Learning Leverless: Week 1 - Stick to It?

As I've promoted in this blog, we are now fully in our leverless phase and it has been... challenging.

MidNite

Part of learning leverless, was also learning a new game as well and as we previously mentioned, it was going to be Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes (hereby referred to as UNI2). Now I had a good idea it would be a struggle but since I was doing pretty well using my new controller of choice in DNF Duel and being able to pull off some of the harder combos with it I figured I could work with it.

However within the first couple days of using MidNite (the name for my Flatbox) I realized how different UNI2 felt compared to DNF Duel. For the people who do not play DNF Duel (on that note, shame on you! Its a amazing game just let down by its parent company Nexon) DNF Duel has motion inputs as well as 'simple inputs'. So yes, you can do a quarter circle forward and attack but you can also do just forward and attack and get the special move (at slight more mana costs but that's DNF system rules and we don't want to get stuck in the weeds). DNF Duel also does not have anything more complex then a Dragon Punch motion (aka forward, down, down forward) and does not even have a half circle forward attack.

So when I started using MidNite to practice UNI2 movement and specials I realize just how much more effort is required to do some of the more complex motions the game has like half circles, full circles and even charging up to down surprisingly. I quickly picked up the quarter circle forward and back motions without much issue but even the dragon punch motion for me is hit and miss which normal is not an issue when I was using a stick. Even more worrying was the half circle motions (another motion I had no issue pulling off with a stick/ I play Clark in KOF and King in Tekken) was coming out 1 out of 4 attempts. I know, I know, it is early days and I just started using leverless but for stuff that was once as natural as breathing for me to feel much more foreign was a step back. With that in mind, I decided to keep at it and using MidNite to complete all the trials in the Tutorial for UNI2 and was able to do most of them. Some trials required a lot more attempts but eventually I completed most of courses ranging from Novice all the way to some of Expert.

At this point, it is time to talk about my experience so far with UNI2. I have had a passing interesting in UNI series and always wanted to give it a try and with the new one coming out I thought it was a prime time to try. All this was previous discussed in other blogs leading up to this one so if you want the full story, make sure you read those. With this being my first UNI, I of course decided to go into the tutorials and learn about the game and BOY... is there a lot going on there.

UNI2's tutorial is extensive and a bit overwhelming to be honest. It also has a lot of just theory tutorials and not stuff that can be shown in-game and just a wall of text was not always the easy thing to retain. With Learning Leverless this series will be about not just picking up a new controller but also picking up a new game but I also wisely decided to do both it in 'chunks' so I did not get completely overwhelmed with info dump but even with chunks and not doing multiple tutorials back to back it is still a lot.

UNI2 also uses a lot of abbreviations like CS and D.I and tons of others but no glossary in the menus where you need it the most and instead I have to have a wiki up so I know what it was asking me to do. This I must say is a big mis-step and something that should be corrected. Say what you want about Tekken but the glossary is accessible during menus and is very detailed.

I really noticed these abbreviations became a real issue when I started doing the combo trials and even through you can use the 'demo' to show you what it looks (aka delay this hit here, charge this attack here) it still helps to know what the game is asking of you.

Despite this, I did enjoy learning the combo system and realized just how deep it was. I had made a decision before I even picked up the game I would main Wagner and she has a lot of cool stuff. I can honestly say, I always enjoy combo trials the most in every game I play so it is no surprise I was having fun. This all came with a big caveat tho. I was doing all these combos with my Xbox stick and not my MidNite.

Hello Old Friend

So confession. As I got closer and closer to the end of the Tutorial and in the Advanced section, I consciously switched back to stick (which is how I learned how to play fighting games) and started doing much better of course, I even re-did the previous sections with a stick and everything just felt more right. Now I do not want to say 'screw it' I am going back to stick because I really do enjoy using MidNite for DNF Duel and I think I can make it work in that game but I do not think I'll be playing DNF Duel competitively and I might be trying with UNI2 since its a new game and there are people actually playing it actively so I want to be at my best when I do play.

However I am not completely deterred so I have decided to use MidNite and see how I do with the combo trials and I might even go half and half for awhile and make a final decision before I go to my next competitive event. By then hopefully I had spent enough time with the leverless lifestyle that I can make a more inform decision. This will also be covered by this blog as this is an ongoing series which will be added too every week.

Before I go through, during this week of experimentation, I realized I might have been wrong. I really tried to justify choosing UNI2 over Granblue as my initial game pick up (I always intended to pick up both through) but I realized that Granblue has simple controls too similar to DNF Duel and since I am doing well in DNF Duel with leverless it might have been more suitable for me to have went with Granblue and leverless as opposed to UNI2 and leverless. In the end I might be picking up Granblue Versus Rising during my next pay period so I can practice that with MidNite and seeing if I am more comfortable with it but we will see come week two of Learning Leverless.

AV

OKAY: Pony Island

 

For context, during the rebirth of my blog, we created 2 more review categories to go along with RANTS and RAVES. We created 'Rave' which is not fully capitalized to signify a game we enjoyed but we had issues with and that was given to Remnant II. We also created OKAY which is given to games we enjoyed but we have some real issues with. The only game that has been given a OKAY so far was Ghost Song and you can check that out OKAY: Ghost Song but now it appears we have a new one to add to the list. Pony Island unfortunately can not be a RAVE or even a Rave. It has to be an OKAY in my eyes and I hope to explain why in this review.

Pony Island is the first commercial game released by Daniel Mullins, the genius behind Inscryption (which got a very high RAVE) and The Hex (which we have not played yet). It was on the strength of Inscryption that I bought both Pony Island when it was on sale. I watched some trailers for Pony Island, got confused which is par for course with a Daniel Mullins game but was intrigued so I decided to dive in.

