Platinum Watch #61: Life is Strange (PS4)

PSN Level: 29 - 28%

Life is Strange was a 5 part episodic game that started coming out earlier this year in January and now almost 10 months later it has ended. Unlike I usually do with the Telltale episodic games, I marathon through all 5 episodes after they came out in about 2 days, and I loved it.

I was sold on this game when they described it as living the life of a teenage girl who get time manipulation powers. Then it fell by the wayside as other games were coming out, but I did buy the season pass and install each episode as it was released. With the last episode hitting recently, it was the perfect time to start playing. I am so glad I waited for them all because once I started, I couldn't put it down. If they ever make a Tales from the Borderlands season 2, I will definitely wait for them all to be released because I love season 1. That being said, I will continue playing Minecraft story mode as they come out. 

So after playing through and re-watching Steins;Gate, I've been eager to consume more excellent time travel stories. Much like Steins;Gate, apart from well done time travel, this game really makes you care for the characters (and their potential deaths).Though not as emotional as Steins;Gate, I did shed tears during this game, notably the end. One reason why I keep comparing Life is Strange to Steins;Gate (SG) is because the essential time travel story is the same: discover time travel, save a life, grow attach to that person throughout the story, horrible consequences ensue due to your time travel, and at the end you must choose between fixing the timeline or saving the person you love. So I did see the ending coming to an extent, but unlike in SG, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Even as I chose what I knew was the wrong choice to selfishly save my best friend, I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice her (though apparently that ending is a bit better). And my "wrong" choice I figured was unpopular turned out to be almost split according to the global statistics.

What I love about making choices in this game compared to the Telltale games is there is no timer, so you can think about how your choice may effect future events. There were many times where I hesitated, or contemplated for minutes on end, weighing my choices. The other good thing is due to Max's time manipulation powers, you can go back and change your choice after you hear the characters dialogue and see the end of the conversation. If it didn't end how you like, you can go back, but Max usually hints after a conversation how your choices can affect the future, so even with rewinding time, you never know if you are making the right choice. One of the most stressful moments happened when the game took away your powers and had you literally talk someone off a ledge.

The gameplay was at it's best when they throw you in a location and you must look through items all around you to help you make better choices during conversation (along with more bits of story). Thinking back on it, it is very reminiscent of a Quantic Dream game: investigating a mystery (Heavy Rain) and making choices as a young female character (Beyond: Two Souls). Putting all the pieces of evidence that we gathered onto a board to find a location of a suspect was also a fun aspect. I could use a whole game being a private dick with Chloe by me side! 

I totally fell for the best friend character Chloe. It didn't hurt that she was voiced by Ashley Burch a.k.a Mayuri and many other characters in games and anime. The voice cast was awkward at times. It took a while to get used to the Max's (the main character) shy slow monotone talking but by the end, I thought the voice actor was great. It is good to note most of the voice actors do multiple characters in the game. 

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Platinum Watch #60: Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)

PSN Level: 29 - 14%

This has to be my favorite Telltale game they ever made, including the old school point-and-click games like Monkey Island. It is by far the best of their new, visual-novel / choose-your-own-adventure games. 

I played the past borderlands games, but never really paid attention to the story, more just the setting. And the setting is cool. I would much rather expand on this universe via a Telltale game (TTG) than a core Gearbox game. The writing and storytelling is great, and is made even better by the amazing voice cast. The game has seriously emotional heart wrenching scenes, and characters can and will die. But that's all stuff we have seen in the more recent TTGs like The Walking Dead for example . What Tales from the Borderlands introduces is comedy. This game has some seriously laugh out loud moments, rare in any game to me. They also have super cool opening sequences set to music, and maybe even slo-mo. There is a finger gun sequence in episode 3 or 4 that is my favorite thing in any game in recent memory.

This series also has a way to make the player feel attached to non-human characters. It started with LoaderBot (which enamored the internet more than me), and moved on to Gortys, played by Ashley Johnson, who is too cute and funnier than any other character in this game. (Side note: both may be better and more liked than their previous robot claptrap)

One gripe is how they take away a heavy moment toward the end with what seems almost like magic, but ultimately fits in the Borderlands universe.

