Work in Progress: TF, TM & TE

I finished writing TF, TM & TE a few weeks ago. It still needs some work, but I wanted to take a little break so I can come back to it fresh. Hopefully it won’t need more than a final edit, and I can then begin the process of sending it out to agents. It’s been a while since I’ve done that, so I’ll need to research and prepare a pitch.

Hopefully someone will be willing to take it on, but if not, I can always self publish. In fact, I’ll probably go all in on the self publish route. I’ve got plenty of material I’ve held back I can use. It’s not the way I wanted to go, but it’s better than the work never being seen.

Now Playing: Yakuza Zero

I wasn’t very familiar with the Yakuza series going into Yakuza Zero – which serves as a prequel to the previous six Yakuza games – so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. And I must admit, my initial impressions weren’t very good. Yakuza Zero is one of those games you have to be willing to sink several hours into before you really get to the good stuff. It seems a strange recommendation – ‘trust me, it gets really good after 10 hours!’ But in the case of Yakuza Zero, it’s also true. And it doesn’t just get good – it’s easily a contender for my GOTY.

The opening few hours are rather restrictive in what you can do and where you can go. It feels like you’re just bouncing between one story sequence to the next with the occasional fight to break up the cut scenes. And your combat skills at this stage are incredibly limited as you’ve not yet unlocked your alternative styles, and you can’t yet afford to unlock new moves. It’s a slow start, but trust me – it gets so much better.

In Yakuza Zero you’ll be playing as Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima. You switch between these characters every couple of story based chapters. It takes some time, but their paths and their stories do cross, although disappointingly (mild spoiler!) the two never get to crack any skulls together. I presume because they don’t officially meet until the already established sequels?

Each character has their own map to explore with their own story and side missions, as well as their own unique ‘business’ to run, each with its own challenges, quests and goals. For Kiryu, you’ll be managing a real estate empire, purchasing properties throughout his map and fighting your rivals for a greater share of the profits.

For Majima, you’ll be managing a hostess club, recruiting women to serve your customers, training them to be better hostesses and even customising their appearance to maximise their stats. You’ll also be fighting – because nearly everything in Yakuza Zero leads to fighting – your rivals to win more fans and take control of their territory.

The side content in Yakuza Zero is so extensive and varied that it’s kind of ridiculous. Managing your real estate and the hostess club are almost like entire games of their own, each with their own unique quest line. And then you have the side missions or ‘substories’ which is where you’ll find most of the humour within the game.

Whereas the main story is a fairly serious affair, the substories are a mixture of the wacky, wild and ridiculous. There’s about 70 in the game and as you’d expect, the quality does vary somewhat from one to the next, but they’re all worth seeking out and completing. They’re fun, funny and never quite what you expect.

And then you have the world itself to explore, which is full of varied and fun activities – bowling, darts, karaoke, disco dancing, pool, baseball, gambling, a fighting arena and classic SEGA arcade games. There’s also an amusing ‘telephone’ club mini-game where you can try to seduce women over the phone, a store where you can watch softcore porn videos and a ‘cat fighting club’ where women wrestle in skimpy costumes and you can bet on the fights.

Yeah, some of the content in Yakuza Zero may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s all played very tongue in cheek. This is a game where you can hire a chicken to act as a manager in your real estate empire. It’s best not to take it too seriously.

The world is fun to explore and there’s lots to see and do – and eat. But what really makes Yakzua Zero special is its characters and story. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I’ll keep this short, but it revolves around an internal power struggle within a Yakuza clan, and our two heroes are stuck in the middle. It’s an enjoyable story with some neat twists and turns, and it packs a surprising emotional punch – particularly the bitter sweet ending for one of the two main characters.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy the story during those early, slow hours, but by the end I was totally hooked – I think I sat for about five hours straight just playing through the last couple of chapters gripped (and worried) by what was going to happen next. I really came to care about these characters and wanted to see them succeed – and because I wasn’t familiar with the Yakuza series, I really had no clue who was going to live or die.

Fighting is a big part of Yakuza Zero. In both core and side missions, and even when exploring the world, you’re going to be punching a lot of people. At first, the combat feels a little basic and restrictive, but as you progress you’ll unlock new styles (3 for each character) and new moves which greatly expand your combat options.

That said, I do think the skill costs are a little too steep, which is part of the reason why it takes some time for the combat to really open up and for you realise how much variety is packed into it. You can stick to a particular style or switch between them on the fly. And it’s not just your fists that you can use in a fight – there’s dozens of weapons in the game you can equip to give you an edge.

