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Jan 18th, 2022 at 10:02:19 - The Forgotten City (PC) |
What an interesting concept. You awake on a riverbank, are led into old Roman ruins, and discover an ancient city with inhabitants through a portal. They live under "The Golden Rule," which I first discovered when doing what I ALWAYS do first in a first-person RPG like Skyrim. (You'll probably do the same thing and if you haven't read about the game, you'll be as intrigued as me!).
Thus you are plunged into the mystery of what exactly The Golden Rule is, who created it, and how to get out of the loop caused by someone breaking it. The game itself is pretty straightforward. You explore the city and talk to its inhabitants. You pick up and follow "leads" (quests) that unravel the mystery, until you get to one of four endings (you can and should see them all through; the last one is especially rewarding, if a bit tedious to get). The game guides you through the mystery and does a good job making sure you know what to do and where to go.
The game was originally a Skyrim mod, so it looks and plays familiarly. The facial animations are pretty bad (often funny-bad) and the voice acting can be slow, but I was nevertheless immersed in the city's environment. Some little holes or oversights are apparent. For example, right at the beginning, you meet a character who doesn't want to tell you her name. Fair enough, I said. But when I opened my journal, my character had recorded her name. And it turns out her name is a REALLY big clue as to her identity and a clue to other parts of the story, which I guessed part of really, really early on all because the journal told me her name when I shouldn't have known. That was a bad oversight!
You'll be listening to a lot of dialogue, all well written and often philosophical and thought-provoking. It's rare that a game makes me really think deeply about some moral or philosophical question, but this one did, namely, how do we know the difference between right and wrong. It doesn't necessarily present arguments between characters in the most believable way, but I can look past that for what it is aiming at. Later in the game, you get a bow, which opens up some light action and platforming parts. I wouldn't say that the game is in any way difficult. It felt like a well-paced exploration.
I have to compare this to Outer Worlds, which I recently played and didn't like all that much. The main reason I didn't like Outer Worlds is that the loop is forced on you. In The Forgotten City, you control when the loop happens and you usually trigger it on purpose. You start back at the same place, as in Outer Wilds, but it's quicker and easier to get back to what you were doing. In Outer Wilds, the loop doesn't change anything. It just resets you. It doesn't open new avenues for you, except that you have knowledge that you didn't have in the previous loop (but which you had gained anyway even if there were no loop). In The Forgotten City, the loop resets the city's inhabitants, so you can lead them down different conversation paths, intervene in their actions, and so on in order to change things. The interweaving and accumulation of these changes in their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is what drives the story forward. I just found this all so interesting to see unfold! It's not a perfect game, but I'd recommend it for a cool story told in a different way (especially if you like Roman/Greek/Egyptian mythology).
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Jan 16th, 2022 at 11:53:48 - Outer Wilds (PC) |
I appreciate what Outer Wilds is doing, but overall did not enjoy the experience. This is a time loop game. I have played/am playing two of these recently (12 Minutes and now The Forgotten City) and therefore have few data points to compare. However, I disliked 12 Minutes considerably, whereas The Forgotten City I find extremely engaging. Outer Wilds is somewhere in between.
Outer Wilds is, perhaps more than a time loop game, an exploration game. Yes, the sun goes supernova every 22 minutes and forces you back to your home planet, but the fun lies in exploring the unique planets and other bodies in the solar system and unraveling the mystery behind an a group of space travelers long gone. Where did they come from? What were they doing? Where did they go?
The game is open-ended. You can travel nearly anywhere from the very beginning. It doesn't matter where you go first. You complete the introduction, then hop in your space rocket and fly somewhere, land, and explore. I went first to my planet's moon, and then to the next-closest planet, and outward from there. You will slowly discover strange writing, ruins, and the ever mysterious quantum objects, and begin seeing threads to follow.
I said that the planets are very creative and unique. For example, the two closest to the sun are the Hourglass Twins. The Ash Twin and the Ember Twin are next to one another, connected by a constant stream of sand Ash Twin sheds onto Ember Twin. Over the 22-minute loop, Ember Twin's caverns fill up, closing or opening some areas, and Ash Twin's surface becomes visible as sand flows away. It was a cool moment when I realized that the planets actually change over the course of the loop, and that I could actually investigate Ash Twin, which I had previously assumed was always covered in sand. If you pay attention, you will see that a lot in the solar system changes over the course of the loop. Another planet has a giant black hole in the center, and as you explore the ruins beneath, you're constantly in danger of getting sucked into it. That is theoretically neat and all, but boy is it annoying when you accidentally fall and get sent through the black hole to the edge of the solar system, where you must wait for a space station to come near (the "white hole"), which will let you warp back to the planet once its orbit aligns with the station. It wastes at least 5 minutes every time.
