Mother 3...the feels...I can't even...

The wonderful cast of Mother 3

Last summer I decided to go back and finish Earthbound, otherwise known as Mother 2 in Japan, on the Super Nintendo.  Most people are familiar with it in 2016, but I remember buying a complete in box copy for $6 at Best Buy on closeout in the late 90s.  Why?  Because nobody cared about a cute RPG with minimal violence, odd humor, and a strange plot.  Not to mention the fact that nobody really cared about "retro" games at the time.  People had moved on to N64 and Playstation, and these Super Nintendo games were seen as disposable.  If you are curious, go look up what a boxed copy of Earthbound goes for now...it's not $6.  Even I took the game for granted.  I realized I had a hard to find game, and I ended up trading it away (profitably) and overlooked the gem I had in my possession.

Needless to say, when I did commit to the game I realized what a rich experience it was.  Simple gameplay, but a totally unique experience that really was different from other 16 bit era RPGs like Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, or Phantasy Star.  If you haven't played Earthbound, and you have any interest at all in Japanese RPGs, do yourself a favor and download it from the Nintendo eShop or find some other way to play it.  You won't regret the experience.  It stays with you.  Definitely one of my favorite games of all time.

That being said, Mother 3 is BETTER.  I'm not sure I can think of another game that takes the basic formula of a timeless classic predecessor, and outdoes it in every way.  Mother 3 is what you get when a developer takes a classic and puts in the polish to not necessarily make it a totally new experience, but iterate just enough that it feels fresh and new.

For those who are unfamiliar, the Mother series has a battle system not totally dissimilar to what you might expect from the Dragon Quest/Warrior series.  Here's a basic screenshot



Each character has HP and PP (exactly the same as MP in most games).  Battles are turn based, but not random.  The enemy encounters are on the map you navigate, and you can gain advantage (or disadvantage) by sneaking up behind an enemy and touching them when they aren't ready.  This is standard fare.

What makes Mother 3 in particular unique as compared to it's predecessors is the timing based battle system.  Every enemy has a "pulse" which is really a spin off of the battle music, and if you tap the attack button to the pulse, you can get up to 16 hits per attack round per character.  This isn't necessary really to get through the game...the difficulty is modest.  But it does add flavor to what might otherwise be a bland encounter.  I wanted to hear the weird notes that played along as I hit the enemies to the beat.  It didn't matter that it had no real bearing on whether I would win or not, although the battles certainly went faster and easier when I got those extra hits in.  And the music is fantastic.  Certainly the best original soundtrack I have heard from any Game Boy Advance game.  It takes certain themes and spins them in different ways for battles, open areas, storytelling, etc.

Another key difference is Chapters.  Mother 3 breaks up the game into distinct chapters generally based on different Acts in the story.  When you switch to different party members, or a major shift in the plot occurs, chances are you have hit the next chapter.  I feel like this gives the game more of a storybook feel than previous entries.

Speaking of plot, this game has one heavy story that will probably force you to reflect not only on it, but perhaps how the themes of the game reflect on experiences you have had in your life with close friends or family.  I find it fascinating that a game that features friendly dragons (really dinosaurs) that are right outside the first village, or a strange pig army cult, or gender queer magic pixies otherwise known as Magypsies can ultimately feel grounded and provided me with feelings of empathy.

It doesn't take much time for these themes to manifest themselves in Mother 3.  Right at the beginning the characters are forced to deal with traumatic loss that changes them permanently.  Life moves on for the cast of Mother 3, but they are never the same.  Some characters grow and become better people when forced to deal with trauma...others go down darker paths that lead to further tragedy.  I'm going to not say much more about the story since I think you should experience it for yourself, but it made a huge impression on me.

The game is bright and colorful.  Towns and dungeons all look different.  The attention to detail with NPC dialogue and small interactions even with unimportant objects will make you smile.  I feel like the spirit of Hayao Miyazaki resides in this game, and it wouldn't surprise me if they drew some inspiration from his animated works.  The game oozes charm and beauty.

I should also mention the dancing monkeys.  Oh yeah, spoiler alert, there are dancing monkeys.



How could you not like that?

I think it's probably best to play Earthbound on SNES before moving on the Mother 3, but then again it's not required.  There are a few significant connections between the stories of both games, despite Mother 3 easily standing by itself.  But you could probably get through Mother 2 and 3 (should I be saying Mothers 2 and 3?  Is it like attorneys general?) in less than 40 hours together, and for an RPG that is not a huge commitment.  It's also not one of those experiences that will feel laborious.  Some great games out there can feel like a lot of work to get through, but this has a leisurely pace and feel.  It's a game you can unwind too, although don't be surprised if you cry a bit as you progress.

So...when will Nintendo put this game out officially in English?  I played this on a hacked Game Boy Advance cart that was translated by fans.  That's great and all, but I'd prefer Nintendo get my money for this (the people who put out the translation and repro cart agree) since it is a true gem and well worth the price.  I think I paid $12 for the cartridge on eBay, which seems insane to me given how much personal value I received from the game.  I guess in 2005 Nintendo didn't see the market for this, but given the amount of imports already on the various Virtual Consoles, the existence of Lucas and Claus in Smash Brothers, and frankly the fact that a translation seems trivial when compared to the significance of a western release for what many besides myself consider to be one of the best games of all time, one wonders how they still haven't put this on Wii U or 3DS.  Everybody seems to agree that Nintendo could use more games for the Wii U, so why not polish this up and make a big deal out of it?  I'm not in their sales department, but I have to think there is money to be made.

