Limited Functionality Is My Nemesis

Well, it's been a while. I wanted to take a little time to complain a little more coherently than I did during my live streams of Resident Evil 3. This does concern more than that game specifically however. My thoughts are a but scattered but the essential point to make is about functionality. Although it could also fall under that derided gaming attribution: "accessibility".

I've personally found RE3's dodge mechanic to be inconsistent, rather like that of Bayonetta, which I went back and forth about during streams pointing out how late it needed to be then suddenly getting a perfect dodge way earlier than I expected, only to find myself then dodging too early then pushing for late dodges then getting hit, and so on. Some people seem to have no trouble perfectly timing a dodge in RE3, good for them. But to me that only draws attention to the problem, that the dodge is ineffective.

By which I mean that pressing the button for "quick step" does indeed step quickly, but in most circumstances it is useless. One exception that springs to mind is the sequence when fleeing from Nemesis while shoots you with a rocket launcher. Otherwise, using the dodge can actually cause harm rather than evade it. Try dodging past a zombie and they grab you, even successfully timing a perfect dodge away from one enemy can send you into the clutches of another. There appears to be no invincible frames of the animation when used normally and you still have some recovery before you can move normally or dodge again.

The perfect dodge on the other hand, evades the attack, provides some invincible frames, gives you an opportunity for a counterattack, and recovers faster. The regular dodge is largely pointless save for being a vector for perfect dodges. Frankly, this is a terrible idea. Rather like games by From Software (which I haven't played, this is going off of observation not experience) or some fighting games, function for the average player is rudimentary, with most of it being reserved for more expert players.

This itself is not quite the problem, for instance I understand there aren't many ways to make some things easier such as learning a musical instrument (that one is from personal experience). The problem arises when packaged in an entertainment format, such as a video game, that is sold to all. This is not a skill that one learns to be able to produce creative expression, this is someone paying to be entertained and instead being frustrated. If your response is along the lines of "get good", I would offer the frustrated a better piece of advice: get a refund.

It brings to mind the "controversy" that arose around Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, last year. From Software made a game for expert players, but sold it to everyone. I don't want to delve into all that nonsense here, I bring this up mainly to point out why there was bad press and negative feedback about the game - because it was not made for the average player, but they were certainly willing to take the average player's money. Due to that, they have to take that criticism, because the skill of the player doesn't invalidate their experience. Not to mention there are so many other aspects to a game than just its difficulty, but gamer elitism is also not the point of this post.

Function was limited for average players. Rather than being something that worked for everyone, but was more rewarding for those using it effectively, it was something that had little practical value for a non-expert player. Personally, I found myself trying to avoid using the dodge in RE3 and falling back on my RE2 experiences of keeping distance and wearing enemies down. Unfortunately, the game isn't designed to let you do that most of the time.

If instead the dodge worked as some sort of action-roll with some invincible frames, but if timed perfectly allowed for a follow-up attack with higher or guaranteed critical chance, then at least it would have universal function but reward expert use. Even in such a situation there are ways to limit the practicality of spamming the dodge and never being hit, since of course you'd be spending all your time not attacking. For a game that really seems intent of having you avoid regular enemies anyway, it sure does restrict your ability to do so. And not just with the dodge, but also the environment.

Sorry it took so long to get to the main point I wanted to make; I do try to explain myself and the situation, and also it's been a while since I did a lot of writing. What it boils down to is: you can ignore all my ravings and complaints made while enraged if you want, but they are my experiences with the game, and they're no less valid than your own. Whether you think it's a good game and I think it's a bad game is irrelevant to the fact that I'm not going to say that I like this game, certainly not when compared to its predecessor (by which I mean RE2 remake, not the original RE3).

As I found with a second playthrough on a lower difficulty, my complaints from that first run were not because of the difficulty setting, because I had the same complaints on standard as I did on hardcore. I'm not even attempting nightmare mode until I've unlocked some good bonuses. Which means, yes, I'll still be playing the game - but I didn't call my channel Joyless Gaming for nothing.

MMMKAY

So, hello there. It's been a while. Not much has happened. Stuff and things, sleep, wake, eat, drink, be miserable because tomorrow's a lie.

Anyway, news, for anyone who gives a crap: I'm out of Marvel Heroes. Done. Developer can go bankrupt for all I care. They were insulting and condescending to a large portion of their consumer base (which I feel included myself) and so I'm done with their garbage. I could complain more but I don't wanna. Two months so far but should continue forever.

