2017 sucked.

by on January 3, 2018 at 2:54 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

Well, I didn’t want to do this but, given how many people were talking about what a shit show 2017 was and I saw some edgy posts from some people on FB/Twitter stating that “2017 wasn’t bad, it’s just normal life things people are being babies about” along with pressure from friends, I guess this was an inevitable post.

While I’d love to agree that it’s just normal, 2017 has just been more crap stacked on top of what I can only call a disaster decade for not only myself but my family. I don’t like talking about this stuff because, let’s face it…no one wants to hear about this kind of depressing shit. And, seriously my twitter feed has been filled with people struggling with their own issues, big and small and it’s been comically bad…

We have a disabled family member in our house that we take care of. She cannot take care of herself in anyway, she needs 24/7 monitoring and aid. She can’t talk, she can’t understand, feed herself or anything. She’s got Primary Progressive Aphasia if you’re looking to google what’s going on. It’s really rough on everyone. Thankfully we in the last few years have gotten an aide because before that? Well that’s another story for another rant… But anyway, with her as a focus and living in our ..what was our living room it’s been a bit hard. I’m sorry if this is coming across as incoherent but it’s not a pleasant year to remember.

Over the years we’ve had to limit her access to rooms in the house. She walks all day till she’s medicated and put to bed and this year she’s fallen not once, but twice. Resulting in a hospital visit and …a chipped tooth (weeeee playing with my phobias!) then for the second fall a hospital visit, hair fracture of her wrist and a light cast to help that. So, we’ve literally limited her with gates in the door ways. There’s so many other things that have gone on involving this. I mean I cannot describe to you guys how difficult it is to get someone in this state out of the house nevermind a car. Even with a wheel chair it’s a massive challenge to get her anywhere…especially when I got car sick from both ambulance trips. Thankfully she didn’t break anything leg related because, I cannot stress this enough. She walks, all, day. I think this is common among people with similar mental illnesses but she will not stop walking, sitting down doesn’t last for more than a few minutes at a time. Hell, feeding her dinner is frequently done standing up and when she makes her rounds of the room back to the aide.

Despite all this, she’s …as healthy as she can be. I just have to stress how bad this illness has progressed before someone assumes we’re jailing up someone. We aren’t. Everything done is for her own safety because again, she is incapable of understanding or talking. She’s like a late stage Alzheimers patient …how do I know? When I was a kid I frequently went with her to visit her father who …had late stage Alzheimers. Why don’t we take her to a nursing home? Because in our experience many do not take good care of their patients and we would like to NOT be driven into poverty for that. Speaking of financial weight, we’ve had to change insurance companies two times …why? Hell if I know, we got a notice stating they would not be servicing our county anymore. Okay, cool- thanks guys. Just more stress trying to keep this balancing act going.

Recently I moved rooms so we could try and get her into a room of her own where it’d be easier to keep her safe. Now we’re getting my dad moved into another room so a room can be free’d up and ….it’s taking a while because he’s, understandably, depressed from all this. So I’ve been spending the last few years helping keep her safe and my father sane and helping him with whatever tasks he needs doing to help speed all this along. He’s very depressed, the problem is he doesn’t know how bad he is. What didn’t help is another family member dear to him has gotten cancer and that’s fucked the holidays up and his head up.

Also, as I stated in an earlier blog post, my uncle who was an big art inspiration passed away due to a heart attack. The man who kept a cousin safe, inspired and happy with himself.  Also, my best friend’s sister passed due to a drug OD…Seriously, fuck 2017.

To top this off, at least 3 of my friends have been depressed as well through out the year. They’ve all had issues as well that I’m not inclined to discuss….Some are recovering after we’ve talked it out (and their other friends, I sure as hell don’t have the gall to accept credit for these miracles..).

There’s plenty of other shit too, that I do not have the permission or the will to list here. It’s been rough. Not the worst year, I’m not even sure I could discuss that without a glass of booze and a box of tissues…

It’s been mentally exhausting all of this, physically as well at times obviously. I’m still getting used to the new room I’m in, it’s … someone I loved lived here, recently passed away. And, it’s on another floor, so I don’t get the same visits from family as before, though…maybe that’s less the fault of the flight of stairs up here and more the memories in this room and perhaps the weight of the year weighing things down.

