Finally Finished TLOU

Hey, been a while guys.  Figured I'd start the ball rolling again by letting all of you know I've finally finished The Last of Us.  I wrote my own thoughts on it here.

But I wanted to ask, what game are you all interested in playing now?  I have a few things on my backlog, and wanted to check before I started mopping up on old games.

Welcome to fall, football, and beers gentlemen.

- SBG

AC: Unity

I dunno if I will actually play Ass Creed 2014 for the reasons I mentioned in my first post (I feel like I've played different iterations of the same game every year for the last half-decade).

 

I am genuinely interested in why developers always go for that "papers flying around in an empty city" look. It's surely become a cliche by now.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5eGRnbZ0fo (I don't remember how to embed from an email)

Re: [We Blew in Cartridges] Ass Creed

I have a "try everything once" approach to the side missions. In terms of doing anything more, I've enjoyed a couple of the assassination quests and I've killed a few animals dumb enough to stumble into my path, but I don't really see the point in actively seeking these sorts of side missions - I guess you can upgrade stuff? Or sell stuff? I've never really felt the need.. I've tried to hack all of the computers in Abstergo though, I've really enjoyed those Desmond tapes.

 

Most strangely, I feel somewhat guilty when I go hunting for sharks with a harpoon. So I've stopped doing that. All the political correctness of social media has really gotten me in recent years I guess.

 

Ass Creed

I don't know about you guys, but I am getting super swept up in all the side missions. The assassin missions, the sea faring, all of it is wonderful.

Have you guys figured out the harpooning yet? The only thing I wonder is, why am I building toward?

Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag: A Pirate's Life for Me.

New game time. I know there's a lot of differing opinions about the AC series from the three of us but that should definitely be a good thing going into this game.

I actually played quite a bit of it on 360 before starting over on PS4 a few weeks later. Still, i abandoned it on PS4, never really expecting to go back to it. Now i have a reason.

On a personal note, i'm a huge fan of the AC series and have been since the original game came out years ago. Altair was a great character and the crusades were a great setting. Getting through Ezio's story over the course of three games definitely kept my attention with his (and Desmond's) story. The games under the AC2 umbrella brought some gameplay dynamics that were fantastic and others that remained stagnant for too long throughout the series. AC2, Brotherhood and Revelations were still very enjoyable games to me. Hell, i even read some of the companion books to go along with Ezio's story, i liked it that much.

maybe it's the "De Firenze" that really connected me to Ezio. 

Connor Kenway's debut in AC3 was easily the lowest point of the series. Connor was a bad character and, with the exception of naval battles (which are fucking awesome), the new dynamics of gameplay, specifically those goddamn horses, did nothing to enhance the game. Couple that with the squatty, boring setting of the northeastern colonies of Boston, NY and Philly as well as the god awful and extra-abundant native american language (that made half the dialog in the game require subtitles) and AC3 never really had a chance to please with creative choices like that.

Philly in AC3. Who thought this would be fun? 

I remember going into a meeting with Ubisoft right before the official announcement of AC4. The devs at Ubi Montreal were fucking stoked about the new game. They knew they had something that fans would like and had taken the fans dislike of AC3 to heart. Refocusing the game on Edward Kenway, emphasizing the naval battles and weaving Edward through a story that loosely incorporated real life pirates and forsaked (forsook?) the squatty cities of AC3 for massive jungles and islands like Cuba, was the correct direction.

damn. 

Overall, AC's story and pseudo-historical angle has always been one of my favorite aspects of the franchise. Like reading Devil in the White City or other Erik Larson books, there's an enjoyable formula at play here. That said, i remain skeptical of two major components of the AC series.

1 - Combat has not evolved as much as it should have throughout the series. I've used the Arkham comparison quite a bit regarding this and i think it remains true. You simple can't have the combat of your master assassin be so clunky when Batman can fluidly take on 30 guys at once.

Or, you know, like eight without breaking a sweat. 

2 - The external story, taking place outside of Edward at Abstergo Entertainment, is one that seems to have ignored what came before with Desmond Miles. Don't know how i feel about that because i hated the way they ended Desmond's story in AC3 but that didn't mean i was happy to abandon that plot entirely. Intrigued to see how it's handled here in Black Flag.

Abstergo: You only thought we were an evil shadow corporation. 

Edit - i left the above as a draft for weeks until HotFuj reminded me to post it. Sorry about that. I'm a handful of chapters into AC4. Still intrigued by the Abstergo element and really want to see how that gets sorted. The meat and potatoes gameplay is still something i enjoy though my gripes about combat remain and i 100% agree with the fact that the missions requiring you to tail and eavesdrop are stupid and annoying. It's just a bad formula and shouldn't be used more than two or three times a game. All said, i'm chugging through the game and, even though i'm covering ground i've covered before on 360, i really don't mind doing it again. Let's see if that remains the case when all is said and done.

-joker

Assassin's Creed IV - 1st two sequences

Assassin’s Creed IV

I’ve played Assassin’s Creed 2, Brotherhood, Revelations and now Assassins’ Creed IV. Ever since I started, I could not help but abbreviate the game to Ass Creed. It flows, is funny, and makes me feel a strange comfort in my stomach.

