Impressions #13: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon

As many of the people who know me are aware, I am what one might consider to be an “ATLUS-faithful”. ATLUS is one of my favorite developers because of how they shamelessly stick to the things that make old-school JRPGs charming, while reinventing the other aspects as they see fit. I make no secret of the fact that Persona 4 is in close competition as one of my all-time favorite games (following behind Dark Cloud 2 and Wild Arms 3). Having said that, there are still many Shin Megami Tensei games that I have never played before. As a result, I have been trying to “catch up” on the games that I missed. This process is started by the game I will be talking about in this post: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon (RK2). This is the direct sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. The Soulless Army, a game I played a long time ago, back when it was released on the PS2. The game, and its predecessor, are unique for not only how they continue on the traditions of the SMT franchise, but also in how they defy other such traditions.

One of the biggest differences between RK2 and other SMT games is the difference in the overall tone. Shin Megami Tensei games tend to have very dark outlooks of the world and the themes they use. Devil Summoner is different in this regard. Instead of conforming to the bleakness of the franchise, the overall tone falls more into the realm of camp. It feels more at home being compared to an anime from the 70s than it does an SMT story. The premise of the game alone, being that a shadowy group of hillbilly ninjas is threatening the Capital of Japan by using specialized insects to steal people's luck and the player acts as a demon summoner/detective who is on the case, is a prime example of this. The game is fully aware of how absurd it is, and reveals in that absurdity.

The setting bolsters this uniqueness, taking place in 1930s-Japan. Very few games actually use this era in Japanese history as their backdrop, which makes Devil Summoner 2 even more interesting. Most SMT games take place in either the modern world or in a post-apocalyptic near-future, and most JRPGs take place in a classic fantasy. With this period, RK2 provides an interesting glimpse into Japanese history, when looking at how people interact with each other and the world around them. Not to say that it is completely historically accurate, as I sincerely doubt 1930s-Japan was plagued by demons and evil insects that steal luck. However, the fact that it takes advantage of an underused setting gives the Raidou Kuzunoha sub-franchise a look and feel all its own.

Another difference between RK2 and most other SMT games is the combat. Where most Shin Megami Tensei games are turn-based in their combat, Devil Summoner 2, like its predecessor, takes place in real time. Bringing two demons in battle, the protagonist comes equipped with a sword and gun. He can command his demons to use their skills, which consume his magical energies. If their attacks exploit a weakness, the enemy will be stunned. Further attacks on a foe in a stunned state will result in them releasing magical energy. In other words, if the player keeps exploiting weaknesses, they can use skills almost infinitely. The player can also guard attacks to reduce damage and hide demons from attacks to keep them alive. It is fairly intuitive system that never gets particularly difficult. As a consequence, there is no challenge to it. Once the player is aware of a enemies weakness, it is simply a matter of using the correct moves and then mashing the attack button. While it works, it is only interesting enough to keep players progressing through the story, which is the clear highlight.

Having said all of that, the game is still a Shin Megami Tensei game at its core. As is typical of games bearing that distinction, enlisting and summon mythical creatures from various religions and mythologies (SMT throws them all under the blanket term “demons”) to aid the protagonist. During a random encounter, players can choose to halt the battle in order to talk to the demons that they are fighting against. If the conversation goes well, they can begin negotiations with their enemy. When the player acquiesces to the demands set forth by the other party, they will join up with the protagonist and become part of the player party. New demons can also be acquired by fusing other demons in their employ. Should they register their creatures before they either fuse or dismiss them from service, then they can even pay to have them added back into the roster, with the stats they possessed at the time of registration.

These demons also serve as they way players progress through the game. Of course, their primary purpose is to help form the player's fighting party. Every demon has their own strengths and weaknesses. It is up to the player to switch in/out the ones which are best suited to the current situation. For example, a demon who excels at fire magic will generally be strong against demons with wings, but not against those with ice magic. However, this is not their only purpose mid-battle. Should the player choose to begin conversation and negotiation, their demons can help assist in the conversation. Each one has their own conversational skill, and those skills have different effects on different demons. Lastly, they are also used during exploration, as their abilities can either destroy certain obstacles in the field or get to locations the protagonist is unable to go to themselves. When playing the game, the player needs to consider all three avenues of usefulness when constructing their party. In some cases, it might be a good idea to keep a very low-level demon because they possess abilities, either in negotiations or in the field, which make them useful. The system is very interesting and requires a lot of thought from the player.

