to one of my biggest complaints about the game, but we’ll get to that later.

One of the biggest selling points in my eyes are the dogfight levels. Now, I’ve never played X-Wing or the like, in fact my experiences with dogfighting games is extremely limited. But this part of the game fucks so hard. The design ideas begun with the class selection continue with the (admittedly small) range of starfighters you can pilot, with specialised interceptors, bombers, and landing craft to go alongside the effective all-rounders. The mode offers a variety of playstyles, between hunting down opponent’s fighters to bombing their flagships to boarding said flagships and destroying their systems from the inside. There is also the option of manually controlling the turrets, as well as acting as a gunner for someone else’s bomber/lander, but these positions are unfortunately underpowered and underexplored- they’re also, ultimately, less fun. But the dogfighting just feels right. I can’t really explain it, but moving in that 3-dimensional space feels not only satisfying but accurate to the source material in a way I don’t think any future Star Wars game has yet replicated.

I suppose the various game modes are worth discussing. Skirmishing on whatever map you want is the standard, at least in multiplayer, but there are a few unique offerings you won’t see in other modes- Hunt, where it’s a faction versus some of the series’s wildlife in a mode that always feels imbalanced towards one side or the other. There’s obviously Assault- the standard name for the space dogfights but on one ground map (Mos Eisley) it is of course the ever-popular heroes free-for-all, a chaotic mess but one where you can test out each one and figure out what their abilities actually do. But in the broader strokes, you’ve got the story, and the Galactic Conquest, as the two main other modes.

(oof, they really didnt build this with this resolution in mind huh)

That’s right, this game has a story, and it’s…okay? Ultimately it’s just a series of missions with the 501st, as they fight in the clone wars, turn on the Jedi, and ultimately become the Empire’s tool of oppression, separated by exposition. You get to run through some scenes from the movies, including the boarding at the start of the first movie and the Battle of Hoth, though some of the missions feel harder than intended- no matter how good the player is, the AI is not going to fare well in the tougher missions and you have a solid chance of ending up on your own.

Galactic Conquest is the game’s more unique selling point, being something like a basic version of Risk but with the dice-rolling battles replaced with Star Wars Battlefront II. You earn credits over time and through victory that you can spend unlocking types of units, getting new fleets to improve how many fronts you can wage war on, and unlock powerups for use in the actual battles. It’s largely fine, feeling like a bit more controlled and strategic version of just playing randoms in Instant Action, but it suffers the most from the biggest problem this game has.

The game’s truest flaw is its AI. They are dumb as a sack of potatoes, and the main thing holding the game back from perfection. And it was the early 00s so imperfect AI was to be expected, but it’s a bit more than imperfect here, I guess. Robits standing still while shooting you (or just at all, while you’re sniping them), extremely questionable vehicle and turret usage, and literally crashing starships into you, your flagship, or their own flagship. Bumping their difficulty up doesn’t really help, either. Even more egregious is the AI’s usage of heroes- or rather, that they don’t. If you’re playing single player, the game will always give earned heroes to you rather than your robot teammates, will not let one of them take if it if you decline to use the character, and you will never see one on the opposite side. This would imply that there wasn’t code for the Ais to use them, except there clearly is because Assault Mos Eisley exists- and they’re arguably much better there than in any other mode! It’s a real shame, because the low quality of the AI combined with the nature of the games means that victory is extremely polarised based on the player’s skill- if you bad all the way up to pretty decent at the game, your input basically doesn’t affect the outcome, whether you win or lose. If you’re good at the game, you will never lose at singleplayer, possible exception again being Assault Mos Eisley. It’s a little absurd, honestly. Also, I’m not even sure they go for the flag in CTF in space.

I am, however, willing to look past these flaws. The game is far from perfect, but it’s just incredibly fun. It’s a type of gameplay that they’ve tried to replicate, but never quite recaptured- and I think part of the reason for that is because the awkwardness is part of the charm. It’s nostalgic- both for those who played it when they were younger and just those in my generation who grew up on the Prequels. It’s also way more expensive on steam (bruh 14.5 AUD for real?) than I expected, but it goes on hard sales pretty often (I think I paid like a buck fifty for it), so it’ll be within budget at some point. I don’t know if I can recommend it for those who aren’t nostalgic, though, solely on account of those awkward features you likely wouldn’t be able to ignore like I do. And that’s a shame, because it’s not like they’ve made a better version of this game.

Fuck EA, basically.

[dragon-quest-ensemble]

DQE: The Status Of Things

**Trigger Warning: Contains Sensitive Subject Matter** A Message From The Main Admin

Hello Dragon Quest fans and fiends (endearing). You’re all probably wondering why the radio silence so shortly after A Fervid Darkness was supposed to take up the reigns in my absence. And you would be right to be concerned about the status of this game.

Firstly, I’m still debilitatingly ill. If you’ve studied the weather from beginning-mid January until now you’ll find some very finicky weather patterns across the lower Eastern USA. I just unfortunately don’t have the luxury of living in a place that is better for my health and have been virtually bedbound. The laptop battery did come in, but it still needs a bit more assembly before I can use my laptop and I have no one to help me assemble it while I’m sick like this. However, progress was never supposed to come to a dead silent halt.

As some of you may remember, a certain portion of the DQ “fandom” tends to do some less than savory things towards members of this team. Please bear with me as I outline some things from 2019-present. This isn’t arbitrary, but will explain the decision I reveal at the end of this announcement.

  DQE initially began development (real development - away from planning) in 2019. Towards the end of 2019 a few of what we had assumed were extra hands on the game began targeting a specific team member. Not only was this person bullied for everything under the sun, backstabbed, etc. they were also physically and sexually harmed IRL by these “fans”. Said team member’s mental health took a nosedive and because they’re such a core person to this team, and one of my closest friends, I pulled back a lil from development because I didn’t want to continue without them. 

Throughout 2020, this behavior pattern from the “fandom” continued, with this specific member as their main target. However, sweeping back to 2018 when DQE was just a thought in our minds, their efforts were on another of the team members - this is by no means a new thing for any of us, but the severity in their attacks and the frequency and intensity of the attacks are more concentrated on this present member. In later 2020 there were still activities going down, but this member was having a few better mental health days and trying to cope…...and so I thought bringing DQE back to full swing would be possible since it’s something they really wanted to do.

And I did.

A few weeks ago, the activity amped up again. They told this member that if they were to interact with their lover (who is also a team member) that they would murder that person and send a picture of their corpse. They sent a picture of a decapitated corpse, causing this targeted member to enter into an episode of psychosis (their lover is actually unharmed). Yes, it’s that sadistic. Meanwhile, A Fervid Darkness, who has been responsible for helping some of these “fans” get put away, was also physically attacked while trying to more or less bring the others to some type of justice. 

This group is widespread and mostly anonymous, most of them coming from the Dragon Quest “fandom”. They cyberstalk and cyber terrorize, sometimes even posing as interested “fans” or new friends. They’re an insanely insidious bunch and specifically target individuals with intent. 

Why? We’re not entirely sure of why, although this member’s gender identity and mental health issues (Borderline Personality Disorder) have been the subject of some of the attacks so that at least has played a part. Their target previous to that was targeted for their sexual orientation. This included multiple “corrective rapes” to “cure the sexuality”. 

I wanted to simply try to forget about them while in the place where DQE was worked on. A sort of safe haven where my friends and I can make a game we’re passionate about and destress. 

Now, you may wonder, why say all of this?

Members of this group have sent threats to DQE workers telling them that if they continue working on the game, they’ll die. They have also sent me messages from anon and throwaway accounts saying that they will target people who play the game.   

And now, knowing a little of the history, you probably can guess where this is going.

I can’t, in good faith, continue making a game that may be exploited in some way to dox and harm its players. This is not a decision that I just threw my hands up and quit easily. I’ve been in long, long talks with A Fervid Darkness about it for a bit now. And I would rather sacrifice my dignity as a game dev than be responsible for a medium that these absolute monsters claim they’ll use…..to do to others what has been happening to my friends. A Fervid Darkness has mirrored this, in fact brought it up to me before I did to him (although I already had the thought).   

But I don’t want to NOT make a game. Instead, I proposed that we could make an offline game (still a Dragon Quest game) so that players wouldn’t “run into” this group while playing. A game that can be downloaded more or less anonymously, no usernames linked - nothing - completely anonymous, to be enjoyed. I think that will put my mind at ease. 

As for voice acting, music, etc. nothing will change really, honestly. I can plug those same characters/location types. DQE’s story and mechanics definitely will be tossed aside as a whole, because I do want to return to DQE someday when this madness is over for good. If anyone’s noticed, our twitter had snips from something called Dragon Quest: Ensemble to Eternity in it. This is a limited fanfiction I’ve been writing, shown to hand selected people, but it’s been extremely well received, and I won a monetary reward for it on a DQ server. I personally don’t like my writing, but other people seem to enjoy at least the concept of this story piece and have begged for a game version of it for years. (and I’d say no because I wanted to focus on DQE)

So I am tossing around in my idea bank that I may work Ensemble into a game format, bite by bite, section by section, and see how that goes. It already has a fanbase although its concept is a little more niche than DQE. It’s quite a darker, bit angst type story and has a complexity in its blanket concept than DQ’s stories typically have on surface. 

No matter what we decide on for a game, we still want to include those who have helped so far. Everyone’s been super patient and super wonderful and a lot of you guys send me amazing gifts and get better soon messages and that means so much to me. If you were here because the MMO appeal I totally get that, and no hard feelings if you leave on that basis. I know that a singleplayer game is miles from MMO expectations in terms of gameplay type. Feel free to return back to us later down the road when DQE may be a safer project overall. 

Again thank you so much. Also, feel free to leave love and support for member Michelle’s/Hargon (the main target in this craziness).

I’ll see you guys when we regroup, with a plan going forward from here.

[za3k]

2020 Videogames

In 2020 I’m newly retired, so I’ve had free time. I think it’s fun to do reviews, so without further ado here’s every video game I played in 2020!

I recommend:

(4/5) Among Us – Very fun. It’s only fun with voice chat with friends, so I’ve only gotten to play once or twice. I’ve been watching it more than playing it. Also free to play for mobile gamers–I’m tired of the “everyone buys a copy” model of group gameplay.

(4/5) Brogue. Brogue is an ascii-art roguelike. It’s great, and it has a nice difficulty ramp. It’s a good “quick break” game. I play it in preference to other roguelikes partly because I haven’t done it to death yet, and partly because I don’t need a numpad?

