Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (For Everything Shovel Knight is for. Seriously, that’s a long list.)

Heads up, this review assumes that you’ve read my previous review about Shovel Knight so click here to check that out.

The Order of No Quarter isn’t exactly as united as we were lead to believe in the events of Shovel Knight. The eccentric alchemist, Plague Knight, has hatched a scheme to create the Ultimate Potion. With it, anything could be his — and I do mean anything. Unfortunately he’s missing nine vital ingredients, which happen to be nothing less than a portion of each of the essences of the other knights in the Order, the Enchantress, and Shovel Knight himself — that’s right, this game takes place during his adventure. With the Ultimate Potion nearly within his grasp you take control of the masked maniac himself, Plague Knight, as he journeys across the land to defeat his so called ‘comrades’. The real question though, is what he means to do with the mighty concoction once it’s made.

History

If you want a fuller story of Yacht Club Games and the creation of Shovel Knight then check out the Shovel Knight Review. That being said, Yacht Club expected to make DLC campaigns but they didn’t know which characters to use… so they asked the fans. There was a giant poll for which members of the Order they wanted to play as and Plague Knight, Spectre Knight, and King Knight were the top three. As such, Plague Knight’s expansion was the first to be released. It and all other additional chunks of content are FREE so if you purchase Shovel Knight expect a ghostly present and a crowned present arriving in your future.

Plague of Shadows was released on September 17th, 2015. It’s competition was Undertale (Mac and PC), Armikrog (PC, Mac, and Linux), and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.)

Experiences

Do you remember when I said Shovel Knight was the platformer I was most emotionally invested in? I may have fibbed a bit because it’s Plague of Shadows that really had me following characters and reading really deep into minute pieces of dialogue.  Every little interaction reveals more about what sort of person Plague Knight is, why he joined the Order, and what he means to do with the Ultimate Potion. He’s not just a stock villain. In an Undertale-Esque fashion it’s plain to see how he got caught up in all this and what sort of person he is. And — it makes no sense saying it here but trust me — it’s a delight to watch him dance.

Shovel Knight’s a heroic guy with a lot of regret but Plague Knight is my favorite of the two.

Gameplay

This game plays unshockingly just like Shovel Knight. It’s the same levels and enemies but Plague Knight’s new abilities and play-style make it a unique experience. Unlike Shovel Knight, Plague’s jump is much shorter but he makes up for this with a little double jump and his ability to blast-jump. Plague Knight also differs from his spade wielding foe because he has a ranged attack. This small change makes combat completely different, it turns into a game of keep away where you cascade explosives on your enemies.

Our dear alchemy obsessed friend also has unique secret areas and collectibles. If you see any shining green coins floating around then try to collect them. This bizarre currency is used to unlock more upgrades that Plague can purchase with treasure — alchemy ain’t cheap, y’know. This includes blast effects, bomb fuses, and bomb explosion types — mix and match to destroy your enemies. Speaking of all this, Plague Knight doesn’t actually make all this stuff. His assistant, Mona — she’s the dour woman who lives in the basement by the juice bar — will be doing all this crafting from within Plague Knight’s secret under-village lab.

Ah… the Secret Lab, Plague’s home away from the Explodatorium.

The Gush

I loved all the upgrades. There wasn’t one that I never used. For each component there is a situation for which it is the tool for the job.

Did you ever wonder where Chester got all those relics? Well let’s just say Plague can acquire an arsenal of his own and that he’s got no problem with the barter system. In short, Plague has got a series of very special items at his disposal that have a variety of uses such as mega bombs or a potion that makes HIM deal contact damage to enemies. I recommend finding them all.

Throughout the course of Plague Knight’s adventures he can go anywhere Shovel Knight could go. It’s really interesting to return to these locations and approach them differently. I can tell the designers had a field day thinking of all the ways to get Plague Knight through a Shovel Knight shaped hole…

… both figuratively and literally.

Jumping jackrabbits, Plague Knight is incredibly mobile. Instead of taking attacks to the face like Shovel could you can dodge with all the grace and acrobatics of an explosion. There’s something great about jumping way high up and raining chaos and pain from above. I love how the guy has so much utility and yet lacks a basic melee attack — it really suits his style.

Look at this dapper dude. He’s got style oozing out of his beak.

The Secret Lab is anything but solitary. It’s filled with goons to chat with and blast away — Plague Knight is not a kind boss– Magicist returns from the town above, there’s a goat-man performing mathematical feats, Mona, and a giant oboe creature. It’s really fun to see how they all bounce off each other.

The Final Boss is a real treat in this one. It’s mechanically and thematically satisfying as well as presenting a marvelous challenge.

The Kvetch

I described Plague as being incredibly mobile and sometimes this works against him. It’s incredibly easy to blast-jump into obstacles or into a pit. Between jumping, double jumping, blast jumping, and the Surging Staff’s uppercut it can be a little bewildering to coordinate. It took me a lot of practice to get all this stuff straight and it’s almost required for you to master all this junk to get Plague Knight where he needs to go.

The Verdict

This is a must-have piece of DLC for Shovel Knight and the best part is that IT COMES FREE WITH SHOVEL KNIGHT! That’s 15 dollars for basically two games. To top it all off the game’s got co-op on the WiiU so now you can play with your friends. I cannot recommend it enough and loved it so much I thought I would spontaneously combust.

