Self-Loathing

Sometimes you've just got to do something a little silly.  For me that silliness consisted of purchasing the goofy game parody West of Loathing.  If you're looking for the chance to play a game that's not at all serious, you could do a lot worse than WoL.

One of the first steps in WoL is creating your character and picking a class.  Since your character is a stick figure you don't need to spend hours trying to correctly position their eyebrows.  You can pick the gender for your character--who, again, is a stick figure--and then choose from a small selection of hairstyles.  Next, you get to choose from three really silly classes--the cowpuncher specializes in melee, the beanslinger is (somehow) a magical class that throws beans, and the snake oiler who specializes in using pistols.  I opted for the cowpuncher because I like punching things and possibly cows too.

Like any good RPG, WOL has character stats and talents.  Since my character was a cowpuncher the bulk of my experience points went into the "muscle" category.  Other classes have stats in "mysticality" or "moxie."  You can also put points into abilities like "Intimidatin'" or "Leatherworkery."

The Western themed story starts off with your character leaving home to seek adventure.  You say goodbye to your Ma, Pa, and genius brother Rufus and head to the nearest town.  There have recently been some problems in the West--namely the event known as "When the Cows Came Home."  Demon possessed cows have been terrorizing the settlers and attempting to take over the entire world.  No one knows how or why this event has happened and you can choose to unravel why this phenomenon is happening.

In your first town you encounter several characters who are willing to accompany you on your journey.   There's a crazed miner named Pete, a vengeful gunslinger named Susie who lost her whole family to the cows, an alcoholic doctor named Alice, and possibly a goblin named Gary.  Each character is goofy in their own way--I opted to take Susie and her dialogue is always a little on the crabby side, but who can blame her she lost her whole family to demon possessed cows.

Combat in WoL is turn-based and very simple.  Your character has a set of action points that allow you to use certain abilities depending on the number of points you have.  Your pardner (companion) also has a set of abilities and points.  The combat in WoL is very simple and only gets challenging when you encounter larger groups of enemies (of which there are few).  Most likely you will get bored with it and try to avoid fighting.

The highlight of WoL is its sheer silliness.  You can unlock an ability that allows your character to "silly walk" which makes you do all kinds of goofy dancing and sliding across the screen.  The item descriptions and missions that you complete will have you chuckling.  For example, there are many spittoons located around the map--the entire concept of a spittoon is completely disgusting, a putrid bowlful of human tobacco spit.  But who knows, there could be loot in it!  The descriptions of having your character dig around in those spittoons looking for possible loot (spoilers...there's always loot in a spittoon!) are witty and hilarious.  Then your character (who only wears a hat) gets to equip a bunch of spit soaked items.  It's ridiculous.

In the end I enjoyed West of Loathing.  The nonsensical nature of the game made up for many of the shortcomings (combat is super boring).  I did find myself becoming a little bored at certain points but was usually able to find something to make me laugh.  If you expect anything even remotely serious about WoL you will be sorely disappointed.

Stealthy Tactics

Stealth games and I have a bit of a mixed record.  When I play a game where stealth is an option I will usually opt to be as stealthy as I can.  Usually one of two things happens--my lack of sneaking skills means that my stealthy cover gets blown and I end up in guns blazing mode or I run out of patience with the constant watching and waiting and say "screw it" and decide to tackle things head-on.  Generally I am able to completely ruin the whole concept of being stealthy which sucks because most games reward you with bonus XP, damage or other perks for being sneaky.  I had this knowledge of my own lack of stealth skills when I decided to pick up Shadow Tactics:  Blades of the Shogun which is a game that is completely about stealth.  Sounds like a disaster in the making, eh?

Shadow Tactics:  Blades of the Shogun is set in feudal Japan and follows a group of unlikely heroes working to unravel a dangerous secret plot.  As the name implies, it is very much about being stealthy, planning, and trying to be a discreet as possible.  If you're like me and you end up in chaos mode...things are going to be painfully rough.  I discovered this fact very early on and was forced to reassess my playstyle so that I could finish the game.  It was extremely rough--at one point I ragequit and swore that I wouldn't pick it back up...but I did and managed to finally solve the roadblock that was keeping me from progressing and it felt like magic.

Yuki sneaking up on a guard.

