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enigmatist17 · 3 years

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That Smile (Psychonauts 2)

PSYCHONAUTS 2 SPOILERS AHEAD I played the sequel on launch and have fallen in love with this series all over again, and Raz is still my baby <3 Anyways I may or may not have forgotten to post this, so have at it lol

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Agent Sasha Nein was a lot of things, the brilliant scientist who danced around his morally questionable experiments. While many children idolized him from True Psychic Tales, the man was hardly ever approached when a child did actually meet him. The stories never captured his short demeanor, empty smirk when he would casually mention tossing children to a test in his mind, or lab that seemed like it held a lot of dark secrets.

Razputin Aquato was the first one to come back.

The child had caused a stir from the moment he had snuck into Whispering Rock, and after inviting him Sasha had expected the child never to return. Yet Sasha was surprised when he came back from Agent Cruller with his badge, grinning while bouncing in front of the brain tumbler. Raz had proved himself to be among the best students Sasha had ever trained, and it wasn’t until the whirlwind of not only knocking Oleandar back to his sense, and subsequently rescuing Grand Head Zanotto that Sasha had time to think about Raz.

The scientist had never been one for children, as strange as it was for him to be working at Whispering Rock during the summer was. He was more content with his test tubes, blinking consoles, and many experiments that would usually raise eyebrows of those on the ethically moral side of the community. Yet Raz had wormed his way into Sasha’s mind with ease, something that surprised the doctor.

Perhaps that’s why he was currently trying, for the first time in...ever, not to lash out at the newest interns and Raz’s family.

It had been a long day of questioning Loboto, and Sasha had originally set out for some fresh coffee at the lovely time of 2 am. The Motherlobe was quiet around this time, which suited the other just fine as he made his way down familiar hallways. Talking to anyone who wasn’t the few people who didn’t irritate Sasha was hard enough on his good days, doing so after failing time and time again with prying out Loboto’s secret would usually be enough to make him shunt people across the room. However, seeing a tired Raz sitting against a wall across from the intern’s sleeping quarters made him pause and approach the half-awake child.

“Razputin? What on earth are you doing outside this late at night?” Raz’s eyes shot open, and instead of the usual cherry and awkward explanations Sasha was accustomed to, Raz just sighed.

“I, uh, I got locked out.” The agent frowned, knowing that part of it was most likely still a hazing from the other interns that Sasha most normally would have ignored. Yet Raz had his family nearby, and this puzzled Sasha as he knelt down beside the child. Raz, after looking into those green goggles, seemed to have sensed what Sasha was going to ask because he just gave a shake of his head. It made sense, Raz probably was not expecting more of his family to come and see their son at the place he had escaped to, which probably added to the stress that radiated off of him in waves. Normally, Sasha would just give a strained pat on the head and quickly escape such a situation, but this time Sasha leaned forward and scooped the child up and into his arms. It wasn’t smooth, Raz jerked his head right up into Sasha’s jaw, and this nearly caused the scientist to fall back, but after adjusting his hold and standing up fully that the two just kind of...looked at each other. Raz looked so confused, suspicious, and exhausted, studying Sasha’s blank face for some sort of response to what he had just done.

“I’m going to get some coffee, and then return to my lab.” Sasha remains neutral as he starts carrying Raz down the hallway, merely adjusting his hold when the child slumps against him moments later. He’s asleep by the time Sasha finishes making his coffee in the cafeteria, letting out soft snores one has to strain their ears to hear if they weren’t a trained agent like the scientist. Sasha watches Raz silently, wondering why this child among the many he had trained over the years had made the agent care for them and their wellbeing. Was it the boundless optimism? The excitement of being allowed to earn a place as an agent? Or was it as simple as Sasha shared so much with Raz, and for once Sasha was branching out to trust and care for the other? It could be one of those things, it could be all of them. No matter the answer, the scientist didn’t much care as he carried Raz to his room to sleep, knowing full well of the interns watching with wide eyes. Raz was gone the next morning before Sasha could speak to him, and he didn’t seek the other out due to his own work.

It’s not until days later after Ford Cruller and the Psychic 6 (or rather 7, not that it mattered) had reunited to help defeat Maligula, did Sasha and Raz have the time. Sasha and Vodello were quietly sitting together on one of the balcony’s overlooking the mountains when the familiar shape of Raz’s balloon interrupted the view. Vodello held her free arm out to Raz, who wordlessly padded over to the agents and allowed himself to be set between them. For a while the three just sat together, watching the sun slowly inch its way down below the mountain line, Raz leaning against Milla while his legs were tucked up under his chin. At one point Sasha had shed his lab coat and draped it over Raz, wild red hair poking out being the only indication someone was underneath the cloth. Vodello was the next to carry Raz inside and to bed, Sasha watching Raz before taking up the couch to sleep that night. Call it sentimentality or intuition, he wasn’t surprised to feel Raz carefully join him on the couch, a quiet sniffle making Sasha gently put his arm over Raz and tuck him close.

“Thanks…” It’s such a quiet and strained voice, and Sasha feels his heart break for the first time in years.

“Sleep Razputin, we will work through this in time.” He can’t promise such a thing, he knows this, but right now he needs to be gentle, so he says them. Raz sniffles against before slowly falling still, and finally sleeps properly for the first time since he stepped foot in Whispering Rock. Sasha eventually sleeps as well, dreaming of future skills to teach Raz and how on earth he was going to break the news to Vodello.

Her quiet laugh in their mental link follows Sasha to sleep, and Sasha smiles to himself as he’s pulled into a pleasant dream.

#psychonauts #psychonauts 2 #mha spoilers #PN2 spoilers #I just love them???#Raz was my first video game child #and I still love him??? so much???

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shielddrake · 4 years

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Psychonauts: Setup and Payoff Done Well (If Not Perfectly)

So about a year ago I posted a long lecture about how Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 had major problems in the story department when it came to setup and payoff. I basically said that Final Fantasy XV had lots of scenes with payoff that were not set up very well and Kingdom Hearts 3 had some excellent moments that set up story elements but never followed through on them. And while I think some of those issues have been addressed with some of the DLC released for both games (I reserve my right to be a little salty Episodes Aranea, Luna, and Noctis were canceled) I still stand by my statement that these games have big problems with this.

During the past year, I have received a couple of comments regarding my position on this, ranging from “Can you give a good example of setup and payoff?” to “Well, if you’re so smart, why don’t you come up with a better example?” And I thought, well, what kind of game would be a good example of excellent use of setup and payoff? What game or series would I say does the job so much better than any writer has or does, video game or otherwise?

And then, the middle of a repeat playthrough I always do before a game’s sequel comes out, it came to me:

Now Psychonauts has been out since 2005, so a spoiler warning might seem a little silly here, but I think a lot of gamers have been playing it for the first time since the sequel was announced, so just in case: Major spoilers for the original Psychonauts game under the cut.

Whenever someone tries to argue whether or not video games can be considered art, one of the first games that comes to my mind is Psychonauts, and not just because of its amazing aesthetics. It has some of the best storytelling, script writing, level design, music, voice acting, and art direction I have ever seen. This game is possibly one of the best video games I have every played, despite the flaws that it does have (I’m looking at you, Meat Circus), and it is easily on my list of top ten favorite video games. Is it really any surprise that Psychonauts 2 reached its crowd-funding goal of over $3,000,000 in about a month? And yes, I admit that I am one of those backers, just to put out there any bias I know I have.

But this isn’t meant to be a review of Psychonauts.

I replayed Psychonauts a few months ago with the idea of the first game being fresh in my mind when the sequel comes out, which is supposed to be sometime this year of 2020. I was absolutely inundated with examples of effective setup and payoff as I played, so it seemed like the obvious choice to go over how this story-telling technique can be used not only well, but also to the point where it’s almost like there are far too many examples.

Honestly, I could go on and on and on about setup and payoff in Psychonauts’ story, but for our purposes here most of the focus is going to be on just three big things that are really important to the main storyline: Linda the Lungfish, bunnies and meat, and Raz’s dad.

One thing about setup and payoff is that the setup has to actually happen in a way that the audience, in this case the player, can’t miss it. There are several moments in the game that Linda is mentioned, the first time being in the opening cutscene, where Bobby teases Dogen about the monster at the bottom of the lake. You can’t miss the setup when it is thrown in your face that way.

But that’s not the only time we get references to some sort of lake monster. Before going into Basic Braining, the first official level of the game, if Raz talks to Mikhail, the adorable Russian psychic mentions a “giant, hairless bear” in the woods, asking if Raz has seen it and wanting to wrestle with it. Now, it’s not said for certain if Mikhail is talking about Linda or if he’s just referring to the telekinetic bears you meet later on, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s supposed to be the former.

The first time the player heads for the lake, Elton will run up to Raz and mention the “brain-eating fish” that supposedly lives there. Well, now we’ve got both a mention of the lake monster and the fact that it goes after brains. Hmm, sound familiar in retrospect?

Optionally, Raz can also talk to Elton about the fish being spooked by something in the lake.

Although only the first lake interaction with Elton is mandatory (whether it’s when you go to see Milla or before then), both of these moments act as reminders of the setup of the lake monster established in the opening cutscene.

And then there’s the scene in the woods between Raz and Lili on the way to Sasha Nein’s Secret Lab. Raz says that something was watching him, a shadowy being that smelled like pond scum.

I absolutely love Lili’s face in this scene, by the way.

We kind of get distracted by their interactions and Lili basically trolling Raz, but that’s part of what makes good writing. The scene is foreshadowing something without making it overly overt…not that the game is subtle every time, but the point still stands. This game does a great mix of the obvious and the subtle.

The game also has optional dialogue with Coach Oleander and Raz reporting on a UPE (Unidentified Paranormal Entity), which he suspects is aquatic in nature. And Oleander seems oddly insistent that the lake monster does not exist, that it’s just a camp fable.

Finally we get to the Brain Tumbler Experiment. Needless to say, it’s in this level that a lot of the elements come together. We come across a demon in the form of a big, shadowy figure that spits out a diving helmet. Again, does that sound familiar at all?

There is a minor mention of the lake monster in the mental vault below the spooky thorn tower (more on that near the end of this post), but other than that there’s a break in the game where the lake monster isn’t mentioned for a while. We don’t get another explicit scene about it until Raz and Lili meet Linda properly at the edge of Lake Oblongata…where Lili gets kidnapped, we go through the boss sequence under the lake, and enter Linda’s brain of Lungfishopolis. And the final payoff occurs with the Hideous Hulking Lungfish transporting us to Thorney Towers and giving Raz her real name, Linda.

Now would any of that be nearly as rewarding if we had never heard of the Hideous Hulking Lungfish of Lake Oblongata prior to her official appearance? Every single player would just have visible question marks hanging over their heads if Linda just showed up out of nowhere. Deus Ex Lungfish, anyone? But that’s not what the developers did. They spent plenty of time building up to Linda, making her reveal not only make sense but also weaving her into the story so that her reveal is more than satisfying.

