Bloodborne: The Old Hunters DLC Day One

Back at the bottom

They're dead, all of them. The bosses fell one by one, almost to the sound of 'another one bites the dust' perpetually playing in my rage addled brain. Except - of course this did NOT happen. No, unless you count me dying over and over again as an accomplishment in any sense of the word. The first - of many - mistakes I made (blaming the game would be too easy) was continuing with my new game plus save where I left off back when I first finished the game. Here's the kicker, NG+ is actually harder than just restarting the game, who'd of thunk it? This is ignoring the fact that you have to get a decent way into the game before the DLC is accessible, this surprisingly was easy.

Upon entering the hunters aptly named 'Nightmare' realm It slowly - at a speeding trains pace- occurred to me that things weren't going to be easy, not that they ever were. Hunters litter the landscape now, and staying dead is a tense they haven't learned yet as they Respawn on death. The first boss is a complete bastard (yes I can swear on this site) who *nervous chuckle*, there he is now.... Oh God, I retract my last stament, please no..... Aghhhh! No players were actually harmed in the making of this post; mental wellbeing was crushed, all sense of self worth gone and several walls mysteriously now have holes in them but that's about it.

The Last Of Us sketches

Bloodborne Review

You did your best but you failed miserably. The lesson is; never try

To celebrate the release of the Bloodborne DLC today I'm posting a review I wrote for the base game when it came out, here you go. Bloodborne is a important game; it's the first console exclusive this generation that's worth owning the console for. Sure it's not for everyone, in fact a lot of people that buy it will likely resent the game but it's worthy of the praise it's gotten, despite some flaws.

Broken Age Review

Broken beyond repair

Won't last an Age

You know what's classic, Broken Sword is, as is Sam and Max Hit The Road, along with Simon The Sorcerer and Monkey Island 3. You know what isn't? Broken Age. Now I don't mean classic as in old, I'm using it as a measurement of quality, if it will be remembered fondly for decades to come. I can't see Broken Age being remembered for much and if so, it wont be fondly. If anything, Broken Age will act as a cautionary tale, a reminder that publishers do have a reason to exist and letting your figure head be in charge of money makes for a bad idea. Some people will say that it's more like: "careful what you wish for" and that times have moved on from point and click adventure games. But that isn't true, in fact Charles Cecil's return with Broken Sword 5 was somewhat successful , which was also kickstarted (and got less than a third of what Broken Age got) there's also lots of great modern point and click games; Gemini Rue, the Blackwell series, The Inner World etc. Then people will say "but Ollie you're viewing those old classics with rose tinted glasses" again that isn't true. All those classics I listed and many more, I only recently played in the last few years, as they were released way before my time (yes I'm that young). The original Broken Sword is genuinely breathtaking still today, it stands the test of time. Broken age doesn't even stand up a year and a half after the initial acts release.

Fallout 4 - New dialogue system

A momentary Fallout

Let's talk about the dialogue system in Fallout 4, more specifically what's different. Unlike the last two Fallout games where you were shown a list of all your responses in full, here you get one or two word hints at what the actual piece of dialogue is you respond with, with only 4 choices at any one time. It's not a great change, visually it's more streamlined and appealing but oftentimes it's hard to ascertain what your full reply will be. Sometimes you'll choose a option that simply reads 'sarcastic' with the intention of being lighthearted or charming but instead your character says something that just insults the other person. Also, whereas in 3 and New Vegas you had the option of going through every dialogue option and deciding when to end the interaction, here though you often only get to choose one option before the conversation moves on - locking out any other things you wanted to ask. I understand the intention, it makes conversations flow better, feels more organic and is in line with the likes of Bioware dialogue trees. Honestly it's because we're so used to how it worked in the other games it's quite confusing that it doesn't work the same, not helped by the fact that the game makes no attempt to explain how it works. It's muddy and I'm not sure I really understand it yet. The X button dialogue option always seems to be the nicest and most agreeable route to go whereas O (circle) appears to be the arsehole route or disagree. Triangle most often than not asks a question or is  being inquisitive, leading to sub sets of dialogue options, whereas square often has sarcastic ascribed to it or jokes. This is vague I know, but again the game doesn't really signpost or inform how the new system works. One things certain, dialogue is infinitely better written than Fallout 3 and is on par with obsidian's effect with New Vegas, dark humour is back. More on this tomorrow.

Fallout 4 Day One Thoughts

Setting the world on fire for the forth time

After spending most of the day playing Fallout 4 I can thankful say it's great. Make no mistake this is a sequel to Fallout 3 through and through, for better and worse. Technically the game is a mess, bugs glitches, subtitles disappearing and cameras inside head. Once again Bethesda has rolled out the tired and ancient game engine they've been using since Oblivion and it shows. At times - mainly in wide open space of the world it can be stunning, lighting and haze effects are something to behold. I experienced what appeared to be a radioactive cloud passing overhead where the whole area was drenched in a green fog. Get close up though and you notice the low res textures and stitching together of assets. Animations are better but still as stiff as a corpse. Here's the thing though, that evidently doesn't matter when you exist in what feels like a living breathing world. You enter a room, a building and it visually tells you a story - who lived here, what happened to them, the place being looted after the bombs dropped, that's what's really S.P.E.C.I.A.L here. More thoughts tomorrow.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Campaign Review - A lesson in mediocrity

Tumbling down the plot hole

After finishing Black Ops 3 I sat there amazed and thought to myself  "what a complete load of nonsense". The fact that I was in stitches during the last mission over the woeful writing and acting when the game was attempting some big emotional payoff with characters I feel as though I passed in the street says it all really. Treyarch try, they always do but by God they went a bit mad here. The plot goes all Deus Ex with a metaphysical AI and a living tree, I wouldn't be surprised if they consulted David Cage during development on the plot "more emoshuns". It's lofty aspirations just cannot be achieved in such a short campaign, characters have relationships that are barely even let on during the game. I spent a huge portion asking; what? Who? Where? Why? Not because I wasn't paying attention but because the game jumps from tone to tone within a second. One minute your character punches his comrade to the ground and the next he's saying they only have each other now.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3 campaign thoughts

Answering the Call again... Hello? Damn spam phone calls

The joke with Call of Duty is that if you've played one, you've played them all. The truth is if you've played one you've played them all..... Wait that's the joke again. Although used against COD by people who don't play them, the joke has an undeniable hint of truth about it. Has Black ops changed, yes has it changed to the point it feels like new experience, well no. At the core it plays like another COD, sure you can dress it up and disguise it all you want but it's about as effective as placing a pumpkin on your head in the effect of it being guillotined, it's not fooling anyone.

The World Of Professor Layton Book Review

This reminds me of A puzzle

Originally released in Japan in 2013 Udon publishing has faithfully translated and released the book in English. As someone who owns the Japanese version I can attest to the fact that aside from the translation nothing really new is here, somewhat unfortunately. This means you don't get interviews with the English voice of Layton and Luke, only the translated versions of the interviews with the Japanese cast. It also refers to content that isn't in the western releases of the game, including some cutscenes, which is interesting to discover.