So, what has filled my time since then? Nothing that might be a improvement to my situation, of course. That would make too much sense. No, first it was a trip back to old faithful Fallout: New Vegas. One of my favourite games, ever. I've even considered a piece about how it's so much better than Fallout 3 that would've gone quite well if I'd worked it into talking about the Fallout 4 announcement when that happened. But of course, I'm behind, it's no longer relevant and nobody cares, at least until the game comes out.

But, I did pick up a couple of new games recently (although there are some slightly older games that I bought around Christmas that I've yet to play), one of which was Batman: Arkham Knight. Yeah... I haven't played it yet, waiting for a patch that is supposed to make the PC version not suck everything, ever.

The other might be gleaned (if you've somehow got insight into the twisted workings of my mind) from the joke title of this entry. No? OK, it's Mortal Kombat X. This one at least does work, because I only bought it after I saw reviews mentioning that it had finally been patched to "playable" status. And to their credit, they seem to have gotten on top if things over at wherever they've farmed out the PC port. Only took them a couple of months post-release. Kind of disturbing that it should be pretty much expected these days.

Anyway, what should be more disturbing is all the violence in MKX but I'm evil and jaded so it's just more of the same. Steam is telling me I've clocked 279 hours (as of this writing) in game so far in the six or so weeks I've had it. Have I mastered it in that time? Of course not, I've only just finished sampling all the characters and unlocking all their "kombat[sic] kard[sic]" backgrounds, borders and icons. Twenty-nine characters, three variations each, fifty wins with each variation...

Do NOT get this game. All right, you can get it if you want, but beware. You will NOT want this on PC, simply because the population of players online is limited (especially here in Australia) and those you come across will likely be better than you, will have no sympathy for beginners, or lag, and you will NOT have fun. On consoles you still likely won't have fun, but at least you'll find more people to play against.

Offline, the computer cheats. Its AI is set to either "do nothing" or "cheat". You pretty much only get somewhere when it's letting you win. That said, play on easy and try the story mode for fun. Or if for some reason you're interested in the story but don't want to play it (?) then just watch it on YouTube.

If you're a competitive pro-type, you've probably already played it, or decided to play something else, so what are you doing here reading my advice for? You don't play games for fun or entertainment, you play them to win at something. Sad really, but lucrative seeing as how there have been some big tournaments involving MKX recently, with more to come.

Otherwise, nothing. Same as it ever was, sky is blue, there's water at the bottom of the ocean, time to retire, I think.

Horror by the wayside

So I missed Halloween. Or didn't miss it as the case may be. Depends on context I suppose. Nothin' doin'. Still around, site wasn't blocked in retaliation for my snipe at the government, but since almost no one read my post, I guess they didn't care. Or they didn't care anyway. Or they didn't see it.

Damn I hate thinking, why can't some of you do more thinking so I don't have to?

Anyway, no plans made, for anyone who cares. Plenty of free time so perhaps I might actually do that Mass Effect series thingy. If so I can't guarantee that I'll get around to replaying the games prior to doing a recap/review.

Think more, have fun and stop killing each other. Seriously, you need to be better human beings, or the species is doomed.

For those who care

Our thoughts do not make the universe, life is not what you make of it and we never had a choice.

Here I am

And not much else. I don't take my lack of an enthusiastic audience personally, I've learned that having people's attention has generally ended up being unpleasant. But since I'm certain my mother is reading this - yes, I am still breathing.

And not much else.

Backhand

So yet another post referring to PAYDAY 2 but this time it's totally the same. I just undid all of the "fixes" that were supposedly helping the game to run and it ran fine for a couple of hours. I'm convinced that not even the people making computers and software understand the problems, it's just some cult of "insider knowledge" and they're all huddling in candle pentagrams and chanting the OS system code out loud.

I did also forget to mention in my attempt to be helpful that though you can redistribute your points in each skill tree whenever you want, you don't get all of your money back, so experimentation can cost you. Or did I actually mention that?

And wow there are some weird ads showing up on this thing. I suppose I might have to do some kind of moderation for it to seem more in line with the theme (if any) of my blog. Have I mentioned that "blog" isn't even a word and I hate it along with many other things so it kind of gets lost in there with the rest I don't have time to focus on; and even the spell-checker doesn't like it.

Helping somewhat

With a thought to all the recent youtube videos I've watched recently that were about build ideas for PAYDAY 2, here is some of my own advice:

First of all, be sure you want to play it.