There is just one thing I’ve always been curious about, a sort of chicken-and-egg scenario. Did the legend of the lake monster start because genetically-altered Linda showed up and starting attacking campers? Or did the legend already exist and Oleander used it as an excuse to write off any “sightings” of the monster? Any ideas?

Moving on from Linda, we come to the imagery of meat and bunnies.

Without knowing the full ending of the game, most players would think that it’s a bit strange I would stick meat and bunnies together in the same category. Sadly, the connection between these things is a bit on the morose side, and they are actually first introduced at the same time as well.

When I first played Psychonauts, the first time I actively thought about bunnies and meat being related somehow was during the Brain Tumbler Experiment, but that’s actually not the first time the game introduces these. Anyone else notice that Basic Braining has figments of meat cleavers, butcher knives, a pig, a duck, and a fox? I could logic that a meat cleaver and butcher knife fit with the whole army theme, but a pig, duck and fox?

Kind of odd animals would be included in all this, especially animals that are either butchered or hunted. At least that’s what I thought at first.

It is in Oleander’s mind that we first see the “meaty plant” that Lili saves from being squashed by Raz. It’s also here that we see bunnies hopping around the snowfield with the Gatling gun. This early in the game, is this important or just set dressing? I’m ashamed to admit, but I thought it was just weird set dressing when I first played, but it makes more sense as the story goes on.

Turns out it’s important all right, since the next time we see both meat and bunnies is in the Brain Tumbler Experiment. “Mr. Bun” seems like a rather random animal to have in Raz’s brain, but then again bunnies showed up in Basic Braining as well. Is there a connection somehow? Sasha tells Raz that an animal may represent a primal fear or memory.

He’s right on the latter, although a player going through the game for the first time might not know why (and I admit, on my first playthrough, I didn’t). And there’s more meat and meaty plants here. Raz doesn’t directly mention these (at least he didn’t during my most recent playthrough, to my recollection) but they are pretty obvious, to say the least.

So that’s two things connecting the Brain Tumbler Experiment and Basic Braining. Is this a normal occurrence? Maybe these things just show up in brains? Lili does mention she had been dreaming of meat plants, after all, both in Basic Braining and in the cutscene before Raz enters Milla’s mind. Maybe it’s a primal need for meat? Don’t tell the vegans I said that. The Vegan Police would be very unhappy with the final level of this game.

After the Brain Tumbler Experiment is finished, we know that the brain interference was coming from Oleander, but it’s not explained why there are meat and bunny references up until that point. There’s actually no mention of either at all in the subsequent levels until the last. Lungfishopolis, The Milkman Conspiracy, Gloria’s Theater, Waterloo World, and Black Velvetopia are devoid of all meat or bunnies, which possibly leads the player to forget about the whole thing for a while (and when I say “the player,” I really mean me).

In fact, we don’t see any sign of either until the final level of the game, Meat Circus. And, oh boy, Meat Circus.

Yeah, it should come as no surprise that I hate this level. I hated it so much that on my first playthrough of this game in 2005, I rage quit and didn’t look at Psychonauts for several days. I eventually went back to it and beat it, but let’s say I was more than a little relieved that they lowered the difficulty for it in subsequent releases.

But I digress.

We reach Meat Circus, the combined consciousness of Raz and Little Oly, and the payoff of all the meat and bunny stuff we’ve seen thus far. We have Frankenstein-esque meat bunnies, platforms made of steaks, rail grinding on bones, trapeze and trampolines of bones and skin, and of course the dark versions of both Raz’s and Oleander’s fathers, who not only are evil but also become a giant two-headed monster. When Sasha said that problems seem larger in your head than in real life, I should have known it would be taken more literally in this game.

I mean, is it really any shock that Oleander is carrying some trauma after seeing his bunny friend be decapitated by his own father? It’s never said how old Little Oly is, but considering his behavior he is clearly younger than Raz, so this happened when he was in the single digits of age. That’s really not something a little kid should see. That’s just asking for PTSD.

Anyway, back to setup and payoff, which is pretty obvious at this point. We have plenty of mentions of both bunnies and meat throughout the game, leading to the final boss that is both creepy and downright terrifying. Not only does this boss conclude Oleander’s trauma with his father being a butcher and killing his favorite bunny, but it also allows Raz to defeat his inaccurate mental image of his own father. Both of them are able to move forward from that point on. Defeating this monstrosity acts as the ultimate payoff and conclusion for both Raz and Oleander.

Speaking of Raz’s dad…

Raz’s relationship with his father at the start of the game is strained, to say the least. When Raz goes to learn Levitation from Milla, the very mention of his father showing up to take him home from the camp makes him nervous. Not the best sign here, and his other comments regarding his dad don’t make it much better.

Once Raz reaches cadet ranks ten and twenty, we get cutscenes of Raz talking with Cruller in tutorials for Pyrokinesis and Telekinesis. During Pyrokinesis, Raz first mentions that his father, Augustus, hates psychics and trained Raz in acrobatics to the point where Raz worried his dad was trying to kill him. During Telekinesis, Raz reveals his suspicions that his father is psychic as well. The memory vault we see of Raz running away from home only reinforces Raz’s perspective.

We’re led to believe that Raz’s statements are the truth, which is a logical conclusion since he’s the game’s protagonist, but the end of the game shows otherwise. At first I thought this meant Raz was simply an unreliable narrator, but that turns out to not be the whole story. While Raz is an unreliable narrator in that there are a lot of things he just doesn’t know, it’s not malicious in any way. Raz simply doesn’t know that he father really does care about him. That’s the magic of using the third-person limited point of view.

Up to this point, we’re led to believe that Augustus is a neglectful father at best, but it turns out that Augustus does love his son. He’s just apparently really bad at showing it. The very fact that he is the only one able to break into Raz’s “hard to penetrate skull” shows that there is a deeper relationship between them. And Augustus is clearly distraught that his own son sees him as a monster in his mind. Poor Augustus.

I think that a lot of the interactions between father and son in this game was cut out due to both budget and time constraints, because I feel like there is more to be said with these two than what we get in the final product. (I’m thinking we’re going to get more of that in the sequel, but that is up in the air at this time.) This doesn’t bother me too much though, since we do get effective enough setup and payoff that it doesn’t seem like it comes out of nowhere. They do finally talk to each other and express their concerns, mending their relationship…in the middle of a battle with a two-headed father monster.

Clearly these two have communication issues. The morale of this story is that it’s important to talk to one each other.

And this is certainly paid off in the end cutscene of the game. When Sasha says they want Raz to come along to rescue Truman Zanotto, Raz doesn’t just run off with them again. He turns around and gives his father puppy-dog eyes, clearly asking for permission to go this time. And Augustus not only gives it, he gives Raz his blessing and encourages him to “show them all.” Contrast this to the backstory of the game, where Augustus flat out forbids Raz from having anything to do with the Psychonauts and Raz running away in secret.

And if that’s not satisfying use of setup and payoff, I don’t know what is.

That’s not to say that all of the setup and payoff in Psychonauts is perfect. To be fair, there are times when the setup can be missed, and therefore the payoff that comes later can be confusing. The most obvious example of this is the nightmare that attacks you in The Milkman Conspiracy. When I first played the game all those years ago, my first thought was, “What in the world? What is this thing and where did it come from?”

Of course, on subsequent playthroughs, I did find the demon room in Milla’s mind, showing the same nightmares she had caged away. This is the difference between a sane mind and an insane one. Milla has all her demons under control (although notice that they have not gone away) while Boyd’s run amok because he has no way of mentally dealing with them, since his brain is a little bit busy with this, well, milkman conspiracy. The nightmares that attack in Boyd’s brain make more sense after I saw the ones in Milla’s brain. In this case, the payoff wasn’t bad since the nightmare miniboss wasn’t a bad fight, but context in the form of the setup made the payoff better.

Other times the setup can be missed? The other big one is the resolution of all the campers’ storylines. Unless the player spends time going around camp throughout the game and seeing the interactions the other campers have with each other, the little scene you have with each one once they are re-brained won’t make a lot of sense. The love triangle between J.T., Elka and Nils? J.T. and Chops having conflict about J.T. abandoning his best friend for his new girlfriend? Crystal and Clem attempting suicide to become more powerful? Chloe thinking she’s an alien? Maloof basically becoming a mob leader with Mikhail as his right-hand man? Elton and Milka’s blossoming love? …Just to name a few? Yeah, the context of all that is missed if the player doesn’t bother to talk to the other campers throughout the game, but I attribute that more to the player than the game. The developers accounted for this in the story, so it’s more the player didn’t look for the setup rather than Double Fine just not bothering to include it.

That’s just some examples of setup and payoff that I feel are probably the most important to the main storyline of Psychonauts. They are far from the only examples. Really far from it. Oh boy, could I go on about the scenarios of setup and payoff that happen in this game.

Dogen talking to the squirrels, who tell him that the short man is going to kill everyone, only for them to really be talking about Oleander?

Elton saying that Oleander’s recruiting office in Basic Braining resembles a dentist office, only to find out that one of the main antagonists, Dr. Loboto, is in fact a dentist?

Oleander having a mental vault trapped behind some mental cobwebs? Well, he has something to hide, despite him saying he doesn’t when you first play through Basic Braining. Of course, getting angry at Raz for snooping around a room with a curtain doesn’t give off the idea that Oleander has something to hide. Nope. Not suspicious at all.

Agent Crueller having all the different personalities around the camp, hinting as his unstable mental state?

The Hand of Galochio appearing in the lake as a reference to Raz’s family having a curse to die in water, and said curse just so happens to show up not only as a gameplay element but as a story element during Meat Circus?

Raz being able to read Lili’s thoughts when she doesn’t mean for him to, then for him to do it two more times near the end of the game?

How Lili’s cold stops her from sneezing out her own brain?

Sasha’s hatred of tacky lamps having to do with his past working in a tacky lamp factory? Or the shoeboxes indicating his father was a cobbler? Or the bed as the location of where his mother was horribly ill and died?

Raz needing to climb the “creepy thorn tower” in the Brain Tumbler Experiment, only to later need to climb Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed?

The mention of the town of Shaky Claim on the giant tree stump at the camp entrance referring to the sunken town that is (somewhat) explored during the boss sequence under the lake?

Raz talking about being back in high school in Black Velvetopia despite being ten years old? Not to mention the stories the dogs tell about Lana/Lampita and Dean/Dingo?

Lastly, do I really need to mention the incredibly weird and seemingly out of place mental vault below the creepy thorn tower? A brain chicken hatches out of an egg, meets a fish in water, goes to a circus, gets placed in a teacup, and blasts people to death? Kind of a summation of Raz coming out of the egg in the Brain Tumbler Experiment, meeting Linda at Lake Oblongata, entering the Meat Circus, and getting placed in a brain tank and defeating two people? Was the mental vault a foreshadowing of the main plot of Psychonauts? I don’t know. What do you think?

