gaming Elena And Her Joystick

[Minorikawa]

I don't recall anything that might have gotten Capcom in hot water aside from using Denuvo for Resident Evil Village. Did I miss something?

Only other big news I can recall from the year is that Valve really was making a handheld gaming PC to "compete" with Switch, though it's naturally not releasing until 2022 because chip shortage issues.

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

So much negativity here ... but damn was E3 a load of nothing. Presentations ranged from "meh" to "awful", with not much to show but the usual 2D pixelated indie retrogames which failed to catch my interest. The worst thing is, one presentation was just a Zoom meeting about inclusivity in the video game industry which, I understand, is an important issue ... but not something I want to hear about when I'm waiting for the hot new titles.

Yup, 2020 sure was ... interesting. It makes my recent retro games purchases feel even better.

[Minorikawa]

Ah, I forgot about a very important thing of E3 20201.

Elden Ring gameplay was finally revealed. So, E3 had a good start, a good end, and... uh... hrm...

Everything else in the middle...?

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

I can't remember when it ended. I barely remember Elden Ring was in the show since I have no interest in it. I lament the absence of Sony though, who gave good shows in the past.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Sony been out from E3 since 2019, claiming that E3 no longer relevant to gaming but also want to find their own way to engage with their community in more extensive way (State Of Play Summer is one of example where they reveal Horizon Zero Dawn). Which is nice gesture, though some would call them being haughty, i personally call it "That's Sony for you; always cheeky but know what they doing".

https://en.as.com/en/2021/06/08/latest_news/1623132186_091421.html

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I can't remember when it ended. I barely remember Elden Ring was in the show since I have no interest in it.

Its just trailer as far as i remember. No gameplay trailer at the time but i have similar reaction so yeah...

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Denuvo for Resident Evil Village

That's the issue. Thanks to that the game size is unnecessarily hogging space. Last week Soulcalibur 6 just update to remove denuvo. The size of exe reduced from 72 MB down to just 630 KB. There's also core data size reduced but since its not as big as RE or MH World, it doesn't sounds too much.

Sure anti piracy stuff isn't bad, but i ain't buying SSD and all just to fill it with one game that i only play once and done either!

Edited December 7, 2021 by Elena Ichinomiya

[DragonneRPG Deactivated]

Denuvo is just so heavy-handed and it ends up being cracked in a matter of days or weeks. What companies really need to do to curb piracy is to just offer a good service. Like our Lord Gaben so elegantly put it: “The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. ... It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates.”

If they need to stick Denuvo into their games to "stop" piracy, then clearly those companies have other issues to resolve.

[Minorikawa]

54 minutes ago, Elena Ichinomiya said:

Its just trailer as far as i remember. No gameplay trailer at the time but i have similar reaction so yeah...

Nah, it was the gameplay reveal of Elden Ring, with the in-depth stuff being more recent, and then all the post-Closed Network Test coverage. I'm not huge on Dark Souls, but I love Bloodborne and other Soulsborne-likes, and with this one basically combining Soulsborne with Breath of the Wild, well, I'm all on board.

As for Denuvo, I actually forgot: yeah, a bunch of games became unplayable because Denuvo put out an update to their software or servers or something that, if the game developer themselves didn't update their game's software to cover for, would result in failure to connect and therefore prevent players from playing the games that they legally purchased and owned. And that was one of two major issues that happened over the course of 48-72 hours.

44 minutes ago, DragonneRPG said:

What companies really need to do to curb piracy is to just offer a good service. Like our Lord Gaben so elegantly put it: “The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. ... It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates.”

My issue with Lord Gaben is what happens if, one day, Steam closes down? We still only have promises, though at least Steam currently offers Offline Mode so there's that at least. So, yeah, Steam is currently still the best form of DRM, technically.

But the real problem is that there's a lot of developers, smaller and indie especially, that know going DRM free is the best way to boost sales, and that by allowing people to pirate the game, it can actually lead to increased sales. Unfortunately, anyone using Denuvo is not a small developer, they're a large publisher (and, in the case of Ubisoft, still tie everything to U-Play anyway so it's two layers of garbage). I'm hoping the big reason companies like Capcom, Square Enix, and (I think?) Bandai Namco still use Denuvo is simply due to old-fashioned Japanese corporate conservativism and they move away, but who knows? The stuff basically exists because a bunch of executives in business suits went to a fancy presentation put on by slick Denuvo representatives with very convincing power points and then signed a contract to use their anti-virus protection for X number of years.

Never does anyone that actually works on games or interact with people playing games (or even pirating them) get included in the process.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

If i talk about security measure, i probably wish for something that won't put me in hellish situation without much harm on the side. While we know full well that there's no smoke without fire, it still our own responsibility to mitigate any damage done should there's crime happening. And in gaming community, this is also no exception. Ranged from DRM, anti-piracy, to anti-cheat and other firewall made by game company to keep you feel secure. While we also aware that cheater is rampant to the point you question if there's even anti-cheat system along with false-positive fire from the programming algorithm who misunderstand the deed you done and ban you even though you don't do any crime, at least you'll find out eventually that there's program there to prevent such thing. Because trust me, while weak protection is bad...

 

"...NO PROTECTION at all is even worse! At least cheating only ruin your fun, but having your account stolen + destroyed? Bet you rather outwit cheater than having that BS!"

I know, i'm beating a dead horse right now but that game, one that i loath and confused about what the hell they trying to do/aiming at for audience still baffle me to no end. I mean sure when we talk about security system and anti-cheat, each has its flaw. But this best and most grossing MMO in 2020 clearly make me question their legitimacy why they even win. But then i thought, "maybe fans vote this to win so people know that this game crappy practice would make even EA blush" and if so, those voter have my respect.

Now then, this is another old news but hey, as i said before, i'm not fond of chasing the wind of gaming journalism that going on, i rather follow my own pace than getting compulsively stuck on the spider web. By all mean, i rather talk about the old scar to remind us that there's always mistake to learn. And i plan to remind you to never did this mistake if you ever working on MMO games. Though i doubt you'll do something this stupid.

What Is This About?
So last year, this best and most grossing MMO in 2020 really make their first entry in the gaming community in rather mixed way rather than positive. Keep in mind that they held not much record in PC game industry so that alone make me reconsider to play. Added the fact they even treat their own fanbase like nothing but a spit on your feet even before this best MMO in 2020 released, it really don't help at all. And true to their color, even on bigger fanbase on PC gaming community, they still indifference. While that might be something of fanbase to frown about, me however, as someone who don't even care or know this company, frowned at their very lack of third party login. Keep in mind even some of shadiest of game like Rule Of Survival (back then) still at least have Twitter and FB integration. I know Google ToS for integration was uptight so i understand. But the lack of integration make me feel unease. Having the first party account would put yourself completely at their mercy. At least with third party, if something went wrong, any mailing service you register with would take action about the account manipulation. Not to mention that we live in era where notification is a thing. If someone login with your, let says, google account to login your game to manipulate it, Google will set off alarm and will sent notification asking if that were you. But if first party login, fat chance they'll inform you at all. 

And if that doesn't put frown on my brows already, turn out this is in fact, become an issue. While this best MMO of 2020 didn't have any PVP things to be concerned off, their security measure quickly tested. Many rampant cheater easily hack the game for their profit for certain currency...

"Don't use this thing, bet its already outdated anyway"

And boy, when Mihoyo caught a sniff of it, they going banana and went on damage control in which community might feel grateful for their action. I would say they worth commending myself for this action alone. But that was the first shakedown. The next one jump from worst case scenario to complete kick on the shin...

In Just Few Months Since Launch, Estimated 800 Account Were Stolen...In Each Server
The lack of security and curiosity of player is not exactly good mix. And Mihoyo got themselves shot on the foot when this problem arise. We know this kind of thing are expected and i won't blame them for caught off guard. This problem not only risk of losing account, but possibly your very own email attached to it and that's not good. Keep in mind this game even shows off your UID for no reason at all when it should be stuck at your profile as it serve nothing but trouble for those who want to steer clear from problem.

People are not happy with that. And they report it. The dev response? Priceless...

The Dev Can't Do Anything To Get The Player Account Back For Some Odd Reason
As you probably find on the news outlet from year ago, you'll find many player shot the complaint massage to the dev and believe me, its a LOT of mail. While its fine to be slow on response seeing this isn't a problem that algorithm can handle without make much mistake in itself, the response itself is what make their fanbase angry. If the title above give you uneasy feeling, get ready for the worst.

Because the dev said they can't do anything to get their account back...because the hacker already SPENT money on it in which make the account become legitimately theirs.

I am. NOT. Kidding. They can't do thing because the hacker spent money on those stolen account which for whatever legit reason make them the new owner while leaving the actual owner eat the dust and tears. Now you know why i brought this up as a main issue. Sure account stealing isn't always 100% success but the way that company treat this issue feels like they don't even try.

Let's see here, Diablo 2 Resurrections disaster might be on top notch but at least the team still willing to help and do their best to mitigate the damage with patch and fixes. Sure they're scummy but at least they try to keep the fanbase around amidst the dumpster fire by returning what their player lost. Meanwhile this Best MMO of 2020 decide to screw their fanbase who have lost their account just because the account still dripping them profit even thought it wasn't handled by its rightful owner which is not only lazy, but also incompetence. 

Look, i ever had my farming game account stolen and make some report out of it to dev. It take their sweet time to response but they did their best to reclaim it for me. Not only that, they even give compensation reward for the trouble even though i'm a total F2P player. And the result? I get my account back and my respect toward the dev is more solid than before.

You can't expect me to say what Mihoyo did is alright as if its common practice! Like hell i would! I never heard EA snub their user when screwed, or Steam laugh at the player who suffer this issue, heck even Epic still had some dignity to keep their user happy! 

So what the solution is there? Well, priceless...again.

They Suggest Very Contradictive Help
Rather than solve their security issue and help their fanbase to get their account back, they decide to tell the player to install some third party app i don't even bother to remember which function is to scramble your account password each time you login, along with specific anti-virus to prevent this. Now read that statement again. And now tell me which part of their statement that feel off? Yes, the third party part. We all know this ever since World Of Warcraft or maybe Runescape trend, that third party/external app beside launcher in MMO games would be treated as malicious program and violate the ToS! Why in the hell they told people to screw themselves even more than what already is? And what's the point of anti-virus when its their security who is at risk, not us!? Did they forgot to make firewall or something? They were lucky nobody try to DDoS them by now if that were true!

This is screwed beyond believe! Not only they treat their fans as living banner ads, they throw full responsibility of player account safety completely to the player themselves and wash their hands of it back then? What were they thinking!? Internal security in game as live service like this is their job to do! Not player! Player responsibility of their account is more toward basic one like setting two-authentication with their own consent and convince themselves to not lent their account to anyone! Every internal security issue is dev responsibility! Its like saving your money on the bank, but they give the whole safe box with dollar logo plastered all over it for you to take home and keep it under the bed and told you they don't have allegation if something happen to that box and its content. That's not how security work, pothead!

At The End Of The Day...
I won't stop the people from giving the suggestion a try. But i wish they're not completely become the company sex slave either. When something is off, its fans job to warn dev that the game didn't work as it should. Sure dev is also human, they had flaws, and that's where the fans should jump in with helpful feedback and dev should, at least, consider to provide it. But to completely shrug the problem and hope for the best is not always reliable option. If the problem just a petty, it might work, if their game is played by trickling number of player, they might able to make run for it. But as far as i know, they screw more than just one server so i don't think they can get away with that. And this is really tick me good. How can they be so careless? Even Valve Anti-Cheat, which deemed as flawed still do their part to prevent such thing from happening. And while they slow to response, the said game portal still willing to help you get your account back.

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On last June, my friend Steam account got stolen due to scam on Discord. While its my friend stupidity to let that happen, Steam still doing their best to give it back to him without much ABCD excuse thrown to him.

Even EA never pull that crazy excuse even if it profit them because they know how deep the hot water is if they choose to do so! So why they hell this Best MMO in 2020 end up on the wrong end of a stick for a security measure? Sure online gaming cheat and stealing account were rampant but at least there's effort to mitigate it. That company over there?

"Sorry we can't help you, because turn out those hacker still give us some profit so we decide its best to leave your account to them. Thank you for playing our game asshole!" *woody woodpecker laugh*

If such line of excuse ever work, i think we need to talk about our standard in MMO games these days...

Seriously Mihoyo, i get it if you still new in PC gaming MMO genre, i get it that you have serious latency issue from handling global server, i get it that your mainland politic give you some trouble for being creative, and i really get it that you trying your best not to look as scummy as people might think. But please Mihoyo, just get your game some freaking basic security feature for starter at least like two-authentication for goodness sake instead giving your fanbase a headache process. You made a good amount of bucks at the end of 2020 and yet you can't even afford to implement proper security system. Since the game release up until today, that feature still remain unseen. Don't say anything "Its too modern for our engineer to implement", that thing been there ever since i'm 16 years old and if anything, you (Mihoyo) probably the most outdated MMO developer in my eyes.

Since this is old news, it might have been fixed though i can't really say since i don't play it; my sis did. As i recall it, no two-authentication login up to this point. But now i understand why there's less stream numbers of this game aside from the hype; those streamers account might as well fall victim to this and since they can't get it back, they move on. Its like MHW Iceborne save corrupt incident in which it reduce the player base. But at least that one wasn't called for and no account security at risk. This best MMO of 2020 case however, they should've know better than cast aside a security of any level due to the game being MMO right on the meeting table.

Oh and congrats for winning Playstation Award for best soundtrack by the way. Those wind breeze sfx were lovely.

Elena, shutting off~

[Minorikawa]

It amazes me that a company would recommend their players download a third-party encryption program since their own encryption/security measures aren't strong enough.

At the same time, I'm trying to wrap my head around how this "they spent money so it is their account now" process works. If I was stealing someone's account, I wouldn't use my own payment information. I'd use the payment information of the account I just stole. So unless the thieves are absolutely incompetent and are stealing an account just to spend their own money, doesn't this "They spent the money so it's theirs" not make sense because they spent the money of the victim? I guess I'm trying to figure out whose logic is the most loopy, here.

