Soooooo what'cha playing?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Finally found time to give Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice the attention it deserves. The battle system is excellent. You start the game with all the essential moves, except the makiri counter which is unlocked quickly anyway. The deflecting of attacks is a revelation and feels better than any blocking I can think of in an action game. In most games, your character stops defending the moment you let go of the button - punishing players harshly for letting go too early. But in this one, you'll continue to block even as Sekiro is lowering his blade, allowing the player to focus on tapping the button for perfect deflects. While this does make you pretty hard to hit if you mash block constantly, perilous attacks and status effects keep the player from getting complacent and in true dark souls fashion every move is a commitment. I think jumping is a little weird though. Your jump height is very high which rocks for platforming, but when you jump in a fight it takes a long time to get back down and I find myself cheesing fights by jumping clean over enemy swings when backed in a corner. The freedom to run away from and straight past fights and mini bosses seems a tad excessive as well. They give up chasing you almost immediately before foolishly turning their backs to you. The goons in an Arkham game are smarter and more pro-active than this.

I didn't find the difficulty to be well curated. Really the most difficult encounters all seemed to be in the first third of the game, outside of the final/optional bosses. Especially with common enemies who have tons of variety on their attack timings compared to later enemies and bosses. Later bosses will have lots of variety in their attacks, but they strike so quickly Sekiro never puts down his sword after the first block. Perhaps the developers wanted to instill the habit of running past dangerous encounters, but this game's opening hours are extremely hostile. And since the difficulty only curves downward from there I wonder what the point of it is, and can only empathize with people asking for an "easy mode". This is a game that demands you understand its controls, stealth, and resource management immediately, and not every player will have played enough of other games to manage that. Most of all existing Dark Souls players who may expect dodging directly into enemy attacks will work like I did for the first hour.

Nonetheless I find Sekiro to be an excellent game, if hard to approach. It's level and enemy designs are polished in a way previous Souls games just weren't. And the ability to switch weapons or "build" your character through RPG mechanics are not features I miss. The narrative also stands out compared to the Souls series where there are actual characters affecting the world in their right minds and so are you. I understood the ramifications of my chosen ending before I saw it, what a concept! But having to advance some questlines through obscure dialogue exchanges and eavesdrop opportunities (which might even be missable?) feels cheap and unnecessary. I rate Sekiro an 8.3 out of 10. Now my 2019 backlog is clear and I just need to make time for Luigi's Mansion 3, Outer Worlds, and Shenmue 3.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Armagon]

So Atelier Ryza came out and i got to play the first hour. It's good. The game looks really good. The enviornements are really pleaseant to look at and the game's visuals shine the best when it's night time. The characters are all good from the bit i've gotten to know them. I'm gonna hold off comenting on the alchemy part because i'm only an hour into the game and i haven't done a whole lot. Battle system surprised me. It's ATB which is a big departure from Atelier's turn-based combat. You can only control one character in combat while the other two are controlled by the AI. You can change who you control at any time. At first, i thought the combat mechanics were kinda gonne be a bit much but i got used to it really quick. I wouldn't mind if this was the new direction for combat in the series. That's all for my first impressions.

[DragonFlames]

15 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So Atelier Ryza came out and i got to play the first hour. It's good. The game looks really good. The enviornements are really pleaseant to look at and the game's visuals shine the best when it's night time. The characters are all good from the bit i've gotten to know them. I'm gonna hold off comenting on the alchemy part because i'm only an hour into the game and i haven't done a whole lot. Battle system surprised me. It's ATB which is a big departure from Atelier's turn-based combat. You can only control one character in combat while the other two are controlled by the AI. You can change who you control at any time. At first, i thought the combat mechanics were kinda gonne be a bit much but i got used to it really quick. I wouldn't mind if this was the new direction for combat in the series. That's all for my first impressions.

As someone who's not a fan of this in the Final Fantasy games I've played that had it, I'm not sure how I feel about the ATB thing. But everything else sounds promising so far.

[Armagon]

17 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

As someone who's not a fan of this in the Final Fantasy games I've played that had it, I'm not sure how I feel about the ATB thing. But everything else sounds promising so far.

I'm actually not that big a fan of Final Fantasy ATB either (by which i mean 7 is literally the only FF game i've played) but thankfully Atelier Ryza's ATB is just much better designed since it allows you to switch between characters during battle and since your other two party members are controlled by the AI, you can focus on one character at a time instead of having to act quickly to prevent your party members from being held up. There's also an interrupt thing you can do by using 10 AP which freezes time (AP is really easy to rack up btw). The difficulty can also be changed freely at any time so you want, you can set it to Easy to get used to it and then increase the difficulty later. I'm playing on Hard and i've been able to handle it. There are two higher difficulties above Hard but it seems i gotta beat the game to unlock them.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Armagon

[Lightcosmo]

16 hours ago, Armagon said:

I'm actually not that big a fan of Final Fantasy ATB either (by which i mean 7 is literally the only FF game i've played) but thankfully Atelier Ryza's ATB is just much better designed since it allows you to switch between characters during battle and since your other two party members are controlled by the AI, you can focus on one character at a time instead of having to act quickly to prevent your party members from being held up. There's also an interrupt thing you can do by using 10 AP which freezes time (AP is really easy to rack up btw). The difficulty can also be changed freely at any time so you want, you can set it to Easy to get used to it and then increase the difficulty later. I'm playing on Hard and i've been able to handle it. There are two higher difficulties above Hard but it seems i gotta beat the game to unlock them.

I honestly enjoy the battle system, I think it's fun yet challenging in it's own way.

I should mention that some FF's have AI controlled party members. Not that that's a good thing, I mean, most players tend to play their own way, making it hard for the AI to do what you want.

[DragonFlames]

19 hours ago, Armagon said:

I'm actually not that big a fan of Final Fantasy ATB either (by which i mean 7 is literally the only FF game i've played) but thankfully Atelier Ryza's ATB is just much better designed since it allows you to switch between characters during battle and since your other two party members are controlled by the AI, you can focus on one character at a time instead of having to act quickly to prevent your party members from being held up. There's also an interrupt thing you can do by using 10 AP which freezes time (AP is really easy to rack up btw). The difficulty can also be changed freely at any time so you want, you can set it to Easy to get used to it and then increase the difficulty later. I'm playing on Hard and i've been able to handle it. There are two higher difficulties above Hard but it seems i gotta beat the game to unlock them.

