Having a Personal Ending

What prompted this post was an announcement that Starbreeze/Overkill is beginning work on new content for Payday 2 again, as part of a desperate attempt to milk their lone cash cow even further to try and bide time for Payday 3 development. (It’s probably the least bad thing to do, but that’s another story)

Now that game, in its weird plot progression from story-less homage to classic heist movies to ridiculous tie-ins to what could have been a Jon Land novel just ended well. Having some sort of follow-on just seems like disrupting a good moment. Though I’m waiting until I see the content before I pass judgement on it specifically, I can feel comfortable saying that in my personal canon, the saga ends with confronting an evil dentist next to an alien MacGuffin in a cave underneath the White House.

And well, it’s not the only one where I’ve felt like I’ve had a stronger “personal ending”. There’s another, far more famous setting that I have a personal ending for, and, unlike Payday’s, it wasn’t originally planned as the official conclusion. That would be Jack Ryan. For all its other faults, The Sum Of All Fears is a near-perfect conclusion to the saga of Jack Ryan, Cold Warrior. And finally, I haven’t had much interest in the recent revival of the Survivalist series. I might check them out, but as far as I’m concerned, the story of John Rourke ended in Death Watch (if not the ninth/tenth book, a more ideal stopping point).

An area where I didn’t have a personal ending comes from the Blaine McCracken novels, mostly just because how disappointing the last-for-a-while installment, Dead Simple, was. I also don’t have them in many settings that are inherently open-ended.

But some settings/franchises/series just have a moment that seems so appropriate that I can’t help but go “That’s where it deserved to end.”

Fire Emblem Three Houses Released

So, Fire Emblem Three Houses is now officially released for the Nintendo Switch.

What I’ve seen of it has been very good, I love the art-style, and from what I’ve heard, a lot of my biggest fears have been overtaken [without spoiling anything]. It feels like Intelligent Systems has been using the series new tent-pole status and the success of Heroes as a way to move outwards a little, not as a way to stay huddled on the track like some other successful franchises.

Plus, there’s a bit of guilty pleasure. I’d previously made the goofy thought exercise of “what if I stuffed the entire playable cast of every previous Fire Emblem game into a modern military battalion?” And now, guess what? There’s a “battalion system” to reinforce your fighters. Not since I anticipated “The Dentist” as being important to the Payday 2 plot have I been vindicated in such a fashion.

Outgrowing a game

I think I’ve outgrown Payday 2. I don’t regret the time and money spent on it-it was very fun and worked very well. But now with the story (such as it is) concluded, all I’m left with is, when I try to go back to it, I just find a mindless wave fighter in a clunky, badly optimized engine that I was losing some interest in before (for the last few updates I would return to the game for a bit, play them, and then go back).

I had fun with it, but I think I’ve played out my time in Payday 2. I’ll remember doing the classics like Hoxton Breakout and Big Bank, maybe being the only person who unironically liked Henry’s Rock, and just running the easy early heists again and again for relaxation. But now it’s done.

The End of Payday 2

So, Payday 2 got its official end.

I only got the bad/non-Secret ending myself, and am nowhere near as good a player to get the good/Secret Revealed ending. While the game turning into a ridiculous wannabe-Assassin’s Creed mish-mash of every conspiracy ever might seem bad in isolation, in context it worked as well as it could have and showed how a little earnestness can go a very long way.

I feel bittersweet. I’ve been playing Payday 2 for a very long time. It’s (a distant) second only to Command: Modern Air Naval Operations, my dream game, in terms of actual time played. I remember playing it on a computer that could barely run it at all, and then seeing the contrast when I got a better system. It’s definitely one of the most mainstream games I’ve played and enjoyed. And the music-the music is incredible.

 

My Fantasy Smash List

So, I have this conspiracy that Nintendo is stacking the Smash Ultimate roster with past characters because it knows that the “fans” will be impossible to please, so it might as well go for safe nostalgic bets. (Besides, this is the best Metal Gear game in a while).

So, what are my unlikely choices for Smash Ultimate? First, and foremost, more than any character.

DOOMGUY (Doom). Rip and tear those huge guts! Not only has Doom been ported to the Switch, it’s a huge part of gaming history, and Doomguy can be a strong character in his own right. Yes, a gory M-rated game doesn’t quite gel with the cartoony Smash-but you could say the same about Snake. In-game, he would be a Bowser-style tank.

