The 9th Generation Is Here: Quick Impressions

The Xbox Series S|X and the PlayStation 5 were finally launched last week, and it's been an interesting experience to say the least. From the extraneous anticipation of learning when the things would even be released and what their prices would be to the preorder kerfuffle and retailers only selling launch day stock online due to COVID spikes all leading to outrageous eBay prices, this has not been an easy launch for any of us. Loads of people are still looking for either system, and I am extremely fortunate that I managed to get both a Series X and PS5. This also marks the first time I've ever had launch consoles shipped to me instead of going to the stores to pick them up. It felt so weird. So, I'd like to share some quick impressions of them with you. Also, please keep in mind these impressions are coming from someone who doesn't have a top of the line TV (it is 4K, though). Your experience may vary.

Xbox Series X 

If you'd like, here is my unboxing of the Xbox Series X.

So, I need to be completely honest here. I made no plans to buy a Series X because of the lack of exclusives. However, seeing how horrible it was for everyone to even get a PS5 into their shopping carts the day of September 16th, I decided to see if I could get a Series X just to hedge my bets in case my preorder for the PS5 fell through. After spending several days with it, I'm certain I'd have been fine without it. 

Now, that's not saying there's anything wrong with the Series X. It's clearly a powerhouse of a machine. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion both look great, and though Dirt 5 looks good, I don't think Codemasters did a thorough job optimizing it. But the major problem that exists for me with the Series X is the Smart Delivery. 

Smart Delivery gives the consumer the ability to upgrade an Xbox One game to the Series X version at no additional cost, but it comes with a catch. MS for now is only including the Xbox One versions of games to be shipped, which means you have to download the upgrade patch. I don't have very fast internet, so a massive upgrade for Dirt 5 that weighed in at 73 gigs took me all day to download. No exaggeration. This will dissuade me from buying Xbox Series X versions of cross-platform games, regardless if it runs them better. 

Another thing that's disappointed me about the Xbox Series X is the highly touted Quick Resume feature. In theory, it allows you to bounce between a handful of games without losing progress, but I've yet to get this to work. Supposedly, Dirt 5 and Watch Dogs: Legions flat out don't support it at this time, but it's supposed to work for AC:Valhalla and after testing it several times, it just doesn't work. 

As for the hardware itself, MS chose to go as simple as they could with the design. It's just a big fat rectangle in my gaming center, very unobtrusive. Many like this design, but I don't find much there to really like. I don't dislike it; I'm just very indifferent about it. I'm also a bit indifferent about the controller as well, as it's nearly identical to the Xbox One controller. The only major differences are a textured feel to the back and triggers, and a smoothed out d-pad. Unfortunately, not even a full two days of playing, my right trigger already began sticking on me. Instead of having to go through the waiting period of having it replaced, I decided to look up a YouTube video and the fix seemed very simple, so I attempted to fix it myself. There's a pad that prevents the trigger from coming into full contact with the rest of the housing, but that pad was glued sloppily and the trigger was picking up glue from every press until it started to stick. I started cleaning it up with alcohol-soaked q-tips and suddenly, the pad itself dislodged, so I removed it completely. When I put it back together, the trigger now makes a clack every time I press it, which is annoying, but at least it doesn't stick anymore. 

I am really impressed with how quiet the Xbox Series X is. I don't think I've yet to hear the fan spinning. If it does make noise, I can't hear it over the disc drive spinning. It does put out immense heat, though, and really warms up the wood of the shelf it's sitting on. That's a good thing, though. You want that heat out of the system. 

My Xbox Series X Games

We'll start off with Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Ubisoft has doubled down on the RPG elements further distancing itself from what I really loved about the older Assassin's Creed games: straight forward stealth action. Ever since Odyssey, I always groan when I come across a higher level enemy that I'm not supposed to kill. Anyway, I am enjoying it, and the snow is just amazing. It should be, as it's everywhere. You can actually feel the cold. I surprisingly haven't come across any bugs yet. If I did, I didn't notice them. The combat has been reworked and is almost Souls-like as there's parrying and stamina now. I'm also very thankful for the removal of the millions of pieces of equipment you pick up in the game. The upgrade processes for gear and abilities have been revamped as well. I'm looking forward to playing some more. 

Dirt 5 I picked up because I was looking for a racer to show off my Series X with, and I guess I should have just stuck with Forza Horizon 4, because honestly Dirt 5 isn't very impressive. There is a lot of detail in the game, and it runs buttery smooth, but I'm not really convinced this is something that can't be done on current hardware. I also am a bit perplexed that the least impressive of the three games I got had the largest upgrade patch. The game itself is a lot of fun with some good variety of racing. Unfortunately, there's sprint car events that I'm just not good at all with, so I'm holding off on it for now. 

Oh Ubisoft... Watch Dogs: Legion has a major, MAJOR problem right now. Autosave doesn't work most of the time. I found this out the hard way when I played for about four hours and came back to it later and most of what I did was undone. This is most likely due to the fact that for some reason, the game needs to be connected to Ubisoft Connect to upload saves to the cloud in case you want to play the game on a different platform. The game doesn't even let you save manually, which is a serious mistake. As of this writing, there's a 24 page thread at Ubisoft's forum full of people affected by this. It sucks, because the game really is fun. I'm not that into the recruitment mechanic, though, because I find it pretty generic. At least two people I've come across have the exact same recruiting missions, and most everyone I've played with just don't seem believable from an acting standpoint. I also love the game's ray tracing, and I REALLY want to play more of it but I'm not going to until Ubisoft releases a much-needed patch. 

PlayStation 5

Here's my unboxing video if you'd like.

My PS5 didn't arrive until Saturday evening. Although I was starting to get frustrated, I kept reminding myself how lucky I was that I got one. As for the form factor, the PS5 really is something else. It's alien and elegant at the same time and while the Series X prefers to blend in with its nondescript silhouette, the PS5 stands out as an attention grabber. It wants to be noticed with the clear message that the PS5 isn't simply an upgraded machine like the Series X is to the Xbox One X.  At the risk of sounding biased, the PS5 is truly a next-gen machine. 

Yes, both machines are monsters capable of 8K, 120 FPS, and ray tracing, so disputing power (and the PS5 is just as quiet as the XSX) really all comes down to how well the developers work with the machine. We are seeing diminishing returns when it comes to graphical advancements, so it all boils down to the experience thanks to SSDs for greatly reduced loading times, UIs (the XSX doesn't seem that much different from the Xbone) and most importantly, the controller. The Dual Sense is where the PS5 really pulls ahead of the XSX. 

For the first three generations of the PlayStation, they've pretty much kept the same controller layout, but they started evolving it with the PlayStation 4, and they've continued to evolve it so much more with the PlayStation 5. The Dual Sense is literally a game changer. You really do need to feel this controller for yourself to understand just how amazing it is. There's haptic rumble all over the device, and it's so varied in its intensity to a degree I've never felt before. Then, there's the speaker which emits sound effects in conjunction to the vibrations that somehow make them feel even more real. Finally, there's the adaptive triggers which can increase tension to make you feel like you're actually pulling a trigger. My only concern is that I saw how this works, and I'm afraid the parts could be damaged over time by excited use of the controller. We'll just have to see how long they last. 

I only have a couple minor gripes with the user experience. One, I really wish the PS5 had a Quick Resume feature for multiple games like the XSX has, but considering it doesn't work for me on the XSX yet, I'm not giving MS a one-up over Sony for that. Two, Sony for some reason changed the way you sleep/turn off the system. You used to just be able to hold down the PS button and the power options would show up, but now you have to tap the PS button, scroll down to the scroll bar and move the cursor over to the power options that way. It's just a weird, nonsensical change that I hope Sony patches. 

My PS5 Games 

Sorry for the sloppy formatting. It's late and I'm not trying to mess with this anymore.

