SMT and MGS
Dang, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is hard. Like, I knew it would be hard, it's a freaking Shin Megami Tensei game, but still. Argh.
I've been playing it a lot recently since Josh (who was playing it before me) hit a really hard maze section and I hit Claire in SoulSilver, and since that sorta stopped both our progresses cold, we decided to switch off.
I am actually surprised by how much they made easier -- or convenient, rather, since there is no such thing as "easy" in a SMT game. Back in my day, we had to hunt down the Jakyou Manors on our shitty maps that didn't make note of any landmarks and turned with us instead of remaining static so we'd get even more lost. And we didn't have any of this newfangled "Compendium" stuff -- oh no, if we wanted a demon we deleted or lost through fusion, we had to to fuse a new one or get back out in the field and recruit a new one, by golly! We didn't get to "record their data" or "level up our demons" or whatever you kids are doing these days, no sir!
No, seriously. SMT1 is a brutal exercise in not heaving your SNES/computer/what-have-you out the window in a fit of frustration. New games are so much kinder when it comes to stuff like this. I can actually fuse demons and access the Compendium whenever I want instead of having to go someplace out of the way to do it, which is nice.
The game is still sadistic as hell, though. Early games just jacked up the encounter rate and called it a day. Strange Journey regularly wipes out my team with regular random encounters whenever I enter a new area and haven't discovered what the enemies are weak to. There's this weird thing where you don't actually know what demons you're fighting if this is your first time running into them, which makes things juuuust a little difficult even if you're drawing on experience. After all, it's hard to use an Agi spell on a Jack Frost if you don't even know you're up against a Jack Frost. Thankfully, this only happens with the first fight.
Recruitment is the pain it's always been. Demons always ask for stuff I don't have, and when I do have it, they end up not joining me anyway because our alignments aren't compatible, the jerks. They're not even consistent when it comes to which dialogue choices they like. Augh. You're supposed to be able to tell how to answer from the way they talk and stuff, but it feels mostly random at times.
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I've started over my Metal Gear Solid 2 file. Last time I played I went through the Tanker chapter and got all the way up to the bomb bullcrap with Fatman in the Plant before just giving up because I hate dumb FIND X missions in any format. Now I'm just running through it on super-easy mode because fuck you I have no gamer honor to besmirch when it comes to stealth games, I suck really hard at them and it's not like I'm trying to prove anything anyway. I just want to get through it. I'm currently at the part where I need to find a gun to complete my bad Russian terrorist disguise that pops off whenever I so much as look too hard at a guard. Thanks a lot, Kojima.
Holy crap this game looks good. This thing is, what? Almost nine years old now? Wow.It's showing it's age at some parts (the setting's colors are almost too solid/plasticky/one-tone/I don't know any art terms shut up) but overall it still looks very nice.
Have already found some early tinhattery about the propagation of information in the conversation with Stillman about Fatman (the teacher didn't pass along the right memes[?] to his student). Also, the game starting with Hal and David on the ship Discovery -- possible foreshadowing of a completely batshit ending? Too bad reading the novel does nothing to clarify just what the fuck is going on, unlike with 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...Which is, incidentally, the year this game was released. I see what you did there, Kojima.
Years down the line, when memories of MGS2's marketing campaign have faded (which is probably impossible; fanboys will never stop being upset over this game, just look at the above image), will this game be as fun? Will it make as much sense? How much of it depends on the fake out? Suppose Kojima hadn't yet gained a reputation of being an absolute troll and released this game nowadays. Would people still be as angry? Was there a certain naivete he took advantage of when he put together those trailers and unleashed them on an unsuspecting public? THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW.
I am beginning to understand why people people consider Raiden whiny, but really, he doesn't react that much differently from how a normal person would react in a similar situation so far. But maybe that's why people don't like him -- he breaks the illusion. We generally don't play games to be us, even in CRPGs; we generally play them so we can pretend to be badass special agents or space marines or whatever. It's escapism. And here Raiden is, freaking out over spraying C4 with coolant, reminding us that oh man, I wouldn't want to get that close to a bomb, either. But we want to be mad at him because he's supposed to be Solid Snake cool-headed, competent, professional.
And not have, you know, child-bearing hips.
Or something. I don't know even know what I'm talking about any more; it's late at night and I'm tired. Good night.