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prokopetz · 2 years

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I like reading your opinions on videogames and I like horror games so I'm curious to know which horror games would you recommend?

If you've been following this blog for any length of time, it should not terribly surprise you that I'm more into the brainfucky existential horror side of the genre than the jump-scares-and-butcher-knives side of the genre. My horror library also has a tendency toward extreme body horror – basically, assume every title mentioned in this post carries a content warning for body horror unless otherwise noted. If neither of those are deal-breakers, I have a few suggestions:

Discover My Body – A short point-and-click visual novel that casts the player in the role of a medical student interviewing a volunteer test subject as their body is gradually consumed by a parasitic fungus. Minor audio-only jump scares at a couple of points as the subject screams or shouts.

Dreaming Sarah – A side-scrolling take on the Yume Nikki fan-game genre; i.e., you explore a series of dream worlds, aided by everyday objects which grant strange powers. One of the least explicitly horror-y entry on this list, though not without content warnings of its own: self-harm and suicidal ideation, in this case.

The Fall – A sort of pseudo-metroidvania that’s really more of a point and click adventure game in disguise. You play as a suit of powered armour’s onboard AI, tasked with getting your injured pilot to safety. Like a lot of psychological horror titles, this one’s secretly about interrogating gender roles, though not in the way you might expect.

OneShot – The gimmick here is that, as the Messiah, the protagonist is aware of, and can talk to, God; i.e., the player. Lots of meta puzzles that play with the nature of the medium. (e.g., adjusting the game window, messing with files on your hard drive, etc.) This one’s a pure psychological horror title with no violence or body horror to speak of.

Oxenfree – An investigative walking sim in which the player character and her companions become trapped in some sort of alternate dimension and/or time loop (it’s not initially clear) and have to figure out what’s going on in order to escape. Not so much body horror as this list’s other entries, but somewhat more jump scares.

Perfect Vermin – A short (and free) first-person puzzle game where the player's task is to identify alien creatures that are impersonating office furniture and beat them to death with a sledgehammer. The body horror in this one is of a very particular strand; if you've ever lost a relative to cancer, you may wish to steer clear!

Return of the Obra Dinn – A first-person logical deduction puzzler in which you take on the role of an insurance investigator exploring a merchant ship full of mutilated corpses, trying to figure out how each crew member died, aided by a magic stopwatch that lets you view brief snippets of the past.

Rusty Lake: Roots – Rusty Lake is a long-running series of Flash based point and click escape room puzzlers. Roots is one of the more approachable entry points; it’s gotten past the early-instalment jank, but isn’t yet so deep into the lore that it’s impossible to figure out what the hell is going on without consulting the fandom wiki.

Stray Cat Crossing – Picture one of those so-stylish-it-hurts indie JRPGs and subtract all the combat and you’ll have basically the right idea about this one. A couple of audio jump scares; additional content warnings for child injury and death, as well as one character that does the disability-as-body-horror thing. (Specifically, blindness.)

The Swapper – A physics puzzler where the player is given a cloning gun that lets them duplicate themselves and transfer (i.e., “swap”) their consciousness among the duplicates. The horror comes from a remarkably in-depth exploration of what the game’s mechanical gimmick implies about the nature of identity.

They Breathe – A short-form survival horror game (a typical playthrough takes about 15 minutes) where you play as a frog – like, not a mutant frog-person or anything, just a regular frog – exploring the depths of a flooded forest. In spite of the innocuous premise, probably one of the more fucked up titles on this list!

We Know the Devil – A choose-your-own-adventure style VN where three kids at a Christian summer camp are forced to participate in a bizarre ritual which will ostensibly culminate in them confronting, and defeating, the Devil. Additional content warnings for religious abuse of children and discussion of homophobic/transphobic violence.

I’m going to arbitrarily cap it at a dozen entries because I’d just keep going forever if I didn’t; however, if anything on this list particularly catches your eye, I may be able to offer more recommendations in a similar vein.

#gaming #video games #video game recommendations #body horror #ableism #violence mention #death mention #self harm mention #suicide mention #child abuse mention #religion mention #homophobia mention #transphobia mention #swearing

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ursbearhug · 1 year

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One thing I don't think I have said here before is how much YouTube and "content creators" is vexing me when it comes to game balancing and game reviewing.