I hate to type this shit up, but, I dunno I keep getting told by my friends that getting this off your chest via venting is good and healthy. I’m not sure I feel any better, but, maybe it’s actually good for those of you reading this what goes on behind the scenes? I don’t know if that’s true nor if anyone would even care to read this depressing mess. But, this is what I do…. I am up at night watching a camera to make sure my mom is alright and during the time my dad is around I try and make sure his mental health is as good as it can be.

Other than that, I make the comics and get by with what I can with the small business I run with my brother and the Patreon contributions of my supporters. Thank you to those that support me there, you’re too awesome.

 

Shit, I know 2017 has been rough for a lot of people out there. My heart goes out to you. I hope that Antares Complex, my stupid Let’s Plays or whatever brought you some joy this year and as well as the future! …I’d also like to apologize for the negative posts in a row. I’ll have something more positive after this. It’s my birthday in a few days so, what could POSSIBLY go wrong? Well judging by how I’ve reminded you all of Bubsy, I’m sure I can expect to be watching my back for hitmen.

 

In any case, it’s just another set of days but here’s to hoping that 2018 will be better for my family and yours. Again, I promise to try and have something positive to chat about next time. If you’d like to vent in the comments below, feel free. I don’t mind!

 

 

 

Game industry doesn’t bother with value anymore. A rant.

by on December 29, 2017 at 3:46 am
Posted In: Reviews, Uncategorized, Video Games

I’ve been playing games for a long, long time. There’s a trend that started somewhere with the PS3/360 days where they just gave up trying to win you over with a product. They don’t try and grab you anymore with goodies that come with the game or even the luxury of a manual.

I know, this is a familiar story but, hear me out. Recently, I bought Mass Effect Andromeda for PC and upon opening it, I let out a big laugh. The thing didn’t even come with a disc for PC. It’s an empty box with a code on a card. They couldn’t even be bothered with a disc this time.

Cut back a few years to Mass Effect 2 and on PC, for 60 bucks I got the collectors edition with is covered in fun stuff. A metal case, soundtrack, artbook and comic. Heck, the way it opened and folded out was neat as heck.

But, even with this glorious package, it’s still the special edition. But just a few years earlier you’d still often get at least a manual and better yet, a color one filled with artwork and fun stuff.

 

Now? They don’t care. Zelda: Twilight Princess on Wii came with a shiny foil cover and a full color book with awesome artwork. WiiU version? Same price, but no manual. More comical:  Bayonetta 2 on the WiiU came with both Bayo1 and 2 on two discs and it was $60 bucks. Know what? Not a bad deal, new game and the original game together! I like it! Cut to a few years later and Bayonetta 2 on the Switch! Comes with the first ga- wait no it doesn’t. It comes with Bayo-2 on cartridge and the first game is a download…and it’s $60, again. It’s the same collection but worse for the same price.

They know people will buy this stuff anyway, it’s to the point where they’re cutting out stuff and making it DLC or microtransactions and what’s becoming more and more common these days…They don’t even finish the damned game before launch. You get the game and you’ll be downloading anywhere from a 500MB to 10GB+ patch. They seriously do not put any effort into selling games anymore, the boxes, what you’re taking home. They’ll do the commercials, they’ll spam out ads online but they don’t care what you’re being handed.

Cut to today and with my X-Meh gift card cash I decided to buy a game, it’ll be out soon and it’s Wonder Boy on the Switch. I like my games physical even if it costs a bit more. ($20 on the eShop vs $40 physical, but, with a lovely discount it’s at $30~) I wasn’t expecting to see extras with it. This is by an indie company let me remind you:

Box, mini-soundtrack, keychain and a full color manual. An indie company is putting out a proper full box release with all the trimmings. It’s $40 bucks vs the $20 e-shop version but you’re getting the full deal here. I don’t wanna hear “but it’s 2D” it’s a beautiful game that rivals even the AAA developed platformers of Rayman and the 2D Marios, from a presentation aspect anyway.

