When the physical becomes digital: Sports Edition

I touched the pale veil

Well, over here in England our head of state has formally threatened to arrest all those who go outside unnecessarily, so I feel it's safe to say that our lockdown is in full effect. These are the same sorts of measures that are starting to pop up all over the globe and as a result the usual day-to-day of our lives is slowly becoming distorted. Suddenly everyone is being expected to keep themselves entertained in doors, which may be business-as-usual for some of us out here but for others this is proving a true test of wills. Some folk have the right idea it would seem, as Steam recently reported their highest concurrent user days of all time (with highs in the 20 millions), but others are spending their days on Amazon or eBay paying through the nose for price gouged family board games. (Or you could pay £15 for tabletop simulator. But what do I know, right?)

In this brave new minimally physical world, two things have become clear. Firstly, that Supergirl's current anti-VR season isn't just terribly written and woefully uninformed, but also excessively dated; and secondly, that gaming can be the solution to a lot of folk's current woes. (Is that my second Supergirl reference in a month? I need help.) By that latter statement I mean to say that there is not necessarily a need to cancel every single event of the year if the digital world of gaming has the infrastructure to accommodate for you. Afterall, just look at Poland. Over there the government has followed the lead of their many peers by shutting down all schools and public services, but they've made up the time to keep kids entertained (and educated?) with a country-wide Minecraft Server. (Wow, MCProHosting must have hit the big leagues!) This initiative, dubbed 'Grarantana', intends to keep students of all ages hooked to building virtual creations on a plot instead of outside being delinquents and spreading their viruses.

This isn't a precedent limited to the Polish either. Back when sports events started to get cancelled, there was a growing contingent of folk who called out for alternatives to be implemented. Afterall, when you shape your entire life and personality around your fandom of a regular sports event it can be rather daunting to be forced into going a year without. one of the more 'out there' ideas has been using those 'official' sports games that are the bane of the entire gaming industry in order to simulate matches. But that's crazy right? That'll never happen! And it probably won't. But there was an exhibition NBA match that was held between two representative players for the delight of a live-streamed audience. Yes, that actually happened.

But that isn't even all. Just recently there was a NASCAR event that was streamed to homes around the world that even Dale Earnhardt Jr. came out of retirement in order to take part in. And yes, fitting the theme of this blog it was event that was held completely within a game. The 'Virtual Homestead' race was conducted by providing all the racers with a professional racing set-up and allowing them to all take part from the safe isolation of their homes. The streamed footage, meanwhile, was held in a spectator mode which perfectly mirrored the sorts of angles that you'd get from an official event whilst risking the exposure of no camera men. The whole event was also commentated upon by real commentators who all managed to treat the event with some seriousness despite the whole scenario, leading to a race that even hardcore veteran NASCAR fans concluded was: serviceable.

So perhaps out of quarantine could spring some new level of understanding between the mainstream and the world of gaming, as more and more people come to see the benefits of the medium. Of course, I doubt that gaming will ever be used for anything other than exhibition rounds of a certain sport, as otherwise it would remove the physical prowess aspect from the respective sport, but in times like this even that helps nurture a hungry community. If this habit were to catch on even more we may even make it to the point where virtual matches find their way into the everyday, once we've moved out of social isolation and lockdown. Perhaps then some of the wind will have be knocked out of the sails of the next politician who tries to use gaming as a whipping boy whenever they want to distract from a real world issue. (Wouldn't that be a novelty?)

Of course, this isn't the cure-all solution to every single delayed sporting event. After all not long ago the IOC's Dick Pound announced how it was likely that the Olympics could be delayed until 2021. (Yes, that is his real name.) Now sure, I would recommend that they simply just throw all the athletes into 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games' but something tells me that our Greek forebearers might spin in their graves slightly at such a proposition. But with sports that aren't so tightly linked with hundreds of years worth of history, why not? Heck a year of virtual matches could ultimately turn out to be one of the most expectation shattering years of sports history ever. (I'll bet even Biff's almanac couldn't have forseen this! But then, that book only went to the year 2000, so I guess that's a given.)

In the meanwhile, expect a year wherein E-sports grows more than it ever has in popularity, as sports bets aficionado's have to risk their cash somewhere. Some of the bigger and more public events might be getting scaled down, but it would be ridiculous for them to receive the same 'blanket ban' treatment that traditional sports is getting. That goes doubly true considering that this is set to be the year of Overwatch 2 and has already seen the drop of 'Call of Duty: Warzone'; those are E-sports darlings that are just waiting for their chance to shine. Personally I still find very little to enjoy out of these communities, probably due in no small part to that one time I caught a Ninja stream, (never again) but I'll bet there's a whole market of folk soon to discover that watching folk play video games isn't quite as boring as it sounds. At least not to them. I still find it a little boring.

In the ideal world this would be the birth of a new age of mainstream understanding, but I'm also a pessimist so I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't become the case. But even if this year of gaming supporting the traditional sports community gets entirely written off as an anomalous fluke of history, at least the precedent will have been lain, and perhaps that's enough. In these times of lockdown people often forget how important a little bit of entertainment can be in order to relieve some stress, take it from a guy who's currently undergoing the effects of a mild psychotic break himself. (It sucks and I hate it.) but this still doesn't mean that Gamestop is an essential service, stop it guys.

DRM

I want it.

Digital Rights Management, is there any less a sexy combination of words in our entire human lexicon? This is the process that the game industry wants to remind us more-and-more is absolutely essential for the privilege of gaming on home PC. When it comes to consoles, everything is usually handled on the manufacturers side so there isn't too much need to worry, but once you allow players potentially unfettered access to the files of your game, these companies feel it's only a matter of time before the entire industry collapses under the weight of piracy. And so they install special Digital Rights measures to ensure that we use their software exactly how they intend and do absolutely nothing else. In their eyes it's a harmless little counter measure that keeps their bottom line safe and that should be good enough. So if that's the case, why do so many folk shudder when they hear that dreaded 3 letter acronym? Well, I like to think it comes down to execution.

You see, when we explore the world of DRM, perhaps the single most infamous version of it comes in the package known as Denuvo. Denuvo came onto the scene quite a while back, but those who heard it's name knew it well for being the flawless DRM that could hold back game crackers practically indefinitely. This turned out perfect for all those studios who had tried their own home-brew attempts at protecting the copyright of their titles with mixed to terrible results. Now they had the boon of relying on a third party who presumably knew what they were doing. The system seemed to work too. In late 2014 FIFA 15 became the very first title to launch with Denuvo's protection and as such it resisted instant cracking. In fact it wasn't until a month later that a dedicated professional cracking group announced their intentions to test their talents on the Denuvo system. As such, 'Dragon Age: Inquisition' ended up being cracked two weeks after it's launch, which is an eternity in this world. Denuvo themselves seemed unfazed by this development claiming "All games get cracked eventually", they were just in it to protect the launch window.

