Little Break (Again)

Hi! I’m gonna take a little break from blogging for the rest of the year, and I`ll be returning in 2022 with new and interesting blog posts. See you then! I promise. This break won`t take five years like last time. 

Some Thoughts on Fallout 3

I've been replaying Fallout 3 after, I don't know, many years. It's a weird game, because when I originally played it through I enjoyed it but didn't love it. It felt empty and blunt compared to Fallout: New Vegas for example (which happens to be one of my favourite games ever). Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate Fallout 3 - I thought and still think that it's magnificent game but at the same time it feels like it's missing something. And somehow I managed to skip half of the (somewhat boring) main story when I first played Fallout 3.

Now that I've been visiting ruined DC area again even though game feels better than before - maybe I've grown as a gamerrr - I still feel that emptiness and boringness when I'm playing Fallout 3. But as I've approached it differently this time, taking my time, exploring new places and not using fast travel instead of rushing through story as I did on my first playthrough, I'm beginning to understand why people love this game. It's truly apocalyptic and unforgiving experience at the times, with some sugary nostalgy on the top. There's something about older Bethesda games and clunkiness they have that drives us towards them over and over again.

I already knew it back in 2015: ''somehow wacky A.I. fits already dotty world of Fallout.' And I still think so. These games wouldn't be the same without all the bugs and glitches - in this point those are almost like features.

Anyway, now it's time to go kill some super mutants.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0. Update & Happy Home Planning DLC

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was already pretty great game for what it is, but it got sometimes a little bit dull especially when playing a lot. That's why I was very interested when Nintendo announced 2.0. Update and new paid DLC for the game, both with many new features. Would these be enough to refresh Animal Crossing experience or are they just more of the same? Well, I think both answers are right.

2.0. Update

This big update came with a long changelog of stuff that's been added. For me the most interesting thing was the café, The Rooster, that was added to museum, but after about two weeks of playing it has been kinda disappointing place. Yeah, you can drink coffee, but I was waiting for more. I know that you can get villagers to visit you with Amiibo cards, but unfortunately I don't have any (yet), so I'm just sitting there, all alone, sipping my pigeon milk coffee...

Kapp'n boat tours on the other hand are a very cool addition. The islands where Kapp'n takes you are interesting, and you can find some cool stuff there. Gyroids for example are very cute and now I'm filling little forest on my island with them! It brings some liveness to the place, which I always thought that ACNH is somehow missing. I don't really know how to explain that, but sometimes it feels that you are just stuck in a loop in that game... And somehow little dancing things help. 

New home decorating options are welcomed, though I haven't yet had time to mess with them more (except on the DLC, but more about that later). Vegetables and food is fine, I guess, but I don't really want to spend my time making food in a game where it's not needed. This is not Fallout 76 where you must eat all of the time.

Harv's Island also got a lot going on now, which is probably one of the best parts of this update. Possibility have centered hub for all the shopping and other stuff is something I've been missing since I started playing this game, as Redd for example didn't seem to visit my island ever! I just want all that yummy, I mean beautiful art! (I guess I've been spending too much time with Cube cause now I want to taste everything. I mean everything.)

But the best part of this update is easily group stretching. End of discussion.

Happy Home Planning

I wasn't expecting ACNH getting any major DLC's but thankfully Nintendo proved me wrong. Happy Home Planning is probably best thing that could be added to this game because it fits the theme of faraway island life so well. I haven't yet learned or tried all the things on this DLC as I'm playing it very slowly, doing a vacation home or two in a day, but so far it has opened so much new ways to play this game. It gives you freedom to do almost anything you want without messing your own island too much - if you find out something you really like in Happy Home Planning you can recreate it on your own island without the hassle of that fear of not getting it right. This DLC is perfect dollhouse.

But it's not just a dollhouse. There's new interesting characters (I love Wardell the Walrus) and the chance to meet villagers that are not living on your island is exciting and makes the game more living experience in my opinion. Even though building up the vacation homes is the main focus, I really enjoy just running around the Paradise Planning island and see what villagers are doing. Building up cafes and restaurants are something that I missed in the main game so this addition is very welcoming.

And that's my two cents on the new ACNH content. Overall 2.0. update and DLC are great, though there are still some quality of life stuff that Nintendo should add, like a way to skip dialogs that you must repeat over and over again for just buying few things, but then again would Animal Crossing be what it is without those, however irritating they would be. I don't know, I'm just babbling.

I've been a little bit lazy with blogs lately. but there's many interesting texts waiting... I just need to finish them!

Revisiting Half-Life: Uplink

Photo: halflifeuplink.com

It's been over a decade since I last played Half-Life: Uplink and even then I didn't finish it. Times were different - I still remember being scared as hell in a dim lighted room, playing on old monitor and bad speakers. There's something that made the experience so terrifying for younger version of me. If I remember right this demo came on a CD with few other demos for games like Turok, Worms and maybe even Beyond Good & Evil, though I'm not really sure about the last one. Anyway, this game was my introduction to PC gaming and FPS genre in general. And to Half-Life, of course, which led me to the road I'm still walking on.

I think Uplink is still a great demo though it didn't have the same magic as it use to. But that's how nostalgy works in the end! It's still pretty challenging at the times (but that could be all because my HL skills are rusty) and atmosphere is what you'd expect from Half-life experience. Especially old-schools sounds made this revisit feel like coming home after a long, long journey - there's something special about those sound effects in original Half-Life. And the soda machine can still kill you!

I remember how scared I was of the first zombie you encounter because I had never in my life experienced anything like that. Now, as I'm older and played a lot of HL and zombie games in general, that spooky feeling wasn't unfortunately there anymore. I knew what to do and how to fight those things now too well. And that's sad in a way. There are only a few games that can give that brand new feeling of unknown, at least for me, and the fact that I'm pretty familiar with the engine and game making in general also has a big impact on how I approach games and enemies. 13-15 years ago I had no idea what I was doing on FPS games - now they are hardwired into my blood (hey, I'm using words!). 