To start off, let me just give a huge nod to Sony for bringing back the return of the pack-in launch game with Astro's Playroom. It came preinstalled on the PS5 as a tech demo (which can be debated to be more of an actual game) to show off the Dual Sense controller and let me just say, I am in love with this game! It does a phenomenal job demonstrating the haptic feedback by changing frequencies and intensities as you walk over different surfaces. You can actually feel the difference between walking on sand and mud, and even jumping on clouds. It makes awesome use of the adaptive triggers as well, having you pull on a slot machine arm to get a prize. You need to keep pulling down on the trigger until it finally lets go and you pull it all the way. Controller stuff aside, the game's also a nostalgia overload for any PlayStation fan. You'll see different robots dressed up in all sorts of Sony costumes and you'll find collectibles based on PlayStation hardware over the years. I can't wait to play more of it.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a no-brainer. I absolutely loved 2018's Spider-Man. Miles Morales feels very similar to that game, but everything from the action to the locomotion has really been refined. I've been playing it in Fidelity mode so I can experience the ray tracing and it really looks nice. To be honest, though, I'm starting to think that ray tracing is really just a "let me stand and look around for a minute" feature. I honestly don't pay attention to reflections when I'm in the heat of the moment. I also love all of the new abilities Miles has and as like most people have said, it really feels like Miles is stronger than Peter. I haven't played much of the story yet. I went right after the challenges the moment they opened up. I need to try to savor this game, though, because I know it's only about 12 hours. But hey, I'm fine with that. For one, it's a 50 dollar game, 20 less than the now standard 70 dollar price tag. For two, I've heard it's more story-focused with less filler, which is always a good thing. I have enough open-world games to keep me busy on the XSX.

As for Demon's Souls, that was an impulse. I loved the original Demon's Souls on the PS3, but I got to be honest. I almost quit that game for good. It took a friend to really convince me to keep going, and I'm glad I did. Again, being honest, I wasn't really looking forward to going through all the hardships again on the PS5, which is why I wasn't going to buy it, but every time I saw a video of it, it just looks so good! And wow, it really is! As can be expected, though, I already got fed up with it, so I'm taking a break, but this stands out to be the PS5's most visually impressive game. Bluepoint is remarkable at remaking games having done a phenomenal job on Shadow of the Colossus, which I actually want to play again on the PS5 to see if there's any improvement. Just as with everything they do, Demon's Souls has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. There is so much attention to detail. Every stone, vine, pool of water, table you smash, lighting and particle effect, it's all very realistic and the game performs silky smooth. I'm really hoping for a Bloodbourne 2 on the PS5, because then we'd really get to see some amazing things. Now... I just need to build back up the gumption to return to it....

Sackboy: A Big Adventure was a game that caught my eye when it was shown at the PS5 reveal back in June. To be honest, I was never a fan of Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet games, but the thing about Sackboy was that it was a single-player focused 3D platformer, and I always love those. It looked really cute, too, so I decided to buy it. So far, I'm not having much fun with it. It's obviously taking inspiration from Yoshi's Crafted World, but it's been pretty bland. Granted, I'm only a couple levels in, so I'm sure it'll pick up, but it just hasn't been making a strong first impression. 

Bugsnax is an exception to the rule of only playing games that I own. I'm not a fan of paying for subscriptions just to keep access to "free" games that I download, but the curiosity of this game got the better of me. It's actually rather fun! When I first saw the Bugsnax trailer, the first game that came to mind was Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath where you use critters to capture other critters. It was also a first-person game. Although a completely different game than Stranger's Wrath, Bugsnax does have you using critters to catch other critters. Each bugsnack has its own behavior and you have to figure them out in order to capture them. Most are pretty straightforward so far, as I'm still early in, but I'm sure some will be really puzzling. I also like the game's whimsical charm and goofy bugsnax voices that emit from my controller. If you have PS+, give it a shot. 

So Which One Is For Me?

 If should be clear to you after reading this where my preference lies. Obviously, I'm enjoying the PS5 far more than the Series X, but that doesn't mean you will. If you can only afford - or only want - one system, how should you decide which one to get? As I said before, the difference in power really is minimal, even though MS swears by its "12 MEGAFLOPS WE ARE THE MOSTEST POWERFULLY CONSOLE EVERY MADEDED!!!!!!" Both systems run their games well regardless of specs. Both load really fast. Both are super quiet. So here's how you decide. 

Q: Do I care about exclusives?
A: If you answered yes, then it's the PS5 all the way. Sony already has the wonderfully fantastic Astro's Playroom and Demon's Souls remake to enjoy. Yes, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is also on the PS4, but every single game on the XSX is also on the Xbone. MS will eventually start pumping out their own exclusives, but in my opinion, Sony's own exclusives have always been of much higher quality. If you also never owned a PS4, then you have an absolutely amazing catalogue to catch up with including the recent Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. 

Q: Do I care about new experiences?
A: If you answered yes, again, PS5 all the way. The Series X is so plainly designed that it's almost an omen of what to experience with the machine overall. The PS5, as controversial as its design may be, lets you know that you're about to experience something entirely new. The UI, although not yet perfect, is actually a refreshing reinvention, while XSX's UI is just a touched up version of Xbone's. Sony may not have multiple game quick resume (again, XSX didn't work for me, so it's a moot point), but it also has a really cool feature with live game help. I used it on Sackboy to find a collectible and if used right, this feature will be a literal game changer. Speaking of game changers, again, it's all about that controller. The XSX's controller is too similar to the previous generation's with no new features. The Dual Sense isn't just a completely redesigned controller aesthetically, but also functionally. You really need to experience the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. It's that big of a deal. 

Q: Do I care about value?
A: Before I get into this, I just realized I didn't talk about the Series S. With that said, I need to strongly advise not to get a Series S, even though it's 200 dollars cheaper. Unlike the PS5's cheaper digital-only version, the Series S is actually considerably weaker than its 500 dollar big brother. You'll still get up to 120 FPS and ray tracing, but you won't get 4K output. If you can afford it, I strongly recommend you future proof your console and go with the Series X.

As for the Series X, this is where I give MS the nod. I'm not a subscription person, because I don't play that many games at once to warrant paying for a service that gives you access to so many games. I also like to own the games that I play, but if you're not like me, that won't matter and Xbox Game Pass is a fantastic deal. MS also has been getting in the habit of putting some titles on Game Pass the moment they release and if you can't afford new games, then this is the perfect way to play them. The Series S|X's backwards compatibility is also far better than the PS5, which can only play PS4 games, but MS still has a lot of work left to do when it comes to the OG Xbox catalogue. Also, Smart Delivery is a great convenience, but whether or not you get the upgrade for free really comes down to the publisher, so keep that in mind.

So it really boils down to those three questions. Do you want a first-party or third-party machine? Do you care about controllers and UIs? Do you enjoy subscription services and BC games? This next-generation has been a very weird one. To me, the graphics have taken a backseat to everything else the consoles are doing. I still think the PS5 is going to have the better generation, because MS is always struggling in the first-party department, but that could change. They did pay seven billion dollars for Bethesda, though. I just hope it pays off, but hey, if Elder Scrolls 6 is an Xbox exclusive, I'll be playing my Series X for a long time. 

I hope you got lucky and got the system you wanted. If not, I hope you get one really soon. As always, thanks for reading!

 

Let's Talk About Scalping

 

NO! Not THAT kind of scalping! Jesus Christ... I'm talking about console scalping. You know, buying up available product before customers who actually want it for themselves can get to it, and then marking up the price astronomically. 

That kind of scalping.

The PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series S|X launched today. To the chagrin of everyone still trying to find one, many stores' extra stock was bought just as swiftly as preorder day and found immediately on places such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace. I took a quick glance on eBay and at the time of this writing, we have Xbox Series Xs going on average for 1,100 dollars, the S for 500 dollars (only a 200 dollar mark up really demonstrates the demand for this thing...) and the PlayStation 5 for 1500 for either version. These prices have actually gone up from when I first checked them on their respective preorders. Now that the systems are actually out and in-hand, I'm sure that's what's driving up the prices. 

