Categories
Pages

Nioh 2: The Best Weapon in the Game

Nioh 2: The Best Weapon in the Game

Posted by on Jun 17, 2020 in Commentary, featured, PS4 |

Note that what is written here is an opinion only. It is not meant to be a review of each weapon. Use what works best for you.

Swords. Still the coolest weapon. It is very visually pleasing to see the player character sheathe a sword then perform Iai Quickdraw. Being able to do this effectively requires a lot of practice though, making the cool moves a reward for the time invested in learning the weapon.

Spears. It still has the advantage of reach without sacrificing attack speed and mobility. Overall it remains to be a very solid weapon but is not too much fun to use.

Dual Swords. Back in Nioh 1 my go-to skill for this weapon was Whirlwind. It feels like it’s been nerfed in the sequel because it seems to have a smaller hitbox. It doesn’t hit as far as it used to. There are other skills, of course, but as mentioned Whirlwind was my favorite so it was discouraging to use this weapon. 

Read More

Nioh Nonsense

Nioh Nonsense

Posted by on Feb 8, 2020 in Commentary, featured, PS4 |

Got back into Nioh after playing online with a friend of mine. It was my first time to do a coop session and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I was very dissatisfied with my weapon choice by the end though, so I thought about resolving that over the next couple of days.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but I’ve been watching speedrunning archives lately so I looked and found a speedrun for Nioh. The weapon of choice? Dual swords. They’ve been nothing but amazing so far. Using them made Nioh feel like a different game, enough to make me think that maybe I’ve been playing it wrong the whole time.

Read More

World-Building With The Outer Worlds

World-Building With The Outer Worlds

Posted by on Jan 29, 2020 in Commentary, featured |

The Outer Worlds will feel familiar to anyone who has played a first-person RPG. It feels a mix of Fallout and Skyrim; its got a Borderlands vibe going for it with its space western frontier setting. What sets it apart is the care that’s been given to the writing. There is a narrative quality in The Outer Worlds that makes it stand out, that even though it has a touch of familiarity, the journey is still a fresh and welcome one.

A big part of that quality is the world-building. The game is set in a future where humanity has begun colonizing planets at the edge of the galaxy. What is that future like? How do people live their lives? The Outer Worlds takes great care in answering those questions through its visuals, dialog and story. It presents its setting and characters in a believable manner. Homes, shops, factories and businesses look lived in and used. People are hungry, angry, bitter, fearful, hopeful, funny; the gamut of emotions vary, and learning how life is lived in the setting is part of the game’s appeal.

Read More

Wrestling With Control

Wrestling With Control

Posted by on Nov 14, 2019 in Commentary, featured, PS4 |

I finally got around to playing Control over the weekend. I’ve had it for a while now but put it on the back burner because I heard it was a short game. What I heard turned out to be right, but it’s the kind of thing that gets one thinking even after finishing it.

Control is an action game that feels like it’s set in an episode of the X-Files. There’s a lot of weirdness going on and a lot of it is unexplained. And even when the game explains things there’s still some afterthought required to process the information. I think I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let me talk about the action part first. Control is a third-person shooter. The player takes on the role of Jesse Faden, a girl in search of her brother. Gameplay consists of shooting and platforming. Jesse is armed with a gun that changes forms: one minute it’s a handgun, the next it’s a rocket launcher. All of the forms have some sort of utility over the different enemies and environments in the game, but I definitely found myself playing favorites with a few of them.

Read More