Second, if like me you encounter the random crashes and have followed all the forum listed advice for preventing it and find that they still occur, try this: lower your graphics settings. This seems to have helped me (at least so far) and it was much the same issue with Marvel Heroes, for some reason most, if not all of the crashes for PAYDAY 2 are C++ errors, and lowering the graphics settings made a difference. Other than making the textures look all blurry and ugly.

Third, unlike most of the videos I've watched, I've only played it after they altered the in-game descriptions of skills and weapons. Which means as far as build concerns go, you can get a much better idea of what a skill will do for well before you are even able to purchase it. While I wouldn't discourage experimentation such as I did, if you don't plan to play this obsessively for a few weeks you won't really have enough money to experiment with how different skills work together. So checking beforehand means you can plan around your play style in advance.

Third part 2: weapons are a little more difficult to plan around because while you can see the base weapon stats in the shop, you don't get any idea of what kind or how many mods can be applied to it, meaning that you can't really pick the most appropriate weapon ahead of time and save up for it. The most obvious clues you get are the stats such as "concealment" and "damage" as they will give you some idea of which build style they will fit with most. High concealment suggests they're good for a stealth/Ghost build (and the Ghost skill tree has skills affecting SMG so they're an immediate association). High damage weapons will most likely have a very poor concealment rating, meaning they are for going LOUD!

Third part 3: the above information about guns doesn't quite cover secondary weapons so much as primaries. All SMG are secondaries, and pistols can be quite powerful with a fairly good concealment rating. Though as above you can't get a great idea of what kind of mods can be applied. There are several basic types of mods though. There's a bunch of suppressors that have varying degrees of damage reduction mitigated by improved concealment or stability. Barrel extensions that improve damage at the cost of concealment. Extended magazines that reduce concealment. Generally a mod will either increase combat effectiveness or increase concealment, usually at the expense of the other.

Fourth and probably final: don't go nuts. Sure, there's no real consequence for failure, it is after all, a game. But you will avoid the ire of fellow players if you don't act like a retard. When you start out, don't go assuming that you can undertake a job on overkill difficulty and not die repeatedly and irritate your fellow gamers to no end. You'll find yourself kicked out of many lobbies if you try to reach beyond your grasp. Unless of course you already know someone who has played the game a while and is willing to help you level up faster by carrying you through harder missions. But stay away from "Pro" jobs while you're still a noob.

That is probably it for now. I'll likely only be playing PAYDAY 2 for a little while longer, then I guess I'm back to Marvel Heroes unless I find something else to play. I'm tempted to add an "advice" label but I'm not sure how many times I'd be using it. Maybe a future advice thingy for Marvel Heroes might be in order, they've apparently got a fair amount of marketing geared up for the release of the new Thor movie.

Meander

I suppose some extra information should be provided so that there is more clarity - I do think I am in need of a new computer so many of the complaints I make about games stuffing up should be tempered by this. And since I'm unemployed and poor my next machine is likely to be some cheap(ish) laptop that will be far from ideal for gaming which might end up making me complain even more.

If all this swinging back and forth makes me seem like a moody bastard it's probably because I am. Carry on. I'll be doing something. I'll figure it out and maybe get back to you. And when I say "you" I mean "me" because this is akin to a great big reminder note except other people can see it. Eventually I might get around to writing up some of the other article ideas I had. Won't you be lucky?

More pay... day... 2 (well, 3)

Just going to start with the reason these are separate posts instead of edits onto existing ones: because I have very little readership and I doubt I get many people coming back to see if I've added to my existing rants and stuff.

Something I forgot to include in the "what I don't like" about PAYDAY 2 was the purchasable assets for each job. Some of them are downright misleading, such as the "insider info" for the Bank Heist, which provides a blueprint with the location of the security room and vault. Except there are two potential locations for each, meaning that you are always given the same one of four different possible layouts. I learned quickly never to buy this. Another is the "expert driver" which prevents you from having to do an escape if the police are alerted. An escape is not a certainty either way, but with the expert driver you never have to do one. What I don't like about this is you are unable to designate an extraction point, which would be really useful on the Nightclub job, where one of the exit locations is in an alley accessible from within the club, making it a brilliant place for a stealth operation to depart. But you can't choose where the driver goes, meaning a full stealth infiltration of the club could leave you needing to exit through the front door, running past guards and civilians, not exactly a clean getaway. For that same job, there is the option of a "loot truck" that will pull up outside the manager's office window, allowing you to divest yourself of the loot without having to carry it all the way to the escape van. But you aren't told this in the asset menu, all it says is "loot truck" and tells you that it's an alternate way of retrieving the loot, no details.

