I Can Dig It

I had always worried that my purchase of Terraria on Vita would never see the update to the 1.2 content that was released for PC around the same time which basically turned the game into something far larger than the already expansive confines the game offered.  There was multitudes of new -everything-, and indeed, it was one of those things that threatened to turn the game into an entirely different one.  A game that I would never get to play (until I got myself a proper PC, which is still on the agenda because shit is expensive) and one that I really -did- want to play.

Thankfully, the 1.2 content was always promised to us on non-PC platforms, it was all just a matter of time.  And not too long ago, we did see that patch finally.

As expected, Terraria feels almost entirely different.  The trappings are the same thus far - you still want to establish shelter and dig down, you still want to summon the Eye of Cthulhu as soon as possible, and you still want to work towards finding the Corruption (or the Crimson) and destroying Shadow Orbs to spawn the Eater of Worlds. (or their equivalents)  You'll go through new biomes (The Ice biome is especially nice) and improved ones (the Jungle biomes are -incredibly- different) as you do it, but that's still priority one, since that is how you get the Nightmare/Deathbringer (again, dependent on Corruption or Crimson) Pickaxe, which you need to mine Ebonstone, Hellstone and Obsidian, which will naturally impede your progress.

Unfortunately, this is sort of where I'm stuck.  My world has the Corruption, which means the Eater of Worlds, and it has only two spawn conditions.  The first is by breaking three Shadow Orbs (which is repeatable) which will force it unto the world for you to fight and conquer.  I attempted this, and came to discover that the Eater of World has been buffed (I swear it has been) and thus my first attempt met with nothing even approaching success.  Humbled, I sought out better armor, more health and a lot of healing potions, thinking I could certainly best it a second time. 

I could not, and this presented something of a problem.

You see, there are only so many Shadow Orbs in a given world.  They do not respawn.  Thus, once you have broken them all....well, that's it.  Fini.  I am not sure if I have reached this point, as I have to mine with bombs to continue further (or buy purification powder, but bombs are so much more bomby) and actively search for other ones.  Though, there is meant to be that second method of summoning, and it is one that I looked into quite heavily.

All it requires is an item called Worm Food.  Worm Food is made of Vile Powder and Rotten Chunks, the latter of which are dropped quite easily from the Eater of Souls monsters that fly about the Corruption constantly.  Vile Powder, on the other hand, requires Vile Mushrooms that you refine into the powder at an Alchemy Station.  Nothing could be more innocent, as the Vile Mushrooms grow naturally in the Corruption and plentiful, though you can even make a quick and easy farm for them.  I did this, as I wanted Vile Mushrooms, and I wanted them yesterday.  It was with this that I discovered there was something very, very wrong.

All patches have a tendency to wreck things moreso than fix them, we know this, and it's especially prevalent in games that are so open like Terraria or Minecraft or the like.  This is the case with Terraria, as the 1.2 Content update for Consoles included a multitude of bugs which are currently being sussed out.  One of these bugs?  "Vile Mushrooms cannot be harvested."

This is the impasse that I'm more or less at if I cannot find more Shadow Orbs.  In truth, it makes me worry about the validity of my world post-patch, even, as I wonder just how much of it -can- be fixed (since there are tons of other issues that I hadn't even gotten to yet due to my single focus of getting past the EoW) and the fix for these types of scenarios tend to be "Make a new world".  I...am loathe to do this, as my current world houses a "Heaven/Hell Tower" (unfortunately, it is not made of Rock) that extends from the top of the world (as seen at the top of this image) and goes as far down as I can get so far, as Obsidian stands in my way.  It took a lot of effort that I am not particularly invested in reinvesting should that become necessary.  Though I suppose I -will- always have it.  In a...half-functioning world, should it come to the worst scenario.

There are worse things, I guess.

but no, if I didn't make it clear, Terraria with the 1.2 content is so fun you guys

Yes, Of Course I'm Going to Bitch

As I stated yesterday, I had reached the precipice of Terraria's content where my fore-knowledge ended and the newness of the game's offerings began.  Specifically with the boss named The Wall of Flesh which is then immediately followed by what is rather appropriately called "Hard Mode".  It's not difficult to imagine that I have indeed surpassed the challenge of the Wall of Flesh and entered Hard Mode, and it is so, but it's not exactly...what I was expecting.  Or hoping for.  Which is where I begin to get a little grumbly about it, because of just how the game deigns to earn that 'Hard Mode' descriptor.

Hard Mode is hard because the entire caste of enemies has been upgraded and expanded on to a ridiculous amount - no longer are Zombies your only concern at night, but Werewolves, Armored Skeletons, Skeleton Archers and Phantasms roam the ground, where Demon Eyes have been joined by Wraiths which go straight through walls and ignores all barriers, meaning you cannot simply box yourself in and remain safe.  Below ground is the same deal, with Illuminant Slimes and Bats joining Creepers and Giant Bats and Spectral Swords and Shadow Hammers (both of which similarly ignore barriers like Wraiths) and Mimics.  All of these have inflated health values and defenses that necessitate weapons better than you'll likely have because Hard Mode begins with absolutely no aplomb or changeover, and you're stuck getting right into it.  The Wall of Flesh might leave you a weapon - it left me a Buster Sword, yes like Cloud's - but I don't know that it's guaranteed, and thus you might stand a chance of being thrust into this changed version of your world without the proper tools to protect yourself.

