News & Views

10/22/16-10/28/16

Happy (almost) Halloween everyone!

News & Views collects the week’s best writing about video games and puts it all into one convenient place. Check out the links below for stories about how voice actors aren’t told what games they are working on, a ten-year journey to release a pixel art indie game, and elaborate revenge scheme in EVE Online, and a nearly 350 hour long ‘speed run.’

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight

The Biggest Video Games Don't Tell Voice Actors What Game They're Working On

Emanuel Maiberg, Motherboard

Worth Reading

Thoughts on Fighting Game Difficulty and Casual

Matthew DeLucas, Gamasutra

This Guy Spent 342 Hours Speedrunning a Card-Based JRPG

Patrick Klepek, Waypoint

EVE Online player fakes suicide attempt as part of an elaborate scheme for revenge and money

Steven Messner, PC Gamer

Dungeons of the mind: Tabletop RPGs as social therapy

Chris Berg, Kill Screen

Game Design Deep Dive: Creating an adaptive narrative in Reigns

Francois Alliot, Gamasutra

The Exhausting Ten-Year Journey to Release 'Owlboy'

Patrick Klepek, Waypoint

The Thing's video game sequel got everything right except the Thing

Anthony John Agnello, A.V. Club

Costume Time: Role Playing in Role-Playing Games

Perspectives

My silver hair danced gently across my face as I strode into a muddy, weather worn village by the river. An imposing castle sat atop this quiet town. But I wasn’t here for nobles. I wasn’t here for rest. I was here for one reason only—a bounty. For you see, a poster at a nearby tavern alerted me of a desperate need for a skilled warrior. A terrifying griffin had been ravaging a nearby town. I hopped on my horse and rode over. A quick stroll through the streets and it became obvious who my new employer would be. A woman sobbed outside her home, cursing fate and only wishing for her son’s safe return. The griffin had snatched him up while he was playing outside the town’s walls. He was gone in an instant. The mother pleaded with me to help her out. Her only son could be moments away from death. I listened to her request, and got the required information about the beast’s possible lair and habits. I then looked her squarely in her eyes, her brown against my fiery yellow. I asked coldly, “So what does this job pay?”

Sure, I (as Alex) felt bad for the traumatized mother. I (as Alex) hoped the young boy was still alive (though unlikely, griffins aren’t the most patient creatures). But I was not Alex. I was Geralt of Rivia. A bounty hunter. A Witcher. I didn’t ride across the land as a do gooder or as a righteous warrior. I had honed my craft at slaying monsters and ghosts and beasts alike for one reason: to get paid. Every single decision I made during conversation, exploration, and combat was that of the hardened bounty hunter Geralt. Sob stories were met with asking fees. My price was non-negotiable. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt allowed me to be this fantastic character. It allowed me to act in his stead. I always had choices and could have played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt very differently, but I wanted to role-play. I wanted to wear my Geralt costume.

You got a problem, hey I'll solve it. For a fee, of course.

In this spooky, costume-wearing time of year I got to thinking why I like wearing these video game ‘costumes’ and the kinds of games in which these costumes exist. The first place many of us might think of, myself included, are role-playing games (RPGs). They often build a world around a character, or group of characters, that engage with a grand narrative. Sometimes it’s about stopping a madman in clown make-up from destroying the world, other times it’s about finding my long lost son in a post-nuclear wasteland. Who the characters are and how they interact with this grand narrative, however, can vary quite a bit between RPGs. In fact, you don’t always get to role-play a ‘character’ in a RPG. Let me explain.

Non-character ‘characters’ typically fall into two categories. The first you see quite often in Japanese RPGs. We’ll call it the overly controlled protagonist. A few examples out of the many I could have chosen are Cloud from Final Fantasy VII or Sora from Kingdom Hearts. There’s nothing wrong with having an overly controlled protagonist lead your RPG. They’re often endearing, sticking with you long after completing the game. But games like Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts don’t allow the player to make their own stamp on Cloud or Sora, respectively. Everything is pre-scripted. Gameplay inside and outside of combat doesn’t lend itself to adopting a persona. Cloud and Sora are great characters, but they cannot be costumes for me to put on.

And here you see the extent to which you can role-play as Sora.

The second type is the formless protagonist. Formless protagonists were traditionally found in western RPGs like The Elder Scrolls or Baldur’s Gate. You now also see them in Japanese RPGs like Bloodborne and Dragon’s Dogma. The main characters in these games lack any built-in personality. It starts from the character creation screen. In many of these games, you mold and shape a character to look exactly how you want her to. The same philosophy applies to playing the game. Everything about the character comes from you, the player. Good or bad, murderous or forgiving, these protagonists can be whatever you want them to be whenever you want them to be. I already see arguments popping up here. “But Alex, isn’t your character from Fallout 4 perfect for role-playing? It’s a perfect costume since you can be whatever you want!” But therein lies the problem. They aren’t characters. They’re me. They’re me when they are the Nice Guy™ doing good across the land, and they are also me when they are a sleazy scoundrel that drinks until he’s silly. I can’t frame my decisions within an authored context. I am the actions and the framework. The formless protagonist is great for role-playing, but an imperfect costume.

You can be Geralt in Fallout 4! Except not. You're always yourself as your own character.

