Some Familiar Faces....and Kelly

It should come as no surprised that I'm still playing through the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect.  I managed to finish my ME1 adventure and have moved onto my series favorite second game.  It's always interesting to go back and re-experience games that you haven't played in awhile and to realize that there are things that you didn't appreciate enough and other things that now make you cringe.

One of the nice added features to the Legendary Edition is the fact that you can carry over more of your funds from the first game (although sadly, not your entire fortune).  My Shepard started off the second game with a padded account and it was a nice feeling to have enough credits to buy up all the items on Omega.  Unfortunately, something that wasn't so nice was the fact that my Shep didn't transfer over looking exactly the same from the first game.  It was immediately noticeable that her eyebrows were a different color and that her scars were missing.  If I had been adamant about fixing this, I could've tried to re-create my Shep with the customizer, but I knew it would be difficult to re-create it.  It's not a big deal, but I do think it makes my Shep look a little weird.

The very model of a scientist Salarian!

Mass Effect 2 is a game that's all about the diverse characters who make up the crew of the Normandy SR2.  I don't even know how many times I've played through the series, but it's always enjoyable to re-experience all the different personalities.  I've realized that I actually like Mordin as a character a lot more than I thought--sure, he's unapologetic about his role in spreading the improved genophage onto the Krogans, but he's someone whose motives do seem mostly for the greater good.  I love his high energy and how he is the embodiment of a Salarian (dare I say...a scientist Salarian?).

Funnily enough, I've seen quite a bit of discussion around how femShep and Jacob interact.  Playing through the dialogue with Jacob is actually quite cringey.  Let's just say Shep comes off as a little...thirsty.  Okay, A LOT thirsty for a big glass of Jacob.  It's something I noticed in the past, but now that everyone is talking about it, it's that much more noticeable.  As a character Jacob seems to get a lot of hate (for being too boring), but I actually think he's another that I like.  With a bit more backstory and some more options for interaction I think Jacob could be more interesting.

Jack...unraveling those Cerberus secrets.

Another interesting reaction I've seen mentioned is to something that originally people complained about...scanning planets for minerals.  I've seen numerous people posting about how much they enjoy it, which is a complete reversal.  What changed?  I still find it to be a bit of a chore and try to knock out a bunch of scanning at the beginning and then only if I need minerals for upgrades.

An unfortunate victim of the facial upgrades in the Legendary Edition is poor Kelly Chambers.  Original Kelly had a perky haircut to match her upbeat personality.  New Kelly (who my Shep is shamelessly flirting with in an effort to obtain free fish care) just isn't the same.  I want old Kelly back!

I've also encountered a few bugs and glitches.  The first happened on Illium upon going to Liara's office--the cutscene didn't trigger and instead Liara was stuck and it was almost like the game had locked up (but it hadn't because my Shep was still going through her idle motions).  I had to re-load (but fortunately had just had an autosave) and then it worked.  While doing Miranda's loyalty mission I also had an odd bug during the final part of the mission--the health bars and targeting reticule for Enyala and a random Eclipse Operative wouldn't show up.  This made using abilities on them difficult, but it was still possible to kill them.  A minor annoyance.

I wish Kasumi Goto was a main NPC and not just one with limited interactions.  Kasumi's loyalty mission is one of my favorites and I find her personality and backstory to be one of my favorites.  More Kasumi, please.

Old Kelly and New Kelly.

Playing through Mass Effect 2 has always been an enjoyable experience for me and I'm looking forward to spending much more time fighting the Collectors and hanging out with the crew.  Even Kelly...with her weird face, which I am willing to accept in exchange for her professional fish feeding services.

We're All Playing Mass Effect!

The moment all Mass Effect fans were waiting for finally arrived on May 14th--the release of the remastered "Legendary Edition."  Since then, my newsfeeds have all been chocked full of ME content.  It's a glorious moment for those of us who have been heavily invested in the saga of Commander Shepard.

