The Legacy of Beserk

A legend has passed

On the 20th of May 2021 it was announced that the legendary Mangaka Kentaro Muira had died a few weeks earlier, shocking just about everyone in the Manga and anime community to their core. Muria was only 54 at the time, characterising news like this as quite alarming and certainly unexpected, but beyond that comes the innate sadness that the creator of the legendary Beserk franchise has passed. Across the internet people mourned in their own ways, from simple posts to extravagant and populous virtual wakes in Final Fantasy XVI. And I personally feel the empty pit in entertainment left behind. I remember hearing a fan remark how Beserk was a series that had started before they were alive and would end after they had died, and I'm not sure if that latter will still hold true, but certainly it's legacy will maintain it as one of the most referenced and influential manga's of all time. It has been a very remorseful week in the meanwhile.

Personally, though, I will admit it's a little strange to feel so affected by this passing considering that I had never, at any point in my life, actually read Beserk, watched either of it's adaptations, played any of it's games, or just interacted with that direct world ever. I had heard of the series, of course I had, but it's one of those that I'd never gotten around to and now sort of feel pressured to rectify that. But even that new-found pressure doesn't explain why the initial shock hit me so hard. I think a part of that comes from my new found love of another hugely influential manga series in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which is similarly maintained by a lauded creative head who's certainly been around the scene for a long time considering he is now... 60?! Hirohiko Araki is 60? (I mean... either he's put on the stone mask or he's a Harmon practitioner, because that face looks late 20's at most.) But the other part of my reaction comes from the way in which Kentaro Muira's seminal work, Beserk, as I hinted, has influenced so many staples of gaming that I love to this day.

Following the journey of a mercenary called Guts, Beserk is an epic fantasy tale telling the journey of this orphan's life across a dark gothic world meeting friends and foes, and making the worst foes out of friends. Perhaps what I know the story best for, at least personally, is one period wherein a character boarded a ship for a far away land and it took them around 8 years to get there. That was in real time, by-the-by. (Thus is the consequence of waiting for incremental chapter updates from a perfectionist.) The story has yet to be treated to a regular anime dedicated to covering it's every step, the current anime has only released 2 seasons in the space of 5 years. (Which I guess could be seen as overarching perfectionism getting in the way of content production) However what's already there has bought to life significant chunks of the story and birthed at least one theme so iconic you probably don't even realise that you recognise it. (That's Gut's Theme by-the-way, look it up)

So now you know what it is, you probably want to know if it's influenced anything you've heard of. Well off the bat I think it's safe to say that one of the most famous titles it influenced, to the point where fans have speculated that the entire series exists as the creator's own unofficial adaption/interpretation of Beserk, is Dark Souls. That's right, the king of Gothic decay actually borrowed it's heart and spirit from Beserk, such to the point where they even included the iconic weapon of Guts as one of the staple swords you can find and enchant in the game. There's plenty of thematic parallels that people have picked out over the years, but overall the consensus is that if you want to feel like you're in the world of Beserk, Dark Souls might just be the closet thing to it. Again, I stress that I'm sharing the opinion of others here as I cannot attest to the similarities personally, but that's what I've heard insisted.

Another such influence was actually the classic Capcom series Castlevania, although that's more in reference to the world and story built retroactively for the franchise rather than for the original games themselves. As much as those games did have unmistakable gothic elements running in their veins, they were still a long way from the indepth development that the series enjoys today. Now, steeped in written literature, tons of story heavy entries for the franchise and a recently wrapped up Netflix series that is said to be excellent, it's easier to see the ways in which this dark fantasy owes it's heritage to Beserk. At least, that explains the ever so sleight similarities in tone that Castlevania shares with Dark Souls, even if Dark Souls is notably more hardline.

But I realise that, despite both of their meteoric rises in the past decade, both of those examples can still technically be considered 'niche'. I mean even then they both certainly fall on the heavy end of the concept of 'niche', but not everyone is familiar with the vampire series or the punish-you-till-you-cry games. What if I mentioned a series that's a lot more common with the regular folk; like Final Fantasy? That's right, apparently FF itself owes a lot to the legendary manga series; and even saying that I feel like that's something I should have already known. I mean just look at Cloud's Buster sword from FF7, surely there's a bit of a reference there? And that's not mention several of the character design parallels which may now be known as tropes but back then had real paths of influence and iteration. And I know for a fact that Nier and Drakengard both have directly credited Beserk for the fallen world they both depict, as celebrated with a refence here and there in both series.

And finally I want to sink back into obscurity to talk about a series which only I love, but it has Beserk influences so that's my excuse to drag it into the light once more. So Dragon's Dogma (Who's booing?) is another case of a game that I low-key think was trying to stealthy adapt Beserk without asking permission, I mean that just looking at the whole look of the rolling hills of the world, the choice of classical monsters with conceptual twists or amplifications, the general apparel of the world's inhabitants, the general premise of being a impromptu leader of a gang of mercenaries who wonders the land doing oddjobs. Only, I'd imagine that the stealth adaptation might have hit a bit of a snag when the team literally partnered with Beserk to bring two whole armour sets into the game directly modelled off of Guts and Griffith's iconic clothes. (Thems some powerful influences)

Though the manga series of Beserk may now have been prematurely cut sort in the wake of this, as I doubt anyone is going to to try and take it over with how personally driven and uniquely spirited these lauded Manga stories tend to be; the legacy of Beserk will continue to touch our entertainment lives in a plethora of different ways. Games, Manga and Stories will forever continue to me made with a tinge of Muira's legacy to them, and that's about as pervasive and lasting of a legacy as one man could possibly hope to have. So even though I was never as close with your work as I could have been, I bid a fond farewell and thank you to Kentaro Muira in the knowledge that we all we see his spirit and works through the stories that we love. 

Ubisoft: "We can sink deeper"

 Ever the disappointment, aren't you?

Oh Ubisoft, it seems like you're ever the disappointing mole on the face of your own catalogue, as whenever you've a new shift in direction or policy everyone grits their teeth and longs for some fictional Ubisoft in the past that would have made better choices. I'm going to level with you, I don't recognise that Ubisoft, or at least I don't think I've lived long enough to ever have seen their face. When has Ubisoft been anything more than the trend chasers with the few lucky foots in the market that they've milked to exhaustion? Was it in the Prince of Persia days? Before that? And do not misunderstand me, I do enjoy a Ubisoft game every now and again, but I haven't really been blown away by anything special out of them since probably Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. (And that's going back a long way) I suppose what I'm saywing is: somehow even when their dropping terrible tidbits of news about their future leanings as a company it reeks with unoriginality. Ya'll can't even come up with a direction for your company without looking over to your partners notes and copying down their answers? Seriously!? So I'm not shocked by this latest controversy, not even really all that mad, just tired. Someone save these guys from themselves, please.

Of course, I'm referring to the very recent reveal of where Ubisoft management are leaning their huge European development studio in the years to come, courtesy of an investor call. (The bain of all shifty business choices trying to avoid public scrutiny) Here the heads of the brain tried to sell the grand idea to the money men; the key idea that would lead them all to future riches; in order to become rich they would transition from creating three or more AAA games a year to dropping a Free to Play title in there or two. Wait what? How does that... where did you go wrong? It's as though the execs correctly identified that their output quota was actively killing their creativity, but somehow utterly failed in translating that over into a solution. What you need is breathing room for your studios to make a game that's actually interesting and risky, with the chance to break new ground and maybe even start it's own trend if you get lucky. But instead we're getting more Free to play. Yay, I guess.

