For those who have read this blog for awhile, you will know that I have this semi-monthly column in which I talk about the games I have been playing regularly and also use this as an excuse to update my blog’s sidebar. The fourth quarter of 2019 was not a good time for regular updates to this because I failed to do one in October and also completely failed to do one in December. With the new year I am hoping to get back on track and keep these, but I have to warn you… today is going to be a bloodbath. Many games are being dropped from the list because quite honestly some of my gaming patterns have changed drastically over the last few months.
To Those Remaining
Destiny 2 – PC
Destiny 2 represents one of only a few games that I am regularly playing that would classify as an endless game. I’ve had a shift away from Massively Multiplayer Online gaming towards more finite single player titles of late, and as such those evergreen games that I always spent time in have suffered greatly. I’ve come to realize that I had not really finished many games because I always wound up getting distracted by the online fare, and if I instead ignore them I find I actually do enjoy polishing games off. Destiny 2 however is near and dear to my heart and is the sort of thing that I can return to over and over again for short bursts. While I am sure that I am making Thalen sad for not playing much, I have missed out on a bunch of things and am mostly okay with that. I do want to finish the seasonal grind at some point but I have 40 some days to do that.
Diablo 3 – PC and Switch
Diablo 3 is another one of those games that is so much part of my core identity that I am not sure if there will truly ever be a period of time when I am not at least idly playing it. Since the time of last posting I completely finished the PC Seasonal Content as a Demon Hunter and made it up through Slayer on the Switch with a Whirlwind Barbarian. The Switch is excellent for grinding a bit from bed before falling asleep, but even of late I have been opting out of that for a few reasons that I will get into later. With the talk of Diablo 4 on the horizon and the conversion of Torchlight Frontiers to Torchlight III, I still find myself extremely connected to this now aging game. I’ve just not found an adequate replacement to truly scratch the same action rpg ich.
To The New and Returning
Here is where the sad bits come in… there really isn’t anything new to be adding to this list. I have played several games but none of them are the sort of things that I expect to be adding to the list in any sort of a permanent manner. Instead I think I am going to implement a new feature called “Ships Passing in the Night” where I talk about some of the games that I had short but intense interactions with, but feel the chapter is either closed or will be closed once I complete them.
Ships Passing in The Night
The Witcher 3 – PC
I have so much love for this game, and while I fully expect to go back and play it at some point I am effectively done with it for the moment. For years I found this game incomprehensible in the way it sorta just drops you in the middle of everything with limited explanation. It was only through watching the Netflix Witcher series that I was able to gain proper purchase and glean enough information to make me feel firmly planted in this games universe. Since then I have been on a tear of playing through everything I could stand from the Witcher games and even reading the novels. The first Witcher will likely always be an impassable wall for me, but I have accepted it. This third game however goes on the top games of all time list for me personally.
The Witcher 2 – PC
After playing through the first Witcher game I had so many unanswered questions, and as a result I opted to do things backwards and go back searching for the answers in Witcher 2. While it was a bit of a struggle to get used to the interface, I eventually mastered it and had a phenomenal time doing what was effectively a golden path play-through of the non-human side of the story. I even was engaged enough to restart and try playing through the human side, only to determine that I had absolutely made the correct choice the first time around and wander away like a bored toddler. This game is always going to have a soft spot in my heart, but it is a deeply flawed experience, but one worth experiencing. Unfortunately I realized too lately that the answers to all of my questions lie in the books and not the past video games.
Greedfall – PC
Another flawed but phenomenal gameplay experience is that of Greedfall. It is a game that is tackling some themes that I have never quite seen a game tackle, which are really spending time exploring the sins of the colonial era. While there are some weird things going on at times with the interface and with combat, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience playing this game and as a result it has caused me to be interested in a deep dive of the developers back catalog of games. If you love the Bioware style of games you might legitimately be interested in exploring the games from french developer Spiders.
