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Gaming Diary: Mass Effect Andromeda Week

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Last week, I was buried face down in reviewing Mass Effect Andromeda for PlayStation Lifestyle. Being the huge Mass Effect fan that I am, I was overjoyed to get my hands on this big title and be responsible for reviewing it. My expectations were rather high as a fan, and I know I wasn’t alone. I did constantly tell myself that this is a new chapter in this universe, and it could be a slow start and a bit rough. I wasn’t prepared for the technical mess that it was, and really, I could have overlooked it if the plot wasn’t so cliche, the writing wasn’t cheesy and lazy, and the pacing wasn’t so bad.

That’s all I’m really going to say about it here, but you can read my full review on PSLS.

The week I was reviewing it happened to be Spring Break, and my kids were gone all week with my in-laws. They offered to take them on a road trip all week, the dear hearts. The review code came down the day before the kids left, which made it perfect timing. Now I had all week to play this game to my heart’s content. I didn’t have to worry about picking them up from school, taking them to after-school activities, getting homework done, cooking dinner, any of the normal parenting stuff. The husband even said he would take care of dinner so I wouldn’t have to stress about it. I still had other work to do, since I own a couple of businesses that have clients, and I couldn’t ignore them for a video game.

By Thursday of the week, I realized I had barely slept all week long. Laundry didn’t get done. The house was a wreck. I lost two pounds because I wasn’t eating much. I had barely seen my husband all week long. Then the big truth dawned on me: the only reason why I had been able to get as much done in this review as I had was because the kids were gone and I was neglecting everything else. That sealed it for me. I finished my review, handed it in, and after it went live, I wrote my letter of resignation.

it is time

I’m not just leaving PSLS; I’m done with games writing, period. I’ve been part of this industry for 13 years, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. I’ve met my closest friends through gaming, including two of the writers here! But I don’t have the time I once had to devote to games. I’m trying to build two businesses, and I can’t work those properly if I’m always spending 50 hours a week on reviewing a game for very little pay.

It’s just time for me to close this chapter in my life and take the next steps forward.

What does this mean for Strategy Guide Reviews? Not a damn thing. We will plunder on, because this was always my little pet project I developed out of the love of strategy guides. I’ll actually have more time to devote to guides now! Maybe I can even play Breath of the Wild! That just sounds like crazy talk to me, but it’s my kind of crazy.

Gaming Diary: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop the Ys

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It was nearly right after the credits finished rolling on Ys Chronicles I that I started up a new game with Ys Chronicles II. It’s been a difficult game to put down, even with Breath of the Wild in the house and a certain, rather important review for PSLS. It’s such an old school JRPG that there’s so little hand holding, and the puzzles are slightly more difficult to discern than in the first game. I’ve had a tab open on my phone or tablet for the GameFAQ of Chronicles II, something I rarely looked at with the previous one. After I ran around one area for nearly an hour, trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do next, the online walkthrough has been my bestest friend.

The sequel has significantly improved, and not just with the puzzles. You still attack by ramming Adol’s body into creatures (which is still dumb, by the way), but the addition of magic adds a new fun twist. Most of the bosses require magic in order to defeat them, which kind of takes down a lot of the novelty of using magic and the potential creativity between magical and physical attacks. It almost feels like it’s presented like a new console that has new gimmicks. Take the Vita’s game launch, for instance. Most of their first-party games overused the new features of the Vita, such as the touch screen, back touchpad, camera, and tilt controls, to the point of rendering games unenjoyable. I’m looking at you, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. In Chronicles II, now that we have magic, let’s require it for all the bosses!

At least not all of the magic is attack-based, allowing some creativity. I particularly enjoy turning into a Roo and talking with the demons. They have some of the best dialogue in the entire game.

Ys Chronicles II

Pardon the photo…apparently you can’t take screenshots of PSP games on the Vita.

But yes, I have sampled a bit of Breath of the Wild, and I haven’t gotten much further than I did in the demo I played at E3 last year. The world is huge, gorgeous, and I’m so glad I have a strategy guide as a security blanket.

Gaming Diary: Going Old School with Ys

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Ys Chronicles I

My first Ys title was Ys Seven, and I absolutely adored that game. I jumped on Ys: Memories of Celceta when it released for the Vita, and I loved it all the same. Since then I’ve been picking up Ys titles when I see them pop up on the PlayStation Store. I have Ys Chronicles I & II as well as Ys: Oath in Felghana, and I haven’t touched either of them. Thanks to Ys Origins rekindling that love for this franchise, I started Ys Chronicles I this weekend.

