#gamers diary

That is totally and utterly not fair and not even correct, I assume. (I haven't put a ton of time into them.)But that is how I feel sometimes and how I react to JRPGs. They all look the same to me and the little I've played they all feel the same too. Its not fair to JRPGs,  and lately I have been trying to play more and expand my knowledge of the genre.

Throwing military shooters under the bus for being the same thing over and over feels unfair and as someone who has invested a lot of time into many of them, I highly disagree.Battlefield is chaos on a grand scale, filled with teamwork and amazing moments of action movie craziness. Counter strike is a slower paced game, focused on tactics and skill. And thats just military shooters. Shooters like Loadout,Halo,Gears of War,Crysis,Far Cry and Killzone all feel different to fans of the genre.

And that's the key. Too someone who loves and adores these games they all have their little differences. They can tell which is which in a heartbeat. But to outsiders I can see how similar they must all seem. That's how JRPGs look to me, a non fan. An outsider looking from the fence as all the JRPG kids run around and play.

Are there some games that feel too similar, sure. Are there too many military shooters or shooters in general? Yeah I agree, there are a ton and many feel like they are aping Call of Duty.

But the same is true of any genre. I know that there must be JRPGs that feel like they are taking from other games, or are too similar to previous entries in the series. So why attack military shooters? Why is a person who enjoys shooters seen as bad thing, as something the gaming community should expel. Hell if I saw the amount of vitriol that is directed at Call of Duty directed at a lack of diversity in games, this industry would be much better off.

And speaking of diversity, shooters have a bad history of white males always being the star.Which sucks and is a totally valid concern. But I don't see that as the usual complaint against shooters. Its the shooting that people seem to have a issue with. Some say they are bored, and that's fair. But throwing them all together and burning the pile while pointing and booing ISN'T fair and just makes me shake my head.

Let me be clear. I am a huge fan of the influx of indie games. Things like Gone Home and Papers Please show how games can be totally different and unique from previous games. But to see some attack more established genres, shooters for instance, as being “All the same thing” just rubs me the wrong way. As someone who has grown up playing shooters like Doom and Quake I have seen how much the genre has changed and expanded.

Bungie also revealed the timeline for the upcoming beta. On July 10th players who have preorderd the game will be able to choose what platform they want to play the beta on. One week later on July 17th Playstation 3 and 4 owners will get to play the beta. On the 23rd of July Xbox owners get to jump into the beta. On the 26th of July Bungie will give all players who are active that day a special emblem for the full game. The beta ends 10 days after it started on July 27th. 

Finally players will be able to purchase 3 special versions of the game. All 3 special editions will come with a "Expansion Pass" which will give players access to the 2 new expansions when they are released. 

Digital Guardian Edition will cost $89.99, this will be a digital only edition and include some exclusive emblems. The Limited Edition will cost $99.99 and include a steelbook case, artwork and exclusive digital skins and more. The 3rd and final version is the Ghost Edition which includes everything that Limited Edition includes but also has a life-size replica of the Ghost robot, with lights and Peter Dinklage voice clips. The Ghost Edition will cost $149.99. 

The reality is that Rising has a very Metal Gear story. Its convoluted, strange and references older games constantly. I consider myself a pretty big Metal Gear fan, and I have very little idea whats happening at any given point. But I also have a soft spot in my heart for the Metal Gear story, so I still had fun watching it all play out.

I will say that while the story isn't too great the game actually has some interesting characters and funny moments. The Metal Gear series has never taken itself to seriously, and Rising is no different.Raiden can wear a sombrero, you have a robot dog as your partner, a eccentric German doctor called Doktor, and Raiden is spouting off one liners. Its a dumb game, but in a really REALLY good way.

Sadly, some of Metal Gear's bad habits show up in Rising.

One aspect that is disappointing is some of the ways the game handles women. Your female support agent, who handles your saving, wears a shirt half open. There are posters of women on the walls that Raiden can cut their clothes off to see their bikini, and even one of the bosses is wearing a thong at one point. It's a part of the Metal Gear series, but it's also kind of gross.Though to be fair, their are a series of collectibles called Men in Boxes, which are statues of some of the games male enemies posed in a sexy way with boxes. Did I mention this game is strange?