The Technomancer – PC
This is the second game I have played by Spiders and I am enthralled. This is currently my gaming main squeeze, at least until I finish it and It is a thoroughly interesting experience. The game is set in a post colonial Mars where it is ruled by rival corporations and military powers that end up creating a pretty damned oppressive environment. That said the game threw me a massive curve ball yesterday and opened up considerably and I am so there for the long ride. Imagine a setting that blends Blade Runner, Dune, Total Recall and the Red Faction games with a dash of Fallout into a single setting. I actually am enjoying the combat in Technomancer way more than I did Greedfall, and I am curious what things are going to be like if I keep going backwards in the Spiders catalog.
TemTem – PC
It is possible that this game might make it to regularly playing status, but for now I am throwing it in this category because I am just not sure. It is a Not-Pokemon MMORPG and it is charming as hell and does a really good job of both mirroring the best parts of Pokemon and bringing new things to the genre. The only thing that I find lacking is there is no xp sharing system and you legitimately have to fight with your not-pokemon to level them instead of doing what I do and just dragging them along for the ride. I’ve only played a few hours on this latest build even though I was a backer and have played various builds along the way. Time will tell if this becomes something more serious for me or not.
To Those Departing
Dragalia Lost – Android
Sorry Dragalia… you had a really good run but there are two things that happened. Firstly the gameplay finally reached its point where it became repetitive to a fault. Secondly I have been trying to read more often and as such that time when I was spending playing Dragalia Lost got replaced with time in the Kindle app. I am not the type of player that ever opts to play a mobile game if I have access to other options, so once it lots its prime real estate for bedtime gaming it really dropped off my radar. I am happier to be reading each night than to be spending time in a repetitive grind that doesn’t really go anywhere.
The Outer Worlds – PC
Sorry Boo, it’s me not you. This is a game I expect to return to and finish up, but in truth it is one of those things that should have graced the new category and not really added as a regularly playing. I’m somewhere around halfway done with the game and I figure when I deplete my current run of bioware-like games I fully expect to dust this off and finish it up. I love the game lots, but just have not been playing it.
World of Warcraft Classic – PC
It just isn’t doing it for me anymore. I can’t fully explain it, but after the absence when I was frustrated with Blizzard over the Hong Kong thing… I found it impossible to get reconnected and actively start playing again. Someone let the magical blue smoke escape and it just doesn’t do much of anything for me right now. I am for whatever reason in the wrong mind state to be enjoying it and as such it leaves list.
World of Warcraft Retail – PC
While I know without a doubt that I will be back and playing Shadowlands… for the moment I have zero interest in anything going on in this game. It is sad because I dearly love my Facepull family, but for now at least I am loving them from a distance. There is just something about World of Warcraft at the moment that I find a massive turn off, because I have tried to log in a few times but jettison in a perpendicular trajectory really quickly. Battle for Azeroth really did ruin the game for me, and I guess I hope it is not a permanent condition because I still have fond memories of how much I enjoyed Legion.
Summary
So there we have it, like I said it is a bit of a bloodbath because I have whittled down the regularly playing list to two titles. I am pretty sure this is the smallest it has ever been since the implementation of it. For now I am very much on a kick of not playing MMORPGs, but time will tell how long that will actually last.
This week has been full of craziness and as a result I don’t have an awful lot of gaming news to talk about. We are in full prep mode for my wife going out of the country, and I am trying my best not to think about it. Last night for example I didn’t properly get set down in front of a screen until almost 9 pm… which generally speaking on a normal night I am trying to wind down about that time. As a result you are going to get a Josie picture and some talk about how that is going. Unfortunately you are only getting a single picture because I am nowhere near the prolific cat photographer that my wife is, namely because when I get home I rarely have my phone handy.
One of the struggles of late is trying to figure out how best to deal with the fact that Josie needs a steady source of water. Kenzie and Mollie prefer to drink out of a cup and Josie has not exactly mastered the art of doing this and just ends up knocking it over and making a mess. When we have had the traditional water dish, the older girls end up playing in it and also knocking it over and making a mess. Some years back we purchased a little water fountain but it never took off because the water more bubbled up than streamed. As a result I spent some time on the interwebs looking for a better option and finally landed on something else.