So what makes Geralt of Rivia work as a costume? It is a combination of player agency in moment-to-moment decisions with predefined characteristics. Geralt has a backstory and personality. He has past decisions to atone for and a well-communicated set of core values. In cutscenes or other moments when control is removed from the player, Geralt acts according to the narrative framework of the developers. He is his own person. While playing, though, I get to define who I am as Geralt. A player like me could have just as easily been a Geralt that’s softened his stance on payments, due to the evolution of his relationship with his daughter figure Ciri. Another player’s Geralt could have gone the exact opposite direction—ignoring teary-eyed pleas for help because he has bigger fish to fry (namely the spectral Wild Hunt that wants him and Ciri dead). No Geralt is wrong, and all Geralts are a costume. I think of it like a mask you’d buy at a Halloween store. You’re not going to buy a block of rubber and cut & shape it into a mask. You’re going to buy one that’s already been made—one you can put your unique stamp on by the way in which you wear it.

Great costumes don’t happen that often in video games, so I relish every chance I get to put one on. A recent example is Adam Jensen in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Like Geralt, this augmented super spy has an authored identity that can be shaped by a player’s actions. Jensen’s tagline in Mankind Divided’s prequel was ‘I didn’t choose this.’ After nearly being blown to smithereens by gunfire, Jensen was rebuilt with top of the line mechanical prosthetics (augmentations) and asked to face off against those who would do harm. Coming into Mankind Divided, Jensen is perhaps more comfortable with his new identity but also, for me as Jensen, someone who never forgot his roots. I took his framework and built upon it.

I played an Adam Jensen that remembered what it was like to be powerless. A tough stint as a Detroit beat cop taught him humility. Taught him the value of all life, especially in an age when people are looking for any reason to treat others as subhuman. For those reasons, my Adam Jensen never killed. Anyone. Ever. I used non-lethal weapons like the stun gun or tranquilizer rifle, and made sure to knockout and enemy rather than break their neck. Even in trying moments, my Adam Jensen held true to his principles. In one instance, he faced off against a serial killer. This person had brutally murdered no less than four augmented individuals and had gotten away with it. In fact, she had lured Jensen into the sewers to be her next victim. Despite all that, Jensen didn’t want to kill her. Nor did he want her to end her own life. In a room rigged with explosives and deadly gas, Jensen carefully talked to the serial killer in an attempt to find out what he could say to peacefully put the murders to an end. And he did. I did. I wasn’t there to open fire or run her through with my arm’s nanoblade. Because that’s not the costume I was wearing.

Put the blade away Jensen. That's not you (or me as you).

I love these video game costumes. Maybe it’s my affinity for this unique kind of role-playing experience; maybe it’s just their scarcity. This Halloween enjoy the costumes you wear. Not just the ones you put on for a party. Enjoy the ones you wear while playing video games, too. From a mythical bounty hunter to an augmented super spy to anything in-between, costumes are a whole lot of fun. Now if only I could find a way to be given candy while wearing one.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Review

Severed, Drinkbox Studios (PS Vita)

Abstract: Fusing together first-person dungeon crawling with touch-based attacks was a risky choice, but one that pays off in Severed. A gripping world sets the stage of an impeccably designed adventure that builds momentum throughout. Smart infusions of new challenges and gameplay systems keep Severed feeling fresh as you progress. Disappointing boss fights and weak narrative payoff is a bummer, but not one that compromises an otherwise exemplary experience. Severed was a delight. It is a game every Vita owner should play.

Enter a world of colorful vibrancy of death and dismemberment. Severed is a unique creation, a mixture of gameplay conventions old and new. Drinkbox Software earned my trust with Guacamelee, and they make good on the promise of their talent with this dungeon crawling, finger-swiping adventure. Not many titles come out each year that justify the PlayStation Vita as a must own console, but Severed does a great job of proving just how impressive a handheld experience can be.

Severed weaves a tale of loss and the lengths someone will go to save their family. The game begins as the protagonist has her right arm violently severed, only to animate and fly away. You explore a dilapidated home in an alien world. It’s soon made clear that your entire family, your mother and father and brother, are dead and you’re in the ruins of your childhood home. Death is just the beginning of your adventure, however. A surreptitiously granted sword and quick monster encounter later and you’re off. You must now venture into danger filled dungeons, learn about where you are, and find a way to save yourself and your family. I was quickly intrigued by Severed’s plot but unfortunately the game does not do much to build upon it.

The first and most immediately compelling element of the game is Severed’s world. It is never made explicit to the player, but the setting comes across as a demon filled purgatory. Bolstered by a strong art direction, similar to the one they used in Guacamelee, Severed does a great job at establishing a mood. Distinct Central American notes permeate the various landscapes, from the look of the protagonist herself to the various iconography and architecture you encounter. This aesthetic carries over to monster designs as well, each with flair and personality. Exploring the forests, temples, and caves throughout Severed was a treat.

The contrast of color and beauty with gore and horror works fantastically.

On paper Severed sounds like a game that wouldn’t work. Severed is a combination of Ultima Underworld with Fruit Ninja. You read that right. Severed is a first-person dungeon crawler with a touch based control scheme for attacking. It is a unique mix that simply works. First-person dungeon crawlers are a genre of games we don’t really see anymore. It has been close to two decades since I played my last one. Aside from some Japanese developers that have recently adopted this early Western genre, first-person dungeon crawlers are all but lost to time. Thankfully, Severed learned from its ancient lineage to create a solid dungeon crawling experience. Quick access to maps, elegantly simple UI, and straightforward dungeon layouts make exploring easy. Rooms are diverse, often filled with interactable elements like destructible vases (that give resources) and secret paths. Light puzzle solving, typically involving switches or locked doors, prevents monotony while exploring without seriously halting player progress. A fast travel system would have been nice, but never did it feel like a slog to traverse Severed’s large map.

