RipCordless

A pop-culture consumer who keeps it, by design, in the shallow end of the pool.

Gaming

The Division 2 Alternative

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The last few months of gaming releases have been anything less than spectacular. With the much maligned release of Fallout 76 (Bethesda) late last year, and the dumpster fire called Anthem (BioWare / EA) released less than a month ago, the gaming community has endured unpolished titles, broken game play, and products which don’t reflect the industry’s global revenue position. If you thought films or music grabbed the entertainment revenue crown, you could not be further from the truth. In 2016, the gaming industry pulled in over $101 billion in global sales, which outpaced the other two comparable markets combined.

Even without mobile sales, gaming still defeats both film & music combined

But there is hope looming. On March 15, 2019, The Division 2 (Ubisoft) may provide an alternative from all the recent gaming trash which has been excreted into the market. Using the same formula from The Division, the Ubisoft sequel looks to continue the original premise but changes the venue and shifts the season on a much bigger map. I played the beta and discovered there is no doubt, it plays very close to the original (perhaps too close?) which is the challenge for sequel games — stray too far off the formula (vanilla Destiny 2) and people complain you’ve lost the magic. Stick too close the original and people complain it feels like a DLC — which may be the main concern for The Division 2.

Another issues of concern is the end game. The original Division had little to do beyond the level 30 cap. Missions became tedious, the Dark Zone was bloated with griefers, and the Guardian Down Squad left in short order when raids ended up being nothing but horde mode defense. Ubisoft clearly saw The Division player response because with The Division 2 open beta they flew the end game banner by allowing players to sample what awaits them after level 30. Criticized for bullet-sponge end game enemies in the original, The Division 2 sets an entirely different tone. Upon reaching cap, the entire map changes as the “Black Tusk” invasion begins. Enemies become crafty, new weapons are deployed in combination with aggressive tactics. In theory the entire journey for the player becomes much more convoluted, as does the the gear sets, missions, and broad range customization. It all sounds very tasty.

I write this about 24 hours away from release and have high hopes. If even half of the promises manifest, The Division 2 looks to be a game capable of scratching the RPG, looter-shooter itch and keeping us occupied with a quality release for a while.

Anthem Had One Chance

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen a game associated with so much hype land with such a thud. Much like finding a turd in the proverbial punch bowl, EA and BioWare’s recent release of Anthem has been met with distain and community backlash. Is this No Man’s Sky bad? Could it be Apple Maps bad? I think there’s no way to know until we seen how this dumpster fire turns out but the list of strikes against the new IP have been daunting.

Released on February 22, 2019, by BioWare (under the EA flagship) Anthem was supposed to be the Destiny killer. Set in some futuristic, off-planet world, this looter-shooter gave players access to javelins, mech-like suits capable of various combat abilities. In development for six years, the gaming community was interested in this new IP with frothing anticipation. Little did we all know what the future truly held for the masses — though perhaps the closed beta held a clue.

I played the closed beta and thought the game was aesthetically pleasing, the movement interesting but found the combat a touch tedious. I remember remarking to friends Destiny combat was far superior. When it was said and done, the middling closed beta experience was enough for me to decide not to buy the game upon release and watch the community response. Validation is sometimes a wonderful thing and I’m just shallow enough to enjoy being confirmed by, well, literally thousands of fellow gaming nerds. Look, don’t get me wrong, I had no idea how bad this would get but I was, without a doubt, cautious of potential trouble. What sort of trouble are players having? The list is significant.

  • Players report a game world devoid of life or activity
  • Players report repetitive and boring combat
  • Players report extremely weak end-game content
  • Players report all the enemies and bosses look the same
  • Players report all the environments look the same
  • Players report Fort Tarsis is an empty world bereft of intrigue
  • Players report broken loot, weak upgrades, and tedious progression
  • Players report being banned for exploiting in-game loot

All of these issues (and more) have driven Anthem onto thin ice. Like a mountain climber trying to surmount a vertical cliff with a fraying rope, frozen hands, while being lit on fire, the future looks bleak for BioWare. If the latest reports are to be believed, the game may actually cause system instability to the point Playstation 4 owners are reporting hard shutdowns of their console while playing the Anthem. I don’t pretend to understand the nuanced of game code but that all seems like a very bad thingy. Very bad. The final nail in the coffin has to be the ratings. Metacritic has seen a number of players commenting about the problematic state of the game and the Xbox rating is the median of the other two (PC, PlayStation) which is still frickin’ horrible.

