Morning Friends, there is more than a bit of irony in that I got this sweet sweet gaming rig for my birthday, and for the last several nights all it has been doing is operating my second monitor while I play PS5 on the main screen. Confession time… I never actually got around to finishing Final Fantasy VII Remake, which I guess shouldn’t be much of a surprise given how many other titles lay unfinished around me. There has been a recent perfect storm of events that has gotten me interested in wrapping things up. Firstly the PlayStation 5 version with slightly prettier graphics was released and then more recently the Yuffie DLC pack dropped. While I get that you can play it completely independent of the main story, I still want to finish the first game before diving into anything further.
However before we get there it is time for a brief intermission. If you have read my blog for awhile, you will know one of the hallmarks of said blog is that I use screenshots to break up the blocks of text. This means I need a pretty steady supply of screenshots to fill that role. It is a colossal pain in the ass to pull screenshots from a console and this really needs to be remedied. Essentially you have two options… both of which require a certain measure of pre-planning. The easiest option is to post them on a social media account and I have @BelghastShots that exists exclusively for this purpose. The option that preserves image quality is to drag out a thumb drive and copy the images there and then “sneakernet” them to your PC.
What we need instead is for the console vendors to implement a DLNA server that would allow access to screenshots, recorded video and frankly any purchased media that you have on that console across a network that could be consumed by any other DLNA devices. DLNA stands for “Digital Living Networking Alliance” and is a set of standards that are designed to ensure interoperability between devices in sharing media and streams. I use this constantly with my chosen server platform called Plex to allow any devices on my network to consume media from my server. In theory until the PlayStation 5… Sony was implementing part of this set of protocols because on PS3 and PS4 I could view things from my Plex Server.
The problem is no one seems to do this natively. Windows has had DLNA built in since at least Windows 7 yet Microsoft has never built this same support into Xbox Consoles. Many console revisions can consume a media server, but to the best of my knowledge none of them are capable of serving up their own feed. While leaves me at least annoyed and having to jump through hoops to dump files from the console. I mean I get that console platforms are scared to death that any protocol access will give someone a way to pirate games, because this has absolutely happened in the past. However it sucks that this thirteen year old solution that is pretty ubiquitously implemented by media having devices… is a non starter for consoles.
Back to the PS5 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. I am having a blast and the game is freaking gorgeous. I have to say this might claim the “favorite final fantasy” game title for me. I really enjoy the combat system and how it feels like gear matters a bit… but also it is mostly just excellent smashy combat time. I think this more than anything is why I am at least passingly interested in “Not-Final-Fantasy-1”. The other nice thing about this play through is FF7 was never really one of my favorites in the series. It was good, but I played it on the PC originally and was going through a renaissance of PC gaming which it struggled to stand out from. I’ve also never replayed the original so the story feels fresh to me and I can’t honestly tell you all of the subtle tweaks that the game is making so far.
I’ve hit the Wall Market section of the game… which seems to be keyed for a different kind of humor than is drift compatible with my own. I think the area looks really cool but I am ready to be done with it. I finished fighting my way through the Coliseum and am now running around town doing various errands for folks. If I have any complaint about the game… the errand boy sections that perforate each of the sections of focused action maybe drag on a bit. I get that this is the time when you would normally level up before the next battle, but I seem to be flying through levels so fast that it isn’t really a problem so far. I seem to always have plenty of money and plenty of experience for whatever the next thing I am supposed to tackle.
The only thing I would change if I could… is to make Cloud be less of a general stick in the mud. Cloud is the Carth Onasi of Final Fantasy characters and I get this is designed to make us feel his character growth, but I do wish I could make him be a little nicer to poor Aerith. She is trying so hard and he is pure butts. Like all of the stuff with with the children was pretty adorable… even though the NPCs in this game have weird faces. I especially like the “Moogle” and I am so down with interacting with this character some more. FF7R has been a pretty delightful way to unwind in the evenings because I am still averaging 10 hour days right now.
