Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Far Cry 4 - Post Mortem - DOES contain SPOILERS
What happens when you get a bunch of millennial writers and directors together and tell them to make a story "LIKE" this other story. THEY - JUST - DON'T - GET - IT.
I sat there wondering why I was bored in Far Cry 4. It seemed to defy my perception. The game, mechanically, had all the aspects I liked.
After getting you to do its dishes all game. Padding that shit out with volumes of monotonous side quests (much like the Assassin's Creed series), Amita and Sabal turn into Kony and Isis Respectively.
Back in Far Cry 3, Dennis talks to you like a human being. He tells you about Vaas. He guides you and supports you. You get a sense of who this person is past what they want from you. Hell...he even gets drunk and tells you about an injustice he suffered as an American immigrant. So when he tries to stab you at the end after you refusing to kill your friends...it comes as a surprise with the realization you didn't get the whole picture on him. In FC4, you really don't know much of anything about Amita and Sabal and any information they give just seems like an awkward attempt to manipulate you. Despite fighting all their battles for them, you never have enough 'pull' to tell them both to grow the fuck up and stop arguing. It seems logical that if 'Your father' was leader of 'The Golden Path'...and these guys can't stop fighting...that you should assume leadership with both of them as advisers. Instead, more often that not, you are relegated to being that stupid sycophant from GTA3 that just does anything anyone tells him to. INCLUDING assassinating the other leader!!!
After King Min tells you the country that you have been tearing up is yours since he is giving you the entire place - Amita and Sabal are just assholes who use people to get their way - that all the killing you have been doing has been absolutely pointless - any remnant of investment that you may have accrued in this game is completely out the window. Let's face it; Investment in what happens in this game is inversely related to how much bullets people seem to have. A game where if there is a civilian outside, it is being attacked by soldiers, eagles, dogs, bears...usually all of those in a row. This was funny with faceless scientists in Hazmat suits back in FC3 Blood Dragon... because that was the theme...in this game it's just fucking stupid. After a while you just become jaded to the screams of Townsfolk.
You are introduced to people like "Go see Longinus...he is friend to the Golden Path". He is a brain damaged former warlord who thinks he is a preacher. Hurk shows up as a soulless joke factory complete with a southern drawl to make him look even more like a cartoon character. There is Rabi who is a wise cracking DJ...and also a joke factory. Mr. Schifon a gay clothes designer (good thing they're not using stereotypes) who acts as you would expect. It's pretty sad when the best interpersonal connection you have in the whole game is with a couple of drugged out nesters squatting in your ancestral home. They're a couple of joke factories as well but at least they show some vulnerability. The person who did the voice for Noore was the same person who did the voice for Liza Snow back in FC3. Mylène Dinh-Robic. The speed at which her emotions seem to superficially change makes her look like a princess that changes her emotions to suit her needs from another person but the background is one of a long-term victim of emotional extortion. There needed to be a whole lot more thought put into the realization of this character by the director. None of these characters really establishes a connection with you and it all looks like it was put together by committee.
I do not blame the voice actors. Some of those guys are the best of the best.
Characterization is fine with Amita (Janina Gavankar) and Sabal (Naveen Andrews). Yet you don't see much in the way of content from them past "Do it my way" and "You're an idiot for not doing it my way". My idiot light went off with Amita when she told me to "Destroy the temple and melt down the relics". This is a great actress using great characterization and saying the dumbest shit written by a hack writer.
Pagan (Troy Baker) you might recall from Bioshock: Infinite where he played the protagonist: Booker DeWitt (Yeah...it shocked the shit out of me too!!!). He owned it.
Reggie and Yogie were also fun and not completely cartoon-like.
Of note...The guy who played Keith Brody in FC3 is the main protagonist in FC4 (James A. Woods). So that's a tasty bit of trivia.
Mechanically, this game has all the best toys...but the story, (some) characterization and emotional involvement in this game is so counterproductive to that fun that it is almost like having your grandmother look over your shoulder saying 'Buzzkill' shit like: "You probably killed babies with that attack. Do you like killing babies?" and "You know that guy you killed has a mother who loved him don't you?".
FC3 Had a point where you started to realize that the people you had been working with the whole time may not be who you thought they were. There was an arc that got steeper toward the end. FC4 was, to contrast, written and directed by far too many idiot millennials that dug around in the FC3 graveyard finding parts to attach to the soulless Frankenstein entitled 'The Story and Characterization of Far Cry 4'. All 10 (writers and directors) have enough experience to add up to a single competent professional of either category. But 10 stooges aren't better than 3...and it shows.
There are points when you should be shouting "BOOYAH!" as you right the wrongs and put evil assholes in the ground...just about then, the game's 'Grandma' looks over your shoulder and says "You realize you have just killed half the country by choosing that leader, don't you?" (and choosing the other leader is no better).
Fuck it. I'm subtracting a point from the game. In the final analysis...the game is how much fun you actually had. This game hands you a 'Fun' sandwich with all the trimmings and puts a big fat turd on it. Don't grandma my BOOYAH! idiot Millennial creative staff. Digging up FC3 and trying to copy it tells me you ARE NOT QUALIFIED.
7/10
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Far Cry 4 - Game Review
Let's run it down now...
Far Cry 1 - Hawaiian Shirts and Sneakiness don't mix
Far Cry 2 - You get sick. Everyone hates you and then you die - How cheery
Far Cry 3 - An epic first person adventure feast with a tasty dessert (Blood Dragon DLC)
Far Cry 4 - Too much (good in some cases bad in others)
Don't you just love it when productions take this direction? You see them everywhere. You take a well crafted product (like Far Cry 3)...and figure if you crank it up several notches, it will be all that much better. It's not:
"You like Da Vinci's Mona Lisa? NOW WE MADE A BETTER ONE!!! Her lips are redder (and she's licking them)! Her eyes more alluring! (and she's winking)"
"You like SALT!!??? We've added so much salt that you can't TASTE anything else!!!"
...and this attitude shows up everywhere. I used to watch Pawn Stars on TV. NEWS FLASH! Reality TV show stars make shitty actors...and it shows. Watching Chumlee look like he's reading lines off of someone's face again just makes me roll my eyes. Who was the spod monkey employed to say 'Cut! Yeah that's good enough for the idiots who watch this show.' No sir, it's not...and would you kindly walk out into the desert, get bit by something and die...or at least move from Vegas to Pahrump and get paid for what you do best - SUCKING. But that's a rant for another time. Lets get back to the review at hand.
In keeping with the theme of "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!" It seems the number of writers and directors to the story weren't safe from that impetus. For those of you who don't know: the best stories are the ones where you have one writer and one director. The reason for this is that the artistic vision gets muddied if you have too many people in the process. Far Cry 3 had one director and one writer with an assistant writer (makes sense). Far Cry 4 had - 4 WRITERS AND 6 DIRECTORS!!! For those of you not so good at math that is 7 "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!". It seems the Wikipedia page and the IMDB page have differing facts. IMDB lists 2 Directors (one creative, one 'Realization' - Well that's alright) and 3 writers.
Lets look at the quality of those writers: maybe they have some good credits:
C.J. Kershner - He did a shitty game called "Homefront" In 2011
Lucien Soulban - Did some script writing for some shitty game in 2007. He also, however, did the writing for 'Blood Dragon'...but that game could have been written by a drunken fraternity on '80s night.
Liz Albl - "Script Intern" for Assassin's Creed IV.
Li Kuo - Game Reviews for TV back in 2002 to 2006. He was assistant writer to Jeffrey Yohalem for Far Cry 3.
So it looks like "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!" doesn't extend to experience.
Far Cry 4 was written and directed by a committee of 10. Given what I saw, some were probably fired for their incompetence...with the damage having already been done. There is at least one person who knew what they were doing in the writing and/or directing because some of the characterization is superb. The rest of it looks like it was created by Mathew Costello (Stupid overt silliness).
