PS4 Respite Glitches

While I'm not aiming to coin a new term here, it's a common enough occurrence that after years of the very interesting events that happened in-game, I kinda gave it a name and stubbornly stuck to it.

Respite glitching. In almost every occurrence, the phenomenon happens on action RPG type games (Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, Assassin's Creed-- so not just itty-bitty unknowns of gaming) after repeatedly going into rest mode and waking the game again. Because the games all share epic possible game times in common, they were also more likely to be my focus for months at a time, but I think frequency seems to accelerate the issue more than time spent gaming. I imagine that something occurs, something residual in the game data, a sort of faulty bookmark that builds up and affects the game itself. Also because the fix involves simply closing out of the game's app entirely from the menu and simply loading the game again, it makes it clear that it's not an error in the game's coding but a little imp in the console's software itself.

I actually enjoy these random surprises. In Skyrim, I like the third person view where I see my character's body. When one respite glitch occurred, I would go through a door in a dungeon and my avatar wasn't there. I'd hear an odd jumbling of distant shuffling noises as I walked and eventually, I'd find my horrifically marionette-like avatar scrambling to glue itself back where it should be.

In Dragon Age Inquisition, the audio would cut out at first but if I let it go, the subtitles would eventually abandon ship too. I have quite a few little shared glitch videos from this game but this was the only one I could absolutely link to the respite glitch since respite glitches tend to creep up and get progressively worse if not wiped. I believe it also had a weird effect on the appearance of magic spells, pixelating or animating poorly.

Final Fantasy XV's magic spells were also affected in this way, but don't get me started on the shitty taste that game's shoddy story left in my mouth.

Either because I know so few people that push a game into rest mode as much as I do or most people I know constantly switch games, researching it didn't actually turn up anything particularly enlightening. It doesn't hurt the games or break them. Every time I notice the issue, there's plenty of functionality to save the game then close out to reload a perfectly functioning game. Sometimes, I go ahead and watch the issue get worse, like a snowball picking up the momentum of an avalanche, out of sheer curiosity.

I'd truly love to hear more stories from people that experience their own respite glitches. Which game and what happened? Let me know!

Secret of Mana PS4 Remaster Review

After deciding those fucking flan challenges on Kingdom Hearts 3 were not worth getting the last Keyblade or Platinum, I hopped over to an oldie but goodie: Samurai Warriors 4. Also never platinumed, but damned if I care about some of these redundant requirements they put on trophies. 

It's not a new game I was looking at next. I first played Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo in my preteen years. It's one of the games that bonded me to one of my best friends nearly 25 years ago. We beat it many times over, at that, so while I knew going in that nostalgia was a thick rosy fog on this choice, it's only been about 15 years since I last played the original.

So how does it compare?

The music- I'm glad that it's still... kind of the same. In truth, they really could have just left it alone. I still consider the original a soundtrack masterpiece. I'm not sure what they were thinking, but the remastered music lacked all of the original emotion and was even annoying or distracting at times. I would start humming along and then some odd little noise garbage would ruin it for me.

The battles- I feel like this game was likely handed to new hires here. The original battle system had its issues but somehow they made it worse. There's this funky delay after a blow is landed and subsequent blows are piled on. You can also be nose to nose with an enemy and miss completely. For that matter, a programmed missed blow occurs often enough that the characters seem ridiculously inept. The healing delay is frustrating as well, with enemies easily killing off your character who is unable to move during the healing animation while the enemies have full reign to fuck you up. That being said, the boss strategies are still inventive as ever, even with the setbacks.

The voices- I tried them in both English and Japanese and I sincerely wish there were none, like the original. It could be experience saying this, but the dialogue feels a lot cheesier than I remember too.

The animation- I wanted to like the characters zooming in to animate during dialogue but it's some of the laziest animation I've ever seen. The mouths don't move. At all. The characters line up like a grade school play and don't do that much moving either.

The backgrounds- this is one area that was actually an improvement. The environments are beautiful, brighter and smoother. The only gripe I could pose here is that I feel more boxed in by the invisible walls here. It's like a glorified labyrinth, although that's an overstatement since this isn't a game where  you ever get stuck (at least in and of itself) because the maps are pretty simple.