I skipped 3, primarily because it was seriously panned and I was pretty burnt out on the whole series. I saw Ass Creed IV for $30 bucks on my XBO (and had no XBO games for the first month I had it) so I thought, “Why not?”

Ummm, so this is a videogame within a videogame?

With that viewpoint of no expectations, and really nothing to lose, I am able to look at Ass Creed as it should be, mindless, kind of dopey, fun. That’s what it is. I don’t have this boner that everyone seems to have for pirates, but I definitely like the ship faring aspect as well as the huge map. Yet again, all of the cities look strikingly like Florence, Istanbul or probably any other city that exists in the world. So I have played maybe the 1^st couple of sequences, haven’t really dug in, but I’m definitely enjoying the ride. One thing though, I have NO idea what the story is about cause I keep checking twitter while I’m playing the damn game. I don’t know if that’s a bigger indictment of me or the game. 

AC4: "I hate this game!"

AC4 is a good game and in many ways a return to form after the dismally boring AC3. Its not easy to write any thoughts about AC4 without referring to AC3, so I'm not gonna bother trying to do that. Also, despite it being a good game, i'm going to mainly discuss the things I don't like about AC4 (as I usually do..)

Enslaved / TLOU: Left Behind

Enslaved Post-Martem / TLOU: Left Behind

Enslaved Final Thoughts

The need to publish this post has felt like the headband atop Monkey’s neck. Soooo before I jump into that ending, let’s discuss everything after say mid-way. The game introduces Piggy, who ends up being my favorite character. They actually built someone you like, and empathize with (though Piggy “testing” Monkey against that Rhino thing was super weird). Piggy was a sensitive, lonely guy, and to have him right next to Monkey’s rippling, muscled body, with little to no personality, felt a little odd. I’d rather be Piggy ending up with Trip than Monkey.

Getting through the game felt like a chore. The puzzles weren’t particularly difficult and the platforming was non-existent, thanks to a miraculous engine that allows me to press A anytime during a run towards a jump. When we picked this game, we knew it wasn’t gonna be for the gameplay. It was going to emanate from the story.

So did the story do a good job…maybe. I liked the characters, I thought the idea of a lush apocalypse was cool, but annoying things kept popping in the way. Why didn’t Monkey have a shirt!! It’s so bizarre. We keep harping on it, but when you have to play 10 hours looking at this guy jump around metal and water and bridges and industrial complexes, you’d figure he’d want some sort of coverage. Just think of him making jumps onto a metal platform, and his bare skin hitting the platform with all that force! The characters aside from Monkey are legitimately interesting. I would have loved to have learned more about Trip and her father, as well as why Piggy really respected and loved that family. Women portrayal in action games have been analyzed of late, so it is interesting to see how Trip is portrayed. She’s definitely strong, and I feel the ending shows just how strong she really is.

About that ending. It’s the Matrix. You’ve seen that movie right? Well, I feel this game is that. Just with different people. It was kind of a let-down in that it was about 5 minutes long and super bizarre, but I feel as if the whole journey of the game let us brace for that kind of misstep. I just feel that there was no cohesion or catharsis for the viewer other than the Pyramid was set up by some nebbish dude who wanted to take people away on this dreamscape. It reminded me of Batman Forever where Jim Carrey’s Riddler creates this thing that sucks people’s brain images and places them in some fantasy land.

I feel like this game just did it, and hence why my post is so jumbled. Would I recommend this game to others, no. Am I glad I played it, I don’t know. I just felt mind-fucked for 10 hours into thinking this is a high quality game, but with a rather hollow soul.  ONTO THE NEXT GAME.

The Last of Us: Left Behind.

               Remember when you’re a kid, and it’s September and you see all your friends after a super short three months. You have so much to tell them about, but bringing it up makes you feel sad that you aren’t living it again? That’s what I felt about The Last of Us. This game and its story made me happy to tell people about, but super sad cause it was over. I was mixed on the idea of DLC, cause it normally feels shoehorned.

That thought went away about 25 seconds into the DLC as we are given the details about how Ellie saved Joel after he was impaled. While playing the game, we completely gloss over that fact, since we’re now given the ability to play as Ellie! But in this DLC, we are given the reason why Ellie basically goes on a suicide mission to save her friend. It’s cause of Riley. She lost her friend while Ellie lived, and Riley taught Ellie some valuable lessons that helped explain Ellie and Joel’s relationship (and maybe why she accepted Joel’s lie at the end of main game).

The reason why was cause she learned from Riley that holding onto the people you love will make you do anything for two seconds more. It could be me holding onto my memories of the Last of Us. I will play this DLC just to get two seconds more. I’d even take pictures of me and the DLC in a photo booth. DLC be acting all silly, me trying to work on my Zoolander face. Then we’d kiss.

When I heard it was going to be a prequel, I was disappointed. I wanted Ish, Bill or a Firefyl story to help build the world. The Last of Us, if it taught me anything, shows that it’s not the world that matters, but the people we need to survive that ultimately tell our tale. I’m torn on recent news of the potential of a sequel. Should anymore be said of this story? To be honest, the sequel will be made. It’s all a money game, and the sequel for TLOU will make gobbles of money. It’s worth the investment from Sony’s POV, so they will throw whatever they have to in order to get this done.

