Hello! Been kind of a while, huh? I've not posted anything here since my GOTY stuff, and I'm sorry about that. It's not because I haven't been playing games (though I've only played a couple of 2018 releases thus far), but more because my main writing focus has still been elsewhere. Not that I really have much to show for it yet, but someday. Someday.

And in the meantime, here's some good old fashioned kinda rambly things I wrote about a few games I've been playing!

Monster Hunter World.

I have been, over the years, let's say, skeptical of Monster Hunter. From afar, there were aspects of it that looked appealing, but whether because of where the games were being released (largely on handhelds I didn't own), or the games just looking impenetrable, I never tried playing them. However, as someone who enjoys fighting large monsters in video games, I did often at least keep my eye on them. Just to see if any would pique my interest. That, and there were those Monster Hunter missions in MGS Peace Walker, which I still consider to be fully canon in both MGS and Monster Hunter.

Then, last year, Monster Hunter World was announced, and not only was my interest piqued, but it was feeling peaked. I mean, not really, because I only got more interested in it the closer it got to release, but I like wordplay. Anyway, right from that first trailer at E3, I had a feeling this was going to be the time I actually played a Monster Hunter, and, lo and behold, I was right. Helped in no small part by it being the first big release of 2018, by all accounts MHW drew in a lot of new players. And, what did I think?

Monster Hunter World is a rad game. Not without issues, but good enough that I have almost 160 hours played thus far. There was a lot of word of mouth of this game drawing in a lot of people who left Destiny 2, and I'm also among them. Not that I left Destiny 2 wanting more, or having burned out on that game (like I did the first Destiny), but I had my fill, and MHW came at the right moment to get me on board.

Even though MHW really doesn't scratch quite the same itch for me. Destiny (1 and 2) is a game that I play because the shooting is really fun, and for loot. MHW, on the other hand, is a game all about boss fights. It's about learning the ins and outs of your weapon class of choice (or choices, if you like to switch around), and the environments. It is, after all, a game about hunting, and there's more to hunting than just aiming down the sights and shooting, like in Destiny.

In the early hours of discovering a specific monster, tracking is key. Finding the tracks, or other clues left behind, and following them to the creature. Whether that's literal tracks, or anything from snot on the side of a tree, skidmarks from a belly rub in the dirt, or a leftover carcass from an unfinished meal, the monsters always leave something to follow.

And while there is a part of me that would have liked to see the version of this game where you, the player, have to be extremely observant and follow all these things on your own, perhaps this game's best new feature (compared to previous ones) are the Scout Flies. These glowing little flies will zoom over to anything in the environment that can be interacted with, whether it's a track to follow, a plant to swipe to turn into a healing item (they auto craft!), or what have you. And, the more you investigate the tracks of specific monsters, the better the flies get at picking up the trail on their own, until eventually they just know instantly where the monster is at the start of the quest.

That, I think, is both a good and a bad thing. It's good because it's extremely helpful, and has a good amount of progression in it that rewards picking up those tracks to research the monsters. But it's bad because at a certain point it removes any of the tracking aspect from the hunt, and you can basically just run to wherever the monster is. Or, at most, you just have to find a single track, and then they lead you to the monster. On the other hand, generally speaking the monsters tend to hang around pretty similar areas, and by the point the Scout Flies are this adept, there's a good chance you'll have just learned where the monsters are anyway, so it'd happen either way.

But really, the stars of the show are the monsters themselves, and fighting them. At its absolute best, MHW evokes the same feelings as a good boss fight in a Souls game. Learning the tells for each attack, when to dodge, when to counter attack, how best to use the environment to my advantage, and feeling my heart race when a fight gets down to the line... It's fantastic. Whether alone or in co-op, the fights are a blast, and even going into the game with somewhat high expectations, I still came away really impressed. Like I said, impressed enough that I've spent close to 160 hours in the game.

Though, sadly, that's not 150+ hours of genuinely playing the game. A lot of that was spent in town, between hunts, which is where I think the game's issues start to crop up. There's a lot of little things I could nitpick, like how doing many simple tasks (like taking new bounties) require talking to NPCs every time you do them, and buttoning through the same handful of different things that they have to say every time. But, compared to actual issues like the ones around the multiplayer, like I said, they're nitpicks.

