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Before Your Eyes (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 14th, 2024 at 13:51:13) |
I've been looking forward to playing this, especially after playing One Hand Clapping, which had a singing mechanic. That game activates your mic and you use your voice, raising and lowering pitch, to interact with the game. Before Your Eyes was similar in that the game activates your webcam and uses your eye blinks as input. Before Your Eyes works WAY better than One Hand Clapping, and it's the better game all around. I figure that detecting blinks (yes/no) is easier than detecting notes along the range of human vocal pitch, so kudos to One Hand Clapping for trying.
Blinking in Before Your Eyes doesn't do anything unless you do it over a prompt (mouse over the prompt, then blink to interact) or unless you do it when the metronome icon is visible, which progresses the story to the next scene. The rules are simple, and it became a game in and of itself for me to blink strategically. I imagined that at the end of A Clockwork Orange, Alex's eyes are forced open so that he could successfully complete this game. At times, I felt like holding my eyes open with my fingers. This is because your eyes will get tired/dry/itchy while playing and you will screw up and blink when you don't mean to, skipping dialogue or ending a scene early. That's frustrating enough. Make sure you do the blink calibration, but I think that no matter how well you do it, it will still occasionally register some non-blinks as blinks. This really didn't happen much for me; through calibration, I think I turned the sensitivity way down, and I wonder what effect wearing glasses had. But like I said, it works surprisingly well.
So, the game itself is narrative-heavy. It's an obvious play on the idea that a life can pass in the "blink of an eye." You're picked up by a ferryman of souls who asks you to tell the story of your life. Back in time you go to remember it: your childhood, your parents, your career, etc., blinking your way through each scene. I won't spoil the story, but there is a twist that I absolutely did not see coming (though I should have paid more attention to the mysterious dark scenes) that changes the narrative and the tone of the game. This is one you can spend time reflecting on.
Aesthetically, it's got a simple visual presentation, sort of painterly, with some really nice piano music. The voice acting is good, with the exception of the girl-next-door (who sounds the same at 10 as she does at 40). For some reason, they also used the same voice actor for your dad and her dad, which made the one scene with her dad calling her very confusing ("Why is my dad at her house?!"). But I liked the dad and mom's performances. I was wondering through the whole game if your character was mute and/or on the spectrum because he doesn't talk--only through a typewriter later in the game--and otherwise expresses himself through his prodigious musical and artistic talents. But I think he's just a silent main character, not actually mute.
Anyway, the game won a BAFTA for a reason. It didn't blow my mind, but it's a neat experience that's worth having. It's short too, doesn't waste your time. I'm considering incorporating it into a class.
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Stray (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 13th, 2024 at 12:00:39) |
Patrick and I have been playing this together this semester, and finished it a couple weeks ago. We were talking after beating it about despite how simple and straightforward of a game this is, it manages to be something new. Playing as a cat (and being able to do cat things like curl up and sleep, scratch things, knock objects off tables, etc., so cuuuute) was novel, and the setting and story were interesting. But really, playing as a cat. I smiled a whole lot throughout the game. The lil companion robot was cute too.
On the other hand, I was often tired and bored while playing, and literally fell asleep during several sessions. Patrick would be making dinner or something in the kitchen, and I'd snap awake, cat walking into a wall, and I'd pretend I had not fallen asleep, and that I was just watching the cat walk into the wall and thinking. Like how my dad always used to claim he was "resting his eyes" when he'd fall asleep on the couch.
I would not call the game exciting. It was a lot of wandering around the city and talking to robot NPCs, fetching things for them. The city is a really good-looking dystopia, and the robots are quirky, but I wish they had more dialogue. You don't get a sense that many of them have personalities besides whatever one-note thing they do. I mean, the lack of dialogue makes sense, and it's not really "dialogue" since the cat can't talk. The fact that you are a cat adds a whole layer of silly to the game. Like, why has this lil robot befriended a cat? Why are all these robots putting all their faith in a cat to save them? Cats don't understand what we're saying to them, and cats do whatever they want! Playing as a cat in a game where you're doing fetch quests (fetching is dog stuff!) and doing things to help people is very un-cat-like.
But, you know what? The ability to play as a cat and do cat things trumps how little sense it makes, and I would play as a cat in this dystopia again. Idea for next time: more cats. And what do you think? Were there cats at the end?! Optimistically, I think so.
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Hadean Tactics (PC) by jp (Apr 7th, 2024 at 13:32:36) |
This game is supposed to be a deck-building tactical game and it sort of isn't, but very lightly is - at least in my experience so far.