As you can tell, I have nothing but the highest praise for Mother 3.  It is a true classic, and one of the best JRPGs I have ever played.  If you have any interest in this type of game, go out and play a ROM or do what I did and buy a repro cartridge.  You won't regret it.

Life Is Strange...both a universal truth and a modern adventure game

After my last post about Until Dawn, someone suggested I give my thoughts on Life Is Strange.  While distinctly different than Until Dawn, there are also some areas in which these can be compared and contrasted, including the fact that this game has its ups and downs.  I would probably recommend this game, although looking back on it (I finished this a couple months ago) my reception  has cooled a bit as I had the opportunity to reflect on my experience.

What Is It?

A couple years ago, new life was injected into the "Adventure" genre of games.  Telltale released The Walking Dead, which reinvigorated interest in the point and click style game where you interact with items and people within the world to advance the story.  Many other games in a similar vein came out after Walking Dead, especially from Telltale (perhaps too many from Telltale).  While some people may think adventure games sound like action games, the truth is that the genre is closer to a puzzle game than a "twitchy" action game.

Life Is Strange for the most part runs along the same lines as Telltale's adventure games.  The character you control, Max, is a girl who is studying photography at a private school in a fictional Oregon town heavily inspired by the show Twin Peaks.  Max is clearly the protagonist, and like many high school protagonists, she's not the most popular kid in school, but she is soft spoken, identifiable, and easy to like.  What makes this game unique is the mechanic of reversing time, which is a power Max discovers very early on.  The time reversal mechanic is used constantly, mostly in interesting ways, like exploring how other characters react to different dialogue choices, or undoing an accident that may cause some damage.  It's also the central plot device.  Max uses this ability very early to avoid a life changing tragedy which I won't elaborate on since it's a spoiler.  But in essence, Max's ability to rewind time is what advances the plot and is responsible for much of the conflict and resolution of the main story.  

If you read my Until Dawn post, you should immediately see one of the biggest differences between the two games.  Until Dawn forces you to live with your decisions, while Life Is Strange encourages you to play with your choices and settle on what makes you comfortable.  As a result, Life Is Strange is much less tense (not a bad thing...just a thing).  Perhaps you don't know the full impact of your decisions over the full course of the game, which is 5 episodes, but generally you know how other characters will perceive Max as a result of your decisions.

The game also uses the time reversal mechanic for puzzles.  You try something, it doesn't work, and you discover the right way to make it work by reversing time.  Or you move a bunch of stuff around and then reverse time so it moves back.  Sometimes you go back in time a few seconds, and other times you go back much, much further (with significant plot consequences).

It takes about 10 hours or so to complete all 5 episodes, and since it is episodic it's not very expensive to purchase.  In fact, I got my Steam key from Newegg on sale for less than $10.  It's also available on consoles.

Do I Like It?

Yeah, I like it.  When I finished the game, I felt at the time like it was one of the best games of the year.  But now that I've had some time to reflect on it, there are a lot of negatives and I think in the end I would rank Until Dawn ahead of it (although that's entirely subjective and even I'm not 100% sure I will feel that way a month from now).  I'll discuss my thoughts without getting into spoilers.

Let's start with the positive.  The game is paced reasonably well.  It's subtle, but the music and sound are well done.  Arcadia Bay, Oregon really does "feel" like the Pacific Northwest.  There is also something artistic about the general design of the environments.  Personally, the Twin Peaks references are a welcome addition for me as a big fan of the show, although if you haven't seen the show you probably won't get it.  It's fun seeing the different options when you use your time reversal abilities.

There is some nice depth to the presentation as well.  Max gets text messages from other characters throughout the game that call back to some of the earlier ways you interacted with them.  Sometimes, it's a threat from someone who doesn't like you.  Other times, it's gratitude or admiration for something you did.  This is a really nice touch.  I did feel things towards these characters, and they had a lot of depth to their personalities.  All of the characters have interesting elements to them, even those that I found myself resenting.  You can shape Max's persona with the decisions you make.  I appreciated these qualities very much.  For a game that allows you to reverse time, the characters themselves felt very real and believable.

The graphics, simply put, are not great.  There are basically no textures to the environments.  When the characters talk, the movements of the mouths I found to be somewhat like that of a puppet.  Part of that is clearly a style choice, but clearly they didn't come close to any kind of realism.  At times it's almost cartoony.  To me, this wasn't a big deal.  The game didn't need to rely on graphical fidelity to get me interested.  But it's worth mentioning.  

Artistically, it's not bad at all.  Graphically...meh.

The story and plot are also a mixed bag.  While I'm generally satisfied with the overall arc and how my game finished, there are way too many loose ends when all is said and done.  So many things were discovered throughout the game that seemed like they deserved explanation, including the actual origin of Max's power.  There is a nice twist towards the end of the game, and it did get me (although a friend told me he figured it out ahead of time).  

There is some decision making that impacts the outcome, but ultimately you really only have two choices in the end.  It's a little unclear to me why you have to make that specific choice as well and why it makes such an impact to the resolution of the game.  Plus this choice speaks again to the origins of Max's power, and it feels like the creators didn't want to have to come up with a complicated, but logical, connection.  Many of the other characters in the game simply aren't a part of the finale.  You spend a lot of time developing relationships with these characters, but in the end they don't really impact the resolution.  This is a shame, because when you go to great lengths to make secondary characters that have complexity to them, they should be a part of the main story and resolution.  And much of the game is spent thinking about how you want to respond to another character's dialogue or actions.  As you might be able to tell, I'm having a hard time articulating these gripes without spoiling the plot.