Hey Friends! There are times when it is actually a good thing that I have way too many games fighting for my attention. So last winter I happened upon a game that looked interesting called Rune II, that was an epic games store exclusive. I had never played the first game, or at least I don’t remember playing the first game but what I was seeing about the sequel looked pretty cool. I picked it up… and then promptly forgot about it and never actually played during the launch cycle last November. Based on what I am reading it was really not well received because the core loop of the gameplay was a bit flawed. Since I am going through the “install all the games to play on the new rig” phase of new hardware, I stumbled upon this game in my library and thought to give it a shot.
The game that launched in November was apparently considerably different to what I am now playing. When you started the game you were thrust back into the land of the living with a timer ticking down in the upper corner of the screen. When that timer hit zero, Ragnarok happened and you were sent to fight Loki. If you died… and you were very likely to die… the loop would start over again with progression in your character saved as you continued to get stronger until eventually at some point you could defeat the final encounter of the game. From what I am reading there were no real quests or NPCs to guide you along your journey… just the death loop mechanic until you got strong enough to finish the game.
The game I am playing however feels very much like a single player MMORPG, where you are dropped on an island and do a number of quests for the NPCs where you help build the village back up to its former glory. You chop down trees, break rocks for ore, and eventually complete a number of buildings while you other quests to learn how the basics of the game work. Then before you move to the next village you are attacked by the forces of Loki who is trying to bring about Ragnarok. The end result is somewhat of a base defense game where defensive towers aid you as you take down several waves of encounters and a boss encounter ultimately saving the village.
Your adventure sends you forth after some arcane relics that Heimdall needs, to the next village… one that worships him. Again you do a number of traditionally MMO quests and also build this village up until the cycle repeats itself with waves of NPCs attacking it. Each new building you add however increases your access to crafting resources like the ability to craft healing items that come in extremely handy. Out in the world there are a number of runestones which will also teach you new patterns expanding the relative power of the type of items that you can craft.
What is interesting about this first town however is it also has a very MMO style dungeon in it. You venture forth into it in an attempt to reach some divine summit. However to get there you need to pass through this huge sprawling cave filled with various encounters. Clearing through it reminded me very much of Tamtara Deepcroft or something similar to that. There were several rooms with boss encounters and a ton of chests along the way that provided copious amounts of loot. The thing is… the dungeon respawns it seems and you can keep going back into it at will as you continue to level.
Upon reaching the summit you are given the opportunity to devote yourself to one of three gods of the realm. Thor serves as the DPS path with lots of AOE abilities and things that increase your time in berserking mode. Odin seems to be the more group support tree with things that aid your party members… which only really comes into play if you are playing through the game co-op with friends… that is apparently a viable option. Hel serves as the third option and her tree I think is supposed to feel like the more stealthy path… but mostly it is sneak attacks and life drain abilities. I had to go down the Thor path which apparently gives me a buff to using Hammers and then all of his side quests that are Thor specific involve me killing Draugr with Hammers. So it seems like I inadvertently locked myself into a specific weapon choice going forward.
Like an MMORPG there is plenty of loot and the loot is arranged into quality brackets following the traditional White, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold format. What is interesting is in a lot of games that focus heavily on crafting, the gear that is crafted is just the same stuff that is dropping. This is true to some extent but there are a number of things that I have seen drop that I have never seen a pattern for making it seem like both are worthwhile ways to gear yourself. One thing I particularly like is that you can dismantle items in the field keeping you from having to jet back to a smithy constantly. There is fast travel in the game, but each time you do it a rune of travel is consumed. These are easy enough to make at the Sage’s hut but they are still a depleting resource.
