Post 800

 No one told you life was gonna be this way >clap<>clap<>clap<

So it would seem that I blazed right past post 800 without even realising it, likely due to how preoccupied I am with just making these darn things and queuing up the next one, all without really stopping to take stock of everything I've made up until now. But now that I've quite literally carved the time out for myself like a Halloween Pumpkin, just give me a moment to bask in it. Eight Hundred. Good god, what a trip that is. To think that something which started as a hair of a whim would balloon and gorge itself out in such a grotesque fashion is... fitting. Miyazaki-esque, almost. For something to persist far past it's usefulness and then to morph into this unreasonable, unstoppable force; why, I might have been scared of thing myself were I not having such a blast filling it in. Oh, and that, dear reader, is where I'm currently at which my opinions on this whole 'endeavour'. I have my ups and downs, today I'm at an up, tomorrow I could be at a down. Neuroses' can be inconsistent like that. 

But I think my current enthusiasm might be driven by the pure smothering of things I have to talk about recently; to the point where I'm fit to bursting for wanting to talk about it all. Heck, there's still a lingering game or two from E3 I still want to cover, but which I likely won't be thanks to the plain fact that it's in the past now and the next events are already upon us. It seems almost deeply irresponsible, given the chosen vocation for this blog, for me to be taken this aback by these upcoming events, but I always am. Shouldn't I know that Gamescon is just around the corner by now? Isn't it weird for me to be looking up E3 times when it's the same every year? What's wrong with just setting reminders on the computer? Honestly, I think that the ignorance by somewhat unintentionally intentional, in that a part of me likes the surprise of learning there's a cadre of new games just around the bend.

Sometimes it helps to have these events that postulate and proposition the future of the internet gaming hype train, because that instantly makes them whole football fields more accessible than other events of significance, like the release of a game itself. Still, I can't help shake the feeling that somehow I'm missing out, such as with the recently dropped Psychonauts 2, sequel to the Tim Schafer classic. On one hand I'm letting that entire launch pass me by, but on the otherhand I never played the original, and my style of review typically takes into account the entire series thus I'd only be doing the quality of this blog a disservice by rushing to meet the launch. Not to mention the fact that there's a canonical VR game in-between there that I'd have to figure out how to play, despite having never played VR before. And then there's the fact that I just like enjoying games at my own, lethargic, pace. After all that I don't feel like I'm missing out too much at all.

Of course, gaming news isn't the only thing hurtling towards us, and in fact the entertainment world is forever drowning in new announcements and 'exciting' exposes that trying to keep a hand on everything is unavoidably overwhelming. Even sticking to gaming alone I feel like I sometimes feel like a tidal wave is crushing me everytime the week starts, and thus it's little wonder why marketing slips away from us into straight stupid territory, just so that the new stuff can stand out. I'm not even talking about the gimmicky stuff like when Capcom hid prosthetic body parts around London and got the Police called on them, instead I'm talking about the deluge of honeyed-words and barely coated lies that characterise a lot of AAA marketing these days. It can make the excited who buy into it and encourage others to do the same, feel responsible when things don't go to plan, which is a really crappy way of handling the enthusiast/developer relationship. 

Not that such dichotomies hang over my head as such, they just scratch around in the space behind my eyes, forcing the odd bout of introspection out of me against my efforts and wishes. Is this me gently hinting that I feel guilty over my Cyberpunk blogs? (before the release) A little, honestly. Which is probably why I rail so hard against CDPR and everything they've done since, because they made such a fool out of me and even my light scepticism wasn't nearly enough to shield from the colossal screw up. That being said, I've taken a considerable effort not to hound them constantly, because I find such practises boring and I have so many other topics to rattle on about anyway. (Who else is going to cover the extreme nationalistic-isolationist leanings of The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind's narrative? Who else would be that bizarre?)

Speaking of 'Bizarre', I found it a lot of fun to talk about one of my other keen loves in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure recently, even if the topic was a complete divergence from everything this blog is really about. I like to sprinkle in the odd helpings of other stuff that grabs me here and there, just to keep the blogs fresh and the heart beating whenever I sit down to do these- the freedom of choice really is what makes this. But again, that doesn't mean I want to make any of that a regular thing, once in a while is fine by me. Besides, what do I really have to say about something like the tentative title for Jojo Part 9 being 'Jojo Lands'? It sounds like an amusement park ride? It could be the title of a fight-to-the-death style gladiatorial brawl between each Jojo protagonist up until now? Nothing I've said can't be covered by those with considerably more details on this topic and the artform of manga in general, thus I'm better off just shutting up and watching the whole thing unfold. (I'm sure Araki knows what he's doing. Probably.)

And then finally there's always the new and exciting movie news that lands at our doorstep which I'm ever happy for (escapism is important, afterall.) I've said before that I'm not a huge movie buff and usually only really see one or two new movies a year, but that doesn't mean I don't saunter up to the news cycle and get all up in the business of new releases just to scope out whatever might suit my tastes best. Point-in-case, Spiderman No Way Home which in it's trailer alone promises to tap into my childhood and bring back Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus! I mean, we already knew beyond a doubt that was happening anyway, but actually seeing it makes my heart soar, ya know? It sure is manipulative and if this were a game studio waving an old favourite in front of my eyes I'd be quick to call them out on their BS, but I guess I just don't take movies that serious. (It helps when movies don't burn as big a hole in my wallet as games do.)

So that's been me over the past 100 blogs (Or so, again, these milestones slip away from me) not much about myself and that's because I've really settled into the entertainment world as my outlet. Perhaps that's the proper state of zen for an amateur writer to access, or perhaps I'm slowly slipping away into various fantasy worlds; honestly, neither fate sounds particular better or worse than the other to me right now so I may be already too far gone. I've no lofty assertation about the next 100 blogs, because honestly I have so many other things that I'm juggling right now, it doesn't make sense to line-up any big projects beyond the odd review. Oh, actually; there are certainly some show reviews I need to get back to and finish. Dragon's Dogma just made me hit a funk for several reasons, one of which you'll figure out presently once I hit my review of episode 3: Lust. So... yeah. That's about it, see ya.

Pokémon Unite

Oh no, it's happening again

"What if you play League of Legends- and you're immediately hooked?" Said the lady with the pretty voice in that advert I've seen so many times it's burned into my retinas. Just like that damn Nevercake advert, I feel like I've seen more ads for LOL than actual gameplay through Youtube marketing efforts alone. And why won't the algorithm just drop it and see the obvious; I'm not a MOBA player, never will be! I just don't have it in me to play a heavily competitive team-based arena grudge that's heavy on the moment-to-moment strategy and mastering 'mains'. The last competitive game I got down with was Overwatch, and even back in those days I never liked playing ranked for more than a couple times a month. I'm just not that competitive type game player. I mean sure, I played a little Battleborn when it first launched but we all remember what became of that game, don't we? (It died. Horribly.) I just don't have a MOBA heart in me. Or so I said to myself.

Seems that maybe the lady from the ads knew what she was talking about a lot more than I ever gave her credit for, because here I sit with a confession to make: I may have fallen for Pokémon Unite. Yes, the MOBA. Turns out all it took was for a brand I have some sort of nostalgic connection with to take the plunge and I would just end up falling into the trap hook-line-and-sinker. (I'm weaker willed than I thought) To be fair, it started under duress! They dangled a limited edition Zeraora at me and I just couldn't let that pass me by. That's a literal Mythical Pokémon which is part of this game's base lineup for some asinine reason; I wanted him! And so like the Pokémon rube that I am, I logged onto the game to see what it was like, acknowledged that the controls felt a little better to play then I expected, and now I'm an addict who's letting his Pillars of Eternity II playthrough quietly slip to the wayside so that he can play more Unite. Do you know how messed up that is? Probably, it should be fairly clear.

So long story short, I'm a hypocrite. Pokémon Unite has been a lot of fun and I'm starting to really get the appeal of this whole MOBA thing, it's a lot more accessible than I originally thought. (Or maybe I only think that because it's still the introductory weeks and this game is literally being marketed to Children. Whatever the case, I don't feel too proud of myself when I score another MVP badge.) I find the hand-holding built into the UI rather comforting, (It'll tell you how tough a Pokémon should be to play as well as what lane they're typically best for.) the maps are familiar and bright (Though I'm slightly upset that only Quick Match has multiple maps right now) and the idea of sticking Pokémon in a MOBA space fits so much better than I realised. They have literally over 900 different Pokémon to throw into various roles, be they mobs, bosses or new playables; this game could have growth potential indefinitely! Whether that potential will be readily met, however, is anyone's guess.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, Pokémon Unite plays like any MOBA you've played before with some small Pokémon twists. Once you've picked your Pokémon, equipped their utilities and placed your chosen item, you are sent off to the races as a level one weakling. From there you can feast on mobs to increase your level and get access to more abilities, as well as gain points which you can then 'bank' at the enemies' goal. (And if you're playing an applicable Pokémon, certain levels will 'evolve' them as you might expect) The struggle becomes a back and forth of defence and attack as you try to protect your own goal and pick off your opponents, the MOBA dance of death. Here and there some special mobs will spawn that grant bonuses upon being slain, such as the basic specials who will give you a boost to an attribute, the bigger specials that might buff the entire team or throw themselves hurtling towards an enemy goal, or the centre special (who tends to be Zapdos or Regigigas right now) who will give all the team 20 points and temporarily make all enemy goals insta-score zones. (So no more waiting around to bank points all vulnerable-like)

For my part I happen to think that the core gameplay, however appropriated from it's contemporaries it is, can be endless fun all on it's own, but I do think that right now the game has a serious lack of driving force for the more achievement-focused player out there which is going to become slowly more apparent once this game moves out of the honey-moon phase. What are the things that are going to keep bringing players back beyond the thrill of entering the arena again? Right now there are some challenges that are limited for the first few months and exist mostly just to get new players to try out all the different modes, and I'm sure new challenges will role in decently regularly, but that's just the fluff ontop of the cake; what about the core progression? You can't expect character level to be the only thing people grind for, can you? (That would be crazy, right?)

