#DiscoverIndies: Apocalipsis: Wormwood Edition - One Night in the Woods (NS)

One Night in the Woods (ONitW) is the prequel to the point-and-click game Apocalipsis that came packaged with the Apocalipsis: Wormwood Edition on the Nintendo Switch.  I previously covered the game as part of the #DiscoverIndies at the end of July (was it really that long ago!?)  and figured I would finish the series by playing the short story, relating the events that lead up to Harry at the End of the World (HatEotW).

The format for ONitW is nearly identical to that of HatEotW in that you need to find items in the screen so that you can solve puzzles to progress to the next area.  However, there are a number of differences here compared to the first game, which is a good thing to some extent because a rehash of HatEotW would be a safe and likely uninteresting move.

Hmmmm, where to click?

The first thing that I noticed, was that locating the items was not as straight forward as the first game.  Here, what you could interact with was oftentimes obvious, but not what you needed to use on that object.  Once it became clear that I could not interact with whatever the object was at the far left on the starting screen, I realized that I was able to explore more than what I was initially being shown.  I could scroll the screen to the right another full screen, as well as access an entirely new area.  So now, unlike HatEotW which often had all of the items you needed to solve puzzles in the same room/screen, here you had to move between multiple screens.

At a couple of points, I become a little frustrated because I was unable to figure out what I was supposed to do, but I eventually did click on something that I had passed over as being in the background.  Once I had that mindset, most of the game was a little bit easier to approach.

One puzzle in particular I thought was poorly executed in multiple ways.  First and foremost, there was no obvious indication that I was activating a puzzle.  I simply clicked up a path for Luka to take up a hill that looked like it might open into a cave area.  Secondly, the puzzle itself was not immediately clear.

Hmmmm, where to click.

This was (I believe) the starting screen for the puzzle without either of the two pieces in the puzzle.  I guess you could surmize that you need to redirect the water flowing from the top, but then there are two possible exits leading to the left and down.  The third issue was that with the two blocks that you have to redirect the water, you do not know how they will affect the water until after you place the blocks, and even then the second block can drastically change the affect that the first block had.  The last issue I had with this puzzle relates to my first issue with not knowing that a puzzle existed, is that not knowing why the puzzle needs solving in the first place.  Sure by doing so it allowed Luka to acquire items to further solve the puzzle in the previous screen, but none of that is made clear until after the fact.  Just something that bothered me in an otherwise fun and short story.

That is really what One Night in the Woods boils down to, a short prequel, similar in mechanics but significantly smaller in scope, to put some level of context to Harry's quest, but without making Luka feel like a damsel in distress or that her side of the story does not matter.  Her story is unfortunate in that her punishment (Harry's quest in Harry at the End of the World) is brought about by her good naturedness in wanting to help Harry himself.

You could complete the game in fewer than 10 minutes (which makes its inclusion in the Nintendo Switch Wormwood Edition all the better), but that seems like you would already know all of the puzzles and are flying through without gazing at each scene like it is not a work of art, and what drew me to Apocalipsis in the first place was because the woodcut art style, does involke a work of art (that of Albrecht Dürer and "Danse Macabre").



~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
Naked in Shame Hung Our Flesh, Oh Lord


P.S.  One last for the road.  And I will say that both Apocalipsis games had some great music oriented puzzles worthy of The Goonies, and I loved that, if only because I do play and can read music.

P.P.S.  You know, I never did figure out what the ankh in the upper left hand corner of the screen was for.  I thought maybe it would fill up, or that there might be something to find, but I didn't see anything.  Might have to do some more looking though.

MIDI Week Singles: "This Is What You Are" - Warframe (NS)

"This Is What You Are" from Warframe on the PC, PlayStation 4 (2013), Xbox One (2014), & Nintendo Switch (2018).

Composer: Keith Power

Album: Warframe (Original Video Game Soundtrack)

Label: Bandcamp

Publisher: Digital Extremes

Developer: Digital Extremes

I participated in a brief discussion last week about how listening to music, specifically video game soundtracks, that you are not familiar with can help with focusing and mindfulness; not so much me discussing it as it was someone else and I agreed with their statement.  I had this in mind while listening to the music from Warframe, a free-to-play online co-op (optional) loot-shooter developed by Digital Extremes.  I started Warframe shortly after it was available on the Switch just to see what it was like, although I have not played past the prologue/introductory/tutorial stage so I have zero context for how "This Is What You Are" plays into the game, and that is why I wanted to feature it in today's article.

