September 2020

Rambling into the void

I set up a Twitch.tv account a few weeks ago. Finally. You would think that this is something I would have done ages ago, if only to follow streamers that I like to watch. But… I don’t actually watch any streamers. Not live, anyway. I can’t be bothered to follow other people’s schedules.

Anyway, it’s been one heck of a learning experience. The most important lesson being that I really need to make sure that my audio levels are set properly. I’ve done two streams now, and both times, getting the game and mic audio tracks to play nice has been a giant hurdle. So I’ve actually gone ahead and done a whole buttload of testing for this week’s stream.

Oh yes, did I not mention? My plan is to stream on Friday nights, and I have christened it the Friday Night Spooker Stream. Because… staying up too late playing spooky games is what I like to do on a Friday night anyhow. And this is also a great way to motivate me to continue working through my massive steam backlog.

Last weekend I played through Oxenfree, which is one of those rare games I bought purposely on Steam, and didn’t just get in a bundle. I’ve actually wanted to play Oxenfree since it was released, but just never made the time. When Friday came around and I was looking for a game to kick off the stream with, Oxenfree just happened to be installed, and I knew that it was a 4-5 hour playthrough. Perfect!

As I mentioned before though, the stream didn’t exactly work as planned. I spent the first couple minutes listening to the stream’s audio through my laptop, and it seemed fine, but three-ish hours in, I was informed that my mic audio was almost completely drowned out. Whoops! Worse yet, I didn’t even end up really solving the problem. The VOD version is up on my YouTube channel (embedded below), if you feel like checking out how bad it was. (At least you can still watch the playthrough of the game.)

2021 is the Hunteringest Number

Two new Monster Hunter game for Switch were announced this morning. TWO! Yes, they’re both 2021 releases, but that’s fine! I can wait! Just gimme dem monsta hoonts!

Monster Hunter Rise looks like it might be Monster Hunter 6? It really makes me wonder what direction(s) the series will be going in. Like, I’m pretty sure Monster Hunter World moved a metric buttload of units and was critically acclaimed, so why did Capcom jump back to the Switch for the next installment? Unless Rise is going to be a parallel series? But it looks like a lot of the major changes from World (seamless maps, grappling hook, monster turf wars) are carrying over to Rise, so it’s hard to say. I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll buy every Monster Hunter game regardless of platform, but I would be slightly happier if they’d just choose a lane and stick to it.

Or somehow make every game available on all platforms, but I fully understand why that might be difficult/impossible.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 is also super hype, and really makes me regret not having finished the first one. It was a lot of fun, but just got lost in the tidal wave of video games. My only concern about MHS2 is that the trailer makes it look super-serious, when the original game was very cartoony and had a silly, self-aware vibe to it. Hopefully the trailer for MHS2 is just highlighting the story parts, and the game still has a good sens of humour about it. At least 50% of MHS’s appeal was in its charm, so it would be a massive loss if they pivoted to a more “mature” tone. I’m absolutely going to buy it either way, but just sayin’.

Fitness Boxing 2 was also announced today, which I am legitimately very excited about, but this post is about MONSTER HUNTERING, DARN IT.

Mind blown (but in the worst way)

Yesterday, Nintendo uploaded a fun new promotional video to show off all the junk they’re going to try to sell you for Mario’s 35th anniversary. You can watch it below.

And it’s like, okay, most of these products I don’t really give a sniff about. The LEGO, the t-shirts, the AR Mario Kart… thing, a Super Mario 3D World re-release. Cool things that fans might enjoy, but are not for me, specifically. But there were a couple items that I would definitely buy, like the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. And maybe that neat Game&Watch machine. And also Super Mario Bros 35, which is free-to-play so why not.

But then you stop and think about the history of Nintendo and special merch like this. That Super Mario Bros Game&Watch machine is going to be obscenely rare, and will quickly skyrocket in price on eBay and whatnot. So I’ve already convinced myself that I actually don’t care about it and that I’m not even going to bother trying to buy one. It’s unfortunate because the consumer whore in me is hurting, but the reality is that there’s really no need for it anyway. I’m better off without. I already have many avenues through which to play Super Mario Bros.

I’m also completely perplexed by the idea that Nintendo is only going to be selling Super Mario 3D All-Stars for six months. And then it’s gone. Into the Disney vault, as they say. I could understand a short run on physical cartridges, but the digital version too? It’s an incredibly weird choice. But it doesn’t really affect me because you know I’m picking that collection up on day one anyway.

The thing that really, truly makes me grumpy is that Super Mario Bros 35 is going to be a limited time only thing. I know that nothing lasts forever, and that I should focus on enjoying it while it’s around, but I just can’t understand why Nintendo wouldn’t choose to support this awesome idea for more than a few months. I could absolutely see myself picking it up for a run or two every so often like I do with Tetris 99, but it is not meant to be.

So, grumps aside, I’m really happy that I’ll be able to play Super Mario 64 on yet another machine. That is, after all, the true meaning of life.

Kratos & Son Lake Tours Co.

I’m a well-known not-fan of the God of War series of video games. In all fairness, I’ve only played the first game. But I feel that when you quit a game halfway through because you’re not getting anything from it, it’s fair to just skip the sequels. However, after some light prodding by my brothers, I recently began playing the most recent game in the series, Dad of Boy.

While it bothers me once in a while that it feels very generic because it’s a Triple-A game and it does all the things that every Triple-A game must (Skill trees! Colour-coded loot! Armor crafting! Endless checklists! Murder milestones!), I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying it. It has so many elements that I like that the original God of War either didn’t fully deliver on, or was missing completely. I don’t know if any of the games in between would satisfy me in the same way, but I don’t really see myself going back for them anyway.

Monthend Video Game Wrap-Up: August 2020

~ Game Over ~

Ellen (Switch) – Pixel-art, side-scrolly, spook-’em-up adventure. Head and shoulders above nearly any other similar game I’ve played. It’s right up there with The Cat Lady on my list of best horror-themed adventure games. Only a few hours long, but told an interesting (if somewhat clichéd and poorly translated) story and did an excellent job of maintaining its creepiness all the way to the end.

The Talos Principle (PS4) – Wrote lots of words. Actually beat it twice to claim all the trophies, and then played the DLC expansion.

Erica (PS4) – I wonder if I should actually put this here, as it’s less a game than a choose-your-own-adventure movie. Played through twice to see a couple different endings, but two was enough. There isn’t nearly enough variance in the story to bother with more replays. At least not right away. Notably, there’s an companion app that you can download to use as a controller, which is good since the game is otherwise controlled entirely by the DualShock 4’s touch pad, and the DualShock 4’s touch pad sucks ass.