Luckily Rising has really fun and fluid combat, which more then makes up for the strange and overly complex story. The actual combat is focused around fighting a small group of enemies at a time, using a combination of light and heavy attacks. Blade mode is the other part of Rising's combat. At any time you can pull the left trigger, and slow down time, then using the right stick or face button slice up enemies (or anything really) .

Cutting a big cyborg robot thing up into a hundred little pieces is satisfying and looks amazing. But on console at least, I found the frame-rate to drop quite badly if I cut up to much stuff in one area. Luckily the game gets rid of those pieces rather quickly so none of the drops lasted more then a few seconds.

Blade mode allows you to cut up nearly anything in the world including cars, enemies and even trees.

Button mashing random combos will usually result in success against weaker, early game enemies. But harder and late game enemies will be able to dodge and block certain attacks, or will force you to use blade mode. Strangely enough Metal Gear Rising Revengeance also supports stealth, to some degree. In a nod to the Metal Gear Solid games, Raiden can actually hide in boxes and barrels, using these to sneak up behind unsuspecting enemies. You can also avoid some combat by sneaking by enemies. Thankfully none of the stealth is forced on you, outside of one short segment where you take over a little robot dude. If you want you can just go crazy and kill everyone, which the game fully supports.

During combat you earn BP, battle points. After missions or during a mission you can upgrade Raiden and change his weapons, outfit and more. The upgrade system is a bit limited, but still has enough depth that I found my 2nd playthrough to be just as fun as my first. Unlocking new moves or weapons, upgrading those weapons and discovering new outfits all made me more excited to jump right back into Metal Gear Rising.

Throughout the game's combat sequences and boss fights I found the camera to be less then ideal. At times it wildly snaps away from where I was looking or attacking. Or sometimes the game decided to lock on to a moment causing me to lose where I am on the screen. Its frustrating, especially on harder difficulties. This became more aggravating when it caused me to miss some attacks and even cost me a few deaths against tougher bosses. It left me wishing the game had some sort of lock on.

Taking on large robots, like this GECKO, allow you to really go crazy.

The other thing that got in the way of combat was the cut-scenes, some which can be pretty long. I would sometimes be pumped up after fighting a few waves of enemies, and I was ready to take a whole bunch more on- when I would be greeted to a cut-scene. Some are short, but some really drag on. I usually enjoyed Metal Gear Solid's cut-scenes but in a game as fast paced and action heavy as this, I found most of them to just feel like a momentum killer. Plus, some of the cutscenes have some less then pretty visuals or effects. In particular the highway chase cut-scene in the middle half of the game looks pretty terrible, though luckily its short.

Rising itself is surprisingly short. 5 hours for me,on normal, not including cut-scenes. The game is split up into 7 chapters and a prologue chapter. The only strange thing is how some of these chapters are set up. Towards the end I ran into a chapter that was made up of only one boss fight and two cut-scenes. Though it was a pretty cool fight, it felt strange for it to be its own chapter, considering it only took me 10 minutes to beat it.

Speaking of boss fights, they are some the best parts of Metal Gear Rising. Each felt different and challenged different combat techniques I had been using up till that point. One of my favorites uses an explosive shield. You have to use blade mode to cut a certain area of the shield, otherwise you'll explode and take a bunch of damage. For me at least, I had treated blade mode as a way to just go crazy and cut dudes and robots up. But this fight made me use blade mode in a different way, and while challenging at first, by the end I felt like a bad-ass.

Some of the best moments of Rising are found in its boss fights.