Combat is one of Severed’s most pronounced successes. When you think Fruit Ninja, you don’t picture a tense or thoughtful series of swipes. You think about mindless chaos. Though Severed uses directional swipes for its combat, the experience of battling couldn’t be further from those more casual titles. As you explore, you’ll come across rooms that have monsters inside. To progress to the next room, you have to defeat them. Monsters can be attacked only by swiping your finger across the screen. Short, quick swipes do little damage whereas long swipes deal much more. Defeating enemies is all about pattern recognition and discovering weaknesses. For instance, after being hit a couple times, one monster will block its center to prevent damage, while simultaneously opening up its flanks to attack. Other monsters have weak points that only make themselves apparent after you whittle away their defenses. These demons aren’t just helpless creatures waiting to be wailed on – they fight back. Every enemy has an attack timer, indicated by a meter on the bottom of the screen. Once it’s filled, they attack. The only way to mitigate damage is by parrying their attack, swiping in the opposite direction. Learning how monsters attack and the best way to quickly counter them is absolutely critical to make your way through Severed.

 

Combat is fast and fun. And just a little bit bloody.

As you progress the complexity of monster encounters ramps up. Some monsters don armor that must be destroyed with a charged swipe before you can deal damage. Others have defenses in place that, if you swipe the wrong way, you’ll power the monster up instead of hurting it. Later still, monsters will have stat boots that cause them to attack faster, deal more damage, or even recover health. Fights quickly become more than 1 vs 1, too. You’ll have to fight several monsters at once, which involves rotating your character to face them. Even though you can only face one at a time, monsters can attack whenever. What results is a skill intensive choreography of balancing damage and defense as you attack, parry, and rotate. Mistakes are punished and precision is key.

Think you're going to mindlessly swipe your way to victory?
Think again. 

Severed’s RPG elements manifest themselves in a couple ways. You gain abilities after defeating bosses, which adds new dimensions to both combat and exploration. Early in the game you gain the ability to briefly stun enemies, opening them up for attack and stopping their attack meter. Later on you acquire the devour ability, which not only allows you to open walls marked with its symbol, it also enables you to steal enemy stat boosts for yourself. Additionally, Severed features a robust leveling mechanic based on the game’s namesake. Attacking enemies fills up your Focus meter and, if an enemy’s health is depleted when the meter is full, you are able to use precision swipes to remove limbs, horns, eyeballs and more from your foes. Those severed appendages serve as your experience points. Severed parts can be consumed to fill up nodes on a skill tree. Nodes grant bonuses like better defense, quicker recovery time, or more damaging attacks. Severing quickly becomes the name of the game (pun intended) as you’ll want to cut off everything in sight to make yourself more powerful.

Combat is not without some faults. Though much more skill intensive than something like Fruit Ninja, Severed still asks the player to swipe one heck of a lot. Not only do you look like a madman in the game’s more tricky sections, it also results in some serious wear and tear to your fingertip. I appreciated the monsters, but Severed repeats enemies a bit too often for a 3-4 hour experience (albeit they come back with slightly altered variants). Boss encounters are generally underwhelming, too. In fact, several late game encounters are more challenging than the game’s bosses, both in sheer difficulty and in terms of strategy. When you have to defeat 4 uber-hard monsters on a strict time limit it makes a tiny little crow monster feel like chump change.

I've fought floating eyeballs harder than you! (Seriously) 

Other issues I have with the game lie outside of chopping monsters to bits. The narrative, while intriguing, never fully comes together. The player is left to guess the exact nature of the world, the antagonists, and the final outcome. A little more would have been nice here. The game’s soundtrack is disappointing and quickly became repetitive. Still, I can’t help but be enamored by the number of small things Severed does so right. Your protagonist changes as she gains new abilities, transforming her into an otherworldly-looking monster-slaying badass by game’s end. Sound effects for attacking, parrying, and severing are immensely satisfying. The way the camera dips and rises as you walk, the tactility of everything. Severed has far more in the plus column than minus.

It's the little things that make a game feel special. That, and a
breastplate made from the face of a boss you eviscerated.

Severed is a game I played nonstop until I finished. I got sucked into its world. I was hooked by the novel fusion of old and new. A great sense of momentum carried me through my adventure and my platinum trophy capped off an overall stellar experience. Perhaps Severed isn’t reason enough to buy a Vita, but if you have Vita there is no reason hesitate on this one. There’s nothing quite like its vibrant horror.

Severed

4/5

Beautiful Spectrum

Review

Hyper Light Drifter, Heart Machine (PS4)

Abstract: Hyper Light Drifter is a new classic. The game’s stunning art direction and soundtrack compliment an immensely satisfying gameplay experience. Combat is a perfect balance of simplicity with depth and fluidity with strategy. Hyper Light Drifter creates a world that is easy to get lost in and is filled with hidden secrets. The game does so much with so little and respects the player’s intelligence and perseverance throughout. Hyper Light Drifter should not be missed. It is easily one of 2016’s best.

Hyper Light Drifter makes me jealous. Not as a game designer, not as a critic, but as a scientist. In many ways, Hyper Light Drifter resembles the perfect kind of research manuscript. The game sets itself a goal and accomplishes it with resounding success. And, with what feels little effort. More than that, though, Hyper Light Drifter does so much with so little – it is the perfect combination of small parts that delivers an extraordinary experience. Hyper Light Drifter is simple, but underneath that simplicity (as any good research scientist knows) there almost certainly was an excruciating struggle and peerless work. Hyper Light Drifter is everything I want my own thesis project to be: intrigue, complexity refined into perfect simplicity, and something that immediately grips its audience and doesn’t let go.