Although the monsters are clearly the star of the show most of the time, the protagonist is no less important. In classic SMT fashion, the player character is a bit of a blank slate, with a set backstory to help facilitate immersion in the story. The character in question is a high school student (although that fact rarely ever comes up) who has been training his whole life to live as a Devil Summoner. Though the player gives him a true name, he has attained the rank and title of Great Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha the XIVth, tasked with protecting the Capital from demonic and supernatural threats. As a cover, he works part-time at a detective agency, to give him a plausible reason to conduct his investigations into these threats.

What makes him a particularly intriging protagonist, and fairly in line with what players expect from a Shin Megami Tensei game, is that while his actions in the game plot do not change, the player is ultimately who decides what his motivations are. Throughout the game, players make dialog choices for the lead character. As these decisions are made, the game adjusts the protagonists alignment on a scale of Law and Chaos. No matter what, he is a good person trying to help the people. The real choice is between why he does it. Does he do what he does simply because he has accepted the responsibility of being Raidou Kuzunoha and all that title entails? Or is he simply using the mantel as a means to protect the people because that is what his true desire are, ready to abandon the role if it no longer suited that purpose? Or does the answer lie somewhere in the middle? The game does not judge either side of Law or Chaos particularly harshly, and shows the positives and negatives of both types of virtuousness. The characters who represent Law and Chaos in the narrative are readily aware of the advantages of the other side and the flaws they possess. It never feels heavy handed and is actually quite maturely handled.

Overall, while Devil Summoner 2 has flaws, it is a unique and interesting enough game that it feels like a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed it for most of my playthrough, only getting annoyed at the length of the final dungeon. For the price you get it on the PlayStation Network now, I would say it is easily worth the investment. Though it is different from standard SMT games in many ways, it used the more familiar elements to make franchise fans feel just as at home as they would be in other games. Newcomers to the franchise are best served by playing either this, its predecessor, or Persona 3/4 because they are by far more friendly to new players than other games in the franchise are. After that, they might want to consider jumping off into the more difficult ATLUS games.

The Texture Pop: Episode 6: Now With 20% More Buttons

No guest this week, so it's back to our usual insanity with The Texture Pop. Unfortunately, Garrett could not make it to the recording for personal reasons. Fortunately, the rest of us are completely insane.

Also, the reason we get no viewer questions is because last week's cast was so late in coming out. Hopefully, that will change next week.



The MP3 version of this episode can be found here.

0:00:00 Introductions
I feel the need to explain what the hell happened to the beginning of this episode. We spent 20 minutes before the start of this podcast doing something that WASN'T recording the podcast because Samuel decided to try to find a game to play during the cast. As he'll reveal later, it was an entirely pointless exercise because his chosen game crashed.
I also say Garrett hasn't arrived "yet" because he explained why he couldn't attend shortly after the podcast began. He'll be back, so don't worry too much.

0:01:32 We Talk About the New Nintendo 3DS (And Its Stupidity)
At the time of recording, the New Nintendo 3DS story was only a day old, so it was fresh in out minds. There are unfortunately just too many reasons why this is a bad idea for me to support it.

• The 3DS is still relatively new in the portable console space.
• Since games will be exclusive to it, it is dividing the install base of the 3DS needlessly, in the same way map packs divide the player base of the First Person Shooter.
• The new stick does not look very comfortable, and some of the new extra buttons are questionably placed.
• The name is incredibly confusing, as it is a new console and not a updated 3DS (which revives the problem the Wii and Wii U had).

This just isn't something that should work. And I'm not going to lie, this makes me REALLY sore I bought a 3DS only a few weeks ago.

0:19:30 Chris plays Counter-Spy

Chris description of the game catches my interest in a big way. The premise of the trying to stop two large nations from nuking each other sounds really interesting. Combined with the tone and aesthetic, and Counter-Spy sounds like a game that would be theoretically up my alley.

