Over with the watch

Bittersweet memories of the way it used to be

Oh man, Overwatch. What a sweet horrible scarring nostalgia that dredges up.

I’m such a slave to it, just thinking about it for more than five seconds makes me want to play it, and you better believe I’ll be playing it right after I post this. There happens to be an event going on right now, which really isn’t convenient to my life, but that doesn’t mean I won’t drop everything and play a few hours.

Let me start by saying that Overwatch is a good game. I totally endorse it and stand by nearly every aspect of it: the marketing, the character releases, the few times they roll a patch back, etc. The only thing I don’t endorse is something every other Overwatch player will agree with: the constant tinkering, aka, the development team consistently breaking and setting bones of the game that were perfectly healthy to begin with. I mean, Bastion never needed buffing. Who thought that was a good idea?

So, Overwatch. If you haven’t played, you totally can, with absolutely no preamble. It’s a nice break from the games I’m used to where I have to read an entire essay before jumping in. I’m lookin’ at you, Dragon Age.

What do you mean you don’t know what a Qunari is? Or the Qun? How about an apostate? A Dalish?? Did you even do your homework…???

With Overwatch, there’s nothing you need to know going in, there’s no essential plot or concept you have to be aware of. You really can just jump in blind, but if you don’t wanna do that, I can explain what I’m prrreeeettttty sure is the backstory.

Okay, so basically, sometime in the future, there’s a race of robots so advanced that they have emotions, personalities, and can speak and communicate. They’re basically people and they’re called omnics. But omnics are trying to fight for their rights and the fighting turns violent. Tensions escalate and countries begin to take sides.

Okay, wait, I already messed it up. I just Googled it and I’m already wrong. Don’t read that last paragraph.

Um, okay. Whatever. I guess you could find this information anywhere else.

Basically, Overwatch is a team of nice cool good guys and Talon, another organization, is their evil snooty counterpart. Oh, and Overwatch was shut down. Right before the game, one of the members called Overwatch back together for a reunion tour or something. I don’t know. I’m not an expert. I just play the game, I swear.

I suppose the point I’m trying to make is, Overwatch has an incredibly deep story happening in the background, and ironically, it impacts the core gameplay very little. Instead of whatever you were expecting, Overwatch is primarily a 6v6 on various maps, pushing payloads, capturing objectives, or defending within an allotted time.

I was always told Overwatch was originally planned to be a movie, and when it was dictated into a game instead, a lot of that “extra” stuff also made the jump. Maybe that’s why their animated shorts are so amazing.

The quality of all animated shorts, including the cinematic trailer, feels comparable to Pixar.

The benefit of the game happening in a parallel universe or, my favorite theory, a training simulation (how else can you explain the same character on each team?) is that even people who don’t play the game can enjoy it. Because yeah, there’s a little bit of story in the game. A lil bit. Not a whole lot. It’s all hidden in small details, snippets of dialogue, maps, all that.

For example, Mercy is a doctor, so she gets band aid sprays. It’s super subtle.

Blizzard has done an amazing job at making extra content entertaining and widespread, from impactful animated shorts you should definitely watch, to comics that I should definitely read.

When a short drops, everyone I know drops what they’re doing to watch it at least 5 times and then hop immediately into Overwatch, even if it’s been months since they’ve played it last.

I know a lot of D.Va mains that freaked out when her animated short dropped.

Truthfully, out of all the games I’ve written about, Overwatch is one of the biggest roots on my spine: it controls so much of who I am today and how I interact with people online. I’ve spent so much time in that game, possibly more than any other game. Likely more than any other game.

It came out after my first year of college, and all my friends were so excited about it. I’ll never forget sitting on my friend’s bed, watching the first trailer on his small television he had hooked up to his computer. He caught me up to the hype, showed me the animated shorts introducing Soldier 76, Winston, Hanzo, and my guy Genji.

**Listen to me. You *can’t* beat Genji.** P.S. his animated short is the best.

and he’s the best

With everything, the animated shorts, the comics, the characters, the playtime I’ve punched in, it feels like more than just a game to me. The characters don’t stop existing when you turn the game off; they’re still living their lives, spread all over the internet and seeping in my subconscious like a disease. I’ve dreamed Overwatch dreams too many times: playing it, existing in the world, interacting with the characters. It’s truly sad.

And it would probably be annoying for someone who didn’t like the game, but luckily for me, I love it.

For a long period of time, Overwatch was my life. I’d log on and play a full day and somehow, still have the energy and faith in humanity to do it again, and again, and again. The next day, the next day, and so on. It was becoming an actual problem.

Overwatch Shadowplays were the #1 reason why I had to get a second HDD.

