Podcast Episode 41 - Let's Go Smash Leaks

We finally hit the sweet spot of just around 2 hours I've been hoping for. It has been a relatively slow couple of weeks as far as news goes. However, we both played a bunch of stuff. For the second half we talk about our experiences with Pokemon Let's Go Eevee!/Pikachu!

News - 00:56 to 32:46
What we played - 32:47 to 1:28:02
Pokemon Let's Go - 1:28:03 to 2:08:01

Specific game time stamps
Overcooked 2 -33 to 37:32
Firewatch - 37:33 to 43:26
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 43:27 to 57:59
CrossCode -58:00 to 1:03:46
Moonlighter - 1:03:47 to 1:14:03
Yakuza 6 - 1:14:04 to 1:28:02
Pokemon Let's Go! - 1:28:03 to 2:08:01
 

Podcast Episode 40 - Cowboys and Comic Books

This episode got away from us a little and comes in at just under three hours. I am shooting for these to be 1-2 hours long, but we seem to keep going longer and longer. I promise the next one will be shorter. In our defense there was a ton of news and we got caught up in The Game Awards nominations for a bit.

For part 2 we talk about Marvel comics and its effect on everything.

Section Time Stamps
News - 0:56 to 1:21:15
What we played - 1:21:23 to 2:08:50
Marvel - 2:08:54 to 2:45:30

Specific game time stamps
Assassin's Creed Odyssey -1:21:43 to 1:24:50
Overcooked 2 - 1:24:51 to 1:28:09
Yakuza 6 - 1:28:10 to 1:32:18
Pokemon Let's Go - 1:32:19 to 1:45:05
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 1:45:06 to 2:08:48
 

Game Time - May 2018

Game: Yakuza 6
Developer: Sega
Platform: PS4

I finished Yakuza 6 a few days ago and can't stop thinking about the ending. The seven game saga of Kazuma Kiryu is finally over, and I don't really know how to feel. Personally the conclusion didn't really do it for me, but with a few small tweaks it would have. I don't want to talk in vagaries about an ending you may not have seen, so I won't. I'll just say that the ending was not as impactful as it could have been. However, the game as a whole was excellent. The journey was interesting, but a bit plodding. That tends to be par for the course with Yakuza.

My playthrough clocked in at right around 26 hours, which I cannot believe. I felt like I was playing for at least 50. So either the clock is just wrong, or the pacing really got to me. That's one thing that always bugs me in Yakuza games is that the pacing is all over the place. It meanders along to try and add dramatic effect. Sometimes it works, but other times it prolongs already obvious plot twists and story developments. I still don't really know if this is a cultural thing or just actual pacing issues.

I'm glad that the story of Kiryu is done now. Now Sega can focus on the upcoming remasters and then move onto a new protagonist. While I absolutely love Kiryu, I think it was his time to give up the spotlight. I can't wait to see where the franchise goes next. Over the course of 7 games they built up a lot of interesting characters and relationships so it will be interesting to see what they follow it up with.


Game: Pixel Junk Monsters 2
Developer: Q-Games
Platform: PS4 (Also out on Switch)

As sad as it is to say, I bought the original Pixel Junk Monsters because it was one of the first PS3 games with trophies in it. At first I was all about the trophies, but I ended up falling in love with the little tiki man and his quest to protect his home with towers. Now, I've never been a huge tower defense fan, but something about Pixel Junk Monsters still feels different to me. Perhaps it's the more active nature. Instead of just placing a tower and waiting for waves of monsters to attack you take part in the action directly. The little tiki man acts as your cursor. If he stands over a tower he will begin to dance and the tower will upgrade over time. On top of that when enemies die they drop coins and gems which you will need to build more towers, so you need to always be on the move.

Pixel Junk Monsters 2 works largely the same as the original. The tiki man is back again, and he still dances all over the towers. However, this time you don't get to see the whole map. Instead everything is zoomed in just enough to obscure parts of the path. At first it's annoying, but it encourages even more movement and action so I'm okay with it. In addition just moving around to collect currency and upgrade towers the little guy can throw bombs and do sweet body slams now.

My favorite part has to be the visuals. I am obsessed with stop motion animation, and that's what the game looks like. Everything has a clay look to it, and the animation is fairly stilted. The default camera is the same as it's always been, but you can now push R2 to zoom in behind the tiki mans back, but gives a fresh perspective on everything. That's when you can really check out the awesome new art style. I fully expected this to be an easy rehash of the original, but it brings new art, and concepts to an already robust product. I haven't played a whole lot yet, but I'm looking forward to checking out more of it.


Game: Valkyria Chronicles Remastered
Developer: Sega/ Media Vision
Platform: PS4

Back in 2008 when Valkyria Chronicles was released on the PS3 I got it as a Christmas gift. It's the kind of semi-real time strategy game I'd be way into, but back then I had a lot going on and just didn't find the time to play it much. By the time I got around to it, I just kept finding excuses to play new games instead. I let one of my friends borrow it, and they ended up beating it fairly quickly. They absolutely loved it and kept trying to get me into it. I have a very hard time going back to old games once their time in the sun has passed, and normally try to stick with new stuff. However, now with the looming release of Valkyria Chronicles 4 I found my gaming schedule free after beating Yakuza 6 and decided I should finally give the game a shot.

