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Gaming Diary – Gears of War 4 Rage

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Gears of War 4

It’s rather ridiculous, I know, but I finally finished Gears of War 4 on Friday. I thought I would be elated. I wasn’t. I was outraged. I felt lied to, absolutely lied to. The same level as Halo 5 lied to.

Halo 5‘s problem was that their trailers, and even 343’s Hunt for Truth podcast, had nothing to do with the game. All of those scenes we saw in commercials were not in the game. Hunt for Truth set up Halo 5 to be about Master Chief on the run with the USMC out to bring him in or kill him. That is somewhat mentioned in the game, but the USMC is adamant that it’s kept hush-hush. That’s kind of in direct contradiction to the commercials including a colony-wide announcement that he was killed in battle. None of that happened. Master Chief also didn’t travel to a colony world that was attacked by a rising Guardian. Halo 5 was not a bad game by any stretch of means, but the trailers and commercials were incredibly misleading.

Gears of War 4 left a similar bad taste in my mouth. The commercials and trailers for the game included a flashback scene of Marcus with Anya and little JD Fenix (see image above). None of that was in the game. I interviewed the lead writer for Gears of War 4, where I asked how Anya could have a son when Karen Traviss’ novels repeatedly said that Anya was infertile. The response was that players would “gradually learn” how JD fits in with her novels, but it’s not mentioned in the game at all. Gradually could mean in additional books, comics, or games, but the fact that it was flat out ignored in the game didn’t sit right with me.

Other things greatly bothered me as well, such as JD’s irritability with Baird as soon as he showed up. That was also never explained. Perhaps it will be in future games or books, but JD’s attitude toward Baird really stuck out as strange.

If I hadn’t read any of the books or if I hadn’t seen any of the trailers/commercials for the game, I would most likely have a completely different opinion. I can say the same thing about Halo 5. This is exactly why I’m avoiding all information regarding Mass Effect: Andromeda. I don’t want to have any expectations. I just want to enjoy the game. I may avoid all trailers for games in the future when I can. I don’t understand why developers and publishers are deliberately misleading their audience, but it needs to stop now. If you have to trick the audience into being interested in your game, then perhaps that says something about your game. Food for thought.

Gaming Diary: Kingdom Hearts 3DS Guide Still Relevant

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Kingdom Hearts 3DS

I’m supposed to be slowing down on reviews so I can actually play games I own (the crazy talk), but when Tales of Berseria AND Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD: Final Chapter Prologue drop in your lap, you can’t say no. I mean, it’s me. Me and Kingdom Hearts. Like I’m going to say no to that. If I said no to that, that’s grounds for committing me, because obviously I’m not right or I’m a pod person.

Playing both games with close deadlines wasn’t entirely a problem since KH 2.8 didn’t have much in terms of new content. It has three experiences: a port of Dream Drop Distance, a new game 0.2 Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage, and animated film Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover. Fragmentary Passage only took about 3 hours to beat, and the movie was only 80 minutes long. The bulk of the disc lies in the 3DS port, and it’s a VERY faithful port.

So what does this mean? It means that Dan Birlew and Rick Barba’s strategy guide came off the shelf and sat by my side during the review. I never did review that guide because 1) I’m a horrible person and 2) I really disliked the game. However, the game is vastly improved on console, simply because I can see everything that is going on. KH3DS introduced Flowmotion for quickly getting around and fighting, and this gave me a headache on the tiny screen. I do have vertigo, something that Portal triggered at the end, and trying to line up jumps while sliding rather quickly was murder on my sensory perception. I also loathed the Drop system. It is back, as I said, this is a FAITHFUL port. But since the larger screen wasn’t wreaking havoc on my inner ear, the Drop system didn’t add to my frustration.

The combat system is still the worst of all the games. I played Fragmentary Passage first, which had a combo of the first game and Birth by Sleep‘s menu system, and that was a mistake. It was amazing and incredibly intuitive. To go from that back to KH3DS was rough.

Prima Games has no plans for a Kingdom Hearts 2.8 guide. There’s really not much to the game anyway, as the only new guide needed is for Fragmentary Passage. Even then, the only reason why I’d need it is for finding all the treasure chests and completing the objectives. I’m sure the publisher will have an online guide for that reason soon.

As for KH3DS, take heart in knowing that the strategy guide Birlew and Barba wrote in 2012 still serves its purpose with the PS4 port.

Gaming Diary: First Tales Experience

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Tales of Berseria

I’m reviewing Tales of Berseria for PlayStation Lifestyle, and it’s really my first Tales game. I had that brief stint with Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World, which was horrible all around. Horrible story. Horrible controls. Practically hated it from the get-go. Tales of Berseria, on the other hand, has been pretty great from the beginning. It has a deep plot, asks dark questions, and has satisfying action combat. I’m not a fan of the anime-style cut scenes, but that’s just my personal preference. I’ve never really liked playing games that look like anime, even though I enjoy anime. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it is what it is. Never claimed to make much sense half the time.