It's great to be home.

I've spent all my gaming time over the last eight days neck deep in the original Mass Effect.  For me, it was the game I was most looking forward to playing and seeing what all the upgrades and improvements would bring.  I generally replay the trilogy once a year and I had actually skipped that for several years--largely due to the fact that the first game has...issues.  Some of those issues were technical (the AMD CPU bug that turns your team into chunky, black block people for the duration of the Peak 15 segment of the Noveria mission) and some were gameplay oriented (let's all just face the fact that the game is fourteen years old and it definitely shows its age in the combat and exploration segments).  I genuinely hoped that playing the first game would feel like less of a chore in the remaster.

Good news/bad news time!  Let's start with the bad news first so we can get it out of the way.  Even with the graphical upgrades and the combat upgrades, the first game still has a degree of slowness.  You'll still encounter things that bug the crap out of you--like how all the potential love interests are reeeaaal needy and constantly interpret simple conversations as genuine romantic intentions (I'm currently saving my Shep for Traynor, so I had to shut down both Kaiden and Liara).  Something I noticed this time around is that the first couple hours of the game in particular feel very slow--they're basically a chance to orient yourself with the game world, but you spend a lot of time on the Citadel just running around and talking to people.  The exploration is definitely very dated and planets just feel kind of empty (open-world games have sort of ruined that particular aspect of the game).

My Shep!  Engineer/Paragon--waiting for Traynor.

Now, for the good stuff!  The added character creation tools means that there are some genuinely unique and awesome looking Shepards being created.  For some people, there will never be enough character creator options, but I am loving seeing people post their Shepards.  The best change by far is the graphics upgrade (*I'm not playing in 4k--I don't have a 4k monitor.  Even at 1080p it looks great).  Everything, from NPC's to planets looks awesome (*one thing that doesn't look too awesome are some of the faces...just sayin').  The best way to enjoy the improved graphics is to snap a bajillion screenshots using the new photomode--something I've been doing with wild abandon.  There are some great screenies floating around on the interweb and I'm constantly impressed by what people are able to capture.

Another huge positive is the fact that the enemy AI is better (but still feels a bit outdated and wonky).  No longer are you rushed by every enemy in a ten mile radius (and, I think part of the issue with this is the fact that so many of the combat areas are not designed as more open spaces and are instead very maze-like which results in enemies being forced to run straight toward you).  I've had much more opportunity to fully utilize my squad powers and strategize rather than just running around like a headless chicken and hoping that I will survive.  I decided to give insanity mode a stab (something that I had never managed to complete in the original game) and am finding it to be very doable.

Although I've seen many people complaining about stability issues, I have had zero issues so far (*do remember that the autosave in the first game is very infrequent--smash F5-"quick save" like you're a Lannister and it's a close relative).  The only bug I encountered was one that caused the "interact" button to stop working (this is easily remedied by a re-load, which is no problem with all the quick saving I do).  There are still some bugs that need to be worked out (one frustrating, but not particularly serious one is the fact that Spectre gear only appears for sale a couple of times and isn't permanently accessible).

Oh sweet Mako, you are magical.

One improvement that I was particularly excited about was the new and improved Mako controls.  Well, it turns out that driving and shooting in the same direction sucks, so I had to turn them off.  The new and improved thresher maws require some careful navigation and shooting.  I'm happy to report that the Mako is just as janky as it has always been.

If you're out there and wondering if you should play the first game, I would recommend it, but I would also caution that if you're expecting a vastly different experience than in the past, you're probably going to be disappointed.  For fans of the series, the upgrades are fun to check out.  For new players, the first game will probably be a bit of a difficult play. (*but seriously, ignore all the people who are screaming "YOU'RE NOT A TRUE FAN IF YOU SKIP ME1!" Play how you want to play.)

