Interactive Friction: Watch_Dogs: Episode 10: Ultimate Cyber-Vigilante

And now we've gotten to it. Goddamn Iraq and Bedbug. This is easily one of the worst parts of the game. Not the worst, (Dear god. It gets much worse from here.), but it demonstrates how the writers took all of these elements and melded them together without really understanding the subtext and implications behind that particular combination.

Again, I know that people like Iraq do exist out there. There are gang members who go join the army for the sole purpose of learning their tactics and bringing them back home. However, that still raises the question of why the writers made the choice to use these tropes. Perhaps they simply wanted to justify having military-grade enemies to fight, but we already have no-face fixers for that. If they were trying to make some commentary about gangs and/or poor sections of the city, then that was gutted out at some point in a misguided attempt to be apolitical.

Bedbug is another problem, but for a completely different reason. He is a criminal, sure. But I get the distinct impression that he's only that way because Iraq is that way. As uncomfortable as it sounds, he seems to be like Lenny from Of Mice and Men. And that's on top of the fact that he's clearly in the lower-income level. In different circumstances, he could've been a good kid. Knowing that these same circumstances make Bedbug very easy to manipulate, Aiden Pearce decides that he needs to get blackmail him in order to get access to the Viceroy compound.

Aiden Pearce has not been someone I'd like to root for since the very start of the game, but this is a real low. Remember, Ubisoft wants us to root for this guy. Despite spending all of this time beating up criminals (an enterprise funded by theft), and having no redeeming qualities whatsoever, we're supposed to treat him as a hero.

I hate this game.

Interactive Friction: Watch_Dogs: Episode 9: Towers of Annoyed

First off, I am very aware of how awful the audio quality was for this session. Sam's equipment started acting up, and there's not much we could've done to fix it.

You're not supposed to think about the logistics of having an army of underprivileged, troubled youths in full military gear. However, I think that's a good question to bring up. Not just because it's implausible, but because it also raises to subsequent question of why did Ubisoft do this. We already have a group of mercenaries called fixers, so we didn't need another excuse to have armed and armored enemies. On top of that, it's downright painful to see these tropes and stereotypes invoked without any real attention being called to them.

Strap in and buckle up, ladies and gentleman, because this is only going to get worse. Just wait until we actually start talking about Iraq. I'm genuinely impressed at how awful this upcoming section of the game is.

I hate this game.

#95: Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Missteps

As you may be aware, I have recently began exploring the Souls games, starting with Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. My opinions on both games are largely positive. My playthrough of Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First was informed by these experiences, which explained why I did not like the game as much. It was not a bad game. However, the game betrays a lack of understanding as to why many of the choices in the original Dark Souls were made. This manifests in design changes that cause a number of problems throughout the game.

The first of these changes is the resurrection of consumable healing items. As I said before in my article about the Estus Flasks in the first Dark Souls, removing the ability to grind for recovery items was a drastic improvement from Demon's Souls to Dark Souls. Rather than reiterate points than I spent an entirely separate article making, I just want to comment on how strange it is to go back to using these items when they already had such an elegant solution in place.To make this worse, the imbalance caused by these items is exacerbated by the fact that the Estus Flask also made its return. It is given to them right after the tutorial is completed. With the reusable Estus Flask ever present in the inventory, players are encouraged to amass large stockpiles of items which they will rarely, if ever, use. I, personally, only used these Lifegems myself when I was absolutely out of Estus and in the middle of a boss fight. Otherwise, I would just hoof it back to the bonfire and try again to maintain my stockpile.

Another alteration to the game is in the way enemies respawn after being killed. In the original Dark Souls, returning to a bonfire revived every enemy that had been defeated, barring a few special exceptions. This is no longer the case in Dark Souls 2, as each enemy will only respawn a finite number of times before they will no longer appear (until the next playthrough). Two major problems arise from this change. First, like the addition of consumable items, it throws off the balance between the urge to continue on and the need to rest and replenish your inventory that I wrote about previously. Making a series of suicide runs in order to eliminate opponents has now become a perfectly valid tactic for making it through areas. Rather than continue to encourage that agonizing decision-making its predecessor was so famous for, Dark Souls 2 transforms every stage into a battle of attrition, as each run slowly depletes the enemy forces. I myself did this a number of time in stages like the Iron Keep and Shulva, Sanctum City.

