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Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Posts 341 to 360 of 3,212

RogerRoger

@Gremio108 Thanks; glad it's not just me who reacted so badly towards Nozomi.

Its attention to detail, and some of its other mechanical elements, were incredibly "good for the time" but you're right, when it all comes together to create something so uniquely slow-paced, wooden and clunky, it can't exactly be called an amazing game under any circumstances. Not having played it back in the day, I think its appeal today is largely thanks to its notoriety (both positive and negative) and, like I said, I only really ended up liking it because I really, really wanted to.

It'll be a while yet, but thanks! These are games I'll use for a change of pace. I've got Life is Strange 2 queued up, but since it's another "standing and talking" game I'll likely reach for something a little more action-based afterwards. I'll get there eventually, I'm sure!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Gremio108

@RogerRoger I couldn't play the Shenmue "remasters" back to back, even as a longtime fan. I bookended 2019 with them, that was enough for me. I'm enjoying Shenmue III for the most part. I was about to go on a rant about it, but I'll take my moaning over to the 'currently playing' thread

Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.

PSN: Hallodandy

RogerRoger

@Gremio108 I have been eagerly anticipating your thoughts on the third game, yes!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Th3solution

@RogerRoger I’ll be curious to hear about Life is Strange 2. It hasn’t really set the gaming world on fire, so I’m worried it’s just not any good. I really liked the first two LiS games, so I’m prone to support the game on series loyalty alone, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it on the recent sale. But I came very close. I thought that The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit was pretty mediocre too, which has further bolstered my hesitation.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

RogerRoger

@Th3solution Same here. Captain Spirit was a mildly diverting evening for me, nothing more, so it didn't exactly do an effective job as a marketing teaser.

I'll be here with a review sometime late next week. If I remember to, I'll tag you.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Thrillho

@RogerRoger Please allow me to give my tardy thanks for the Shenmue review. It's a game I've always known about but never played myself and I can see why it was held in such high regard at the times but is known for being equally frustrating as it was innovative

And did you know when you completed the game that there was the option to play the game with the exact same weather conditions from the actual date you're playing?

https://www.cracked.com/article_21648_6-video-games-that-put-...

Thrillho

Thrillho

Also (separate post made because of the spoilers), isn't Shenmue 2 the game that infamously ends with a literal trek through the mountains?

Thrillho

Ralizah

@Thrillho That's a truly impressive and insane picture (and entertaining article overall, back from a mythic time when Cracked didn't suck). Until just reading this, I'd forgotten all of the hours I'd poured into trying to scrutinize pixels on a 240p display to figure out if the paintings in New Leaf were forgeries or not.

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

Thrillho

@Ralizah Yeah, Cracked used to be great. I mean, I can still remember random articles like that almost five years on. But I stopped using it regularly and most of the “names” have all left.

The gaming articles are still normally a good read on one of my very infrequent visits.

Thrillho

RogerRoger

@Thrillho Thanks for the article link, not just for the Shenmue factoid but also for the funny take on Shadow the Hedgehog which followed it. Made me chuckle, cheers!

It's weird, because whilst I definitely arrived at a "would quite like this to be over now" point, part of me did kinda wanna hang around in Shenmue and see other important dates come and go, like New Year's Day and Valentine's Day (although the latter might've included a new Nozomi scene, so maybe not). It's one heck of a detailed, fascinating and strangely-compelling world to move through.

Thanks for the reply, and for keeping the spoiler about Shenmue II separate! I'll try and remember to come back here once I've seen that game's credits!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

RogerRoger

Tagging @MightyDemon82 and @Th3solution as promised; apologies if I've forgotten anybody else.

***

Life is Strange 2
PC, PS4 (version played) and PC / September 2018 to December 2019

I feel the need to preface this review with the fact that I'm not American. I can't speak with any authority about how accurate a picture this game paints. All I can do is reflect on its effectiveness as a story, whilst hoping that French developer Dontnod Entertainment did its homework properly.