I'm not going to bore you with all the details, since most people reading this probably already know, but getting into matches with other players, especially for story related quests, is a hassle. And it's a hassle in ways that other games have solved already, so it's just frustrating to see this game feel like it's stuck in the past. Just a few months before MHW, I played a lot of Destiny 2, which has a few quirks with its co-op (namely that you can't do story missions later on than where you're at (an issue MHW also has, but somehow even worse than Destiny 2)), but it's very easy to group up with people, and stay grouped up. Something that is not the case at all in MHW.

Then, there's the armor and weapons. Now, I know what you're thinking: The point of Monster Hunter is to get stuff to make/upgrade new weapons and armor. And while you're right, after this much time with the game...I feel like it would have been a better game with substantially less of that. Yes, that would also mean it's a game I would have spent a lot less time with, but that would translate to less time spent repeating the same things. Fighting the same monsters multiple times is one thing, but having an event quest that I need to repeat three or four times get the necessary materials to build a novelty hat I'm not really going to actually use isn't fun. A lot of these goofier event quests are fun once. Or not even once. The one to get the Wiggler Hat just involves running around shooting a net at some wiggly worms that pop out of the ground. It's not a hunt, it's not challenging, it's just tedious. And again, you have to do it like three times.

And yes, I know all of that is optional. But, when these are the sorts of things Capcom trots out as reasons to return to the game for special events, it's a bummer that they're so grindy. Just a few days ago I was repeating the same quest with a friend to get the Mega Man stuff for our Palicos (which, I forgot to mention it, but the cat friends are fantastic). Due to sheer luck, I ended up getting enough of the thing needed to make the armor and weapon, but my friend didn't. And that was after playing it, again, multiple times in a row.

Anyway, the point is that if this game was less tuned toward repeating this stuff, I think it'd be a better game. I've heard horror stories from people that just needed a specific thing from a monster to get a specific weapon, but it just wouldn't drop, no matter how many times they hunted it. I didn't run into anything like that, but I absolutely believe it.

But don't get me wrong, grinding aside, I still think Monster Hunter World is a great game, and I'm really interested in where it goes over the months. Capcom's post release support has been interesting, to say the least. The events are neat, if grindy, and them adding new monsters is really cool. Deviljho is a great addition to the game, and the Golden Goat Lizard (as I've come to call) Siege event is a great quest. The spring event is cool too.

On the flip side, some of the monetization stuff they've done is a little...much. Selling emotes is fine, but the prices seem exorbitant. But really the thing that I'm not a fan of is that they're selling the gender change item. Yes, they give you one for free, but you've got to pay after that. And as someone that would've liked to be able to change that willy nilly, it's disappointing that it's a thing you need to buy every time you do it. Which, I dunno. I guess it's not a thing most people would want to do.

Anyway, great game. Watching Palicos cook, or go on missions is amazing.

Shadow of the Colossus (the remake).

I don't know that I really have that much to say about this game. I mean, if I really wanted to, I could write up a whole thing about how much this game means to me, and has meant to me over the years. How the feelings of isolation and desolation that it brings out are unlike almost anything else I've ever played. But, I dunno that this goofy catch-up blog is the place for that, nor that I especially feel like it.

Suffice it to say, Shadow of the Colossus is still one of my favorite games of all time, and I think this is the best version of it. It continues the streak of Sony games I've played that just floor me with how good they look. Like, there are times where I almost can't believe what they're able to do visually, and it is really good to get that feeling from an older game that I've played multiple times before. What I mean is that at its core this is the same Shadow of the Colossus, just looking much newer.

Maybe I'll write more about it in the future. Stay tuned?

Trackmania Turbo.

The PlayStation Plus free games have been hit or miss for a while now, and often when they are games worth playing, they're ones I've already played (I'm looking at you, Bloodborne and Ratchet & Clank). Not that I'm upset about now having digital versions of those games too, but it's left me with less in the way of "free" games to keep my unemployed self occupied with. And thus, really the only noteworthy one I've played this year is Trackmania Turbo.

Frankly, I don't have much to say about this. It's fun, and it scratches the same itch that Trials type games do. I wish it had less strict medal requirements on unlocking new tracks, because I'm not even halfway through the total number of tracks, but already feeling like I'm soon to get to the point where I just have to stop. But hey, for the price of free (never mind the yearly subscription to PS+), I'm not complaining.

A Way Out.

