Game Review #14: Never Alone

It's been quite a while since I've played a game that I've genuinely heard nothing about. The Internet has more or less abolished mystery leaving an over-informed society with that expects nothing less than the ability to know everything about the game before they touch it.  But for smaller games, while one still can gain this knowledge, it's a bit harder to come by, being less well-known and thus less searched for. So when I got Never Alone, I knew I could find out what it was, but I decided that I didn't want to find out. I went in not knowing a thing about it. I didn't even know what genre it was until I started it up. I don't know how this affected my experience; maybe I had no expectations of it, so I didn't hold it to any standards; maybe not having heard anyone else's opinion made it easier to form my own; whatever it was, I definitely think this is going to be one of my more objective reviews...or less objective depending on how you look at it. Though I suppose this should also serve as a little reminder, to myself and my audience, that there is no such thing as an objective review, and I'd like to thank everyone who's read my reviews for respecting that fact and respecting my opinion. Now on to the review:

Never Alone, also known as "Kisima Inŋitchuŋa" (however the hell one might pronounce that), is a 2.5D puzzle-platformer in the vein of "Limbo". The twist is that you need to guide both Nuna, the little girl, and The Fox, the fox, across each level. The fox and the girl have very different capabilities, meaning you need to master both of them and know when to switch between them in order to complete your objectives. While this probably seems like an interesting mechanic, the novelty gives in quickly to frustration as the game's problems set in. The game's physics re actually quite uncomfortable. You expect them to either be a little floaty or a completely realistic, but it really isn't very much like either, instead being some odd weighty-ness that's just as hard to work with as it is to read about. This leaves you guessing where your jumps will land you up to the very end. While I was playing, I felt that I was dying more often to my inability to understand where my jump will take me more than anything else. Another annoying thing is that halfway through the sub-4 hour game, the game throws a complete curve-ball by completely changing the way one of the two characters functions (in a way that I won't spoil), forcing you to basically learn a whole new game right in the middle of one you were enjoying. And the worst part is the character's new abilities are some the most annoying in the game. I'm trying not to spoil it because the game's story is actually quite good, but just know that the new game you'll be learning won't be quite as fun as the one that was cut short.

On another note, the game's puzzles are actually quite enjoyable. After you get past the game's odd mechanics, putting them together to progress is actually quite cathartic. And that's a catharsis you'll need after banging your head against a wall for so long (as in your head will literally collide with a wall after your jump didn't quite make it over that hole). A big part of the game is using both character's abilities to move platforms around so that you can get from point A to point B. Figuring out the right way to make this happen in each level is just the right balance of challenge and reward to make you feel like you're really getting work done.

The game's story is equal parts fun, emotional, and (God, I never thought I'd write this but) educational, and it keeps you engaged by use of all three. The main game's narrative tells the story of a native Alaskan girl meeting a fox and befriending it. They then decide to go off on a journey to find out where all the snow is coming from. If this seems like a familiar narrative style to you, that's probably because the story all the various mini-stories you go through in the game are based on tribal myths from Alaskan culture. Punctuating this story-telling technique, the entire game is narrated beautifully in said culture's native language giving off the vibe that you are being told this generations-old legend by a real tribal story-teller. And if you see all this culture and still want to know more, the game includes "Cultural Insights", unlockable clips of what, all strung together, could be considered an in-depth documentary on native Alaskan culture. These clips are completely optional but definitely  help to give context to your actions in the game so I recommend watching them. Even without this context, the game tells a compelling story about how bonds between friends can conquer all evils. Ok, yeah, I totally just made that phrase up but I'm sure any who's played the game would agree that it sums up the story pretty well. 

The game's art design is odd and often ugly, but this design is apparently intentional, giving off the feel of traditional "scrimshaw" art. Many of the game's cutscenes are displayed as moving 2D images on a flat plane that makes this design choice even more apparent. So even though at first glance the graphics can look a bit muddy or last gen, over time it becomes easier to see that the game looks exactly like it wants to look and that's actually quite beautiful. The music is a bit more contemporary most of the time but sets the tone quite nicely, so a little nod to that. 

In total, while Never Alone doesn't quite succeed as a platformer, it does succeed as a puzzle game and as an atmospheric look into native Alaskan culture through accurate recreations of it embedded into the game's structure. So, I give Never Alone/Kisima Inŋitchuŋa "The Icy Winds of the Artic Juxtaposed with the Warmth of Friendship"(8) out of 10. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to throw snow at an animal to see if it'll be friends with me. That's how it works, right?

