Farmstink
2019
stop breaking my fucking mods
2015
This review contains spoilers
Ok.
This is the start of me reviewing every game I've rated on here, so let's start with one that's deeply personal.
Life is Strange is a game about a bunch of French dudes sitting together in a writing room and making up dialogue for teenagers in Washington. In the game you walk around and talk to people. Sometimes you use your time travel powers. I mean, whatever, that stuff isn't super important.
Life is Strange made me want to be a better person. I had flashbacks to my first reading of the His Dark Materials books back when I was in middle school. In a lot of ways, the game made me feel oddly nostalgic. It reminded me of my teenage years, back when it felt like everything mattered and yet nothing bad could ever happen.
Life is Strange is a game about loving yourself. Accepting the consequences of your past actions without judgement, both mechanically and narratively. You can go back in time and change events, but to what extent? There's a cost to going back in time, to dwelling on what could have been, that eventually destroys a whole town/takes away your best friend.
At the start of Life is Strange, an old friend, now turned acquaintance, is murdered in front of you. Shortly after this, you gain the power to turn back time, which you use to save your friend's life. Over the course of the game, you learn a lot about this friend. She's lonely, she feels like you left her and betrayed her, her home life is terrible. She's a shit person, but the game never judges her for that. Over the course of the game, she matures and grows, becoming something of a role model. The climax ends with her accepting what has happened to her. She pleads with you to go back in time, back to the moment she was murdered. She asks you to watch and do nothing, let what has happened happen. Let her die an angry and confused person.
That was really hard.
Life is Strange teaches you to cherish what time we have with each other. To love, even when there doesn't seem to be a point, because sometimes that's what people need. Even if that person you love is yourself.
Or maybe I'm just looking too deep into this and it's really just a game about two weirdo teenage lesbians who say "hella" too much, idk.
This is the start of me reviewing every game I've rated on here, so let's start with one that's deeply personal.
Life is Strange is a game about a bunch of French dudes sitting together in a writing room and making up dialogue for teenagers in Washington. In the game you walk around and talk to people. Sometimes you use your time travel powers. I mean, whatever, that stuff isn't super important.
Life is Strange made me want to be a better person. I had flashbacks to my first reading of the His Dark Materials books back when I was in middle school. In a lot of ways, the game made me feel oddly nostalgic. It reminded me of my teenage years, back when it felt like everything mattered and yet nothing bad could ever happen.
Life is Strange is a game about loving yourself. Accepting the consequences of your past actions without judgement, both mechanically and narratively. You can go back in time and change events, but to what extent? There's a cost to going back in time, to dwelling on what could have been, that eventually destroys a whole town/takes away your best friend.
At the start of Life is Strange, an old friend, now turned acquaintance, is murdered in front of you. Shortly after this, you gain the power to turn back time, which you use to save your friend's life. Over the course of the game, you learn a lot about this friend. She's lonely, she feels like you left her and betrayed her, her home life is terrible. She's a shit person, but the game never judges her for that. Over the course of the game, she matures and grows, becoming something of a role model. The climax ends with her accepting what has happened to her. She pleads with you to go back in time, back to the moment she was murdered. She asks you to watch and do nothing, let what has happened happen. Let her die an angry and confused person.
That was really hard.
Life is Strange teaches you to cherish what time we have with each other. To love, even when there doesn't seem to be a point, because sometimes that's what people need. Even if that person you love is yourself.
Or maybe I'm just looking too deep into this and it's really just a game about two weirdo teenage lesbians who say "hella" too much, idk.
Katamari Damacy is straight up a good time. The controls start off feeling weird but I got used to them pretty quickly.
You just roll your little ball around until it becomes a big ball. There's a banger soundtrack. The story makes no sense, it's great. Actually nothing in the game makes sense. Perhaps the perfect video game?
You just roll your little ball around until it becomes a big ball. There's a banger soundtrack. The story makes no sense, it's great. Actually nothing in the game makes sense. Perhaps the perfect video game?
