Oblivian Classic

I hope that you and yours are having a pleasant, quiet, and love-filled holiday.

#OneGameAWeek Challenge Week 3 | Dyscourse (Owlchemy Labs, 2015; PC)

I have a hard time putting my feelings about Dyscourse into words. On the one hand, it's a cute indie adventure game that is inoffensive all in all. On the other, it hardly brings anything new or notable to the table. As far as games funded by Kickstarter go, it's certainly not the worst I've played, but there isn't anything about it that warrants a purchase. Though its minimal choice-based narrative style and cut-out paper aesthetic is charming, the lack of music and overall content makes it hard to recommend.

Bayonetta 3 in development exclusively for Nintendo Switch; Bayonetta 2 with Bayonetta available for Switch in 2018

There were several big game announcements yesterday during and around The Game Awards, but I did not expect this one. Nintendo announced that Bayonetta 3 is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch. While we don’t have any sort of time frame in terms of release, it’s clear that Nintendo has given developer Platinum Games their full commitment, since the angel-slaying witch will once again only be featured on a Nintendo platform.

Nintendo further announced that Bayonetta 2 will be making its way onto the Switch as well. The full retail copy will include a digital download of the original Bayonetta. Bayonetta 2 was previously a Wii U exclusive title, and I’m beyond thrilled that more people will be able to experience this incredible game than ever before.

Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 will launch on Nintendo Switch February 16, 2018.

- Jamie Luttrell @NJOblivian

Review: Stick it to The Man (Nintendo Switch)

We live in a day and age where the gaming climate is slowly but surely bringing indie developers further into the limelight. Indie games tend to have a certain charm that corporate-funded projects often don’t, and there’s genuine appeal is seeing what unique visions smaller teams bring to the table. Many of these games are hailed for individual aspects; Cuphead’s visual language was undoubtedly the first of its kind, Bastion’s soundtrack blended techno-rhythm with folk and country, and Stick it to The Man reminded us that comedy can coincide with well thought-out gameplay.

Hard hat tester Ray has a bizarre accident and wakes up with a giant pink spaghetti arm sticking out of his brain! With his awesome new powers he can read minds and change the world with stickers, but he’s on the run for a crime he didn’t commit. Can you help Ray out of this sticky situation?

Stick it to The Man is a textbook example of the same charm I mentioned in indie games. It’s a puzzle platformer in which Ray, a hard-hat tester (yes, really), accidentally comes into contact with a strange power that gives him the ability to manipulate the world around him by reading minds and using thoughts to create stickers (PUNS). These stickers can be used in various scenarios to change interactions between NPCs or to physically change the world around Ray. All of this is paired with a bizarre sense of humour that you can only expect from Zoink Games.

This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about a title from the above-mentioned Swedish company; Zombie Vikings was an entertaining beat-em-up with similar tone and execution. Though I enjoyed it quite a bit, I mentioned that its appeal was limited due to its backwards sense of comedy. I feel the same way about Stick it.

#OneGameAWeek Challenge Week 2 | Life is Strange (Square Enix, 2015; Xbox One)

Life is Strange is one of the most gripping, emotional, and unapologetically fatalistic games I've played in a very long time. Underneath its stereotypical coming-of-age exterior lies a dark, draining storyline about young love, obsession, fear, and tragedy. I have not felt as invested in a catastrophe narrative since I played Bastion back in 2013. Paired with arguably one of the best soundtracks from any game ever, Life is Strange is absolutely a must-play for anyone interested in the episodic story-driven genre. I cannot wait to fully experience Before the Storm.

I hope things are going well on your end. It’s been a little while since we’ve really had a chance to talk text-to-screen, so I wanted to delve into what’s been happening, why I brought Oblivian back when I did, etc. and etc.

I founded Oblivian back in January of 2013 (wow, almost five years ago) as a means of transforming what was originally meant to be a music production label into something a bit more manageable. My friend Jon and I were planning on recording and producing our own albums, but he went off to college and I was still stuck in high school. So, I did something with it. And I’m really glad I did.

Oblivian has provided me countless opportunities that I would have never otherwise gotten. I’ve worked with companies to promote and review their products, I’ve held live shows at conventions, and much more. For me personally, Oblivian -at its core- became less about the discussion of media and more about sharing passion and following a calling. 

And then I got kind of worn out.

2016 kind of tore me apart. It was a pretty crappy year for... well, everybody. I had a whole lot of issues come my way. I dropped out of college, I lost a long-term relationship, and I lost focus of what I wanted to do with my life. You can tell, too. The amount of content I produced on a monthly basis dropped significantly starting January of last year. 