Similar deal I got with Ys VIII on PS4, it came with a mini-artbook and a soundtrack sampler. But then Resident Evil Revelations on Switch, Revelations comes on a cart but Revelations 2 is a download? …A download that is literally too BIG for the Switch’s internal memory? Final Fantasy X & X2, same deal on the Vita. The second game is a download. So, these smaller companies can put in the effort, but big ol’ publishers can’t manage to TRY to entice buyers but the smaller ones can?

(You could argue that part of the problem is that in the case of the Switch, Nintendo only has up to a 32GB card and 64 aren’t available yet. Mmm, still not a good case considering, again, look at Bayonetta 2)

These AAA publishers put millions and millions into marketing their game in so many ways but they can’t put anything into …making the game worth a damn to people when they buy it? This isn’t asking for anything crazy, just what they used to do.

Demos, remember them? Sometimes you’d get a disc full of them and you’d get to try a game before buying it? Bought Brave Fencer Mushashi? Get the demo to Final Fantasy 8. Now? I’m not sure I can remember the last AAA demo I got. DOOM2016 was praised for it’s LIMITED TIME demo. Get the fuck out of here. Limited time? What the hell is this? Nintendo’s 3DS demos freakin’ have a limited number of times you can launch them. That is, if there is even is a demo.

Gaming is getting really tiresome. I’ve really found it hard to buy a game and get excited for it when half the time they’re nickle and diming you. Nevermind the microtransactions and lootbox bullshit. They can’t even be bothered to sell you a working game unless you’re paying a consistent drip feed to enjoy the game you bought. So, not only are you looking up reviews of the game, you gotta make sure you know what’s coming with it and if they’re trying to rip you off with these micro transactions after the fact. Great.

Look at Bethesda, Skyrim just got re-released for the 3rd time on Switch after PS4 and XB1 got their remastered versions and it STILL has the same bugs from the final PC release! Game breaking bugs, bugs that modders fixed years ago. They will tart a game up and make it look pretty but not implement basic freaking fixes?? Ah, right, they have that mod store to implement instead. Where, somehow a set of armor is valued at like ..what, 1/12th the cost of an entire game? Game is $60, armor is $5…no, wait, you can’t actually buy the armor directly. You have to buy points like the old Microsoft points. Where 800pts=$10 bucks. So, you’re not even able to drop $5, you gotta get probably $10 in points first. ….I got sidetracked. Anyway.

Despite all my problems with publishers not trying to sell you on the item these days….Physical is still the way to buy games, you can find so many stores now that do some preorder deal that’ll take 20% off and with the case of Best Buy they seem to last over a month after a release is out. You get your game, a box and it’s cheaper. It’s not the full package it used to be but, still better than the digital shops on console charging full price months later.

Call me nostalgic, but, back when I recall getting a game, being in the back of my grandma’s car as she drove us back home and I rip the plastic off my game. Opening the manual and looking over the game I’m about to embark on. Getting inspired by the artwork inside or at least getting to refer to it when I don’t get a mechanic.

“But Mike, just pull out your phone an-” It’s not about that, it’s about getting your bloody money’s worth. And it seems like the Indie scene are the only one making a damned effort to make you want to buy the game.

LOOK at this glorious bundle. A box, stickers, a coin, a leather pouch with a game related item, a FULL SOUNDTRACK, a wallet! Steam code and DRM free? FFFFFreaking BEAUTIFUL! Indie Box and Galaxy Trail nailing it out of the park …oh, and a FULL COLOR MANUAL.

Publishers used to put out packages, stacking reasons for you to buy their latest release. Now they just shove it out the door, unfinished and hold their hand out “pay up” then after you get the unfinished mess, their hand stays out as you play the game.

