Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Random Thoughts and Stuff

Extended Title: Random things that have been going on but either don't necessitate a full post or I can't fully articulate my thoughts into something that will form a full post.




WB Abandoning PC???


This week, MKXL was announced for PS4 and Xbox One and is set to release March 1, 2016. Notice anything weird about that? If you noticed it's not coming to PC, you're correct. Really, this is bullshit, especially after the game being released on PC in the state it was - riddled with bugs, and for a lot, the game wouldn't even launch, let alone be played. Come on, WB, really? PC, while not as big as the console market, still holds a large majority of "hardcore gamers", and those are the people you do not want to piss off. After Arkham Knights abandoning on PC, you'd think they'd want to make it up to PC players by at least fixing the games they release, but instead, the games just get left behind, which is despicable. Step your game up, WB.




Might No. 9 Delayed, AGAIN.

Keiji Inafune stated this week that Mighty No. 9 is being moved from its release date of Feb. 9 back to "Spring 2016"; this is the 3rd delay. For a game that is already surrounded by shit with Kickstarter, whether it be the multiple campaigns or the multiple delays, this last (hopefully) one, really is just adding insult to injury.




Star Wars: Battlefront Free Content.

There's free shit coming, costumes and maps for survival and multiplayer. That's pretty much it, EA also announced the Death Star and Mos Eisley as new maps coming with paid DLC. If they added more heroes and villains I would be interested, otherwise, meh.




FNaF World Pulled From Steam

Come on Scott Cawthon, you release your game EARLY and then pull it because it's buggy? If this isn't an ARG for a FNaF sequel, this is just stupid. But, looking at the history of these games, it is probably just some stunt; considering he allowed the game to be fully refunded despite play time.




Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Comes to PC

Dragon's Dogma originally released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in May 2012 and got the Dark Arisen edition in April 2013. This game is good, it has a Shadow of the Collusus mixed with Dark Souls feel and it is backed up by fun gameplay and a unique party system - basically, you choose "pawns" to accompany you, these pawns are created by other players and are chosen from an online pool. It is a decent port, supporting up to 4k resolutions and has had, at least for me, no performance issues. The only downside to this game is the low-quality textures, this game has obviously aged, but if you look passed that, there is nothing really bad about this game.




Darkest Dungeon Leaves Early Access.

Red Hook Studio's first game Darkest Dungeon, a roguelike dungeon crawler, left Early Access on January 19th. Oh man, this is a game. Fantastic narration and sounds paired with a horrific art style really make this game stand out among other "indie" titles. Brutal gameplay mechanics and punishing turn-based combat also add a great amount of depth to this great game. I really look forward to sinking many hours into exploring rotted dungeons and finding out why I'm reclaiming this estate.




The Witness Hits PS4s.

Johnathon Blow's long-awaited game, The Witness finally, after 8 years, released on PS4 January 26th. Braid, Blow's previous game, is one of the games that helped define "indie games" so, The Witness is a must play for many people. Stunning graphics and tough puzzles make up this game, and I do plan on playing it, even though I am not the biggest fan of puzzle games, I look forward to experiencing what Johnathon Blow has to offer.


That's pretty much it, you'll probably see a few more of this style post go up in slow news times like this, so look forward to them!







Wednesday, January 13, 2016

2016 Most Anticipated Games




The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is my favorite Gamecube game, and now, with an HD remake coming to Wii U, I am obviously excited. Though this game gets a lot of hate, I believe it is one of the better games in the franchise (rating 2nd on my list, only behind Ocarina of Time). Now, as far as I know, nothing new will be added to this game, but if it is anything like the Wind Waker remake, then we're in for something good. And, if they don't change anything but the graphics, that's cool too. Twilight Princess HD will come to Wii U on Mach 4th.


Having not played the original games for more than an hour, the Rachet and Clank remake/reimaging piques my interest, as I have always been interested in them (they came out before I was really into video games, so I just never really put in the time to play them). I played a demo of R&C at CES last week and I was pretty impressed. The game looks fantastic, runs well, and plays well. One of the more promising remakes I have seen will hit the Playstation Store on April 12th.


Another game hitting stores on April 12th is Dark Souls 3. This is my most anticipated game of 2016 though I am a little scared of it. Coming off of Dark Souls 2 - a great game, just not a good sequel to Dark Souls, which is arguably my favorite game of all time - this game has a lot to prove to fans of the series. Dark Souls 2 is looked at by many as the worst of the souls games, and is definitely my least favorite (don't get me wrong, I still love it, but it is still the worst of the best).