So we're into the 'Free to play' argument again, are we? The question of whether or not it's better to exchange a one-time fee for an equivalent experience, or have that money (and usually more) extracted out of you piecemeal through soul crushing whittling and barebones panhandling. (I'm sure that, from my tone, you can guess which side of the fence I'm sitting on.) Now of course, 'Free to play' isn't the mark of the beast and there can be some titles out there that don't just do the model injustice, but absolutely rock it and make it shine. I play a few of them. But if that isn't the exception and not the rule I don't know what is, and if there's one assessment I can make regarding Ubisoft as a whole, it's been a very long time since that studio has been 'exceptional'. What they have been, more often of late, is predisposed towards taking shortcuts in favour of benefitting greed. Take the 'time saver' packs they released in place of game balancing, the retexture skins they sell on the marketplace for ludicrous prices, the overbloated yet somehow underfilled, games that get flogged at full price. If anyone's going to take advantage of a Free to Play model in all the worst ways, it's Ubisoft.

For fans, however, there's a sense of a changing of the guard which a lot of them are taking as a personal loss. Because Ubisoft aren't just slapping Free-to-play versions of all their top brands on the slate for the price of nothing, oh no. Every action must have an opposite or equal reaction, afterall; thus we're going to be seeing less of the big releases that all those people flocked to Ubisoft for in the past. Their bread and butter is going to be scaled back and rationed so that they have enough provisions to nurse some diseased lung of a f2p life service into the world; what a deal? From the way they make it sound, as well, it's as though we can expect a good many of these Free to Play games coming yearly, as Ubisoft are shifting their weight heavily onto this train expecting the dividends to flow as freely for them as it has for all the others who started the ball. (You know, despite that not exactly working out in practise just earlier this year with... what was it called?... the Battle Royale... Nuts....'Hyper Scape'! Had to look it up.)

Many a despondent eulogy was shared on Twitter in the wake of this announcement from the masses seeing this as the end of an era for Ubisoft games going forward. Some who managed to listen in on the call reported that the Inventors, too, were at least dubious if no downright sceptical about this announcement. So I guess this isn't just a case of money men talking a language that us paupers can't understand, even people with finance on the mind aren't sure why Ubisoft is so darn certain that their gold lies at the end of pre-plundered rainbows. After Fortnite, Warzone, Genshin Impact, Path of Exiles and all others of it's ilk have made their fortunes by being pioneers, Ubisoft trails behind for scraps and wonders why there isn't more. I don't know, maybe this is actually genius and Ubisoft is just dripping with great and groundbreaking ideas that would only work with a Free-to-play model. I certainly don't believe that to be the case, but as they say 'Assumptions' make an 'ass' out of 'you' and 'me'. (Or something like that, I don't know, I always hated that expression.)

Ubisoft on the otherhand, predictably, don't see the problem. ("It's all cool guys; what are ya worrying about?") In a canned jar of rhetoric chucked through the Eurogamer office windows, Ubisoft said the following: "Our intention is to- blah blah- excited to be investing more in free-to-play experiences, however we want to clarify that does not mean reducing our AAA offering." Except it does though, guys. "We are moving away from our prior comment regarding 3-4 premium AAAs per year" sort of explicitly implies there will be less AAAs. And assuming that this is just a 'lost-in-translation' issue, you expect us to believe what? That Ubisoft is going to turn around and make 3 AAA games a year ontop of new Free-to-play games every once and a while? With what army of development studios? Or are they going to shove these F2Ps onto the big studios as side projects that they can hardly afford to take on because they're already stretched thin as it is? Or ship these off to inexpensive contractors who don't know the difference between a game and a wall port? Or heck, maybe they literally intend to double their entire staff load within a year in order to fuel these cursed ventures; then at least some folk would actually be getting jobs out of this deal. (We'll call that the silver lining if that turns out to be the case.)

Ubisoft insist theirs is a steadfast commitment to sharing premium experiences from all of their favourite franchises, (answering a query that no one asked) from "Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Quarantine, Riders Republic and Skull and Bones". Huh, so that's your line-up, is it guys? At least one of those games has been delayed so much it isn't even funny and you seem to have conveniently forgotten how 'Beyond Good and Evil 2' has been in limbo for the past half century. But there seems to be something missing... something deeply important to- oh yeah; Where the heck is my Splinter Cell!? I know I'm kind of shoving it in here, but darn it I need an outlet! It's been too long without a premium stealth game on the market, we need someone to rise up and take the mantle! Oh, but are you waiting for someone else to claim the topspot and revive so that you can follow in their shadow and scoop up the excess? Yeah, that'd be fitting for you guys; wouldn't it?

Somehow commenting on how this is 'typical behaviour from Ubisoft' isn't very comforting. These are the people in charge of the biggest European game studio collective still around, so they have uncomfortable reach with their poor decisions. If there's one thing we can hold out hope for, it's the fact that Ubisoft have, in pulling this move, proved themselves as unreliable when it comes to executing plans, so we could be right back to square one in a year from now. One can only hope so, because at this rate Ubisoft's looking ready to do a pro-Konami move and systematically dissolve every last bit of fandom adoration they've saved up over their long career. Don't think it's possible? Remember that Metal Gear was a series 8 years older than Ubisoft's whole time in the game's industry; and look what happened to my boy Snake. (Consequences come for us all.)

What makes a better driving game? Realism or fantasy

 Better than fiction?

I'm holding off of stepping into the genuine question right off the bat here because I have to be clear and open: The racing/driving genre isn't exactly my forte. In fact, that's putting it lightly. I haven't been able to fully jump into or enjoy a single racing game to the fullest for a ludicrously long time, and even when I try to, I fail to latch onto that 'hook' which keeps the racing spirit alive for most of the driving game audience out there in the bustling community as it exists today. Maybe they just hail from a genre that fails to speak to me, that could very much be the case. But regardless I find myself fascinated by them and the developers who make them, because how could I not? They have the best peripheries, (those racing wheels and chairs always look so much fun) they have the most rapid fanbases, (You rarely here about new series entries underperforming) and their developers are typically some of the most detail-minded in the industry. (Either in technicals, visuals or sometimes even both) But there's always been one question that's bugged me, and that's what makes the better racing game; the one's that shoot for ultra realism, or those that embrace the silliness. I think both offer much to the player, so I'm going to have to break things down.

Mario Kart, or kart racers in general for that matter, certainly never try to hit you with the realism card at any point. And that's likely because they derive their very concept from the casual bumper karts attraction that you'd see in plenty of carnivals across the world but avoid because the lines were ridiculous. (seriously, I'd always seen them more packed than the roller coasters) So in hailing from an activity built for kids it makes sense that this genre of racer would be more kid oriented, but that doesn't mean they're not hugely competitive. In fact, Mario Kart's power-up weapons often makes it one of the most competitive racers you can play, because screwing up the opponent is an active decision on each player's part. There's a gladiatorial zeal from Mario Kart that speaks to the soul, deeply and personally, feeding upon our base desires of conquest. It's also an utterly bizarre and crazy game that uses it's source material to set stages upside down, in space and underwater. That's one thing that all Kart racers do well, utilise the world to make some of the interesting racing stages possible. No matter how much traditional racers take off, there may never be a racing track quite as iconic as the infamous Rainbow Road.

