Boy done fucked up.
For those who don't know, Filip Miucin formerly worked at IGN, and was recently fired on accounts of plagiarising a small YouTuber's review for the game Dead Cells.
I felt bad for him, not because I didn't think he did was he was accused of (he totally, totally did), but because this is a relatively young guy, probably not far off my age, who basically torched his career. A career no one gets into without being passionate about the subject: video games. Something I myself am passionate about. Maybe too passionate, but that's another conversation entirely.
I also knew for a fact that the internet, being the place for scummy, horrid people, where going to be scummy and horrid, not just to him, but his family as well. I knew it, and I don't even get paid to right my shitty little game reviews. Miucin must have known this when he made his choice. He must have known the risks. But then he did it anyway. And got caught.
Like I said, boy done fucked up.
I've just been made aware of his... apology video(?), and watching it definitely left me with some feelings. Enough feeling to make me take to blogger and write about shit I care about despite no one else sharing that feeling.
The video was bad. Just plain bad. I could visibly see that the guy is upset. He knows he made a mistake. He knows he's going to be paying for this for a long, long time. He knows what he really should be saying... and yet, that's not what he did. Maybe he can't. Maybe he's been advised against it. Maybe he didn't have a friend look over the video and tell him...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."
He skirted around actually doing the thing that video should have been. He didn't really apologise to anyone. He didn't take responsibility for plagiarising. He took responsibility for being IGN's Nintendo editor. He didn't apologise to Boomstick Gaming, the YouTuber (who's name I don't know) Muicin ripped off. He said he has nothing but respect for Boomstick Gaming (which is good, I guess. You wouldn't want to rip off someone you don't respect).
His biggest cock up in my eyes is attacking (for lack of a better word) Jason Schreier of Kotaku, another video game news provider for writing a piece on relevant video game news: Miucin's plagiarism. Schreier also had another source providing another situation in which Miucin, once again, appeared to plagiarise another review for another game.
Schreier is someone I have a great deal of respect for. Hell, I bought his book for poops and giggles. He did his job with all the decency Miucin had owed to him, and Miucin threw it back in his face. Shame, maybe. He's been caught once already and it cost him his job. Evidence of him having done the same thing in the past doesn't help him resuscitate his dead career, I guess. If Miucin gets around to apologising to Schreier, I'll think better of him.
I really do feel for Miucin. I feel he's a guy who was plunged in the deep end without learning how to swim. People make mistakes, sure. I'm still dealing with some mistakes I've made in my life recently right now. Maybe that's why I pity the guy. The difference here though is most people make mistakes are manageable. People generally don't make mistakes that will haunt them to the end of their days. Mistakes that will compromise a career and a passion for something they love.
Miucin did. He really, really shouldn't have.
Saturday, 11 August 2018
Friday, 10 August 2018
The Evil Within 2: 0/5
I liked this game, but given Bethesda's shitty attitude towards consumers, I'm not going to recommend any of their products to anyone ever again.
For more details: https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/11/17661254/bethesda-sell-used-games-amazon-block
For more details: https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/11/17661254/bethesda-sell-used-games-amazon-block
Dead Cells 3/5
Dead Cells is a game for fans of rogue-like games. Which is not me.
In its defence, Dead Cells is the first rogue-like I've ever played, and for those unfamiliar, a rogue-like game basically involves you starting the game mostly from scratch when you die, with some added bonuses to help you develop a sense of progression despite being thrown back to the start. And die yo will. Often! Maybe you'll unlock some new weapons or tools (like bear traps or turrets) to experiment with, making the next play-through more interesting. Maybe you'll finish unlocking new upgrades or mutations that either complement your play-style or provide you with an extra health potion to get further to your goal.Dead Cells also has a couple of extra game modes to keep you going, such as the Daily Challenge Mode, where you're given a fixed level and weapons load-out and allowed to compete with other players for a high-score (which for me isn't as appealing as being rewarded with a new blueprint for your 1st/5th/10th completion, and nothing afterward), or its Streaming Mode, which is both great for allowing a streamer's viewers to participate int heir game, and useless for everybody else.
Dead Cells is also coupled with the Metroid-vania genre, which is arguably what made the game most appealing to me in the first place. Here you unlock certain character abilities which open up whole new areas of a map, traditionally, which may be hidden away in the very first areas of the game. In this situation, you actually want to go back to the start of the game, not because you died and were made to, but because there's new and hidden content that was always there without you ever knowing. Unfortunately for me, the Metroid-vania aspect of Dead Cells just doesn't work that well. You still unlock those Metroid-vania skills, but there's arguably no reason to, or at least I failed to recognise their benefit. I made my way to the penultimate area of the game without unlocking two of the four upgrades in the game. Those extra areas you now have access to mostly just offer a new game aesthetic to enjoy, and game is certainly pretty in it's pixelated way. Maybe they offer a couple of new enemies to learn how to deal with, which may drop a new blueprint for a new weapon or upgrade, assuming you make it out of the area alive. Thing is, new enemies means unfamiliar attacks, which are likely to kill you and send you back to the beginning which you're already intimately and regretfully familiar with.
Each run of Dead Cells is procedural generated, which you'd hope would breath life into each and every game, despite how many times you've tackled an area. This is not the case, at least not for me. Every crossroad is the same crossroad, every T-junction is the same T-junction, every zombie encountered is the same zombie. It's not so much breathing new life into each play-through, as it is breathing the same air you've already been breathing for 19 hours. That's not to say Dead Cells is a bad game: 19 hours is a pretty decent chunk of time to sink into a 20-30 dollar game. Combat is great, slowly learning an enemies tells makes them easier to tackle next time, and learning the subtle nuances of the game's rolling, which is both generous enough to get you out of most situations while also not infallible enough to be abused. The music has an encouraging rhythm to it, urging you on and on, rolling, slashing, jumping your way a little further than you did before, of farming cells for upgrades a little longer than before, or rushing through an earlier even faster than before. It's very much a game you can play how you like, if it rewards you how you want to be rewarded.
