I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that I am confident that scene was more innocent than it appeared. Sojiro is not that kind of guy.
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Watch_Dogs 2 is a fantastic game where the fantastic parts are 100% about the player actively disengaging from like, most of the systems Ubi put in their game.
I played that entire game without putting one skill point in that tree because in what world would Marcus, as presented and characterized by the game, ever initiate a drive by shooting or literally have people arrested on false charges, let alone carry a firearm for the first 75% of the game (ill stand by that when shit starts to get real in the plot it and Ratio ends up dead it does become believable that Marcus would carry a gun, but I digress)
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Ah that’s great then. I really wasn’t sure but had felt like he was definitely my guy up until then.
While I could argue Yakuza 6’s merits as the end of Kiryu’s saga, I’ll just point out that the conclusion of Takeshi Kitano’s arc was the coolest shit I ever did see.
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I’ve been playing a lot of Hades, and it’s grabbed me in a way I totally hadn’t anticipated. I’ve yet to come across a repeated line of dialogue despite however many hours, and it’s a roguelike where i almost look forward to dying so I can potter about my home base and see what’s up.
Roguelikes have never really been my jam before, so it’s more than a pleasant surprise that I love this game so much. And it’s horny as heck without being gross and exploitative!
I’m now on 10 clears in a row and i’m terrified of breaking my run lol, but what a game! It does more than justify its central gameplay loop; the story enhances the gameplay enhances the story enhances the gameplay.
(My last run was with the hidden aspect of Varatha that limits your health to like 30, and boy was that an anxious time lol)
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After Save Point I got the urge to try out half a dozen different games and also finally sign up for game pass on PC (for CK3 and Star Renegades) But after all that I ended up playing Pyre, despite it being a game I played a lot of it when it was first released.
This is kind of significant for me as I’ve been struggling with some physical issues that makes playing many real-time or not-pause-able games difficult. I’m going to post in that thread again with more details, but long story short I’ve been playing Pyre with DDR-style dance pad and a head mouse and it works really well!
It’s still such a good game. Everything comes together so well, even the goofy fantasy basketball gameplay. I know Patrick Klepek has repeatedly said how much he disliked that part of the game, and I’m sure there are other detractors, but I genuinely think it’s a really fun system. For me it dials in just the right level of sportsy-ness that I’m almost pumping my fist when I score a goal and still feel great about a close match even if I lose, which works well with the meta-campaign mechanics. Maybe it’s because I’m not a big real life sports fan that it works so well for me.
Maybe it’s because of the wonderful characters, or because I’m excited to be playing a game like this without being in pain, or because of its revolutionary themes at this moment in time, but I find myself getting really choked up playing through some of the visual novel story beats.
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Just grabbed Ori 2 on Switch. The tiny owl can’t fly. 
I really need to get my dock fixed because this game is way too dark to play handheld, unfortunately.
Not what I’ve been playing but I recently watched my partner play through Spiritfarer(really cool) and Night in the Woods(okay). She really liked Spiritfarer and was lukewarm/disliked NitW. She hasn’t been playing video games for long, I got her a Switch because she wanted to play Animal Crossing, but now she’s trying to branch out more. What I’ve learned about her gaming tastes so far.
- She really liked game mechanics and checklists. Spiritfarer was great for her as it’s all managing a checklist of tasks, has the building element, farming, crafting etc. There was a lot to do. She did not like that NitW was largely just walking around.
- Writing largely isn’t THAT important to her(or, maybe she just doesn’t have high expectations for games writing?). She thought Spiritfarer had really cute writing and liked the characters but that wasn’t what she liked most about it. She really disliked NitW’s writing, felt it was very shallow and fake deep. She still ended up finishing it and described the whole experience as “fine” but really did not enjoy most of the writing.
- Absolutely no violence(as a primary game mechanic). She thinks violence in all media is really boring and when it’s too prominent a part of something then she isn’t interested. Both of these games(plus Animal Crossing) fit that criteria very well.
So now I’m struggling to find more stuff to recommend to her. She has Stardew Valley too and likes it but eventually you’re going to have to start mining which involves a lot of swinging a weapon around. Same with pretty much all of these farming/crafting games. And obviously violence is a massive part of a whole ton of games so that takes a lot of the hobby off the table. Others on the list right now are Undertale, A Short Hike, maybe the Story of Seasons remake(it’s pretty basic and I think she wants more mechanics to juggle). If anyone else has any recs please let me know!
