Media Consumption Blog 2/18/18 (UPDATE)

It’s a new year but we haven’t had a Media Consumption Blog since December! At first I told myself “eh, we’re just taking a small break”, but it’s now crossed over to just being lazy. If you’re new to the Patreon, this blog is basically our output for movies, games, television, basically anything we’ve consumed but haven’t yet, or don’t plan on making a video for. We used to post these on Fridays, I’ve decided to move them to Saturdays, yet this one is a little late going up on Sunday. Also, Grace didn’t have anything time to write this week so you’re stuck with just Derek. It might take us a week or two to get our groove back, but I’ve played a couple things and I’ve got a few things to say. So let’s get going!

Fatal Frame 2 Director’s Cut (Xbox)

Being a huge horror nut, it’s a crime how long I’ve been sleeping on the Fatal Frame series. The most I’ve ever played was the first few hours of the original game, which we streamed during our 2017 Patreon Appreciation Month. And we really enjoyed it! … but we never came back to it. Flash forward to a few weeks ago on a lazy, recharge saturday, Grace suggested we play a new game but not for work and we somehow decided to return to Fatal Frame. However instead resuming our save from last year, we decided on a clean slate with a new game on Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly, specifically the Xbox “Director’s Cut” version.

I was really excited, FF2 is usually shortlisted with Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil Remake, and Clock Tower as one of the greatest and scariest horror games of all time. I mean, even if it doesn’t top those greats, it’s probably still a spooky good time! And damn, gotta say I was pretty disappointed. At first, I thought I had let hype get the best of me, but the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t understand why this game is so celebrated. 

The biggest problem is the way it tells its story. Similar to The Evil Within, it’s not really that complicated of a story, just a convoluted one. It also doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, it labors over certain aspects while completely ignoring larger, world-building details until the whole things falls apart. The story is, essentially, about a small village deep in a forest that must perform a ritual in order to push back an evil, literally seeping from the gates of hell. Trouble started when the ritual was botched, now the town is cursed which explains all the ghosts. That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s implied that this ritual has been performed since time immemorial, why has it only been botched now? And there’s apparently a “public ritual” and an “unspoken-of, backup ritual” if the first one fails, but it’s never mentioned why or how the first ritual failed (or even what it is). 

Throughout the game we learn about other times the ritual has been performed and seems like it’s a shitshow every time, as though it’s never really gone as planned. Recurring boss ghosts are people who became possessed or went mad after performing said ritual. The villagers are portrayed as villainous, kidnapping people, turning family members against one another, all for the sake of the ritual, but also if they don’t deliver on that ritual, the fucking gates of hell will rip open, cut ‘em some slack! As I was playing I wasn’t even sure what I was fighting for - are we saving the villagers? Saving the world? Saving just ourselves? And wouldn’t it have made more sense to portray the villagers as tragic instead of villainous? You and your twin sister’s backstories, as well as why or how they even ended up in the village are only briefly mentioned (it’s also painfully obvious from the very beginning that your twin sister is possessed/a ghost/a manifestation of your guilt and not even a real person, but I’ll let you find out for yourself). There’s this constant talk of “escaping the village through a secret exit” but this convenient slice of contrivance is never fully explained. Why do you need a secret exit?? You’re in a damn forest!! Just pick a direction and go!! People don’t seem to have trouble accidentally wondering in on foot, can’t be that far from the rest of civilization. Listen, this may sound like nickpicking, but when a game doesn’t keep me occupied with interesting characters or villains with interesting motives and backstories, my brain focuses on unimportant stuff. Basically, this game gave me nothing to work with. 

The game also has a problem with pacing. The entire game takes place in the village, which amounts to a cliff, a graveyard, and four houses you can enter. While two of the houses are quite big, it’s still a rather small area requiring constant backtracking, which when done like it is in FF2, makes the world too familiar and therefore less scary. You’re often sent on scavenger hunts, given only cryptic hints on where to go and what to look for. Pulling up a walkthrough is the horror video game equivalent of checking your watch in a movie - if I’m doing it too often, you’ve lost me.

Combat with your ghost bustin’, killer camera can be fun with some fights being very tense but there’s a fundamental problem here - the upgrades. You can beef up your camera with upgrades and special lenses which themselves can also be upgraded, and you purchase these with points you get from defeated ghosts. What this means is instead of being scared of ghosts, I was incentivised to get in to fights so I could buy upgrades. Not only that, getting “Zero Shots” and “Fatal Frames” by getting up close and waiting for the right moment net you higher points. There are many different levels of film varying strength and all except for the super weak kind is finite but I went through the whole game, killing every ghost and never running out of good film. In fact, I saved up the strongest film for the final boss who I killed easily in 3 or 4 shots. Some fights were in very cramped quarters or with ghosts that warped all around me and those instances were more frustrating than scary. The combat isn’t always that great, and even when it is, it undermines the game’s horror fundamentals. There are moments of brilliance in harmless ghosts that occasionally pop up to give you guidance or story through cryptic rantings and snapping a picture before they vanish nets you bonus upgrade points. They are essentially jumpscares that reward you for keeping your wits about you, it’s maybe the smartest thing FF2 does.