Something that the Wall of Flesh is guaranteed to drop is the Pwnhammer, a hammer that has the ability to destroy Demon Altars, which are scattered through the caverns and corruption of your world.  Goal Number One of Hard Mode is, without a doubt, to find three Demon Altars and destroy them.  Doing so will release new ores into your world and these new ores are powerful as tools and as armor both.  Of course, by 'release new ores into your world', I mean certain blocks in your world will be changed -into- ore blocks which means you get to search your entire world all over again.  While everything wants to, and is more than capable of killing you.  Now, I'm not sure exactly how much of 1.2 is in the Console version of Terraria, so let's make it simple - the first Demon Altar will spawn Cobalt, the second will spawn Mythril and the third and final one will spawn Adamantite.  (If 1.2 was present, there could be a chance of them being Palladium, Orichalcum and Titanium respectively)

You want Cobalt Ore right away.  Cobalt is used to make a Cobalt Drill or Cobalt Pickaxe which is the entry-tier pick/drill that can mine Mythril.  You then need to make a Mythril Pickaxe or Drill to finally mine Adamantite.  It's very padded and drawn-out, and while you make other, important things with these ores as well, it's a little frustrating on its head.  Especially at the start when you're vulnerable, desperately seeking out Cobalt with every monster and its brother bearing down your neck.  Perhaps there are some that find a thrill in that.  Were I not sick, maybe I would too.  I doubt it, but it's possible.  No, all I feel is a slight miff and annoyance, especially when Cobalt is, for some reason, exceedingly difficult to spot while playing the game.  If you'll note the screenshot I used for this post - the sizable blue mass in the bottom right corner is all cobalt.  It was only after taking that shot, uploading it to Flickr and linking it here that I actually saw it which was, of course, a while after I had died and began on my next task of making a proper storage room because my damn backpack fills up far too fast now.

I haven't actually delved too far into it.  I don't even have enough Cobalt for the purposes of making a pick or a drill because of the reasons stated, and the only reason I know what I know is because I did cheat a bit and look up a wiki for it.  Since I found some of all three ores, but couldn't mine a single one of them.  This is because Cobalt requires a Molten Pickaxe which is actually a downgrade from the Nightmare pickaxe despite being of higher 'quality' and that downgrade has expedited my search for Cobalt which has, in turn, made my search more difficult.  It's a vicious cycle, I'm sure you can tell as much.  It also does not do too much to breed 'fun' in a game that I was otherwise enjoying prior to the Wall of Flesh which was, by the by, a pain in the ass as a boss fight because Ranged-Only Boss Fights are almost always terrible as an idea.

Not to say that I'm bitter!  It all just relies on me actually getting the ball rolling so I can get the tools and get the gear and then be at the place where I was at the end of Normal Mode again, where I'm just comfortable building and exploring and enjoying.  It's just that I -was- there and now I'm not, so it's a bit jarring.  The padding of the ores is honestly the only thing that really bothers me as it just seems blatant - you have three new ores, so it's a little...silly to require each one for the next, since that leaves the best as little else than a prize in terms of mining equipment, even when its true desire is thus in armor and weapons.  There should be -something- that only Adamantite can mine, is my point, if just to make it worth it.  Oh well.  I guess the first step is just finding the area from that screenshot again and getting all of that Cobalt!

it's such a nice blue color, how the hell do I miss it so easily?

Oh Lord, I Am Sick

So I got a late Christmas present: I'm sick! Really sick! How thoughtful.
— Mogs (@DarthMogs) December 27, 2013

Coughing so hard that you hurt your back and subsequently hurt it more with every new cough is awful, I do not recommend it.
— Mogs (@DarthMogs) December 27, 2013

It might be fairly obvious, but I can't deny that I'm not really feeling any better since I made those tweets.  My nose is running like a faucet, my coughing has stayed about where it is which is now making my shoulders and upper back hurt, my lower back still has a thrown muscle (at least, that's what I'm guessing) and I'm just very, very achy.  Earlier on, I even had a little spell where I almost fainted due to a lovely bout of vertigo (I'm assuming) which merely had me trip almost into the bathtub completely in the dark bathroom and required a nice little sit down on the bathroom floor for a few minutes in a cold sweat before I could move again.  Though, I do feel quite better since then, in that I'm...you know, back to the -regular- amount of sickness.

As such, not a whole lot has been done.  Yesterday, I spent the entire day laying in bed and watching The Unit since it's marathoning on TV and I literally couldn't muster up the energy to play video games.  As sad as that is to write down, of course.  Today, I've spent the majority curled up in bed with Terraria on my Vita which certainly helps keep the mind off the aches the body has.  I've officially reached the end of my knowledge of things in the world of Terraria where it comes from watching videos about the game or what have you, so that is fairly exciting, since I know there's a whole second phase of the game awaiting me that I have yet to experience in any such way.  I almost dread it, but hell, nothing ventured or whatever.

Regardless, there's really not a whole lot more I can type tonight.  Sorry for the silence, but I'm sure you guys understand.

I never would've figured out how to summon the Wall of Flesh by myself, that shit is wacky

Well, I Like It

So I bought Terraria on Vita and wanted to mess around with it for a few minutes and then suddenly it was two hours later.
— Mogs (@DarthMogs) December 18, 2013

I'm not sure I can make a more ringing endorsement of the game than that, really.

I've watched my fair share of Terraria content in the past, so I knew the basics, but it is a wholly different experience actually being able to do it all yourself.  Obviously, task number one was creating a structure all my own after hewing the land to suit my whims.  I think we all like to think that, given the opportunity, we're going to create something magnificent right off the bat and I certainly thought this as well.

I did not.

I made the box you see above.  I made a three-tiered basement and enclosed it in stone walls.  I then set out to explore.  It's oddly liberating and strange that I would do that when all I -wanted- was a building game.  But I have to get blocks to do that, or at least that's the excuse I'm using while I'm cutting down slimes and seeking out the corruption of my lands to stem their creep with a sunflower.

I'm definitely satisfied.

words failed me, should've sent a poet, etc.

