Geek Babble—Dabbling in the Game Backlog

 

A major personal goal of mine has always been to complete at least five games a year. At one point in my life I was gaming so little that it felt like a major accomplishment to finish one or two games a year. To make matters worse, a lot of games caught my eye and before I knew it I had a massive backlog. At one point I stopped buying games to motivate myself to deal with the backlog, which didn’t last long as some games I waited on went out of print and tripled in price. (I’m looking at you Shin Megami Tensei: IV Apocalypse.) However, challenges like Four in February and weekly Twitch streaming have been a godsend in terms of finishing games.

Between February 2019 and July 2021, I’ve managed to finish 23 games. This has beat out my planned average per year by eight games. 16 of those 23 games were finished because of my weekly streaming schedule. The rest I managed to eventually finish on my own. 2021 is looking like a good year for finishing up games on Twitch and on my own. So why not look back on my favorites in terms of what I’ve finished, presently at what I’m playing, and what I have my eye on for the future?

 

Past Journeys

 

Night in the Woods | Developer: Infinite Fall | Publisher: Finji | Release: 2017

Night in the Woods is a well-received adventure game. It took the indie games and furry communities by storm when it released in 2017. Although I didn’t know anything about the game, I constantly saw official art character art and fan art. When I bought the game for PC in January 2019, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

What I got was amazing story about life in a small town, the ills of capitalism, mental illness, and the dark side of a small community, all explored through the eyes of Mae Borowski. Sure, the characters of Night in the Woods are anthropomorphic animals, but the overall themes are very human. The NPCs of the game are just as memorable as the main cast, as they lament how things should be better in their lives. Such a sentiment regarding the worst aspects of unfettered capitalism are still as relevant as ever and will continue to be for some time. Replace the animals with people and much wouldn’t change about this indie title, except it might not be as visually striking. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with NiTW and I wouldn’t mind a second playthrough making different choices and hanging out with different characters. And who could forget one of the most frustrating mini-games of all time?

As a personal bonus, it was never outright mentioned, but this game definitely takes place in Western Pennsylvania. The location is heavily inspired by Johnstown, which isn’t too far from Pittsburgh. Even as someone who was born, raised and is still living in Philadelphia (on the Eastern side of the state), the quirks that make up PA were impossible to miss. Soft pretzels and pierogies, anyone?

 

Journey | Developer: That Game Company | Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment | Release: 2012

Journey was another game I’d heard about, but never got around to playing. Many gamers sung its praises. It took a pandemic, a break from another game, and livestreaming to get around to playing this fantastic game. As cliché as it is, the journey is more important than the destination in a good story and Journey is no exception. I loved how minimalistic the art and story are. It didn’t matter what happened to the previous civilization or the current occupants making their way far up into mountains to reach the skies. All that matters is enjoying the view, helping others along the way, and in turn receiving help. The absence of dialogue just made everything flow better, as you don’t always need talking heads or a wall of text to simply explore and enjoy yourself.

 

 

Deception IV: Blood Ties | Developer: Tecmo Koei | Publisher: Tecmo Koei | Release: 2014

If you had asked me back in 2014, if I would be playing Deception IV on my own volition I would have laughed. Fast forward to 2020, and not only have I played Deception, but I livestreamed it as well. To be fair, I had help playing the game from my then fiancé, now husband. Deception was actually a series I knew next to nothing about, until I heard a Game Informer podcast briefly talking about the Trapt series. The idea of a puzzle and strategy game didn’t appeal to me, so I was content to watch my husband play.

Fortunately, he was willing to play on stream as we figured out ways to trap intruders while playing as Laegrinna, daughter of the devil. In other games, we’d be playing as the heroes trying to slay the witch in the castle. Here, the roles are reserved and it’s a hell of a good time. The game turned out to be surprisingly fun and once I understood the mechanics of the game. Of course, the best moment of the livestream came when my husband rage quit and the penultimate boss and I had to finish the game. The traps weren’t elaborate, but they got the job done. Unsurprisingly, our playthrough videos of Deception IV are really disliked on YouTube. Can’t please ‘em all.

 

Detroit: Become Human | Developer: Quantic Dream | Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment | Release: 2018

Detroit: Become Human is another game I was content to watch someone else play. When it was released in 2018, I actually watched a Let’s Play from YouTuber, Northernlion. Who knew two years later that I would be streaming the game for my own audience on Twitch? I’m going to say it now: David Cage is a terrible writer. Detroit was a game brimming with potential, but much of it was squandered because of bad writing. I could feel the energy of my Twitch chat becoming negative during particularly egregious scenes in the game.