Or is it that accounts get stolen because of character unlocks? They find accounts that already got good Gacha rolls or something and now they hijack it to have those characters?

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Basically yes. Let's just say i stole your account, reload the in-game currency, spent on it, your account is instantly mine right at that moment. That's why i said that their mishandling would make EA blush. Its like they taking hacker side no matter where you look at it since they still drip them some profit. As for why the hacker bother with tedious process? Probably to re-sell the account somewhere, which is illegal but hey, we talk about hacker here, such thing probably a routine. not sure if its already fixed, but that company recovery effort baffle me to no end. Were they even concern about it in the first place? They look like about to give up on the issue on day one.

"Okay, they tried, but they didn't try to polish their reasoning. If that excuse won't put your ToS into question, i don't know what else will"

[Minorikawa]

I am so glad I don't play this game.

I have a theory one of the reasons Genshin Impact is able to remain so big and get away with this is because it appeals to a lot of people that don't normally play MMO's with its aesthetic and gameplay style (though isn't it more of a Live Service, like Destiny but with action-RPG combat and Breath of the Wild exploration instead of Halo, but annoying?). However, I also have a suspicion that the F2P and Gacha elements have roped in a bunch of younger folks similarly to Fortnite, because you can play a game that is technically "AAA polish" (lol) but without having to pay for it. And, being teenagers, most of them aren't keeping up with the news and therefore won't know about any of this until/unless it happens to them.

Still, I'm kind of surprised that they haven't received more negative press, but it seems to me Activision-Blizzard is just too hot of a story in comparison and will generate more clicks.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Of all thing i love-hate in simulation is the budget system. I know that part is the challenge of the game, but hey, let's face it, sometimes we were faced with a wonky system to the point we mod them to go away. I mean, if you ever play GTA 3D universe, without using cheat whatsoever in literally your first playthrough (more so if its GTA 3), it still count as one. Still, since i know how satisfying it is when the money is on the green rather than red, i can say i'm happy that i manage. Anyway, i'm not talking about budget system in SimCity. I already talk about that!

So what am i gonna talk about? This one over there!

"Whoa! Whoa there! Hold your wallet! If you plan to buy it, buy the one with COMPLETE EDITION label on it! This one is way too old for today system! Unless you won't mind playing in possibly stuttering performance!"

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 is a simulation games where you create and manage a theme park of your dreams. As far as i concern, this installment was deemed the best among all RCT, though RCT2 would follow closely behind (i would say RCT2 are the best until i realize there's no sandbox mode there). RCT 3 might been forgotten thanks to Planet Coaster who's the developer are the one who create this installment. We'll get into that later.

How It Goes? (Vanilla)
The game run smoothly back when i play it on 2010. Yes, i said 2010 where Win7 still run around and WinXP is on its last leg while Win10 rumor is in the air. But where did i play this game back then? WinXP of course! Anyway, there's no hiccup performance on my end at the time except some of graphic that i need to adjust. 

The moment you reach the main menu, you might notice that there's something called "Peep Creator". Honestly its just a custom made visitor of your own but its just there to add gameplay value. Right, and i spent almost half minute creating Peep with 4 family member. 

Now you might be asking, what do i get from Platinum edition? Self-explanatory really, this is basically an all-in-one package of a game. The vanilla, Wild, and Soaked. The name should give you a clue but i get to that later. The size won't be much trouble by computer standard these days anyway so i don't think i need to warn you about space and requirement. This is game from 2004 and i can prove myself that i can run this game no problem even in Win10...unless you bought the Platinum Edition instead the Complete Edition like i just warn you up there.

After finishing tutorial and getting to know the gameplay system and its expansion, i start off...the sandbox. Hey, don't judge me. This very feature is what make this game standout among other installment. Back then, open-ended simulation saves SimCity is way too rare. Even Train Tycoon don't have much sandbox element in it. In RCT however, not only you got whole patch of land to get creative, you get infinite money to boot which is why i like this game back then. Now that's a real open-ended.

Up until now, i always start off by making "Generic" theme right from the start. And then followed with "Western" and "Sci-Fi" or "Horror". The thing that i find it unfortunate is there's less content other than Generic theme but hey, gotta make-do right? There's various theme you can try on although some are an expansion that doesn't serve much purpose or harm your gameplay if you don't put it up in your park. Now the thing that i can't stress enough is trash can and bench. Seriously, i always forgot to put those thing just like how i forgot to make kitchen room when playing The Sims. Yeah, that's me for you, always forgot the big picture. Anyway, if you want your park clean, make sure to put up some trash can...and lots of Janitor.

Speaking of which, i remember hiring security and mascot but 3 person each would do the job for me. Think i had everything done? Nope. I have to put up some food/drinks stand. But here's the thing that stand out : The Custom Stand. This stand can be used for any purpose no matter what the shape they take though it might feel out of place depending on the theme you used. Luckily, you can repaint it too. And the plus side, perhaps, is you can put up your own picture for the sign. I'm not kidding, you can put lewd pic on the banner and get away with it. However, since this game seems had trouble with the Win10 and some certain aspect, i might need to tell you that...

• Do not add ABSURDLY LARGE resolution picture because it might end up shown as broken icon. This game are made in 2004 so i would suggest 1280 x 720 or less
• I don't know if its a glitch in installment or something, but the import picture directory wasn't automatically added in Win10 after install. I can confirm the game made the said directory in Win7 automatically. Its either due to old installation app or Win10 being their wonky self.
• In order to solve this, you can actually made the folder yourself by naming it "My Picture" in the "My Document" section and put one picture there to test. Don't need to close the game! They have refresh button so hit it after you put the picture.

Not enough showing off? Well you can put a banner for no context if you want and show those R34 to the game! Hey, its not online game, who stopping you?

The most ride i always build? If i remember correctly, its a Kart Racer ride. I always build that thing in my theme park. Not saying its my favorite though. And i can't say if i have personal favorite Roller-coaster itself since i use mostly a preset. Speaking of ride though, i always put a clinic/infirmary nearby the extreme ride such as Rollercoaster or heavy swing and twister kind of a ride because some of the visitor would instantly vomit if their guts can't take it. Its not pretty sight, don't ask...

Oh and before i forgot, you can make your variation of firework if you want to. And obviously its rather complex but not that much. If you can't do it, just stick to preset. If you have every single expansion, there's more preset you can try.

Now that we're onto the ride, let's move to something i had beef on. The water ride. The ride itself isn't so bad. You have jetski, rowboat, classic swan boat, tricycle boat, submarine, canoe, and dingy boat. Unfortunately there's no preset for this kind of ride but i don't mind that since water ride doesn't require complexity of twist and turn. Its just linear ride mostly.

But the beef i had when building that thing, is the terraforming the ground. For the love of anything that sounds holy to you, always save first before terraforming. You're not playing The Sims buy mode here, because if you make mistake, that's it, your theme park is a riddled mess. To add more kick to the shin, this game doesn't have undo button so pretty much sure just one mistake is enough to make you load the game right at that very moment. Yes, the terraforming tool is bad. I still love SimCity terraforming up to this day. Guess that kind of tech was too much for any simulation huh?

Anyway if you made a water ride, especially submarine, place the decoration. Seriously, this ride is easy to made, but hard to beautify. You can place ANYTHING on terraformed land. Be it under the water or by wonky slope. I'm not kidding. But perhaps this is the excuse for the dev so player can décor the underwater adventure themselves without much hassle. I say its good effort. Though some décor that can only placed on upper ground will be build with foundation under their feet...

How It Goes? (Wild! Expansion)
In Wild! Expansion, this give addition of animal to your park. Yes, you can turn the said park into mixed theme park now. With animals! Anyway, Wild expansion also offer another staff named "Animal Caretaker". Unlike most worker, this caretaker must be placed on the one cage with the animal they tend to. They clean the animal house, give them food, and basically taking care of any animal you put in your park. But be warned though, if you put wrong type of fence, they might break out. The other reason why the animal on the loose is your fence are old and broken. Just pause the game, delete the broken part of the fence, fix it, then resume. 

What happen if the animal on the loose you ask? Well, you shot them...with tranquilizer of course, else this game would be a sequel to Duck Hunt (I kidding, you can't adopt a duck). Another thing to note is you can create a safari tour by adding car transportation. I won't lie, its hard thing to do but its worth it once you get a grip. I suggest play the tutorial because i can't exactly shows you how it work.

Wild expansion might don't offer much feature or content but they made it up with animal shows. There's tiger and lion shows and you can adjust the trick shows on screen by adding it yourself. They also snake and reptile building for your peep to pay visit. I forgot the other one, sorry!

How It Goes? (Soaked! Expansion)
As the name suggest, this add Senran Kagura girls into the mix among your polygonal peep...or that's what my wildest dream told me or if this game really that popular and ATARI embrace the weeb. Enough with the joking, Soaked expansion add another thing to your theme park with, you guess it, pools and water ride!

Thankfully, you don't need to terraform to make a pool. The catch is, pool are pricy to be made so unless its sandbox, don't tempt to try. However there's also a thing that catch my eyes. The pool might cause performance hiccup a bit. On my end, it reduced the frame rate to 25-30 if my camera aimed at the pool ride thanks to numerous peep using the pool. Don't need to worry though because no one will drown. Even without ladder, they will jump on anyway. This expansion also add option if your customized peep should be using balloon or not.

As for the ride, i didn't mean rollercoaster ride. But rather the pool ride such as slides! Just like rollercoaster, you can create the design on your own or use the existing preset. In this expansion also introduce another animal shows which is dolphin shows. Unfortunately though, you have to terraform to make body of water...good luck with that and don't forget to save!

All Thing Considered
Everything seems work as intended to me. Performance hiccup is expected but that's my fault end. This game is old that's obvious but the fun it had is still there. For a size of 2004 games, it age well despite the fact there's better option like Planet Coaster. However if you want to know where to start theme park simulation, this might be good one to start. Though RCT 2 might be considered the best, RCT 3 cater those who put creative mind into play rather than creating something that work. 

But its not without a catch. Like i mention before, terraforming in this game is really a challenge and without undo button, this only make it tricky. Another setback is if you play sanbox, without proper transportation from one section to another, people won't go that far to reach other end of the park because they got exhausted before they reach their destination. Always consider using transportation ride if you plan on making big park!

By graphic standard, this game can do more for 2004 but perhaps Frontier dev knows it would make this game another Crysis benchmark and no way people gonna play the game that won't work with most average PC user back then. 

Something You Need To Know
Atari and Frontier goes hand in hand making this game. However the dispute start off not because the different mindset but rather unpaid work Frontier sweat upon. One thing led to another, Frontier call it quit, hence the RCT you see today which is bad no matter the angle you look at. Frontier however, didn't go empty handed. Because they have something that ATARI should possess and made it into contract. What is that? The VERY code of RCT. Turn out Atari, being oblivious they are in gaming industries, only copyright the RCT brand but NOT the very game itself! This give Frontier the ammo they need to launch their own rightful game to the world, by just changing the title from "Platinum" to "Complete Edition". ATARI can't sue them because the game title show the difference and can't sue them for stealing either because ATARI don't have right to the game code; they only own a name.

As if being great sore loser, Atari release their own version of RCT named RCT world. And you can tell by now, the game is bad and broken. Most essential feature missing or didn't work as intended. Its a pain to play. But as if ATARI karma with Driv3r release to beat GTA SA causing PTSD to everyone at their office, they decide to launch the game broken, with 50$ price tag. However sensing the market don't favor them from the start, they lower it down. But the damage is already done.

In the end, Frontier made out with the bang as the RCT 3 CE received well and their Planet Coaster become hits. Meanwhile ATARI become husk of their former glory to the point they made Kickstarter to make another RCT game that won't work in their favor at all. Because at the end of the day, its RCT for mobile phone. You don't play something you fund on Kickstarter only to find out its a game with F2P system microtransaction that completely against your money purpose! So yeah...its dead meat for Atari. I mean who on earth asking fund from Kickstarter, by flaunting their millions profit of their company on our face!? No one in their right mind would feed their money to a company who already had enough dough to make games! Or mobile games in this case. Which is even more baffling judged from how much source needed to make mobile game!

At The End Of The Day
This game worth buying. If you feel Planet coaster would overwhelm you, like i do since i get that game, then start with RCT 3 CE. The price wasn't too miles high like FF7 on Epic Store that's for sure. The game is playable on my end though i can't say for everyone. But with that being said, go ahead and try this game yourself. Flex muscle on Dark Souls in standard. But flexing creativity? This might be your thing especially if you're into Simulation genre.

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

You know ever since 2017 i've been thinking who messing up the game mostly. Was it publisher? Was it developer? Was it investor? Was it the player? I can't say because different company has their own issues and not every company are perfect. Even me who love SEGA and Playstation sometime feel like they just gassing on me one way another few times a year. But the thing is, since i know the basic thing about how they do thing, i expect such thing to happen and thankfully, they don't mess up a lot (though Sony security breach still scarred me a bit). But when they did good job, i do give them praise but when they didn't, i scrutinize them as much as other people when game company being too handsy over player wallet.

Speaking of wallet, i can't really tell what does this company want really...

"Square Enix, did you forgot your NIER 1212-whatever is still unoptimized for certain degree of next gen PC? Why did you even..."

Yes, its another news reaction from me because seriously, ever since their blown up sales on FFBE anniversary disaster, people already know they can't do sale and one of those people are me. They can't even tell what they plan to do with their IP to the point KH 3 being questionable if its worth to buy. But that aside, putting an overprice game than what it should would obviously scrutinized. I mean sure game developing is pricy day by day, i get it, i really get it...at least i applaud you for not running away to pachinko.