Far Cry 4 is a soulless clone of Far Cry 3 with regard to its story. There is no character arc. You start with options you can spend points on to upgrade your talents and abilities. There is no back story as to why...you just can! There is no good reason as to why you are invested in the country apart from your 'Mother's' desire to send you into a war to 'Learn the truth' when she could have just fucking written it down!!! GUESS WHAT, WRITERS? NO MOTHER WANTS TO SEND HER KID INTO A WAR ZONE!!! The main villain doesn't really make sense. Vaas was crazy...but he made sense. "Pagan" looks like someone took several colors of crazy...threw them against a canvas and said "That's our man - because that's all the fuck I'm going to give about it".
For some reason, you know how to fight... and join the resistance for no other good reason than 'Your daddy did'...and 'I got to get north to drop my mother's ashes'. I can't imagine the frustration of the few good writers and/or directors on this staff having to put up with the rest of these guys being complete boobs. As you progress through the story elements that seem like oversights and errors are explained (So 'Tell' don't 'Show'!?) and it seems as believable as someone trying to retroactively cover up someone else's shit.
The part that really pisses me off about this: How many millions of dollars were put toward making this game? Interfaces...guns...AI...Terrain...EVERYTHING...and a moderately competent writer individually could come up with better characterizations (for the most part), better insight into those characters and a more cohesive story structure. What really disturbs me is that this may be a trend. Story is relegated to the 'Good enough' category while I'm getting force-fed multiplayer at every angle. A game to me is a story that you become part of. Multiplayer is fun if you are doing it with people that you know (and can smack if they get out of line). Multiplayer with strangers from the Internet? I honestly don't see the point of it.
So what does it have? Well this is where the game gets fun. You've got Gyrocopters to fly around with. You can ride an elephant into an enemy base and lay some serious 'Smackdown' on the troops there. Signature Weapons in Far Cry 3 were too easy to get. You could have the best stuff really early in the game. In the second part of that game, you are introduced to a whole new set of firearms that aren't as good as the signature firearms you got in the first part. In FC4 you don't get some of those Signature Weapons until way late into the game. The early signature firearms do not even come close to the quality of the ones you get later on. This makes a decent upgrade arc. There is also Throwing knives (Great for silent kills) and 'Bait' that you can use to lure local animals into a base with.
There is only one save slot...so that slot you may have used in Far Cry 3 to appease your OCD self
by spacing out the 100% achievement isn't here. You have one game.
Speaking of animals...Far Cry 4 must have some sort of Zombie animal apocalypse going on!? Dangerous animals are fucking Everywhere!!! (no...an adjective not a verb... well... probably that too given the spawn rate). Anytime I see anyone not in a vehicle or at a base....I think "Oh you poor bastard". Then you have wandering lone salesmen. These guys must have a death wish. If I happen to see one on the road...I'd better buy my shit quick because their life expectancy is about 10 seconds.
Events are also very predictable. You will constantly be running into the exact same events at the exact same places. Also the same animals spawn in the exact locations as well. The rate of respawn is quite disquieting. There is one base where 6 wolves always spawn. I like to call that place the Gulag...because it's where I don't fucking want to be. Wait a minute! You guys didn't get that guy back from FC2 to handle that shit, did you!?
The Genus: Canis (dogs, wolves, hyenas) in this game clearly do not give a shit. Back in Far Cry 3... they wandered around in groups of 3. you could kill 2 dogs attacking you and the third would be like "Fuck that! I'm going home". In FC4 they can come in as many as groups of 6 full size wolves and they have no regard for self preservation. They will attack you relentlessly 'til the last.
The Skill set seems to make more sense than in FC3. You can have some of the really good skills relatively early but they will cost you a ton of points that may be better spent buying more of 'lesser' skills.
There is also a function on your mini map that will show you where 'downed' animals are. Anyone who has ever played FC3 and shot an animal will know the frustration of playing CSI: Rook Island trying to find where the fucking thing went to based on blood splatter, slopes, the direction it was travelling when it was shot...etc. The little + signs on your mini map represent a downed animal. This also may be used to find a predator in the area that freshly killed a non-predator.
The environment of the game seems to have been made with the Attention deficit in mind. Shit happens ALL over the place. You get into a Gyrocopter with a clear objective in mind. Then "Charmic Event: Supply Truck!"...Okay. Might as well. "Oh No! Enemy Courier"...Better take him out. On the way out of the truck to get what he is carrying - "Charmic Event: Hostages!!!" Okay...saved them. Great!... Turning back toward the truck you hear behind you from the hostages you just saved "EAGLE!!!" about this time I say; 'I don't give a shit anymore'. Not only do you have the shit packed in to burn you out at the beginning of the game, toward the end of the game, when sometimes you want to give a shit, there really isn't any reason to do so. Your Karmic levels are maxed and you don't need any more money or experience. You've got an in-game voice saying "I'm the hero...I've got to save people" while your out-of-game voice is saying "You are literally wasting your time" - Which blows emersion all to hell.
UBISOFT must have gotten that guy employment from the Assassin's Creed Series...You know 'That guy!?' The one that has to put useless 'Collectables' everywhere to waste your time with. Because you must feel 'Invested'...by wasting your GOOD TIME collecting crap in a game written and paced by Millennial Morons. Seriously...I don't really want collectables in a MMORPG. Bragging rights!? All it really tells people is that you have too much time on your hands.
It's not realistic anymore and the more shit they throw my way past the reality barrier, the more I detach from being invested in it. This may have been okay for "Rex Power-Colt in a Blood Dragon 2 DLC" where unreality is the norm... but not Far Cry. Lets face it; Blood Dragon was what Far Cry couldn't be in the realm of its context. It was a great way of saying "Lets have a bunch of fun and not give a shit about anything else"....and it worked. BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE YOUR DESSERT AFTER DINNER DOESN'T MEAN IT IS BETTER TO MIX YOUR DESSERT WITH YOUR FUCKING DINNER!!
The wandering portion (Karmic events, Animals) can't play it for too long before it just gets on your fucking nerves. There is a reason why I get passionate about what I review is that I see the potential. A lesser game I really wouldn't bother with. I mean seriously: Elephant assaults and Gyrocopter carpet bombing? How fun is that!!
**Okay...I've been playing the story missions and the side quests more. They're actually pretty damn fun. The pace is heavier earlier than FC3. You really will be at the edge of your seat. All this game really needs to do is to have less idiot characters, lay off the Animal apocalypse, a more random event generator, and have a proper background story with more character development. You would think that is a lot but given how much this game has going for it...compensates for plenty of shortcomings.
Given the fun I've been having with the missions...I'm going to crank it up another full point. - 7./10
(SEE POST MORTEM FOR REDUCED NUMBER)
Far Cry 1 - Hawaiian Shirts and Sneakiness don't mix
Far Cry 2 - You get sick. Everyone hates you and then you die - How cheery
Far Cry 3 - An epic first person adventure feast with a tasty dessert (Blood Dragon DLC)
Far Cry 4 - Too much (good in some cases bad in others)
Don't you just love it when productions take this direction? You see them everywhere. You take a well crafted product (like Far Cry 3)...and figure if you crank it up several notches, it will be all that much better. It's not:
"You like Da Vinci's Mona Lisa? NOW WE MADE A BETTER ONE!!! Her lips are redder (and she's licking them)! Her eyes more alluring! (and she's winking)"
"You like SALT!!??? We've added so much salt that you can't TASTE anything else!!!"
...and this attitude shows up everywhere. I used to watch Pawn Stars on TV. NEWS FLASH! Reality TV show stars make shitty actors...and it shows. Watching Chumlee look like he's reading lines off of someone's face again just makes me roll my eyes. Who was the spod monkey employed to say 'Cut! Yeah that's good enough for the idiots who watch this show.' No sir, it's not...and would you kindly walk out into the desert, get bit by something and die...or at least move from Vegas to Pahrump and get paid for what you do best - SUCKING. But that's a rant for another time. Lets get back to the review at hand.
In keeping with the theme of "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!" It seems the number of writers and directors to the story weren't safe from that impetus. For those of you who don't know: the best stories are the ones where you have one writer and one director. The reason for this is that the artistic vision gets muddied if you have too many people in the process. Far Cry 3 had one director and one writer with an assistant writer (makes sense). Far Cry 4 had - 4 WRITERS AND 6 DIRECTORS!!! For those of you not so good at math that is 7 "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!". It seems the Wikipedia page and the IMDB page have differing facts. IMDB lists 2 Directors (one creative, one 'Realization' - Well that's alright) and 3 writers.