(4/5) Cook Serve Delicious 3. One of the more fun games I played this year. You get really into it, but I had trouble relaxing and paying attention to the real world when I played too much, haha. I own but haven’t played the first two–I gather this is pretty much just a refinement.

(4/5) Green Hell. Price tag is a bit high for the number of hours I got out of it, but I haven’t finished the story. Great graphics, and the BEST map design I’ve seen in a 3D game in a long time. It feels like a real place, with reasonable geography instead of copy-pasted tiles. I love that as you walk along, you can just spot a cultivated area from the rest of the jungle–it feels more like it’s treating me like an adult than most survival games. Everything still gets highlighted if you can pick it up. I played the survival mode, which was okay but gets old quickly. I started the story mode–I think it would be fine, but it has some LONG unskippable scenes at the start, including a very hand-holdy tutorial, that I think they should have cut. I did start getting into the story and was having fun, but I stopped. I might finish the game some time.

(4/5) Hyperrogue. One of my recent favorites. The dev has made a fair number of highly experimental games, most of which are a total miss with me, but this one is fun. I do wish the early game wasn’t quite as repetitive. Failing another solution, I might actually want this not to be permadeath, or to have a save feature? I bought it on steam to support the dev and get achievements, but it’s also available a version or two behind free, which is how I tried it. Constantly getting updates and new worlds.

(4/5) Minecraft – Compact Claustrophobia modpack. Fun idea, nice variety. After one expansion felt a little samey, and it was hard to start with two people. I’d consider finishing this pack.

(4/5) Overcooked 2. Overcooked 2 is just more levels for Overcooked. The foods in the second game is more fun, and it has better controls and less bugs. If you’re considering playing Overcooked, I recommend just starting with the second game, despite very fun levels in the first. I especially appreciate that the second game didn’t just re-use foods from the first.

(4/5) Please Don’t Press Anything. A unique little game where you try to get all the endings. I had a lot of fun with this one, but it could have used some kind of built-in hints like Reventure. Also, it had a lot of red herrings. Got it for $2, which it was well worth.

(5/5) Reventure. Probably the best game new to me this year. It’s a short game where you try to get each of about 100 endings. The art and writing are cute and funny. The level design is INCREDIBLE. One thing I found interesting is the early prototype–if I had played it, I would NOT have imagined it would someday be any fun at all, let alone as amazing as it is. As a game designer I found that interesting! I did 100% complete this one–there’s a nice in-game hint system, but there were still 1-3 “huh” puzzles, especially in the post-game content, one of which I had to look up. It’s still getting updates so I’m hoping those will be swapped for something else.

(5/5) Rimworld. Dwarf fortress, but with good cute graphics, set in the Firefly universe. Only has 1-10 pawns instead of hundreds of dwarves. Basically Dwarf Fortress but with a good UI. I wish you could do a little more in Rimworld, but it’s a fantastic, relaxing game.

(5/5) Slay the Spire. Probably the game I played most this year. A deckbuilding adventure through a series of RPG fights. A bit luck-based, but relaxing and fun. I like that you can play fast or slow. Very, very well-designed UI–you can really learn how things work. My favorite part is that because it’s singleplayer, it’s really designed to let you build a game-breaking deck. That’s how it should be!

(4/5) Stationeers. I had a lot of fun with this one. It’s similar to Space Engineers but… fun. It has better UI by a mile too, even if it’s not perfect. I lost steam after playing with friends and then going back to being alone, as I often do for base-building games. Looks like you can genuinely make some complicated stuff using simple parts. Mining might not be ideal.

(5/5) Spy Party. One of my favorite games. Very fun, and an incredibly high skill ceiling. There’s finally starting to be enough people to play a game with straners sometimes. Bad support for “hot seat”–I want to play with beginners in person, and it got even harder with the introduction of an ELO equivalent and removing the manual switch to use “beginner” gameplay.

(4/5) Telling Lies. A storytelling game. The core mechanic is that you can use a search engine for any phrase, and it will show the top 5 survellance footage results for that. The game internally has transcripts of every video. I didn’t really finish the game, but I had a lot of fun with it. The game was well-made. I felt the video acting didn’t really add a huge amount, and they could have done a text version, but I understand it wouldn’t have had any popular appeal. The acting was decent. There’s some uncomfortable content, on purpose.

(4/5) Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (TABS). Delightful. Very silly, not what you’d expect from the name. What everyone should have been doing with physics engines since they were invented. Imagine that when a caveman attacks, the club moves on its own and the caveman just gets ragdolled along, glued to it. Also the caveman and club have googley eyes. Don’t try to win or it will stop being fun. Learn how to turn on slo-mo and move the camera.

(4/5) We Were Here Together. Lots of fun. I believe the second game out of three. Still some crashes and UI issues. MUCH better puzzles and the grpahics are gorgeous. They need to fix the crashes or improve the autosave, we ended up replaying a lot of both games from crashes. It’s possible I should be recommending the third game but I haven’t played it yet.

The Rest

(3/5) 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel. More fun that it sounds. If you play to mess around and win by accident, it’s pretty good. Definitely play with a second human player, though.

(1.5/5) 7 billion humans. Better than the original, still not fun. Soulless game about a soulless, beige corporation. Just play Zachtronics instead. If you’re on a phone and want to engage your brain, play Euclidea.

(3/5) A Dark Room. Idle game.

(1/5) Amazing Cultivation Simulator. A big disappointment. Bad english voice acting which can’t be turned off, and a long, unskippable tutorial. I didn’t get to actual gameplay. I like Rimworld and cultivation novels so I had high hopes.

(3/5) ADOM (Steam version) – Fun like the original, which I would give 5/5. Developed some major issues on Linux, but I appreciate that there’s a graphical version available, one of my friends will play it now.

(4/5) agar.io – Good, but used to be better. Too difficult to get into games now. Very fun and addictive gameplay.

(3/5) Amorous – Furry dating sim. All of the hot characters are background art you can’t interact with, and the characters you can actually talk to are a bunch of sulky nerds who for some reason came to a nightclub. I think it was free, though.

(0/5) Apis. Alpha game, AFAIK I was the first player. Pretty much no fun right now (to the point of not really being a game yet), but it could potentially become fun if the author puts in work.

(4/5) Autonauts. I played a ton of Autonauts this year, almost finished it, which is rare for me. My main complaint is that it’s fundamentally supposed to be a game about programming robots, but I can’t actually make them do more than about 3 things, even as a professional programmer. Add more programming! It can be optional, that’s fine. They’re adding some kind of tower defense waves instead, which is bullshit. Not recommended because it’s not for everyone.

(3/5) A-Z Inc. Points for having the guts to have a simple game. At first this looked like just the bones of Swarm Simulator, but the more you look at the UI and the ascension system, the worse it actually is. I would regularly reset because I found out an ascension “perk” actually made me worse off.

(5/5) Beat Saber. Great game, and my favorite way to stay in shape early this year. Oculus VR only, if you have VR you already have this game so no need to recommend. Not QUITE worth getting a VR set just to play it at current prices.

(1/5) Big Tall Small. Good idea, but no fun to play. Needed better controls and level design, maybe some art.

(0.5/5) Blush Blush. Boring.

(3/5) Business Shark. I had too much fun with this simple game. All you do is just eat a bunch of office workers.

(3/5) chess.com. Turns out I like chess while I’m high?

(3/5) Circle Empires Rivals. Decent, more fun than the singleplayer original. It shouldn’t really have been a separate game from Circle Empires, and I’m annoyed I couldn’t get it DRM-free like the original.

(3/5) Cross Virus. By Dan-box. Really interesting puzzle mechanics.

(4/5) Cultist Simulator. Really fun to learn how to play–I love games that drop you in with no explanation. Great art and writing, I wish I could have gotten their tarot deck. Probably the best gameplay “ambience” I’ve seen–getting a card that’s labeled “fleeting sense of radiance” that disappears in 5 seconds? Great. Also the core stats are very well thought out for “feel” and real-life accuracy–dread (depression) conquers fascination (mania), etc. It has a few gameplay gotchas, but they’re not too big–layout issues, inability to go back to skipped text, or to put your game in an unwinnable state early on). Unfortunately it’s a “roguelike”, and it’s much too slow-paced and doesn’t have enough replay value, so it becomes a horrible, un-fun grind when you want to actually win. I probably missed the 100% ending but I won’t be going back to get it. I have no idea who would want to play this repeatedly. I’m looking forward to the next game from the same studio though! I recommend playing a friend’s copy instead of buying.

(2/5) Darkest Dungeon. It was fine but I don’t really remember it.

(2/5) Dicey Dungeons. Okay deck-building roguelike gameplay (with an inventory instead of a deck). Really frustrating, unskippably slow difficulty curve at the start. I played it some more this year and liked it better because I had a savegame. I appreciate having several character classes, but they should unlock every difficulty from the start.

(2/5) Diner Bros. Basically just a worse Overcooked. I didn’t like the controls, and it felt too repetitive with only one diner.

(2/5) Don’t Eat My Mind You Stupid Monster. Okay art and idea, the gameplay wasn’t too fun for me.

(2/5) Don’t Starve – I’ve played Don’t Stave maybe 8 different times, and it’s never really gripped me, I always put it back down. It’s slow, a bit grindy, and there’s no bigger goal–all you can do is live.

(3/5) Don’t Starve Together – Confusingly, Don’t Starve Together can be played alone. It’s Don’t Starve, plus a couple of the expansions. This really could be much more clearly explained.

(1/5) Elemental Abyss – A deck-builder, but this time it’s grid-based tactics. Really not all that fun. Just play Into the Abyss instead or something.

(1/5) Else Heart.Break() – I was excited that this might be a version of “Hack N’ Slash” from doublefine that actually delivered and let you goof around with the world. I gave it up in the first ten minutes, because the writing and characters drove me crazy, without getting to hacking the world.

(2/5) Everything is Garbage. Pretty good for a game jam game. Not a bad use of 10 minutes. I do think it’s probably possible to make the game unwinnable, and the ending is just nothing.

(1/5) Evolve. Idle game, not all that fun. I take issue with the mechanic in Sharks, Kittens, and this where buying your 15th fence takes 10^15 wood for some reason.

