The Comic Commish: The Previous Generation (Jul-Nov 2012)

So this is it, the very last The Previous Generation. Not quite the end of the Comic Commish, however. I have plans for this series next year, even though I'm no longer beholden to my very generous pal @omghisam for Giant Bomb memberships. I certainly appreciate the many months of fine premium content Giant Bomb has provided in that time.

As always, I have three new comics attached to lengthy discussions pertaining to three particularly excellent games that come out during a specific six month duration. I'll also revisit games from that period that I've previously made comics for, as well as a few more that will have to go without comic representations for the time being.

This twelfth and final entry to the Previous Generation concerns games released between July and November 18th 2012. November 18th is the US release date of the Nintendo Wii U and the official start of what is now the current generation of consoles. Though the duration is a month shorter than the usual length of time for this feature, there's no shortage of quality games to examine.

I'll Miss You Most of All, Scale Tool

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy was one of those rare cases like the original Super Smash Bros. where my interest was piqued the moment I heard the game's premise. An Ouendan-style rhythm game using Final Fantasy music and characters? Sign me up. That's pretty much my hypothetical video game equivalent of peanut butter and chocolate. Then, of course, that ever-present concern set in that Square-Enix would mess it up somehow, like they seem to with almost everything Final Fantasy-related these days, but once I heard that the developers behind the first two GCCX games were behind it, I was back on board again. What's unusual for me is that I don't generally buy into hype or even follow games with release dates months in advance because there's no telling how it will turn out until its ready to launch. At that point I might as well watch Giant Bomb's Quick Look on it (provided it isn't a JRPG...) and check a few reviews before mentally adding it to a list of games to get later once its dropped in price to something reasonable, and keep myself busy with the hundreds of other games I've been meaning to play. In complete opposition to my usual strategy, I was glued to any news about Theatrhythm -- from its early previews right up to its launch -- and then bought it shortly after release. I suppose I was pretty eager to try it out.

As for the actual quality of the game, it's pretty much what I was expecting, which is probably all the praise it needs. I don't much care for the little arrow sliders (especially the ones that change direction), or for some of the repetition with the Dark Notes, or for how long it takes to unlock the bonus characters, but everything else about it is quite excellent. The goofy paper doll puppet theater aesthetic is a great concept (see also: Puppeteer), I appreciate the way it frames the rhythm game as traditional Final Fantasy battles with all the heroes lined up on the right, and the music sounds as good as it's always done. Of course, it's missing Final Fantasy Mystic Quest's inexplicably amazing soundtrack, but then I hear the new Curtain Call sequel fixes that grievous error.

I've never been a huge fan of fighting games, generally sticking to single player fare that doesn't require hours of practice before you get good at it, and I've especially steered clear of the busy-looking output of Arc System Works. However, there are a few franchises that would be draw me to a frenetic fighter game spin-off, and Persona is one of them. Building on the dating-sim/dungeon-crawler Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, Persona 4 Arena creates a new story and re-imagines the entire cast (plus a few extras from predecessor Persona 3) as fighters with unique movesets and talents. ASW has also packed the game with more systems, buttons and gauges than even a F-16 fighter pilot could follow (or Drew with a .pdf), and it becomes very clear after perusing the tutorial lessons that the game might well take a lifetime to master completely.

All the same, ASW takes a somewhat self-deprecating step with its story mode, reducing the difficulty immensely to aid those who only want to watch the visual novel tales of each character as they pass through a new version of the TV world created by the broken psyche of a mysterious cyan-haired girl with a bizarre Brooklyn accent. The girl, usually referred to only as "Miss Student Council President", creates the sort of mysterious waif character most JRPG plots seem to shoehorn in somewhere. In spite of this, though, the game is not only excellently written but manages to nail each individual fighter's personality perfectly, giving them motivations congruous to their character and providing each with a satisfying narrative to follow. Though Souji (i.e. Charlie Tunoku) and the mystery heroine get the most exposition in their stories, there's bits and pieces of extra information and backstory sprinkled in each of the "less important" characters' stories, making them all essential to some extent. Likewise, the Persona 3 characters are brought in and integrated with the world of Persona 4 almost effortlessly, though it's a little weird to see them all grown up.