From there, a big drop.

_ _ _ _ _  _

FRISK (Undertale). Yes, on the exact opposite end of Doomguy is someone whose gimmick is that they don’t fight. Still, with the Earthbound/Mother characters in Smash, I figure you could do worse than make a character in a mega-homage. Frisk would use the stick and be fast but “heavy” with great recovery (to symbolize their determination).

HECTOR (Fire Emblem 7). Hector would be another tank-brawler with his mammoth axe and “Hector-copter“-based recover. What can I say, I liked the game and Smash could use more axe characters.

LILINA (Fire Emblem 6). Ok, this is getting out of hand. Oh well. Lilina, Hector’s daughter, can work as a light projectile-spammer.

DALLAS/JOY (Payday). Now for the true limiter. Dallas (with Switch-debuter Joy as an echo), can take to Smash based only on appearing in a Switch port that was, from what I’ve heard even more of an afterthought than the other console ports. Ironically, I’m imagining them being loaded with the oddball weapons and playing more like Link than Fox or Snake. Their recovery would feature them using the skyhook balloon from Green Bridge.

There’s my oddball Smash characters for you.

Payday 2 Spring Break 2018 Reflections

And, it’s done. So, my thoughts on this Payday 2 event:

• Story elements. I’ll talk about those below, so those who care about spoilers aren’t spoiled right away.
• And Joy for the time being remains stuck in Consoleland.
• Likewise, the fandom’s dream, No Mercy, remains elusively out of reach. (I personally don’t see the hubub, and want an official remix of the heist track more than the mission itself)
• The game has slowed down definitely, development wise. Not unexpected, but you can’t have it all. Thus if this is the worst Overkill can do (they have a reputation for messing up events in some fashion or another), it’s not bad at all. At least they’re updating at all.
• A stealth heist was the first delivery. My thought was going to be “And the next is either going to be No Mercy or some new one thrown together with mostly existing assets that will be bland like Alaskan Deal.” I was half-right. It was a new heist thrown together with mostly existing assets that was awesome.
• Now for the story part. Last chance for spoilers, if anyone cares.

 

 

So, it’s becoming this weird almost Assassin’s Creed story of boxes, aliens, and secret lairs. And yet, I didn’t mind at all. I liked it. Yes, it was ungrounded, but somehow the subject matter makes it work. I think there’s a big contrast between:

“Decipher ancient conspiracies and rob the equivalent of the warehouse from the end Raiders of the Lost Ark”

And:

“Have people in instantly outdated meme masks steal goats in a crossover with a deliberately buggy game.”

I had fun with it at any rate.

Payday 2 Spring Break 2018

The Payday 2 2018 Spring Break event has started.

They made a teaser website and released the first new heist. Unfortunately, it’s a stealth heist and I’m utterly terrible at stealth. Oh well.

Coiler’s Crazy Colosseum (Celtic Centered)

As it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I have this Celtic themed fanon fight.

Clover (Payday 2)

vs.

Holly Short (Artemis Fowl).

 

(I’m guessing Holly will win because of her superior technology and magic, but the Payday Gang have done so much crazy stuff that you can’t count Clover out.) They’re thematic contrasts as well, with Clover as a notorious criminal and Holly a policewoman.

Infamy 2 Reached

I’ve finally reached the second level of infamy in Payday 2 (which requires you to reach the level cap and then earn $200,000,000 per level). I love the game, but its high-level play isn’t really for me.

Why? There’s less room for error, both on your part and from the unreliable internet players who go alongside you.

On Trying to Not Be Spoiled

I’m trying not to be spoiled by blockbusters until I finally read/watch/play them. It’s harder than it seems, but I’ve managed it on more than one occasion. I got most of the way through Undertale without being spoiled, and my experience was all the better for it.

Though I have to admit there’s little middle ground with games for me. It’s either a bumbling blind playthrough or a robotic walkthrough.

Another one where I wasn’t spoiled before experiencing it was the name of the traitor in Payday 2′ Hoxton Revenge. Then again, I only had a <30 minute mission to sit through, not a long, detailed game.