Are we posting character art?
It’s a bit of a tough sell because Path of Radiance is not as easy to recommend as the sequel, given the improvements they made between games to combat animations, battle saves, music, map design, and non-main character participation in the story. Path’s story is structurally sound but feels a lot like setup for Dawn. The windup takes some investment, but it is absolutely worth it to see the top spin.
Spent most of my gaming time this week with the Auto Modellista time affack. Forgot how mindful and meditative rally game time trials are for me, Dort Rally 2.0 was something that got me through early COVID and needed a bit of that this week.
Spent last night with more Kena: Bridge of Spirits. It’s a really solid PS2 action platformer. I love the story, graphics and art are phenomenal, but action is really floaty and not worth the frustration of harder difficulties for me. Fun once it’s cranked down a bit. Should roll credits tonight. Great under 10hr game.
I do still need to play Radiant Dawn. I wish Nintendo would bring more of these games to modern platforms
reflected in the high Avoid stat
That would be nice, though I assume that bringing older games forward would mean updating them to be more aesthetically and perhaps mechanically in line with the series post-Awakening, i.e. a fundamental shift in tone/texture. No use worrying about it I guess, but I’d encourage anyone interested who has a computer or Steam Deck not to wait for Nintendo to recognize what they’re sitting on.
If no one on these forums has started a Tellius playthrough by the time I finish Final Fantasy XIII, I may have to take matters into my own hands.
Finished Deus Ex Mankind Divided and I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it is a substantial improvement of all the systems laid out in Human Revolution. On the other, the story is sluggish, lacks direction and is essentially unfinished. The levels are bigger, denser, more multi-layered, which makes choosing a path or a playstyle and sticking to it much more engaging. The hacking is snappier than I remember, and some of the little side stories, including the DLC, are quite intriguing. The information-gathering and exploration aspect of the game is really satisfying, even if it doesn’t then give you many opportunities to show or use that knowledge in the end.
However, the main story is supremely boring and painfully self-serious, exactly as I had feared. It begins basically saying every choice in the previous game didn’t really matter, which is a sour note to start with, and the main characters’ motivation this time around is kind of weak; it’s not really clear why he feels compelled to go on the missions he does this time around. I would describe most of the game as having narc energy. Sure, you’re uncovering an illuminati conspiracy, but the methods you are using to do so are equally as shady and corrupt. Parallels are constantly made between terrorism and activism, and even if the point is that people are being manipulated, the player/rogue-cop-that-knows-best is still framed as the ultimate good guy. To make things worse, the story is blatantly unfinished, the final boss being just some guy in the grand scheme of things, followed by a shameless cliff-hanger ending.
Regarding the cyberpunk world it presents, some things have aged better than others. Corporations controlling governments and people through technology is as current as ever. Everyone watching the same authoritative TV News channel 24/7 feels extremely dated and almost nostalgically quaint given what we are exposed to today. At the end of the day, it feels like it was written by people who really love cyberpunk and the Deus Ex universe in particular, but who don’t have that much to say about technology or the world we live in. Something about the presentation and writing feels significantly less ambitious than Human Revolution; less personal, less consequential.
Its biggest strength is its scale. It takes place in a tiny open world (a small Prague neighbourhood) and branches off into city-block-size levels. These present unique challenges for the abilities chosen, and at least with my playstyle it really felt like I was improvising and coming up with organic ways of traversing the levels’ obstacles on the fly, and I had just enough augmentations to make it though. Although it is non-essential to complete the game, discovering information and using it to decide your approach feels super satisfying here, whereas in Hitman or Dishonored the same thing feels more railroad-y. I’m not really sure why, but I think it has to do with the diversity of options on offer, and how readable the environments are. It encourages a familiarity with the geography of the levels that doesn’t feel as necessary in other games. They are beautifully self-contained and the details you can notice and find seem meaningful, not just set dressing.