A Strange Trip--Control

I just finished my first playthrough of Control (Ultimate Edition) and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the story and the ending...and just the general weirdness of it all.  Even though the story is a bit hard to grasp, the gameplay in Control is superbly enjoyable.  Let me do my best to sum up the strange trip that is Control.

In Control you play as Jesse Faden, a loyal sister who is just trying to locate her brother.  Locating said brother is no easy task though--he was snatched by a mysterious governmental organization after both siblings survived a catastrophic event.  Jesse shows up at the office of the Federal Bureau of Control and quickly realizes that something is seriously wrong--much of the office staff is currently floating....and chanting in an extremely creepy manner.  But what does this strange, unheard of part of the government even do?  Looking for answers, she heads toward the office of the director, only to arrive just in time to witness him commit suicide!  A strange internal voice seems to be prompting her to pick up the gun....and once she does that a strange entity (represented by an inverted black pyramid) informs her that she's now the director since she has the service weapon....umm, okay, that escalated quickly.  It's her job to figure out what's happening at the Bureau and fix it ANNND to look for her missing brother.  I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that the situation, the Bureau, Jesse's brother, and certain...other factors....are complicated.

Some gameplay stats from my first playthrough--I completed the base game and both DLC's in 38.9 hours.  Like normal, I tried to complete as many side missions as I could find.  I didn't spend too much time messing around with the "Expeditions" (I will explain them later).  It would definitely be possible to finish the base game much more quickly as there is some optional content that players can choose to skip.

Pros:

+ By far, the best part of Control is the combat.  Jesse is equipped with the service weapon, a kind of supernatural weapon that can shift forms (which can be found throughout the main story).  Two different forms can be equipped at a time and it's very easy to switch between them.  The forms echo weapon types found in other shooters--the base form is a pistol but there's also a shotgun-like form for short-range blasting; a charged, long-range sniper-like form; a rapid-firing submachine gun form; and a form that functions a lot like a missile launcher.  That's about where the traditional shooter-like mechanics end--there is no ammo to pick up as the service weapon regenerates ammo after a short cooldown period.

Jesse wields a number of paranatural powers.

If you're just planning on blasting away, you're in for a painful experience.  Both forms of the weapon share an ammo pool with more powerful weapons being capable of only a few shots before the gun needs to recharge.  Luckily, Jesse is capable of acquiring powerful paranatural abilities that enhance her combat capabilities--when used in conjunction with the service weapon I am reminded of the joy of BioShock...combining abilities and shooting for a damn good time.  Jesse's special abilities are powered through a pool of energy that regenerates over time.  As you progress through the story Jesse is able to learn a number of very useful powers--telekinesis for launching chunks of basically anything at enemies; a shielding ability that creates a wall of debris to protect from damage for a short time; a super fast dodging ability; the ability to take control of enemies for short periods; and the ability to levitate.  Being effective in combat means balancing Jesse's powers with attacks using the service weapon--you can't rely solely on one or the other as they both have a limited pool that needs to recharge.

The enemies that Jesse faces come in a number of varieties--some have paranatural abilities similar to Jesse and require extra attention.  There are also several "boss" fights sprinkled throughout the game that present a unique challenge and require you to fully utilize all of Jesse's abilities.  There's one boss fight in particular that is a pretty challenging, but they're all definitely doable.

+Enjoyable destruction.  One of my other combat related favorites was walking into a new setting, getting attacked, and then just demolishing the area.  Most objects are capable of being hurled at enemies using the telekinesis ability...and they cause visible damage to other stuff that you hit.  In a lab?  Hurl some random lab equipment at an oncoming baddie!  In a rocky area?  Rocks'll do.  It's fun to witness the aftermath of broken glass, destroyed furniture, and office spaces that no longer resemble anything office-like.  I loved the realism of the object physics and how most objects seemed to react to your actions.