The vast number of weapons you can unlock does initially give you pause to think about how exactly you're going to use them to your advantage against those enemies. After enjoying a combo that allowed you to freeze or trap enemies in place, allowing you to roll past in order to stab them in the back for critical hits, how now are you going to use a sword that engulfs enemies in inflammable oil before you get access to something that will actually set them on fire? That is, you consider these things up until you get handed some trash boots you can slowly kick enemies with for the umpteenth time, and realise you can simply reset the game and hope for better drops. I feel like this game would greatly improve if if gave you the option to either choose your starting weapons (thus giving you the option to experiment later) or at least limit which weapons are dished out at the start (in order to not have to deal with the aforementioned boots).
Dead Cells is sadly not the Metroid-vania I hoped for, but its solid gameplay loop definitely held my attention for a little while depsite that. It's a game for people with half an hour to kill, who typically don't have the opportunity or inclination to devote time to games for extended periods. It appeals to those needing instant gratification, with flash combat and swift traversal, though it fails players who really yearn for a real sense of progression, when adding a new weapons to an already large random loot pool dilutes its worth. Dead Cells is both several shots of fortified joy and the morning after where I ask myself "why, why did I do this again?"
Your mileage may vary.
In its defence, Dead Cells is the first rogue-like I've ever played, and for those unfamiliar, a rogue-like game basically involves you starting the game mostly from scratch when you die, with some added bonuses to help you develop a sense of progression despite being thrown back to the start. And die yo will. Often! Maybe you'll unlock some new weapons or tools (like bear traps or turrets) to experiment with, making the next play-through more interesting. Maybe you'll finish unlocking new upgrades or mutations that either complement your play-style or provide you with an extra health potion to get further to your goal.Dead Cells also has a couple of extra game modes to keep you going, such as the Daily Challenge Mode, where you're given a fixed level and weapons load-out and allowed to compete with other players for a high-score (which for me isn't as appealing as being rewarded with a new blueprint for your 1st/5th/10th completion, and nothing afterward), or its Streaming Mode, which is both great for allowing a streamer's viewers to participate int heir game, and useless for everybody else.
Dead Cells is also coupled with the Metroid-vania genre, which is arguably what made the game most appealing to me in the first place. Here you unlock certain character abilities which open up whole new areas of a map, traditionally, which may be hidden away in the very first areas of the game. In this situation, you actually want to go back to the start of the game, not because you died and were made to, but because there's new and hidden content that was always there without you ever knowing. Unfortunately for me, the Metroid-vania aspect of Dead Cells just doesn't work that well. You still unlock those Metroid-vania skills, but there's arguably no reason to, or at least I failed to recognise their benefit. I made my way to the penultimate area of the game without unlocking two of the four upgrades in the game. Those extra areas you now have access to mostly just offer a new game aesthetic to enjoy, and game is certainly pretty in it's pixelated way. Maybe they offer a couple of new enemies to learn how to deal with, which may drop a new blueprint for a new weapon or upgrade, assuming you make it out of the area alive. Thing is, new enemies means unfamiliar attacks, which are likely to kill you and send you back to the beginning which you're already intimately and regretfully familiar with.
Each run of Dead Cells is procedural generated, which you'd hope would breath life into each and every game, despite how many times you've tackled an area. This is not the case, at least not for me. Every crossroad is the same crossroad, every T-junction is the same T-junction, every zombie encountered is the same zombie. It's not so much breathing new life into each play-through, as it is breathing the same air you've already been breathing for 19 hours. That's not to say Dead Cells is a bad game: 19 hours is a pretty decent chunk of time to sink into a 20-30 dollar game. Combat is great, slowly learning an enemies tells makes them easier to tackle next time, and learning the subtle nuances of the game's rolling, which is both generous enough to get you out of most situations while also not infallible enough to be abused. The music has an encouraging rhythm to it, urging you on and on, rolling, slashing, jumping your way a little further than you did before, of farming cells for upgrades a little longer than before, or rushing through an earlier even faster than before. It's very much a game you can play how you like, if it rewards you how you want to be rewarded.
The vast number of weapons you can unlock does initially give you pause to think about how exactly you're going to use them to your advantage against those enemies. After enjoying a combo that allowed you to freeze or trap enemies in place, allowing you to roll past in order to stab them in the back for critical hits, how now are you going to use a sword that engulfs enemies in inflammable oil before you get access to something that will actually set them on fire? That is, you consider these things up until you get handed some trash boots you can slowly kick enemies with for the umpteenth time, and realise you can simply reset the game and hope for better drops. I feel like this game would greatly improve if if gave you the option to either choose your starting weapons (thus giving you the option to experiment later) or at least limit which weapons are dished out at the start (in order to not have to deal with the aforementioned boots).
Dead Cells is sadly not the Metroid-vania I hoped for, but its solid gameplay loop definitely held my attention for a little while depsite that. It's a game for people with half an hour to kill, who typically don't have the opportunity or inclination to devote time to games for extended periods. It appeals to those needing instant gratification, with flash combat and swift traversal, though it fails players who really yearn for a real sense of progression, when adding a new weapons to an already large random loot pool dilutes its worth. Dead Cells is both several shots of fortified joy and the morning after where I ask myself "why, why did I do this again?"
Your mileage may vary.
Saturday, 23 June 2018
God of War 5/5
I'm an old, jaded gamer. Sure, I don't have the time I used to have to play games. I can no longer run home from school, through on my console of choice for that evening and voraciously devour my media of choice.
My free-time is not as free as you might think, meaning any game purchases I make now have to be really worth while. I don't want to be an hour in only to discover the hard-earned cash I just put down on something I *thought* was going to be good (ah, game demos...) turns out to be something I'm thoroughly not enjoying. Something not living up to the hype. Something mired with micro-transactions, or made dystrophic by future DLC...
Not so, God of War.
The game is good. Really, really good. It's a fantastic mash of excellent game play and compelling, mature story telling. Not quite the brilliance that The Last of Us managed to achieve, but falling short of that bar in my mind is no great sin given how high the hurdle is.
For the record, I never played any of the earlier God of War games. I didn't know about about Kratos, the main character and Spartan of... Sparta, and his ongoing feud with the Pantheon of Greek Gods, who did various unpleasantires to him, such as tricking him into killing his wife and kid, and concealing from him his own nature as the son of Zeus, and so he proceeds to feed most of them their teeth.
At least, I think that's how it goes.
Fast-forward to non-ancient-greek-times-but-still-pretty-ancient-norse-times, we find Kratos still alive and kicking, or in this case chopping down trees, clearly still haunted by those ghosts he left behind in Greece. Enter Atreus, son of Kratos (or "boy" for short) as the two of them prepare for the funeral pyre of wife and mother, Faye, who's asked her ashes be scattered from the highest peak in all the realms.
