A plus for everyone

So long ago I tried to state an nearly neutral stance on top of PS Plus's outcry. People were, simply put, tired of being given smaller projects instead of the full blown massive games people were lead to believe from past examples would be the norm. That's not to say those guys were always right, but I felt they were finally at a point where its worth it to ask a bit more effort goes into the selection. Heck several times, we even got ports of games already given to us on PS+ before... yeah, a bit messed up sony. However I think we've stepped a bit closer to the right path with their latest monthly scheme, which involves a voting process.

Sadly though, people still want to complain. What is it about? Well various things. I've since heard "ew, nobody wants these indie games" even though this will be later contradicted by the other complaints where people felt the voting was "rigged" and hate that their games didn't win out claiming nobody wanted the winner... even though it was the most liked comment on the voting announcement thread, and news hyped of the winner's name ever since it was leaked making it kind of a big deal for some people. Before I go forward of course, its important to bring up that the program and choices looked something like this:

Grow home was the winner, and back when I voted it was by far the highest with Viking Zombies in second (I'll get around to that later, I find this one... interesting for some bad reasons), and the 3rd was Armello. Quite sad to, as I admit full bias towards Armello (As most remarked on its vote trailer, it has the most depth and value compared to the other choices), but Grow Home seems like a good PS+ choice to. I'm totally fine with people complaining that the winner seems to come out of nowhere, and they back it up by saying they really talked to people, but when its a game like Grow Home that got basically announced with this whole damn program, has the whole "artsy" scene talking about it, and was the top voted game on the very website your posting "I know nobody that wanted this" on, so something is seriously flawed with that logic in this scenario. But... people will complain, right?

Viking Zombies may very well still be an awesome game though.

...Well to let off some of my own steam real quick, the extra irony to this is most of the people now complaining were in favor of Viking Zombies. Viking Zombies is, and stop me if you've heard these elements before, an indie 2d Sidescroller with zombies. I guess I see some valid hype behind the 2D beat 'em up fans, but that's a strong niche to have. Meanwhile this entire time, all along, people have been crying and moaning about how tired they are of generic 2D indie games. They're tired of indies, zombies, and low-end "stylish" visuals, they want their bigger games. So what do they do when they have that power to choose not just one but two big 3D games? One, Grow Home, is put out from Ubisoft as a unique exploration game with interest physics based gameplay, as you find a way into space. The other, Armello, being a big strategy game combining board game, card game, and RPG gameplay (with multiplayer and future plans for support established) all into a clever game with the plot to take a kingdom out of the hands of a corrupt Lion king going insane. I'm just scratching the surface of those two. Meanwhile the people complaining stand behind Viking Zombies, a 2D beat 'em up with zombies. I know there's a chance these people are NOT the same ones always moaning about indie games, but when this many people lump together to whine about it I have to really wonder what the heck IS the majority agreed issue within PlayStation Plus's system, since these guys clearly want more beat 'em up side scrollers with names that could be confused with a mock title spoken of in a bigger game. ...and you know what, that's fine in itself (and I mean no insults to the team behind Viking Zombies. I'm glad you made a product people want). Its just that its baffling to think people will then turn around and fill a comment section up with complaints about this type of game and then vote it even as high as second place in a big vote against games they would be asking for elsewhere.

Getting back on track, and ending a small rant, there was one guy from the Viking Zombies crowd of voters who actually found the bright side in its loss: Hey, I get to directly support this game now! Because yeah, that's kind of right. The funny thing about wanting a game to go on PS+ is that you don't technically own it (it sticks with the subscription), and to the best of our knowledge your undercutting the team's funds. They're getting paid and rewarded somehow, but as it is we can feel pretty sure that 100 people downloading a game for free doesn't pay as well as 100 people buying it (a very flat way to look at it, but if you wanted it enough to buy it, then they would probably rather have your money than not). So if you truly wanted Viking Zombies (or any of these honestly), just go ahead and support them with the vote of not that PS+ thing, but your wallet. That's what I'll likely do for Armello next Tuesday, and I'm really looking forward to it. A lot actually. I'll still get the other game, Grow Home, too! Its a fitting role as well, as I always see PS+ as that testing ground for a game you want to enjoy, but aren't sure about it or its longevity. Armello is a game I've had an eye on ever since the end of its kickstarter, and if its as good as it looks I'll likely come back to it from time to time. Grow Home... unless it really surprises me, it'll likely be a fun 1-5 hour experience. A fun one, but a short one that just ends... kind of like Gone Home actually. I mean just look at the art work and style behind the two!

Armello

Grow Home

Yeah, definitely happy to say I'll probably grab Armello. Grow Home still looks fun, but in sort of a toy-like way if that makes any sense. So... what if the game you wanted costs too much? Well that's the other thing. Instead of Armello going for $20, or Viking Zombies being... whatever it is priced at, they're both getting 30% off. Sounded small at first, but do the math, and its an enticing offer.

At the end of the day, I really like this new system put in place. Everybody kind of wins. Sony almost has to give us some choice that doesn't look like indie table scraps, we get to vote on what we want to see, we see community input truly in action, and if we lose... the games we want go cheaper. There's nothing in that where we lose, unless there's something I don't know about on the inside of things. Its also worth noting these votes are tied in by account, so in addition to being as easy as voting from your PS4, I also imagine its hard to cheat that. Hopefully we'll continue to see interesting choices through the system as it goes on. I guess there's always going to be those people complaining though. Some will dismiss everything as indie garbage, even when its not, and others will back that same stuff others hate while challenging any others as "rigged" or "nobody REALLY wants them" type complaints. Just ignore them though, because unless sony really does bog all 3 slots down with sad offerings, we have nothing to really worry about. A good game goes free, people are heard, and the "losers" get a price drop and direct support from their true fans. I think I like this new addition to the service.

All seems well in this kingdom

2015 so far...

 

So I was sitting there, thinking to myself: If I were to make a Game of The Year list right now, what would be on it? Would I even have enough to bother with it? Slowly, but surely, I tried to remember all that I've done this year. There actually is some legit stuff, but its tough considering my normal rules for the list. With all kinds of remasters and re-releases, late ports, and unpredictable indie games, and yet high standing AAA prices, its tough to keep up with games that come out in a year and make it in time for the list. Still there did come a few titles to mind. Still in this list I kind of also want to review over even those that would break the rules in a list. I may be reconsidering them in the future, but for now this is just a list of games that are worth discussing that I played in this year. I'll put a star by those that don't follow the standards of being a brand new release in the year to help. This wont quite hit everything (Dust, Doom 3, riddick, Freedom Wars, Mass Effect 2, Stranger's Wrath, Killzone:SF, spyro 1 & 3, shattered planet just to name a few games I played some this year that wont be written about here), but some pretty significant ones will still be put in the spotlight. So lets discuss 'em...

