Day 106 - I'm drunk I forgot what we were supposed to do I think it was deadlock as a joke but mayb that was later idk here you go i wrote something
Immersive Sim, Shitpost, WTF ·
Skeeter’s Take:
D. A. R. E.
That stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It’s also the name of a Gorillaz song I really like.
I know whatever substances I ingest are ultimately my fault, but I like to pretend it’s D.A.R.E.’s fault for introducing me to the concept of many drugs I might have otherwise overlooked.
I guess alcohol was already on my radar as it’s pretty normalized, but I probably wouldn’t have heard about fucking PCP until I watched the WKUK sketch years later if not for D.A.R.E. (I don’t and won’t do PCP, despite this sentence seeming like an admission). I think about this a lot. I know the idea was to scare kids off of drugs, but at the same time, they had to educate us about those same drugs we otherwise would have never heard of.
Why might I be talking about this? Well, I’m currently on vacation and I happen to be a little inebriated. It’s clearly D.A.R.E.s fault and I won’t hear any arguments.
I think we were supposed to do something meme-y today, but I’m not confident that was actually the plan, or that I could do the idea justice in my current state so here we are, talking about D.A.R.E.
I was thinking today, it’s pretty crazy that with all the curveballs life throws at you, and how much busier mine and Sam’s schedule’s have gotten, that we’ve managed to keep up with this daily writing thing for at least 100 days. When this project started, it was pretty challenging. Writing once a day about a game because we set a goal for ourselves to do it is fun, but it also takes time and a little effort (emphasis on the “little” for me). It definitely helps that it feels like people are reading this time around - a thank you to those who have sent me a message here or there complimenting one of our entries. It’s really encouraging and nice to know that there is something here worth keeping this thing going. Pink Alien Transplant live stream was one of the highlights of my year, and I thank you all for that. It would not have been as fun without the turnout we had. This whole thing is still challenging, and some days I don’t want to write a review, but I know I must. I know that when I get to the end of it (even if it’s a quick little shitpost), I’m going to be glad I did it.
To anyone who has a project in mind, or a stupid idea you’ve been playing around with in your brain - go do it. Please! Maybe there’s a story you’ve been wanting to tell, or a song you’ve been wanting to release, go and do it. I’m not trying to be all high and mighty and say “Oh, look, I wrote shitty blog posts that hardly qualify as reviews every day for 100 days! I’m fucking a genius creative that is going to inspire you”, I’m saying “Look at this fucking slop I’m putting out! I’m having fun! You should not worry about putting out slop and shovel it out - as long as you are having fun wallowing in it.” Not to be morbid, but I often think about the limited time we have to live, and how fast it has already gone. I know you (yes you, reader) have a good idea in your head - how much time do you have left to make it a reality? How much time do you have left to keep thinking about it? Don’t let your idea die with you. Give it a chance to live, is all I’m saying.
Did you know they still make Absinthe? I think the stories of hallucination are either exaggerated or fictionalized because after having a first hand experience with it, all it does is get you drunk. There are theories that traditional absinthe was made with different materials back in the day, and it’s possible something in the environment caused the hallucinations, but I’m not really sure. I’m not an absinthe expert, but I did ingest a bit of it tonight and that shit tastes like delicious black licorice. Highly recommend.
Thanks for bearing with me. I just remembered this is a gaming blog, not a personal blog.
Y’all tried out that PokeRogue game yet? It’s a free, in browser Pokemon Roguelike. It’s a fanmade masterpiece. PokeRogue focuses solely on the battle mechanic in Pokemon and thus, Sam would hate it, so I never brought it to him to review as I didn’t want to make him too miserable.
In PokeRogue, you start out picking a team from a list of starters from every Gen. Each Pokemon is assigned a value point to it, and you can only have so many value points on a team. For example, a Weedle’s cost to add to your party might be 1 whereas a Mewtwo might cost you 8. In Classic mode, you must progress through 200 floors of battles. These battles are normally wild Pokemon that you can catch and once caught can be added to your starting party for your next run.
Catching multiples of the same Pokemon that have different Natures, or IVs will add them to the Pokemon next time around. Occasionally you will battle trainers through the routes, and will have to fight your rival at fixed intervals, as well. Every 10th floor progresses you to the next area/biome and also heals your Pokemon upon completing. Every 10th floor also has you fight either a boss pokemon, or a gym leader (and the Elite Four starting at floor 180). After every battle you are given the choice of a random free item. You can also purchase things such as potions and revives from the shop.
The random drop items pull from a rarity pool, and the higher your luck stat, the higher chance you have to roll a better item. For example, the epic tier has items like a masterball or DNA splicers that allow you to combine two pokemon. You can increase your luck stat by catching Shiny Pokemon. Each living shiny pokemon in your party increases your luck stat, which gives you higher odds of rerolling an item in the shop to a higher tier. Each Pokemon has three different shiny variants - Gold, Blue, and Red. The gold shinies give 1 point of luck, the blue 2, and the red 3. The red shinies are much more rare obviously.