Because moreso than any other game I've played before, Life is Strange 2 isn't shy about having a strong political opinion. It displays its allegiances front and centre, making clear arguments about the current racial, social and economic state of the Union (some whispers for, but mostly shouts against). Whatever your personal perspectives may be, you'll end up respecting it for sticking so firmly to its message, even if its importance to the unfolding events can come and go over its five three-hour episodes.

Its direction is clear after the first ten minutes. Set amidst the hyperbolic rhetoric of the 2016 Presidential Election, the Diaz brothers, teenage Sean and nine-year-old Daniel, are in their front yard when a misunderstanding with some fake Halloween blood creates a scene which catches the attention of a local policeman. He panics and draws his gun right before the brothers' father, Esteban, rushes out with nothing but concern for his kids. In a development ripped from so many tragic headlines, the policeman shoots Esteban. Between that moment and the Diaz brothers becoming fugitives, however, there's a fantasy wrinkle; Daniel screams and unleashes a telekinetic blast which wrecks the yard, flips cars in the street but, worse, kills the policeman.

Despite the younger Diaz possessing this power, you play Life is Strange 2 as Sean, the powerless older brother who's just desperately trying to protect his sibling. Together, you flee with a plan to reach Mexico, trying to escape a country which you believe will convict you based on your skin colour and surname, rather than the facts. Since you had been living in Seattle, it's a long journey, filled with risk and adventure and plenty of tough choices to make. There's your game.

Untitled
Down Mexico Way: The biggest question isn't whether the Diaz brothers will ever reach the border, but rather what'll happen to them when they get there.

For almost the entire first episode, Daniel's superpower is barely mentioned. It's quite telling that its reveal plays second fiddle to the story beats and revelations concerning life, whether as orphaned youngsters or as Mexican-Americans (or as both). The priority is different to the previous Life is Strange, but that's no bad thing; we've already been to the "using your powers presents a moral dilemma" well before. Here, the same device is more often used as an allegory for living with, and making decisions for, somebody who's different from everybody else. Sure, the superpower allows for "things to happen" along the way, but the core of the story isn't its mystery, and there are no paradoxical choice-based outcomes that define events in the same way Max's manipulation of time did before. It's all about two brothers growing up whilst on the run. The fact that one of them can use the Force is merely window dressing.

Because you're not playing as Daniel, gameplay is virtually non-existent. This is a 'choose your own adventure' visual novel, moreso than ever. There are no failure screens, since you can't rewind time this time, and barely any puzzles to figure out. Your primary input is making judgement calls that'll affect Daniel's upbringing and development as a kid, something that has a surprising amount of impact on the ultimate outcome (there are four very different endings, seven if you count some minor variations). Whatever you make Sean do, Daniel will invariably emulate later, and so you're faced with walking a fine line between being setting a good example and doing whatever's necessary to survive. This can be obvious at times, but subtle elsewhere, and really made me feel self-aware and thoughtful about my decisions, none of which are on the clock (thank goodness). Given that I'm the younger of two brothers in real life, I have to applaud its effectiveness. It made me phone him up, just to say hey.

Other recurring elements have less success, though. Several scenarios leave you wandering around an enclosed environment, looking for specific objects with which to further the plot. There's nothing as excruciating as the empty bottles fetch-quest from Arcadia Bay's junkyard, but I did occasionally find myself wanting the game to get on with itself. There's also a sketching thing Sean can do multiple times in each episode, but it's a laborious chore to execute and there's zero skill to it, making it feel like unnecessary padding.

Untitled
Drawn-Out Process: The idea of Sean's sketchbook is a cute one, even if it never manages to be more than a complicated placeholder for Max's polaroids.

There were other eye-rolling instances throughout. Once again, there's an irresponsible adolescent preoccupation with trying to romanticise recreational drug use (a reckless obsession which borders on propaganda, no matter what a tiny blink-and-you-miss-it disclaimer may say upon booting the game up) and its soundtrack swings wildly between various types of indie falsetto screeching or absent-mindedly strumming an acoustic guitar, so it's definitely a Life is Strange joint in its genes. If this kinda tone isn't your thing, you'll struggle to relate to certain secondary characters, and this'll make some supposedly-tough decisions easy to dismiss later on.