Lets look at the quality of those writers: maybe they have some good credits:
C.J. Kershner - He did a shitty game called "Homefront" In 2011
Lucien Soulban - Did some script writing for some shitty game in 2007. He also, however, did the writing for 'Blood Dragon'...but that game could have been written by a drunken fraternity on '80s night.
Liz Albl - "Script Intern" for Assassin's Creed IV.
Li Kuo - Game Reviews for TV back in 2002 to 2006. He was assistant writer to Jeffrey Yohalem for Far Cry 3.
So it looks like "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!" doesn't extend to experience.
Far Cry 4 was written and directed by a committee of 10. Given what I saw, some were probably fired for their incompetence...with the damage having already been done. There is at least one person who knew what they were doing in the writing and/or directing because some of the characterization is superb. The rest of it looks like it was created by Mathew Costello (Stupid overt silliness).
Far Cry 4 is a soulless clone of Far Cry 3 with regard to its story. There is no character arc. You start with options you can spend points on to upgrade your talents and abilities. There is no back story as to why...you just can! There is no good reason as to why you are invested in the country apart from your 'Mother's' desire to send you into a war to 'Learn the truth' when she could have just fucking written it down!!! GUESS WHAT, WRITERS? NO MOTHER WANTS TO SEND HER KID INTO A WAR ZONE!!! The main villain doesn't really make sense. Vaas was crazy...but he made sense. "Pagan" looks like someone took several colors of crazy...threw them against a canvas and said "That's our man - because that's all the fuck I'm going to give about it".
For some reason, you know how to fight... and join the resistance for no other good reason than 'Your daddy did'...and 'I got to get north to drop my mother's ashes'. I can't imagine the frustration of the few good writers and/or directors on this staff having to put up with the rest of these guys being complete boobs. As you progress through the story elements that seem like oversights and errors are explained (So 'Tell' don't 'Show'!?) and it seems as believable as someone trying to retroactively cover up someone else's shit.
The part that really pisses me off about this: How many millions of dollars were put toward making this game? Interfaces...guns...AI...Terrain...EVERYTHING...and a moderately competent writer individually could come up with better characterizations (for the most part), better insight into those characters and a more cohesive story structure. What really disturbs me is that this may be a trend. Story is relegated to the 'Good enough' category while I'm getting force-fed multiplayer at every angle. A game to me is a story that you become part of. Multiplayer is fun if you are doing it with people that you know (and can smack if they get out of line). Multiplayer with strangers from the Internet? I honestly don't see the point of it.
So what does it have? Well this is where the game gets fun. You've got Gyrocopters to fly around with. You can ride an elephant into an enemy base and lay some serious 'Smackdown' on the troops there. Signature Weapons in Far Cry 3 were too easy to get. You could have the best stuff really early in the game. In the second part of that game, you are introduced to a whole new set of firearms that aren't as good as the signature firearms you got in the first part. In FC4 you don't get some of those Signature Weapons until way late into the game. The early signature firearms do not even come close to the quality of the ones you get later on. This makes a decent upgrade arc. There is also Throwing knives (Great for silent kills) and 'Bait' that you can use to lure local animals into a base with.
There is only one save slot...so that slot you may have used in Far Cry 3 to appease your OCD self
by spacing out the 100% achievement isn't here. You have one game.
Speaking of animals...Far Cry 4 must have some sort of Zombie animal apocalypse going on!? Dangerous animals are fucking Everywhere!!! (no...an adjective not a verb... well... probably that too given the spawn rate). Anytime I see anyone not in a vehicle or at a base....I think "Oh you poor bastard". Then you have wandering lone salesmen. These guys must have a death wish. If I happen to see one on the road...I'd better buy my shit quick because their life expectancy is about 10 seconds.
Events are also very predictable. You will constantly be running into the exact same events at the exact same places. Also the same animals spawn in the exact locations as well. The rate of respawn is quite disquieting. There is one base where 6 wolves always spawn. I like to call that place the Gulag...because it's where I don't fucking want to be. Wait a minute! You guys didn't get that guy back from FC2 to handle that shit, did you!?
The Genus: Canis (dogs, wolves, hyenas) in this game clearly do not give a shit. Back in Far Cry 3... they wandered around in groups of 3. you could kill 2 dogs attacking you and the third would be like "Fuck that! I'm going home". In FC4 they can come in as many as groups of 6 full size wolves and they have no regard for self preservation. They will attack you relentlessly 'til the last.
The Skill set seems to make more sense than in FC3. You can have some of the really good skills relatively early but they will cost you a ton of points that may be better spent buying more of 'lesser' skills.
There is also a function on your mini map that will show you where 'downed' animals are. Anyone who has ever played FC3 and shot an animal will know the frustration of playing CSI: Rook Island trying to find where the fucking thing went to based on blood splatter, slopes, the direction it was travelling when it was shot...etc. The little + signs on your mini map represent a downed animal. This also may be used to find a predator in the area that freshly killed a non-predator.
The environment of the game seems to have been made with the Attention deficit in mind. Shit happens ALL over the place. You get into a Gyrocopter with a clear objective in mind. Then "Charmic Event: Supply Truck!"...Okay. Might as well. "Oh No! Enemy Courier"...Better take him out. On the way out of the truck to get what he is carrying - "Charmic Event: Hostages!!!" Okay...saved them. Great!... Turning back toward the truck you hear behind you from the hostages you just saved "EAGLE!!!" about this time I say; 'I don't give a shit anymore'. Not only do you have the shit packed in to burn you out at the beginning of the game, toward the end of the game, when sometimes you want to give a shit, there really isn't any reason to do so. Your Karmic levels are maxed and you don't need any more money or experience. You've got an in-game voice saying "I'm the hero...I've got to save people" while your out-of-game voice is saying "You are literally wasting your time" - Which blows emersion all to hell.
UBISOFT must have gotten that guy employment from the Assassin's Creed Series...You know 'That guy!?' The one that has to put useless 'Collectables' everywhere to waste your time with. Because you must feel 'Invested'...by wasting your GOOD TIME collecting crap in a game written and paced by Millennial Morons. Seriously...I don't really want collectables in a MMORPG. Bragging rights!? All it really tells people is that you have too much time on your hands.
It's not realistic anymore and the more shit they throw my way past the reality barrier, the more I detach from being invested in it. This may have been okay for "Rex Power-Colt in a Blood Dragon 2 DLC" where unreality is the norm... but not Far Cry. Lets face it; Blood Dragon was what Far Cry couldn't be in the realm of its context. It was a great way of saying "Lets have a bunch of fun and not give a shit about anything else"....and it worked. BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE YOUR DESSERT AFTER DINNER DOESN'T MEAN IT IS BETTER TO MIX YOUR DESSERT WITH YOUR FUCKING DINNER!!
The wandering portion (Karmic events, Animals) can't play it for too long before it just gets on your fucking nerves. There is a reason why I get passionate about what I review is that I see the potential. A lesser game I really wouldn't bother with. I mean seriously: Elephant assaults and Gyrocopter carpet bombing? How fun is that!!
**Okay...I've been playing the story missions and the side quests more. They're actually pretty damn fun. The pace is heavier earlier than FC3. You really will be at the edge of your seat. All this game really needs to do is to have less idiot characters, lay off the Animal apocalypse, a more random event generator, and have a proper background story with more character development. You would think that is a lot but given how much this game has going for it...compensates for plenty of shortcomings.
Given the fun I've been having with the missions...I'm going to crank it up another full point. - 7./10
(SEE POST MORTEM FOR REDUCED NUMBER)
Friday, June 19, 2015
Dylann Roof - A Gamer? A Racist? A Loner? A Product of a distorted thought process.
The other night I saw a video of a young man being escorted by police. He had a meekness to him and a disturbed look on the delicate features of his face.
He killed nine people for the 'Crime' of being Black. Now there is increased tension between blacks and whites again in the US. Ironically, the hatred toward each other is the enemy...not the people.
This seriously bothers me. This kid is my son's age. This is what black and white...yet flawed... thinking will do. Why is garbage thinking festering in the minds of the people?