And so our journey begins, with one of the Norse Gods picking a fight outside Kratos' wood-lodge for reasons to be explored...
A journey filled with much ass-kicking, axe-throwing, and everything in between. The game's combat is appropriately "arcadey", I'd say, pretty accessible to all but filled with enough nuance to keep people engaged and challenged at higher difficulties. And the game it's self also paces the combat and the story rather well, as Kratos endeavours to be a good father to his son whilst also tearing demons and undead apart with his bare hands. It makes for an interesting dynamic, and the story is told well, only with one part nearer the end of the game seeming a bit blunt and unnecessary, perhaps to be further explored in inevitable sequels.
While the game is mostly linear, there's enough open-world vibes there to encourage one to stray from the beaten path, side-quests to pursue, loot to... loot, and beasties to maim. Littered inbetween the comings and goings of Dad and Boy are interesting pieces of dialog between the two. These dialogs are thoroughly improved by Mimir, another character who accompanies our two lads (though, accompanies might be a bit of a stretch, as you'll find out) on their trek.
Mimir is great. I love Mimir.
Given my penchant for wandering, I managed to achieve most of what I believe the game has to offer as I slowly plodding along to the end of the game, something which came up rather abruptly, all things considered, but still tied together quite nicely with a nod toward the future, as I have aluded.
I'm eager to see where our lads go next, and surprisingly, not soured by the idea of future DLC. Let's see how that goes.
My free-time is not as free as you might think, meaning any game purchases I make now have to be really worth while. I don't want to be an hour in only to discover the hard-earned cash I just put down on something I *thought* was going to be good (ah, game demos...) turns out to be something I'm thoroughly not enjoying. Something not living up to the hype. Something mired with micro-transactions, or made dystrophic by future DLC...
Not so, God of War.
The game is good. Really, really good. It's a fantastic mash of excellent game play and compelling, mature story telling. Not quite the brilliance that The Last of Us managed to achieve, but falling short of that bar in my mind is no great sin given how high the hurdle is.
For the record, I never played any of the earlier God of War games. I didn't know about about Kratos, the main character and Spartan of... Sparta, and his ongoing feud with the Pantheon of Greek Gods, who did various unpleasantires to him, such as tricking him into killing his wife and kid, and concealing from him his own nature as the son of Zeus, and so he proceeds to feed most of them their teeth.
At least, I think that's how it goes.
Fast-forward to non-ancient-greek-times-but-still-pretty-ancient-norse-times, we find Kratos still alive and kicking, or in this case chopping down trees, clearly still haunted by those ghosts he left behind in Greece. Enter Atreus, son of Kratos (or "boy" for short) as the two of them prepare for the funeral pyre of wife and mother, Faye, who's asked her ashes be scattered from the highest peak in all the realms.
And so our journey begins, with one of the Norse Gods picking a fight outside Kratos' wood-lodge for reasons to be explored...
A journey filled with much ass-kicking, axe-throwing, and everything in between. The game's combat is appropriately "arcadey", I'd say, pretty accessible to all but filled with enough nuance to keep people engaged and challenged at higher difficulties. And the game it's self also paces the combat and the story rather well, as Kratos endeavours to be a good father to his son whilst also tearing demons and undead apart with his bare hands. It makes for an interesting dynamic, and the story is told well, only with one part nearer the end of the game seeming a bit blunt and unnecessary, perhaps to be further explored in inevitable sequels.
While the game is mostly linear, there's enough open-world vibes there to encourage one to stray from the beaten path, side-quests to pursue, loot to... loot, and beasties to maim. Littered inbetween the comings and goings of Dad and Boy are interesting pieces of dialog between the two. These dialogs are thoroughly improved by Mimir, another character who accompanies our two lads (though, accompanies might be a bit of a stretch, as you'll find out) on their trek.
Mimir is great. I love Mimir.
Given my penchant for wandering, I managed to achieve most of what I believe the game has to offer as I slowly plodding along to the end of the game, something which came up rather abruptly, all things considered, but still tied together quite nicely with a nod toward the future, as I have aluded.
I'm eager to see where our lads go next, and surprisingly, not soured by the idea of future DLC. Let's see how that goes.
Monday, 29 May 2017
Nier: Automata - 3/5
This is a game I desperately wanted to love. It's also a game that, apparently, a lot of people enjoyed playing. A combination of those two things resulted a double-whammy of disappointment. I also have to mention that Nier: Automata is yet another shitty PC port rescued by amateur programmers fixing what the developers shouldn't have released in the first place.
Nier: Automata tells a story rather cleverly flung into a far off future, where humans and aliens are at far using androids and robots as their respective proxies. Our main protagonist, android 2B, is sent to Earth where shit hits the fan pretty quickly and acquires support from another android, 9S. They then both go off to fight robots together. Except when they don't. And if that doesn't tell you how little I ended up caring about the story, then I'm not sure what else will.
The game is primarily an action RPG, with the kind of flashy-yet-simple melee combat you'd expect from the guys at Platinum Games. You attack, and dodge when not attacking to get hit. That's about it. One of the things that Nier: Automata sets out to do and achieves rather well is a strange melding of genres. At times, the 3rd person melee focus switches to a sort of 2D side-scroller, other times a bullet heavy shooter. Those transitions are pretty smooth when they occur, and help keep you on your toes, as well as keeping you engaged as your make your way through the game. That said, I did feel that the game comes across as a sort of jack of all trades but master of none. Side quests are relatively simple affairs, but do provide a bit more exposition behind the game's over-arching narrative, and your game-play style can be better tailored through he use of "program chips" that give your characters buffs like extra EXP, or returning health as you deal damage and so forth. This program chip system can be a little overwhelming, however, with limited space for a huge amount of customisation options, which themselves exist in tiers (EXP bonus I, II, III, etc), with better programs taking up more space. While you can pick options that automatically pick "balanced" "attack" or "defensive" chips, it was a real pain when a chip you like it removed, because you'd have to find something else to was the right "size" to be replaced by it. Nier: Automata also wears some more modern gaming influences on it's arm, like Dark Souls "die and get one chance to cover your exp", only with exp being replaced by all these plug in chips you use to improve your combat abilities.