The gameplay is...OK.  The general adventure style, including most of the time reversal puzzles, kept me interested enough.  However, this game does something I absolutely can't stand (and many games do this today), which is introduce gameplay mechanics that are totally out of place when placed in context with the rest of the experience.  Specifically, there are two sections of the game that require you to utilize stealth in order to proceed.  And since you can just reverse time, mistakes can just be undone.  So what's the point of the stealth?  It feels clunky, and to compensate for the clunkyness, the creators simply made it easy to grind through using Max's time reversal.  If I wanted stealth, I'd be playing Metal Gear, Mark Of The Ninja, or even an RPG like Fallout or Skyrim, which utilize stealth in clever ways (or makes stealth an option, but not the only option).  It's not good that for a game I played a few months ago, one of the most distinct memories I have of it is me groaning over the fact that I had to play this junk stealth section.

There was a puzzle regarding putting clues together, and while I suppose the puzzle was fine, it just wasn't something I wanted to do when it came up.  I was more interested in advancing the story, rather than have to break down a bunch of clues and connect the dots by repeatedly pointing and clicking.  It seems to me like in the resurgence of adventure games over the past few years, they lack the quality of puzzles that existed in the classic games in the genre such as King's Quest, or even Leisure Suit Larry.  The exception to this is Broken Age, which looks modern but plays very old school.  Of course, those games have really no decision making whatsoever.  The story is what it is.

Should You Play It?

If you like this genre of game (casual adventure games), sure.  It's cheap, and it should keep you interested.  Even with my criticisms, it gets the job done.  There are plenty of things that aren't perfect but still enjoyable, like most games, movies, TV shows, or any other media.  Would it be the first adventure game I would recommend?  No.  I think if someone was starting off, I would recommend A Wolf Among Us over this (if they like comics).  

As always, thanks for reading my post.  I try to be thorough and informative but also interesting, so feedback is appreciated so I can make my content better for you, the reader.

Until Dawn: An interesting...game?

It's been quite some time since I've written anything on here, but after I finished my playthrough of Until Dawn I felt like it might be time to post some thoughts.  Until Dawn, if nothing else, is a "game" that does make you think about your decisions and the different possibilities that can come as a result.  It's definitely not perfect.  But it is memorable.

What is it?

Until Dawn is probably best described as an interactive horror/slasher movie where your actions help shape the ultimate outcome.  Like the Quantic Dream developed games such as Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain, most of the gameplay is tied into quick time events and binary decisions.  It works well.  The only unique part is when the game forces you to stay still by sensing motion in the controller (which I did fail on one occasion, despite the fact that I really didn't feel like I was moving).  In a tense moment, or just because most people fidget around when they are doing stuff, it is harder than you might think to keep the controller still.  The gameplay is secondary and not really innovative.  But that doesn't matter.  It's not why you play this game.

The reason you would play Until Dawn is the combination of uncertain decisions resulting in real consequences to the story, and the feeling you get by realizing that you helped to create that outcome, for better or worse.  Until Dawn really plays up the concept of the Butterfly Effect, because things you decide to say to your friends, or the path you decide to take during a chase, or a successful or failed quick time event could lead to characters living or dying.  And you have to live with it, because you only have one shot.  The game is constantly auto saving.  Until you finish the game the first time, you can't go back and change things (once you do finish it you can go back and replay to get different outcomes).  Regret what you just said to your girlfriend?  Too bad.  Make a good decision and you will feel proud of yourself for doing it "right" the first time.

Of course, there is no real wrong or right.  There are clues in the form of totems scattered throughout that will give you hints on how you might be able to avoid a tragic fate.  From what I can tell, just about anybody can be saved, but maybe you WON'T want to save them.  It is your experience, after all.  Do you want to be true to the character's personality they establish in the beginning, or do you want to do things your way?  I tended to do things in between.  There were characters I disliked and yet I found myself doing noble things for them, and so on.  I messed up at times, but in the end it didn't really bother me.  Like most movies, I accepted the fact that despite my wishes or efforts I couldn't totally control the outcome the first time.

Do I like it?

For the most part, I enjoyed my time with Until Dawn.  It has some positive qualities.  The actors, especially Peter Stormare (vee vahnt ze monee Lebowskeee), are pretty good, although the writing is predictably dumb as you might expect for a horror movie.  That's also fine in my opinion.  They have to make the characters do stupid things in order to create a fleshed out experience.  It also looks great, despite framerate dips.  The motion capture and facial details are absolutely outstanding.  The lighting is incredible.  Just look at this.

The creators made a smart move prioritizing detail over framerate.  The dips never impact the gameplay experience, but the detail enhances the cinematic experience.  Well done.

So I put the word game in quotes earlier because one of my biggest gripes with Until Dawn, probably the only significant one, is the fact that the action feels very uneven.  The first few chapters I found very boring.  Part of it is that these early jump scares, especially those that are red herrings, don't really grab me.  The game forces you to walk at times very slowly through areas with basically no significance or action.  I guess the goal is to increase the tension as well as show off the graphics, although at times it feels like too much.  The thing about the Quantic Dream games I mentioned earlier that is sometimes criticized is the fact that some of the quick time events don't really mean anything, but after playing this I realized that sometimes those meaningless events actually keep you into the game by forcing you to interact with the world, whether it really matters or not.  Until Dawn also has many pointless decisions and actions though, and it has way less interactivity.  If you miss your high five with Josh in one of the early parts of the game (spoiler alert, I guess...), something tells me that won't be the pivotal moment you'll regret in the end.  The actual gameplay is minimal, although later in the game the action picks up and should keep most people interested.  

