materwelonz
patreon
November 2022 Channel Update – Barrage of First Looks
🕑 Added 2022-11-23 21:50:39 +0000 UTCHi, hope you are well!
Where does the time fly? It’s almost the end of the year already, yet I feel like I got nothing done 🥲 I’ve got a bit of a long one today so let’s goo!
TL;DR
- Finished: A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Ongoing: Dragon Age: Origins, God of War: Ragnarok
- Upcoming: above continuing, hopefully some indies, idk man, Stuff 😭
Finished Since Last Update
A Plague Tale: Requiem (22 parts): Some performance issues (stuttering) aside, I think anyone who enjoyed Innocence will reasonably enjoy Requiem as well – it’s the same gameplay loop + a continuation of Amicia and Hugo’s story. This is a difficult one to say too much about without spoilers 🤡 but the facial mocap they did for Requiem is great and the actors’ performances really sold the tale.
I did a whole bunch of first looks this time:
The Entropy Centre: A Portal-like of a test subject trapped inside a facility where they must solve puzzles to save the earth (?) The story in the first hour I think draws far too much off Portal, but the puzzle mechanics are solidly unique and were fun brain teasers.
New Tales from the Borderlands: Review scores on the first day didn’t look mega bad but oh boy, after playing myself I think this is a tough sell. This series heavily relies on comedy but this new one just didn’t seem to have all the right ingredients for the humour to hit. There were things that I liked about it (animation is good), but in a busy release period with so many other choices, it’s tough to give it more of a chance.
SIGNALIS: A 2D survival horror game drawing on Silent Hill and Resident Evil for inspiration. Even just from the first hour it is very polished & I am seriously impressed by what I saw already. The only reason I haven’t continued it is really just a time issue (also b/c I’m scared but that’s irrelevant l o l) – I will def go back to this!!!
Deliver Us Mars: Some of you might remember I played an indie game called Deliver Us The Moon a few years back – it had a solid story I really enjoyed, and Mars is the upcoming sequel!
This is a more edited & shortened video not in a style I usually do because I got to try it out as part of an event. I want to share a bit more on this experience since I’ve never done anything like it - it’s kinda long so I moved it to the bottom of this post!
Progress on Current Stuff
Dragon Age: Origins: I am at the final portion of the base game now, but my understanding is I’ve still got a lengthy DLC campaign + people were interested in me checking out the various character origins which I think are about 1-2 hours each. I’m stilling enjoying DAO lots, but I also can’t wait to finish this and move my monitor back into its original spot LOL (I had to move it closer so I could actually read the text for ants 💀).
God of War: Ragnarok: It’s a well-polished AAA experience so far just like GOW 2018! I feel like I have some developing (mixed) thoughts on Sony seemingly perfecting a formula for their signature cinematic single-player games, but I want to get to the end first before I say more. Fingers crossed there aren’t any crazy Sigrun-level boss battles in late optional game, but somehow I doubt it lol.
Upcoming Stuff
I’m a little unhappy with the AAA overload/lack of indie so I really want to slot some in asap – SIGNALIS is an obvious candidate, as is stuff like IMMORTALITY (new Sam Barlow FMV game) and Burnhouse Lane (new game from The Cat Lady dev) which multiple people have brought up to me. Some of these are short enough that I’m considering slowly playing whenever I find time and only posting it when I’m done so I can ensure upload consistency. This’ll mean that I’ll be quiet until I’m 100% ready though, which might be a while more.
Other than that I imagine things will continue to coast as is. Hopefully Dragon Age will finish in time for stuff in December (The Callisto Protocol???? Crisis Core Reunion???? IDK there’s so much happening 😭😭)
Experience with Early Previewing A New Game
Usually when I get to check out a game early I'm given a game code to do it on my own time, but this time was different: it was a digital event where I had to book for a gameplay session with multiple people present. We remoted into separate game PCs, and hosting staff watched our progress over screensharing to help us out if we got stuck.
Because of multiple people in the same (digital) room & crossing conversations, time constraints, and the inherent input latency of controlling a game remotely, to be honest it was kind of difficult to check out a new game under these conditions!
I don’t think I have to clarify with you guys but I am definitely not shit-talking this event – it was a cool opportunity & I’m really grateful! But having had this experience I felt like I gained understanding of how videos of e.g. Journalists Sucking At Video Games Like It’s Their First Time Ever Playing One come about. Especially at big physical trade shows like E3, I can imagine people running on fumes trying dozens of games, all compounded by a billion external distractions. It’s tough work.
Anyway, just wanted to share a bit of my experience. I don't think I said anything I'm not supposed to (confidentiality-wise), but just in case it would be awesome if you could refrain from sharing what I mentioned here in more public spaces.
In other news: so sorry the Q&A still isn’t out yet – I’m doing the thing where I’m working on literally everything else besides it again 💀..... I am aiming for end of year at the latest....!!
Hope you are enjoying your upcoming winter (holi)days! As always, feel free to share any thoughts/suggestions/comments below, and I’ll catch you again next month!
Welonz
Comments
Dave
https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades2-announced/ :o
Materwelonz
This one is on my list somewhere hah but more a "rainy day" type game - if they ever announce a sequel or related work that would be a great incentive for me to get to it!
Dave
Hi Welonz! A bit of an unexpected question, but have you considered Untitled Goose Game? It's short, puzzle-oriented and absolutely hilarious. Sure, its hype train has left some time ago, but it could be great to see you playing!
