Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 21

Revisiting Dark Matter

Over the past few weeks I’ve been rewatching Dark Matter from start to finish. It had been a while since the show wrapped up, and I was missing it.

[image error]For the most part, it’s as fun as I remember. The rewatch hasn’t changed my view of the show in any big ways, but there are a few insights I’d like to share.

On the off chance you haven’t watched Dark Matter yet, do note there are spoilers in this post.

My view of individual episodes changed:

This rewatch did not significantly change my view of Dark Matter as a series. My opinion remains about the same as it always was. It’s smart enough to be engaging, but simple enough to be relaxing. It’s the perfect “comfort food” show.

However, I did find my opinions of many individual episodes changed a bit. When “Built, not Born” first aired, I felt it was possibly the best episode of the series. On the second time through, I still liked it, but it didn’t seem nearly so brilliant. More of a B-.

On the other hand, I wasn’t exactly blown away by “I’ve Seen the Other Side of You” on first viewing, but now I feel like it maybe deserves to be remembered as the high water mark for the series. The ending scene from which it derives its title is just so powerful, and it cuts to the heart of the show’s themes perfectly.

[image error]I don’t think I ever fully appreciated the fact that Portia willingly surrenders at the end. It’s not just that she’s beaten; it’s that she wants the redemption that Five is offering her. It shows that there was the seed of goodness in her even when she was at her worst. Portia and Two aren’t completely different people; each has the potential to be the other.

Also, Five is just the best in that scene (more on that in a bit).

Losing One made the show better:

I find it funny that One’s death is something that happened despite the creator’s wishes, because in all honesty I think it’s one of the best things that ever happened to the show.

This is not a diss at One. He was never my favourite of the crew, but he’s a solid character, and I don’t have any major problems with him. But I think his loss moved the story and the other characters forward in important ways.

Two, for example, grew a great deal as a result of his death. Before then, a lot of her screen time was taken up by being One’s love interest, which always felt a bit forced to me. Once he was gone, she really came into her own as the leader of the crew and a force to be reckoned with.

[image error]Three also developed after One’s death. His constant sniping with One made both characters seem childish, but after One was gone, Three seemed to mature and become a more three-dimensional character.

In general, One’s loss upped the stakes of the show in a big way. Losing one of the core crew made the dangers the crew faces feel much more real, and the story felt more intense as a result.

Maybe all this growth and evolution could have happened even if One had survived, but from my perspective it seems his loss was a net gain for the show. If nothing else, I do feel that One was a bit redundant as a character. His role seems to have been to be the conscience of the crew, but Five and Six also fill that role, and I’d argue they do it better. They seem more sincere in their desire to do good, whereas One tends to come across as someone who wants to do the right thing because it makes him look good.

But the other cast changes hurt it:

This isn’t a new revelation as it bothered me at the time, but it does deserve repeating. The biggest problem with Dark Matter — really its only major flaw — is its constant, jarring cast changes.

As I said, I think losing One was a good move, but the revolving door of new cast members being added and then removed after that did drag the show down. Nyx and Devon were both interesting characters who added something different to the crew, and they were killed off far too soon.

[image error]Adrian annoyed me, so I wasn’t sad to see him go, but that does raise the question of why he was ever there in the first place. His whole role in the story feels unnecessary. Meanwhile Solara had potential but was gone before we really got to know her. Again, why include her at all?

Even with that instability, though, the cast remains Dark Matter’s greatest strength, and one character in particular stands above the rest, which brings me to my final point.

Five is an absolute triumph:

Five was always my favourite part of the show right from the start, but I think it needs to be acknowledged that she’s not just fun or likable or entertaining, but a really important character of a sort we almost never see in fiction and desperately need more of.

Characters like Five are not uncommon. Lots of stories like this have characters that are lovable and compassionate. Lots of stories have nerdy genius types. It’s not too rare to see nerdy geniuses are also lovable and pure of heart.

But they’re always sidekicks. Always. They might be a useful part of the team, but they are rarely if ever the focus. They’re never the ones riding the proverbial white horse to save the day. When the big events are going down, it’s down to the more physical and violent characters to save the day with brute force.

On the rare occasions the nerdy or good-natured characters do get to save the day, it’s usually still by picking up a gun or a sword and turning into an action hero.

