#got myself a ps5 :') now i can play more interesting games while not having to think about building a pc & budget & billion other things atm | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

coolgreatwebsite · 4 years ago

Text

Cool Games I Finished In 2020 (In No Real Order)

Oh, hey! Right! I have a website! I’m like a week late on writing this, but what’s a week on top of an entire year of not writing, right? 2020 was... well, we all know what 2020 was. For me personally, it was simultaneously the best and worst year of my life. The worst in both ways you can probably assume and ways you definitely can’t (neither of which I’ll be getting into), and the best in ways I absolutely never would have guessed. That uncertain job I mentioned last year got very suddenly much more certain, at a much bigger company, for a much larger amount of money. That allowed me to get my own place, making my weird living situation much less weird. Still haven’t gotten the majority of my belongings off of the east coast, but if the entire world wasn’t currently fucked up by a global pandemic I’d have sorted all that out too. What I’m saying is that, for the third year in a row, my life has been a complete whirlwind that has left me very little time to get comfortable with any aspect of it. But I did manage to play more video games than I did last year! Which is perfect, because it’s once again time for another one of these. Here’s a bunch of cool games I experienced for the first time in 2020.

Astro’s Playroom (PlayStation 5, 2020)

My one word description of Astro's Playroom is "delightful". It's just an absolute goddamn delight. A total surprise too! Included with every PlayStation 5, Astro's Playroom is, in my opinion, one of the best pack-in games of all time.

First off, it's an incredible tech demo for the PS5's new DualSense controller. It was easy to brush off Sony's talk about the controller's haptic feedback and triggers as some Nintendo-style HD Rumble bullshit, but it really is incredibly cool once you get your hands on it. The game is obviously more than a tech demo though, or else it wouldn't be on here. It also just so happens to be an extremely solid and fun platformer on top of that. Astro controls exceptionally well and the levels are all well-designed and fun, even the gimmick vehicle ones designed to show off different features of the controller. It also has an oddly compelling speedrun mode, made all the more compelling by the PS5 notifying you when your friends beat your times and the ability to load into it within two seconds from anywhere on the console. But the biggest thing for me and, call me a mark, because I am, is that the game is an honestly incredible love letter to PlayStation history.

For the first time ever, Sony has pulled off a nostalgia piece without it ending up as embarrassing garbage in the vein of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. There's a Nintendo-like joyful reverence for all things PlayStation oozing out of every single corner of this game. There are so many nods and references and gags for literally every PlayStation thing of note throughout the the last 25 years, and then on top of that there's a whole heap more for the things that AREN'T of note that only hyperdorks like me would get! A sly reference to the ill-fated boomerang controller? Yep. A goof on the fat PS3's Spider-Man font? You betcha. A trophy you can earn by repeatedly punching a Sony Interactive Entertainment sign until it breaks and reveals the Sony Computer Entertainment sign it was slapped on top of? Yeah buddy. It's deep cuts all the way down, even up until the final boss which had me grinning like a total dipshit the entire time. The game is endlessly, effortlessly charming.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch, 2020)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the perfect game at the perfect time. That doesn't mean it's a perfect game, I actually have some issues with it, but it could not have released at a better time than when it did. It came out at the very very beginning of everyone going into lockdown due to the pandemic, and it was the biggest game in the world for a couple of months as a result. I played like 300 hours and that pales in comparison to the amount of time many others put into it.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the most different Animal Crossing game there's ever been, and I'm of two minds on it. Like, I loved the game, I played a ton of it, but it's lacking so much of the stuff that made me love Animal Crossing in the first place. The series has been slowly trending in this direction for a bit now, but it's not really a game that happens around you anymore. It's all about total player control. You select where everything goes, you customize every detail of everything to your liking, hell, you can even terraform the landmass to be exactly what you want. Your neighbors take a backseat in focus and end up as little more than decorations with limited dialogue and next to no quests associated with them. Series staples like Gyroids are missing in action. Facilities and services that have been around since Wild World aren't implemented. It's similar to past Animal Crossing games in a lot of ways, but on the whole it feels like a different thing.

But like I said, two minds. New Horizons strays from what I truly want from an Animal Crossing game, but I can't deny that the game as it is is a hell of a lot of fun. There's SO much you can do and SO many options, it's super addictive. Plus it implemented my long-requested feature of letting you effortlessly send mail to friends online! Too bad the actual online play is as cumbersome as ever.

In conclusion, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a land of contrasts. I'm kidding. It's good, but definitely missing something in a way where I can understand some people being disappointed in it. I had a ton of fun though, and I'm probably going to get back into it later in 2021.

Trials of Mana (Nintendo Switch, 2019)

Late in 2019, with the physical release of Collection of Mana for the Switch, I decided I was going to play through each game on it for the first time and finally find out what this whole Mana thing was about. I went into Final Fantasy Adventure (the first game in the Mana series, because every RPG had to be Final Fantasy back then) with zero expectations and found a totally serviceable little Zelda-like with light RPG elements. I enjoyed my time with it. I went into Secret of Mana with the expectation of it being a beloved classic and found the worst game I beat that year, hands down. That game fucking sucks. I get why it made an impression on people at the time, but it's just so so SO awful to play. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed. Honestly, I would have been disappointed even if I hadn't heard it was one of "the best games" for so long. It would have been a disappointing follow-up to Final Fantasy Adventure, a game that in and of itself isn't anything incredible. Secret of Mana is just that rotten.

I braced myself for more disappointment when (after a much needed vacation from the series) I started up Trials of Mana. This game had a reputation too, as a long-lost classic that never made it stateside. One of the best games on the Super Nintendo, criminally never released for western audiences! Like Secret of Mana before it, I'd heard nothing but effusive praise. Unlike Secret of Mana, however, I was very pleased to find out that Trials of Mana mostly lives up to the hype. From a gameplay standpoint, Trials is an improvement on Secret in almost every single way. It's not perfect. The menus are still kinda clunky, animations for things like magic and items are still frequently disruptive. But the main thing is it actually plays like a sensible video game designed by humans with brains. Attacking is responsive! Hitboxes aren't complete nonsense! You don't constantly get stunlocked to death! There are more answers to combat than casting the same spell for five straight minutes to kill your enemies before they get a chance to move! It's great!

On top of being an enjoyable video game to actually play, the presentation is top notch. Secret of Mana could be a pretty game with decent music in some spots, but Trials is consistently gorgeous and the soundtrack is across the board great instead of randomly having songs that sound like clown vomit. And while Trials of Mana doesn't have the deepest story in the world, it manages to avoid being completely paper-thin like Secret. The story actually kind of has a reason for being a bit straightforward, and the reason is that it has a really cool system where you pick your three playable characters from a pool of six. Each character has their own goals and storyline, some of which line up with other potential party members, some of which don't, and you'll even run into the characters you didn't choose as NPCs along the way. This and the relatively brisk pace of the game make it highly replayable.

I'm really glad that Trials of Mana made it over here in an official capacity, even if it was like 25 years late. It's as good as I expected Secret of Mana to be and singlehandedly saved my interest in seeing any more of the series. I'm aware the quality of what came after is very spotty, but I'll get to the rest eventually!

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PlayStation 4, 2020)

They (almost) did it. They (basically) pulled it off. They remade (a chunk of) Final Fantasy VII and (for the most part) didn't fuck it up. Ok, funny parentheticals aside, Final Fantasy VII Remake is astoundingly good coming off of over two decades of just absolutely dreadful post-FF7 sequels, side games, and movies.

Final Fantasy VII has been historically misremembered as this kind of miserable, angsty, brooding thing, both by fans and by the company that made it. FF7-branded media after FF7 itself is a minefield of changed personalities, embarrassing original characters, and monumentally lame stories. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first post-FF7 anything that actually remembers the characters, setting, and plot of Final Fantasy VII and what made them memorable and special to people in the first place. Which isn't to say it's a slavish recreation! There's a ton of changes and additions, and I actually like almost all of them! Except for some really big stuff I'll touch on in a bit!

The combat in Final Fantasy VII Remake is great. I was super skeptical about it when the game was first announced, but they actually managed to make the blend of real-time action and turn-based RPG menuing fun and engaging. The characters all play super differently from each other too, which is a huge and welcome difference from the original game. The Materia system fits like a glove in this revamped combat system as well. The remixed music is good as hell, and the visuals are beautiful (outside of a couple of very specific spots that I'm kinda of surprised they haven't fixed in a patch yet). It's a well-executed package all around.

But alas, as always, there are negatives. For starters, this is only part one of the overall Final Fantasy VII Remake project. It goes up to the party leaving Midgar which, as you may or may not recall, is the first six hours of the original game. They compensated for this by fleshing the hell out of the Midgar section the game, ballooning the overall playtime to total of about 30-ish hours. The game feeling padded is a common complaint but for what it's worth, I didn't really feel it until the unnecessarily long final dungeon, There's also the previously mentioned and funny parenthetical'd changes and additions I don't like.

This is big time spoilers for this game so if you don't want that jump ahead to the next game on the list. The Whispers suck ass. Final Fantasy VII Remake should have been brave enough to be different without having to constantly derail everything in the most ham-fisted and intrusive way possible. You can have Jessie twist her ankle without making a spooky plot ghost trip her. I don't want to fight the physical manifestation of the game everyone thought they were getting as an end boss. If you're not doing a straight remake, that's fine, but have the fucking guts to stand by your artistic decisions without feeling the need to invent the lamest deus ex machina I've ever fucking seen. The last couple of hours of this game are 100% about the Whispers and are awful for it. It's a true testament to the strength of the rest of Final Fantasy VII Remake that this aspect didn't completely sour me on it. I can only hope that they stay dead and gone for good in the games yet to come and the remake can be different while standing on its own two feet.

I truly cannot wait for the next entry in the Final Fantasy VII Remake project. I'm excited for Final Fantasy VII in a way I haven't been since the late 90s. I have a bit of trepidation that they could royally screw it up. I mean, they already got kinda close, as I said in my last paragraph. But they got so much right in this entry that, for the first time in decades, I'm willing to believe in Square Enix when it comes to Final Fantasy VII.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PlayStation 4, 2020)

My one word description of 13 Sentinels is "fucking crazy". I realize that's two words, but shut up. A bizarre hybrid of visual novel, adventure game, and strategy RPG, 13 Sentinels not only makes that work, but makes it work incredibly well.

The story is fucking bonkers. It's told entirely non-linearly and is purposefully dense and confusing, but it does an amazing job of hooking you with a cast of likable characters and some impressively well-paced twists, made all the more impressive by the fact that you can tackle the story in basically whatever order you want. I'll say it again for those in the back, the story is Fucking Bonkers. Wherever you think it's going, it's not going. Where it is going is PLACES. Seriously, if you want a wild goddamn ride, this is the game for you. The presentation is also stunning. It's a drop dead gorgeous game with a really nice soundtrack. Easily Vanillaware's best looking game, which is saying something seeing as looking good is Vanillaware's whole deal.

If I had to levy one criticism against the game, it's that the strategy RPG portion is just kind of ok. It's enjoyable enough, it doesn't get in the way and there's not too much of it, but once it starts introducing armored versions of previous enemy types it's kind of done doing anything different. It is really good at getting people to out themselves as having no idea what tower defense is as a genre though!

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch, 2018)

I haven't really historically been a "Musou Guy". Not to say I've actively disliked them, they're just not something I've seeked out very often or played very much of. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition kinda turned me into a "Musou Guy" a little bit? It's good, surprisingly-less-mindless-than-you'd-think fun.

I actually super don't care about the Zelda branding. I think all the fanservice stuff is meh at best. What I do care about is that there's a ton of character variety and a metric shitload of content. There's so many different characters and weapons for those characters that all play differently from one another and SOOOOOO many levels to play. Like the story mode is, again, kinda meh, the real meat of the game is the Adventure mode and there's a ton of it. It's 8 different world maps, each based off a different Zelda game, with each square of the map containing a little mini-scenario with unique objectives and rewards. There has to be at least 1000 scenarios between all the maps. There's so much. And that's not even getting into some of the other side stuff like the challenge modes and the fairy raising. It's a crazy amount of game in this game.

And again, it's not as mindless as it'd seem. It's not really a game ABOUT destroying 5000 guys, it's an area control and resource management game where the 5000 guys are one of those resources. Knowing who to send where and when to fight who is way more important than pressing the XXX YYY XXX YYY on the more than one million troops.

I'd say that if you're even cursorily potentially maybe interested in a musou game, this is the one to try. And if you like it, it could literally be your forever game. A sequel came out recently too, and I'm looking forward to trying that out soon.

Phantasy Star Online 2 (Xbox One, 2020)

Phantasy Star Online 2 finally came stateside in the year 2020, eight years after its initial Japanese release and initial American cancellation. It's no Phantasy Star Online 1, but it is a really fun game in its own right provided you can find the willpower to break through its clunkiness and eight years of confusing poorly tutorialized free-to-play MMO cruft.

The main thing going for PSO2, and this is a major improvement from PSO1, is that the act of engaging in its combat is fun. The combat is just feels really really good. There's a bunch of different weapon types and classes, and once you find the ones that really click with you you're in for a good time, whether you're izuna dropping dudes with wire claws or literally doing air juggles and rainstorm from Devil May Cry with the dual machine guns.

The other stuff around that combat is weird. I generally like it, but it's weird. The story mode is one of the most bizarrely presented things I've ever seen. It apparently used to be something you'd seek out in the levels themselves, but presently it's just a list of scenes you pick from a menu and watch with next to no context until it makes you fight a boss sometimes. There's some weird moments in there that MIGHT have been cool if it were presented in literally any other way?

The systems and presentation are also way more... I dunno, pinball? Pachislot? In very stark contrast to how chill original Phantasy Star Online was, everything in PSO2 is designed in a way to maximize that flashy light bing bing wahoo you got ~*~RARE DROP CHANCE UP~*~ feeling. Which isn't to say I don't like flashy light bing bing wahoo, but it's a weird different thing.

