#hopefully getting another dlc pack soon also ?!?!????!
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Opening Night Live kinda sucked
I'm back with one of these cause why the fuck not. Gamescom is another big show that Geoff Keighly hosts, where there's usually some cool stuff, but MAN. all of the games besides the ones I'm about to mention here didn't look appealing to me.
Also, I'll just start off with this. Geoff, you have got to get better security, my friend. How has a dude twice now got on stage and said something? Granted they were both harmless, but pattern recognition tells me something bad might happen soon.
Anyways, let's start off with the 1st hype thing, which was Tekken 8!
Once again, I don't play fighting games, but honestly, this and Street Fighter 6 are VERY much tempting me too. They showed off a new mode called Arcade Quest, which seems to be making up for the idea that Tekken 8 is not being put in arcades, and honestly it looks great. That being said, we also have 32 character roster and 6 more were revealed. all of whom are returning. Yoshimitsu, Steve Fox, Sergei Dragonov, Leo, Shaheen and Kuma, who seems to take up some of Heihachi's move set. Honestly, I still think young Heihachi will at least be some form of DLC, cause with canon in that case, who gives a shit?
Honestly, given that so many of these characters are from Tekken 5 and 6, and Leroy Smith is coming back, I'm surprised they didn't include Lidia Sobieska, given how popular she seemed to be. Also still no Alisa, which kinda sucks up hey, I can have hope.
Image Credit: @kittymiya (Commishion her if you can, her art is amazing)
Onward to Mortal Kombat 1, where we got 2 new characters announced, the returning Sindel and Shao Kahn, or in this case General Shao, as well as Kameo's for Motaro from MK3, and Shujinko, from Mortal Kombat Deception/Unchained.
They did also announce a board game mode, which looks cool, but Mortal Kombat 1 feels like it might be a bit lacklustre, especially given that Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 are really packed with a bunch of game modes outside of the story mode. We'll see if they manage to pull it off, and I am looking forward to the story, but IDK I just feel like there might be not a lot there.
Up next, anime in GranBlue Fantasy Relink. I honestly don't have much to say on this other than it looks cool, and I'll probably pick it up when I get the chance, cause I know nothing about GranBlue.
The other thing that I saw that I might be interested in was Wukong, which looks very cool! I might play it when it comes out, cause action games are fun.
Anyways, on to the last thing, Hoyoverse showed up with a bunch of stuff, all of which I'm going to talk about.
First up, Genshin showed up with a trailer to promote the current update. I've finished the story that is currently in the game, and it's honestly really good, and I'll be writing about it for my main site soon! The big thing here though is that they announced a consort tour, which is awesome! I'm hoping to attend the one in London if I have enough money.
Up next, they showed a trailer for Fu Xuan in Honkai Star Rail. I don't really have anything to say here, but I'm Star Rail still looks very cool!
The big thing I want to talk about personally is Zenless Zone Zero, which got another trailer to show off things they have been working on over the past year.
They showed off 3 new areas they are working on adding to the game, a new hangout sorta mechanic where you're protag can hang out with different characters, as well as minigames and new mechanics, such as an offence and defence assist. I've been a big fan of Hoyo's games since Genshin really showed off what they can do, and I personally can't wait to see where this takes them.
But yea. that's everything. Honestly, this is the 1st time in a while it feels like one of these shows by Geoff Keighley has not been worth it, which I guess is a good thing, but hopefully, some more cool stuff shows up at TGS, where it's gonna be pretty hard to disappoint me I think.
I'll probably show some work works in progress and also maybe talk about Bandai Namco later this week(cause where the fuck did all the anime properties go), but for now, have a good rest of your day. Bye!!
#zenless zone zero#tekken#gamescom#opening night live#mortal kombat#fgc#genshin impact#random thoughts
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Mass Effect Trilogy Mission Order
With the release of the Mass Effect Legendary edition I decided to gather a mission list so I can guide myself through the games efficiently. This guide should include the base missions and the DLC. Through the years I have glanced at list like this during my playthroughs so I figured if it was useful for me it may be useful for the internet also.
*Planet scanning between missions
Eden Prime
Therum
Feros
Noveria
UNC Side Missions - Citadel side missions (loads of cool stuff) - (Garrus/Tali/Wrex) specific missions
DLC: Bring Down the Sky
Virmire
Ilos/Endgame
*Planet scanning between missions
Prologue / Freedom's Progress
Citadel - Pick up Kasumi from DLC
Omega - Pick up Zaeed from DLC
Omega: The Scientist
Kasumi: Stolen Memory - Kasumi's loyalty mission rewards you with the Locust SMG, a really nice SMG.
Dossier: Archangel
Dossier: The Convict
Dossier: The Warlord
Horizon - will automatically trigger. Don't miss the Particle Beam weapon on the ground about halfway through the level, it's really nice for dealing with the Praetorian enemies.
Recruit Tali
Dossier: The Justicar - While on Ilium, you can talk to Liara to get some help but don't start the Lair of the Shadow Broker stuff yet.
Dossier: The Assassin
-- Now you've got all your recruits, so start doing loyalty missions.--
Tuchanka: Mordin's Loyalty - I always recommend keeping the data, as it opens up way more branches of story in ME3, but it's ultimately up to you.
Tuchanka: Grunt's Loyalty
Collector Vessel - This triggers after you complete Horizon and then 5 other missions. So now.
Illium - Miranda's Loyalty
Aeia: Jacob's Loyalty
Citadel: Garrus's Loyalty
Citadel: Thane's Loyalty
Illium: Samara's Loyalty
Zaeed's Loyalty - Warning: If you want to go Paragon during this mission you've got to beat a really high Charm check to keep his loyalty. I usually just look the other way on this one and hate myself for it later, to make sure he stays on board.
-- The next missions all involve high Paragon/Renegade checks, so we save them for now --
Pragia: Jack's Loyalty - Afterwards, you'll need to break up a fight. Use your Paragon or Renegade option to keep both characters loyal.
Quarian Fleet: Tali's Loyalty - This mission has a big impact in ME3. To keep her loyal, use Paragon/Renegade options whenever possible, and don't use the data to defend her innocence. If you sent Veetor with Tali back on Freedom's Progress, and Kal'Reegar survived Tali's recruitment mission, you can successfully use the "Rally the Crowd" option to get the best outcome here. Otherwise, you'll need to use Paragon/Renegade all the way through to make it happen. Hopefully your scores are high enough for that, which is why we saved it for here.
DLC: Overlord - This is a good point to put this in. You've just killed a lot of geth, so let's go kill some more!
DLC: Normandy Crash Site - If you picked this up, now is a good time for a nostalgic flashback before you head off on a suicide mission.
-- POINT OF NO RETURN: Make sure everyone is loyal and you've done any side missions that you want to --
Mnemosyne: Reaper IFF
Geth Base: Legion's Loyalty - Take Tali for interesting dialogue. This mission's decision also plays heavily into ME3. Afterwards, you'll need to break up another fight. Just like last time, use Paragon/Renegade to keep both characters loyal.
Normandy Interlude
Omega 4: Suicide Mission - The following composition always gets everyone out alive for me, but again, it's your call, and I know there are other workable options as well: Fire Team Leader (Garrus), Tech Expert (Tali), Escort (Mordin), Biotic Expert (Samara). Take Miranda to the final fight for some interesting dialogue, and be sure to always leave Grunt, Zaeed, and Garrus to hold the line. They have a higher internal success score for that job, so it'll help make sure your whole team makes it out.
DLC: Lair of the Shadow Broker - This should be played right here, as the information you get from it is integral to ME3
DLC: Arrival - Very last, as ME3 picks up right afterwards
Prologue: Earth
Priority: Mars
Priority: Citadel I - During this mission, players can visit Ashley or Kaidan and Thane at the hospital, recruit the reporter Diana Allers, and recruit either Dr. Chakwas or Dr. Michel.
Normandy: First Visit
N7: Cerberus Labs & Citadel: Alien Medi-Gel Formula
Priority: Palaven - Following this mission, return to the Citadel to deliver items.
Aria: Blood Pack
Aria: Blue Suns
Aria: Eclipse
Citadel: Hanar Diplomat (Kasumi)
Grissom Academy: Emergency Evacuation (Jack) & Citadel: Biotic Amp Interfaces - This mission must be completed ahead of Priority: Citadel II or there are dire consequences. Players can also choose to complete this mission as soon as they receive it.
Priority: Eden Prime (From the Ashes DLC) - Players can recruit Javik as a squadmate.
Meet the Diplomats & Priority: Sur'Kesh (Mordin)
Attican Traverse: Krogan Team (Grunt) & Citadel: Krogan Dying Message
Tuchanka: Turian Platoon - Players need to be careful, as three missions will be available on Tuchanka. They should not choose Priority: Tuchanka yet. Immediately following this mission, players need to go straight to the next mission to avoid disastrous consequences.
Tuchanka: Bomb & Citadel: Cerberus Automated Turret Schematics
N7: Cerberus Attack & Citadel: Improved Power Grid
N7: Cerberus Abductions & Benning: Evidence
Priority: Tuchanka
Players can find items for characters on the Citadel in the following systems:
Apien Crest: Banner of the First Regiment
Kite's Nest: Pillars of Strength
Ismar Frontier: Prototype Components
Shrike Abyssal: Prothean Obelisk
N7: Cerberus Fighter Base & Citadel: Heating Unit Stabilizers
Priority: Citadel II - Players should make sure they have spoken to Thane at the hospital ahead of this mission.
Mesana: Distress Signal
Ardat-Yakshi Monastery (Samara) & Citadel: Asari Widow
Citadel: Aria T'Loak (Omega DLC) - Once players choose to join Aria's fleet at the Citadel, they will not have the option to return until the full DLC is completed.
Arrae: Ex-Cerberus Scientists (Jacob) & Citadel: Cerberus Turian Poison
Citadel: Volus Ambassador (Zaeed)
Priority: Perseus Veil
Priority: Geth Dreadnought
Rannoch: Admiral Koris & Citadel: Target Jamming Technology - When landing on Rannoch, players need to be careful not to choose Priority: Rannoch. Players need to make sure to rescue the Admiral, no matter what, to have the best chance at a compromise between the Geth and Quarians.
Rannoch: Geth Fighter Squadrons (Legion) & Citadel: Reaper Code Fragments
N7: Fuel Reactors & Citadel: Chemical Treatment - Players should be sure not to confuse this mission with the one to Destroy the Reaper Base. Following this, Shepard can return to the Citadel to deliver items.
Priority: Rannoch - To broker peace between the Geth and Quarians, the following conditions must have been met: Tali and Legion must both be alive; Tali was not exiled in Mass Effect 2; Legion's loyalty mission was completed, and the Heretics must have been destroyed; Shepard must have broken up the fight between Legion and Tali in Mass Effect 2 without taking sides (i.e., using Charm/Intimidate); Shepard must have four bars of Reputation; Koris must have been rescued on Rannoch; Shepard must have completed Geth Fighter Squadrons. If any of these conditions were not met, players will be forced to choose a side.
Players can find items for characters on the Citadel in the following systems:
Nimbus Cluster: Library of Asha
Athena Nebula: Hesperia-Period Statue
Irune: Book of Plenix
Valhallan Threshold: Prothean Data Drives
Argos Rho: Kaklisaur Fossil
Silean Nebula: Rings of Alune
Dekuuna: Elcor Extraction
Dekuuna: Code of the Ancients
Hades Nexus: Obelisk of Karza
Hades Nexus: Prothean Sphere
Priority: Citadel III
Priority: Thessia - Bring Javik and Liara for additional lore and a few important discoveries.
N7 Communication Hub & Citadel: Cerberus Ciphers
Priority: Horizon - To ensure Miranda survives, players need to do the following: Shepard must talk to Miranda on the Citadel Docks; they must warn her about Kai Leng in the Specter office; Shepard must have met with Miranda in the apartment on the Citadel and given her access to Alliance resources.
Citadel: Dr. Bryson (Leviathan DLC)
Citadel: Shore Leave (Citadel DLC) - Avoid leaving the Citadel until after the party
Priority: Cerberus Headquarters - This is the Point of No Return. Following this mission, players will go straight into the endgame.
Priority: Earth - For the best possible outcome, players need 3,100 EMS prior to this mission.
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Bittersweet Arguments
Heyo! Today I have a Cove x Reader! He is from a visual novel called Our Life: Beginning and always. Its available on Steam and itch.io for free! But I do encourage you all to get the dlc is it is more than worth it. It is inclusive of all race, sexual orientation and pronouns/gender. Also all the characters are just amazing and loveable. I could go on and on about this game but let me shut up so you all can read^^
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Cove Holden x GN!Reader
You and cove get into a bad argument and picking up the pieces is hard.