Speaking of traditional racers, how about I touch on Forza for the time being, as I've always considered their entries to be the pinnacle of such games. Of course, you could substitute this for any racing game out there that devotes insane amounts of resources to nailing the sounds, materials, tracks and everything else connected to the world of racing. Every new entry I'm blown away to see the miniscule details thrown in, adjustments to traction, distortion of engine noises, the impeccable gleam of the light off the hood, diffusion through the window pain, rain peppering the side mirror, it's as though the Forza developers are actively attempting to supplant reality with their attempts at recreating an unmatchable racing experience. Their dedication to accuracy is such, in fact, that during the height of the recent Pandemic, when no racing events could be held, Forza remained the one outlet through which Racers could continue their sport in exhibition matches. (It also allowed them to try out a newly constructed track which none of them had the chance to try out in real life yet.) If you want to feel like you're racing around in that car you've always seen from afar, Forza and it's ilk are the exact games for you, making them the ideal must-own for any and all car geeks out there.

But steering back towards the fantastical angle, (hah, unintended pun)who remembers the explosive 2010 action racing game Split/Second? (Known as 'Split/Second: Velocity' in Europe. likely to differentiate it from the 1992 movie that no one remembers. And which I know have to watch, it has Rutger Hauer in it.) Split/Second was an action movie distilled into a video game racing shell, complete with all the streaked out camera effects, overblown reaction cams and huge explosions. It aimed for realism in base presentation, but in gameplay it was all about wrecking you opponent in huge fireball incidents which, and lets be fair, probably kills them. You could lump this type of game in with Burnout and Flatout, for games where the sole purpose is carnage and destruction, with racing making for a fun afterthought. Damaging modelling and spectacle thrive in these types of racing games, and though none of it is realistic, do you really care when it's still blood pumping and adrenaline spiking all the same?

Bridging between those two sides of the issue we have Need for Speed, the racing game that looks impressively faithful to life at face value but has about as little interest in being 'realistic' as Mario Kart does. Typically focused around bringing big and powerful super cars to the hands of the sensibly-challenged, NFS has a tendency to air towards a style-over-substance approach to the overall package. Which is completely fine if all you want to do is feel cool for a little bit. Hitting top speeds and pulling of drifts allday, the purpose of Need for Speed is to serve as the racing genre's equivalent of a power trip, which it serves admirably making it a great entry point to racing games. In fact, the first racing game I ever played to completion was a Need for Speed. Although I wonder if their zeal might have faded off in the decades since the 90's, because that certainly does seem where their particular sense of 'presentation' was birthed from. Regardless, casual fans will always have time for a new NFS entry, as long as one get's made. (It's been a hot minute, hasn't it?) 

And then there's Driver. What is there to say about this game? Driver was a driving, crime drama game that, once upon a time, was looked on upon as a competitor to GTA. Perhaps its most lauded entry would be 'San Francisco' which abandoned any vague pretence to realism that the series might have flirted with through natural association of it's subject matter and celebrated bizarre surrealism instead. These developers took every opportunity they could think of to come up new and interesting situations for a car-themed racing title to go through, such to the extent that it remains one of the most unique games of it's type to this day. Jumping into the minds of other drivers in order to assist your main objective, or racing through a city of frozen pedestrians is just the tip of the iceberg. 'Driver: San Francisco' offered a glimpse at how truly diverse driving games could be if only they weren't so stringent, which would make it a must play if it was actually actively sold anymore. Which it isn't.

Finally there's the DiRT series, a collection of games themed around Rally racing across dirt roads and dedicated to nailing the feel of off-road racing as much as humanely possible. I actually remember the genesis of this series and way in which the big feature to blow as all away was the manner in which mud accumulated accurately on the rally cars chassis' as they roared over wet mud tracks. Since then they've really perfected those visuals and worked on bringing the physics and handling of various terrains to a degree of realistic replication. DiRT introduces a very atypical side of racing to gamers but with comparable levels of fidelity that you'd see from traditional racers, demonstrating how even when following the straight and narrow driving games can be different and distinct from one another.

Of course, my comparisons are slightly contrived as the genre of racing/driving games is big enough to satisfy all comers no matter what it is that they look for. And, naturally, the question of which approach yields the better game is subjective at best and asinine at worst; but what fun is it being part of a nerdy fandom if you can't host pointless and stupid death matches against oneself? Thus when I weigh up the benefits of the realistic approach against the fantasy approach, and taking into account this is my personal opinion, I have to say that more often than not realism equals a better end product. Perhaps that comes from a certain design ethos of the teams who make each respective game, put I just think it comes down to the fact that making a fantasy driving game epic requires unflinching creativity and dedication, whereas making a realistic racing game just requires dedication. It that an oversimplification? Undoubtedly. But it does look good under a summary, now doesn't it?

Skyrim's Lordbound

Ever expanding

Skyrim was the first game which really dragged me into the concept of modding and prolonging the story of the hero I loved to play as indefinitely, and anyone who's dipped their toes into the PC Skyrim scene can probably figure out why. Hundreds of talented makers have flocked to Skyrim's comprehensive modding tools over the years to make sure that it, and it's Special Edition rerelease, have almost always been flush with cool, exciting, game changing or just bizarre game mods to shake everything up. Much of the modding world as it exists today for the entire industry owes itself to trends started in the Skyrim modding boom, for example, Resident Evil 8 has already been hit with a mod to turn Lady Dimitrescu into Thomas the Tank Engine. Where do you think the trend of turning everyone into Thomas came from? It came from Trainwiz and Skyrim when he first turned Aludin into Thomas years ago. That's what I mean, Skyrim is sort of the starting point for a lot of modding trends, even if it wasn't the first big modding game or even the first heavily modded Bethesda game, something about it just made that game a flytrap for creativity amidst the community.

But whilst all these brilliant little mods have ever peppered Skyrim's online presence, I've always been drawn specifically to the large scale mods. The one's which demand a small team of talented folk come together in order to pool skills and resources and create something with as much polish, yet much more concentrated, of the main Bethesda team would be capable of. I'm talking relatively small quest mods when compared to the full game, but brimming with care, love, talent and time to the point where it stands out as some of most memorable experiences in the entire game. Skyrim's modding community has been blessed with so many projects in that vein, and whenever I see another on the horizon I just have to click my heels together in utter excitement. Which is probably why when I stumbled upon the in-progress details regarding a certain ongoing mod project called Lordbound, I knew it's something I wanted to talk more about on this blog.

Reading the press-content from the mod's page, Lordbound is a mod that has been in development (of some form, at least) for the past six years, aided by at least one fellow who's now actually working within the game's industry now. Presented not so much as a 'mod' but as an 'expansion', Lordbound's completed vision should offer players 60+ hours of content, 40+ new quests and 50+ new dungeons to explore. Now even acknowledging that as 'best case scenario' speak, I have to say that looking at face value on those statistics make it sound like this mod is promising a simply obscene amount of content. 40 quests? 50 Dungeons? I cannot imagine dedicating that level of effort in the heart of a single project unless what I was working towards an entirely new game. One that would be sold. But apparently this is going to be a freely accessible mod, which just kind of breaks my brain a little bit. (At least it explains why the team are still looking for members even after all this time; that's a lot of content ground to cover.)

