January 2023 Channel Update – Good Title Not Found

Hi all,

Sorry for the late-ish update! Everything has been A Lot this few days: my day job has been at DEFCON 1, my bathtub faucet has been leaking, and it's getting into busy game release period too!!! It’s one of those times where I just wanna go to a cliff and scream AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….!!!

... I’m actually still sane so don’t worry – I just need to Get Stuff (= this update post) Done!! Let’s goo!

TL;DR

• Finished: GOW Ragnarok, Dragon Age Origins
• Ongoing: SIGNALIS, Crisis Core Reunion
• Upcoming: Dead Space Remake, some smaller stuff, Dragon Age 2

Finished Since Last Update

God of War: Ragnarok (54 videos): Whew – this was a journey for sure! No need to say that this is a game with some of the highest production values ever with quality all around. Enjoyed the story (and even the optional end-game bosses) lots, although I do think overall Ragnarok plays things very safely. Would love to see a bit more risk-taking and innovation with Sony’s first-party titles in the future, but that might be difficult when the monetary investment is that big...

Dragon Age: Origins (119 videos): With the base game/warden origins/DLCs done, I think this is pretty dang close to a completionist playthrough if I say so myself! It’s an older game with finnicky things here and there, but it’s such an immersively fun time I could overlook everything. 

This was a Patreon-voted game if you recall, so thank you again for giving me a chance to dig into this one! I honestly didn’t realize I was getting into a 100+ part series when the vote happened but I don’t regret it in any way. Despite mixed opinions I’ve heard, I’m really looking forward to getting to Dragon Age 2 soon (more on the timing of that below).

Babbdi (1 video): This one is an oddball for those who like Weird games – a short & free first-person parkour/exploration game set in a city with Brutalist architecture. It sort of looks like it was made in Source engine circa 2004 🤣 kept me thoroughly amused for the hour though. The freeform exploration elements are quite nice!

I also did first looks of:

The Callisto Protocol: Third person survival horror shooter clearly inspired by Dead Space. It unfortunately feels average in many ways: nothing is outright horrible, but nothing stands out either (which IMO may be even more fatal than being bad). I do think their facial animations are industry-leading tier, though personally that ranks low on my list of reasons to play a game.

TCHIA preview: An open-world adventure set on a tropical island inspired by New Caledonia. Really wholesome with some magical morphing abilities, amazing scenery and local music. Their map system interestingly forces you to pay attention to the landscapes and not markers and minimaps. Great if you’re looking for something chill!

7 Days to End with You: An indie visual novel-esque puzzle game where we awake in a strange household with a person speaking an unknown language, so we must decipher the language, the story, and what the heck is going on in the time we have. It’s really interesting so far although there’s a very pervasive sense of “am I doing this right??? Am I doing ANYTHING right at all!?” which might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Progress on Current Stuff

SIGNALIS: A third-person survival horror game inspired by Resident Evil & Silent Hill. I did a first look of this a few months ago, and even just from the first 40 min, felt strongly I had to return to it because it oozed so much style and quality. I want to give you a proper story synopsis but so far it’s been very surreal and cryptic…! It’s Good though, trust me!! 🥹 (to the point that ScaredyWelonz is willing to push past the horror stuff)

Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion: I think we’ve discussed this one enough and don’t need more context lol. I had a moment of hesitation last week did an impromptu poll with voting patrons last week on what my play path through the FF7R trilogy should look like, and the majority did agree I should play CCR now. So there's that! 

It’s great to be back with more FF7 stuff. Enjoying it so far, although I am a little taken back by the, uh, difference in dialogue/story writing style between FF7R and CCR. For better or worse, it's clearly a game that’s a product of its times.

Upcoming Stuff

I think I am coming up on the tail-end of SIGNALIS, after which I’m probably looking into Dead Space Remake. This must be the first time I’ve done two survival horror games back-to-back…! Some of you might remember the really old Dead Space video on the channel (don’t look it up if you don’t know it, it’s super cringey 🗿). Now’s my time to take revenge on the necromorphs…!?

Other than that, there’s also some smaller stuff I’m paying attention to:

• SEASONS: A letter to the future (Jan 31)
• Deliver Us Mars (Feb 2)

As for Dragon Age 2: I am currently guestimating it’ll return after either CCR or Dead Space wraps up. Neither of those are massively long, so I’m hoping the wait won’t be for much longer!

Whew, this was a long one today!! There’s lots of new games & videos on the horizon so I hope there’s something you’re excited about too. Feel free to leave any comments/questions in the comments, and I’ll see you next time!

Welonz