Last year I wrote a lot about E3 because I was excited… this
year I write about E3 mostly because I’m having a hard time writing about
anything else. Writing about E3 is easy. It’s a showcase of the extremes of the
industry so it’s easy to find the things you are REALLY excited for, and the
things you absolutely despise. Last year’s E3 was especially explosive with announcements
like Shenmue 3 and FFVII Remake. This year was… boring. It was not terrible
like a lot of recent years, but I couldn’t care for most the BIG surprises. VR
was a big part of this year’s E3, but thankfully not the main focus. I was
dreading the console upgrades taking up stage time, but only Microsoft said
anything and it was just a short bit at the close of their conference. I got
most the stuff I wanted to see, but not much else.
World of Final Fantasy
Square Enix dropped a trailer for World of Final Fantasy
right before E3 (a festive time of year I’ve been calling PrE3). The trailer is
fantastic! I’ve been sold on the charm of World of Final Fantasy since
announcement, but this new trailer is making me think this game is going to end
up as something beautiful. Tiny chibi Final Fantasy characters in a cute
monster RPG sounds like the game made just for me. I suppose it is easy to wave
the game of ass a Pokémon/Yokai Watch cash grab or yet another FF/JRPG
nostalgia game (which neither is exactly 100% wrong) but Final Fantasy’s roster
of memorial creatures helps it stand out from its contemporaries and I’ve
always wanted to catch and train my own Chocobos, Moogles, and Cactuars. Also,
unlike most JRPG Nostalgia games I’m not feeling some smug superiority of the
old RPGs are better than the new. World of Final Fantasy seems more like a
celebration of the series as a whole, no Tidus or Lightning left behind. Though
even with all that said, I’m honestly looking more forward to World of Final
Fantasy then Final Fantasy XV!
Final Fantasy XV
I really want to be excited for this game. I am going to buy
a PS4 to play this game. I HAVE to play it at launch because the discourse
online about it will be insufferable without it. I think I’ll like this game.
I’m really liking the group accompanying Noctis on his adventure. Even though
it is an all dude cast, Final Fantasy is typically good at male characters. I’m
liking most of what I’ve seen other than the open world stuff and that really
poor Titan stage demo during the Microsoft conference. Obviously most the hype
around the game is the fans hoping FFXV will reclaim the RPG genre, which is
silly to me, FFXIII is flawed but fine and JRPGs are arguably bigger than ever,
but of course “JRPGs are Dead”. Look forward to the review because there’s no
way I’ll be able to resist throwing in my two cents.
NieR: Automata
There was
not a lot of info for NieR: Automata… but any footage of this game in motion is
enough to amaze and excite me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been as excited
for a video game as I am for NieR: Automata. It is easily one of my biggest
dream games brought to reality. NieR is one of the best games in years and
Platinum are the best in the business at combat design. It’s a match made in
heaven for me. I’m trying not to let the excitement consume me, but it’s hard
to resist. I’m worried I could be setting myself up for disappointment, but
what we’ve seen looks so promising. My only gripe with NieR: Automata at E3 is
that I was really hoping for a release date. NieR: Automata is THE game that
made me feel like I NEED a PS4, so it’d be nice to know when my deadline is to
buy the console.
Fighting Games
I’ve wanted to get into fighting games for a long time, but
it’s so difficult when I don’t have a local scene or a group of nearby friends
to play with. Thankfully fighting games are getting better at creating their
games’ online play a smooth enough experience to be compatible with their frame
perfect demands. There’s just something about fighting games that draws me in,
despite me not being too into competitive play. I feel it’s mostly the
characters with their larger than life personalities and something about playing
fighting games gives me a stronger sense of embodiment in my character than
really any other type of game. E3 had quite a few big fighting games present.
