@Th3solution Games like Skyrim are naturally inspired by medieval European settings. But because it's fantasy-based, it's not really the same thing because you don't suddenly think that you're in England. It doesn't feel like I'm learning anything about how those countries were like, while a game like A Plague Tale actually feels realistic (excluding the excessive amounts of rats and all that supernatural stuff, lol). For example, I can't think of any story-driven game that takes place in Spain. I feel like there has to be a lot you can learn by making a game that takes place in that country. That's actually one of the reasons why I love the Assassin's Creed series, the setting changes in every game. Regardless of what most people think about Ubisoft, you have to admit that they should at least be commended for focusing so much on implementing different historical settings in the AC games. I don't think there's any other series that does it to that level, which is very impressive.
@RogerRoger I've moaned a few times about getting my PS4 too early, since nothing really good came out for it, IMO, until 2017, and I could have just purchased a Pro if I'd waited, but having access to P.T. honestly takes the edge off that complaint. It's a hugely unique and effective piece of software that I'd hate not having access to.
I do agree that mechanical experimentation like in UNS Revolution should be a lot more tolerable for long-time fans when it's limited to filler and side-games and main series entries are coming out semi-regularly. This is honestly a lesson I wish Nintendo developers would learn: their weird gimmicks and experiments would often receive less backlash if they were otherwise serving fans what they wanted in the first place.
Those animated menus probably look like they're snazzy as hell. Small touch, perhaps, but you can go a long way on small touches. Stuff like that makes a big impression on me as a player.
I'm a little intrigued that previous games allowed you to customize who narrated the menu options for you as well!
As for writing styles: grass is greener and all that, I guess. But I've always admired the ability of some people to just... perform on a whim. I can obviously get into a groove with my writing if I do it long enough, but I'm really impressed with someone being able to just pound out something that reads as well as your pieces do. My own pieces are all explicitly planned, down to the paragraph, and usually require days of work to get right. Now, don't get me wrong: I'm often pretty happy when I end up posting reviews, even if they can be a little overly structured. It's just my style, and whenever I try to do something different, I get frustrated with how much I leave out. For better or for worse, the methodical approach is the only one I'm satisfied with.
But you're right: there are as many approaches to talking about games as there are people, and I feel like I've learned and improved along with other people in this thread who have contributed.
@Th3solution Excellent contribution! I definitely like the way A Plague Tale uses what sounds like fairly ordinary game design to explore an environment and social context that is utterly under-utilized in media today. While it may not have the impressive technical detail that goes into the biggest-budget AAA games, I daresay I like the idea of approximating a AAA-esque presentation while still keeping the budget of the project under control. It's a nice break from the dichotomy of blockbusters and tiny indie experiences that seem to dominate the industry these days. AA games used to be prevalent, but you don't see as much of them from Western developers these days.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@RogerRoger@Ralizah Thanks! I did really enjoy my time, and I enthusiastically recommend it but if I’m honest with myself, there are plenty of shortcomings, as I’ve outlined. In fact, it brings up the topic which we’ve touched on in this thread before — that of the inherent nature of personal preference and unconscious preconceived bias when reviewing a game. I know we’ve talked about how a prior love of the property or genre of a game will intrinsically bump it in our minds and taint how we may feel about other unrelated aspects of the game and cause us to be more forgiving of a games weaker points (such as a Star Wars game being enjoyable just because it’s from that license, or enjoying an RPG just because of the setting). So in the case of APT I’ve likely given it a bump because I really like history.
The development background is another issue that indeed affects my perception. I heard the issue discussed recently in a podcast about if it’s fair (either consciously or subconsciously) to take a game’s cost, budget, or development circumstances into consideration when judging it. It all relates to the idea of preconceived expectations versus results. It’s hard for me personally not to consider it when coming up with final impressions of a piece of entertainment.
I think therein lies why some gamers like indies and some don’t. I suspect many casual gamers actually are oblivious to what a game’s budget and development background is; they just boot up a game and play and judge it based on ‘face value’. And I can see the value of that kind of pure opinion. But for the enthusiasts like us and most professional critics, part of the whole fabric of the game experience is pre-play hype, prior knowledge of the developer or franchise, marketing (or lack thereof), and other circumstances surrounding the release (such as — is this an early generation release on new tech, were there obstacles during development like a pandemic, etc.).