Set in the 'Valley of Druadnach', (A name which, in the base game, was simple used to denote the homecave of the King of the Forsworn) this mod looks to explore the political tension of a strip of land laid out between the lands of Skyrim and High Rock. (And perhaps even a little sliver of the ever unmapped region of Orisinium, home of the orcs, judging from their name drop in this little affair.) The story will apparently explore trade route tensions and all those diplomacy-related story hooks that I always thought made for the best Elder Scrolls stories. Legends about saving the world are one thing, but Morrowind shows how interesting that sort of tale can be when tied to the very real-world implications it has on the everyman in the area. I'd imagine that this Lordbound questline similarly will have it's own twists and compounding circumstances, one's which I'm excited to feel out for myself.

An aspect about this mod which I really find myself liking is the familiarity of the location in question. It's not some alien culture from Skyrim, but a location just right next to it's play area, meaning that visually a lot of what you are seeing is inkeeping to the design rules established by Skyrim. Now witnessing whole new environments is cool and everything, but there's an extra level of ingenuity between taking the familiar and differentiating in way that's stubble and yet stands out. Even just looking upon the screenshot provided you can already see a visual style that reminds you of base Skyrim but with that little bit extra. Specifically I've noticed that the interiors tend to be really filled out with decorations that tell a story of being living in, and the lighting has been given great care when setting up. I also love the vague aura of the mysterious and supernatural seeped into some locations, really utilising throbbing deep green auras or mystic blues; some top design work even from the getgo.

Another thing I have noticed, both from screens and the trailer, is that the locations do have a tendency to air for the 'bigger' feel it terms of space used. This tends to be a habit from mod creators, as they see the opportunity to make a huge location and will typically shoot for it, however it's in fluffing up and filling that space which issues can occur. It requires a really disciplined eye for design not to make dead space really stand out, which is why a lot of the oversized conceptual art you'll see for fantasy games, and even Skyrim itself, tend to be scaled down for the final product. That being said, a lot of what I've seen for this mod hasn't worried me yet, the guys working on environment building appear to be fonts of creative design thusfar. I can't help wonder, however, if that might become an issue in the long run for making all those 50+ dungeons to the same standard. (But perhaps I'm just compounding on a nothing issue. I admit, I know nothing of this team's inner workings.)

Last but not least, is my favourite part of mods like these; the new armour sets. Good lord, do I love it when folk sit down and decide what sort of armour, weapons and clothing these new folk would wear in the environments designed for them. Of course, this part also take an extra amount of work for the dual modelling alone, (First and third person models) disregarding the added scrutiny things such as armour motifs and racial styles always elicits. Lordbound's team have been tantalising vague about the new items primed to show up in this mod, although what little they have shown, mostly renders before they've been implemented into the game, have this sort of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings vibe to me. (Which I'm a fan of, obviously.)

I find it amazing to think that even now, after nearing up to 10 years from it's launch, Skyrim is still juggling incredibly ambitious projects like this one, although I suppose that's a testament to the sorts of creative fellows that this series draws in. I mean just look at Morrowind, I count at least three incredibly ambitious new lands project in active development over there! Lordbound reminds of the OG new lands Skyrim mods, like Falskaar, in taking something we're familiar with and remixing a bit here, adding a lot over there, to show as something we've never seen before. So keep make sure you keep up on this one for when it launches, and see if it's enough to draw you back to the land of the Nords once more.

700 Posts

It's dangerous business, going out your front door.

Oh boy, there is it: the grand 700! Except, not actually 700 because I, once again, didn't see it coming and so am off by about a week, but facts are still facts; by the time this publishes it will join a list of at least 700 other blogs that I've already posted, proving once and for all that I have truly nothing better to do with my life and/or time. I have to be honest, I find the prospect just a tad tiring, although that may be the aftermath of catching hayfever this morning, everything feels just a little bit more tiring than it perhaps should. And yet, right now I'm sitting at nearly two years of continuous straight blogging writing down literally everything under the sun that has possessed even the slightest relation to gaming and my interests within that space, and though there have been some close calls over those years, some times when I'm literally writing and editing until a handful of minutes before midnight, somehow I've always managed to get this blog out before my self-imposed deadline. Perhaps that's worth some vague merit somewhere, I hope so...

With this stage in the life of whatever it is I'm doing with this here blog, I feel strangely more connected to the topics I touch on than I ever have before. Or at least, more connected than I remember being, seven hundred instances day-after-day has a tendency to blend in the ol' mind cage so I can't be positively certain of my exact feelings, but I think I'm getting right down to who I am and why I play games through the topics I'm covering recently. It ain't no great mystery, by-the-by, I'm just lonely and need some form of escapism, but in the vein of that contrived pomp which infects all writers I always felt there was some innate truth underneath that explicitly defies simple explanation. Something that could only be said through example, or if I was more a poet, through allegory. (Thank god I'm not a poet then) Maybe you're starting to see that truth written on the face of my touching upon Dragon's Dogma lately, a game I've ever attested to be underappreciated, or my very recent reviews of a game of tantamount import to be, Morrowind. 

Yes, those Morrowind reviews were actually very significant for me. Not because they were huge bloated affairs or anything, but because they really helped close a chapter that had been opened for far too long; having never finished Morrowind to start with, but also having never quite processed my journey into Elder Scrolls- the first fantasy property I ever properly loved. (I stand today a bonafide fantasy nut, so that origin's of quite some significance to a guy like me) Coming back to that game after so many years, and off of a whim, was like some great releasing of energy that has finally freed me from the curse. Of course, now I feel obliged to replay Oblivion and Skyrim and perhaps even give Daggerfall a third chance, because I never got into that game like I did Arena, so I guess I've opened myself up to a whole new prison.

One thing that's new for me in my personal interests, or if not *new* than at least evolved, is the fact that I'm really getting into tabletop roleplaying. Actually, that's a misnomer, I don't have friends, I'm more getting into watching other people play play tabletop roleplaying, because I just totally love the imagination that goes into it. I casually mentioned that I, for the first time ever, started watching Critical Role from the beginning and it's been a brilliant showcase in the way that improv fuels a lot of the D&D action. Of course, those are trained actors who've probably literally taken improvisation classes, but you see a lot of it in more casual set-ups as well, and I love to see that on-the-fly mile-a-minute storytelling and decision making; it's so fun as a viewer. (FYI; I don't recommend watching Critical Role from the beginning like me, for no over reason than I've queued myself up for watching more than 1000 hours of content which is likely going to take the next two years to get through, I don't wish this on anybody.)

Aside from that I've been strangely reticent on touching any of the new actually produced content which seems to be blowing up around me, probably because it's new game season and I have a tendency to get insular when a whole bunch of games I'm excited for are coming out and I don't want to be spoiled until I can play them a couple of years later. Bad Batch has, and may continue to, passed me by, Invincible is blowing up and I still know next to nothing about it; and Resident Evil 8 is out, so I'm in full hermit crab mode. Still, it makes me feel like the world of entertainment is passing me by, which just goes to highlight how the real world is doing the same. So I'm a tad more melancholic than usual of late, which- actually who am I kidding? I'm always melancholic, that's like my defining character trait. 'More so than usual', what a crock...

