The Inquisition on PC

You know I had a lot of doubts going into this game considering what EA has done to a lot of good games over the course of the past few years. I lost faith in Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dead Space and numerous other franchise titles just because EA corporates couldn't get their heads out of their shareholder's asses. I would risk the damage to my reputation to say that most long time franchise fans would agree with me.

But, I'm not here to talk bad about EA. In fact I think they did right by a lot of fans and critics with their newest installment of Dragon Age. Sure it has it's issues but, I think for once they're actually starting to listen to what their customers want and not looking at the bottom line.

Story: 

It's cohesive, yet mysteriously confusing. Some of the story points don't link up a lot as a whole, but that's largely ok the most important points are generally well grounded in well versed story telling. I'm not an expert in Dragon Age lore nor do I care to be but, everything I experienced matches the lore of the past Dragon Age games I've played and haven't deviated much from solid expansionism.

Romance options feel slightly stilted. They're still just as awkward as before, but this time they have more meat to them. However, romance options that could have been were instead ignored. I'm looking at you Cassandra x Female Main Character. Bioware has also fully embraced the whole equal rights role by giving lots of same sex options. Although in my opinion it still has a long way to go. The idea would best be served if every option had male/female romance lines. Maybe it's a fling or a deep relationship either way it could be fleshed out more.

It follows the old hero archetype and offers a grand experience from multiple viewpoints (Mostly Varrics.) Banter is well timed and meaningful offering a change of pace in the serious attitude in the game.

8/10

Gameplay:

I was expecting more fluid action what I got was more reminiscent of an antiquated FFXII combat system. Still fun nonetheless but, It was lacking that true action packed feeling like its sister title Mass Effect. The open worlds are rife with standard rpg quests to do. Each of them seems to provide lore and appropriate rewards for doing them. They made it similar to the collection of Last Fight readiness meter like in Mass Effect 3. I thoroughly enjoyed that system as every little thing amounted to something. No quest felt like a throwaway, maybe-don't-need-to-do-this-one quest.

However, cameras really made me sad, like literally fetal position crying sad. They're just that bad I'm not sure how it is on the consoles but the PC version of the game's camera controls were just flat out terrible. Sometime it's too close, sometimes it's too far, sometimes I'm flying somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.

Tactical inputs don't really seem to matter in my opinion as all your friendly AI never seem to react in time. Making it more like a 1 man demonstration of skill with 3 meat shields. Having a double front-line often serves purposes better than have 3 DPS characters making for a very linear combat system in a sense. You aren't limited to doing this. But, in order for aggro to be held you almost need 2 tanks as 1 just dies far too fast.

Moral choices are not well defined. However, thematically it works. Just like in any large holy war there's bound to be ambiguous context you don't understand not having definitive good/bad options makes for a more convincing dialogue system.

7/10 


Graphics:

No one practices hygiene in Dragon Age. Seriously everybody's hair is shiny as fuck. For 0 reason. Dorian's mustache is like color of my Honda Accord, Metallic Gunmetal. You would think walking under a waterfall might fix the hygiene issue, but no, I think it makes it worse for an extended duration, until the water dries.

Animation could use some work. Mouth and facial movements make me cringe a little. It almost feels amateurish compared to current gen work but given the large scope of the game it can almost be forgiven. Hopefully in the next title the facial rigging and bones will be improved enough to demonstrate this.

Now that I'm done complaining about the graphics the rest of the game looks utterly stunning. Locales are all extremely well polished. Traveling around the world you really can get immersed. Models are amazing and textures are extremely high fidelity. Leather and metal look to be of actual quality not just haphazardly textured on.

7/10

Sound:
Again quite stunning. The soundtrack fits every single time and Sound FX are well rounded. They don't sound out of place or overly muted. The audio reel is actually well varied giving it hyper realism. Metal clangs could use some work especially in cutscenes. They sound muffled and underwhelming to a degree like the recording equipment were too far away.

All in all the game's sounds are well done with only minor room for improvement with various cutscene audio syncs and the metal clangs. 

8/10

Final Verdict:

Long time fans of the series will enjoy this game. Newcomers to the franchise should feel right at home with a solid experience. The clunky systems are far overshadowed by the overall open world ability to explore and create your own story.

7.5/10

Baoynetta 2: Not as Sexy Without Amnesia.