Game Review #NotGonnaJinxIt Looty Dungeon

After the absolute madness that was reviewing Pokkén Tournament, I think I've more or less drained myself of the ability to explain game features. Ya know, I think I could use a refresher: Something that I can explain in two sentences and then just yell about it for a couple minutes... Oh yeah, mobile phones...

Looty Dungeon is a tap-based, Rouge-like dungeon-crawler for iOS in which you take one of the multiple heroes, most of which you unlock with in-game currency, through a randomly generated dungeon avoiding damage-inflicting obstacles, killing monsters, and gathering sweet, sweet loot or rather sweet, sweet the same coin over and over again. You can then use these coins to buy new heroes to repeat the process. The number of coins you need isn't terribly high, but the hero you get is completely random so the most reliable way to get the hero you want *cough*pirate*coughcough* is to buy it with real money. This isn't that evil of a way to slip in micro-transactions, especially due to the game's fully single-player nature, so I'll let it slide. In fact, I don't have too much of a problem with micro-transactions normally, so I let a lot slide but this one in particular I wouldn't suggest directing your rage at. Oh, by the way, if you hadn't put the pieces together, the game is on the style of Crossy Road. Kinda forgot that.

So I think that's about it. Wow, it really is pretty basic. But that's ok, ya know? Looty Dungeons is an incredibly fun and lovable game that will have you yelling when you mistime a trap, grabbing every coin you can get your hands on, and eyeing the huge library of heroes, vowing to catch 'em a– or rather to collect each of them. The simplistic controls are easy to pick up but can take time to master once you find yourself trying to slip through particularly tricky traps. All the pieces fit well to create a great time waster game and an excellent obsession game. So, Looty Dungeon gets "Mankind's Self-Destructive Desire For Loot"/10. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go light more torches. Pro tip: that actually does something if you do it enough times.

UPDATE April 2016: Face Reveal and PAX East.

Music Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF5bqgqteKQ

A Letter to Final Fantasy XV

Dear Final Fantasy XV,

Please, PLEASE, don't suck. There's just too much riding on your shoulders at point. You hold in your hands the future of your franchise and for the love of God, please don't drop it!

For too long now, Final Fantasy has been the subject of intense mediocrity and a sheer lack of ability to catch up with its former glory. 10 was good; 11 was an MMO so that's not a fair comparison; 12 was fine; 13 was meh if you could get through to the end; and 14 was another MMO. So, we haven't had a truly great Final Fantasy since it reached the double-digits. That's a gap of 2 console generations without a stand-out game from the franchise that was once considered the pinnacle of role-playing game excellence. And I'm aware there have been tons of other Final Fantasy games outside the core 14, but none of them are true stand outs either. I enjoyed Type-0 HD, but I don't want to just enjoy it; I want a Final Fantasy that's Game of the Year material. Especially after 10 GOD DAMN YEARS of development time. At this point, if you doesn't do well, Square Enix could easily see that as a big flashing sign reading "You can't make a good Final Fantasy, anymore!" And that's not the end of it; that could easily signal the beginning of the end for all the retro franchises of our childhood. If Final Fantasy falls, who knows what's next. Dragon Quest? Zelda? MARIO?! If this one game happens to not be very good, the entire industry could shift into utter chaos.

And I think the worst part is that if you end up being bad, it would be for all the wrong reasons. In two stellar demos, you've proven that your combat and graphical capabilities are exactly what we wanted. At this point, all you need to prove is that you won't get boring. I know that your story won't be boring (or at least I hope I can count on it not being boring) but one thing that could seriously screw everything up is if you just don't have very exciting quests. That's it. That's what would screw up the entire industry and kill off a crap ton of retro franchises: boring quests. Do you realize what this means? All you need to do is have too many fetch quests and suddenly, the entire world changes. 

But ya know what: I think you can do it. I played the demos and they feel amazing. Combat is intensely satisfying, the graphics are unbelievable and the game just feels like the Final Fantasy we've been waiting for, the Final Fantasy we deserve. So take flight. Be free and make gamers everywhere see your true form. But if you can't do that, just... Please don't suck.

Sincerely,

The Lone Kid Icarus Fan, a concerned JRPG gamer

Game Review #12: Pokkén Tournament

I am quite interested in being the very best like none other has ever achieved. Confining an undisclosed thing of some sort is my factual examination; making said thing stronger is something I believe to be a virtue. Pokemon is very good. Am I making myself clear enough? I was a child in 2008. I know what it's like to buy a turn-based JRPG because of an anime adaption that includes flashy combat not at all reminiscent  of said JRPG and then fall in love with it. And I know what it's like when they dangle a product that much more closely resembles what you came for in front of your nose and then wait several years before they mention it again only to release it in arcades, and then when they do release it on more practical consoles, they only do it in Japan and wait months before bringing it west to you, and by then your mind is so ready to love the game, you lose sight such luxuries as "opinions" and accept that regardless of quality, the game will go down as the best thing to ever exist. God damnit, I'm talking about Pokkén Tournament!

