Fallout 76, Who is this game for?

Finally there has been meatier gameplay videos for Bethesda's next game, Fallout 76. However I'm not any less puzzled about who this game is for, it doesn't seem built to attract regular Fallout fans, certainly not the old school ones. Suppose one might as well take a closer look at Bethesda's first dabble with multiplayer. 

Fallout 76 is the name of the game

So what type of game even is Fallout 76? Well, according to their own statement; "Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, welcome you to Fallout 76, the online prequel where every surviving human is a real person. Work together, or not, to survive. Under the threat of nuclear annihilation, you’ll experience the largest, most dynamic world ever created in the legendary Fallout universe." So judging from that it's a survival game, where you work with other players, or not, to rebuild, or not. I don't know.

Anyway, as I mentioned there has been longer gameplay videos out now and it does seem pretty straightforward if they're accurately depicting the game. You create a character who can only communicate with emojis since there are no real NPC's to interact with, only other players, and you seem to follow in the steps of the Vault 76 overseer who has left tapes for you to listen to. Riveting main quest I know. You also seem to get objectives like killing a certain amount of ghouls in a location. You know like those procedurally generated quests in Fallout 4 that you hated. Apart from the sorry excuse for quests you also build stuff, crafting seems like a central part. You craft your camp, weapons and armor. Overall it seems like you'll be looting a lot to craft better gear so you can loot more dangerous locations.

I think I'm starting to understand what sort of game it is, problem is, if I understand it correctly it's not really doing a lot to stand out in the genre. You know, the one Minecraft dominates. That really seems to be the foundational gameplay loop they're going for, which to be frank I don't think is going to be enough. Not only is the building and crafting mechanics much more restricted than other games in the genre the gameplay is just not good enough for combat and looting to be the only real mechanics. Like we've for a long time been having arguments about how Bethesda needs to update their engine (preferably make an entirely new one) because their animations, graphics and combat are painfully outdated. Thing is, in the past with games like Skyrim and Fallout... Lets say Fallout 3, yes the gameplay was nothing to write home about but they had deep worlds filled with interesting quests, characters, decisions that had consequences in the world and not to mention actual RPG mechanics. That's why Bethesda has always been excused for lagging behind in the gameplay, graphics and animation department. Now they've stripped it all away, and I do wonder if co-op is going to be enough to make fans happy. Not that I know what fans want this, as mentioned earlier, it doesn't seem like it's for Fallout fans since it lacks everything that was good about Fallout. Fallout isn't just about a huge world with lots of potential for crafting. When people ask for co-op in Bethesda games is this really what they want?

To get a bit petty about the lore involved I have a few things to day with the disclaimer that I'm not a huge Fallout scholar so I might be a bit off but... How does the concept make sense? Like no people around? At all? In every other game we meet ghouls who survived the initial blasts, not to mention entire communities who didn't turn into ghouls but instead just survived generation after generation. So why is this world so empty? Would make sense if it was in the middle of a blast crater but the world is green, buildings barely scorched, yet the only humanoid creatures around are the scorched ghouls. I just don't understand why this was done, would it really have been that hard to add human NPC's in the game? Just Raiders? Like I've read that they want human players to make up raider factions you usually see in Fallout games, problem is that there aren't enough players to make up those kinds of raider factions and with them taking steps to avoid griefing it's not even a viable role to play in the first place. Though fine, it's a spin-off, non-canon, I can dig the lore being off (if that's truly the case, I'm not so sure that it is).

In conclusion, it seems like this game is trying to do things that have already been done and better, not pleasing fans of their old games and not being able to compete with fans of similar games. I'm curious to see how this game will end up doing, might be a huge success (which would surprise me) or it might end up being a huge flop. Either way it's going to be interesting to see the consequences from how this game ends up performing. Bethesda at least seems confident considering they've gone on record saying they intend to support this game "forever".

Red Dead Redemption 2 - Second Trailer Reactions

So the second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 dropped today, I'll leave a link at the end for those interested but for now I wanted to give my first reactions on it in words. I know it's a novel concept to write about it instead of making a whole video on it but lets get to it.