 

(Updated) Patreon’s baffling update.

by on December 11, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Posted In: Life, Other, Website
Update:
Thank goodness SOMEONE is listening these days. Considering the nonsense the AAA gaming industry is feeding players with lootboxes and, of course the biggest looming issue, the fight for Net Neutrality.
Patreon apparently is not going through with their new fee plan: https://blog.patreon.com/not-rolling-out-fees-change/ They say they’ll have to roll out better plans, and I hope this will be a better idea! They listened and we can continue working with patreon with less concern for a sustainable future with support from readers/viewers or whatever people are using Patreon for.
 
….Now then, Net Neutrality next, please?

Patreon dun goofed.
So, I’m sure you have heard  that Patreon has done something quite stupid and changed how they’re charging people. They’re apparently putting a fee on supporters rather than creators, and putting a transaction fee on top of this.

While I don’t think it’s crippling or deal breaking….yet, I do think it’s an incredibly poor way to handle a price hike. They claim it’s for the benefit of the creators, meanwhile I’ve seen tweets, facebook and blog posts stating how many creators are losing  a lot of their $1 patrons. It hurts them the most as patron is now taking something like $0.30 on top of a 5% of the patron’s support. Which, as you can see hurts small pledges the most, and they even say this in their FAQ:
https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204606125-How-do-you-calculate-fees-

Why are they doing this?
I really don’t know. My guess, is like what I’ve seen with the gaming industry, Patreon has lost interest in a lot of small money coming in and they want people to put in bigger chunks. I’ve mentioned this in my streams, companies don’t want a hit, or even a home run, they ONLY want grand slams and constant ones at that. This focus has driven up fees and costs.

I think they’ve grown as a company and they could be pressured by their shareholders (if they have any, I’m speculating here) to make more money than they have been. And, as a company they do have a responsibility to those shareholders to improve cash intake. That said, this was not a good way to do it. Especially not them trying to make this sound like it’s better for the creators, when it’s obviously hurting more than it’s helping.

What’s my take on this?
I think it was a very poor decision. A small fee increase on what creators take would have been far more desirable and if they wanted to move fees to the patrons? Well my feeling on that is make it an option that’s OFF by default. This way if the person is feeling extra generous, they can contribute a bit more and not have the rug pulled out from under them.

This is likely ..and hopefully what they’ll decide to do. I think the flat transaction fee has to go because frankly it makes the $1 tier feel a bit weak. Support is support but to just take up that large chunk straight up? I think that’s a pretty crap idea.

Should we bail on Patreon?
I don’t think so, not yet anyway. They’ve been very helpful up until now, helping creators and progressively been making their platform better. Slowly, but surely. This was one stupid decision and judging by how they’ve reacted (retracting tweets/blog posts shortly after posting them) they’re obviously aware of the problem and the hornet’s nest they’ve kicked.

So, I think we sit and wait. See what they’re going to do and if they stand by this? Well, then it’s up you people. I have no interest in telling you what to do with your money. Do what you feel is right and don’t be afraid to ask others what their thoughts are on this.  If you want to support Antares Complex you can do so via Patreon or Paypal.

I have some lovely people supporting me through these sites I’ve put the contributions toward keeping the comic afloat. I’m super grateful toward readers or supporters and am happy to have you all.

 

If you have any questions, hit the comments below or ask around on twitter on this. I hope we hear from Patreon soon and they clear up or fix this mess. I’d hate to see the potential of this thing fall apart because of 1 bone headed move.

 

Games I’m playing / played + Game of the Year (2017)

by on December 1, 2017 at 2:30 pm
Posted In: Video Games

I figured this might be a fun little thing to stuff in here, a boring list of games I’m enjoying or playing or have stopped and I’ll wanna talk about what’s what! Think it might be a interesting way to keep game talk interesting and not just controversy. So I’ll be making an effort to update this as I go. though since I’m starting so late I guess this might just be my list of games I liked from 2017.

 


7th Dragon III Code VFD (3DS):
Bought this after seeing a trailer on youtube showing really snappy combat and high energy music which are two big selling points for me in an RPG.