Of course, the real progression train they want people to get on board with is the acquisition and boosting of held items in order to provide that little percentile boost which starts to make all the difference in the later levels. The only problem with this being the problem pointed out by MoistCr1TiKaL (I hate typing that name and I know he does it on purpose) wherein you can literally buy the boosts for these items, thus creating a pay-to-win atmosphere. In fact, this has been a big topic of debate over the last few weeks, sparked by Charlie, (Mr Moist) which some are saying has the potential to kill this game, and I concur. The biggest mistake someone can make in these companies is operating under the impression that their name gives them immunity, because unless they've spent decades fostering the exact type of community that will put up with their machinations (like sports games have) they're in for a rude awakening.

You see, nothing turns a relationship more sour than talking about money, it's like the shortcut speedrunner route straight to rocky grounds, and if someone who loses a match of Pokémon Unite is steaming, thinking about the money their opponent must have spent to get that boost- well, you can see the seeds of discontent being laid, no? Marvel's Avengers is a game that thought it could get away with flooding microtransactions just on the strength of it's name alone, and that game didn't even have pay-to-win Microtransactions! What was the result? An awful first impression that has irrevocably tainted the game so that even after a straight year of substantial free content, that game is struggling to justify it's existence due to poor player numbers. That isn't the sort of future I want for Pokémon Unite, because I kind of like it.

Of course, I would throw in other suggestions such as character progression trees to encourage players to specialise, and maybe a little bit more general customisability in the vein of how League does things, because those cosmetics have sailed many a fan-led crusade over in that community. But for humble beginnings I suppose that Pokémon Unite is doing well enough, considering that I can't get enough of the game and it's starting to seep into my psyche. I love seeing these little Pocket Monsters expand their horizons into newer fields and would love it even more to see them excel, the more diversity that hits this franchise the better for everyone in the long run. Just- be that little bitter better, guys, you're so close that it would be a tragedy to let it all fall apart now. If by this time next year Pokémon Unite is a ghost-town, I'm going to be distraught.

Is it time to forgive CD Projekt Red?

 Ooh, the introspective angle!

Despite my gentle policing of myself, I've found myself with Cyberpunk's name in my mouth much more often than I'm rightly comfortable with, and it's getting to the point where I'm actually following CDPR's shenanigans again. Their patches, their streams, their gambles and gambols; their insistence, even whilst sitting in the kitchen of a house completely engulfed in flames, that 'everything is fine'. It's admirable, honestly. I wish I had that level of confidence in anything that I make or do. And whilst I do agree that their game is certainly in a better place than it was at launch, (it'd be mighty hard for that not to be the case) one has to wonder where exactly they're going with all this. Because CDPR are going somewhere, they've made it abundantly clear how Cyberpunk's slipup is not the end of the story and that they're committed to fixing it before moving onto The Witcher 4, or whatever the next big game ends up being; but I just can't figure out what the team need to do to consider Cyberpunk's state 'adequate'.

I say this because CDPR have willingly adopted the lofty responsibility of calling the performance of Cyberpunk essential to their reputation, which is fair. But we already know that the problems with the game were more than bug related, they were over-promise related, so Cyberpunk is never going to become the game that they promised because they've just not got the resources to make that game. So if that's the case, what are they sticking around for? I'm genuinely confused why they haven't moved onto to just getting out the DLCs and quickly moving on to greener pastures, because until they do it seems like they're waging an unwinnable war. But whilst I don't understand it, I respect it, enough to start a discussion when I see a Cyberpunk fan ask, as they often do, if it's not high time we all swallow our pride and forgive CDPR for everything they've done.

I'm not kidding, there was a real reader editorial drummed up recently where someone was arguing that CD have run the gambit, taken their punishment, and should now be given the right to re-enter society judgement-free. I'm was intrigued so I read the article, and the arguments presented were- well, let me just ask you what you think. This individual acknowledged the state of the game at launch, which was unacceptable, and then accounted the many bug-squashing patches that have gone so far as to make the game playable on last gen consoles. I mean, it looks terrible on those platforms thanks to the many necessary downgrades required to hit an acceptable framerate, but the man's right! He seemed to imply from this that the constant criticism has since grown outdated, and even offered the fact that what CDPR did with their launch was nowhere near as bad as what other companies like EA do anyway. (A point which could be argued is entirely moot here, but he made it) Thus we have a fan who is satisfied with the current product, as is their right, and who is wondering why everyone else can't be too.

From such a perspective, the plea is compelling. Afterall, Cyberpunk is still an above average first person adventure game that takes everything that Farcry is doing with their checklist open worlds and really perfects that formula down to a tee. Fixing the bugs makes that game more accessible to players, so why shouldn't they be forgiven? Heck, how long can we hold a grudge against a company for the decision to release this game cripplingly early, even when that likely comes from the offices of the higher ups? I mean, CDPR were once the industries' heroes, weren't they? Who's to say that can't reclaim that position again after their time shutting up and making reparations for the audience? Well, I will say for one that I am still not happy, and I'd imagine a lot of others still aren't either, and that is because as I indicated earlier; this argument misses the point entirely.

Although to be fair that isn't the fault of the person who wrote this article. They've found their enjoyment in this game, which is great, and they likely never understood what all the outrage was about and merely watched the online after-launch coverage to be clued in. The fault really lies at the blame of all the compilation creators who, rather reductively, shrunk down their coverage of Cyberpunk's issues into it's bugs. Yet then again I think this was understandable. Afterall, things not working properly is the easiest to identify and most visible indication of a rushed and unpolished product; but it does obfuscate the real problems lying at the heart of the spinning vortex. Even in an ideal near future wherein every Cyberpunk bug has been squashed and eliminated; we're still left with a final game that lacks the breadth and depth to meet the demands the team themselves knowingly inspired with endless spineless promises, as well as the demands of the very game we've ended up with. Like skin stretched over a figure too large, the body of Cyberpunk is ill-fitted and mechanically ugly.

I remember when Cyberpunk first dropped that trailer with it's extensive mission deepdive that ended with the words "And that was just one mission", before pointedly leading fans to believe we'd see that sort of choice and agency throughout the entire campaign. (You don't) The emphasis that was laid onto the character origins which inspired three separate vignettes during the marketing stage to emphasise their distinct approach, only for launch to reveal that these origins merely affected the prologue and pretty much nothing of the game's main body. The bold claims about how this was "Next generation of Open world game" coupled with shots of the player riding rollercoasters, drinking at bars and racing; painting the image of some sort of evolved world simulation activities. Cleverly hiding the fact that bars can only be enjoyed in story missions and the roller coaster is an odd standout of being one of the only world attractions you can actually interact with. But the racing is at least real. You wanna race? Cyberpunk has you covered.

The impression that those familiar with these sorts of games was left with, an impression encouraged at every level of marketing and even by individual comments from key members of staff, was that this game was Deus Ex in an open world setting. That incredible undertaking that Eidos Montreal have been unable to attempt for all these years? Yeah, CDPR managed it on their first attempt in a fraction of the time. Heck, about the time of the last major chunk of unnarrated gameplay, the Deus Ex twitter even acknowledged the similarities by strategically announcing a sale for the modern Deus Ex games, citing the triggering incident with a vague 'while you wait'-type tongue-in-cheek message. So when it comes to asking when CDPR are going to be in the clear for their screw up, my response is; "When they deliver the game they wasted the last half decade promoting to us. Cause what we got, ain't it."

But ultimately that is just the line in the sand that I've drawn for myself. The path to forgiveness that my own stubbornness has lain before CDPR. And it should perhaps tell you something about myself to note that I fully believe that task to be impossible for the team, because I have no faith in their ability to live up to their promises. You, however, might favour the game they've built with more fondness, and perhaps even have a mind for trusting these beleaguered developers once more. Whatever you do, however, I implore you don't feel sorry for the guys who managed to completely cover development costs through lie-driven pre-orders alone; they really don't need any tears shed on their behalf.