[image error]Five is special not just because she’s a smart, compassionate character who gets to play the hero on a regular basis. She’s special because she gets to play the hero by being smart and compassionate.

She doesn’t solve her problems with brute force. She wins by thinking circles around her enemies. She solves problems through kindness and decency.

To go back to “I’ve Seen the Other Side of You” again, it is Five’s compassion — her willingness to see Portia as human and worthy of love and sympathy even at her worst — that saves the day more than anything else.

The world desperately needs more heroes like Five, in fiction and in reality. I love a good onscreen shootout or fist fight as much as the next guy, and I’m certainly not of the opinion fictional violence encourages real violence, but I do think we as a society need to spend more time lionizing people for thoughtfulness and humanity rather than simply their capacity to cause destruction. I love a good power fantasy, but there’s more than one kind of power.

If I had kids, I would make them watch Dark Matter just for the sake of Five. She’s the kind of role-model young people should have in their lives.

Song of the Month: Of Monsters and Men, Stuck in Gravity

After what feels like forever, Of Monsters and Men have finally released their much-anticipated third album, Fever Dream.

I won’t lie: When I first listened through this album, I was more than a little disappointed. Their sound has changed radically, and while I generally support bands experimenting and evolving, I wouldn’t say this is a change for the better.

However, revisiting it, there are a few songs that have grown on me. None of it’s as good as their older work, but that doesn’t make it bad, either.

Right now I think my favourite is Stuck in Gravity. It starts off slow, but it evolves into something special.

iZombie’s Final Season Provides a Satisfying Conclusion… Eventually

iZombie has become one of my favourite shows over the past few years, and as much as the thought of it ending is bittersweet, I was glad to see the series ending on its own terms, rather than being cut short without a proper conclusion as far too many genre shows are.

[image error]Season four was absolutely brilliant, so I went into the fifth and final season with very high expectations… only to experience no small amount of disappointment.

I have a lot of faith in the writers, so I kept the hope alive throughout, but most of the season was slow, scattered, and just not all that compelling. They spent too much time on the formulaic weekly murder cases while spreading themselves thin over multiple major ongoing arcs. There’s a pretty gripping plot about the virus beginning to spread beyond Seattle, but it never really amounts to anything.

The biggest flaw, however, is the introduction of a new antagonist.

Looking back, iZombie’s biggest problem throughout the series is that it hasn’t done its villains justice. Blaine is a fantastic villain with a great actor behind him, but after season one, he just fell by the wayside and was never really utilized to his full potential. It made sense to move the focus off him for a while to prevent over-using the character, but eventually he should have taken centre stage again. But he never did.

In season four, Brother Love proved to also be a charismatic and frightening villain, but he was in the end unceremoniously killed off, and the show was once again left without a compelling central antagonist to hang the story off of.

Season five would have been the perfect time to bring Blaine back in a big way, but instead they introduced a new villain who serves pretty much the same role Blaine did — shady weirdo who started the outbreak — but it’s out of nowhere, and there’s just not the time to develop him into a memorable character.

Making matters worse, he ultimately gets pushed aside to make way for someone even duller to take up the mantle of Big Bad. The new character’s entire arc was a complete waste of time, and it takes up half the season.

[image error]What should have happened is that Blaine should have taken up the remnants of Brother Love’s movement and set himself as the leader of radical zombies. He could have reclaimed his role as the series’ main villain, and they wouldn’t have had to waste time developing new characters.

The other major issue — no pun intended — is Major. Man, the writers just don’t seem to know what to do with that character. Last season, he’d gone full evil, and a character I’d once loved become one I longed to see brought to a bloody end. In season five, all that’s pretty much ignored, and Major is back to being the white knight.

I’m especially bothered by the fact the show just kind of writes off the fact that last season Major rufied Liv and brainwashed her to be his wife. That’s really not the sort of thing that should just be laughed off.

Now, I think the mistake was making Major go bad in the first place. They should have just kept his and Liv’s relationship strong throughout rather than going to increasingly desperate lengths to add drama. From that perspective, his sudden redemption in the final season could be viewed as writing a wrong, but it’s still hard to swallow.

However, in the end my faith did pay off. It takes until the last two episodes, but the final season does eventually find its footing, and the ending is very nearly perfect. It wraps up every character’s story in a pretty satisfying way while providing the mix of humour, drama, and excitement that we all love about iZombie.