I really enjoyed this game! It’s almost a boss rush of a rpg where you need to kill the 200 dragons in the game which will be on the map as you run around. Bump into one and it’s a boss fight, if there are OTHER ones on the map they can join in at some point in the fight depending on how far they are. Creating a really tense battle system. The character creation really makes the game super replayble, I think there’s 9 classes and 3 teams of 3 members you can have with you.

The music is great, by the guy who did Streets of Rage, the art is lovely, it’s worth playing! I beat it but didn’t get to do the post game stuff, the main game wasn’t too hard but the post game …it’s REALLY challenging.

 


Disgaea 5 Complete (Switch):
I’ve always liked the Disgaea games, but I don’t think they lend themselves to console play as battles can drag out, especially if you dive into item world (randomized challenge maps that when beaten, that item becomes stronger. You need to do at least 10 floors before you can leave the item). So when I found this was coming out on Switch? Yes please. It makes the huge game easier to tackle I feel.

The story is pretty interesting this time around, the entire universe of netherworlds are at war with an evil group and you start piling up your rebel army and take on the bad doods. …Or if you’re me, you only use generic / create-a-characters and fight that way! I though the characters were alright at best, kinda feeling a bit weak…But, it has it’s moments. There’s a LOT going on in this game but they manage to make it all easy to get your head around. Previous games were super grind heavy and this is too, but it’s easier to with many items that can permanently upgrade your character, a cheat shop to let you get more exp/money/etc, item world being 500X better than previous titles.

It’s a pretty game and has a lot of fun to be had, you can just enjoy the story and get a dozen+ hours or …really dive in and challenge yourself. It lets you choose how to have fun which I like!

 


FAST RMX (Switch):
I’ve always liked F-Zero but never really got into it. Can’t say why, I played the SNES one a bunch and some on the 64 but yeah…Oh, why am I talking about F-Zero when talking about Fast RMX? Because it’s a spiritual sequel to the series as far as I’m concerned. I’ve seen people online say they want a new F-Zero but they have it! Right here! It’s got multiplayer; local and online, has an interesting mechanic where you gotta change to the color of the booster/ramp you touch to get the bonus of it. It’s fast, challenging and really, REALLY pretty. The game surprised me. I haven’t played much online because, well I rarely do on any title (which will make the next game confusing to you guys I’m sure.) but I’ve played it solo, local vs etc.

The racing is really fast on harder modes (the harder, the faster the race) and it gets really intense. Levels sporting their own gimmicks whether it’s something simple like dark & rainy making for lower visibility or a giant robot walking across the stage or just having some crazy jumps.

It’s so good, so, good and so fun.

 


Titanfall 2 (PC/PS4/XB1):
I loved Titanfall 1, it got me through a rough spot in my life as far as stress goes and while I haven’t gotten that much mileage out of it’s sequel, it’s no doubt a really good game. But the trouble is I don’t like playing online alone (as in, without friends in the match) so I haven’t gotten the same use out of it but it’s a solid game. What I have played, has some crazy new levels and returning ones that make for interesting backdrops to the combat and add to it typically. There’s more guns, more mechs, more maps, and they’re still updating it! Been enjoying the horde mode where you gotta protect a thing from waves of titans, drones and soldiers. Fun time

There’s nothing like it despite Call of Duty trying to ape it for a while. The transition from soldier to Titan is a big deal in the map, entirely changing how you navigate and fight. It makes for a really interesting dynamic and is just a lot of fun. I haven’t gotten to the single player yet but I’m looking forward to it.

It’s just a shame EA bought the dev and they’re likely going to be dead in 3 years.

 


Blaster Master Zero (Switch/3DS):
I know it’s listed as Switch AND 3DS but, don’t bother with the 3DS version if you got a Switch. It runs way better on there (60fps vs 30) and the ability to play on the TV and portable is great.

Now, some of you may be wondering just what a Blaster Master is! Well, get off my lawn! It’s a NES game. One that Classic Game Room introduced me to and I nabbed on the NES and tried the …not so good sequel on Wii before this game came out. It’s a lot of fun and got some free updates (that are now cheap DLC) that put characters like freakin’ SHANTAE and Shovel Knight into it! Not just reskins either, they play entirely different!