All in all, this shaped up better than a lot of previous attempts at DRM, including the infamous 'always online' tag that stained many a game in the early to mid 2010's. This was a tactic in which games, even those of single player leanings, would require people to sync their data to an online server in order to prove that their copy of the game was legitimate. The big problem there being the fact that internet service areas are not quite as globe spanning as some like to think they are and that some people were locked out of their games if they couldn't connect. In fact, some games that require this online check to be performed everytime the game logs in, (As if the game is going to suddenly become fraudulent.) still require such checks today, only now they're searching for a verification server that no longer exists, rendering the game unplayable. (Looking at you: 'Tron: Evolution')

Then there are the stories of games that tried a little bit more of a slap-dash method only to have it bite them in the behind later down the line. One of the most infamous DRM stories of this nature hails from Ubisoft in their classic tactical shooter; 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2'. (Which is a banger, by-the-by) Back in 2008 that game received a patch that inundated lucky players with a slew of cool gameplay upgrades and tweaks, all for the low, low price of absolutely nothing. It was Ubisoft's little way of giving back to the fans that helped make their game successful, and so they wanted to add in a little way to make sure this update went exclusively to those fans. (And not to the nasty pirates who might have got it.) And so Ubisoft introduced a 'Disk Check' with the update to unsure that the inserted disk was legit. So far so good except... wait, aren't digital game purchases a thing? Yup, Ubisoft managed to patch out a vast number of their player base with an ill thought-out DRM measure and ended up having to work overtime in order to fix it.

This whole debacle is hilarious to sift through after the fact but at the time it was quite the serious and embarrassing blunder. Cutting a huge chunk of the audience off from the game they paid for is a huge nightmare for many a software purist and this sparked concerns about the future of software ownership, concerns which are still alive to this very day. (If Ubisoft could just flick a switch and lock everyone out, what's to stop them from doing that with malicious intent?) But folk needn't have worried because the problem was eventually fixed. "How" you ask? Well it seems that their 'disk check' was so ramshackle that no one really could figure out how to exorcise it from the code, so they ended up having to download a cracked version of their own title and ship that out instead. That little stunt was discovered after Ubisoft forgot to fully remove the cracker's signature from the game credits. (That's a "Whah Whah" Trumpet moment if ever I've seen one.)

Denuvo spelled the end of all that 'wild west nonsense' by, and bear in mind that I'm no software engineer here, implementing a system that constantly checks the validity of game files during play. So that's that, everything has been resolved and we can all bow down to our Denuvo overlords, right? Wrong. For you see this method of DRM actually came at quite the unacceptable price to all us gamers and wannabe-Lemongrabs out there, performance. Yeah, it turns out having another program running on top of your game can prove straining on the system, thus hurting framerate and making some games unbearable. This has been a problem that has plagued Denuvo even as it has risen in popularity amongst developers, encouraging crackers to get even better at removing said software for folk who just want their game to function well. In recent years Denuvo hasn't even been able to last the day against cracking attempts, and this is becoming more and more lauded by the gaming populace.

Denuvo even entered the headlines again recently, in fact, although it wasn't so much for the software itself as it was for the incompetence of the publisher responsible for implementing it; Bethesda. (Oh come on, guys! I want to be positive about you but you're making it so darn hard!) For the recently release of demon slayer simulator; DOOM Eternal, Bethesda wanted to make use of the latest version of Denuvo in order to protect those all important Week One sales. A little wrench was thrown into that equation, however, when Bethesda launched their game with a Denuvo free Exe file in tow, allowing the game to be cracked and repacked within hours. Heck, I stumbled upon a repacked version of the game by accident the day after release, their silliness did this game dirty. Of course, I doubt any of this will significantly hurt DOOM's sales, which is good, but is does make for a funny story on how ineffectual DRM attempts can be.

In the future perhaps the question will come up of how important DRM really is in our everyday world of software management. Whereas Bethesda and Ubisoft may swear down by it until the day they die, other developers like CDPR disagree and in fact take a whole different stance to tackling piracy altogether. At the end of the day, however, they are all just precautionary measures to tackle a theoretical issue. Modern day software piracy hardly costs the modern AAA gaming world anything and although those companies might argue this is due to their hard work, there have been discussions which indicate this might not be the case. For the indie world, however, I'd argue that DRM is a necessity, as they need all the profit they can get. At the end of the day this is moot, publishers will continue to bow to DRM whether it harms their games or not, all we can do is pray that get better at implementing the damn things.

Resident Evil: In Depth Part 4

Open wide!

Back into the Spencer Mansion we go as we delve ever deeper into the Resident Evil franchise. Due to my weekly approach to this topic, this will likely be the last blog that I get out before the launch of the 'Resident Evil 3 Remake', but that doesn't mean I'm scaling back on these blogs, nor did it mean that I half-assed my time with this one today. Indeed it would seem that the prospect of diving into the decimated Raccoon city invigorated me today as I pushed a bit further in the game than I originally intended to in order to hit a specific moment to cap off this blog. I even did the unthinkable and actually saved midway through this playthrough section in order to ensure that I didn't have to stomach a lot of backtracking for my own foolishness, but I'm confident enough in my own abilities to withstand this game so I'm sure that won't come back to bite me in the ass down the line... (Famous last words if ever there were ones.)

As we settle into exploration once again a certain aspect of the game design is sure to have stuck out to the players by this point and that would be what I call: "The hierarchy of weapons." As one of the core defining characteristics of a 'survival horror' is the limit of one's resources, it behoves every player to keep on-top of everything at their disposal and expend only the most necessary of items to push forward. Obviously this means that you don't end up wasting your oh-so-precious shotgun shells in pitiful zombies, or spend an entire clip into a Crimsonhead forgetting that they'll just shake it off in a couple of minutes anyway. (Dang, it struck me again how annoying this branch of the virus was. The zombs it spawned were so damn sturdy!) This is something that each player will decide for themselves naturally as they settle into the rhythm of the game, although during the collection of the Death Masks is when you'll really end up putting your interpretation of this concept to the test.

For me I've found that the most ideal way to plan out your weapon use on a Jill playthrough would be to save as much ammunition as possible (obviously) and avoid fighting enemies altogether. I mentioned this in my last blog by talking about the tactics involved in juking enemies, but it takes paramount importance in this stage of the game. By forcing players to make such decisions of fight or flight, I think that early-day Capcom were intending to invoke the same feeling of vulnerability that is inherent in another great survival horror classic; Silent Hill. Although in that game the player was usually encouraged to run away altogether, whilst here you have to face your enemies sooner or later, even if it is just to sneak behind them or under their grip.

Luckily there is some margin for error which Capcom introduced when they remade Resident Evil in 2001 with the introduction of defence items. These are items that the player can discover laying all over the mansion and collect in a separate pool to their core inventory. (Meaning you don't have to worry about keeping them or your precious keys.) Defence items can be activated by the player in the brief struggle they experience just after being caught in a grapple by a zombie, but the player can choose to ignore this opportunity in order to save up on items as they are just as limited in quantity as everything else. Through this, Capcom introduces this thrilling little moment of split-second decision making in the player as they have to gamble the cost of saving item currency with the cost of saving your neck from some over-friendly zombie munching.

One of the details that I really love about how the Spencer Mansion was realised over other horror locations was the way in which it dealt with tangible presentation. Oftentimes in horror games it can feel as though all the spooky asylums and rundown houses that you delve through make up little more than set dressing for the horrors within. They don't feel like real, lived-in spaces and exsist merely to drum up atmosphere. Now there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but I always prefer my game worlds to have that little bit extra in order to make me feel that immersion I so desperately crave for like a junkie. Of course, Spencer Mansion doesn't necessarily feel like a 'real' location, (All the puzzles in order to reach the toilets would make that a living hell to have to deal with in the real world) but with all the subtle design details it does feel oddly visceral, if that makes sense.