That does sound much, much better than FF ATB systems.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

When people say "ATB system" my mind goes first to the games that pioneered it. FF 4-6 and Chrono Trigger. Not the PS1 era. In PS1 era charge gauges would keep going during long animations, leaving a long queue of your party's and enemy's attacks. Somebody may need emergency healing but it could be a minute before you get back to anybody's turn and you can't modify your cura command into a phoenix down. That, combined with it taking a solid ten-thirty seconds to load in and out of a random encounter forces the player to be very patient.

But I try not to pick on PS1 rpgs, I know they're going through puberty and they've become very self conscious. Hiding behind FMV cutscenes, commissioning lyrical songs for the credits, and having main characters that say "whatever". They just want you to like them.

Edited October 30, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Lightcosmo]

6 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

When people say "ATB system" my mind goes first to the games that pioneered it. FF 4-6 and Chrono Trigger. Not the PS1 era. In PS1 era charge gauges would keep going during long animations, leaving a long queue of your party's and enemy's attacks. Somebody may need emergency healing but it could be a minute before you get back to anybody's turn and you can't modify your cura command into a phoenix down. That, combined with it taking a solid ten-thirty seconds to load in and out of a random encounter forces the player to be very patient.

But I try not to pick on PS1 rpgs, I know they're going through puberty and they've become very self conscious. Hiding behind FMV cutscenes, commissioning lyrical songs for the credits, and having main characters that say "whatever". They just want you to like them.

I think FF7 was mentioned since it's well known.

If you cant be patient, I dont think an RPG is the game style for you. Not you specifically, just generally speaking.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Just finished Breath of Fire. Never got a chance to play this one so I was happy to see it show up on Nintendo's SNES app for Switch. Does it compare to the Square RPGs everybody would prefer? Maybe not, but it's a quaint game for the era. And translated by the man who died for our sins, Ted Woolsey. No Woolseyisms as good as "Son of a Submariner!" but I'd chalk it up to the game having a very deadpan seeming script that leans on the serious and depressing more than the whimsical. The eight party members aren't terribly unique in combat and aren't well balanced. Some fall off, while others join your party unsalvageable. However, Breath of Fire has a lot of character-specific ultimate equipment hidden away in secret areas and activities. I love that, modern rpgs rarely do that since all characters tend to be blank slates capable of equipping any gear with no restrictions. There's a unique thrill in knowing you just got Nina's best headgear or an accessory only one character can equip for a huge stat boost. 

The walking speed is pretty slow in the game. Not Phantasy Star 3 slow, but pretty close. And cutscenes show us characters running about at much faster speeds which makes me jealous. Game could really use a dash button. Thankfully you can warp to previous areas fairly early in the game, and warp out of dungeons in the late game so that cuts down on the walking considerably. Lots of other quality of life features like being able to examine items and the marbl3 item that lets you avoid random encounters entirely. The game balance is horribly out of whack. Mid game dungeons are throwing hour 1 overworld enemies into the encounters. Most of the game is laughably easy while the first thirty minutes are some of the most hostile you'll ever see. Some dungeon designs are obnoxious, asking you to find an exit in wide open rooms with no landmarks and enemy encounters every 5-30 steps. Another dungeon has an optical illusion minigame with information the player must retain even past random encounters. But most of the game is quite playable. I rate it a 6.0 out of 10.

[Sire]

Haven't posted here in a while...

Langrisser Mobile - I got sucked back into Langrisser Mobile, mostly because I was wondering if the game improved any since the last time I played. One of the major improvements is the "daily sweep" function as it allows the player to autocomplete some daily quests. This addressed one of my major concerns as going through all the dailies in LM could take over an hour, and that is just getting the daily stuff done. Doing things such as Guild Wars (another massive timesink) and actually trying to play the game took up more time.

However, it still has plenty of issues, with the main one being poor EN Localization. While I can't nitpick the translations as I don't know the original lines, the lines we do have in English are all over the place. Some of the "character mission" dialogues can be in broken English with grammar mistakes galore. To think LM still has such issues after being released for so long is mind boggling to me.

In the end, I decided to uninstall the game. I can't overlook the problems it has and rather support devs who seem to care more about their players.

* * * * *

Fire Emblem Three Houses - I finally finished my Silver Snow run.

I loved the extra dialogue from the Black Eagle students and the fluff from Seteth and Flayn, but otherwise this route is forgettable. Granted, I went in believing it would be the weakest route (and it is), but still. Some spoiler discussion below.

Spoiler

Seriously, it is just like the Golden Deer route, but without the awesome stuff. It cuts out Gronder Field, but otherwise plays just like the Verdant Wind campaign. I appreciate the fluff text from the Black Eagle students, but that was it. Just fluff.

Personally, I think the "Church Route" would've worked well if it had its own unique spin on things. Specifically, making the confrontation with Edelgard and Hubert more "important" (as they were your students), and maybe having the party go around searching for Rhea instead of being a "Resistance Army" so early. It would give an excuse to explore Kingdom Territory, for one.

I still think Crimson Flower and Silver Snow were the last routes developed, with most of the time being spent on Crimson Flower to try and make it a unique experience. Silver Snow got the short end of the stick by copying the Golden Deer route.

Also, the reveal at the end, and I mean the very end, like the finale chapter, was underwhelming. If the player did any of the other routes, they could probably figure that reveal out themselves. All Silver Snow does is spell it out for you.

* * * * *

Heh, now I'm wonder what a "Three Houses, Ultimate Edition" would be like if everything was properly implemented. Heck, I wonder what a "Fates Ultimate Edition" would be like, but I doubt that can be scavenged unless they remake it from the ground up.

Now I'm doing a Crimson Flower NG+ Maddening run so I can mess around one of the new characters, and because CF remains my favorite route. I'm still debating if I want to do an "all recruit" run now or save that for when the last DLC hits. Either way, I'm at least recruiting Lysithea.

