BTB #26: Wandering a Bit Too Far From the Path
My goal originally with this thread was to give my quick-ish thoughts on games that I’ve beat that would not be able to fit into a tweet or two. I wanted a place where I could ramble, and more than anything solidify my thoughts. Keep writing hoping I could run into a coherent point. Sometimes that worked sometimes it hasn’t across 25 entries prior. Whether it “works” isn’t all that important to me.
But I haven’t wrote anything since over a month ago. And that post was really me posting links to other criticism. Spec-Ops is a game I liked but definitely felt after all the videos, podcasts, written pieces, I had nothing else left. Could have probably found an angle. If I have to work for it, probably not worth it. I’m not talented, I’m not getting paid, if most my thoughts are covered elsewhere, why try and squeeze my brain? Problem was between that and the general WORLD momentum isn’t exactly on my side. I want to get back to it. My entire brain is in a fog and this feels like the only way for me to feel like there is a chance I can get out of that. So this entry is going to be more rapid…so let’s go:
Dead Space
A game I thought I knew what to expect and very much didn’t. Trying to better understand where I got the impression this game was one that hinged on this surprisingly deep story. Was I confusing this with another game? This story isn’t BAD, would describe it as real, real corny. I can live with corny especially in a sci-fi horror. Almost typed “in some ways I would consider that a plus” and then realized that isn’t a take I actually believe. Would have definitely been absolutely delighted by a richer, fuller story that didn’t have a twist that was so blatant I almost convinced myself that the “twist” was a decoy from the ACTUAL twist. It was not. Funnily enough, coming in I thought I had spoiled the ending for myself years ago and despite my best efforts could not forget. The twist did not end up being
your character being a zombie/ghost/machine that is a different game.
The game doesn’t deliver the same thrill of a horror movie, Dead Space brings a constant pressure. At no point does the game feel like not having an alien chasing you is an option. Every door is a 50% chance of coming face to face with an enemy. Now, I can see how that might be frustrating or how that constant presence doesn’t let any real fear sink in. If a bad outcome is as likely as a good one, you are prepared. No chance of surprise, no chance of that sense of dread sinking in. I think that’s fine. The game isn’t trying to be true horror, it just wants to get your heartbeat going for probably way too long. I haven’t played too many of those games recently that weren’t afraid to keep the foot on the gas and keep you on your toes. The whole premise of the combat is that you don’t want to blast enemies until they go down but take them down limb by limb. That leads to aiming at really specific points on the enemies which maybe doesn’t correspond to my normal muscle memory in these shooty games. Between that and a lack of ammo, I was regularly switching weapons because I didn’t have ammo for the weapons I preferred, rarely did fights seem trivial. No dread, but those constant enemies didn’t feel thoughtless in the face of stressing you out with running low on ammo in potentially key situations. There are ways to prevent those situations, like not buying as many guns so that all ammo drops filter to a few select guns, and there are shops to buy ammo. The game as a whole might play how I expected or maybe even how I wanted, but I felt more than fine with how Dead Space pulled off a heart rate raising experience.
After Dead Space I did a lot of dabbling. Couldn’t quite figure out what my next step should be. After playing Devil May Cry, Spec-Ops: The Line, Alan Wake, and then Dead Space so I felt like I had been playing in the same color pallet despite all of them being entirely different experiences. I felt overwhelmed by shades of gray and brown. Probably not entirely fair to any of those games but after that run I needed a jolt. Something that didn’t feel like I was walking around in these cold worlds. So, for some odd reason, I decided to hop back into a game I almost entirely swore off, a game that I deemed the combat of to be irredeemable trash.
Witcher 2
On one hand, I don’t want to shortchange how much I ended up loving this game. Literally, I have never done a 180 on a game quite like this. I don’t feel like I have hours and hours to write about this game right now. That’s what I think made this game feel so special to me though, I am a couple of weeks removed from beating it and thoughts are still simmering. I am tickled by some of the things it did. This 180 happened with my opinion of the combat going from irredeemable trash to mostly trash. Part of my acceptance comes from the Netflix series which I thought was astonishing bit of fantasy TV. I wanted to be back in that world so bad, I felt like I was missing out more than ever. No, I didn’t hop into the beloved
Witcher 3, I wanted to see the story unfold more, and besides not having the original game, it looked like it was more dated than I would probably be able to handle.