It’s just a shame it was such a rocky road to get there.

Walking the Path of Exile

A few months back, I wrote a post about how I would probably never play Path of Exile. From that point on you had to know it was inevitable that I would.

[image error]I did not, for the record, end up trying PoE because my view of it had changed. Instead, it was due to my job with Massively Overpowered. MJ provides most of our PoE coverage, but since ARPGs are one of the main genres covered by my column, I feel I should have at least some minimal experience with the big names in the genre, including PoE. And since it’s free to play, there’s not much to lose by trying.

Path of Exile is not entirely what I expected, though it is pretty close.

Given its popularity with the “uphill in the snow both ways” crowd, I was expecting this game to have some quality of life issues, but I was not prepared for just how bad it would be. What stands out for me about Path of Exile more than anything else is just what an absolute nightmare inventory management is in this game.

Maybe it gets better later on, but at least to start, inventory space is severely limited. Making matters worse is that there’s no gold in this game; it’s all barter. Yes, really. So your “currency” also takes up inventory space.

The barter rates aren’t exactly generous, either. Town portal scrolls, for example, are actually fairly pricey, at least from the perspective of a low level character. I quickly realized the optimal way to play was to just not pick up the large majority of loot. It doesn’t sell for enough to justify the cost of taking a portal back to town to sell it.

For a loot-grinder game, this feels downright bizarre.

[image error]Oh, yeah, and unlike any other game made in the last twenty years, you can’t double click or right click to sell things, either. You have to click and drag each item over to the sell window — which is entirely separate from the buy window, because screw you, that’s why — which itself has limited space.

On the subject of items, I do want to note how irritating it is to have your skills tied to socketed gems. Nothing like not being able to equip an item that’s an upgrade because its sockets are the wrong colour.

I also quickly realized that there isn’t actually much depth to PoE’s massive and much-applauded skill web. The large majority of the passives are very simple, and it’s not hard at all to figure out a build. It doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out that if I’m playing a class focused on magic and pets I should take the passives that buff magic and pets.

The only thing that makes it challenging is the fact that the damn thing is so huge and is not exactly laid out in the most logical fashion.

The really funny thing is that the actual gameplay — at least at low levels — is really easy. Right now I don’t even have to push buttons on most fights. My zombies can just mow down everything for me.

Near as I can tell Path of Exile’s vaunted challenge is based almost entirely on bad UI design. Clear up some of the QoL issues and you’re left with a relatively simple and pretty easy game.

[image error]Not that I’m really surprised. The kind of people who speak most loudly about games being too casual these days are generally not the upper tiers of players. They’re people who want gatekeeping so they can feel elite regardless of their actual skills.

All that said, there is one thing that impressed me about PoE: The world-building actually seems really good. The setting seems quite deep and fairly original, and I found a lot of interesting lore snippets out in the world. Each is narrated by some surprisingly strong voice acting, and as in Diablo III you can keep moving and fighting while you listen to the narration. It’s great.

Based on its reputation, I had not expected PoE to be a game that puts any effort into story at all, but instead the story seems to have had quite a lot of love poured into it.

This is a world I would like to spend more time in. I am more than a little tempted to keep playing based on the strength of the story alone. I’m just not sure it’s worth fighting with the gods-awful UI and inventory issues.

Retro Review: Torchlight + Anthem Revisited

I have at last bowed to the inevitable and installed the Epic Games Store. It joins Steam, Uplay, Origin, and Battle.Net as other game launchers that I have installed just at this moment.

[image error]This madness must end.

Like most people, I was drawn to the EGS by its promise of free games. The first I picked up was ARPG Torchlight. I’ve nursed a mild curiosity about the Torchlight franchise for a while, recently intensified by the buzz around the upcoming Torchlight MMO, Frontiers.

Torchlight is a very, very traditional ARPG in pretty much every possible respect. I could describe to you its gameplay or its story, but honestly whatever you’re picturing in your mind is probably accurate.

This is both Torchlight’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness.

On the one hand, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Torchlight works — it plays well, and it has no major design flaws.