Lee Boyd Malvo: A DC sniper that killed 16 people...for the 'crime' of being White. Are we seeing a theme here? Maybe our Blacks aren't all that black and our Whites aren't all that white.
Then I see shit like this:
Sure...fan the flames some more...like that has done so much good in the past. Lets have more violence...because that's the way to resolve this. It's so much fun to hate...lets be a group and hate another group until they cease to hate us back. (idiot)
The point is Racism begats Racism. Around here we have the 'First Nation' Peoples. In a nutshell, they were discriminated against...couldn't get a job...had their lands taken...and fell to drink. It all started with Racism. Now, because of the long term effects of that, the group, collectively is in a bad position...and people identify "THEM" for what "THEY" are generally known to be like now. I've known tribes who have it together and they are a pleasure to be around.
So, getting back to the point, lets call this a crime of ignorance. All Blacks or all Whites aren't collectively responsible for anything. Malvo and Roof were on the action end of wrong thinking. That thinking needs to be brought to the light...where it will vanish.
He killed nine people for the 'Crime' of being Black. Now there is increased tension between blacks and whites again in the US. Ironically, the hatred toward each other is the enemy...not the people.
This seriously bothers me. This kid is my son's age. This is what black and white...yet flawed... thinking will do. Why is garbage thinking festering in the minds of the people?
Lee Boyd Malvo: A DC sniper that killed 16 people...for the 'crime' of being White. Are we seeing a theme here? Maybe our Blacks aren't all that black and our Whites aren't all that white.
Then I see shit like this:
The point is Racism begats Racism. Around here we have the 'First Nation' Peoples. In a nutshell, they were discriminated against...couldn't get a job...had their lands taken...and fell to drink. It all started with Racism. Now, because of the long term effects of that, the group, collectively is in a bad position...and people identify "THEM" for what "THEY" are generally known to be like now. I've known tribes who have it together and they are a pleasure to be around.
So, getting back to the point, lets call this a crime of ignorance. All Blacks or all Whites aren't collectively responsible for anything. Malvo and Roof were on the action end of wrong thinking. That thinking needs to be brought to the light...where it will vanish.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Spec Ops: The Line (for the PC)
Wow. When I play a 'Shooter', I like to think that I'm not shooting real people...or to obscure this in favor of focusing on the adventure. You have to believe that the enemy is just the enemy and that is all there is to it to really enjoy the experience. It doesn't relate to anything real. The concept that there is a group of people that we would collectively like to shoot in real life...but we can't do that, so we do it in a game....is ludicrous.
'Spec Ops: The Line' is a thought provoking, emotionally charged roller coaster through hell and madness. It is a 'Shooter' you will want to play just once. Based on a novel by Joseph Conrad called "The Heart of Darkness". Other media productions have tried to capture the essence of this novel; "Apocalypse Now", Far Cry 2 ... but this game nails it. It captures the descent into madness through conflict, horror and fatal choices better than anything I've ever seen. It is not for the weak of stomach and will bum you the fuck out if you are not completely devoid of empathy. I enjoyed it like I enjoy great art...it was thought provoking and it made me feel a variety of emotions. The voice acting is excellent.
Mechanically there are too few buttons to do too many things. You'll know this when you are attempting to stabilize a sniper rifle from behind cover...it can't be done. Your 2 pals are tough as hell but often have little situational awareness...which means they are often down in a position that kills you too when you try to rescue them. You can, however, order one of your team to heal the other member. Ammo becomes a real issue. There is almost never enough. Picking up dropped weapons becomes a priority issue since nothing is more useless in a firefight than a gun without bullets. You can interact with the environment (by way of shooting it) to help you out. Glass can be shot out from under someone standing on it. Explosives can be shot. Glass with sand above it can be shot to drop the sand on your enemy. There are a variety of circumstances you can find yourself in...so things don't get too repetitive (Looking at you...Far Cry 2).
This game is good for what it was - a Story. There is, however, no replay value and not enough functionality to allow for variation of play. Too few buttons made some functions unattainable. Finally it's a linear shooter. Sorry Yahtzee...but this game isn't more than a 7/10 to me.
Black Mesa
In 1998, Valve and Gearbox came out with 'Half-Life'. A FPS with plenty of movement traps. A massive secret science installation in the New Mexico Desert. You play as an employee in one of the many labs. There is an accident in your group which causes a "Resonance cascade" (Basically hostile aliens port into the base all over). The Army is called in to "Clean up" the situation (which also involves 'silencing' any potential witnesses). You spend most of the game in the installation trying to make your way to some colleagues who have figured a way of stabilizing the problem.
Black Mesa is a remake of the original game that takes place around the Black Mesa facility. It does NOT include Xen (The alien world you get teleported to in order to help stabilize the problem). It's too bad that I didn't know this when I started playing it. I was really looking forward to how they recreated THAT place. I remember going to Xen back when I played the original. That place - Completely alien...technologically...physically. I remember feeling both amazed and disturbed; It was more than an FPS at that point...it was interactive art...and it made you feel.
Lets face it though; Valve is amazing. Progression puzzles aren't my thing anymore. I honestly find them annoying now...especially when the graphics are so good that the 'Interactables' become hard to spot. It's like what I have been saying; sometimes better graphics needs accounting for in regards to gameplay.
For me, Half-Life 2 was my favorite game from them. ID Games were coming out with Doom3 crowding down grey dark interiors facing mostly predictable enemies with a SMG that seems to fire spit balls for all the damage it does. HL2 had an open world feel with Killer Helicopter chases ... scary head crab zombie towns and epic Super-Sized battles with HUGE alien walkers!!! It was YEARS ahead of its time and still would be a contender if it was released today...10 YEARS LATER!!!
HL1 does have a following of devoted fans. The problem with being a fan is that you tend to be a little biased. Great for them...but HL1 is just not complete without Xen. It is like eating a cake before the icing gets put on...or having the icing after you eat the cake.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Wasteland 2 - Where Sadistic GM's go to please their masochistic followers
Back in the day (Late 1990's) Brian Fargo and Jason Anderson were involved with the critically acclaimed Fallout series (Computer RPG) Though I can't seem to find anything about their involvement with this series on either of their IMDB pages. Anderson was also involved with the amazing "Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines" RPG along with two other heavy hitters from the Fallout Series: Leonard Boyarski and Tim Cain.
It is unfortunate then that this game is one of the causalities of technology. Sometimes a game just needs simplicity. The effort to create a better game by using a 3d rotating map with well rendered graphics and large levels doesn't actually make a better game.
Respectively:
1) Using a 3D map that constantly changes perspective keeps the player having to orient himself every time. Taking advantage of the ability to rotate the map and to incorporate that into the game itself by the placement of supplies means the play spends more time rotating the map and searching than actually playing the game. Though one might say "This IS part of the game". I never found trying to find anything in Real Life all that much fun...why would I find it fun in a game?
2) Back in the Fallout 1 and 2 days... it was easy to find lockers. They were in the right amount and not often included garbage. The act of unlocking something meant there was something worthy of being locked up. Now in large levels with details and shadows...lock boxes are everywhere. Often what is inside a trapped lockbox isn't even worth the trap to put on it. The advanced textures and detail hides boxes and details in these enormous maps.
3) Just because you can make enormous maps doesn't mean you should ignore the travel times to get around on them. In most other games, you open up the world map and you can go straight into travel mode. Back in the day of Fallout...you could cross an entire zone in like 15 seconds to get to the world travel zone.
You might state; and rightfully so, this game makes you earn everything. You almost always seem to have enough...but you have to work for it and search for those boxes of loot and caches. This is absolutely right. I wouldn't object but the game takes away from you the one thing that matters in a RPG:
Choice.