The characters for the most part I found unlikeable.  The acting is fine...the characters are annoying and come across as entitled brats (NOTE: Peter Stormare does not play an entitled high school brat...I know you were wondering).  That's the intent, but I think if they were at least a little more relateable it may have created more desire for you to save people.  By the end of the game I think my sympathy for their experience overcame my antipathy towards them.

Until Dawn is truly memorable and I recommend it for almost everyone who can deal with the graphic nature of the content simply because of the variety of outcomes.  Not all of the characters survived for me (I won't say who), but it's possible for someone to be a superhero and save everybody.  Truth be told...I think a horror movie where nobody dies is fucking lame, so I'm glad some of these people bit the dust.  In fact some of the deaths were gory to a point where I did find it humorous.  Some may find it dark, but I think over the top deaths can be quite funny.  I suppose remembering the fact that it's fiction allows me to see it that way.  That may have a different affect on others.  It could be troubling if these kinds of images bother you.  This game didn't scare me like P.T. (RIP) did.  P.T was insane.  I don't think it really was as scary as Dead Space 1 and 2 (personal favorites and you should play them).  But with movies/TV/games it takes quite a lot to scare me.  As I said, I never quite get over the fact that it's not real.  It's a legit horror experience though.  

The fact that I wanted to write something about this game, despite many flaws including some moments where I didn't actually find it enjoyable, speaks to why I ultimately feel it's worth your time.  There are a lot of games that have super tight gameplay and offer no substance to actually keep you motivated (*cough* Destiny *cough*), and when you are done you never think about them again.  What I want to do now is talk about the decisions I made, and find out how I could have done things differently from my friends.  Of course, I won't be doing that here.  Many games try to give you the feeling of affecting the outcome based on your actions, but few do it as well as Until Dawn.  Even now I'm considering what I could have done differently...and if I would want it to be different.  This is really where Until Dawn sets itself apart from the Quantic Dream games.  The ending is YOUR ending...not purely the game's ending.

So turn off your lights, install the game, then install the updates (make a sandwich or get a drink so you pee yourself over the jump scares while you wait for PSN to download it) and give this one a shot.  It will stay with you much more than most games.  

Thanks for reading.  Feel free to comment.  

Bayonetta and Bioshock Infinite: Burial At Sea thoughts along with Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls comments

Thanks again for checking out the blog.  For this post I'm going to change the format a little bit.  For my "reviews", I'm going to still do paragraphs on my general thoughts on the game, but I'm also going to create a new sections called Who Should Play It and Who Shouldn't Play It.  Frankly, the typical method of evaluating games by reviewers seems to be reduced to a number, which doesn't really speak to the type of person reviewing the game or have any relativity as compared to a similar person writing a review in a totally different place.

But the truth is that when someone is looking at a review, they are trying to make a purchasing decision.  Most people only want to know if a game will be good for them, as opposed to finding the "best" game out there.  I think a brief discussion followed by general recommendations is a better way of getting there.  Besides, I'm not even sure that I can make scoring decisions very well, and frankly I'm not sure how professional reviewers do it.

With all of that out of the way, let's talk about...



Bayonetta was one of those games I missed the first time around.  And while I don't know the specifics, I'm guessing it wasn't the highest selling game of all time.

That's not a huge surprise when you consider what it is.  At its core, Bayonetta is a beat 'em up in the style of Devil May Cry or God of War.  You have an overpowered protagonist (Bayonetta is on the left in the image) who mows down bad guys with various combinations, most of which can be done by button mashing.  It does have a few unique things, like well timed dodges that put you in "witch mode" which temporarily slows down time so you can pound away on an enemy.  In certain battles, this slowdown is key to winning the fight, especially as you move up on the difficulty curve.  But in general, if you are familiar with other games in this genre nothing in Bayonetta should be difficult to grasp.

Speaking of difficulty, this game is pretty hard on normal.  I actually tuned it down to Easy to get through the game.  I think Normal is maybe a bit too tough the first time around considering how many hits certain enemies would take with my basic equipment.  Some gamers may not mind the repetitive nature of dying and retrying, but I personally felt that on Normal the game went from manageable to frustrating after the first couple of missions.  I'm guessing that if I played through it a second time with my unlocked gear on Normal that I would feel differently.

But the most important thing I need to bring up about Bayonetta is the style and presentation which is ultimately the draw of the game.  While the picture I included has toned it down, Bayonetta is a highly sexualized protagonist.  Depending on your perspective, this can be a good or bad thing.  The graphics aren't extremely sophisticated, but it's certainly detailed enough to...ahem...arouse its audience.  Despite being sexualized, I think Bayonetta as a character is highly independent and comfortable in her sexuality.  I think that matters.  While she is supposed to be eye candy, the other characters don't really comment on it.  She owns it herself.  So I'm not sure it's fair to totally dismiss her out of turn as compared to a more submissively sexualized character that you might see in other games.

Also, this game is heavily influenced by anime and corny action films.  Every move is exaggerated, every battle is over the top.  Some of the cutscenes are still shots that are presented in a sort of vintage film look.  I found it to be quite funny and it's hard to take the story too seriously.  That's probably a good thing, because the story never made tons of sense to me.  I got the idea, but I didn't really care about the "lore".

