Wow, I wrote this in 2017! Since then, I have attempted to play Resident Evil 7, but never completed it because I never got used to the first-person view. My brother told me it was pretty good. Totally skipped Resident Evil 8. From what I have heard, the developer has turned back to its horror roots. Will I play Resident Evil Requiem?Maybe since there is a third-person option. I have played Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 Remakes. The only remake I haven’t played is Resident Evil 4. Maybe I should play that for this upcoming Halloween. I was debating between Song of Horror and Dead Space Remake. Anyway, enough rambling. Here is the original post published on January 12, 2017.
****
I don’t know what happened, but gradually over the few years, I begin to lose interest in the Resident Evil franchise despite the fact, I enjoy playing all of the RE games, but I think I’m getting tired of playing them and I’m losing faith that it will ever return to its roots as a survival horror genre.
It all started with RE4, RE5, and RE6 on how the games are broken into chapters/campaigns. At the end of each chapter, I was given a “report card” on how well I did: hit ratio, the number of times killed, enemies routed, etc. Because I am forced to acknowledge my performance, I spent more time focusing on how well I played and not so much on the survival aspect of the game. This report card sort of destroyed the survival horror experience, I had with RE1, RE2, and RE3.
I remember the earlier Resident Evil games were more story-driven and suspenseful. For example, in RE1, the characters are chased into the mansion. The mansion seems like a haven in the middle of the woods. They thought they are safe, but they are wrong. As they venture deeper into the mansion, they uncover its secret. Then with the realization that they might end up as zombies, they attempt to escape, knowing what they uncover is an epidemic. To escape from something horrific is survival horror.
I didn’t feel this way about RE4, RE5, and RE6. There is too much action going on in these games which makes it difficult for me to follow Resident Evil’s timeline. Both RE4 and RE5 are very similar, in terms of structure. The environment did not feel claustrophobic. It didn’t make me feel as if I need to escape since I am already out in the open. In RE4, the appearance of the Merchant acknowledges that this is a shooting game. It allows me to tune up my weapons right before when there is a serious zombie action event. RE5 is even worse, in terms of survival horror, Chris and Sheva are given handguns right after they walk past the villagers. The way how the handgun is given to RE5 is not subtle compared to RE1 when Chris finds a handgun on the floor in the lobby and wonders where Jill and Wesker disappear to. Lastly, RE6 starts dramatically with an explosion. This is just a pure action-based game.
My argument is that the way how RE4, RE5, and RE6 were introduced and narrated, made it less suspenseful, which in turn, made it less about survival horror. So, I can’t say whether I am too excited about RE7. RE games have always been cinematic but how well it is executed will determine whether it falls into the survival horror category or not. I wish I could enjoy the demo, but sadly the first person-view made me sick. I think I am going to wait for this one to go on sale instead of playing it on launch day.
Recently, I finished Soma, a science-fiction horror game released back in 2015 developed by Frictional Games. I heard about the game a few years ago but never took much interest because of the first-person view aspect. Well fast forward to the year 2023, I decided to play it for this year Halloween’s season and also to challenge myself. I played the game on and off because I was not accustomed to controlling the camera angle. Eventually, I got used to the view after quitting and starting the game every 15 minutes. I am so glad of my determination because I haven’t been scared of playing a horror game for a long time.
Story
The game begins with Simon Jarret getting ready to leave his apartment for a brain scan appointment with Dr. David Munshi due to a recent car crash that left him with severe brain damage. Things started to feel unsettling once Simon arrived at his destination at the Pace Laboratories for the brain scan. We learn that Simon has recently signed up for a research study that is in its early stage conducted by Munshi and his colleague Berg who are both neuroscience grad students. So, already right there, I started to feel uneasy about the situation. There’s no guarantee that Simon will get better. He is just a lab rat. But what choice does he have? He only has a few months to live. Some hope is better than no hope at all. After the brain scan, Simon wakes up confused inside a dark, strange facility where Munshi is nowhere to be found. It is until he meets the character, Catherine Chun that the story gets more disturbingly interesting.
