psarrett.bsky.social
Sierra On-Line, Entros, XBox, Good Science, Glu Mobile, Bungie, Time's Up!. Opinions are my own.
336 posts
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I finished Act II tonight and am into act III. A triumph on so many fronts. I’m astounded at how big each level is. The art time to make the palettes and create, decorate, and light those levels blows my mind. Phenomenal soundtrack. Emotional depth. Character design. Maelle’s hair. So good!
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Except the Taken King. We can’t seem to get rid of that guy.
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I’ll choose to believe you said, “Make it so.”
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End of act I?
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Yes, “Space Man From Pluto” completely avoids creating the impression that it’s a… <checks notes>… genre picture.
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The real hero is the hair modeling. Maelle’s hair is mesmerizing. It’s like her hair— but only her hair— is in an alternate dimension with 75% gravity. Love it.
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If we get up to a 1000% tariff, it'll be Nebuchadnezzar Force!
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Jeroboam Force
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California King Metal Jacket
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10/10 no notes
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The point at which credits roll is so very far from the end of the game. I rolled credits around day 20, and I’m now at day 63.
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I really wanted to like Laoganma, but it has a flavor that doesn't appeal to me. Fortunately there are other chili crisp options!
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So great! I'm obsessed, but also savoring it because I will be very sad when it's over.
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And then you make the puzzle— because the idea demands to be purged onto the page— and realize it doesn’t quite work and needs to be scrapped.
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Found and opened another chest last night!
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Also remember I’m a puzzle guy. I found the (vague to avoid spoilers) hidden message before the game told me (in many different places and ways) that there even WAS a hidden message. This game SPEAKS to me.
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I’ve opened 3, I’ve found 4.
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I’ve opened 3 so far, and found 1 more that’s got me vexed. No idea where the other 4 are. Yet.
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Teleporting 7” doesn’t seem great, but imagine doing it repeatedly at the speed of thought.
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Golden Idol isn’t -vania-like at all! I haven’t finished it, but AFAIK it’s a linear series of puzzles with no back and forth. Tunic has mechanical gating.
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Barbra Streisand Effect.
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But I don’t know which. The game does nothing to set my expectations or guide my behavior. It could have had my companion say, “Commander Voss probably has that key.” That would tell me to keep playing, the key will turn up. But instead it leaves me with ambiguity and additional cognitive load.
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I’m playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and I’ve found a locked door for which I have no key. The door is in the heart of an enemy building, so if the key was nearby, I’d have found it. So either the key is somewhere else in the open world, or it’s unavailable until I progress the story.
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There’s a school of thought that you should give the lock first because it creates desire and increases player satisfaction when that desire is satisfied. But giving the key first still creates desire— I have a tool, I want to use it!— without additional cognitive load.
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A game can set player expectations by using locks and keys consistently— always giving them in the same order. This lets a player know that if they find a lock without a key, they’ve missed something and should go back, or that the key will show up later so just keep moving and don’t worry about it.
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If the lock hides an optional reward, this creates extra cognitive load for the player. Now they have to remember where this is, so when they find the key they can get the reward. If it’s critical path this is less of a problem, assuming the level design or game systems will lead the player back.
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Give the player a lock first, and the player feels doubt. “Did I miss the key? Am I supposed to be able to open this now, or is this a Later problem?” Either way, at this point the player knows they’ll need to retrace their steps— either now, to find the missing key, or later, once they’ve found it.
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“Hey player, there’s a lock around here somewhere, maybe you should look for it.” This makes sense for a hidden reward chest, but not a door gating forward progress, which should be impossible to miss. Consider also the name of the key. “Red key” doesn’t tell me much. “Warden’s key” tells me a lot.
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Probably more pros and cons, but these are the ones I recall off the top. Overall enjoyed the game as a Game Pass offering, having played none of the past games in this setting.
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* Talking to companions at camp was a chore. I'd have preferred to talk to them out in the world, as things happened, rather than debriefing often HOURS after the fact because after the first land there was no compelling reason to ever set up camp, and...
* Camp sites are not fast travel points.
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* So many trinkets, but a) you can only use 3 at once (2 rings and 1 other) and b) most of them give trivial bonuses that have no noticeable impact. I loved finding new unique items, but virtually never used them. Would have loved a system for merging items together to create more impactful effects.
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* Food and potions almost completely unnecessary, especially once you get Giatta in your party (maybe different for non-Wizard mains?).
* Upgrade materials are the main exploration reward, but... they're largely unneeded, as it's faster and easier to just buy the next tier item instead.
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Didn't love:
* Ludo-narrative dissonance (e.g. no NPC or systemic reaction to blatant theft).
* Cryptic dialogue with god-being felt like meaningless gobbledygook and just didn't land.
* Book lore didn't help my gameplay or increase my appreciation of quest stories, so I soon stopped reading.
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* Ample fast-travel points
* Level design made ample use of climbing as the key traversal mechanic, so as a player I was always looking for ways to go up
* Made good use of amazingly few enemy types (beetles, spiders, bears, spectres, blights, humanoids?)
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* Exploration felt rewarding, with liberal placements of chests and lootable corpses.
* Dead bodies and resources showing up on mini-map, but chests being unmarked discoveries
* Designers often placing chests near dead bodies, so there's something leading you to the vicinity
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The company itself did not reject anti-DEI measures, its shareholders did. Management's opinion on the matter is not mentioned in the article.
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Once I found a wand, I haven't looked back. Mostly wizard skills, but with a few of the other two tossed in.