Apr 8, 2018 | Game ON news

Sunday, April 8, 2018

News:: Rumor: Two iconic leading men are hidden characters in Runner3

While checking out Runner3 at PAX East this year, I noticed that one of the new NPC's appears to be a named after Dan Adelman, a former Nintendo of America honcho who was instrumental in getting the original Bit.Trip games published on WiiWare. I tweeted at Dan about this find and I figured that was that, until someone came up behind me at the show and whispered in my ear "But did you hear about da nude number one e-man?"

That's a pretty creepy thing to do. I was shocked at first, so I didn't turn around right away. By the time I did, they were gone.

Something about incident really stuck with me. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I looked through Dan Adelman's twitter feed, then Choice Provisions' feed, for anything about "a nude man" or "da number one e-man" or any other lead that may explain what was going on. I got nothing. Part of me thought I should give up, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was some greater truth to be uncovered here. As a last ditch effort I decided to do a profile search for various spellings of "Da Nude Number One E-Man", and eventually I found this.

Then things got weird.

Rumor: Two iconic leading men are hidden characters in Runner3 screenshot

News:: Hack-and-slash rogue-lite City of Brass is a whip-cracking good time

City of Brass is first person hack-and-slash rouge-lite from former Bioshock developers at Uppercut Games. The Arabian Nights-themed adventure has been in Early Access on PC since back in September, but the title will be launching on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in full on May 4, 2018.

I'd been following City of Brass from afar since it hit Early Access, but finally got some hands-on time with it when I dropped by Uppercut's booth at PAX East and boy does that whip feel awesome.

Hack-and-slash rogue-lite City of Brass is a whip-cracking good time screenshot

News:: Omensight mixes time travel and branching paths to great effect

Have you heard of a little game called Stories: The Path of Destinies? It was a fun indie title that took an unusual concept and ran with it to its fullest degree. The basic gist is the game has branching paths, but it requires you to actually branch and replay areas with knowledge gained from your failures. It worked in a kind of Groundhog Day way to create this charmingly unique game that was well worth 100%ing.

Maybe due to me forgetting why I booked this appointment or burning out from running around PAX, I honestly didn’t remember Omensight is a spiritual follow-up to Stories. I even said to Malik Boukhira, the co-founder of Spearhead Games, “This is a lot like an indie game that came out a few years ago,” to which he responded, “Yeah. We made that game.” Oops.

My stupidity aside, Omensight shares a lot in common with its predecessor, but it seems to be going for a completely different style. While there is a mystery at the center of Omensight’s story, the concept this time isn’t just branching paths to gain gameplay knowledge. Your whole task is, as “The Harbinger,” to solve the murder of a powerful deity that is able to prevent the end of the world. Since she is dead, the end of your paths will result in the world collapsing and you resetting until you gather enough information to figure out who killed her.

Omensight mixes time travel and branching paths to great effect screenshot

News:: Looking back at Persona 5, one year later

Wednesday marked exactly a year since many Persona fans dug through their mailboxes with glee to find the newest instalment in their favourite JRPG series. We'd had quite a wait since the Japanese launch the previous September, and the dribs and drabs, that all but the most seasoned of spoiler avoiders had heard, intensified our thirst to go diving right in to the hum-drum of school life and the perilous dungeon crawling.

It's actually been quite a while since I played Persona 5, though. I finished the game pretty sharpish upon receiving it – by the end of May, I had reached the end and was ready to move on to something else. My copy has since been passed on to friends, and it sank into the background a little; in fact, I've played Persona 3 more recently than I've played Persona 5. That is not to say that Persona 5 was disappointing or boring, and that I couldn't wait to get rid of it – no, no. But I've had some time and distance to look at the game a little more objectively, and can see where it really shone, and where it fell down in some areas.

So, what's the deal with Persona 5, now that the initial sheen has worn off? In summary, Persona 5 is nowhere near my favourite addition to the franchise, but it's still an absolute gem. So crack open a can of Second Maid while we go through some of the biggest hits and misses in the game.