Overall, I have 0 problem with random bloke going like "I played [X] and here are my thoughts". That's fair, I wish I knew enough editing software to be him, slay King or whatever heteros say. But when you have Mister Big Brain going with his unsolicited worst steaming hot garbage take on a game genra he never played before, I about to flip fucking tables.

When this happens (or situation akin to this; like uneducated hoes going on tiktok sharing 'psychological' advice, with sources from FUTA) I'm always like; hey do you see me making videos on quantum physics? No? Because I don't know anything about quantum physics. And neither do you when it comes to ARPGs, so, how about you shut the fuck up before somebody takes your 6 milion views video seriously?

And I really want to explain this as calmly as possible. Again there ain't nothing wrong with Filip age 25 making silly little video talking about experience playing Sekiro. His video will probably reach like 100k people at best and he's transparent on his status as strictly non-souls-like player. But then you have Arthur age 25 making 10:01 long video, securing that sexy sexy ad revenue, making same point 5 times because he literally has nothing to talk about, clickabait all over the goddamn place being like "this game is garbage!". And when asked how often he does play arpg games, because his complaints are about most common aspects of dungeon crawler arpgs, he's like "well, shut the fuck up". Like, my bitch. You should have just sat there and ate your damn food but no. Gotta get involved in shit that doesn't concern you. Happy 6 miliom views and engagement from hidden dislikes you absolute shit peddler.

I don't speak out about high brow cinema masterpieces or whatever because I know little about criticising movies for their shots or music choices. I don't talk about wine tasting because for me all wine taste like piss and I cannot be asked to taste 9000 years old wine for sublime taste and aroma or whatever the fuck. But I can go on for 30 minutes talking about my favourite games and the genres they fit because I have hundred hours of different experiences racked up. I also have some idea about meta and how balancing works, so I can make some accurate remarks for changes.

It pisses me off because sometimes critism that is done super loudly and in the most obnoxious way possible, is being taken seriously and implemented but the actual problems and fixed are being misread and considered as "unpopular" opinions and go under the radar.

Like, Arthur nobody cares you've been one shot because you don't have fingers and eye to hand coordination and cannot dodge attack that is being delayed for an hour, please go kill yourself and stop making these motherfucking unfunny memes, I swear to Gods.

#will delete later

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gear-project · 3 years

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4Gamer Interview GUILTY GEAR STRIVE DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEW. "The Secret Story of the Development of the Trailer Movies, Opening Movie, and Story Mode."

Source: 4Gamer Translation: Yours Truly (Gear-Project)

Guilty Gear -Strive- (the fighting game) was released by ARC System Works on June 11th for PC/PS4/PS5/ARCADE. This is the latest work in the popular "Guilty Gear Series" of fighting games, which began with the original Guilty Gear in 1998.

Speaking of the Guilty Gear Series, it is a title that has been highly supported by Arcade Gamers for a long time as a fighting game where you can enjoy complex negotiation, but that is not the only degree of perfection by which a fighting game is evaluated. Video works with expressiveness that move in 3D graphics drawn in the style of 2D animation along with complex stories have been attracting a great deal of attention.

This time, 4Gamer asked the Production Staff including Mr. Daisuke Ishiwatari to tell the secret story of the development in the video portions such as the opening movie and story mode, aside from the "fighting game" parts of Guilty Gear -Strive-.

The Interview was divided in to two parts, the first concerning the opening movie with interviews from Art Directors Hidehiko Sakamura and Hiroshi Nagano, followed by the Story Mode itself with interview from Daisuke Ishiwatari and Hidehiko Sakamura.

In the Second Half, the Story Mode discussion tries to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but some discussion was included, so please be careful if you want to AVOID SPOILERS TO THE STORY MODE.

The Opening Featured in the Story as a Compilation of Works:

4Gamer [4G]: Thank you for your time today. In the first part, we will ask about the opening movie. It was released two days before the release date, but how was the response?

Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: It was better than we imagined. Since the opening of the past series was only made according to the format of a fighting game, I think that the full animation like this time was fresh and more pleasing.

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[4G]: The format of a fighting game is like introducing a full-body picture of a character and battle action. Why did you make it full animation this time?

[HS]: Nagano was particular about "I want to do full animation without including images of fighting games." I wanted to do the same thing myself, so I decided to adopt the full animation opening this time. All the videos are produced by Nagano alone.

Hiroshi "Ryo" Nagano [RN]: The story of the Guilty Gear Series is a popular title, and this time the story of Sol has come to an end, so the opening of the full animation featured the story as a culmination. I wanted to make it anyway.

[HS]: It's a big thing to break the story. I think I had a strong desire to take on the challenges that I had wanted to do but couldn't do, and to make a satisfactory break. Originally, all the staff like animation. It's true that there was something I longed for to make a video like this one, and I thought that the format of a fighting game (by itself) wouldn't look as good.

[4G]: It's an attempt you've never done before, but are there any parts that you were particular about in the overall composition of the opening?

[RN]: What I had in mind was the completeness of the story. I want to convey something like the connection between Sol and "That Man" from the Opening. I also think that Sol and Ky are the main characters in the series, so I was aware that the end of the video would emphasize Sol and Ky.

[HS]: As an Order from Ishiwatari, it doesn't have to be a fighting game, but there was an attractive cut for each character. After that, spoilers of the story were strictly prohibited, so I asked Nagano a lot of variations at the time of composition.

[RN]: There was also a point where I wanted you to make it closer to the image rather than making it a short movie that gathers the highlights of the story. Mr. Katano (Akira Katano), the Development Director, told me that there are a lot of non-playable characters involved (laughs).

[HS]: That was a difficult part (laughs). The fighting game part is the main part, but there are many characters that only appear in story mode.

[RN]: I really wanted to put out more, such as President Vernon (laughs). Also, in one particular part, the impression changes before and after watching Story Mode, I would like you to review the Opening after playing Story Mode!

[4G]: How long was the production schedule?

[RN]: It was about three months. Since I was left to myself, I couldn't do it, so I was very conscious of the parts I had to make in 3 months.

[4G]: Please tell us if you had any difficulties during production.

[RN]: I was always worried about whether I could make it within the period. I was so worried that I couldn't help until I could make about half of it.

[HS]: In a situation where I don't have time, I think it was quite reckless to leave it to one person to produce, but as for the animation part, quite a good number of things have come up from the beginning of production, so I myself was looking at it with a lot of peace of mind. I think Nagano had it hard.

[4G]: "Guilty Gear -Strive-" has been postponed once and changed from April 9th to June 11th. Which was the best time to make the opening movie?

[HS]: It was released in April. Composite* after video production. It also takes time, so we completed the video storyboard* at the beginning of the year and had it produced from January to March.

*Composite: Finishing multiple materials and clips in to one video.

*Video Storyboard: A moving storyboard. Script to check the flow of the entire video.

[4G]: Finally, please give a message to readers and players.

[Mr. Sakamura] Nagano has prepared the material in quite a few small parts, so I'd be happy if you could watch it while considering each cut.

[Mr. Nagano] As I mentioned earlier, the video has a different impression before and after watching the story mode, so I definitely want you to watch it again after playing. Actually, Ishiwatari's part also contains spoiler elements that are secret and difficult to understand, so please look for small spoilers after playing.

[The Reason for the Production of "GUILTY GEAR" was an encounter with "SFII".]

*Please note the following includes some spoilers in Story Mode.*

[4G]: Next is the part about Story Mode. From here, I would thank Mr. Ishiwatari and Mr. Sakamura. When I played all the way, I felt that there was a lot of volume. When did the development start?

Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI]: The first plot was published more than two years ago, so production started long ago. At that time, the content focused on more playable characters, but if it was left as it was, the content would be too bloated and the production would not be on time, so we decided to focus on the production.

[4G]: Were the playable characters decided when the first plot was released?

[DI]: It was almost solid, but some characters were fluid. The characters that were unofficially decided at that time may have been changed.

[4G]: Which production took longer, Story Mode or Fighting Game part?