The controls in the game are sadly pretty questionable, and at times just downright awful. For example, there are two buttons that you pretty much have to keep held down while fighting - those being your "lock on" button, and the button that controls your little robot friend (or "Pod") shooting at the enemies. Both of these really should of been toggled on or off to free up your hands when playing, to remove the need to constantly hold them down. I also found it necessary to rebind some of the controls in the game, and it's great that you're given this option, but at the same time also makes you question how much fine-tuning the developers really did before release. For example, switched the "toggle light" button (L3) with "pod function" (left bumper). The pod function is a sort of special attack with a cool-down timer, and without doing this, you're forced to let go of the "lock on" button (left trigger), meaning you have to suddenly aim the pod function with the right analog stick. This would have been fine, but later int he game, you're forced to use a specific pod function which acts as a radar to find something in the game's fairly-sized open world. This part became a royal pain, because the L3 button isn't the best button in the world to hold while using the left stick to move, but at the same time you still have to navigate the world and deal with enemies as you're searching for this thing in question.
The game looks... ok? It definitely isn't making any effort to beat Crysis on max settings, but manages to give you something nice to look at despite that while playing. It also makes clever use of some pretty minimal art direction decisions at times, which both makes sense within the game's narrative and compensates for a graphics engine that isn't trying anything extraordinary. There's also nothing bad that can be said for the design of the main characters, which will no doubt provide us with some excellent cosplaying for the near future. The soundtrack was definitely one of the games highlights, and made me sadly reminiscent of the anime Ghost in the Shell, which simply had to be intentional, given the story's focus on the existential crises these android's appear to be tackling with as they battle robots that it appears they're not entirely different from. I say "sadly" with regards to the soundtrack because where the game really fell down for me regarding it's story. It's portrayed as some big, sad ordeal, with these androids fighting robots, and what exactly is the difference between them. The game seemingly takes this for granted, and never really got me invested in why I should care. One moment, a 9S yells at 2B about how we can't trust what the robots say, the next, 9S is endearingly calling another apparently "child" robot "little guy" after he ran away from his "Mother". 2B's depiction as a cold and uncaring soldier is thrown away almost immediately when another robot simply asks for some help. The story is further undermined with the game being broken up into 3 arcs, with the second you hope goes some way to fleshing out the first by offering another characters perspective, but fails to do so. The third act just fails entirely, setting up for the remaining two characters and set up to kill each because the narrative needs them to.
The replay value this game tries to represent is another disappointment. Unlike Dark Souls or Persona, which I replayed because I enjoyed them, for Nier: Automata, I had to replay the early part of the game as a different character, before really being able to proceed with the "story". While combat is definitely one of the games better points, this replayed section of the game is done using 9S in place of 2B, who is a substantially weaker character in terms of combat. The game compensates for this by giving 9S a "hacking" ability, which takes place as a bullet hell style mini-game to deal substantial damage to enemies, but it's just no where near as enjoyable. There are other hidden endings in the game as well, which are really more "what if?" scenarios if the story took a different direction. I think I'm happier looking them up on YouTube than enduring the game it's self to see them. Another trope borrowed from Dark Souls is detailing some lore through item descriptions. Weapon upgrades, for example, detail a short story about the game's world. Sadly, like everything in Nier Automata, trying to shoe-horn in all these different things didn't leave any single thing seemingly well done.
I'm bitterly disappointed in Nier: Automata, but at the same time I can appreciate why some people were raving about it. There's some seed there brimming with great potential, but it's just not there yet for me. Part of this could be because the bar had been raised so high by what I had read about the game, which resulted in it failing to deliver. Much like Final Fantasy XV, most of my issues with Nier: Automata could have been remedied with a good story told well. I could have looked past the stupid controls, the cluttered customisation, the blatant fan service and the dodgy port if they had just told me a good story. Sadly this isn't the case.
Nier: Automata tells a story rather cleverly flung into a far off future, where humans and aliens are at far using androids and robots as their respective proxies. Our main protagonist, android 2B, is sent to Earth where shit hits the fan pretty quickly and acquires support from another android, 9S. They then both go off to fight robots together. Except when they don't. And if that doesn't tell you how little I ended up caring about the story, then I'm not sure what else will.
The game is primarily an action RPG, with the kind of flashy-yet-simple melee combat you'd expect from the guys at Platinum Games. You attack, and dodge when not attacking to get hit. That's about it. One of the things that Nier: Automata sets out to do and achieves rather well is a strange melding of genres. At times, the 3rd person melee focus switches to a sort of 2D side-scroller, other times a bullet heavy shooter. Those transitions are pretty smooth when they occur, and help keep you on your toes, as well as keeping you engaged as your make your way through the game. That said, I did feel that the game comes across as a sort of jack of all trades but master of none. Side quests are relatively simple affairs, but do provide a bit more exposition behind the game's over-arching narrative, and your game-play style can be better tailored through he use of "program chips" that give your characters buffs like extra EXP, or returning health as you deal damage and so forth. This program chip system can be a little overwhelming, however, with limited space for a huge amount of customisation options, which themselves exist in tiers (EXP bonus I, II, III, etc), with better programs taking up more space. While you can pick options that automatically pick "balanced" "attack" or "defensive" chips, it was a real pain when a chip you like it removed, because you'd have to find something else to was the right "size" to be replaced by it. Nier: Automata also wears some more modern gaming influences on it's arm, like Dark Souls "die and get one chance to cover your exp", only with exp being replaced by all these plug in chips you use to improve your combat abilities.
The controls in the game are sadly pretty questionable, and at times just downright awful. For example, there are two buttons that you pretty much have to keep held down while fighting - those being your "lock on" button, and the button that controls your little robot friend (or "Pod") shooting at the enemies. Both of these really should of been toggled on or off to free up your hands when playing, to remove the need to constantly hold them down. I also found it necessary to rebind some of the controls in the game, and it's great that you're given this option, but at the same time also makes you question how much fine-tuning the developers really did before release. For example, switched the "toggle light" button (L3) with "pod function" (left bumper). The pod function is a sort of special attack with a cool-down timer, and without doing this, you're forced to let go of the "lock on" button (left trigger), meaning you have to suddenly aim the pod function with the right analog stick. This would have been fine, but later int he game, you're forced to use a specific pod function which acts as a radar to find something in the game's fairly-sized open world. This part became a royal pain, because the L3 button isn't the best button in the world to hold while using the left stick to move, but at the same time you still have to navigate the world and deal with enemies as you're searching for this thing in question.
