Summer Video Game Round Up

Its been awhile since I've talked about anything video game related. Since that is half of the blog title, I figured it was time to check in and share what I've been playing over the summer, and what I'm looking forward to as the year rolls along.

Join me after the break for sweet, sweet vidja game talk.

Currently Playing

Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition

This game has comprised a nigh-terrifying percentage of my recent video game time. I recently returned to it after taking a lengthy break and, in classic Blizzard fashion, found that many quality-of-life things had been improved over the past several patches.

That, combined with how easy it is to pick-up-and-play this sort of game, made it my go-to game for many a session. Its just so simple and rewarding to fire it up, clear a few rifts, enjoy the explosions, see what drops, and then hop off. I still find myself with more random pockets of gaming time than big, dedicated chunks, so any game that has that quality is high on my playing list.

I sort of burned out on D3:UEE after playing it a gross amount while I was out of work on sick leave, so I've been taking a break. But the newest patch - 2.3, which looks to do another big rework on several areas of the game and add the exciting new Kanai's Cube system to the game - is almost certain to come at the end of the month, so I'm sure I'll be neck deep in demons again then.

Ori and the Blind Forest

I've had this game on my radar for awhile, especially since it is one of the rare Xbox One exclusives that is actually an indie title (most of Microsoft's exclusives are faux-first party games of the 'x'-person shooter variety). The initial reviews of Ori were mixed though leaning positive, but the general description of the gameplay ("Metroidvania" with harder platforming) led me to back-burner the game until a month or so ago.

Turns out, that was a terrible mistake. Ori and the Blind Forest is one of the best games I have played from this generation, and I'd go so far as to call it one of the absolute best games I have ever played.

That glowing praise is the result of a list of things coming together perfectly (at least for me). Ori and the Blind Forest combines:

• Intense platforming challenges, a la Super Meat Boy
• Astoundingly beautiful graphics, art, and design
• A story that would have fit in perfectly with Disney's classic run of movies in the 90's (in structure, execution, and general message)
• "Metroidvania"-esque sense of progression that makes it fun to explore
• Saving anywhere (a key game mechanic, but also great for being able to drop in and out of the game whenever)
• A lean and mean game length (my first playthrough was around 6-ish hours), making it easy to complete and compelling to possibly replay

Ori and the Blind Forest isn't perfect. It has a few little things that can aggravate - Ori isn't always quite as precise as you'd like him to be and there are several missable collectibles (though none are important for progression) - but those are easy to get over. 

The biggest issue that Ori and the Blind Forest has is that it is hard: the game has three sections that are mandatory for progression which include some nasty jumping challenges. You can retry instantly after failing and can retry as often as you want, but I can absolutely see where many players would throw their hands up in frustration and bail on that game at those points. Especially since the art and game style of that game aren't likely to draw in the type of player that will thrive on the challenge this game throws in your face.

Which ends up being a damn shame. Ori and the Blind Forest is a game I'd recommend without hesitation if it wasn't so difficult in places. I think it is a remarkable testament to what videogames can and should be: artful, subtle, mechanically interesting, and just plain fun to play. In a world drowning with sequels to open world shooters that now include more zombies and DLC, Ori and the Blind Forest was a breath of fresh air I didn't think was even possible.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Anyone paying attention to video game news is probably familiar with Konami's shenanigans over the past few years, culminating in the exile and possible sundered memories of one Hideo Kojima. It has been a helluva thing to witness after growing up playing Konami games. And with that news we are faced with a grim fact: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain may be the last mainstream video game Konami will ever produce (and even if that isn't the case, it certainly looks to be the last Kojima helmed Metal Gear game under that company).

I played my fair share of the original Metal Gear Solid, but I soured on the series as it became more and more cinematic and wrapped up in its own mythology. I also came to the realization that I played Metal Gear Solid in a way that was probably not intended - I Rambo'd the hell out of that game - and I didn't seem to enjoy playing the game in the most skillful/interesting way (i.e. being a sneaky and tricky bastard).

However, in the context of what The Phantom Pain means relative to Konami, I am very interested in revisiting the series. Assuming it turns out alright, of course. All signs are pointing to that being the case - previews have been generally positive, and The Phantom Pain is supposed to continue in the same vein as Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker which is well liked - and I'd imagine that Kojima either a) wants to make this his magnum opus, or b) turn it into a flaming wreck as a middle finger to the company that is looking to screw him over. 'B' would be funny, but 'a' feels much more likely.

So I've been playing the one game I have that would give me a decent sense of whether I'll like The Phantom Pain; the vertical slice released as a standalone game/demo/teaser/promise of things to come. 

And, much to my surprise, I've been enjoying it quite a bit. I need to make sure to mentally shift gears when I sit down to play it - my default gaming style nowadays seems to be "blow everything up" - but when I've been able to do that I've had a great time with the game. I'm still not sure how much I care about the main story (it still comes across as melodramatic and steeped in series history that I am deeply unfamiliar with at this point) but I can get over that if the gameplay is good enough (I've done it with games that were far, far worse in the story department than this looks to be).

I also really enjoy the mission structure that Ground Zeroes uses. The main story scenario is good enough (though ends on a very unpleasant note, especially if you dig into the backstory), but if that were all there was to the game I'd have been bored and done with it a long time ago. The game very smartly remixes the game environment for a series of missions that pose different challenges, each of which highlights some of the interesting ways you can solve problems (even after all these years, Kojima is still the only director who seems to understand how to make a game actually feel "open world" and player driven).

