DARKEN'S PROFILE

I don't know really. I feel like most games aren't engaging enough for me to really see it to the end but it might not always be their fault due to my weird brain. I prefer narrative in games purely because there's more chances of things to latch onto, but also I think if it's also setpiece driven I tend to look forward to what's next. I can't stand roguelikes or puzzle games with just stacks of levels to play because I just don't care after awhile. I need more than just a stack of filler. One reason I think I just never complete games (especially old ones) is that they tend to be REALLY repetitive just to hit some sort of hour quota. But I was really sucked into games like Half Life and Metal Gear Solid and get kinda dissapointed when an intriguing game just has 100 maze dungeons for various dev reasons and expectations.

That said I really like fighting games like Street Fighter or Tekken, do not care for their 5/10 storylines but I think the 1v1 gameplay against a human opponent leads to endless depth. There's so many different personalities when running into people online, that I just never get bored of those games. Idk I guess a human with habits to solve and predict is just more interesting than procedurally generated levels. So they sort of replaced a need for a story hook or whatever.

I think when seeking a game out I look for a strange or interesting vibe. I'm in my 30s so I kind of just accepted that not every other game I find is going to blow me away, been there done that. Yet if there's something weird or uncanny about it, games by Suda51, Yoko Taro, SWERY, Kenji Eno, Love-de-Lic etc. or some Slavjank games. Then the gameplay or story doesn't even have to be good per say, but there's just something to them that I can't describe that keeps me engaged. You can probably find some stuff like that just browsing through itch io or some off beat RPG Maker game, but there's also an allure to finding those types of games on PS1 or PS2 that adds to it. Again can't explain it, a mixture of nostalgia and mystery I guess.

I also think with some older games if they don't quite follow game design coventions and QoL stuff and are just really really messy, it tends to lead to a more interesting game. A lot of games now are really design by commitee and it's hard to get stuck on them (and arguably better in some ways) but it leads to some really mundane stuff. If I know what's around the corner then what's the point of going around it? System Shock 1 remake reminds me how messy 90s games tend to be, they left most of the level design and gameplay unchanged save for a few updated controls/interface. The result is kind of a backtracky nightmare maze of level design that can be all over the place. Yet I kinda like it?

But yeah idk, a game that strikes a balance between being interesting and good but also very messy and unpredictable. Which is very hard to describe exactly if you interoggated me on what is "interesting" or what is "messy" but that's my 2 cents.

I think SF6 is pretty amazing, not sure about how I feel about Drive Impact as it adds another RPS layer onto an existing RPS layer. You can react to DI with a DI very easily even if you throw out a quick enough move it's kind of insane. The only thing I don't like is that it reduces the poking/footsies game to a game of DI chicken. It just seems so easy to cancel just about any of the drive stuff that the last acting person wins by default. I am glad they got rid of the stun mechanic though (as far as I'm aware).

Chun li of the beta cast is the only one I felt like playing but I also didn't feel like learning her because I just don't like charge characters at the end of the day. Her poking stuff doesn't feel as strong but really I just want pre-nerf Karin back. Everyone else is mostly rushdown so just gonna wait on Manon/Zangief in the final game. I'm really curious how Zangief's Siberian Express handles DI espectially if armored. Game runs fine enough on my snackbox PC setup.

As for reviews, SFV was lacking in singleplayer content which is the only thing reviewers and non competitive players give a shit about apparently. I just don't get what people see in like 5/10 at best anime storytelling and OC character stuff but that'll be the make or break critic wise I guess.

Gotham Knights (Completed)

So I beat Gotham Knights, I didn't really mention this game much because I played it on 1 hour lunch breaks (I work remote) but the game isn't really much to write about other than it was a solid beatemup with a straight forward story. I think the game gets a bad rap for essentially being a sanded down arkham games with live service elements. Which it is, but if you just want to beat some thugs as your favourite not-batman character it was a fine distraction in short chunks.

Dishonored (Completed)

Redfall came out and flopped but it had me thinking about Arkane and made me realize I haven't beaten any one of their games. My Dishonored cloud save happened to be like 2 missions away from completing it and I got through some parts got impatient then ended on a chaotic note. I don't know if I like this game much? It's pretty ok but all the powers feel geared towards outright killing so you finish the game realizing all the achievements and completionition strives towards steatlh. But I feel like it should be the other way around, stealth should be easier of the 2 options. If I can take on 10 guys by just headshotting them one by one as they go up the stairs then why am I hiding? For kicks? I guess so.

I might actually try out 2 since I got it on sale for 8 bucks why not.

