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jackdawyt · 4 years

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I am beyond privileged to share my very Early Access impressions of The Waylanders, thanks to the developers at Gato Studio who gave me an early key.

The Waylanders is a party-based RPG set in the Celtic and Medieval eras, inspired by classics like Dragon Age: Origins, Neverwinter Nights 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I’ve only played the first 10 hours of this game, and I’ve fallen for it. It’s very apparent that the developers of The Waylanders love Dragon Age. And so, to anyone who loves Dragon Age, will love The Waylanders.

I’ve played prologue and the very few early hours of the game which are in early access, meaning there’s plenty of work that needs to be done and nothing in the game is final. However, I was able to get an amazing feel for what the finished game will look like, and believe me when I say, this is the Dragon Age successor we’re all looking for.

Character

Upon starting the game, you’re taken to a very recognizable character creator, clearly inspired by Dragon Age: Origins. You can choose between a male/female body, four races, six classes, and then an origin story based on each of those choices.

The races in Waylanders are rather distinct, as opposed to traditional DND races like elves, humans and dwarves. Here we have the choice between human, werewolf, mourian and semi-fomorian.

The classes are rather straight forward, each of them have unique weapons, abilities and features. As an example, Rangers have the Pets feature which allows them to have animal companions, and Sorcerers can teleport using their specific magic feature.

You can customise your character with a few hairstyles, facial types, different skin tones, eye, hair and facial hair colours.

You can then apply more points into your statistics based on your race and class. And the final aspect of customisation is your identity, where you choose your name, pronouns and voice.

The voice is just for grunting noises in combat, I believe the game follows a silent protagonist so you can make up your own voice.

After making those final decisions, you’re given a cute lore character summary, backing up each choose you’ve made for your PC. Now your adventure can begin.

Story

The story is told through a plentiful of cutscenes and long dialogue interactions, of course, just what Dragon Age fans love. I found each of them engaging and I was hooked from the start really.

I’ve played the prologue twice, and a few blocked out side quests that are still in very early alpha. The story starts with the Spanish Celtic tribes arriving at Ireland to meet and convey a union with their gods. However, things don’t go according to plan, as you can imagine.

What’s fascinating about The Waylanders compared to Dragon Age for example, is that the lore is steeped in Irish and Spanish folk lore. We discover many legends like ‘The Tuatha Dé Danann’. Which means ‘the tribe of the gods’ in Old Gaelic. It’s exciting lore that actually exists in some of the real world’s sub-cultures today.

The setting of the game is based in medieval Galicia, which is in Spain. The developers are actually from Spain, the stories they’re telling throughout The Waylanders are tales each of them has grown up with.

I won’t say much more on the main story, other than the protagonist has a mystery that reminds me of Kingdoms Of Amular Reckoning. Of course, another stellar RPG that takes pinches from Dragon Age: Origins.

The plot seems to surround a lot of time travel themes, going forward and back in time, with many choices and consequences taking effect from your decisions.

As a whole, the writing is excellent. And that’s expected due to the fact that Chris Avellone, best known for writing Fallout: New Vegas, took the helm. Alongside with him, Ex-Telltale's Emily Grace Book who’s the fabulous Narrative Lead.

Not to mention Mike Laidlaw aided to team with his creative vison to “create a high-level narrative and to structure the game and the story.”

And if that’s not enough, Dragon Age veteran Inon Zur composed the soundtrack of The Waylanders too, which is just beautiful.

I want to share more about the main characters. So far, they’re compelling, even in just the first hour, I found myself latching onto each of them, with their many different personalities.

In my opinion, the dialogue holds the game up, I found myself engaging in every single conversation I could, interacting with every character. I’d say my favourite character so far is Nazhedja. Naz for short.

She’s very intriguing! Being a mourian, she’s immortal, though she composes herself as a charming and relatable individual.

The voice cast is amazing and familiar with the likes of Simon Templeman, known for playing Loghain in Dragon Age taking the role of the Celtic Druid Amergin. Personally, as a Brit, I fell in love with hearing so many of my countries’ varying accents.

And apparently there will absolutely be romance in the game, however, it’s not in the alpha stages. But we can all look forward to that!

Gameplay

The Waylanders gameplay centres on building up the narrative, there’s an emphasis on interactive conversations. You’ll spend a fair amount of time asking questions and getting to know each of the characters in this world, building bonds and shaping the story.

The game has a linear feel to it, however, once the prologue is done, you can explore many of the hub areas. Very much like Dragon Age: Origins. The world is lush to explore, and the art style is fantastic. It has a cartoony feel to it.

While exploring the stunning areas, you can switch the camera’s placement for a more isometric feel, or stick to a more third person feel, whatever suits your playstyle. This is an amazing quality of life feature, that I think other games like this need to adopt.

There’s a huge codex, which updates frequently after conversations. It’s a wonderful touch, I spent plenty of time reading each of the characters and their backstories.

Combat

The combat is rough around the edges and it can be hard to properly aim and target your opponents. Too often I’d cast a spell at an offensive enemy, and I’d accidently click and switch to my warrior companion who’s bashing the same enemy in the face.

You can have up to five party companions at a time. And there are these grouped up attacks you can do as a squad called formations. You band together and attack. It works like a charm.

The combat does feel very identical to Dragon Age: Origins, even down to the animations of fighting and how long it takes to fire a spell, or shoot an arrow from a bow.