It’s a shame to learn that the sequel was cancelled and most of the team behind these games have moved on to other jobs. It was a valuable effort in the immersive sim genre, and there are many things to love about it. However, it ultimately didn’t live up to the expectations it set up for itself. There was this trend in the 2010s of games with the veneer of social relevance and the aesthetics of protest (Infamous Second Son, Watch Dogs 2 & 3) that turned out to be completely toothless when you get down to it, and it continues to this day. I was disappointed that Cyberpunk 2077 was less sophisticated in its storytelling than like GTA4. Despite hints that it could have been different, this iteration of Deus Ex ends up in the same confused mediocre slop universe. It borrows the look and tone of something important when it is actually the stupidest shit ever, and that leaves a gross aftertaste.
I’ve hated on Breath of the Wild for like eight years now but I made it past the first few hours today and it turns out I kinda like it actually 
Dunno how long I’ll play it for, though. I have this thing with Nintendo games where if I don’t shotgun them I have a hard time going back, even if I have fun playing them. With even a couple hours’ distance I start wondering if it’s really fun I’m having or if I’m just doing my game design homework lol. Mario Odyssey turned to homework after ten hours, Mario Wonder after literally five minutes, and (not a Nintendo game, but same naked videogamey-ness) UFO 50 after forty hours.
Parts of the experience are already wearing thin so if I had to guess I’d say it’ll take me one more Divine Beast to confirm that, yes, this is the videogame, and move on.
I definitely recommend this. I pushed through Breath of the Wild to the end long after I had stopped enjoying it, and it was a very long and tiring journey
Lol oh man rolling credits in the Castlevania DLC for Vampire Survivors was such a fun little treat good job game maker
I just started playing Crow Country and it seems good, but there are a lot of numbers and pass phrases to memorise. Does the game expect me to write these down? I really don’t want to get my phone out or use paper.
Why don’t games like this give you an inventory of notes?
In Breath of the Wild, the divine beasts and shrines and memory lights or whatever meant a lot less to me than just hanging out and exploring. Like, if I want to just focus on jumping off mountains and cooking bananas, the game would let me do that. I definitely felt that Tears of the Kingdom went too hard in the paint with being videogamey. There were constant moments of feeling like oh, I could see how this would be fun if I was in a different mood or if I was a different person. I would feel totally exhausted after playing by the amount of tasks injected into it.
I don’t know if I’ll continué playing it, but holy shit, never have I seen the case where the gameplay feels so crunchy and fun and the story is so cringe with dosis of unbereable banter and over-the-top dialogue (plus the way Kodaka deals with incest).
Hundred Line is so cringe in a way I wasn’t anticipating.
Fading Afternoon is really cool
So to be clear you think the follow up to Danganronpa has good gameplay but unbearable writing? That’s not what I wanted to hear lol
You’ve all been waiting, and I can’t leave everyone hanging any longer. That means it’s time for a new adventure of CyberTom in Cyberpunk: A Night’s Tale
Part ?: I haven’t really played much lately
I’ve been really busy this last week and not had a proper chance to do much on it. And next week I’ll be even busier so not going to play it either!!! Which is a shame as I really want to play more, especially as I know I’m reaching the point of no return. A few (un)noteworthy things though:
Not bad for first time playing and without a guide. It was on my Anbernic RG40XXH so I could sneak in smaller sessions and I needed a little bit of gaming to tide me over during the busyness.
The next update will actually be more about the game, and how I will start Phantom Liberty and see how life is with Idris Alba!
Until next time, stay safe on the streets of Night City (and Planet Zebes) everyone!
if you find interest in Cyberpunk side stuff waning then yeah proceed on the critical path to see the game through. The main narrative isn’t very lengthy
I’m really enjoying the side quests and gigs. Granted most are just go in and steal/kill something/someone, but what they have done well is created unique locations for each one and made sure they give you a proper excuse to see the entire world as much as possible. Plus all locations are so unique and full of life it really adds to the experience.
Also sometimes Johnny pops up on random ones, such as Raymond Chandler Evening which just made me laugh all the way through it. His narration alone made it worth doing something which was quite boring on paper and I could have easily have passed on. To think, I could have missed out on that…
I can’t wait to hear what you thought about Zero Mission. That game is pretty special to me.
For afar that game looks like somebody wanted to make a trpg like persona game but didn’t actually know what a persona game is. Am I close?
