Tales of the Aggronaut – Page 628

The Switch and Zelda

April 3, 2017 by Belghast

I have officially now joined the cult of the switch. For a brief period of time… probably fifteen minutes if we are going to be honest about it… Amazon had switch units in stock for prime members only. Now that sounds like an exclusive club or something… but quite literally everyone I know that shops Amazon regularly…. is a prime member. I had said for awhile that if I ever stumbled across one I would pick it up immediately, and I guess in my mind limited availability over Amazon was the same thing. What is even more shocking however is that I ordered it at 2pm on a Thursday and by some quirk or time travel it was waiting for me when I got home Friday afternoon. As a result I got to spend a good chunk of the weekend playing with it and fiddling with the various console modes. So far the honestly most comfortable mode for me to play is with the joycons detached and the little bumper things that it comes with attached. This allows me to just chill with each arm resting on whatever is comfortable be it leg, lap or the arm of a chair. All in all I am really damned happy with the unit, and it feels extremely good especially in “handheld” mode. I spent some time Saturday afternoon hanging out in the back yard playing Zelda Breath of the Wild and it was glorious. The switch is essentially everything that I assumed the Wii U would be for me… and probably was if not the for the fact that the gamepad has such an insanely short range from the base unit.

The thing I want to talk about this morning however is Zelda itself. There was a side conversation that happened over the weekend, of all places on facebook about switch ownership and the limited number of games. One friend mentioned that if there was ever a game worth spending $400 to play that it was Breath of the Wild. Then another friend chimed in that folks have said this a lot, but that no one has really been able to put into words why this game is special given the extremely stiff competition.

I keep hearing comments like this but still don’t understand what is so special about it. No one seems able to capture that in words. My skeptical self thinks it has a lot to do with Nintendo nostalgia, but that is just based on a lack of understanding of what is so compelling about it.

So as a result I think I am going to attempt this morning to put it into words why I feel this game is so special. For me at least it is not really a nostalgia thing given that in truth I have never been that big of a fan of the 3D Zelda games. I’ve beaten Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Windwaker and while they were okay… they were not even close to dethroning A Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda series game. I never really could put my finger on it, but something always felt off about them. For me a huge factor of what made Zelda fun was that I had this huge world to explore, and barring that I had the right items at the right time… it felt like I could pretty much go anywhere. Granted in the 2D era this meant a bunch of tiles stacked side by side… which in truth was pretty limited… but in my mind it absolutely Felt open. When it comes to the 3D Zeldas… they have always felt like I was much more limited on my range of motion and where I could actually go based on how far I had progressed in the game.

With Breath of the Wild, the sense of exploration I felt in the original games is there in full. While I am similarly limited by my stamina meter, or weather effects like cold or rain… the game feels completely open to me to go wherever I think I can survive. There is a certain thrill of discovery when you find a new shrine and figure out the puzzle that exists within. That was the part I liked of the 3D Zelda “temples” is the fact that each one of them had some gimmick that had to be learned in order to progress through them… and in Breath of the Wild this same idea is contained with 120 of them. That is so much more of that element that I really enjoyed in past games, and is only improved by the fact that no one in games is going to explain to you where all of them are. Sure there are easy ones to find, that are right off the path or that serve as the teleport for a given town. However most of them involve getting out and roaming around, to try and find where they have been hidden into the landscape.

Similarly there is the Korok Seed mini game, and from what I understand there are 900 of them scattered throughout the world. Most of them involve noticing something going on in the landscape and then interacting with the elements in a certain way to reveal the Korok that is hiding. For example one of the very early ones involves diving off of a cliff into a ring of lily pads that are sitting in the water below. It is the sort of thing that as you walk by you notice… “that looks odd” and then when you start to investigate you try different things until you ultimately reveal another Korok. There is a challenge with Open World games to both allow open space to exist… but make that open space be meaningful and that is one of the things that Breath of the Wild really succeeds at. Not to mention that the Korok mini game is charming as hell as you keep bringing more seeds to Hestu for his Maracas. There are honestly an awful lot of elements of this game that just come across as charming. Once you leave the “starter zone” for lack of a better term you find out that the world is not really as “post apoc” as it seems at the start. Folks have learned how to survive and often times thrive in a world where destruction is looming over it, and each of the people scattered has a story to tell and hints to be given about other things happening in the world.

