A week to Overwatch Release: Tales of Beta withdrawal.

My watch has ended.

The Roster

Overwatch (beta) has been such a treat to play. It really is such a refreshing take on FPS game where there is a lot more to winning than just simply killing the enemies. Being forced (gently) to play the objective and above all play as a team is something that I have not experienced for a long long time. There are very little games that incentivizes team-play as well as Overwatch (that are like Overwatch). I can't wait for it's release on the 24th!

What is Overwatch? Well Overwatch is kinda like.. an FPS that revolves around multiple classes that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. There are currently 21 unique heroes and each of them can contribute differently towards a game. Every hero has powerful abilities that can change the flow of the game. The rosters is one of the most colorful and diverse roster I have personally experienced. Each character oozes with personality and you can't help but want to know more about each and every one of these characters. Blizzard (the developers) are also slowing including comics, shorts, and trailers to further flesh out these characters to make you love them more (or hate them more, depending on your view of the character).

"So basically TF2?" Well you are not wrong, and I'd agree there are similar abilities and roles for both TF2. I don't want to go down the road of comparing Overwatch to TF2 or any other games since I believe every game can be fun to play. I'd instead list out what draws me to Overwatch, and what gets me excited about the release of the game.

Support: Mercy

Being acknowledged as a support. Better put some respeck on my name. Yup. That is top of the list. WHY? Honestly if you need to ask that question, you don't play enough support. As for how the game recognizes support players, basically the game keeps track of the number and the statistics related to your support plays. From laying down turrets, to placing armor packs, to providing healing (I NEED HEALING), the game recognizes all these thing and will AT LEAST try to award you if you did a decent job. 1 support minimum is heavily necessary since sustaining a siege without healing or armor is like trying to break a brick with your forehead. Now I am not saying that you will get a pat on the back every time you play as a support, but this is more recognition than most games will ever give to any support player so that they will continue doing God's work. If only DotA had "MEGA HEAL"...

Bastion: Turret

Game changing ultimates. Instantly changing the momentum of your team with the click of a button (Feels good man). Ultimates are a heroes strongest ability that can only be used once it is charged up by securing objectives, kills, or even providing support. Each hero have their unique ultimates, and each have their own distinct function. Bastion, a hero that can transform into a sentry turret will transform into a tank when he uses his ultimate, and will shoot tank rounds that deal massive damage for a limited amount of time.

Bastion: Tank

Ramirez 76 is your typical Call of Duty soldier that will never miss a single shot from his rifle when he turns on his ultimate, which makes him perfect for scrubs. Using an ultimate requires patience and also the knowledge on when to use them. Using an ultimate sub-optimally or getting your ultimate completely countered is the fastest way to losing the round/game. Of course, there is more depth to the game than just using an ultimate to maximum effect, but having a tool and getting nothing out of it is not that great either.

Being able to switch heroes based on the situation. Enemies are utilizing cheese strategies? You might have to switch your hero to be able to counter their strategy, This is one topic that I personally think is slightly harder to talk about since this is a team based game, and sometimes it isn't the lineup that is bad, but simply the approach towards a situation or the lack of chemistry between team members that is the reason behind the loss. But let us just imagine that this is a perfect world where those variables are non-existent. Then the only solution towards tackling a certain situation would be hero switching. The enemies are locked down in a room full of candies traps and turrets? You might need a hero that carries explosives/room clearing weapons. Enemy sniper is absolutely tearing up your team? Tell them to stop poking their heads out under enemy recon visor. You might need to switch to something that can reach their back-lines fast enough and harass their sniper from cleaning up your team. There are so many of these situations that will need tactical hero switching, and this is one of the appeals of the game, every play-style can be countered. Every strategy has its pros and cons. When your hero is getting countered hard by the enemy team's play-style? It is time to switch. This creates a situation where the heroes are dynamically switching from one to another between both teams, which keeps the game-play engaging at all times.

Flashy Character Intro Collectible

Loots. I am a simple man. I love loot. Loot makes losing all the time not feel so bad
(oꆤ︵ꆤo). Cool costumes, intros, emotes and poses keeps the game fresh and visually appealing. Customizing you character with different skins is kinda fun too. Just like going out and buying a superhero figurine. Not much to be said here if you are not a fan of dressing up your character though.

Zenyatta

The Vibrant World and its Rich Lore. The world that the game Overwatch is built on is fascinating and enthralling. Every character has their own unique (and for some, cliche) backstory and the character's abilities are tied to their lore. Zenyatta is a robot monk... That shoots prayer beads (if thats what it is) at you. So metal. Killing in the name of PEACE. Just kidding don't kill me please. Genji is a cyborg ninja that shoots shurikens weeb. Characters have distinct interactions with each other too. Which... feels kinda weird when I am teaming up with the "villain" but whatever man. There are also comics and animated shorts to supplement the lore, with the most recent being the Dragons short, which is about Hanzo and Genji. If you have not watched any of the shorts, I'd recommend watching at least 1, you might like it.

Well, to sum it up, with just my experience in the beta, I think that this will be a extremely addictive game that will provide hours upon hours of pure enjoyment. And I am thoroughly excited for the release on Mei 24th. See you soon heroes!