Mr. Arthur Morgan

First off, we find out that the protagonist is one Arthur Morgan, a dude who sure looks the part of a capable outlaw. Now I do wanna note that he does in every way appear to be an outlaw unlike the protagonist of the first game, John Marston. He is indeed quite the contrast to Mr. Marston, not only does he seem to enjoy being bad more but he's also a different figure, that is he's more physically intimidating. I do look forward to seeing him interact with the world as he doesn't really seem like the kind of guy to be pushed around easily.

I do think there's a reason for such a seemingly dark character, I wouldn't be surprised if he at some point was a more redeemable character but the changed up a bit after the release of Gta V. What I mean with that is that with Gta V Trevor Phillips was introduced and his psychotic persona became extremely popular so I wouldn't be surprised if this fact influenced Morgan of RDR2. Now I don't think he'll be going full psycho but I do think Trevor did encourage Rockstar to make a meaner character than they'd normally do. Personally, I like him, I've seen some negative comments towards him but I'm excited to see more of his persona. I suspect he's not all around bad but perhaps put on a tougher persona when in "outlaw mode".

Outside of Morgan, we didn't really see that much as it was a short trailer. I mean we did see glimpses of hunting (with a bow no less), horse taming and heists. Though the heists did look quite cinematic so I hope you can still rob stuff outside of main missions. We did see one big thing though, Dutch van der Linde, which with other released info has confirmed that it is indeed a prequel that is centered around Dutch's gang. I was skeptical there would be a lot to explore but it does seem to be so far back with plenty of colorful characters to make it interesting.

Not sure there's that much more to comment on story speculations. I do however want to comment on the types of comments I've read in the comment sections on Youtube, Twitter and so on. Fun conspiracy theories that I will hastily debunk. Lots of comments about Abigail being the mysterious blonde woman, to that I say, Abigail had black hair and wasn't a badass gunslinger. Next, lots of people are thinking the boy Morgan threatens in the trailer is a young Marston, first off John's mother died at childbirth and he was found by Dutch while in an orphanage so no dice. I've also seen comments linking Morgan to MacFarlane, that he would be related but as his name is Morgan it's also quite unlikely and reaching to make a connection. As are all the comments calling anyone with a beard Uncle (the drunk hanging around at Marston's farm towards the end of RDR).

That would be all, if you haven't already check out the trailer and get back to me perhaps if you see something interesting. Here's the trailer for those interested;
RDR2 Trailer 2

Death Stranding, Silent Hills? Theory!

I just saw the second trailer for Kojima's next game, "Death Stranding", that featured among others Mads Mikkelsen with a confirmed part and Guillermo del Toro. You can see the trailer here;

Now watching the trailer lead to a theory, that being that the game takes place in purgatory. The last trailer gave few clues about the game but this one had much more going on. It took place in a battlefield with del Toro running around with a small box, later revealed to contain a baby. I figure that the baby is symbolic, maybe for rebirth or something? Innocence perhaps, my religious knowledge isn't really that great but isn't the point of purgatory to cleanse the spirit?

Regardless, the other imagery in the trailer lead me to the purgatory thing, undead looking soldiers with that tank thingy that all look very WW2, then Mads' character shows up looking much more modern with goggles of sorts. Leads me to believe that people from different era's is trapped in this world. Now to refer to the first trailer with Norman Reedus, in it we see him crying with a dead baby, maybe it's all related to why he ended up in purgatory? He lost his innocence or more bluntly caused the death of a child? Makes sense to me.

Moving on, if we assume this is all more or less accurate, maybe Kojima is making his Silent Hills game with a different coat of paint. Considering both Reedus and del Toro are now associated with the project and the fact that Silent Hill share similarities with purgatory it makes some sense. I can imagine that Kojima doesn't let go of an idea that easily, so if he did have grand ideas for Silent Hills maybe he now wanna use them, a second chance kind of thing.

