harveegee
Recent Activity
Noticed
harveegee
shelved
Baldur's Gate 3
It’s hard to overstate the degree to which this article really crystallised a lot of my thoughts on this game: https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-is-the-horniest-rpg-ive-ever-played-and-honestly-its-a-bit-much/
BG3 deserves commendation for its commitment to player agency and the kind of work which must have gone into the optionality allowed to the player. But there’s just something about it which rubs me the wrong way. Maybe not every party member should be pansexual and keen to bone you irrespective of your gender identity, character class, ethos, etc. Maybe you shouldn’t be able to defeat this many of the bosses by tricking them into killing themselves by passing a couple of easy charisma checks! Maybe not every toy in the playground should exist mainly to tell me I’m awesome and try to suck my dick! You know?
BG3 deserves commendation for its commitment to player agency and the kind of work which must have gone into the optionality allowed to the player. But there’s just something about it which rubs me the wrong way. Maybe not every party member should be pansexual and keen to bone you irrespective of your gender identity, character class, ethos, etc. Maybe you shouldn’t be able to defeat this many of the bosses by tricking them into killing themselves by passing a couple of easy charisma checks! Maybe not every toy in the playground should exist mainly to tell me I’m awesome and try to suck my dick! You know?
7 days ago
8 days ago
8 days ago
harveegee
commented on
ziopera0's
review of
Persona 3 Reload
It’s interesting, back in the day I bounced off Persona 3, and then a few years later Persona 4 was the one which got me into the series.
I’m playing Reload now and I’ve gotten way further than I got into the original, but I put it down to the goodwill I have for 4 & 5 carrying me through a lot of it because it has huge issues.
I’ve looked at some comparison footage and I think you’re absolutely right that Reload bungles the atmosphere. But for my money the biggest issue with 3 - which they haven’t fixed in Reload - is a total lack of a story hook for like… the first 20 hours+. 4 draws you in with the murder mystery & succession of character arcs for your party members, 5 by putting The Most Evil Man Alive in front of you every month (motivating you to fuck their shit up) and linking a party member’s story with said villain. In 3 it’s just “there’s a big shadow coming in a few weeks, spin your wheels until then, sometimes a new party member will join at random” and that’s it. The biggest change they should have made IMO is bringing a bunch of the later story events forward a bit because it honestly feels like nothing happens for maybe 3 in game months initially.
I’m playing Reload now and I’ve gotten way further than I got into the original, but I put it down to the goodwill I have for 4 & 5 carrying me through a lot of it because it has huge issues.
I’ve looked at some comparison footage and I think you’re absolutely right that Reload bungles the atmosphere. But for my money the biggest issue with 3 - which they haven’t fixed in Reload - is a total lack of a story hook for like… the first 20 hours+. 4 draws you in with the murder mystery & succession of character arcs for your party members, 5 by putting The Most Evil Man Alive in front of you every month (motivating you to fuck their shit up) and linking a party member’s story with said villain. In 3 it’s just “there’s a big shadow coming in a few weeks, spin your wheels until then, sometimes a new party member will join at random” and that’s it. The biggest change they should have made IMO is bringing a bunch of the later story events forward a bit because it honestly feels like nothing happens for maybe 3 in game months initially.
8 days ago
9 days ago
harveegee
completed
Super Mario Galaxy
I’ve had the weirdest journey with this game. On my first playthrough I thought it was good, I enjoyed it, but it didn’t blow my mind. Since then I’ve replayed it almost annually and every time I find new things which delight me. The central gravity gimmick + the constant introduction, development & combination of new gameplay mechanics + the bonkers level design combine to create the most richly varied and playful 3D platformer ever (I honestly don’t think the sequel matches it on these fronts). Certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s also an aesthetic masterpiece, perhaps as beautiful a game as has ever existed.
9 days ago
9 days ago
harveegee
completed
Resident Evil 4
The #1 reason Shinji Mikami is on my personal Mt Rushmore of game directors (Shigeru Miyamoto, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Shinji Mikami, fourth name yet to be chosen). I don’t think anyone else matches Mikami’s knack for the exact right combination of game mechanics, movement rules, pacing and perfectly tuned difficulty to generate maximum fun. ‘Stun zombie + do kick/suplex + knife slash’ should get old eventually. It doesn’t.
Right up there with Super Metroid on the ‘lightning in a bottle’ scale - the common denominator there appears to be that both are atmospheric in a way which can’t be replicated with or improved upon by future technology - and something which will always be one of the best games in its genre no matter what else follows.
Right up there with Super Metroid on the ‘lightning in a bottle’ scale - the common denominator there appears to be that both are atmospheric in a way which can’t be replicated with or improved upon by future technology - and something which will always be one of the best games in its genre no matter what else follows.
9 days ago
Liked
harveegee
completed
Disco Elysium
When someone tells you this or that video game is comparable to a great film or novel, as a general rule, no it isn’t. People who say that only do so because they lack media literacy.
Disco Elysium is the very, very rare exception to this rule. This is interactive literature.
Disco Elysium is the very, very rare exception to this rule. This is interactive literature.
11 days ago
harveegee
completed
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I don’t know if this is my favourite game of all time, but it’s certainly the one which prompts the most confusion and sometimes side eye in me when people heavily criticise it or say they “don’t get it”.
For me it’s “Stuff I’d Been Wanting Games To Do For As Long As I Can Remember: The Game” & it’s here to unlock the chains other games bind you in.
That a genuinely fairly large proportion of people who play it can only respond with “I miss the predictable & samey structure of other 3D Zeldas” or, even worse, “I don’t see why this is better than other open world games with towers”… well, it depresses me more than it perhaps should.
For me it’s “Stuff I’d Been Wanting Games To Do For As Long As I Can Remember: The Game” & it’s here to unlock the chains other games bind you in.
That a genuinely fairly large proportion of people who play it can only respond with “I miss the predictable & samey structure of other 3D Zeldas” or, even worse, “I don’t see why this is better than other open world games with towers”… well, it depresses me more than it perhaps should.
11 days ago
harveegee
completed
Bloodborne
The question of which Miyazaki game is my favourite is always neck and neck between this and the first Dark Souls. I’m not embarrassed at all to say that I usually give Bloodborne the nod because:
- Trick weapon go clickety-clack, vrrrm, BOOOOM, or make other cool noise;
- Every armour is a cool swishy long jacket that go swish-swish;
- Parry with gun and then rip at flesh with bare hand (so metal);
- Every upgrade material is blood (blood echoes, blood gem, blood rock, etc).
- Trick weapon go clickety-clack, vrrrm, BOOOOM, or make other cool noise;
- Every armour is a cool swishy long jacket that go swish-swish;
- Parry with gun and then rip at flesh with bare hand (so metal);
- Every upgrade material is blood (blood echoes, blood gem, blood rock, etc).
11 days ago
harveegee is
now playing
Persona 3 Reload
11 days ago