But the thing that Square Enix really miss big time is they slap the price at the wrong game at the wrong time. Not saying FF7 is bad as a whole, no, the game is alright... in console. We can find the issue in the game for PC version and another lack of feature for PC settings is a total kick on the shin. Let me tell you, Nier Automata suffer this same issue back in the day to the point that the game refuse to load a cutscene, soft-locking the game in process. I mean, who the hell make cutscene with an obnoxious resolution? 1359 x 660? Who are they trying to please? Ultra wide screen user? Its useless dammit! Its useless if the game fail to load cutscene thanks to so-called dynamic resolution! You know what? Pirated version had to fix Square Enix mess up by REMOVING THE CUTSCENE and convert it to proper resolution so the game can run. I am not joking. 

Since the cat goes out the bag now, we can find how stutter the game is either because the lack of optimization or DRM being a dick on them, i can't really say. But this is real outrageous issue when the game is worth 10 buck more but has no additional feature whatsoever but instead giving player a headache. Square Enix seems to forgot the fact that RE Village never reach overwhelmingly positive review on Steam is because of performance hiccup due to DRM is behaving. But at least player outcry doesn't backed up by 70 bucks price issue! Death stranding on PC might seems smooth ride with additional price but they had other feature added on it to make it worth. FF7 on the other hand, has nothing on it worth 70 bucks and fans are baffled with stutter-fest that so bad, the game FPS drop when you rotate the camera. That shouldn't be an issue for today triple A games standard but guess i'm wrong.

I have to break it to you, i never play FF7 even on PSone days. FF never click my taste at all. So why do i care? No reason really, maybe i just hate Square Enix? Or hate FF series altogether? I let you judge. But at certain degree outside of fandom, do you even agree to pay extra price for nothing? Do you agree to let the development team slide for the stutter-fest the game has to over you for a price of 70 bucks? Now this is where you and i share the same table. An overpriced product doesn't mean it would goes well without weight on it. You and your 70 bucks deserve more you know. Even a simple Camera/Photo mode is welcome addition that make the game worth the additional price. I'm sorry if this sounds offensive but, seriously, we all need to have certain standard when it come to quality before putting our money on the company mouth if it turn out the product they sell isn't worth the price.

I don't give a damn if it release on ORIGIN or even UPlay of all thing, i've been way past that barrier. But please, for the love of anything that sounds holy to you, if you happen to be fans of Square Enix as a whole, please smack them some common sense because seriously, they mess up marketing in their mobile game so much that it got review bombed, making Marvel Avenger into joke and blame others for it, publishing Left Alive without quality control, and now this? If i see FFX remaster and it was sold with business model as DOA6, i think i'm not surprised at this point.

If i want some stutter-fest game so much, i already have that game. Its called Dark Rose Valkyrie where every single time is a stutter fest. If that game was priced above 30 bucks, people would riot, i swear. And that's what happen to FF7 until Square Enix decide to rethink the price when realizing they got no right to flaunt the game price when it has no certain weight. Seriously, what were they thinking? This is real shame you know? FFXIV was having smooth launch not too long before this issue come up. Right when Square Enix about to earn player good grace, they end up thrown with another rotten egg on the side because they ask for it. Can they just...you know, just sell the game without ABCD on it!?

I'll cut the chase then. I won't mind if they slap 70 bucks price...but in the form of new IP or game sequel. There, i said it. Maybe i can find at least one of their game i can make love with. The thing that make me shake my head toward this company is how they release this remake. If the game was released 70 bucks from the start, i don't think player lambast them much and they can get away with cheap excuse like "the game engine used was pricy" etc. But the fact that they already expose themselves on console only to up the ante on PC is like saying you didn't steal candy from the store when your mouth is so full of it. People already know the product actual price, so they expect some equal price on different platform! Well 1-5 bucks different is alright i guess but 10!? Square Enix, you need better marketing team and quality tester. Badly. And lets not get idea to make your own game launcher...just don't!

Other than that...see you later on Steam store maybe?

Elena, shutting off~

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PS: If you didn't know yet, try to run the game by forcing it to run on DirectX 11 by adding "-dx11" without quotation mark on the launcher command to kick away the stutter. Too bad, because some graphic feature won't be as good since it wont run the HDR feature, causing the color washout and other graphical downgrade. But hey! At least you got, you know, the working game as INTENDED! Thanks for your consideration to release this game to PC Square Enix! You know what could be done to make the game more great?

Add more graphic configuration settings on OPTION would help! Even Dynasty Warrior 6 has more option than this sweet nostalgia cow of yours!

Competent company, YOU...

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Let's talk about another fighting game that some of you might heard and played it, just heard of it, or the title is at the tip of your tongue, or you just plain forgot the game exist, or don't have any clue at all this game even exist. It might be a stretch for later case but trust me, i don't blame you if you forgot to mention this one game made by big name (or used to be), along with big IP name slapped on it. To be fair, i don't hate the main IP and the company decision to twist and turn it a bit as spinoff. Many games did it such as Sonic with their racing franchise. But we're talking about fighting game at the moment.

Clearly, that company over there just don't know the meaning of charm point and integrity...long before SHHD collection incident...

"Look, i don't completely hate this game. But i always forgot the fact that this is part of Castlevania IP albeit spin-off...just what the hell?"

Castlevania Judgement, Released exclusive for Wii on 2008 in JPN and 2009 for global release. The game was developed by Eighting, a team who made another fighting game Fate/Unlimited Code, and published by KONAMI. While the genre break the tradition of Castlevania which is 2D side-scroller or 3D for some, this is totally a new ground for the IP in the fighting genre. While the game might have its own identity to distinguish, unfortunately, it came up as the game shortcoming as it break way too much of its charm.

The Artwork
I'll say it now, the artwork is nice in my opinion. But i understand why people call it odd. As you might figure out, the one who design the character and the artwork is a mangaka of Death Note which is why the resemblance art is really uncanny. But the fact that it make the game look anime-ish than already is, play the factor why this installment isn't truly felt like Castlevania. At least the original artist of Castlevania put more artistic feel to the design and implement it without making the character look out of place. Save Aeon since he's the only one who didn't sticking out.

By design, you can tell that...

1. Some if not most male character look like Light Yagami from Death Note
2. Alucard suffer the most as for whatever reason, his face design seems janky
3. Shanoa design isn't much to write home about compared to original design. The main reason why is because this is Shanoa before event of Castlevania Order Of Ecclesia hence the different look. But unfortunately it didn't catch much attention other than her name.
4. Dracula for whatever reason, look like having a guns on his chest. But compared to most, he might be the only one that didn't suffer "Light Yagami" face syndrome.
5. Thanks to uncanny artwork from the artist, it will be hard to dismiss the character look from the mangaka style
   • Simon is VERY much look like Light Yagami
   • Eric Lecarde for whatever reason has questionable gender and look like Melo (or Nier? I forgot which one is who)
   • Maria Renard look like Misa Amane with lolita style slapped all over the place. Sure she's a lolita by default but more like porcelain lolita doll on mansion. This one however, look like cosplayer running around
   • There's Rem looking dude. I think his name is Gran? Grant? I forgot...
   • Some female character design (beside Maria), are far outcry from its original design and look. While its okay to change their appearance for this installment, the change is either questionable or make them very out of place.
   • Death itself look like one of Death Note shinigami. Some even outright call it Skeleton due to barebone (no pun intended) design when Death usually has more dignified representation

The Lack Of Character Roster
One thing that we might can commend is the game didn't have DLC character. Which mean everyone is available from the start. But unfortunately, the character roster was barren and not to mention that the character the game put in doesn't include big character name such as Soma, Hector, or even other Belmont character such as Trevor. Wiki said there's just 14 character. But thanks to previous issue about the lack of character interest, this become another stretch for the game since some character is probably someone you don't know about, mainly Grant and Eric.

Each Character Upbringing Wasn't Charming Or Way Too OOC From Their Respective Installment
To be fair, i can't judge some of character voice acting since some of the character are from a GBA game which doesn't involve voice acting. But even so, i notice some of them are unnecessary addition when it come down to it. But on fanbase, this is a total kick to the fandom lore the game has already built. Some contrast of its flaw are...

1. Sypha who always judge everyone by their action rather than look somehow become over-zealous woman who attack anyone who has dark power regardless its intent of use
2. Maria has annoying voice and for whatever reason, has obsession to big woman breasts which is unnecessary anime trope just for the hell of it. Keep in mind her appearance on the respective installment is an independent (if not a bit brat, just a bit!) but has average look. In this game, she was supposed to be 2 years older than the original.
3. Golem and its Mama fetish. I am dead serious!

There's another but i forgot which one is who. The only normal one would be Simon himself and Dracula but they also butchered in...

Very Awkward And Unfair Gameplay System
Hey, we talk about fighting game here and we could tell by now if there's janky character, they would be less likely to be played. And as every level designer note, the game would be unbalance if there's one character that can't be beaten by one character. Yes, that's the principle in gaming be it RPG to Simulation for all i care. Unfortunately, i suffer some experience from this BlazBlue + SoulCalibur reject. What's that? The control! And if you think DOA6 break blow was cheap, in here, is certain death sentence! Why bother beating each other up if the game can be easily cheesed out with Ultimate attack!? This is fighting game, no JRPG! What were they thinking!? How bad it actually is? Here you go, don't choke on it!

1. The game run in arena-like environment, similar to Soulcalibur. However! The odd camera angle tend to get you on wrong footing.
2. Every single character movement look wonky in their animation, some are even have their animation frame cut at some point
3. Speaking of arena, there's stage with ring-out system. But as far as i remember, i can win simply by SHOVING the enemy to the edge and use heavy blow attack to push them out. Not always success, but its worth mentioning how unfair the ring-out can be
4. Some ring-out has invisible barrier to prevent fighter to fall off just by shove them (meaning you have to uppercut them or use any hard hit that put them off the ground). But some stage has no barrier, making it possible you might trip and fall off unintentionally
5. Unless you had patient or been playing this game for long, do not use Maria as she always trip over herself just to balance her fighting system. Does it work well? Of course not!
6. Some character dodge take long delay
7. Dracula, who is a last boss for every character, is OP and abusive in its attack. It seems the dev forgot that this is fighting game without feature to use potion when dying!
8. While we're at it, Dracula is insanely OP character in roster. I said insanely OP, not just OP.
9. Ultimate attack damage are varied but all of them would give easy win. Some said it has 60% damage, making it easy to won the game just by beating the enemy until their health reach 50% and pull an ultimate on them. Though some character has weak Ultimate. Dracula is the most offender in this issue
10. Hit box can be such gamble to pull
11. Special case for controller design to those who didn't use motion joystick or emulating the game, know that you're blessed from this certain headache. In order to play the game with motion control...
    • Shove it to attack
    • Shove then hold B and wiggle the remote around to use ultimate attack which is tiring
    • You can use basic controller fortunately to mitigate the issue. But the rest is the same only this time, you hold B button and input certain combination, resulting in no additional gameplay value in any aspect

The Game Didn't Offer Much Replay Value
You know, if the core gameplay alone already this wonky, i doubt any mode would help. But sure enough this game know what to put to add replay value. But unfortunately its either cheap or just plain lackluster at best. Even i almost forgot what feature this game has had it not for Wiki help!

1. Arcade Mode : Basic feature where you fight 10 enemies until final which is Dracula. To be fair, most arcade fighting only has like 8 enemies. Added the fact this game has only 14 roster, you almost fight every single roster just in one go
2. Training Mode : Self explanatory
3. Survival Mode : Fight endless enemy but there's no upping ante, meaning this mode is easy win even if you fight for long as the enemy didn't put much fight or more stupid. Seriously, i fought this mode with Maria, and manage to survive because the enemy only use cheap insert combo, and stop abruptly in mid-combo whenever their attack hit me!
4. Castle Mode : (copied from wiki since i didn't play this mode as far as i remember) clearing battle with objective. Most of the objectives are basic and boring, and is just fighting monsters, and occasionally fighting a character. To add to the tedium, you don't get health refills unless you clear boss rooms or find a save, worst yet while going returning to a save point, you can get ambushed by enemies and being forced to fight, and in the final room, you fight Dracula and he is even worse than he was in the Arcade and Story Modes.

In The End
I would...say that you better emulate this game on your last tier of your fighting game bucket list. Sure there's horrible fighting game out there which mostly classic 90s release but that's different issue here. This game made by modern engine and idea but to think they didn't just shove classic fighting style into mix when its not working is beyond me. If KONAMI really want to make this game an odd one out from others, i would expect some sort of boss rush kind of game with 3D aspect into play, putting combo like what Radiata Stories did for a combo attack option. But no, they choose more tedium way to something so simple. If i might be bold, they should follow what Soulcalibur did and the game would go just fine. But thanks to their idea of using action-oriented camera it didn't work. I had few times having motion sickness just to find where the hell am i going. That's never been an issue to me even on FPS game. But somehow this game give me one. It take good time until you get used to it. At least there's that one neck bitter who put up real fight unlike the rest of the enemy AI...

In certain aspect, mainly artwork, i admit it was far outcry from the original and i won't dismiss that. But hey, rather than shilling the artist, why don't we question Konami decision for that? I mean, back then, the OG Castlevania dev team is still around include their artist. Why they use a new one? To chase a trend perhaps. But nah, i for one, think Death Note artwork is a bit smudge to see, especially the shinigami. I like the manga though. I have all of them to the last volume. Decent ending by the way. But tiring to re-read.

And it certainly don't help much when the character lore were butchered. Design be damned, messing with lore would cost dearly to pay even by its original writer. The fact that the game chase the anime trend rather than keep their own charm of their own is a bad move in itself...

"I'm not cropping this image. This is the real cutscene. Who said the dialogue? Maria Renard who never fuss about such thing and being brat about it"

If there's anything that i would praise without any setback, is the mix of soundtrack that the dev do some justice to it. No complaint from me and fans themselves which mean the dev consider this point as serious matter. 

But hey, i can spare some compliment too. Have you see that jet black metal Garurumon- i mean, Cornell design and final artwork? Now that one right there, is my spirit animal!

