Boss Fights Suck

OK, let's see if I can formulate this into a coherent series of words.

I'm actually OK with boss fights. In fact, I even enjoy a lot of them. Among my favorites are the final (real) battle in Final Fantasy VII, the final boss in Divinity: Original Sin, the final battle in Pillars of Eternity, and basically just about anything that doesn't rely on twitchy responses.

I'm actually not bad in really twitchy games. If needed, I can become quite proficient. It's just not how I want to spend my time.

See, I don't allow a huge amount of time in my life for gaming, even though I love it. It's probably my favorite hobby. But I also believe in having a rich, diverse life. I have so many great things, and time is now my most precious resource. I have two amazing children, a fantastic wife, a really cool job, plus I make time three times a week to exercise with a friend and take care of my body, plus I have interests outside of gaming, so I'm basically a weekend warrior. I usually set aside time for maybe one big play session, and I might be able to sneak in a second one. Especially during the summer, time is just tight. During the summer, I actually struggle mightily to hold it together because my days are so dense, and spend all day from 530-2130 going from commitment to commitment to commitment. It's not ideal, but it's where we are in life right now.

OK, let's make a point, shall we?

So, knowing that I don't have a huge amount of time for gaming, but a pretty wicked brain, if I can use my vast intelligence and understanding of the game's systems to 1) over-level myself to ensure minimal enemy resistance, and 2) still be challenged a bit in strategic combat, I'm good.

What I don't like is the final battle in The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. It took me back to the original Ninja Gaiden on NES, and that game's horrendous final boss. It's in three stages, and if you die, you start at the very beginning of the battle. Right there, I was frustrated. On top of that, with imprecise movements, you can die in just a couple hits. And too much healing poisons you.

It was bizarre, too, because nowhere else in the game, or any of its expansions, is there a cheap-shit, cheesedick fucking boss fight like this.

But, I refused to give up, and actually repeated the fight more times than I normally allow myself, because I was so committed to ending the game last weekend.

I think the expected behavior is that I'd experience a sense of relief and accomplishment once I defeated the boss. Instead, when I defeated him, I felt intense annoyance at the shit I'd just had to wade through in an otherwise pristine and wonderful experience. And yeah, I was playing on baby bitch settings. I'd had other fights that were challenging along the way, but I was always able to get them within a few tries, and they allowed some margin of error. This did not. This was, even on baby bitch, stupidly hard.

The Witcher games are an exception for me. I tend to play mostly pause-and-play or turn-based RPGs, but each of the Witcher titles have featured a pretty fun and engaging approach to battle, and I can make it easy enough that it's still fun for me.

Understand, too, that I'm not condemning your love of Dark Souls. I tried it once. Not my cup of tea. But, I get why that's fun for some people. Me? I prefer to chill. I like using my brain and planning moves, as if I'm playing chess. I don't prefer intensity in my down-time. I like to chill. I spend nearly every moment of every day being extremely fired up and intense, and when I game, I wanna experience a story and some light strategy.

It's kinda the same way I feel about obnoxious puzzle-solving in games. Puzzles are fine. Obtuse puzzles that require a web search are a waste of my fucking time.

Side note - you know who does puzzles well? Naughty Dog. You know who does puzzles well and demands that you stop thinking about games like they're games? Larian Studios.

I used to be super-open about gaming experiences. I used to grab whatever the latest hotness was, regardless of genre, because it's what the cats at EGM and CGW were playing. I ended up with a sizable pile of unfinished games. As I got older, I made my interests less horizontal and more vertical. I now play lots and lots of RPGs, from the big AAA stuff to the smaller indie titles, so long as it's an RPG.

Occasionally, I'll succumb to peer pressure and try out one of those cutesy indie platforming games, and I'll enjoy it, but I think that's enhanced by the fact that I rarely play them. And it seems like a lot of the guys that makes those games are pretentious dickbags.

What about you? What's your threshold for feeling like your time is being wasted in a game? What was one of the most rage-inducing moments you've ever had in a game?

Oh, and I played the first hour of I Am Setsuna last night ... check it out ... I have some warm feelings for it, but also some uncomfortable ones. I'm still formulating an opinion on it, and ... well, I need to play more first. I know it's not fashionable, but I'm actually not rushing forward with an opinion.