Oh, THIS is Saints Row

 Now that's what I'm talking about

See, now this is why I said I wasn't going to write this game off straight away. That reveal was the pits, true, but that just leaves Volition with nowhere to go but up and a good way to start that process is by giving us actual gameplay! (Why wasn't the gameplay the reveal instead of the bad trailer? That's anyone's guess) It seems that emotions are still very raw when it comes to Saints Row, where the temperature hasn't quite set and the outrage hasn't touched every corner of coverage just yet; and so from where I'm sitting I think that this in-depth little snippet we've had gifted to us, though presented in a style I vehemently despise, could hold the remedy for a lot of what ails this game's early advertising. That identity crisis issue- well, it hasn't be resolved as such, but it has been elucidated upon us. Overall, if you watched that mess of CG crap and said "I have no idea what this game even is", watch this footage and you'll know. They covered mostly all of it.

But here I am claiming to know the secrets of the Saints Row universe; I know what this new game is, do I? Then how about I put my money where my mouth is, to quote one of my favourite picks from the Saints Row 2 soundtrack. It's Watch_Dogs 2; they are trying to create Watch_Dogs 2 in the Saints Row world, it's blatant, it's kinda style-less; but that is what they're trying to do. But what do I mean by that? Well, Watch_Dogs 2 basically broke itself down into a story of 'faux relatable' but highly marketable young adults fighting the 'corrupt powers that be' and proving how 'punky' and 'unique' they were through pretty cookie-cutter characteristics, such as being funny/quirky and wearing a digital mask all the time, being techy and... gosh that really was all there was to that character honestly, or being the leader person who then doesn't become the leader because of a contrived and non-sensical story beat that makes the player character the leader. (I won't pout. Some people liked the WD2 cast.) Well, substitute 'fighting the powers' to 'starting a criminal empire', and you've pretty much got what this game is going for. Teens shoved at the forefront of a story that wants to ride some 'relatable edge' that'll lay the weight of the narrative all on the characters and how strong they resonate with the audience.

And at face value you might think, "A character driven Saints Row? What are they thinking?", to which I would remind you that character has always been at the heart of Saints Row, (well, always since II) and it's one of the few shining beacons of this series. Johnny Gat, Peirce Washington, Shaundi back when she was cool- these characters were the solvent holding together all the wanton chaos and carnage, and following their personalities was almost as much of a draw for these games as shooting people to death with Dubstep guns. In fact, I'd argue that these games ended up becoming too character focused, to the point where the dynamics between teammates almost felt like they were devolving into dysfunctional sit-com territory; and I'm talking about before Saints Row IV where they intentionally leaned into that style of characterisation in order to sell a joke. (Everything about Saints Row IV was designed to land jokes. Not least of all the game itself.)

So coming back to a character heavy approach to presenting the new Saints Row world is nostalgic, even if this new cast have somehow managed to make me hate them all in less than 2 days. Okay, so maybe hate is a strong term, when I think about the searing disdain I feel towards Pillars of Eternity's Durance I remember the true meaning of hated; but I'm still not jiving with this new crew off the bat. They seem equal parts exaggerated and understated, in who they are trying to portray and how they are designed. A design philosophy that can totally work when pulled off correctly, don't get me wrong, but when it's not done right it just feels vapid. Take shirtless guy, we've been given a name I just don't care to remember it. He's the really 'out there' one who's a little bit wacky and crazy, and get this, he want's to be a TV chef. (Wild!) But in the clips we've seen of him so far this has been realised as him telling the odd lifeless cooking quip (I've already heard 2. Neither elicited a reaction) and wearing a silly mask. And he's shirtless. (I guess that counts as personality) And sure, these are just the previews, but I'm already noting that these characters aren't jumping out the screen to me, and if this is going to be all about character... well, I'm worried.

At least the city looks sick. One of the standouts of the developer update was their bragging about this new city of theirs, Santo Ileso, a southwestern redrock valley that is quite unlike anything we've seen from the Saints Row brand before. The team have stood up and called this a part of their bold new step away from the past games, new characters, new city. (You know, as if the Original Saints Row games didn't already switch the city up once) They've even had their main voice actor brag about how this is the best city yet which- well, yeah. Stilwater was kind of nice, and I liked the suburban vibe of some of it, but Steelport is one of my least favourite open world cities ever. It's garish, ugly and lacks any heart whatsoever, describing my disdain is near impossible, I just hated Steelport. Topping those two ain't no great feat of ingenuity. Yet still I think this new city looks very open, bustling with character and it simply glimmers under this engine of theirs.

The looks are, I think, going to be the most divisive part of this game, in regards to the art direction. Personally I have no problem with the 'simulate realism' style of art direction, but I'm sure there are some series veterans out there that are mourning the subtly exaggerated features and colours, which grew almost cartoonish as the series became more wild. At least in this direction change the staff are making no effort to move away from their customisability, which has always been a standout of this series for it's sheer range and diversity. However, I will implore the team shut up about how the 'way you take over the city' will be customisable, implying that our final Santo Ileso will resemble our own personal taste. Nice try, V, but I fell for that before during the Saints Row The Third marketing and I won't easily do so again; you're just going to give me a drop-down menu of different clothes for my gang-members to wear, aren't you?

What has been touched on the least, but what I'm most intrigued by, are the small tweaks to the gameplay that seem apparent this time around. Saints Row has never been the most solid in it's moment-to-moment action and combat, wherein all actions typically feel floaty and gunplay lacks any impact. One might call this a natural symptom of making a third person shooter, but I would refer the gunplay of modern GTA, Max Payne, or even the original Watch_Dogs. It can be better, and I think that would make the actual core gameplay loop a lot more fun to stick with. I've heard that Agents of Mayhem (I looked up the name) did some improvements to the combat gameplay just in order to sell it's concept better, and so I hope the team have leaned into that craft even more for this reboot. For what I've seen so far, this looks like it might be the case. I mean there is a roll now! It's way too fast and moves too far to be considered a roll with any impact or weight to it; but it's some sort of tactical movement. (Wait, was there a roll in the old series? Now I'm forgetting things. And I'm too lazy to download one quickly and check)

"Humour, over the top and Badass" are the pillars which one developer coined during this interview, his own attempt at providing a unique selling point. Now of course, calling that an approach unique to Saints Row is simply laughable; just look at Borderlands, modern DOOM, old Duke Nukem, oh and Yakuza! (Seriously, Volition; Yakuza beat you at your own game any day of the week.) But at least they have some direction they want to shoot for and a belief, skewered though it may be, that they're set to be trail blazers. Right now I'm seeing Saints Row as a reverse Starfield for me, in that the more I learn about it the more excited I get. I'm perhaps not there to jump on the game yet, which is worrying considering how soon the game is to launch, but I'm feeling it's rhythm rock my joints a little. My advice from here, learn how to take criticism. It's kinda galling for this game about being 'badass' and 'edgy' to be made by people turning around and calling everyone "Haters" for not loving the reveal trailer. (Still, this is shaping up to perhaps be an alright game.)

Saints Row, huh?

 You look... different

I didn't sign up to the Gamescon event the very second it dropped this time around, not after the nearly 2 hour snorefest that was the Mircosoft event. (Why are manufacturers even getting their own events now at Gamescon anyway? Why does every gaming event have to be E3?) I was a little busy too, but I did manage to catch up about halfway through the thing. I tuned into someone else watching the gamescon stream (as I always like to get a feel of the sort of vibe these game reveals are getting right off the bat) and witnessed a man half bored out of his mind lazily acknowledging a barrage of room-temperature reveal trailers. I'd heard that today would be the big reveal date and in fact the original stream even listed it in the title, so I wasn't sure if I'd missed the announcement yet or if the big one was upcoming. My questions were answered when, said streamer, just happened to reply to a comment and say "Huh? What games have we seen so far? Umm... there was the new Saints Row, I guess." So that was how I was treated to the perception surrounding this new game, no excitement, no disappointment, just bland acknowledgment. And after I saw the trailer I can kind of understand that sentiment too well.

First of all let me take you right back to another game which I remembered just now, one that echoes this situation quite a bit. Do any of ya'll remember DMC? Wait, I should call it by it's proper title: DMC: Devil May Cry. I'm talking about the game which announced itself as Devil May Cry 5, and was poised to reboot the Devil May Cry franchise, only to rub everyone the wrong way out of the gate, to the point where Capcom literally undid the reboot and made the proper Devil May Cry V their next DMC universe game. That game did seemingly everything wrong in the marketing department, it removed all recognisable characters and imagery, skewered the tone and slapped a boring title at fans expecting them to go along with it without being teased into the affair. Of course, that original trailer would be what fans would end up looking back on fondly as characterisation deteriorated severely by the time of release, but the relationship between fan and game started rocky and was so off a cliff by launch that the game still gets looked on as some sort of abomination upon man, whether that be fair criticism or not. I did not lay this story down here for no reason.

'Saints Row' immediately does its darndest not to resemble what Saints Row was in all but the most perfunctory way; to the point where many people shared the same misconception that this was a Watch_Dogs game before the title reveal. How badly do you need to screw the vibe of the game until it's this unrecognisable to fans? This badly, apparently. Although, to play devil's advocate, this is sort of the point. 'Old School' Saints fans had been whining for a while about how the embarrassing decent of this franchise into absurdity didn't build on the game we all loved, Saints Row 2. 2 famously juggled jokes with drama, made you laugh in order to make you care, and tried to retain some sort of realism in it's world. Saints Row 3 kind of tried the same thing, but it veered a little to far into the crazy train which Saints 4 then drove off a cliff. Yet there were still fans in the backseat when that train burned, so my question is; did Saint's Row ever have a chance nailing the announcement of a Reboot?

