Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I've been playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 . It's a recent darling among reviewers, and not without reason. The game is good to play. Mind you, I do struggle on and off with the QTE mechanics that are mixed in with the turn-based combat. It's engaging, though. There's a lot of heart and emotion in the story that is well-delivered. I have seen clips of DA: Veilguard scenes (but haven't played the whole game, so those are just snippets) that are embarrassingly stilted and clearly scripted. Clair Obscur's dialog has pretty much never hit me that way. Most of it feels so very natural, especially the shock and loss experienced in the first act of the game - and there's plenty of it given the sort of bleak premise of the game. I don't want to say anything to spoil it for someone who may play, but the wrap of Act 2 and beginning of Act 3 really takes a turn. There are so many reveals there that answer most of the lingering questions (and raise a few more) th...

 So I was asked last night what I actually want in an RPG game/campaign. I came up with a few points, but that's a question I find hard to answer on the spot. It's easy to point at things in an ongoing game that I don't like, and a little harder to point at things I do (darn negative-focused psychology), but making generalizations is more difficult still. It does, however, give me something to focus a little on and ramble about for a time... Story I like a narrative through line - not usually to the point of "railroading," but I want more connective tissue than just returning to a job board after each mission. Sometimes that develops as things go, with character goals shaping things. Setting an end goal at the outset ("defeat the demon lord!") can have ups and downs. However it comes about, I really like to feel there is some forward momentum toward something, though. Consistency This one gets sub-points!  As far as setting, I sort of stopped using the t...

Okay, first thing's first - I have to admit to giving into the dark side and buying Diablo IV. I am not a fan of Blizzard these days as a business and I'm not a big fan of many of the turns WoW has taken since the days I was really active in it. But... Diablo IV is a solid ARGP-looter. The story is above average, told pretty well, and was compelling enough for me through the campaign. If I didn't already have an appreciation for Diablo lore, I'm not sure I would praise the story quite so highly, but I think I'd still have to say it's better than the norm for such games. So as a level 49 rogue having completed the main story, but not yet gotten into the 50+ "endgame," that's my review: good game, pretty good story, worth playing if you're reasonably into the game style. The cash shop deserves to burn in hellfire (~$25 for a cosmetic class ensemble?) and the company is iffy, but the game itself is good. What lingers in my mind after playing is th...

 I've gotten into mostly-listening to some streams and videos about Battletech in recent times, including getting caught up in hype over the Mercenaries kickstarter project. One discussion had me thinking about the suspension of disbelief involved in the setting, how things don't fit, and in some cases why. In fairness, most science fiction settings require certain leaps - perhaps more so for settings that are built around games, as games require certain things.  One of the most commonly-fudge aspects in scifi is that of scale. Frequently planets are distilled down to a single dominant terrain and can be flipped by a single battle - not very realistic if you take even a passing glance at modern Earth. But when your setting is constructed around the conceits of a tactical wargame, that's what you get. Managing more than lance-, or maybe company-, sized battles gets unwieldy fast, so smaller scale battles have to matter somehow. What brought this up was more discussion of soc...

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was an entertaining watch. I don't think it'll be one of the more memorable MCU movies for me in the long run, but it wasn't bad by any means. I have a handful of thoughts that are neither serious positives or negatives: - It is more reliant than most MCU movies on what-has-come-before. In this case, not just the first Doctor Strange movie or the Avengers movies, but also WandaVision . If you haven't seen that series, I imagine a lot less understanding and interest in a main motivator of the story. - Strange has a pretty good foil in the story who is rather blatant about being such, but lacks the self-awareness to see the differences (naturally). - I liked the "go on red" bit even if it was a little direct. And the Illuminati appearances were pretty good as well. - I can understand what is meant by articles saying the movie sets up a possible Secret Wars arc, but such things are talking about the 2015 Secret Wars...

 So in a lull, I went back to Insomnia: The Ark , which I bounced off of before. I did better and got farther into the game, but it's still a little bit of a struggle. The "old school" isometric style itself isn't back. The dieselpunk aesthetic on a space ark works well enough. I'm fairly neutral on what I've seen of the story - not horrible, but nothing has really brought together the material scarcity setting and the sort-of-supernatural aspects for me. I ran into a few bugs and translation issues. The combat is not terribly great - being almost impenetrably difficult starting out (one or two hits can lead to death), but becoming so much easier with better gear and potential companions. A lot of time is spent traveling back and forth between zones on the "world map," which feels like a waste. Overall, it's a bit "meh" and I may get back to finish it eventually, but I'm not in any rush. On the other hand, I was quite looking forwar...

 I finished the campaign in Outriders last night (which leaves several side quests and endgame expeditions). I have thoughts. I'll try to save spoilers for last. The way the game handles scaling and difficulty seems a bit odd to me. Maybe good, but definitely odd and not all that well explained.  Character level is pretty common and thus widely understood. You get XP for kills and missions and level up. Some levels unlock new powers. Some levels give you character points for a skill tree. Strangely, it seemed like some levels were 'dead' while other gave two skill points. I'm still not sure what's up there, but I finished the campaign at level 29 of 30. Then there's World Tiers. These are a difficult adjustment mechanic that was a bit lacking in explanation of some details, but from that I have seen - higher WT means 1) enemies are harder and 2) drops are better. Item drops can range from a couple levels below your character level to several levels above, depend...

