Far Cry 6, Life is Strange: True Colors, Oculus Quest 2 Q&A | Episode 19
Join Dave and Dylan in Episode 19 of the Offshore Gamescast as they talk about Far Cry 6, Life is Strange: True Colors, and more games!
They also talk about film and TV adaptations of games, Toshihiro Nagoshi leaving RGG, and the rest of the breaking news from the week.
Be sure to check out the Oculus Quest 2 Q&A where Dylan asks Dave everything he wanted to know about it.
Thanks for listening!
Game Log - #10142021
Every week Dave and Dylan take some of their thoughts on the games they’ve been playing and write them out in a blog post. If you prefer reading instead of listening then this is perfect for you, enjoy!
Dave
Far Cry 6
I have a lot of opinions. It’s always easier to pick apart the things that you don’t like than the ones you do so Ill highlight what I like so far. While it isn’t the best looking game I have ever seen, some of the locations in the early game contain a level of beauty that stops you in your tracks. Not something I’m necessarily surprised by since these games have had moments like that for me since Far Cry 5 but each time it happens I still sit in awe as the rays of light from the sunset fall slow and soft like orange clouds behind the green palm tree leaves resting along the shore. This time around we are back to having a detailed protagonist in the form of Dani Rojas, their gender during the game is up to you but offers no change to the story except for their look and voice. There’s a small detail that I really enjoy from having a preset protag is that Dani will sing along to some of the music on the radio, something I wasn’t sure if I was hearing right at first but when it clicked it brought a smile to my face. No longer are we just watching events, we are growing with a person who has feelings and thoughts and a personality.
Over on the gameplay side, the Fangs for hire return from Far Cry 5 but have an additional component to them giving you a reason to play with each one for more than an outpost or two. I’ve been able to hang with Guapo the croc and Chorizo the pup so far and each of them have cool progression to them. Each seem to have 3 skills locked behind challenges focused around their respective skillset. Guapo is very offensive and his challenges include taking out 50 enemies or reviving themselves a set amount of times. Chorizo is distraction based, using his cute stature to lure the enemies away with a false sense of security before you make your move. Having him distract 10 enemies for a takedown will unlock his Bloodhound ability, highlighting crafting materials when nearby.
I am still very early into the game as I like to 100% these games to the best of my ability or until I get bored so unfortunately that’s where the good things I have to say come to an end. There are changes made to the gameplay formula that in my opinion ruin the loop of a traditional Far Cry game. Early on it feels different, obviously familiar but something is off. Far Cry has been a series that encouraged the player to tackle almost any situation in the game with the player’s preferred method but the additions to the classic FC formula have tightened those lines. From the moment you get acquainted with the combat it’s clear they’re steering you down the path they want you to go down, if you aren’t running in guns blazing then the game is going to be a lot more frustrating. They add the Supremos, the insane backpacks filled with gunpowder just begging to be used to blow up everything in sight. They bring back a toned down version of the level gating from New Dawn so no more easy targets, each one has a segmented health bar showing you how strong they are, it’s red if they’re too strong for you. The most offensive issue is that enemies now respawn in the middle of an outpost or restricted area, and it’s really fast. The reinforcement alarms still exist for some reason with the respawning enemies so if you get caught then fuck you I guess. If you do try to stealth an area you better be StealthGamerBR and fly through it or the enemies on the side of the outpost you dealt with will already be back by the time you focus on the remainders. I love stealthing through the Far Cry games but 6 makes it as annoying as possible to make you play their way with their new toys. The weapon system has been revamped as well with extra customization options that end up making combat more tactical if you want to stealth which doesn’t excite me, the feeling of Far Cry having the wonderful balance between arcade style and a more realistic style was perfect but this title it on the fence leaning away from the arcade which sucks to me. Now you have to decide which weapon you’re using gets the stronger bullet type to take out the healthier foes and deal with the consequences of not doing that. Some weapons also have faulty silencers that need to cooldown after a few shots otherwise you give away your location, limiting your options in the early game. This is one issue I had when Wolfenstein Youngblood released, it also changed it’s formula to a level gating style and included different ammo types that worked better for certain enemies and overall slowed and ruined everything I enjoyed about every prior Wolfenstein release, between the two I think Far Cry does it much better but get that shit out of here and make a new IP using it or leave it out of the mainline releases. It doesn’t feel like the systems translate well to guns as they do with melee weapons with stats in a game where loot and stats aren’t the main priority. The Notoriety system is extremely aggressive on the level of GTA V or Cyberpunk 2077 like you said something personal about their mothers, sending relentless bodies with the sole purpose of putting you 6 feet under.
