Hey all,
Hope you are well and enjoying life, video games, and whatever else you have going on! I’ve finally reached a bit of a slowdown period at my day job so things are Alright and Manageable… probably only lasting for 2 weeks or so lool. (FYI despite the complaining I actually like my job 😭 lol )
For the channel: after wrapping up the February series I’ve been focusing on just FF7R. It feels nice to hyperfocus on one thing as it makes the whole content creation preparation, scheduling, etc etc nice and simple. I have it well underway though so I think I’m ready to add in other stuff soon too.
(Quick side note - apologies if the formatting of this post is off, Patreon has been doing lots of weird stuff in the back and if you've heard anything about creators not being happy, I'm pretty sure it's still ongoing...)
TL;DR
Finished: Lies of P, Pacific Drive
Ongoing: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Upcoming: Open Roads, “Stuff”
Finished Stuff
Lies of P (28 videos): My first “real” Soulslike - this was fun! I enjoyed learning the intricacies of the combat with a puppet uprising story on the side. The downside was that this was pretty time and effort-intensive from a content creation POV - lots of footage (ie. boss attempts) just never made it to see light of day, but looking at it purely as a video game experience I enjoyed it lots.
To answer what I think people are gonna ask: I’m not opposed to more Souls or Soulslike games in the future, but it would have to be when I’m in The Mood (+ not when other big games are releasing 💦).
Pacific Drive (12 videos 1-2 hours long): My thoughts are mixed by the end... Despite loving the spooky SCP stuff, ultimately the grind was a bit much. Reaching every new zone feels mysterious and cool but the sheen wears off when we revisit them again and again – for resource collection, and also just because of how the game is designed. E.g. To reach map A3, you must go through A1 and A2, return to the hub, and then go through A1, A2 again to get to A3. The maps and encounters being procedurally generated gives room for emergent gameplay experiences, but the trade off is that there’s little narrative intention behind these variations. Overall I think it's a nice game as an atmospheric driving/car maintenance simulator, but not one to get into for a story focus.
We also had a first look of:
The Thaumaturge: An isometric RPG set in 20th century Warsaw + some magic shenanigans, with focus on a story with morally ambiguous choices. The setting (both historical + magic stuff) seemed a tad confusing at least in the beginning part – maybe it’s better explained the more you get into it. I did see hints of interesting story elements with moral dilemmas - e.g. we were able to use magic to get another character to give up an argument. Everything about the setting and the dialogue feels very European/Polish!
Current Stuff
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Really great to see the gang again. Story pacing so far I feel like is suffering from the open world stuff and also “second game in a trilogy” syndrome – kinda makes me miss how focused and linear Remake was. Still a good time overall so far! I’m about 5 chapters into 14 atm.
Upcoming Stuff
I’ll probably continue to be preoccupied with FF7R for the next bit It’s a long game so I’ve been trying my best to play & post faster than usual.
Next week we’ll check out Open Roads - a lot’s happened with this one but TL;DR my understanding is many people who were on the Gone Home/Tacoma team is working on this. Hoping it’ll be a nice short narrative experience just like its predecessors!
Other than that, there’s not much on my new releases horizon until Hellblade 2 in May, so I’ve been looking into some stuff for a medium-length (<20 hours?) series. I’m not quite ready to talk about it yet though - I’ll post a doodle on Twitter/Discord when I am. (FYI I did also see Dragon’s Dogma 2 getting a lot of hype the past few days. I’ll probably sit this one out b/c I haven’t played the first + I heard the PC performance isn’t great, but maybe something to keep in mind for the future?)
If there’s anything else you think should be on my radar feel free to pipe up - there are soo many things coming out these days it's easy to miss!
Thanks as always, let me know any other comments you have, and enjoy the rest of your March ☀️
Cheers,
Welonz