Snake Recommends Vidjagaems

[Solid Snake]

As I no longer have a job and have been ruled unworthy of continued existence as a functioning adult in society, I've been playing a fairly eclectic mix of videogames lately and I thought I'd compile a list of intriguing titles to recommend to y'all.

Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel:

So far, it's basically Persona 4 at a military academy with a bit of communist / socialist commentary on the side; also, the game is slightly less heteronormative than Persona 4 was, as you ultimately can choose to spend your lovey-dovey romance time with a guy or girl (unfortunately, you don't actually dance in public if you choose a guy, and the same-sex undertones are downplayed into vague possibly-platonic possibly-more territory...though the mood does vary slightly depending on the guy or gal you choose.) Still, the underlying formula is similar: You're building social links with your team, getting benefits from those links in battles and studying throughout the year as you deal with conspiracies and political machinations and monster-slaying on the side.

I do appreciate that the combat and dungeon-crawling aspects are a bit faster-paced than Persona 4; it's less time-consuming to make progress. Unfortunately, the game is marred with less-than-ideal voice acting, no Japanese VA option, and inconsistent writing. (Fortunately, the soundtrack is stellar and has been a pleasant surprise.) If there's incredibly objectionable content here from a social justice perspective, I haven't run into it yet (though I do wish the game's token lesbian character wasn't given such an overt 'sexual predator' vibe...and this game does follow Persona 4's lead of including an unrealistically and inappropriately flirtatious teacher.) All in all, it's a fun RPG that isn't revolutionary, but does the basics well enough to merit a playthrough.

Assassin's Creed Rogue:

Surprisingly, Rogue is my favorite Assassin's Creed since the Ezio trilogy; this is likely because it's the most stripped-down since Assassin's Creed II. There isn't an excessive amount of extra stuff to do beyond some interesting story missions and bits and pieces of the ship-improving, town-improving formulas from previous Creeds. It's shorter and more compact, which is a good thing, as this Assassin's Creed title doesn't overstay its welcome. It also presents a nice twist on the AC formula, insofar as you're exposed to shades of grey -- the Assassins aren't as great as they've been presented in previous titles, the Templars aren't quite as evil, and you witness a different perspective on the eternal struggle between the factions.

In terms of gameplay, it's basically Black Flag all over again -- if you enjoyed the naval combat there you'll like it just as much here. There are slight improvements in the formula, but nothing ground-breaking. Personally, I actually prefer the Arctic setting here over the Caribbean -- I'm not really sure why -- and watching Shay betray the Assassins felt practically cathartic after so many terrible Assassins Creed III memories, insofar as you're basically destroying much of the cast of that game, Kill Bill style. The soundtrack integrates all the previous PS3-era titles in a way that proves fitting for the finale of its era; I particularly enjoy the new take on the Main Theme from Assassin's Creed 2, which makes a well-deserved reappearance here.

Rogue Galaxy:

I'll say this much; from an aesthetic perspective, the cel-shaded graphics have aged incredibly well; you could have told me this was a PS3-era title (circa 2010) and I would have believed you.

Unfortunately, from a social justice perspective, the game has been a miserable slog, in large part because the first planet you visit after the tutorial section (and some beautiful-but-brief space exploration) is a stereotypical Jungle Planet Full of Hostile, Primitive Brown People Who Hate Technology, and said natives include misogynistic creeps (complete with 'jokes' at the poor heroine's expense, who's repeatedly nearly sexually assaulted by these douchebags, with little more than an amused "Haha aren't these primitives weird?" reactions from the nonplussed guys.) Oh, and the women in the tribes -- including the tribeswoman who joins your party -- seem to wear very unrealistic clothing that basically amounts to bikinis, complete with the necessary dosage of male gaze applied to all kinds of cutscenes to ensure we see copious cleavage. It is annoying and frankly, it feels really out of place for a sci-fi RPG that takes place in outer space.

Fortunately, I have escaped that hellhole and gone to the planet that is basically this galaxy's Coruscant. Hopefully things improve, as this is a game that I want to like a lot more than I've been liking it -- it's got a fairly interesting battle system that's aged gracefully and the soundtrack is pleasant, if a bit unmemorable.

Life is Strange:

If you choose Warren over Chloe YOU ARE DEAD TO ME.

Anyway, Life is Strange is kind of a second-rate Steins;Gate, which is actually a compliment in a sense, because Steins;Gate was so incredible (more on it in a moment) that even a second-rate version of it is still thoroughly worth playing. My main criticism of Life is Strange is that its relatively short length prevents it from really exploring the consequences of alternative timelines to the extent it should (in fact, you really only see one completely new timeline; the rest of the time shenanigans you pursue have comparatively small-scale implications.) This is largely because, compared to other time-traveling protagonists, Max is just so damned responsible in refusing to abuse her powers.