That’s really fun to play after playing Ys Origins, especially since everything you had in Origins comes into play in Chronicles I. It’s a little frustrating as well, because I already know what everything does, so I forget to go and talk to people to learn about the item. I wonder how much more Ys Origins would have meant to me if I had played this game first, but I kind of think each are interchangeable. Chronicles I now means more to me than it would have without Origins.

Chronicles I definitely knocks Origins out of the water, because, I’m sorry to say, Origins is boring due to always staying in Darm Tower. At least in Chronicles I, there’s so much open world to explore and other dungeons before you have to go into the Tower. I just need some variety in my action-RPGs.

On the flip side, the controls for Origins are ten times better. I hate having zero control over Adol’s attacks. You attack by literally running into things. Yes that’s annoying. I’m fine with no special attacks, but can I at least control how the attacks go instead of running Adol into something over and over like a toddler who doesn’t understand personal space?

I hope they changed that in Ys Chronicles II because it got old in a hurry. I hope I finish the game tonight, because The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild strategy guide will be here tomorrow!

Gaming Diary: The Glory of cRPGs

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I’m reviewing Torment: Tides of Numenera for PlayStation Lifestyle as a port from PC to PS4. I have Torment in my Steam library, but like so many things, I never got around to it. I probably should have, because this is one of the most unusual cRPGs I’ve ever played. Not a huge fan of the tactical turn-based nature, but everything else about it is so intriguing. It has the most unusual character creation I’ve come across, and the way the game uses stats to make decisions or even attacks is very unique.

It makes me want to go back to finishing Pillars of Eternity or starting Tyranny or even starting Divinity: Original Sin. I always forget how much I enjoy cRPGs until I play one. Not that I have time to really add more RPGs to my plate, much less massive ones like these. And what am I doing? I’m staring at the Backer Portal for Obsidian’s sequel, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire! I clearly don’t like money. Although, I can’t help that notice one tier includes the game’s Guide Book. I like Guide Books.

Pillars of Eternity 2

Well, opening Steam just now was a mistake. I have quite a few RPGs in here that I haven’t touched, and that’s woefully sad. I really do need to clone myself so I can get all these games played. Or at the very least, learn Naruto’s Shadow-Jutsu so I can absorb all of those experiences like I really did it myself.

Perhaps I should give up reviewing new games or buying new games for Lent…

Oh, wait. I already have the Switch preordered along with Zelda and NIER: Automata. That’s why I don’t get anything done. It’s all so clear to me now!

Gaming Diary: One of the Worst Games I’ve Ever Played

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Divide Game

Last week I had the “pleasure” of playing literally one of the worst games I have ever played. This wasn’t the worst because I sucked at it (which was a bit true), it’s the worst because it is. Bad controls, half-baked ideas, poor voice acting, meh story…it had all the makings of something awful.

I played this for a review for PlayStation Lifestyle. When I was first presented to Divide, it was simply called a sci-fi adventure. Well, I like sci-fi. I liked adventure games. What could go wrong? The answer was everything. I had no idea that sci-fi adventure was a code name for terrible controls for a top-down shooter wannabe. Because that’s exactly what this game was. For starters, if you’re going to have a top-down shooter, it needs to be a dual-stick shooter. This game, instead, requires three buttons to shoot your weapon. First you aim with the right stick. Then you press and hold down L2 to ready the weapon. Then you press R2 to fire. You know how much fun it is to try to hold your aim steady when you can spin 360 degrees and hold down three buttons at once? It’s not fun. Not fun in the slightest.

Even worse, the weapon could only fire once in the beginning before it needed to recharge. The enemies don’t have that problem. They can shoot as much as they want, and they surprisingly have no problems aiming at you.

This is only the tip of the iceberg as to all the problems with this game. You’ll have to read the review to get the full monty. I was ten minutes in when I called uncle to my Reviews Director. But no, the show must go on, no matter how terrible it is. It was so terrible. I have so many regrets, namely agreeing to review it in the first place. I have never scored a game so low as I have Divide. I really do hate coming down on developers for a project that they have put in their blood, sweat, and tears. In this case, the game was so bad, I had to. I really don’t know what they envisioned when they planned this game, but they executed it poorly.

I have no reviews planned until the end of the month, so you know what that means. IT’S BACKLOG TIME, BABY!

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