Word Count: 2.4k(not beta read)
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“Cove hasn't talked to you…yeah I’m just worried, they haven't gone more than a week without speaking since they met. They’re going on week 3 soon… yeah I know… yeah… alright I let you know what I can find out.” Ma said, hanging up with a sigh. You rounded the corner glancing at her as you plopped down on the sofa.
“We're not 8 any more, you don't have to call Cliff anytime we get in a fight.” you said with a chuckle.
“Honey, that's the thing, you and cove have never fought. We called about Lizzie plenty of times but you… it's just parents being parents. We're just worried.” She said stroking your hair. You grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze before you got up.
“Don’t be.” You said as you went up to your room. Well you were packing so really it was just a room with a bed. You plopped down face first into it. You just laid there mind racing a mile a minute. The fight, the disagreements, the tears played over and over again. It was simple at first and then it wasn't. Then it was yelling, arms flailing, and angry tears. What would happen next? It was a fear you thought that was already put to rest but it came again, and again, and again. Each time it was more and more muddled. What would happen to you both? How would long distance work? Were you supposed to tell your parents about your engagement? Who would come visit who? How often? No matter what question it was, the answer always resulted in more questions.
To you it was like Cove didn't trust you, like he didn't believe you loved him enough to do anything to make it work. For Cove you were… well you don't know. He was silent about the issue of the future. It was like you were discussing it with yourself as if there isn't another person in the relationship. It was frustrating, it made you angry at him and at yourself for being angry at him. You grabbed your pillow which had become a bucket for your tears and you cried and screamed into it. Over time your tears and screams died down and you drifted into not a peaceful sleep but a painful one. When you woke up you stumbled down stairs in a trance and nearly rounded the corner before you heard it. You stopped in your tracks immediately and sunk to the floor. It was him, your love, the neighborhood boy, Cove Holden.
“How are they?” He spoke quietly.
“I can't lie to you and say they're fine but they are resting right now.” Mom said with a sigh.
“Tha… T-That’s fine but what about eating, drinking, packing, and leaving the house?” He stuttered nervously. You wanted to laugh. It was so Cove to still be nervous talking to someone he knew essentially his whole life.
“Yes, of course. We’ve made sure, nothing to worry about.” At that you heard a sigh of relief come from the green haired boy.
“Okay, okay good. Um could you just let me know if they need anything.” His voice was shaky like he wanted to cry.
“They need you, kid.” Your mom said slowly. There was a long silence at this. Was it actually long or were you just anxious you weren’t sure.
“...I need them more.” He said in a barely intelligible whisper. Goodbyes were said and stayed on the floor even as you heard mom coming your way. When she was in your sight her eyes widened but more in worry than surprised. You tilted your head at her and that’s when you felt it. Tears were cascading from your eyes. You wiped them away in surprise and rose to your feet.
“Im fine.” You said before jogging to your room where you curled into a ball as if to shield you from the impending doom. From this position you watched the sunset and the moon rise, almost unblinking. You felt tears soak your pillow, you had begun crying without realizing again.
This couldn't go on, you had to talk to Cove.
Muscle memory had kicked in from the one time you had snuck into Cove’s room and boom. You were sitting on his bedside stroking his hair as he slept. Just like you it seemed his sleep was anything but peaceful. His brow was creased and you couldn’t help but thumb along it prompting him to wake up. His eyes shot open and he blinked a while before he sighed.
“Are you gonna be a dream or a nightmare.” he said softly.
“I'm in your nightmares?” You said glancing to the side. At this he shot up. Tears pulled in his eyes as he held his hand out to you. As soon as his fingers brushed your face he let out a quiet sob.
“So dream or nightmare then?” You said with watery eyes.
“An absolute dream.” He said with a firmness in him that was rare.
“Cove I don't want to talk about it right now, can we sleep...together.”
“Yes!” he shouted quietly, immediately making space for you under his blankets. You moved with equal amount of eagerness and soon for the first time in a while you felt truly at peace.
“Can...can I hold you.” You didn't say anything to his request, just moved closer and grabbed onto his nightshirt. Instantly you both fall into a deep peaceful sleep.
“Hey kid, I wanna talk…” Cliff trailed off awkwardly as he locked eyes with you. Cove was fast asleep, head in your lap and arms squeezing you. You smiled and put your finger to your lips. Cliff got the signal and walked out with a smile. Cove slept for 30 minutes more before his icy blue eyes met yours.
“Uh, wanna eat? I got all the ingredients for…” he didn’t need to finish the red flush of his face said enough. He was eating your favorite and you were eating his. You let off a quiet laugh.
“I’m feeling more peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches. Maybe some fruit.” You smiled down at him. His eyes lit up and you were dragged into the kitchen and now you both were about done making the sandwiches.
“What are you glaring at my sandwiches for?” You jokingly accused him.
“There isn’t enough honey on it, honey.” He said poking your forehead. You laughed and he laughed and then you both went to sit at the table. Mr. Holden was there too and made moves to get up but was stopped by the both of you shouting no. Awkwardly he sat back down.
“So, how’s packing coming? Coves been putting it off, so much.” He asked you gently.
“I’m pretty much done! Nothing in my room but a bed now.” You said with a smile.
“That’s great, still planning on leaving for college?” He asked with caution.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m going to miss having you around.” You said with a small smile. The impromptu breakfast was over soon after this and you were left alone with cove again. Questions about the future loomed over you and this time you were going to get answers.
“Can... we talk?” You said staring at him with determination.
“Yes..” he trailed off
“No Cove, can we really talk? Like talk things out, like argue and come to a consensus.”
“Yes but I just don’t... want us to fight” he said playing with his hands.
“Arguments are normal cove, hell they’re healthy even. The unhealthy part is what you do during the argument and what you do after. Of course, we could try just talking first.” You smiled at him hoping to ease his nervousness.
“So you mean to say storming off to your son's room and pacing isn't a healthy way of closing an argument?” He said with a joking tone.
“Well if we ever get to the talk about the future, maybe one day you could see just how healthy it is…” You trailed off looking at him hopefully. Cove let out one of his cute squeaks as he flushed red. He raked his fingers through his hair before he grabbed your hand and pulled you to the sofa.
“Let's… talk then.” he said, glancing at you and then away.
“Alright, Cove, I'm going far away. What you are asking to do is impractical, I'm asking you not to do it.” You said seriously.
“It's 36 hours by car on the fastest route and 3 hours and 29 minutes by plane, it's not impractical, it's totally possible.” He said with unusually fierce eyes.
“Sure but you want to do it every two weeks, twice a month! It's not safe for you to drive that long. Think of the money it’ll cost to fly or put gas in your car. Also you'll have your own bills now, your own place. It's not all that possible.” You spoke firmly.
“Doesn't matter… i'll make it possible and safe. If I need to, I'll stay with my dad for a while. Moving out isn’t that big of a deal” He said not backing down
“No Cove, do you hear yourself? You’ve wanted to move out and be in your own place for a while. What happened to the boy who wanted to do everything the way he wanted without listening to set rules or a predetermined plan?”
“This isn't someone's predetermined plan for me, it's what I want.”
“What about what I want?” you said softly
“Is what you want… not to be around me? Or am I too.. too clingy for you? Cause if so I promise I won't intrude too much.. And I’ll give you space-”
“No! Its nothing like that! You are never gonna be too clingy for me, you could get clinger if you wanted. I just want you to be safe, okay?” You said cutting that thought off immediately
“I promise I will be then.” He said hesitantly.
“Baby, the whole action of it isn't safe physically or financially for either of us right now. I'm not saying you can't come but what about once every month or even better ill come back here every break I have. They aren't frequent but I'd be with you for a while.”
“It's not enough!” He said, raising his voice at you. It's the first time he’d ever done it but you didn't respond, you just blinked at him and waited for him to continue.
“I need to see you more than that.. I just have to.” He said, looking away from you.
“Why? We’ve spent weeks apart before. Every summer you leave and we come out of it fine, it's the same.”
“No its not the same, at all.” He spoke firmly as his eyes got misty but he pressed on. “When I went with my mom I knew where you were, what you were most likely doing. It was routine, sunset bird is our place. Even if something new comes along I'm never out of the loop… but when you leave you’ll be in a new place with different people and new things you can experience. You’ll be in a place with all four seasons, they get snow! I won't know what you're doing any more and we might not even be on the same wavelength any more. You’ll make new friends and meet people who won't be afraid to lay in bed with you or stutter a lot or make weird noises. You’ll be changing and I’ll still be the same 8 year old cry baby you met on the poppy hill… you’ll leave and then you’ll disappear.” He said scrubbing at his tears. You stared at him before you started to laugh. You laughed so hard you started to cry.
“Let me get this straight, you want to come visit me so often because you're afraid I'll become this social butterfly and find better people than you, Miranda, and Terri? Me?” You were overcome with laughter again and paused to catch your breath. “I’m overly honest, pushy, a little demanding, and have “strange” interests. When have you ever known me to be easy to make friends with or be sociable with any other than you? You know I knew I was gonna marry you from the moment I laid eyes on you at the ripe age of 8? I wish some dumb college kid would try to change my plans i’d kill them… nothing is gonna take me away from you and I will always come home. Home, cove holden, is wherever you are.” Cove was hugging you in a second crying into your neck.
“I quite like your squeaks and weird noises by the way.” You could feel his face heat up in your neck as he laughed.
“Every break?”
“Every break longer than 2 days.”
“At my place… the whole time?”
“Duh I said I was going home.”
“Alright then, we agree. I want to come spend a break with you though, want to see your place.” He said squeezing you tighter.
“Of course… Also one last thing we need to put to bed.” Cove let out a groan at your words.
“Nothing bad at all. Just this.” You reached into your back pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. You handed it to cove as his eyes watered again.
“I know I already proposed but I wanted to get you something regardless. Its also so all these single people keep their grubby little paws off my love.” He blushed at you and whispered your name the way he always did when he was feeling embarrassed or overwhelmed. He opened it as tears fell down his face.
“Theres two?”
“Yeah look at the inside of the bands.” Each one was engraved with your respective nicknames for each other.
“Were engaged we minus well look the part. This way everybody at my college knows I managed to lockdown the most amazing guy to ever grace sunset bird.” You said kissing his nose. He wasted no time putting his on and handing you yours.
“I love you.” He said, eyes no longer misty.
“I love you so much, Cove.” You echoed his sentiment.
“Wanna go to our hill, we have a lot to make up for. I’ve missed you so much.” He said, grabbing your hand. You nodded and you both turned to leave. You both quickly made eye contact with Clifford Holden who was misty eyed. You gathered he had been there for a while.
“Sho...Should I pretend i didn't just see or hear that as well?” He said his hand on his neck.
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I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the announcements from Maxis Monthly? Did the Game Changers know about or have any say in the rebrand?
Ok so I’m gonna answer your last question first lol
The title “Game Changer” is definitely a little confusing because it implies that we actually change the game in some way, but we don’t. Well, most of us don’t. I think some of the bigger Game Changers have a little sway because they know the team personally and have been to the Sims Headquarters and stuff, but for the most part all we do is get early access so that we can provide our individual communities with a glimpse of the pack that goes a little more in depth than just trailers, that way people can see what’s included and decide if they want to buy it, and hopefully bring more people to the franchise in the process. And we definitely didn’t have anything to do with the rebrand, we heard about it at the same time everyone else did.
As for your first question, I’m gonna put it under a cut for a couple reasons: [a] Listen, I have opinions lol and [b] for anyone that is like me and is sensitive to colour contrast, I don’t want anyone getting a nasty headache or sore eyes if they don’t have to. Let’s do this!
So first off, LOVE that they’re adding over 1000+ decorative world objects! There have been so many things over the years in different packs that I’m sure we’ve all seen and been like “Why didn’t you let us use that!?”, and now we’ll be able to! Sucks that some creators spent so much time liberating those things for us only to now have their work be obsolete though 😕
I also think the Create-A-Sim Story Mode looks interesting. I don’t like the idea that you can’t change the sims aspiration and traits though; they’re locked in once you’ve finished answering the questions. I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of it, as I tend to either pick specific traits based on my sim’s backstory or randomise them, but it’s nice to know the option is there and answering the questions might be fun to see what kind of sim you get!
Now, onto the rebrand.
I just don’t understand it!
Listen, I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t like change; I don’t do well with big changes at all. But this isn’t about that, this is about trying to understand why EA felt the need to rebrand The Sims 4 (which I can’t work out) and why they chose those colours, and I just… don’t understand.
I mean I understand, they’re trying to attract a younger audience with bright shiny things. But I don’t UNDERSTAND, you know? I don’t understand what prompted them to do it now, after almost five years?! Why did they feel the need to change something that didn’t need to be fixed at all? And why they went with this particular colour scheme! It’s so unnecessarily bright! As a graphic designer I’m genuinely horrified by the colours they chose and as a consumer of their product, I’m a little annoyed that they spent time and money on this when there are other things that are more important (like things that are actually broken) that keep getting the “We don’t have the resources” excuse or just flat out ignored.