The game looks... ok? It definitely isn't making any effort to beat Crysis on max settings, but manages to give you something nice to look at despite that while playing. It also makes clever use of some pretty minimal art direction decisions at times, which both makes sense within the game's narrative and compensates for a graphics engine that isn't trying anything extraordinary. There's also nothing bad that can be said for the design of the main characters, which will no doubt provide us with some excellent cosplaying for the near future. The soundtrack was definitely one of the games highlights, and made me sadly reminiscent of the anime Ghost in the Shell, which simply had to be intentional, given the story's focus on the existential crises these android's appear to be tackling with as they battle robots that it appears they're not entirely different from. I say "sadly" with regards to the soundtrack because where the game really fell down for me regarding it's story. It's portrayed as some big, sad ordeal, with these androids fighting robots, and what exactly is the difference between them. The game seemingly takes this for granted, and never really got me invested in why I should care. One moment, a 9S yells at 2B about how we can't trust what the robots say, the next, 9S is endearingly calling another apparently "child" robot "little guy" after he ran away from his "Mother". 2B's depiction as a cold and uncaring soldier is thrown away almost immediately when another robot simply asks for some help. The story is further undermined with the game being broken up into 3 arcs, with the second you hope goes some way to fleshing out the first by offering another characters perspective, but fails to do so. The third act just fails entirely, setting up for the remaining two characters and set up to kill each because the narrative needs them to.
The replay value this game tries to represent is another disappointment. Unlike Dark Souls or Persona, which I replayed because I enjoyed them, for Nier: Automata, I had to replay the early part of the game as a different character, before really being able to proceed with the "story". While combat is definitely one of the games better points, this replayed section of the game is done using 9S in place of 2B, who is a substantially weaker character in terms of combat. The game compensates for this by giving 9S a "hacking" ability, which takes place as a bullet hell style mini-game to deal substantial damage to enemies, but it's just no where near as enjoyable. There are other hidden endings in the game as well, which are really more "what if?" scenarios if the story took a different direction. I think I'm happier looking them up on YouTube than enduring the game it's self to see them. Another trope borrowed from Dark Souls is detailing some lore through item descriptions. Weapon upgrades, for example, detail a short story about the game's world. Sadly, like everything in Nier Automata, trying to shoe-horn in all these different things didn't leave any single thing seemingly well done.
I'm bitterly disappointed in Nier: Automata, but at the same time I can appreciate why some people were raving about it. There's some seed there brimming with great potential, but it's just not there yet for me. Part of this could be because the bar had been raised so high by what I had read about the game, which resulted in it failing to deliver. Much like Final Fantasy XV, most of my issues with Nier: Automata could have been remedied with a good story told well. I could have looked past the stupid controls, the cluttered customisation, the blatant fan service and the dodgy port if they had just told me a good story. Sadly this isn't the case.
Saturday, 13 May 2017
Persona 5 - 4/5
So I finally managed to beat Persona 5 after a good 70 hours-or-so of pretty much my undivided attention (with the occasional, compulsive dip into Destiny). That's probably going to give you an idea of how this review is going to turn out.
Persona 5 is bloody good.
I initially went into playing Persona 5 with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth on account of Altus, the people responsible for the game, having a rather archaic and frankly idiotic stance towards streamer's playing their game for too long. That's a story for another day. As opposed to that sour taste developing into full-on revulsion, as D:Ream said in '93, "things can only get better".
So let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. Persona 5 is a JRPG, first and foremost, with a pretty intuitive battle system, likeable characters, decent story, fantastic soundtrack and spot-on voice acting, all of which is wrapped in a slick and stylish artistic direction. Also added to the mix is a more grounded and social aspect to the game, which I'm struggling to describe. Try to imagine "The Sims: Japanese High School expansion" meets "Pokemon", and you're going to get a decent idea of what to expect.
Let's try and explain the Pokemon reference first. The more traditional JRPG elements of the game take place within the "Metaverse", which you can think of as an alternate reality that exists in people's heads. Within the Metaverse, people's hidden natures are made manifest, becoming the "Personas" that handily fill the same niche as Pokemon would in a Pokemon game. There are heaps of these Personas, each with their own strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited in battle. While the rest of your team are stuck with one Persona and it's particular elemental affinity, the main character has the ability to change his Personas as the situation requires.
On the surface, this appears very much like Pokemon and it's rock-paper-scissors approach to exploiting enemy weaknesses, but Persona 5 is able to offer a more strategic and nuanced experience. Say you use Ryuji's Persona (specializing in electric attacks) against an enemy weak to electricity. Not only do you do bonus damage against that enemy, but you also "knock them down", awarding Ryuji an additional attack that turn. Say there's another enemy on the field weak to electricity? Boom, another attack. Later on, you're able to pass this attack between another character who may be able to exploit a different enemies weakness, and so on. It may sound like this makes Persona 5 too easy, but note that there are enemies int he game for which there are no weaknesses. Not only that, but the same mechanics that work for you can also work against you, as well as the existence of one hit kills int he game (which, if they land on the main character, results in a Game Over screen).
Knocking down all the enemies on the field allows you to either do an "All-out attack" (the damage for which was welcome but also not exactly game-changing), or try and "negotiate". Negotiation may award you with money or items, or a chance to recruit the Persona using various multiple choice answers. I was never a big fan of the games negation mechanics, partly because the required answers were a bit too vague for my liking. For example, knocked-down personas have one of 4 various "moods": Irritable, Gloomy, Up-beat (flirty) or Timid, and you need to pick answers that you think will be more appeasing based on these moods. Fortunately this is only one way to recruit new Personas, such as fusing two together in a place called "the Velvet Room", a place you encounter pretty early on in the game's story.
While the events that take place in the Metaverse offer up the "bulk" of the content in Persona 5, we haven't yet touched on the events that can take place within the real world, which also offers the player a heap of content. While experience points improves your ability int he Metaverse, it's various social tasks that help improve the main characters 5 social skills: Guts, Charm, Knowledge, Proficiency, and Kindness. For example, being a high school student necessitates trips to school. At school, the occassional pop quiz or exam gives you the chance to improve your knowledge skill. Hitting a few balls at the battling cages can improve your proficiency. Improving these social skills opens avenues to other social events. For example you can work a part-time job that no only pays more but can improve your social skills providing your other skills are high enough. Hanging out with that lady-friend you have a thing for might require you charm to be relatively high, and completing various "Confidant" side quests may require your social skills to be at a certain level in order to progress.
