A Walk Through Cyrodril

Recently I had a crack at the PvP portion of ESO. This wasn't something I had planned on when i started playing ESO but I thought i would at least give it a show. Plus the skillset offered on PvP looked quite tempting.
It should be noted that I never tried PvP when I played WoW so I had no idea what to expect (beyond the possibility of being ganged up on by people who knew what they were doing were of a higher level). Still fortune favours the brave....

So what i could gather, Cyrodril is a location wherein the three major factions are in a never-ending cycle of war to claim dominance. This is new to me as someone who has been doing PvE. However there are some quests that can be achieved by a single player so at least there is some degree of familiarity. But ultimately, my experience with Cyrodril is going around the area to be where I need to be. The absence of wayshrines is noticeably absent and reduces traveling as roaming around the area. An area that turns out to be very vacant.  Okay there is the occasional raid but I found that when you die, you are cast back to your starting area and have to start the long and arduous journey back to where you were. if anything i found I spent more time journeying than i did in combat.

Matters aren't helped with the combat being stupidly tough. Granted I may be approaching this as a lower-level character punching above his weight, but there is no fun value whatsoever by being decimated by a higher level character before you have a chance to start.
And then there's the Imperial city: loaded with baddies that I can barely scratch let, alone defeat. As such i found myself going through soul gems at a crazy rate.

Granted this through the perspective of a lower-level character but I think I'll stick to the PvE in future...

Freedom isn't Free

Another game has been struck down from my Hall of Shame. Clean out your desk Oxenfree, you're outta here!

Original image located here. Accessed 2nd February 2018 

Of course, saying I've completed this game is somewhat meaningless - and people who have played this game will know why. For now, however I have beaten this game but only for the first time. Needless to say, I will return to Oxenfree sometime in the near future. 

In the meantime however, I did enjoy this game a lot. I've played a lot of adventure games and have found their strengths lie in the writing. And this is what Oxenfree understands and accomplishes in flying colors: The characters are well-written and believable, the dialogue is natural and delivered with superb acting and we have a game wherein we have teenagers acting ....well...like teenagers.

In fact, that last point really says a lot about the game,. Sure the mystery surrounding the setting was engaging, the supernatural parts were freaky, the atmosphere was abundant and the music was stunning. But at the end of the day, the MVP is the best portrayal of teenagers I have ever seen - perhaps moreso than any other game, movie or TV series.

In fact, replaying this game now suddenly feels like a substantial enticement - a sign that this game must've done something right

R.I.P. Bob Wakelin

R.I.P. gaming box artist Bob Wakelin

Tis' a lost art, the game box cover art....

Toren Apart

Happy New Year everybody! And what better way to kick start a new year of Game Tumour than to strike another game from my Hall of Shame. Goodbye Toren!

Original image located here. Accessed 22nd January 2018

I was keen on this because the previews painted an interesting picture. Atmospheric setting? I'm in. A game that clearly draws inspiration from Ico? Keep going. A first effort from a small Brazilian studio? Hey, maybe there's something from there beyond the veneration of the Sega Master System.

So playing Toren two things become apparent: First, this game is is clearly about a girl, Moonchild, ascending a tower to defeat a dragon. But time is flowing differently and the girl is aging as she ascends.
The Second thing is that the controls are rubbish. Yes, it's great that Moonchild is going to fight a dragon but somehow she has a fight a greater battle with the controls, as she goes in places I didn't want her to go and does things i didn't want her to do.

The comparisons to Ico are evident with the setting: The ruins looks similar and the ambience is the same. Throw in a whole lot of symbolism and this game is clearly aiming for the 'arty' crowd. But at the same time, it may prove to be it's Achilles heel: I played through the game wanting to know about the character and the setting but no such details came. How is Time flowing in this game? Why is it flowing in such an erratic manner? What is Moonchild's relationship with her guide? What was with that ending? How does Moonchild's memories fit in with the legend she's been following? This game may be arty but it may be hiding behind it. So let me say this up front: Just because you're making an arty game does not give you a license to be obtuse.