So, like CD2: Trap Master this game REALLY wears it's Slay the Spire inspirations on its sleeve. Again, there's a path you that branches and you need to pick which nodes to visit - and there's fights, boss fights, resting spots, stores, artifact/rewards, and shops. Oh, there's also "story encounters" where you make a choice that often results in a benefit and a drawback. VERY Slay the Spire - though I noticed the way the events are distributed is different and that it's much more important to plan your way through it since the paths intersect a lot less and you can, for example in my last run, set yourself up with 4 rest/upgrade a card spots in a row!
In addition to a deck of cards you have the character you chose and two "minions" (they're all monsters) that exist on a 2D grid that's quite typical of tactical games. The enemies will spawn, you have energy to cast your cards - generally you cast your cards, unpause and wait for the timer to pause the game when it hits the threshold (7 seconds) for your hand to flush, a new hand is drawn, and you get more mana to cast spells. What isn't really tactical about it is that all the fighting on the tactical grid (which includes everyone having abilities they cast once their mana is full) happens automatically. You can't (afaik) give orders to anyone. At best, if you have the right spells, you can move creatures around (your own or enemy), but they then move back to whatever it is they want to do (e.g. attack the nearest enemy).
One of my runs used a character that had access to "trap" cards which are pretty neat since you lay them on the grid and then have to trigger them (with a different card) and ALL the trap laid will trigger. Some do damage, others heal your allies, and so on. So, the game isn't tactical at all in the turn-by-turn combat and movement decision-making sense. Yes, you choose whom to roll into a fight with, which spells to cast on whom, and when to cast things. But, since you don't directly control your combat units it all feels pretty indirect.
Where the game goes pretty wild (and above/beyond what Slay the Spire does) is that once you've cleared a run - you gain access to making your own hero - choose skills/talents from a list AND choose which spells will be available (again from a list, which only has the ones you've unlocked). So, in this sense the game has a lot, lot more options/replayability and that sort of thing. But, I'm not sure it's that much more interesting?
Oh, there is a meta-progression. When I beat my first run a giant death/reaper creature appeared and said "ok, now you can start to make progress towards winning - you have to collect wings". And I've collected a few since, you get them from killing the stage end bosses (which is nice in that you don't have to get all the way to the end). I need to get 7 - so I wonder if I'll just have to play over and over until I randomly get the right bosses or will the game feed me different ones until I get them all? I've also unlocked a new (third) character...but I kind of don't want to use it because I want to get all the wings with the character I've made some progress with.
I've played about 4 hours and I've really enjoyed the "decay" and "trap" mechanics... we'll see how it goes!
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Deathloop (PS4) by jp (Apr 4th, 2024 at 11:14:36) |
Argh. The longer you go without playing, the worse this game's experience becomes. This is almost entirely due to me forgetting both how to play, but also all the localized information and knowledge you pick up - like who is where, when, and so on.
I love the idea of a "clockwork" game where you deftly navigate your way through things that happen and certain times and places - there's a sense of beauty and elegance to the choreography you develop and create (sort of like when you watch those time loop movies and see a character weave through people and places because they know what's going to happen when and they've just learned it). BUT, that beauty also creates an entry barrier - at least a psychological one for me, because the game's on-ramp is past and now you're in the thick of it. But you've forgotten everything...
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Devil May Cry 5 (PS4) by jp (Apr 4th, 2024 at 11:09:05) |
So I took a break - and then came back to the game and had forgotten how to play. It took a bit to remember (I purposefully avoided looking stuff up because I wanted to see how easy it was for me to remember). So, some of the fights with V took longer than they should have - because I had forgotten that V has to "finish off" the enemies...lol.
While I often focus (for my own personal interests) on game play and game design aspects of a game - I realized as I was playing this game that..wow, the visual design of the large enemies really is phenomenal. They're both beautiful, awesome, creepy, gross, and disgusting. It's quite the accomplishment and I really appreciated it. And, this is in the context of me playing a game that is ~7 years old and running on last gen hardware. Perhaps I haven't played enough PS5 games yet so I'm still too impressionable? Have things moved that far in terms of photorealism?
I have decided to move on even though I realize, from the back of the box, that I'll miss out on the 3rd playable character. It's no fault or problem with DMC5...it's just that I've got too many games to play and I think I've understood enough about this game to move on to another.