I'm one year closer to 40 soon. I'm actually not at all upset or worried about it. Each decade I've earned has been better than the one immediately preceding it. My 30s have been better than my 20s which were better than my teens. Let's see how long this can continue.

Alright, chill time over. Back to the grind.

Oh, and Comic-Con is this weekend. We need to talk about that soon.

-Blaine

Killing Time

Few things are as likely to flip me out as my work computer rebooting while I'm coding, especially when it's updates forced by group policy. Time that shit so it's off-hours, moron. GAH. Anyway, I'm being forced to take a few minutes, so I thought I'd throw something up here real quick.

Star Wars Celebration was this past weekend, and it was very cool. I always really enjoy the panels, and the Thrawn announcement had me spasming in my chair.

I finished Blood and Wine (the final expac from the final Witcher game), and it was a really emotional experience. Geralt, the main character, and I have been adventuring together in both games and novels for about a decade now, and it was tough knowing that was our final new adventure together, at least with a mouse and keyboard. It was a beautiful experience, except a horrendously difficult final boss battle. Seriously, the shit was on the level of the final boss in the original Ninja Gaiden (NES), which was fun when I was 10, but not fun as I approach 40.

Regardless, it was both beautiful and heartbreaking, and I am truly grateful to CDPR for the amazing and excellent trilogy. Playing through the trilogy was an experience that brought me a lot of joy and reshaped what I thought games could be.

I'm also enjoying the new SWTOR event, Dark vs Light. It's kinda like Diablo 3 Seasons. You roll a new toon for the event, blast through content, and your Light vs Dark decisions add up and contribute to an overall score game-wide. And leveling is insane now. I finished the first planet at double the level you're supposed to be.

It's also cool seeing the OG content again, AND general chat was the least toxic I've ever seen it. It's a lot of fun.

Also, SWTOR got a cool new expac announced at Celebration, Knights of the Eternal Throne. I can't wait to check it out later this year. If the last few episodes of Knights of the Fallen Empire are an indication of quality, KotET is gonna be great.

Last, I Am Setsuna hits today, which has me spazzing completely. It looks to be a blatant throwback to Chrono Trigger, and it's from Squenix's Tokyo RPG Factory. It unlocks in a couple hours, and I plan to stream it tonight.

And that's it for now. I'll probably be back for a bit at lunch. I want to discuss boss battles in the modern era.

-Blaine

Yeah, it's like that, but whatever

I'm a bad bloggist today. I'm almost in awe of how busy I've been lately.

Regardless, I wanted to share my enthusiasm for the upcoming Star Wars Celebration, and in particular, its live stream.

SWC starts tomorrow, and they'll be streaming from London live. The SWC stream last year was TREMENDOUS. In particular, the Force Awakens panel, and the on-stage stuff with Mark Hamill, and especially Carrie Fisher were fantastic. This year's looks just as awesome. Check it out.

Otherwise, I'm just hoping to catch my breath. Fuck being busy. I hate being busy. I don't mind moving fast, but I'm a very deliberate person, and I badly need to just chill.

I'm much looking forward to kicking back with some Star Wars interviews, trailers, and more all weekend. While I play some games. Maybe some Shadowrun Dragonfall? More Blood and Wine? My second Dragon Age Inquisition playthrough? Hmm. I still haven't played the latest Knights of the Fallen Empire chapter.

And, I wanna stream some of my own stuff. Anything you wanna see me play?

Alright, back to work. What do you got going on this weekend?

-Blaine

Just Another Manic Monday

Man, I am just a monster on Monday mornings now. Yikes. I can kinda joke around, but I get so annoyed with people that aren't focused on the discussion at hand, and get pretty fucking dismissive about things that I see as irrelevant to what I am discussing at that moment. Wow.

That's like four work Mondays in a row in which I'm just not feeling like dealing with people. I usually roll my eyes at people that are like that, too. When did I become one of them?

Part of it, I think, is that, for the summer, I get up at 530AM Mon-Thurs to accommodate the family schedule. To accomplish that, I dose myself with various pain relief PM pills to help me get to sleep early, but then I'm groggy as hell in the morning, and I still haven't quite slept enough.

