MMO Gypsy

Palworld screenshots and Steam shenanigans

In a misbegotten move that can only be described as fixing things that ain’t broken, Steam changed the default for how it handles your personal screenshots this summer. Why is this, you ask? NOBODY knows but in any case there’s no longer a simple click on the “show on disk” button that used to sit under the screenshot gallery window for your games. Now instead a cloud gallery view opens up that won’t let you locate the file on disk because it’s gone. That’s right, even old screenshot galleries from my local Steam folder have simply disappeared. WELCOME TO THE CLOUD!

If you want your screenshots back on the hard disk, you now have to manually select them and “copy to clickboard” and erm…..yeah not gonna happen, Steam. Fortunately there IS a setting still that allows you to re-enable local screenshot saves, buried within the “In Game” Steam settings options. That won’t fix the issue for old screenshots but at least future ones. Once that is done, a right click on an individual image in the Steam cloud gallery will bring up the old “show on disk” option which is totally not a more complicated way of restoring the original function – but at least you don’t have to go search Steam’s cryptic game ID folders to find a specific gallery on your computer. Hooray.

A few Palworld snapshots

I recently hit level 25 on my solo-world in Palworld and am still enjoying the exploration, crafting and Pal catching a lot. The harmony and pacing between these different activities has been perfect for me so far; exploration is rewarding, crafting is not overly complicated and there’s new creatures to discover all the time. I can log on for just 30 minutes and do something useful or find the clock suddenly strike 2am with my Saturday night turned into monster mania. The adventuring feels very similar to Breath of the Wild while the crafting and frequent goofiness keep reminding me of Portal Knights. Two titles any game should be proud to be compared to. And while the graphics are nothing elaborate, Palworld still manages to wow with its wide vistas and the changes of daytime/light can occasionally create some unexpected magic.

Viewing distance is fabulous and so is the morning light.

The further along you go, biomes will become more elaborate.

I wouldn’t mind not looking over my character’s right shoulder nonstop.

It took some getting used to the third person view and I really wouldn’t mind a proper camera mode to hide my character. That said, nobody is playing Palworld for its wonderful graphics. It manages to create some sense of scale and grandeur while being highly scalable to any system specs, putting that Unreal engine to good use. For now, I am quite content with it!

Cancelling my FFXIV sub

I’ve not played FFXIV in quite some time, in fact not since before the last expansion concluded. There are still parts of the late Endwalker MSQ I haven’t touched which is also why I’ve abstained from getting Dawntrail this summer. I kept waiting for my feelings to change on this but they have not – looking ahead, all I want to play is more Palworld, Once Human and other titles from the backlog. I imagine this will keep me rather busy the coming months and as long as SE aren’t fundamentally changing their endgame formula that’s that. I’m just rather done with collecting tokens and tomes for more gear.

Naturally, this brings me to the conundrum of my player house. I’ve written about the torturous process of obtaining housing in FFXIV and how it took me 8 years to acquire a small abode. So far, it never bothered me that I was still paying for the FFXIV sub, which is 13 bucks per month, because supporting the game made sense. However as I spend more and more time away from it, I feel less inclined to do so and Bilbo’s words are ringing ever louder in my ears: “I feel I need a holiday, a very long holiday, as I have told you before. Probably a permanent holiday: I don’t expect I shall return. In fact, I don’t mean to.”

Maybe it’s just time to wave the game goodbye and deal with the inevitable regret of losing my ingame real estate. It seems rather silly and trivial as I write this but many of us understand the time investment and attachment that goes with player housing. And yet, everything in the end must go.

I will be cancelling my long standing FFXIV subscription this weekend. In a way this feels like a farewell to classic MMORPGs as FFXIV was the last subscription title I was still paying for. I will have to dwell on this momentous fact some more, methinks…part of me feels compelled to light a candle or something!

For the time being, an old buddy of mine who’s sharing ownership of the house is still playing the expansion and will keep the plot active. This is good. No email notification about its impending demolition will arrive for some time. Sooner or later however, that day will arrive.

Palworld: Casual fun collecting monsters

Whaddaya know, there I was feeling the gaming blues all summer until I ended up getting Palworld and Once Human this September and finding myself enjoying both for different reasons. The last two weekends were mostly dedicated to monster catching however which is why Once Human has to wait its turn for a personal review.

First of all, I did not intend to ever try out Palworld. I am not a Pokémon fan (which is how the game was advertized in some corners) and I had marginal knowledge beyond this before it was gifted to me by my longterm gaming buddy. I knew it’s open world survival crafting which I generally enjoy…until I don’t, which is the inevitable fate of this genre. Once your base is functional and expanded and chest inventory management becomes unbearable, I tend to lose interest unless there’s a reason to keep exploring and/or doing quests. Valheim does this pretty well but many titles really don’t.