By this I'm referring to the way that the player can enter into a new location and see a room full of portraits, and actually interact with those portraits to get a description of what they're looking at. It sort of mixes the written medium for tension building alongside the visual and also allows for some interesting moments of foreshadowing such as with the wall scratchings. Whilst opening doors with our latest key, one of the hallways sports a defiled wall that they player can observe and assume that a zombie went hogwild around here. Actually examine the wall marks, however, and Jill will point out how the scars were made by claw marks, even noting that this couldn't have been made by "one of those rotting freaks." Now this could be an indication to the Crimsonhead folk that we've met already but I think this actually hints even further to something that we'll get to see up close in the third act of the game. (Way to keep me on my toes!)

Speaking of those Crimson fellows; they really start to get familiar with the player in this section of gameplay. Spurred on by the player picking up on the biggest puzzle of act 1, (the collecting of the Death Masks) the Crimson heads start to pop up more and more around the player, replacing formerly slain zombies that you were too foolish or reticent to decapitate or burn along the way. Practically everytime you see one of these scarlet slayers arise from the floor like a vampire leaving their coffin, you're sure to get a decent jolt to the ol' ticker. What makes things worse is that you'll likely not have nearly enough shotgun ammo to deal with these guys this early on, so you're trapped between either wasting ammo on them or trying to stay out of the way of their speedy pursuit. (Someone needs to remind these sprinting biters about the Germanic etymology behind the word 'Zombie') I will admit, that this is one of the points during which the camera angles can get annoying, as no one wants to be caught trying to figure out which way is forward when their life is on the line.

As the rising dead have become such an issue this time around, it only makes sense for players to go out of their way to manage their routes, which is something that I've bigged up a lot thusfar. Much of your explorations at this point will take you from opposite ends of the mansion, and you're in for a nasty surprise if you don't know the quickest way to cross Mansion wings. One such surprise is that the door just adjacent to the eastern item room is actually damaged to the point where the handle will fall off after only a couple of uses, rendering it only openable from the outside in. (This means that the player can enter the east wing ground floor from that item room but not return to the safety of that item room. Quite the issue to have to deal with.) Additionally, with so many doors opened at this point it helps to consult the map every once and a while in order to figure out exactly which doors still need to be addressed in order to safely get rid of your current key.

In such pursuits it's a matter of time before you come across one of the most abstract puzzles in the game; this being a room full of fishing themed equipment such as bait and lures. As far as what the game usually offers I will admit that this section is beyond the pale a slight bit, but that's only because the reward on offer is actually an optional objective. That's right, not every puzzle has to be solved in order to progress and Capcom intentionally put some of their more weird one's up front when it came to the cooler rewards. That being said, this particular puzzle is more weird than it is difficult, with the required acts on the player's part being rather straightforward. It does make use of the dual interaction process that the developers like to abide by however, by interacting with the environment, then examining in your inventory before touching the environment again. (Although I have no explanation for the giant killer bee that pops up as a reward.)

On the topic of environmental interaction, once I was done exploring it was time to go investigate that room from last time in which you couldn't search without lighting a candle first. The obvious hurdle this throws in the player's face is that they have to use up one of their inventory slots in order to hold a lighter, but this merely reinforces the sacrifice/reward mechanic that the inventory slot concept introduces. In this particular area lies a necessary item to continue, and this is the beginning of what I like to call a puzzle chain. This is the term I use to describe it when a series of investigative riddles greet the player with the solution of one leading to the starting of another, all until you hit that key item to progress. It creates this immensely satisfying 'landslide' feeling for the player that helps to break up the monotony of revisiting areas as you are touching on them again from a new dimension with a puzzle to solve. (Sometimes solving puzzles that you didn't even know were there originally.)

In the dark room lies the missing sheet of music that can be inserted into the original music book to create a full sheet for Jill to play with. Again, this is rather silly as any mildly competent classical pianist doesn't need sheet music to play 'Moonlight Sonata', but we'll just pretend that Jill was having a brain fart due to having to battle for her life or something. What I cannot excuse, however, is the extra hoops that the player has to jump through to achieve this same objective as resident S.T.A.R.S. meatslab; Chris Redfield. Chris, you see, is much to much of a big burly solider type to know how to read sheet music and instead has to rely on the help of 19 yr old Rebecca Chambers (The rookie, let me remind you) for that most simple of tasks. (And even she has trouble playing a single line.) This is one puzzle that did have me slightly cross at Chris by the end of it.

The piano does open the way to a secret room in the wall and one of the most significant pieces of new lore introduced by this 2001 remake. We learn that this room is actually a makeshift holding cell in which the former lord of the house, Mr.Spencer, trapped a Mr Trevor for some unknown reason. From the diary that Trevor left behind there are only the scant hints at the larger story, but what's most important to note is his prayer for his family at the end, and you'll know why later. Immediately, however, there is the Emblem puzzle to contend with as the room contains a golden coat of arms which cannot be removed for if it is then the door to leave immediately shuts itself. This is the first time that Capcom throws a puzzle at the player without any environmental clues on how to solve it, and instead they expect the player's memory to kick in. And it likely will if they happen to be the type of player who pay attention to the rooms they visit like this game has been reinforcing all this time. (See, this type of design is full to the brim with pay-offs.)

This Emblem is identical to one that was above the fireplace inside the very first room that the player entered, you see, and that is the callback you need to remember. With a little bit of backtracking you can receive this wooden emblem and replace it for the golden one in the trap, just like what happened with the Armour key. (Once again building on established puzzle solving rules.) This gives the player a golden Emblem which they are then able to hang above the fireplace where the wooden one used to be, an action which activates another step of the puzzle as the ticking grand clock in the hall springs it's casing open so that the player can fiddle with it. (See what I mean by this 'landslide' effect?) The clock itself bears no numbers for it's hands but instead has four pictures for the player to work with. Now initially this is one of the most confusing puzzles as the player has no idea as to the significance of these pictures beyond that they match the names of the keys that you have been collecting. Luckily, however, the fixed camera angles do most of the legwork in solving this conundrum. You see the camera cleverly doesn't focus squarely on the clock, but merely displays it off to the side whilst making sure that the adjacent portrait is fully in frame. An observant player who has learned about how useful the background can be at this point will surely notice this picture and examine it closely, at which point things will start to make sense. The picture shows two swordsmen skewing each other, one with a long sword to the head and the other with a shot sword in the breastplate, corresponding directly to the pictures of the helmet and the armour for which clock hand should point where. It's a great little visual puzzle that rewards attentiveness and makes the player feel smart for conquering.

Your reward for this little puzzle chain is a key that opens but a single lock, and at that point you are due for the attic and another classically spooky horror environment. The attic is a dark room full of cobwebs and fraught to the occasional flash of lighting from the outside. It's also one of the few locations with no ambient sound from the get go so you know something is likely to go down here at some point. And if you paid attention to Richard's story from outside, you probably won't be too shocked when the giant Snake called Yawn leans down from the ceiling to confront you. This actually marks the first mutated monster in an entire franchise renowned for it's mutated beasts, and this is one of the few that didn't need some gross mutation in order to be threatening. It is a giant venomous snake, afterall.

Thus begins the very first bossfight against Yawn, and probably the point at which the unprepared player is due for a butt kicking. Yawn basic attack pattern is to slither after the player until it's close enough for a short lunge, so the player is encouraged to run around objects in their environment in order to tangle Yawn up, sort of like a more serious game of Snake. In the time that Yawn takes to catch up, you can steal the odd potshot at it until it catches up, at which point the whole dance continues again. For Jill, however, this process is made quite the bit easier if you were quick enough to rescue Richard earlier, because then the wounded soldier charges in with his assault shotgun and a score to settle, allowing the player to focus on avoiding Yawn whilst he does all the damage. Of course, this couldn't last forever and halfway through Yawn's health pool a little cutscene arrives wherein the snake plays dead only to strike at Richard and maul him to death in front of your eyes. "So the whole act of saving Richard was a waste then?" Actually no, because not only does he help you with this bossfight but upon his death he drops his assault shotgun for Jill to pick up, which is the only way to acquire said-shotgun as Jill in the entire game. (Who says good deeds don't go unrewarded?)