Right off the bat, I could tell this was game was going to be a trip when the start option was not working (a trick Inscryption borrowed) and I had to literally play around in the options to get it up and running. I chuckled and I knew this was going to be a good time. The game booted up and I was thrown into a rather strange, almost Atari-esque landscape and I was using a pony to navigate a obstacle course and after a couple runs, I started noticing glitches on the screen. I of course followed my curiosity and found other options and the game got even more Daniel Mullins-like. Soon we were having fourth wall breaks with someone talking directly to us, general weirdness and an uneasiness that work directly against the cute nature of the game. The way the game was played stayed the same (pony run from one side of the screen to the other) but soon we were adding 'adventure modes', lazers, flying ponies and more.

and the fun stops here.

Interspersed into the rather simplistic gameplay is arguably the reason why Pony Island gets an OKAY from me. Pony Island constantly throws these faux programming 'puzzles' at you as progression blockers. I understand why they exist because a lot of the game is about 'breaking' the system and even some 'hacking' but it really did nothing for my experience and after my fifth or sixth one, I started dreading them. These puzzles are mostly simplistic, asking you to bring a value up to a certain amount or getting pass some blockage in the 'code' by using arrows down, left, or warp/ portal arrows. All of them normally take a couple tries to figure out and are not overly complex but this constant break in gameplay is what really got to me. Being fully transparent, these 'logic' puzzles popped up occasionally in Inscryption and they became progression blockers in the second act and they were my least favorite part of the game and I would always just looked up the solutions online instead of working it out. For Pony Island through, a game which has been out for awhile now, online solutions like the ones I used for Inscryption do not exist so I had to brute force them. By the end, the very last one which really confused me and took me awhile to figure out had defeated me mentally and I was happy I had no more after it. By then the story had come to an end and despite a insane ending (again very Daniel Mullins-esque) could not save me from deciding I was only OKAY with this game.

The sad thing is, when this game hits, it hits. Some of the boss battles were really fun, the actually storylines (and yes I said storylines cause there is a deeper one buried in it just like how Inscryption had layers) really hook you. Daniel Mullin and his games real strength lies in telling a compelling story and because of that I was inclined to complete the game even despite some of the things I did not enjoy and it also helped the game is very short and can be complete in one long play session. Working through some of the game unique approaches, like slight spoiler, there is a section where you play a literal text version of the game where you type in text demands (jump for example) and everything is described to you in text form right down to confetti that rains down when you beat a stage. There is a even bigger moment where the game really breaks the fourth wall but I won't share that one cause it is a much bigger spoiler but it is on par with some of Inscrpytion's mind bending moments, really had me laughing and hooked.

However, herein lies what I think maybe my biggest problem with the game. I think I did myself a dis-service by playing Inscryption first and than going back and playing Pony Island. Inscryption really is Mr. Mullins at their peak. Insane, imaginative and very inventive. You can see peaks of that ingenuity in here but it is also buried under a lot of trial and error. This game has good bones but I can not wholly recommend it. Also despite the game being pretty short and I have got most of the achievements already, the achievement hunter in me can not even bear to go through some of the puzzles I had to endure again to get all of them. The simplistic game play loop of making the pony run to one side why jumping, shooting and flying is fine but not enough to keep me coming back for more either. I completed the game, unlocked the 'hidden truth' (which add a lot of complexity to the story) as well (using the built in Chapter search) but the final achievements requires a full playthrough and I do not know if I can do it and actually enjoy it.

In conclusion; I can say Pony Island, the game about ponies (but not really) is an OKAY title. If you enjoy the faux programming sequences you might even really like the game but those sequences really broke the game for me and even made me dread a second complete playthrough. The game play loop is simple and fun but not something you want to keep on doing. Similar to Ghost Song, I think OKAY is really the best way to review this. It is a game I enjoyed but there are some fundamental problems for me which I can not ignore. Also Daniel Mullin's has said his next big game is Pony Island 2: Panda Circus so hopefully he can take some of the lessons he learned from all his previous titles and really give us another mind-blowing experience.

AV

P.S Playing this and Doki Doki Literature Club + (which would have been another OKAY review but I do have as much to say about it with it being a visual novel and all) has pretty much burned me out on indies for a minute so I'll probably take a slight break from them before playing another one. Sorry Narita Boy!

Worth the Wait?! Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree Thoughts

 As I mentioned in one of my UPDATES, I decided to do my Top 5 Fromsoft games earlier this month (where it got a respectable 3rd place out of 5) and than boom! As if on que, From Software drops the full length Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC trailer. Heck, we can not even call it DLC anymore because at a $40 price point and what we can assume will be all the content Fromsoft will put into it, simply calling it DLC does not seem sufficient. A lot of folks is calling it an expansion and I agree. Speaking of, look at this wonder.

Back in February 2023, almost a full year after Elden Ring's original release date, SOE (Shadow Of the Erdtree of course) was announced on twitter. This was original a big thing because it had taken a full year from Elden Ring was released for them to announce the expansion and normally going by From's previous track record, DLC were announced much quicker. Dark Souls 3 for example had a season pass attached to it which promised the 2 follow up DLCs (Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City respectively). However with SOE, From took time to cook and cook they did. Now almost a full 2 years after the original games release we have the trailer and a release date... June 21st, 2024.

There is so much to unpack in this trailer but the main thing is, Elden Ring is back. All the new attack animations, all the new spells, weapons and new enemies including the named boss Messmer, the Impaler.

Now I am just saying, the last time From Software presented a boss as a key piece of art and they were sitting down, we got Lady Maria from Bloodborne, one of the most popular Fromsoft bosses of all time. I think they might be trying to tell us something with this person too. On top of that, we have been getting little bits of information like, how he might tie into the lore, how big the expansion is going to be and of course the return of toxic swamps which creator Miyazaki seems to have a unhealthy obsession with. One of the things I was excited to see was in the trailer, our player character using some Sekiro/ martial arts moves to take down a new knight foe and it looked sick. If you follow this blog, you know Sekiro is my favorite Fromsoft game so to see some of its DNA in here was a treat for me.

So I just really wanted to get my thoughts out there. This is not a deep dive into the possible lore or characters because much better writers are doing that. I just wanted to talk about how much this is going to mean to me. From Software over the course of a couple years has become the gaming studio I can rely on to not miss and combined it with their track record for putting out some of the best DLCs known to man also gives me much hope. I KNOW this is going to be great and I know it'll be worth the wait. I can not wait to die and die again to this big burning wicker man thing and go damn... From, you did it again.

