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.
It has been an interesting weekend, but also a very productive one. Friday night my wife spent the evening in her office penned up with Josie as we had been doing for the last several nights. Saturday morning we took her to the vet to get a brief checkup and to establish her with the practice. They said that she looks like a very healthy young cat and while there is a bit of a bump where the incision for her surgery was, that this was more or less normal. Young female cats especially are active and stress the muscles around the incision causing some inflammation. We were told to watch it and watch her behavior and if anything strange happened to bring her back in.
Josie was getting bored of being penned up in the office and had become a rather successful escape artist darting out between our legs the moment we opened the office door. On Saturday we more or less just went with it and let her out into the world to roam around and explore. There were some hisses as to be expected but no violent reactions. In fact Josie seemed adorably oblivious to any shade that Kenzie and Mollie were throwing her way. There were a few times where Kenzie was intent on blocking her path and Josie just ran quickly around her like nothing was going on. The one that I have been the most surprised by is Mollie who seems to be having the biggest reaction. All of this time I have attributed the dynamics between Kenzie and Mollie as Kenzie being a bully. However watching Mollie with Josie is making me start to doubt this.
Always in the past Kenzie would try and get close and sniff Mollie… and then Mollie would make the first hostile sounds which would lead to Kenzie reaching over and bopping her on the head. I always sorta took this as Kenzie being the aggressor, but it could just be the Kenzie is big and adorable and doofy and couldn’t figure out why Mollie didn’t want to play. I am not sure if I am ready to attribute all of the malice here to Mollie, but so far Kenzie seems to be relatively chill about this whole thing with occasional bouts of hissing. However there have been long periods where they have both been in near proximity without any sort of violent reaction. The truth is this is going as smoothly as I could possibly hope, because Luna several years back would have horrible clashes with Kenzie and I never knew how much of that was Luna and how much was Kenzie. We eventually had to find her a new home with a lovely lady where she could be part of a single cat home.
Saturday night she went back up to the office for the night, and then after I got breakfast and did the morning tasks I let her out. I fed all three cats in the same room from separate bowls and for the most part that was acceptable. From that point however she was out the entire day, including a period of time when we went out and ran some errands leaving the girls along at home to fend for themselves. For the most part things seem to be smooth, enough so that we opted to leave her out over night. She crawled up with us in bed and slept there the entire night, or at least as entire night as our conscious selves were aware of. I know she tolerated being adjusted several times without getting up as I ran to the restroom around 2 am and she largely ignored that I jostled her. There was a short period of time when I had both Kenzie and Josie side by side on the bed… and while Kenzie hissed and eventually hopped down that was all that came of it.
The major transgression happened Sunday morning however while I was editing AggroChat. Josie had been dragging this cat toy around with her and she drug it into my office because she apparently wanted to be close to me and be able to play with it at the same time. It isn’t like she was trying to bring it to me to play, she just wanted to roll around and attack it while being nearby. Various things happened and it ended up down in the landing along with one of the Kenzie’s hairbands that she loves to play fetch with. My wife decided to toss both up since Kenzie and Josie were sitting a few feet apart near the entrance to our two offices, and Josie completely misread the signal. Both Josie and Kenzie dove for the hairband at roughly the same time… but Josie was a little faster and snagged it running off quickly causing Kenzie to ponder this sequence of events and run away herself. Kenz had this massive “what the hell just happened” look and decided retreat was the best possible course of action.
For now at least I am trying to spend most of my time downstairs on the sofa, so that the other two girls can snuggle in a manner that is “normal” and uninterrupted while Josie roams around and does her thing. While Josie regularly comes to visit, I am trying to choose Kenzie and Mollie time because they are both bonded more closely with me and I don’t want them to view this as some grand betrayal. While they have shown a bit of hissing and minor aggression towards my wife they continue to still be willing to love on me so I am guessing this is working as intended. Tonight I will likely be downstairs on the sofa again playing things remotely through Parsec with my fuzzy blanket and in theory will have Kenzie on my legs and Mollie on my side. At some point Josie will need to learn the joy of the fuzzy blanket, but for now I am trying to remain a sanctuary for our elder girls.
All of that said… things are going as smoothly as possible, and I think we have our cats introduced as well as could be expected. Four days of isolation, two days of partial interaction, 1 day of full interaction and now we are just in seemingly permanent free roam mode.
