I Too Did Not Suspect a Thing

I don't make a lot of Blind Faith purchases.  That's usually reserved for XSEED titles and the odd Vita game that I -don't- look extensively into by virtue of being a Vita game.  I had no interest in Octodad: Dadliest Catch in the weeks prior to its release, even despite hearing all sorts of praise and excitement for it in that time.  I admit to a little curiosity, but I never really looked into it at all - it was just a thing that existed right beyond my periphery, and I made no real effort to change that.  Then the day came and it released.  There was a Week-One Digital Discount on it for Plus Members, and that, of all things was what made me stop and think about it for a moment.

"Mogs, you -love- weird and quirky shit.  Octodad is literally the weirdest, quirkiest thing you've seen in a while.  And it's on saaaaaaaaaaale."  It didn't take much convincing.

I'll say it now - Octodad: Dadliest Catch is one of my favorite Blind Faith purchases I've made in recent memory.

It doesn't just look like the weirdest, quirkiest thing I've seen in a while, it -is- and it's -glorious- for that fact.  The premise is that you're an Octopus who, one day, just decided that it wanted to be a human being, so it took measures towards that and eventually found a nice woman, settled down, married her and had two kids.  So now he has normal, everyday things to do, except he is an octopus, so doing them is, er, rather difficult.  Therein lies the gameplay element of it.

Now, you would think that basing the gameplay around something awkward is an aggressively bad idea and with a lot of developers, you would be correct.  However, Young Horses (the developer) struck a perfect balance between difficult and hilarious for this.  During my introduction to the game, I meandered through the 'arm' tutorial with a grin on my face - it's awkward, at least a little bit, but it works and the silliness of the intro was still working on me.  However, the walking tutorial is where I lost it.  Few games have ever made me go, "Oh you are fucking kidding me!" in a voice that was full of glee and incredulity and mirth.  Usually it's done so with pure, unadulterated rage.  Not Octodad, however.

Two steps.  It took two steps before I began laughing and felt something akin to love for the game.  It was swift but not fleeting and it was decisive.  It was something that manifested over the course of the (disappointingly short) length of the game, and it's specifically why I would recommend it.

Describing the game is difficult, because it's a difficult game to wrap your mind around.  It's different.  Actually getting where you want to go is about 80% of the gameplay because of the way you maneuver, but saying that calls to mind a vision of frustration that I do not intend to draw, because it's deceptively amusing.  It is, quite simply, fun.

Were I hard-pressed to find fault with it, it would simply be that there's not enough Octodad to satisfy.  I needed another section or two to play to enjoy, as I found myself wanting when it was over.  Were there any game that would benefit from a Level Editor, it would be this game.  Yes, the community would by and large go to the inevitable place it always goes by making 'Super serious' skill challenge levels, but there would be the gems aside from those that introduce new and fun ways of thinking about the already enjoyable game, and it would have just added more.  Would have given you reason to play it longer than the 3-5 hours you'll invest in the game, likely including the time spent collecting all the ties should you desire that.  As it is, you'll want to beat the story, perhaps redo it for trophies if you are so inclined (As I am) and only come back to it everytime you want a little giggle.

It's not a bad thing, and indeed, wishing there were more of a game is more or less an indicator of its quality.  Perhaps some day we'll see more Octodad and on that day I will be there waiting with money in my outstretched hand tentacle hand.

oh, I mean Octodad is a totally normal human being, disregard most of this post

Dynasty Warriors 8 is Damn Good

After my foray into Beyond: Two Souls that ended with me liking it, but not necessarily ready to jump back into it for the trophies, I turned to my backlog, specifically games from this year, and decided that I should probably play one of them.  Preferably one that I hadn't played yet.  There's an embarrassingly high amount of games that could be included in this, but in the end I decided on going to my comfort zone because I need comfort these days.  So I grabbed Dynasty Warriors 8 which I purchased way back when it came out in July, unwrapped it (yes, it was still in plastic, yes that kind of made me a little ill) and tossed it into my PS3 with the intent on cutting swaths through Feudal China.  Something I've done countless times before and will do countless times yet.

I got that with Dynasty Warriors 8.  I got that in spades.  Originally, you'll remember that I really liked Dynasty Warriors 7 because it changed up the formula immensely, bringing more and more cinematic bits into it and really incorporating them in a worthwhile way, while also completely overhauling the weapon system with weapon switching and such.  I eventually concluded, though perhaps not in a post, that Dynasty Warriors 7 is the best Dynasty Warriors since 3 which is the absolute best through nostalgia-rimmed glasses at least (since I haven't played it in a long time).  8 was shaping up to be 7, but with more stuff, which by all metrics should have put it at 'better' than 7 itself.