FFXIII-2

I'm about 10 or so hours in so far and I think it's definately a step up from 13, only problem is the story is still eh and the characters are still heads full of bricks. It's time travel based but I almost expected to be going back in time back to events of FFXIII not like... various alternate futures that I haven't seen before. It's hard to parse out the different timelines when I don't really have a reference point of like "oh my god so that's what could have happened" instead the writing has to like show me certain things and then branch into some paradox stuff it has to do so much more work than just referencing events from a previous game. This is much better than the falcie lcie stuff though.

I think my favourite thing is the music and general vibes? It feels like a weird mish mash of an RPG trying different weird stuff. It's kind of hilarious how much they 180'd on just about everything people complained about. No hallways, lot of looping and side quests, reasons to come back to areas long after, and like an actual sense of flow. I feel like when you hear someone complain about FF13 having hallways and it's like so? Doesn't every linear RPG have that kind of design? But jumping to 2 it's like wait no there's nuance to even the most linear of games when you consider giving a purpose to every area more than just a setpiece. The stark constrast between the two games is very illustrative of that.

It's a bit weird to start this off the word "censorship" since it implies a governing body or outside party limiting the sales of games if there aren't changes to appease a rating. Most games usually do whatever they can to get under the AO rating so there's not really censorship so much as developers choosing on their own accord to go after a criteria set by the ratings board. You could argue that shift in culture due to censorship in the past is preemptive censorship I guess? I just haven't heard a "censorship" story since like maybe 2008. With maybe a banned in Australia story occasionally in the last few years? Which is blatant textbook censorship. Regardless of the semantics I think that's different from like, intentionally bleeping words out because you want to keep it a little PG. It just feels like a creative choice with the audience in consideration.

On Steam right now you don't even need to apply for the ESRB, I mean you can. Even if you apply for the ESRB (Which i had to for the Wii U years ago) I remember they just had us rate it ourselves, probably because we didn't plan on being store shelves or some such reason. Regardless, Steam is just chockfull of weird hentai hitler porn whatever games with little moderation as long as it doesn't feature real life porn, but that's rare in the first place anyway. There was the game Hatred which did get taken down for depicting public shootings where the protagonist literally has little motive for why he's killing the populace. But even that game was reinstated because Gabe himself couldn't find a good reason to delist it. I could swear that was probably in aftermath of the Sandy Hook stuff but my timeline might be a little jumbled.

At least in the newsphere and general culture censorship just feels non-existent to me at this point and feels left behind in like the Jack Thompson era. The game itself needs to break actual laws to violate anything at this rate. But idk I guess I don't spend half of my movie thoughts on whether or not a certain movie deserved a PG rating or whatever so perhaps I'm just ignorant. I'm also not too interested in debating the definition of censorship, but just my take or leave it uh... take.

LBR
I wanted to ask. How did you beat 13? I got around to the same part you're at and just sort of gave up at the next dungeon, so I was wondering how you were able to beat it so quickly. Maybe FF13 is worth another look.

Honestly if you hit a wall there's usually a strategy involving a synergist and/or saboatuer, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to take out the triple dagonite / sacrifice formation in the last area. But you can skip just about most battles, there's one giant enemy you can actually walk under its legs because apparently its collisions arent just one box. The final boss in this game is weak to poison, so I went from getting crushed by some enemy types / just taking forever to outbuff/tankspank them to suddenly deleting the boss in like 4 minutes (seriously he dies in 3 poison spells regardless of your damage output). Idk if playing through FF13 was really worth it, it has a somewhat rewarding battle system in the middle but then it overstays its welcome. The big plus I guess is having full context for FFXIII-2 and by extension Lightning Returns so there's that.

@Final Fantasy 11: I noodled around in some classic private servers, the one I was on was actually pretty populated (but I think it had a grand opening?). I really wanted to get the full EQ experience but man I hate the interface and how half assed the PC port feels. I grew up on MMOs including all the shitty forgotten F2P korean ones so it's not completely out of left field for me, but definately would appreciate it more if I had a PS2 when it came out and went through thehoops at the time sort of thing. I'm also not 18 anymore so FF11's dedicated grind is somewhat out of the question, I think I got around the typical level where grouping up is mandatory? I do want to beat every FF though so I think my route is going to involve just soloing the modern revamp's story quests with the NPC party.

I will say though, I get the classic MMO experience just fine by watching vicriously through Ion Blaze's EQ videos where this guy just tells summary anecdotes of his experiences. I have no interest in playing EQ, ever. But the way he talks about the emergent stuff that comes with forced social interactions does fascinate me. Something got lost from pre-WoW but some elements have come back in the form of DayZ (til the genre it spawned got sidetracked into battle royales). It's just crazy to me how much potential there is for MMOs to make a comeback that hopefully doesn't involve bringing back a culture of people that will commit murder for getting their mcguffin sword ninja'd.