MetaCritic // Anthem (PC) Review as of March 4, 2019

Though BioWare is attempting to rectify the mistakes, they may be too late. With the release of Ubisoft’s The Division 2 in about 10 days, BioWare are in a position which is hard to come back from. In the gaming world you have one moment to capture the money, loyalty, and time of your audience. That moment is the release date. Screw that up and in the highly competitive (and lucrative) gaming market, there is always something else to catch the player’s attention.

I’ll continue to monitor the situation with Anthem but the likelihood of me venturing into this new playground is remote. I guarantee if everyone would have been lauding this game from moment one, I and my group of close gaming friends would be in. As of right now, we’re decidedly not in.

Time to Uninstall Destiny 2

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Rip, why the hell would you uninstall one of the greatest looter-shooters of all time?! Thank you for your question, random person. Allow me to elaborate.

Destiny 2 has been in my gaming rotation since its release on September 6, 2017. As the sequel to the original title, Destiny 2 took off with great anticipation. The campaign was fascinating and the recently formed original Guardian Down Squad (GDSQ), formed in the tribulation of King’s Fall, took to the new challenge with gusto. After a quick rise to level cap, the Leviathan raid beckoned and the GDSQ decided to take the Oath of Darkness while completing the raid. Simply put, we chose to avoid all hints, guides, and spoilers while pitting our own wits against the Leviathan test. Truth be told, it took months of casual play but through effort, skill, and a touch of luck, we finally defeated Calus and took our prizes with great satisfaction.

Leviathan done by: MaxPower, TangoChaser, Chica, GroovyTimBob, Darth Sacko & Rip

After defeating the Leviathan raid, most found Destiny 2 had universally become rather bland experience. The community outcry was deafening and, to their credit, Bungie began to respond, albeit slowly, to the concern. Players began to leave the game in droves, YouTube content was continually being posted about the negative state of the game, while devs feverishly worked to resolve content and weapon issues. Roadmaps were published, promises were made, and was rectified with the brand new Forsaken expansion. Suddenly, all seemed right with the [nerd] world.

Excited to move forward with a new Destiny 2 experience, the GDSQ gathered once more to crush the campaign, while keeping one eye on the (rumored to be much more difficult) Last Wish raid. Again, we took the Oath of Darkness and would accept no assistance in our journey — a decision which was both horrendous and rewarding. Arguably the most difficult raid ever conceived by Bungie, the Last Wish raid took months of effort and setbacks, while providing only marginal victories. One by one, bosses fell and puzzles were solved until, about two weeks ago, we finally finished the Last Wish raid — start to finish, in one weekend. And it was an epic [nerd] adventure.

Last Wish done by: MaxPower, GrooyTimBob, Darth Sacko, Chica, TangoChaser, & Rip

After hours of gameplay and the much rewarding culmination of completing both raids without assistance, it’s time to hang up my cloak. I’ve accomplished all the high points and feel good about the exit. Been playing in the Destiny world for better than four years and we’ve all put in some time. What kinda time? As of this writing:

  • GroovyTimBob // 30 days, 1 hour
  • Ripcordless // 16 days, 8 hours
  • Angel // 13 days, 3 hours
  • Chica // 13 days, 21 hours
  • TangoChaser // 11 days, 21 hours
  • Darth Sacko // 11 days, 2 hours
  • MaxiusPower // 10 days, 23 hours
  • MuricanSheepDog // 10 days, 6 hours
  • Hellian // 9 days, 12 hours

Kinda been there, done that, enjoyed the hell outta the ride but time to move on. Don’t get me wrong, once Bungie settles and is focused on Destiny 3, I’ll be there but until then, it’s time to uninstall Destiny 2. Enjoy.

Elite Dangerous is Different

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Heard about a game called Elite: Dangerous? Yeah, I hadn’t either but Crapgame (and some YouTube gameplay research) recently convinced me to take the plunge. What I found on the other side of my purchase wasn’t what one expects from the typical gaming fare currently saturating the market. Allow me to explain.