And that's why I almost hope that I didn't revisit Uplink. I loved that hazy memory of my time with it. Is it ruined now or do I appreciate it more? We'll see.

Ps. I also recorded a gameplay video with my commentary while playing Uplink, but I don't know if that will ever become public. You'll just have to wait and see...

Why I Don't Play Horror Games

I love horror. Aesthetics, movies, books... you name it. But for some reason I really dislike horror games - not because they would be scary because I don't get scared of fiction easily but because they are kinda boring. Yes, person who would love to live in a world of continuous Halloween doesn't like spooky games.

I think it's a lot to do with how I enjoy my horror media. There's not really many scary movies that get me scared even a little bit because I know they're not true - for me the real horror comes from romantic comedies or scenes where there are social awkwardness. I just can't watch those moments in movies or series! But with horror I just want to see every single gory detail and hear all the fantastic sound effects. 

In games that doesn't work for me. I'm yet to find a horror game that would give me a spook. Half-Life: Uplink did a good job when I was young, but then again that was one of my first touches with the whole sci-fi and horror stuff. I replayed it a while ago and unfortunately the first zombie wasn't so scary anymore. But I remember the fear of unknown that made me scare as a teen. Why can't any other game do that?

I remember when Amnesia came out and everybody freaked out. I tried it and got bored at hiding in closets. That game was a disappointment. Outlast had an okay atmosphere but once again, gameplay loop was not for me. I tried some ''bad'' horror games like Granny and DreadOut, which both were not too interesting, though I got some good laughs. And Five Nights at Freddy's... That's one of the worst games I've ever tried. 

Yeah, I know that there's so many good and even great horror games in the world, but I can't make myself to even try them. Even though the story or atmosphere would be interesting the gameplay usually kills the fun for me. I want to shoot, not run! Or shoot and run. I think the best horror experiences I've got are from games like Fallout, where the real horror comes from knowing what might be waiting for you and you know that you're not ready to face it. And still you try to sneak and pickpocket that scary enemy. 

Resident Evil 2 is a game I would love to try if I can find it for my Playstation 2. It looks like a great hybrid between things I hate and love about horror media. But then again, after getting familiar with the gameplay loop and mechanics of the game is there any horror left when you know how to tackle it?

I know that I would enjoy exploring a abandoned places in VR, that would make me somewhat uneasy - and not only because of I have never used a real VR headset. The fact that you can't take your eyes out of the screen when scary thing are happening would keep the immersion and I would maybe even get some chills on my bones. Maybe. At least I can dream of that. But the truth is that I have no VR available and I don't even know if my head could take it, so... Yeah. 

Maybe I just need to take deep dive on itch.io and search for the most fucked up and disturbing games I can find - or just keep on playing Minecraft. On hardcore. Which I will not do because that creeps me out - I'm having troubles even on easy difficulty!

Oh. At least something makes me scared. Yay!

Going Through My Old Steam Reviews (Part 3)

Back in the day I used to write these short and silly reviews on Steam - now after several years I'm going through them and taking a look at what kind of weird things I've said. Don't forget to check out Part 1 and Part 2!

''Great looking FPS in which playing with fire and explosions is especially fun. You can blow up enemy bases, eliminate them with sniper rifle before they even notice you and watch the sunset on the savannah. Or you can hunt some zebras.'' Well, if we leave the last sentence out I still pretty much agree with these words. Far Cry 2 is easily the best Far Cry game and one of the most iconic open world adventures - there's just nothing that captures the same atmosphere.

But seriously, don't hunt zebras. They're cute. What was wrong with me back then? I remember playing Far Cry 3 and getting physically uneasy when the game made you skin animals. That's just not right.

''MMO in which you can be a superhero? And it's free-to-play? This must be every gamers dream, right? On it's core Champions Online is your typical MMO but the fact that you can play as a a superhero and beat down bad guys is very fun. And the character editor allows you to create your own dream superhero, if you take your time with it.'' I remember Champions Online vaguely - it's like a dream that haunts in the corners of your brain. Game was fun, though it was little bit rough on the edges and as with any other MMO, I got bored pretty quickly because grinding isn't really my thing. I should revisit this game at some point and see if there's still active community or something.

''Worst Source engine version of any game ever made. Valve didn't even bother to change the character models. But because it's Half-Life, all will be forgiven. You should play the original version. You can at least understand why it's such old-school...'' So, about this ''review''. I guess I was reading a lot of negative comments about this version of HL and wanted to jump into the bandwagon - I'm pretty sure that I didn't see any difference between HL:S and original HL back then. But then again, you don't need to play this version, there's for example Black Mesa: Source, which is complete remake of the original Half-Life if you prefer more modern approach. 

I like the first HL. Yes, it's kinda old and clunky but still at the same time it has such a great atmosphere and certain charm that any other game haven't really achieved ever since. I'm in fact planning to replay it at some point and maybe even upload a playthrough on my Youtube channel, so stay tuned.

''Fun assassination's in the past. Game suffers from the repetitive missions. It would have needed a little bit more content. Also the ending doesn't make any sense. Great game anyway.'' This is my favourite double-ass game - in fact I prefer the repetitive nature of it over the sequels, which added so much useless stuff (like keeping up shops and so on). Story is what it is, it tried that scifi-ish approach and on some level it works. But no-one plays these games for story, right? Right?

''Same as always. Still addictive...'' I got nothing more to add, though I haven't played any Call of Duty game since. Are they still rail shooters with minimal player interactivity?

Let's end this part with Borderlands: ''Just fighting. But it doesn't matter when it's done as good as it is Borderlands. One of the best FPS/RPG's of recent years, thanks to addictive gun collecting and crazy enemy designs.'' I recently replayed some of the original Borderlands and even though I agree with everything I wrote nine years ago, I would add that the game is so much more fun with other player - it's still enjoyable as a single player but co-op makes the action so much... I'll use word headless. Yes. That's a perfect word for this game. 

