Star Wars: Battlefront Gameplay, Developer Journals and Other Goodies

So like I've said, I've made a new YouTube. This channel, called Cutlock Crew focuses on a couple of friends of mine and of course, yours truly. Now the thing about this channel is that while I do post videos of me gaming, that is not what the content is about. I talk about several things, I talk about the games themselves, I talk about strange stories, I talk about funny stories, hilarious stories. I do videos on hip hop, called rap talks. One of the videos that I am especially proud of is this one. While it has not gotten nearly as many views as the other videos on this channel, I am very proud of it.

I address one of the big issues regarding the Grammy Awards, their failure to truly understand hip hop. I'm thinking of posting a text based version to We Real sometime during the week maybe.

My most popular videos so far have proven to be my Developer Journals. These talk about my experience as the screenwriter of Mesozoica, the video game project you all know that I am signed on. I'll have a post on the progress of that coming out soon hopefully. Check out my most popular video right here:

Star Wars: Battlefront Where art Thou?

Ah, stupid unforseen consequences. They have indefinitely delayed my Hook video and the post that I was going to make that accompanied it. They also delayed me from getting Star Wars: Battlefront and I assure you, if I had the game right now I would be making a follow up video right away. That game series deserves it, it deserves it!

However, I do not have the game and am not making any videos. This was just a post to let everyone know that I'm not dead. I'll try to post more, but only in mid December will I get the real chance. When mid-December comes, I'll be uploading a ton of gameplay of Star Wars: Battlefront. I'll also get a review up. Maybe I'll make a video review? Who knows.

Dakotaraptor steini

Yes, it is true that Mesozoica is not the king on the front of being scientifically accurate. However, we must be doing something right. After all, our wonderful and talented creature modeler Robert Fabiani would not have been contacted by Robert DePalma on the behalf of the University of Kansas to help model the new dinosaur, the Dakotaraptor steini. It is a brand new dinosaur and Mesozoica has the honour of being able to make the first model of it for a game.

Isn't it beautiful?

This will be a slightly shorter post. However, I am having another second thought on putting in a beat I have made for the Hook video. The reason is because I don't want to just put my own material out there, because well, then I don't really own it anymore aside from having had made it before the next guy. It's kind of why I make remixes, because I've bought the music or downloaded it and am putting it up there for fun, within creative commons. Until I can profit off of my own beats, I don't feel like putting them up. So, the Hook video may take longer.

Star Wars: Battlefront - Hopes

So, I'm actually editing the video right now. It's going to be a longer video because I'm adding stuff in it that was not in the beta. What video you may ask? A video of me playing Star Wars: Battlefront. It is fairly funny, but keep in mind, I'm not a gamer on YouTube. I'm a producer and a screenwriter. So, I'm doing what I do best, editing some funny clips and stitching them into my gameplay. It's coming out by the end of the week, if I'm lucky I'll get some of it done today.

One more thing. Hook. I want to write up the post and I want to make the tribute video. However, I have determined that none of my recent remixes are good enough for a video on Hook. I need to come up with something that fits. To that end, I think I may end up mixing my own beat. Will I sample or go for something urban, who knows. However, the post goes up with the video and the video only goes up with proper music.

Back to Star Wars: Battlefront. I was not too disappointed when I heard there would be no maps from the Clone Wars. In fact, I liked that all the maps in the game would be from the Galactic Empire Era and that there would only be ten maps. I believe that DICE, given focus can make ten amazing maps and from the three that I have seen, it does appear that way. I love the online mode, as you will see. I love the fact that there is two player, couch co-op, splitscreen - whatever you call it - I have lamented about this in the past. One of my favorite two player games is Uncharted 3, the co-op is simple, just like Call of Duty but a lot more fun. I love that Star Wars: Battlefront at least has splitscreen but am disappointed that it may not extend to the online aspects of the game. Disappointing, but hopefully untrue but likely true. I hope that just like they are adding two maps from Jakku, in the future they my add co-op in an expansion. I still hope Destiny adds splitscreen in an expansion.

Star Wars: Battlefront Beta Impressions

So remember when I had all those Destiny videos up before I realized they were shit and took them down? Yeah, I've recorded another gaming video, this time on the Star Wars: Battlefront Beta. However, I figured before I edit and upload them I'll talk about it. Way back when, Rogers Communications used to have stores out in town where you could rent movies and video games. I know, kind of like Blockbuster except they wanted a lot more than that. So, I rented out and played the shit out of a game called Star Wars: Battlefront with my cousin. We loved it and gave it back. Then we saw it in the store: Star Wars: Battlefront II. At EB Games, I bought it and it was so much better, just incredible really. Along this time I got the two Lego Star Wars games as well and they were fantastic, never mind I was never able to finish the third one due to a game breaking glitch. What I'm trying to say is, I love Star Wars video games.

