No Man's Sky Overview (Spoilers?)

   
     I just finished getting all the inventory slots for my suit and ship and it feels like I'm about halfway through the game now. (Or at least halfway through what I plan to do before putting it on the back burner.) I am on the Atlas path but haven't finished it. The plan now is to just warp non-stop, finish the path, and then sprint for the center. I've had my fill of exploring, though I also still need the v2 and v3 upgrades for the Atlas Pass. Anyway, here's my overview:

-There is a stark feeling of loneliness that I've never felt in a game before. Everything is so massive, and also quiet. I like how you have to read things and it's all really mellow. Even the way the ship rattles while flying is perfect.
-The concept itself is pretty amazing and even with the apparent confusion of what is actually possible this game still made history. Now that people know this is possible we should see some great stuff in the next few years.
-I like that there is no character creation or human faces in this setting. The whole thing feels like an alien setting especially considering the physics are nutty. No gas giants? Planets all right next to each other? Purple space? Eehh, ok. That's cool. (I came across a Korvax listing things like this and coming to the conclusion that it must be a simulation, ha!) I think they missed a big opportunity here by making up fake elements though. Will somebody make a crafting game that uses real atoms with real combinations so we can learn chemistry while gaming?
-The way you have to upgrade the ship inventory slots is by far my least favorite part of the game and I'm glad it's over with. The exosuit was great cause you could just go about your business and find slots along the way, but with the ship you either have to save up an absurd amount of money or hop from crashed ship to crashed ship like I did. It wouldn't necessarily be a problem if you could transfer your upgrades, but this really felt like a grind because it had to be done all at once. (Unless you're okay with wasting resources repairing and upgrading each time.)
-Even though there is a whole huge galaxy thing it kind of just feels like it all takes place on the same planet. There are different types of planets for variety, but realistically (or at least with Earth) all these different "climates" could be on one planet. The plants and rocks are pretty much the same wherever you go, too. Animals have a bit more variety at least.

     There's also a ton of stuff about the UI I'd like to see improved but that is just being nitpicky so I wont bother typing it all out. I'm going to "finish" the game to write a part 2* about the ending and what I hope they do to expand on the game, but for now have a gallery of my adventures:

Banana-peel face! And I love these buildings; they look like a playground.
 
Cob world! THE WHOLE PLANET IS ON A COB, GET BACK TO THE SHIP!

Super creepy, and nice high tops!

Freestyle parking, and my final ship. It looks nice and sciencey.


     *Edit: Just kidding! I finished the Atlas Path right after writing this and then looked up what happens in the center and I was pretty disappointed. I just don't understand the logic of the Atlas Path idea. 10 stones to make a new star that you don't get to see or even name and who know's if it really even happens? And the Atlas things had text but I could only translate one or two words on each speech so what were they even saying? It's not like this is in "good idea" or "bad idea" territory, I don't even understand how this was an idea to begin with. Also, I thought the center of the galaxy would be a place people sort of pooled when they were done with the game and it would be fun to go around and name places and see what other people named things but nope, it's just a reset. Siiiiggh.
     I still like the game and there is a lot of potential here for an expansion. I'm worried people won't care and it will be a dusty fifteen dollar bargain bin game by the time they make it good, but we shall see. The whole thing is basically a really cool tech demo, but if they let players do their own base building (maybe even city building!?) put us in a big place that still gave us a reasonable chance of finding each other, and threw in some cities for the three aliens, that would be a big winner. I think the goal should be to let players invent the content themselves and give them more tools to add meaning to the game. Some kind of invasion or sentinel aggression could be fun too, but I hope they don't try to make a real story line; cinematic drama would feel really out of place.

Last of Us: Remastered Overview

    Whew, I'm late to the party here but I just got a PS4 a few weeks ago (in prep for No Man's Sky) and was able to borrow this highly recommended game. After finishing it I was pretty disappointed with the story (SPOILERS are coming) but the game play was damn good.

Story:
     The characters and voice acting were excellent, as was the general setting and set up for why everything is a mess. I didn't find all of the little notes and stuff but I took a screen shot of this boat when I first saw it and was glad because the former captain of it, Ish, had one of the coolest stories to uncover as you learn more about the shelter they set up in the sewers.

     The winter stuff with Ellie was probably the best part of the game, and I like how realistic David and his party were. The game does a great job of showing you a wide range of people. from totally deranged hunter assholes to generally good and honest people like Tommy and his dam town. David and his people were a nice mix of the two and I think that added a lot of personality to the setting.

     I think I took this picture of the horse because I liked how Joel would tell Ellie to "scootch back" when he go back on. The game is full of little dialogue bits like that.

     But basically the ending was a big pile of crap to me. I was pretty sure someone would die in the end or something something bad, blah blah, but I was really hoping this game would have the balls to come up with a happy ending that actually worked. Instead we see Joel become a selfish lying shit and ruin everyone's plan just so he can pretend to have a daughter again. He was totally just going to pass her off to Tommy anyway but I guess cause she stole a horse that changed his mind? Whatever Joel, get bit. I regret guiding you through this ordeal. You should have just stayed bit!