The zombie DLC is still one of my favourite add-on to any game ever.

So that's it for Part 3. I'll return with more old reviews in November, so prepare yourself. They're getting worse and worse.

By the way, I have given up on publishing a new blog post every Sunday for now, and the posts will come when I get them ready, at least for now. 

First Impressions of Civilization VI on Switch

Photo: Steam

I got Sid Meier's Civilization VI on Switch a few days ago. Previous installment is one of my favourite games, and after seeing that I can have Civilization game on my Switch to play whenever and wherever I am seemed a dream come true. I was little worried how the game works on controller setup but surprisingly it has been enjoyable so far. 

Civilization VI plays like your ordinary Civilization game with some new and interesting mechanics which I need to spend some time learning and I’m happy that at the same it feels familiar yet new and mysterious. Graphics look good, though being a console version the UI resolution is a little bit big for my preferences but maybe there’s a way to change that? Though I couldn’t see smaller elements from my TV so maybe big UI is all good in this case.

Controls seemed weird at first glance but I got hang of them pretty quickly. Civilization VI uses controller buttons wisely and though there’s nothing like that precision you’ll get with mouse, it’s not needed in slow-paced game like this too much. Of course I’d prefer using mouse anytime, but the fact that this allows me to take game with me all around is a price I’m willing to pay for the controls.

And that’s that. I enjoyed Civilization VI and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna take FIFA’s place as my new addiction. You should give it a try too!

Oblivion: Horse Riding Simulator 2006

What can I say about The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion that haven't been said million times before? Probably nothing, but at least I can tell how I felt about this classic RPG as a fan of Bethesda’s newer games like Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4. 

First of all, I personally liked this game more than Skyrim. I think this is pretty usual opinion within The Elders Scrolls fans, but I never really understood why. Oblivion looked so... outdated. Skyrim on the other hand is still pretty cool looking game and especially the character graphics are so much better. But then again, when you're playing Oblivion these are not the things you are focusing on - especially in 2020s when there's so many great looking character overhaul mods available. And there is certain charm in Oblivion's stupid looking character models in my opinion. In general I really love the artistic style that is goin on with Bethesda's RPGs as they are somewhat realistic looking but still have clear and specific look.

But I don't really think that graphics are thing that I want to focus on game that's released in 2006. Not at all though Oblivion looks sometimes stunning. For me the gameplay and the feel of controls is more important. Oblivion unfortunately is pretty janky (but then again all the Bethesda games are). Movement was what you expect, pretty old-school, but aiming and sword swinging on the other hand was pretty unresponsive - there was not really too much weight on weapons. And as the ragdolls go crazy when enemies die this illusion of weight didn't hold up at all, though it was pretty entertaining.

Oblivion's story is not anything special, it's your typical fantasy script: save the world, help peoples, fight monsters. There was many interesting and funny side quests though. I especially liked the Dark Brotherhood storyline and Shivering Isles DLC, which I would say has one of the best environments in TES games ever. Overall I enjoyed doing the little side quests with weird plot lines more than the main story. And yes, I'm avoiding spoilers so I don't describe none of them.

Main focus of Oblivion seemed to be caves and Oblivion gates, which are you typical - and boring - dungeons. I enjoyed few of the early-game dungeons as I was approaching them like Indiana Jones, but pretty soon dungeons turned repetitive and I really didn't want to spend time to complete them to find some rewards that I wouldn't ever use. And Planes of Oblivion themselves... well, they looked cool. But not fun to go through at all. 

For me the best part of Oblivion was traveling, as I told in my earlier blog post. I decided to not fast travel at all, and riding my horse to new and interesting places was hypnotizing. Running away from wolfs, killing robbers who tried to stop you and finding secrets is all fun and games, but I truly liked travelling to new town, learning about its history and residents and maybe doing some quests for them too. Oblivion makes travelling fun even though for some it's the most boring part of the game - for me it brought some calming moment in this hectic modern world, and those moments I will treasure - even more than my water walking boots or night vision helmets.

Oblivion has an odd charm which makes you return it again and again. Yeah, it's janky at times and A.I. isn't really smart, but at the same time the world has that magic that makes you wanna be there no matter what. Saying it's one of the best RPGs ever made? Sure. 

Revisiting Dishonored

After watching some of Noclip's excellent documents about Arkane Studios games my interest towards them has been awaken so I decided to replay Dishonored, which I completed years ago. But now it feels like a whole different experience.

I wrote a review of Dishonored in 2015 in which I praised the level design and graphics, said some nasty thing about A.I. and about how sneaking is sometimes impossible, and kept comparing it to Half-Life 2 - maybe too much. In general I remember enjoying the game but at the same time I didn't gave it a chance as its own entity - for years Dishonored was just an attempt to copy Half-Life 2's atmosphere.

Comparing Dunwall to City 17

Yes, Dishonored reminds a lot of Half-Life 2. Especially Dunwall as a place is very close to City 17 with its colour schemes, weird technical roadblocks and miserable citizens, but at the same time it's very much its own thing. Dunwall is more open and allows different paths - you can go up, down, and everywhere between. That's not what's really going on City 17 which is more linear which works great in the context of Half-Life 2 but wouldn't work in Dishonored. And that's why now years later when I'm sneaking around the streets of Dunwall it feels so great. 

There's a lot of replayability going on, and you can attempt the levels again and again in different ways. That was something I didn't understand back in the day when I just run straight to the target. I didn't care as much about alternative ways to complete the missions, I just wanted to rush through the game. That's probably why I thought it was too short. Now that I'm trying to approach my targets from different ways and at the same time I'm trying to complete all of the side quests and find all the hidden stuff game feels so much better. Sure, it's still short but I've understand that there's no rush - I can keep exploring the levels if I want or tease the guards in different ways. And that's fun!

