Starfield and the ballad of Menu Screens

A Song of Starfields and Firefalls

Mario has quit Mario

 Mario must prevent Mario from becoming Mario.

Baldur's Gate 3 Review

 There we are; the middle of Somewhere

I remember my first thoughts upon hearing about the announcement of Baldur's Gate 3 verged on pure 'non plussed'. I mean, I'd heard of the legendary franchise known as Baldur's Gate, and I'd heard the praises sung of Larian thanks to their recent success with 'Divinity: Original Sin 2'; but in both cases my experience was limited and from the account of others. There's only so much one can ascertain as to the true worth of something so abstract as a 'legend' from the blind reverence of the inducted; and so I never partook. That was, until, I took the long way around in coming to contact with CRPGs. (Classic RPGs) I played a game called 'Pathfinder: Kingmaker' by merit of hearing it's premise, then I played Tyranny, then Pillars of Eternity. Since then my journey across the CRPG space has been one of rediscovery of that abject fascination with party-based role playing first sparked in me from Bioware's Mass Effect and lost somewhere along the way after that series fizzled out.

Where Baldur's Gate entered into the equation was when I first saw its live gameplay demo, piloted by Sven Vincke, as he adorably bumbled his way through the many intricate systems and intricacies of what looked like one of the most bizarrely open ended RPGs I'd ever seen. And I'm not referring to the writing or storytelling, I'm talking about the open-ended nature of general gameplay! I saw Sven pop off his character's boots to chuck it at a mindflayer, killing it instantly, I watched him electrocute a puddle and saw the entire surface of water crackle into life, and I gawked in wonder as he bludgeoned one of his own to death in hopes of using 'Speak Dead' on them and show off the new feature. Which didn't work. (I swear, everytime Larian showed off Baldur's Gate 3 in their many Panels From Hell- something always went hilariously wrong!)

We'd all seen straightforward RPGs before that handle themselves very routinely and effectively with classes and subclasses, (such as Dragon Age Origin) we've all endured those endless 'RPG light' games which borrow limp and uncreative 'levelling trees' and call it meaningful progression pathing, (every Ubisoft game after Far Cry 3) but I'd never seen a game that treated it's world as a playbox and gave it's players full reign to go wild. That was, of course, because I'd never played the Larian games and had yet to discover the incredible robustness they'd discovered in the multi-decade long RPG development trip, crystalising first in 'Original Sin', hardening in 'Original Sin 2' and preparing to be perfected into a perfectly sheen diamond lattice in 'Baldur's Gate 3.'

Since then I've educated myself thoroughly, played through all the Baldur's Gate games, learnt about the world and systems of Dungeons and Dragons, jumped onto the BG train through it's early access, documented my feelings and thoughts on the game here. You know, I feel I've been rather positive on the game all this time, despite my innate reservations that any hyped game draws out of me ever since the travesty of 'Cyberpunk 2077' at launch. I think a part of me was positive that Baldur's Gate 3 was going to turn out a gem of a game that would launch to the aplomb of the CRPG community and we alone would hold it in our hearts. But even in my most optimistic I would never have imagined a game like we were delivered, or a reception like it has received.

After all the wheeling and date-swapping to get Baldur's Gate 3 out of the way of Starfield, who could have expected the game to land with such a tremendous smash? Instant acclaim, hundreds of thousands of concurrent players, righteous indignation from a gaming public suddenly becoming aware once more that games could have been this good all along! It's been a wonder. A stunning wonder. I cannot even fathom the sorts of emotions that must be running through the staff over at Larian during all this. I mean sure, I bet they had faith in their product but to be on the end of this? To be loved and lauded as examples to their industry? Things just don't happen like that! The movie ending never plays out in real life. Even from the outside seeing a game that deserves it be showered in success is enough to make an old sod like me a little emotional. It's a beautiful thing to witness in a world so often blind to such things.

But enough waxing poetic about 'success'; this here is a review meaning it's how I see things, not the wider gaming public around me. And in some ways I've realised this is more significant of a game than I gave it credit for on my psyche. Afterall, Baldur's Gate 3 marks the culmination of my CRPG journey as being the game that sought to bring an unmatchable sheen of AAA quality to the intensely complex CRPG landscape which so often lacks the space for it. Heck, most CRPGs can't even afford to have all their in-game dialogue voiced and so resort to have only the important parts of important character's lines be voiced. Baldur's Gate 3 wanted everything to be voiced, motion captured cutscenes, cinematic set piece moments, all without sacrificing a single iota of the complexity and narrative branching that makes this sub-genre special. A simply insane proposition, to be sure. But that is what was delivered, and I have to walk through this steadily and break down everything.

Character Creation

The process of character creation in Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the most important aspects of the entire game, as it is with any Dungeons and Dragon's property. As a true-blooded CRPG, the class you pick determines the way your character will play throughout the entire game, what resources they will manage, what armours and weapons they can wear, what spells they gain access to- and with the insane level of reactivity that Larian built into this game is also influences the way that the world will see and treat your character. Drows are typically known to be violent and will inspire hostility from most you meet in the civilised world, whilst ingratiating you with fellow societal outcasts. In this way Larian have constructed one of the most important-feeling character creator's of all RPG wherein every decision feels like it has major value to change up how you play your game.

As for the details themselves, the character creator is robust and extremely approachable. Rather than go the 'sliders' route, Larian gave players a 'parts selector' style creation system resplendent with enough choice and variety to make distinct looking and feeling faces and, if you want to, give a little bit of that depth in design. It's a fair enough set of systems to hover on considering that the full-cinematic approach to the game means that every conversation will provide high-quality close-ups of your player protagonist's face, so it's helpful for it to be one you can stand looking at. Although because of this arguably rigid face creation system, it's easy to create attractive characters and not so easy to create horrifying abominations upon man. (I know there's a market out there for RPG players who love to create mistakes of evolution and call them a name so stupid only a three year old would find it funny. This time around they only get naming rights, unfortunately.)