+ A great environment that's not only fun to destroy (FYI, your destruction is temporary as the areas reset the next time you visit them), but has a unique aesthetic that corresponds with the story.  The Federal Bureau of Control has the trappings of your typical government building, but is anything but typical.  You'll travel through typical offices but also through labs where there's some strange research happening.  Things get a lot weirder as you progress through the story and learn that the FBC deals with paranatural phenomenon and needs lots of space to store certain powerful items and to study bizarre world altering events.  The items and research is dangerous and the building itself is subject to sudden "shifts" which mean that certain areas are altered which can give you a real Alice in Wonderland kind of feeling.

+ Documents, recordings, and other items serve to flesh out the story of the FBC.  It's enjoyable to explore and find collectibles that help to explain the very bizarre nature of the mysterious Bureau.

Just your typical day at the office.

+ Graphically, it looks great.  It also has options for people who want to do fancy things like ray tracing.

+ A main story that is very weird.  I'm still not completely sure exactly what happened or even what was going on throughout the story.  If you're the kind of person who wants a story where all the dots are explicitly connected you might be a bit unhappy.  It's the kind of game where you'll probably want to Google some stuff to figure it out.  I haven't, but I'm content with my confusion.

+ Secrets and cosmetic items.  You can unlock special outfits for Jesse by accomplishing certain tasks.  The game doesn't explicitly tell you about these tasks, but you can also Google them.  It's fun!

+ Talents and loadouts to customize Jesse.  The talent system can improve and add capabilities to Jesse's base abilities (for example, you can use talent points to upgrade telekinesis to allow you to fling explosive items back at enemies).  Enemies have a chance to drop special weapon mods or personal mods--each type can be used to accomplish the playstyle you're going for.  I buffed my launch ability quite a bit and had a genuinely good time flinging everything around.

+ The Ultimate Edition includes two story DLC's which are both enjoyable.  One deals with the story of Alan Wake (a character from another game which I haven't played) and the other is more rooted in the story of the FBC.  Both DLC's include new versions of mods, some new enemy types, and a couple of fun boss fights.

Along with the story DLC's, you also get Expeditions,  which are a type of timed combat challenge.  The Expeditions throw special combat modifiers into the mix which make them particularly challenging (enemies might have 100% health or your energy might only regenerate at 50%).  I attempted the easiest one a couple of times and failed.  There are two levels above that one (and you can unlock a special outfit for completing the top tier)!  They're a nice addition for anyone who wants an additional challenge after the main story.  If you're looking for other challenges, there is a set of arcade machines

+ Lots of side missions and tasks to keep you busy.  You can also opt to participate in special events that only occur for a short time (they will periodically pop up).  These special events are a good way to earn drops like mods or special materials that are used to upgrade your weapon.  Many of the side missions help shine some light on the strange objects contained by the FBC.

Photo mode is perfect for capturing the strangeness of Control.

+ Photo mode.  It's fairly basic, but the environments are very cool and it's fun to snap some pics.

Cons:

- Graphically demanding.  I was a bit bummed that my settings defaulted to low/medium.  The game still looked great, but I could tell that my GPU was running a bit on the toasty side.  You can choose to run the game in DX11 or 12 (I chose 11).  It felt like it shouldn't have been that way, but I'm no technical expert.  There have been some complaints that the textures in the game don't load properly for some people.

- If you owned the base game on Steam prior to the Ultimate Edition, the DLC has been pulled from the store and is no longer available for separate purchase--you have to buy it all again.  Sad face.

Recommendation:

I wasn't sure what to expect going into Control and I had a blast with it.  The combat is great, the environments are weird and creepy without being scary and they look cool, the main story is memorably strange, and when it was all said and done, I wanted more of Jesse and the Federal Bureau of Control.

I managed to grab Control on sale for $19.99 and was happy with that price (a definite bargain--and, it seems to go on sale fairly frequently).  Have fun storming the castle.

