It's been nearly two years since I started Subjective Objective, and while it's not destroying servers with its traffic I'm very proud of the work I've made here. Because of that I'd like to point everyone to my social media accounts, which I'll also be linking in all of my following reviews.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Cdepineda
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EssoReviews/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/essoreviews
As always, you guys are the best. The second part of my Zelda retrospective should be out within the week, so stay tuned!
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Monday, January 30, 2017
Zelda Retrospective: The Legend of Zelda Review
As but a wee lad, one of my fondest and most vivid memories is of tackling the original NES classic The Legend of Zelda. I had no clue what I was doing, but somehow made it to the seventh dungeon before my stupid child brain became too overloaded and eventually fizzled out. In the past decade, as a powerful and immaculate adult, I've since gone through the game twice and feel pretty comfortable with its mechanics and world. Naturally, I've felt I've grown along with the series, watching in marvel as technological advances created more expressive and fantastical entries. Though Zelda has hit roadblocks in recent years, there really aren't too many games that can touch even the worst the franchise has to offer. As we get nearer to the launch of the latest title, Breath of the Wild, I'd like to take some time to look fondly at a few of the games in the series.
Review: The Legend of Zelda
The original Zelda comes from a time when role-playing adventures were still in their infancy, when hardcore stat-grinding provided the backdrop to high-risk, high-reward computer RPGs like Wizardry and Ultima. As a nascent genre, older role-playing games typically fell back on gameplay systems heavily inspired by tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, providing the player with a toolset to create and customize their own characters.
In the mid-1980s, Nintendo began work on their own role-playing game that aimed to separate itself from the established brand of role-playing games--many may not know this, but though the original Super Mario Bros released first, both it and The Legend of Zelda were developed concurrently, with members of the development team keeping separate documents for "Zelda ideas" and "Mario ideas." What's truly special about The Legend of Zelda, though, is the time frame for development: launched in 1986, The Legend of Zelda would actually see its release months before the weekend-destroying Dragon Quest and over a year before Squaresoft's original Final Fantasy.
Whereas older role-playing games were inspired by the venerated ancestors of the genre, The Legend of Zelda is a far more personal tale for the development team. In an interview, developer Shigeru Miyamoto recalls discussion among video game players involving computer role-playing games exchanging stories about their characters and the adventures they would find themselves in; taking this as a base, Miyamoto drew inspiration from childhood memories of exploring the Kyoto countryside and wanted to imbue the childlike wonder of discovery into his new, majestic video game: The Legend of Zelda: The Hyrule Fantasy.
To contrast the RPGs of the time, Zelda ditches every instance of stat point-based character development and instead firmly places the player in the role of Link, a young adventurer who has suddenly found himself as the final resistance between the kingdom of Hyrule and Ganon, a rampaging beast who has kidnapped Princess Zelda and taken the Triforce of Power. Link, on the other hand, is tasked with locating Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom, shattered by Zelda to keep Ganon from stealing its power. The game instantly starts the player in this role with a subtle but important touch: Link, the only person left to stand up to Ganon, begins his adventure carrying only a shield. In the first screen, the player can enter a cave to pick up a sword from a wise old man, who then vanishes. The first moments of the game encapsulate the very essence of The Legend of Zelda: exploration is the key to growing more powerful.
Miyamoto's vision of a fantasy adventure based on exploration continue throughout the game as Link discovers hidden caves that can offer a multitude of short sidequests. The inhabitants of these caves either improve his equipment, sell him goods, offer side entertainment by way of gambling, or simply contain one of Ganon's minions who will bribe Link to keep his location secret. For an 8-bit game, this gives the world a sense of population and further emphasizes the treacherous state of Hyrule: the resistance against Ganon is down to sages who can only offer assistance or deserters from Ganon's own army, and all of these individuals have taken to hiding in caves to escape Ganon's forces.
Contrasting the caves, each of the game's eight dungeons is filled with deadly monsters and booby traps. Players need to not only be cautious, but also aware of their current equipment and capabilities before tackling the next dungeon as these constitute the major challenges. After defeating each of the dungeon's guardians, Link is given a Triforce shard and a Heart Container, boosting his overall health. Savvy players while have already picked up a few Heart Containers by this point as they're hidden all throughout the wilds of Hyrule; I love that this is such a departure from the typical leveling systems seen in RPGs of the time as it promotes exploration, the biggest theme of the game.
Sadly, I'm not the patient and bright-eyed lad I was decades ago when I first played The Legend of Zelda, so upon repeat playthroughs I've found myself resorting to game guides to get the most out of the game, because without it a game that I beat in an afternoon while watching anime and eating pounds of steak would otherwise have taken weeks. While a majority of this is fairly straightforward--use the ladder on an outcrop to reach a Heart Container or use a raft to reach a vendor for an important item--some of the items can be a downright nuisance to find and more than a few of them are vital to progress through the game. Even one of the game's final dungeons is hidden under an inconspicuous bush; while the candle has unlimited uses, I can't imagine the frustration of a player approaching The Legend of Zelda for the first time without a guide attempting to find this place.
To make matters worse, Zelda was released in a time when translations were far less important than simply bringing the game over to Western markets. While a few cryptic hints actually work, such as the directions needed to navigate through the Lost Woods, otherwise can come off as blatantly nonsensical like "Dodongo hates smoke" or "Eastmost Penninsula [sic] is the secret." While re-released versions of this game have corrected many of the translation errors in the game's opening crawl, it's baffling to me that nobody at Nintendo has gone through this game's fairly minute script and given it a facelift.
Speaking of facelift, I played this game on the Wii U virtual console and I'm a bit miffed at the quality of the port. I can only assume Nintendo put some strange filter on the ROM to make it appear as if it's being displayed on an old CRT, but these games are often far more colorful than the Virtual Console port would lead people to believe. It's a shame, really, as these are otherwise great ways to experience games that look generally worse on the original hardware when played on modern displays. Nintendo has an opportunity to rectify this when the Switch Virtual Console drops, though I have a feeling it'll be the same ugly ports the Wii and Wii U got.
Annoyances with the preservation of this game aside, I actually appreciate The Legend of Zelda for its ambitious scope. I released a blog a few months ago describing my irritation with the idea of games "aging poorly" or the industry "leaving behind" certain titles, and The Legend of Zelda exemplifies many of the reasons why I utterly loathe this train of thought and the people who promote it. On numerous occasions I found myself floored with the level of detail put into the world and its secrets, and in more than one instance I was actually shocked by just how crisp and fluid some of the animations appear--the Patra enemy in particular is extremely impressive in this regard.
Going back through the game with an extremely detailed walkthrough diminished the overall feeling of exploring a strange land by myself, but it is cathartic to rush through a game that took me weeks to even come close to beating as a child and obliterating monsters with a gleaming sword I didn't even know was in the game at the time. The Legend of Zelda took a nascent genre and flipped it on its head while the mainstream was still figuring out how to even approach RPGs of this scale, and for that alone it's commendable. Since then the series has become a staple of the entire video game industry and even sparked the debate about what constitutes a role-playing game.
In my estimation, Zelda is the quintessential RPG: players may not outright pump points into stats or visit towns to upgrade gear and rest for the night, but the functions for that are still there. Link doesn't necessarily level up, but exploration gives players higher health pools and this in turn is used as a proof of worth to NPCs that they are ready to wield better equipment. The delivery may be different, but the outcome is the same; the biggest difference then is the actual gameplay. Zelda employs a top-down action game approach, proving itself to the industry as the forebear of the action RPG genre just as Link proves himself to the wizened sages testing his worth as an adventurer.
The game may have some niggles, but by my estimation this comes in the form of a poor translation and a few overly-enigmatic secrets. It's no wonder Breath of the Wild has been lauding its ties to this original game rather than the typical struggle to emulate fan-favorites Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past. The Legend of Zelda is an unspeakably important video game, a game full of ambition that meets its potential at heights that games would struggle to achieve in years to come.
Verdict
If you really want to experience the game and have a lot of free time, I highly recommend giving the original Zelda a shot without a map or guide. I wanted to finish the game for a fresh experience in order to write this review, but as a child one of my fondest memories was of playing through Zelda and discovering secrets on my own. The game may be clandestine, but it welcomes all players to explore every nook and cranny of its gargantuan world. It's more accessible than its contemporaries while containing far more depth than later games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. If you want to see for yourself one of gaming's most important landmark titles, I highly encourage you to check out The Legend of Zelda.