Now, let's go over some discussion points:

Hey, don't blame me. If they weren't stupid enough to buy them for that much, I wouldn't do it. 

True. Supply and demand. If people are willing to buy for a certain price, then that's what the market should dictate. 

... that this is nothing but victim blaming You are victimizing desperate people who really want these machines for themselves, their loved ones as Christmas gifts, and even tech reviewers and streamers/YouTubers who NEED - not want - these do their jobs. Yes, people who buy into these absurd prices are part of the problem but when you scalp, you are CREATING the problem. Let me repeat: YOU. ARE. CREATING. THE. PROBLEM. Anyone who tries to victim blame the buyers need to seriously step back and do some soul searching, because that kind of rationalizing is seriously disturbing. I mean, do you really justify the drug dealers who created the opioid epidemic because it's nearly impossible for drug addicts to stop buying them? Come on... 

Well, it's not illegal. It's capitalism. They can do it, too!

True. What scalpers do with these consoles is perfectly legal. If it weren't, then they wouldn't be able to list them on eBay, Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, etc., etc. It's a free market: buy low, sell high. It's capitalism; it's how this country was built. 

Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's moral or ethical. One of my favorite sayings is just because it's your right doesn't mean it's right. Saying "well, there's nothing illegal about it" is such a problematic stance to have. Was it legal for Martin Shrkeli to jack up the price of Daraprim from 13.50 to 750? Yes. Should he have done it? Absolutely fucking not, and look what happened to him when he did. He price gouged so hard and garnered so much negative attention, he was investigated and convicted for securities fraud. If I want to  use extreme examples, slavery was legal. Killing Jews in Nazi Germany was legal. Not going to continue down that path, but I'm illustrating a point here that just because something's legal doesn't make it OK, and if enough people are bothered by it, they will actually make it illegal. The law is fickle, but unfortunately, I don't see the law stepping in anytime soon regarding scalping. 

And yes, other people can do it, too. But why doesn't everyone? Because again, it's a matter of morals and ethics, and the people who don't are the people who have them. A strong moral and ethical fiber is tantamount to a well-performing society. Economic, socionomic, and governmental problems all arise from our leaders' questionable moral and ethical stances. We should all want a stronger society, and that begins with stronger citizens, and we need to always work on our moral and ethical alignments. We have got to start shedding our apathy and indifference and stop rationalizing our actions just because it's "legal" or we really are no better than Martin Shkreli. 

They can just wait. No one needs consoles on launch day.

True. They can wait. It's not like MS and Sony stopped making Xboxes and PlayStations. It can even be argued that waiting will ensure MS and Sony have worked out their bugs, of which several reports of defective systems are already making the rounds on the Internet. 

Let's just flat out address this one. Who are you to decide when someone should buy something? We're all excited for these new machines, and we should ALL have the equal opportunity to buy these machines. The problem is, we haven't. Scalpers have created artificial demand by buying up stock before people can get to it, and this time around, the problem has been exacerbated by bots to a degree that I've never seen before. People have made plans to spend time with their machines this holiday, and they shouldn't have to wait because some seedy individuals broke the system. Again, there are even people who need these systems to do their jobs, and there are families who don't want crying children at Christmas because Santa couldn't find a console. So I'm definitely sympathetic when it comes to why people get desperate and pay way too much for them on eBay. They're paying more for peace of mind at that point, so maybe try not to be so dismissive of people in those situations by telling them to just wait. 

Also, there's the fact that you'll be missing out on the discussion if you're really involved in the gaming community. Demand for theses systems will most likely last for several months, which means your chances of getting one any time soon is slim to none. That means you'll get to watch everyone else play these amazing systems with no opportunity to share your own thoughts and by the time you do finally get it, most everyone will have beaten those games and your opinion will have lost some relevancy. I get that FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is something we shouldn't be struggling with, but I know first-hand how powerful that feeling is and remember, this FOMO is not generated by normal demand. Scalpers have created artificial demand making it harder for everyone. 

So what you didn't get a next-gen console? All the games are available on current gen!

True. You're not missing out on any games by not getting the next-gen systems, so if you only care about the games themselves, you shouldn't be fretting.

You will be missing out on the enhancements. Gone are the days where leaps in graphical advances were easily apparent. Now, it's all in the finer details and the user experiences. It's about more consistent framerates and higher resolutions, user interfaces, features such as reduced loading times and quick resume for multiple games. Most importantly, it's about new controllers. Well, the PS5 specifically as there's nothing much new about the Series S|X controller. I know I could easily play Miles Morales on the PS4, but I want to play it on the PS5 and experience this highly touted ray tracing thing, and I want to feel what it's like to play it on the PS5 controller. I've read that you can actually feel the web shooters in the adaptive triggers, and that's just awesome. Hell, Astro's Playroom is all about showing off the new controller, and you can't get that at all on the PS4. So yes, for the most part, you can play all the next-gen games on current consoles, but it's the improved experience that you'll be missing out on. 

Well... you're just mad you didn't get one!

My Series X arrived Tuesday, and my PS5 will be here tomorrow. 

But let's just say that I didn't get one. I have YOU and your ilk to thank for that. How can negate someone's argument that you're making life harder for them by telling them "Oh, you're just mad," when it was YOU who created the problem in the first place? That takes a special kind of asshole to think like that. And even though I did get both, I'm still mad for the people who didn't. For one, I can empathize and also,  as much as I'm ashamed to admit it, I've been there. I paid about 200 dollars extra and about a 100 extra for the 360 and PS3 respectively. Honestly that seems a lot more reasonable than today's standards, but I didn't want to miss out. I legitimately tried to get them launch day. All sold out online, went to stand inline for them at multiple stores, nothing. I had one dude try to sell me his spot in line for 800 dollars.... 

I know scalpers don't like getting attacked by honest consumers, but hey... honest consumers don't like getting scalped. And yes, at the end of the day, video games are luxury items. The law won't step in, unless a good is deemed essential like hand sanitizer, soap and TP, but MY GOD! Have you not been paying attention to what's been happening in the world this year? Have you not seen how stupid it's been trying to find things such as TP? Doesn't walking into a store and seeing shelves stripped bare trigger something in you that makes you go, "This is fucked up. People are so greedy. We should do better." Again, those are essentials whereas video games are luxury items, but it's the principle that's the same here. People who buy up way more than they need and flip it for a higher price are greedy. Yeah, yeah, capitalism and all that... but stop justifying that by further creating problems for people. Be a better person.

As far as I'm concerned, if you're a scalper, you're no better than someone who flips hand sanitizer and TP. You're no better than a drug dealer selling oxycontin to a drug addict. You're no better than Martin Shkreli. You're no better than EA, Activision, and all those companies who prey on consumers who have weak will power by feeding them with exploitive microtransactions. You're not a capitalist; you're not an opportunist; you're not an entrepreneur. You're a predator, plain and simple. You're looking to make a quick buck doing way too much mental gymnastics so you can sleep at night. Please, people, try to do better and remember....

Darkness Rising: A Perfect Example of Cellphone Game Trappings

 

You've probably never heard of this mobile game Darkness Rises. In 2018, I broke my previous phone, the Sony Xperia Z3 which I had for four years, so I figured it was time for a new phone. I went with the Samsung Galaxy S9+. Very powerful phone, so I decided to try out some games to see how well it could run them. I saw an ad for Darkness Rises, so I gave it a try. 

It was a pretty fun game for what it was. It's an action-RPG where you spam the attack button and use abilities and wait for their cooldowns to expire to use them again. The story levels were bite-size, roughly 30 seconds to a minute, perfect for quick bursts. You could even play them on auto, set it for repeat and put your phone down and let it play itself while your character gathered experience, gold and gear. 