One of the developers gave me a few console commands for my stream, and I was able to see what animal pets we could have, I was very surprised with the amount of animal companions you can have. There’s even a dragon!

Each of the classes prove to be very unique, in my two playthroughs, I played as a Sourcer and a Rogue. I loved the individual features each class provides whether it’s a passive or an actual ability, each class have dynamic ways to stand out. And of course, if you’re undecided which class to play, Waylanders is a party-based RPG, you’ll always have a companion with a different class you can switch to and play as.

Summary

In summary, judging the early hours of The Waylanders, the game has very reminiscent systems and gameplay that anyone who’s played Dragon Age will find themselves familiar with. However, the game has proven itself to be original with its engaging story, intriguing characters and unique lore.

Of course, the game is in its early access alpha stages, and there are plenty of bugs and things that need further improvement. But I can see the heart and passion that has gone behind this game, and that’s what I’ve grown to like about this game.

I’d say to anyone who’s a huge fan of Dragon Age: Origins, why not go and give The Waylanders a shot. The game launches on Steam’s Early Access store on June 16th, support this game as it grows throughout development, and releases as an epic Dragon Age successor.

#The Waylanders #The Waylanders Early Access #The Waylanders Gameplay #Studio Gato #Dragon Age #Dragon Age: Origins #RPG #New RPG #lore #early access

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avoutput · 4 years

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Gaps Between Worlds || Live, Love, Link

Nothing keeps a story going like a love interest. In almost every adventure story, at some point, the hero flirts with love, falls into it, is blinded by it, or is even betrayed by it. Love is the strongest emotional connection we share as humans, a double edged sword that can drive us, but also hinder us. Even when a story lacks a love interest, the listeners might begin to imagine one just to keep themselves interested. One adventure series has lacked cannon love for such a long time, it's hard to imagine how it’s been kept alive in our collective consciousness for as long as it has. The Legend of Zelda has jump-cut to Link saving Zelda so many times, but remains nebulous on what kind of relationship blossoms from their journey. As a longtime fan, I have been starving for more from the world of Hyrule, and I think fans across the world agree with me. The official Nintendo Hyrule Timeline wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for pressure from the fans. Before that release, it had been locked inside the mind of Miyamoto, creator of the series. But it didn’t really whet my appetite, because what I wanted is to know of Link and Zelda. Today, we are going to explore the facets of Link and Zelda’s many re-incarnated relationships, which could have turned into love, and where they must have gone after Gannon was sealed and their adventure came to an end.

Before we go any further, the usual caveats to my writing, just so you can get where my head is at. First, I am not going to be super concerned with minute details of the timeline in its purest sense. It has a tenuous linear connection from one game to the next, but it still can provide a little fun for us to speculate on. Second, I have completed every mainline adventure with two exceptions. I have made it to the end of Link’s Adventure and Twilight Princess, but I just never walked up those steps to beat Gannon. I can’t really put my finger on why, but usually I just lost interest by the time I made it to the end of the game. Everything else, including the GB, GBA, and DS releases, I have completed.

In the beginning, one of the most bizarre parts of the overall Zelda lore is how little we actually discuss Link’s obligation to do anything for Zelda. As the games mature, they motivate Link in more realistic ways, but I felt that they mostly lacked a real punch. Lets imagine you DID NOT read the manual for the NES titles, the original LoZ, it just starts by breaking the 4th wall. I always thought it was funny that it just drops you into the mountains with absolutely no direction, as if to say, “You bought the game, dummy, do something! Press a button… ooo… check out that cave!” However, what actually happens is Link saves Zelda’s handmaid, Impa, from an attack by some of Gannon’s henchmen. She then begs him to find the 8 fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, which Zelda has hidden in 8 dungeons, and he just resolves to do it. In the next game though, she’s just struck with Sleepy Disney Princess disease. Classic. But have you ever noticed that true love’s kiss wasn’t an option here? That’s because Link is not her true love in this incarnation, so he has to kill the curse maker. LoZ and Link’s Adventure are directly related, so we know that in between the two games, they never became lovers. And I don’t know if you need any more proof about these games, but if you ever watched the 80’s Zelda cartoon… you’d know she’s better off.

Climbing up this timeline, we end up at the incredible Link To The Past, a story that’s titular description kind of defies its storyline unless you are really paying attention. Either way, the game has Link, a descendant of Hyrule Knights, being woken up by a psychic message from Zelda. As usual, Link has no real discernible parentage, but he does start off with an uncle. As I grew up, I often wondered if this was his real uncle or the Asian kind of uncle, just an older man with the same familial distance as an actual uncle, just not actually related. (It goes without saying that the west has this kind of uncle as well, but rarely does it rear its head as ubiquitously as in the east) Who knows what happened to his parents, the game never really goes into it. Either way, he runs into his possibly real uncle after following Zelda’s request, only, he is mortally wounded, and with his final breath, he begs Link to take up his blade and his responsibility. Again, he is motivated simply by some sense of obligation, but there is never a moment's glance of flirtation or love. By the end of the game, he revives his Uncle, the Priest, and the King, only to get on a boat and end up ship wrecked on Koholint island, where he dreams up a girl who is much more likely to become someone he could have a life with rather than Zelda.