Gameplay
Players can select Normal or Safe Mode. I played the game in Normal Mode but I heard the Safe Mode is the better option if you just want to experience the story and explore the atmospheric environment. I didn’t mind encountering the monsters so much in the normal mode. It adds a bit of a challenge that I am all too familiar with–the game over screen. In this game, you don’t kill the monsters, you tiptoe around them to avoid being seen. So for those who enjoy stealth games, this game is fun! Now I wonder if playing in Safe Mode would create a more seamless experience even though I got stuck on one of the puzzles; it was not overly difficult. I just didn’t have the patience to solve them since I was more interested in the storyline. So, yeah I want to know what it’s like to play in Safe Mode.
Visual Presentation
So then let’s talk about the atmosphere and the environment which tied in well with the story. The atmosphere creeped me out. I am used to being in space, in hospitals, abandoned schools, in deserted towns but underwater…. not so much. The majority of the game’s environment takes place in Pathos-II Research facility which consists of multiple facility sites all spread out in the ocean’s floor. The landscape feels compressed and massive at the same time linear. Certain times I am surprised that I didn’t wander off too far from the right direction and certain areas inside the facility feel dark and claustrophobic. I keep circling in circles when I try to escape from the monsters. Some of the monsters aren’t all that unique. I could see inspirations coming from Silent Hill 2 (2001), Dead Space (2009) and Resident Evil (1996). It’s not a bad thing. I didn’t get the impression that Soma was trying to imitate–it was more like paying tribute to the classic horror games without jeopardizing its originality. As I mentioned earlier, this is the first horror video game I played from the first-person point of view. So, the experience is uniquely refreshing especially when the climax of the story is reached. It just made sense why the game is in first-person and not third-person. The first-person view makes me more empathic toward Simon who eventually comes to terms with his new reality. I remember feeling smothered navigating in the ocean’s water. I want to swim for fresh air but I keep descending lower and lower into the bottom of the ocean. The game just gets deeper and deeper until it reaches the lowest point. It becomes depressingly poetic.
Sound
I don’t think I had ever associated horror with machines before until I played this game. The sound coming from psychotic machines and the voice recordings of conversations between powerplant engineers produce a disturbing picture of what went wrong with Pathos-II research facilities. Unlike DeadSpace where I feel like I was the only living soul, I wasn’t entirely alone in this game. The voice of Catherine Chun makes the journey bearable but that doesn’t mean it undermines the scariness and intense atmosphere of the game. Most of the gameplay involves submerging underwater and exploring abandoned facilities controlled by the WAU–an artificial intelligence that oversees the operation of the research facilities. It’s responsible for all the monsters that come across the player and thus is the main antagonist. Some of them can be pretty creepy. The grunting, metallic sound coming from them is just eerie.
Conclusion
This game is intense and atmospheric. I felt like I was drowning inside my head. How bad can things go for Simon when all he ever wanted was some hope to live? After all, Simon is in the process of dying from a brain injury. Luckily the story isn’t entirely tragic. Yes, something has been lost, but also something has lived on. I think that is one reason why I enjoyed the game a lot. It’s philosophical. It asks big universal existentialist questions that leave an everlasting impression on me. It is truly a horrifying and bittersweet experience that made me reflect on my existence.
I platinumed and explored everything I could in Elden Ring, a game developed by FromSoftware, and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Now I am waiting for the DLC which will be released sometime in late 2023 or early 2024. I am quite curious to learn more about its story which I think I got it down, but I decided not to break it down in this review for many reasons. One, it will require some in-depth research on my part. Secondly, there are already plenty of sources on YouTube that attempted to explain the story in detail, although all of them are just based on educated guesses including mine, in which led me to the conclusion of this game: Why do we like to champion over other?
As you can tell from the blog’s post title, this game is epically unique. One, you don’t play as a hero, but as a champion. You are neither good nor bad. You are a Tarnished who is led by the Site of Grace to become the Elden Lord. Not only does the player competes with other Tarnished, but he/she also has to defeat other demigods to establish order in a shattering world. But why is the world broken? This is the question that got me hooked to the story.
