Redwolf's Journal (continued)

 Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon was in early access for a while and full-released just recently. Many people have called it some sort of new inheritor of the Bethesda-style open world crown or something. I'm less than convinced of that, though it's pretty good. It's got the first-person (with third available) gameplay in a large sandbox down well. I found combat and movement felt better to me than Avowed. Like Avowed, the map is made up of large zones (3 in this case) rather than fully open like the most known Bethesda games. Interiors/dungeons are still loaded separately. Spells being largely treated as weapons is fine, though feels a bit less magical. There's weapon/armor/potion/food crafting. There's weapon/armor upgrading (though not spells apparently). There's fishing. There's even in-game sketching. A lot of those systems aren't required or used as much as they could be. In fact, my biggest complaint about the game is that everything feels like it t...

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 looking for something new to play around the holidays and one thing on my radar was Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I was not quite interested enough to fork over $70, though. This brought me back to a short visit with Game Pass. $1 for a couple weeks? Sure, that I'm more than willing to do. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle proved to be a pretty good game. There's more focus on stealth through sections than punching fascist/Nazis, but there's some of both. I quite liked the open Giza segment with the lived-in feel and side activities, but it was immediately followed by a couple more linear levels that kind of deflated the game a bit. The final open area didn't quite feel like it properly opened back out. I feel like that might be because it's a map of taking a boat between smaller areas. The ending feels appropriately Indiana Jones, though it does leave one wondering "did all this effort really accomplish anything?" So the latter half of the...

 My thoughts about Once Human run a gamut of reactions. At the moment-to-moment gameplay level, I think it's pretty great. The movement and shooting  feel good, enemies have some variety to them, and the areas are generally interesting. Zooming out a little bit, the survival mechanics add some depth without feeling burdensome (though the temperature management added in the Way of Winter scenario may tip over that line a bit) as do the building mechanics. And yet, I also hit these plateaus where there doesn't feel like anything compelling to do. There is a series of story missions, though with some level gaps. The crafting progression is gated by the scenario phase, so I've played fairly heavily over a weekend and ended up having to wait several days for the next phase to be able to craft the next levels of workbenches and gear. Also, the way everything is wiped at the end of a scenario (which runs several weeks) means not getting attached to much other than gear blueprint ...

 I feel like Mechwarrior 5: Clans is the result of someone asking "okay, now what if we made a game for Battletech lore fans?" It eschews the freedom of the previous MW5: Mercenaries in favor of a narrative game that is laser focused on some big, pivotal elements of the setting lore around the early Clan Invasion. I know enough that it's difficult for me to judge, but I feel like anyone not familiar with at least the basics of the Clans could easily be lost. Under the hood, the game looks better to me than Mercs - I believe there was an engine upgrade involved. As all the missions are crafted rather than generated, the maps and mission flow are easily as good or better than the best missions in Mercs. A lot of breadth is lost along the way, though. There aren't any random missions you can run. The mech roster available to the player is pretty limited by comparison (to the 16 front line mechs used by the faction at the time). The mech customization feels a little sti...

So yeah, overall I enjoyed the game. I think it's good, though there wasn't anything that totally blew me away or resonated with me so much that it would feel a travesty for it not to win "Game of the Year" awards (as has been the case the last couple years with BG3 and ER). If this is comparable to Persona games, I might keep an eye on them going forward, but don't feel the need to consume the back catalog. The gameplay itself is fine - competently done, but a little heavy on menus. I still dislike the time slot management aspect because of how it taps parts of my psyche that feel a need to optimize everything, but I found there was ultimately more than enough time to do all the bond quests, raising traits, monster hunts, side missions, and arena fights. The story and characters were really the strength for me, engaging me for the lengthy run time. I liked almost all the friendly NPCs and most of the hostile ones were understandable. Several of the plot twists al...

 I've never played a Persona game, but Metaphor Refantazio was pointed out, there's plenty of positive buzz, and it seems a good jumping on point for the "style" of games while being independent as far as setting and story. Time-wise, it means I'll probably be playing when Mechwarrior 5 Clans comes out, but that'll wait. The game part of the game is growing increasingly complex.  Characters can learn different archetypes (classes/jobs) that enable special MP-consuming abilities that are powerful in combat. Within a dungeon, MP becomes the limiting resource for the most part, with some small ways to regain. That coupled with elemental resistances and weaknesses is within bounds of "normal" I think. The time management portion outside combat is new to me (if trademark to Persona games). You have a finite number of days to mess around with before the next dungeon/etc. must be completed. You can use that time to increase certain stats or character bon...