I mean think about it, really do; what the heck are the team even rebooting? The largely mediocre GTA clone of Saints Row 1? The 'We can do GTA but more fun' of Saints Row 2? The 'Screw GTA, we have Dildo Bats' of Saints Row 3? Or the 'references are funny right? RIGHT?' of Saints Row 4? (I never played 'Gat out of Hell' or that other game I care about so little I refuse to look up it's name) All these games have their fans (Actually, Saints 1 probably doesn't) and no one game rightly represented all of what Saints Row was. (despite what the independent fandoms claim) So who the heck would a Reboot be appealing to? Which part of the fans do the team want to cater for? I think, upon reflection, that they've tried to appease all of them- which only begs to question why this needed to be a reboot at all. (According to Gat out of Hell's synopsis the events of Saints IV was already retconned; why not just make this the next sequel?)

To back up my wild assumption as to the developer's intentions, I call to the witness stand; that trailer which everyone pretty much hated. First of all, it's all CGI and tells you utterly nothing about the game is question, bad start. Secondly, the trailer doesn't take place in Steelport but an entirely new city, thank god. Thirdly, the trailer seems confused as to what it's even going for. It shows a very grounded beginning scene of typical gangster-types in some sort of deal that turned sour, (Very 2) then there's some flat jokes and talk about how this whole 'criminal thing' is working like a business startup, which is something parroted in the game's official description so presumably that's a genuine element of the aesthetic. (very Saints Row 3) Then the trailer devolves into a stupid over-the-top chase through the city with one car driving backwards off rooftops and... I don't know, this sounds like it should be cool but I just don't care. Oh, and there's a weird shirtless guys who stole Wrench from Watch_Dogs mask with the digital expressions things. (Firmly IV) So the styles kind of clash and this game consequently doesn't firmly fit the vibe of any game before it.

That's... fine actually. The whole point of a Reboot is to try new things and Saints Row has demonstrated before how it's never been married to one style of aesthetic, storytelling or even the laws of reality themselves. But there's something even more that's pushing past the general scepticism that usually accompanies a Reboot, something that leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth regardless. Oh yeah! The game doesn't show off the fact that it's Saints Row at any time! (Besides a shot of a Cactus vaguely in the shape of a Fleur De Lis) The characters don't wear purple, not a single character from the old games is present, the zaniness doesn't shine with the puerile idiocy of Saints Row, beyond the title screen at the end- which has a different design from the old series- there's no indication that this is a Saints Row game. Which is a problem, isn't it? Even if this is a reboot, shouldn't there be some representation of what made the original special present in your trailer? Else why even make a game under this property at all?

And the fans felt this void, clearly, given their guttural rejection of this game in a practically unanimous fashion. In less than a day of this being up fans are throwing mud at this game with the same ferocity they did back when DMC was announced, maybe spurred on by the fact that still the only gameplay we've seen is a brief tease that refuses to hold on a scene for more than 1 second. (Why not spend more time developing that and not the CGI waste-of-time?) Things are so dire that the Saints Row Twitter has had to bat down false phantoms that are arising from the chaos; like the claim that there would be no customisable character in this game. (Of course there is, no god would be so cruel as to force players to play as one of those plywood boards from the trailer.) At the very least I'll say that I don't think PR for this game will get nearly as bad as DMC's did. (NinjaTheory really have a lot of unaddressed skeletons in their closet from that mess)

So what of this new Saints Row, and more importantly, does it have any potential? Well, I'll say for one that the little snippet of gameplay looked pretty cool to me. The game looks like it's going in a completely different design direction than the franchise was originally headed for, but the whole 'realistic design direction' approach isn't exactly inspired. It's hard to say, I'd have to see more. Which is the key here. If we could see the game, then there would less space for people to stew over what a crappy announcement that was. I know someone in this company understands that blindingly obvious fact, I just need them to speak up more during board meetings. I'm not about to write this one off just yet, but I do have to formerly acknowledge and record this announcement, for the ledger, as a swing and a miss. I'm sorry team, they can't all go your way. 

The Baldur's Gate: The Story so far...

 The life and times of a Bhaalspawn

With the Baldur's Gate series now well and truly behind me, I can hold my head up high and say that I've experienced that mythical age of golden Bioware and their platinum Roleplaying games that people drone on about incessantly; like my very own RPG coming of age story. I've yet to start Icewind Dale or Planescape Torment (All in due time) but given the reverence that Baldur's Gate affords at almost any comparison, I think the real historical merit lies there. Therefore, in order to truly unwind myself from the series and prepare to get back into other series which I've kept on hold for far too long, and maybe even the oddly titled 'Baldur's Gate 3' down the line, I thought I might decompress and go over what I thought of the narrative of these games in this here blog. Because although I was a big fan of most of the gameplay elements (THAC0 is stupid and can die in a pit for all I care) the narrative is what makes this series special to so many people, and it's personally the reason why I'm looking at Larian's coming campaign with the eyes of the sceptical. As such, there are going to spoilers for a twenty year old series heading this way, (no BGIII spoilers, I haven't played that yet) so if that matters to you at all than abandon blog here.

So a nice catch-all way to refer to the Baldur's Gate campaigns as one, from 1,2,Throne of Bhaal (and now, made for the enhanced edition versions, 'Siege of Dragonspear') is the title 'The Bhaalspawn Saga', on account of the way all the game's tell the story of you, the Bhaalspawn. One of my pet peeves with the original Baldur's Gate narrative is the way in which its key aspect, the fact that you are a child of the God of Murder Bhaal, is linked to an event called 'The Time of Troubles' which is only ever barely touched upon during the games themselves. Yes, I know its a time where many gods took the form of humans and walked upon the land, but I don't know why that happened, I don't know how long of a time it was, I don't know when the gods decided to sod off back to heaven, I know basically nothing about an event who's breadth is crucial to this entire storyline; something which could have easily been fixed through something basic, like maybe having the story start with you having a lecture on the Time of Troubles before Imoen interrupts class to drag you out early because Gorion needs to see you. Perhaps that might be a little on the nose, but it would present the information to the audience in a natural way and make sure that just a sliver of it is rattling around their skull for when the time comes to call back upon it. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself; Baldur's Gate begins with you, an orphan, being whisked out from the relatively safety of Candlekeep by your adoptive Father in the wake of looming destiny come to kick your arse into gear. Before you can get more than two feet down the road, however, Gorion is killed by a white guy with a black guy's voice and you get pulled into the mystery of discovering who you are and what your role to play in events to come might be. As far as impetus for storylines go this one is pretty textbook and, unfortunately, devoid of the emotion it's supposed to inspire. Gorion is introduced as your adopted father literally the scene before his brutal murder, and at no point is the player given a reason to understand and believe the ways in which he fills that fatherly role, as such the several points throughout the series in which your asked about your feelings towards his murder feel hollow. That being said, this actually works fine to get the player involved in the mystery of why all of this is happening, and that's an important thing even some modern RPGs can fail at sometimes. (>cough< Pillars of Eternity 1 >cough<)

The main meat of Baldur's Gate 1 is journeying across the Sword Coast tracking the activities of a guild known as the Iron Throne, and here blossoms my issues with the BG1 narrative. The Iron Throne are expected to be your main antagonists right off the bat from leaving Candlekeep, despite there being no specific story hook to tie you to them. Sure, if you go the optional route of finding Gorion's friends and following them, then you might be introduced to the Throne naturally, but BG1 like Fallout, treats it's players to a little more freedom than their narrative is built to maintain. Which means you could very easily get a few chapters into your 'investigation' into the Iron Throne without even realising you're investigating them. But that's a small hold-up in the grand scheme of things, because it doesn't take long to figure out they may be the bad guys when the Iron Throne are artificially painting Baldur's Gate's neighbours at Amn as ruffians prepping for war.

Only around about the midpoint of the story does the Saga drop the other shoe, yet strangely through another optional event, as you can actually miss reading the journal which reveals your protagonist is the child of Bhaal, god of murder. (I had to reload because of how badly I missed it.) It it revealed upon a revisit to Candlekeep that not only are you a child, but that Bhaal sired a score of progeny before he got killed off at the tail end of the Time of Troubles, presumably in some scheme to continue his legacy beyond his unavoidable death. One such child just happens to be the murderer of Gorion, one Sarevok Anchev, the guy murdering his way into a leadership position over at the Iron Throne. The finale of Baldur's Gate has the player battling to stop Sarevok as he schemes to brag his way into repute across Baldur's Gate, start a war with Amn, and revel in the discord and loss of life just enough to fuel his ascension to godhood. Something he has absolutely no evidence will work, but at least he's being proactive or something, right?

It's here where I have to congratulate Beamdog, the developers who remastered these games recently, in their efforts at creating a connective chapter between BG 1 and 2. Siege of Dragonspear manages to introduce a brand new storyline and threat that has a slight connection to preestablished Bhaalspawn narrative whilst providing a complete open and shut tale all on it's own. Caelar Argent's crusade at Dragonspear drags you into it under rumours that Caelar is another spawn of Bhaal (which pans out as being untrue) but really hooks to the next BG game by introducing Jon Irenicus early as a mysterious hounding figure that seems overly interested in your bloodline and the potential of you nursing your powers. I really enjoyed the position of worth that Siege of Dragonspear thrust you in as being the far-recognised hero of Baldur's Gate, similar to what Tyranny does with it's protagonist, although I did acknowledge how that in turn makes it arguably the most 'Role Play' limited campaign in the saga. (You are literally unable to kill innocents, much as that sucks to have to say.)