Early Game

Having played Baldur's Gate 3 extensively in early access, I felt myself pretty well prepared for anything the early game had to throw at me considering that content was about 60% of the game's entire first act. But even with all that prior knowledge to draw from, it seems that Larian kept a fair few surprises from even us early adopters- giving a sense of 'newness' for everyone to enjoy! Pretty much the entirety of Act 1 is designed to be a tutorial area, although in a natural manner that feels non intrusive. The hard-locked door you are fated to spot when first traversing the beach introduces the player to the concept of varying skill-checks and distinct character and class proficiencies, solidifying the need to work as a team. The easy-to-antagonise Githyanki patrol have been redesigned in order introduce players to how important Level 5 is for martial classes, heralding the arrival of the all-important second attack. And the vastly branching introductory questline, whilst technically entirely optional, provides ample opportunity for variant paths and choices encouraging creative problem solving. It's all real clever stuff!

And of course, this first act has a simply insane amount of content and activities to keep a player busy and present a whole collection of mini side-quests in their pursuit of the larger meta-quest: exactly like a good DND campaign might! You may find yourself hoarding off an assault of vicious Gnolls on moment, to piercing into the sticky subterranean web strewn heart of a giant spider cave- all within the same act! Gorgeous mountaintop temples to colourful Underdark fortresses, Act 1 is really all about selling the scale of exploration and adventure which lies at the heart of DND. I was worried when we learnt that Baldur's Gate 3 wouldn't inherit the map-screen travel of 2 and 1- worried that it would dampen that feeling of travel and wider exploration; and whilst it's true we never get to see the edges of the Sword Coast as we otherwise might have, the physicality of travelling to distinct and rich environments even across this relatively truncated, yet directly connected, space serves wonders stroking those same emotions. 

In terms of narrative the first Act is also very clever at stroking subtlety, foreshadowing and character direction. Whilst trying to solve the conundrum of the Mind Flayer parasite in your head you'll be beset by seemingly insular and unconnected ancillary people's problems, which you can choose to pursue or ignore at your own behest, only to find them each laying the groundworks of the more elaborate story which is preparing to play out around you, which is probably why Larian felt it safe to share so much of this starting act in the Early Access. Although they were quite sneaky about it too! Those who remember the Early Access well will find themselves surprised at the level of drastic changes to otherwise key characters and storylines. Wyll's relationship with Mizora is completely different, which seems wise because beforehand his backstory of a mortally-challenged love affair clashed hard with Gale's very similar tale. And the Tadpole dream visitor plays such a different role I'm slightly curious whether or not their part in the story was entirely rewritten or if this was a misdirection from the moment go. (I think it's a little bit of both in truth.)

Gameplay

In gameplay Baldur's Gate 3 plays out like your average CRPG would, balancing exploration and combat encounters. You travel the world in packs of four (if you so choose to) interacting with the various people in the world, looting, taking on quests and building up your skills. What sets Baldur's Gate 3 apart is the way in which your decisions outside of combat can have serious ramifications on the progression of the story, the traits and effects of you as the player or even just what allies might be at your side in the late game. You might get in a conversation with one character about their interesting pain-loving fetish and by expressing some interest they may teach you a unique permanent passive talent for a certain character to become more effective when below a percentage hitpoint threshold. The more you interact and engage with the world the more experiences like this you'll pick up until by the twilight hours of the game you'll find yourself equipped with a character sheet that reads like a synopsis of your adventures, the people you met and how the way you interacted with them had an effect on who you are today. (Some even come with cool visual effects too.)

Whilst it started life as one of the more controversial aspects about Baldur's Gate 3 when it was first announced, I'm very happy to report that the combat is easily one of my favourite aspects of the game, Ditching the real-time action of the first two games, Baldur's Gate 3 inherits Larian's turn-based X-COM reminiscent style of game which priorities initiative ordering, positioning and careful tactical planning and consideration. When you enter into combat the entire world automatically splits into turns and every player is granted actions, bonus actions and movement speed each turn. And true to DND rules that is one action and one bonus point with no 'saved points' for skipped turns. (Sorry Original Sin and your action point system. I much prefer this no nonsense style.) Learning what skills and abilities your class has and which are Bonus actions, free actions or standard actions is pretty important to establishing a basic understanding of combat. But once you've grasped that, the process is actually pretty straightforward from there.

Everything else is your standard 'DND' guff. Learning about your limited spells slots per long rest, your unlimited cantrips; class action charges (As as Bard's 'Inspiration' resource, Barbarian's 'Rage' resource and Monk's 'Ki' resources.) And, of course, remembering the creative freedom that Larian's game engine permits. With environmental interactions, throwable objects/people and the ability to pick up and stack in world items in whatever place you wish there is no end to the amount of creative nonsense you can pull off! Maybe you want to prevent an enemy from casting spells but worry that casting 'Silence' will make your mage a target for concentration breaking attacks? Simple. Just grab a Magic nullifying Sussur flower and hold it in the inventory of a non-magic class (like a non-'Eldritch Knight' Fighter) and get up in the face of the magic caster- they'll be powerless! Every encounter in the game is expressly designed to be approachable in whatever fashion you can conceive, from straightforward sword swinging and spell slinging- to elaborate and creative bodying techniques that turn the enemy to jelly. Maybe it shakes the bounds of balance sometimes, but the fun of DND, the fun that Larian get, is that sometimes breaking balance in favour of doing something cool and out-of-the-box form the moments and memories you'll cherish most from your adventures. 

Throughout the years Larian has invested in the way that they design combat encounters in each of their CRPG games from Original Sin onwards. Back then you could see the mechanical way in which every single individual encounter was pain-stakingly hand designed to be challenging in a different way. One might challenge your mastery of crowd control or vertical spacing or specfically fire magic spells. Of course, making this a stark contrast to early Baldur's Gate titles wherein many encounters were simply groups of gnolls chucked at the party with the only real thought going into the odd group composition. Larian takes another step up with Baldur's Gate 3 in designing every fight with such precision and distinction that there are certain encounters populated with enemies that you will only fight in this one corner of the entire game. That is simply insane by most other game standards.