Was it worth the wait? Yeah, sure! For me! This is another one that I played like 300 hours of! I haven't even seen half of it, I fell off right before Episode 4 released because it coincided with my move! I'm gonna go back and see all that shit! PSO2's fun! A different flavor of fun than the original, sure, but fun all the same. Another one that I'm glad finally made it over here.

Riichi Mahjong (A Table, 1924)

Holy shit I fucking did it I finally learned how to play Mahjong and it rules.

It started when I picked up Clubhouse Games for the Switch. I saw that it had Riichi Mahjong and something in my brain snapped. For whatever reason, I decided that this was the time I was going to rip the band-aid off and figure this shit out. It wasn't too dissimilar to the first time I decided to try eggs, but that's a different and much stupider story for a different time. I did the tutorial in Clubhouse Games, looked up some more basics and advice because the tutorial wasn't super amazing, and I kept playing while being aided by the game's nice helper features like the button that pulls up recommended hands. I kept playing and... sorta got it. I learned the basic rules, but none of the strategy. And then I stopped playing for a few months.

In that few months, for whatever reason, a decent amount of people I know had their brains snap the same way? Like a more-than-two amount of people I'm either friends with or following online also decided to learn Mahjong. I decided to get back on the horse and downloaded Mahjong Soul and I don't know whether it was perseverance or the power of anime babes, but this time I got it. I still refer to a sheet with all the hands and whether they work open or closed, and I'm by no means a master player, but I actually honest to god understand what I'm doing and it's an incredible feeling.

Mahjong has such a huge amount of what I like to call "Get That Ass" energy. It is the energy you feel when you get someone's ass. In Mahjong you are either constantly getting someone's ass or getting your ass gotten. Someone puts down the wrong tile and you fucking GET THEIR ASS DUDE! They're got!! They're a fucking idiot that put down the wrong thing and now you have their points!!! Or you draw what you need yourself and you're a brain genius all according to plan and everyone gives you points because you're so wise!!!! It's great!!!!!

Mahjong has long been one of those games where I'd say "I'll learn this someday" and never reeeeally actually try to learn, and I'm so glad I finally took the effort to because it's good as hell. And, truth be told, it wasn't THAT hard to learn? Like you can get to the point where I was where I didn't know the strategy fairly easily in my opinion, and once you do that It's just a matter of continuing to play to understand the rest. I highly recommended that you also go out and learn it if you similarly revel in getting that ass, it's so satisfying once you do.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PlayStation 4, 2020)

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio took a big gamble with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. After seven games (more if you take spinoffs and remakes into consideration) they decided to focus on a new main character and, even more unexpectedly, they decided to change things up by turning the series into a turn-based JRPG. Their gamble paid off in spades. This is easily in my top 3 favorite Yakuza games.

The JRPG gameplay is surprisingly solid. There's definite room for improvement, but they nailed a bunch of it right out of the gate. Some mechanics are a little janky and I wish the job system was more fleshed out or just worked more like Final Fantasy V's, but they nailed one of the most important things and made the battles brisk and fun. It's a great foundation, especially for a team that's never attempted anything like this, and it's way more fun than the combat's been in any of the previous Dragon Engine games. I can't wait to see them iterate on it.

Everything else is top fuckin' notch. The music is great, the side content is fully fleshed out in a way it hasn't been since before they switched to the Dragon Engine, and I love the characters and story so much. Yakuza has a new main character in Ichiban Kasuga, and he's my son and I love him. Kiryu was great, and I love him too, but he was a bit of a passive protagonist. Stuff happened around him and he mostly just stoically reacted to it. Ichi is a much more active lead and it's great. He's a big lovable dope, and his tendency to keep an upbeat attitude and eagerness to leap into action is such a breath of fresh air. And it's not only Ichiban, since this is an RPG you have a whole party of characters and they're all great! Having them with you at all times bantering with each other and reacting to things is another great change of narrative pace, too.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon just straight up rules. As someone who has historically not been too much of a fan of the Dragon Engine games, it's simultaneously a refreshing new take on the series and a fantastic return to form. I can't wait for what comes next. Wherever Ichiban goes, I go.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (Nintendo Switch, 2020)

After 23 years of Japanese PS1 exclusivity, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure finally got an English release this year for Nintendo Switch. I'm glad it did, because Moon isn't just the very definition of A Sebmal Game. It's the Sebmal Game missing link. In addition to being just a great video game, it helped me make a mental throughline for a bunch of games I love and a large part of my taste in video games.

To keep a long story short (seriously, I have a much much longer version of this saved in my drafts that I'll maybe finish someday), Moon turned out to be not the JRPG I assumed it was, given the title and basic story pitch, but a secret prequel to a game I love named Chulip. Moon's developer, Love-de-Lic, was formed by a handful of ex-Squaresoft employees, many of which worked on an extremely formative game I love named Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Love-de-Lic broke up in the year 2000 and its staff went on to form a bunch of different studios that ended up making a BUNCH of different games I love like Chibi-Robo, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, Dandy Dungeon, and the aforementioned Chulip. These games, when you make the connection and line them up, all have a very distinct weirdness in common that makes perfect sense once you've realized many of the same people worked on them. Figuring this all out felt like snapping a piece of my brain back in place, and it was really crazy to come to understand exactly how much this studio that formed and disbanded decades before I'd even heard of them had impacted my tastes and, hell, my life.

So what is Moon, for those who don't innately understand what I mean by "a secret prequel to Chulip"? Moon is an adventure game where you explore a world with a day/night cycle, learn about that world's inhabitants, and eventually solve their problems. Think of it kind of like The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, but if the sidequests were the entirety of the focus with no Groundhog Day time reset mechanic and none of the Zelda stuff like combat and dungeons. You play as a young boy who, after a late night JRPG binge session, is sucked into the world of the game he was just playing. Everything is off from the way it was portrayed while the boy was playing the game, though. The hero he had previously controlled is actually a silent menace, raiding peoples' houses for treasure and slaughtering every innocent animal that crosses his path in an endless quest for EXP. The townspeople seem more concerned with problems in their day-to-day lives than the supposed world threatening crisis outlined in the game's intro. It's up to you as the boy to investigate this world's mysteries, help the townsfolk, mend the damage the hero has done, and eventually restore love to a loveless world.

Speaking of love, I fucking loved Moon. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the music, I loved the way it looks (even though the Switch port is a little crusty in that basic emulator-y kinda way), I loved how constantly bizarre and surprising and funny it was. Like I said earlier, it's the very definition of a game made for me. It was essentially the progenitor of a long line of games made for me, and of games potentially made for me but I don't know yet because I haven't played them due to not understanding Japanese (UFO: A Day in the Life translation next please? Anyone from Onion Games reading this??). For as similar as Moon and Chulip are in their systems and pacing, I think I might actually like Moon better despite it coming earlier? It's not as full force maximum impact absurd as Chulip is, but it is a lot more playable and less obtuse once you get a grip on the time limit mechanic. You don't need a full strategy guide included in the instruction manual for Moon, and you don't need to exchange business cards with every single character to get information vital to finishing the game either.

I truly cannot recommend Moon enough if your taste in games ventures anywhere off the beaten path. Maybe this is a little conceited of me, but I assume if you're reading this article, let alone this far down into it, you relate to my video game opinions at least a little bit? You should play Moon. Everyone reading this sentence should play Moon. Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is my game of the year for the year 2020.

These games were also cool, I just had less to say about them:

Death Stranding (PlayStation 4, 2019): Death Stranding, much like Metal Gear Solid V, was a game I enjoyed for the gameplay and not much else. The story, characters, and writing were a huge disappointment for me, but man if I didn't enjoy lugging those boxes around and setting up my hellish cross-continental goon summer camp lookin' zipline network. Mr. Driller Drill Land (Nintendo Switch, 2020): I am a known Mr. Driller Enjoyer, and I enjoyed this Mr. Driller. Originally released for the Gamecube, Mr. Driller Drill Land is another long-time Japanese exclusive that finally came stateside this year and it's packed with new and novel twists on the Mr. Driller format. It looks super sharp, the music's great (also the credits music is the most impossibly out of place and extra as hell shit in the world and it's hilarious), and it's just a good ass time. The main campaign is pretty damn short, but if you're a post-game content kinda guy it has that and it's all super hard. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (PlayStation 4, 2020): They finally made another good new Tony Hawk game, and all it took was perfectly remaking two of the best old Tony Hawk games! Plays exactly like you remember it with the added benefit of the best mechanics from up to THUG1, looks great, packed full of content, even has most of the music alongside some mostly crappy new stuff. It's the full package as is, but I do hope they end up adding THPS3 to it eventually. Mad Rat Dead (Nintendo Switch, 2020): Mad Rat Dead was a pleasant surprise that I only picked up because I saw a couple of people on my Twitter timeline constantly talking about it. A fun and inventive platformer where all your actions need to be on beat with the music. The gameplay feels great (aside from some not so great performance issues on Switch), the soundtrack is fun, and it's got a real good style to it. Demon's Souls (PlayStation 5, 2020): I love Demon's Souls and this is Demon's Souls. It plays exactly the same with some minor quality of life changes. I don't agree with many of the artistic changes, but there's no denying it looks incredible on a technical level. If you want to play Demon's Souls again or for the first time, this is a perfectly valid and fun way to do so. Groove Coaster: Wai Wai Party!!!! (Nintendo Switch, 2019): Groove Coaster is one of my favorite rhythm games, and they finally made an acceptable at-home version with Wai Wai Party. It's not a perfect replication of the arcade game control-wise, I have some issues with the song choices, and the pricing is frankly fucking ridiculous if you're not a Groove Coaster maniac like I am, but the same ultra satisfying gameplay is all there. You can even play it vertically in handheld mode! Flip Griiiiiiiip!

And we're done! Phew! Honestly didn't realize I played that many good games until I typed all this out. Thanks as always for reading this far. I'm gonna try and get back to regularly posting Breviews this year at the very least. Honestly don't know if I'll get anything else up on here, but we'll see. Here's to hoping 2021 is a little bit less of a nightmare!

#article #Year Wrapup

8 notes · View notes

bearpillowmonster · 3 years ago

Text

Horizon Zero Dawn Review

The game that critics have been raving about for years and I just haven't played. I heard a lot of people say "this needs a movie" but they say that about any game that dares to be a little bit cinematic because I personally disagree.

That first part is rough, the story seems so in your face, predictable and bland but I think the problem is that it didn't know how to put in its exposition. I think it naturally builds up as it goes on, getting bigger and broader, it's just those first experiences that can be a slog because you're pretty much learning what style you're going to play in.

I got more or less everything I expected, crafting, a skill tree, various weapons. What I didn't expect though are dialogue options. You can choose normally up to four paths, an intelligent one, a compassionate one, and a straightforward one. You don't have to worry about the stress of trying to reach a specific ending because there's really only one, the only thing that affects it is the amount of people that are in it. So does that make the choices irrelevant? Yes and no because there are different dialogue options and like I said, which means that you can get certain characters to like you more given the option you choose but not in the same way that relationship points work and I definitely felt the draw to do that whenever I came across my first side-quest.

Side-quests are interesting, I love tracking things in games, though it's rare that you actually get the chance to do it and here you have a good amount of opportunities. Is that all though? Far from it. I actually found myself searching for side-quests because the first two were so satisfying. It really only began to show its hand a bit more after those quests. As I mentioned, there are a lot more RPG elements than I first imagined but it starts to send you on scavenger hunts, especially that Dreamwillow one, that one I actually laughed out loud at every time I was turned away. It also starts to gatekeep to where it recommends that you be a certain level which is...odd? I mean at face value it looks like you could rock basically any combat situation that isn't context sensitive. Leveling up gives you abilities but they're more like Deus Ex on that front, where it's just for preference and upgrading, not necessarily strength. The only thing you improve on offense wise basically boils down to having the right materials or units to buy weapons then a matter of finding modifications. Other than that, leveling up seems to just increase your health. It really just depends on the quest too because I'll play one above my level and be fine then play another that's actually under my level and feel stuck.

Now I only played it on normal mode so something like "Ultra Hard" is bound to be more demanding but as far as actual side quest content, I feel like they have potential but just need tweaked, give me more stuff for major characters that affects their standing with me. Rather than having each quest be contained in its own story, have it affect you later in the game, let your actions be shown, give it rewards and consequences. There are some really great side-quests but there are also some crappy ones, it doesn't pass that threshold that most RPGs fall under or anything. However, I did find myself doing side-quests at my own free will and the ones that I didn't like or couldn't do at the time, I just skipped and focused on something else, I felt a lot more freedom with this game, like I didn't feel forced to grind or do a certain number of side-quests or really do anything. It encourages you to explore and play the way you want to play and I respect the heck out of that. Maybe it's different for other players though.

Perhaps my favorite actual side thing was the Cauldrons for those who actually played this, you'll know why. For those who didn't, just know that it's cool and let it be a surprise for when you go to one. You might expect these big set-pieces and bosses like Uncharted or GoW, but it's not really like that. I genuinely think that this is more video-gamey than it lets on which certainly takes up its runtime. One addition to side-quests that I would like to see is one where you don't know it's happening. For example, in this game, you'll come across random hunters who are attacking or being attacked by machines but rather than just going on about your day and them going on about their's, I want to fight off the machine and the person say "You saved my life, my name's Jara, I live in the town nearby and want to repay you." so you go there and there's trouble so it starts up a side-quest. Now don't get me wrong, there are PLENTY of instances of people getting attacked actually being a mission but most of the time someone in town will just tell you "I haven't seen this person in a while, can you go check on them for me?" It's the art of subtlety and also just doing a good deed and getting rewarded for it. It's a conscious choice and split decision rather than just another checkmark on your list to complete.