Edit: Sorry for the edits being made. I had to go in and seriously edit this thing like 4-5 major times already, even including whole entries. Its kind of tough to remember all the things one plays in the year when there's just so much out there.

The Order 1886

The sad thing about these lists is that they tend to let go of the solid games of the early year. That's something I want to remedy with this list, so I've tried to find and drag out all the early releases or ports I was probably playing within this year. The Order was actually supposed to be the big major release this year in terms of "next-gen" gaming. It didn't land so well though, and perhaps the fact that I only remembered it when I looked through a list is telling of that. I have a fairly mixed view of this game though, where as most just outright trashed it. I actually nodded, agreed, and liked it whenever I stumbled onto a more positive review of the game. Still I could see the other side of the story. It was short, so very poor on its end note, and just a bit lacking in terms of lasting impact. Its a great action packed shooter, with a great setting, and a plot that has some fun, but in the end it ends before it has the chance to do anything meaningful, and chooses some bad strings to pull along the way. Its a flawed but fun experience, but throw it at the start of the year and I can't see how anyone will remember it for much unless they can pull it into a big successful franchise later. It was a great rental though.

*Metro 2033/Redux

When Last Light came out, I was enjoying it greatly on the PS3. It was an awesome game. Great atmosphere, great story, great gunplay, just all around "great". I kind of wished I could play the original. Thank you Redux! I actually held my breathe a bit though for both games. I just didn't want to feel like I lost out in a linear non-old school shooter. So I didn't want to risk the original investment at $60, and I don't want to support a remaster that sells itself at $50. Seriously stop doing that devs/publishers. So it wasn't until this year that I got it at the amazing price of $15. ...and what an amazing value it was.

Many of the scenes are still pretty fresh in my mind. Sneaking through broken up homes taking out bandits, laughing as the can't find me behind some little chair in the corner when I start slinging knives in their direction, peacefully dodging monsters, digging up old loot while gasping for air at the end of my oxygen mask supply, storming an abandon facility with good comrades, and all the epic set-pieces and story telling in between the opening and ending. Its definitely a great game to have played this year, and I was thoroughly hooked. I need to get back in and work on replaying Last Light, so honestly there's still some slightly new ground to cover. Oh and DLC as well.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

One of the best games to happen last year was Wolfenstein: The New Order. Oddly enough they decided to make a stand-alone expansion named The Old Blood that came out early this year, and it was a blast! In many ways its more of the same. It improves on some things, and degrades others, but ultimately both sides are minor and it was just a smaller purchase of yet another amazing wolfenstein adventure. I particularly loved how they handled the villains this time around, then there was the whole paranormal element putting itself neatly back in, and then there were some neat perk ideas like overcharged armor and mash to reload faster. Oh, and an awesome boss fight in the end. Some people had a cranky reaction to the game, calling the boss outdated, the story rushed, or insisting it was just too little to compare to its bigger brother, but I really don't understand the discussed faults. It nailed things as perfectly as I could want a $20 expansion. My only real complaint was actually how the weapons pretty much all lacked secondary fire, and stealth was far less well done in certain areas as though they just didn't test the level right. The only real crime aside from that is that they released a retail copy of the game long after the digital release, and promising us they were sticking with that. This was actually the first (and currently, the only) PSN thing I ever digitally pre-ordered, so I was a little ahead of them when they changed their minds a month after it was out. Now it mocks me on the shelves. Oh well, game is still amazing, as was its predecessor from last year. Great job MachineGames, I look forward to your future work.

*Rogue Legacy

I kind of jumped the gun on praising this one. What started out as a promising and fun little thing to kill time with on the Vita, became kind of a chore. Its got a fun meta-game of getting coins, paying for upgrades, and going even deeper into the castle. Yet with such high rising prices and little improvements, you lose that somewhere going up and once that wall hits your just told to "git gud". The problem is the same as it is with all side-scrollers like this, you can't "git gud" you just get lucky. Your on some flat plane, some enemies spam projectiles, and you dodge them and slash at them. You have some room for tactics in what you play, how you upgrade, and when you use your magic, but the bulk of the game is in reflex and randomness. Oh and of course its extra random because rogue-likes are trendy, right? ugh, yeah sadly they are. Naturally, this also happens to be one of those games out there people attach themselves and the Indie name to, weirdly name dropping and covering this game instead of literally hundreds of others which hold way more potential and actually do something a little more unique. Sorry, but I'm just not into it, and cannot support the absurd fame it has. This is one of those games I played this year that is only worth mentioning in saying, I'm sorry I gave it too much credit earlier this year. Its not a terrible game of course, so don't put those kind of words into my mouth, but its really what comes to mind when I think of indie games that are NOT for me. I gave it more than a fair shot this year, had some fun at first, and yet it didn't turn out to be that special in the end. I look forward to so many other indie stuff coming up though, so maybe this image of rogue-like sidescroller infested indie scenes will start to stop after some time so we can keep up with some more reasonable diversity in the indie scene.

*Inherit The Earth

Yes because clearly a game as old as I am (no really, date is nearly the same as my birthday) belongs on a list discussing games of 2015. Yeah I know, weird, but at some point making this list I remembered and realized this should be noted as a unique experience I played this year. I rarely ever take the chance on an adventure game, but I felt this one might have been worth it. At a cheap price, with a plot that felt interesting, and I played an early demo that was pretty fun. I decided to give it a try, and... it was alright. I can't say it truly paid off in a big way, because it didn't really. It was a fun story, decent enough to beat, and just short enough that it didn't out-stay itself. Plus there was a guide to help with some of the worst parts. Still the game failed in part because of its tragic dev story where the publisher butchered the plans in order to appeal to children, halted development on a cliff hangar, and then they couldn't build enough of a name recognition against people like Tim Schafer to get a kickstarter funding up in recent times. Its looking grim for what could have been a good series, and its even more tragic when you look into the extras and history put out and stumble into art work that could have been taken for Disney films. Still it is what it is, and its not a very great game by itself. And those psudo 3D mazes are just a pain. I wish things could have ended better, but as it was it was fun enough worth calling the first point & click I truly found worth playing at a mature age (other-wise, putt-putt counts :p).