Next Week: Dishonored

Battle Realms (PC)

Long ago the demonic beings known as The Horde were bearing down on the remnants of the Dragon Clan. Their leader, Tarrant the elder, used the ancient artifact known as the Serpent’s Orb to drive back The Horde and, in doing so, broke the world. The remnants of his people renounced their old clan and renamed themselves The Serpent after the orb and to foster a new way of thinking for their new world. A path of ambition, industry, and brutal feudalism.

Three generations have passed since the establishment of the Serpent Clan and the clan has smashed and shattered by their Lotus Clan advisers and Wolf Clan slaves. The last remaining heir of Tarrant’s line, Kenji, must retake the continent from the two remaining clans. Will you reestablish the well oiled machine and strict caste system of the Serpent clan or will you embrace the old traditions of the Dragon Clan and try to restore the broken planet?

History

Battle Realms was the first game released by Liquid Entertainment. It was held in very high regard at the time for being a real-time strategy game in full 3D. It was also praised for its East-Asian aesthetic and innovative unit development system — instead of spontaneously generating units at buildings units train at those buildings. Despite its critical acclaim it wasn’t well marketed and sales suffered. A stand-alone expansion pack was released known as Winter of the Wolf to middling reviews.

I guess the fan base was not interested in barbarians of the ginger variety.

Battle Realms was released on November 7th, 2001. It’s competition was Stronghold (PC), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2), and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC)

Experiences

Patching can make or break a game. And this game, before the patch, was nearly a broken mess. When I played it as a kid I didn’t realize what was wrong with it — I mean, I thought Bubsy was a good game when I was a kid so… It’s plain to see in the pre-patch version that the characters either do too much damage or don’t have enough health and would generally die before I even had a chance to use their abilities. The low health also made the story campaign more difficult as the death of a plot relevant character forces you to lose the mission. Checking over the notes some of the abilities didn’t even work in the game before the update. Liquid entertainment released a series of patches known as the Battlepacks and these did a great job at fixing the broken parts of the game. Right on, Liquid.

Gameplay

Battle Realms is a real-time strategy game with internet multiplayer, skirmishes vs the AI, and two story campaigns. There are four different clans you can play as who all have different strengths, weakness, abilities, and themes. The story campaign limits your clan selection and training abilities at first but unlocks to the full tech tree by the end. The basic goal of a skirmish or campaign map is to create an army that balances its strength and weaknesses and counters the composition of your opponents army.

Unlike other RTS games you have peasants who can build peasant huts which produce more peasants who can train at military buildings. Those units can train at other buildings to become generally better or more specialized. These unit can acquire battle gear at select clan building to further specialize their abilities — although not all battle gear is created equal. Fighting enemies generates the clans moral element, yin or yang, which can be spent on clan-wide upgrades at training buildings.

You can also tame and employ horses which move faster than most units and can trample foes.

The Gush

It’s something very small but I love how gold is not a resource in this game. Units are loyal to the clan, by choice or by fear, and are trained in rice and water instead of gold or something else.

The soundtrack is steeped in recurring musical themes between the different clans. I began to associate metallic chimes with the Serpent clan and whereas I began to associate the Wolf clan with chanting and exuberant shouts. To top it all off each song has a peace-time mix and a battle mix, switching between them as the battle rages or dies down.

Almost every unit has a secret passive ability linked to their character. Bandits, for instance, can scavenge rice and water off of enemy corpses and the powder keg sumo can spread salt across his comrades and reduce the amount of magical damage they take. The abilities vary in power and impact but I feel like they all give each unit flavor such as Shinja’s Ye of little Faith ability which lowers magic damage he takes — and suits his pragmatic and cynical disposition. Unfortunately these abilities were only hinted at in the manuals and some do not make themselves readily apparent in the game.

And if you’re facing the dark magicks of the Lotus Clan then you’d best have magical protection

The animation in this game is quality stuff. When units are unselected they generally idle around and check their equipment and some even goof off. When you click them however they assume a battle-ready stance and are totally ready for your orders. This sort of attention to detail gives them all character.

The battles in this game are patently absurd. You’ll see a ginger Schwarzenegger wanna-be swing a giant wooden mallet against the armor of a professional samurai. It’s absolutely insane and I love it.

The Kvetch

I really dig the art style and graphic styles, don’t get me wrong, but some of the models were made poorly. Ballistamen for instance don’t have heads. They just sort of have faces sticking off their necks. And the proportions of some models are cartoonish at best.

Some of the campaign maps are broken and there are a few that present a brick wall of difficulty. Enemy bases are generally built as actual towns and thus sprawl across the entire map and as such you need to scour the whole area to ensure that no structures are standing — if a single peasant escapes they may be able to rebuild. And anyone who has played the game remembers the siege of Serpentholm as a totally unfair 2 on 1 battle.

First things first, this army looks awesome. Second thing second the whole north half is filled with enemy buildings.