The characters- adding this for those new to the game, but don't expect really deep characters here. the hero is a bumbling young man who stumbles on a legendary sword. You learn he was adopted by the village elder but little else. The ponytail wielding blond is... I don't know, the advisor to the king's daughter so some sort of nobility. She's headstrong and in love with a common though prestigious soldier and her dad convinces the king to send her lover on a doomed mission in the hopes this somehow ever works to convince a girl to marry some asshole he picked for her. Instead, she tells her dad to get bent and unofficially recruits our hero to help her. I went several years without realizing the third character is a boy. It's a Sprite that apparently lost its memory but isn't above conning people. You do find out what happened to them, just like the blond catches up to her lover and the hero... I don't know, just kind of does hero things because heroes do that. Even though I adored the game as a kid, it's mostly because the designs are fun, the music was great and the themes were interesting. The characters are just okay.

DRAGONS!- Flammie is a dragon that helps you. Not getting nearly enough screen time and, like most dragons, is pretty much a sentient vehicle that can fly where nothing else can reach. Still, very exciting to a 12 year old. 

Overall? I hate to say this but you're better off just playing the original. I'll play through this one, but I can't help but find it falls short of the original. The only real benefit is the graphics upgrade and it's just not enough to recommend it. Don't pay more than 10-20 bucks for this one either way.

Honestly, I wish they'd do a quality remake of Final Fantasy 6. They've tried to port it and dress it up half-assed many times over but it would be an absolute masterpiece if they gave it an Advent Children makeover. The amount of storytelling that went into even side stories as well as the skin-crawlingly absurd evil jester Kefka made it so. I dream about what the soap opera house bundle of emotions and humor would be with every facial expression captured. Undoubtedly, that's a game that, even with time, never fails to toss me around. Though Umaro and Gogo were tossed in as last minute characters, I imagine they could add more dimension there as well. Especially since the tale of Gilgamesh, Gogo's alter ego, is so ripe for a wild side story.

Kingdom Hearts 3: Review

Even though I never got into any of the Kingdom Hearts game outside of the console entries, I, like many other fans in the same boat, attempted to straggle off to YouTube to make sense of all the convolutions that took place prior to the third console game.

Although I'm a great lover of storytelling, I find that I just don't care about the large cast of characters plaguing this one. What started as a light-hearted story with a nice touch of darkness just isn't engaging. It's not a game that grew up with fans of my generation. The Disney-esque dialogue, while charming in the first two, was absolutely tedious in this one and after a while, I found myself skipping the slow-paced though gorgeous cut scenes because... I just don't give a fuck about the story. They repeat the concepts of sleeping and waking, of hearts and lack thereof, of replicas and heartless and nobodies and Organizations... To the point where I didn't care to keep up. Sora has two or three other people squatting rent-free in his heart. We've got the Sora/Roxas/Ventus deal with Riku being the playground of the Names villains that span time and don't fucking die, then Kairi is training by sitting on logs and pining over Naminé and Sora while Axel broods over being reduced to a boring side character. I can't bring myself to care about Ventus, Terra and Aqua, who are more palette swapped originals. Vanitas is probably the most interesting. Also, the fucking black box deal. Just don't care.

I'm a fan of complex fantasies, but this is just in the same vein as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball when a climax of power and realization is erased by losing memories and another new bad guy. Complexity is moot if you just don't care about any of the characters. So in terms of dialogue and story, this game fails for me. I skip those cutscenes, those many, many cutscenes more often than I watch them.

However...

The battle system and gameplay itself is stellar. While the chains can stutter at times and Sora doesn't always respond right away to my button mashing, the transitions between the myriad abilities are beautiful and I find the button presses to be more engaging and rewarding. I love the minigames and the seek style missions. The Classic Kingdom game section is a fun distraction even. What the game lacks in engaging me with the cutscenes, it really makes up for in actual gameplay. I love the mazes and the rewards for being curious. Like Final Fantasy XV, I find that the beauty and play style distracts from what I'm not getting from the story.

