Hey Everyone!
So I know I said last week that I had just finished Horizon: Forbidden West, and was going to finish up some character side quests before immediately jumping into the Burning Shores DLC. Well it turns out I did none of that. In attempting to bask in the moment from finishing Horizon, I had started watching all the spoiler-filled YouTube videos I had previously earmarked for when I had finished the game. One of these included a video from Dunkey, which turned out to be fairly short. However, after watching that one, I noticed that he recently posted a video Titled, Revisiting Uncharted 4, which I decided to watch. Now I know Dunkey is more on the comedy side of reviews and videos, but I really found this video very compelling and he made a lot of good points about the game. It made me remember that I never played Uncharted: Lost Legacy, So I popped in my old Uncharted 4 PS4 disc, paid the $10 for the PS5 upgrade, and hopped right into Lost Legacy, craving a bit of Uncharted 4 but without the time commitment. How long to beat puts it at 7 hours, and since I’m playing on easy, it won’t take me long (I prefer to play the Uncharted Games on easy since the enemies can be too spongey on normal or hard for my taste). Anyway, Aloy and Sylens will have to wait for now.
It feels really good to jump into something new after having played a game for over 20-30 hours over the course of several months.
This next section is all about Tchia so feel free to skip because it turned into a whole First-Impression/Review as I wrote it. What can I say, I felt inspired.
On the family gaming front, I can’t really mass-murder treasure hunters in front of a 2 year old (or that’s what my wife says anyway), so I started playing Tchia, which I bought on sale a few weeks ago. It is a wonderful, beautiful, culturally-rich game. And for my daughter who absolutely loves Moana, this was a no-brainer, even though it’s single player. She hasn’t taken to games or controllers yet anyway, but I’m trying and she likes to watch. It has cultural music and food, beautiful environments, and animals galore (which are made even better by the possession mechanics). The BotW style exploration is great, with almost zero hand-holding. Your map doesn’t even have a marker for your character. You need to read it and discern your location using the natural environment. If you have trouble you can have Tchia identify the map quadrant you are in if you need to.
Mechanics wise, I already mentioned the possession mechanic, but you also have a stamina bar which doubles as your health. Run out of stamina and you pass out and wake up on your boat or your last campfire. Stamina is used for swimming underwater, climbing, paragliding, and damage. And again, like BotW, you can climb anything. The boat mechanics are made great due to their subtle physicality. You grab the helm to steer, detach from it and walk over to your anchor to drop or raise it, or walk over to your mast to adjust your speed. No wind direction here, so even though it’s a sail boat it might as well be a motor boat. I get subtle Wind Waker vibes, and sailing along with the music is a treat. The possession mechanic has a throw ability as well. Possess a rock or coconut, aim and when you exit your possession the object goes flying at your enemies. You can even immediately repossess your thrown object and chain together multiple possession throws for maximum traversal. This is great if you don’t have any animals nearby. I really great moment I had was chain possession-throwing my self using a rock to chase down a bird mid-flight to possess it mid-air. So cool. Even better, the bird had a dedicated button to take a shit. Amazing, 10/10 game-play right there.
Speaking of which, some animals can actually be picked up and stowed in your backpack. This feels like an exploit, but it’s great running around with a cat and dog in my backpack that I can pull out at any time for running around at max speed or using the cat’s night vision. Each animal has a certain special ability as well. Too bad they despawn quickly once taken back out of your backpack if you take them too far from their origional location and lose sight of them. And no, a dolphin wouldn’t fit in my backpack. I tried.
I mentioned enemies earlier, and while they aren’t a major focus of the game (at least yet) they do exist. I ran into a camp of these enemies (made of paper, signifying what I believe to be the personification of “red-tape” and “bureaucracy” which are initial themes I’m gleaning from the opening moments). Anyway, you possess lanterns and jerry cans and possession-throw them at the paper enemies to burn them alive. Next to the encampment was a statue of one of these paper men with an obvious “explosive” symbol indicating that it is Tchia’s responsibility to destroy these idols of propaganda. So now my backpack is filled with a dog, a cat, and 8 cans of petrol as I tour this wondrous, fictional, archipelago inspired by New Caledonia, finding cute animals, befriending the inhabitants, cliff diving and doing flips, and discovering the natural and cultural wonders, all while indiscriminately burning my enemies alive and destroying their idolistic propaganda with gasoline.
Did mention this was a kids game?
Well I wrote everything above earlier this week, but just yesterday I advanced the Tchia story some more. Holy cow it took a right hand turn into some weird shit. Definitely not a story for a little kid like mine. Maybe a little older. Open world animals and visuals? Yes, E for Everyone, family friendly. The actual story and villain? Definitely earns the Teen rating I think. Luckily I played that part alone to spare my daughter nightmares.
Anyway, I’m having a blast.
I also just picked up Oxenfree (the first one) and Dave the Diver yesterday out of impulse. The first is multi-platform (even free on mobile if you have a Netflix account) and the second is PC only (for now), but a lovely person in last week’s discussion thread recommended it to me and I went for it.
What are you all playing? Let’s hear it!
I thought “Judgement” is some mechanic in Tchia while playing ukulele, which is why I couldn’t get far in the game. Only after reading Cosmic’s reply I got it that you are talking about Judgement the game. 😀
How are you liking FF16?
I’m enjoying FF16 and don’t regret buying it full price, but it does have its flaws. For these flaws I don’t see it winning GOTY.
As I’m getting older, I appreciate storytelling more and more. The FF series has that, and FF16 continues that. The side quests start out meh, but they get better as each one delves into the lore and socioeconomics and politics of this FF world. The combat hasn’t grown stale for me. You can adjust difficulty by equipping certain rings, for example one that auto-dodges enemy attacks where possible. I equipped that because I wanted to focus on building combos. I had trouble focusing when the action gets overwhelming (too many enemies, too much visual animation from some of the Eikon powers). It’s nifty to be able to customize your experience.
For me, two disappointing things. First, even after the update, there are still some framerate issues. I’m not even picky, but it lagged at several points in the game. And my PS5 is <1 year old. Second, I’ve picked up a lot of crafting materials but most of it won’t get used. There’s not much depth to crafting. Equipping those crafted items ups your stats, but doesn’t change the appearance of your character. The only change in appearance is your sword.
The story, IMO, has little lightheartedness. Sure there are a few bits of comedy, but it just gets more serious. Sad stuff happens. Prior to FF16 I was playing FF7 Remake, maybe got about 10 hours in. Different tone. FF16 digs into war and how it affects the common folk, especially with the side quests. I’m hooked on the main plot AND the side quests.
I’m liking FF16 such that it’s the only game I’m playing at the moment. Typically I juggle a few games to change things up.
Thanks for such a detailed response. Much appreciated.