I suppose this image is quite misleading. This game is not a fashion show. I did not tiptoe my way to the Site of Grace.
This image is truer to my experience.
Okay so the story is great and so is the gameplay but what’s the problem with that? It has to do with the flow of the game. Well the flow of my review is no better than the game according to AI Assistant so who am I to complain? Anyway, I was overwhelmed with the open-world aspect of the game. If only I followed the main route, I could have finished this game in a decent time. It took over 200 hours in one playthrough. I “wasted” a lot of time trying to get everything which earned me a game completion of 82 % on my first playthrough. Like Sorcerer Rogier the NPC, you might end up roaming the Lands of Between for a very long time until you lose sight of your original purpose.
I’m Tarnished, like you. But unlike you, I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of this guidance for the longest time. Still, I won’t forget how it felt when I first came here, to the Lands Between.
-Sorcerer Rogier
I don’t deny it’s a time-consuming game. Not everyone would have the pleasure to experience it entirely because it requires a lot of dedication like watching Game of Thrones, which unfortunately I have not seen for obvious reason. My preferred method of entertainment has always been gaming. So, this game was like a gift from “heaven”, but for casual and non-gamers, I can see how off-putting it can be. The characters are all interesting that you want to get to know them, but the gameplay gets in the way. Wander too far, you might come across a boss fight! At first, I struggled a bit because there is so much freedom in the game that it’s easy to “waste” time. 1) You had to explore and unlock the map. 2) You have to defeat the surrounding enemies or else you will keep dying and that will prevent you from exploring. 3) You might aimlessly wander off too long because you are bewitched by its beautiful environment. Of course, there is an efficient way to play the game, but I wouldn’t know that if I didn’t refer to a guide. Oh, I am talking about the story portion that is. There are 6 endings. If you are in just for the story, I recommend just sticking to television series. It’s much less work.
On the surface, it looks like I could go to this place easily. I remember spending hours trying to get to it only to learn that it’s part of Ranni the Witch’s quest, which occurs halfway through the game.
In terms of gameplay, apart from the main course where the player defeats the main bosses, there are also a ton of optional bosses. Some are part of the questlines. I found myself referring to the internet and walkthrough guide quite often when I got stumped, which depending on your play style, this could either be rewardingly challenging or simply annoying. The caves and catacombs themselves are like mini-side games. Some are short but some take longer, depending on how many times you slip and die or get killed by pestering skeletons. Just imagine all the indie games (which takes 1-5 hours to beat) you can play in one game. There is always a boss at the end of each “stage”. Once the player has defeated the boss in that area, the player is rewarded with unique items. So, they are worth completing. Personally, I found them quite fun. However, the downfall to this gaming experience is that it kind of breaks the flow of the game since it has nothing to do with the main story. Maybe that was the whole purpose? I was beginning to feel like a witless champion myself, a theme that reoccurred quite frequently in the story.
In conclusion, for such an ambitious game, it did champion over every other game out there for me. It’s a great game with a great story, but it sure burnt me out and I am not sure if I want to play another intense game for a long time. I suppose that might not just be a bad thing after all.
yeah…that’s one hella game!
So what about you? Have you played this game? I would love to hear your thoughts!
I enjoyed AI: Somnium Files developed and published by Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. It’s a visual novel with a strong detective murder mystery with some science fiction elements. Yes, like any typical game, there is a lot of saving to do because young girls do need help even when they are bratty and acting all tough! After all, being killed by a sadistic rapist is the worst nightmare that can happen to any girl! You can’t expect a psychopath to have empathy? Do you?
Poor Mizuki who is only 12, tried so hardto be strong when she is actually mourning for the loss of her mother.
Story
First off, I want to warn readers that I don’t recommend this game to those who don’t have a healthy sense of humor and who are quick to slap anything that has to do with sexuality as misogyny. Quite the contrary, the game is not even misogynistic. The sexual jokes are mild compared to what I see on Twitter and from the former U.S. president. Despite my defense for this game, it doesn’t mean I accept locker room talk. But the jokes are there to poke fun at the protagonist’s singleness. After all, you are playing as the nice, perverted guy who is possibly bi-sexual.