I’ve played the game far enough to reach the second age of Midgard, aka the Age of Fire as the cycle of Ragnarok begins. Now the sky is on fire and Loki randomly bombards you with fireballs from the sky. Additionally the spawn of Surtr the fire giant roam the land along with a new variant of the Dragr that are all burned and ashen. Loki has somehow locked away the gods so that they can no longer interact with the mortal plane and I’ve moved from helping Heimdall to helping Thor as he tries to collect some artifacts that he needs. Be warned… this isn’t loveable Thor but instead the self absorbed talks about himself in third person Thor. I am guessing each phase of the game is going to be another “Age” of Midgard. You can in theory travel to the entire map in any of the phases but you are specifically focusing specific areas if you are following the quests.
All in all it is a pretty solid game experience and if you are looking for something that feels like a mix of Skyrim, Valheim and a quest driven MMORPG you might check it out. I have no clue what the co-op gameplay looks like, but it appears that you could spec a character exclusively for group play if you decided to do so. I am largely going down the DPS path because it seems to make killing things much easier. There is an AOE leap attack in the Thor tree that is brutal and is pretty much my opener for fighting multiple things at the same time. Similarly I can throw Thor’s hammer which does AOE damage and stuns the target, so while I love my tanking… there didn’t seem to be much of a point in Odin’s tree if you are largely playing solo.
This is at least one of those times when I am really glad that I didn’t give the game any attention at release, because it seems like they have mostly righted the ship after a bad core loop at launch.
Hey Friends! We continue my half assed coverage of E3 with a wrap up on the rest of the shows. I am sorta batching these all together because after Xbox and Bethesda… everything seems like a downgrade. This morning I am going to talk about games that I thought were interesting and/or got excited about from the following shows with video linked.
There was not a ton in these shows that really piqued my interests, but I did find a few things to talk about. One of my general takeaways from E3 2021 is that it seems like Western developers had a much easier time dealing with the ramifications of the pandemic than Japanese developers. Shows like Square Enix and Capcom which normally have some pretty cool reveals… were pretty anemic at best. It does make me wonder if there is just a more formalized structure there that doesn’t translate to remote work that well? The United States specifically had been moving towards a more flexible and remote office for awhile, and the pandemic seemed to just push already existing plans into motion.
GigaBash
This game makes my inner eight year old happy. Essentially it is a 3D brawler with destructible and usable scenery where you pit one of several Kaiju, Robots and/or Cryptids against one another. I love Monsters, I love Robots and I love Brawlers so I am just hoping I can find some people to play this with when it ultimately launches. I can probably at a very minimum convince Grace to be a Kaiju with me and destroy towns. I particularly liked the volcano level where an eruption was happening and the combatants had to deal with the increasing flow of lava. Fully on board for this particular brand of nonsense.
So I am still a bit confused as to what this game is exactly. From what I am reading it sounds like it is going to be a co-op action game where you collect loot and equipment and customize your players to fight tougher encounters. That sounds like Melee Destiny, but also no one has really managed to do Melee Destiny properly yet. It is by Platinum games so expect it to be a little bit on the odd side, and the video specifically states that Nier proved that they had hack and slash chops. However I don’t exactly think of Nier as being a traditional hack and slash game? I am interested and signed up for the beta so I would have to see this in action before I really commit to being excited for it. It is curious enough to gain a mention this morning however.
You remember that whole Marvels Avengers thing where they make characters look like designers imposters version of the MCU characters? It’s back! This time it is in a single player adventure, which I have to admit I am tentatively interested in. I honestly wonder if this began its life as DLC content for Marvels Avengers, and after the general flop it was ultimately got spun off as its own game? The aesthetics and graphics certainly fit that style with the key difference being this is Eidos and not Crystal Dynamics… but they are all Square Enix studios so who knows. I am interested enough in this to take a wait and see attitude. It could be another Marvels Avengers… or it could be another Spiderman game so I guess time will tell.
Every so often a game comes along that blows you away completely. For me it is Harold Halibut, in part because I love the art style. It turns out that everything you see in the game is hand crafted and hand animated with stop motion. It looks like an old school style adventure game where you are trying to figure out how to get your ship from its watery grave and back out into the stars looking for a dryer home. The textural aspect of the game is just gorgeous and I am going to pick this up as soon as it is available.