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Platinum Watch #59: Uncharted Drake's Fortune Remastered (PS4)

I am a huge fan of the Uncharted series for PS3. I am super pumped for the fourth iteration on PS4. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was my first platinum trophy. It's also my 59th.

So this remaster puts Uncharted 1, 2, and 3 on 1 disc for PS4 labeled The Nathan Drake Collection. The game is the same as it was ~8 years ago. The trophy list is largely the same, with minor tweaks. For some reason, many of the kill trophies were made more difficult, for example, kill 50 enemies (instead of 20) using stealth, which is not required to use throughout the game, made it even longer to farm than it was before. They also introduced speedrun trophies for the new speedrun mode, which sounds like a pain for anyone who isn't into speedrunning, but lucky (or wisely) they were very lenient in the required times.

Crushing difficulty, which is one step above hard, is unlocked from the start for the first time in the series. Being a veteran of these games, I jumped right into crushing, and despite hearing it had the hardest crushing mode of the 3 games. It was borderline infuriating. My poor long term memory must have erased my past run-through of crushing from existence, or I am exponentially less patient/slow-reflexed than I used to be. On many occasions, coming out of cut-scenes left me mostly dead before I can begin moving the character. Although crushing can be extremely frustrating, fun can be found treating the rooms almost like puzzles; needing to memorize where enemies come from and how best to use ammo provided a good challenge.

This being the first game in the series, it definitely holds up as a game (albeit not on crushing), but it is clearly the weakest of the 3 by a fair margin. Of the 3, it has the slowest opening. It really takes a while to get into anything fun besides story. It is less clear where to traverse versus sequels. There aren't any big, memorable set pieces. Thank god for shoulder swap. I can't remember if it was in the original game but before I turned it on in the options menu, the game would decide what side the gun was on when Drake pops out of cover, and it could be the difference between life and death. Also in the options menu was the ability to use L1/R1 buttons like all PS3 games used to for shooters, but the PS4 controller may have improved L2/R2 buttons, the L12/R1 are far worse leaving either option unsatisfying.

I don't know if/how the graphics were improved, but the game look really good. The iconic Uncharted camera is here from the beginning, providing both a cinematic feel and a clear path for the player to focus on. There also seemed to be a bunch of tweaks in the options to change how it looked (I vaguely remember this in the original, not sure if they added any), but I didn't use any because they were all locked and I wasn't going to do another play-through.

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STEINS;GATE Visual Novel vs Anime

After playing through Steins;Gate on PlayStation 3, I couldn't get enough so I started re-watching the anime with English dub. I just finished episode 12 and these are my thoughts so far. After spending ~35 hours listening to the Japanese cast, I learned to prefer them over the English cast. The English cast is still really good, especially Okabe and Daru, but I vastly prefer the Japanese voices of Mayuri and Kurisu. Hearing the Asuna's voice come out of the Part Time Warrior also takes me out of the experience.

I like the localisation into English that was done for the dub, over the anime subs, but I MUCH prefer the dialogue from the game. Okabe's "mad scientist" act is appropriately labeled as chuunibyou, though I never thought of it like that before the VN (visual novel). The anime used the term OTP. one true pairing, referring to Kurisu's bickering with Okabe, which I never heard of, but the subs for the anime called her tsundere, which I did understand. The anime, and even more so the dub, I think, doesn't give you such a clear picture that the group is really otaku. I never thought of Mayuri as otaku, but she is obsessed with cosplay. Whenever you see her sewing in the lab, she is making costumes for cosplay. Okabe has chuunibyou, 8th grade syndrome. Kurisu reads @channel, aka 2chan, in secret and is embarassed by it. Daru is clearly a nerd in both adaptations.