There’s even a little egg gacha system where you can exchange earned egg vouchers for eggs. Each egg machine has its own increased odds - Move UP! Gives additional chance of the Pokemon being born with a powerful Egg Move. Legendary Up gives increased odds to receive a legendary egg (which contain legendary Pokemon). And Shiny Up gives increased odds to have the pokemon be born shiny. I do Shiny Up EVERY TIME.
I haven’t played a lot of competitive Pokemon, but PokeRogue delivers a PVE experience that is as close to that as I’ve found in a Pokemon related game. PokeRogue gets damn hard in the later game and things like team composition and synergy become really important. There is also a level cap for each biome, so you can’t just super level your Charizard and sweep the game. This inclusion is very important as it forces you to be a lot more strategic with your lineup and type coverage. Also, you really, really don’t want your pokemon to faint. Revives are very expensive and while you do heal after every 10 floors, one mistake could lead to 4 or 5 of your pokemon dead and if you can’t afford those revives, you have to find a way to fight through with just your 1 or 2 Pokemon.
The game is very generous about throwing you EXP shares, which help keep your team leveled up to a certain extent. There are also EXP boosters which increase the amount of EXP gained after a battle. If you are into theory crafting Pokemon teams, or enjoy battling in Pokemon, this game is perfect for you. Since it’s a roguelike, you will be dying a lot, but that gives you ample opportunity to try new builds and combinations. In the mainline Pokemon games, you’d have to spend hours grinding your Pokemon to level up and try new things. Here, you can spend an hour and reach full build. Sure, you might die on the next floor, but you get to try something new next time. PokeRogue gives ample boosts to Pokemon normally overlooked, also. Things like egg moves, hidden abilities, and Passives (Oh shit, I forgot to mention the candy system… oh well!) help level the playing field and attempt to make everyone at least a little viable. PokeRogue has single handedly made me fall in love with Pokemon I wouldn’t have ever tried before. Oh, Sinistcha, how I adore thee for carrying me through 2k floors in my endless run. Please come back and make me more Matcha Gotcha. Your truly – Princess Toadstool - PEACH!
Recommend: absinthe
Replay Percentage Chance: 100%
Time Played: idk like couple hours?
Sam’s Take:
To his credit, Skeeter was right, Deadlock was the game we were going to review. Fret not, we can do it tomorrow ez.
Unfortunately, I am not drunk, and did not forget what we were supposed to do. I know it was Deadlock as a joke and I know that wasn’t mayb later. In every way this review’s title does not apply to me.
So I will now talk about the moment I fell in love with the September 2000 smash hit Deus Ex.
My first playthrough of Deus Ex, while fun, was a bit of a struggle. The controls are clunky and unintuitive by modern standards, and the nature of having a million mechanics all working together in unexpected ways means that the first half of a game like Deus Ex is just figuring out what you’re even allowed to do. Some places you can kill anyone, other times story characters are invincible. Some doors can be blown up by mines, others can not. There are a multitude of unexplained rules that can only be figured out through experimentation.
The process of adapting to the game’s age and learning these little rules meant that it wasn’t until the second half of the game when I really felt comfortable. I was understanding how enemy detection works, I was getting used to how these designers convey different pathways through level design. I understood that dialogue doesn’t end until you’ve initiated conversation a thousand times and heard all their unique lines. I was finally playing Deus Ex. I was ready to ascend.
There’s a level later on that takes place on a large boat. You’re tasked with blowing up five tri-hull welds to take down the ship (it’s transporting a plague, it’s a whole thing). I snuck around the ship, taking out guards, disabling traps, hacking cameras and was able to get four of the five spots. There was only one left. I consulted the map:
I remembered the ones I had already destroyed and found my last X, the oil reservoir in the upper right hand corner. I made my way there and was faced with this wall.
I know now that there are roughly a thousand ways to get to this tri-hull weld. You can go on the path above and jump down, you can stack barrels with your strength mod to get over, you can max out your jump mod to jump over. I did not think of any of these.
I walked around the wall. It blocks off the point completely. Then something popped into my brain, “can I just huck a grenade over this wall and blow up the tri-hull weld?”. I saved the game, tossed the grenade and… DIRECT HIT, WHOLE SHIP SHAKES, MY FRIEND SCREAMS AT ME TO GET OUT OF THERE AND I GIGGLED FOR 20 MINUTES AFTERWARDS.
This process of checking a static map, recognizing my point, orienting myself correctly and knowing where to blindly throw a grenade without ever seeing my target changed me. No single part of what I did was amazing, but it was one of the first times I had played a game and instead of thinking “I figured out this cool thing the game planned out for me” I thought “I did that”. It’s a puzzle in its purest form. Here is a wall, your target is behind it. Figure it out.
Upon playing Deus Ex a second time, I ran into a hundred metaphorical walls and threw a hundred metaphorical grenades. I’ve played many games since that have gifted me this open and freeing sensation, but this was the moment where everything clicked into place. Where I did not just understand, but felt the philosophy and meaning behind the most poorly named genre in video game history.
I finally internalized what makes a game an “immersive sim”. A wall, a goal, and a grenade.
Recommend: I recommend Deus Ex SO FUCKING HARD
Replay Percentage Chance: 10000%
Time Played: Infinite
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