I am extremely disappointed that there will not be a strategy guide for this game. We’ve reviewed a good number of Tales guides in the past, and it’s disheartening that Tales of Berseria won’t receive the same love. It makes me question the state of printed strategy guides, to be honest. I feel like not as many are getting produced, which I know is a reflection upon the stores willing to carry the books. If they don’t feel like a book will sell, then the guide companies won’t print them. It’s that simple. It doesn’t mean I’m not sad about it, though.

I unfortunately haven’t been able to play much else these days. Well, that’s not totally true. Last week was Awesome Games Done Quick 2017, and as Chris said in his Corner, it pretty much soaked up all of my attention. Now that it’s over, I’m have withdrawals. I think this means I need to start following speed running in general. I had no idea there were so many tournaments out there for it. I’ll never be a speed runner myself, but I love watching everyone else find all of these tricks to get through a game. I’m not nearly as impressed with speed runs via glitches, however, such as the speed runs for Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind or Oblivion. Finding a glitch where you can drop below the world and zoom to the end is not that exciting. I think that’s why I enjoy the older game speed runs so much more, like the NES, SNES, Sega, and early PlayStation games.

Just a few more months until Summer Games Done Quick. Here’s hoping I’ll find some speed running in the meantime to keep me occupied.

Gaming Diary: Defying Gravity and Decent Laws of the Gaming Camera

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Gravity Rush 2

I had the lovely opportunity to rush through Gravity Rush 2 for a review on PlayStation Lifestyle. The amount of extras was amazing for a game of this type, but thanks to a crazy embargo and limited time, I had to forego most of them to burn through a story. It’s not my preferred way to get through games, to say the least. Regardless, this is what I had to do, and I’m not sure the extras would have improved the game too much.

Gravity Rush 2 has some really fun gameplay, but there’s not a lot going on in the story. In fact, the story is a tried-and-true cliche for Japanese games, where the super rich overly oppress the super poor. It’s all over anime. It was one of the biggest themes of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and really almost every RPG ever. The rich live high up, the poor live down below in deplorable conditions. I’d probably feel more for this plot if I didn’t see it so incredibly often.

The game’s biggest offenders are the terrible camera and the stealth missions. Neither are fun, and both worsen the game’s experience.

I’m personally on the fence as to whether I liked the game or not. It was fun for the most part, but when I think about the camera, or how often I yelled at Kat for zipping past the target, I start to think I didn’t like it after all. Is it possible for a game to be both fun and frustrating as fuck? I think that’s where GR2 lies.

And now it’s on to Tales of Berseria, which does not appear to have a strategy guide coming. Considering all of the Tales games that received a strategy guide in the past, I’m disappointed. I’ll just stress out over possibly missing a side quest or not developing a character’s skill tree correctly. No biggie.

Gaming Diary: Time Traveler Turnabout Phoenix Wright DLC

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Phoenix Wright Time Traveler Turnabout

What, did you really expect me to stop with the Phoenix Wright? As if. I decided to replay Spirit of Justice and see how different it is to me now that I’ve played the first five. There are a lot of references I now get, that’s for sure, but that wasn’t enough for me to actually finish it a second time. I got through four episodes, which ended with Athena Cykes’ trial with Simon Blackquill. Playing Dual Destinies has now made that episode alone mean ten times more than it did before. Although now knowing Apollo’s background on his mother’s side, all I see are plot holes with Spirit of Justice in regards to Apollo’s family. The fifth episode of SoJ is by far the longest episode in PW history, and even with knowing all the answers, I didn’t want to go through that again.

Instead, I turned to the DLC episode, Time Traveler Turnabout. It took about three or four hours to complete, and I absolutely loved it. It’s the best episode in all of Spirit of Justice. It’s partly because there are a lot of throwbacks to previous games, such as the inclusion of Larry Butz. It was also lovely to see Wright and Edgeworth square off in the courtroom, especially since this time, unlike Dual Destinies, they didn’t have anything personally invested in the case. Wright has changed so much from the Phoenix Wright Trilogy, thanks a good dose of confidence. He and Edgeworth have never had a battle of words like they have in this DLC, and it was hilarious. All that was missing was Detective Gumshoe. Maya mentioned him, but that’s all we got. Could have used a bit of channeling Mia as well to complete the nostalgia.

What I really enjoyed with Time Traveler Turnabout was the romantic story. The levels of romance are what made Trials and Tribulations my favorite Phoenix Wright title. Of course, then I couldn’t help but think of Iris, Wright’s old girlfriend, who I guess is still in prison for aiding and abetting a murder among other charges. It’s been 9 years since her arrest; wouldn’t she be out with good behavior by now? I suppose it’s just wishful thinking on my part that she’ll ever come back and return to Phoenix’s life. Oh but how I want her to. And I really want her to make a new sweatshirt for him.

Phoenix Wright sweater

And with that, this should be my last Phoenix Wright post unless I get the DLC for Dual Destinies as well. But my son has reminded me that I have so many unfinished games to get to, not to mention Pokemon Moon.

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