Review: The Legend of Zelda
The original Zelda comes from a time when role-playing adventures were still in their infancy, when hardcore stat-grinding provided the backdrop to high-risk, high-reward computer RPGs like Wizardry and Ultima. As a nascent genre, older role-playing games typically fell back on gameplay systems heavily inspired by tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, providing the player with a toolset to create and customize their own characters.
In the mid-1980s, Nintendo began work on their own role-playing game that aimed to separate itself from the established brand of role-playing games--many may not know this, but though the original Super Mario Bros released first, both it and The Legend of Zelda were developed concurrently, with members of the development team keeping separate documents for "Zelda ideas" and "Mario ideas." What's truly special about The Legend of Zelda, though, is the time frame for development: launched in 1986, The Legend of Zelda would actually see its release months before the weekend-destroying Dragon Quest and over a year before Squaresoft's original Final Fantasy.
Whereas older role-playing games were inspired by the venerated ancestors of the genre, The Legend of Zelda is a far more personal tale for the development team. In an interview, developer Shigeru Miyamoto recalls discussion among video game players involving computer role-playing games exchanging stories about their characters and the adventures they would find themselves in; taking this as a base, Miyamoto drew inspiration from childhood memories of exploring the Kyoto countryside and wanted to imbue the childlike wonder of discovery into his new, majestic video game: The Legend of Zelda: The Hyrule Fantasy.
To contrast the RPGs of the time, Zelda ditches every instance of stat point-based character development and instead firmly places the player in the role of Link, a young adventurer who has suddenly found himself as the final resistance between the kingdom of Hyrule and Ganon, a rampaging beast who has kidnapped Princess Zelda and taken the Triforce of Power. Link, on the other hand, is tasked with locating Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom, shattered by Zelda to keep Ganon from stealing its power. The game instantly starts the player in this role with a subtle but important touch: Link, the only person left to stand up to Ganon, begins his adventure carrying only a shield. In the first screen, the player can enter a cave to pick up a sword from a wise old man, who then vanishes. The first moments of the game encapsulate the very essence of The Legend of Zelda: exploration is the key to growing more powerful.
Miyamoto's vision of a fantasy adventure based on exploration continue throughout the game as Link discovers hidden caves that can offer a multitude of short sidequests. The inhabitants of these caves either improve his equipment, sell him goods, offer side entertainment by way of gambling, or simply contain one of Ganon's minions who will bribe Link to keep his location secret. For an 8-bit game, this gives the world a sense of population and further emphasizes the treacherous state of Hyrule: the resistance against Ganon is down to sages who can only offer assistance or deserters from Ganon's own army, and all of these individuals have taken to hiding in caves to escape Ganon's forces.
Contrasting the caves, each of the game's eight dungeons is filled with deadly monsters and booby traps. Players need to not only be cautious, but also aware of their current equipment and capabilities before tackling the next dungeon as these constitute the major challenges. After defeating each of the dungeon's guardians, Link is given a Triforce shard and a Heart Container, boosting his overall health. Savvy players while have already picked up a few Heart Containers by this point as they're hidden all throughout the wilds of Hyrule; I love that this is such a departure from the typical leveling systems seen in RPGs of the time as it promotes exploration, the biggest theme of the game.
Sadly, I'm not the patient and bright-eyed lad I was decades ago when I first played The Legend of Zelda, so upon repeat playthroughs I've found myself resorting to game guides to get the most out of the game, because without it a game that I beat in an afternoon while watching anime and eating pounds of steak would otherwise have taken weeks. While a majority of this is fairly straightforward--use the ladder on an outcrop to reach a Heart Container or use a raft to reach a vendor for an important item--some of the items can be a downright nuisance to find and more than a few of them are vital to progress through the game. Even one of the game's final dungeons is hidden under an inconspicuous bush; while the candle has unlimited uses, I can't imagine the frustration of a player approaching The Legend of Zelda for the first time without a guide attempting to find this place.
To make matters worse, Zelda was released in a time when translations were far less important than simply bringing the game over to Western markets. While a few cryptic hints actually work, such as the directions needed to navigate through the Lost Woods, otherwise can come off as blatantly nonsensical like "Dodongo hates smoke" or "Eastmost Penninsula [sic] is the secret." While re-released versions of this game have corrected many of the translation errors in the game's opening crawl, it's baffling to me that nobody at Nintendo has gone through this game's fairly minute script and given it a facelift.
Speaking of facelift, I played this game on the Wii U virtual console and I'm a bit miffed at the quality of the port. I can only assume Nintendo put some strange filter on the ROM to make it appear as if it's being displayed on an old CRT, but these games are often far more colorful than the Virtual Console port would lead people to believe. It's a shame, really, as these are otherwise great ways to experience games that look generally worse on the original hardware when played on modern displays. Nintendo has an opportunity to rectify this when the Switch Virtual Console drops, though I have a feeling it'll be the same ugly ports the Wii and Wii U got.
Annoyances with the preservation of this game aside, I actually appreciate The Legend of Zelda for its ambitious scope. I released a blog a few months ago describing my irritation with the idea of games "aging poorly" or the industry "leaving behind" certain titles, and The Legend of Zelda exemplifies many of the reasons why I utterly loathe this train of thought and the people who promote it. On numerous occasions I found myself floored with the level of detail put into the world and its secrets, and in more than one instance I was actually shocked by just how crisp and fluid some of the animations appear--the Patra enemy in particular is extremely impressive in this regard.
Going back through the game with an extremely detailed walkthrough diminished the overall feeling of exploring a strange land by myself, but it is cathartic to rush through a game that took me weeks to even come close to beating as a child and obliterating monsters with a gleaming sword I didn't even know was in the game at the time. The Legend of Zelda took a nascent genre and flipped it on its head while the mainstream was still figuring out how to even approach RPGs of this scale, and for that alone it's commendable. Since then the series has become a staple of the entire video game industry and even sparked the debate about what constitutes a role-playing game.
In my estimation, Zelda is the quintessential RPG: players may not outright pump points into stats or visit towns to upgrade gear and rest for the night, but the functions for that are still there. Link doesn't necessarily level up, but exploration gives players higher health pools and this in turn is used as a proof of worth to NPCs that they are ready to wield better equipment. The delivery may be different, but the outcome is the same; the biggest difference then is the actual gameplay. Zelda employs a top-down action game approach, proving itself to the industry as the forebear of the action RPG genre just as Link proves himself to the wizened sages testing his worth as an adventurer.
The game may have some niggles, but by my estimation this comes in the form of a poor translation and a few overly-enigmatic secrets. It's no wonder Breath of the Wild has been lauding its ties to this original game rather than the typical struggle to emulate fan-favorites Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past. The Legend of Zelda is an unspeakably important video game, a game full of ambition that meets its potential at heights that games would struggle to achieve in years to come.
Verdict
If you really want to experience the game and have a lot of free time, I highly recommend giving the original Zelda a shot without a map or guide. I wanted to finish the game for a fresh experience in order to write this review, but as a child one of my fondest memories was of playing through Zelda and discovering secrets on my own. The game may be clandestine, but it welcomes all players to explore every nook and cranny of its gargantuan world. It's more accessible than its contemporaries while containing far more depth than later games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. If you want to see for yourself one of gaming's most important landmark titles, I highly encourage you to check out The Legend of Zelda.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Thoughts on the Nioh demo
I've been excited about Nioh, the new Team Ninja action title, since its reveal at the 2015 E3. At that time the game appeared to be a Dark Souls clone with a defined character and cinematic story, but information was a bit scarce. I hadn't heard about the game during its original 2004 reveal, but I highly doubt it was anything like the Souls style of gameplay the game evolved into over time.
I wanted to take a look at the game during its initial alpha demo, but due to a horrifically incapable internet connection I instead uploaded a video depicting my struggles simply trying to connect with the game's servers--to no avail:
I never expected that video to hit the triple digits in view count, considering I only have about a dozen and a half subscribers and only advertise on my private social media accounts. Now that I'm on a somewhat decent internet provider, I decided to try out the Last Chance trial two weeks before the game released. Well, mostly. Here's a link to that video:
All joking aside, I do have a few thoughts on the overall feeling of Nioh. Comparing this to Souls is a bit misguided; in general I feel like this game is much more similar to Team Ninja's famous Ninja Gaiden, with combat focusing on precise movement and elaborate combo strings. Whereas Souls encourages players to learn the intricacies of their weapons and choosing a handful of the dozens of weapons to develop a character, Nioh narrows down the choice by having most weapons in a given style play the same with the big differences typically being in attack reach and speed.