Upon beating Yawn, the giant snake slithers off leaving the player with a spooky attic to explore and the growing worry that Yawn will return some day. (And it will) For now you can retrieve your reward, however, being the Death Mask without a nose, marking 2 out of  4 for the required masks. However, there is an added complication to this chain of events if you were foolish enough to be hit be Yawn even once, for now you are poisoned and on death's doorstep for the foreseeable future. What follows is another callback moment as you have to again rush to the western item room as you did in order to save Richard, only this time you are the one in danger and a single strike from any zombie is enough to put you down for good, making things a lot more tense. (Especially since you'll have to face that Snake again if you die.) Curing yourself is only one trial in mansion full of many more, however, which we will delve further into next weekend.

What is a consumer entitled to?

No gods, only Man.

My name is not Andrew Ryan; but I'm still here to ask you a question: Are gamers not entitled to the game they paid for? That's the question that I want you to rattle about in your head for a little bit. Now you'll often hear the word 'entitled' chucked around as an insult quite a bit around the world of gaming, but if we disregard it's negative connotations and look at the literal definition and then think about it; why shouldn't folk be entitled to receive goods equal to the value that they paid for it? Well, if you find yourself on a marketing team and approached with the question than the rebuttal is easy; because value is subjective and it's often impossible to compare and contrast amid the myriad of purchaseables that dominate our world. But what if we pull back to a more nuanced approached and compare the value of what is offered in one game with what is offered by another; when does the discrepancy between them become egregious to the point where frustration is validated?

I find myself pondering this as we hear about the latest puddle to splash across gaming news relating to Sega's outstanding Yakuza franchise. Their latest title; 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon', is soon to release and it promises a reinvention of the tried and true formula indicative of the Yakuza license. Rather than an action adventure beat 'em up title, this game will adopt a JRPG stance which one could argue is a dime-a-dozen in Japan but to be fair I've never seen it done where every single party member is wearing a cheap suit. Amidst one of the many huge departures from the Yakuza formula that 'Like a Dragon' is instituting, one which has triggered the audience is the exclusion of the highest difficulty mode and a New Game + mode. Oh sorry, let me correct myself; the transplantation of the said modes outside of the base game and into DLC which SEGA then expect people to shell out for at a later date.

Now personally I don't usually get down with a New Game + mode, but difficulty modes are my jam so this does somewhat upset me. (And I am actually a fan of the franchise, so this will inconvenience me when I get around to it. I'm still on Yakuza 0, however, so that's probably going to be a while.) This news is slightly undercut by a few factors of course; one of them being the price. The DLC will only be $0.60 at launch, but that's only for a limited time after which it will receive a 10x price hike to $6.00. (What the heck, guys?) Then there is the fact that as the game is launching in Japan right now, this little trick is only being pulled there. Surely they wouldn't think this would fly in the West? The answer to that is "Of course they would" and this little experiment shouldn't even just be looked at as a trial run for the West but likely for every SEGA Yakuza game to follow. (Especially the one's that haven't been officially released with English translations yet.)

But if we circle back to the original question that I purposed, then we can address this from the angle of: Why should people be upset about this retroactive exclusion from the game? (We've no actual confirmation that this is a retroactive removal but come on, we aren't idiots here.) At what point does the contract between the developer and the consumer become sullied by the removal of features to the point at which we are being ripped off? For some folk, they could say that it comes from the moment this title starts pawning off features that earlier games offered for free; but then one could point out that the entire structure of this particular entry is vastly different to those earlier games, so you might say that the value of those modes has similarly shifted. Others still could rebut that it happens once content is knowingly cut from the final product, but the creators could argue that the package is full without this content, it's just a bonus. (To be clear, I'm playing devil's advocate with all of this, I'm just curious about how far this train of thought can stretch.)

In a way this is the same tug-of-war at the heart of every microtransaction argument between purchaser and provider. When the offered content is perceived as something so insignificantly minuscule that it could have been cobbled together in less than a week, it's hard for people to come to terms with the idea of having to pay for it. Add ontop of that the dilemma of pricing for such content and things become overly complicated. Take Anthem for example; in that game Bioware started off their content support by charging £15 for new skins on one's Javelin. So did that mean that this single skin was 1/4 as valuable as the entire base game? These are the sorts of equations that publishers invite by introducing such measures, and then discourage us from actually going through. This sort of mentality can be best summed up in Pete Hines' notoriously victim-playing Fallout 76 interview the other week. (You know; the one where he moronically claimed that people were picking on the game just because they hated Bethesda?) There he defended the much-chided Fallout 1st subscription by calling it false equivalence to compare the price of their service with the price of Netflix. Their offer was for sustained private servers (even then, still vastly overpriced) whilst Netflix is offering streaming to thousands of movies and TV. There's an argument to be had there, but maybe between people a little more down-to-earth than ol' Pete.

Taking things back to the concept of selling difficulty modes, 'Like a Dragon' isn't actually the first of it's kind to do that. If I take you all the way back to 2013, there was a bit of hubbub around a little game called 'Metro: Last Light' when they had the audacity to announce a Ranger mode alongside the release of the game. This pack would include exclusive access to the Ranger difficulty mode which was advertised as "The way Metro was meant to be played." As a huge fan of Metro I can actually attest to the fact that Metro is an experience that is indeed meant to be played in Ranger mode, wherein difficulty is ramped, resources are scarce and you have no HUD or tutorials to play with. In fact, when I first played Metro 2033 I went through the whole thing in Ranger mode. (PSA: Yes, that was as dumb of an idea as it sounds. I ended up getting stuck half way through because of gameplay mechanics that I didn't even know existed, such as using the lighter.)

The level of discourse from that event was much the same it was know; "why is Ranger Mode blocked off for this entry when it was part of the original game for free?" Again, the insult wasn't from the price of the content (which was minuscule) but rather from the audacity of having been asked to pay for something that many considered to be a part of the base package. A bulletpoint under the 'promised goods' that one expects to receive when they purchase the game. (It surely didn't help their case the Deep Silver went around claiming how essential the mode was to experience the game as designed) But at the end of the day without any genuine physical contract to the effect, all anyone could really argue was that they were 'entitled' to this mode; and that doesn't really sound too good in a debate, now does it?

When it's all said and done I don't believe there's an actual answer to this conundrum, as it would require the conjuring of a question that could be answered. The consumer is entitled to absolutely nothing beyond what they strictly pay for and if the providers decided to slice away at their original deal then what we are owed reduces in kind. So does that mean we should be contented when companies cut out game modes and charge us for the privilege? Of course not. As beyond the basic confines of legal entitlement lies the desire of what customers deserve, and if what is offered is undeserving of the consumer then it really is one's duty to let these companies know about it. So what is a consumer entitled to? Absolutely nothing. But what do we deserve? Exactly what we paid for and not a single difficulty mode less.

