Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I had my eye on Of Ash and Steel for a while as a possibly-worth-playing second- or third-tier RPG. I've enjoyed such before in spite of a certain level of jank that is expected. In this case, other things lined up such that I didn't come in until several patches into its lifecycle, which is probably a good thing as it cuts down on bugs. The term I keep coming back to with this game is "high friction." You can't even access the map screen until Act 2, then have to find survey points to reveal details, and even then I wish there was more labeling. There are zero quest markers and the directions given range wildly from semi-useful to "you should just look this up outside the game if you don't expect to lose hours searching." Traveling around is limited to running (technically some teleporters open up in Act 4), which is especially painful in the early game when you stamina is particularly low. Heck, you even fall down if running through puddles until ...

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the best movie I've seen in quite a while. This comes from someone who is definitely experiencing a degree of superhero movie fatigue. And yet, I was not taken out of the movie once for the entire runtime. The movie may be couched in "hero fights villain(s)" trappings, but it leans more into the "and discovers things about himself along the way."  There are several story threads examined that I figured would be handled in a typical and simple way, but were instead treated more with the nuance they deserve - primarily how Peter handles connecting with people who magically forgot about him. I don't think it's too spoilery since that's hinted by previews and fairly obvious from where previous movies left things. The simple cop out would just be to have the magical amnesia overcome by the power of friendship. This movie, for the most part, does not treat it as such a simple matter, and that's good because it should be me...

 007 First Light struck me as a reasonably good game and a very solid James Bond experience. I don't have the Hitman familiarity to compare it to, but the game mechanics worked well. The open investigative levels offered some flexibility, at least. I wouldn't describe them as offering full freedom, but you're generally given a handful of threads without needing to pull on them all to progress.  I'm of two minds regarding the tutorial montage. On one hand, it really fits stylistically and feels kind of cool. On the other hand, jumping straight from melee to shooting to driving (which is barely used in the game under any pressure) can be a bit disorienting. In fact, the melee mechanics never quite clicked with me, leading me to switch to an easier difficulty mode after losing a few times to the first major "boss" fight. The shooting was fine, though I think you go through more enemies than any Bond movie by far, so don't think about that too much. I like thi...

Mina the Hollower is one of those games I respect. I think anyone throwing around 10/10 Perfect scoring may have some blinders on and is very focused on the niche it fills - which is to say it's very good for what it is, but I don't find it revolutionary as far as video games in general. Good, sure. Pinnacle? Nah. It is hard, yes, but it also comes with selectable modifiers that can make it incredibly easy in the moment-to-moment play. I mean, if you don't care about achievements, you can pop on invulnerability and remove falling in pits and the only real challenge left are the environmental puzzles. There are lots of "lesser" modifiers available too. That makes it about as accessible as you could want. But there is a certain "difficulty" from the old design sensibilities, too - there is very little direction given on how to do things or where to go. It takes a while to even get a map, and it just lays out where the zones are in relation to one another,...

  I had intended to get these thoughts out earlier, but time did not permit, so we’ll see if I end up forgetting things on my mind. The Mandalorian and Grogu was fine. It’s nearly two and a half hours of Star Wars that makes a serviceable movie with nothing truly egregious. I think it would be better against the lower bar of TV episodes, but it didn’t leave me feeling disillusioned with Star Wars movies, as has happened before. So… fine. Three out of five. Five or six out of ten. There are people who could unabashedly enjoy it and call it good and… I kind of envy that, but just can’t. From there, anything I say can get spoilery , but I do have a lot of little thoughts. Let’s start with some positives: I like Mando. The stoicism and curtness is I fine line to walk, but I think the character is still pulling it off and maintains a certain presence. I like Zeb. He’s a little bit CGI-y for my preference, but I have a fondness for the character from Rebels that does not feel unjustly m...

 Looking back at my 2023 remarks on Diablo IV, I was moderately positive. The game's good enough to play and the story was compelling enough for me to voice thoughts about events and characters within, focusing on the central prophecy and how characters interpreted it differently. Now, I see some trailers for the second DLC, and I feel very different. I wonder how much of that may be a matter of me and my own perspective versus the game/story itself? Seeing Lilith making a reappearance is incredibly deflating. Arguably, that was inevitable. Blizzard doesn't want to sideline their major characters and in the setting most major powers are defeatable only in a temporary sense. But usually defeating a big-bad puts them out of action for more than a single expansion, so that feels ludicrously brief. I'd also say the flip-flop between getting Mephisto's assistance in fighting Lilith in the base game to vice versa feels uninspired. Really, the overall feeling I get of seeing t...