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Mar 9th, 2024 at 13:43:15 - Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) |
Burned my way through this over Spring Break and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the final (?) entry in the series with Nathan Drake, which is sad. He’s so likeable! Naughty Dog has perfected this series. They’ve taken everything great about the previous games and polished them even shinier, with more crazy chase scenes and set pieces (e.g., running from the machine gun truck in the city; getting dragged behind a jeep on a rope; exploding corpses; etc.). I liked everything about it except that it ran long, although imagining this from the developers’ perspective, that this is the last game featuring a beloved character, I understand the sentimentality. The worst offender on this point was the chapter where Nate and Sam break into the old lady’s house to find their mom’s stuff. It slammed the brakes on the momentum at the end. Though again, it’s hard to critique for character development and nostalgia.
One thing they added (or I just don’t remember from previous games, but really liked) was nuance to the climbing animations that signify when Nathan can safely jump to the next thing. For example, when climbing around on a cliff, Nathan will reach toward the next ledge, indicating that you can jump there. When swinging on a rope, he will reach out when he is close enough for you to leap onto a platform. The interactable ledges blended in well with the cliffs and other environments, such that Nathan’s reaching was quite useful. I was thinking about pattern recognition while playing, how I have learned to recognize what is “climbable” and what isn’t in games, and how specific games train you a bit differently. Also, it’s interesting to think about Nathan’s “knowledge” versus the player’s knowledge. Nathan reaching indicates to the player that Nathan “knows” something, and the player, reading the cue, can then act on Nathan’s knowledge.
Another thing I was thinking about while playing was Tomb Raider. I played Rise/Shadow of the Tomb Raider a year ago and remember hating all the collectibles and crafting, and how those games were moving more in the direction of open worlds. I spent those games clicking the right stick to activate “hunter instinct” or whatever it was called, which highlighted crafting resources, collectibles, and so on. I am so thankful that Uncharted didn’t move in that direction. There are totally optional treasures to find that have no bearing on Nathan’s strength or abilities, and a reasonable amount of journal entries (and the journal is fun to engage with). I loved that there was not a ton of shit to pick up. No resources, no crafting, no inventory, no skill trees, no upgrades, no costumes or cosmetics, no intrusion of online play, no microtransactions. The writing, platforming, puzzling, and shooting carry the experience without needing all those other sources of motivation that, for me, usually just bloat the game and make me worry about searching every corner, hoarding inventory items, going to every “?” on the map, etc. That made Uncharted 4 refreshing to play.
I do want to know, regarding the epilogue, how in the world Cassie didn’t know more about her parents’ adventures! How did she reach adolescence—being a young adventurer/archaeologist herself, interacting with Sully, Sam, and the rest of the gang, presumably having THE INTERNET—without learning that her parents were involved in such dangerous work? Specifically, I want to be there for the conversation, after she is stunned by seeing a picture of Nathan holding a shotgun (“Dad has a shotgun?!”), when they recount to her the thousands of hired goons they’ve killed over the course of four games. There’s your story for Uncharted 5: The Drakes Go To Family Therapy. Haha, oh man. Anyway. I’m looking forward to knocking out Lost Legacy soon, then cleaning out my remaining PS4 games, which are all old indies that I’m ashamed of not playing sooner, perhaps subscribing for a month of PS Plus, and then trading in the ole’ PS4 for a shiny new PS5! Summer 2024 maybe? Early birthday present? Woohoo!
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Mar 9th, 2024 at 11:46:00 - Iconoclasts (PC) |
Iconoclasts came onto my radar when I was doing a content analysis of gender representation in Steam advertisements some years ago (one of my unfinished projects /sadface). We were looking at top-selling games in various categories, including those user-tagged “female protagonist.” This was in our sample and looked cool! It’s a Metroidvania with a narrative focus. You play as Robin, a wrench-wielding mechanic in a world where being a mechanic is illegal. In this world, a religious organization known as One Concern, who worships a figure called Mother, has authoritarian rule over the people. They exploit a natural resource called Ivory, which powers everything, but it is running out and the planet is dying. One Concern controls all Ivory and machinery (thus mechanics being illegal). There’s quite a lot going on plot- and character-wise, but long story short, One Concern is having internal power struggles, there is a small resistance movement against them, and their “god”, the Starworm, is coming to end things earlier than anyone anticipated because of said Ivory depletion. I found the plot intriguing and well-written, and it moves along at a brisk pace.