Edited November 15, 2019 by Sire

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Spyro: Season of Ice, the first non-Insomniac entry into the series. And if it were released just a few months earlier would have enjoyed being one of the GBA's launch titles. It is more than a little rough. What the game neglects to tell you is how to move the isometric camera which feels crucial with how zoomed in the the field of view is. At no point can you see more than 3 spyro lengths, so it's easy to get lost in these levels with no map. Depth perception is another issue. If you ever try to glide in the direction of south, you're making a leap of faith that the place you're trying to land is both within range and not on a higher altitude. In every non home world level, falling off these platformers is death. Except lava levels, oddly enough, the lava will just hurt you while water kills you outright. The objectives of each level come in three categories:

1. Defeat all enemies
2. Accomplish a level-specific objective (ie lighting all the lighthouses in a beach level)
3. Flame eight of an object spread hidden across the level OR destroy five of the mystery vase object

All objectives require several full tours of the level. But your progress on the last one resets after death while the others just reset from leaving the level. The game is 100% floating platforms, so taking a bad hit from a dubiously placed enemy or misjudging whether you can cross a gap can set you back a long time. Furthermore completion of any objective warps you to another point of the level to collect your reward which can immediately make you feel lost. But the most problematic design is that in order to beat the game, you must collect every fairy in the game. All of them, even the ones hidden on obscure platforms in the distance. The game demands perfection, but only requires the player find about a third of the gems. Since locating these fairies requires several tours of each stage, you'll never come up short on gems. If the game demanded just locating 50-70% of the collectibles like any normal collectathon, I'd be okay with it, but 99% is too much. I rate Season of Ice a 2.9 out of 10. While much of the game functions as the developers intended, their intentions were shoddy game design.

Also, because each world represents a different season, the game should be called season(s) of ice.

[DragonFlames]

So, Atelier Ryza ended with a bang earlier. The second Atelier game that walled itself off behind a sheer insurmountable difficulty curve after Totori. Since I made it to the finale of the game (I assume that, anyway - the story sure as hell liked to beat me over the head with it), I'm going to do my usual review-thingy. Less detailed this time, because I don't really feel like it today.

What did I like?

• The game looks absolutely beautiful. So beautiful that I seriously have to say that this puts many, many other JRPGs to shame, to say nothing of every other Atelier game. The only game comparable to this one graphics-wise is Shining Resonance Refrain and even then, I'd say Atelier Ryza looks a tad bit better. From its environments, to its weather effects, to its day-night cycle, this game is a visual delicacy, so to speak.
• The story is very intriguing in this one. Compared to other Atelier games I've played, the plot is a little more at the forefront and one heck of a lot more serious. It works, though it was surprising at first.
• The characters are good. They're not Lulua-level good, but still serviceable enough to be considered likeable to me. Ryza herself is an obvious highlight, but I still like Sophie and Lulua a teeny-tiny bit more as far as Atelier protagonists go. My favorite characters ended up being the initially mysterious Empel and Lila, the latter of which looks like she crawled out of a drawer with unused character designs for Nights of Azure.
• The alchemy system is probably the easiest to get into and make use of alongside Atelier Sophie's. It's extremely friendly to newcomers, of which this game reportedly had a lot, so that's a definite plus in my book. I personally liked the one in Atelier Lulua a little bit more, but that's down to taste.
• There exists a mechanic that lets you make your own gathering fields with materials you don't need. It lets you search for materials you need and even has some enemies to fight, so you can train a bit.
• Converting materials and items you don't need anymore into gems to duplicate/strengthen items you really need is amazing and should become a mainstay from here on out. This is probably my favorite new game mechanic this game has introduced.

What did I not like?

• Even though the ATB system isn't as terrible as it is in some Final Fantasy games, I will say this: they should have remained with the turn-based system they had before. I don't know what reason made them change it, but this feels like change for change's sake, which in my eyes is rarely, if ever, a good thing. Turns out I wasn't entirely wrong on this one. Though the battle system is surprisingly easy to get used to and enjoyable to an extent, having either full-on action combat or full-on turn-based combat would have been better. ATB is trying to mesh the two and the result is... messy.
• The character Tao's voice was really annoying after a while, to the point where I skipped over his dialogue as soon as I was finished reading it.
• My least favorite mechanic (and the one I blame my inability to beat that certain boss on) in this game by far is the new Core Item mechanic. The way it works is that you equip your party with usable items such as bombs and medicine, so it saves inventory space. Which sounds good, right? Left Wrong. See, the thing is, each item uses Core Charges and the maximum amount of these is shared by all party members. I never found a way to increase the maximum amount of CC, either, so I was stuck with the initial 10, meaning I ran out of them in the middle of the battle, rendering me unable to heal my party members, resulting in a total party wipe. I have to draw the line in the sand somewhere and this is definitely it. I vastly, VASTLY prefer the past system where items had finite uses, but you could bring multiple of each to have a good supply of healing items at the ready should anything go awry during a fight. Sure, you could make the argument that this is done to make people think about when to use items and when to save them, which I would agree with. In theory. In practice, this just means if a battle takes longer than you want it to, you'll inevitably run out of CC and die right then and there.

All in all, I still very much enjoyed playing this game, even if I couldn't finish it.
If I had to rank the Atelier games I've played up until this point, my ranking would go something like this:
1. Lulua
2. Rorona/Sophie
4. Ryza
5. Totori
With Totori being the only one I couldn't really enjoy.

[Armagon]

@DragonFlames how do you write a review about Atelier Ryza and not mention the music? Cause the music is amazing in this game. A few tracks even give me Xenoblade vibes, which can only mean good things.

26 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

The game looks absolutely beautiful. So beautiful that I seriously have to say that this puts many, many other JRPGs to shame,

Made all the more impressive considering the fact that Atelier games run on a small budget with a small dev team and cycle. 

 

26 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

All in all, I still very much enjoyed playing this game, even if I couldn't finish it.
If I had to rank the Atelier games I've played up until this point, my ranking would go something like this:
1. Lulua
2. Rorona/Sophie
4. Ryza
5. Totori
With Totori being the only one I couldn't really enjoy.

