What I've been playing: mindless and mindful shooting

I’m currently experimenting with formats for this blog that allow for me to write them semi-regularly and without them ballooning in scope. Not that I don’t enjoy writing longer pieces, however I want to focus those efforts on my YouTube channel. So, the idea I want to try with this series is to write succinctly about the games I’m currently playing without going overly in-depth analytical on them. Just some fun short thoughts on games and impressions.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon - NG+

Normally when I beat a FromSoft game I have to digest the ending and slowly build up enthusiasm for NG+. Or more likely just start a new character, since I like the finely tuned difficulty on a fresh save. I see the appeal of revisiting everything with the character you’ve built, but it just wasn’t tempting enough to not start a new journey. Armored Core VI is different. This is my first AC game and the tight mission-based design made the NG+ experience way more fun. Being able to ace these levels, experiment with builds and amass more gear in my garage is extremely fun. In contrast to the soulslike games you don’t level up equipment or your player character. Which makes experimenting less risky and time-intensive. I also feel strongly that the overall experience feels more balanced. The enemies aren’t pushovers or bullet sponges either like in the other games on NG+. It’s still way easier than the first time but this comes down to simply being more in tune with my AC and knowing the levels. Replaying the levels also makes me appreciate the variety of the missions more. With the addition of new ones popping up in NG+ and the game slowly building out its world and characters more. I know the true ending is only available in NG++ and although I feel my passion for this game not dying down I will take a little break not to burn out. All in all: I simply love Armored Core 6. I think this has a shot at being one of my top three favorite games of the studio. Which is a massive praise considering the masterpieces their catalogue.

Ball x Pit

I don’t know why I started my third playthrough of this game, but since it got just added to PS Plus, and I had the itch for some not so mindful roguelite gameplay it somehow happened. I should add that I didn’t play particularly far either of those prior times. The game delivers exactly what I had in mind. Easy dopamine loops that make it hard to stop playing. As always with these types of games, my overall enjoyment decreases with every loop. I don’t know if its a type of regulation problem, but I start a session of this game having fun and it turns to dull mindlessness over time. The session always ending up longer than I intended. This mindlessness is what turns me off. I recognize there’s skill involved in this game. The fact that I got to the second level on my first try (something that took way longer before) makes that clear. Like other games in this style, the type of skill that’s important though is the planning of the build and looking for synergies, which makes up 95% of the success rate. The rest is in execution and aiming somewhat sensibly. It also stretches the experience longer than it has to be. The culprit of this problem are the roguelite elements, meaning leveling up overarching stats that carry over from one run to the next, instead of having a good shot (heh) regardless of stats. Suffice it to say, this type of game isn’t totally my cup of tea and mostly leaves me with the feeling of having eaten something with empty calories. Mixing up food and drink metaphors in one sentence? Absolutely not an indicator that my brain is fried right now.
I see how long the core gameplay loop keeps being fun this time around. Either way this was a worthwhile pallet cleanser and a good pick-me up on a bad day.

Castlevania Belmont's Curse Demo Impressions

Castlevania is one of those series that died a couple of years before I really got into gaming in ca. 2015. I knew this franchise was beloved but there was no obvious entry point. Other series like Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid I got into in recent years, which sadly wasn’t the case for Castlevania. All of that is to say: I had no expectations. This is also mostly true for the developer, since I only played Dead Cells for half a hour at most. But I really dug my also very short time with Rogue Prince of Persia especially the movement. And the Demo couldn’t sway me in either way. I’m neither excited nor regret playing it. The most interesting stuff for me was the combat. There’s some depth to the rhythm of attacking and evading that I couldn’t fully grasp. I still appreciated that it wasn’t simple button mashing and the enemies attacks weren’t overly telegraphed for a change. The platforming is adequate so far, but only judging the feeling of the beginning of a Metroidvania is like tasting the fries without touching the burger. The only thing I didn’t really care for was the story. Which is natural since I don’t have any connection to these characters. It also didn’t help that the voice over in the intro glitched out. The rest has a cool vibe and I’m at least interested to see how it fares critically after release.

Sidequests

Vallheim

Continuing my playthrough I started with my friends in either 2020 or 2021. Although I have many thoughts about the design of this game I have no particularly strong emotions about it.

Rift of the Necrodancer

I’ve beaten this when it originally released on Steam but wanted to double dip for the Switch-Comfort. I realized that the layer of complexity the enemies add with their unique movement patterns you have to memorize is the reason why I hadn’t clicked with it this far. Unlike other rhythm games, that communicate clearly what actions the player has to do, Rift of the Necrodancer has it’s own language. I simply didn’t put the time into it in my first playthrough to learn that language. But I hope I will stick with it this time and spend more time in arcade mode.

Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave

Chipping away at Cai’s campaign. After playing it quite intensely at release I did kind of burn out for a week there. Started to play it more leisurely and instantly had more fun.