The plot sends Robin to various areas in the game world, which feature, as per Metroidvanias, combat, platforming, and puzzles, (but oddly minimal backtracking). For me, the puzzles were the strongest part, and combat against normal enemies the weakest. The novel mechanics (pun unavoidable) in Iconoclasts involve Robin’s wrench. It is her melee attack, which later on she can charge to electrify, which also electrifies her gun’s attacks, all of which are used for various things. It is also a tool in the puzzle-platforming, allowing her to crank bolts to open doors and power things, to latch on to conveyor rails, and so on. Later on, using the wrench becomes frantic as you are fighting enemies and need to also crank a door open, shooting at enemies and luring them away from the bolt, sprinting over to crank it, fending off the enemies, cranking it some more, until you open the door or whatever. Robin also gets a gun that has alternate firing modes: a regular shot with charged blast; a grenade with charged missile launch; and another regular shot with charged thing that lets you switch places with some objects (used in puzzles and some combat encounters at the end of the game).
The stronger elements of the game were balanced by the weaker elements, but the latter didn't detract from the experience. For example, while the boss battles were creative, challenging, and heart-pumping, the normal combat with regular enemies was lacking. I ended up ignoring most combat altogether, running and jumping past enemies to the next screen. There is an upgrade system where you spend precious resources you find in treasure chests to craft and equip “tweaks,” which do things like let you breathe longer underwater or stay electrified longer. The tweaks are pointless and are either broken or there is something I didn’t figure out. Since resources in treasure chests are only used to craft tweaks, and tweaks are unnecessary, that means that the treasure chests are unnecessary. Therefore, the only reason to go after chests is for the puzzle challenge. Now follow this logic further. Backtracking to explore new areas and find previously unobtainable treasures after acquiring new abilities is a key feature of Metroidvanias. But since the resources in treasure chests are only used for pointless tweak crafting, then that key Metroidvania feature of backtracking is also unnecessary here (what little of it there may be). The lackluster tweak crafting system then has some serious implications.
The thing that makes me wonder if tweaks are straight up broken is that I would occasionally unlock a new crafting recipe, but when I went to a crafting table, the new recipe was not there. This began happening around the fifth recipe I got. Like, halfway through the game, there just was never anything new to craft, even though I’d find new recipes. I wonder now if it’s because there is limited “space” for crafting options in the crafting table menu and you have to craft “older” items for them to be replaced with newer options. But even then, I crafted one of every tweak except the consumable ones, and there were multiples of even permanent tweaks to craft (why do you need three of the same one?!). So, if I’m right, then you would have to craft a bunch of tweaks (that you don’t need) in order to gain access to new ones. Very strange.
Anyway, quirks aside, like I said, I really enjoyed playing this one. The pixel art is fantastic, too. It’s an easy recommendation if you like Metroidvanias, especially if you want one more focused on narrative, but still with a variety of excellent boss fights.
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Mar 9th, 2024 at 10:43:37 - Yakuza 0 (PS4) |
My first Spring Break completion. I’d been working on this one for months. I played the original (!) Yakuza way back when on PS2 and was vaguely aware that the series kept on going. I wanted to try another one because I remember liking the first one and the games tend to be well reviewed. Yakuza 0 seems to be the “if you’re going to play one of them, play this one” entry. And I totally see why. There are a hundred positive things to say about it. It’s an extremely well-written crime drama with a compelling story that twists and turns and great characters, and the voice acting and animation is top notch. The game’s music is outstanding. The word I kept thinking of was “cinematic” as I watched the (numerous) voiced dialogue and cut scenes. It’s serious when it needs to be serious, but can be really funny too. I’ve heard that later games lean into the silliness of the franchise, which I’m a bit ambivalent about. I usually appreciated the humor, but often it felt childish or “video-gamey” (in a very JRPG and/or cringy way), so I hope that they lean into the kind of silliness that resonates with me.