It is extremely hard to put into words what it is about this game that is so damned appealing. Even as I sit down with the purpose to do just that, I am finding myself lacking the necessary vocabulary to really make it make sense. I have plenty of problems with the game, namely the way the weapon durability system worlds. However that said I like it enough to have just purchased a second copy and completely restarted the game after getting a decent ways into it on the Wii U. There really are not a lot of games that you could say the same for, with the big two that are standing out in my head that I own multiple copies of being Destiny and Castlevania Symphony of the Night. There is an awful lot going on in the game… but I have this constant feeling that I have only barely scratched the surface of its complexity. I think that more than anything is what keeps drawing me to it. Its like this grand puzzle that, as I solve one little bit of it… keeps exposing new areas for me to explore and then ultimately solve as well. Its not just that I need to go to a new land and vanquish a new evil… but as I wander across that land I am constantly finding myself needing to learn a brand new mechanical vocabulary to survive its trials. In some ways the puzzles in this game remind me of the way the ones from Thomas Was Alone felt… where each time it increments on the information you already have but keeps pushing the boundary to incorporate new elements and challenges.

Unfortunately I am not entirely certain I have even begun to scratch the surface of the job I set out to do. Which of course was the put into words what made this game worth spending so much time and effort on playing. There are so many great games out there right now like Horizon Zero Dawn and Mass Effect Andromeda… both of which I am playing quite a bit of. However I still find myself drawn to keep venturing into Hyrule on a regular basis and keep figuring out how the world ticks. I can’t really say if this game is better than that game… because so far I have been enjoying all of them. I also feel like my attention isn’t a zero sum game, and that all of these games are worthy of it. I will say that Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is doing something different. It feels different from the previous 3D Zelda offerings, but at the same time very different from the traditional Open World model. Some of these differences are frustrating, but at the same time the quirks are also what makes the game itself feel extremely fresh. I will say having played it on both the Switch and Wii U now… that there is just something about the Switch that makes it all feel better. Its like playing a game on the platform it was designed for…. and playing it when it got ported to another system. Some of the things that felt awkward on the Wii U just seem to work beautifully on the Switch. So if you have not already ventured forth into Hyrule… I would probably suggest just waiting until you ultimately get your hands on a Switch. Is this game worth buying a console for? I obviously thought so, but in part I also bought the console knowing that there are always a high number of Nintendo games that I want to play on every platform they create. I’ve thought my purchase of the Wii U was well worth it, in spite of the fact that it never quite worked the way I wanted it to. All of that said… I don’t think the Switch is worth the markups or crazy “bundle” deals that places are trying to direct users towards. Just wait for the base unit to come back in stock, and I am hoping with the release of Mario Kart in a few weeks that there are going to be a whole lot more units available.

Archon of the Tiers

March 31, 2017 by Belghast

This morning I am flailing quite a bit when it comes down actually sitting here and composing a blog post. Its been one thing or the other… like a cat that decided she had to be held before she would relinquish the keyboard to me to actually type. Or the fact that I spilled coffee on my shirt and needed to go change it. Now that I actually sit down at the keyboard I am not entirely certain what I have to talk about. Last night was a night devoted to Tyranny because Saturday we are recording our March AggroChat Game Club game show and I wanted to be able to participate in the conversation fully. I like the idea of the Game Club, but I am a poor member. I am highly susceptible to whims, and tend to get focused in on a game… or number of games at a time. I am also super bad at forcing myself to finish some thing when I am really not that into it. This is evidenced by the fact that my night stand is filled with partially finished books discarded when the mood left me. There was a time when I was actually rather good at finishing games… in fact I spent one entire summer competing with a friend of mine trying to see how many Nintendo games we could finish. The difference there however was that I had very limited options…. and now thanks to the commodity that games have become… I have all of the options in the world to distract me from actually focusing on a game once the going gets less than enjoyable. As a result I tend to bounce back and forth between the games that excite me the most and when any one of those games slows down… I tend to stall and eventually stop playing it.

Playing games for the game club often times feels like homework, and I either avoid it entirely… or put it off until the point where I cannot reasonably finish the game before the show. There is a big reasons why I don’t really do reviews, because I never really have that drive to finish games. In fact I have the opposite drive. When I get sucked into a story and a world, there is a part of me that never wants the journey to end. So I have found myself constantly reaching points in games where I am a few hours from the end… and then I simply never make that finish push. It is like so long as I do not cross that hill then the adventure never has to end. All of that said… I didn’t want this to be the case with Tyranny because I had a really amazing first weekend playing the game… but stalled out at some point during the middle section. However over the last few weeks I have tried to put in a few hours, every few nights hoping to pull through on the other side and get to a place in the game where the pace quickened once more. Last night I seemed to hit that stride and found myself completely unable to stop playing as I circled the ending and finally finished around 11:30 last night. I was not going to sleep without completing this… or at least what I hoped and apparently guessed right was going to be the ending. All of this said… I absolutely crave a continuation. I want dlc or a sequel that lets me continue on from the point I reached in the main games arc.

