Video Games – Page 17

Down where it’s wetter

Over the last few days, I’ve been completely obsessed with Subnautica. This is a video game that released in 2018 and completely missed my radar. I’m playing it now because I got it for free thanks to Sony’s “Play at Home” initiative, when they just gave out a bunch of free games back in March.

The plot of Subnautica is simple: your spaceship crashed on an uncharted planet and you now have three objectives. One: survive. Two: find other survivors. Three: find a way off this rock. Nothing too unique here.

The twist here is that the world of Subnautica, if you hadn’t guessed by the title, is (almost) completely underwater. Given that most people loathe the underwater levels in video games, this may seem like an odd choice, but it absolutely works here. The massive world beneath the waves is pure joy to explore, and taking the action underwater provides a much appreciated change from the usual landlubbin’ action of open-world games.

Nintendo @ E3 2021

For the last few years, I’ve been doing the same sort of thing for most of Nintendo’s digital presentations: listing each game that is shown and typing my knee-jerk reactions to them. For the E3 presentation that they did today, it’s going to be a lot simpler:

I want to buy all of the games.

But in all seriousness, the three games that I was most impressed by are curiously all strongly connected to the Game Boy Advance.

White Day: A Misery Named This Video Game

I’d had White Day: A Labyrinth Named School downloaded on my PS5 for a while, waiting for the “right” time to start playing it. That time came around the middle of last week, when I said to myself, “Ryan, you ought to play that spooky ghost game that you bought a few months ago.” And so I took my own advice and started playing it.

At first blush, White Day is exactly the kind of video game that I long for: a Korean horror adventure, where you explore a haunted school while solving obtuse puzzles in an attempt to find out what is going on and also escape with your life. There are nine(?) different endings, tons of collectibles, and even a little pokédex for all of the ghosts that you encounter during your night of terror. And all of these things, I greatly appreciate about this game. It’s kind of why I bought it, after all.

But there are two things that made me say “No more. This is no fun and I quit.” about halfway through.

PZ35/21 – June check-in

Okay, uh, what happened last month? It was all such a blur.

Oh, right. Twilight Princess HD happened. Very slowly. I can’t quite place why. Something about werewolves, and… the letter Y is really standing out in my mind of some reason?

Yeah, so… I still really like Twilight Princess. I think that actively commentating on it as I played helped the cracks to show a little bit more, but it’s still very solid as far as I’m aware. The HD remaster’s few little quality-of-life changes go a heck of a long way, too. And I actually didn’t completely detest the forced-wolf sections this time. That’s new.

Ys II: Another Video Game Review

First off, apropos of nothing, I’d like to vent a little bit about how friggin’ difficult it is to get a Wii U pro controller to sync up to a PC. I get it, I do. Nintendo sells their controllers to be used with their video game machines. But, it’s nice to play PC games with a high-quality controller too, you know?

Anyway! Ys II Chronicles+: Ancient Ys Vanished ~ The Final Chapter is another title that maybe in retrospect could have been simplified a little. Calling it “The Final Chapter” is overselling it just a bit when it’s part of a two-chapter series. Don’t even get me started on how it’s not actually the final chapter.

Title woes aside, however, Ys II is a very excellent video game! It’s just like the first one! Except it’s a whole lot bigger, and all of the issues I had with the first game have been addressed! Which is not really saying a lot, because I had like, two issues with the first game.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: May 2021

~ Game Over ~

Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished ~ Omen (PC) – Words, words, words.

Resident Evil Village (PS5) – Beat this one three times. And also played a lot of The Mercenaries. Because it’s super good. I’ll probably write down lots of words about it in the near future. Or maybe not, who knows?

Inunaki Tunnel (PC) – Video here.

Jizo is a funny word

Last weekend I posted a video (Is it a let’s play? Can a one-offer be a let’s play?) of myself playing through the Japanese indie horror game Inunaki Tunnel. It got a dislike. That makes me very sad. It’s fair, and I’m not going to cry about it or anything, but still… D’oh.

Ys: A Video Game Review

I’ve played a lot of video games with stupid names. Boktai, Tactics Ogre, Irritating Stick, Dissidia: Final Fantasy. The list could go on, but I think we have a new champion here. Ys Chronicles+: Ancient Ys Vanished ~ Omen is one heck of a mouthful and basically says nothing at all about the game. Well, it sort of does, but do you think that someone who’s never heard of the Ys series before will have a hot clue how to parse it?

I mean, Average Joe wouldn’t even realize that the word “Ys” is pronounced “ease.” And even I only know that because I’ve been hearing people say it on podcasts for years now.

But that’s all besides the point. Ys is a video game. The first in its line, in fact! Well, not the one I played, though. I played the remade version of Ys. But I also watched a speedrun of the original version, and it’s actually surprisingly faithful to the original, while adding a bunch of extra stuff and making some little tweaks here and there. Not unlike the remake of the original Resident Evil. So I guess what I’m saying is, it’s more or less the “ideal” kind of remake.

Game Boy Advance: A Collectro-spective

I was poking through my chest of forgotten video games, systems, and accessories the other day, just looking around at things. No practical reason or whatever. Just the semi-annual “maybe I’ll find my lost GBA SP this time” rooting around. During this particular adventure, I pulled out the Ziploc baggie that holds all of my GBA cartridges. Wanting to look at the beautiful collection, I spilled them out onto the floor and lined them up. What I found was nothing short of shocking.

Somehow, I only own nineteen Game Boy Advance games. As someone whose GBA was as good as attached to his hands, I find this very hard to believe. I know that those were days when I was poor, rentals existed, and far fewer video games were actually being made, but it still seems unreasonably light. At some point I could have sold some to lighten the load, but… these are GBA cartridges. They take up virtually no space, so there’s no big incentive to sell, other than desperation for cash.

First day in the village

Hey I bought Resident Evil Village. Surprise!

Also I recorded my initial play session of the game, which lasted roughly 45 minutes. I stopped upon my first death, both because I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go to avoid said death, and because it was past my bedtime. Damn these video games that launch at 11PM on Thursday nights!

Aaaanyway, first impressions are… I like it. I’m not entirely blown away yet, but it’s very early and there are a few little nuggets here that suggest very good things to come. First of all, it’s clearly a direct sequel to RE7, what with Ethan still being the protagonist, the first person perspective, et cetera, et cetera. But then you get through the prologue and into the real gameplay, and when you open your inventory… it’s more or less Leon’s attaché case from RE4. Yes! The return of the best inventory system ever! Also the first major setpiece traps you in a medium-small area flooding with never-ending monsters until a bell sounds and summons them all away. Sound familiar?

Yes, it looks like RE8 is going to be a fusion of RE4 and RE7. In other words: the perfect game for your good pal, Ryan.