The Verdict

Battle Realms is a slim $10 on Good Old Games and I’d say that’s more than enough for the sheer experience of the story campaign and the pure gameplay. That being said GOG is working on providing servers to get multiplayer back online. Play with your friends! Get totally smashed by strangers on the internet — It’s great! If lightning shooting Warlocks or comically large swords played straight interest you in an RTS then this game might be up your alley.

Next Week: Armello

Tetris Attack (Super Nintendo and Gameboy)

Yoshi is just hanging out on Yoshi’s Island, as he does, with all of the — presumably reformed villains– when Bowser — with his incredibly ill defined magical powers — enchants them to become Yoshi’s enemies once again. The spell also creates a torrential downpour that will flood the world — you see what I mean by poorly defined. Yoshi must now defeat his friends in a puzzle game to break the spell. You know what? Just… don’t overthink this, don’t think about it at all actually, it’s a tetris-esque puzzle game. Just play it.

History

Tetris Attack is a game being torn in three directions at once. It started off as Panel De Pon, a game about fairies trying to defeat the Devil King, Thanatos, who casts a spell to make the fairies fight among each other. Only Lip is able to resist the spell thanks to her magical stick — hence the Super Smash item Lip’s Stick. Nintendo knew that a puzzle game about fairies wouldn’t sell well in the states so they changed the graphics and made it about Yoshi and the cast of Yoshi’s island, which had been released earlier in the year. They couldn’t call it Panel De Pon and in order to increase the approachability of the game Nintendo asked Tetris and it’s then CEO, Henk Rogers if they could use the name. He agreed, but looking back on it regrets the decision because this game isn’t like Tetris at all, quote from Rogers, “In retrospect, we should never have done that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. It dilutes the brand”.

Tetris Attack was released on November 28, 1996. It’s competition was Diablo (PC), Twisted Metal 2 (PS1), and Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES).

Even the walls are happier in Panel de Pon!

Experiences

I can say that as a young child renting video games from Taylor Brook Video I was completely drawn in by a game that was Tetris but HAD ATTACKING! I knew I could play Tetris so I figured I’d be able to play this game, I figured wrong. I couldn’t get very far in the main campaign because I couldn’t figure out how to execute combos or how to organize blocks to eliminate more than three at a time. Like many of these games, I came back when I was in my late teens and was able to finish it. But those unlockable characters would always taunt me, I would never beat very hard mode.

Gameplay

Tetris Attack is… well it works like… I mean, it’s sort of like… and you… nevermind, lemme just show you.

There, that’s how the game works.

The game actually presents a large variety of ways to play the game. There’s endless mode, which is most like actual Tetris. The player plays and accumulates points until they lose. In this mode combos freeze the game so you can get a few seconds of breathing room. There’s puzzle mode which presents the player with a game-state and a certain number of moves. The player’s got to use those moves to eliminated all the blocks. Then there’s VS mode! Where you get to play the campaign style game but against another player. With each player getting the opportunity to adjust their own boards difficulty. And then there’s the main campaign in which you face down 12 computer controlled opponents.

Endless mode also gets larger, more flavorful stages.

The Gush

Once you get into this game it can plunge you into a state of pure flow. It’s not about seeing the blocks, it’s just moving them — I love it. Although when things would get rough I would lose it though, me and my friends would call this, “losing the sight.” One of us would just say, “I’ve lost the sight,” and then they’d soon lose.

The game looks really kiddy, and I mean that in a good way. If the game wasn’t so difficult it would be pure joy. It’s all fluffy and and edgeless until Yoshi reaches The Cave of Wickedness. And come on, how much more punch can you pull calling it the Cave of Wickedness.

Cute overload.

The music in this game is also cutesy and I really like it. It’s not as iconic as Tetris’ A-theme but it suits the puzzling aspects of the game well, even growing more excited as the blocks rise higher. I’m personally fond of Blarg’s, Raphael’s, and Bowser’s theme. I will say though that it’s a little lazy that three bosses all use the same music.

The Kvetch

If you want to unlock the bosses as playable characters then you’d best buckle yourself in for a bumpy ride. You’ve got to beat the game on the hardest difficulty. No, not hard mode. I mean the hardest mode. After you beat Hard mode without using a continue Yoshi says that you’re gonna have to hold up and the L button on the difficulty select screen with Hard highlighted to unlock really freakin’ hard mode. Then you’ve got to beat really freakin’ hard mode without using a continue. Then you’ll unlock the bosses as characters. I just want to play as Kamek because he’s a koopa Wizard.

KOOPA WIZARD! Look at that goddam robe!

A game like this needs the tightest of controls and yet sometimes I feel like the cursor goes further than I mean it to. Maybe I’m just REALLY good at hitting the button quickly but making a misplay can be costly and undoing it takes up valuable time.

The Verdict

You can get the game these days on the WiiU virtual console for eight dollars. It’s a decent enough title but it was really a creature of its time. The big reason I spent my days learning how to play it was because it was the only game I had and I was bored as hell. It’s not a game you and your friends can pick up and play because the handicapping in the VS mode leaves things a little lopsided, and there’s only local multiplayer. You can’t just pick it up and mash buttons like you would be able to in a game like Mortal Combat. The games got a really slow burn and no real focus. I don’t think this game can replace the sheer zen of Tetris but I keep getting drawn back to it every once and awhile. I’m nostalgia blind, and I don’t think I can see past that.