Further, the fact that detection is a gradient rather than a binary is a great idea. As someone who plays a ton of stealth games, that's something that many such titles lack. The only downside is that the game does not sound like something that one could do well at while ghosting.
Modular level design is also another clever way to keep repeat playthroughs fresh. Overall, it sounds cool and I might try it out when I've eaten through my backlog a bit.

0:39:23 Chris relapses into his Marvel Heroes addiction.
True story, Chris has tried to talk me into playing Marvel Heroes with him every once in a while (not too hard, mind you). I sometimes feel weird declining because I do get the feeling that I might enjoy that game. Having said that, Marvel Puzzle Quest really destroyed my desire to play Marvel-based F2P games.
I know that's totally unfair to Marvel Heroes, but that's how I feel. I remember liking Marvel Puzzle Quest a lot when I first played it. Hell, there's a reason I have several hundreds of hours clocked on it both on Steam and my phone. However, they kept adding and changing element after element and the direction they went was not one I was okay with supporting. My fear is that if I join Marvel Heroes, that game will face the same fate. I just cannot do that to myself again.
Maybe one day, I'll write about my experience with that game and why I quit, but not today.
One the subject of Marvel Heroes, based on what Chris said, it is a lot less P2W than Marvel Puzzle Quest was, and the microtransactions sound a lot more fair to consumers. My inner researcher would be interested in comparing the profits of Marvel Heroes with Marvel Puzzle Quest, to see which model is more financially successful. My gut says that despite Marvel Heroes seemingly treating players more fairly, Marvel Puzzle Quest is the biggest cash-cow.

0:47:30 I played Project X Zone
And have nothing more to say about it.

0:48:10: I finished the Walking Dead: Season 2.
Overall, this season wasn't all that great. It's kind of like the Transistor to Season 1's Bastion. It's good on its own merits, but if you compare the two, it is simply inferior.
Having said that, the finale was easily the best part of the game. One thing I would like Telltale to try to do to actually let choices you make have an effect on the plot. The "choices feel impactful, but aren't" doesn't work anymore because players are starting to catch on. Further, having no real "gameplay" kinda hurts the pacing because without those sections, there is no downtime to let players digest what they've seen in the game. The last few sections go a long way with that, but it still could use some refinement.

0:51:55 I played more Devil Summoner 2.
And I have to admit that I am getting a little sick of how long JRPGs take. I've talked about game length several times before, but RPGs are the worst at this crap. It's like they have no concept of making a dungeon a decent length.
I think most of it comes down to their D&D inspired roots. In a D&D game, having a long dungeon crawl is acceptable because it's easy and you have the chemistry of all the players to work off of. Essentially, the game is a framework to create your own enjoyment with your friends.
In a single player RPG, that is no longer the case. The game is a framework for the story being made in collaboration between the designer and the player. As a result, you cannot feed off the energy born from friends in the same room. In this scenario, a dungeon slog is much less acceptable, and I wish that more designers could understand that.

0:52:55 I played an indie game called Hand of Fate.
Like I said in the cast, I find this game to be very fascinating. I just wish in ran well on my computer. The concept is cool and I think that, with some refinement, it could become a very interesting game. If and when it eventually comes to the Vita, it would be a perfect game for that device.
I also mentioned this comic from Grey Carter and Cory Rydell on The Escapist.
Also, to be fair, this is a $600 laptop that is over 3 years old. I have no business playing games on it. Somehow, it's worked like a champion for so long. If it can just last one more year, I'd be happy.
Unfortunately for my laptop, a new mattress and a PS4 come first.

1:00:00 I went back to college (and so did Chris)
I am just going to repeat what I said in the cast. If you can avoid it, NEVER go to the campus store to buy textbooks. You are pissing money away by doing that.
And fuck loose-leaf textbooks too. That's a scam if I ever saw one.

