What Are You Playing?

[Lawliet]

Yet not when the calculus actually costs me money!

Live and (not) learn. Wonder which game is gonna rip us off next. My bet is on Resi 4, if it's anything like its predecessor!

Haven't played the latter since I first got it, but finished the former last night, so let me put some respect on its name (before disrespecting its game) :

Hey, it ain't disrespect if it's true

A Plague Tale: Requiem - So this one took basically the entire playthrough to come together, but they finally stuck the landing, albeit with a hop or two on the needless epilogue.

You've basically covered it all, and fairly too. I'll add some comments here and there. But in summary, I fully agree that the first game is superior overall. While I didn't hate Requiem per se, it falls short of Innocence in many aspects, as you've demonstrated below.

First, even though I liked it well enough in the end, this is somehow a worse game and story than the original, and there's seemingly more emphasis on story! I already mentioned the stats, upgrades, and items are basically perfunctory, though clunkier to use for it, but there's literally not one boss fight in this game! Unless you count an armored dude you fight solo near the beginning who I accidentally insta-killed by setting him on fire and shooting off his armor, but that's because he's just a normal enemy. That's all you fight, the climatic encounters are more mob rushes than anything, which is ok but kind of a letdown since even the first game had a few dedicated and memorable bosses. One guy here is set up to be this terrifying encounter but he's killed in a cutscene by a supporting character that's also maybe the weakest part of the game's story overall (the character isn't bad, just their involvement is poorly handled all around including the nadir moment of the franchise). Other than that, there wasn't a lot of exciting innovations, there was some noticable technical glitches and framerate issues during some scenes, and aside from the fact that, yeah, you can get your ass caught or eaten by rats at any time, it basically feels like "story mode" is baked in. So, the story must be great then, right!?

Agreed. As for the technical aspects, I was very disappointed that the game was locked at a measly 30 fps, especially when we've already had an upgraded version of Innocence that ran better. It was too jarring to jump from God of War to this. Come on, Sony. What did you drain my wallet for? We should be past framerate locks at this point, especially for games that shouldn't be so demanding. There ain't an excuse anymore.

As for the boss fights, I'm kind of relieved we didn't have any, because the ones in Innocence were awful. Or at least, the final boss of the original was total ass. On the other hand, their absence is not doing Requiem any favors. Lose-lose situation, basically.

By the way, is it just me, or did everyone freeze in time except Amicia. Everyone seems the same age or slightly older than they were in Innocence, but Amicia giraffe-d her way to Requiem. Guess she just hit a growth spurt...

Well, it kind of works itself into shape as you're playing, but compared to the original it's pretty ragged and anemic. What I really liked about that one was it felt like a down to earth, medieval period piece with a lot of history and culture that threw a single semi-supernatural element on top, and I say semi because even that was presented pseudo-scientifically and like a mythological affliction, as long as they could. By contrast, this one is basically a full on fantasy story that could just be in a completely made up world, and that's what it's almost wholly focused on, it's own made up lore.

Yeah, I was disappointed in the "historical" aspect of Requiem. This plague is supposed to be that universe's version of the Black Death, which ravaged Europe during the same time period. I was intrigued to see how they would "explain" how the Black Death eventually came to an end in their version. Instead, we didn't get any of that. Just a reference to Justinian's Plague in the sixth century, and that's it. In fact, your actions ultimately mean nothing, as shown in the post-credits modern-day scene. Building on that, you are essentially the Macula's pawn for the entire game, which manipulates you the entire time, beginning with Hugo's dream. That's all there is to the story. So now, instead of a "plague", we have a conscious, evil force that can invade your dreams too and alter the bearer's personality too. And you're, ultimately, its victim.

Now someone else may argue whether or not this is objectively good or bad storytelling, but I'm not interested in that. I just don't like it regardless. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Quite the bleak story, as opposed to the dark but charming original.

Hmm. This reminds me of The Last of Us and its "sequel", now that I'm typing this.

Also, I disliked this thing with the Bearer and the Protector. Making Amicia and Hugo part of a recurring cycle of people who pair up as they deal with the Macula, one who bears the curse and one who protects him, takes some of their individuality away and cheapens their story.

It's also not very structurally sound and doesn't have the numerous interesting events and supporting characters of the original; this one is a straight line journey in real time that doesn't really have any greater purpose than to just keep moving along. Important characters come and go for huge swaths of the game and return with whimper, and you don't even see or know who the villain is until near the end, their motives aren't clear and seemingly malleable, and I thought it was like four different groups at various points ("Are the evil beekeepers ever coming back?"). I still don't even know the big bad's full name, and he has no greater significance to the themes of the overarching story and world, except some BS about the fires of war, like the Inquisition did in the original and in addition to it being a perfect fit they went to great lengths to add supporting details to those antagonists.

Plus the cliché where baldy is concerned: another villain who wants to use the chosen child for his nefarious plans to control the world. Yawn.

So, that's all a lot squishier than before, and your allies aren't much better because I have no idea why they keep helping you during scarier and scarier escalations of rats destroying everything as opposed to just tossing Hugo in the sea. I kept waiting for one to be a traitor working to capture Hugo for a benefactor because that made more sense for why they were sticking around through this apocalyptic shit for some crazy people they just met. It also doesn't help that these supporting characters are middle-aged adults rather than orphaned adolescents like in the first one, where it kind of makes sense why they all stick together (and it's unexpectedly cool and they build something over time; not so here).