Elite: Dangerous is difficult to master from moment one. You’re the commander of your own ship, out in the black, trading, mining, hunting, discovering, and surviving by wits alone. Handed a baseline Sidewinder spacecraft with severely limited weaponry and cargo hauling space, you arrive in the 400 million star universe with… well, little to nothing. There is no clear direction, no quest hub, no walk-through, or an obvious path to success. You simply arrive and are expected to navigate your way through a near vertical learning curve. The difficulty comes in the form of a keybinding section which is roughly seven pages long, the fact players must manually pilot their ships through every aspect of a landing sequence (feather speed, request landing permission, deploy landing gear, gently touch down, etc.), while the world around the player is a wide open PvP gladiator academy. Not to mention players start with 1,000 credits and the upper end ships costs 173 million credits!

And I love it.

Too many current games offer a care-bear attitude for players. They reward quickly, offer little penalty upon death, and tend to protect the player from poor decisions. The days of having a heart-pounding dungeon crawl, where death means all that hard (uh, gaming hard) work is down the toilet, are gone. Or when death means all your kewl gear hits the ground — a thing of the past. Elite: Dangerous takes a drastically different, and one may say, old school path.

In my first 5 days of bouncing around in the 400 million star universe, I’ve redone my keybinds about a dozen times (there are so many cockpit commands, I have to continually check to ensure I’m mashing the correct key), I’ve slammed into other players while attempting to land, I’ve been fined by system authorities for finding stolen wine cargo and trying to smuggle it into a port, not to mention the number of poorly executed trades in failed attempts to stuff my coffers with credits.

But I don’t care. Here is a quick narrative sample of my efforts thus far:

Making a run out to Dalton Gateway in the LHS 3447 system with a delivery of fruits and veggies. I jumped from Eravate with 12 mins left on the bounty but, unfortunately, Dalton is at the other end of the system so, even in Frame Shift, I’m going to be cutting it close. I’m actually writing this as I watch Dalton System approach, some 63,500 Ls (Lightseconds) away. I don’t think I’m gonna make it in time. Man, still have to dock and get to the Commodity Market, now 28,000 Ls away and 4 mins so perhaps there is hope. Too bad this station was so far off the main star. Now 15,000 Ls and closing but only 2 minutes on the closk. Better get behind the stick and hope I can drop out of Frame Shift right on target. Yeah, so didn’t make it. Was only two minutes late, but was still allowed to turn in the mission though at a drastically reduced payoff. Another learning curve event.

The thrill of attempting to smuggle goods into a black market only heightens the enjoyment of the game. Why? Because the penalty is has real impact. I want to be on the razor’s edge, scouting systems for unidentified signal sources, running from pirates, or discovering the massive deposits of rare ore in a random asteroid. I search for the win: the massive trade, the gold-saturated asteroid, or the high credit head-hunting bounty which rewards enough money so I can upgrade my jump drive and expand my exploration horizon.

With my trusty (read: soon to be upgraded) Logitech Sidewinder 3D Pro along with my keyboard, it has been an interesting adventure thus far. More to come.

FIFA 14 for Xbox One | Amazing!

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Staggered. Awed. Impressed. Devoted.

When I take the time to drop those four words, I’m trying to convey the emotion and enjoyment I experience when playing a simple video game called FIFA 14 on the Xbox One.

While I’ve made my appreciation for the Xbox One gaming console widely known, I rarely focus on gaming content. Beyond mere hardware, storage, and raw speed contained in the box lies a vast landscape of entertainment. Yes, there appears to be little doubt though Microsoft currently lags in console sales, their gaming choices edge out the annoying neighbors — at least from where I sit.

When I opened the Xbox One during Christmas 2013, I moved forward with caution. A PC gamer by nature, my brief tours through the land of consoles and controllers had been from the position of a dilettante. But the overwhelmingly positive experience in and around the Xbox One has revolutionized my gaming paradigm on a fundamental level. FIFA 14 had *much* to do with that.

My history of gaming is littered with encounters of first-person shooters, MMORPG’s, racing games, a little RTS (which still confuses me), action-adventure, and “tycoon” themed offerings — but rarely sports in any fashion. I’ve always had a deep rooted passion for English football (ask me why) and have tried to play FIFA on Xbox 360 on a number of prior occasions — but it just peeled off my gaming wall like an old poster. Perhaps the Xbox 360 didn’t do the game justice or I could not master the depth of controller skill needed to get past even the most basic AI opponent. Irrespective, it was always a “meh” kind of reaction. So, when I added FIFA 14 to my Xbox One gaming collection, merely as an afterthought with the vague idea I would “try” once more, I had no idea what lay in store.

Fast forward the eight months since that throw-away decision and I find myself a couple of hundred hours into one of the most satisfying gaming experiences of my adult life. Allow me to share why.