Let’s take a quick moment to recognize Link has about 5 or 6 games that have nothing to do with his relationship to Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, Majora’s Mask, and Minish Cap to name a few. In these games, it rarely meditates on his relationship to his previous adventure or the girl he left behind. Link is a very forward thinking… little boy? Adolescent? Teenager? It depends on the game. The more I think about this, maybe the more obvious it really is supposed to be. Zelda, Link, and Gannon are reborn into conflict over and over again. It’s possible that the stories that we play through are the only time they are born into a point of conflict. Basically, Link and Zelda might be born into a world without each other. Maybe the world only falls into chaos when all 3 of them are born. Maybe only when a certain amount of power accumulates on the dark side. The story just makes room for whatever it finds appropriate.

Climbing up the timeline, we get to the only game that implied young romance, Ocarina Of Time. Granted, it kind of dashes this with Majora’s Mask, but it's possible he could return to Hyrule for love. He is only 10. Still, in OoT, Link is the only character that keeps his memory of both the young timeline and the teen timeline. When you think about it, Link is pretty mature for a 10 year old, but waking up in the body of a 17 year old would throw you a bit. People in the future might have found him odd… if they weren’t scattered to the winds and mostly worried about famine, death, and Gannon. In both his young and teen timeline, the Zora princess is very interested in him, and yet, the game still ends with a longing look between Zelda and Link, Link remembering everything, Zelda new to the whole thing. Now, I am willing to admit that as a kid, I probably misread this as a longing look, as an adult, it's really just the culmination of Link’s struggle to finally right all the wrongs, but I was a young shipper, and I wanted everyone to fall in love. (You are reading the thoughts of a boy who was super upset that Ash wasn’t awakened by a kiss from Misty (or Pikachu), and instead the tears of all the Pokemon. I almost walked out of the theater. I was a fresh-faced 13.) Given everything we know about both games, and that we know the timeline splits here, it would stand to reason that since in either case, triumphant or not, Link doesn’t end up making baby Link and Linkles with Zelda. In the Triumphant Timeline Child Era, none of the games end with Link in love, including Twilight Princess. In the Adult Era, the Wind Waker series of games always finds Link closely aligned with Zelda, but the whole cell-shaded, PG universe basically ensures that all the people of Hyrule are grown out of the ground, like palm trees on the beach. In the end, Link always makes for the nearest boat or horse and follows the sun, trying to escape the PTSD that haunts him.

Finally, at the very beginning of the timeline is the largely maligned Skyward Sword. As of this writing, SS is the supposed beginning to the entire legend. It is also one of the few games where there does seem to be an infatuation between Zelda and Link. Throughout the game, they share what looks to be a mild flirtation. When I thought about this budding romance, I began to think it only appears that way because of some cultural filters. First, Nintendo likes to make games for kids, so they aim to get an E rating by the ESRB. So if we ratchet that up to M, the standard for modern day games if you want people to take them seriously, we can adjust the love meter on scale with E = Sesame Street and M = Breaking Bad. They might as well be engaging in some hard sexting, maybe a couple of low-cut Link bathroom mirror selfies. Don’t worry, he has his famous hat over the goods. Why do you think its shaped like that? Secondly, mild flirting in Japan is the equivalent of hardcore furry S&M in America. In actuality, what you are really seeing is the courtship of Link in a Wolf costume and Zelda dressed as a Fire Keese batting eyes at each other. Truly, in this world, Link and Zelda are destined for each other. They are the only freaks in the sky! With this assumption, I can conclude that the legend only continues because once, at the very beginning of their timeline, the Triforce of Courage and Wisdom banged it out. This could mean there is a whole series of games we have never played where the timeline is split at the top. One in which they have children and one where they don’t. Personally, I look forward to their kids journey in The Legend of Steve, the new holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Let a girl save the boy for once!

There is always hope for our legendary heroes. You may not want them to be joined in glorious, child-making coitus, but I always have. I have always found it odd that it doesn’t end like most JRPG’s with a very obvious death of the “mains” so that love can’t blossom, or with a lavish royal wedding. The worst part is that often, Link has many love interests, but none of them are Zelda. There is some hope for them in the new Breath of the Wild timeline, which is supposedly the furthest in the future of the “official” timeline, so much so that there is no connective tissue left, so it might as well be a “new beginning”. I would actually hate for them to finally, really, fall in love in the BotW universe, mostly because it's my least favorite Zelda game of all time, squeaking past Skyward Sword and Wind Waker. All 3 of which I dislike for a combination of gameplay-style and story, though honestly, the best part of BotW is the story. It's just a game I never want to play again. Rambling aside, I look forward to the fate of love between Zelda and Link in their next chapter. Maybe we’ll finally play as their love child some day.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Is Skyward Sword the Only Link and Zelda Romance Story?

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If you’re anything like most gamers from a certain era, you probably grew up assuming that Zelda and Link were in love. After all, he is a hero, she is a princess, he was a boy, she was a girl…can we make it any more obvious?

However, the truth of the matter is that nothing is quite that obvious when it comes to Link and Zelda’s relationship. Much like your relationship status on Facebook whenever you felt like stirring up a little drama, the relationship between Link and Zelda over the years has been decidedly complicated.