Happy Halloween folks. I'm here to bring you in the spirit of Halloween a review on a sexy witch. One who uses hair as her costume and dazzles us all.

Bayonetta, Cereza whichever you prefer to call her is back this Halloween season and she brings with her much of what made her fantastic in the first installment. Yet at the same time she's missing a few things that would send her into Climax.

Story:
As ludicrous as both the first and second story are they're a delight. It's purposely filled with odd one liners and cliches up the wazoo, yet it works. Both games delivered wonderfully on this over-the-topness. However, in this installment Enzo becomes more annoying and the addition of another character sort of takes away the dynamic she had with previous character from the last installment. Almost to the point where it gets a bit repetitive luckily the story is delivered in short chunks with good pacing such as it won't suffocate you with it.

If you're looking for some oddly deep meaning, I suppose it's there but this game doesn't have one of those take it to heart serious stories. It's more like a melodramatic comedy. 

For delivering a fantastically over the top experience Bayonetta 2 scores a solid 9/10 in this category.

Gameplay:
Unfortunately this part disappointed me the most being a diehard fan of the first I found this version lacking in a few of the gameplay categories. Her combos while they have been expanded don't flow nearly as well as they did last game. Most of the techniques and combos are back from the last game with a few additions here and there so the overall fight experience for someone starting fresh with Bayonetta 2 will be most enjoyable. However, for those that played the first game and loved how the combos flowed into each other some of that is lost with the new additions and more rigid combos.

Punish/Torture attacks are where it hurts most. Given that the game expanded to include demons this time, you'd think they'd animate some new more distinct torture attacks, nope. To make matters worse the lineup of tortures has been watered down in sexiness. It's more gruesome than it is hilarious. Joy's wooden horse is gone along with a number of more livid tortures. Which leaves me a bit upset.

The weapons category is a bit lacking. A lot of medium range weapons were removed from 1st to 2nd installment. The ones that exist have fantastic re-playability and diverseness however missing weapons like shotguns make me one really sad witch. I'm sure Bayonetta is crying too. The added Nintendo themed weapons don't do much to make it better either. So this time around the game just has a smaller weapon roster. I have yet to unlock Rodin's fight to gain the Rodin weapon but I imagine it's similar to what was in the original Bayonetta.

Costumes are back and well they're pretty much the same a few entries missing here and there and a few new Nintendo themed ones making an appearance, but, overall nothing much to talk about here. We all new they'd be back.

They added a more competitive multiplayer this time around. But, I feel like this is more a tacked on unnecessary experience. It's a well polished mode, but my expertise is not in games like Bayonetta and so I found myself losing more halos than I was winning which dulled and soured the experience for me. For enthusiasts of this genre then this might be a welcome break to the single player experience.

I think this game is easier compared to the original. I remember having trouble getting past the 1st stage on 2nd climax/normal mode in the first game. I had no problem running through the entire game on 2nd climax this time around. It could just be I've matured and am better at executing combos though. You should be the judge of whether it's the same difficulty. 

For a still solid experience Bayonetta 2 scores a solid 7/10 in this category.


Graphics:
 From the opening scene it's clearly last gen. We kind of expected it since it was on the Wii U console. So there isn't much to complain about the enemies are still wonderfully designed and an inspiration and pleasure to watch. Animation is smooth and runs at 60 frames solid even when in long complex boss fights. However, I think Bayo broke her spine this game or something she leans in a very unnatural almost forced fashion compared to the original. Maybe it's because I haven't played the first one in a long time or maybe it was the way the costume was designed, either way Bayo's strut looked painful to say the least.

Some of the Nintendo textures weren't nearly as good as the first, but, it wasn't too bad I was concentrating more on the fighting than the scenery this time around. All the locales that are visited are very appropriate thematically and still are a delight to take pleasure in. The most painful thing graphically I had to look at was at the very start of the game Bayonetta's wide brimmed Sunday hat was not even modeled like a hat, they literally cheaped out and just went ahead and performed a texture illusion to make it look hollowed out inside.

The color palette is noticeably different vs. the first game It's much brighter and I don't really care for it. It doesn't fit the Bayo theme but, it does add to the opposing contrast of the game.

Delivering adequate graphics Bayonetta 2 gets an above average score of 8/10.