(4/5) Exapunks. Zachtronics has really been killing it lately, with Exapunks and Opus Magnum. WONDERFUL art and characters during story portions, and much better writing. The gameplay is a little more varied than in TIS-100 or the little I played of ShenZen I/O. My main complaint about Zachtronics games continues to be, that I don’t want to be given a series of resource-limited puzzles (do X, but without using more than 10 programming instructions). Exapunks is the first game where it becomes harder to do something /at all/, rather than with a particular amount of resources, but it’s still not there for me. Like ShenZen, they really go for a variety of hardware, too. Can’t recommend this because it’s really only for programmers.

(1/5) Exception. Programming game written by some money machine mobile games company. Awful.

(4/5) Factorio. Factorio’s great, but for me it doesn’t have that much replay value, even with mods. I do like their recent updates, which included adding blueprints from the start of the game, improving belt sorting, and adding a research queue. We changed movement speed, made things visually always day, and adding a small number of personal construction robots from the start this run. I’m sure if you’d like factorio you’ve played it already.

(3/5) Fall Guys – I got this because it was decently fun to watch. Unfortunately, it’s slightly less fun to play. Overall, there’s WAY too much matchmaking waiting considering the number of players, and the skill ceiling is very low on most of the games, some of which are essentially luck (I’m looking at you, team games).

(3/5) Forager – Decent game. A little too much guesswork in picking upgrades–was probably a bit more fun on my second play because of that. Overall, nice graphics and a cute map, but the gameplay could use a bit of work.

(3/5) Getting Over It – Funny idea, executed well. Pretty sure my friends and I have only gotten through 10% of the game, and all hit about the same wall (the first tunnel)

(3/5) Guild of Dungeoneering – Pretty decent gameplay. I feel like it’s a bit too hard for me, but that’s fine. Overall I think it could use a little more cute/fun art, I never quite felt that motivated.

(1/5) Hardspace: Shipbreakers. Okay, I seriously didn’t get to play this one, but I had GAMEBREAKING issues with my controller, which is a microsoft X-box controller for PC–THE development controller.

(2/5) Helltaker. All right art, meh gameplay. But eh, it’s free!

(3/5) Hot Lava. Decent gameplay. Somehow felt like the place that made this had sucked the souls out of all the devs first–no one cared about the story or characters. It’s a game where the floor is made out of lava, with a saturday morning cartoon open, so that was a really an issue. Admirable lack of bugs, though. I’m a completionist so I played the first world a lot to get all the medals, and didn’t try the later ones.

(3/5) House Flipper – Weird, but I had fun. I wish the gameplay was a little more unified–it felt like a bunch of glued-together minigames.

(2/5) Hydroneer. Utterly uninspiring. I couldn’t care about making progress at all, looked like a terrible grind to no benefit.

(1/5) io. Tiny game, I got it on Steam, also available on phone. Basically a free web flash game, but for money. Not good enough to pay the $1 I paid. Just a bit of a time-killer.

(3/5) Islanders – All you do is place buildings and get points. Not particularly challenging, but relaxing. Overall I liked it.

(3/5) Jackbox – I played this online with a streamer. Jackbox has always felt a little bit soulless money grab to me, but it’s still all right. I like that I can play without having a copy–we need more games using this purchase model.

(3/5) Life is Feudal – Soul-crushingly depressing and grindy, which I knew going in. I thought it was… okay, but I really want an offline play mode (Yes, I know there’s an unsupported single-player game, but it’s buggier and costs money). UI was pretty buggy, and I think hunting might literally be impossible.

(2/5) Minecraft – Antimatter Chemistry. Not particularly fun.

(3/5) Minecraft – ComputerCraft. I played a pack with just ComputerCraft and really nothing else. Was a little slow, would have been more fun with more of an audience. I love the ComputerCraft mod, I just didn’t have a great experience playing my pack I made.

(3/5) Minecraft – Foolcraft 3. Fun, a bit buggy. Honestly I can’t remember it too well.

(1/5) Minecraft – Manufactio. Looked potentially fun, but huge bugs and performance issues, couldn’t play.

(4/5) Minecraft – Tekkit. Tekkit remains one of my favorite Minecraft modpacks.

(3/5) Minecraft – Valhelsia 2. I remember this being fun, but I can’t remember details as much as I’d like. I think it was mostly based around being the latest version of minecraft?

(4/5) Minecraft – Volcano Block. Interesting, designed around some weird mods I hadn’t used. I could have used more storage management or bulk dirt/blocks early in the game–felt quite cramped. Probably got a third of the way through the pack. I got novelty value out of it, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed it if I had ever used the plant mod before–it’s a very fixed, linear progression.

(5/5) Minit. This is a weird, small game. I actually had a lot of fun with it. Then I 100% completed it, which was less fun but I still had a good time overall.

(3/5) Monster Box. By Dan-box. One of two Dan-box games I played a lot of. Just visually appealing, the gameplay isn’t amazing. Also, Dan-box does some great programming–this is a game written in 1990 or so, and it can render hundreds of arrows in the air smoothly in a background tab.

(3/5) Monster Train. A relatively fun deckbuilding card game. It can’t run well on my computer, which is UNACCEPTABLE–this is a card game with 2D graphics. My MICROWAVE should run this shit in 2020. Ignoring that, the gameplay style (summon monsters, MTG style) just isn’t my cup of tea.

(2/5) Moonlighter. Felt like it was missing some inspiration, just didn’t have a sense of “fun”. The art was nice. The credits list is surprisingly long.

(2/5) Muse Dash. All right, a basic rhythm game. Not enough variety to the game play, and everything was based around perfect or near-perfect gameplay, which makes things less fun for me.

(3/5) NES games – various. Dr Mario, Ice Climbers. Basically, I got some Chinese handheld “gameboy” that has all the NES games preloaded on it. Overall it was a great purchase.

(2/5) Noita. “The Powder Game” by Dan-Box, as a procedurally generated platformer with guns. Lets you design your own battle spells. Despite the description, you really still can’t screw around as much as I’d like. I also had major performance issues

(3/5) Observation. I haven’t played this one as much as I’d like, I feel like it may get better. Storytelling, 3D game from the point of view of the AI computer on a space station. I think I might have read a book it’s based on, unfortunately.

(2/5) One Step From Eden. This is a deck-building combat tactics game. I thought it was turn-based, but it’s actually realtime. I think if it was turn-based I would have liked it. The characters were a bit uninspired.

(1/5) Orbt XL. Very dull. I paid $0.50 for it, it was worth that.

(4/5) Opus Magnum. Another great game from Zachtronics, along with Exapunks they’re really ramping up. This is the third execution of the same basic concept. I’d like to see Zachtronics treading new ground more as far as gameplay–that said, it is much improved compared to the first two iterations. The art, writing, and story were stellar on the other hand.

(3/5) Out of Space. Fun idea, you clean a spaceship. It’s never that challenging, and it has mechanics such that it gets easier the more you clean, rather than harder. Good but not enough replay value. Fun with friends the first few times. The controls are a little wonky.

(1/5) Outpost (tower defense game). I hate all tower defense.

(3/5) Overcooked. Overcooked is a ton of fun.

(4/5) Powder Game – Dan-box. I played this in reaction to not liking Noita. It’s fairly old at this point. Just a fun little toy.

(1/5) Prime Mover – Very cool art, the gameplay put me to sleep immediately. A “circuit builder” game but somehow missing any challenge or consistency.

(2/5) Quest for Glory I. Older, from 1989. Didn’t really play this much, I couldn’t get into the writing, and the pseudo-photography art was a little jarring.

(4/5) Raft. I played this in beta for free on itch.io, and had a lot of fun. Not enough changed that it was really worth a replay, but it has improved, and I got to play with a second player. Not a hard game, which I think was a good thing. The late game they’ve expanded, but it doesn’t really add much. The original was fun and so was this.

(3/5) Satisfactory. I honestly don’t know how I like this one–I didn’t get too far into it.

(4/5) Scrap Mechanic. I got this on a recommendation from a player who played in creative. I only tried the survival mode–that mode is not well designed, and their focuses for survival are totally wrong. I like the core game, you can actually build stuff. If I play again, I’ll try the creative mode, I think.

(3.5/5) Shapez.io. A weird, abstracted simplification of Factorio. If I hadn’t played factorio and half a dozen copies, I imagine this would have been fun, but it’s just more of the same. Too much waiting–blueprints are too far into the game, too.

(2.5/5) Simmiland. Okay, but short. Used cards for no reason. For a paid game, I wanted more gameplay out of it?

(0.5/5) Snakeybus. The most disappointing game I remember this year. Someone made “Snake” in 3D. There are a million game modes and worlds to play in. I didn’t find anything I tried much fun.

(1/5) Soda Dungeon. A “mobile” (read: not fun) style idle game. Patterned after money-grab games, although I don’t remember if paid progress was actually an option. I think so.

(4/5) Spelunky. The only procedurally generated platformer I’ve ever seen work. Genuinely very fun.

(4/5) Spelunky 2. Fun, more of an upgrade of new content than a new game. Better multiplayer. My computer can’t run later levels at full speed.

(1/5) Stick Ranger 2. Dan-box. Not much fun.

(3/5) Superliminal. Fun game. A bit short for the pricetag.

(3/5) Tabletop Simulator – Aether’s End: Legacy. Interesting, a “campaign” (series of challenge bosses and pre-written encounters) deckbuilding RPG. I like the whole “campaign RPG boardgame” idea. This would have worked better with paper, there were some rough edges in both the game instructions and the port to Tabletop Simulator.

(4/5) Tabletop Simulator – The Captain is Dead. Very fun. I’d love to play with more than 2 people. Tabletop simulator was so-so for this one.

(2/5) Tabletop Simulator – Tiny Epic Mechs. You give your mech a list of instructions, and it does them in order. Arena fight. Fun, but I think I could whip up something at least as good.

(3/5) The Council. One of the only 3D games I finished. It’s a story game, where you investigate what’s going on and make various choices. It’s set in revolutionary france, at the Secret World Council that determines the fate of the world. It had a weak ending, with less choice elements than the rest of the game so far, which was a weird decision. Also, it has an EXCRUTIATINGLY bad opening scene, which was also weird. The middle 95% of the game I enjoyed, although the ending went on a little long. The level of background knowledge expected of the player swung wildly–they seemed to expect me to know who revolutionary French generals were with no explanation, but not Daedalus and the Minotaur. The acting was generally enjoyable–there’s a lot of lying going on in the game and it’s conveyed well. The pricetag is too high to recommend.

