Under the christmas tree (2015)

Well I've been trying and doing different articles, but with things being as busy as they have been lately, they're mostly turning up late and unfinished. I still plan to work at some of them, but things it might be a while. Furthermore I'd also like to announce the GOTY piece might be late, but with good reason, and some potential merit to that lateness. I'm considering to extend things a bit to go with awards beyond a top 5 list (or rather in addition, top 5 count is still present and will likely always stay, as will honorable mentions). However the other reason is that... well, to be honest, I haven't actually completed the game that is supposed to be #1. Sounds dumb to put it there you may be thinking, but its just such a big game that I haven't had the patience to endure it all in one consistent run-through, or even the multiple ones I've given it. Nothing to do with the quality of it. However while I'm okay with putting powerful yet incomplete games on the list (see Darksouls 2), I don't think its acceptable to publish the list without beating the supposed definitive GOTY choice. So until then, here's an article I really WILL complete real quick. As with last year, its a quick impressions run of everything I got on Christmas day.

If I were to be honest, I didn't actually get a lot in terms of direct game presents this year, but I'm also kind of okay with that. Sure I would have loved Fallout 4, GTAV, or Mario Maker, but at the end of the day I'm very happy with what I got and already have a lot to work on with what I already have. Before this day I was still in the early phases of Xenoblade X, recently got Black ops 3, and that is still after trying to balance time between the warrior games. Oh and I've got a run to do on Dishonored definitive version, and I still need to finish the mysterious GOTY game. So yeah, not really a fuss to make, but its just not as much to say on as last year. Which again, might be good so I can get the article out of the way.

Dragon's Quest Heroes

AKA, the most ridiculous full-name for a game ever. Seriously just look it up, I'm not even bothering with it here. However that aside, the game is fantastic. I've gotten into the warrior games in a big way around the late fall, but even before then felt somewhat strangely hyped to this game. Never even played Dragons Quest stuff before either. It just... looked so good. In reality, it is indeed very good. Its actually the smallest warriors game I've played in terms of scope, characters, and levels, yet it manages to do enough right to totally make that a worthy (or maybe even beneficial) sacrifice. The combat system is so well made with magic attacks specially crafted into it, each character feels unique enough and fun with their own skill set to work on, and replayability comes in the form of endless mode reworkings of previous maps which somehow manages to be way more awesome than it sounds. Ultimately I love this game. However the last boss battle I faced was cheap, and the XP system doesn't make a lot of sense to the effort I put in. Still a great game, and one I'll definitely be working on. The campaign is also way more focused and engaging, so it'll actually probably be the first warriors game I can see myself "completing" as weird as that may sound. On that note its also probably the core game I'll be working on out of this list.

Yoshi's Woolly World

Was one of the first games to go on my wish list, both because of fear that the amiibo bundle would fly off into a black hole, and because its a freakin' Yoshi game and those make for some of the best 2D platformers in my eyes. This one so far seems to match that just fine. Its charming, relaxed, fun, imaginative, and its just... so joyful. It charm isn't so much as trying to play it as much as it is to feel like your on a ride through the most whimsical level craftsmanship you'll see all year. Though I do hear world 9 gets stupidly hard compared to the rest, but I suppose that may be expected. We'll see. Definitely a good game, and the Amiibo looks great displayed below the TV alongside a couple pop figures and the plush fox I have sitting alongside it. Oh and speaking of which, I got a starfox amiibo I got to open early on Christmas eve, and its the only amiibo I have that doesn't translate to an unnatural looking yarn Yoshi in the game. He just sort of dons a tan-ish orange color and the uniform for the most part.

Transformers Devastation

Okay I'd be lying if I acted like I have a fresh take on this one. Beat it multiple times through a rental, but while I feel all messed up from sinus problems right now I really don't feel like its worth the trip again when my own head can't keep up with the fast paced action. I loaded it up just to make sure it installed and remembered my data, played a challenge, loved it but sucked at it, listened to some music from the model gallery, and turned it back off. Still looks good, feels good, and has a ridiculously good soundtrack, but aside from that just go see the article I made on it to hear me preach about my old thoughts. This game should still be just as fun as when I rented it.