Elena, shutting off~

Edited December 23, 2021 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Mascot! There you have it. Any staple of console or video game, has their own mascot be it animal or a person for a whole franchise. Or cover-boy/girl if you prefer to go that way. So tell me, which mascot video game you ever played hands-on and remember it until now? So am i! Now guess what mascot i got my hands on...oh, that sounds wrong. I mean, guess what mascot am i gonna talk about on this section? Come on, there's not much mascot! Not Bubsy, not Spot the dot or Fido Dido that's for sure.

Oh let's skip the willy nilly, i can't help to speak it out loud anyway. This!

Sonic N, developed by Sonic Team and Dimps and published by SEGA, for Nokia N-Gage. The game is basically a port of the GBA version under the name Sonic Advance. Released on 2003, i manage to play this game on 2005 in its own platform, Nokia N-Gage. Not the QD one, but the hunk one. To say the experience were different might be a bit of a stretch but the game core mechanic was working just fine as i played through every single character through every stages.

How It Goes?
To put it up to speed, its your run-of-the-mill Sonic games side scroller platforming so you can guess how the basic gameplay goes. The things that make it standout however, is the variety of character you can play as. While the stages remain the same, no cutscene whatsoever, the game stay true to its value from jumping and running around, to find a secret location of where the chaos emerald is. If you ask me if i manage to get every single of it, the answer is...no. Look, i'm still have a bread for a brain in 2005, don't judge me for prioritizing the fun over the mechanic back in the day!

Now you might ask what the difference between N-Gage and GBA version is, let's kick the elephant off the fridge.

The Visual
Since N-Gage screen is basically has smaller aspect ratio compared to GBA, the game had to be scaled down so it would fit the screen without getting in the way. N-Gage has the resolution of 176x208 with aspect of 11:13 which is far smaller than GBA which is 240x160 with aspect of 3:2. The scaled down resolution cause the game to look crampy due to letterbox getting in the way. But lucky for you, it can be rid of by pressing # button on the number pad. Though in my opinion, its...doesn't impact me much but hey, at least the dev satisfy your eyes so that's something

But the thing is, when i play it on GBA (courtesy of my generous friend), the visual was sharp and nothing seems amiss. But when i remember correctly what i experience on the N-Gage port, the screen would show motion blur if you're going too fast. While it cool to give us impression that you're going so fast, turn out its not. You can't see pretty much anything and before you know it, you might as well bump into enemy because you didn't see it and jump off before its too late.

The Audio
Sega always boast the music power they can bring on any device. But on N-Gage? Its...not so much. Ported mean something had to be cut down so the audio quality is pretty much wonky though not completely destroy the experience. Some tune are so soft, but at some stage, its almost ear-rapping! I remember that i had to lower the volume when i play this game out of fear the speaker might broke due to high pitch note when the GBA version don't have such issue. A price to pay i guess.

The Character Choice
I only know Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles but i never know about Amy at all. The game did offer a different experience from different character choices which put much impact on the gameplay. Feeling like going classic? Pick Sonic! Tired of jumping around? Fly with Tails! Had enough with walls? Climb it up as Knuckles! Feeling like to use most button to do an attack? Pick Amy! 

As far as my experience goes, I manage to end the game mostly with tails just so i can skip the level. Yeah, my kid self sure love to take easy way out. Anyway, the good thing with playing as Tails is he can swim and as you can tell, there's underwater level where you have to hunt down a bubble to keep yourself around. Doesn't mean the whole level break down by Tails, you can't fly forever after all. But its good for anyone who have alternative way to get back on previous platform before they fell down.

Sonic and Knuckles is pretty much basic though Knuckles can glide down but i rarely use it. Then come Amy. Most of these character attack by jumping on enemy head. But with Amy, you have to manually attack by pressing 7 button. If you playing too much classic character, you probably press down many times thinking she can spin dash. She could but...no damage done. Her attack are her hammer which you have to press down every time there's an enemy ahead of you. Boss included. It seems tedious but overall, she's fun once you get the hang of her different attack pattern. Her downward attack is very useful for some boss battle.

More To It
Unlike most sonic platform game, Sonic N retain some of the gameplay mechanic, namely the special attack that you can use by pressing 7. Tails can swipe his tail as attack, knuckles can punch the enemy, Amy use her hammer. But for sonic, its for instant speed dash for short distance. Think that's it? Well, you'd be wrong.

As i mention before, Amy has some setback for her lack of basic offense. But she made it up with a different attack combination. By combination, i mean, real combination you would find on fighting game. Every character has their own moveset for that. While at the end of the day you only use your trusty jump attack, it still nice to see the attempt on trying different approach . I mean, when you gonna see Knuckles pull a soryouken on enemy!?

What We Got There
Sonic N might didn't miss any core gameplay mechanic which is good for a size of a port despite the fact it was released on inferior device. But the thing is, you would probably wonder what make the game lack in essence of gameplay? Yes, the multiplayer mode. On GBA Advance, you have a multiplayer mode where you can duke it out locally with friends. N-Gage however, should be able to do more when it come to interactivity with their N-Gage Arena. And yet due to technical limitation, the feature was cut, signaling the first siren that N-Gage wasn't as great as it claim to be.

Come to think of it, N-Gage Arena consist mostly of high score show off most of the time so its not big loss but still! 

If that's not enough loss, there's another feature called Tiny Chao Garden. Its just a mini-game, close to Tamagotchi-like feature added for the gameplay value. And no, the side feature in this one isn't just there to pan the gameplay but also feature complete. You're not just there to tend, trade, and play with your little Chao but also able to cross-platforming between GBA to GameCube to expand your trade. Knowing this feature might be useless on N-Gage who clearly has no direct connection to any Nintendo console, they scrap it completely for that reason. 

In The End
Sonic N is basically a nerf version of GBA which retain the core gameplay and thankfully, nothing were chopped down beside the side and extra feature. The game run great and no problem. Even when i play it on the very platform, it was great experience from start to...ahem, Finnish. Yeah, let's end it with that. 

But if i were you, i would go play this on emulator GBA i mean, come on, why you play the inferior N-Gage version anyway? And i never heard about anything along the line of "N-Gage Emulator" on every emulator site anyway so why bother!?

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

You know i always heard that you clearly not up to the task if you fail at the job one too many time. Seriously, there's better way to find money than being cancer in the company and believe me, the feeling of burden was real even after you retire. My dad always told me that its better you get laid off as your run-on-the-mill employee than special someone; they won't call you for something you didn't take part of! Now then, can you tell me any game company who sunk so low, even their developer branch who up for the task end up failing on their own field...

"Even i were too lazy to find good cover for this post but what the hell. And dude! Those aren't beta! Those are extended demo!"

Oh the might has fallen. Yeah, that would be what i said if it were the fanbase fault for abandoning the franchise before they reach the potential. BF 2042 is basically what you called ANTHEM 2.0 but even worse. Honestly i wasn't thrilled when seeing the trailer or teaser compared to BF4 or BF1. And you know what? Guess i'm glad i'm right for this case. I always said that the core gameplay need to be intact or else the whole foundation would fail on you; and it did! BF 2042 was so bad that...

1. The graphic trailer had laggy performance shown on the video. How can they mess up the trailer! I mean sure there's always cosmetic effect to make the game look good but i never see even trailer of the 2008 game show they had hiccup!
2. The beta test was laughably bad. Normally i ignore this kind of thing. We talk about beta after all. But boy, were they serious when they said they played the beta and compared to full release; its an extended demo!
3. Who in the right mind thinking butchering the popular game mode was great idea! I just be upfront here, i don't mind FPS game who focus on multiplayer and no campaign a la CS 1.6 style. We had that a lot these days. But charging 60 bucks for nothing? What EA thinking is this, kickstarter campaign!?
4. They pulled the plug of certain game mode because they could, only to put it back because they realize it give them more player base. You don't yank people feet like that! They were right to be angry for that dick move! And it goes to show they only care for audience when it profit them than giving them what they want...
5. To add the #4 point, this game are live service game. Yet EA fail to serve their own fanbase. Why turn this game into such service game when you can't even manage your own server for more than a YEAR!?
6. It was so bad, the playerbase run off to play BF1 or BFV against their better judgement. I talk about how bad EA and DiCE kick their fanbase on BFV but i guess its better to have a kick on the butt than getting one on your face that is BF 2042 which certainly has no one to kick the game to its high gear
7. Even STEAM had enough of this game BS and break their refund policy. STEAM only allow you to refund if the game was played under 2 hours. But similar to PS Store and Cyberpunk fiasco, they break a leg and give people a refund without much fuss of their playtime hours. Yes, its that bad that they don't want to stain their store with it with this Triple A shovelware looking game!

You see, these problem above save #1 has been on the run within the game company. I can't stress it enough how stupid EA can be for giving franchise to the hand of people who clearly don't have a single clue what to do with it. I mean, sure i admire those who has aspiration for creativity but even that need a better handling than just throw it to someone who care. When i thought their stupidity end with ANTHEM who they forced to make the game with the genre they're not good at, seems like EA has run out of people who has clear experience in their own field. Because BF 2042 are made by their rightful developer that is DICE. They been making BF since its heyday and guess what, they seems ready to roll the carpet any time now with this.

Basically, EA ask some painter but the painter (DICE) use acid to paint. There's picture on the canvas but it was beyond recognition let alone redemption. 

I would assume people at DICE is full of new blood who can't speak for themselves or clearly don't know what the hell they doing since they're new and no veteran nearby to question what's this and that. Yes, that can happen for the old company no matter how great they are.

I'm at loss of words. When FIFA shot itself down, i thought KONAMI would bring football to the right course with their F2P system, only to get choked themselves with their E-football and become worst reviewed game on steam. And when i thought COD Vanguard lackluster release was good opportunity for BF 2042 to shine, turn out they sit on far back out of shame. I had high hope for at least one rival to come on top to give a drive to others that "this is what you should do". But none did that. They just compete with each other for "Who has most worst release" trophy. 

I guess it was true. If you want to see the giant fall, wait for it. They either trip and fall, or let the other giant come and bring each other down. 2022 start with irony for game company isn't it? Along with NFT stuff. I might talk about that in the future.

Back on topic, i can't really say what EA trying to do in BF 2042. They use same engine from BF4 which won FPS fans over for the realistic environment that bring the fight into new level. Added the fact that BF isn't just shoot other team to win but also with other mean like tank and helicopter, they basically distinguish themselves among FPS community way ahead. But what they did today is clear that they just continue the franchise just for the sake of showing the people that they exist. But no other mean to remember them by. I'm glad no crazy antic happening like what happen to BFV where the head developer call their fans uncultured. But this isn't something that i want to see either.

As for the reason why people run off to BFV despite how poor the reception and service was, at least the game was released fully functioning. While some feature were added later instead on day-one, the developer show a sign that they care for the game (or trying to look like it). BF 2042 is basically a grand swimming pool without any lifeguard around. You can swim, drown, throwing bodies and crap on the water and nobody would pay it any mind to any complaint. That's not how community people want to be part with which is why people run to previous release of BF because there's some developer who care for the game and the community. 

With all that said, i'm gonna say my piece about this game that i didn't play, nor wish to had, let alone exist...

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BF 2042 is just a big sign for the BF fanbase to see that this is the end of the line for the BF series because EA don't seems to care anymore what happen to it. And the OG developer, the very saving grace itself, failed their own creation.

-Elena

You know what? Seeing how this release botched, i think its safe to say that even if DICE are the one who make ANTHEM, it would failed anyway. 

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

While i do have my fair share amount of PS1 and PS2 experience and a little bit of PS4 at some point, you might wonder if there's any bad console that i ever played. Unfortunately, i always dodged the bullet one way another. I mean, had i been born around 80s, i would at least tell you some of it. And you might say, "Elena! What about PS3!?" yeah i also dodged that because when it came out, i'm still a small bit teenager who don't have credit card given by my parent. Credit card are bad anyway, like alcohol; it never solve any of your issue! Anyway, while i can't say much about Amiga and Commodore or PS3 and every Xbox since i don't own or experience it, i do have fair share of oddity with this...phone? 

"Against people judgement...i say this phone did their homework for experiment value. Shape be damned"

Nokia N-Gage, made by Nokia, released on 2003, and the follow up N-Gage QD in 2004. As you can tell from its shape, this phone try to enforce the gaming on their part to compete to the likes of GBA. While they keep their focus on that, the N-Gage didn't detached from its main function that is mobile phone. Some critic has mixed review about it, citing that its not console as it mainly used for communication most of the time. While others, citing the downgrade on every game it made for the said phone. The selling might not be that stellar but at the end of the day, N-Gage are far less inferior to the other release of Nokia phone at its time. Even more so at 2006 when Nokia ended their 60 series and move on.

The Shape
I won't lie, i agree to those who think its a taco phone. Because frankly, i never know taco until they refer to this phone. If you ask me where i get it, simple. I OWN it. The big hunky original one at that. And believe me, had i not own the Original, this review might be full of praise unknowingly on my part. You might wonder if there's different between the Original and QD well actually...its nothing. The reason for the redesign isn't like what we always had on console who has original and mini version that has each of their own spec superiority and budget. But for N-Gage case, the improvisation were mainly because the original was not very good to be held down. 

It was bulky, no pocket would fit that thing in, and due to its large size, some people concern if it might break if they put it in their pants pocket, a place where you always put your phone in.

Then compare it to the QD, Nokia did address the issue by making it smaller and easy to handle for its user. But by then, the damage already done. And while it solve the issue with the button layout, it still a hunk to put in pocket.

Effort To Play The Game
Let's kick the part about how you make call on N-Gage and focus on what we usually talk about. The gaming. As Nokia promised, this handheld console-not-really, did have some games that none ever exist on other Nokia series. Rayman 3, Sims Bustin Out, Crash Nitro Cart, Sonic N which i talk about previously, Tomb Raider, Asphalt 2, Puzzle Bobble, MotoGP, Splinter Cell, Super Monkey Ball, and many obscure exclusive such as Xanadu at some point. Yes, that very Xanadu made by Falcom. And our beloved cash cow, Call Of Duty also available for N-Gage!