A fluorescent-steeped and moody prologue begins your adventure into Hyper Light Drifter. The textless exposition sets the stage of a world destroyed by giant monsters, a deadly disease, a sealed off power, and a people forced to rebuild. The quasi-medieval setting quickly unfolds into something much deeper, with echoes of a lost technological age. Your protagonist is a silent wanderer, donning a flowing cape, glowing sword, and small pistol. He finds himself in a small town with adventure waiting on all sides. The drifter seeks to explore the ruined world and uncover its truths. Along your journey you’ll fight monsters of all shapes and sizes, tyrannical bosses and treacherous terrain. Hyper Light Drifter’s narrative leaves a lot up to the player for interpretation, but by so confidently establishing both mood and lore I was immediately sucked in.

The world calls to me.

The game’s zoomed out isometric perspective gives a great view of its gorgeous world. Usually I wait until later in the review, but I can’t help myself. Hyper Light Drifter is an astoundingly beautiful game. From its animations to its highly detailed pixel art, the game’s aesthetic shines through. Snowy mountains, verdant forests, barren deserts are all wonderfully realized through Hyper Light Drifter’s unique perspective. The world has a certain indefinable charm that exists as a combination of art, music (by the amazing Disasterpiece) and enemy design. In all honesty, the art is what drew me from the start – as early as the game’s embryonic (i.e. Kickstarter) stages. I was so relieved to see the full realization of the designers’ vision in the game’s final release.

Hyper Light Drifter is a 2D action RPG. Gameplay divides nicely into a couple key areas: combat, upgrading your character, and exploration. Hyper Light Drifter’s combat is superb. Fights occur naturally when exploring, in set combat arenas, and against bosses. The drifter has a number of tools to deal with the monsters that flood the world. Your primary weapon is the sword. Enemies can be hit with quick single blows or, if you’ve read their patterns correctly, can be punished with a three-hit combo. Firing your sidearm can damage enemies at a distance. The damage is minimal, unless charged up for a big shot, and ammunition is limited (it refills slowly upon attacking foes with your sword). Your opposition is aggressive, so Hyper Light Drifter also provides the player fantastic tools for escape. You have access to a lightning fast dash move, which can be used offensively or defensively depending on your situation. The player is invulnerable for a short time while dashing, increasing the skill threshold as whole attacks can be mitigated by a well-timed dodge.

Nothing should be underestimated. Hyper Light Drifter
keeps you on your toes.

Combat starts slow as you learn the language of the game. Fluency comes rapidly, though, as your fights become a flashy choreography of dashes and sword strikes and weapon swaps. Mastery feels always just out of reach, perfect for a skill intensive game like Hyper Light Drifter. There’s always more to learn. Your skills are put to the test in boss fights. Bosses run the gamut of shapes and sizes but they always force fluency in some aspect of combat, whether it be pattern recognition, short punishes, or chain dashes. Hyper Light Drifter’s combat also quickly opens up to player customization. You’ll unlock new guns to bolster long distance or close range engagements and new abilities that make battles even more fluid. Combat is a perfect combination of simplicity and depth, risk and reward, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

 

Time to show what you've learned.

Speaking of unlocks, Hyper Light Drifter lives up to its RPG name by featuring a nice suite of methods to power up your hero. Gearbits can be found throughout the world and used as currency to unlock new abilities. Your sword can gain a charge strike to deal massive damage, or a dash strike to attack after a dash. Your dash can gain the ability to chain into itself infinitely and the ability to reflect enemy projectiles. While there are no stats to manage, Hyper Light Drifter does allow for the hero himself to be powered up. You can unlock the ability to carry more health packs, which is essential, as health never regenerates. As you progress through the game, you’ll also come across new outfits for the drifter. These are often more than just an aesthetic change as they can grant bonus abilities like faster ammo recovery or an extra point of health. Hyper Light Drifter is a great RPG while making your RPG-experience as streamlined as possible.

Streamlined or not, I enjoyed Hyper Light Drifter's RPG elements.

Exploration is where Hyper Light Drifter truly shines. Hyper Light Drifter has a world you want to get lost in. Tranquility belies a setting rife with intrigue. Tucked into every nook and cranny of the world is something interesting to see or some new item for your playthrough. The nonverbal communication of the game to the player is fantastic. You’re never told where to go or what path to take—everything is discovered through playing. You’re never told to look for secrets, nor are you told what to do with those secrets. There is a system in place that indicates where a secret hides, but Hyper Light Drifter relies on a player’s intelligence and perseverance to find the pattern. I hate comparing one game I’m reviewing to another, but I can think of no better way to put it here: playing Hyper Light Drifter evokes the same feeling I got playing the original The Legend of Zelda on the NES. The game is a puzzle box that can be solved as rudimentarily, or as meticulously, as you desire. The joy I felt moving from screen to screen scouring for paths is unparalleled in modern gaming. Exploring Hyper Light Drifter is part epic poem and part learning a new language, and the two combine to create something spectacular. There are a precious few games I wish I could erase from my memory so I could experience them again for the first time – Hyper Light Drifter is one of them.