However, it does feel incredibly samey. There’s very little here you haven’t seen in any number of other ARPGs. Torchlight doesn’t even do much to shake up its formula relative to itself. Boss mechanics aren’t really a thing, and if you’ve played one level of Torchlight, you’ve played them all.

I found this sense of repetition grew increasingly oppressive as the game went on. The early levels feel plenty fun, but after a while it just turns into pure grinding. The story is too paper thin to add any texture to the later levels.

[image error]There are a few little things about this game I appreciated. The most notable is that Torchlight is the first game I’ve ever played that offers a choice of death penalties. When you die, you can resurrect at your body for a loss of XP, at the start of the current floor for a small fee of gold, or in town for free. Clever — I like it.

Torchlight’s one nod towards setting itself from the pack seems to be that every class gets a pet that can help it fight, carry loot, and go back to town to sell stuff. Truthfully I found this impacted my experience of the game very little, but I do feel the need to point out that the pet I chose was a ferret with steampunk goggles, and that is definitely The Best.

I also did like how my class — vanquisher — played with positioning. A lot of her abilities can pierce enemies and ricochet off walls, which raises some interesting tactical options. It’s hard to aim, but being able to get the perfect ricochet off and tear through a whole cohort of enemies is pretty satisfying.

Torchlight was a decent ride early on, but by the end I was glad to be done with it. I’m still kind of curious to check out the sequel at some point, but I hope it improves on the first.

Overall rating: 6/10

A return to Antium:

[image error]In other news, the beginning of Cataclysm pre-events has caused me to start playing Anthem again, albeit on a pretty casual basis.

I’m glad I took a break to prevent burnout, but I’m also glad to be back. This game remains as fun as I remember it, and while the new content is very minimal right now, the lead up to Cataclysm does nonetheless provide some extra spice.

The main feature right now is a number of new free play events, but alongside those are subtler changes to the world. Strange crystal formations have begun to appear all over, and sometimes you can literally see a storm forming on the horizon.

As much as the game definitely needs a big new content update, I kind of like this slow rollout. It makes the world feel very alive. There’s some special about flying around free play and suddenly bumping into new enemy types without any fanfare at all.

The howls those new lightning wolves make are horrifying.

This also gave me the opportunity to check out the new stronghold, The Sunken Cell.

The bad news is I had a hell of a time trying to get a group for it. I did some reading and discovered Sunken Cell is considered an inefficient place to farm due to its puzzles, so I’ll try not to assume anything dire about the game’s population based on this (free play, for the record, is still hopping).

[image error]The good news is Sunken Cell is my favourite stronghold so far. It has a very twisted ambiance that I really like, the final boss arena is spectacular, and the story is intriguing, if inconclusive.

Here’s hoping Cataclysm proper keeps up this momentum.

Review: Dark Phoenix

I never listen to critics. I almost never agree with them. Nonetheless the buzz around Dark Phoenix was so uniformly negative that it did eventually dampen even my hype. It doesn’t help that the last X-Men movie, Apocalypse, was a bit underwhelming.

[image error]So even though I’m a huge fan of the X-Men movies, I went into Dark Phoenix with very low expectations.

I was a fool. The critics are wrong — Dark Phoenix is fantastic.

The film begins with the X-Men ascendant. They’ve achieved the acceptance Professor Xavier has worked so hard for, and they’re now a household name, beloved by mutants and humans alike. But the success has started to go to Xavier’s head, and after Jean Grey is nearly killed on a dangerous mission undertaken despite strident objections from Raven, events start to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy the X-Men and all that they worked to achieve.

It isn’t perfect. There’s a few minor things that made me do a bit of a double-take, and not in a good way. The writers definitely don’t understand how physics work in space, and I’m not sure I’m onboard the X-Men suddenly having Dragonball Z style power level meters.

There are times when Dark Phoenix does feel like it’s repeating the same story beats as the last take on this arc, X-Men: The Last Stand, but on the plus side this is a better movie than that was.

It also feels a bit rushed at times, and the ending feels a little too inclusive for my taste, but at the same time, “it left me wanting more” is kind of a good problem for a movie to have.

Dark Phoenix is not the best X-Men movie, but it does capture a lot of what is best about this franchise and its characters.