I dunno. On one hand, I need to get over it, but on the other, I'm OK with asking people to cut me a little slack at the front end of the week.

On the positive side, I did finish the main campaign for Dishonored, which was a really fun game. And about the right length.

Dishonored and Doom, both, have recently hit home for me just how important traversal can be for a game. A big part of the reason I enjoy them both so thoroughly is that movement is easy and fun. WASD + mouse look + context buttons are great, and when the first-person control constantly lands you where you were expecting ... man, it's just so satisfying. And the 'Blink' power. Ah. So wonderful. By the end, I was Blinking everywhere. I'd Blink up behind a dude, stab him in the neck, Blink to another dude, stab, and on and on. It was so awesome.

And yeah, I ended up with a pretty high Chaos level, but I felt justified. I didn't kill everybody, but I did take out the ones that I felt had lied to me and/or betrayed me. Or if they shot at me. Or if I couldn't take the chance of leaving them alive. You get the idea.

I then moved on to the first of the Daud DLCs (The Knife of Dunwall). I think I should've held off for at least a month or two, actually. One, Daud's jump is just waaay too floaty relative to Corvo's, and two ... it's weird right back in with lowered stakes. I dunno. Maybe I'll chill on it for a bit.

Otherwise, I got back into Shadowrun Dragonfall Director's Cut. Yeah, OK, let me explain.

So, I have this thing where I'll hit max-frustration breaking point with a game, in which I decide 'this is no longer fun, so why am I spending time with it? I'll come back when I figure out how to beat this part that's making me crazy.' Sometimes, it's a week, sometimes it's nine months. In this case, it was nine months.

So, yeah, I saw that game in my 'installed' list in the Steam instance on my ROG, thought about it, walked around the house doing a little picking up, and then it dawned on me that a) I needed to leave one party member way behind while b) drawing the enemy forces into a choke point, and it worked!

And, man, I LOVE games by Harebrained Schemes. These guys are so good at what they do. The writing, art, combat, strategy, lore, and world-building are all top-notch in their games. I can't wait to play more, and then jump over to Hong Kong.

Of course, now, I'm at that point where I have too many games all going on. Dragonfall, Dishonored: The Knifs of Dunwall, Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, a second playthrough of Dragon Age Inquisition, the four MMOs I juggle, and I still wanna do another playthrough of Deus Ex: Human Revolution before Mankind Divided comes out. I think I'm gonna chill on Daud for now, focus on Dragonfall and Blood and Wine, then maybe come back to Daud after DXHR is done again. We'll see.

Oh, and this is a separate post for another time, but I installed Pokemon Go to bond with my oldest son, and it's been a lot of fun doing something with him where he's the expert instead of me. It's made him really happy, and it's been a cool way to spend time together. More on this later.

You playing anything cool lately? Anything coming out soon for which you are crazy-hyped?

-Blaine

Oh, and I streamed some Final Fantasy XIV for no reason, but ended up having a great discussion with chat about what defines a 'Final Fantasy' game. Check it out, and feel free to chime in the comments.

Too Much Reality

I don't ignore social problems. I just don't have the same instant outbursts of vitriol that have become fashionable in this age. It's like there's a race to see who can have a strong opinion the fastest. Just not my cup of tea. I'm content to hang back, observe, see what happens, and then, if I need to, form an opinion. At this point, most of it just sounds like children screaming.

I also don't think that 'cops killing black men' is as simple a problem as it's portrayed. Were I to look at it more closely, I'm guessing I'd find that socioeconomic problems on both sides are in play, as well as psychological issues on the part of the police. There's probably also some conditioning that's happening that predispose the two 'sides' to antagonism toward each other.

Regardless, if I pull way back and look at the issue from the perspective of time and space, I see a) things really are getting better. It's hard to see when it's all up in your face, but things really are getting better, and b) social media warriors ... most of them make their platform look like idiots. Bring reason and manners to the table or get the fuck out. All caps and hyperbole don't help your case a bit. When's the last time you got your mind changed about a political stance because of a Facebook post or fucking bumper sticker?

