Game

Does Pokémon need to be more Challenging?

Matthew Roys Opinions , , , , , , , ,

Pokémon Legends: Arceus represents the first major shake-up of the Pokémon franchise since its inception. Fans have been calling for an open world Pokémon game for years, but Game Freak has been careful to point out that Legends: Arceus is not a mainline game in order to curb expectations. Experimentation is great to offer innovation from older franchises, but is open world really the design element that Pokémon needs to appease fans?

All of the Pre-Order Bonuses for 'Pokémon Legends: Arceus'

While the sales numbers of Pokémon games reveal that Gamefreak and The Pokémon Company have absolutely nothing to fear, dissent has been growing among fans, increasing with every generation. A commonly cited issue is with the easy difficulty of the games, how much they hold players’ hands, and the constant introduction and abandonment of gimmicks. Pokémon Sword and Shield bore the brunt of these criticisms when it was announced that not every Pokémon would be available within the game, and when graphics and animations did not meet what fans expected from a Switch game. 

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Dark Souls 2 – Is it really a souls game?

Matthew Roys Opinions, Uncategorized , , ,

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Dark Souls 2 is an interesting game. It was the first ‘main-steam’ Souls game to release after DS1 rose to become a beloved title after its launch. Initially there was a consensus that it was a letdown. Now though the tide has turned and a large section of the fanbase will crucify anyone that criticises the game. I’ve watched Youtube videos that analyse the game with massive dislike bars just for explaining why they felt that it didn’t live up to its reputation while much of that fan hate has turned to Dark Souls 3.

I am a big fan of the original Dark Souls. It easily tops my list of favourite games. As such I was very excited to play the sequel. I didn’t expect it to quite live up to the first because, how could it? DS1 is like lightning in a bottle. The planets aligned and a damn near perfect game was released. The chances of another game living up to that was slim so I tempered my expectation. Hype is a gamer’s worst enemy after all. Continue reading →

Review – Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City DLC.

Matthew Roys Review, Uncategorized , , , , ,

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The final ever piece of Dark Souls content has been release for a few weeks now, giving fans plenty of time to fight through the fresh terrors and study the obscure clues to piece together some semblance of lore. But how does this final bit of content compare with the grand legacy that the Dark Souls series has created?

Well, it is certainly more Dark Souls. The enemies, the level designs and everything else feel like they belong with the rest of the game. They got the tone right and produced more great content which is really all that most fans want. We got more weapons, spells and armour to play with and new challenges to overcome. And boy were there some challenges. Continue reading →

The Nintendo Switch Needs to Switch up Nintendo.

Matthew Roys Foresight, Opinions, Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,

When Nintendo first announced the Switch I was excited. This kind of surprised me though since I have never really owned a Nintendo console. Sure, I’ve owned several handhelds from the Gameboy to the 2DS but they have literally just been dedicated Pokemon machines. We also had a household Wii that saw action with Wii Sports Resort and Link’s Crossbow Training but little else.

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The Switch was an interesting concept. A console/handheld hybrid sounded cool and the initial trailer was pleasantly devoid of any gimmicks beyond this portability. They were showing off Skyrim which suggested stronger links with third party developers and most of the actors were young adults instead of children. It looked like they were trying to market the Switch as a more matured console, still fun but aimed at the people closer to my own age who had grown up with Nintendo and still made up a massive portion of sales despite Nintendo’s drive to be a child-oriented company. Their move with the Wii U to add Bayonetta 2 to their exclusive list and include her in Smash Brothers was a step in the right direction so maybe they were learning. Continue reading →

Gwent – Closed Beta First Impressions

Matthew Roys Foresight, Review, Uncategorized , , , , ,

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was by far the best game that I have played in several years. I have put around 200 hours into the game by this point and a good number of those were lost to the addictive mini-game known as Gwent. As somebody that loves collecting things, the whole finding cards to collect them all was something that really drew me in and the card game itself was engaging and fun. When the great CD Projekt Red announced that they were releasing Gwent as its own game I was thrilled. As such, the second that I could I put my name down for the stand alone Gwent game’s closed beta.

So is this new Gwent just more of the same? The game as it was in The Witcher 3 (we’ll refer to this as W3G) was fairly basic and was stacked heavily in the player’s favour once they had collected a few cards. The standalone Gwent shares the same spirit and basic layout as W3G but has been reworked to better suit PvP play and extended deck building.  Continue reading →

Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel – Review

Matthew Roys Review , , , , , ,

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I never reviewed the base game for Dark Souls 3. I loved the game but felt like it was missing something. As such I wanted to wait for the DLC to be released in the hopes of it completing the excellent experience. So for reference, the base game would be a 9/10 for me.