OKAY NEVERMIND BUYING TERRARIA DAY ONE

I'm a bit weak-willed sometimes.  This can be bad, but not always.  Personally, I'm chalking this one up to "not a bad thing" for this specific instance.

I wanted to be excited for Terraria on Vita, so I was!  And then it took forever to hear anything about it and other versions were announced and released so I sort of lost faith in it because it seemed like a lost cause.  Knowing that the release date was not only soon, but in fact next week shocked the hell out of me and inspired a bit of hope, but I wasn't about to let myself get too into it.  Maybe the port was shoddy.  Maybe it was lacking content.  Maybe -something-.  I didn't expect my opinion to sway back towards hopeful, really.  Though I could see ways that it -could- happen.  Seeing a Vita with a Terraria scene made -in- Terraria -on- a Vita was not one of those things, but goddamnit if it's not what pushed me back over the edge here.

Of course, seeing this Playstation (Europe) blog post for Terraria helps.  It mentions how the controls have been mapped and tweaked to make sense for the Vita's control scheme, re-iterates that it's cross-play with the PS3 version and notes that -some- of the 1.2 patch content is in the game along with -all- of the original game's content.  So I'm not expecting a slouch port.  I haven't heard any rumblings of problems of the technical side yet either.  What this means is that, well, I do believe I am allowing myself to hope again.  And I am going to be buying this ASAP on Tuesday, provided I'm able to do so.  And that....that's just awesome.

wanna build so many things and just shape the land and hnnnngg

In Which I Flip-Flop and Grumble

I was excited for Terraria Vita.  I really was.  I was starved for even the mere theory of a building game on my Vita and Terraria filled that niche up quite well.  It wasn't Minecraft, but I never thought Minecraft would hit the Vita.  Even though I was wrong about that too, it doesn't actually detract from the awesome idea that Terraria is going to be on the Vita as well and is going to be out first and will be awesome and such.  At least, it wouldn't, except there have been some things that have happened (or rather, -not- happened) between now and the point in time where it was announced as a Summer release.

Namely, the game not releasing and there being no official word from the developers about that little fact.

This is further compounded by a few other things that have happened between Terraria Vita's announcement and now, up to and including the following:

• The announcement of Mobile Versions for the various phones/tablets out there
• The release of at least two of those Mobile Versions
• The announcement and release of a 1.2 Patch for the PC version that may or may not release on non-PC versions of the game
• Talks (but no development) about a theoretical Terraria 2, including platform plans
• Absolutely no official word whatsoever on the Vita version.

I'm pretty sure that I have a right to be wary here.

It's still coming, we can generally be assured of that, and if you pay attention to the unofficial word floating around on the Terraria forums, it might be soon.  It might also be Cross-Play with the PS3 version.  I think that last part is almost a definite, but there is always a grey area when it comes to forum posts, even if it's from the representative of whoever is porting the game.  Because that is why you make official statements.  Regardless, if you believe what you read on the forums, the 1.2 content, or at least a portion of it, will be released on consoles as DLC that will -probably- be free.  And some inference about a few things in the notes suggest that patch will introduce Cross-Play with the Vita version, whereas all that stuff will be baked into the Vita version right off the bat.  So that the two versions will be on par with one another and thus compatible, you see.

Still, they managed to do something which is very, very rare.  I don't generally pull back on a game I allow myself to be legitimately excited for because I tend to choose my battles in the excitement game so that I don't get excited for things that are likely to fall through or otherwise disappoint.  I have to pull back on Terraria Vita, however, because I simply don't know anymore.  What was originally a day-one sight-unseen purchase has taken a freefall all the way down to "Wait for reviews to say it's okay before I debate whether or not I have the time and desire to put into it".  That is a mighty drop, my friends, and it's just incredibly unfortunate that it ended up coming to this.

still, the allure of building all sorts of structures is very strong - I'm probably going to bite if it's reviewed okay

Gamescom Was a Nice Little Vita Show After All

A common worry going into Sony's Gamescome Event was that it was going to be an all-PS4 show.  That's not a far-fetched idea, given that the PS4 is the new hotness riding a wave of positive PR thanks to E3 and such, but everyone was hoping that the Vita would see some sort of acknowledgement, and we got that and then some.  We didn't get a sequel to Uncharted:  Golden Abyss announcement (unfortunately, this would've been the perfect time to announce it) or a Gravity Rush 2 announcement (which was always going to be TGS), but we got some good news nonetheless.  News that some people are prodding endlessly with a stick instead of just saying "Yeah, it's good" because we can't all agree on anything ever because why would we, but that's just the way of things.

Between the straight-up price-cut of the Vita itself and the lowered memory card prices, Sony managed to shave a very nice bit of the price off the lovely little portable.  A nice bit more than people actually realize, it seems, because they're not looking at the big picture.  The $50 price-cut of the Vita itself is steep and much nicer to think about, and each tier of the memory cards took a drop.  4 Gig dropped $5, 8 Gig dropped $10 and the 16 and 32 Gigs each dropped $20, meaning you're spending a right comparable amount of money picking up a Vita and a 16 Gig card versus a 3DSXL bundle.  My 3DS XL Bundle, the Animal Crossing one was ~$220 for the system, Animal Crossing (pre-loaded) and a 4 Gig stick (which was less than 4 gigs because Animal Crossing).  If you buy the shiny Walking Dead Vita Bundle for $200 (which comes with a 4 gig stick) and throw down $40 for a 16 gig stick, you have $240 invested in it, 4 times the storage for $20 extra.  Essentially, price parity is pretty nice and if when you throw in Playstation Plus for $50, you get a ridiculous amount of games for a year which makes the value shoot right up.  So yes, you spend a little more, but you get miles more than the money you spend unless you jump in the Wal-Mart deal, spend less and get a shitload of content.

