The Halo 5 Menu Music is literally the old Halo theme. It’s such a sad concession as 343 really did try to put their aesthetic stamp on Halo but they couldn’t go without some chants in the mix.
I actually like most of the Halo 4 gun ASMR. It’s ahead of it’s time in that every shooter has the same jerky, expressive animation style that Hyper popularised with his work on Titanfall 2 and MW2019. I’m basic. I like it when the guns are chunky and crackly.
Quick thoughts on 2 games I’m playing:
Nier Automata
I’ve played some “all time greats” this year, or at least what I think are considered all time greats in this corner of the internet. Yakuza 0, Outer Wilds. I don’t think this is that. It’s a weird game, and it’s interesting, but combat is bad and I can’t tell if the story is good or bad yet? This is also coming from someone who, after watching The Matrix for the first time, thought “this feels like a movie someone made after taking a philosophy 1010 class” and, I know, I was wrong and The Matrix is Good, Actually. I’m not sure if I’m wrong about Nier Automata though, but I do know it’s not all that fun to play.
Pokemon Crystal Clear
This is either the best Pokemon game ever made, or it’s just a really interesting piece of programming. For those who don’t know, it’s basically an open world Pokemon Crystal hack. It’s real neat—all 251 Pokemon can be caught in game, there are black characters, and it’s open world! It doesn’t suffer from trying to be a serious or crass game like… basically every other Pokemon hack, but I’m not sure if it works as a game. There’s no direction—you go catch Pokemon and battle gyms because it’s what you do in Pokemon, not because of the direction of any professor. There’s nothing compelling the me to move forward other than the idea of progress. I’m not sure if that totally works for me when the entire game is open from the start.
I forced myself to get through Nier: Automata due to all the discourse around it, and I had the same feeling as you do. I just got no enjoyment out of actually playing it. There are some neat ideas and characters, but I feel like you have to wade through a whole lot of stuff that just isn’t enjoyable to get at it.
I am also in this particular camp on Nier: Automata. It has a great vibe and some cool characters and compelling ideas, but it’s all locked behind gameplay that just aggravates me. I was okay enough with Route A’s combat, but found that it lacked the kinds of friction I like while having a bit too much of the kinds I don’t like. (The boss fights were cool though. I think I’d have really liked a version of this game that was only bosses.) And then I had to spend 10 hours babysitting the world’s whiniest android baby via some really grating gameplay and never quite recovered from that. (And okay, listen, I get what his arc is supposed to be. I don’t think he’s written well enough for it to come through.)
Also, from listening to people talk about what really struck them from the game, a lot of it seems to be in the sidequests. I would never have had the stamina to push through all those sidequests considering how I feel about the gameplay, and the main game just didn’t hit me enough to leave the kind of mark I was expecting.
I do think Ending E is worth the hype, but it’s gonna be way more impactful if you’ve made that kind of investment in the game up to that point, and I hadn’t.
I played Nier: Automata this year and sympathise with all of this. I found the amount of repetition required to be vastly understated by the game’s fans. I also found 9S’s reputation as an objectionable character to be vastly overstated, and kind of a spoiler given the Rubicon that is eventually passed. I definitely didn’t love the shift to hacking, though. I used a side quest checklist from Reddit, but still managed to miss some that are highly recommended while completing some that aren’t. I don’t want to say too much about Ending E for fear of overselling it, but “worth the hype” sums it up for me.
Automata is basically a visual novel disguised as a character action game after all.
For the first time in my life, I’ve decided to give the should-be-forgotten Suda51 game Michigan: Report from Hell a try on stream. And–while it has quite a bit of value as an MST3K piece of community value, it is… (woof) it’s a lot. And I can’t say I’m better for the experience.
I’m not sure if my time would be better spent yelling at 12 Minutes.
Find a game that brings you joy or contentment, comrade. Life’s too short.
I’m playing the Death Stranding: Director’s Cut broadly a year after I put about 80 hours into the original and it’s got its hook right back in me again. The opening is pretty rough, the onslaught of Nouns and story is pretty bad but once you clear that and get to Chapter 2-3 and get to actually play the game largely untroubled by story it is so deeply satisfying. I’ve hit 5 stars on everyone in the first region partially out of a sense of completionism but also just because I am really enjoying lugging packages about, plotting my path and navigating the numerous obstacles in my path.