Even if he's not rebooting his Silent Hills idea I still figure that the game taking place in purgatory is a solid theory. I mean it fits with the name, Death Stranding, stranded in death between heaven and hell, no?

Fallout 4: Settlements Rant [VLOG]

A rant regarding the settlement building in Fallout 4. Don't worry, it's not too negative, if you were a nice person you could even call it constructive criticism;

STAR WARS: Battlefront III - Beta Impressions [VLOG]

Sharing both my positive and negative thoughts on the open beta for STAR WARS: Battlefront III. I'm a bit late to this party I know but the game isn't released yet so here goes. 

Rainbow Six: Siege - Beta Impressions [VLOG]

As the title says, a video detailing my impressions of the closed beta for Rainbow Six: Siege;

Objectification in Games [VLOG]

Now I probably wouldn't have made this video to begin with if it wasn't for the fact that when I've asked feminists why they don't look at these issues from a male perspective they've been quick to answer "well it's not a female issue, you fight for it you... You... MAN!". So, where we are.

And I can't stress enough that I don't claim to preach some objective truth, I'm open for discussion. I know I've made mistakes, yeah this video isn't perfect either, only arrogant fools claim to be perfect, please understand.

You can also find me on twitter @crazycat690

Sources for some of the things I talk about in the video:
http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Raiden
http://www.metalgearinformer.com/?p=9178
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10880647/Topless-women-campaign-to-Free-The-Nipple-why-on-earth-do-women-want-to-walk-around-topless-in-public.html

MGSV: The Phantom Pain - Collector's Edition Thoughts

Finally we live in a world where Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is available for anyone who wants it (and can afford it, obviously). I've waited years to play this, naturally I felt compelled to get the Collector's Edition for this game as it's the end of an era of MGS games directed by the legendary Hideo Kojima. 

I wanted to share some thoughts on the overall package, I'm likely to write a review of it at some point but as I'm not a professional journalist it's not something to be expected anytime soon or when it arrives to be particularly well written. Probably will be pretty biased as well, but, I digress... Lets start with what's actually included in this Collector's Edition!

The following things were included:
- MGSV: The Phantom Pain
- Collectible Steelbook
- Half Scale Replica of Snake's Bionic Arm
- Map
- MGSV: TPP Collector's Disc
- Additional Game Content (DLC...)

The Bigg Boss figurine was not included in the box but was bought from Play Arts Kai

Now I got the EU version, I'm aware that not everyone have gotten DLC codes in their box but I got them. Though only the Day One codes for the singleplayer worked (for now). I assume that the Metal Gear Online codes will work once it actually launches.

The arm is of course the main attraction among the other trinkets, it's really cool visually and the fingers are pretty flexible. My only complaint would be that the fingers are a bit, hm, "floppy", would've been nice if they were a bit more 'stiff'' so they'd be better for posing. Though it's not too bad as it is, at least it doesn't feel like you're breaking them as you move them around.

The map is also quite big, showing of the Afghanistan and Africa level, I haven't really looked into the details as I do want to leave some surprises for when I actually play the game.. But it's good, nothing to complain about as far as quality goes, pretty standard issue paper map. The rest is what you'd expect, well I don't exactly know what's on the "Collector's Disc" but if I were to guess it's some "making off"-thing, gonna check that out later at some point to make sure.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my decision to get this. It's a neat package that while it may have been overpriced (though today, what isn't?) is rather neat. I'm sure that whatever doubts over value there may be will vanish as soon as I've gotten more familiar with the game.

Also, here's my unboxing video if you care to watch:




I will be trying to stream as much of the game as possible via Twitch, I know that anyone interested in the game will be trying to avoid spoilers but I'm just putting it out there; http://www.twitch.tv/crazycat690

Also you can find me on twitter @crazycat690

Rise of the Tomb Raider on Ps4 and PC 2016 [VLOG]

A second vlog of mine, this time about Rise of the Tomb Raider coming to Ps4 and PC in 2016!

