Last episode we only talked about E3 news. To make up for that we forgo any real topic and just chat about the news and the games we've been playing for the past month. Somehow it ends up being longer than the E3 podcast, but we have a lot of feelings.
News - 00:34 to 1:14:47
What We Played - 1:14:48 to 2:57:13
Specific Game Time Stamps
Shenmue - 1:14:48 to 1:27:00
Forza Horizon 4: Lego Champions - 1:27:01 to 1:32:57
Cadence of Hyrule - 1:32:58 to 1:43:28
Trials Rising - 1:43:29 to 1:46:30
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 1:46:31 to 1:58:10
Outer Wilds - 1:58:11 to 2:08:39
Yoshi's Crafted World - 2:08:40 to 2:12:42
Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled - 2:12:43 to 2:19:21
Rage 2 - 2:19:22 to 2:28:38
Samurai Shodown - 2:28:39 to 2:34:06
Super Mario Maker 2 - 2:34:07 to 2:39:34
Judgment - 2:39:35 to 2:57:13
Friday, June 28, 2019
Friday, June 14, 2019
Podcast Episode 56 - E3 2019 Hype Train
E3 2019 has come and gone so it's time for us to talk about it. Get ready for us to talk about each press conference at length.
I apologize for yelling.
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Game Time - May 2019
Game: Dauntless
Developer: Phoenix Labs
Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One
I would describe Dauntless as a more simple version of Monster Hunter. It is to Monster Hunter what Fornite is to Player Unknown's Battlegrounds. To further that metaphor Dauntless is free and shares a very similar art style to Fortnite. Dauntless launched a few weeks ago while I was away for Memorial Day Weekend. The queues were three or four hours long and people were digging it. After seeing that I decided to see what it was all about. My initial thoughts of it being a more simple version of Monster Hunter was spot on. While you hunt monsters in a large area there are much fewer weapons with less complex movesets. After killing a monster you get some of its pieces in order to craft more armor, but there are less kinds of monster parts.
It's a cool thing, because the fact that its free makes it available to a much wider audience. I also think that it will work as a springboard for people to eventually get into Monster Hunter. Since Dauntless is free it has a lot of free to play elements. There is a battlepass that levels up as you play, much like many first person shooters on the market. You can pay for better prizes and higher experience gain in the "Hunter's Pass" as well as buying consumable items and things of that nature. The few hours I played for I had a good time, but felt it was too simple as someone who plays Monster Hunter quite a bit. Some of my friends who played hit a wall, that made it so they would have to grind a ton to move on. This is something that happens in every game, but is often exacerbated in free to play games.
I don't know that I'll go back to Dauntless, but it is a really cool game. Everything you do leads to progress, so even if you're going back to fight weak monsters with friends you're still making progress. The absolute best part is that it has full crossplay. PC, PS4, and Xbox one users can all play together at the same time. In the future the game is coming to Switch and they'll be in the hopper as well. It's an awesome thing that gives me hope for crossplay in the future. The issue for me is that once I played real Monster Hunter everything trying to ape its style feels like a pale imitation to me.
Game: Cytus Alpha
Developer: Rayark
Platform: Switch
A few months ago I started playing a mobile rhythm game called Cytus 2. In addition to be a unique and interesting rhythm game it also had a very cool story. The original came to Switch with all the DLC and I just had to pick it up to see what led to the awesome game I had been playing. What I got was essentially the same gameplay (which is great), but with an interesting story portrayed in a boring way. While Cytus 2 has you leveling up characters, figuring out codes, and reading in world messages Cytus Alpha dumps text on you in paragraphs with no real context.
In the world of Cytus Alpha a disease has crippled humans and their plan to survive is to freeze everyone while robots rebuild the world. Things don't quite go as planned and some of the robots become sentient. It's interesting, but just reading large paragraphs of text between playing songs doesn't make it compelling. I never looked forward to completing 8 songs to read this story, whereas in Cytus 2 I constantly want to see the next story beat.