This one only really gets a footnote because the PC versions of several of these early games are shit. I am hoping that this release ultimately remedies this and we don’t just get crappy ports of the iPhone versions. The fact that this is releasing on Steam and the two mobile app stores however… makes me think that this is likely not the case. I don’t love the look of FF5 for example on the PC. I really do not like that art style and I am hoping however these end up looking… is a bit closer to the feel of the original artwork.
I have no idea what to even begin to think about this game. Effectively it looks like it is a modern Action Combat Final Fantasy game similar to FF7 Remake… but that loosely follows the story arc of the original Final Fantasy game. Also if you squint your eyes JUST RIGHT you would think this is a Devil May Cry game. I am not sure what this means for the franchise or if it means that they plan on going back and mining the back catalog of Final Fantasy games for future action combat conversions. We live in interesting times, but I have to admit I am sorta into this notion. Maybe the pixel remaster is so that we can remember what was clearly… as they start picking apart the bones to craft crazy mechanized versions for future consumption. In any case there is a demo out now for PS5 and I am downloading.
I’ve never successfully made my way through a Shin Megami Tensei game but that doesn’t stop me from considering them very interesting. It looks like the next game in that series is exclusive to the switch and we will seeing it releasing in the holiday timeframe. It looks really pretty, or at least a significant upgrade graphically from the ones I have tried to play on the 3DS. I have no clue if I am going to fall for the trap of buying and trying this one or not but it was something that made me interested at least.
I have to admit this is the winner of this list far as I am concerned. This is the game that excited me the most out of everything post Bethesda/Microsoft and maybe even competes with some of those announcements. I love Metroid and I specifically love the 2D era Metroid games. All I have really wanted for awhile is for Nintendo to release the remake of Metroid 2 that they did exclusive to the 3DS over on the Nintendo Switch. While this is not what they did… we are apparently getting a brand new adventure which is maybe even better? They specifically labelled it Metroid 5 at the beginning of the trailer… which I am not sure I understand the sequence if that is the case. It seems like there is a chase mechanic similar to Mr X from Resident Evil 2 remake, with your own ways of mitigating this and hiding from what appears to be an indestructible killer robot.
I want to be excited for this game but I am not sure if I can be. After watching the trailer, I read up some of the information that came out surrounding it… and apparently the weapon breaking mechanic remains in this game. That was a deal breaker for me with the first game and largely ruined the entire experience. I didn’t get into the game until I could play it on a WiiU emulator with a mod that removed weapon durability. After that I had the best time I have had in a Zelda game in a long time. So I guess for the sequel… since it won’t be releasing on WiiU I am going to have to hope for the Switch Emulator scene to get better real fast so I can also play this one… with a no durability fix.
There we have it folks. That was e3 2021… minus Nacon which is way out of band for the rest of the shows taking place July 7th. It was a bit of a disappointing all around with the only “good” shows being Microsoft/Bethesda and Nintendo Direct. Everything else was either an endless wave of indie games that will be forgotten moments after watching the trailer or expansions for existing live service games. I do feel bad for that endless ocean of indies because it really does take an awful lot to make one of them rise above the surf. Overall I did very much feel the loss of the EA and Sony shows and I would expect in both cases that they come up with some show during the summer to make up for that fact.
Even more frustrating however is the list of games not talked about that we know are in the works somewhere. A few things I want more information about:
Fable 4
Metroid Prime 4
Bioshock 4
Beyond Good and Evil 2
The Division: Heartland
Untitled Ubisoft Open World Star Wars Game
Jedi Fallen Order 2
Everwild
Then there is a whole slew of Sony exclusives that we missed out on by them not having a show. So I guess we will keep waiting on these things and maybe hear something in the months to come.