Max is a great lead, though, and there's a great inner story told within her characterization where you basically watch her learn, within the context of her gaining powers, to become more assertive. This is one of those narratives where all the crazy and outlandish time-shifting powers really merely serve as tools to explore the relationships among relatively mundane, real-world people; the clashes among personalities are more interesting than all the bullshit about storms and Armageddon. There's also some great social justice commentary in here, whether it was explicitly intended or not, about male privilege and how men exploit it -- either as active assholes (Nathan) or as passive parasites (Warren.) Most of the men in this story -- even most of the relatively decent men in this story -- are pretty unlikable, insofar as nearly all of them seek to strip Max of agency on some level.

Chloe is a great supporting character, as well -- you and Max are both driven to question her life choices and her morality on some level before you're both shamed by the context of what fuels her rebellious streak, and once you grow to understand both her and the shitty town she lives in, you'll be throwing stones right alongside her. She's great in that she's selfish and has her own agenda -- she doesn't just unconditionally support Max for ulterior reasons like a certain paper-thin White Knight -- but she truly cares for Max, and was even hurt by Max. It's rare to see a friendship (or something more, should you choose something more romantic) so convincingly portrayed in a videogame, particularly one between two women, so kudos to the developers for that.

Oh, and the soundtrack is superb. It's introduced me to a lot of folky HYYYYYYPPPPPSST-TUR music I'd never have heard of otherwise, and I dig it.

Steins;Gate:

So, first of all: The visual novel is long. It's better than the anime by a sufficient amount to justify recommending the visual novel on its own credentials (I'd suggest watching the anime only after playing through the VN, personally) but by the standards of the genre you will be up a few late nights before you even reach the Chapters where the time-travel mechanics start to get interesting.

But, boy, is Steins;Gate worth it. It's an extremely dense visual novel with such attention to detail that it really rewards a second playthrough to understand the nuances of each timeline and exactly what you've unknowingly changed to get from Point A to Point B.

There are, to be blunt, social justice issues. Perhaps to Steins;Gate's credit, there's never really a moment where it endorses certain characters' bad behaviors, but Daru's a bit too perverted (and, worse still, he seems to get away with said perversions largely because he's ugly and non-threatening to the girls he's ogling; he's basically treated as a joke, but I'm often not laughing along with the game when the misogynistic comments come fast and furious.) Okabe's unreliable narrator routine is simultaneously fascinating and annoying, up until you receive the context that justifies the charade. Kurisu often has the thankless task of the Only Sane Person in the Room, and I have to say I'm fond of her relationship with Okabe, even though it often follows some tired gender cliches. And I feel that Luka should've been presented unequivocally as a transgendered woman, but like many Japanese games with Japanese narrators, Okabe seems hellbent on defining Luka by biological sex.

There's a certain amount of these problematic elements that I desperately want to forgive because Steins;Gate does so many other things so damned well. It's probably the best time-travel story I've ever encountered in terms of the consistency of its time-travel mechanics, and the plot twists are so juicy and full of emotional resonance and impact. Steins;Gate develops its characters methodically, to the point where you truly care about them, and then it repeatedly punches you in the gut, forcing you to make heartbreaking choices and forcing you to watch as Okabe's health and sanity is stretched to its limit. I don't know if I've ever witnessed a story where watching so many tragic emotional breakdowns was so satisfying -- yet I use the word unironically here -- it was actually a genuine treat to become teary-eyed as I realized how much certain sacrifices meant to me.

The soundtrack was pretty good, though the Orchestrated version of the soundtrack you'll find online is even better. But the real treat here is the Japanese voice acting, which is phenomenal -- Okabe and Kurisu's voice-actors in particular are just incredible to listen to, with real chemistry in their bickering. Luka, Suzuha and Shining Finger also turn in memorable performances. (Suzuha's voice actress does a sublime job with my favorite scene in the game, which simply involves her speaking a single word repetitively, but each utterance is a fatal punch to your psyche.)

I can't recommend Steins;Gate enough...if you can make it through a slow first eight hours or so, you're in for a real treat through the finish line.

[mauve]

Oh yeah, I remember liking Rogue Galaxy. I don't think I ever finished it; pretty sure I gave up at the last boss years ago.

I liked the combat system of the game, with its weird localized real-time fighting mixed with Final Fantasy-esque special moves and teammate strategy prompts. I also liked the different team-up attacks; they encouraged me to use parties I didn't normally run with in order to see what damage they did.