To me, the opening of the song evokes the loneliness Jerry Goldsmith's score establishing the universe in Alien, but then once the vocals come in at 0:26, then it takes on a life all of its own.  At least for me as nothing comes up as sounding derivative from that point on.  There an orchestra, there are drums (as in drums being a featured instrument, a choir, it has the works, which is a great way to start off a soundtrack.

Kind of what was being talked about was that this song, for me, hit a lot of figurative notes and I immediately really liked this song, even on the initial listen, without having any nostalgia or in-game context.  You know, I should just redownload Warframe and give that game another attempt.  It's not like it sounds like it would be a long game to play, right?



~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Tidy Park" - Golf Story (NS)

"Tidy Park" from Golf Story on the Nintendo Switch (2017)
Album: Golf Story OST
Composer: Joel Steudler
Label: Bandcamp
Publisher: Sidebar Games
Developer: Sidebar Games

I think because I spent a lot of time in Tidy Park and that the course layout was one of my favorites, it is probably no surprise that I fell in love with the music for this area as well.

What you should know going into this song, if you have not yet played the video above, is that this track represents a medley of the three tracks that you hear in Tidy Park as you engage in match plays with Jerome, Dusty, et al.  The first part of this track (0:00 - 0:37) uses the harpsichord, reminiscent of the music that plays when you are in the ballroom for the dinner/mystery event as well as some bagpipes to close out the song (bagpipes!!).  The second part (0:39 - 1:51) is one of the three(?) times in the soundtrack that Joel Steudler utilizes bagpipes.  I could hypothesize that bagpipes = Scotland = Golf, but they are used in a way that seems to acknowledge how great bagpipes can sound when utilized well and not as the butt of a joke.  Most of the bagpipe music here seems pretty accurate except for the beginning and a few moments towards the end where the chanter cuts out (but that's just me being anal about bagpipes because bagpipes cannot stop their tone unless you stop playing entirely), but I do appreciate that there were grace notes thrown in to give it that more of an authentic bagpipe feel (for more Joel Steudler bagpipes, his music from Kingdom Wars II: Battles uses them quite a lot).  The final section (1:51 - 3:01) features the piano with backing harpsichord and switching off with the flute and harp (yes?) carrying the melody.  This final melody is the most laid back of the three, maybe being performed by Dorris who is sitting at the piano in the clubhouse ballroom relaxing with an afternoon tea (that's really just a glass of scotch), but don't tell Dusty because he's already talked to her about drinking before noon.

The music of Tidy Park is just really calming and is nothing outlandish (think "Blue Moon Dunes"), which is a perfect pairing for how the Tidy Park course plays, with the primary hazard being puddles and the vintage irons not having the same oompf as your Pro Woods Driver.  Perfect for when you are playing golf with a bunch of curmudgeonly old fellas* who constantly make side remarks about how good the ol' days used to be then hit the ball 15ft off the tee into deep rough and expect you to make par.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.  I legitimately was humming/whistling this music over the last weekend when I was out playing golf with my Dad.  Had I thought ahead and downloaded the music ahead of time, this album could have been our soundtrack; except my Dad's not a fan of video game music and we probably would have ended up listening to Jackson Browne or the Allman Brothers if the option was out there.

Game EXP: Golf Story (NS)

After watching the trailer for Golf Story on the Nintendo Switch, sometime shortly after getting the Switch back in 2017, I knew that I wanted to play this game.  I have talked a little bit before about how I can be picky about the golf video games that I do like, usually being those that do not take the game too seriously or realistically.  Games like Golf on the NES, Golf on the Game Boy, Mario Golf on the Nintendo 64, and even PGA Golf on the Intellivision are what I am after when it comes to golf, as opposed to the PGA Tour Series by EA Games.  I did play a little bit with the golf game in Wii Sports, but that was never on my own time (it was while I was working at assisted living facilities and helping/playing with the residents).

In short, I did very much enjoy Golf Story and ended up spending just over 21 hours playing, which is about what I was expecting considering HowLongToBeat has the average being about 19.5 hours.  I was at level 33 for those keeping score, and I had gathered all of the power-up items which I did not figure out how to use until the match play against Lara, which happens during the final act, before the pro's championship tournament at Blue Moon Dunes, the final match at the end of the game; but I will get to the special powers a bit later.  I barely played the in-game game of Galf, partly because there did not seem to be a reason to play it other than to play it; and I did find the Galf: Seasons game but never took it to the little Galf hut to play it.  I am a bad completionist. 