I stopped by Gamestop and picked up the remastered version for PS4, and I've been having a blast so far. I've always been a sucker for strategy games, so I feel right at home playing Valkyria Chronicles. It essentially functions like turn based strategy games like Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, except with a little more direct input from the player. In battle you are given a set amount of medals, which allow you to move a character for each one you have. When you pick a character you are then put in direct control of them. They have a stamina bar, and can move until it is depleted. Like I said it's not too far off from most turn based strategy games, but the direct control of the moving and aiming adds a lot.

I've only done the first few missions, but I'm already farther than I got initially. The game is introducing new unit types and mechanics at a decent clip and I'm really digging it. So far the plot is relatively interesting, but I don't know if I'm fully invested yet. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts as I take the rest of June to try and finish it up.

Game Time - April 2018

Game: Ni No Kuni 2
Developer: Level-5
Platform: PS4

Ni No Kuni 2 is one of the first games in a long time that has made me feel like I'm crazy. It reviewed super positively, and pretty much everyone was singing its praises. I did beat it, but I didn't enjoy it very much. The combat never got much more exciting and it certainly never got any deeper. I was hoping that by the end of the game any of the characters would get worthwhile or meaningful development. That didn't come to pass either. It's weird, because on the surface it is a great game. It starts strong, and introduces tons of systems that seem interesting. However, like I said last month it's a jack of all trades, master of none scenario. There is a lot going on, but no one thing is focused on and almost all of it fell flat for me.

This isn't to say I think it's a bad game, I just don't understand the effusive praise and everyone treating it like it's the best thing to happen to JRPGs in a decade. It's fine. One of the things that I couldn't get over was just how easy it was. I saw all kinds of things online about people suggesting to use weaker characters, don't level, and pretty much don't use the tools available to you and it'll be a much more "fun" experience. I'm going to come right out and say that if your game is so easy that I have to actively try to handicap myself and not interact with all of its systems then it was poorly balanced. 

In the end Ni No Kuni 2 just didn't grab me like the original. To me it was noticeable that Studio Ghibli was no longer involved. The game borrowed the Ghibli style, but when it came to voice acting and animation it just didn't feel right to me. The original game built an interesting world that felt like there was a lot of thought put into it. This game flies through everything and TWO of the continents don't even have anything on them aside from monsters. I don't like being that guy that dunks on the thing everyone is happy about, but I just don't get the praise. It's fine.

Game: Yakuza 6

Developer: Sega

Platform: PS4

At this point I have played every Yakuza game except for Yakuza 2, and the non-canon Yakuza Dead Souls. So I know a thing or two about Kazuma Kiryu and his crazy antics. It's wild that all he ever wants to do is leave the Yakuza, but somehow he just gets roped back in over and over. Lucky for Kiryu, Yakuza 6 will bring his saga to a close. I have greatly enjoyed my time with it so far. 

Last year the excellent Yakuza 0 came out, which got a lot of people on board in the West. In my opinion this caused a few problems, mainly with the character of Goro Majima. He's essentially a different person in 0, but at the end they give context to how he acts for literally every other game in the franchise. I also feel like 0 does a poor job of making people like Kiryu, which is a shame because he is the protagonist of every other Yakuza game. However, the roughest part is that people will most likely have played Yazkua 0, and the remake of 1 and then jump right to 6. This sucks, because so far there have been a ton of callbacks and characters from the rest of the series. Hell, even some of the main characters from Yakuza 4 and 5 wouldn't even be known.

Yakuza 6 may also leave a bad first impression, because it's running on a different engine than every game prior to it. It's vastly improved, but as with all things moving over to a brand new engine it loses some of the complexity it had built over time. While Yakuza 0 and Kiwami introduced multiple fighting styles and a myriad of moves, Yakuza 6 only has one style and it plays more like a standard beat-em-up. There are a few moves to learn, but you can get away with mashing like an idiot. I really like Yakuza 6 so far, but I have a feeling that it may fall flat for people who weren't there for the rest of the series.

Game: God of War

Developer: SIE Santa Monica Studio

Platform: PS4

I borrowed the first God of War from a friend around the time it came out, and got about halfway through before dropping it. The gratuitous violence felt unnecessary and I didn't find Kratos to be an interesting character. I tried again with God of War 2 and similarly dropped it. God of War just wasn't for me, but when Sony showed they were releasing a new God of War based around Norse mythology it piqued my interest. Something about Norse mythology has always interested me. 

I didn't really know what to expect of this game going in, but I ended up absolutely loving it. The combat was more fun to me, the violence was toned down a bit, and Kratos was actually an interesting character. It's been interesting to see video games grow up as a medium. A lot of the people who were there at the beginning have kids now and that's been showing up more and more in recent releases. The crux of the new plot is that Kratos moved far to the north after he killed the Greek pantheon and ended up having a child. The game opens shortly after his new wife's death where Kratos and his son Atreus are setting off to scatter her ashes from the tallest mountain in all the realms. It's a simple enough premise that quickly turns into a much more daunting task than it seems.

As is to be expected you're going to come into contact with all sorts of creatures and gods. This time around though the plot is less about murdering everything and more about Kratos and his son bonding. It becomes clear early on that Kratos wasn't around much and his son resents him for that. There is a lot of conversation and most of it is very well done. The combat is much more my speed too. It's a little more deliberate than the older games. Kratos now wields a magical ice ax that he can throw and recall at will. At first blush the combat seems simple, but as you learn more moves it gets quite a bit deeper. In the end I had dozens of moves, but only was using a handful I liked. It offers a lot of depth for those who are looking to use it, but you can get by with the basics if you need to. I absolutely loved this game, and am excited to see where the take the franchise next.