Here’s the difference between the original box arts and the rebranded ones:
That blue is GOD AWFUL! It’s like Tumblr’s new blue background; I literally have a headache from looking at it! It doesn’t fit with the style of the rest of the game at all. And they claimed in the stream that the new box art designs really make the render sims “pop”… they really don’t. The backgrounds of the DLC packs are way too busy. I just I don’t understand why they couldn’t just stick with the nice clean, minimalist look they had before; it was truly a timeless design. A design that actually made the render sims pop and didn’t detract from them at all with busy backgrounds and headache-inducing colours!
Oh and can we just talk about the new base game box art render for a second? I love it, I really do. It looks cool and I’m excited to get to learn more about these new sims that are being added and according to the Gurus in the stream, all of the stuff on those sims is being added to base game (the stuff that’s not already base game that is). I’m excited about that pink hair BUT take a good look at all the other stuff… look familiar? That’s because most of us have already paid for that stuff. The jacket on the pink haired sim is from Get Famous, the beanie on the sim next to her is from Get to Work, the hair under the beanie is from Dine Out, the bracelet on the sim with the camera is from Seasons, the chef uniform in the middle is from Get to Work, the jacked on the sim up the back with the phone is from Get Together, and the sleeveless hoodie on the sim to the left of that is from Fitness Stuff. They’re all recolours of stuff from other packs. I’m all for free content, because hey it’s free, but I really wish they wouldn’t make things from other packs base game; people paid for that stuff.
Side note: I feel sorry for the people who collect the psychical copies of the games, because unless they can afford to buy new copies of all the packs, any new packs aren’t going to match their old ones now. And also the people who got tattoos of the old plumbob 😕
Which brings me to the plumbob, and yet another before and after:
The new plumbob is whatever; I don’t hate it, I just prefer the original. It matched the one in game and suited the artstyle of the whole game really well, whereas the new one looks too much like The Sims 3 and doesn’t suit The Sims 4 at all. It’s also not going to match the plumbob in-game anymore as for some reason they decided not to change that one? I mean it wouldn’t matter to me if it did because I always have my default file edited to get rid of it, but it just makes no sense to leave the original in there if you’re changing everything else.
New box art, plumbob and stuff aside, the thing that probably annoys me the most about this rebrand is that the pack icons and colours are changing. I get that they probably ran out of colours to choose from for each pack, but the fact that it’s so hard to tell the difference between the colours for the game and stuff packs is gonna be a problem for anyone who has difficulty distinguishing between different colour tones. Mr Sandwich, for example, couldn’t tell that there was a difference between the two, even after I pointed it out to him. Why didn’t they make one of them yellow?!
I personally used to find things from expansions in the catalogue by looking for the colour of each pack icon. “I know the thing I’m looking for is from Get Famous, so I’ll just keep scrolling until I see a pink icon”… well, not anymore:
All expansion packs are now teal, all game packs are now blue (a different blue than the box art blue I might add 😩), and all stuff packs are green; the only difference is the icon on them. And yes, I’m aware you can filter things by pack, that’s what I used to do for stuff and game packs because they were always the same colour, but if I’m just scrolling through say the curtains category, it’s a lot quicker to just scroll once or twice looking for an icon colour than it is to go into the little menu, click on “packs”, scroll down to the pack I want and choose it.
The new pack icons and colours also look awful on the main menu. Here’s a little before and after again:
Urgh that blue! There as nothing wrong with the original menu but now we’re gonna have the god awful blue again… not the point, sorry. Look at those icons! They’re too… saturated? busy? both? I dunno what but they look awful, especially on the blue background! At the very least they should have just made them one solid colour instead of trying to carry over the crystallized look.
And lastly the loading screen….
Again with the gross colour combinations and the background is just plain boring. The old one is much nicer and easier on the eyes.
Maybe it’s because I’m old and not the target audience for this new look but honestly I JUST DON’T GET IT! I understand that EA are trying to attract more people to the game, obviously younger people, but I really don’t think alienating and confusing the people who currently play your game in favour of luring in new people is this is the way to go about it.
Thankfully I’ve already seen a couple of the amazingly talented modders in the community say they’ll do everything they can to either give us back the original menus and loading screens or make a less obnoxious version as soon as they can, so I’m just gonna keep my fingers crossed that it won’t be too difficult for them to do and look forward to downloading those mods so I can play without getting a headache every time I have to look at the main menu and loading screen 😅
NOTE: Before anyone starts shouting at me for “being negative about a free update” just note that anon asked for my thoughts on it; these are my thoughts. If you like the new look that’s great, I’m really happy for you! But anon wanted my honest opinion and I’ve given it. Will this rebrand stop me playing the game? Of course not! The game is still the same no matter what the box art and menus look like, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them and it doesn’t mean I can’t express my disappointment about it all, especially if a follower asks for my opinion about it.
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Your First Look at Distance v1.0
Hey, everyone! As it's been said many times over the years, when we go dark something big is usually brewing under the surface. You probably can tell from the title, but after many grueling months we're finally ready to unveil what we've been creating.
Thanks for everyone's patience as we bring this insane 6+ year project to its conclusion. This year we've been fully focused on wrapping up the large bundle of content to all be released in Distance v1.0. It's essentially a huge DLC pack with several surprises inside. Since the start of early access, expanding upon our shipped level content has always been the plan, right alongside implementing the long list of promised features from our Kickstarter campaign (e.g. Trackmogrify, ghosts/replays, stunt mode, announcer, etc).
We're still working with our business partners to determine the release date, so we’re not yet able announce that in this devlog. In the meantime I’d like to cover some of what you can look forward to in Distance v1.0, as well as a few personal notes about the development process.
ADVENTURE
First up, Distance v1.0 includes a full featured Adventure campaign. This final campaign is a reworked and extended version of the campaign currently available on Steam Early Access. To achieve our original vision for Adventure the entire experience is receiving visual, audio, story, and gameplay upgrades.
(example of an upgraded Adventure level; new version above, old below)
In fleshing out the final narrative my goal was to create a unique experience by utilizing emotions not usually found within the racing genre. To achieve that we pursued a minimalist narrative that focuses heavily on atmosphere, mystery, and flow. Some loose story threads remain from the early access version, but in the end it’s a whole new beast.
The campaign in total is about 1 to 1.5 hours long depending on your skill level, so don't go in expecting an epic. It's a minimalist narrative experience, with gameplay focusing on the core abilities of your vehicle. The story is simple on the surface, but the deeper you look into it the more you may uncover.
Alongside the visual and gameplay upgrades, I've also worked hard to improve the overall soundscape with lots of new sounds, several new music tracks, and dynamic transitions. For a taste of some new stuff, here's a fresh new track from about halfway through the campaign.
As you’re probably aware I tend to prefer silence over accidentally spoiling something. It's probably overkill most of the time, but in talking about such a short campaign I'm not excited to give too much away. Hopefully these screenshots will hold you over until we can finally release a proper teaser trailer.
ARCADE
I'm also excited to say that the Arcade portion of Distance is also getting a large overhaul. Not only will we be releasing several brand new Arcade levels with v1.0, but we've redesigned the Arcade experience from the ground up. My aim with this redesign was to improve the sense of progression, give more value to earning medals, and make it more interesting to traverse the wide variety of included content.
With that goal in mind, the team came together to create new menus, improve existing ones, and logically group Arcade content as best as we can. After trying a few different progression systems, we settled on something simple and straightforward. Within Arcade there are level sets which can be unlocked by earning medals. We've also meticulously gone through each track and updated the bronze, silver, and gold times to be as accurate and consistent as possible.
As I mentioned above, several new arcade levels are being released with v1.0. These levels push our editor technology to its limit and explore completely different visual themes and gameplay than what’s found in the Adventure campaign.
(“Chroma” created by Kristian)
(“Virtual Rift” created by Galen)
Along those lines, I'm also pleased to announce that several of our favorite community-made levels will be directly included in v1.0! Not only does this allow us to highlight some amazing community levels directly from within the game, it's also our way to share these levels with PS4 players as we won’t have a Steam Workshop replacement at launch. Kristian, Brent, and Galen have also taken time to revamp several of their own levels from Steam Workshop to be directly included in v1.0.
(one example of an included Workshop level, “Inferno” by Backgrounds’)
(Brent upgraded his Workshop level “Neo Seoul” exclusively for v1.0)
By the way if you liked the old menus, don't worry because they're still included as the "Advanced" level select menu. It's even been improved further to include a search feature.
(the Advanced level select menu)
Much like the “Old Levels” in Nitronic Rush, a Legacy level set has been included. It features all of the classic levels from early access, as well as a few levels cut from the final version of the Adventure campaign. Since the changes between the old iterations and the final ones were substantial enough we figured they would be worth including as a fun bonus.
(the Legacy level set in Sprint mode)
In addition to the new unlockable levels in Arcade, we also spent time creating a few cheats that affect appearances or gameplay when enabled. Unlock them by earning various achievements/trophies. We thought this would be a fun way to give achievements more value instead of just being arbitrary tasks to complete. And yes, a few more achievements will be added to v1.0 on top of what already exists in the early access build.
(a few cheats to unlock in v1.0)
Finally, a quick comment on the unlockable cars. Yes, there will be a few bonus cars to unlock by earning achievements. You can change the colors if you like, but no, they do not affect gameplay at all. Here’s a look at the Archive.
(the unlockable “Archive” car)
Hundreds of other smaller improvements have been made across the board, including improvements to the car's damage system, the cockpit view, etc. Instead of dissecting each one it'll be more fun to just find those yourself.
LEVEL EDITOR
For all of our lovely level creators, just a quick note on the v1.0 editor. Don't expect a big v1.0 level editor overhaul but there will be several new features added. This includes access to the features and many new assets used to create new level content, plus a few new addable components.
For example, you can add an Animator Audio or Animator Camera Shake component to your animations. Regarding the new v1.0 assets mentioned above, you’ll have to wait a bit longer since showing them here would give too much away from the campaign.
(some example addable components coming to v1.0)
PS4 DEVELOPMENT
As it’s been for a while now, the PS4 side of development has eaten up a substantial amount of our time. Fortunately we’ve pushed past most of the scariest hurdles, and at a quick glance the PS4 build looks nearly identical to the PC build.
(one of the new Adventure campaign levels running on PS4)
One the biggest challenges we had to overcome was simply hitting our goal of 1080p at 60fps. After some impressive technical wizardry led by Jason, we’ve made substantial improvements to performance across the board for both the PS4 and PC builds.
More than anything we’ve smoothed out most of the rough spots in levels that were pushing the hardware to its limit, so the experience is quite a bit more consistent in each level. This was really important to us from the gameplay perspective because our fairly “twitchy” gameplay really feels subpar at even 30fps, so one way or another we think everyone will benefit from the work poured in here.
(performance graph showing frame rate over time in a new Arcade level running on PS4)
Beyond that, it’s just been a lot of work to support features like leaderboards with replay uploading/downloading, and the various technical certification requirements to allow us onto the PS4 in the first place. There’s still quite a bit of work to do there, so we’re currently evaluating how we can improve our process to wrap those up sooner.
NOTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT
Simultaneously managing public and private builds over the past few years has been a growing challenge for us, so to reach release as soon as possible we’re simplifying things by putting all of our energy into v1.0. Unfortunately that means that there will be no more updates to the Steam build until v1.0 is released.
We ended up taking a long and unorthodox approach to early access, and I understand if there’s been any confusion as to how v1.0 fits into the overall picture. We did our best for a long time to balance the development of both public and private builds, but it eventually became unsustainable to keep that up. Over the past year we’ve gradually transitioned to just focusing on v1.0 content (and tools to create that content), as well as solving the various technical challenges required to release on PS4.
As a result I haven’t had much to say publicly since everything we’re creating is secret, spoiler-filled content. Regardless, I fully acknowledge that I could have done better in terms of communication. The deeper I fell into creating “secret” content like the Adventure campaign, the harder and harder it became to break out of that world and maintain an external perspective of the project.
The reality of Distance as a project is that it’s been fairly overscoped from the start (at least for our team size and skill set). On top of that we do feel a duty to provide something innovative with artistic merit. For us it’s been a continual battle to not only live up to external expectations, but also live up to the standards we have ourselves. Instead of conceding defeat and scaling things back, we’ve continued to face each artistic and technical challenge until we’re satisfied with the final product. I’m not saying this was necessarily the wisest approach, but I hope you can understand how we ended up investing so much time into Distance.
It's been a long and bumpy process for all of us, but the v1.0 release is in sight and I think you’ll really like what we’ve cooked up. Distance has always been an extremely personal project for us, and as a result I think that you can see our personal passions shine through the final product. I’m extremely proud of my hard-working and dedicated teammates for pushing through endless barriers to reach this milestone. I’m also endlessly thankful to our faithful and extremely patient players who’ve been cheering from the sidelines from the start.
