Weekly Gaming Blog · 5:10am Jun 24th, 2016
Welcome to my Gaming Blog!
This week's coverage: Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness, the Mega Man Mega Marathon, Project X Zone, and Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. I didn't manage to put in any time with Dragonball Xenoverse this week because I had a lot on my plate and most of my console gaming time was spent on Disgaea D2, but I'll get to that next week.
But before I get into this week's gaming, I'm going to take a minute to talk about what is presently the single greatest betrayal of gamers by a game developer:
The Mighty No. 9 Fiasco.
WARNING: Opinionated Rant Ahead
I don't know if there's precedent for crowdfunders filing a class-action lawsuit against a company/developer for misappropriation, fraud, failure to deliver as promised, and so forth. But the backers who crowdfunded Mighty No. 9 should absolutely sue Inaf(uc)king and Comcept. I'll leave it to Zef in the comments section to go into the details about what all went wrong on the business end of things here, because he's been following this drama a lot more closely than I have and is generally more insightful about these things. What I'm going to talk about is betrayal.
Watch this review of the game if you don't know what I'm talking about, or if you haven't seen any recent info on it.
When Inaf(uc)king started touting out the Mighty No. 9 project, a lot of fans of Mega Man were over the moon. I was excited about it and looking forward to it. I didn't keep up with the news about it beyond checking Wikipedia every six months to see if there was a release date, so I didn't know about all the problems with the development. I knew there were delays. I didn't know it was crowdfunded. I didn't know the art style had been changed two or three times during the production, moving it farther away from what was promised.
I didn't know all that until within the last three months.
Then that godawful train wreck of a trailer came out, and I was upset because something I thought was going to be a good game was going to be a piece of shit, and a lot of earnest fans who trusted Inaf(uc)king were let down.
This week, the game finally released. The reviewers got their copies over the weekend.
The reviews came in early, they came in hard, and they came in ugly.
And it's not even just the bad reviews and all the negative publicity from that piece of shit trailer. Since the release, a number of embarrassing, obvious-beta errors have cropped up:
Zef: And MN9 keeps getting better and better ;_;
Zef: In the "garbage fire" sense
Zef: Turns out that, for the female DLC character, they just did a global Search & Replace of "his" into "her"
Zef: Leading to dozens of "ther" and "herstory"
Zef: And every single WiiU player has had the game hard-crash the console at least once.
And then there's this:
And this:
Zef: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-23-mighty-no-9s-end-credits-are-nearly-four-hours-long
Zef: Mighty No. 9's end credits are an incredible three hours and 48 minutes long. This is because developer Comcept needed to thank all 71,493 backers who pledged at least $5 to the crowdfunded title.
YouTuber GameXplain posted a video of the entire credits run, which some are saying is longer than the game itself.
Moth: .......................
Zef: And to think of the days when I needed to set an hour aside if I wanted to fight Kefka and watch the whole credits.
Zef: Though, realistically, I only used half an hour.
Moth: Fuck a ducking nut
Zef: I hope backers at least got a number.
Zef: So they could beat the game, go watch a movie, have dinner, and then come back and see how close their number was to coming up.
Moth: You know
Moth: All of this taken into consideration?
Moth: This is easily going into the top five fails of video gaming
Moth: I'd say at this point, Mighty No. 9 has stolen the #2 Greatest Video Game Fails spot from Daikatana
Moth: Hell, it's making a serious case for beating the #1 all-time fail
Moth: The only thing keeping it from beating the #1 all-time fail is that the #1 all-time fail actually destroyed the video game industry
Shit like this ain't helping. This tweet from the official Sonic the Hedgehog twitter sums it up nicely.
I wouldn't touch this game now if it was a PS+ freebie. I am embarrassed and ashamed for everyone who wasted their money backing this turd. I am furious at Inaf(uc)king and his team for screwing their loyal fanbase.
