Just in case you're not a super nerd, here's a quick crash course in From Software's run directly leading to Bloodborne. First there was King's Field (1994) which set the tone for the super difficult to penetrate action RPG. This was a PS1 game that didn't even make it over to the US, which might sound confusing because there was a King's Field on PS1 in the States, but that was actually King's Field II with a different name. Then From Soft did a whole bunch of other stuff which probably included mechs until they finally gave us westerners Demon's Souls (2009) on PS3.
Demon's Souls was a critical darling and sort of a sleeper hit. It also solidified the blueprint for what they'd become best known for. There's no doubt that King's Field was the predecessor, but it's more like a practice run. Demon's Souls is the real deal and basically should be your barometer on whether or not you like From Soft games. It's both brutal and brilliant. I'm truly terrible at Demon's Souls, but I still really like that game a lot. And probably more importantly to most gamers, it led to the creation of Dark Souls (2011). Dark Souls feels like the first phenomenon that From had in the US. And make no mistakes - this was Demon's Souls in everything but name. I mean literally, they just lost the license to use that name. So Dark Souls was it. It was dark and punishing and confusing and lonely. And gamers ate it up. Personally, I enjoyed attempting Dark Souls, but it demolished me. If you're starting to notice a theme here, I promise it's not just in your head. I really appreciate these games, but I'm not good at them and I have little patience for improving that. Dark Souls II was released in 2014 and I skipped that one at the time. I just sort of recoiled in terror at the thought of attempting it. My memory is that critical analysis was mixed. Some fans seemed to think it strayed to far from the established formula. Others thought it was too much of the same. So I don't know. And then after that, From made Bloodborne. A totally a new game in their now referred to "Soulsborne" series. I've always hated that name, honestly. Why don't we just call these From games? I mean that's what they are. But whatever. Bloodborne was created as a PS4 exclusive. It was very much in the mold of Demon's Souls, but rather than a sort of classic European dungeons and dragons tone, it leaned hard into HP Lovecraft and horror and existential dread. Honestly, this all stuff that I should eat up. But I don't know. The vibe never really grabbed me. I speak as a guy who read a bunch of Cthulhu mythos in college and watched most anything that Stuart Gordon or Brian Yuzna or Dan O'Bannon did that adapted the work of Lovecraft. And yet when Bloodborne was released and everyone was excited I was kind of like "eh, they should just make another Dark Souls." Which they eventually did and I bounced off of. But that's neither here nor there. What exactly is the definition of masochism? I've got the internet at my fingertips, but I don't feel like looking it up because I'm just trying to make a quick point here and getting too technical isn't even necessary. I'm writing this in early 2024 and in recent months I've found myself experiencing some sort of FOMO. I've been trying to dig into critically acclaimed games that I've missed out on to see what exactly I did even miss out on. And so here we are at Bloodborne because frankly, it's part of my PS Plus subscription. It's free to me, or I'm paying for it so I should check it out. Whichever way you view the situation. My own definition of masochism is bringing pain upon yourself. Or maybe even enjoying the pain that you bring upon yourself. I don't know if I enjoy it, but I do it to myself. I play these games that the world at large loves and I hate them and yet I insist that it's necessary. I need to play them so that I'll have the experience. I play them so I can tell you that I have and I can tell you why I didn't like them. I play these games so I can be informed and talk from a place of knowledge rather than ignorance. Or maybe I play them because they're free on PS Plus and what else am I going to do? I need to settle on what to play somehow, or else I'll just spend even more hours on Balatro. Variety is the spice of life, and I need some spice else I'll just over-eat the same thing. The character creation in Bloodborne is classic From Soft. It's one of those editors you can spend way too much time in. I'm not the creative type, though. So I end up making the same sort of character in all of these things. Usually a small redhead that's scrappy named Newt. It's just easier to roll the same sort of character in all these kind of games rather than spend too much time overthinking. It's possible that part of my immediate love for Horizon Zero Dawn came from the fact that Alloy was exactly the sort of character I'd have created in any kind of modern action RPG adventure. Launching into things, there's that classic From intro level. You know the one. It's foreboding but manageable. And it ends with a boss fight that there's zero chance you'll survive. It follows the same into template that was started with Demon's Souls. I will say that the horror inspired werewolves are cool. And then you get into the meat of the game, which is again borrowed directly from Demon's Soul's structure. You've got a hub world. You've got various levels to venture into. You've got the whole ability to die and try to get back to your dropped gear to pick it back up. This is undoubtedly just Demon's Souls But Gothic Lovecraft Version. And yet something just feels off about it for me. I know in all actuality I'm in the tiny minority here, but the controls feel wonky in this one too me. Like the game is running too fast. Or the controls are too sensitive. Or just not quite responsive enough. I can't put my finger on it, but it doesn't feel as good to me as Demon's Souls or Dark Souls or Elden Ring. Look, I know fans love this game. And I know I probably should as well. But I just don't. I feel like it's a good idea I guess. But things just feel wrong. They just don't land for me. And I can't quite articulate it other than that. At the end of the day, I still appreciate this game. It's always cool to survey the work of From Soft as they're such a niche studio doing what they want to do and keeping things interesting. They exist in their own little bubble. But for me personally, Bloodborne is probably my least favorite of From Soft's output that I've actually put any time into.