Hoping more Fire Giant and less Demon of Hatred

All I know is, June 21st onwards we will be dedicated to diving back into Elden Ring and ALL the craziness that follows. This expansion might even push Elden Ring to the top place or second in my all time favorite Fromsoft games.

AV

Learning Leverless: Prologue

 Welcome to a brand new ongoing series! In these series of blogs, I'll be discussing my progress with learning how to play on a leverless/ hitbox controller. 

HIS-Story

The leverless vs controller vs arcade stick debate has been going on since the first Hitbox hit the market and the chatter has not died down. As hardcore child of the late 80's where arcades in Australia ( where I grew up) was plentiful I learned and only really cared about playing fighting games on a arcade stick. I cut my teeth in Tekken Tag Tournament (the original), Tekken 5 and various King of Fighters on arcade sticks and it was what I was used too. When I entered tournaments on console, which was rare because we had arcade machines, I used an arcade stick as well. One of my first and the one I have the most fondest memories of was the Namco original PSOne stick, made pretty much for Tekken and Soul Caliber.

I even brought this stick with me when I came to live in America. Speaking of, when I first got to America I was blown away by how much the fighting game scene or FGC (fighting game community) had moved on from arcades because arcades were almost dead there. Pretty much all major fighting games were now played on consoles and a lot of people including many of people I played games with, only knew how to play Tekken on the Playstation controller which is what they grew up on.

Without getting bogged down in the details, overtime I stuck with my arcade stick and most of my friends stuck with their pad controllers. They were a couple outliers who still used arcade sticks but I was definitely in the minority. I went through many and when I say many, I mean many arcade sticks during my time here in the US. However it was during the middle of the lifespan of Tekken 7 one of my good friends Justin gave me a very sturdy arcade stick for Christmas. This became my real signature stick and the irony that it had Soul Caliber art on it but I never every really played Soul Caliber was always a funny irony and butt of some jokes. 

This stick lasted me my whole Tekken 7 competitive lifespan as well as any other fighting games I tried out a long the way (KOF 15, Ultra Street Fighter 5, Thems Fightin' Herds all come to mind) but as time went on, the wear and tear got to it and soon certain inputs were not coming out and one button in particularly was staying very sticky and unresponsive. It was also ironically the button I was using the most with Swift Master in DNF Duel.  I was not 100% fussed through because I was slowly getting dis-enchanted with Tekken 7 especially due to the pandemic and fighting game tournaments going on hiatuses and just feeling I've done all I wanted to do in the game. More important I realized now is I wanted more than what I had been doing and the big break (even if it was involuntarily)from the FGC and Tekken helped realized it was time for a new challenge. I wanted to spread my wings and explore a brand new genre of fighting games and I wanted to give it an honest try at the same time since I realized I needed a new peripheral I wanted to go all the way and try a different approach as well.

Anime- Air Dashing- All Buttons

My interest in the Anime fighting game community (a sub-genre of the FGC) was always in the background, going to tournaments where Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and Under-Night In-Birth was being run I would watch in fascination as these games moved at almost break neck pace and the chaos that was constantly flying around. Coming from a game which was originally very grounded like Tekken and Virtua Fighter, this caught my eye more than once. I even recall trying a version of Guilty Gear for awhile in my early Tekken 6 days but it never really caught my attention.

It all changed when the pandemic hit. All of a sudden, away from the restrictions of having to play Tekken constantly I started branching out and the games I found the most fun were air dashers. I really enjoyed learning Thems Fightin' Herds to the point where I almost want to go mainstream with it and attend tournaments to play it and thanks to Xbox Game Pass I picked up BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle and really enjoyed its dynamics as well. However, what real clinched the deal was getting DNF Duel for free thanks to the Epic game store. Learning DNF Duel with my old arcade sticks and a new mini Hori which I brought purely because I was interested in it really made me want to take it more seriously. When I got Spectre from the DLC, I even got more invested but sadly I realized no one was playing DNF Duel so I would get no competition locally or otherwise and fighting games do not really peak for people unless you have competition.

However there were 2 other anime game scenes which were popping and both were pulling in more crowds then DNF Duel could ever dream of doing so I had to make a choice on my next big game to main. After careful deliberating and deciding which game would suit me more I ended up choosing Under-Night In-Birth aka UNI. Specially its newly released sequel Sys:Celes. I have discuss reasons why I ended up picking UNI2 over GranBlue Fantasy Versus: Rising in a previous PIT STOP on this very blog space.

Weapon of Choice

So we have arrived at the meat of the matter. First, I wanted to try learning leverless but I did not know if it'll work for me and the entry price for most leverless controllers can go up to $200-$300 easily. Also the cost is second to waiting for them to arrive and most of the more popular ones are out of stock. The one that interested me the most through was the Snackbox Micro, it looked cool, was cost effective and I have seen a fair amount of people locally and in Youtube videos talk about it and how good it is. Whilst looking up and alternative whilst I waited for a new supply of the Snackbox to become available, I found some alternatives and watched plenty of Youtube videos and one video in particular helped.

In the end we picked up this bad boy

The technical product name for it is the 'Fighting Box' or 'Flatbox Arcade Fight Stick Mini' even tho it has no stick lol so I've taken to calling it just Flatbox. Also because it was my first purchase from Ali Express who shipped it to me, I got it for less then $50. Less than $50 versus $200 you can see why I decided to try it this way instead. Speaking of shipping, originally I was not supposed to get it for almost 3 weeks but it actually arrived a lot sooner than expected and even before I ready to purchase UNI2 so I've been road testing it with DNF Duel of course.