Exactly! I kept on waiting for the grand betrayal too, which weirdly never came.

Anyway, I liked Sophia and Arnaud, despite all that, and would have liked to spend more time with the latter. At least, to give his redemption arc more meat on its bones. Also, having a big gorilla fight for you was refreshing, to say the least.

Anyway, the biggest literal plot fail I alluded to earlier is when you need to sneak into a ceremony where everyone is in pairs, one adult and one child, and your adult helper character suddenly conjures an apparently cooperative, mute child out of nowhere without comment or explanation to sneak in with you, and then the kid is just as conveniently gone after. You don't even need the helper character during the sequence and you basically sneak out to meet up after anyway, but it's one of the worst and most sloppily handled convenient plot contrivances I've ever seen! I'm still not over it, obviously. I think it speaks to the fact they were just making it up as they go and doing "whatever works" to that end, but that's no excuse not to go back and refine this a little more so it makes basic sense. Just have her sneak in after the ceremony starts!

Add to that certain conveniences, such as Sophia having spent enough time in a convent to learn fucking Latin, which came in handy. Now, I'm not saying its too convenient to be believable, but they clearly needed an excuse to put Sophia in there and to help the kids find out where to go next.

Anyway, I still like the gameplay loop and characters even though Amicia is pretty one note now, though at least that's for a payoff even though they could have done more with her own internal conflict (she's agitated and killing people all the time =), but where the game and story shine are the rats and the dramatic atmosphere and climatic set pieces they build around them. They managed to make it way cooler than I imagined possible from the sort of limits they seemed to run into in the original (rat-nados! The pinnacle of hive-minded rat technology), but they found a way to really take it to new and better heights with some truly awe inspiring sequences. I won't spoil any of that here, but it's really the best argument this game has going for it, including the ending, which more than felt right yet still ballsy compared to what I was expecting (God of War could have taken a lesson; really interesting contrast playing these back to back).

True, and it has certain things going for it too. I liked Hugo and sympathized with him a lot more here. An innocent child constantly going through so much shit like that tugged at my heart strings. I wanted to protect him, which means the game pulled off its main driving force for the player. Too bad the ending was a major fuck you to said player, however.

So, even with all those criticisms and it clearly being worse than the original, I still enjoyed it quite a bit and it's going to be among my top games of the year, maybe even high on the list because it just moved me more than most of the other top contenders.

To be fair, 2022 was a crap year for gaming. Aside from Elden Ring, I can't name anything great. But oh well.

Yep, pretty cool, and they even had their weird viral Oscar moment during it when that kid went up there ready to go with a fantastic non sequitur.

He was a respectful invader, all things considered; waited for Miyazaki to complete his speech and clapped for him in the end. Also, he's a master of stealth, specifically the hide-in-plain-sight school. They arrested him after the show. Maybe he's being recruited as we speak.

Oh, and they got fucking AL PACINO to hand out the performance award!? Wow, impressive for them yet debasing for him. Also, I love doing the Kratos' voice as much as anybody, but the guy's job is basically to sound as deeply monotone and stoic as possible at all times and say "No" to most lines of conversation. Was thinking of this last night while listening to the voice actress for Amicia completely lay it all out there to sell the material.

Yeah, poor Al Pacino had to stand there while Judge took his sweet time with his acceptance speech. What happened to respect for the elderly? And yes, I wish they stop trying to validate themselves with big names from another industry and medium. It just comes off as cringe and pathetic, in my opinion. Who are they gonna bring in to the next awards? Meryl Streep? Joe Biden? Jesus Christ?

Also, I see where you're coming from in regards to Judge's performance, but I think he deserves a little more credit. He pulled through in the big moments in GoW. Enough to deserve the performance award? I don't know. Call it cynical, but I think these awards won't just ignore the big names and go to an unknown actress at the end of the day.

 

[Rhombaad]

I finished Luigi’s Mansion last night. Despite its length, I had a great time with it. Who knew vacuuming up ghosts and speed-walking around a haunted mansion while constantly calling out “Mario?” “Mariooo!” “Mario!” could be so much fun? I can see why its short playtime soured people, especially for a launch title, but it’s a neat little gem worth playing.

Next up is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: Ico. I passed over it back in the day because of the cover, and I really missed out, based on what I’ve read about it in the years since.

 

[Dar_Klink]

Got fully into Tactics Ogre on Steam Deck now and sucked back in. That Nybeth stage is a rough one haha, especially because Vyce decided to peace out in the first few stages and you can't train him and he has a tendency to just attack an enemy and then walk right into the danger areas. I sort of remedied this by just giving him a crossbow so he'd keep some distance. I didn't wanna train to level cap either so it was fun trying to just beat it through maneuvering and baiting with my knights and having Canopus do quick snipes ducking in and out of enemy range.

The AI does seem a lot better even with Vyce deciding he needs to be in the range of every enemy with a bow as much as possible, Catuia actually would use exorcise on the undead corpses which I don't think she would in the PSP version.

The scaled back skills does make it a bit more interesting in terms of figuring out your loadout. Glad I ended up grabbing it! Hope the leak about FFT getting a remaster is true as well, I never got to fully play that one and I loved FFTA.

 

[Aazealh]

Next up is one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: Ico. I passed over it back in the day because of the cover, and I really missed out, based on what I’ve read about it in the years since.

Is that so? I love its cover art.

 

[Rhombaad]

Is that so? I love its cover art.

You, sir, are a jerk.