When taking that all into consideration, one can’t help but give certain games a break for a shortcoming, or be extra critical when the opposite is true — for example when a game is delayed multiple times, has an enormous team and budget, and yet is still broken on release [cough] Cyberpunk [cough].
I think it explains why games like Journey have such a wide variance in perception. Critics and sources like PushSquare rave about it and give it 10/10 scores, yet it’s common to have players try it and be dumbfounded at why it’s so highly regarded. See also The Order 1886 for another example, a game which when judged outside of its release situation, context, and price point would have been received more favorably; one which I played years past its release and got for $10 and really enjoyed.
I say all this (and I apologize for the dissertation 😅) to justify my positive feelings on APT, and also other games in which I came away so pleasantly surprised. If A Plague Tale came out in its current form and was produced by Activision or developed by Rockstar on a budget of $200 million then would I have still enjoyed the game? Sure, I think so. But would I have rated it as highly? Probably not. There would likely have been a twinge of disappointment at the little nuanced problems in the game I outlined in my review.
I say all this, and yet I don’t discount the real and legitimate phenomenon whereby indies and lower budget titles tend to be more experimental in their output. There’s a layer of wanton creative freedom that comes with the lower production investment, and so part of the charm of these A and AA games is that and it also can lead to a bump when critiquing them.
These personal biases are what make user reviews so valuable I think. Most professional critics might be too subconsciously prejudiced because they may know people who develop the game, they may get free merch from the producer and get the review copy for free, etc. I know they try to keep an objective view, as do I, but it’s difficult sometimes.
And I guess at the end of the day, whether a person enjoys a game or not, the circumstances are honestly immaterial. If a player likes a game, I suppose it doesn’t really matter why they like it. If he or she has psyched themselves out with pre-game hype and it carries over to make them enjoy a game through rose-tinted glasses, then it’s still enjoyable all the same.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution The fact that you're already aware of your own possible biases regarding this game is half the battle. While many of us try to be fair when we review a game, there is simply no way to disconnect the subjectivity of the reviewer from their opinion of a piece of media. And, frankly, there probably shouldn't be: part of the appeal of art is the way it connects emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually with the viewer. Games are no different.
I do appreciate when people who write about games go the extra mile and try to highlight design choices that might be contentious or problematic for a reasonable person, even if they didn't personally matter to that person. It's something I try to do in my own pieces.
And yeah, I definitely think you have to take into account who is making a game when discussing the technical merits of it, when possible. A titan of the industry, a mid-level company working with smaller budgets, and someone designing games in their garage are going to have different resources available to them, and some games are inherently more impressive when coming from unlikelier sources.
I also try to take the capabilities of the system into account when discussing how a game runs. Some things are more impressive on some systems than others, and limitations of a game on one platform will be more excusable than on another if there's a significant power disparity between them.
And I do think there is a lot of truth in the observation that the indie scene has more room for creative growth because of the lack of money invested in projects on average. It feels like the budgets and time needed to develop big games increase every generation, and the more you have on the line in that regard, the less room you have to include something that has the potential to fail. Not to mention exploding game budgets are being used as excuses for jacking up prices, selling DLC, micro-transactions, season passes, etc.
@RogerRoger Nah. Well, the final segment of the game, before you unlock the actual trailer for Silent Hills (thinking about how that project got nuked still annoys the hell out of me), is bizarrely random in terms of what can happen, but P.T. otherwise goes through the same motions in mostly the same order otherwise. I just can't abide the thought of permanently never having access to what is arguably one of the better free video games out there. I mean, it'll happen eventually, since I expect the PS4's hard drive to stop working at some point, but, until then, it has a value that other pieces of gaming hardware I own simply don't have.
Nothing you've said sounds patronizing, lol. Even in this topic, yeah, going back and looking at some of my older work, I've absolutely improved. And it's night and day from when I was first posting long-form impressions in the Recently Beaten thread, where my "reviews" were lists of bullet points under Pro and Con headings! And I don't know that I would have been motivated to improve like that if there weren't other people posting their work as well, which is why I'm appreciative to everybody who contributes.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@RogerRoger Yes, I think you read my mind. That extra 0.5 was thrown in there because when I went to give it a 7, that felt a little low for the extent to which I enjoyed it. When I then tried to consider an 8, it felt much too high when comparing to other 8/10 type of games out there. So I hedged with the 7.5.