Tower of Guns

Wait, this came out in 2014!? No, screw it, I'm not staring this. That just doesn't feel right, and this was PS4 only in 2015. See what I mean about late ports? Anyways this game came out of PS+ one day this year and seriously surprised me. On steam it looked like rogue-like bullet hell, so I just said "Nope, not touching it!" at the risk of it just being absurdly difficult. In the end it turned out to be... well, rogue-like bullet hell, but way funner than I thought that would be. Plus I suppose I wasn't thinking much of the 3D element, but its basically a platformer thanks to that. So... basically 3D FPS platformer with a nice light hearted art style, awesome upgrading abilities to compliment a mostly one gun deal, and most unexpected of all a story generator that randomly gives you one of several stories fitting over the otherwise plot-less climb up through the tower. Nice guys, real nice. I've got to admit, its a pretty good game. My only complaint is probably that its just really simple. There's really nothing else to do than play the game over and over again, so its kind of a time killer game more so than anything deeper. I ended up deleting it for extra space after a few weeks of strong play. I'll return though, because they were some seriously fun rounds.

*Metal Gear Rising

So two fun facts about this and my personal experience. 1) I never hated raiden. I didn't. The bait & switch wasn't effective for me, and if anything seeing him suddenly go cyber ninja on us all just left me confused but as okay with it as any other weird MGS decision (and there are many weird MGS decisions). So whereas this game marked his redemption, it just marked an awesome game from the character I actually started the series with. 2) I got this at a grocery store for like $10... yeah, that's just weird and I thought it was worth sharing. Okay but in all seriousness though, this game was an excellent trip of extra weirdness back into a great series. Before this, and excluding ground zeroes, it had probably been over a year since I had truly gotten immersed into the MGS series, but by the time this thing ended I was all hyped up and pumped for that fact that The Phantom Pain was on the way to bring us more of this awesome series. Of course, not necessarily the gameplay, but cinematic wise yeah.

Gameplay wise this was a really fun, even if short, trip into a strange but successful spin-off. Its so full of energy, and feels like it does just enough to stand out from any other hack & slash. The cut-scenes held up brilliantly, it gave a different view for Raiden that strangely felt great, and there was just so much weird but awesome moments. It also caused some reflection, because honestly I realized Platinum was really in their element here. While Kojima studios was still involved in the cinematic scope, it felt interesting that it carried so well with what Platinum was doing (and have done before), and all of this combined with Deadly Premonition just makes me think of how awesome Japanese games can be when they really try and tie in their weird way of story telling as well. I hope one day Platinum really can do a sequel for this game, though naturally given Konami's position that's not likely.

BloodBorne

I feel terrible for saying it, but... BloodBorne? The souls series has, by this point, convinced me that I don't really know what to think or do with some video games anymore. These highly in-depth, massively fun, replayable, tense, gripping, excellent story filled games all seem to just feel reduced to a Gone Home exercise of play it, love the emotions of it, and stop at some point to return to some other traditional gaming experience. Its a very special franchise, and I still believe they may even be the best games to exist... ever... but yet I also don't feel compelled to beat them. They're fun to go through, and then you just find your mind wandering over to something else, and something more you call and feel "fun" sits in the mind better. I guess the franchise is almost too good to feel worth putting among normal games and experiences, and thus too good to remember all of the reasons why you like them. No really, I can't seriously get myself to pull back on all the moment-to-moment feelings, and all the tension, I can just recall and praise the game for how "cool!" or "awesome!" some piece of it was. Its literally too intensive and in-depth to seriously try and wrap up why this thing is brilliant but yet not hitting the perfect mark to beat it. Oh well. I played it this year, enjoyed it, and moved on while nearly forgetting it came out this year. So... here's it is on the list. yay?

King's Quest: A Knight To Remember

...and to make myself feel even worse for not knowing how to discuss Bloodborne, lets talk about a game I remember with extreme magic, wonder, and excitement, and great emotional clarity, and then follow it up by saying its a freakin' point & click adventure game. Yeah this is just weird, but I mean I cannot gush enough about how awesome this game is. To call it "magical" isn't just a silly hyperbole, it truly feels that way. Its a fantastic game that calls upon fantastical fairy tale vibes, has the absolute best casting I think they could possibly get, exceptional animation that comes off beautifully from start to finish, and clever plot designs and puzzles that just work well. The writing, execution, and the interactivity is all just perfect, and it has created what is easily not only one of my favorite adventure games, but what is easily going to make it somewhere on my GOTY list. Its basically a Disney movie in tone and magic, drawn out in length by gameplay logic, and letting you do enough to have a stake in the story and feel like your truly telling the tale just as much as the game is telling you a good one. By the end, I just cried. It wasn't because they had a sad tear jerking ending, or something so intentionally moving, but rather the very fact that this is a product that just exists and causes such a powerful reflection of what gaming, animation, and the creative human mind can accomplish and put out into the world even in times where people are constantly angry critical. Plus, it stamps out the typical trope of episodic games needing the other episode. This one is, by itself, a fantastic story that just leaves enough questions to earn a sequel if you want to go that way, but by itself is a complete package that leaves you feeling like you've witnessed a full and grand adventure. This game is just the definitive idea of "magical" manifested as a video game, and if you haven't played it yet, you're just cheating yourself of so much laughter and joy. This one is certainly worth discussing from this year.

*Awesomenauts

Yes I've already discussed this game quite a bit, and put it in the honorable mentions of a list before, but its really stormed and taken a firm grip within this year. Besides, we're talking about a game that really has come a long way. Its received constant support on the PC side, and they've been lately talking about (and showing) a speedy increase in production and new stuff. We're at the point where there's basically a new character each month or two, and that's a big deal in a MOBA. A new character is like a new set of weapons in an FPS, or a new mini-island of quests in an RPG. You could argue too much updating is bad, and believe me Awesomenauts shows those moments to, but in general the game has come a long way and me and a friend of mine have been playing it like crazy this year. Until I lost my laptop, and thus the ability to truly play much of it, it was basically a daily thing at multiple points in the year. It also helps that Nibbs became a new main of mine, and was released this year. With a near infinite amount of experimentation within the mechanics and characters, it held strong as a game worth playing long after its initial release, and on the PC its just amazing. Sadly it looks like I'll be back on the less updated PS4 form, but oh well. Hopefully I'll be back on a laptop sometime soon.

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

This game is a bit embarrassing to talk about, because it blows my GOTY'14 out of the water at its own game of incredible open world formats. Not only that, but it humiliates the rest of the industry in terms of support, passion, and generosity that the team behind it has given to players. They truly want to be the best of the best, and are willing to earn it the fair way and with some truly smart marketing tactics. ...but that's not why it stands potential chance to earn top spot on GOTY lists. Its the real-time beard, right?