Sound:
I'm a bigger fan of the first thematic song. Along with this sorta of old school feeling that it exuded. That's not to say the soundtrack of Bayonetta 2 is bad. However, this time around expect a different tune one that doesn't fit the Bayo sexiness as Fly Me to the Moon did. The 2 Songs that really made me happy this time around were in the first few scenes of the game. Moon River (Climax Edit) and Tomorrow is Mine. Everything else sort of paled in comparison.

The Sound FX are well done and varied enough to make it feel natural, there was a lack of clarity in some moments but I'll write it off as my audio tuning being off.

For delivering a spectacular audio experience albeit not to my taste Bayonetta 2 still gets a 8/10.

 

Overall the game scores a solid 8/10. It's a great game but thematically doesn't deliver as well as the first game in a couple of respects. Which for me hurt the score. I wanted Bayo back in all her glory after so many years and while most of her is here. She's not all here :(.

Samsung White vs. Star Horn Royal Club: David vs Goliath Matchup

Now that the last semifinal match has wrapped up I'd like to take a moment to evaluate the World Championship final match up. I'll be going over team strengths and weaknesses as well as contested picks and bans.


Samsung White:

PROS
- They showed a dominating performance vs. sister team Samsung Blue. How much of that is actually Samsung White playing well or Samsung Blue not showing up is up for debate.
- Executes rotations extremely well. However, there is a noticeable patterned dip in decision making in the mid to late game. Sometimes Imp goes too ham and it costs them the game or mistimed teamfights extend the game longer than originally intended. Other times his haminess finds him great success.
-Securing small early game leads almost guarantees them wins. Especially 3-buffing the enemy team.


CONS
-When they fall behind early there tends to be a discrepancy in how well they can play. This was showcased in that STOMP game they dropped to TSM.
-When they lack vision they can be out-rotated. Technically that flaw stands for every team. But, in Samsung White's case this is probably more of a problem as they rely on good vision control to catch one person out then out rotate their opponents after a pick.
-Predictable tendencies. Over the course of the World's games, Samsung White has shown a predictable pattern when gunning for neutral objectives like Dragon or Baron.


Star Horn Royal Club:

PROS
-Extremely good at capitilizing on picks and teamfights and has un-curtailed aggression.
-Extremely good at finding favorable Baron fights even when behind. This team capatilizes on mistaken Baron calls better than any other team.
-Uzi can carry the game.

CONS
-If Uzi falls behind the whole team's effectiveness becomes dwindled.
-Corn has been rather lackluster and against PawN whose champion pool is deep and mechanically adept. It'll be a toughlane to hold on to.
-If inSec fails to make an impact early the hyper aggression he's used to using often backfires on him seen in multiple games vs OMG and EDG.
-subpar rotations and likes to look for teamfights even when behind. This team's best asset is also its worst. Sure they can make plays from behind, but trying to consistently make play after play while behind is extremely difficult and often bites them in the butt.



Contested Picks

Ryze- This has been a generally solid pick all around. Both Cola and Looper have performed well on this champion over the course of World's and is an overall strong scaling pick. This will likely be a pick for contention

Janna/Thresh- I've lumped them together simply because if one of them is picked up the likeliness of the other is being picked jumps substantially. Yeah there were games where that wasn't case but they stand to be the fewer and farther between. Both of these picks bring great teamfight potential and are generally all around good supports.

Rengar- we haven't seen a lot of inSec on Rengar, but Dandy has been picking it up and the games we did see inSec on were impressive ones. This will likely be a contested pick for either jungler leaning more heavily in Dandy's favor. I predict SHRC banning Rengar at least once or twice.

Lee Sin- when you have a champion play named after you, you know it'll be a contested pick. Both junglers have shown proficiency on this champion. However, during most of World's inSec's Lee Sin play has been fairly lackluster. However, if they wanna shutdown mid lane synergy and scary ganks SHRC will likely ban this.

Jayce- I originally wasn't going to include Jayce in this since PawN has really been the only user of him. But, after Cool pulled out Jayce to great effectiveness against SHRC in the semifinals, this became a contested pick. SHRC has shown weakness to well played poke comps and out rotation. PawN is significantly better at playing Jayce than Cool. Expect to see Jayce banned at least one game.

Rumble- this top lane menace has shown himself once again and proven that midgame effectiveness outweighs late game scaling. Looper has shown proficiency on Rumble in one game which is technically hard to quantify as data. However, the impact he provided that game was second to none so. If SHRC chooses Maokai top this is a likely counter to it and vice versa.