I know there will be patches and fixes along the way but the stuttering and frame drops in the cutscenes suck really bad. You try to have a nice moment around a campfire but the screen is tearing every few seconds and all of the audio is off just enough to take you out of the immersion. Hopefully over a few weeks fixes will be added to the game to ease some of the complaints but as of right now there are glaring issues that straight up make the game not fun to play. I’m nervous about the plans that Ubisoft has for the future of Far Cry based off rumors and their announced plans for Assassins Creed, the inclusion of online features that are turning these PERFECTLY FINE single player games and making them “Live Services” is more than likely going to be the downfall of these series as Ubisoft keeps deciding that we still haven’t given them enough money after a $110 steelbook edition. I mean hey, why make the game fun, balanced, and play well when you could spend 5 more dollars every few hours.
The Climb
After I allowed myself some rest and my arms were no longer sore, I tightened my gloves and set out on the last two Hard courses. Surprisingly to me they were relatively fast, taking roughly 20ish minutes to complete both. Since these were the hard courses they threw everything they had at me, rocky holds, breakable holds, advanced holds, and jumps connecting together to see if you have gained the skills needed to triumph over the obstacles or be like me and have a 6ft wingspan to skip numerous holds at once. The most frustrating obstacle was the fact that each climb was at night, this game was originally released in 2016 so compared to newer releases it’s still a bit blurry. Adding to that the locations become a little boring, being nighttime and the only source of light is the moon and some spots of blurry light in the distance all you can see are the stale colors of the rock right in your face or the idea of life miles away. Even the little events that happen when you reach the peak, like a set of blue angel style jets with trails flying over you have some distant fireworks or a set of hot air balloons slowly floating by. The main draw for me was how wonderful of a distraction this was as a workout, literally making my arms and sides sore from a 30 minute session of climbing, while still being entertaining enough for me to push through it and do that “one more”. I feel like the first half of the game was more enjoyable but as an overall experience I’m glad I added this game to my library sooner than later, all I have to do now is rest up before The Climb 2.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
I get the gameplay loop now, there seems to be an overarching story with little situations thrown in, like the first section with the woman asking me to tend to her turned husband. My main reason for being in the area was to collect items to fix the bus hub’s radio, where I talked to someone on the other side and exchanged some info setting up my journey to meet this person and figure out what secret stuff is going on and who knows what I’ve been up to. I’m not sure what my plan with this game is going to be, the headset only lasts for about 2 hours before needing a charge so I might take it one location/mission at a time and in a way make it episodic, unless I attach a battery pack to myself and have an extended stay in the apocalypse.
I have also learned better ways to survive through the distraught streets. Apparently there’s a quick store feature for items, instead of taking my backpack off every time I come across something I can hold it over my shoulder where I keep my backpack to auto store the items. Though I haven’t used it yet I found a double barrel shotgun that actually has weight to it, it will lean a bit if you’re holding it with only one hand which is cool. The physics in this game are really cool. Another fun little tidbit, you can reload the shotgun and the revolver in the “cool ways” where you flip the barrels up on the shotgun with one hand and with the revolver, flip it to the side to close the chamber, anytime I think about these features the word “NEAT” just hovers above because they’re just so neat. Besides that there’s not much else I’ve had the time to go over and the idea of a 16 hour VR game can sound daunting to anyone so I’ll probably be taking my time with it, still a great time so far.