 

[Griffith]

Live and (not) learn. Wonder which game is gonna rip us off next. My bet is on Resi 4, if it's anything like its predecessor!

I can't say I'm too excited about any of next year's slate of remakes, save for maybe FFVII Rebirth since it's not so secretly not a remake. This may change if Dead Space, and especially RE4, turn out to be faithful and have the goods. Maybe Silent Hill 2 would be most worthwhile for me, though isn't the iconic fog sort of hard to properly recreate in essentially a different medium?

Agreed. As for the technical aspects, I was very disappointed that the game was locked at a measly 30 fps, especially when we've already had an upgraded version of Innocence that ran better. It was too jarring to jump from God of War to this. Come on, Sony. What did you drain my wallet for? We should be past framerate locks at this point, especially for games that shouldn't be so demanding. There ain't an excuse anymore.

It goes to show that while they could make it look that pretty they couldn't optimize it that way. Maybe I'm in the minority that I don't mind 30fps and just think it gives it a more cinematic quality rather than minding the less fluid motion like live sports or something. I mean, if all these games run with a film grain and motion blur effect anyway, then 30fps works perfectly for that desired aesthetic (versus a fighting game where you're literally counting the frames). Actually, MK11 is a good example, the in-match animations are all 60fps, but the cutscenes, match intros and finishers are all intentionally run at 30fps for the more traditional cinematic look.

As for the boss fights, I'm kind of relieved we didn't have any, because the ones in Innocence were awful. Or at least, the final boss of the original was total ass. On the other hand, their absence is not doing Requiem any favors. Lose-lose situation, basically.

Yeah, every time it looked like there was a boss fight coming up, I was half disappointed, half relieved when I didn't have to deal with it. Still, the ones in Innocence we're at least there as milestones and challenges to overcome, punting on them completely doesn't adequately address the criticism of them.

By the way, is it just me, or did everyone freeze in time except Amicia. Everyone seems the same age or slightly older than they were in Innocence, but Amicia giraffe-d her way to Requiem. Guess she just hit a growth spurt...

I wanted to see her age more ,by the end especially considering it should have taken months for her to recover from most of her injuries (she didn't even get a good nap in =). That meaningful passing of time and change was a cool trait of the original game and while I didn't need them to repeat themselves it would have been nice to see something similarly unexpected instead of it just being a pretty straightforward, though sloppy, race to the ever-changing goal.

Yeah, I was disappointed in the "historical" aspect of Requiem. This plague is supposed to be that universe's version of the Black Death, which ravaged Europe during the same time period. I was intrigued to see how they would "explain" how the Black Death eventually came to an end in their version. Instead, we didn't get any of that. Just a reference to Justinian's Plague in the sixth century, and that's it. In fact, your actions ultimately mean nothing, as shown in the post-credits modern-day scene.

Plus the other post-credits where Amicia's hair looks like it caught the plague and she reveals she's somehow on the trail of the next outbreak (in 600 years, or it's just whatever now?). I thought it was all pretty inexplicable and would rather she had just moved on with her life, or we just don't see what comes after (how about some resolution and aftermath with Hugo and the Nebula instead?). As it stands we're presented with two lousy sequel options I hope they don't take up, though I'll admit A Plague Tale: COVID with bats is at least intriguing.

Building on that, you are essentially the Macula's pawn for the entire game, which manipulates you the entire time, beginning with Hugo's dream. That's all there is to the story. So now, instead of a "plague", we have a conscious, evil force that can invade your dreams too and alter the bearer's personality too. And you're, ultimately, its victim.

Now someone else may argue whether or not this is objectively good or bad storytelling, but I'm not interested in that. I just don't like it regardless. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Quite the bleak story, as opposed to the dark but charming original.

It wasn't good storytelling and it's ultimately kind of a runaround where they just end up doing the exact opposite of what they wanted to accomplish, and Amicia is just as guilty as anyone pushing Hugo along when he's scared of what's to come and trying to tell her to stop. The order was wrong, but I'm not sure she or anyone else did better. They should have just stayed home and found out what those evil beekeepers were all about man. I honestly thought bees were the new rats for a second.

Also, I disliked this thing with the Bearer and the Protector. Making Amicia and Hugo part of a recurring cycle of people who pair up as they deal with the Macula, one who bears the curse and one who protects him, takes some of their individuality away and cheapens their story.

Yeah... I get it, they wanted to formally mythologize them, but I thought they were already pretty interesting enough in those roles without needing to make them established in world archetypes and chosen ones. Also, I would have liked to have seen more practical significance for Amicia, they mention the Protector burning in their own flame a couple of times and Amicia is clearly going through some changes and feeling the weight of her actions early on... But it just kind of goes nowhere as she just learns to stop worrying and love the ignifer pot.

Plus the cliché where baldy is concerned: another villain who wants to use the chosen child for his nefarious plans to control the world. Yawn.

And world domination was like his third choice! "Whatever, my wife is dead so I'll conquer Earth then, ho hum." When he first kidnapped Hugo off the boat I was blown away because I thought there was going to be a whole other act to get him back but, Amicia would recover and become a more disciplined warrior, etc, but no... the guy immediately came back for some reason to be instantly be killed and begin the endgame. Like I said about the bosses though, I was half relieved. He sucked (and I'm not sure why Amicia ever took his side in the first place or was so pissed with Arnaud considering she'd seen what the Count's men were doing and killed maybe dozens of them herself)

Anyway, I liked Sophia and Arnaud, despite all that, and would have liked to spend more time with the latter. At least, to give his redemption arc more meat on its bones. Also, having a big gorilla fight for you was refreshing, to say the least.