Detroit was about androids becoming self-aware. Instead of a story about what it means to be human, or the general nature of humanity, we received an allegory about racism. If the subject was handled with care and research the story could have been special. Detroit tossed all that care out of the window when it pulled from Jim Crow and Civil Rights era America, and the Jewish holocaust for good measure. Worse yet, these events only seem to serve as emotional shortcuts via shock value without really having anything meaningful to say other than “racism bad.” It’s not even a realistic depiction, as the androids had almost no human sympathizers or allies, which wasn’t true during the events Detroit takes its references from. And no, Hank, Carl, and Rose can’t be just the sole allies and sympathizers in this game, especially when other humans are indifferent or hostile.

The writing just reeks of a simple solution to racism where the victims have to do all of the heavy lifting and the oppressors suddenly have a change of heart. In other words, just protest a lot and people will see they were wrong and grant you rights—there won’t be much push back or an attempted rollback of rights. The violent path was slightly more realistic, as the threat of future violence undercut the androids’ victory.

If I had to fix Detroit: Become Human I’d scrap the racism, stick with what it means to become human, and focus on Conner and Hank’s story. The detective aspects were the strongest elements of the game. Kara and Markus could have been side stories, with Markus playing the minor antagonist role until everyone realized Cyberlife was the real enemy. Gameplay-wise, a lot of the QTEs could have been scaled back with a little more direct action added.

This game fills a weird spot for me, as I enjoyed many aspects of the game and had fun, but the disappointments were such a letdown.

 

Pyre | Developer: Supergiant Games | Publisher: Supergiant Games | Release: 2017

Bastion and the small amount of Transistor I experienced were enough to make me jump into Pyre blind. After all, Supergiant Games has never let me down. This is despite me never actually finishing one of their titles until I got to Pyre. Thankfully, that streak continued with Transistor in June and July of this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Supergiant’s third title, especially since it hadn’t been released on console. I just knew I was in for a treat when it came to the artwork and the music.

I actually signed up a visual novel and sports game hybrid. This also marked the first livestream where I would start reading game dialogue out loud, adding hours on to my total time played. A game with a lot of dialogue makes for a fascinating story, but an absolute slog to read through. As for the meat of the gameplay, the rituals are both addictively fun and hard. I found myself losing a variety of story matches and had to vigorously practice offline in order to get better at the game.

The rituals are pretty much if someone wondered if three-man basketball should be deadlier by having the players plunge themselves into a giant flame to score points and making it okay to directly attack opponents. Of course, smart players can just toss their orbs into the fire instead of sacrificing a player for a few turns and skilled players can even bank shots. I am none of these which made for some intense games. Add buffs and handicaps, and Pyre felt impossible to win at times. Fortunately, finishing the game doesn’t depend on winning the rituals, but it does make for a better ending. One of the best things that came out of playing was the discovery that gamers competitively play via multiplayer. One of these days I’m going to get in on one of these matches.

 

Doki Doki Literature Club! | Developer: Team Salvato | Publisher: Team Salvato | Release: 2017

Doki Doki Literature Club! was another one of those infamous games that took the indie community by force when it was released in 2017. I managed to avoid spoilers and knew it was a strange game. However, a friend of mine suggested that I should try the game and could finish it in an afternoon. Thus, I had the bright idea to stream it on Twitch in 2020. Remember what I said about dialogue regarding Pyre? Doki Doki was like that, but on steroids being a pure visual novel.

In a way, I’m glad I wasn’t spoiled by fans of Doki Doki Literature Club! or by looking up spoilers for myself. There’s nothing quite like going in blind and not only experiencing my first visual novel/dating sim, but also recoiling when everything goes horribly wrong. I assure you everything does go wrong in the wildest, most fucked up ways I’ve seen in a video game. The gravity and violence of the situation strikes differently here versus another game genre where violence might be expected. The sadness and impact of the story really hits home. It’s a game I can’t recommend enough, especially since it is free on Steam. If PC games aren’t your style, a Switch port is coming later this year.

 

Present Journeys

 

Ring Fit Adventure | Developer: Nintendo | Publisher: Nintendo | Release: 2019

Remember back in back in 2007 when Nintendo wanted gamers to be more active by releasing Wii Fit? I actually tried the game and it left a lot to be desired. I didn’t care for the balance board or the Wii remote. I quickly abandoned the game. Imagine my surprise in 2019 when Ring Fit Adventure was announced. On the name alone, it felt like more Wii Fit, but the actual game play intrigued me. Instead of just being a health and fitness game it combined exercise with a simple JRPG. I knew I had to have a copy of this game.