It was also one of those games where it had a gem currency that was used for pretty much everything. To its credit, the game was very generous handing them out and also had daily and weekly objectives to earn more along with main quests that rewarded with you with large lump sums. After a while, though, the game began to hit a wall. 

You have seven characters you can make, but are encouraged to make and play with as many as you can as they give stat bonuses. The more you play, the more bonuses. Each character has a power level which is determined by attack, defense, HP and other stats. The story and adventure levels have power level checks, and although you can work around higher requirements if you play yourself, evading and using skills at proper times, the auto AI is rather inept and struggles with the normal recommendation. 

After a while, it became too hard to clear these stages. In order to get my power level up, I believe past 1 million at the point I first quit in 2018, I had to use gear to enhance my current gear and farm essences to raise my base stats while also continuing to do daily and weekly objectives. Well, it got to be so much work that I found myself playing the game almost the entire time while I was at work (letting it run itself, not physically playing it 8 hours at work). I got tired of it and quit. 

This year, I made an insane reading challenge of trying to see how quickly I could read Elmore Leonard's 46 books, and about half way through, I began to doze off a lot and was slowing down. I decided I was going to play Darkness Rises again, because it would be a great way to keep myself awake, checking the phone while the game played itself, and it worked. I managed to read those 46 books in less than two month's time. 

A lot happened during those two years I stopped playing. For one, they raised the level cap from 60 to 100 and introduced several new worlds for their story and adventure mode. They also raised the rank of their top tier S gear to S++ and a week after I restarted, they raised the rank again to L, which stands for Lucky, not Legendary, which is what I would have went with.  Anyway...

They set up a new event of objectives to get players up to a power level of three million to get them through the first new world, but very quickly after that, the power level requirements spiked exponentially. I found out that by the time you finish the new worlds on their hardest level, your power level requirements are around 30 million. That level of growth is insane and nearly impossible to reach as a returning player who hasn't played for a couple of years. So, how do people close the gap from 3 million to 30 million?

Well, it's all about the Rank L gear. In order to get a piece of Rank L gear, you need to forge two identical Rank S++ pieces that have been grinded up to level 60. Seems reasonable,  but it's very hard to obtain Rank S++ gear without dumping a shitload of gems into their loot boxes. Even if you do, it's hard to get the EXACT piece of gear you need. Now here's where the game became ruined for me. 

Once you get two identical max level Rank S++ pieces, you can fuse them together at a 30% success rate. That is real low. It takes a lot of time to earn just one. For instance, they have an event every two weeks that if you earn enough points, you're rewarded with one Rank S++ weapon chest, but in order to get enough points, your phone needs to run probably six to eight hours a day. It also costs millions of gold to grind a new piece of S++ to max level, and then five million gold to attempt the fuse, and if you fail, you lose one of the gears you tried to fuse. Yep, destroyed. However, if you don't want to lose that piece of gear, you can always use a Guardstone, which can only be obtained by outright buying it in a bundle for 30 dollars. Or, you can use rate up stones to increase the success rate by one percent per stone, but you can only get them in bundles for 30 dollars, or in Hell, which is their post game content. Yes you can earn rate up stones to help you get your power level up to 30 million... which you're already up at 30 million by the time you access Hell... 

Now, get ready for the math. Bundles containing 20 rate stones, and I think 10 million in gold go for 30 dollars. In order to get a 100 percent chance of a successful fusion, you'll need 70 stones and each character has 10 gear slots, meaning you'll need to buy 700 rate up stones. You'll need to buy 35 bundles at 30 bucks, which is 1,050 dollars. Then, you'll need to do that again for six more characters, so if you want a 100 percent success rate for every Rank L fusion in the game for all your characters, you'll have spent 7,350 dollars!  That isn't even taking into account having to spend 10 dollars a week for a weekly pass that rewards with you with morph stones just in case you want to try to speed up the process changing the S++ gear you don't need into one you do. I don't even know how much extra that would cost (let's assume it took you a year, so 520 bucks).

7,350 dollars! That's insane, and that's just ONE aspect of the game's premium content. There are loads of costumes to buy as well, and you'll only really get great ones if you buy them in batches of ten with gems, but in order to fuse THOSE, you need to break down a shitload of costume pieces you spent gems to get in order to get fusion materials. I never even bothered to explore that part of the game. 

And if you're serious about PvP, only the best leagues have players with power levels upwards of 30 million, and you can be damned sure not a single one has reached that point in the game without spending a few hundred dollars AT LEAST. Either that or they never stopped playing from day one and got really lucky with their pulls. So, I quit again, seeing that naturally achievable goal a very LONG ways away. And remember, if I want to do this the natural way, I need to run my phone 24/7. I don't think I want to continue to run this game and burn my phone out... 

But even after quitting again, even while writing this blog, the game is beckoning me back. I know the game is bullshit, but it's the feedback loop that my brain is having a problem with breaking away from. I would get these little rushes of serotonin every time I saw my numbers go up, and I just wanted them to go up and up. It got so bad, I was even trying to rationalize spending the money for successful Rank L fusions. Granted, I wouldn't come close to spending 7,350 dollars even in a few months time, but thinking that I could spend that amount of money even over a year or two's worth time for a shitty ass cellphone game worried the fuck out of me. So, that game is staying off my phone from now on. 

It's that feedback loop Darkness Rises applies that we see so many other cellphone games - and even console games now - employ that predicates itself on addictive personalities. Remember, I have one of those personalities as I struggled to quit both FFXI and FFXIV. To my credit, not every cellphone game can grab me. I quit Mario Kart Tour after two weeks, largely in part to them resetting my progress with every new circuit they swapped out. Fire Emblem Heroes took me a while to quit, and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp didn't stick with me for more than a couple of months. In comparison to those last couple games, I quit Darkness Rises much quicker, but the pull to stay on was FAR stronger. I even reinstalled Darkness Rises a couple times before a finally quit.

I just can't justify that kind of fuckery anymore. Sure, it started out generous, but the asking price for those damn fusions is just beyond insulting. What's sad is that there are people who won't think twice and snap those bundles up whenever they need them. I don't get it... I don't understand how people spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on a cellphone game, but balk when a cellphone game dares to charge you a one time price of five or ten bucks... These aren't games; they're trappings, and it's why I will never take the cellphone game industry seriously. 

Been a While. Let's Talk About Stuff

I know I haven't done a blog in a while. In fact, the last blog I did was talk about The Last of Us II, and that was about three months ago. Sorry about that. I decided to get back into reading, and I've been hitting it pretty hardcore the past several weeks. I've done so much gaming during the COVID stay at home time that I've neglected my reading, so now I'm overcorrecting. What am I reading? Elmore Leonard. For some reason, I thought it'd be fun to read all his 40+ books before the PS5/Xbox Series X launch arrives, which we'll talk about later. I've got less than 10 books to go, so I'm almost done. Anyway....

Sorry, I was looking for an image for Super Mario 3D All*Stars and this for some reason popped up and I thought it was too funny not to share. :P

So, let's begin by talking about Super Mario 3D All*Stars (yes, they used a star instead of the dash, but everyone else is using a hyphen. I'm being different!).  First of all, let's discuss the banner. Do you see something missing on the far right? Like something should go there? I mean, what could it possibly be? Hmm.. I dunno, maybe Super Mario Galaxy 2? But before I go on, let me just preface this rant. I understand these three games are classics (Super Mario Sunshine is debatable) and we should be happy to have them on the Switch, but I've never been the one to just take whatever Nintendo manages to throw at me and say, "Thank you sir, may I have another!" I expect more from Nintendo. Always have. So yeah, I expected to see Super Mario Galaxy 2 in the collection when the first one was there. I mean.. you don't do a Super Mario All-Stars collection without Super Mario 3 when you already have the first two on there, right?