Now the thing is, as you expect from every phone, the said game are put into a cartridge of its own like what you see on Sonic N topic previously. Think of it like hard copy of the game but cartridge shaped. This is where things get a bit too tedious to those who own N-Gage original because while Nokia did their homework on its inside, the outside seems left behind.

In order for you to switch game, you had to uncover the back of the phone, pull the battery out, pull the existing cartridge out from the slot, put the cartridge you want to play, put the battery back, close the cover, turn it on. Yes, every single time you want to switch game, you had to do that. And because of this tedious process for year, people comment regarding this phone about the usability for gaming is mixed. I mean that's what we do on 2003 most of the time if we want to switch the storage but at least those storage has many thing filled in. But to switch the cartridge that actually only has one function and one app, its not fun...

But i digress, let's move on to how it felt like hands-on experience. You might think that you can just grab it like GBA. And it is. I'm still confused why people make fuss about its control when i found no problem with it. Keep in mind that i own the original N-Gage, the very phone that people complaint about mostly. But to make sure every input of the game are similar to GBA, the LR button mostly put into either * or # button. Thought different game had it different input such as Sims Bustin Out who use 1,3, *, #, and 0.

Now for the QD version, this is the improvement. Not only the size wasn't so grenade-like, it also add feature to hot-swap the card without need to turn off the phone. But too bad, there's not much improvisation other than layout design and the said card feature. And the theme if you so insistent to squint about it.

Too Much To Lose
You probably can guess that half of the game library are ported game from GBA version. But as i mention on Sonic N topic, there's always downside of porting any game even small one as this. Visual blur, contrast issue, jaggy framerate, some even bogged down very slowly you can't even tell if it really work well playing it on this phone. While it boast some 3D graphic for mobile phone which is a cool stuff back in 2003 since 3D mobile is rare or even when it exist, the gameplay hour was too short and linear, it didn't optimize well to some game.

There's also issue for casual game similar to Puzzle Bobble where the game had to chop down some feature out like multiplayer feature and in some cases, the audio as a whole. This is not a good sign because some of the game rely on that value. And when you think GBA is the last resort insult of console port game, N-Gage would wish you hold their beer for it!

• MotoGP FPS wasn't run consistently in 30FPS. Sometime it run at 25 at best. And might get worse when its raining!
• Sonic N suffer blurriness and aspect ratio issue.
• Puzzle Bobble insultingly play VERY slow framerate on N-Gage version compared to the GBA version...even on Wonderswan version of all thing!
• Tomb Raider didn't have any music in this port due to limitation. All you heard is just the sfx that sometime didn't timed well.

And as years past, people realize that N-Gage half library is basically a piss poor version of GBA games libraries. That doesn't sounds good. And true to their prediction, it is. Every single game on N-Gage later on was released on other phone, killing it purpose for their exclusivity such as Asphalt series to give people reason to buy N-Gage. Knowing they could have better handheld game and phone even as separate entity with each of their superiority than combine it into one resulting in a bad machine, that sole reason is what slowly kill N-Gage in its track for gaming handheld industries...if you so generous to call them that.

What Make It Good...At Least To Me
If N-Gage was made by shady company who make cheap knock off NES we could find anywhere, this would be the GBA knock off version for it. But luckily, its not. Or else the issue would be far more worse than what i just mention above. While some game had to be downgraded or had their feature chopped, some of the game work amazingly well. The control was smooth, the response was well timed, and while the audio can be janky at the time, it didn't cause much issue such as Sims Bustin Out who put every single soundtrack in its game without sacrificing it like Tomb Raider did. The visual might need some work but regardless there's no complaint from me as everything on the screen is spot on.

"But Elena! Their library is the same as GBA!". Yes i won't deny that but here's where the perk owning N-Gage came in. Because while they do run the ported game and some are exclusive, this phone can run other Java Symbian game that might work well on N-Gage due to their button layout.

In my experience, i had more fun playing racing game such as Asphalt and Need For Speed on N-Gage than your run-on-the-mill candy bar phone. You see, most Java Symbian game always had similar input. D-Pad for moving, 5 and 7 are for okay and execute. Since that been a norm in candy bar phone game (think of it like XBOX gamepad button for PC), N-Gage implement those by making 5 and 7 button...bulging? Anyway, my point is, some java game that didn't seems to fit in to other mobile phone back in the day, would be better off played in this phone for comfort sake. Sure its just glorified N60 series or one would say its N60 on steroid. But hey, if it do work better than others, its worth commendation.

So by all mean, if i got bored with exclusive title N-Gage game, i just put the JAR file of the other Java Symbian game and play it there. The result? Lots of game in one cartridge! Woo-ho!

But keep in mind the resolution though as it only run well for game in 176 x 208 resolution. More or less than that might result in cut-off interface which is not pretty sight. This is old phone after all so there's no auto-scaling stuff like what we had today.

For some reason though, i don't remember why i had this phone along with our beloved 3310...

Elena, shutting off~

Edited January 21, 2022 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

F2P games. There, i said it. When there's something called F2P, the expectation should be obvious when it come to monetization. Gacha box, cards, other gamble that would put you in various good and bad time. Sure they can come out as greedy i mean, there's this one game who offer a subscription tier that somehow cost a dang 60 bucks for 1st tier! But we shouldn't lambast them too much because, hey, its a free to play! They need money to buy food too! What you should hate however, is how it impact the core. I play Azur Lane, its great though a bit odd game. I mean i play it for nothing, i had fun time there since you can breeze much anything even with mid-tier main. And the latest one i play until now like Counterside, absolutely love it. I play that since the dev team is the same as Closers team, i'm in for a good time since i can tell how they run their monetization.

But you know what i never expect from F2P implementation? When its on the game that already cost upfront to play, and another payment in subscription, and another payment in game content. Believe me, had it not for this piss poor capitalism, i would bet i had good time on Star Wars Battlefront and in odd case, FIFA. Oh you can tell where it goes do you?

"Let me ask the obvious. Does Casino allow 5 years old enter the place or any table? And another obvious question. Who spent the most money in their pocket? Adult? Or your wee bits firstborn baby?"
- Elena

While some would say, "If you don't like it, don't play it", those term are long dead and pretty much still dead until today. Whenever you play a game, monetization exist in any form. I have no qualms parting my money to the dev who create the game with their hearts...not always though, some just dick and drive me to pirate or buy the secondhand sale. The thing is, right now, every game people played, has way too much monetization that half of it wasn't even worth it. Remember that time when Tekken 7 get mixed review for selling statistic screen as DLC for whatever god-awful reason? Its already too much.

While those are scummy, regardless you can still tell where your money goes and what you get in return. This in fact, help me cope with City Skyline monetization because now that i think about it, their expansion is like what The Sims series did. Why it cost that much is because the game only has one release and keep on updating while Sims Series had different release which halt their selling price once the said series expansion is discontinued. And like i said, while its scummy, you can tell where your money goes to and what you get. Its fine and dandy in my opinion. That's what market place do or supermarket. You paid the stuff and you get what you buying.

Then come the real beef that is gacha box. The thing about Gacha in f2p games is at this point has become norm. You put your money on luck and hope the system don't choke you with crap-ton of dump card. Some are scummy enough that they drop the rate of the...drop rate into bare minimum. But hey, at least you can stop yourself from spending and can leave anytime without much grief upfront unless you spending too much. It is what it is. The Gacha exist and urge you to spend money. Sure you can do that, but its up to you to spend it wisely and when to stop. It all come back to our conscience. Those f2p game just do business as shady it can get.

And then we had total money grubber of all thing. And this is where i would pirate them if its good game. Yes, i'm bitter. But i rather pay for attending another major in college than spending it to some rough-but-not-fun game just for the hell of it. I just be upfront here. SW Battlefront 2. Look, i get it if game developing was pricy. But putting those monetization scheme on a game that already cost too much to buy is already too much. Keep in mind that we talk about game that some feature are not available if you're not a subscriber and this is the real kick is. If i were to buy a game cost, let's just say, 200 bucks only to find myself locked out from the multiplayer mode because my account isn't subscribe to online subscription that cost additional 10-30 bucks, then added the fact that i had to pull even more bucks into lootbox, i would pretty much pissed and throw much profanity when the game is mentioned. Not just SWB2, any game with this scheme would receive the dirty look from me. Just, look, i get it you need money to make new game. But i don't think you were right in the head to add monetization to a game that already cost too much to buy like this. Gacha? On Triple A publisher? What are you, ATARI? Look what happen to them now! And now look at those Triple A company today. Pathetic. 

And we got Square Enix on the train too for their anniversary bundle and slapstick mobile game. Even Metal Gear Survive still trying to be original! But that's another topic.

You might ask "What about Assassin Creed monetization? Are you against it?" my answer is yes, just the monetization part. Look, if i had to pick which monetization between Marvel Avenger and Assassin Creed, i would pick Marvel Avenger. Heck, i would pick those mismanaged game when it come to monetization than other game has to offer. Because at least the stuff is just cosmetic and didn't hinder the gameplay mechanic much (though they later make scene with lowering the EXP gain so they can sell booster pack, but got burned alive by player for it, resulting them to retract their decision). Meanwhile what make me thumbs down Assassin Creed monetization is how a mere money can affect the core game. Double EXP? Double the item drop? Double the game price? Are you really that lazy to grind? Is Ubisoft thinking that people is too lazy to grind? Maybe. But one thing for sure, it affect core gameplay. Its great game. But with free jail pass like that, it pretty much kill the exploration that the dev team made for years. 

"Oh look! I made a big open world game for people who like exploring and grinding! Oh! Oh! There's also booster pack too to make your adventure easy because, who love grinding?" then why the hell make the game open world only to kill it purpose with booster that make the journey to neverland doesn't worth a dime, you potato sacks? There's monetization that can be applied but this ain't it chief. And coming from a company who despise capitalism for the sake of the artistry in video game, this is very rich to see.

What's next? Pay to see the true ending?

I just say this now. Those beggar with ties can beg somewhere else. Let player had their fun that equal their money worth and if there's some additional content, do your company favor by testing it out before implementing it than shooting blind and get angry when player call you a dick; when you are indeed a dick for being grubby! Gamer isn't so different from housewife on grocery you know. They would part with their money as long as they get what they expect from the product at any price. Trust me, its pretty much true. Only when they got bamboozled is when they call you out. Its a common sense to every marketing. You put customer first, you're their god. You crap on them, you're their lunch. By all mean, dear business minded people inside the game industry who fail to get their priority straight...

Sincerely. Fuck. Off. 

Elena, shutting off~

Edited January 25, 2022 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

If anything, Polybius is something that i never take on seriously. If there's a shred of proof of it, i might held some hope. But what we get mostly is just a hush of words etc. That's not very convincing. And also the effect of that game. If there is really that kind of arcade, that thing would cause uproar and like pandemic, whole world would be warned to destroy that arcade for the safety and health reason. But instead we get a hushed rumor about the game existence but never once its actual appearance. It doesn't exist. 

So why don't we talk about something that exist but felt like it didn't?

"Yes, i play it. I like it. And i get confused by it. In a good way"

While the name could be a giveaway, i just gonna said it. Its Silent Hill in its glorious form. RE7 best horror? Nah. Evil Within is great phycological horror game and body horror design? On the paper only. I can't really say what design going on for this teaser alone. The game didn't bother with much trailer but instead going for hands-on experience so you can tell yourself if its a game made for you or not. I like that concept to be honest. And keep in mind that for a size of a teaser, this game was finished. Yes, a teaser that finished. It doesn't even feel right to call this BETA version. Everything worked fine. The control, the audio, the visual (do i have to state the obvious?), the proper environment to set the mood, everything was set in place. Its not like unity game horror which consist mostly on jumpscare or walk in the park at night sort of thing. It drive your curiosity. 

Before i jump in, i just gonna say this. The game (or teaser if you prefer that way), take more than half minutes to finish. Normally any teaser won't last much than that. Like mobile game phone. After all, why wasting source for showing off the good stuff? In PT case, there's none. What they kept from us is the horror itself once the game are fully released, which sadly, won't gonna happen. There is, however, a statement that the teaser take at least half an hour to finish since the game still put the riddle at work. And it did.

I remember there's time where i keep running in the same circle. Because i didn't take a peek at the small hole on the wall. It was so small that i didn't see it. Yet as insult to injury, its actually sticking out from the environment. I swear i check every corner before Lisa looming over me.

This is the first time i met someone named Lisa, and she ain't pretty let alone friendly!

Back on the teaser, the gameplay didn't just try to show how much ambient of horror but also force you to notice the change and possibly doing something that you might not expect to do on any horror game. This is where thing get a bit tricky because had i play this on day one, i'll be pretty much lost. 

1. There's a part where you had to go to the table with radio, listen a bit, then go back to where the clock is
2. There's a part where you had to stand in front of the digital clock at the entrance until it hit midnight
3. There's a part where you had to remain still even if Lisa is coming at you any moment
4. There's a part where you had to take exactly few step (10 i think?) or the next sequence won't trigger
5. There's a part where you had to listen to every voice until finished to proceed
6. There's a part where you had to listen to creepy ambient (headphone user advised) until finished to proceed
7. There's a part where you had to get caught by Lisa to proceed
8. Thankfully, the game give you a clue what kind of riddle it want you to solve; all you need to to is just figure out and find the answer online

Yes, never been in my life i had to resort to walkthrough online just for a teaser. 

To say the game manage to get the dropping out of me, is still and understatement. The teaser was simple and repetitive yet i can't deny that the progress were made. And by those progress, i find myself get even more curious. Why and what's going on? The answer must be at the end of the road. That's what you think, right? Yeah, the answer is the game won't be released aka cancelled.

Okay, let's get serious again. I still find myself can't answer the exact reason why this small project to nab the nerve out of me than other horror game in existence. People deem Evil Within is great phycological horror but i thought them nothing but Last Of Us Abnormal Edition of all thing since it focus too much on survival and being creative to make your escape. There's no horror if you can outwit your enemy like that. But then, i find the possibility why; the environment. 

