I was musing about Triple A games vs. indie games in yesterday’s post. Today, the nomination for Geoff Keighley’s game awards came out, and there was much consternation per usual. One of the controversial issues was that Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoft) was named for Game of the Year. Why? Because it’s DLC. There are obvious reasons why this may be problematic. One, you have to play a big chunk of the base game just to get to the DLC. Well, you don’t have to as there is a way to get there much earlier, but you probably will have a miserable time in the DLC if you manage to do that. Like a really miserable time.
Let me put it this way. I went into the DLC for the first time, I was level 200 and something. I think. It’s been a while. I had 38 Vigor, and I died to the first field boss (Nameless Mausoleum) for an hour solid. There was no running back to the boss arena, so that’s a pure hour of deaths. Why? Because he could one-shot me. Which I HATE in a boss. That’s not the point, though. The point is that I was not having any fun at all. I could have went elsewhere, but I was infuriated at this point. I had put in 225+ hours into the game thus far, was over level 200, and was getting absolutely decimated.
I respecced so I had 60 health, made a few other changes for this fight (like using a certain sword that is considered OP for its Ash of War) and got the boss in two more tries. Like that. I could not have done it without all those points in Vigor, which I maintained throughout the DLC. it made things so much better for me.
I’ve been dipping into the indie world once again because I needed a break from Elden Ring. Do not get me wrong. I still love the game and will be playing it until the end of time. However, I needed a little bit of indie goodness. And I have so many demos on my Steam client from past indie game fests.
I just put a good hour into a game I bought some time ago called Crypt Custodian (Kyle Thompson). It’s about a black cat, Pluto, who dies and goes to the afterlife. He is prevented from entering the good place and is doomed by Kendra, the arbiter), to be a janitor cleaning up the afterlife. It’s a Metroidvania, and you can change accessibility options at any time. There are three modes, too. I have it on regular/normal at the moment and no accessibility options turned on, but I might change that. Why? Because I’m getting frustrated with the fall damage.
I have beaten this drum for some time. Fall damage is bullshit. I don’t care what game it is, if it has fall damage, then it’s going to make me grit my teeth. It’s one thing I like about Elden Ring as opposed to the earlier FromSoft games. The fall damage is generous. It’s not always easy to tell when the cushion is going to kick in, but it’s always appreciated.
What I like about indie games is that it’s usually a small team, sometimes even one person or two people. They can make a game just because they want to, and it may be janky as fuck, but it’s going to be something different. That may be a good thing; that may be a bad thing–but it’s definitely a thing.
Triple A games, on the whole, will be better produced, yeah. They will be slicker, higher quality, arguably less janky (ahhhhhh maybe not), and just a better overall package. However, the indie games are way more charming as a whole. They’re quirky with wildly varying art styles, and I feel like I’m more immersed in the worlds than I am with most Triple A games. Again, we’re putting FromSoft aside because they are on a different level for me.
I have tried several Triple A games. Fairly recently, I tried Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games). I wanted so much to like it. Aloy as a protag? Hell, yeah! Mech animals that are simultaneously glorious and terrifying? Give it to me, please. I did not play the game until it came to the PC. I had high hopes for it, even though I was skeptical about several aspects of it that seemed, ah, very Ubisoft, to say the least.
I did not love the prologue with baby Aloy. This is superficial, but the character model just seemed off for some reason. Her head was too big, basically. And the story was eye-rolling. I know FromSoft gets shit for being cryptic, and, yes, the basic stories are, well, very basic. Link the fire or not. Keep it going or not. That’s such base fantasy trope. I’m not going to pretend that’s not true. It’s what Miyazaki does with it, though, that is fascinating to me.
The map made me hyperventilate. When I opened it and it showed all the things I could do or should do, I immediately shut the map again. When I started wandering around, I was just too stressed out by the creeping and the stealth shit. I was tense and could not get into it at all. Then, there was a point when a couple of shit-head boys were being assholes to Aloy. One of them threw a rock at her, and you had three options as to what to do back. None of them were beat the ever-loving shit out of two boys, so I lost interest.
Look. I know that morality is a big part of these kinds of games, but it’s so clumsily down that I just can’t take it seriously. It’s the same with romance in these kind of games. It comes down to bartering items/quests for friendship/love/sex, and it becomes so transactional. In fact, it’s such a meme (before there were memes), Saints Row IV heartily poked fun at it by making it so you could bone every one of your homies–except Keith David. Even the robot ball! Can’t remember their name, but I certainly got, ah, pleasured by them.
Saints Row IV (Volition/Deep Silver) was bonkers. It wasn’t really my kind of game, but it was lots of fun as a power fantasy. Also, Daniel Dae Kim as Johnny Gat? Yes, please! In addition, I was able to make a character who looked as much like me as I’vve ever made in a character creation–as long as she kept her sunglasses on. I still love her to this day. Oh, and you better believe I got it off with every one of my teammates–except Keith David. Damn him. The way I hit on each of them was hilarious as was the way they accepted. The game was blatantly making fun of Mass Effect, and I was here for it. All of it.
That got away from me. I will write more about this tomorrow.