C’mon, look at Date’s face (the protagonist). He can pass off as a pretty woman.
I think that is why I could laugh at the part where Date hit on the 36-year-old receptionist who looks like an idol but is too old to be one. I say as long you can afford anti-aging creams and live comfortably then you are set for life. The average women care more about their appearance and health than they actually would admit as the motivating factor to why they work on top of the fact no one wants to end up homeless. But of course, there are exceptions. So more power to the receptionist for learning how to enjoy life in the moment (as long as you live responsibly that is). It takes a lot of soul searching to find contentment.
I used to work with an older woman who said if she had big boobs she’d flaunt it off. Not to attract men, but for her own liveliness.Shewas drunk when she said it though.
But I do see how someone would call this game misogynist. I suppose when you analyze a piece of creative work, you got to learn how to put things into context. So don’t dismiss this game because of its humor. On a serious note, there are a lot of heavy subjects around the concept of dream, reality, and AIs and whole bunch other stuff. And what I noticed is that there is a sense of optimistic, progressive thinking about the future of society, or a sense of acceptance on the writer’s part. It’s not just the topic of AIs I am talking about, but also the LGBT community in general.This game is a product of its time.
Aiba, the AI who is Date’s detective partner, agrees that human intuition is good from time to time, which is something rational, logical AIs lack.
Mizuki is accepting of the LGBT community but still shows a sign of uncomfortableness.
I think the balance between seriousness and humor in the game is well done, and that is what I look for when I rate a good game. Even when I completed the game (there are multiple endings) there are still many mysteries to solve and once you solve the remaining mysteries of the story, everything just blows up in your face like fireworks. Overall, the pacing of the story is nice just as much as the colorful cast. Great game for mystery fans.
Gameplay
I played the demo on PS4 so I knew what to expect when I bought the game for PC. There are some differences in terms of user experience obviously. I played with mouse and keyboard but you can also play with a controller. I just stick with mouse and keyboard. I also noticed the game on the PC tends to glitch out occasionally, but it doesn’t happen frequently when I changed the graphic setting. I don’t know what it’s like for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
While solving a case…this happened. It’s kind of artistic!
Gameplay wise, it did great at creating urgency but can get annoying because it does not reward you based on your skills to solve a case in 6 minutes. It did however, reward you on basic arithmetic skills! You have to select Timie to save seconds from being used on the top left side of the screen. Failure to select Timie correctly and the correct choices will penalize you for using seconds in real time and some of them take big chunks!
I had crossed eyes or something when I was playing the game because I mistook TIMIE for TIME. For awhile I kept proceeding without selecting the TIMIE on top center of the screen.
I found myself several times retrying and restarting the case due to running out of time. Some cases can get pretty tough especially if you are trying to solve it within 1 second remaining to obtain one of the trophies. If that sounds complicated. Do not fret. It will take trial and error to get it right. Getting all the trophies was worth it.
I pride myself on my determination.I did it!
Overall, I thought the mix of shooting, investigating and solving puzzles were interesting. Not one moment was I bored. The concept of pyscning into someone’s dream to uncover hidden clues seems pretty high tech and futuristic. Is it ethical? Not really! I already feel invaded by tech companies collecting my data. It’s like exposing your underwear for strangers to see. Ugh…
Sound
I realized I don’t write much about sound production and voice acting. But they do make a difference in the quality of any video game. At the beginning of the game, I kept switching from English to Japanese language to see which voice cast I prefer to listen to. Eventually I stick with the Japanese voice cast because I prefer Aiba’s Japanese voice over the English voice because ironically she sounds more natural. Believe it or not Aiba is an evolved AI who has a personality of her own and who has the free agency to think for herself. It makes sense to personify her a bit even though she lives inside the protoganist’s eye and she is just an AI. She is also Date’s alter ego. But I won’t go into detail behind my reasoning. That will be another post for a different time if I decide to write about the eye metaphor.