Morning Friends! As promised yesterday I am returning to my shoddy coverage of E3 2021 this morning. As a kid I can remember the highlight of my year being when the Christmas “wish books” as they used to call them, started showing up and giving us a vision of all of the amazing things that were about to arrive that winter. In many ways E3 reminds me of that same process because we sit down and watch a glorified demo reel of all of the games that are going to be arriving somewhere on the horizon. Sure some of those titles disappear never to return again… but most of them eventually do see the light of day in the coming two years.
Of all of the shows in recent memory there have been three that really stood out as highlights of the E3 Experience. Those were Sony and Microsoft because they always pulled out the big guns to show off everything we should be salivating over. As far as individual companies though… Bethesda is the show that most had my heart in mind when it came to its specific brand of games. Sony seems to be completely absent this year, like maybe they didn’t get the memo that E3 was back on and everyone was participating… even Nintendo. This however is the first year with Bethesda and Microsoft sharing the stage and it was a very interesting experience. E3 had been a pretty lackluster experience, but this combined show made up for lost time.
Starfield
Unfortunately we still don’t know a ton of information about “No Man’s Skyrim” as Kodra refers to it, but we do have a release date. This is currently targeting November 11th of 2022 aka 11 years after the release of Skyrim. Todd Howard even drew the same comparison to it basically being Skyrim in outer space and if they can pay off on that concept I am entirely on board with this. I like the grimy lived in feel of the visuals of this game as compared to the slick, smooth and clean spaceships that we often get. Ultimately if they are going to make it to 2022 and maintain the level of hype they have now… they are going to need to strategically seed us with information along the way to keep us going.
A theme you are going to find out about me, is that I really am interested in eastern block/soviet era nostalgia science fiction. I find the concepts that get thrown together so interesting and so wildly different from the narratives that come out of the western story telling traditions. Atomic Heart looks to be this wild post apocalyptic Bioshock style game set in or around a post-soviet Russia. Wild robots, some friendly, some very not friendly… and interesting denizens like this brief shot of a lady that looks like she is about to bung you over the head with a ladle. I remember seeing this before, but I had not really been following it… and I am super on board with this brand of nonsense.
I’ve seen this game a few times but it still interests me greatly. It reminds me of Syndicate in so many ways or the modern Shadowrun turn based RPGs. Based on the visuals and demo reel I would guess it is something more akin to a Tactics game or X-Com. It seems like you get to build your squad and then go out on missions for fun and profit. Going to be completely honest though, the setting and visuals are what made me interested because I am almost always on board with a cyberpunk aesthetic. Definitely going to check it out whenever it launches, especially since it will be available on Gamepass.
Sometimes a game comes along and I am uncertain how to feel about it. Redfall is one of these games. On some level it makes me think it is very much going to be a nostalgia trip back to the era when Left 4 Dead was king. Redfall describes itself as a co-op first person shooter but also Arkane goes into detail talking about how it will have loot collection and customization which screams something like a Destiny. Ultimately I think it all depends on how it feels and if it has compelling single player gameplay. Sure I like the notion of being able to get together with some of my friends and do co-op gameplay, but that is pretty much a pretty lie at this point. It is hard as hell to ever be playing the same game as my friends and even harder to get over the social friction required to actually be online and interested in playing the same thing at the same time. If this game gives me engaging single player gameplay… I am probably on board because I love what I have seen of the setting so far.
There is this trend happening right now in games and I am loving it. I most closely identify it with Narita Boy and Octopath Traveller but it is this concept of 2D pixel graphics being influenced by a 3D world with shaders and VFX. The end result is this glorious aesthetic that is both retro and modern at the same time and it is showcased beautifully in Replaced. This game reminds me of a Castlevania game set in a post apocalyptic wasteland or maybe even a setting similar to the Crow movies. I am very interested and again since it is coming to Gamepass, I will at the very least install and check it out.
I am not sure what I need to say about this one. We have known a new Psychonauts game was in the works for several years at this point. It is just about to release since we have an August 25th date finally announced. Either you are a fan of this particular brand of humor and adventure or you are not. Double Fine creates a very specific flavor of game and I know that I will eventually get around to playing this one. The challenge however is I am not sure when. I am interested but probably not interested enough to push something else out of the way in order to play it. I am certain Thalen however will be trying his best to play this upon release because he is a huge fan of the series. I enjoyed the first game quite a bit but also am fine waiting awhile until I have a lull to pick it up.