2019
It's like someone had the idea to make a Diablo like game, except it's a roguelike and it's actually fun to play. I like picking Loader and flying around the map one shotting things. Fuck yeah.
2004
I played this game back on my 360 (The Orange Box was perhaps the greatest video game deal of all time?). I also replayed it back in like 2015. It's still really good. It's like a call of duty campaign except it's good and can stick with an idea for more than 10 minutes. Sometimes you run and gun and fuck shit up. Sometimes you gotta hide a little bit and use your brain. Sometimes you go to Ravenholm and oh god it's a horror game? You can drive around too, that's cool. And there are dope ass physics puzzles! Everyone should play Half Life 2, I mean really. There are AAA games coming out today that still haven't learned all the lessons Half Life 2 taught. Every part about it is just so tight, like it's all doing something. I would write more about this game but I don't feel like it.
I mean, look, ok, I'm not against the ideas of Westerns. I loved Deadwood, and Cibola Burn was my favorite book in The Expanse series, ok. I get it, they're all about slow pacing, fucking wide shots of landscape, immersion or whatever. That all works when it's passive media, but PLEASE do no expect me to entertain myself for 80 hours of your 160 hour game. I can look at the game while I'm playing, sure, but I'm just looking at the same thing over and over. Like literally the same thing. The pixels don't change, you know what I mean? I wish Rockstar would grow a pair and just make more cutscenes. No I don't want to have to pay attention to riding my horse while you also do exposition at me. I guess people like the writing in this game too? I don't know, I didn't care for it. How am I supposed to listen to people and ride my horse at the same time? Like sometimes they get far away from you and you can't exactly hear them, so now you're trying to read subtitles and ride your horse at the same time. Like, what? Just let me put the controller down, my hands hurt and I probably have carpal tunnel at 26 years old. You know, I think I really just don't like games that are about "systems". Why is there so much stuff going on? There are so many things you can do in RDR2. How much of that stuff do I have to do? None of it I guess, like none of this matters. No, I don't want to grind out hunting squirrels for a new wallet, or whatever. And yet, my lizard brain makes me feel bad when I see the check boxes for all the things I have to do, so of course I go out and hunt the squirrels like an idiot. Then I don't have fun and, oh god, is this the whole game? Is this what you do in RDR2? Do you really just ride your horse around while half paying attention to the story, then like, hunt wildlife for a check list, and sometimes shoot people? It's horrifying. Imagine if RDR2 was Half Life 2 instead, and it just told a story and didn't have this giant checklist of shit. Do people actually 100% these games? I'm sure some do, but I bet the vast vast majority of people don't. I bet most people don't even see the end because they get scared of the checklists and all the other shit. Like me. I bet like, people memorize all the stuff in this game. Like they know the best hunting spots, they know what towns sell what guns, they know how to craft things. I don't know those things, and I don't want to. Like how do you even craft things? I think you give stuff to the cook. But you're also supposed to donate to your camp? I was never really sure what that did. It's probably written somewhere. There's a lot of stuff written in this game. It's not very good, really. Like it's just not interesting. I think I got to the point where I unlocked weapon mods, saw another checklist of all of those, then uninstalled. You know what's strange, is like, you have your guns right? I don't know how that works. I don't understand the inventory for your guns. Where are they all? You have like 50 of them on your horse, but if you drop one during a mission it's gone forever, I think. Like I had a unique gun (I think it was unique), and then I dropped it because I couldn't find ammo for it, and I was like "oh, it'll be on my horse later", and then it wasn't? Ok, I guess I don't need the gun anyway. It doesn't matter. Death Stranding is a better western anyway.
2019
Disco Elysium is a smart game, but not in the way that's all like "ooooh look at me, look at how clever I am. I know I'm a video game!!". Disco Elysium doesn't know it's a video game. It might even think it's a book, sometimes.