I don’t really want to go into a lot of details because I am largely saving them up for the podcast, but I have to say… this was a really great game. More shockingly it goes on the pile of games that I want to play through a second or third time because along the journey you have to make so many choices. There are things that I did that I might have done differently. The game is absolutely brutal in forcing you down a path based on your actions, and not letting you wriggle out from under those actions without consequences. In many ways it reminds me of the way Undertale did this, with the exception that at least here you can reload a save file and try again. However usually by the time you reach one of these branching points… it is too late because a series of tiny decisions will ultimately make or break your choices when it comes to a larger one. The game flips so many conventions on its head, as you play through as the functional “bad guy” in the story… but one that is entirely capable of making fair and just choices in spite of this fact. In many ways there are chunks of my play through that remind me of what it was like trying to play a Light Side Sith in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I did not succeed entirely but in the grand scheme I thought I was doing a good job of walking the line… until I reached the end and was forced to account for all of my past decisions. This game remembers… and winds up rubbing your nose in them… forcing you to confront the ramifications of each minor choice. All told start to finish I spent 14 hours… and could have probably easily spent another 10 hours were I not rushing towards a fixed goal. I highly suggest checking out this game if you are into classic Baldur’s Gate era PC RPGs.

Hair Elemental Gone

March 30, 2017 by Belghast

Yesterday was a bit of a mixed day for me, given that I was sick and staying home. I spent the majority of it watching Iron Fist on the sofa while attempting to do other things…. and sorta fading in and out of sleep. Throughout the course of the day I played a little Tyranny, working my way closer and closer to the end. I also worked my way through the new Final Fantasy XIV patch content, that represents the last bit of story we will see before the launch of Stormblood this summer. That said I feel like it is just too soon to really talk about the patch or any of the ramifications of it. In the evening I poked my head around in Destiny attempting to get a husk to drop for the new necrochasm exotic quest. I had zero luck and instead just completed a few bounties, when I wandered away from the game to do something else. I found out that apparently Skyforge is available not on the PS4, in its pre-launch patron pack sort of scheme like they did on the PC. Now there have been a number of times in the past where I have talked about liking this game, but feeling it would play considerably better on a console. As a result I absolutely jumped on the bandwagon last night and gave it a shot. You functionally have three options that you can go with if you feel like buying your way into what is essentially console based early access. Each of the prices listed is with the PS+ discount… because really I consider plus a cost of owning a PS4.

Early Adopter Pack – $11.99 – Access to 3 Base Classes
Rage of the Beserker – $39.99 – 3 Base + Berserker Class
Wrath of the Gods – $55.99 – 3 Base + Berserker + Gunner + Mount

I jumped in with both feet and went ahead and went for the pack that includes the Gunner class and mount, because in truth I already know I like this game. One of the things about this game that I wish others would notice… is all the damned beard options. It wasn’t just a choice of full mountain man vs stubble beard… but instead I had this complex set of styling options for facial hair that seriously put every other game to shame. The end result allowed me to create a “Belghast” I am extremely happy with… the lack of the whole eye scar thing made me go with an eyepatch instead even though it is on the wrong eye. Traditionally when given the option I give my “Bel” characters some sort of a scar around their left eye… and if given the choice I do the damaged white eye thing as well. All of that said I was able to create a character that I really like… instead of a character that wound up being the lesser of evils like is always the case with South Korean MMOs. The UI took a little getting used to because it varies slightly depending on the screen, but is generally navigated by a combination of bumpers, triggers and the d-pad. The square to show and hide hints piece is something super important that I took a bit to grasp, because the game inexplicably pops windows up over other windows… and the only way to remove them is to click the button.

Something important to note is that it has been a really long time since I have played Skyforge. I played quite a bit during July of 2015, and have poked my head in occasionally since but never for terribly long. The mouse and keyboard control scheme worked, but it always felt artificial. So as a result I have not seen the intro to this game in a very long time… and back then it felt somewhat random. They seem to have fixed some things narratively, to give you a better explanation of the world you inhabit and why your character happens to be immortal. The end result still feels extremely thin, but it at least flows better than I remember it doing in the past. Similarly I noticed that they fixed some of the problems I had with a few of the character models. Herida for example the NPC that you talk to as part of the tutorial had a weird design in the past of teal hair wearing a turquoise hood that flows down into a dress. The problem is the hair was not distinct enough of a color and it make it look like she was a lady with turquoise hair that somehow connected to her boobs. In the console version however she has blonde hair, and the hood itself has been moved back a bit so that you can clearly see the haircut below. As a result you have some contrast and it no longer looks like she is some sort of hair elemental.