Now, the thing I loved about the original two Battlefront games is that it provided amazing third person shooter action. I love TPS games, they are so great. Down to Uncharted from Crash Bandicoot, I've always loved playing in the third person. So I was disappointed when this game started off in the first-person perspective. Yet, then I made third person mode my primary and dang did I get good. Right away, I led the team in kills like three matches in a row. Yeah, there's some stuff I don't really get like that booster jump but honestly, I love this game so far. So yeah, in my recordings I don't do so hot all the time but when I edit and put it up you'll see, you'll all see...

So anyways, yeah, screw First-Person Shooter mode. TPS all the way. I never played FPS mode in the original two and I'm not going to play it in this one. I love Third Person Shooters, there is just something about them.

Dinosaur Battlegrounds - A Fellow Project

I know I've sort of neglected this blog a little bit as of recent and Yafisz has disappeared somewhere, but I'm here to talk more about news. First of which is that I have a very special post coming out soon, one that is again about the movie Hook. I've talked about this topic before in a post I made called Remembering Hook, which was a passionate response to an article by Travis Vogt and not the most professional thing that I've written. However, I've been known to go off and say some pretty crazy stuff on this blog, Yafisz more so. As a consequence, Remembering Hook Part Two will be an actual endeavor in this topic which will be coherent.

However, what I really want to talk about today is sort of a tangent to what I've been talking about recently, Mesozoica. Now, I am a video editor, producer, coder and screenwriter. I could have adopted any one of those roles in the project, but I chose screenwriter. Why? I have been given the chance to work with YouTubers like The Gaming Beaver or BestinSlot and am able to craft an entire world. I actually announced my involvement as screenwriter in my review of The Order: 1886, but only elaborated the day after in a post that talked about other upcoming games as well. The next post kind of elaborates my troubled history in the game development business. While after that I promoted the Megalodon, talked about delaying Kickstarter and that was the first post of a series of events which radically changed the course of the game. I had to elaborate on what this meant and later confirm the game would no longer look like it did in the UI Tech Demo. Before long, we were back on track with the Originals, and a temporary website. Well, then we went to Kickstarter and I did my damndest to try and promote the campaign while also putting up the Pre-Alpha, Version 1.6.2. That brings us to today, we have officially reached our goal and I can happily confirm that the game will indeed be made. As such, I wanted to talk a little bit about other indie games. One of these I talked abut in one of those very first posts I've linked to.

This project is undoubtedly Dinosaur Battlegrounds, now given that we are on our last legs of Kickstarter they gave us a shout out on their Facebook page. So I feel the appropriate thing to do is let all of you guys know about their project. They have a much larger team than the one we do over at Mesozoica, but their team is equally talented. We share one member in fact, Adrian Brown. He is the animator for both of our projects. Out of all the other games, Prehistoric Kingdom and Saurian included, I am most excited for Dinosaur Battlegrounds. It promises a game that takes elements from MMORPGs, survival games, action adventure games and a dynamic sandbox. They are working with real paleontologists to ensure that there is a degree of accuracy that no other game promises. Essentially they are carving out an entirely new genre in video gaming and I am so glad they are doing it. You get to play as a dinosaur and survive in an open world, best part, you can do it with your friends as well. For more information, check it out here.

Now, Adrian Brown is also working on his own project, called T-rex World and it also looks really fun. It is a battle game set in Hell Creek where you play as the Tyrannosaurus Rex and fight your enemies to completion. The game looks incredibly detailed and great and I recommend you look forward to it as well. Check it out here.

Mesozoica Pre-Alpha Released

Okay guys, so after years of trying, and on my blog's history you can probably see my history of this, I tried to make an indie game. It never really did work until now. Mesozoica that is. We're on Kickstarter and are now 86% funded with 6 days left. We are in the final stretch now and it really is now or never to see our dreams come true. Of course I have many dreams, this is just the one that has been profiled the most on this blog. So even a $5 pledge will help, so here is the link to Kickstarter.

Other news on the game, though, is that we have officially released our Pre-Alpha. Now keep in mind, this Pre-Alpha must be downloaded from MediaFire because I did not want to change WordPress' code too much to fit it on the game website. Get it while you can because at this point, who knows how this Kickstarter will turn out. Download it from here.

Help Us Get To 30K by Sunday - Get Mesozoica Closed Alpha

Okay, so the Kickstarter for Mesozoica is really gearing up now. We have 18 days left, which is a little under three weeks. In our first week, we made 40% of our goal. Now, by the end of our second week, we want to make 60%. That would be $30,000 by Sunday. If we do, on our website, link here, I will put up the ZIP file containing the Mesozoica Closed Alpha.

Now if everyone who views this post backs us by only $5 and becomes a part of the development process, we would get so much closer to our goal and to making this game a reality. Currently we are at $23,360 as I type and will likely hit between $24k-$25k by the end of the night. I would really greatly appreciate it if all you guys backed the project so that many of us on the project can live our dreams. Besides, who knows what we can work on next if this is a success.