The game is a bit of a metroidvania kinda thing, where you explore in a tank and hop out to explore small ‘dungeons’ as a person. There’s power ups to be had and while the story isn’t great, you’re really here for the action and exploring. I think the game is far better than any of it’s other entries. It adds a lot, plays really well and has a lot more replayability in it. You gain upgrades for the tank as you progress and as the character in dungeons you gain power ups based on how well you do, more you get hit, the less access to your weapon list you get.

They did a really good job here and if you like exploring and action, it’s a fun time.

 


Tales of Berseria (PC/PS4/(PS3 Japan Only):

Alright, I was a bit unsure of this game since I hated Tales of Xillia 2 and Zesteria kinda didn’t work with me (I will try again though). But, wow this game was a lot of fun. It requires a mod on PC, which is thankfully easy to install, but it makes the game look/run/work better. The combat is crunchy and hits hard, there’s a bunch of characters you can play as to enjoy the game and the story is a fun time, if not sad. …I didn’t cry though! Still waiting for a game that’ll get me to do that. …Closest I came was Phantasy Star IV. I know that may sound dumb to you but shaddap!

But it’s a very fun game that manages to make the characters fun and explain them progressively vs in one large dump of story. The combat is great, fast and fun, offering variety with tons of skills and the characters you can play as. It’s got one of the only angst-y characters that I really enjoyed because they actually explain why early on vs 5-20 hours of enduring their crap without knowing why.

My only complaint is how they handle weapons and improving them, which you can …kinda passively worry about on lower difficulties (played on hard, didn’t seem TOO mandatory) but perhaps with NG+ perks it’ll be more smoothed out.

I look forward to playing it again with a New Game+ which has added to the game in my experience with Tales of Xillia. The characters are great in this, the more you go the better it gets. I’ve laughed pretty hard more than a few times in this game and agh I can’t wait for more. I even did freakin’ fanart for this game I loved it so much!

 

 


Metroid Samus Returns (3DS):
Did, not, see, this, coming. I thought Nintendo would be done for way longer after how much they mishandled the series with the garbage Other M and Federation Force to rub salt in the wound. But wow they came back and really nailed it with this game! My one complaint is a bias one, I do not like analog sticks for 2D games and the circle pad is serviceable with most games but tie that in with a 2D game? Agh it made the game a bit tedious to play.

BUT, it’s that good that I wound up beating it rather fast vs taking 3 months to beat a game. The visuals were rather nice and the bosses were fun to fight …except one, you might know the one. Yeah. That one. But this is an improvement in EVERY WAY on the original Metroid 2, I just could never get into it. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot of fun. Zero Mission may still be my favorite 2D title, yes, even over Super which is a great game but opinions, man.

 



Ever Oasis (3DS):
Didn’t see this one coming, I was interested in the cover art and then 1 trailer later I was sold. Which is weird since Zelda games don’t interest me but …the ‘clones’ seem to get me ever time. This is pretty much that. Except instead of new power ups you’re gathering new friends to live in your town who have their own abilities to help you in dungeons. I say help but it’s pretty mandatory in situations.

You want to gather supplies for these people as they sell things, which pulls in more people to sell things and buy things as well. I’m simplifying obviously since, I’m TRYING to keep these short but…It’s a fairly easy, charming game that’s worth playing. It’s hard to talk about much depth with this game because it has a lot of mechanics but they’re not particularly deep I found. Which, isn’t a knock against it, it’s fun and I think worth playing if you like action-adventure games like this.

 


PREY (PC/PS4/XB1):
I wasn’t expecting to like this game, it was in development hell, had nothing to do with the original which was quite the good but flawed game and I was hearing mixed things from some reviewers. Who, now apparently say a 2nd play through makes the game way better…

I disagree, I think going into this game blind as possible will make for a more tense and atmospheric playthrough. Which is what I did and I really got into it. I kind of feel this is how Bioshock was promised. A game that opens up the more you play, more and more of the space station becomes yours to explore and loot as you go. Letting you choose your routes based on the abilities as you get them.