The above picture doesn’t exactly show off the final device that well, but it is the product shot from the amazon page. The diameter is almost 14 inches wide and when filled with water the entire thing is extremely heavy… enough to keep it from getting slid around on the kitchen tile floor. One of the favorite things for our cats is to get up in the sink during the winter time when we are dripping the faucets and to drink straight from the tap. This in theory mimics this and I have already seen them using it more than the previous option. Josie has figured this out as well and is now using it, so in theory I think we have a winner. It is dishwasher safe and everything unlocks easily so in theory it should be pretty easy to clean as well unlike the previous option.
As far as Josie and her adjusting, she is still very much in kitten “everything is new and exciting mode”. She loves stealing silverware and pens and playing with those so we now have to be way more cautious about such things. She continues to be mostly oblivious to the other cats borderline hostile reactions, and the frequency of those is reducing. Kenzie more or less gives a half-hearted growl when she sees her like she is somehow obligated to keep up the ruse that she doesn’t like Josie. They sniff each other often so I think at some point that rampart is going to fall and for the most part Kenzie is back to her normal behavior.
Mollie on the other hand is a bit of a hold out in this department. They also sniff each other and the other morning Josie came bounding into the kitchen and headbutted Mollie. Mollie was sorta stunned and just sat there for a moment and long after Josie had walked away gave a delayed growl. It is working far better than we would have hoped for, and now we mostly have another snugly baby. The photo is of her snuggling with me on the sofa… in the spot Kenzie normally occupies. Shortly after snapping the photo Kenzie came over and laid on arm of my chair beside me. Were it Mollie who had trespassed on Kenzie’s territory… she would have growled and pushed her out of the way because I have seen her do it numerous times. The kitten however seems to keep getting deference from both of them, which ultimately tells me they are adapting fine.
Over the last few nights I have been playing a game called The Technomancer. This was the game released a few years before Greedfall by the same developer, and in part I wanted to experience more by them. I am beginning to see a pattern with Spiders the studio behind these titles. The first is that there are numerous technical issues with the games, namely with the way that the interfaces work as compared to the global norms for an action adventure game. However there is something else there that keeps me compelling in that I think they are games that are striving to be more than they were technically able to deliver. There is an inspired nature in them that keeps me playing through the frustrations because they really are striving for greatness while falling short of it.
Based on all of the data I have found available to me, Spiders is a company of around 20 employees working out of Paris France. All of their games use something called the Silk engine which was built in house and designed from the ground up for the sort of games that they want to create, which for lack of a better term seems to be a “Mass Effect Like” game and I am not even sure what better name I could give the genre I am trying to describe. There is something they are doing that very much feels like they are following the trail that Bioware originally blazed and there is a heart present in the games that is missing from a lot of modern fare that I have played. The only challenge is that somewhere in the design process they made different decisions that have lead to a slightly different interface. The closest example I can give is the Elder Scrolls Series versus the Gothic series… both are games beloved by their fan base and both provide vastly different experiences.
So far I think the thing that Spiders does better than most companies is set the atmosphere of the games. Technomancer which I believe is a direct sequel to Mars: War Logs a game from 2013… is set in a Mars controlled by oppressive corporations and military powers. The setting is straight out of 1984 and represents a society that is deeply stratified between the “haves and have nots”, with your character somehow walking the balance between the powers. The environments are render in such rich detail that it is easy to overlook a lot of sometimes awkward dialog when the setting itself is adding so much to the story. The same was true for Greedfall, with extremely interesting colonial backdrops and hidden native grottoes.
What I see in spiders as evidenced by these two games is a company that is striving for something big and exciting and each time getting a little closer to the goal. 2019 released Greedfall was almost there minus a few frustrations, and the 2016 released Technomancer is a little big more janky than that but I can see a progression of ideas happening. I have a feeling that if I make good on my thought process and move back to Bound by Flame released in 2014 there will be a similar dissolution happening of big ideas lacking the fidelity to really carry them forward. I’ve read and listened to a few reviews of these games and they seem to either fall into two categories. The first simply dismiss them as buggy junk never quite seeing what makes them unique. The second category can look past the frustrating foibles and see the attempts at genius lying just under the surface, and I guess I am falling along that second line of thinking.