To guarantee you guys that this will likely be a success. Most projects that are successes hit 30% of their goal within the first 48 hours, we did that. As long as a project hits at least 60% of the goal before the final two days of the campaign, it will likely receive a 40% surge in backing. We want to get to that 60% as soon as possible and are only 13% away.

Link to Kickstarter is here.

Mad Max Reviews Impressions

Yes, I got the new Mad Max game. It is the second series to come out in the gameplay style of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the first being Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. What are my impressions of it? Well I really, really, really like the game. It is very different from those two, but from a gameplay perspective, feels very familiar. Chances are, it will get a sequel. It was released on the same day as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Both are very good games, except Kojima's last game in that series makes it the end of an era, so obviously it is being hailed as the better game.

Yet, what that resulted in was an initial criticism of Mad Max, many people citing bugs to be the reason it wasn't as good, or the storyline or gameplay. Most of the reviews that lamented these criticisms did not say that it was ever really bad, just that it was not up to par. Since then, some reviews have come to light, one in particular stating "soothing dullness" and only one other calling critics out on their shit by saying "MGSV Completely Overshadowed How Good Mad Max Is". In fact, that is the article that inspired mine right now.

The thing is, that both of these games demand a lot of time from you and releasing them on the same day is a big mistake. You can argue one game as more superior than the other one or enjoy both. However, here is the thing, say you have both games, which do you play first? Which do you spend more time on? They are both lengthy and addictive experiences. I have a friend who told me a person he knows has already logged in 24 hours to Mad Max. So why not have released both weeks apart from each other? Well, maybe Mad Max will have lagging sales in comparison to Kojima's game, but they certainly will be respectable numbers. There is also another positive to this, now people actually know about this property as a video game. Once they finish Kojima's game, they will no doubt be heading over to play this one.

I have not played Kojima's latest game. I've never really been into the Metal Gear series. I've thought that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance looked cool and thought about picking it up, but I have way too many unfinished games on the PS3 to do that. I have Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, but never bothered finishing it. Maybe I'll go back and do that before I try this one. What I do recommend, though, if you have Kojima's latest production is finish it before you get Mad Max, but get the latter nonetheless because you will not regret it.

Mesozoica New Website and Kickstarter Up

I probably should have posted about this when it actually started. However, I did not so I am doing it now. Mesozoica has a new website up, to which I will actually divide some of my time. I am in charge of that website and have posted there frequently as well. That website has a very cool design and you should be able to check it out here. The website has a forum which you can join and become a part of the Mesozoica community.

On a more serious note, which I am going to need your guys' help for, the Mesozoica Kickstarter has launched. Personally, I have had my doubts about Kickstarter primarily because the only ones I have really ever seen succeed have aimed for a relatively low amount or have been made by big companies, like InXile Entertainment for Wasteland 2 or Torment: Tides of Numenara. For Underdog Interactive to launch a Kickstarter for Mesozoica at $30,000 made me have my doubts, for $50,000 I was in awe. Most Kickstarters fail if they do not reach 30 % of their goal within the first forty eight hours. Mesozoica has completed that goal.

We are nearly at $16,000 and nearly 32 % funded. This is a big deal. If everybody who liked Mesozoica on Facebook just gave $10 then the project would be funded. It doesn't work like that. However, I'm asking you guys for help. Minimum donation is $5, and the link to back the project is right here. Just five bucks is all I'm asking of you guys, and I know there's a lot of you so.

New Mesozoica Website Up

So, the last Mesozoica wesbite was a forum. After everything that happened, Max put it under maintenance and later it shut down. However, we have accomplished enough work on the project that we feel confident relaunching the website. There is no forum, anymore, however. That kind of discussion will have to wait. While I loved interacting with fans on the forum, Facebook will have to do. You can check it out here.

Yes, yes, the home page is just selling it and the features page I've told you all about before. Look at the Dino-Pedia, it is a comprehensive display of all dinosaurs that we've unveiled to the public thus far. There will also be other additional dinosaurs that we've not revealed yet. Check it out, it'll be cool to see I suppose.

The Death of Two Player

Now this post is going to be slightly more intimate, and I'm back, I'm not Yafisz. So, it was recently announced that Halo 5: Guardians would not have couch co-op. Now, I have a few problems with that statement and I am taking issue with them right here and right now. I never had an Xbox or an Xbox 360, but my friends did and one time, when they rented (yes, renting games used to be a thing) Halo 3: ODST we played it all night. Whether we couch co-op'd the story mode or couch co-op'd the multiplayer maps of Halo 3, we were couch co-op-ing. Now, all of a sudden, the next Halo game doesn't even have couch co-op. I once built up my entire gaming part on this blog simply to show off the couch co-op capabilities of Halo: Reach, I called it Halo Hunter back then.