And ironically, I have the opposite struggle from yours — I’ve tried not to give a score (I think I’ve done a few reviews without scores before on here, but I can’t remember for sure) and I just feel inclined to put down a number. It seems like a period at the end of the sentence for me. Nonetheless, I’ve never felt your reviews ever felt inadequate without one. Your style is much more readable and descriptive than mine, so a score might even seem superfluous. I actually respect those who can craft a review or impression piece that is so clear that as the reader I have no doubt what the final summation is, with or without an actual score. For me however, I grapple with my thoughts and opinions which results in my vomiting words onto the screen to express my roaming ideas and I worry that the final product doesn’t make a lot of sense. So I feel the need to sort of conclude things with an empiric and concrete numeral. I have a weird innate need for numbering, ranking, prioritizing, and categorizing.
Ooops… here you were trying to avoid dragging out the “to score or not to score” quagmire again and I’ve gone and done it anyway. Ah shucks, too late now.
The PS5 has had its fair share of problems. Drifty sticks, bad state of play showcases, bots buying up the consoles. However, the games have kinda made up for it? Astro’s Playroom was a stunning, fun showcase of the hardware, Bugsnax was a creative, if tedious catchathon/story game, Sackboy was a fun, yet flawed platformer, Spider-Man Miles Morales was a charming action game that lacked a bit of length and Spider-Man Remastered was Spider-Man Remastered. However, the PS5 recently got it’s game. Like Breath of the Wild to the Switch, Sunset Overdrive to the Xbox One, Smash Bros Melee for the GameCube. Here are my thoughts on Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
Game: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Played on: PS5
While there won’t be any story spoilers in this review, there are some parts of the game I mention that you might not wanna know about if you haven’t played the game. You have been warned.
This game starts with a parade, celebrating Ratchet and Clank’s career as heroes which, according to Captain Qwark, ends with “a special gift from Clank to Ratchet.” After a pretty great tutorial that gets you caught up with the story so far, we find out that the gift is the dimensionator. I didn’t play the last games but the game establishes that ratchet’s species, the lombaxes, is lost in another dimension and that the dimensionator was a thing in the last game which can open portals to other dimensions. Before Ratchet can grab it, it’s stolen by Dr. Nefarious. His plan is to send Ratchet and Clank to a dimension where he always wins. Ratchet tries to stop him by shooting it with his blast pistol but that sends things crashing in from other dimensions. Soon, Ratchet, Clank and Nefarious get sent into the dimension. Clank gets taken by this new lombax called Rivet, Ratchet goes out looking for him and Nefarious crowns himself emperor of the dimension. Now, Ratchet, Clank and Rivet have to rebuild the dimensionator and stop Nefarious. This story is a good time and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Stuff like Nefarious’ PSAs when you walk around Nefarious city or in your ship are pretty funny.
The entire Ratchet and Clank series is about travelling across space and exploring planets. Each one has a distinct theme and mechanic. I’m gonna talk about one specific planet that I love a bit too much. Cordellion. Basically, this planet turns the game into Alien Isolation. You’re being stalked in an abandoned factory by a creature known only as “Juice”. You’re guided by a helper bot called Junk Bot and it’s clear to see that he’s been in the factory for so long that he’s gone slowly insane. Looking at the scenery, it’s clear that something terrible happened but you don’t find out until the end of the planet. You then hit these crystals called Blizon crystals that send you into another dimension and you see a better, fixed up Cordellion. You find out that Juice is actually a creature that generates power for the station. In the other dimension, Junk Bot set it free and that’s why the factory’s destroyed. It’s pretty tense. It’s also a majorly cool showcase for the PS5’s lighting capabilities, but we’ll get into that later. I’m only talking about this planet as it, in my opinion, has the best theming and atmosphere. However, a lot of the planets don’t really let you explore and they’re mostly just Point A to Point B. It gets pretty old, pretty fast.