[DI]: It takes time for each, but the fighting game part takes much more time. The story mode may be created by diverting the resources created for the fighting game.

Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: I'm working on the back of the fighting game part little by little, but it's the end of the whole production that comes out. It feels like I'm working on a schedule at the very end.

[4G]: Is Mr. Ishiwatari in charge of the story part and the overall composition?

[DI]: Yes. First of all, I will put out a plot and check the volume and what material is needed by the staff. Not surprisingly, the plot stage is much larger than the retail version.

[HS]: As it is not the amount that can be produced as it is, it is the first job of the staff to ask Mr. Ishiwatari to cut it.

[4G]: Please tell us the story of the story part. What is the theme of the entire GUILTY GEAR Series?

[DI]: The Theme of "What is a Human being?" has remained unchanged since the time of the first GUILTY GEAR. From the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series, we are developing a story centered on Sol, but I was allowed to tell the outlook on life through the human eyes of Sol.

[4G]: The story of Sol is developed from GUILTY GEAR XRD, but in the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for Home use, a Story Mode was prepared for each character.

[DI]: Is it okay to say this? Actually, I haven't touched the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for home use at all. The company told me that they wanted to create a story mode when porting it to home use, but it was physically impossible to put the same story as what I had in mind, so I told them to stop.

[4G]: I didn't know that.

[DI]: However, the company asked me if I would like to have a port for home use... Then I told them that the story mode is good, but I'm not involved, so don't give a name.

[4G]: Then, was the story mode at that time lending only the (world) settings and letting them do the rest freely?

[DI]: No, I wasn't exposed to it at all. However, I dug it up (as reference) when developing the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD". It's something that users play, and I thought it was dishonest to ignore the image and world view that got me here to continue as a continuation.

[4G]: The GUILTY GEAR XX Series was also a long-lived work, but wasn't there any talk about developing the story from Mr. Ishiwatari's thoughts at that time?

[DI] At that time, the main flow was to first develop an arcade version and then port it to home use, but behind the scenes of making home use, the development of the next arcade game is progressing. Was always the case. I didn't have enough time to develop the story.

[4G]: In this interview, I watch the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD SIGN" to "GUILTY GEAR STRIVE" but I felt that the settings were well-crafted. When did the overall configuration and settings settle?

[DI]: The overall big flow hasn't changed since I first thought about it. However, the details are fluid, for example, it was decided that a character in the position of Ramlethal would appear, but it is different from saying that it was the current Ramlethal from the beginning.

[4G]: The whole "flow" was decided, and the rest was fleshed out.

[DI]: It was a little "too" fleshed out. Since the first generation, I had decided to make a trilogy, and at that time, Aliens were scheduled to appear at the End (laughs). As expected, it was outrageous, and the position of the "alien" changed to a character in the Backyard.

[4G]: That's an interesting change. In that case, wasn't there a Backyard Setting at that time?

[DI]: No, there was a Backyard setting itself. For the theorizing of Magic (as a concept). I needed to put out a character with a non-human perspective, and that was an "alien" at first.

[4G]: Are there any other major changes?

[DI]: Of course there are many things, but I can't talk about them. At least at the time of this work, the role and casting of each character has changed considerably. I have another (separate) character "do" what I tried to do with one character.

[4G]: For example, I think Axl is a very important character in the story, but was the role of Axl decided since the first generation?

[DI]: Axl Low hasn't changed since the very beginning. Also, in the early days, it was not decided that I-No would appear, but I was thinking of releasing a character with the same framework as Axl Low.

[4G]: Then when I-No first appeared in GUILTY GEAR XX, the settings had already been set.

[DI]: That's right.

[4G]: When I followed the story, I often found unexpected facts, and I wondered how far Mr. Ishiwatari was thinking from the beginning.

[DI]: There are quite a lot of retroactive settings, though. Especially the settings of the small parts have changed considerably. Jack-O' for example, wasn't initially supposed to be a "character."

[4G]: Jack-O'Valentine appeared in "GUILTY GEAR XRD REVELATOR" but when was the setting completed?