The thing I enjoyed most about the combat is the environmental ‘heat’ moves. You build ‘heat’ as you fight, and you can then spend heat to perform devastating moves. These will change depending upon your style, the environment or what weapon you have equipped. They’re fantastically brutal to watch and there’s a massive variety of them to discover as you play.

My only major criticism of the combat system is the very loose ‘lock on’ system, which can be a little wonky and sometimes left me facing the wrong direction. And, like I said, I do feel the skill costs are too high. It just takes too long to unlock new moves for every style, so you won’t be switching between them very often during the early and mid game because they won’t be as strong as whichever style you prefer and have invested the most into.

I began Yakuza Zero not sure if I’d like it, and the slow opening hours made me a little concerned. But once I’d got stuck into the game, I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a game that really shouldn’t work – you’ve got a serious, fairly dark central story supported by absolutely wacky side content.

And yet, Yakuza Zero finds a way to balance everything perfectly. It’s an experience, that’s for sure. Overall, I couldn’t recommend Yakuza Zero more highly. It’s a wild ride, and more than worth the asking price for this PC release. Pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.

9/10

Battlefield V (BETA)

It feels like all the news I’ve read about Battlefield V these last few weeks hasn’t been about what’s going to be in the game at release, but what’s not going to be. That’s because Battlefield V will be using a ‘live service’ model – various features, modes and mechanics will all be added post release for free.

But as curious as I am about the long term content plan of BFV, I’m currently more interested in what will be available upon launch. What am I paying for on Day 1? At the time of writing, I still don’t know. There’s no clear list of release day content in terms of maps, modes or features.

And there’s no clear road map of future content, either. The problem with this live service model is that there’s no guarantees – it’s no different than purchasing a Season Pass without knowing what that Pass will include.

You’re essentially paying in advance for content but you don’t know what that content is, or when it’s likely to be released – or even if it will be released at all. Like I said, there’s no guarantees. Let’s say Battlefield V doesn’t meet EA sales projections – do you really think they won’t scale back their live service plan?

That concerns me. I’d feel far more confident purchasing Battlefield V at release if I had guarantees regarding future content. I understand that things can change during development, and they may be wary to commit to content plans long term. But I find it hard to believe they can’t at least give us a ‘Year 1’ type of road map so we’re clear what content to expect alongside a rough release schedule.

Maybe we’ll get something like that closer to release. I hope we do, because I’m not going to pay in advance for content that EA may decide to cancel if Battlefield V doesn’t sell as well as they’d like. It’s a shame I have to talk about this and not just the game, but it’s an important aspect of Battlefield V that can’t be ignored.

Okay, so how do I feel about the actual game now I’ve played this BETA? Graphically, BFV looks great, but that was always to be expected. And performance, overall, is really good too – aside from a handful of occasions where I’d join a game in progress and get some nasty frame drops, forcing me to quit.

There is one issue I had with the visuals though, primarily upon the Norway map. It’s a very visually ‘busy’ map and I found that playing it for more than an hour or so started giving me a headache. I think it’s all the snow effects – which do look great – but it really does clutter your screen at times, making focusing upon the environment a bit of a strain on the eyes. Obviously, not everyone will suffer this issue, but it was a problem for me.

The lighting in some interiors could also be very dark, particularly on the Rotterdam map – there are places you can sit where you’re practically invisible. Seriously, one time I just crouched in a corner whilst about 4 enemy players stood in front of me totally unaware.

Of the two maps available in this BETA, I’d say I enjoyed Rotterdam more because there seemed to be a better balance between long and short range combat, whereas Norway felt like a sniper’s paradise. I don’t typically like to play as a sniper – because I’m bloody terrible at it – but I frequently did on the Norway map because of how it’s designed – lots of open spaces, long ‘corridors’ with easy shots to line up and near limitless angles.

That said, even the standard Assault class machine gun is surprisingly effective at long range, so you’re not at that great a disadvantage – there certainly needs to be a little more balancing between the various weapons. I would have preferred to use the semi-auto rifles as an Assault, for example, but I felt they were objectively worse than than a full auto machine gun, even at long range.

I’m not sure about the ‘ammo supply’ mechanic, because right now, it just means you’ll immediately head for a ammo and health station as soon as you spawn – your starting ammo is pretty weak, roughly only half of what you can carry for your primary weapon. It feels like it should start you on full, and then use the ammo stations or squad supplies to keep you going.