King's Quest: Chapter 2

Okay so as you could probably guess, I'm kind of cheating here and I didn't find a digital download episodic game under the Christmas tree this year. However I did get a $20 PSN card, got an extra $5 chipped in, and bought the season pass while it was on the Christmas flash sale. Not something I'd regularly do, but the first episode was such a spectacular game, and the 2nd reviewed in... okay enough status that I decided I would take the risk on what could easily be the best adventure series ever to me. However I was warned this would be darker, and... well, sadly it is. I really loved the first for hitting the perfect heart-warming fairy tale tone. It left me overwhelmingly happy, but still knew how to throw a heavy sad punch along its tale. However I also get this shift. Its not just some fancy tale being told, its a life story of a king, and so this king doesn't live a full life of luxury all the time. What they did to weave a heavy and hard tale where he's forced to take on tough responsibilities was a neat little thing to do with such a story. Its just that... well, I made it a bit darker than I wanted it to be. I messed up bad, and I think I got one of my favorite characters axed off. However I will try to work on solving some more puzzling matters and make it out of the dark goblin caves. I will see this adventure through unless it does something to really piss me off. So far I can tolerate this tone shift, and maybe I'll have to take its lessons harder with somebody dying under these pressured times, but I really do hope they don't stay on this track. I really do hope that at some point things back up a little bit to that princess bride vibe, even if things are expected to get tough in life. Chapter 1 is likely to stay on top at this point, but we've got 3-4 more chapters left, and I'm still not calling the 2nd a bad game at all from what I've played so far.

...and that concludes this small list here. Looking forward, I can see a lot of good games on the horizon, but there's also some games worth going back for (like again, Fallout 4, GTAV, etc). I may also end up saving some money towards a new laptop, which I really need (and it would make this a lot easier as well). Anyways I hope everyone got got what they wanted, spent time with family, and had a merry Christmas!

Battlefront 3 is still in a galaxy far, far away...

Well now its out, and for whatever reason I kind of made it almost like my duty to discuss the game's falls and triumphs from the perspective of both a fan of the original two, and... well that just creates a great situation to poke at its many holes and show you just how far some aspects of gaming have fallen (but of course, others have risen). This isn't just about a sequel being made by a new team; this is Star Wars on the whole getting a near reboot in modern day after it has been about maybe a decade since the last games and movies were a big deal. In that time so many different things have changed around our games, and unfortunately... I believe Battlefront EA (its actually in the title) has taken on some of the worst. The true successor to the games we originally got, is still in a galaxy far, far away.

For starters its worth it to point to something surrounding the game rather than the game itself: The licensing deal. Back when Battlefront was started, it was done also by EA at the marketing, and Pandemic as the development team (same guys that did Mercenaries and Saboteur) with what I can only assume was some assistance under LucasArts gaming department. They were simply focused on Battlefront when it came to star wars games, nothing really different at first sight. However when someone else was called up to task, well Free Radical took it up and was working on Battlefront 3 before some problems arose. Fast-forward to current day where EA has an exclusive deal with Disney (who now owns Star Wars) and you've got a nice little analogy for the way things drastically changed across 7-8th gen, and its odd almost nobody else seems to talk about it: Owning companies and games. In the PS2 era and prior, most teams could walk around and find a publisher for their games. There were plenty of kind opportunities out there where developers would check your ideas out, and fund your game based on if they liked it or could make a couple changes. That was it. Now I'm sure we're all aware these developers aren't walking anywhere. Dice makes stuff under EA, Free Radical (or what's left) is owned by Deep Silver, Arkane under Bethesda (a pairing that actually fits great), and its hard to say just what exactly Ubisoft owns between their oversized studios umbrella that pumps out their games. That's not to say pre-8th gen was perfect in this regard, there are plenty of troubled stories with Naughty Dog and Insomniac's days with Universal, and Activision was bullying their teams since the original Call of Duty by telling them they had to keep it in WW2 or else no console devkits would be given. Still its gotten much worse since then, with the only free team outside of indies I can think of being Insomniac, and they only found a publishing deal that let them keep their own IP through Microsoft which obviously limited their console reach.

Just stop and think about it all for a second. Think about all these annual releases, reoccurring series, and developers that have been cut down or re-used outside of what they were known for. Its all in part due to the fact that they, and their very games, are owned not by the artists but by the same people whose main job is to set up deals like this and market the game. No wonder indies are such a big deal now. Well in addition to all of that, lets close this in circle formation by reminding you that EA pretty much owns Star Wars on the gaming field for the foreseeable future, because that's very true to the nature of current publishers right now.

