#love me some RPGs but no more this year (well. except starfield maybe)

[thelvadams]

enjoying final fantasy xvi but it really needs to pick up the pace

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #537

Top Ten Games Shown at Not-E3 2022

I wasn’t going to do this. I had another Top Ten planned out. I felt that the disparate nature of “E3 Season” this year – the lack of One Big Show to tie it together, the fact that many big publishers have decided not to show anything at this time, etc – meant there was no need to do a big list of revelations. There was little in the way of spectacle, no real hardware news, no outrageous dance numbers or massive live cock-ups on stage. No one told you how you can share games on PS4, or told us we were breathtaking. It was just games.

But then two things happened. One, I’ve been really busy so haven’t written – or really even researched – any of the other ideas I had for this week’s list. And, two, there were actually a lot of games shown. Some brand new that I’ve not heard of before; others that we just saw more of and that looked really good or intriguing. And I started absent-mindedly listing them. And wouldn’t you know it? Soon I had a Top Ten.

So that’s what we’ve got this week. No bells or whistles, nothing fancy. These are just my ten favourite games shown in the last week or two, during these various summer gaming showcases. No Nintendo, no Sony, no EA, no UbiSoft. Will I do another list like this after they all show their wares? Almost certainly not. Which is a shame, because I bet Nintendo in particular would have some good stuff. Maybe even a title for their new Zelda! Maybe – maybe! – it’ll be in the Nintendo show where we finally get to see that GoldenEye remake/re-release. Maybe!

And that’s it, this week. Just a list of games that I like the look of. Please do enjoy.

Starfield: fun fact: I’ve never played one of Bethesda’s big RPGs. Not Morrowind or Skyrim or Fallout. I always wanted to; they looked right up my street. I just never had the time – those things are pretty epic, yeah? Anyway, Starfield is hitting at a good time, and I’m very interested. And I think it looks great! I love the “NASA punk” aesthetic, and I just really want to play it. Pity it’s not coming out till next year, but all the same, this feels like my Next Big Game.

Ara: History Untold: another fun fact: I really love the Civilization games. So a new spin on the formula excites me. And even though concrete details are thin on the ground, this one seems to offer up the prospect of mixing and matching histories and eras – or at least I think it does. Anyway, it’s gonna be free for me to play thanks to the wonders of Game Pass, and I can’t wait.

Pentiment: now this one looks wild. Like a medieval parchment come to life, it’s some kind of adventure game or something, but really it’s the aesthetics that set it apart. I like adventure games, I like games will a cool and unique look. This fits all the bills.

Agent 64: Spies Never Die: where is GoldenEye?! I want my GoldenEye! In the meantime, we’ve got this, a spiritual remake. Very cool! They’ve done a great job modelling the aesthetic of the classic N64 game, so hopefully they’ve done as good a job with the gameplay and mission structure. And hopefully it’s got all kinds of funny cheats and stuff too.

Lightyear Frontier: I like Stardew Valley. And this game is basically a bit like Stardew Valley, except you more or less play a Transformer. Did you hear that? It’s Stardew Valley with Transformers.

High on Life: I’m not the world’s biggest Rick and Morty fan, but I have to say it’s much better than its fanbase. So hopefully the writing here will be up to snuff, because the concept of an FPS with a bevvy of humorous talking alien weapons is very intriguing.

As Dusk Falls: like I said, I like adventure games with cool aesthetics, and the painterly graphics on show here look really good. Like a Netflix drama or gritty graphic novel, hopefully it tell a compelling story and also just, y’know, play really well.

The Plucky Squire: now this one looks cool, and by that I mean looks cool. A really fantastic art design sees a kids’ picture book come to life, and then vibrantly explode across a 3D world. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of 2D platform games, really – I find them gorgeous and compelling but fiddly and difficult to play, despite more or less growing up on them – so I hope the gameplay is just as good as the graphics.

Laysara: Summit Kingdom: I do love a good strategy game. This one looks great, a sort of Settlers in the skies, a medieval Sim City up a mountain. The vertiginous locale seems to offer quirks and twists to the gameplay, and just generally it’s really pretty.

Forza Motorsport: I prefer my racing games to be more arcadey and fun; I’ve always preferred the Horizon games over mainstream Forza. But I still quite enjoy driving round tracks, even if I couldn’t be arsed with how the cars actually work. What excites me with this version is just how bloody good it looks; seriously, have you seen the graphics? It’s stunning.

There we go, ten cool games I’d like to play. Sadly no room for the full release of Ooblets, or the visually intriguing Scorn, or stuff like the kaiju dating sim Kaichu, or the fact that there’s a Moomin game coming out! Moomins, people! MOOMINS.

[sieben9]

“heart of the matter” impressions

{Quick request to anyone reading: I’m watching OUaT for the first time, and I want to avoid spoilers. So, if you want to discuss something spoilery, I’d be grateful if you could start a new post for that. Thank you!}

Hello to everyone reading on this fine Thursday! Everything is terrible!