Speaking of the squad mechanics, the ability to revive your squad mates – even if you’re not a medic – is a neat way of trying to get people to work together, and when it works, it’s pretty great. But, as you’d expect, not everyone seems to care, and I lost count of the amount of times someone on my squad ignored a revive, even when it was perfectly safe to do so. It’s pretty damn annoying, but maybe they’re just not aware of the system yet.

Combat, in general, feels pretty good, but movement isn’t as smooth as I’d like. I frequently got stuck on scenery when attempting to vault or climb over various objects. You’re not quite as agile in combat as the trailers seem to suggest. I can’t say much about vehicles, because I only got to try them on a handful of occasions.

The ‘fortifications’ feature, whereby you can build defences upon the map, is a pretty fun addition and can actually be very effective in some locations, allowing you to block access points for enemy infantry. I also like the destructibility of the environment. It’s pretty exciting when you’re in a house and you see a tank lining up a shot, just before the wall explodes and you get knocked to the floor, before dragging yourself to safety.

I’m not quite decided on the TTK right now. At times, it feels a little too fast, but at others, it feels just about right. I think the key with TTK is that you want to feel like it’s not just a game of ‘who sees who first’. There has to be a moment – even a small moment – where you can react and either return fire, or seek cover. And because there’s no ‘kill cam’ you never know who shot you or where they were, so some deaths can feel rather random and unfair.

And lag can be a bit of an issue. There are moments you’ll shoot people in the head or body multiple times but it doesn’t seem to register, and others when you think you’ve taken cover and avoided getting hit, only to suddenly drop dead due to a ‘bullet delay’ or whatever you want to call it. It didn’t happen often but it was annoying when it did.

As far as bugs go, I saw a lot animation issues, most noticeably with dead bodies. There’s also a horrible audio glitch when houses collapse – it’s loud and painful to hear. It certainly needs some polish and balancing, but it’s not in terrible shape.

So I guess the real question is – did I enjoy the BETA? Overall, yeah, I did. But did I enjoy it enough to drop sixty quid on just the standard release edition? Not at the moment, especially when their ‘live service’ plans are still so vague. I want a clear list of release content and some kind of guarantee regarding future content, at least for the first year. Maybe then I’ll consider it. Maybe.

Now Watching: A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is the kind of film I’d probably enjoy more if I could switch off that part of my brain that says ‘this is dumb and doesn’t make sense’. But I couldn’t, so I didn’t. I quite like the concept – a horror film set in a world where mysterious creatures hunt people using sound. I say ‘mysterious’ because the film doesn’t explore their origins, and frankly it doesn’t need to.

But what it did need to do was establish come kind of consistent behaviour for these creatures and that, for me, is where the film stumbles and falls. At times, the creatures in A Quiet Place behave like mindless brutes. Wild animals without reason.

Yet, at others, they behave like intelligent predators, carefully stalking their prey. The film can’t quite seem to decide, so the creatures behaviour changes depending upon what the script requires. And I think that’s why I found it so hard to be engaged by A Quiet Place. What are the rules? What can and can’t you do? How do the creatures determine which sounds are prey and which are not?

The behaviour of the creatures is far too inconsistent for me to be drawn into the suspense the film is clearly going for. I found a scene involving a rusty nail and a bare foot far more unsettling than anything involving the people eating monsters. A Quiet Place also tries to be clever with its world building, but it only results in more distracting questions.

The film makes it clear that these creatures are a global threat, but they didn’t spread so rapidly that people weren’t able to write, print and deliver newspapers about them. So there was obviously time for people to formulate a way of dealing with these creatures. And nobody – seriously nobody – in the world thought that a creature that hunts through and is incredibly sensitive to sound may also be vulnerable to sound?!

I figured that shit out about fifteen minutes in, not because I’m a secret genius but because it’s so f**king obvious. I was also a little annoyed by some of the typical ‘character must do something stupid to create tension’ moments that you kind of expect in a horror film, but this one feels like it should have been smarter about it.

I can’t really fault any of the performances or the direction, it was just the inconsistency of the creatures that spoiled the film for me because once I realised their behaviour was determined purely by what the plot required in any given scene, I couldn’t really take the film seriously or be engaged by it. I did like the way the film ended, though. It was a nice and clever way of punching out.

Overall, A Quiet Place was okay, I guess, and I know not everyone will be as bothered by the details as I am. But for me, an effective horror film is one I come away from feeling unsettled. It plays on my mind in the hours and days after seeing it. But A Quiet Place wasn’t able to achieve that. I came away more annoyed by it than anything, and in a day or two I’ll probably forget all about it.