What does earn it a lot of credit for that potential is the amazing open world variety and depth. The fact that every monster bounty, every real quest, and even every box that can be open, stands some chance to tell an amazing story that may even rival the main quest. Not only that, but the amazing cut-scene quality, interactions, and literal role-playing is so tightly and well done that you can actually watch as the world becomes one with itself and see things change based on your actions. Its the small things I'm talking about to, not just big moral choices. At some point I go out of my way to stop an assassination that stemmed from a long line of side-quests, and in doing so I met with an elderly lady who I had to question so I could proceed with monster-detective type work. Later on after all that is tied up, I follow another side-quest related to a much bigger character, and I end up re-visiting the ladies house in a party. As we meet again and she asks me for help, she stops to ask if we've met before, and that is followed up with the correct answer acknowledging a totally optional area before that meets with this also optional quest-line, and all it really does is change some small talk. Yet that change itself feels so real, and so beautifully well done for a format that has never even bothered trying to tell such coherent side stories before. Having moments like that, alongside amazing combat, AI that aught to win awards, amazing story set-pieces, and such great core writing, all add up to one of the best RPG and Open world games I've played. MGS5, I'm looking at you when I say there's only one chance I see of somebody beating that this year, but whether that happens or not The Witcher 3 is an incredible game that I still need to wrap up from this year. I gladly aim to review it once I have a proper laptop set-up again.

*Skylanders

My thoughts from both "Now Playing" articles still remain valid. I don't really know what else to say about these games. They're alright in the end, pretty fun, but not worth going through the trouble for to take head-on. I think its a fun little quirky game I'll pick up and enjoy from time to time. I love its cast, its colorful world, its lengthy campaigns, and just the fun in swapping out characters and wrecking the place. There's plenty of nice mini-games to do off to the side to, and I love the arena challenges. Overall decent game, glad I played it this year, but almost not even worth mentioning on the list in the end.

*Legend of Kay: Anniversary (not sure if this is really worth a star or not)

Finally, the last major game I played and finished this year sadly did not go out on such a bang, but rather a whimper. Legend of Kay is kind of like one of those old technically bad FoxKids Saturday morning cartoons, only it forgets to have fun with itself and instead hopes you have fun through its gameplay. ...and that gameplay can be fun, and great at times. I'll gladly say that Kay was a fun game that I'm glad to have played, but dang is it so flawed. The writing, the voice acting, and various poor parts of the level design, and that final awful boss battle all just point to a schizophrenic team that didn't know where its full potential lied in. The comic cut-scenes, combat, and the variety of platforming elements were all so great though. Oh, and of course the fact that this is a "remastered" PS2 game which looks so good is just incredible, and deserves great praise as well. Still on an objective technical level, the game just isn't that great. I wish it were, and I wish I could be here telling you I played one of the best 3D platformers I missed out on from the PS2 days, but instead I sat there thinking "eh... well its done, so now what?". ...but the box art is awesome! See I can't quite find enough reasons to praise or put down the game.

What's left...

Yet remember, despite so much on this list, there's still the biggest launch area to come up yet for the year. As fall and winter approach, we're going to see some heavy hitting game releases coming up, as well as a noteworthy amount of smaller ones. Nintendo has 4 solid Wii U games coming up (or 3, if your in the UK and already have Yoshi), there's MGS5, the big annual games like AC and COD, There's Battlefront, Until Dawn, and of course Fallout 4. I'm sure I'm missing something as well. That's at least 3 major open world games, the biggest FPS series running, a competitor, and a new big budget cinematic thriller for horror or David Cage fans. Personally speaking though I have my interest in all Nintendo games, but will likely wind up with none before the year is done. Meanwhile I'm probably passing on fallout for now, and I think I'll refuse the offer of the shooters and AC. So for me, the only one that looks sure for now is The Phantom Pain, but that is one big order to have really. Then there's a few months of PS+ stuff, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that armello wins the upcoming vote. On top of that, I may consider the re-release of Dishonored, but that's not set in stone. There's a lot going on this year, and even more amazing things to happen in just the first half along of 2016. As I said last article, we've got a great near-future ahead of gaming, and nearly everyone seems to have a game worth looking into coming out sometime just around the corner.

Edit: Also just a funny little post-post note. I looked through the list at some point to find two broadly common things that suit my usual standards: The game's direction in art style either seems to be extremely dark in this washed out or violently "bad-ass" tone, or look to be of some colorful toon-like sort. Star Fox is the only exception, neither looking full toon or action-heavy, and I only choose that because I didn't want to pollute things with my MGS5 hype all over again. Yup, seems typical of me.

Indie overload

Indie games are starting to get good... real good. Like really, really, really good. As in, I might just have more hopeful and hyped up indie games than I do AAA ones. I know that's not real news coming from some people, but I'm a guy whose stood up for AAA in these comparison battles before, expressed concern in indie gaming's lack of open environments and inputs, and I hate fads of indie games like rogue-likes about as much as I do AAA fads (which aren't as heavily at this very moment, while indies arguably still are). Its not that I hate indies, not by a longshot. However I just take them in moderately and rarely find a strong attachment to any. So having me say Indies are looking absolutely stunning right now is a true compliment from me. There might just be more than I could possibly keep up with now. Its kind of because... well I'm seeing the indie tropes come around more in my direction. I've always heard they were all about either "nostalgia trips" taking you back to games that publishers don't want to touch, or they were about creativity and stumbling into new areas where previous publishers weren't now. Now I'm seeing that as well as my prediction coming true where you get more diverse and interesting games based on the more people getting in and doing their own thing.

For a first example, lets take a look at something I just discovered today. Check out the trailer for Stories: The Hidden Path. Done? Okay lets review for a quick second. It has:

• Airships... to the point where they decide this was worth narration and space inside of its less than one minute trailer. Its just one of those worlds as well where everything is set around the skies, and has this thrilling sense of high fantasy adventure with that sky-land style I've always loved but rarely see used.
• A swashbuckling Fox protagonist, obviously named after the folk hero (or villain, dude was quite twisted) Reynard.
• The chance to have a side-kick who may be equally as clever (or just a quirky trouble maker)
• Charming writing that isn't afraid to use "goofball" in its vocabulary... seriously its just refreshing to hear someone other than myself use that word.
• Multi-path branching story direction under a game that is made like an action RPG
• Fairytale type fantasy world, with the story telling already showing a promising set-up.
• Colorful use of such a great world, with this beautiful cell shaded artstyle. Actually looking at the concept art, its combination of colors, and its setting mix and remind me a lot of something like what I'd see in a Flight graphic novel.
• A Swashbuckling fo- oh, I already went over this.