People rail on and on that there's no reason for the proprietary cards and insane prices and, sorry, there is.  It's called the PSP.  Piracy was absolute bananas on the PSP and, unlike the DS, it actively squeezed out and over-shadowed actual purchases for the device, which is not something that Sony wanted a repeat of.  Games just didn't sell, but whenever they released, they were among the most pirated things on all the popular sites out there, so the age-old excuse of "if there were good games I -would- buy them" went right out the damn window.  Hell, Metal Gear Solid:  Peace Walker only sold 52,000 physical copies in America at launch which is ridiculous for a Metal Gear Solid game and especially as good of one as Peace Walker was.  Yet, there were far, far more people that played it than that - it's not like the DS was where a game got 23.34 Million sales (like Mario Kart DS, jesus) and got heavily pirated as well.  That's what I mean when I say that the actual buyers got squeezed out of the equation - the buyers just didn't compare at all to the people just straight-up downloading the games.  So that's why they went a more controlled route this go around.  Because you can't tell me that people would've bought games for a $250 Sony handheld if it was as easy to pirate as the PSP.

There was also the matter of games being announced for it, which is, you know, kind of important.  Borderlands 2 came out of nowhere to see a release on the Vita sometime in 2014, brought to us by Iron Galaxy Studios, the team who developed DiveKick which just released this week.  That...is certainly a get for Sony, and it was alongside several other announcements for the Vita that I will defer to Chance for because I don't want to mine in Joystiq posts and cobble together a bunch of links.  Let's take a look at the list, shall we?

• Age of Zombies (BlitWorks/Halfbrick)
• A-Men 2 (Bloober Team)
• Assault Android Cactus (Witch Beam)
• Avoid Droid (Infinite State Games)
• Broken Sword: the Serpent’s Curse (Revolution Software)
• Eufloria HD (Omni Systems)
• Fez (Polytron Corporation)
• Final Horizon (Eiconic Games)
• Flame Over (Laughing Jackal)
• Gravity Crash Ultra (Just Add Water)
• Gunslugs (Abstraction Games)
• Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (Dennaton Games and Devolver Digital)
• Joe Danger 1 (Hello Games)
• Joe Danger 2 (Hello Games)
• Kick & Fennick (Green Hill Studios)
• Minecraft (4J Studios)
• Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games)
• Samurai Gunn (Teknopants)
• Starbound (Chucklefish)
• Supermagical (Tama Games)
• Switch Galaxy Ultra (Atomicom)
• Table Top Racing (Ripstone)
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Nicalis)
• Volume (Mike Bithell)
• Wasteland Kings (Vlambeer)

I had to add Minecraft and Starbound, the last of which is almost more impressive than Minecraft, because it's essentially Terraria ins Spaaaaaaaaace (one-half of the original two Terraria developers is making it), it has a ton of content, and there's absolutely no Vita Terraria sales data just yet, meaning it's a blind leap of faith and that's so appreciated.  Granted, all of those are games that are classified as "Indie", but as we've come to learn, that doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot in the grand scheme of things.  The prime gradient here is content and Minecraft, Terraria and Starbound at the very least are going to have those in spades, not to mention Rogue Legacy and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.  Those are just the games that I know a little about.  As you can see, there are a hell of a lot of other games on that list, and that's probably not even a complete list.  And this is all before TGS.  And before the PS4 launches and does Remote Play like a champ.

Yeah.  The Vita's gonna be just fine.

Terraria on Vita Can't Come Fast Enough

Today, I finally got to wrap my hands around a 360 controller as Minecraft for the mentioned system was loaded up and, indeed, I actually played it, which is something that, before today, I had not done.  Being a creative mode game that was already loaded up, I did the only thing that you do in Creative - I built.  At first, I was frozen with the possibilities; after all, this is a game where literally everything that is grand and wondrous has been made, basically, and anything you can do will hardly pale in comparison.  Yet, we try anyway because the thrill is there no matter what, and eventually I settled on making what everyone more or less ends up making first.

I made a house. 

Rather, I constructed a house.  The semantics, I'm glad to say, are more about the amount of pride used rather than the logistics of it.  I didn't just throw up four walls and smash a door in.  No, I laid down a framework of pillars and built walls in between.  I carved out beneath them and laid down a stone foundation surrounding those walls.  I slammed wooden floors in place.  I created a floor rug with colored wool.  And then I threw down stairs for a second floor and basement both.  I furnished the place.  Without so much as a floor plan, without so much as a preconceived notion of just what this thing was going to look like, I had already put together something quite nice, especially for a first effort.

And then I worked on the second floor.  I extended it out a single block around the edge of the first floor and hopped down, adding supports at the four corners, using fence posts that dropped down to a single wooden block.  Then those wooden blocks were supplemented with stairs that served as a sort of 'trim' to add depth to the facade as they covered the entire bottom layer of the outside of the house.  A set of wooden logs surrounded the front doors to create a 'frame' while also adding depth.  Then, building up the new walls of the new floor, I separated it into the 'landing' from the stairs and a nice bedroom within which I used half-slabs to create nice varieties in height, building up to a focal point where the beds went.  It was about this time that my 360 time was cut short and while I was nowhere near complete, I still held something of satisfaction.

I'm not done, however.  I cannot physically finish that house now, nor can I begin the project anew here, being that I don't own a copy of the game, nor the means with which I can actually play it.  I have an urge to create, to construct, yet no outlet with which to do so other than LittleBigPlanet which I can't get back into at the moment because Soul Sacrifice drops Tuesday and I'm going to play that thing.  It's not quite the same either.  Nor is my other outlet, Terraria, but it will be something different enough, new enough, that I should be able to play with it whenever it comes out.  That's the rub, however, the 'whenever' is not Tuesday, nor next Tuesday, nor the Tuesday following.  And, essentially, I need it now, not then.  My urge to construct will have to take a backseat to my urge to destroy, to cast spells, to fell monsters and that's something that I'm generally fine with.