The third episode was the hardest sell. For me, it lost focus, and felt jarringly at odds with the concept of being an interactive road movie. It overstuffed the narrative with too many new characters, many of them lazy stereotypes. It also ended on a cheap cliffhanger, seemingly out of obligation since, until that point, the game hadn't featured enough dramatic twists (and hadn't needed to). Upon seeing all of the divergent paths on my choice statistic screen afterwards, it became clear that it was an inescapable outcome; no matter what, events were engineered to turn out a certain way. It reminded me of how limited my control over these established characters really was, at least until the ending(s) and Daniel's education notwithstanding.

Constant forward motion is both a blessing and a curse in a game like this. It's nice that things stay varied, but the ability to form connections with a large cast of NPCs (one of the first season's biggest wins) is partially sacrificed as a result. For example, you eventually do meet up with Chris, a.k.a. the hero of free prequel The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, but it's only for half an episode because hey, gotta keep moving. You're still being introduced to new faces in the final episode, and a drawn-out farewell with them falls flat because you've barely been given enough time to learn their names, let alone get to know any of them. No amount of written backstory (which, admittedly, is plentiful) can make up for actual interaction.

Untitled
That's the Spirit: Whilst it's nice to check back in with Chris, the promise of his starring role from the freequel isn't really explored to its full potential.

Never staying settled does offer up the opportunity for some landscape diversity, however, as Dontnod present you with as many clichés from the American postcard playbook as possible. You'll explore abandoned national parks, visit redneck gas stations, wander vast deserts and escape a creepy corner of the cult-riddled Bible Belt. Everywhere certainly looks the part. In this respect, the game's creaking engine (designed for a simultaneous PS3 release back in 2013) puts on a brave face, but its character models and animations can often betray its age. Robotic movements and expressions chiselled from granite frequently let down the stellar voice acting, and people's limbs regularly clip through their clothing. There are still texture pop-in issues, too, even on PS4 Pro, although the framerate was 99% stable, only juddering once after I made a major choice.

But again, just like those awkward sketchbook pauses, you'll be able to overlook these shortcomings to stay focused on guiding the Diaz brothers towards the conclusion of their tale. The final episode is well worth the journey. It does away with any hints of subtlety, turning political subtext into full-blown text and making a forceful grab for your heartstrings. It's a raw, powerful crescendo which pays all of the previous episodes' debts, and the ending I got (after I listened to my head, instead of my heart) made me properly cry. Whenever people used to rave about Max and Chloe from the first game, I'd frown or shake my head; I never connected with them, never "got" them as much as others did. This includes my best friend who, after listening to me wax lyrical yesterday, replied with, "Sean and Daniel are your Max and Chloe."

And they really are. Irrespective of whatever socio-political comment Life is Strange 2 is attempting to make, it walks you through some universally human decisions, and its unfortunate series of events ultimately bring out the best in Sean as he desperately tries to do right by his gifted little brother and wrestle with his emotions. I sat and thought about the Diaz brothers for a very long time after the credits had rolled. Despite being an assemblage of polygons and voicework, they're some of the most real people I've ever encountered.

Untitled
Brothers in Arms: Whatever else this game may be, its masterful handling of Sean and Daniel Diaz is an unquestionable victory, and I'm really gonna miss them.

Your actual mileage may vary, of course. There may be some elements which simply don't ring true for you, or you may feel that a cynical take on America is arrogant and unwarranted, coming from a French developer and all. You may even rally against the constraints of some of its binary choices, as I did at times, or argue that its distinct lack of gameplay makes calling it a game a bit rich. I can see these being valid points for many people. If that's your view, fair enough.

But, now that its painful release schedule is finished and there's a complete story out there, I'd certainly urge you to experience it for yourselves. Make up your own minds. Allow it to question your perspectives. Look beyond its surface-level details and give it a chance.