1:05:39 Sam worked a lot.
And Chris takes the time to tell us exactly what he thinks of several former employers of his. XD

1:10:45 Since Sam works at a pizza place, we start talking about pizza (and health?).
We've said before that we were inspired by the GiantBomb-cast to do this show. There is no truer way to demonstrate that inspiration that with the conversation that occurred at this time stamp.
Also, you have never tasted pizza before until you've dabbed the grease out of it. It's just so much better that way, both in health and in taste.
Cutting soda is also a really good way to improve your health. Even if you just switch it with fruit juice, it's much better.
Diets are such a hard thing to correct. Part of it is that the worst food for you is cheap, so for a struggling family it can be the only option. Further, someone who grows up on that food (like myself) doesn't really acquire a taste for the higher quality foods, which means we stick to the unhealthy shit.
Also, I misspoke here. When I said "the world is not designed for us to be skinny", what I mean to say was "stereotypically healthy." *sigh* Don't you love body-image issues?

1:22:00 We talk about Sony Smash Br.. I mean Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale.
It has bad net-coding, which makes us talk about Internets and connections.
And Chris talked about troubleshooting, which made us talk about Google.
Which made us talk about Bing
Which made us talk about paid-sponsors in movies/TV?
Which made us talk about Ad Block
Which made us talk about YouTube
Which made us talk about Amazon buying Twitch
And this is how a typical conversation goes for us. I'M SORRY!

1:37:00 Conclusion
This was a podcast.

#74: How Microtransactions Ruined Dead Space 3

Last week, I detailed many of my thoughts on the distressingly awful Dead Space 3. I had discussed my complaints regarding the combat, the co-op, and the story of the game. What I neglected to talk about was the microtransactions and their negative influence on the game. My thoughts on this particular subject are so intense that I feel that their inclusion in last week's post would detract from my complaints in it, making that piece far too long of a read. It is actually surprising just how deeply the mere inclusion of microtransactions fundamentally altered the game's core design.

This is because the actual microtransactions by themselves seem initially to be incredibly innocuous. Using either real world money or Ration Seals acquired through scavenging, players can purchase resources from the game to help give them an edge over the space zombies. The problem arises in that there was not much to purchase with them. Buying health and/or ammo would be far too blatant and obviously impact the game design. So something needed to be created in order to give users something to purchase. For this reason, the weapon crafting was added to the game.

Weapon crafting is exactly what it sounds like. Throughout the game, players collect weapon frames, cores, muzzles, attachments, and upgrade circuitry as they progress. When they reach a bench, they can use these collected parts to create custom weaponry or modify existing weaponry. If the player should wish to acquire more of a specific part, but do not have the time or desire to search the game world for it, they can use collected resources such as Tungsten, Superconductors, Scrap Metal, and the like to craft those parts. Now, should they lack even these basic resources, Ration Seals or real world money can be spent acquiring them. Again, this is fairly innocuous addition in and of itself. In fact, there is even some entertainment value in creating awesome weaponry to use against space zombies.

Unfortunately, it also came with some unintended side effects. The first such effect is that horror element has been eliminated from the game. Even in the early half of the game, it is entirely possible for players to create weaponry with maxed out damage ratings. The shotgun I had created that early lasted me for the entire game, up to the final boss. Nothing was scary, because nothing stood a chance against me. My partner and I died fairly infrequently outside of set-pieces, and neither one of us felt even a tinge of fear. Considering how scary the earlier games were reported to be, that is more than a little disappointing.

The other side effect is that the developers can no longer be sure of exactly what type of weapon(s) the player has in their inventory. For what I have been told, earlier Dead Space games gave players specific weaponry over the course of the game, slowly building up their arsenal. The designers can use this information to carefully control which ammo is dropped where and how often in order get the player to naturally switch up tactics based on what their current ammo count is for each weapon. In the third game of the franchise, this can no longer work. Since Visceral Games are not sure of what weapons players are using, they cannot drop ammunition for specific weapons to encourage use of them. As a result, ammo had to be universal, working for every weapon. That way, no matter what equipment is being used at a given point in the game, the risk that the player is put into an unwinnable state is significantly lessened.