Speaking more on the Flatbox, I could tell you get what you paid for, the whole device is 3D printed with the exception of the electronic motherboard that powers it. It doesn't feel cheap tho and its actually very pleasing to touch, at least for me. The material might not be grade A but it gets the job done and I knew what I was getting myself into before I purchased it (again thanks to Youtube videos and my own research). It came with a basic USB to USB-c connector (which I promptly replaced with my own, longer, corded one which I recently purchased for my cell phone and ended up no longer needing) and some tools to help with the replacing the buttons and a couple spare buttons (more on that later). It was packaged nicely with foam and bubble wrap surrounding to make sure it was tossed and turned during its journey from China. It is all black as the photo shows but I always said to myself because it is so easily customizable that I will make some changes once I enjoy using it more. Of course one of the big issues with it is it is only compatible with PCs and the Switch but to make it compatible with other consoles straight out the box I needed to pay a little bit more and again this was my test drive and I really only play fighters on my Steam Deck lately. Overall, it was a good purchase, the price point was amazing and I received it relatively quickly.

Growing Pains (in my hands)

Day one, one thing I was blown away is by how small it really is. Of course I saw it dimensions during the videos I watched but to actually have it in my lap and my hands on top of it I realized when they said Mini, they meant Mini. Comparing to another Mini I recently brought, it almost the same size but this one is not a stick so it definitely feels much more comfortable so there is that. However comfort is relative because after a couple hours of 'practicing' with it, my hands started cramped up from how I am using it.

Mini meet Mini

So a lot of videos discussing leverless/ all button controllers mention the best way to use it is to pretend you are typing with your fingers hovering above the keys or like you are playing the piano. My big problem is, I never really subscribed to the floating hand keyboard style and I think to my last days I will be typing the way I learned it which is with only a couple fingers. I can convinced it is because I am a gamer and it how I hold gaming controllers and sticks through all my childhood. I could go off tangent and tell a story about how a job once tried to teach me the optimal way of typing but they soon changed their mind once they saw how fast I typed the way I do and said to stick to what I knew. Anyhow, the hovering approach was giving me hand cramps and it was what I was afraid of. I was undaunted through and was determined to keep at it that was until I got very, very sick.

Ever since December, I have been dealing with a cold and a cough that has been ruining everything. The cough has got so bad, sometimes I would cough for hours without nothing to show for it. This particularly week it got so bad that I had trouble breathing too. It was not fun and I was so out of it, sickness-wise I could not bother to play any video games let alone learn a new controller. I however saw my doctor (nice guy btw), got some good meds and have since been feeling much better (through the cough is sticking around... yay *sarcasm*). 

The good news ever since I started feeling better, I have been able to use the Flatbox much more and get accustomed to it. I have now spent 2 full days just working out finger placements and learning little tricks like using what used to be my attack button fingers to tap movement buttons, I know it sounds funny but one thing you quickly learn is leverless controllers have a big 'UP' button and this button is big enough and close enough to your attack buttons that instead of hitting the UP button with your movement fingers like you are used to, you can actually use an attack finger to do it and you can get some of the best 'close' to the ground jumps you have ever hoped for. This instant air movement is why some folks swear by leverless and I am happy I started working it out as soon as I did. Spectre, my main in DNF Duel has a lot of attacks that require to instant air moves and with this Flatbox I was getting so much more consistently compared to my old sticks. Dashing is also easier even through I was used to rapid dashing with a stick thanks to playing King and Claudio (whom have tons of instant dashing attacks) and within a couple play tests with the Flatbox I was able to consistently pull off Spectre's hardest combo trials (trials number 7 and 8 respectively which requires lots of instant air and dash cancelling to pull off). I was stoked and even I can not believe how fast I've picked it up.

This is a Spectre Sponsored blog.

However funny enough, some of her easier combos take a bit more effort but I eventually got those down as well. I still get hand cramps so I try not to push these practice sessions for too long but enough that I am getting comfortable with it. The size of the Flatbox is surprisingly not an issue and the other main issue I had was I need a box to set my feet on when I am practicing so my feet ain't hovering off the ground. The Flatbox is also sitting at the end of my knees where its most level with my hands and where I can rest my wrists so I do not need to hover like I thought I needed too.  My biggest issue so far is actually concerned the Flatbox itself. For some strange reason the Left movement button got unstuck really quickly and it kept popping out after a couple of presses, exposing the switch below it. I have placed it back in but after a couple presses it comes out again. Eventually I replaced it with one of the replacement buttons they provided and it has stuck better but hopefully that won't be an ongoing issue. All in all, it has really started to work out for me.

We will be arriving at an impasse through, DNF Duel special moves can be done with traditional fireball, dragon punch motions but you can also use simple inputs as well so instead having to do a full down, down forward, forward and attack button for a fireball motion you can do forward and attack button to get the same results (with some small caveats) however the game we want to really learn leverless with requires the full motions and well, I haven't practice them as much so in the next blog we will see how that comes along now I have picked up UNI2 and really start Learning Leverless.

AV

LIST: My Top From Software games!

 Keeping with the promise to keep the blog's diverse, we now have our second LIST. This one is an obvious one for anyone who knows me. For the people who do not know me, I love... LOVE me some From Software (aka Fromsoft) games especially their Souls and Souls-like games. I own most physical copies of them and proudly display them. Fromsoft has truly re-defined and mastered the Action Role Playing Game genre to the point where now they are so many 'Souls-like' or Souls clones. I have played a lot of them and now I feel I can make a LIST that talks about my favorites.

NOTE: I have not completed Dark Souls II or Demon's Souls so these games will not be listed. I aim to play Demon's Souls (I pretty much bought a PS3 to do so) and I do own Dark Souls II but have just never got around to playing it. I started both but never got into them but as I said, eventually I will get back to them. Without more to say...

Coming in at the bottom spot

BLOODBORNE: This maybe surprising for some because a lot of From fans have Bloodborne as their favorite game or one of their top ones and for me it is my least favorite especially compared to its cousins. Also funny is this is technically my first Fromsoft game I played and beaten. I have the platinum for this game so I've invested time in it and I love the setting and story so why is it at the bottom?

