Oh yeah, I also beat Yo-Kai Watch!, which was interesting. I enjoyed myself quite a bit. Instead of talking about it here I recorded a podcast about it. It's the 10th episode, so check it out right here.
The reason we're here this month is to talk about the games I played, but didn't complete. Well, I guess you can't really complete Battlefront. I did only play it once though... First person shooters just aren't my thing. I'll play it again, but I have a ton of other stuff to do. I definitely didn't beat Yoshi's Wooly World or Fallout 4 though. I still have so much to do, so let's start this edition of Game Time!
Yoshi's Wooly World
I don't want to generalize here, but many modern video games have a lot of violent imagery. Are video games too violent for you? If they are then boy have I got the game for you! A GAME WHERE LITERALLY EVERYTHING IS MADE OF YARN AND MAKES YOU FEEL WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE!
In all seriousness though, have you seen gameplay of Yoshi's Wooly World? Everything in the game is made of yarn, sequins, buttons, and felt. It's the most twee video game conceivable by modern man. The visuals are astounding, but the gameplay isn't on the same level. It's okay, but nowhere near as tight as the original Yoshi's Island was. However, it's clear that Nintendo is going after a different audience with this product.
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| *SQUEEEE* |
Good Feels, the developer behind this game also produced Kirby's Epic Yarn a few years ago. The issue I had with Kirby's Epic Yarn was that it was too easy. By the time I got halfway through the game it took all of my willpower just to stay awake. Wooly World isn't quite that easy, but it's challenge comes mostly from looking for hidden collectibles. This is something that a lot of recent Nintendo games have done to cater to both hardcore fans and those who are less into crazy challenging gameplay. It's a system that works, but it leaves me yearning for more.
As you may expect you control the lovable dinosaur Yoshi on a quest to rescue his friends from danger. It plays a lot like the original Yoshi's Island, but everything is a lot slower. You still shoot eggs (balls of yarn in this case) at enemies with a moving reticle, but there's never any urgency to it. You do have to hit things, but you can take your sweet time doing it.
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| This is real, I assure you. |
To be fair to the game I'm only about halfway through the game, so it could get a lot more challenging in the later half, but I'm not expecting much of a change. I am definitely not finding every collectible though and I'm okay with that. In fact Wooly World may have too many collectibles in each level. To get 100% completion you need to find five hidden pieces of yarn, five flowers, twenty stamps, and have max health (20 HP) at the end of a level. For those of you keeping track that's fifty things per level. That's crazy, and super daunting. Everything is pretty well hidden, so I had to give up on my completionist nature on the third or fourth level to continue having fun with the game.
I am actually having fun with it, and the visuals consistently make me squeal in delight. I just wish that I could have a cute Yoshi video game and a challenge at the same time. Sadly it doesn't seem like Nintendo is going to be offering that to me any time soon.
Star Wars Battlefront
Guys, I don't like first person shooters. That means that I only played Battlefront the first day I got it and pretty much had my fill. I might try it out a few more times, but I just don't have a whole lot of fun playing competitive first person shooters. I don't think they're bad or anything, they're just not for me.
With that said I think that Battlefront is a technical marvel. There are all kinds of arguments about the season pass being priced at $50 dollars and whether or not there is a lack of content in the game, but I think everyone needs to stop and look at the game. Literally just look at it, and I guess listen while they're at it. It's ridiculous how authentic every battle feels.
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| It's super fun to take these down. |
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most people who watched Star Wars as a kid wondered what it would be like to battle on the snow planet of Hoth. Battlefront is the closest you're going to get to experiencing that battle. The visuals are top notch, and the sound design is superb. DICE is known for their excellent sound design in Battlefield games, but with Battlefront they turned it up to eleven.
It's not just Hoth though. Every battle looks and sounds awesome. You spawn quickly and run out into the fray, and it feels like an accurate representation. The blasters sound just like they do in the movies as their shots whiz by your character's head and explode behind you. Everything is chaotic in a way that feels accurate to the Star Wars universe and I think that's important. This game is and always was supposed to be Star Wars fan service. DICE delivered on that.