What separates Nioh from Souls is an in-depth skill tree which can augment combos or grant new skills to players, similar to picking up scrolls in Ninja Gaiden. This is more than enough to give Nioh its own personality and, in my opinion, sets it apart from games like Lords of the Fallen, a totally shameless Souls clone. Nioh is Team Ninja down to the core, and that depth in skill choice is going to be what keeps players coming back for more. Players can also implement stances which prioritize power, speed, or a balance of both. Think two-handing in Dark Souls with completely different attributes; in fact, I'd say it's a natural side step from both Bloodborne and the weapon arts seen in Dark Souls III.
Gear in Nioh is similar to loot-based systems, with rare items dropping from enemies at random. Bosses seem to drop several items at once with a better chance at rare drops, while players can customize kodama creatures found in each level to drop more weapons, armor, or provide passive benefits. Each piece of gear has between one and four passive skills, such as stronger parries or adding fire damage, and a blacksmith outside on the world map can swap passive skills or forge weapons using items found in levels.
Another huge surprise comes in the form of standard action levels, a feature no other Souls-type game has experimented with. Rather than the open exploration found in games like the original Dark Souls, Nioh takes a fully mission-based approach with the world map acting as a level select screen. Unlike Demon's Souls, Nioh appears to have several dozen missions, with the demo mission being listed as the fifth in the game. Despite the smaller size of levels, each one appears to be fairly open with multiple paths leading to the boss of each stage. It feels far more like a classic title this way, giving players a main objective to seek out while exploring the intricate missions. Shortcuts and traps litter the demo stage, and if it's any indication one would expect the entire game to be like this. Checkpoints in the form of shrines appear hidden in key locations, giving players a reason to explore.
As much as I love the overall design of Nioh, a few decisions are a bit baffling. The most egregious example of this is in the game's stamina system; rdespite players a bar that can be extended through leveling, the stamina usage in Nioh dwindles extremely fast. To counter this, after every combo the player can press a button to use their Ki Pulse, which grants faster stamina recovery and if timed right, refunds a percentage of stamina immediately. What gets me about this is that while it's a fine system, the fact that each weapon swing--in a Team Ninja game focused on intricate combo strings--drains stamina very quickly. While I do feel that it gives the game a much-needed sense of urgency and quick decision-making, I'm not impressed by just how quickly the stamina gauge depletes after one simple combo. I don't know how this will turn out at later stages of the game with a highly-leveled stamina stat, but at early parts of the game I felt like my options were extremely limited. Ki Pulse works fine, but during hectic combat encounters I found myself unable to even make time to recharge. Thankfully there are skills that allow players to use Ki Pulse while dodging which highly improves combat flow, but this is mostly dedicated to the character's low stance.
Even for someone as hard to impress as myself, it's hard to find much to fault in Nioh. There's even an option to prioritize framerate or resolution--or if you have a PS4 Pro, you can choose best of both worlds, though the framerate in the completely unlocked mode is apparently far from perfect--assuaging potential graphics curmudgeons upset that this game is likely going to be console exclusive. While I'm not too happy about Ki Pulse, this is a mechanic I'm going to withhold full judgment on until I make my way through the game on a high-level character to see if this complaint fixes itself over time. Playing the demo has me far more excited for the full game, despite a week ago considering skipping it altogether. Nioh might be a game of the year contender, though with other games like Nier Automata and Zelda: Breath of the Wild to contend with, that's going to be a hard-won fight.
Speaking of Zelda, keep an eye on this blog for a forthcoming retrospective of the series. I'm going to try and get as many games covered as I can before Breath of the Wild releases in March, so stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The Fire Emblem Direct and anxiety over the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo recently dropped a brand new Direct over the future of the Fire Emblem series, which you can watch here:
In general I like the look of the games in development. While I was hoping for a remake of the Jugdral games, Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776, seeing a remake of the often-forgotten and highly experimental Fire Emblem Gaiden is a treat. I never got around to playing a lot of the older titles and had always hoped that Nintendo would get around to remaking these games sort of like their maligned Shadow Dragon, though the mysterious absence of Mystery of the Emblem is still a bit disappointing. Despite this, I'm excited to be able to play an official translation of Gaiden, even if it is on the 3DS system.
Also coming to the 3DS, though only on the newer models, is a new Musou entry in the series. I'd actually been hopeful for this ever since seeing a piece of fan art a few years ago, which I'll link here:
Musou gameplay makes perfect sense for Fire Emblem, so seeing this game actually being released is a dream come true. I'm a little disappointed that the gameplay looks almost identical to Hyrule Warriors, but truth be told I loved that game so I'm not so upset. What is upsetting, though, is the fact that this makes for three Warriors games--Berserk, Fire Emblem, and Dragon Quest Heroes--to contend with this year alone. I don't think there's actually enough time to approach all three, so we'll have to see where that goes.
I don't have much to say about the other two announcements, but I will say that I can see playing the new mobile Fire Emblem game and enjoying it. The gameplay is much simplified, but I didn't really expect something on the scale of Path of Radiance or anything. It looks fun on the go and I see no faults in it. And what is there to really say about the upcoming Switch game other than "it should be a 2017 release?" Maybe that would clog up the year with too much of the series, though.
I do wish Nintendo would slow down a bit on these games. I get that it's excited for the series to finally take off in the West, but I don't know that releasing four games over the course of a year is the way to go about it. Furthermore, the recent presentation of Fire Emblem has been a bit troubling, as I detailed in my "top games of 2016" list and why Fates, with its strange romance simulations and eugenics systems, didn't really do it for me. Fire Emblem can't be all that cheap to make, right? I mean with all the details and challenges, it has to be a real budget and time sink--right?
I'm not so sure about that anymore. Specifically, after seeing Fire Emblem Echoes announced so quickly after Fates when the series had been dormant for so long, complete with the same models as the previous game and still images for cutscenes. I get that the 3DS was probably much cheaper to develop for than other consoles out, especially given that it can barely push out PS2-level graphics, but the absence of Fire Emblem Echoes on the Switch has me seriously concerned.
The thesis of the Switch, at least the one I assumed since its official unveiling, was a combined ecosystem for Nintendo to focus its IPs free of multiple SKUs and uncomfortable mandatory handheld games. I had hoped before that the Switch would at least have been compatible with 3DS carts before its announcement with the hopes that I could finally play games like Dragon Quest VII/VIII, Monster Hunter and Shin Megami Tensei IV on my television, free from the constraints of the actual 3DS. What I'm seeing instead is that the Switch is merely a portable replacement for the Wii U.
Nothing exemplifies this point more than the second bullet point for Fire Emblem Warriors: Aside from the Switch, the game will also release, much like Hyrule Warriors Legends, on the 3DS. Never mind the fact that this is going to be a completely inferior way to play the game in every way, what I'm really scratching my head over is Nintendo completely skipping the Wii U, as if putting the figurative nail in the console's long-existing coffin. I understand why Breath of the Wild is releasing on the Wii U and I don't fault them in a 3DS version for Warriors, but wasn't the Switch supposed to be an upgrade from both currently existing Nintendo units?
What exactly is going on here? This entire time I was under the assumption that the cheap games, the titles which had until now been pushed on the 3DS for cost-cutting purposes, would just be thrown on the Switch with warts and all. I don't mind playing an ugly Monster Hunter so long as I can finally do so on my television with a controller that doesn't break my stupid hands, but the fact that the 3DS will continue to live on, despite the death of the Wii U, is starting to give me second thoughts about this whole hybrid system. If budget games like Fire Emblem Echoes will be arriving on the 3DS and skipping the then-newly recently Switch, then who's to say Nintendo intends to abandon the 3DS at all?
I get it. The 3DS is immensely popular worldwide, still topping sales charts consistently even despite its weak hardware. Of course Nintendo wants to capitalize on the market, but for how long? Before this Direct I was sure all of Nintendo's new games would be making it to the Switch before the 3DS was quietly tucked away, but now I can't shake the feeling Nintendo is about to pump out a portable Wii U. All I want out of this thing is to finally be able to set aside my mountain of ever-growing handheld systems and consolidate my games list, but Nintendo seems determined to make me second-guess myself less than two months before their new console even has a chance to prove itself. Time will tell, but the future doesn't look so bright to me.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Review: American Gods
I'm never taking recommendations for books again for the rest of my life.