[image error]What strikes me most about this movie is how human all of the main characters feel. Dark Phoenix shows Xavier at his worst — he screws up badly in more than one way — but his reasoning for all of his choices feels very understandable. It doesn’t feel like it runs counter to how virtuous he’s been in the past. Indeed, it’s his very optimism and desire to always do the “right” thing that trips him up.

Dark Phoenix is about Xavier making terrible mistakes, but at no point does he feel unsympathetic. He just feels human.

The same is true of Jean Grey. This movie also takes her to a very dark place — no pun intended — but again her emotions feel valid throughout. You still feel sympathy for her.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is what makes the X-Men special. No matter what powers they may have, they still feel like three-dimensional people, with flaws and vulnerabilities. They feel real in a way that most superheroes don’t.

Dark Phoenix is a movie that easily could have slid into the ridiculous with its godlike cosmic forces and sinister alien threats, but by focusing on nuanced characters and believable emotion, it manages to still feel grounded and relatable.

Another strength of the X-Men films that Dark Phoenix carries on is that it nails the tone very well. It’s ultimately a very optimistic movie; it’s about the power of love and compassion to conquer all. But it’s also not afraid to go to dark places when story calls for it. The victories feel earned because they come at a high price.

[image error]Dark Phoenix also does an admirable if slightly imperfect job of maintaining another strength of the X-Men: its ensemble cast. The heart of the story is Jean Grey, but lots of other characters get their spot in the sun, too. There are a few I’d like to have seen more of — especially Storm and Quicksilver — but the film does do a pretty good job of giving every cast member at least one moment where they get to be awesome, whether it’s a powerful character scene or kicking ass in battle.

Beast, in particular, gets a lot of attention, and the movie is better for it. All credit to Nicholas Hoult for a very strong performance.

This is why I don’t listen to critics. I loved this movie.

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Destiny 2: By Gosh, the Price Is Right

I’ve tried Destiny 2 twice in the past, and both times it failed to impress me much. Nonetheless, not one to turn down a free lunch, I picked it up when they gave it away for free on Battle.Net, but even then I didn’t feel much motivation to actually play.

[image error]However, I’ve had a terrible flu the last two weeks, and binging on a simple game seemed like the best way to distract me from my physical misery. At last, Destiny 2’s moment had come.

I started over with a new character to refresh my memory of the game, but I’m still an Awakened warlock, so not much has changed.

I’m not sure exactly how far I am into the game, but the story feels like it’s ramping up toward a conclusion, and I’ve already been at the (pre-DLC) level cap for a while now. Honestly, leveling was so quick I have to wonder why they even bothered including it at all.

When I think of Destiny 2, the first word that comes to mind is “thin.” There’s no depth to anything in this game.

The skill trees are shockingly shallow. There’s not even the illusion of character customization. I’m generally of the opinion these sorts of things should lean towards the stream-lined end of things, but even for me this is too far.

[image error]Plus your active abilities are relatively weak and have very long cooldowns, so there’s not much to the gameplay beyond just shooting things. Ironically I find bosses are usually the easiest thing because you can quickly burst them down with your super weapon or ultimate ability, while hordes of weaker enemies are more dangerous because they’re too spread out to AoE.

Unlike Warframe or Anthem, which are hybrids of RPG and shooter design, Destiny 2 feels more like a pure shooter that had a few minor nods to RPG elements tacked on as an afterthought.

Similarly, the lore and story are equally shallow. None of the characters are at all memorable, save for Failsafe, who is good for the occasional chuckle.

I did have some hope that the villain was developing some nuance, but they just kind of threw that out now that I’m nearer the end.

I also find it weird how the whole story puts such a fine point on you being the only Guardian left with Light, but the game is constantly throwing you into groups with other players who clearly also have their powers. This kind of dissonance is not uncommon in online games, but rarely is it so obvious or extreme.

[image error]That said, just because something is mindless doesn’t mean it’s not fun. Considering how underwhelming my first impressions of the game were, I’ve managed to have a pretty good time playing it heavily for the past week.

One thing I will say for Destiny 2: There’s nothing major wrong with it. Everything works, and there’s no significant blunders in its design. Even games I love usually have one or two major flaws, but Destiny 2 manages to maintain an impressively consistent level of quality, even it never really rises above “good enough.”

And there are a handful of things I’d consider worthy of special praise.