Alas, moving forward there are certainly a few new ideas I want to get around to, that are really just more excuses for me to try fun blogs like the ongoing series I'm doing with XCOM. (Still doing that by-the-way just need to work up a little courage) Just the sorts of blogs that give me an opportunity to talk about games that I like from a full nerdy perspective rather than being 'introductive' and 'surface level' all the time. Similarly, I'm exploring whether it might be fun to do a deep dive into Elder Scrolls lore tidbits, seeing as how much of a fan I am of those games and how that isn't exactly represented by it's presence on these blogs. The only problem in that regard being that there's just so much reading material on Elder Scrolls I'm almost guaranteed to always leave something behind. Then again, if I let that stop me, it's almost as though I'm saying Dark Souls is more approachable from a lore angle than Elder Scrolls, and that don't seem right at all.

I also want to start upping the presence of Star Wars on this blog, and that might just be because all these rumours of Star Wars Knights of The Old Republic are getting me hyped, or just because I can't quit Start Wars after all these years. Everyone I used to know who was big on Star Wars stuff has either moved on or just simply aren't in my circle anymore, so I don't really have anyone to geek out with, and if this blog has taught it anything it's that whenever I'm alone I can always keep myself company. The only debate for that is whether or not there's really any future in touching on Star Wars content, what with the constantly shifting cannon and Disney's seemingly active attempts to delete it's own consumer base systematically. At least we're getting more Mandalorian, thank god that show isn't finished yet or things would be dire.

So yes, I'm insulating, retreating into the things I know and building a fort out of it, but is that really so bad? Heck, there's enough folk out there who talk about things they know next to nothing about, and as much as I do enjoy doing that a bit myself from time to time, maybe a little shake-up isn't the worst possible thing in the world. Get real nerdy sometimes, talk about actually playing some of these games I love, get around to reviewing all my favourite/least favourite games. (the latter will be a sort list; I don't tend to keep games I hate around) And, most importantly of all, don't miss this month's recommended game like I did in April. Yes, that was a goof, I feel terrible about it. Whelp, there's one more status update done. Seen you in another hundred! (Also, not to self, stop writing 'folk' so much. I literally never say that in person, it's entirely exclusive to my writing persona and I don't get it. Wonder if Jungian Psychology can unravel that little mystery...)

Preshow Interactive

History repeats itself

You know what, in an ideal world, deserved much better for itself? Movie Pass. Remember Movie Pass? No? Then let me enlighten you to the tragic tale of a company who, for some reason, fell on the sword for the good of the consumer. You see, movie pass was a service wherein  people could pay a cheap subscription fee in order to watch an unlimited amount of movies at select retailers for that month. How cheap? Too cheap. I'm talking, so cheap that the company was haemorrhaging money for it's entire lifespan, trying desperately to secure enough users that it would offset their insanely irresponsible business model. (What dumbass bank manager gave out a loan for this?) Eventually they got desperate and started trying to pressure smaller cinemas into cutting them deals, touting their user base, which fell through. Then they started cutting the benefits of the deal to a certain number of movies a week, then a selection of non-blockbuster movies for that week, before giving up and slinking into scummy service provider tactics to retain users. I'm talking, changing passwords on accounts so that people couldn't see movies, in the knowledge that every movie seen cost them money. Eventually Movie Pass went the way of the do-do and quietly faded away into distant memory, but it's legacy is that every major theatre chain started offering their own, more sensible, version of subscription movie watching. So in a way you could say that they died for our sins.

"But you don't even watch movies. Why bring any of this up?" Well pointed out and good point, dear reader, but I have a good reason for this history lesson because you see, bizarrely, these people have been allowed to try the business world again, and this time with Gaming as their target. (Are you afraid or excited? I'm a little of both.) Don't you think we have enough peripheries and addendums to the wild world of Video games that get distributed from actual consoles makers? Do we really need civilians getting involved with family business like this? That isn't the Tojo clan way, you can't just be shoving your nose up in official Yakuza affairs like that. (Huh? Yes I did just replay Yakuza 0 again, why do you ask?) But let's give them the ol' benefit of the doubt as we explore what in the heck these knuckleheads think they have to benefit the gaming world.

Firstly, however, can I send a spiritual slap in the face to whichever duped bank teller gave these guys a loan again! Their last venture ended with lawsuits and millions in debt, I doubt their ledger book ever saw a single droplet of black ink during it's entire service, why are you so insistent on burning your money like this? (And yet I can't even open a current account. What- do I need to tank a fortune 500 company first to qualify?) I am flabbergasted, and a little affronted, that we're here again merely 1.5 years  after the Movie Pass debacle, because even hearing the details of this and thinking it makes a tiny bit more sense than movie pass did, I just flashback to all the poor choices these guys made when things started to tense up and I know they'll find the single way to crash this idea in the most spectacular way possible. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

MTX. We all need 'em, apparently. If there's one thing that is a safe bet, even working with the ever shifting landscape of concrete that is the video gaming world, it's that whatever genre is due to take the top spot it's going to contain Microtransactions. (Well, I mean unless subscription based online games make a sudden resurgence in popularity. But that's impossible. Maybe.) It's the way that the bottom feeders in the industry scrape around customers for that little bit of extra change which builds up into something nauseatingly substantial by the end of the day. So if someone can find a way to leech upon that, some way, perhaps in embodying the maggot feeding on the faeces alongside those execs, then you might be looking at a pretty penny for yourselves somewhere at the end of the rainbow. (I honestly apologise for all the scatological imagery; I swear it's unintentional)

But before you go thinking that these guys went and developed an original idea, have no fear, its ripped it right off of the Mobile gaming world and haphazardly slapped into console gaming. Because my man here wants to offer people ingame microtransaction currency for the small price of watching ads the whole way through. You know, like mobile games have been doing forever?... He needed 3 million in raised capital for that? Or is the three million simply to pay for Movie pass legal fees he's still got hanging over his head, I dunno. It's just that this whole idea seems... how do I put this... bad and dumb and stupid. (Sorry to get all wordy up on you) It's not that I don't think this will work, I'm sure it will, for a time before those who give it a chance realise their time is better spent digging a ditch, I just think there's so many better ways to go about sneaking into the billion-dollar gaming marketplace. But hey, what do I know? This man managed to trick the banks twice, he's got something going for him.

So let's start with the obvious flaw in this little plan; the amount of currency earned isn't going to amount to anything worthwhile, because these sorts of plans have been around forever and the amount of time wasted watching ads is rarely worth the recompense. (Unless you build some algorithm to watch them for you, but even then is it really worth the time?) Then there's the fact that this is going to require an 'in' with the games owners themselves in order to function, simply because Mircotransaction currency transfer isn't something that really any game out there does in the world right now. They'll have to be begging these companies to change fundamental rules about how they run their infrastructure, rules put in place for the games companies' protection, just to make this business model work. (If the entire premise of your business relies on someone else showing you pity, that's probably not the strongest pitch.)

And then there's the little fact that, at the end of the day, these are microtransaction points; what good is that to the average player? Most who buy into the microtransaction trends do so with their big whale pockets anyway and are usually the type who do so because they can't be bothered to wait around and earn something gradually, (Hence why 'Time Savers' are still a thing. Thanks, Ubisoft) so they're not going to entertain a system like this. Players who aren't interested in Microtransactions have likely already resolved themselves to not care all that much, so the tantalizing offer of "Your whole day" for "A new badge plate" isn't going to win any converts. So I guess what I'm asking is simply: who is this for? What's your target demographic? What's your forecast look like? How long until you predict profitability? How future-proof is your business plan? Do you have a business plan? Have you ever written a business plan before? Do you have a relative who's some bigwig banker? How does this keep happening?