I was going to write this review over a year ago, but frankly I got bored and decided to shelve it for a while. With a television series set to air on Starz, I decided to give my thoughts on what might be the most anticipated show of the year for many people and why it's a big pile of dookie.
The Premise
Shadow Moon--I'm not joking--an experienced conman, is released from prison to find his wife has died in a car accident. After discovering she was having an affair with his best friend, Shadow reluctantly accepts an offer to be a bodyguard for the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, a womanizing thief. There's more to Wednesday than Edgy Originalcharacter is led to believe, and before he realizes it Wednesday throws Fedoralord into a complex web of intrigue with a grab-bag of whatever shallow religious icons author Neil Gaiman could find.
Yawn.
The first thing that jumped out at me while listening to the twenty hour audiobook (465 pages, if Wikipedia is correct) is that very little actually happens in the plot. Euphoric Originalcharacterdonotsteal is constantly introduced to these fantastical deities covering a wide range of world religions with all the affect of a dirty old broom.
Gaiman must have taken the wrong inspirations from Stephen King, as long passages of nothing happening litter the pages of this Hugo-winning novel. At one point, Laughable Name decides to leave his hotel room to go into the lobby and agonize over a selection of potato chips before returning to his room to watch an episode of Jerry Springer, which is also described to the reader. Did that sound like an interesting series of events? Did you learn anything about the character or the world which, I must remind you, is full of a mish-mash of every deific entity of every major religion?
Unoriginal Joke is occasionally visited by his dead wife and the two jab at each other with smarmy quips that even Joss Whedon would heavily reconsider dropping in a script. Every single line out of the wife's mouth is about how inconvenient being dead is, and the reader is never really given much motivation into her actions aside from feeling bad about cheating on Melvin Dragonlord, and beyond that her character falls so flat that I could never get a read on what she was like before becoming a one-liner-spewing zombie.
Wednesday, an incarnation of the Norse God Odin, is perhaps the most cliched version of the God Gaiman could possibly have produced. A womanizing drunk, the character brings Shadow to a meeting of the Gods where they take their original forms, though most of them are unphased by Odin revealing that the new gods, a shadow group based on new technology, are seeking to usurp the gods of old.
This brings the crawling plot to a very minimal boost, introducing the central conflict. Maddeningly, this conflict has nothing at all to do with Shadow and the stakes are...
What are the stakes?
I still have no clue what the stakes are in this novel. If the American Gods defeat the Old World Gods, it's implied nothing at all will change. Stupid is offered multiple chances to simply leave, but because he has absolutely no character he decides to stand around to finish his stupid job. That's it. That's the plot of the whole novel--so where do the hundreds of pages come in?
Well, because this is somehow an important piece of work for Gaiman, several chapters are dedicated to short stories describing common people interacting with the old gods. These short stories take forever to finish and grind the already glacial pace of the novel to a halt with very little to show for it. Apparently Gaiman doesn't know that ifrits are not gods, and if that's the case why aren't more mystical creatures just kind of hanging around in the world? The story would have been far more fascinating if that were the case, but only one short story deals with this creature and it has one of the most dull, passionless descriptions of sex I've ever read--well, listened to. Hush.
That's not to say the other few sex scenes in the novel are riveting; on the contrary, Neil Gaiman seems to desire his children's stories about fantasy monsters featuring characters actually named Shadow Moon to be taken seriously, but sex is approached by someone who I'm not actually sure has ever lost his virginity. Go listen to the languid descriptions of sex in chapter 8 of American Gods and compare it to the mind-shattering "the earth moved" scene from Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, or the frantic and passionate tryst between Joe and Joanna from Faulkner's Light in August. Passion isn't merely telling the audience all about the grunting piston-like movements of sex or the act of ejaculation, which Gaiman believes elevates sex. I guess you could just handwave it by saying "They don't make 'em like they used to," but comparing the greats to this trash makes it look even more pitiful.
The novel continues to merely exist at several points, going so far as to drop Shadaloo Bison into a completely detached village suffering horrific winters which literally goes nowhere. It's revisited after the main plot is finished, but it feels completely out of place--as if it were a completely different story dropped in to lengthen the novel. I feel like the publisher demanded a far longer book than Gaiman intended to write; if this is the perfect version of American Gods, I kind of feel ashamed for everyone involved.
The novel ratchets up to a massive war between the gods both old and new, but without spoiling too much (out of respect for you poor, innocent TV viewers) most of the battle is completely off-screen. Oh yeah, did nobody mention that? All the action takes place off-screen and Shadow takes part in none of it. You know, like how Anakin has absolutely no reason to be fighting for Naboo and most of the action takes place without him. He manages to get out of bad situations with seemingly little effort, everyone likes him, his name is literally the kind of thing you'd see scrawled on a binder by an edgy teenager, and he has some sort of God blood or something. I guess it's okay to be a Mary Sue if you're a fantasy protagonist though, because nobody reading fantasy has standards anyway.
Conclusion
I guess this is why I hold fantasy and sci-fi in such low regard: not because I don't personally like the genre, but because critics of the genre seem to accept such low quality garbage and heap glowing praise and awards on the mere act of trying. The bar for entry just keeps shrinking, and by reading these types of novels I feel like I'm lowering myself to the standards typical of the genre--which, after the Young Adultpocalypse of the last decade, is lying somewhere next to dinosaur bones lower than the Mariana Trench. Gaiman has emulated the worst parts of Stephen King, a writer acclaimed for his ability to dump out huge tomes every year quality notwithstanding, and applied it to a plot you'd see in a throwaway anime. Boring, monotone, edgy, unoriginal, cringey (Low-key Lyesmith? How can you read this with a straight face and still respect yourself?) and just generally laughable, American Gods is a book that made me seriously question some of my friends' taste.
Poor
I was going to write this review over a year ago, but frankly I got bored and decided to shelve it for a while. With a television series set to air on Starz, I decided to give my thoughts on what might be the most anticipated show of the year for many people and why it's a big pile of dookie.
The Premise
Shadow Moon--I'm not joking--an experienced conman, is released from prison to find his wife has died in a car accident. After discovering she was having an affair with his best friend, Shadow reluctantly accepts an offer to be a bodyguard for the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, a womanizing thief. There's more to Wednesday than Edgy Originalcharacter is led to believe, and before he realizes it Wednesday throws Fedoralord into a complex web of intrigue with a grab-bag of whatever shallow religious icons author Neil Gaiman could find.
Yawn.
The first thing that jumped out at me while listening to the twenty hour audiobook (465 pages, if Wikipedia is correct) is that very little actually happens in the plot. Euphoric Originalcharacterdonotsteal is constantly introduced to these fantastical deities covering a wide range of world religions with all the affect of a dirty old broom.
Gaiman must have taken the wrong inspirations from Stephen King, as long passages of nothing happening litter the pages of this Hugo-winning novel. At one point, Laughable Name decides to leave his hotel room to go into the lobby and agonize over a selection of potato chips before returning to his room to watch an episode of Jerry Springer, which is also described to the reader. Did that sound like an interesting series of events? Did you learn anything about the character or the world which, I must remind you, is full of a mish-mash of every deific entity of every major religion?
Unoriginal Joke is occasionally visited by his dead wife and the two jab at each other with smarmy quips that even Joss Whedon would heavily reconsider dropping in a script. Every single line out of the wife's mouth is about how inconvenient being dead is, and the reader is never really given much motivation into her actions aside from feeling bad about cheating on Melvin Dragonlord, and beyond that her character falls so flat that I could never get a read on what she was like before becoming a one-liner-spewing zombie.
Wednesday, an incarnation of the Norse God Odin, is perhaps the most cliched version of the God Gaiman could possibly have produced. A womanizing drunk, the character brings Shadow to a meeting of the Gods where they take their original forms, though most of them are unphased by Odin revealing that the new gods, a shadow group based on new technology, are seeking to usurp the gods of old.
This brings the crawling plot to a very minimal boost, introducing the central conflict. Maddeningly, this conflict has nothing at all to do with Shadow and the stakes are...
What are the stakes?
I still have no clue what the stakes are in this novel. If the American Gods defeat the Old World Gods, it's implied nothing at all will change. Stupid is offered multiple chances to simply leave, but because he has absolutely no character he decides to stand around to finish his stupid job. That's it. That's the plot of the whole novel--so where do the hundreds of pages come in?