So the main idea of the game is that you're a cop. What kind of cop you are is up to you - you can be an art cop, or a sorry cop, or a sad cop. You can be a fascist too but I think that's sort of prewritten into your being a cop. At it's core, Disco Elysium is a game about Politics. It explores the nature of what it means to be a cop, what it means to have a police force in general. It also talks about communism and stuff but that's not as important as the cop thing. Throughout the game you constantly abuse your cop powers and never once face a repercussion for you actions. You walked up to a random stranger and told her that her husband was dead because the voices in your head told you so? Not an issue, you're a cop. You can trust cops.
The game is funny. What can I say? The writing made me laugh. I don't usually like "funny" things. Like the Office isn't that great. Someone once told me to listen to a podcast called "Grandma's Virginity Podcast" because they thought it was funny. Well, I didn't think it was funny. But Disco Elysium is funny.
I guess there's gameplay? Like you go around and click on things. It's cool that there's no real combat system, but you can still die. Which also doesn't mean a whole lot, like you can just reload your save. Maybe the game would've been better if you couldn't die? But some of the moments where I died, I really enjoyed them.
I think that's the big secret of Disco Elysium. The big picture of the game isn't that great. Like the Main Story was ok, it was fine. It meant a lot and it said things. But the parts that I really remember are the smaller moments. Debating if I should sympathize with a race realist because he's blocking my way, dammit, and I'm not strong enough to beat him in a fist fight, and the voices in my head are telling me "hey maybe this guy has a point" (he doesn't). Or the bit where I shot my gun at a child because like, no one talks to me that way. I'm a cop, and an unhinged one at that.
That seems like a strange place to end the review.
So the main idea of the game is that you're a cop. What kind of cop you are is up to you - you can be an art cop, or a sorry cop, or a sad cop. You can be a fascist too but I think that's sort of prewritten into your being a cop. At it's core, Disco Elysium is a game about Politics. It explores the nature of what it means to be a cop, what it means to have a police force in general. It also talks about communism and stuff but that's not as important as the cop thing. Throughout the game you constantly abuse your cop powers and never once face a repercussion for you actions. You walked up to a random stranger and told her that her husband was dead because the voices in your head told you so? Not an issue, you're a cop. You can trust cops.
The game is funny. What can I say? The writing made me laugh. I don't usually like "funny" things. Like the Office isn't that great. Someone once told me to listen to a podcast called "Grandma's Virginity Podcast" because they thought it was funny. Well, I didn't think it was funny. But Disco Elysium is funny.
I guess there's gameplay? Like you go around and click on things. It's cool that there's no real combat system, but you can still die. Which also doesn't mean a whole lot, like you can just reload your save. Maybe the game would've been better if you couldn't die? But some of the moments where I died, I really enjoyed them.
I think that's the big secret of Disco Elysium. The big picture of the game isn't that great. Like the Main Story was ok, it was fine. It meant a lot and it said things. But the parts that I really remember are the smaller moments. Debating if I should sympathize with a race realist because he's blocking my way, dammit, and I'm not strong enough to beat him in a fist fight, and the voices in my head are telling me "hey maybe this guy has a point" (he doesn't). Or the bit where I shot my gun at a child because like, no one talks to me that way. I'm a cop, and an unhinged one at that.
That seems like a strange place to end the review.
2009
League of Legends is a game that I sometimes had fun playing. Not usually though.
2017
It's a battle royal video game. You don't need me to write you a review of this game, you know what it is. I thought it was boring, but then again I also have ice running through my veins. A regular old Tiger Woods of video games, if you will. Not once have I cracked under pressure, and by god I don't plan on starting now.
They should make a game like this but without all the anime bits. That's what I think, anyway. I'm sure some of you like the anime bits. Normally I'd say that's fine, but it's kind of not. The characters in this game are one dimensional, and also two dimensional, and they'll never love you back. Never.