If you didn't cross your fingers around 3:00 pm before Bob fell into the lake and after Alice picked her nose then you have no choice but to slaughter a group of innocent people. Right in the beginning there is a choice to be had to save one of two settlements. Save the agricultural center and suffer the constant abuse from the administrator there (who calls you idiots, assholes, jerkwads, cowboys) ... this is the place to get 'Rose' who is a great benefit to a team without a proper academic support person. Despite any amount of the three kinds of speech talent, you can't ask the administrator to "Rephrase her statement...because there are people dying elsewhere who might be more polite about us saving them instead". The writer continues to beat the player often. You might be able to win a few debates but more often at a time when it matters...all 3 Speech talents will get tongue tied and innocent people will have to die. A good computer RPG will attempt to circumvent the pitfalls of limited choice systems. This RPG takes a perverse pleasure in watching you help an old lady across the street so that it can hit you with a car. Don't expect that your first group will be your full play through. Despite having 4 characters, there are a TON of skills and you can't cover everything (Though breaking down a fence is a skill but throwing a grenade or dynamite isn't!!!???). More often than not, you are going to get to a certain point in the game and find that you did not meet the minimum requirements for a certain skill and you get to watch the computer kill baby puppies to abuse you with. It's not as though you lacked the intuition to make a choice on which skills to upgrade and which to leave for later...you just didn't read the GM's mind. It's like trying to pick a number from 1 to 10...guessing wrong and getting paddled for it. A good RPG will give you some estimation...it will help you train your instincts based on subtle clues. Here's your first big clue: Do a walkthrough!
The best RPGs are like stories. This story is like one told by a father to his children at bedtime. And as they all start to fall asleep in their jammies thinking that all is right with their world, the father gently closes the book and hits them with it.
Seriously...did Jason Anderson spend the last 10 years in his basement with his whips and chains because the only thing he seems to have gotten better at is being a sadistic writer. A proper RPG you can go through on intuition. You never need a walkthrough to keep yourself from getting painted into a corner.
Despite the limitation of the story, the programming really has everything covered. There was one scene in the rail nomads camp where, upon not seeing me and having a challenge area to not being seen, Kebbaka announces that I made off with the Golden Spike and that I'm to be shot on sight. I ran down to the Atchesson camp where I presented the leader there with the Golden Spike... he said "He will now sit down and negotiate for peace". Coming back, the other side decides I'm to be shot and engages me in combat...but we physically cannot attack each other...and the combat can't end...nice.
Negotiating peace ...as I'm starting to walk out of the Red Scorpion camp, I realize I had been duped. I turn around and slaughter them all. Coming back...I was intending to tell the farmer that the Red Scorpions had been destroyed and that he can have his farm back. The dialogue option wasn't present and I only told him that I sold him and his entire town up the river for a negotiated peace...at this point the man tells me I was a coward...runs up to the Red Scorpion camp and gets shot by no one (since everyone is already dead) and immediately dies. Nice.
Asshole storytelling and shitty programming. This game HAS IT ALL!!!
Another thing...save the good versus good shit for the novels. Reading such things is an examination of the human condition. When I am shooting someone...I want to believe they deserved it...not that I'm a puppet of circumstance. That isn't to say you can't make the enemy believable.
Unlike in a lot of other games, money here matters...a lot. You just never seem to have enough of the right stuff so searching every grubby trunk and safe you can get your hands on is essential. That ratty pair of jeans might be enough to buy a bullet that would save your life. Random encounters will level you but they will also cost bullets and medpacks...and usually don't give enough to compensate for the loss. This is absolutely right. I remember turning up my nose at junk in Fallout New Vegas ... thinking that, despite being a dystopian future, you have plenty of affordable supplies to attain. Imagine playing that same game where every bit of junk could get you acquire matters...it would be a hell of a lot better.
I don't hate this game. I am passionate about what I hate in the game because I see the potential. I actually really enjoyed myself right up to the point where I got to a "Well...lets see these puppies getting tortured together because you have no choice in the matter" segment and started again. But that's cool...I can try new combinations and whatnot.
For this reason, this game doesn't get a review...it gets 3. If you look online, you will find the reviews for this game are either very high or very low. For making the player his "bitch", Jason Anderson gets a the "John Romero" award 1/10. Programming and Testing was deplorable. A few "nested if" statements could have easily fixed a lot of this shit... nothing for six months. Seriously? You guys have talent but you are as lazy as fuck! 1/10!!! Despite the slow travel times and the over rendering of the graphics for what properly have been made with a 1997 game engine, the imaginative quotient of this game, combat system, and the balance...plus the fact that I'm a masochist and am playing it ALOT I give it a 8/10. But what is the real score!?
Summary? These guys could have done a whole lot better. They have the talent...they have potential. Maybe "Kickstarter" wasn't the right company to be endorsing their endeavor...perhaps "KickintheassStarter" next time!!! This is a 4/10 game for all except the RPG enthusiasts and the masochists. 10 years in the making!? is that 1 hour a day with 50 minutes of that in review!? I'm not saying they shouldn't do another one. Renoire may have thrown some paint over his shoulder at some canvas from the comfort of his arm chair...it doesn't mean he didn't get off his ass and paint.
To all you critics out there: stop with the damn accolades. We all want them to not get discouraged and to make another one...but we all know this wasn't even close to a proper effort so stop embarrassing yourselves. Do you really want them to phone it in worse than they did this time!!!???
It is unfortunate then that this game is one of the causalities of technology. Sometimes a game just needs simplicity. The effort to create a better game by using a 3d rotating map with well rendered graphics and large levels doesn't actually make a better game.
Respectively:
1) Using a 3D map that constantly changes perspective keeps the player having to orient himself every time. Taking advantage of the ability to rotate the map and to incorporate that into the game itself by the placement of supplies means the play spends more time rotating the map and searching than actually playing the game. Though one might say "This IS part of the game". I never found trying to find anything in Real Life all that much fun...why would I find it fun in a game?
2) Back in the Fallout 1 and 2 days... it was easy to find lockers. They were in the right amount and not often included garbage. The act of unlocking something meant there was something worthy of being locked up. Now in large levels with details and shadows...lock boxes are everywhere. Often what is inside a trapped lockbox isn't even worth the trap to put on it. The advanced textures and detail hides boxes and details in these enormous maps.
3) Just because you can make enormous maps doesn't mean you should ignore the travel times to get around on them. In most other games, you open up the world map and you can go straight into travel mode. Back in the day of Fallout...you could cross an entire zone in like 15 seconds to get to the world travel zone.
You might state; and rightfully so, this game makes you earn everything. You almost always seem to have enough...but you have to work for it and search for those boxes of loot and caches. This is absolutely right. I wouldn't object but the game takes away from you the one thing that matters in a RPG:
Choice.
If you didn't cross your fingers around 3:00 pm before Bob fell into the lake and after Alice picked her nose then you have no choice but to slaughter a group of innocent people. Right in the beginning there is a choice to be had to save one of two settlements. Save the agricultural center and suffer the constant abuse from the administrator there (who calls you idiots, assholes, jerkwads, cowboys) ... this is the place to get 'Rose' who is a great benefit to a team without a proper academic support person. Despite any amount of the three kinds of speech talent, you can't ask the administrator to "Rephrase her statement...because there are people dying elsewhere who might be more polite about us saving them instead". The writer continues to beat the player often. You might be able to win a few debates but more often at a time when it matters...all 3 Speech talents will get tongue tied and innocent people will have to die. A good computer RPG will attempt to circumvent the pitfalls of limited choice systems. This RPG takes a perverse pleasure in watching you help an old lady across the street so that it can hit you with a car. Don't expect that your first group will be your full play through. Despite having 4 characters, there are a TON of skills and you can't cover everything (Though breaking down a fence is a skill but throwing a grenade or dynamite isn't!!!???). More often than not, you are going to get to a certain point in the game and find that you did not meet the minimum requirements for a certain skill and you get to watch the computer kill baby puppies to abuse you with. It's not as though you lacked the intuition to make a choice on which skills to upgrade and which to leave for later...you just didn't read the GM's mind. It's like trying to pick a number from 1 to 10...guessing wrong and getting paddled for it. A good RPG will give you some estimation...it will help you train your instincts based on subtle clues. Here's your first big clue: Do a walkthrough!
The best RPGs are like stories. This story is like one told by a father to his children at bedtime. And as they all start to fall asleep in their jammies thinking that all is right with their world, the father gently closes the book and hits them with it.
Seriously...did Jason Anderson spend the last 10 years in his basement with his whips and chains because the only thing he seems to have gotten better at is being a sadistic writer. A proper RPG you can go through on intuition. You never need a walkthrough to keep yourself from getting painted into a corner.