In the spirit of the mostly wordless Hyper Light Drifter I attempted to keep this review brief. I could go on for another thousand words about the satisfying gameplay loop, the hidden bonus challenges, or how the real world around me dissolved while playing. Hyper Light Drifter is one of the most supremely well-designed games I’ve played all year. Hyper Light Drifter not only lived up to expectations, it created a new classic. Hyper Light Drifter is a wide spectrum of excellence not to be missed.

Hyper Light Drifter

5/5

To End The Fire

Review

Dark Souls III, From Software (PS4)

Abstract: Despite an initial hesitance, one that unfortunately loomed throughout my entire playthrough, I’m happy to write that Dark Souls III delivers. In a number of significant ways, Dark Souls III is the best Souls game to date. Combat is faster and more skill intensive than ever. Smart new systems add to the intricate balance of risk versus reward that teaches players to succeed organically. The world is intricately crafted and steeped in fascinating lore. It is a culmination of a franchise I regard at the center of my gaming identity. Dark Souls III is a perfect conclusion to the Dark Souls franchise and easily one of the best games of the year. I’m ready to say goodbye.

For the first time ever, a new Souls game was not at the top of my year’s most anticipated list. It’s not that I had low expectations: everything I had seen about Dark Souls III looked great. It’s not that I feared weak direction: Hidetaka Miyazaki was back on board to steer the Dark Souls ship in the right direction. It’s not even that the game was hitting at a time inundated with other new releases: Dark Souls III released during a relatively slow period in gaming. But there was something different about the release of Dark Souls III, and it colored my early interpretation when I first jumped into the game.

Dark Souls III is the third Souls game in as many years, following last year’s game of the year Bloodborne, and the year before’s runner up Dark Souls II. Dark Souls III would have to not only bring something new, but also perfect the familiar to give me that same amazing Souls experience I look forward to. Did it deliver? The answer is exceedingly complex but in short: yes, very much so.

The story in Dark Souls III immediately felt familiar to longtime fans, while being accessible to newcomers. Since the end of endless, the world of Dark Souls has been defined by a terrible cycle. Flames burn bright, ushering in prosperity throughout the land and bequeathing unrivaled power and god-like status to those who wield the flame. Invariably the fires grow dim, bringing about death and decay. For centuries, the keepers of the flame have sacrificed themselves to rekindle the world’s fire. And so the beginning, diminishing, and rekindling cycle repeats endlessly. In Dark Souls III, your hero once again arrives at the end of this cycle tasked with an almost impossible mission: to decide the fate of the world.

 

Lothric has seen better days.

In Dark Souls III specifically, you quickly learn that the keepers of the fire (called Lords of Cinder) are shirking their duties. Unwilling to end themselves to rekindle the flame, the land of Lothric is falling deeper and deeper into darkness. It is therefore up to you to find the four Lords of Cinder and end them yourself, so that the cycle can begin again. Or not, depending on the player’s actions. The plot isn’t exactly detailed for the player, on par per the rest of the Souls series, but is still perhaps the franchise’s most straightforward quest. Where it gets complicated, and fantastic, is in the world of Lothric itself. Lothric exists as a paradoxical mashup of past cycles, featuring familiar sights and characters from both Dark Souls I and II. It was great discovering who the characters were, both new and old, and how they fit into the synthetic new world. It works as both an exciting new setting while also acting perhaps as a commentary on the franchise itself: you’ll tread familiar ground, but in new ways. Similarly, it also felt like an end point: you’re returning to these familiar locations and characters because it will (or should) be the last time you see them. The melancholy of that realization only further strengthened the sadness built into the crumbling kingdom of Lothric.

The familiarity of Dark Souls III permeates its core experience, but it is no more evident than in the gameplay systems. Estus Flasks return as your sole source of health restoration. Bonfires act as checkpoints that not only heal players, they refill flask charges, repair weapons, and respawn enemies. Bosses are found behind ominous fog walls, challenging players to a tense battle to the death in their arenas. Dark Souls III has an almost unmanageably large suite of weapons, armors, shields, spells, miracles, and pyromancies for your character to fight with. I stuck to the basic longsword + shield + medium armor build that always gets me through my first playthrough. While it felt familiar, the underlying systems still made my roughly 35 hour time to completion satisfying throughout.

 

A familiar view for any Souls player.

Combat in Dark Souls III is the series’ best. What worked from the previous two games is kept in an identical fashion: every fight is a tense balance of risk and reward as both player and enemy alike die within a few blows, the stamina bar makes each encounter exciting as you need to carefully plan your attacks and blocks, and pattern recognition remains key to your success. Here again, the player is the experience points. You get better at Dark Souls III because you are better, not that your character has reached the right level or found the best sword. It’s hard to gauge the game’s difficulty overall because I have become so accustomed to the systems, but Dark Souls III did feel among the easiest in the franchise and perhaps a good starting place for beginners.

 

Pro tip: Nearly every chest in Dark Souls III is a mimc.
Attack on sight.

Dark Souls III is not without its innovations, however, as the series continues to not only learn from past mistakes but also refine the already stellar gameplay package Dark Souls is famous for. Dark Souls III is the fastest Dark Souls game yet, clearly inspired by the fantastically fast Bloodborne. It adds to the game’s skill ceiling and made combat feel fresh. Dark Souls III also introduces the Focus Point (FP) system, which acts similarly to the magic bar found in Demon’s Souls. FP is used to cast spells, miracles and pyromancies but also for another new addition: weapon arts. Each weapon as a special attack, or set of special attacks, that consumes your FP meter. It’s a small addition but one that worked well and made what was usually a useless stat for melee-only players (which I imagine is a great deal of the player base) something meaningful. The FP meter can be restored with the new Ashen Estus Flask item. The Ashen flasks are yet another smart addition to the game, as choosing to equip Ashen flasks remove from your total available charges of your health flask. It has the player make tough decisions: how much do I value FP restoration? Is it worth losing a precious healing charge? What would it be like if I did all ashen flasks? And on and on. Dark Souls III’s refinements to the combat experience are minor, but all work together with an already robust foundation to create, in my opinion, a perfect Dark Souls combat experience. It just doesn’t get any better.