2020
This review contains spoilers
alright so this is going to be my review of omori. there are going to be spoilers, which is why I marked it with a spoiler warning. this is also going to be a stream of consciousness thing. I’m not going to edit this is reread it when I’m done. maybe I’ll clean up the formatting and fix spelling mistakes. maybe.
anyway, there's a lot going on in omori. I guess I’ll start with the most important thing, and that's how it all ends, and what that meant to me, because this is my review. your experiences and interpretations are going to be different, probably. I’m not here to convince you I’m right. this is just what I felt playing through omori, or I guess this is the end bit.
the ending got me, big time. I think I had stopped totally emphasizing with omori at that point though, and viewed him more as a character, which is fine, it worked. I mean I’ve never accidentally killed my sister then covered it up by making it look like a suicide. but I think we've all experienced the guilt that come with lying, and lying about something you're ashamed of. the inability to forgive yourself, to accept that you did something shitty, and to present the shitty thing you've done to people you care about. that's a universal experience. but rather that suppress the shame, the fear, the guilt, sunny embraces it. it's a part of him, and it always will be, and that's ok. you can do shitty things and still deserve to live. you deserve a chance at something better.
the actual through line of the story, I mean it worked. it got the job done. I think there was some sad baiting going on with the suicide fake out thing. I was thinking about how much it would suck if my sister committed suicide, about how hard it was on my friends with they lost siblings to mental illness. and then the story wasn't about that, which is like, ok. I was sort of on that roller coaster, but now it's a mystery thing going on, and now it's a personal story about sunny. which is fine, it worked, but it took me out at the end for a few moments. it made me realize there was a story going on. there wasn't going to be anything here for me personally, but I was on board to go with sunny on his journey.
I guess I should talk about basil. the game does a good job of making you care about him. all of sunny's friends, really, are well written. it speaks well to the games writing that I wanted sunny to live for them, because I didn't want them to suffer another loss.
which sort of leads me to the next thing, and it's hard for me to come to grips with this part. the real life stuff was stellar, really great, loved it, you know. but the dreamworld was rough. really rough. and I don't know if omori is the same game without it. it reminds me of the "filler" episodes of avatar the last airbender. they're not really filler, because you grow closer to the characters during those episodes, even if the "Main Story" doesn't go forward during those episodes.
oh also I just remembered I forgot to say, I’m probably going to contradict myself a lot during this, so like, get over it I guess. don't read this if that'll bother you.
anyway, nothing really happens in the dreamworld. or at least, that was my experience. I’ve heard that things may happen in the dreamworld if you do other things, but I didn't do that. but what did happen, was I started to care more about my companions, and that's super valuable for setting up the end of the game. and that's what's so hard for me. I want to say, "the dreamworld could've been cut down by 70% and the game would've been better for it". I really do want to say that, BUT.
and this but is huge, it's really big. I don't think the ending works as well if you don't spend all that time with your buddies in the dreamworld, and the narrative going on in the real world isn't as interesting on its own without having the dreamworld characters to compare the real ones too. like, yeah, of course dream aubrey wants to fuck omori, because sunny totally has the hots for aubrey.
sort of lost my train of thought there. I remember now. so the point I was coming to, is that doesn't necessarily mean that the dreamworld sections were the best way to get the character stuff across. I want to just say, "make the dreamworld stuff better", but that doesn't seem fair, so I guess I’ll have to break down my problems with the dreamworld. I don't know if I said this above or not, but like, the dreamworld is bad, ok? and I’m not saying I know how to fix it, but here are my issues. I had a better conclusion to this but I forgot it. maybe I’ll remember, I know it was something about how dreamworld bad and I’m not going to compare this game to undertale. it was really funny in my head.
so the first thing, right, it's gotta be the combat. hollly shit, it was so boring. I pressed a and waited for things to happen, most of the time. the boss fights were ok, but it felt like a pokemon game, where you're just trying to get the type advantage. it wasn't super deep, and mechanically there was nothing. what if there were like warioware mini games instead of turn based combat? someone should make a game like this with that instead. it'll sell a billion copies, like undertale did. like, the thing about undertale, and this might be controversial, is that it's fun to play. omori isn't.
the 2nd part, and this is totally subjective and not really worth discussing past just getting it out there, was I didn't think it was all that funny. omori's quirky, campy humor just doesn't do it for me. I think it got 2 or 3 laughs out of me the whole time. that's whatever, I don't really blame the game for that. I sort of knew what to expect coming in.