Lastly, the soundtrack composed by Keisuke Ito is decent and the sound effects are seamless enough that I don’t even recognized the music sometimes. It’s great because I felt immersed in the game, but I can’t say I am all that into idol pop culture music though. So the soundtrack didn’t stood out to me as much as other quality story-driven games. However, I do enjoy the Ikume Shrine theme because I just like all things zen.
Conclusion
This game is far from boring and simplistic. It has good soundtrack, good story, fun gameplay and good humor. Who doesn’t enjoy laughing? It’s a great way to release stress. Time is well spent when you are doing something you enjoy especially if it is also thought-provoking.
The spooky month is here. The world is ending. Just kidding! Looking through my blog, I thought why not revive an old blog post?I remember I was so excited to play this game that I published a review without finishing it. To my disappointment, I spoke too soon. So I revised the entire blog post a couple of times and re-published it. The game has potential, but unfortunately, it wasn’t what I was hoping for.
I am a stickler when it comes to survival horror games since it is my favorite video game genre. I believe the concept more than the scare factor plays the most important role in developing an engaging horror game. For instance, Silent Hill 2 will always be my favorite survival horror game because the developers know exactly how to define horror and create a game that still haunts me to this day. When I see fog, I think of Silent Hill. The game is that memorable. All thanks to the game’s art direction and the superb original soundtrack (The people behind the game are quite talented). There are so many juicy symbolisms I got to get my hands on. But this post is not going to be about me ranting and analyzing the Silent Hill franchise and what makes it great. I’ve seen a couple of those insightful articles and videos about the game, so I don’t need to provide further input, or should I? This is about The Evil Within 2 and my thoughts about it. Please keep in my mind, I am not a fan of cinematic games (oddly most games are inspired by movies). So, of course, there are going to be some biases.
With any artistic medium (I think some video games are a form of art), it’s wise not to imitate even if you are under the spell of nostalgia. I am not a fan of imitation, but I am okay with inspiration. You can admire a classic game that haunts people after they are done with the game, but reinventing the same thing doesn’t frighten people or set the game apart. Why? Because the player already walked the same path before.
“If there is no suspense, there’s no horror.”
I quote myself, Halsdoll, a survival horror junkie
The Evil Within 2 feels like a confused horror, amusement park. It cannot decide whether it wanted to be an action or horror game. What disappointed me about the game was its strong opening. The game introduction was atmospherically scary. Yes, there was a little chase here and there. Fun for a bit, but then it got sloppy as soon as all the suspense got dispersed, and the story reached its climax. From there on, I found myself playing a cheap thrill. If the gameplay is lacking then I expect a decent story, but this game has neither of them. The Evil Within 2 felt like someone was forced to make a horror game. He knows all the ingredients for making a horror game but doesn’t know how to improvise it to make it uniquely his signature dish. Why recycle boss enemies once it has been defeated? Why do I need to level up my skill trees to make the game a bit more fluid? What purpose does it serve? Why is the black man evil? Oh no, I hope this game is not racist. I started asking myself, “Why am I playing this game? Let’s just hold our breath and just beat the game already.”
I would have enjoyed the game more if Juli Kidman was the protagonist but then the game would not appeal to gamers who are dads themselves or to the large gaming male demographic.
The story about trying to save the daughter is a classic tale. But I wonder, aren’t there enough survival horror games with a similar plot? Why didn’t they just make a movie instead of making a game? I would have enjoyed it as a movie. Well, at least the trailer is enjoyable to watch:
I have been meaning to make more time to read, but sometimes I get discouraged from reading one bad book after the next which are supposedly bestsellers (keep in mind, it’s a matter of taste). Hence, it’s why the book department in my blog is rather bleak and lonely. I have only reviewed one book so far: Handmaid’s Tale and quite frankly, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. I am not completely ruling out books for this blog because I am the poetry huntress. My passion is very particular in that essence. But I struggle to find a good book to read or maybe it’s just that I struggle to find a genuine book to read. So, I’m in a bit of a dilemma.