About 25 hours and 20 levels into Palworld there’s an undeniable charm and gameplay variety that’s very engaging. Maybe it helps that I never played Pokémon so there’s not the constant ingame comparisons to Nintendo’s giant IP, over which they’re now currently suing Pocket Pair Inc. because apparently only Nintendo are allowed to use monster catching mechanics that involve throwing round balls. As far as I’m concerned the corporate bullies can suck the aforementioned but that’s neither here nor there.

An early Palworld review

Palworld starts the player off without much bravado; as you leave the familiar MMO cave, a wide open world awaits that is ripe for the exploring. It’s up to you where to head to first and where to set up camp, although venturing off into higher level areas early is not recommended. The map is vast and biomed in all the familiar ways. All across the world monsters of different levels, magical schools and random skills await to be conquered, some friendlier than others. Add outdoor bosses as well as dungeons and special instanced challenges to the mix, plus a linear quest progression to offer a sense of direction.

The crafting and leveling process are solid. New recipes and skills are unlocked through tech tiers that require different levels and resources. Some upgrades revolve around base building features while others improve your character’s gear or add special skills to pals. The workstations look fine – overall building and decorating are functional and simple without offering nearly the depth of Valheim or similar titles. If you’re looking for landscaping and detailed custom architecture, Palworld ain’t for you.

A large chunk of the game revolves around micromanaging the different pals you collect around the world and how they are put to optimal use in your homebase and combat. Creatures come with different schools of magic, innate skills as well as synergies and thus your quest for optimal outcomes beginneth. Gathering and crafting are mostly automated by way of putting suitable pals to work and overseeing their well-being. And yes, there’s a ton of cuteness involved as you watch your pals’ distinct animations and goofy behavior as they go about their daily tasks. Palworld is a cute game in a good way, it has a sense of humor about it. Naturally there’s also pal breeding and a process called ‘pal distillation’ which create longterm incentives for players to gather multiple pals of the same kind and hunt for special “lucky pals”. As I’ve only just started playing, I’ve no idea how important all of this will be further down the road.

Then there’s the exploration and combat part of the game which keep things varied. A degree of preparation is required before bigger excursions as you have to take food and other materials for yourself and up to 5 pals you’re allowed to bring along. The pals will aid you in combat and add other perks like riding, flying or scanning for dungeons to your journey. Besides hunger mechanics, there’s also gear decay and special gear for certain weather conditions – all your usual survival game fare. Catching new pals involves timing and throwing corresponding spheres of a certain level of which 3 different varieties exist so far. I’ve a feeling the dev team will keep adding more content in this regard. Traversal is made easier by things like different rideable pals as well as grappling hooks and a glider which you receive early on. There’s also fast travel by way of unlocking new areas.

The game is very vertical in places and it’s fun to climb up towers and mountains of which there are many. As you explore the map, you keep running into new pals, special collectibles and the odd dungeon or special encounter. If there’s one criticism I have right now, it’s that soundtrack is non-existent but that’s a personal thing. It’s weird to me how silent the game is when you’re out there looking for treasure. Otherwise I’m quite happy with the casual gameplay it offers and the flexibility of customizing your own world client side. Few things need improvement but nothing major enough to get on my nerves just yet. There’s multiplayer too of course which is slightly less ideal in terms of how progress is managed (for example tech unlocks aren’t shared) but it still feels very early days so I’m happy to go solo or join my friend on his server when we manage to coordinate. Let’s see if the game can keep our interest the next 20 levels.

Videogame Movie Adaptions

Back when the media landscape was simpler and videogames still young, aka the 80ies, gamers could only dream of movies or TV shows that were based on their favorite pastime. According to Wikipedia, the Super Mario Bros movie from 1993 was indeed the first foray into such territory which is not surprising given Nintendo’s market leadership at the time. I have vague memories of that title which range from initial excitement to recoiling in horror. Not a great start for videogame movies.

What followed were two decades of fairly terrible or just plain boring adaptions, with the odd watcheable flick like Tomb Raider in between. In fact, I don’t recall anything big until the much debated Warcraft movie by Duncan Jones came out in 2016. While not perfect, I enjoyed Warcraft; watching many of our beloved settings come to life on screen was fun. There were some great characters especially among the Orcs (Durotan, Orgrim, Gul’dan) and the CGI was fabulous. I also enjoyed the humor and lighter moments despite the grim plot. Medivh was silly and Garona poorly written, yet nothing I couldn’t forgive.