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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
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if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
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Monster Hunter Tri (Wii) by bap51 |
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most recent entry: Tuesday 16 April, 2013
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Monster Hunter Tri is the third installment of the Monster Hunter series. I would personally classify it as a three dimensional third person hack and slash with rpg elements. The player plays the role of a hunter who is tasked with fighting monsters, many of which resemble dinosaurs, to save an island village. As the player progresses through the game, he or she can upgrade weapons, armor, and different aspects of the village.
==Story==
The game starts with the player arriving at an island that is suffering from frequent and abnormal earthquakes. The villagers ask the player to help them stop the earthquakes by hunting the monster they believe to be causing the earthquakes, the Lagiacrus. The Lagiacrus is an electric sea dragon that is capable of walking on land. Being a relatively new hunter, the player must first hone their skills by completing quests and hunting other monsters before being able to hunt the monster believed to be causing the earthquakes. The village will help the player along the way and provides the player with a fishing fleet and a farm which both help the player collect different types of items. There is also a trader that will come to the village occasionally to make trades with the player. After the player completes the mission to hunt and kill the Lagiacrus, the player learns that the Lagiacrus was not causing the earthquakes. The village continues to suffer from earthquakes, and the player must now find the cause and try to stop the earthquakes. The player eventually learns that the real cause of the earthquakes is an underwater dragon called a Ceadeus. Unlike the Lagiacrus, the Ceadeus is unable to come on land. The quest to hunt the Ceadeus is the final story quest of the game. After the player completes that quest, additional quests will open up that allow the player to test their skills.
==Upgrades==
As the player kills monsters in the game, he or she is able to collect different items from the monsters by carving up the corpse. The player can also collect different types of plants and bugs and mine for different types of ores. These items the player collects can be used to forge new weapons and armor or upgrade current weapons and armor at the village blacksmith. Each upgrade typically has some type of benefit that comes with it. Sometimes it is just a regular increase in the power of the weapon, but occasionally it will add an elemental aspect of damage to the weapon. Different weapons also have different durability ratings that are affected by upgrades.
The player is also able to upgrade the fishing fleet and the farm in the village. The farm provides four facilities that are able to produce different types of items. These facilities are the field, shroom, beehive, and insect box facilities. The player is initially provided with just the field and shroom facilities. By collecting items while out hunting the player is able to unlock the beehive and insect box facilities. The player is also able to upgrade each facility which will increase the crop yield. The fishing fleet consists of up to three boats that the player is able to send out on short term trips with the objective of fishing, finding treasure, or hunting monsters. The player initially starts out with one ship but is able to unlock other ships and upgrade the ships already owned by collecting certain items throughout the game. Both the fishing fleet and the farm help the player acquire items which can be used to upgrade the player's equipment.
==Hunting==
Hunting typically consists of accepting a mission to kill or catch a certain type of monster and then completing the mission. In Monster Hunter Tri, the player is able to choose from up to seven weapon classes: sword and shield, great sword, hammer, lance, bowgun, switch ax, and long sword. The long sword is not unlocked until later in the game. Each weapon class has its own fighting style which allows the player to choose how to fight the monsters in the game. For example, while the sword and shield is a fast striking weapon, the great sword is significantly slower but makes up for that slowness by having a very powerful attack. Hunting is typically done on land against dragon or dinosaur type creatures, of which there are a few that can fly. But Monster Hunter Tri introduced an underwater fighting aspect of the game that is more difficult than fighting on land. The water limits the movement of the player and can make it difficult to fight.
A player can also participate in a “free hunt” mode, in which the player exits the village to explore the island. While the player is exploring, certain monsters can appear that the player is able to kill. This allows the player to collect resources from these monsters without having to do the quest again. This is beneficial because, during a quest, the player is limited to 50 minutes instead of an infinite amount of time like during a free hunt. Another benefit is that if the player is defeated by the monster there is no penalty like in a quest where the player would fail the quest. The game does limit what monsters can appear during a free hunt. The player is not allowed to fight a monster during a free hunt that they have not already killed during a quest. The game also only allows certain types of monsters to appear in the free hunt area.
==Problems==
Although I love the Monster Hunter series, there are a few things about Monster Hunter Tri that I dislike. One aspect of the game that I do not enjoy is underwater fighting. The camera controls can sometimes not act like you would expect them to, especially if you're near the surface of the water. It also seems that, while the water severely limits your ability to move and fight, the monster you're fighting seems to be moving easier than when fighting on land. I also dislike the trader who comes to the village. There are some items that you can only acquire from him, but the items that he will accept as trade almost never show up. This makes it very difficult to upgrade some of the farm facilities or your fishing boats. Despite these two minor problems, I still enjoy the game very much and would recommend it to almost anyone.
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