My next blog post will likely be the release date announcement. There also may or may not be a few secrets I neglected to mention here… so stay tuned. Thanks as always for the support!
- Jordan (with everyone at Refract)
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Best PC Games to Play in 2021
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We’re entering a golden age for PC gaming. The next generation of graphics cards are capable of pumping out 4K graphics and high FPS on almost any big name release, and real-time raytracing is taking graphics to new heights that weren’t possible just a couple years ago.
Add in Sony bringing more PlayStation ports to the PC and nearly every Xbox exclusive making its way to PCs as well, and a high-end gaming computer looks to be the definitive way to play almost anything over the next few years.
The following is a list of the most anticipated games coming to home computers this year. While release dates are always flexible, these are only titles that have already been released or officially confirmed for 2021.
Back 4 Blood
June 22 | Turtle Rock Studios
Despite persistent rumors of a third Left 4 Dead game entering development, it’s been more than a decade since Valve has released a new entry in the beloved co-op zombie series. Enter Turtle Rock Studios, the studio behind the original Left 4 Dead game, with a spiritual successor, Back 4 Blood.
By all accounts, Back 4 Blood plays a lot like Left 4 Dead. There are safe rooms, tons of melee weapons, an AI director who constantly changes things up, and zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. But there will also be perk cards that add interesting perks and buffs to the experience, making each playthrough unique. If Back 4 Blood can capture the spirit of the original Left 4 Dead, it should be fantastic.
Chivalry 2
June 8 | Torn Banner Studios
Chivalry was once considered one of the PC’s premier multiplayer titles. Could the sequel follow in its footsteps? We’ll find out pretty soon when Chivalry 2 launches exclusively on the Epic Games Store. According to Torn Banner Studios, the sequel aims to deliver combat that’s deep enough to keep players interested for awhile, yet easy for newcomers to pick up for the first time.
The latest gameplay videos show off lots of brutal medieval melee combat, with battlefields absolutely drenched in blood after a few minutes of 64 players hacking away at each other. This should be on your must-buy list in June!
Deathloop
May 21 | Arkane Studios
The best way to describe Deathloop is Hitman meets Groundhog Day. You play as Colt, an assassin stuck on a mysterious island, who must take out eight targets before midnight. If you die or fail to eliminate all targets, the day resets, and you’ll have to start all over again. And all the while you’re also being hunted by Julianna Blake, a rival assassin who doesn’t want you breaking the time loop. She can be controlled by either the AI or another player.
Arkane has a great track record when it comes to unique first-person games like Prey and the Dishonored series. If Deathloop’s heady concept can hold up, it could be another home run for the developer.
Diablo 2: Resurrected
TBA | Vicarious Visions
While Diablo III’s reputation has improved substantially since its controversial 2012 launch, there’s still a vocal group of gamers who prefer the second game in Blizzard’s genre-defining action RPG series. Knowing how much this game means to a lot of people, Vicarious Visions has said it’s not out to reinvent the wheel for Resurrected. The updated 3D graphics will display in 4K, but you can switch back to the original graphics at any point with the press of a button.
And while there will be some quality of life improvements like a shared item stash and automatic gold pickup, don’t expect any revolutionary changes that will spoil the original experience. This should be exactly what we need to tide us over until Diablo IV hits.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination
March 30 | Rebellion Developments
It’s taken 17 years to get a sequel to the criminally underrated Evil Genius, but it’s finally here. If you never had the pleasure of playing the original, imagine being a James Bond villain and managing your own secret lair to build a weapon of mass destruction and eventually take over the world. Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.
World Domination promises to be a bigger and better sequel. You’ll be able to pick from four different evil geniuses at the start of the game and one of three islands. Each minion in your lair now has their own personality and traits, so you’ll have to use them more strategically than ever to prevent the Forces of Justice from foiling your evil plans.
Far Cry 6
TBA | Ubisoft
Far Cry 6 was originally supposed to be out by now, but development has slowed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s still expected to be out in 2021, though. According to Ubisoft, the theme of the game is revolution against an oppressive government, with substantial research going into how and why revolutions are fought to better develop the game’s setting and story.
Ubisoft certainly picked the right actor to lead an oppressive government, with Breaking Bad and Mandalorian villain Giancarlo Esposito portraying the nefarious “El Presidente” who we’ll be looking to topple later this year.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
TBA | Square Enix
After one of the worst MMORPG launches ever, it’s a miracle that Final Fantasy XIV is still around a decade later. Not only did Square Enix turn things around, this game is now regarded as one of the very best in the genre.
Endwalker, the game’s fourth major expansion pack will conclude the story of the warring gods Hydaelyn and Zodiark, which has been running since the game’s 2013 relaunch. This won’t be the end of the MMO, though. Square still says it has several years worth of stories to tell.
Along with the obligatory new zones and quests, Square has promised two new classes. The first one shown so far, the sage, is a healer who battles with floating swords.
Guilty Gear Strive
April 9 | Arc System Works
The Guilty Gear series has never quite received the same attention as fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, but the franchise has quietly earned a reputation as a technically sound alternative for the competitive fighting game community.
The footage of Guilty Gear Strive released so far looks stunning. Arc has perfected the 3D polygonal character on a 2D plane, and the gameplay promises to be more accessible than ever, with the addition of a new dash button and a “wall-stick hit-state” which allows characters knocked into walls to slide down and continue fighting back.
Halo Infinite
TBA | 343 Industries
Halo may be Microsoft’s flagship franchise, but it’s always had a complicated relationship with the PC, with entries only being ported years after their initial release on Xbox (if at all). Halo Infinite will be the first mainline entry in the series to show up on both console and PC at launch, and it’s currently expected some time in the fall.
Halo Infinite’s public unveiling last year didn’t quite go as planned, with footage receiving a rather frosty reception from most fans. There are a lot of rumors of development troubles online, but Microsoft has a good track record of pulling its Halo games together in time for release, so hopefully we’ll end up with another classic game in the series later this year.
Hitman 3
January 20 | IO Interactive
Hitman 3 makes murder fun. Yes, there’s a lot of murder in video games, but true to its namesake, Hitman is more about the setup than the execution. No other franchise has perfected the thrill of expertly sneaking into an area, tracking down a target, and setting up an unfortunate “accident” to get away unscathed. Or just go in guns blazing like a maniac if that’s your kind of thing.
With Hitman 3, you can even import levels from the previous two games to get the full “World of Assassination” experience, but expect further updates throughout the year, including ray tracing.
Humankind
April 22 | Amplitude Studios
As popular as the Civilization series has become over the last three decades, it’s surprising that few developers have been up to the challenge of developing a competitor to Sid Meier’s classic creation. Humankind could be up to the task, though. You’ll lead your civilization across six different eras of human history, selecting one of 10 different civilizations in each era. You can handle relations with other societies diplomatically, but if that goes south, combat is handled as a tactical RPG.
Developer Amplitude Studios has been dipping its toes into the 4X genre over the last decade with the well-received Endless Space and Endless Legend, and now the team are looking to apply everything they’ve learned from those games into Humankind.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
May 14 | BioWare
Gamers have been clamoring for a re-release of the Mass Effect trilogy for years, and the Legendary Edition looks to exceed expectations. All three games will support 4K resolution, higher frame rates, and new graphical effects. The original Mass Effect in particular has seen a number of improvements akin to a partial remake, with improved combat, re-tooled enemy AI, and a faster Mako vehicle for traversing the Milky Way’s many planets.
While the Legendary Edition will include almost all of the DLC from the original trilogy (including some rather awesome add-ons like Lair of the Shadow Broker and Omega), BioWare has also announced a few omissions. Mass Effect 3’s lauded multiplayer mode isn’t going to make the cut, and Pinnacle Station, a much-maligned arena style add-on for the first game won’t be included either due to the loss of its source code.
New World
August 31 | Amazon Games
Amazon has had its sights set on the gaming world for quite some time, quietly pumping money into a number of projects, and New World could be its breakthrough hit. In this MMORPG set on an unnamed land in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1600s, you’ll wield bows, hammers, hatchets, magical staffs, musket rifles, spears, and swords against a variety of fantastical creatures. There will also be plenty of opportunities to gather resources, craft and build settlements. Best of all, there’s no monthly fee to play.
Launching a new IP is always difficult, and MMOs are a particularly difficult genre to break into, but if any company has the resources to succeed, it’s Amazon.
Resident Evil Village
May 7 | Capcom
There was already a ton of hype for the eighth main installment in the Resident Evil franchise following its initial reveal last year, but the introduction of antagonist Lady Dimitrescu aka “Tall Vampire Lady” has put the hype train in overdrive. We still don’t know a lot about the story, but we do expect there will be plenty of run-ins with the 9-foot tall lady and her vampiric daughters.
Village’s first demo gave us our first glimpse of stunning European manor rendered in 4K with ray tracing. The RE Engine was already a looker on last-gen hardware, but Village should be even more stunning when running on a newer graphics card.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
TBA | GSC Game World
We still know remarkably little about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, a game that’s scheduled to release by the end of the year. In December, GSC Game World released an in-engine teaser trailer that looked impressive, with a first-person view of someone running down a hallway in a dilapidated building around Chernobyl.
If the previous games in the series are any indication, we should be in for some truly terrifying encounters and harrowing firefights with twisted irradiated mutants. Here’s hoping we get more info soon.
Total War: Warhammer III
TBA | Creative Assembly
The trailer for the final entry in Creative Assembly’s Total War: Warhammer trilogy looks very cool, with humans mounted on horses and polar bears facing down chaos demons on a frozen battlefield.
The campaign is said to be twice the size of the one in Total War: Warhammer II, and those who own the DLC for all three games will have access to a combined map that will combine patches from maps from all three games for an absolutely massive strategy experience.
Valheim
February 2 | Iron Gate AB
Valheim came out of nowhere to become one of the big success stories of 2021, selling more than a million copies less than three weeks after its early access release. If you aren’t caught up on the latest Steam phenomenon, think of it as Minecraft mixed with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. You and up to nine other friends are dropped off in the middle of a Viking afterlife to survive, craft, and battle mythical creatures.
Iron Gate AB has been vague about what exactly to expect from future updates, but the studio has teased future customization options for homes and ships, and eventually even a new biome to explore.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
TBA | Fatshark
There have been dozens of Warhammer video games over the years, but few have found the success and crossover appeal of Fatshark’s Vermintide games. It turns out that mowing down waves of enemies with three of your friends is just plain fun, no matter the setting.
Darktide features the same Left 4 Dead-inspired gameplay, but moves the battle to the futuristic Warhammer 40,000 setting, incorporating more gunplay along the way. If you liked the Vermintide games, this is pretty much a must-have.
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
TBA | KillPixel
First-person shooters have come a long way in the last couple of decades, but some times you just want to run and gun in a dark fantasy setting as quickly as possible. And remarkably few modern games provide that experience. Enter Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, a spiritual successor to Quake, Doom, and Hexen, built on the 25-year-old Quake Engine.
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Wrath has been in Early Access since November 2019, and what’s been released so far is very promising, looking and sounding like a lost PC shooter from the late ‘90s. The full game should be out later this year.
The post Best PC Games to Play in 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.
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Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris Producer on Possible Switch Port, Game Length and More
May 3, 2020 12:51 PM EST
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris Producer Yousuke Futami answered questions from fans on stream, most notably people asking for a Switch port.
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris Producer Yousuke Futami held a short Periscope stream on May 1. Seeing the current state of emergency in Japan, this stream was in lieu of the usual SAO streams focusing on the games of the franchise, and focused on Alicization Lycoris. Other SAO game producers will similarly do streams, around once time a week, focusing either on SAOAL or the mobile games. Anyway, on the Periscope stream, Producer Futami answered some questions asked by SAO fans regarding Alicization Lycoris. He was asked about the game’s length, a possible Switch port, returning characters and a lot of other stuff.
SAOゲーム＆プロデューサー質問
返答生放送ー
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— ソードアート・オンライン ゲーム公式情報 (@sao_gameinfo) May 1, 2020
First off, Producer Futami answered how long it takes to beat Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris. He said it’s a difficult question to answer, but it “takes around 50 to 60 hours to beat if you play normally” as in doing sidequests along the way. He added it’ll take you longer to do everything, and “if you only rush the main story it’ll be around 30 hours”. He said SAOAL is packed with optional quests and bosses, and how developing studio Aquria put a lot of effort in the optional content, so he hopes players will try it out.
At around 20 minutes in, Producer Futami was asked if Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris could get ported to Switch. He explained “I can’t tell you whether we’ll do it or not, whether it’s possible or not.”. He said to just wait and see, if they do it they’ll announce it, if they don’t they won’t. He can only give half answers like these to avoid players getting disappointed or giving false hopes. He was also asked about a Switch port of SAO Hollow Fragment, and explained they did think about it, but game development costs a lot, including doing a port from one console to another. Long story short, while a PS4 port and PC port of Hollow Fragment were released, doing a Switch port isn’t possible for money reasons for now.