Because whether you agree or disagree, isn't that kinda the whole point of art?

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Th3solution

@RogerRoger Another fabulous review, my friend. I appreciate your insight and clarity. It’s the perfect amount of information to give me a solid understanding about the game. Yet despite this, I am undecided about whether to play it. Your adoration for the journey and connection to the characters is clear, and that really makes me want to experience it. But as an American who tires of being exposed to the constant political bickering and partisan mud-slinging in the media I am certainly hesitant to trudge through something that sounds this overtly socio-political. I’m pretty open-minded and I am fully in favor of the use of art and entertainment to increase social awareness and promote noteworthy causes, but.. well, I do live here. And I don’t necessarily want to feel like I’m being preached to from an outside party that doesn’t have first hand knowledge of the situation. I would never dare tell someone in the UK how to feel about Brexit, for example. Obviously human rights are universal, so it’s not the same, but as a member of a minority class in America, I’m not sure I can stomach how an outsider is telling the world of my plight. The handling of social justice in a game like Detroit Become Human or Red Dead Redemption 2 is done tastefully abstract, but I’m worried that Life is Strange 2 is coming across as an attack on the cracks in American social constructs. No doubt we have a long way to go as a society, but the average European who only sees the hyped-up and sensationalized headlines will no doubt feel tempted to portray life in the U.S. to be much worse than it actually is.

My reluctance to jump in has basically made the decision for me, as the PSN sale is now over and the price has ballooned back to $40, so at the very least I’m going to wait until it drops back down to $20. Alternatively the physical version (although likely to be only the first episode with a key to download the other episodes digitally) comes out in a few weeks and so I might try to wait and pick that up instead due to its resalability.

How would you compare the choice and consequence type of options to Detroit Become Human? Obviously it won’t be nearly as fleshed out, but does the game promote replaying it in order to see the alternate narrative threads that one might miss out on in a first playthrough? It sounds closer to Telltale than to Quantic Dream, but the presence of different endings seems like a definite evolution past the Telltale genre that inspired the LiS series.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Ralizah

@RogerRoger You are a machine, my friend. Great review. The cloying indie-tinted romanticizing of modern teen culture seemed sort of insufferable in the original, and this sounds even worse, so I think I'll pass on it.

RogerRoger wrote:

There may be some elements which simply don't ring true for you, or you may feel that a cynical take on America is arrogant and unwarranted, coming from a French developer and all.

Honestly, with all the violence and confusion we've inflicted on the rest of the world these last couple of decades, I'm not inclined to complain about how foreigners depict us.

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

RogerRoger

@Th3solution Thanks for saying that, as part of me wanted to give away less about the game's content and allow people to discover it for themselves, but I said to myself "How would I feel if I were American, playing this external assessment of my country?" and saw it differently. I would say that there's no literal flag-waiving going on, and for large chunks of the game you can block out the underlying message and just treat it as a coming-of-age story, but certain characters and scenarios are incredibly on-the-nose and therefore difficult to ignore. As a result, several of the decisions feel like you're supposed to be hesitant and nervous, even when I personally wasn't because (despite the media's best efforts) I know that not every white, bearded trucker is gonna shoot somebody with the surname Diaz.

It's a shame that this approach is a turn-off for you, and will be for others, because aside from those elements the core story of two brothers growing up in difficult circumstances is absolutely, heart-wrenchingly beautiful. For fewer bucks, I'd still recommend it despite what you've said, but don't blow forty on it. I paid around £15 and I'm satisfied to have gotten my money's worth.

Of course, should you ever play it, I'd love to compare notes.

As for the alternate endings, I don't think they warrant a full replay. The official Life is Strange YouTube channel has put out an "all endings" compilation (rather quickly, it would seem) and I just watched that last night. Since there are no trophies tied to specific outcomes, it's enough to just know that they're there (and I'm saying this as somebody who would've preferred one of the others to the one I got). And besides, by the time it becomes an issue, your guidance of Daniel has reached whatever trigger is embedded in the game's code to make a difference anyway. There's nothing as branching as Detroit, it's much more "binary with variations" and you can always replay an episode in chunks to (essentially) turn left instead of right, once you've seen what's possible.