Street Fighter was playable and we got to see more people get their hands on
the new character Ibuki. I’m not a big fan of the series, but Injustice 2 was
announced. KOFXIV continues to impress me despite the strong backlash of people
on the internet whining about the graphics. Killer Instinct revealed their
Gears of War guest character General RAAM who isn’t a character I care about,
even as a Gears of War fan, but his “FANGief” (Street Fighter’s FANG’s poison
and Zangief’s grappling) playstyle looks fun. Tekken 7, which might be my
personal favorite, announced it was coming to consoles along with a story mode
with seamless transitions between fighting and cutscenes. Sadly, living in the
middle of nowhere, it’s hard to get too excited for these games. It’s hard to
justify spending $60 on a game that I’ll either give up on or be virtually
useless to me if it has bad online play.
Resident Evil VII
I adore the Resident Evil series. The series is probably the
best at balancing atmosphere, camp, and its resource management gameplay. The
later entries were a departure from this, but evolved into one of the best 3rd
Person Shooting series on the market. The Revelations spinoff games brought the
series horror atmosphere back to critical acclaim, so it seemed inevitable for
the series to go back to its roots. However, REVII is bringing back horror to
the series, but harder than anyone expected. The REVII demo (which I sadly
cannot play) makes it seem like the series is going into horror harder than its
roots, and possibly removing any element of action or camp. REVII is following
the recent trends of the indie horror scene, spooky dark environments and not
chance to defend yourself. While PT was taking a similar direction, that
direction makes sense for Silent Hill’s own brand of psychological horror.
REVII’s direction makes the game look like an entirely different series, for
better or worse. Personally, I don’t really care for the indie horror trend of
Spooky’s House of Jump Scares, but I can understand the appeal for other
people. REVII is not a return to roots. It is a complete reconstruction of the
franchise’s identity to chase modern industry trends in its genre. REVII might
be a great game for those who want it, but it’s probably just not for me so I
can’t help but feel disappointed.
The Last Guardian
I just don’t care anymore outside my curiosity. It’s coming
out in October which sucks because there’s so much else coming out around that
time frame that I doubt I’ll be able to justify buying it at launch to fill my
curiosity. I’m mostly just glad the game is coming out so everyone can get some
closure and we can move on.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
If there’s anything to take away from this E3 is that the
game that shocked me the most was a Call of Duty game. For the first half of
the trailer I had no idea what the game was until it dawned on me it was
Infinite Warfare. I have a lot of issues with Call of Duty as a series, but its
movement into future warfare and now space has helped fix some of my issues.
Call of Duty In Space looks a lot less like some creepy US Military propaganda
machine. While I’m sure the politics and military fetishization of CoDIW will
still be as gross as ever even in space, at least it doesn’t seem too direct
that I can put it aside in my mind and enjoy zero gravity space ship breeching.
The game also has spaceship combat which is the quickest way into my Star Wars
loving heart. Sadly we didn’t see any multiplayer, but even CoDIW’s singleplayer
looks exciting enough to satisfy me. Also contrary to popular belief, CoD
singleplayer can be REALLY good. I feel like Modern Warfare 1’s singleplayer
campaign deserves to be talked about on the same level as we do games like Half
Life 2. Despite the gross way it’s being sold, I’m really excited to play MW1
again in its remastered edition. On the bright side, I’m getting possibly the
only things I care about in Call of Duty in one convenient package. If I
awarded Best in Show for E3 based on pure shock and spectacle alone, I’d award
it to Call of Duty Infinite Warfare.
…Also fuck off, this game looks infinitely more exciting than
Battlefield 1.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Horizon: Zero Dawn continues to impress me. The world looks
beautiful and the Animal Mechanical wildlife that populates the world are some
of the coolest stuff I’ve seen from AAA games. The gameplay looks fantastic
too. Surviving the big open world, gathering supplies, taming the machine
wildlife, it all looks fantastic… and I’m one of the people who feel REALLY
sick of open world games. Honestly, Horizon: Zero Dawn is almost on equal with
its Zelda competitor, and this one has a girl in it, SHOCKER!