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Other points brought up on stream:
SAOAL shouldn’t be delayed again: The game’s current development plan is taking into account the current circumstances, so unless there’s a drastic change in the situation in Japan, it shouldn’t be delayed.
Alicization Lycoris and its original story in the second half of the game focuses a lot on developing Eugeo, Alice and Kirito.
A fan also asked if Rain will be SAOAL. Producer Futami said he cannot answer questions like these for now. But at the very least, it means it’s not impossible, just like how he previously teased Silica. He also said to look forward to more information on the DLC, though they can’t reveal anything for now. He also mentioned they’re pretty much done developing the first part of the Premium Pass.
We also heard about how Alicization Lycoris‘ development began around four years ago, soon after the release of Hollow Realization.
Producer Futami also chatted about how he’d like to make a game based on the Unital Ring arc one day, but how that’s still far off in the future, how they need to finish adapting Alicization first, and while he’d like to work as Producer on a game like this, he’d rather let a younger developer do it. He also mentioned they’ll probably start thinking about doing something in 2022, as that’s when the SAO novel and the Aincrad incident starts.
Producer Futami is really friendly and direct unlike most producers, and it showed on stream as he answered many other random questions. He chatted about his favorite scene in SAO Ordinal Scale, how all the game producers get along, etc. He regularly shares fun stories of his life as a Producer on his Twitter. The official SAO Twitter also started an hashtag #SAOゲーム質問 to ask him and the other producers questions about the SAO games, which they’ll answer in upcoming streams. Needless to say, they’ll probably only look at Japanese written questions, though Producer Futami does answer English questions sometimes on Twitter.
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris launches July 9 in Japan and July 10 worldwide on PC via Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. You can read the latest story details here. Hopefully the pandemic and all will be done by then, so preordering on Amazon a July releasing game to support us isn’t a bad move in my book.
This post contains affiliate links where DualShockers gets a small commission on sales. Any and all support helps keep DualShockers as a standalone, independent platform for less-mainstream opinions and news coverage.
May 3, 2020 12:51 PM EST
from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/sword-art-online-alicization-lycoris-producer-on-possible-switch-port-game-length-and-more/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sword-art-online-alicization-lycoris-producer-on-possible-switch-port-game-length-and-more
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Updated 14 Mar 2020: The above link is broken. PC Gamer has gone on to the next thing; as of this update, clicking that will get you to an article about golden keys for the game. At least some other companies haven’t conveniently forgotten.
https://screenrant.com/gearbox-randy-pitchford-controversy-weirder/
http://socialbarrel.com/randy-pitchford-video-game-industrys-most-controversial-figure/121218/
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2019/06/19/randy-pitchford-legal-drama-shows-gearbox-president-diverted-funds/
And then there’s the stuff about Supmatto getting shut down.
https://gamerant.com/borderlands-3-boycott-explain/
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-08-08-take-two-investigating-streamer-over-borderlands-3-leaks
https://www.newsweek.com/boycottborderlands3-trends-twitter-controversy-youtuber-supmatto-1453013
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-08-16-borderlands-3-youtubers-channel-disappears-amidst-take-two-investigation-over-leaks
Some of those are redundant, but hopefully it will preserve the information if other sites throw away history like PC Gamer did.
My original posting follows.
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Here’s why I’m not buying Borderlands 3. Not yet; possibly never.
TL;DR: Randy and his goons are hurting people and I’m not OK with that.
My stats: across all my accounts, according to Steam, I’ve got 323 hours playing the original Borderlands (including both the GOTY and the new Enhanced edition); 687 hours playing the Pre-Sequel; and a whopping 3413 hours on Borderlands 2. Total: 4413 hours playing the Borderlands franchise, not including a partial run-through of Tales of the Borderlands. (Nothing wrong with it per se; it’s just not the type of game I usually like to play, and I lost interest before I finished.)
(Why BL2 more than BL? Probably because I started with BL2, so that’s the one I love. I could go on about the details, but I think it boils down to familiarity. I think that typically happens to people who started on the first game: they prefer it because it’s where they started, and what they know. I can’t say that’s the only reason, or that it’s everybody’s reason, nor that all people who started with one cannot prefer the other. It’s just what I think happens typically. And it’s speculation, at that. So please don’t read more into it than is there.)
Needless to say I’m a little burned out Borderlands; but I’ll still be happy to play any of the (non-Tales -- which is single-player anyway) games with a friend, and I expect that I’ll probably be working on finishing my first BLE playthrough soon-ish, though I’ve been distracted by another game (7 Days to Die, in case you’ve not been following my blog. Which you probably haven’t; I don’t think anybody is).
So when they announced BL3 and said you’d be able to pre-purchase the super extra plus edition online and get some nifty exclusive skins, I already had my credit card out and drool all over the carpet before the echos died.
The first news came through: it wouldn’t be on Steam. It would be an exclusive on Epic for six months; after that, presumably it would show on Steam.
What the fuck?
I put my credit card down and mopped up the drool and considered their stated reasons and the ins and outs of this development, and decided I could live with it. They had their reasons, and the main one was money (of course; it always comes down to money). As long as it worked, and as long as it came back to Steam eventually, I would be OK. In fact I’d probably survive even if it was always on Epic. It’s not like I’m married to Steam or anything. And I’m on other platforms (at very least, Blizzard and Xbox). So after some soul searching I picked up my credit card and...
...now these aren’t necessarily in the correct order... ([edit] yeah, in fact, apparently Baker came first, then Eddings, and that’s just these two, though it’s possible I’d simply heard them out of order...)
...heard that David Eddings wasn’t doing Claptrap’s voice. According to him, he’d offered and been rebuffed. According to Randy Pitchford, they’d offered and he’d turned them down.
OK, well, he-said-she-said. Hard to know from the peanut gallery whose story was accurate, if either, or if it was something between or some third option. Still, it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. David Eddings not doing Claptrap? That’s like, like, like Ted Cassidy not playing Lurch.
At least the Addams Family movies have an excuse, seeing as how Cassidy died in 1979. Anyway, I’m being silly. While I was hesitating some more, I heard that Troy Baker wouldn’t be playing Rhys -- and his story sounded a lot like Eddings’.
Two actors with essentially the same story? Once is happenstance; twice is enemy action? It’s certainly starting to look like a pattern. Either could be he-said-she-said, but each of the two lent credence to the other.
Still something I could live with. And then I started hearing controversies about Randy Pitchford.
Former Gearbox Lawyer Accuses CEO Randy Pitchford Of Taking Secret $12 Million Bonus
Claptrap voice actor accuses Randy Pitchford of assault
Then there’s the alleged USB stick of allegedly underage porn. Just type “Randy Pitchford controversy” into a search engine and stand well back.
Last month we started getting word about superfan Youtuber Supmatto having his channel shut down and having thugs appear on his doorstep and question him. After restoring his channel... they shut him down for good. Think what you will, but from what I can tell, he’d merely reported information given to him, and Take Two and 2K abused Youtube’s copyright system to deprive one of their biggest fans of a living. Even if they were in the right -- and that’s not clear -- there are a lot of ways they could have handled it better. Instead they went for the full nuclear option and did it the easy way (easy for them, that is -- didn’t take him to court, simply threw paperwork at Youtube) and threw physical intimidation on top of that.
So 2K and Take Two and Randy Pitchford are pissing me off, and from what I can see, pissing off a whole metric fuck-ton of other now-former fans of the franchise. I’m in good company, at least.
But even that isn’t all. There are two other personal reasons that I’ve been kind of ambivalent about BL3. One is that in a lot of ways, the content seems like... more of the same. I guess there’s always going to be a certain amount of that; it’s a continuation of a story that’s been running across ten years and four games which, yes, includes Tales. It’s set in the same universe and is based on the same characters. But each part of the franchise has been pretty decent at presenting fresh content. Yes, even the Pre-Sequel had a lot going for it, despite innumerable flaws. I have a lot of complaints about it, but I also think they came up with some cool stuff. And it advances the story.
Of course, I’ve not seen much, so maybe I’m just viewing this through a lens of disappointment. Don’t take that point too seriously.
The second and more important one is that, all I feel when I look at the new Vault Hunters is... detachment. Again, maybe I’ll feel more immersion and engagement when (and if) I start playing the game. But none of those Vault Hunters particularly appeals to me. I look at the four of them and feel no pull, no preference, no reason to pick any of them. No “Oh, that’s neat! I want to do that!” They almost seem like cardboard cutouts to me.
And now some more weirdness is happening. Borderlands 3 pre-order pulled from Epic Games store, and there are reports of the strange way 2k is handling the prerelease testing. Apparently they’ve discounted the crap out of the game... why? Are they hoping to bribe back all the former fans they’ve pissed off? Frankly, it looks like a desperation move, and attempts to manipulate me that way are much more likely to piss me off more than lure me back.
What’s this? One of the actors has apparently been abusing his girlfriend and... Pitchford just blows it off. *sigh* It just doesn’t end.
I won’t even address the microtransactions stuff and Pitchford’s gaff other than to say: as long as there’s no pay-to-win aspect (or even pay-to-shortcut), I don’t mind them. I’ve happily bought many skins in Payday 2 and Killing Floor, and weapons and skins in Team Fortress 2, and I own all the DLC for all the Borderlands games (multiple copies of most of it!). A lot of that is skin and head packs. And then there’s Overwatch. Some is direct (”Here’s some cash for that skin”) and some is indirect (”Here’s some cash for loot boxes, because dammit, I want those skins, and I have more money than brains”), but yeah... paid a lot of money over the years.
I’ve been saying that I would probably buy BL3 when it goes on sale on Steam. But now the question is... will I ever? BL3 may be the Alien³ of the Borderlands franchise for me; as far as I’m concerned, the Aliens franchise stopped after the second movie. I refuse to even watch the third or fourth. (Yes, I’ve watched Prometheus. More than once.) I may do the same here, refusing to acknowledge any legitimacy of Borderlands 3 and boycotting it completely.
We’ll see.
So, thank you, Randy Pitchford, for making the announcement of a new installment in what is arguably my favorite game ever into bitter, angry, ugly disappointment.
I’m on the horns of a dilemma, because I love the franchise, and some of my best and oldest gaming friends will be playing it while I sit on the sidelines. But what I’m seeing from the companies just makes me want to walk away.
I guess I didn’t want those exclusive skins that badly after all.
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Post-Famitsu FE:W Thoughts
I am actually more hyped for Fire Emblem Warriors than I was before this Famitsu dump.
“But only new FEs are getting represented”
Yeah, okay, sure, but I don’t have any particular animosity towards the characters in those games. My love for Tellius is prolific and unmatched, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have favorites from Awakening and Fates. No problems there. The characters ultimately wouldn’t be what would make me excited anyways. What makes me excited is actually the approach to the whole thing.
I’m not exactly embroiled in the musou fanbase. I’ve played Hyrule Warriors nearly to completion, but my only other experience is the Gundam crossover, and that was in a Walmart. I have no idea what other crossovers have been like, or even what the baseline is for your typical DW game.
I had a grand time with HW, but I’d be remiss if I said that the gameplay was deep in any sense of the word. It’s broad, but not deep. If I want to beat my foes with a hammer, I can do that, but I can only do that with one character, and most differences between hammers are immaterial in the grand scheme of things. On harder maps with forced units, it’s silly to even try without using a second player using one of your most powerful characters. And the general strategy is always more or less the same -- get to the fort, seize the point, beat the boss, grind up your KO count so you get an A rank. Usually, you’re not actually at risk of death or failure, only of missing the A rank. That’s fine, but not exactly the hallmark of the pinnacle of gaming. It lacks layers.
If the class system exists (which is confirmed via Famitsu), there have to be meaningful differences between classes. There also need to be meaningful differences and/or similarities between characters that share classes. Ideally, these distinctions go beyond moveset and quickness.
If the weapon triangle exists, it needs to be strong enough to carry weight but weak enough not to be overbearing. Imo, I think Heroes overdoes it a bit by making it proportional to the unit’s current Atk, making the advantaged state exceptionally brutal. Rather, I’d like to see relationships along the lines of “striking with an advantageous weapon (opt. as a specific class) allows the attacker to act immediately out of it, even if it was a heavy attack”. Give that to say, the Assassin class and restrict the “immediate action” to “dodge” and you’ve produced a class/attribute combination that
incentivizes quick movement
causes players to seek advantageous matchups (or requires them to adjust to disadvantaged states)
provides a means of getting in and out of your opponent’s face
draws lines between users of the same weapon and/or class
This is effectively what I’m looking for over all else -- reasons to play the whole cast, and to think critically throughout key portions of each map and objective. Everything else, I expect to be very similar -- wild combos, beating up hordes of enemies with a single move; all that can stay the same.
