I've been picking my way through Psychonauts 2 ever since it came out, and aside from gathering all the game's collectibles, I'm finally nearing the end of the game. It's been a fun ride so far, and I feel like the premise of the game - going into people's minds to help them sort out hang-ups - has aged extremely well.
I really like this game. The story is fun, the levels are diverse and interesting, the art and music are top-notch, and the heart of the game is just genuinely sweet. This game is a triumph for Double Fine!
After a couple of days goofing around with this, I think it's in a pretty decent place. It now has dynamic clouds, drawn in 3D, and a moon that has phases!
I might come back and clean things up later, but for now, this is fine. My project doesn't even have anything to do with any of this stuff, it's just for the background!
Years after my original attempt at playing through Mass Effect: Andromeda, I'm back at it. I've started playing the game in earnest after finishing the original trilogy once more, via the Legendary Edition.
So far, so good, I suppose. I'm not very far yet - I'm on the first proper planetary expedition at Eos - and I haven't yet caught up to where I was when I quit the first time, which I believe was at the end of that sequence.
I replaced my dopey male Ryder with this one.
I didn't quit my first attempt because I disliked the game. Rather, it just didn't grab me the same way the original trilogy did, and some other game came out soon after (Fallout 4?) and I lost interest entirely.
I don't really hate anything yet, but there are a lot of little things about the game that are sort of collectively annoying:
I don't like how virtually everyone in the game is young. As far as the story is concerned, it makes some sense, but it doesn't feel like Mass Effect because of that.
The idea that the game's pseudo-narrator AI, SAM, has to be fused to your character's mind in order to save them from death is dumb.
The Frostbite engine (along with BioWare's stable of graphic artists) is capable of some amazing visuals - but it sure didn't seem ready to take on the close-ups required for a game like this. I especially don't like the way the Krogan and Salarian NPC's look, compared to their original Unreal counterparts.
The exploration camera's FOV is too high, and it creates a fisheye effect when you're running around exploring.
There are too many points/currencies/etc. going on for purchasing new equipment and upgrades. It's very confusing.
Combat seems accidentally difficult at 30fps.
A friend of mine, who played through the game when it launched, assures me that Andromeda is actually a decent game that just got a bad wrap. I might come away with that opinion too. But it's too early to say.
Anyway, I'll continue playing and will report back as I go. Reviewing old games is fun!
I spent 8 hours on the pavement today, creating a chalk art drawing for Chalk It Up 2021. I'll have a set of photos up on a more formal project page soon, but here's how the final thing turned out!
It looks small because the square is so large - about 8 feet squared. I wish I could fill in more, but I don't like working on these across multiple days.
Now, it's time to nurse myself back to health. My left hand is tingling and I'm very likely sunburned. So it goes!