Despite the limitation of the story, the programming really has everything covered. There was one scene in the rail nomads camp where, upon not seeing me and having a challenge area to not being seen, Kebbaka announces that I made off with the Golden Spike and that I'm to be shot on sight. I ran down to the Atchesson camp where I presented the leader there with the Golden Spike... he said "He will now sit down and negotiate for peace". Coming back, the other side decides I'm to be shot and engages me in combat...but we physically cannot attack each other...and the combat can't end...nice.
Negotiating peace ...as I'm starting to walk out of the Red Scorpion camp, I realize I had been duped. I turn around and slaughter them all. Coming back...I was intending to tell the farmer that the Red Scorpions had been destroyed and that he can have his farm back. The dialogue option wasn't present and I only told him that I sold him and his entire town up the river for a negotiated peace...at this point the man tells me I was a coward...runs up to the Red Scorpion camp and gets shot by no one (since everyone is already dead) and immediately dies. Nice.
Asshole storytelling and shitty programming. This game HAS IT ALL!!!
Another thing...save the good versus good shit for the novels. Reading such things is an examination of the human condition. When I am shooting someone...I want to believe they deserved it...not that I'm a puppet of circumstance. That isn't to say you can't make the enemy believable.
Unlike in a lot of other games, money here matters...a lot. You just never seem to have enough of the right stuff so searching every grubby trunk and safe you can get your hands on is essential. That ratty pair of jeans might be enough to buy a bullet that would save your life. Random encounters will level you but they will also cost bullets and medpacks...and usually don't give enough to compensate for the loss. This is absolutely right. I remember turning up my nose at junk in Fallout New Vegas ... thinking that, despite being a dystopian future, you have plenty of affordable supplies to attain. Imagine playing that same game where every bit of junk could get you acquire matters...it would be a hell of a lot better.
I don't hate this game. I am passionate about what I hate in the game because I see the potential. I actually really enjoyed myself right up to the point where I got to a "Well...lets see these puppies getting tortured together because you have no choice in the matter" segment and started again. But that's cool...I can try new combinations and whatnot.
For this reason, this game doesn't get a review...it gets 3. If you look online, you will find the reviews for this game are either very high or very low. For making the player his "bitch", Jason Anderson gets a the "John Romero" award 1/10. Programming and Testing was deplorable. A few "nested if" statements could have easily fixed a lot of this shit... nothing for six months. Seriously? You guys have talent but you are as lazy as fuck! 1/10!!! Despite the slow travel times and the over rendering of the graphics for what properly have been made with a 1997 game engine, the imaginative quotient of this game, combat system, and the balance...plus the fact that I'm a masochist and am playing it ALOT I give it a 8/10. But what is the real score!?
Summary? These guys could have done a whole lot better. They have the talent...they have potential. Maybe "Kickstarter" wasn't the right company to be endorsing their endeavor...perhaps "KickintheassStarter" next time!!! This is a 4/10 game for all except the RPG enthusiasts and the masochists. 10 years in the making!? is that 1 hour a day with 50 minutes of that in review!? I'm not saying they shouldn't do another one. Renoire may have thrown some paint over his shoulder at some canvas from the comfort of his arm chair...it doesn't mean he didn't get off his ass and paint.
To all you critics out there: stop with the damn accolades. We all want them to not get discouraged and to make another one...but we all know this wasn't even close to a proper effort so stop embarrassing yourselves. Do you really want them to phone it in worse than they did this time!!!???
Monday, September 8, 2014
Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag (Long review)
Assassin's Creed 4 - Black Flag - Long Review
You know from the beginning I was going to stop playing this early. Having never played any of the Assassin's creed series, I found that I had to learn all the assassin player controls in that as well as the controls introduced in this series with the ship and fleets. The Fleet mini-game takes 5 minutes to learn but ... well...5 minutes to master as well. Once again you are trading tedium for in-game assets. The data is quickly introduced and is gone again much like the secondary objectives in each mission. I often don't realize I started a 'Specific mission' until the ending when it says 'Oh...too bad...You don't get 100% because you didn't do it the way we specified'. It was 2/3rds of the way through the first play through that I realized how to use 'Heavy Shot'*.
Halfway into my second play through I was getting tired of the game. Let me explain. There is a graduated upgrade system. Certain things unlock only when you get to a certain point in the story. Regular upgrades cost quite a bit. That's all great. But the upgrade is the fun part because the main missions are shit.
The office assistant seems very fond of showing you her backside. "Office? What Office? How is an office supposed to be in a pirate/assassin game?". Well...you are actually not playing a pirate in a game but a software company employee who is extracting memory from DNA and interfacing with it through a simulation device. "Because the actual Edward Kenway didn't botch anything up..." when you screw up...you don't die...you 'desynchronize'. Fyi there are hacking mini games in the office where you can get into other people's computers for more information on the background. I suppose if you played all the Assassin's Creed series you may be able to connect the dots. I found it too voluminous and cryptic to bother with.
The controls are quirky and unintuitive. This is what happens when you have the exact same button doing one of several things. I will be walking along and quite arbitrarily decide to start climbing the side of a building or leaping onto things. You tell him to 'Go the other way' as in 'Get off that persons desk'...and he jumps onto something on the other side of the walk. You then turn from Edward Kenway - Feared pirate and assassin to Daffy Duck. It is much easier to get him to climb something than to get him off of something so when time matters, this could be a real pain:
"Oh climb something. Sure...there I'm up."
"What!? No! Get off"
"That's 4 feet up...I'm going to have to drop down... and I'm not facing the right way to drop down from something"
"Well JUMP OFF THEN!"
"Okay...I jumped onto the other wall...now what?"
"Uh...(sigh) jump to the other wall in a forwardly manner so as to follow those people"
I was actually informed that the lack of variety of buttons used in this game was so that the PC crowd didn't get an advantage over the console community. Really? Guess I should pull the shocks off my Cadillac so I can feel every pebble on the road like I'm driving a Cavalier 'Just to be fair' to the cheap car community. Remember Ubisoft...alot more people don't speak out than do. Try to listen to everyone rather than those who make the most noise.
Botching the many of the missions is quite easy. Though a sandbox game, these missions can be the tubular of tubiest tube-tastic taint. You can go anywhere you want as long as it is within one travelling circle...but not too close. Because the missions involve the 'Mastery' of such a randomly unintuitive movement system. Just one step shy of a rail shooter.
In other games, you could quick load or know specifically where the last checkpoint was. Though, much like the 'Tutorials' or random instance objectives, saving happens fast and doesn't always make all that much sense in where they place those save points.
One mission where you are actually trying to make your way past several assassins. You have to take out 3 with one in a patrol pattern. Jump a gap. There are 2 with 1 in a tight patrol pattern...and your timing and distance has to be perfect. now there are 3 jumps to make with an assassin on the other side who is on a very short patrol pattern. If he sees you...which is quite likely...you will have to start again (go to the top of the paragraph). You start to feel like you are a student with a strict teacher...and you get one answer wrong and she tells you to 'Start from the Beginning!'. The 'Tedium/Reward' system that we all know so well from World of Warcraft...is in here as well. It also takes 3 full white whales to make a suit. No... not for a TITAN. But hey...this amazing suit LOOKS ... uh... like rags. BUT it does the most AMAZING ... uh ... nothing. BUT HEY what are you otherwise going to do with the parts which only sell for ... uh ... 12000 (which is enough to get the best swords in the game).
Often the camera is quirky as well. I'll be swimming the depths of the ocean ... caught up in a current and have to avoid obsticles while looking at my 'handsome face' getting hit by a beam that I may have been able to avoid if I had been looking the way I was supposed to.
I did like leaping from rooftop to rooftop...it gave me that 'Prince of Persia' feeling. Ship combat is fun but you do so much of it for the purposes of upgrading that it doesn't retain its novelty after the 20th time. It becomes more like - 'Grinding' to get something - a la World of Warcraft. Suddenly you aren't playing a game you enjoy but rather trading tedium for in-game assets...which is...to be blunt...a useless waste of time.
There are 'Cheats' (they call them) to make the game more fun...but it also turns off saving making them pointless for all except the most proficient players. The unlocking of them also requires tediously picking up a bunch of crap.