To create an entire enemy mob, that isn't simply a reskin, and use it in the corner of one dungeon you may not even come across is a frankly insane proposition by most other game's standards. Compare that to Fallout 4, in which one of their main story side characters, Mama Murphy, was original conceptualised with a floating robotic armchair until the team realised that creating a unique asset for a relatively small-time NPC wasn't cost effective. Larian apparently spits in the face of cost efficiency if it can make the game feel fresher, the encounters more varied and the adventure more breathing and alive. Of course, this just makes me yearn even more for a 'Dungeon Master' mode so that people can get their hands on these rare enemy assets and reuse them in small focused campaigns, but I'm digressing. As insane as it is, you can't argue with the results on how it paints the player's journey in a manner so that every single fight has something different to make it memorable. Whether you're fighting clowns in a magical circus or getting ganged on by Mimic's deep underground- you're doing something different every time.

Which I suppose demonstrates one way in which the exploration and combat philosophies cross over. Exploration in Baldur's Gate 3 is a sight less linear than Original Sin 1 and 2. Whilst players will still be funnelled in the same direction towards the eponymous city, diversity in approach and allegiance helps provide that level of visual variety to sell the vast nature of an epic journey. Each of the play areas you'll go through in the game is crafted with a level of purposeful clarity in a manner that provides something worth digging up in every corner of the game. And the introduction of verticality to the world design opens up an array of playstyles akin to an Immersive Sim. (I didn't expect to see the 'get past the door without a key' philosophy held up by a CRPG!) You'll find wooden bars suspended from the ceiling to crawl over potential hostile areas, tiny animals holes for sneaking around restricted areas in animal form, rooftop access for flyers, collapsible walls and floors, and then the plain ability to just kick open a door you can't be bothered to track down the key for. Just take the time to look around and more often than not, you'll discover a new route you would never have even considered beforehand. If only the camera were a bit less fiddly to work with when it came to viewing different elevations, the game could definitely use a bit of revision in that department.

Act 2

By the midgame, Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3 is when the various routes through the world get congested into a needle point. As the commencement of the core elements of the story, it was deemed important to get every player along the same path and some might find issue with the way that 'All roads lead here'. The visual variety, or lack thereof, for this section really illustrates that point as colour seeps from the areas you'll be visiting and the sick plagued land becomes a character in of itself. Whilst at first I sympathised with that feeling of dissatisfaction with the pickup on scope, and indeed Act 2 is the shortest act, I understand the necessity to reign things in, and a large part of exercising that second act is less about sparking various narrative threads and more catching up with the consequences of the threads you already started in act 1. Follow up with the factions you met up with and meet up with the friends or enemies you stoked in that first Act.

As a bundle of mysteries slowly unwrapping, Act 2 marks the point where some of the most pressing questions about the very nature of the narrative are finally touched upon. Like for instance, why this game even carries the name of 'Baldur's Gate' to begin with! (Without getting into spoiler territory, it does pick up on the right characters and themes to succeed that original game's narrative.) Of course the ability to choose your path and allies doesn't shrivel up at all by Act 2, and in fact the revelation of the true world stakes around you helps illustrate how the pockets of factions that you meet in Act 2 and how you interact with them bares significantly more importance then most anything you pursue in the first act. As a middle of a story, Act 2 admirably lives up to what it needs to be- but in terms of a game, I already recognise how it could easily materialise as the general public's least favourite portion of the experience. (Who wants to spend so many hours in a shadow swamp anyway? It's certainly not as pretty as one might want.)

Characters

Before I truck along it would behove me to take a step back and talk about the characters here for a bit, as in the core cast of companions and other significant leads. As with Original Sin, Baldur's Gate 3 features a core party of 'Origin Characters', any of which you can choose to play in lieu of a custom character and each imbued with their own journey you can pursue in their eyes or alongside them as a fellow party member. That means that each character is designed to be able to provide the narrative complexity of a main character, with the ironic exception of the main character themselves if the player picks 'custom'. (Although Larian have a fix for that little issue which I'll touch on later.) In danger of sounding like a broken record I'm going to have to sing praise again; this is how you make a cast of characters feel interesting.

Every companion within the game has a journey tied into the journey of the main game, some more implicitly than others, grounding each of them within the world of the Sword Coast and naturally aligning their personal goals with the campaign objectives. And in a happy turn of events every single character has a blindly interesting journey to embark on! From the Wizard of Waterdeep on a mission to right a blunder in love with potential dire consequences, to a cat-like warrior from the Astral Planes embroiled in a conspiracy that runs deeper than she could possibly imagine, there's a real tangible depth and range in these personalities and not only how they evolve throughout the game, but how the evolve in response to your input!

And of course we have the performances. Now because of the nature of Baldur's Gate 3's extended development, every actor who got to voice a companion in Baldur's Gate 3 did so over the space of several years- and I can only assume that time allowed them to really grow into their characters because every performance is exceptional. I genuinely came to love every single character except for Wyll, and that's more because I find lawful good characters to be painfully boring. But even then I liked having Wyll along for his plus-one Mizora- who was a lot of fun to hang out with! Lae'zel and her racial superiority complex slowly melting into mutual party support feels like such a rewarding progression to be part of, Shadowheart's fanaticism you can either feed into or medicate was similarly fun to explore. But I think most people will react the most to Karlach's tragic optimism and just the raw emotion of her most impassioned moments- one of which I'd go so far as to call a genuine tear jerker moment. (Although this game doesn't quite join the club of games that made me cry over major emotional moments. With Karlach it came close, though!)

It's honestly unheard of for me to like every companion in any RPG, and I credit the much more restrained number of possible companions for being able to pull that off. But even then, I can't actually think of another RPG with a core cast this strong! Even Dragon Age Origins had it's dull planks of wood like Sten and utterly detestable wastes of life like Oghren. Fallout 4 has the dull character of Strong and... whatever the robot was called. Half the cast of the original Baldur's Gate were one-conversation deep in their characterisation. Maybe Tyranny could boast as strong a cast, but they weren't full voiced and certainly not to the exceptional range and standard that BG3 boasts. I truly came to respect the near-family dynamic of the team in a manner vaguely reminiscent of a Persona Cast. Of course, these companions don't grow nearly as close as the cast of your average Persona game, but I could see them getting that chance in a follow-up story at some point.