 

The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Hype Train

The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition hype train has been barreling along at amazing speed this week in advance of its May 14th release.  BioWare has offered up some advance goodies to keep that train chugging along--you can design your own personalized Legendary Edition wallpaper to deck out your PC!  The design involves selecting your favorite companions, locations, and morality.  I thought it sounded kind of goofy, but it is actually oddly fun to see the finished product (you can check it out here). 

I would be remiss if I didn't share my own personal creation.  My girl Liara and best space-friend Garrus take the most prominent positions.  No squad would be complete without some serious  Krogan muscle, so Grunt and Wrex are a must.  From there I just wanted to reflect the diversity of the Normandy's crew--EDI, to represent the robot perspective; Tali'Zorah the intrepid Quarian; Miranda, the Cerberus cheerleader, keeping it real for humanity; and Mordin from the Salarian union.  Since I've only ever been able to complete one full renegade run (it's just too painful!), I went for a nice Paragon blue.  You also get to choose a prominent setting from the series--I chose the Collector base because the suicide mission is one of my favorites.

BioWare/EA also offered up the deluxe edition content from Mass Effect 2 & 3 as a free download (for a limited time--until May 31st--you can find it here).  The content includes digital versions of the art books from the second and third games, the soundtracks from all three games, digital editions of two Mass Effect comic books, and a digital lithograph of the Normandy from the third game.  The art books are a lot of fun to look at and give insight into the design process for the series.  It's always interesting to see the thought process and how it evolves into the final form that gets put into the games.

The real question remains--have I pre-ordered?  No, I've resisted the urge (it's painful).  I've just been burned too many times by release day shenanigans that I've decided to take a wait and see approach.  There were already rumors circulating of a day one 11GB patch (which, isn't really anything abnormal) and I think I've mostly learned my lesson about how crazy day one can be.

I'm looking forward to replaying one of my absolute favorite series (at some point) in its new and improved version.  Crossing my fingers that the combat in ME1 is improved and that the chunky-block people bug that afflicts people with AMD CPU's (when you are in Peak 15 on Noveria) is fixed. One funny feature, the ability to toggle between the original version of the Mako and the new, improved version has made me ponder some serious Mako-related questions.  Am I a real ME player if I don't leave the Mako as it should be? (An out-of-control war beast that can traverse almost any surface and will suddenly jolt you off in a random direction if you're not careful)

Happy Legendary Edition dreams to all the ME fans out there!

A New Dawn--Horizon Zero Dawn

After 79.9 hours of play, I've officially finished my first playthrough of the excellent Horizon Zero Dawn! If you're a PC gamer who hesitates over console games that make the migration over to PC, it's one that is worth checking out.  It doesn't go on sale very frequently, so try to grab it on the rare occasions that it does (although, it's one that would be worth paying full price for).

Pros:

+ Gorgeous environments.  The world of Horizon Zero Dawn sprawls across snow capped mountains, grassy, forested valleys, dusty, dry deserts, and lush jungles.  Each zone has its own unique beauty and the changes in biome offer much variety.  Another fun feature tied to the environment is that the weather effects vary based on the biome--occasionally snow will gently fall in the snowy areas; dust storms kick up in the desert zones and can make it difficult to see; and windy, rainy storms can pop up in the grassier areas.  The world is sprinkled with evidence of the "old world"--rusted ruins of a technologically advanced society that no longer exists.

Aloy overriding a Tallneck.

+ The tribes who inhabit the different areas of the map each have their own unique look and story.  The Nora are a matriarchal society led by elder priestesses; the Carja are ruled by a hereditary king and occupy a great stone city set into the desert cliffs; the Banuk live high in the mountains and have a more spiritual connection with the machines that occupy the world; the Oseram are tinkers who have an almost steampunk feel.  It's fun to explore and encounter the many different groups and learn about their histories.

