Staff Blog: Blake, the Blakeverse, and Blakeything

Blake, the Blakeverse, and Blakeything

On 09/11/2015 at 07:58 AM by Blake Turner

Hello my nipple pinching hobgoblins, I have returned from my holiday bearing gifts! And those gifts are my words. And those words are about to be spoken, and they will be digested by you.

Let us begin!

Games!

For those not in the know, I've been playing a lot of games. The first one is obvious to anyone who follows me on Twitter:

METAL GEAR SOLID V!

I was certain this year that Bloodborne was my definite game of the year. Now, I'm not so sure. It's a fucking astonishing game, but between The Witcher 3 and MGS V it has some serious competition.

I've played 80 hours of this game so far. 80! It got to the point where I was getting up, playing MGSV, then going to bed. Sometimes, I forgot that last bit.

MGSV is one of, if not the best, open world sandboxes of all time. It's definitely the best stealth game. This is one of those games where failing is more fun than winning most of the time. This is a game where everyone will have their own beautiful and wonderful stories. It's one of the most emergant games I've played, and the possibilities seem literally endless.

Unfortunately, this comes at a cost to story. Oh, what's here is still great. It's tonally jarring, as Kojima games tend to be - in the first hour a flaming whale eats a helicopter, then later in the game it turns into fucking silent hill with child soldiers – but it's consistently entertainin and occasionally quite emotionally effecting. The problem is there's not enough of it. I'm 70 hours in and the story has only just started.

Apart from that it's amazing.

Megaman Maverick Hunter X

I'm going to say something mildly controversial. I don't like megaman. I want to. I love action platformers, and I love games inspired by megaman. Megaman has some of the best video game music – period! - and it's level design and boss encounters are phenomenal.

It's all unfortunately held back by one problem – movement. In every game, megaman/x/the sword dude just controls like ass. It's so floaty and unsatisfying to play that I just give up.

Anyway, I gave Maverick Hunter X and... the same thing. Why does x freeze for a split second before turning around? It's so janky and fucking stupid. He doesn't do it on the ground, only when he's in the air. Unfortunately, Megaman looks like a series I'll never get into.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Going from a nostalgic property that doesn't stand the test of time to one that really does: I'm a total Castlevania addict now. I can't believe I missed them in their heyday. I tried Symphony of the Night recently and adored it, so naturally I moved on to the portable games, which are also really fucking good. I just love these games and really wish there were more 2d metroid inspired castlevania titles.

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Which reminds me. If you're a castlevania fan looking for a fix on pc, check out koumajou densetsu 2. It's a straight up castlevania rip off right down to the enemies, but it looks good, and most importantly – it plays good. I found an english version of the game to download here: http://www.theisozone.com/downloads/pc/windows-games/koumajou-densetsu-ii-strangers-requiem/

I haven't actually found a place I can pick it up legally, but if you guys do find it, shoot me a link. I'll happily pay money for this gem.

My game

So I restarted my game. I'm remaking it in game maker because gamesalad really isn't meeting my needs. The engine also has some issues with collisions and some other limitations which meant I really had to move away from there unfortunately. It's a great engine for mobile games, but not really for what I have in mind.

Eventually, once I have everything figured out, I want to make a Symphony of the Night style game because I love them and there aren't actually that many on steam that I can play. I'm learning how to create pixel art at the moment so I can create my own art and not rely on royalty free stuff online.

Super Step Contributing Writer

09/11/2015 at 09:02 AM

Always found Mega Man controls really tight. Huh.

Castlevania is another great franchise though.

MGSV being that low on story is kinda weird.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

09/11/2015 at 09:46 AM

Yeah. I think it's partially a response to the criticism of 4, and maybe even Konami stepping in. The gameplay itself is so deep it almost doesn't matter.

Megaman is... idk. It's precise, it's just not satisfying. It might be a taste thing, but everything feels... idk. Like there's no feedback to what I'm doing. To me, the speed is a bit too slow, the jump arc is either a bit too high or lasts too long. Enemies are a bit too bullet spongey - which would be okay but it kind of doesn't feel like you're damaging them half the time.

09/11/2015 at 03:53 PM

I get what you're saying on all counts actually. I guess I've just never found the platforming too floaty. It's actually a bit refreshing to hear someone say they don't like Mega Man, even if I do.

asrealasitgets

09/11/2015 at 05:45 PM

The Castlevania legacy lived on with the DS titles, and you should seek them out.