The only real let-down in the realm of performances is on a purely technical level. Because of the length of development, some of the lines recorded couldn't be done in a proper sound studio thanks to the pandemic locking people inside their homes. Now none of the lines are inherently poorly recorded on their own, but the difference between Studio quality lines and home recorded lines are obnoxiously obvious when placed against one another, which happens a few choice times in the first act. Unfortunately the only real solution would be a pricey re-recording, so we'll just have to make do with that slight blemish on an otherwise stellar cast of characters brought to life with performances so good it would be a crime in none of them end up on 'Best Voice actor of the year' lineup come December. (My nomination goes to Samantha Béart's Karlach)

For our villains, Baldur's Gate 3 offers us quite the cast of voices for it's line-up with J.K Simmons, Jason Issacs and Maggie Robertson; but don't expect any vast presence from them throughout the story. Their respective characters exist more in reputation than in the flesh and at times it can feel like their threat is overshadowed by larger forces or even their respective co-conspirators. Personally I'm deeply shocked about the fact that throughout the entire game we didn't get ourselves a single glimpse of the one mega over-aching badguy who was literally invented for Baldur's Gate 3! (Or rather, for the prequel tabletop module- Decent Into Avernus) Perhaps Larian are hiding a potential sequel story up their sleeve wherein Zariel will finally have a role.

And finally we have The Dark Urge- a sort of custom/origin character hybrid that allows players full control over visual design and class at the expense of an exclusive backstory around the mysteries of an amnesiac beset by violent urges. It seems like the perfect set-up for an evil playthrough but the general narrative approach of 'freedom over all else' permits enough wiggle room for any personal character growth to be mounted by the determined enough. Dark Urge really exists in order to give a custom character a place in the world to match the deftly wound interpersonal connections that the other companions maintain over key story events, and once the mysteries start to unravel themselves it becomes clear that Larian probably intended this story and it's twists to be something of the 'canonical' way to play the game, if any such thing could even be considered. For no other reason than it presents the most narrative satisfaction.

Act 3

The third of Baldur's Gate 3's acts is the one of consequence, wherein the choices and allegiances you've made throughout the story come to a thundering head in the city from the name of the game itself. The majority of the game is really crammed into this last act such that it almost feels like the 'second half' of the game with Act 2 merely being something of a stop-gap in-between. The sprawl of Baldur's Gate's lower city is stuffed with call back quests and pick-up stories and character questline conclusions alongside just streets and streets of named NPC characters with curious incidentals that paint out the world. It really comes to form one of the largest world spaces that Larian has ever made. (So big that the game starts to run into Memory leak issues causing frames in drop in prolonged game sessions!)

As an act full or revelations and complications it really dawned on me during my playthrough just how deftly Larian managed to build a rush of competing interests and factions all vying for similar goals, presenting a decent amount of choice for how that final encounter will ultimately play out. There's still a basic framework, however, and you shouldn't go in expecting vastly unique and distinct ending sequences depending on the sides that you chose to get there- and I have to confess I was actually surprised at how easy the final encounter was compared to some of Larian's other final bosses- (Even in Tactician mode I struggled to feel properly challenged at any point.) but there's a solid delivery of satisfaction in a story as multifaceted as this coming to an impressively definite, no loose ends, conclusion. 

There is the hanging absence of the Upper City which confuses some of the late game, however. It rings a bit strange at first, particularly with how bizarre the explanation is to why you can't explore there. (It literally makes no sense when you think about the geography of where everything is supposed to be.) Data mining has revealed that certain character questlines were gutted or morphed in order to make Act 3 fit entirely into the Lower City, creating a slightly lop-sided experience. However hats go off to Larian for patching up the holes in such a way that Act 3 still functions amazingly competently as a finale to the story, albeit with a few faltering storylines. I can understand the accusations of 'unfinished' that get raised due to this topic, but the delivered game doesn't yearn painfully for this exorcised content cut out of it's soul, it functions just fine. So I consider this a cut curiosity of the design process rather than an experience killer.

Having the grand orchestra of your choices play out in a finale of your own making, still with some potential to surprise and subvert through last minute heel turns should you wish, makes the whole journey feel worth it- and perhaps even more importantly- feeds the desire to go through it all again with a new character. (Which I'm about half way through doing as I write this! Building up to the Act 2 finale now.) If nothing else than to see the way the journey looks from the otherside of the spectrum, making different friends and fighting different battles. (And maybe embracing a few darker corners of yourself you might have otherwise missed.) In narrative alone there's so much potential to replay, but add that ontop of class and race reactivity, faithfully realized DND class diversity, alternative companion quest paths and multiple converging world paths- it's a crime to play only once. (I just wish the game had more of a proper epilogue built into it. I'm left wondering what became of all those stories that played out over the course of the adventure.)

Summary

Baldur's Gate 3 is a game from a breed that most thought no longer existed. A practice in excellence realised by a team who love what they're working with and wanted to share it with as many people as possible. There's undeniable passion in every corner of this game from the malleable gameplay systems built with creativity as well as tactical thought in mind, the particularly solid script that provides room for a succession of high tier performances out of the central cast and the overwhelming dedication to AAA presentation that no doubt made all this take 10 times longer than it would have done if they accepted cut corners. The game brims with love so much it's simply a joy to play, and I often find myself whiling away free-time just milling over in my second playthrough discovering everything I missed and picking all those options I dared not to the first time around. Such an achievement this game is that you forgive the bugginess of some particulars (which Larian are still actively working on) for at the end of the day the yearning for more upends any lingering issues with an equal fascinations. 

Larian already had a solid reputation, but Baldur's Gate 3 has cemented them in the larger public as the gamer's developer, making the kind of products that reminds us all why we like this darn medium to being with. I really went back and forth about this final score, but at the end of the day the fact that I'm still playing it over a week after my exhaustive first playthrough is example enough that this is the kind of game I'm going to be coming back to time and time again. The kind I'll use to critique others of it's genre. An example to the industry at large. That's why I really have no choice but to dig through my arbitrary review scale and award Baldur's Gate 3 with an unbeatable S Rank (The highest I offer) which of course comes with a recommendation for anyone who loves CRPGs as well as those with a curiosity about what all the fuss is about. BG3 welcomes all comers! Perfection isn't the point, and BG3 is no perfect game, but exceptionalism and constant pervasive achievement demands my applause and my plaudits. Once again, it took a company I never expected to remind my why I used to get so excited for AAA gaming. Thank goodness this medium still has it's champions.

