materwelonz
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August 2024 Channel Update – Where’d the Summer Go?
🕑 Added 2024-08-25 19:14:08 +0000 UTCHey hey,
Hope you are in good health, in high spirits, and doing great in general!
This blurb usually takes me longer to write than the actual stuff about games, and today is one of Those Days, so I’m just going to give up 💀 In short: I’m alive, life is happening, video games are happening, it’s business as usual!
TL;DR
Finished: 1000xRESIST, Nobody Wants to Die, some first looks
Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3
Next Up: Metal Gear Solid 3
Finished Stuff
1000xRESIST: I gave thoughts on this in previous updates already, but it’s truly a one-of-a-kind narrative gem and one of the most vulnerable, authentic stories I’ve experienced. It won’t be for everyone, but if it’s Your Thing, it’ll be a hard-hitting one.
Nobody Wants to Die: A detective investigates a murder in a dystopian world where life is eternal via body swapping (think Altered Carbon). There’s some nice art direction and cinematography, but the narrative logic can get confusing and hard to follow.
We also had first looks of:
The Crush House: You are a producer in charge of filming the newest season of the hottest reality TV show around! It’s a cute concept but even just playing for an hour it felt like it was going to get repetitive fast: basically each day you try to film and frame your shots to appeal to the audiences tuning in (e.g. drama mongers love to see the cast having cat fights). The cast has randomly cycled dialogue, so while fun bizarre things like people getting together and breaking up within the day can happen, there’s little true narrative intention behind it.
Nocturne demo: An RPGMaker-style (actually made in Unity) adventure in the digital afterlife in a world where humanity has long gone extinct. The gameplay is rhythm-based (think Guitar Hero/Tap Tap) with some nice music. Some of the orchestral soundtrack reminded me of older JRPG style games too, not that I've played any lmao. The demo has presented some mysteries, although it’s too early to see where the story’ll go.
Dustborn: The latest game by Red Thread Games (previous work: The Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen) about a ragtag group rebelling against an authoritarian government in a world where people can manifest words as literal power. It’s an interesting premise and feels like a very technically polished product, but the protagonists weren’t too likeable – by design? The beginning bit felt intentionally satirical. It's also quite a busy game with lots of simultaneous dialogue & text, making it kind of hard to keep up.
Emio - The Smiling Man demo: A detective visual novel/adventure game from the Famicom Detective Club series where we investigate a murder of a schoolboy, strangled and covered with a paper bag with a smiling face drawn on it. It has an anime art style but is more grounded than stuff like Ai: The Somnium Files. Chapter 1 is a subdued start with introducing the systems but the general mystery seems intriguing.
And some reaction/thoughts videos on:
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (this one has some contentious story spoilers – would not recommend if you’d like to go into the game knowing as little as possible)
Current Stuff
Baldur’s Gate 3: …. I think this one is going to be in the “current stuff” section for a while so I might not have something new to say every time lmao. By now I’ve gotten a better hang of the systems and at least understand (mostly) the limits of what is and isn’t possible. Still enjoying it lots! I think I’m through at least the halfway point in Act 1 (of 3) now.
Upcoming Stuff
Sorry I haven’t gotten started on MGS3 mentioned in the last update yet! I’m hoping it will be Very Soon with my upcoming vacation (staycation) from IRL work. I’ve been working on setting up a comfortable KB+M control scheme since this one finally has mouse support for first-person aiming. I really, really don’t want to do that on a controller again lol.
BG3 and MGS3 will keep me occupied but I’ll be on the lookout for stuff for first looks here and there too. Trying to not think too hard about how the schedule will look once Dragon Age: The Veilguard comes out in two months… 🗿
That’s all from me for now! As always, thank you for sticking around and feel free to share with me with any comments/thoughts/suggestions below. Enjoy the last few days of summer!
Welonz
Comments
Materwelonz
I have some interest in it with all the rave reviews, but I don't think I really have the capacity for it!
Dragonhunter
Any interest in Astro Bot? It's around 10 to 15 hour game. Not story heavy but alot of fun and has some grate surprises and cool levels.