Putting aside the contained narrative of Siege of Dragonspear, decent though it is, I really have to commend Beamdog again for perfectly matching the enigmatic dominance in portraying Jon Irenicus; really stoking the flames for his intrigue-driven pursuit which Bioware laid out in the Shadows of Amn, the first campaign of Baldur's Gate 2. By the time I started BG2, I was already invested in what this guy was about, given the fact that he frames you for a highprofile murder and in doing so has you run out Baldur's Gate. (Handily explaining why you never return there for the rest of the saga) As such, it feels a little less jarring when you start of BG2 having just been kidnapped by Jon and experimented on, as it might do having just gone straight from 1 to 2. (Else I might be wondering why on earth I was sleeping outside in the wilderness to start with.) My only lingering ache was from the fact that Skie's story was never wrapped up, with her being left as your murder victim and never really getting the closure you felt was promised. I wonder if Beamdog meant to expand on this with another BG-based expansion down the line, but I neglect to see where such an expansion might fit into the games. (Unless the gap between Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal is longer than we realise.)

Shadows of Amn is all about mystery, learning who this Jon Irenicus is and why you and Imoen are so important to him. An inquiry that eventually leads you to discover that Imoen, the girl you grew up alongside in Candlekeep, is yet another child of Bhaal, feeding further into the mystery. These first few chapters were handled perfectly to me, with the creepy way in which Jon is trying to clone some woman that he is rumoured to have loved, whilst recovered journal fragments reveal how he now struggles to feel anything for her. If only Bioware had thought of a more interesting conclusion to the whole thing, because the second you learn what Jon was all about in the end he becomes a cartoonishly boring stereotypical evil guy. Oh, he wants to siphon the 'world tree' so that he can 'become a god', that's why he was interested in your Bhaalspawn taint... 'cause you're kinda like a godling... So he wants to... to steal that taint so he can use it to become a god through... >snore<

I don't know. The entire final chapter of Shadows of Amn was just a disappointment to me. From the way that an entire huge Elven city was just sprung on you as being just a few miles from Amn despite no one ever even mentioning it before, to the fact that these Elves and their story is essential to Jon's life, as it's revealed he used to be one of their elves before being cast out. I think my ire stems from the promise in the early chapters that this would be a personal tale, what with his obsession with the Bhaalspawn taint, only for the late game to blossom into a standoff where only plot elements introduced in the final two chapters mean anything at all. I think the plot's set-up was poor, that's about the high and low of it. But it did lay the stage for The Throne of Bhaal nicely, so I can be content in retrospect.

The finale of the Bhaalspawn saga, Throne of Bhaal, starts with chaos gripping the Sword Coast as the various children of Bhaal start tearing up the land and causing destruction just as they had been prophesied to do all this time. Leading this carnage is a cabal of five Bhaalspawn who seem to be actively hunting their siblings and are decently concerned about the rise of you, a Bhaalspawn who's been making quite the name for themselves. This actually makes for a great crescendo for the entire Saga, as the action is taken away from the machinations of the giant principality of Amn or the bustling city of Baldur's Gate and instead reduced to this edge of the world bustling with God-like Bhaalspawn duelling for supremacy. It sets things up so that the events here feel like the most important thing happening in that world right now, which is what you want for a finale. 

It isn't long before you are suddenly introduced to the entirety of your extended Bhaalspawn family, as the town of Saradush has been turned into a makeshift sanctuary for them by the mysteriously magnanimous mage Melissan. Or at least, it was a sanctuary, until the Five started assaulting the town in order to get to their siblings and kill them for their own supremacies sake. The protagonist is then thrown in the middle of this chaos, stuck in this war of Bhaalspawn, as they attempt to break the Five and save themselves from their wrath at the same time. (All the while becoming aware that the time of prophecy is upon them) I loved the paranoia of this part of the story, as everyone important you met could easily be another Bhaalspawn, and therefore could be someone else plotting your destruction. Amusingly, this also meant you had the opportunity to meet all those lesser Bhaalspawn from all over the place who didn't rise to become demi-gods and are just trying to live their cursed lives in relative peace.

Of course, things don't pan out well for the Bhaalspawn, and whilst you're working against the Five, Saradush falls and the passive Spawn are all slaughtered, much to the horror of Melissan. Thus you are sent on a journey to hunt down each member of the Five before they can achieve whatever horrible end it is they're planning and trying to ignore the way they all gloat about how "Oh yeah. It's all coming together" in their dying breathes. (Oh, and Sarevok comes back into the story as a resurrected teammate. So yeah.) I rather enjoyed how distinct the five were from each other and how each one of these boss fights were different enough to make you sweat and change things up from battle to battle. Although I do recognise that this is also the draw of many critics who claim Throne of Bhaal is too Boss fight oriented. (Personally, I love boss fights. So I guess it's a preference thing.)

Once the Five are defeated, it is revealed that you were betrayed and that lovely mage lady who only wanted to help all Bhaalspawn, Melissan, is actually the leader of the Five who intentionally corralled all the other Bhaalspawn to Saradush in order to be slaughtered. (Something which she literally is accused of doing in the first act by the paranoid general of Saradush. Nice foreshadowing, Bioware.) Seems the Five were sacrificing Bhaalspawn essence in order to resurrect your dead Father and bring about his return, as led by Amelyssan, (Melissan's real name) who was once Bhaal's topmost priestess. But I guess working for an evil god breeds treachery (who could of seen that coming?) because Amelyssan has turned her back on old man Bhaal and is instead funnelling all Bhaalspawn essence into herself so that she may become a god. Which sort of means she needs to off you for your essence. (Well nuts.)

What follows was, for me, the hardest battle in the franchise wherein the woman manages to summon six shields on her at once, (Which is literally impossible by DnD rules. Someone tell the DM she's cheating) and throws endless waves of high powered demons on you to screw you up. All this is just the icing of course, because Bioware expects you to kill her four times in a row without resting. (The amount of hair I tore out in that fight isn't even funny.) Once you've done the impossible and killed a fledgling god, it's up to the last surviving Bhaalspawn, you, to finally decide their own fate. (Imoen, if she's still alive at this point, willingly surrenders her Bhaalspawn taint. Something it was never made clear that anyone could do until this express moment.) You can either ascend to the Throne of Bhaal and achieve godhood, maintaining the balance he sought over (and abused) for time immemorial, or surrender your taint to the gods so that they can destroy it. (or hide it. For some reason the ending seems to imply that they do both.) Either way, thus marks the end of the Bhaalspawn saga.

Truly an epic tale and one that absolutely needs no additions to it save from maybe another Beamdog DLC to wrap up the loose narrative thread they themselves sent dangling. (Way to write in your own job security. That's forward thinking!) So one might wonder why on earth Larian is currently making Baldur's Gate III, I don't know but I'm morbidly curious to find out. The team have implied that there's a real good reason they're sitting on until the full release of the game, and whilst I struggle to believe them Larian hasn't actually given me any genuine reasons to be mistrustful and so I ultimately surrender to their better judgement. Whatever the case, the Bhaalspawn saga, as it exists, is all up there and I'd go so far as to call it one of the most decent Bioware RPG narratives the company has told. Larian certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to attempt to even match their predecessors, let alone succeed them, but even if they fall off one can just remember how the originals are always here and just as kick-ass as they were back in release. (Except for the THAC0 system. Screw THAC0) 

Ubisoft Nano

In the smallest packages

You know I ride on Ubisoft a lot these days, oftentimes for things and situations that they, as a company, cannot help. Being an uncreative shrew leeching off of successful properties seeded by talented former developers, adding nothing of your own to the pools of imagination can hardly be left at the feet of one of the biggest and most resource-ridden studios in all of Eur- wait crap, I'm doing it again. Okay, so maybe they can be blamed for  a lot of their own shortcomings, they're grown-ups afterall. But what I'm trying to establish is that through all the bad there must be some good; I mean you don't grow this grotesquely inflated on pure ineptitude- unless you happen to be called 'Electronic Arts'. In the past some of my favourite products out of Ubisoft have been from their smaller studios, sub projects that have trickled out as addendums to Ubisoft's main offerings, yet some of which could be great  yearly sellers if only Ubisoft had the confidence to back them.

For games like this I think of Valiant Hearts, a pretty scrolling puzzle game from a while back that told a story of various perspectives across the Great War. A simple premise placed in a real setting with a lot of character and heart to it, and something which came out of Ubisoft. You'd not think a project with real heart to it could slither out from between their closed fist, but there we were. What's more, it almost felt like Valiant Hearts was meant to be the start of a slew of projects in that stew, with heart, character and ethos spanning stories from different cultures; but that was the last we saw of it. Maybe those who made that first one have moved on, or they're working on another and it's taking some time, but Ubisoft just haven't exactly devoted themselves to that style of smaller and intimate experience. And in a much bigger reflection of that same issue; what about the 2D scroller Rayman? When do we get the next proper full-game one? Legends was so long ago, Ubisoft; I need my fix!