 Shadow of the Erdtree is more Elden Ring - one of the best games of recent years. Oh. More? Okay, I was initially disappointed by the map size. That turned out to be because you initially only see about a quarter of the overall map. So, size-wise, it's respectable. And there is a layered element to it. There are a few tombs and some more complex areas. Overall, I think there's a good amount of terrain, though there are a few areas that are underused and relatively empty: - The abyssal wood is atmospheric, but really too expansive for what's there with no riding. - The "finger" areas are fairly large for being important in one quest line with very little more than being littered with annoying enemies. - The shaman village feels like there should be something, anything, there. The exploration was still fun, though, and I liked finding ways to get places I could see. There is still at least one truly evil tomb designer out there, though, with that teleporter-filled,...

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...

 Yeah, I find I'm using this less and less. I'd already pared down use to mostly commenting on entertainments and there's really only one or two people readily interested in such things anyway. But, I suppose I'm still subject to wanting to write down thoughts once in a while. The most recent thing on my mind is A Plague Tale: Requiem . I knew from the first game it wasn't going to be a happy experience. I didn't expect it to be quite so easy for me to define in one word, though. The game is bleak . The game follows Amicia and Hugo again (along with some new characters and a couple old ones) in seeking to find a cure for Hugo's condition connected to the supernatural plague rats. Things start off okay, then soon take a turn - and that sets the tone. A few times, the characters reach a new place that seems nice and peaceful and you just know it's going to soon devolve into a rat-infested nightmare. Only the most naive of players would have any illusion o...

 I've had Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy sitting in my bought-but-not-played list for a while, so I finally got around to that. The gameplay is pretty much just okay. Exploration/traversal is a step above simply pressing forward, but there's not much in the way of real exploration. Combat involves a lot of running around and shooting with the rest of the team helping a bit, but mostly giving activatable abilities on cooldown. There just isn't really anything to elevate the gameplay, which is a bit sad. The story/characters are all great, though. This is not quite the MCU team, which may be a hurdle to overcome, but the charm and interplay is there. These GotG are a group, though still fairly new and still coming to trust one another as a family of sorts. The story builds up to a galactic threat from a very small incident with an unrecognized Soul Stone and the Guardians absolutely fail their way through much of it, but manage to be heroes in the end. The experience o...

Hard West 2 is a pretty good game and unusually accurately named. Like one or more other recently, it's a Western-with-supernatural game. It uses an action point turn-based tactical combat system with an overworld map scattered with some narrative events. The setting isn't remarkably unique, but the game works well. And it struggles with itself some, too. The companions you pick up all have a loyalty meter - not that they leave you, but unlocking tiers on the meter usually unlocks a certain minor bonus, a small bit of backstory dialog for them, and some map events are locked behind (or made easier/cheaper by) a companion's certain level of loyalty. Loyalty is often gained by map event choices as well - typically, you can favor one of two companions, increasing the chosen one's loyalty by one point. So, over the course of the game, you cannot cap loyalty on every companion, for better or worse. And in combat, you only bring four of your six total companions into a missio...

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters has too long a name. It's also a pretty good tactical squad combat game. It seems to capture the W40k atmosphere pretty well. That's something I appreciate in spite of issues with Games Workshop and knowing the game setting is ridiculously over the top with no real good (though some real evil). You control a battle-worn Grey Knight team returning from a campaign that gets coopted by an Inquisitor to fight an emerging plant-plague spreading through a sector.  Your space marines are pretty tough and capable, though not immediately quite as bad ass as you might expect. They level up from 1 to 9, gaining more abilities and such that make them more effective and tougher as you go. Similarly, your ship is in rough shape to start, requiring a resource (and time) to repair before you can even start making improvements. So while W40k Space Marines are generally better than their opposition, the game puts you in a challenging position right o...