I definitely knew he wouldn't be helping me for long because he sure made progressing easy! Sophia was useful too and definitely cool, maybe overly so all things considered (why was she just infinitely down to hang with the murder kids?), but neither really fit as well as the cast of the first game when you had Lucas, the siblings, and the blacksmith's son, etc. Speaking of which, the way Lucas and the mother we're sidelined a third of the way through, and their subsequent return, wasn't great. They really made the mother less interesting than she should have been for bringing her back, speaking of potential betrayals (I always half suspected she cultivated the Macula in Hugo on purpose herself; she just happened to be a master alchemist connected to the order obsessed with the Macula and suddenly it's growing in her son...??? Bigger coincidence than the Covid research lab in Wuhan =).

True, and it has certain things going for it too. I liked Hugo and sympathized with him a lot more here. An innocent child constantly going through so much shit like that tugged at my heart strings. I wanted to protect him, which means the game pulled off its main driving force for the player. Too bad the ending was a major fuck you to said player, however.

Yeah, however messily, it was ultimately effective. I thought everything to do with Hugo and the Macula itself was the strongest part of the game and actually could have used even more of it before the end (which worked for me to the point of validating the whole uneven endeavor). Again, God of War Ragnarok didn't do, well, anything daring by comparison.

To be fair, 2022 was a crap year for gaming. Aside from Elden Ring, I can't name anything great. But oh well.

You may be right, I'm having trouble even deciding on a second best game, let alone a complete order. More on that when I do my GOTY post I guess...

And yes, I wish they stop trying to validate themselves with big names from another industry and medium. It just comes off as cringe and pathetic, in my opinion.

It just makes everyone involved look worse by comparison somehow.

Also, I see where you're coming from in regards to Judge's performance, but I think he deserves a little more credit. He pulled through in the big moments in GoW.

It's nothing against him, but the character/material. If anything, the fact he turned a brooding, monosyllabic and monotone oaf into a modern gaming icon is a testament to him... or us.

 

[The Index Finger]

I'm trying to marathon the Dead Space Trilogy at the moment. I'm also thinking about buying Berserk and the Band of the Hawk.

 

[maceonik]

I'm trying to marathon the Dead Space Trilogy at the moment. I'm also thinking about buying Berserk and the Band of the Hawk.

Wow, when did they make a third one?

 

[The Index Finger]

Wow, when did they make a third one?

I grabbed the *cough* deaf air 3 *cough* aka bad one off my shelf, pretty dusty.

 

[maceonik]

Tbf the dlc was pretty good.

 

[NCHaskew]

Anyone here playing Evil Dead: The Game? A friend of mine bought me a copy so we could play online together. So far it's been a lot of fun, if a little limited, but man, do I get my ass kicked on the daily.

 

[The Index Finger]

Anyone here playing Evil Dead: The Game? A friend of mine bought me a copy so we could play online together. So far it's been a lot of fun, if a little limited, but man, do I get my ass kicked on the daily.

I've tried playing it but I've never had the time to play it for a few hours. (At my maximum time for the day it would be like, 50 - 1 hour).

 

[maceonik]

I got it free through epic (yes it's cancerous, but i skip most of the cancer through the heroic launcher alternative - free games is free games). Never touched it yet, though. lol

 

[NCHaskew]

I've tried playing it but I've never had the time to play it for a few hours. (At my maximum time for the day it would be like, 50 - 1 hour).

Oh yeah, you'd end up spending half that time just waiting to connect to a match, in my experience so far

 

[Lawliet]

I can't say I'm too excited about any of next year's slate of remakes, save for maybe FFVII Rebirth since it's not so secretly not a remake.

There's the Crisis Core remake which just came out. I played the original on the PSP way back and enjoyed it. People are saying the remake is better. You may be interested in checking that one out.

This may change if Dead Space, and especially RE4, turn out to be faithful and have the goods.

True. But at the same time, I'm becoming more conflicted about the concept of faithfulness to remakes. Take the PS5 Last of Us, which is a faithful upgrade but also a wasted opportunity, since they could have added the second part's gameplay elements, such as dodging and going prone, to improve and freshen up the gameplay. So I'm not sure remakes should be complete copies of their originals anymore. At least, it should be on a case-by-case basis.

Actually, take this example, which I've been fantasizing about from time to time: a PS5, Bluepoint-treatment, remake of the original Dark Souls. I think that would be awesome. But if they go for it, I want them to change a few things. A good example would be the Lost Izalith area, which was not only rushed, but also contained probably the worst FromSoft "boss" of all time: the Bed of Chaos. If they remake DS, they should improve that area and give it more substance, and replace the boss with something else, say the Witch of Izalith and her daughters, who we see in the intro. At least, imo.

Maybe Silent Hill 2 would be most worthwhile for me, though isn't the iconic fog sort of hard to properly recreate in essentially a different medium?

If that fog is anything like RE2make's dark hallways, I'll be happy. I'm looking forward to that one. Still, why did they just skip over the first?

It goes to show that while they could make it look that pretty they couldn't optimize it that way. Maybe I'm in the minority that I don't mind 30fps and just think it gives it a more cinematic quality rather than minding the less fluid motion like live sports or something. I mean, if all these games run with a film grain and motion blur effect anyway, then 30fps works perfectly for that desired aesthetic (versus a fighting game where you're literally counting the frames). Actually, MK11 is a good example, the in-match animations are all 60fps, but the cutscenes, match intros and finishers are all intentionally run at 30fps for the more traditional cinematic look.