"Confidants, Tom? What's that?" I'm SO glad you asked! Confidants refers to the more personal relationships the main character makes in the game. Not only does each of your team in the Metaverse serve as a confidant, but so do other NPC's you encounter in the real world. Each of these confidants possess their own quest-line, with relatively involved stories to keep you invested. Improving these social links also has a direct impact in the Metaverse too, such as giving Persona produced via fusion an experience bonus, giving team mates special attacks, or giving access to new items and discounts in various shops.
Thankfully, all the style and flourish that makes the game-play so good in Persona 5 bleeds over into the games aesthetic and music. Both help really draw the line between events in the Metaverse and the game's real world, like using softer, pastel colours an accessible keyboard melodies in the real world to accentuate the more exiting events that are taking place int he Metaverse, which uses harsh lines of bold colour and rocking guitar riffs. As mentioned the voice acting is also really on point, with Altus clearly investing in capable voice actors who's talents I've heard used in various anime dubs over the years. Fun fact, the voice actress for Morgana was also in an anime with a character called Ryuji, giving me nice throw backs whenever Morgana scolds Ryuji. The only criticism I would say is that character dialog sometimes goes on for a little bit too long. I often found myself skipping the rest after the first line, which gave me just enough context to allow voiced conversations to make sense without me getting bored of waiting for one character to stop speaking.
As far as replay-ability goes, Persona 5 fully endorses a New Game+. Your social skills carry over between play-through's, giving you more time to pursue activities with your confidants without having to rank skills up before progressing. certain items, such as equipment and gifts for maxing out a confidant, also carry over, as well as your obtained library of Personas. Certain dialog options denied you early in the game because you social skills were too low also open up immediately allowing you to try and new take on old scenes. The game also allows you to fast-forward through conversations, meaning my next play-through will probably be a lot shorter than 70+ hours.
In short, Persona 5 is a rock-sold JRPG, and perhaps the first really good JRPG I've played in a long, long time. I'm really glad to finally get a look in on a series I've always been interested in but never really had the chance to play. Fingers crossed this results in some remastered releases of the earlier games o I can try them out for myself as well.
Persona 5 is bloody good.
I initially went into playing Persona 5 with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth on account of Altus, the people responsible for the game, having a rather archaic and frankly idiotic stance towards streamer's playing their game for too long. That's a story for another day. As opposed to that sour taste developing into full-on revulsion, as D:Ream said in '93, "things can only get better".
So let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. Persona 5 is a JRPG, first and foremost, with a pretty intuitive battle system, likeable characters, decent story, fantastic soundtrack and spot-on voice acting, all of which is wrapped in a slick and stylish artistic direction. Also added to the mix is a more grounded and social aspect to the game, which I'm struggling to describe. Try to imagine "The Sims: Japanese High School expansion" meets "Pokemon", and you're going to get a decent idea of what to expect.
Let's try and explain the Pokemon reference first. The more traditional JRPG elements of the game take place within the "Metaverse", which you can think of as an alternate reality that exists in people's heads. Within the Metaverse, people's hidden natures are made manifest, becoming the "Personas" that handily fill the same niche as Pokemon would in a Pokemon game. There are heaps of these Personas, each with their own strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited in battle. While the rest of your team are stuck with one Persona and it's particular elemental affinity, the main character has the ability to change his Personas as the situation requires.
On the surface, this appears very much like Pokemon and it's rock-paper-scissors approach to exploiting enemy weaknesses, but Persona 5 is able to offer a more strategic and nuanced experience. Say you use Ryuji's Persona (specializing in electric attacks) against an enemy weak to electricity. Not only do you do bonus damage against that enemy, but you also "knock them down", awarding Ryuji an additional attack that turn. Say there's another enemy on the field weak to electricity? Boom, another attack. Later on, you're able to pass this attack between another character who may be able to exploit a different enemies weakness, and so on. It may sound like this makes Persona 5 too easy, but note that there are enemies int he game for which there are no weaknesses. Not only that, but the same mechanics that work for you can also work against you, as well as the existence of one hit kills int he game (which, if they land on the main character, results in a Game Over screen).
Knocking down all the enemies on the field allows you to either do an "All-out attack" (the damage for which was welcome but also not exactly game-changing), or try and "negotiate". Negotiation may award you with money or items, or a chance to recruit the Persona using various multiple choice answers. I was never a big fan of the games negation mechanics, partly because the required answers were a bit too vague for my liking. For example, knocked-down personas have one of 4 various "moods": Irritable, Gloomy, Up-beat (flirty) or Timid, and you need to pick answers that you think will be more appeasing based on these moods. Fortunately this is only one way to recruit new Personas, such as fusing two together in a place called "the Velvet Room", a place you encounter pretty early on in the game's story.
While the events that take place in the Metaverse offer up the "bulk" of the content in Persona 5, we haven't yet touched on the events that can take place within the real world, which also offers the player a heap of content. While experience points improves your ability int he Metaverse, it's various social tasks that help improve the main characters 5 social skills: Guts, Charm, Knowledge, Proficiency, and Kindness. For example, being a high school student necessitates trips to school. At school, the occassional pop quiz or exam gives you the chance to improve your knowledge skill. Hitting a few balls at the battling cages can improve your proficiency. Improving these social skills opens avenues to other social events. For example you can work a part-time job that no only pays more but can improve your social skills providing your other skills are high enough. Hanging out with that lady-friend you have a thing for might require you charm to be relatively high, and completing various "Confidant" side quests may require your social skills to be at a certain level in order to progress.
"Confidants, Tom? What's that?" I'm SO glad you asked! Confidants refers to the more personal relationships the main character makes in the game. Not only does each of your team in the Metaverse serve as a confidant, but so do other NPC's you encounter in the real world. Each of these confidants possess their own quest-line, with relatively involved stories to keep you invested. Improving these social links also has a direct impact in the Metaverse too, such as giving Persona produced via fusion an experience bonus, giving team mates special attacks, or giving access to new items and discounts in various shops.