*Takes a deep breath.* See what I mean when I say I could really go on and on about setup and payoff in Psychonauts? There are so many examples that it’s kind of ridiculous. It could be said that there’s too much of this kind of storytelling in the game, but I fail to see how that is a problem. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, but when it comes to setup and payoff, Psychonauts is not it.

Credits

Screenshots courtesy of the following:

Comic Foil, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-Y6XDe0oWyhgjcGunJqGw

Global Gaming, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjsxNSwSSA

StoryGamer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXZ1vDFp_dw&t=139s

ThatNotSoAznKid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ford0MGvWIc

#psychonauts #psychonauts spoilers #setup and payoff #writing in video games

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futuresmashmemes · 4 years

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You're called Future Smash memes-- can you see into the future of my universe? We just had 6 more character slots announced for our game, meaning there are 6 we dont know who they'll be! Do you have any insight? Or at least a prediction o'wise one?

Hmm. You know, I’ve been told that your timeline is the “main” one, and therefore is very tricky to predict and deal with. It may not be much, but I guess I’ll give my two cents on who I think the final six DLC slots for this timeline will be.

First of all, it’s important to remember that these choices were made by Nintendo, not Sakurai. I think that’s the reason why we got Sans and Cuphead miis in this timeline rather than full on fighters: for one reason or another, Nintendo didn’t want them (or at least, didn’t want them as much as the chosen fighters). Sakurai has said that he’s an avid fan of Undertale and Cuphead, so this makes sense. Then again, he’s also an avid Persona fan and I still don’t get why Nintendo would’ve chosen it of all franchises. Don’t get me wrong, Persona looks great and all (never played it myself), but it’s not very…Nintendo, y’know?

With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that we won’t be getting an indie rep. Nintendo currently doesn’t seem to be very open to the idea of full on indie reps, so that means that characters like Hat Kid probably won’t get in (maybe as a mii costume, though aHiT isn’t as well known for its music as undertale and cuphead are, so I don’t think it would be a deluxe costume). Really, the only indie reps I see getting in are either Reimu or (as much as I hate to say it) Steve. Touhou is the poster child for popular indie projects, even if it isn’t as big over here as it is in Japan. ZUN is also open to the idea of Reimu in smash. The main things that go against Reimu is the fact that she isn’t very well known outside of Japan (and those who do know her often associate her with loli culture, which might be a problem) and because the way the franchise is set up, legalities with Touhou would either be really easy or really, really hard. Steve, on the other hand, has sort of transcended being an indie character. Minecraft recently overtook Tetris as the best selling game of all time, and has become a household name around the world. Maybe I’m just projecting (I’m probably the only person from my generation that doesn’t like Minecraft), but I don’t think Steve is getting in either. First of all, legality with Microsoft would probably be an issue as they would certainly demand more money for Steve than Banjo, who, while a treasured character worthy of his spot, comes from a dead IP who wasn’t had a new game since 2008. Also, similar to former best seller Tetris, I just don’t think that Minecraft’s blocky, pixelated art style and rigid player animations would be a good fit for smash. Again, totally me projecting, but that’s just what I think. I do expect to get Steve over mii swordfighter, though. That makes sense.

Now with my little indie rant out of the way, I’ll do a bullet-point list for characters that I’ve posted memes about on the blog before and what I think of their chances of getting in:

First of all, I think it’s obvious that Raz isn’t going to be one of the DLC characters. Yes, Psychonauts 2 is coming out later this year and the first game is one of my favorite video games of all time and he would fit in perfectly, but let’s be real. The franchise is a cult classic that has never been released on a Nintendo system in any way and probably sold horribly in Japan. Double Fine was also recently bought out by Microsoft which really killed any small chance he had of making it in. Sir Daniel is in a similar position

First/second party characters like Bandana Dee and Impa I think are deconfirmed because most of them are represented by Spirits, and I don’t think that they would “double dip.” And because of the scope of spirits mode, I think it’s unlikely that we’ll get any older characters from prexisting franchises (I say older so people won’t hound me with “WELL BYLETH GOT IN SO”).

We are not getting another FE rep lol. Rip red head merchant waifu.

Shooter characters are in a really weird spot since these games tend to not be made for kids (it’s easy to forget in all the hype and speculation that smash is first and foremost meant for kids), yet have made such a big cultural impact on the gaming scene that it’s hard to deny their “worthiness” to be in smash. Master Chief in particular is tricky to place since I definitely think he has much more character than most other shooter reps (cough cough Doomguy) and could have a more varied moveset than just “gun.” But that being said, he’s once again a character owned by Microsoft and comes from a franchise that up until very recently was Xbox exclusive and (as far as I’m aware, has never been released on a Nintendo system). It’s also important to remember that the original Xbox sold miserably in Japan, so I doubt that he’s getting in either.

On a similar note, I’ve seen people throw around ideas for a TF2 rep. This makes a lot more sense to me than Halo or Doom; the playable characters have much more personality and the cartoony aesthetic of the game fits in way better than most other shooters (cough cough Doom). I don’t know which character would be chosen though. Heavy probably? I think their main problem is that Valve would probably be picky about licensing and whatnot (I don’t think we’d be getting Gordon Freeman or Chell for the same reason). Additionally, I struggle to imagine TF2 without it’s signature dark humor which would most likely be cut for smash

Due to recent events, I do not think we will be getting an Overwatch or any other Blizzard rep.

If there’s one character I’d be willing to bet money on getting in, it’s Crash. While he’s never really been all that popular in Japan, it just feels right to me. He fits in perfectly, he has some history with Nintendo (even if he is more synonymous with PlayStation), and I mean…he just feels right. I know that sounds shitty after having just denied a bunch of other characters in an articulate manner, but I don’t know what else to say. I’m not even that big of a Crash fan. The only thing I can see hurting his chances is Activision potentially asking for money than Nintendo is willing to give (this is why he didn’t get into Pl’ystation Allst’rs)

Similarly, I think Spyro has a good chance of getting into smash, but not as well as Crash. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I always thought that Crash just had more of a cultural impact than Spyro did. I do think Spyro has a good chance of getting in though. Maybe some Skylanders/amiibo crosspromotion? Probably not.

Given how stingy they were with Hero (when compared to other DLC reps) and _especially _Cloud, I don’t think we’re getting another Square Enix rep, be it Sephiroth, a Black Mage, or Geno. That being said, it could’ve all been a long con and the FF7 remake will release alongside Sephiroth DLC with the actual fucking spirit battles that we should’ve gotten. Probably not though.

Dante I think has a pretty good chance at getting in. I think that he stands at a similar position to Bayonetta when it comes to censorship, so I think he could work. God knows that he would be broken if he did get in though.

I’ve been a big advocate for a Puyo Puyo rep in smash, and if we were to get one I think it would be Arle (maybe with other characters on her alts like Koopalings/Heroes). People have already theorized how her moveset could work, and I agree with that speculation wholeheartedly. Puyo Puyo unfortunately isn’t very well known outside of Japan since in the past it was usually released under a different brand (Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Kirby Avalanche, etc). I do think that we absolutely need more puzzle reps than fucking Doctor Mario though, and Puyo Puyo seems perfect.

Professor Layton has unfortunately not had a new game in a long time (at least not one where he has a staring role), and outside of his swordsmanship, which is seen very rarely throughout the series, I don’t think that there’s much of a moveset to be made for him.

I love Ace Attorney, but I don’t think that Phoenix Wright is getting in. I don’t think that Sakurai would realistically just copy and paste his MvC3 moveset to smash and I don’t know what else you could do with him. Also, we haven’t gotten a new international release for Ace Attorney since 2016.

I know next to nothing about No More Heroes but I know a couple of people who will have a fit if I don’t mention Travis. I know there’s a sequel on the horizon but similar to Psychonauts, I don’t see it really happening. It feels to much like a cult classic to me. Once again, I know next to nothing about No More Heroes, so take that with a grain of salt.

I don’t think that any assist trophy characters will be “promoted” to playable through DLC.

And that’s about it. I know that sounded really pessimistic, but that’s honestly because I haven’t the foggiest idea about who’s going to get in. Everyone I want in in this timeline is either an assist trophy/spirit or a niche western/indie pick that I doubt has a chance. That sucks, but it’s just life. As long as we don’t get Goku or Fortnite though, I’ll be happy with whoever.

#ask #futuresmashmemes #I wrote this instead of writing my mid term

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larksinging · 5 years

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oh and one more i'll shoot back at you, what are some movies, shows, or games coming up that you're looking forward to?

okay let me think, my mind always goes so blank but lets see. lets start with games

i just remembered that man of medan is coming out VERY soon i think. i really enjoyed until dawn so im very curious about how this is gonna be?

im very curious about control? it looks surreal but with an interesting gimmick. i keep like forgetting about it but i REALLY should pay attention because it looks like my kinda thing

death stranding! ive talked this one to death (heh) but you know

i am not interested in shenmue 3 as much as im curious how it will play out. its kind of all the faults and flaw of the game industry in a single spiraling disaster

im hesitantly curious about psychonauts 2 and the last of us 2. psychonauts was a game i played and love when i was younger, but doublefine’s last few years have been.... troubled, and im interesting to see if it pulls off (and honestly improves upon) the original. and while i was never super into TLOU... like... its still TLOU, it was a cultural touchstone of its generation. sooo

i wish i could say im excited for sword and shield, but i’m not

hmmm i wish i could list some indie games but i usually find those like years after the fact

oh, red candle finally released a statement, so... im excited if they ever decide to re-release devotion (which they don’t plan to anytime soon), but also whatever they do next. i fully believe theyre making some of the best horror games rn, if not the best games of the generation overall

OKAY MOVIES

oh, wonder woman 1984! i loved the first one, and its the best thing the dceu has put out, so yeah. obviously.

IT chapter 2!! the first movie kind of lost me a little because honestly im... not super into stories about a gang of 80s preteens doing stuff. but the second being adults might be enough to pull me back in

i loved the first maleficent and though im wary of the next one, it looks FUN at worst so

im morbidly curious for sonic the hedgehog

whats that one western-horror movie... the wind? im SUPER interested in that, because im fascinated by the idea of mixing westerns with other genres.

okay SHOWS fuck whats coming out coming up. i never keep up with shows enough uhhh

westworld 3! i cant wait for everyone to complain about the genre shift while i sit back and enjoy some sweet sweet cyberpunk dolores. the people who got upset during s2 because the themes of the show went over their head and are bound to get more upset can cry harder

can i list rwby--

OH the his dark materials show!! my mom got super pessimistic about it but but PSH im excited. i havent actually read the books since i was young and, at the time, kind of had problems with the second and third book, but i HOPE they get to that point because i really wanna experience it again at an older age + through a different lens where i might appreciate it more

okay not any of the above but ANASTASIA we’re going to see it in the fall when we’re in san francisco and im SUPER pumped. we very very rarely go to the big theater in the city for shows (theres theaters down south that show smaller and more obscure productions for much cheaper we usually go to instead) but we are for this and its gonna be SO worth it

#thanks meeks!!#rorykillmore

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yeahnews · 2 years

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Well, 2021 was a wild, awful mess of a year. I don’t need to recap what made 2021 so bad because, if you are reading this, you already know. We all live on Earth (I assume) so no point going over it all. Just, yeah, what a shitty year, huh?