Disregading Sophie, because i haven't played it, my personal Atelier ranking is (and i haven't beaten Ryza but i'm almost done so this is probably where it lands)

1. Lulua
2. Ryza
3. Meruru
4. Rorona
5. Totori (the only one i didn't enjoy).

I was actually considering putting Ryza above Lulua at one point but it came down to one thing: character events. Both games have good character events, Lulua just has more of them. But other than that, i think the two games are on par with each other imo. Though on the flip side, the main cast of Ryza felt present throughout the game whereas in Lulua, Niko didn't really matter. You could take him out of the game and nothing really changes.

Edited November 16, 2019 by Armagon

[DragonFlames]

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

@DragonFlames how do you write a review about Atelier Ryza and not mention the music? Cause the music is amazing in this game. A few tracks even give me Xenoblade vibes, which can only mean good things.

Oh crap, you're right. That completely slipped my mind. Of course, the music is amazing. Each track fits the overall areas really well and it's all incredibly pleasant to listen to.

4 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Made all the more impressive considering the fact that Atelier games run on a small budget with a small dev team and cycle.

Take notes, GameFreak.

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Disregading Sophie, because i haven't played it, my personal Atelier ranking is (and i haven't beaten Ryza but i'm almost done so this is probably where it lands)

1. Lulua
2. Ryza
3. Meruru
4. Rorona
5. Totori (the only one i didn't enjoy).

I was actually considering putting Ryza above Lulua at one point but it came down to one thing: character events. Both games have good character events, Lulua just has more of them. But other than that, i think the two games are on par with each other imo. Though on the flip side, the main cast of Ryza felt present throughout the game whereas in Lulua, Niko didn't really matter. You could take him out of the game and nothing really changes.

True, Niko didn't really matter in Lulua after his initial introduction. I still liked the guy, for what it's worth.
Meruru is the next game on my list, though I think I'll push one more game in-between (I REALLY want to play Nights of Azure again - maybe I'll even do a screenshot-let's play of it here, we'll see). Still, I'm looking forward to it. Heard a lot of good things, too.

[Armagon]

Just now, DragonFlames said:

Each track fits the overall areas really well and it's all incredibly pleasant to listen to.

I also appreciate how (and i haven't played anything outside of Arland so i don''t know if this is also the case) each area has it'w own unique theme, and that's not even talking about the day and night versions. In the Arland series, apart from Rorona, each area's theme was just a different rendition of the world map theme (with a few exceptions).

3 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

True, Niko didn't really matter in Lulua after his initial introduction. I still liked the guy, for what it's worth.

Oh i like him too, i just wish he had more of a presence. I mean, you could say that about a lot of characters in Arland trilogy (and maybe even Dusk) but because of the way the story is structured in those games, the character events are the true story. Basically, the characters are as relevant as you want them to be in those games.

 

[DragonFlames]

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I also appreciate how (and i haven't played anything outside of Arland so i don''t know if this is also the case) each area has it'w own unique theme, and that's not even talking about the day and night versions. In the Arland series, apart from Rorona, each area's theme was just a different rendition of the world map theme (with a few exceptions).

While I don't necessarily mind that each area theme is a different version of the map theme, as they still fit the area they're played in and it's still good music, this seems to be Arland only from what I've seen. Atelier Sophie also has unique area themes and a distinct map theme with one day and one night version.
Sophie even goes the extra mile and gives you different BATTLE themes depending on the difference in strength between you and your opponents (with this one being my favorite in the series so far, especially the orchestrated version used in Warriors All-Stars).

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Oh i like him too, i just wish he had more of a presence. I mean, you could say that about a lot of characters in Arland trilogy (and maybe even Dusk) but because of the way the story is structured in those games, the character events are the true story. Basically, the characters are as relevant as you want them to be in those games.

That's probably why it feels like the main story is in the background in other Atelier games. I kinda like that about them, actually.

[tacticianwhite]

Dragon Quest Builders 2. Specifically, the jumbo demo. It's a really cute game. I like planting crops, building, uh...buildings, and it has a whole bunch of charm and the characters are enjoyable.

Spoiler

Honestly, there's a character who says "legit" and "lit". And "fam". How could you not love that.

Well, it's an enjoyable game, but I don't think I'm ready to buy it quite yet. There are other games coming out I want more, and I have so many I still need to play. Still though, it's a good game so far.

[DragonFlames]

Small addendum to my above review of Atelier Ryza: I did manage to beat the boss I was stuck on earlier. Turns out I was stupid, not the game (as per usual).
My thoughts haven't exactly changed, however, as I still don't really like the Core Charge system. Still, as mentioned in the review, Atelier Ryza is a really good game with a good story, good characters and amazing music and graphics as well as fun gameplay.
To anyone who wants to try the Atelier series: this is a good entry point.

Next game: Atelier Meruru, Nights of Azure (maybe even as my first ever screenshot-let's play), and/or another Three Houses playthrough, depending on what I feel like doing (perhaps all of them?)

[Major]

Three Houses and Pokemon Sword, with too much other stuff in backlog

also @DragonFlames is your avatar from BoF4 or FF12? That design looks so familiar...

[DragonFlames]

1 hour ago, Major said:

Three Houses and Pokemon Sword, with too much other stuff in backlog

also @DragonFlames is your avatar from BoF4 or FF12? That design looks so familiar...

BoF means Breath of Fire, I believe?
I agree that it does look similar to the dragons in FFXII, but it's not from either of these games. It's one of the bosses from Shining Resonance Refrain.
Here's the full picture (spoilered for post size):

[Reality]

I played Star Control 3 - Now I can claim that the combined videos speedrun the franchise in 6 hours - I'm happy considering that 3 of them are adventure/hybrid RPG.

