Caps' Corner - Entry 2: Undertale Review

[TheCapsFan]

Hey everyone! I've kind of wanted to start my own blog again for a while now and I could really use a creative outlet for a lot of my thoughts on entertainment and whatnot. This is kind of messy but I'll clean it up later, this post is only meant to be a placeholder for the title page.

I used to do a lot of one-off blogs here and there on the old blog tool back in the day, and experimented with blogging style posts a little bit in various social groups, but my blogs never had a theme going for them; this time I kind of want to keep the focus of this blog on entertainment - books, movies, TV shows, and the most prominent two forms that will be featured here: music and video games. And yknow if I feel like adding more personal life events, then I'll do that too!

I'll probably post my first entry in a little bit, either tomorrow or the day after, but I just wanted to create this thread so I could stop my draft for the night without losing it

 

[TheCapsFan]

Entry 1 - Video Game Reviews: Metroid Dread

I'll probably post my first entry in a little bit, either tomorrow or the day after,

Lol, what a funny joke.

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a good evening! Unfortunately, a lot of plans for my blog really fell through once I started my full-time job, on top of my responsibilities as a moderator here it's really fallen to the wayside. However, I've decided that I just have to get started and entries will come with time, even if I'm getting started with a different entry than what I had in mind.

For my first entry, I've decided to post a review of the most recent game I've finished, Metroid Dread. This is a copy-paste of a review I wrote on my Backloggd, but it didn't get too much traction there. However, I'm still pretty proud of it so I figured I'd put it here as well.

Some context before I get started: I wouldn't consider myself a diehard Metroid fan, though I do enjoy many of the games in the series. Prior to this year, I had actually never played a Metroid game from start to finish. In preparation for Dread, however, I made it a goal to play through each part of the Metroid saga before Dread (I played the official remakes for Metroid 1 and 2 instead of the originals), which I managed to do before the release date in early October. Note that this did not include playthroughs of the Prime games or Other M; only the 2D games in the series.

I also wanted to 100% Metroid Dread for this first playthrough, which took me just under 13 hours. Not too bad for a first 100% playthrough, but I had some trouble with a couple of the powerups, as well as the final boss, so there is definitely time to save. I plan on doing an Any% run of the game sometime soon, but am taking a break because I am a little burnt out on Metroid right now. Oh, and the review doesn't contain any spoilers, so don't be afraid about that.

With that out of the way, hope you enjoy my review! If you have any comments, opinions, or criticisms of my review or Metroid Dread as a whole, feel free to leave them in the replies. Thanks everyone!

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This is, without a doubt, the best 2D Metroid has ever been.

There is so much to love about Metroid Dread. As a newer Metroid fan who has yet to play through the Prime Trilogy, I don't have the emotional connection to the infamous Project Dread easter egg in the Prime games that longtime fans of the series have. However, I do know the history of the original Metroid Dread; the DS entry that was cancelled in 2007 because the technology couldn't meet the expectations of the developers. I can't speak for them, but I can hardly imagine a product that could stand up to legacy of the Dread name any better than this fantastic game.

The most important thing in any Metroid game is the game's atmosphere. Dread nails this in its simple setup for Samus' mission: the Galactic Federation has sent seven E.M.M.I units to Planet ZDR in response to a mysterious video of an X parasite, which was thought to be destroyed by Samus in her prior mission. When Samus gets to ZDR, she is immediately attacked by a mysterious Chozo antagonist: a simple exposition which challenges the player's preconceived notion of the birdlike people who developed the technology of her Power Suit. Upon further exploration, Samus comes across one of the E.M.M.I units, warped and reprogrammed in some way to target Samus with a murderous vengeance. The EMMIs not only serve as Samus' greatest threat in any of her adventures - one hit from these beasts sends you directly to a Game Over - but, shift the atmosphere to something far more terrifying than the player might initially expect.

Samus' mobility heightens the game's atmosphere in a really unique way. This is by far the best Samus has ever felt to control; each of her different powers are executed well in a control set that just feels perfect; even Shinesparking feels far better in Dread than it has in previous missions, though some aspects are still a little clunky. The Slide and Flash Shift feel like perfect additions to Samus' arsenal of tools, and other new inclusions like the Phantom Cloak add to a much more defensive-focused toolset for the protagonist. Because Samus feels so nice to control, it greatly increases the immersion factor, leading to an even better execution of the atmospheric choices of the developers.