I guess I should've saved that ^ bit for last since it's not that important. the bigger issue is that nothing in the dreamworld really matters that much. on a meta level, it makes sense. the dreamworld literally does not matter, it's made up in sunny's head, and thematically it's better if the story there goes nowhere and doesn't really matter. because the dreamworld is fake, and sunny needs to wake the fuck up and smell the roses, sweaty. the dreamworld isn't as good as the real world, and that's a good message. BUT. man there were so many times I was bored out of my god damn mind in the dreamworld. I realized pretty early on that the quest for basil was going nowhere, and that nothing in the dreamworld really mattered. the side quests at the start are essentially fetch quests that just give you shit you don't really need, and they didn't have interesting stories of their own, so I started to just not do them. the overarching stories of the dreamworld doesn't matter. I don't care about space ex boyfriend, or sweetheart. I really don't, and I’m given no reason to care about them. I want to find basil, because I know that'll tie into what's happening in the real world, and it'll be interesting. instead, I sat through lines and lines of dialogue that I just could not give a shit about. and I think the game really suffers for that, like it teaches you early on that like, none of this matters. the lesson from the first area is "mash a to get through the dialogue, don't think too hard about things". that's fucking rough, and the ending of the game deserves to be set up with something better than that.
what else do I have to say? I guess just some random thoughts. the hand drawn art was great, really unique style, nice to look at. I actually liked the enemies too. wormhole was great, fucking loved that dude. the overworld though? eeeehhhh. I also wasn't super huge on the music for most of the game. I liked the overworld song in sweetheart's castle, but that's the only one that really stands out to me. the battle music was good too. and of course, the music at the ending was great.
so yeah, I guess that's it. I probably have more to say about this game. like if someone prompted me, I could say more things I bet, but that's not what this post is.
do I think you should play omori? yeah, totally. the story gets there. it really does, and I think it earns it to, for the most part. but even outside of that, the game is fascinating. it's super flawed, and that makes it fun to think about and talk about - but that's ok, right? no one's perfect, after all.
anyway, there's a lot going on in omori. I guess I’ll start with the most important thing, and that's how it all ends, and what that meant to me, because this is my review. your experiences and interpretations are going to be different, probably. I’m not here to convince you I’m right. this is just what I felt playing through omori, or I guess this is the end bit.
the ending got me, big time. I think I had stopped totally emphasizing with omori at that point though, and viewed him more as a character, which is fine, it worked. I mean I’ve never accidentally killed my sister then covered it up by making it look like a suicide. but I think we've all experienced the guilt that come with lying, and lying about something you're ashamed of. the inability to forgive yourself, to accept that you did something shitty, and to present the shitty thing you've done to people you care about. that's a universal experience. but rather that suppress the shame, the fear, the guilt, sunny embraces it. it's a part of him, and it always will be, and that's ok. you can do shitty things and still deserve to live. you deserve a chance at something better.
the actual through line of the story, I mean it worked. it got the job done. I think there was some sad baiting going on with the suicide fake out thing. I was thinking about how much it would suck if my sister committed suicide, about how hard it was on my friends with they lost siblings to mental illness. and then the story wasn't about that, which is like, ok. I was sort of on that roller coaster, but now it's a mystery thing going on, and now it's a personal story about sunny. which is fine, it worked, but it took me out at the end for a few moments. it made me realize there was a story going on. there wasn't going to be anything here for me personally, but I was on board to go with sunny on his journey.