The good thing as that as a rhythm game it's great. For the Switch they added a button mode that is functional, but doesn't feel great. When playing handheld you can use the touch screen, which works surprisingly well on Switch. I prefer the touch control, because it's what the game was designed for and it feels cool to tap around the screen like a pianist. The way the game plays is a horizontal bar bounces up and down the screen. Circles will appear, and when the bar coincides with them you have to tap their center. It starts off simple, but with the addition of hold and slide notes things get hectic pretty fast. Cytus Alpha is a great collection of everything the original Cytus had to offer at a much cheaper price than buying all the DLC in the mobile game.
Game: Ace Attorney Investigations 2
Developer: Capcom
Platform: DS
In May the fan translation patch for the Great Ace Attorney finally finished. In a state of excitement I ordered the Japanese cartridge and learned that I would need to get custom firmware on my 3DS in order to tun the translation. I added custom firmware to my old 3DS, because if I messed it up it wouldn't matter too much. Thankfully all the tutorials online are almost foolproof and go into super in depth explanation about every aspect of the process. Being high on the success of getting custom firmware I then went on to add DS emulation to that 3DS. I've had a cartridge for Ace Attorney Investigations 2 for a while, but the translation for that game only runs on a dumped ROM in an emulator. Personally playing DS games in an emulator really bothers me, so I got the real thing running on my 3DS!
Much to my dismay I remembered that I had never beat the original Ace Attorney Investigations, so I started that over and ended up completing it over the course of a few weeks. It was an enjoyable experience, but man is the second game much better. The first case drew me right in, but then I fell off the game in the second case. It was so poorly paced that when I got to the third case I had to put the game down and take an extended break. I'll eventually get back to it and complete it and move on to the Great Ace Attorney.
Investigations differs from traditional Ace Attorney games because you play as a prosecutor. Everyone loves Miles Edgeworth, but now you get to play as him. Regular games in the franchise see you navigating areas through a series of menus, but with Investigations you move Edgeworth around manually to investigate crime scenes. The original Investigations introduced a mechanic called "logic" that sees you combining two pieces of information to come to a new conclusion. Investigations 2 layers another mechanic called "logic chess" on top of that. Edgeworth enters into 1 on 1 conversations with people. Throughout the conversation you look for tells (similar to newer games in the franchise) and attack statements that may be false in order to gain more information. It's an interesting mechanic that mixes things up further from the traditional Ace Attorney games.
Developer: Phoenix Labs
Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One
I would describe Dauntless as a more simple version of Monster Hunter. It is to Monster Hunter what Fornite is to Player Unknown's Battlegrounds. To further that metaphor Dauntless is free and shares a very similar art style to Fortnite. Dauntless launched a few weeks ago while I was away for Memorial Day Weekend. The queues were three or four hours long and people were digging it. After seeing that I decided to see what it was all about. My initial thoughts of it being a more simple version of Monster Hunter was spot on. While you hunt monsters in a large area there are much fewer weapons with less complex movesets. After killing a monster you get some of its pieces in order to craft more armor, but there are less kinds of monster parts.
It's a cool thing, because the fact that its free makes it available to a much wider audience. I also think that it will work as a springboard for people to eventually get into Monster Hunter. Since Dauntless is free it has a lot of free to play elements. There is a battlepass that levels up as you play, much like many first person shooters on the market. You can pay for better prizes and higher experience gain in the "Hunter's Pass" as well as buying consumable items and things of that nature. The few hours I played for I had a good time, but felt it was too simple as someone who plays Monster Hunter quite a bit. Some of my friends who played hit a wall, that made it so they would have to grind a ton to move on. This is something that happens in every game, but is often exacerbated in free to play games.