Compare it to RE 7 and Evil Within, those two games shows environment that obviously screaming at you that "You shouldn't be here or you will die" right off the bat. But PT take it slow. You see a corridor, nice and dandy. Then after JUST opening the door to the next room, you find yourself in the same exact room. What can possibly go wrong? Just go to the exit again! And what could go wrong after that? Everything. That's where i can draw the conclusion why PT had more impact to me or maybe some people who lucky enough to experience it, and maybe you too? RE 7 and Evil Within might won aspect for horror...because to be fair, there's no good horror game at the time of their release. But this teaser is one big note that sometime, you don't have to fully rely on monster to give player a scare. A silent, looming environment to tease their mind also help the factor to make player think something is gonna come at them soon, only to find out they're not...and...

"They were right all along..."

You might want to scroll down to get rid of that gif above. I don't blame you, i'm creep out too. Anyway, what make this teaser isn't just curiously enticing, the dev team also make sure you had something to remember by in this teaser. The environment are creepy but there's a reason for that. Its a murder site. Lisa the ghost are the pesky obstacle you have to jump on but there's a reason for that. She's the victim of murder. A fetus on the sink may be there to add scare factor but there's reason for that. Its the representative of the unborn child inside Lisa when she was murdered. By adding a close-to-reality fact like this, its easy for player to take those info and connect the dot, resulting them seeking for more answer. What happen afterward? Why Lisa haunting us? Are we the husband? Who's that fetus actually? The question goes on and on. And since you were given a clue what's going on, you'll think that there will be more answer down the line.

Before you know it, you just realize that you got absorbed in a small teaser. That's where the PT become absolute little masterpiece in horror. Many short horror game out there but none of them manage to be less than annoyance college project. But PT, everything is there. 

As for why i keep mentioning RE 7 and Evil Within? Simple. Those big, fully released game didn't win award for best horror concept because of this game. A teaser. An incomplete game. How much of an insult is that!? Even Slenderman game didn't reach this far (the game is bad). Yet PT just slide in, and call it a day.

While there's many hack of PT (careful for malware!), if you ask me, they make perfect recreation for you to experience except the riddle i mention above as it mostly absent from those hack. Oh you might wonder where i play this do you?

Its on PS4 which owned by my relatives who pass away last year. 

Elena, shutting off~

Edited January 29, 2022 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Hype, hype, hype. That's the magic words that spell a success but also disaster to some. To say i dislike the hype would be a lie. But also saying i love the feel is also a big lie. Back in the day, hype of a trailer is something that you can swallow whole because what the trailer shows you is what the game actually has for you to experience. Some might be vague, but you can tell the game is pretty much complete. But now, trailer for some reason these days, was numerous and pretty much screaming "we're screw up! Here's something to keep your imagination about our game run wild!" or whatever along the line. Sometimes it work like charm, sometime its a blatant lies.

But in some case, like this one i'm gonna talk about, is something EVERY gamer had to deal with or its become a bad norm...

"This fazed looking fella is a fanart from Genshin Character that has yet to be released, let alone revealed, LET ALONE RELEASED. Yet this also the cataclysm of the...seriously its hard to make some remark when i'm laughing like this"

If you're Genshin fans, i think i can just cut the chase what's going on but for you who don't, here's the pancake. Apparently there's a leak of a new character named Ayato for the next update for the said game. Now the thing is, while the leak isn't very severe that would ruin the hype or the developer plan, the fans already make assumption what he gonna look like. You might expect such fanart and stuff to deal with and done with. But no, that's not the case. Because apparently when the next leak was released, there's a hint that the character is far from what those fanart/imagination of the fans had in mind. You might think, "Elena! That's just fanart! What's the deal with that!?". I don't have beef with it really, i don't even play the game. But the community reaction toward the developer who ruin their imagination is what baffle me. I just cut the chase here before we going to fall down to politic game on the thread that isn't made for it with one statement from one community.

"He's not gay/pretty/boyish/handsome enough!"

I. Don't. Know. That's what i read, it is what it is. I read those on the server discussion on the Discord my big sis just read. Believe me, i'm being generous to show you one statement but i think you can imagine what the rest of tantrum they throw toward this about-to-be released character just from that statement alone. Now here's the thing where make me scratch my head. You see many game like this reveal a character and stuff, leak coming in and out, people make assumption only to find it a miss or slightly hit the mark, call it a day. Few of example is probably MOBA type of game, or DOTA of you want to go for such roster for new character, maybe even Smash Bros of all thing. So what Genshin Community said about this one? Chef kiss if your answer is toxicity.

Yes, the community burn the developer for this petty stuff that i never heard in any kind of online game. Even APEX don't have this kind of issue when they release new character or announcing a non-binary gender character. All of this, yes, all of this because they heart was broken that the actual character isn't as precise as the fanart. Goodness two shoes, what a way to prove gamer ain't such a baby eh? Since when those artist saying its official!? If they claim as much then they would be sued up their arse for copyright infringement! 

Look here, i know i said it before that the live service game should cater to their fanbase. But even then, it doesn't mean that the fanbase basically dictate what the hell the game direction goes. I hate it when live service game being a crap but if there's clearly something wrong going on with the community and i found out its the community who being a bone, i would pick dev side too. I never fond of live service game but you know what make every single of those game are great? Is the ingenuity. Sure those character and lore are inspired from other character that look better but as a person who prefer creative way around and ingenuity value as their leeway to show off their creativity so people won't call them knock-off too much, i have to pick MIHOYO side for this one. Seriously, i never heard any game community frown about character doesn't look so hot in their eyes only to ransack the community for it. Never. 

Though i can't really say about the case with Aloy face from Horizon. Z. Dawn and Lady on DMC 5...they look okay to me honest to god. We had grisly looking men to flamboyant yet woman character must be pristine Spanish Guitar with porcelain for a face? Excuse moi~

Back on topic, it really come to my attention that perhaps, we need to keep our wits about us on something that isn't released yet. Sure we all excited when Smash Bros reveal their next star but with those excitement, we also prepare ourselves for the letdown because, hey, lets face it, some games doesn't always cater to your taste even if its the series you followed. And this should be a good reminder that when you see something new on the game...keep yourself on middle ground really. Don't get hopes too high because when reality slap you on the face, the let down is a salt to the wound. I had those experience before with Valkyria Chronicle 4 of all thing. Seriously, even i had those hype shot down when what i expect is bellow expectation. And because i know that feel, i learn that perhaps i should lower my standard a bit just to keep myself from doing something unnecessary and fall into category of "Overatted Prick" in the community. And it save my skin pretty much seeing many game these days who pick the path of "Release first patch later" are now crash and burn (and i say, good riddance!).

In case you happen to be on Genshin community, please do some dev a favor for this one. Making a character, the model, the voice and stuff take time and not to mention moolah. They did their best albeit questionable effort to satisfy your needs in the game be it a rerun, or event where you can farm some primo-something-something if you're f2p player. With all those effort given, isn't it fair to let the dev do whatever they want that basically don't seems harmless in the first place a go for once? Remember that horrible moment where gamer community fall so low just because MIHOYO screw up Raiden Shogun stats along with cancelled event on Honkai caused the CEO almost got killed for real by heartbroken (now formerly) fan? Don't fall to that trap. Just don't. You can be edgy, you can be cringy person ever live in this world, you might be an otaku, you might be hopeless weeb, but you can't let yourself to fall for the toxic gas in the discussion. Let those dopey fanbase shot each other feet and just wait and see what MIHOYO had in mind for this. As long as the character don't do politic gesture/agenda, things will be fine, you have my words. 

Beside, even if that Ayato dude look exactly like the fanart, were they even able to pull that character? I don't doubt the weeb being a whale but i bet when they got those character, it would sit on the back because they realize his ability sucks, or they just pull it for the hell of it, or...in most obvious case, player don't bother to pull/play/grind for that character because he's a pretty dude. Hey, just giving yourself reality check here, no offense.

So the moral of this post is; keep your hype in check, never bought any rumor, don't trust anything that still vague such as beta feature or testing new system until its implemented in final release, and most importantly, if you don't know what you actually want for a character, then...

LEAVE THE CREATIVE DEVELOPER TEAM BEING THEIR CREATIVE SELF YOU PICKY BUTT WIPER! IF YOU WANT PRETTY BOI FOR A HUSBAND SO BAD, THEN GO OUTSIDE, FIND ONE, KICK THEIR FACE UNTIL THEY BECOME PRETTY ENOUGH LIKE THOSE FANART AND MAKE LOVE WITH THEM! OTHERWISE DEAL WITH IT YOU BOO BOO!

See? I can be pretty much nonsensically toxic too. There is a time where a customer is King. But there's also a time where even King won't be able to distinguish between what they want or what they need. This is the case of it. Does Genshin really need those fazed looking dude as final release appearance because the hype? Or they should stick to their plan that basically harmless in the first place? I pick latter, no question. Let me stick another statement then...

If you don't like MIHOYO final hammer later about the character look, then make it a reason for you to save those precious gem to pull what charcter gonna come next, and call it a day. Sleep it off. Or make love to it if you want to, i just pretend to care. And like i said previously, do you even need those character if you already has one that is better and still good to go anyway? And to add insult to injury...

THAT CHARACTER WASN'T RELEASED YET! Why those people get angry over a thin air is beyond me. But i might blame pandemic for that. Seriously, rather than get your hopes up over a game character that consist of binary and speak same line over and over for the rest of their life, why don't you get your hopes up by imagining your CV to be accepted tommorow, or graduate without a hitch, or manage to snatch some significant one of your life. At least it give you positive energy.

Before i end this, my big sis stated that she's still wondering why on earth there's no Cryo/Ice mage character to this day. Now THAT is the real question.

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

This mark the first time i review a game, without playing it.

"Look, COD might been milked to death but every single of it are working piece of game. BF 2042 is a game who think they just had identity crisis that didn't even exist in the first place"

The Bait Without Switch
I don't like the game. Along with BFV. But i never thought it would get this much worse either. At the first mention of BF 2042, what's running on my head is "What the hell is this?". You might recall how i admire the game for being different in FPS genre that is BF2 back then. In fact, if i were to choose, i stick to BF over COD and CSGO of all thing. Even overwatch or APEX. Not saying i'm a fan of this series mind you, i only play BF2, 4 and bad company. The thing is, when BF 2042 showcase released...its not giving me any hype or good feeling.

Specialist? What is this, RS Siege? Apex? As far as i know, BF is in one footing with COD as they both are open warfare with numerous player in one lobby instead of 6v6 or 4v4 kind of game who kill the other team wins. If anything, i would bet BF series could beat COD when it come to open warfare system. Classes and weapons determine your role in the field which make everyone have to stick together to win which is where BF stand out. It take years until other FPS PVP focus apply what BF did in their own mix which is why i wonder the shift of the gameplay are for. Specialist seems to limit player ability to won the round and it really shows. There's no need to stick together; you are your own team. That doesn't sounds good.

Those Beta Tester
I must commend EA/DICE for being so bold to open the clearly unfinished game to enter state of Beta in the first place for beta testing rather than being secretive. But this is what baffle me more when the report suggest that the game barely even playable at the current state. Keep in mind those Beta tester isn't playing at months before release but literally few weeks before the game release. What should become delay, somehow translate into "release now!" in publisher ears and the rest is history. The moment i know how bad the game is, and how EA decide to release it anyway...its spell disaster on the cover.

Not The First Time
The time where EA choke the player is not the first time happening. In the other game like The Sims 4 for example, they held vote for next content for the game and when we thought the new content would be the number 1, they pick the last one which is not only worst, but clearly a cash grab for their other franchise. Yes, just from this experience alone is enough to tell me that EA is not someone you could trust in holding their promise. When they did the same to BF 2042, i hold my wallet close. They're not worth the trouble. They need these wake up call one way another.

Battlefield 2077
You can find ANY video regarding this game and none ever said this game is absolute gold except in quote unquote statement. The system were a mess, modes are missing, legacy feature weren't there, basic feature is not there, gameplay is wonky, everyone was too busy avoiding themselves from breaking their game instead killing each other. Its already too much.

Keep in mind this game had the ball to be sold around 100 bucks and even more so in my region. It just take a week, yes, A WEEK, for EA to decide this game put on sale. This is not something you can make up. When publisher somehow act out of character for certain game, that's a flag for me that there's bad news going on. And boy, do i manage to jump out the minefield from this.

The Company Doesn't Offer Much
What make me believe the buggy mess action that is CP 2077 still had chance to survive is because the company were showing their regret and even humbly refund the money without much fuss involved. Not only that, they immediately reform the team and make sure everything goes as intended which not just stop there. They release the new roadmap to ensure the player that "Hey, we're on it! We'll make up for it!". Its a nice gesture because when player got concerned where they just dump their money only to get dump in return, you had to answer and take responsibility. And they did!

But what make me believe BF 2042 is beyond grave saving is the fact that EA/DICE keep enforcing their old roadmap that clearly didn't work at current situation. Keep in mind this game is so bad, there's no scoreboard and voice chat which is basic feature of every competitive game like this. Even more so that the reason they did this is to prevent the game from toxic player when clearly, they just don't implement the feature yet and use it as excuse for the game lack of...everything. 

With everything going on, you think i would move on from BF4 to this? If i'm such masochist whale, maybe i will. But as wise game developer once said...

Quote

 

"If it come to video game mess up, chance are, those player who leaving won't coming back"

 

Those statistic of player per hour is not something they can make up that's for sure!

The Game Disappoint Them Much, They Blame The Poor Sales
I don't like elitist. But i also don't like the numbnut company who can't tell whose fault it was to release a glorified UNITY game like this. Even actual UNITY game are still salvageable. This? Its an insult. The game went stink so bad, they consider to make it F2P by focusing the economic on game feature. Well, here goes another reason for me not to try this game. Even if there's free week trial. 