But then again, I did just complete my very first solo stealth bank heist. It took over an hour, most of which was picking locks on safety deposit boxes, but it felt good at the end of it. There are more efficient ways to gain XP and money than this, but this way actually feels like an accomplishment. Make of that what you will.

Keep on gamin'.

PAYDAY2/Steam supplement

Apparently the way to get Steam to recognise the game data that you already have is to make sure to "delete local content" then copy the data to the "common" or "(username)" folder of the "SteamApps" folder (where username is your Steam account name, somewhat obvious I would have thought but here for the sake of clarity). Then you go into Steam and tell it to install that game, then it will find the data already there and reinstall. This has seemingly worked to (for the moment) prevent random crashes in PAYDAY 2 so thereby allowing me to continue to play it.

While I'm on the subject, if I gave a favourable impression of the game, let me be clear: PAYDAY 2 is really frustrating to play. In addition to the already mentioned issues, I've since been reminded that a lot of the game is complete BS. Cops can shoot through otherwise impenetrable objects, preventing you from returning fire. There is no real clear indication of how "concealment" affects anything outside of Casing Mode. The Enforcer, ostensibly the combat class only really fares better in combat when equipped with the heaviest armour and because of passive tier bonuses that increase health by up to 50% total, which can still be wiped away in seconds because enemies never miss. Just now, within five minutes of the first day of the "Rats" job, a Bulldozer appeared, which is again, complete BS, because there is no way an enemy that tough should show up that early on the lowest difficulty.

Stealth is really only viable if you've several people all geared for it and who are very high levels so that they have access to the best abilities. Otherwise you will end up relying on luck, and out of every 10 or so stealth attempts, one might be successful. This still applies to what are seemingly the jobs tailor made for stealth: Framing Frame and Firestarter. Both of which are quite well paying and clearly designed for stealth, yet so frequently end up in combat anyway. As I said before, this is a shooter with a potential for some stealth tacked on. I'd recommend serious thought before plunging yourself into the swirling pit of madness that is PAYDAY 2.

Nostalgia

So the video game industry has looked to Hollywood in order to find their direction. And that direction is "backwards". A couple of re-releases have appeared this year in promotion of remakes. Rise of the Triad got the treatment. Shadow Warrior has just come out following its re-release. Now there is promotion of a remake of Thief: The Dark Project cleverly titled Thief. Oh and Flashback is getting the treatment too. Thief and Flashback I can kind of deal with, even though they're unnecessary. It might be good to see a good platformer and a real stealth game (don't think about Dishonored [sic]) to open up the landscape away from endless first- and third-person action shooters. But RotT and Shadow Warrior? Do we really need these throwbacks. I know that a large portion of the gaming community is getting older, sure, but when everything has been going Modern Warfare and Gears of War do people really want old-school (not very old, but anyway) shooters a la Doom?

Ah, what do I know? Maybe kids will embrace the silliness and simplicity of simple run & gun gaming. I'm unqualified to accurately predict human behavioural patterns.

Around

I've been very inconsistent with this lately, not that it really matters, but I'm still here for anyone who actually notices. Swung the other way on this whole Adsense thing, wanting them to realise that I generate insufficient page views to warrant placing ads here. When I discovered that I'd probably need thousands of views and clicks to make any money, I thought it time to give up that idea - I only seem to get views after a new post and that's probably from people who click on every new link that shows up on Google+.

Still playing Marvel Heroes even though I think I'm nearing the end of enjoying it, at least for now. Recently played MASHY SPIKE PLATE, uh, I mean Portal 2. Good fun. Bought Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition during the Steam sale, and I regret paying $20 for it... no fun. While I think fighting games should make a return to the PC due to the availability of controllers, I still really need actual people to play against, computer just cheats. And since I have no friends it's unlikely I'd enjoy PC fighters.

Uni has been postponed for me again, personal issues which I don't want to divulge to complete strangers, I don't even like speaking to family about it. Still have ideas for articles, just not the motivation to actually write them. But I'll be around, if you really need reassurance...

Whittlin'

So no new post for three weeks. What have I been doing with my time? Playing Marvel Heroes, despite the somewhat tepid review I gave it. I've even spent money on it, so any complaints, well I've only myself to blame. Not much to say really, just letting any of my fans (chortle) know that I'm still here. Just passing time, whittling down the stick of my life until it eventually forms the shape of my existence - I'm guessing it will be an abstract.

Uni started again, yay. If you can't hear the sarcasm it's because you're reading.