As far as SC3 being a bad game / black sheep of franchise - I actually think it's writing is entertaining a lot, there are obvious execution fails later on, but given the tight deadline it was made on, most of them aren't too bad - The real problem with the game is that it's inconsistent event triggers- they're divided into "immediate" 1 day 10 day, and "special" 7 specific event triggers ( 5 of which are needed to complete the game) have delays of 90, 100, 110, 150, 100 again, 70, and one more 100 - These create incredible confusion - both for casual players and me while planning the speedrun - while waiting for certain of them to resolve, you can probably finish all available non-timegated content in 25-30 In-game-days, and then the game will seemingly be locked, while actual progress is, technically still possible. There are also a couple really dumb dependent dialogs - the game wants you to get information from the Spathi for 4 unrelated aliens (very nonunintuitive) and more flagrantly, you can ally aliens such as the Owa, who will have 0 dialog branches, unless you leave and resolve pre-requisite dialog branches with other aliens - The game also has TONS of non-standard game-overs you can get through dialog - some of which are serious non-sequitors - Exquivan and Owa again - Combat is a hot mess - I REALLY like SC1 and SC2 combat, but SC3 gives you freebies in story mode, and in the full combat mode --- 4 new ships are broken compared to old ships, while the other 6 new ships are various degrees of junk - The game supports 64 angles instead of the classic 16, so a couple ships benefit from the new physics.   The main problem is that the average health of the new ships, even the bad ones, has increased into the 20 range, so the old balance between fragile speedy ships and cumbersome slow turning ships is kind of lost. If you want to use all old ships you can steamroll everything from the begining of the game with the Utwig / Chmrr combo, which you weren't allowed to build in SC2 until there was nothing left but the final boss.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Finished Outer Worlds. I didn't put in as much time as I might have liked since I'm still short on game time, and don't want to be late on GOTY discussions. But I paid for my brevity in game clearing when I was met with Fallout-style ending slides detailing the consequences of the choices I did and did not make. Given the timing of Outer Worlds' release and its development studio, there's no escaping comparisons to Fallout. But they're largely unneeded. No Fallout game has ever been this well made, and I say that confidently after having played all of them. Dialogue is tastily written, non-violent solutions to quests tend to ask for more than a simple speech check, level ups are frequent, party members banter with each other, weapons can be upgraded to your current level if you're too attached to one, and choosing factions to support was never a choice between good and evil.

There's something that bugs me about the characters of the game. Too tolerant of your behavior. It feels like you really have to try to get people to not like you. Granted you're a walking, talking, side quest machine with non lethal solutions to almost anything, and that makes you generally likable, but sometimes it just seems tone deaf. Like when I take Vicar Max to a settlement of Iconoclasts - his theological/ideological enemy that he openly hates. He holds his tongue as I do work for that faction and that bugs me. In Fallout New Vegas, several companions wouldn't put up with you're shit if you were getting buddy buddy with the Legion. In Outer Worlds, it feels like the only way you'll upset somebody is when you shoot them in the face. Also, I ran into an issue with a pretty major side quest that warrants some research. I could tell there was a peaceful solution, but the dialogue choice just wouldn't appear for me.

I'd like to trek through the Colony again this winter for another playthrough. But it's more likely to assume I'll be playing more weird games from my backlog instead. Oh well. I rate Outer Worlds an 8.7 out of 10. It's definitely among the top tier of western RPGs. If a game with this much love and talent had a Mass Effect 2 level budget for better presentation, faster loads, more environments, and more marketing, I bet a game like this could transcend genre in its appeal. I don't want Outer Worlds to wallow in the narrative of being "the game Bethesda wouldn't make" because it's so much more than that. Also wow it took ten months for a game to usurp Resident Evil 2 as my GOTY. 

[vanguard333]

I finally got a Switch. I currently have 2 games on the Switch that I'm playing: Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

For Smash Bros. Ultimate, I've unlocked most, but not all of the playable fighters, and I'm about halfway through World of Light. Most recently, I just beat Giga Bowser. I'm really liking the game so far. I like that mid-air side-dodging is back and I like a lot of the new items. I don't like how long the characters seem to be pretty much paralysed when their attacks cancel each other out; that's annoying.

Overall, I'm enjoying World of Light. I like a lot of the gimmicks in each of the spirit battles, and I like the world map for what it is. But, I kind-of miss the Adventure Mode from Melee and the Subspace Emissary from Brawl; I just feel that the way exploration worked in those games better played to the series' strengths. 

For Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I just got to part 2 of my first route: Crimson Flower. I'm really liking the game overall; the story so far has been pretty good, the gameplay is excellent (aside from some class balancing issues) and, possibly for the first time since Radiant Dawn, almost all the characters are finally well-written. I just have a few criticisms of the plot, and most of them involve spoilers:

Spoiler

I like how Jeralt's death is handled overall; the scene where it happens is well-done, I like the change in music in the Monastery and how sad Byleth is in the following month. I was especially moved by the month of Jeralt's death being the one month where Bernadetta comes out of her room in order to pay her respects to him. However, I feel his raises a few questions:

• The second time Byleth goes through Jeralt's death, Kronya is saved by Thales teleporting in, creating a shield, and teleporting out with Kronya. One: considering Byleth needed time-travel to know to stop Kronya, how was this guy able to react in time? Was he watching us the whole time somehow? I understand why he saved Kronya: he needed her for later and he wanted to prevent the church from figuring out the secret of their bodies, but I don't understand how he could react in time to save her like that, and that second reason is thrown out the window since he does noting to retrieve Solon and Kronya's corpses just a chapter later. 
• Why? What was the goal for everything in this chapter and the next? I'm in part 2, and I still knowing nothing about why, "Those Who Slither in the Dark" turned those students into monsters and killed Jeralt. I can understand wanting to eliminate a threat to their plans if that was the stated goal, and Hubert speculates that it was all to kill Jeralt so that the knights would be busy running around and looking for Jeralt's killer while the group attacks the church again. But... they don't; they just wait in a forest and stage a trap for Byleth. Contrast this with Path of Radiance (considering how much Jeralt is made to be similar to Greil), we may not know what the Black Knight means by, "So I may see you at your full strength, General Gawain: Rider of Daein" or "Where is it? […] You, who knows what it can do more than anyone, would not simply throw it away" but it gives us enough hints to create a good mystery, and we're given a clear understanding of why: Daein wants something that Greil has, and it isn't Princess Elincia. The key to any good mystery is giving us enough information and hints that we can theoretically figure it out ourselves, and Jeralt's death just doesn't have any such hints or information. 