My last note is that I played this on Playstation 3.  I would strongly recommend installing the game because before installing it the loading screens were very long and too frequent.  It's not a new game and it shouldn't be expected to perform like one.  You should know that going in.

Who Should Play This Game

• Fans of action games like Devil May Cry or God of War.
• People who enjoy over the top games that are self referential and don't take the plot too seriously.
• Bargain hunters.  I paid about $15 for this game brand new.  Not bad for 7+ hours of gameplay.

Who Shouldn't Play This Game

• If you are looking for a high end technical game, this is not it.  This is not The Last of Us.
• People who are looking for a nuanced story that makes them think or want to discuss the outcome.  This game is not that ambitious.
• People who dislike anime style.  If the frantic Japanese style of anime is not for you, you probably won't like this game.
• While I think Bayonetta handles her sexuality in a reasonable way, she flaunts it unabashedly.  Some people might be offended.  I think it depends on your view of what feminism means.

Now I'll move on to...

Burial At Sea is the DLC for Bioshock Infinite, one of the best games to come out in 2013 and a personal favorite.  It feels to me like Bioshock got a lot of backlash after it came out initially last year and everyone I knew played through it immediately.  That generally seems like a pretty strong endorsement, but as time went on there seemed to be a lot of complaints about it as a shooter as well as some criticisms of the plot.  Before I continue, I should mention I wasn't one of those people.  While Infinite wasn't my personal Game of the Year (for that it's a close call between Last of Us and Zelda Link Between Worlds), it was definitely up there, and for me I considered Infinite to be a first person shooter that stuck with me a lot more than, say, Halo 4.  

For the purposes of this write up, I'm going to avoid spoilers and focus more on the gameplay.  I'll talk about the plot very broadly.  

Burial at Sea is two parts.  The first puts you in control of Booker DeWitt in an alternate universe as he goes into Rapture, the setting for the original Bioshock.  The second part puts you in control of Elizabeth.  Part 1 plays much like the first game, and is somewhat short.  I think I finished it in about 90 minutes.  Part 2 is considerably longer and has much more of a stealth feel.  This was a welcome change, especially for just a few hours of gameplay.  Plus it makes sense.

Both DLCs have equipment and plasmids (powers) that are distinct and separate from the main game.  This is a welcome change and also helps expand what I already considered to be deep gameplay that allowed the player to play the game in a manner in which they preferred.  

After Part 1 came out there was a general concern about value and length of the DLC.  I'm pleased to say that Part 2 actually manages to really complete the circle not only of Bioshock Infinite and Part 1 of the DLC, but of the Bioshock 1 story as a whole.  The way they managed to tie it all together is nothing short of brilliant.

It probably doesn't need to be stated, but this content looks beautiful.  Part 2 in particular opens up in an amazing way that literally left my jaw hung open.  Seldom does a game make me want to stay in a place and not move on, but Part 2 did that for me right at the beginning.  It stopped my natural instinct of exploring and trying to advance and instead gave me the feeling that I wanted to stop and smell the roses.

Who Should Play It

• Fans of Bioshock 1 or Bioshock Infinite.
• People who prefer story driven as opposed to action driven games.
• "Discussion" minded gamers.  There is plenty to dissect from this experience.

Who Shouldn't Play It

• People who prefer a more fast paced, competitive shooter such as Call of Duty.
• People who may be put off by dark themes, violence, torture, etc.  This game goes to places that some might not be comfortable with.  For me, I appreciated the emotional response I had to some of the darker moments.  
• If you never liked Bioshock in the past, you won't like this.

Now let's move on to Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls.

I'm not going to formally review this, because you are either on board with Diablo 3 or you aren't.  But I want to review some of the changes to the overall experience from the recent patch that overhauled the original game plus added features for the expansion.

The biggest and most obvious difference is the increased loot drops.  While in the original Diablo 3, rare and legendary drops were hard to find (and not always very useful) they have completely changed the formula this time around.  It didn't take long before my character had brand new gear.  The auction house has been removed, which allowed this "rebalancing" to happen.

I also like the new Adventure Mode.  This basically lets you teleport to different places in the Diablo 3 world and take on various tasks in exchange for loot, money, and XP.  Once you hit the Level Cap of 70, you can use Adventure Mode to power up your character further with better gear and Paragon Levels which allow you to increase your account's core statistics.  

Finally, the difficulty has been dramatically adjusted.  The difficulty seems to now bear into account your current level, so the harder difficulties are truly difficult.  I managed to beat the expansion content on Torment 1, which is the 5th level of difficulty, but only with the assistance of a friend (and a lot of running away on my part) since the enemies were damaging my character with high end gear and a maxed level.  

There's not much else to discuss with Diablo.  You either like the experience or you don't.  It's certainly accessible enough for new players, and I would suggest that if you want to try it see if you can find a guest pass.  That's how I got into the game I couple years ago and those things should be floating around everywhere.

That's all for this update.  Right now I'm working on Persona 4 Arena story mode, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD, Final Fantasy X/X-2 Remastered (PS Vita), and of course I will probably put time into some other things as well.

Please comment and share!  

Dangan Ronpa, Fez, Spelunky, Bravely Default, and South Park: The Stick of Truth

It's been a while since I posted an update, so here's some thoughts on a few games I've played recently.



Dangan Ronpa, for the Playstation Vita, is one of the most Japanese games I've played in a while.  By that I mean the game revels in its own bizarre story, which I appreciate.  The closest thing to compare it to is Phoenix Wright which I will talk about more in a moment, but it also has shooting, dating sim, and rhythm elements that probably should feel out of place, but somehow felt natural to me.