Next Week: Mob Rule

Space Funeral (PC)

Blood 1 starts a new game, Blood 2 continues a game, and Blood 3 quits.

I realize as I sit down to write this just how difficult it is to explain or describe Space Funeral. You play as Tim in the macabre and bizzare world known only as Space Funeral. Tim is sad — so sad that it’s his class in the game — and he yearns for the meaning of form and the nature of the world, for it was not always as it is now. Join Tim and his domineering companion, Leg Horse, as they search for the answers to this baffling world.

Tim is so sad he cries constantly, even during combat.

History

Space Funeral was developed by Stephen ‘thecatamites’ Murphy, who’s made over 50 short games. With such titles as The Astonishing Adventures of Captain Skull and Murder Dog IV, with art styles ranging from pen on paper to 3-D animation Murphy has been making games for almost a decade now. Most of his titles are short and almost all of them are free.

Space Funeral was completed and released on September 17th 2010. It’s competition was Plants Vs. Zombies (Xbox Live Indie Arcade), Cladun: This is an RPG (PSP), and Civilization V (PC).

Experiences

When I first heard about Space Funeral I heard about Leg Horse, a horse made entirely out of human legs. Hearing this, I almost wanted to dismiss the game out of hand as Youtube fodder that was meant to market to the “Lul, so random,” crowd but I couldn’t resist investigating further. Leg Horse is just the tip of the weirdness ice-berg and what impressed me more is that I came to care about everything. The world of Space Funeral uses its weirdness as an element to tell a story. It serves a very vital purpose without which would destroy the artistic meaning of the game.

Well, the Dracula part seems needlessly random. Maybe thecatamites just likes Dracula?

Gameplay

Space Funeral is a pretty stock role-playing game with turn based combat. Tim and Leg Horse can attack, defend, use items, or special techniques to thwart their enemies. There are towns and dungeons to explore and all sorts of colorful characters to meet like the Shopkeeper who desires ALL RUBLES — also, the currency of Space Funeral is rubles which has got to count for something. The game could quite easily not be a game at all. The quality of the experience wouldn’t really change if this wasn’t a game. But if it wasn’t a game, if there was no combat, then what would you do? What would it be then?

This dialogue deserves an award or a metal… quite possibly an honorary sash.

The Gush

The music in the games is really good and really creepy. It’s got moody electronica with spoken word lyrics and even some surf rock thrown in for good measure. The music always feels a little out of place and unnerving and I love it because of that.

The game borrows a lot from Earthbound. Enemies are on the field –so the battles aren’t random –, the game is pretty easy, they both have a hellish otherworld — the difference being that in Space Funeral you live in the hellish otherworld–, and Tim even has a mystery command. So if you like Earthbound then you’ll like this game. If you haven’t played Earthbound then you can listen to my long-winded diatribe about it. https://aproximatelytoomanygames.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/earthbound/

And when they say MYSTERIOUS THINGS they’re not kidding.

This game is wonderfully dark. People live in constant torment or emotional anguish. Beds are coffins with Tim’s body in them. It’s insane and I love it.

The Kvetch

This game is extremely easy, strategy is strictly optional here. The game never poses a real challenge at the player, you’ll probably go through the whole game without losing a fight. Despite it’s ease, it’s so weird that it probably wouldn’t be fitting for a newcomer to videogames or RPGs.

The Verdict

I heard the name Space Funeral and knew I should check this game out. The next words out of someone’s face were about something called a Leg Horse and then I knew I HAD to play this game. Throw in a solid thesis, a perfect length, and a kick ass sound track and you’ve got a remarkably balanced and yet compact experience. To top it all off, it’s free. If Space Funeral sounds even remotely appealing to you then I suggest you check it out.

You can find Space Funeral and thecatanites’ other games at: http://harmonyzone.org/Videogames.html

Next week: Tetris Attack (SNES)

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (PC)

Have you ever had a nightmare? What was it that was chasing you down the halls of your mind? Was it a vampire, a horde of zombies, maybe a werewolf, the ghost of a bitter relative, the Boogie Man? The World of Darkness is a place where a bad dream of these things would not be ill-founded. A world where all of these monsters are quite real in the modern day — well the jury’s still out on the Boogie Man– and they hide from humanity while preying on it. You play as a newly turned Vampire, thrust into a world of generations old politics, rivalry, and violence in the city of Los Angeles. You’re a pawn in a greater game to the elders, just trying to survive. Fight, feed, use your sweet vampire powers, and figure out what is going on in Bloodlines.

History

Strap yourselves in because this one’s a doozy. Bloodlines was published by Activision and developed by a little studio called Troika Games, development began in 2001. Troika wanted to make a first person RPG, thinking that the genre was going stale, and Activision wanted to make the most of the Vampire license they had acquired from White Wolf in ’98. Development began with 5 developers, 27 others, and no head writer — they wouldn’t get a writer for about 9 months.

And the writer paid off with dialogue like this.