Is Black Myth still a king?

 It's been a while, afterall

The Stetches of time

 Tick tock

Royal Match must die

 No more chances

Game Preservation has changed!

 No longer about Nations, Ideologies and Ethnicities. It's an endless series of proxy server deactivations conducted by cost cutting boot lickers and corporate economists!

Virtual Trading

 Rich in Bits.

Waiting for Starfield-o

 Yeah it's a dumb reference, don't worry about it.

Choosing your path

 Time to talk Baldur's Gate again!

Review: Spiderman: Miles Morales

 Imma do my own thing. 

A new Walking Dead?

 What is that? What is that?

Quake returns

Now that's a name I've not heard since...

Credit where it's due

 Tell me I matter.

Dark and Darker is back

 For now.  

Red Dead Re-release

 I'm about to go out seeking my Red Dead Revengence!

What is in an idea?

 Semantics ahoy!

This is a moment for celebration!

 I never thought it would go this far!

Is Overwatch 2 really THAT bad?

 In the eye of fury

That IGN take...

 Unbelievable.

Ark Corruption Evolved

 Sometime it be your own developers.

Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition Review

 Time to wake up, you're missing all the fun!

Finally we come onto the Devil May Cry game which stood as fan's sole bastion for the many year span between 2008 and 2019; their only satiation to that thirst for DMC goodness which afflicts them all. Because no other game or Devil May Cry property was released within that gap and that's exactly the story I'm sticking to so I can wrap up this franchise retrospective within an orderly time frame- we all cool with that? Cool. Then let's talk about the second game to land during the point at which this franchise really developed it's personality. Not that the original DMC was itself a bad title, mind you- it's just one of those games that doesn't quite shake hands with the characters and stories that the franchise tells today, and after finishing 4 I can categorise that as a good thing. I quite prefer the Dante of today to the Dante of the distant past.

But before we get into specifics let's talk a little bit about the overall game, from a development process level. (We always seem to touch on that in these reviews, don't we?) So it would seem that with the release of Devil May Cry 5, Itsuno unsealed some old wounds to talk about issues that befell 4- most prominently being a lack of funding. Despite being a sequel, and thus presumably being more ambitious, Devil May Cry 4 was apparently afforded roughly the same budget as 3 was, which led to a scrapping of planned scope during the development stage. Essentially that meant the team ended up creating the first half of the game in the way that they wanted and then had to dig around reusing assets and levels to make up the second half of the game- which is probably why you end up fighting most every one of the major bosses three times throughout the game, including in the boss rush level. 

Circumstances being what they are is ephemeral to the raw matter of the game itself, however, so let's focus on the specifics of what Devil May Cry 4 actually ended up as and see the issues from there. Firstly, I feel it's important to note that this is easily the smoothest feeling Devil May Cry game I've played to date on a gameplay level. From the fluidness of the animation to the way that each character has their entire movesets scrunched up into one controller, meaning there's no more need to go digging through menus in order to swap up and re-equip the things that you want. Even Dante's styles have gone the Yakuza route and can be switched to in an instant via the face buttons. I makes the gameplay feel fluid and opens up the range of possibility in each combat encounter, but it does come with the cost of a very slight pull back on individual complexity. Some weapons don't quite feel like they're designed to be stand-alone anymore, and the styles carry over the main features they had in 3, but with a little less of the extra punch that made them solo-friendly. It's an infinitesimal drawback in the grand scheme.

In many ways I really like the condensing down of everything into one hand, as it allows the player to switch off their mind from all the styles of play they aren't currently engaging with and just flow with the moment. Those moments when you're juggling an enemy with Swordmaster and then switch to Gunslinger quickly to pepper the surroundings with a quick shotgun blast and quickly dip back before your original target can recover, are what stories are made of. Nero, on the otherhand, feels strangely static by comparison, but his moveset is just about stacked enough to be okay to a blanket degree against every possible threat. His Buster Arm in particular is a wonderfully cool little addition, allowing the player to pull enemies around the battlefield and smash them for heavy damage. Nero can even pull off special grapple set-piece attacks on bosses during their vulnerable stages, which just lends to the bombastic action of the big fights.  Honestly, it's a toss-up of whether I like this or DMC 3 more... until I remember the painful buster arm platforming sections. Definitely 3.

Devil Trigger has gone through another reworking this game around, and now has regained a scant few of the special moves we used to enjoy in our winged forms. (No flying though. DMC 2 killed that dream for good, it would seem.) This time around the regen of Devil Trigger is actually alright, not overpowered but not painfully nerfed either, it just takes a while to warm up- so you can't just pop on DT to gain a few handy hit points and pop out again, which is a fine enough middle ground. I also appreciate how there's a difference in the actual way that Dante Devil Trigger's compared to Nero. Dante has his instant switch like in previous games, allowing him to flip on mid combo, but Nero's stops him in his tracks with a little burst animation that also breaks the chain of any combo he's being punished by- neat little trick there.

Progression has been seriously switched up this time around with a brand new currency used exclusively for levelling that is now separate from the Blood Orbs still used for the item store. These new Proud Souls are awarded at the end of each level rather than as you progress (or they get tallied up if you die) and are based on the rank you get at the end of each mission, particularly your style rank total. Style is actually ludicrously easy to build up in this game too, the developers seriously toned down on the 'no consecutive moves' stipulation of the old system, making getting to SSS only a matter of finding an enemy with enough hit points to last that long. (I actually only managed to nail it once on the Snake-Dragon boss. Which is insane considering how often I'd max on Devil May Cry 3.)

That 'ease' is not exclusive to the stylings either. Devil May Cry 4 is actually quite a bit more chill paced than 3 was, but a heck of a lot more engaging than sleepy 2. 4 has it's share of annoying enemies, mind you, including one, the Blitz, which is so frustrating that on Hard difficulty the game only makes you fight it twice in the entire game. You fight every boss at least three times. They knew the Blitz is the worst creation in the franchise since... the helicopter. (Although you know... for different reasons.) One point of contention I maintain due to this direction of 'accessible ease' is the 'enemy handicap' feature that comes tied to encounters and lies totally out of the player's control. As in any Devil May Cry, if you die enough times to a single encounter the game offers the choice to turn down the difficulty, except for Devil May Cry 4 there is no choice. Die enough and the game will do it automatically without alerting you, so you only figure it out after basking in the glory of your victory in the results screen. (That's just arse system design which fundamentally misunderstands what it is that challenge gamers are looking for.) 