When I actually played the DLC, for that brief second it brought me back to the summer.

Next Game folks?? Let’s use your next posts to list some contenders.

Enslaved: Free at Last

It's been a while since i did a dedicated post to the actual gameplay of Enslaved. I have to say, now that i've finished the game, i think that was a mistake. The second half of this game was infinitely more enjoyable than the first. So much so that i have to question the producer's reason behind delaying the good stuff so long.

Picking up where i left off, the game's turning point comes when Trip and Monkey finally reach Trip's settlement only to find it's been cleared out by mechs. Trip's Dad is dead and now the note of the game's story changes significantly. No longer are we on a quest to safety, now we're on a quest for revenge.

Artist's Recreation of E-Cards in Enslaved.

The game seems to focus in at this point. Trip's rage definitely feels like a better impetus for our adventure than the ambiguous escape to safety from, well, the generic evil behind the state of the world. This was also the part in the game where i spent a ton of points on upgrades. Evade, Stun, Counter and Charge all made the combat with Mechs more interesting and Monkey more badass. Boosting the abilities of the plasma cannon on Monkey's staff also made the game a bit more like a run and gunner. This all came together to solve most of the gameplay issues for me.

"Blam! Blar blar blar! Boom! Pshhhhhhhh!!!" -Michael Bay

Around this time, we also get introduced to Pigsy. There's an oddball of a character if i've ever seen one. His half man, half pigbot style is ultimately meaningless since they don't give him much in the way of backstory. i'm wondering if his being so piglike is a reference to the original text. What's most important is his fondness for Trip and his jealousy of Monkey which winds up tossing a few unnecessary hurdles in front of you. Still, he enables you to continue on towards the source of the mechs power and, as a device, he helps flesh out the story more than the back and forth between Monkey and Trip would allow. When he goes all Harry Stamper on Monkey and Trip at the end, i was sad that i wasn't sadder, if that makes sense.

What follows is a handful of levels that all seem to blend together because you progress through them so much quicker than the previous half of the game. Enslaved never loses its linearity in level design or the contained nature of its approach to traversing the environment but it does add in quite a bit of action with big mech brawls and stepped-up puzzles to keep things interesting. Mostly, it works. I was eager for any opportunity to test my mettle against bigger bunches of mechs. And the puzzles, though a bit on the easy side, also weren't the frustrating back and forths that you occasionally encounter in the Zelda series but were often unchallenging. This was the case more than i would have liked. One real headscratcher in there would have gone a long way towards making the game better.

I sandwiched the final three chapters into a single session, not a huge feat since they were quick and chapter 15 was just an epilogue without gameplay. The final boss battle was....fine. Gigantic mechs, heartstring tugging, lots of explosions and combat, pretty much exactly what you'd expect with little to catch you off guard. It was actually sort of reminiscent of battling the Scorpions (were those scorpions too?) in Halo 3. Then again, Halo's megamech battle happens 1/3 of the way through the game which sort of puts Enslaved in its place in the scheme of 360 games. What's a final boss for Enslaved was a high point of Act One in Halo 3.

Monkey: Hover Hand Extraordinaire

It's the lead up to the final battle and the moments afterwards in the epilogue that really have the most poignancy. I'm specifically referring to the conversation between Trip and Monkey, where Trip disables the tiara that's given her control over Monkey all this time. Trip understands that what she did is wrong and says so but Monkey tells her to turn it back on. Monkey chooses to continue being enslaved and we're left to assume it's not because of the benefits of being tied to Trip via tiara (i immediately thought, "you can't turn off the tiara now! how will you communicate?!) but because of a choice to remain tied to her. How deeply are we to read into this? You could extract the metaphor of a relationship between a man and a women being a sort of enslavement. That even the healthiest of non-platonic relationships is predicated on some sort of dependency. But that might be giving too much credit to the writers. Then again, the idea that love is bondage isn't exactly new and maybe that's why the original story or Journey to the West is considered so important and regarded so highly. I wonder how deeply this theme is explored in the original 16th century story.

Finally, the Epilogue takes an entirely different stance on the idea of Enslavement. Though Monkey does end up looking like he may understand the reasoning of the man behind the curtain (a creepy piece of imagery that will stick with me long after i forget the rest of this game), Trip holds fast and keeps the righteousness of her revenge in the forefront. On Trip's personal level, it's about revenge...but the repercussions are bigger for those left in this world. Again, this is an older philosophical question, posed often in the classics and in pop culture, from Plato to The Matrix; Is the harsh light of reality better than the comfort of the darkness of the cave? Trip makes the choice without seeing both sides. Just like a woman...

...and what a woman! 

Ultimately, the story was executed well enough, the gameplay redeemed itself somewhat, the graphics continued to impress and so did the voice acting. But i can 100% understand why this game didn't make any kind of splash when it came out. In retrospect, it might be underrated but only slightly and only because it was universally crapped on.

Funny enough, my biggest frustration with the game was actually Andy Serkis' role. What was once a highlight going into this ended up being COMPLETELY squandered. The dude behind Gollum shows up in every single level of this game and he's meaningless. It could have been anyone, it certainly didn't have to be a jarring live-action version and it didn't even have to be Serkis who is only kind of recognizable as an actor (given his best film performances are largely mo-capped).

