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January 9, 2022January 9, 2022

Games I’ve Been Playing | 1/2-1/8

Inscryption (finished)
Tales of Arise (left Calaglia for Cyslodia)
F-Zero
Super Mario World
Resident Evil 2 REmake
Final Fantasy VII

Evolving Thoughts on This Blog

There are a lot of different things I’m learning and experimenting with right now and I’ve been thinking about where the blog fits into all of it. For now, I’m going to primarily make rambling journal posts. The “let’s play” videos of blogging in a sense. If you connect with my thoughts, I’m happy to have you along and have conversations in the comments.

Sometimes thoughts will stray from gaming… and my apologies for the excessive length of this one…

Some Sunday Thoughts

Not a lot of playing games on Sunday but there are some video game thoughts. Right now – after a major pull into vintage games – I’m feeling drawn into large, modern 3D polygonal experiences. It may be in part because of the decision to try my hand at gaming Youtube, with so much of that retro landcape already covered by other creators.

Regardless of the why, I have the desire to be pulled into an immersive world experience. One specifically not within the scope of the sport-like diversion of what I’ve been playing (a lot of F-Zero and Super Mario Bros). Right now, that means I’ve started Tales of Arise while looking over at Psychonauts 1&2 as well as Alan Wake Remastered. It happens every so often, like a specific food craving.

Adjacent Thoughts

As an aside, this push and pull to different genres makes me think of the enormous range of experience in video gaming. Whether it’s moving through sport-like racers or side scrolling obstacle courses, repeating them over again and again with greater perfection, or leveling up a character through varied, awestriking environments (not to mention strategy games, social games, the list goes on and on).

Moving forward in 2022, my intention is not to lose a foot in the old, more often arcade-like experiences. The opaque process of development of these big AAA games leaves consumers with a controlled view of the tip of the iceberg and can hide serious worker exploitation. Along with the higher energy consumption of running modern titles, it has me ambivalent and resistant to fully subsuming my gaming time in them. Something I’ve come to appreciate about the Switch is that it’s at least a low-power format relative to PC or PS5/Xbox gaming.

Monday

Monday was a rare day off of gaming – well not quite – I did take a break mid-day for about 30-40 minutes of Inscryption. It’s dragging on a bit for me at the point where I think I’m closing in on the true ending of the game. It seems like it’ll ramp up again as I complete this stage of matches (intentionally vague to avoid spoilers), but it’s carrying less driving force than all that has led up to it.

At first, the change to this current “chapter” of the game was a fresh interesting twist, but as it goes on over the course of a couple of hours of gameplay, it feels less impactful in the moment to moment than what came before. Still eager to see this delightful game through to the end and beyond and what game exists without peaks and valleys of engagement over it’s several hours.

Nothing played in the evening as I was tired out from some exercise and sucked in to some brilliant video essays on the Beatles by so and so. One was about the new documentary and the other on Paul’s solo album Ram as an incredible genesis of the indie pop sound. Man, I couldn’t agree more, I love the mood of that album and it’s ability to transform mine when listening to it. Tuesday, Tales of Arise must go on!

Tuesday-Friday

Look at that, I didn’t journal on these days and am now going to try an pry out some details…

There was some more time spent on Inscryption this week, including another shift of sorts in it’s structure. I will be vague about this game unless there is a specific spoiler post/warning because the mystique of the game is a nice aspect of it. I will say the narrative pacing continues to be less gripping than it was early on, but it’s a testament to the mood and gameplay that I’m still very much in it.

Ah also, Tales of Arise is chugging along and I’m doing a decent job of exercising restraint to keep myself from bouncing off onto another jumbo game that I won’t finish. I’m now embarking upon the second biome of the game and it’s fine, nothing new to report in my feelings about it for better or worse.

Saturday

So, I wrote the tuesday-Friday section on Saturday and am looking to capture this last day of the journaling week fresh in my mind. Probably gonna break restraint and dabble in a different game today.

(a day passes)

And I ended up finishing Inscryption! It’s a high recommendation to just about anyone with an interest in playing games. Especially if a bit of mystery and mood are things you like, as well as pick up and play card games. I’m someone who grew up playing euchre with friends and family, likes a good escape room, and is a bit of a Twin Peaks nut, so I’m predisposed for title like this. Even if you aren’t that into those cross-section of things, there’s a good chance you’ll find Inscryption worth a play.

There’s a beta version of an endless challenge mode that’s downloadable and is designed around the beggining portion of the game, you may see it show up in next week’s journal. I prefer to play completed versions of things but I am so primed for Inscryption’s gameplay at this point that it’d be a waste not to look at it.

As far as concluding thoughts on Inscryption go, the pacing does pick back up at the end and I was relatively satisfied with the attention they put into a complete experience. It does not feel neatly closed or explained, which I like for stimulating analysis and theorizing about the full extent of what’s going on. The whole playthrough clocked in at around 18-19 hours and is impacted significantly by how long you spend making card playing decisions (I tend towards the deliberate/slower end).

Tying Up

That was a lighter week of play with Inscryption taking up the bulk of my attention, the game of the week so to speak, the attention trophy. Resident Evil and Final Fantasy snuck in on Friday and Saturday for a hot second after they came up in conversation, not really playing them so much as dipping my toes in their world. That about does it, hope you survived the last week relatively unscathed, when and wherever you read this.

December 14, 2021December 14, 2021

Games I’ve Been Playing | 12/6-12/12

F-Zero
Super Mario World
Pilotwings
Top Gear
Super Hang On
Skitchin’
Inertial Drift
Grip: Combat Racing
Super Mario Odyssey
Burnout Paradise Remastered

Racing Games Take the Lead

F-Zero has pulled me in full-force this week, taking the crown for my most-played title. It’s going to get it’s own dedicated posts, but I’ll just mention here that I finished Knight League on expert this week as well as dipping my toes into driving with the Wild Goose and Fire Stingray. Finishing a league on expert triggers the game credits to roll and opens up the master class for that league.