So yeah, it's a HUGE omission, but omissions aside, I'm also not really happy with what is there. I mean, you'll never take away just how good those games are (again Sunshine is debatable), but it's Mario's 35th Anniversary for crying out loud! We only got slightly enhanced visuals, which is fine because Super Mario Galaxy still holds up very well to this day considering what hardware was actually running it. But, we didn't even get an option to do widescreen for Super Mario 64 and the 4:3 aspect ratio of the game doesn't even touch the top and bottom of the screen! As far as Super Mario Sunshine is concerned, debug cubes were left in the game! I mean, how do you fuck that up? This illustrates just how lazy this port was. Nintendo is using previously emulated versions of these games, slapped them together on a cart and charged us 60 bucks for this. No manual, no art book, no physical soundtrack, no sleeve or even lithographic cover. This is not indicative of a 35th anniversary collection.

Let's also talk about the strange limited release of this game. I get physical games have limited runs all the time. One such site, Limited Run Games, even makes that their specialty. But this isn't a title that should have a limited run. This is a major title from a major publisher. Whatever the case, Super Mario 3D All*Stars is only available until March of next year, but to further exacerbate the situation, even the digital version is limited, also becoming unavailable after March.  Why?  At first, I wasn't even planning to buy the game, as I already own the original Mario 64 and DS version. Sunshine I never cared much for, and Galaxy still holds memories fairly well. But when I heard that preorders were already listing on eBay in upwards of 150 dollars, I got scared and jumped on it. For some reason, I didn't want to miss out on this game, and I realized this is what Nintendo wanted to do. They wanted to exploit their fans with FOMO, and it worked. Suddenly, we don't care that much anymore about the lack of effort put in the collection. Now, we are ever so thankful that Nintendo graced our Switches with this half-assed collection. I feel ashamed that I ordered a copy. But, I did. It's actually in my closet right now, unsealed, and will most likely remain that way where it likely accrue in value and not get unearthed again until the day I move. 

But you know what, let me just give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt and say that COVID impacted their plans for the game. Maybe they intended to put SMG2 on there, but couldn't set up the right virtual meetings in time to get it done. Maybe they intended to have more packaging to it, but manufacturing became an issue and they decided they didn't want to miss the anniversary and just went with it. If that is the case, it's understandable but at least give us SMG2 as DLC and patch out the debug cubes in SMS.

Now, let's talk about the PS5 and Xbox Series X. *takes a deep breath*

As rough as COVID has been on us this year, I thank my lucky stars that I was able to land preorders for BOTH systems. 

We all know what went wrong. Sony was supposed to announce that preorders would go live on the morning of Thursday, September 17th, but Wal-Mart had other plans. Shortly after the PlayStation showcase the previous Wednesday, Wal-Mart decided to go ahead with the preorders and they were instantly snatched up. Other retailers eventually followed suit, and a backdoor link to Amazon's preorder page was leaked on Twitter, so PS5s were already sold out on Amazon before preorders even went live. 

That Wednesday afternoon before I even knew they were up everywhere, I decided to check BestBuy.com and HOLY SHIT, they were up! I immediately tried to order one, but as with millions of other people, I was met with refreshing errors and out of stock notices. Minutes after, I got the email from Best Buy that preorders were live, but it was already too late. At least to their credit, Best Buy was the only retailer I subscribed to for notifications that sent me one. So while I was fighting with Best Buy, I was checking all the other places. Target? Sold out. Wal-Mart, didn't even have the listings up (which later was because they were already sold out so they didn't bother to have the pages up anymore). Amazon wasn't live yet, and GameStop was hit so hard, they were giving everyone a "You've been blocked" splash page. 

I was having the best luck with Best Buy so far, as it was the only site that I was actually able to get a PS5 in my cart, so I stuck with them. They'd kick the PS5 back out of my cart. I'd refresh, they'd have the preorder button still up, so I put it back in, try to check out, get stuck at the Place Your Order stage, lose the item from my cart again and then keep this dance going until one in the morning. I even took my phone with me during my hour long walk doing nothing but hitting that "Place Order" button. Anyway, I was laying in bed with my phone out, still hitting that damn button, and it turned 1 AM. I gave myself five more taps and if I didn't get, it'd just chalk up the loss. On the very last tap before I decided I was finally going to sleep, it went through! Could not believe my luck! In fact, I was so energized by this that I had trouble sleeping for the rest of the night. 

As for games I preordered for the PlayStation 5, I of course had to get Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I went with the basic 50 dollar version, though, because I thought it was a bit scummy of Sony to charge an extra 20 for a remaster of 2018's Spider-Man. Then, I had to get Sackboy: A Big Adventure because I've always wanted a single-player focused 3D platformer from the Little Big Planet universe. It looks great, and I can't wait to play it! Then, I spent a few days going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to get Demon's Souls. I loved Demon's Souls on the PS3, but god dammit that game was hard! I really wasn't looking forward to playing the game again because of numerous areas I'd dread revisiting, but after watching some videos of the remake, it just looks too good to pass up. Plus, there were some really cool environments in the original that I would love to see again with the power of the PS5. And well, it's being done by Bluepoint who did an amazing job with Shadow of the Colossus, so you know it's going to be quality.

But back to Sony being scummy, do you remember when Sony said they would give us plenty of notice when preorders went live? You can technically say it wasn't Sony's fault but Wal-Mart's for selling early, BUT, Sony could have announced the September 17th date a week beforehand like MS did with theirs, so yeah... Sony still carries a bulk of the blame. What's also scummy about Sony is when they said they were moving way from the PS4 and were going to focus on PS5, so Miles Morales and Horizon: The Forbidden West would be PS5 exclusives. I was actually commending them for that decision, because exclusives help move consoles and give a reason for a new console existing, but then they backpedaled and announced that they'd be cross-generation and release for the PS4 as well. It's almost like they KNEW PS5s were going to be so hard to find, they didn't want to take a serious hit to their wallet with Miles only selling two million copies because there are only three million PS5s out in the wild. 

As for the Xbox Series X, everyone had hopes that preorders would go a bit more smoothly as MS announced a preorder date of September 22nd, 9 AM MDT, and retailers looked to be holding to that date. Only one problem for me, though. They went live the moment I had to clock in at work, but I had a plan. Due to COVID, we don't have that many people in our building, so I wasn't worried about dicking around on the computer. I'd clock in a bit early, open up my browsers to all the major retailers, and start refreshing a couple minutes before 9. Just as I got the last browser open, there was a ring at the door and I completely forgot that one of our higher ups was vising us that day. SHIT! 

So, I hop off the computer swearing under my breath, let her in, "HI! So nice to see you again! How've you been?" All that good stuff. She actually walked past my computer to go straight out to the floor and look around. Thank God, I had some time. Alright, here we go! Get an email from GameStop, "Xbox Series X preorders are now live!" Ok, they're a bit early, but ok. Click on the GS tab, they got a "You're in line. Please don't refresh" splash page up. Ok cool, they're doing something to manage the traffic. Check Best Buy and Amazon, not live yet. Target's up, so I try to preorder, I get stuck trying to confirm my address. I go to Wal-Mart, get one in my cart, try to check out, and they say they're out of stock! At 9:02, they're out of stock! So I'm thinking this isn't right, and just keep trying. I can get it in the cart, check out, told out of stock, but I can get it in the cart again. 

While I'm in the middle of doing this, my higher up comes back in the workroom and is now asking questions about how our workflow's been going due to COVID. She's also asking if there's anything she can help with, and here I am stuck at Wal-Mart with my credit card out on the desk trying to check this fucking thing out. She's now noticed what I'm doing, but hasn't said anything and well, I decided to just explain and she's cool about it. Really awesome lady. And then after being told out of stock five times, it FINALLY goes through, and then she congratulates me! I love my job! I really, really do!