But the final boss felt out of place and lazy. I won't spoil who you fight or why, but the final boss is just a giant damage sponge who spams attacks randomly. It didn't feel very fun, and wasn't terribly rewarding when I finally won. Plus the camera at certain points made me want to rip my hair out. For a game I was enjoying quite a lot, it was a real crappy way to end it.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is solid action game, with a strange story and weird characters. It doesn't take its self to seriously, which is nice. It also feels like a Metal Gear game, which I wasn't expecting. I enjoyed the fast paced action, some of the stupid-in-a-good-way moments, and a satisfying combat system. But overly long cut-scenes, the way it handles the only female characters in the game, a slightly wonky camera and a rather short campaign left a sour taste in my mouth.

Still Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is a fantastic and fun,but sadly short action game. If you are not a fan of the Metal Gear series you might find your self skipping cut scenes and scratching your head wondering what the hell is going on. Don't worry, nobody really knows anymore. Just go cut some bad guys up.

Some concept art leaked not long after that, and there were even some talks of a non-Valve Episode 4, but then in late 2009-early 2010, all info stopped. Valve stopped talking about Episode 3. Gabe Newell before every interview started saying "No questions about Half-Life 3". He knows how desperate people are for information. So why are people so desperate for this game?

I can't speak for others, but I can explain why I am still SO excited to play more Half-Life. For starters lets talk about how Half-Life 2 Episode 2 ends.

Spoiler warning, for those who haven't played Episode 2 yet.

At the end of Episode 2, after you and Alex go through hell trying to get to White Forrest, then defend the base and the rocket it has inside of it you talk to Eli, your friend and Alex's father. He talks a bit about the G-man, the first time a character in the series had ever really done so. He warns you about the Borealis a lost ship, and says it needs to be destroyed. After that he promises that he will tell you more soon, after the rocket launches. After a successful launch, the rocket closes the super-portal, which stops the Combine from bringing reinforcements. Alex fixes up an old helicopter and you are ready to fly to the Borealis. But suddenly, a powerful enemy alien crashes in and kills Eli. Luckily, Alex and you are saved, but the game fades to black as Alex cries holding her father.

END OF SPOILERS

That is the definition of a cliffhanger. But, after that emotional gut punch fans were left with waiting...and are still waiting. A big reason I want Half Life 3 is because I want to see what happens after that cliffhanger, to continue or even end Gordon Freeman's long journey. Sure, he will probably save the world, but how that happens is still a very intriguing question that I would love to have answered. Besides, I don't want the final moments of the Half-Life series to be so depressing. It feels like a horrible way to end this series.

But besides wrapping up the story, I also want a Half-Life 3 because I want to see what Valve does next. People seem to forget how influential and innovative Half-Life 2 was when it was released. Going back to Half-Life 2 after playing games for the last 10 years, it truly shows you how important Half-Life 2 is not just for shooters, but for games in general. Sure, if you didn't play it when the game was originally released in 2004, you might not get what all the fuss is about.

But at the time, that game blew my mind. Graphically it made Half-Life 1 look like a broken N64 game. The environments and the atmosphere were at times haunting. Other times they were lonely. Driving up the coastal Highway 17 is still one of my favorite moments in gaming. Sound design and level design combine to create an amazing experience. It felt like I was all alone on a desolate, long road. Sometimes I would drive by a house sitting on the edge of a cliff. I'd pull my buggy over and walk around the house, find a dead man, a tire swing with actual physics, a locked cellar with a headcrab zombie inside. Did the man outside, the dead man, know this person? Why were they here? For me at least, Half-Life 2 is FILLED with Stories and moments like that. But it also was filled with action and satisfying gun-play.

Then there's the engine that Half-Life 2 was built in. Source. It powers so many great games like the Left 4 Dead series, Portal, DoTA2 and even the upcoming Titanfall. Its a flexible and powerful engine that for the last decade has made Valve lots of money. But it's also allowed smaller studios or single developers to create tons of fun and well made mods, like Insurgency, Dear Esther, The Stanely Parable, Gmod and more all use the Source engine. And lets not forget that one of the most played PC games of all time, Counter-Strike, started as a mod based on the original Half-Life.