Both for comparison and because racing in F-Zero is so much fun, this week had me sampling a variety of games in the racing genre. For 16-bit titles, Top Gear on the Super Nintendo stood out as something I can see myself digging into more deeply. It’s racing mechanics are very distinct from F-Zero as you manage shifting gears as well as fuel.

It’s also a racer that’s well regarded for the SNES, though no where near the same level. 16-bit consoles aren’t as known for racing games as they are for other genres such as sidescrolling platformers, RPGs, and shooters, so most of the conversation of classics begins and ends with Super Mario Kart and F-Zero.

A notable modern release I spent some time with this week was Inertial Drift, a twin-stick racing game where you control the intensity and angle of a drift with the right stick. As the name implies, it heavily emphasizes this mechanic over the traditional left stick steering and pressing of a button to initiate drifting. My first impression is that it’s a well-developed mechanic and worth setting as my main racing game to dig into at some point (a much later point when I’ve moved on from F-Zero and it’s notable contemporaries).

…But Also SNES Launch Titles

Not alone as a Nintendo-developed launch title on SNES, F-Zero was accompanied by Super Mario World and the first title in the small Pilotwings franchise. I already completed a playthrough of Super Mario World this year but I’m going to be doing a full 2-player run through with Derek over the course of the coming weeks. Looking forward to that as well as continuing to set some time aside to wrap my head around Pilotwings.

A Gaming Notable That’s Not a Game

This past week was also the week of the 2021 Game Awards (sarcastic cheers, applause and exclamation). It was not a great show and you don’t have to go far to find a chorus of agreement about it’s failings as a show. Instead, I just want to mention a couple of the notables and highlights for me.

First to mind is the Cuphead musical performance and dlc trailer that included a concrete release date of June, 30th, 2022. It is worth a watch and I thought it was the highest quality piece of peformance and/or marketing of the evening.

Just as they treated many award categories on the show, my mention of the actual awards is going to be quick and brief. It Takes Two won Game of the Year, a pretty surprising but seemingly deserved result. That one is on my to- play list. Also on my list of games to play is Metroid Dread, which won best Action Adventure game. Hooray for a title rooted in retro design seeing both critical and sales success. Lots of other stuff happened there, not much of it was impactful, but here is a condensed reel of top moments, winners, and reveals from the ceremony.

That’s more than enough going on about this last week. Hope you are finding some good time to enjoy some games and reflect ona what stood out to you over the last year, gaming and otherwise.

Cheers,

Brady

November 30, 2021December 11, 2021

Approaching F Zero

In 1991…

The way it’s discussed in retrospects, it was a technical boundary pusher for console racing, a mode-7 showcase, all terms the kids would not have viewed it under. My brain leans closer towards these analytic accounts, playing it entirely for the first time in my thirties.

Anyways, there are a few facts we can point at to give some sense of F Zero’s place in gaming. It’s a first-party developed IP that launched on day one right alongside Super Mario World for both the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo. Lifetime sales total 2.85 million and land it at the 15th spot for bestselling games on the console.

Current Context

F-Zero’s critical position of today neatly parallels the historical sales numbers, it may not be a top 10 title for the console, but you’d have to dig considerably to find a “greatest SNES games” list that doesn’t rank it in the top 25.

It’s legacy is the sort that hangs around in collective memory of the Super Nintendo just below the grandest of games like Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and Super Mario Kart. This is encapsulated by it’s position as “probably” the only other racing franchise from Nintendo that will spring to a person’s mind after Mario Kart.

A natural comparision to Mario Kart, the F Zero franchise sprung up on the same platform, runs on the same Mode 7 graphical presentation, and is rich with interesting similarities/differences. For me, much of that will come down the line after deep diving into both titles

Speaking of down the line, this blog will be looking next at F Zero in several yet-to-be-determined chunks as my roommate and I compete our way through the game, acquanting ourselves more bit-by-bit. I’d like to add more big-picture analysis like this alongside or in-between blocks of gameplay bloggery.

Cheers,

Brady

November 24, 2021December 11, 2021

Introduction

Hey, thank you for stopping by this blog – the name “Weak Souls” is a nod to the Dark Souls franchise and the challenging games that one butts up against, struggles with and will not always overcome. It was decided upon after I had just played my first title from the Dark Souls developer From Software (Sekiro) and I write this eager to work through the upcoming Elden Ring.

“Souls” is plural because it’s my hope to bring in some company along the way and have a few other voices take part. For now, it’ll just be myself and I’ll warm up with some personal background for the five people who may read this.

My Background

The past three years have seen not only my first return to gaming since childhood but video games full on overtaking coffee as my core hobby/interest/obsession. When I returned to gaming in the fall of 2018, I had recently moved into a studio apartment in a new city and dove wildly into The Breath of the Wild.

As my last consistent experience was playing the GameCube and PS2 on a kid’s budget of receiving holiday gifts, I have a ton of “the best” titles to work through. You’ll be seeing a variety of current and vintage games being chronicled on this blog. Even though it’s themed around getting my butt kicked in tough games, there will be plenty of standard fare titles in terms of difficulty.

Thanks again for stopping in, I hope to make this a place of discussion and reflection among people who love video games and the conversation that surrounds them. You’re encouraged to engage in the comments, to let me know what you’ve been playing, make a suggestion for the blog etc. Keep an eye out for my first proper post journaling my initial play sessions of F-Zero on the Super Nintendo.

Cheers,

Brady