Honestly, I feel Bloodborne is a great gateway drug to how good Fromsoft games are but when you dig deep, like really deep it also shows a lot of things I can did not like about their games. BB has one of the most archaic control schemes when it comes to 'jumping' and tying it into a the run button causes a lot of errors which should be able to be avoided. The middle of the game is bogged down with one of the worsts areas (The Forbidden Woods) to me and every-time I arrived their I always try my best to rush through it. The 'builds' or lack of them also restricts the game in ways I did not enjoy. I remember trying to do a 'Arcane' build and focus on being a mage type but you truly do not see the benefits in investing into it till very late in the game and everything before that is a real struggle. The bosses in the base game are also pretty underwhelming, ranging from Rom's spiders constantly swamping you and chasing after it to the very frustrating Micolash 'fight'. People who have played BB know exactly what I am talking about. The healing system is a massive step back and constantly having to farm healing vials whilst in the middle of play session is a real dampener on immersion. Now one of the faults above is corrected with the 'The Old Hunters' DLC where most of the bosses are amazing and rank up there with some of From's best efforts but despite that and 'The Old Hunters' being one of the best DLCs From has ever made, Bloodborne ranks at the bottom for me now.  My last time playing this game I really stopped enjoying myself and I feel it might have given me a negative bias against it. I do feel if I ever play Dark Souls II it would no longer be the bottom of the bottom because let's be honest, we know how jank DS II is, but out of the games I have completed, this is where it ranks.

Up Next: This was a tough one and I went back and forward with it

DARK SOULS REMASTERED: Full disclosure; I have only played Dark Souls Remastered. I would love to play the original but 24 frames Blight-town is not how anyone should played the game. However the 'Soul' of Dark Souls Remastered is still From despite it being done in partnership with another company (QLOC I believe). Also I need to discuss context wise when I played DS. I played DS after I had firmly became a Fromsoft fan, I had, at the time completed Bloodborne, Sekiro and Dark Souls 3. Therefore I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.

DS at its core is why I love Fromsoft games. The challenge is great, the bosses are amazing, the level design and the thought that goes behind them shows real craftsmanship and the game just feels amazing to play. Sure, we still have the jank run to jump mechanic but I did not notice as much in DS because the enemies in DS are a bit less aggressive then say Bloodborne enemies. I also love the mechanics in DS much more than BB. I love the parrying with shields, the ability to cart around enemies and backstab them and the weapons on offer allow a lot of different approaches. DS also adds challenges like decapitating bosses tails for different boss items which sadly has not continued in other From games. Magic is fun to use in this game too and you do not have to only spec into that before it becomes helpful. I have beaten it a couple times and every-time as I play it I always find enjoyment in it. Even at my most frustrated (fighting against Manus in the DLC is the closest I got) I still wanted to keep playing it.

Some of the things I do not enjoy about it are few and far between. Of course the Bed of Chaos boss is horrible, the backend of the game's areas do overstay their welcome (especially the Demon Ruins *shudder*) and I do not like how restrictive the endings are where you basically pick one or the other but the bad is nothing compared to the good. As I said, it was up in the air who would take this place for a while before I finally decided but overall, it is an amazing game that I can replay at anytime.

Speaking of, up next.

ELDEN RING: I personal feel you can not upload anything Elden Ring related without the amazing theme song coming on and blowing out your speakers. It is such a amazing tune and it really gets you in the mood for the epic that lies before you and an epic it is.

ER, From Software's magnus opus is truly the pinnacle of From lessons it learned while making all their previous Souls games. It takes everything enjoyable about those games and amps it to eleven. More bosses, more areas, more exploration, more classes and viable builds. Techniques are enhanced to include 'Ashes of War' to include more variety in your attacks and on top of all that, multiple ways to complete the games that truly changes it. It is understandable that after doing so much in ONE game why From had to take break from it and make something completely different in Armored Core 6 and why the 'Shadow of the Erdtree' DLC is taking so long. There is so much done so well that following this up becomes a almost impossible task and I do not envy them. So why is this my third favorite From game? Well I kind of answered it above, it is just too much sometimes.

I can not call myself a completion focused gamer but I will not lie that if I truly enjoy something, I do go in and when I go in it means I want to do everything possible. I want to see every area, fight every boss and pick all the items and thoroughly look in ever nook and cranny for gameplay. I am also very pedantic when it comes to playing games, I seldom like to get lost and I like doing things with a purpose. If I am going to an area, I am going so I can pick up a item or fight a boss. So when I first dug into ER, I did that. I explored nearly every side quest with each NPC, I explored catacombs after catacombs and made sure I fought every boss I could find. I was all in. My final time in ER on my first playthrough clocked in at over 200 hrs and I enjoyed almost all of it. ER also learned from previous From games and it does not waste your time with long runbacks to the bosses (cough DS II cough), ways to make fights easier without having to summon fellow players (which I do not like as a solo player) in the form of Spirit summons and fast travel being unlocked from the beginning. Also Torrent, your trusty stead helps you traverse the lands so much faster to so you do not have to walk everywhere. It fixed so much issues but the problem is after your first amazing playthrough, if you explored everything and did everything it becomes least incentive to do it all over again. Sure you can rush pass certain areas and only focus on the major storyline bosses but it feels like a dis-service to ignore some of the best content just to rush to a respective ending. Unlike some people I do not mind fighting challenging bosses like Melania if I am ready for the challenge. She is one of my favorite bosses, design-wise and fighting against her really is a thrill when tackled with the right mindset. Also sadly ER is also where Fromsoft constantly caved to the 'patch' culture that is running rampant in videos games, where if enough people complain about something it gets nerfed as a result and the continuously nerfing of really strong tools constantly meant some endgame builds were ruined as a result (my favorite 'Dagger and Flame' build for example) and some weapons were not as strong. Balance makes sense in a PvP focused game but they even nerfed it in the PvE where your only enemy is the CPU and that does not sit right with me. If we want to rock OP builds, we should be allowed to.