The Best Companion in: Fallout New Vegas

Where the diamond crescent's glowing

Okay, here's where this topic actually starts to come alive into something of it own. That last blog was pretty much a crapshoot wherein all of the options were essentially just carbon copies of themselves, and that is because, as I stated, Bethesda till hadn't quite figured out how to nail video game companions just yet. Now, however, we move onto Fallout in the eyes of the original creators now under Obsidian, and let's just say there's a reason why people say that Obsidian are the greatest Fallout Devs. I could completely turn this blog into a step-by-step as to why all of Bethesda's games pail in comparison to New Vegas, but I don't really need to because it should be obvious to anyone who plays the game. (Which isn't to say that I never will make that blog, just that I have no need to at the present.) With the said and done, let me explain why it's so much more difficult to decide on a best companion for this game, even with a purely subjective stance.

'Fallout: New Vegas' is a cut above it's peers in terms of story and writing because the folks behind it seemed to have a clear idea of the concepts and themes that they wanted to address with every part of the story. The main game focuses around the hedonism and greed of the new land of Sin, and just about every significant story or side story that you encounter along the way reflects some aspect or reaction to that world. We have a DLC that focuses on greed, a Character arc that's shaped by guilt, and a backstory that revolves around shame. None of that is to say that complex storytelling is devolved down to those concepts, but merely they form the spinal cord from which the rest of the narrative branches out, in some instances even leading to multiple paths of resolution. It takes a decided step away from the 'good or evil' 'black and white' of other Bethesda games and into that vast grey between, which is partially why I consider New Vegas to be one of the greatest Western RPGs of all time.

Unfortunately, this also means that almost all of the companions that you come across throughout 'New Vegas' are top notch, which presents a bit of a conundrum for this blog. I honestly can't think of another game in which I love and respect all the ancillary characters in it as much as I do with New Vegas, and I'm even counting RPG classics like 'Dragon Age: Origins' in that listing, so you can see how serious I am about it. Plus, Obsidian decided to move away from the stupidly arbitrary 'Karma requirement' for hiring companions meaning that everyone had the chance to experience all of the follower's stories, as it is meant to be. If I have one hang-up, although this is something that I'd extend to all of western RPGs, it's that the crew rarely have the chance to interact with each other, which is shame when you consider how interesting many of these personalities are. I would love to see Cass and Veronica butt heads about their polar opposite world views or watch Raul bicker with ED-E whilst performing maintenance. Alas, that is a boon that only Japanese RPGs seem to covert currently.

When deciding upon my favourite, I feel it's important to start from the very bottom. When I said that I love almost every companion that you meet in the game, that was because of Lily, the Super Mutant Nightkin who you'll find by Jacobstown. I think it's funny how this is a location wherein you're actually reintroduced to one of the fan favourite Fallout 2 companions, and yet the only companion you receive here is boring old Lily. Basically her story is that she appears to be someone's grandmother who was turned into a Nightkin and sort of has trouble struggling with her rage a bit. This could prove a interesting baseline for an indepth character dive and study in controlling base instinct, but there doesn't really appear to be any of that story for her. In fact, her entire arc seems a little half-assed and I don't even really remember how her story ended up. I think she finishes your journeys a little more balanced, but I really don't care. Let's just move on.

Sticking on the non-human theme I decided to focus on Rex the dog next. That's right, Fallout New Vegas is so far the only main series Fallout game not to feature Dogmeat as a companion, but rather a cool new cyborg-dog named Rex. You meet him as being the personal pet of the leader of a gang of Elvis impersonators (it's a weird game, okay) and thus are bonded with him for life. Things are a little weird at times, however, probably because you can see his brain in a jar, it's just a little unsettling, but dogs in general do make the perfect buds for a post apocalyptic stroll so I can look past all that. His story is rather morbid though, as you learn the animal is suffering from brain damage and thus must find a replacement brain to stick in it's head, requiring you to essentially hunt down the right donor animal. I do like the quest however, for you get to pick the right donor in the knowledge that whoever you choose will actually affect Rex's personality, and thus his ending. It's a nice subtle hint of customisation and relationship building in a morbid and wacky world.

As I've built the precedent, there is but one more robotic companion, although I personally count this one as my favourite of this sub-genre. ED-E is a Enclave-brand eyebot who is unique for having as storied a history travelling the wastes as you. In fact, the very first gameplay trailer for New Vegas prominently features ED-E being shot out of the sky prior to the events of the game. His design is specifically tailored to have that 'well-travelled' vibe, with the vacation stickers stuck everywhere, and somehow he seems like the perfect number two to a travelling courier on the road. Of course, as you learn more about ED-E you see that he has quite the history to dive into, and should you look into your own history you'll learn that the two of you have quite the past together. In fact, you two are so closely entwined that for the final DLC, 'The Lonesome Road', he is the only companion who joins you for the journey to the heart of your greatest sin, talk about a partner for life!

If we are to hop to Humans now, (or humanoids) then I am happy to report there isn't a single weak entry in this entire category. Firstly, I'll start with one of the strongest companions and a friend-for-life if you play your cards right; Boone. Boone is an ex-NCR sniper who has retired to a relatively dull life as the nighttime lookout man for a small settlement, although you can tell he still has some kick left in him. Help him with his little problem and he'll join you on the road and reignite his quest for revenge. Boone initially seems like a one-note "I'm angry" character, but as you slowly get him to open up you'll start to learn about the underlying guilt driving his every action. As you two grow together you can help him work through that guilt or encourage him to feed off it, eventually culminating in an epic showdown against an army of legionnaires as he attempts to atone for one of his many failures. Truly an epic tale for a epic companion.

Next I'll stretch the definition of 'Human' to focus on the ghoul mechanic known as 'Raul Tejada' played by the unforgettable Danny Trejo. Now I love Trejo, not necessarily for his acting as much for his general presence; but his performance as Raul is literally one of my favourite parts of this entire brilliant game. When you first meet Raul he is being kept as a prisoner for a mountain ruled by Nightkin, forced to maintain their radio so that they can broadcast pro-supermutant propaganda. He seems like a sarky old geez who doesn't appear to take too much seriously, not even his own incarceration. Raul is almost the picture of laid back and you can't imagine what story led him to where he is, that is until you start getting closer to him. What he eventually tells you is that he was actually a pre-war ghoul, meaning that his tale is of living through the bombs and trying to survive the chaos of it all with his little sister. I won't spoil how it all turns out, but thanks to brilliant writing and a powerful performance by Trejo, this is literally one of the most emotionally evocative stories ever told in Fallout, second in my eyes only to the story of Randall Clark. (And if you don't know Clark's story, let's just say that's high freakin' praise.)

This next character was designed as another callback to Fallout 2, as Rose Sharon of Cassidy is meant to be the daughter of John Cassidy. Cass, however, easily makes it as a great character all in her own and someone who I honestly wish had a little more to do in the main questline. Cass is a caravan leader who seems to have inherited her Father's alcoholism after having her livelihood destroyed in what appears to be a freak raider attack. The Courier comes across this jaded old soul drinking her sorrows down in a bar and, with a little bit of tact, can put a little bit of a pep back in her step. Rose can put me to shame when it comes to pessimism and when you come across her it's easy to see her on a self-destructive path to oblivion which the player can either assist her on or work her through. Admittedly, for Cass the thing that makes her so memorable is less the strength of her story and more the charm of having a sassy friend around to always remind you that now matter how many people you help the world's still gone to crap. You're doing god's work, Rose Sharon.