I can't really speak to the game as a competitive fighter. The basics are easy enough to pick up, and you'll never need to learn any more than the bare essentials to get through the story mode without a scratch. Rather, I can only speak to the game as a visual novel with the occasional action-y bit that continues the Persona 4 canon. In that regard, it's excellent, and makes me excited to see where the story goes next in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. If you love the characters and world of the Persona games and get by in fighters just fine by mashing the buttons until your fighter-obsessed friend gets so frustrated at your constant cheap victories that they demand you play something else, then Persona 4 Arena is definitely worth checking out.

The first mean trick that Hotline Miami pulls on its new players is making itself out to be a hyperactive, cocaine-fueled murder-a-thon. That is sorta the truth, insofar as the presentation is concerned, but the core gameplay is way more measured and tactical than it first appears. The player is provided with numerous options to clear out floors of buildings of its white-suited gangsters, but given how easy it is for these thugs to instantly kill the vulnerable protagonist, some consideration must be given to strategy. Speed is still very important, but more so is having a plan. Who to kill first? Go silent with a melee weapon or loud with a gun? Are there two goons in that room or three? Is that door actually hooked up to an explosive or am I just imagin-

Hotline Miami doesn't shy away from its ugliness. It's constantly asking questions about the player's behavior, even as the player has no other recourse but to play the game in the violent and sociopathic way it wants them to. The character portraits are hideous, the player's masks are disquieting (and possibly alive) and the gore is absurdly prominent. For as much as it's visually repugnant, though, it's aurally sublime in equal measure, with one of the best licensed soundtracks of smooth jams and pulse-quickening electro beats ever put to virtual murder simulatin'. It boils down its gameplay to as close to pure stimuli as possible, doing so as effectively as other twitch-based games like Geometry Wars and the Arcade classics before it, and manages to squeeze in a cynical sense of humor and a psychedelic Vice City aesthetic on top.

Revisited

Though I've gotten out of the habit of late, I used to portray any number of the video games I was playing into comic form each week. It's certainly been a running issue with the past few Comic Commishes that everything I had already played in any given period of time had already received a comic or two. No sense in just letting them lie in a folder somewhere, so here they are again.

Though Vigil Games couldn't continue the weirdly Todd McFarlane-esque angels versus demons narrative they had going, Darksiders II is a worthy if perhaps a little underwhelming cap to the series. The original Darksiders was prominent for being a grim character action game with some laughably familiar Legend of Zelda trappings (all War needed was a little fairy telling him where to go) that ended up being a lot more fun than most serious critics would dare to admit. Darksiders II carries on in that regard, though it was clear the series had some grand designs for how much bigger they wanted to go. Maps became more expansive and open, more worlds and settings were visited and there was several times more exposition going down as Vigil endeavored to thoroughly explore the apocalyptic multiverse they had created, with a distinct sense that all this extra backstory would lead up to something in the sequels. At the same time, these growing pains led to all sorts of unfortunate pacing issues and a lack of consistency, throwing the player into weirdly disconnected scenario after scenario in a game that was far longer than it needed to be. The addition of Diablo-style colored loot was an interesting but equally half-baked addition, as it became clear that certain "possessed" weapons capable of growth were the only ones worth bothering with. As I said, though, Darksiders II is a fine if an unfortunately unintended way to finish the series, and you'll certainly get your money's worth with the amount of content it packs in.

The Last Story was perhaps the most divisive game of the Operation Rainfall trio, but it's also one of my favorite Wii games of all time. Merging a typical Final Fantasy-ian plot (the developers Mistwalker were founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi) with third-person shooter gameplay isn't the most obvious combination, but it works surprisingly well. With the number of tactical options provided to the player, they can move the battle along as quickly or as slowly as they wish by pausing and considering their next move. The AI allies are fairly self-sufficient, but if they start getting knocked down with alarming frequency then it usually means that your intervention is required somewhere. Work around traps, aggro the bigger problems so that the rest of your team can take care of the weaklings and always, always try to keep tabs on the entire battlefield. Bosses especially are where the tactical side of things really shine, as you'll be telling everyone to back off while the boss is at its most dangerous or to attack in force once the enemy's vulnerable.