That’s part of the reason why Skyward Sword has always been one of the most interesting Zelda games from a lore perspective. After years of ambiguity, complications, winks, half-answers, and lingering questions, Skyward Sword gave us a Link and Zelda relationship that couldn’t possibly be interpreted as anything but romantic (even if there is some ambiguity regarding how their relationship ends). The game was even promoted with this “Romance Trailer” that highlights that aspect of the plot:

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

While there is very little debate regarding whether or not Skyward Sword is a Link and Zelda love story, there is a much more substantial (and far more interesting) debate to be had regarding whether or not it is the only real love story in Legend of Zelda history.

“Hold up,” you might be saying. “If Zelda and Link didn’t have a canonical romance until 2011, then why did I grow up believing that they were in love?”

Well, as we mentioned before, elements of the perceived romance between Zelda and Link can be attributed to the fact that most of the guys you see rescuing princesses in fantasy stories do tend to fall in love with them. It’s not exactly the genre’s most beloved trope, but it’s certainly one that has ingrained itself into our collective pop culture consciousness over the years.

To be fair, though, the Zelda/Link love hasn’t just been in our heads this entire time. The popular theory is that the pair end up getting married at the end of the original NES game (even if the sourcing for that claim is somewhat dubious from a canonical perspective), and we see Zelda kiss Link at the end of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Granted, the Zelda that kisses him at the end of that game isn’t the Zelda he saved in the original game but rather a version of Zelda from years ago. Look, Zelda lore is…weird.

Speaking of which, we should probably talk about the Link from the 1989 animated Legend of Zelda TV series. That version of Link was more or less a stalker who pretty much refused to help Zelda without asking for a kiss. He was also so insufferably annoying that we honestly think Zelda might have been better off with Ganon than this ’80s movie jock in a green leotard.

It’s around that time that Nintendo became much coyer about Zelda and Link’s relationship. A Link to the Past doesn’t really bother to bring up the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two (outside of an often misinterpreted piece of dialog), and Link’s Awakening doesn’t even feature Zelda (though the character Marin is clearly inspired by Link’s memories of Zelda). At this point, it’s easy to assume that Nintendo decided to abandon the more overt references to Link and Zelda’s romance due to creative preferences, the increasingly complicated nature of the franchise’s timeline, and perhaps the feeling that this just wasn’t meant to be that kind of franchise.

That’s when we enter a prolonged and strange “Will they or won’t they?” period for Link and Zelda’s relationship. Ocarina of Time dances around the issue, but only hints that a romantic relationship may be blossoming. The Wind Waker pretty much abandons the idea entirely in favor of presenting the two as adventuring equals, while Twilight Princess offers the “coldest,” or perhaps most “business-like,” relationship between the pair yet. Nintendo even gave Link more overt love interests during this time to seemingly try to encourage people to stop focusing so much on the Zelda/Link romance narrative.

Interestingly, the Zelda/Link relationship has always skewed more towards intimacy (or at least blossoming romance) in many of the handheld Zelda games. That’s not a universal rule (Zelda wasn’t even in Phantom Hourglass), but for some reason, the pair have almost always been a bit…closer in those games.

That trend reached its apex with the release of 2009’s The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. That game was originally not even supposed to include Zelda as Link’s adventuring partner, but the developers felt like it would be better to feature her as a prominent side character rather than try to create a new character or simply re-use Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass‘ Tetra yet again. The result is a Zelda game where Link and Zelda spend an unusual amount of time together (compared to other titles in this series). While that kind of set-up is enough to get shippers talking, the game wasn’t exactly shy about teasing a possible romance. It even ends with Zelda and Link holding hands!

What’s even more interesting than Spirit Tracks‘ implication that its version of Zelda and Link could end up together is the reason that the developers chose to give Link a female partner for that game in the first place.

“I was searching for something that hadn’t been portrayed much, and there was Princess Zelda,” says director Daiki Iwamoto regarding the casting decision. “At first, we hadn’t settled on the subcharacter, and I discussed several things with the staff. Then we thought that, since they’re adventuring together, it would be better to have it be a girl.”

That last part brings us back to the elephant in the room concerning this whole Zelda/Link relationship discussion. There is a heteronormative side to fantasy fiction from certain eras that has, to a degree, trained our brains to see female and male leads together and just assume that they’re going to be romantically involved by the time the credits roll.

Even though Nintendo has historically danced around this romance and, at times, straight-up avoided it, Iwamoto still says that it just made more sense for Link to be with a female character that he obviously ends up having intimate moments with (even if they may or may not be entirely romantic). You could argue that throughout much of the history of The Legend of Zelda franchise, speculation regarding the pair’s romantic relationship has been fuelled by those who either wished the two would get together or just assumed that has to be the case given their situation and genders.

So why did Nintendo decide to finally show Link and Zelda in an obviously romantic relationship in Skyward Sword after dodging the matter for so long? Interestingly enough, Skyward Sword producer Eiji Aonuma thought about cutting the romance angles when the game’s development team (which, it must be said, consisted of quite a few Spirit Tracks developers) initially suggested them. While Skyward Sword‘s developers had to make some cuts to justify including the romance subplot, Aonuma’s decision to leave it in ultimately came down to his simple belief that it was an effective way to get players to care about rescuing Zelda.

“As far as the love story goes, it wasn’t that we wanted to create a romance between Link and Zelda as much as we wanted the player to feel like this is a person who’s very important to me, who I need to find,” Aonuma said in an interview with Game Informer. “We used that hint of a romance between the two to tug at the heartstrings.”

