Underneath my yellow skin

Category Archives: Video Games

A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA), part four

Posted on by • 3 Comments

I’m back to talk more about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo because I can. And because I went into the area I mentioned in yesterday’s post–the one I was sure was a boss arena. I’ll get to that in a bit.

I was hesitant to jump back into the demo. I talked about it a bit in the last post, but I’m already overwhelmed by everything combat-wise. Let me briefly mention those things. On the samurai style side, it’s the fucking ki pulse. This has been a staple of the Niohs since the first game, and I have fucked it up every time. After you attack (X for light and Y for heavy), you hit RB to regain your ki (energy/stamina/blue bar). I can’t do it; I just cannot. I get it right maybe one out of every five tries–which is my usual rate when it comes to parrying as well. Anything rhythm/reflex based is just not good for me.

One thing that I like about the series is that you level up a weapon by using it through familiarity. Right now, I’m trying out different samurai weapons to see which class I like. I don’t like the hammer class because it’s waaaaaay too slow and heavy, but I do like spinning around in circles. I have not found an axe yet, which is usually my main. I like the odachi class quite a bit.

However. I much prefer the ninja style. Like vastly prefer. Like, I have to force myself to use the samurai style because I just don’t like it. It feels clumsy and artificially difficult to me.

I like the ninja style, especially because it comes with an array of ninjutsu. Those are the magicks in the game, which is my jam. I could never really make the magicks work for me, though. I mean, it was useful to have healing tickets, purifying tickets, defensive tickets, and more, but the offensive magicks just never felt that good. I’m fully aware that it might be a me problem, but I played a third of the first game; I should have had gotten some powerful maigcks.

Although, it’s quite possible I could have unlocked something powerful and just missed it. See, that’s another thing about the Niohs; the trees are just too massive. And there are so many of them. Each weapon class has its own skills, for example. Plus the basic skills you can get. I have exclamation points for all the weapon classes because I get tired at the thought of clicking through each one.

Side note: One of my evergreen complaints about the Niohs is just how much junk there is in the games. The loot drop is ridiculous and honestly, quite demotivating. At least I figured out you could flip on the option of automatically picking up the loot.


Continue Reading

A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA), part three

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Let’s talk more about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo. Why the hell not? I’ve explored more, and I have to say a few things. Here is my post from yesterday in which I talked a lot about the demo. Good and bad things, but mostly, what annoyed the fuck out of me. I’m going to continue with that today because it’s still annoying me.

I can’t get over that the default for the item pickup is not automatic. Why are you like this, Team NINJA?! Why the fuck would someone want to have to manually pick up each item from the ground,, especially when there are so many of them, arther than just walk over them to pick them up?

Also, you can’t put two important functions on the same button. You just canot. I mean, if you’re using them in different situations like one in combat and one out of it, then it’s ok. But if they are both used in combat, then you simply cannot put them both on the same button! I don’t know how that isn’t dev design 101.

In this case, it’s RT. It’s the button you hit to switch from samuari style to ninja style (sword fighting to stealth). However, it’s also the button you press to hdo a burst-counter/counter-burst.  The burst is when an enemy/boss does a bright red flash, and if you counter the attack, you do massive damage.

Except, it’s way tooo easy to switch fighting styles as you’re trying to do the counter-burst. I did it so many times, and it was aggravating. The internet informed me that there was an option that allowed you to make it so that you only had to tap the RT to do the counter-Thburst. Which, fine, great. That differentiates between the two, but it means that you have to press the RT for longer in order to switch styles. Itas so fucking exasperating. Just put it on a different button, damn it. They use so many of the buttons that maybe they don’t have one to spare, but still. It’s really annoying.

Today, I was in a new area. I was wandering around and really loving my bow. But, I was running out of ammo, which I hate. Usually you can pick up plenty as you go, but you have to have guys who are using bows in order to get arrow drops.

I neared what I thought was probably a boss arena, and I said, “Nope.” I just was not up for doing it. I have only faced the tutorial boss, and he whipped my ass over and over again. And over again. I knew he wasn’t supposed to be that hard. I knew he was supposed to be teaching me how to play the game, but I certainly wasn’t getting it. Even though I could see what I was supposed to be doing, I could not do it in time.