…But Horizon: Zero Dawn has one major issue that continues to
bug me. The game’s human character designs are going in hard on a weird future
Native American aesthetic… but all of the characters seen look like pale white
stoners. It’s a really unfortunate cultural appropriation issue going on. I’m
not of ANY authority to talk any deeper on this, but it’s still something
that’s really obvious to even me. It’s a real shame reflective of the AAA industry’s
continuing problems with representation of race. If the game were to get a
sequel, I’d certainly hope they’d try and fix this problem, but for now it’s a blemish
on a really promising game.
Death Stranding
This game COULD be the greatest game of the new generation…
it’s just a shame we know nearly NOTHING about it. For all of Kojima’s faults
(and yes there are many, MANY faults) I still feel Kojima is one of the most
impressive storytellers in the AAA game industry. Now that he’s free from
Konami’s chains and Metal Gear, he has a world of infinite possibilities ahead
of him.
…It’s just a shame the trailer is so vague and out there it’s
impossible to get much info out of it. And I get that the game is probably too
early for the E3 stage, I get that Sony is likely gambling a lot on Kojima’s new project that it’s better
to start the hype early. There’s nothing really wrong with the trailer, it’s a
standard Kojima quality trailer that dives deep into the absurd this time
around. Just it’s hard for me to get my hopes up over no information.
Pokémon Sun and Moon
Unless you don’t know me well, or don’t get that I named my
blog after a Pokémon Vietnamese Crystal reference, you should know I ADORE
Pokémon. Pokémon is my comfort food. It’s a series I can keep coming back to
and find enjoyable. Whether it’s replaying the singleplayer or diving back into
competitive battling, I can always find a way to enjoy Pokémon.
However, it should be said that because I love Pokémon more
than most human beings, including children, that I am also extremely critical
of Pokémon. I’m harsher on Pokémon and take it more seriously than most people
because I love it so. Pokémon is one of the few older childhood series I still
get giddy about like I’m still 10 years old.
So if I’m the foremost authority on Pokémon criticism (I am
joking), what is my verdict on the Pokémon Sun and Moon gameplay shown on
Nintendo’s Treehouse stream? I’m absolutely excited for my journey in Alola!
Generation 6, Pokémon X and Y, are by far my least favorite
games in the Pokémon series. I got myself REALLY excited about Gen 6 and I
crashed in burned in disappointment when the game was just merely… okay, on
par, not bad, 7/10. I could (and might still) write up a huge review of all my
issues of Pokémon X and Y, but the main things I dislike the most about it is
that it just plays it way too safe. Despite the seemingly HUGE changes like
Mega Evolution, Fairy Type, EXP Share, etc, they ultimately don’t have a huge
impact on the main game. Megas are mostly locked to post-game and only really
matter in competitive play, Fairy is designed to counter Dragon type which is
still rare in the main game, EXP Share is FINE and reduces grinding, but
turning it off makes the journey through Kalos even more insufferable. The Gen
6 roster is too small, the story is bland even for Pokémon standards, and the
game is ugly and runs horribly… I promise I’m getting to my point.
Pokémon Sun and Moon appears to be pretty big improvement on
X and Y, if not in huge way, but the adding up of smaller changes. They showed
off quite a few small changes that makes the game more welcoming to newer
player and likely has no effect on the experience of veterans. Alola looks like
a beautiful region and the multiple islands are a nice shake up to Pokémon’s
usual structure. The UI changes look nice, the new Pokémon they showed off are
all great, but are also likely parts of already established roster archetypes
so they didn’t give anything too big away. For competitive, Yungoos’s Stakeout
(2x damage on a Pokémon who switches in mid-battle) ability might be a huge
deal, especially in 1v1 formats where switching Pokémon in and out is a frequent
and huge part of the game. They left a lot of hints to our imagination and
didn’t just reveal half the roster. I’d be satisfied if this is all the info we
get.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Let’s get this out of the way. I am, like many others,
disappointed in no girl Link or playable girl character option. I, like most
others, are embarrassed for the really REALLY poorly thought out excuse given
for no inclusion of a playable girl. HOWEVER, personally, I think Link is fine
the way he is in Breath of the Wild, he is possibly my favorite Link yet being
an adorable, still quite feminine elf boy who is extremely expressive despite
still being a mostly silent protagonist. I want to make it CLEAR that I am BOTH
disappointed in Aonuma’s statement about why there is no girl option, but also
pleased with what we got. It sucks, but is not any more of a deal breaker for
me like there being no girls in the main FFXV party. I think representation,
especially playable main lead representation, for women in games is VERY
important, but NOT the be all end all of my critical opinions on videogames.