I guess I should talk about basil. the game does a good job of making you care about him. all of sunny's friends, really, are well written. it speaks well to the games writing that I wanted sunny to live for them, because I didn't want them to suffer another loss.
which sort of leads me to the next thing, and it's hard for me to come to grips with this part. the real life stuff was stellar, really great, loved it, you know. but the dreamworld was rough. really rough. and I don't know if omori is the same game without it. it reminds me of the "filler" episodes of avatar the last airbender. they're not really filler, because you grow closer to the characters during those episodes, even if the "Main Story" doesn't go forward during those episodes.
oh also I just remembered I forgot to say, I’m probably going to contradict myself a lot during this, so like, get over it I guess. don't read this if that'll bother you.
anyway, nothing really happens in the dreamworld. or at least, that was my experience. I’ve heard that things may happen in the dreamworld if you do other things, but I didn't do that. but what did happen, was I started to care more about my companions, and that's super valuable for setting up the end of the game. and that's what's so hard for me. I want to say, "the dreamworld could've been cut down by 70% and the game would've been better for it". I really do want to say that, BUT.
and this but is huge, it's really big. I don't think the ending works as well if you don't spend all that time with your buddies in the dreamworld, and the narrative going on in the real world isn't as interesting on its own without having the dreamworld characters to compare the real ones too. like, yeah, of course dream aubrey wants to fuck omori, because sunny totally has the hots for aubrey.
sort of lost my train of thought there. I remember now. so the point I was coming to, is that doesn't necessarily mean that the dreamworld sections were the best way to get the character stuff across. I want to just say, "make the dreamworld stuff better", but that doesn't seem fair, so I guess I’ll have to break down my problems with the dreamworld. I don't know if I said this above or not, but like, the dreamworld is bad, ok? and I’m not saying I know how to fix it, but here are my issues. I had a better conclusion to this but I forgot it. maybe I’ll remember, I know it was something about how dreamworld bad and I’m not going to compare this game to undertale. it was really funny in my head.
so the first thing, right, it's gotta be the combat. hollly shit, it was so boring. I pressed a and waited for things to happen, most of the time. the boss fights were ok, but it felt like a pokemon game, where you're just trying to get the type advantage. it wasn't super deep, and mechanically there was nothing. what if there were like warioware mini games instead of turn based combat? someone should make a game like this with that instead. it'll sell a billion copies, like undertale did. like, the thing about undertale, and this might be controversial, is that it's fun to play. omori isn't.
the 2nd part, and this is totally subjective and not really worth discussing past just getting it out there, was I didn't think it was all that funny. omori's quirky, campy humor just doesn't do it for me. I think it got 2 or 3 laughs out of me the whole time. that's whatever, I don't really blame the game for that. I sort of knew what to expect coming in.
I guess I should've saved that ^ bit for last since it's not that important. the bigger issue is that nothing in the dreamworld really matters that much. on a meta level, it makes sense. the dreamworld literally does not matter, it's made up in sunny's head, and thematically it's better if the story there goes nowhere and doesn't really matter. because the dreamworld is fake, and sunny needs to wake the fuck up and smell the roses, sweaty. the dreamworld isn't as good as the real world, and that's a good message. BUT. man there were so many times I was bored out of my god damn mind in the dreamworld. I realized pretty early on that the quest for basil was going nowhere, and that nothing in the dreamworld really mattered. the side quests at the start are essentially fetch quests that just give you shit you don't really need, and they didn't have interesting stories of their own, so I started to just not do them. the overarching stories of the dreamworld doesn't matter. I don't care about space ex boyfriend, or sweetheart. I really don't, and I’m given no reason to care about them. I want to find basil, because I know that'll tie into what's happening in the real world, and it'll be interesting. instead, I sat through lines and lines of dialogue that I just could not give a shit about. and I think the game really suffers for that, like it teaches you early on that like, none of this matters. the lesson from the first area is "mash a to get through the dialogue, don't think too hard about things". that's fucking rough, and the ending of the game deserves to be set up with something better than that.
