Redwolf's Journal (continued)

Conan Exiles wasn't even on my radar as a possible game I'd pick up. I mean, sure, I appreciate the original movie, but I'm no huge fan of the property. And the idea of a multiplayer survival-ish game wasn't appealing. Then three things aligned. 1) I felt like I wanted to play a crafting/survival game. 2) I learned as it came out that it can be played single-player. 3) It released at a sub-AAA price point. So, I've been playing on-and-off as my Battletech playthrough wrapped up (at least for now), and... I'm reasonably happy with it. The survival elements are not oppressive, as you can get food and water without too much difficulty and the temperature extremes are pretty localized. There's a decent crafting ladder to climb, with multiple tiers of buildings and items. There are mechanics to capture NPCs and turn them into "thralls" to aid in crafting or serve as guards. The map is pretty large with some fair variety of desert, jungle, woodlands...

Having finished the campaign, my opinions haven't changed that much. The game overall is best if you're a fan, but good overall. The story is one of conflict among noble families, political interconnections, and cycles of revenge and rebellion. It is perfectly fitting the setting, though it does feel a little impersonal - both in how you're a mercenary aiding one side in the conflict and how the game is inherently limited in how it can present the story technically (via a few cut scenes and dialog along the way). Lostech features in a fairly satisfying way, though it's a piece of software that has a bit more impact on the story than the more advanced battlemechs. You get one SLDF mech partway through the campaign and another after the end (at which point, you can still run around doing non-story missions with the whole region map unlocked). They add an element of "special/cool stuff" without really upending anything. And if that gause rifle or those double...

I've noted before my history for Battletech and my fondness for the setting. It's easy to think of it as just giant robot battles. And... really, there is some truth in that. If you look at the setting and lore, though, it's sci-fi trappings around a story and setting that is a reflection of feudalism (in much the same way I see Star Wars as sci-fi trappings around what is, at its core, fantasy). That's what really gives the unique flavor. Certainly every match/battle is mostly about the giant robot combat, but in-universe, those robots represent the heavily armored mounted knights in the impact they have, the support they require, and their being fielded by wealthy nobles and resourceful mercenaries. So it makes sense that the story in the new Battletech game would involve strive among noble families and a battle to retake a nation. It just plays out over star systems rather than cities. I think it's fair to say this is the most faithful translation of the tablet...

So dense. I'm repeating myself, but that's what I keep coming back to. There are a lot of character, there is a lot going on, and there is very little wasted time. It's less stunning to me than the first Avengers movie was, but I'm still impressed that it works. I feel like the characters were well-represented. Certainly, some are bigger factors in the movie than others, but I didn't find myself feeling favorites of mine were being short-changed. In a movie of such magnitude, that's no mean feat. So, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I keep asking myself, however, if I consider it "good." I acknowledge a difference in those two metrics. One of my usual criteria for quality of a book/movie is how it stands on its own, even if it's part of a series. Here, I find myself utterly incapable of making a judgment in that regard. I can't wrap my head around picturing what this movie would look like to someone who knows nothing of the MCU. I think a lot of im...

Elex is one of those games that I noticed when it was released (probably because of Steam promotion or something), but it didn't generate enough interest for a buy. I glanced at some early reviews, and reports of technical issues turned me off. But it's had a good amount of time to be patched, and I was sort of in the mood for something along those lines, so I gave it a shot. The game is a not-top-tier RPG. It has some interesting ideas and worldbuilding, but it's sub-par in a lot of ways that pull it down. I didn't run into much in the way of bugs, per se. But the graphics and reused assets do nothing to impress. An effort has been made to add some depth to combat, but it went from ridiculously difficult in melee to arguably-too-easy using a ranged weapon with AOE/knockback (go go trusty plasma rifle). The setup involves humans on another world of not-too-distant-future technology when the world is hit by a comet. It's not quite an extinction-level event, but it...

So I "finished" another couple games recently... The Darkness II was offered up recently for free, so I picked it up. It's a stylish, mediocre shooter with an above-average story that's fairly compelling. It's relatively short, wrapping in maybe seven hours of play time. Gameplay ranged from okay to clunky in places, but I only hit one real issue (a clipping error that prevented progress until vsync was turned on, oddly). There are several good characters and the story, though almost completely linear, felt pretty good. Far Cry 5 , meanwhile, is a very solid shooter with a sprawling sandbox filled with neat mechanics and a lot of characters and side missions that are pretty cool. The main story, though... well... I would say the main story goes from edgy with a little potential to becoming downright laughable to having one of the most flatly disappointing endings I've seen in a game. It's a very minor spoiler to go into this in a general sense, but I...

It's a bit odd to run through such a range of thoughts and feelings toward a game in the space of a couple days... Friday, I got some time in running Warframe with Samantha and the guild she's in. This was a generally positive experience, though it did emphasize just how bad I am at small-talking during a game (as if that was in doubt). The question of why I hadn't joined the guild came up, which got me thinking some. I really did expect a little more push when that was first mentioned. There are a lot of in-game advantages to joining a bigger, more active, guild. The only thing I give up is some feeling of accomplishment/self-reliance. I had considered that previously, and I think the conclusion I reached was I would be willing to take the leap as long as I felt there was some acknowledgement/validation of the work I had done. But the discussion had been dropped, which was fine too. This time, there was a bit more pressure, and a new angle presented itself as I conside...