February 2016 - Dragonchasers

Checking in on Star Wars: Battlefront

Posted on February 24, 2016February 25, 2016 by Nimgimli

Yesterday EA released a patch for Star Wars: Battlefront that included a new map (another Hoth map that takes place at night during a snow storm), among other things. I still like this game, although I don’t play it as much as I did at launch. I still pop back in for special events (double exp mostly) or when a patch drops. I keep hearing the game is dying and maybe it is, but by playing when I play I never have any trouble getting into a match.

I still pretty much ignore everything except the larger MP modes. The 20 v 20 ones like Walker Assault and Supremacy are big enough that I don’t get my usual case of the guilts when my team loses.

I also like that hardcore gamers seem to have written off SW:Battlefront as being a game for filthy casuals, because guess what? We casuals need games too! I can’t really argue with them though. I played for about 3 hours last night and came in anywhere from 3rd to 17th place and was on the winning side roughly half the time. That’s because so much depends on what power-ups or vehicles you grab. If I was a really skilled shooter player that would probably bug me.

It’s kind of sad, though that most gamers think every game needs to be aimed squarely at them and if a game isn’t, they can’t just accept that but have to rant and rage about it.

Anyway, I digress.

The only problem I have with the game now is that there are enough maps that it takes a long time to cycle through them. I guess I just missed the new map when I logged in. I played through the Outpost Beta map (the old Hoth map) and then Tattooine, Sullest, Endor, 1 match on Jakuur and by then it was midnight and I had to quit, so I never saw the new map. It had to have been next on the list but…being a responsible adult sucks. Midnight is my limit (you play 2 matches on each map, one as Rebels and one as Empire).

[Update: I finally got a chance to play the new map. Here’s a quick video of random gameplay. Turns out its an entirely new map, not just the hold Hoth map played with different lighting. Huzzah! My only complaint is that the blue lighting hides the blue health bar of friendlies and I keep shooting them thinking they’re the enemy… there’s no team damage but shooting makes you light up on radar.]

I’m not sure what the solution is though. If EA lets us cherry pick the maps that we want to play on it would fracture the player base (maybe?) unless you just happen to love the same maps everyone else loves.

Folks really tore into SW:Battlefront for not having enough content and being ‘shallow’ but I’ve definitely got my money’s worth of fun out of it, and expect to continue to play it now and then for the foreseeable future. I find it to be a rare (for me) beast: a competitive multiplayer game that offers casual fun. Usually I find competitive MP, and even some co-op MP, games to be very stressful, but not this one.

Here’s a quick video of me playing badly but still having fun:

Not yet Following the Dying Light

Posted on February 23, 2016February 23, 2016 by Nimgimli

My obsession with Watch Dogs has finally run its course, though I still intend to play through the DLC at some point. My next obsession will probably be The Division which launches on March 8th. I played both closed and open beta weekends and LOVED it, even though I was playing it completely wrong (solo and not spending a lot of time in the much-discussed Dark Zone).

To tide me over until March I’ve returned to Dying Light. I last posted about this game over a year ago. As so often happens with me, I drifted away before getting very far into the game. In the year since, Techland has continued to support and enhance Dying Light and they recently released a giant expansion called The Following that adds a big area outside the city plus zombie-slaying buggies. I had to get in on that and was happy to plunk down $30 for the Season Pass which included The Following as well as a few other smaller DLC packs. (If you just want The Following you can get it for $20 and if you’re new to the game you can now get everything for $60.)

I decided to start a new game after I loaded up my save from a year ago and couldn’t remember how to do anything. I felt like I was really struggling, and checking some game forums suggests that it wasn’t my imagination: the game is harder than it was at launch. Early game weapons are pretty weak and zombies are surprisingly tough, plus your skill set is pretty sparse. If you decide to try the game out I urge you to persevere because once you get some levels behind you it becomes incredibly fun.

What is really scratching the itch for me is constant progression. You have 3 attributes, each with its associated level: Survivor, Agility and Power. You earn Agility EXP from parkour stuff: jumping, climbing and generally running around like a mad person. You earn Power EXP from fighting zombies. And you earn Survivor EXP from doing tasks. Basically whatever you’re doing (other than idling in a safe zone), you’re feeding a constant drip of EXP into one of these three systems. When you die you’ll lose Survivor EXP though as far as I can tell you’ll never backslide in levels. You don’t seem to ever lose Agility or Power EXP though, and of course as those levels go up the tasks you’re trying to achieve for Survivor points get easier, so it’s a nicely balanced system.