While on topic of publishers, this feels appropriate

So now that's out of the way, lets talk about the game itself since that's also kind of important. The main point of concern is... well, actually lets talk about the originals first. They weren't all too amazing by its own mechanics in today's market as we've had multiple multiplayer titles now with big battlefield. The only real difference that makes it special in mechanics is that it had better stock mechanics with a real health system, and a reason to carry support people or visit munition depots. No casual hide and restore crap, or reflex based gunfights. Though there was no sprinting in the original, which sucks for that side of things. Aside from that it was nothing special save for the star wars theme. However that's just the thing: It was massive star wars fan service. Massive scale battles across 16+ levels battling over flags or territory in a wide array of vehicles, a strategy mode allowing you to build up and take over the universe with any of the major army factions while paying off favors and abilities, and of course the fact that you could play as a famous big name hero like Han Solo, Darth Vader, Yoda, etc. All the while you could do this offline or online, split-screen as well, and across both timelines and many planets (even ones that didn't make much sense, like a rebel vs empire war on Kamino clone facility). Then of course the sequel refined most of the process better expanded mode functions, customization, better award system, and the most popular addition of space battles where you could blow apart capital ships or board them and blast them from the inside. These were all within $50 PS2 games straight on the disc. Now how has the game improved after over a decade? 8 maps (not planets, maps), prequel content and wars totally omitted, online only with a couple arcadey co-op modes you could play on your own, and oh yeah classes and normal vehicular use is completely scrapped. So a massive step backwards in every way at surface-value. To be fair now, there's way more multiplayer modes, but they're already hurting with low player count which wouldn't be a problem if they had bots to fall back on (but they don't). If that doesn't grab you, then you'll just hate it when I also tell you they're asking you to pay extra for the deluxe edition and have been pushing for their season pass at a hefty $50 range with promise that they'll split the community more with map packs. Oh but relax, you're also paying for early two week access to DLC so you can be more lonely in them while everyone else has to wait on an intentional delay.

This is why I never intended to buy the game on launch. Even with both of my copies of Battlefront on the PS2 being unable to work, I simply don't see the value here. I'd be better off getting a brand new computer and purchasing Battlefront 2 off of steam/GOG, or Ebay shopping for the PS2 originals. They have way more content in the box, are cheaper, and are far more accessible, and I'd even say have a more consistent fun factor to the gameplay. The sad thing to is that I don't exactly hate the new battlefront. The beta was pretty fun despite plenty to complain about. I kind of side with the portion of players and critics out there that talk about how fun it is as a casual shooter. Its great to just hop on there, melt some people with laser blasters, call down wild power-ups, and see what the end results are. I'll even say that some of the changes are great. I've never had as much fun in an AT-AT as I did when I had a range of cool-down super powers including an orbital strike. Its also the most well realized star wars presentation ever... period. I don't even think the movies are this good as pulling you into the world, because this one actually lets you walk on areas that were photographically digitized into the games, and then unleashed in a big sci-fi battle with amazing sound design pulled right from the SW universe. The graphics, sound design, and "feeling" of being there is just absolutely perfect for a star wars game. ...and then we get back to just what this is doing so wrong as a modern game, with its 8 maps and online only ability shoved down your throat. I've really got to wonder in a time like this if it truly is a case of graphics and big budget fancy stuff taking priority over gameplay. If it wasn't that, something else is seriously wrong here. Was it held back for DLC? Were their maps too big to make more of? Is their AI programming really that terrible that they can't be bothered to code bots? Were they drunk when they paved the groundwork for a matchmaking only online point? No really, I want answers or some kind of excuse, because at every corner outside of presentation it feels like this was set up to be a sub-par backpedal from a game made back in freakin' 2004 and the sequel that followed in '05. Heck even some of the PSP games have done things like space battles and fun bots to fight against!

Its not just nitpicks or purist complaints either (heck if it were, Battlefront 2 would be thrown under a bus as well for messing some stuff up), its the fact that I literally cannot play 90% of this game during a lot of Comcast's awful low speed connection where as everything I came to love the series for before came from an offline experience I played on my own time. This is lazy design that assumes everyone just wants to play online, and is totally fine with all of your short comings, and fixed modes. As a matter of fact offline play is such a big deal to me, my entire perspective of Rainbow 6 siege has changed from "ignore it" to "Definitely curious, renting it" based on the mixed reception of solo play, and hints of AI bot design. So I'm literally trying and potentially buying an online focused game because I hear it may have a solid offline mode with AI, and nothing else has contributed to me changing my previous thoughts before. But this is the era where Destiny, and Assassins Creed Unity are big sellers, and reviewers don't actually analyze the games they review before passing a 7+/10 score to. Its nothing new that something like Battlefront is made and money begging before its even released, and somehow gets away with poor quality. I predicted it all ahead of time, and that's why I'm not supportive of EA owning all the Star Wars gaming space, and why I was never truly excited about a new Battlefront made by Dice. It just wasn't going to come even close to doing what I like in the series, and competitive wise it doesn't sound like a good buy in itself either. I think in the long run, this really is about graphics taking a bigger priority, but not just in a simple way of one over the other. This is 2015 where such high end graphics cost a massive budget, and then they're rushing it to the market to cash in their game multiple times before they have to risk another big budget dip. The PS2 game did the best they could do before they shipped it with a moderate team on a plain budget, in a time where you actually had to make a good game (or do something spectacular for marketing) that people talked about to get it to sell. Now there's just too many other factors, chokes, and expenses racking up for quality content to take the biggest priority. They can just patch or sell it to you later, and sweep anything else under the rug. Or they'll "make up for it" with an online only sequel that adds maybe space battles to quite people down, and heavily ride on that criticism being fixed.