Yeah, fairytale rogue fox adventurer set in a sky-land fantasy setting with mutli-path story telling coupled with gameplay that encourages loot & sword fighting. Oh and there's magic of some kind. This is like kindred spirit levels of "I'm so with you on this one!" in design direction. Consider me signed up for the newsletter. Its not either the most innovative, nor a strong throw-back to a game style I'm so familiar with, but its that strange combination of elements that I can't say I'd ever expect to see this game exist in 1000 years unless I became a designer and made it myself. Yet here it is, coming next February to the PS4 supposedly (and may even be exclusive, which is weird to see without hearing a major deal, but that works). Its just one of those games alongside Moon Hunters that feels like some idea I'd want for a game, but never came up with yet.

Speaking of which, that's yet another glorious game still to be released. Moon Hunters is still coming out sometime, hopefully it'll still make a good PS4/Vita debute sometime early next year. Its finally a game that develops its mythological side seriously, and casts you as a myth hero out to write your story by your actions and the way various tribes perceive you. Then as you live and have had a full journey, you retire and start again as a new hero while being able to notice the legacy of the last guy. This along with various other elements, like the randomness of select events and level pieces, make for an amazing and replayable mythological themed RPG experience unlike any I've heard of before... yet its such a simple concept considering we've had high fantasy RPGs for nearly as long as gaming itself. Same could be said about the basic concept of rogue swashbuckling heroes, its a great classic story niche yet so very few games have ever bothered to capture with it. Well inides have it down now, and its just a matter of time before other areas are covered like that. Steampunk RTS, Cardgame FPS hybrids, sci-fi tank themed shooters, etc. They'll happen at some point, and somebody out there will fist pump in the air and think "Yes!"

Beautiful!

Until then I'm looking fondly at Retro blazer's awesome capture of Saturday morning cartoons with 90's style shooter gameplay (if its still happening, the game isn't confirmed cancelled, but seems to have gone dark). I'll be happily awaiting to see if No Man's Sky is really an epic space exploration game. I'll be expecting a day when I can play and adore Strafe on a solid PC. I'm excited to go blissfully exploring in Rime. Oh and of course, how can I not mention Yooka-laylee, the spiritual successor to one of the best 3D platformers out there! Heck I believe there's a couple 3D platformers coming up. Oh and sometime or another, we know Serious Sam 4 is coming. I'm also quite curious about how TGC's next game after Journey will be.

Yup, there's a lot of good waiting to happy from indies that could easily appeal in my direction. That's not to discredit AAA as being stuck or anything. I'm absolutely ecstatic about Doom, Dishonored 2, MGS5 (SO CLOSE!), Horizon, and Ratchet & Clank. Then there's a new Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4, Devil's 3rd, StarFox Zero, and Yoshi's Yarn that I may easily look into under the right price or conditions. I've also got a friend whose really into Mirror's Edge, and I've got to say Catalyst does seem like an interesting game that I may also look into. Its just an amazing time to be a gamer, and I'm glad to see indies offering a ton of content in a direction I'd take up more easily, and a wave of AAA games that don't seem as dull as they were getting from last gen. There's just a lot going on, and I'm very excited to see what comes out across the rest of the year and next.

All those stars shining so bright!

Now playing: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (HD/Vita edition)

Its about time I dedicated both blog space and more time to this amazing series. I know I've said this before, but I simply don't discuss this series all that much despite how amazing it is. Its just one of those games where once it leaves my mind, I just don't find a reason to bring it back. Heck before everything big got pushed back a year, I was planning on just waiting a price drop down on MGS5 because I knew I could do without it if I ignored the hype. Still silence does not mean a lack in quality. Quite the opposite. There are some moments and times where I have to wonder if certain areas of MGS make it one of the best franchises out there ever made, and one specific game even makes me think from time to time if it'd qualify as my all time favorite. Yes I put it on spot #10 or so on my old list, but its just one of those where your not truly sure what to do with. That game is the very same one I'm playing right now again: Metal Gear Solid 3.

Obviously this blog post isn't so much about first impressions as it is gushing about how amazing the game is. I'm 7 hours in according to the timer, and loving it just as much, if not more, than back when I was playing it in my early teens in the PS2 era. This game just has nearly everything good going for it. There's massive mechanical depth, a great learning curve, multiple playstyles, heavily cinematic cut-scenes and deep story telling, extra story telling under gameplay via codec calls, tons of content, hidden unlockables, optional side areas, survival elements, graphics that still hold up today (not that it looks like a modern game, but it just looks so solid in every single area), a theme rooted in between 60's era and spy movies, and so many hidden little secrets to find that many people are still discovering hidden actions after over a decade. Heck, I personally just discovered how you can kill one of the bosses before he even has his boss fight sequence, and then called to trigger a funny codec call about the bosses "always exploding" when they die. This game is brilliant!

MGS3 has everything I could have wanted over top of MGS2, which is where I started with the series. It took the complex stealth/action mechanics, hidden secrets, and awesome cut-scenes from the 2nd game, and added in jungle survival in a massive way, as well as more open level designs. You now could hunt food, cage animals and throw them at people, there was a camouflage system in place, and even more gear to start with in the first place. The only thing they truly removed was the radar system, which I'm completely fine honestly. I sunk some serious time into just goofing around in MGS2 when I was like 10, so naturally being given all MGS3 had to offer was just unbelievable. You can kind of see why I'm so serious about mechanical depth in games now, the truly talented can wind up like this game... or smash bros, or unreal tournament. However sticking to topic here, this game just had an absurd amount of work put into it for a PS2 game, and naturally I'm happy to be playing an enhanced version alongside my other favorite on a portable system united with one chip.

The only problem I really have with this otherwise perfect game is the controls. Believe it or not I once hated the newer controls of the franchise. I'm not entirely sure why, or maybe it was just strictly with MGS4 (which I don't own, so I cannot test it again at the moment). Now though, going directly from ground zeroes, to MGS3, I'm quite annoyed with the entire crouching system. Its very stiff and rigid, and that's just the crawl I'm talking about. The actual crouch is just a stance you take before the crawl, actual crouch sneaking just does not exist. In order to sneak, you have to be standing and walking with the L button held down, leaving you feeling like the worst stealth agent ever since you've got to be walking out in the open in order to "sneak". Meanwhile they'll somehow hear you if you crawl up to them, which just doesn't make much sense. Then there's the Vita stepping in to make matters a bit worse. The peak buttons are touch sensitive, interrogation is as well, and then its just better off not bothering with that stuff. On top of that, sitting there staring down at a screen is a bit
painful for the neck. In general this game is likely better on the consoles, but sadly that version is sold separately.