5/10

Coming Soon: Yakuza Zero

Now Playing: Stardew Valley

I remember playing and enjoying Harvest Moon on the GameCube, so I’ve had my eye on picking up Stardew Valley for the last couple of years. Because that’s essentially what it is – a new Harvest Moon game. It’s like someone decided if Nintendo weren’t going to make one, they’d just make their own. With blackjack. And hookers.

I didn’t pick up Stardew Valley on PC though, but on Switch. It seemed like the perfect fit and a perfect game to play on the go. But I ended up playing 90% of the game in docked mode, not portable. Why? Primarily, because Stardew Valley has the very strange omission of a ‘Save & Quit’ feature.

You can only save your progress at the beginning of every day, and each day lasts about 15 minutes. It’s not the sort of game you can just jump in and out of in short bursts. Stardew Valley is all about efficiency, about making the most of each and every day. If you’re thinking this is some kind of relaxing farming sim – think again. It can actually be kind of stressful, particularly during your first couple of seasons, as you’re constantly fighting against the clock to get things done.

And this initial struggle is probably the strongest part of the experience. Getting your farm established and organised, clearing land and expanding your farm, constructing and upgrading new buildings, crafting and upgrading various tools, exploring the local town and surrounding area, delving deeper and deeper into the mines . . . it’s a hell of a lot of fun. There’s so much stuff to see and do and get stuck into, and you never seem to have quite enough time or resources to do everything.

The heart of the game really is making money (gold) so you can make even more gold. It’s the ultimate ‘spend money to make money’ game. You plant seeds to grow crops to sell, so you can make gold to buy even more seeds and grow even more crops to make even more gold so you can buy even more seeds and grow even more crops to make even more gold so you can buy even more seeds and . . . I think you get the idea.

Planning each season’s crops and trying to maximise your income is pretty fun and addictive, not to mention satisfying when your big crop finally comes through and you get a massive pay day. And that satisfaction extends to the rest of your farm. Seeing it grow, investing in new buildings allowing you to house animals or produce your own ‘artisan’ goods, expanding and decorating your house . . . there’s so much to keep you busy and unlock that you’re always looking for what you want to improve upon or invest in next.

There is more to Stardew Valley than just your farm, however, as you have an entire town of characters you can interact and build ‘relationships’ with. This basically just amounts to giving them lots of ‘gifts’ but each resident does have their own unique personality and routine depending on the time of year. They also have quests you can complete for either gold, or to improve your relationship ‘level’.

And, like Harvest Moon, you can even marry and have kids with one of them. Unfortunately, the kids never grow up so you can’t put them to work and later get into a legal dispute when you decide to cut them out of your will and leave all of your lucrative land to an aggressive charity that’s groomed you through your twilight years. You also can’t hire help on the farm, which seems a little strange, because once you’re rolling in tons of gold, you can easily afford to pay someone to help with the day to day chores – like that homeless dude who lives in a tent. I’d even build a shed for him to live in, that’s how generous I am.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the game – and would seriously consider picking it up again on PC, which gives you an idea how much I’ve enjoyed it – that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its flaws. It would be nice if your ‘relationship tracker’ also tracked the location of residents in the town, as keeping track of their movements all year round can be pain if you want to speak with one specifically, especially when your time each day is so short.

The controls and UI can be a little fiddly, especially when you’re trying to pinpoint a specific tile with a tool or item – there’s no grid overlay you can bring up so you can properly line things up. Your cosmetic options for decorating your house are somewhat slim, as are character customisation once you’re in the game.

The biggest problem Stardew Valley really has is the ‘end game’. Once you’ve gotten established and upgraded all your various tools and buildings, you just kind of settle into a fairly monotonous routine. You hit a point – and I hit it by the end of my second year in the game – where you’ve banked so much gold that you don’t really have anything left to save or invest in. You’re just playing out each day and season the same way, making money that you don’t really need with nothing to spend it on.

I guess that’s when the game is supposed to be more ‘relaxing’ but that’s also when I start to lose interest. Fortunately, the game does include some goals to complete beyond your farm – the museum and the community centre, both of which you can donate various items to. For me, rebuilding the community centre became the real final ‘goal’ of Stardew Valley, and I got a great sense of satisfaction from finally putting it together. It felt like a good ‘end’ to my game.

And I can see myself returning to Stardew Valley for a new game, on a new farm – just to see if I can do it even faster or more efficiently. Overall, Stardew Valley is addictive and satisfying fun with a wonderful variety of content to explore. And if you’re looking for a modern Harvest moon type experience, then I highly recommend checking it out.

8/10