Still, I really want to play Terraria.  I want to build a house.  I want to find a snow-covered area and build an igloo.  Then I want to build a -riduclous- igloo.  It will please me.  Especially since the game is coming out during the summer and it'll be nice to think cool thoughts.  As in thoughts involving cool and/or cold things.  Not things that are awesome and neat.  Well..that too, but you get my point.

please, Mojang, let 4J port Minecraft to the friggin' Vita, I will love you forever with 20 of my US dollars

The Vita is Turning Into an Indie Haven

If you've been paying attention to game and port announcements lately, you'll have noticed something of a trend, and an encouraging one at that.  While the bulk of it was at GDC, a lot of Indie devs have pledged their upcoming games to the Vita, likely encouraged by the success of Brian Provinciano with Retro City Rampage and the other few Indie games that have hit already.  It helps, of course, that Sony has actively been courting devs and seem to be treating them right, given that at a GDC panel, a handful of them said "Absolutely" to the question "Is your next game going to be on the Vita?"  (Well, one did, the others just said "Yes", don't be a pedant)  Interest is spreading as well, since many of the attendees also seemed keen to work on the delightful little handheld.

In fact, the folks at the Playstation Blog were so kind to put together a list (albeit not a complete one) of indie games currently announced to hit the PS4, PS3, Vita and Playstation Mobile platforms.  I'll just keep it confined to the games that will be playable on the Vita:

• Divekick – PS3 and PS Vita
• Spelunky – PS3 and PS Vita
• Velocity Ultra – PS Vita
• Limbo – PS Vita
• Metrico – PS Vita
• Guacamelee! – PS3 and PS Vita
• Hotline Miami – PS3 and PS Vita
• Dragon Fantasy Book II – PS3 and PS Vita
• Thomas Was Alone – PS3 and PS Vita
• Luftrausers – PS3 and PS Vita
• Friend Network App – PS Vita
• Zombie Tycoon II – PS3 and PS Vita
• A Virus Named Tom – PlayStation Mobile
• Treachery in Beatdown City – PlayStation Mobile
• Crumble – PlayStation Mobile
• Crystallon – PlayStation Mobile
• Don’t Wake the Bear – PlayStation Mobile
• Hermit Crab in Space! – PlayStation Mobile
• Oh, Deer! – PlayStation Mobile
• Rymndkapsel – PlayStation Mobile
• Ten By Eight – PlayStation Mobile

(I've left the links that were there intact so you can peruse some of the Playstation Blog posts related to the games if you're so inclined)

That is no small thing by any means and, as stated, it doesn't cover the full host of games that have already been committed.  Absent, likely because of the little bit of time between the announcements and this one, are (off the top of my head) The Binding of Isaac:  Rebirth and Lone Survivor, both of which have already made their own splashes on PC, and not in a little way.  That is also not even counting the announcement of Terraria's left-right movement towards the Vita as a platform.  I am likely missing others as well, but that's fine since, I mean, this is a pretty big list, both in length and content.  Wouldn't want to, you know, overwhelm people with this stuff.

Size is, admittedly something I've been focusing on since it's the theme of an interesting new development on the game complainer's front, also known as the comment section of every mainstream game news site anywhere ever.  The whingings of "no gaaaaaames" can be heard throughout every corner of the internet, as is usually the case when something is new and developers haven't had a lot of time to actually work on it.  Despite the truth of the matter being that there clearly -are- games for the Vita, it was a bit hard to argue, given that the schedule looked a bit clear a few weeks ago with Soul Sacrifice, Tearaway and Killzone:  Mercenary being the biggest things on the horizon.  However, as it is in most cases, these folks aren't -actually- criticizing from a place where they actually want to see things get better, but rather complaining to complain.  You can tell this because the whingings have shifted from "no gaaaaames" to "No biiiiiiig gaaaaames".

While true that the scope of Indie games is usually inherently smaller than most because of the nature -of- Indie developers (usually a small group of people, if not just one or two), these are not, by any means, games that you're going to sit down and fully complete in an afternoon.  Which, by the by, you -can- do with some of the 'big' games that are out there now that people just absolutely clamor for.  At the very least, the above Dragon Fantasy Book II seems to fancy itself after RPGs of the 'old school' which, as we know, were not incredibly short affairs and we loved them for it.  I just can't help but laugh at how quickly the goalposts get moved and by laugh, I mean want to shake someone by the shoulders for about five minutes straight.  Not like I would shake any sense out of them, of course.

The whole point that I'm harping on, I think, is that one of the complaints about the Vita has been "Where are the games?" and now, bam.  There they are.  These are the confirmed ones and this level of support means that it's not a one-off thing - these developers are in because they -want- in and they're going to keep going, clearly.  Robert Boyd of Zeboyd games has been fairly coy about developing for the Vita, but has stated that there's a "good chance" that CSH (Short for Cosmic Star Heroine, code-name for the next Zeboyd Games RPG after PAA4) will be PC/Vita at launch (if not for the major consoles as well) which is a big boon, certainly.  If the 'game-starved' handheld could manage to have CSH, Hotline Miami, Terraria and The Binding of Isaac on it at the same time, well...

I think we'll manage.

I Have Never Been So Happy to Be So Wrong

Will [Terraria on Vita] happen?  Certainly not.  I'm amazed we're getting the PS3/360 versions and I worry for the amount of post-release support they'll see, so yet another version is inherently out of the question.  A man can dream, however, and we know that I dream big.  Or...well, in this case, little.