I am extremely excited for this game, because I feel like I missed out on playing the first game. What I mean by that… is there is this entire era of first person shooter that is largely lost to me. I’ve become used to the specific control scheme that we landed on for this style of game, and going back to a game that controls differently than that… is just not something I can do anymore. As a result I am super interested in exploring this setting with modern controls. Again this feeds into that whole Soviet era nostalgia and narrative thing that interests me because the kinds of stories that get told are different than what I would normally expect. This is probably a day one game for me, especially since once again… it is on Gamepass.
The Outer Worlds 2 wins the show for the absolute best trailer. If you don’t know what I am talking about take a watch. I loved the first game (and need to return to it and finish it at some point soon) and as a result I am super on board with a new one. I love this setting and I love the characters that came from the setting. Obsidian did a damned fine job of hatching a Fallout adjacent feeling environment that doesn’t just feel derivative and is instead its own rich setting. I am going to keep buying Outer Worlds games as long as they keep making them. I still hope someday to see a Fallout New Vegas 2 however since Obsidian and Bethesda now live under the same corporate umbrella. Please Papa Microsoft make this happen.
This is another game like Redfall that I am uncertain about. The premise seems awesome… the folks that brought us the Just Cause games creating a 1970s era heist game set in a fictional country. The piece of that equation that I am uncertain about however is that it is ultimately a co-op experience which may or may not translate to single player gameplay. Once again I have friends and I have friends who game… but the likelihood of actually getting everyone to be playing the same game at the same time is next to zero. So this is really cool and all, but unless I can play it happily by myself without the need of other human beings that it is probably going to be a pass for me. Again however the existence of Gamepass allows me to dip my toes into a game like this without fully committing so for now… I am tentatively interested.
I have been recently back in Fallout 76 and the game is far better than anyone seems to give it credit. The introduction of NPCs went a long way to making this feel like a proper fallout game, and they continue to roll out new content at a regular cadence much like Elder Scrolls Online. So while I have not really interacted much with the Brotherhood of Steel content, I am interested to see more of it.
What really intrigues me however is something they announced branded an “expedition” and that we would be visiting The Pitt again. This was one of the better Fallout 3 expansions and it was a self contained area separate from the Capital Wasteland. This makes me wonder if this is ultimately going to be how Fallout 76 introduces new maps to the game. I am interested to see where they go with this concept and I would love to spend time visiting areas that we have in other games… in this prequel setting to see the forces that shaped them.
I have no idea why I am paying attention to this trailer or why I am even talking about it. I know that I do not like Halo games. I’ve known this for awhile now. I don’t like not being able to stick with only the weapons that I like as I make my way across the game world. I hate having to pick up random weapons and use them, especially the goofy covenant weapons. Knowing all of this… why am I still compelling to keep watching Halo trailers and get mildly excited by them? I mean it looks like a good Halo game for people who love Halo… and given that it is probably going to be available on Gamepass at some point… I will probably give it a try. Sometimes the heart wants things that the brain knows that it should not.
There we have it friends… this is the show that restored my faith in the E3 experience once again. Sure I could cherry pick a handful of games that I was mildly interested in from the previous shows but this had things I was legitimately thrilled to see. There are times I have to admit I consider picking up an Xbox Series X, or at least trying to. Microsoft with its focus on Gamepass… really does seem like the winner of this generation. I’ve always backed Sony because it gave me experiences that did not end up transferring over to my platform of choice… the PC. However it seems like even that might be less of a thing as Sony seems to be courting that sweet sweet PC gaming dollar. If someone asked me how they could get the most bang for the buck I would not hesitate for a second to say that they should buy an Xbox Series X and Gamepass and then just play whatever gets released there.