Alright, let’s highlight a couple of quick things that brought me back in:
- Beautiful, living world
- Big fantasy story with political intrigue
- Pacing/Structure
I think 1&2 are tied together and 2&3 are tied together. The story is the glue that keeps things all together. Not going to get too in the weeds here but they make a dozen or so semi-important characters rather manageable. I think a TV series like Game of Thrones despite how it sputtered the more it went, made an increasing number of folks to keep track of, and how they interacted with one another, completely understandable. I think Witcher 2 manages a similar feat as across the three chapters where you need to be aware of folks that aren’t on screen and how they might play into your current predicaments. I don’t think the story is award-winning, there was nothing that got me emotionally invested beyond wanting to see where things went. There isn’t anyone I particularly wanted dead, wanted alive, or a romance I wanted to see fulfilled. With most stories I had been playing ranging from bad, to corny, to subversive, it was good to play something more straightforward. A perfect story for me right at this moment.
The game is split between three chapters which put you in three separate locales. The first two are rather sizeable giving you plenty of opportunities for sidequests and some exploration. What’s important though is that size doesn’t make things feel empty. Every inch of these maps feels like it has character. You feel the structure of the communities that are inhabiting. The story reinforces this but if there wasn’t a single sidequest, you could understand how each development was put together and likely why it was put together like that. Flotsam instantly became one of my favorite areas in a game. This harbor town is filled with people, shops, and a racist tyrant who rules over this town the kingdoms have forgotten. There is a defined “enemy zone” which, yes, that’s how it should be, which bleeds out from the outskirts that the leader of has pushed out the poor and elves to. Seeing different enemy types interact caught me off guard. Sure, it is two differing aggressive units aggroing each other. It reads like two AI’s going at it…but it works for me still? It doesn’t create an illusion necessarily. It does give the world outside the town(s) more personality. Adds a layer of unexpectedness. At least the world isn’t only going after you.
QUICK QUICK QUICK, alright let’s touch on pacing. I’m about to give away the whole unique bit of this game, which I don’t know if it is even a spoiler, but given that it is hugely important when talking about pacing and structure, stop reading if you want to know even less about the game. Depending on who you decide to follow at the end of Chapter 1, Chapter 2 is completely different. Now, I don’t know how that affects Chapter 3 necessarily but I know the Chapter 2 I played isn’t going to be the same as others, and that’s EXTREMELY good stuff. The gull of CD Projekt Red to create hours of content that folks are unlikely to see is something else. We talk so much about how developers don’t want you to miss a thing (Aerosmith style) and put breadcrumbs down to lead you to side-quests they clearly put time into. These folks just outright said “Alright, so you 100% won’t see everything and not just that, your entire perspective of how things unfold will be altered”. That isn’t a thing that happens! I knew it was coming and I still was thrilled by the dang thing. Heck, knowing that I was making a choice with consequence made it that much better. In addition to that complete switch-up, the game is a three chapter story. Each Chapter felt progressively shorter which for me meant I never ran out of steam. Plus they filled each chapter to the brim with story. Maybe they could have spread the later chapters out a bit more, I am so glad they didn’t. Never felt like I was grinding my way to the next story beat. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to the game to reply the second chapter but at the very least the framework of the game doesn’t scare me off one bit.
Despite these three BEST IN CLASS components, the combat still does stink, feeling clunky and unfair at times. I would never ever tell someone “just push through the combat”. I mean, that’s sort of what I did but I also decided that I practically needed to buy-in. For me though, I’m so glad I did.
That’s it for now. Okay, I guess it was only two games. For some reason I thought I did more. Right now I am dabbling in Crusader Kings 3. I feel like I’m inching closer to writing something on that since I have fallen in love and think I can talk a bit more about why SPOILER: will tie into my TEW post.
Not entirely sure what narrative/definitive endpoint game I want to boot up next. Trying to figure out the tone I am looking for and the size of game I am looking for. Almost went straight to
The Witcher 3 but thinking I could use maybe a few shorter experiences before then. Definitely some shorter ones before going into a 50+ hour adventure. Well, until I figure that out, thanks for maybe reading!