In the end, I have only beaten Elden Ring once and I have tried now 3 separate times to do it again but just the scope of all I want to do is what I can do always stops me. It is a big investment and sometimes you only have enough hours to game. Also the reskinning of bosses kind of gets egregious especially near the end, a person can only fight a gargoyle or tree spirit x amount of times before it becomes too much of a good thing.  As a one off experience, ER might be my number one game but as an ongoing experience and making me want to dive in again and play it all over again like I did with previous Fromsoft games it is much lower, hence number 3. I know I'll come back for the forthcoming DLC tho so maybe that might change its ranking but we shall see.

Up next, our silver medal winner.

DARK SOULS III: Oh my gosh, the stories I can tell about my experience with this game. If Dark Souls III was based completely on my first couple experiences with it, this would have ranked last. The first couple times I played DS III, I remember getting stuck at the brick wall that is its first boss, Gundyr. I died so many times against him and at this time, I had beaten Bloodborne and started and was enjoying Sekiro so I was wondering what was wrong with me. Eventually I won and I continued to play but soon I got lost in the numerous side paths and one night I was so bored playing it on stream I stopped playing and went to sleep instead. I continued through and soon I encounter arguably my least favorite area in Souls games and to this day, one of my areas I always dread entering; Farron Keep. A lot of people hate Sen's Fortress or Lost Izalith in DS or Cathcombs of Carthus (which I do not like either). But Farron Keep and it poison, it slow moving sludge that restricts movement, windy paths and the insanely OP enemies really made me doubt why I was playing this game. I eventually got to the boss, the Abyss Watchers, one of the best bosses I heard and I struggled against them too. I struggled so hard (the runback was also particularly long too) that after I beat them and saw my next stop was a rather mid area (aforementioned Cathcombs) I rage quitted the game. Yes, I rage quitted on my second favorite Fromsoft game after beating a boss. It got my down that much that I knew I did not like it. If the Abyss Watchers was one of the best bosses this game had to offer and I barely enjoyed fighting them how else could this game appeal to me I thought. Again, the context is important. I just finished BB, I was playing Sekiro and really enjoying it but for some strange reason, at that time, the Souls formula did not click for me so I was done with it.

And I was done with it, for many moons and after a lot of time away (during this time off I completed Sekiro and really enjoyed myself, I believe I replayed Bloodborne too) in the back of my head I was thinking, maybe I was too harsh on DS III. I realized I did enjoy Fromsoft games. So I decided to try it again but this time from a complete different approach. I realized I was playing it but BB rules or Sekiro's rules and I had to play it by Dark Souls way of thinking. Maybe I needed a shield, maybe I need to work on strafing and incorporating movement into my battles and than it clicked and when I say it clicked, I was locked in. Now I understood when to move instead of the frantic dashing I was doing in BB, I was not locked into using one weapon like I was in Sekiro so when one weapon's moveset did not suit me I changed to a different one. I had guides to tell me where to go and where to get important items and I had a plan. Every-time I played I had goals to aim for and this mindset has taken me into every Souls I have played since. By playing it by its terms, I embraced DS III vision and than I really started enjoying myself. I have now beaten the game multiple times with multiple builds and I can honestly say I can start up a new run today and still have a ball playing it. It is why it comes above ER because ER I have to psych myself up to play it whilst DS III is like a well-worn shoe. I can pick it up and slip right back into what I enjoy about it and there is so much to like.

The combat system in DS III takes everything I enjoyed about DS Remastered and just makes it better. Parries are more fun and you have other ways of parrying, backstabbing is still as amazing as ever, the bosses are still challenging but with the signature tells which helps you learn their patterns so you can conquer them. I know now the Abyss Watchers love to do this flourish of attacks into a massive diving attack which is prime back stabbing opportunity. I know the Nameless King (one of my favorite bosses of all From games) openings and when to exploits them for maximum gain. Slave Knight Gael and me have had many epic battles trading blows till only one of us is left standing and I loved every minute of it. DS III takes everything I love about Fromsoft Souls' games and just make its better. My best comparison is the leap Namco made from Tekken 3 to Tekken 5 (and strangely Tekken 4 is their Dark Souls II). We took what you liked and just made it better. Your Welcome! they said. However as I said above, its is my favorite Souls' game not my favorite From Software game. No, that honor belongs to another.

SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE: I could gush about this game for days but the sake of brevity and the fact that this has already been a long rambling read I will keep it concise. I LOVE Sekiro. I love the setting, I love the characters, I love the lore, I love the fact that I can kill the most annoying From enemy (dogs) with a single shuriken and most of all, I love the combat system and the fact that it is the most skill rewarding game I have ever played. In Sekiro if you suck, you can not go farm another area so you can get a bigger life bar or rely on spirit summons or magic builds to help you win. If you want to win, you truly need to 'Gid Gud' as the Fromsoft fans love to say. However the feeling you get when you conquer your enemies is second to none.

Let it be known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favorite concept in action games is parrying. I enjoy it so much that my wife whom I frequently discuss my adventures with in these games has gone on to call me 'Parry Park' (Park being a Korean last name as we love tons of Korean media so its ingrained itself into our lives). I mentioned it the previous games in this list and From has made it a point to include it in some way in all their games. Well Sekiro takes that and amplifies to the point where if you aren't parrying and engaging in a parrying competition with your enemy, you are not winning. This concept is daunting for some but once you get into the rhythm of it, it is addictive. It is true to the core of the game and its philosophies too so that if you embrace it it becomes second nature to you and you become a true sword saint.

Yes, Sekiro has great areas to explore, yes, Sekiro has a dedicated jump button (which Elden Ring incorporated into its design too, thank goodness), it also started the dedicated save spots before bosses so the runbacks become less frequent and less annoying (which ER also borrowed, again thank goodness) but the combat system and it succinct skill trees that enhances its combat is where it shines. Some people bemoan it only has one weapon and you are limited to the builds you can make and that is true but Sekiro's combat system is not built around that. It is all about engaging with the enemy and making them see the fearlessness in your eyes. I have beaten this game so many times and got multiple endings, I have explored every area and I still find things to do every-time I replay it. When this game added the boss rush as its only post launch content, I dedicated many hours to just replaying it on that alone and earning all the prizes from it. Some say its replay-ability is lower than other Fromsoft games and I say it is only lower if you do not love what it gives you. If you love the challenge it gives you, you will never get bored.