I can appreciate 30 fps for aesthetic purposes, especially for games like, say, Shadow of the Colossus. My problem was more about games being locked at 30 fps, rather than the framerate in and of itself. Almost every release gives you the option of graphics-mode vs performance-mode at this point. It's become a standard, so the choice should be there, in my opinion.

MK11's mixing of the two didn't work for me personally. The transitions were weird. I'd rather they pick a framerate and stick with it. But, as I said above, the option to let the player choose would be ideal.

Yeah, however messily, it was ultimately effective. I thought everything to do with Hugo and the Macula itself was the strongest part of the game and actually could have used even more of it before the end (which worked for me to the point of validating the whole uneven endeavor). Again, God of War Ragnarok didn't do, well, anything daring by comparison.

Honestly, I'm not surprised about GoW. That one was like a Marvel movie, basically. The first game's prophecy about Kratos' death came to nothing here. I'm still not sure how or why he averted it. Because he "made his own choices"? What was all that tension and all those murals for?

So yeah, I agree with what you said about Requiem being effective. It really should have gotten the "best narrative" award, as I said in the chat. None of the nominees were great (minus Elden Ring, whose non-traditional approach to storytelling basically insured it won't get the award anyway, and Xenoblade 3, which I can't comment on), but Requiem was more powerful than GoW's Marvel-like storytelling and Horizon's Messiah simulator.

You may be right, I'm having trouble even deciding on a second best game, let alone a complete order. More on that when I do my GOTY post I guess...

Looking forward to reading it

It's nothing against him, but the character/material. If anything, the fact he turned a brooding, monosyllabic and monotone oaf into a modern gaming icon is a testament to him... or us.

Haha. As long as Aloy doesn't become the Playstation's mascot, I'm perfectly fine with a brooding, monosyllabic and monotone oaf!

 

[Griffith]

There's the Crisis Core remake which just came out. I played the original on the PSP way back and enjoyed it. People are saying the remake is better. You may be interested in checking that one out.

Oh yeah, I didn't even realize that was already out. I'm potentially interested, but I never even played Intergrade or whatever it was after Platinuming FF7Re, and I've got plenty on my gaming plate alone, so I'm going to hold off unless I really can't resist or something. First in line is The Callisto Protocol actually. Jumped back in long enough to get the hand canon the other night, and do some sneak kills too. This might have some potential after all... My worry is that they're going to give me only enough ammo where I feel like I should never use it and force me to use the weird combat mechanics until I tap out. The graphics are kind of incredible though. I replayed the Plague Tale 2 epilogue with the "alternate" ending right after and it didn't compare well at all, and I thought the vistas in that game were downright gorgeous.

True. But at the same time, I'm becoming more conflicted about the concept of faithfulness to remakes. Take the PS5 Last of Us, which is a faithful upgrade but also a wasted opportunity, since they could have added the second part's gameplay elements, such as dodging and going prone, to improve and freshen up the gameplay. So I'm not sure remakes should be complete copies of their originals anymore. At least, it should be on a case-by-case basis.

Wait, that's NOT what Last of Us Part I is!? What's the point! I literally thought it was the first game redone in the second game's engine. That can be hit or miss too, because they did Twin Snakes with MGS2 mechanics but without upgrading the enemy mechanics with them in mind it rendered certain segments irrelevant, so yeah, in any case it needs to be done with care as you say. I tend to agree with you though, make it better, and I think games have an unique distinction that can be made between a "remake" and a "remaster," where the former is sort of anything goes but in the spirit of the thing, and the latter is, if not a pure up-res, done as faithfully to the original game as is practical (YMMV). Frankly I find the up-res option the least interesting. It never looks that good and one might as well play the game in its original style if they're that concerned with authenticity.

Actually, take this example, which I've been fantasizing about from time to time: a PS5, Bluepoint-treatment, remake of the original Dark Souls. I think that would be awesome. But if they go for it, I want them to change a few things. A good example would be the Lost Izalith area, which was not only rushed, but also contained probably the worst FromSoft "boss" of all time: the Bed of Chaos. If they remake DS, they should improve that area and give it more substance, and replace the boss with something else, say the Witch of Izalith and her daughters, who we see in the intro. At least, imo.

Gotta agree to disagree there, let that part be what it is, which is a unique segment in Souls if nothing else (you're still talking about it! =), and they already passed on the much cooler and less controversial opportunity to restore the lost area from Demon's Souls. Anyway, as cool as a DS remake would be, Bloodborne is the logical, Sony-controlled Demon's Souls follow up as many have speculated. Just no "unauthorized" sequel, please!

If that fog is anything like RE2make's dark hallways, I'll be happy. I'm looking forward to that one. Still, why did they just skip over the first!

Probably doesn't have the same marketability as SH2 like RE1 and RE2 both did. Plus, we're probably lucky Konami is even commissioning games at this point, at least one's you don't bet your money to play.

I can appreciate 30 fps for aesthetic purposes, especially for games like, say, Shadow of the Colossus. My problem was more about games being locked at 30 fps, rather than the framerate in and of itself. Almost every release gives you the option of graphics-mode vs performance-mode at this point. It's become a standard, so the choice should be there, in my opinion.

I always feel like they're giving me some bibary Sophie's choice to be a REAL player or just a graphics whore with that option. I always choose to be the whore except in Elden Ring where I felt it made a bigger difference to the performance than the graphics and it actually mattered to me.