And that is the main issue I have with Outer Wilds. I understand that the 22-minute supernova is explained through the story. I appreciate that. But everything is intriguing enough without you being forced back to your home planet every 22 minutes! The time loop feels punishing and like it arbitrarily extends the game's length. The worst part was when I learned how the Hourglass Twins work, then solved a ton of puzzles on Ash Twin, and was ALMOST DONE, like literally running toward the end that would give me a final piece of knowledge, and the sun went supernova and back to the start I went. I had to go back to Ash Twin, wait for the sand to flow out again, and re-do all the puzzles. That kind of thing happens constantly. You're in the middle of doing something, the sun goes supernova, and you have to go back to the beginning, fly yourself back to where you were, get out of your rocket, walk back to wherever it was on the planet, if you even remember how to get there, then pick back up where you left off. I played about 6 hours and I bet at least a quarter of that time was re-treading my steps.
How to solve this problem? Well, as stated, I understand the supernova is part of the story. So perhaps some fast travel? Better controls to make flying and jetpacking around more precise? Something to make movement more fun? Artificially extended supernova time so you can always finish if you're in the middle of something. I mean, is anyone sitting there with a 22-minute timer? (Probably...). I wouldn't know if the supernova happened at 20 or 25 or 30 minutes. I'm busy exploring, reading, thinking. I know also that the two time loop games I've recently played reset the loop when you die or when you choose some action. Having that control over when to reset taken away was frustrating. As I said, I am playing The Forgotten City now (probably getting close to done), and I enjoy it so much more for a lot of reasons that I'll reflect on when I'm done. But I know that time loop games are hot right now, I expect I'll play more of them, and I'm excited to see how else this mechanic is implemented.
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Jan 15th, 2022 at 12:15:31 - Forza Horizon 5 (PC) |
Never played a Forza game before, but this popped up on Game Pass and I do enjoy a good racing game. This is the best one I've played since whatever the last Burnout game was (because really I like crashing more than racing). I tried Wreckfest over the summer, but it wore thin quickly. Forza 5 is absolutely packed with stuff to do. I was never bored and there are still probably 100 new races and other events that I didn't do. I considered the game "beat" after completing all of the Horizon events and stories, which took me roughly a day of play time. My time also included doing a good amount of additional races early on (because I thought I needed the points to unlock new Horizon events, but really, you'll earn enough points to unlock everything just by doing the Horizon events themselves), as well as other exploration-based activities like searching for barn finds (which reward you with classic cars) and smashable boards (which reward you with XP and eventually fast travel, although I ended up unlocking fast travel by purchasing a specific villa later in the game instead of by smashing all the fast travel boards).
Forza is also the most realistic racing game I've played (recalling Gran Turismo games on Playstation). Not only did they license hundreds and hundreds of real cars, but you can tune them to minute detail (it's not a sim, but for an arcade racer, it's realistic). Of course, I know nothing about tuning cars and never touched that part of the customization, but I appreciate it nonetheless.
The game takes place in a slice of Mexico (real? fake? composite of real places?). Apparently in each game there is a Horizon Festival somewhere in the world. The Mexican setting was really cool because they included a lot of culture. A lot of the characters are Mexican and will use Spanish mixed in throughout their accented English. I had subtitles on so I could read the Spanish and love that the game is bold enough to make it so that English-speaking players get a dose of not having a game revolve around US locations and the English language. I always enjoyed driving around through the ruins (again, not sure if these are real places or not, but it seemed like the developers did their homework) and the rolling farmland. Two other progressive things the game did was let you choose pronouns and let you customize your character with prosthetic limbs. I chose they/them and had a fake leg.
Forza 5 features different race types. There is road racing, city street racing, stunt driving, off-road racing...and one more I can't remember. Head-to-head? Each of the festival events features a race type and has several stories associated. For example, in the big stunt driving story, you are a stunt driver for a movie and have to do all these different scenes. The director doesn't know that you aren't the actual actor (who is supposed to be doing his own stunts), and the story is you and the actor working together to "fake" him doing all the work, which becomes increasingly difficult as your stunts become so impressive and draw the director's increasing admiration and attention. In the head-to-head racing, which I did last, there is a rich kids' racing club that has some beef with a Horizon street racer. You race members of the rich kids' club one by one, unraveling the history of the beef between a couple characters, and it wound up being a very feel-good story. In another memorable one, a character is restoring her uncle's VW Beetle, following all his old plans for modifications, and you have to test out everything she's doing to it. This is all in the memory of her uncle, and there are nice themes of family and tradition in it. The stories are all kind of simple and sweet and fun, a nice change of pace from so many games that always have to tell some dark story with a lot of conflict (of course, I don't know why I would expect a racing game to have a dark story; Twisted Metal though...).