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Me and my partner had a blast with What Remains of Edith Finch. It may be story focused but the gameplay is varied enough to be a great pack, and it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.
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Could maybe check out Summer in Mara if you haven’t already? I’ve only played the demo but don’t think there’s any combat, just some light crafting and gardening, with the promise of some added adventure.
As Far As The Eye - Okay, so i wrapped up the tutorial campaigns and this game is really neat. Its like this mixture of city builder/nomadic survival game. But Holt shit, it’s so dense. To me it produces the same sorts of feelings I get when I play a heavy worker-placement board game. Which to be clear, is a great feeling! Its also gorgeous to boot
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It looks awesome and also scary as shit! Is it comparable to the Paradox games?
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It is both of those things!
I’d compare it more to Civilization or one of the Amplitude strategy games than a Paradox game. But it also has facets of like, FTL or other rogue likes in how runs play out.
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Aidan Gillan’s quest to find his accent continues
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My wife and I are currently in 14 quarantine as new arrivals to the UK (she’s here getting a Master’s degree). I’ve had plenty of time to sit down and play Super Mario 64, one of my favorite games of all time. As of this afternoon, I got all 120 stars and beat the game.
Recently I’ve been struggling to find games to play (I’ve posted about this before, but COVID/election year/police brutality/depression because of those things). I couldn’t bring myself to put time into any video games other than Animal Crossing. Recently I had been wanting to play a game that has fun movement, and when they announced the 3D All Stars collection, I knew it was what I was itching for. I bought the digital version the day we got to the UK because the game came out the day of our flight, and I wasn’t going to be able to get out and search for a physical copy in the UK.
Mario 64 was as fun as I remembered. The movement is delightful. It’s such a joy to move Mario in a 3D space, it honestly felt as fun as Odyssey! However, this game is a drag to play with joycons. Mario 64 requires a lot of precision, and the joy cons are just too small to do some of the minute actions this game requires. I played the entirety of the game with my switch on a Hori stand, and used my Pro Controller. One of the most surprising aspects of the game is how good everything still looks. When I showed my wife the trailer for the collection she said, “wow, this game (Mario 64) looks old.” However, while I was playing she would often mention how fun and good it looked. The game looks great!!! The colors are vivid, the art style complements the rudimentary 3D, and the level design is (usually) really fun.
Is the game perfect? Absolutely not! The camera can be awful at times, and made certain stars really frustrating. The level “Pyramid Puzzle” in Shifting Sand Lands could really benefit from a better camera, as well as many of the stars in Rainbow Ride. The only part of the game I can say I really disliked was the 100 coin stars, as they were often a slog (here’s looking at you, Hazy Maze Cave).
I can’t help but think that this game probably wouldn’t be as fun to someone who hadn’t grown up with it, however. The camera is so wonky, that if it didn’t feel 2nd nature to me I don’t think I would be as indifferent to it (I don’t like it, just indifferent. It’s old and I get it). Some of the level objectives can be really obtuse. I used a guide when I was younger for some, and used YouTube videos now for quite a few. I honestly don’t know how well this game works in 2020 without the knowledge of the game from endlessly playing it as a child. For example, in Tick Tock Clock getting the level to go regular speed, slow, or stopped is incomprehensible without a guide, and further knowing what speed the level should go is basically impossible if you don’t know what the objective is. The same for Tiny Huge Island. It’s not obvious, and trial-and-error in levels as huge as these ones isn’t fun, it’s tedious.
However, other than a few hiccups here and there, the game was a delight. Getting 120 stars was not as hard as I expected/remembered, and I had a delight returning to a defining game of my childhood. It feels good to have the accomplishment under my belt that I have truly done EVERYTHING in Mario 64, and I was able to do it on my own. I have a perfect save on my N64 cartridge, but it was with the help of my friend’s older sisters.