I used to read a lot as a kid. I fell in love with books before I even started playing games. There’s something about the written word that makes it an intimate experience between the author and the reader. So, it’s hard not to fall in love with books. But games consume most of my time nowadays so I started wondering why I play more than I read, knowing that books are great ways to formulate new ideas and open more dialogues.
And so, I begin to ponder…
There are several films adaptation inspired by books. So, it’s not hard to pay tribute to books as the superior medium. And many video games are inspired by films. Did you notice a pattern here? The video game is a baby learning to walk on its legs, wanting to be recognized by its older siblings. Part of my maternal instinct is I want to see the baby grow. This brings me to conclude why I don’t read as much as I should nowadays: If people read purely for entertainment and the artistic aesthetic, then I want to argue that video games are just as good as books. And perhaps even better than some books in terms of delivering meaningful content that adds value to our lives. Partially this is why I still hunt down to play a good game and why I rather invest in playing games than reading. Out of love for the medium, I want to see it grow into something respectable in the creative community.
Every time, I think about why I created my original blog back in 2016, I kept circling to the same idea: I’m writing to advocate and educate the creative community. I write as a creative outlet because my soul depends on it and I want to share with the rest of the world what I enjoy. Video games can be great companions for those of us who are on the shy side. And on a personal level, video games gave me the inspiration to write most of my songs as mentioned in one of my posts. It’s like we are all connected. Books inspired films. Films inspired video games, and video games inspired me to write songs.
With this whole pandemic thing–isolation is not normal behavior even for an introvert myself. Some alone time is good, but too much is detrimental. I think video games have comforted some of us in some ways to help us cope with mental stress. So, let’s give some respect to video games because self-help books aren’t for everyone. Sometimes the bottled-up emotions just have to go somewhere and for me, it’s shooting virtual scary dogs. Well, I guess it’s time to go shoot some skags in Borderlands 3 now!
If you are just stopping by this blog and haven’t already, please check out some of my blog posts on games that I think are better than books in some ways. Until next time, see you later!
Do you like fighting games? I love fighting games even though I never did beat my brother in a match. It’s the only video game genre that will make me lose my temper. Let’s just say my brother enjoyed watching me get angry when I lose to him. Not so fun if you keep losing. However, I could sit for hours watching him play. It’s fun to watch. He still tries to encourage me to play it more often online. Unfortunately, I’m not the type who enjoys playing against a real-life opponent. The fighting games community can be a bit aggressive for my liking.
This weekend I had a blast watching Street Fighter II The Animated Movie. Great fighting scenes mixed with ominous rock music made the viewing experience enjoyable. Even though the hero, Ryu is intended to be the highlight of this series (he stands for everything right and powerful), I actually am more intrigued with M. Bison. Why? His origin is mysterious and he has crazy psychotic power. And I confess, there is a little bit of an evil side to me. Like M. Bison, I like to feel powerful! Who wouldn’t want to be the best of the best in terms of strength? I felt so macho watching this animation that it became comical to me. Ryu doing his rocking climbing and all. So intense.
All of the characters, Cammy, Chun-Li, Vega, Fei Long, Sagat, E. Honda, and Guile just to name a few made their entrance in this animation. So it was fun to watch your favorite characters in action. Although, I must say the highlight of this animation was Chun-Li versus the flamboyant Boy, Vega. I can tell they put a lot of energy into this fighting scene. I guess who wouldn’t want to see a beautiful woman kick some boy’s butt in her underwear? There’s no time to be shy and modest. Some guy just clawed her face. Go Chun- Li! Show that bad boy some manners!
I watched this on Amazon Prime Video. It’s currently free for streaming. And no, I am not advertising Amazon. The lockdown brought me to the site as I depend on it for groceries. It’s kind of like being distracted at the supermarket. Got to find something good to watch with my meal!
Well, that’s it for now. Until next time, bye-bye.
You must be logged in to post a comment.