Eric Holm
When I saw that Dragon Age and Life is Strange are coming out within 2 days of each other, I immediately felt bad for you :)
barry mate
Oh wow. Dragon Age is that close to being released? I'm very much hoping that Bioware have such a massive hit with this game. It's hard not to feel that so much is riding on this being a critical and commercial success for the company itself. It may also mean if we'll ever get to see Mass Effect 5, so Bioware need and really deserve this to be a big brilliant game. Fingers and toes crossed. And as always, thank you for all that you're bringing us Welonz. Wonderful viewing and I look forward to more.
Matt G
Emio is totally my jam. It's really polished and the mystery element has me intrigued
Dylan Hearts
1000xRESIST is GOT (BG3 as 2023 release, so no conflict for me lol), I hope it gets proper awards recognition and attention of general public (casual gamers) it deserves. I kinda want this as a comic book, it really well crafted story with unique characters (despite the fact that 95% are clones lol). Not trying* to add another game into your enormous list of "this was recommended", just wanted to share thoughts: one game is great from narrative point of view, but the main problem is that it requires a LOT of reading (probably more than usually in games on your channel). But I leave it for FYC in a very, very distant future in case if you'll be ready for it. The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, it basically a visual novel, but with variety of choices to make, to build the main character from his childhood to the adulthood. It starts slow, but gets more interesting later on and you fully immerse in the masterful storytelling. Great soundtrack too. Try this one, give it a chance, and maybe, who knows, the result will be pleasant for you and for your grateful audience. But as always - no pressure! If you skip it, I totally understand, no worries. *of course I am trying! lol Also: there always will be summer vibes while we're watching letsplays on your channel; in that sense summer never ends for us, and I hope that for you too! Have a wonderful staycation! (active vacations are overrated, anyway lol)
Mark C
I'm loving how thorough you are with the BG3 playthrough! It's one of my favourite games in a long time and you've gone through a lot of different paths and options that I missed or got too impatient with, even just in Act 1. I'm really enjoying it!
Naakhurz
Thanks again for your hard work !
Xavier Cho
Didn’t know Dustborn was from the same studio that created Dream Fall Chapters. No wonder the game drew such a controversy involving “wokeism”. And this is from a person who identifies as a political liberal, and loses some respect for others whenever they complain about “woke” stuff. I still feel sour of the studio for having ruined my favourite adventure game series with their eagerness to cram their shallow ideological beliefs into that game as much as possible at the expense of story and characters. I feel oddly curious, however, if they have matured in their ability to handling social or political themes without cheapening a game. Maybe I should watch the first look and see for myself, in case the game deals with such subjects in that early portion of it. In comparison, I feel excited to try 1000xRESIST without any reservation. From what I have seen and read from this community, it seems to be a game that I might love to play. And I am glad Welonz still had time to make a series about such games amid the tight schedule. Aside from that, I’d like to mention I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the BG3 series! I think I was right about suspecting Welonz to be a perfect person to do a let’s play series on the game, being both witty and thorough - a rare combination amongst her peers. I keep impressed by how she reads all the books, exploring every corner, and remembers all the characters she talked to while still keeping it highly enjoyable to watch. The videos usually drop around 1:30 am where I live, which have seriously affected my insomnia but I am not complaining! 🙂 Thanks as always, and I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.
Gus
MGS3 huh? the most matured MGS Kojima created in my humble opinion. It got released back in 2004, when I was just 17. I replayed again in steam some weeks back, thanks to the Master Collection. It is the first time they released on PCs. I think you are gonna love it, Miss Welonz...
Daneeka
I'm really looking forward to your MGS3 playthroughs, it's been a nice bit of nostalgia after not having played the games for over a decade. I think you'll enjoy it a lot, it's a lot of people's favorite for a reason!
Oror
Thanks for the news. Have you heard of/ played a game called crying suns ? It's a sci-fi rogue-lite heavily story-oriented where you play the clone of a fleet admiral trying to make sens of the recent downfall of the empire that ruled the galaxy. It's not extremely long and the story and art direction are really great ! Anyway, love your videos, bye !