MK11's mixing of the two didn't work for me personally. The transitions were weird. I'd rather they pick a framerate and stick with it. But, as I said above, the option to let the player choose would be ideal.

Well, exclusively in the PC version you could go 60fps all the way! There's your option. It was a little weird to my eye.

Honestly, I'm not surprised about GoW. That one was like a Marvel movie, basically. The first game's prophecy about Kratos' death came to nothing here. I'm still not sure how or why he averted it. Because he "made his own choices"? What was all that tension and all those murals for?

Right!? I thought of so many dire scenarios and potential radical solutions like rescuing him from Hel, etc, but apparently they all just needed to believe in themselves and each other, protect the innocent, and it'd all be ok! It was basically Avengers: Age of Ultron.

I also didn't like them making Sindri into a total shithead bitch.

So yeah, I agree with what you said about Requiem being effective. It really should have gotten the "best narrative" award, as I said in the chat. None of the nominees were great (minus Elden Ring, whose non-traditional approach to storytelling basically insured it won't get the award anyway, and Xenoblade 3, which I can't comment on), but Requiem was more powerful than GoW's Marvel-like storytelling and Horizon's Messiah simulator.

Now that you mention it, that might have been a place to recognize Horizon, because there was a lot of complicated stuff going on that shouldn't work at all and it basically held together. Sure, it had a lot of annoying stuff, not just with Aloy, but I have a soft spot for any sort of ambitious sci-fi in the medium that actually works, let alone that on this scale of a production. I mean, God of War literally just makes up whatever magic they need for the next desired plot point to work, and it doesn't even go that far out there with it!

Looking forward to reading it

NOT looking forward to writing it. I might just copy paste the shit or straight quote what I already wrote about them. My anticipated games of next year section might be longer.

Haha. As long as Aloydoesn't become the Playstation's mascot

*exacerbated gasp, eye roll*

^ Hero material!

 

[Dar_Klink]

Please don't let Bluepoint touch anything else unless they learn to do an art style other than out-of-the-box "realistic" version of whatever their modeling program defaults to. They ruin the look of the games they're remaking. They look like that time on On Cinema that Tim had a CGI rendering of his dead son appear

 

[The Index Finger]

Please don't let Bluepoint touch anything else unless they learn to do an art style other than out-of-the-box "realistic" version of whatever their modeling program defaults to. They ruin the look of the games they're remaking. They look like that time on On Cinema that Tim had a CGI rendering of his dead son appear

Uncanny Valley much? (To the image)

 

[Dar_Klink]

Uncanny Valley much? (To the image)

Yeah that was the point of the bit(it's a Tim of Tim & Eric web show)

 

[Lawliet]

Please don't let Bluepoint touch anything else unless they learn to do an art style other than out-of-the-box "realistic" version of whatever their modeling program defaults to. They ruin the look of the games they're remaking. They look like that time on On Cinema that Tim had a CGI rendering of his dead son appear

Eh? Did they remake other stuff than SotC and Demon's Souls? Those two look great to me.

 

[The Index Finger]

Yeah that was the point of the bit(it's a Tim of Tim & Eric web show)

Oh, gotcha.

 

[Griffith]

Please don't let Bluepoint touch anything else unless they learn to do an art style other than out-of-the-box "realistic" version of whatever their modeling program defaults to. They ruin the look of the games they're remaking.

I hear they're remaking Rondo of Blood next:

And they're gonna fix Richter's controls too.

Eh? Did they remake other stuff than SotC and Demon's Souls? Those two look great to me.

They also did basically every prominent HD remaster the last decade, the God of War Collection, Ico & SotC, Metal Gear HD collection, and most recently Uncharted. Plus, they apparently did some work on God of War Ragnarok, which makes sense since they were acquired by Sony and specialize in making the fantastical look less so, apparently. Anyway, I get what Dar_Klink is saying, I think the ultimate joke would be something like this as a Bluepoint remake of Okami:

But, in cases like the two you mentioned, be careful what you wish for, since these game's art designs weren't made for today's graphic fidelity and they'd basically have to completely reinterpret the art design to make it look like the originals by today's standards (and would SotC's art design even be SotC's art design with today's graphics? That's the conundrum). Safer just to default to "as good and realistic-looking as possible," which is basically the standard now anyway. Which is fine by me if it's not something highly stylized like the Okami example or like REmake where the original team is actually taking a crack at it.

Oh yeah, actual games...

The Callisto Protocol - Having fun but, as always with these games, once you figure out what you're doing, and there is a method to the melee madness, it just becomes a case of resource/inventory management. The biggest challenge at the moment is trying to prudently hold onto or cash in on everything I find in each area, especially since they have the unfortunate habit of arbitrarily locking you out of past locations. Not even just for plot, but certain doors just won't open again, or worse, they unexpectedly drop you somewhere you can't get back up from (elevators are often only one way). At least it tells me I'm free to fire away on enemies, and indeed I'll use ammo just to free up the inventory for healing and upgrade items. Batteries are the worst drop, hardly useful, no sell value, and unlike healing syringes you need to be "holding" one in your inventory to use it. Anyway, so far if you just look around and kill everything you'll find more than you need.