EA/DICE, if you don't want to make a poor sale, maybe stop cutting too much edge and take your time. This is not the case of game as service anymore because clearly, you need to know your own product to tell if its gonna fly on the market or total miss. Sure listening to the player is a great way to communicate but there's time where you had to sit down on meeting room and talk to those who actually make the game and maybe, just maybe, test it out yourself if its good. There's game that take 8 years to release with fans blasting them with insult and you know what? The game sold well, it won award, everybody happy and learn that there's reward to those who have patient. 

Or just blurt it out that BF series is on hold until further notice. If i had to choose which evil, i rather had myself burned for cancelling/delay/put a halt on game release until its ready than get people money off their wallet for buying my unfinished product and get burned down with it. I'm no businessman, but i have a common sense that tell me no one would be happy with unfinished product as it lean toward scam of all thing. 100 bucks is not cheap you know. Let that sink in.

Don't get angry toward player who give you a boot. They already feed you but you bite them back. If i were to pay 100 bucks for a game only to find out the game is pretty much barren with nothing going on let alone attractive, i too would be pissed!

At The End Of The Day
EA fail to realize that they got far too many mistake to learn and choose to ignore it. They got like SWBF 2 sense of pride, ANTHEM aimless development, issue with FIFA copy-paste, its too much to count for. In fact, they might as well become Triple A Shovelware game company at this point with their repetitive mistake over and over. 

Just avoid this game. Maybe also avoid EA/DICE too for now. If you desperate for FPS, go buy previous release, even BFV. Or even COD or HALO. 

Elena, shutting off~

[Elena Ichinomiya]

I'm normally never talk much about online game. They're decent and some of its lore are interesting which unfortunately i can't experience much of it because either the game are closed or the level scale was too much of a burden to grind which is what we always had these days in online gaming. The thing is, i never had much beef against online gaming compared to other genre. Still, you can find many example of free to play online game that generous enough it make you feel bad to not paying them a dime, or one with decent pricing on their in-game purchase, and those that crappy enough you think they scamming you.

But we're not gonna talk about economy this time. We gonna talk about slapping a title of good game doesn't always bring a fortune if it was far cry from its predecessor...

"Left one cater two fetish in great mashup genre back in the day. The right one however, cater those who still live in 2016 gacha game era..."

Summary
Goddess Kiss is an online gacha game that launch around 2015. They are remarkably one of the few gacha game that use fully voiced + animated character to represent their game which is a luxury at the time (heck even Azur Lane which release 2 years later choose to shy away from the technology save the voices just to name the few). The thing is, Goddess Kiss convey their market toward 2 type of people. One, those who take interest in typical harem gacha game with fully voiced + smooth animation for your leisure. Two, those who likes mecha themed genre. Goddess Kiss plot might not something to write home about but their way to enter the market is what make them sticking out until their shutdown. There's many mecha game these days but to represent everyone in same spotlight, Goddess Kiss still win IMO when it come to the interactivity.

As old words saying, every good thing always come to an end. At August 2nd, the game service were terminated but not without the compensation. Not long before the service went down, another game with same title but also under different franchise were shown. Its GK OVE. But unlike OG GK, GK OVE proven to be so outdated and the grind system is pretty much to consider that the game, at this point, is on their last leg...again!

The Mirror
To reflect each of its different, the contrast one is OVE GK don't have any mecha element in it as they opt to basic magical girl turn based...Raid Shadow legend style minus RPG element. This alone kill many interest from day one as GK is known for the rare type of game in which the girl is not the main shows on the screen. This also reflect badly on the system implementation as OVE GK is way more grindy than OG GK which is a drag and some even claim being whale on the said game doesn't provide you much advantage in any way. While OG GK also has P2W symptom, they also provide alternative way to get character through basic grind and to limit break each character, they only ask you to have "shard" of the said character and it never goes up after many times (limited to 120 pieces i think) and its so easy depend on character rarity as sometime the in-game shop sell it at random each week.

In OVE GK however, you can only use dupe that has similar rarity to do so in certain numbers depend on their rarity. Let's just say you want to raise Hero A who has 2 stars, you had to use two dupe of another 2 stars character. But once it reach 3 stars and you want to raise it to 4 stars, then you have to find another 3 dupe characters that has 3 stars on them to raise to 4 stars. If you want to raise Hero A to 5 stars, that mean you have to not only find dupe of 4 stars which is considered SR at this point, but also 5 dupe of it! If that's sounds confusing and tedious to your ears, you're pretty much right about it. This system is what we had back in the day on 2016, no BS. That's why i call most gacha game these days even Genshin are generous enough to let us pull for a day and use other method to raise character stats. Back then, you can either grind or straight up shilling.

Another thing to note, though its a bit petty, is the VA. OG GK won over for their consistency using Korean VA than Japanese VA even though player want it. This is also what make the game has its own ingenuity and easy to distinguish from others. Their own identity if you might ask. Too bad though, the JP version of OG GK close earlier before the global.

Another far cry is the interface and immersion. In OG GK, their interface are unique back then. Its straight up take you to where you want to go. Sure it remind you of base building game on the cover but they got nothing to do but a menu "icon". 

Meanwhile in OVE GK, even with shortcut menu on the right side of the screen, you still have to navigate through menu to reach certain menu. They add instant access yet still manage to mess it up! All i want to do is boss raid and instead throwing me to boss raid menu, they throw me to special battle menu. If that's what instant supposed to be, Oxford dictionary has a lot to talk about.

As for immersion, OG GK share its own way to give affection point to each pilot/girls. You can either gift or always bring them to battle. Each character also has their own side story the more you get to know them. And its not just cheap measly cheesy story either as you can unravel their intention to join the fight in the first place or if you insist, what they thought about you. Too bad not everyone has it but when they do, its always rewarding to raise their affection.

In OVE GK...well, its just raising their status and rewarded with measly and not worth your time side story. In fact, you raise their affection just to see...what? Introduction scene? You don't put introduction on deepened bond! Its like seeing Fire Emblem S Rank relationship only to find out the two character resolve is not confessing their love, but introduce their name and call it a day! That's not worth the trouble!

The Grind
To earn a good hero in gacha game is obviously a pain. But depend on the method, people won't mind spending some money as long as they know where they money goes off to even if they end up not getting new character at all. In OG GK, its basically what you see gacha game as of today. They had rate up pilot, re-run, and on-demand pilot which is basic pull but using gold. And no, they don't cut you off from good stuff even without using diamond. I remember getting new pilot on day one of its release by pulling one-free pull a day. I'm not joking. Because the gacha is so simple and didn't throw you off elsewhere, it make player assured that this is all the gacha system is about in this game. Some character can only be obtained at event or grind but like i said before, its not much of a drag compared to OVE GK did.

In OVE GK, i swear i can't tell what are those pull system supposed to be. You got your basic gacha pull, bingo grind, and shuffle. 

1. Basic Gacha : Your run of the mill lootbox
2. Bingo Grind : Where you had to play same event over and over and over to wind shard that later can be used for bingo. Pray you did get every number before the time is up! (Later the feature was dismissed but the damage already done...)
3. Shuffle : Its a blatant lootbox but more exposed. You shuffle the character given until you get what you want by cherry picking it...each shuffle cost you 300 Diamond and would rake up until 1000 diamond. If you found the character you want, depend on rarity, can cost you up to 3000 diamond. You can faint now.

With that much of option to get character that so inconsistent, its no doubt make player confused why they should whale on this game when clearly the game didn't make it clear if focusing on lootbox was worthwhile knowing there's many option to boot, but also special hero that isn't available on lootbox. While Bingo didn't hide who you gonna get, chance are, many people don't get it due to time limit. Shuffle also a dead giveaway for you to reload your diamond again and again until the hero you want shows up. That's straight up thirsty economy right there...

The Gameplay Immersion
While its typical auto-battle kind of a game, both has distinct difference in their execution.

OG GK make you strategize up until 6 unit on the 3x3 tile. But make no mistake, each tile were numbered which determine who goes first. Most of the time, the top or bottom line is always taking fire while the middle is what determine game changing situation. Not only that, the attack pattern aren't all out as it run in turn based style though not so much to write home about. That way, you can find yourself strategizing how much tank character to put, executor to choose, and what kind of focus attack you prefer.

In OVE GK, sad to say, everything went thrown out as everyone throw their fist all together. There's chance your tanker died early because being abused for going too far ahead, sometime your rear character died first because you don't know the enemy attack pattern, only to find yourself baffled next when the enemy attack the middle on the next attempt of trying. The key of victory here is, as you guess it, a grinded character. Cheap.

Same Coin, Different Side
Goddess Kiss and OVE Goddess Kiss might be different game but something that happen to them is very similar until this point. You can't find OG GK anymore obviously as the game been long shut down. But you can see the OVE GK to tell that the game is clearly a messed up failure. They share similar title on the front and failed to achieve retribution after closing the OG GK.

What make it so memorable to me is, OG GK stop updating since December. Heck, they didn't even put down their Christmas decoration for some time! The game was clearly on last leg but they give a good time experience to those who play it until the end. Some even leave review because how good the game actually is beside the fact that you don't see jiggle BB (boobs and butts) waifu but also a cool design mecha that is part of otaku/weeb culture. And i say, i agree with them. The game cater more than one taste and mash it up well without rely on cheap trope we always find on every anime-ish gacha game. The game story might be a bit slip but easy to understand. Each character were introduced very well and their side story make the game feel immersive for a distraction, something that you rarely find on online game. And because of that, it leave the good impression as the game close its door. A good marketing, a decent story, a fluid immersion for each character even the lowest rank, interactivity, ease of access, a well-thought event planning. That leave a good mark on any paper...but i wonder why they take another year before closing the server. Eh, its in the past now.

Meanwhile, the other slapstick seems to realize they're so outdated and can't fool any player at this time of day. People can tell the scheme, they don't want to get confused or blatantly swindled off their money. And it doesn't help the fact the game value has nothing unique to offer. The story is mediocre, each character story wasn't think through, the gameplay system is outdated, the market is an insult, every event was rewarding on day one but become useless decoration in a few month, the boss raid system were scrapped, leaving even less activity for player to do in the game, to add more insult to injury, the game seems using auto-translate at some point and never fixed. 

How they doing this day? Still active. But don't expect new character on lootbox or shuffle. The review for this game, is pretty much shown that sometime having some big brand on different stuff doesn't always work out. Especially when its outdated to boot and treated as such...

Think of it like EcchiDream turned into Fanfic site but still allowed to RP. But the RP thread is far more abysmal than we had today. That's the insult OVE GK give toward OG GK player. 

At the end of the day...duh!
Just stick to Azur Lane or something! Or be my business partner on Counterside! Anything but this little ANTHEM!

Elena, shutting off~

Edited February 11, 2022 by Elena Ichinomiya

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Let's hit the road. I bet you think we gonna high speed drive to the sunset right? Well you're not wrong. The racing genre been there longer and believe it or not, if you live on era Atari 2600 or at least NES, racing game is as saturated as battle royal genre we had today. While the change of visual is nice, the core gameplay remain the same. You hit the gas, only brake if you want to. Although the game like Road Fighter or F1 on NES has other mechanic to "shift" gear, it doesn't offer much than that. Although day by day, racing game are not just straight line to the finish anymore as it involve even more realistic competitive race with curve and technic to consider so you have reason to hit the brake. Thing is, as much as racing game evolved and how beautiful the visual are compared to open world game has to offer...

I'm having a bit of an issue with Arcade racing than Simulation. Thing is, when it come to arcade racing, willy-nilly stuff tend to be added such as rocket or ridiculous jump. But this game, somehow they forgot that they're not serious race...

"I remember playing this around 2008 with my cousin. We didn't play this longer than 2 track before we change to Gran Turismo 4..."

CN Racing are arcade racing game released on 2005, developed by Game Factory under license of CN franchise. The racer consist of well known cartoon series include the extra character as a secret. While the game has favorable review, i didn't count myself as one because comparing this to CTR on PSone, i had more fun there than this one for arcade racing. Sure its racing game regardless, but like i said before, this is not for a youngster for a reason.

The Control
Its obvious what happen when the game fail to register the input. While CN racing doesn't have such issue, thing is, the control most of the time require you to be precise in order to make turn. While i had little trouble doing so, my 10 years old relative who play this game had serious issue taking the turn. I'm not talking about U-turn but a basic sharp turn here. In CTR, there's still chance for you to make sharp turn smoothly by either drift of just hit the brake. Here, it would be a guarantee losing if you ever hit the brake. Why?

The AI was merciless
It might be ridiculous for a reason in racing game you were told to pick a level but some game did have such option like Sonic Racing Transformed for example. CTR opt to use progressive difficulty rather than stick to one. CN Racing is no different but thing is, no matter how good you are, you'll find yourself stuck in the middle most of the time since the AI would go out their way to make you lose. Sure losing is no biggie, but for a racing game aimed for pre-teens, this sure teach them to be a sore loser. That doesn't sounds good...

The Track Design Is Questionable
While i admit i can't do much drift in racing game, even Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed, at least those isn't gonna give me hell of a day to win the race. In here, you were forced to know when to drift, when to let go the acceleration, which position you should be in before make turn, its already too much. Keep in mind we talking about arcade racing not a simulation. Being so perfectionist might be alright on simulation game because that's the only concern. But in arcade, you're probably concerned with not just taking turn, but also 1st position and who shooting their weapon behind your back, being precise like that only make people hate those track, making it officially a design flaw on the developer part. Keep in mind that the rubber band AI is so merciless if you ever sit on 1st position, making the race is a bit of frustration to bear all the way to the finish.

Who is who
Unlike CTR, this race has "companion" which will talk your ears out non-stop to cheers on you. Sure its fine to have them talking and make the race feel like actual cartoon episode. But NOT EVERY SINGLE THING I DO! They talk when i take perfect turn, they talk whenever i shoot my weapon which is so frequent by the way, they talk when i hit the wall which ironically i always did due to wonky track design, to add more salt is some character went out their way saying nothing but babbling like Tazmania Devil. I mean sure kids won't mind that, they probably give it chuckle. But i think those chuckle gonna turn into scream of frustration when they hit the wall most of the time which beat the purpose of this addition!