So here i am on the other side, not much better off for the experience but not entirely disappointed by it either. If nothing else, i'm now interested in reading the original text of Journey to the West and infinitely more intrigued by Stephen Chow's new movie by the same name (Seeing that March 3rd. Yeah!).

(aaaand Pigsy is starting to make more sense.)

Most importantly, i'm ready for a new game that's just, through and through, fantastic. No sleeper hit, no critic's choice or cult classic. I want a fucking blockbuster, unanimously beloved game that somehow slipped by. And don't say "The Last of Us" because i will (to borrow a phrase from Wallaby) "shit in your cereal" if you do.

Thoughts? (on the next game, not pooping in your cereal.)

-joker

Enslaved: Post Mortem

In the future, clothes wear you. 

I will be updating this space on my thoughts regarding the end of Enslaved. It was an interesting ride, but I'm glad that I'm on solid ground again. 

There were some good things, just seemed too ambitious and unfocused. Full details coming up.We will also discuss OUR NEW GAME and some thoughts on The Last of Us: Left Behind. 

Off-Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Review

I've finally finished this monster of a game. Total time 69 hours 4 minutes. I'll leave the post written as it was in the 'in progress' state, with an addendum to deal with the final few hours. I think in conclusion though, this game has made me question when a game is too long.

51 hours in, and thinking I was close enough to the end to write a review:

I wanted to write a review of this game, but at this rate, I'm not sure if it's ever going to end. I guess I'll publish this post when I do finish it. In the meantime, I wanted to keep a diary of how things are going. I'm a bit late executing on this, as I'm 51 hours in at the time of starting this post. At this stage, I actually resent the game for not being over, but I haven't felt this way throughout.

I'll put it all behind the break, as I figure I might be the only one interested in ever looking at it again! However, I think everyone should skip to the music section and listen to some of the tunes.

I've got my eye on you

Only because i used Metal Gear Solid as a benchmark of eye graphics, thought this was a cool demonstration of graphic evolution. Figures, the best example of how far eyes have developed in video games is a guy with a patch.

-joker

Enslaved: Still journeying after all these years.

syn·chro·nic·i·ty

ˌsiNGkrəˈnisitē/

noun

1. 1.

   the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.

   "such synchronicity is quite staggering"

Occasionally, i'll get invited to events that don't really pertain to my beats. This just arrived. 

From Stephen Chow, Director of KUNG-FU HUSTLE

In Theaters, On Demand and On iTunes MARCH 7th

This is a world plagued by demons, who cause its human inhabitants unspeakable suffering. Young demon hunter Xuan Zang, fearlessly guided by his belief in “giving himself for the greater cause”, risks his all and conquers a water demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. He embraces them as his disciples, and melts them with love. Meanwhile, Xuan Zang discovers the true meaning of Greater Love himself. In order to atone for their own sins and save the common people, the four of them embark on a journey to the West that’s full of challenges…

Oddly enough, i wanted to read the original 16th century novel's translation after we finished Enslaved. I had also just been wondering last week what Stephen Chow has been up to since his IMDB page hasn't been updated in a while (and i was poking around for info on that sequel to Kung Fu Hustle that was rumored so long ago). Seems like a good fit for him and certainly has my interested piqued. Definitely gonna give this one a watch when it's available. 

-joker

Enslaved: Get this man a tshirt!

Monkey's lack of clothes has put me off from the beginning. He escapes the cell in which he's held captive and "gets his gear" and that gear has a holster and a bow and a hoverboard but not a shirt. Monkey and Trip are in NYC. So am i. You know what the temperature has been all week? 9 degrees. Put on a fucking shirt.

Wallaby, to some of your points:

The ship that crashed in the beginning was a prison transport, hence Monkey's cell. I actually thought that was a clever device by the writers to let us know that Monkey was a dangerous man. He's not just a beastly dude, he's a criminal.

Concept art for Monkey's cell in the prison ship

They're not amazed by fish. Trip is amazed by the contained and surviving ecosystem of the fish tank. Again, these finer points are subtle indicators of foreshadowing or devices that hint at details which round out the characters and plot. So many video games bash you over the head with their heavy-handedness, Enslaved approaches it differently and it works. Or, at least it does for me. I believe the shattered ecosystem is as thematic to the game overall as it is literal to that fish tank. But we shall see.

We were supposed to reach the end of Chapter 5 by January 17th so i'll say this; Monkey and Trip reach Trip's settlement by the end of Chapter 5 and find it ominously abandoned. That means the quest they initially set out on only took a third of the game. Obviously there's much further to go.

Going back to the subtlety, the Serkis flashbacks seem to be a huge part of the game but they're only ever shared between Monkey and you, the gamer. Monkey never makes mention of them to Trip. Instead, like Monkey, you're just supposed to sorta file them away. They're obviously important but they don't seem to relate to the task at hand. Regarding creative choices, i think we'd all agree they're waiting too long to begin the explanation why the flashbacks are important. Hopefully that happens sooner than later.

In my searching for images to use in this blog, i came across several pictures that don't just include Monkey and Trip. They also don't include Serkis' character at all. The only logical conclusion to draw from this is that we have yet to meet several other characters of the game. Other characters means dialogue and dialogue means explanations. Sure, this a less than ideal way to discover what's soon to come but the fact remains that it's coming soon.