As mad as I am at Blizzard for not letting me into the beta, this game is still in my top 3 for most anticipated 2016 game. Hero-shooters (basically, you choose a class that has a certain power or nuance that is specific to that class) are the new thing for gaming; we are seeing a lot of FPS take this approach to their games, but I think Overwatch will be the most successful hero-shooter. Why? Because come on, it's Blizzard.



I have written about this game before, and since then, the hype has just grown. I want this game in my life, I am ready to be enraptured by its endless planets and exploration. I'm ready to find out what is in the middle of the galaxy, I want to find the mysteries hidden on each of the 18 quintillion planets. If this game is disappointing I will be devastated, honestly. I know over-hyping something is bad, but, come on, it's kind of hard not to be excited for this.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Game of the Year Deliberation



So, I, uh, have been thinking about my game of the year all December, and I just can't decide on one, so, I am just gonna put words down and see if this helps me. So, welcome to my thought process, this won't follow my standard guidelines for usual post, its just gonna be a flow of words, so if you want cool pictures and bolded/italicized words, leave now, because you're not getting it now, maybe for an official post, but I don't know if that is coming (it probably will very early 2016, like in the 10's of January). I will also probably work on this for a few days, so it is going to be scattered as hell, so just be prepared. 


So when I think Game of the Year for 2015 nothing really comes to mind, though this year was a fantastic year for gaming; we got the long awaited sequels MGSV: TPP, The Witcher 3, and Fallout 4. 2 of which are way too dense, the other is just a lackluster sequel. All 3, though, are really great games, they just aren't games that are truly exceptional. The Witcher 3's world and story building are great, and MGSV's stealth and emergent gameplay are probably the best ever, but still, I have trouble staying immersed in their worlds. Something about playing for 12 hours and only making a small amount of progress makes me say, "meh, I'll go do something else".

Bloodborne is really something else. Not quite as good as Dark Souls, but it is really not terrible. I played through and beat it with a few characters and I really do love this game. But I love all soulsborne games and to me, this one just isn't as good as From can do. Don't get me wrong, from a design standpoint, this game is about as good as it gets; boss designs are great, the story is cool as hell and has a fantastic twist, and the environment design is great. The thing about this game is the simplified stat system, it leads to less build diversity (along with a smaller selection of weapons, though that isn't as big of a deal) and the fact that blood vials and bullets aren't unlimited (I sound like spoiled brat haha, but this is a legit issue) takes away from the exploration, like in Dark Souls I could be like "I'm gonna run here and see what it's like, if I die before a bonfire oh well, I'll just make sure I don't have any souls so I have nothing to lose" in Bloodborne, if you want to do that same thing, you have to be mindful of your bullets and blood vials, as if you want to get those back you'll have to grind in one way or another, and come on, I don't want to have to grind so much in such a punishing game (a little is fine, but I don't want excessive grinding).

Which brings me to Dying Light. Do You like zombies and parkour? This is your game... Maybe. Probably not, though. It is fun, but quests are meaningless and it is a damn grind fest. Add the weapon durability on to that and you got yourself a pretty okay game. It's just fine.

Speaking of mediocre, how about that Batman Arkham Knight. God damn was it mediocre. Would've maybe been good had it not been shit on the PC.

But what about the games I haven't played? Undertale, Xenoblade, and Rise of the Tomb Raider among others, (like Splatoon, which I hear is fantastic) I mean, I guess they'll just have to be left behind. As sad as I am to say that, they just didn't take precedence in what I play (I have the ability to play all of them except for RotTR, but that is coming to PC soon, so I suppose it can take a spot in my next year nominations).

Why isn't Destiny here? Well, it did release last year though I did put a load of hours into it this year, it still doesn't belong and doesn't make my Best Old Game so it is just being left out.

Speaking of Best Old Game, that absolutely goes to Super Smash Bros. Wii U, it is the most fun I have had in a game this year, and if it would've been released this year it would be my game of the year, easily.

But we are not in last year! We are in this year, and after a while of thinking, I'm sure Bloodborne is my game of the year. It is the game that I played and enjoyed the most, it is also the game with the least amount of bad, to me. There are a few gripes I have that I will talk about in my in-depth decision piece, but there are, by far, more upsides to it; and I haven't even begun the DLC.

Super Mario Maker is a very very close second place, though. So much enjoyment can be taken from that, and now, a couple months after release, most of the bad maps (my only gripe with the game) have stopped, or, at least, I have gotten used to them. Anyways, making Mario levels is something I'm sure every gamer has wanted to do at some point, and the creation tools in this game are unrivaled by any other game of the like that is out right now. Also, you can actually play levels, which is awesome, so it's not just Super Mario Maker, it is also Super Mario Player, I suppose.