Long story short...you are a student picked to go to Hope's Peak Academy, a special high school that takes on gifted students.  Each of your classmates (in the picture above) has a special talent in which they are the "ultimate".  For example, Leon (red hair in the front row) is the Ultimate Baseball Player.  You find out early in the game that you are stuck in the school and the only way to leave is to be "blackened", by killing one of your fellow classmates and getting away with it by not being found guilty at the subsequent class trial.  Oh, and if you are "blackened", everybody else is executed.  Make sense?  Of course it doesn't.  But if you accept the bizarre premise you will probably enjoy it.

The main part of the game is class trials in which you make arguments to try and discover who killed a particular classmate.  While at first the culprits are obvious, the game does an excellent job mixing things up and playing with your expectations.  By the time I got to the end, I was desperate to see how it all unfolded and understand the true nature of Hope's Peak Academy.

In that sense, it's definitely a visual novel.  The feel I got was the same feel I have when I'm reading a novel that I can't put down.  While it might not be for everyone and some of the gameplay elements don't feel perfect, it left a mark on me that is hard to describe.  I felt very similar about the game Catherine, which was also bizarre with imperfect gameplay.  But when I was done, the experience stuck with me.  I think there is something to be said for that.




I just "beat" Fez for the first time a few days ago.  This is a charming game that is probably unlike any other puzzle/platformer out there.  The primary mechanic involves you navigating a 2D plane that you can rotate 360 degrees.  The result of this creates interesting puzzles that require you to change your perspective of the stage in order to proceed.

Personally, I enjoy these kinds of games.  They are unique and force people to do things they haven't seen before.  So overall I would recommend Fez.  However, I also think that Fez is too cryptic for its own good.  In order to get the normal ending, you must get 32 cubes that are scattered throughout the world.  There are actually 64 cubes in total when you include the difficult to find anti-cubes.  But to me, this is where the game gets too creative.  Many of these secrets are hidden extremely carefully, requiring either an FAQ or extensive studying and note taking.  Dark Souls handles a large world with secrets much differently.  Dark Souls doesn't tell you much, but through normal discovery you learn the secrets to the world.  With Fez, it feels like you have to go another step, one that feels like it would be less fun to do without assistance from the community.  I managed to do basically everything in Dark Souls without assistance, but that would be impossible with Fez.

Overall, great game.  What really made me enjoy it was the graphics and sound.  The ending I got was also very trippy, and I always enjoy that kind of creativity.  But it's not without it's faults.



Spelunky is a very difficult rogue-like game.  The levels are generated uniquely every time you start over, which will happen a lot.  You only have 4 "hearts" which can be difficult to regenerate, and limited resources to get through at least 16 levels before finishing the game.  If you are like most players, you will fail a lot early on until you learn about which items are useful, how to deal with different enemies and obstacles, and of course mastering the tight but tough controls.

I love this game.  While it can be frustrating at times when you fail, it's hard to blame anyone but yourself.  The obstacles the game throws at you can be overcome...if you are thinking about it in the right way and executing on a proper strategy.  You have to act quickly, but not so quickly that you are in a rush and miss an important item or fall into a trap.

I have this on PS3, Playstation Vita (a cross-buy), and Steam.  The first time I successfully made it through the game I happened to be playing it as I was going to bed on my Vita, and to be perfectly honest I didn't expect to win.  I had failed so many times that I just figured that a quick run would be what I needed before sleep...and yet I made it through the entire game leaving me proud at the expense of much needed sleep.  But it was worth it!


Bravely Default is a terrible name for a game.  But it does tell you about the unique characteristic of this JRPG that should probably just be a Final Fantasy game.  Bravely Default relies on the player to "Brave" to take an extra turn (at the expense of a future turn) or "Default" to increase defense for a turn and store extra turns for future uses.  Don't need to heal this turn?  Have your healer Default and then they can heal twice the next turn.  Want to kill an enemy quickly?  Just have every character Brave 3 times and overwhelm the enemy with force at the start of battle.

This is a great system that is added onto a mostly traditional turn based RPG with a job system that is not dissimilar from other games.  The story is interesting, but without spoiling the ending, I have to take Square Enix to task for the end game.  Once I traversed the entire world, fought all of the main "bosses" that the game suggests you will have to fight from the beginning, and make it to what feels like the end, the game is extended in a very poor and, in my opinion, a boring fashion.  The first 30 hours I felt like Bravely Default was what I wanted for years from Final Fantasy, and yet when I reached the end it left a sour taste in my mouth.  I'm hoping they learn for the sequel.

It's still good if you like JRPGs.  While I decided not to pursue the true ending due to my frustration with their design choices, I could see someone still enjoying it.  It doesn't ruin the game...it just holds it back from being the classic JRPG I wanted it to be.



Ever play Mario RPG or Paper Mario?  Do you like South Park?  If you said yes, you should play this game.  It's clearly the best licensed game to come out in years as compared to the trash you typically see when a big box office movie or TV show is adapted into a video game.

The gameplay is extremely simple as a turn based RPG, but what stands out to me is how polished the world and jokes are.  It just feels like South Park.  I laughed the whole way through, and even though the actual fighting is extremely simple and arguably repetitive, I never felt bored with the 12 hours or so I needed to do everything in the game.  The creators deserve a ton of credit.  Most games that max out around this time with far more complex gameplay feel like a less robust experience to me.