I’ll probably move onto Sunshine and Galaxy in a few weeks, as I want to have plenty of time to play and learn them. I played half of Galaxy when I was younger, and have never played Sunshine, so hopefully they’re more friendly to newcomers than 64. I don’t know if I’ll 100% them because I’ve heard it’s difficult, and I’ll be out of quarantine with less free time.
As a final note, I told myself that I wasn’t going to buy any new games until my wife finishes her program. We’re here on a limited budget, and I don’t have a job yet (I also only want to work part time so I can explore London, as well as take care of cooking, cleaning, and laundry so she can put all her energy into school). It’s incredibly frustrating that this game is only available until March, and if this were any collection other than Mario I wouldn’t have bought it. So whatever, Nintendo suckered me and now I’m for real not going to buy any more games. But the limited release, even digitally, is awful because I would have waited until my wife finished her Master’s and we got jobs again, but I couldn’t because I can’t buy this game in June.
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Been playing some art of rally this weekend and it is hitting the spot so well. Just an incredible driving model married to gorgeous art direction and chill beats. I was expecting an over-the-top arcade racer, but the handling is surprisingly tight and if it isn’t accurate to actual rally car physics (the moon-like gravity being a dead giveaway), rather it mimics the Platonic ideal of rally. The entire game is meant to get you in a flow state, such that it feels like the trail is bending as you turn the wheel. I simply cannot say enough good things about this game, it really is something special.
Art of Rally looks cool!
I started on Hitman 2 this weekend and it’s absolutely hitting the spot for me. I’m chilling in beautiful locations, watching the world go by, and occasionally choking out dudes and putting them in dumpsters. Oh and I fed a guy to his hippopotamus. That was good.
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Whelp, I just finished Mafia: Definitive Edition.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but mainly because I’m a Mafia stan who played the original. I can TOTALLY understand how people would find the game horribly boring compared to the bombastic action of GTA or Watch_Dogs. But what this game has that those don’t is a slow burn. It makes more heightened moments more exciting, and the game is more about living the life of this mobster rather than how many bodies you can pile up.
One of the things I really enjoyed was the rewriting and reinterpretation of the characters. They’re all the same people, but played by vastly different actors. Tommy, Paulie, Sarah, Sam, Don Salieri… All of them have much more depth and better writing. The Original Mafia told a great story, but it was hampered by characters who had dialogue like, “Wait here fwend.” And just goofy interpretations of mobster cinema. Paulie, for example was always a dollar store Joe Pesci with none of the bravado that makes that actor interesting. Now, he has a sort of light Cagney flavor, but he’s his own character now, and they’ve added a bunch of scenes where they talk about their problems and ambitions. There’s a wonderful little scene in the late game where Paulie basically goes through a mid-life crisis and bears his soul to Tom about how he’s wasted his life. Spoilers of course, but I just really liked this scene.
They made Salieri a much more sinister character as well. It never felt like Salieri could have done the things he did in the first game, but this Salieri is a lot more believable than the dollar store Godfather figure he played before. This Salieri is much more ruthless.
Overall, I really enjoyed it, but I would wait for a deep sale for anyone who isn’t already as invested in Mafia like I am. I beat the game in about 10 hours on Classic Mode, and freeplay doesn’t offer anything really except a chance to find some new cars or collectibles.
I’d also like to hear what you all think, who have played both, about the ending. I’m not sure if I like the idea that Tom goes out gracefully with ALL his family around him. What made that scene much more heartbreaking in the original was the coldness of it. How, “Yeah Tom, you got gunned down just like any number of your victims did.” It’s an interesting choice though, and I like the extra scenes of Tom at his daughter’s wedding, and details about what happened to the living.
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So everyone. I’m coming to y’all for help. I don’t know why, but I have a weirdly strong desire to want to buy and play Persona 5 Royal. I don’t know why, I played 5 back when it was released and liked it a lot, and the Royal stuff seems to be really cool but… I mean, it’s only my second favorite Persona game, and I’ve plenty of other stuff to play, but something just is screaming for me to play Royal. Am I dumb? Is that dumb?
As for what I’ve actually been playing, I’m finishing up Yakuza Kiwami 2 and playing a LOT of Hades as I get ready for these new consoles to drop. Video games are cool.
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Royal is a lot better than vanilla P5, so if you want to play it you should play it. It’s still probably my favorite game I’ve played this year.
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