I particularly enjoyed the bosses of DMC 4, even if they were considerably more light weight than their previous game counterparts, (excluding 2) and the game makes us fight them way too much, they all asked for different skills and boasted some of the most consistently solid game design in the entire game. (Even if most are best hurt by jump flurry attack spam.) The Dante boss was the only real standout, boasting a totally distinct philosophy of reactive action which mirrors the players moves, he plays more like a Elden Ring boss begging you to bait him into cheese strikes. My only gripe is a universal design flaw that every boss in this game shares that I like to call the 'last gasp' system. Basically, whenever an enemy enters their last two slivers of health notches, they enter their second phase. (Yeah, that late!) And every enemy has a second phase specifically designed to draw out their final moments as long as possible. It's such a head screw to feel the rising relief of a sinking healthbar only for all progress to grind to a halt, forcing the player to devote twice the amount of time to drag the needle those last few yards across the finishing line. It isn't particularly fun, the second phases are simply frustrating, and the best moments are the times you time the enemies vulnerable stagger and your own Devil Trigger just enough to totally skip by the stupid second phase altogether. Not my favourite design idea by a long shot.

In world, Devil May Cry 4 takes a bizarrely fantasy-tilted approach that feels fundamentally distinct from the gothic castles and modern/ruinous style of previous outings. At times you almost feel like Dante has been isekai-ed to some strange fantastical realm where placid villages, snowy tundras and rainforests can be found within the same square mile of one another. This only gets reinforced by the residents, all wearing hoods and rustic quasi-religious garments, affixed to some vague praise of Sparda, because it's always about Sparda in these damn stories. Even the yawn-worthy damsel who is inexplicably the beacon of our chief protagonist's desires, Kyrie, looks like an almost dead-ringer for Princess Elise from the worst Sonic game. I'm not sure this game really looked like this franchise usually does.

But the world did feel that way. In fact, the movement from one area to the next, split between missions that funnel you though it all, felt almost Resident Evil reminiscent, which is a sensation I haven't properly felt since DMC 1. And I like it, to be clear. It's just a shame that these explorations are never as detailed as Resident Evil maps, and that due to the somewhat linear nature of mission based exploration, you really notice it in the late game where Dante's entire campaign are literally Nero missions backwards. At least it was a lot harder to get lost this time around thanks to the clear movement from one area to another, but I wish a Devil May Cry game could get away with surprising me with new environments until the end. (Maybe 5. They had a good 11 years to work on it, and absolutely nothing would have been in the way to soak up development time.)

Within that world comes out story, which I'm happy to report is the most comprehensive this franchise has ever delivered! I was almost shocked to experience it all, there was establishment of setting, characters properly introduced a decent time before their showdown moments, properly built stakes and potential consequence, and events seemed to actually unfold instead of just sporadically occuring. These seem like basic tenements of narrative but you have to understand, Devil May Cry has never enjoyed the fundamentals before! It's actually nice following along with the story and feeling the progression of acts and building of plot momentum. Now next time maybe they can focus on making the actual events themselves a little more interesting... Bah, it was serviceable enough. I enjoyed the story.

As you may have caught, Nero is our new protagonist this time around and he makes for a decent enough stand-in for Dante, who seems taciturn and a little off-colour early game, to a point I feared the writers were trying to make this older depiction of the character more in line with his painfully goofy and dull original self. As it so happens he just needs some warming up, which means we're left most of the game with Nero as our Dante and he... well, he's pretty much just Dante. A bit more punk and less certain of his own immortality, Nero acts almost exactly like young Dante with a one drawback. He is unfortunately afflicted with 'generic anime protagonist' virus, specifically the 'obsessively in love' strain.

Nero is hopelessly affixed to the affections of the franchises singularly most dull heroine ever, she's such a nothing character I hesitate to even identify Kyrie as a heroine. What the box sees in the cardboard box girl I cannot possible imagine, but the desire to protect this girl forms the backbone for most of his core motivations to such a nauseating extent that by the midgame you won't at all be surprised to hear him screaming "KYRIE!!!" every other scene like he's in Sam Raimi's Spiderman. I actually somewhat prefer Dante's bizarre play of not caring about anything or anyone that doesn't even feel like an act most of the time. He seems constantly surprised whenever someone manages to get him to care about them, and that strangely detached relationship with... well, relationships, helps identify him as this kind of other entity in the way his, occasionally churlish, brand of charisma disguises. Nero's chief most interesting features are fully in his design, with it's send ups to Vergil and Dante, and in the mystery of who he is which is addressed (He's directly identified as part of the Sparda bloodline) but never explicitly stated. I can't really blame DMC for lacking exposition, it's kind of the franchises thing at this point, but the utterly miniscule offering the DLC gave us to hint in that narrative direction felt a little like an insult. In fact, I going to assume it was an insult for the crime of being invested.

As for the supporting cast, they were all fine if largely forgettable. I found that most everyone, in writing and, sometimes, in performance were totally overshadowed by their designs. I personally don't love the heavy shades look of Lady, but it's one of her most iconic looks and I was utterly surprise to see it matched with an almost entirely absent character who lacks everything which made DMC 3 Lady unique. (Apart from in look, she's literally not even the same character.) Trish and Dante are as good as ever, it's fun to see them interact in the few moments they get to, but everyone else? I literally can't remember the city cast's names. But their designs! Solid, even great in some instances. Across the board the design work was simply top notch, and I wonder if there isn't a happy medium between great designs, cool and memorable characters and a nifty narrative that this franchise can't hit. Please? For me.