That was a huge relief, a massive weight off my chest. Then I got to hear the sad stories of people who went through the same loops of not being able to get their orders through, very similar to what happened to the PS5. Refresh loops, out of stock notices, people patiently waiting in line at GameStop, not refreshing because the splash page told them not to, only for the site to crash saying "Oops, something went wrong! Refresh page." Best Buy apparently didn't even go live until an hour later, and I don't even know when Amazon put theirs up. Just a nightmare. Seems nothing was learned from the PS5 disaster. I did have a friend who got extremely lucky because after I posted that I got one, he said he was trying for a couple hours and got nothing, but I replied to him that they're going up in waves and to just keep trying and then like magic, he tried again and instantly got one. 

As for games, I got Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, which I actually had preordered months ago on sale for 50, but because of Xbox Series X's Smart Delivery, I'll get the next gen upgrade at no additional cost. I'm really warming up to what MS is doing this generation and only hope that Sony follows suit quickly. I don't think the 70 dollar price tag will last long. I also preordered Dirt 5 and Watch Dogs: Legion and I had 36 dollars in Rewards points, so I got the last two games for 82 bucks. Not bad. 

But man... We've got to find a better way to handle these preorders. For starters, a major issue was MS and Sony not making enough to meet demand. To be honest, that's an almost impossible order to fill, because how do you supply several million consoles to everyone who wants one on day one? Even though Sony and MS reportedly are making more consoles than previous gen, it still wasn't enough. A solution to that would be to postpone the launch in order to manufacture more units as COVID has impacted plants' efficiency. I know both MS and Sony don't want to miss that holiday money, but Nintendo has proven with the Switch that you don't need to launch during the holidays to be successful. I mean, come on. Who's not going to buy the new Xbox or PlayStation when they drop, regardless of what time of year?

One major problem to solve is what to do about the bots and scalpers. Considering just how far internet technology has advanced the past two decades, you'd think someone would have a program to install to their sites that could detect these bots. Maybe it's as simple as seeing someone refreshing 10 times a second, and then block their access for five minutes. As for scalpers, I don't think anything can be done to stop a person from buying consoles from multiple stores with multiple cards using family and friends in order to use multiple phone numbers and addresses. 

That's going to be the hardest thing to address. You're going to need to fight basic human and corporate greed. eBay knows it's a shitty thing to do to take a highly anticipated machine out of the hands of people who want them and then sell it back to them for more than twice the price, but eBay wants a cut of that flip. Auctioning predicates itself upon people's desperation of needing things far more than they want them and until you make laws to fight back against capitalism, this will always be a thing. I mean, when assholes started flipping hand sanitizer, Clorox Wipes and fucking toilet paper, eBay and Amazon started shutting that shit down because they're necessities; people NEED them. People don't need video games. They'll always be looked at as luxury items. 

Oh, and then we have the physical GameStop stores to contend with. Some stores got a handful of systems and some even got as few as TWO units to sell. Can you imagine standing in a line of a hundred people at GameStop only for the clerk to come out and announce they only have TWO to sell? If that isn't infuriating enough... Get a load of this. 

Imagine going to your local GameStop early enough that you were line to actually get a PS5 or Xbox Series X (You know what I just realized? I never even mentioned Xbox Series S... and I'm not going to because why?) but you missed out because the store leader bought five of them and is currently selling them on eBay. I mean, seriously. FUCK GameStop. (Although I would have bought one from their site if only it worked).

And then in breaking news:

Rapper Travis Scott appears to already have a PS5. Well, isn't that just nice. To be perfectly honest, I'm not mad. I'm just, again, thankful that I managed to land a preorder. As Rich says in the video, celebrities getting free things is nothing new. I remember before the 360 launched, one reason why that machine was so scarce was because MS kept putting them in celebrities' goodie bags. But even though this is old hat, it still is frustrating. The richer you are, the more free stuff you're given? I get why. Companies want free advertising. But does Sony and MS really NEED free advertising, though? Isn't there already enough hype in regards to these systems? They don't need to give anyone free consoles to promote. They need to give more consoles to people who actually have the money to buy them. To hammer the point home:

They don't need to give anyone free consoles to promote. They need to give more consoles to people who actually have the money to buy them. 

Oh yeah, Microsoft bought Bethesda! But, this blog has already gone on long enough. Thank for you reading if you got this far. I will say, though, I'm very much looking forward to seeing what MS does with them. I'm really hoping Elder Scrolls 6 will be Xbox console exclusive. I know there's a crowd that wants to do away with exclusives altogether, but I've always believed in console identity, but that's a topic for a different blog. Again, thanks for reading, and I'll try not to wait so long until the next blog. I for sure will have blogs up for the PS5 and Xbox Series X when they release, possibly even unboxing videos if I get them in time, so watch for them.

The Last of Us II: Why I Sided With Abby

I just beat The Last of Us II last night, and I'm still trying to process the game. I'm sure I'll continue to process the game well after this blog, and maybe I'll never fully process it. But I just want to write out some thoughts while they're still in my head in regards to this game. This blog will be spoiler heavy, so if you haven't finished the game and don't want anything spoiled, then please don't read any further.

SPOILERS BELOW!

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Ok, here we go. Probably the most controversial thing about The Last of Us II is the game's new character, Abby. The game is split down the middle between her and the previous game's Ellie. The game is trying to tell a dichotomic story between Abby and Ellie, and this has become such a topic of contention among fans. I've been reading comments and articles and watching videos and I've honestly never seen such a debate over a video game like this. The game clearly wants you to pick a side, and it's so split down the middle for me, but I'm leaning towards Abby. And here's why.

If you read the spoilers or played the game, you know Abby kills Joel in the opening hours and not just a swift death, but a long, agonizing and brutal death. This is meant to anger you. This is intentionally set up to make you immediately hate Abby for it, so much so that your rationality for understanding her motives is completely lost. You no longer care about the fact that Abby is only avenging the death of her father. Yes, the doctor Joel killed at the end of the first game in order to steal Ellie away was Abby's father. Fuck her revenge, right? She just killed my favorite character! Now I have to avenge Joel!

Yes, but let me say something that will most likely piss you off. Joel didn't deserve being avenged. Trust me, I've had a hard time coming to grips with that conclusion myself. I remember back when I was beating The Last of Us, and I went back to the room and killed the doctor and escaped with Ellie. I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THAT! I didn't like what I was doing. I was undoing the entire REASON of trekking across the country with Ellie in tow, because we were supposed to save humanity! But Joel condemned the world that day. Yeah, he didn't want to lose Ellie, so he made that hard decision, but it was ultimately the wrong one at the end of the day.

Near the end of The Last of Us II, there's a flashback of Joel and Ellie and Joel doubles down and says if he had the chance to do it all over again, he would. So, Joel would rather give up millions of lives for one little girl. All the constant wars between factions, the WLF, FEDRA, the Scars, the Jackals that pop up at the end of the game, the continued spread of the infection, it ALL is a result of Joel's selfish decision. It doesn't matter how much you love Ellie. She was birthed into existence for one very special reason: she was the cure. The only one of her kind.

During the first game, you had hope that you were going to save the world, but not only did Joel strip you of that hope, but he also flat out lied to Ellie saying there was no cure. He made Ellie find that out on her own and when she did and confronted him about it, he double downed and said he'd do it all over again. Despicable. So, no. as much as you loved Joel, he didn't deserve being avenged. Not only did he condemn the world to more war and death, but he killed countless people along the way and killed Abby's father in the process. For what? Because he was SELFISH.