It’s also classic Kojima where the gameplay feels well plotted often to the point of absurdity. My flatmate’s been watching me play and he’ll occasionally say something “I wonder if you can drive a bike along ladders” or “wouldn’t it be cool if you could ride the carrier?” and immediately a light bulb goes off in my head because of course you can do these things. Sometimes it’s annoying (Timefall Shelters knocking your cargo off will never not be frustrating) but it is a silly and cool gameplay loop.
The story does get better as well. I haven’t hit the ending again so I can’t say much about it a year out from the first completion but it settles into a groove that is fine but is elevated I think by the talent they’ve got on board. A lot of what is said is daft but has some panache and impact because it’s Lea Seydoux saying it or Troy Baker doing (IMO) his most personally enjoyable role. He’s having so much fun here in a way that contrasts massively with Miles Morales which I played shortly after last year where it sounds phoned in.
So, yeah. The new additions are fairly small but QOL improvements which do benefit the game and a couple of extra missions I’ve lightly delved into but it’s more of the same which if you’re jonesing for the perfect podcast or music mix game then this I would recommend after the initial rough opening.
Nier Automata thoughts:
I echo a lot of other people’s complaints, but I think anyone who is interested in games as a storytelling medium should play either Nier or Automata because they do some interesting things with the form. There are other games that do similar things, but not many big budget video games and Automata is fairly popular, so it’s a useful touchstone.
I do not understand why people like 9S. Absolutely no clue. I was very confused the first time I saw fan art of just 9S.
I liked what I played of Nier Automata, but I didn’t get around to “finishing” finishing it and getting the true ending, and now I’m not sure I’ve got it in me to either remember where I left off or go through the whole of Ending A and B (and possibly C? Was that one?) again to refresh my memory. Maybe one day.
I did enjoy the story a lot, but there was a definite tension in the repetitive nature of much of it, especially in the side quests, even though the side quests were what characterised the world and made it so much more interesting. I’d rather not rehash any arguments along the lines of “the repetitive nature is immersive”, because other people have elucidated on that better, but basically I wish it had tightened in on the more interesting narrative stuff and less on grinding out certain quests or feeling so padded.
The soundtrack alone substantially elevates Nier Automata for me. It’s probably a big chunk of why I’ve completed it twice. The last few hours really hit for me as well so there is something good going on to get me to that point.
It wouldn’t. Please trust me.
Honestly based on the conversation about Nier: Numbers on the pod a few months ago, I think I’d probably like that one a bit more. Maybe someday I’ll have the time lol
I share this opinion. I don’t know if it was a bad call of my part, but I did the final 9S route after doing A2’s instead of the other way around, and that wasn’t so interesting to me. Especially the gameplay, I don’t hate 9S’s gimmick but its not nearly as fun as the hack n slash of A2 and 2B. I guess the appeal is that he is a deeply flawed and troubled individual, so playing his journey may feel like watching a tragedy of sorts unfold? I don’t know. But I do like all Nier endings, and agree with you that they make some really interesting choices in the medium.
Sidenote: On the other hand, I love all the protagonists of Nier Replicant. And the E ending in that game is very powerful.
I think my whiniest baby comment was a bit purposefully hyperbolic but I agree on 9S, and I’ve been wondering why I found him so aggravating when I read plenty of literature about tragic or reprehensible characters. The conclusion I’m coming to is that asking me to inhabit the same headspace as a character in a game goes a step beyond the act of reading a tragic story or watching a play. Characters shouldn’t need to be relatable or sympathetic to be interesting or artful, but games require a certain level of empathy (not sympathy and not “empathy games” kind of empathy, but literally the ability to experience a character’s feelings as one’s own), and I just couldn’t find a way into his character.
That wasn’t a problem when I was playing as 2B, a character I absolutely could empathize with. But especially asking me to redo the same narrative steps with 9S was just brutal.
Thanks to Game Pass, I have been playing the Avengers game, which its a really bizarre one.
This game is pretty much a real example of some of the fears I read on the internet about online multiplayer focus impacting single player games in the 360/PS3 era (I have played Destiny and the Division 2.)
All the online multiplayer components actively diminish the single player story, it clashes hard, its impossible for me to have any sense of urgency when main story missions have “side quests” whose entire purpose are loot chests with multiplayer currency and loot.
One of the most bizzarre scenes so far was when you are controlling Tony Stark while he is trying to find his suit and the set-piece is supposed to have urgency to it, but you still find 3 loot boxes while the character is supposed to be on the run. There is also a scene where Iron man getting his real suit repaired is treated as unlocking a skin lmao.