 Cyberpunk 2077 has had me thinking some about RPG characters in general. I have a lot of thoughts. I don't know if I can organize them well, but at least I can put them out in some fashion... Perhaps more than most genres, cyberpunk is about living hard and fast even if it means dying early - being the candle that burns twice as bright yet half as long. That's sort of baked in to the stories, depicting a quiet life under corporate rule as a fate worse than death. To some extent, that philosophy exists in most games. Fantasy adventurers are willing to take on dragons and the like, after all. The motivation for this may be glory, money, or upholding some greater principle. These stories, though, are stories for a reason. Things get messy if you try to inject too much realism. Money as a motivator is one of the aspects that crumbles the quickest - having enough money for that cutting-edge cyberarm or that magical sword often means having enough money to retire in luxury. And less...

Still in sort of a cyberpunky headspace. I'm replaying Deus Ex: Human Revolution - though the "Director's Cut" this time. The main difference there seems to be a bit of building out around the boss fights to allow for use of some other skills to take them down. Originally (perhaps because the boss fights were outsources), they could seriously roadblock characters who focused on non-combat avenues. The redone ones have more options, though it is still rough for a stealth-hacker to deal with being dropped right in front of an enemy. I also rewatched some clips from Bugglegum Crisis , remembering that series. It focused more on the man-versus-machine aspects of the genre than the blending of the two or socio-economics (though each is in there to some extent). It was also a nice display of advanced power armor well before the Iron Man movies brought that to more "mainstream" scifi. Thinking of cyberpunk RPGs, I really only come back to two main ones. R. T...

I've been listening to Magnum Bullets arguably too much the last couple days. But it definitely has my mind in a cyberpunk-ish space. One of the things that came to mind when I first listened to it is a central conceit of the genre that has always been a little... questionable. The genre sets up a society of haves and have nots. Those who are rich with corporate ties have reasonably safe lives where violence is fiction and the latest, greatest technology is within reach. Those without live in relative squalor, scraping by in fear of gang wars and body chop shops. I rather hope I don't live to see real life become that polarized, though it's a plausible dystopia - which makes it exactly why this type of science fiction has the value it does. But when looking at cyberpunk stories or games, there's a fairly large hurdle to overcome in explaining someone with millions of credits/eurobills/nuyen/etc. worth of hardware, weaponry, and skill is somehow existing in a world of...

Heh. A week later, and I still have Steven Universe songs bouncing around in my head. What can I say? For as much as they're often short, there are a lot of them, some are quite catchy, and most have some solid meaning behind them. Stronger Than You remains a favorite, its significance wrapped up in a main character - or a few, depending on how you count. Change , from the movie, has been a new contender. For being only a couple stanzas, there's solid message and meaning to it that's tied into the climactic fight. It was definitely the characters and interplay that drew me into the series. If I'd been watching seriously, it might have happened earlier, but it was actually the 38th episode that clicked with - watching the Crystal Gems creating a test chamber for Steven (with no actual chance of failure) in an awkward attempt to boost his confidence. Steven is understandably upset by being treated like a kid (even if he may be one), but actually manages to swallow tha...

I admit I don't think very highly of mobile games in general. They aren't necessarily doomed to being bad, but they are working with a lot of technical limits - storage space, control inputs, small displays, etc. Combine that with the current ubiquitousness of the platform(s) and you have a market that sort of encourages low-effort cash grabs. Maybe that's why the loot box/"gacha" mechanics seem to have sprung up and flourished in that arena, making it a dangerous minefield of cheap/free games that can still suck a wallet dry given the least bit of opportunity. Yet, I'm still playing Fate: Grand Order more than a year after it started. And this without having spent any money on it, either. The temptation has been there occasionally, but I've had just enough luck with random pulls to get enough desired characters that I haven't purchased anything. Probably the most tempting of the deals offered is the "guaranteed 5-star" summons that come up...

So, Saturday I watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I will get into spoilers here, but I'll see if I can push those below the Blogspot cut, at least. In general, I enjoyed the movie. I understand, and agree with the existence of, some criticisms I've heard. None of those seriously dragged down the experience for me, though. There were some good characters. There were some awesome scenes. There was some unnecessary fluff. The movie felt very full. But it was all pretty good and felt Star Warsy enough for me. And with that, let's get into some details... Whereas The Force Awakens felt like almost a remake of A New Hope, this movie has callbacks to The Empire Strikes Back. In my perception, they don't feel as direct, but I can't deny the parallels. The opening and ending scenes are clearly evocative of the battle on Hoth. Rey's time with Luke could equate to the training on Dagobah. But at least there's no new Death Star/Starkiller Base. I like Rose. She...

