Games Carousel

©2023 michael raven

I got burnt out on being game-gated by a dungeon in Elden Ring just because I am not the most reflexive player out there (I have never been one for quick thinking and my reflexes have slowed with age), so I am giving it a rest — even though I love the game otherwise.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying some other games while on my rest from it.

The first game I tried was Jedi: Lost Order because I’ve been intrigued by the sequel and J:LO is a free offering for PS+ members. I was impressed by the writing, but less so by the game mechanics. It feels too much like a corridor shooter with light sabers (and a painfully obvious one at that), plus it has a number of cheap-shot attacks, which I always hate in games, combined with timed platforming puzzles. I got burned out in an evening, and deleted. The storytelling couldn’t make up for the Souls-lite (rest and everyone respawns, plus lose progress unless you strike the one that killed you) with cheap shots.

Then, I decided to give Final Fantasy 7 Remake another whirl. Another one of those PS+ member freebees that I also purchased when it was released. It’s still inoffensively boring in my opinion, keeping to much of the “kill ten rats” kinds of missions that no one has ever looked forward to, but are essential grinds to level up. Another “corridor shooter” feel, again with swords. And I must be getting old, because the teen angst is not as appealing as it was back in the day. Another evening and deleted. I just couldn’t get into Cloud Strife’s constant emo grunts and the slow, linear progress.

I followed that up with Life is Strange (another PS+ free game), which is a game that has quite a bit going for it, but I’ve lost my patience for point-and-click adventures after I burned myself out on Tell Tale games like Walking Dead and the Fables entry. The storytelling is a bit better than those other two, but I need some twitch-action, not cerebral gaming, to get away from my workplace brain. Still on the hard drive.

Last night, I loaded of The Ghost of Tsushima (yes, I’m making use of my paid membership these past few days) and, maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I’m surprised I haven’t heard far more about the game than I have. It is a nice little open world RPG taking place in the Samurai era of Japan. It doesn’t add to the genre in terms of mechanics (so far) — play a UbiSoft open-world game and you’ll know what to expect with Ghost, but it feels solid and the storytelling is well done. Swordplay feels more visceral than most sword games, and the landscape is absolutely beautiful. One mechanic that is different from most games is the “wind guide”. Instead of sparkling lines or compass icons in a HUD, you press a button and watch which direction the wind leads you to the next mission you have flagged on your map. It’s nice to have someone try to reduce the amount of data in a HUD and focus on immersion. The English voice acting is so-so, but the Japanese voice acting seems pretty good to my untrained ear. Plus, you can set the graphics to Akira Kurosawa mode to get that whole Seven Samurai feel when you play, if you’re into that (I might be if I play to the end and replay).

Also, somewhere in there, I reloaded Bloodborne, another FromSoftware title (the makers of Elden Ring). My experience with Elden Ring has improved my tactics, so it is a more enjoyable game for it. I’m not sure I want to keep dying right now (FromSoft games will kill you sooner than later), but I may alternate between this game and Ghost for the time being as I take a break from Elden Ring (until I can get the gumption to plod through that long-assed dungeon of attackers just out of eyesight only to meet up with an OP boss at the end). I’ll have the weekend to myself, with no real adulting needed, and I may just take advantage of that to play games until I drool.