From a meta standpoint, the idea that Nintendo is aware that even hinting at the possibility of a Link and Zelda romance is a pretty easy way to engage people certainly makes a lot of sense. While Aonuma stops short of saying that was somehow their idea this entire time, you could argue that it’s more valuable for Nintendo to simply leave room open for that possibility rather than outright establish a romantic relationship more often.

Of course, that makes it all the more interesting that the one Zelda game that features such a blatant romance story is also the first game in the Zelda timeline. While the versions of Link and Zelda featured in that game are not the same characters we see in subsequent games, Nintendo did clearly establish that the foundation of their relationship (and this franchise) is partially based on their love for each other. Circumstances may have prevented them from leading the life together they hoped to have (at least based on our hopes for how two young people in love might end up), but who is to say that one of Zelda‘s descendants or one of Link’s reincarnations won’t be able to break the curse and live the life that these two were possibly denied so many years ago?

Actually, that’s what makes Breath of the Wild such a fascinating piece of this puzzle. While serious questions remain regarding how Breath of the Wild fits into Zelda‘s chronology, it almost certainly seems to take place at what we could see as “the end” of the current Zelda timeline (or timelines). It’s perhaps no coincidence, then, that it’s the game that not only openly acknowledges the complicated relationship between the various Links and Zeldas over the years but is also the game that shows Link and Zelda clearly growing closer to each other over the course of the adventure. By the end of the game, you could very easily view their relationship as “romantic” or, at the very least, heading in that direction.

While we’ll have to see whether or not Breath of the Wild 2 does anything with that implication, we’re left with the simple conclusion that Skyward Sword may be the only “overt” Link and Zelda romance story so far, but elements of that romance can be found in Spirit Tracks, Breath of the Wild, and, depending on your interpretation of the timeline, nearly every other Legend of Zelda game in some form or fashion.

Sure, it’s a little annoying that Nintendo keeps hinting at romances they seemingly never intend to really do anything with, but there’s something to be said for the ways they’ve paired Zelda and Link together over the years without relying on a relatively simple romantic subplot. Of course, that just makes Skyward Sword even more of an oddity than it already was.

The post Is Skyward Sword the Only Link and Zelda Romance Story? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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crystalnet · 6 years

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State of the Art: JRPG Spotlight-

Issue #1- 2017 at a Glance- A quarterly or bi-annual journal on the JRPG at large, focusing on recent releases, trends, quarterly reviews/analyses and upcoming release hype.

The other night I was getting yet even deeper still into the freshly minted minor-masterpiece that is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when it dawned on me just how good 2017 was to the quaint little genre known as the JRPG. I knew all year while it was happening that some special games were getting released with a certain regularity, but now that the dust has fully settled, we can look back and be conclusively impressed by such a stellar stretch.

3 or 4 years ago I think people were getting ready to pen their moratoriums on why big developers and JRPGs should soon plan on never intersecting again save for small-scale handheld releases, and now here we are and Japan is seemingly back on top as far as role-playing goes. That return-to-form didn't always seem so inevitable as it is now that it's fully underway, especially after a somewhat shaky stretch for the genre during the 7th generation. Indeed, high-definition graphics and devs who catered to Gatorade-guzzling gamer bros seemed to not be the boon to the genre that old-school role-players really needed, and even the first couple of years of the 8th generation saw the genre to still be on slightly shaky ground, without a ton of great titles to point to from those initial years.

But then throughout the 7th gen a little franchise called Dark Souls (a JRPG in spirit, though not quite in practice, in many ways) started to build a little following, generating new interest in things like difficulty, customization, and innovative diagetic story-telling. As of the middle of this decade though, the genre still doesn’t have all that much of a presence compared to the late 90s heyday of JRPGs. Cut to 2016 though and Square drops FFXV which is a solid, if not-perfect realization of the 30-year-old standard-bearer of the genre, (a herald of sorts, if you will) and BAM. 2017 begins and in quick succession Nier Automata, Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild drop, all to stunningly positive reception. Now BotW, like Dark Souls, is not as much of a JRPG as the other 3 releases I hope to focus on, but Zelda has always had it's toe in the same waters as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, borrowing and simplifying elements of role-playing games from an action-adventure perspective, and in turn, also influencing those very JRPG franchises it seemed to pay homage to.

This wasn't just a coincidental blip of releases though, proved largely by the fact that all the way at the end of the year, Xenoblade 2 would also drop, and show yet again how the JRPG can be fresh and vital, and can be a Nintendo-exclusive at that. Indeed, I hope to demonstrate my thesis that it was a particularly strong year by triangulating my discussion around Nier A, Persona 5 and Xenoblade 2. Not only are these three very strong titles, they are also all pretty vastly different styles of JRPGs, which I think displays the health and potential of the genre even better than the fact that they are so individually good. First of all we have an industry veteran and mad-hatter in Yoko Taro finally coalescing a fully-realized vision of action-JRPG greatness by collaborating with Platinum games to make something as heady, and intellectual as it is well-designed and fun to play. That game is something like a Hegelian Philosophy PhD driving a Lamborghini in terms of the amount of stuff going on with the writing and character development, all while sporting a super classy luxury sports-car, six-cylinder engine. For long-time fans of Taro, I don't think this direction could have ever been predicted, though they may have secretly dreamed of such a fusion of form and function.