Troika began debating whether to make the game 3D or not. At the time Valve was working on their Source Engine for Half-Life 2. It would be fully 3D and have all the bells and whistles but it wasn’t done yet. Despite it’s incomplete nature Troika gambled on using it. This lead them to finish incomplete sections of code themselves with only Valve to go to for technical support. Because Valve was making Half-Life 2 in the Source Engine, Troika was forced to put off Bloodline’s release until Half-Life 2’s released. Further delaying things, Valve suffered a security breach that lead them to put more security into the engine. Leading Half-Life 2 to delay, which lead Bloodlines to Delay.

The scope of the project continued to grow. Every new system introduced additional models and animations for the characters. Most games have a static 10-20 models whereas Bloodlines had over 150 characters and almost 3000 animations for them put together. Levels were designed and then scrapped. The game planned to launch with a multiplayer mode but that was also scrapped for time. The game’s development dragged for so long that the team put off finalizing things because they didn’t know when the deadline truly would be. Things were further slowed as every decision had to be approved both Activision and White Wolf.

When Activision put their foot down and set a deadline Troika hadn’t even begun testing yet.  Troika also didn’t respect the deadlines because they knew that Activision wouldn’t let this money go to waste. The money Activision offered to finish wasn’t enough to pay the whole team and some employees took pay cuts while others worked for nothing to push the game as close to completion as they could. The game released on November 16th, 2004 in an incomplete, untested, and unpolished state. Creative Director, Jason Anderson said that only 2 months of its 3 year development wasn’t spent in overtime.

It’s competition was Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2), World of Warcraft (PC), and Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (Gamecube, PS2, and XBox)

Experiences

I can’t think of a game that I put more into, from a technical perspective. I can’t think of another game that was so broken that I also refused to abandon. I was playing this game when it chugged on my 1999 Compaq and I gave it another go when I finally upgraded to my next machine. Giddy with anticipation at the bug-fixes that came with the latest patch. Every time I play through it I play as a different clan and keep notice more dialogue differences. I struggle to differentiate between patch added content and stuff I just missed my last time through. Whenever I relate to someone about this game we have completely different experiences from our in game choices and it leads to a, “I wonder what happens if I do this,” marathon.

So many options and I want to see what happens for every one of them.

Gameplay

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a first person/third person (your preference) action RPG game. Every vampire is defined by their clan, whether they want to or not. A characters clan determines their attribute points, skill points, and what abilities they can use — wanna dominate someone’s mind? Not as a Toreador you won’t. Every clan has also got a certain strength and a crazy weakness. Some weaknesses are as benign a losing more humanity when they do something untoward to looking like a literal monster like those of the Nosferatu Clan. Every character has feats scores which determine how effective they are at actions. Each of these feats is the sum of the relevant attribute and ability scores.

I.E Strength + Brawl = Unarmed or Dexterity + Security = Lockpicking.

By ancient law and tradition everyone you meet will make you do something before they help you. I’m totally serious on this one, not only is it written into the rules of the table-top that all newbies have to work for the higher ups but they implemented that into the game. And I mean every-fucking-body will tell you to kill someone or find something before they’ll give up the goods.

If you thought no one would send the Mac-10 toting raver on a fetch quest, you’d be wrong.

The real meat of the game is exploring, wandering around, and messing with people’s lives for good or ill. And there’s something brewing in the Heart of LA, something that mixes together all the clans and supernatural into a giant pot that’s at risk to boil over. Naturally as the chose one — or whatever– it’ll lie to you to deal with it.

The Gush

I guess all of that content made but unimplemented paid off eventually because the programming in this game is really robust. Every character will remark on the character’s clan, attributes, and actions. Some things are effected by a characters humanity, preventing them from using their social graces if they grow too inhuman. Playing a Malkavian completely changes the game’s dialogue into nearly indecipherable babble that only makes sense in hindsight.

Complete with talking televisions and arguments with stop signs.

I’ve never played a game where I was more interested in speaking with characters. Usually I troll around, trying to find someone with a quest or something interesting to say but Bloodlines lead me to talk to everyone. Sometimes they would say crazy things, sometimes they would have cryptic hints about the crazy stuff going on, but they always had something interesting to say.

Speaking of characters, the voice acting in this game is really good. With VAs like John DiMaggio, Steve Blum. Phil LaMarr, and Grey Griffin they really knock it out of the park. The performances create characters I come to care about and really want to listen to. Combine this with Brian Mitsoda’s character driven writing and it creates an experience that’s oozing with charm and style.

This is THE White Wolf RPG game, accept no substitutions. There are no other games with the White Wolf license that are better designed or more well known. If you want to play Vampire but can’t get an RP group together, then this game will scratch the itch.

The Haunted Hotel. That is all.

The Kvetch

This game will not run or operate well without an unofficial patch and maybe a few mods. It’s almost absurd to purchase something with the knowledge that it won’t run on purchase but it’s something that comes with Bloodlines. The patches are easy to find and free (And the latest update was on April 20th, 2015) but it means plugging and playing isn’t an option. It’s a wonder to me that the distributor doesn’t just bundle the patch in with the game.

Sometimes the animations and textures are just downright ugly when I don’t think they’re supposed to be. I played a Toreador my first time through and they’re all a bunch of vain art divas so I checked myself out and I looked pretty good — especially for a dead guy. I went to open a lock and BOOM, I’m looking at one of the grossest hands in video game history. Then there are cinematics which include hoodlums shooting recoilless uzis into the air while the most stock sound effects I’ve ever heard for gunfire blast in stereo. It’s rough and blocky and breaks my immersion something fierce.