Point is that when it comes to moving games forward or giving creative people the tools to make amazing games, Valve is one of the best companies out there. So imagine what Source 2 could do. What Valve could do now that consoles are more powerful. Remember the Source engine is 10 years old, and in those 10 years look at how much more powerful and easy to use PC gaming has become. Hell, look at how tablets and smartphones have become powerful mini computers that we carry with us everywhere. I'm excited to see what Valve could do with more powerful hardware and more experience making games. I'm excited to see what Half-Life 3 looks like in this day and age.

I know, 7 years of waiting and rumors is not good. Look at Duke Nukem Forever, or actually maybe don't look at it. Whenever games take this long to make it usually leads to a shitty game or a canceled game. But there have been a few times when long, delayed development led to amazing games. The two that come to my mind is Half-Life 2's 5 1/2 year development and Team Fortress 2's nearly 8 year development cycle. Both, as you probably know, were developed by Valve and both were released to praise both from fans and critics. Valve has a track record of making people wait, Valve time as its usually referred to. But they also have a near perfect record of making great games.

So, I'll wait. And I know I'm not alone in waiting. Waiting for that day that Valve finally brings us more Half-Life. Will the next game have Oculus Rift support, or maybe it will finally just combine the Portal and Half-Life series, seeing as they exist in the same universe. Who knows what Valve has planned, they seem to being going in so many directions these days. From Steam box to SteamOS, DoTA 2 and TF2, free to play, that rumored space game, the Steam Controller, Steam itself and more, Valve is a busy company these days.

I see and read tons about how Virtual Reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and Morpheus are creating new experiences for people. How they are taking people into the game, letting them explore and see the virtual world in a way never seen before. It sounds amazing. But I won’t be a part of it.

The idea of gaming becoming more and more VR worries me. I won’t be able to or really even WANT to join in. Locking yourself away into a virtual world, completely disconnected from reality sounds horrible. It sounds terrifying honestly. But more and more it seems that’s the future we are heading towards.

Sure maybe VR will end up like 3D, a idea that cost too much and for many wasn't worth it. Maybe VR will just fade away or become nothing more then a weird thing that some gamers mess with on their PCs. But with Facebook and SONY throwing tons of money into Virtual Reality it seems more and more likely that the future will be a future filled with headsets strapped in front of our faces. Or I should say other people’s faces. Not mine.

I like to escape the real world. That’s one of the reasons I play games. To escape from reality. But I don’t want to disconnect from reality. I don’t want to be locked in a headset and mess of wires. That sounds awful.

But do games lack the ability to tell stories, so instead developers and writers use cut scenes as a way to tell a story. I guess the real question is can gameplay tell a story? We all have played tons of games that told fantastic stories, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you a memorable story moment that happened in game-play- not a cut-scene.

The Walking Dead series from Telltale actually at times pulls this off. I was playing through Episode 2 of Season 2, don't worry no spoilers, and there is a part where someone is in trouble and you have to decide if you act or let this person get hurt, maybe even die. I decided to step in and saved the person and doing so was a pretty memorable story moment, that I was in control of.

Now to be fair, all I did was hit one button and stuff happened. So it might be a bit of a stretch to call it "gameplay". In fact it essetianlly a QTE moment. But at least it wasn't just a 2 minute video where I sit back and watch my character do stuff. At least I was interacting, even if it was a small interaction.*Season 1 Spoiler*  Also in the first season of The Walking Dead there is a moment where Lee has to kill his brother, who is now a zombie, so he can get his key to unlock a room. It is a pretty emotional moment to have to kill your brother to death, and you have to smash his head a few times.And the whole time you are in control.*Spoilers done..for now*

A bit older, but one of Red Dead Redemption's best moments happens while you are in control and still playing the game.