This game has gotten somewhat of a mixed reception from people, on the whole. I've seen everything from it being described as a "must play" to being disappointing and possibly even bad. And where do I stand on it?

Well, first off, I should say that I had the good fortune to play through this game with one of my best friends, and while we weren't able to play in person, the game's online works as advertised. Even the thing where only one person needs to actually own it works (though only the person who paid gets Trophies, which in this case was me).

And, I'm very happy I played it with the person I did, because we had an absolute blast, but I one hundred percent understand how playing it with the wrong person could result in the whole thing being a drag.

As much as I want to wholeheartedly endorse A Way Out, I feel like I need to amend a few asterisks onto that recommendation. Even outside of the game requiring co-op (though I suspect it's only a matter of time before someone uploads a video of themselves playing the whole thing solo, somehow), it's not for everyone. The best comparison I've thought of is that it's like a B movie, that if you try to really think about every last little thing in it, it all falls apart. But, like a good B movie, if you experience it with the right person, and you're both in the right mood, it's a ton of fun. It's campy, goofy, and there are definitely times that I'm not sure if we were laughing with the game, or laughing at it, but either way, we were laughing, and loving it.

Even outside of the camp, I think the game has a lot of really great uses of co-op. Some of it is around puzzles that require two people to figure out what to do, and work in concert to accomplish the task, and some of it is in bigger, more action-y set piece moments. Some of it is straightforward, like a car chase where one player is driving the vehicle, and the other is in the back with a gun, fending off the police. But there's other sequences that are a lot less like stuff you've seen in countless other co-op games. Like a boat ride down some rapids that require both players to switch which side they're rowing on, and a lot of coordination to keep the boat from careening into rocks.

And then there's the story itself. Again, for the most part, it's pretty campy, and clichéd, but really enjoyable. Unless you're the sort of person that gets put off by European actors doing their best attempts at American accents. I find that sort of stuff charming, and I think this game has a lot of heart, and it shines through in that stuff...even if the performances are, well, a little hit or miss. I'm not going to call any of it bad (though I'm sure others would), but just know before you play the game that this isn't a Naughty Dog game where all the acting is impeccable. It's got charm, though.

I'm going to mention the ending now, and big, BIG SPOILER WARNING for the text in the SPOILER THING below. Don't read it if you haven't finished game already. Just know that for all the game's camp, both my friend and I were completely drawn in and invested in what was going on by the end.

FINAL SPOILER WARNING.

End of spoilers.

My friend and I are probably going to replay the ending to see the other one, and hopefully do some other stuff we missed. I'd like to get the Platinum Trophy, and it sounds like it isn't a hard one to get. But even if we don't get around to that, we still both had a tremendous time. If you and a friend want to have a fun co-op romp, and and down for a lot of silliness (and some seriousness toward the end), I really can't recommend A Way Out enough. I will say, as my last asterisk on my recommendation, that if you can't play together in person, I wouldn't recommend playing it without voice chat. Both for sequences that feel like they need coordination, but mostly because it's a game to laugh about, and chat about with a friend while you're playing.

The real heart of A Way Out is in camaraderie, and honestly, it is about the friend you made along the way. Both in game, and outside of it. Just don't worry about the logistics of the toilets, and you'll have a good time.

Anything else?

Well, as of when I wrote this, Yakuza 6 just came out, and God of War is soon to be out. I absolutely want to play both of those games, and hopefully will soon. And, within the last couple of months, I missed Far Cry 5, and Ni no Kuni II. Both I intend to play eventually, just after some price drops. I'd gotten back into Titanfall 2 recently (still great), and dabbled a little in Overwatch after Brigitte was added, but that's it for things I've played or could have played.

And going forward into the year, with games like Spider-Man, and Red Dead Redemption 2, it'll be a great fall, I hope. I'm disappointed by the leaks around Black Ops IIII (silly name) not having a campaign, as I'd been hoping this might be the one to bring me back into CoD. But probably not. Definitely not if Titanfall 3 is this year, but if I had to bet, I'd say that probably won't be this year. So far as spring (if it ever comes), and summer goes? Dunno, but if I have anything to write about any games, it'll be here.

I do still feel bad that it's been so many months since the last time I posted, especially when in years past I used to do this much more regularly. I can't promise that it'll get much more regular than this, because I don't think that it will. But when I have something worthwhile to write, I will.

Until then, thank you very much for reading this, and I hope you have a great day. <3