And Overwatch is special because it was my first online game. The kind of online game where you could pull up chat and talk to your teammates or the other team, and get called bad words by the whole arena.

From before I even knew how to screenshot

I met so many people through Overwatch, it was insane, and I feel really lucky to have made so many friends, some of which I still talk to daily.

But that was in 2016, and things have most definitely changed since then. I don’t play every single day anymore, and we don’t all get together in 6-stacks anymore. Some have moved onto other games and some still join me in Overwatch every now and then.

It’s pretty cool to think about how many other people are doing the same: creating groups, dissolving groups, from a duo to a full team of six.

And they must’ve become the best of friends, or else this is a world I don’t wanna live in.

So, that’s me. What about Overwatch? Overwatch released in 2016 and things have most definitely changed since then. It wasn’t perfect, but my god, was it fun.

I mained (and still main) Mercy, and her ultimate ability was so game-changing. But of course, resurrecting dead players with a snap of the fingers would definitely change the tide of any game.

In 2016, the playerbase felt easy to be apart of. Everyone was still learning the ropes and silver portraits were incredibly rare. The game felt fresh to me and we hadn’t settled into our roles yet. There were no extra characters, except Ana. The devs hadn’t tinkered much with the character balances. Everyone had fun and no one was hurt.

Um, and the lootboxes? They totally broke lootboxes, and then they fixed them, and I think they broke them again.

As badly as I wanna say that that one thing about Overwatch is the careful design, the constant new content, or the lovingly fleshed-out characters, I can’t. It might be because I’m a nostalgic idiot who simply misses how things were, or maybe it’s an instrinsic human quality that we can’t fight, but that one thing that made Overwatch essential to my life was how it used to be, back in the summer of 2016.

Before all the extra characters were added and before the tweaking really began, when I knew without a doubt that every afternoon, everyone would already be gathered, waiting for me. Things have changed since then.

Featured Image source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBIwGKDwnWY&ab_channel=PlayOverwatch

Purging Paradise

I heard there’s trouble

Some of the images in this post show graphic violence.

In any industry, the notion that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken is prevalent. In games, this roughly translates to: if a formula works, use it. That’s why when one genre of games begins selling more, every company takes a shot at it.

Right now, it’s battle royale games. Actually, it’s been battle royale games for quite a while now. Even Tetris has taken a slice of the royale pie at this point.

But although companies like a formula, that’s not to say that a game won’t come along that tweaks the formula, subverts the formula, etc. And of course, sometimes you have the opposite end of the spectrum: games that reproduce more successful titles of a formula.

I’m talking copycats, copying everything but the title.

It’s hard to calculate what the public will resonate with–heck, even in this blog, I haven’t pinned down what I resonate with. I just know it when I experience it, but it’s not something I could easily explain, although I think I’m learning how to.

The point is, sometimes a company tries to bottle what they think makes a game sell, and build off that. The most blatant example I can think of is Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4.

Right, they’re in the same series, so they’re given a free pass to be identical, but AH HAH I got you! They aren’t identical, they’re just nearly identical.

Alright, so, if you haven’t played either game, all you need to know is they both bear a striking similarity in story, and an almost complete similarity in gameplay and mechanics. Although both games take place in different continents, different islands, they both have an incredible propensity for balancing scenic beauty with chaotic bloodshed. Other games of the franchise might share the same features, but I haven’t found myself at those titles yet.

Far Cry 3 has a huge reputation for having one of the best villains in a game, possibly the best. Depends on who you ask. Vaas “Insanity” Montenegro, who won us all over with his attitude, speech, and instinctual violence. He kept players guessing with his unpredictability and felt like a worthy opponent.

But this isn’t a post about Far Cry 3. This is a post about the game that attempted to recapture what made Far Cry 3 great: Far Cry 4.

Inverse to Far Cry 3’s reputation, the fourth title of the Far Cry series is stuck resolutely in 3’s shadow. They tried to improve with 4, with another go at a memorable villain, a bigger map, a quieter protagonist, elephants, so on.

But what is Far Cry 4 known for besides annoying faction leaders? Kind of nothing.

No matter which faction leader you side with, the other will do their absolute best to guilt trip you into their way because they’re absolute babies

I could give you five of the most memorable moments of Far Cry 3 off the top of my head (four of which involve Vaas in some way), but with 4, I could only give one or two.

In fact, I have some complaints about the “improvements” and “streamlining” they did in 4.

So, why mention 4 at all? What does it have that isn’t done better and with more originality than its counterpart in 3?

Well, both games dabble in the mystical at some point. I’m talking other worlds inside other worlds. Sometimes the entry to these worlds is drug-fueled, sometimes it’s a haze, and sometimes it’s hinted that it’s more than that, crossing over into the religious.