Other things:

Toddlers and Tiaras would be a lot more interesting with this kind of tiara 

I didn't notice Monkey's red eyeband getting darker. When he has flashes, his whole head seems to glow red but i attributed that to the tiara that Trip is using to control him. Why he has that red band around his eyes makes as little sense to me as the fact that he's shirtless. I'm just gonna chalk that up to the producer's stylistic vision. It seems like a relatively inert creative choice.

the graphics of this game continue to impress me, especially the cut scenes. Wallaby's honing in on the eyes is something i noticed too and, damn, it's hard to believe a middle-of-the-road game in 2010 did it so well while a game like Bioshock Infinite that was so high profile and even pushed back for polish still falls short on this front. I'm trying to think back and i'd have to say the only other game that handles that specific graphic as well as Enslaved was Metal Gear Solid 4. And that's saying something because Kojima's cut scenes are epic.

Look at those eyes! 

Graphically, the NYC they present is also pretty impressive but the lack of freedom to explore it makes it feel like more of a shortcoming than it should.

Still, i'm continuing to chug along. The game is easy and quick and the mystery has me enraptured. I'll make it to the end of this or i'll die (of boredom) trying!
.
Edit: A Day Later. Wrote this, saved the draft to publish later and then played more before i published. I'm approaching the end of Chapter 7 and holy shit the difficulty has turned a corner. The current sequence has me separated from Trip. I have 150K points and can't spend them. I have four health containers and can't use them. I am running solo and there are turret mechs with laser scanners and i don't have Trip to distract them. This shit just got real.

The sequence shocked me into taking the combat seriously. I'm talking about four drones at once, with shields, with guns and with beacons that immediately start calling for backup. It's a barrage that i haven't seen previously and button mashing through it got me spanked.

Moved on to a new strategy, very deliberate, more like Arkham and started tearing shit up. Monkey fights like a boss when you're forced to use all of his abilities. Lots of rolling and stunning, lots of blocking and countering and the occasional need to back out and use the bazooka thing. I considered complaining about the homogeneity of the mechs but i realized i've encountered six or seven different kinds in this level alone. Not bad.

a leap forward so big, it's great.

The game seems to have taken a big leap forward in the past two chapters (upon arriving at the abandoned outpost especially). About time. i'm reinvigorated. Bring on the second half.

-joker

Enslaved: Some questions

We all keep mentioning the story, so, what do we actually know about the story? 

I tried to explain to a friend that I haven't really enjoyed playing this but that it has a good story. He asked what the story was about, and I struggled to come up with a decent response.

"Er, it's based on the Chinese journey to the west tale, but done in this sci-fi post apocalyptic New York."

My friend then said he didn't know anything about Journey to the West, and asked me more in detail what the story in the game is like.

"It's got mechs and slavers, this girl Tripp gets separated from her village and captured by Slavers. This big dude called Monkey is also, for some reason, on this slaver ship (he doesn't appear to be a slave) and this ship crashes. Tripp puts a weird headband thing on Monkey so she can control him and make him take her back to her village."

My friend asks at what point this all happens in the game. I tell him right at the beginning. He asks what's happened since then. I tell him nothing, just a bunch of journeying. Because seriously, NOTHING happens after that! I guess you get to see Monkey and Tripp bond, but I couldn't come up with any plot points. The characters act as if they're on Earth for the first time ever, they are amazed by fish. Some mechs appear to be modelled after dogs with goofy smiles.

A mech dog

So why do we like the story? I explained that the story is paced well, with just enough intrigue and mystery thrown in to make you want to know what's going on with things like flashbacks.

But is there any goal in mind? Like, do you guys think this game will end when we get to Tripp's village? I don't think any of us think that. I don't even know if that's where we're going.

WTF is that red shit on Monkey's face where his eyes are and why does it intensify and fade out so often?

Seriously, this game does eyes really well (and I know the above image is concept art so look at the one below)

I don't have a comment, except I think this may have happened in Dragon Ball Z as well when they had Goku go through a Monkey King arc.  Also, how did he get his staff? How does his hair seem so straight? Why would anybody climb walls bare chested?

Enslaved: Perseverance

and she's a girl. 

Don't quit, man. There are gonna be games that suck but, just like a book club, we should all power through for the sake of the discussion. Sure, gameplay might not be great overall but we're only a third of the way through the game. What happens when a fantastic sequence in chapter 11 gives it a ton of redeeming value? If there was a cheat code to skip levels, i'd say the youtube route would be a substitute but i don't think that's an option here.

Here's a motivational playlist to help you power through

Obviously do what you wanna do, i'm just thinking ahead to the inevitable moment when i'm going to want to bail out on a game (like if we ever play The Last of Us for this) and i know it'll be too easy to justify it if this is our precedent. We should either unanimously scrap the playthrough or we should all persevere. One for all and yada yada yada.

i did not make this image, therefore i am not alone. 

I'm actually heading into Chapter Six once i post this but i wanted to weigh in. It's about an eight hour campaign, just do it.