All right, are we good? Now back to the Wild.
I have not been really excited for a Zelda game in a long
time. I didn’t exactly grow up with the classics. I hated Ocarina of Time for
years until I started appreciating it a bit more when I was like 16. The only
Zelda games so far that I’ve absolutely loved are Majora’s Mask and The Wind
Waker. My adoration for sailing the open seas in the colorful cartoony
cel-shaded artstyle of The Wind Waker was what finally got me to even care
about Zelda as a series. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the first
time since sailing out the open seas of The Wind Waker I’ve been this excited
about a Zelda game.
Breath of the Wild is not another retread on the aesthetics
or structure of Ocarina of Time. Breath of the Wild is also, no matter how much
Nintendo themselves claim, not exactly a return to Zelda’s NES roots. The most
it has in common with NES Zelda is a lack of a guiding hand, for better or
worse. Breath of the Wild is another game in a following trend of games
completely restructuring its design and identity to catch up with other
industry trends.
Now that sounds pretty cold and cynical to say that Breath of
the Wild is just chasing popular trends to make a quick buck, but you can’t
look at the open design and the survival mechanics and not think about your
Minecrafts, Skyrims, Dragon’s Dogmas, etc.
…BUT honestly, as someone who doesn’t really care for Zelda’s
established structure and identity, I see this as a welcome change. I’m not
even a big fan of the popular trends that Zelda is chasing, but I prefer it to
the OoT like structure that Zelda has been clinging to. There’s enough change
that I’m willing to give Breath of the Wild a shot even if I don’t care for
hunting, gathering, crafting, and combing and open world for trivial secrets.
Breath of the Wild is gorgeous. It’s taking the best from The
Wind Waker and Skyward Sword’s cel-shaded art and applying them to a massive
landscape and gorgeous shrine mini-dungeons. Link himself looks great in any of
the clothing and even armor sets they’ve shown off so far. Link animates with
personality, clumsily stubbing his bare toes kicking open chests and shivering
in the cold.
The free climbing is a welcome edition which will hopefully
solve the problems of many open world games of wasting so much time traversing
around a huge incline. The climbing isn’t infinite however since you do have a
stamina limitation, which is nice to still ground Link, bother literally and
figuratively.
Breath of the Wild has a huge selection of weapons. Usually
you are limited to a basic sword, a few creative uses for items, and your
Master Sword, but in Breath of the Wild you can use sticks, clubs, axes,
spears, etc. This is a huge welcome change to Zelda’s combat, but it does come
with a tradeoff that all weapons can easily break. While this may just
translate to more unnecessary resource management, it’s a change I’m willing to
deal with to play with Link using a spear, because spears are cool!
While it’s easy for me to shrug off The Legend of Zelda:
Breath of the Wild as Zelda selling out to the huge demand of open world games,
it is a brave new world for Zelda’s design. Honestly, I wish more Nintendo
games could get a huge restructuring and modernization like Breath of the Wild.
For better or worse, it’s a huge change for Zelda and Nintendo, and considering
how safe, conservative, and out of touch Nintendo can be, change is good,
change is needed.
---
It’s uplifting to see E3 was still at least somewhat
enjoyable despite everything that was going on. E3 was a nice distraction
during one of the worst weeks in recent memory. Also, I didn’t have to dread
video games moving into VR or unnecessary console upgrades making games way
more expensive to enjoy. I was expecting E3 to be another downer in a series of
dread, but it was okay, not the biggest deal ever, but it was enough to keep me
mildly entertained at a time I thought would destroy me.
…Maybe now I can… get my writing groove back. I hope so.