In Far Cry 3, this element comes in the shape of protagonist Jason participating in various hallucinations across the island, occasionally completing an entire mission while totally high.

But in Far Cry 4? In Far Cry 4, we go to Shangri-La.

In our setting of the fictitious country of Kyrat, Shangri-La is a place of great religious meaning, a place that is essentially a realm of enlightenment. In the game’s lore, the goddess Kyra found Enlightenment in Shangri-La, and that, in addition to the fact that only the occasional monk will somehow find their way there, Shangri-La seems like it isn’t a place for human beings, but instead, gods.

You enter Shangri-La through torn scroll pieces called Thangkas, and upon entering the first time, you quickly realize something isn’t quite right with it.

It’s a paradise world, simultaneously beautiful and sick. Goats and deer with snowy white pelts lay in torn pieces across the grass, decapitated roughly. A garbled language angrily shouts at you from the distance, discordant and unpleasant to the ears.

It feels like something beautiful is dying here

As it turns out, Shangri-La has become infected with demons, who have attacked the creatures that resided there, as well as any human that found their way inside.

These human monks, called Seekers, are frozen in their final moments in Shangri-La

Kalinag, our protagonist only in Shangri-La, communicates in Hindi, although turning on subtitles reveals what he’s saying. He soon becomes focused on purging the evil from Shangri-La, and as the missions progress, becomes more driven and equipped to do so.

I’m talking cool knives, a bow that can slow time, and shooting more than one arrow at a time.

In case you thought I was lying with that “bow that can slow time” thing

The best part about taking out the trash of Shangri-La is that you don’t have to do it alone. An immortal white tiger with a death wish has deigned to help you. She’s even decked out in full regalia, in case you thought she wasn’t already cool enough.

“The Tiger had returned from the dead. Not to save my life, but to gain an ally.”
-Kalinag

This specific tiger is known throughout Kyrat as the Sky Tiger, a special white tiger with heavy alignments to religion and justice.

Initially, I was all set to say that Shangri-La itself was that one thing of Far Cry 4, in the sense that it set it apart from Far Cry 3 and was, on its own, a beautiful world caught in a turbulent time. However, it’s clear that this element can be narrowed down even further.

That’s why that one thing is the Sky Tiger. Not only is she my favorite NPC in the game, which might be a little sad considering she doesn’t even talk, but clearing out Shangri-La with the Sky Tiger is the most engaged I ever got with Far Cry 4. And that’s because of the tiger.

You and the tiger work in tandem. When the tiger crouches, she camouflages, which makes her the perfect tool for stealth attacks. You can actually point her to a specific enemy to take out quietly (or not quietly idk how you play).

Some of the heftier enemies require the two of you to work together

The tiger’s AI is smart enough to keep up to whatever pace you set, which helps her feel like your partner. She runs alongside you, matching your speed, and never feels unfocused or lost.

As dorky as this will sound, I always find myself talking to the tiger while we go through a Shangri-La mission. Things like, “You take the farthest one, I’ll take the closest one,” or, “You hold him down while I get him!” Even though none of what I say is transferring into the game, it’s not something I can help. The tiger feels like another player to me, an element equal to myself in terms of goals and prowess within the game.

I appreciate that Far Cry 4 could’ve made you complete the Shangri-La missions on your own, but instead gave you an ally who is actually useful and interesting.

Also, I really love animal companions.

But that aside, not only does Far Cry 4 earn a point for creating such a rich area within the world of Kyrat, but also for painting it full of detail, story, and a dutiful tiger ally.

The experience of Shangri-La couldn’t be duplicated successfully, and the haughty Sky Tiger couldn’t be recaptured in another time or game to the same effect. Together, the two create an atmosphere and adventure that defy imitation.

The power of infinite birds

And Elizabeth is there too, I guess

Some of the images in this post show graphic violence.

When I was a lil gaming tot I always wanted to play Bioshock.

However, as previously mentioned, I’m not a big participant of the horror genre, so I seemed doomed to live a life without it. The trailer gave me nightmares, to the point where I couldn’t walk around the house without feeling an intense fear that a Big Daddy would be waiting for me around the corner.

You’re walking down the street when this guy blocks your path. What do you do?

Everything about the advertised game was traumatizing, from stabbing yourself with needles, to the BEES BEES EVERYWHERE, and the Big Daddy drilling a hole through the Splicer’s shielding hand.

But I’m not really going to get into Bioshock 1 right now, because spoiler: I did eventually play it, and plan on getting into deeper detail with it down here in the deep blue sea. Eventually.

All you need to know, if you didn’t already, is that Bioshock ≠ Bioshock Infinite. Bioshock is claustrophobic, dark, and tension-filled. You crawl around a drowning city full of screaming mutants going through withdrawal and it’s extra dark and extra spook and Infinite is infinitely not that. In comparison, Infinite is downright cheery.