-joker

Enslaved: I can't

Sorry dudes, I can't bring myself to play this one anymore. I got to the end of Chapter 4 this weekend and realised I was dragging myself through this on-rails game for its story. I was gonna just trudge along, but having seen your posts, I see no reason to be motivated.

Also, I only just figured out how the jump break thing works - we should use this more!

Edit: I just watched Chapter 5, and it was an interesting experience. Several parts of it made me wish I was actually playing it (like when Monkey shows Tripp his cloud), and certain parts just looked quite beautiful. Then it got to that car/vehicle segment, and the boss afterwards, and I instantly felt better about not playing the chapter. I might continue watching rather than playing, and for personal reference, Chapter 5 starts at 1:05. Anyway I'm interested in hearing what you guys think of this approach. Is it a cop out or can you guys appreciate it, given the particular game and a lack of time generally.

Re: Enslaved: Deja Vu all over again.

I just finished Chapter 5 last night, and I have to agree 10503285% (that's possible right?) 

The only thing keeping me playing is the story, which is building enough mystery for me to be intrigued. The rest of the crap that I have to do to get to that point is exactly that: crap. 

The hoverboard was really cool seeing it at first, but then you see all the glitchiness and lack of proper implementation that goes with it. The boss bottle right after that (with the dog) was one of the most boring and least creative boss battle's I have ever seen. 

As my girlfriend said when she watched me play (albeit very briefly), "Are you just going to keep fighting mechs." 

I just nodded my head in silent agreement. 

On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 4:31 PM, J <icandigthat@gmail.com> wrote:

I hit the chapter five mark this weekend. Did it in two sittings; one for chapters three and four, another for chapter five. In retrospect, i'm having a hard time figuring out whether i was a dunce for not taking notes as i was going along or if the game is so monotonous that there's exceptionally little to distinguish one level from another. i have a sneaking suspicion that the latter is the culprit.

The gameplay highlight of the most recent chapters has to be the hoverboard which had an interesting introduction when i used it to glide on the water and then also as a means of defeating a boss some time later. i find myself trying to deploy that little bastard regularly.

"yes, it's fine but can we make it more extreme? like giving Monkey a skateboard and having him say Cowabunga?"

Conversely, the most disappointing part of the game has got to be the watered down feeling that i'm getting on most aspects of the gameplay. Like Wallaby pointed out early on, the parkour is very controlled, there's no real risk or reward or choice either. Occasionally you'll encounter a secret path that brings you to a hidden flashback or a nook full of orbs but that's it. Similarly, the puzzles that are set up for you to figure out are incredibly tame, like a Zelda game made for Pre-K kids whose parents want to get them ready for Ocarina of Time when they finally reach elementary school. I can't give the boss battles a pass here either. You'll fight through a half hour of mediocre mech battles, get excited at the prospect of a boss and then it's five minutes of patient button mashing and you're through. There's no real danger (Trip's ability to store health nullifies any necessity to even be patient because you can just power up with her), there's no real challenge and, before you know it, you're back to killing mechs.

The saving grace of the whole game is the story and the way it's told in cut scenes with terrific graphics. The quest to traverse the city-reclaimed-by-nature is one that i feel oddly compelled to complete. I want Trip to be safe. I want that goddamn tiara off my head (yes, i just identified with Monkey in a first-person sense, big whup, wanna fight about it?) and, most of all, i want to know why a live action Andy Serkis keeps showing up in the flashbacks. Up to now, they haven't been tied to anything legitimate but they have to be there for a reason. Right? Right?!?!

So there it is. Five chapters down, five middling boss battles, tons of dead mechs and never a single pause to scratch my head and figure out how to advance through a level, just blunt force, straight ahead. But the story is there and is keeping me interested so that's something. I just hope it's enough to make 15 chapters not feel like a complete waste of time. Fingers crossed.

-joker

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Posted By J to We Blew in Cartridges at 1/21/2014 04:31:00 PM

Enslaved: Deja Vu all over again.

I hit the chapter five mark this weekend. Did it in two sittings; one for chapters three and four, another for chapter five. In retrospect, i'm having a hard time figuring out whether i was a dunce for not taking notes as i was going along or if the game is so monotonous that there's exceptionally little to distinguish one level from another. i have a sneaking suspicion that the latter is the culprit.

The gameplay highlight of the most recent chapters has to be the hoverboard which had an interesting introduction when i used it to glide on the water and then also as a means of defeating a boss some time later. i find myself trying to deploy that little bastard regularly.

"yes, it's fine but can we make it more extreme? like giving Monkey a skateboard and having him say Cowabunga?"

Conversely, the most disappointing part of the game has got to be the watered down feeling that i'm getting on most aspects of the gameplay. Like Wallaby pointed out early on, the parkour is very controlled, there's no real risk or reward or choice either. Occasionally you'll encounter a secret path that brings you to a hidden flashback or a nook full of orbs but that's it. Similarly, the puzzles that are set up for you to figure out are incredibly tame, like a Zelda game made for Pre-K kids whose parents want to get them ready for Ocarina of Time when they finally reach elementary school. I can't give the boss battles a pass here either. You'll fight through a half hour of mediocre mech battles, get excited at the prospect of a boss and then it's five minutes of patient button mashing and you're through. There's no real danger (Trip's ability to store health nullifies any necessity to even be patient because you can just power up with her), there's no real challenge and, before you know it, you're back to killing mechs.