Anyway, it's tiresome. Were there actual discourse involved, I might be interested, but it's millions of people all trying to shout over each other. It's a mess.

And frankly, I'm more focused on Juno and Jupiter right now.

Thus, I'm thinking about what I want to accomplish with the rest of the summer.

Off the top of my head ...

01) finish Blood and Wine
02) finish Dishonored
03) Play through Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut (I played the original release, but feel a playthrough of this would be a helpful refresher for the next game in August)
04) Build a basic RPG in Unity with the ORK Framework
05) drop another 20 pounds
06) blog nearly every day
07) build a stable streaming audience

I think that's probably plenty.

Anything in particular you all wanna see me stream? I'm mostly PC gaming, and have a ton of properly modded shit, and a huge library, so I can accommodate nearly any request.

I'm also thinking about starting to toss some fiction up here. Not sure. Maybe a weekly serial? We'll see. I've got some cool original stuff that I've worked on over the years, and I won't lie, I have a pretty bitchin' Star Wars fan fic idea from the Old Republic era that I've been itching to work on.

Anywho, it's been a fucking hell of a week, and I'm ready to chill and stream.

Word. Thanks for reading. I hope reality stops harshing my buzz like immediately.

-Blaine

Aaand we're back!

I got back last night from my weekend in exile. Good times were had.

They live in northern Illinois, about 90 miles outta Chicago. Close enough that driving into Chicago for a day isn't too bad, but far enough out that everything smiles like pig farm everywhere.

I got lucky with the in-laws I got. I don't have the horror stories that a lotta people have. That being said, while I like them just fine, I'm not one for rural living, or the lack of creature comforts. I've spent every moment of my adult life living in either the city or the suburbs, so the rural thing is, even after fifteen years of visiting them, still a drag.

Regardless ...

... we drove up Friday, got to eat dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Corner Grill, I got to meet my (hopefully) future brother-in-law, who's cool as shit, and then I wound down the evening with some Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.

Oh, and the my in-laws don't have AC or clean water (well water is not clean, sorry), but they do have broadband + wifi now, which was a HUGE game-changer. I also grabbed some brief time with Chrono Trigger on iOS, because I forgot my fucking Vita.

Saturday was party time. We went and saw some friends and their new baby, and then my in-laws hosted a big-ass blowout. My oldest son drove my youngest son around on a tractor, which was hilarious. Lotsa people smoked in front of me, and I didn't smoke, which was cool. I wound down that evening with a new character in Dragon Age Inquisition. A female Qunari rogue that grew up in Thedas, and resents the other species because of it. The imported saves feature strongly anti-Mage choices. Should be interesting.

Sunday, we drove into Chicago and saw The Book of Mormon, which was AMAZING. Go see it. Now. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Also, it helps that my family was among the founders of the Church of LDS, but my faction split off about the middle of last century. Grandpa fell in love with a Catholic girl. A man's gotta do what he's gotta do to win the woman, ya know?

Anyway, the musical is fantastic. Everything about it. The performances, the music, the humor, the social commentary, the choreography, and on and on. SO GOOD.

And then dinner at D'Agostino's, one of my favorites from when I did my undergrad in Chicago. We met up with some old friends, and good times were had by all.

I love visiting Chicago. I cannot say enough about how incredible my undergrad years were there, living downtown, meeting my wife, partying my ass off, using public transit, getting into the local scene, and ... it was a remarkable time in my life. I'm also glad I left when I did. I'm from St. Louis, and it was time to come home and start a family.

But, I really need to spend like a week in Chicago some time. It would be cool to head over to the Columbia campus while school is actually in session, soak some of that in, check out some of my old haunts. I'd have no intent of reliving the past, but I always find it fascinating to see the ravages of time in person.

And Chicago is just a fun place to visit. I'd never live there again, as it wore on me after a while. It's an incredibly negative town with an almost oppressive atmosphere, and Cubs fans are bandwagon-jumping jackasses, even if their team is the beloved darling of ESPN and Fox Sports.

And, for a dumpy little league park, Wrigley is a fun place to hang out and see how the Cubs are going to complete fuck it up yet again.

And then, yesterday, we came back. And today I had a REALLY intense day at work. And now I'm writing at you. And now I'm ready to sneak in a little gaming.