Sneaky, sneaky

To be honest I may just end up getting it back on home consoles. I'm considering my options, and really all I need to complete the series is to get the PS3 HD collection, and then buy the $4 copy of MGS4. I've kind of gone all out on Metal Gear mania lately. I looked into getting a Foxhound hat again, and ended up ordering custom pieces to make my own (with the patches being dirt cheap compared to the ridiculous merchandise prices). I've been looking into the old games, checking up on critical insights on the past of the series, and now I've been digging deep into MGS3 and ground zeroes. Its just felt good to get hyped up for MGS5, and its a series truly worth being hyped up for. With the grand finale coming (because seriously, if Kojima is leaving Konami after the game that's supposed to tie the whole middle of the story up, don't seriously tell me we're getting another Metal Gear of worthy quality) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good send off to what is honestly one of the best franchises out there. Even at its worst (probably 1 & 4.. I'm not counting weird spin-offs like acid) its still been a deeply moving and innovative series. Until the conclusion though, I'll be working on this game, the best within the currently existing franchise. ...and maybe finding those XOF patches on the PS4 version of Ground Zeroes.

Thanks for being awesome

Why I'm still buying Phantom Pain

Very important little note: So I don't know how much I'll be blogging from here for a while. My laptop, the source of 90% of my computer/internet work, is likely as good as gone. I'm currently using a borrowed windows 8 tablet with a hybrid keyboard type function. This means a big disadvantage to typing, mouse controls, and to a small extent even worse internet use. I also cannot do hardly anything that I used to externally, like carry over custom photos, or use my review cards. So... I'll likely stay away from doing a lot of blogging. I've never had a consistent track of sending out articles, but now you know that they will generally diminish a bit.

That all being said I love that my PS4 is in great working condition, because Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain is coming out. YAY! Oh wait, but um... Konami really sucks right now. Like really badly. They're destroying games, degrading and horribly mistreating one of their best people, treat their workers bad, and are in the process of making some of the most hilarious self-parodying uses of their own property I've ever seen by turning Silent Hills and Castlevania into arcade slot machines. If that sounds absolutely insane, the commercials will blow your mind. Seriously, go look it up sometime, its just hilarious. Naturally people want nothing to do with Konami other than trash talk them, but yet they hold one of the biggest games left in the year. This leads many to saying that it should be boycott. Personally... I think that's both silly, and to a degree something they kind of anticipate. Let me explain myself though...

Its not personal, its gaming

See things clearly

First off I feel like it should be appropriate to cover the basics of this subject matter. Look I don't entirely disapprove of boycotts. We're all human, and we all have our disagreements, our idealisms, and when it touches our market we have a way to fight it. However boycotts the way I was tought came from a far more important area: Civil disobedience & civil rights. It was used to pressure laws, law enforcement, and store folks as a way to earn freedom. This... this is talking about a video game series famous for hiding in cardboard boxes, and a boss who is defeated by moving your controller ports. The game in question, is advertising itself in part with cyborg arms, erotic sniper lady, and a wolf with an eye-patch. This ain't exactly major stuff to force yourself into idealism. I'm not exactly trying to trivialize an incredible series here, or gaming as a whole, but this stuff is more about entertainment than anything else. Quite a few gamers commonly ask to take politics out of gaming, yet it seems some of the same ones are sitting there telling you what you can and can't support based on work ethics of some company thosuands of miles away from most of those who'd read this.

Look if its something really serious, I get it. If its something that speaks so against you, so against who you are and who you represent, that you can't possibly fathom the idea of sending money of any kind in they direction, fine. Don't. Its not my business or place to tell you what to do with your money and view points. However I would kindly ask you to stop and truly think about the area you're doing this within. That would be gaming in this case. Games. Fun and games kind of games. The games where you get a pet wolf with a freakin' eye-patch! Games that incite joy, creativity, escapism, and story telling. Its made to help you enjoy life away from your own stress, not to be turned down because the internet told you somebody else is having a tough time. You don't owe these guys money because you care about their tabloid life, you choose to give them your money because in some way they produced a product you enjoyed. Its also less about supporting "an idiot" and more about supporting the work behind a product. They make a good product, you buy the good product. Isn't that how its supposed to work?

Personally, the meter I use to tell whether or not a game is "worth it" is all in the gameplay and game itself. If I ever have doubts about the people or motives behind the game I ask these big questions: Is this going to be something that stops me from having fun? Is this going to hurt the game industry in any way by setting a bad example? Is this something that has enough effort and enjoyment in it for the price? In case you didn't notice, they're almost all practices that conflict with the game itself where I draw the line. Sometimes game culture as well. When Titan Souls had a guy go stupid all over his twitter account and mock a small critic of the style, I said "Game wasn't really that interesting, but now I know I'll never touch it". I wouldn't want more people with that mindset making fools of themselves whenever a good critic says something honest. When Dice decides its going to be routine to make high grinds in its games, or EA publishes another online only game that never needed to be online only, I stay away from it because I know they've destroyed a chunk of whatever potential fun they have and I didn't want to reward that. Meanwhile what about the Oddworld lead who hypocritically claims capitalism is the devil while promoting his own games for the market? I applaud the incredible art design of his game, and stand by the fact that stranger's wrath is an amazing game to play on your Vita. I absolutely love his creative worlds, his games writing, and I will celebrate the fact that work like his can exist. I completely disagree with his political sides, and see he can be quite immature, but I don't really care if he goes to bed worshiping hitler, it doesn't bother my feelings on his games (even when they have political messages behind them). They're great games, made well, and made fun. I actually have a lot of nitpicks as to why they aren't all fit for my style of gaming, but oh well, I'd still buy his work if priced right.

This is Kojima's game

and don't you forget it!

So... uh, problem with this boycott's logic. So you guys despise the fact that Konami is going out of their way to discredit, and completely trash on, all of Kojima and his studio's last big game. So what do you purpose? Ignore Kojima and just ignore the game because of Konami. Nice job, you just totally contradicted one of your reasons to boycott by simply noticing the Konami name. If you boycott this game, what does Kojima and pals get from it? How did you help them all out? How did you heroically dash in and save the oppressed employees of Konami? You gave them.... passive-aggressive vengeance? That's the best idea I can come up with. If that's not actually what they wanted though, then you didn't even do that.