Summary

Devil May Cry 4 seems like it correctly identified what it was that made 3 such a revolution and thus solidifies those improvements to a neat fluidity. Outside of visuals there aren't a great many overall leaps forward that the game offers, and though the narrative does become admirably ambitious to an extent that DMC has not tried before, the broadening in scope does lead to a loss in narrative focus and memorability in some places. But gameplay is king in games like these, and DMC 4 neatly balances it's class of solid characters and gives each one solid and strong movesets that are easy fun to get into and tough fun to master. So far I could see myself coming back to this game the most in order to refine my abilities against it's many gauntlets. Still, in terms of 'moments in history' I think that the surge of Devil May Cry 3 may burn brighter in my heart and mind. I'm still recommending this game, it's simply great fun, but I think my arbitrary grading system can only dish out a surprising B Grade, when I was really hoping to push things to the next tier. So far Devil May Cry has demonstrated all the elements I want in one of these games individually- (aside from a seriously interesting narrative, but I think that might slot together if the others come first.) if 5 can bring them all together, then my wait for the next title might have actually been worth it! Fingers crossed...

Oblivion REBORN

 That's right, you're going to DIE here!

Obsession and regression

 Thy name is: Ubisoft

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Review

 I can't stand someone with a bigger mouth than mine!

Now at the tail end of the HD Devil May Cry Collection I have finally landed on the game best referred to as 'the moment that Devil May Cry came to life'! Devil May Cry 3 is, for many, the quintessential franchise experience that gave birth to many of the core fundamentals that subsequent games have been beholden to. That style system which encourages diversity in action and switching movesets, the immortal conflict between Dante's unending wit and Vergil's ceaseless edge, and a boss-rush finale which, I'm terrified to read, might become something of a franchise staple as the games go on. (I always have trouble with Boss rushes in games...) Seeing as how I've somewhat enjoyed by time with Devil May Cry up until now, DMC 2 even birthed some unforgettable moments for how bizarre that game was, how did the feeling of a true DMC feel to my sensibilities?

Devil May Cry 3 was the product of Hideaki Itsuno, the guy who rolled up to the mess of a product that was Devil May Cry 2 and salvaged it into something... playable. (Honestly, it's not so different from the story behind Dark Souls 2 when you look into it.) Itsuno did take the final uneven product to heart, however, and decided to dedicate himself to making a proper Devil May Cry game that would be a true successor to what Kamiya originally created. That resulted in a Devil May Cry that is largely lauded as the heart of the franchise, and after giving myself a full playthrough, and skipping the Vergil playthrough when I realised that was literally just a redistribution of the same levels with a character swap, I can definitely see the appeal. I liked Devil May Cry 1, and Devil May Cry 2 had it's own warped charm atop a pit of personal nostalgia, but Devil May Cry 3 is the first time I really came to understood why this franchise is still considered one of the heavy hitters even to this day.

The Gameplay of DMC 3 is the best the franchise has ever felt, fast, responsive and tactical- you feel totally in control with how you dodge, launch, dash, juggle and switch neatly between your two equipped melee weapons and guns. I cannot overstate how incredible the switching feels when you swap between your broadsword and backup twin blades instantaneously mid combo to seamlessly continue the chain, it totally opens up the combo system into a freeform murderfest of your own design. You can easily just mash moves and end up looking like a whirlwind of blades and magical effects, but when you get to instinctually understand each individual weapon that understanding empowers your every encounter and makes the act of beating up trash mobs simply fun. More than than it's been for any previous DMC I've played.

The way this effects the weapons of the game is worth talking about too. Every DMC grants you with new weapons as you progress through the game, and typically you'll find they're either direct improvements to swap out what you had or so situational that you probably won't take the time to switch to them anyway. Giving us the ability to pair-up weapons encourages experimentation and allowed the developers to create more unique weapons designed for chaining rather than maintaining. Such as the electric firing guitar best used for summoning CC projectiles after they've been launched out of your range, or the Icy nunchucks that do dangerous single target line-damage that will just fix your target in place and stun them to oblivion. I would go so far as to call this one feature a total revolution upon what Devil May Cry was working with before.

But that isn't all this new game adds. Devil May Cry 3's styles are like 'battle stances' that you select at any save point in the game, so they can't be freely switched too, and they provide unique playstyle tweaks by way of a dedicated 'style' button. Trickster enables a neat strafing dodge perfect for slipping aside for a counter combo, Swordmaster gives some special main weapon moves that open up Aerial chains and gives each weapon some unique ground abilities, and Gunslinger brings back DMC 2's gunfoo but in a much more viable way and somehow much more jazzy flair too. Pirouetting through the air like a spinning top firing twin pistols feels every bit as cool as it sounds to pepper the battlefield with. There are a few more styles to discover as you play through the game, but the four starters (I never played around with Royalgaurd) come with their own levelling bar that ticks up as you beat enemies meaning your styles open up even more as they game progresses on!

The way that DMC 3 handles player progression and opening up your toolset as you go along is perfectly pitched to present one of the most combat diverse action adventure titles I think I've played. Even taking modern slashers to account! And you'll really need to be familiar with all the new gifts that DMC 3 gives you because this game is easily the hardest in the first three games so far. Especially if you happen to be totally stumped when the game presents you with Yellow Mode and Golden Mode without telling you which is which. Let me do what they couldn't. The 'modes' refer to the orbs from previous games and how in those games Orbs represented limited respawn tokens you could use to rise again. DMC 3, in their definitive edition, introduced a more tradtional system where if you die you simply restart the area. But if you choose to select 'Yellow Orb', then dying either means spending a rare orb (which doesn't even resurrect you like it did in previous titles, but merely resets the entire room and all the enemies in it.) or starting the entire level from scratch. Guess what I accidentally selected!

Honestly though, I think Yellow Mode actually better suits the style of Devil May Cry 3's level layout which are presented as challenging gauntlets mixed with exploration typically topped off with a boss encounter at the end. Some of these are a real challenge to survive through on your first go around, especially since there's no reliable way to heal yourself mid-game because DMC deprives you of Devil Trigger for almost half of the game! (And even when you do get it, Devil Trigger's passive heal is nerfed to oblivion.) There are easily more bosses in Devil May Cry 3 than in the first two games combined, and unlike the infamous Helicopter Duel from DMC 2: they're all pretty burly to take down. But rewarding in that way that the best challenging games always seem to nail.