Now far be it from me to point and say someone's whole business venture is stupid and doomed for mediocrity if not failure, but when it's this baffling I just can't help myself. (The insults, they floweth) The Movie Pass tragedy was like a car crash in slow motion to everyone but those involved, where we could all see the incoming wall and had plenty of time to react and point out imminent death, but the drivers ploughed straight on through anyway. So isn't this a little bit like Deja Vu, only even more sad because this one doesn't even really have potential to improve the market it's 'supplanting'? You know what, I might be wrong and in 10 years time we're all suckling the teats of Preshow Interactive (that's the company's incredibly generic name, by the way) but I'm willing to put my money on KOTOR 3 launching before that ever happens. (And we all know Kotor 3 is a pipe dream... *Sniffle*) Still, might as well stand around and watch the ill fated startup burn. Ain't much else to do in this town.

Morrowind: Bloodmoon Review

In sheep's clothing

So... Bloodmoon, eh? I remember hearing about this DLC in reverse to the rest of my Morrowind discovery, because as I said I never tried the DLC when I first played The Elder Scrolls III. Thus maybe I read the name 'Bloodmoon' somewhere, but I was never really all that interested to look it up and see what it was about. (Which is actually rather bizarre because technically the very first piece of Elder Scrolls gameplay I intentionally looked up was someone's 160p grainy footage of werewolf gameplay from this very expansion. But I never looked it up specifically after the fact. Weird.) But it was only when the ultimate nostalgia DLC hit Skyrim, 'Dragonborn', that I was forced to turn around and stare this landmass in the face as diehards gushed at the fact this new DLC would take place in the exact same location as 'Bloodmoon'. Basically, 'Bloodmoon' for Morrowind and 'Dragonborn' for Skyrim both took place on the Island of Solstheim, and snowy island off to the Northwest of Vvardenfell, albeit with several hundred years of difference between the events of each respective DLC. So I ended up playing the callback years before the original, and now I get the surreal experience of seeing what I missed the first time and comparing how it stacks up against it's future 'Dragonborn' iteration and Tribunal's Mournhold. So how did that go?

Well for one I'll come out and say that Tribunal was certainly a lot more visually appealing than whatever it is that Bloodmoon is trying to go for. Okay, I know what Bloodmoon was going for, but I just think there was perhaps a miscommunication or a limitation of resources. You see, Solstheim was in fact an island much closer to Morrowind than Skyrim, but culturally it's clear that the land was always meant to refer back to the Nords, which were an undeveloped and largely unimportant race during the time of Morrowind's release. (They were all just 'stinky dumb Northerner' stereotypes back then) I'm not sure if that lack of development informed all the design decisions of Solstheim but I think that must have been going through somebodies head when they chose to make the land noticeably more flat, less varied and all around harsher than Morrowind. (Okay, that latter point doesn't really relate to 'design' I'll touch on it later.) A lot of the land is formed out of these gentle rising hills or just flat plains of land cut by faceless rocks and it doesn't really live up to the suite of variation that Vvardenfell boasted. Even when you were lost in Morrowind you'd see interesting sights and might even be able to figure out where you are on the landmass, but with Solstheim it can feel like you're lost in the blizzard at times, unable to tell up from down because, aside from a few standouts, every tract of land feels like  a clone of the last.

And that dissatisfaction with exploration isn't total by any means, the sheer novelty of exploring an icy landscape is a wonder of it's own for Morrowind, but it is exacerbated by the enemies, good lord the enemies! You see, both of these DLCs were made for endgame characters and thus are populated with enemies to contribute to that. Tribunal had entire sewer systems full to the brim of deadly Goblins, Dark Brotherhood Assassin's and Fabricant monstrosities. Solstheim has Wolves, Witches, Bears, Berserkers and- Spriggans? I haven't see those guys since Skyrim- what a reunion! Except no, because now they're the worst. Everything is. Everything hits hard, is plentiful and spawns everytime you rest, so you can never explore the land of Solstheim without mobs gnawing at your ankles. Spriggans in particular are even worse here than they are in Skyrim, because they have three lives. THREE! Making them such an absolute chore to slay that you'll bemoan every single time you're forced to take it on. And Solstheim is absolutely teeming with these badguys, making getting from Fort Frostmoth (the start) to the Skaal Village (one of furthest areas of civilisation) an unforgiving trek on it's own that I never want to take again! I appreciate hard content, I do; but this was just frustrating.

But at least you have the narrative to drag you along, one where you can actually have a tangible effect on the land around you! I'm not sure what I was exactly expecting from a Morrowind DLC, but a town building metagame certainly wasn't it. The build in particular is very straightforward with only one real choice, but it's still a very personal experience to be part of the genesis of a town. And whatsmore, the mining town that you found as the Nerevarine is Raven Rock! That's right, the very town you touch down upon in Skyrim's 'Dragonborn', so there's the progression of the world that you're looking for. Of course, I think Skyrim's iteration of the entirety of Solstheim is literally worlds improved upon Bloodmoon's in every conceivable way, (including design intent) but I suppose that's the product of 9 or so years more development experience. So I understand it, even if I maybe don't like it so much.

What about this "Bloodmoon", huh? What's that about? Well that derives from the narrative of the DLC which, amazingly, features two distinct paths for the player to take! (How very un-ElderScrolls-like; I love it) You start off by becoming ingratiated into the Skaal culture, learning of these spiritual settlers and their history, before being tossed into a mortal struggle between them and the Deadric god of the Hunt Hircine in his attempt to bring the wild hunt back around on a Bloodmoon. Narratively this story has literally nothing to do with the Morrowind main story, which was wrapped up by Tribunal, but instead offers a fun side story featuring those ever-popular story crutches, the Daedric Princes. (I'm not hating too hard. They are interesting entities that I always love to learn more about.)

At a point in the story you'll even be scratched by a werewolf and thus be given the choice to go cure yourself and continue the Skaal questline, or to submit to the wolf and become Hircine's servant. (Despite the fact that Werewolfism is a disease and part of the journey of the Nerevarine involved a process that technically makes you immune to aging and disease. Nevermind, just go with it.) Now this is revolutionary for Elder Scrolls storytelling, and you can sort of tell how new the devs were to this idea because of how they totally let the narrative drop off if you choose the Werewolf path. There's quests and objectives, but they're just sort of thrown at you until the Bloodmoon decends with you having no idea what that even means. It's kind of like Fallout 1's storytelling in that regard, unless you follow their specific route, the storytelling will miss you entirely. But seeing as how the narrative isn't really all that elaborate anyway, it's not a huge concern.

You know what is a huge concern? That final mission. Dios mio, that final mission. I'll admit to cutting back to a guide now and then, and it was through this that I saw, funnily enough, how this mission was entitled 'the hardest mission in the game'. "Really?" I thought "How bad could it possibly be?". Hmm... So I was astounded by how hard this mission was, because it's entire premise is throwing you up against insanely durable and strong werewolves in packs that are resistant to magic, are capable of several hundred points of damage in a few seconds and, worst of all, spawn in a maze. A maze you are forbidden from leaving once you enter it. That means you can't rest and get your health back at any single point until every werewolf is dead, whilst bearing in mind that if you summon more than 2 werewolves on you at once (a ludicrously easy thing to do) you will be quickly killed because this game wasn't built to accommodate for multiple enemy fights. Add on top of that the fact this game wants you to escort an NPC through this maze! (I just killed him straight up, not worth the hassle) In the end I had to jump and float over everything in that final maze because it was genuinely impossible to fight through it all legitimately. The onslaught was so insane and illfitting for the poor Morrowind combat controls that it completely overshadowed the final battle against Hircine himself. I'd already been through hell at that point, the devil himself was a picnic by comparison.