While Duncan Jones probably didn’t do himself any favors starting off a WoW trilogy with the Orcs origin story (personally I believe they should’ve focused on Lordareon and the Arthas arc), I was horribly disappointed to learn the sequels got canceled over US box office numbers. Warcraft did great globally and still ranks as the third highest grossing videogame movie of all time to date, making almost $440Mio on a $160Mio budget. I would have loved to see Thrall’s story continue but alas, it was not to be.

Despite all this, videogame adaptions have been going through a renaissance of late. Maybe this is due to cultural lag and videogames finally becoming mainstream in the western market, or maybe other successful movie franchises such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones paved the way for bigger overall investment in “all that geek stuff”. Whatever it is, it’s nice to see some videogame IPs finally getting proper screen treatment, with titles like the new Super Mario Bros from 2023 reaching an insane worldwide gross of $1.36Bn. Redemption, Nintendo!

I thought the new Mario movie was surprisingly okay, with the understanding that I am hardly its target audience. On a more personal note there have been some disappointments (looking at you, Witcher!) but also a few series I have thoroughly enjoyed:

Castlevania, minus season 3
Arcane, with an upcoming season 2 this November
Fallout, also see this post
The Last of Us, to be continued in 2025

It’s no surprise that animated series are doing well in this regard. There’s also a symptomatic absence of actual movies among my list, although I still intend to watch Sonic and Assasin’s Creed at some point. As for recent titles like the horribly rated Borderlands or upcoming Minecraft movie, they are a hard pass (maybe it’s Jack Black’s fault). I guess that just leaves me waiting for the other shows and whatever surprise the future may yet hold in store for us. Videogames aren’t going anywhere so I assume neither will the screen adaptions good or bad.

Soundtrack Spotlight: Delicious in Dungeon

Delicious in Dungeon is a quirky little show based on a Japanse manga series that’s currently streaming on Netflix. It’s a beautifully animated fantasy adventure / dungeon crawler with an initial party of four unlikely heroes, looking to slay a dragon and win treasure. As logistical difficulties arise, the journey turns into a foodie’s experiment in cooking and then eating the different monsters they encounter with varying outcomes. It’s an oddball for sure and as one reviewer has remarked manages “a balance of body horror and comedy”. After watching the first three episodes, I confess it’s not my cup of coffee but that doesn’t mean I can’t write about some of its greatest assets here: the soundtrack.

The complete 78-track long soundtrack was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Shunsuke Tsuchiya. Now, Yasunori Mitsuda needs no introductions at this point as most longterm gamers certainly know he is responsible for some of the greatest, most beloved and most covered videogame music in history. Many of my favorite JRPGs were made greater by his craft and his signature shines brightly through the music of Delicious in Dungeon. Shunsuke Tsuchiya too has been around for quite some time as a videogame composer.

It’s a delightful soundtrack full of classic fantasy themes, the mystery and the whimsy, the battle themes and the glorious victory. To genre fans it’s a warm blanket in a world of generic synth soundtrack that will soon succumb to the AI machine. You can find the full English playlist here (or with Japanese original titles), it’s deliciousss!

The Steam Wishlist: August Additions

Every other week or so I go through the Steam discovery queue out of curiosity if nothing else. The algorithm is more miss than hit the majority of the time, yet there have been those rare occasions over the years where Steam surprised me with a queue that seems almost entirely tailored to me. I don’t usually buy the games right away but they will end up on the Wishlist for lack of a better tracking method. This August has brought a few new games to my attention that have made the cut, so I might as well share them here.

As usual I am drawn to the smaller titles. According to the Steam info, Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is a “musical adventure about restoring harmony and balance to Moominvalley, protecting it from the industrious Park Keeper”. I’ve always been interested in video games that use music/-making as a gameplay feature, so this could be a fun game for me to try out sometime.

Everything about the premise of Thank Goodness You’re Here! sounds like it could be a great laugh. If the Steam reviews can be believed, it’s well worth the money even if it’s only about 3 hours of total playtime. They also assured me you don’t have to be an English lady or gentleman to get the humor, although that’s probably a plus. If you enjoy quirky indie games that are doing their own thing, this title could be interesting. It’s probably the safest bet out of the three for me.

I was on the fence about adding Once Human when it came up on the discovery queue. It’s not like I need yet another “open world survival crafter bla” but the game is free and multi-player, so I might have a go sometimes with the better half, for shits and giggles if nothing else. The reviews aren’t the greatest either, not that this is always a reliable indicator of how much I’ll enjoy a game.