The best thing about how simultaneously weird and playable Nier A is for me is the way it hearkens back to the golden age of PS2 JRPGs for me personally. Without pinning it to a single PS2-era title, it gives me the same feeling that games during that console could consistently deliver on: a fully realized fantasy/sci fi world, a deep-yet-approachable combat system, a weird and very-Japanese, but also deep-as-hell plot, and a certain functionality that games like Kingdom Hearts 2, Rogue Galaxy and Final Fantasy XII delivered on back then. I don't mean to say it's derivative or stuck in the past, it's just that, the highlights of the PS2 days are my go-to precedent for what a good modern, post-16-bit JRPG is, since that equally sweet ps1 era can only be reasonably emulated on smaller and/or handheld retro-style releases. And while the story’s depth and esoteric nature recall the plot’s and worlds of PS1 and 2 greats like FFX, Xenosaga or Vagrant Story, the combat itself feels as fast-and-furious as hack-n-slash classics from then like Devil May Cry.

So while Nier had action-(j)RPG style gameplay covered, Persona 5 was there for all the turn-based devotees, and oh boy were we there for it also. That game was a huge victory lap for Atlus, who has built up a deep fanbase over the past decade, largely because of youtubers (at least in the west we can thank the cult-y presence of its fans online for the slow-burn development of an army of Atlus acolytes, whereas P3 and 4 were only barely noticed in the States back when they actually first came out.) And they finally capitalized on that hard-earned interest by finally following up P4 after nearly a decade, and while they were at it, they also showed everyone that fully turn-based (not even slightly active-time) systems can still melt faces, please crowds and feel fresh, which is no mean feat at all in a world where some question if turn-based is officially dead save for retro-homages.

And while Nier captures a kind of ethereal PS2-esque quality, Persona very literally pulls some of the PS2-era goodness into the future by updating and refining the awesomely deep and OCD-enabling systems of the now holy-grail-level PS2 era Persona games. Yes, wandering around Shinjuku, going on supportive dates with classmates, building up your relationships in general, and working a part time job between study breaks has been fully realized for the modern gamer, and it is glorious to behold.

And that takes us to Xenoblade which out of all the titles I might be most surprised by. Being a bit of a Xeno-noob, I wasn't sure if the release was going to be a major or minor event for role-players, especially given Nintendo's spotty track-record with the JRPG, usually sporting all of maybe one or two truly notable ones per generation, as well as their tendency to censor and/or smother developers. But alas, Xenoblade is fully-formed, proper, brimming-with-life and as deserving of the title of new standard-bearer to the genre as any of the other fantastic JRPGs released that year, many of which I won't even get to.

As is the case with the others, it seems to draw on PS2 era greatness in someways, by building on battle systems like the ones in FFXI and FFXII, while also being an actual descendant of the Xenosaga series that rocked that console, and also still draws on PS3-era titles that were successful (though smaller in number there were some good ones!) like Ni No Kuni and the Last Story. This is a round-about way of saying the combat system is an excellent take on the free-moving active-time auto-battling-but-with-real-time-triggers-style combat that started to show up towards the end of the PS2's life-cycle just when people were realizing the days of pure turn-based role-laying may be limited. And it also delivers on all those other check-marked boxes that any truly great and special JRPG must deliver on including: emotionally stirring and unique soundtrack, a deep and rewardingly complex story with all sorts of specific and detailed lore, a really nice visual style, and some incredibly beautiful locales. Okay that last thing isn't even a thing JRPGs usually have to deliver on, but it sure is a highlight. Some of the locations you move through during your travels in this game are breathtaking, and even more impressive than the similarly psuedo-cell-shaded style of Breath of the Wild, whose open-world Monolith Soft also worked on (though you can't climb all over these areas I should say).

I'm as blown away by the suddenly addictive combat (once it fully kicks in and you are given full control over 3 blades around the 15 hour mark) as I am by the surprisingly moving, funny and immersive story. I can be a little skeptical sometimes when approaching JRPG stories, but by all three of these aforementioned titles, we were treated to surprisingly mature and complex narratives, with refreshingly grounded and/or thoughtful characters. Indeed, with this many games firing on all these different cylinders (I didn't even mention the soundtrack to Persona 5 or Nier OMG), you know something special is happening.

So there you have it, three wildly differently styles of JRPG, only unified by their consistent top-tier quality. An old-school turn-based lite-novel hyprid, a full real-time action-RPG for philosophy students, and a MMO-style combat fantasy epic. And on top of all that there's myriad other fantastic releases, or even re-releases like the Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age remaster of FFXII, one of my favorites and oft-forgotten FF titles that I think got overlooked slightly upon initial release precisely because of the way it showed other developers the way forward from pure turn-based combat.

And then the behemoth that is Breath of the Wild saw a tried-and-true franchise get fully revitalized in a way that drew on the weapon system of Dark Souls as much as it did the food system of Odinsphere of all games. And like I said, though not a true JRPG, it shows that role-playing adjacent titles are also showing a come-back. Survival components in video games were always the more practical, realist cousin to role-playing/stat-grinding after all.