But at least we had some great games! I know some folks, even a few fellow Kotaku colleagues, seem down on the games we got this year. I disagree. I think 2021 was a great year for games. I personally played more games in 2021 than I have in a long time. And a lot of them were good!

So here are my top 10 games of 2021. (And some honorable mentions at the end.) As usual, this list is in no particular order until the very end, where I’ll list my game of the year.

1.Resident Evil Village

Sure, the big tall lady the internet had a crush on wasn’t really in the game all that much, but so what. The rest of Resident Evil Village is still great. Ethan might be mostly an idiot with very injured hands, but idiots tend to be the perfect people for horror games. So brave, so stupid... And all the Resident Evil 4 references didn’t hurt, either.

2.Lost In Random

It’s like a (good) Tim Burton film tossed into a blender with some dice and witty writing. This is one of those games that snuck up on me, and after playing the full game in a weekend, I came away very impressed. The mix of real-time combat and dice-rolling strategy is great and I appreciated how, even towards the end of Lost In Random, it still had new ideas and twists to toss my way.

3.Hitman 3

Oh yeah, holy shit. This game came out this year. It feels like a lifetime ago. But no, Hitman 3 came out in 2021. While I think it has the weakest set of levels out of the modern trilogy of Hitman games, I still had a blast with its new areas. Plus, getting to replay the old levels now with fancier visuals and new features was nice. Hitman 3 is basically the entire trilogy smashed into one perfect package, what more could you ask for?

4.It Takes Two

If you’ve played It Takes Two, then you already know how dark it gets and how at a few points it goes totally off the rails. However, as someone who loves playing games with his significant other, but who rarely finds games that we both love, It Takes Two was a beautiful piece of entertainment. The pacing is excellent, with dozens of different gameplay mechanics stitched together into one wild adventure that never became boring or predictable. And having someone by your side to experience the darker moments was nice. We both would go “Oh GOD... WTF!” together.

5.Ratchet And Clank Rift Apart

I’ve only played like two of these games before, so while others complained that this gorgeous new entry felt too similar to the past Ratchet & Clank games, I was having too much fun to care. Plus Rift Apart really looks like a next-gen game, which is nice considering I got these new consoles hanging about my place, taking up space. So yeah, it’s more of the same, but I’ve not played much of those other games and I guess, I’m happy about that.

6.The Ascent

Here’s a game that didn’t click with me at all... at first. The starting hour or two was a grind. But I pushed through and discovered a story I really liked, some twists that caught me off guard, and a combat system that really feels great—once you get some better guns and figure out how cover works! I’d like more of this, please.

7.Psychonauts 2

On the surface, Psychonauts 2 is a great action-platformer with a wonderful sense of style. But dig a bit deeper and you’ll find a game that questions if people can change and what happens when we let the darkness in ourselves grow, and how others are hurt by our past mistakes and choices. In 2021, it seems more impossible than ever to forgive people for their terrible, dark choices and actions. But Psychonauts 2 offers the opinion that it might still be worth it. I don’t think I agree, but I’d like to.

8.Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite is a new Halo game directly inspired by those big, open levels of the original game. Yet, it also adds new ideas too, including an awesome grappling hook and a bad battle pass. (All the new ideas aren’t winners, I’ll admit.) Still, it’s amazing that my only real problem with Infinite is that I wanted MORE! More campaign missions, more maps, more modes, and Firefight. When a game leaves you wanting more, that’s a good thing.

9.Forza Horizon 5

I’ve played all the past Forza games, but for whatever reason, this one hit me harder and stuck with me longer than anything since Forza Horizon 1 or Forza Motorsport 3. I almost put Forza Horizon 5 as my ultimate Game of the Year. Maybe in a few years, I’ll look back and regret my final choice. But while I loved the incredible selection of cars, the over-the-top races and stunts, and even (some) of the music, one game barely snuck over the top and beat out Forza. And I didn’t expect it at all.

10.Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy

Well, what a wild year 2021 ended up being if Guardians of the Galaxy is at the top of my list. (And looking around, I’m not alone.) But here we are. After the first trailers were released for it at E3, I assumed I would play it but that I probably wouldn’t like it much or even finish it.

Then it came out and I played the entire thing in a very short amount of time, enjoying almost every minute of it. The writing is easily the best part of this superhero action game, but I also loved the alien worlds you get to visit and the way the game reacts to what you do or don’t do. I’ve seen some complain Guardians of the Galaxy is too chatty, but I didn’t mind because the dialogue was often hilarious.

Yet, the real secret weapon of this game is that it is filled with heart and charm. It never lets the comedy step on the toes of the sad or the dramatic moments, sometimes even using comedy to sneak in character moments that will stick with you long after you finish it. I hope we get a sequel, because I want to spend more time with these weirdos and their space llama.

So there we go! That’s my list. If you want to read my 2020 list or 2019 list, just click those links and enjoy. Or get angry about my options. Whatever makes you feel better, I guess.

Before I go, here are some other great games I played this year that just didn’t make my top 10 list! Echo Generation, Resident Evil 4 VR, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, The Gunk, Returnal, The Big Con, The Riftbreaker, and Deathloop. Like I said at the top, too many good games this year!

#game news #today news #news updates #news today #trending news

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 7 years

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Michael After Midnight: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Ah, October, a month where the internet becomes obsessed with ghosts and goblins in preparation for Halloween. And really, can I fault the people for that? The dark, macabre, and spooky make for great entertainment! Plenty of great scary movies out there for the adults to enjoy to get into the spirit, but what about kids? Well, there’s Goosebumps and all those other shows like it, but what about a dark, macabre cartoon filled with spooky shit?

Enter The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, one of the best Cartoon Network cartoons ever made. Released in August of 2001, it came just in time for that year’s Halloween, and lasted six years, with seven seasons under its belt. During that time, the show endeared itself to audiences with its combination of dark comedy, grossout humor, and just plain weird situations…though weirdness is par for the course when you’re pals with the Grim Reaper, I suppose.

So what is the plot of this cartoon? Well, one day a hamster owned by a stupid boy named Billy was about to die, and the Grim Reaper came to take him. Billy’s cunning, evil best friend Mandy decided to make a bet with the Grim Reaper; they have a game of limbo, and if he wins he gets the hamster… but if THEY win, he has too be their best friend forever. Of course, he loses, and then he becomes the put-upon pal of these two kids as they boss him around and force him to entertain them. Much hilarity (and chaos) ensues.

This show’s greatest asset was its variety. With Grim onboard, any sort of plot could be possible, from sci-fi stories where the gang fought aliens or mutant chickens to more horrifying stores where they fought demons, monsters, and other denizens of the underworld. And sometimes they would do something really weird, like the episode-long dream sequence in which Billy imagines he’s in the Wild West confronting the cowboy Tooth Fairy. This helps most of the episodes feel fresh, because going in you don’t know if you’re gonna get a story about a killer tricycle or an episode-long reference to Suspiria. Speaking of which, the show is pretty clever in its references, slipping in TONS of content for adult fans, from numerous dirty jokes that will fly over kid’s heads to references to movies no kid would see, such as the aforementioned Suspiria or Hellraiser. As there’s not much continuity here, this show is super easy to jump into at any episode and just watch and have a good experience, which is another plus; sometimes it’s nice to have a simple show driven only by its desire to tell jokes rather than tell an overarching story. And thankfully, the jokes here are mostly good, and have as much variety as the episodes themselves. One memorable episode is just an episode-long series of fart jokes, while another episode gets its laughs from giant mutant chickens and cannibalism. It’s THAT kind of show.

Now, none of these situations would be quite as good if the protagonists weren’t entertaining, so how are they? Let’s start with the guy whose name comes first in the title (technically speaking): Grim. Grim, the personification of Death with an inexplicable Jamaican accent, is bizarrely the straight man in this show… well, usually. When he has to deal with Billy, he plays the role with ease, but with Mandy, Grim can sometimes get a bit silly, though rarely to Billy’s level. As he is typically what allows the strange and supernatural hijinks of the show to occur, be it on purpose or inadvertently, he’s easily the coolest main character, and due to his put-upon nature and how sympathetic he ends up being due to the shit Billy and Mandy put him through, he’s also the most likable.

Billy is up next, and he is the stereotypical idiot comic relief character cranked up to 11. He’s stupid to the point it is stated by his principal in one episode that a shovel and two candy bracelets actually scored higher on an IQ test than he did (they got a positive 17; he got -5). Think Ed from fellow Cartoon Network cartoon Ed, Edd n Eddy, only with a bigger nose and voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz of Invader Zim and Psychonauts fame. Unlike Ed, though, the dangerous and supernatural experiences they faced combined with an occasional lack of empathy and his tendency to be a jerk can make Billy a bit of a divisive character; I tend to enjoy him quite a bit, but there are a few episodes where even he tried my patience. Still, overall he’s an enjoyable dope.

Then we have… Mandy. I’m just gonna say it: by the time the show came to an end, Mandy was easily the worst main character, maybe even the worst character on the show period. She’s typically portrayed as the Ultimate Evil, this epic child chess master who always comes out on top and never faces any sort of consequence for what she does. It’s a rare episode that sees her punished for her actions. However, in episodes where she’s not trying to pull off some evil scheme and is just reacting to the madness around her, she’s a solid character. The fact she’s voiced by Grey DeLisle does help things a bit.

As I said, there is very little continuity between episodes, but there is some, mostly in the form of reoccurring characters. In a show like this, the ensemble cast as well as one-shot characters really need to be on point, and boy oh boy are they ever in this show! This show may have one of the best and most enjoyable ensemble casts in a cartoon ever. The big standouts are Hoss Delgado, the buff monster hunter who is basically a combination of Ash Williams and Snake Plissken, with all that badassery that implies; Eris, the sexy and tricky goddess of chaos; Jeff, a gigantic spider (voiced by Maxwell Atoms, the show’s creator) who is Billy’s ‘son’ and just wants his spider-hating father’s love; General Skarr, a character from Evil Con Carne who is a cunning evil man who wants to usurp power and rule the world… or he used to be, now he just wants to tend his garden in peace; and, last but definitely not least, motherfuckin’ Dracula, voiced by Phil LaMarr and based visually on Blackula, who is basically a nonstop fountain of hilarity. Each of these characters is fantastic, funny, and able to fit into a variety of weird situations the show pops out. And this brilliance and hilarity extends to one-shot characters as well, such as the much-loved singing evil meteor and Jack O’Lantern, characters who had one appearance each but easily endeared themselves with fans. If there’s a weak link in any of the ensemble cast, it would probably be Fred Fredburger; while he’s not devoid of funny moments, his schtick was really overplayed and he ended up becoming an unofficial mascot for the series in the ads, which led to overexposure. It leads people to think he had a bigger part in the show than he did, when he had a few episodes and then appeared in a few of the specials.