Here is the thing, though, back then, there was no such thing as "couch co-op". You know what there was? Two player. Back then, simply playing in the same room as your friends was two player or three player or four player. Now there is online and there is couch co-op. There is no more two player, but you know what, I'm going to refer to it as two player anyways. As soon as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released and the sales of that game rocketed, there was a sudden shift of focus from the story to the multiplayer. Honestly, nobody plays Call of Duty for the story, the just want zombies or online. That is the entire truth. As soon as that happened, a focus came on how to get people to play online rather than together with two player. Yes, it had already happened on the Xbox 360 with the Halo series, but that was more niche and people still obsess about the story of that game as much as they do online.

When I got my PlayStation 4 I got the Destiny bundle. Silly me thinking I'd be able to play Destiny with my friends who are in the same room. The only PS4 game of mine that does let me do that? WWE 2K15. Yes, Diablo 3 exists out there and has an epic two player mode and I might get it. Other two player games for the PS4? LittleBigPlanet and Rayman. There are definitely more, but none that really have a valuable mode for two player. Sword Coast Legends looks like it might, but I would only get that if it is like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and not too confusing with the D&D stuff they always thrust into those games. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will probably have two player modes to supplement online like they did for the last game. One thing to note, though, it will be supplementing online and not really have emphasis as a feature of its own. Honestly, I guess this is just a small message saying that I miss the days of two player and wish that they come back, properly and without the requirement of a Wii U.

Dark Souls 2 Look Back

Yes, I got this game a year and a half ago, but I only passed it this morning. So, had I passed it in the two weeks I originally intended to pass it, I would have posted a review. Instead, this is a look back at the game.

When I originally got Dark Souls 2, I had two weeks off and needed a video game to bide my time. I did not know what Dark Souls was, what Demon Souls was or what the King's Field was. I did, however, know of From Software. One of the first games I ever got for the PlayStation 2, Evergrace was by them. It was a fun game when I was little, it is kind of shit now. Yet, I figured that this game would not be like Evergrace because it was a legitimate sequel. I had no idea where the original was, so I just picked this up. When I started, I was glad I got to control a character whom I created. I was expecting maybe something like Mass Effect. In The Things Betwixt, I skipped all of the fog gates because I was unsure of what they meant and got straight into Majula. What a pretty and beautiful but sad town. The first thing I tried to do was kill Sweet Shalquoir, you know, the talking cat? Then I died by falling into that pit. I did not notice that my total life had taken a hit or that my guy was slightly ugly. So I decided to head for that tunnel by Shalquoir's house, after I totally pillaged the entire village. I did not kill any of the villagers throughout the entire game, though. Pretty soon I was in Heide's Tower of Flame and was getting massacred by the giant soldiers there. That was when I noticed that my guy had all of a sudden turned ugly. Dredging forth, I made it to the area's boss, the Dragonrider. He beat me very quickly the first time, the second time, however, I rolled out of his way and he fell into the abyss below. I had no idea what to do with the many souls I just got, all I knew was that I could rest at bonfires and such. So, when I lost all the boss souls gained, not the ones gained after using the Dragonrider's soul (which I did when I learned how to level up), I had no clue I had even lost them. Continuing in to No Man's Wharf, I could kill the enemies here and was finding it easy. I still had no clue about the game's mechanics, however. So I decided to check on YouTube and began to watch the playthrough of GhostRobo. That helped me a lot.

I learned from him how to level up, some weaknesses against opponents and the path I should have been taking. Going to the Forest of Fallen Giants, I began to notice that this game was almost exactly like Evergrace when I faced the Last Giant. I just looked it up on IGN, but the second boss of Evergrace was the Order Knight. The strategy against that boss was simple. Wait for him to attack and hit him in the ass. Looking at some videos of that game, against minor enemies, the tactic was just hit them first or wait for them to attack and hit them in the ass. In Dark Souls 2, I found myself using the same tactics I had used almost thirteen years prior. So I beat the Lost Giant and later, the Pursuer, in this fashion. This pathway took me to the Lost Bastille, and believe it or not, despite my relative inexperience, I had only died around 70 times thus far, but the Ruin Sentinels, oh my god. The Ruin Sentinels had to have killed me at least 400-500 times before I still did not beat them. I decided to go around a different way and returned to No Man's Wharf, I cleared the area and defeated the Flexile Sentry. So I began clearing the Lost Bastille from the other side. Now, the Ruin Sentinels had frustrated me so much that at this point I was willing to give up the game. With the Emerald Herald, I was putting all of my points into strength or dexterity just to get my attack up. I was using the Drangleic Sword, but the Varangian armour set from No Man's Wharf. This game me power and speed, necessary for met to avoid their attacks. I still could not win! It was my nerfed health, I knew it! I was not that good of a player, so I did not use Human Effigies to restore my health and I was scared of invasions, so I always played in offline mode. I did not learn until the very end the values of humanity in this game. There had to be a way to get my health up! I looked online and returned to the Heide's Tower of Flame. It took me a long ass time, but I beat those giant soldiers and opened of the Cathedral of Blue. The Old Dragonslayer was not that difficult of a boss, but he still beat me around thirty times. Yet then I got the Ring of Binding and my health was considerably up to the point that I completely stopped caring about being undead. So I decided to follow what GhostRobo was doing and headed to the Huntsman's Copse. I did not go to the Undead Purgatory because it was an optional area. Instead I marched on to the Skeleton Lords and had to have died less than ten times before I defeated them all. In Harvest Valley, I got the fragrant branch of yore and this area was easy. So I figured the Earthen Peak would be easy too. I was right, I did not even die against the Covetous Demon and did not die many times against Mytha. Now my two weeks break was almost over and I was at the Iron Keep, I decided to press forward until the last bonfire. My character was much stronger now, and I headed back to the Lost Bastille. Those Ruin Sentinels would tremble before me! They did not, I died at least a hundred times more until I finally beat them! My hands were shaking when I trumped them, my victory was at hand! Then, at the end of the two weeks break, I beat the Old Iron King within five deaths. My break was over, and so was my time with this game, or so I thought.