You’re basically doing three things in the game: (1) listening/watching the story unfold; (2) fighting; and (3) side quests and minigames. The first two are mandatory, and I spent most of the time going from cut scene to combat and back. Unfortunately, combat is the weakest part of the game. You’ll switch between two protagonists, and each has three combat styles. For example, Kiryu has a normal style, one that focuses on speed, and one that focuses on strength (all straightforward). Goro’s are weirder, including one where he wields a baseball bat and one where he breakdances. There are a variety of combos and special moves to pull off, but for me, combat boiled down to XXXY, XXXY, XXXY, L2+Y once Heat gauge is full to curb stomp someone (Kiryu) or bash their heads with a baseball bat (Goro). Or if I was in Kiryu’s strength style, I picked up bicycles, signboards, and whatever else in the environment and swung them around like a tornado. There are big upgrade trees for each combat style, which costs Yen, though I probably unlocked like 25% of the trees. I don’t know why you would need to unlock more, and the amount of money you’d need to do so is absurd. Though that brings me to #3…
There are literally over 100 side quests to complete. Help your fellow citizens with their problems, including: teach a punk band how to be cool; recover a stolen video game for a child; win a toy from a claw game for a child; help a man connect with his estranged family; bust a teenage sex ring; help a man propose to his girlfriend; etc., etc. I was doing these early on, but some of them take forever, they are often silly (so my complaint about the humor missing its mark is about this optional activity, which is good!), they generally involve running to and fro talking to people and fetching items, and quickly felt like a waste of time. But they do reward you with items and cash. Then there are the minigames. Amuse yourself with batting cages, RC racing, classic Sega arcade games, a plethora of gambling games, managing a cabaret and investment company, and so on. So yes, if you want to get rich, this is how, but all of it is totally unnecessary. One could easily spend twice as long as I did doing side quests and minigames. When I finished the game (37 hours), it told me I had something like 17% completion.
I had two frustrating experiences earlier in the game that almost made me quit. First, the game requires manual saving at telephone booths. I definitely thought that it also auto-saved. One time, I had been playing for like three hours, then stepped away from the PS4 for a while. I came back and it had turned itself off. When I reloaded, I was surprised that my day’s progress was gone! Luckily, I had mostly been exploring, doing side quests, and minigames (won the batting cages!). So, I decided to skip all the side stuff from then on, and I was back to the main story beat in like 15 minutes. The second time I almost quit was because of a bizarre difficulty spike. I had been doing well in combat, but suddenly, enemies were insanely difficult! I could barely get a punch in and died over and over and over. “This is weird!”, I thought, and changed the difficulty to easy, but still got pummeled. Then the frustration came, and I put the game away and thought I was going to retire it. But I kept thinking about it and decided to ask the internet why the combat was so brutal. I mean, this isn’t supposed to be Dark Souls: Yakuza! I saw a Reddit thread that saved the game for me (“Help: Yakuza 0 - Enemies going Berserk all of the sudden?!”); I wasn’t the only one having the combat difficulty spike issue. Apparently, there is an item you can equip that makes enemies frenzied. The item description does not indicate this, and I had equipped it for its stats. For some reason, this item is awarded early on. Why would new players not equip this?! Apparently all Yakuza games have such items, called “charismatic” whatevers, and someone on this thread suggested that the devs bait new players into equipping it and getting their butts kicked. Mean!
But I am so glad that I didn’t retire the game. Despite the lackluster combat and the time-wasting side stuff, I loved it. The plot and characters are seriously phenomenal, and I see why they've made so many games and built a following around the franchise. But it is long. I would play another if the combat were improved. I saw that the last two entries (Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth) have more of an RPG-ish combat system, and have been positively reviewed, so I will probably check those out later, maybe pick one to play. (It’s almost time to buy a PS5, woooo!).
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Mar 9th, 2024 at 09:37:32 - Wildermyth (PC) |
I finished this about three weeks ago, got ridiculously busy with a grant proposal and faculty evaluations and didn't write about it, then was on Spring Break and went all in playing other games and still didn't write about it. As Spring Break comes to an end, it's time to write about all the games! And then get back to work...