Story-wise, the game was okay. The space-war plot was fairly meh-- it was kind of a Final Fantasy 12 In Space ripoff with an undercurrent of anti-Iraq War sentiment (Did you get to the cutscene with Totally Not George W Bush yet?), and it eventually decided it didn't want to do any more of the war stuff and instead decides to focus on space prophecies and legendary space hero-kings and swords made from the emotions of your friends. That said, I liked some of the character development and sidequests for the main team.

Oh, as a heads-up, there's a few costumes for Lilika that are slightly less revealing, if I remember correctly. A few armor sets will actually change the character model outfit, and one or two of Lilika's qualifies as Not A Bikini. Can't remember what the specific outfit was called though.

Also no the game treats most (but not all) female characters as Typical Anime Girls, in one way or the other. (Either A) LOLBOOBS, B) Flirty All the Time/ Using FLIRT To Get What She Wants, or C) Too Sweet and Innocent For This World, Look At These Magical Flower Petals That Appear Whenever She Smiles). But to be fair there's quite a few Anime Male stereotypes going on too, albeit not as much.

I think combat-wise, Lilika, Jupis and Zegram were my favorites, and character-wise, it's Simon (I think that was the masked guy's name?), Jupis, Zegram, Lilika and Steve.

[Solid Snake]

I have not yet seen George W. Bush in space, but I'm looking forward to it.
As for Simon, he appears to be an alligator-alien who can't breathe oxygen or something, so he wears some sort of masked outfit. Cool concept, and a more intriguing character than the majority of the cast I've met so far.

Firewatch:

I can't recommend this one.

First off, the game is only three to four hours long, and there's absolutely no replay value, as there's no alternate endings or drastically different outcomes to be achieved. This is disappointing in light of the fact that the game was basically advertised as a bit of a branching dialogue simulator -- there are copious choices you can make that appear to affect your relationship with the character you communicate with, so you might assume that things you choose to say or not to say will, at the very least, influence how said character sees you.

Instead, the game is an exercise in nihilism -- the entire point of the experience seems to be that, no matter what you do or say or how you act, you are driven towards a particular outcome that can't be avoided. There's something to be said for an intriguing social justice angle here -- namely, Delilah makes up her mind about you and retains her agency regardless of how you act or whether you pursue her romantically, which is rare given that video games prefer to strip supporting characters of said agency around the eternally desirable hero, but my problem with this conceptually has less to do with Delilah and more to do with the complete lack of agency Henry has to decide anything for himself, or to reach any kind of conclusion or finality to his own story; this isn't just a story that is 'tragic', it's a story that ultimately feels meaningless insofar as there's no character development, no sense of progression, or any real sense that anything's been learned or achieved by Henry or Delilah. This is a story full of deliberate red herrings, and some of the red herrings are never fully explained or articulated once the 'mystery' is solved, which is just annoying.

Aesthetically, the game is incredibly beautiful; I'd be tempted to recommend it for the visuals alone if the game cost about half as much as it does, but at $20 it's an extraordinarily hard sell.
Delilah and Henry have fun chemistry together at moments, but honestly, even the supposed selling point of their banter fell short for me; I've seen other Visual Novels and similar relational stories handle this much better.

I'd suggest investing in Life is Strange if you're looking for something with similar 'point-and-click adventure' style mechanics, similarly lovely aesthetics and a far more interesting storyline about a far more meaningful relationship.

[greed]

I've been putting off Cold Steel until I finish TiTS Second Chapter. Really gotta get around to that.

Oh Snake you gonna play Digimon?

[Solid Snake]

No, I haven't heard anything about Digimon. I'm not a fan of the anime, though. Pokemon, Digimon, all the 'mons' are a bit beyond my ability to appreciate.

But Fire Emblem!!! I'm going to play Conquest first because I hate myself.

[greed]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

No, I haven't heard anything about Digimon. I'm not a fan of the anime, though. Pokemon, Digimon, all the 'mons' are a bit beyond my ability to appreciate.

But Fire Emblem!!! I'm going to play Conquest first because I hate myself.

Ah well I'll do a mini review then.

It's a pretty damned fun JRPG even if you never got into Digimon. The main fault is the translation is uneven, some bits are great but a lot of it is pretty, mid 90s PSX RPG. The evolving and fusing is addictive and it's a lot of fun trying to find monsters that look cool and are useful.

Also I'm playing Birthright first because I do not hate myself.

[greed]

They really fucking doubled down on the creepy incest stuff. Wow.

Reina, Rinkah and Mozu rule though. Mozu especially "I just don't think I'm cut out for this, I'm nowhere near as good as the rest of you" HAS THE HIGHEST KILL RATE IN THE DAMNED ARMY. SHE PROBABLY SAID THAT ATOP A MOUNTAIN OF CORPSES.