When E3 was about two weeks away, I think? GhostRobo posted a video about Project Beast or Beast Souls. Turned out, this was Bloodborne a PS4 exclusive. Now I was planning on getting a PlayStation 4 at the end of the Summer, so I decided to continue my quest to beat Dark Souls 2 to prove myself worthy. Using the fragrant branch of yore, I was able to get into the Shaded Woods, whose boss, the Scorpioness, was an easy boss yet again. I figured I had the hang of this game. Continuing on, I eventually made it to the Doors of Pharros, but did not continue down that route. Remembering the words of Creighton, I instead went down the Brightstone Cove Tseldora. This was a more difficult area, but more due to length than actual difficulty. The Duke's Dear Freja was not a difficult boss, but it was the spiders that she summoned that always killed me. In the end, though, I got her and the Body of Vengarl to kneel before the Drangleic Sword. Returning to the Lost Bastille, I went down to Sinner's Rise and faced the Lost Sinner. I just could not. She was too hard. Way too hard for me to beat and I could not handle it at all. I quit the game. I did not play at all until the spring that just passed, a year after I got the game. I kept on trying, kept on trying and I beat the Lost Sinner. I headed down to the Gutter and the Black Gulch, beat the Rotten easily and returned to head off to Drangleic Castle. The castle was even easier, as I beat the Twin Dragonriders and the Looking Glass Knight so easily. The Shrine of Amana was no different, although I got stuck on the Demon of Song because the witches would kill me on the way there. Once I beat it, though, I was good. I was practically unstoppable! Then I got to the Undead Crypt and Velstdadt destroyed me, over, and over, and over, and over, and over again! I mean, I would be kicking his ass, then he would use dark magic and with that power boost, just destroy me. I beat him too, though. I aggravated Vendrick, but found I could barely hurt him. Making my way through Aldia's Keep, I found the dragons to be the easiest bosses in the game and ranked up so many levels right there. The Memories were no different and once I got what I needed from them, I headed off to the Throne of Want. The Throne Watcher and Throne Defender were too good! I was at another freaking Lost Sinner. I stopped playing, until three days ago.

So once I started playing again, I kept trying against the Throne Watcher and Defender, but I knew that if I killed one, it would just come back at full health! There was no way I could do it! I needed to get ultra strong again! I started leveling myself up, I infused the Drangleic Sword with a raw stone, ugpraded my pyromancy and found a shit ton of Twinkling Titanite for the Drangleic Sword. I still could not do it! So I headed back to the Doors of Pharros and beat the Royal Rat Authority. Then I went and I killed Vendrick too, took so long to kill that one. With that in mind, I cashed in all of my boss souls and leveled up my health instead of my power. I figured, maybe it was durability, not power that I needed. Nope, it may have taken them longer to kill me, but they still killed me. Turning human for the first time in the game, I went to find Vendrick's Soul at the Shrine of Amana. I found it and used it and leveled up once more. I did not go to the Belfry Luna or the Undead Purgatory, but did clear the Belfry Sol to get the few souls needed for a clean level up. With this newfound power, I returned to the Throne Watcher and Defender, but noticed summon signs! I noticed YouTubers using those sometimes, but  thought I needed to be online for those to work and I had not even updated the game! So I summoned them, realizing after that all I needed to be was human. I had thirty human effigies. First three tries, I used Benhart of Jugo and got close, but still died. Next two tries, I used the Head of Vengarl and did not even come close. Next two tries I used both of them and at the end of the second trie, I killed the Throne Watcher and Defender. Then came the final boss: Nashandra.

I realized that I could beat Nashandra on my own. Yet literally two hours ago, I decided screw it, turned human and summoned those two to fight her. When she was nearly dead, she killed those two, but I was still standing. Six estus flask gulps still available, I slayed her. Took another effigy because her curses turned me undead and took the Throne of Want. I beat the game right there.