(0/5) The Grandma’s Recipe (Unus Annus). This game is unplayably bad–it’s just a random pixel hunt. Maybe it would be fun if you had watched the video it’s based on.

(3/5) The Room. Pretty fun! I think this is really designed for a touchscreen, but I managed to play it on my PC. Played it stoned, which I think helps with popular puzzle games–it has nice visuals but it’s a little too easy.

(3/5) This Call May Be Recorded. Goofy experimental game.

(4/5) TIS-100. Zachtronics. A programming game. I finally got done with the first set of puzzles and into the second this year. I had fun, definitely not for everyone.

(3/5) Trine. I played this 2-player. I think the difficulty was much better 2-player, but it doesn’t manage 2 players getting separated well. Sadly we skipped the story, which seemed like simple nice low-fantasy. Could have used goofier puzzles, it took itself a little too seriously and the levels were a bit same-y.

(2/5) Unrailed. Co-op railroad building game. It was okay but there wasn’t base-building. Overall not my thing. I’d say I would prefer something like Overcooked if it’s going to be timed? Graphics reminded me of autonauts.

(2/5) Vampire Night Shift. Art game. Gameplay could have used a bit of polish. Short but interesting.

(4/5) Wayward. To date, the best survival crafting system I’ve seen. You can use any pointy object and stick-like object, together with glue or twine, to make an arrow. The UI is not great, and there’s a very counter-intuitive difficulty system. You need to do a little too much tutorial reading, and it could use more goals. Overall very fun. Under constant development, so how it plays a given week is a crapshoot. The steam version finally works for me (last time I played it was worse than the free online alpha, now it’s the same or better). I recomend playing the free online version unless you want to support the author.

(1/5) We Need to Go Deeper. Multiplayer exploration game in a sub, with sidescrolling battle. Somehow incredibly unfun, together with high pricetag. Aesthetics reminded me of Don’t Starve somehow.

(2/5) We Were Here. Okay 2-player puzzle game. Crashed frequently, and there were some “huh” puzzles and UI. Free.

(3/5) Yes, your grace. Gorgeous pixel art graphics. The story is supposed to be very player-dependent, but I started getting the feeling that it wasn’t. I didn’t quite finish the game but I think I was well past halfway. Hard to resume after a save, you forget things. I got the feeling I wouldn’t replay it, which is a shame because it’s fun to see how things go differently in a second play with something like this.

These are not all new to me, and very few came out in 2020. I removed any games I don’t remember and couldn’t google (a fair number, I play a lot of game jam games) as well as any with pornographic content.

2020 Videogames was originally published on Optimal Prime

[punishedvenomsnake]

You are one in a MINION! Send this to ten friends you think are simply bananas!

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to episode one of Jermacraft, the series where I play Minecraft.

This is gonna be a singleplayer let's play and when I say let's play I use that term... pretty loosely because I'm an idiot in this game - you're gonna see lots of fails, you're gonna see lots of triumphs, at least I'm hoping.

So go grab yourself a nice hot cup of coffee, hot cup of cocoa. I've got apple cider right here freshly brewed, let me take a sip.

sip

Ah that's good cider. Alright, so let's get this started - create new world.

World name is going to be... JermaCraft! Sounds about right, eh ok...

Game mode is going to be suurvii- survival, that's the most interesting I think.

More world options- seed for world generator ok this is important!

I gotta name this something crazy to get cool structures and stuff.

Gonna name it... umm... how about,

"DiamondsAreForever"

"LOL"

"cheese"

uh "BURGAH".

Alright, there's- that's our world generator seed, "DiamondsAreForeverLOLcheeseBURGAH"... Done!

Alright let's see what happens, create new world let's do it guys. 'Building terrain' oh my god this is so exciting this is episode one!

I wonder... I wonder where we're gonna end up... Where are we gonna end up?

Ok... what- what? Where the hell am I? I spawned on top of a mountain top! Ok hold on, sound has to be lowered, definitely...

Mkay, a lil' bit of that, a lil' bit of that... maybe a little lower! That sounds about right. Alright!

So, uh, apparently I spawned on top of a mountain... I kinda- this is a good seed!

What's that? We're going to explore it right now - GO!

dies from fall damage

Oh! jerma laugh

... Heheheh... Alright we're going to try that again. This time I'm not gonna miss... I wanna get down to tha- that's the home right there, I wanna live right there.

Don- I don't even have to explore, see if I can't do this... I gotta, hold on... I got an idea, I got a plan.

JermaCraft episode one, this is how we do it! You guys ready? I don't know if you- I don't know if you guys are actually really ready for this!

Here we go! I'm going for a skydive. Remember if you hold shift you don't fall off... That's something I didn't know when I used to livestream this game...

wheeze Heh heh! You guys ready? Ready to go see our new home?

jerma laugh

Alrighty then... What the hell is that? Oh it's an octopus... Look at this quaint little place... I love it already! Heh heh! Alrighty...

So- oh.. exhalation I'm so stupid! Y'see I'm- this is why... this is why I'm an idiot guys... y'see, why would I... I need to get wood! And I just jumped off th- ok...

Remember this... Where are we, pointing east? I have no idea.

Gotta get some trees... That's the most important part of Minecraft you gotta get trees, that's the first thing you gotta get.

Lemme take a sip of my apple cider...

sipping sounds

Oh that's good stuff!

Hopefully you guys picked up a thing of coco like I told you to because that's the most relaxing thing in the world, sitting down, playing videogames... doesn't get much better than that.

Ah ok, c'mon now! Oooh, we got sand too! Now, explain this to me alright?

Alright I want Notch to send me a personal email, and explain to me why there are cows that are acting like Mountain Lions...

I'm gonna kill each one of those cows in just a minute, you watch.

fall damage

Ow... Well at least there's one tree over here... Gotta remember, I gotta go back that way, cause that's where the, the house is gonna be... My awesome dirt house!

So if you are an OLD subscriber, I mean really old, like at least four months ol- month- four... ffweehh four or five months. You'll remember the original JermaCraft it was like two episodes...

And I built a dirt house. This is gonna be completely different I'm going to actually spend time... and make some cool stuff. At least that's what I'm pretending that I'm gonna say that.

Got some wood... aw I got Geno still (his Minecraft skin) from Mario RPG, one of the best games of all time. If you have never played Mario RPG I suggest you play it.

Alright, got some wood, I need more trees over here I can... dig up. I'll get this one too.

excruciatingly slow wood punching

One more and we'll make our way back.

more wood punching

So I guess they added a hunger feature now too if- if you're hungry, you... you die? ... Or something, I guess? Who knows?

even more wood punching

Little bit more wood... And in my livestreams I- I was, always a tradition that when I played this game I would sing a song when things got really boring.

So that seems like the perfect opportunity right now to sing a song, so uh lemme just prep my vocal chords for a second...

sips apple cider

clears throat

Ok... So we're getting wood right now right?

(In Jazz Tune) doodoo, doo doo, (kh) doo, (kh) doo, (kh) doooo doo dooo doo doo, (kh) doo, (kh) doo (kh), doooo.

We're chopping wood down!

(kh) doodoo, doo (kh).

Every single day...

(kh) doo, (kh) doo, (kh) doooo.

I gotta get my tools!

(tch) m'doo (kh)

Any which way.

(tch) doodoo, (kh) doo, (kh) doooo doo doo.

I can't seem to reach this stupid piece of wood, so I gotta put some blocks down to get where I should...

I'mgonnachopem.

(tch) d'dnn, (tch) nhh, (tch) nhhh~

I'm gonna chop right now.

nhh, (tch) nhh, (tch) doooonnnh~ doodooonnh~ doon, (tch) doon, (tch)

fall damage

Alright that's enough... Got it! Let's get the hell outta here! Yaaay!~ splash So those of you that don't think that's gonna be a good spot- you'll see...

I'm gonna build that up to be like a castle! So here's the goal... by Christmas time of this year, 2011, I wanna have... a giant castle like as big as that, uhh, that mountain over there...

begins breaking blocks

So let's clean this up a little bit. Why don't we huh? Yeah alright, alright! ... Maybe put a little bit of dirt down here... Make sure I can y'know...

D- did I really run out of dirt? Wonderful... My first wooden tools. It's just like going to your first day of school... And get, punched in the face by the bully...

Speaking of bullies... I got a funny story for you. First ever story on JermaCraft! While I do this mundane stuff.

So... when I was like in the fourth grade, there was a kid that lived down the street from me, his name will- will stay anonymous, because... y'know I don't want him to like- if he watches these videos- I don't want him to come, like, beat me up.

Not that he would ever remember this to begin with... but I- I was probably like the fourth grade... And eh, swallows I was a little S-word guys I was a little- I was a little... little jerk when I was younger.

So essentially what happened, was- this kid, he was a big, big, fat kid: scary, not very nice. And my brother got in like a fight with him, like a looong time before this v- when I was like the second grade my brother's a little bit older than me...

And lemme pick this up.

So my brother got in a fight with this kid and... and... and like I heard about it. And so at the bus stop one day, cause we were at the same bus stop because he lives right down the street from us. At leas- at least he did, I don't know if he does anymore.

So... I dunno why- I was in the fourth grade this so much of a little jerk I was. So my grandmother used to pick me up from school, after I got from the bus stop...

Because y'know obviously you don't wanna walk- y'know, the mile and a half back to your house or whatever it is, mile... Cause the bus stop wasn't that close.

So my grandma used to pick me up, and he was at the bus stop as well, and one day I decided that out of the back window, I was going to give him a double middle finger, as I was driving with my grandmother one day.

I dunno why- I don't even know why I did it guys I can't- I can't tell you one reason why I gave this kid the double middle finger. And from that day forward, he just kinda gave me the w- like a weird look like "What? The hell are you doing?"

And from that day forward I would RUN. RUN, as fast as I could to the bus stop, and away to the bus stop where my grandmother was gonna pick me up, and it was like that for almost six months.

And he never beat me up or anything like that he, eh- he, I- I he- I don- I don- I was like, overreacting.

Actually hold on a second I don't need this... What am I doing with this? I was just putting blocks down! Actualy nonono, I was- I was doing the right thing. I want- I want these. Cause I wanna make like a wall kind of...

Let's keep that going. So yeah, so I guess the moral of the story is, never give the double middle finger to a bully. Cause, you'll be scared for the rest of your life.