The other factor contributing toy riches is the environmental effects in this game, including hazards that harm enemies (!), are busted and will reset or even respawn in the case of exploding tanks (doesn't matter though, you can waste most guys just flinging laundry baskets and boxes at them =). It's hard to adequately explain how dumb this is than to say it's like going back and forth through an amusement park haunted house or ride and seeing every surprise trigger again. Broken glass reforms, the power goes out with a bang at the same spot in the same hallway, monsters get stuck frozen behind ducts you crawl through, and best of all is the same ceiling vent keeps hitting the floor with a bang.

A testament to how I'm probably NOT supposed to be retracing my steps like this, but then give me a bigger inventory.

 

[Dar_Klink]

Eh? Did they remake other stuff than SotC and Demon's Souls? Those two look great to me.

I think the environments look good but really hate how the character models(or model for SotC) look in both games. Also don't like the changes to the music, architecture, and especially the monster designs in Demon's Souls. It is impressive how much the game plays like the original but everything else turned me off from it, I'd rather just play it on my PS3 or emulated.

This post analyzes the differences in a good way I think:
https://art-eater.com/articles/what...-reflects-about-eastern-vs-western-aesthetics

Their HD remasters usually look okay but they seemed to be using the original models for those compared to from scratch for Demon's and SotC. I'd rather they just upscale as best they can and release a "modern" version of the original aka playable on something other than a dead console. I do understand they wanted Demon's Souls to be the PS5's first big tech demo though. I hope if Bloodborne does get some sort of remake/remaster treatment they leave the models alone or let From play a big role in updating them.

I hear they're remaking Rondo of Blood next:

And they're gonna fix Richter's controls too.

But, in cases like the two you mentioned, be careful what you wish for, since these game's art designs weren't made for today's graphic fidelity and they'd basically have to completely reinterpret the art design to make it look like the originals by today's standards (and would SotC's art design even be SotC's art design with today's graphics? That's the conundrum). Safer just to default to "as good and realistic-looking as possible," which is basically the standard now anyway. Which is fine by me if it's not something highly stylized like the Okami example or like REmake where the original team is actually taking a crack at it.

It'd be really cool if developers did what Capcom did with REmake but that had a really strong vision behind it and Shinji Mikami really wanted to do it and things just don't work that way these days. I saw the Front Mission remake and it has really cheap looking 3D models rather than the original great sprite work and it feels like they could just release it as a virtual console type release at that point especially since the gameplay seems to be entirely the same other than letting you rotate the 3D maps.

 

[Lawliet]

I hear they're remaking Rondo of Blood next:

Oh God please no

Looking good Richty. Now I can see you die over and over in HD!

And they're gonna fix Richter's controls too.

That's not humanly possible!

They also did basically every prominent HD remaster the last decade, the God of War Collection, Ico & SotC, Metal Gear HD collection, and most recently Uncharted. Plus, they apparently did some work on God of War Ragnarok, which makes sense since they were acquired by Sony and specialize in making the fantastical look less so, apparently. Anyway, I get what Dar_Klink is saying, I think the ultimate joke would be something like this as a Bluepoint remake of Okami:

Oh shit, I wasn't aware they had even more projects under their belt. I see what you guys mean now, especially with the example of Okami.

But, in cases like the two you mentioned, be careful what you wish for, since these game's art designs weren't made for today's graphic fidelity and they'd basically have to completely reinterpret the art design to make it look like the originals by today's standards (and would SotC's art design even be SotC's art design with today's graphics? That's the conundrum). Safer just to default to "as good and realistic-looking as possible," which is basically the standard now anyway. Which is fine by me if it's not something highly stylized like the Okami example or like REmake where the original team is actually taking a crack at it.

I think the environments look good but really hate how the character models(or model for SotC) look in both games. Also don't like the changes to the music, architecture, and especially the monster designs in Demon's Souls. It is impressive how much the game plays like the original but everything else turned me off from it, I'd rather just play it on my PS3 or emulated.

This post analyzes the differences in a good way I think:
https://art-eater.com/articles/what...-reflects-about-eastern-vs-western-aesthetics

Their HD remasters usually look okay but they seemed to be using the original models for those compared to from scratch for Demon's and SotC. I'd rather they

Well, as far as SotC is concerned, I don't find it too different to be honest. Or at least, not different enough to warrant a controversy. The colossi and the environments are mostly the same to my eyes, except enhanced obviously.

Although, the main difference I would point out is the absence of color saturation in the remake. Here is the difference:

The "foggy" color scheme of the original was intentional. It contributed to the mysterious and oppressive feeling of the original. In contrast, the clarity of the remake removes such an effect but replaces it with something else: beauty. The nature around you and even the colossi are more "there". What the remake loses in mystery, it gains in beauty.

I don't mind either way. SotC is the same pretty lady, just in a different dress each time.

As for Demon's Souls, yeah I can agree some changes weren't necessarily good, such as the Maneaters boss. We spoke about this before.

 

[Griffith]

The Cafisto Protoanal - Now that title might make it sound like I'm shitting on it (don't want that on your hands), but this is probably up there with anything I've played this year besides the holy Elden one. I don't know how far in I am, but I figure it's gotta be more than halfway if not two thirds and I still haven't fought a real boss yet! It's like Plague Tale 2 where they just send some mobs after me every once in a while and let me free up some inventory using bullets (are the jumpy guys the "bosses" Lawliet, am I somehow less than a quarter of the way through!?). It's actually hard to get rid of my ammo sometimes because I've figured out so many exploits to kill or avoid enemies without spending it (at least my inventory is finally expanded =), kind of like busted-ass RE8 with it's disappearing, reappearing monsters.