Now I won't bother listing the characters and rating them but there's a certain aspect that has me really enthused So, Aloy is an outcast and a lot of these side missions and scenarios reflect her, you'll see the way she can relate with other characters, making it almost poetic in a subliminal kind of way. Then they add this tribal and futuristic setting to it where Aloy acts as the medium, there are parts of the game where she questions the tribe because they cut themselves off from technology and just don't know any better and we as a viewer know that but having the main character view things in 'our' lens is pretty genius. To top that off, they give her enough personality to be her own character while giving us enough power to influence her so that we ourselves can REFLECT WITH HER. It's not her character that I'm impressed with, it's the layout of the story.

So, how is the main story? It's kind of like the Flood scenario in Halo if I'm being honest. I'm not going to spoil anything but it's passable, like I said, it's not like an Uncharted and it's not like a movie. The visuals just look good at times (I took all the pictures in this review myself and so much more!). I'd call it a futuristic/tribal mix between Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Skyrim but I see elements of a lot of things. (Also since it's post apoctalypic, you find items that we see in modern day, like how they call keys, "chimes"! They think they're windchimes because there are no more cars! I love that!)

It actually does a pretty good job at being an open world considering that there are tons of things to do on your routes as well as collect but it's not so much so that it seems unfeasible, as I said, I found myself doing a good chunk of the side stuff just because it was fun to do and I'm not even close to a completionist for any game. If you mess up, healing plants will still be there. As long as you save, enemy parts will still be there. A place can be cleared out and conquered so that enemies don't come back. The actual towns are peaceful so you can't get mangled by any bots outside of scripted instances.

The graphics are pretty good but I can see some error here and there, nothing necessarily game breaking but the animations and AI are definitely janky at times. It's pretty obvious from the get-go but I'll do my best to specify and give constructive criticism on what I found wrong with certain aspects of the game. Rost is slow, like slower than walking speed but that's not to speak for all NPCs, some run, some you don't need to follow, it was really just him. I've had NPCs who fight but miss every single time on simple enemies (that might not be a bug, that might just be a funny bit that someone decided to add in). Sabretooths have jumped through walls (granted the walls were kinda broken but I'm not sure if those big boys can fit when they can barely find the entrance) I found myself jumping to a ledge or on a rope but not land it and just drop (it really boils down to loosening the hit box for that). Which to add on to that, I would like more places to climb and jump to in general (other than stupid mountains). I felt like there wasn't really enough that I could climb and the places that I could, could've been a bit more obvious that I could, maybe even make it viewable with your focus if you don't want it to be visually outstanding. There's a day and night cycle and while I like that, I found some of the contrast to be annoying because I could be staring a ladder right in the face and not even know it sometimes because it would be so dark. I'm not going to complain too much about it because I didn't turn my brightness up, I just left it at default and I would assume the PS5 version fixes some of those little things.

Now, this one is kind of a gray area: Hiking up mountains. Skyrim, Fallout, and Death Stranding went too far and gave little to no barriers. They had you looking for sweet spots that weren't there in order to cheese your way through an area either on or off a beaten path. But I would compare this to something like GTA where it's not as bad and does have its limits but might need tightened up some more because I can certainly get to places that lead to nowhere.

I've made headshots that don't make contact or damage while using precision. Part of that problem was that they could be high up in a tower (which have spikes sticking out) and I would hit ABOVE the logs, to make a headshot but since it was in that vicinity, it registered that as the spikes' hitbox so it wouldn't cause any damage and just alert the enemy (same if I was in the tower, looking down). Input lag where I hit up button on the D-Pad to regain health and I have to keep pressing it. If I had to guess, you have to meet the requirements of not taking damage, staying still, etc in order for it to actually work but it doesn't really have a reason to do that and it doesn't "tell" you that those are the requirements (as far as I know).

During the final boss, one of the enemies hit me into a rock wall, trapping me inside of it and the boss was already half health so I really didn't want to have to restart (I also didn't know how far back the checkpoint was) so I kept shooting stuff and eventually the boss destroyed the wall, allowing me to get out (timed section, by the way). There have been a few times where a tree or leaf or something is obstructing a cutscene and sometimes there will be a mech in the background screaming over the NPC talking, which I'm sure is due to the cutscenes being real-time which is still pretty impressive. Now are these errors all the time? No, not at all, I'm just pointing out that some times these things happened and that I felt it needed ironed out but I wouldn't call this half baked or an unfinished product or anything, it's nowhere near that level. I get that there are so many NPCs that it's hard to account for them all with facial animations but whenever they're talking, it seems pretty static and sometimes the lips don't line up. There's this one guy who says that he got lost in a sandstorm but he's standing in snow. Again, little nitpicks in an otherwise great game.

Now, I got this game for free as a Playstation promotion but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be great, I played a little bit of that Ratchet & Clank reboot that was offered and I wasn't impressed, I quit after the first few worlds and was glad I didn't buy it at launch, (despite being a classic PS2 R&C fan) but we're not here to review that. I also played Abzu and loved it but it was short so it was definitely worth a play but maybe not 60$ (I actually think it's 20$ at this point though). With this game, it's the whole complete edition with DLC and everything, it has the length, so it really just boils down to "Would I have spent money on it otherwise?"

I think I would've if I knew more about it because I think it just got better and better after that first part of the game. It's marketed a bit differently than what I ended up getting but I found myself pouring hours into this game and loving it for one reason or another. I actually bought Shadow of the Colossus along with it (which is considered a cult classic) but I liked Horizon so much better, definitely worth its full price in my opinion. (So your promotion worked on me Sony, congrats) It has its problems but the potential is there and I feel like a sequel would probably iron out a lot of my troubles with it, so it's definitely a franchise worth investing into.

If you're interested in what I thought of the DLC alone (if you didn't get the Ultimate edition and are wondering if the extra content is worth it) I have a separate post that goes into that here.

#hzd #horizon zero dawn #review #game #4/5

1 note · View note

controllertalk · 4 years ago

Text

Assassins Creed Valhalla, is there such a thing as a game being too long?

First and foremost, welcome to my blog. I am happy to have you hear for this first review, and I cannot wait to connect with you and have your input!

Now, onto the review.

Assassins Creed... Like it, hate it, or fall somewhere in between?

For me, I have constantly fallen on the side of LOVE IT. Legitimately, I believe Assassins Creed 2, 3, Unity and Syndicate are amazing games. I love the more traditional Assassins Creed Games more than the most recent three. However, I still did enjoy Origins and Odyssey.

I say all this because I am just not on board with Valhalla.

Valhalla was a game I was fairly hyped about. I wanted to purchase it with my PS5 purchase but I ended up not doing it at the time, and instead got the game as a Christmas present.

I was so excited to finally get to dive in. Seeing things like the town/outpost and being able to build it up, and some of the viking settings just looked so cool.

However, almost immediately there was this weight hanging over me. I had heard a lot about the length of this game. And let me tell you, the length is absurd. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for extra content, and making sure you get your moneys worth. However, there comes a time in some games, when it just feels like you are doing the same task repeatedly for no reason.

Valhalla, unfortunately, comes off this way. While there are the odd good story beats from time to time, and the characters can be somewhat interesting (Randvi is a favorite of mine) there are far too many moments when it feels like they ran out of ideas, and they just stuck filler content in the game so that they could boast a larger hour count.

(On a side note HLTB (How Long to Beat) clocks in the average play through of this game at 54 hours for only the main story, with a whopping 130 hours if you want to complete everything)

This game just really lost me about 30 hours in. I began to lose interest in the story, and I began to find myself not connecting with Eivor anymore. I felt like Eivor was just a bystander in this story. And maybe that was the point, maybe Ubisoft wanted to make the story not about you and just have you kind of be there. But it just felt boring and not interesting. I felt like conflict with Dag in particular was really out of nowhere. I understand it carries a story point a bit later that will have consequences but it just was not even remotely believable.

And that takes me to the majority of this game. While I love the Assassins Creed games as a whole, I felt like there was little to no Assassin left in this game. Origins and Odyssey definitely didn't have much either, but for some reason (the setting possibly as I am a huge fan of Greek mythology, and Egyptian settings) I just found this one to be even more lacking.

One thing that I will say, is that I had just beaten Ghost of Tsushima which was a perfect game (review to follow soon) and I felt like that game had stealth that more matched the original Assassins Creed games while also having an amazingly tactile and fun combat system.

Overall, my feelings on the game are as follows:

Graphics: 5 out of 5

The game looks gorgeous there is no doubt. With amazingly detailed figures and landscapes

Story: 2 out of 5

While I have experienced worse stories, this one just doesn't have any depth or heart to it

Combat: 3 out of 5

This is for sure, not the worst combat of all time, but it feels fairly button mashy without much depth

Replay-ability: 0 out of 5

I can't see how anyone would have the time to replay this game, but also, the game is just so bland as a whole that it feels pointless to even restart it once you finish it.

Overall Score: 10 out of 20

This game is not the worst game of all time, but that is about all it has going for it (outside of amazing graphics)

#assassins creed #valhalla #review #gaming #ps5

3 notes · View notes

helpmyheavydirtysoul · 4 years ago

Text

Starting here - Day 1

So, since my mental health has kind of been doing it’s own thing lately, I’ve decided to use this platform as sort of a journal. I mean, isn’t that what a lot of people do on here? I’m just going to spill my thoughts on here everyday. Whether something drastic happens or I just decided to get out of bed that day. Maybe it’ll help, maybe it won’t. But it’s worth a try and like I always say, “I’ll try anything once.” So, here it goes.....

Today is Saturday and it was a pretty decent day. Got to do the tiny humans nails today. Well, just her right hand because she didn’t have the patience to sit through the other hand. After that, I finally got around to soaking off the nails on my silicon practice hand (it only took me 3 days). But, hey, one step at a time. I then got the urge to watch some more Fruits Basket, so I went to the bedroom, laid down and turned the PS5 on. Tiny human wanted to finish up her mac n’ cheese she got from Panera before she decided to join me for some cuddles. My eyes started to get heavy and eventually I drifted off to sleep. I think I slept for about an hour and a half. Then my man-child called me to let me know he’ll be going to his brother’s tomorrow and that he’ll be home soon. Once I hung up the phone with him, I laid there for another thirty minutes before I decided to get up.

Tiny human and I made our way out in to the living room and she was showing me videos of kids playing Super Mario Party. She told me she wanted to play too and I thought it might be fun, as well, so I booted up my Switch and bought the game. We both waited (her impatiently) for the game to download. We didn’t get to play for very long because the attention span of a four year old isn’t very long. She began to get frustrated and I decided that was enough. She wanted to play something different. I showed her Just Dance 2020 and she had a blast with that for about 20 minutes before she wanted to play Fall Guys on the PS4 because, ya know, tiny human, tiny attention span. I started up Fall Guys and then she decided she was hungry and we argued about her eating in the living room. Needless to say, I won and she was ready to eat a PB&J at the dining room table, not before she cried, refused to eat it because I didn’t cut it in the right type of triangles. I cut it diagonally, like you’re supposed to, right? Wrong. It was clearly not the right way. She told me she didn’t want it and I wasn’t going to force her. So, I told her it was time for bed because it was almost 9:30pm and it was already past her bedtime. I left the untouched sandwich on the table and tucked her in to bed.

Man-child finally came home and I could start dinner. I decided to use my bamboo steamer and make the beef gyoza and seafood dumplings I bought at the Asian grocery store. I steamed them and then my brother pan fried them up because I prefer mine fried and not steamed. I also made a homemade gyoza dipping sauce with roasted sesame seed oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, some garlic powder and some onion powder. It was pretty on point and quite delicious. The seafood dumplings weren’t all that great but the beef & veggie gyoza was so good. Especially, pan fried. Highly suggest. So, Man-child, brother and I sat down and enjoyed our quick dinner. Once we were done, Man-child went out to his man cave (the shed) for a bit and I went in to my cave (the office) and did my nails.

I’m really in to reverse stamping right now and it really helps with my creative noggin achieve the look it craves. I’m not super great at free-hand art on nails, so the reverse stamping really helps with that. I needed to cover up my naked nails because they are currently detaching themselves from the nail bed. I think it may be because of an iron deficiency because they are also starting to “spoon”. I’m going to call the doctors office on Monday to make an appointment to talk to her about it. I’m hoping it’s just an iron deficiency and not a thyroid problem. So, I’m just going to have to get the blood work done and find out what is wrong with me. At least I can use the blood work for my therapist’s office too. That way I don’t have to get double the needles in my arm *sigh of relief*. BUT! Enough about that and back to one of the only hobbies that has ever kept my interest for this long, nails. So, I did one design on my left and another on my right, while I watched the original Ben 10 on Hulu.

Once I was done my nails, I had an urge to check out tumblr. I logged in to my old account and realized I had only touched it for about an hour and wanted to use it for all it’s worth. So, here I am... starting here.... day one *sigh*. Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. I’m going to go lay in bed, play on my phone until about 3am and then attempt to fight my anxiety and finally get to sleep. Whoever decides to read this, fair warning, I’ve got a lot of things to figure out and I’m really just writing this for myself. But, I understand this is social media and this is definitely not private. I guess I didn’t make it private because maybe someone will realize they aren’t alone and can relate to my life. It is what it is, I guess. Hopefully I wake up tomorrow better than I was today.

3 notes · View notes

repentantsky · 4 years ago

Text

Top Games I’m Looking Forward To in 2021 (Part III)

And so it is that I am finally at my last post of this series, of top games I am Looking forward to in 2021. This will probably end up being a slightly shorter list as I’ve already covered so much in the last two, but there’s still some things to talk about that I could not miss out on, so here we go.

Halo Infinite.

Despite all that seems to be going wrong with the development of Halo Infinite, seeing how it’s had multiple developers leave, even from some high positions, I can’t deny that I’m a massive Halo fan. While my Xbox is largely used for my physical Indie games, one of the few series I play on it is Halo, and nothing is going to stop me from being excited for Infinite, lest we find out it’s Cyberpunk 2077 all over again. Whatever Halo Infinite becomes, a Destiny style game, or it’s own unique service to that kind of game model, I’m excited to it see it come to fruition, and to play it for myself, so we fully understand what all the trailer we saw most recently, was really all about.