And I still am scared, when I like open my doors to like, go and get the groceries... I'm scared. That bully's gonna come get me for me... givin' him the bird.

Yeah- yeah that is actually a true story I did not make that up it- I was scared for like, at least six months. And nothing ever happened either, and like- like I didn't get beat up or anything, so...

Alright now. Is there- is this all- is this gonna go straight down into... ok cool. C-o-o-o-o-l! I'm gonna make a little mine here!

hisses

It's getting late... it's getting late and when it gets late that's when Jerma starts to lose.

starts digging 4x4 hole straight down

I don't think I've ever made it past one night in this game when people are watching. I really don't think it's happened.

ambient cave sound

Is that- Ooh, there's a mine somewhere around here... Pretty sick! Oh jeez- it's right here! Ohohohoh! Nice! Maybe there's coal right here too, that'd be pretty awesome!

Oh my god, Creeper! Creeper get the hell outta here! I'm gonna kick your butt! Y'know yeah- yeah blow up! Go on, go on what do you think I care?

You can't hurt me I got a shovel! I'm gonna shovel your face in-

creeper explodes and takes off more than half of Jerma's health

gasp

... Ok well that's done. chuckles There's not coal just right here somewhere? There has to be... See this is why they always tell you, right when you start, you need to go get coal, you need to go get wood and everything, but I was too busy talking about a bully... me giving him the middle finger.

So looking- I'm trying to see if I can see coal, sometimes it's just right on the edge of these mountains...

stares into pitch black

Hmmmm... I am not pleased! ... Let's at least do this. I need a sheep too, I need wool! I'm being a real piece of crap...

[proteusspade]

On the debacle with Fallout 76

 I feel like the debacle with Fallout 76 has become a testing grounds for a lot of the dominating theories and myths about video games and video game consumers in general, as well as more specifically about Bethesda studios and Bethesda gamers. I apologize for the LONG post ahead, but there’s a lot to unpack here and I want to make sure everyone’s on the same page before I try and make any big points. For those not in the know, I will attempt to summarize: - Bethesda released Fallout 76, a multiplayer installment in the Fallout franchise, with a set release date of November 14, 2018.  - The game was announced with the marketing that it would be playable and enjoyable as singleplayer, that every person you ran into would be a real person, that it was a new Fallout experience, that its graphics would improve upon Fallout 4′s graphics by 16 times, and notably, one collector’s edition which cost $200 was marketed as coming with a wearable helmet and a canvas bag.

The beta was shaky and riddled with bugs, and upon release, the game itself was still pretty much broken -- far moreso than other Bethesda titles, and this coming from a company where the running joke since Oblivion has been that the bugs are so prevalent that they are a feature, not a flaw. An enormous patch was released shortly after launch, which was larger in size than the game itself, and which not only didn’t fix almost any of the bugs, but created hundreds *more* bugs, as if they didn’t playtest the patch at all.  For players like me who can go a surprisingly long time in a Bethesda game without seeing any bugs at all, I will note that these bugs include: - T-posing enemies which either spontaneously assume their correct animations only when you get close, or never do, or which teleport suddenly into you to try and display their attack animations - Horrendous enemy A.I. where a lot of them will just stand in one place looping an animation - Enemies spawning out of thin air directly in front of you due to slow loading - A bug where enemies spontaneously heal the exact amount of damage you deal to them, making them invincible - Falling through the ground out of nowhere - Clipping through and getting caught in the world - Frequent server crashes, often due to in-game happenings (the game eventually gives you access to nuclear bombs, but the same bombs can crash the server if you drop them) - Frequent disconnects - Frequent game crashes (with no ‘save game’ function) - Body horror bugs like the Wendigo Bug which have been present since Fallout 4 and haven’t been fixed by Bethesda yet, even though modders were able to fix them weeks after Fallout 4 came out. Three years ago.  Moreover, the game directly ported over most of its visual assets from Fallout 4. Most of the landscape elements come from Fallout 4, almost all of the weapons come from Fallout 4, almost all of the outfits and armors come from Fallout 4, most of the monsters come from Fallout 4, the physics and gunplay is directly ported over (minus the ability to pause the game to open your inventory, of course, and minus the time-slowing aspect of V.A.T.S, which makes V.A.T.S almost completely useless), the character creation is ported over, the loot is ported over, the base-building system and all of its assets (walls, floors, anything you’d use to build a base) are ported over. Basically, other than trees and certain monsters unique to West Virginia, you’ll have a hard time spotting content which isn’t directly ported over from Fallout 4, often without palette swaps. Is the promise of better graphics fulfilled?  Well, the lighting is significantly improved, and even very pretty and atmospheric -- though occasionally light will shine through solid far-away objects, like mountains. Modders had done this almost immediately with Fallout 4, too, though, so it’s not really a huge achievement. And the landscape is much more colourful than in any other Fallout game, which is admittedly a nice change of pace, even though it makes no goddamn sense why the trees would survive while everything else dies around them. But other than those two elements... yeah, it just looks like Fallout 4, but usually doesn’t render as well due to being on a multiplayer server and due to the graphical glitches. How about the promise that every person you run into is a real person? Well, that was true all right, but how anyone thought that was a good idea is beyond me. It’s one of those things that sounds really cool and innovative until you think about it for literally any length of time at all. Why would that be a good thing? Unless you have quite a lot of friends who you’ve somehow got onto the same server (which, by the way, I don’t think has much functionality in Fallout 76), you’re not going to be very interested in those people, and you have no reason to be. They’re just big lumps of immersion-breaking, as I seriously doubt many people are going onto the game to vocally roleplay their way through the game experience.  Moreover, this means no NPCs besides monsters and robots. No quests from anyone but robots and holotapes. Now, I like holotapes. I’m one of those unbearable players who listens to every holotape and reads every computer terminal. My favourite part of Fallout games is usually finding out the big stories behind Vaults or unusual locations. But when you are doing this quest for someone you will never meet, and have complete certainty of this fact, the reason to do quests in the first place starts to ebb away. You just get holotapes or robots telling you to go to a place, kill something there, rinse, repeat. That’s the entire game. Nothing is achieved; everyone who recorded those holotapes is dead, or a monster now. You’re not doing anyone any favours. There’s no one to help, there’s no one to hate, there’s just you (and whatever people you’re playing with, who, again, aren’t really part of the story as multiplayer gamers don’t typically roleplay). The main quest of the game revolves around trying to find the previous Overseer of the vault. There’s zero suspense, interest or urgency, because as a player, you know with complete certainty going in that if you find her, she’ll be dead or a monster. When you remove the NPCs, you remove all our reasons to care about quests. You also remove all interactions in the game besides “kill thing, loot thing, make stuff with loot”. And killing monsters with such laughable AI and glitches, AI designed for Fallout 4 where V.A.T.S could pause the game and dropped into a game where it doesn’t, isn’t nearly enjoyable enough to make that game loop anything but ghastly. How ANYONE thought this was a good idea is beyond me, and I’m pretty sure at this point that they didn’t do it because they thought it was a good idea, they did it because having NPCs function like they would in a singleplayer game, while in a multiplayer server, is an incredibly daunting task. When literally no one asked for the game to be multiplayer in the first place, but hey. Is the game fun to play alone? Not from literally anyone I know who has, no, and this is due to the above factors. Is the game, as the marketing said, more fun to play with your friends? Well, yes, but the same could be said of cleaning out a moldy garage alone versus with friends. Being with friends makes anything more enjoyable. The game does not cease to have all its serious underlying problems when you play with friends, you just have someone to commiserate with and witness this bullshit with you. Is this a new Fallout experience? Not really. It’s Fallout 4 with a prettier landscape, story constrained to holotapes and therefore constrained to the past (and not the present the player is actually playing in!), and it’s arguably not even a Fallout experience at all. It wears a Fallout skin but the core roleplaying, choice, and narrative features of the game are gone, and all that’s left is a world that’s much bigger, but where all the new space is pretty much empty anyhow.  Oh, and the canvas bags for the collector’s edition were cheap vinyl when people got them, Bethesda just went “yeah canvas was too expensive lol, u can have five dollars’ worth of the game’s microtransaction money for free tho if you want, just file a complaint”. The amount of the microtransaction digital money wouldn’t even buy a virtual canvas bag, mind. Then someone threatened a lawsuit, and it looks like people are going to get their actual canvas bags. But they still need to file a complaint, and WHOOPS! They accidentally doxxed everyone who filed a complaint, to some other people who filed a complaint! The absolute cherry on top. (Yes, it really was an accident, it’s even stupider than it sounds.) So what can we take away from all this? Well, I wouldn’t take away much hope for Fallout 76 as a game, for one. It’s a dumpster fire, and they keep pouring gasoline onto it. But the game has scored abysmally low basically everywhere. People have noticed, and they’re not pleased. The game’s price has dropped 30%, and that’s in the first couple weeks after launching, which is completely unheard of for a AAA game. Returns are going wild. Youtube is FULL of videos taking Fallout 76 to town. So clearly, gamers won’t lap up whatever you give them just because it’s a sequel to something they love. The sunk cost fallacy hasn’t run that deep, and people are suddenly extremely skeptical of whatever Bethesda releases next -- which at this rate, is going to be either The Elder Scrolls: Blades, or their new sci-fi game, followed by The Elder Scrolls VII (title as yet unannounced).  I would also suggest that studios may finally have been given a good indication that clumsily slapping multiplayer on something that had success as single-player isn’t the greatest idea. This is a lesson that probably should have been learned years ago, but better late than never.  I would also hope that game studios, Bethesda especially, develop a touch more respect for their fanbase and realize that player bases can be lost. Bethesda has relied upon their fanbase to mod away their bugs, laziness, and incomplete content hampered by release dates for many years now, but faced with a multiplayer game with no mod support, they are put in a position where they have to realize how heavily they’ve been leaning on those mods. But there’s another part of the story that isn’t being covered so much -- one which challenges the assumptions which has led Bethesda and the players to such a disaster in the first place. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been in the makings for a long time now, but was released something like a year late in comparison to its originally announced release date. The new Kingdom Hearts has been repeatedly delayed. I’d expect the fans would have reacted with nothing but outrage! But they ... haven’t, for the most part. There’s been some frustration and groaning, especially with people who have pre-ordered the games, but for the most part, the fans have been pretty understanding. It turns out they’d rather have a game come out finished than come out on time.  That seems simple, and even obvious, but for close to twenty years, it has been the prevailing logic that for a game to sell well, it has to come out at a pre-defined and specific date, and if it isn’t done, that’s just how the process of making games work, and we’ll fix it in bug patches, or wait for mods to fix it. This is such an assumed phenomenon that it shows up repeatedly in Extra Credits, a show which talks in great detail about the production of video games, and I’d be hard-pressed to name a game that I own or play which doesn’t have unfinished content, even if it’s fairly bug-free. But here we are, Red Dead 2 is out, and it’s a roaring success, despite considerable delays. The conventional wisdom is simply wrong. And it gets even better. This is the trailer for The Outer Worlds, a game made by Obsidian. I urge you to watch it. First of all, the game looks good. The graphics are good, the human characters are expressive and dynamic while still looking realistic. The backgrounds are great. The humour is great. The world-building, what we see of it, looks very promising. And oh my god, the shade they throw at Bethesda is gorgeous. Not only does Obsidian highlight themselves as the creators of Fallout and Fallout: New Vegas -- that is, the two most-loved Fallout games -- they play with the concept of a cryogenically frozen player character (possibly lampshading the use of the same concept in Fallout 4), and they point out that player choice isn’t just about a binary “who do you shoot” moment -- another moment from Fallout 4, and one of the few real choices you get to make in that game -- and implies that variety of choice, including non-combat choice, is going to be a Thing in this game. Look at the comments section for that video. You will see hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of comments praising the trailer, talking about the shade it casts on Bethesda, making New Vegas meme jokes, praising the music, lauding the humour, wondering about the characters it shows us. You know what I didn’t see? Even one single, solitary comment complaining that there’s no definite release date shown anywhere in that trailer. Seriously, watch it again. It doesn’t say exactly when it’s coming out. Just 2019. No month. No date. Just sometime next year. You know... when it’s done. What you might not have known was that The Outer Worlds was originally estimated to come out this year. You didn’t know that because they didn’t release the trailer until just recently -- when they were far enough in production to produce such a great trailer, for one, but also once they were far enough to be certain they would be finished with production within a year.  No one cares when it’s coming. They care that it looks like a good game with so much original effort put into it. That’s what matters. And maybe if the game studios can realize this, we’ll finally see an end to the exploitative bullshit that happens -- exploitative of not just the gamers, but of the thousands of overworked employees it takes to make a AAA video game -- in the service of an absolute deadline above the game itself. God, now that’s a thought. So don’t be discouraged by the failure of Fallout 76. There’s way better on the horizon. The myths that studios need a firm deadline to put out a good game, the myths that players in some way demand a firm deadline, the myth that players will sit there and take any level of bullshit, they’re all being thoroughly, publicly debunked. Feels good, man. Feels good.