Well, because this is somehow an important piece of work for Gaiman, several chapters are dedicated to short stories describing common people interacting with the old gods. These short stories take forever to finish and grind the already glacial pace of the novel to a halt with very little to show for it. Apparently Gaiman doesn't know that ifrits are not gods, and if that's the case why aren't more mystical creatures just kind of hanging around in the world? The story would have been far more fascinating if that were the case, but only one short story deals with this creature and it has one of the most dull, passionless descriptions of sex I've ever read--well, listened to. Hush.
That's not to say the other few sex scenes in the novel are riveting; on the contrary, Neil Gaiman seems to desire his children's stories about fantasy monsters featuring characters actually named Shadow Moon to be taken seriously, but sex is approached by someone who I'm not actually sure has ever lost his virginity. Go listen to the languid descriptions of sex in chapter 8 of American Gods and compare it to the mind-shattering "the earth moved" scene from Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, or the frantic and passionate tryst between Joe and Joanna from Faulkner's Light in August. Passion isn't merely telling the audience all about the grunting piston-like movements of sex or the act of ejaculation, which Gaiman believes elevates sex. I guess you could just handwave it by saying "They don't make 'em like they used to," but comparing the greats to this trash makes it look even more pitiful.
The novel continues to merely exist at several points, going so far as to drop Shadaloo Bison into a completely detached village suffering horrific winters which literally goes nowhere. It's revisited after the main plot is finished, but it feels completely out of place--as if it were a completely different story dropped in to lengthen the novel. I feel like the publisher demanded a far longer book than Gaiman intended to write; if this is the perfect version of American Gods, I kind of feel ashamed for everyone involved.
The novel ratchets up to a massive war between the gods both old and new, but without spoiling too much (out of respect for you poor, innocent TV viewers) most of the battle is completely off-screen. Oh yeah, did nobody mention that? All the action takes place off-screen and Shadow takes part in none of it. You know, like how Anakin has absolutely no reason to be fighting for Naboo and most of the action takes place without him. He manages to get out of bad situations with seemingly little effort, everyone likes him, his name is literally the kind of thing you'd see scrawled on a binder by an edgy teenager, and he has some sort of God blood or something. I guess it's okay to be a Mary Sue if you're a fantasy protagonist though, because nobody reading fantasy has standards anyway.
Conclusion
I guess this is why I hold fantasy and sci-fi in such low regard: not because I don't personally like the genre, but because critics of the genre seem to accept such low quality garbage and heap glowing praise and awards on the mere act of trying. The bar for entry just keeps shrinking, and by reading these types of novels I feel like I'm lowering myself to the standards typical of the genre--which, after the Young Adultpocalypse of the last decade, is lying somewhere next to dinosaur bones lower than the Mariana Trench. Gaiman has emulated the worst parts of Stephen King, a writer acclaimed for his ability to dump out huge tomes every year quality notwithstanding, and applied it to a plot you'd see in a throwaway anime. Boring, monotone, edgy, unoriginal, cringey (Low-key Lyesmith? How can you read this with a straight face and still respect yourself?) and just generally laughable, American Gods is a book that made me seriously question some of my friends' taste.
Poor
Friday, January 13, 2017
My thoughts on the Nintendo Switch reveal.
Nintendo's newest console, the Switch, is gearing up to take the world by storm. With its Youtube trailer from October totaling more views than the Wii U saw total sales, many people are anticipating this new unit to possibly even rival the gargantuan success of the immensely popular original Wii.
Out of interest, I decided to get my pre-order down for the Switch and discovered very quickly that, despite most stores only having been open for a few hours, the Switch has almost entirely burned through its stock of pre-orders across the country. Within seconds of being in the store about a third of the allotted stock had been taken, and as of this writing (an hour after the store opened) I wouldn't doubt that it's all gone. To say there's hype for the Switch is a massive understatement, but the major presentation left me a bit concerned.
The price is fine; $300 for a hybrid handheld-console makes sense, even if it is underpowered. That doesn't concern me at all; the Wii was also incredibly weak compared to its contemporaries but it still managed to pump out extraordinary games like Xenoblade. Surprisingly, Xenoblade 2, not a sequel to X, was shown as one of the first major games to launch on the Switch. This, more than anything else, sold the console for me.
Not that this is the only game that piqued my interest; Fire Emblem Warriors is a dream game of mine, one which I can immediately internalize and understand. The Fire Emblem franchise is perfect for the genre, though I hope there are more characters than just the standard boring Akaneia bunch. Much like the Wii U, I saw a certain vibe from this Nintendo aiming at a more standard gaming crowd with games such as these and other titles like the new mainline Shin Megami Tensei. On the other hand, the casual market was appeased at the beginning of the presentation with games like 1, 2, Switch, a party game in the vein of Wii Sports or Nintendoland. Although it looks unsubstantial, even I might have interest in little titles like these.
All this aside, I am worried about the longevity of the system. The Wii U saw fewer releases in typical Nintendo franchises than any console before, and many of them were of extremely low quality. Star Fox Zero and Paper Mario: Color Splash soured the future of both of these series, while mainline entries for Metroid and F-Zero were entirely shunned. I don't know if this is a fault of Nintendo's sheepish response to the Wii U's low sales numbers or just a new direction the company is taking, but their old franchises were what kept me around and if they're not utilized fully for what might be their best console in history, I'll lose a lot of my goodwill they've built up. And that Mario trailer? Sure, it looks pretty fun but what's with the humans and real-life New York? I got crazy Sonic Adventure vibes from that trailer for all the wrong reasons, though I have a bit more faith in Nintendo to not ruin their biggest franchise.
Even more infuriating is Nintendo being mum about the Virtual Console. I'm frankly pretty annoyed with waiting a week between dumb garbage bin sports games, and if the Switch is given similar dribbles of games on its Virtual Console I don't think I'll be able to handle it. Even more annoying is the very real possibility that Virtual Console purchases will not carry over to the new unit; the Wii U got around this with a massive discount on previously bought titles, but without a unified account system I don't know how this is going to work--if they even make the attempt.
I'm also a bit concerned with the ridiculous pricing of Switch accessories. While I probably won't move away from the standard Joycon controller, if I wanted to use a pro controller I don't know how I could justify dropping $70 on the thing. A smaller concern is the possibility of an upgraded model down the line; while Nintendo has never done this with their home consoles (unless you count stuff like the SNES Jr.), every single Nintendo handheld has seen some sort of revision down the line. I'm hoping against all hope that isn't the case with the Switch.
So there you have it. Some of the games didn't wow me as much as I'd like, and I don't have a lot of faith in Nintendo's dedication to their legacy franchises. I'm definitely glad I pre-ordered a Switch and I'm even more excited that it was a blue/red unit, but recent decisions from the company has me skeptical. I'm ready for Nintendo to prove me wrong on this, because the idea of a hybrid console/handheld is quite exciting. With less than two months to go until the console launch, I'll be keeping my eyes on more news and posting my thoughts as we get closer to release.
Out of interest, I decided to get my pre-order down for the Switch and discovered very quickly that, despite most stores only having been open for a few hours, the Switch has almost entirely burned through its stock of pre-orders across the country. Within seconds of being in the store about a third of the allotted stock had been taken, and as of this writing (an hour after the store opened) I wouldn't doubt that it's all gone. To say there's hype for the Switch is a massive understatement, but the major presentation left me a bit concerned.
The price is fine; $300 for a hybrid handheld-console makes sense, even if it is underpowered. That doesn't concern me at all; the Wii was also incredibly weak compared to its contemporaries but it still managed to pump out extraordinary games like Xenoblade. Surprisingly, Xenoblade 2, not a sequel to X, was shown as one of the first major games to launch on the Switch. This, more than anything else, sold the console for me.
Not that this is the only game that piqued my interest; Fire Emblem Warriors is a dream game of mine, one which I can immediately internalize and understand. The Fire Emblem franchise is perfect for the genre, though I hope there are more characters than just the standard boring Akaneia bunch. Much like the Wii U, I saw a certain vibe from this Nintendo aiming at a more standard gaming crowd with games such as these and other titles like the new mainline Shin Megami Tensei. On the other hand, the casual market was appeased at the beginning of the presentation with games like 1, 2, Switch, a party game in the vein of Wii Sports or Nintendoland. Although it looks unsubstantial, even I might have interest in little titles like these.