WARNING: If you're not interested in a complete regurgitation of every feature in the game, please skip to the picture of the Fire Emblem games.

Pokkén Tournament is a 3/2.5D Fighter that plays similar to Tekken/Street Fighter. If you're confused, it's because these slashes represent one of Pokkén's many oddball ideas that lead you to ask "Why not just make it a simple Pokémon fighting game?" Fights begin in the "Field Phase," an open, 3D arena with free movement and the camera fixed on your opponent (actually a lot more like the Naruto Shippudden Ultimate Ninja Storm games than anything). As fights progress, one fighter is bound to use some move that will cause a "phase shift", changing the arena into a 2D plane where fighters with movement fixed to left, right, up and down until another phase shifting move is used. A large part of fighting is knowing when to shift the phase and knowing which moves will do that effectively because phase shifts make the opponent's damage "final" (or at least that's the word I like to use). During fights, as you take damage, your health bar will lower but the part you lost will remain as a faded green bar segment, and if your opponent causes a phase shift, that bar segment will disappear, making that damage final; but if you cause the phase shift, you'll get some of that health back. Phase shifts will also force your opponent to quickly switch up their tactics to accommodate the completely different battle style. 

Attacks are split across three buttons, Y for light, X for heavy, and A for Pokémon attack. Alongside this, pressing A and X together (it's easier to do than it might sound) produces a counter-attack, which alone is a chargeable attack of low-medium to high-medium damage but can also completely nullify one of your opponent's regular attacks, so if your opponent dares leave a few frames for you to make a move before attacking, you can catch them by surprise and start launching your own combo on them. Then on the other side of the diamond, Y and B together will produce a grab which will throw the opponent into the air for a devastating mini cutscene of pain. Also, grabs are the counter-attacks of counter-attacks, so if you have a feeling your opponent is ready to reverse your combo back onto you, just grab them and you're good. And if you're wondering, yes, a regular attack will counter a grab. This attack triangle is an interesting way to keep combat varied, but you wouldn't be dumb to forget it was there entirely. It's not uncommon to find yourself attempting to escape a combo by randomly mashing regular attack buttons when you probably could've just used a counter-attack and you'd end up in a far better position. And then when you do remember about counters, you'll start spamming them until you get the satisfaction of getting one off or until your opponent realizes what you're doing and responds by grabbing you, pissing you off to the point where you forget about counters for the rest of the match. 

Wow, we haven't even spoken about your two gauges yet. Your Support Gauge fills at a fixed rate specific to the Pokémon it pertains to and can be activated to release a support Pokémon to help you out in some way. Then there's the Synergy gauge which fills up as you fight in some manner that I just can't discern from normal play, and can be used to activate a huge buff in all stats and can be input again to use a big, colorful, cutscene that can take away nearly half your opponent's health bar. (Hold on, I need a deep breath).

These battles of course take place over a variety of Modes, including an Arcade Mode-ish Single Player campaign, a Local Multiplayer that somehow both forces you to use the game pad and makes the game drop in frame rate, an Online Multiplayer that's pretty smooth relatively speaking, and a training mode. And yes, I did just describe any fighting game. Oh sorry, I forgot about you Street Fighter V *air horns*.

Now, if you're still here, you deserve a reward. Here's a summary of the 2016 election:

Now, go take a bathroom break, make a sandwich and get ready for a full analysis.

(Ok I lied; I assumed you would all take the shortcut and skip over my explanation of the game's features but there's one that I seriously NEED to talk about and analyze in the same paragraph.)