This game is pretty glitchy and crashy even when it’s been patched. I’ve seen bosses freeze, dialogue get skipped or misfire, and certain quests become broken for completely unknown reasons. This is just the stuff I’ve seen, mind you, there are horror stories out there about glitches in this game.

Unless my character has obfuscate, the power to go invisible, I can’t stealth. I don’t know what’s up with the stealth system but it seems like no matter how many points I cram into it it’s never enough. Normally it’s not a problem but there are some quests that can only be completed stealthily.

The fucking sewers. That is all.

The Verdict

This game has got its ups and downs but as I said, it is THE White Wolf RPG bar none. If you want to play in the Vampire setting or you want a satisfying Vampiric gaming experience in any variety then it’s either this game or nothing. It’s still being patched today and let that be a testament to how good this game is and how much work people are willing to put into it to help it flourish. I would suggest at least grabbing it on sale and then seeing where the night takes you.

Next Week: No Time to Explain

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat (PC)

We return to The Zone in the aftermath of shenanigans at its center. The zone is becoming more unstable — and yet safer in some ways. The military is stepping up their efforts to investigate the zone — although they’re shockingly ignorant of its workings. They begin operation Fairway, their bid to take over Pripyat and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and investigate the goings on there. They sent four helicopters into the center and they’ve lost all radio contact. You are Major Degtyarev being sent into Pripyat undercover as a Stalker to figure out what went wrong with the operation. You’re underequipped, underinformed, and otherwise unready to handle the rigors of the zone but it wouldn’t be a Stalker Game otherwise.

History

Sorry Stalkers in the making, I couldn’t find much of note about the development of the game. It was released by GSC Game World, like the other Stalker games and was distributed to the world by a cadre of different publishers. GSC was able to publish it in the CIS but Viva Media and Deep Silver released it in North America and Europe respectively.

It was released on October 2nd, 2009. It’s competition was Demon’s Souls (PS3), Saw: The Video Game (PS3 and XBox 360), and Brutal Legend (PS3 and XBox 360).

Experiences

If there was a feeling I felt the most in this game it would be confusion. I can think of no other FPS I’ve gotten lost in more. Between unmarked quest objectives, mysterious Zone stuff, and unclear instructions it’s difficult to figure where to go or what to do. It might seem like certain conversations are just they for flavor but many of them hint at tasks and most of those tasks offer no instruction whereas as some topics are just dead ends. ‘Find Barge and Joker’ translates into look it up or get lucky finding some dead bodies. It’s frustrating to have no clues whatsoever. If they mentioned something like, “Barge and Joker went west after the argument” or “They mentioned something about artifact hunting,” then I’d have some direction and feel like I wasn’t just wandering around and hoping for completion.

Gameplay

Like Stalker games before it Call of Pripyat is a horror based first person shooter. Unlike Clear Sky, however, there’s no longer a relationship between primary mechanics and story. There are no territory control mechanics or zone destroying threats this time around, the scales are much smaller and much more personal. The game is very much a sandbox that rewards the player based on how much they put into it. The reward for exploration is usually more powerful weapons or achievements that give the player additional benefits like free ammo or medical restocks in settlements. This game highlights the elements of survival in the zone much more, Degtyarev must keep himself fed and rested or his stamina, and eventually health, will suffer.

Even though it’s got fewer locations I’d say they’re better designed overall and they look great.

The game takes place in Zaton, a large swampy area, Yanov, a former train yard, and Pripyat, an small town. These areas form a sort of new frontier for the zone, these are areas that the player has not visited in either Clear Sky or Shadow of Chernobyl. Though the artifacts, mutants, and anomalies might be similar the politics and atmosphere have changed quite a bit. There’s no more Sidorovich, no more faction wars, and much fewer of the comforts they provided. Getting better gear will take a greater toll on the characters’ wallets or they’ll have to do some hunting. As such you’ll find fewer enemies in Exo-Suits or with incredible gear unlike Clear Sky which had a heavy soldier in nearly every squad.

You never know what you’ll run into in Call of Pripyat.

The Gush

Praise be to The Zone, the player can now shoot Bloodsuckers while they’re invisible. This might seem small but those bastards have been getting the better of me and wasting my ammunition for too long. They’re cloak is much less obvious to balance but I can throw a grenade and kill the damn things.

Not to say that they’re still not vicious as hell.

The world of Pripyat feels very alive. Squads of Stalkers go to anomalous areas to look for artifacts — and they can find them if the player doesn’t — while bandits will be on the look out for Stalkers to ambush and loot to steal. Mutants, zombies, and monolith leave their lairs and fortified areas looking for supple Stalkers to eat.

The quests in this game offer real choice as how to complete them. It’s no longer a matter of going here and doing this, it’s a matter of guys not knowing what to do and you fill in the blank. You go to pay someone’s debt and the assholes try to charge you interest, what do you do? You find a PDA holding information about someones secret weapons warehouse, who do you sell it to? The choice and consequences are yours.