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Aqu. I
So far I'm mixed on Final Fantasy Type-0, though admittedly I've barely scratched the surface of the game. The opening (super-long) cinematic was really dark. Like, I don't remember another Final Fantasy game that has had such gritty violence. I quite like the concept of this kind of young army, though. It seems like the idea is that there is a lot of customization depending on which characters you end up using. It being a Final Fantasy game, I'm not sure I really know what the story is about but it seems pretty cool anyway. I guess. I don't know how I'll feel about the hub-world versus a more traditional overworld map. Who knows, maybe I'll grow to appreciate it. And in fairness, I've loved that approach in stuff like Phantasy Star Online. I haven't dabbled in the menus yet, so don't really know how leveling up skills or weapons work. My main apprehension thus far is I'm not sure I'm too thrilled with the combat. I should divulge that - and this was my own misconception - for some reason I had thought going into Type-0 that the combat was turn based. It's totally not. So I guess that expectation getting dashed was a let down. It seems like the combat can be fairly complex, with switching between three characters and using various attacks/magic/skills. But eh, what seems like a reliance on having dodge attacks coupled with a rather lousy camera has so far made me think that the combat will be my least favorite part of the game. I hope this doesn't sound overly negative, as it's just my initial thoughts for an hour (which with cutscenes, is not a lot of playtime). I'll be working on it more in the next couple days and hope to see it click a bit further since the reviews have all been quite positive. Aqu. II I'm happy to report that I'm liking it more than my first impression. I think that getting the hang of dodging made all the difference. Once I got the timing right the battle system started to click more. Of course I will always prefer turn based combat in an RPG. That's just me. But this is fine. The music has gotten even better. Honestly, so far the music might be my favorite thing about this game. It's such a good mix of like bombastic orchestral stuff, and sad Japanese folk music meshed with some of these old throwbacks. Hearing that old Final Fantasy I music kick in when I first got to Akademia felt so right. I don't care if that song is 'overused' in Final Fantasy games. Now the story... my goodness, what a complete mess. There are so many characters. I'm honestly confused about who is a good guy and who is a bad guy and who is doing what and why. Sometimes you'll have this like ten minute cutscene that's really impressively animated, the next you have a still frame with voice over. Sometimes you have voices and other times you're reading text like in a visual novel. It's such a mish-mash of ideas and systems. In a way, it kind of feels like an endearing mess. I mean even the concepts. You've got this grim war and then all the sudden you're running around Final Fantasy's equivalent of Hogwarts. So far I feel like this game is far from great, and yet I'm almost just really happy that it manages to exist. It's so chaotically weird that I kind of think it's awesome that it ever got made. Aqu. IV I think I officially like this game despite its oddities. I had a mission that was like a total RTS battle thing. It's as if the developers weren't even sure what kind of game they were making here so they tried to cram every idea they came up with into one game. So weird, but that makes me interested in seeing what comes next. Aqu. V The story is still a huge mess though. I really don't know who anyone is or what's going on. And I don't care. At this point I'm happy to just sum it up as "some different kingdoms on this world map are at some kind of huge war." That's enough story for me here. In fact, I've started skipping a lot of the cutscenes because I don't care and because they're often just bad/baffling. There's also some weird choices. I have to sit through a class to learn new stuff right? But it's the same ten second cut scene of a classroom. Why? I have to go to one room to initiate a mission, but then run back to the class to start that mission. There's two loading screens between these two rooms. So basically four loading screens to start every mission. Ugh. The game as a game is quite fun, though. And messing around with various characters in the roster has been cool. Ace is generally my go to with his sweet bow and arrow. Though Cater is kind of a new favorite with her hard-hitting gun attack. Much like how I adore Final Fantasy Tactics, yet care not about the story, I think this is sort of in the same situation. Not that I love this exactly. But I like it way more as just a series of missions/battles sans story. Aqu. VI I'm actively enjoying the game now. I still feel like the story is a convoluted mess. But frankly, the game itself is pretty much a mess. It's as if the