Looking back at Persona 5, one year later screenshot

News:: How NeverEnding Legacy subverts the vices of idle game design

If you’re expecting some fresh hot takes on why idle games are bad, this isn’t the article you’re looking for. The internet beat that topic to death years ago because, to be frank, we need fewer traditional idle games that badly. Instead I’m tackling that goal from a more optimistic angle, by explaining how NeverEnding Legacy shows the potential for idle games to be creative and stimulating instead of lazy and manipulative.

Never heard of NeverEnding Legacy? That’s fair. It was developed by a small developer named Orteil. He’s only known for a niche, obscure title called Cookie Clicker. Though I think it’s a shame because even though NEL is built around Cookie Clicker’s formula, it is much more gameplay-driven and doesn’t feel like a psychological trap.

NeverEnding Legacy is an idle game where you are tasked with managing the growth of a populace, from a humble tribe to an iron age civilization. You collect resources to help your people grow. You assign people to collect resources, or to build resources from materials, or to discover resources, or so on. You apply policies that change how your civilization uses your resources. There are dozens of variables to manage, but at its core, everything revolves around spending resources and waiting to get more resources.

The basis of the traditional idle game is that you’re constantly gaining resources with minimal effort. You have a currency, you spend it on stuff, that stuff makes more currency over time. You buy more expensive stuff, that stuff exponentially increases your income. Lather, rinse, repeat. No obstacles. No risk of failure. Just constant forward progress for no effort. So, how does NEL subvert this without borrowing elements from other genres?

By making your own resources your obstacles.

How NeverEnding Legacy subverts the vices of idle game design screenshot

News:: I love me some Final Fantasy VII but hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Cait Sith

The launch of Final Fantasy VII was a watershed moment for the gaming industry. After a decade-plus of trying to get western gamers into the JRPG genre, it exploded in the US and Europe with its memorable cast and animated cut-scenes that were far superior to most other games of the era but laughably bad in retrospect. Despite not being the best looking game two decades later, I thoroughly enjoyed my first go with it when I played it on my PSTV just a few years back. The story and the gameplay hold up well, and I’d be all for giving it another playthrough except for the fact that I cannot stand Cait Sith.

I don’t throw the word “hate” around much because it loses its power when ascribed to anything that even remotely displeases me. That goes doubly for games. Obviously, there are games I don’t like. I’ve reviewed some that I scored with a two or less and earlier this year I dedicated a Destructoid Discusses question to my displeasure with Major Minor’s Majestic March. Yet I wouldn’t say I capital H-A-T-E any of those games. They’re just… bad.

Cait Sith, however, I hate. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate him or her or it or whatever the fuck this creature is. I shouldn’t though. I was kept in the dark on most of the story elements of Final Fantasy VII for nearly 20 years when I finally got my chance to play it. As somebody which a cursory knowledge of the plot, I just assumed Cait Sith would be one of my favorite characters. Why not? It’s a cat riding a giant stuffed toy or something. It attacks with a megaphone. That’s all I need to fall in love. So when it joined my party, I put it directly into my main party. Everything was going well until -- SPOILER ALERT -- that motherfucker double-crossed me.

I’ve known the fate or Aerith since the 90s, but Cait Sith’s betrayal had me dropping my controller in disbelief. First, it steals the Keystone from me, then I find out the person controlling it has taken Marlene hostage, forcing my team to take it along with us. I know the cat eventually sacrifices itself to help my team and soon becomes a spy for AVALANCHE, but I’ll be honest, I’m still not over what went down at Gold Saucer. As soon as its intentions were revealed, I removed Cait Sith from my main trio and never put it back into play.

As ridiculous as it sounds -- and it sounds incredibly ridiculous when I say it to myself out loud -- I still hold an actual grudge against the character like an old lady with dementia who thinks her stories are real. Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorite games ever, but I just may very well go to the grave with a deep-seeded hatred of Cait Sith.

I love me some Final Fantasy VII but hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Cait Sith screenshot

News:: Sliding and gliding is the name of the game in The King's Bird

Ever since Super Mario World introduced us to a Mario with a cape, I’ve had a fascination for game mechanics that allow you to glide. Nothing has quite captured what Nintendo accomplished so long ago, but The King’s Bird took me right back to those SNES days of old. This is a speedrunning platformer based on gliding around the environment where a solid grasp of momentum and timing is the key to success.