Horizon Forbidden West.

Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorite PS4 games of all time. It’s excellent combat, a story far beyond what one might expect for a game of it’s style, and it’s amazing side quests really make it a game that stands out among the crowd of open world titles. Aloy has become one of my favorite characters in gaming, so to be back in her world, and to see what we can see in this seemingly expansive, and beautiful yet dark western location, is something I can hardly wait for. While I’m not personally a fan of Sylens, this game has a chance to turn me around on him, or make me hate him the way I’m supposed to, instead of just disliking the fact that he’s in the game at all. Who can say exactly what’s coming with Horizon Forbidden West, but whatever it is, I am ready to experience it, full of hope that it can somehow surpass the original.

12 Minutes.

One thing these lists have been missing is some Indie games. While I could probably make a separate list for them all together, I think instead I’ll talk about them now. Of all the upcoming Indie games that I’m interested in, 12 minutes is way near the top. The idea itself not being wholly unique, it is one that can be used to create something unique. 12 minutes, a game about a time loop (one of three big games about in fact) looks to take the formula in a hopefully new direction, giving you such a short time to try and do things correctly, in the face of a murderer, who might be going after a murderer. Being a husband caught between such a wild set of circumstances, is bound to add to the drama, and intrigue, this game is sure to provide. If there was a reason to own an Xbox beyond Halo, this is it, right here.

Way to the Woods.

I am not giving up on this game. Way to the Woods was set to release in 2019, than last year in 2020, but the developer himself has said he currently has a goal set for March 29th 2021, on the official website. Whether that’s a release or not is not entirely clear, but something is coming by that date, I’m sure of it. Way to the Woods sees you playing as a Deer in what appears to be a post apocalyptic earth, where humans are all but gone, and only remnants of their existence is left. Train tracks, shopping malls, and museum’s, these are still here. What really exists beyond that, who knows, but the mother deer you play, seems determined to get her child to whatever woods they may be going, and I’m determined to see how this stylish, beautiful Indie game plays out.

Season.

It’s hard to know what Season is about other than a guy taking and drawing pictures, over what appears to be a single season, but it’s beautiful music from the trailer, and astounding visuals, make it a game to look out for when it drops on PS5, hopefully sometime this year. I’ll admit I’m a sucker for games that remind even slightly of a Studio Ghibli film, and Season reminds of a few of them. The road the main character is biking on makes me think of Kiki’s Delivery Service, the vast green field he walks along reminds of Castle in the Sky, the world of Season is just incredibly breathtaking and I cannot wait to explore it, and got lost in what I hope is wonderful piano heavy soundtrack. Everything about it looks to be so enjoyable, so I can only hope, it does release this year.

Lost in Random.

I don’t know if it’s the Tim Burton style visuals, The Nightmare Before Christmas style music, the eye popping combat, or...hey, it’s actually all those things. Lost in Random just looks like it will be a lot of fun. A type of game you play on Halloween, even if it’s not really a horror game, just to remind you what claymation style visuals can do in a video game, and in your head. If you ever found yourself a fan of something that is creepy, unsettling, but yet not completely horror centric, Lost in Random is the game for you and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. Hopefully, after not hearing anything for nearly 7 months, we’ll see the game get a release date, sometime this year.

The Outlast Trials.

Going from something that isn’t quite horror, to something that clearly is, The Outlast Trials should really spice up the Outlast style of gameplay, offering you potentially temporary allies that you get to watch die in the same horrible ways that characters so often meet their fates in these games. While information about the game is pretty lacking, not much more is known beyond the previously mentioned temporary allies, and the fact that you get night-vision somehow implanted into your brain, the game looks like it will be bring the scares in a way that only Outlast can, and maybe with more shock value than ever.

And I think that, after multiple parts of varying length to each list, covers my most hype games for this year. Did I miss anything in the other lists, or this one, that you’re excited for? Let me know in the notes below, feel free to leave me a follow no matter where you find this list, and have a great and wonderful day.

1 note · View note

brothermouzongaming · 5 years ago

Text

My Game Awards thoughts

I'm not going to cover everything that happened but I am going to go over some news breaks, my thoughts on the ceremony as a whole, some announcements we got/ ones we didn't, and maybe some "entitled gamer rage" just cause I can.

results for the awards here

The Xbox Series X announcement was unexpected but it is a nice jab from Microsoft to get the idea of the console in the minds of people even if it's just the physical look alongside what I can only assume was supposed to display its power and graphic fidelity. The ball is in Sony's court, I can't wait to see what they come up with. I suspect E3 2020 will be when we get something similar to what Microsoft did but maybe even bigger since they've had the time to work on it by then.

Let's stay on Microsoft for a minute cause that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 trailer was... a trip. If Microsoft keeps this up I'm definitely going to have a difficult choice to make come holiday 2020. The tone and visuals of the trailer as a whole are disturbing and gorgeous all at the same time. I was captivated the entire time and love the more psychological/mythological mesh they're really diving into. I literally had to go and watch it before I moved on to other topics while writing this.

That shark game Man Eater got another trailer, I am kind of surprised that hasn't come out yet. Not hyped or anything but I mean it does look like fun the way Untitled Goose Game does. Woooah here she comes (sorry couldn't help myself).

No More Heroes 3 coming out with the big weird trailer. Seriously I was so intrigued and caught off-guard. Touche Nintendo, every day you bring me closer to getting a Switch. Bastards.

GodFall a self-proclaimed "slasher-looter" action rpg by Gearbox Productions dropped a vague, but beautiful, cinematic teaser. It also subtly drops that it will come to PS5 and PC. This is the first mention/marketing for the PS5 at all, and it's through a short CGI trailer that tells us nothing. Weird.

Ghost of Tsushima got a great cinematic/ gameplay trailer that was teased at the State of Play event Sony just had. It was entertaining and gorgeous but I need more gameplay, still very interested.

Sons of the Forest This is interesting because it appears to be a very interesting step forward after The Forest's 2014 release. Definitely leaning into the blend of mysticism and body horror with the new trailer emphasizing on a sexually confusing four-legged woman and several fleshy faceless husks clearly intended to be enemies. I gotta try The Forest especially if this one fulfills the fantastical horror it advertises.

Control not only won Best Art Direction and was nominated for many more awards, but they also dropped new content. Bless. Expeditions are a new repeatable mission type that sends you into a Jukebox (if you've played it you'll bear with me here) where you can get new and high-grade mods as well as an outfit. This requires you to scavenge the world for the coins that get you into the...Jukebox...world place. The rewards seem meager, like what is going to keep me coming once I beat the highest tier and get the outfit? That said, it's a nice reason to pop Control back in and boy is it nice, even better with the patches that improve performance and finally let the game flow the way it's supposed to. I wish it was a little deeper and maybe there's more to it than we know now, but it's clear that this is supposed to hold players over until the first DLC drops. Not a complaint, more of a matter of fact.

Wolf Among Us 2 was announced...interesting... I guess they really are pushing that whole "TellTale is back" thing huh. We'll see, they can't afford to fuck that up. It's clear this is a tactical move to build hype and get people wanting that game they've been wanting since 2013. Why not come back with the one game you know anyone who cares about "TellTale" will, therefore, care about? Makes sense to me, don't fuck it up new guys.

Where the fuck was my Batman announcement? The Harry Potter rpg that we know is in development? BioMutant, where the hell is that game? There are so many games in development and some even close to release that really could use some shine on a stage like this. Since I'm out to prove a point: Last of Us 2? Marvel's Avengers? RE3? Dying Light 2? Vampire Masquerade 2? Watch Dogs Legion? Psychonauts 2? Moons of Madness? Digimon Survive? Since we're so focussed on turning back time (more on that later). OddWorld? Little Nightmares 2? I hope my disgustingly exacerbated point is made, we could've had so much more. One or two of any of those games would've made it way much better.

My point is if I'm Geoff Keighley and I'm ending one of the biggest broadcasted gaming-related events of the year and it ends with a FAST AND THE FURIOUS GAME? You bet your ass I'm taking however much Google paid for all those bullshit (though entertaining) Stadia commercials and I'm sweetening the pot for Sony, Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, WB Montreal, Capcom, literally anyone for an exclusive news drop of some kind. I'm sure any of those studios could've been persuaded in the name of publicity and hype and could've met/exceeded the excitement levels for a Fast and the Furious game. Fucking pathetic, is this 2009? Did you see those graphics?

Also...Green Day...? Seriously did I wake up in 2009 and no one told me? You have CHVRCHES on stage, you're handing out awards to bands and composers, you have a full orchestra for more musical numbers than even I'd care for...and you thought Green Day should be the headliner. I understand it was more of a personal choice by Geoff since he's a big fan but fucking hell go to a show don't subject us to it.

All in all, this night was pretty underwhelming with some flashes of entertainment strewn throughout. Yes, you have huge moments like Microsoft announcing the Series X, but when those are followed by minutes of Stadia commercials, moments like "Teh ken" and "This is gaming it's supposed to be free. Free love," and the myriad of obscure and nothing announcements it really shows that there are just some demons this award show can't seem to shake. No, I don't expect full gameplay reveals and walkthroughs but there is a middle ground between twelve-second trailers for new IPs and full-on presentations.

Ikumi Nakamura was there so I'm gonna start demanding she appears at all Game awards/ presentations thank you very much.

edit: all this ranting bullshit and I never mention that in my opinion, I think DMC5 should've taken GOTY. I totally understand why Sekiro won because it's great. It's deep, beautiful, visceral, rewarding; but so is DMC5. What tipped the scale was how much fun I had playing DMC5 and no Sekiro isn't for conventional "fun" but I thoroughly enjoyed DMC more and that really is what it boils down to when everything else is so evenly matched.

#The Game Awards #Microsoft #Xbox Series X #Sony #PS5 #No More Heroes 3 #Control #Man Eater #Wolf Among Us 2 #Godfall #Ghost of Tsushima #Sons of the Forest #Fast and the Furious

34 notes · View notes

topiamains · 2 years ago

Text

Third peson survival games free

#Third peson survival games free update

#Third peson survival games free android

#Third peson survival games free series

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and the moment my eyes met with those of a cannibal, I panicked, and I ran for the hills (well, the beach in this case). I remember the first time that I played The Forest very fondly. Now, if you’re a fan of survival games with a strong story, and you also like horror, The Forest will without a doubt have you hooked. If you are interested in starting this one up, we've got a wealth of Valheim guides for you to peruse. This makes your survival experience have an overarching sense of purpose, and it feels great. Your enemies are also Odin’s enemies, and it’s your job to restore peace to Valheim. You’re not merely thrown into a world with nothing to your name, as is the case with other survival titles, but instead, you’re a legendary warrior who has had their soul transported to Valheim. It’s arguably multiplayer where Valheim truly shines, making those troubling boss fights and constructing sturdy bases a team effort.Īnother aspect of Valheim that draws me to it whenever I think of the survival experience is the story. You can craft to your heart's content, cook away, and team up with friends for the adventure. The world of Valheim is procedurally generated with all the systems needed to craft one impressive beginners base. Valheim is beautiful because it’s core survival gameplay at it’s finest and is heavily inspired by Norse mythology. Valheim comes from a different Swedish developer, Iron Gate Studios, and could easily be crowned one of the best survival titles that we’ve seen in recent year.

#Third peson survival games free series

Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.

We have blocky Minecraft frogs, what more could you want? Valheim Sure, this content takes a long while to come out, but it’s usually so worth it when it does. Your Minecraft experience is your own, so it’s up to you if you invite friends, join public servers, or go slay the Ender Dragon solo.Įither way, Minecraft is vibrant and developer Mojang simply keep adding more content.

#Third peson survival games free update

Given the Minecraft Caves update recently, going down to the mines to hunt for diamonds and iron has never been more exciting. You build your base, kill some animals for food, and then it’s time to go down in the mines. Minecraft, typically, revolves around starting with nothing and then destroying the surrounding terrain to gather and craft resources. There's more to this survival game than just blocks. Building and breaking blocks will not be to everyone's tastes, but it is an incredibly charming blocky adventure for those who do. You might not have heard of this one… but Minecraft is arguably one of the best (if not the best) survival game of all time.

#Third peson survival games free android

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android.In no particular order whatsoever, here are some of the best survival games of all time for you to try. Needless to say, survival games will rob you of your time once one captivates you entirely, but they are games that truly keep on giving, and that’s why many of them still proceed to capture so many players. Even then, jumping onto an incredibly old save in an even older survival title is a whole different level of fun within itself: will I find the Minecraft castle I spent weeks building multiple years ago? Probably not, but it’s nice to know that there’s a possibility I could find it while revisiting my game. That is, unless, you closed your game of Minecraft while deep in a cavern surrounded by enemies. You can pick up a survival game with such ease, and there’s no worry about where you might’ve got off last time or whether you need a narrative recap (most of the time). Whether you jump in for an intense day of gathering resources or simply choose to survive half hour at a time (this is how I often approach 7 Days to Die), there’s a survival game out there for everyone to become obsessed with.Īnother wonder when it comes to survival games is their timelessness. There’s something deeply satisfying about starting with nothing and ending with an empire, regardless of whether you pillaged villages or destroyed an entire forest to get there. Survival games are, a lot of the time, about the grind. In fact, we’re spoilt for so much choice when it comes to the survival genre that it can be hard to choose which one you want to plough hours into. Whether it’s the random resurgence of Project Zomboid, more Minecraft updates, or an entirely new title to the scene like Valheim, we’re spoilt for choice. In recent years, survival games have showed no signs of slowing down.

#Third peson survival games free

0 notes

aion-rsa · 3 years ago

Text

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance Review Roundup

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Developer Tuque Games’ Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is one of the most anticipated games of 2021 for many of those who grew up with the original Baldur’s Gate Action-RPG spinoff series and fondly remember those games as some of the best co-op console dungeon crawlers ever made.