Mass Effect Andromeda unlocks for regular play tonight at midnight (eastern). That's probably just enough time to create a character before I go to bed. Whee! Well, regardless, it has been on my mind of late. Heck, thanks to the commercials, I have Rag'n'Bone Man's Human in my head. While I've seen it said that Mass Effect is like a more recent Star Wars in terms of genre impact, I don't think I can go so far. Still, it is a pretty major series. Andromeda has caught a good bit of pre-release flack for wonky animations and iffy dialogue. Most of the time, this seems to be mentioned in the context of "sometimes it's good, sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's ridiculously bad." It's a presumably-valid criticism that I think I can live with. I'm still looking forward to the game and to seeing what they make of the setting and story with a new direction. I still don't really like the way the original trilogy closed out. ME3 as ...

So, with 7.1 about to release, I've finished up the current Suramar content on my main. I put in time with alts, finishing out my death knight's class story and getting to the final few steps of my priest's. And... the class/order stories have made a range of impacts... The paladin story is still my favorite so far. After watching Tirion go down during the assault on the Broken Shore, the fight against the Legion feels personal. The presence of Arator makes Light's Heart a little more impactful (bearing a message from Turalyon to his son). The alliance with priests, and inducting one of their number as a paladin makes lots of lore sense. And while I wish there was more information about Lothraxion, his appearance as a general of the Army of Light is cool. Balnazzar, an established dread lord is presented as early as the Ashbringer acquisition quest and thus makes a very good opponent to take down in the final confrontation in Netherlight Temple (and that's presum...

I came across Gravity Falls while looking for Star Wars: Rebels on Disney XD. It's one of those animated show that may not be immediately striking in one viewing. The animation is pretty standard, relying a bit more on style than detail. Some of the voices were familiar, though, and the teasing of a mystery were enough that I made some effort to watch more. From there, I was fairly impressed. Certainly some episodes come across as "monster/mystery of the week" for the 12-year-old siblings visiting their great-uncle (or "grunkle") in a rural town with weirdness just under the surface. There's a lot of attention to detail, however, and continuity that I appreciate in the storytelling. The show did build up some level of mystery and actually answered most, if not all, the questions is posed. I like that infinitely better than the shows that just keep throwing out more questions for the sake of stringing an audience along. This week, it ended. That's...

I think of movies like Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Arc , classics in action/adventure, and when I look at the heroes I think "y'know, here is a character that did no use Con as a dump stat." Perhaps because those examples are so deeply ingrained in my mind, I might have failed to consciously notice how that isn't necessarily the case these days . And when I get down to it, at least for myself, it isn't about the brutality or violence so much as a feeling of jeopardy. John McClane, Indiana Jones, and others manage to establish a feeling that they might fail better than recent outings of Batman or the Avengers. Oh, it's pretty much a given that they'll succeed at the end of the movie, and that's what the audience wants, but "heroes are at a low point and must rally to win" story beat often isn't as convincing or meaningful these days...

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is normally not even a game I'd give a second look. Big-franchise first-person shooters these days are built heavily around multiplayer and have a reputation for single-player campaigns that are short and/or lacking in other ways. BO3, however, came out just in a time frame where I looked a little more closely than usual - still not enough to buy in, but I ended up watching a campaign play-through. In the end, I'd say it was interesting enough for me to watch, but not so interesting that I feel I would have rather played it myself. It did, however, get me thinking about ambiguity and unreliable narration in stories. These are things that can add a thought-provoking slant on a story, but only if they're done well. The Sixth Sense qualifies in my mind as "unreliable narration" to good effect. Inception was more fun than mess to me, and definition ends on an ambiguous not that's option to audience interpretation. Both of these cause...

I've talked before about my difficulties in dealing with multiverses conceptually . I always keep coming back to "well, how does any of this actually matter when there are worlds out there in which things are already the way I want?" Why struggle to beat Sauron, Thanos, or Lord Evildude when you can go to a world in which it's already done? This is still a hangup for me in Gossamer and Shadows. I ended up making a character who's smart enough to look at the big picture, which might have been a mistake. While argues you should make a character who views their own world as "prime," I have trouble holding to that view as long as character can conceptualize that worlds might actually be equal. For better or worse, I also ended up with a character who has lost pretty much anyone she knew in her home world. That's liberating in a way, but it also leaves a lingering specter of not exactly wanting to go back, and facing the tempation to find an alternate...

I think it's something of an achievement in art and entertainment to evoke emotion. Some might argue that's the whole point. But when you get down to it, the bulk of quests in an MMO are fleeting and forgetable. If I really focus on it, sure, killing those ten rats in the basement may have been a huge relief for the tavernkeep, but I wasn't ever really drawn into his plight - to use cliche as example. Most of the big emotional events I recall from WoW were meta-game events, where I felt a sense of accomplishment come from playing well or overcoming challenges with a team. There aren't a lot of purely in-lore events that evoked a major response. But I can think of a few. - It may be an edge case, but seeing the changes Cataclysm wrought on territories instilled a great sense of loss within me. - Facing the inevitability of death in the Bridenbrad quest chain was mournfully sad. - I felt a certain kinship toward the alien Klaxxi after working with them, and I suspec...