Now the pipe dream stuff.
Usually, when people say that “X exists” in a game, they mean more than the mechanic is present. They mean that the mechanic has a meaningful impact on the game. Then, to clarify the extent the mechanic affects the game and its overall complexity, they add qualifiers, such as “extensive” or “involved” or “trivial”. Using the Final Fantasy series as an example for a second, everyone thinks of FFV and Tactics as having “jobs systems”. Technically, FF1 and 2 also have these, but the inability to change classes midgame and the general lack of differences outside of basic attributes and spell usage kinda sweeps that under the rug. XIII has a crafting system of sorts, but it doesn’t seem to carry any real weight in how the game is played, so most people don’t think of it or bother to mention it.
This combined with the statement that “class systems exist” makes me hope two things:
That vertical class changes are possible (from tier 1 to tier 2)
That horizontal class changes are possible (from class family A to family B)
If (1) is true, there is cause for the player to try a wide variety of characters and classes if for no other reason than to see the divergence between, for example, a Myrmidon and a Mercenary after promotion. If (2) is true, there is cause to experiment with each character in all of their existing options to find the best combination of skills, stats, and equipment. Provided that no particular combination is gamebreaking, that on its own gives many opportunities for depth. (2) would also provide cause to lean more heavily on recent characters -- each of which already has an established class set that can be carried over relatively easily without concern for whether or not it diverges from the source material.
The other big part of my pipe dream expands off of the interplay between character, weapon, and class.
I’ve heard that in some DW games, every or almost every character can use every or almost every weapon, with the catch being that each has a specialty that they use better -- they can use the higher-rank weapons or have specific key skills that are weapon-specific. That’s so remarkably FE-like that there’s no reason it shouldn’t be brought to FE Warriors. Mesh that with stat differentials and character skills, and a wide variety of combinations are possible. Further distinctions build from how the individual attributes are distributed or earned -- specials can be weapon-specific while ults are character-specific, or something like that.
Expanding off of my example from before, let’s say that Gaius is the Assassin, he can use Swords up to B rank, Knives to A rank, and Bows to B rank, and he’s currently using the Sunrise Katana, which is a B rank sword. He’s a unit with excellent mobility and attack speed, but his overall damage per hit is less than other units. He gets a +30 attack bonus for using a weapon he has B rank in, and the Sunrise Katana has three skills: its “basic” katana skill, like a bonus against “Bandit” type units (Brigand, Bandit, Pirate, Berserker) in addition to WTA, its evasive skill as mentioned before, and another A-rank locked skill that Gaius can’t use in his current class. As a katana, the moveset primarily strikes directly in front of the user, with the special being an extended dash-slash that hits multiple enemies in a line for heavy damage. Gaius’ ult is an AoE “spell” attack that restores HP to all allied heroes based on the number of enemies hit. Switching to the Steel Knife would provide +40 attack (absolute, not relative) due to rank bonus, even though the knife type of weapon is generally weaker, and would have just two skills. The new moveset uses more sweeping, disjointed throwing attacks and some short-range thrusts and slashes. Now rebuild, except it’s Sully, she’s a Paladin using a Short Spear, etc., etc. Done poorly, it’s effectively the same as before (for me, at least). Done well, there’s a lot of value added.
And then support attacks. Dual Strikes would be a wonderful addition to a team musou.
And the most pipe of pipe dreams: roster expansion.
The prevailing thought right now seems to be, “if FE:W does well, FE:W2 might include representation from [insert favorite game here]”. I think that’s a valid line of thinking, but also there’s the potential for DLC. Continuing off of recency as a criterion for inclusion and the fact that SoV was done so well (and will hopefully sell accordingly across its lifetime), I think it’s fair to look for Alm, Celica, and their compatriots in a relatively early DLC pack. Beyond that, we may see a trickling of other characters from games gone by.
The obvious desire is to have characters that I like, but more importantly to have characters that I like in-game. I love Tetra as a character but there’s no real point for me to try to use her when better options exist. As a result, I am happy that Tetra is in HW but I never play as her. That’s the line I want to draw, rather than “okay but Ike is better than Chrom in-universe” or whatever other trivial complaints I can think of.
tl;dr -- I see FE:W as a title that has a lot of potential. Time will tell whether or not my expectations are realistic or justified, but I’m not dropping my hype for it anytime soon.
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What I’ve been playing lately
Hey there, internet, especially the three of you reading this. I’ve wanted to start a game diary for a while now, chronicling my experiences through different video games (and who knows, maybe tabletop games and other stuff too) as I play them. I love using Letterboxd to keep track of what movies I watch when, and as far as I have seen, there’s nothing out there as good for video games. So I started this tumblr instead. Because playing games is a series of unique experiences, more so than with passive media like film and TV, I figured it would be a fun and hopefully worthwhile experience to not just keep track of what games I play, but also how I experienced them.
I’m already in the middle of a few games right now, so I thought to start things off I’d write up a short post detailing what I’ve been playing recently and my thoughts on them.
Let’s start with my most recent playthrough:
The Turing Test (Bulkhead Interactive, 2016, PC version)
This is a game I’ve had my eye on for a while, since it encompasses a lot of things I love - science fiction, puzzles, first-person exploration and environmental storytelling - but I didn’t get around to playing it until a kind user over at the /r/GiftOfGames subreddit sent me a Steam key. (Awesome subreddit, go check it out if you have some spare Humble Bundle keys that need a loving home.)
Overall, I definitely enjoyed the experience - it felt a lot like a cross between Portal and The Talos Principle, with a lot of philosophizing about artificial intelligence and the nature of free will, and the player moving from room to room solving puzzles with laser bridges and balls of electricity and whatnot. The story was pretty much your standard “AI gone rogue, and also it’s in space” plot, albeit with a few clever twists I didn’t see coming. Gameplay was pretty standard first-person puzzle solving a la Portal and the dozens of games it inspired, and while it was fun and challenging, it wasn’t terribly original, and the puzzles started to grate on me after a while. I wanted to get on with the story but had to force myself through the last couple puzzles to make it to the end.
Ultimately, The Turing Test wasn’t really anything we haven’t seen before, but it was still largely very well executed and enjoyable. If this sounds like your kind of thing, I certainly recommend it. Favorite part: all the extra-challenging optional side puzzles that reward you with more story details.
Grow Home (Reflections/Ubisoft, 2015, PC version)
Grow Home is delightful. It’s a gorgeous game with a clean, low-poly art style and some unique platforming gameplay. You play as a robot named B.U.D., who is the best. He makes silly robot noises.
Your goal is to grow this giant plant from one floating island to the next and climb it until you can reach your spaceship. Gameplay consists entirely of walking, jumping, climbing, and (almost always accidentally) falling. To climb, you push the right stick in whatever direction you want to go and alternate pressing the left and right triggers, which lifts and sets down each hand. It can get tedious after a while, but has the advantage of making you really feel like you’re climbing, since it’s an actual gameplay challenge and not a throwaway “hold forward to climb” mechanic. Plus, there’s nothing more thrilling and satisfying than falling from a vine, reaching terminal velocity, and saving yourself from certain doom at the last second with a well-timed grab of another vine.
All the while, your AI protector M.O.M. is cheering you on with little messages of encouragement, and making comments about the plants and animals you meet along the way. SPEAKING OF WHICH:
He is my friend. My adorable sheepy friend. We will be together forever.
It’s a pretty short game, and the controls can be a little unwieldy at times, but overall I had a great time. Recommended.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions, 2014, PC version)
Pictured above: an orc who was born in the darkness, molded by it, and when Mordor is ashes, you have his permission to die #goodjoke
I got Shadow of Mordor for like $4 during the Steam Summer Sale a few weeks ago, hopeful for a worthwhile experience but not expecting much. For the first couple days though, I was pleasantly surprised, and played it pretty much non-stop (or, whenever I could). I liked the Arkham-style combat (I’ve played all the Arkham games and completed Arkham Knight to 100% three times over), the open-world setting, the option to be stealthy, and some of the abilities you gain over time - especially the teleport-to-an-enemy-a-hundred-feet-away ability. That was cool.
After a while, though, everything started to feel the same. It got repetitive pretty quickly, and while the nemesis system was really cool for a while, there wasn’t enough to differentiate each of the Uruks from each other, so it felt like a gimmick more than a real or personal narrative connection. On top of all that, the world of Shadow of Mordor seemed like a duller downgrade of the world I saw in Peter Jackson’s films and read about in The Hobbit, and the revenge-driven plot seemed really out of place for the LOTR mythos - not that I’m an expert or anything, it just felt tonally wrong. Plus, I really didn’t care about Celebrimbor and whoever the protagonist was. I don’t remember his name, all I remember is that he was Troy Baker. And I knew his wife and son for all of three minutes before they were killed off. Not the strongest introduction.
If you love open-world fantasy action games, or Rocksteady’s Batman games, you’ll probably like Shadow of Mordor. If you’re just a huge fan of LOTR, I’d guess that the plot would probably just make you angry, or at least annoyed. If you like hearing the dulcet tones of Troy Baker talking with a British accent to an elf ghost who sounds kinda like Hugo Weaving, you’re in for a real treat.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - DLC Pack 1 (Nintendo, 2017, Switch)
After hearing all the great things about Master Mode and the Trial of the Sword, I finally caved and bought the Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass. And the minute I entered Hyrule again with something new to do, I had this feeling of comfort and euphoria - like, “ah, it’s good to be home.” To be back in Hyrule with new goals and challenges ahead, it brought Breath of the Wild back to life in a wonderful way.
So far, I haven’t tried Master Mode, but I have collected every DLC item and cleared the Trial of the Sword (after several tries). The third and final set of trials was far more difficult than the first two, and it was only with a lot of patience and careful resource management that I was able to eventually complete it. (Protip: don’t move on to the next level until you’ve found every useful item in the room. And save your Ancient Arrows for the end. Also: when you get to the white-maned Lynel, that’s not the final level. Not at all.)
The Trial of the Sword was almost more of a test of endurance and strategy than a test of skill. It reminded me a lot of The Challenge caves from The Witness last year - which was my favorite part of that game - in that it was a long, arduous process full of trial-and-error and figuring out new strategies, and which ended with a feeling of utter triumph and joyous pride at my accomplishment. (For the record, The Challenge took me a lot longer and I found it much harder. Still can’t listen to “In The Hall Of The Mountain King” without getting a little anxious.) I’m disappointed that none of the DLC outfits are upgradeable - I really wanted to beat Ganon wearing the Switch t-shirt and Tingle pants - but they’re still nice to have.
If you loved Breath of the Wild and wish there was more to do, the DLC pack is worth it. Plus, there’s still the story DLC pack coming later this year, which you also get if you bought this one. Definitely worth the twenty bucks, if you ask me.
Welp, that’s it for now. Here’s a list of the games I’m currently playing:
Final Fantasy VII (I have some THOUGHTS on this one. So so so good)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Maybe? Not sure if I want to finish it, I played a couple hours and got bored. Might just not be for me.)
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Shovel Knight (my second full playthrough, this time on Switch; eventually I’ll play Specter of Torment and Plague of Shadows, too)
Sound Shapes
I also need to finish Luigi’s Mansion (which I borrowed from a friend like six months ago or something - sorry @nierlaw), Bastion, The Talos Principle, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season One and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, all of which I’ve gotten at least halfway through but haven’t played in months. Plus, I’ve got a long list of games that I own but have yet to play, including Ico, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Spec Ops: The Line, Broken Age, L.A. Noire, Valkyria Chronicles, and Beyond Good and Evil. Thus is the struggle of a man attempting to be games-literate, whatever that might mean.
See you soon with a much shorter post!
#the turing test#grow home#shadow of mordor#breath of the wild#trial of the sword#video games#gaming#game diary#journal
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okay gm!! i’m going to be redoing a bunch of stuff (mostly my pic, name, & the like, but not my url!! i promise) & it’s gonna be Rly Magic-y,, i’m REALLY excited for realm of magic idk if u can tell
#AA!!#poutycandle.txt#i'm just so ready#realm of magic? amazing#hopefully getting another dlc pack soon also ?!?!????!#which one is the best to get though??
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Here’s All The Game Announcements At The Game Awards 2018
The Game Awards 2018 promised over 10 new game announcements happening while they dole out the glamorous awards. And it certainly did not disappoint. Just like what we did last year, here’s a rundown of all the big game announcements that happened during the show.
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Sayonora Wild Hearts
A Pop Album Video Game. Published by Annapurna Interactive and developed by Simogo. This team specialises in making mobile games, including Device 6.
This time, Sayonara Wild Hearts will be out on Nintendo Switch.