So much for the month of August 2024 on Steam. I’ll be reporting back on these once I’ve played any or all of them.

Fantastic TV Dragons

Ever since House of the Dragon’s first season debuted on HBO/Sky, I have been diligently awaiting new episodes. The reason for this is not that I yearned for more Game of Thrones lore after the main series ended; in fact I was quite fed up with the lacklustre culmination of that show. No, if you’re a genre fan such as myself there are at least 17 good reasons (that we know of so far) to watch HOTD: a host of formidable, badass, epic dragons! Dragons such as we’ve never seen on screen before.

Dragons of many shapes and colors

It’s no secret that I am a dragon enthusiast; I have waxed lyrical on the fabled winged creatures on this blog before and talked about their significance to the classic fantasy genre. As abundant as dragons are in videogames especially, there are not as many great depictions of them in film to date. As someone who has watched most movies in existence that featured a dragon or dragons to any larger extent, I can say with confidence that most film makers have tried and failed at the task of not making a mockery of the subject matter.

Few exceptions naturally stand out, such as the Hobbit and Harry Potter (not counting animated movies). For older films with less CGI magicks at their disposal, we have the glorious Reign of Fire and Dragonslayer from 1981. And no, I did not like the dragon in Dragon Heart. That said, this is no commentary on the overall quality of these movies or the storytelling but strictly on how their dragons looked, felt and behaved.

Larry Elmore Art

When it comes to my personal preference, it’s the dragon aesthetic most widely populated by Dungeons & Dragons, notably by artists such as Larry Elmore, that ticks all the right boxes. Based on descriptions of western/medieval European mythology Elmore’s dragons are often horned with long necks and smaller, more snake-like (or reptilian) heads. The rest of the body is disproportionately larger and of course there’s the huge wings and fire/elemental-breathing ability which not all dragon mythos across the globe features equally.

It gets even better when storytellers allow their dragons to be more than just a scary endboss; when dragons have different personalities and features, different loyalties and personal intentions. This is where HOTD really shines. Not only does the show bring us a plethora of different dragons all at once, the dragons vary in size and looks as well as ability and character. They ally themselves seemingly at their own will (as viewers learn during the course of season 2) and they are distinct enough from one another that the internet has different HOTD fan clubs for different dragons. And yes, of course I too have a favorite one.

Then there are the dragon fights which are taking things to a whole other level. CGI or not, it’s a feat designing and animating credible fights between several flying dragons, all of which come with their unique fighting style and physiognomy. Based on the “A Dance with Dragons” material by G.R.R. Martin, I was excited for these particular scenes if not slightly apprehensive – but no need! Almost every new episode HOTD will show off its dragons in some way and it’s glorious every time. Season 2, including yesterday’s finale, has honestly been a bit of a snoozefest in many other regards but the dragons always deliver, so I am here for every minute of it!

FFXIV: Not feeling the Dawntrail

At the start of this month FFXIV released its fifth expansion Dawntrail. The expansion comes with all the usual trimmings in same old FFXIV fashion: new classes, race adjustments or additions, new continents, +10 level cap, more dungeons and raids and of course the continuation of the famed storyline. Down the line, there will be lots and lots of tomes and tokens to grind in exchange for gear and more gear – a system that literally hasn’t changed in ten years and remains the repetetive endgame at the core of Eorzea.

Meanwhile SE have continuously increased the optional content (bloat) around it to a point where I have long lost sight of all the extra features and “games within the game” that make FFXIV rather overwhelming at times. Wanna dive into the various solo and deep dungeons of the game and relive some of that 8bit era nostalgia? Race chocobos and become lord of the Gold Saucer? Win every Triple Triad card game? Return to the old FFXI experience and grind your way through Eureka? Obtain a guild house and build a submarine? Level blue mage? Gain access to Diadem and become a master gatherer and crafter? Build up your personal island sanctuary? Obtain the different relic weapons? Pwn at PVP? The list goes on, completionists talk to your therapist first!

Why I’m not playing right now

To say that I’m not feeling the game right now would be an understatement. I haven’t bought the expansion as I’ve yet to finish the MSQ for Endwalker and I’m likely going to wait for a sale. Reading through the official expansion featurettte nothing strikes my fancy, it’s just a lot more of the same in abundance. Maybe my enthusiasm really ended with beating FFXIV’s unofficial endboss: the housing lottery.