Progression through exploration is another important part of the Metroid series, and once again Metroid Dread nails this element. Metroid Dread certainly feels a lot more linear than something like Super Metroid, but maintains a nice balance between the more open, exploratory style of Super and the far more linear style of Fusion. I never felt unintentionally lost while exploring Planet ZDR, despite how large the planet's areas felt at some points, which gave me the leisure to explore the planet as much as I wanted to. Dread rewards the player for their exploration with Missle Tank, Energy Tank, Power Bomb, and the new Piece of Heart-like Energy Parts. Some of these upgrades are satisfyingly difficult to collect, and require extreme precision with the Shinespark. Even though I still wish the game would be a little bit clearer on all of the possible ways the player can use the Shinespark, the feeling of satisfaction that you get when getting a particularly difficult upgrade more than makes up for your painstaking efforts.

Though Metroid games are not necessarily known for their storytelling, I think that Metroid Dread acts as a satisfying conclusion to the 2D saga. I won't spoil anything in this review, but I will say that the game does a good job keeping you engaged with the story throughout, and tosses in quite a few crazy plot twists to boot. If I had one thing to complain about with the story, it's that the game ends incredibly abruptly, which sort of takes away from the "wow" factor. Since this is the conclusion of what is essentially a 5-game long story, I would have liked to see maybe a few cutscenes or at least dialogue scenes to wrap things up after you defeat the final boss. However, Dread does a great job keeping everything engaging for the player that it is satisfying nonetheless.

If you're a fan of recent games like Hollow Knight or Bloodstained that have helped to modernize the Metroidvania genre, especially in the indie scene, give Dread a try. Even though it's the last game in a 35-year storyline, there is almost no better place to start your adventures with Samus. Metroid Dread has a few faults, but does far much more right, and is definitely my game of the year so far in 2021.

Final score: 9/10

 

[TheCapsFan]

Entry 2 - Video Game Reviews: Undertale

I wrote this review a couple months ago after playing through the game for the first time. I completed both the normal and pacifist routes before compiling this review. In total, the two routes took me about 6 hours to complete. I played the game on Nintendo Switch, 100% in docked mode.

As always, no spoilers, and if you have any comments, critiques, or opinions of your own, please feel free to leave them in the replies. Enjoy!

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When Toby Fox first put out a Kickstarter back in 2013 for a small RPG project inspired by EarthBound, there's no way he could have forseen the praise, reverence, and infamy that Undertale rose to throughout the latter half of the 2010s. After its release in 2015, however, Undertale became an instant indie classic, building upon and exceeding the popularity of previous titles in the same vein, such as Cave Story and Shovel Knight. Undertale has become a true rags-to-riches story in the years since, spawning a spinoff series, thousands and thousands of fanart pieces, music covers, lore theories, and even getting character representation in Smash Bros. Six years later, I finally managed to finish the game for the first time - and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

Undertale begins by recounting the violent history of a war between two species that populate its world - humans, and monsters. The humans won the war, and sealed the monsters underneath Mount Ebott, where a magical barrier prevented any monster from interacting with the humans back on the surface. Many years have passed since then, and it is here where the player character begins their journey - having climbed the mountain for an unknown reason, they, a human, trip and fall hundreds and hundreds of feet down into an endless pit, saved at the bottom by a patch of yellow flowers. They are found by Toriel, a female goat monster, who leads them through the Ruins - the place the monsters first set up camp at, after the humans drove them from the surface. After a short tutorial, the player is free to navigate the ruins on their own, to Toriel's disappointment, and thus the adventure begins to escape the Underground and return Home to the surface.