All this aside, I am worried about the longevity of the system. The Wii U saw fewer releases in typical Nintendo franchises than any console before, and many of them were of extremely low quality. Star Fox Zero and Paper Mario: Color Splash soured the future of both of these series, while mainline entries for Metroid and F-Zero were entirely shunned. I don't know if this is a fault of Nintendo's sheepish response to the Wii U's low sales numbers or just a new direction the company is taking, but their old franchises were what kept me around and if they're not utilized fully for what might be their best console in history, I'll lose a lot of my goodwill they've built up. And that Mario trailer? Sure, it looks pretty fun but what's with the humans and real-life New York? I got crazy Sonic Adventure vibes from that trailer for all the wrong reasons, though I have a bit more faith in Nintendo to not ruin their biggest franchise.
Even more infuriating is Nintendo being mum about the Virtual Console. I'm frankly pretty annoyed with waiting a week between dumb garbage bin sports games, and if the Switch is given similar dribbles of games on its Virtual Console I don't think I'll be able to handle it. Even more annoying is the very real possibility that Virtual Console purchases will not carry over to the new unit; the Wii U got around this with a massive discount on previously bought titles, but without a unified account system I don't know how this is going to work--if they even make the attempt.
I'm also a bit concerned with the ridiculous pricing of Switch accessories. While I probably won't move away from the standard Joycon controller, if I wanted to use a pro controller I don't know how I could justify dropping $70 on the thing. A smaller concern is the possibility of an upgraded model down the line; while Nintendo has never done this with their home consoles (unless you count stuff like the SNES Jr.), every single Nintendo handheld has seen some sort of revision down the line. I'm hoping against all hope that isn't the case with the Switch.
So there you have it. Some of the games didn't wow me as much as I'd like, and I don't have a lot of faith in Nintendo's dedication to their legacy franchises. I'm definitely glad I pre-ordered a Switch and I'm even more excited that it was a blue/red unit, but recent decisions from the company has me skeptical. I'm ready for Nintendo to prove me wrong on this, because the idea of a hybrid console/handheld is quite exciting. With less than two months to go until the console launch, I'll be keeping my eyes on more news and posting my thoughts as we get closer to release.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Top Ten Games of 2016 [UPDATED]
I started my list last year with glowing praise of 2015 as a great year in video games, but I'd be remiss if I didn't give gaming in 2016 the credit it's due. Despite several games being pushed to 2017, many high-profile games released to unbelievably high praise. On the other hand, games like Final Fantasy XV came out after a decade of hype, book-ending many of the promises developers have set for the industry. 2016 was a great year for the games, so much that it's nearly impossible to qualify each game listed. With that in mind, please enjoy my list.
An update: in my rush to finish this list I completely neglected a title that I absolutely adored and feel horrible about its omission. Final Fantasy XV has been bumped off the list completely, and the new title has been added as the number two spot. I feel awful about forgetting it, but I'd rather not let the mistake slide.
Honorable Mentions
This might be a bit contrived, but I'd love to make my list longer than simply ten. I played a ton of games this year and many of them were stellar, but the following games I simply can't find a place for in my top ten. In no following order, here are a few of the honorable mentions for the year:
Ratchet and Clank
The new Ratchet and Clank is a breath of fresh air for a series that's gotten lost in a mire of spinoffs, but I liked the new game enough to make a rambling, incoherent mess of an impressions video. Warning: it's not safe for human consumption.
Number Nine - Monster Hunter Generations
I didn't play Monster Hunter Generations as long as I did many of the other games in the series, but don't take that as me disliking the game. Generations is another standard Monster Hunter, so most of my praise for last year's game applies here. The new hunter styles, however, completely change the way the game is played. Every single weapon now has four styles, with an additional style allowing the player to control the series mascot felyne pets. I love this series, and every year a new game comes out it'll always have a spot on my game of the year list. I sincerely hope XX (Generations Ultimate? Generations X?) releases alongside the Switch, as that would cause the new system to instantly jump up to a must-buy.
Number Eight - Dragon Quest VII
A game that basically everyone interested in the series had given up on, Dragon Quest VII finally released in the West to lukewarm sales. And god am I glad it at least came out at all. While the gameplay systems are fairly stock-standard, the presentation and style of the main story is so charming and simple that I can't think of a single person who couldn't pick up and enjoy the game.
Rather than a grandiose story typified of the Dragon Quest series, VII instead focuses on the story of individual islands broken up across time as the hero and his group of friends set off on an adventure to reclaim the titular forgotten past. It's not a short game; the original was notorious for its hundred-hour-plus game time and cryptic puzzles. Square-Enix poured massive amounts of love into this full remake by addressing complaints while expanding on what made the game a cult hit, creating a simple RPG full of heart. This is the one game on my top ten list I didn't finish (Monster Hunter doesn't count), but only because I want to enjoy it as long as I can. At least, until Dragon Quest VIII comes out in 2017.
Number Seven - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Before I begin, please divert your attention here:
An update: in my rush to finish this list I completely neglected a title that I absolutely adored and feel horrible about its omission. Final Fantasy XV has been bumped off the list completely, and the new title has been added as the number two spot. I feel awful about forgetting it, but I'd rather not let the mistake slide.
Honorable Mentions
This might be a bit contrived, but I'd love to make my list longer than simply ten. I played a ton of games this year and many of them were stellar, but the following games I simply can't find a place for in my top ten. In no following order, here are a few of the honorable mentions for the year:
Ratchet and Clank
The new Ratchet and Clank is a breath of fresh air for a series that's gotten lost in a mire of spinoffs, but I liked the new game enough to make a rambling, incoherent mess of an impressions video. Warning: it's not safe for human consumption.
That said, I have more than a few issues with the game. While it is a complete remake of the original game, there's very little to set it apart compared to some of the earlier entries in the series. The framerate is laughable, the plot is barebones, the budding friendship between the titular characters is completely ripped from the story, and the game is pitifully easy even on harder difficulties. I'm glad to see a new Ratchet and Clank, but it's a shame it has to be so by-the-numbers.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Good lord did I want to hate this Wii U exclusive. I absolutely despise the tone and characters, but the overall style and game mechanics are typical top-tier Shin Megami Tensei. That aside, the gameplay itself is a simplified version of the gameplay system seen in the much-superior Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, and I lost interest in the plot after the second chapter. The main story is so unengaging and groan-worthy that I can't see how anybody alive could see it through to the end. Oh, and let's not forget the mountainous pile of removed or altered content Atlus was forced to implement under Nintendo's watchful gaze. I'd love to have seen this game under a different set of circumstances, but the game that was delivered is contentious at best.
Fire Emblem: Fates
Much like Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Fire Emblem Fates is a game that I simply could not stay interested in, despite buying the unbelievably rare collector's edition. The changed mechanics are fairly interesting; if you'd told me Intsys had managed to completely balance a Fire Emblem game without weapon degradation I'd be extremely skeptical. I started up Fates with that skepticism and was blown away by the depth of the game. Regardless, Fates suffers from a nonsensical story with completely uninteresting characters; I'm no longer interested in mounting an offensive against a clearly evil villain with zero twists along the way. And don't get me started on the lame dating elements added in to hook lonely weebs; like Tokyo Mirage Sessions, I balked at the massive amounts of apparent censorship Nintendo forced the developers to make but approaching the altered mechanics caused me to have a different reaction. The face-petting minigame was stupid at best and the clumsy removal of this mechanic doesn't help at all. If Intsys continues the series, I seriously hope they throw out the lame dating system and actually focus on an engaging campaign.
Ace Attorney 6: Spirit of Justice
Boy oh boy am I kind of sick of Phoenix Wright at this point. While there are some interesting new shake-ups to the series, at the end of the day it does little to differentiate itself from the standard Ace Attorney game. Handing off half of the entire game to two characters I outright despise doesn't help things either. I didn't really consider this when making the list, but it just dawned on me that three of the games on this list share a common trait: I became so uninterested in this game as well that I couldn't find it in me to keep playing. Not that I finished all the games in my top ten list, but those were more an issue of time and I'll definitely go back to the other games I didn't finish. Ace Attorney 6 marks the third time in the series--in a row--that I've lost interest in the story, and each time that switch happens earlier into each game. I only completed Dual Destinies to catch up before the release of this game, and part of me wishes I hadn't. For a series I love so dearly, every new game loses me more. Maybe Ace Attorney 7.