The problem with ship combat in this game is that you're not actually playing a pirate in the practice of how a pirate ship would operate. You're a small fish in a big sea. You can't take on a Ship-of-the-line and win. In this game? A fully upgraded brig could take on at least 3. Piracy was really a game of cat and mouse and cheese. You were the mouse who had to get to the cheese before the cat got you. The last thing you want is for your motley band of lowlifes to go up against real soldiers. So you avoid military vessels and focus on merchant ships with minimal defenses. In this game? There ARE no non-military vessels...and your crew can hold their own against any military. Do you see where I'm going with this?
The main missions can be very frustrating. If you are the kind of person who likes to take their time being Stealthy and methodical, Assassin's Creed is not for you. I like to think that the side missions would help prepare you better for the final conflict ... nope. You can pretty much do the final mission in a clown suit with just your fists (but not all that leads up to the final mission). Since the game comprises almost completely of 'side missions' or main missions that feel like side missions... the designers have instituted a %complete System.
You have to think fast:
Sleep him. Kill him. Jump here. Jump there. Hurry up. Your targets getting too far. What are you climbing up the side of a building for? Oh the guard on the roof saw you. DO IT AGAIN...BETTER THIS TIME. This may be a good game if the controls were even minimally intuitive but they're not.
There is so much shit in this game but alot of it they actually forgot to do anything with. Why buy a guest house? Why buy a garden? The Bonfire doesn't do shit. The baudy house doesn't do shit...or the tavern. Don't even get me started on the 'Outfits'.
From the 'Jesus...who would want to play this psychopath?' department. What has me really bugged is that I actually hated playing this guy. His initial intent was to go out and "Be a pirate for a couple of years...get some money and come back to live well". Well...he's a killer... and he kills alot of people. Common soldiers who are the heart and soul of each empire. They earn shit for money. I mean...come on...even Braveheart gave me a reason to think that the English needed a kick to the nads. It wasn't very realistic...but it was something.
The people you are fighting against believe that a device will help them eliminate corruption but at the cost of everyone's right to privacy. The assassins believe that no device can be at the control of any man or organization without being abused. You believe you don't want anyone looking in on you while you are jerking off. I mean come on. 8 years away from your wife...and, despite violating 9 commandments 100s of times over, you refuse to violate the tenth!? Give me a break! Does anyone remember how to write stories for games anymore?
They seriously missed the opportunity to have a 'Tom Jones'esque style pirate adventure. The main protagonist being all faithful to his wife and almost never into drinking...they missed all kinds of imaginative ways they could have put this together. How about 'Stalking' someone while you are drunk. Instead of jumping into a bush...you fall into a bush...and then someone remarks 'He'll sleep it off'. How about rescuing a damsel 'In distress'...and when you get to 'her' you find it's Rackham in drag figuring he would infiltrate a compound by other means than sneaking. You walk him out while 'Defending his honor'. You know...just fun stuff. What? Not authentic enough for you? How about these 'Authentic' facts: No pirate ever buried ANY treasure (except into each other). The only brig that successfully took on a 'Ship of the line' was a bomb (fire ship). You can't actually go into the wind. What you do is get momentum from travelling with the wind and then drop the sails and push into the wind with that. That would make using a ship WAY more interesting...and would open up alot more aspects of strategy.
Here are the rules: Them bad, me good, me kill.
Save the good versus good writing for the novels! You can work in clever writing but don't violate those 3 principles. I'm sick of having to temporary lobotomize my conscience in order to play a fucking game! All this "Good versus Good" Bullshit. Seriously. We've all met evil people. They get off shitting on your day to make themselves feel better. They steal out of whimsy. They say derogatory things about people just out of earshot. They tell other people that you are a pedophile. I can't put a sword through THEIR head without facing serious consequences - tempting as it may be - but I can play a game where, when someone calls me a pedophile I can call them chum...as in the tiny bits of meat you throw into the ocean to attract sharks. So stop with the moral ambiguity and go write a great novel if you are so skilled and inclined. Here's a writing challenge: Write a game well using the above 3 rules.
Also, in regards to the writing, I can't quite figure out if this game is made by psychopaths or for psychopaths...or maybe both. The 'Special Character' that dies toward the end ... a person that you obviously 'Have feelings' for. This same person (Oh fuck it...'Spoilers') took advantage of two soldiers' compassion to give them a surprise stabbing. I'm sorry but when 2 soldiers defied orders to help an injured woman...and the 'Injured woman' shoves a dagger into their guts, that woman is a cunt. I can't get into any story that somehow expects me to have any good feelings for a card carrying cunt...especially when she previously rode the 'guilt train' on the protagonist about 'Doing the right thing'...making her also a hypocrite. They played off the ccc as a boy and the son of 'Captain William Kidd'. From the point I saw him I was like 'Why is that woman pretending to be a guy who is obviously past puberty but his voice hasn't changed?'. She let down her hair and reddened her lips THEN the main protagonist said 'Your name isn't James, is it?'.
This is my first Assassin's creed -fortunately I picked a good one- ... but it will be my last unless they do an 'Assassin's creed' in space (THAT I wouldn't be able to resist). The "Enforced Stalking speed minimum" just isn't my thing.
Sorry guys...I love sandbox games but the main missions are mostly a drag. The controls are quirky. The tedium for in-game assets is too high for the single player game. Also... If I'm going to kill 1000 people...spend a few seconds to make me feel like they deserved it at least! 7/10
*In Wooden ship navy terms there is no such thing. The balls are all made the same. They did, however, use 'Double Shot' which is effectively 'Heavy Shot' by stuffing 2 cannon balls into the same cannon with less range but more destructive potential. 'Heavy Shot' is a game mechanic thing that works well enough so what the hell?
The things they refer to as 'Mortars' were actually called 'Carronades'. Since no one knows what a 'Carronade' is and everyone knows what a 'mortar' is... it seemed like a good move.
You know from the beginning I was going to stop playing this early. Having never played any of the Assassin's creed series, I found that I had to learn all the assassin player controls in that as well as the controls introduced in this series with the ship and fleets. The Fleet mini-game takes 5 minutes to learn but ... well...5 minutes to master as well. Once again you are trading tedium for in-game assets. The data is quickly introduced and is gone again much like the secondary objectives in each mission. I often don't realize I started a 'Specific mission' until the ending when it says 'Oh...too bad...You don't get 100% because you didn't do it the way we specified'. It was 2/3rds of the way through the first play through that I realized how to use 'Heavy Shot'*.
Halfway into my second play through I was getting tired of the game. Let me explain. There is a graduated upgrade system. Certain things unlock only when you get to a certain point in the story. Regular upgrades cost quite a bit. That's all great. But the upgrade is the fun part because the main missions are shit.
The office assistant seems very fond of showing you her backside. "Office? What Office? How is an office supposed to be in a pirate/assassin game?". Well...you are actually not playing a pirate in a game but a software company employee who is extracting memory from DNA and interfacing with it through a simulation device. "Because the actual Edward Kenway didn't botch anything up..." when you screw up...you don't die...you 'desynchronize'. Fyi there are hacking mini games in the office where you can get into other people's computers for more information on the background. I suppose if you played all the Assassin's Creed series you may be able to connect the dots. I found it too voluminous and cryptic to bother with.
The controls are quirky and unintuitive. This is what happens when you have the exact same button doing one of several things. I will be walking along and quite arbitrarily decide to start climbing the side of a building or leaping onto things. You tell him to 'Go the other way' as in 'Get off that persons desk'...and he jumps onto something on the other side of the walk. You then turn from Edward Kenway - Feared pirate and assassin to Daffy Duck. It is much easier to get him to climb something than to get him off of something so when time matters, this could be a real pain:
"Oh climb something. Sure...there I'm up."
"What!? No! Get off"
"That's 4 feet up...I'm going to have to drop down... and I'm not facing the right way to drop down from something"
"Well JUMP OFF THEN!"
"Okay...I jumped onto the other wall...now what?"
"Uh...(sigh) jump to the other wall in a forwardly manner so as to follow those people"
I was actually informed that the lack of variety of buttons used in this game was so that the PC crowd didn't get an advantage over the console community. Really? Guess I should pull the shocks off my Cadillac so I can feel every pebble on the road like I'm driving a Cavalier 'Just to be fair' to the cheap car community. Remember Ubisoft...alot more people don't speak out than do. Try to listen to everyone rather than those who make the most noise.