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Journey To The Savage Planet
By 505 Games and developers Typhoon Studios. Alex Hutchison, director of Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4, is part of the team. Not a battle royale. Not a survival game. But an adventure game.
Solve the mystery of the savage planet. More info will be revealed next year.
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The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Out On Consoles
2013’s narrative-driven comedy that throws you off every moment and, will be out on consoles. Now with new content and new endings.
It is also coming to PC.
A little teaser trailer pic.twitter.com/VfC0IAN3uz
— Among Trees (@AmongTreesGame) December 7, 2018
Among Trees
By Fjrd Interactive, it is a beautiful looking first-person adventure, coming to Steam Early Access in 2019.
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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
The sequel to the Diablo-style action game is coming to Nintendo Switch. Featuring many of your favourite characters from the Marvel universe, including the X-Men.
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Rocket League New DLC: McLaren 570S Car Pack
A real car as DLC in Rocket League! McLaren has been flirting with gaming for some time and this is further commitment that they are seriously courting us gamers to like the Woking-based automotive company.
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Far Cry New Dawn
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, it’s post-apocalypse Far Cry 5, set in the same map of Hope County.
Featuring more crazy weapons, beaten up vehicles, a very pinkish hue and two new leading ladies. It’s coming out on February 15th and hinted that it’s following a timeline set up by events of Far Cry 5.
Hades
A new game by Supergiant Games, creator of Bastion, Transistor and Pyre. Looks like it plays more like the combat-oriented of the earlier two games married with the visual-novel artstyle in Pyre. It is also a rougelike.
Hades is available now on Early Access at the Epic Games Store.
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Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
New, actual gameplay of Patrice Désilets’ Panache Digital Games. The creative director of Assassin’s Creed Games takes you on a singleplayer open world adventure through the times. Starting as a monkey and into the early parts of civilizations somewhere in Africa.
Ancestors is set for release sometime in 2019.
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Scavengers
Developed by new studio Midwinter. Powered by SpatialOS, the first tease shows a cold, frozen wilderness. Described as a multiplayer ‘co-opetition’, sign-ups are open at the official website here.
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Dead By Daylight Darkness Among Us DLC
The asymmetric horror multiplayer game is getting another DLC. And boy does this game have a lot of DLC.
Also, the game is getting dedicated servers by Summer 2019.
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New Anthem Trailer
A new trailer for Anthem, EA and Bioware’s upcoming looter-shooter. Here’s more plot and world-building for this new IP.
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Crash Team Racing
The remaster of is introduced by the iconic man in the Crash Bandicoot suit. This is the same treatment as the previous Crash and Spyro remasters/remakes. The same game you know and love but built from the ground up with the latest tech. Beenox is handling the development.
It will be out in June 2019.
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The Outer Worlds
The new game and universe by Obsidian and Private Division. It is a single-player first-person sci-fi RPG. It features an old-timey aesthetic in space played in the first person. A hint of Borderlands, but more gritty and you can make meaningful story decisions, hopefully.
This is the game the original creators of Fallout that joined Obsidian a few years ago, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, worked on. It will be out in 2019 for the PS4, PC and Xbox One.
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Dauntless On PS4, Xbox One and Epic Games Store
First announced at the Game Awards, the Monster Hunter-style action RPG will be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One.
For PC, aside from its own launcher, it will also be available through the Epic Games Store.
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The Last Campfire
Hello. From the creators of Joe Danger and No Man’s Sky, Hello Games’ next title is a very surprising one. It is described as “a story of a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home”.
A calming looking adventure game.
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New Winter Map for PUBG
New map Vikendi has been revealed. The map is smaller than the usual maps but larger than its small map Sanhok.
New weapons, new vehicles including a snowmobile and snow. Snow will play a part on strategy as it leaves tracks.
The map is now available on PC Test servers and are on its way to Xbox One and PS4, soon.
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Atlas
New game by the developers of Ark:Survival Evolved. A world of pirates, knights and cowboys? and magic? Every fantasy trope collides in this open world survival MMO, with 40,000 concurrent players.
It will be out on PC via Steam on December 14th, with a release on Xbox One via the Preview Program coming soon.
"I suspect you have questions…" #TheDreadWolfRises pic.twitter.com/oT7L6LOFKA
— BioWare (@bioware) December 7, 2018
New Dragon Age Teased
A new Dragon Age game has been announced. While it’s an open secret one is existed, it’s good to finally have it properly revealed.
Though no name has been attached to it yet, but the tease suggests the next game will continue directly after the end of its last game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.
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The Pathless
From the creators of Abzu comes a new adventure game, featuring fantastical ruins, forests, flaming mythical beasts, an eagle and archery.
It will be released on PS4 and PC via Epic Games Store.
Stranger Things 3: The Game from @BonusXP is coming to all platforms. Hold onto your quarters. #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/m00x1nGeFy
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) December 7, 2018
Stranger Things 3 The Game
Developed by BonusXP, the same developers that did Stranger Things The Game. Now it’s in a 16-bit style aesthetic instead of 8-bit and will follow along the adventures that will happen in Season 3 of the Netflix show.
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Mortal Kombat 11
While Ed Boon was presenting an award, it cuts to the announcement of Mortal Kombat 11. It is a CG trailer but the game will feature a new graphics engine and Custom Character Variations.
A full reveal for the community is set to happen on January 17th with a full release on April 23rd for the PS4, PC, Xbox One and Switch.
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Psychonauts 2
A new trailer for the long-in-development platformer Psychonauts 2.The trailer details the setup for our hero Razputin’s next mission.
It is still set for release sometime in 2019.
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Demo May Cry Coming First to Xbox One
The demo for Devil May Cry 5, which we are dubbing as Demo May Cry, will be out on Xbox One December 7th. This is the Nero demo as seen playable at various events this year.
Alongside that is a new trailer, including a glimpse of how V, the third playable character.
Fortnite
The world of Fortnite literally changed with the introduction of The Block where the coolest content from the game will be featured. Goodbye Risky Reels. For now.
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Rage 2
A wild new trailer for Rage 2 dropped. Featuring more of the wacky post-apocalypse open world.
There are no words! Joker from Persona 5 in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!? Wow! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/uga2qxQluT
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 7, 2018
Persona 5’s Joker In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
For real?!?! It’s real! The Persona 5 protagonist is the coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the first of five as announced earlier. All DLC characters will be new to Smash and will be of this sort of wild pick.
Lookin’ cool, Joker!
For the list of award winners for The Game Awards can be found here.
Here’s All The Game Announcements At The Game Awards 2018 published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/
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Here we are in July. Hope everyone has been having a great half of the year and a good summer! Things are exciting in my end with a new job starting soon and will be having me moving halfway across the United States once again. As I prepare my move I figured I'd do another set of reviews. This one has less indie focus than previous entries but I think it'll be just fine. If you want to catch my last post just click here and hopefully my gibberish thoughts and opinions are of some interest. Also I changed these posts to be called Quick Thoughts since my posts aren't really in depth reviews. We'll see if I stick to it.Steamworld DigI’ve already played Steamworld Dig when it came out on the Wii U but I decided to pick it up for the Switch considering how much I enjoy the series and especially its sequel. Well I gotta say, the sequel is better in every single way after replaying this one but I do think the original is still worth your time. The basic premise is you dig. You dig for gems and power stones to upgrade your character so that you can dig faster and through tougher stones. There is a very simple plot with characters that have some personality but it isn’t much to be honest. The visuals are also just okay. To its credit the game was originally a 3ds game and then ported to other platforms. The style looks fine but it gets massively improved upon in future entries. Really the hook here the aspect of digging and gaining new skills as you unlock equipment in test rooms. You’ll unlock a double jump, power drill, and dynamite amongst other skills and items as you play. The test rooms are honestly some of my favorite parts of the game as it makes for some fun quick puzzles and platforming outside of the regular digging you will do. I should mention you will encounter some foes to bash with your pick axe but the combat is just all about holding “A” and dodging any attacks. You will also have to watch out for toxic water, spikes, and some other surprises the deeper in you go.The biggest thing holding the game back is the length and lack of replayability. You can easily clear this around 2 hours and that’s with doing all the test rooms you come across. There are some secret gears to collect in the rooms but it doesn’t add that much extra play time to go through and collect them. Honestly you can skip Steamworld Dig and just go into its sequel. But if you really want to play the game 10 dollars is a decent price but I’m sure during the holidays there will be a decent sale for a more reasonable price.Still it isn’t a bad game, it’s just too little of a game without its truly own identity since it plays so much like the old flash game Motherload. Now if only a sequel to Steamworld Heist would get announced!Price: $9.99 Time played: Less than 3 Hours Verdict: Wait for a sale Flint HookDamn. I really wanted to like Flint Hook but too many aspects just had me wondering why play it over the (personally) better roguelikes out there. I mean visually the game is outstanding. This is the same team behind Mercenary Kings so the pixel art and animations are top of the line. Its colorful, charming, and just fun to look at. The music is also outstanding. The main theme when the game starts up gets me pumped to do a run and has me forgetting all the reasons I didn’t enjoy this game but then I start playing it... The biggest hurdle I thin this game has is it should not have been a rogue like. The dig draw in this game is you have a grappling hook that can pop bubbles or grab onto certain locations to have you zip around really tiny levels. Already the bigger focus is on movement and platforming as you avoid cannons, lasers, spikes, spike balls, motion detection enemies, regular enemies, ghosts, fire, and so much more. This should have been a platformer with carefully crafted levels right from the beginning rather than what feels like an attempt to chase the indie roguelike genre.Just consider the actual content in the game. The way it works is you pick a boss bounty and and complete a few ships (levels) to get to the boss. During this time you will retread very similar rooms with no interesting abilities unlocked. Most are passive like more health, more gold, higher critical chance hits, or faster movement. Nothing that makes you excited to pick up and encourage multiple replays since these are minor passive change ups with no major adjustments to gameplay. The worst part is the obvious hook is the grappling hook but only 1 or 2 abilities you can find changes how it works. It’s like the devs made a really cool mechanic but didn’t know what to do with it. Also, the shooting and combat was clearly an after though as the majority of enemies stand still and do not move. Some don’t even attack and could just be replaced by targets that need shot. The ones that do shoot back have really basic attack patterns. The bigger challenge is moving around the screen with your hookshot and avoiding stage hazards. I honestly had way more fun traversing the maps in the game than fighting any enemy. That should have been the focus. Anyways, back to the content. The bosses you fight will always be the same no matter what. Attack patterns are the same and you will always fight the same boss when you reach the end of a run depending on the bounty. It makes runs feel like there are only 5 variants, one for each boss, as opposed to nearly limitless mix ups.The game contains a lot of collectibles in the form of lore and relics. Neither of which effects the abilities of the layer but rather add background to the game. I found these uninteresting as I do not find reading text on the screen about a watch exciting or a good way to provide purpose to a game’s universe. Relics at least offer XP to your character so that you can unlock new starting skills but again the skills are just not interesting that I did not care about this aspect. I know this mini review negative and disappointing but that is just how I felt when playing Flint Hook. It is a game with great visuals and charm but lacks in gameplay department. It isn't terrible but I think Gungeon, Isaac, Don't Starve, or a Robot Named Fight are way more interesting in what they offer. I really thought I was going to love Flint Hook but it just didn't mesh with me like I had hoped. Price: $14.99 Time played: 15 Hours Verdict: Wait for a sale Splatoon 2 with DLCSo Splatoon 2, it's good, really good. If you’re following Nintendo then you know this game is great. It has risen to being one f Nintendo’s big franchises. I mean this game has so much going for it. It is colorful, some great music, and such an interesting gameplay mechanic I can get my friends and family, that don’t play games, into a match and they’ll have a blast. While at the same time playing ranked can create an incredibly stressful few minutes. So obviously the multiplayer is excellent but single player wise can lease a bit to be desired. I love the hub world where you explore and select the next level to jump into. The traversal of the world by spraying ink is the best part. The enemies don’t really do much of anything in the base game that I’d rather for larger more interesting levels. Plus, the story is pretty simple and doesn’t offer that many exciting moments. Sure the boss fights are a highlight but there aren’t any character moments unlike the dlc, which i’ll get into. Overall with the base Splatoon 2 game the multiplayer is the main draw with the single player offering a decent one time though experience. Sure, you can replay levels with different weapons but nothing major changes that I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a huge fan of the single player.Splatoon 2’s DLC somewhat fixes a lot of the complaints I have with the base game. While it does not offer larger levels, instead smaller for focused challenges, this is still much better than the base game. These focused