  Weird West was a fairly good little game. The setting is pretty... well... weird West? "Cowboys and Indians" with magic and supernatural stuff added in. In-the-moment gameplay is decent, with areas to explore that can be rewarding and combat that tends to be reasonably simple and quick. I've seen it called an "immersive sim" a lot. I guess that's reasonably accurate, in that you have some opportunity to approach things in a few different ways and there are some choices that have impacts, but none of them felt very major or distinct to me. As you move from one chapter to the next, certain choices may change things (pigmen living among humans or being wiped out, for example) and yet that did not feel to me like it made a difference. Maybe that's because I only played through once, but still. I would also say the amount of time spent on the map traveling between areas did not do the pacing of the game any favors. The five-chapter format, where you posses...

 I did have some concern that an open world might undercut the distinctive flavor of a From Software "Soulsborne" game. In my opinion, it only managed to elevate the formula. And so, Elden Ring is a pretty great game. Though, as with any Soulsborne game, it's not for everyone. The game mechanics are tightly tuned. Combat feels good and responsive. The game also adds a dedicated jump button, which is welcome, especially when navigating environments. There's also a mount with a double-jump. The stats and weapons maintain that From Software magic where one or two increases can feel like a big boost. Enemies are varied and can go from threatening to routine as you become accustomed to their patterns and increase your capabilities. This is one of the hallmarks of From Software's games, and it's here in full force. One of the other pillars in my mind is the level design. Previous Soulsborne games are known for winding and weaving areas that interlock and curl back ...

Horizon: Forbidden West finished out its story solidly. I haven't done everything in the game (such as arena fights and collectable hunts), but with a vast majority of side missions done and the main story complete, that's good for now. The ending wraps up a few things and still leaves more to do and a lingering threat. I'm still struck most by the emotiveness and development of characters. There's a scene at the end where one character is absolutely prepared to leave and do his own thing, but watching the others there is a subtle (but apparent) dip of his shoulders telegraphing his decision to stay and help that is only stated a few moments later. There's personal bias, sure, but Forbidden West was awesome. And so I started in on Elden Ring over the weekend. About the only thing shared between the two games is the "open world" tag. In fact, some contrasting controller commands have been tripping me up on occasion. Crouching instead of running, for inst...

 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...

 As we near what was supposed to be the go-live date for a major system change (but won't be due to issues), work continues to consume most of my brainpower as it has for the last few months. Ugh. Still want a vacation, but it doesn't seem practical in the foreseeable future. I have managed to consume entertainment in off-hours, though. I got caught up with watching Loki (though still haven't gone back to watch Falcon/Soldier). I liked it quite a lot. There were some moments that made me laugh aloud, there's some serious drama, and it feels Loki himself actually goes through some personal change. Admittedly, it's hard to tell for sure with him. I totally respect the ending for not being a throw-down with a cosmic villain preventing a hole in the sky. My only real gripe is that events of the series seem positioned to be a linchpin for the next wave of movies. I don't really like that, but that's sort of the burden of a "cinematic universe" and Marv...

  Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is... a Mechwarrior game, and I hadn't played one of those in a long time. It gets most things right, but it doesn't strike me as highly revolutionary or a great improvement over older entries to the series beyond natural graphic updates. The strategic layer covers handling of finances for a mercenary lance - pay and salvage versus repair, travel, salaries, and upgrades. Travel time is, I guess, "realistic" within the setting, though I find it a bit disturbing to watch months roll by for a major refit or travel more than a couple systems away on the map. And my quest for revenge (the main story) took something like twenty years. Mech modification and design is restricted by the newer (in relative terms) hard point limits beyond just tonnage and space, which can make acquiring certain variants of mech models important. The tactical play of the missions is fairly routine, though gets mixed up enough that I didn't really feel bored by it...

Thanks to deep discounts for a few days and a lack of other entertainments on my plate, I picked up Endless Legend a couple weeks back. It's a reasonably-solid fantasy 4X strategy game. It definitely manages the (cliche, but true) one-more-turn feel to things. On the up side, I like the variety of races. Some of them feel pretty standard, but some really shake up fundamental gameplay elements like eschewing the food resource for buying population and unit healing or only being able to settle one city or "infesting" locations beyond normal borders. I also like the quest system. Most of the actual quests boil down to completing a certain research or going to a location with a specific unit(s) in your army, but they help add some flavor and each race has a different (if slightly in some cases) quest chain that eventually leads to a possible victory condition. On the down side, the quests sometimes seem prone to breakage. I think I messed one up by killing a roaming army on ...