These next two are mostly tied in my head for number one, and in writing this list I genuinely had an issue picking one over the other. I think the big differentiating factor that sets these two apart is that they have both oodles of charm and a great story to sink your teeth into, and that's one the reasons why I love Arcade Gannon. Arcade is a doctor for the Followers of the Apocalypse, and as such is one of the few intellectuals that you can have one your team, he's also got a healthy touch of Cass's nihilistic sass, although he plays it off a lot more endearing. Only once you start to get to know Arcade do you realise that he has an incredible secret connected to his past and specifically the people his father used to know, triggering a journey all across the Mojave in an effort to help relieve Gannon of the shame he associates with his father. (Or to assemble a friendly group of powerful mercenaries on your side, whichever tickles your fancy more.) Arcade is a delightful presence and a functionally useful companion, making him a clear pick for my favourite. At least he would be, if it wasn't for one woman.

Veronica Santiago is, in my opinion, the best character in 'Fallout: New Vegas', and if you've decoded my criteria you'll likely have a decent idea why. She is instantly charming and likeable with a slightly unique premise to her being a member of The Brotherhood of Steel without the customary zealous leanings. Hanging out with her is almost as fun as learning more about her, as she is both funny and one of the least jaded human beings in the wasteland. Once you do start to learn her story, however, you'll hear about her struggling to find an identity with a family that she's grown disillusioned to; as well as hearing about her heartbreaks, and close ties to the renegade Brotherhood elder, and just so much about the things that make her who she is. Honestly there are so many factors to Veronica's story that she feels like a real person by the time you're through it all. But the thing that really seals the deal with her, at least as far as I'm concerned? The DLC 'Dead Money'. That DLC has the character kidnapped and forced to perform a heist by said-renegade Brotherhood Elder, Elijah, and is a great time all on it's own. As you progress, however, you'll start to realise that a lot of the plot-threads introduced there are also part of Veronica's story too, to the extent that you actually bump into her old girlfriend whilst trying to survive the Sierra Madre. (Although I guess the Courier is too dumb to put 2 and 2 together, because you have literally no choice to tell Veronica that her old flame is still kicking.) It does end in a touching moment where you can share the Elder's last words with Veronica, making for a solemn wrap up of a interesting sub-story that didn't even need to be resolved. And that's the reason why having Veronica in my playthrough is a must-have whenever I go into 'New Vegas'.

Given my love for 'Fallout: New Vegas', I think it's fair to extend my criteria and say that Veronica is also my pick for best companion in the Fallout franchise, but I'm still going to cover Fallout 4 next because I'm an idiot. Also, it seems that Fallout 76 is planning to bring companions for their newest expansion 'Wastelanders' so I suppose I'm going to have to hold my nose and jump into that dumpster fire once more when it comes out. (Yes, I know I don't 'have' to. I'm just a masochist.) What I really look forward too, however, is taking a look at how other franchises handle their companions after that, as I feel like that's when the really interesting parallels will get drawn. (Would it be unfair to rate JRPG's in that list? I think that would be unfair.) Perhaps I'll even do a wrap up of all the games I went over in some grand finisher blog, I don't know I'm making this all up as I go. Until next time.

Weeks of access

I find your abundance of faith, comforting.

Not content with safety pushing their game out of the Corona danger zone before any of the panic began, nor with securing the populist vote for most anticipated title of the year, or even having a practical shoe in for the 'ultimate game of the year 2020' award; it seems that CD Projekt Red are trying their darnedest to steal headlines once again. "So what grand stunt earned the attention of the presses once again?" I hear you ask. "Did they suddenly speed up the release window of Cyberpunk, much to the shock of the gaming world?" Alas, I can only wish for such luck. No, instead their gift was primarily to the game reviewers world, although in truth the whole thing feels more like a powerplay to show off how unwaveringly confident they are in the strength of their title.

By that I am of course referring to CDPR's decision to debut Cyberpunk 2077 early for the gaming press, if not for the public. How early are we talking? Weeks, perhaps even- no probably just weeks. But is this the huge upset to the game marketing world like folk are saying it is, or just an overbloated cynical vanity project to strut their stuff in front of the gaming public? Both, of course. Historically in other forms of media, such as movies, the length of time that the studio will allow reviews to be released before the movie drops is usually a good indicator of how decent they think their product is. If reviews are dropping months beforehand then that likely means the studio think they're sitting on the second coming of Jengus Christler, whilst if they are held until the very second of release then it just raises the honest question "Well, what are they hiding?" Somehow this is a model that isn't typically used to discuss the quality of gaming, and there's a thousand possibilities as to why that could be but I'm not sure which is true. With this grand gesture for Cyberpunk, however, they could end up starting a trend.

Of course, there is the truth that more-and-more each year the wants and whims of game reviewers are slowly drifting away from the spectrum of influence as traditional media finds themselves supplanted by new media. (Do we still call influences 'New Media'? I mean they've been established for over a decade at this point.) I think the concept of 'subjectivity' has dawned on populace to such a degree where for the first time in forever knowledge and experience with the genre is being taken into account, which is a weird concept to consider until you realise that this is probably the way that things should have always been. Do you want someone who plays Sports games all day to tell you the ins and outs about how great the latest 4X game is? Of course not. They'll have no clue how to explain if the endgame falls into the same repetitive loop that all of those games do. (Seriously, are there any 4X titles with a more active endgame? Even Stellaris makes you wait a good 200 years in limbo before throwing their endgame up in your face.)

That being said, reviewers scores and aggregates aren't entirely redundant yet, as some might claim, even if they are headed that way. There are still some of the populace who aren't heavy into every aspect of the gaming world that they like and don't heavily research each title before spending their money, (Like they really should) and so they use game score to get an idea of what to expect. There's also the fact that some publishers and investors put heavy stock into review scores and use them to predict the relative health of a brand and it's chances to succeed in the near future. We all remember the story about how 'Fallout: New Vegas' missed out on it's target aggregate score by 0.1 or something minuscule and thus Obsidian did not receive their promised bonus from Bethesda, despite the undeniable fact that 'Fallout: New Vegas' is easily the greatest Fallout game ever made. (Honestly, that is pretty artistically criminal.)

Speaking of Bethesda, they are an interesting company to bring up when talking about the relationship between publisher and reviewer, seeing as how they seem to have a polar opposite approach to CDPR. Following the launch of Fallout 4, Bethesda started to air their grievances with the journalist world and built up a bit of a beef, culminating in the lead-up to Fallout 76 wherein they straight-up refused to allow reviewer copies to hit the world. Now we know this was partially due to the fact that the game was a non-functioning mess, but they claimed that this would be their policy going forward and that has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. 'Wolfenstein: New Blood' was similarly a huge mess that was essentially dropped upon the public, and I may be wrong about this but I think the first title since 76 to actually do the reviewer circuit was Doom Eternal, and that's only because Eternal seems to be tracking pretty well with critics so far. (That's pretty manipulative if you ask me.)

But at the end of the day the question should be poised, are the weeks of extra access going to mean anything significant for Cyberpunk 2077? Well, it'll mean that some of the more elaborate reviews might have a better chance of releasing on time, but aside from that I do wonder. Reviewers are well-practised in speeding through games at this point, and thanks to the healthy 'guidline' that publishers provide, it's not as though they'll miss some huge story beats without the extra working time. Perhaps this move serves as an indication that there is some significant replay value to the title that CDPR don't want reviewers to miss out in their impressions, as that is an aspect which the team have been fairly quiet on up until now. But I'm just speculating at this point, and the truth behind such a decision might be fairly more pedestrian.