The part that Ratchet games are most well known for are the weapons. You have your basics like a burst pistol, The Enforcer which is basically a double barrel shotgun and shatter bombs which are grenades, and you have your odd-balls like the RYNO (stands for Rip Ya A New One, by the way) which opens rifts in the space-time continuum with objects from other dimensions that explode. Some of those objects are references to classic Playstation games like a precursor orb from Jak and Daxter, Sully’s Plane from Uncharted and even Fizzie from Insomniac’s other third-person shooter, Sunset Overdrive. There’s also the Topiary Sprinkler. This is a throwable weapon that sprinkles the enemies with water and turns them into topiaries. My personal favourite weapon is the Warmonger, a basic RPG that you can upgrade to the Peacemaker that homes in and launches mini rockets on impact. It’s a major heavy hitter. The only problem is that a lot of these weapons can just fit into basic titles like pistol, shotgun, grenade and RPG. There’s nothing majorly wacky and for Ratchet and Clank, this is a major downgrade. Come on, the last game had a sheep transforming ray!
Tell me if you’ve heard this before, “This is a stunning game that looks just as good as a modern Pixar movie. We are really blurring the lines between movies and games.” This is the best looking game I’ve ever played. You can see the strands of fur on Ratchet and Rivet, there are more realistic reflections on Clank, the animations are very detailed. The lighting, OH GOD. The lighting. The very first area, Nefarious City, is a true showcase. The neon lights shine on the puddles on the ground and you can see that Ratchet’s face is shiny from the rain. This game’s made by Insomniac, they’ve always had graphically intense games. This is THE game to get if you wanna see what your PS5 can really do.
One of the main gimmicks of this game is the fast loading rifts that load you into different levels in mere milliseconds. These rifts take you to some easy platforming challenges. Completing these rewards you with pieces of armour. The armour gives you upgrades and, here’s the best part, if you like the upgrade but hate the costume, it’s ok because the upgrade is permanent so you don’t have to wear the armour. This is something every game should do. Why would I want an +100% attack upgrade if I have to wear a rusty tin bucket to get it?
I’ve praised the dualsense controller before. You already know what the adaptive triggers are, you know what the haptic feedback is, I won’t explain as it’ll waste too much time.
Like the graphics, this game pushes the dualsense to its limits. When it rains, you feel tiny taps on the controller, when there’s an explosion, you feel the boom, when you’re low on health, it actually feels like there’s a heart beating inside of the controller. This game also does something really cool with the triggers that I wish more shooters would do. If you press it down half way, the gun shoots a bit more limited but if you press the triggers all the way, the gun goes to full blast. This is very useful if you just wanna be precise. Like I said, get this game if you wanna see what your console can do.
Conclusion
A lot of the games that have launched on the PS5 so far haven’t really shown me what the PS5 is capable of. However, this game is the complete opposite. It’s a true marvel. If Spider-Man didn’t exist, I would say this is my favourite PS5 game so far. With amazing graphics, fun gameplay and some stellar dualsense support, it’s a must have for any PS5 owner.
Pros
-Graphics are stunning
-Gameplay is very fun
-Ultra quick loading times
-Planets are well themed...
Cons
-...but they’re mostly linear “Point A to Point B” levels
-Some weapons feel pretty basic for a Ratchet and Clank game
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
10/10 Outstanding
EDIT: The game's on sale this weekend only! GO! GO! GO!
I've heard a lot of people state something to that effect: that it's the first game that really feels like it's taking full advantage of the hardware. The DualSense haptics, fast loading, and extreme visual polish sound great, although it is a shame to hear how linear the level design is, and that it's lacking some of the fun, wacky weapons for previous games.
I actually hadn't heard about the armor granting you permanent stat bumps, but that is nice to hear. Too many games force you to choose between aesthetics and optimal gear builds.
I imagine this will remain the go-to Playstation 5 exclusive for a long while unless Sony announces something else fully exclusive to the console in the upcoming showcase.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@RogerRoger I really enjoyed your review and especially like the little anecdote of picking up a copy and playing on the snow closure school day. What a great memory that must be. And certainly plays into your continued enjoyment of the game even today.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger thanks for the tag! Yes I'm certainly interested in reading your modern takes on these classic Trek games!!
I didn't know there was an FPS version of Generations, ill have to track that down! Do you reckon you'll ever get around to reviewing some other older SNES/PC games? I remember there was a decent-ish looking DS9 game on SNES. I'm guessing probably not as you'd probably have to resort to emulation to play them but uhhh, I won't tell if you don't!
When I think Rambo in a Starfleet uniform, I think of Picard in First Contact! 😂
I have actually played this game, recentishly though, not when it came out. I think I played it about 5-6 years ago. I really don't remember all of the subtle details that you picked up on in your review but then again, I don't think I thought as critically about games back then. I mainly remember it just being a very good FPS set in the Voyager universe and I did very much enjoy playing it!