So they made it an RPG. A major part of the game is having each of the game's characters gain Experience Points after each fight (Online and Local multiplayer included) and eventually level up allowing you to increase one the character's four stats. These stats can be turned off in Local Multiplayer, but matter entirely in all other modes. This makes absolutely no sense. What is the deal with this system? Why? WHY? This system completely splits the game's audience between early adopters and all the people who got it later on as older players will have much better stats than you. Of course, the game separates people into 25 ranks, so you'll usually be playing against people with similar amounts of play time, but for your first several online battles, as you struggle to learn all the thousands of other systems in the game, you'll be crushed by your opponent's heightened experience and augmented stats. And once you do make some sizable progress in your own stats, it will be become impossible to switch to another Pokémon after that, because all the others don't have that progress so unless you're willing to bang your head against the wall all over again to get your characters all roughly similar in usability, you're stuck playing the same Pokémon over and over again. And this is completely encouraged seeing how at the beginning of everyone's experience with the game, you pick a "partner Pokémon" that appears as part of your player profile and is used in Story Mode. This of course can be changed at any time, but it's highly discouraged and you'll feel like a colossal douchebag who just dumped a Pokémon you once called "Partner" which will feel almost as bad as dumping a girl you said you loved though I suppose I wouldn't know seeing how women tend to avoid getting into relationships with unlovable basement dwellers such as myself... RPG elements in a fighting game made me think about my love life. Nice going Bandai-Namco. Oh, yeah. They made the game. I think I forgot to mention that.

So what do I think of the game? It's complex. It's visually spectacular. It's nostalgic. It's just... Incredible. I've bagged on the complexity and the idiotic RPG elements and the fact that I'm never getting a girlfriend and these people realize, but there really is just nothing quite like being able to finally play out Pokémon battles the way you've always wanted to. Pokkén Tournament is the kind of game we'll, be playing for a while especially with DLC characters being a definite for this game. So, Pokkén Tournament gets "The Blinding Power of Nostalgia" out of 10. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go travel around the planet Earth, looking both far and wide using every Pocket Monster to come to a better understanding of the strength within something or another. Ya know, maybe these lyrics weren't meant to make sense.

Game Review #11: Fire Emblem: Awakening

I'd like to level with you for a bit. I don't think I really "played" Fire Emblem. Sure I played through some of it, but I didn't really give it a fair enough shot. I think I may have been pissed off at the time or something, but I know now, that I was wrong about it. At least I assume so, seeing how overwhelmingly amazing the product of 20 years of refining the system (and then shoving a dating sim in there) was. 

Fire Emblem: Awakening is a tactical turn-based strategy JRPG (note the intensity of that "J") developed by Intelligent Systems, a subsidiary of Nintendo. In it, you lead a squad of however many they let you have around a square-grid-based map to fight hordes of enemies using various medieval/fantasy weapons including swords, axes, lances, magic, bows, and the almighty power of love *guitar riff as Hughey Lewis and The News starts playing*. I'll come back to that last one, but for now, I should mention that while on the battlefield, you can have two characters "pair up" basically making them act as one unit, allowing one to support the other in combat. This usually gives the character in the lead of the pair extra hit and dodge chance as well as the occasional increase to damage and critical hit chance. The unit in the support role even has a slight chance to get in a hit of their own. Also, after surviving an attack (both while on the offensive and the defensive) units that supported one another gain a stronger "relationship." If their relationship gets to a certain point, they can have a "support conversation" which shows a specific milestone in the development of their relationship. After a support conversation, the two will fight together better, and characters of the opposite sex can reach a point in their relationship where they can get married, achieving the highest possible point in their relationship. And now that I've thoroughly regurgitated every feature of the game I could think of, let's talk about them.

The game can genuinely require deep thought at times just to get through without anyone dying as the game does indeed include permadeath as a feature if you so choose which is another way of saying "if you don't lack all confidence in yourself". I didn't even turn off permadeath in my first play through because doing so would take away that sense of urgency you have to keep your squad alive and would just make for a different experience altogether. Back onto the point, once after a particularly unsatisfactory mission(I know they're not called missions but I call them that, so bare with me) I spent weeks thinking about what I could've done for it to have gone better. And this urgency is amplified by how attached you can easily get to the characters. You could spend hours getting two characters to reach S-rank support so they can get married fulfilling your most adorable ship just to have one of them die in the next mission and cry for days, not because you wasted time, but because you feel like you've let them and their family down. Their spouse is probably grieving in your camp; everything they've told to their comrades in support conversations, all their hopes and dreams, vanished in an instant all because you fucked up. And that's what I truly value in this game. You can get way too invested in this game all because of how easy it is to fall in love with the characters. You'll start losing sleep over their final words. You'll scribble their name in your diary next to the words "never forget". Even before they die, you'll roll on the floor laughing at how cute and awkward their conversations are. You will truly never forget these characters. 

On top of the stellar gameplay and amazing characters, the game looks beautiful. Whilst some of the 3D models used in combat scenes can look a bit muddy, the over world sprites are very detailed and have well-done animations. On top of that, the anime-ish cutscenes are some of the best on the 3DS. The voice acting also manages to be a highlight where others have failed. All the sounds are authentic, and the music is always setting the tone perfectly. 

