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The Corner of Randomness: Axiom Verge

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Axiom VergeI was recently gifted a PS4/Vita (thank you cross-buy!) copy of Axiom Verge. I’ve known about this game for some time now. I’ve watched plenty of streamers playing it. It’s one of those games that has been on my wish list for months, but I’ve never managed to snag it on a sale. Well, that issue is now resolved!

For those that might not know the backstory on this game, it is a Metroid inspired game that was completely developed by one dude. Tom Happ (developer) did basically everything for this game. Like the art? Thank Tom. Dig the soundtrack? Thank Tom. Love the level design? Thank Tom. This just blows me away so much. Then again Tom Happ is no slouch when it comes to games as he has worked on games such as End of Nations and NFL Street in the past.

The game took five years for him to make, and it started as a side project. Outside of photography, I don’t know that anything I’ve started as a side project held my interest for five years. I don’t even know if a side project lasting longer than a year ever even saw completion. So bravo to Tom for this feat.

The game itself is a ton of fun. I figured I’d like it, but I never thought I’d enjoy it as much as I do. The controls are tight. I’ve found the level design to be pretty fun. While enemy models tend to be a tad slim, and a bit recycled in some instances, they are well done and fit the world rather well. Heck, even the bosses are unique and provide a nice challenge as I try to figure out how to best them. There are times I’ll just sit at the title screen to enjoy the music. My one complaint I have found so far is that the story is the weak point. It’s fairly meh and somewhat predictable thus far in my tromping through the world.

The last I checked, I’ve logged just under nine hours in the game. So far I have uncovered 65% of the map and  found 55% of the items/weapons scattered about. Anyone who loves a Metroid style game will find themselves right at home here. There is a big emphasis on moving into a new area, finding a new weapon or item, and then backtracking to old areas to use their new found powers to unlock areas that were sealed away by various barriers.

There is definitely some replay value here. Once I beat the game, I’ll try it on a harder mode. Looking at the trophy list, there is even some desire to try to beat the game in under four hours. I know I sure as hell will never get the no death trophy, but that is okay with me. Right now, I’m loving the game and wish I had snagged it sooner. And all this fun is thanks to one dude…..CRAZY!

The Corner of Randomness: Speedrunners Amaze Me

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agdq-2016-1-770x470As I start to write this, I’m watching a streamer do an all bosses speedrun in Dark Souls 3. What amazes me is that the streamer was not privy to getting the game early. They stuck it out and bought the game at the official April 12 release. They beat the game day one and are now speedrunning the game on day two. It just blows me away that this streamer already has an understanding of the game mechanics and boss patterns to do a speedrun of a game that really has not even been out a week.

Not crazy enough for ya? Well, how about a new world record in Super Mario Bros. of 4.57.260. That is just a mere half a second faster than the old record of 4.57.427. Add in the fact that Darbian (the speedrunner) was wearing a heart rate monitor so you can see just how amped up he gets by the time he is at world eight and drops the bridge on King Koopa.

The speedrunning community just floors me all around. They work together to come up with new strategies in the name of saving just a few frames and ticking a few seconds off their times. They absolutely destroy games. They find glitches, abuse mechanics, and even import games so they use a specific version.

A few months ago, I spent the weekend watching Awesome Games Done Quick. This is a charity event where all kinds of games are played and beaten in ridiculous short amounts of time. If you missed AGDQ, don’t worry as there is a second chance to catch something like this in the summer. That event is called Summer Games Done Quick.

Maybe it is just because I’m getting older. Maybe it is because I know I just can’t operate at the speed at which speedrunners do. Whatever the reason, I know I will never be able to do a speedrun of anything other than beer drinking. What I do know is that watching people demolish games at breakneck speeds is addicting. I have mad respect for anyone that can speedrun any game. Thankfully, Twitch.TV fills my lust of watching just this type of thing!

The Corner of Randomness: Bad Embargo Timing

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DSIIIIf you’ve been around this site for any length of time, you know that I enjoy the Souls series a lot. I’ve reviewed all of their strategy guides. I’ve died more times than I even care to remember. I’ve cried at the amount of souls, or Blood Echoes when it comes to Bloodborne, I’ve lost due to a second death on the way to retrieve my bloodstain. It’s a good time. Thus, I was really excited when I saw people streaming press copies of Dark Souls III on Twitch.TV yesterday.