It's about as chaotic as real-time Final Fantasy is ever likely to get, but at the same time there's something fun about sorting through that chaos and figuring out the trick to every battle to emerge the victor. The plot's fine if a little too unremarkable and familiar, ditto for the characters and the general dungeon design, but like its Operation Rainfall peers Pandora's Tower and Xenoblade Chronicles it manages to squeeze the Wii for all the graphical power it can manage. The soundtrack by Uematsu is uniformly excellent as well, though that probably goes without saying.

Drowsy Puppies wasn't particularly remarkable as a run-of-the-mill open-world crime game beyond its uncommon setting of Hong Kong, but it was an amazingly polished product given its troubled development history. The gunplay, hand-to-hand combat and open world elements of Narcoleptic Mutts were all far superior to the most recent Grand Theft Auto and the Hong Kong crime movie story was wonderful as someone who has long been since a fan of the genre. There was also a certain knowingness to lead character Wei Shen's absurd bravado, and he felt like an amalgamation of classic HK movie heroes (usually played by Chow Yun Fat with his laidback charm) played with a huge dollop of self-awareness. It's a more subtle take on what Saints Row did, choosing to stay within the safe confines of Soporific Hounds' inspirational material rather than going completely off the rails. Lethargic Lassies also looks gorgeous: the rain-slick streets of Hong Kong and its mix of traditional Chinese buildings, slums and modern skyscrapers lends the city at least some small amount of the personality that its real-life counterpart has in spades.

Though, honestly, the best thing about Comatose Collies might simply be watching Vinny Caravella play it.

The result of a one-man development team, Dust: An Elysian Tail is perhaps one of the best SpaceWhippers to come out of the Indie scene for a very long time. The secret to its appeal, I think, is the amount of speed it gives the player, letting them either run circles around their foes or blast right past them to get to where they need to go. The swordplay rewards experimentation and combos, coupling magic with a twirling attack that scatters enemies around and lets you pick them off at your leisure. The game uses an overworld map system, making it somewhat easier to get around and backtrack for missing items, and while I don't care for its Disney-esque anthropomorphized animal character portraits, the rest of the graphics are impressive as hell, especially considering they all came from one dude. The writing's great too, especially for your ditzy companion fairy, as if it needed another thing to commend.

Borderlands 2 suffers somewhat by adhering to the worst habits of its predecessor (generally talking about its sense of humor, though it can be as samey and grindy as its forebear as well) but in all other respects is a much bigger and better product, adding many new systems like the Badass Rankings to find ways to wring even more euphoric pleasures out of the perpetual Skinner boxes that are loot-driven RPGs. Its super rare drops, its gambling for new weapons and eridium, its vast array of sidequests and its new class-based enhancement items all give players more to do as they shoot their way across Pandora and attempt to stop yet another enormous apocalyptic monster from being awoken, and then killing it once it inevitably does wake up. The game does itself no favors with its story and new characters, but it's clear Gearbox knew what they were doing when iterating on their flagship series. If only they knew what they were doing with all the other games they've been attached to.

Dishonored kind of fell flat with a lot of folk who were perhaps expecting something more involved with its stealth mechanics, but as someone who has no expectations whatsoever when it comes to stealth games (and first-person stealth games in particular), I loved it. I enjoyed its weirdly Moby Dick-ish steampunk setting, I really liked the otherworldly powers afforded to Corvo that made getting around and staying hidden so much easier and the flexibility with the stealth (inasmuch as I didn't instantly lose after getting spotted) in general. I super liked the BioShock level of kleptomania as you ran/blinked/blunk? around collecting everything for cash and upgrades too. Dishonored is about as good a first-person stealth game as you're likely to find in this era and it's also entirely novel, taking a rough template from Thief and going somewhere weird with it.