To add more bad value is, some character don't talk at all. I look it on Wiki and turn out their VA is pass away in the middle of development. Either out of respect or they really run out of time to find the substitute, i don't know. But thing is, they only the character who didn't talk very much. At least you got option if you prefer quieter driver.

The Visual And The 3D Model Final
For a PS2 games, i can't say what's going on with this one. I did play other arcade racing from Crash Tag Team racing to plain bad arcade game like Cars, but their visual at least still give me a clue who is who and what is that. In here, you might find the 3D model look rather outdated as if they just rendered on deadline before the game release. It doesn't help the fact that some of the model didn't make the cut at the final release. Powerpuff Girls for example, they ride different car than what the game advertised. There's also other big franchise character that didn't make the cut too. Come to think of it, the character roster isn't as numerous as other arcade game i ever played. But the character model and their car is obvious hint that something get in the way of development. Johnny Bravo and his car model look okay to me than other character model/car which might be a sign that developer don't have enough time to polish the rest of the character roster include their car.

At The End Of The Day
This Arcade game might be challenging but not entirely broken except for the bad AI who gone all psycho if you ever sit on 1st. Thing is i play this game again on 2011 for Nostalgia sake and i say its pretty much fun. But only if you know how to make turn and find shortcut. Some shortcut is so narrow, you probably crash onto wall beside it instead. Yes, the track design is not very <10 friendly but if you were 15 above, this is just another Mario Kart with CN character slapped on it. 

Its decent, but not for kids who didn't know how to control a drift. But then again, the control in this game is hard to maneuver so there's that. 

Elena, shutting off~ 

[Elena Ichinomiya]

This is just rant about BF 2042 fiasco. Go back now if you're not interested.

When the game sales end up flop, there's factor why it happen. One of it is because the game isn't offer much, the market isn't interested with the genre you had on the said product, or in some cases, there's other competitor who make better games than you. The thing is, in the world of marketing, blaming is common thing to do when someone ask why your game goes under. But what we can't get is when the publisher really can't tell from the start that they release a buggy mess of a game which seal their fate as punching bag, blame the other release who clearly is out of their context from the get-go, then abandon the project altogether with forced roadmap that won't gonna work anywhere. 

And have the audacity to cherry pick a critic and think its a tradition to release a game in buggy mess time and time again because its always work on the said series. Guess what, its not happening now.

"Seriously, what were they thinking? Its like blaming Cyberpunk release failure was because of L4D2. I seriously lost it. Both from laughing and angry"

You already heard the news probably. The reason why i'm late on the party is because i'm gathering my thought about the matter. That moment when i read the headline "EA blame HALO Infinite release is the cause of BF2042 failure" is beyond me. How much ignorant people can be is anyone guess but when there's house burning right in front of your face, only to have yourself throw another fuel and blame the gasoline afterward for making the fire worst is a pure idiocy at its peak. What were they thinking?

Let's dissect this statement. BF 2042 set on modern warfare where they still set on our era. Rifle still shoots bullet, Tank still run on gas, no pew pew cannon except anti-tank cannon, in the open warfare. Halo set on not only in sci-fi setup, inhuman environment, unrealistic guns, and more so toward their gameplay where deathmatch and limited people can join in unlike BF2042 which is more expansive. As i stated before, BF2042 clearly think they losing their identity when they're not. And this is what happen.

Later on it was clarified that the statement was a fraud but even so, that still come from CEO who has responsibility for the release. They know from BETA the game is crazy mess and the trailer is even more crap shows. When your trailer fail to show the game superiority, you bet my EcchiCredits it would make people think twice about pre-order. You can't blame them, you make those montage. In fact, even with YouTube dislike counter were hidden, we can tell that video is dead giveaway; this game bound to failure. Case closed.

And when i think they can't do much more damage, they do it more so toward the community by saying that their Reddit doesn't worth the trouble since the people there give more toxic than constructive critic. I sympathize them for that on this one; toxicity is bad even if your intention were good, its not gonna help you getting people attention or hear you out. But what make me still shake my head is they decide to call it off the critic on Reddit for such reason when clearly those people give them and even show them which part is broken and what still missing back when they still bear with their nonsense. But after many camel's back broken, do they think people has unlimited patience of a saint? They give those game Triple-A rate and price, They set the game standard, and now they blame people for calling them out? I tip my hat on you EA, even McD customer service didn't question me back when i told them i don't want my patty cooked long because it taste like burnt on the side if they did that.

Look, toxicity exist in any shape of form, i get it, i understand. But when there's someone who point out what missing and show you the proof along with their statement (in civil manner of course), they basically still believe this game can be great despite its rocky launch (Cyberpunk 2077). But the moment you choose to pull the plug amidst the chaos instead, its a sign you're not taking responsibility regardless how make sense your reasoning are. Excuse doesn't equal effort to show you're sorry. And that's why your player base are angry anyway even though they sympathize your PR emotional strain from this headache.

I also need to remind you again that BF 2042 direct competition is COD, not HALO. Maybe if Mass Effect going for it, then its a legit accusation but BF2042 is nothing near. That aside, HALO is polished game where BF2042 are not. COD, despite being milked to death, all of those game ironically a working piece of product where BF2042 are not. That alone is enough to give me a clue how irresponsible EA are. And you know what? HALO Infinite was delayed due to backlash for its underperformed BETA testing from fans. And they did delay it and release it in polished state which is why it draw success. In COD case, chaos and milking aside, its a well thought game that made from start to finished and probably tested out too which is why despite the disgruntled opinion, its still praised for its working mechanism.

Just get this, ever since BF3, every BF series release is always a bumpy one full of day one patches and missing component. People paid 60 bucks of product of Triple A standard and that's not what they give every single release. This is not good from the start and instead going for a change, they keep it again and again. But they clearly forgot that their player are human with emotion and brain to think. Once they had enough, then that's it, checkmate. BF 2042 won't gonna get them back.

BF2042 had their developer fumbled with their own game engine, they already receive backlash since BETA and player demand a delay, they show a shoddy trailer at best, and instead taking a smart move into account, they decide to screw over their fanbase and hope for the best. 

EA, i'm not businessman but if i were investor and realize my money goes off your dinner table more than the product, i'll pull the plug no matter what excuse you had either because that's not part of the deal. I rather pay penalty for breaking contract as long as my corporate name is off your back. If you think you gonna please investor by flaunting the profit despite the buggy product, congrats, player prove you wrong now since they decide to refund or straight not buying it at all. No investor gonna invest any penny on an empty shell of product or knowing they might got backlash for supporting this problematic business model. And certainly people had right to not buy and bash your game when it really is asked for one, you can't stop or criticize them because that's what customer do; they see product they need, they decide to take your product or the other one. You might be the one who make that product EA, you dictate what's included which sadly almost nothing include the basic feature. You also the one who greenlit it to the public too,

But at the end of the day, the market are the one who dictate any Live Service game success. 

I only thank EA these days, for producing great PR who had to bear the burnt of their incompetence with such dignity with patient of a saint and professionalism despite the fact they had to craft most BS statement.

EA...you don't own market. And certainly, you don't fuck with market demand.

Elena, shutting off~

---

Trivia : Did you know? SimCity 2013 sales flop went so bad, that the EA customer service just straight asking you "Is it about refund for SimCity 2013?" the seconds they pick up your call. No joke.

[Elena Ichinomiya]

Open world game might be a common term we had these days and seems like a new standard on some genre. With advanced engine that allow such system to be played, its no wonder people want to get their hands on that. On developer side however, its not always sunshine and rainbow. Open world game seems to have issue of their own as opposed to linear world where you mostly had to "teleport" to move from one scene to another. Back then, it was a thing because the lack of source and engine can put a taxing performance even on the console and next gen PC alike. 

However, i have a statement of my own. And somehow, it become a concern...

"To some, game are form or escape from IRL grind. But thing is, not every open world is worth playing; or develop in the first place even on the paper"

The first open world game i played is Skyrim. While the game is good, it quickly dawn on me there's little to nothing you can do in that game as most of the time, you would walk here from point A to point B by taking path of your choosing which is a luxury. But the thing is, open world game that similar to at least, GTA, tend to be mishandled in glaring manner that...i can't really say its good to just let it happen.

1. Big World, Little Exploration : I might get roasted by saying this but...what use is open world if there's a teleporter? Most open world game seems to mishandle this feature so often that make the open world in the first place isn't worth it. This is where the flaw lies. Placing teleporter might be good to save player time from the hours of gameplay. Its fine by me, but not when the teleporter is almost on every corner. If anything, placing the teleport in sensical way that make the player have to move on their own to reach their point is what make open world working because not only you would backtrack there, it would help player to notice the changing environment such as upcoming event and maybe, post-event where you will see debris or enemy corpses after the fight. This is why i keep telling myself that if there's many point for us to teleport...why bother with horse/car? You as developer, wasting effort to make change of the world building only to be skip a leg at, its not exactly pleasant feeling especially if you put real effort there.
    
2. Filler and Side Mission : Filler and side mission are nice, you can see other nature of your character especially if they're silent protagonist. But thing is, this is where the flaw lies. Most open world game tend to mishandle this by putting side mission when its not the right time to appear, and are able to finished any time you want. While its nice to have reason to hold back, it make the universe nonsensical. Most of the joke are "We're helping the old lady cross the road, instead going to the final boss". This is what make the open world kill its own universe as the developer didn't think too much about what to put in their world. Why linear world building such as YS works despite they're not open world is their side mission can be relate to the current event that happening in the main mission. There would be no such nonsense i mention before because as the story progress, so is the side mission. Side mission that bind to the main mission might sounds demanding as you have to clear it in that chapter or you can't finished it, but if you put your lore and universe in that world as priority, that's just how it work. While open world might offer numerous side mission to do, only by then you realize the mission become so disjointed because you're already reaching the point where the event can no longer related. This would make the player think they need to replay the game again and finish the side mission in proper order which is nice in that value, but in storyboard direction, this is a miserable failure.
    
3. Nothing Here : We can learn from "No Man Sky" early release that its useless to have world to explore only to find all you can do is observing which beat the purpose of the open world gaming. Mind the latter part. Some open world game such as Assassin Creed and Farcry put their best effort to give player challenge on every territory they explore. However most open world game developer abuse this value just for a mere cosmetic value with nothing going on. No mission, no side mission, not even easter egg, or even special event. The patch of dirt on the map are just there, to exist. Nothing more, and nothing less. Wasting unnecessary source and to some gamer who is a gadget geek, that's not something you want to drain your VGA card for. 
    
4. Mean Of Transport : If we want to find some example of this, GTA can win this category any days as you can reach point A to point B, with any ride you prefer. While you can just call taxi for "teleport", most would just take their own ride and move on. This is the example how to make the world exploring has its meaning, even on the other mean of transport. Sadly, cars is not something that you can have on other settings such as fantasy as you would find yourself riding yourself to boredom with a horse, or skip a leg with teleport. Unfortunately, there's no clear way to solve this issue as the horse is the only mean of fast travel should there no teleport system. Thankfully, some developer once suggest if such thing ever occur, make the open world size smaller. Though the only game i know ever come to term with it is Red Dead Redemption which again, a game with no meaning of motor transport.
    
5. Bad Mix In General : Its common for the game developer try their best on mixing some of their universe to make them look legit original creation just like BioShock who combine American Colony era with Steampunk which can be relate to each other. But what make those series universe so believable is how consistent their theme are, and well planned how the planet works. But in open world game mix match i'm talking about, its not always the case. I can't really tell if the game tried to recreate FFV universe where a fantasy genre and slight of modern mix come into play, or they just don't know what they doing. One day you shoot an arrow, next thing you can find bazooka shaped canon when the game is setup to be on Jurrasic era. That's not gonna make any sense. (Come to think of it, maybe that's why HZ Dawn has their monster as machine?)
    
6. Original Character Hazard : An OC in open world game are common as you can put yourself even more to the game immersive value. But the thing is, sometime being original always come with a forced trope to make you able to fit in, sometimes unnecessary. How? Easy. Just make them forget who they are aka amnesia. Because you can't put a background on an OC where you want to be the one who decide your OC past is. And this common trope is way too much used as an excuse to put an OC in open world game. While Skyrim cut some slack in their intro, most of game, just put a rock on our OC. Thankfully, some also appreciate fixed character existence such as Witcher 3.
    
7. Excuse For A Price : Self-explanatory, but some developer use this as an excuse in category of "Pricy Development" cost. I won't deny or ignore that fact, creating game ain't easy. But to use the open world to hunk up price is fishy to me.
    
8. Asset Stealing : There's many slapstick open world game that you would find yourself familiar with when it come to this. Asset in video game can be found online but if you don't want to pay the price for the source? Easy, just find the right channel and steal it, done! But what make it outrageously bad is, like i said, its stealing. When the people, especially the owner of the asset realize you stole their work, your creation won't fly. You can't sell it at any price because its made from stolen material, you waste your effort for nothing but for your own pleasure, and no company would like to be your third party development, or your publisher. Example of it? Any cheap unity game knock off you can find. I mean, surely you would love to play Rune Factory knock off open world...with Dark Soul character as protagonist!

And there you have it. My concern regarding the open world game. Its not exclusive however, some might think the same way i did. Open world game is nice but when the effort wasn't explored to the fullest because of mishandling of teleport and lack of meaningful transport because the world is too big for a horse ride, the tendency to try so hard to make a mix setup without rule how they work, its already too much. Added the fact it cost very high spec just to play those is also things to be consider. And the current ongoing issue is too much, that there's rumor next Assassin Creed is no longer an open world as it waste their resource unnecessarily. I'm in for any open world game, but without proper way to convey the universe i'm in...

Its all goes back to Skyrim for me all over again. The fun is not part of their game; their mod is.

Elena, shutting off~

Edited March 7, 2022 by Elena Ichinomiya