If this game does anything else right though, it’s look damn good. Every room and building is painstakingly decorated, along with some of the best camera angles I’ve ever seen in a horror game. There’s some fantastic sound design, and some spooky-ass ghosts with creepy broken necks, and horrific knife wounds on their face (and heads up if you think dolls are scary)! But I feel like all the truly scary moments were when I was “forcing the high”, hyping myself up for a big scare but the game just never delivered the goods. In spite of everything, we played FF2 to the end, and it wasn’t until the credits rolled did Grace and I start talking it over and conclude that the game was a disappointed. So it was a decent enough ride. I’m not ready to give up on the series though, I really enjoyed what I played of the first one, and I’ve also got the third one. People have been quick to recommend the Wii remake of FF2 as a much better version but I’d sooner try an entirely different entry if I’m going to give this celebrated series another shot.

Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (GC)

Another horror game I recently crossed off my bucket list! Nemesis is a really, really weird Resident Evil game, it feels like both a series spin-off and the spiritual prequel to the action-focused Resident Evil 4. Like it was intended to just be a spin-off and it accidentally became the series’ first step towards action and away from survival horror. But I don’t hold that against Nemesis, in fact I would say I rather enjoyed it! Which is kind of shocking because the action wasn’t necessarily the highlight of the first two Resident Evil games, and making a whole game that doubles down on that sounds like a terrible idea.

Actually, if I’m being honest, RE4 is not the reference point I should be making for Nemesis. Unlike most people, I’m coming to this game after Dino Crisis 2 (I might be the only person ever to do so, haha) and I think it’s interesting how both of these games take the tank-control, stationary-camera design of the original Resident Evil and so wildly but successfully deviate from it. Nemesis does a good job splitting the difference between survival horror and straight up action. Ammo is plentiful (especially with inclusion of gunpowder) but there’s so much more to worry about with a much greater number of enemies and of course the titular hulking beast stalking you throughout the game. Ammo and item conservation is still paramount (more so on “Hard Mode”, which it turns out is actually this game’s “Normal Mode”) but it’s a different style from Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica. You might have enough ammo and cut through a zombie mosh pit, but are you also prepared if Nemesis shows up? There’s a lot more shooting and a lot less puzzles, it’s a welcome change of pace. 180-turns, auto aim, and a quick dodge level the playing field in combat but I can’t help but wonder how much better it would’ve been if Nemesis had taken a page from Dino Crisis 2’s movement with drawn-weapons, even faster turn-radiuses, melee attacks and side-stepping. Combat is improved in Nemesis, but it’s still stiff as hell like its predecessors.  Also, I went the whole game performing the dodging attack without ever really understanding how I was doing it, so since I never learned to depend on it, I can’t give Nemesis too much credit for being innovative. But Nemesis brings the tension and occasional scares in a way Dino Crisis 2 never even came close to which definitely counts for something.

It’s also worth mentioning I played through on “Easy Mode” which give you an unbelievable amount ammo and health right out of the gate. But don’t even start saying that’s not a “true” way to play a Resident Evil game. One of the great rewards of Resident Evil games is New Game Plus with super powered weapons or infinite rocket launchers, and RE3’s easy mode basically lets you do that from the jump. It’s a testament to how fundamentally good this game is that just shooting zombies is satisfying and fun on its own. My playthrough wasn’t really a challenge but I still had a great time. And when it was over, I enjoyed Mercenaries mode and look forward to completing the game on “Hard Mode”. I look at Nemesis as a confident game that took a lot of chances and is a real treat for fans. I wouldn’t recommend it to series newcomers, though, its charm wouldn’t be there without the context of at least the first two games. In my mind, Code: Veronica is still the real RE3, and Nemesis is a quirky little side-story game, essential for all RE fans.

*If you’re curious, I played the GameCube version for no other reason than our Wii was hooked up at the time and I just happened to have that version.

Metal Gear Survive (PS4)

*UPDATE*

I haven’t been keeping that close an eye on Metal Gear Survive and was taken completely by surprise by not one but two free, open betas. I'm not sure what new about this second beta that ran from 2/16-2/19 but at least I was able to put another hour or so into it.

Metal Gear Survive was a tough game to get back into because of its confusing interface. It is a wave-based, tower defense game with lots of constructing and crafting. You're building stuff, crafting stuff, shooting things, healing yourself all while trying to keep you base from blowing at the hands of ravenous, crystal-headed zombies (don't ask). At times it feels more complicated than it needs to be, but I eventually got the hang of it. And it controls well overall and is a pretty tight, polished from what I saw.

Survive inundates you with half a dozen crafting systems, and dozens of things to craft from hundreds of crafting items. It's hard to know where to start. The option menu has a staggeringly long list of tutorials to read through, it took me 10 minutes to read it all. But once I wrap my head around it all and had a couple games under my belt it dawned on me that there's really not very much here, at least in the beta. Only a few weapons, only a few defensive fortifications, and only a few types of enemies on just two maps. There's certainly room for an incredibly rich and deep game here, but it's just not present in the Beta. I was expecting to experience a little more of the game in this new Beta but after only a few matches it wasn't clear to me that there was really anything new.

I think Survive could stand on its own, I did enjoy my brief time with it. It's clearly not just a quick cash grab or else there wouldn't promise to have so much and would've been released much earlier. But Kojima's exit from Konami could hardly have been messier, and Konami is reportedly still an awful place to work. You'd still forgiven for boycotting Survive outright, and I think those who do wouldn't be missing anything they couldn't find in dozens of other games. 

That's it for now! See you next week for another blog, hopefully I’ll be able to get this one out on Saturday propper, haha. 

Thanks as always for the support, stay powerful!

-da