All of that gives me faith in The Phantom Pain, and honestly gets me pretty excited for it. I'll still await the first set of reviews and player impressions before I decide to pick it up or not (I will not be saddled with another BioShock Infinite if I can help it), but that is a huge improvement over how cold I was towards the game a month or so ago.

Looking To The Future

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

See above. Also, tell me you don't want to play a game where you can go on para-military missions with your dog (that has an eyepatch which matches yours).

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess

This is sort of a cheat, as this game has been out for awhile and I even own the damn thing. But I haven't gotten the chance to dig into it (see: hours and hours and hours of Diablo 3), and that is something I need to correct. Everything I've read paints this as an excellent revival of the Deception series, which was always a favorite of mine from ye olde PS1 days. 

Killer Instinct: Season 3

One of the most exciting bits of news for me that came out of Gamescom this year was the confirmation that, yes, there will be a Season 3 for Killer Instinct. I thought that odds were high - the almost instant success of the tournament crowdfunding drive and the announcement of a PC port of the game seemed like good indicators - but it is good to hear it confirmed. Come March 2016, Killer Instinct will become one season more awesome (on Xbox One and PC at the same time!)

The official release date is pretty damn far off, but Iron Galaxy wisely had something else up their sleeve: in the same breath as the announcement of Season 3, they also announced that Season 3 will include guest characters (a tweet later clarified that there will be more than one guest character) and the first one will be Rash from the NES "dear sweet god this game is impossible" classic Battletoads. Moreover, he will be available to play...right now!

Not permanently, mind. Rash represents the first incidence of what I hope is a new phenomenon that will be used in Season 3: a beta release of a character that allows players to experience the character and give feedback for a limited time. Between 8/4/15 and 9/8/15, players that have purchased any Killer Instinct content or Rare Replay Collection will have access to Rash. He is firmly labeled a beta character - he doesn't even have an ultra combo animation - but you can play him right now.

That was a wonderful surprise, and I hope it is something Iron Galaxy does more moving into Season 3. One of the frustrations with Season 2 was that the constant introduction of new characters and patches (to polish those characters) made the game difficult to practice competitively. At the same time, the constant infusion of new characters and content kept excitement high, and always gave you something to look forward to as a player (and come back to if you'd been away for a bit).

Something like this beta system for characters could be a nice middle ground. The core game stays stable (good for competitive players) while everyone gets a chance to try out a new character for a month (great for the community, casual players, and general excitement). It also allows Iron Galaxy to possibly address polish issues with characters earlier, lessening the need to change things in later patches (which in turn results in greater stability for players to practice with confidence).

Season 2 released with two initial characters - TJ Combo and Maya - and then kept up the relentless pace of a character a month until all 8 (9 with Omen) characters were released. Season 3 allows for the possibility of the same output - 8/9+ characters being available come March 2016 - but with a different approach in the intervening months. If Iron Galaxy opts to instead use beta characters for those intervening months, players will always be playing a "stable" version of the game, but they'll also get the chance to try out and see new characters every month. And then, ideally, the game will get one big update in March 2016 and everyone will once again be on the same page.

Or they could go with the same approach as last season and trickle characters out once a month. I'd imagine that is harder overall due to the tight deadlines - one character a month leaves little wiggle room, whereas having to deliver 8ish characters by March 2016 gives you a lot of wiggle room to shift time and resources as necessary - and I also think they want to have everything in a fairly stable state before the summer tournament season begins (which is why Season 2 wrapped March/April of this year). 

Regardless of how it pans out, I'm very excited for more Killer Instinct. It continues to be one of my absolute favorite fighting games and getting more content for it is nothing but good news.

Fallout 4

I, like many others, put plenty of time into Fallout 3 and enjoyed it quite a bit. To date, it is the only Bethesda Softworks game I have ever actually "completed" (insomuch as I played it enough to finish the story and do a big chunk of the quests), and absolutely the game I regard the most fondly. Skyrim is great and all, but I will always have a soft spot for Lincoln's Repeater.

Based on little more than that fondness - and bolstered by Bethesda Softworks' overall high game quality pedigree - I'm almost totally willing to sign on the dotted line right now for Fallout 4. Can't wait to get back into the wastelands.

Dark Souls III

For as much as I enjoyed it at the time, I don't have the best long view of Dark Souls II. Its a fine game, and still heads and shoulders better than most other studios could have probably produced (as Lords of the Fallen was kind enough to demonstrate to me), but I can't help but feel like it is a shadow of the amazing game that was Dark Souls.

Bloodborne came along and reignited my adoration for FromSoftware and the worlds they can create when they're firing on all cylinders. Or, more accurately: when Hidetaka Miyazaki is in the driver's seat (director/supervisor on almost all the Souls games, sans Dark Souls II). With the announcement that Miyazaki is returning to oversee things on DSIII, I am once again back on board and excited for a Dark Souls sequel.

And if DSIII fails to be somehow as amazing as Dark Souls is/was, others have made a great point: even when it is mediocre, a Dark Souls game is still a helluva lot more interesting and fun than almost anything out there. 

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I thought to myself before sitting down to write this that I didn't really have a lot to say about video games right now. Turns out, there is always plenty to say, plenty to look forward to, and plenty of games to play right now.

I should really get back to that, actually.

Thanks very much for reading!