Final Fantasy XV
I don't know if I'm more angry at myself or Square-Enix for having such a low opinion of the latest entry in the venerated Final Fantasy series. Another Japanese game in a long line of needless open world sequels, Final Fantasy XV trades the series's typical intricate story for a massive, though massively empty, open world. Despite a grand-scale story the entirety of Final Fantasy XV follows Noctis and his merry band of bodyguards as he has the worst bachelor's party in history--until the story takes a turn near the early stages of the plot to focus on Noctis's rebellion against an evil empire whose motives are never made clear because with the exception of two cutscenes, the story is told entirely through Noctis's perspective. The party then has to find a series of super-weapons until they decide it's not important and they'd rather hunt for a very small slice of the main Final Fantasy series summoned monsters. Eventually they get bored of this too and decide to just end the game.
Was any of that coherent? Neither is Final Fantasy XV. While I love the banter between characters, if I'd never watched the Brotherhood anime I'd have no clue what these characters' motivations were, where they came from, or what their role is in the party. The gameplay is very similar to Kingdom Hearts, which should come as no surprise as it was originally created on the Kingdom Hearts game engine. That is to say, I loved playing the game and never got tired of experimenting with new weaponry. I also like the expanded version of the hunt system seen in Final Fantasy XII, but I now have more open world games than I can stand. It's no Xenoblade X, and at times it doesn't seem like it even wants to try. Another point in Xenoblade X's favor: Final Fantasy XV doesn't allow players to accept more than one quest at a time, wasting more playtime than is ever necessary. For a game with a decade of development time (unless you don't include the middle of said decade where the game was almost cancelled) it's shockingly bipolar and feels like a totally wasted effort. When I saw the title of Chapter XIV I nearly leapt out of my chair thinking of the new opportunities in the game, but like much of Final Fantasy XV the game lands flat on its face and disappoints.
I wish I could say the game was better because I genuinely enjoyed most of the 40 hours spent with the game, but if Square-Enix hadn't promised extensive improvements to the story flow and gameplay it wouldn't even be in my honorable mentions. As a side note, will the fully-patched game eventually be retitled Final Fantasy XV: International Edition, or Final Fantasy XV: Final Mix?
Was any of that coherent? Neither is Final Fantasy XV. While I love the banter between characters, if I'd never watched the Brotherhood anime I'd have no clue what these characters' motivations were, where they came from, or what their role is in the party. The gameplay is very similar to Kingdom Hearts, which should come as no surprise as it was originally created on the Kingdom Hearts game engine. That is to say, I loved playing the game and never got tired of experimenting with new weaponry. I also like the expanded version of the hunt system seen in Final Fantasy XII, but I now have more open world games than I can stand. It's no Xenoblade X, and at times it doesn't seem like it even wants to try. Another point in Xenoblade X's favor: Final Fantasy XV doesn't allow players to accept more than one quest at a time, wasting more playtime than is ever necessary. For a game with a decade of development time (unless you don't include the middle of said decade where the game was almost cancelled) it's shockingly bipolar and feels like a totally wasted effort. When I saw the title of Chapter XIV I nearly leapt out of my chair thinking of the new opportunities in the game, but like much of Final Fantasy XV the game lands flat on its face and disappoints.
I wish I could say the game was better because I genuinely enjoyed most of the 40 hours spent with the game, but if Square-Enix hadn't promised extensive improvements to the story flow and gameplay it wouldn't even be in my honorable mentions. As a side note, will the fully-patched game eventually be retitled Final Fantasy XV: International Edition, or Final Fantasy XV: Final Mix?
Now that those are out of the way, let's get down to brass tacks.
The Top Ten Games of 2016
Number Ten - Street Fighter V
It's a shame that Street Fighter V released in the state that it did, because the game as it is now is fairly competent. Survival Mode is still not a decent replacement for Arcade Mode, but the various challenges and story modes are decent enough going into the 2017 season. I also appreciate the implementation of the shop in-game; merely playing through the short story modes allowed me to buy characters and stages I'd gladly spend money on otherwise. This is to say nothing of the reworked game mechanics, which are some of the most fluid and responsive in the entire genre. After merely playing Akuma for a few minutes I was able to complete his trial challenges after only a bit of time playing:
I appreciate how newcomer-friendly the game is, going so far as to reward players for merely watching demonstrations for each character. That said, the general lack of gameplay features--especially compared to its contemporaries or even past games in the series--makes Street Fighter V a difficult game to break too far into this list. I'd love to see Capcom take this as a challenge and shove more modes into the game, because I'll definitely keep playing Street Fighter V far into the future.
Number Nine - Monster Hunter Generations
I didn't play Monster Hunter Generations as long as I did many of the other games in the series, but don't take that as me disliking the game. Generations is another standard Monster Hunter, so most of my praise for last year's game applies here. The new hunter styles, however, completely change the way the game is played. Every single weapon now has four styles, with an additional style allowing the player to control the series mascot felyne pets. I love this series, and every year a new game comes out it'll always have a spot on my game of the year list. I sincerely hope XX (Generations Ultimate? Generations X?) releases alongside the Switch, as that would cause the new system to instantly jump up to a must-buy.
Number Eight - Dragon Quest VII
A game that basically everyone interested in the series had given up on, Dragon Quest VII finally released in the West to lukewarm sales. And god am I glad it at least came out at all. While the gameplay systems are fairly stock-standard, the presentation and style of the main story is so charming and simple that I can't think of a single person who couldn't pick up and enjoy the game.
Rather than a grandiose story typified of the Dragon Quest series, VII instead focuses on the story of individual islands broken up across time as the hero and his group of friends set off on an adventure to reclaim the titular forgotten past. It's not a short game; the original was notorious for its hundred-hour-plus game time and cryptic puzzles. Square-Enix poured massive amounts of love into this full remake by addressing complaints while expanding on what made the game a cult hit, creating a simple RPG full of heart. This is the one game on my top ten list I didn't finish (Monster Hunter doesn't count), but only because I want to enjoy it as long as I can. At least, until Dragon Quest VIII comes out in 2017.
Number Seven - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Before I begin, please divert your attention here:
Mankind Divided is the first game I put a lot of time into editing a video review for, not because I particularly want to make a habit of it on Youtube but simply because I enjoyed it so much. I played through the game twice after it released and loved all the improvements made to the gameplay of Human Revolution, but the abrupt ending was extremely disappointing. It's nice that Prague is so dense with detail, but even if the game was intended to be the beginning of a trilogy I think it could have ended a bit smoother. Rather than being outraged at the end, I took this as a preview of the episodic nature of games Square-Enix appears to be experimenting with; if the Final Fantasy VII remake is something like this, I don't think I'll be too disappointed.
That is to say I'm pinning my hopes on this sub-series of Deus Ex to release very closely to each other; if the next game doesn't release at the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018, my opinion on this episodic style is going to sour extremely quickly. If another five years pass between Mankind Divided and its sequel, I'll be devastated. A great experience, if not fleeting.
Number Six - Doom
I don't think anybody really expected this game to be good, so when we all took time to clear through the excellent campaign it was extremely refreshing to see that it smashed everyone's expectations. Taking snappy controls and crunchy weapons, then mashing it into labyrinthine level design and sprinkling in a ton of enemy variety has created one of the most flawless shooters in years.
It's not perfect, though--I felt the game had just started wearing out its welcome as it wrapped up, and it's not until the last few levels that Doom even introduces its three boss fights. I do greatly appreciate the negligible story and the way it's presented via System Shock 2-style ghosts and data logs, but there's very little to comment on other than "Doom Guy wants to kill a lot of demons. Luckily there are a lot of demons, so have fun." Ending the game on a cliffhanger seems unnecessary, especially given how abruptly the game ends for having such a surprisingly long run time.
I think I might have put the game higher on the list if either the multiplayer wasn't such a carbon copy of Halo--or if, like Wolfenstein: The New Order, id had simply poured all their effort into the single player campaign. The multiplayer is a black stain on a great game, but even without it I don't think I want to go through the campaign again any time soon. The running time is just a bit long and hunting for the collectibles took a lot out of me, but that's not to say it wasn't well worth the time. If id is already working on the expansion, or god help us a sequel, I'll be in line day one to continue Doom Guy's rampage.
Number Five - Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Hoo boy was I not prepared for this. Before this year I'd been chipping away at the original release of Shin Megami Tensei IV, but the looming release of its sidequel prompted me to finally set aside the time to complete it. I literally was not prepared to begin Apocalypse, but against all odds I managed to smoothly transition from the original game.