Continue Reading

A Quick Look at the demo of Nioh 3 (Team NINJA), part two

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Let’s talk more about the Nioh 3 (Team NINJA) demo, which I hear is very generous. Before we get into it, here was my first post about the demo. Now, let’s go with part two, and I want to start out with a shoutout to Team NINJA. One thing I  have always appreciated in their games is that they have fantastic ranged weapons. Bows, Rifles, and hand canons. They are powerful, accurate, and not *too* hard to aim. Sometimes the arrows are sparse, but you can usually pick them up around the battlegrounds. Today, I had to clear a camp, and I headshot several of the enemies in it. It felt good; it felt powerful; and it felt…not like cheating because I firmly believe if it’s in the game, it’s not cheating. It felt like easy mode, though. It definitely felt like that. I didn’t feel bad about it, however, as the game is rough enough for me as it is.

I have to say, this is one area in which FromSoft is stubbornly bad. I am not a game dev, obviously, but how the fuck can their bows still be this horrible a decade and a half after they first released Demon’s Souls?! If anything, it’s gotten worse given that the bows in the first game (or at least the holy arrows) were supposedly decent. The only thing that I use the bows for in the From games is to draw one enemy awayf from the others. I do not know why they are so terrible and remain so terrible. I can only conclude that it’s because they simply don’t care about bows. I mean, they’ve had plenty of time to improve them and just haven’t.

I feel like a badass when I’m using a bow, rifle, or canon in a Nioh game. It’s a viable option in those games rather than a hindrance or a joke.

Also, now that I was reminded how the burst-counter actually worked, I managed to pull it off once. The timing is a bit more generous than in the last game, but it’s still fiddly for me. I tended to slide around the enemy more often than actually counter it. that’s because I have the habit of dodging around in a circle as I’m fighting. The best way to beat a Dark Souls boss is to circle around it and hit dat ass. So now, when I play one of these kinds of games, I tend to circle around the enemy.

Avoiding being hit is fine, but I wish I could get more burst-counters in. The trouble is that it’s two buttons–RT + B. You have to hit the RT first and then B. And, in my mind, B is only the dodge/roll button. I think there was another game that put a certain kind of block on B–it was FromSoft! In Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, if I remember correctly. THey had two block buttons, and B was one of them.


Continue Reading

Steam demos: do I dare?

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m back to talk about the Steam Next Fest, but not really. It’s the last day, and while I just took a quick look, the pictures aren’t loading. This happens once in a long while, and I’ve taken it as a sign just to give up on this Steam Next Fest. Instead.

Let’s talk about Nioh (Team NINJA) instead. Why? For a few reasons. One, Ian is playing the second game and having a blast. He’s way into it and saying it’s so much better than the first game. I only played the first area and a bit of the second game before life and my medical crisis got in the way.

Let me dial it back a bit.

I have had Nioh envy for so long ever since the first game. It has been touted as the best (for its time) soulslike. We can debate whether it’s a soulslike or not, and I see both sides to that argument. Personally, I think they are soulslikes because of things like difficulty; combat that is heavy, deliberate, and elaborate; hard bosses; level design that is trying to be like Souls; and just the general atmosphere. On the not-soulslike side is: shit-ton of loot drop. In fact, I would say that this is one of the biggest strikes against every Team Ninja game is the ridiculous amonunt of loot that drops in the game. I’ve played several of them, and at some point, I just resign myself to not picking up anything that isn’t….I want to say purple is their highest color. Then there are so many different drops that have micro changes, such as ‘this polearm gives you +1% increase on freeze, but -2% on heat. Shit like that.

When I say they drop a ridiculous amount of loot, I mean a truly ridiculous amount. We’re talking dozens of items every three steps (or so it felt like). I honestly stopped even looking at loot some of the time because it was overwhelming. And then, annoying. And then, it made me actively angry. I’m sure they’ve heard the complaints a million times, and they are apparently never going to change that.

I have played several of Team Ninja’s games, but none to completion. I played about a third of the first Nioh; the first area (plus sub-missions) of the sequel; almost half? (or so I’m told) of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, and about an hour of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

The reason I stopped playing each of this game was because I just could not with the bullshit any longer. I could give a longer, more eloquent answer (and I will), but it boiled down to me just being tired of the bullshit.

First of all, I have said this several times. I don’t like From games because of the difficulty. I suffer through that in order to experience the worlds that Miyazaki creates. I would love to play a game of his that has no combat, but is just exploring the world around you. Seriously. WhenI played Shadow of the Erdtree, the DLC for Elden Ring, I pretty much ignored the main story (which I often did with From games) and just wandered around the world.

Side note: Never trust Miyazaki when he estimates how long a From game will take. Or rather, when he gives a number for how long a game will take. Him or his representative. For the base game, they said it would take roughly thirty hours to get through the story. Sure, if you ignored everything else AND knew what you were doing, you MIGHT be able to get through the main story in thirty hours. In fact, when I was platting the game, I did my third run in twelve hours, and someone in the Discord I’m in did it in roughly two. But, again, both of us knew what we were doing. There’s no way I could have done that on e my first or second run.