A lot has changed since Dark Alliance first stole our hearts in 2001, but given that the original games got so much mileage out of intelligently reimagining Diablo-style gameplay for consoles while brilliantly utilizing the incredible universe they were based on, many hope this new Dark Alliance would be able to revive that series’ best qualities while incorporating elements of modern game design.

Well, the first Dark Alliance reviews seem to agree that the game suffers from quite a few technical and design problems, but it feels like there’s a bit of a divide forming in regards to how much they will impact your ability to enjoy the overall experience. Here’s what critics are saying about the game:

Travis Northup, IGN:

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“I badly wanted Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance to be an awesome co-op version of the pencil-and-paper tabletop RPGs I’ve loved for decades, but it just isn’t. It’s a bland, boring trek through repetitive encounters that’s filled with bugs and annoying design choices, and though it allows you to play alone you absolutely should not do that because it’s an imbalanced nightmare. I can praise its faithful look and feel, which captures much of what makes Forgotten Realms a great setting, but there’s very little else to recommend about this unpolished mess of a hack-and-slash RPG.”

Score: 4/10

Andy Kelly, PC Gamer:

“But bugs aside, Dark Alliance is a blast. It brings the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life brilliantly, with meaty combat, a gorgeous world, and some truly despicable monsters to carve up. It’s a reminder of what makes the Forgotten Realms such a great fantasy setting, and a welcome chance to return to Icewind Dale, a place a lot of PC gamers, myself included, love. If you’re more of an RPG fan, you might find the non-stop combat a bit much. This is a game about killing monsters above all—and it’s some of the most joyously brutal monster-killin’ on PC, even if you don’t have anyone else to slay with.”

Score: 82/100

Jason Wilson, VentureBeat:

“The more I think about my 20-or-so hours with Dark Alliance, the more I wonder if Tuque picked the right package for its good story about these characters. I get it wants to capture the flow-and-rush of combat that comes with Salvatore’s books, but do games both heavy in story and combat combos work? In this case, they don’t, because the combat doesn’t live to the story’s ambitions.

But what if this was a top-down action-RPG in the vein of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance or even Diablo? Would that work better, focusing more on the interlocking systems of combat than the rush? Tuque looks like it has the chops to do a good RPG well — maybe something along the lines of a third-person RPG would’ve worked better? It’s interesting to consider…For now, Dark Alliance feels like many D&D adventures: Sometimes, you gotta slog through some combat in order to learn more about the world and enjoy a good story.”

Score: 3/5

Donovan Erskine, Shacknews:

“Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance delivers a solid D&D adventure, with exciting combat and a slew of monsters to take down. Though my experience was a bit dulled by crashes and some minor bugs, it certainly didn’t ruin the game for me. Dark Alliance fits in nicely in the pantheon of Dungeons and Dragons games.”

Score: 7/10

Samantha Nelson, Windows Central:

“Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance will be available on Xbox Game Pass on launch day, so if you have the service to play the best Xbox Game Pass games you might as well fire it up and give the game a try. It’s a decent casual hack and slash title to share with friends, though even then you might want to wait until Tuque fixes the enemy banter so you get a more entertaining experience.

It’s really hard to justify paying the full $40 for a game that seems to be relying on a license to build an audience without really living up to the Dungeons & Dragons name. With a thin plot, no character development, fairly repetitive gameplay, and a bunch of content that needs fixing or won’t be delivered until a paid expansion, Dark Alliance feels like an unfinished experience rather than a robust adventure.”

Score: 3/5

Garri Bagdasarov, PlayStation Universe:

“Dark Alliance is the type of game for people looking to blow off steam with their friends. It’s such an exploration ride that I just wanted to keep playing it all day long. The fun combat and loot system kept me coming back even if it is a shame the story set in the D&D universe written by a prolific writer fails to live up to its potential. It’s also baffling that almost no love was given to the game on the PS5 to utilize its power or even the DualSense controller. At $40 though almost all of its flaws can be overlooked for just plain old fun.”

Score: 8/10

The post Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance Review Roundup appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/35IX3fB

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

oneddashone · 4 years ago

Text

Games of the Year 2020

Given that I don't think anyone reads this, especially since I've largely stopped using it for anything other than these lists, it feels silly to write an intro on "what a weird year 2020 was" or whatever. It is worth mentioning, however, that in a "normal" year, it's quite possible that my GotY would have been different.

I think every game on this list was played on the Nintendo Switch, which, aside from FIFA, is really the only device I play games on these days. I've waxed poetic about this in the past, so there's no reason to talk much more about this now. I'm really hoping a "Switch Pro" comes out next year—to me, that's much more interesting and desirable than either a PS5 or X-Box Series Whatever.

Anyway, on to the list.

***RECOMMENDED*** What the Golf Minecraft Dungeons Bubble Bobble 4 Friends Mr Driller DrillLand Carrion Panzer Paladin A Short Hike Part Time UFO Immortals Fenyx Rising

I kept a list of all the games I played this year, and more than half didn't make the cut at all, so the games in this lowest category are all still extremely worthwhile games, in my opinion. What the Golf was originally a mobile game, but I played it on the Switch and had a blast. Very funny and inventive, and more than enough "game" there, in case you were wondering. I played through and beat Minecraft Dungeons with my daughter, which was a blast. She knew all the lore, and I knew the genre, so we were genuinely able to help each other out throughout the game. The new games in the Bubble Bobble and Mr Driller franchises were largely carried by my nostalgia for them—neither was perfect, but absolutely worth the investment if you care about the series. DrillLand in particular had some surprisingly inventive takes on the established formula.

Carrion and Panzer Paladin were nice surprises when they came out. A lot was written about the former when it debuted and I don't have much to add to that conversation, but I didn't see nearly as much love for Panzer Paladin. It's a fun little retro platformer, something like a "12 bit" art style, and you play through levels in any order you want, a la Mega Man. The most interesting part of the game to me is actually the weapon management system—you get a ton of weapons throughout the game, and the real strategy lies in choosing when to break certain ones, maintaining a steady supply of good ones, and even in using them to trigger checkpoints.

I watched my friend Ben stream A Short Hike when it first came out on PC, and I was excited to finally play it myself. It didn't disappoint, and I loved the relative short length, combined with the overall carefree and relaxed vibe. My daughter played through to the end too, which was nice. Another short-ish game this year was Part Time UFO, which, like What the Golf, was a originally a mobile game. Part Time UFO was made by HAL, and it shows throughout—most obviously in that Kirby shows up in the background from time to time, but also in the overall craft and polish.

The last game in this tier is Immortals: Fenix Rising, which nearly ended up being a tier higher, but in the end it just felt better here. This is a great take on an Ubisoft BotW clone (which I mean in the nicest way possible), and the setting is fantastic, but ultimately there are some key flaws that hold it back for me. Ubisoft's seemingly insatiable appetite to Get More Money Out of the Player, even after they've purchased the game, comes to mind immediately. Requiring a login and creation of an Ubisoft account is another. You don't really think about these things when you're playing the actual game, which is great, but it ended up being enough for me to dock it a little bit in the end.

***ESSENTIAL*** Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition One Step to Eden Streets of Rage 4 Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

Kentucky Route Zero is another game that I feel like has already been written about and discussed a lot, and I don't know what I have to add to that. I'm so glad it ended up on consoles—it always seemed to me like the kind of game that would be trapped on PCs forever. The one moment that will always stick out for me was when I was playing it in bed one night with the kid. We found something in our inventory that had a phone number written on the back, so, in effort to kind of indulge her and be a little goofy, I decided to actually call it. I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't the fully realized "Guide to Echo River" (voiced by Will fucking Oldham!) that we got. It was an incredible experience, one of many in this extremely beautiful, thoughtful game.

One Step to Eden introduced me to a game genre I didn't know I needed—basically, "what if deck-based roguelite, but with an action-based real-time dexterity component?" It's all well and good to create a perfect deck in something like Slay the Spire, where any nerd can take as long as they need to run their perfect calculations or whatever during their turn, but it's really something else to try and do it while dodging complex enemy attack patterns at the same time. I feel like I read that this was based off a Mega Man spin-off, but to me it felt like a breath of fresh air in the increasingly oversaturated roguelike genre (oh, but more on that later).

Streets of Rage 4 is the perfection of a genre that I thought I was completely done with, and one that I think a lot of other people were done with too. Belt-scrollers made a certain amount of game design sense when they were first introduced in arcades, what with the goal being to collect as many of your quarters as possible—but the gameplay hook suffers tremendously when there's no tangible cost to failing. And yet the team behind SoR4 breathed new life into the genre, via incredible art, animations, and music. Most importantly of course is how it feels, and the deep combat system allows players of all different skill and interest levels to get exactly as much out of the game as they put into it. A friend played this in a much deeper way than I did, chaining combos across entire levels at times—whereas I just played through twice—and yet we both came away from it completely satisfied. This is a masterpiece of the genre.

Clubhouse Games is a sequel of sorts to the DS game of the same name. The first thing I think of when recalling this game is just the incredible amount of craft that clearly went into making it. From the heavy thud of the Hanafuda cards being forcefully plopped down to the sound of marbles jostling in Mancala, every little detail of this game has been thoughtfully executed. Sure, there's a few games I played once and never wanted to play again, but mostly this collection is just an outstanding bang for your buck. It also succeeds as a kind of virtual history lesson/tour of the best and most-loved tabletop games from around the world; and, especially during a pandemic, who could say no to that?

Sakuna snuck up on me towards the end of the year. Apparently it was first announced as a PS4 exclusive, but Nintendo saw it and rightfully made a big effort to get it on its platform as well. The gameplay mostly consists of an incredibly satisfying loop of starting the day by tending to your rice field, in full 3D life sim style, and then going out and exploring levels in fairly fast-paced 2D action/platforming levels. During the 2D parts, you'll find supplies that help your rice field, and by completing tasks there you'll unlock better equipment and weapons for the platforming levels. On top of all of that, there's a night/day cycle as well as a seasonal one, which vastly changes the type and amount of work you need to do in the field each day. That might sound like a lot, but it all snaps together wonderfully, leading me to quite a few "well I'll just play one more day" long nights. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the clear reverence shown towards the surprisingly complicated act of actually growing rice—every step of the way is a different kind of mini-game, essentially, and I ended up taking a lot of pride in making the best rice that I could. This is one I'll definitely still be playing into the new year.

***RUNNER UP*** Hades

Everyone's favorite horned-up mythological roguelike ensnared me pretty deeply when the full version was released on Switch this year. I had seen snippets of it on Early Access, which was enough to pique my interest, but I was still caught pretty off-guard by just how incredible this game actually turned out to be.

I haven't talked much about story in these write-ups so far, but it's clearly the first place to start with Hades. If I had to pick one thing to set it apart from similar games, it would be how perfectly the notion of dying and restarting is to the central story of Zagreus. Every time you die in an unsuccessful run, which will be a lot early on, you're encouraged by NPCs to try again—and not only that, it makes thematic sense with—and in fact is central to��the story of the game. This completely removes the sting of feeling underpowered and kind of helpless in your early runs, and to keep playing and powering through it.

The pantheon of gods in this game will show up and offer to help by way of boons. These grant you temporary new abilities, which not only vary depending on which weapon you've picked, but will also combine with and modify other boons that you pick up in the run—not unlike the weapon synergy of Binding of Isaac, for example. The gods have their own agenda, of course, but with some experience you'll start to favor certain builds over others, and to try to and build towards a fully-optimized set of skills to tackle the underworld. Then again, sometimes you'll get something you've never seen before, and change up your tactics on the fly. It's all very rewarding and incredibly replayable.

As with a lot of roguelikes, you do carry some things forward from run to run. As you unlock all of the weapons, purchase upgrades and new abilities, and naturally start to learn how the game works and improve your own strategy, you slowly begin to feel much stronger and eventually, well, god-like. The near-perfect difficulty curve gives players of all skill levels complete control over how hard or easy to make the game for themselves. This carries over perfectly into the "Pact of Punishment" system that's unlocked after your first successful run, which lets you dial up the difficulty to frankly fiendish levels in order to, first and foremost, keep skilled players engaged, but also to provide a ton of "end-game" content for those that want to keep playing.

And really, you'll want to keep playing. The first ending is just the beginning, as the story compels you to keep playing and see how everyone's stories pan out. The NPCs are incredibly well-written and the voice-acting more than lives up to the lines they're given. I was completely invested in these characters and the fates they would have to reckon with by the end.

I got my tenth clear—the first one to roll credits—fittingly enough on attempt #69 (nice). This seemed like where the game naturally "ended," and I put it down—even though there's still a ton of previously mentioned end-game stuff I could do in the game if I wanted. But the end of Zag's main story felt so pitch-perfect, and so earned by the experience with the game overall, that I decided to leave it on that perfect high note.

***GOTY*** Animal Crossing: New Horizons

This wasn't my first Animal Crossing game (it was, I think, my...fourth?), but it was the first Animal Crossing game that a lot of my friends played, and that alone made for a different experience than I've had with the series before. In the early days of quarantine, we were visiting each other's islands every day, trading items, sharing insider tips on the Stalk Market, and just generally enjoying the game in a social way that was suddenly not allowed in day to day real life.

For the most part, that lasted for about a month. Maybe two. But I kept playing, every day, for a few reasons. First was that I have a lot of time with this series, and more or less knew what to expect going in. I didn't get disappointed when Nook's Shop was mostly just stocking items I already had, for instance. But more importantly, I knew not to burn myself out on it early on. And look, I know there's no "right" or "wrong" way to play a game, but Animal Crossing (at least to me) seems unique in that the gameplay is so clearly designed to be enjoyed in 20-30 minute, daily chunks. There's just not that much to *do* after a half hour or so, but I was seeing friends' hours totals in triple digits after just a few weeks.

Two other things unique to this entry helped keep it persistent for me, I think. One, Nintendo committed to and delivered on a regular update schedule, which kept things fresh (and safe from the naughty time travelers of the world, even). Pretty much every month, something brand new happened, and it was enough to keep my interest even after I'd donated every fossil to Blathers.