Bethesda and Fallout 4 reveal [VLOG]

The first video I'd call a vlog, consider watching it and let me know what you think!

E3 2015 Thoughts and Winners

Best E3, like, ever! It has to be said before going more in-depth, it was a great show and many unbelievable surprises. It was so much fun seeing old and new games doing their best to impress. With that said, lets get to the meatier stuff! Do note that these are my opinions and I do focus on the stuff I was personally interested in.

I started watching Bethesda's E3 conference at 5:00 am Finnish time, and I'm glad I did. They started off with Doom 4 which was looking really good. Cannot complain about neither graphics nor gameplay, it was fun to see. They had a bit of stuff I didn't care about in the middle, like the Elder Scrolls online thing but they also showed off a lot of Fallout 4, and what can I say about that? It looks damn good, gameplay looks very fun with combat that they've actually put effort into this time around and they have a crazy amount of customization options. Lets just say it's hard to say that Fallout 4 isn't your kind of game because there's just so many options on how to play it. I suppose I should also mention that I can't wait to see more of Dishonored 2, I loved the first game so I do also expect great things from this game.

Moving on, the next conference I watched was Microsoft. I seem to be quite alone in this but their conference was pretty boring. Sure, they had good stuff like announcing backwards compatibility and, yeah. Don't get me wrong they showed games like Halo 5, Gears 4 and Forza 6 but those are franchises I've never been very fond of so they were pretty forgettable. The one game I was interested in that they showed was The Rise of the Tomb Raider (silly title though) but that demo was really disappointing. Very linear, scripted and the same old "shit breaks" kind of set piece gameplay that's just not very fun. They did the same with when they showed off the reboot as well, I thought that game was going to suck big time yet it's one of my favorite games from that year.

However, if we're talking about an outright bad conference, lets check out EA. If you wanna go to sleep, this is where it's at. They were smart saying every now and then how long until the reveal of Battlefront 3, because that was really the only reason to watch their show. Sure they had the new Need For Speed which looked neat enough, but it was really Star Wars: Battlefront 3 that people were most excited about. They also showed off the new Mass Effect: Andromeda game, but there's not much to talk about there either, EA really should've waited to announce a few of their projects because it seems like they aren't even nearly ready to talk about their games yet. Better luck next year.

Maybe it was because I had just watched EA's snoozefest, but Ubisoft had a really good conference, or shall I say an entertaining one. With a good host and good games to show off, with highlights being The Division and Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Curiously enough with only a brief CGI trailer for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, though I suppose that by now everyone knows what AC is. And lets not forget For Honor which also looks really interesting, new IP with a more realistic take on sword battles. Overall, good job to Ubisoft!

Next up, my personal favorite of E3 2015, Sony. Where to start, the first thing they did was reveal The Last Guardian which people have been waiting for forever. Almost unreal to see it again, and no mercy was given as they showed off a new IP, Horizon: Zero Dawn, with some impressive looking gameplay. The announcements kept coming, Final Fantasy 7 remake in the works and Shenmue 3 is also to be revived. Finally, they showed off more Uncharted 4 gameplay which looked really grand, more open and so detailed. To think that they still have plenty of studios still working on unannounced titles is really exciting. Sony really won me over this E3.

Nathan Drake in action!

As far as Nintendo and Square Enix goes, I don't have much to say. Nintendo's show was cute, sure, but I don't really saw anything worth of note. Square Enix then again showed stuff like Just Cause 3, but their speakers were so dull I just couldn't feel enthusiastic about their games. Seriously, if they don't care about what they're talking about then why should I? Charisma is really important in these situations, next time I hope they have speakers that actually care about our amazing medium.

Final words then, so this year Sony "won" E3 for me, however this year it was so great that I can't really say someone had the best show. All I can say is that EA, Nintendo and Square Enix still have a lot to learn, the rest all had good stuff going on. In the end it's the gamers that won, we will be getting so many quality experiences in these coming years it's insane. Hope you, yes you reading this, are just as excited as I am to be a gamer in this day and age!


You can also find me on twitter @crazycat690