Ultimately I think it's no secret that I preferred Tribunal, even if Bloodmoon has more landmass to explore and more new play systems in the lukewarm Werewolf mode. Werewolf form gets easily cumbersome with how it's uncontrollable and happens every night, and the inability to rest or eat items for health makes its versatility limited. (as well as the fact that people remember who you are when you turn back for some reason, so it's a good way to alienate yourself with every NPC on the continent.) But for sheer novelty value of facing Morrowind's hardest vanilla challenge I, machoist that I am, can't exactly say no to playing this DLC. Plus, with time to spend around getting to know Solstheim, I did come to appreciate the landmass for at least not being too ballooned for it's own good, even if I don't appreciate the visual choices in design. In summary; I give Bloodmoon a C Grade for it's offering, fun in concept but rough on execution. If you play through Morrowind yourself and feel like giving this one a skip, I wouldn't admonish yourself too hard for the decision; but if you've the mind to push through there is some fun and new world spaces to explore on the isle. Including the first rendering of Dragur which may be slightly more scary than their Skyrim counterparts! So that's every part of Morrowind reviewed, however... there are some more aspects to Morrowind that I've been playing through before moving onto Oblivion and I think they may be worth a talk, so stay tuned for next time where I'll expand my scope to the wider world of Tamriel.

Europa Distasersalis IV

What do you mean I've "been disqualified from the clever titles awards"!?

Every now and then there'll be a little story that'll slip across my multiple screens and I'll peep it for a bit, but then really have a crisis of opinion on when it comes to diving into it on this here blog. (Cause unless I've got some insight on the matter, it's not really worth it) Most of the times that comes when I don't think there's really enough yet out about the topic, or in this case because I absolutely do not know enough to even really comprehend what all of the hoopla is about to begin with. Strategy games may be a little bit of a guilty pleasure of mine but that is in no way indicative of my knowledge of them, no I'm mostly a complete clueless dunce in those regards. But then a little turn to the story presented itself when I happened to take a little closer look at the product in question, and now what I really want to talk about is Europa Universalis 4, strategy games at large, and monetisation in the strategy game realm. Sounds vague, but I promise to hit all of those points by the end.

But first, Europa Universalis 4; what's up with that game? Well as far as I understand it, it's a civilisation-like grand strategy game where you helm an empire through their years of empire. The official description reads that it's games are set between 'renaissance and revolution', which I guess makes sense as those are usually the most action-packed years of any long-term CIV game unless you descend into all-out global warfare by the modern age. (You generally want to avoid doing that) Like most Paradox strategy games, Europa Universalis was well received and regarded as another stunning addition to the strategy pantheon; or at least that was until their latest release 'Leviathan' (Not the Mass Effect 3 DLC) wherein the community came together to give it single headedly the lowest rating on Steam. Now, that's a little bit of a misnomer as there are games with lower percentages than this single DLC pack for Europa, simply because Steam is ever assaulted by an endless deluge of shovel-ware, but it still wins the title thanks to the sheer volume of negative reviews against positive ones. People actually bought and played this DLC, you see, and a lot of them did not come away happy.

Thus was how I was introduced, and why I was reticent, towards this topic. I don't play Europa Universalis, I don't know why everyone would be hating on it's DLC. For all I know it could be anything from the balance of the game being way off, the additions to the game being ill-suited or just the thing not working, and even if any of that was the case, none of it would explain why any of this is such a big deal if we're just talking about DLC and not even the base, solid, game. Well, upon further reflection I understand. Leviathan is reported to be criminally undercooked with bugs hanging from every surface, missing assets and a general feeling that you paid £15 for a work-in-progress build; because that's pretty much what they did. And I also learned that Europa Universalis 4 was launched back in 2013, yet has been prolonged to this day through use of an ancient art once thought only known the live service crowd; content updates. Everytime one drops it's supposed to shake up the game to the point where it almost feels like a new title, serving the role that a new entry in the franchise once would; which could go to explain why everyone was so incensed when this content drop was such an underbaked buggy mess. (Hence justifying the worst rating on Steam right now), but before we explore that there is the discussion of precedent.

This isn't the first time that Europa Universalis 4 has dropped an undercooked expansion. Judging from comments this may be the worst example of that, but there have been others and, understandably, this is a trend that had started to weigh on the fanbase. If you've ever been sold a terrible game from someone you trusted one time that's already bad enough and is going to affect your opinion of them, but imagine if the next Bethesda or CDPR game was just as rushed- you'd start to feel pretty ticked off eventually. Well that's where the fans are at and it's the reason why they came to this expansion in droves to make their displeasure known. Even doubly so since the Europa Universalis developers have stopped visiting the forums often both for fear of retribution and because their track record has sort of painted them as a target around there. But then, as the developers tried to, we could turn this on it's head into a conversation about feedback.

Because in the wake of all this random negative press which got so bad that even bystanders like me were drawn into strategy games drama, a few fingers were pointed back at the community and the way they've been acting. In the eyes of the developers, it's demoralising to make content for a group of people who tear it to shreds each and every time, label them as incompetent and seem to thrive on their failure. All reactions that I can honestly understand, devoting yourself for those that don't seem grateful at the very least can take the fun out of the job, but on the otherhand one must consider that these are customers were talking about. People who pay a certain amount of money expecting to receive goods or services of equivalent value are usually pretty justified in their annoyance if what they receive is wanting. Calling out those who stiffed them, and on their own forums, does seem like a pretty reasonable response. Or do they expect everyone to say "Meh, they'll get it right next time." Die hard fans might, but the average player probably isn't going to be that patient. Cause a big enough ruckus and there really isn't many others to redirect blame for all this negativity to, and screwing up several expansions in the strategy games field is a big deal.

It was only when I looked at Europa Universalis' Steam page that I realised how big, and that was because these expansions basically form up what these games count as 'monetisation'. Rather than Microtransactions or lootboxes, these games shoot for a much more traditional DLC model, but with so much DLC you might as well be looking at a Microtransaction market. Buying all the DLC for this game in particular would run you back £290 for 34 items! (Of course, bare in mind that some of those are compilation packs, so the real full price would be slightly cheaper.) Good lord, these guys make a lot of DLC! And some of it is merely unit packs for various factions, but others contain actual systemic changes to the game that evolve the game experience to the next level. Following this train of DLC is similar to following the storyline of a Liveservice, both yourself and your wallet are invested so it's important for the developers to deliver. Of course that also puts the pressure on them to constantly perform or else end falling flat on their face, falling out of rhythm and then end in a situation like Europa Universalis did, with a string of poor releases.

Though I can't speak of specific examples for this game, I can offer my experiences with another strategy gem from the same publisher: Stellaris. There's a game about expanding a civilisation to the stars and it's built on a similar (if not as milked) model of big content updates through DLC that extends the game's life cycle. 'Apocalypse' added a whole new class of military vehicle with the ability to destroy entire planets, shaking up the balance to it's core. 'MegaCorp' implemented a whole new interface wherein supremacy could be won through the expansion of business, opening up brand new avenues to successful supremacy and essentially operating as a whole new campaign path. With 'Federations' there was a whole new system for diplomacy to fix the honestly broken system that was in the basegame. And 'Nemesis' was apparently a bit of a bust. Strategy games are no longer following the iterative release strategy of other genres but have settled into a pattern of building upon base foundations, which is why this seemingly unprecedented backlash to a DLC is simply a reflection of the environment in which these games are now thriving.