I'll have to track down a PC copy at some point because the holodeck missions sound really cool. To be honest, I'd like to just get all of them in some form or another. Bought and paid for, I have the reboot Star Trek game, Bridge Crew for PSVR (now updated to not use PSVR), Elite Force on PS2 and something called Star Trek Borg for PC/Mac which I've never played. I do have moody copies of all the retro console games (up to the ps1 generation) and DOS games on my computer but haven't had a chance to really play them.
Tom Paris looks like he's having a bad day in that last pic, if that is Tom Paris. He looks like his brains have been sucked out the back of his head, perhaps by that suspicious looking Chakotay behind him!!
I'm back to my old ways again, doing quick reviews of PS plus games. I've moved them over to the PS Plus thread though because I've moved away from the PS3 section of my spreadsheet. I've done about a dozen or so, starting from this post here if you fancy a gander
Don't feel obliged to read or comment on them though, just thought I'd point the out in case you were interested and I'm not sure if you frequent the PS Plus thread!
@RogerRoger Great piece, as always. Good build-up/introduction, especially for us non-Trekkies (or, as you put it, "folks who can't tell their Vidiians from their Hirogen," as I can indeed confirm I have no idea what those words mean, although, if I had to caution a guess, I'd say they were alien races in that universe), and I also found the personal anecdote rather charming. I had no idea this game existed, but it sounds like a fun shooter, and I really like that in-universe rationalization for being able to cycle through a ton of different weapons without physically having them on your person. Also cool to hear about a game this old featuring any sort of gay-oriented dialogue that wasn't intended as a "har-har" moment.
I looked for it on GOG/Steam, but apparently the publisher never bothered to re-publish it on digital storefronts. I'm guessing it's probably another hostage victim of the copyright issues that seem to have plagued the re-releases of a number of classic properties over the years.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy thanks Foxy, they weren't my screenshot though... I'm old and tech-phobic. I'd no idea how yo take a screen shot and post it here 🤣
Thanks! It can be a pretty difficult series to talk about without spoiling, given the genre they're in, so I'm glad the review turned out well. I've been a pretty huge fan of the series for more than a decade now, and I'm still just super stoked this collection was localized.
Probably going to blast through the second game after finishing God of War and Nocturne HD Remaster, as that'll be the last bit of time I have before SMT V takes over my life in November.
Speaking of...
RE: Shin Megami Tensei
It's funny you mention Nocturne, since I actually returned to it yesterday for the first time in a few months. I'm already well past the point I was at when my memory card crapped out on me. Now I'm stuck with a conundrum: do I go for the ending I'd prefer if I was in Demi-Fiend's shoes, or do I do the TDE, since it's the most complete and gives access to the largest amount of in-game content? Decisions, decisions.
Alternatively, I could always just leave a late-game save file to revisit and get TDE later.
All I know is that while it's a good game in it's own right, it's also helping to distract a bit from SMT V. Ironically, these last two months are harder to wait through than the preceding 4 years since the announcement were.
The pretty much constant advertising for it since E3 helps, at least. There's literally something new about the game everyday online, with the daily demon videos, multiple trailers, soundtrack teasers, etc.
I'm kind of tempted to keep my special edition sealed, but if someone else doesn't rip the soundtrack and put it online, I'm going to rip my own CDs. The music in this game has been fantastic so far.
SMT I, despite its sparse presence localization-wise, has been ported pretty frequently in Japan. There's also a PS1 port that I'd love to play someday (the music is better than in the GBA version, unsurprisingly). I'm tempted to seriously study Japanese for a few years and then just play the raw ISO of that version without a localization patch.
But it's interesting how different the GBA and SNES versions of SMT I are presentation-wise, despite the two platforms being fairly technologically on par with one another. SMT I didn't have to look as low-rent on SNES as it did. Just some changes to the color palette, added textures on the in-game tile-sets, and an improved user interface makes it feel dramatically more modern.
For some mad reason I got it into my head that I really wanted to play the entire Metal Gear Solid series through immediately, and so despite my ever increasing backlog I got right on it. For clarity, a run through of the entire Metal Gear Solid series according to me means playing MGS1-4 and not bothering with anything else. We don't talk about Peace Walker here, and we definitely don't talk about Ground Zeroes, and woe betide anybody who mentions The Phantom Pain.