Look, whenever I do one of these articles, I do it because I care. I like writing, I'm passionate about gaming, and I like sharing ideas and discussing things with people. I do this stuff to collect my thoughts, and hope that if anybody else out there cares enough, they'll enjoy reading them as well. The last thing I'd care about is if somebody said they wouldn't come near any blogs like mine just because they heard rumors that the founder of Blogger told a racial joke once. That has nothing to do with this blog existing here, and its purpose. Likewise somebody putting even MORE work, asking for big budgets, asking for more time and careful implementation, and working hard with a  team of people to create this final major piece of a long running famous franchise would want you to enjoy the game. The team has been working on this to entertain people, to give them emotional rides, to make them think about nuclear war, to show people the power of console games in a culture slipping into mobile hype, etc. You get none of the intended messages, none of the careful design, and none of the hard work that went into this by saying "screw Konami" and walking away. That all goes in vain, and Konami gets to walk away saying they were right to throw Kojima away because his games didn't sell. I have no idea if Kojima will be more traditionally rewarded by money via gamers, and I wouldn't be surprised if all our purchases did directly just give to Konami and their stupid slot machine future, but its not just about that. Its about art, emotions, and the fulfillment it has in society.

Konami knows its not playing to get fans with the internet at this point. They know people hate them over the news, they know people hate them about what their doing, and they have gone out of their way to silence interviews and youtube videos surrounding the matter. They do not care. They just really don't at this point. They're ditching games like MGS5 after MGS5, and they're running to fall back on cheap mobile cash-ins, and Japanese gambling machines. That's their plan, because MGS5 has cost them 80+ million dollars and its a franchise that is barely seeing the sales they want. They want to play it safe, abandon good art, and see if they really can ride the mobile bandwagon. Telling them they can't have their MGS5 money is just proving their very point. Its proving they don't see these games as profitable, and will continue their road to destroying beloved IPs in the form of lame gamble machine spin-offs. They already did it with freakin' silent hill, it can't get much worse than that. They've hit rock bottom before they even gave MGS5 a chance. Do you seriously think they'll sit there and give you a second look if you make their last stand in the console market, or with a credible big developer, a flop? No! They'll say "screw you" right back and march on with their silly plan because that's easier than actually putting effort into the products you stand by. That's not to say if the game sells well, it'll save everything, but that is to say you're going to be pulling the opposite effect of what you wanted. You're not punishing them but so much, instead you're just giving them a "told ya so!" to gloat about. Meanwhile the worst part is, other publishers will look on with more interest in their word than yours. They'll look and see where the money does go, not to people up-voting corporate jabs on youtube comments.

However you should still be careful with this one....

Look if I were just here to ride the hype train on MGS5 and tell you all to run out and buy it with no attention to this situation, I would let the trailer do the speaking for me and leave the article at that. However this situation does indeed factor into our decision to buy the game, because here's the thing: For who knows how long, the direct developers of the game have been basically locked into a dark room. That's exaggerated of course, but they've been miserable.

Basically if what we know is right, the team has been left isolated, without internet, and are working on borrowed contract time knowing completely well that they'll be unemployed as soon as the game goes gold (which may or may not have already happened by the time this article is published). That sounds like a miserable working condition, and as we all should know (save for companies like Konami apparently) happy workers do a much better job. With such a massively ambitious game as MGS5, I wont be too surprised if it releases in a rushed state. That's not to say it certainly will, or will release in an unplayable state. Like any other game in the AAA industry, its almost certainly going to have some bugs somebody will find, but I'm just not sure how or if the conditions will increase that chance. Meanwhile Metro: Last Light was also released with a small budget, and terrible working conditions (workers were freezing, blackouts, etc) and yet made an incredible FPS game that could have its polish flubs easily overlooked in favor of quality. So who knows with MGS5. Just be careful, and don't rush expecting perfection out of the box when the guys making the game have been going through hell to finish it. I may be waiting out a few days before I cash a pre-order (because yeah, you can do that. pre-orders don't have to be an instant and blind thing) and hear from fans of the series. I emphasize fans to, the press never covers the real details that matter when it comes to certain standards of polish. On a positive note, we do know how sneaky and clever the mastermind behind this franchise is, and that he seems to have already hid something in ground zeroes related to this. I wouldn't be too surprised if we found an awesome little easter egg trashing Konami inside the game.

Concluding...

I never actually got around to truly answering the title of this topic. Instead I merely spoke to an audience, but really it could all be summed up in personal fun and perspective on why the series is so awesome. I'm sure this is going to sound cheesy in the long run, but I really think the foxhound logo (which is really just a fox) has sat well with the Metal Gear Solid Franchise. The fox is a symbol of clever, cunning, stealthy, playful, and creative expression... and maybe a bit of craziness for good measure. Its the sort of thing that sits so well with a series that has innovated and stuck around a stealth action adventure so well that it has become a major icon to gaming. Naturally, it also suits the creators and director who've featured all sorts of tricks under the games. MGS2 and 3 specifically, alongside the likes of Dishonored, have a strange sandbox appeal to me. I always want to get into these worlds, explore, learn, and realize I have so many options and so much input that I can just play with everything for hours and hours on end... and then learn something brand new or remember something I've barely used. That combined with incredible, and cheesy, epic stories to a scale we rarely see, and its just all so amazing. It really is a a fox-like kind of game, perfectly nailing all traits and then some.

Naturally I look forward to this game. Konami and all their BS wont stand in the way of that, unless they've done something to screw with the game itself. MGS5 looks absolutely incredible. I hope that those unsure about this game, just because of Konami, will see the fun in it and just remember all the good this series has brought out so they can enjoy the very last real MGS there may ever be. If not... well then oh well. I'll still be grabbing it myself if all holds well. In spite of all the controversy, I wish for the best behind the conclusion to one of the best franchises out there, and one of my personal favorites.

Cheers to adventure!

Kings Quest actually taught me a fascinating little lesson. Sometimes its easy to forget yourself in some things, and you have to remember your roots before you realize what you've forgotten. Its not in the sense that you lose the qualities that make you, but rather its that you kind of overlook them for qualities you want or see as favorable with others. Of course King's Quest did this with its clever writing and 3 part path system, and the way my aim was different than the outcome. However a bigger game related example came with the very game itself, and fits that very lesson: Adventure games are just the best and I've sort of forgotten to admit that.

