yeah_write

@Tylea002 said:

It won't be, but it should be a completely different genre. That universe is so full of amazing possibilities (even if my enthusiasm for it has wayned) that it would be criminal to stick to the same gameplay. How about a turn based strategy game, civ style, where you play the Mass Effect universe. Choose your race, and shape how it develops from the end of the Prothean cycle. Maybe humans reach their relay before the Asari? Who knows?

Or even a Character Action Game as a justicar, or a space combat game with Joker, or a detective story set on the citadel, or bloody anything!

Yeah, say what you will about the end of the trilogy, Bioware did a fantastic job at creating a rich, dense and interesting universe. I think they need to just go ahead and set up Bioware Mass Effect, a studio dedicated to making cool games of different genres set in the awesome Mass Effect universe.

@downtime58 said:

@Beb said:

The AC3 articles feel spot on. It's not a terrible game, but it feels worse than Brotherhood. I guess if I was a monster I'd give it 1/5.

I second this...about 15 hours in...the game is fine but feels overstuffed and undercooked at the same time...suffers from having too many tasks and not enough purpose

Agreed, though the Kotaku article drifted away from criticism and into straight ranting toward the end (it's obvious he doesn't like the game). I liked it, but I couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment. It's very apparent that a bazillion people worked on that game. There are just so many parts that don't click together.

Also, the end of the story? Terrible. Both on the Connor and Desmond side. It's like they ran out of time or something. The first 10 hours is a slow and steady crawl through the lives of Connor and Haytham and the events they participate in. It's a little grindy, but still feels like it's setting up some deep and meaningful conflicts. Then after about sequence 10, they hit the gas and throw all that stuff out the window. It's like "Oops, we ran out of cool historical events, let's wrap this up."

I still think the core gameplay is a blast, but they've got to reign in all that crap on the periphery. I went the entire game without using the stupid and poorly designed crafting stuff--there was just no reason to do it. Also, that second article really nailed it when he said it felt like they gameified a game. Just because you make us aware that every basic/mundane thing we do gets crossed off on some master list doesn't suddenly make us want to do them more.

I've purchased every AC game on day one. I think this one will be my last. Let's hope they turn it around next time.

But does it pre-load the game like Steam? Otherwise, with PSN's crappy network infrastructure, these aren't day one downloads. Unless you start the download at 12:01 am so it's ready when you get home from work later that day.

Dark and gritty? No. They went the wrong way. I want stupid from this series. Turn up the bromance. Brighten the colors. Get some crazy Ratchet & Clank weapons in there. MAKE THEM SING THIS SONG:

@mnzy said:

@Stubee said:

Im still more of a Binding of Isaac kinda guy....

Me, too. The funny thing is that Ed McMillen himself is a huge Spelunky fan, I think he said it's one of his favourite games, and it inspired Isaac in many ways. And to me, he made the better game.

That makes three of us. I was just looking at my Steam list the other day and saw that I had 6 hours in the original Witcher but 14 in Binding of Isaac. Heh.

I still haven't given Spelunky a try, so I can't say for sure if I like Isaac better. I wish the pixel art visuals made it to the XBLA version of Spelunky. I actually prefer those.

This is a company that completely changed the Borderlands art style (for the better!) mid-way through development. Who knows what this game will end up being. I kind of liked the tactical action of the BoA games. It was fun actually using suppressing fire to flank an enemy. I hope there's some form of that in this new game.

Last month I shared the second picture in my Softer Side series: Kratos, the God of War. I also put up a video of the picture coming together. I got a request from a couple of folks to redub the video with some insightful narration. I did this conversation with my wife (who tolerates and sometimes mocks my nerdery) instead. Thought I'd share it here. I might be doing two versions of all my videos going forward.

If you enjoyed that, here's a redubbed version of my Cowboy Warm Up sketch.

I think the KH series peaked at 2. It was already flirting with typical JRPG story convolution in the first game, and it just barely manages to hang on in the second. It's got some neat reveals and a fun second half though. After that, good luck following the series. I tried both DS games and they are so mind numbingly boring and nonsensical that I couldn't bring myself to continue. As for Chain of Memories, you don't need to play it. There's some story stuff that fills in the bits between KH and KH2, but nothing you can't YouTube. Most of the game is spent scurrying around randomly generated levels fighting monsters with a love it or hate it card battling system (I didn't think it was too bad). It does have some gorgeous sprite work and pixel art though. Sorry you're broke dude, I know the feeling. Right now I'm trying to clear out my backlog. Juggling Rage and Asura's Wrath, plus Max Payne 1 and 2 (I actually only played about an hour of both back when they were new, so this is kind of fun), and of course still working on Witcher 2. Gaming with a baby is tough.

Enjoy Kingdom Hearts. Good to see you round these parts. Isn't blogging here so easy?

The developer wrote a fantastic article about this game for the Penny Arcade Report a couple of weeks ago http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-art-of-stealth-mark-of-the-ninja-and-2d-stealth-design

Definitely worth reading. I love what they're trying to do. The best stealth game for me was Batman, because of three very important things:

1. Batman controlled perfectly. You never second guessed your button presses. Metal Gear Solid always ties a bunch of stuff to the circle button, which makes doing what you want harder.

2. You had all the information you needed. The detective vision helped you understand your opposition, how they were armed and what their status was (calm, searching, or alert). The enemy color coding and x-ray vision made it easy to determine location and behavior without having to meticulously study routes.

3. Botching the stealth didn't end the game. As Batman you had the tools to deal with a situation if things went south. You could flee or fight. The smart player could make either tactic work.

@Brodehouse said it best below:

Batman and Assassin's Creed nailed it, in that you're a predator who is using stealth because it's tactically efficient, not because you're clumsy and useless. Stealth should be a fun way to gain an advantage, not an arduous and annoying necessity to maintain.

In both Batman and Assassin's Creed stealth is often optional. It's also actually fun because of the reasons above. I think both games have shown that giving the player more information doesn't break the fun of stealthy action. It just changes the challenge.

Stealth games are currently like approaching a carpentry project with only a vague idea of how the tools you need to build a something actually work. You can figure it out as you go, but your shelf might be wobbly. Batman and the AC games show you how the tools work. No matter what you build, it's going to be cool.

Fez bums me out. Not because of what it is, but because it reminds of what I can't do right now. I have a six month old baby, a wife, a dog, and lots of freelance work (on top of my day job). I played through Fez and got the first ending, and I know there's so much more, but I just can't go after it. At the end of the day, when I have 30 minutes to an hour to play a game before crashing into bed, I want to turn my mind off, not bust out the notepad.

I LOVE that Fez has this crazy mystery locked inside. I LOVE that it's bringing people together, even if I have to watch from the sidelines.

Jeff wondered on the last podcast if someone that didn't go after the secret stuff would enjoy Fez for what it is. I did. It was a visually appealing platformer with some clever, but not very taxing, puzzles. Of course I knew that the extra stuff was there, lurking under the surface as I played. That added a layer of satisfaction for me--knowing I hadn't seen it all. The secrets called to me.

"Austin, I'm here. If you ever have time. Maybe when the kid gets older. Maybe during those slow summer months. I'm here."

Until then Fez.