The gameplay consists of a series of missions that involve using the unique cast of heroes to sneak around the map.  There are many places on each map where you can hide--bushes, buildings, roofs, cliffs...the difficulty comes in trying to navigate these places without attracting the attention of the numerous guards patrolling the area.  Unlike many other stealthy games I have played this is one where you absolutely do not want to attract any attention--there's almost no chance of surviving if the guards raise the alarm....you can't brute force your way through it.  Avoiding the guards means you have to choose how to deal with them, you can opt to kill as many of them as you can or you can do the viewcone tango and try to stay out of their line of sight.  Each option has its own challenges--killing guards means you have to hide the bodies and not killing them means that they will continue to patrol and still have a chance of discovering you even if you've gone well past them.

As the story progresses your party grows to include a diverse cast of characters with their own unique abilities and weaknesses.  Learning how to harness those abilities to your benefit is one of the major challenges in Shadow Tactics.  Yuki can lure enemies toward a certain position which is very useful for taking out guards; Mugen can attack multiple enemies at once; Aiko can use disguises and provides an invaluable distraction for sneaking around heavily populated maps.  One very handy part of combat is the ability to assign actions to each character--for example you can assign one character to attract a guard toward a position and another to sneak kill that guard.  When actions are set up simultaneously it plays out in a perfect series of events.  Taking out multiple guards at one time might seem impossible, but it's completely doable with some strategizing.

Each level presents its own set of challenges.  Some levels are set in the snow which means that your characters leave footprints.  Footprints can attract the unwanted attention of guards and make sneaking more difficult but they can also be useful in trying to lure guards toward a specific character.  Other levels take place a night which means that guard visibility is greatly reduced and sticking to the shadows allows for more sneaking.  The presence of civilians on certain levels presents another layer of difficulty as they will run and get guards if they catch sight of your character.  This also presents a moral quandary--you can opt to kill the civilians to get them out of the way.

Shadow Tactics is challenging and can be extremely frustrating.  I opted to play on the default difficulty and will freely admit that I struggled and almost gave up.  If you have a tough time failing in a game you might want to think twice about picking this one up--you will find yourself failing so many times.  Shadow Tactics is one of those rare games that almost demands perfection in order for you to be successful.  Even though I found myself getting frustrated, the feeling of finally finishing the game was very rewarding.

I would recommend Shadow Tactics to fans of both stealth and strategy games.  If you don't like failing and want a game that is fairly easy to finish...it's probably not a good choice.

ME: Andromeda Cliffhangers and Theories (SPOILERS!!!!)

After taking the time to think deeply about why I feel so meh about Mass Effect:  Andromeda, I started thinking about the major cliffhangers and questions that are left at the end of the game.  There are so many and regardless of what you felt about the game itself, it is still fun to try to puzzle out these little mysteries.  This post is going to basically be spoilers so read ahead with caution if you haven't played or finished Andromeda.

1.) The Quarian Ark.  After you save Meridian you are given the chance to roam around the now crashed Hyperion and give your team some high fives.  While you are happily congratulating everyone you run across, a tech at a computer console excitedly shows you a recently acquired radio signal from the Quarian ark.  According to the radio message the ark has made it to Heleus but the message is also a warning to stay away.

Many people believed that any singleplayer DLC released would have to do with the Quarian ark--since we now know that this DLC isn't happening we are left to wonder.  The Quarian ark is extra interesting because it was supposed to be carrying the Quarians plus a wide array of other Milky Way species--Hanar, Elcor, Drell, and maybe some Volus and Batarians.  It seems a little unfair to burden the Quarians with looking out for all these other species and maintaining them in cryo for 600+ years.  Or maybe the Quarians are the best choice since they are the tech experts?

What could possibly be going on that the Quarians would want you to stay away?  The Quarian ark with its numerous species would be a juicy piece of genetic material for the Kett.  But wouldn't a simple Kett attack be something that they would want help with?  Could it possibly be that the Reapers have managed to insinuate themselves onto the Quarian ark?  What if the Quarians want you to stay away because the Reapers have followed them or tracked them?  Or, even worse, if the Reapers have managed to take the ship and have indoctrinated the crew...

We can keep crossing our fingers that the lack of singleplayer DLC was a myth...but it's looking doubtful.

2.) The Benefactor/Murder of Jien Garson.  Through unlocking your father's memories and encrypted audio messages you learn that Jien Garson wasn't the "founder" of the Andromeda Initiative, but was merely a fundraising mouthpiece and diplomat for the project.  The real founder of the project is a mysterious entity known as "The Benefactor."  This mysterious person disguises their identity in your father's messages and there are very few clues as to who this person might be.  You also learn that Jien Garson wasn't killed when the Nexus hit the scourge, but was murdered by someone on the vessel.  Garson encodes a secret message and reveals that she didn't really trust the benefactor.  The only reason anyone would kill Garson would be to protect the identity of this person.