[legionofpotatoes]

My expanded thoughts on Anthem if anyone cares, under the cut

Here’s the thing about this thing. I had a very fun weekend with the Anthem VIP demo overall, despite its own damn self a lot of the time. That’s the short of it.

But I feel as a lifelong Bioware fan that’s been sucking off singleplayer titles and mercilessly dunking on competitive gaming I should like, Elaborate(tm)

Firstly yes, it was plagued by client-side bugs on launch, so the start was a fair bit wonky. I was trying to enter freeplay for like 3 hours. The incredible music kept me sane, but as the thankfully transparent communication came in it became apparent it wasn’t an easy issue so I chalked it up to bad connectivity shenanigans that won’t rear its head in the future. The devs genuinely worked tirelessly to get it fixed, so when I finally got to the meat and potatoes of it all I shed prior biases and tried to focus. What I found an intriguing new world wrapped in a type of game that still felt very.. alien to me. And yet it also felt like it had a Bioware heart beating underneath its shell. 

Which can mean fuckall nowadays, I know; but speaking about story based on the demo is wack because the context and flow of world-building is difficult to grasp; the slice here throws us in the middle of the story with no training wheels and much of exposition locked away for the full thing. There is definitely a very rich, purposefully-built lore here (already there are traces of Bioware’s signature motifs with the legacy of Helena Tarsis, the politically motivated factions of Bastion, the controversial emergence of cyphers, etc), and it seems intent on making its fat points throughout the critical path. That I found reassuring, since my multiplayer-averse ass will eventually need to latch on to something more gratifying than loot chases in order to keep invested.

Of course that fundamentally means that the game is not FOR me, per se. Nor would I say it’s for anyone who loves single-player games exclusively and thinks of Bioware as that particular stamp factory. This is not a campaign-driven RPG that has multiple gameplay pillars feeding its narrative. And it definitely is not doing backwards flips trying to pretend to be one (Fort Tarsis initially felt like that exact type of posturing, but it has a pleasantly balancing function instead). It has one pillar and one pillar only, and that’s the loot chase. Whether or not Anthem will be a good game depends wholly on its commitment to make said pillar into the crux of everything it contains. And so far said commitment is a bit vague - it has a nice basis for these systems, but variety, presentation, and balance seem very much at their infancy.

I say this because I have tried my hand at other games of similar type - Destiny, Warframe, Borderlands, and Overwatch. No others but I think this is a good enough blueprint to analyze Anthem’s part on the market - all of these titles dwindled out on me because of the loot chase eventually being prioritized to the point of absolution, with story, character building, and even palatable gameplay pacing (how fucking fast are WF and OW, jesus christ) sacrificed at the altar of frighteningly well-calculated doses of FUN. It all feels indulgent (which is not bad) and a bit pointless in the end (this is my own high-horse take), and as I understand that’s what kind-of makes them successful. 

And Anthem IS geared more-or-less the same way. It’s an experiment of a game that tries its best at separating storytelling from the loot chase in a way that one does not interfere with the other. The lore and worldbuilding is very clearly designed to support that structure. Which is good for obvious identity crisis reasons - this isn’t a game pretending or trying to please many audiences, something Bioware has been guilty of a lot. This is a story-driven looter shooter with a couple of gameplay loops that elevate its stake, but will ultimately only delay what is sure to become a repetitive experience for me, since the Gun(tm) is the only interaction with the world.

What saves it for me however, are two things; number one are the aforementioned escape bouts to Fort Tarsis, where some pretty hilarious and heartfelt characters are dotting the streets, and where Bioware’s tenure has the most room to breathe and work its magic. This is not a throwaway compliment, there’s decent work being done here. The dialogue system itself is barebones, non-cutscene conversations still look a fair bit stiff, but that twinkle of life that shows itself when you hear a character speak of their experiences is still there. The actual cutscenes look amazing and genuinely fresh, and, like I mentioned above, this isn’t an abstract canvas of lore that ONLY exists to justify the gameplay - there’s something being told here that has many moving pieces in a exciting, new-IP kind of way. Again, hard to deduce from the demo slice, but obvious in retrospect.

The second thing that I personally will look to as a saving grace is that left damn analog stick.

Because dudes. This game isn’t perfect, but it is insanely good at its selling point that was advertised years ago. The lush alien vista of Bastion is a bustling garden of terrain oddities and exotic creatures, with truly groundbreaking verticality hammered into it - the map is honestly more like a cube rather than a flat plane. And your javelin has the simplest tool to experience it the best possible way. It can fly. 

This is always such a weird thing to say to people asking about my big expectations for the game, especially since I’ve basically been in bed with it since its very announcement for reasons they can’t comprehend. I don’t blame any of them of course, but it really is that simple for me - the fantasy of flight in a science fantasy universe created by Bioware is that tiny indulgent thing I always wanted, ever since playing that terrible Dark Void videogame and wishing a better studio had made it. It works INCREDIBLY well, has a balancing wink to it, and elevates the core loop a fair bit. No pun intended. Even the different javelins handle in their own unique ways. It’s just great.

Of course, there’s now a possibility for a BonerLord420 to interrupt my Quality Bioware Experience by throwing a flare in my face before leading an endless army of mobs into it, which is something I hate, have hated, and will hate for the foreseeable future. But the genuine moments of cooperation I did have felt earnest, no one was being a hopeless grief, competitive shit was kept to a minimum (enemy kills don’t drop XP directly), and my socially inept heart opened up just a tiny crack to the possibility that this might be some strange kind of fun.

Bioware DID bring me out of my shell with their whimsy multiplayer modes for the last Mass Effect games, so I feel a bit safer in their hands than I normally would with a game like this. Amazingly, I’m looking forward to exploring Bastion and finding out what this Anthem of Creation business is all about. Cautious, but on board. I definitely love the grabbits with a fierce passion, as well.

[orbsdotorg]

Games of the Year 2018

It’s December and the game awards are almost here so whatever, I’m gonna do one of these. I’m bad at choosing an actual favorite, so in no real order here’s what I liked.

Spider-Man (PS4) - Not really a ton to say here that hasn’t been said elsewhere, this was just a big sloppy love letter to decades of Spider-Man continuity and a ton of fun to play. It also feels like an amalgamation of everything that’s worked in recent open-world action games, from Assassin’s Creed-style collectibles to a tighter, faster version of the Arkham games’ counter-and-gadget based combat. It wasn’t revolutionary in any one aspect, but it all fit together brilliantly. Yeah, the whole “Spider-Man is a cop now” thing sucked, but beneath that it was a story about how being a hero is good and doing the right thing can be fun, which felt really refreshing in a year full of excessively grimdark protagonists. 

Yakuza 6 (PS4) - I’m gonna talk a lot here about what didn’t work in this game. Namely, that as a finale for Kiryu as the series protagonist it felt less satisfying than the ending of Yakuza 5, which was, tbh, a much better game. Or that it had a really weird attitude towards women, sidelining Haruka for most of the game and including a camgirl minigame that feels like a creepier, more sexualized version of previous games’ hostess clubs. But here’s the thing: it’s still Yakuza, and even mediocre Yakuza is better than most of whats on the market at any given time. The combat felt great, the plotting was as pleasantly baffling as ever, and Kiryu is as lovably oblivious of everything as always. Maybe better Yakuza games came out this year, but this was the one I, uh, played, so it’s the one on my list.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth (PC) - I’m one of those people who only really drops back into WoW for a month or two when the new expansion releases, more out of a sense of curiosity than anything, but hoo boy. There’s no fucking reason a 14 year old game should feel this fresh. BfA is a highpoint for the game in terms of both storytelling and world design, with each of the new zones feeling more well-designed and just more fun than the game has in a while. The Witcher-inspired haunted forests of Drustvar in particular stand out, full of entertaining storylines and cool visuals. Some of the new features, especially the upgradable Azerite gear, feel like watered down versions of stuff that worked in Legion, but it’s already being tweaked in interesting ways, and there’s enough here to enjoy until they work out the kinks.