@Ralizah Thank you. That specific issue you mention is somewhat contained to that difficult third episode, but there are hints of it from the beginning. Sean matures across the five episodes, but there's always an echo of that tone somewhere, popping back up to remind you of the developers' perspectives on how teenage life should be. It was what often reminded me that I'm playing a pre-established character, despite all the choices given to me. You can't craft Sean as much as you can Daniel, which is a fascinating mechanic, but it's ultimately Sean you're always stuck with, for better or worse.

Your other point, I can only smile at. Not because I have any set view of America in my head, but because I wouldn't blame anybody for looking at the UK with similar cynicism right now. A little bit of transcendent international commonality in these divisive times, I guess.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Th3solution

@RogerRoger I do think I’ll probably pick it up later since I like mixing in story driven palate-cleanser “choice” games every so often and there’s not a huge number of these out there until we get The Wolf Among Us 2.
And I would be hypocritical to, on one hand be reluctant about a team making a piece of art that speaks on a subject they have no first hand experience with, yet be prejudiced about a game without having first hand experience with it. If I play the game and it drastically offends my American sensibilities, then I will be in a position to pass judgment. “The Man in the Arena” and all that jazz. 😉

So do you recommend I go back and complete Captain Spirit? I played it for a couple hours and got bogged down in all the minutiae and grew bored of the character, so I never saw how it concludes. It sounds like he’s not that important to the actual game.

Edited on by Th3solution

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

RogerRoger

@Th3solution Yes, complete Captain Spirit. As with every Life is Strange game, looking at everything is a time-killing drag but, if you go back and just focus on seeing its story unfold, it shouldn't take long and you can do so safe in the knowledge that all of its peripheral fluff is unimportant. But you should definitely see how his freequel ends (alternatively, you could always just watch a cinematic cut of it on YouTube if you'd prefer, but it does import some cosmetic choices if you have a completed save file on your console).

When I started the first episode of the first game, I tried looking at every single item, reading every single note, etc. and it nearly made me scream when I realised how unimportant most of it is. Sufficed to say, I probably only glanced at half the available minutiae in Life is Strange 2 and I'm no worse for doing so.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

MightyDemon82

@RogerRoger that was a stellar review I'll definitely check it out, sounds like it has a few niggles but nothing that would put me off of seeing it through to the end. Thanks for giving us your opinion!

Edited on by MightyDemon82

MightyDemon82

RogerRoger

@MightyDemon82 No worries, happy to help. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

Gremio108

Hmm, interesting. You've made me want to re-download Captain Spirit at the very least. That's all my backlog will allow for now, but that was a good read.

Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.

PSN: Hallodandy

mookysam

Another excellent review @RogerRoger. I recently watched the game be played, rather than playing it myself, and thoroughly enjoyed the passive experience. The relationship between the brothers is excellent and the core of the game. I felt quite emotionally invested in their journey, more so than when I watched the first Life is Strange be played. It's interesting because given the things that happen to the brothers, some of the more instinctive, reactionary player choices are the ones that lead to Daniel becoming "bad". Player choice in games like this always irritates me because the games almost always view it as a binary choice. Hopefully this is something that will evolve as we move into the next generation. Issues with the writing are perhaps a lack of subtlety and as you noted a veritable horde of one-dimensional stereotypical characters.

Life is Strange 2's politics are sometimes a little clumsy but the game has the right to explore them (whether the developers are French or not). Although it may be inspired by US current affairs, it's nonetheless fictitious and an artistic representation of the real world. The lines are blurrier when it comes to depicting the lived experience of minorities and I feel that this requires sensitivity and proper research - which is something I would hope dontnod did.

Black Lives Matter
Trans rights are human rights

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