I love this game, but I also hate it and will not play it again. I will be getting Bloodborne, now though because this game has, as I said in a previous post, jumpstarted me into that series. With this victory I achieved today, I am glad, and happy. I would have been angry, though, if I had Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin because apparently the updates version of the game adds more bosses and locations, locations that allow no more hollowing. Yet I am not even going to touch that version of the game, it is onward to Bloodborne for me!

The Originals Are Here

So, we all know that while my presence at Mesozoica is more related to level design and story, I am still very involved. I had an idea, one day, that we include the three original dinosaurs ever discovered. For those of you who do not know, these are the Iguanodon, the Megalosaurus and the Hylaeosaurus. The first is the most popular, the second has middling popularity and the third has never really caught on. DeJon Horton, our great modeler on the project, already made Iguanodon. Why? It is a very popular herbivore whose popularity meant it had to be a part of the game.

I did not recommend it at first, my main priority was making the dinosaur personality documents, quest designs and forging a story. However, after our incident, which you can read up on at this blog, I pushed for Megalosaurus right away. When DeJon made it, I pitched in the skin. I wanted a loon skin, based off of Canada's most famous bird. It came out beautifully, DeJon Horton is a wonderful and skilled modeler. Our team is humbled to have him. Eventually I asked for Hylaeosaurus as well, he was busy with other dinosaurs, but yesterday he completed it. After working out the kinks, he posted my final request, a shot of The Originals all together.


DeJon's work is amazing guys, wait for more models from him on the Mesozoica Facebook page, which is where you can see the Originals all in a striking pose. Click here.

Bloodborne and Dark Souls 2

So yeah, I vowed that I would finish Dark Souls 2 before going on to play Bloodborne. Have I done it? I'm finally at the Throne Watcher and Defender. I'm sure that I will not have as much trouble on Bloodborne as my friends and many others have had because I played Dark Souls 2 first. Why did I not finish the game? I've got more things to do in a day than play a game and I was preoccupied with Batman: Arkham Knight, whose review is the post before this one, so check that out.

To many people, Demon Souls was the hardest game that they had played. A sequel has not been made to it, but the spiritual successor, Dark Souls came out. I have not played either of those two games, but Dark Souls is the series that people identified with after it came out, despite having gotten hooked by Demon Souls. I am sure that Bloodborne will be the same thing to me, fans of Demon Souls find Dark Souls easy. Dark Souls 2 got me hooked and I will likely identify with Bloodborne and that is a series that I am sure will similarly continue.

I probably will not get Dark Souls 3, but probably will get Bloodborne 2 when that comes out. Now the question is, do I wait for a definitive version of Bloodborne that includes all the DLC and get that? Or do I do what I always do and just get the game in its base condition, because I want the game for what it is, right? Kind of the reason why I never got any DLC for Destiny, or any other game, ever.

Batman: Arkham Knight Review

So, because of a present giving me a game I already had, I got Batman: Arkham Knight for less than half price the day it came out. I've spent this entire time playing the game, trying to for for 100% and I finally finished it. Did I get the full ending? No. In Batman: Arkham Origins, I solved all the Enigma quests, but in this? Fuck you Riddler. I got to over 75% on his quest before I decided to let him starve at the bottom of Pinkney Orphanage. The actual review, well next paragraph folks. Also, I'm going to spoil the shit out of this game, so if you read and get pissed off, your own damn vault.

Starting off with gameplay, it remains essentially untouched from Batman: Arkham Asylum, but finishes the job that Batman: Arkham City had and polishes up gameplay. Although I will admit, when I was cremating the Joker in the beginning I had no idea what the fuck was going on? Do I click it once? Do I hold onto it? Do I repeatedly push the button? Do I stop after a while? It was way too confusing for me. The gameplay is honestly very similar, in fact, if you've played the other games, just play on Hard difficulty, it won't be hard. The Batmobile was new though. Reading other reviews, I've noticed other people finding similar opinions as me. Before I get into it, though, there was a guy in my high school who said he'd rather have a lamborghini than a Batmobile, what a dumbass. The Batmobile in the normal Batmobile fashion is very fun. It is amazing to just drive around in it and destroy the city, even though it regenerates. What's up with that? Was Gotham City spliced with Nutty Putty (or Silly Putty, or Magnetic Putty?) for that matter? The tank mode took me a lot of getting used to, though. It was odd and awkward. Unlike the refined sports car mode, the tank mode just felt off. However, it grows on you. Like that serious movie that your parents loved but you hated as a kid but grew to love eventually? Yeah. By the time the GCPD Battle came about, I was going to record gameplay, but decided to be in the moment instead. It is a letdown, though, because when we want an amazing boss fight, we sometimes have to deal with the Batmobile Tank instead. For example, in Batman: Arkham Origins we had the Deathstroke boss fight, in Batman: Arkham City the standout boss fight was with Mr. Freeze. In this? There isn't any memorable boss fights, rather it is just me sneaking up behind Cobra Tanks to fight Deathstroke one on one. Yeah, I was going to record the Deathstroke boss fight because I figured it would be like in Batman: Arkham Origins, but it was a tank battle that was almost identical to the Arkham Knight battle earlier! Speaking of the one non-Rocksteady game in the series, I find it hilarious how so many people shat themselves on that boss battle but I beat it in the first go on Hard difficulty! So in chemistry there is a thing called saturation, when a solution is saturated no more solute will dissolve. The Batmobile saturates this game very early on due to the Tank mode.

