After seventeen years in the making, not really but it felt like it, I am finally done with Verde’s Doohickey, my novel for 2015, although I may put another one out on Christmas of New Years. Depends on how quickly I can write this far simpler story and how easily the dynamic between the two main characters flows, because I have been struggling to get the everyman and asshole dynamic right for years… Man, it’s only been a day and I’m already talking about my next thing.
So, Monday’s episode of the Jimquisition, a weekly video series done by Jim Sterling, a games critic who I back on Patreon, featured some new information on the current state of Konami. In short: Konami doesn’t like people in other departments communicating with each other. Konami changes their corporate structure and goals every year. Konami does not respect the legacy of their titles or the people who made them, nor their current employees. Konami believes that employees should work around Konami’s flaws, such as an archaic approval system that demands a week’s worth of time before any office materials or supplies may be provided. Konami does not understand how to behave as a business. Konami does not care for you. Konami does not care about itself as a game publisher and developer. Konami is bad. Seeing Konami go bankrupt will be an event that I am looking forward to immensely. I’m especially looking forward to Metal Gear be ruined, despite loving that franchise.
Just to clarify, they are the exception to that rule, as it sucks when game developers close down, as was the case for the developer GRIN, no, not that one, who made a Kickstarter game by the name of Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries, but had to close down shop before they could deliver on the Kickstarter rewards. Kickstarter is a great platform, but it ultimately operates on honor and goodwill, so only pony up $150 if you truly trust the people behind it. On the subject of ponying up far more money than one should need to for a video game, Fire Emblem Fates may be released as a single title in the West as a European retailer lists it as one game containing both campaigns. Even if the game will be $60, I don’t mind, it’s well worth it for such a content rich title. Especially if they decide to be extra nice and throw in the third campaign… Which will not happen, nor will it need to be only be partially unlocked to save on SD card space, because Nintendo. Seriously though, you guys should ship… Super Editions of all of your DLC rich titles. Nintendo should have also looked into helping to bring over Yo-Kai Watch sooner, as the game is already so big in Japan that it is getting a Just Dance title for Wii U. Seriously, Pokemon was so much better handled than this… and that was almost two decades ago.
You know what else was almost two decades ago? Resident Evil 2, and as was teased, or, rather, already confirmed, Resident Evil 2 is indeed being remade, and confirmed so with a video of a very excited looking man talking about how the game is finally getting the treatment it deserves… Which I say as somebody who only played part four, but stopped after I had to guide Ashley through the main courtyard, because the game was stressful enough before the escort mission. Still, I may like REmake Remastered, and will give it a go soon enough. Certainly before Dragon Quest XI, which got its first batch of screenshots released, and it looks better than just about any other Gen8 title not on Nintendo hardware. “I just hope it gets localized” I say like this is… most of the time console JRPG localizations are a given, and have been since… two decades ago.
From Software has been making stuff for two decades, if I may continue to use that transition that also happens to encompass my age, and the company president and papa of the Souls series, Hidetaka Miyazaki claimed that not only will Dark Souls 3 be the start of a major shift in the series, likely to the space ninja stuff he was talking about a while ago, but he will also be launching a ton of new projects. Hopefully one of them is Metal Chaos Wolf HD… What? That game deserves a remastering from its premise alone! Certainly more than Dead Island does, assuming that retailer leak was authentic, but on the subject of that troubled series, a producer over at Techland, the studio behind the first title and that Dying Light thing from earlier in the year, more or less said they’d be happy to finish Dead Island 2 after Yager was dropped as the game’s developer… No real thoughts on this, but I felt I should bring it up.
I do have a lot of thoughts on Arcane Kids’ recently released Sonic Dreams Collection, which is basically the Sonic fandom encompassed in a very bizarre and hilarious little title that involves you exploring a giantess Rouge the Bat’s vagina where you find a Big the Cat growing in her womb, which you then exit to see your OC looking down at you as you wander through a crib, videotaping these atrocities…. Just check it out, you’ll have a fun twenty to thirty minutes. On the subject of weird and depraved sex stuff, HuniePop still is one of my favorite games I played this year, right up next to Dark Souls. However, the recently revealed successor to that title, HunieCam Studio, is something I look at with far less enthusiasm in comparison to the delightful little puzzle game. The genre shift from puzzle game with visual novel elements and plentiful characterization to a management and tycoon game where you run a cam site and try to become the best smut peddler there ever was really strikes me as alienating. I cared about the characters, silliness of gamified seduction, and nifty little puzzles, so to see none of this is, well, upsetting. That, and I’m not very interested in the genre, and the art style is not doing it for me, especially the heart shaped white pupils.
Granted, I’m a jaded jerk about a lot of things, such as the 3D platformer on Kickstarter, Poi. Quite simply, the world design and general art direction really strike me as basic, with the fire land, the grass land, the desert land, and so forth. While the platforming does seem to only involve jumping around and avoiding obstacles, as there are now enemies shown, and most of the platforming challenges look to be little more than the copying of elements from the five 3D Mario games. I do love the implementation of the parachute that allows you to soar through the sky, and I felt that there were certainly some Zelda influences in what was shown, as the game does look to be very adventure focused. But when placed next to something like A Hat In Time, which is almost done from what I am led to believe, this looks a little plain. Oh, and on the subject of crowdfunding, the Red Ash anime that nobody asked for is having a second crowdfunding campaign after a single successful one… I just… Did you pay attention to the criticism this Kickstarter created at all? At leasts only four people were duped thus far.
Also, here’s a page from the manga Boy Meets Girl, Girl Meets Boy…