Thankfully, all the style and flourish that makes the game-play so good in Persona 5 bleeds over into the games aesthetic and music. Both help really draw the line between events in the Metaverse and the game's real world, like using softer, pastel colours an accessible keyboard melodies in the real world to accentuate the more exiting events that are taking place int he Metaverse, which uses harsh lines of bold colour and rocking guitar riffs. As mentioned the voice acting is also really on point, with Altus clearly investing in capable voice actors who's talents I've heard used in various anime dubs over the years. Fun fact, the voice actress for Morgana was also in an anime with a character called Ryuji, giving me nice throw backs whenever Morgana scolds Ryuji. The only criticism I would say is that character dialog sometimes goes on for a little bit too long. I often found myself skipping the rest after the first line, which gave me just enough context to allow voiced conversations to make sense without me getting bored of waiting for one character to stop speaking.
As far as replay-ability goes, Persona 5 fully endorses a New Game+. Your social skills carry over between play-through's, giving you more time to pursue activities with your confidants without having to rank skills up before progressing. certain items, such as equipment and gifts for maxing out a confidant, also carry over, as well as your obtained library of Personas. Certain dialog options denied you early in the game because you social skills were too low also open up immediately allowing you to try and new take on old scenes. The game also allows you to fast-forward through conversations, meaning my next play-through will probably be a lot shorter than 70+ hours.
In short, Persona 5 is a rock-sold JRPG, and perhaps the first really good JRPG I've played in a long, long time. I'm really glad to finally get a look in on a series I've always been interested in but never really had the chance to play. Fingers crossed this results in some remastered releases of the earlier games o I can try them out for myself as well.
Saturday, 4 March 2017
Nioh - 4/5
Hey guys, for the one or two people that may stumble across my game reviewing efforts, I've decided to take a slightly revised route towards how I go about reviewing. I've decided to go with a really simple X out of 5 system. I feel this will keep things both simple and honest. I mean, why say a great game is 81 over 89? Where is that definitely point between 89 and 90 for an amazing game? Also, instead of making you guys sift through all my thoughts before coming to the conclusion, I'm just going to whack it in the title. It's not like I'm getting paid by any adverts to bore you guys with!
Also, I appreciate that Nioh has been out for near a month so this is dated to say the least, but at the same time I'm not fortunately enough to make my passion of games any kind of career, so any games I review are paid for out of my own pocket during the public release and I don't have the time to play a game to completion (or near enough) to write an honest review. Thanks for popping by and let me know if you have any thoughts!
So anyway: Nioh.
Nioh is a great game, that gets a lot of important things right. It's a game that wears it's influences in it's sleeve, but at the same time takes those influences and makes them its own. Team Ninja clearly spent a lot of time working on Nioh's combat. Your protagonist, William (based on a real-life western Samurai) has both "heavy" and "light" attacks to play with, as well as three different stances (high, mid, and low) that affect how these heavy and light attacks work. Stamina in this game is called your "ki", which each of these attacks and stances (as well as dodging and blocking) use varying amounts of.
While low-stance light attacks using a little amount of ki and allow you to attack continually for minimal damage, a high-stance heavy attack will do both substantially more damage while using substantially more ki. Coupled with this is the game's "ki pulse" mechanic. This allows you to quickly regain your ki, as well as purifying "Yokai domains" (small areas left by demon enemies that both hinders your ki recovery while enhancing their own). It's similar to Bloodborne's regain system but with recovery being on your ki rather than your health. All these aspects added together result in a fun and engaging combat system that would never get old if it wasn't for some issues we'll be getting around to.
The game's mediocre story is more than made up for by this awesome combat, as well as touches of Japanese history and detailed descriptions given by the game's bestiary and encyclopedia. You're also not forced to fight every enemy you come across. The bows and matchlock rifles give you the option to (mostly) one-shot snipe headshots from afar, giving the game an aspect of stealth that is rather satisfying. So satisfying that I couldn't bear not mentioning it among all of Nioh's other accomplishments.
I should point out that I decided to play with the game's "Action" setting and favouring a regular 60fps, over the "Movie" setting which favours prettier graphics but at 30fps. Having never seen the difference in Movie mode, and with the game being plenty pretty already in Action mode, I'm not at all concerned about what I'm missing from Movie mode. I'd recommend everyone else to do the same. Just having this option is a great inclusion, and something I hope other games adopt going forward into this new generation with multiple versions of the same console. I'm fine with PS4 Pro users having prettier graphics at 60fps, providing my little PS4's framerates aren't made to suffer
Nioh, while great, is not perfect, however. Part of Nioh's initial appeal for me was how long and lengthy people made the game out to me. Given that the length is compensated by having the same enemy encounters over and over again, I feel this game would have greatly benefited from being a lot more concise. It's sort of the opposite problem these open sandbox games have nowadays: instead of there being big empty voids to traverse, the game is littered with repeating content.
The game's loot system can also be a bit of a saturating experience, as well. Each piece of gear can have numerous perks, but there's simply so many different options that I ceased caring about them. This is partly because of how versatile the combat system is. Do I want a weapon that lowers the ki I use for my quick attacks? Or increase the damage I do during my mi-stance? Or does more damage with heavy attacks? I just stuck with weapons that seemingly hit harder and armour sets that gave additional perks based on how many pieces of that same set you had.
While as mentioned the combat is great, the game's lack of enemy variety really gives you no real reason to change an established and effective tactic. I'm still fighting the same enemies in sub-mission 100-something that I was fighting in the first mission after the game's tutorial in the Tower of London. I say "still fighting" because it's actually become a chore for me to switch the game on and play, because really I'm still having to do things that I've done countless times already.
One particularly disappointing example of this is the game's first real boss, Onryoki. I understand the idea of taking an early boss and making it something of a surprising to turn up again in later missions, but I've fought this guy 6 times already. And I know for a fact there's going to be a 7th. The worst part is this game has heaps of great bosses, but they've only used this same boss. I'm totally over it. So over it, in fact, that it was the 6th Onryoki encounter that's stopping me going back in and finishing the game off. I'm a handful of missions from the finale but I'm burnt out.
This is something PVP should be able to help with, as players learn and adapt within the same fight, you too will have to change up your strategies to beat them. Relying on the same tactic won't work with an adapting enemy player.. Unfortunately, the game's "Revenants" (NPC-controlled versions other players, spawned from the graves where they've died) suffers from the same problems of the games other enemies. The same tactics will pretty much get you through it. They definitely add a welcome change from fighting the same enemies you've already slaughtered 100's of times already, but even they get a bit samey before long. They're a good compromise until PVP goes live in a few weeks/months time, but they are just that: a compromise.