Twitch- Both teams' ADCs have favored this champion heavily. Both Uzi and Imp have single-handily carried games with Twitch. The assassination and catch potential on this champion is extremely high and favors teams that use teamfight comps or can out rotate their opponents after a pick. Both teams can do this and therefore this will be a fought over champion.

Lucian- the power this champion brings to the table is amazing. There's a good scaling curve on him and he doesn't have any particularly weak phases in the game. He will fall off toward the end game vs say a Tristana. However, it's not nearly as bad as some other ADC picks.

Series Prediction:

Samsung White 3-1  70/30 in favor of SSW.

Honestly Samsung White just look much stronger and more stable. In my opinion if OMG hadn't dropped the ball in the last game in the Bo5, they would have stood a better chance since they rotate better and can curtail their aggression when need be. SHRC plays poorly when behind and SSW is extremely good at catching early game mistakes. SHRC does have a chance to take 1 or more games off of SSW, but, the only way that will happen is if SSW start to get overconfident and play sloppy.

Super Smash Review: If it Ain't Broke Don't Fix It

This needs to be Nintendo's slogan or something because that's been their attitude toward most of their main titles in the last few years. Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS certainly doesn't break Nintendo's latest streak.

Story: N/A this category isn't really available. I can't really judge what wasn't there from the very first installment. Nintendo never meant for this game to focus at all on story and I don't penalize them for it. The mish mash of characters wouldn't result in any cohesive, interesting story.  Sometimes less is better.

Story receives a 0/0

Gameplay:

Where the bulk of this review will focus. Super Smash Bros. 3DS is as fantastic as its wonky predecessors. The combat is silky smooth and while I suck at using circle pads, for most people this won't be a problem; especially for those gamers who are familiar with playing other fighting games on Playstation consoles.

Final smashes for the most part haven't changed and the game has been fine tuned from the last entry in the series. Most fighters have the same memorable move sets as in the previous title. The meta has shifted and certain fighters have received buffs and nerfs accordingly. I think changes have been made to the amount of damage taken before fighters can be knocked off. It certainly feels easier in this installment, making this version pace much faster. But, my judgement may be skewed since the last Super Smash game I owned was for the N64.

Modes: Surprisingly numerous and challenging. Target Blast, Home Run, 100 Man Smash all pretty classic stuff from the last title. Making the normal story grind less mind numbing. Labyrinth mode is pretty tough and I'm still confused about the intricacies of it.

Online: This mode is really for the hardcore or if you're a glutton for punishment. I have been emasculated several times already trying to compete in online mode. The competition is seriously tough as with all other arcade fighters. There's some noticeable lag in games I have played, with occasional network issues. I'm not sure if this is due to the processing power of the 3DS or just the severely outdated Nintendo network play.

Still the local 4 player smash is still very fun and in tune with the oldest title. I fondly remember all the neighborhood parties/play dates I'd host with friends to play "Smash." The fact that I'm now able to enjoy this local 4 player without having to lug around a console is seriously fantastic. Like the commercial slogan: "SETTLE IT IN SMASH"

Gameplay/Online receives a 9/10

Graphics: About what you'd expect from a Nintendo game. It's certainly not pure HD, but extremely well polished nevertheless. The battle FX are really crisp and well designed. The characters look good up close. I give credit to the design team for making really beautiful maps and giving us an innovative tool necessary for the handheld platform. That is character outlines. Given the screen size of even the largest, 3DS XL, it was absolutely brilliant to give us an easier way to track characters on the map. Especially with how chaotic 4 person smash can get.

I will say that this game definitely needs to be played on the XL handheld. I have the standard 3DS and not only is it uncomfortably small and difficult to wrap my hands around. But, the smaller screen size means when fighters are on opposite sides of the map they become incredibly small.

Graphics receive a 9/10.

Sound: Pretty fantastic. The soundtrack system is ingenious since it allows you to freely access the  beautiful, memorable scores from each of the separate titles the characters come from. Character voices and sound FX are on target and wonderfully done. Sound can get drowned out from the fighting due to the hardware limitations of the 3DS, but it is forgivable.

Sound receives a 9/10.

Is there a reason not to get Super Smash for 3DS? I can only think of a few, REALLY don't want a 3DS, have no money, suck at fighting games. Even if you're not hardcore this is just a fantastically fun game. Totally worth the 40$.