I really hope the four people who pledged $10,000 each to the project for the "dinner and drinks with Inafune in Tokyo" reward throw up on him.
Because there was no excuse for this. There is no excuse, in 2016, to take money from a bunch of dedicated fans and turn out a game this fucking shitty.
Of course, we honestly should have expected this. After all, Inafune has let his legend and legacy go to his head to the point that he's completely forgotten he had absolutely fucking nothing to do with what actually made the Mega Man games great. He contributed illustrations and character designs, yes, and back in the day, his illustrations and designs were great.
But Inaf(uc)king is not the "father of Mega Man", and he should NEVER have taken it upon himself to try to clone Mega Man. And his piss-poor management of crowdfunding and project development...it's just sad, disgusting, and depressing. But then what do you expect from a guy whose ego is THIS out of control?!
As I said to Zef the other day:
Moth: In retrospect
Moth: I wonder if Capcom cancelling MML3 wasn't because of lack of confidence in the project
Moth: I wonder if it was because Capcom got sick of Inafucking's bullshit
Okay, rant over. Let's get back to games I've actually played this week.
Project X Zone
OK, as much whining as I did about this game last week? I decided to stick with it for the humor and fanservice.
This is a fanservice game in every sense of the word. 
The gameplay is lacking, but it's not without its charms...even if I have no idea who most of the characters are.
I'm gonna be honest here: This is the kind of game that is absolutely more appealing to some gamers than it is to others. Out of all the games/franchises this game draws characters from, I've personally played...six. All on the Capcom side. I've never played Tekken or Virtua Fighter or any of the Tales games or Devil May Cry or Dead Rising or Sakura Taisen or Xenosaga or anything from the Namco and Sega side of things here. So...right out of the gate, the appeal factor of this game for me is decreased massively because I simply don't even know who most of these characters are.
Also...I'm sorry, but the actual gameplay? Is unbelievably repetitive. 
But holy crap does the profile portrait artist for this game love to draw fanservice. And there ARE some geek moments for me, like when Ken and Ryu first show up, and when Tron first shows up.
I was going to drop this, but when I checked into how long the game actually is, it seems like it's short enough that I can just power through and get what I can out of it. Besides, like I said, there's fanservice aplenty, plus some of the character interactions and funny moments are at least something I can get out of it while I slog through.
The dialogue makes it worth it for gems like this:
Morrigan: "Ready to go in the out door."
Chun Li: "Long story short, we went from Roppongi to Colorado and back to Shibuya."
Xiaomu: "Welcome to Warp Zone, huh?"
Also, a thought occurs: Playing this might put some games on my radar that weren't there before.
Mega Man Mega Marathon
Friday evening, I powered through Megaman 4. I...don't think I ever actually beat this one before. 
I mean, I know I beat Dr. Cossack when I was a kid, but...I'm not entirely sure I ever even GOT to Wily, let alone beat the game. Huh.
Wednesday evening, I conquered Megaman 5...which may actually be the first time I've ever played it. I barely remember anything about this one.
Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness
Played through the third story episode on Sunday afternoon. I have to say, the entire Krischevskoy Group are an...interesting sort, and I feel loathing for them for their methods.
Garungun is an even bigger Large Ham than Gordon was. 
I will admit to sometimes screwing up and doing really stupid things on an episode map, employing dumb strategies that get half my party killed and force me to restart the level. But then, part of playing an SRPG is screwing up and figuring out what doesn't work.
Current episode: Episode 4. DEAR GOD, EPISODE 4.
New recruits:
Sasuke (Genin) (weapon: spears)
Jiraiya (Genin) (weapon: fists)
Felicia (Nekomata)
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
(Plot spoilers for Ni no Kuni follow.)
Previously...
After many adventures in the Summerlands, Oliver and his companions, the sage's daughter and songstress Esther and the lowly thief Swaine, along with Drippy, Lord High Lord of the Faeries, are on their way to the continent of Autumnia to seek out one of the four Great Sages, who lives in the town of Hamelin. Waylaid at sea by Shadar, the Sea Cow succumbs to the Eye of the Storm and washes up on Teeheeti, the island of the Faeries...
