A Trip Through Limbo: Devil May Cry

Personally, I do not hold nearly the level of reverence for the Devil May Cry franchise that many others do. I remember thoroughly enjoying Devil May Cry 3 for its steep difficulty and excellent combo system. The first game is merely a blip in my mind, while the second is a blip in everyone's mind. The fourth game is an interesting thing, as I remember people speaking poorly of it upon release but spouting fonder memories in recent years.

Going into the new Devil May Cry, I did not care whether the new Dante was different from the old Dante, whether Trish was in the game or not, and all this other hoopla that has surrounded the game. The only thing that mattered was that the gameplay was solid, the story was good, and the combo system was rightfully complex but streamlined. All of these bullet points were checked off in my time with the game, and that puts a smile on my face. The one thing I didn't expect was what essentially felt like a complete-180 in terms of political and social commentary in the storytelling. Seeing Alex Garland return to help on the story of a Ninja Theory game (he wrote Enslaved, one of my favorite games of 2010) was a nice surprise. Seeing just how hard this story hits against many things in modern society (soft drinks/energy drinks and their relative unhealthiness, mainstream news stations and how they are controlled by corporations and government, etc) was a breath of fresh air. Sure, it was ham-fisted at points, but as someone who believes in freedom and liberty, it was an interesting twist to see in a popular game from a Japanese publisher.

Overall, it's a game I would highly recommend playing through. I don't typically care for cutscenes and even story, but every once in a while, something grabs me by the left testicle and refuses to let go. DmC has done that rather acutely.

Watching The Evolution of a Game: Warframe

I've spent a myriad of hours playing through the virtual world of Dark Sec...errr...Warframe. Some have pawned it off as being "Mass Effect 3 multiplayer but worse." Personally, I never played Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, so I can't speak one way or the other on that topic. I can say this, however: Warframe has continually delivered an insane evolutionary process in how the game is developing.

When I originally found myself in the beta, the game was nothing more than "run through, shoot things, collect stuff, repeat." There was little skill in all of it - just charge up your sword and slice or shoot your guns. The enemy AI wasn't particularly good either. However, after a number of weeks, the beta feels very different than it did before. Maybe this is because I'm finding myself deep into Saturn (the game progresses by which planet you are going to). It feels like the enemy design, the level design, and what is expected of you has ramped up significantly, to the point that it almost feels like a completely different game than what I was originally playing. It makes me realize that Mercury is, for all intents and purposes, a tutorial planet to get used to the controls and gameplay.

Saturn has been quite a challenge so far, namely because it takes a long time to level up your account and I haven't really been spending any "money" on gear. By "money," I am referring to the in-game currency (credits). I've just been hoarding it all, waiting until it is closer to launch so I can stack up gear and be uber-powerful. There have been regular updates coming out, and it's been marvelous watching this game grow and grow.

Climbing Through The Ranks: League of Legends

Meanwhile, in another free-to-play game that I spend a majority of my time in, the new "league" system for ranked matches in League of Legends has continually proven to be one of the single most frustrating things to deal with in my gaming history. Never have I felt so powerless and incapable as I have trying to make it into the next division or tier. For those who don't understand, League of Legends' ranking system has adopted something more akin to StarCraft II's ranking system. There are six league tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Challenger). Within each of those tiers, there are five divisions. In order to place into a new division, you must work up enough wins to reach 100 points, and once you obtain that, you will be placed into a two-out-of-three qualifying series. If you win two, you advance to the next division. If you lose two, you are dropped back down to 75 points. If you hit zero points and lose a round or two, you drop down a division.

I have yet to suffer the latter half. Unfortunately, what Riot didn't tell us is that matches played before the start of Season 3 counted towards placement matches. I trolled those matches...because they didn't matter. In turn, I ended up in Bronze Division V - the lowest bracket. Okay, okay...I deserved it...probably...maybe. However, I know I'm at least a Silver Tier player, possibly low Gold at the moment. Nonetheless, I am sitting in Bronze Division III, fighting my way to get into Silver...and it just seems so goddamn impossible. I hate to sound like that rage-filled monstrosity that you find in many matches, but people are fucking stupid. This is a solid fact, irrefutable. People generally seem to make this game harder than it actually is. Maybe it's because I've played at higher levels of competition in the game and understand many more intricacies of the gameplay, but I think it's common knowledge among many players at this point. The level of frustration that I have with people in matches has become nearly toxic. I spew venom like the people I hate in the game. Don't get me wrong: I'm typically offering solid advice to people...written in all caps... Here are a couple of examples:

• "WHY IN THE FUCK WOULD YOU, SOLO, GO INTO A FIGHT VERSUS THREE OTHER PEOPLE WHEN YOU ARE SITTING ON A SCORE OF 2/8?!"
• "GET THE FUCKING DRAGON NOW! IT'S OUR MONEY LEAD! THERE ARE THREE OF THEM UP TOP! STOP FARMING IN THE FUCKING JUNGLE, YOU TOOL!"
• "HOLY JESUS TITTY FUCKING CHRIST! JUNGLER, GANK UP TOP FOR ONCE RATHER THAN BABYSITTING OTHER LANE LIKE THEY NEED A CONSTANT DIAPER CHANGE!"
• "I'M BAD AT THIS GAME?! I'M FUCKING 10/2 WITH 200 CS WHILE YOU ARE 0/6 WITH HALF THE CS OF YOUR COUNTER LANE! ARE YOU THAT MUCH OF A TROLL, YOU FUCKSTAIN?!"
• "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU QUEUEING FOR RANKED MATCHES IF YOU DON'T KNOW EVERY ROLE?! ARE YOU AWARE OF HOW MUCH YOU ARE FUCKING YOUR TEAMMATES OVER BECAUSE OF THAT?! DODGE NOW AND LEARN TO PLAY SUPPORT!"

I'm quite friendly in League of Legends...until someone pisses me off with their ineptitude. Yes, I'm told to calm down quite a bit...but it's difficult. It honestly is. I know that attitudes like this are what drive people away from the game, but this presents a problem that Riot has in their game: there are no comprehensive tutorials in League of Legends to explain terminology to players, no honest place to get advice on general strategy within a game, and no worthwhile masterclass available to teach one the finer points of the game. Sure, you can go to SoloMid and watch pro streams all goddamn day, but they are pros...and you are not. It means that they have done this day in, day out for twelve hours a day. You play for maybe two hours or so and do not have the time or care enough to learn this minutia that can turn a game around in a flash. I've played no less than four matches in my last ten where my team was under by so much that it seemed impossible to win, but I was able to carry my team out of the gloom and we would win...and I was told that I was horrible and a bad player because I refused to surrender and move on. Instead of being thanked for the wins, I was lambasted and told I would be reported to "pushing the match further than it needed to go."

In essence, here's what I'm saying: don't play League of Legends. It really is a game made purely for masochists that hate themselves.