Sure its not a perfect game. Some mini bosses and even bosses are re-used and the Demon of Hatred can eat a bowl of penises but what it does well, it does really well and it is my favorite From Software game.

AV

PIT STOP: Here We Go

 

It is time to go Leverless!!

This blog will be updated with my progress and struggles with it. I am excited tho.

AV

PIT STOP: Brave New Worlds

 Nearing the end of Tekken 7's lifespan, I made two firm decision. The first was to not play Tekken 8 competitively. I made a RANT post about this so if you want more of that story, you can read about it there. The other big decision I made was to try something different. A new fighting game genre which I always looked at and wanted to try but never had given a honest try. It was time to go ANIME.

Regular followers of this blog will notice the last couple months me constantly talking about anime fighting games like Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, Under-Night In-Birth, Granblue Versus and very frequently, DNF Duel. As I've explored each one I've got more into taking the genre more seriously. Sadly the one I want to play the most is the one with the least player base (that being DNF Duel) but thankfully both Granblue and Under-Night (or as most folks refer it to as UNI) have a decent player base and both have tournaments being run around them so if I wanted some serious competition outside of playing the CPU I would have some. Granblue online is good too and UNI's is...well let say its not good but I doubt I'll be playing either online much anyway since I barely played the fighting games I was good at online.

I know I'll have some friends willing to play it with me in my inner circle too which is nice and I fully intended to integrate myself into the local scene which I have as well so all in all, if I take to anime like I take to all fighting games I've previously played I think I'll be alright. However I did not want to spread myself too thin so I decided to just pick one to spend the most time with and focus on 'getting gud'. It came down either Granblue Versus Rising or Under-Night In-Birth: Sys:Celes and we went with...

There is a couple reasons why I decided to go UNI2 as opposed to GBVR (got to get used to this abbreviations). Playing the UNI characters in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle I realized some of them were pretty cool and I enjoyed learning just how different, with concepts like Reverse Beat (a system that involves hitting buttons in reverse strength aka instead of light punch into heavy punch, you can do heavy punch into light which normally is not a thing) and some of the character designs were very unique as well. I did some more research and I learned UNI is a very technical fighter with a lot of nuances which appeal to me as well.

It did not help I recently paid for the original GranBlue Versus before they announced a full price expansion and to get the game as well as its upcoming DLC characters would cost $75!! Sure this can mitigated with the Free version but the free version has a limited roster that is determined by the developers. UNI games on the other hand I've never brought, UNI2 is only $50 and you get the season pass/ DLC included with it as long as you purchase it before March 1st. In the end, I decided on UNI2 for Steam even despite the horrible online connectivity for matches (which the developers are constantly working on and updating which is a good sign) cause as I stated before, I do not need online to enjoy a game.

UNI2 player base also seems a bit more 'dedicated'. I noticed over time the GBVR players left the game pretty quickly, sure it might have been COVID or the lack of good online infrastructure (which I heard Rising did fix) but it does not change that UNI players have supported their game through thick and thin and made sure they even got a sequel. As of late, I find myself cheering for the indie developers and the developers of Under-Night In-Birth, French Bread are as indie as they can get.

However I wanted to challenge myself in another way, not only did I want to learn anime games competitively, I wanted to take another leap too. I always said if I wanted to get serious again about fighters I would go lever-less and well... soon that will come true.

Introducing the Flatbox based on the Snackbox Micro I purchased from AliExpress. I do not have it yet but it should be arriving soon and I can not wait to try it. This is my first time going lever-less and I have a feeling it will not be easy at first but I am willing to give it a honest try. I have never felt using a stick has held me back since I grew up in the arcades of Sydney so I was used to using it as my preferred way of playing fighting games but times have changed and I've noticed lever-less controllers getting cheaper and providing more advantages to players. I will probably use this blog to chart my progress with it and my feelings on the one I brought and hopefully if I take to it, I hope to customize to fit my aesthetic even more (through all black is a statement too).

So because I am deciding to learn UNI2 and a new controller I've decided to pair them up so I intend to do both at the same time so I can build my muscle memory and not pick up any bad habits. This will of course mean I can not practice for a upcoming local tournament 'Cincy Clash 6' but I intend to just play casuals at that event to get my feet wet and to try out my new toy in a competitive environment.

All in all, two brave new journeys, both will be chronicled here. Stay tuned!

AV

RAVE: Dredge

 "Our brains deliberately make us forget things, to prevent insanity"

    H.P Lovecraft

Dredge is a fishing simulator, a inventory manager but also a dive into grief and the madness that ensues. It is a game about the story of two men. The fisherman and the collector and what happens when the two collide in the middle. Dredge is also our first RAVE of 2024 and our first 100% game of this year. This is our story.

I realized as I went to purchase another different game that I have developed quite a affinity for the games that Team 17 produce. In collaborations with other smaller studios, they have given me games like 'Blasphemous 1 and 2', 'Thymesia', the I am going to get back to it 'Narita Boy' and 'Dredge' (this one created by Black Salt Games). These a just a couple examples of how Team 17 seems to pick games I like and gravitate towards. Pretty good for a company that used to be known only for their 'Worms' games. I think it is because I enjoy Team 17 games that Dredge was on my radar early and after hearing the premise I was 'hooked' pun intended. (There will probably be a couple fishing puns in this RAVE I am afraid). However in the back of my head, I was thinking, would I enjoy a fishing game with mostly quick time events? It turns out at first my fears might have been warranted and in the early days a RAVE for Dredge did not seem likely.

When I first booted up Dredge, I was hooked by the very unique graphics, this game looks like a water painting come to life and it definitely swings more towards cell shading than realism. However look at the image above? Is it not breathtaking? Also the fact you can clearly see above and below water was super important in what at its core is a fishing game. The music whilst isn't a stand out is still very cozy and relaxing (until dangers rear up their head). Black Salt Games, the maker of Dredge really put a lot of work into this and it shows, not bad for a bunch of New Zealanders (I'm Australian at my core, irrational competition with NZ is in our blood) and a rather small indie studio and their first major game I believe. However below the watery surface (SORRY) was some things I did not immediately enjoy and it slowed my roll with the game and even made me pick up other games as a distraction.