If you cast your mind back to 'Assassin's Creed Odyssey', there was an interesting conversation that had been brewed between if a game should be punished for being unfriendly to reviewers, and this has been brewing for a long time. Along the 'game reviewer' world there is a perception that 'long games = bad' because 'no one has the time to go through all of this. They need to finish the title succinctly and move onto the next one', which when you think about it is actually a very personal problem for that line of work, as the typical person doesn't really need to finish 4 games every month to stay in business. In 'Odyssey' this gripe was whittled down to one with the concept of 'grind' and how much is acceptable for anygame to have, which caused quite the hub-bub between ordinary players and reviewers. (A discussion only slightly muddied by Ubisoft's prehistoric microtransaction sense.) As it turns out, quite a lot of people like significant amounts of grind in their games, whilst almost every reviewer seems less than fond.

I suspect that as Cyberpunk 2077 is styling itself as a traditional/ new-wave RPG hybrid which demands time to be paid to it, the team want to avoid the potential backlash of transient reviewers lacking in a little empathy for their reader base. By ensuring that reviewers have more than enough time with the game, they can hopefully avoid any unnecessarily head butting that may detract from the success of the game and ensure that as much praise as humanely possible is facilitated. At least that's my cold read, and personally I think it's pretty solid. At the end of the day, I think this is a positive change to the status quo of game reviewing and I hope it does catch on as a trend, because it may work to alleviate some of the nagging concerns that some people have in the weeks before a game. Plus it means we'll all see the next Fallout 76 coming from a mile away, and that's good in anyone's book.

The Best Companion in: Fallout 3

No, I'd rather go and journey

Time to get subjective, gang! So I like RPGs, I've said it before and I'll say it again, and one of the aspects about Role Playing Games that I love so much is the way that they invariably invest heavily into characterisation. This could mean that you get a well-rounded arc for the main cast of the story, or simply a bevy of diverse and unique friends to hang out with, either way it helps for the story to stick in your mind for longer because you actually care about the cast. As a fellow who's never had a large group of friends, it's fun to interact with a group of virtual friends in a simulated environment that I can come back to again and again. (Yes, I know that sounds unhealthy and pathetic, that's because it is.) As such I thought it might be fun to asses whom I personally consider to be the 'best' companion in the various RPGs that I play.

There is one thing to establish before I start, however, and that's the fact that I currently have absolutely no iron-clad reference sheet to assess with. That's because as I said at the beginning, this is going to be a hugely subjective topic wherein a lot of what I discuss will be down to personal whims and interests. This may mean that I'll come across some times when I celebrate a companion for being particularly powerful whilst admonishing another for the exact same thing, you'll just have to put up with all that. Essentially what I'm trying to say is that there is no logic to be gleaned from reading this blog so be wary all ye who read further.

First off, I wanted to discuss an easy game to explain as I'm fairly certain most people have either played it or are familiar with it anyway. Fallout 3 is a game that take place in a post apocalyptic Washington DC which is ruled by roving bands of raiders, Mutants and Power Armoured Authoritarians. And the Enclave. (See what I did there?) Perhaps the thing to note about Fallout 3 which sets it apart from all the other Fallout games in the series (apart from 4) is the way that the Capital Wasteland is a cracked and broken land for the entirety of the game. That is to say, there are pockets of society scattered here and there but they are the exception rather than the rule, meaning that Fallout 3 is less about a 'post apocalyptic society' than almost any other Fallout title. (Especially New Vegas.) So that inherently means that any companion who joins you along that quest is going to have to be able to protect you whilst serving to make the long journey's across the wastes just a bit less lonely.

Now the thing about Fallout 3 when it comes to how Companions are handled, is that this was a game that was developed a long time before Bethesda really knew what they were doing with such an aspect of their RPGs. However, they still clearly wanted to do something significant with companions and so they dedicated more effort into implementing them than they did for Oblivion. (In which those you meet are so empty that they don't, in my mind, earn the title of 'Companion' and are just temporary followers.) This does mean that a good deal of them are woefully underdeveloped, however, and all of them are lacking in something unique to them like a companion quest. (To be fair Mass Effect only came out a year beforehand, so one could argue that developed side characters was a somewhat new prospect.)

There was also this little quirk in how they worked on a gameplay level, specifically when it came to interacting with companions. You see, for some reason they were all fitted with a moral leaning that preferably had to be inline with your own moral leanings in order form them to join up with you. The intention of such a system was to allow for the player to have a couple of companions at their disposal no matter what morality they pursued, but in practice it just made it so that players had to jump through several stupid karma-altering hoops in order to get the companions that they wanted at any given time. This was most annoying for those folk who would inexplicably only join up with your cause if you had a 'Neutral Karma'. "So you want me to help people but not all people? Murder some but not everyone? Pick a side you damn fence-sitting arse-hats!" Only Dogmeat is immune to a Karma requirement, which makes all the sense as he's such a good boy that no one should be blocked out of the chance of playing with him.

For those of good Karma you have the companions of Star Paladin Cross and Fawkes, who also just happen to be rather important to the storyline. Cross has the benefit of family history, having known your father, and Fawkes is the world's friendliest Super Mutant. (Although he does get on my nerves with some of his more contrived logical fallacies.) For evil players you have Jericho the retired raider (Can you really *retire* from murdering and robbing folk?) and Clover the psychotic slave. With his weapon I'd say that Jericho is certainly one of the most powerful possible companions, but he's an arse so I don't like him. (Clover, meanwhile, just makes me uncomfortable to be around.) On the neutral side of things there is Sergeant RL-3 which is a Misty Gutsy with a behavioural disorder which makes him care about your moral leaning for some reason, and your old bully Butch, who honestly shouldn't even be a companion, it doesn't really make any sense.

There is one companion that I missed out and that's because he is the one humanoid companion that doesn't need a karma requirement. (So what I said about Dogmeat was a half-truth.) Maybe that's why he's my favourite, although I suspect it's something a little more basic. Charon is a Ghoul bodyguard whom you can recruit to your cause by completing an involved quest and paying some caps, but once you do you have one of the strongest folks in the game at your side. Charon has a combat shotgun, can take damage, doesn't critique your choices and looks great in a suit of MKII Enclave Power Armour. The real reason why I like this guy's company more than any others in the game, however, is because he's quiet. I know that seems like an oxymoron considering I started this blog talking about how much I enjoy the simulation of friendship, but when in Fallout I prefer to have my radio blaring than having to stand there and listen to the same dialogue get spat at me from the same idiots for hours on end. Even Fawkes is just that bit too judgemental for me to get down calling him my favourite. (Despite his strength.)

So sure, there isn't much to go over to describe why Charon is so good in my eyes, but there doesn't really have to be when you think about it. Plus, this will make for a nice and simple baseline for when I get into the more involved video games and companion stories down the line. Of course, I'm sure someone out there would disagree with me for whatever reason, (Likely because we see Charon murder the last man he was contracted to. Doesn't really bode well for the player.) but that is the fun of a subjective opinion piece: everyone has their own. In the future expect things to get a bit more involved as I go take a look at the single best Fallout game of all time; New Vegas.

Game of Thrones: Winter is coming. The officially licensed browser game

There's no cure for being a bad game.