By middle of 2017, I was failing to communicate with my other contributors about directions for the website, and I decided to, unofficially, put Oblivian on hiatus until I was ready to start writing again.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve felt more of a spark. There have been a lot of industry events/announcements that I’ve wanted to discuss. Destiny 2′s launch was very much a catalyst; the first in-depth analysis I wrote for Oblivian was the seven(?) page discussion about what a mess I thought the original game was, and I wanted to see if Bungie learned their lesson. Mind you, I played the first mission of D2 and it glitched out badly enough for me to have to back out. Good start.

Regardless, that’s why I’ve started posting again. The website will inevitably go through several changes over the next few weeks as I decide what direction I want to take it in, but for the time being, I’m just glad to be having open discussions again.

For those of you who’ve stuck with me, I can’t thank you enough. Your faith keeps me going. I can’t promise that I’ll be posting daily (I’m 21 - my adult life is starting now), but I’ll do what I can, when I need to.

Believe me, I’ve got a lot to say.

The Incredibles 2 Teaser | Film Slated for Summer 2018

There is not a superhero film that has come out in the last decade that could hold a candle to Brad Bird’s magnum opus: The Incredibles (and there have been a lot). I could and, knowing me, probably will write a dissertation on why this film is so renown. If you have yet to see this masterpiece, you have some serious homework to do.

Ever since Disney and Pixar announced a sequel to this 2004 movie, I’ve been equally nervous and excited. In my mind, there is no way that I2 could top the original, but I’m beyond thrilled to see these characters again. The teaser they put out earlier this morning isn’t much to go on, but it has sparked my enthusiasm for the film’s release once again.

The Incredibles 2 is set to launch Summer of next year.

- Jamie Luttrell @NJOblivian

#OneGameAWeek Challenge Week 1 | Sonic Colors (Sega, 2010; Nintendo Wii)

(Back in May of this year, I realized that I had too many video games. This is, of course, a logical fallacy, as one can never have too many games. I decided that in my eternal quest to be the Video Game Master™, I would attempt to balance out the amount of games I obtain on a regular basis by playing through one every week. 

It’s currently week 24 and I have played through 25 titles ranging from modern releases to games from three decades back. It’s been a whirlwind. I’ll be posting a few abridged thoughts on each game I play here. If you want more infrequent and considerably less official updates regarding the challenge, you can follow me on Twitter.)

If nothing else, Sonic Colors lives up to its title. As one of the admittedly few highly-regarded 3D Sonic adventures, it stands out from its contemporaries by melding a bright, colorful world with decent platforming. I would argue that the game's namesake implementation (that being in terms of the newly integrated "Wisp" powerups/characters) was less than extraordinary, but inoffensive regardless. Sonic Colors has a few fun moments, but I would have a hard time recommending it. Perhaps its my innate cynicism when it comes to modern Sonic games talking, but I've yet to see the series truly excel in a three-dimensional space. There were one too many poor design choices for me to truly enjoy what Sonic Colors had to offer; that said, I do understand why this game gets so much love, especially when stacked up against the other Wii titles. As far as I'm concerned, though, no recent Sonic game can top the (still relatively mediocre) Sonic Generations.

Telltale Announces The Walking Dead Collection

I love Telltale’s The Walking Dead. It’s the series that made me fall in love with episodic narrative-driven gaming - a genre I have continued to explore over the years. Though it’s been a long time since I’ve fully experienced what Telltale’s flagship franchise has to offer, I’m beyond excited that they are releasing all 19 episodes in a single package.

The Walking Dead Collection includes all three main titles (The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead Season 2, and The Walking Dead: A New Frontier), the expansion for the original season (The Walking Dead: 400 Days), and the little-discussed mini-series (The Walking Dead: Michonne). All of these will be available in a set on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 physically and digitally for $50.

The Walking Dead Collection launches December 5.

- Jamie Luttrell @NJOblivian

Giving Destiny Another Chance

(Forgive me; I’m a little rusty.)

It’s been almost exactly three years since the launch of Bungie’s smash Triple-A game Destiny. I think it’s an understatement to say that it was ambitious of the company to attempt to create and maintain a ten-year franchise behemoth. You may recall my admittedly novice dissertation regarding several of the questionable design choices made to the vanilla launch; if not, you can read up on my initial opinions here. Destiny left a pretty sour taste in my mouth, and I all but ignored it up until recently.

I’m currently working a management position at Your Local Game Store™ and, as a result, I occasionally get access to newly released titles as they come out. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on not only a full copy of the original Destiny with all expansions included, but a copy of the deluxe edition of Destiny 2 as well. This being the case, I feel it only fair to give the franchise another chance. I don’t feel that I can be objective about games unless I’m willing to give them a second look.