But at least it looks nice

However I don't want to be all doom and gloom here, because there's actually some hilarious twist here where I'll tell you of a terrific new FPS that releases with more content than even the original Battlefronts had. I mean I'm not the biggest fan of this series at all, and would usually bash on it for several reasons. However if you want what Battlefront offers on the up side (a fun little casual romp around sci-fi battlefields), and would be okay with offering up graphics for content, then I have just the remedy to tell you about: Call of Duty Black Ops 3. Yes, COD. If there is one thing COD gets undeniably right every damn time its lets something out into the world, its just how crazy accessible, and content stuffed it is. Okay so its not always perfect, Black ops 3 has some stupid stuff locked behind online mode like the emblem maker, but in general they even managed to outdo themselves on quality content. They have the normal horde mode, multiplayer, and campaign parts, but they also have a brand new hidden campaign which completely changes things, a return of arcade game dead ops (which I absolutely love), a bot mode full of custom options, full blown local co-op support in everything, a theater mode, and heck you can even spend hours just fooling with the painter. Oh, and there's also a $50 seasons pass promising you more content, so suck it EA, they've got that to and don't need a famous movie license to sell it.

Okay so I'm not trying to intentionally market to you about COD's game, I'm sure you get that enough from Mountain Dew bottles by this point, but what I'm saying is there still is an example of... well, doing the opposite of Battlefront EA. It is still possible to find quality AND quantity in gaming. There still are people out there making sure you not only have a lot of content in addition to passable graphics, but also go out of the way to surprise you with it and give you more than what you thought you paid for. This is why nobody except maybe GTAV has beaten COD. Despite all the copy-cats, gimmicks, and dumbing down that has been done to match COD, they always skimp on the content or formula in some way that prevents it from going big. However this is one of the big secrets to COD, its that content and accessibility. Its the empowerment they give to each and every player in reward for their $60 purchase. Meanwhile you may have to fight with servers just to even get into the game in Battlefront. Its not easy saying COD wins. I should be thrilled about an FPS that doesn't use ADS, has some of the best laser rifle aesthetics in the history of gaming, and re-introduces intentionally overpowered elements that make you panic or powerful. It should make me cheer for an anti-COD mentality and say "This was when shooters were better"! Instead its a reminder of how far south some parts of the industry go.

Some games are focused on fine tuning, improving, and content creating, and others have just let it all go down the drain as they shove you into a multiplayer cycle and expect you to pay $60-$100 and beyond for less. It actually works to, and sales so far are positive. On one side of things I do hope people still have fun, as that's what matters most at the end of the day. At the same time though, I can't help but look on in disbelief that this was actually sold as Battlefront. This just isn't the real sequel. It doesn't use the same core mechanics, doesn't have the same features, doesn't have the right kind of balance, and they didn't even put in an effort to make it feel like a successor as there's barely anything it does better outside of technical perspective. Heck, it even shows in the marketing art. We're talking about this and this being epic war scenes turning into this emptiness, or this guy's helmet with a reflection of slight action. Its a good sign of what you're in for, because one let you experience consistent and interesting battles from the star wars universe in many ways, and the other bottle necks you into another online shooter with a pretty picture. Its a shame it had to be this way. Its another case where content was removed and dumbed down, in a series that could have truly meant something by returning to the big console scene after a decade. Oh well. Hopefully this wraps up my Battlefield coverage. I'm sorry if I've spent too much time nagging about it, or talking about how sad it is, but it really is a great study piece in the dark side of modern gaming and how something can go from one of the best games of my youth, to the ideal game to make a stand against. Well... no, I'm not really sorry. I mean look at what we're talking about here! Would it have really killed them to add some damn bots or get more creative than 4 planets at launch?



