I usually just focus on something, and if I don't have a particular hook to anything I often just don't bother with something like a "now playing" article. But I feel one is overdue and have that urge to write. Meanwhile I do still have some interesting stuff to say for some of the games I've been dipping into. So for now I want to at least have a basic touch upon all I've been doing lately.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
I've actually finished this game about a week ago, and then had some... mixed feelings hit me. I wont go too far into that, and I may even finish an article I started on it, but to be quick and blunt I feel this more than ever is a great example of reviewers failing to do their job. Games like MGS5 is what made me want to do game reviews and prove my style to begin with. I want detail, I want mechanics covered, I want balance reviewed, and I want a recommendation on how the game stands both alone or within its franchise. MGS5 is a fantastic game as just a fun game, but as a MGS game with MGS standards it drops the ball, and even as a stand alone there are so many minor problems or pacing issues that its simply baffling that people slapped together a 1000 work review with a perfect or near-perfect label and never addressed anything outside of "its fun, you can do lots of stuff, oh and quiet's design is trashy. Kay, bye!". They basically review the game on its concepts, and if they can get to the beginning and ending, and give it a score. There's rarely every analysis on how good it really does anything, unless the reviewer has a quirky tangent and makes an exception for one area. In MGS5's case the only complaints were over Quiet, or the lacking story, but it never even glosses the horrible balance of a certain boss fight, the awful downturn chapter 2 takes, how buggy online is, or how the general mission structure is broken at worst and doesn't make sense at its best. So many details just lost because they can't bother to review a product even if it was their freakin' job and title to review that product.
In the meantime though, I've been cleaning up stuff afterwards and experimenting. I've been using D-walker a bit more, tacking side-quests, goofing off in replays of main quests, and taking in different equipment loadouts. Its been fun for short bursts to just run around and fool with stuff. On the other hand though I've also had to deal with those broken missions as I said before, and try to weed out which side quests are legit side-quests. Some I've already beaten are for some reason appearing as playable missions and mapped locations to go to. So I've been basically tying up loose ends, and enjoying myself for short bursts after the main game is over. Don't take all my whining as a serious reason to rail on the game though, I wouldn't be playing it if that were the case. Its a fantastic game, and still very fun to get into. I'll probably continue playing it some more, or even get involved in the real online mode once that's unleashed upon the world.
Witcher 3
I can't believe I still haven't beat this game, but yet I also can. Does that make any sense? So I've put that to the test and have decided, screw it, I'm doing this game and I will get to the end of it so I can feel better about putting it on the GOTY list in the end (I know its going on there somewhere). So I've been wrapping up side-quests, finished my recruit hunt, tracing back on old quests I've outleveled, and have been starting new things that interest me. I'd be here all day if I went on once again about how great this game is, so I'll just leave that little list here to inform on how I've been playing at it. I will say though that I think despite all the patches, the game has potentially gotten even buggier. While patches have supposedly fixed many weird little quirks, framerate, and nitpicks, I've lately noticed an increase in ones that truly get into my face and stop me from enjoying something. I've seen things disappear, animations break, one entire small scene was broken as Geralt froze during what I assume was supposed to be him dodging a boulder, and now I'm actually stuck inside of a broken quest. The character I'm supposed to defeat actually stops in an animation loop and I cannot "win" the quest, and its a really darn cool one. I love this game a lot, but I'm starting to get that sad feeling it doesn't want me to finish it. I'm just not sure what I want to do with it at this point. Do I just redo the whole mission, quit it, or lie in the dialogue to break the same fight? Maybe all I need to do is just restart the whole game and it'll fix itself. Who knows.
Minecraft
Yeah, returned to this, with a very similar mindset before: its a good zen game. Zen gaming being a game to play and sort of just... not... care. I just sit back, chill-out, and do some digging, building, and crafting. I feel like little thought and strategy ever goes into my work here, but its just something to relax a bit more with. Its something a little different, and yet just familiar or cozy enough to come back and enjoy at some point. I was kind of encouraged to get back into it because of a poster of all things. I just kept seeing this really awesome poster at a store where it shows you a long scene of basically everything in minecraft doing something. Its basically just the entire world animated into events that can all be captured in one picture, as sort of a where's waldo with world lore replacing waldo completely. You just have so much to look at, discover, and just enjoy. Its just something very fun to look at, and seeing it with a game I know just enough about, it really just speaks for how cool this medium is for adventuring and creativity. So I grabbed the poster, was looking it over, and thought to myself... now was just a perfect time to dive back in. Who knows, maybe the game will grow on me more this time? In the mean time, I sort of envision Minecraft as the above picture shows. Its just... relaxing, serene, but also with some undertone to it that just sort of gets bland and boring after a bit.
Currently I've just upgraded my copy to the PS4 version. The least I could do considering I think I got mine free somehow as a side effect of it to work with a platform cross-over, and yet it somehow effecting my rental copy as a digital full PS3 copy. At least that's what I think happened. Anyways got the game, enjoying the better draw distance, and I'm working with a new world and building a home. This time I started by building an underground house that exists under this big hill I found. I built it up, made my bedroom floor out of sandstone, and I've been casually working on supplies. I'm about ready to turn on easy mode and fight some monsters now. I've also been discovering some new subtle features like a book you can actually write in, something I'm way too excited about. One day, I really hope I'll figure the hook out just enough to beat the game through and see the ender dragon. On top of that wish, I also hope to build my own 3D adventure/platformer game out of the create mode. Its just a cool little wish I have sometime.
Smash Bros 4
Actually I've sort of put it on hold for now since I'm physically away from the Wii U. However I've returned and put some good time in because they finally put out some good map DLC I wanted. The pirate ship map based off of windwaker is back, and that was by far one of my favorite levels from Brawl. I was just bothered so much by its absence before, and now that its back it was worth returning just for it. However I also grabbed the Mario Maker stage, which is pretty cool, and fooled around with some mii customization to. This is honestly the game that keeps me turning on the Wii U every so often, with it always being fun to return to for a few matches. There's nothing quite as good of a fighting game as this, and it still stands as a fantastic game to turn towards. I'll probably put some more rounds in when I get back.
The future...
Again, not something usually here, but since I'm a bit blissfully scatterbrained at the moment I have some rouge ideas of what I may leap to next. I just woke up to the realization that Telsagrad was a freebie on PS+, and I'll happily give that a go despite knowing its likely not for me. I've also had PlayStation All-star on my mind lately. I've got an article on the way about it, and I've been seeing quite some attention drawn back to it lately, so its only natural that I should probably play a few rounds of it. Of course there's the possibility I mentioned of me playing MGO when that's released, so that's a thing to. Outside of that I just think I'll be mostly working with Minecraft and Witcher 3. I hope to get further than normal in Minecraft before retiring from it some more, and as for Witcher 3 I still have that want to beat it. I especially want to beat it before the new expansion, something I proudly wanted to support and pre-ordered. I may end up leaving MGS's main game for a bit, but I dunno I suppose it depends on how much I want to keep coming back for side stuff. So yeah that's some plans there. Just a weird little (somewhat cheerful) blog on what I've been up to lately.
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