I'm not so sure I would put it on that level, however.  Initially, I definitely would not have, but the more I play it, the more I start appreciating it and the effort that went into it, while also slowly realizing awesome things about it.  Some things are a straight step backwards - the game is overall less cinematic and less story-focused if for the simple fact that the little text-dumps in-between missions are not narrated for the first time since...ever and the text is rather small to boot, and you can no longer equip new weapons mid-battle thanks to the Rock/Paper/Scissors mechanic they've almost arbitrarily added to weapons now - but everything else is either maintained or improved upon.  Including one thing that's like a fucking revelation after playing the games for as long as I have been.

You see, in previous iterations, there have always been some characters that simply have the same exact moveset since they share a tenuous weapon choice.  So Cao Cao would play almost exactly like Sun Jian who would play almost exactly like Liu Bei because they all wielded a Longsword and while there was some personalization, it wasn't a -lot-.  It's been in the games with varying degrees with Dynasty Warriors 6 being the worst of it where there were honestly maybe a dozen movesets spread across the 50-some characters in the roster.  In Dynasty Warriors 7, they tried to mitigate the clone issue by assigning "EX" attacks, which were attacks unique to that character with their preferred weapon.  So even though Liu Shan, Sima Shi and Yuan Shao all fought with a Rapier, they had different EX attacks assigned to a different charge, not to mention the different musou attacks.  Dynasty Warriors 8 has a more...elegant solution that is almost mind-blowing in the realization that they've finally done it.

There are no clones.  Everyone has their own weapon type which in turn has its own moveset with nary an overlap between them.  Liu Shan wields a Rapier where Sima Shi wields a "Lightning Sword" where Yuan Shao wields an "Extension Blade" which are all -basically- rapiers, but entirely different weapons in their own right with different moves and the whole spread.  Cao Cao wields a General's Swod where Sun Jian wields a Nine-Rings Blade where Sun Quan wields a Sword (seriously, just basic sword) where Sima Zhao wields a Striking Sword and they're all -wildly- different as you might expect from my previous mentions.  It's honestly a little surreal, having a scenario in which everyone has their own weapon, but it's been something that has needed to happen for a while and it's almost astounding that they finally managed it.  It's strangely liberating even.

All in all, Dynasty Warriors 8 attempts to be a complete refinement of 7 and in a lot of ways, it truly is - maps are nice, large and details, character models look nice (except in cutscenes where they're very...plastic-y), there's like seven weapons of each type and that whole non-clone thing is wonderful.  While it's a step back in a couple important areas, it's not -that- bad, even if it's enough to allow me to continue lofting Dynasty Warriors 7 up high for naught but the best of accolades.  It's enough to get me hyped up for Dynasty Warriors 8:  Xtreme Legends...which probably won't get a physical release over here.  More than a little depressing seeing as I can't reliably download a single goddamn gig these days thanks to what I'm assuming is Playstation 4 traffic.  Still...it has Zhu Ran, so I might just have to find a way.

when I realized that there were no cloned movesets, I literally had no goddamn clue what to do, it was that shocking

3DSXL Impressions

Through all of the E3 talks and excitement, I've had a sort of new companion with me every step of the way to compliment my Vita which is also with me every step of the way.  Especially last night with the storms that prevented me from being on the computer for fear of power outages (of which we had several).  My shiny new Animal Crossing 3DSXL which may or may not have something to do with my suspicious impulse purchases of Strawberry Pop-Tarts and Captain Crunch's Oops! All Berries cereal has been my first dip into the 3DS line at all and has indeed proved to me that I have been missing out on a whole world of things.  It's not an expansive world, so to speak, but it's a world all its own, which always merits exploration.

The one major thing that both the 3DS and Vita -want- to do is give you a major impetus to carrying it around as you move about in the outside world, or perhaps simply in your own space of home.  My Vita accomplishes this merely by being a thing that has games on it that I find that I cannot be detached from for long periods of time as well as being my sole musical device thanks to Music Unlimited, whereas the 3DS takes a slightly different route, something a little meta if you will.  Within the 3DS is a pedometer, which if you're somehow unaware is a device that tracks your steps as you carry it about (I think only while it's closed), and not only does the 3DS track this, but it rewards you in the form of currency known as "Play Coins".  On its face, it's rather interesting, of course, but there is a rather unfortunately long list of caveats to them.