Continue Reading

Steam Next Fest is making me tired

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m tired, y’all. I’m so tired. Yes, this is trivial in the grand scheme of things. *Glances around at the world going up in flames* I can’t do much about that, though, so I’m going to ignore it for now and focus on what I can. Which is the Steam Next Fest as it continues to disappoint me. Here’s my post from yesterday in which I talked about the games I tried and didn’t like. Talking about in general terms, I mean. I also talked a bit about the depressing state of the gaming industry. Which, to be fair, I could do every day.

Look.

I don’t know if it’s me just asking for too much, the games not giving me what I want, or the games actually being bad. It might be a combination  of all three. Or other things, too. I installed several demos, and I was cautiously hopeful for one or two of them. I mean, just in general. I’m always hopeful in general that I’ll find something good. And, you know, it’s not as if it’s a terrible thing if I don’t. I have so many games in my backlog; I don’t really need to add anything new.

That doesn’t mean I won’t look during every Steam sale. There are so many. So. Many. I honestly think Steam has at least one sale a month if not more. I have hundreds of games in my backlog, if not more. I don’t need to buy anything, and I probably won’t.

I am still on the hunt for a HOG that satisfies me. I said yesterday that I tried one that was ok, but not great. Today, I tried one as well, but it was one of those ‘throw hundreds of one object in the scene and call it a day’. Plus, and this is something that annoys the fuck out of me, I turned the sound off in the menu. When I want back into the game, it was on high. No matter how many times I tried to turn it off, it was on full blast when I went back into the game. I gave up after thirty seconds or so because I cannot stand loud noises if I don’t choose those loud noises. It hurts my ears and it makes me angry. Like physically angry. Like I want to punch someone angry.

I talked yesterday about how I hate ASMR with all my heart. It, too, made me want to punch something or someone in the face. Basically, any noise that I could not control gave me issues. Acutally, this is something that I want to address. Fucking sound.

Let. Me. Control. The. Fucking. Sound. From. The. Very. Beginning.

This is perhaps one of my biggest pet peeves in casual games. They never let you control the sound until after the intro, which means I skip the intro. I cannot stand listening to something if I can’t control the  sound. Apparently, this is now becoming a thing in some hardcore game as well. Or maybe just in indie games. At any rate, it annoys the fuck out of me.

Continue Reading

Steam Next Fest aagain, and other (grim) industry news

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I want to talk more about the Steam Next Fest because I played a demo that actually didn’t completely frustrate the fuck out of me (yes, I know that’s damning with faint praise, but I’m just happy that I could actually play it and that I enjoyed it more than it frustrated me).

Before I get to that, though, there was another layoff in the industry, and it’s one that hurt personally. Briefly, IGN bought Eurogamer in May, 2024. Once they did, the changes were immediate and obvious. Obviously, I don’t know anything about what happened in the background, but from a fan’s perspective, it really sucked.

Now, let me back up a bit more than that. I only cared about the video side of Eurogamer. I started watching when it was Johnny Chiodini, Aoife Wilson, Ian Higton, and Chris Bratt. I hung through it when Chris Bratt left. They added another member for a bit, but she did not work out. Then Then Johnny left. Did they leave while the other member was there? I’m not sure. Anyway, Zoe Delahunty-Light joined the team. I’m not going to lie. I struggled with her at first, but then I came to appreciate what she brought to the team. It was Aoife, Ian, and Zoe for quite a while, and it was good. Then, Aoife left to work for Larian Studios. Ian and Zoe held it down while bringing in occasional freelancer. One of them was Jim Trinca, and he eventually became the third fulltime member. This was in October of 2024 (so Google tells me). I stopped watching for the most part once Aoife left, but I always wanted them to do well.

Side note: Huh. Apparently, there was a fourth person added later–Alix. I can’t find out who that is in my light research, so I’m just going to leave it at that.

Fast-forward to two days ago. IGN announced that they had cut the whole Eurogamer video team. Even though I hadn’t watched them in quite some time, and the industry is littered with layoffs left and right, it still hit hard. I don’t know if it’s because I’m nostalgic for the days I used to watch them on the regular or what, but it really bothered me.

I mean, obviously, it’s terrible that they lost their jobs. I don’t want to undercut that point. It’s awful, and I really feel for them. Especially Ian as he’s been there from the start. It’s a grim time in the games industry, and I honestly don’t know how anyone does it. I understand why anyone who is a games journalist would find a different job.

Back to the Steam Next Fest. It seems almost hollow talking about it in light of the news I previously mentioned, but there’s no way to not make it awkward.