The biggest thing that bugged me, and pushed me to write this post, was Kurisu crying over Okabe yelling at her over his name in the anime. In the VN, she acts strong all the time and is always calm. She is seen by us and Okabe to be serious and objective, except for 2 serious moments, which are made more impactful because it appears out of character (really she puts on a front and hides her emotions). But the anime she cries twice (out of fear?) which makes her look weak (and Okabe looks terribly mean).

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Platinum Watch #58: Steins;Gate (PS3)

PSN Level 28 - 84%

Since I played Virtues Last Reward for PS Vita a couple of years ago, I have been immensely jealous of the slew of visual novels on consoles in Japan. When one comes to the US on a PlayStation console, I buy it. I was doubly excited when Steins;Gate was announced, having seen the anime and attempting to play the PC fan translated version (didn't enjoy playing on the PC).

The anime was one of my favorites. I "marathoned" the English dub when it came out. Though, before playing through the game, I remembered very little of it. Playing through the game was like experiencing it for the first time again. And it was amazing.

I remember liking the English dub, and since beating the game, I started re-watching it. The voices are great, and the localization is excellent. But I also love the Japanese cast, especially the female leads.

Mixed in throughout the game is a bunch of science terms, and many otaku/2chan memes, many of them parodies of real life media. Luckily, the game provides an excellent index, adding the entry when the word is used. Be sure to read all of them because they can and will be used again in the future dialog. The game seems to cater more toward the otaku fans than I remember the anime doing, or I am just understanding more of the references now.

I think all of the endings were heart wrenching. Getting 80% of the endings(there are about six or seven) is easy. The other 1 or 2 need to follow a specific text thread starting in earlier chapters. Responding to texts is an interesting way to engage the player. but they require you to choose between about 1-3 seemingly random words to respond to. And once you choose the word and write out the new text, I can't see any way to back out to pick a different word and am forced to just send it. I would prefer to preview all responses before picking one because this random replying means you can miss small details about other characters, or the bigger deal, a whole story thread required to get the better endings. I strongly encourage anyone to play through all the endings, using a guide when necessary, to see the true ending. This ending, the same from the anime, is so much more impactful after seeing how much the MC (main character) went through to get there.



After finishing, I am struggling to find more English translated media from this franchise, hoping more will come to america soon.

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Platinum Watch #57: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

PSN Level 28 - 38%

A couple years ago, I platinumed Ni No Kuni. I ended up loving all 85 hours I spent with that game. It was the first RPG I completed in probably a decade, since Pokemon Crystal. I tried picking up other RPGs (both Japanese i.e. Final Fantasy VII and western i.e. Fallout 3) during that decade, but they never appealed to me. But I picked them back up after Ni No Kuni, and slowly I am liking them more and more.

My first trophy in the game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was on 8/1/2012. I played about 5 hours and put it down. I remember liking the combat, but RPGs were still a bit overwhelming for me back then. Nearly three years later, I picked it up where I left off, put another 60 hours in, and got the platinum trophy. And there are still many side quests that I did not complete. After about 50 hours of any game, I am usually satisfied; any time spent over that is usually monotonous and boring for me. Though I enjoyed it thoroughly, this game was not different.

The combat was really fun. It played like a good action game which I am always fond of but added in all the RPG elements I am starting to enjoy. It really is to bad the developer went bankrupt and never got to make the MMO this game was supposed to introduce. The pacing of the experience growth was perfect, never needing to grind, and (playing on hard) was fun and never frustrating.

In every RPG with inventory management, I always end up constantly being full or encumbered. I stopped playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 solely for that reason. I have to pick everything up to keep or sell, and always keep redundant weapons. This game started off the same, so I hunted down inventory expansions until I maxed it, and leveled up a skill that let me part of the cost of an item or weapon when destroying it that way I didn't need to visit the shop to sell my junk so often. A neat feature this game has, (I've seen it in Borderlands too), is send an item as junk and sell or destroy all junk at the same time. Unlike in Borderlands, there is not an option to set an item as a favorite, which would have made item management even easier. The player shared stash is in one of 4ish player houses, but it would have been more convenient to have a stash in more places, even if I had to buy the house. By the end of the game, I didn't know what to spend my $2,000,000 on. Another positive was the unlimited saves the game lets you make, and it always keeps a recent auto-save, one after the tutorial, and one after the final boss.