Now, let's talk about Abby. When Abby's character was first revealed, her appearance pretty much solidified she wouldn't be universally accepted by gamers, and would make it that much harder for people to give her a fair shake in the game. With a muscular build, flat chest and boyish face, many people believed her to be the transgender character, but that role fell to Lev. If you haven't played the game, I can assure you, Abby is 100 percent cis female. She has her own flashback sequences, one of which is when she's a teenager, actually filling out a bit. She has feelings for a guy named Owen, and they go on little getaways. There's even a sex scene, albeit awkward as all hell, between her and Owen and yes, you do see her breasts. So, if your dislike towards Abby is because she's transgender, you are severely misinformed and actually pretty bigoted. I do wish they would have spent a little bit of time exploring Abby's decision to dedicate herself to her physical training, but it's easy to understand why she'd want to get as strong as she could because of the things she had to do.

I will admit that her story may not have been fleshed out as well as Ellie's, but believe it or not, Abby has a lot more going on than Ellie's story. Ellie's role exists solely for the purpose of revenge. Abby got that part of her story out on the onset. So from this point out, Abby sets about her role as a soldier for the Washington Liberation Front, WLF for short and Wolves for shorter. Their priority is to fend off a group of cultists known as the Scars, so Abby is CONSTANTLY struggling with war. Very soon, one of their soldiers Owen goes AWOL and Abby goes after him to bring him in. When they meet up, they have a weird fight that ends in weird sex. She finds out Owen wants to leave to Santa Barbara with Mel, a woman pregnant with his child, who also despises Abby. Abby ends up going solo and gets captured by Scars and is then saved by two children who excommunicated themselves from the cult. Long story short, Abby ends up abandoning her affiliation with the Wolves and protects the two Scars children Lev and Yarra. She risked her life to go back and save the children when they were in trouble, risks her life AGAIN when Yarra's dying from a broken arm, and AGAIN when Lev goes off to chase after his mom.

I'm bringing this up because I'm seeing the argument too much that tries to paint Abby as this completely evil person. That she shows no remorse, regret, humility, humanity, whatever. It's just not the case. Unless you're really adamant on ignoring everything going on with Abby, she is feeling pain. She is capable of love. Abby is kind enough to play with dogs. Abby tries to maintain friendships. She is cold, yes, but so has been Ellie. In fact, Ellie kills one of her captors in cold blood, after incapacitating him with his own weapon and getting the info from him that she wanted.

Now, when Abby and Ellie crossed the first time when Abby killed Joel, it was ABBY who showed mercy and didn't kill Ellie, even though she had every right considering Ellie was a witness. She went against her teammates who said she ought to be killed. It was ELLIE who decided to go after Abby to kill her, and I thought it was really interesting that the confrontation was pitting you as Abby against Ellie, turning her into a boss character. I didn't see that part coming, but at the end of that scene, it was ABBY again who showed mercy. Yes, it was at the behest of Lev, who didn't want to see Abby kill anymore, but it was BECAUSE Abby had humanity that ALLOWED her to listen to Lev and let Ellie ago, AGAIN. Yes, there was the scene where Abby was going to slit Dina's throat, who was pregnant, but this was AFTER Ellie killed pregnant Mel. Abby is righteously angry at this point, and even with all this anger, SHE STILL LET ELLIE GO!

When the game slowed down after that confrontation, Ellie was given the perfect ending. She survived, with Dina, and Dina had her baby. They lived in a house on a farm and were going to have a beautiful family. This is where the game should have stopped in my honest opinion, but instead, Tommy who miraculously survived being shot in the head, shows up and tells Ellie he has a lead on Abby. Because he's maimed, he physically can't go after Abby so he wants Ellie to do it. Ellie, rightfully so, tells him no. He gets angry and walks out, but the seed has already been planted. Dina does not want Ellie to pursue Abby, because they BOTH agreed they were done, but Ellie just couldn't let it go. She keeps having images of Joel, the man who condemned the world to an incurable disease and further war while also denying Ellie's purpose of existing, and she STILL needs to avenge him. She was shown mercy TWICE and now has a quiet life with Dina and a baby, and yet STILL has to see this through.

She sneaks off in the middle of the night, lands on a Santa Barbara shore and after one last massive encounter, finds Abby strung up on a pillar. Instead of fulfilling her role for abandoning her life with Dina, Ellie shows mercy this time and cuts her down. She lets Abby cut down Lev, who is also still alive and heads off to a pair of boats with them. I don't know what to think at this point. You took me all the way to California and had me kill a bunch more people, one even in cold blood, and you decide at THIS very point that Ellie's going to have a change of heart? Then not only that, you decide that Ellie's going to change her mind again and try to fight Abby this time, who REPEATEDLY says no? Yes, this psychopath you hate so much, this woman who is SO EVIL, is now the one refusing to fight Ellie, when BOTH previous encounters, Abby was the one who showed mercy. NOW, you're going to have Ellie FORCE Abby to fight her by threatening to slit the throat of Lev who is too weak to defend herself? So you drag me through this shit and force me to fight someone I don't want to fight anymore, and then just as I'm about to drown Abby, the very last second, you flash Joel's smashed face in front of me again, and THAT.. that final moment, more than a year a later in the game, is what makes Ellie finally let Abby out of the water and let her go... A moment that was flashed repeatedly in the game to only further Ellie's rage and quest for revenge... was used to end the circle of violence...

Yes, the circle of violence. I've heard this argument, too. I'm supposed to care that Ellie ended the circle of violence by letting Abby go when in all actuality, it was JOEL who started the circle of violence in the first place by killing Abby's father and condemning the world. Ellie was SUPPOSED to end the circle because SHE was the one who kept it going! I'm not giving her praise for that. Joel was responsible for MILLIONS of deaths in the future. Abby was responsible for ONE. Joel was not worth avenging! You can get as emotional about that as you want, but that does not change the fact that the WEIGHT of what he did was not worth Ellie's life.

You can feel bad about Ellie's loss all you want. Yeah, she lost her father figure. Abby lost her actual father. Ellie lost Jesse. Abby lost Manny and Yarra. She lost Owen and Mel directly to Ellie, and Ellie even killed her fucking dog. You can argue that the last three were in self defense, which is true, but also because Ellie CHOSE to put herself in harm's way on her quest for revenge. You can flip the argument all you want to by saying that Abby's quest for revenge triggered Ellie's, but no amount of people Abby killed could EVER amount to what Joel did. It just strikes me odd that people are so worked up by being forced to play a character who killed Joel, but yet they wanted to keep playing as someone who was responsible for the inevitable extinction of the human race...

Let me just reframe this a bit. Let's say that The Last of Us started out as Abby. You spent the game as a teenager, developing your relationship with Owen. You interact with your father on a daily basis. You begin to understand the severity and importance of your father's work. You had your own battles with the infected, so you know how deadly they are, how they threaten the lives of your family and friends. Then, you hear about a girl being brought in that could could cure this whole mess, but your father is unable to make a vaccine without killing her. You know how such a hard decision has to be made, but you know it has to be made. Now you're hearing sirens. You rush towards the ward your father's in, running down that long corridor, red lights flashing everywhere. You run through the door and find your dad on the ground, throat cut, blood everywhere, dead. You'd be infuriated. You'd be crying. You'd want revenge. Imagine if that's how the first game was, and then the second game's story involved Abby going after Joel. You'd understand completely and you'd have NO problem with it. But that's not how the first game was, so you got attached to Joel. The game is FORCING you to see the other side of the coin, as uncomfortable as it may be. It's a shame we didn't see more of Abby before the death of Joel, because I think it would have put things into perspective better, but the game's already too long.

When I finished the first game, I knew right then and there I didn't want a sequel. I felt there was no way they could really follow this up in a form that I'd be happy with, at least not with Joel. If anything, I was hoping that if a sequel did happen, it would be with two completely different characters. Instead, when it was revealed, we had Joel and Ellie again. I just didn't know how that was going to work. I think I'd be far more uncomfortable continuing to play as Joel, because I'd always be reminded of what he did, literally undoing everything they were working up to in the first game. Instead, we got to play Abby, who no matter how many times she clubbed his face in, would never be able to fix his wrong and instead of simply accepting that fact, we got Ellie continuing the circle of violence. It only makes sense that when the game pit the two characters against each other that you played as Abby fighting Ellie as the boss. Ellie's the villain. That's why I sided with Abby.

