VideoGame The Star Wars Design Philosophy as Applied To Video Games
When George Lucas first made Star Wars, he glued together all his personal loves: World War II dogfights, plucky heroes overcoming fascist stormtroopers, fast-talking gunfighters, swashbuckling swordfights, sassy princesses who can hold their own as well as need rescuing, eastern mysticism and wise old samurai masters, and, fatefully, yes, political intrigue and spygames, all filtered through the lens of classic science fantasy. I can't help but feel something similar went on with Jedi: Fallen Order.
Built by an EA subsidiary largely to counteract the nuclear heat their crappy, microtransaction-stuffed first person shooters in the brand were getting, Fallen Order, as a game, combines stuff I think its creators liked from all over modern video games: climbing and puzzle-solving sequences from Uncharted, chunky, guard and parry-focused melee combat from Dark Souls, fun collectible-scavenging from a variety of open-world games, gradually-growing pools of powers that unlock new parts of the map from the Metroidvania genre. As a game it all works pretty well, though the challenge is high and I recommend the Jedi Knight difficulty, especially as a new player.
As a story, I appreciated the relatively slender scope, as well as it being a Star Wars game that didn't feel like it had to rip off sequences straight out of the films to work. Indeed, only two characters from the film series really show up at all, both of them were minor bit characters at that, and neither stays for long. While what's happening does feel important, the focus is mostly on individual characters and their growth and development rather than on a huge cast of dozens of characters. And even short-term characters make an impact. I still remember the hero's friend on the planet he's lying low on at the start of the story.
I also appreciate the commitment to making them all flawed and human, yet, with a few exceptions, also likable, willing and able to grow past their worst impulses.
The plot isn't necessarily bursting with surprises and twists; if you're the kind of person who unironically dislikes logical plotting as "predictable" then there'll be a few moments you'll easily see coming. But I liked the way the game as a whole foreshadowed these things, with well-directed dream-like Force vision sequences that called Code Vein to mind in the best possible way.
Also, the animations can be a little clunky, and while the music wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. And swimming, as always, is a bit eh, though happily you never have to do it, say, under a time limit or while threats are attacking you.
I recommend it overall, with one major caveat: just get a console version. I originally tried to play it on PC, and the constant technical issues were a neverending waking nightmare of stutter, slowdown, and frame-drops, which only got worse as I approached later, more technically-intensive worlds.
VideoGame Not what I expected, but still very good.
I pre-ordered this game, and when it released a year ago I was kind of disappointed. The advertising prominently included tag lines like “Don’t stand out,” leading many players (myself included) to speculate that you would visit cities and have to blend in and not draw attention to yourself, kind of like Assassin's Creed and maybe with a “Wanted” system similar to Grand Theft Auto.
When it finally released, I was disappointed because it was not at all what I expected. It was still a good game, but it felt tainted by my expectations not being met.
The gameplay combines elements from a lot of different sources. The combat is somewhat slow and deliberate, similar to a Souls-like RPG. Some enemies have a Break Meter similar to the Posture system in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and on the higher settings it has the punishing difficulty usually associated with the Souls-Like sub-genre. Exploring the ancient Zeffo ruins and solving the puzzles therein seems very reminiscent of Tomb Raider. There is ability-based progression and exploration, similar to a Metroidvania. Many of the climbing and platforming segments are reminiscent of Assassin's Creed. Lastly, there are a lot of collectibles to find for 100% Completion, if you’re into that.
The story is pretty good. Enjoyable but not groundbreaking. It has some Star Wars cliches, like Metaphorically True and A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil, but overall I liked it and it kept me engaged.
A year ago, I would have rated the game 7/10: good, but not great. Now, a year later, I’m replaying it and trying to appreciate it for what it is and not what I wanted it to be. All of the gameplay elements mentioned previously work well and the story remains interesting even seeing it for a second time. I think I would rate it 8/10 now that I’m no longer feeling tainted by my initial expectations. The only things I don’t like are that the options for customizing Cal’s outfit aren't very good and the slippy-slidey sequences are a pain.