I have to say, Metal Gear Solid has held up pretty well. And by pretty well I think I mean that it's held up better than I imagined it would hold up. The controls weren't very good even when it came out, but the fact that the whole game uses in-engine graphics rather than switching to FMV for cut-scenes means that you have the chance to get used how everything looks and you've never got that jarring, Final Fantasy VII, oh here's the bit with the good graphics and now it's back to LEGO.
The story in Metal Gear Solid is, I think, still brilliant. It's interesting, with great characters, and it gets a little out there, but throws in some real world history and some definitely not real world history, and it's really never lost any lustre for me. I actually think story-wise there's few games - even today - that can stand up to it. The voice acting is mostly pretty good, too, or certainly, it fits with the characters.
For as much as I love Metal Gear Solid, I found myself occasionally bored when I moved to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. I was surprised by how good it looks with the HD visuals in the remaster, and certainly how much better than the original it looks. The gameplay is still whatever - I never played these games because I thought they had great combat or anything - but I had fundamental problems with Metal Gear Solid 2 when it released with the story and how it's told, and while that has softened somewhat over time, I'm still not crazy about it.
I know it's probably a controversial opinion because the game is a bit of a darling, but for me, Metal Gear Solid 2 is the weakest of the four main games. It can't really be played alone, unlike the first game, since the story relies heavily on knowledge of that story. It also feels like a middle game because the story isn't resolved, with a lot of baddies still in play by the end. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely my least favourite in the series for many reasons I won't bore you with.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a home run for me. Like the first game, it's a standalone story which helps, and it's got a really strong cast of ludicrous characters for Snake to go up against. While it's tough to ever top the baddies in the original Metal Gear Solid, the Cobra Unit here comes closer than any other cast in the series. Even Bee Man is good.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a contentious one because I know a lot of people don't like it for a lot of reasons and most of them I tend to agree with or at least understand on some level. But for whatever reasons this game gets away with it. It's like I've got a blind spot for it, where I know it's silly, and bloated, and there's issues, but I just don't care and I love it - it's like a Pirates of the Caribbean movie for me. It doesn't matter if you think nanomachines are dumb, or the sixty minute ending is absurd. I'm here for it.
Particular shout-out to Laughing Octopus who is a top boss, and one of my favourite in the whole series. And the final battle is one of my favourite final bosses in any game ever. I think one of the reasons that I love Metal Gear Solid 4 is because it just happens to tick so many of the boxes for things that I really like. I like long cut-scenes, I like lots of lore and story, I like ridiculous bosses, I like old men coming out of retirement for one last job, I like nostalgia, I like paying homage to an entire series that I love, and I like endings that just deliver. This game really does that, and so while I get the criticism, this is such a 10 for me, still.
Anyway, it's been probably seven or eight years since I played the whole Metal Gear Solid series, and as is always the case when I go back to a beloved franchise or game for a replay after a long time, I was worried it would disappoint. It honestly didn't. I loved the games more than I thought I would. Even in a world with your Last of Us's and your Tsushimas and whatever else you kids are playing, the series was an absolute joy to replay, and one I'll hopefully not take quite as long to get back to next time.
@Keith_Zissou 4 will always have a special place in my heart because of real life reasons - towards the end of the PS2 generation I actually became quite disillusioned with gaming and at the point right into the PS3 gen I didn't play much. I still gamed, but it's not like I was massively into it. I discovered going out, the pub, friends, etc. etc.
Metal Gear Solid 4 was one of the games that got me back into gaming in a big way - it was that followed by Mass Effect 2 a while later that really stirred the passion for gaming back into me. I'll always have fond memories of both games for that reason.
@johncalmc I really enjoy your little mini-review pieces that you occasionally drop and your Metal Gear Solid post was definitely… solid. Great thoughts, all. Except for the fact you ignored my favorite entry to the series, but I can forgive that I guess, because you made me laugh there at the end with the visions of you sitting on the porch complaining about “kids these days…” while you sip on prune juice in your rocking chair.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@johncalmc Nice broad sweep on this series. I really need to replay the first three games myself. Always wanted to play MGS4, but, having never owned a PS3, not being able to play that has always been one of my gaming regrets.