These might be the most satisfying turn-based games in existence. The protagonist is extremely customizable, boasting multiple playstyles with dozens of skills to choose from. That's not even to touch on the massive amount of choice in the game's list of hundreds of demons, all of which can have their skillset tweaked to perfection. Changes to the Shin Megami Tensei series mechanics give the game a familiar, though different experience from its predecessor. Even though Apocalypse supplants the ending of the neutral ending of Shin Megami Tensei IV, I wouldn't recommend skipping the original--the two games compliment each other perfectly, the apocalyptic scale of the original increasing to cosmic heights in this game.
The characters are well-written and each undergo their own struggles as they flit in and out of your party, making them feel like they have their own business to worry about outside of your character's struggle. If you have a 3DS, you owe it to yourself to play these games. They might seem daunting at first, but mastering the complex Press Turn system creates some of the most varied encounters in JRPG history. I might go so far as to say Apocalypse rivals the current masterpiece of Shin Megami Tensei, the third mainline game Nocturne. With more difficulty options, four endings and a multitude of approaches, I don't think I'd be out of line in saying it even surpasses it.
Number Four - Dark Souls III
I still don't know who the serpents are. But it doesn't matter, because the story has finally reached its excellent conclusion. The game's a bit linear for my liking, especially compared to last year's winding Bloodborne and even more when compared to the original Dark Souls. That aside, the gameplay has been refined to its absolute peak, with each weapon being given its own individual skill. Magic has also been altered, now more closely resembling the magic system seen in Demon's Souls. Even if your character isn't focused on magic, players can still opt to delve into their own weapon arts or completely neglect magic entirely--no Souls game has ever featured this much depth in gameplay.
The linearity of the overall game progression really is disappointing, but each area feels very complex--if these areas were connected similar to the original Dark Souls, the final game would easily rival the original for me. On its own Dark Souls III stands above most games released this year, a stellar action adventure in a doomed world. If Dark Souls presented a world on its death bed, Dark Souls III places players in a world convulsing in its death throes. Long questions are paid off in full while still presenting new world details, though I'm really not happy about some of the lore being locked behind the DLC.
In a year with so many stand-out games, the fifth Souls title still manages to climb above most releases. I wish the world was a bit more interconnected and there wasn't such a ridiculous emphasis on nostalgia, but those are pretty small complaints for such a masterfully-crafted game.
Number Three - Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
Vanillaware makes good games. Some of those games aren't quite as good as others--which is why the venerated developers saw fit to correct one of their first titles, the side-scrolling action RPG Odin Sphere, and recreate it to what I assume can only be their original ambition. And god almighty was the original vision for this game a beautiful work of art.
Taking the original game and turning the level design into a bit more of a level-based Metroidvania, Vanillaware went a step further and implemented a combat system that even surpasses their Wii and Vita masterpiece, Muramasa.
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir contains some of the most frantic, insane combat ever seen in a 2D game and ratchets it up to a ridiculous pitch, allowing players to customize each character so specifically that even fighting game inputs are available for real-time actions. The flow of combat is seriously one of the best in the industry and I never got tired of just sitting down and playing it.
The story is intentionally convoluted, each character going through their own story that eventually intertwines and escalates to one of the most jaw-dropping climaxes in video game history. Luckily, an in-game menu allows players to not only view each story chapter, but to also compare when every chapter takes place concurrently. There's even an option to view every single cutscene in the game, and I'd definitely recommend doing so when the game's dozens of characters begin weaving complex plots against each other all leading to the finale.
In short, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is a work of art, a complex narrative interwoven into some of the most satisfying gameplay in the business. I was enraptured in every single minutiae of the game and would recommend it to anybody.
Number Two - Another Metroid 2 Remake
Please allow me to explain. In my first run of this list I went down the Wikipedia entry for games released this year and deliberated on my top ten like normal. As I've since gotten a new PC and it's somehow not listed on Wikipedia, I had completely forgotten about one of the best games of the year, AM2R or Another Metroid 2 Remake. Metroid 2 is one of the more contentious games in the series, but over the last few years a dedicated individual completely recreated the archaic Game Boy entry in the vein of the superb Game Boy Advance title Metroid Zero Mission.
AM2R, like its original incarnation, places the famed bounty hunter Samus Aran on an alien planet to exterminate the titular Metroid race on Planet SR388. Rather than exploring a maze of tunnels and alien ruins, Samus must instead hunt for each of the dozens of Metroids individually. With the additions to game flow, including new areas and additional features seen in the more recent Metroid games, these changes help create one of the most open games in the series, allowing for both sequence breaking and multiple branching paths.
A lesser developer would have allowed a remake of this scale to fall into indulgent tinkering--in fact, when approaching my first playthrough I had some trepidation that the game would become bogged down in hardcore challenges aimed exclusively for the dedicated Metroid speedrunning community. What I found instead was a meticulously crafted game that I feel not even Nintendo could have produced. The game even includes a detailed log of story events, enemies, items, and whatever else players discover along the way. Forget AM2R simply supplanting Metroid 2 as the ideal version of the game; this might be the finest game in the Metroid franchise.
AM2R is side-scrolling exploration perfection, taking on the likes of Symphony of the Night and Shadow Complex effortlessly. The multiple instances of censorship in other games from Nintendo this year might have irked me, but the widespread DMCA takedown of AM2R is absolutely repugnant behavior. Nintendo should have looked at Sega's example with the upcoming Sonic Mania and reached out to the developers to canonize this remake, if not at least utilize it as a base for a major release. I'd gladly pay whatever price Nintendo would offer, and that's no exaggeration. I adore this game and I demand you go track down the 1.01 release, Nintendo crybabies be damned. If not for the near-religious experience I had with the top game on my list, AM2R would easily have reigned supreme. A masterpiece.
Number One - Titanfall 2
Big year for first-person shooters, huh? Titanfall 2 isn't just that. In fact, I'm not sure what to call Titanfall, other than "eminent." Or perhaps "perfection." I got my first taste of Titanfall 2 during the November free weekend, and within one match I was hooked. Not just casually entertained, but enraptured. I picked up the game as soon as possible and have been pretty much playing the multiplayer nonstop; the game mechanics are completely impeccable, allowing players to run across walls, dash at ridiculous speeds, and pick off targets without batting an eye using some of the crunchiest aiming in the business. And of course, once you hit a certain threshold players can drop their Titan, giant bipedal mechs that completely change the flow of battles. A single Titan can stomp across human players effortlessly, and fights between Titans are full of tension, each player desperate to hold onto their incredibly valuable mech. Even with my pitiful ISP, which can range between a ping of 30 to upwards of 500, the netcode constantly sharp and responsive. I'd go so far as to say this is what Vanquish would feel like in first-person atmosphere, barring the slowdown mechanics. But hey, Vanquish didn't let you stomp around with big robot feet.
Sometimes you go too fast.
I could gush over Titanfall 2's multiplayer forever, but it simply doesn't compare to playing it yourself. If you have a chance to play a free weekend, or if you're looking for a new multiplayer shooter, please do yourself a favor and give this game a shot.
Oh, and I'd be a terribly poor reviewer if I didn't give props to the single player campaign. While maybe not as long or full of as much enemy variety as Doom, the campaign never wears out its welcome, offering a simple buddy story between a guy and his robot. Unlike stinkers like Bioshock Infinite, Cooper rarely opens his mouth, diverting player control to dialogue options in specific moments. And unlike trends in shooters to neglect boss fights, Titanfall 2 instead introduces a Titan-piloting band of mercenaries, all of whom stand in Cooper's path for exhilarating boss battles. The story wraps up in one of the most emotionally draining endings I've seen in a mainstream shooter like this, and I'll definitely be buying Titanfall 3 just for a continuation of the story. Oh who am I kidding, I won't be able to drop the multiplayer.
Both the single player and multiplayer components of Titanfall 2 are transcendent. This is video game gold, lightning in a bottle the likes of which Western AAA games should look up to, even if the sales figures left a lot to be desired. If you have to play a single game this year, make it Titanfall 2. I seriously cannot think of a single complaint toward the game at all, and considering how much I love to complain, that's pretty massive praise.
Thank you all for reading my top ten list, if a game you liked didn't make the cut then shoot me a comment and I may read it. I didn't get to play as many games as I'd like this year, but I feel the ones that made the list, even the honorable mentions I wasn't too crazy about, were pretty special. Enjoy your 2017!
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