I'm an apologetic fan of MegaMan I guess. I've always found the games difficult, but fun. I don't know about the X-Games though? I stopped with the NES games and continued with MegaMan Legends.

The best sandbox of all time is an interesting choice of words, because I don't like open worlds and the 'best of all open worlds', I don't know what that means to me?
I guess I'll have to wait and see when I play it. Peace Waker was very bite sized and grindy in comparison to MG5. For contrast, my favorite open world was Final Fantasy 12, Dragon Quest 9 and Witcher 3.

09/11/2015 at 06:45 PM

MGSV is has an open world, but isn't an open world game. It is a lot like peacewalker in that it's very mission driven, but it's sandboxy in that it gives you an area, a mission, lots of tools and just lets you do things as you see fit. It's fun to mess around with the games system and experiment. It's fun when things go wrong.

I think the closest game I can compare MGSV to is Far Cry 2 in terms of sandboxyness. It's not gta. It's not The Witcher 3. It's kinda hitman-ish in some ways with the insane things that happen when systems collide like in Far Cry 2.

I get the appeal of Mega Man, especially if you're used to the way it plays, but it's always felt sluggish to me.

09/11/2015 at 07:24 PM

Wow! Thanks for elaborating about the open world. My main issue with open world design, is that they are usually empty and boring. FF12 and DQ9 for example had a lot of enemies on the field, like an MMO, it keeps you busy. Although, I should mention that the open world of STALKER adds to the atmosphere.

Anyhow, I should really look over open world games so I can differentiate better. I don't want to miss out on things because 'open world' is a bad thing in my mind.

As for MegaMan, I think the original games were very short, and there was this sense of memorization and rythem that you had to get into where you just beat all the bosses with one life or something, like a speed run. I think slowly approaching MegaMan will make it feel sluggish and slow, but then you get into a routine and start kicking the games ass. I don't know. Back in the day, when you got megaman, thats all you had and thats all you played forever so you would just master it it I guess. It's a nostalgia effect for me, as I also enjoye the GameBoy games too which were just as hard.

Machocruz

09/11/2015 at 07:49 PM

I'm loving MGSV, but Thief 2 still holds the honor of best stealth game.The objectives are more varied than any stealth game since, it never betrays its core concept by letting you take an action game approach, still has the most fleshed out sound (can locate guard distance and position through audio alone, no need for wall hax) and shadow systems, intricate and ambitious spaces constructed by MIT graduates. Yeah, yeah opinions, but I think people are caught up in the moment right now, just like they get with every big game that comes out.

Honorable mention to Mark of the Ninja. A 2D stealth game that whoops most 3D ones.

09/11/2015 at 08:10 PM

That's a fair enough opinion. Thief 2 is pretty fucking stellar. I just like MGSV for it's complexity and the way it's systems constantly collide to cause the best kind of chaos. It reminds me a lot of Far Cry 2, and that is most definitely a good thing.

09/11/2015 at 08:24 PM

Part of it is because I think that Metal Gear was always stronger with a mixed approach then it was pure stealth. A combination of stealth and assault. I particularly like PP because you can fight and still get high ranking, which is the way it should be for this series imo.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

09/11/2015 at 10:26 PM

MGSV is pretty damn great, easily has the best gameplay in the series. Should last me until Fallout 4.

Alex-C25

09/12/2015 at 01:07 AM

You forgot the Blakequisition.

Honestly, I never had much problem with the movement in the Mega Man games. The only point of frustration is sometimes the unfair difficulty, but I managed to pass that. Maverick Hunter X I thought was a pretty nice remake and I hope to get Powered Up, the one of the original classic first game.

09/12/2015 at 03:50 AM

Powered Up is the best in the series. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

09/12/2015 at 04:47 AM

I don't like Megaman either. That shit controls like a 500 pound can of coke.

jgusw

09/15/2015 at 12:30 PM

I played all the Castlevania games on the GBA and DS. All of them are great.

goaztecs

09/16/2015 at 11:06 AM

I have a love/hate relationship with Megaman, but I'm like you I want to like it but for me at times I want to toss my Megaman games in a box and forget about them. Eventually I'll start knocking the NES games off Mount Backlog.

I want to try MGS but the last one I really played was the 2nd one on PS2. I just bought one of the last PSP games so I'll give that a try before jumping back into that universe.

PixlBit