The second, and much bigger thing by far, was that my daughter started playing. She named our island ("Turtlerock") and moved in on day one. We'd talk about villagers—which ones were our favorites, which ones we wouldn't mind seeing move away—and collaborated on the city-planning of our island. I played first, and was therefor the "primary resident" or whatever it's called, but I never made a big decision without checking in with her first. We're both invested in it, and it's been a fun experience to share together over the course of the year. Hell, we even counted down the last seconds of 2020 together in local co-op.

Sure, my house is paid off, I have two million bells in the bank, and my museum is roughly 95% filled out—but I still play this pretty much every day. It's become a ritual. Usually right after work, which happens to be the best light on the island; sometimes later at night, especially during a meteor shower; and on the weekends frequently in the morning—but no matter when I'm playing, the remarkable thing to me is that here we are, nine months later—still in quarantine, and still playing Animal Crossing.

0 notes

entergamingxp · 4 years ago

Text

FIFA 21 Gives You More Control Over a Creative Attack

August 4, 2020 11:07 AM EST

FIFA 21 aims to give you more control over the pitch, particularly in the attack with new mechanics that open up a new world of possibilities.

Recently, I got to sit down with a relatively early beta build of FIFA 21 and play about a Weekend’s League worth of matches. For those of you non-FUT players, that’s about 30 games spread across Kick-Off and Volta (the only two modes available). Unfortunately, for you Volta fans (I assume there are some of you), this particular preview is focusing solely on core gameplay in FIFA 21. Though, maybe check back later if you’re interested in more details.

EA Sports shared a new video today showing off some of the changes coming this season. Give them a look below and join me after the break for a bit of breakdown over some of the most important changes I noticed. And, if you’d prefer to see me break down some of the changes in visual form, head over to our YouTube page. There’s a new video there that essentially covers everything you see below in more detail.

youtube

Before I begin, it’s important to stress everything I’ll speak to below happened in an early beta build. Things can and will change as we move toward FIFA 21’s October release. Some will remember how great manual tackling felt pre-release in FIFA 20 before it was changed when the game came out. That being said, a fair few of the new gameplay additions don’t feel like things that will go away with a patch.

Arguably the biggest change coming in FIFA 21 is the new ways to trigger creative runs. Previously, you were limited to either calling for help or sending the AI on a run. As the player with the ball at your feet, you had no control over where the AI would actually go. This can lead to situations where the runs you send players on end up being unhelpful and frustrating.

Given that I’ve only played a few dozen games, I’m hesitant to say all of that is a thing of the past, but I do think EA has made strides in making your attack much more fluid. Basically, what they’ve done is given you full, 360° control over your AI’s run.

So, if you’re holding the ball and looking for a teammate to run into a channel, you can trigger a run with RB and then flick the right stick in the direction you want. If you need someone to drop back and open up an angle for support, you can use the stick to send them back. It lets you set up a bit more tactically as you move the ball into the attacking third.

“EA described [new creative trigger runs] as a ‘game-changer.’ Early on, I tend to agree.”

But it doesn’t stop there. If you click in both sticks, you’ll lock yourself to a player. Then you can move into position as the AI controls the ball. Once you find your opening, you can call for the ball and hopefully get a shot off. Essentially, it turns the game into Be A Pro mode for a few seconds.

It’s not perfect, especially in my hands. Too often, I would send a pass to my striker and try to flick the right stick to make my midfielder attack only to end up flicking the ball in the air on accident because my flick came too late. Plus, when you lock on a player, the AI just kind of muddles about. You have to be quick and decisive with your movement or the AI will lose the ball before you can ask for it back.

That said, it’s a useful mechanic that I can see better players really using to their advantage. I’m no slouch at FIFA, but imagining someone with real skills using this new system is exciting. At the very least, it opens up the pitch and lets you have more control over the action when you’re on the attack. In their press event before the demo, EA described it as a “game-changer.” Early on, I tend to agree.

Outside of this standout feature, FIFA 21 has a few other systems that could make a big impact on how the new game feels. One of those is the new Agile Dribbling. Personally, I only do like five skill moves. I rely much more on passing and a small helping of left sticking dribbling. The aim of the new Agile Dribbling feature is to improve top players’ ball control by holding RB and using that left stick dribbling to get through 1v1s.

Admittedly, I didn’t utilize this enough in my short time with the game. I was too focused on learning how to better use the Creative Runs system. However, when I did use it, I didn’t notice a huge difference. Of course, as someone who likes to set up attacks with passes, I wouldn’t call myself the best barometer for how good Agile Dribbling feels. More creative players might be able to wrangle much more out of the system.

EA is also hyping up something they call Positioning Personality. Essentially, they’re trying to make players play more like their real-world self. Take a player like Tottenham’s Harry Kane. The English striker is one of the best in the world, but he never really fit the FIFA 20 meta. He’s too tall and lacks world-class pace.

Positioning Personality aims to make players like that more usable. Kane may not have the wheels of someone like Kylian Mbappe, but he understands how to play striker better than almost anyone. That means he’ll hold his line until the last second to stay onside and set up scoring opportunities.

This system extends across the pitch. In fact, I noticed it more on defense. The best defensive players in the world are more likely to correctly read an offense and defend it correctly. Lower skilled players will find themselves out of position more often. This isn’t a feature I’d call game-changing; however, if it lets more players be viable at the top-end of FUT, I’m all for it.

“In its early stages, I prefer FIFA 21’s gameplay to last year.”

The team talked about a few other features in their conference. Things like improved blocking, better collision detection, and improvements to heading will undoubtedly make a major difference in how the game plays. However, I just want to focus on two more things: Super Cancel and Competitor Mode.

Super Cancel is something players have wanted for a while now. Essentially, this lets you cancel any button press whenever you want. FIFA 20 players know you can cancel shots or crosses with the fake shot, but this lets you stop everything. So, if you start a spin and see your opponent reading you, just Super Cancel. It takes you out of the move and gives you a chance to counter your opponent on the fly. Again, I don’t do a ton of skill moves; however, I know players that do really wanted something like this.

Competitor Mode is a new level of difficulty that aims to have the AI replicate FIFA pros. Once you bump the difficulty up to Legendary, you can turn on Competitor Mode and test your skills. I played a handful of games on this new difficulty and mostly just noticed that the AI really likes to spam stepovers. Surprisingly, not too many dragbacks.

“Creative Runs, on its own, is going to spice up gameplay quite a bit.”

Jokes aside, Competitor Mode doesn’t feel that much harder than Legendary difficulty. The big difference, at least to me, is that the AI is much less likely to do the same thing over and over again. In FIFA 20, you can usually just funnel the AI down the wing and then clear their cross. In Competitor Mode, it felt like they actually varied their attack. Hopefully, it stays that way. Cheesing the AI is only fun for so long.

As mentioned above, the current beta build of FIFA 21 doesn’t make the game feel like a completely new game, but it does add some much-needed features. Creative Runs, on its own, is going to spice up gameplay quite a bit. However, fans looking for a true next step forward in a football simulation, are likely going to be unimpressed.

That isn’t to say the game isn’t fun. I certainly had more fun trying out FIFA 21 than I did playing FIFA 20 Rivals for the last few months. In its early stages, I prefer FIFA 21’s gameplay to last year. I just can’t help but remember how quickly FIFA 20 changed after its release.

While gameplay is the most important part of the FIFA experience, it isn’t the be-all-end-all. Players will surely want to know more about what’s coming to Career Mode, Volta, and, of course, FUT. Sadly, I can’t share that with you just yet, but keep your eyes tuned to DualShockers for further updates.

FIFA 21 launches on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 9. A next-gen version will launch on both PS5 and Xbox Series X once those consoles drop.

August 4, 2020 11:07 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/08/fifa-21-gives-you-more-control-over-a-creative-attack/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fifa-21-gives-you-more-control-over-a-creative-attack

0 notes

pointthefingerblametheother · 3 years ago

Text

First of all I don't hate you either. These posts are coming from a place of love. True love deeper and longer lasting than any romance book could portray. I love you more than you let me show you or that you would accept when I tried showing you anyways. I thought you stopped loving me months ago. But really, you stopped loving yourself and couldn't see how much I truly do love you either. Seeing you depressed only made me more depressed and vice versa. It sucks.. I couldn't show my love after trying so hard and getting rejected just trying to even have my arm around you; I'd get rejected day after day. - I would take you back someday. But you have to learn to love yourself again, first. And not just chase for someone else's love (fake or not), running from your own love for yourself. Our own depressions had been feeding each other's. And we should have went in to get help sooner, but we didn't know any better... After the first Covid shot I felt even worse and my daily migraines have been even more powerful for me I wanted to escape my own body and mind.. not you. It's been absolutely terrifying losing myself during this pandemic... So dark and cold inside my own mind. I didn't know how to get help (The Nice app just told me they didn't have the meds they thought I needed and I felt worthless ever since last June when I tried to get help)

Only you can get help for yourself, if you want relief from your struggles, but I can try to help that process if you would like a little guidance. I love you, but I can't force you to love yourself. You have to want it yourself, for yourself. - I was paralyzed by my own depression and rejection. I got tired of trying to be good enough for you and still being told to go in the other room every day. Yet, somehow I still love you more than anything on this Earth. I'm trying to learn to love myself again. - I was depressed. Hating myself. And then you went and left me for it.. and now all I feel is emptiness inside without you by my side. If you only knew the guilt I've been feeling inside, unable to let out for leaving RTI; when you promised me everything was going to be okay... I know you only left me because of my depression and the lack of love you were feeling yourself, you wanted someone who seemed happy and to feed off their energy. I don't hate you for doing that. But I still never stopped loving you even though I couldn't love myself and it hurts to feel given up on.. twice now due to my depression. I haven't been able to think straight ever since my panic attacks started at RTI and that mixed with depression and made every day agony. Not your fault, you can't feel what's inside of me. I'm seeing a doctor and getting help soon. I want to fix things. I'd compromise anything with you, honestly. I still have gift cards for Sugar Factory saved.. but I am so heartbroken that had to sell the engagement ring I bought you, just to pay for a down payment now for a place to move to.

Listen to Lost in the Woods from Frozen 2 to know how I'm feeling before proceeding reading the rest of this post. One of the last movies we ever got to go out and watch together over a year ago, you stopped wanting to watch movies with me once the pandemic started... We used to do Redbox and all that stuff before we got depressed.

If you end up going through any of my other posts, just know they're in reverse order because it's a blog. I also have OCD so I edit and touch them up too much and add too much to them. I can't do that or delete all the messages I over sent you. Sorry about all those messages, honestly. I was going through lots of withdrawal: Crystal Love, Video Games, AND Caffeine. So yeah, I got nasty like when someone gets off hardcore drugs or smoking cigarettes. That's what it felt like and I'm sorry I let all that out on you and all the horrible things I said about myself. I'm sorry you didn't feel the love I was giving anymore. I honestly didn't feel loved by you either. Or that you even loved yourself anymore. Everything was about murders and people having painful life experiences every conversation I had with you and you were watching all these dating shows that made me uncomfortable because it seemed you'd rather watch them than accept the love I was trying to show you. You wouldn't even let me sit next to you or put my arm around you. When we went to the mall you wouldn't even hold my hand anymore like you used to... You weren't being yourself at all.

I want to get back to who we were together before the pandemic.

Before you left, I honestly loved you more than life itself. Would have killed myself if it would have made you happy.. That.... THAT is why I was speechless when you said you were leaving me. My heart SHATTERED before you. It killed me inside to hear the person that I love more than my own self wanted to leave me for someone else after 7 1/2 years. I was so sad with you being unresponsive to all my signs of love for the past few months. I honestly sat in that room for days on end debating suicide because I'd been getting rejected to even be allowed to sit on the couch with you for weeks... While you texted away with another guy? I honestly almost killed myself over this because I thought you just hated me because of my depression. The only words that saved me were when you said "I don't hate you". I don't know why that saved me but it did. It sure felt like you hated me. How do you leave someone who loves you more than themselves, more than life itself...?

You stopped telling me your wants. You stopped telling me your desires. It felt like you only wanted me out of the room and to get yourself off to sleep multiple times a day and try to sleep for days on end, even sleeping through your work shifts only to stay up all night to make up work. It felt like you wanted nothing to do with me. And it hurt me. Every. Single. Day. I used to be the one you turned to for that kind of intimate stuff.. and you seemed to want nothing to do with me anymore. I felt like yesterday's trash for months, so I turned to Twitch to try and make other people feel better since you stopped receiving my actions of love. Just being friends with people since I couldn't meet new friends in person. Only friends. Never thought once of not loving you or pursuing anyone else.

I just barely finally started to love myself and bought the PS5 and then the NES (the NES was an impulse buy, trying to do some retail therapy like you used to do in healthy amounts). But realized I was still addicted to Overwatch, because I had a feeling you were talking to another guy and that made me even more depressed. I figured I'd rather play video games than kill myself. When I realized it was someone who also pretended to be my friend I wanted to kill myself even more. I wanted to kill him too. But it was your choice to fuck me over. When all I did was love you too much and get rejected to the point all you did was talk to him about my shortcomings from being depressed for over two years from leaving my job FOR HAVING PANIC ATTACKS... Leo doesn't love you. I can forgive you for leaving me for him, but you also have to be able to forgive yourself. You were in a vulnerable state and he took advantage of you. He just wanted to steal you away while you were depressed as an easy trophy.. He wants you to keep needing him, and he will do anything to keep you hanging on so he has a chance to take you away for himself (not for you or your best interests).

Opposed to me where I have always wanted to raise you up every time I could muster up the courage to try to cheer you up again.. I'd get rejected yet again. Every time I tried playing board games, watch TV with you.. the games sat on the table for WEEKS on end... collecting hair, collecting dust... and you'd reject me day after day to play board games saying "not today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next weekend, etc." You stopped eating and making food for yourself and for us and sharing that weight even though I tried encouraging you... And then you got mad at me one day for not making food, after making it for us for the 5th day in a row... I asked you to please make something for us and you decided to starve instead... It fucking hurt. I love you Crystal but you let yourself go and you decided to chase a guy lying to you rather than the man whose loved you and has been with you and committed only to you for over 7 1/2 years.