Speaking of which, I didn't mention it in-depth before, but in addition to the wonky environmental triggers, the saving, loading, and checkpoint restarting in this game is broken as Hell. First of all, don't bother manually saving, it doesn't matter, because no matter where you do it just restarts you at the last checkpoint with whatever you had then. So, if you picked up a bunch of awesome monster drops after a checkpoint, saved and quit, say goodbye to that stuff because it's never coming back. The game just shouldn't have manual saves because it doesn't have manual saves, not even approximating where you were. You can use this to your advantage though, basically if there's any randomly generating items or potential drops right after a checkpoint, you can just reload until you get the best shit. It'll take you all of a couple minutes. It's also a great opportunity to just maximize the efficiency of clearing an area or learning how to bypass it altogether (if the exit requires crouching they won't follow you, and may even disappear once you pass, whoops =).

There's a segment where a robot patrolled area is replaced by 4-5 large monsters hunting you from above, BUT, if you restart the checkpoint, you might find BOTH there now! Unfortunately, the robot prioritizes insta-killing YOU rather than having it out with the monsters (I used this to my advantage by killing the robot with an exploding tank to the head and got a ton of credits for my trouble), then I just tank exploded, by getting the same tank to reload after killing one by running to the opposite end of the building, and just ran past the rest of the dumb monsters.

The best was yet to come though, after a major battle where I cleared the area and got a checkpoint, there's two more monsters that pop out, one from the ground and one from behind a door, which you need the monster to open to progress the main story (this monster and the door respawned despite me clearing it before the checkpoint too; again, it's wonky, there's exceptions even to the rules). Anyway, I got garbage drops, like batteries and 15 credits, the first time I passed through and wanted ammo or healing instead. So I reload it a few times... first, a healing item on the counter disappeared, reload... then the necessary door was no longer on the hinges, but floating up and to the left of the entrance, and the monster was apparently there, but invisible, and not active or able to hurt me because I was able to pass through the door and the monster, get behind it, where it prompted a stealth kill, which I performed on thin air and was able to procure a drop lol. The best was when I approached the door and could see the monster moving behind it, but he wasn't banging on it, HE then clips through it, I kill him, and the door is closed, effectively breaking progression and the game as there seemed to be no other way to open it or pass! Luckily, nothing that happens much counts so I just reloaded a, uh, later checkpoint where'd I'd already passed the door with some decent shit (maybe I should have tried clipping through myself for more fun, but I was about ready to proceed normally at this point =).

Anyway, I'm not really criticizing the game for these glitches, it's no worse than RE8 or, Marika forbid, Elden Ring (great googley-moogley!), it's actually kind of fun to discover, but it makes me wonder how hard it is to set up all these goddamn timed environmental effects and shit in modern horror titles, because this is two in recent memory you can fuck with as much, or even more, than they fuck with you.

I think the environments look good but really hate how the character models(or model for SotC) look in both games.

I actually think I remember you critiquing the SotC one as chubby, because, yeah, he does just sort of look like some random guy in that version. Still, overall, I think it maintained the grandeur of that world despite having to show it in heretofore unknown detail.

Also don't like the changes to the music, architecture, and especially the monster designs in Demon's Souls. It is impressive how much the game plays like the original but everything else turned me off from it, I'd rather just play it on my PS3 or emulated.

I have to disagree here, because I thought the designs in that game were a little "simple" compared to what From Soft was eventually going to bring us. Plus, it's the whole, "if you're going to update and change it, you might as well go for it!" I think it was a pretty faithful adaptation given what they had to work with, that they presumably didn't have too much more input from the originators, and their mandate to make it look RAEL!!

The debate between "East" vs "West" aesthetic sensibilities is interesting though, especially given the mix in that game already; full circle in a strange way, westerner's interpretation of easterner's interpretation of western elements and vice versa. To be fair, From Soft themselves would later hedge even more "Western" in Dark Souls, compare the Vanguard demon to the Asylum Demon for example, which Bluepoint may have taken inspiration from in their reinterpretation of the former.

Like I've said though, if anything it's a crime they didn't do the lost land of Giants based on the known assets from it and, like, a phone call to Miyazaki or something. They're both basically under the Sony umbrella at this point.

It'd be really cool if developers did what Capcom did with REmake but that had a really strong vision behind it and Shinji Mikami really wanted to do it and things just don't work that way these days.

It's like back then even the big boys were kind of art houses driven by individual creators, for better or worse, like when programmers we're also the lead scenario writers. Speaking of From Soft, it's one of the last of a dying breed where you do see this sort of thing, and to great success as it turns out.

Well, as far as SotC is concerned, I don't find it too different to be honest. Or at least, not different enough to warrant a controversy. The colossi and the environments are mostly the same to my eyes, except enhanced obviously.

Although, the main difference I would point out is the absence of color saturation in the remake.

I'd mostly agree, though what and how you enhance it, what catches your eye and how one sees it, is the debate I guess, which is why I'm interested to see fans react to how they handle SH2 fog in modern 4K. It's like, does the enhancement in technology automatically lower the artistry that was originally employed to overcome those technological limits, or can they find that modern equivalent where it feels the same even if it doesn't look the same? Nostalgia is also a factor where SH and RE look "classic" in my memory but probably just like jaggy dogshit to the objective eye.

As for Demon's Souls, yeah I can agree some changes weren't necessarily good, such as the Maneaters boss. We spoke about this before.

What was the difference again? I've played both and remember it being a nightmare in each case!