The graphics are good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The thugs say repetitive things like they're commentators from a WWE Game!  Mark Hamill is back because his retirement was a joke!

On to the next one? The story is very epic, but first? Tim Drake and Barbara Gordon? What? Isn't she like ten years older than him? Like Barbara and Dick Grayson is supposed to be from what Wikipedia tells me, but this? It just feels wrong! As for the actual story, essentially Scarecrow has partnered up with the Militia to unleash ultimate fear on Gotham City. The Militia is led by the mysterious Arkham Knight, who has a mysterious grudge on the Batman. Unfortunately for Batman, he is infected by a Joker virus and his arch enemy is slowly trying to take control of his body post-mortem. This story is the most emotional story seen yet in an Arkham game. In the first venture, the game was not very emotional and seemed to work because the events it showed seemed like it could happen any day for Batman. Just another night on the job. The second game made things serious, but we still did not feel that emotionally connected to Batman. It is very surprising, though, that it was Warner Bros Montreal who made the most emotionally wracking venture with Batman: Arkham Origins. Showing us a strained relationship between Bruce and Alfred, Batman and Bane's battles and the rise of the Joker. So maybe that is why so many people are either overjoyed or pissed off at some of the events. Everyone agrees that aside from a little tank saturation, the game is pretty freaking amazing. Yet, when the Arkham Knight was revealed to be Jason Todd, even though that was obvious when the Red Hood DLC was announced, people were angry. That Scarecrow exposed Bruce pissed people off. That 100% gives them an "Allah-hu-Akbar" gif moment via Alfred and a mythical Batman. It pissed people off. I would've been pissed too, if I hadn't been trying a strategy of just taking it easy. I don't look at release dates anymore or watch trailers that much because I get too excited. When I get too excited I may get disappointed. Yet even though the confrontation between the Arkham Knight and Batman was such an emotional moment, people were so angry. That Bruce finally beat the villains and achieved peace, people were so angry. The only thing I'm mad about, that Barbara's death was a ruse. That took a lot of emotional weight out of the story. I really didn't like it. It made the Arkham Knight's fall and subsequent redemption feel so much less because Bruce was fighting for so much less personally. However, the story is amazing and I seriously recommend that if the identity of the Arkham Knight (Jason Todd) makes you angry, just enjoy the gameplay, that is what games are of. Also, was anybody else laughing their assess off at the Joker? I mean the last three games had insane moments where Batman tripped out thanks to Mad Hatter and the Scarecrow, but this entire game was just Batman tripping out! Hell, Scarecrow tried to make Batman trip out even more because he didn't realize Batman was already tripping!

I rate this game 10/10 because even though the tank may feel saturated, if you allow yourselves to feel the emotional weight it just pushes the gameplay that much further into perfection. Also, I did not play DLC because I always play the game only for what it is. Good night folks, that's the end!

Fallout 4: Heavy Rain

So yesterday was the Bethesda Softworks E3 presentation. Lots of interesting stuff there, but none more so than Fallout 4. The game looks very good. The graphics are amazing, you may say I'm wrong because they do not look super realistic, but what they do look is super true to the Fallout format. What was interesting is that the Kotaku leak was true! That was entirely true! Start before the war and wake up after Fallout 3! Most people disregarded that because they were tired of being burned out and after the reveal, it seemed like the leak may be true and guess what, it is. You can play as a woman, which is important to some people and the dialogue is very Mass Effect now. That is all fine, though. VATS seems a bit different and mildly weirder, but still... still good.

The new crafting system is what I am excited for. Building settlements seems cool and all, but I did not come to play Fallout 4: The Sims. No. That is not what has me excited. Rather it is the weapon crafting, something which in the previous games was so generic that I never modified my weapons beyond repairing them. So yeah, I never touched a crafting table in Fallout: New Vegas. Yet this system that they are using now, I haven't seen something like it since Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, a game in which we could modify our weapons and change them to make them stronger. It seems akin to that and seems fantastic.

What about the story, though? I previously mentioned that giving the player character a voice could serve to make for a more intimate and connected feel for the game series. The story seems to emulate this. I mean, you play as a parent who loses everyone to cryostasis and you wake up in a land so far removed from your own that all you have left is your vault suit. That is a deep story. I am excited because, well, Fallout isn't supposed to make me feel! Anyways, with the game now giving off Heavy Rain vibes and making me sure that every action will weigh on me with a heavy head, I'm patient.