-Me from "In Which I Shamelessly Port-Whine" (February 7, 2013)

It is kind of a running theme that I am bad at predicting stuff.  It's so bad that it's kind of a running theme pointing out that it's a running theme that I am bad at predicting stuff.  If it ever gets to the point there it's a running theme pointing out that it's a running theme that it's a running them, it will be so meta that I will probably reach some sort of singularity and implode.  Because of all of that, I shouldn't have been surprised when I looked in my twitter feed earlier today and saw this tweet leading to this Playstation Blog Post, my natural reaction should have been some sort of smugness in successfully extorting reverse psychology or something like that.  Instead I just kind of went "Eeeeee!" and opened the link to check it out on the Vita browser.  There was some degree of excitement in my actions, but I will let you guess as to just how much.  We're getting interactive now.

You can check out the post if you like - in fact, I almost encourage it in some ways - but you're not really going to get a lot of information from it, since they didn't really give any.  It's basically around four paragraphs saying "It's coming to Vita because a lot of people asked for a Vita version and we like the Vita because of it's control options.  Terraria is also awesome, I hope you guys know that." and showing off a couple of fancy pictures, one of which I nicked for the above header image.  Since it is (likely) from the console version which, obviously, the Vita version will be based on, it was on a flickr account (Playstation Europe's) which I am a fan of using for picture hosting and I didn't want to load up IGN tonight.  This is a better picture than I would've gotten anyway.

All the information you would kind of want alongside an announcement, stuff like pricing, release date, improvements/changes to this version, as well as the Cross-stuff we might assume is there with the PS3 version (Cross-Buy/Play/Save) is missing, unfortunately.  It's not surprising, though, nor is it too much of a problem since we know, unequivocally, that it's coming to the Vita.  Personally, I'm going under the impression that it's going to release at the tail end of Summer for $9.99 and not support Cross-anything.  It will be unfortunate, but at the same time, I will be able to build a bunch of shit on my Vita which is kind of all I ever want to do, so I can't be too upset with that.  A little, perhaps.

I have already made suggestions as to alternate control methods that utilize some of the Vita's features in a way that isn't abhorrent (despite the insistence to some that it might be) so I'm not going to present them again and act like my idea has refined with time or become more attractive.  Still, I would be surprised if touch screen support wasn't implemented in some way, though I suspect it will only be useful in Inventory management, hotbar selection and navigating the crafting menu.  I would certainly hope that they wouldn't use the front touchscreen to try and aim the 'cursor', even optionally, because that...that would be abysmal with how small the Terraria blocks are and how much of the screen you block when you do that.  The backscreen is attractive because of that, not obscuring things, but I'm sure gripes with the expected accuracy might hinder its use as well, even if it's just used as, again the 'cursor' and nothing more.

I suppose when Terraria for Vita is announced to release sometime Mid-May at $14.99 with Cross-Buy, Play & Save support, you'll all have me to thank for that, but until then I will hold on to my cynicism that isn't actually all that cynical considering the circumstances.  Whatever the release date and in whatever form it comes out in, it's going to be a little late because I want it now.  Still, knowing that it's coming in reality and not just my fantasies is comforting to say the least and for as tempted as I was to buy the PS3 version, I'm glad I held off since I will likely never play it on PS3 even if the Vita version ends up being Cross-Buy, much as I have never played Retro City Rampage on my PS3.  Or Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  Or any other Cross-Buy game I've bought.

In Which I Shamelessly Port-Whine

A post on Joystiq yesterday reminded me that Terraria is coming to PS3 and 360 which is something that I have forgotten at least three times since it was announced.  I -should- be fairly excited about this because I was always pretty interested in the game and, despite having a copy of it gifted to me, I couldn't play it because my computer is a total shithog with a ten-year-old graphics card.  That has no shaders on it.  You say "Graphics Card, what are shaders" and it responds "I HAVE NO IDEA, GET OFF OF MY LAWN" because it is that old, you see.  Being that I already have potentially $500 in video games lined up for this year (I wish I was kidding, but the 3DS is most likely getting bought by me in the very near future so I can play Rune Factory and Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing when it comes out) a new laptop is still far, far out of reach and I really should prioritize it, but come on, these are like the only games, out of the multitudes that are releasing this year, that I'm interested in just yet, so I'm going to get them.

Anyways, back to the original point, Terraria is still getting a PS3/360 version and the linked Joystiq article speaks on the technical hurdles that the porting studio had to get over to actually conform the game to a Twin-Stick setup rather than Keyboard/Mouse.  I hadn't really thought about it to this point because I was just thinking "Oh, it's a sidescroller, you jump, you attack things, can't be hard" but I completely neglected the fact that free-form aiming, because of the mouse, -is- a big part of Terraria and I realized that is quite the problem, actually.  Terraria, in a sense, is a very different game than most because of that layout and it becomes a rather tricky beast to take anywhere but the home it was built for.  Terraria relies on the mouse for the following purposes:  targeting specific blocks to mine/place (sometimes behind blocks that are directly between you and them, using sorcery), aiming projectile weapons, aiming a grappling hook and selecting/interacting with NPCs among other things.

Some of those things are easily replicated - aiming with a stick is practically child's play by this point, using  the full circle of analog to more or less guarantee you can aim just about anywhere, same with a grappling hook (since it's basically the same thing), and interacting with NPCs can have a less elegant scenario of, perhaps, having to be closer to them than in the PC version and navigating through their shops and conversations with the D-Pad and face buttons.  That's all simple.  The other things are quite a bit less intuitive and simple to do, specifically the mining and placing blocks since, as mentioned, you can use sorcery to place and mine blocks that are not directly in front of you.  This was used a lot of times by folks who would carve out large containers and manipulate physics to safely create and contain infinite sources of water and lava.  As well as having uses that -weren't- there to exploit the mechanics, obviously.  The solution of using the second stick to control cross-hairs for these targeted purposes isn't quite the most elegant one, but I'm sure it'll work in the long run.