The Hex (PC) - Maybe this doesn’t have the high profile the other games on my list do, but there’s not much I can say here without getting into spoiler territory. It starts with a group of characters from different game genres gathered at a bar, where the owner gets a phone call informing him that someone will soon be murdered. What spins out from there is a heavily meta story about game development and game fandom, one that’s endlessly inventive both in terms of gameplay and narrative. I don’t want to say anymore because you should really experience it for yourself (it’s dirt cheap), but seriously, it packs more evocative storytelling and fun, intuitive gameplay mechanics into five hours than some other games did into forty-plus this year. Every time I thought I had a handle on what it was, it pulled another trick out of its hat. Cannot recommend this one enough.

Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One) - I really, really like racing games. There’s something about driving really fast that just hits me right in lizard part of my brain. Forza’s Horizon spinoff series, about a roving racing/EDM festival full of instagram influencers driving ridiculously expensive supercars around stupidly beautiful countrysides, has always been a particular favorite, and FH4 is far and away the pinnacle of the series. It not only added some great singleplayer features (customizable driver outfits, surprisingly fun “stories”, a Halo showcase race that’s imo the best playable Halo thing ever), it completely nailed the multiplayer. Once you’ve proved yourself on your own, you’re dropped onto a live server with 71 other players (who all harmlessly ghost through each other, thank god) who you’re free to challenge or just honk your custom horn at as you freeroam looking new challenges and races. Plus, the in-game season changes every real-world week, bringing new “seasonal” stuff and fundamentally changing how every race feels. There are also hourly “live challenges”, where everyone on the server works together to hit a goal and earn some currency to spend on weekly rewards. Showing up at a live event starting area and doing donuts with a bunch of other people, all complimenting each other’s paintjobs, while we waited for the event to start is probably the least toxic multiplayer I’ve ever played. Honestly, if I had to pick one game on the list to give a GOTY thing to, it’d be Forza. Do not @ me.

[8bitsupervillain]

End of the Year pt. 2

Games of the Year released before 2020!

Remnant: From the Ashes. The addition of the survival mode in the Swamps of Corsus DLC was quite the shot in the arm to this game. Overall I felt this game was a really fun shooter, the final boss is kind of a dud, but on the whole I greatly enjoyed the game. It's got a really satisfying core to the gameplay. This was originally sold to me as a game similar to Bloodborne, but really it's just a fun Action RPG shooter. Except for some parts with the swamp area, and the fact I got horribly lost in one single dungeon in the desert area I liked this game a lot.

Doom 64. I have never actually played this game on the console it was explicitly made for. I recall being rather harsh on this game when I played it originally a few years ago, but I had a blast with this game when I played it on the PS4. Some of the levels are quite samey looking, but I like the sheer amount of enemies the game throws at you over the course of the two campaigns. With the exception of the Lost Souls and Pain Elementals, I found them particularly annoying through out the bulk of the campaigns. With the rerelease of Doom 64 on to PS4 and all the other consoles they did make a new shorter campaign that takes place after the ending of regular Doom 64. I found it to be really brutal to play through, but honestly it was a grand time to be had.

Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. This is going to seem like a real back-handed recommendation but honestly this game illustrates just how hard it is to make a really good Musou style game. I like this game well enough, but honestly I can't help but get somewhat fed up with how the game plays, especially playing as Tamamo no Mae, she plays rather poorly compared to literally any other character in the game. Also I don't particularly care for the actual story in the game either. Despite not being a particularly big fan of the game when I played it I have gone through it a couple of times. Even though a lot of the servants are relegated to the ancillary bonus missions (and even then I'm pretty sure they only get one a piece) I liked playing as them. My hope is that Extella Link irons out some of the problems I had with this one. It's still well worth playing, just set your expectations accordingly I'd say. Prepare for at best a seven.

Kingdom Hearts HD Final Mix. I vaguely recall playing this game way back when it first came out, but this was the year I actually stuck to it and played it to completion. I liked it a lot actually, much more than I figured I would. I like the story, and while the gameplay is very primitive I had a ball playing around with it. I plan on playing the rest of the series, probably this year, but who knows. I kind of started Chain of Memories (I have the PS4 collection), and that seems alright. I positively adore the song they used to advertise this game listening to it at the end of the game here was a massive shot in the old nostalgia. Regardless of how the rest of the series goes I'd recommend Kingdom Hearts 1 at least.

Control. The story stuff is really very good, and I think the majority of the gameplay is fun. I like using the telekinesis to throw things around, and floating around is always a good time. The DLCs are kind of a mixed bag, you might love them if you have a large love/appreciation for Alan Wake. I don't unfortunately, so the second DLC didn't really do anything for me. I kind of hope the trend of Remedy working on games that aren't Alan Wake continues. I find their other games to be vastly more interesting.

God Eater 3. The design work in this game is positively great, I love the way the monsters and the weapons look. The story might be a bit of a wash, but I still enjoyed what happened in it. It's a nice alternative to Monster Hunter, even if it lacks some of the polish from it. This might sound shallow but I liked the anime look of the characters in the game, and I think that it helped carry the game a fair amount. I eagerly look forward to whatever comes next in either the God Eater series or what the developers do next (Scarlett Nexus I think).

Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Since my DnD group scattered to the winds with the resolution of the campaigns we were running I found this to be a good replacement. It scratches my desire to play a tabletop style RPG. I don't really know much about the Pathfinder system, but I do like what Kingmaker does in replicating the tabletop experience. Probably there are better games that do the pseudo-tabletop thing better, but I liked this a lot.

For Honor. Back when this game first came out years ago I had rented it from a Redbox cause I was curious to see if it was any good. For whatever reason when I put the game in my system it kept giving me an error message saying that I couldn't actually play the game. It claimed that the game wasn't actually available yet, not that this stopped my friends from playing it. So years later I came across it free and decided to give it a whirl and was blown away by the combat system in the game. While there is a singleplayer campaign it is firmly in the backseat, because the combat is the star of the show and clearly where the effort went. I like having to physically maneuver your sword in to position to block incoming attacks, I love duping people in to misplaying and cutting into them. I wish the multiplayer were more alive than it is, really justify the season passes, but as it stands I like playing it every now and then.

Final Fantasy VII. Back when I was but a wee child I made fun of my older brother for playing this game. It looked so lame to me back then, why would he play this when he could play better games like Medievil, or other action games. Young me was an idiot though, that dink liked the Sega Genesis Lost World game. Fast forward to February 2020 and I decided to give the game a shot because I wanted context for the remake coming out. I didn't think it was going to be one of the best games I had played this year, yet here we are. I absolutely love this game, the story is so great and I love it to pieces. Despite having had knowledge about what happened in the game for well over two decades I was absolutely gripped by the story. Hell I was even emotional over the big event everyone knows about. It is an absolutely compelling game and I fully understand why it has endured as one of the most beloved games since its release. So good in fact that despite having two full playthroughs and the platinum trophy I still think about replaying the game fairly regularly. I do have one controversial opinion though, Birth of a God is a much better song than One Winged Angel.

Death Stranding. I was so worried about this game ever since I played The Phantom Pain. I thought for sure Kojima had lost whatever touch he had, that his good games were squarely in the past. It is always such a good feeling to be proven wrong like this however, because outside of MGS2 I think this is probably the best Kojima game. The story stuff in this game is some of the best I've seen in a good long while, it is entirely outlandish stuff that seems kind of high on itself. But some parts towards the end of the game are some of the most emotionally striking things I have ever seen. It's really surprising to me how he could take a script with characters named Deadman, Heartman, and Die-Hardman and make it all come together so well. Then again, even outside of the story the actual gameplay is some of the most soothing and relaxing I've encountered in a while. Acting as a post-apocalypse delivery man is great and deeply satisfying, especially the act of rebuilding roads to zip across the country. It is a surprisingly great experience and one that I fully am surprised to love as much as I did, because for the first five hours I was feeling rather cold to the game. I am so glad I stuck with it.

[scithemodestmermaid]

It’s Steam Awards time, and here are my nominations!

My explanations for WHY I nominated what I did are right below the spoiler jump:

I’m so glad former Epic and Origin exclusives are considered 2020 releases, otherwise I’d be screwed.

GOTY = Ghostrunner.  Everything about this game is perfect.  Visuals, soundtrack, optimization, characterization, combat, movement.  It is one of the greatest cyberpunk games ever made.  It is the only “LOL 2HARD” game I’ve played where I didn’t feel like I was fighting the game’s controls or enemy scaling.  Jack is a damn sexy protagonist.  Go play Ghostrunner right now, damn it.  If I could beat the game, so can you.  

VRGOTY = Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency.  Everyone’s going to vote Half Life Alyx, but honestly I enjoyed my time with Budget Cuts 2 way more.  There’s a lot of humor and heart, with a touch of horror.  The bow is so much fun to use.  The showdown with Adam is some of the best atmosphere I’ve encountered in a VR game.  I have some issues with how they chose to end the game, and yet the ending itself was so precious that I could forgive the flaws.  Yes, overall it was a step back from the first.  But it’s still a grade-A VR game on its own.  

Labor Of Love = Among Us.  These guys maintained this game for two years before suddenly taking off in popularity.  Instead of taking the money and running, they continued to do their best to improve the game and keep it running.  They’re an underdog story for the ages.

Better With Friends = Titanfall 2.  Pretty much the only co-op/multiplayer game I’ve played, and I admittedly didn’t even play anything but singleplayer.  Still a damn good game.

Outstanding Visual Style =  Beautiful Desolation.  Take the classic Fallouts and infuse it with classic South African visuals.  Animate it with some of the best CGI I’ve seen out of a tiny indie team and some physical models and you’ve got a game that ertainly lives up to its name.

Most Innovative Gameplay = Superliminal.  While I was playing, I spent more time trying to figure out how they programmed the puzzles than actually solving them.  They use optical illusions and clever coding to their benefit to create a mind-bending experience that will leave you wondering what the hell just happened.

Best Game You Suck At = Ultrakill.  The second-hardest game I’ve played all year (Ghostrunner being the first, but I already nominated that one for something).  A sexy robot getting swarmed by legions of tortured souls, splattering them in style.  Not only is it hard to survive, its hard to look good doing it.  But once you pull of that coin trick shot combo or take out a horde by punching your shotgun bullets, oh baby its SO GOOD.