None of the boss encounters are really straightforward fights except for perhaps Vergil himself, but even then that fight is only really 'straightforward' in concept, actually duelling your evil twin is nailbaitingly rapid. A lot of the bosses have some decent mechanical thought put behind them to encourage players to think a little bit outside the box, not enough to really stump you but enough to make these fights stand out as more than just 'ordinary dude with a bigger health bar'. I know that should seem like the bare standard minimum for any action game boss fight, but remember I'd just finished DMC 2 when I started this; everything felt new again! Some fights really do give you the work around, which can be particularly frustrating as 'end of level challenges' when you're playing Yellow Orb mode and are saving your 'resurrection tokens' for a theoretical emergency that will never arrive. It's like going up against an Elden Ring Demigod but the nearest Site of Grace is just outside the entrance to the entire Legacy Dungeon. Losing can be a soul puncher. (Gold Orb players probably don't realise how good they've got it!)

The actual world space you traverse actually surprised me somewhat too, in that just like the original game the Tartarus-esque 'Devil Tower' around which this game is based is like one big connected dungeon that you'll find yourself coming very acquainted with from mission to mission as you're sent around every corner of it at least twice. Some of the later levels actually become confusing for the way they send you down a backtracking path down some room you remember clearing six levels back, only for that to turn out to be the way forward bizarrely. These mission layouts could have perhaps done with being a little more clear, because whereas you can usually rely on whatever door the mission places you in front of as being the way forward, sometimes there will be new pathways opened up you might miss, leaving you stumbling back to the beginning of the entire game wondering when the next-level cutscene will trigger. (That might have been me a few times.)

But when you do hit those cutscenes you'll find yourself in for a treat because with the advent of DMC 3: I've finally found the cheeky charm this franchise is known for- as well as a sudden appreciation for the simply insanely impressive stunt action set pieces this game boasts- wow! Dante has found both his personality and his voice this time around, and it's the snarky, irreverent, too-cool-to-care, bad boy persona that only he can get away with without coming across as cringe. Honestly even from a modern lens there's an effortless coolness to his act that just feels natural and not put on like you'll find in the thousands of pretenders that end up feeling dated almost immediately. Reuben Langdon defined a well designed but personally average character with his performance (and an alright script) and in doing so made Devil May Cry feel authentic for the first time ever. 

Until now I've sort of cringed and accepted the lightly infantile way that the franchise has tried to be cool and edgy, with Dante's dry quips back against Triss in the first game, (Stiffly juggling a bike with gunshots was kind of cool) or the 'I'm too wiped to even be part of this game' attitude he brought to DMC 2. The childish way the game's world and lore borrowed historical mythology with blind abandon, throwing things together simply because they 'sounded cool' with no more effort put in than that, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't really special either. Now it feels like it's approaching that direction, simply because I care about the characters who populate this world now. I do think the actual visual designs of the various monsters and bosses was slightly underwhelming in some areas and only alright in others, (the 'penultimate monster/ secondary antagonist' design is genuinely Terrible. I can't believe that made it to ship.) but I care about this world now. Also, I need to distinguish that my opinion on 'average' design does not touch on my feelings about the character designs. I think the main cast are simply iconic in their visuals. Dante could do with buttoning up his jacket, but him and Vergil cut brilliant images with their design and Lady has just enough interesting detail to be interesting without being overly cluttered. A+ on the character designs!

Oh and the cutscenes? They're brilliant. Simply fantastic. I challenge you to find any other franchise in game or film that presents action moments as stunningly well storyboarded as these, they're visual treats to behold! Utterly ludicrous, mind you, but cool beyond all else. Dante's acrobatics, Lady's explosive flairs and even Vergil's katana magic- all of it dazzles and delight's every time they're on screen. I enjoy these scenes so much I didn't even notice that time the game slipped into one of my least favourite clichés of having you do a boss fight, win that fight, and then lose in the cutscene. (I'm considering writing a whole blog on how insanely moronic and insulting that cliché is.) The actual cutscene of my turn-around loss was so good I didn't even complain, I just loved to see myself fall. You've got to be working some voodoo to get me that turned around!

And now that I care about the world and cutscenes all that more, I actually cared about the story of Devil May Cry this time around as well! It's still pretty average. (although with the track record the franchise has had until now I suppose that's a step forward.) Core character motivations are either laughably thin or generic, actual events are random enough that I'm fairly certain this original script layout was literally written with 'And then, and then, and then' all the way with no punctuation, and once again the game tortures it's dialogue to force out the words "Devil's may cry" in what felt like the most clunky way the franchise has done yet! (I'm pretty sure that's actually just in comparison to the rest of the game which has good dialogue. DMC 1's clunkiness just fit everything around it.) But I liked the cast, so I liked their plights, and I cared about what happened to them and enjoyed it when they succeeded. There's actually hints of a surprisingly competent narrative buried here. The three way perspective shifts between the main characters had the potential of telling a real building intrigue if they were written with a bit of deftness. I can see the story team trying a bit harder with this game, and that effort means something with me because in a franchise that clearly never valued narrative, an effort to improve is above and beyond the call of duty. Points for effort!

Summary

I think Devil May Cry 3 might be the first clear classic that I've played in the franchise. DMC 1 is still a solid game for it's time, but DMC 3 even stands up by modern standards in many of the ways it handles gameplay complexity, challenge and blossoming progression avenues. The style, substance and cool of Devil May Cry was born with this entry, and those who wonder why Dante and his team are considered video game royalty will get a solid idea after experiencing them in their prime glory here. However there's still room to grow for the games. The missions sometimes dragged in the early game, (especially in Yellow Orb mode) the late game backtracking isn't especially competently presented, the actual substance of the narrative is still dumb, (In a manner that is starting to feel like a disservice now that this franchise has a personality) and the music tracks are really bland and dated. But I wouldn't call any of these roadbump issues: 'experience killers'. Action adventure fans need to treat themselves to this game, which is another way of saying I recommend this, by the by. And as for my arbitrary review rating, I'm thinking B+ is an apt reward for the new step in quality that the Devil May Cry franchise has been treated to. After this I can't wait for what 4 has in store for me...

Are there too many Souls-likes?

Souls for days!

I finished Breakpoint

 Guess I'm a liar

Is Starfield secretly Fallout 5?

 Probably definitely not

Dawn of the adaptations

 Actually I guess we're bit past the 'Dawn' by now. Early-mid day of the adaptations?