I don't know that I'll go back to Dauntless, but it is a really cool game. Everything you do leads to progress, so even if you're going back to fight weak monsters with friends you're still making progress. The absolute best part is that it has full crossplay. PC, PS4, and Xbox one users can all play together at the same time. In the future the game is coming to Switch and they'll be in the hopper as well. It's an awesome thing that gives me hope for crossplay in the future. The issue for me is that once I played real Monster Hunter everything trying to ape its style feels like a pale imitation to me.
Game: Cytus Alpha
Developer: Rayark
Platform: Switch
A few months ago I started playing a mobile rhythm game called Cytus 2. In addition to be a unique and interesting rhythm game it also had a very cool story. The original came to Switch with all the DLC and I just had to pick it up to see what led to the awesome game I had been playing. What I got was essentially the same gameplay (which is great), but with an interesting story portrayed in a boring way. While Cytus 2 has you leveling up characters, figuring out codes, and reading in world messages Cytus Alpha dumps text on you in paragraphs with no real context.
In the world of Cytus Alpha a disease has crippled humans and their plan to survive is to freeze everyone while robots rebuild the world. Things don't quite go as planned and some of the robots become sentient. It's interesting, but just reading large paragraphs of text between playing songs doesn't make it compelling. I never looked forward to completing 8 songs to read this story, whereas in Cytus 2 I constantly want to see the next story beat.
The good thing as that as a rhythm game it's great. For the Switch they added a button mode that is functional, but doesn't feel great. When playing handheld you can use the touch screen, which works surprisingly well on Switch. I prefer the touch control, because it's what the game was designed for and it feels cool to tap around the screen like a pianist. The way the game plays is a horizontal bar bounces up and down the screen. Circles will appear, and when the bar coincides with them you have to tap their center. It starts off simple, but with the addition of hold and slide notes things get hectic pretty fast. Cytus Alpha is a great collection of everything the original Cytus had to offer at a much cheaper price than buying all the DLC in the mobile game.
Game: Ace Attorney Investigations 2
Developer: Capcom
Platform: DS
In May the fan translation patch for the Great Ace Attorney finally finished. In a state of excitement I ordered the Japanese cartridge and learned that I would need to get custom firmware on my 3DS in order to tun the translation. I added custom firmware to my old 3DS, because if I messed it up it wouldn't matter too much. Thankfully all the tutorials online are almost foolproof and go into super in depth explanation about every aspect of the process. Being high on the success of getting custom firmware I then went on to add DS emulation to that 3DS. I've had a cartridge for Ace Attorney Investigations 2 for a while, but the translation for that game only runs on a dumped ROM in an emulator. Personally playing DS games in an emulator really bothers me, so I got the real thing running on my 3DS!
Much to my dismay I remembered that I had never beat the original Ace Attorney Investigations, so I started that over and ended up completing it over the course of a few weeks. It was an enjoyable experience, but man is the second game much better. The first case drew me right in, but then I fell off the game in the second case. It was so poorly paced that when I got to the third case I had to put the game down and take an extended break. I'll eventually get back to it and complete it and move on to the Great Ace Attorney.
Investigations differs from traditional Ace Attorney games because you play as a prosecutor. Everyone loves Miles Edgeworth, but now you get to play as him. Regular games in the franchise see you navigating areas through a series of menus, but with Investigations you move Edgeworth around manually to investigate crime scenes. The original Investigations introduced a mechanic called "logic" that sees you combining two pieces of information to come to a new conclusion. Investigations 2 layers another mechanic called "logic chess" on top of that. Edgeworth enters into 1 on 1 conversations with people. Throughout the conversation you look for tells (similar to newer games in the franchise) and attack statements that may be false in order to gain more information. It's an interesting mechanic that mixes things up further from the traditional Ace Attorney games.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Podcast Episode 55 - Half Off 2019
In this episode we chat a lot about the leaks and rumors leading up to E3, while throwing in some spicy announcements people threw out over the past few weeks.