I’m not quite sure what to expect, honestly. My memory of my original playthrough is extraordinarily hazy; I’ve played through quite a few games since Destiny launched. Though I was planning on replaying vanilla Destiny through Rise of Iron, my acquisition of Destiny 2 has made me rethink that plan. Against my better judgement (and to compensate for the fact that I’m currently playing through several other titles), I’m going to play through vanilla Destiny 2 first. Whether this will be beneficial to my overall opinion of the series has yet to be seen.

If nothing else, I’m hoping that the franchise has become more complete. I hope it has fleshed out the ideas it introduced upon its conception, and I -really- hope that Bungie doesn’t charge their customer base $180 for a full experience. But most of all, I hope the games are fun. That’s what games are supposed to be first and foremost, right?

I invite you to come along with me on this journey. I’ve missed doing deep-dives into games, and I feel that there’s no better series to get me back into the swing of things. This will likely be a several-month endeavor, so bear with me. If you grabbed Destiny 2 recently, I hope you’re really enjoying it. And if you picked it up from my store, I’m sorry for yelling at you.

- Jamie Luttrell @NJOblivian

FREE Sega games via Sega Forever

Rejoice, retro gaming fans! Sega has just launched a new program to give you free copies of their classic titles on Android and iOS devices. Sega Forever brings five titles to your mobile device of choice immediately, with more games being added every two weeks.

Right now, Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Kid Chameleon, Phantasy Star II, and Sega’s golden boy Sonic the Hedgehog are available to download for no charge, though you can pay $1.99 to turn off ads in each game. Every title now supports leaderboards, bluetooth controller support, cloud saves, and more. 

This was a move I really didn’t expect from Sega. In this day and age it’s unusual for AAA developers to give away classic games for free, let alone an entire classic library. My hope is that this move will introduce gamers to titles they may have never touched before, and that this brings Sega the success and relevancy they so desperately need.

Dissidia Making its Home Console Debut Early 2018

Despite having three titles under its belt, Final Fantasy’s unique, over-the-top spin-off has been relatively inaccessible. Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy launched as PSP exclusives, and the 2015 arcade game Dissidia Final Fantasy never made it to the west. I’m beyond thrilled that Square Enix and Team Ninja are bringing the arena fighter to PS4s worldwide.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT already has an impressive roster of characters and summons, and Square promises more to come. Here’s a breakdown of who’s being represented from each title:

Final Fantasy: Warrior of Light, Garland Final Fantasy II: Firion Final Fantasy III: Onino Knight Final Fantasy IV: Cecil Harvey, Kain Highwind Final Fantasy V: Bartz Klauser Final Fantasy VI: Kefka Palazzo, Terra Branford Final Fantasy VII: Cloud Strife, Sephiroth Final Fantasy VIII: Squall Leonhart Final Fantasy IX: Kuja, Zidane Tribal Final Fantasy X: Tidus Final Fantasy XI: Shantotto Final Fantasy XII: Vaan Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning, The Emperor, Ifrit (Summon), Shiva (Summon), Ramuh (Summon), Odin (Summon), Leviathan (Summon), Alexander (Summon), Bahamut (Summon) Final Fantasy XIV: Y’shtola Final Fantasy Type-0 HD: Ace Final Fantasy Tactics: Ramza Beoulve

If you’d like to learn more about each of the characters, the 10 stages announced so far, or preorder info, you can click here.

Thumper, by Drool. Available on Windows and PS4. Compatible with Oculus VR and PSVR (VR is optional).

Rhythm is a central part of our existence as breathing human beings with functioning hearts. There’s a rhythm in the movement of the planets, which dictates the rhythm of the seasons; the slow annual rhythm of a forest which pumps sap into dead wood every spring. There’s a rhythm inside every living creature, not only in the breath and heartbeat but also in the pulse of electrical charge which drives thought and movement. There’s a reason why percussion is the oldest form of music in the world; we are naturally tuned to find rhythms. Attempt to disrupt a beat and you’ll probably find yourself simply creating a new pattern. Syncopation is, after all, simply the intentional disruption of a rhythm to create the desired effect. Rhythms don’t have to be perfectly paced 4/4 affairs. I’m fond of the driving, eternal forward stumble of the 7/8 rhythm myself.