I finally played a demo of a game that I then put on my wishlist. Hm. I was going to say what it was, but I’m not sure I’m going to do that. Why? Because I don’t like to be negative about a game before I’ve even played it. Ok, I have done that in the past, but that’s the rule I made up for myself right now. I’ll review it when/if I play the actual game.


Continue Reading

More about Steam Next Fest

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m back to talk more about Steam Next Fest. I went on at length about this sub-genre of Hidden Object Games (HOGs) that is shoving hundreds of the same object in tthe background (in this case, cats), which I find to be boring unless there is some other hook in the game.

Today, I tried out a few more demos. I am not going to name them beacuse I did not enjoy them, and I don’t think it’s fair to give them negative pub before the games actually come out. I will say though that one of them was by a developer who did a game I liked waaaaay back when, but found quite frustrating. I played their second game, which was so buggy. I liked it and tried to push through, but I ran into a bug that made it impossible for me to continue. I gave up on them after that.

This one, there were no bugs. What I did find, though, was something that is a pet peeve of mine, and it happens a lot in indie games.

Clarification: Before I go any further, I want to say that I realize indie devs are doing the best they can with very little. I know that they are running with a very bare crew. Again, I’m talking about indie teams that are under twenty people. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt because they don’t have the money or the people or the time that bigger devs do. Seriously. I will overlook many things.

One thing, however, I have a really hard time looking over is a tutorial that doesn’t tell me how to actually play the game or what the controls are. Or how to exit to the menu. I think this is pretty basic info, and I don’t see why it would not be the first thing they did.

I also don’t like it when puzzles don’t tell you how to solve them. I don’t mean they’re supposed to give you the answer, but they should give you some hint that you have actually solved the puzzle. I did this one puzzle, and I thought I had it right. Except, the game did not make any indication that I had done the right thing. There was a blinking light bulb button, and I thought it was to give a hint. I didn’t want a hint, but I couldn’t see anything else to do.

I hit the button, something flashed before my eyes, and then the puzzle was done. Did it solve the puzzle for me? I was mad about it, so I restarted the game and quickly got to that part again. I did the puzzle once again (and it was a clumsy puzzle. Very much did not like it), and still, nothing to indicate what I should do. I checked a playthrough, and I was, indeed, supposed to hit the button I had hit before.

Continue Reading

Steam Next Fest, let’s talk about it

Posted on by • 0 Comments

When I was a casual game player (decades ago), I liked Hidden Object Games or HOGs as they were called. As the name implied, the main purpose is to find objects that are hidden in the scene. It’s pretty much as simple as that. At least it was when I played them. Then, the devs decided that they needed to make the games adventure games because, oh, I don’t know, they felt guilty about putting out the same game over and over again? Soon, they were putting in morphing objects and collectibles. I hate that shit, but I also feel compelled to find every one. Which is part of the reasons I quit playing them. Another was the aforementioned collectibles. The last reason was that I started playing “hard” games and relegated casual games to a once-in-a-while thing.

I still like HOGs, though, and Steam has started to have more and more of them on the platform. We now have a sub-category that I’ll call hidden cat games. As you can probably tell, that’s right up my alley. I love cats and I used to like hidden object games. What more do I need?

Well.

I feel a bit ungenerous in what I’m about to say.

I don’t like the way it’s being implemented. In most HOGs, the objects are hidden in a way to make them blend into the background. Plus, it’s usually ten or fifteen hidden objects per scene. The new breed of HOGs (and the one in which most cat HOGs fall) is to just throw a shit ton of objects on the scene, pretty artlessly.

In the case of the cats, it’s just hundreds of cats tossed in the background. There are some other objects to find as well, but it’s mostly just tons of cats. I’ve played several of these games, and I’m bored with it already. If there’s nothing else to reel me in, then I don’t really want to play it. I’m not saying it’s a cynical money grab, but, I’m also not saying it’s not.

How does this tie into the Steam Next Fest? One of the demos I saw was for one of these games by a developer of whom I had bought their two previous games–which were exactly the same. That’s three games in a year, which is very similar to how the devs in casual games dropped their games. Same game just with a palette swap. This series is really pretty, I’ll give it that, but it’s…boring. There are literally over a hundred object in each scene. If you keep the ‘page’ at the regular size, you will miss half the objects beacuse they simply won’t appear.

You can enlarge the page to the point where you have maybe one-fortieth of the page on screen.  But then you have the chance to miss something when you’re scrolling to the next part of the scene. There is a hint, but you have to wait something like 2 minutes for it to refresh. I read a hint that if you go out of the level and go back in, then the time resets.