Oculus Quest 2 Q&A
Dave recently got his hands on an Oculus Quest 2 and Dylan had some questions about it, so we did a little Q&A to get some more information out!
What’s the set up like out of the box? Do you need to initially plug into a PC or anything for the initial setup?
A: When I took it out of the box it had about a 45% charge so I could begin the start up process immediately. From there it was mostly setup from the app on my phone where I had to add my Facebook account to use it. Add my preferences and in less than 20 minutes I was standing there ready to buy my first game. I added a pattern passcode for my profile and changed the hub setting so I could make it as me as possible.
Can you break down how the room mapping works?
A: It works in any space with a light source. When the headset is turned on there are two options for Boundaries, Stationary and Roomscale. Stationary is mainly for when you’re sitting or playing a game that doesn’t require walking as a movement. After being selected it creates a circular field around you based on the location of the headset at the time and in a few seconds you are ready to begin. In the experimental features you can scan your couch and add a couch to the virtual world and try to immerse yourself even more. On the other hand the Roomscale Boundary works best in more open space, anywhere from a small part of your room to the entirety of the room itself. When chosen it determines the depth of the floor and gives you control to literally draw the perimeter of your playspace. The memory of the device is pretty smart and it can remember more than one playspace at a time and they don’t have to be in the same room either. Once you leave one of these boundaries the headset automatically goes into passthrough mode, using the 4 cameras on the headset to give you a real time view of your surrounding area. So with only a few clicks you can move from one to another and have it be pretty seamless.
What do the hand controllers feel like? Are the buttons comfortable to press and interact with?
A: They’re an adjustment to get used to, similar to the feeling of the PS move controllers but much more ergonomic. Each controller has a thumbstick, trigger, grip trigger, (A,B, Oculus) Buttons on the right, (X,Y, Menu) Buttons on the left. There are also sensors that track your fingers and how close they are to the buttons themselves. Overall they feel the most comfortable of the VR controllers I’ve used before.
How clear is the screen compared to PSVR?
A: No VR lenses are going to be perfect but compared to PSVR it’s much clearer, YMMV based on the games you play but the lenses on the oculus are made to be as clear as it can be no matter the angle you’re looking through them, there’s still some adjusting to get it to fit right since everyone is different.
Have you had any issues with getting nauseous while playing in VR?
A: I might be in the minority but I don’t suffer from any kind of motion sickness that I know of, there’s the occasional stumble or I have to catch myself as I look around a corner or something. On this front though I have had no issues so far.
How does the Quest 2 fit and how adjustable is it? Does it feel comfortable with headphones on?
A: The lenses have 3 settings to them adjusting for how far apart your eyes are, for me personally 2 works the best. For the headset itself it has one strap wrapping around the back of the head with plastic sliders held together with friction to tighten and loosen its grip with a second strap going over the head and connecting the other one for stability. On the left side of the device next to the charge port is a 3.5mm jack for headphones and there’s enough clearance for your ears to use a set of over the ear headphones comfortably. I will say though that the speakers built into the headset are better than I expected them to be, using the surround sound well and being super clear.
Do you think wearing glasses would be an issue with it?
A: While that’s not an issue I have to worry
Dylan
Being able to finish a few of the games that I was deep into is starting to relieve some of stresses of the backlog I have before the year wraps up. Looking at some of the games coming out in the next few weeks though, I think that backlog is just going to shoot right up again. It’s crunch time for games, making it stressful but enjoyable because there’s so much coming out that I’m interested in.
Life is Strange: True Colors
This is my first foray into a Life is Strange game and I’m immediately hooked. I’m a few hours in, not even done with the first episode, and I already love the characters and setting. Life is Strange: True Colors is invoking the feeling you get when you’re hooked on a new TV show and want to stay up all night binge watching it.