Which is why I now turn to Ubisoft Da Nang, their Vietnam studio which has been starting to make some moves since earlier this year, which a shadow of sad optimism, darkened by shades of "ill-fated" and "not long for this world". Be excited for the works of the smaller studios while you can before they are rolled into the soulless bigger yearly teams that put out the same game each year on crack. But enough moping, I will take my own advice and be happy for this new studio, I swear it. I just have to get to the point where I can appreciate the small and heartfelt before it slips beyond our grasp or becomes corrupted into something dark and twisted. To that effort I really want to see exactly what it is that this studio are bringing to the table with; wait what the heck is this 'Ubisoft Nano' and why does it make me want to hurl? (Spoilers: it's not a Ubisoft-themed Iphone, although I'm sure that's an idea somehow floating around head office for a lot longer than it deserves to.)

Ubisoft Nano is just this entity which popped up earlier this year to such little fanfare that I didn't even know it existed. (Such is the way with almost all non AAA Ubisoft branded ventures, I suppose) As far as I can understand it, and reading directly from their own site, this is meant to be a collection of 'social multiplayer experiences' (You'd have to screw up pretty hard to make a multiplayer game with absolutely no social elements whatsoever; redundant much?) that are all free to access and can be reached online. Essentially it's a website for Flash games in an age without flash, only these all are coloured with Ubisoft brands in order to- lend them some legitimacy? I'm not entirely sure what the end goal is here. Maybe they want to wiggle their way into the subconscious of young kids looking for online games to play so that they can get addicted to the Ubisoft machine early, I don't know.

But I'm sure you're curious how I came across it, aren't you? If this was a project from back in April, then how is it that I'm popping up and talking about it all the way in August? Well this isn't a case of a blog being pushed back I can tell you that much, no this is a much more organic situation wherein the fact that I'm still subscribed to the long-scuppered Assassin's Creed Youtube channel has crept up to curse my recommended. (They don't even post on it anymore, why am I still subscribed?) Somehow I ended up seeing a maligned and downvoted announcement of yet another Ubisoft game that I didn't know existed; this one called 'Ubisoft All-star Blast'. "Okay?" I thought. Getting distinct Playstation All-stars vibes from this, but what's the 'Blast' all about? What was I in for...

So as you've likely deduced this is another one of those Ubisoft Nano free online games that I talked about, and the 'All-Stars' tag is true; this is a game that seeks to marry the ever marketable images of Ubisoft characters all into one space. You know, just like Playstation and Nintendo before them. (Except, maybe, the fact that those characters were all genuinely developed and interesting all on their own, and much of Ubisoft's roster are cliche one-note cardboard cutouts. Never forget that Vaas' personality was a mistake adopted by the actor, not a conscious choice from the developers) So if you're one of the people out there who get genuinely worked up whenever they see another member of the Ubisoft licence pantheon paraded around and disgraced in places they don't belong, I guess you can consider this your official trigger warning. (I'm serious; Sam Fisher is here. Turn back if that upsets you.)

So  Ubisoft All-Star Blast is Bomberman. That's pretty much the high and low of it. It's bomberman with Chibi-style paperdolls based on various Ubisoft characters and various different stages that are only differentiated by the change out of tilesets. (They couldn't get too creative now; this is a browser-based game) The Online 'Battle Royale' (I'm learning to hate that term) part comes from the fact that this game holds up to 100 players, although the Internet seems to get a little choppy up the higher numbers from what I've experienced. Hmm? Oh yeah, I've played it. It's free bomberman; of course I'm going to play it! From a few games I can see they've chosen a 'all upgrades stack' model which takes a lot of the strategy out of the game, just pick up everything and hope for the best, and they 'sell' new skins through way of making players watch ads. (Which is ten times better than asking them to get out their credit cards, I will say.) Also, the smattering of characters to choose from is laughably small and weird. You have Bud from Grow Home, Aurora from Child of Light, Sam Fisher, two Assassin's Creed Protagonists and, rather amusingly, that monkey from the Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer (Wonder if that monkey will ever make it to an actual game?). That's just a few, but there aren't a great many more. You'd have thought they'd be able to flood this game with characters considering they're only Chibi models. (But it's a small studio, I have to keep reminding myself.)

The other games are just as vapid, free runners and puzzlers that will keep you entertained for an hour or two, maybe a kid for a couple of weeks. It's innocuous, harmless, and the sort of thing I really wish was pushed a little more because it's kind of cool. I'll admit, when I saw that Ubisoft had ripped off Bomberman I rolled up expecting to rip into the big U again for their lack of ingenuity, but everything being free and easily accessible from anyone's browser certainly helps the situation to a degree. These small and pick-up-play games used to mean everything to a kid like I was, which is why I was so devastated when Flash went away (even if the ultimate reason was totally sound) so if Ubisoft want to try their hand at filling that void I, surprisingly to even myself, support that. Do I grit my teeth when I see the last surviving Stealth-man Sam Fisher debased yet again without his own game to sooth the ache? Of course, but overall I like the passage his insult is wrapped up in. So kudos to Studio Da Nang and this experiment of theirs, however long it lasts, for reminding me that there is some light even in the dark. (Oh god I sound like Sora. "You're wrong! I know that Kingdom Hearts is LIGHT")

Fortnite is unrecognisable

 Take a good hard look at your future Front Page

I imagine that at some point in your life, someday, you have played Fortnite, haven't you? It's okay to admit that, we've all been there; heck, the game didn't become the biggest in the world by being a gaming anomaly, and a high-quality free-game is hard to resist before the sweaty crowd descends upon it. (I mostly just assumed that crowd were always part of 'Call of Duty: Warzone' which is why I never played that) I'd even go so far as to say I had some fun playing that game in the thirty or forty games of it that I played before I grew bored with the formula, and the constant disappointment of losing, and moved back to more familiar pastures. So maybe I just didn't have what it takes to be a great Battle Royale player, I didn't have the perseverance and desire to prove myself. Typically, with games of this genre, I'd just work my way towards one victory and consider myself done with that Battle Royale entirely, and do it early in the game's lifecycle too so that it isn't too hard of a victory to win. (Yeah, I'm a bit of a coward) But we've all come to, and probably left Fortnite, for one reason or the other over the years; but I'm here to ask you, have you ever considered going back?

I say that because if you bit the bullet and hit that 'reinstall' button, you might be greeted to a longer download time than you suspected, which may just have piqued your curiosity to know exactly what has changed in the game of the youth. Firstly, I'm sure you're aware that games of this calibre live and die on their commitment to constant forward momentum, always adding updates and skins and things that keep players coming back and spending money. That is their life force and without it these games squander and are put-out-to-pasture. So as the kings of this genre, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Fortnite is hit with so many updates that even if you first played Fortnite one year ago or two, the face of what the game looks like now is probably nothing like what you had in memory. But even then, even understanding how this is a genre prone to constant unerring change, I posit that the Fortnite of today is utterly unrecognisable to the layman; and why that's amazing.

The first time I took a look back at this game was actually fairly recently, it was in response to that Ariana Grande digital concert which as far as I am aware is the second concert of it's type to touch this platform. (With the Travis Scott concert being the first) And of course in the light of the fact this has a predecessor it makes sense, but then when you expand a little beyond that you realise that nothing actually makes sense whatsoever. This is a Battle Royale game (or the Battle Royale addendum onto a base game which no one plays) where the heart of the gameplay loop is murdering everyone else in the map until you are the only one left standing, right? I mean, that's the very heart and soul of this genre and what it represents. So where does a concert fit into that vision? An audio-visual experience where you follow a 'Shadow of the Colossus' style rendering of Ariana Grande as she sings her way through psychedelic popping clouds and dream-like pink castles- what happened to the Battle Royale?

In truth it's pretty bare-faced; the Battle Royale element of this game has been swept away as the main focus of the studio. Not to say that isn't what their game still ostensibly is, that's something Epic have been unable to get away from, but it isn't the endgoal that Epic Games are shooting for. They've let it been known before, in investor calls, but it should be apparent from all of these special events anyway; Fortnite is a multimedia social world being built to be the future face of the internet. You know when you look upon the Matrix or 'The Oasis' and you wonder what a new digital world for humanity would look like in the real world? Fortnite is the answer, or so the Epic games imaginaries would have you believe. They want to make themselves a platform which combines all aspects of media smashed into one and they're doing it ingeniously by putting all the most popular iterations of popular media together and watching their dominance grow from that.

It started with the Marvel crossovers, okay that's not actually how it started, but Epic really set it's plan in motion through that crossover. The hugely successful team-up with the biggest movie franchise in the world that extended so far that Fortnite actually scored a cameo in Endgame. (I still can't believe that happened, what a trip) But even further than that, Fortnite stepped up to the plate in a time where the hugely successful Marvel franchise had no face on the video-game industry and created a limited-time mode for fans to come and play as Thanos, or beat him up as the Avengers. Talk about a brand boost! Piggybacking off 10 years of Disney franchise building to set yourself up as the official tie-in game, and you can bet that was sure to turn the heads of other huge entertainment properties who wanted that level of notoriety. They turned themselves from the underdog into the topcat with one simple collaboration; were only we all so lucky.