Little stories make all the difference

I don't have anything new to say about games story as I'm still in the middle of it, but at least it's coherent. Maybe not the most interesting one, but game like this doesn't need one - it's better to have clear objectives than Rick And Morty styled story with too much going on. But now I've come to realize what's the most interesting part of the game story wise - it's the citizens you meet along the way. Like in Half-Life 2, many of them have their own little stories and problems, and helping them or just listening gives a lot depth to the world. I love the dark and dystopian setting of Dishonored, and using the heart to learn more about people you meet on your adventures is one of my favourite game mechanics ever in any game.

Living game world

And finally, about darkness and dystopias. I love how Dishonored's world reacts to your action. This once again was a thing that I did not appreciate on my first playthrough, but now after learning more about Arkane's games it's a huge deal for me. The fact that Dunwall becomes more plagued or in the other hand not because of what you have done and who you have killed makes your own playthrough special - you're not just going through a story, you're making it as you go as well.

And that's it. I'm happy that I decided to play this game again. It's fun, it's dark and it makes me appreciate game development even more.

Going Through My Old Steam Reviews (Part 2)

Back in the day I used to write these short and silly reviews on Steam - now after several years I'm going through them and taking a look at what kind of weird things I've said. Don't forget to check out Part 1!

"Funny online shooter with many flying red pixels (I guess I was trying to describe blood?). Recommended for playing with netbooks in school... I mean recess." Do you guys still remember netbooks? I use to have this blue toy-looking Dell which was my first own computer. It began my game making journey as well my more active gaming journey - I played old games like first Counter-Strike on it!

About CS though, it was never my favourite one to play. It was already old, kinda ugly (but in a good way) and player base was already established. For me this game was an interesting relic of the 90s.

Let's continue to the next Counter-Strike game. ''One of the best online shooters ever, especially with mods." To this day CSS is, at least for me, the online shooter. As you can see, I haven't played it so much but still it holds a special place in my heart. It led me to skins and the Source modding community, which for me was probably the most interesting part of the whole Source engine based games. The things you can do with in some ways very limited options is inspiring.

For me the latest Counter-Strike, Global Offensive, is the one I have played the most but it never captured the same magic as CSS. 

"This is how RTS should be done: fast-paced action, destroyable environments and different enemies. DoW II has no dull moments; you need to keep your eyes glued on the monitor so you're own soldiers die, because without your brothers you're in trouble." Poetic. I don't really remember much of Dawn of War games - I think I enjoyed more of their artwork and atmosphere than the gameplay itself. I'm not even big fan of RTS genre in general, but maybe I should give these games another try? Though Animal Crossing is enough excitement and micro managing for me nowadays.

"Worst part of HL2 trilogy. There's something missing in Episode 1 that made HL2 so good. It's also way too short for a full priced game: four hours! But it's still great." To be honest, I don't know what I'm talking about. Full priced game? Was Episode 1 never sold at 40-60 euros price or something like that? 

In fact it was not. According to all-knowing Wikipedia, it was sold in Steam at discounted price and in retail stores as a part of different Valve-themed collections. So that's it then. I guess I was angry that there were not yet a closure to the HL2 story (oh, how the years fly!) because in retrospective I've learned that though Episode 1 is not the best it has some interesting stuff going on A.I. wise. I really need to replay Half-Life games. All of them.

"Game that leaves too many questions open. Waiting for the sequel..." This pains me. 

As I look back, I realize that I haven't really appreciated how great game Episode 2 is. In many ways it was the best Half-Life related game in story, environment and mechanics wise but I guess it's legacy is to be ''that game that left us waiting.'' 

I need to get my hands on VR kit and try out Half-Life: Alyx. It's one of the few games released recent years that really excites me.

Let's end this part with an another Dawn of War game. "An example of how you include an epic story to RTS." You know what? I don't remember anything about Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. Like anything. Even looking at the box didn't woke any forgotten memories. But I guess it was good? At least I though so nine years ago.

And that's all for Part 2. Part 3 will be out - hopefully - in October, so stay tuned!

Metro: Last Light Redux on Switch Is Too Dark

I love Dmitry Glukhovsky's Metro books. They're dark, atmospheric and perfect apocalypse-horror in any way. And the fact that the 4A Games' Metro 2033 game, which is based on these books, is such a masterpiece makes just happy. It brings me pure happiness.

I remember starting to play the sequel Metro: Last Light on PC, but for one reason or another I never finished. So, when I saw that the redux version of Last Light were available for the Switch AND it was on a sale, I had to get it. And it's stunning. The graphics are something unbelievable for the Switch. And as the books, it's dark. But not in a good way, not in a story-wise way. The game itself is dark. Too dark. There's something weird going on with lightning that makes parts of the Last Light unplayable, because you just can't see anything. Setting brightness on my TV helped a little bit, but when playing in the handheld mode, it's still too dark as Switch really doesn't offer any kind of graphic settings. And the game itself doesn't have any real video related setting, like contrast, which is kind of weird.

I decided to find out what's going on.

It seems that I'm not only one with this problem, Last Light is too dark to play, especially in handheld mode. According to this Reddit post many others have experienced this too, and though some claim that adjusting Switch's brightness settings help, that's not case for the most. Old-school fix seems to be to throw a blanket over yourself and Switch. Some people seem to enjoy the difficulty and survival aspect this darkness brings (or then they haven't even played the game on Switch) but this seems to be minority. One Reddit user even went to say that ''use your lighter and flashlight - you’re in the Moscow Underground, dude!" which even being true doesn't really help as this game is pretty hard - you can't shoot and use your lighter at the same time, and sneaking in the darkness is hard as you hit the walls all of the time.

Though some people have said that the game runs well and is fun, there's still some reports of lag and even crashes - I have never in my life had any Switch game crash while playing, so that's interesting. Darkstation in their review don't recommend you to play in handheld mode as the issues with loading times and especially with lighting are pretty noticeable. 

