Videogames on Rinsland's Corner

NieR: Automata

Thu, 04 May 2023 10:53:02 -0500

So I finally got around to playing NieR: Automata. And then I beat it. And then I fully completed it.

NieR: Automata was published by Square Enix back in 2017, and developed by Platinum Games led by eccentric director and creative genius Yoko Taro. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has fled to the moon after an invasion by alien machines. The story revolves around combat androids, 2B and 9S, as they fight to reclaim Earth from the machines and uncover the truth behind the conflict.

A Quick Thought on Hi-Fi Rush

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 12:28:08 -0600

Playing Hi-Fi Rush has made me realize just how absurdly good and criminally underrated the Ratchet & Clank level design over the years were. For pretty much every gen, though some argument could be made that Rift Apart leaned too heavily into the open world sandbox at times.

That’s not to say Hi-Fi Rush is bad, it’s just that they could have taken a lot of pointers from R&C’s level designs through the years to create a world that feels busy and expansive, while still being mostly linear guided levels that more often than not felt like they weren’t. Hi-Fi Rush is extremely guided, and I don’t even know why they have the constant literal glowing arrows pointing where to go that are everywhere, you can’t exactly backtrack through the level most (all?) of the time. It feels claustrophobic, but the rest of the design says they want the level to appear expansive and lived in.

What WoW’s Dragonflight Trailer Lacks

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 09:22:34 -0500

Every World of Warcraft trailer has always been extremely hyped, leaving you with a sense of wonder and excitement, and a knowledge of what the game or expansion is bringing to the table. The Vanilla trailer showed off the the main conflict (”The tenuous pact between the Horde and the Alliance has all but evaporated, the drums of war, thunder once again”), the inhabitants, and was an invitation to explore and experience this world and its conflicts. Burning Crusade’s cinematic showed off the two new races as well as Outland areas, but it had a major high point with all Illidan (”You are not prepared!”) that really set up thematically the entire series and got people hyped for it. Oh my god we’re going to go through this Dark Portal and fight this demon looking dude and it looks epic!

Control Ultimate Edition Review

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 11:42:32 -0500

I have no idea how this game slipped by me. I only just noticed it when it was on a Steam sale and picked it up on a whim (SCP feel, interesting combat system, and high production values? sounds like a good time to me).

I was absolutely blown away. It has everything I wanted from it. They manage to pull off that difficult always unsettling atmosphere, dropped in the straight up SCP style weirdness (seriously, it’s SCP in all but name), added in a massive dose of non-Cthulhu lovecraftian style horror and this thing made a straight up winner.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 08:49:33 -0500

I’ve been playing the Ratchet & Clank series since the first one came bundled in the PS2 my family bought in the early 2000s. It is one of those random constants in my life, because I’m not usually much of a fan of the genre, but I have played and completed every mainline R&C game that has come out, and have collected physical copies of most of them, and do thoroughly enjoy them all. Even the 2016 game-based-on-movie-based-on-game remake/reboot. There’s a certain charm to them, and while the biting humor of the original PS2 series has gone away, it still has a whimsical fun to it the series where you’re a small furry creature ripping the galaxy a new one with a massive variety of absurd (and absurdly fun) weaponry.

FFXIV Milestone

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 10:18:23 -0600

I got all my crafting jobs to 80. It was a long and arduous process that I really enjoyed. I’ve not met a crafting system quite like this one.

Final Fantasy XIV

Fri, 08 May 2020 22:59:14 -0500

That’s it. That’s the literal last minute of FFXIV: Shadowbringers. That clip may be my all time favorite moment in an MMO, and I regard it as one of the greatest endings to a story in an MMO, and possibly any RPG, of all time. Because when you get to it, you’ve probably played hundreds of hours, you’ve experienced a wild, wild ride of a story, and the player character’s interaction with the child is the perfect reminder of where your character has been, who your character is, and what you’re capable of in less than a minute as the credits roll, giving time for reflection as you watch names scroll across the screen. It’s perfect.

Europa Universalis IV

Thu, 09 May 2019 11:18:48 -0600

I’m back in Europa Universalis IV. I can’t stay away from grand strategy forever, it always manages to suck me back in and cause sleepless nights. I am, however about $104 worth of DLC behind, because Paradox is crazy good about continually updating their games.

However, because it’s such a complex game, and there were a bunch of changes since I last played, my first game ended in catastrophe. The second went a little better, and then I hopped in to multiplayer with a very experienced friend as England, and was able to get fully into the swing of things again, crushing Scotland and the various Irish provinces, converting to Anglican (which was a new thing for me) and beginning colonial expansion. We spent a couple days on that game, and was able to appreciate some of the new nuances. For example, I really like the more autonomous nature of colonies now thanks to the addition of colonial nations, the new mission system, and government reforms.

Fortnite Battle Royale

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 15:35:52 -0600

I got sucked into Fortnite BR. I kept seeing how insanely popular it has become and had to check it out for myself. I’m not usually the kind of person who likes BR/Survival games in general, but the art style, and unique gameplay got me hooked. I will say however, I am terrible at building forts fast, and my method of gameplay can be considered ‘active conflict avoidance‘. Whenever I die, I am always left with the feeling that I could have done better, and the drive to be better next time. This is rare in a game genre that’s pretty much defined by getting killed from across the map with no chance to have done anything better other than just not be there at that specific moment.