We both got depressed, both needed help, but couldn't help the other enough to get them to a doctor. Sorry... I never stopped loving you, even though you hurt me so bad. So yeah I started buying things for myself to cope. Spent too much and you stopped seeing the things I was buying you and gestures I was trying to do for you and for us. But it doesn't have to be the end of us, Crystal. Neither of us could control our depression on our own without seeing a doctor, so I can't hate you for leaving.

I tried changing the topics we would watch, to happier things and watching shows with you that were not so dark, but it seemed every time I tried talking to you you'd rather be messaging someone on your phone than talking to me about anything at all. When we went out and played pokemon you'd have side conversations with Leo instead of showing me you cared about me on our date nights.. I tried many topics to change what we watched and tried encouraging you to look into your health, but I forgot about my own health and you started talking with another guy behind my back. It was pretty to do such a thing to someone who loves you more than life itself... But he'd also been badgering you for months to just let him back into your life, the sick bastard.

When I was messaging after you left I could only focus on the negative about myself because I was depressed (and have been for months, hating myself for having to deal with companies rejecting me for months.. and not being able to get close to you while my search for work was absolute Hell. You pushed me away a LOT). You really didn't deserve all the messaging and hearing me beat myself up. You have been depressed too. I tried explaining all the things you needed help with too, but it was way too much all at once and I'm sorry. Sick people can't fix other sick people - One of them needs to at least get help first. I'm glad you gave me a chance to go get help. I hope you can do the same for yourself and take the time to love who you are.

She always tried her best to make every day feel better for me... No matter how bad it was for me (or herself) inside. If you're out there reading this right now, clearly you still care. Take your time and feel free to read this window into my mind. it won't be easy to get through, but I still love you, Crystal, okay? Please relearn to love yourself. Sick people can't help sick people, but I'm working on myself and getting better; if you want help from being depressed I'd be glad to help you get you the help you need.. but you have to actually want it. For yourself. Don't do it for me. Sorry I got so depressed and stopped caring about myself. It must have been hard for you to watch... I know it was hard for me to watch you going through the same thing. Neither of our faults, okay? We just have to learn to care about ourselves and our own wants and desires. The pandemic's been so long I can't remember the last time I styled my hair or put on cologne (I used to put product in my hair every single day.), or you put on perfume or lipstick... I miss those days. Check out my new photo below this post, too. I'm trying hard to love myself again. 😁

Take all the time you need to read every word. We were both very depressed and confused when you left, both being depressed for a year in isolation. Something needed to change for us to get better. I understand that. Maybe some day we can get back to going to shows and traveling the US or the world together like we always wanted.

I'm trying to focus on me now though, so we actually have a chance. I need to take a break from only thinking about what I think you want or trying to make you happy with the little things. The little gifts and stuffedies things don't add up if you don't love yourself enough to want them for yourself anyways. (I'm glad I still have all mine from you. But.. because they're mine from you. Not because you gave them to make me happy. Band aids don't last. We both needed real healing from our depressions. They've just been feeding on each other's and we turned into horrible monsters towards each other.) I don't hate you for it though. I turned gross too. I'm getting better though. 🙂

Gifts and kind gestures don't fix depression though. I needed professional help to get through Covid Isolation. But. She gave up on me instead of telling me to get help or explaining as someone out of my own mind that I stopped doing chores. It wasn't a choice. Depression is a mental disorder. It disables our ability to be happy and do things that make others happy that we love. We say and do things we don't mean. It's the way life is... We're only human. You gave me everything I thought I wanted and way beyond. But nothing fixes depression other than getting professional help from doctors. And that needs to be our own decision to make for ourselves if we are worth that kind of investment for our own quality of life; we have to love inside our bodies no matter what, and we only get one body and one mind. Let in; let doctors help. - I will help you if you decide you want the help, but the decision to GET help needs to be your own choice, as I have also made my own choice to get help on my own.

I wish I could have gotten help sooner so I could treat her the same way sheas trying to treat me, before she got depressed, too. But stuffed animals and gifts weren't going to save her either. The proof is in the bag I got her.. it made her so happy to get it but her own depression she just wanted to escape into it rather than face her own love in herself. It happened to me with video games, too. Babe I get it we both fell for depression at the same time.

Gifts are just little bandaids, and ours were holding back cracked dams of depression... I wish I could have done like I used to do without this dark cloud hanging over me not letting me be myself. Covid was a horrible year for us.. as individuals, both. All my brain wanted to do was escape my depression and so all I did was play games instead of getting real professional help, that I actually needed. No healing shows to go to or musicals - that's our love language.

This damn pandemic... I just want to go to shows to be happy again... But the thought of going alone is heartbreaking. It's really hard with E3 going on right now. Lots of great memories flooding in. None of what happened in our fallout means we meant to leave the way we did; you left with practically no notice and it made no sense.

Not to mean to beat a dead horse, I KNOW you don't want to hear this or accept this. I don't care if you end up single or dating someone else on your own merit, but Leo is not good for you and he is NOT a friend. He only wants you as a trophy as "the girl that got away". You are an amazing woman, Crystal. 7 1/2 Years I know what the good times AND the bad times are like and I wouldn't trade them for a minute without you. but Leo worked on you for months. He really did. You had no idea, after being manipulated so long. Try to look back to the beginning of how annoyed as fuck you were that he was messaging you again. You told me how mad you were "some guy" was messaging you, but you didn't tell me who. I wish you did, but how could you know this would happen unless it's happened with him before? But you also let him. You gave him the chance. I tried early to help you and you refused. I warned you the first time you said he was bothering you that I would help if you wanted me to tell him to go away... But you let the bastard talk you in to leaving anyways he started planting seeds in your mind months ago and worked on you slowly over time. I saw the messages because you have always told me you have nothing to hide from me. Only reason I ever looked.. I KNOW and I COULD SEE you didn't want to leave like this; one month before the pandemic ended... We both knew the end of the pandemic was near. But there's no helping you when you decide to leave.. no matter how badly I wanted to... I couldn't convince you otherwise. I know how you get by now after 7 1/2 years. You had a flare up and his words hit at the right time after badgering you for months... I should have let you go earlier so you could learn earlier but I was trying to protect you.

This is a lesson you needed to learn on your own though.. Leo is a manipulator and will never change that he is one. He's not even a friend, please get away from him as early on as you can. I don't mind if you find another guy that actually cares and is in it FOR YOU, or if you choose to stay single gonna while and reflect on what's happened in order to heal. If you don't get away, he will jump at you again the moment you let your guard down again. I know people like this (women) from my own past. I will not hold it against you for being convinced out of our relationship or hate you for it. We were both depressed, trying to break the cycle some way, some how. Come back to me; talk to me when you're ready. I will not force you, you need to decide and learn this on your own. Even if you just need to talk to me as a friend.

I hope it truly isn't the end for us... I'm not hopelessly obsessed, just addicted to your love and then you were gone cold turkey. The same day I then quit gaming and caffeine. I am sorry my withdrawals came out on you.. I want to give you a window into our past if you ever just so have the desire to look here again on your own. Some of these posts I have made already I forgot you might have been able to see so... Sorry if anything hurts you. Not intentional. Just venting at points. This hasn't been easy on me. I love you and couldn't call this the end, just yet. Not like this. I saved all the memories in the memory box, when you're ready to go through them again some day.

I do hate my body though for not physically being able to hold back messaging.. Like I can’t shut the fuck up when you leave cold turkey like this. You've done this twice now so I know you didn't mean it. Sorry Crystal. You didn’t deserve that. My love was so strong for you I forgot to love myself... And let you go. I know you couldn't handle seeing me and my depression day after day.. You couldn't fix me and you felt defeated. I needed to see a doctor to wake out of my depression. I wish I could go back and delete the messages. Those last few messages I just wanted you to get help with your thyroid. For you, not for me. Even though reading them they did come off like I'm trying to be an asshole. I wasn't trying to. Just feral after covid depression and being hit with you leaving without talking through things, that's all. It came off wrong, it was a bad time for me to try to help you while you were so upset.

I wouldn't have known you didn't mean this breakup to happen if you hadn't told me about your password in the exact way you had at least 25 times in our relationship with the exact words: "This is my password. Remember it. If there ever comes a time when you need to get in, use it; I have nothing to hide." I heard it singing that night in my mind... I KNEW something wasn't right. I had to listen to your past words and take your past words seriously after you saying it so many times. I did it for you; not for me. I only made sure I got caught because I hated myself for looking... Even though I was only following your own words because I love you and I cared enough to remember you telling me you had nothing to hide.

Maybe some day we can be mature enough to actually talk about things again.

I will be getting medication soon to help with the pain. I didn’t mean to take out all my frustrations on you, a lot has been built up inside me during the pandemic and I burst open with the cut of you walking away cold turkey. I hope you can find a doctor for your thyroid and other therapy you will need to get through this. Don't forget I love you and that I'd still do anything for you; even after all of this.

If you need help and don't know where else to go, talk to me. I'll help you through anything but you have to be willing to listen. - and if you don't know where to find me anymore... Talk to your mom. She should help us reconnect if you can't find your way on your own. I'll be waiting, but also focusing on bettering myself, too. Take care of yourself, love.

I hope you have the ability to forgive me some day. We had good times, too. Mostly good times. But that doesn’t make up for a year of depression and isolation. If you apologize I will have a lot to think about. But, I know... I will never forget you. What we had before he started interfering. I should have known when you were so hesitant to add him in PoGo. And then weeks later "someone" was bothering you on Facebook but you wouldn't tell me who. You said you could handle it on your own telling him to go away. I trusted you and dropped it. I let you handle it because I trusted you and can see your strength, but isolation made both of us weak. Thats where this all stemmed from... You sat and debated so long to add him in PoGo or not and I never understood...

But I understand why now... At least the tip of the iceberg. I saw months of his prying and prying thanks to your foresight of telling me you never had anything to hide from me. Thank you for telling me that. I knew something was wrong. I never meant it as a harmful act or selfish, only to help you. I made it look selfish and said that I did it for myself to try and protect you. I thought it would be easier on you to hate me... But even then

Later the next day you said "I don't hate you" from the bottom of your heart. I know that was you talking to me, not the panic. Not the entranced Crystal that couldn't control leaving. You didn't want to leave, but your body wouldn't let you stop and think. Neither did I.. I was so confused how you'd leave so much behind with places starting to open up, seemingly so easily. But we can't see when we are being manipulated by ourselves. We need others to tell us and try to help, so I did. I gave it all I could.

I was only doing what you always asked of me, that if you needed help I knew how to get in. That was always so important to you... Talk to me when you're ready.

I'd still love to go to this with you. So you can go for yourself. Doesn't and shouldn't be going for me until you're ready again. But, we owe it to ourselves to go and enjoy the things we love again. You wrote that paper on them and broke down their music. Don't forget that and that you love these bands too. We talked so much about their new songs as they were coming out. Do it for yourself. But yes I want to go too. Just not .. alone.

0 notes

audiogrizzly · 4 years ago

Text

GOTY 2020 - Runners Up

I feel I should start off with saying a bit about what this year was like for my gaming hobby, it was the first in many years that the PS4 was not the system where I took away the most games, for me it was the PC for a change which has slowly been becoming my number 1 place to play. Though this year also brought a new console generation and I have picked up a PS5, as well as an Oculus Quest 2 (so technically I can now play PC VR, which for a couple of years was always a platform that gates off a few key releases for me despite having a headset for my PS4. And yeah, working from home has allowed me to use the time that would have been taking up with commuting to play games, so I have had more time to play than usual.

Just a note, I’m only one person and despite what I said in the previous paragraph, I cannot play every single game that comes out in a year, I try to prioritise the games I want to play and I do pay attention to games that get good write ups from critics. At the time of writing, I have yet to give a good amount of time to the following titles which are likely to come up on many other GOTY lists: Half Life Alyx, The Pathless, Hades, Cyberpunk 2077. I’m sure these are great games, I have enjoyed many other titles that the developers of them have released before, but however much I enjoy them further down the line, they have missed their chance at being included in this particular list.

So in addition to my GOTY, Ghost of Tsushima, here are the other games I have enjoyed most of all in 2020, ordered by release date:

Journey to the Savage Planet

This was the traditional January game for me. I know a lot of people see the first month of the year being a bit slow for games but I feel there’s always at least one gem. It was great to see a Metroid style game that took a lot more from the Prime series rather than the 2D roots of that genre. The humour didn't quite connect with me but this was a fun distraction that I wasn’t expecting at the start of the year

DOOM Eternal

One of the earliest games I had added to my 2020 watchlist, the sequel to one of my top games of 2016 was always going to be something to be all over. I felt it was a little more arcadey and leaned on typical game mechanics (e.g. extra lives, traversal puzzle, arena based encounters) rather than the exploration aspects of the 1993 original that the 2016 reboot left intact. But you don’t get action as satisfying and as brutal as DOOM

Final Fantasy VII Remake

The earliest game I picked up that I put forward for this list and wasn’t on my original watch list. I didn't play the original FF7 all the way through, but I had played to the point where this remade 1st episode stops at, it essentially covers the first disc on the 1997 original. I’m more into action RPGs than the turn based menu cooldown mechanic that’s more typical of Japanese RPGs, so with that out of the way I was able to enjoy the world and the story. I got really engaged by this one and I can’t wait to carry on the story.

Gears Tactics

I always loved the idea of the turn based tactical strategy game when XCOM Enemy Unknown came along. But I was always more a fan of the combat side than the whole running of the base part of the game. XCOM was also one of those top games that I always sort of pretended to be into, to make myself seem more like a thinker than a button masher, y’know? I can name a large number of people who fall into that category too.