The saving grace of the whole game is the story and the way it's told in cut scenes with terrific graphics. The quest to traverse the city-reclaimed-by-nature is one that i feel oddly compelled to complete. I want Trip to be safe. I want that goddamn tiara off my head (yes, i just identified with Monkey in a first-person sense, big whup, wanna fight about it?) and, most of all, i want to know why a live action Andy Serkis keeps showing up in the flashbacks. Up to now, they haven't been tied to anything legitimate but they have to be there for a reason. Right? Right?!?!

So there it is. Five chapters down, five middling boss battles, tons of dead mechs and never a single pause to scratch my head and figure out how to advance through a level, just blunt force, straight ahead. But the story is there and is keeping me interested so that's something. I just hope it's enough to make 15 chapters not feel like a complete waste of time. Fingers crossed.

-joker

Off-Topic: Shell Casing and a Video Game Tourney

Seen on reddit:

i simply can't think of a game's case of late that's nearly as badass as this. Halo 4 comes closest but still nowhere near as cool. And am i the only one who'd like to see more crossover games like this? i think it's based on a comic book (not one that i ever read) but i don't need source material as a reason for making a game crossover this epic. The Capcom/Marvel mashups are the closest we get anymore and i feel like they're really tired. 

I vaguely remember playing Robocop vs Terminator. Partly because it was a forgettable experience of a game that was created almost solely to cash in on the uber-popularity of both franchises but mainly because i only had it for a week since it was 100% a rental from Blockbuster.

Thinking back, my parents would only buy me games for good report cards, birthdays or Christmas but my parents also maintained a steady Saturday night "date night" throughout my childhood where they'd go out to dinner or a movie most saturdays and get a babysitter for my sister and me and they'd let me rent a game for the weekend. That babysitter must have had the easiest job ever. My sister and i were really well behaved and i could zone into a game for hours. Hell, i still can. While it makes me sad that i never owned wonderfully obscure games like Clayfighter or Road Runner's Death Valley Rally, i got to play so many games like that thanks to Blockbuster, i'm genuinely sad to see it fade into just a memory.

remember this shit?

editor note: i'm emulating this as soon as i get home

Continuing on my Blockbuster tangent, i remember our local BB participated in a national video game tournament one summer, i think right before fifth grade (internet says it was 1994). My friends and i really dug the idea, got jazzed about it like only little kids could. It was a three week tourney and each week you'd play a snippet of a different game. Two quarters of NBA Jam for week one, first level of Sonic 3 week two and one race in Virtua Racing (the one with a bridge if memory serves) in week three.

I was only ok at NBA Jam. Charlotte Hornets for Alonso Mourning and LJ were my team and i'd drain threes from the bottom corner like clockwork but only wound up posting a middling score in the first round of the tourney, fifth or sixth place on the scoreboard.

Look at LJ! Best 16-bit likeness ever. 

Sonic was next and i knew that level inside out, including the special stage hidden in it. I rocked a HUGE score, felt like fucking Jimmy Woods in The Wizard when he finds the warp in Super Mario Bros 3. Apparently i was the only one who used that special stage trick (they asked my mom if i cheated after my session) and that jumped me up to second place on the scoreboard after week 2.

Cheating! Ha! It's called having SKILLS. 

I knew i was close and really wanted to win. I also LOVED racing games (still do, have i told you about Forza 5?) and really thought i could take it down. I practiced my little balls off. I drove laps on that track like i was competing for the Winston Cup. Tweaked my strategy, cut seconds off my time, even realized that the timer on the HUD of the game was a distraction that was hurting my score so i brought a little piece of tape to Blockbuster to cover that part of the screen when it was my turn. Sure enough, i got to the store that Saturday and rocked Virtua Racing. I had the top score in two out of the three weeks, that had to guarantee me a victory.

You knew the graphics were good because it was an oversized cartridge

Alas, it was not meant to be. Final results put me in second place overall. Billy M, some fucking 16 year old kid who's only high score came from NBA Jam in the first week, took the spot that belonged to me at Great Adventure (where the semi finals took place). My little 11 year old self was outraged.

Fuck you Billy M and fuck you Blockbuster. I retired my polygonal racing stripes and never played Virtua Racing again after that.

-joker

Enslaved Thoughts so Far

I like Enslaved. It's a fun game to control and it's very easy. Disclaimer: I paid about $10 for it new. If I paid $60, I would want something that is MUCH more polished. Based on certain criteria though, such as graphics, voice acting, motion capture, it IS very polished! But areas such as combat, and (as Wallaby aptly pointed out) platforming are seriously suspect. I mean, there are NO repurcussions for messing up a jump.Such a conundrum!

So this was the first boss you fight. It tells you exactly how to beat him within 2 seconds of facing him (CC: Wallaby)

A couple points: 

• Monkey sounds like he is from the Bronx or Jersey. Also, does he HAVE to be shirtless the whole time? 
• Each scene seems to be - enter area, kill mechs, move around to weirdly located door. 
• The girl is kinda cute, but if you're stuck on a journey, I demand more information and banter between the two. Give me more information about WHY I'm doing this other than "If you don't do this, this headband will kill you."
• The "glitches" flashback to possibly the nerdiest, fuddy duddiest (sp?) guy I've ever seen. It's like that anonymous IT guy became Monkey. 
• It always bugs me when movies / video games show a destroyed Grand Central, as I live a 5-minute walk away from it, which means my apartment will probably be gone. 