Each time you level up you get a skill point to spend in the skill tree associated with whichever trait you leveled up with. Agility skills are things that you’d generally associate with dexterity like using a charging zombie’s momentum against it and tossing it aside. Power gives you combat abilities like Stomp, that lets you squish a zombie’s head when it is on the ground. It’s very handy when skills start working together. Shove a rushing zombie, it stumbles and falls, then run over and squish it’s head. (It’s a very gory game.) Survivor skills are things like additional inventory space, better prices with stores and access to traps and things.

In addition to your stats, as you play you’ll find blueprints that let you craft crazy weapons like an axe with a propane torch attached or a police baton that also delivers an electric shock. In RPG terms you’re getting weapons that do elemental damage. You’ll also start getting powerful enough that you might start severing limbs off your opponents. Yeesh! So gross and yet so satisfying. This is when the game starts getting really fun since you start feeling like you’re in a scene out of The Walking Dead.

The game is called Dying Light for a reason though. Once you get to level 8 or so you can run around during the day without too much concern. You’ll still have battles where you struggle but just running through the streets will start to feel comfortable. At least until night falls. When it gets dark the really dangerous zombies come out. I have to confess I still run to a safe zone and hide out until morning. I’m just now, at level 10 or so, starting to flirt with the idea of staying out at night. The risks are bigger but so are the rewards (you earn double experience at night).

The irony is that I picked up Dying Light again because of The Following expansion and so far I haven’t touched that yet. TechLand suggests you be about level 12 before jumping into the expansion and I’m not quite there yet, but I’m still looking forward to it!

So how gory does the game get? Here’s a video of me doing a Challenge. Sadly I had to give this amazing weapon back at the end of it.

Watch Dogs: Well past the narrative and still enjoying myself

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Nimgimli

I’m STILL playing Watch Dogs. I finished the storyline a LONG time ago. It’s pretty rare that I “finish” games and it’s unheard of for me to keep playing past the end of the narrative. But here I am.

Why?

First, timing. A few weekends ago I played The Division beta and loved it and I can’t wait for that game to launch in early March. I think my anticipation for The Division is casting a pall on the rest of my backlog. Watch Dogs is what I was playing when I started to get really hyped for The Division so I continue to play it out of inertia. It doesn’t hurt that in some ways the two games feel the same (both rely on cover and 3rd person shooting in a modern setting.)

Second, the progression wheel. Watch Dogs, like every other modern game, has a lot of Achievements (well in my case Trophies, technically, since I’m playing on PS4). But unlike some games, many of them are bound to clearly quantifiable objectives that the game tracks for you. Complete X instances of Mission Type Y and earn Trophy Z. There’s an in-game interface showing your progress. What this boils down to is a checklist. If you’re a checklist lover, you can understand the satisfaction of working through that list checking things off. If not, well you’ll have to trust me. Some of us have brains that love ticking off checkboxes!

Third and most importantly, the game is just plain fun. Does it live up to that initial reveal oh so many years ago? Maybe not. Is it a little janky in spots? Sure. But I just love racing through the streets of Chicago, yanking the emergency brake to send my car into a slide, then jumping out with machine gun drawn, spitting lead everywhere. Or other times, creeping into a gangster base with a silenced pistol and taking out guards one by one. Or yet again, jumping into one of the online modes, which are super fun, with the caveat that they don’t use a central server so there’s some host advantage and at times lag.

For a long time I hated Achievements but I’ve come around to seeing them as a way to kind of nudge you towards getting more gameplay out of a title you’re enjoying. Now I finally see why I can ‘finish’ a game and only earn 30-50% of the achievements. The whole point is to give you more goals to work towards once the ending credits roll.

Anyway, yeah I love Watch Dogs. I think it’s a shame that it never got the recognition it deserved. I’ve just recently heard a rumor that we’re going to learn more about Watch Dogs 2 at E3. I sure hope it’s true. I want more!