*Spoilers!*. After doing everything the feds ask you to do, John Marston is finally allowed to go home and spend time with his family. You teach your son how to hunt, skin animals and herd cows. You spend time with your wife and just enjoy life in general. But then the feds and the Army come to kill you. You fight them off, protecting your family and helping them get away. Then your trapped in a barn and exit the barn to be gunned down by dozens of armed soldiers.And for the most part you control all of this, and even control your son who gets revenge of the Federal agent who did it.*Spoilers Over*

But these games feel like exceptions to the rule. There is a huge amount of games I've played where I set my controller down and WATCH the story happen.So many games seem so reliant on cut-scenes to tell a narrative. Look at how many former or current movie writers are now game writers or helped write games. Is that a sign games are becoming more watch then play? With next gen consoles now here, it seems that many games want to "show off" how great they look. And as I learned playing Killzone Shadowfall, that seems to mean boring but pretty cut-scenes.

What does this mean? Does it mean that games are not good at telling a story. That outside of cut scenes games just have trouble telling a tale worth caring about. Maybe. But I really don't think that's true,or at least I hope not. I think its case of two things. One being how young of a medium we are. Maybe we just need more time. More time to figure out how to tell better stories, without relying on videos to do so.

And I think the other issue is that for the longest times games were chasing movies. I remember when the 360 and PS3 first came out. Every developer was talking about making their game "more cinematic". Developers talking about how they were learning from movies how to do camera angles and writing. There seemed to be this feeling among many game devs. that games were "chasing" film. That the ultimate goal was games that looked like movies. Look at Uncharted, a fun game don't get me wrong. But Uncharted is also the poster boy of this era of game development. That game was made from the ground up to replicate a movie. And it feels like it. 

-BEST VISUALS/GRAPHICS - The Witcher 3 (PC,PS4,Xbox One)-

There were some real good looking games this year at E3. It is nice to see developers finally making games for these new consoles only, abandoning the older consoles like a pair of dirty underwear.

From Assassin’s Creed:Unity to Far-Cry 4 to The Order 1886 it seemed like everywhere I looked I saw a great looking game. BUT there can only be one and I feel I have to give it to The Witcher 3. That game just looks incredible. Amazing amounts of detail and size too. A world that big, but it is filled with little touches and things to see, or miss. Can’t wait to play that game.  

-BEST NEW IP- No Man’s Sky (PC, PS4)-

E3 is a time filled with remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels and even pre-sequels. Sure I’m excited for a ton of new entries into established series, but I’m even more excited to see what games like The Order 1886, Destiny, Sunset Overdrive and more will turn out to be. Maybe they are terrible games or maybe amazing games. Who knows.

But  if were talking about new IP, new games, the one that has me the most excited is No Man’s Sky. This game seems to be making most people go “Holy...shit…”. Then you find out that this massive galaxy, filled with millions of planets is being made by one small team. The last game they released was Joe Danger Touch. Holy shit.

-BEST MULTIPLAYER- Evolve (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

More and more online multiplayer has become important to gaming. In the last generation it went from a thing some games did to a thing ALL games did, which probably wasn’t the best idea in the world. Still multiplayer gaming is huge and E3 was FILLED with games that let you play with your friends or against others. Like Destiny, Halo Master Chief Collection and more.

But the game that caught my attention and has me excited to get my hands on it was Evolve from Turtle Rock Studios, aka The people who made Left 4 Dead. Evolve has some similarities to Left 4 Dead, 4 players team up online to fight. But instead of zombies they are hunting down or being hunted by one large monster who is controlled by another player. It sounds like a lot of fun and I can’t wait to play it.  

-BIGGEST SURPRISE- Remastered Grim Fandango From Double Fine-

In recent years E3 has become less and less exciting as more and more games are leaked days, weeks or even months before the show. So when a genuine surprise happens its pretty cool.

The coolest and most crazy surprise was that SONY and Double Fine were working together on a remastered Grim Fandango for PS4 and PS Vita. A beloved cult hit from Tim Schafer, back when he was at Lucasarts, Grim Fandango is weird mix of Mexican Day of The Dead imagery and ideas with Film Noir and adventure game.

-BEST GAME OF E3 2014- Far-Cry 4 (X360, XOne, PS3/4, PC)-

When all is said and done there is always that one game that you keeping thinking about. That ONE game that you want to just play right now. That ONE game that no matter what creeps back into your thoughts.