Anomalous zones are now marked on your map so it’s much easier to find where to go artifact hunting. In addition you can now sleep in settlements so you can explore at night or during the day, whichever is your preference.

The Kvetch

Apparently the whole voice acting department died in a fruit punch anomaly between this game and the last and GSC got their replacements from people on the street. The voice quality has dropped off hard since Clear Sky. I think they’ve got 5 voice actors, all told, and 2 of them voice almost everyone and they’re really bad. I don’t know what happened but get ready for some grating voices and painful deliveries.

Back on that whole direction problem I was talking about in Experiences, it would be so much better if they told the player that certain quest objectives are just on certain maps. I needed to get some poison to eliminate a Bloodsucker lair and I found some locked tanks on a jeep holding the stuff. I figure there’s a master key in a military or industrial facility somewhere and I check every factory or barracks I can get my hands on. I ask everyone about the damn things. As it turns out the keys are on other parts of the motercade the tanks were on. There’s no hint or indication where the key is whatsoever.

And I’m not the only one with this problem. There’s a whole Gamefaqs post devoted to this quest.

I don’t know if it’s a glitch, I wouldn’t put it past a Stalker Game — this game’s the most stable of the three but still has issues –, but there’s a mutant called the Burer — remember Mr. Ugly face up there? That’s him — who can knock your gun out of your hands. It’s an interesting mechanic and a little annoying but I think it’s cool. The problem comes when I can’t find the gun afterward. I don’t know if it’s falling through the floor or flying to some part of the room where I just can’t find it. But it means my prized shooter is gone and I’ve gotta reload my last save even if the beast is dead. It’s unfun, unfair, frustrating, and happens to me at least once a playthrough.

The Verdict

The gameplay is much improved and everything feels more thematic overall. There’s a lot of unfair or non-existant signposting that leads to frustration. Quests are sometimes difficult to complete because you won’t know what to do next and there are just too many hidden objectives and goals in the game overall. This game is a guide game. You’ll play it with a strategy guide for WHEN you need it. It’s still fun and it’s still Stalker and it’s interesting to see the ecosystem of the Zone just go. But it still scratches that Stalker itch.

Diablo (PS1, PC)

 

 

 

Introduction

One of the Demonic Prime-evils, Diablo, has escaped from his prison in the small town of Tristram. With the assistance of the Arch-Bishop, Lazarus, he has driven the King to madness and possessed the King’s son, Albrecht. The player takes the role of a powerful Warrior, a quick Rogue, or a brilliant Sorceror and must fight through a dungeon of Hell-spawned monsters in order to destroy the great Demon.

Disclaimer: My experience with this game is mostly in the PS1 port. I’ll offer points about both versions but most of my experience is still with that port.

Development

Diablo was made by Blizzard Entertainment, it’s difficult to imagine that Diablo was only the 6th game they had made– It’s also surreal to think that they made The Lost Vikings and Blackthorne. They were most well known for making Warcraft at the time, a real time strategy game, so making an adventure game like Diablo was risky.

This is where it all started kids. This is the beginning of Blizzard.

 

Diablo has multiple versions, it has the PS1 port and an expansion called Hellfire. I played most of my Diablo hours on the PS1 port so I’m going to be talking about it a lot, especially in the Kvetch section. The Hellfire expansion was developed, not by Blizzard, but by Sierra. It adds a new class, the Monk. And includes a strangely large amount of cut content, namely the Bard and the Barbarian. It also adds the NPCs Lester and Celia that interact with a new area in Tristram, The Hive. 

The Hive also has special interactions with the joke character, The Complete Nut.

 

Apparently there’s a lot of cut dialogue and cut quests that never made it into the game. As it stands the number of quests are quite limited. Most of these quests are only available in single player mode. I think they were cut because Blizzard figured most players would be playing online.

There’s an entirely cut NPC from the original game, Tremain the Priest. Cain takes his place, more or less.

 

Diablo was released on December 31st, 1996. It released at the same time as Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES), The Neverhood (PC)

 

Nostalgia

I used to play the demo for this game on my Uncle’s computer and it scared the piss out of me. I’ve mentioned that I was a coward when I was a kid but I couldn’t even bring myself to fight basic enemies I was so scared. I could deal with skeletons and little demons but when I got to fighting the weird bug things on the early floors I would flip out and run. I would think, “If I find those things then I’m just going to have to restart the game until they’re not an enemy there”. I remember the first time I fought the Butcher, I just ran. I opened that door, heard his dialogue, and closed the game as quickly as I could. It’s really interesting not being scared of it anymore. Now I’m more than willing to charge head long into the Skeleton King’s rib cage and smash it to pieces.

That’s the Butcher on the right there. His chamber is far more frightening than he is.

 

Gameplay

Diablo is a hack and slash dungeon crawl. No matter which class you choose your goal is to venture further into the labyrinth, level up, find better gear, and fight stronger monsters. Unlike Diablo 2, character’s don’t acquire more skills as they level up. Leveling up only increases their attributes. Attribute levels must be at a certain level to wear certain items or use scrolls and spell books. Limited inventory space means choosing which items are the most valuable and bringing them back up to town to sell. Certain NPCs in town will offer single players quests which can net them impressive items that can’t be taken out of single player sessions. 