For me one fix was while playing on TV just adjust TV's own settings, like adding brightness and adjusting contrast, though this also is just a temporary fix - game is almost playable, but there are still some moments, especially if you play in the daylight, where game is too dark. And this doesn't help situation with the handheld mode at all, as expected. It's so weird that this game has no gamma setting or anything like that. Maybe I'm just so used to the options that are norm on PC...

It's disappointing. I don't know what the developers were thinking - it's like they didn't even try the game on Switch. I really expected much because surprisingly Last Light runs well and looks absolutely stunning on Switch, but the darkness makes it just unplayable. I guess I'll need to finish it on PC. 

*Sigh.*

By the way, there is Metro Redux on Switch tech review video made by Digital Foundry on Youtube which you should check out if you're interested in game tech. I need to take a loot at it myself when I got time and maybe then I'll return to this topic. Maybe. This is not a promise. I just wanted to get this irritating problem out of my chest.

Curse of Seasons

Seasons. Every modern multiplayer game seems to have them, and why not? It’s a great way to keep player occupied and make them come back every day to get those special unlocks and join once-in-a-lifetime events and then get them interested in the next season. But at the same time this temporality drives away players like me, who just want to jump in from time to time and play few games. But as you don't have those fancy grinded hats or outfits it almost feels like you're an outcast. At the same time it's fantastic to have something to reward players who invest their time on specific game, but maybe it could be (still) done like in old Call of Duty games instead? You play when you want, everything is available for you even if you're finding the game years after it's launch and there's no rush or need to be active all the time. 

But then again, I play mostly multiplayer shooters from the mid-2000's when the whole game industry in general was very different. For example, if you wanted some flashy skins for your Counter-Strike characters you went to sites like Gamebanana and installed them yourself. Of course others were not able to see those skins, but it didn't matter. Point was to made your personal experience truly yours. 

Maybe it's not really seasons that I'm mad about. Maybe it's skins. If you think about it, for example Team Fortress 2 is pretty silly game with silly graphics, but it wasn't until the hat invasion that the game's art direction kinda melted away and became this mess it is nowadays. On the other hand we have games like Overwatch in which skins are more in line with the general art style. And both of these games don't even have seasons - most of the time things you unlock or buy won't effect the gameplay.

I normally start playing multiplayer games years after they've been released, when the hype has died and in the worst case players have already left (poor Brink). So maybe after all there's nothing wrong with the concept of season for your target audience, but for players like me: those who want to be able to do and unlock everything on their own pace rather than following the trends. 

Then again, it's hard to keep players focused on your game when there's so much else to play, so the seasonal concept works well for that as Fortnite and other such games have proven.

Oh, I still remember when Fortnite was just a ''little'' PVE that no-one knew about...

To conclude this babbling, I'd say that seasons are cool and stuff, but I personally rather have games where mostly only seasonal events are Halloween or Christmas themed. But that's me, and you probably have your own preferences. Let's remember that the most important thing is to enjoy the games you play.

Going through my old Steam reviews (Part 1)

Sometimes you forget things that you have done in your life - like I forgot Steam reviews I wrote years ago. I thought it would be fun to go through all of the small reviews I wrote between 2012 - 2014 and see, have my opinions changed or have I written just some smelly garbage. This is gonna be a few parts long blog series, so follow my Twitter (@MZ_plays_games) to stay tuned when the next part is published!

I had ''a concept'' with my reviews: few ''funny'' lines and a number rating with maximum being 10. These first ones are in Finnish and it seems that I've posted almost all of them during the same day.

Ah yes. Team Fortress 2, ''the lan-party dream game''. Back in 2012 younger me thought that TF2 is ''the best and funniest online FPS ever, which you can not get tired of, thanks to comic characters, many hats and mods. Especially when your team plays well together TF2 is one of the most addictive games ever!''

Well, is till think that TF2 is the best online FPS, though I haven't played it much lately because of the bots and because I found Overwatch, which have given me some of the same feeling that TF2 had when I started gaming. I have many good memories of TF2 and I don't think that any game can ever come close to it, but nowadays it is just a mess that is probably never gonna get cleaned up. And that's kinda sad.

Also 9/10? This game deserves 100/10!

Another online FPS that I hold dear, Day of Defeat: Source. I said that ''this Counter-Strike stylish WWII shooter is nice change to all the games that are based on the modern days.'' I think that what I wanted to say was that I was tired to both Battlefield and Call of Duty (and maybe CS itself) just releasing new games with boring modern day scenarios? 

''It's just awesome to walk towards the sunset in the Mojave wasteland with your follower. You should install the best mods so the game shines straight away.'' Very poetic, indeed. I don't really care about number ratings anymore, but how have I given to my all time favourite Fallout game only 9/10? I must have been sick on my head!

I think that Fallout games peaked on New Vegas. In fact I think that open-world games peaked on New Vegas - it has something that any game after or before haven't been able to achieve. But what exactly? I think that is a blog post for the future.

''Best part of the best game series. Realistic characters, great atmosphere, intelligent enemies and countless mods make sure that you return to Half-life 2 again and again.'' But as you can see, I haven't returned to this game after 2012, which is a shame as I think about this game almost everyday. I should replay it soon.

It seems that back in the day mods were a thing that I was looking out on the games. I miss that, because as I've grown older and smellier, I mostly want my games to be as finished as they can be - I sure enjoy bugs and glitches, but I have no time and energy to search for new content. 

Though nowadays I want to play older games on the consoles so I think it's okay.

”One of the best co-op games ever. Killing zombies with a good team is fun. Great setting and multiple weapons are the icing on a cake.” To this day Left 4 Dead 2 is my favourite zombie game - though I have played it less than it feels like. One of my best memories is going through the demo of the game and cutting zombies into pieces… It would be cool to relive those moments!

I think that with right mods Left 4 Dead 2 works as a great singleplayer experience - no special infected, no teammates, just you and hordes of undeads. It’s challenging and kinda scary as it’s pretty much game over if you die because there’s no-one to revive you.

Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the few games that I come back from time to time, playing few custom campaigns. During this pandemic it has been almost therapeutic experience.

That’s all for Part 1! Part 2 will probably be out in September.

''No one has rated this review as helpful yet.''

RimWorld has taken over my life

My colony burned to the ground because of lightning.

All of my colonists were kidnapped.

Half of my colony were killed while exploring.

And still I can't stop playing this game. Why it's so fun to suffer?

After few very failed attempts I've been able to get my colony work, though dropping difficulty and playing with Phoebe Chillax for a while was a must. And I thought that watching Vinny Vinesauce's RimWorld streams were enough tutorial! I also decided to play without saving or loading, which gives the game some more meaning. Normally I hate playing with permadeath, but with RimWorld it's how the game and the stories it creates work best - at least for me. Everyone has their own way to play, and the most important thing is to have fun! And not loosing all of your colonists.

For me the magic of RimWorld is the stories - it's a story generator after all. Micromanaging is all fun and stuff, but the interactions and random events that take place during all the gameplay are the the salt and pepper of the experience. It's like a TV-series that just keep going on and on and on... Most of the time you can just lay back and watch as your little ant colony works, but when something catastrophic happens, you get a real adrenaline rush - just like in a football (not the American one, I mean ''soccer'') match! 

Truly a masterpiece.

My experience with Fallout 76 lately

This was originally meant to be kind of a review of the newest Fallout 76 season ''Steel Reign''. I returned to the game after a little break - thank you lag! - and played happily for a while, but then the same problems that have been plagued game returned.

To be honest, I haven't been able to play Fallout 76 much this year. Two newest big updates (Steel Dawn, Steel Reign) have turned the game into unplayable, laggy mess. The servers are slow, game runs like a Powerpoint slideshow and it's more and more harder to justify returning to the game. It feels like a chore at this point.

I've tried different fixes and magic tricks, but nothing works. It's irritating because I love this game so much - it's one of my favourite multiplayer games ever and I enjoy the social - unsocial aspect of the gameplay. When the game works, it's fun. But right now, for the most of the time, it don't.

Though it all might be just Brotherhood's fault. Cocky bastards.

Ps. I'm back! And it didn't take five years this time.

Summer Break

Hi! 

I'm taking a little time off / summer break from blogging. It's been fun to write about games and gaming again, but now it's time to sit back and relax for a while.

See you again in August!

Getting bored with Minecraft

That feeling when you start a new Minecraft world, mine and build your new awesome base for hours and hours and then... you just lose motivation. Suddenly you're playing other games and returning to that half-built base is too overwhelming. I even tried streaming to keep myself focused but even that didn't work.

My best experiences with Minecraft has been when I'm exploring and just finding new stuff. Building is fun, but it get boring pretty much... I guess.

I think I should return to my latest Minecraft world and just explore. Why not? The base can stay unfinished and maybe I'll find motivation to finish it at some point. Who knows.

You know what, I'm gonna do that. I'll let you know how it goes!

Too much content

Photo: Nintendo

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is such a good game but there's something that has led to the point where I'm stuck with it because I don't know what to do! There's so much content: quests to do and places to see and it's overwhelming.

For some reason the need to see and get everything on one playthrough has became a thing for me and I hate that. It's hard to enjoy a game when you're constantly thinking about things that are coming and not the moment you are living (or playing in this case).

I guess it's more to do with how our culture works nowadays - you need to have access to everything at once. As younger I would play same games over and over again and experience them in different ways - now that needs to be done on the first playthrough. When there s so much to play why return to games that you already spend time with?

This might be only me -issue but its an interesting phenomenon at least.

Photo: Nintendo

I had this same problem with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Super Mario Odyssey but managed to finish bot with brute force - I still enjoyed both of the games (and Breath of the Wild too) but I had to admit myself that I'm not the one to 100% games - I like stories. But then again, I've grown with games that are more or les story-driven shooters so... 

Just something that I've been thinking about.

E3 2021 Hopes & Dreams

There is only one thing that I want form E3 this year:

Half-Life 3.

I would also be happy to get a new Fallout game or something Left 4 Dead or Team Fortress related, but I'm pretty sure that none of that is going to happen for a while...

To be honest, I would like to see some new and interesting single player games with old school FPS mechanics. Co-op and multiplayer is all fun and stuff but a good and polished single player campaign beats everything to the ground. For example, Outer Worlds has been one of my favourite games lately and a sequel would be cool. I just need a good sci-fi game to be happy!

But I guess that multiplayer is the thing right now. Multiplayer, skins and unlocks and all that stuff. I'm not really sure anymore because I haven't been following what's going on the gaming world lately - I've been too busy playing games.

And that's what I like about E3 and other gaming conventions - it's fun to know what are the latest trends in the gaming.

The fact that E3 is virtual this year is pretty cool, because there is no chance to gather like that because of the pandemic. It also opens doors to those who haven't been able to get there previously for any reason. Maybe the future of gaming conventions is virtual? Who knows?

Anyway, now I need to get back to my Animal Crossing island and pull some weeds.

How 7 Days to Die made me feel scared again

I love horror. It's one of my favourite genres and aesthetics, but there's not many games that make me feel scared - I might get spooked by a jump scare or get little bit tense by the good atmosphere, but it's never something that really makes me feel nervous. It's more like just ''this looks and sounds good but why should I be scared of it? It's fiction!''

Truly the last game (or in fact a demo) which made me really uneasy was one of the first ones I ever played: Half-Life: Uplink. I remember playing it in mid 2000s in a small room with an old computer, and the first encounter with headcrab zombie was enough to give 12-year old me nightmares. And to this day I think that Half-Life games, especially the first one, are masterfully crafted horror experiences. But as I got older, the spookiness didn't work on me anymore.