Maybe it’s the scifi aspect to the game but, I enjoyed this more than the Bioshock games. I felt like they delivered on what they were going for better. (Not saying Bioshock is bad, they were good, just liked this better before you yell at me). I think one of the best strengths of this game is one of my favorite things, replayability. There’s a lot of ways to play it with the weapons, paths and skill trees at hand, so you can get a lot out of this whether you replay it soon after or a year or so down the line.

 


Zelda: Breath of The Wild (Switch/WiiU):
Well, I’m going to make people mad with this one. It’s good, I had more fun than I did with most other Zelda games but it’s not a game I think I’ll finish. Like most open world games, I feel like there’s more fun to be had in screwin’ around with the open world than there is with the game’s story.

It’s fun, a good game but I don’t have much to say on this one. Worth playin’ if you have a Switch or WiiU as everyone has probably said by now.

 


Crash: N Sane Trilogy(PS4):
I loved Crash 2 and 3 on Playstation, really fun games that I think gets ignored for some reason. Now I finally got to enjoy one without the BS save system! It’s a worthwhile time, good platforming to be had but it’s gotta be said the physics in this game are off…as are some of the enemy hitboxes making this game harder than it normally should be. It’s not a deal breaker, they’re close, quite close. So it’s only if you’ve played the older games a lot you’d noticed and even then it’s a bit iffy.

Crash 1 is hard, bloody hard and the later games I think let up on that and that’s a good thing. There’s some levels in Crash 1 that are s- know what, I’m trying to keep these short. There’s a LOT of game to be had here and it came out at $40 bucks. Something Sonic Forces failed to do at that price point. No, I won’t be featuring that game on this list. It was not good.

Three games, tons of replayabiltiy if you like running through platformers and despite a few issues it’s surprisingly faithful for so cheap.


Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4):
I know what I said about Zelda! It was only a 15 minutes ago that I typed that part up! Anyway! I went into this game blind and have really been enjoying it. I feel that it’s got a few flaws, I’d like to be able to vault more things and climb things that are …easily in grabbing reach. But damn, this game kinda came out of nowhere for me.

Big hulking monsters that you have a variety of ways to take them out and you’ll likely need them as some can be difficult as hell to beat. This may be one of the first open world games I care enough to beat. The scifi aspect really caught me and so far it’s interesting and I hope it pays off in the end. The story is well told …if not a bit stiff in the conversations. Something that was partly why Ratchet and Clank’s reboot was bad about .

 


Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch/n3DS):
Another time to make people mad, I don’t like Fire Emblem games much. That’s for another day to talk about what I want to talk about is the other, other, other…OTHER, spin off of the Muso/Warriors game. And it’s …I guess the 3rd I’ve played? Zelda, Dragon Quest & now this one.

This one is by far my favorite. In performance mode it runs super nice and manages to keep a good amount of baddies on screen during 2player! Which is where this game shines. Massacring thousands of doods in battle with a variety of characters (with similar moves to eachother’s class) in co-op or portable.
Where it doesn’t shine is story or characters. The story is generic at best and dumb at worst, the characters?…Oh how I hate the 2 main leads, they’re so bad. So, very, bad. While I’ve not played all of the Fire Emblem games these others characters hail from I can say this game probably makes them look way dumber than they ever were in their titles. Character assumes you kidnapped their sister (who’s just hanging around you, likely armed too) so it’s WAR. Thousands of troops die in this battle over a sibling and afterward, oh it was ALLLL just a misunderstanding! Hahahaha~! What a silly mistake. Let’s be pals! *while standing on literally THOUSANDS of corpses* Yeah, great character and story telling.

 

AHEM, it’s a fun game, good gameplay but do not, do, not take the story seriously. ….Also the DLC is pretty bad. 3 characters that are in the game are only playable via $20 DLC. …kay.