I misjudged Fire Emblem when I first tried out the series. In fact, I may have misjudged the whole genre. I don't know. What I do know is that I am completely in love with Fire Emblem now, and love is what makes life just a bit more worth living. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm fairly certain my parents are holding an intervention. They found my diary and think I might have a problem.

Fallout 4: Fifteen-hour Impressions #1

So at the moment, I'm somewhere between 10 and 20 hours into Fallout 4, and I don't think I'll be finished anytime soon, so I thought I'd start a new segment here on the Multi-platformer: 15 Hour Impressions. This is for big open world games that I definitely will never finish and if I do, it will be in 2078. When I get games like this, I always think to myself "I should've gotten something that will help me. Ya know like with my job, maybe." But then once I'm in, I have no regrets about it. So I decided, if I enjoy this game so much, why not find a way to talk about it without even having finished 10 percent of it? This is 15 Hour Impressions. 

Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic WRPG set in a futuristic 1950s style Boston after a full scale nuclear war. If that sentence was rather confusing to you, don't worry: it is confusing. Point is, you shoot things, get experience, level up, and then get a passive ability that occasionally makes people explode into a (name drop) Bloody Mess *puts on sunglasses*. You also get experience from (here we go): Picking locks, hacking computers, giving people things they want, choosing specific dialogue when you have enough Charisma, building shit, modifying weapons, or just inputting a console command to make you level 400 and make a grenade that blows up releasing a pack of Deathclaws an item which unfortunately does not exist in the base game for some odd reason. 

The combat is incredibly satisfying, feeling like a refined version of Borderlands. People often say that Fallout 4 relies too heavily on VATS, seeing how it's often your best chance of doing damage, but it never feels like that to me. In my opinion, VATS is merely a complement to the rest of the game's combat, especially now that VATS has been nerfed from previous games, only slowing time instead of freezing it. Standard shooter tactics like sniping, getting cover and stealthily avoiding sight are still valid tactics. Also, your use of VATS is tied to your ability to run the fuck away, so often, you end up choosing between getting some extra damage in while your enemy's close or having the energy to run off to a better position. This, combined with your limited time to decide, makes strategy and careful planning a large part of the experience.

The world of Fallout 4 isn't always the prettiest open world, but it's definitely the most alive. Every person wandering the wasteland or trying to pick the pieces up and start a life in a settlement really pulls you into the game's world, reminding you that life in the wasteland isn't easy or fun (like the term "video game" would have you believe) but is instead full of hardship and despair. The quests aren't exactly Witcher quests, but a lot of them do open up new parts of the world you wouldn't have found on your own or get you to interact with some interesting characters. In reality, most of them are just "go here, clear out the raiders, come back and tell me about it" but even those end up holding your interest because you'll usually get them from characters that you straight want to talk to because they're just so real. They don't just ask you to clear out Raiders from a specific area because they have a feeling that the a Raiders might be big meanies. They actually have problems that they need your help to overcome. 

The story is quite interesting. I'm not going to say all that much about because of spoilers and the fact that you can ignore it if you feel like it, but I will say that it definitely keeps you engaged for a prolonged amount of time.

But what this game truly excels at is something that eludes far too many games these days: Finding the borderline between making you feel like a badass and not overpowering you. Make no mistake. You will die far more often than your enemies will. It will be frustrating at first but then you'll be able to take your experience and apply it back to the same event. And then you can rush in, knowing perfectly well what to do, and suddenly, you're the Fallout master. So you're always feeling like a badass, especially when you're using a really cool, badass weapon like a baseball bat or the infamous Cryolator, but simultaneously you're always feeling like you need to improve. And in the game, the progression system also enforces this concept. When you level, you have three choices: choose a perk, a typically passive ability that enhances your experience without ever completely altering it; increasing one of your stats which also opens up a new perk that can be chosen; or enhancing a perk you already have so that you can go further with that skill. As I said, the perks never give you some broken new ability but instead offer a new option that will make your experience just a bit more convenient. Some perks give occasional multipliers to your experience gains; some make you do just a little more damage; and some make traveling in water easier by removing the risk of drowning or being irradiated like nobody's business by it. These all do nothing more than make Fallout 4 a bit less helpless. You now can control the way the game reacts to you rather than just having to go in and play by the game's rules. And if none of that made any sense, well I can't say I'm surprised. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to massacre some Raiders to see if I can find some glue. I need it for basically everything.