In order to unclog her reproductive plumbing, Oliver and company need to go inside Drippy's mom, but in order to do that, they need to make her laugh. The problem is, the best faerie comics in the village are "broken-arted", which Drippy claims is totally different from being broken-hearted (it isn't).
(God, this entire part of the game is torture. All these godawful Welsh accents...)
Turns out there are a bunch of monsters inside the Faerie Queen, menacing the "littlies". After defeating them all and rounding up the dozen unborn faeries, Oliver's party heads for "the slide" which is the exit for all newborn faeries.
Oh. My God. This...this is seriously a thing that's happening.
To be continued...
meh idc good game bad game as long as it works
Aside from all the technical/delivery issues (crashing consoles, codes delivered for the wrong platform, glitches, search-and-replace failures) there's also plain ol' BAD design.
See this deathtrap?
Now look at this video. To avoid spoilers, fast-forward to 5:10, then to their second attempt at 5:55, then to their THIRD attempt at 7:05.
And yes, the "tip" about using the Crouch Dash came up AFTER the first deathtrap.
Mind, the Crouch Dash was one of the most popular complaints about the demo (and evidently, they took very little, if any, feedback into consideration). And this is the only place in the game where it's ever required.
4045466
I doubt you'd feel that way if you'd put in money on an investment and ended up getting shafted.
I can't do much gaming because of my horrible internet...
#FirstWorldProblems
4045592 You know there are games you can play that don't involve the Internet, right? Like...most of the games that have ever been made?
4045594
True... but in order to get the games I'd still need better internet.
I bought MW3 just a few weeks ago, as in the disc's, and in order to even finish it I had to go to a McDonalds to hijack their internet!
I was desperate.
But, I should live. I got FIMFiction to tide me in, and I occasionally game with the short amount of games I can.
I observed elsewhere that Mighty No. 9 could be thought of as Keiji Inafune's Daikatana; I mean, who's going to trust him after this?
4045546 true that would set me off
4045601
I'm talking about things other than FPSes. 
You know, like platformers, RPGs, action games, and so forth and so on? There's a whole entire world of gaming out there that isn't first-person shooters and doesn't require the Internet.
4045466 Do you buy your own video games, with your own money? Because a comment like that makes it sound to me like you don't, so you don't care about that. Most people do.
Actually, your comment is perplexing in general. "As long as it works"? What is that even supposed to mean in this context? In the first place, Mighty No. 9 isn't just a bad game, it has horrendous gameplay and level design issues which have led to some gamers being incapable of finishing it, so it technically doesn't "work"--especially not for WiiU players who have to deal with the inevitable system crashes it causes.
But going beyond that, let me address the broader scope of your comment.
So what you're saying is that you will play any video game, whether it's a good game or a bad game, and you just don't care? I really hope you're just trying to make a smartass remark and failing miserably, because that says some pretty ugly things about you as a gamer and a consumer.
See, most people care about quality when it comes to expensive entertainment purchases. If you spend forty or fifty bucks on a game, you want to get something out of it. You want to enjoy the experience of playing it. You want it to have replay value. You want a return on your investment. If you're satisfied with playing bad games "as long as it works", what you're effectively saying is "I will support the design and release of poor-quality games because I don't really care what I play as long as I'm playing something". You're the kind of gamer that justifies the mass-production year-after-year churning out of low-quality cash cow games that are choking the life out of the industry.
And do you really, truly not care whether a game is a good game or a bad game "as long as it works"? Seriously? No, wait, nevermind. Let me explain something:
A lot of people (71,000+ people!) invested in the development of Mighty No. 9, because they were promised a play experience that revived their love for the classic Mega Man games.