After seeing how much improvement was made between these two games however, it does give me a lot of hope for whatever the next project Spiders undertakes ends up being. It feels like they are on the cusp of a truly breakout hit, and that is not to discount their back catalog of titles as I am finding a lot of enjoyment so far in playing Technomancer. I played through the various Larian Studios games which prior to Divinity Original Sin suffered from the same greatness hindered by some confusing design choices. It is funny that apparently this is a thing that I do… in that I latch onto a studio and try and play everything they have released. Admittedly the catalog was shorter, but I just tried to do this with CD Project Red.
I think I might be craving complicated experiences. So many AAA titles these days don’t take much in the way of risk and as a result do nothing to really push the envelope. While I enjoyed Mass Effect Andromeda for example, there was nothing daring about anything that they did and it was effectively the by the numbers version of every other Mass Effect game that had released. It became mired in the technical difficulties because the story and character interactions were not strong enough to really get the public to look past them. Games like Greedfall and Technomancer are far from perfect, but they are striving to create something that is unique and interesting and for that I can ignore a lot of jank. It does however make me wonder how many deeply interesting but flawed experiences have been out there waiting in the back catalog of Steam that never quite break through to the surface.
This weekend I finished up my run of Greedfall and I thought I would talk a bit about the game as a whole this morning, and maybe revisit some of the high points I have talked about over the last several posts. Greedfall at its base level is a spiritual successor to the Dragon Age and Mass Effect era of Action RPGs. I call them Action RPGs since I never really used the freezing time functionality to play them in a more tactical manner. Similarly you could also make some deep comparrisons between Greedfall and Witcher 2 and Witcher 3… because the game itself lands somewhere between the two of them structure wise. You have a stable of characters that you meet through your early adventures that represent the key factions of the game.
The Congregation of Merchants – The faction that your character represents and is the faction of commerce and the merchants
The Coin Guard – The Mercenary Guard that serves as the hired army of all of the other factions
The Bridge Alliance – The faction of unbridled scientific discovery and with it a certain amount of “mad science”
Theleme – The factions of religious pilgrims and with them a sizable dose of zealotry and “witch hunting”
The Nauts -The faction that controls all sea transport and seals trade pacts with some questionable behavior in order to maintain their hold on shipping
Yecht Fradi – The members of the vastly different clans that make up the native population that each have different opinions of your incursions into this new world
The world is presented in a series of “zones” that are reached through accessing the map at one of the various travel kiosks be it in a village, at the edges of a play area or through one of the many camps that you can set up throughout the world. While in each play area you have relatively free roam with certain areas walled off as not being passable in a style that is similar to a lot of Final Fantasy games. There are other areas that are gated based on your skill progression, some walls for example may require you to have a certain vigor to be able to climb or require a certain level of science to be able to blow a hole in something. From what I can tell all of the maps are traverse-able regardless of your talent build, but often times have valuable shortcuts presented to you or have scenarios where if you know crafting you can just fashion the needed part rather than having to go on an adventure to find one.
As stated above, through your adventures you unlock characters that represent each of the factions. I personally have a thing that I end up doing in games where I am presented multiple characters and it involves me imprinting on a specific party. This is a game that is going to punish you for this decision if that is in fact your style of play as well because certain options in the game will not be available if you did not gain faction with specific companions. I personally preferred to play with Vasco and Siora almost the entire time, and as a result the rest of the characters lacked progression at key moments and likely caused events to play out differently for me had I chosen to befriend all of them. Side note, your actions can absolutely cause you to lose action to specific companions. They all start suspicious of you and through your actions you gain faction with each until you reach a level of Friendly… or Loving if it is the companion you chose to romance. Here is a rundown of each character and when you encounter them.