[DI]: I don't remember the detailed timing, but I think that the Backyard setting was fixed around when GUILTY GEAR 2 OVERTURE was produced.

[HS]: When I first saw Jack-O's design, I never thought it would be a heroine position character (laughs).

[4G]: In the first place, when did Mr. Ishiwatari think about setting up a game called GUILTY GEAR?

[DI] It was when I was still a professional student that I came up with the specific settings. I decided to make a fighting game because of my encounter with "Street Fighter II", but I think that about half the settings I thought about at that time were incorporated in to the original GUILTY GEAR.

[4G]: The opportunity was your encounter with "SFII".

[DI]: "Street Fighter II" was a revolutionary game for me. Speaking of which, "Ishiwatari Version Strike II" ("Ishiwatari-ban Suto II" the provisional name) is "GUILTY GEAR". At the time, I liked fantasy manga comics such as "BASTARD!!", and under the influence of them, I incorporated a story-like world view into the fighting game.

[Being able to Draw a Story becomes One Property]

4Gamer [4G]: In this work, the production side has been changed considerably compared to the story mode of the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series. What are the points you would like us to pay particular attention to?

Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI] First of all, in the case of GUILTY GEAR XRD, the big concept was to create a 3D image that looks like a 2D animation. This time it changed to make a movie-like image.

Mr. Sakamura [HS]: This is very difficult, so what makes a movie? What is the movie-likeness that Ishiwatari is looking for? At the beginning of the production, everything was groping.

[DI]: I didn't show the staff what it was like to be a movie. Therefore, at first I thought that I was quite stray, but one day I suddenly found the answer, and Sakamura awakened. From there, it was finished in a movie-like image all at once.

[4G]: Were any of the staff involved in filmmaking in the past?

[HS]: It wasn't there at all. In the first place, even with GUILTY GEAR XRD, I made something that looks like a 2D animation with 3D images, but no one was from the animation industry. We always imitate the appearance and continue to produce with a spirt of familiarity rather than learning.

[4G]: Just listening to the story tells you how difficult it is. By the way, why did you decide to pursue a movie-like character this time?

[DI]: I thought that if we evolved from GUILTY GEAR XRD, it would be similar to "DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ" and "GRANBLUE FANTASY VERSUS". That may not give you a new surprise. Then it would be a movie.

[4G]: A Trailer that introduced a part of the story was released before the release, but at that time I heard a voice that it was like a movie.

youtube

[DI]: If you have been involved in production for a long time, you may not be able to judge for yourself whether you have something you want delivered to users, but I was relieved to hear such a voice. Also, I don't usually think so much, but this time when I completed and reviewed everything, I thought "I did my best", so I felt a response.

[4G]: Please tells us if you had any difficulties during production or small stories.

[DI]: I don't have a hard time talking (laughs).

[HS]: I think the hardest part was having to create a fighting game part and a story mode at the same time. Normally, I was able to focus on the fighting game part for arcade version first. Also, this time it was a culmination, so the latter half o the story was difficult with only action scenes.

[DI]: Certainly in GUILTY GEAR XRD (Sign), the focus was on conversational plays (talking heads dialogue), and at the end there was little action.

[4G]: This time it's set in the United States. Is there any reason for this?

[DI]: There is no deep reason, but first of all, Sol's birthplace is the United States. And sometimes I didn't want the stage to be the same every time. Also, it was decided at the time of the After Story of GUILTY GEAR XRD REV2 that the stage would be in the United States.

[4G]: It used to be a Western-style or Fantasy-Style world view, but I was surprised to see that it was suddenly become a modern American painting.

[DI]: At the beginning, there was an impressive scene in which the streets of the United States were drawn, but in reality, that scene was planned to draw a wider range. However, it was reduced because it was too heavy.

[4G]: Please tell us if you have any favorite scenes or productions.

[DI]: At the end, there is a scene where everyone fights with I-No. It's not a scene where I can cry, but when I first saw it, tears came out on their own. That's the one that left the most impression on me. I never felt like this when I'd been making games, but I've been trying my best to support everyone.