I'm hoping we get some quality DLC for this.  I think another 3 or 4 hours of quests for $10-15 every 6 months or so would be a great way to expand the value and of course make Obsidian and South Park Studios more money on what I already expect to be a huge success for them.

Something I've noticed personally is that South Park and Dangan Ronpa are both greater than the sum of their parts.  Neither game has outstanding graphics.  Neither game has perfect game mechanics by far (especially Dangan Ronpa), but I would expect both games to be in my 10 favorites for the year because I just had more fun with them.  They didn't feel like a drag to play and I was drawn into them more.

I've also been playing Titanfall recently on PC (I'm imthewalrus610 on Origin if you would like to play with me) and that game is the exact opposite.  The gameplay and graphics are extremely tight and high quality, and yet it lacks the story and ambience that other games have had that resonate with me more.  Don't get me wrong...Titanfall is also a very good game that anybody who enjoys shooters should play.  But I would say based on my experience that you can create a truly great video gaming experience without making a sophisticated graphics engine and deep gameplay.

This has been a long post, and as always I encourage you to comment, message, share...whatever!  Think I should write about something specific?  Tell me!  Disagree with my thoughts?  I welcome the criticism.

Bonus Blog! The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is surprisingly pretty and well presented for what most would consider to be a budget title.  It is truly a visual representation of a Holmes story.

I have to admit that I have been on something of a Sherlock Holmes binge.  The BBC hit "Sherlock" left me wanting more as soon as I finished watching the recently aired Season 3.  

So off I went to Steam where I downloaded and played The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, another traditional style adventure game.

While Broken Age can appeal to casual adventure fans, Testament takes a much more serious and difficult approach.  You really do have to solve these mysteries.  It also is more than just a point and click experience.  Combining items together, interpreting chemical test results, solving complex puzzles without an obvious solution (most of the time), using those clues to solve a deduction board, etc. make this game far more difficult.  This game will not have the broad appeal that Broken Age has.  You need some patience for this game and I imagine the pacing may be too slow for some.

I believe this game retails for $19.99, but at the time of my purchase I paid $4.99 for it on sale and for that price I was more than satisfied.  Visually, the game looks brilliant.  It has its presentation flaws, but nothing that makes it feel cheap.  The voice actors for Holmes, Watson, and the rest of the cast is great.  Certainly nobody in a video game is going to be like Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, but the actors here do a great job.  And the game has some length.  It took me about 10 hours to get through the game and given the difficulty I'm not too proud to admit that there were a couple times I had to look up where to find the next clue.

In my opinion, the game has a few too many moments where I felt like I was doing the right thing and perhaps I wasn't clicking on the exact right place.  It's a little annoying.  The game also sometimes forces you to use the ASDF keys to select between different options to click on, and I found it kind of clunky.  Some of the items to click on were also located in just strange places.  But these are obstacles that can be overcome.

If you like Holmes style mysteries, it's worth checking out.  But if you aren't into more difficult adventure games or the Holmes universe, it's probably one you should skip.  There are other games in the series as well that at some point I hope to try because despite its flaws, Testament was a very enjoyable experience for me.  

Broken Age. Old school adventure gameplay meets modern design and publishing. Also, my thoughts on Kickstarter.

This is the opening screen of Broken Age, where you choose which side of the story you want to experience first.  On the left is Vella and on the right is Shay.

Over the past few years, adventure style games have become much more mainstream, especially due to the mainstream success of Telltale's The Walking Dead.  By the way, if you haven't played that game and have any kind of console or decent PC, it's definitely worth playing if you have any interest in the series.

For those of you who don't know, Tim Schafer is responsible for Monkey Island, widely considered to be one of the classics of the genre.  Schaefer's company, Double Fine, launched a Kickstarter to create a new adventure game with modern graphics but an old adventure style feel.

So we have a genre that is resurgent, a developer that is respected by the industry and fans, and now Kickstarter, which has changed the economics of creating games that may not be as mainstream as the type of stuff that sells in a Wal Mart/Best Buy retail environment.  Not to mention the fact that smaller budget titles have become a staple in both the PC and console gaming over the past few years.

Without all of these things, a beautiful and artistic game like Broken Age would never have seen the light of day.  It really is a confluence of a number of different things.  I wonder if a game like this could have come out at any other time.

So now that I've talked about the circumstances surrounding the game, I'll talk about the basics of the game itself.  This is a game only on PC (for now) that tells the story of two characters.  Vella and Shay.  Shay appears to be in a ship that does nothing but coddle him as if he was a baby, and he desperately wants to have meaning to his life aside from the boring monotony he faces every day.  Vella is a girl who lives in a village and has been chosen to participate in the Maiden's Festival.  Everybody has a lot of pride in the Maidens, because when they are devoured by a giant monster named Mog Chothra, the village is saved because of that sacrifice.

Both characters struggle with their place in their respective worlds.  It's very easy for the player to empathize with them.  We have all felt at times that the expectations of society didn't actually make sense and yearned to break the mold for one reason or another.  I immediately connected with both characters and found them to be instantly likeable.  This is very important for an adventure game that is focused entirely on the characters' journeys.

The actual gameplay is simple.  Click on items to interact with them, drag items in your inventory to other items to try and use them together.  For example, use a screwdriver on a vent in order to open it and proceed.  Old school adventure games could be somewhat cryptic about this process.  You had a ton of items and things to interact with and sometimes the relationship between these items wasn't all that obvious.  I think at the time of Monkey Island, this helped add depth and value, but in a modern game this would seem annoying and monotonous.