At least we still have this in our history

Path of the warrior

I can't remember the last time I had such a sudden burst of enthusiasm, interest, and a will to hunt down a series like this. Maybe its in part because I've got some small system of income to my own now, but its also got a lot to do with just the games showing up again and again in the right time and places. No more beating around the bush though, this whole article is about how freakin' awesome the Warriors franchise is. Actually is it even fair to call it a franchise? It kind of goes beyond that. Its like if Shadows of Mordor, batman, and mad max were all attached to the same team and relative formula as Asssassins Creed, and each new release earned the association of it being a "Creed game". That's kind of what the warrior franchise is. There's various spin-offs involving other franchises like one-piece and Zelda, Samuri warriors, Dynasty Warriors, and then a cross over for the publisher themselves by the way of Warriors Orochi. On top of that each series or game seems to have its own Capcom-esque hyper ultra semi-sequel revised edition going on for it. Crazy stuff. Needless to say its intimidating to find a good place to step in and hope for a quality experience and without being cheated of content. However I ended up indulging on it through three games, just to make sure I hit my mark: Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires, and Samuri Warriors 4 (not to be confused with 4-2). So far I'm holding Orochi on the backburner as SW4 and DW8E suck up my time and make me wonder how 9am became so dark all of a sudden with the clock saying 6. These games are way better than you'd think they have any right to be.

Basically they all work off the base idea that you go around some unusual jagged map with spots of territory, dealing mostly melee + magic based attacks, mowing down literally a thousand or more brain-dead army minions while cutting down the occasional high ranked official. The basic shared combat trait is that you mash in the square buttons for light hits, triangle for strong, and you make chains with them that eventually transition into energy that helps you pull off specials. That's it as far as shared traits go, and it usually stays relatively that simple for the most part, but each series has its own liberties and interesting tweaks. For example SW4 has two characters you can switch between and command around, as well as a Hyper attack system that begins with strong attacks and has a unique sweeping motion. There's also an inventory system and each character gets better over time by traditional RPG methods of experience points. DW8E allows two weapons (which come from a long list, whereas SW4 just gives each character their own thing), has more double the special types per character, and also some weird elemental system I don't quite grasp yet. Ultimately though its not just about the combat. What hooked me initially as I played a demo for it long ago was the novelty of commanding an army on a massive field, and claiming territories. That natural conquest tug-of-war is a feeling I always love in war themed games, and this just felt like nothing but that at first. Of course the combat seemed really lame at first, and the AI way too stupid to make this fun, but over time (especially thanks to Hyrule warrior's kiosk demo) I came to really appreciate the combat and seek out the depth under its shallow surface. Combined with the strategy, meta game of leveling up, and the personalization of a few features and this game series has me fully hooked.

In a couple of cases I found myself feeling kind of like a kid again with these games, and I wasn't fully sure what it was at first. I'm a nostalgic person, but use that term somewhat differently as a way of celebrating good things of the past rather than being clouded by it or intentionally trying to force a kid-like view out of it. So this feeling is actually quite rare. At first I found myself just thinking "I bet I would love this way more if I were 8" because of how awesome the novelty was, and some replay features. I then changed that to actually feeling as if I were 8, upon seeing the ridiculous piles of customization on Empires. That was it! I had found a surprisingly good gem of a series with a brand new list of things to learn, some solid strategy elements to it, and so much customization (especially empires) that if I wanted to I could get sucked into this game for days just playing out my own stories. All of that exactly like how I saw the worms 3D trilogy back in my childhood days; those games were fun strategy games with some edge to beating them, and a lot of creative ways to goof off after that work. There wasn't a lot of legit powerful strategy to them, and mechanically you could probably get whatever you wanted out of it in two weeks. Meanwhile due to my creative mind they would eat up over a month of my time, making armies, stories, and special rule sets catered to my role-playing mind. This game is like a modern day form of that, coming in with heavier surface mechanics of distributing live attacks in various and evolving combos, while being able to adjust and adapt to an evolving battlefield. It feels more relevant to me now than it might have in the past (besides, no way little me would grasp Empire mode), and delivers things under a style I kind of appreciate more at the moment than I would have before... but the draw is a whole line of creativity and an entirely unfamiliar formula to learn that throws me right back into an old mentality I've missed.

So now I'm just really hooked on this. I don't know how long it'll last, but so far I've got a lot to still do, and I'm still playing it with barely any incentive to leave the TV never-the-less give up on any game. This thing made me put down and forget about just getting Dishonored Definitive Edition as well, and I've honestly got no intentions on returning until I'm satisfied with this new little discovery... and that includes the still wrapped Orochi game. I still also kind of want to say something on battlefront, or maybe the recent dead or alive situation, but I just don't want to because I'd rather be playing these awesome games. ...and so with that being said, its time to get back to it. Time to continue the path of the warriors.