So did the first DLC have what I was looking for? Sadly not. Playing AoA was a strange experience for me since I loved every second of it yet felt nothing but disappointment after about three hours. The reason being that I completed the it within that time. Barring one area where I fell off a tree a few times, I only died once to each of the DLC’s two bosses, and I am far from a good player. Most of the enemies were slow and weak bird fetuses and bloated flies. The bigger Vikings were a fun challenge and I hated the Edward Scissor Hand crows guy in a good way but that was really all of the enemy variety available. The same was true of the areas: they were beautiful and interesting but so short that I felt like a traveler walking straight through the scenes rather than actually visiting them. Continue reading →

Review: Overwatch

Matthew Roys Review , , ,

Overwatch is the hugely praised first person multiplayer shooter from Blizzard. It has been a massive talking point from its colourful characters, its Pixar quality animated shorts, its solid gameplay and its rampant use in porn. Some sing its praise while others see it as an overhyped Team Fortress 2 clone.

I don’t usually play FPS games. In fact the only one that comes to mind is the Halo series. I tend to prefer narrative driven RPGs but the vivid visuals and a strange longing for human interaction like in the days of early Halo 3 made me interested in Blizzard’s first venture into the genre. I played Overwatch in the open beta and have put a fair few hours into its release version. Continue reading →

Dark Souls 3: Bonfire Journals #1.

Matthew Roys Bonfire Journals, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

As a writer and gamer, the idea of writing the personal journey of my character through a game is something that I find interesting. Dark Souls is the perfect kind of game for this as your character is a blank slate, the paths are branching and the narrative is non-intrusive. So I am finally giving it a shot. This is the first part of my adventure through DS3. It goes up to the first boss battle of the game. I would have liked to have gone further but in 30 minutes of play I crashed to desktop eight times. Yeah. Enjoy.

Entry 1:

Life. It takes death to understand it. Disjointed memories form together into a vague semblance of the past and create shadowy shapes that is my personal history. But none of it makes sense. I awoke in a craggy graveyard with only fleeting impressions of who I even was. The only thing that I was sure of was that I was clad in leather armour and had a shield and scimitar at my side. They feel natural in my grasp like extensions of my arms. I can only assume that they are mine.

Alone without identity. This is true loneliness, without even your own memories or personality to keep your ragged thoughts company. Who am I? Where am I? Where should I go? These questions settled upon me like crows. Without any clear direction though I could only sit with my shallow mind or move forward and hope. Hope… Continue reading →

Dark Souls Theory: Seath the Puppet Master of Anor Londo?

Matthew Roys Opinions , , , , , ,

Most people have reached the consensus that Gwyndolin is the master of Anor Londo and is the one who pulls all of the strings from behind the scenes. There is plenty of evidence to support this but it just does not add up in my head.

Firstly, would Gwyn have really left Gwyndolin in charge of his capital? There are no statues of Gwyndolin and nor is there anything to suggest that Gwyn valued him. We know that Gwyndolin was always trying to please his father so we can assume that Gwyn looked down upon him because of his feminine nature. He is not a great warrior like his father and older brother and nor does he inspire awe or trust like his sister. He was, for all intents and purposes, an outcast hidden away in the shadows. Would Gwyn really leave his city to an unproven pariah? Gwyn seems to respect strength and prowess and Seath certainly proved himself by betraying the dragons and fighting against them. He was made a Duke for his services. Would steward be too large a step up after Gwyn’s departure. The fact that he was a duke shows he had Gwyn’s respect and his land consisted of the Duke’s Archives, either within Anor Londo or at its border. A duke could easily fill the role of the lord if the need arose. Plus let’s not forget that Gwyn did not pass on any fragments of the Lord Soul that we know of to his children. Instead he gave them to Seath and the Four Kings. Continue reading →

Foresight – Horizon Zero Dawn

Matthew Roys Foresight , , , , , ,

Foresight is a series where I look at an unreleased game and assess what we know so far about it. Today we will be looking at the winner of the prestigious ‘Awkwardly Named Game of the Year Award’, Horizon Zero Dawn.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a PS4 exclusive RPG slated for release sometime in 2016. It is probably safe to assume that this will be in the Autumn period. To sum it up, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic world where Native American style tribes hunt giant robot dinosaurs.  Continue reading →