+ Large, sprawling world that isn't overwhelming.  The 79.9 hours that I played was a fairly completionist playthrough--I tried to complete all the side tasks and errands in addition to the main story (*this also included the Frozen Wilds DLC).  I didn't find myself hitting too much of a wall or that the world was needlessly chocked full of repetitive tasks to complete (I'm looking at you Assassin's Creed).

+ Collectibles that aren't a PITA to find (some people might not like this).  You can purchase maps (cheaply too!) that show the general area where collectibles are located.  They don't show you the exact location and you still have to do some searching, but they aren't too difficult to locate.  I appreciated this as I am someone who doesn't have the patience to meticulously search for every single item.  *I did not find all the logs--those are scattered all over the map and it seems to be mostly a matter of luck to come across them.

+ Combat that is challenging.  Fighting humans isn't anything too remarkable, but fighting machines is where the fun is at.  Each machine is unique and has a variety of weak points that can be exploited to make killing them easier--to be successful at the combat in HZD you need to figure out the best way to slow or disable machines and can't just blindly fire away.  I played it on the normal difficulty and found the combat to be just the right amount of challenge--not so much that I was constantly dying, but enough that it was challenging.  Some of the larger machines can be quite frustrating to fight because they are enormous and avoiding their attacks is difficult.  Combat also takes a bit of strategizing (something I feel like I failed at) to fully all the tools--traps, crowd control, etc.  There are numerous weapons to choose from and to use to customize your playstyle

+ The main storyline is very interesting and gets better as it progresses.  I won't spoil it for anyone, but I was pleasantly surprised at the direction that it ended up taking.  I liked the uniqueness of having tribal societies juxtaposed with advanced technology--it's definitely a unique game world.

+ Photo mode with tons of settings and options that allow you to capture the beautiful game world.  Also, the game tells you exactly where your screenshots are located so you don't have to go hunting for them.

+ New game+ mode that offers rewards for upping the difficulty level (you can unlock cosmetic features that aren't available on lower difficulty levels).  It's nice to have an incentive to replay on a higher difficulty.

+ I had zero technical issues (*It's worth mentioning here that I'm not the type of gamer who agonizes over framerates and making sure everything runs on ULTRA) and felt like the game ran very well.  There are reports of long loading times, but I didn't really have any issues.  

Cons:

- Traversal is sometimes needlessly overdramatic and that can make it feel clunky.  For example, you see a place to grab that is definitely within your leaping range--the game intentionally slows your leap to add to the drama (which does result in that heart dropping feeling that you're going to fall).  It's kind of fun at first, but I got a bit tired of it later on in the game.  Sometimes you expect the traversal elements to automatically work and they don't--like walking across a tightrope area and and falling off the side because for some reason your character decided not to hop on.

The snowy peaks of the Frozen Wilds are beautiful.

- Hunting grounds.  Scattered around the map are challenge areas called hunting grounds (they are optional...so yes, you could skip them) that have a series of themed, timed missions.  You receive tiered awards based on how quickly you are able to complete the challenges.  I did not enjoy these missions as I prefer a more stealthy playstyle that involves waiting to strike.  To achieve the highest level of award requires a lot of crazy running around and combat that just didn't jive with the way I wanted to play.  Sure, these areas are optional, but there's an entire set of side missions built around them.

- Side tasks/errands are pretty unmemorable.  A lot of finding, fetching, and not a lot of interesting content.

- Quick inventory menu is obnoxious--you have to use z and x to scroll forward or backward through a list of items.  I found this annoying when I was in the middle of combat and trying to switch up items like resistance potions, traps, and health potions.  I feel like this option could be made better for mouse and keyboard with some key binding options.

Recommendation:

I was initially pretty skeptical of Horizon Zero Dawn due to it being a console crossover, but I ended up really enjoying it.  It's one of the few games that I would recommend paying full price for (the complete edition includes the Frozen Wilds DLC and is priced at $49.99).  The game world is unique, the main storyline is interesting, and the combat hits just the right level of difficulty.