Okay, I can't do this anymore. Well done, HBO's licensing team: you officially broke me. After literally months of pretending not to see that same goddamn ad for 'Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming. The officially Licensed browser game' I cannot take it anymore, the laws of curiosity dictate that I must ask "What is the Sam Hill is this fresh hellspawn upon our world?" I feel like a failure admitting that. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't manage to shake the clawing paw of morbid fascination creeping up on me in my darkest thoughts. Even when every sane cell in my body was screaming blue bloody murder "This is bait, don't give them attention!" I couldn't resist the temptation to grant them exactly that. Then again, no one actually reads this Blog so I can spare a page or 2 feeding into my lust to natter on about the bizarre.

For those unaware, I was a big fan of Game of Thrones for a good many number of years. I know it sounds like one of those 'hipster brags' but I honestly jumped aboard this show long before it's meteoric rise to stardom. Originally we just saw 'Sean Bean' and thought "Huh, he's a great actor, wonder what his show's like?" What was born from an idle thought ballooned into a red hot obsession that wouldn't just consume me and my entire family, but soon the entire TV watching world. I hardly need to tell you, dear reader, how Thrones-Mania forced it's way into the public consciousness more voraciously than with any other show before. Whatsmore, this new show bought along with it a renewed fascination in a genre that I love but which has gone criminally under appreciated in the public consciousness: Fantasy. Everything was good and dandy for the longest time as the world was tricked into watching the greatest nerdy-fantasy show in the world whilst enjoying all the 'drama' and 'suspense' that Benioff and Weiss's adaptation had drummed up.

Of course, things wouldn't stay great forever, because we're all living in the worst time line, and the show began to waver in quality for the later years until a final season that is sure to go down as one of the worst/most insulting finale's in television history. At this moment the bubble burst and cynicism returned to the world like a falling comet come to cleanse the world of it's optimism. Like waking from a great dream, everyone saw the world once more for the disappointment it was and no one dared to hope ever again: the end. It was around about this time that adverts started popping up all over the web for the 'Game of Thrones browser game' but I didn't take it seriously at the time. Sure, HBO completely dropped the ball by allowing Benioff and Weiss run rampant with poorly written scripts, but there's no way they would officially licence something so crappy looking; would they? No, this must be one of those stupid 'fake jobs' that you see all over the Internet. These sorts of ads made their way onto Youtube somehow, but surely it would only a matter of time before the sane world caught up to them and this obvious mistake was sued out of existence, right?

But here we are in the new year and still we're still subject to the same Youtube ads with the same poor quality, and so one must come to terms with a frighting reality; yes, this is an officially licensed Game of Thrones game and yes, the HBO licencing team truly cared this little about keeping their brand respectable. (I guess there's no point in caring anymore after the showrunners burnt the fanbase to the ground, huh?) What makes this doubly heartbreaking is that news actually leaked early of a licencing job being done for Game of Thrones, only back then the rumour was that Bethesda were set to be the lucky recipients of this contract. This excited folk to no end. Bethesda, kings of the fantasy RPG, working on a GOT game? Who could ask for a better choice? Unfortunately, that year would go on without any official word and would end with the disastrous launch of Fallout 76. (Now no-one even wants Bethesda to touch their own franchises, let alone any others.)

With all this in mind I decided to subject myself to the 'Game of Thrones: Winter is coming' not too long ago and you know what; it's not nearly as bad as the trailers make it look; it is so much more infinitely worse. First off, I couldn't for the life of me find an officially hosting website so I had to get there off of GTarcade's site (Which I'm not proud about using givien the other games they are known for hosting.) The first thing to notice off the bat is that this game runs poorly off the browser, now I'm told that performance can be approved by downloading the game, but I was running X-Com 2 on max settings last night so I plain refuse to accept this as my own responsibility. (Plus I don't want these guy's software on my computer, yuck!)

The second thing to note is that almost every single character in this game is a poorly drawn, even more poorly animated, sprite that is based on the likeness of the characters from the show. You start off by being shown Melisandre pulsating in front of your face with just enough effort put in for you to recognise who she is but not enough so that you're even slightly impressed. Immediately, the first words you hear will piss you off if you even care a little bit about the GOT lore. (Which, apparently, I still inexplicably do.) "My Lord" she says for some reason, "The army of the dead are approaching, we need to stop them at Winterfell". Okay then; so why the hell am I in charge of King's Landing then? That's on the other bloody side of Westeros, it'll take months to mount any sort of defence for the North from here, the absolute southern-most part on the entire damn continent! So right away you should be pretty aware how few craps were given to the conception of this title.

You might find yourself wondering something very essential, especially after all the vague and contradictory adverts that only look marginally better than Mafia City's marketing; what the heck is the game even about? Well the answer to that is relatively simple; have you ever played one of those 'city building' games on the Mobile before? This is essentially just that with a Game of Thrones skin. Yep, that means the entire gameplay loop revolves around building and upgrading structures, training troops and basically doing all the clerical work that no one else wants to do. Then you are treated to a long-ass timer that counts down in real time and cannot be circumvented unless you're willing to fork out on the in-game currency 'Diamonds' which are limited and can only be supplemented by buying the premium currency 'Black Diamonds' in turn. (I think I'm starting to understand why HBO were on board with this licensing job...)

As I'm certain you've cottoned onto by know; this is a game that exists purely to sell crappy microtransaction gimmicks to you at every single possible opportunity. That is the only aspect of this game to which any real effort has been put behind with everything else, even basic stuff, falling to the wayside. The 'buy stuff' menu is forever shoved in your unsuspecting face whilst you try to do literally anything else, every single item is discounted with 'limited time' offers and each time you close a shop window there's another window hiding behind it. (It's like being in adware hell.) Compare that with the on-the-ground 'tactical' combat which is supposed to be the inciting gameplay that moves forward the story, and you are met with battles that are entirely auto fought. And I mean entirely, not only are you not given any choice in tactical composition, layout, or even bog-standard turn-based stuff; there's not even any animations for the battling, you just take your army over to the battle site (which can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to do) and click on the fight; the bigger army wins.

Now, there is a more hands-on tactical battling system, but that is entirely separate from the main campaign (What little there is) and can only be accessed by clicking the Weirwood tree in the Red Keep. (Why that's the case I'll never know.) These matches are just 'sceanrio' affairs with no story connecting them but they at least boast a 3D battle happening in the background. (Likely solely to circumvent false advertising laws) Although the prospect of interactivity is almost entirely illusionary as all of these matches are so simple that most can be won without interacting at all. In fact, I'm fairly certain that interacting (which in this mode merely means telling your armies when to do a special move) does absolutely nothing for the outcome of these battles and they are just a complete waste of time.

At this point I think that you get the point, however I'm treating this as a review so I might as well be clear about this. Verdict: 'Game of Thrones: Winter is coming. The officially licensed browser Game' is a total piece of crap with the bare minimum amount of effort put into every part of it's production. It is lazily exploitative, poorly constructed and often grammatically incorrect in it's menus. (What are "Citys"?) If morbid curiosity has you wondering about this title, let me save you an aneurysm by telling you that this is not worth your freetime. You'd make better use of your time by watching reruns of 'The Bachelorette', and would probably enjoy yourself a lot more doing so. I would say that Youzu interactive should be ashamed in themselves for slapping this crap together and calling it a game, but these are the guys that bought 'League of Angels' into the world, so I doubt they possess the self awareness for any emotion even remotely as advanced as 'Shame'. Now I've only played 1.5 hours of this game, so there's sure to be more that I cannot stomach playing to, although I will revisit this topic if ever I grow the constitution to or if I'm asked to. (Luckily no one actually reads these so I think I'm safe for that latter one.) Until then, just take my advice and ignore this game like the plague, your sanity will thank you.