So where do we go from here? Well 2018 will show us whether 2017 was a stand-out year or just the beginning of a trend, but all signs seem to point to an ongoing upward trend if releases like Monster Hunter World are any indication. Ni No Kuni 2 is due out soon, Octopath Traveler, which should make good on the idea of a retro-JRPG, and Kingdom Hearts 3 at the end of the year all help to paint the picture of an equally formidable year. Alas, Nippon is poised to continue its domination in coming months. All in all, fans of the genre should be very pleased, and if you haven't checked out one of the aforementioned titles get to it, because all of them are excellent, even if Xeno takes about 15 hours to truly get rolling and Persona takes a whopping like 20. All good things come to those who wait, after all.~

#xenoblade chronicles 2 #xenoblade #nier automata #nier #persona 5 #persona #jrpg #state of the jrpg #role-playing #role playing #role #playing #ps4 #switch #turn-based #combat #real-time #state of the art

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spicynbachili1 · 5 years

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Review: Darksiders III

Dated however nonetheless delightfully darkish

Darksiders has all the time felt prefer it belonged on the perimeter. The entire “edgy Zelda” masks it wears so fondly was a significant turnoff for some, however I purchased proper into it. Possibly it was Mark Hamill’s devilish flip as The Watcher that actually drew me into this world, but it surely was artist Joe Madureira’s hellish magnificence that stored me coming again.

Positive there’s padding points and different nitpicks, however the sturdy locales and the greater than serviceable motion assist cement this collection as an precise motion contender. After six years in limbo it is returning to reply the decision of followers: however the actual query is whether or not or not it is going to maintain up underneath scrutiny in 2018.

Darksiders III (PC, PS4 [reviewed], Xbox One) Developer: Gunfire Video games Writer: THQ Nordic Launch: November 27, 2018 MSRP: $59.99

It does. And scene: finish of overview. No, I am going to make clear that assertion lest I really feel the flame of hell itself: it completely holds up in case you’re prepared to place up with a number of the identical vices which have plagued 3D motion video games since their inception.

So there’s just a few main adjustments that every one search to kind of carry the sport again right down to Earth after the (some would say pointless) push for complexity within the second entry. Loot is gone, as a result of, based on the builders, “Fury’s skills are saved inside her hilt.” Okay, that is a cute hand-wavy lore motive for the elimination of difficult ideas, however the tradeoff is one large world and plenty of holdover mechanics from current video games. So…Fury drinks replenishable flasks now to revive her well being. And shatters souls for forex (used to improve stats or weapons). And…can get her souls again after demise by returning to the scene of the crime. Get the drift?

All of it’s an effort by Gunfire Video games to modernize the collection and most of their work pays off. I do not miss the granular loot. Having to math out which merchandise was higher in Darksiders II was usually a chore, even when it did bolster the concept of a number of builds in increased issue settings. Fury’s story has a unique really feel to it and I recognize that every sport is exclusive in its personal approach. A part of that imaginative and prescient is realized in Fury’s “varieties,” which give entry to all types of latest weaponry in addition to skills like a vertical triple-jump and a hover. Once more, Fury is probably the most streamlined Horseman but, however nonetheless maintains a way of identification by way of her whip.

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As an alternative of a deprecating demonic drive following your round your new Watcher companion is principally your individual private cheerleader. She by no means hits that bitter spot the place she’s too annoying; it is extra like cleverly penned devilish flattery that enables it to work. Darksiders III ups the ante with the fan-favorite “battle the seven lethal sins” gimmick. It is one thing that is been accomplished in practically each media realm and it hasn’t gotten previous but. Name me a sucker for occult/demonic iconography, however there’s one thing particular about discovering new interpretations for age-old myths.

Gunfire Video games is ready to sidestep the disconnect between the video games (hiatus? What hiatus?) by asserting that Fury’s quest takes place similtaneously the primary Darksiders, which, because it seems, is occurring in tandem with the sequel. For a collection that largely hones in on motion and absurdity it does work, even when the “we are able to do dwelling retcons every time we would like” premise is sporting skinny.

Darksiders has all the time scored factors in my e book for its interactions between its over-the-top Mephistophelian forged, not essentially due to the “who’s betraying whom” narrative. For individuals who are questioning: this entry does transfer the overarching story alongside, however solely a tad and largely within the finale.

Naturally for these Darksiders titan-level encounters you want a superb fight base. Gunfire Video games is not totally inexperienced within the enviornment of motion as they’re comprised of many builders of the unique collection and extra lately labored on the [good] Darksiders II remaster. Nonetheless, I nervous fairly a bit within the buildup for Darksiders III that they might each do proper by the collection and provides Fury a distinctly totally different really feel from the remainder of her comrades: simply as Dying did when juxtaposed to Conflict.

Fury is extra like Dying in that her mobility is her greatest energy but in addition sports activities the restrained actions of Conflict. Dodging and double-jumping are what you are going to be doing most frequently, and swapping between varieties actually jogs my memory of a sure Capcom hero in one of the best methods. Although she finally has entry to extra toys, her whip is an effective catch-all area-of-effect whirlwind that works nicely out of the gate. Despite the fact that I had entry to secondary weapons all through I all the time felt comfy utilizing the whip.

All of it sounds good to this point proper? Nicely, whereas Darksiders III does profit from the scaled-down mechanics it takes successful in different methods. My primary problem with traversal is that it feels restricted. It is the identical sin Prince of Persia 2008 commits; it offers you just a few instruments to maneuver about however solely helps you to use them in sure areas. The non-organic whip swing is an ideal instance: it appears like it is best to be capable of use it far more than you really can. All of it makes for a much less related world than Gunfire promised, maybe finest highlighted by the truth that I regularly forgot to return to the hub forge to improve my weapons.