And then I played 7 Days to Die. This game makes me seriously uneasy - and I love that. There's something special about the game's crusty graphics and clumsy gameplay which makes it truly scary at some times. It feels that you're never safe, even after you have locked yourself in the highest spot of your base, because zombies will tear everything apart if you give them a chance. And the fact that you may just hurt yourself deadly by accidentally bumping on your own spike traps just makes me nervous - I need to be on my toes all of the time.

I like that. It's fun to try to keep yourself alive in a hopeless situation - because if you do it makes you feel like you can achieve anything in life. And if you die, you can always try again (unlike in real life). 

Oblivion and the magic of not fast traveling

The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion is pretty good game. Sure, it's old and clunky, but that's the charm of Bethesda games to be honest. But what's the best part of the game?

Travelling. I just love to ride my horse from town to town and get to know locals, find some secrets and sell stuff. Reading a in-game guide book to familiarize yourself with the town in question and then exploring those small places, still full of interesting people and places, is something that really stands out in Oblivion for me. I don't really care about fighting or the main story line, the side quests (like following a person for days and days) are far more interesting! Though I enjoyed exploring few of the first caves and playing kind of an archeologist, but that became boring pretty soon.

Oblivion is the first Bethesda game - or an open world game in general - which I decided to play without using fast travel option. That has really made the world much more... real? It might be boring to travel across the map with a horse or by walking, but at the same time it gives a new approach to the game. You do some quests and tasks at the one part of the world, spend some time there, and when you are ready you travel to the next place to get your rewards or move on with main story. It's like you're really there!

And then horses start levitating and the illusion is broken. 

Revisiting Saints Row IV

 

In 2015 I said this about Saints Row IV:

''Saints Row IV feels like it's only recycling old ideas and quickly put together - something in its visual style makes my head hurt on a longer game sessions'' (Review)

...and all these years I've been thinking how bad game it was. For some reason in my head I created this fantasy of ''worst possible game of which I hated every second of''. But is that true? Not at all.

I decided to replay Saints Row IV earlier this year - I had fun revisiting The Third so I decided to give the sequel a chance too, even though I was sure that I would hate it Yes, hate. Years ago I didn't enjoy it because it wasn't anything like The Third, but now I found it being even better than the previous installment. It has certain charm with its weird sci-fi world - a perfect sandbox for chaos without consequences. And that is the magic of Saints Row IV: you pretty much do anything you like without having to think ethics of it! Cause who would think ethics when playing a game about murder and sex... 

Not me, not me...

But why did I enjoy Saints Row IV more this time? That's probably because now I played it as Saints Row IV and not just as second The Third. I really learned to like the superpowers and meta jokes. Especially the superpowers make this game fun - flying through Steelport and stomping on aliens is almost therapeutic during the time when you really can't do anything outside.

I'm happy I gave this game another chance - it's the superhero movie for my liking (and I pretty much only enjoy the original Spider-Man trilogy or 90's Batman movies).

I also put together this little video:

The thin line between diegetic & non-diegetic sound in Portal

Video games can be an immersive experience. With great sound design and memorable music, they can affect the player in many ways and the feeling of ‘’being there’’ can be tense. In this essay I’m going to analyze sound and music in puzzle game Portal and investigate, how diegetic and nondiegetic sounds are used in the game in question.

According to James Buhler, David Neumeyer and Rob Deemer, diegetic sound means every single piece of music and sounds that the character can hear in the reality of the movie, or in this case, game. Non-diegetic on the other hand means the sounds and music that the audience (player) hears. (2010). In Portal, to examine these concepts is very interesting, as the audience – the player – takes a bigger role than just viewing the story, as they are actively taking part to it and sometimes even creating new events.

Portal in a nutshell

Portal is a video game developed and published by Valve Corporation (former known as Valve Software) for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2007. Later it has been released also on mobile platform Android and on other computer operating systems like Linux and OS X. The main focus in the game is solving portal-based puzzles while A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) voice tells you sarcastic jokes and guides you through the game. Player spends most of the time in ‘’test chambers’’, which are located on the research station called Aperture Science. As I don’t want to spoil the game more than it’s necessary to analyze the music and sounds, I’m not going to discuss about story much more. Game is pretty short, it took me about one hour and thirty minutes to play it, and according to speedrun.com, the current world-record on completing the game is seven minutes (2017). Of course, the whole idea of the speed run scene is to complete games as fast as possible, but I still find that worth to mention.

There are two shown characters in the game: Chell, player’s character, who doesn’t speak a word during the gameplay, and GLaDOS, a computer A.I. voiced by Ellen McLain. There are also hints of other characters, but all that’s shown of them are only writings that they’ve left behind.

Soundtrack

Portal’s soundtrack is composed by Kelly Bailey and Mike Morasky. While the music is mostly dark ambient and instrumental, it includes also one song called ‘’Still Alive’’, composed by Jonathan Coulton and sung by Ellen McLain. I’m going to return to this particular song later on this essay. Soundtrack is released outside the game three times, first on Valve’s own collection called The Orange Box Collection (Valve, 2009), which includes various soundtracks from their games. In 2014 Valve released the soundtrack for free on their digital distribution platform Steam, and now the soundtrack has been released on the vinyl by Mondo in 2017. It’s also been released on a massive collection by Ipecac Recordings on music distribution service Spotify including also its sequel’s, Portal 2 (2011), soundtrack.

Game’s soundtrack is mostly minimalistic, electronic ambient score music. Score music is term for the music, that’s made specifically for the movie or game (Chion, 1994). It’s creating mood of being alone in the giant, weird research station, and in some ways, it reminds of horror movie music. During the main events music takes turn to more energetic and ‘’heart-pounding’’ style, being almost like trance or some other similar electronic music genre. This happens only few times during the game, so it really makes the mood and atmosphere change during the twisted story events. This kind of music is sometimes called as adaptive music (Timms, 2016).