Some negatives are the environments and dungeons often use the same layout re-skinned (or maybe even exactly the same) and could get confusing. Also, better quest management would be good. After so many side quests build up, 50+, there is no recommenced level, though they are in the order received or updated. Also, having the map up while selecting the quest so you can pick something close would also be preferable to switching between the 2 menus.

But all in all, it was a fun game, and a pretty easy platinum trophy if you have 65 hours.

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COMPLETE: Lisa Statue Work-in-Progress (WIP)

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Published: 4/21/2015

In my post about my dislike of Crayola air dry clay, I have photos of a statue work in process.

Inspiration was from the concert Tee from LiSA at Anime Boston.

Coming home from a trip to Boston, I felt really inspired by LiSA to pursue creative outlets. I think its fair to say I am obsessed with anime statues, but how could I get a LiSA statue?? I'll make one! Never having done this, I'd say I did a fair job sculpting. Unfortunately, the clay I bought is crap, so I am going to attempt to mold and cast it to have a resin statue to paint. Wish me luck!

Updated: 4/25/2015

It is clear that I don't really know what I am doing. What an utter mess. After successfully creating a dump mold of her arm (had to cut the arms off for the molding process, made 1 mold to be used for both arms and fused to the body after casting). Waiting for it to dry now, I am a bit worried about the top layer not being mixed well enough to dry, in about 6 hours I might have a runny mess on my hands.

So, every way i have seen for creating a 2 part mold involves using clay as a base and pour silicone for the top part of the mold. One guy in YouTube comments mentioned suspending the model on cured silicone blocks and then pour the rest in up to the half way point. (Side note, it is really hard not to get silicone on top of the model using this method, hope it peels off later.) I know why it is not recommended, air bubble rise to the surface under the model and your cast will have bumps. Not only and I lazy, but I am not sure I would'n't mess up the model (made out of shitty clay). 

The worst part is that 2.8lbs of silicone, Smooth-On Oomoo 30 (30 min work time; 6 hour cure time), was just enough for half the mold. So I am going to need another week and $30 to ship out another trial kit. To be continued... 

Updated: 5/8/2015

So the second half of the mold worked out pretty well, I was better prepared for the silicone, everything mixed well, and the whole second batch of silicone was the perfect amount. Once cured, it was a bit hard to separate the 2 sides of silicone, I used the super sealer and ease release the kit came with. Next time I would try vaseline for an easier release. The mold was pretty rough, I did not clean up the lines at all, and all the detail of the clay was there, for better or worse.

I would recommend measuring in some way how much resin you need. I estimated, but made too little. I then lifted the mold up but it began spilling out of the mold from the bottom (next time tighter rubber bands). So I quickly mixed up a new batch before the old started to harden, and it worked out, but I made way too much and wasted material. Better too much than too little though.

After de-molding, a bit on the face and hair didn't quite cure. It was still soft and a bit of the hair fell off. Maybe the 2 resin parts needed to be mixed better. Even the next day it was soft, but several days later it was hard like the other parts. Since the original clay model was so rough, along with air bubbles from not being able to roll the resin in the mold, it took quite a bit of sanding, bondo, and putty to clean up the piece (thank goodness for my dremel and accessories). The arms, molded separately needed to be pinned and attached. Next step, priming and painting...

Updated: 6/14/2015

Finally finished, after a long process. Priming, pinning and painting went pretty smooth. Most of the painting was done by brush, which I dislike, but overall it came out pretty good. I am happy with the base colors too once I decided what looks good. 

To make the Lisa lettering, I bought Super Sculpey (learned my lesson about buying good clay), but it seemed to be old as it was rock hard. After some 20 minutes with canola oil and a hammer, I had workable clay. Baking in the oven took longer then expected, though I feel even if I took it out sooner it would have hardened when cool. I took the colors from the logo behind LiSA at Anime Boston.

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