FIFA 14 captures the essence of the English Premier League with precision, fascinating depth and it begins with the carefully crafted ambience.

The interface puts you at the helm of a domestic team in almost any country you choose. For me, that choice is England’s Barclays Premier League and Liverpool FC. Once you choose a team in career mode, you’re faced with a inbox for communication, and a constant ticking news feed covering everything from team, league, and international news. Let’s pause right there. When I say there is a “news feed” I’m talking about content pulled right from the headlines and reactive to decisions you make as club manager. But decisions on what?

Players. This is the heart of the career mode. You begin with the most up to date rosters for your selected team and the season’s budget as set by the Board of Directors. From there, you have the summer transfer window to adjust team rosters, scout new potential players, to buy and sell talent. Want Rooney to play for Liverpool (meh), then try to make that trade happen. Want to get rid of Suarez because he leaves a bad taste in your mouth, get it done. Have designs on bringing in an attacking midfielder from the German national team? Enquire about his availability and bid accordingly.

The depth of the transfer window is shockingly good. The carefully crafted AI will haggle for player prices, while the players themselves will demand high weekly wages or guaranteed playtime on the pitch. At the helm of a small team? Forget signing a big name player; the team prestige simply isn’t good enough so you’re forced to scout for high-potential players who can grow and expand their skills. And this moves to yet another delicious layer in this entertainment cake: player development.

Each player in FIFA 14 has multiple abilities with a fixed number between 1 and 100, along with left or right foot strength, and skill ability. Those numbers translate into tangible behavior in-game. Have a player with high long passing and the “playmaking” trait? You can angle a deep ball into the attacking third, causing questions for the defense. Have a player with the “distance shooter” trait? Take some shots and challenge the keeper from range. And therein lies the unique formula and depth of replay ability for FIFA 14, the player chemistry.

Since January, I’ve started eight Liverpool FC career modes, each lasting between two and four actual seasons. During each transfer window, I add and subtract players from the team and, in doing so, create a unique team wholly different from any prior version — because the traits, abilities, and skills make a difference. As I advance a career, players increase in potential, they actually grow better — some quickly, others with a more steady pace. So, the player you chose to be the future holding midfield option on season one becomes that player in season three due to growth.

Excellent websites like Futhead.com have a searchable database of all the current players, which include comments from other gamers recording their experiences, likes, and dislikes. Futhead.com is an invaluable resource in crafting just the right balance. But beware, as players grow, other clubs pay attention and will aggressively send high money offers for the player you’re so proud of. Such offers put you to the question: sell him and convert that cheddar into a deeper team or hang with the future superstar, enjoying the fruits of your labor?

The AI can also throw wrinkles into even the best laid plans. Now and again, players will complain about lack of time on the pitch and request changes, eventually leading to demands to be sold in the next transfer window. Ignore him and the board will step in, sell the player for a fraction of their value, resolving the inner turmoil of the team but cutting your financial throat. Such is the depth of the AI, it adds yet another level of intrigue, challenge, and excitement to an already stunning game.

And finally we arrive at the steak on the plate: the actual gaming experience on the pitch (read: controller frenzy). Rumor claims there are over 16,000 animations for players, and like amount of depth in commentator chatter. I can tell you from personal experience, I still haven’t hit the bottom of the well in either category. Players animations are smooth, appropriate, and a joy to watch. After playing a couple of hundred games, I still hear new phrasing from the AI commentary (which always makes me smile).

Your success in-game is directly related not only to the carefully crafted team but also your ability to angle passes, read the defense, and master close proximity dribbling. Make the wrong pass or hassle an attacker too aggressively, you’ll pay the price. Game getting too easy? Crank up the difficulty sliders and find that perfect balance of scoring, challenge, and excitement. The depth continues with player fatigue, injuries, player appearance customization, a reasonable AI that doesn’t cheat and flexes from strong to weak for a given game. There is a ton of additional online content, rewards which unlock at changing player levels, leagues, FUT cards, and on and on.

I can say, without reservation, I’ve been bitten with the FIFA bug and will purchase this game as long as it continues a tradition of exceptional presentation and depth (FIFA 15 will be released Sept. 23, 2014). Historically, EA has been slammed for shoddy workmanship, servers which collapse, and incomplete game releases on other titles; however, the FIFA franchise appears to be a stunning exception to that rule.

You’ll Never Walk Alone.