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| I don't like playing as Luke. |
Yes, you can complain about a lack of maps, and sometimes unbalanced matches, but in the end DICE made an authentic Star Wars Game. It plays well, and it's one of the best Star Wars games out there. There are a lot of Star Wars games out there, but a vast majority of them are not quality products. If this is the benchmark for quality in new Star Wars games going forward I will buy every single one of them without hesitation.
Fallout 4
Every single time I play this game my feelings about it change drastically. Sometimes I lose myself for hours in the post apocalyptic wasteland, and others I want to throw my controller at the wall. I thought Fallout 3 was okay, which is apparently at odds with the thoughts of everyone else on the planet. I think Fallout is an okay franchise, but I'd much rather play The Elder Scrolls. To the surprise of no one Fallout 4 is just a whole lot more of Fallout 3 on new platforms with newer graphics. This is why I am often unable to deal with how janky the game is. It's largely more of the same. Sometimes to a fault. The game takes a little time to explain to you the games new systems, but leaves you out to dry with all of the old ones. It doesn't even explain how to get into VATS or what it does. Seriously? People who didn't play Fallout 3 will pick this one up and have no idea what the hell is going on.
It's one thing when an NPC doesn't face you when talking, or when they hover off of the ground a little bit. It's a completely different thing when the game crashes every time you try to leave a building, or has the frame rate drop to the single digits if more than three enemies try to fight you inside of a building. Yes, I realize that these things will most likely be fixed in later patches, but that probably won't make me feel any different about the game. There are only so many hours of looking inside of ravaged buildings for crappy items I have in me before I don't care any more.
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| Who likes the color brown!? |
As I said initially there are times I love playing Fallout 4. The companions are mostly written well and the side quests I've stumbled upon have been pretty cool as well. I've only done a few steps in the main quest line though, and I don't think it could get much more boring. That tends to be standard fare with Bethesda RPGs though, the best writing is almost always found outside of the main quest. All you're doing is trying to find your kidnapped son, who probably doesn't even remember who you are.
I will say that the gun-play is a lot better this time around. In Fallout 3 VATS was a necessity, because even if you were pointing the barrel of a shotgun right at someones head it could still miss due to your stats. In Fallout 4 if you have someone in your sights your bullet will hit. VATS is still handy though, because you can get perks and things to do more damage with it. Bethesda also took the time to overhaul the leveling system so that there is no longer a cap. Instead now every level you get a single skill point, which you can put into one of your stats, or a perk. It makes things a lot simpler for leveling.
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| There are tons of perks to choose from. I think you need to be over level 200 to get them all. |
I don't really know what to say about this game. If you liked Fallout 3, you'll like this too. You roam around the post apocalyptic Boston area and ransack buildings while shooting stuff. Sometimes you find cool loot, but most of the time it's worthless. I want to be super excited about this, but when other super polished open world games like The Witcher 3 and Metal Gear Solid V came out in 2015 I just can't give Fallout a free pass.
GOTY
I initially thought that 2015 wasn't a very good year for games. However after looking at the list of games I completed that came out this year I realized that I was 100% wrong! So many amazing games came out this year, and I haven't even completed a bunch of the ones I want to. As I said before I still have five more games I want to complete before the year is over. Even without those five games I'm having a hell of a time figuring out what my list is going to be.
The main issue I'm having is that I don't know what my GOTY actually is. Up until recently I was sure it was The Witcher 3, but as of right now I'm considering something else.... I don't want to get too much into it. As always there will be a written list and podcast to let the world know what my top ten games of the year are. In fact, I may even have multiple podcasts where I talk to my friends about what their favorite games of 2015 are.
There's a whole lot for me to get done by January 1st. I have a whole lot in the pipe. I'm going to start up Party Game Sundays again, so I need to write one of those by this coming Sunday. I'm going to try and record an Undertale Podcast, and write up something special involving it. I don't want to say what it is in case I don't get it done! I also am theoretically going to record two or tree GOTY podcasts. *sigh* I probably shouldn't have said any of this here, because now I'll feel obligated to get it all done...
See you guys next month!
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