After talking about the games we've been playing we take a look back at the past 6 months and see how good 2019 has been for games so far. It's like a 6 month review.
News - 00:32 to 1:23:50
What We Played - 1:23:51 to 1:47:28
6 Month Review - 1:47:29 to 2:22:21
Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect - 1:23:51 to 1:29:22
Sunset Overdrive - 1:29:23 to 1:34:10
Halo 5 - 1:34:11 to 1:38:34
Dauntless - 1:38:35 to 1:47:28
After talking about the games we've been playing we take a look back at the past 6 months and see how good 2019 has been for games so far. It's like a 6 month review.
News - 00:32 to 1:23:50
What We Played - 1:23:51 to 1:47:28
6 Month Review - 1:47:29 to 2:22:21
Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect - 1:23:51 to 1:29:22
Sunset Overdrive - 1:29:23 to 1:34:10
Halo 5 - 1:34:11 to 1:38:34
Dauntless - 1:38:35 to 1:47:28
Podcast Episode 54 - Raising Documentaries
In this fine episode of the podcast we take a look at the hottest news and talk a bit about how maybe the games industry hasn't been doing great with controversy recently.
After chatting a bit about the games we played these past few weeks we transition into a conversation about the documentary Raising Kratos, which is about the development of the new God of War.
News - 3:01 to 1:22:11
What We Played - 1:22:12 to 1:53:54
Raising Kratos - 1:53:55 to 1:36:48
Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect 3 - 1:22:35 to 1:29:25
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - 1:29:26 to 1:35:51
Steam World Quest - 1:35:52 to 1:39:25
Darksiders 2 - 1:39:27 to 1:49:17
Cytus Alpha - 1:49:18 to 1:53:54
After chatting a bit about the games we played these past few weeks we transition into a conversation about the documentary Raising Kratos, which is about the development of the new God of War.
News - 3:01 to 1:22:11
What We Played - 1:22:12 to 1:53:54
Raising Kratos - 1:53:55 to 1:36:48
Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect 3 - 1:22:35 to 1:29:25
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - 1:29:26 to 1:35:51
Steam World Quest - 1:35:52 to 1:39:25
Darksiders 2 - 1:39:27 to 1:49:17
Cytus Alpha - 1:49:18 to 1:53:54
Friday, May 3, 2019
Podcast Episode 53 - MK11 is the Endgame of Video Games
For the news this week we cover Borderlands 3, the cool new Persona 5 games, the Xbox SAD and more!
If you're in it for the video games we hit Mass Effect 3 and Wolfenstien again while adding in Mortal Kombat 11 and SteamWorld Quest.
We round everything off by listing off our five favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
News - 1:17 to 1:17:35
What We Played - 1:17:36 to 1:46:16
MCU Top 5 - 1:46:19 to 2:28:19
Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect 3 - 1:17:47 to 1:19:32
Mortal Kombat 11 - 1:19:33 to 1:38:15
Wolfenstien: The New Order - 1:38:16 to 1:40:07
SteamWorld Quest -1:40:08 to 1:46:18
If you're in it for the video games we hit Mass Effect 3 and Wolfenstien again while adding in Mortal Kombat 11 and SteamWorld Quest.
We round everything off by listing off our five favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
News - 1:17 to 1:17:35
What We Played - 1:17:36 to 1:46:16
MCU Top 5 - 1:46:19 to 2:28:19
Specific Game Time Stamps
Mass Effect 3 - 1:17:47 to 1:19:32
Mortal Kombat 11 - 1:19:33 to 1:38:15
Wolfenstien: The New Order - 1:38:16 to 1:40:07
SteamWorld Quest -1:40:08 to 1:46:18
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Game Time - April 2019
I normally don't do intro paragraphs for these anymore, but since I haven't done one of these since December I feel like I have to. When I reformatted the text version of game time to be shorter and more concise I was and still am happy with it. The issue ended up being that now Matt and I do a bi-weekly podcast, so I felt far less motivated to write a monthly thing about the games I was playing. I had originally planned to retroactively go back and write something for all the months I had missed, but now I have come too far to do that.