World design in Dark Souls III feels like a 1:1 combination of the previous two entries. Dark Souls III brings back the amazing verticality found in Dark Souls. Exploring thoroughly almost always leads to the discovery of a shortcut that completely redefines your perception of the zone’s geography. Each of the discrete zones felt handcrafted and remarkably clever: mazes that aren’t really mazes, long routes, short routes, tough routes, easy routes, with beautiful backdrops accompanying them all. Unlike Dark Souls, and similar to Dark Souls II, the third is a deeply linear experience. You can find some branching paths and a couple well-hidden optional areas, but the majority of your exploration is from A to B, in a straight line. I appreciate that it was less linear that Dark Souls II, but I would have loved a return to the complex and real feeling world of Lordran.  

 

A graphical depiction of each Dark Souls game's progress route.

Bosses are a hallmark of the Souls franchise and are done well here. For the most part, Dark Souls III avoids past errors like having too many similar boss fights or bosses that aren’t fun to fight against. A few exceptions aside, each boss is either a) a fun fight or b) an awe-inspiring monstrosity. Many check both boxes. Overall, however, there weren’t many bosses that left a lasting impression. They were good, but not great. I commend a return to giving players some truly creepy and intimidating monsters to fight against, I just wish they made a bigger impact. That said, two fights in particular (being vague here but: the brothers and the nameless) are absolutely fantastic. I wish I could go back and fight them again.

 

The fight was both a) and b). It also killed me the most of any boss.
Ya jerk.

Despite all my glowing praise, and I do mean every word I write, something just felt off while I was playing Dark Souls III. I wasn’t meticulously scouring the world for every hidden secret. I wasn’t trying to perfectly optimize my player build and weapons. I didn’t engage with any online play or covenant shenanigans. I felt elation at beating some bosses but nothing matched my stand-up-and-cheer victories of past entries. I got the game on release day but didn’t play until nearly 5 days later. I also feel no compulsion to get the game’s platinum trophy. I’ve reflected on these feelings for nearly 3 weeks now and I still have no concrete answer as to their true root. Maybe 3 Souls games in 3 years is just too much? Maybe 2016 has a lot of other games that feel newer and more exciting? Maybe something is off about Dark Souls III and I’m just missing it? It is too hard to say. Because despite what I just wrote, I still played 16 hours in my first two and a half days after booting up the game. I still played essentially nonstop until I had beaten the game, gotten all endings, and finished all optional zones and bosses. Both in the moment and upon reflection, I still appreciate just how expertly crafted Dark Souls III is and the purity of its game design. I would still be excited for another Souls game next year, confusingly enough. I’m ready for Dark Souls to be over, but at the same time that thought devastates me.

 

I don't want to leave. Not really. But then I do. I'm so conflicted.
Regardless, Dark Souls III is great.

What is clear, however, is that Dark Souls III is an absolutely phenomenal game. Removing my weird mental state makes it one hundred percent obvious. Gameplay has been perfected. The story wraps up so many loose ends and gives a definitive conclusion to the franchise. Dark Souls III still deeply engrossed me in its world, start to finish, and I feel better for playing it. Dark Souls III is a great culmination of what the franchise has built towards and an exceptional experience in its own right. I’m glad the Souls series is taking a break, but I’m even more glad Dark Souls III is the game it’s (supposedly) ending with. It really could not be any better. Thank you for everything, Dark Souls. Here’s to the future.

Dark Souls III

5/5

TIF Plays: Week of 4/25-4/29
Gameplay

Welcome to the The Impact Factor's last week of gameplay! Check out below to links of all my gameplay. Be sure to catch me live on Twitch (MegalodonPhD). I stream every Tuesday at 5:30pm PST and Thursday at 6:30pm PST. Plus some special Friday streams, too! You can do me a favor by subscribing to The Impact Factor's YouTube channel, but hey, don't let me tell you what to do! 

To keep up to date with everything The Impact Factor, and me, follow me on Twitter: @alexsamocha

See you all next week!

News & Views

4/23/16-4/29/16

I’ve been busy traveling this week, so I’ll keep this short. Each week News & Views compiles great gaming writing from all over the web into one convenient place. Check out the links below for stories about the long and storied development of Overwatch, whether or not there should be a difficulty setting in Dark Souls, and how Counter Strike is turning teens into serious gamblers.

And of course please check out the brand new episode of The Impact Factor podcast that was posted today! You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or if you prefer other methods, check out our SoundCloud. We’re on YouTube too!