[HS]: I also have a great feeling for the last battle. In other scenes, there is a scene where Sol and Jack-O' run on a motorcycle at the beginning, but I think that Jack-O's cuteness at that time is considerable (laugh). It's also cute to sit in the sidecar.

[DI]: The only thing that left an impression on me was the action scene. I didn't know what kind of image it will be until it actually comes up, but I was surprised that the images that came up were beyond my imagination.

[HS]: We don't prepare storyboards* for production. I make it only with a script.

*Storyboards: A script for shooting movies and TV, instructions such as dialogue and actions are written for each cut.

[4G]: Conte has not been prepared since GUILTY GEAR XRD.

[HS]: In GUILTY GEAR XRD, we prepared only some cutscenes. I didn't prepare it at all after it became this work.

[DI]: We only get together and have meetings about important scenes.

[4G]: Do you have any favorite parts in terms of production?

[DI]: The goal was to make the conversation drama look like a movie as a whole. It feels like the conversation continues with a series of short words, rather than an explanation tone. I think I was able to create that kind of atmosphere overall in this work.

[4G]: This is the end of Sol's story. What kind of character is Sol for the production team?

[DI]: First of all, he's simply the main character. From the time I started making GUILTY GEAR, I decided to draw a humanity and outlook on life that can only be talked about by a free-spirited person named Sol. I feel that I am thankful for the time being because his thoughts have come to fruition in this work. Being able to face myself through the story was a very valuable experience.

[HS]: Sols' first image was a character that didn't reveal his emotions, but in the stories after GUILTY GEAR XRD, I think that humanity has come out very much, and I'm attached to it. He's a cute guy (laughs).

[4G]: Certainly, I feel that Sol's personality has changed considerably from the past.

[DI] It's not like a human being that the personality remains the same as the story and the times progress. As he interacts with various people, Sol also regains his humanity. I needed a background to answer the question, "What is a human being?"

[4G]: The story of GUILTY GEAR that started in 1998 has been completed. Finally, please tell us your current feelings.

[DI]: Anyway, I feel relieved for 20 years because I was able to draw the story to the end. Being able to finish what I started was very valuable to me and became a great asset. However, this time I focused too much on Sol. The challenge remained that we couldn't express what more users would have wanted to see.

[4G]: What are your thoughts on Future developments?

[DI]: Of course, I'm thinking about various things, but since I'm a good age, I may not be able to do it at the top of a project of the same scale in the future. Please look forward to the new style fo GUILTY GEAR and new IP.

4Gamer: Thank you for your time today.

#GG Interviews #ARC System Works #Daisuke Ishiwatari #Hiroshi Nagano #Hidehiko Sakamura #4Gamer

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bearpillowmonster · 3 years

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Horizon Zero Dawn Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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anathema-game · 6 years

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Do you have any advice for people knew to making a vn game? I have a story and characters already planned out but I have a feeling I'll need more than just myself to work on it but I'm not quite sure where to start ahh.

Hey Anon! LONG POST AHEAD JUST FOR YOU!

Meishali here. I’m Anathema’s lead developer and artist! It’s actually a very good question. There’s a lot to do and think about when making a VN, or any other sort of videogame, for the matter. It can definitely be very overwhelming when you think about it, but here are my tips/guide to make it “simpler”.

Break things in half. List what you need; this’ll become your reference checklist. The fact that you have already a story idea and characters is awesome! From that, you can start asking yourself…

1. A. Multi-branching or Linear?

The strength of a visual novel often lies in the “novel” part. Often times you are playing as its main character, as well. First of all, decide if you want your game will have multi-branching (different decisions leads to different outcomes) or if it will be linear (players will just read text as things unfold. It may have menu choices, but most are flavor text, and won’t influence the story at all).

Linear games are easy to deal with. All you have to do is write your story, and get it out there! Multi-branching, however, requires much more planning. Here’s why.

1. B. If you picked multi-branching…

Branching comes with a lot of planning. I’ve talked a bit about it in this weekly blog. You need to understand what “branching” means, and what it implies, both narratively and technically.

Narratively: You need to make sure that if you do separate paths, they must be equal in terms of quality and content, but speak of different things. Multi-branching VNs naturally boost their replay-ability, so make sure that one part of the story isn’t more groomed than the other!