And that decision, which was a side effect of our first big change, has another side effect associated with it. Since every weapon consumes the same resource when firing it, there is no way to incentivize much needed variety. Every person I know that has played Dead Space 3 made one really powerful weapon in the beginning of the game and generally stuck with it. Although there were other options like new weapons, kinesis, and stasis available to them, they all just chose to keep firing with their weapon of choice. Every fight feels the same because the same weapons are being used over and over again against enemies who use the same tactics. No variety can be added in the natural way it used to be because the tools to do so no longer exist. Furthermore, since all ammo works for all weapons, it is no longer a scarce resource. In fact, I never once ran out of it throughout my entire playthrough and my partner ran out exactly once.

To recap, it started with a simple request: Add microtransactions to the next Dead Space game. From that one event, a ripple effect occurred. The side effects from this one simple addition multiplied, affected the overall game. As a result, the combat and overall pace of the game was severely impacted. Without the necessary tools to control variety and space, the developers lost their ability to fine tune the gaming experience in the way they could in the first two Dead Space games, judging from what I have been told by franchise fans. Taking away the excellent pacing results in poorly executed combat and the inability to really provoke any form of horror.

Nothing in a game exists in a vacuum. Every single aspect, no matter how small, affects every other aspect. Despite what many would like you to believe, this is no less true with regards to microtransactions. For a game to become great, every system has to keep into each other in perfect harmony. This is what few publishers realize. It is impossible to just add “one small thing” without affecting the balance that was already there. Careful consideration is necessary. If there is anything I would have you, the reader, take away from my experiences in Dead Space 3, that would be it.

The Texture Pop: Episode 5: The Late Late Late Show

You guys are probably wondering why it took so long to post this episode. That is a perfectly valid question. The reason for that is that since Sam was late to the recording session, Chris had to take up the slack and perform hosting duties.

However, since Sam is the editor as well, Chris had to send him all of the audio files and has too busy to do it promptly. Once Sam got it, his work kept him too occupied to do much with it as well. That also explains why the title isn't that great this week either.

Further, since Chris's connection is worse than Sam's, there may be a drop in this episode's audio quality. I apologize on both my behalf and the behalf of the others for this.

Also, we have a guest today. My good friend Nick joined us for this cast. We'll likely consider bringing other guests in from our friends list because why not.

Having said that:



And the MP3 version can be found here. (When it goes up...)

0:00:00 Introduction
This rather unprofessional nature of this introduction can again be chalked up to the rather scatter-shot nature of the recording. We were kinda just winging it, which explains a lot of the awkward pauses and what-not.

0:03:00 We talk about seismic emergencies across the world.
And I'm honestly not entirely sure why.

0:04:45 We talk about the upcoming Fantastic Four movie (and Marvel comic books... and Hollywood)
Honestly, the thing about making Johnny Storm/Human Torch a black man that bothers me is that if they do that, than they might as well make Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (his sister) black as well. Feels like a wasted opportunity to me.
Like I said, I am okay with movie makers re-imagining old characters and putting them in new situations. However, this just feels a bit too textbook Hollywood to me. Far too safe for its own good, despite how different it is.

This does bring up a question though, why DOES Sony want the rights to Spidey so badly? It's not like he's bringing in a whole lot of money for them anymore. It would probably be best for anyone if they just stopped making Spidey movies.

The "laughing scene" I was talking about during this segment, in comparison to Spider-man 3's jazz scene, was the scene from Final Fantasy X. You know the one. My horrible voice combined with Chris's internet made that hard to hear.
Here is the picture of The Thing's look that Nick was talking about.

0:20:45 Chris's internet craps out and briefly ruins the Skype call.
Which is why Chris doesn't host often...

0:22:30 Nick talks about his week.
And we didn't really go into detail about much.
One thing we did go into briefly was Phil Fish. I hope that, for his sake, that he stays out of the industry. No matter what he says, he's going to get shit. That may be deserved on occasion, but not all the time.
We also talked briefly about X-Com and it's expansion.

0:29:30 Nick plays Elder Scrolls Online.
This goes into a broader discussion about MMOs in general.
Also, we go into an Elder Scrolls discussions briefly. For reference, the quest I'm referring to is this week. Like I said in the cast, I like Oblivion a bit more because it's quest design is a lot more interesting than Skyrim's.

0:40:05 Garrett talks about his week.
The train did come through, Chris. Choo choo!