That’s probably the reason why a good many video games out there are based on rhythm. We have the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games made by Harmonix, the indie music-parser games like Audiosurf and Beat Hazard, DDR-style dance pad games, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Osu, a myriad of mobile games like Cytus and Deemo, and many, many more that I’ve probably never even heard of. Even games that aren’t focussed on music can have a rhythmic element to them at some deep, instinctual level. When playing Bloodborne I’ve found that there’s a sort of deliberate rhythm of dodge, strike, and parry when you fight NPC hunters, and that’s when the game is at its best. Rhythm and music, rhythm and action, these are familiar by now. Rhythm horror, though? That’s a new one.

Thumper has no jumpscares, and though the survival aspect of survival horror is very present this isn’t a slow and methodical creep-around-corners-and-hide-in-closets journey. Thumper is fast and deadly and violent in a metallic and bloodless but terribly visceral way. Thumper deals in the horror of the unknown, a Lovecraftian insignificance amidst the cosmos horror. Here you’ll find the creeping dread of uncertainty, of knowing that no matter how strange and unsettling the things just got, what comes next is probably going to be worse in a way that you can’t possibly foresee. This is probably why Thumper is a little difficult to describe.

Knack 2: A Welcome Sequel

I played a great many disappointing games back in 2015. Naturally, the titles I wanted to thoroughly critique ended up here on Oblivian; Destiny, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, and Final Fantasy XIII each gave me something to talk about. One such disappointment I didn’t touch on, though I had every intention to, was the PlayStation 4 launch misstep Knack.

Knack was, in a word, underwhelming. Despite its plethora of decent ideas, its lack of content, nonexistent story, uncomfortable voice acting, and overall monotonous design made it a serious trudge to play through. It’s been too long since I’ve played it for me to do a serious deep-dive discussion on the game, but I may do so at some point in the future.

I bring all of this up because I just recently learned that Knack was getting a sequel (though I’m honestly not sure how I missed it; apparently Knack 2 was announced back in December of last year). Knack 2 looks to take strides where its predecessor took baby steps; highlights include a more fleshed-out combat system, greater focus placed on Knack’s ability to change size and how it can affect level design, and multiplayer.

In all honesty, I welcome Sony’s decision to make a sequel to Knack. Despite what it may seem, I’m actually all for games constantly improving (shocking, I know). I can’t say I have incredibly high hopes for it, but Knack had tonnes of good ideas that it just never expanded upon. My hope is that, with the insight the development team got from the original game, Knack 2 will be what they originally intended Knack to be. 

Let’s Talk about the New 2DS XL

I’m a big believer in the Nintendo 2DS console. As someone who initially dismissed the handheld (I’m not proud of that first impressions post), I’ve come to learn that the 2DS is by far the best way to introduce newcomers to the 3DS family. I love my New 3DS XL (and I loved my New 3DS and 3DS before it), but there is no denying that the 2DS’s $80 price tag is appealing. While the console most certainly has its flaws, notably its cheap-feeling chassis and its lack of a hinged design, the 2DS is less than half the price of its alternative, the New 3DS XL.

That’s why I’m not pleased to see the New 2DS XL’s announcement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to seeing a new, considerably less flimsy version of the 2DS hit the market. In fact, I think that introducing a better built, improved design could potentially help the 2DS brand be taken more seriously. What I don’t like is the implications the update brings.

Nintendo has been playing this game for a long time, and I’m confident in saying that the introduction of the New 2DS XL means the end of the standard 2DS. I seriously doubt that Nintendo will continue to send retailers base 2DS consoles when they could save more and make more by just supplying 2DS XLs. 

I don’t want the base model 2DS to become unavailable.

The 3DS, while loved by many age groups, is actively marketed towards younger audiences, at least in the United States. When you compare the advertisement runs between the Switch and the 3DS, it’s obvious which group Nintendo wants to buy each respective console. In my experience, parents are the ones who end up purchasing 3DSs, simply because the handhelds are too expensive for kids to buy with just their allowance money.

That’s why I’m such a big supporter of the 2DS. While it is definitely the most inferior 3DS console, parents are much more willing to drop $80 on a system (that comes with a game, mind you) that plays the same games as a $200 system. With the introduction of the New 2DS XL, I doubt there will be a viable way to join the 3DS family for less than $150 (and, at that point, I’d personally just drop the extra $50 for the far superior model).

All in all, I can’t see the New 2DS XL as an improvement. It may make Nintendo more money on a system-to-system basis, but it also will turn some people away from the 3DS family as a whole. Unless this is an intentional move by Nintendo to kill the 2DS line, thereby forcing people to upgrade to the New 3DS XL, I don’t think it’s the most wise system launch. But, hey, Nintendo’s been doing this a lot longer than me. 

Thoughts?