As far as the gameplay itself… the game feels excellent but it has a complex enough control scheme that I am still getting used to it. It is following in the footsteps of console MMOs like FFXIV and using the face buttons for most of the attacks with bumpers and triggers acting as either modifiers or quick time event buttons for finishers and power attacks. It was a little awkward at first but after completing the first few missions it started to feel extremely solid. All in all I feel like this game is so much more suited for the console, with its pseudo lobby system and little bite sized missions. Another tweak that I noticed is that we now apparently have a pet that follows us around, and over time can be trained to do functions like automagically picking up loot Diablo 3 style. At some point I want to go through all of the tutorials for sub classes, because if I remember correctly each one of them unlocked a new outfit. I never really made much progress in the PC version of the game, so abandoning it completely for the console is not really that big of a decision for me. That said if you are happy with the PC, then in truth there probably isn’t enough new in the console release to really tempt you. I think the game just feels better in this form factor, but that is a deeply personal preference. Its not like I needed another game to be playing, but whatever the case it seems like I am going to be poking my head more into the PS4 Skyforge.

[Edit]

These are not exact comparison shots, since I failed to take a screenshot during the tutorial. However this at least shows the slight difference between the two models. Column A… weird hair elemental, Column B – someone just wearing a shawl.

Content Creator

March 29, 2017 by Belghast

This is probably not the best subject to talk about on a day when I am feeling lousy. However there is something that bugs the shit out of me, and I feel like I want to get it off my chest… or at the very least use my frustration for a blog post. I hate the term “Content Creator”. Over the last few years it has gone from something you would hear every now and then to something that is constantly used. At face value it seems like a term that places all sorts of incoming content on an even playing field. Do you write a blog? Awesome you are a “Content Creator”. Do you post amazing artwork on Deviant Art? Awesome you too are a “Content Creator”. Do you create a Podcast, upload songs to SoundCloud, stream “let’s plays”, post creative photos on Instagram, carefully curate a Reddit, or create amazing videos… then awesome by all reason you should all be “Content Creators”. The only problem is that this new unifying term… isn’t really that unifying at all. Functionally it should by definition mean anyone who produces content for others to consume. In my experience however that really is not the case.

When you see someone talking about “Content Creators” the majority of the time they exclusively mean Youtubers and Streamers. Please don’t think this is a rant against Youtube or Streaming, because while I fail miserably at doing either I greatly respect both platforms. This is a rant against the creating this theoretically inclusive term but instead applying it to a very narrow margin of items that are “content”. Functionally the frustration comes when someone says they are looking for content creators to work with a product, but in truth really meaning they want eyeballs on YouTube. For years I have struggled with the definition of “Media” as concerned with conventions and such. While I can qualify as such, it always feels wrong. I am not the news and I don’t produce content designed necessarily to inform purchase decisions or report breaking stories. I am the editorial page in the newspaper and spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about. More importantly however is the distinction that I do not do it for monetary gain. That last part often knocks me out of the traditional Media category completely. However having that special “media” pass sort of grants you an instant layer of legitimacy that cuts through some of the awkwardness that comes from introducing yourself and trying to get detailed information out of them about their product. Side note… having a business card also does this but it still ends up being wierd as you shove a crisp card with your logo on it into someone else’s hand.

Now I have gone to PAX three times and I have found ways to do this without the vaunted badge each time. However it would have made things easier, and acted as a sort of social lubricant to make the conversations flow a little more smoothly. I’ve been able to set up press appointments on my own without the benefit of the designation, so the truth is it isn’t a hard barrier. This year around however I saw that they had “Content Creator” badges for the first time, and then was instantly saddened when I saw that they were almost exclusively targeting Youtubers and Streamers with them. Maybe everyone just assumes this and I am the last one to the show. When you say “Content” to me that is a super universal term for literally anything that a user can consume. Hell if you are creating xeroxed “Zines” and handing them out to random people passing by… that is still Content to me because someone devoted time and effort and more importantly mental cycles in to creating something that they thought another human being would enjoy consuming. So all thing are largely equal to me… but it feels like some animals are more equal than others. Were it just PAX it would be no big deal… they maybe used the wrong term for the wrong thing. The problem is I have seen the same sort of stacked deck against non-video creatives in a lot of different “creator” programs in the gaming industry.

Maybe this is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, and maybe this is just a sign that I am old. Hell this past week I got my very first prescription for multi-focal lenses, which is sort of the gold standard of “signs that you are old”. However this is not me yelling at those damned kids to get off my lawn. In truth I just want all of the people standing on the lawn to be treated equally. While I might have preferences towards this or that sort of medium for consuming information… I am still actively consuming pretty much all of them. While I largely still think of myself as a blogger and a podcaster, that doesn’t mean I only get information from blogs or podcasts. I have a pretty steady diet of YouTube channel that I follow, and a handful of streamers that I watch “as time allows”. To branch out there are even a bunch of artists that I follow on a regular basis, and a few people that I keep tabs on just because they make really amazing craftables. In my mind each and every one of these people that I have identified… is a Content Creator. It should be this unifying term, not something that narrows the focus. I mean labels are bizarre in the first place, and there are a lot of them that I struggle with. Content Creator is just another in a long line of titles that I used to think seemed like a great idea… until I saw the way it was being used.