Back to pour more salt on my already irritated wound.
Before I start, though, I have to say that one thing you gotta know about me–I will play the hell out of a game. It’s my personality that I will gorge myself on something I like well past the point where I should quit. That’s on me–but I know that it’s not going to change any time soon.
I have finished up the NPC questlines, the map has opened up to me again, and I am on the final story mission. Funnily enough, there is still one ghost technique still locked off to me so I have no idea if I did something wrong, missed it, or if it comes later. I don’t need it, though, so there’s that.
I talked yesterday about how bored I am with the gameplay, and I need to elaborate on that today–along with talking about the NPC questlines. So, once again:
*SPOILER WARNING*
There are three NPC questlines that span the whole game. That means that they get locked off after you finish the parts that are meant to be played in that act, and you can’t pick it up again until you get into the next act. Oh, and for some weird reason, in the second act, they show you every sub-mission within the mission, so you can do them out of order–and, apparently, lock yourself out of some steps (though you can still finish the mission itself). This is a erally odd choice, but whatever. I don’t need to put too much thought into it.
I found the NPC sidequests to be pretty interesting–until the third act. Like every other part of the story, they fell apart at the end. Again, I have the strong feeling that the team wanted to pack an emotional punch, but they went waaaaay overboard with the drama. And I didn’t feel the stories were that authentic. What I mean is that they felt very much like what Westerners would think Easterners would think/feel. That could just be my bitterness, though.
The first NPC questline I finished was Masako Adachi’s. There was only one part left to her questline, which was hunting down her sister (who betrayed her) and enact justice (revenge). I felt that this was utter bullshit and very much pulled out of the collective asses of Sucker Punch for shock value. I have talked about earning reactions/emotions, and I didn’t feel they earned this one. It was her sister who betrayed her. Her sister who she thought was dead. Her older sister who felt that Madame Adachi stole the life she (the sister) was supponed to have as the older sister.
It’s hard because jealousy, entitlement, and anger definitely exist. And, yes, it’s the older sister who should have been married off to someone prestigious. And, yes, Lady Adachi did more harm than good when she married off her sister to someone who had a kind reputation (Jin pointed out to her that people can be quite different behind closed doors), but the sister arranging to murder Lady Adachi’s whole family? (The Khan beat her to the husband and two sons.) I don’t buy it. I feel like it was written that way simply for the shock value.
I did Master Ishikawa’s quest next because I don’t like him. He’s pompous and arrogant and way too reminiscent of other older Asian men I know. His deal is that he’s a master archer who took a woman, Tomoe, under his wing as his apprentice. She did something or other in defiance of him, and then they had a falling out. She attacked him or something–look, as I said, the stories were generic and unmemorable. We track her throughout the game, and when we catch up with her, she tells us her side of the story. She does not deny that she murdered a bunch of our countrypeople, but she claimed it was to save them from a more brutal death at the hands of the Mongols.
She makes no claim to be a saint, but she points out that she was doing what she needed to do to survive. After helping us stop her archers, she slips onto a boat and waves at us as she makes her way to the mainland. Which–fine. I did not have strong feelings either way for this questline. I just did not like Master Ishikawa.
The final questline was Norio’s, the warrior monk. He idolized his brother, Enjo, who was the Guardian of Cedar Temple. Enjo was thrown into a pit and Norio presumed he was dead. So for the whole game, Norio was trying to live up to his brother’s legend, and I really liked Norio because he was flawed, but had a good heart. He did not deserve the ending that he got, which I will not spoil because it’s the most tragic one of all. And it actually tugged on my heartstrings. Mostly because I really like Norio. A lot.
Now I’m back to the main story, and there is just so much trash stealth in it. I know it’s a me problem, but I cannot see where I’m supposed to go because they are not good at subtly guiding the player. Or at least, me. There was just one stealth section after another, and I could not skip it. I had to stealth to get into my uncle’s castle so I could leave a fucking note in his private chamber. I looked around and could not see how to get around the camp where there were enemies ever few feet. Fortunately, I had my ghost armor on, which reduced enemy detection, but it did not tell me where I needed to fucking go.
I missed a grappling hook point, and in this particular case, the game sent me back to the beginning of the mission. No checkpoint. That infuriated me. I did find out I could hide in a cart to get me past the grappling hook bullshit part.
The stealth in this game is not good for several reasons. Maknig me have to stealth caused me to sigh heavily. It turned me into a kid again. “But I don’t WANNA!!!”
There is no joy. There is no happiness. There’s just me grimly doing what I need to do to finish this game. Yuna and I had what should have been a heartwarming moment, and I just wanted her to shut up so we could do the thing the game wanted us to do. I should finish–shit. Is there more to it after this? Well, besides reuniting with my uncle, not really. And, mad respect if that storyline doesn’t end that way, but it will.