Mesozoica's New Focus - Prehistoric Kingdom Tech Demo Review

Well, Jurassic World is out. I've yet to watch it but I've been hearing mostly positive things. One general consensus seems to be that as a standalone film, it is wonderful. Compared to Jurassic Park, it pales in comparison. Well, be that as it may, Jurassic World being made is one of the many things that spurred the development of Mesozoica. Honestly, the project was wounded after the departures, but with our new UI artist, Kayla Velten, we are leaps and bounds ahead. Maybe Kayla's work ethic is better, maybe she is just more enthusiastic, I do not know.

Why am I making this post? Well, the Prehistoric Kingdom demo came out. Now, before I sound cruel or harsh or something, please keep in mind that the game had a tech demo which they released right when the game became moderately playable. So, they released a tech demo almost right before they entered pre-alpha. This could either turn out well for them, or not at all? I loved the music that they utilized but that was pretty much it. Yes, GUI, HUD and UI were all really good, it just seemed very lazy, especially the main menu. Why am I saying they released this tech demo before pre-alpha, because the gameplay wasn't even that. It was practically unplayable and it took a bunch of people a YouTube video to figure some stuff out. Not a good start. However, this tech demo will be receiving, hopefully, constant updates that improve the quality from pre-pre-alpha to alpha. That seems like a good idea. However, I do feel that their team may have been pressured by the fans into releasing something like this early on. One very positive thing it did accomplish that many had been doubting, that Prehistoric Kingdom is a serious project that wants to entertain the fans. Try it out and enjoy it for yourselves.

The original plan of Mesozoica was to release a UI Tech Demo, and then modules. These modules would have focused on different areas, and likely the UI Tech Demo would have been one of them. Chances are, we would have released the first module before pre-alpha like Prehistoric Kingdom did and probably only gotten a great reception from the most fervent of our fanbases. The plan is different now. If you've watched the livestreams on Twitch, you'll know. We are very close now to the same stage that Prehistoric Kingdom is at (a stage I'd say we were likely matched for, but recent departures pushed us back from that) we will not be releasing a tech demo. Rather we will showcase our gameplay to prove that we are still in the game. Our new focus is to prove ourselves to you, the fans and I cannot wait to do that. A demo is a ways off, but gameplay, not really.

Dark Souls 3 Announcement

There are some things that I'm surprised people didn't get at day one. Like, take this for example, the moment I learned the basic premise of Game of Thrones I knew that it would end with Jon Snow becoming king and that Stannis is the villain. I just don't get how people do not get that? Ironic, isn't it? So, it turns out that Dark Souls 3 may be announced. I initially wanted to finish Dark Souls 2 in two weeks. Didn't happen, I got stuck at the Lost Sinner. I never played Dark Souls so I had no idea what I was in for. Well, when Bloodborne was announced, I wanted to finish Dark Souls 2 but it didn't happen. I got stuck at the Undead Crypt because I missed the second bonfire and completely forgot there was one, became frustrated and decided to not even do it. So, now that Dark Souls 3 has an imminent announcement, I will finally finish Dark Souls 2!

Fallout 4 Confirmed

So, as everybody knew because of the extremely obvious URL, the timer counted down to Fallout 4. I'm not going to post the trailer here, because you should just go over to the website and watch it for yourself. However, I am going to talk about a few things. First off, people are already debating whether or not the graphics are good. For its time, Fallout 3 graphics were not very good, so I did not expect Fallout 4 to look like Uncharted but play like itself. Yet it was that grittiness and grainy quality that made Bethesda's first installment look as great as it did, and with a more polished effect here, this version of the game looks nothing less than stellar. I am so hoping that this game is released by the end of this year, I am hoping so badly.

Next, I don't know what to think of the fact that our protagonist will have a voice and a backstory now. Man or woman, the backstory makes sense. Born before the Great War, went into Vault 111 and entered stasis where their son or daughter or whatever did not survive. First mission will likely be a tribute to Van Buren and show us entering Vault 111 while making our character. On the way we will make our SPECIAL stats and get our traits. The big change is, that our character has a voice, which we will likely get to choose. Some people will be against this, because they will claim it separates the character from us. When Half-Life was released, Gordon Freeman was silent so that we could feel more immersed as him. Fallout 3 continued this trend, but this is an ever evolving series and after having had just seen a trailer, I am not going to judge this aspect of the game. However, one thing that the Fallout series has always been lacking has been a sympathy or feeling of "who cares" after making important decisions. Bringing in heavy weight on your shoulders aspects from Heavy Rain can only work if we feel like we are controlling somebody else and changing their life. We know that this is a video game so we don't care when we blow the fuck out of Novac, but say our protagonist does, then we care more. Making the game more like Heavy Rain in terms of decisions and impact will be great. Oh, and it is set in Boston, as we all knew... but I officially confirmed yesterday.

Honestly, from what little we have seen, this game looks so good. I just hope that we do not have to wait five years for the next installment. Just let the Fallout: New Vegas 2 come out soon and I'll be good... once I get it...