Spotlight

The Story of Fumito Ueda

Game no ryuugi, Shmuplations

Worth Reading

The ugly everyday racism inside tech's diversity problem

Erika Joy, The Daily Dot

The Known Unknowns of Subterfuge

Nick Capozzoli, Giantbom

The Story of Overwatch: 21 Hero Salute

Danny O’Dwyer, Gamespot

On Dark Souls and Easy Modes

Cameron Kunzelman, This Cage Is Worms

Professional Fake Nerd Girl

Maddy Myers, Metroidpolitan

How market research changes your games

Alan Lopez, Polygon

Men Are Working Out Their Issues By Playing As Their Lovers and Exes in RPGs

Cecilia D’Anastasio, Motherboard

Virtual weapons are turning teens into serious gamblers

Joshua Brustein and Eben Novy-Williams, Bloomberg

Binge Player Syndrome and How It’s Hard to Go Back (Or Stop)

Perspective

Abstract: I suffer from the self-coined “Binge Player Syndrome” (BPS). I feel the urge to ‘complete’ new games, learn their language, and do so as swiftly as possible. BPS affords some benefits, like the uncanny ability to see games to their end point and the psychological reassurance of getting tasks accomplished. The downside, however, is that BPS makes it exceedingly hard to return to games left unfinished while simultaneously making it difficult to stop playing until I’ve attained ‘mastery.’ What kind of gamer are you?

Hello everyone. I have a confession to make. I suffer from “Binge Player Syndrome” (BPS). I’m not quite sure how long I’ve been affected by BPS, but it’s certainly taken a stronger hold of me since entering graduate school. But what is BPS? Am I sure I didn’t just invent the term? (I totally did.) How does it affect me on a day-to-day basis and as a gamer? Fear not, you won’t be in the dark much longer. Let me explain.

I’ve been affected by BPS for as long as I can remember playing games, but it’s certainly intensified over the past six years or so. Let me describe a few of the symptoms. It starts with an initial hesitation to begin playing a new game. This stems from a fear, or maybe not fear exactly, but a dread for what looms in my immediate future. I know that once I start a game, I’ve invested a part of myself into it. I am there to fully consume the game. I have made a commitment. The commitment can be a bit fluid, but what it ultimately comes down to is this: I will not stop playing the game until I feel like I have ‘completed’ it. Completion can mean different things for different games, but when I dedifferentiate the specifics into a general list, I get these:

·       Finish the single player mode, if the game has one.

·       Gain a near mastery* of the gameplay systems

·       Understand what the game does well and where it fails

·       At minimum, spend adequate** time in all features / modes offered

·       [For recent games] Complete an acceptable*** level of in-game achievements (trophies, Steam achievements, etc)

·       Above all, play enough to form an educated opinion

*Able to perform all tasks asked of me by the game with decent-to-excellent execution

**This can range dramatically, usually dependent on how essential I feel the mode is to the game’s sum experience.

***This point is moot for games without in-game achievements, like those on Nintendo platforms or mobile. I’ll generally look at a list, see which seem fun and/or easy to accomplish, and plan to get those ones done.

The other critical element of my BPS is, as you might have guessed, achieving this ‘completion’ in as fast a time as possible. The ‘why’ to my rapid timetable is multifaceted. Without going into too much detail, it exists as a combination of my desire to have the time to experience as many interesting games as possible, to stay on top of the constant deluge of new releases, and to not remain stagnant in how I spend my limited free time. When I start up a new game I go all in and all at once. I tend to binge a new game start to finish, uninterrupted by other games if at all possible (though I have been known to juggle as many as three titles at the same time). It’s like a good burger or plate of sushi. As much as I may try to draw out my excellent experience as long as possible, it’s usually a quite short affair. I consume. Fast.

One month into 2016 and I already have a meaty list of played games.

Further, by looking so far into the future of my time with new games, often before I even truly start, I can get caught up in the work I have ahead of me. I’ll therefore approach it like all other work I do: by buckling down and doing research. First and foremost, I need to learn the language of the game. I need to understand what the game is trying to communicate to me and the way in which it is doing so. The process is often fast as I try to approach the problem from multiple angles: experimenting with the game’s systems, scouring the in-game resources, and seeking online write-ups or guides to serve as a foundation for my endeavors. I’m gathering evidence, making observations, and (as I play) synthesizing them to not only gain mastery but also form various theses on my experience. For every new game I attempt to transform myself into the player the game wants me to be. In my experience, this gives the game its best chance to show off its strengths. By the end of my time with a game, I want to be able to speak its language.

I just started PAD. There's so much language to learn.

So what does BPS do for me? What is it good for? Above all, it makes me pretty adept at finishing games. One of the most shocking gaming statistics I’ve come across in the past few years is how few people finish the games they start. It is remarkable and, if I’m being honest, a bit sad. Prior to this last generation of consoles, it was hard to quantitate completion percentages. You could survey people, but those can easily be impacted by confounders (who wants to admit they haven’t beaten The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, for example). Here is where the power of trophies / achievements come in. Most games grant an achievement for completing the single player content. For PlayStation at least, you can then look at the total percent of players that have earned the trophy for completion (measured out of the total number of individuals who have booted up the game). They are all so low. Here are just a few examples from PlayStation trophies. Only 17% of people have beaten Titan Souls. Only 22% of people have beaten Ni No Kuni. Only 10% of people have beaten Transistor. Even an easy, linear, 6.5 hour game like The Order: 1886 has only 43% of players reach the end. And the list goes on. By finishing a game, I place myself in a minority of individuals who have actually seen the experience to its conclusion.  

Transistor is amazing people! I know more
than 10% of you can beat it.

BPS is also quite good at making me feel accomplished (as superficial as it might be). I set out in the beginning of my time with a new game with a huge to-do list filled with unchecked boxes. Playing the game lets me check box after box. The credit roll lets me know that I’ve done something, that I’ve put in the work to see the game all the way through. There’s something psychologically reassuring about checking things off a list, about making gradual linear progress towards a fixed endpoint. This feeling isn’t why I play games, but it certainly enhances my time with them.