Sorry if this blog got really emotional near the end. I don't think I've been this conflicted about a game before. It's just a testament to how daring Naughty Dog was for deciding to go this route with the game. Many, many people said that this game was not what they wanted, but if Naughty Dog gave them what they wanted, I think the impact of the game wouldn't be anywhere near the same level.

Thank you, Naughty Dog, but in the same breath, fuck you.

TurboGrafx 16 Mini Part 6

Seirei Senshi Spriggan

Another Super CD-ROM2 game, it has voiced narration for its opening sequence. And just to disclose, I'm really starting to suffer from shooter fatigue right now, so if you're offended I'm not as excited about these shooters as you are, don't take it personally. With that said, Spriggan is actually a pretty fun shooter, yet, there are times where there's just too much going on. I feel that the frequency of getting pigeon-holed is a bit too high for me, and the power-up system leaves me at times with the wrong combination that does more harm than good. For instance, when I have one line of homing laser things that decide to attack something else that isn't right in front of me, that becomes a problem. I try to avoid certain power-ups when I have a combo I like,  but sometimes there's so much being thrown at me INCLUDING power-ups that I end up flying right into something I don't like. I do like the game, though, and enjoy the bosses, so I'll return to this game when I'm not so burned out from shooters.

Snatcher

I wonder how Kojima feels about one of his game being on this machine... Anyway, this is another Super CD-ROM2 game. There's a lot of voice acting for the opening narration, and from what little I played, there's a lot more voice acting as well. Justifies the CD. The problem is, this game is entirely in Japanese and it's a graphic adventure meaning there are dialogue options everywhere. Since I can't read Japanese, I've no idea what I'm selecting. I just kept selecting options until the game progresses, but since there's not going to be any real gameplay aside from some shooting sections later on from what I've heard, there's no real reason for me to play anymore. Shame, I would have loved to play this game in English.

Spriggan Mark 2

Third CD-ROM2 game in a row for this entry. The PC Engine side of the Mini sure has a lot of these. Like the first game, there's a lot of voice acted narration for the opening cinematic, which tells your typical story of a world at war. Once you start the game, a rather lengthy animated cutscene begins. Now, I was expecting a top down shooter like the first Spriggan, which I actually liked, but I got something entirely different. I got a side scrolling shooter instead, which I'm not against. I'm also not against the regenerative shield either, but what I don't like is so far there haven't been any power ups. Instead, you'll get periodic help from someone on your team. What I REALLY CAN'T STAND THOUGH, is the constant interruption of chatter that pauses my game until they're done speaking! YOU DON'T DO THAT IN SHOOTERS! YOU DON'T INTERRUPT THE GAMEPLAY IN SHOOTERS! They were even interrupting me during the fucking boss fight! Couldn't even be bothered to finish the first level. Fuck this game straight up.

Star Parodier

Look at that, ANOTHER Super CD-ROM2 shooter! But, this is what I really need right now, a shooter that is light-hearted and relatively easy. The game features three selected ships, each one with their own sets of power-ups. One ship is a cartoony version of your archetypal space shooter. One is actually a Bomberman Mech, and the other is a PC Engine! It's so fun playing as Bomberman, who has options that are also mini Bombermen, and his power-up icons are straight out of the Bomberman franchise. The PC Engine has power-ups that are Hu cards and one of the things it can shoot out is CDs. I really appreciate the levity this game brings right now. The game's graphics are also very colorful and fun, and the gameplay is really smooth as well. This is one of my favorites on the system so far, and I'll definitely return to finish it!

Super Darius

Fifth Super CD-ROM2 game in a row... and it doesn't really seem to need a CD. Anyway, I consider Darius in the same family of shooters as Gradius. There are some differences, but they're largely the same to me, except Darius doesn't seem to have very good power ups. No options, no angle shots. Just increases to your forward shot and missiles. What it also has is branching paths. After every boss battle, you can go north or south. This promotes replayability. I'm not too fond of the game overall, so I'm not sure if I'll ever come back to it.

Super Momotarō Dentetsu II 

Another game with menu options entirely in Japanese, I have no idea what I'm doing. What I can make out about this game is that it's some kind of train board game. It seems like you can scan the board for spots where passengers are waiting to be picked up and then deliver them to their destinations. Your movement is based on dice rolls and you play against the computer. But that's as much as I can make out. So, the rest of the game's pretty much unplayable to me.

Super Star Soldier

I believe this is the predecessor to Soldier Blade, which I feel was the better game. This one's a top down shooter, has your typical spread shots, missiles, lasers, etc. It has options, but they act as shields and don't add to the offensive array at all, which is kind of a disappointment. After having played so many shooters so far, I'm really reaching the end of my rope here. There's not much else I can say about this one.  It's just another shooter.

The Genji and the Heike Clans

This is a samurai hack and slash game where you fight all sorts of enemies. Loads of cheap shots await you here. It does have this cool mechanic where you reach a point in the level and you enter another part of it as a much bigger version of yourself. Later on, you'll reach another part of the level where it looks like it shifts to a top down perspective. I'm not really liking the game. I think the graphics are pretty sloppy, and I just don't like the hit detection. No reason for me to come back to this one.

The Kung Fu

Not just Kung Fu, THE Kung Fu! Now, I watched a ReviewTechUSA video where Rich was talking about how bad this game was. It was basically NEC's answer to Nintendo's Kung Fu thinking they could pulverize Nintendo based on the graphics alone. And Rich is right. It is pretty dumb. The basic gameplay isn't very good at all. You can't kick when crouched, which is weird. Jumping is awkward. Boss fights involve finding a dead spot and exploiting it. Hit detection's wonky too. This is the perfect example of graphics aren't everything.

The Legend of Valkyrie

This is a fun little adventure game. You play as a Valkyrie and you go about killing all sorts of enemies. The problem is, it's in Japanese so I can't understand anything that's being told to me. Thankfully, the gameplay's vague enough that I can just press on. Go somewhere I haven't been to yet, kill everything, move on. There's also power-ups and I love power-ups, and I beat a couple of bosses that took some observation to learn their patterns. I have a feeling future bosses are going to get really brutal later on. Again, I just wish I knew Japanese so I could know what the story's about. I may play more of this should I revisit my Mini.

Ys I and II

This is the Japanese version of the English game. No need to play it.

Overall Thoughts

Now that I have five mini systems, where do I rank this one? I'd have to say in the middle; behind the Sega Genesis and SNES Minis and ahead of the NES and PlayStation Minis. I had a lot more fun with the TurboGrafx 16 side of games than I did with the PC Engine. The PC Engine had way more shooters it seemed, and some questionable inclusions. Five PC Engine games are just the Japanese versions of TurboGrafx 16 games, which seems pointless. One PC Engine game is the Japanese version of Bonk's Adventure, which doesn't make any sense, and we have the English Splatterhouse instead of the uncensored Japanese PC Engine version. There are a handful of PC Engine games that flat out REQUIRE understanding Japanese to play, such as Necromancer and Snatch,  and the latter is incredibly frustrating. I get they were trying to remain as faithful to the emulation as possible, but it doesn't help. Some of these games needed to be in English plain and simple when releasing the system statewide.

Regardless, though, I don't regret spending 100 dollars on it. There are lot of fun shooters, even though I've been complaining about shooter burnout lately, some awesome action games like Ninja Spirit, cool puzzle games like Chew Man Fu and of course one of the best Bombermans I played being Bomberman '94. I really dug the presentation and appreciated the little touches like showing the game cards being inserted and the CD-ROMs booting up. Ultimately, though, I just wish the line up was a bit more varied. Still, if you love old-school games, you'd do well to add the TurboGrafx Mini to your collection of classic consoles.