Of course, you all know -how- I think and, more or less, -what- I think of all the time, day-in and day-out, so I imagine you know where I'm going with this.  I am thinking Vita Vita Vita, how can this be on the Vita because I want this on the Vita.  This specifically, actually, and not just this as in how I want -everything- on the Vita because I love it dearly.  Terraria, as a building game that can obviously be ported (to consoles, whether or not it -could- be on the Vita is in question, certainly and I don't dare state that I know one way or another) just sounds absolutely delightful as a title you can play on the go, doesn't it?  Have a few minutes on the train?  Pop into your world and continue working on building your castle.  Spot a particularly wonderful or inspiring piece of architecture while you're out?  Take a picture with your Vita, and use it as a basis for a different kind of build.  Just can't sleep and can't be assed to turn on your console or PC?  Mine down about two dozen layers and start looking for some lovely ores and bits that you need.  It is delicious-sounding to myself personally and while I jones for something a little more Minecraft-flavored, I will gladly take what I can get, and I have been warming to the idea of Terraria for a long time now.

Most importantly, there is a practical reason for this.  Stay with me, because I know what I'm going to suggest is going to seem appalling at first, but it makes sense.  Now, the problem with the control method on the Consoles basically stems from the lack of a proper pointer control for consoles and that's understandable.  As said, the solution isn't very elegant, but it certainly sounds serviceable.  But the advantage that the portables, both the 3DS and the Vita have is that they do have the next best thing from pointer controls in the touch screens.  Hey, hey, I said stay with me, don't make that face.  Yes, I saw it.  Just hear me out, alright?  Now, let's speak specifically of the Vita.  I know controlling things like cross-hairs for mining by covering up half of the screen with your hands is not a -more- elegant solution to using cross-hairs aimed with a stick.  I'm not suggesting that.  I'm not suggesting that at all.

I can hear you now, saying "No Mogs, no, I know where you are going and that way lies madness" and this is potentially true.  Yet, I cannot think of why it -wouldn't- work.  Were a game like Terraria (or, quite specifically Terraria) to be on the Vita, using the Back Touch Pad as a pointer for things like mining and the like might not be a bad idea as an option.  I certainly wouldn't suggest it being the only method available, which would have it fall back on the Consoles Auto/Manual switch as the other option, but with a little finangling, it's certainly a more elegant option.  Just think about it - using your middle finger (easiest to maneuver with the longest reach, though you could certainly use others) on the back of the Vita keeps it completely out of sight and with the cross-hairs actually appearing on-screen, you have an actual idea of where it is.  Combine that with using a 'function button', possibly Cross or Square and then blam, you are freely able to mine, place, do whatever the hell you want with a cursor that is quite a bit swifter and more responsive than the analog stick, in theory.

Will it happen?  Certainly not.  I'm amazed we're getting the PS3/360 versions and I worry for the amount of post-release support they'll see, so yet another version is inherently out of the question.  A man can dream, however, and we know that I dream big.  Or...well, in this case, little.

My Games of 2011, The Games That Weren't My Games

Much like last year, there were several games that, while noteworthy, I simply didn't get into playing them for one reason or another.  Some because I didn't want to, some because I didn't get to, and some because I just didn't have the funds to justify getting it.  Luckily(?) this year I didn't really have any games that I just didn't get around to playing by some miraculous glut of purchases, so that's honestly one less section that I have to put in, however there's really only two sections that the games for this year to fit into for me.

No Ability

Terraria

I actually keep forgetting about Terraria in every fashion for a multitude of reasons.  It's a PC-Exclusive game that will most likely remain that way, it seems like it's either completely entrenching one moment or completely off-putting another, and I actually own it, technically, but I can't play it because my PC is terrible and has no shaders to speak of in the graphic cards or something.  I know, really authorative on PC gaming specs, right?  Anyways, I got myself a Steam Profile a ways back as almost a cruel joke for myself since I'm not fooling anybody; I can't run shit on this machine.  And shortly after that, I was handed a copy of Terraria and it was going to be fun times because I mean, look at Terraria, it doesn't need -shit- to run, right?  Wrong.  It needs more than I have, which means it's....well, completely untouchable to me for now.

It's unfortunate as, like I said, at times Terraria looks like the kind of game I personally would sink -hours- of my life into when in the right mood, as, despite the lack of 3D space to work with, Terraria compensates by having a lot of 'fluff' items to decorate with.  Dummies that you can put full suits of armor on for display, statues, varied pieces of furniture, etc. the possibilities are already numerous and growing more and more with every update.  It's out-paced Minecraft in that department by quite a bit already and has the added benefit of, well, being more of a game than Minecraft unfortunately.  While I'm not one to needlessly compare the games, as the internet seems wont to do, there are striking similarities and in brutal honesty, Terraria is a more realized game and feels like it's actually past release.  It has actual NPCs rather than placeholders, actual boss fights, plural, rather than only one, and definite 'post-game' content that shapes the world around your character and their designs.

However at the same time as the above, there is only so much that you can do with a single plane of input.  (Well, two as there's a background layer for walls)  You can make things that look kind of neat, you can make overly elaborate towers and tall buildings to compensate for the single plane and....that's about it.  There's not really the expansive feel that you get with 3D terrain.  I mean just look at this video of a series called "Medieval Minecrafting" in which one DurandalofAegis proceeds to make a gigantic castle in Minecraft.  There's a real feel of scale that I really don't think you can recreate in a solely 2D environment.  Maybe I'll get proven wrong, and there is obviously merit alone to Terraria itself, merit that I would've loved to explore personally, but I just couldn't.