I can understand that being arty and making a game can be a tricky balance to pull off. But despite Toren's best efforts, it did not pull it off. Still, as a first effort it's a decent stab and I would be interested to see what this studio cames up with next.

That was the year it was: 2017

And so, the curtain comes down on another year.
So....2017....How about that eh?

2017 was, for me, mostly me rediscovering Elder Scrolls Online. A game that i originally approached with reluctance is a game that I have played near exclusively in 2017. The funny thing is that the thing that turned me around was a skill re-spec for my first/main character. Since then I've made a few more characters. All of which, I have approached with a particular plan in mind. Funny thing that: I approach with a plan, and subsequently a better grasp of what I'm doing and suddenly the game becomes a lot more enjoyable. Still, it's no different from me of nearly two decades ago building a plan to work in Civ 2 and Heroes 2.

Other highlights was seeing the Conquest series appear on GoG; beating Nights into Dreams, Conquests of the Longbow and KOTOR 2 - all of which have been a long time coming; Going to PAX and Trying out Alien Swarm.

But you know what? If we go be feel alone, 2017 seems like something of a slump. Nothing came out this year that really grabbed my attention. Maybe it's me living in a backwards flowing bubble, maybe it's me having played games for so many years that it becomes harder for something to stand out of the pack, but somehow one gets the impression that gaming has reached it's zenith: There are no more frontiers to conquer, no one beyond the Steam indie crowd is prepared to make any risks and everything seems to be recycled. Funny thing how a industry that has moved at a lightning fast pace has now hit a point that resembles stagnation.
I've heard whispers that we may be due in for a second Gaming Crash but maybe we could do with one, just to shake things up a bit....

Still we can only hope that 2018 is better....

Anywho, thank you for reading this blog and i hope to speak to you again next year.

Six Pack

Well it seems like a new iteration of the Soul Calibur series is headed this way. I know this because a trailer was recently unleashed on an unsuspecting world:

Original video located here. Accessed 9th December 2017

This is interesting to me as it features two of my favorites: Sophitia and Mitsurugi. Also of particular note is that Sophitia is sporting her original outfit.Which is interesting to me because I remember being turned off by Soul Calibur's post-3 that I was put off by her increasing sexualisation (of course, that reason was one of numerous but still....).
So is like a reboot or something? In any case, it's great to see Sophitia in her original outfit and looking great in the Unreal4 Engine.

But the trailer sure puts a lot of emphasis on her cleavage....

Alien Resurrection

Recently I had a go at Alien Swarm.

Anyone heard of this? It's one of those free games that have crept into Steam. I went into it with three friends as we were all after something new to play. And why, who can say no to free stuff?

Upon playing Alien Swarm, we were faced with four character options: Officer, Special Weapons, Medic and a Tech. Predictably, both Special Weapon characters were pounced on quick leaving a Tech and a Medic included as a matter of necessity. I can understand, in retrospect, that having one of each character is key to success but two Special Weapons? It's possible that it can be done but somehow I'm not sure that's what the designers of this game had in mind.

In researching this game it becomes apparent that it's a remake of the Alien Swarm mod from Unreal Tournament 2004. That means little to me as I've never played any games in the Unreal franchise. So, I approached this game as someone unaware of it's origins. After all, it may yield a different perspective, no?
So what we have here is a scenario taken from the movie Aliens: A group of human marines are going into enemy territory where the enemy in question is a swarm of ugly, alien nasties that outnumber the marines several times over. It is then up to the Marines to get through a series of missions, achieving a set task and, hopefully, surviving to the end.
In playing Alien Swarm, I found there are moments where the action is intense, being attacked from all sides. There are equally nerve-racking moments when my guy (the Tech) is trying fanatically to get into a computer system while the aliens are all around me. There's the despair when one of your team mates bites the dust (especially when you need them to complete the mission). There's the necessity of sharing ammo and health and working together to stay upright. And there's always the last minute dash to safety in order to seal the success of the mission.

So really, Alien Swarm does all the things that we expect from Aliens. It's the movie adaptation that never was. And perosnally,, is all the better for it.
Play it again? You bet!