Nitpicking aside, I really like playing this game. I like the characters and it does make me want to find out what is the deal. I want to see more variety from a decayed New York. There is nothing to distinguish the game's version of NYC yet (though I just got to Chapter 5, and it looks more like it). Also, I am really sick of fighting mechs. 

I was pressured into this post, so it feels rushed. 

Natalya

Joker's post reminded me of this video and why we all hated Natalya.

Enslaved: They Call Me Monkey

After my first post about the pedigree of the game and why i was surprised about its less than excellent reception, having put in the first two chapters, i think it's becoming clear why Enslaved wasn't even in the discussion for GOTY, let alone having a proper follow through with the planned DLC; Enslaved is a game of high highs and low lows without much in between.

First, the setting. The overrun greenhouse of the game's NYC setting is a breath of fresh air compared to the typical "post apocalyptic" setting. Even Crysis 2, which did handle NYC in a similar manner, didn't do it to this extent. However, where Crysis 2 let nature overrun Manhattan and still kept some of the city's signature sights (the fight in Grand Central remains in my memory), Enslaved seems to have forsaken the city's identifying features during gameplay (you get plenty of NYC eyefulls during cut-scenes, it seems). I don't know if that will remain the case (like Wallaby, i'm also just beginning the third chapter) but, as much as i like the uber-green setting, eschewing a proper Manhattan backdrop will just seem like a major missed opportunity.

Enslaved

Crysis 2

(Saturation makes a big difference)

The setting and the style of a game tend to go hand in hand and Enslaved is certainly no different on that front. The reclamation of nature is front and center because the game's style of heavily saturated colors inevitably draws your eye to the natural elements among the concrete. Case in point; every time you see Cherry Blossoms in their bright, vibrant red, it's like mother nature slapping you in the back of the head.

Enslaved (those may not actually be cherry blossoms after all but the sentiment remains)

Backdrop from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Backdrop from 2002's Hero (ok, so maybe they're Maple trees? I'm a gamer,  not a fucking botanist, sue me)

I honed in on the cherry blossoms because they aren't just a reminder of the setting but also a reminder that the story is lifted off of ancient chinese culture. For me, the cherry blossoms are a very pleasant, very clever device and i think it has worked really well so far. This is a good story, one that's being fleshed out with relatively high-quality cut scenes, terrific voice acting and it's genuinely enjoyable as a result. The plot is simple but engaging, the dialogue isn't bloated but the metaphors that lend it deeper meaning are undoubtedly present (the fish tank was a great one, i think). Most importantly, it doesn't feel forced (heavy handed, maybe, but not forced) and the dynamic between Tripp and Monkey is one that doesn't frustrate or annoy me and that's a coup when you realize (and preemptively, wrongfully groan) that the game is, essentially, one big escort mission.

Surprisingly, of all my criticisms of the gameplay yet to come, escorting Tripp is not one of them. On a scale of damsels in distress ranging from the completely helpless and hugely frustrating Natalya from Goldeneye to the coin-tossing, ammo-under-her-skirt Elizabeth of Bioshock Infinite, Tripp seems much closer to the latter than the former. She may not be giving you ammo but her distractions are immensely useful (or utterly necessary, i suppose), her dialogue has a positive effect on the story and she's not wandering off, getting herself killed or spending your lives.

Remember this bitch? She's locked up because the moment she'd start following you she'd spontaneously fucking combust

Wallaby said he felt the connection between Enslaved and Uncharted in their gameplay. For me, it was much more of an Assassin's Creed feel but i see where Wallaby's analogy works too. One thing is for sure, Enslaved's "parkour" elements are sub-par compared to both of those games. That said, i don't mind the lack of control that comes with Enslaved's approach (ie, why press a button if you're gonna clear the gap automatically?) because what i have found is that it's not whether or not you'll make it but how well-timed your button presses are that really matter, especially when traversing a wall of 3+ hang points. It's still dumbed down beyond what i would like but it's not wholly as bad as it could be. 

What does irk me is the combat and the camera. For some reason, the camera is a really low-slung, over-the-shoulder deal instead of defaulting to a view directly behind Monkey. My kneejerk reaction is to constantly be thumbing the camera to center it up. The end result of that is my thumbs fighting against each other, right to center the camera, left to move Monkey in relation to it. It's an unnecessary frustration. Using LB to center on Tripp, on the other hand, is actually quite well done but the use of that is few and far between comparatively.

Combat isn't bad as much as it's boring. Blocking, evading and countering are all fine but feels entirely too simplistic and doesn't seem to promise any extra complexity down the line, at least from what i've seen in the upgrades of the skill trees...which also seem too simple.

So far, the game is mostly enjoyable but with some major disappointments that seem inexplicable and amateurish compared to the excellence of the other components of the game.

-joker

PS - killed the boss in the second chapter in one shot but only because i got lucky by having him accidentally run into the statue and trigger the reaction that clued me in. Could definitely see that being a frustration if you didn't realize there was an environmental element involved.