Game Time - July 2018

Game: Octopath Traveler

Developer: Square Enix and Acquire

Platform: Switch

I am always waiting for new JRPG releases to whisk me away to an interesting world where I lose hours of my life. Much to my dismay Octopath Traveler did not do that for me. Prior to its release I had seen a whole lot of Internet chatter about how the game feels disjointed due to the eight characters each having their own stories while never truly interacting. Once I got my hands on the final release, I felt the same. In theory a game telling eight separate stories could be awesome, but because you can't play straight through a single characters story without a ton of grinding for levels it requires you to sample many different stories, so a true flow never develops.

The battle system is quite enjoyable. It's like a mix between Shin Megami Tensei and Bravely Default. Each turn your four party members will gain a bonus point. Like Bravely Default you can use these bonus points to attack up to four times, or power up a skill four times. The SMT comes in when you attack enemy weaknesses. Certain weapon types and elemental damage will break enemies after they are attacked enough times, which makes them unable to attack while decreasing their defense. It's a fun system that requires you to figure out each enemies weakness and whether or not you want to take a fight slow, or unleash attacks in rapid succession to break enemies faster.

I really want to like Octopath Traveler, but nothing about it is particularly grabbing me. It seems as if a great deal of love and care went into the game and it's sold enough copies worldwide to back up that claim. I'm going to keep chipping away at it, but I find myself not wanting to play for more than a handful of minutes at a time. Perhaps once Dragon Quest XI hits my JRPG thirst will finally be quenched. 

Game: WarioWare: Gold

Developer: Intelligent Systems

Platform: 3DS

I have always loved the WarioWare franchise. In an era where Nintendo wasn't really trying to put out a bunch of new things WarioWare was a shining beacon of hope. It was supremely weird and introduced great characters like the pizza delivery girl Mona, and the haunted girl we all love, Ashley. It's the kind of unabashed strangeness that I really love from Japanese games. The concept is that Wario needs money, so he hires his "friends" to make 3- 5 second mini-games known as microgames in order to get rich quick. With little to no instruction the player goes through tons of microgames trying not to fail. It's fast paced and manic, while still managing to be fun.

The franchise hadn't seen a new entry in many years, so when I saw that a new one was coming out I was ecstatic. WarioWare: Gold acts as a greatest hits collection for the franchise. It offers tons of new microgames and even a few new characters, but it also grabs fan favorites from the original, WarioWare Touched, and WarioWare Twisted. They are separated into categories of mash, touch, and twist. At first they're kept separate, but in later challenges you're forced to switch between all three.

It took me a total of three hours to beat the "story," however I loved every minute of it. I've been going back and playing it a bunch because there is an achievement system and I feel like I need to do them all. It's cool to see Nintendo continuing to put out new games in the WarioWare franchise. Hopefully this was a test to see if they should continue producing it for the Switch. 

Game: Dead Cells

Developer: Motion Twin

Platform: PC (Also on Xbox One, PS4, and Switch)

Buzz about Dead Cells started when it first entered early access last year. I personally try to steer clear of early access games that seem interesting, because I usually tend to play them a ton and then get bored before all the content is added. I didn't do this with Dead Cells. I bought it pretty much right away and thought it was awesome. Then, news of the full release in early August happened and I started playing it all over again! Dead Cells rules and if you'tr not playing it then you're a criminal!

I feel like the phrase "smooth controls" is overused in the video games industry, but with Dead Cells it truly applies. Moving around the character is effortless and feels amazing. You play as a weird guy who seems to be dead, but also can't really die. It's a roguelike, so you run through some randomly generated stages, but when you die you have to start back at the beginning. Like many others of its ilk you collect a permanent currency (cells), which you use to purchase upgrades to make each subsequent run easier.  I've been playing it a ton and I don't see myself slowing down any time soon. There are so many intersting places to explore and secrets to uncover. Like, why are there so many doors all over each level that you can knock on? They have to be for something!

I don't really know what to say other than you should totally play Dead Cells. It's on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch. The Switch version seems to be having some issues later in the game, but they seem to be working to fix that. It seems like it's doing very well, which is cool because I can't wait to see this developer make another game. Dead Cells is the best roguelike in ages, which is saying a lot, because we're basically drowning in them at this point.