The wonderful world of loot. Don’t forget about the mandatory piles of money either.

 

It’s controlled with mouse and keyboard on the PC and the PS1 controller for PS1. Thankfully, the controls are really well mapable on the PS1 controller. They’re not preset very well but the game allows the player to change the controls to suit their needs and style very well. 

The classes are what really make Diablo. Each one plays very differently. The Warrior has high health and strength, making him ideal for soaking up damage and dishing it out with a sword or an axe. It’s important to keep him well equipped though, going into the lower levels of the dungeon with a crappy armor will lead our hero to certain doom. Then there’s the Sorceror, who’s the Warriors polar opposite. If the Sorceror can find good and useful spell books then he can become a nearly indestructible tank that shoots lightning and destroys everything. The Rogue specializes in using the bow and disarming traps. The traps in the labyrinth can be deadly so it’s really useful to have her around. That being said, this game does have friendly fire so it’s very possible to kill your allies. The issue is that bows don’t do a lot of damage, but she can raise her magic stat higher than the Warrior can so casting spells is a viable option. I dunno, I could never figure out how to play her.

 

Our three heroes. And the Sorceror blows away all the enemies with a mighty Lightning Nova.

 

The Gush

One word, multiplayer. Playing this game with, or against your friends, is a blast. Backing up your Warrior buddy with a hale of arrows or deadly spells will never stop being fun.

The art style and graphics for the game were wonderful for the time and I still think they hold up now. The different environments all look grim, dark, and foreboding– like a good dungeon should. There are a lot of pallet-swapped enemies with different names but their design is so solid and interesting that I don’t even care.

You take the gold ogre, I’ll take the blue one. 

I don’t know if the PC port had this but the PS1 version has a whole history of the world available at the main menu. The story of this world was really engrossing to me. I know that Lazarus has left mad journals all around the PC and PS1 versions of the labyrinth but I thought that listening to the history plain was super cool. Sometimes I would just boot up Diablo just to listen to the back story.

The characters in this game are great. I love talking to all of them about whatever they want to talk about. From Farnham’s drunken ramblings with wisdom tucked inside to Cain’s mysterious stories– how does he know so much anyway?– I love hearing all of it. My favorite NPC is definetly Wirt, the Peg Legged Boy. After he got his leg ripped off by angry demons he decided to get back at them by becoming a small entrepreneur, providing you with some of the highest end gear money can buy. Best bit part though must go to the wounded Townsman outside the labyrinth entrance.

This guy’s speech tells the player everything they need to know about the plot and pumps the player up to kill some demons.

 

I also like demolishing hordes of monsters. The bigger the horde, the better. Don’t care how much loot or experience points they offer, I’m just glad to destroy all the little hell spawned buggers. 

 

The Kvetch

Two words, single player. Playing this game alone is the ultimate sadness. The presence of that other player sharing the adventure is vital to the enjoyment of this game. Maybe it’s just me, but playing this game alone is empty.

The PS1 port. Here’s everything wrong with it. It takes up 12 of 15 memory card blocks, so you can only have 3 characters on the same card. Playing multiplayer slows down each of the character’s movement and makes the characters stick together so coordinating movement can be difficult. The game’s graphics and art had to be compressed to fit on the PS1 so everything just looks uglier overall. Menu surfing can be difficult because of the strange controls. The PS1 has auto-targetting for spells since there’s no cursor to target enemies with. This thing will always point at the most useless target is possibly can making the dear sorceror waste oodles and oodles of mana points blasting at enemies one at a time. The walking speed is also atrociously slow.

Acid beasts. These enemies are un-fun to fight. Any of the ranged attacking enemies are un-fun to fight but these guys are the worst. Enemies that can attack from afar abuse this fact, they’ll run and shoot over their shoulders at you the whole while. But when you kill these guys they leave acid pools that can deal a lot of damage so chasing the rest of the pack is even more difficult.

The best part of this game is the co-op, so the worst part of it is the friendly fire. I’ve accidentally killed my partner too many times. One stray lightning bolt or sword swing can totally demolish someone.

Gold shouldn’t take up inventory space. I know it’s not realistic but it makes gold a burden instead of sweet treasure.

Those inventory slots get mighty scarce when they’re filled from wall to wall with gold.

The durability system is butts. If your item runs out of durability it disappears from your character and is gone forever. This can be so frustrating when it’s been a long time since you went to town and then poof, there’s goes your sweet sword. Gotta find another one.

 

The Kvush

Town portal is a spell that allows the player to teleport back to town and that’s awesome. What’s more awesome is being able to learn the spell by finding the spell book for it. What’s not awesome is not finding the spell book and having to continue to use scrolls when you’ve got the skill to learn it from a book that you just haven’t been lucky enough to find. Maybe I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth but at early levels 150 gold is a lot to dish out every time I got back to town.

 

The Verdict

This game is still solid but is completely outclassed by it’s sequel. Diablo II is the more rapidly available game and the superior game overall. If you need the trip down memory lane or are interested in the history of the series then Diablo 1 is a good play but I would only recommend it for the hardcore fan.

Next Week: Legend of the Mystical Ninja.