In retrospect, I think part of the issue with this overly samey gameplay is how I decided to tackle the game. I've played each of the games missions and submissions on order of the level indicated on the game's hub map. If there's a level 100 submission and a level 101 mission, I'd take the submission first. This is mostly because Nioh is a difficult game (though no-where near as difficult as the Dark Souls games). Having any opportunity to level up as much as possible just seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps it'd be a better idea to stick to the main missions, and only dip into the submissions when I came across a particularly tough mission in order to level up? Hindsight is 20:20, as they say.
To close, Nioh has the potential to be an amazing IP for Team Ninja. Not only in the coming months as they tweak the game (I'm particularly looking forward to how PVP plays out), but also as they take Nioh's already solid foundations and polish it further in future iterations. I'm looking forward to seeing where Nioh ends up!
Also, I appreciate that Nioh has been out for near a month so this is dated to say the least, but at the same time I'm not fortunately enough to make my passion of games any kind of career, so any games I review are paid for out of my own pocket during the public release and I don't have the time to play a game to completion (or near enough) to write an honest review. Thanks for popping by and let me know if you have any thoughts!
So anyway: Nioh.
Nioh is a great game, that gets a lot of important things right. It's a game that wears it's influences in it's sleeve, but at the same time takes those influences and makes them its own. Team Ninja clearly spent a lot of time working on Nioh's combat. Your protagonist, William (based on a real-life western Samurai) has both "heavy" and "light" attacks to play with, as well as three different stances (high, mid, and low) that affect how these heavy and light attacks work. Stamina in this game is called your "ki", which each of these attacks and stances (as well as dodging and blocking) use varying amounts of.
While low-stance light attacks using a little amount of ki and allow you to attack continually for minimal damage, a high-stance heavy attack will do both substantially more damage while using substantially more ki. Coupled with this is the game's "ki pulse" mechanic. This allows you to quickly regain your ki, as well as purifying "Yokai domains" (small areas left by demon enemies that both hinders your ki recovery while enhancing their own). It's similar to Bloodborne's regain system but with recovery being on your ki rather than your health. All these aspects added together result in a fun and engaging combat system that would never get old if it wasn't for some issues we'll be getting around to.
The game's mediocre story is more than made up for by this awesome combat, as well as touches of Japanese history and detailed descriptions given by the game's bestiary and encyclopedia. You're also not forced to fight every enemy you come across. The bows and matchlock rifles give you the option to (mostly) one-shot snipe headshots from afar, giving the game an aspect of stealth that is rather satisfying. So satisfying that I couldn't bear not mentioning it among all of Nioh's other accomplishments.
I should point out that I decided to play with the game's "Action" setting and favouring a regular 60fps, over the "Movie" setting which favours prettier graphics but at 30fps. Having never seen the difference in Movie mode, and with the game being plenty pretty already in Action mode, I'm not at all concerned about what I'm missing from Movie mode. I'd recommend everyone else to do the same. Just having this option is a great inclusion, and something I hope other games adopt going forward into this new generation with multiple versions of the same console. I'm fine with PS4 Pro users having prettier graphics at 60fps, providing my little PS4's framerates aren't made to suffer
Nioh, while great, is not perfect, however. Part of Nioh's initial appeal for me was how long and lengthy people made the game out to me. Given that the length is compensated by having the same enemy encounters over and over again, I feel this game would have greatly benefited from being a lot more concise. It's sort of the opposite problem these open sandbox games have nowadays: instead of there being big empty voids to traverse, the game is littered with repeating content.
The game's loot system can also be a bit of a saturating experience, as well. Each piece of gear can have numerous perks, but there's simply so many different options that I ceased caring about them. This is partly because of how versatile the combat system is. Do I want a weapon that lowers the ki I use for my quick attacks? Or increase the damage I do during my mi-stance? Or does more damage with heavy attacks? I just stuck with weapons that seemingly hit harder and armour sets that gave additional perks based on how many pieces of that same set you had.
While as mentioned the combat is great, the game's lack of enemy variety really gives you no real reason to change an established and effective tactic. I'm still fighting the same enemies in sub-mission 100-something that I was fighting in the first mission after the game's tutorial in the Tower of London. I say "still fighting" because it's actually become a chore for me to switch the game on and play, because really I'm still having to do things that I've done countless times already.
One particularly disappointing example of this is the game's first real boss, Onryoki. I understand the idea of taking an early boss and making it something of a surprising to turn up again in later missions, but I've fought this guy 6 times already. And I know for a fact there's going to be a 7th. The worst part is this game has heaps of great bosses, but they've only used this same boss. I'm totally over it. So over it, in fact, that it was the 6th Onryoki encounter that's stopping me going back in and finishing the game off. I'm a handful of missions from the finale but I'm burnt out.
This is something PVP should be able to help with, as players learn and adapt within the same fight, you too will have to change up your strategies to beat them. Relying on the same tactic won't work with an adapting enemy player.. Unfortunately, the game's "Revenants" (NPC-controlled versions other players, spawned from the graves where they've died) suffers from the same problems of the games other enemies. The same tactics will pretty much get you through it. They definitely add a welcome change from fighting the same enemies you've already slaughtered 100's of times already, but even they get a bit samey before long. They're a good compromise until PVP goes live in a few weeks/months time, but they are just that: a compromise.
In retrospect, I think part of the issue with this overly samey gameplay is how I decided to tackle the game. I've played each of the games missions and submissions on order of the level indicated on the game's hub map. If there's a level 100 submission and a level 101 mission, I'd take the submission first. This is mostly because Nioh is a difficult game (though no-where near as difficult as the Dark Souls games). Having any opportunity to level up as much as possible just seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps it'd be a better idea to stick to the main missions, and only dip into the submissions when I came across a particularly tough mission in order to level up? Hindsight is 20:20, as they say.
To close, Nioh has the potential to be an amazing IP for Team Ninja. Not only in the coming months as they tweak the game (I'm particularly looking forward to how PVP plays out), but also as they take Nioh's already solid foundations and polish it further in future iterations. I'm looking forward to seeing where Nioh ends up!
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