For one thing, it’s damn pretty. The graphics are of a very high quality, and there’s a really nice variety to the environments. Some are quite ordinary — forests, space stations — but some of the worlds you visit are quite exotic. Nessus and Io are very alien and absolutely gorgeous.

Also, I will say I really like the crafting system. Destiny 2 is one of those games that just never explains anything, so there’s nothing to let you know it’s even there, but you can craft an at-level version of almost any item you acquire over the life of your character, which is a great way to stick with the guns you like best and fill in any slots where you haven’t gotten an upgrade recently.

This is definitely one of those systems I’d like to see other games steal.

[image error]Speaking of items, while the drops are of course painfully rare, the special effects you can get on the top end items can be pretty fun. I found a submachine that starts spraying chain lightning and refunding its ammo whenever I take electricity damage. While somewhat situational, it’s nonetheless very strong and incredibly fun.

Finally, I will admit that the mission with the Almighty was pretty badass, if only for the impressive set pieces.

On the whole my time with Destiny 2 has been a decent ride, though I’m certainly glad I didn’t pay full price, and I’m not sure I’d spring for DLC.

For now, I might as well finish the story at least.

Song of the Month: Efflo, Mexico

It’s my birthday today, and as with last year, I’m going to post a song for no other reason than that it’s one of my absolute favourites.

When I first debuted my “Song of the Month” segment I started with a song by the Winnipeg band Sc Mira. Since then, they’ve changed their name to Efflo, short for “effloresce,” but it’s still the same band.

They haven’t put out any new music since the name change, so it’s too early to say if this also signals a change in sound, but I’ve loved everything they’ve done so far, so I’m pretty confident it will all work out one way or another.

One of my favourites of theirs is Mexico. It’s a very soothing song, and I often listen to it before bed, but it’s also fun to crank up until the bass rattles your bones.

Gods, this band is so good.

Astellia Impressions

Astellia isn’t a game that’s really been on my radar, but the Massively OP staff were given a number of keys to the beta, and I’m always up try a new MMO, so I decided to check it out.

[image error]I won’t say it’s as bad, but Astellia reminds me of Trinium Wars in that it feels less like a real game and more like a parody of bad MMO tropes.

To start with, the tutorial is about 90% cutscenes and 10% gameplay, or at least it feels that way. I admire that the developers actually wanted to make story a priority, but they’ve mistaken more story for better story.

There’s not really an effort to explain the setting to you, to develop any characters, or to give you any reason to become invested. There’s very little context for anything. Instead you’re just bombarded by an onslaught of corny dialogue and ridiculous fantasy names — and this is coming from a guy who willingly and happily reads a series where the name “Celephriandullias-Tildorangelor” is a central part of the story.

As far as gameplay goes, the main selling feature of Astellia — and the source of its name — are the Astels, fey spirits you can collect and then summon to aid you in combat. Very much shades of Pokemon here.

Looking over the journal of potential Astels you can get, it seems there are more options later on, but the Astels available to me at the start were all in the form of seven year old girls. It’s exactly as creepy as it sounds.

[image error]Also, one of them has a giant cup of tea on her head, and her abilities centered around buffing allies with “soothing tea” mid-combat. I acquired her whilst an army of demons burned my character’s home village, presumably murdering everyone she ever cared about, and the tonal dissonance was so whiplash-inducing my immersion never really recovered.

It’s also probably worth noting that the Astels didn’t really seem to do much. Maybe they feel more impactful when you’re in more challenging content and/or have leveled them up more, but in the time I played it felt like I could have ignored them entirely and nothing really would have changed. Not a good sign considering this feature is the Astellia’s chief claim to fame.

The graphics are pretty, but not so pretty as to make the game really stand out. The bar is pretty high these days, and Astellia isn’t going to compete with the likes of Black Desert, especially since there isn’t a lot of personality to its art style. I will say some of the character and mob design is pretty cool, at least.

Combat in Astellia is your standard tab target affair, complete with mobs that drop dead after a few hits and don’t seem to require any tactics to defeat. There’s an active dodge mechanic, but I didn’t encounter anything that actually needed to be dodged while I was playing.

[image error]

This is reasonable attire for an adventurer to wear into battle.

What surprises me more than anything, though, is how bad the animations are. None of my abilities had any kind of flair to their visual or audio effects, and it felt like they had no impact at all.