The first thing you will notice as soon as your adventure begins is that Undertale is full of witty, one-liner humor. Almost everything in the world is interact-able, and each interaction provides you with jokes, descriptions, and insight about the monsters' world and the larger narrative, in addition to items and gold that the player can use. Undertale encourages the player to explore each nook and cranny on every screen, despite the game's generally linear framework. Backtracking is also encouraged, as returning to prior locations may introduce new characters, events, and story elements. Fox's world design thus naturally helps give extra context to the world and the greater narratives that play throughout the story, without the player being forced to make any of those decisions.

The other feature of Undertale that the player will immediately notice is the ways in which the player's choices directly effect the narrative of the game. This provides accessibility for the player to truly play the game the way they want to - but more on that later. Different choices introduce different dialogue, story, interactions, and lore throughout the adventure, and even the smallest change in choices at the beginning of the game can affect the ending. Speaking of endings, it is no spoiler to most that Undertale has three primary endings: the Neutral route (accessed by playing the game normally), the True Pacifist route (accessed by sparing every enemy, amongst other conditions), and the Genocide route (accessed by killing each enemy). Each of these endings provide different experiences and different pieces of lore, but largely relate to the same overall theme that the game is going for (not going to spoil anything here!). Not only does this add extensive replay value, but it also introduces the player to much larger - and darker - connections throughout the world of Undertale.

The different ways that you can trigger each ending leads nicely into the gameplay and combat of Undertale. As said before, Undertale is largely inspired by the cult classic Earthbound, and is at its heart an RPG. The player character has classic RPG attributes - stats, EXP, LV, money, items, and a more intent focus on character interaction and development. Overworld navigation is done through small puzzles, which are quite barebones. However, the combat of the game blends multiple different elements from multiple different genres into a system that is simultaneously unique without feeling like it offers anything revolutionary. Undertale's enemy encounters offer the player with two different options to deal with the enemy: you can choose to FIGHT the enemy, which, after reduces the enemy's HP to 0, will net you EXP akin to a traditional RPG battle system, or, you can choose to ACT on the enemy, which gives the player a number of different prompts to choose from to interact with the enemy without fighting. Each enemy can be defeated using either strategy - thus, each enemy can be defeated without FIGHTing it at all. Once a certain amount of ACTions have been used, in a certain order, the player can choose to SPARE the enemy, indicated by the enemy name turning yellow.

The game encourages you to choose the latter option; however, this will not net the player any EXP or LV. This blend of puzzle solving and traditional RPG combat is clever, but not necessarily unique, and can feel lacking at times. Enemy attacks are essentially mini bullethell levels, with the player controlling a small heart (representing their SOUL) to avoid enemy attacks. Different bosses also introduce different variations of this combat based off other genres, such as rhythm, platforming, and shoot-em-up. Overall, the combat in Undertale is relatively basic at its core, but complex and interesting enough to keep the player engaged, paired with a nice difficulty curve that gradually increases throughout the run, but never feels impossible.

Undertale's visuals are relatively basic at their core as well, but boast beautiful SNES-era spritework, with incredibly unique character design. Few characters move in the world, which can lead to it feeling lifeless in areas, though this may be by design. The game boasts a neon-esque color pallate, with the bright colors of the monsters purposely giving contrast to the generally dark nature of the backgrounds and overworld. The world's character is greatly helped by the dialogue and overarching story narratives, which makes up for the static nature of the world. This is also assisted through the ways the game deals with backtracking. Unlike its visuals, however, the music creates a fantastic atmosphere - I loved the ways the music would build off common motifs the more and more the player explores a certain area (Hotland comes to mind, specifically). Undertale's artistic direction isn't anything super special, but it doesn't need to be - and, this simplicity also puts a greater emphasis on the narrative and story, which is where Fox's talents shine the most.

Overall, Undertale is an incredibly charming game, which, although it isn't revolutionary by any means, is definitely worth at least one playthrough. Fans of SNES-era titles and traditional RPGs should enjoy this one, whereas others might find enjoyment in the clever ways in which the game interacts with the player themselves, the humor, the music, or the characters. Although I think that the game as a whole is incredibly overhyped by its incessant fanbase, I firmly believe Undertale is a game that every gamer should experience in its entirety at least once. If you give it attention, explore past and including what the game leads you towards, and most importantly GO IN BLIND, I promise you're gonna have a good time.

Final score: 8/10