what else do I have to say? I guess just some random thoughts. the hand drawn art was great, really unique style, nice to look at. I actually liked the enemies too. wormhole was great, fucking loved that dude. the overworld though? eeeehhhh. I also wasn't super huge on the music for most of the game. I liked the overworld song in sweetheart's castle, but that's the only one that really stands out to me. the battle music was good too. and of course, the music at the ending was great.
so yeah, I guess that's it. I probably have more to say about this game. like if someone prompted me, I could say more things I bet, but that's not what this post is.
do I think you should play omori? yeah, totally. the story gets there. it really does, and I think it earns it to, for the most part. but even outside of that, the game is fascinating. it's super flawed, and that makes it fun to think about and talk about - but that's ok, right? no one's perfect, after all.
2011
I think Dragon Age 2 gets a bad rap. It's not Dragon Age: Origins. We can all agree on that, ok? It's just not. But what it is, is a tight little adventure. I think I would've been mad if I paid full price for this game when it came out. Back in like, 2011 or whenever, we had this expectation that a sequel should be bigger, grander. There should be more Things!
Dragon Age II does not have a lot of Things. It even has less Things than Origins, I bet. But that's ok, because Dragon Age II knows that it's about the motion in the ocean, not the size of the vessel. Yes, most of the dungeons are blatantly reused over and over. Whatever. I mean, I don't really care about that. It doesn't scratch the exploration itch, but Dragon Age II isn't a game about exploration.
Dragon Age II puts you in a city, and you go around exploring it kind of. You fast travel to certain hub spots, and there are places that branch off from those hubs. It's not very big. BUT. The city changes (kind of). At the end of each chapter, you advance in the timeline some amount of years. This moves the narrative of the city along, but doesn't bring about any physical changes to the city (that I noticed). I think that would've been cool - you have a time skip, and now something is physically different.
The combat is fun. It's faster than Origins was if I'm remembering correctly. It's also loot based. The numbers go up. You can still pause if you need to, which is something I'm sure you have to do on higher difficulties. I didn't play on a high difficulty because I didn't want to have to think about the combat.
So the other thing about the time skip stuff, is it gives all your companions believable character arcs. There was one in particular that I really loved. I'm not going to spoil it, but like, man, what a bastard. Of course that is what that character would do.
And you actually have the opportunity to interact with your companions in ways that change the overarching narrative of the game. I'm don't know how much actual depth there is here, but the game gives the impression that each playthrough can be very different narratively.
Overall, Dragon Age II is like a really good AA game. It has a vision that it realizes. It's really tight. And I think it was something that was hugely disappointing to people when it first came out. It's really interesting to see Inquisition as a reaction to Dragon Age II. "The players want more Content?" says the dev. "Well, time to buckle up, motherfuckers. If you want Content, we'll give it to you."
You should play this game.
Dragon Age II does not have a lot of Things. It even has less Things than Origins, I bet. But that's ok, because Dragon Age II knows that it's about the motion in the ocean, not the size of the vessel. Yes, most of the dungeons are blatantly reused over and over. Whatever. I mean, I don't really care about that. It doesn't scratch the exploration itch, but Dragon Age II isn't a game about exploration.
Dragon Age II puts you in a city, and you go around exploring it kind of. You fast travel to certain hub spots, and there are places that branch off from those hubs. It's not very big. BUT. The city changes (kind of). At the end of each chapter, you advance in the timeline some amount of years. This moves the narrative of the city along, but doesn't bring about any physical changes to the city (that I noticed). I think that would've been cool - you have a time skip, and now something is physically different.
The combat is fun. It's faster than Origins was if I'm remembering correctly. It's also loot based. The numbers go up. You can still pause if you need to, which is something I'm sure you have to do on higher difficulties. I didn't play on a high difficulty because I didn't want to have to think about the combat.