While I don’t have any idea what the basis for the story is or its specific art direction, The King’s Bird is incredibly fun to control. This is a relatively simple platformer that sort of adapts what Super Meat Boy did years ago. You can wall jump, slide up walls, and sprint before jumping and gliding to your destination. The big change here is pinpoint precision isn’t as necessary as in Team Meat’s masochistic masterpiece.

Sliding and gliding is the name of the game in The King's Bird screenshot

News:: Bonus Level's Fox N Forests is pretty damn fun

Fox N Forests doesn’t really have the most appealing name. It sounds a little like a generic mixture of canines and arboreous backgrounds, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The press e-mail we got before PAX had some wonderful looking pixel art, so I figured I would give it a shot. At this point, I’ve been surprised by enough random games that Fox N Forests could really be special.

Thankfully, it was! I won’t proclaim that this game is some modern classic, or a reinvention of 16-bit style gameplay, but Fox N Forests manages to do something unique with an old genre that engaged me enough to finish the PAX demo. The man I spoke with from Bonus Level Entertainment was very eager to get me into the game, so he had me try out both the PC and the Switch ports they had running.

Bonus Level's Fox N Forests is pretty damn fun screenshot

News:: Join us for the return of the Band of Bloggers

In ancient times (at least measured by Internet standards) Destructoid had a community monthly event that was known as Band of Bloggers. This event was meant to bring the community together to play games with similar themes, and to encourage them to write about their experiences. Unfortunately, this event was lost to time. Lost, but not forgotten...

Join us for the return of the Band of Bloggers screenshot

News:: Antigraviator is a fast paced Wipeout-style racer

Futuristic racers like Wipeout and F-Zero are few and far between these days. Although recently got a sweet Wipeout collection, but I won't hold my breath on a new F-Zero, so it's always nice to see smaller studios develop something in the vein of these anti-gravity racers.

Antigraviator from Cybernetic Walrus is, at a glance, a modern take on these classic titles, which sees players pilot a futuristic racer in the year 2210. I dropped in on publisher Iceberg Interactive's booth at PAX East to try a few races against the game's developers.

Antigraviator is a fast paced Wipeout-style racer screenshot

News:: Review: Pocket Sprite

The Pocket Sprite looks like something that couldn't have existed 20 years ago. The miniature console resembles a Game Boy Color but is only about 1/6th the size. It started as a self-challenge by its designer to see how small he could compress the tech inside and still have a functioning console. It looks great and, taken from a purely technical point of view, it's a triumph of technology. Unfortunately, if you actually want to play games on this thing, you're going to be disappointed.

Review: Pocket Sprite screenshot

News:: PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List

_{[What have you all been playing lately? It seems like Vermintide 2 and Fortnite are pretty popular among the community for multiplayer play. For the single-player stuff, I'm really looking forward to Battletech and Frostpunk at the end of the month, and that nostalgia-fueled Fireball Island Kickstarter that came out of nowhere.}

_{The List will continue being updated as long as there is a use and demand for it. -Panda]}

Good morning/afteroon/tomorrow, my Friends/Robots/Gardevoir/-Current Dtoid Meme Here-

It has been made aware to me that, just perhaps, you all enjoy video games. It might even be said that you... like to game with others? Now now, don't be that way, I don't mean to lump you into some sort of box. You're all just such lovely folks, it pains me to watch you, struggling in vain to connect with each other, striving to engage in...

PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List screenshot

News:: Rumor: Two iconic leading men are hidden characters Runner3

That's a pretty creepy thing to do. I was shocked at first, so I didn't turn around right away. By the time I did, they were gone.

Something about incident really stuck with me. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I looked through Dan Adelman's twitter feed, then Choice Provisions' feed, for anything about "a nude man" or "da number one e-man" or any other lead that may explain what was going on. I got nothing. Part of me thought I should give up, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something greater truth to be uncovered here. As a last ditch effort decided to do a profile search for various spellings of "Da Nude Number One E-Man", and eventually I found this.

Then things got weird.

Rumor: Two iconic leading men are hidden characters Runner3 screenshot

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Sunday, April 8, 2018