Also, I dislike the missed opportunity: in a game all about gray-and-gray morality, choices-&-consequences, ideology-vs-ideology, this would've been a good opportunity to have an antagonist for Byleth that stands out from the crowd by making it personal; this would've been an opportunity for Byleth to have a nemesis in the form of Kronya. For comparison to Path of Radiance again, The Black Knight adds a lot to the story by being a personal enemy to Ike. Everyone else that Ike's fighting, he's fighting either out of moral obligation or because his group was hired to do so; usually both. The Black Knight stands out among the crowd by making it personal, and given how Ike's arc is all about him living up to his father's legacy and taking up the mantle, it makes a lot of sense for his personal foe to be someone who killed his father in single-combat and was a former student of Greil. I'm not saying Kronya had to be Byleth's version of the Black Knight; honestly, I thought it was going to end up being more like Roy Mustang and Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. But to do so little with such a massive setup...

Also, while the scenes with Byleth mourning Jeralt are great, they missed a big opportunity in my opinion: he's acting Captain of the Knights of Seiros, a lot of people knew him and are mourning him, and this is supposed to be the moment where the tone of the story shifts completely for the darker. Why not give him an elaborate funeral cutscene? Even Greil was given a scene where Ike and Mist stand in front of his grave in a state of grief. Why didn't they show us Jeralt's funeral? Show us everyone's different reactions to his death? Alois can be crying his eyes out, Rhea can be trying to remain reserved but still sheds a tear nonetheless, etc. 

Spoiler

The Flame Emperor reveal overall was pretty good. This had enough hints to create a good mystery, though perhaps a bit too many as it quickly became obvious who it was. Perhaps the reason it was still a shock to me is that I had dismissed the obvious answer at first because the Flame Emperor seemed too tall to be Edelgard. But I think it was actually because, since I was playing the Black Eagles route, I got invested enough in Edelgard's character that it still came as a shock even though it wasn't a surprise. That is a good mystery. And, it does have a lot of plot ramifications, so it works as a plot twist, and not just shock bait. 

However, some of those ramifications seem to stretch beyond what the developers intended. Edelgard is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. So, why would she order a bandit attack on a group of students that includes herself? I can understand wanting to kill or capture Dimitri and Claude to make unifying Fodlan easier, and if capture was the case, I can understand Edelgard including herself in the group to shift suspicion elsewhere. But the bandits clearly weren't out to capture; they were out to kill, and had it not been for Byleth, she would have died because of her own stupid plan. 

Furthermore, the reveal felt just a bit... lacking overall, and I think I figured out the reason why: the Flame Emperor doesn't do much of anything in part 1. What the Flame Emperor actually does in part 1, amounts to the following:

• Stage a bandit attack to kill the house leaders, though I already went over how Edelgard being the Flame Emperor makes that stupid. 
• Use the Western Church as patsies to steal Seiros' body, though Seiros' body wasn't there; the Sword of the Creator was. But Edelgard didn't know that.
• Loan the Death Knight to Those Who Slither in the Dark, though that doesn't really count as nothing those guys do in part 1 is part of Edelgard's plan. 
• Launch a raid of the Holy Tomb to steal crest stones. This happens after Edelgard reveals that she's the Flame Emperor, so I don't count it either. 

For a character that was set up from near the beginning to be the main antagonist of part 1; the antagonist whose big reveal would have massive story ramifications that would shift the player's perspective and all that stuff, there just isn't much there, and what is there raises more questions (and not good questions) than answers. 

Spoiler

Speaking of the Flame Emperor reveal, the big decision moment that decides whether you side with Edelgard or the Church has to be one of the most disjointed plot events I have ever seen!

So, you've just defeated Edelgard, and Rhea is demanding that she be killed for basically committing acts of rebellion against the church. Okay; I'm invested in this moment; thinking as Byleth, my student I went to that tower with after the ball and whose coronation I attended has just turned on me and turned out to be the Flame Emperor, who I know was working with the people who killed my dad. But she's my student, and nothing about her motivations has so far been stated or made clear. Right now, what I want is answers; I'm screaming for answers; "Why, Edelgard; why?!" I'm desperately wanting to tell Rhea, "She's my student! I will hear her out first." 

But, I'm not allowed to ask for answers; the game is forcing me to decide now, without any information. How am I supposed to decide? I have nothing to go on! All I have is that it turns out that Edelgard has been attacking the church and helping Those Who Slither in the Dark for currently unknown reasons. It is then that I notice that the other students, who were all shocked by Edelgard's seeming betrayal, have not only gone silent, but disappeared entirely. They're not screaming, "Why, Edelgard; why?!" They're not offering their input on the situation. They're not even just standing there looking horrified; they're just not there. They're always there in every other important scene where they're present, but not this one. I just can't tell what's going on! How am I supposed to choose! I experienced three big problems with this:

• Had I not known already that I need to choose "side with Edelgard" to play the Crimson Flower route, I might have picked the other option; thinking it was the intended route; not the secret route, and I can't imagine that I'm the only one. I can only imagine how many players may have accidently chosen the Church route and thought they were playing Edelgard's route.
• The fact that I had to think of which route I wanted to go down in order to decide killed my immersion. I couldn't think the way I would in Byleth's position; only as what I wanted to do as the player. 
• I was so busy going, "What's going on?!" and not getting any answers that literally every subsequent scene leading into the next chapter were deprived of their emotional resonance for me. All the students choosing to side with Edelgard could've been fantastic, but I spent the whole thing going, "Why are you all giving exposition of where you were when the choice happened? At least now I know." The scene where you stand beside Edelgard as she asks the students if they'll stand with her could've been very moving, and I wanted to be moved, but I was too busy thinking, "Can you please tell me what we're actually doing and why?" When Edelgard personally thanks me for siding with her, that should've been the heartwarming moment that potentially dispelled any lingering doubts about siding with her. Instead, I'm thinking, "Okay... I only sided with you to play this route of the game; I had no idea what was going on."

I just don't understand how this moment was so botched. All I needed was the opportunity to ask Edelgard "why?" or even for Edelgard to give her reasons unprompted, or at least in response to Rhea's angry remarks, and for the students to at least be there. Every other plot-relevant scene has had these so far; why is this, the most important moment in part 1, the exception? 