Dunno

Things might change, I could be back on course for this whole world domination thing - Adsense is actually trying to review my blog instead of just carrying on about "copyright material". Also, still have some ideas for a few posts, they just won't be very current. Although I've been mucking around in Marvel Heroes and might have some nice things to say... Give me a day or two (which is rather absurd, as I have nothing but time on my hands at the moment).

Who's counting?

I know I haven't posted for a few weeks, I'm sure you're all overwrought with anticipation of... who am I kidding?

Haven't really felt like writing. Still have things I could post about - made a little list and everything. Still have older games to talk about, other game related stuff. Just started playing Alan Wake so I might have something there - I like the Max Payne references so far. Deadpool is coming out in a few weeks, so I should have something there as well. Can't promise anything though, wait for me. Or don't, whichever is easier.

Blah

I have nothing to talk about, this has been a very disappointing week, lots of inanity. Why I'm bothering to post about nothing bewilders me. Try harder world, be a better place.

Plus Days

I don't want to build the expectation that I will post every day, so I'm countering that by trying to avoid empty days...

I don't know, but I think that sounded very stupid, even to me and I'm the one that wrote it then decided to share that brain fart with the rest of the world. So anyone who actually reads this blog, don't expect daily posts, but I'll try for at least one larger post per week. The retards at Adsense seem to think that I'm hosting copyrighted material and preventing both myself and them from making money out of nothing. The most appropriate counterpoint to that would be for my blog to become quite heavily trafficked. It's not likely, and it would also be disappointing to not profit from such popularity.

Anyway, posting later, it seems I've got myself into something of a pattern of writing for here, let's see if I can keep it up.

Regarding the End

I was reading something somewhere somewhat recently about how the death penalty was not cost effective due to the expensive and lengthy appeals process (the author was from the USA). What struck me about the argument was that by factoring in the appeals process, they had accepted that the process should be there. I would ask: why? Why should there be a way for the convicted to escape their punishment? And before anyone thinks I'm trolling for some moral debate about whether governments have the right... oh you think there is a "right"? I don't think anyone would have the right or get the right or get it right at all. None is more right or correct or valid than any other. I don't deal in such absolutes because they don't really exist. Just a food for thought experiment.

Plus I'm using this post to introduce a new category for my posts. In future there will likely be more, especially if I take to posting about every stupid thing that occurs to me as I try vainly to avoid thought because thought just leads to thinking and I do too much thinking particularly upon subjects I'd rather not think about and most people seem not to think at all anyway...

So, new category, others potentially joining it in the future include (but not limited to): Literature (as in books), Film (as in movies) and actually I think it's just the two at the moment. I find there's no point in talking politics, especially since my location may not match up with the entirety of my audience (if I even have one). I'll try to curb my parenthetical remarks.

Progress

So I might be getting a jump on this whole world domination thing, did have to use a different browser but soon I should have ads. Now I just need to gather more minions. The modern world seems so confusing and frightening; I don't like it. Anyway, working on playing through a new game which, when reviewed, might garner me more attention. That seems to be what everyone is doing these days, trying to get the attention of others, as if it somehow validates their existence. Just look at reality TV, or better yet, don't. Not that my condemnation will stop you, of course. But when it all crumbles around you, I'll be there to say "I told you so".

What was I on about? Game review in process of being, or becoming; those weird types of phrases can be difficult to cram in sometimes. Also I will be trying to pace myself, since I've had a few ideas for posts. I don't want to do them all in a week and then have nothing to write about for months. If any of you have been paying attention, you'll recognise that basically describes most of the history of this site... Corrections to that behaviour are pending. And this stupid thing is telling me that I'm spelling words incorrectly. There will be a post about that sometime in the future, so hold your breath.

EDIT: Apparently my "share to Google+" counts as a comment and a +1, I don't see why. This stuff makes no sense to me.

EDIT: Apparently I'm hosting copyright content, and since I have no idea what it is, I guess I won't be putting up ads, so no money and no world domination.

New World

There might be some crap showing up on here in the near future, mainly because of all this newfangled "social networking" thing that everyone seems to going for. As much time as I spend in front of a computer, I understand very little about them. I understand people even less, which is usually OK because I hate them, but now my hope is to exploit them for profit (marginal profit at least). So there may be new "gadgets" and things floating around, plus I might add some imagery or colour to the layout. Also, I'll need to come up with a more varied approach, I've established my three Rs (rants, reviews, ruminations) but have really only talked about games so far. I'll attempt to remedy that.

But rest assured that you probably understand all this techno-stuff better than I do.