developers took every idea they had and figured they'd just see what sinks and what floats. And yet the stuff that floats is awesome. I've grown to really enjoy the battle system now. And having a cast of fourteen playable characters keeps things fun and varied. Aqu. VII I think this places me around the half-way mark, at least as far as the story goes. Maybe. I've been experimenting with odd combos of trios to get things done. I somehow managed to take down some mechs with a flutist. It... took a while. That said, the gameplay remains strong and the story remains... ouch. I try to watch the cutscenes as much as I can stand, but skipping them no longer makes me feel guilty. Okay, there's these different kingdoms feuding. Got it. I could give you a long list of things that I find wrong with this game, and yet it continues to be fun for me. There's a good chance I'll walk away from this wreckage an even stronger man. Aqu. VIII I've completely given up on even attempting to follow or care about the story at all. However I'm still having a blast experimenting with the various fourteen characters. Given that you are using teams of three, building different configurations and figuring out how to level each up and tweak their skills is a lot of fun. Top 3 Best things about Type-0: 1. Music 2. Combat 3. Nothing Makes Sense Aqu. IX I'm not crazy about those RTS missions. They're a bit too simplified functionally, and you move way too slow on the overworld map. It's not bad, just a tad tedious. The wasted minutes required to go from Room A to B back to A to start every mission; the speed at which you move on the overworld and the rate at which random battles occur there. The cutscenes which are at least skippable. I'm a bit of a broken record here but I actually really really like this game but I could totally see why people would not. Aqu. XII Well apparently those mediocre RTS missions are now optional. I say "apparently" because I didn't realize this until after I had started the last one. The game continues to amaze and befuddle me. It's constantly throwing in new stuff - one section of a mission suddenly turns into a sort of on-rails light gun style shooter thing. Such a weird Final Fantasy game. Anyway I was suddenly dropped to the extreme opposite end of the world map. I couldn't use a Teleport Stone or anything to get back quickly. It is 100% just the game being a jerk and making me kill some more time. Because as much as Type-0 wants to be all things to all fans, more than anything it's jerk. But I made the long trek back - even saw one of those weird cactus dudes that shows up in many Final Fantasy games. And when I got back to Akademia I was introduced to the final mission... by Cid. Yes, Cid. Apparently the final mission is some long gauntlet thing where you control two teams of three and basically each room is a different challenge you have to pass. Aqu. XIII The final 'dungeon' took me like two hours. Maybe a little more? As I said it makes you create two teams of three (out of a pool of twelve characters) and then the two teams have to fight through their own series of challenge rooms. So one room might be that you have to kill all the enemies without using magic; another might be you have to kill them all only using magic. Each room has some sort of time limit, and failing any of the rooms (presumably) sends you back to the start of the whole gauntlet. Luckily I never failed a room. Fittingly, the final boss is pretty much just a stupid waste of time. First he kills your entire team. All twelve characters. You have to manually switch in each character just so he can kill each one of them. Then all twelve get resurrected and are now invincible and then you have to have each of them - all twelve - kill a piece of him. So again, now you have to manually swap in all twelve of them all over again. Like I said, they're all invincible now. So there's no way to lose this boss fight. It is just a big drawn out waste of time. Not surprisingly the game ends with so much confusing dialogue and cutscenes. I do like that the story ends with its darker tones - a bloodied party of twelve sitting in a destroyed classroom literally talking about how they're scared of dying, trying to console each other's tears. It borders on tritely emo, but all the blood and destruction keep it tethered to borderline-disturbing. But then it becomes clear that like the rest of the game, the end-story just doesn't know when to quit. So even this scene is overly long... drawn out by long stretches of silence and awkward dialogue that honestly feels like it's being made up as it goes along. It's weird. But of course that was a big part of Type-0's charm. I first played Cities Skylines way back in 2015, when it was first released on PC. That was seven years ago. It was back when I had a whole game room big enough to house a giant desk for a giant gaming PC. I also had way more free time to tinker with PC gaming. As you may have guessed, this was a time before we had a child.