First off, you can only get 10 a day, and you get one per hundred steps, so that's 1,000 steps in a day.  That's.....that's really nothing in the scheme of things.  Beyond that, you can only use them in select few things, like Swapnote, Find Mii and Puzzle Swap, all of which are basically pre-loaded into the system now.  Swapnote is an amusing little app that allows you to send notes to friends where you are free to use the touch screen to draw and write whatever you want which opens up a world of horrific potentiality that is, of course, limited by the scope of 'friends only'.  Find Mii and Puzzle Swap are both basically meta-games for your Mii (Which is appropriate, since they're in the Mii Plaza) where the former allows you to use Miis that you Street/SpotPass to try and traverse a dungeon that grants you treasure in the form of Mii Hats and the latter uses those Miis as delivery systems for pieces of a picture representing a Nintendo game in some fashion.  It's not really a puzzle in that you don't get to 'assemble' the picture which was rather disappointing for me personally.

However there is -one- game that uses it in a rather lovely way and that way is Animal Crossing:  New Leaf.  In Nookling's shop, you can purchase a Fortune Cookie for 2 Play Coins.  Upon eating the cookie, it gives you a lucky ticket that you can then exchange for a Nintendo-themed article of clothing or decoration.  Thus far, I've collected Mario's Kart from Mario Kart 7, the Goal Post from Super Mario Bros. and Link's boots from Legend of Zelda.  Be assured that I am wearing them everywhere.  What that basically means is that your little Animal Crossing Tyke is able to cosplay as your favorite Nintendo character while also being Mayor of an entire town.  It's...somehow appropriate.  And just plain enjoyable, as well, which is sure to surprise absolutely nobody.

Something that constantly confused me about the 3DS prior to my owning one was always whenever someone would bring up SpotPass and StreetPass.  All I knew was that they are content-delivery services of some nature that deliver unto you neat things at times.  Now owning a 3DS, I have to say....I am still mostly in the dark.  As stated, however, they are content-delivery services, but the way they work is a little different since they're entirely passive things.  You'll mostly become familiar with them because of Swapnote and the Mii Plaza games, however.  They are mostly location-specific things that do the same thing, really, where SpotPass gets you things in 'spots' where you have access to the internet, and StreetPass gets you things while you're out and about and pass other people with 3DS systems.  Using my previous examples, SpotPass is what lets me send and receive notes in Swapnote from my friends in other states, whereas the Miis I look forward to getting will be enlisted purely from being near people who also have a 3DS.  (There are exceptions, of course, in that there've been all sorts of special Nintendo Miis from E3 using SpotPass, but shh.)

Of course you really can't talk about the 3DS without talking about the 3D so, here it is:  Yeah, it kind of works.  I haven't hit the level where I just turn the slider all the way down, as half-way seems to produce the best "Still 3D, but I don't have to keep my head in the exact same spot" yield.  It's kind of jarring because some games look absolutely gorgeous on it, like the cutscenes from the Project X Zone demo, where other games just....it's not even a matter of not using the 3DS' power, but rather not really having an idea about the art style, really.  Or they're using something that worked on the DS and not putting a whole lot of extra effort into it.  Which, I admit is a little frustrating when I see something fluid and dynamic like Fire Emblem:  Awakening, but I'll just attribute it to unfamiliarity with the product since it doesn't seem like most of the cases are intentional to reign in the budget some.

All in all, it is a rather nifty little piece of technology with some games on it that will ensure I spend -quite- a bit of time with it.  (Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem is, apparently the tri-fecta of "you have no time for a year now")  It's not going to threaten my Vita for handheld dominance, of course, and I do find myself missing features that the Vita touts when I'm playing my 3DS.  Namely the screenshot one - while Animal Crossing has an in-game command for this, it's the only game I have that does.  I don't regret getting it, however, of course, and I'm glad that I did.  It was never that I wasn't going to get one, it was always simply a matter of when.  With Animal Crossing released and Rune Factory 4's release on the horizon whenever the wonderful Brittany Avery is done with the text for it, that time was now.  Or...the 9th.  When I got it.  And now we simply go to the future, ready for anything in the handheld space.  It's a good feeling.