I've been picking my brain to try to think of some possibilities for this role.  This person (or group!  It could totally be a group...) would need to have access to enough money to bankroll the massive project that was the initiative.  They would need to have connections to throughout the Milky Way.  The list of possibilities:

Could the Illusive Man be the mysterious benefactor?

1.) The Illusive Man/Cerberus.  We know that Cerberus has the funds and resources to fund a wide array of projects--it's completely feasible that the Andromeda Initiative could be a Cerberus project.  The Illusive Man would definitely be someone who Garson wouldn't fully trust.  But would Cerberus fund a program that would include more than just humans?  That part seems very unlikely and makes me have my doubts that the Illusive Man would be the benefactor.

2.) The Citadel Council.  Throughout the original Mass Effect trilogy the council doubts Shepard's claims about the Reaper threat.  What if they were publicly denying the threat while privately making plans to fund the Andromeda Initiative?  The council would have access to the funds and resources needed for such a massive undertaking...but why wouldn't Garson trust the council?  And even the term "benefactor" seems to imply that this is an individual person....  The Andromeda Initiative seems like the kind of project that the council would take in a last ditch effort to rescue at least a small portion of the Milky Way species.

3.) Commander Shepard.  This theory is waaaay left-field, but why not?  Shepard focused on pulling the galaxy together and understood the looming threat of the Reapers.  The Commander would have the ability to bring people together with the understanding that something impossible might be the only chance for survival.  But, again, why wouldn't Jien Garson trust Shepard?  This one seems unlikely.

4.) Liara/The Shadow Broker.  As the shadow broker, Liara has access to the funds, information, resources, and secrecy that would be required for the Initiative.  She could be a good candidate.  The timeline might be a little problematic to make her work as a candidate--was she already the shadow broker before the Andromeda Initiative departed the Milky Way?  Jien Garson might not trust the shadow broker simply because they have a shady reputation.

5.) Aria T'Loak.  I think I mostly just miss Aria as a character...but she could be on the list of possible suspects.  She runs a massive criminal organization on Omega--it might be feasible that she could have the money and resources to fund something like the Initiative.  We also don't know much about her background (it would be cool for her to have a DLC or come sort of backstory content) and connections prior to her arrival on Omega.  She admits to having the capital and connections to get started there.  Her reputation would definitely be one that Garson wouldn't trust.  But would Aria really care about something like Andromeda?  Doubtful.

Those are just a few that I've considered.  I'm sure there are many, many others who could fill the role.

3.) The Jardaan.  Toward the end of the main story we learn that the Angara and the Remnant were created by an advanced race known as the Jardaan.  There are some serious implications behind this knowledge--the Jardaan are extremely advanced...they are the creators of an entire species as well as all the Remnant and vault/Meridian technology.  This is a whole new level of advanced aliens--a level that eclipses the Reapers.  There are plenty of questions to think about here....

Why did the Jardaan create the Angara?  Throughout the game it is heavily emphasized that the Anagara don't know much about their past.  Their history and culture was heavily disrupted by the decimation of their society by the Kett.  They had to be designed for some sort of purpose though.  My theory is that the Angara are the Heleus version of the Keepers--rather than interacting with the Citadel and its technology the Angara are able to interact with Remnant tech.  We know that the Angara have a unique electrical aspect to their biology...I believe that electrical adaptation is tied to the the ability to control the Remnant.  Unfortunately this knowledge has been lost through the ages due to Kett interference.  We see some evidence of this on Havarl during the mission to unlock one of the vaults--Ryder has to locate and Angara who can use his past memories to interact with the vault structures.

Did the Jardaan create the scourge?  If so, why?  Was the purpose to completely wipe out all traces of their existence in Heleus?  The scourge seems to target Remnant structures.  We also learn that the scourge is the result of the detonation of some sort of mega-weapon.

What happened to the Jardaan?  The evidence seems to point to some sort of attack that caused them to flee or that they were completely wiped out.  Could their demise have been caused by the Reapers?

What if the Jardaan created the Reapers?  Maybe this is another example of technology run amok like the Quarians and the Geth.  We also have to consider the motives of the Reapers...why do they seek to eliminate all organic life every 50,000 years?  Why do they seem to follow the exact same pattern?  It seems like a massive experiment--something about trying to have organic life develop in a certain way...but it just hasn't happened the way that they want.  Heleus could have been wiped out by the Reapers with the Angara being the only civilization left to restart the 50,000 year cycle.

There have been so many ideas bouncing around my head as I finished up playthrough #2 of Andromeda.  I hope that some of these questions are answered...and that Andromeda was simply a learning experience that can be improved upon.