A Short Game Review - Dark Souls 3

A game review??

Yeah, I have not a clue on why I decided to do this. Well actually, the reason is I felt compelled by how good Dark Souls 3 is.
Dark Souls 3 is a game developed by From Soft (or is it Fromsoft) and is the third game in the series. (DUH) Fromsoft is famous for games such as Dark Souls 1 & 2, Demon Souls, and Bloodborne.

Before we begin, let us get a few things out of the way.

1. I am not a lore aficionado.
2. I am not an expert in the game.
3. I finished Dark Souls 1, scratched the surface of Dark Souls 2, and finished Bloodborne. Never played Demon Souls. I have no favorites, although as a fairly casual gamer I would say that Dark Souls 2 kinda bored me after a while. Keyword here is casual.

So where should I begin? That question is one that is hard to answer for a game of this caliber. Perhaps the most amazing part of this game is the Visual aspect of the game. No, I am not talking about how it compares to Crysis, but more in the veins of the imagery, the scenery, the attention to the positions of locations, items and structures to make the world that much more interesting to explore. The atmosphere within each of these distinct locations will sometimes make you forget that you have stopped breathing for a little.

In one glance, I already knew where I was going to spend the majority of my time in this game.

Hours will be lost exploring this place.

Of course, there are locations that are slightly less.. inspired. To avoid spoilers, I will not include them in here, but lets just say that these locations could have been expanded and worked on a little more. The Lords of Cinder were hyped up in the beginning of the game, and the journey to reach each of them were really interesting. You pick up bits and pieces of lore and story as you progress to each of them. Except one. I can't help but feel they dropped the ball big time on this Lord of Cinder. From the trailers alone, that was my favorite Lord of Cinder. I expected an epic journey. But what I got was a straight path to the boss room. The lore was fine, it was just the journey itself that was fairly disappointing. Even 1 or 2 of the non-Lords of Cinder bosses have way more respectable journies to the boss room (some of them really boring bosses too).

Next on the list, the Soundtrack. The composers really outdone themselves this time. Almost (I said almost) all the tracks capture the feeling of the fight/location that you are in perfectly. The vocals in the tracks are all so hauntingly beautiful, just like the world the game is set in. Some of the boss tracks even change (or skip) if you have entered the next phase of the boss fight (HOLY SHIT). These tracks perfectly catch how hopeless you feel against all the dangers you are facing. The boss tracks will give you the "Oh shit oh shit oh shit" feeling. As a person who pays a lot of attention to the background music, I would even go to the lengths to say that the music strikes the illogical fear of the bosses on me, just as much as how menacing each of the bosses look. (Sample below might be spoiler-ish)

  Here's a sample. The name is kinda spoiler-y.

Another One.

Here and there Fromsoft tosses in some throwbacks to Dark Souls 1. In fact, I think that the game has a lot of fan-service stuff in it. I can't reveal more without being spoiler free, so I am gonna say, if you loved Dark Souls 1, prepare for some fan-service that will make you happy (or mad. depending on which side of the fence you're on)

Next is the Game-play. Why did I decide to write this now? Because I feel that this might be a slightly weaker aspect of the game. It hurts me to say, but the weapon choices in this game feels extremely limited. From a viability standpoint of course. Even before the game released, I have already made up my mind to pick an Ultra Greatsword (like great swords, but bigger) and use that for my play-through. Only to switch to a faster weapon soon after. Why?

1. Rats can break your poise and prevent you from ever swinging your weapon. In full armor.
2. 1 swing from the Knights break your poise and prevents you from ever swinging your weapon.
3. Actually, anything hitting you pretty much stops you from attacking.
4. Big weapons are slow and consume an absurd amount of stamina, for very little damage.
5. No matter how big your weapon is, some enemies don't even flinch. Your weapon is the size of a concrete pillar? Nah bro it ain't doing jack against me bruh.

That sums up my feelings for the fans of the bigger weapons. #MakeBigWeaponsGreatAgain.

That being said, the mechanics of the game seems fair enough. With most enemies being difficult, but not impossible to overcome. Each of the areas feature a distinct set of enemies that will require different tactics for the individual enemies, although some enemies are utter bullshit that deserves to burn in the deepest depths of hell #TRIGGERED. The usual divide and conquer method is still very viable in this game, and playing with caution is definitely more important than playing with style. Some enemies killed me more times than I would like to admit due to me not having the tools to deal with them and I had to explore other options to defeat them, although with less swagger (but I am still alive, and that counts). In the end, staying alive is what matters the most. After all, you are just an Undead on a mission.

Well that Sums Up all the things that I will write about this game. I am no expert in in-game mechanics, so I won't write about that. And also there are other places to read about that. This game is definitely a masterpiece. Undoubtedly. To really enjoy the lore aspect of this game, you will definitely need to play Dark Souls 1, which is in itself, another masterpiece. Dark Souls 3 is not just a game, it is an experience in itself. The final chapter of a world in its final hours. The mechanics, lore, atmosphere, soundtrack and above all, the difficulty it prides itself in will become the benchmark that all other games in the genre will be compared to. Is it the best game ever made? Nah Final Fantasy 9 bruh. #RemakeFF9. Just kidding. Thank you for reading.