Wildermyth sunk its teeth into me for two campaigns. The campaigns are long, but of the “just one more turn” variety. Wildermyth is at its core a turn-based tactics RPG like XCOM. You build a band of adventurers in a campaign, starting with three and recruiting more. The adventurers level up, learn skills, improve their gear, and can die. Except unlike in other games of this type, death isn’t always permanent, and they don’t always “die” in battle. Rather, your characters age throughout chapters in a campaign, which ultimately leads to their “retirement” from adventuring. When this happens, they become “legacy” characters and are recruitable in future campaigns. So, you may begin a subsequent campaign with your favorite character from the previous one. Their age will be reset for the new campaign, and the perk of the legacy system is that they level up their renown and can begin campaigns with more and more abilities already learned.
The practical character-building aspect is only part of the allure of the legacy system. The other is that, unlike XCOM but like many other tactics RPGs, your characters develop relationships as they adventure together. These can be romantic, friendly, or rivalries, in addition to developing shared histories of participating in campaigns, defeating ancient evils, discovering magical secrets, or whatever. The cool thing about the relationships, unlike other tactics RPGs, is that they’re outcomes of the procedural narration and the rather transparent ways in which characters are created with personality attributes. Characters who fight together and who are “romantic” may be more likely to fall in love with each other, whereas a sarcastic or competitive character may be more likely to develop rivalries. Either way, these relationships persist over time, and each character’s history persists over time. It’s really, really cool to see two characters have a kid, to see them interact over a campaign as parent and child (even as the parent ages into their 70s and the child into their 40s and perhaps even has their own child), and then it’s really funny to see this break across campaigns as your legacy characters may not recognize one another as family, or they might, but because you started the campaign with the child and then later recruited the parent, the “child” is like 50 years old and their “parent” is like 20 years old, and the parent will treat the child as a child.
The character traits also impact the procedural storytelling. There are many scenarios that unfold as your characters traverse the map, and character traits have an impact. A bookish character may trigger the party stumbling upon an abandoned library and get a chance to unlock some arcane knowledge; a garrulous, wanderlusting character may trigger chance encounters with NPCs as they explore new parts of the map. By shaping your characters’ personalities (getting a variety of them!), you can see more and more of the scenarios. In my two campaigns, I started to get some repetition, seeing a handful of the same scenarios twice. This is bound to start happening the more you play, but is more likely if you are using the same characters because their same character traits are triggering the same scenarios. But I was always looking forward to seeing the next little scenario. So, a strength of the game is certainly this discovery aspect, but a drawback is certainly repetition. Again, I played two (of five or six) campaigns, and was already starting to see repetition in the second campaign.
The campaigns themselves are longer than many whole games, so it is quite a commitment, and is why I stopped after two. I feel like I understand the game and have pretty much seen all it has to offer, with the knowledge that there are some more stories to hear and however much combat challenge I want by increasing the difficulty or letting campaign enemies level up. I do wish that I had looked at how players ranked the campaigns before I just blindly did the first two. I mean, the first one was a tutorial, so that was the right choice, but it seems that the later campaigns (which came later in development, perhaps after the devs and writers got in their groove) are far more upvoted than the second one I played. It was still good, but would have been cool to play a more highly regarded story.
The campaigns (except the tutorial) are split into five chapters each. In each chapter, you traverse the overworld, securing tiles from the enemy to fight back their invasions and gain resources, and progress toward whatever the chapter quest is. The challenges here are in how you split your party to accomplish tasks in the overworld (generally, two parties of 3-4 are ideal so you can do two things at once and never get ambushed) and balancing between how quickly you finish the chapter. The more battles you fight, and the longer time you take, the stronger the enemies get. On the other hand, the more battles you fight, and the longer time you take, the more experience and items you receive. This was well-balanced in my campaigns. One quirk I noticed is that given the five-chapter length of campaigns, your first (and therefore strongest) characters will often reach retirement age at the end of the campaign, when the monsters are hardest, you're fighting the final boss, and you need them the most! Part of the strategy then is, just like in real life, planning for retirement, making sure the rest of your party will be strong enough without 70-year-old Grandpa Joe the Warrior there to bark orders and one-shot enemies. But the overworld isn't very interesting, and the combat isn’t very deep or exciting (it’s really just the basic “warrior, ranger, caster” triumvirate with straightforward strategy) so my real motivation was seeing more stories and seeing how characters level up. Perhaps I'll pick it back up and play another campaign in the future (the highly rated one!) and see what my legacy characters are up to.
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