So the other thing about the time skip stuff, is it gives all your companions believable character arcs. There was one in particular that I really loved. I'm not going to spoil it, but like, man, what a bastard. Of course that is what that character would do.
And you actually have the opportunity to interact with your companions in ways that change the overarching narrative of the game. I'm don't know how much actual depth there is here, but the game gives the impression that each playthrough can be very different narratively.
Overall, Dragon Age II is like a really good AA game. It has a vision that it realizes. It's really tight. And I think it was something that was hugely disappointing to people when it first came out. It's really interesting to see Inquisition as a reaction to Dragon Age II. "The players want more Content?" says the dev. "Well, time to buckle up, motherfuckers. If you want Content, we'll give it to you."
You should play this game.
Shadow of the Colossus does Setting better than any other video game I've ever played.
The world is dark, dismal, and dystopian. The player is lost and confused, surrounded by, at times, non-sensical architecture. I still remember that aqueduct running to the desert. What happened to this world? How did it get so destroyed?
Those are questions that I never really got an answer to, and that's fine. The game invites you to create your own fiction, your own narrative. You want to search for answers, dig for clues, find out some shrivel of Truth. But you will never find it.
It reminds me a lot of Dark Souls, but it's not exactly an accurate comparison. The world of Dark Souls, with it's weird geography and architecture, is Explained. You have to dig, and read, but there are truths about the world that are certain. I'm not sure that's the case in Shadow of the Colossus. You are the Wonderer, a stranger, someone who doesn't belong here. You can't even begin to understand the history of this place or why it exists. The world is constantly telling you that you don't belong here.
It's such a fucking vibe.
And all that stuff ties into the gameplay and story too, in ways that are pretty apparent. I could spend more words saying why that is, but I think I'd rather just say that it all feels Realized.
I guess playing the game is good too, like climbing on the Colossi and riding your horse around was fun. I really liked looking at the Colossi, and solving the puzzle on how to defeat each one was enjoyable.
I never know how to end these things, so I guess I'll just sum up my thoughts: Shadow of the Colossus is pretty neat.
The world is dark, dismal, and dystopian. The player is lost and confused, surrounded by, at times, non-sensical architecture. I still remember that aqueduct running to the desert. What happened to this world? How did it get so destroyed?
Those are questions that I never really got an answer to, and that's fine. The game invites you to create your own fiction, your own narrative. You want to search for answers, dig for clues, find out some shrivel of Truth. But you will never find it.
It reminds me a lot of Dark Souls, but it's not exactly an accurate comparison. The world of Dark Souls, with it's weird geography and architecture, is Explained. You have to dig, and read, but there are truths about the world that are certain. I'm not sure that's the case in Shadow of the Colossus. You are the Wonderer, a stranger, someone who doesn't belong here. You can't even begin to understand the history of this place or why it exists. The world is constantly telling you that you don't belong here.
It's such a fucking vibe.
And all that stuff ties into the gameplay and story too, in ways that are pretty apparent. I could spend more words saying why that is, but I think I'd rather just say that it all feels Realized.
I guess playing the game is good too, like climbing on the Colossi and riding your horse around was fun. I really liked looking at the Colossi, and solving the puzzle on how to defeat each one was enjoyable.
I never know how to end these things, so I guess I'll just sum up my thoughts: Shadow of the Colossus is pretty neat.
2018
In Donut County you control a raccoon that was given god like powers. You do raccoon things with your god powers.
I really liked raccoons before playing Donut County. Now? I fucking love them. Post your favorite raccoon pictures below (NO sad raccoons)
I really liked raccoons before playing Donut County. Now? I fucking love them. Post your favorite raccoon pictures below (NO sad raccoons)
2019
death stranding is a good video game. it is weird sometimes. one star removed because it has conan o'brien in it (i hate the irish)