As someone who wanted to play Bioshock but couldn’t, I was ecstatic when Infinite was announced. Finally, a Bioshock for me (a coward), with all the previously terrifying elements replaced with a clear blue sky.

So. If you haven’t played Bioshock Infinite takes place in Columbia, a city that floats above the clouds. Super religiously driven, chock-full of archaic practices and unusual hero worship, Columbia undergoes rapid change as a civil war breaks out. And Elizabeth is there too.

We like Elizabeth, she’s doing a great job

The Vigor system (see: magic) paired with a small arsenal of guns makes for satisfying combat, although I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite combat system out there.

Storywise, Infinite is full of memorable moments. I’ve actually written an entire essay about the tonal shift of the game when Booker arrives at the raffle. But, after playing the game once or twice, you kind of already know what happens. The game is so compact and the story is so streamlined that those memorable moments are never really forgotten, so you can never fully recreate that feeling you got when you experienced something for the first time.

This is probably the biggest drawback to a good, short game. The fact that it’s so impactful and compact means everything is purposeful. There are fewer glitches, more detail put into areas, characters, weapons, everything. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say shorter games are made with a more evident amount of love.

Horizon Zero Dawn interaction (average ~49 hrs to complete)
Bioshock Infinite interaction (average ~14 hrs to complete)

But after my first playthrough, when I knew everything that was gonna happen before it happened, there was one thing that helped me keep coming back.

The birds.

That one thing that makes Bioshock Infinite so unique to me is the Vigor ability that lets you direct a murder of crows at people to distract them from shooting at you. I used it exclusively for 1.5 of my playthroughs.

And then I stopped being so shy about it and started branching out, and turns out, there isn’t just a bird Vigor; there’s eight Vigors, all with unique abilities and effects.

But still, the best is the Murder of Crows, and I’m stuck in the precarious pickle of trying to explain why that is to people when I don’t know why myself.

Likely, it’s a combination of things: the way feathers sprout on Booker’s hand, how his nails grow long and black, accompanied by the dizzying sound of a hundred birds screaming their subservience as you beckon them out of the sky and point the way.

The effect of Murder of Crows on Booker’s hand

Somehow, the configuration of my brain is just enough that the combination of these elements tickles it in just the right way, leading to my bias. It’s an aspect of human opinion that is inexplicable and embarrassing to mention out loud.

Although, I think my opinion is due to change the next time I take on Infinite. Each Vigor is actually really fun to unleash on people, and plus, you can use them in tandem with each other. Meaning you can set crows on fire or give them a little burst of electricity before siccing them on people. So already, my notion that nothing can beat birds has been trumped by electric birds that are also on fire.

If you squint, you might be able to see a little bit of electricity in this gif

In fact, I already feel differently about this blog post, but it felt wrong to change my mind so quickly because for a long time, Murder of Crows was integral to my playstyle. And it probably seems stupid to read, believe me, it feels even stupider to write, but it’s true. Sadly.

But I think we can take something out of all this. It’s reasonable to assume that Murder of Crows, despite the amount of elbow grease gone into making it work, wasn’t intended to be That One Thing that keeps players coming back. And the fact that it did for at least one person tells me that Bioshock Infinite is a game of details, which is a very good game to be.

Even when we play those big, huge, long titles, sometimes it’s the smaller details that stick with us the most. I’ll watch a whole movie for just one scene (Kingsmen Freebird fight, for example), or play a whole game just for one interaction or moment (Roxas’s forlorn finality in saying, “Looks like my summer vacation is… over,” in Kingdom Hearts 2). Even the severity of a wormlike demonic sickness in Princess Mononoke will run through my mind when I see a sunny patch of green grass with a blue sky in the background.

The intense, squirming frenzy of this sickness projects the rage of the beast

Sometimes unintended details drive us to action. Heck, I bought a container of unicorns mostly because their little horns were all bent and it looked adorable. Also, they were pink unicorns. How could I not buy them?

You may think these unicorns are identical, but you’d be wrong. The one of the left is Jazz and the one on the right is Spinesnapper.

And it’s not that these little things are what make the media (and unicorn) great; they’re symbolic of the work as a whole and they stick with us. They’re small enough to tunnel in the folds of our brains and live in there for maybe forever. Who knows.

Sometimes they completely overtake the game in our minds. Does Murder of Crows completely change Infinite? No, no it does not. Does it change my experience? Well, yeah. For some reason that’s not entirely logical or explicable, it does.

And to me, it means Infinite is a good game, even on the minute level of one weapon in the player’s arsenal.