Interestingly, Billy & Mandy is probably one of the few shows that really benefited from getting wackier as the show went on. The first season, when the show was Grim & Evil, is, for lack of a better word, a bit grim. The episodes still have comedy, but a lot of them just aren’t as funny as later episodes, and not many of the series mainstays pop up here, aside from Nergal, Eris, and Hoss. That’s not to say there’s nothing memorable here – “Little Rock of Horrors” is in the first season, after all – but the first season just doesn’t stack up quite as well to later ones. Season 2 introduces Jeff and Nigel Planter and has the legendary Halloween special, while season 3 has classics like “Here Thar Be Dwarves” and brings in Grim’s school bully Boogie. They only get better from here, save for season 7, which is easily the least memorable season of them all (though it does have its exceptions, particularly “Wrath of the Spider Queen").

Now, normally this is where I would wrap up, but first, I want to do something a little different. I’m going to list the 25 episodes I think are essential viewing for the best Billy & Mandy experience. I’m not going to review each episode or even detail them, because it would basically be me explaining jokes and how they’re funny. These are just the episodes I think anyone getting in should see. So without further ado…

25. Attack of the Clowns

24. One Crazy Summoner

23. The Loser from the Earth’s Core

22. Toadblatt’s School of Sorcery

21. Wrath of the Spider Queen

20. Home of the Ancients

19. Nursery Crimes

18. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

17. Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack

16. Nigel Planter and the Chamber Pot of Secrets

15. Modern Primitives

14. Prank Call of Cthulhu

13. Duck!

12. The Secret Snake Club

11. Jeffy’s Web

10. Fear and Loathing in Endsville

9. Here Thar Be Dwarves

8. Goodbling and the Hip-hop-opotamus

7. Billy and Mandy Moon the Moon

6. My Fair Mandy

5. Keeper of the Reaper

4. Little Rock of Horrors

3. Wishbones

2. Billy and Mandy’s Jacked-Up Halloween

1. Billy and Mandy Save Christmas

Now this is by no means a definitive list (though I certainly believe the Halloween and Christmas episode are the two best episodes of the show), but I do certainly think that these are some of the funniest, most memorable, and most enjoyable episodes the series produced.

This show is unarguably a classic. Funny, dark, witty, and filled with jokes for people of any ages to enjoy, this is the sort of cartoon that helped Cartoon Network be truly great in the early to mid-2000s, prior to their descent into madness with live action shows. It actually spawned a pretty solid TV movie, an incredibly bizarre crossover with Codename: Kids Next Door, and a failed spinoff movie called Underfist; I’d go into more detail, but honestly, that stuff is worthy of their own reviews, so I’ll save it.

Needless to say though, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy is one of the best cartoons of the 2000s, a real gem and definitely worth watching, especially its holiday specials which are among the best holiday specials, if not THE best (that Christmas episode is a strong contender). I kinda wish this show would get a revival of some kind, because even with the glut of comedy shows we have these days, as long as Maxwell Atoms is at the helm, I can’t see this show failing to stand out in the crowd… no show with such ballsy dark comedy and radar-dodging innuendos could ever be unwelcome.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #TV show review #the grim adventures of billy and mandy #Billy & Mandy #Grim #Grim Reaper #Maxwell Atoms #Cartoon Network #comedy #dark comedy #animation #animated show

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morceauoleander · 7 years

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Hey so...... I finish my essay about Ford Cruller and his disorder. Took a while because i was busy but, its here.

Anyone is allowed to me to ask questions about this, I’m all ears. You can also read it on google docs.

So I will start this off by saying this is a very informally written essay- I’m not writing this like I’m turning it into my teacher or something. I just love talking and analyzing stuff (this is also me saying that i love answering questions/talking about Psychonauts stuff….so feel free to ask me questions about this or just talk to me in general) so this is kind of why i decided to do this. I have talked about this before in the past i believe, but on a much smaller scale. So i want to use this essay to explain all my thoughts. I hope that aside from educating readers, that it may also help people with writing their own characters and considering certain things. So let’s get to it!

....

Quick summary on who i will be talking about, Ford Cruller: A well known Psychonaut agent who after having his psyche shattered after an intense Psychic battle, was shunned by the Psychonauts organization as they deemed him unstable and not suited for the job anymore. Ford remains underground in the Whispering Rocks Summer Camp near a large Psitanium deposit, which keeps him mostly stable, allowing him to work in secret. What I will be talking here is Ford’s “disorder” or what we assume to be Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously Multiple Personality Disorder). This is a very controversial disorder for media to explore in characters and story, but Psychonauts’ take on it is different than most. As a person who’s been diagnosed with this disorder for almost three years i wanted to pull apart the writing of this character and go over what is good and what is bad. However I want to make it clear that when i go over the “bad” in no way do i hold the writers of the character up to those facts today, nor do i despise them for it in anyway. This game came out in 2005, information was even more scarce than today and regardless this disorder is painted over with so much misinformation today that I only wish for people to be open minded to learning things.

First i want to quickly go over the comparison of Ford Cruller’s situation to an actual person with DID. The game (as far as i can recall and can find by searching through clips and quotes) never explicitly names a disorder as “Multiple Personality Disorder” or “Dissociative Identity Disorder” but it does refer to Ford’s different selves as “multiple personalities” and let's be real, the description of what Ford goes through is basically describing the disorder- from memory loss to different “personalities”. It is just seen as an effect of the psychic battle Ford went through and is vaguely just called a “disorder”. I would not be surprised if the disorder was kept vague on purpose by the writers. What makes Ford’s writing unique to other media with characters that have DID is that Ford isn’t a villain, or he doesn’t have an “evil” alter who is the main focus of the story. With that alone i give Double Fine my personal thanks for not going down that path. Ford has three alters- a janitor, a chef and an admiral. They are all basically him but as if he was only living under that occupation. Like, instead of being a Ford who had gone through all those Psychonauts adventures, he’s just a Ford who went and got a job as a chef or a janitor. Between all these parts, Ford’s alters do not remember anything between them. However, the psitanium underground is what keeps Ford as stable as possible- without he would lose himself to these other identities and never be able to come back to himself. They seem to exist physically… until he switches to another self, but at the same time this allows him to exist in multiple places. The way Ford’s whole story sounds doesn’t seem bad, to me its probably the best attempt at writing this disorder that i have seen. But there are small things that are immediately incorrect.

Some of the things that are done right though- let’s talk about this first. Major points about the disorder that need to be done right is 1) memory loss 2) definable but not outrageous alters 3) describing it to come from a source of trauma. Memory loss is one key symptom of DID and surprisingly many descriptions found in media don’t capture it well at all. Ford’s memory loss is clearly defined in his experiences, he literally has no memory of his switches. I think that many writers don’t want to focus on it, because it’s not super obvious or important. I guess when your main focus isn’t some serial killer alter you gotta focus on something else. On that, the choice of personalities for Ford’s alters isn’t the worst i have seen but i guess that because I’m so used to seeing that evil no good bad boy alter. It is a bit cliche for them to only be centered around their occupations though, but the way they act isn’t drastic from Ford and none of them change physically from their host’s body. But the idea that an alter suddenly knows how to do a job or all these alters can manage some different/totally unique job is quite false. In the setting of the game, it makes itself more plausible as the alters act as complete separate physical entities from Ford rather than one single body, which is the only reason why it works in this setting. The final plus i can name is that the game gently brought it up as an actual disorder that is caused by trauma. It does get some points wrong, which i will talk about, but it named it as a disorder and its description wasn’t totally inaccurate. Most media fails to look at it at all as anything other than a crazy mental disorder, because much of it starts off by saying such a person is evil or dangerous. However Psychonauts brings up for shortly and says its a disorder that simply made him too unstable to work and was shunned for it, nothing extra and nothing about being dangerous.

As much good as Psychonauts did compared to many other stories there’s no doubt that it’s fictional setting allowed some not so accurate symptoms of the disorder to come into the story. Let’s start with probably the most important thing that was messed up, and messed up by countless other people through the years. Ford was traumatized as an adult/a later age, or well. Not exactly “traumatized” in a traditional sense. The fact that this game used the actions of “psychic abilities” to “break” Ford’s mind kind of cancels out the idea that Ford was traumatized in a way that would make the disorder appear. And while in the game’s context it makes sense, the age range for this disorder is very important for that. A person must be traumatized from ages 5-9. An ongoing abuse/trauma or one time event can cause a young child’s mind to not form a definable personality properly and instead have pieces of identities form in order to cope with specific traumatic situations. In the case of the game, Ford is not that age and it happens with fictional concepts that take the “breaking identity” to a more literal sense, and theres nothing else to say than it’s not accurate and can’t be seen as correct at all. It isn’t as easy as saying they could’ve called it something else and been okay with it…… DID is very specific and its obvious what it is even what the writer avoid saying it specifically. There’s no details that could be silenced in this story that would make it seem like it wasn’t DID without changing it completely, thats just fact.

I believe this is the end of what i have to say-- I had a few more breaks between writing this than i expected, but I think i got across what i wanted to say. As i mentioned none of this was writing to hate on what Double Fine made back in 2005. Its more to explain the disorder next to the game so those who have played the game can maybe understand it in real life a bit more, and possibly educate those curious about writing this disorder.

#psychonauts #ford cruller #long post #mine

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scithemodestmermaid · 5 years

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okay so i’m taking notes on microsoft’s conference

watching it here

so i have that aperture science core plushie i made next to me for this, because i was doing some restitching on her, just wanted to set the stage anyway

prepare montage pictures

outer worlds, right off the bat! are we still mad at outer worlds? idk and idc.

october 25th release date for outer worlds...except for steam, but let’s not mention that part....

outer worlds still looks dope, don’t get me wrong.

i don’t know what is going on with bleeding edge, but i’m terrified. also intrigued.

THE ONE PERSON WHO “WHOO’D” FOR ORI, HIGH-FIVE TO YOU

were there actual boss fights in the first ori? i don’t remember, it’s been a real long time since i played it. i just remembered it being like a disney.

someone in the live chat just said, “it’s fallout 5!”

....wait, is this minecraft 2?

a minecraft dungeon crawler?!

minecraft dungeons looks fun, but i’m only just now getting back into og minecraft and i prefer its pacing and the ability for housebuilding so i think i’m sticking with that.

phil spencer is getting todd howard levels of cheering right now.

just noticed he’s wearing a psychonauts shirt. HMMMMMMM

oh its the droid boi

jedi fallen order right now, they got one of those big four legged mechs and its covered in vines and you get to pilot it apparently and that right there hypes me up.

DOOOOOOOOOPE STAR WARS

ooh a scaries?

a dog in a scaries, that does not bode well it better not die.

