2018! We've survived another one. I have played a ton less games this year compared with any year since 2010 for me. Work was tough, lots of personal life stuff, but that's not what we're here for!
I bought a Switch, so that's a neat little thing. I'll also have a decent backlog going into the new year (before the next wave hits).
The sequel to one of the true classics of indie/doujinshi/will-people-actually-pay-money-for-this-pain returns after a fine polishing session, filling those big shoes the predecessor wore with skill. There's more features, more art, a better translation, and the same face-pounding musical goodness with the added bonus of better translations, OSHA guardrails for the sloppy with mandatory items like the Handscanner and Holy Grail virtually unmissable, and chattier NPCs.
Did You Know:
While the plot revolves around Teutonic myths, there are many instances of liberties taken with factions in the game, such as how the Vanir live in the Valhalla level but they are named after Vedic sages in a very Indian-looking level.
Still, there is the factor of random crashes (not too often though!) that threatened to drop it from the top spot. Still though, it is a great follow up to an all-time classic and one in its own right as well, perfect for the player wanting to push themselves.
Pope is one of those folks who just...go in odd directions with their games yet always seem to know where they're going. Sorta like Michaelangelo saying there's a statue trapped in each stone block he began carving, these odd titles unlike anything else are just there and they're going to be good and he finds them. Hence how we got a whodunnit-and-to-who with magical pocketwatch thingie in the days of wooden ships and iron men with RotOD.
Did You Know: The ship Obra Dinn is a scaled down (in size and crew) real ship HMS Leopard?
The sleuthing in this is one where the game is training you to think like a detective in some ways and learn British ocean-going shipping in others in a way that has you knowing cold what a steward wears, what a "lascar house" is, and how discipline works on the high seas of the Georgian period. It never gets too obscure (although the final stretch involving many, many English, Chinese, and Russian sailors being sorted out by minute details of ship layout comes close to being the "bad stretch" of the game), and watching the game switch from watching gruesome fates to sussing out via process of elimination had me finger-gunning the monitor like a joyous dork despite the morbid subject matter.
There's a worry amongst some players that iterations are not a good investment for a sequel; but for a number of them, like Sega's beloved, mismanaged, and underappreciated till later classic Valkyria Chronicles series, you find out making a "4" a retread of "1" after a decade isn't a mistake, it's brilliant.
Breaking the game, famously a series staple, has the simplicity of doing so shook up but importantly not eliminated by a beefier variety of objectives, map-design, and enemy loadout this time. In other words, you can break it wide open for As every map but you must think outside the box. Excellent! Still the best fanfares in the business!
Did You Know: Your Overwatch mechanic revolves around them moving, but the enemy's revolves around you being in Action Mode?
There's problems, like the first one though. Characters and the plot go from oddly poignant and thoughtful to badly-choreographed and gropey with alarming oftenness. You never know when the plot would have an objective snatched up by an antagonist as if there was a welcome mat over and over again or "OOPS MUH HANDS ON YUR ARSE" after a clever turn of phrase or an example of good, brisk chapter-to-chapter pacing.
I really enjoy the Squad Stories as it gives more puzzles and more fleshing-out for underutilized squadies that at times put the grunts ahead of the leadership in terms of presence (and what other RPG has Jerry Reed as a member?)
But no Vyse/Aika/Feena? C'MON SEGA, that was a slam dunk!
A gorgeous, odd, and utterly adorable love letter to Yoshio Kiya-era of Falcom, Zwei is as iconoclastic as Obra Dinn above was.
Level up via eating healing food? Odd ancient control scheme? Big number panels and beach chairs giving every dungeon this incredibly strong gamified feel to it. The little Winamp-looking subsystem mini-game things that you can collect (which range from keeping track of your stats to sending your pet on their OWN adventure) just speak to how unique every facet of this game is, and what a labor of love it took.
Did You Know: Zwei's character-switching combat has had a large influence in subsequent Falcom combat systems?
And it was a labor of love. The code is very ancient, and those subsystems used to be seperate .exes requiring a ton of code rewrite, as well as the byzantine 90s-era J-PC control scheme to make it a bit less fiddly. And that art, that music give off this whiff of Chrono Cross to the whole affair. Not a direct comparison, just the colorful brushwork art direction and the impassioned, dreamy tracks.
Could use the combat not being so sloppy. Usually it just took laying down a wave of magical death or stabbing into the void till all the bad mans fell down but it works somehow?
I like what this team is doing now. Bravely Default and its sequel fell into the weeds with stolen ease and comfort valor but with a new composer, a new look, and a new system, they've strove to be something it and of itself is distinct and stands on its own two feet.
Oddly, this is also a Kawazu-alike, but it feels like this is, again, being distinct in that, finally codifying these into their own sub-genre of its own.
Did You Know: "Octopath Traveler" was a placeholder name "Project: Octopath Traveler" but it stuck so well that it was held over for the full release?
And it is pretty good in the combat department too; nice flash and menus work quick. Taking the old Amano route of "your enemies are bigger and bespoke art to your puny sprites with bosses being ginormous" and updating it for 2018 was brilliant. It's so underused!
A better relaunch than the janky PS2 one, I like what 4 did with combat, dungeons, character-building, pacing, art, etc.
Like, not love. Oh, there's things to love (like the ache-inducingly wonderful soundtrack), but it was rough going getting to those good parts. From laggy performance in actions, to rediculously clumsy inventory (no stacking!), to a headache-inducing framerate in a certain forest, BT4's launch was unoptimized as all hell.
Did You Know: The real Skara Brae isn't an Edinburgh-esque trade hub but a small Neolithic settlement on the largest Orkney island?
But most of that is fixed now, or so I've heard, and the crew behind it is now financially secure so good for them, and I'd reckon its safer to go after if you're not as jank-resistant as I. Plus the aforementioned bards get liquored up to cast magic and its SO SCOTTISH.
The other, more traditional Kawazu-alike in this list is rather nifty. I do have issues with characterization (to the point that a blinded character seemingly can see just fine and everyone just forgets the beastman's a beastman and what that means), plus the game is very harsh with its coarse leveling for one of these, but the combat is on the more strategic end both battle-to-battle and where one goes leading to fun and game overs like it should be.
Did You Know: AA is Yoshitaka Murayama's return to video game design after a decade outside the industry?
An actual overworld traveled in an airship seals it, going for the nostalgic-but-not-begging route that's good from time to time. Great music too.