 



Sonic Mania (PC, PS4, Switch, XB1): (GAME OF THE YEAR)
Sonic games don’t get me hyped anymore. I’ve been burned by them, I got Sonic 06 on launch as well as Secret Rings and since then I wait till reviews come out before I buy or open the game. The day levels in Unleashed were good, Generations was a lot of fun as was Colors, Advanced 1 & 2 etc…But I’m always skeptical because they truly did stumble bad.

This game…may be my game of the year, I’m not good at picking favorites in most cases but if pressed this game I’ve replayed a TON already and I see myself enjoying this for years to come, much like other Sonic titles of the 2D variety. It may very well be the best 2D Sonic (if Sonic 3 & Knuckles gets a remaster treatment like 1 and 2 on iOS/Android then they’re tied). The levels, the music, the platforming, every little detail being a fun callback. The new sprites, the new baddies the boss fights. It’s, so, good. I’ve filled EVERY save file on my Switch with beaten games with all the emeralds. It’s just way too much fun and on the Switch it’s easy to jump in and out of.

It’s INSANELY replayable. There’s so many ways to play it,

Sonic and Tails, with Tails being useful even in 1p mode given you can have him fly you places.

Sonic alone with his ability to speed through levels and use elemental shields and with the debug mode, you have access to EVERY power up from the static shield, super peel out to the new drop dash.

Knuckles with his unique level paths and way to get around levels, Tails and his ability to maneuver around levels better than the others.

Nevermind the competitive mode, the co-op 2 player mode (which ODDLY worked great for me when playing with my cousin vs Sonic 2 & 3 which didn’t) and all the alternate paths you can wind up taking through the game.

Yes, I know, Zelda, Mario etc. This is the game that hooked me and I got into. I really love it.  If you have a different game or list you’d like to share in the comments, feel free to share. I like chatting about this stuff.

 

Hiatus ending, comic starting next Monday.

by on November 20, 2017 at 1:40 pm
Posted In: Antares Complex, Updates, Website

Hey everyone,

I hope I haven’t kept you all waiting too long, I’ve been keeping content flowing elsewhere in the form of art streams, stream recordings and random art that I’ve been posting to my patreon for early access. The next issue starts next mondayt:

What I’ve been doing during the hiatus is like every time, I am preparing the next issue to be posted! …To be more specific, with previous issues I was learning and created pages in very … slapdash ways. As the comic has been going since 2011 I’ve improved and learned better more competent ways of doing things. But even still with the latest pages they’re not ready to be posted.

What I normally have to do is:

  • Add text, format it and word balloons.
  • Add any missing effects (laser effects, glows, blood etc)
  • Correct any problems with the page. (wonky line art, missing lines, missing/layers turned off)
  • Finalize the cover artwork and fit it for the actual comic cover. (scale it, add logo issue number etc)
  • Do the credits page up & back cover
  • Size the page, tag them, export for web: (scale the page down to fit on a site & compress so downloads are fast)

I know this doesn’t sound like a lot, especially for the time I give myself during the hiatus (2-3 weeks) so…I know what you’re thinking. “Mike, put down Sonic Mania and get your lazy ass to work!”. Well, okay that’s a valid point. But seriously, as this is a full color comic I need a little wiggle room in terms of being able to get pages out. Each page takes a while to make on their own and when they are heavy on action or special effects they take longer to do.

Basically, the hiatus really does let me catch up and have a bit of breathing room to finish pages, get in some art for other projects or fun, lessen any potential burnout…and play Sonic Mania. Ahem! I’d like to go into the process of how I make comic pages more but that’s probably better for another blog post that hasn’t gone on as long as this has.

I hope you’ve all been enjoying the comic so far. I’ve really been working on improving it in SO many ways over the years I actually had to go back and do a major overhaul on previous pages before to make it all more …standardized? I dunno.

Anyway, if you’re enjoying the comic I encourage you to support the comic via patreon. A few bucks gets you cool extras, your name on the donation wall, and the donation page of the current comic as well as early access to comic pages, artwork and stream recordings.

If you can’t, that’s cool the comic will always be free! But, consider it if you’re feeling generous:

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