ITS A BLAIR WITCH GAME

CYBERPUUUUUUUUUUUNK 2077, BOYOS

don’t stick your gun in your buttcrack, kids, that could end terribly

NO NOT JACKIE. i liked him in the 48 minute thing.

whoa the other guy was a backstabber, who’d a thunk it

bawss friggin fightin

KEANU REEVES????

HOLY CRAP IT REALLY IS KEANU REEVES

hello i may or may not have a crush on keanu reeves, but that’s basically everybody

i already was gonna get this game but if he’s in it, then absolutely must buy.

he’s even wearing a cyberpunk 2077 shirt, <3

seriously, he’s a cyberpunk king, friggin neo is in this game.

he is having so much fun right now.

YOU R BREATHTAKING

APRIL 16th, 2020, BOYOS

wow no cheers for an official release date, screw you guys too.

is this animal crossing?

is this animal crossing with permadeath?

spiritfarer is animal crossing with permadeath, pass it on

BATTLETOADS MUSIC

a new battletoads game, and it is NOT 3d? props.

legend of wright has a cool art style, but idk seems a bit too artsy for me, and thats saying something

okay the camera needs to stop pulling away from the screen cuz when it does that i cant see crap

wait theres a pathologic 2?

everyone in live chat is making this joke so i will too...the name’s bond, sarah bond.

people are also begging for keanu to come back.

xbox game pass for pc is available today, so that’s nice.

okay so you mentioned master chief collection, when exactly is it coming out? not gonna say, okay then.

ten bucks a month, not bad.

xbox game pass ultimate puts them all together at no additional cost, so thats cool.

if you start today, it’s one dollar, extremely impressive.

wait so this is actually a game? i thought they were just bsing it and showing real world footage for something.

the only flight simulator i will play is the one at the local historical museum, sorry.

everyone in the live chat is too distracted by that song that was playing during the montage, the one that was like “are you game game game, are you game game game,” except it was easy to mishear “game” as “gay” so they’re taking that and running.

this is exactly what i imagined colorado to be like.

is this fallout colorado?

oh its wasteland 3. so i was pretty close.

matt booty? HMMMMMMM

no one is listening to mr. booty, they’re just cheering his name.

well double fine productions has finally sold out. well, i mean they sold out a while back, but now its literal.

they’re gonna show psychonauts???

tim schafer is one of those rare humans that has never changed physically, he looks the same as he did ten years ago.

they are indeed showing psychonauts 2, did any of yall get your backing rewards yet?

why are they pushing loboto so much? did the fans really care about him so much back in 2005?

MORE STAR WARS?

ITS STAR WARS LEGO YAAAS

over 9000?

thats literally all i know about dragonball, is that theres a guy and his power level is over 9000.

is frieza mewtwo?

what am i lookin at here, is this top-down alan wake?

12 minutes is top-down alan wake, pass it on

deer with light up antlers

i have a feeling way to the woods is symbolism

who is this girl and why is everyone cheering?

gears of war, ah yes, the game so controversial that conservatives stopped harassing halo. that’s all i know about the franchise.

all of this is french to me, i have no idea what any of this is.

what in the heck is going onnnnnn?????

wait is that dave fennoy?

wrestling superstars to play the new game mode? que?

the terminator is just casually in gears of war. okay.

car game. great.

oh wait no, i was bamboozled, its a controller commercial. for their new controller that looks a heck of a lot like the steam controller. HMMMMMMM

people are still begging for keanu to come back.

never played the first dying light, but that sequel looks spiffy

oh, HERE is the car game. complete with a random car just chillin on stage.

WAIT ITS LEGO AND THEYRE PLAYING EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, YOU NOW HAVE MY ATTENTION

and the random car just chillin on stage is made of lego, so i’ll take it back thats astounding.

.....but i just wanna kick that lego car’s door and watch it fall apart, i’m chaotic evil apparently.

funko pop, oh i can tune out then.

state of decay 2, i will not trust these devs after the moonrise fiasco so piss off with this game.

sega?

what is this, where is sonic?

phantasy star online 2, k

who tf is smilegate?

what tf is crossfire x?

(i took a break here but i don’t think i missed anything that i would’ve cared about)

oh borderlands, woooow. another anticipated title brought low with epic games anti-hype.

but it had claptrap and leg gun in the same scene so that makes it good.

look claptrap is the only part of borderlands that i like so lets move on.

miyazaki and rr martin???

let me give you a hand. i’m not even apologizing for that joke.

some in the chat pointed out there’s not been gameplay so far in this conference, and thats interesting.

anyway elden rings or whatever.

is this it? no halo or banjo?

oh new gaming console, optimized for gaming....didn’t they just release a new xbox?

developers taking about we totally get gamers, we are going to get rid of loading screen because no one is patient.

i know i sound bitter but do understand, i am totally interested right now with the specs and the construction and all that, tis related to my major so yeah.

scarlett? what a weird name for a console, but i genuinely hope that’s not just a placeholder i want a console with a human name.

next console is project jeff.

people in live chat are already confirming skyrim for the scarlett.

xbox is 18 years old?

also HALO NOW. and its releasing with the scarlett.

plot twist: this is the master chief without his suit, just a dumpy white guy.

he aged ten years in five minutes, are we sure this isnt death stranding?

CHIEF

guys i found a master chief, he was sitting outside my window and he looked sad, like no one had fed him or anything in a long time, can i keep him?

yo i am hyped okay, i was big on halo when i was an obnoxious teen, my friends used to do halo 2 parties and i’d try to keep up.

and i guess that’s the end of the conference. good selection of games, interested in that project scarlett, and all in all okay with it all.

still no banjo. :-/

#sci's e3 experience

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d-parnell-futureworks-blog · 7 years

Text

What problems do men face in games? And why?

All in all I think the key problems with male representation in games is that everything is too limited and static from game to game. No one is trying to tackle any issues, no one lets their characters feel human emotions and stick to the tropes that currently garner the most attention until theyre done to death til the next trend. No one bothers to let men believe they can be anything other than these set idealisms that may have fairly human problems, but they don’t teach them how to combat those life issues, no one wants to escape into a video game to avoid their life issues only to have those same issues thrown at them during a video game without a solution. Men need to be shown that they can be effeminate and not have the perfect body type, they don’t have to be violent and hardcore, only playing the most brutal shooters or hack n slash games. If they want to play a game where theyre a goofy child like Sora, or if they want to play a childish platformer or puzzle game like Ratchet or Psychonauts then they can and their body shape appearance doesn’t matter. Nor does their sexual orientation, to this day I don’t think ive played any games other than perhaps Mass effect where gay relationships are tackled with tact, rather than portraying homosexuals as some comic relief stereotype.

Games nowadays are also too stressful, going back to escapism it is a growing pain that all the new games are ‘open world’ as if that’s a selling point, where im forced to do a gigantic array of meaningless but stressful side tasks that make me exhausted by the time im done playing, feeling exhausted after playing a game like that only makes me feel more depressed about not making any progress is my real life.

Another key issue is women. Men struggle with women. Whether its because theyre looked down by them for spending too much of their life on games, or whether theyre scared of talking to them to start a relationship, or panicking about committing to a relationship, games do not help in any of these. Showing these impossibly butch badass characters with ‘babes’ without problem is incredibly disheartening, games don’t help men combat their real life issues at all, even in a subtle manner, and only helps to make them worse as men agonise over not having what those characters get without effort. I applaud games like Catherine for actually tackling such a complicated topic and Mass effect too for handling mixed race and Homosexual relations, but theyre only 2 games, there needs to be more of it. Teaching to solve real life problems without adding to the problem itself by ruining expectations of putting down the player. Depression, suicide and mid life crisis are insanely huge issues when it comes to men and if a man wants to escape into a game for a while, he shouldn’t feel worse about himself once hes done playing.

And now I believe I have types enough cos that’s like 5 pages, I cant think anymore and ive probably not said anything of substance. Great.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which Console Has The Best 2021 Exclusive Games?

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The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S launched last year during strange times, but now that the 2021 release schedule is starting to shape up, we’re finally able to see which exclusive games next-gen console owners can start to look forward to.

That also means that it’s time to start the debate that has defined so many of the console wars so far: “Which console has the best exclusive games?”

As you’ve probably already guessed, that’s the question we’re going to try to answer today. Before we dive into our breakdown of the PS5 and Xbox Series X’s most notable upcoming exclusives in 2021, though, here are a few factors that you need to consider:

The definition of “exclusive games” is constantly evolving, so we’re embracing a more modern definition of the concept. A game is eligible for this list if it will be available for PS5 or Xbox Series X/S but not the other console. That means that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S games that will also be available for PC or previous-gen consoles made by the same manufacturer are eligible for consideration.

There are very few “true” next-gen exclusives being released in 2021. By that, we mean games that will only be available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and no absolutely no other devices. We expect that to change in 2022 and beyond.

An exclusive game has to be currently scheduled for release in 2021 to be eligible for consideration. That includes games with exact 2021 release dates and 2021 release windows.

We will be updating these lists with new exclusives if and when they are revealed and as more release dates are confirmed.

2021 PlayStation 5 Exclusive Games

Deathloop

Death Stranding: Director’s Cut

Destruction All-Stars

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade

Ghostwire Tokyo

Horizon Forbidden West

Jett The Far Shore

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Oddworld Soulstorm

Ratchet And Clank: Rift Apart

Returnal

Solar Ash

Stray

The first thing you’re going to notice about this shortlist of PS5 exclusives is that it’s rather…short. Part of the reason that’s currently the case is that the PlayStation team really hasn’t had their “big” presentation for the year while the Xbox team pretty much showed their hand at E3 2021. We expect PlayStation to expand its 2021 exclusive lineup sometime in the near future (even if those updates only include smaller titles).

One of the most interesting things about this list is that we’ve actually already played two of the biggest exclusives on it: Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Both of those games rank comfortably among the best games of 2021, and both are “true” PS5 exclusives. There’s a debate to be had about whether of those games are worth owning a PS5 for, but we’re reaching a point where we can start to judge the PS5 based on the strength of its overall exclusive library and not individual releases. So far as that goes, these are two exceptional additions to that library.

Beyond those titles, the only significant true PS5 exclusive on the horizon for 2021 is…well, Horizon Forbidden West. Everything we’ve seen of that game so far looks incredible, and we fully expect it to be both a worthy follow-up to the incredible original and perhaps the PS5’s best game so far.

From there, things get a little weird. For instance, Ghostwire Tokyo and Deathloop are actually being published by Bethesda. As you probably heard, Bethesda was recently acquired by Microsoft. Despite that acquisition, Bethesda has said that both of those games will still be timed PS5 console exclusives for a one-year period. Both titles look promising (especially Deathloop) and both could certainly prove to offer compelling reasons to buy a PS5 if you just can’t wait to play them on Xbox.

Then you have Death Stranding Director’s Cut and Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade: two upgraded ports of PS4 games. We don’t know much about Death Stranding‘s new content at this time, but Intergrade looks like a fantastic upgrade of the incredible original experience. In both cases, we expect these titles to be very appealing to those who missed these games the first time around and potentially appealing to those who are interested in buying them again for the upgrades.