Side-note: after Rhea explicitly states, "Her rebellious heart cannot be allowed to keep beating", I really wanted to have Byleth say something like, "You mean like how my heart doesn't beat at all because of what you did to me?" That maybe could've been another reason to side with Edelgard if the game had let me say anything like that. 

I'm curious, am I the only one who had any of these issues with the plot?

[Lightcosmo]

8 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

I finally got a Switch. I currently have 2 games on the Switch that I'm playing: Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

For Smash Bros. Ultimate, I've unlocked most, but not all of the playable fighters, and I'm about halfway through World of Light. Most recently, I just beat Giga Bowser. I'm really liking the game so far. I like that mid-air side-dodging is back and I like a lot of the new items. I don't like how long the characters seem to be pretty much paralysed when their attacks cancel each other out; that's annoying.

Overall, I'm enjoying World of Light. I like a lot of the gimmicks in each of the spirit battles, and I like the world map for what it is. But, I kind-of miss the Adventure Mode from Melee and the Subspace Emissary from Brawl; I just feel that the way exploration worked in those games better played to the series' strengths. 

For Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I just got to part 2 of my first route: Crimson Flower. I'm really liking the game overall; the story so far has been pretty good, the gameplay is excellent (aside from some class balancing issues) and, possibly for the first time since Radiant Dawn, almost all the characters are finally well-written. I just have a few criticisms of the plot, and most of them involve spoilers:

  Reveal hidden contents

I like how Jeralt's death is handled overall; the scene where it happens is well-done, I like the change in music in the Monastery and how sad Byleth is in the following month. I was especially moved by the month of Jeralt's death being the one month where Bernadetta comes out of her room in order to pay her respects to him. However, I feel his raises a few questions:

• The second time Byleth goes through Jeralt's death, Kronya is saved by Thales teleporting in, creating a shield, and teleporting out with Kronya. One: considering Byleth needed time-travel to know to stop Kronya, how was this guy able to react in time? Was he watching us the whole time somehow? I understand why he saved Kronya: he needed her for later and he wanted to prevent the church from figuring out the secret of their bodies, but I don't understand how he could react in time to save her like that, and that second reason is thrown out the window since he does noting to retrieve Solon and Kronya's corpses just a chapter later. 
• Why? What was the goal for everything in this chapter and the next? I'm in part 2, and I still knowing nothing about why, "Those Who Slither in the Dark" turned those students into monsters and killed Jeralt. I can understand wanting to eliminate a threat to their plans if that was the stated goal, and Hubert speculates that it was all to kill Jeralt so that the knights would be busy running around and looking for Jeralt's killer while the group attacks the church again. But... they don't; they just wait in a forest and stage a trap for Byleth. Contrast this with Path of Radiance (considering how much Jeralt is made to be similar to Greil), we may not know what the Black Knight means by, "So I may see you at your full strength, General Gawain: Rider of Daein" or "Where is it? […] You, who knows what it can do more than anyone, would not simply throw it away" but it gives us enough hints to create a good mystery, and we're given a clear understanding of why: Daein wants something that Greil has, and it isn't Princess Elincia. The key to any good mystery is giving us enough information and hints that we can theoretically figure it out ourselves, and Jeralt's death just doesn't have any such hints or information. 

Also, I dislike the missed opportunity: in a game all about gray-and-gray morality, choices-&-consequences, ideology-vs-ideology, this would've been a good opportunity to have an antagonist for Byleth that stands out from the crowd by making it personal; this would've been an opportunity for Byleth to have a nemesis in the form of Kronya. For comparison to Path of Radiance again, The Black Knight adds a lot to the story by being a personal enemy to Ike. Everyone else that Ike's fighting, he's fighting either out of moral obligation or because his group was hired to do so; usually both. The Black Knight stands out among the crowd by making it personal, and given how Ike's arc is all about him living up to his father's legacy and taking up the mantle, it makes a lot of sense for his personal foe to be someone who killed his father in single-combat and was a former student of Greil. I'm not saying Kronya had to be Byleth's version of the Black Knight; honestly, I thought it was going to end up being more like Roy Mustang and Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. But to do so little with such a massive setup...

Also, while the scenes with Byleth mourning Jeralt are great, they missed a big opportunity in my opinion: he's acting Captain of the Knights of Seiros, a lot of people knew him and are mourning him, and this is supposed to be the moment where the tone of the story shifts completely for the darker. Why not give him an elaborate funeral cutscene? Even Greil was given a scene where Ike and Mist stand in front of his grave in a state of grief. Why didn't they show us Jeralt's funeral? Show us everyone's different reactions to his death? Alois can be crying his eyes out, Rhea can be trying to remain reserved but still sheds a tear nonetheless, etc. 

  Reveal hidden contents

The Flame Emperor reveal overall was pretty good. This had enough hints to create a good mystery, though perhaps a bit too many as it quickly became obvious who it was. Perhaps the reason it was still a shock to me is that I had dismissed the obvious answer at first because the Flame Emperor seemed too tall to be Edelgard. But I think it was actually because, since I was playing the Black Eagles route, I got invested enough in Edelgard's character that it still came as a shock even though it wasn't a surprise. That is a good mystery. And, it does have a lot of plot ramifications, so it works as a plot twist, and not just shock bait. 

However, some of those ramifications seem to stretch beyond what the developers intended. Edelgard is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. So, why would she order a bandit attack on a group of students that includes herself? I can understand wanting to kill or capture Dimitri and Claude to make unifying Fodlan easier, and if capture was the case, I can understand Edelgard including herself in the group to shift suspicion elsewhere. But the bandits clearly weren't out to capture; they were out to kill, and had it not been for Byleth, she would have died because of her own stupid plan. 