But what about the Fortnite of today? What does it look like in the years since? Well honestly the game feels nothing like a Battle Royale should, or at least a focused one. Firstly, there's a giant UFO floating over the map now, there are NPCs all across the map that fire at everyone and are usually tied to challenge modes. There are challenge instruments chucked haphazardly across the environment, with the most recent being phone boxes that people with the Clark Kent skin can use to turn into Superman. And most importantly there are skins from just about every franchise imaginable intersecting in a manner that would never have been even conceivable ten years ago. Batman and Captain America; the Mandalorian and Kratos; Deadpool and- Free Guy? The new Ryan Reynolds movie where he's just a guy in a blue suit? That made it into the game as a skin? Well actually they added the shirtless buff version of Ryan Reynolds from that movie, but it's still an example of how Fortnite has managed to cement itself as a staple of higher level marketing methods; an incredibly privileged position to sit within.

Nowadays playing a game of Fortnite can be about winning the match, but it can just as easily be about doing your own challenge hunting against NPCs in your own corner of the map whilst everything else happens around you. It can be about logging into the playground mode in order to mess around with custom maps that almost seem like they're trying to emulate the free creativity of Minecraft, Roblox or Dreams. It can be about watching the premier of a new movie at the ingame drive-in theatre. It can basically be about socialising and treating this space as an interactive social media metaspace; except one in which you happen to be stuck in a death arena with a bubble that shrinks forever on you. Does that makes sense to you? Because I'm still struggling to get to terms with it, but considering the vast proliferation of Fortnite that might just be another symptom of me getting old and losing that finger on the pulse of the popular. (If I ever had that finger to being with. I've always been pretty square in truth)

Many years ago I remember dreaming of, what in my mind, would be the greatest fighting game of all time. It would be a collaboration of all the properties imaginable, a free-for-all frenzy across a 3D map space with Street Fighter versus the cast of DC comics versus Dragonball versus Mortal Kombat versus Marvel versus Ubisoft properties. Just everything and everyone ripping into each other with wanton abandon. It was obviously a juvenile dream and even then I was stuck between picking how balancing could possible work when someone like Ezio Auditore went up against Marvel's Jack of Hearts and Goku. But even on a base level the idea would never work because licence holders would never play ball like that. Except I was wrong, because Fortnite has managed to become the exception to that rule and raked in the bucks because of it. (Now if only we had the world's most insane fighting game developers on the Epic Games staff my dream might have actually had a fighting chance.) Fortnite, for better or worse, has the potential to change the media landscape irrevocably, and I think we're just on the cusp of that potential. We're still in those early stages of the chess match as Epic position their key pieces on the board. The only thing I'm still trying to figure out is whether their ultimate plan will be a step up from the apocalyptic pissing match which makes our current social media spectrum, or something inconceivably more depraved. (Knowing our luck, I'm leaning towards the latter.)

Baldur's Gate II: Review

Chaos will be sown in their passage. So sayeth the wise Alaundo

Knud stands on the precipice of eternity, burgeoning with the destiny of forever barely concealed beneath a pudgy Gnomish body, hard-won through countless impossible trials and dire duels. Behind stands a cadre of veterans, friends, each with the power of demi-gods in their own right, without whom Knud might not have made it this far, although he did still have a couple special tricks all-of-his-own up his sleeve. With a breathless chuckle he thinks back, and remembers a time fresh out of Candlekeep where his greatest threat were a pack of wolves hounding at his feet, or a surprise ambush from a murder of Red Wizards. That seems so far away now, like the squabbles of ants beside the behemoths who duel for supremacy now. A grim resolve grips him, he can dawdle no longer. Destiny, and something wholly more terrible, awaits him just beyond the pale and Knud know he will have to call upon the darkest of his arts if he is to have any hope of breaking the bounds of his ken and ascending further than his kind have any right to. Taking one last moment to hold onto the sweet of innocence, he charges forward, ready and doom-bound to rise, thrive, and save-scum his way to his rightful place inside the history books.

That, in a nutshell, was my feeling entering the final moments of the Fourth campaign in the Bhaalspawn sage, Throne of Bhaal; (Knud being my Neutral Evil Cleric, for clarities sake) and I must say, I don't know if another Bioware game, or RPG in general, has ever made me feel quite that way before. And I say with the experience of quite a few under my belt, mind you; from all walks of life. I've played almost every single major Bioware, Bethesda, Square Enix and just about everyone else's fantasy RPG that I can get my hands on. I'm an addict for the genre, greedily scooping them up like a junkie. I live for these experiences. And some of my favourite moments are sitting at the end, reflecting on my journey, and feeling that massive chasm between who I was then and who I am now. (Bonus points if the distinction is apparent on who my character is, beyond their abilities) And Baldur's Gate 2 put those other comparisons to shame, and made me feel a mountain unlike any other before; for that alone I know that Baldur's Gate is going to enter my list of favourite RPGs of all-time. (Where has this series been all my life?)

For all intents and purposes, Baldur's Gate II is a direct continuation of Baldur's Gate in such a way that there's no real significant difference in the way that they play. They're both infinity-style CRPGs and and as such both feature real-time combat with your spellslots that need to be queued up and replenished on 8 hour rests, which does mean that a lot of dungeons play out with the character clearing a difficult encounter and then falling to sleep for 8 hours. It's unnatural perhaps within the fiction of the universe, but Bioware wanted a game as close to DnD rules as possible and so that's how the whole thing works. Combat encounters still feel a little messy and as though some just chuck hordes of enemies at the player without really considering how this will challenge them, and once again I found myself particularly incensed by the system which randomly interrupts rest periods with spawned ambush enemies. It was always just a tedious stopgap between getting my characters back into fighting from and I hated the game always putting me in that position.

And yet Baldur's Gate II does something which I've never seen any other RPG like it do, and that's move the player from a position of being the large fish in a small pond to being the exact same size fish in a bigger pond. What I mean be this, is that Baldur's Gate allows players to import their character at their exact level from the last game to the next one, with the threat level of the game itself continuing on from that point, so that endgame threats from the first game are start-game threats for this one. It's an incredibly clever system which I can only think would have been nigh-on impossible to achieve without the guidance of the DnD system to lean on. By the end of Baldur's Gate the typical player will be around level 8 (or 10-12 with the Siege of Dragonspear), and from there Baldur's Gate II picks up like some sort of huge expansion tacked onto the end of the game, which helps make the entire journey feel like this one huge ultra campaign during which you achieve a whole story from beginning to bitter end.  

As for the first campaign of Baldur's Gate II, Shadows of Amn, I actually found it to be quite an interesting evolution from the way the first game handled itself. For one, the exploration system was changed so that instead of wondering map-to-map, maybe finding something of note inside one of them, you travel specifically to points of interest that are guaranteed to have some sort of quest or purpose for being there. It certainly fits the pace of the story, in that now you're an adventurer who doesn't have time for idle wanderings, but I feel part of the innocence of aimless exploration was lost in the transition. I no longer felt as though I could pander around the countryside without a care in the world finding my inner adventurer. (which I suppose was the point)

The artistry of Baldur's Gate II certainly kicked things up a notch with the move to Amn, with the almost middle-eastern aesthetic paving the way for a visually distinct city that shone leagues more interesting than Baldur's Gate (the city) ever did. I particularly loved the unique shape of Wuakeen's Promenade, and the various Cleric temples, as well as Hexxat's quests to various tombs all over the world that even introduced a little Chinese design influence here and there. Baldur's Gate II does a distinctly superior job of building it's world in terms of lore as well, with the purpose of Amn, the Underdark and various other ports of call being made very abundantly clear to the player so that they can reflect on the significance of the places they're questing through. I just thought it ironic that in a series called 'Baldur's Gate', the city of Baldur's Gate is the least interesting setting.

Narratively I quite enjoyed Shadows of Amn in that it followed a formula which Pillars of Eternity later would, having the player hunting a mysterious figure of interest to them that is powerful through his enigmatic anonymity. Actually, I found Jon Irenicus to be a better executed villain than Thaos, with Jon's presence in the narrative particularly burning a hole of curiosity into everything I did to the point where I desperately wanted to dig out who he was and why I was involved. However, in almost direct contrast to Thaos, once I found all of it out, Jon immediately becomes degrees less interesting as his motivations were pedestrian at best. In fact, all of Baldur's Gate's main antagonists seem to have shades upon the exact same motivation, and that feels like a shame when these stories felt on the cusp of so much more. Be that as it may, I enjoyed the story just fine.

'Throne of Bhaal', the second campaign, kicked things into high gear in a manner I wasn't expecting, dispensing with a lot of mystique of Shadows of Amn and throwing the player into the middle of chaotic struggle for supremacy where demi-god-like enemies are roaming around. Some were disgruntled with Throne of Bhaal and the way it sort of feels like a boss rush, but when you look at the entire series as one unit and Throne of Bhaal as the grand finale, I think it fits perfectly for Throne of Bhaal to throw it's worst at you and often. Many of the fights in Throne of Bhaal require you to totally rethink strategies that have worked just fine up until now, and for the first time in the series I felt the absolute need to perform kiting manoeuvres! (Especially in that Demogorgon duel) High level encounters that force you to expend every ounce of your tricks and tips are the name of the game for this half of BG2, and the consequence for myself at least was that I came away from a lot of these fights feeling that same contended relief as after a Dark Souls duel. Yes, Bioware managed to tap into that primal release of victory and it tickles just as many, and the right, endorphins.

