Knowing When to Quit

Recently I finished playing Mario and Luigi: Dream Team. It was relatively enjoyable throughout the entirety of my playthrough, and though it did drag near the end, it wasn’t too bad.

Until, that is, I reached the final boss.

I won’t spoil who or what it is, but I can tell you it was a massive pain in my behind. Note to game developers everywhere – do not give your final boss the ability to regenerate more health than you have time to counter against. At least, don’t do that if you actually want your players to enjoy the final battle without feeling cheated.

In any case, I tried defeating the boss three times, to no avail. After a few minutes of deliberation, I did what many gamers would deem unthinkable:

I set the game to easy mode.

And then I beat the final boss in one hit.

I know what a lot of people may be thinking: didn’t you feel cheated? You had to rig the game to finish it! And the answer is: honestly, not really. I experienced every attack the final boss had thrown at me before I had switched to Easy Mode. At a certain point I was just going through the same motions over and over again, hoping I’d get lucky and win. More importantly, I wasn’t enjoying myself anymore. I play games for fun, not for the competition, or even for the challenge, minus the odd Platinum game here or there. It’s why I avoid Online Shooters, or games like League of Legend or Starcraft.

That being said, I feel that if I’m not enjoying myself, then I shouldn’t be putting myself through the pain of that experience. I have precious little time for gaming, and I’d rather not spend it banging my head against an unbeatable obstacle. If that ends up being the case, I’ll either try and figure out how to bypass it, or leave the game entirely. As I said, there are exceptions to this rule – Bayonetta and Persona Q come to mind – but if the difficulty feels artificial, then I’m not going to waste time on it.

Fun anecdote: Another experience that reminds me of this is when my sister and I were playing Tales of Xillia. We were up against a boss, and simply could not defeat it. So we devised a trick where we let our characters be played by the CPU. Because the CPU was inhumanely fast in terms of reaction time, it easily decimated the boss, knowing exactly when to defend, attack, and heal. That done, we were able to move on and continue playing – though, not for long, because honestly Xillia sucked.

So, readers: when do you realize it’s finally time to quit? This could be within the context of gaming, or outside it. Let me know in the comments below!

Now Playing – Bayonetta 2

Bayonetta 2 is the best game I’ve played all year.

No game I’ve played this year has done as good of a job at hooking its claws into me from the get-go, and not letting go until it was over. And very few games have me dive right back into them after the credits roll.

This is because Bayonetta 2 has two things going for it in that regard: Perfect gameplay mechanics, and the incentive to get higher scores.

I am not exaggerating when I say that Bayonetta 2 has perfect gameplay mechanics, either — the game feels flawless in terms of control. It’s easy to move the titular witch around the battlefield, attacking enemies with strings of combos that can be dodge-canceled with a press of a button. There’s no delay, nary a hint of input-lag — controlling the game feels like a dream. And the crux of the combat — Witch-Time, a move that slows down time to dish out combos after a perfectly-timed dodge — is the most satisfying feeling I’ve had playing a game in a long time.

Then you can couple that with the fact that the game has an extensive system that keeps track of your stats — including combos, how fast you defeat foes, and how much damage you take and avoid — then provides a medal based on your performance — from lack of one (because you suck that hard), to the coveted PURE PLATINUM! Even before I had completed the story for the first time, I was going back to previous stages trying to perfect my score. Normally, I’m not even the type to indulge in that sort of thing. But Bayonetta 2 is so garsh-darn fun to play that playing the same stages repeatedly never got stale.

Another sweet aspect of B2 that I couldn’t help but appreciate throughout the entirety of the game was its color-coded nature. Where Bayonetta 1 is bathed in hues of crimson red, the entirety of Bayonetta 2 is submerged in a sapphire blue. Everything from Bayonetta’s new outfit, to the Venice-inspired local the game takes place in, all the way to the heroine’s quadruple pistols, carry this motif. This attention to detail that can be found in every aspect of the game is something I’ve come to appreciate from Platinum Games. The subtle call-backs to other games, the unique play-styles that come from unlockable characters, the easter eggs, the costumes — if I could describe Bayonetta 2 in one word, it would be polished.

This probably seems like flat-out gushing, and that’s because it is. There’s very little I can find to complain about Bayonetta 2. Sure, the last boss was a little more anti-climactic than the previous game’s. But the cranked-up-to-11 feel, the toned-down sex appeal, the solid, much clearer story in comparison to the first game, and all the content available even after you beat the game’s story, blend together to make a Character-Based Action-Game that rekindled my love for videogames once again. The Wii U has a hit on its hands here, and I hope it sells dramatically so that I may get my Green-tinted Bayonetta 3.

Seriously. Pick this game up. You won’t be disappointed.