On paper, I don't like what most refer to as "adventure" games. They're illogical, contrived, and often bottleneck the game into a tight path that contradicts actual adventure completely. I'm talking about your point & clicks, metroidvanias, and just some broadly labeled "adventure games" like Zelda. Then again, I also kind of love other adventure games. I love the story driven 3rd person shooter adventures like uncharted, I occasionally enjoy the amazing experiences found in a few artsy adventures like glitchhikers, I love the 3D platformer "mascot" adventure games where games like Spyro sucked me into the medium, the feeling of experimenting with a fully fleshed out world in a stealth game like Dishonored, and I even like quite a handful of zelda-esque games that aren't zelda (such as the criminally undersold Okami). They're all still contrived, weird, and strict in their own ways, but yet when the right traits and execution meets, its just one of the best things in gaming. Adventure resonates with my views even in places removed from immediate adventure. I can sit by the mechanically sound, and more calculating games like first person shooters (one of my favorite genres), but at the end of the day I got into them in the first place for that idea of seeing cool aliens, or experiencing epic battles. Maybe both at the same time. I've also spent hours upon hours within strategy games not because of their deep rules, but because it was a fun way to build my own adventures with the rule customization. I'm in this stuff in large part for the adventure or exploring a world unique and distant from my own. The only place I've ever actually found myself not going in for adventure at all, might be occasional multiplayer games like Awesomenauts... but even then, there's that lacking feel where I'd beg for a full story with their great cast of fighters.

So its kind of a surprise to myself that I don't focus much on discussing the "adventure". Its kind of easy to have lost that idea in today's gaming media. We're surrounded by angry hyper-critical consumers trashing weird things, high demands and cuts from publishers, and an emphasis on online activity and gimmicky fluff instead of the simple stuff like just having a solid campaign adventure. The solution isn't any better, with people holding high praise to the indie scene where its flooded with rogue-likes and puzzle platformers. People seem to look more at Destiny, or more in the opposite direction like at Rogue Legacy, so much so that a mechanically amazing adventure focused single player shooter like Wolfenstein (a type of shooter that was at its height back around the early 2000's) is considered a throw-back title by many. Its easy to judge and analyze mechanics all day, or discuss the latest controversy (both of which I do quite frequently), but what of the celebration to such a simple pleasure as just sitting down for another playthrough at Ratchet and Clank? Well okay I've praised that game plenty to, but not enough behind why its such a timeless game to me, or how it embodies that spirit of what makes me a gamer.

King's Quest helped wake me up with the feel-good adventure stuff around me. A book full of zorro tales at my side, Robin Hood pop figures in front of me on my TV stand, a dragon & castle figure over on the desk, Tomb Raider trilogy & Ratchet and Clank in the bag at my feet brought along "just in case", and memories of princess's bride popping up for comparison with the game at hand; The want for adventure, stories, magic, and discovery has never left me. Its just that I've simply failed to realize and respect it as much in the area of games. I've been craving adventures and creations of the human imagination since I was a dragon-obsessed little kid, but I've been so deep into game culture that I tend to talk about analyzing rather than the wonder like I would with other things. Of course I do still care about mechanics, and community, but at the same time I care about them because it influences what I can do within the world I paid to immerse myself into.

Thanks for taking me there spyro!

Adventure and wonder is what made me love games to begin with. From tiny post-toddler days of play, I was playing pre-school point and click games that mocked animation (if you grew up in the 90's, you probably know some of what I'm talking about). I loved old disney movies, and so I naturally loved that idea of interacting with a game like putt-putt and going on his adventures. Then something blew my mind: the concept of 3D movement in a fantasy world. Thanks to Spyro, I was truly having treasure hunting adventures across magical plains. Meanwhile seeing my dad play Tomb Raider was about as much fun as watching television. A suspensful T-rex appearance, ancient mummy monsters that shattered into exploding pieces when shot, and mystical treasures hiding away by secret invisible floors of magic. Oh and I will never forget the final bosses of each game, like the torso hatch-ling monster of 1, the Dragon of 2, or that awesome (and creepy sounding) spider alien of 3. Then there was Mario 64, Gex, Banjoe & kazooie, all adding a wacky cartoon touch over top of a medium quickly proving to be full of imaginative wonders waiting to not only be uncovered, but touched by your controlled character directly.

Truth be told I don't know what it is completely about certain adventure games that turns me away from them. Well I do kind of know (and said it earlier), but aren't all games quite contrived in some way? I suppose its something about the predictability about the situation. Once you notice that pattern in Zelda, or that the next puzzle will be crazily disconnected in a point and click beyond its worth, you just lose the motivation to go on unless you know something amazing will come out of it. Yet those games usually yield minimal results, with stories or settings trimmed or just plain not worth the asking task. My standards for adventure are also what keep me from some other genres that do things almost too different. Its why I can't just love minecraft. You'd think a whole world of random and unpredictable elements, and made fit to reshape by players would be amazing for "adventure". Instead its really empty. Sandbox games are fun until you've poked at everything once. When all the tricks are shown, or even just all the big ones, you're just left with a hallow world that was generated by slapping numbers together, rather than one that was hand crafted for amazement. Like a good movie, or your favorite artist's music, you'll keep coming back to a well executed video game campaign. Meanwhile a blank canvas is just that, its for people that want to create rather than discover. That's not to say they don't offer some adventure for the right type of person, but its just not there for me personally. A very similar case can be made for open world games, or RPGs that have more dialogue and inventory screens than they do exploring.

Oh but Witcher 3 just crushes other open world games AND rpgs in a sense of adventure

Meanwhile the general faults almost kind of help the good games of its kind. The contrived stalling or challenges teach you to have patience, or give you a kick that fuels a short term addiction via persistence to overcome something. The linearity is there because you can't expect too open of a world to tell the same great adventure. The lack of logic is there because imagination is as well. Sometimes these faults jump the shark, and frustrate you out of the game. However other times, it makes that magical moment in Shadow of Colossus, or makes it more real and human towards your efforts to complete a tough game like Star Fox Adventures. Its part of the ride, and the actual sense of adventure. We may not love everything, but we're not supposed to, instead we endure it, beat it, and witness something amazing alongside the feeling of triumph.

So cheers to adventure games.They aren't as in demand or respected as they should be in the current bloated industry, but there will always be a time, place, and need for them in some form. King's Quest was a weird traditional adventure game I didn't expect to see coming, but it sure shined some light to the subject and proved that you can indeed find adventure even in unusual places for yourself. A satisfying sense of adventure works in mysterious ways like that. So to those who are here for all the laughter, friends, enemies, treasure, mysteries, and sense of discovery that adventure brings us, this article is dedicated to us all and the games that bring us these emotions. Happy journey, travelers.

Oh and uh... yes I am aware I said the word "adventure" way too much in this article. 62 times in fact. ...and I'm leaving it that way. :p