Continue Reading

Gaming and why it’s the perfect time to get out

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m back to talk more about gaming. Here’s my last post in which I just meandered all over the place, but I did manage to talk about Sarah Bond and how she “resigned” to  be with her family and pursue other oppportunities. I believe it even less today than I did yesterday. All the things the Xbox execs are saying are just noise. I. Don’t. Believe. Them. Period. I just fucking do not.

I’m old. I’m tired. I’m mad. I ain’t got time for this shit. Do not fucking tell me that the sky is green and expect me to believe it. I have included a video from Paul Tassi below. He’s solid, and I trust his reporting. He mentions the same The Verge article that I cited in the post yesterday. Again, I don’t have a sub, so I’m relying on what others have said about it.

I’m pretty anti-capitalism to begin with. I mean, as much as I can be in a very pro-capitalism world. Specifically in the gaming world, I don’t buy games on release day for the most part unless it’s a FromSoft game on PC (BIG sigh over The Duskbloods being a Switch 2 exclusive, but also, mixed feelings on the nature of the game).

I haven’t been happy with the gaming industry in general for the whole time I’ve participated in it, and I’m thinking it might be time to bow out. I have never considered myself a gamer beacuse I have never felt welcome in the community. I mean, let’s face it. It’s a community of mostly cishet dudes in their twenties. Not exactlyy my people.

For the most part, I didn’t care. I mostly play games by myself, so it didn’t really matter if I was part of a community or not. However. I hate what’s going on in the gaming industry in general, and I’m not sure I feel comfort supporting it. At least the AAA developers.

I always separate indie devs from the rest of the gaming industry because it’s a whole different situtaion. Well, we need to get even more granular than that. When I say indie, there are different levels. Anything less than twenty people is a small indie dev to me. Twenty-one to fifty is medium. Fifty-one to a hundred is larrge. I just added the last category right now. I’ll be honest. A hundred-person company is too big to be indie to me. Wait. Larian Studios. They have over 400 employees, but they self-published. They are considered an indie studio, but some people don’t really consider them indie.

Do I? Huh. I’m not sure. I mean, they do self-publish, but they are gigantic. I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it more and deal with it later. It’s not really relevant to what I’m trying to talk about in this post, so I’ll let it go for now.

For the most part, I play games that are made by truly indie teams. We’re talking ten or less people. My favorite game last year was made by a studio (Promise Mascot Agency, Kaizen Game Works) that has 3 fulltime employees. They do use contractors, but still. My favorite game so far this year (The Spirit Lift, prettysmart games) has two people on the team. They also have other people they use, but the team itself has two people.


Continue Reading

More talk on remakes and Xbox, probably

Posted on by • 0 Comments

Well. Sarah Bond, the missing ex-president of Xbox, has finally spoken. She issued a carefully-crafted statement about being appreciative of her time with Xbox, but it was time for her to move on to new things. Here is her statement in full. Not one single person believes it’s true for several reasons. One, there was a post on her LinkedIn just a few hours before Phil Spencer (her boss) “retired” that was about accessibility. The way it was stated made it clear that it was just a common post and that there was no hint of her resigning. The post was taken down several hours later, so clearly, Sarah Bond ‘resigning’ was not planned.

People in the industry have pointed out that while there’s a lot of love being given to Spencer (by the Xbox team as he “retired”), but there was no mention of Sarah Bond. At all. It was as if she never existed. And today, not only was there the statement above by her, but there was a piece about her in the Verge by Tom Warren that talks about how she was not well-liked by Xbox employees. I can’t link it because  I don’t have a subscription, but I have included a Kinda Funny Games video below that talks about it at length.

It talks about how she was the one who pushed the ‘everything is an Xbox’ idea (meaning, you don’t need an Xbox console in order to play their games). Except, Phil Spencer was the one who came up with the idea; he was the one who brought Sarah Bond in; and he was the one who nudged her in that direction. She was presumed to be his handpicked successor, which means that she probably didn’t do much without his approval.

I want to say that I have no insider knowledge I am not in the industry, so this is all my personal observation. I want to make that clear.

There is no fucking way she left of her own volition. There just isn’t. I understand why Microsoft might choose to play it that way; really, they didn’t have much of a choice. So, as far as I have read/heard, they were planning on doing this today (Monday), but they got word that IGN was going to post something about it on Friday, so they had to act quickly.

Look. I have no love for Sarah Bond or Xbox. I dropped Game Pass once they made the boneheaded decision to hike up the prices, especially the ultimate or whatever the highest level is called. I never really used it, anyway. I mean, I tried out one or two games every other month or so. It probably was worth it in the long run, but I still was just sick of their shit.


Continue Reading