But, on the bright side, the Tweedle-mystery has been solved!

I now have a handy reference picture and I’m at least 70% certain which one is which.

The terribleness is under the cut. Finales are great and fun, and you should not watch them when you have to write a lab protocol. (Don’t worry, it’s not due before Wednesday.)

There is something inherently satisfying about realising that you’re in the final stretch of the story. You’ve watched while all those little plot-dominos got set up, and now someone pushed over the first in line. Things are going off big time.

For example, the wholething with Will’s heart.

someone please stop Barbara Hershey, she stole all the scenes and ran away with them

Now I only need to see how Alice got it back for him, and we’re done with this section of dominoes.

You know, I suspect Cora doesn’t even think of what she does here as “ruining lives”. That bit just comes to her as naturally as breathing. And I have to say, this is distinctly more satisfying than Ana hearing one good speech about the advantages of having power and never having any second thoughts until years later. Or Will just giving up once he saw her on that balcony. They both tried to get back to each other, and they were deliberately kept apart, because someone was projecting on a certain young woman. Hard.

“prove them all wrong”, indeed

And something else I really, really loved: Will actually asked for his heart to be taken out. The numbness wasn’t a pleasant side-effect he discovered after Cora took the thing away from him, this was specifically what he wanted and holy crap, does that give context to so much of his character.

By the way, Cora, I don’t want to deny you your right to come to a rendezvous with your lover to let him know you’d rather take your own heart out than be with him, but don’t you think doing that for other people is a bit much?

::sigh:: She’s terrible. I love her.

So, yeah, this flashback was pretty damn good, and necessary, too, because the emotional core of this episode was clearly the Ana/Will relationship. The tensest scenes were between them inside that dungeon and the emotional climax… well.

with a literal starfield, too. never change, OUaT

Oh, and I stand by my earlier statement that I looked forward to Will getting his heart back. It was great. I cried, and so did everybody else.

This kiss worked so well specifically because these two were locked in a dungeon for an entire episode, unable to really see each other, and with pretty much nothing else to do except talk about all the things that went wrong and that they’d wish they could have done differently. Yes, obviously their plot had been building up to this sequence, but I am impressed with how well it worked, and how much room it got to breathe. When Ana asked if Will could maybe forgive her, even if he could never love her again (he still does, you numbskull), and he said that “anything’s possible in Wonderland”? ::faint noises of joyful distress::

And then, everything went to Hell in a handbasket.

or at least further down into hell.

…at least they knew it was coming?

No, sorry, that’s not an “at least”. Please, show, for the love of pumpkins, fix this, because what’s the damn point, otherwise.

Alice’s and Cyrus’s part of the plot was… mostly stress-relief, really. The more action-y quest for Will’s heart and the Compass Heist were definitely much-needed relief between the tense, almost bleak moments in Jafar’s dungeon. And after all that, Cyrus is probably the one person who actually won something in this debacle. (Apart from the anguished declaration of love over in the Couple Counselling Dungeon.)

pal, that’s your mum you’re waving about there. please be careful.

I’m also low-key loving the developing relationship between Alice and Ana. That tiny little “thank you for coming back; I know it wasn’t for me, but thank you” nearly killed me, and Alice’s tiny little smile pretty much did the rest.

look she’s happy! she’s happy and she’s fine

And the whole trip into Will’s apartment in Storybrooke was excellent comic relief. From Cyrus playing with the lights, to Alice being startled by an ice machine, to the Rabbit trying to explain the modern world and failing miserably, it was just great. And Will hiding his heart behind that drawing of Ana is… pretty much the most Will thing I can imagine. (The poor idiot…)

Also, I have serious concerns about Rumple’s driving. Watch where you’re going, pal, some people can’t pick where their portals go, after all.

eyes on the road, friend

Right, so, leaving this episode Jafar does actually have the three genies, but not his staff, which means he still can’t do the spell.

…you know how some RPGs refuse to let you just do the very simple thing required to carry on with the story and instead send you on a hundred and three fetch quests first? I doubt Jafar has ever played one of those, but he sure is getting the full frustrating experience.

Additional thoughts:

I’m a bit sceptical of the whole “the Rabbit is gathering an army” subplot, and I almost hope that it doesn’t work out, because that certainly doesn’t seem like the right way to resolve this whole story. I am OK with the army being part of Alice and Cyrus sneaking into the castle and doing the narratively satisfying thing, though.

I so feel Will on his raisin-problem. Grapes are great! I don’t know why drying makes them horrible, but it does.

Cyrus still is a little shit, and I kind of like it

This was either the best or the absolute worst time to watch this episode, because I kept thinking “oh wow, look how much excellent character development you can get when you have an estranged couple with a legitimate rift between them actually talk to each other! It’s like magic!”