There is also the part in this game where it uses multiplayer loading screens to show voiced story dialogue and also does that in multiplayer menus while loading the next mission.
Guess it has become apparent that I find the game design choices of this game more interesting than the game itself lol.
Other than the above, I find incredible how the marketing of this game was succesful in hidding the good stuff about it. The least interesting stuff to me about this game are the Avenger´s themselves, since the heart and core of this game´s story is Kamala Khan.
The gameplay is a 3D beat em up, which is pretty cool, its entertaining and I really like it, but the multiplayer components hurt this game badly, since there is also some copy paste levels in the main campaign thanks to that.
Continuing on with Cloudpunk: City of Ghosts, and I realized why I love this game so much. It’s not an exploration game. You never don’t know where you’re going. There aren’t doors or paths to search for and follow. It’s a tour game. The game tells you where to go, never pretends you’re supposed to dig deeper into any of the spaces you visit, and you just take in the sights, hear the sounds, listen to the conversations and learn about the quirky characters, and overall just kinda absorb the vibes.
Both Subnautica and Outer Wilds rank real high on list of personal favourites because they are explorative puzzles that inspire awe. This games doesn’t have that exploration puzzle side, but it definitely inspires the same feeling of awe. It’s the same thing I get with No Man’s Sky, which also doesn’t have much of a puzzle, but Cloudpunk drops the friction of harvesting and crafting.
EDIT: I guess it is worth adding that Cloudpunk certainly does have more characterization with much more consistent character interaction and possibly more mundane, moment-to-moment narrative than any of those other games I mentioned. Which helps with the lack of puzzle action. And I find it all really charming. I just mean that functionally all that characterization and whatnot is wrapped around touring you around Nivalis.
I should say this about Nier Automata:
Music? Out of this world. It’s so good. I don’t really like game music usually, but the music is great.
Also there are some set pieces that astound me, this game looks so good and just has a triple A cinematic feel in a way that doesn’t feel focus tested to death and I can appreciate that.
I was maybe a little harsh on it yesterday because there’s some really cool stuff that it does, and I want to like it more than I do! Like, I can’t believe that a triple A game like this exists, but also… I just don’t enjoy playing it. There’s also the Barthes idea of “play” and rereading a text that I will get into when I’m not writing on my phone/haven’t had such a long day.
I finished route A last night and I’ll continue playing because I don’t have much else calling my name until SMT V/Pokémon Pearl remake. I think I’ll hit more side quests in route B to break up the monotony.
Edit: my job has also been very stressful (first year teaching) and honestly I kind of need games that feel fun. I didn’t feel like I was having fun with NA, didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment finishing route A, it might be, like Sekiro, a game that came into my life at the wrong time. I’m willing to accept that! Especially since this is a game I want to like
Can we permanently replace the awful ‘walking simulator’ with the delightful ‘tour game’?
It’s time for some Halo 5 posting. This game gets a lot of heat because at it’s heart, it’s only half a Halo game. It feels magnificent to play, but the focus on player verbs comes at the expense of the trademark Halo combat puzzle/sandbox. Level design is reduced to large, almost circular combat arenas. At one point a character describes the level ahead as a jungle gym as that’s so on the nose it’s actually good.
I don’t understand why this game is so reviled. Obviously 4 and 5’s multiplayer wasn’t exactly beloved, and 5 especially fell victim to the short-lived movement shooter phase that AAA games went through in the mid-10s and it’s subsequent backlash. It’s certainly not Halo in the same way that even Halo 4 was (it also looks substantially worse than 4) but it’s light, breezy fun that feels good and moves at great pace.
I can’t emphasise enough how much I appreciate a game that doesn’t waste my time, and Halo 5 doesn’t. Especially if you’re playing on Normal (Heroic just involves you getting downed and revived constantly, the co-op balancing makes a bigger impression the harder the difficulty), it’s pure popcorn.
Even the story is fun! Half of it is referencing shit that doesn’t even happen in a Halo game, but who cares? It’s gibberish. Absolute nonsense! But it’s enthusiastic nonsense full of dumb proper nouns that you don’t actually need to know in order to understand anything. It’s so far up it’s own ass you have to choose whether you’re annoyed by it, or if you just want to let it roll off you. I very much recommend the latter.
Halo 5: It’s a good time?
Definitive Halo Ranking: Reach, 2, 3, 1, 5, ODST, 4
Am I going to play the Halo Wars games? Probably