Gameplay:
     I really liked the stealthy strategic combat. A brick to the face was so fun, and once I was forced to use the bow with Ellie I realized how good it was. Exploring around the ruins for supplies was good too, and I never felt like I was running too low on anything so long as I took the time to poke a few corners. Crossing the water on a pallet got pretty stupid pretty quick though. Even Ellie starts calling it out for being bullshit. I guess they were always on the move and stuff but swimming was clearly a useful survival skill here; Joel probably should have showed her at least the basics!

Side note: if you're going to make you character look and sound and be lesbian like Ellen Page, could you maybe at least NOT also name her Ellie? Haha, wtf were you guys doing?

Also,

I am the brick fucking master!

New 3DS StreetPass Titles: Ultimate Angler and Battleground Z

     I'm a huge fan of Nintendo's handhelds and love how StreetPass can combine the real world with the virtual one in a fun way, so I decided to buy the two new games without even looking for reviews. Turns out, I wasn't let down!

     Ultimate Angler is a pretty basic game where you collect bait types based on StreetPass Mii's shirt colors. Certain fish like certain bait, and you have to try to collect all the fish from different fishing holes. When you hook a fish there is a simple but fun mini game where you have to reel them in without breaking your line, but that's pretty much the whole thing. Two things that I really like about it though is that it uses real life fish (unlike the disappointingly fake flowers in Flower Town) and there even seems to be a bit of a story involving a girl and her crazy scientist father who was ridiculed for his ideas of giant monster fish until it turned out they were real.

     In Battleground Z you are just some rando on a subway who finds a phone left by a medical woman who can probably cure the disease. It's up to you to go to different spots in the city and fight off the zombies using "weapons" based on StreetPass Mii's favorite hobbies. This one has a level map set up kind of like Mii Force, but each level is like an arena, and the game play is more of a hack n slash/beat em up. Each weapon has a basic combo, and a limited number of charge attacks that do something special. If you get hurt by zombies too much, you lose your weapon (similar to losing a pod in Mii Force) and running out of weapons means you lose the level. Each level seems to have objectives (like protecting a civilian, guarding a door, or timed things like finding 4 new tires in 3 minutes) and failing these will cause you to lose the level also. If you lose you get an extra chance (probably three extra chances but I haven't needed that many yet.)

     There was also a paid update available for the plaza, so I grabbed that too. It just added a Mii VIP room so you can basically set up a "favorites" gallery for Mii's you've collected. I think that was the only real part of the paid update. I wouldn't say it was actually worth the 5 bucks, but I like StreetPass enough to want to have all the stuff.

Garrison Invasion!

     I triggered my first Garrison Invasion last night, but honestly I was a bit underwhelmed.

     It started off real exciting with my Commander guy telling all the towns folk to run to safety, and then orcs started warping in out of smoke clouds, so we fought them.

     

     It was kind of cool, but I really was hoping we would walk out to the front of the garrison and see them in a battle line, then my guys would form a battle line at the door and my Commander would give an epic war cry and then we could start fighting. I know WoW doesn't really have the mechanics to pull off fighting in formation, but it would be awesome to have it at least start that way. A siege battle reminiscent of Wintergrasp would be more than welcome, too.

     Well anyway, some more stuff happened, like fighting a rylak.

 Then we won (though I died a few times)

 And my towns people came back out of hiding.

     I got bronze, but even on gold the rewards only seem "ok" to me. I guess those mounts are a big draw for people. All in all, I'm only slightly interested in doing more of these, and probably won't bother to solo one again. 

     The Wintergrasp cravings continue, unsated... 

Virtual Photographer 001: WoW-Shadowmoon Valley

     I like to take screenshots of games as if I had a camera in the virtual world, and luckily WoW lets you drop the UI really easily to get a good shot.

     Shadowmoon is a pretty awesome looking zone, especially the sky. I dig the whole "no flying" thing for questing, but flying makes it so easy to get the perfect shot. (More pictures after the jump.)

Family Guy Quest For Stuff: After Halloween

     I stitched together a bunch of screenshots to be able to see my entire Quahog after the recent Halloween event's dust settled. I got a lot of new stuff, and I'm pretty fond of my cemetery and Marshmallow Man :D I wasn't able to get the Ecto-1 or Slimer though :(

     I spent 9.99 to get some clams to help unlock a few things in this event, which marks the second time I've done that. (The first was during comic-con.) I really like Family Guy's willingness to put in pop culture references like Ghostbusters and the horror movie characters, along with real life celebrities with voice acting and everything. That sets "Quest for Stuff" way above "Tapped Out," and why I am willing to spend a bit of real money on it.

Drakensang Online, With Thor and Loki?

So I was watching some Adventure Time and noticed this banner ad for Drakensang Online that really cracked me up with its obvious Thor/Loki characters :D

I isolated them here:

To be fair, I really like the art style, and the game looks like a decent Diablo clone. You can find it here: http://www.drakensang.com/26?aid=5085&aip=13471