The miracle that Firaxis' XCOM reboot managed to pull off was that it appealed to both the extant fanbase of the very demanding X-COM series while appealing in turn to an entirely new crowd, presenting a game that stayed true to its roots while adding enough new features that both increased the player's options on the battlefield while also allowing enough leniency to not chase every newcomer off. The tactical combat especially is a lot more enjoyable, with defensive decisions like taking cover and spending a unit's turn to wait for an enemy to appear before firing that greatly increased the odds of everyone surviving. Likewise, the player's efforts to keep the world's governments happy is made easier with the launch of satellites and additional fire teams. The only issue is that each individual campaign takes so long, especially when the enemy ships start getting bigger, that one successful playthrough was enough for me. It's not hurting for longevity at least.

The Other Ones

As in, the ones that sadly won't be graced with MS Paint renditions this time. Still come highly recommended.

Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, PC/PS3/IOS, July '12): Mike Bithell's talking blocks game is a slow burner, but while it remains graphically simple throughout the puzzles get ever more devious and clever. Switching between what are essentially a bunch of colorful shapes with different personalities and abilities while a droll British man narrates their story might not make for the most engaging experience on paper, but the clever writing is enough to keep one going to the game's eventual conclusion, especially as characters fade in and out of the story. Equally engrossing are the aforementioned puzzles, of course, which are never too demanding on a player's reflexes or timing, instead depending largely on their perspicacity.

FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games, PC, September '12): FTL's one of those games you love to hate. It'll throw so many curveballs at you that it's often just enough to make it out of each encounter in one piece and with most of your crewmembers still breathing. Even the smartest player who knows which parts of the ship to upgrade and what weapons are ideal for an unstoppable battleship of doom can be blindsided by one of the game's many randomized events, brought down because they were saving up their resources in a risky gambit. While much of the FTL experience is selecting potentially fatal multiple choice decisions, not unlike Telltale's trademark Dilemmas of Doom, the strategic ship-to-ship combat is both a frenetic and deliberate game of cat and mouse, as players change target priorities for their lasers and get distracted by boarding parties and drones. For a game that can be so serene and thoughtful, it's also kind of relentless and brutally unfair. And once you reach the end and your plucky survivors hobble over the finishing line, they're simply thrown into the meat grinder as they face an opponent they cannot hope to overcome (unless they've been spectacularly lucky with the random events). A downer ending is always a brave decision by any fiction writer.

The Unfinished Swan (Giant Sparrow/SCE Santa Monica, PS3, October '12): The Unfinished Swan, true to its theme, is a game that can't quite capitalize on its many smart ideas, presenting short and interesting levels each with their own gimmicks and presentations, whether it's daubing an entirely white level in paint to make out where the borders and staircases are, or drawing shapes to walk on or growing vines to reach new areas of a stage. It's graphically minimalist, but this style generally works in its favor as it ensures the stage-by-stage mechanics remain both simple and filled with potential. There's a lot one can do with a blank canvas, after all. If a game's greatest fault is that the fun is over far too quickly, I have to say that's a darn sight better than one that overstays its welcome.

Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes (Daedalic Entertainment, PC, October '12): Harvey's New Eyes fizzles out somewhat after its first chapter, but that first chapter is perhaps the most darkly humorous Daedalic -- which generally puts out some very average adventure games -- has ever managed, as you systematically (though inadvertently) murder everyone within your convent school. That the protagonist Lilli has denial issues that prohibit her from seeing the carnage, allowing her to remain a cheerful and oblivious protagonist throughout, just adds to the... messedupitude (my spellchecker says that isn't a word, say it ain't so). When the game opens up a little and starts poking at the edges of Lilli's sanity with the various hypnotic behavioral blocks and a jaunt through the sanitarium that was the setting of the game's predecessor, it all starts to unravel a little bit. Still, it's a very strong opener and probably remains my favorite Daedalic game overall from what I've played of their ludography.

And that's it for the final Comic Commish: The Previous Generation! Thanks once again to @omghisam and the Giant Bomb crew for last year's membership and for making it so worthwhile, respectively! I'm going to go prepare for Octurbo now. Whoooole lotta Turbo-CD nonsense coming your way next month.