What they got was a virtually unplayable 4-hour slog with bad graphics, bad level designs, lifeless voice acting, a game script that wasn't even spellchecked, an end credits roll longer than the game itself, and a slew of public relations disasters from Inafune and his company, including that godawful trailer that came out a month ago and insulted everyone.
If you had given Inafune $100 or more in support of this project, and then got a terrible, lifeless, joyless game out of it, would you honestly not care "as long as it works"?
A vast majority of the game's backers and supporters and interested parties are disappointed, frustrated, upset, and angry over the game Inafune crapped out. They waited for it for three years, and they got a lazy, shoddy, poor quality game.
But hey, "as long as it works", right? That should be all that matters to them, right? Because it's a video game, so they should just be happy to play it, right?
That's what you're saying, right?
Because that's the exact mentality that led to this fiasco.
I'll leave you with this parting thought:
Boring people with lazy minds don't care if they're playing a good game or a bad game. Boring people with lazy minds are more likely to play bad games than good games because they've been told by a crowd to play a bad game. People who simply can't think for themselves are likely to play bad games simply because they don't know any better.
Is that what you're trying to tell everyone you are when you say you don't care whether a game is good or bad "as long as it works"?
4045979 hey I fucked up I mostly play super smash bros
As a Megaman fan from childhood, I saw the game and was so hyped. Then I saw the IGN review and figured, "My money would be put to better use!" Seriously, what is happening to the gaming industry right now?!
Wouldn't surprise me if Capcom allowed for Mighty No. 9 to end up the way it did, considering all the other poor choices they've made in recent years.
4046120 ...Capcom has nothing whatsoever to do with Mighty No. 9.
Inafune left Capcom years ago and formed his own company, Comcept, which is the company that developed Mighty No. 9.
4046120 Capcom is probably laughing at Inafune's expense right about now.
I played a bit of it, and honestly I enjoyed Mighty no. 9 from what I played. I'm going to play more of it later today after I finish writing, but so far I think I'm one of the few people to actually sort of like the game.
With the whole Mighty debacle, I'm hoping Yooka-Laylee, a game I personally backed, will prove that crowdfunded retro revival games that get massively over their goal in cash can deliver.
Yeah I backed the game.
I'm playing threw it and yeah I have issues. Controls feel good but the weapon switching SUCKS. The arbritary difficutly spikes are annoying.
I don't hate the game but I don't love it either. Also FYI we did get a mighty number but hell if I can remember it. Getting a credit is cool but damn I don't want to wait threw that long a credit sequence. Unless like Shovel Knights you can fast forward it.
4046741 The word you're looking for is "through", not "threw". Arbitrary grammar lesson of the day.
As to your comment: good to hear from a backer.
I only got PXZ2 for Chrom.
4045935
I was just using it as an example of games that even though shouldn't require internet to install, still do to connect to servers for licencing and stuff. I play more than FPS games.
Okay I have now beaten the game and my comments for the most part stand.
The part about the credits... you can skip the backer credits in blocks of 10,000 or all of them. Speeding up the scrolling would have been nice as well.
4046065 s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/5b/5e/79/5b5e7928ca7a1e5ac7d52f9353850596.jpg
4049758 what i do i play nintendo mostly
4049760 treasure.diylol.com/uploads/post/image/547480/resized_dwight-schrute-meme-generator-dude-do-you-think-i-fucking-care-60e9c7.jpg
4049763 no i don't think so
4049763
4049765 That's enough, you two.
4049770 sorry he just did that im sorry *bows head*
4049765 Yeah, that's what I thought.
media3.giphy.com/media/qeA0jZAlsCHAI/200_s.gif
4049771 Oh, don't be a backpedal suck-up.
4049770 Moth, I'm sick of low intelligent, poor grammar people of the Internet that makes my gears grind.
It's the frustrations of the world that I have to deal with.
4049779 I can understand that and believe me, I relate, but you're coming across a LOT worse than he is right now.
4049783 Well, I guess I can just drop it, then. It's the Internet after all.