And second, because there are only a finite number of enemies in the game, souls are also a finite resource. Players receive souls from defeated enemies, which they can use to purchase items/weapon upgrades and strengthen their characters. However, should they die, any unspent souls will be lost. In order to reclaim them, they need to return to the where they died and touch their bloodstain. Failure to do so before the next death will result in the permanent loss of those souls. Since enemies in Dark Souls never stop spawning, there is always a way to acquire more souls even in the event of heavy losses. Once an enemy stops appearing in Dark Souls 2, it is impossible to claim their souls by defeating them. Though I never reached a point where I couldn't obtain the souls I needed, the knowledge that my deaths were depleting the world's supply made each one much harder to swallow.

In the original Dark Souls, I have a very clear memory of exploring the Tomb of the Giants and amassing over 70000 souls. Just as I was about to return to the bonfire, my game was invaded by another player, who killed me in an instant with her barrage of magic and lag. As I attempted to reach my bloodstain, I was ambushed by a horde of giant skeletons. I had made a mistake in fighting them, and that mistake meant that those 70000 souls were gone. My anger at the loss was assuaged by the knowledge that it would be quite possible to replace those lost Soul by grinding later on if I had the desire.

During my adventures in Dark Souls 2, I had similar tales of losses, yet none exceeding 35000 souls at any one time. But even if the losses were momentarily lower, the knowledge that my ineptitude caused a decrease in not just the number of souls I had, but also the net total of possible souls in the game, made those losses sting a lot more. Enemies provide far more than enough souls for a given playthrough, yet just knowing than there is only a finite supply makes even small losses feel wasteful.

The biggest negative change that Dark Souls 2 made was in the way that foes attack. When an enemy attacked the player in either Demon's Souls or Dark Souls, they had to commit to both the attack and the direction in which they were attacking. Since the player was also bound by these same rules, fights were often fair. The best way to fight would be to stay on the defensive and look for openings in enemy attack patterns that could be exploited. Though some of the strongest enemies did have tracking attacks, it was only up to the point where they began to strike, and only to compensate for how slow the windup was for those particular moves.

In the sequel, they made a bizarre decision that I still don't entirely understand. Almost every enemy has an uncanny ability to track the player while they are attacking. This has an adverse effect on the combat, making it easier for them to land blows and conversely more difficult for the player to do the same. When I was exploring the Iron Keep in Dark Souls 2, I encountered an enemy that best demonstrates the problem. The Ironclad Soldiers held therein are particularly vicious foes with powerful attacks and decent armor. One of the advantages they have over the player is that when they wind up to unleash their overhead smash, they can hold their club in position over their head until the player is in range. Then, the portion of the move the inflicts damage will kick in quickly. They are also able to turn and face a strafing player while actively swinging the club horizontally. No opponent from previous Souls games have these same advantages to these degrees, and there is a very good reason for that. When the enemies are bound to the same rules as the player is, there is a sense of fairness born from that. The presence of that fairness means that most failures and deaths in combat can be directly attributed to the player. Taking it away leaves a sense that game is cheating in order to win, like a cruel, obstinate dungeon master in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

Again, I do not want to give off the impression that Dark Souls 2 is a bad game. Rather, it is a poor continuation of an excellent franchise. Though I believe that the director of Dark Souls 2 was a fan of the franchise, the changes made from one project to the next belie a lack of understanding as to what made the first Dark Souls, and Demon's Souls, such gems. The guidance of Hidetaka Miyazaki, who directed the earlier Souls games, was not needed to gain this insight. Taking a moment to see what worked with those two games, what needed improvement, and the trade-offs of each change would have been a boon to the production. Such analysis would have prevented many of the mistakes made in Dark Souls 2.