challenges (I think 80 or so?) levels are a lot of fun. Some will have you reaching a goal with no items, fighting waves of enemies, escorting a ball, shooting shapes out boxes, flying in a jet pack, and so much more. These are great bite sized missions that are vastly better than the single player missions. Sure, they aren’t large open levels to explore like I wish but they’re still great in their own way. The other big fun aspect of the dlc is how much character interaction there is. Pearl, Marina, and Cuttlefish, have a lot of dialogue between each other and they are swimming with personality. They’re a joy to read and watch as they interact with one another. Plus the ending sequence has an actual cutscene which adds a nice cinematic quality to the game. It makes me really excited with where Nintendo takes the single player.Splatoon 2 is a no brainer when it comes to the Switch. I didn't even get into Salmon Run which I have poured tons of hours into. This is easily my most played multiplayer game and maybe my most played game in general. Both the base game and DLC are well worth picking up. Price: $59.99 | DLC: $19.99 Time played: 140 Hours Verdict: Recommend Ys 8Ys 8 is the first game I played in this series and I gotta say I’m impressed. You play as Adol, the silent protagonist, who’s ship is mysteriously destroyed at the the beginning of the game. You wake up on a deserted island and have to reunite with other castaways to find a way off the island. I liked the aspect of finding survivors as they would be added to your base camp which would grow in size as you played. It has a nice sense of progress the more you play and the deeper you explore the island. Sometimes the base camp will come under attack and you will have to fight waves of monsters so be ready to have to travel back from time to time. The story and pacing however is pretty strange. It starts of with a nice hook of ending up on an island and a strange side plot about a mysterious girl who lives on the island. But by the halfway point the story kind of just disappears and you just gather survivors with the vague plot of “find a way off the island” is your only goal. There is no real antagonist throughout the game until the very end. This is where you are hit with heavy exposition and everything comes together and makes sense. It just would have been better if it was better spread out through the game rather just appearing at the very end.While Ys 8 might falter a bit around the plot department the gameplay is a high point. It is all real time and unlike most JRPGs you do not enter a battle arena upon fighting an enemy. You can attack as you please with no transitions and this makes combat fast. You attack with a single button to perform very simple combos but can perform a magic attack with on of the 4 face buttons. You’ll gain a lot in the game so there is a nice variety of moves you’ll perform. For example by the end my main moves for Adol were a vertical arching slash, magic tornado, a spinning air dash, and a long automated ground combo for heavy damage. There are tons more you unlock but that is just what I chose to use by the end. You can have up to 3 party members active at once and you’ll want to switch between them (this is done by pressing “Y”) to fight certain enemies as many are only weak to one type of attack which a party member will fall under (Air attack, smash, or slash). You’ll upgrade armor and weapons as you play but in order to change the visual appearance of characters you’ll need to trade for costumes ( as there is no currency in the game since you’re on an island) which I found disappointing. It did not feel like I had as much control over my character’s visual appearance which I really enjoy doing in these types of games. The last bit of gameplay is exploring the island which is somewhat metroidvania like. You’ll find new tools to let you get through swaps, climb vines, or double jump. Oh, and there is fishing which can be fun to get supplies.The soundtrack to Ys is solid albeit nothing amazing in my opinion. Only a few track really stood out and the rest sot of blended in with that jrpg electric guitar generic sound but nothing out right terrible. The only bad aspect of Ys is sometimes the frame rate and resolution can really dip. Grassy areas are hard on the eyes especially in handheld mode but it is still playable and there are varied environments that you can move to other parts of the game. Also, the translation is sloppy at times with some misspellings or forgetting words in sentences. It’s sloppy but I wasn’t too bothered, although for 60 dollars you’d expect a bit better. If you hate turn based jrpgs then this game might be what you’re looking for as long as you can deal with some anime tropes. There are a few in this game that had me cringe and feel mildly uncomfortable but overall not too bad. Definitely a fun game though and way better than I was expecting. I hope future entries release on the Switch.Price: $59.99 Time played: 40 hours Verdict: Recommend Wolfenstein 2Wolfenstein 2 is another technical marvel ported to the Switch thanks to the devs at Panic Button. Visually it is obviously going to be the weakest compared to the other platforms but it still is quite a game to look at. There were compromises to make it possible to run however. Frame rate is capped at 30 fps, textures can be blurry at times, motion blur is mandatory, and there is a subtle haze to limit the field of view. Still, the game has some great visuals considering the Switch’s limitations. In case you aren’t familiar with Wolfenstein 2 the premise is Nazis won WW2 and it’s time to start a revolution. You will kill a ton of Nazis and it is glorious. You’ll fight inside ruined American cities, Nazi airships, subs, secret bases and other locations. The story is really enjoyable with a great mix of absurdity but also a serious somber tone. There are only a moment or two I felt out of place but over all the game does a great job at setting up characters and moving the plot along. The game is not very long maybe about 10 hours but it’s a quality 10 hours.The weapons, while not as varied as I’d hope, control very well and provide excellent feedback and sound as you dual wield shotguns blasting Nazis to bits. Running and gunning is not the only thing you’ll do as there is some simple stealth in the game. In many situations you can sneak around with a hatchet and knives so you can eliminate Nazis without any hearing a sound. If spotted it just means reinforcements are called in on your area. Now when the game originally released I heard it was deemed to hard and maybe it was changed for the Switch but I’d say normal and hard are perfectly enjoyable experiences. Hard mode will have you hiding behind cover a bit more but it never reached a point where I was frustrated. Gyro aiming is also in the game which is great for fine tuning shots when aiming down sights. I do wish the game had more varied enemy types similar to how Doom does as encounters can sometimes feel too samey at times.In terms of extra content there are extra missions you can play that take place in levels you have already beaten. These are harder than the first time you play these and task you with eliminating a high ranking Nazi in the area. I have not beaten them all but from what I’ve played you have no checkpoints and need to beat it without dying. I wish there was a more arcadey mode in its place where you can just run around killing waves of Nazis as the game feels great and I’d rather just be able to jump in to play rather than having to select one of thee bonus levels but that’s a personal preference. Even with that small complaint Wolfenstein 2 is an excellent game and definitely should be played. If you only own a Switch I fully recommend it. If you have a PC, Xbox, or PlayStation pick it up there as it is cheaper and has better performance. But either way, play this game and enjoyable the world. Also, don’t forget to kill as many Nazis as you can.Price: $59.99 Time played: 10 hours Verdict: Recommend That finishes this set of games. Next time I do one of these I'll be in a new state so I don't know when I'll actually get around to it. I don't think it'll be too long but I'm not sure how many people will actually be missing me haha. Either way, take care and enjoy the rest of the summer months! via /r/NintendoSwitch
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Entry #2, July 14th-16th, 2017
Grow Home (Reflections/Ubisoft, 2015, PC version)
So it turns out I liked this game even more than I thought. I went back to it the day after I completed the main game and finished the secondary quest, gathering the different “seeds” hidden throughout the environment and bringing them back to the ship teleporters for “analysis.” It was fun just to take on another challenge and explore the areas of this world that I missed the first time around. As a reward for completing this part, the game gives you a ninja suit for B.U.D. that makes him jump twice as high, which is cool but also kinda unwieldy at times.
I don’t really have much to say about Grow Home here that I didn’t already cover in my first post, except that I underestimated how fun it was to skydive from the ship to the ground - reminded me of the rail grinding sections of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the GameCube, when my brother and I would race to complete courses and try to get to the finish faster by jumping off the rail and falling onto an entirely different section of the rail further on. We usually just missed the rail and died.
Also, this game is really fun to take pictures in.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild + DLC Pack #1 (Nintendo, 2017, Switch)
I went back to Breath of the Wild to finish the last sidequest of the game that interested me - “From the Ground Up,” also known as the Tarrey Town sidequest. It was fun, but I had to use a guide to find the Gerudo woman, and I found the ending to be pretty anticlimactic. I think it would have made a greater impact if I had actually discovered the quest on my own and completed it before going to fight Ganon. Still, the wedding was nice. I just wish that Tarrey Town had more functionality to it than a generic marketplace and goddess statue. Maybe some items or armor only available once you finish the town, or a shrine beneath the town that reveals itself only when you finish the quest? I dunno.
Satisfied with the status of my first Breath of the Wild playthrough, I decided it was time to embark upon Master Mode. It’s shocking how different the game feels when the difficulty is ramped up so high, and when you have to re-explore everything on foot rather than just teleporting everywhere. I’ve only completed one shrine and found two stables outside the Great Plateau so far, and died more times than I can count with both hands, mostly due to underestimating how difficult the enemies are. In the regular game, the enemies you encounter are difficult if you just charge in head-on, but they feel doable, even with the weak, low-durability equipment you have access to early in the game. In Master Mode, though, the enemies are so much stronger, with so much more health - which regenerates over time, by the way, so you have to defeat them quickly - and your early-game equipment has the same durability and strength as it did in the regular-difficulty playthrough. As a result, I keep finding myself going through my entire weapons inventory trying to kill a single moblin. I’ve found that the best strategy so far has been to use stealth, then wail on them as much as possible using perfect dodges and flurry rush. Even that has gotten me killed many times though, so for now I’m just trying to avoid enemies and wait until I get some better armor and weapons from Kakariko or elsewhere.
All in all, I’m excited to return to BotW and hopefully discover some new things I missed the first time around, in addition to approaching boss fights and combat in general in a new way. (Really, I’m just biding my time until Super Mario Odyssey releases in a few months... which, by the way, I think will be the Switch’s first actual big exclusive. Not to say that Splatoon 2 won’t be successful, I just don’t think it has the power of a 3D Mario platformer. Few things do.)
Roberta Williams’ Phantasmagoria (Sierra On-Line, 1995, MS-DOS/Windows)
My friends and I have somewhat of a tradition of getting together to play point-and-click adventure games, especially classic Sierra games like the King’s Quest series. I discovered Phantasmagoria through a Humble Bundle a while back, and as soon as I did, knew it would be a perfect fit for us - a supernatural horror story, complete with 90s fashion, full-motion video segments composited into CGI environments, cheesy dialogue, and over-the-top gore.
We played it over the course of a few nights, enjoying it partly because of how dated and cheesy it was, but also enjoying it earnestly, exploring a gaudy, yet interestingly-designed haunted house and interacting with a few genuinely charming characters. Of particular note were Harriet, the homeless woman and amateur psychic that lives in the barn; her dim-witted yet almost unbelievably strong son, Cyrus (at one point he fells a tree by pushing it over with his bare hands, rather than using his axe); the cheerful gossip/antique store owner, Lou; and the sleazy real estate agent Bob, a caricature of every greasy cigar-smoking con-man ever written, whom you can actually walk in on flirting with a prostitute at one point.
The puzzles were much easier than the typical Sierra game, for the most part, and the protagonist’s animations often had long, nonsensical pauses at the beginning and end of movements. That being said, it’s clear this was a project of passion and of great innovation for the time, and an altogether worthwhile experience, especially if played with friends.
#Game Diary#video games#phantasmagoria#sierra games#roberta williams#grow home#zelda#breath of the wild#game photography#screenshots#game journal
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Rune Factory 4 Special Finally Gets a Release Date
January 24, 2020 8:41 AM EST
The updated Switch port of the acclaimed 3DS title will be released on February 25th.
XSEED Games announced that Rune Factory 4 Special will be coming to the US on February 25, exclusively to Switch. Europe and Australia will get the game a few days later on February 28. A new trailer was released to coincide with the announcement. The official XSEED site contains the E3 trailer in addition to more screenshots.
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Rune Factory 4 originally released on the 3DS back in 2013 for the US to fairly strong reception. The series spun off from the Story of Seasons games (still titled Harvest Moon at the time), adding a fantasy spin to the established farm life sim franchise. Rune Factory 4 Special is the long-awaited updated port for Switch, which released in Japan back in July. Special includes new content such as “Newlywed Mode”, self-contained adventures that you unlock after… well, getting married. Dual audio for Japanese and English is also included, as is a harder difficulty mode.
A physical release is confirmed, in addition to the “Archival Edition” collector’s box. This version includes a physical copy of the game, an art book, soundtrack, and the Swimsuit Day DLC. Pre-ordering on the eShop will also get you Swimsuit Day. Said DLC contains an in-game Order to make all marriageable candidates rock their swimsuit, so it’s clearly a must-have.
Be warned though: the Swimsuit Day DLC won’t be available for individual purchase, so those dedicated to their waifu/husbando had best act accordingly!
In addition, the Another Episode Pack DLC will be available for all players for free during the first four weeks after release. Late-comers will still be able to pick it up on the eShop for $4.99 after that date. This pack contains 12 new storybook-style episodes narrated by the game’s marriageable cast. There’ll also be a special episode starring the dragon Ventuswill for all players, with or without the DLC.
I personally racked up quite a bit of playtime on the 3DS version. As such, I’ll happily take Rune Factory 4 Special for a spin when it comes out next month. Hopefully we’ll get information and news on the 2019 announced Rune Factory 5 soon also. We here at DualShockers will let you know when that happens!
January 24, 2020 8:41 AM EST
from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/rune-factory-4-special-finally-gets-a-release-date/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rune-factory-4-special-finally-gets-a-release-date
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