I am going to try my best to get back into writing. This is becoming a bummer, because it's something I tend to say every year. "Oh yeah, next year I'll do all kinds of stuff on my blog. New features and just a ton more quality writing." It never ends up happening, but I would like it to. So here it goes, from this moment on I'm going to try my best and do more writing, which will start here with the April 2019 edition of Game Time. Ready, GO!
Game: Mortal Kombat 11
Developer: NetherReal Studios
Platform: PS4
Every time a new NetherRealm Studio game comes out I buy it in the hopes that I will enjoy it. Ever since Mortal Kombat 9 they have made quality fighting games that are filled to the brim with single player content for people who aren't looking to become professional players. What isn't so great is that I just don't enjoy playing their games. For me the stiff animations and dial-a-combos with an emphasis on long juggles just doesn't feel right. I can never really get into a groove with NetherRealm games and Mortal Kombat 11 is no different.
This isn't to say that I think the game is bad or anything, but it certainly isn't for me. As usual the story mode is an amazing feat that no other studio has been able to replicate in a fighting game. This time the god of time Kronika (of course with a K) is unhappy that Raiden is ruining her vision for a perfectly balanced world. In an attempt to erase him from existence she opens a bunch of time portals and brings old versions of characters to the future. It's a really dumb premise that works in the Mortal Kombat universe and lets everyone know that they can do literally anything with the plot now.
The customization options the studio developed for Injustice 2 are still in play, so expect to be collecting nine million cosmetic bobbles for every character. This is arguably my favorite aspect of the game, but they goofed up the currency you use to unlock everything. Originally it was giving out super low amounts, but supposedly that was rectified today with a patch. I think that Mortal Kombat is a cool game with tons of content for casual fans, but it just doesn't give me the tingly feelings it gives everyone else.
Game: Katana Zero
Developer: Akiisoft
Platform: PC
I first saw a Katana Zero trailer while watching a fighting game tournament and immediately knew it would be my jam. It is a 2D sidescroller where you play as a samurai with a katana. Recently I've been trying to avoid describing games by saying the names of other games, but it's basically Hotline Miami mixed with Super Hot. Each stage is approached like a puzzle where enemies die in one hit, but so do you. The only tools you have are objects in the environment you can throw, your katana, and a time slow down power.
Katana Zero is hyper stylish and makes you feel like a badass whenever you beat a level. Slowing down time allows you to deflect bullets easier and act out a series of actions with more precision. When you clear an entire screen the game lets you watch a replay of your actions without the slowdown just like Super Hot.
The plot drew me in far more than I thought it would, but sadly it ends on a cliffhanger. The studio has started work on free DLC, so hopefully it expands the story. I can't say a lot about it without spoiling things, but it is reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film. Even though it took me less than 5 hours to beat I had an absolute blast and would gladly play it all over again.
Game: SteamWorld Quest
Developer: Image & Form Games
Platform: Switch
Historically I do not really enjoy digital card games. The issue I run into is that I never end up wanting to change my deck, because the thought of remaking a large set of cards from scratch that need to have synergy overwhelms me. Despite my aversion to card based games, when I saw SteamWorld Quest it won me over and I picked it up day one.
Image & Form games have made several games of different genres. Personally I hadn't connected with any of them, but the charm of the characters in SteamWorld Quest combined with it being a turn based RPG I was immediately drawn in. What really drew me in to the game was the fact that you don't need to recreate huge decks. You take three characters into battle at a time who each only have a deck of 8 cards. With such a limited set of options it becomes very easy to swap things out and try different strategies.
The main thing that SteamWorld Quest does right is that it doesn't overwhelm you. It's a 10-15 hour experience that doles out new cards and upgrades at a steady pace. The story is a little thin, but the gameplay is definitely the main focus as you'll be card battling most of the time.