Again, I find games like Witcher 3 and Skyrim are just more appealing. Humor is great, but I find that certain entertainment pulls it off with more sincerity and skill. Japanese writing used to deliver that for me but nowadays, I'm finding more effective writing elsewhere. I also find I've developed a preference for effective meshing of gameplay and story. Uncharted is a series that has a way of making me feel as if I'm more involved, even when the cinematics take over. I don't play games to be held hostage in cutscenes so I appreciate it when writers understand the strengths of interactive media and make it worthwhile.

Going back to KH, I still find the world designs charming in this one. I love the whimsical ship battles even though swimming and flying the Gummy Ship somehow got worse over time. I also find Sora doesn't always redirect well during a chain where he finishes off an enemy and ends up swatting at the air rather than soft locking onto an enemy that's literally right in front of him. Swatting at a wall, no matter how beautiful, is a minor annoyance.

I still suggest that you go ahead and play this one. Following the story isn't necessary. The game itself often guides you past the cutscenes so you needn't force yourself to watch on the chance you'll miss what you're supposed to be doing. I haven't yet finished it, but there's a big chance I won't be going for Platinum. The requirements seem to verge into the tedious side of achievement with little reward. It's definitely worth playing, even if completion isn't on the menu.

Dragon Quest XI: Review

Because I tend to play the long game, additions to this blog are always few and far between. This also means I've scoured the game inside and out and, in this rare case, I also Platinumed this bitch on my PS4.

First, I'll get the bad out of the way, since you don't dump 120 hours into a game you hate, the bad clearly didn't override the experience. The dialogue, as is the case with a lot of JRPGs, is corny. Even for a game that is clearly infested with puns, this is an annoyance. All attempts to be dramatic or emotional fell flat for me. Then there is the 'post game' division. It's hard not to spoil their attempt to be mysterious, but let's just say this is a three part game. Three, not two. You can sandwich unavoidable ending credits after part two all you want, but the story isn't concluded by far and there's enough of the plot unresolved and hours to play that it's not really fooling anyone. However, I can't say I was that enchanted by the story at all, even as a nostalgic player of the series. Last, I'll throw this in: the battles letting you move your characters around doesn't fool anyone into it feeling less like turn-based battle and it's actually a pretty pointless mechanic. It doesn't really make much of a difference in enemy accuracy and later in the game, it's completely redundant.

Okay, one more gripe. The main character's design was dorky. The brown bob cut though. I almost always made sure he was in one of those fashion armory that disguised his default design. 

That being said, where gameplay is concerned, it's very solid. Jumping and movement wasn't clunky. I had zero incidents of glitchy movement, no getting trapped in walls, no slipping into areas I'm not supposed to be. I like that they took advantage of the map to block certain areas, to let me explore openly but strategize how to return to areas after the big bads blocked roads and opened new areas. The level and map design was well-done and the fast travel was limited but effective. I enjoyed the side quests. They were varied enough to be interesting with the most challenging being to kill an enemy with a specific Pep power or combo. The animations were skippable, which is always a plus.

Now, as for the Pep and crafting systems. The Pep one can be a bit tedious, but does come in handy here and there. It seems like there are more afflictions that limit your ability to use anything, even with accessories equipped, that make it even more difficult to work with the Pep timing. While your hero eventually gets Pep Up, your party is reduced to acquiring Pep Pips to get there. As for crafting, the little forge recipes aren't as abundant as I'd like and some are just a pain in the ass to get the materials for. You acquire skills that can make your blows more effective, but the five star ones are still sketchy as hell to not 'fail' at, let alone level up, even when maxed out. This is yet another game that uses systems either mindnumbingly simple or bafflingly impossible, but then I got spoiled with Dragon Age's more rewarding take on crafting.

I found this game to be well worth the time, even though I like to see more depth in my fantasy titles. The predictability of the story was high, but I wasn't expecting gymnastics in the story telling. It's a light hearted game that is at least worth whatever you paid for it. Give this one a try if you're an RPG fan that doesn't need the action element! However, I find Witcher 3 to be the best choice for those action lovers.