Recently the lead of the Europa Universalis has accepted all blame for the broken DLC and chose not to throw the virginal studio who helmed it under the bus. (Golf clap) He's also taken the time to detail exactly what they should of done under the assumption that because he can pinpoint it, that means fans should trust him not to make the mistake again. With any luck that will be case, because strategy game communities are so tightknit that's it's honestly heart-breaking to see one tear at itself like this. (I don't know what I'd do if X-Com were hit with something similar.) But I guess this just goes to show that half-assing DLC is no longer something that developers and Publishers can get away with under the guise of "Well, you don't have to buy it so stop complaining." (>Cough< Bethesda >Cough<)

Gord

If you go to the woods today, you'd better have gone in disguise!

Have you ever wondered what happens to those who up and leave storied studios like CDPR behind? I often do, even more so since the news dropped of the Witcher 3's game director leaving just the other day. I mean, where exactly do you go from there? It's got to be quite the CV bolster, having a Witcher Game or a GTA or a Fallout under your belt. You'd have to imagine that's the sort of the threshold where people come and seek you out for a position. (Imagine an employment world working like that! >laughing whilst crying on the inside<) But at that point the entire world must be one's oyster, the right mindset could use that as a springboard to go just about anywhere, start anything, and fallback on that legacy to legitimise it. Point in case, how about this new game 'Gord' that's floating around with the eye-brow raising tag "by Ex CDPR developers".

But what is it about the actual game itself that earns the attention it receives? Well, that's the fact that Gord is a medieval town builder/tactical game set in an amalgamation world between Dark Fantasy and, of course, Slavic Folklore. (There's the Witcher influence!) I don't know exactly what it is about town builder and city builder games that wins such a large audience, myself included, but I think it comes from this sense of playing god in the lives of mere mortals. Taking control of just about everything and seeing what you can do even when the forces of the world try to stop you. Personally I remember first feeling that allure when I came across From Dust, a game in which you literally take on the role of some elemental aspect-god worshipped by tribes as you attempt to solve their problems by manipulating the very elements as a floating ball of divine displacement. Town builders in particular scale down that omnipotencey into assuming a more mundane role, like the unchallenged town alderman or something, but for some genres and game modes, the more struggles and hurdles you have to endure to get what you want, the more exciting, interesting and ultimately rewarding the final product will be.

So what exactly does a Dark Fantasy town building game look like? Well for this Studio, dubbed Covenant.Dev, it basically looks identical to what The Witcher was going for. It's a European medieval world, complete with all the mud, grime and poverty that the Dark Ages are characterised by, beset with horrific, and often disgusting, monsters that look like they belong to some sort of hellish fantasy world just to make their lives all that worse. The result is this world where ordinary farmers and cattlehands get devoured by giant spiders and mutant tree monster things; all because there's no dashing paladins with gleaming silver armour and a party of funny diverse murderhobos to save the world. What makes things even more dire, is this world doesn't even have one cat-eyed silver-maned Geralt to slay the beasties, folk are just left to be the harvest for endless monstrous demons. What a genuinely horrific existence where it's actually confusing to understand how humanity is still a player in this world space. It's basically a world where humans aren't the top of the foodchain, but still sort of act like they are, which you thought would have led to the extinction of the entire race by now. (Kind of like Attack of Titan's Worldbuiling, there's a glimmer of 'something logically doesn't add up here')

Gord, however, won't be cursing us by trying to slap players into the role of sheep farmers who get their cattle nicked by goat demons every Wednesday. No, instead we assume the role of The Tribe of the Dawn as they embark on some sort of journey/suicide venture into the forbidden lands. A premise which implies, at least, that these folk know what they're doing and won't be entirely helpless when the multiheaded basilisk chicken comes to stomp on their houses. (Just mostly helpless.) You'll be attempting to erect a sustainable (to a certain degree, I suspect) and faithful society in hostile lands ruled by the unnatural, hostile enemy tribes and just general magical F***-you energies. (I believe in the gaming world we refer to such energies as; RNGesus)

An aspect that I like about what's being promised here is the level of attachment people will be able to get with their villagers, which is already going to be inevitable in a town building sim as small scale as this one. Often in games like these, such as Tropico or Sim City, you're dealing with huge populations to the point where individuals are either not considered or are reduced down to a few random selected points on a spreadsheet that doesn't actually translate to anything in the real game. When dealing with smaller scales like this game does, however, there comes the opportunity to really get to know each and every person you're dealing with and come to like or detest them. (Similar to the dynamic in RimWorld) Additionally, in a world that I assume to be as cutthroat as possible, the potential to lose these dwellers will likely weigh heavily on the mind; creating that X-Com paranoia which ya'll should know I crave by this point.

One way in which Gord will apparently feed off this concept (aside from with stats related to town building exercises, I assume) is with AI generated side quests that will send folk off into the wilderness to complete tasks, banish monsters and generally work towards keeping the town going. According to the steam page this will shape their 'personalities', which might be as shallow as affecting the outcome of certain events (do they kill the spider or become it's chewtoy?) or could be as involved as effecting their daily routines in and out of the town, I'll be curious to see and find out which. In a similar vein, and very much fitting for this world they've crafted, the game also apparently touts a 'burden' and 'sanity' system which will serve as a the incentive to keep the city running sensibly I assume, but has the potential to also be a source of some great RP breakdown moments. I'd love to see somesort of sceanrio where someone loses their sanity and attacks other villagers, spreading false panic of some foreign agent inside the community and kicking off a whole chain of fires for the player to smother out. All of that is just me extrapolating, but it bears food for thought.

Finally, and in adhering to another staple of this genre, Gord will offer different scenarios for the player to choose through that will feed into the replayability loop of the game, and from the look of the description it seems like these will both be premade scenarios and player built ones. Where things get interesting to me, however, is when the option is raised to decide one's primary object; which indicates that there'll be several large goals to work towards in this game. Now of course that could be anything, from achieving a certain level of daily consistent faith to beating a certain questline, but I'd like to believe there could be some custom storylines built to banish some curse from the woods, or recover some lost and trapped soul from the dark. Yet even if things don't go that deep, you'll still be able to tailor an experience to be as entertaining or frustrating as you wish, and for someone as garbage at strategy games as I am that is a lifesaver. (Also, I like the idea of being able to choose the playable environment. Make one a snow map and I'm sold. Love me a snow map.)

Regardless of sharing a phonetic name with indisputably the most boring fruit, Gord promises a surprisingly meaty and dark twist on the town building genre of games that I didn't realise I needed in my life. I always love the thrill of overcoming a wall of 'insurmountable odds' and sticking your pig farmers in hellish landscape of inescapable death is certainly pretty darn insurmountable at first glance. Though things are somewhat rough currently at reveal, I simply adore the aesthetically grim and muted choices of the game that reinforces the concept and the fact that we've actually got 3d models and animations for a town builder such as this when I'd imagine most developers with a similar idea would be forced to settle for 2d images; I guess that just goes to show the skill-gate of talented ex-CDPR developers. I wonder if now we'll see more cool smaller projects trickle out of the wound Cyberpunk gouged from that studio? (If so, then it's not all a loss, eh?)