0:40:30 Garrett plays Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
And good god I hate this topic. I know it's been years since the controversy was a big thing, but Mass Effect 3 still gets under my skin. It was that perfect, critical mass, where everything went wrong in all sorts of ways at the same time.
The multiplayer was just a symptom of that in my opinion. While still good, it felt super tacked on. I had the impression that, like the weapon crafting in Dead Space 3, it exists only for the microtransactions. The article I mentioned (here) talks about the sliminess of them a bit more. Even worse is that it's not for a F2P game, but for a game you're expected to put $60 down for.

0:46:00 Garret and I talk about bows and archery.
I don't consider myself much of an outdoors-man, but it is fun to shoot arrows at a target. It's much more of a mental activity than a physical one, at least for me. I often think back to my physics classes when shooting.
We also went into a discussion about all the various recent games that used bows in some capacity.

0:50:30 Sam joins us.
And Chris's internet REALLY impacts the cast here.

0:53:00 Garrett talks about Clive Barker's Jericho
And likes it more than most people.

0:58:00 I played Project X Zone.
It's an interesting game, to be sure. If I'm being honest, the whole crossover thing doesn't hold my interest as much as I thought it would. It gets a little monotonous the farther you go, because every chapter is more of the same. I'll keep playing because I need something to do on my commutes, but otherwise I don't know how much I'd play it.

1:03:10 Chris, Sam, and I play Dragon's Crown.
Chris and I have even played a few matches.
This game's art direction is equal parts amazing and off-putting to me. On one hand, the environments are cool and some of the characters look really nice. On the other hand, many characters just look so disproportional that it's almost comical.
I still think it's silly that you have to unlock going online. I should like to ask the developers why they decided to do that. The answer is bound to be interesting. Other strange decisions also crop up, especially with regards to online play and pacing, which make it an interesting game to talk about.
Still, I cannot deny that the game is super fun. It's a great brawler/RPG hybrid. The animation is fluid and the gameplay is solid. Playing with friends is awesome, and the risk/reward system encourages you to keep playing as much as possible. It's a game that works in many ways, despite its polarizing art style.

1:24:50 I play Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon.
What many people may not know is that the Megami Tensei series actually pre-dates Poke'mon in the monster capture. Only instead of capturing cute animal creatures, you capture gods and demons from various world religions (which is more awesome in my opinion).
Out of all the SMT games, the Raidou Kuzuhona sub-franchise is one of the better games to introduce someone into the franchise as a whole. Having said that, it is still an SMT game and has some of their usability issues.
I do like how the game encourages you to have a party that is balanced between combat, investigation, and negotiation ability. Lacking in any one aspect will cripple another aspect in some way, so keeping them in balance is the key.

1:34:50 I switch from Twitter's site to Tweetdeck.
As much as I like Twitter, I'm getting tired of all the shit they are trying to do with it. I don't care about what other people are favoriting. I don't need them to censor my feed like Facebook does. All I need is for them to do what they've been doing. It's like YouTube in that every update is making it worse and worse.

1:40:10 Chris plays Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls
It's actually really interesting to note how much they've changed Diablo 3 since launch day. When that game launched, it was an absolute mess. I mean the DRM is still on it, but at least they got rid of the auction house.
It seems like every time microtransactions enter the equation, the developers make their game worse to help justify spending money. Not to say that developers are actively doing this, just that it subconsciously breeds that mentality.

1:48:15 Chris gets a really bad acid burn at work.
Fortunately, he'll be fine. I just hope that it heals quickly and it doesn't scar.

1:52:10 Sam picked up his Vita and played Muramasa: Rebirth
And we spend a lot of time just gushing about that game (and Vanillaware in general) without saying much of substance in this conversation.
We did mention how important it can be to consider usability and other features like subtitles and rebindable controls. It's amazing how not doing small things like that make things work so much better.

1:59:10 Sam talks about how the Vita is doing well.
Compared to how bad some of those old, launch window Vita games were (like Uncharted and AC: Liberation), a lot of the ports and newer Vita games are doing so much better. I can safely recommend the Vita now, because what it does, it does very well.