It was all going well until one streamer I was watching went into some of the details of how and what they could play. You see, they received a press copy of the U.S. version of the game. This version is not out for another two weeks. Therefore, he is under an embargo on what he can and can’t show. Essentially, he is free to explore and play the first third of the game.

Now, I’m not saying embargoes are bad. This is also a very common practice with the rise in popularity of Twitch.TV. It is a way to bring on the hype for a game that is releasing soon. It’s why we see high profile streamers getting beta keys for games like Overwatch. Heck, even Bloodborne had this same treatment right before it came out. I embrace this as I often use streams as a way to determine if I am going to preorder a game that is on my radar.

However, the embargo set on Dark Souls III is poorly thought out. While most of the people on Twitch.TV were streaming some form (PS4 or PC) of the U.S. version, there was one person streaming the Japan version. The hitch here is that the game is officially released in Japan. Thus, there is no embargo on the Japanese version. This streamer can stream all they want with no repercussions.

I get that the publishers don’t want to give away too much on this game. However, this is poor planning. This streamer knows enough Japanese to be able to play the game effectively. If they run into something they might not be able to translate, they just turn to their chat. Guess what? Even more people can read it and translate it for them. So publishers acting like U.S. people can’t read another language is just foolish.

To me, this embargo makes no sense. They are restricting one region, but not another. Why not just go no embargo as the game is getting fully streamed on other channels because those streamers can understand both languages? Or better yet, release the game simultaneously in both regions. This planning is almost as bad as Capcom releasing a partially finished Street Fighter V because they wanted it out for tournaments. Note that I said almost. Capcom still set that poor planning bar pretty high.

The Corner of Randomness: Marvel Collector Corps Founder Statue Unboxing

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Time sure does fly when you’re having fun and stupidly busy traveling. When I signed up for the Marvel Collector Corps, I took a gamble and paid for the whole year in one shot. Doing so allowed me to receive a nice little statue at the end of the year as their way of saying thanks. Well, my Founder statue has arrived and it’s time to see what it looks like in person!

I also checked to see if there is a similar reward for people who still pay for the full year (totally worth it), and there is. It is called the Hero Program and at the end of the year you get a medal. Pretty cool! With that, let’s tear into the box and see what this statue looks like!

The Corner of Randomness: Praise be to Steam Cloud Sync

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Steam LogoI’m currently visiting my wife in Nebraska. This means that I’m rocking a portable setup to handle my various jobs. This also means my main computer is sitting back in Iowa, unloved and feeling lonely. This also means that my nice library of Steam games, and all their save files, are back in Iowa.

After exploring all this farm town really had to offer within two hours on my first day here, it was back to the RV to figure out what I was going to do with myself for a week. As the ISP here does not have data caps (THANK YOUR DIETY OF CHOICE!), I decided to download a few games from my Steam library and pass my time with those. While I’d love to be playing The Division right now, my PS4 is not here with me. I do hope to change that on future visits.

I fired up my latest addiction known as Grim Dawn as that game just sucks away the hours from my day. I was fully prepared to have to start a new character and start anew. When I fired up the game, I was greeted with the character I had already been working on. It then hit me that Grim Dawn utilizes Steam Cloud Sync. Praise be to Newell!

As I launched the game and greeted a familiar face, I realized just how handy Steam Cloud Sync really is. I can play a game on one computer, and then when I travel and have to use my laptop or Surface Pro, that game resumes right where I left off. There are no save file transfers that I have to worry about before leaving. Steam just handles that for me. It’s so glorious!

Now, not all games in my Steam library support this feature. Many of the older ones have since had it patched in, but others are still devoid of helping us nomadic people. It catches me off guard at times as well, especially when I do a fresh OS install. I might launch a game and find all my saves gone. All my hard work missing. While others kindly bring in my game saves and I keep trudging along without really missing a beat.

As I sit in this RV, procrastinating working on my taxes for my two businesses, I raise my can of Diet Mug Root Beer to you Steam Cloud Sync. You are a glorious feature for those of us who spend some time at home and some time on the road. Now to fire up Grim….err….Excel and grind more mo…..damn it. I mean grind more cells of taxable information.

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