Materwelonz
Hahah I don't know if I can bare to watch anything from years ago, the fridge was painful enough 🤣 I still check comments no matter when the post goes live so no worries on that front :)
Blue72
I really enjoyed seeing Deliver Us Mars. I can't get enough of these spacey sci-fi mysteries, and it was an interesting change of pace to hear you comment on the game in post rather than live. Maybe some day, many, many years from now we can get some creator commentary tracks for your old videos. 😁 One of these days I'm going to catch one of these updates the same day you post it. I really need to check my email more often.
Daniel Hanley
ooh yeah. I will agree that it's not necessarily better in every respect, just larger. I missed the overhead tactical view and the original DA:O font, though there are mods to restore them. normally I avoid mods, but found myself trying quite a few in DA2 and especially DA:I to make them feel more like DA:O.
Materwelonz
I have heard of this - thanks, will look into it!!
Materwelonz
I get scared by the tension all the same :') great to know it's great - looking forwward to getting back to it!
Materwelonz
No worries DAO is all good so far :) Hahah thank goodness about the larger interface in DA2, although I want to have a word with somebody regarding the whole subtitles at the top of the screen business.........
Materwelonz
Yes this is a fine spot for recs! Thanks for the list - I think I've heard of just about all of them, so they're all vaguely on my radar!
Sunny Smiles
Oop, my bad 🙈 At least it made the game playable 😅
Materwelonz
I'm using that right now but it doesn't upscale every element! Thankfully most of it is pretty ok now - I really don't think this game is playable on PC 1080p+ without this mod lol
Wilsham
Im playing The Case of the Golden Idol at the moment and it is a really fun detective style game, I think you would really enjoy it and its quite short. Thanks for the content as always, keep up the great work!
smolbabydol
I'm so excited to hear you're going to continue Signalis and look into Burnhouse Lane! I actually haven't heard about BL so I'm extra excited to know they're still making games and I'm sure it'll be a great experience! Also that's so cool that you got to go to that event, though I hope it wasn't too stressful for you 🥲 and please don't worry too much about putting up a lot of different playthroughs or the Q&A stuff, we understand 🙏🏾
Jeffrey Hardy Quah
As someone who just finished Signalis, it’s definitely a game you should continue. It’s a little scary, but not “jump scare” scary. It’s all in the mood and atmosphere and tension. And the story’s sunk its teeth into my brain long after I finished it.
Captain Kashup
Always cool to hear from you ! The recent and current lineup of games may not be my cup of tea BUT I'm still here as a Patreon ! I do wonder how you're going to handle DA moving forward since it's an even longer series than Mass Effect. You should probably take some pauses between games, imo. (Hyped for Callisto and still praying that you'll go back to the RE Franchise !)
Daniel Hanley
hey Welonz! good to hear you're still enjoying DA:O. I'm following along with my own DA binge. just finished DA:I, and I enjoyed the series throughout. each game has their strengths. and disappointments -- there are some segments that are Andromeda-grade slogs, especially when you have completionist tendencies. regarding the DLCs, Awakening and Witch Hunt are fine, if you want more DA:O, and they are the only DLCs where decisions minorly impact the later games, as you may know. they also introduce important characters. totally respect the endurance if you're committing to the full series, but also understand if you don't 100% everything. I think DA2 was the best. that's a contrarian opinion, but it does have a larger interface!
Frans
Skipping the Deliver us Mars video for now as intend to play it myself eventually. Cool you got invited to the event though! And yeah Dragon Age (one, heh) is long indeed!
Gianluca Aicardi
Is this the right place to recommend games you never tried? You already let's played most of my favorites (that's why I became a patron!), but I have a few that I'd REALLY like to see you try. To keep the list short, here's my main three. 1) Call of the Sea. This is a FANTASTIC (and weirdly little known) first-person adventure by a Spanish studio, with high narrative value (think What Remains of Edith Finch or Draugen) but at the same time more interactive (lots of puzzles to solve). As someone who doesn't even like walking simulators much, this one (and the two I just mentioned) won me over completely. It's not long, about 10-12 hours to complete. 2) Far: Lone Sails (and its sequel Far: Changing Tides). These are very stylish cinematic side-scrollers from Switzerland with the twist of having a vehicle to bring through the extremely pretty scenery. The protagonists are two kids (one per game) and the games are very wholesome and emotionally enriching. Whole experience for the two games combined is about 15 hours. 3) Tsioque. This is a classic adventure from Poland (more or less in the style of Amanita Design stuff), drawn entirely by hand in traditional animation style. The point of strength is the narrative, and how it takes you by surprise changing the way you're looking at the game by the end. The ending is sure to put a big smile on your face for a full day. Could be great for Christmastime. It's just a couple of hours long. I also support the idea of Immortality, which is far superior and more ambitious than anything Barlow made before. There's also the new game by the creators of Inside, Somerville, but I haven't tried it yet. And now that you kind of overcome your aversion to horror (I think?), there's a couple great narrative ones that you missed, namely The Medium (which is more psychological, with no jump scares) and Song of Horror.
Sunny Smiles
If you're okay with using mods, especially this late in the playthrough, there's one that lets you scale up the UI and text in Origins. https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/73 I never play without it, the microscopic text of vanilla DA:O is honestly a nightmare 💀
Bookwyrm
A warning about Immortality, it is good but there is a lot of sex scenes in it, which may not be YouTube friendly
Gianluca Aicardi
Hey Welonz! Hope you've been having a great time!
