Steam Recap 2023

 Today's featured recap: Steam!  See more here.  And yep... I played a ton of New World this year :)

Twitch Recap 2023

 More recaps! This time Twitch.

Sunday 12/17/2023 Post

 If you get the reference... you get the reference.  Nothing more to say.

Reddit Recap 2023

 It's that time of year for recaps!  Here are a couple highlights from 2023 for my Reddit browsing.

Not Final Thoughts on The Finals

 The Finals is an objective-based game where teams of players compete to "cash out" of a futuristic kill-or-be-killed game show complete with bombastic announcer.  Featuring a heavy dose of destruction (that matters) it is easily the most refreshing FPS experience I've played in a long time.  

  I knew I was in for a ride when in my first game I started the match out with a building collapsing around me and players making a mad scramble up the crumbling pieces to fight over a cashout box.  A lot of games promise destruction, but there is nothing quite like the destruction that The Finals allows for.  Destruction is as much of a strategy as coordinating movement with your team.  Objective on the floor above you?  Destroy the floor and bring it down to you.  Team defending a hardened upper floor in a building?  Bring the entire building down like a lumberjack bringing down a tree.

 To go with destruction there is also a plethora of traversal options for players (worth noting that destruction itself is a traversal option).  Grappling hooks, ziplines, wall running, invisibility grenades, and anything a creative mind can come up with like jumping on an exploding bottle and hitting it to send it off like a rocket.

 The game breaks down into three classes: light, medium, and heavy.  Light is light and mobile but are paper thin.  Medium are the support class and the main healing class, but is no chump as they are able to dish out damage. Heavy is a bulldozer; whether sledge hammering down a building or Juggernaut-style charging through walls (in fact it makes me want to say the line every time I use the charge ability).  

 Each class has access to it's own set of gadgets and primary weapons so each class can carve out its own role.  The game also allows a backup inventory that can be changed out between respawns.  The backup is not a full selection so there is decisions to be made going into matches.  This isn't that much of a concern in quick play matches but I suspect it will be a big part of competitive play.  For my casual games so far it's been nice to be able to change stuff up to try things out inside of a match instead of having to wait between matches.

 What I like most about The Finals is that it doesn't take itself too seriously.  There are so many "that doesn't make sense but I'll allow it" moments.  The moment I realized you can melee attack an exploding barrel while holding it to "prime" it's explosion like a grenade was awesome.  Seeing folks slap C4 to casino chairs to use as mobile bombs, watching someone climb a building using turrets as a ladder, and using fire bottles as rocket sleds (stand on top of them and shoot the valve to give it a whirl) are all amazing moments you don't find in other games these days.

 The shenanigans may also be what gives the game a shorter shelf life than other FPS games.  For every eye catching moment there is a "what the..." moment to go with it. Much of those moments take away from an otherwise sensible objective-based game.  The disparity will grow between players who know the game's hi-jinks and those that are just jumping in for some fun which may leave this game to just the ultra competitive crowd which would be a shame.  Matches are becoming more and more lopsided as each day passes and for those of us not interested in rank play that may end the fun sooner than later.

 Over all the game is a blast to play and since it is free to play I would encourage anyone interested to give it a try.  If anything just load up the heavy class with a sledge hammer on the practice map and enjoy destroying the buildings there.

Monday 12/11/2023 Post

 Can a defense play any worse when it matters more?  Clock managmenet? Who needs it!  Got any more gadget trick plays that don't work for that crucial 2 point conversion? Packers basically said "hold my beer" and "found out".

You owe it to yourself to watch this New World update video!

 This is hands down the best holiday event video I've ever seen for an MMORPG.  As one commenter on Reddit put it "not the update we wanted but the update we deserved"!  My hat off to the New World team putting this together!

First Win in The Finals

 What a fun FPS!  Heavy is my go to atm with the lewis gun and "smash down all things"!

Packers GTA-Style

 This just dropped and I love it!  Green Bay Packers + GTA!

Modern Storytelling

 Just a random thought for the day as I had no creative energy for any other post.  I recently re-watched Groundhog Day for the first time in decades and it was as good as I remembered it to be.  It was a delight to be able to share with my teenager as well.  One thing stuck out to me at the end of the movie: it never explains the mystery of how it all happened and that is part of what makes it such a great movie.

 I think modern story telling, especially in games, could learn a lot from Groundhog Day.  So many movies, books, and games go out of their way trying to explain the mystery.  Anyone remember the Lost television show and it's eventual attempts at explaining the great mysteries of the show?  I do and it just didn't work.  

 This doesn't mean always explaining the mystery is a bad idea. Sometimes story tellers nail it.  If you've played Bioshock there is a lot of mystery to start that game and eventually it pays off in an amazing reveal.  So it can be done right, but it so often is not or the mystery is explained when it didn't need to be.

 Brandon Sanderson is an author who I feel falls into this issue a good bit in his stories.  He painstakingly goes over details of his worlds to the point where there is little mystery left and when mystery is a big aspect of his story, such as in Elantris, the eventual explanation was so unsatisfying (really; it was just a drawing a single line!?!?!).  I still like Brandon's books, but I do wish he'd sometimes just leave the mystery to us vs a need to have everything fit neat and tidy into the Cosmere.

 So if you are an author, game writer, or screen writer please take a moment to consider why a mystery needs to be explained at all because chances are it doesn't need to be. Sometimes its better to just not know so we can enjoy the story.