Beyond, that you’ve got a mix of interesting smaller titles (Stray and Jett The Far Shore, for example) and games that already came out (Oddworld Soulstorm and Destruction All-Stars) and weren’t all that great. We’ll talk a little more about this in the next section, but at the moment, the PlayStation 5 lineup is lacking some smaller titles that could fill in the gap between the more significant releases. Timed exclusive Deatloop and Ghostwire Tokyo could help make the wait for Horizon Forbidden West a little more manageable, but the PS5 is certainly relying on its heavy hitters this year.

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2021 Xbox Series X/S Exclusive Games

Adios

CrossfireX

Dead Static Drive

Echo Generation

Exo One

ExoMecha

Forza Horizon 5

Halo Infinite

Lake

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Sable

Scorn

Shredders

The Anacrusis

The Artful Escape

The Ascent

The Big Con

The Gunk

The Wild at Heart

Tunic

Twelve Minutes

Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy

Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Unless something really surprising happens (whether it be a delay or a reveal), the Xbox team has seemingly shown us their 2021 exclusives hand. That makes it a lot easier to judge what they’re working with.

Honestly, there are only two real “heavy hitters” on this list: Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite. These are Xbox’s big new entries into established franchises, and thus the kind of games console manufacturers traditionally rely on to sell hardware. Well, after E3 2021, I can tell you that Forza Horizon 5 is stunning. How the game looks obviously doesn’t account for whether or not you care about this franchise, but if you have any interest in Forza or racing games, this could very well prove to be one of the year’s top titles.

As for Halo Infinite…well, the fact that Microsoft still can’t give us a definitive 2021 release date for the game certainly raises some alarms. Halo Infinite could very well be delayed to 2022, or Microsoft could decide to release part of it (likely the multiplayer part) this year and the rest of it next year. If the full package does release this year, the game should prove to be one of the year’s biggest titles. At the very least, Halo Infinite‘s free-to-play multiplayer mode could move a lot of Xbox Series X consoles this holiday season if it lives up to the hype.

You also have Microsoft Flight Simulator, which was obviously already released on PC, but seems to be getting enough of an upgrade in time for its Xbox Series X debut to make it a compelling exclusive for series fans who aren’t able to (or don’t want to) play the game on PC.

It’s actually when you look at some of the smaller games on this list that things start to get more interesting. Twelve Minutes, Sable, The Gunk, Scorn, and Shredders could all work their way into game-of-the-year conversations if for no other reason than the fact this is kind of a weird year for gaming. Microsoft is very interested in ensuring Xbox gamers have at least one notable title to look at each month, and they seem to be well on their way to accomplishing that goal by virtue of their support of these smaller titles.

That brings us to Game Pass. It’s hard to know what to do with Game Pass when you’re talking about exclusives. Game Pass will include day-one access to certain Xbox exclusives, but Game Pass itself is also something of an exclusive. That also means that you could argue the service enhances the value of titles like Hades, Psychonauts 2, and Back 4 Blood that may not technically be Xbox exclusives but will arguably be more accessible to Xbox users.

PlayStation 5 vs. Xbox Series X: Who Has the Better 2021 Exclusives?

This is an incredibly close call, but in the interest of naming a “winner” for the sake of conversation, I’m going with the PlayStation 5.

The thing is that I honestly think the Xbox Series X may end up having the better 2021 games lineup overall largely due to the number of indie titles the console is supporting and the value of Game Pass. In fact, we’re reaching a point where it’s hard to separate Game Pass from Xbox. If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, you’re about to be able to access more modern games (and a collection of classics) in 2021 than you may have ever had access to in your entire gaming life. It’s a great time to be an Xbox gamer.

If we’re just talking exclusives, though, then I can’t discount the fact that the only Triple-A Xbox exclusive that I’m confident is coming out this year is Forza Horizon 5 (not counting the PC exclusive Age of Empires 4). Even if Halo Infinite is released this year, serious questions remain regarding what kind of shape it’s in and how much of it we’ll get.

By comparison, PlayStation 5’s major exclusives for the year include Returnal, Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, timed exclusives Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo, and notable remasters Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade and Death Stranding: Director’s Cut. I’m certainly worried about the PS5’s lack of games between those releases, but I’m more confident that each of those games is going to great (or very good) than I’m confident that some of those smaller Xbox titles are going to live up to what is certainly the high-end of their potential.

The post PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which Console Has The Best 2021 Exclusive Games? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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mellz117 · 3 years

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E3 thoughts. Looking at highlights because I'm not watching live yet.

I'm only talking about Forza here because I know the name lmao. The Forza stuff I'm not too interested in. I mean, how else can they make a hyper-realistic racing sim look interesting? They're like Madden and other sports games released yearly. IN MY OPINION, don't attack me but they're boring. I guess for people who like that stuff, that's for you?? I personally like shooting monsters, getting scared by mutant totally-not-zombies and tall, incredibly attractive vampire ladies, and solving puzzles. Pass.

I talked about my thoughts on Halo infinite on my Zelda blog a bit and you can check that out [ here ] if you haven't. To add to my previous thoughts though, I'm not too interested in the multiplayer team stuff, mainly because I'm not very good at it and don't like to drag my team down. I have fun but I don't like seeing my username in the bottom four lmao. Are there playable Elites though? Come ON 343! Everybody wants them back! RvB might get good again with more options! I like the customization so far, it seems a lot less messy and pointless than Halo 5, where they just wanted to pad out your options as much as possible to get you to buy more req packs BUT MOVING ONNNNN! I want to play this one.

Ubisoft... They're making a fucking Avatar game. Let the next movie come out before you release a game lmao. Maybe they're making a game to hype up the next movie in................... 2045? idk. Is anyone interested in Avatar? I liked the first movie just fine but it's been... a while since I've watched it. The visuals are nice but it's another IP I'm not interested in. Pass!

Redfall! Co-op shooter. Looks cool. Like stylized realism, I appreciate games that look like that but ultimately not too interested. Pass.

Age of Empires is getting a new game after a long time. So that's cool for those who liked that. It's always a good thing when a seemingly abandoned IP makes a comeback. I hope it's good. Now, where's that F-Zero revival, Nintendo? Can't keep putting Captain Falcon in Smash and ignoring his actual game. Pass.

Sea of Thieves is still a thing? And Disney let them put Jack Sparrow in it? And the expansion is FREE?? Neat, neat. But I wasn't interested then, I'm still not now. Pass.

Phychoaughts 2 has been made known for a while. I really dig the style -I love stylized stuff- but never played the first game. May be a thing I pick up some time, I like platformers well enough (it IS a platformer right? lmao). It's another IP that's been dead for a while so I'm glad to see it returning. I want to try this.

Bethesda still trying to desperately keep Fallout 76 relevant. I've heard nothing but negativity about that game but you gotta give them props for making the attempt. Has it gotten better since release? I was looking forward to the next Elder Scrolls game. Pass.

I want that XBOX mini fridge. I want that.

A new Mario+Rabbids game was seen the other day, not a huge reveal for me but I'm glad the first one was received well enough to warrant a sequel. Nice to see Nintendo being more and more open to crossovers! Glad to see it, but again I'm not interested in playing right now. Might want to try this for the lulz.

It's cool to see remasters/remakes of pixel based games while KEEPING the pixel style. Something I think Link's Re:Awakening could have had, but I still liked it as we got it. Pass.

Is this Guardians of the Galaxy interesting? It looks nice, the jokes made me giggle, Drax's deadpan delivery is always a treat. But uh... What's with the sentient Jell-O monsters? I wanna slurp it up. Seems that this isn't based on the Avengers continuity but more its own thing so the devs can have a little more fun with it. It's like an AU. Pass though.

Oh my god Life is Strange is getting a... REMASTER of the first two games? It's not even that old! Bro. And another game is coming to the series. I don't like this series. I hated -HATED- the characters. I liked Kate. Kate who? Exactly. But the rest? Nah. Of the few SE published IP's I'm familiar with, LiS is one of the weakest. Hard pass.

Stranger of Paradise, the new Final Fantasy? looks pretty, but yet another hyper realistic game to add to the pot. The character designs don't really do much for me. Feels too Western? Am I right in saying that? Idk. Creature design is better I guess but the humans? Nah. Not a series I was ever really interested in in general. Pass.

---

All in all, I'm not super interested in what's on offer so far aside from Halo, MarioRabbids, and Psychonauts. That's it from me for now. This is getting lengthy.

#mellz talks #e3 2021 #e3 2021 spoilers #???

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britesparc · 3 years

Text

Weekend Top Ten #483

Top Ten Non-Predictions About Not-Quite E3

So E3 is upon is at last! Nearly. Almost. Sort of. A bit. But after a year in which the world-famous videogame trailer convention and Keanu Reeves meme factory was sidelined by this virus thing (Google it), it’s nice to have a major entertainment landmark back in the calendar.

Last year was a bit frustrating, but also interesting. For a long time I’ve wondered about the need – as a consumer – for huge conventions such as E3. It makes sense for the industry, sure, the same way Sundance or something does for film: it’s a way for creators to showcase their wares and hopefully secure deals or employment. But as a way of showing to the public games that are in development, or announcing new things, it’s seemed old-fashioned for quite a while. It requires developers and executives to turn into PT Barnum or something, hawking their wares on elaborate stages, titivating their offerings with dances and celebrity appearances. Sure, sometimes it’s genuinely excellent and entertaining, but most often it’s memorable for all the wrong reasons. With many companies now engaging directly with fans by releasing curated videos that announce their games in their own way, in their own time, would that not have been better? If last year is anything to go by, then no, not really. What we got – and this may have been in large part due to 2020’s unique circumstances – was a long, long summer and autumn filled with rumour and conjecture, and occasional, uninspiring videos, often featuring CG trailers, often for games that were literally years away. On the one hand, lots was announced; on the other, it all felt vague and woolly, and the slow drip-feed did nothing but build anticipation to unrealistic proportions. Without E3 serving as some kind of anchor point – in time, if nothing else – then the spray-gun smattering of videos, trailers, and announcements felt disparate and a little disappointing.

And so it’s back! But not quite. Because, understandably, the huge convention aspect is gone, replaced by a wholly online event. And whilst this may be detrimental to people who want to secure a distribution deal for their game, it might actually make for better showcases for us, the unwashed masses. Instead of a ninety-minute stagebound light entertainment extravaganza that ends up feeling like a ten million dollar school play, we’ll (hopefully) get tightly edited videos that highlight the games, alongside trimmed-down and relevant talking head interviews from developers explaining what we can expect and just how many bumps they’ve managed to map this year. At least, that’s what I hope will happen.