Furthermore, the reveal felt just a bit... lacking overall, and I think I figured out the reason why: the Flame Emperor doesn't do much of anything in part 1. What the Flame Emperor actually does in part 1, amounts to the following:

• Stage a bandit attack to kill the house leaders, though I already went over how Edelgard being the Flame Emperor makes that stupid. 
• Use the Western Church as patsies to steal Seiros' body, though Seiros' body wasn't there; the Sword of the Creator was. But Edelgard didn't know that.
• Loan the Death Knight to Those Who Slither in the Dark, though that doesn't really count as nothing those guys do in part 1 is part of Edelgard's plan. 
• Launch a raid of the Holy Tomb to steal crest stones. This happens after Edelgard reveals that she's the Flame Emperor, so I don't count it either. 

For a character that was set up from near the beginning to be the main antagonist of part 1; the antagonist whose big reveal would have massive story ramifications that would shift the player's perspective and all that stuff, there just isn't much there, and what is there raises more questions (and not good questions) than answers. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Speaking of the Flame Emperor reveal, the big decision moment that decides whether you side with Edelgard or the Church has to be one of the most disjointed plot events I have ever seen!

So, you've just defeated Edelgard, and Rhea is demanding that she be killed for basically committing acts of rebellion against the church. Okay; I'm invested in this moment; thinking as Byleth, my student I went to that tower with after the ball and whose coronation I attended has just turned on me and turned out to be the Flame Emperor, who I know was working with the people who killed my dad. But she's my student, and nothing about her motivations has so far been stated or made clear. Right now, what I want is answers; I'm screaming for answers; "Why, Edelgard; why?!" I'm desperately wanting to tell Rhea, "She's my student! I will hear her out first." 

But, I'm not allowed to ask for answers; the game is forcing me to decide now, without any information. How am I supposed to decide? I have nothing to go on! All I have is that it turns out that Edelgard has been attacking the church and helping Those Who Slither in the Dark for currently unknown reasons. It is then that I notice that the other students, who were all shocked by Edelgard's seeming betrayal, have not only gone silent, but disappeared entirely. They're not screaming, "Why, Edelgard; why?!" They're not offering their input on the situation. They're not even just standing there looking horrified; they're just not there. They're always there in every other important scene where they're present, but not this one. I just can't tell what's going on! How am I supposed to choose! I experienced three big problems with this:

• Had I not known already that I need to choose "side with Edelgard" to play the Crimson Flower route, I might have picked the other option; thinking it was the intended route; not the secret route, and I can't imagine that I'm the only one. I can only imagine how many players may have accidently chosen the Church route and thought they were playing Edelgard's route.
• The fact that I had to think of which route I wanted to go down in order to decide killed my immersion. I couldn't think the way I would in Byleth's position; only as what I wanted to do as the player. 
• I was so busy going, "What's going on?!" and not getting any answers that literally every subsequent scene leading into the next chapter were deprived of their emotional resonance for me. All the students choosing to side with Edelgard could've been fantastic, but I spent the whole thing going, "Why are you all giving exposition of where you were when the choice happened? At least now I know." The scene where you stand beside Edelgard as she asks the students if they'll stand with her could've been very moving, and I wanted to be moved, but I was too busy thinking, "Can you please tell me what we're actually doing and why?" When Edelgard personally thanks me for siding with her, that should've been the heartwarming moment that potentially dispelled any lingering doubts about siding with her. Instead, I'm thinking, "Okay... I only sided with you to play this route of the game; I had no idea what was going on."

I just don't understand how this moment was so botched. All I needed was the opportunity to ask Edelgard "why?" or even for Edelgard to give her reasons unprompted, or at least in response to Rhea's angry remarks, and for the students to at least be there. Every other plot-relevant scene has had these so far; why is this, the most important moment in part 1, the exception? 

Side-note: after Rhea explicitly states, "Her rebellious heart cannot be allowed to keep beating", I really wanted to have Byleth say something like, "You mean like how my heart doesn't beat at all because of what you did to me?" That maybe could've been another reason to side with Edelgard if the game had let me say anything like that. 

I'm curious, am I the only one who had any of these issues with the plot?

The air dodging is a modified "easy mode" of melee's, not what I'd prefer, but better than smash 4's. The "paralysing" is clashing, from what your describing, which is a good system. I also agree that subspace is better. 

Edited November 24, 2019 by lightcosmo

[Zapp Branniglenn]

While I had my Game Boy out I popped in Metroid Fusion. Boy does this game hold up better than I remember, as I haven't played it in 10-15 years. The story has got to be the most engaging of any for this series as Samus battles a villain that solves problems at the same rate she can. The X parasites are actively gating Samus' progress in ways that make sense for their survival. Destroying elevators, Data rooms where she can download weapons upgrades from HQ, and forcing Samus into areas with hazards she has no immediate means of dealing with. And their ability to mimic creatures, even humans, gives nice flavor to the horror. The big reveal with the AI at the end is still kinda weird but the ending in general is so tantalizing for a sequel. Samus ends the story as a fugitive from the law with only her ship's computer on her side. And since she implies she'll be willing to testify in a hopeless case about what happened up there, I want the next game to open with a prison escape sequence. But such fantasies remind me I've been waiting for a sequel to this game for far too long.

My major gripes come with the game's level design. There is this famous room. And several other hidden crawl spaces exist with no visual marker even if you bomb near them. Frustrating. As you progress with the game, certain doors become permanently inaccessible (usually destroyed by SA-X or other bosses who are implied to be hunting you down or trapping you) and that makes it hard to traverse environments. The map is detailed in what rooms lead where, but it will never update in accordance to those destroyed doors so looking at your map can actually waste you time in trying to get some place.The game will also lock out access to other sectors, particularly at the end, but what I didn't realize until now is the game has a functioning "post game" where such locks become unlocked and the map screen gives you helpful tallies to know which sectors still have items to find somewhere. It turns out Fusion is way more completionist friendly than I ever gave it credit for. I rate Metroid Fusion a 6.8 out of 10. It is probably the shortest Metroid game and I can't forgive some of the level design gaffes within rooms necessary to progress. However, as a game coming out the same week as Metroid Prime, I think the series would still have been in good hands without Prime's existence.

9 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

 

I'm curious, am I the only one who had any of these issues with the plot?

All those and more. In particular, with regards to the two women in charge, there is still folks bickering about the details and various theories to this day. It's not pretty, but also probably remarkable that there's so much information about this world of Fodlan that people can hold such complicated opinions about the narrative.