I wasn’t disappointed. Ring Fit Adventure is a story about one sentient exercise ring’s quest to stop Dragaux , a muscular dragon in a leotard from spreading his dark influence. Ring teams up with you the player in order to chase down this healthy villain via the power of exercise. Ring and Dragaux were once good friends. The story is both simple and quite enjoyable. The exercise itself is quite challenging and the difficultly can be raised or lowered as needed. This game ranges from fun to the type of exertion that leaves you gasping for air on the floor after a particularly tough set of moves.

The RPG mechanics are integrated well. Working out certain body parts will do extra damage depending on the monster. Exercises that target certain areas of the body are color coded and so are majority of monsters fought. For example, yellow monsters are weak against exercises that target the abs. Moves can be area-of-effect or single target, and the more powerful the move, the longer the cooldown before it can be used again. This wouldn’t be an RPG without potions smoothies that heal, buff, or revive you. For people who just want to exercise and not be bothered with the story, there are modes for that. There’s also a rhythm game, and tips regarding muscles and proper nutrition.

This is probably the exercise game Wii Fit should have been. The best part? Nintendo learned their lesson and there’s no body shaming.

 

Fire Emblem: Three Houses | Developer: Intelligent Systems, Koei Tecmo | Publisher: Nintendo | Release: 2019

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was a day one purchase for me, but I’ve been struggling to finish even one path in this game for two years now, playing off and on. It’s not that I dislike this newest Fire Emblem game; it’s that all of the changes introduced took me a while to understand. That and the school portions of the game just drag. In a similar vein to the newer Persona titles, excelling in school (as a professor, opposed to a student) have consequences for the battle sections of Three Houses. The better you perform as a professor, the faster your students while grow, and the better they’ll perform as units on the battlefield.

It honestly took 40 hours for the game’s teaching mechanics to click with me. I probably could have and should have used a tutorial. I don’t like the removal triangle systems. Especially given that the weapons and magic triangles have been a series staple for so long. Removing them feels so strange, even if the trade-off (more flexibility in assigning classes) isn’t bad. Strengths and weaknesses aren’t completely gone, as certain units still decimate other units. For instance, bringing a Pegasus Knight to an Archer party will still mean certain death for that knight. There’s also a huge focus on skills now, some of which power up some weapons when faced off against others. It’s possible to make lances strong against swords like in the original game with the move, Sword Breaker. I can’t speak much more on the battle system since it feels like I’ve only scratched the surface at 46 hours in.

Hopefully, I can finish at least one route in Three Houses sooner than later. After that, I’d love to return to do other routes between playing other JPRGs. If you’re curious, my starting house is the Golden Deer because loose alliances are awesome.

 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice | Developer: Capcom | Publisher: Capcom | Release: 2016

The sixth mainline Ace Attorney game has been a constant source of disappointment. I’m not going to mince words. I do not like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice. My dislike doesn’t stem from this being a bad game. The story and the characters introduced are just not to my liking. I also dislike the fictional Kingdom of Khura’in, their royalty, and their legal system. The idea of not having lawyers, a jury, or even a trial just leaves a foul taste in my mouth. Worse yet, decisions about guilt or innocence are left to religious divination and the royalty are treated like gods. Lawyers who try to defend their clients are completely demonized and if a lawyer is foolish enough to want a trial, they are sentenced to the same fate as their clients if found guilty—including the death sentence. Yet, prosecutors are not made to face any consequences for their wrong-doing.

I don’t know if it’s a change in society and the extreme polarization that’s come about within the last decade, or if this is a story I just can’t get into for the reasons above. Either way, Spirit of Justice just isn’t any fun for me to play. I’d like to finish the game because I’ve never skipped an Ace Attorney that was localized for the West. That said, I believe I’ve found a game worse than Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All in my eyes. Again, these are just my thoughts. They may change upon completing the game.

 

Future Ventures

 

Shin Megami Tensei V | Developer: Atlus | Publisher: Sega | Release: 2021

I enjoyed Shin Megami Tensei IV and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse quite a bit. It’s only natural that I put V on my “must play” list. This will probably be the biggest JPRG I play on the Switch this year since I haven’t gotten into Monster Hunter Rise or Monster Hunter Stories II as of yet. My plan is to finish Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore and then Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne before Shin Megami Tensei V drops. Will I make those goals? Who knows!