These days are very different. I'm a console gamer again. And my setup lately is kind of unique. Lately, I actually have my PS5 set up on a shelf in an end table next to the couch. It's run through an external capture card, and I do my gaming on a 15.6" chromebook. It might sound weird, but it's just what works for our life. This way, I'm able to play on a decently large and nice looking 1080p monitor, without hogging the TV every night. It's basically the allure of Switch or Steamdeck, but feels more like a console experience than a handheld. But I digress. Back in 2015, Cities Skylines was easily one of my favorite games. I truly played the hell out of it. I guess I found myself feeling nostalgia, because I downloaded it on PS5 and figured I'd see how the game handled on a console. To my pleasant surprise, it turns out it plays exceptionally well. Of course a really deep city builder like Cities Skylines is nothing like riding a bike. There's a lot of things to keep track of and you really need to pace yourself, lest you watch your city burn to the ground in no time flat. Take for example my first town, Rennmont. Basically, I immediately blew through my budget constructing as much as I could way too quickly. I carved out whole neighborhoods and business areas. I also forgot that laying pipes for plumbing also costs money. And before I knew it, the entirety of Rennmont was drowning in their own poop. I wanted to fix it, but I was going further and further into the red. It takes money to make money, and Rennmont was on the verge of bankruptcy. I was too proud to take a bailout, so I instead I just watched as the poop-covered residents of Rennmont made a mass exodus, leaving me with a horrible smelling ghost town. My second city, Rockfield fared much better. I took things way slower, and that pays off big time. I took my time, starting with a small neighborhood, then an expansion to downtown stores, then a more removed section of industrialization. I paced myself, making small improvements not unlike making wider and wider circles in a zen garden. I looked up at the clock and three hours had passed, and I was now going to be running on a sleep deficit the next morning. And every night this week, things went just about the same way. Each side of the city got their own elementary school, and a high school was situated more centrally. Rockfield got a fire department, police station, and a taxi service. Then I started zoning. I worked to keep any pollution away from housing by placing a swath of parking lots around the industrial buildings. I built some parks. The high school neighborhood was endowed a lovely library, and some basketball and tennis courts. I've spent a lot of time in menus. And I love it. The tiniest tweaks to the budget require a great deal of thought from me. I'd love to have a city occupied with intelligent, educated, well-read individuals. Of course, keeping the citizens happy is a bigger priority. If everyone leaves, then I have no city to care for. And no income. Towards the water, there's a section of town that appears to be, well snobby. I gave them a dog park and a Japanese garden. I gave them a secluded area by the water, but surrounded by trees to drown out noise and light pollution. And yet they got mad when I put in a wind turbine. This is the tug of war with citizens' happiness level. Everyone wants nice things, but nobody wants their taxes to increase. You can argue that city builders are microcosms of economics and by extension, politics. But I don't exactly play it that way. Actually, it's quite the contrary. A game like Cities Skylines is an easy escape from the real world around us. It is all about little tiny changes to constantly try to improve the world. It's about creating order out of chaos. It is the ultimate relaxation game for me. Perhaps the most soothing thing about Cities Skylines is its audio design. I mean, my god. I can't think of anything in a video game that lulls me so hardcore as when I zoom in on some little patch of the city and just listen to the ambient chatter of the citizens mixed with the sounds of passing cars and stray birds chirping. It's the kind of noise I could fall asleep to. Once you hit your stride, a lot of the challenge drops off. You just intuit how to deal with a given situation. People getting sick? Too many houses burning down? Water pollution? You've got this. There's always a solution, and as long as you've got the income rolling in to deal with it promptly, any setback should be minor. But that's the zen garden I was talking about. In short, I love Cities Skylines. I love it a lot. I should probably check out the sequel soon. I can't imagine how they could improve on this formula, but I'm keen to find out. |
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