Star Wars:  The Old Republic

Another PC offering (as will likely all the 'no ability' games be), The Old Republic and the upcoming Phantasy Star Online 2 caused me to really really consider my position on MMOs because they are both games that I would really like to play.  I'm just not sure -how much- though, as I wouldn't want to pay for the privilege of playing the game I bought with other monies, and that's really a stance I'm not planning on wavering on.  We'll see if that stands when I actually have a computer that could play either game, as I suspect I might buckle under the weight of being able to play something with my Li'l Sis (TOR) or being able to play a PSO game online for the first time after missing out all those years ago on Dreamcast.  All venues that I would consider listening to suggest that TOR is actually something to keep an eye on and to play and, most importantly, enjoy, but I am not really the best judge of these things.  Still, after great enjoyment with the Knights of the Old Republic games, it would be nice to give TOR the ol' college try.

Minecraft

Still.  Goddamnit.

No Hurry

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

While it may be considered blasphemy in some places, I don't think Skyrim would have placed very high on my GotY list even if I had played it.  Regardless, I didn't and the reasoning is quite simple:  There's no need to buy Bethesda games at launch.  I have made this point again and again and will continue to make it until it proves to be mis-truth.  The games are generally riddled with bugs that may or may not render some future additions completely untouchable if not just generally hamper your experience, and they will invariably always get some form of expansion packs that are then bundled in when the game goes "Game of the Year Edition" the following year.  And all the reasons to play it, the expansive maps, the stories, but main and side, and the actual experience of the gameplay?  Those will all still be there when you pick up the game a year down the line at a discount with content that people had to shell out half the games value to get additionally.

Regardless, I find it hard to be anything more than a little charmed with the openness and such of Bethesda worlds that so entrench others.  I have fond memories of Morrowind and Oblivion, but they're only of dicking around which you could generally do in most games.  While the specifics might be exclusive to these games, the general vibe is not, nor can it be, so it' not something to really tout.  For instance, the most fun I had with Morrowind was getting it on PC, using the glitch that let you make spells that would permanently buff your stats to make a super dude and then going around and assassinating the guards of the land with shurikens until 1) I died or 2) the game crashed.  Similarly in Oblivion, I had a lot of fun just killing people to throw them into rivers and the like and specifically causing trouble in the district of the Imperial City where the Thieves Guild meets for initiation; hopping up on those rooftops and taunting guards and civilians that happen to be annoyed at you while they just stare at you in impotent rage, it's a pretty good feeling.  Yet not feelings specifically found only in Bethesda games.

Portal 2

I hate to do it, but I gotta be that guy.  I didn't really care for Portal which is no doubt partly caused by the overexposure I and the rest of the internet was subjected to after its massive success.  I gave it a try, played until I couldn't, which meant I didn't beat it, and just couldn't be bothered to care.  Even when I saw the rest of the game via two different Let's Plays I couldn't care.  I realize that's just my own personal thing here and no representative of popular opinion or of even an opinion that you should have, but I can't really lie about it.  And as far as I can tell, Portal 2 promised from day one to be more of the same but bigger and 'better', so I basically just had to write it off to a later date.  I'll give it a try just like the first Portal and since the internet hasn't exploded with memes from the game, hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it a bit more.

Batman:  Arkham City

Much like Portal 2 being more of the same of Portal 1, Arkham City had been described as more of the same of Asylum but, again bigger and 'better' which...just isn't very appealing to me.  I didn't dislike Arkham Asylum, but when I beat it I was very much done with it.  I had done the bulk of the side stuff already, so when the game dumped me back into it after the final boss fight, I could only walk around for a little bit before I shrugged and moved on.  I can't tell what it is, but Arkham Asylum was just one of those games that, while I was playing it, it was awesome and I couldn't get enough until I was finished, and then when I was finished, I just couldn't be bothered to have anything more to do with it, as I said.  It wasn't like the combat wasn't great - it was.  It wasn't like the characters, the acting weren't wonderful and nostalgic - they were.  It just was not a game made with replayability in mind to me, which is a bit rough considering one of the two(?) trophies I had left was to play the game through again on hard.

Like the rest of them, I'll play Arkham City one day.  That day is just undetermined and very much in the future.

And finally one last game that wasn't my game of the year and I'm going to give it its own section.

Don't Hate Me, Chance

Dark Souls

I assure you there is a very, very simple reason for why I didn't play Dark Souls this year, nor will I for a while yet:  I haven't played Demon's Souls yet.  I know I was talking about starting that up months ago, going so far as to even plan out my character far in advance, but I just haven't gotten around to it.  Other games take priority over one that's going to stab me repeatedly in the throat while I am learning its ways, I'm afraid, and me being weird as I am, I can't let myself play the sequel before the original even if they have nothing to do with one another.  It's just not a thing I can do, and I would suggest that I suffer for that as others might suggest as well.  While I am assured that Dark Souls is a very good game, I have only been able to muster a wary eye towards it, wanting to know of its ways, yet not wanting to be spoiled on too much of it.  I want just that right amount of preparedness for when I step into its world that I might learn the hard knocks without suffering the easy ones as well.

While there's a few other games that could make this list, these are pretty much the note-worthy games here.  There's really no ill will towards any of them, just not any particularly high level of excitement, either.  And if we know one thing about me it's that that's what I crave:  games that excite me.  Whether it be for the concept alone (Lollipop Chainsaw) or the promise of something I already like, but refined (Like, every sequel this past year that I played), I have to feel something for the game before I want to exchange currency to hold it in my hands.  It'll be a dark day indeed if I lose that feeling, but I really, really doubt that day will ever come, which is something to be quite thankful for.