For a moment I thought that leveling one of the new classes might bring me back; ranged magical DPS are usually my thing and the Pictomancer sounded fun in theory. But of course it isn’t – like everything in FFXIV nowadays, from three-page raid boss strategies to 100+ steps relic weapon guides, the newer the class the more nauseating the class mechanics and rotations. A quick look at a guide for dummies just told me two things: I don’t think I want to play a class with animations straight from Kingdom Hearts and I really cba to read 28-lines worth of infotext for a single spell. Much less do I care to commit all of it to memory. I am old – are you crazy?!

I really miss the days when MMOs were simpler. Maybe way down the line I can somehow rekindle my adventurer’s spirit and at least enjoy the new story quests and zone exploration in Dawntrail. Maybe the soundtrack is also worth listening to, that could be good.

Off to Alba for a Holiday Break

Alba, a Wildlife Adventure, is a rather peaceful indie game I have been playing some time ago and can recommend if you’re into taking photos and observing wildlife in videogames. This post however is not about that.

I’m off to Scotland for the next three weeks to celebrate the start of summer there. We’re taking the car, the doggo and some buddies and head up to the northern parts of Alba that we love so much. I’ll be back with pictures and more talk about gaming and general geekery in July. Crumpets, scones and pies here I come! See you soon.

Loch Eribol and Monty

The Steam Wishlist, Part 1: Unreleased Games

My Steam wishlist is a beast of many attractions. There are titles that at one time or other piqued a fleeting interest and for lack of a better tracking method, were added to the list. There are those games that I intend to buy at a later time when there’s a Steam sale going on. Games that sound like fun for maybe a few hours but don’t warrant the current price to me.

Then there are games that I absolutely intend to play because they tick all my preferred boxes, yet are too vast and time consuming at present for me to tackle. I see you, Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima. And lastly there are those games yet to be released, early access titles I won’t yet risk because been there done that, once burnt twice shy.

The unreleased Wish List

Bhagpuss recently shared a list of his wishlisted games that have not yet been released, which inspired me to start with the same category. It’s always fun to read what other bloggers are looking out for. Also, I’ve been wanting to purge my wishlist for a good while now, so a blog series on my Steam hopefuls is the perfect excuse to do so. What follows is my final list of unreleased games that have survived the cutting block for now. As you can see, indies are heavily dominating.

Outbound is a typical cosy indie adventure. The Wholesome Games curator on Steam has proven a personal goldmine for cute and casual indie titles in the past. Outbound looks interesting because it’s a spin on games like Raft but with an old Volkswagen camper. All will depend on how well executed and varied the features of this game will be; either it’s going to be a boring snoozefest or a small gem among adventure-with-crafting titles.

Everdeep Aurora looks nothing ingame like its cover thumbnail. It’s pushing an oldschool Atari Castlevania aesthetic, only with a cat. Every now and then I enjoy a puzzle platformer or metroidvania, so unless this turns out to be too difficult for me, it could end up in the library after checking reviews first.

Light No Fire looks immediately appealing to anyone who enjoys games like Valheim or Enshrouded. It’s your classic open world survival crafter with co-op. While Steam is loaded with games of said persuasion, I’m particularly interested in the ones that manage to overcome the voxel look and are set in a fantasy world. Light no Fire ticks off both boxes and adds dragon riding on top, so there’s a lot of potential here!

I Need Space looks like a potentially very fun and quirky puzzle adventure that’s doing its own thing. Surface impressions suggest Oxygen Not Included meets Starbound but it’s hard to say at this point, just watch the trailer.

Tiny Glade is one of the very few pre-release games that is an almost foregone conclusion for me. It looks fantastic and fits perfectly in my “zen builders” Steam collection together with Townscaper, Dorf Romantik or Cloud Gardens. I really look forward to trying it.

Mika and The Witch’s Mountain is essentially a game about delivering mail to some island townsfolk while riding a broomstick. I mean, how could I not be excited for something like this? It’s Kiki’s Delivery Service and recent titles I have enjoyed, such as Mail Time or A Short Hike, all in one. Pretty sure I will end up playing it!

Europa is a Zelda-esque looking exploration adventure that can go either way. If you enjoy games à la AER or Abzu, exploring old ruins and unearthing civilizations, Europa could be interesting. That is, if it manages to avoid boreout, as sometimes plagues this subgenre.

Silksong, the much awaited Hollow Knight sequel is put here for posterity if nothing else. The truth is, I have all but given up on this title and I doubt it will ever see the light of day. Announced five years ago, the devs went radio silent soon after and nobody really knows anything for sure anymore. It’s too bad, because Hollow Knight was a fantastic metroidvania in every aspect, a true indie rockstar and personal top 10 title.