2:08:35 Sam talks about computer gaming accessories.
And I make fun of him. Can you tell which one of us more serious about PC Gaming?
We also talk stupid titles for PC Gaming Keyboards/Mice. I think "corporate cool" is the best way to think about these kinds of titles. It's clearly trying to look "cool" for younger audiences, but it gives off the impression of trying too hard.

2:17:45 Viewer Question
"Do you think Doom would be a better game if it stayed true to Tom Hall's vision, or do you think it's simplicity was one of the reasons it was so successful to begin with?"
Honestly, I think Hall's vision wouldn't have work. It was too ahead of it's time. In this era, it might work. Back then, it wouldn't have. I submit System Shock 1's failure as evidence supporting my opinion on this matter. System Shock 1 had something more akin to Hall's vision, and it failed. In retrospect, people enjoy it. At the time, it wasn't highly rated. As much as I don't like to admit it, the evidence supports that line of thinking.
Nowadays, that flat out would not work. Games need a story to tie them together today. As a result, the old school mechanical thinking no longer applies. Games have changed a lot in recent years, and their presentations have to change along side them.
The Super Bunny Hop episode Sam refers to is here.

And the podcast cuts off. Again, this is because of the "seat of pants" way we recorded this episode. I apologize for it and promise we'll make up for the low quality next week!

Impressions #12: Dead Space 3

There are great games that I can play over and over again. They do something so right that it is just a joy to keep coming back. Others are merely okay. Products like them are satisfactory throughout the whole of the game, but they do nothing to stand out from the crowd and inspire further playthroughs or thought on the game. Lastly, some cannot even get that right. Games exist such that they are an absolute chore to get through them. When one of these are found, playing them feels less like entertainment and more like work. What follows is a recollection of my experience with one such game: That would be Dead Space 3, which I had obtained free of charge on PlayStation Plus through their Instant Game Collection. I do not exaggerate when I say that almost every element in this game has a massive problem associated with it. Though I do not mean to say that it is the worst game to ever be invented, I would say that it is a significant step back in terms of modern game design.

The first element I would like to throw under scrutiny was the combat. Anyone who is familiar with third-person shooters will know how Dead Space 3 operates. Enemies spawn in through the various vents and openings, and up to two players shoot them down with whatever weapon(s) they have equipped. Purely in terms of mechanics, the game is functional. All the mechanics are there and they all work well. The problem lies in that the game makes very few, failed attempts to interject any form of variety into this combat. New enemy types do show up from time to time, but they all use similar tactics. No matter which form of space zombie or evil cultist is being fought, the enemy will just attempt to swarm the players with sheer numbers. Even though the cultists wield ranged weapons, their AI does not seem to take that into account all too often when moving them into positions on the battlefield. While enemies do have differences in terms of damage taken/inflicted and movement speed, all of them will charge player characters with reckless abandon. As a result, every fight begins to blur into every other fight.

One way the developers attempt to remedy this is by placing boss battles at specific points in the campaign. Unfortunately, with the exception of the final boss fight at the end of the game, all of these fights are against the exact same monster. This creature, which I can only describe as an “enormous mutant space lobster with exploding tentacles” (EMSLET), ambushes players regularly throughout the course of the game. EMSLET can be defeated by shooting it in its glowing yellow exploding weaknesses until it dies. At the same time, it will both repeatedly charge at the players and come with endlessly spawning space zombies. Like the rest of the combat in this game, EMSLET encounters begin to blur together after about the third one. Considering there were plenty of opportunities to make new, interesting boss fights to keep the game feeling fresh, this is a very quick and lazy way to add content to the game. Feeling cheap, EMSLET gives off the impression that the developers were pressed for time.

Another method Visceral Games used to inject much needed variety in the game is by peppering both cinematic set-pieces and puzzles throughout the adventure. One of the most used set-pieces is the rappel climbs/descent on a vertical plane. Though not particularly offensive, these segments do not feel like they add much to the game. Usually, it is just another form of combat with some added platforming segments built in. In my experience, other set-pieces throughout the game had an uncanny tendency to result in a lot of unfair deaths due to some fault in the way they triggered or operated. Though I freely admit they tend to be quite visually impressive, the number of glitches and poor design choices involved with their execution ultimately made them more tedious than they should have been.