Diegetic sounds in Portal

Player’s character, Chell, can hear many different sounds in the game’s world. There are lots of mechanical noises made by different apparatus in the test chambers, for example elevators and electric barriers. She’s also able to hear the GLaDOS through speakers, even though it might feel like the A.I. speaks inside of her head. This impression is broke during the last section of the game, where it’s clear that GLaDOS is speaking through bad quality speakers outside the chambers. Chell can also hear turret’s speech, sometimes even not seeing them.

Most of the speech in the game comes somewhere outside of the Chell’s and players view. Later in the game Chell meets previously mentioned turrets, and eventually she’ll meet GLaDOS, getting to know the voice that she’s been hearing during her adventure. GLaDOS’ voice is de-acousmatized, as the source is revealed to the player character in the end of the game (Chion, 1994), and it’s not possible to tell during most of the story where her voice is coming from.

There is also some diegetic music in the game, and it can be heard already in the beginning of the game. Music is played through little radios, that are scattered throughout the test chambers, and they play instrumental Latin styled version of the credit song, ‘’Still Alive’’. The familiar tune becomes somewhat relaxing and welcoming little thing during the game.

First radio you’ll encounter during the game. Source:

<https://cdn.wikimg.net/en/strategywiki/images/8/89/Portal_Radio_1_start.png>

Non-diegetic sounds in Portal

For the player, there’s lots of sounds that the played character can’t hear but player can. One example is the click-sound played when you press one button. It’s meant to demonstrate to the player, that they can or can’t interact with some objects. As the sound is familiar from the many other Valve’s games, it’s pretty safe to assume that it’s part of the game engine and not something that characters can hear in their minds.

The ambient music is only heard by player, as it’s not the part of the reality of the game and is more or less just there to create the mood. Music is sometimes almost non-audible, and it’s possible to think that it is part of the world’s atmosphere. We are speaking of imaginary environment, so of course it’s possible that the ambient music can be there in the world, but as the game is trying to be somewhat realistic I don’t think that’s the case.

Player as a character

Games differ from the films as in games you are (mostly) in control of the one or more characters related to the story. That creates an interesting dilemma whether or not the sounds you hear as a player are also sounds that your character hears. You are the character, so your ears are theirs too. When speaking of the sounds and music, this goes sometimes to very weird places. How can you know that your character isn’t wearing earphones and listening the ‘’soundtrack’’ while going through the game world as playing in the first person view (FPS) doesn’t traditionally let you see characters head?

Of course, we can assume that’s not the case, as we take many games as some kind of interactive form of movies. Still, it’s worth to mention, that in games player takes a bigger role than being just neutral viewer. Because of this, it’s sometimes hard to recall which sounds are diegetic and which ones are non-diegetic. Player takes a role of actor in some way, but with more ways to affect to the what’s happening on the screen. But as Portal is very linear game, and if you play it like it’s meant to be played, everything important to the story happens eventually. You can for example stay at the same place or refuse to do something, which actors probably can’t do if they want to get their salary. You have even the possibility to exit the story and never come back, but where’s the fun in that?

‘’Still Alive’’, the diegetic and non-diegetic song

The credit song of the game, ‘’Still Alive’’, exists in both game’s reality and our reality. In the game, it’s played on the radios that can be found almost on every level, and the distorted, Latin styled instrumental version can be heard. Song is also played at the end of the game while credits are shown, and you even get the lyrics to sing along. Different versions of the song are released on many releases, and there are at least two different sung versions on Valve’s official music releases.

Song itself is sung by Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS, and the vocals are edited at the same way as the A.I.s voice. Lyrics are based on the game, and there are little notes of the story events and even hints of other Valve game, Half-Life. The lyrical and vocal aspect makes song very interesting as it’s supposedly something from the game’s world, but it’s existing in our reality, as normally this goes other way: we’ll take some pre-existing song from real life and put it on reality the game or movie, as a source music (Chion, 1994). In the case of ‘’Still Alive’’, we get something that’s not real, but instead it’s made real for us through playing the game and ‘’living’’ the story.

GLaDOS. Source: https://theportalwiki.com/wiki/File:Glados_ending_monologue.jpg

Conclusions

Portal includes a lot of diegetic sounds, but as many games, it’s playing also with non-diegetic and blurring player’s and playable character’s borders. At the same time it’s easy to say, which sounds belong to the game’s reality, but then again, you can never be sure if some clicks or beeps that feels like part of the game mechanics would be real sounds in the world you are playing on.

Game’s sound design leaves al lot of room for player’s own imagination, as even the sound of keyboard feels something that could be part of the fame. Soundtrack is almost a part of the world, and even in the real world ambient voices you hear can be somehow musical. At the same time you know, that the soundtrack is something that doesn’t belong to game’s reality, but the border between ‘’real’’ ambient in the game and music is very thin and blurred.

The whole idea of Portal-series is to play with reality, as Valve’s been releasing a lot of videos and other material based on the game and its story. These little things are made so that they feel like being part of our world, and Valve is sometimes even advertising their own services using characters or places from the Portal-universe.

References

1. Research material

Aperture Science Psychoacoustic Laboratories 2012. Portal 2: Songs to Test By (Collector’s Edition) [Spotify]. Ipecac Recordings.

Valve Corporation 2007. Portal [PC]. Valve Corporation.

2. Internet-references

Speedrun 2017. Continuously updated speed run record collection and list for Portal and other games. <https://www.speedrun.com/Portal> (read 5.12.2017)

3. Literature

Buhler, James, David Neumeyer and Rob Deemer 2010. Hearing the Movies: Music and Sound in Film History. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chion, Michel 1994. Audio-vision: sound on screen. New York: Columbia University Press.

Timms, Mark 2016. How sound design is used to create a sense of tension and horror in video games. Academia.

<https://www.academia.edu/24424213/How_sound_design_is_used_to_create_a_sense_of_tension_and_horror_in_video_games> (read 7.12.2017)

Note: I wrote this essay in 2017 for my musicology studies in University of Turku. I wouldn't recommend using it in academic context.