I am going to try my best to get back into writing. This is becoming a bummer, because it's something I tend to say every year. "Oh yeah, next year I'll do all kinds of stuff on my blog. New features and just a ton more quality writing." It never ends up happening, but I would like it to. So here it goes, from this moment on I'm going to try my best and do more writing, which will start here with the April 2019 edition of Game Time. Ready, GO!
Game: Mortal Kombat 11
Developer: NetherReal Studios
Platform: PS4
Every time a new NetherRealm Studio game comes out I buy it in the hopes that I will enjoy it. Ever since Mortal Kombat 9 they have made quality fighting games that are filled to the brim with single player content for people who aren't looking to become professional players. What isn't so great is that I just don't enjoy playing their games. For me the stiff animations and dial-a-combos with an emphasis on long juggles just doesn't feel right. I can never really get into a groove with NetherRealm games and Mortal Kombat 11 is no different.
This isn't to say that I think the game is bad or anything, but it certainly isn't for me. As usual the story mode is an amazing feat that no other studio has been able to replicate in a fighting game. This time the god of time Kronika (of course with a K) is unhappy that Raiden is ruining her vision for a perfectly balanced world. In an attempt to erase him from existence she opens a bunch of time portals and brings old versions of characters to the future. It's a really dumb premise that works in the Mortal Kombat universe and lets everyone know that they can do literally anything with the plot now.
The customization options the studio developed for Injustice 2 are still in play, so expect to be collecting nine million cosmetic bobbles for every character. This is arguably my favorite aspect of the game, but they goofed up the currency you use to unlock everything. Originally it was giving out super low amounts, but supposedly that was rectified today with a patch. I think that Mortal Kombat is a cool game with tons of content for casual fans, but it just doesn't give me the tingly feelings it gives everyone else.
Game: Katana Zero
Developer: Akiisoft
Platform: PC
I first saw a Katana Zero trailer while watching a fighting game tournament and immediately knew it would be my jam. It is a 2D sidescroller where you play as a samurai with a katana. Recently I've been trying to avoid describing games by saying the names of other games, but it's basically Hotline Miami mixed with Super Hot. Each stage is approached like a puzzle where enemies die in one hit, but so do you. The only tools you have are objects in the environment you can throw, your katana, and a time slow down power.
Katana Zero is hyper stylish and makes you feel like a badass whenever you beat a level. Slowing down time allows you to deflect bullets easier and act out a series of actions with more precision. When you clear an entire screen the game lets you watch a replay of your actions without the slowdown just like Super Hot.
The plot drew me in far more than I thought it would, but sadly it ends on a cliffhanger. The studio has started work on free DLC, so hopefully it expands the story. I can't say a lot about it without spoiling things, but it is reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film. Even though it took me less than 5 hours to beat I had an absolute blast and would gladly play it all over again.
Game: SteamWorld Quest
Developer: Image & Form Games
Platform: Switch
Historically I do not really enjoy digital card games. The issue I run into is that I never end up wanting to change my deck, because the thought of remaking a large set of cards from scratch that need to have synergy overwhelms me. Despite my aversion to card based games, when I saw SteamWorld Quest it won me over and I picked it up day one.
Image & Form games have made several games of different genres. Personally I hadn't connected with any of them, but the charm of the characters in SteamWorld Quest combined with it being a turn based RPG I was immediately drawn in. What really drew me in to the game was the fact that you don't need to recreate huge decks. You take three characters into battle at a time who each only have a deck of 8 cards. With such a limited set of options it becomes very easy to swap things out and try different strategies.
The main thing that SteamWorld Quest does right is that it doesn't overwhelm you. It's a 10-15 hour experience that doles out new cards and upgrades at a steady pace. The story is a little thin, but the gameplay is definitely the main focus as you'll be card battling most of the time.
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