Botching the many of the missions is quite easy. Though a sandbox game, these missions can be the tubular of tubiest tube-tastic taint. You can go anywhere you want as long as it is within one travelling circle...but not too close. Because the missions involve the 'Mastery' of such a randomly unintuitive movement system. Just one step shy of a rail shooter.
In other games, you could quick load or know specifically where the last checkpoint was. Though, much like the 'Tutorials' or random instance objectives, saving happens fast and doesn't always make all that much sense in where they place those save points.
One mission where you are actually trying to make your way past several assassins. You have to take out 3 with one in a patrol pattern. Jump a gap. There are 2 with 1 in a tight patrol pattern...and your timing and distance has to be perfect. now there are 3 jumps to make with an assassin on the other side who is on a very short patrol pattern. If he sees you...which is quite likely...you will have to start again (go to the top of the paragraph). You start to feel like you are a student with a strict teacher...and you get one answer wrong and she tells you to 'Start from the Beginning!'. The 'Tedium/Reward' system that we all know so well from World of Warcraft...is in here as well. It also takes 3 full white whales to make a suit. No... not for a TITAN. But hey...this amazing suit LOOKS ... uh... like rags. BUT it does the most AMAZING ... uh ... nothing. BUT HEY what are you otherwise going to do with the parts which only sell for ... uh ... 12000 (which is enough to get the best swords in the game).
Often the camera is quirky as well. I'll be swimming the depths of the ocean ... caught up in a current and have to avoid obsticles while looking at my 'handsome face' getting hit by a beam that I may have been able to avoid if I had been looking the way I was supposed to.
I did like leaping from rooftop to rooftop...it gave me that 'Prince of Persia' feeling. Ship combat is fun but you do so much of it for the purposes of upgrading that it doesn't retain its novelty after the 20th time. It becomes more like - 'Grinding' to get something - a la World of Warcraft. Suddenly you aren't playing a game you enjoy but rather trading tedium for in-game assets...which is...to be blunt...a useless waste of time.
There are 'Cheats' (they call them) to make the game more fun...but it also turns off saving making them pointless for all except the most proficient players. The unlocking of them also requires tediously picking up a bunch of crap.
The problem with ship combat in this game is that you're not actually playing a pirate in the practice of how a pirate ship would operate. You're a small fish in a big sea. You can't take on a Ship-of-the-line and win. In this game? A fully upgraded brig could take on at least 3. Piracy was really a game of cat and mouse and cheese. You were the mouse who had to get to the cheese before the cat got you. The last thing you want is for your motley band of lowlifes to go up against real soldiers. So you avoid military vessels and focus on merchant ships with minimal defenses. In this game? There ARE no non-military vessels...and your crew can hold their own against any military. Do you see where I'm going with this?
The main missions can be very frustrating. If you are the kind of person who likes to take their time being Stealthy and methodical, Assassin's Creed is not for you. I like to think that the side missions would help prepare you better for the final conflict ... nope. You can pretty much do the final mission in a clown suit with just your fists (but not all that leads up to the final mission). Since the game comprises almost completely of 'side missions' or main missions that feel like side missions... the designers have instituted a %complete System.
You have to think fast:
Sleep him. Kill him. Jump here. Jump there. Hurry up. Your targets getting too far. What are you climbing up the side of a building for? Oh the guard on the roof saw you. DO IT AGAIN...BETTER THIS TIME. This may be a good game if the controls were even minimally intuitive but they're not.
There is so much shit in this game but alot of it they actually forgot to do anything with. Why buy a guest house? Why buy a garden? The Bonfire doesn't do shit. The baudy house doesn't do shit...or the tavern. Don't even get me started on the 'Outfits'.
From the 'Jesus...who would want to play this psychopath?' department. What has me really bugged is that I actually hated playing this guy. His initial intent was to go out and "Be a pirate for a couple of years...get some money and come back to live well". Well...he's a killer... and he kills alot of people. Common soldiers who are the heart and soul of each empire. They earn shit for money. I mean...come on...even Braveheart gave me a reason to think that the English needed a kick to the nads. It wasn't very realistic...but it was something.
The people you are fighting against believe that a device will help them eliminate corruption but at the cost of everyone's right to privacy. The assassins believe that no device can be at the control of any man or organization without being abused. You believe you don't want anyone looking in on you while you are jerking off. I mean come on. 8 years away from your wife...and, despite violating 9 commandments 100s of times over, you refuse to violate the tenth!? Give me a break! Does anyone remember how to write stories for games anymore?
They seriously missed the opportunity to have a 'Tom Jones'esque style pirate adventure. The main protagonist being all faithful to his wife and almost never into drinking...they missed all kinds of imaginative ways they could have put this together. How about 'Stalking' someone while you are drunk. Instead of jumping into a bush...you fall into a bush...and then someone remarks 'He'll sleep it off'. How about rescuing a damsel 'In distress'...and when you get to 'her' you find it's Rackham in drag figuring he would infiltrate a compound by other means than sneaking. You walk him out while 'Defending his honor'. You know...just fun stuff. What? Not authentic enough for you? How about these 'Authentic' facts: No pirate ever buried ANY treasure (except into each other). The only brig that successfully took on a 'Ship of the line' was a bomb (fire ship). You can't actually go into the wind. What you do is get momentum from travelling with the wind and then drop the sails and push into the wind with that. That would make using a ship WAY more interesting...and would open up alot more aspects of strategy.
Here are the rules: Them bad, me good, me kill.
Save the good versus good writing for the novels! You can work in clever writing but don't violate those 3 principles. I'm sick of having to temporary lobotomize my conscience in order to play a fucking game! All this "Good versus Good" Bullshit. Seriously. We've all met evil people. They get off shitting on your day to make themselves feel better. They steal out of whimsy. They say derogatory things about people just out of earshot. They tell other people that you are a pedophile. I can't put a sword through THEIR head without facing serious consequences - tempting as it may be - but I can play a game where, when someone calls me a pedophile I can call them chum...as in the tiny bits of meat you throw into the ocean to attract sharks. So stop with the moral ambiguity and go write a great novel if you are so skilled and inclined. Here's a writing challenge: Write a game well using the above 3 rules.
Also, in regards to the writing, I can't quite figure out if this game is made by psychopaths or for psychopaths...or maybe both. The 'Special Character' that dies toward the end ... a person that you obviously 'Have feelings' for. This same person (Oh fuck it...'Spoilers') took advantage of two soldiers' compassion to give them a surprise stabbing. I'm sorry but when 2 soldiers defied orders to help an injured woman...and the 'Injured woman' shoves a dagger into their guts, that woman is a cunt. I can't get into any story that somehow expects me to have any good feelings for a card carrying cunt...especially when she previously rode the 'guilt train' on the protagonist about 'Doing the right thing'...making her also a hypocrite. They played off the ccc as a boy and the son of 'Captain William Kidd'. From the point I saw him I was like 'Why is that woman pretending to be a guy who is obviously past puberty but his voice hasn't changed?'. She let down her hair and reddened her lips THEN the main protagonist said 'Your name isn't James, is it?'.
This is my first Assassin's creed -fortunately I picked a good one- ... but it will be my last unless they do an 'Assassin's creed' in space (THAT I wouldn't be able to resist). The "Enforced Stalking speed minimum" just isn't my thing.
Sorry guys...I love sandbox games but the main missions are mostly a drag. The controls are quirky. The tedium for in-game assets is too high for the single player game. Also... If I'm going to kill 1000 people...spend a few seconds to make me feel like they deserved it at least! 7/10
*In Wooden ship navy terms there is no such thing. The balls are all made the same. They did, however, use 'Double Shot' which is effectively 'Heavy Shot' by stuffing 2 cannon balls into the same cannon with less range but more destructive potential. 'Heavy Shot' is a game mechanic thing that works well enough so what the hell?
The things they refer to as 'Mortars' were actually called 'Carronades'. Since no one knows what a 'Carronade' is and everyone knows what a 'mortar' is... it seemed like a good move.
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