Remind me, I wanna talk about alternate playthroughs of BioWare games some time this week. Word.

*HUGGLES!*

-Blaine

Goodbye, Witcher, Hello, Torment.

The summer time is often the dead zone for gaming. And, I guess, it kinda should be. It's usually the best time to be outside, walking, fighting bears, toiling in the yard, or whatever it is that people that like being outside pretend to enjoy doing out there.

The only time I like being 'out there' is if I'm at a ballgame (GO CARDS), or exploring something and/or learning something. I do enjoy summer evenings. Back when I used to smoke and drink, the back porch was where you could almost always find me in the evening. Now, it's my couch.

Holy cow, do I get off track like really crazy fast, or what?

ANYWAY, this is the time of year that I'm finishing games, clearing out the pile of shame, and trying new experiences (games, not weird sexual things (that's year-round)).

Right now, I have a rotation going made up of Dishonored, Doom, Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, and the Torment beta, as well as several MMOs. It's too much, but it is what it is right now.

I'm zooming in on the end of Dishonored right now, after which I'll play the two story DLCs. I like that game's compromise between a linear, mission-based structure, and free-roaming within each mission. I think that's a wonderful approach, especially relative to all the HUGE RPGs I play. The story and world are also really cool. Some LOVE the visual style, and I've slowly come to appreciate it, but I still think it's just kinda ugly. It's like BioShock, only not as ... effective? I dunno. Either way, overall, it's a fantastic game.

Doom is just fun. I play a mission every few days. I've stopped playing the multiplayer. This is not because I don't like it, but multiplayer shooters are just never a priority for me.

The Witcher ... I've been a big fan of this franchise for a long time. I've been a few of both the games and the books for years. It took me a couple years to really understand the first game, but once I did, I went nuts for it. The books, I fell in love with right away. It's been painful waiting for each translation, but I devour them quickly. They are each worth the wait.

It was interesting this past weekend, though, knowing that, in Blood and Wine, I'm concluding my video game time with Geralt, just as I was also really getting seduced by the Torment beta. It was this weird feeling that I was sunsetting one intense relationship, just as another was beckoning.

I saw an interesting quote during all this, and I wish I could remember where. I want to give proper credit. Basically, someone posited that 'The Witcher' franchise wasn't a fantasy RPG, it is a folklore RPG. I wholeheartedly agree with that. So much of it pulls from Polish folklore, which is a huge part of what gives it such distinct flavor.

It was really great juxtaposing The Witcher and Torment this weekend. I really didn't mean to, but I kept flipping back and forth between the Blood and Wine expac, and the Torment beta.

Where Blood and Wine is, itself, a great juxtaposition (dark, grim Geralt in a bright, whimsical setting), Torment is a fascinating blend of post-apocalyptic science fiction and high fantasy. And something else. I don't know enough about the Numenera setting yet to really say much, but every aspect of this world grabbed me by my imagination and intellect and YANKED.

For me, that's probably the highest compliment that I can give to a game. I play games to experience other worlds, and to live out stories in them. I feel the same way about The Witcher.

And while I'm slowly bringing my final adventure with Geralt to a close, it's been interesting getting settled into Numenera, and appreciating how these two games accomplish similar feats, albeit in utterly different ways. Where the Witcher is over-the-shoulder, action-based, and told from the point of view of a fixed character (though you influence that character's choices and overall demeanor), Torment is an old-style cRPG, very dialogue-driven, told from the perspective of a character that you create, and turn-based combat. These games are utterly dissimilar, aside from both being RPGs. This kinda highlights what I love about the genre, which is its versatility. I love how broad the experience can be.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share some of my musings from the weekend. It's about the only time I have to game anymore.

I tend to slow-jam certain games, so I'll be playing Blood and Wine for a while. Torment beta and Dishonored, I'll wrap up soon-ish, and then I'll probably start beating up another of my MMOs (Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, ESO, FFXIV). I should probably post my server info for anyone that wants to play together. Hmm.

Anyway, I'm heading back into Visual Studio. Keep it real.

-Blaine

BTW - in case you were curious, I post those Amazon links because I get a cut of the sale, and I wanna make money off these blogs, because I love doing them.