Of course, exactly what E3 is nowadays is a bit weird anyway, and this year exacerbates that. Loads of companies seem to shun the show itself but schedule their presentations for the same week or thereabouts, giving us, what, a fortnight (with a “gh”) or so of things to look forward to. I mean, it feels a bit weird putting this list out a full week before E3 formally kicks off, but I wanted to try to pre-empt any interesting amusing reveals that might occur in the days preceding (at the time of writing, Nintendo haven’t announced a new Switch, despite everyone on Twitter saying it was due any minute now). To be honest, I always like to look for the random stuff anyway, as the huge games tend to be known about or heavily rumoured well in advance (it felt like an open secret for at least a year that Playground Games were developing a new Fable, for instance, and we were just waiting to see when Microsoft would announce that). So I’ve tried to make these predictions daft, wish-fulfilment, or at least offer some kind of personal spin on the sort of thing we might expect. And, of course, as someone who tends to prefer to play on Xbox or Nintendo, there will be a skew towards those companies (anyway, Sony don’t really have a presence at E3 nowadays). And like I’ve said before, the really personal wish-fulfilment stuff I always used to “predict” in these things have started to come true – we’ve got Fable and Perfect Dark on the way, and we had Crackdown 3 a couple of years ago. If it goes on like this I’m just going to have to start wishing for loads of old Amiga games to get rebooted.

You heard it here first: E3 2022 is when we get the third-person open world Ruff ‘n’ Tumble reboot we’ve all asked for.

Anyway, here are ten predictions for E3 that probably won’t happen.

Halo Infinite multiplayer beta: we know Halo will be there, because it’s front and centre of Microsoft’s little announcement picture thing (along with what appears to be a bit of the Starfield logo). As the image also seems to show multiplayer Spartans, I imagine this will be the focus rather than more campaign gameplay. I actually think this is a big risk, as the main criticism of Halo last year was that its graphics weren’t good enough; typically, I’d say, the campaign visuals are stronger than the multiplayer portion, which tends to focus on elegantly designed levels and fast-moving gameplay. I wonder if there’ll be another, longer look at the campaign sometime later in the summer, in a dedicated Halo presentation. Anyway, one thing I think MS will do to curry favour is announce an imminent multiplayer beta. Maybe there’ll be a sign-up, but I think it would be cool if it was available for anyone in Game Pass Ultimate. It’s a way to get people to sign up for the service, and that seems to be Microsoft’s main goal right now.

Games ready to play RIGHT NOW: Psychonauts 2, Age of Empire IV, and the Xbox version of Flight Simulator have all been given age ratings recently, something that only happens relatively close to a game’s release. I think that at least one of these – maybe all three! – will be shown at the Xbox presentation, and then declared to be available immediately on Game Pass. Again, it bigs up Microsoft’s service, and would also be a cool mic drop moment for games that might be anticipated but aren’t quite the triple-A behemoths of Halo, Fallout, or Gears.

All the rays, nicely traced: one thing that’s been a bit frustrating as an Xbox Series X owner is the lack of genuine next-gen feeling experiences. I’ve really enjoyed the upgrade from a base Xbox One, and playing a game like Gears 5 feels like a huge improvement (and it’s gorgeous too). But I want to see crazy stuff that the old box couldn’t do, and not just in higher resomolutions. One of the things that I’d love to see is more ray-tracing; this is a next-gen graphical treat that, to me, feels like when I first saw games with dynamic coloured lighting twenty-five years ago. So I hope we get a proper reveal/release date for the ray-traced Minecraft expansion, but I’d also love it – now that Xbox owns everything – if the ray-traced version of Quake 2 was announced for the console. Give me them rays, Microsoft!

Quaking: speaking of the Quake series, it’s the first game’s twenty-fifth anniversary this year, and I think it needs some love. Now, id are working on their Doom reboot trilogy thing, so I don’t expect to see a fully-fledged reimagining for a few years yet, but how about re-releasing the original game on modern consoles? Doesn’t need anything fancy, just like the ports of the first Doom that are ten a penny. Quake is a bit more complex to port, it’s true, but I still think it’d be amazing to see it on consoles before the end of its anniversary year.

Nothing but Star Wars: outside of the Xbox-Bethesda conference, I hope we see some lovely, lovely Star Wars goodies. There are a few projects in development, but I’m gonna stick my neck out and say that we’ll get a fairly long look at the Knights of the Old Republic remake/reboot, a very vague teaser trailer for Fallen Order 2 (maybe even just a title reveal), and a teaser for the open-world game from Ubisoft. I don’t, unfortunately, think we’ll see anything of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga until the Lego livestream later this summer, but for what it’s worth I’m not expecting that game till Christmas now.

Old games on Switch: I think one of the things Nintendo is going to announce is a bunch of older games coming to the Switch. We already have Skyward Sword coming, but I think we’ll hear about other classic Zelda games coming in the anniversary year. Maybe remastered Metroid Prime games too? And I think they’ll do another one of those battle royale-style versions of their classics, maybe the first Donkey Kong?

New games on a new Switch: the sheer weight of “New Switch” rumours seems to suggest it is real, but when are they announcing it if their E3-ish Direct is all about software? I wonder if we’ll see some new games for Christmas ’21 going into ’22 that are then revealed to be enhanced by this mythical Super Switch. We’ll probably see a bit more of Breath of the Wild 2 (although I think there’ll be a bigger Zelda-focused Nintendo Direct later this year). I’m gonna predict Pikmin 4. And vague teasers for both a brand new Metroid Prime game, and also for Mario Kart 9. And all of these will be designed to run better on Switchy McSwitchface. Whenever that comes out.

Microsoft buys more companies: I just think this is inevitable, and I reckon we’ll get another announcement next week. Which companies? God knows. The Flight Sim guys maybe, or The Medium developers. Or, I dunno, Team 17. Probably not Sega, as funny as that would be. Maybe a medium-sized Japanese developer. So, yeah; Microsoft’s spending spree isn’t quite over.

Sony’s not-E3 announcements: Sony appears to be skipping E3 altogether, again. So when will they have their next big video presentation? I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long personally. So what will they talk about? I’d have thought we’d see the next Spider-Man revealed this year, but the big chitter-chatter at the moment is the whole “cross-gen” conversation (my opinion is: who cares?), and also when their games will come out. well, call me pessimistic, but I think Horizon: Forbidden West will end up being early 2022, with the new God of War and Gran Turismo ending up as late 2022 releases.

Crazy talk: I think this has ended up being a relatively straight and rational list, which just won’t do. So let’s get some wild ones out of the way here at the end. Sony announces remastered versions of Lemmings and Lemmings 2 for PC! Microsoft is making new games starring their Avatars! Double Fine release a PC version of Scurvy Scallywags for Game Pass! A brand new Duke Nukem! Lucasfilm bring Ron Gilbert back to oversee a reboot of Monkey Island! Nintendo announces Switch Sports! Gabe Newell announces VR support for Xbox Series X with an exclusive port of Half-Life: Alyx! Peggle 3! Phew, glad to get that out of my system.

#top ten #e3 e3 2021 #xbox #nintendo #sony #playstation #switch #switch pro #microsoft #series x #halo

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vrheadsets · 7 years

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Join Raz and the Team as Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Hits PlayStation VR

Today see’s the long awaited release of Double Fine Productions first virtual reality (VR) title Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, an exclusive for PlayStation VR. Prior to release VRFocus spoke with Lead Programmer Chad Dawson about the project and its development.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin takes place directly after the original, filling in the story gap before the release of Psychonauts 2 which is due out next year. A first-person adventure, players assume the role of Raz as his psychic powers – such as Clairvoyance, Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis – to manipulate the world around them.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is available now for PlayStation VR for $19.99 USD/£15.49 GBP, with PlayStation Plus members getting a limited time discount. Checkout the interview with Chaz below and for any further updates keep reading VRFocus.

So what sparked the interest in creating a VR title?

I did some VR stuff back in the 90’s during grad school, so early prototype research, mostly little projects, but left that to come do videogames for the next 10/15 years. But recently with the Oculus Kickstarter a bunch of people got excited about it, as Double Fine has always taken on new technology. We made a bunch of Kinect games for Microsoft Kinect, when mobile started becoming popular we made a bunch of mobile games, we did some Leap Motion games, so we always like to play around with new technology and see what it could create.

So we started playing around with doing a VR game about the same time Tim (Schafer) started looking towards us approaching Psychonauts 2. And as we started trying things out in VR, figuring out what types of locomotion, what type of systems we liked from our experiments, it began to feel like Psychonauts might be a good fit for VR as far as psychic abilities mapping on to the mechanics of VR.

Tim also had an idea for a story in the middle of Psychonauts one and two, sort of a lost chapter, as Psychonauts 2 is going to kind of start ‘hey do you remember when we rescued Lily’s father’, it kind of assumed those events had happened, but as we started looking at the story we were building it looked like we could tell that chapter as well in VR, that’s what melded the two together.

What can you tell us about development?

We started about a year and half ago doing some prototypes, as a studio we wanted to explore using a new engine, this is built with Unreal 4, so we wanted to test out new technology with that as well. And initially like most people do in VR it’s a big open space, there’s all types of experiences you can do, we tried a few prototypes of locomotion, moving around with characters, as well as artistic exploration on what would it take to take Psychonauts characters from ten years ago and bring them up to modern standards, as far as materials, animation or detail. We knew in VR you’d probably be up close to them as opposed to the original Psychonauts being a third-person platformer, other than cut-scenes you look from far away, in this case you might have one right up close to your face so the expressiveness of eyebrows, their eyes, facial animation had to be up there as well.

Any particular challenges implementing Psychonauts into VR?

It was tricky to adapt, all of our modelers and world builders we made sure that they had VR headsets. Typically you make something that looks great on your screen then you go into VR and the whole sense of scale and space are different, it maybe feels small on your screen once you put yourself in VR it feels like a life sized room. Initially we new that the Psychonauts would be held captive so we started with some prison cells, we thought we’d made this really small cell that felt small, but once we put you in there it felt like a giant space. So picking up those distances was a learning curve.

Coupled up with that Psychonauts is a weird and wonky art style, none of the lines are parallel, everything’s an askew shape, none of the circles are circles their all kind of bent and twisted ovals, that art style is also tricky to convey in VR. Often times a player needs a point of reference, a floor plane, a ceiling plane that’s level to balance them out, so figuring out how to keep that art style true to the original game while also making an experience in VR was an initial challenge.

Now that Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin has been completed any further VR plans?

It’s definitely been a great experience for our team, we’ve learnt a lot doing it and talking to anyone who does a VR project every few months you learn something new about VR that works and something that you thought works that didn’t work that well. For us we really tried to approach characters and the story, which is different to many VR projects which are more about shooting robots or flying spaceships. So for us the challenge was taking our story and characters and bringing them into the world, and once we got in there with our characters it was such a great way to see them up close like that I think it’s something we’d want to explore again in the future, but at this time we don’t have any announced plans. But we’ve certainly learned a lot, it’d be great to build off of the aspects we’ve learnt from and continue with more VR titles.

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2kVQZqe

#VRFocus #vr #virtual reality #canada

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