Final score: 9/10.

League of Legends: NA's chances at being Champions

What an amazing weekend this was, the battles on the rift were so crazy I'm still utterly speechless.

 

Writing once again from the land of apple pie and freedom, I'm bringing you an end of the week wrap up and some thoughts about both NA's chances at Worlds.

Group A (Samsung White, Edward Gaming, AHQ, Dark Passage).
Group B (TSM, Star Horn Royal Club, Taipei Assassins, SK Gaming).
Group C (Samsung Blue, OMG, Fnatic, LMQ).
Group D (Alliance, Cloud9, Najin White Shield, Kabum Gaming).

The eternal question of which region is better NA or EU I think has been solved during the most recent World's Group Stages. Both NA hopefuls have made it out of group stages while EU's respective No.1 and No.2 seeds have both been knocked out.

Quick Roundup

 Rounding out this week, In Group C Samsung Blue showed exactly how dominant Koreans are only dropping one game to Fnatic. Similarly OMG starting off the week 0-2 showed exactly how much determination and some quick fixes can go a long way in securing the second spot in Group C.

In Group D Najin White Shield limped through to secure first, dropping a PERFECT game to EU's Alliance and one to NA's Cloud 9. Cloud 9's week has been tough overall but they secured the second spot by beating Najin White Shield once and losing in the tiebreaker for first.

What are TSM and C9's chances at worlds?

Both, rather slim unfortunately. I'd hate to say it but Cloud 9 looked really bad in the group stages. Yeah they came out ahead and even beat Najin White Shield, but, to be honest Hai dropped a lot of stupid kills in every game and Meteos's jungle pathing has been lackluster if not predictable. I understand that Hai is C9's only shot caller but if the midlaner can't perform then Dade will surely overtake him. Balls should be able to trade evenly with Acorn, but, post lane phase Acorn seems to currently have more of an impact in teamfights. When Balls falls behind though he can't seem to recover so that may be another thing C9 has to watch out for. If they don't fix these issues I envision a tough time against Korean powerhouse Samsung Blue.

What Cloud 9 need to do if they desire to survive:

• Sneaky needs to focus on playing more aggressively we've seen him get bullied out lane and lose plenty of trades in the laning phase, resulting in lower CS. This really shouldn't happen as LemonNation has really been stepping up and delivering some key aggression on to the enemy carry. There may also need to be some champion pool expansion as the most promising games he's played has been on Corki and Lucian. Both of which tend to fall off toward the end game compared to champions like Tristana; his one Tristana game was also really lackluster.
• Meteos needs to diversify his jungle pathing and become more efficient. I've seen him waste a lot of time deciding which lane to put pressure on or get caught in predictable jungle pathing. He'll also need to step up his lane presence as the meta continues to shift away from him being able to farm.
• Hai needs to clean up his post laning phase. He's usually able to keep even during lane phase. Throughout the games played in group stages, he has been making some really uncharacteristic roams and dives post laning phase. Some of which you'd ask why even try? This has put his team farther behind when they're already losing. In tow with Sneaky, Hai may need to expand his champion pool as he's been target banned a few times. Majority of his best performances has been on Zed, but, against Koreans, they may not let him have it.
• LemonNation had some issues with positioning in laning otherwise he's doing well. If he can fix his laning issues and trade more efficiently they have a better shot. Improving
• Balls has been doing consistently throughout he'll need to get some more Korean Solo-Q time though as he has been prone to early ganks and once he loses lane Balls becomes rather irrelevant going forward. 

If you haven't read the article on TSM I've included the link here. Pretty much all of what has been said holds true. Comparing the two teams, C9 has played stronger opponents but performed poorer. While on the flip side TSM has played no Korean teams, but, has performed better. It's tough to say if the Korean team really made a difference as NJWS has looked about as strong as SHRC if only marginally stronger. Bjergsen has also made less potential game losing errors than Hai. While TSM's problems may seem more serious, I feel like they have a better shot, as Hai has really been under-performing on everything but Zed. As their main shot caller and midlaner this is definitely going to impact their upcoming games.

IF C9 fix all their issues and play perfectly. If Dade and Deft don't show up like they did against Fnatic then C9 has a 40-60 shot at making it out of quarterfinals.

Included below are videos of all of C9's games.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Tiebreaker