Personally, MGS2 was the sweet spot for me on PS2. It maintained the mechanical aspects I loved from the first game (hated that the dropped the radar and went with a camouflage system in MGS3) while giving it a far more thought-provoking storyline overall. And, if you like stupid characters, this one had a vampire! I also prefer the industrial theme to crawling around a jungle. The original game will likely always be my favorite, though. It was so impressive for its time, and it still has my favorite line-up of baddies.
I don't think your distaste for MGS2 is particular unpopular: the protagonist switch was hugely controversial back in the day, and Snake Eater has pretty much been the fan favorite since it released.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Some games are just inherently difficult not to spoil for others if you want to talk about them in any depth at all. At that point, you have to weigh the pros and cons of every piece of information you reveal.
As for the tone of SMT V, I actually prefer IV in that regard. Dark future/gritty 80s futurism > Dark fantasy/wandering around a desert any day. With that said, it's been pretty strongly implied in information dumps about the game since the E3 trailer that you and your friends aren't permanently stuck in Da'at and will be able to return to modern-day Tokyo throughout the game, which will give it a VERY different vibe. I could actually see light school life elements being woven into the game, which would give it a bit of Persona flair (they're already changing the way buffs work to align more with how they work in modern Persona games). With that said, they seem to be doubling down on the atmospheric and hostile feel of the game in other respects.
Interesting tidbit: the director of Shin Megami Tensei V also previously directed Atlus' Etrian Odyssey games.
I've actually studied Japanese before in University, so I know my hiragana, katakana, and some basic phrases and whatnot fairly well. What I'd like to do, and what's going to be incredibly difficult, is learn to read kanji at a level where I'll be able to appreciate video games and most literature. There are a ton of different approaches to it online that I've toyed with.
The thing about learning to read kanji is that the practice is fairly alien to an adult Westerner, so it'll take a TON of concentration, daily drills, and commitment.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@RogerRoger The first thing I did in both the UNS games I’ve played is rush to the options and change to Japanese audio because that’s what I’m used to 😂
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I don't mind the change to buffs at all. Most of Nocturne is so easy once you figure out fog breath + sukukaja trivializes 90% of the boss fights in that game. I did kind of like the whole buff stacking element, but I think the Persona approach will be more tactical when paired with a combat system that isn't ridiculously unbalanced.
The weird thing about the EO director being involved is that the EO series is PURE dungeon crawling, and, based on the footage, SMT V looks like the least dungeon-crawlery entry in the series to date, with the focus shifting to huge overworld landscapes instead.
So your partner can read Japanese? That's interesting. And yeah, I'm not surprised your daughter bounced off of it if she wasn't really invested in the idea of learning it. It's like trying to learn to read hieroglyphics, lol. I had a few Japanese friends in my university (the school attracted a ton of overseas learners from asian countries), and one of them effectively told me they'd have never learned to read in Japanese if it hadn't been what they'd grown up with, lol.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy The same division of Atlus (R&D1, which houses Team Maniax) that develops Etrian Odyssey also develops everything SMT-related other than Persona. EO itself feels very much like a successor to classic SMT in certain respects, with the hardcore level of difficulty (before the inclusion of difficulty setting in the last few games, anyhow), focus on gameplay over narrative, deep skill customization, labyrinthine dungeons, eldritch superbosses, a fusion of rock and orchestral pieces in the soundtracks, etc. With that said, it's sufficiently different from the MegaTen franchise that the two have fairly distinct fanbases, although I deeply love both.
They teased a next-gen EO game years ago, but SMT V looks like a very big, very expensive project for the company, and I imagine development efforts at that division have probably been laser-focused on that game for years now. Even after SMT V releases, though, I'm not entirely sold on the idea of another Etrian Odyssey game, since the focus on using the DS/3DS touchscreens to construct giant, elaborate dungeon maps have been a huge element of this series over the years. We'll see.
The Persona Q titles were actually a collab between R&D1 and P-Studio (which develops everything related to Persona). The only outside collaboration with this series was with the Mystery Dungeon series. Unfortunately, the first Etrian Mystery Dungeon sold terribly overseas, and so the sequel never released outside of Japan.
Good lord! Your partner sounds like a language genius. I'm a bit jealous, tbh: I've struggled to learn foreign languages over the years. If I ever master Japanese, I'll probably go back to German and try to achieve fluency in that. I probably should learn Spanish, but I just... don't really enjoy the language.
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