I must say, if you are reading this blog, I would like to draw you attention to a newly added side bar I call UPDATES. In Updates, I keep you up to date on what I am playing and my general thoughts. For example, leading up to this RAVE, a couple times I mentioned I liked Dredge but I also have reservations about it however the updates changed in time and eventually I got pulled in, hook, line and sinker (SORRY). As it stood, my reservations were not something that could not be conquered by playing the game more and now I can say I've beaten the game twice, got both the endings and have 100% all the achievements including a very big, long, collect-a-thon. I purchased the DLC 'The Pale Reach' and finished all the side quests and got 100% of the achievements for that too. What I am saying is eventually this game became my jam and now I am sad I have completed it so completely that I will probably not play it again until the next DLC drops.

Enough about me through, lets talk more about Dredge. As I mentioned earlier, Dredge at its core is a story driven, fishing simulator with some dark undertones. The H.P Lovecraft quote at the beginning isn't just for show, Dredge is heavily inspired by Lovecraftian mythos and especially his stories about the sea and what lies below it. Similar to how Darkest Dungeon (another heavily inspired by H.P game I really enjoyed, see my previous RAVE about it), it builds on the foundation of what H.P always warned us about. The fear of the unknown. In this case, the unknown horror is localized in a archipelago of islands with colorful names like 'The Devil's Spine' and a small town of eccentric people. Of course, we have some normal people like the lady who fixes our boat and upgrades it when given the right material (more on that later) or the kindly old painter but than we have people like the lighthouse keeper who knows more than she is saying and the driving force of the game, the collector. We meet the collector relatively early and him and our player character the fisherman has many meetings with him and he is whom sends us on our very elaborate fetch quest.

Gameplay wise is where I had my first issues with the game, the game has a day/night cycle with the night time being particularly dangerous to go fishing in and because of this, you want to do most of your leg work and finding what you need during the daytime. However the cycle moves very quickly where a couple minutes dredging an item will equate to 3-4 hours game time and you'll be stuck out in the dark a lot more than you want to be. Sure it gets you into where the game wants you with your sanity meter spiraling out of control but the day/night cycle is a bit too accelerated for my taste. I put in a fair amount of time into Dredge (almost 30 hours) but the game built in timer says I've played it for 200+ days. There is a way you can make time move much slower in the game options but that is not how the game is intended to be played so I honestly will not entertain that. However I wish there was a compromise. I did eventually set my in-game clock to wake me up at the earliest I could so I could still capture some night fishes (which definitely exist) without being out at sea at the craziest hours. Thankfully nothing is really timed in this game and previously timed quests with certain individuals was patched out so the in-game date is a arbitrary number. You can start a collector quest, go do all the side quests you want to do, do some side fishing for some profit and not be on a strict timer because the collector will still be there waiting which I appreciate, my game plan eventually came down to doing that and the collector's item was the last thing I handed in before I moved onto the next chapter which I always took a one/two day real time break before going back in.

Focusing on the things I did not like at first, I also did not like how fragile my boat was and how a simple tap on a cliff face or a stray tentacle thing could sink my dreams. I especially did not enjoy how slow my boat was and with a game with a accelerated time, it took me hours to get from one side of the port to the other. The quick day and nights and the handling of the boat plus the general feeling of being lost were some of the reasons why I did not enjoy myself as much as I thought I would. The irony is the thing I thought would not speak to me the most, the fishing mini-games, became the thing I liked the most about Dredge. It quickly became more than that though. I realized that the shipwright could upgrade my boat and I could find resources to upgrade it pretty easily so soon I had a much more sturdy rig, I took to researching and how it unlocked other engines which could be attached to the boat to make her glide on the water and most importantly I found guides which showed me where I need to go and helped me stay on the path and not get stuck in the weeds (which I understand now I hate lol). Once I fully embraced the game Dredge was, I fell in love with it and it steadily became the only game I played with spouts of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle and DNF Duel on the side. In the end, I completed the game and its subsequent DLC and I am very happy I did. I immediately dived (SORRY) back in through to get another ending, hunt down more multiple fishes at all times of the day and night and I even got all the aberrations, Eldritch inspired lovelies like this one

I got my EYE on you.

I normally hate collect-a-thon quests but since I enjoyed the fishing mini game I did not mind it and within a couple days I completed my collection. Each fish has a colorful description too. So the gameplay is good but the real hook is the story and well we can not talk about that without dropping a big spoiler. IF you do not want to be spoiled just stroll down to the image of the Cat-hulu and enjoy the conclusion.

Going back to what I mentioned earlier, Dredge is the story of two people, the collector and the fisherman and as we come to learn, they are one and the same. It turns out the collector is a alter-ego the fisherman created after a tragedy where he lost his wife at sea. In a very Lovecraftian twist, he has decided to turn to the dark arts to get her back and he does not care whom will be sacrificed for this. The elaborate fetch quest that you have been helping him do is to perform a ritual and well, let just say it does not end well for anyone. A lot of folks would get this ending on their first try because the true 'good' ending is much more hidden and requires dredging up (SORRY) the history of the inhabitants of the town which includes the lighthouse keeper and the original mayor of the town. Both endings are masterful and really enhanced the game for me and even  nicer is the game allows you to experience both endings on one save so you do not need to completely replay the game for the other endings. I mentioned earlier that even if the fishing game did not entrap me, I would have kept going because of the story and it was worth it.

In closing; yes Dredge gets a RAVE and I can honestly say you do not even have to go all in like I did and you will still have a good time. The fishing game is fun, inventory management becomes a game in itself, the storyline has just enough to hook (SORRY ) you and keep you on the line. These indie games producers continues to blow me away with how much Black Salt Games can do on a smaller budget and Dredge continues to keep up the amazing track record that Team 17 knows what they are doing when it comes to publishing. Do not let this chance to go insane, go away.

AV