There isn’t all upside to my syndrome, of course. With good comes bad. And the worst is how BPS affects my ability to go back to old titles. Once a game has slipped out of the bubble of fervor, it is usually lost forever. Life can intervene, a new title I’ve eagerly awaited can be released before I finish, I can get bored, etc. There’s no end to the factors that can take me out of the experience. As I keep moving forward, distance rapidly grows between myself and the game I’ve been meaning to complete. And coming back is rough. It’s like being dropped in a foreign country, unclear of where to go, how to go, and how to communicate with the locals. I suspect this is a feeling shared by anyone trying to get back into a game they’ve put down for a while, but my exasperation feels so much more intense because I’m keenly aware of what I lost. I used to know the language. I used to know my way around. Further, my BPS mandates a certain level of mastery for my enjoyment. It feels awful hopping back into a game, deep into it’s content, totally unaware of what to do. So much so I’d rather just leave it be. It’s hard to go back.

Though I have left many games unfinished, a few stick out in my mind as particularly painful. One that still haunts me is Baten Kaitos on Gamecube. I loved that game. The immersive world, the card-based battle system, the cast of characters, the stunning visuals. I couldn’t tear myself away from the game. Until, for some reason , I just stopped playing. At the final dungeon. Yep. By the time my guilt for leaving Baten Kaitos incomplete finally reached its boiling point, I had totally forgotten what I was doing and how to play, stranded in story’s toughest area. I attempted on a several occasions to pick it back up to finish, but I never got my foothold. Baten Kaitos remains unfinished.

One day I'll finish you Baten Kaitos. Probably. Maybe. The chances are slim.

A more recent pair of examples are From Software’s Dark Souls II and Bloodborne. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve finished both games. I’ve also completed all in-game trophies, earning myself the platinum. What I refer to here is their respective DLCs. As much as I love both games, I consumed them like I consume all games: all at once and as completely as possible. I specced my ideal characters, beat all bosses optional or not, maxed out my upgrades, etc. But for both games, I was done within three weeks. Thus, when the DLC for each of the two games was released upwards of 6+ months later, I had lost my mastery of the Souls language. The DLC’s barrier to entry was extraordinarily high, because it meant relearning what I had binged so long ago. Again, while I’m sure I would pick it back up again, the feeling of having to do so is unpleasant (for me). Once I’ve crossed a game off my list, it generally stays crossed. Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC was a huge inspiration for this piece. I own it and I’m so excited to play, but my BPS is putting up a huge wall blocking my re-entry.

Even though I am incredibly excited to play The Older Hunters DLC,
I haven't been able to get past my mental barrier to re-entry.

A final game I had originally slated to write about here was Ni No Kuni. I recently said on TIF podcast that Ni No Kuni is easily the best classic JRPG from the PS3/Xbox360 console generation. It’s a game I bought at launch in February 2013, and played for 54 hours in 2.5 weeks. It’s also a game that, until earlier this month, I had not beaten. For one reason or another, I stopped playing just before the final dungeon. Despite how much I loved the game, and desperately wanted to finish it, I couldn’t get back into it. I expected to write in this article how shameful I feel that it still sits incomplete in my gargantuan backlog. But no. Three years later I’ve beaten it. And it’s all thanks to my fiancée. Justine began playing the game in the New Year and in the process of doing so retaught me the language of the game. She helped reteach me the ins-and-outs of Familiar training and battles. She refamiliarized me with character motivations and the world’s story. Justine got me to the place where I felt comfortable jumping back in, which allowed me to get past the limitations of BPS and finally see the credits roll.

Stuck in Ding Dong Dell no longer! It felt sublime to finish Ni No Kuni.

Hand-in-hand with difficulty going back to an old game, it’s also incredibly hard to stop playing the titles I’m currently working on. I played Bloodborne non-stop for nearly three weeks. From early morning to the late hours of the night, I didn’t feel satisfied until I had ‘completed’ the game. In Bloodborne’s case, that meant beating the story, all dungeons, all bosses, and obtaining the platinum trophy. The list of things I wanted to accomplish in-game was stress inducing at times, and a clear unwanted symptom of BPS. Fallout 4 is another title I binged until I had finished. I played Fallout 4 and only Fallout 4 until I had done all named side quests and seen the game’s ending from all factions’ perspective. And I did just that. The downside, however, is now that I’ve officially ‘completed’ the game I feel no urge to go back. Fallout 4 is huge and diverse and interesting, with plenty more for me still to do, but because I’ve ‘completed’ it I imagine I will not be going back any time soon. BPS can also affect games without clear-cut endpoints, too. Take Spelunky and Nuclear Throne for example. It was hard for me to stop playing these games, even after 100+ and 60+ hours respectively. While the main reason was that I was still enjoying these titles, it also lingered in the back of my mind that I hadn’t mastered them yet. A small part of the reason I kept playing was because I wanted to gain a more nuanced understanding of their language; I wanted to be an expert. It is also the reason I figure I’ll never stop playing Spelunky or Nuclear Throne. There’s always more vocabulary to learn.

So what am I left with? I own up to having Binge Player Syndrome, for starters. It’s important for me to admit, and important for my audience to know. It colors the way I play, think, and speak about games. It comes with strengths and it comes with limitations. But hey, it’s me. What kind of player are you?