Best Soundtrack = BPM: Bullets Per Minute.  I’m gonna be honest, the soundtrack was the only part of this game I liked.  The heavy metal riffs punctuated by the sharp rhythm of your weapon is epic.

Outstanding Story Rich = Observation.  A chilling sci-fi epic.  Essentially a remake of 2001, except its told from Hal’s point of view.  A planetary mystery that has dragged dozens of compelling characters from the corners of time and space.  One of the most intriguing stories I’ve experienced all year, and that ending will stick with me for quite some time. 

Sit Back & Relax = Spiritfarer.  Despite the heartbreaking narrative of coping with loss (told in a way that only those who have actually experienced loss will understand), the game is surprisingly relaxing.  Sailing the seas, cooking meals, organizing your ship, and tending your garden.  It’s very zen.

[bluebudgie]

RAMBLING about ffxiv in comparison to gw2 under the cut. ive been thinking about this a lot in the past years already, comparing the two and their features. spoiler tl;dr: in my personal opinion gw2′s positive points heavily outweigh what ffxiv has to offer, but there’s a handful of things i wish that gw2 did similar to ffxiv.

this excludes both expansions for gw2 and ffxiv, since ive never played heavensward and stormblood and it would be unfair to compare gw2 with all its expansions to just the core game of ffxiv.

warning, there are highly subjective onions in this. oh boi here we go

Let’s start with the things that i like about FFXIV that I wish gw2 implemented in a similar way:

First of all, different transmuted gearsets that you can save and then switch to on demand. It’s just nice having different gear sets (not even necessarily with different stats imo, thats what legendary armour is for) and switch around. Probably interesting for roleplayers.

Beast Tribe crafting quests. This is probably the feature i’d want the most in gw2. It would have two big advantages: 1) Get to know other tribes better and in more detail. We could have Tengu, Skritt, Kodan, Quaggan, Hylek, Grawl, Jotun.. probably more. And an even more important side effect this would have in my opinion: It would make people actually use crafting professions. The crafting professions are highly underused (mainly because they’re honestly useless for 95% of content) and having daily tribe quests attached to them would at least make them less obsolete? The crafted items could be soul- or accountbound so that there wouldn’t be any way to just simply buy them off the trading post either. Then again, FFXIV overall has the more interesting approach to crafting and gathering so I’m not sure this would really work out in the same way. Nontheless, for sake of different tribe lore..pls anet, make it happen.

The second most important thing i want implemented in GW2: FISHING!!!!!

I also like the Hunting Log. GW2 sorta has a similar system in the achievements tab but I think FFXIV presents it in a nicer way.

All those emotes. FFXIV has so many and you can even use some while sitting or being on a mount etc.

...dodo. FFXIV just overall has the cuter minis, and there’s.. the dodo. Dodo is better than any other mini ever in any game.

The problem is.. that’s already kinda about it. And with exception of the whole tribe crafting thing and dodo it’s also like.. really minor stuff that doesn’t really affect gameplay.

Now things that I personally (!!!) prefer about GW2 that overall just make it the better game for me to play:

And that is... the core gameplay.

I know. It’s an MMO. MMOs are supposed to be played with other people. But I hate, absolutely despise, instanced group content. I come from a singelplayer RPG background (that sounds overly dramatic) and let’s be honest..... all content in GW2′s pve (excluding raids) can be solo’d. Story? Soloable. Dungeons? Soloable mostly. Fractals? At least low level fractals are soloable. Open world content? Soloable, apart from a few events like bigger world bosses. GW2 can be entirely played as a singleplayer game (which, again, I know is not necessarily the purpose of an MMO) and... i love that.........

Other things I prefer about GW2 in contrast to FFXIV:

More customization options during character creation.

Very subjective opinion but i find the player races a lot more visually appealing and diverse.

The wardrobe and dye system is INFINITELY superior, like i cant even imagine how anyone could justify anything else. But then again I guess that’s fashion wars 2′s speciality.

very personal taste but i also like the look of most armours and weapons better

No ‘end game’, everything feels equally accessible, and the level limit is set at 80 without having to upgrade to better armour constantly (in the same time i can also imagine that precisely this would be a negative point to many people and they like the constant upgrading)

A lot, lot, lot less grinding

Explorable underwater areas and underwater combat

Now MMOs arent really known for delivering the storytelling depth of a delicately crafted singleplayer RPG but overall GW2 has interesting lore and also some nice characters.. and i just cant get into neither ffxivs story nor lore at all. not blaming that on the game and i dont think any of the two games has “better” or “worse” storytelling  but it’s just an experience ive made. i realized while playing that i absorb every single text box and piece of lore in gw2 like a sponge, and in ffxiv i just want to hit the skip button as fast as possible during every dialogue. Can’t really explain why either.

Being able to trade across several characters on your account.. i know ffxiv isnt really made to have several alts since you can play every class on a single character but i still find it annoying that i cannot trade any items at all to other characters on my own account

Much bigger maps with the whole vista and poi system that rewards you just for exploring maps, which is.. well thanks to having more open world content in constrast to instanced content

More customization and gear options while playing classes. I know blabla there’s always an optimal combination of gear and traits and skills that will be meta but... it’s just not necessary as long as you stay out of lvl 100 fractals and raids. Play a tank thief? Go ahead. Make a heal engineer? Noone stops you. It just doesn’t matter and you can find your own personal playstyle with a lot more different traits and skills. And no we didn’t fail chak gerent event because 1 person was in knight’s gear which made the boss scale too much. Yes i read that on the forum.

And also, while i don’t want to take this as an actual argument, but.. u have to consider that you buy GW2 once and then play forever, and every single “cash shop” (aka gemstore) item can be purchased with the ingame currency if you have enough time and patience for farming gold. There is no need to ever spend a single penny on anything. FFXIV.... has a monthly fee AND cash shop items that as far as i know can only be purchased with real money and.. while i know that this is the norm in other MMOs (I believe WoW has a similar system?) I just find that very questionable. I know it’s all optional so it doesn’t influence anything, but still I believe this is a point worth mentioning.

Now I’m not saying all of this to make FFXIV sound bad. As mentioned there are a bunch of things I like better in it, and after all I liked the game enough to actively play it for a year. FFXIV and GW2 are both good games, but thinking about it i just realize a lot of times why exactly i feel so much more at home in gw2 than i do in ffxiv.

[trashbags-can]

An Excerpt of the End of Tails' Campaign: Eggatha

Tails has over time developed a sort of friendship with Eggette, despite her being a villain (and a bit of a turd)

But she's still trying to stop Tails from getting to Robotnik.

Tails get into the entryway of the base, and confronts Eggette, along with another goon. Upon the cutscene after beating the goon, Tails asks Eggatha (I'm sticking with that name because it feels nerdy like her) why, if she's so smart, has she decided to side with Robotnik? At the very least, she's probably smart enough to actually succeed on her own. She shouldn't need to impress someone like him. Her response goes something like this:

"His plans may not be the most practical, but they're always flashy and exciting! He could certainly find better ways to go about stopping Sonic once-and-for-all, but where's the fun in that? No, even if he fails every single time, he still wins in tue end! Because he'll go down as a legend - the man who raised cities, built countless death machines, and even summonned mighty demons, all to challenge one hedgehog!"

So in this moment, we get to see why Eggatha admires Robotnik so much, despite his constant failures.

But then, a plot device happens, and some metal rafter or something comes down and nicks her arm. Ripping the skin, we find a robotic skeleton inside. Eggatha didn't know she was a robot, so this comes as news to her. She's shocked, and asks - more aloud to herself than to Tails - does this mean that her father was lying to her? Is she no more than just another tool? Is she just...disposable?

At this point, Tails looks up to see Robotnik standing in the distance, with no discernable expression on his face. He turns and walks away. Tails gives chase, and brings a moderately distraught Eggatha along with him.

Along the way, they fight a couple more goons before reaching Robotnik for the final battle. He tells Eggatha to go take a seat in a chair to the side.

Robotnik: "You've done an awful lot to try and make me proud of you, haven't you, Eggatha?"

Eggatha: "Y-yes, da...d-Doctor."

Robotnik: snickers "...well..."

Robotnik hits a button from within an undisclosed cockpit

lights flash on to reveal the arena to show the doomsday machine that Robotnik was working on, but with additional flashy weapons that appear to have been hastily slapped on at the last minute

the shot returns to Robotnik, who is now posing dramatically

Robotnik: "NOW IT'S MY TURN TO MAKE YOU PROUD, MY DAUGHTER!"

the view cuts to Tails striking a fighting pose (albeit with a slight smirk on his lips) and an Eggatha gasping in delight in the background

Robotnik (from offscreen): "I had heard what you said - all of it. I had wanted you to believe you were truly my flesh and blood, but even though you aren't, I don't want you to ever question whether you have a father who loves you again!"

the screen cuts to a wide angle of the arena

Robotnik: "AND SO, I DEDICATE THIS DOOMSDAY MACHINE TO YOU, MY EGGATHA!"

This Doomsday machine will be the endboss for most of the characters' story modes, but this particular doomsday machine in Tail's campaign actually has a handful of brand-new flashy attacks. However, he takes a more time to telegraph each attack, which actually makes him substantially easier than he is in the other campaigns.

After beating Robotnik, the cutcene opens with Robotnik sitting in the middle of the wreckage of his creation, his face ashen black from the explosion - just like in the classic Sonic boss battles.

The scene cuts to Eggatha as she bursts into tears and runs over to her father, who embraces her im a hug.

Tails smiles, and walks away.

And that is how Tails' story ends in his singleplayer mode.

There's also an epilogue where we see Robotnik repairing Eggatha's arm.

Robotnik: "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I truly wanted you to believe that you were a real human..."

Eggatha: "It doesn't matter to me, as long as I'm real to you!"

*Eggatha jumps up to her feet*

Eggatha: "So what are our next plans for world domination? Let's get started right away!"

Robotnik: "...Actually, I was thinking...let's put a hold on wprld domination for now. I want to spend some quality time with my daughter."

And the credits roll with various shots of Robotnik enjoying time with Eggatha. Stuff like flying kites, and having Robotnik dressed up sitting in a comically undersized chair for a tea party, alongside several other robots who are also dressed up.