Interactive Friction: Watch_Dogs: Episode 8: "Like a Cookie?"

This is the last of the footage we have for now. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some more recordings soon, but both Sam and myself have been busy as of late.



Aiden Pearce does it again. The day just isn't finished unless he's beaten the shit out of somebody.

I just cannot understand what he was trying to do at the poker game. He knows that the guy we are looking for is highly paranoid and prone to reckless and brash actions when provoked. Therefore, he feels that the rational thing to do is not try to butter him in a poker game, but instead to openly and thoughtlessly antagonize him by bringing up the very reason he's paranoid!

It's like Aiden Pearce did what he did precisely so that he would have the chance to take out his police baton and knock some old-looking man senseless.

Aiden Pearce, beating up the elderly. (Or at least people who look elderly.)

Keep in mind, this guy is supposed to be our hero.

I hate this game.

The Texture Pop: Episode 49: Waifu Warriors

0:00:00 Gaming News
Satoru Iwata Passes Away
Though Nintendo games don't appeal to me in quite the same way that they do so many others, it is undeniable that Iwata was one of the best executives in the industry. He knew why people love Nintendo and their games so much, and he did his best to facilitate that. Given how many bad executives we see, the loss of such a good one is truly tragic.

Konami and Kojima are still at odds.
At this point, this story is just sad. Konami really doesn't seem to give a shit anymore.



0:13:50 Chris falls down the Skylanders rabbit hole.
Do you like little plastic shapes? Chris does. In this segment, we discuss the merits so little plastic shapes and why some of them are better or worse than others.



0:42:45 We discuss the Suicide Squad and Dawn of Justice trailers from Comic-Con
I'm still abstaining from commentary regarding their take on Joker in the Suicide Squad. It could work, but my gut is saying that it won't.
We also discuss how dark, gritty, and ultra-realistic DC's movies have been and why that's not a good choice for them.



0:55:25 Garrett discusses Star Fox: The Animated Series
Like I said in the episode, this guy's work is great. However, the fact that he's going to Patreon to fund his work is dangerous, especially given Nintendo's history. I don't want Nintendo to sue him for the proceeds, but I expect them to if they find out.



1:03:40 Garrett details the rest of his week.
If you were wondering what happened to Alvin and the Chipmunks after their terrible movies, Garrett will tell you in this segment.



1:10:20 I played Her Story
Regardless on how you feel about the whole "What is a game?" debate, Her Story demonstrates an interesting way to tell a tale in an interactive format.
This is one of those stories that is made powerful because of its interactive nature. Otherwise, it lacks the impact.



1:18:15 I played Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-
This game really demonstrates to me, the love/hate relationship the so many fighting game fans have with their genre. Guilty Gear is brilliant, and very well polished. However, I can't help but feel that the DLC price points are far too high.



1:26:20 I played Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin
Given how awesome the Estus Flask system was, and how every single decision in Dark Souls played upon the others, it feels weird to see them make these additions and changes that just don't work as well.
It's not a bad game, but it forces you to compare it to its predecessor, and it loses than comparison.



1:49:30 Sam goes to college
As someone who just graduated, it's fairly amusing to see one of my friends go back. Best of luck to Sam, and I hope he learns useful skills there.



1:53:40 Sam played Samurai Warriors 4
I have, perhaps unfairly, given the Warriors games a wide berth for a long time. In this segment, Sam and Chris explain why they deserve some love.



2:05:55 Sam found a program named Taiga
If I ever get into anime, I will probably use this. It sounds like a fantastic program for people who consume a lot of anime.



2:08:55 Wrapping Up
Don't forget, you can always send us questions, comments, and silly stuff at our e-mail at thetexturepop@gmail.com.

I wrote an article on the story of Batman: Arkham Knight. It's spoiler-heavy, but nothing a podast listener will be surprised by.

Lastly, Interactive Friction returns. We continue our painful journey through Watch_Dogs at long last.