[Solid Snake]

I kind of expected the pseudo-incest in Conquest, given you're both working for the Evil Empire and also adopted and unrelated to your siblings.
If it's also present in Birthright...I'd be surprised.
Anyway, my Amazon package with Conquest arrives tomorrow afternoon. I am looking forward to dying repeatedly and screaming like a crazy person.

...I may even play Conquest on that hardcore Classic 'everyone permadies' mode, which would be hysterical and also very, very bad for my health and well-being.

[greed]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

I kind of expected the pseudo-incest in Conquest, given you're both working for the Evil Empire and also adopted and unrelated to your siblings.
If it's also present in Birthright...I'd be surprised.
Anyway, my Amazon package with Conquest arrives tomorrow afternoon. I am looking forward to dying repeatedly and screaming like a crazy person.

...I may even play Conquest on that hardcore Classic 'everyone permadies' mode, which would be hysterical and also very, very bad for my health and well-being.

So mild spoilers
I'd taken Hinoka to S-Rank wondering what they'd do. So the S rank starts and you dramatically confess your love to each other and Corrin starts the "but we can't we're siblings" angst. Then Hinoka reveals that she recently found a letter from your mother revealing you were actually from a different father and that you're step siblings not half siblings like everyone thought. Then they get married. It was fucked the hell up.

Also you can marry your genetic cousin Azura.

On the marriages at least the two "can only be romanced by Corrin" characters rule. Seriously Scarlet and Reina are ace, both as units and as characters. Especially Reina. Love that mix of domestic and matronly with death fetishist sadomasochistic killer.

Oh and aside from the creepy shit according to the devs you're not actually meant to keep playing after someone dies, and never have been in the series, you're meant to reset, it's too encourage you to plan better and not use risky strategies. The game isn't balanced for hemorrhaging people.

[Solid Snake]

...Apparently you can download Birthright immediately once you own Conquest, which is something that I did. I may just take the same character down both paths with separate save states and see what happens. I dunno, I'm gonna kind of let the story play itself out and see which side appeals more in the moment. (This will inevitably be Nohr, because I love the idea of the moral complexity of fixing a corrupt Empire from within and staying with the only family you've ever known, but the fact that I will inevitably side Nohr is going to be problematic when the difficulty spikes.)

Also: Pseudo-Incest sure is a popular fetish in JRPGs these days. I'm still dealing with the fact that a major love interest in Cold Steel is your (adopted) sister, who still calls you her 'brother', and who is so transparently and desperately infatuated with you that all of your friends are like "Woah, dude, it's weird to watch a sister want to marry her brother so badly."

...Aaaannnddd of course her best friend is both the Princess of the Realm and also a gigantic pervert who's turned on by the squicky pseudo-incest to such an extent that she's desperate to pair the two together.

Cold Steel seems to enjoy the similarly popular concept of the JRPG Hero who is completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that every other man and woman in his daily life is utterly infatuated with him, including the aforementioned Princess, his teacher, a military officer, pretty much all his male and female classmates, and some random supporting characters who fawn over him for a scene and then completely disappear after Rean misinterprets the signals.

That all being said, one thing that Cold Steel does infinitely better than Persona 4 is the school festival sequence. In fact, one scene in particular strikes me as Cold Steel's writers taking a social justice potshot at Persona 4's shitty writing for the girl's beauty contest shenanigans. It feels like that moment was directly inspired by my criticism of that scene in Persona 4 (though it obviously wasn't.)

All in all I'd still strongly recommend Cold Steel -- it's gripped me more than the other games I've been playing lately, but that's probably just because it borrows so heavily from other JRPGs I love -- but it still falls into all these bizarre JRPG tropes that drive me nuts. Why do all the protagonists have to be completely oblivious about other characters' feelings? Why does that seem to be some huge joke for Japanese audiences? The constant artificial tension that stems from the protagonist's selective stupidity just drives me nuts.

Anyway, if there's one net positive about moving onto Fire Emblem, it's that I'll be able to play matchmaker in that game and actually see positive results. Unlike Cold Steel, where nothing I choose to say or do changes the irrevocable fact that Rean is the most oblivious person. "You can stay with me in my bed if you'd like," says one of the fifteen trillion characters in this game who clearly fantasizes about him every night. I'm paraphrasing, but Rean's response is basically: "That's a weird request and also against the rules." "I hope you consider going to the dance with me, Rean." "I wonder what strange and indecipherable motive she'd have in asking me to the dance? And why is she smiling at me like that?!?" REAN. REAN.