Kurt – Captain of the Coin Guard – With you from the first moments of the game on the tutorial island before you head to Teer Fradee
Konstantin – Your Cousin and Governed of Teer Fradee – With you very briefly during the tutorial island and leaves you when you get to Teer Fradee
Vasco – Becomes “grounded” when he reaches port by the Nauts and decides to help you on your quest in the meantime
Siora – Native Doneigad – Encounter her when you first go to the Governors Mansion in New Serene
Petrus – Theleme Bishop – You meet him during the first main story quest that involves visiting the other faction cities and joins your party once you accept the quest to help San Matheus.
Aphra – Bridge Alliance Scholar – You encounter during the “Scholars in the Expedition” quest which is the first quest given to you after visiting Hikmet the Bridge Alliance city.
Combat is presented in the familiar “real time with pause” style, but to be honest I have not really found much of a need to pause combat. Your character has dodges and such to help you avoid incoming damage and the game follows a similar Armor system to that of Dragon Age Inquisition where you need to deplete the armor of a target before you can start dealing serious damage to the main body. Effectively it becomes a second health bar or an over shield, and when facing a boss encounter like a Naidag it just serves to slow down the encounter when most combat is resolved rather quickly. You have a handful of weapons at your disposal but effectively they fall into fixed categories.
One Handed Weapons – Light and Fast Attacks
Two Handed Weapons – Slow but Hard Hitting Attacks
Ring Weapons – Serve as Ranged Magic Casting
Short Range Firearm – Hard hitting at close range quick firing pistol style weapons
Long Range Firearm – Hard hitting at long range slow firing rifle weapons
Among these weapons there are sub-types that either deal more damage to the body of a creature and others that specialize in breaking armor like a hammer or a two handed mace. You as the player are given two melee weapon slots and a ranged weapon slot that you can swap between in mid combat with relative ease. You are also given a hot bar that allows you to quickly slot specific weapon attacks which is more or less how you interact with the firearm abilities. Other than a health potion and my firearm attack I didn’t end up using the hotbar for much.
With any modern game that has companions also comes various romance options. In many ways this game is a lower fidelity version of a modern Bioware title, and this shows significantly in the romance process. It is keyed off of taking specific dialog options in specific conversations that are not exactly clear. I more or less lucked my way into a romance with Siora the native Doneigad. I also similarly came real close to romancing Vasco the Naut, because it seemed like I was taking the buddy options and apparently leading my way into something more serious. Each romance option has fixed parameters of male or female characters, but there are mods that remove these if you so choose and also other mods that open up polyamory if that is your desire. Here is a rundown of the various characters and who they are open to by default.
Kurt – Female Player Characters
Vasco – Any Player Character
Siora – Any Player Character
Aphra – Male Player Characters
At the highest level this game tackles some topics that you don’t usually see tackled in video games, like the issues surrounding the colonial area of the old world. It does so in a sensitive manner but also in one that doesn’t exactly feel preachy. You choose your own path in Greedfall and can align to whatever ideals you wish, or choose to carve your own path of neutrality which will at times punish you in some way for doing that. Greedfall is also a game with significant problems in the user interface and the feel of some of the gameplay. However the longer I played the game the less that mattered because I got drawn into the setting and the characters. While I started off thinking of this as a lower fidelity Bioware game… in the end the experience was something entirely new and of its own.
If you have enjoyed any of the games that I draw parallels from in this article, then I suggest giving this game a chance. It might take a bit for you to get fully engaged like it did me. I originally played this last year and bounced off the game without leaving the tutorial island. Only recently on my recent binge of single player experiences did I manage to make a significant dent and gain proper traction. I was rewarded for that investment with a game that kept getting more and more detailed and intricate as I moved closer to the final act. The game also managed to give me a few sucker punches that I was not expecting along the way and because of that I have the utmost respect for this developer and anxiously await whatever project they tackle next. Last night I actually started Technomancer which was the game released a few years prior to Greedfall and while still it has some issues, I am just as engaged as I was during the majority of my play-through of this game.
If I were one to give games a rating… I would probably wind up giving this a solid 9 out of 10. Not a perfect game but the flaws are made up for by the excellent story, character development and the engaging world.