Fortunately, Broken Age does an excellent job by not making it quite as simple as The Walking Dead, but simple enough that I didn't need the use of any hints from the Internet to find out what to do next.  There were only a few times where I needed to do some trial and error.  The puzzles required some thinking, but nothing too difficult.  At no time did I feel frustrated with the experience.  It felt modern.  This may turn off some people looking for that old school experience, but I suppose you can't please everybody.

As I alluded to before, the presentation of this game is incredible.  The art is very beautiful, the music has a distinct tone that changes as the story progresses.  Several characters in the game have well known voice actors like Elijah Wood (Shay) and Jack Black (I don't think I want to tell you who he is).  It even has Hwil Hwheaton...er, Wil Wheaton.

The bottom line is that if you are at all interested in games like Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, The Walking Dead, etc., you owe it to yourself to give this game a shot.  Right now, they only have Act 1 out, and Act 2 is going to come hopefully in the near future.  When I sat down the play the game, I thought I would play through just one character and stop, but I was so interested in the game that I went right into the second character despite the fact that I probably shouldn't spend so much time playing a single thing non-stop.  That's a credit to the story that does a great job drawing you in from the very beginning.

So buy it with confidence (or if you are like me, Steam Share it from someone else's library with confidence).

The other thing I wanted to write about in this post is the concept of Kickstarter and my ambivalence about it as a means for funding projects that fans want.

For those of you who don't know about crowdfunding, the idea is to decentralize financing for projects such as a game like Broken Age, or a movie, or a book...anything really that has enough interest from a fan base.  Kickstarter is a big name in crowdfunding, and most projects have incentives based on the amount of money fans give to the cause.  A small donation might entitle them to the completed product, and a big donation may entitle them to something special, like an autograph or a chance to meet the creator.  If you check out their website I'm sure you will get the concept quickly.

On first glance, this is a great thing.  I think most people agree that corporatizing of art can often lead to a worst product because of the desire of the company funding it.  A movie, for example, might have lots of product placements in it.  Or a character in a game might have to change because of some kind of political or social concern.  While some of these compromises aren't a big deal and may even improve the end product, it's easy to imagine that the vision of the creator can start to get lost with this kind of "interference".

Kickstarter removes that.  These projects have to be held accountable to their fans.  And this is both a good and bad thing.  It's good because creative people generally want to please their fans and fans want the creative people to put out the product they want.  But the problem lies with ultimate accountability, and this is what worries me about the future of Kickstarter as it pertains to games.

Broken Age is a brilliant piece of work.  Nobody can honestly say that Double Fine screwed their customers with this product.  Perhaps it's not perfect for some and maybe even some of the backers of the Kickstarter are disappointed, but they weren't ripped off.  They got a complete (at least Act 1) and polished game.  If it's not your cup of tea...well...you can't please everyone.

My worry is that eventually someone will take advantage of this system.  A group could raise millions of dollars via Kickstarter on an idea that seems appealing to the fans, but is ultimately not executed on in the right way.  Or maybe a game comes out and just has a million bugs that are never fixed.  I don't see how Kickstarter can guarantee the quality of these projects or that these projects ever reach the light of day.  At least with a preorder, the commitment from the fan is minimal.

So let's say a high profile Kickstarter project fails...will the community keep faith with the system?  Double Fine came through on this one, but if another company did it, would Double Fine's next crowdfunded project get the money it needs?  Would the taint of one failed Kickstarter hurt the entire crowdsourcing community?
A bank, investors, or a publisher can hold these developers directly accountable for their work and force deadlines and bring in additional resources if necessary.  But what can fans do?  Complain on a forum where nothing will really happen to address their concerns.  Also, there's nobody really making sure that the money that's raised to create is being used in a proper way.

There's one more problem, which is more of an ethical concern.  Double Fine obviously has limited resources and needs to be careful before investing their money in big projects, but there's plenty of reason to believe that groups who DO have the money to make these projects on their own could use Kickstarter not to create something out of nothing, but to mitigate their own risk of developing a failed project.  It really shouldn't be the fans that take the financial risk that a project fails, but the developing group.  Zach Braff tried to raise money for a movie, but why should anybody pay him?  He's a multimillionaire with connections to Hollywood elites.  He has plenty of other avenues to raise money besides his fans.  "Passion projects" are expensive...that's why they call them a passion.  If you are so passionate about making something, then you should be willing to take the risk to invest in it.  If I started a business on my own and I had no skin in the game, then a bank or another investor wouldn't want to help me raise money either.

So I didn't back this game, and to be honest I'm a little reluctant to back anything on Kickstarter.  As I see it, if I'm investing in something, I should get a return.  The only return you get on Kickstarter is a product, but if Broken Age becomes a huge commercial success, they will not be sharing in that financial success with the backers.  Frankly, if Double Fine is as successful with this game in the end as I think they might be, I think they owe it to their fans to go the extra mile and perhaps give extra content not previously promised or something else to make them feel even more appreciated.  The fans who backed this game deserve more credit than a free copy of the game because without them it wouldn't exist in the first place in the most literal sense.  They should share in Double Fine's success somehow.

I don't wish to dissuade anyone from using Kickstarter.  I think it's a brilliant concept and for the right people I think this is a way to utilize crowdfunding and allow small shops to compete with the big boys.  But over time I suspect some changes will have to be made.  It seems inevitable to me that Kickstarter will run into a major problem that will leave people questioning the service and the entire crowdsourcing paradigm.

This post turned out longer than I expected it to be, but as I was writing I found myself coming up with more and more questions.