To help with that, I suggest planning them simultaneously. For instance, if your game has two paths, write what the first one will be about, then the second. Compare them, and see the similarities, differences, etc. Make sure they’re different enough in terms of story. If you re-play the game, you wouldn’t want to pick different things and end up playing the same story, from the same point of view, with the same characters! I suggest drawing little boxes like these:

And fill them with brief summaries of what will go down, and which choice will trigger the descending boxes, for instance.

Technically: Code and variables allow you to direct players to the path they’ve chosen. For that, you need an engine to make your game, or to know how to code, or both! I’m using Ren’py for Anathema. It is free, and it has a lot of freedom in terms of things you can do with it. I didn’t know a single thing about Python when I picked it up… I still relatively do not, but I’ve done many things with it I didn’t think I was capable of. Even if I need help from connoisseurs from time to time!

That being said, you’ll need to know how to make your game. If you have your narrative laid out, check out what kind of technical system works best to enable it. Make sure what you want to do/what you have in mind for your game is doable through your program of choice. Would it be through several choices? As in, there’s a secret “point” counter, and every time you pick an option in game, it puts a “point” in a row of secret gauges? Would it always be binary, all triggered by a couple of choices? Etc.

Then practice! Tinker with one-liners and menu choices before getting to the real deal!

2. Writing, writing, writing.

Now you get to the writing part. Everything that is applicable to writing, be it role-play, scripting for theater, actual novel writing etc. Is applicable here. What is the story about? What is the world about? Who are the characters? What are their ambitions? Why do they want to do the things they do? Will they succeed? What does it say, on meta-standpoint? What are your showing to the audience? Who is the audience?

This goes hand in hand with the narrative preparation of the game. Once you know more about the universe and the characters, you can start preparing the scenario, and finally, decide if the game will have multi-branching or will be linear.

Writing a visual novel is a bit like writing a play, in hindsight. You have “stage directions” (when an SFX happens, when sprites leave the screen or enter it, when background changes…)… Characters appearing and expressing various ranges of emotion as they do (sprites and text!)… All with a narrative voice inbetween, describing things that can not necessarily be seen.

We typically write like that for Anathema before coding it in, on documents:

[Background: Plains. Oswyn’s sprite appears.]

Oswyn: “Hello.”

[SFX: Dragon Roar]

(Narration) Oswyn arrived, followed by a massive wyvern!

Like so!

3. Start the audiovisual design!

A tough part! To me, at least. The audiovisual design encompasses both coding the user interface (menus, interactions, etc) and the actual assets needed for the game (background, character sprites, music, sfx etc).

I would advise to do the interface before you design sprites and characters. Why? Because depending on the design of your menu, you’ll have to fit character art and background art differently in. It’s much easier to fit characters and art in a box, than it is to fit a box around all sorts of characters and art.

If you are not an artist yourself, nor a designer or musician, I would suggest hiring one and paying them fairly. If you can not do that, you have no other option but to work on it all yourself: there’s a lot of free resources online as well, from sprites generators, to free backgrounds, and free pieces of music: just make sure they’re royalty free, and you give proper credits where it is due.

4. Code it in! Have fun!

Self-explanatory. Try out the first scene you wrote. As you write, you should be able to list what you need. If you wrote about seven characters appearing, and three locations, you may need seven character sprites, and three backgrounds for instance. Do checklists! They really help.

You’ll have to experiment a lot to see what you like. Sometimes, things in your head aren’t as good when they’re in the game— You’ll find yourself tinkering a lot (maybe putting SFX after a character’s entrance, and not before…) etc.

I suggest also nourishing your mind with myriads of visual novels of all kind to study how they’re built. This will give you a lot of insight on how things can be handled, code-wise, narratively, and audiovisually.

Finally, think about how your novel will be distributed. Will it be free? Will people have to buy it? Etc. Administrative stuff is bound to happen if you do plan on monetizing the game… So make sure you’re good on all legal standpoints, depending on where you live!

I hope this helped, anon!

#Anonymous #VN #indie vn #visual novel #tips #ask us anything!#ask #long post

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