Another thing I enjoyed is the difficulty. There are a lot of difficulty levels, and the game will suggest if you should change. I started on "Average" and quickly began winning everything, so it suggested I move to "Above Average." I did that and eventually was winning everything again. I moved to "Hard." That was a bit much, as I was constantly finishing behind a string of cars that were racing just so perfectly. I think if I'd stuck with it, like by the end of the game, I could have been winning some on Hard, but you usually get bonus rewards for finishing first, so I stuck with Above Average to keep my rewards. I was winning probably 80% of races.
I think, though, that the AI is set up well to give you the illusion of more of a challenge than you are actually facing. This is often how a race will go: You begin and a small pack of cars takes off and controls a big lead. As the race goes on, you slowly catch them. Everyone behind you stays pretty close to you, too. You're never obliterating anyone; they catch up to the lead pack just like you do. Then toward the end of the race, you'll notice (especially if you're messing up, you notice) that they slow enough for you to catch them. Often, especially on more set piece races with straightaways on the end (a couple action-packed ones where you race monster trucks and jet skis and a train come to mind), you'll zip past them JUST at the finish line. This has to be staged! I mean, if you're racing on Hard and aren't very good, it's not going to let you win like that, but if your skill approximates the difficulty level, then that difficulty level often seems perfect. I kind of want to play more just to figure out exactly how it works.
I would definitely pick this back up and play for fun, but the semester is starting, my free time is quickly evaporating, and I've still got too many Game Pass games to play before my trial expires. It'll be here forever, so maybe next time I'll check out what's new!
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Jan 11th, 2022 at 15:05:56 - Desperados III (PC) |
Either Desperados III is a little easier than Shadow Tactics or I’m just becoming cleverer after playing these two back-to-back. I couldn’t complete Shadow Tactics’ last level, but I’m almost done with Desperados—on the last set piece of the last level. It’s certainly one of the most daunting, but I’ve just about cleared peripheral enemies and am zeroing in on the boss and his goons. (I had to pause for a meeting.). Desperados’ levels are wonderfully large and complex, but they are taking less time than Shadow Tactics’ later levels, which I take as evidence that I’m getting better. (Go me!).
In this last level (which I have now beaten because my meeting is over; it was epic [the level, not the meeting], especially the final showdown), you control all five characters. Three begin on one side of a canyon and two begin on the other. You can bring them together at a couple points, and I chose to do it at the first opportunity and take the left side of the level to the church at the end. There were some seriously difficult pieces of the level. At the very end, before the church, were like five Long Coats and some other enemies at one end of a narrow bridge. I managed to slip a couple characters behind them and pick off a few enemies before I was able to (or figured out how to) take out the Long Coats. At another spot in the level were like five snipers on rooftops, all watching each other. I have learned that in those kinds of situations, sometimes the best thing to do is just cause chaos (use Isabelle’s mind control, for example) and sort of scatter the enemies for a minute. Ideally, you can pick off a couple while they are away from their regular positions on alert. Then, when they reset, they are easier.
I can’t describe the final showdown too much because that will give away story bits, but suffice it to say that it’s a unique set piece. Cooper is surrounded and has one bullet in Showdown Mode. You have to use the other four characters to kill enemies, without being detected, and end the level by using their actions in conjunction with Cooper’s in Showdown Mode to kill every last enemy at the same time. I feel like a genius after beating Desperados III.
I said most everything else that I had to say in my previous entry. One thing I didn’t mention though is the post-level recap, which is fun to watch. After each level, you get to watch an abstracted version of your playthrough. All your characters are represented by different colored shapes on a 2D level map. Enemies are represented by red squares (and Long Coats by sheriff’s stars). When you click “play,” all the little shapes start moving around, with lines tracing where your characters move and little skulls popping up when you killed someone. It’s a neat reminder of the previous 90 minutes’ successes and failures and always triggered memories of this or that time I got lucky or came up with a good solution to get past a tricky part.
Oh yeah, one other thing I learned with like two levels to go is that there is a "speed up time" button. I wish I would have known that sooner! Was there no tutorial for it? Or did I miss it or forget it? It's obvious enough on the UI. That's what I get for not paying close attention, I guess!
I would start a third Mimimi tactics game right now if there was one. These have been fantastic, especially Desperados.
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