If there’s one thing you can usually count on Eastern games to deliver, it’s great combat animations, but in Astellia — at least as an archer — they were at best on par with those you’d see in a ten year old Western WoW clone.

This, at least, could be attributed to beta jankiness. This was a true beta test, not a soft launch, so there’s still time for combat to improved. A lot of the game’s other problems feel pretty deeply ingrained, though.

The worst thing is that without Astellia’s glaring flaws — its overbearing attempts at story-telling, the vague whiffs of child exploitation, and the like — it wouldn’t be memorable for anything at all. There’s really nothing about it that’s unique or interesting — it plays like it was built using a checklist of generic fantasy MMO tropes.

The classes, for instance, are as generic as they come. Warrior, assassin, archer… There’s not even an attempt at originality.

While it seems a bit arbitrary to me, the trend seems to be to compare Astellia to Bless Online, and for my money, Bless is a much better game. Bless had better graphics, a better story, better classes, and better combat.

[image error]I’d still tentatively recommend checking out Astellia if/when it becomes free to play, but only as an exercise in kitschy silliness. This is definitely not a game I see as worth playing seriously. It’s all the ridiculousness and creep factor of TERA minus the good combat, which was about the only thing TERA did right.

Of City of Heroes, Livestreams, and Singing

This past Wednesday night, nearly the entire Massively Overpowered staff gathered together to play City of Heroes on the Homecoming rogue servers whilst being livestreamed by our own MJ Guthrie. I’ve been meaning to give CoH a try — having never played back in the day — for a while, and it seemed like a good team-building exercise, so I opted to swallow my stage fright and join in.

[image error]I rolled a blaster, mainly because Bree told me it wasn’t a good choice for a newbie. I focused on pistols as my main power set and went with a Victorian-inspired outfit — I was thinking Helen Magnus.

It was a fun evening. I only died once. It wasn’t a good way to learn about the game, though, as we mostly just zerged through things.

To that end, I’ve now made a villain alt to play solo. She’s an Elf, because of course she is. I went brute as my archetype, initially with savage melee and regeneration as my power sets. However, I didn’t like the aesthetics of savage, so I used the ability to import and export costumes to quickly reroll with psionic powers instead, which seem to fit a bit better.

I’m still very early in the game, so my impressions are very basic, but so far I’m enjoying it. I’m not sure if it’s something I’ll sink a lot of time into in the long term, but I see the appeal.

I tell you, that character creator could consume my life. I never thought I’d say this, but it might have too many options. It’s overwhelming. Each character took me at least an hour to create because I just got lost in all the options.

[image error]With the wealth of costume and build options, I can see why so many CoH refugees ended up in The Secret World. In a cosmic irony, we may now find ourselves in a world where TSW refugees flee to CoH.

I am impressed with how incredibly well the graphics have held up. They’re clearly not state of the art, but this is still a very nice-looking game, in a cartoony sort of way. I especially like how moody the villain starting area is. I think I heard something about the Homecoming team tweaking the graphics, so that might have something to do with it.

The combat is also better than I expected. I’d heard a lot of people say it was very slow and old school, but it’s actually not that bad. It’s very much “whack-a-mole with cooldowns,” as I tend to call these things, but there’s very little downtime in my rotations, and the lack of auto-attack is welcome. It’s a long way from great, but it’s tolerable.

On the downside, so far there doesn’t seem to be much of a story, and you all know how important that is to me. If anything kills my interest in CoH, it will likely be that.

So it’s early days, but at least for now, I see more City of Heroes in my future. If nothing else we’ll probably be doing more streams over at MOP. Surprisingly I had almost no nerves at all. I guess being surrounded by familiar people (and not reading Twitch chat) helps.

[image error]Technically, this wasn’t my first time being on a livestream. I was on a number of Moiren’s TSW streams back in the day. I just wasn’t on voice chat then.

Speaking of Moiren, she’s been trying to hit world first level 200 in Twitch Sings. Now, I’ll admit I don’t really follow Twitch Sings, so I don’t really know what that means, but I’ve never known her to be unrealistic in her goals, so I don’t think she’d be trying if there wasn’t a decent chance she’d succeed. Maybe head on over to her channel to cheer her on as she pushes on to 200.