You play as Alex, a 21 year old who’s finally leaving a foster home to go live with her brother Gabe in Haven Springs, Colorado. Because of the foster care system, the two siblings have been estranged for years and once Gabe found Alex he invited her to come live with him. The two hit it off quickly, as if they never were apart, and a fresh start is exactly what Alex needed. She has the power of empathy. When someone is experiencing a strong feeling she can see a colored aura around them and, out of her control, begin to feel those feelings as if they were her own. So if someone is feeling intense rage or anger it can cause her to lash out and begin fighting somebody against her will, no matter how hard she tries to stop it.
Haven Springs is a small mining town where everyone knows everyone and they all have each other’s backs. Your arrival was a big deal to the town and everybody knew who you were days before you got there. One thing this game captures so well is the awkward feeling of meeting new people for the first time. While you get along fine with most of the people you’re meeting, you still don’t really know them, and the pauses in between knowing what to say and the awkward feeling it can cause really hits home for me and I’ve never seen a game pull that off so well. And all I want to do is hangout in this town and get to know these people. Whether it’s working at the bar for Jed, helping Riley at the flower shop study for college, rocking out with Steph during the radio show she hosts from the record shop, or going on a rescue mission with the park ranger Ryan, I want to do it all. If this game didn’t have a main plot line and was just a simulator of working at these places and hanging out with the numerous characters you meet, I could see myself pouring hours and hours into it.
Visually, Life is Strange: True Colors is a joy to look at. The characters have that cartoony, stylized look to them that you’d expect to see from a Life is Strange game while the environments are beautiful. There are different zen moments where you just enjoy your surroundings and listen to a song which has me putting down the controller and silently enjoying them. The way the camera pans around the beautiful nature of Haven Springs or the familiar, comfortable feeling record shop has me looking forward to when the next zen moment comes around.
I need to get deeper into this game and get to know these characters and I can’t wait until I can play more. With some of the character moments I’ve experienced so far, I know this game is going to get an emotional reaction out of me at some point.
Deathloop
I was really hoping Deathloop would have a “holy shit” moment by the end that would start to change my opinion on the game and it never really got there. The best part of the it for me was the final loop when you finally know everything you have to do to break it and all the puzzle pieces fit together. It doesn’t really feel special though because they’re things you’ve already done before, just in a specific order this time around. Colt continued to have inconsistencies in his reactions to information that he already knew. One of those had pretty bad implications that I can’t mention here because it’s a big spoiler, but the timing of it was extremely poor at best. Once the game was finished, even with multiple choices at the end, it felt like an unsatisfying conclusion and like it just.. Ended. Deathloop has its moments and the gameplay feels good but I found this to be an overall disappointing experience.
No More Heroes 3
It’s a shame that we won’t be getting No More Heroes 4 to follow Travis Touchdown on another adventure, even though the ending sets one up. I was initially worried that my fondness of No More Heroes was purely nostalgia driven and that this style of game wouldn’t click with me at this point in my life. While No More Heroes 3 is far from perfect, the highs of it really shine. All of the different boss battles, the wrestling-esque promos that they cut back and forth, and the satisfying combat were all really enjoyable. If you cut out the empty open world and filler battles between bosses then this game would’ve been a homerun. On a side note, I didn’t realize you could level up your stats underneath Travis’ apartment, so I unintentionally was playing on my own hard mode as I had level 1 stats across the board during the late game.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is so close to being the game that I would want it to be. A lot of the early game was held back by a plot with not enough build, clunky platforming, and combat that suffered from strange difficulty spikes. It’s not until the last couple of hours that they make you care about Kena as a protagonist or Toshi as an antagonist, both of which don’t get built up enough for the stakes to feel like they matter. Combat and traversing through the environmental puzzles was also just starting to shine during the last few segments of the game once you get the Spirit Dash ability. It all just came too little too late. While it was overall disappointing, I’d really like to see a sequel because there’s a foundation here for something that could be great.