Ranslinger - EP2 - Milling To Victory

YouTube Link

This shoot out in the first part of this episode is where they first really push the narration directly impacting the game. First they take away your ammo, not just by providing you with too many bodies to shoot, but also by literally taking it away when Silas mentions that he was running out of bullets.

Then they use it to open up a door, literally by having a sliding a rock over to create a path that was unavailable to you before. It is an interesting variation on the door/gating approach to a combat arena. Often in situations where a game wants to you have a stand up fight you will end up in an arena like that one and conveniently the last enemy to enter will break open a door, or destroy whatever obstacle was keeping you there. This is the first time I have literally had the scenery move itself, it lets the level designer and storyteller be a lot more blatant with the solutions to this kind of problem while winking to the player.

I am glad most games don't take this approach because I think it could be overused fairly easily, but having it happen in a game like this is refreshing and I found it pretty amusing.

Ranslinger - EP1 - A Man Walks Into A Bar

YouTube Link

I watched a friend stream through Gunslinger recently and got the urge to play through it myself one more time. As I say in the video I really dig this game, it is the kind of thing I would like to see more studios doing. A small targeted experience, it has satisfying gunplay, entertaining story and doesn't outstay its welcome.

It seems like they settled on a fairly interesting narrative approach fairly early on in the development process and they really got to play around with it. I have not seen any other game use an unreliable narrator framing device quite the way this does.

There should be a total of nine episodes in this season, one per chapter of the game. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do.

Ransistor - Fin

YouTube Link

Didn't really keep up with the posts here for this season of Ransistor, but here is the rest of them.

Transistor ended up being a game which for me outstayed its welcome just a little bit. I can't say I ended up too keen on its combat and unlike many of the people I have talked to I didn't quite work out a proper killer combo until the last area of the game and that combo was focused around the action RPG side and the final boss you really have to fight in turn based mode.

That said overall the game was great, it has a great soundtrack, narration and art style. The city was interesting despite not really getting that much development, there was no attempt to even vaguely suggest what the virtual city was for. That is the thing about this kind of environment, they have to exist for a reason and I didn't notice any exploration.

The ending took me by complete surprise, I did not see it coming and it felt pretty horrifying as it happened. The credits sequence helps but wow it was surprisingly intense. I am genuinely surprised that I was not spoilt on that element by anyone.

Ransistor - Episode 4 - Processing

YouTube Link

I quite like the function system, at least for now the extra backstory unlocked by swapping them around has me constantly reevaluating and trying out new power combinations. I am sure I will settle on a stable set at some point in the future but for now it seems to be fulfilling its purpose.

I am looking forward to getting a bit more memory so I can use more functions at the same time, it can't be too far off because I am already constantly hitting the limit without being able to fill most of my slots.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the little tests in the sandbox were faster and less painful than the equivalents were in Bastion, again at least for now. They give me a nice little buzz of satisfaction but don't feel like they are pulling me away from the main story for too long.

Ransistor - Episode 3 - Taking_A_break.exe

YouTube Link

We have our stronghold now, our home away from home, our bastion if you will. In keeping with the approach from Bastion we get little side tasks in the form of time trials and undoubtedly other trials that will test my ability with different elements of the game.

It is kind of neat to have it, but I am not sure it fits thematically. Red just doesn't seem like the kind of hero to sit back and relax while she has a job to do and the city seems to be being converted without her. It made a lot more sense in Bastion because story wise it was structured as the hub you strike out from and return to. Here the sandbox is just the kind of place you seem to run across entrances to periodically as a chance to take a break.

Ransistor - Episode 2 - Headline Performance

YouTube Link

Sorry for falling behind on these posts, been a bit ill this week.

Today's episode has the first boss fight of the game and I think it is a pretty interesting one in that it feels like it is intentionally unfairly long. Every time you take the boss down she immediately regenerates tougher and with more friends. It seems to me that the designers want the player to run out of health at least once in this fight so they can introduce the equivalent of lives.

Basically whenever you run out of health one of your active functions blows out and is unusable until you have visited a few more access terminals, so your options and abilities are further restricted. Enemies are not reset so you do get to keep pushing on, but you feel restricted and damaged. I like it conceptually, though I do have some reservations because I have a tendency to have only 1 or 2 damage dealing functions active at a time and I could see myself losing both of those first and then literally having no option other than to throw the remaining lives away.

It will be interesting to see how I feel about it later in the game when presumably I will encounter that state much more often.

Ransistor - Episode 1 - Hello World

YouTube Link

This week kicks off a lets play, this time Transistor where I take the reins of Red and her mysterious sword. This is the latest title from Supergiant games, the same folks who made Bastion and it is another action RPG with a smooth voiced narrator.

This time however it is not set in a mysterious post apocalypse in the sky, instead it is in some kind of strange virtual world and it features an interesting hybrid real time and turn based combat system along with a slot based weapon and upgrade system. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get used to them.

Already really enjoying the art and atmosphere. I have gone into this game hoping to have an interesting setting and story to explore, hopefully Transistor will deliver.