That each one funnels into the notion that the whole development system lacks panache. A variety of emphasis is placed on leveling as much as outpace the more and more highly effective threats the sport throws at you, however the act of leveling and even upgrading weapons with socketed runes is regularly uninteresting, virtually just like the workforce pulled again an excessive amount of from the million-item Darksiders II system. There’s a middle-ground, they simply have not discovered it but.

Whereas the character design and the paintings is spot-on, the environments appear to be they have been grafted out of a sport a number of generations in the past. Now for me, that is high-quality! I can recurrently return to PS2-era motion video games and heartily get pleasure from them with out ever pondering the deserves of display screen tearing or anti-aliasing. However there are just a few areas that transcended notions of “feeling dated,” as they have been too barren for their very own good. The truth that it’s kind of shorter than the primary two entries (it took me round 10 hours to see the credit and 5 extra to largely clear issues up) is likely to be a plus for you. On my second go-around, skipping cutscenes, its speedrun potential actually shined by way of.

Most of my complaints are associated to the RPG bits which aren’t the principle focus of Darksiders III. It stays an action-fueled challenge and that is an angle it does nicely, reigning in a number of the out-of-hand concepts from its predecessor. With all the efforts to resurrect this as soon as useless and buried collection I hope there’s an opportunity to wrap all of it up with Strife: I need to see this story by way of till the top, blemishes and all.

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

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Darksiders III reviewed by Chris Carter

eight

GREAT

Spectacular effort with just a few noticeable issues holding it again. Will not astound everybody, however is value your time and money. How we rating: The destructoid evaluations information

from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/review-darksiders-iii/

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nolongerapileofashprobably · 1 month

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I remember a while back you said that TOTK ranks as one of the best narratives in the series, and replaying it again, I’m inclined to agree. Fans criticized it for being “incoherent,” but there’s literally nothing that happens in the story that isn’t set up in the opening/tutorial. The Imprisoning War, the Zonai, the statue depicting Rauru and Sonia, the Light Dragon flying near the temple, Link diving to Zelda, the Recall ability (how it serves as Link’s connection to Zelda throughout the game and will ultimately be how he saves her at the end). The recall ability is also how Link collects and examines the dragon tear memories. Even if you don’t collect the tears, Link’s last memory of her is the vision of her giving him Recall, so it makes sense that he restores her to how he remembers her (“coaxing the object’s memory” like Sonia says in one of the memories). The theme of community and togetherness is also woven into every aspect of the gameplay and story. BOTW and TOTK are both extremely narratively and thematically coherent.

THISSSSSS

Ive played the majority of Zelda games and some stories are iconic (OoT), some are DARK (MM), some are DIFFERENT (WW & TP), some are ROMANTIC (ST & SS), and all are adventurous and fun. This series has a plethora of interesting characters and captivating stories, but none truly compare to the intricacies of BoTW&ToTK. And this is achieved through the vast amount of details offered to players in each game.

BoTW has a TON of details for players who go looking for it, however none of them are actually necessary in completing the game. We know this is simply bc of the direction of botw and totk in terms of gameplay.

The stories are OPTIONAL in both of these games, but as you pointed out in ToTK, you don’t escape the Recall memory. And that ability is the one that is truly unique to the story and connects us directly to Zelda, and ultimately Zelda to her old self. Both of these games are directly related to Zelda’s journey as a character and are a testament to this Zelda and Link’s relationship. Without a romantic perspective (which actually requires you to neglect details given to us in both games), the story still stands in terms of development and emotional appeal.

I think everyone can agree that BoTW/ToTK Zelda is the most developed Zelda we have ever gotten, and if you accept that her development goes hand in hand with the story (which duh it does lol) then you realize that for all its faults, BoTW & ToTK has one of the best narratives of the series. To me, you can’t separate the games, because BoTW was the foundation of Zelda’s growth as a person and Zelda & Link’s relationship which resulted in the dedicated loyalty we see six years after the events of BoTW. Without that knowledge, we wouldn’t get the same emotional connection or understand how intimate the ending of ToTK is.

Link’s use of Recall, backed by Rauru’s light magic and Sonia’s time magic, is only achievable by HIS ability to remember Zelda, his own memories and the ones Zelda gifted him through the tears, in order to bring her back. This gives us the EXACT answer to the question BoTW ends on: “May I ask; do you really remember me?”

Like that is so impactful, it clears every other story in my opinion by a LONG SHOT. This doesn’t negate how amazing the other stories are, they are all powerful in their own way, but none compare to the fluid and consistent themes BoTW & ToTK are founded upon.

The story has its faults (as all do) and thus fans capitalize on them in order to tear down the games (which is natural for any popular franchise). But those faults do not impact what is perfectly executed in terms of Zelda and Link’s story. The things we wish to see more of are that of side characters and questions left unanswered (which provided the series a new set of lore to explore in future games). But I will forever stand by this era and it’s overarching story that still makes me stop whenever I see the light dragon or seek out those small details whenever I replay the games.

#god I love tears of the kingdom #I love breath of the wild so much #I love Zelda and link #zelink #botw zelink #loz botw #botw #the legend of zelda #botw link #link botw #loz tears of the kingdom spoilers #the legend of zelda breath of the wild #zelda botw #loz tok #loz tears of the kingdom #totk zelink #loz zelink #totk Zelda #totk link

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