As for the puzzles, they do not really add much to the game either. In fact, they generally cannot even be truly considered “puzzles”. Most of them do not take more than minor brainpower and about a minute's worth of time to solve. Though they try to break up the long slog of fighting endless enemies, none of them last long enough to really serve this purpose. Mostly, these segments serve as nothing more than brief diversions, lacking in both challenge or substance.

Another aspect that feels strange is the co-op. Unlike previous Dead Space games, players have the option of bringing a friend along for the ride. In fact, the only reason I even played Dead Space 3 was because one of my own friends had asked me to join him for the journey. On some levels, the game handles co-op well. Each character gets their own instanced drops, separate from the other character. The benefit to this is that players do not have to compete for resources, encouraging them to cooperate rather than compete with each other. Further, when a unique item is picked up by one player, a copy is immediately placed in the other player's inventory. This way, neither player can miss out on the items picked up. Also, the co-op character, Carver, does feel integrated into the story in a way that makes him feel relevant. He does affect the progression and without him, the story would be quite different, but we will get to that later.

On the other hand, there are weird ways where co-op does not work quite right. For example, there are times where when one player loses all of their health, they are downed for a period. If not resuscitated by their partner in time, they will die. This is fine, but there are also other times where that period will not trigger, and the player will instantly die. What separates instances where that time frame will and will not activate was never made clear throughout the course of the game. It always felt random. In turn, the mechanic itself felt cheap and inconsistent. And while Carver is a character in its own right, there are times when the game seems to forget this. In many scenes, Issac Clarke seems to be ambushed and thrown into the next area of the game by himself during a cutscene in a way that isolates him from anyone else. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Carver pops into existence right outside of view. Since my friend was playing as Carver, this gave him an odd sort of whiplash when the camera switched back to behind Carver after each of these scenes. Ultimately, because of these grips, the co-op feels both imperfect and incomplete.

One of my least favorite parts of Dead Space 3 was the plot. Before I talk about it, I want to admit that this is my very first Dead Space game. All of my knowledge of the lore of the franchise comes from second-hand sources, and not much of it stuck in my memory. For the most part, I came in with not knowing anything about the finer details of the story. Having said that, I do not feel that that was the reason that I was confused about what was going on with the story. Nor do I feel that the fact that I was playing in co-op was a huge contributor to my lack of understanding. The plot is a nigh incomprehensible mess, and at no point did I feel like I had a true grasp of what I was doing and why. Considering how cookie-cutter the whole affair felt, this is quite an achievement.

To me, the game did not do a good job of establishing the cast of characters and why they, in particular, are doing their part to stop the space zombie invasion. Further, the interactions between characters often do not make sense and serve only to add arbitrary drama and conflict. One particular scene springs to mind when I say that. One scene has the obviously traitorous asshole of the group betray Issac, turning him over to the obviously evil religious cult at gunpoint. When Issac Clarke kills him, he goes to his former girlfriend (who happens to be the traitor's current girlfriend). She asks where he is, to which Issac responds “I shot him”, without even attempting to explain why. Scenes like this occur at multiple points in the game, where characters behave illogically to push the plot forward. The villains are as cartoonish as the come. Despite Simon Templeman's incredible voice acting talent, the cult leader's entire character is just the personification of silliness. Nothing he does makes any sense, and he soldier's on with his beliefs despite all evidence contradicting their validity. I remember joking that if the ending was “rocks fall, everyone dies”, I would be happy with that because every character in the game takes a turn at being stupid. Nothing in this plot felt like it worked, and I struggle to comprehend how people liked it enough to approve it for release.

As a whole, Dead Space 3 feels disjointed and incoherent. For every good thing that the game does, two more big mistakes were made at the same time. Despite being a horror franchise, at no point could anything ever be remotely considered scary. The only thing scary about it is that it represents how EA's decision making can completely ruin what might otherwise have the potential to be a good game. The particularly observant among you might have realized that at no point in this rather long piece did I even mention the weapon crafting, microtransactions, and how they affected the game. That is because I have decided to spend my next article talking about exactly that. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on that with you.