In terms of story Throne of Bhaal is certainly weaker, pretty much putting it's cards on the table right off the bat, but I think that pure presentation makes up for that alone. The breakneck pace of events makes great room for set-piece moments and showdowns that make it feel like the weight of the world is forever resting on your shoulders. Some of these make for great gameplay moments too, like the assault on Sendai which will have fighting a literal army of constantly spawning small enemies just to reach her, or the Abazigal Boss fight, which throws you against a fully-powered Blue Dragon. Any one of these could make for stand-out conclusions to their own campaigns, and the fact that you're doing these one after the other I think accounts for a lot of player's fatigue with this campaign, yet also fuels my excitement for it. Getting creative with the boss fights themselves is just the icing on the cake.

Coming through the Baldur's Gate series I was unsure whether the whole thing would hold up for me, in that I was worried that I may not find these 'classics' to be as great as many others do; but due to unique charm and situations that no other RPG has managed to replicated in the twenty years since, Baldur's Gate easily manages to hold the throne of one of the best RPGs ever made and with the whole series now enhanced you simply owe it yourself to play through it if you've any serious interest in the genre. Does it come with frustrations? Of course. And some of the antiquated systems can ride one's nerves (such as the lack of fast mode or the occasional long monologue before a tough fight that is then unskippable) but the overall experience is totally unforgettable. Baldur's Gate II was really the glue here, taking my decent experience with Baldur's Gate 1 and making it worthwhile with a great followup and a worthy conclusion. I even think BG (as a whole) might enter my top 10 favourite games of all time, I enjoyed myself that much. All that being said, I think it's fair enough to say that when judging this game as an RPG I have to grant BG 2 with an A Grade on it's own, and an A+ Grade with Baldur's Gate 1 attached. Of course, that is providing you understand that this game is tough, to the point where those who aren't willing to learn the systems might struggle and not have as good of a time as they could. But if you give yourself that rope, enjoy being challenged and are open to an epic journey, then look no further than the Baldur's Gate Trilogy. Truly, this series deserves it's place as a standard to which other other RPGs are held and a must play across the Role playing game fandom. (If only the games themselves weren't so darn long.)

Pokémon Legends: Arceus and changing the unchangeable

What? Pokémon is evolving!

Okay, it's been a busy week of gaming and one that's only going to be trounced next week when Gamescon hits and we all start hearing about cool stuff like the upcoming Saints Row reboot that I literally only just heard about, or some more Dying Light 2 details. (I swear, it's like Dying Light 2 has been delayed for an entire generation at this point; when is that game coming out?) But before any of that takes the centre stage there is a lingering niggling little thing I've neglected to talk about up until now: The Nintendo Direct! And that's because I didn't watch it- I know, the longest Direct ever and I couldn't be bothered to show up, but I got back around to it and now I can say, with an informed eye, gosh they gave us what we wanted, didn't they? There was no faffing about with Pokemon apps that make you brush you teeth, no shovel-ware mobile game flying our way, no updates to the rooster over at Pokemon G- wait no, there was a bit on that. But it was short, I forgot it already. No, instead we were slammed with the two big boys everyone has been waiting to hear from; Pokémon Crazy Diamond and Pearl J- dammit I did it again! And Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Now I never played Pokémon Diamond and Peral back in the day, so I'm lucky enough to be sitting in a position where all the content being thrown my way is totally new. I'm watching these trailers with the eyes of a newbie, marvelling at the customisation, this underground area, the significantly better full character models, and the fact that this game features Team Galaxy. I didn't know Team Galaxy were from this game! They're one of the Pokémon villains that lightly advocated for genocide and we don't really pay it any serious mind because it's a kids game. (Although Team Magma and Team Aqua remain my personal choice for two most homicidal teams of the franchise. At least Team Galaxy's plan would have been relatively quick and painless, Aqua wanted to drown everyone!) But ultimately I must say that I don't particularly care about this game because it's more of the same. (Even if that same is new to me) There's no great additions to the plot or formula that we've been made aware of, meaning that we won't be getting any glimpses of the future of the Pokémon franchise from this game. In fact, these titles almost feel like comfort food in the wake before something truly jarring flying Pokémon's way. And I'm here for the shake up, baby!

This shake-up goes by the name of 'Pokémon Legends: Arceus' and the more I see the more I steadily fall in love with the new face of the Poke-future. Taking us once more to the Sinnoh region, Pokémon's own Hokkaido,  Legends: Arceus promises a rare glimpse into the origins of the modern Pokémon world and how human and Pocket Monster society would become so intrinsically linked. In this pursuit it takes us to a rural, practically uncolonized period of Sinnoh's history, where you assume the role of explorer/researchers sent to discover the unique climates of Sinnoh, it's prehistoric Pokémon, and complete the region's very first Pokédex. Which has me wondering what exactly it is that modern professors of the series are doing sending teenagers round the world to make Pokédexs. If presumably all regions got mapped several hundred years previously, what's the purpose of using child labour now? I always got the impression that Pokédex technology was supposed to be rather new, shows what I know...

For the gameplay this seems to be shaping up as a total switch-around of everything we assume to be 'sacred' about the Pokémon formula. There won't be this linear journey across the various towns of the nation, fighting gyms and making rivals, but instead a centralised base from which you span out and explore the different climates and peaks of Sinnoh in search of research subjects. What was proposed first as a sort of Breath of Wild sort of game has revealed itself to be more akin to Monster Hunter, which the various regions of the world cut up into 'hunt zones' that players travel to with goals and targets in mind. Which means we're probably looking at a gameplay loop of building up resources and tools at the central hub village, watching as the place slowly grows into a well-oiled machine, whilst going on expeditions to the homes of impressive monsters and trying to survive their dens long enough to capture the target.

It's that latter part of the loop which has me most excited, clearly, because for the first time in the history of these games we're going to get the chance to see these monsters roam the wild in thier fullest form. That's right, all Pokémon will be rendered to their correct sizes and will roam the map simulating the activities you would expect from them. Will this end up making the monsters look like part of believable ecosystems similar to how the Monster Hunter team have pulled off? You'd hope so, but then the MH team have been at this for over a decade so who can say how Gamefreak's first draft will end up? Either way, this means we'll be getting hounded by the odd vicious Pokémon looking to tear us apart, which paints this interesting image of Pokémon being wild animals that the Pokémon Company seemed to shy away from in the past. To think that now they've grown confidant enough to okay a game which shows teenagers being electrocuted until they pass-out is... an improvement? I'm going to say it's 'progressive for the franchise' at least.

Of course, the highlight of this reveal event to me was the way in which the core RPG battle system of Pokémon got turned on it's head. Unlike what some had assumed, we're still dealing with the turn-based systems of our ancestors, but it's not going to be a simple case of a rigid turn order which pans out to one player attacks and then the other responds. No, this time around a Pokémon's speed stat will determine how often they can attack, which means a speedy Pokémon can strike two times in a row before the enemy can react. (So I can import by Zeraora when?) Ontop of this, each Pokémon has the ability to strike with speed or brawn, meaning that the attack is either weaker and quicker (thus speeding up the turn order) or slower and stronger (slowing it down) thus creating a turn order system that can be dynamic and shift throughout a single fight. I don't know if there's going to be any competitive systems attached to the game but if there are then this has the potential to change the face of online match-ups forever!

But even more than all the things that were revealed, Legends: Arceus' greatest draw is it's mysteries and that which we don't yet know, a refreshing divergence to the usual state of affairs when we approach games knowing it's utter ins and bitter outs. Right now I'm deathly curious to know what the God of all Pokémon has to do with the events of this game, and even more curious to know if we can catch the bugger in order to fill up our Pokédex. (Do we have the power to contain a god?) I'm also curious about how much freedom the game will offer, seeing as how we've already seen various modes of travel in this game through both Pokémon handgliders and Pokémon Jet skis. (Mobius would be jealous.) There's still some tricks up Gamefreak's sleeves, and that's more than we can say for the typical Pokémon outing which we usually approach with the utmost knowledge of what it roughly is and how it'll play. We're in uncharted waters this time around; isn't that exciting?

Pokémon maintained the status quo for far too long, to the point where many were long since burned out of the franchise, but this step (small though it may be) is exactly what Gamefreak need to rejuvenate the fans and probably the studio too. (How long can you make the same game year after year before you start to lose your mind?) 'Pokémon Legends: Arceus' isn't everything I hoped for: it's not total freeroam, the graphics look severly dated, we don't get to explore a bustling Pokémon city; but it's further towards my dream Pokémon game than we've been in over twenty years now. My only worry is that by releasing the Diamond and Pearl remakes, The Pokémon Company are pitting the past against the future to see how they perform, deciding where the direction of the franchise is due from how many actually buy this new game over their old remade one. Which is why it's the duty of Pokémon fans out there to turn up for Arceus on the day of- for the good of Pokémon everywhere!