Because I was dissatisfied with the options for customizing Cal’s outfit, on this second playthrough I’m using a mod that replaces Cal with Darth Revan from Knights of the Old Republic. I’m liking that a lot because there are a lot of parallels between Fallen Order and KotOR. In both games:
- The protagonist has had their connection to The Force damaged in some way, and over the course of the game they repair that damage and grow into a powerful Jedi.
- You travel to multiple planets, one of which is Kashyyyk, in search of clues.
- You learn about an ancient Force-using civilization which has since disappeared.
- There are lots of options for customizing your lightsaber.
EDIT: It is now November 2022. I've played through the full game 3 times now and just started a 4th run. Each time I play it, I enjoy it more than I did before. It's definitely better than the 7/10 I originally gave it.
VideoGame "Baby's First Dark Souls."
First and foremost, while the title suggests something detrimental, I honestly think that this is a good game for starters to see if they enjoy the souls-like combat or not.
Jedi Fallen Order's main strengths (and weaknesses) lie in its honesty: This is a starter game, both for people wanting to get into the souls genre, and the company itself. This led to a simplicity, both of the gameplay and the plot, and when I review it I need to keep in mind the heavy hands of both EA and Disney trying to strangle this game in its crib, and it shows. Frankly, I expected something lackluster, and the first half of the game only gave credence to my impressions: Infodumps are constant, relationships are rushed, people barely talk yet they trust each other with ease and it feels like an old 'seek the mcguffin' plot.
Weirdly, this changes in the latter half of the game with interesting themes of dealing with grief and despair, and genuinely good and touching ideas, even the cinematography improved! It only made me wonder where this quality writing came from and where it went, because after those touching moments, back to the rushed plot. This is aggravated by the characters themselves not being properly developed. Cal is a 'mold fits all' MC that goes through the 'normal' star wars development, because this is still star wars. He starts shy and afraid, when he scores some victories he gets cocky and then needs to be smacked in the face to grow up. His personality changes to fit the plot, sadly. I thought it would be more interesting to explore a guy that was genuinely trying to find solace and answers to his grief and fear through a higher purpose... but it too feels rushed. The main antagonist feels lackluster as well. The devs wanted her to be menacing and coy, but when they mixed them together, it feels more like a spoiled girl who likes to do childish taunting that mostly gets ahead because the plot said so. Nearly everyone being human made things blander as well, couldn't they risk a main character who was an alien?
As for gameplay, this is by far one of the most forgiving soulslikes I've ever played, and one of the most frustrating ones. The tomb-raider exploration is a welcome diversion to pace out the adventure and not feel repetitive, though they could have given us harder exploration puzzles. You have a multi-layered map that tells you how many treasures are there (but showing WHERE chests you found but couldn't open yet would be good), open paths, places you can't go yet, an ample number of stims and if you die, you only lose the xp bar that hasn't completed a level. But since the devs wanted something simple, nearly all collectibles are cosmetic, and even those are limited. All you have is a poncho, a suit and skins for your robot and ship. Minor tweaks such as small damage bonuses, or hp leech per hits or so on would be a welcome addition, alongside armor choices.
On the awful side, this game wanted to be Sekiro, but couldn't deal with it. As someone who finished Sekiro, the parrying in this game is AWFUL. It wanted the fast-reflexes parrying mechanic without tweaking it properly, there is a delay between pressing the button and raising the defenses, and the parrying window isn't clear. To make things worse, it has Sekiro's 'stance' bar mechanic but without the 'insta-kills'. Meaning, unless you can force-push someone into a pit or have lucky hits, you first need to deplete a foe's stance bar before hitting his HP. This, joining up with enemies that hit fast, hard and in long combos made combat a chore. Fighting human bosses, who are insane damage sponges, is a nightmare. This made the last boss feel annoying instead of challenging, like I was dying not because of my skill. The serious lack of ranged offensive options is another hurdle. I'd like a blaster, even if it wasn't powerful.
Oh, and this game is seriously bugged. Sometimes it works in your favor, such an enemy suddenly losing the aggressive A.I or being flung into space (seriously), other times it will ruin your day like wonky hitboxes or noclipping into the floor.
But by the end, I enjoyed the ride and I recommend it to people curious about the souls genre. Just avoid the higher difficulty levels, its not worth the frustration.