I reckon Gears is perfect for this genre and I’m glad to see that Tactics doesn’t make me collect resources and develop new technology while making sure my underground bunker has enough power. It’s pure action and I love it.

Streets of Rage 4

This game was on my watch list but even I was surprised at how good it turned out. SOR4 will appeal more to those who played the original games, and the second in the series is my favourite SEGA game ever as well as being quite high up my all time list in general. This 21st century continuation does not diminish the originals in any way and even makes you come around to the third in the series in a way by including references and it’s best elements. A hyper stylish tribute and great brawler in its own right.

The Last of Us Part 2

I assigned Ghost of Tsushima as my game of the year, but TLOUP2 would have come a close second. I just enjoyed being in the world of Tsushima more than I did in the zombie infested post-apocalyptic Seattle. I see this game as being the equivalent of a great box set, typical more of the second season of an excellent American TV series where they do add a few interesting ideas, a few “wow” moments, but more than its share of devisive moments too. I can get why people didn’t like the twist as we are used to playing heroes in our games, it can throw us when a bit of perspective is added. Personally, I felt it was an act too long, but still an intense action adventure.

Rocket Arena

I still played a lot of Destiny at the start of the year and both last year and this year's Call of Duty's were on my most played list. But Rocket Arena held my attention for most of the summer. Ultimately, I fell off the game because I was sick of teammates leaving matches, it’s the sort of game where leavers get penalised but are not replaced. But I found the game to be enormous fun and soon I hope to jump back into the game as I see a few changes have been made. The game has also taken all sorts of steps to be made available to as many people as possible thought giveaways on Twitch and PlayStation plus as well as being added to EA Play Pro, everything that stops short of just being made free to play which is something I actually hope it shouldn’t have to come to as I like the idea of the Overwatch model where new maps and characters are added for free every now and then.

Carrion

Carrion was a game I added to my watch list after it was shown in Devolver Digital’s over-the-top and sometimes sort of ‘trying too hard to be subversive’ E3 presentations (2019 and 2020). It looked like a take on the Metroidvania game that took, if you ask me, one of the most appealing aspects of the Metroid games, it’s atmosphere. Plus it sometimes feels great to be the menace, especially when you go out to total massacre your captors (see also Ape Out)

Fall Guys

I’m sure a lot of people have just totally fallen off of this game since about a month after it’s launch in August, I know I have. But when it was new and in the conversation, there was no doubt that this was a fun game. It also came out around the time where you could have guests round and it made for a great “pass the controller” type of game, despite having no split screen modes. It may be my lack of desire to play a new multiplayer game which stopped me from playing it, though it’s appeal to me is that it’s one of those first of games you can just leap into matchmaking by yourself with.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2

I don’t normally put ports or remakes into my year lists, but I will make an exception here (and one later on) as it has been so long since the games included in this collection first appeared and to compare old with new, it’s almost a whole new world. Yet it is still familiar, and there’s no bloat, even the item shop (where you can buy decks, wheels, profile pictures etc) doesn’t get in your face. It also, thankfully, takes influence from the right places of the follow up to both of these games, Pro Skater 3, in making the most finely tuned Hawk’s experience. I only wish they had included the 3rd game, at least as DLC, but there’s still time.

Star Wars Squadrons

Air or space combat has never appealed to me all that much over my many years of gaming. I’m not even all that big a Star Wars fan, but I got on board with Squadrons in a big way. Playing in VR and with a HOTAS really immerses you too, there’s nothing like playing past someone and turning your own head to see where they heck they have got to. And although I am not all that big into Star Wars, I can tell they have taken great care with the universe and turned out something that doesn’t interfere with cannon all too much. Put this alongside Gears Tactics in the “I like the idea of this sort of game but I never get on too well with it, but I really liked this one” bucket

Watch Dogs Legion

I know Legion got a hard time in reviews, and I did experience a less than optimal performance in the game, but it was great to run around modern London on foot for a change. I enjoyed Watch Dogs 2 before this and yes, I get why people think the game is just silly, but Legion finally shows that the game knows when to not take itself seriously and it's all the better for it. A great touch is when you recruit people for your organisation, they can all get into any car and drive it around, but every now and then you will find a recruit for whom one of their perks is “has their own car”, that is London in a nutshell!

Dirt 5

Dirt 5 wasn’t on my list, and I have had a sort of on-off relationship with the series. Dirt 5 represents a sort of middle point in the scale between the off-road racer and the serious rally simulation. I would actually say it's closer to the former actually, it’s definitely the most arcade like the franchise has been in years. It forgoes point to point rallys in favour of an “all racers” starting grid in most disciplines. The inclusion of a story is a bit weird, especially as you never actually see any of the characters, it made me wonder what the point was, but I loved the racing as well as all the weather and mud effects.

Assassins Creed Valhalla

I’ve literally just finished this game at the time of writing and what a monster this was at over 55 hours in my playthrough. I had my doubts that a game set in Viking/Saxon era England could rival the BC Egypt in AC Origins, and that game is still my fave, but there was a lot of beautiful scenery in Valhalla as well as crazy plot points when you got near the end. It was great to finally play one of these “new” AC games with a steady frame rate (I always had technical problems before) as I have enjoyed the new combat system since Origins and it was fun to visit settlements whose names I recognise from modern era England. Apart from one really annoying game breaking bug (saved by a previous save file) a number of freezes and it being maybe a bit too long, I’d recommend this heartily.

Replay corner:

Master Chief Collection (throughout the year)

As I said earlier when I talked about Pro Skater 1+2, I don’t normally put ports and remakes, but I wanted to give a shout out to the Halo Master Chief Collection, which I played on PC throughout the year. It’s in it’s own section here as part of it was released last year, but each couple of months in 2020, it was great to replay each of the games in this series, especially as I said goodbye to Xbox in 2013, Halo was one of the franchises that I knew I would miss and it’s great that I can finally get reacquainted with all the ones I have played before. It's a shame that Infinite did not come out this year, though I can tell why they wanted to put it back in the oven, plus I still haven’t really played Halo 5 yet as it’s one of the few games that are actually Xbox One only, I have my fingers crossed for a PC port of that though.

0 notes

entergamingxp · 5 years ago

Text

Final Fantasy XI Interview – Director and Producer Reveal Experiences and Hopes, Special Message to Western Fans

May 16, 2020 4:45 PM EST

With the 18th anniversary of Final Fantasy XI, Director Yoji Fujito and Producer Akihiko Matsui look back and forward at the long-running MMORPG.

This year marks the 18th anniversary of Square Enix’s long running MMORPG Final Fantasy XI. To celebrate the incredible milestone, I was able to interview Director Yoji Fujito and Producer Akihiko Matsui and get some insight into both the past and present of the game, Fujito and Matsui’s history before they worked on FFXI, what the future entails for the title, as well as a special message to Western fans.

Allisa James: When you first started development for Final Fantasy XI did you ever think you’d see the game continue for eighteen years?

Yoji Fujito: When the FFXI team got together twenty years ago, we had no idea about anything that would happen that far into the future. All I knew at that time was how truly ecstatic I was to be able to work on developing an MMORPG, especially after having been inspired by Ultima Online. It never crossed my mind that I might find myself still working on that same game after all this time.

Akihiko Matsui: The overall direction from our producer at the time was that we’d be working on the project for a period of three to five years. However, I knew I needed to dedicate myself so that we could keep going for longer than that, and honestly, I did think that we could keep FFXI going as long as we did well. I feel that I can take pride in these results because they show how we as a team were able to create something very successful.

AJ: Can you describe your first experiences working on Final Fantasy XI when you joined the team? How have things changed over the years?

YF: Prior to working on FFXI, I had only worked on standalone, package (non-digital) titles, and with those games, the final stages of development were always filled with onslaughts of bug fixes and a rush to make final tweaks and adjustments. In working on FFXI, it was truly revolutionary at the time to be able to apply changes even after release by pushing out patches.

With physical package games, all of those final adjustments I mentioned are set in stone once the final build is created, and there were times when I was left lamenting certain things after the fact. We’re now in an age where it’s normal for even just your standard package game to receive bug fixes or additional content later on through patches. I think it just goes to show how times have changed.

AM: I remember back when we were in the beta testing phase when we were beginning to see a lot of the overall game take shape, there was a time when other development team members would come to discuss the battle system quite often, keeping me from making progress on my own work.

Developers are gamers themselves, after all, so I completely understand that feeling. At the same time, I was also in crunch mode and still had things left to do. It ended up that I would have no choice but to start going into the office at night and going home in the morning to be able to focus, and I kept that lifestyle up for a while. It was exhausting, so I won’t be doing that anymore.

AJ: What are some unique or interesting experiences you’ve had with developing and maintaining Final Fantasy XI? Are there any stories that come to mind that stick out in your memory?

YF: Two things come to mind here: Content that the development team creates will not always be played or experienced by the players in the exact way they envisioned. The economy of an in-game world actually ends up mimicking the characteristics of real-world economies quite a bit.

AM: This may not be what the question was getting at, but a lot of people who I’ve had the chance to work with from other companies, as well as other departments within our own company, now introduce themselves to me by saying that they used to be an FFXI player or that they are a current FFXI player. I try not to show it on my face, but honestly, it makes me very happy.

AJ: Can you share any insight on the reasoning behind including a mechanic that had players lose EXP and even level down when dying?

AM: This type of system was adopted mainly due to concerns that players could potentially harass others by intentionally KO’ing their own character if there was no risk associated with doing so. There were also others on the team who felt it was necessary for different reasons as well. That said, looking back on it now, I do feel bad that the penalty was more severe than was probably necessary.

AJ: Do you have any plans to revisit the various jobs and re-balance them in any way? Do you feel the current balance suits the gameplay you are hoping to bring players in Final Fantasy XI?

YF: I don’t think there will ever come a day that we feel like we’re done balancing the game. This is because the degree to which a job is needed is determined by whether that job possesses the skills and abilities required to get through in-game content, and also because player trends change. Therefore, sometimes we’ll directly adjust jobs if necessary, while in other instances we’ll modify the game content in order to achieve balance.

As far as our current balance goes, in general I feel there are no issues other than continuing to work on tweaking what would be considered endgame content.

AM: We adjust balance whenever necessary. There are many cases where issues stem from outside of the jobs themselves—for example, whether particular jobs can perform well when playing the most popular content at any given time. The game’s system is one that allows players to change jobs, so rather than making rigorous adjustments to ensure that the battle abilities for all the jobs are evenly matched with each other, what we prioritize most is that each job is fun and offers its own unique qualities in gameplay.

AJ: I’m aware you can’t comment on the current status of the mobile FFXI version still in development with NEXON. However, in a more general sense, can you speak on how the concept of a mobile title for FFXI came about in the first place?

YF/AM: Unfortunately, as this is a collaborative effort with Nexon, we are not able to provide any comments regarding this.

AJ: Are there any plans to bring Final Fantasy XI to other consoles such as PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X in any form?

AM: Considering the resources currently available to the FFXI team, rather than expanding to new consoles I would prefer to dedicate our efforts toward creating robust and fun content that will continue to provide for our current player base, but also be available to newcomers. With this in mind, we have no active plans for those particular consoles. However, it is never completely off the table, and if we do continue to see a strong demand from our players, we will of course consider.

AJ: Is there one feature or mechanic that you and the team always wanted to implement in FFXI, but couldn’t because it wasn’t feasible or workable? Any job classes that you wanted to add but weren’t able to?

YF: I wanted to provide a customizable UI system. This had actually progressed as far as play testing, but at that stage we encountered a flood of concerns surrounding maintenance costs on both the development side and for the end user (cost in the sense of time for the latter). Due to these fairly large increases as a whole, we ultimately decided to not pursue it any further.

I also wanted to include some kind of setup that would allow you to own your own physical house, but it seemed like Vana’diel might end up becoming covered with adventurers’ residences if we did, so we decided to go with the Mog House instead.

AM: I wanted to include a feature that would trigger whenever a player did something incredibly impressive like defeating a powerful nemesis or crafting a high-difficulty level item. A bard would sing a song praising your feat, and it would be heard by players all around the in-game world.

Imagine if you defeated a dragon, and if other players knew about it before you ever told them: “Hey, you’re that person the bard was singing about, aren’t you?” That’s the epitome of what I think it would be like living in a fantasy world! I’ve still always wanted to include this feature, and I’ve already thought of how I could implement it, but it’s so low on the list of priorities… (cries)

AJ: In regards to the North American community in particular, it seems additional efforts have been made such as the PAX 2020 meetup. Would you say you are continuing to try and do more for the NA community, and are there any plans in mind for the future?

AM: Over the past several years, players in the west have been returning to FFXI, and as a result, we’ve been able to get more staff members who serve as the point of contact for western players. If you don’t mind that it’s just Fujito and me, we’d love to come say hello anytime, so please don’t hesitate to let us know!

AJ: Is there anything else you want to say to the Final Fantasy XI community?

YF: I was looking forward to seeing everyone at PAX East 2020, which would have been my first event in North America since I went to talk about MMM (Moblin Maze Mongers) for the Wings of the Goddess expansion, so it was very unfortunate that it had to be canceled due to effects of COVID-19. Once the stay-at-home restrictions are lifted, and if people are still interested, I’d love to get another opportunity to visit, so I’m going to do my best to keep the flames of FFXI burning bright until then!

AM: The western community has become increasingly more vibrant thanks to all the supportive players out there. Same as always, I want to keep implementing content worth challenging, while also keeping in close communication with you all. Thank you for all your support.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of #FFXI! Thanks for the amazing support all these years!

Producer Akihiko Matsui shares a few words on this auspicious occasion: https://t.co/divGGaW75h pic.twitter.com/dEhDoxeMWw

— FINAL FANTASY XI (@FFXI_EN) May 16, 2020

May 16, 2020 4:45 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/final-fantasy-xi-interview-director-and-producer-reveal-experiences-and-hopes-special-message-to-western-fans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=final-fantasy-xi-interview-director-and-producer-reveal-experiences-and-hopes-special-message-to-western-fans

0 notes