I bring all of this up because I am now going to talk about what I did not like with Golf Story, because the game has been praised for the last three years, with Metacritic listing it as the #56 best Switch game of 2017 and the 14th most discussed Switch game of 2017.  So we all know that it was and still is a well-received game.  So let us just jump into the negative.

The number of times I attempted this putting challenge was way too
 many.  I started taking screenshots before each putt and kept the
 picture if it went in so I could remember the best way to putt the ball in.

First, the game seemed to have an inconsistent approach to ending games.  During match games of golf, when you were playing against an AI when not playing a tournament, your game would end when there was no longer a chance for the opponent to possibly win.  For example, each match of golf was only 9 holes (which never bothered me that you could not play a full 18 holes), and if you scored lower on the first five holes, then you win.  The match is over and you do not play the last four holes.  Some times this would not bother me, but on the whole, I would have liked to have finished the entire course.  On the match against Junior on the Blue Moon Dunes course, I beat Junior after the sixth hole, meaning we had tied on two holes, and I won four.  So with three holes remaining, the match was ended and the final three holes would be a mystery when I started the Blue Moon Dunes tournament (as tournaments require you to always play all nine holes).  However, during mini-games or challenges that NPCs would give you as a way of earning money and experience points if you reached a point where you could not pass the challenge, you were still required to finish the challenge in agonizing shame.

One thing that annoyed me was the way that NPCs would talk to you if you failed their challenge.  Granted this is not so much a negative aspect of the game as far as mechanics go, just file this under the category of Duck Hunt Dog level of player shaming.

I do not know if the decision to essentially have a game over screen ever came up, but having the game take you back to the title screen if you lose a match-play game also seemed like an inconvenient decision.  I can understand this somewhat, as it is similar to older NES games that when you lose, you would get a Game Over screen and are taken back to the title screen.  But here, when you lose a match, the game tells you "Too Bad" you are taken to the title screen, but the game retains the score from the match.  What I feel should have happened, was that when you lose a match, you are just taken back to the dialogue option to play the person again, maybe with your opponent giving you a demeaning snarky comeback?  But inserting an extra step to replay a match that you just lost, or maybe play a couple of solo rounds to gain experience points to level up before playing, again, is just inconvenient.  Harumph.

The keyword here to remember is "Match"

Lastly (for now?), is that before you are able to compete in the final Blue Moon Dunes Championship, you are told that you have to have completed match cards from all of the other courses.  At this point, I thought I had to return to each course and play them all over again, which I was somewhat okay with since the actual playing of golf in Golf Story, being the primary mechanic, is a lot of fun.  What I did not realize, which seems silly now after the fact, was that I had already completed six of the needed eight match-plays to continue.  Which then seems like an odd choice as a game requirement.  Granted it was not hard to finish the final two matches as both of your opponents are located within Blue Moon Dunes.  But just the idea that there was something that I had to complete that was not made clear that I had already completed 75% was both confusing and made me feel like an idiot.

Once I figured out about power-up shots, I would predominantly
use the Focus Shot, since the other two didn't give as much of a
difference in the outcome of the shot as ignoring wind conditions.

And final lastly (see, told you), was the power-ups mechanic which again, the game did not do a good job of either explaining that the power-ups existed or having a tutorial on how to use them.  It was during my first match-play against Junior at Blue Moon Dunes that I found out you could change the type of shots you make at any time you are playing on the course.  Yes, I do remember finding the Ghost Tee and being told that you could now play a shot from a tee (and ignore any terrain effects) anywhere on the course, but apparently, I am an idiot (am I though) not realizing that this meant during a game.  The same could be said for the Power Glove, and the Focus Shot.  Once I figured out that I had these abilities in my tool chest, along with the already frequently used Precision Shots, HP Shots, and Approach Shots.  Having the game force you to actively select and use these abilities would have been something to consider.  One skill that the game tried to get the player to do on a number of occasions was the toss-the-ball-in-the-air-and-hit-it-with-your-club that was a requirement to progress the game on a couple of occasions that I feel like I only could do by accident.

Still the 3rd Greatest Feeling in the World.

But you know what, despite all these quality-of-life changes that could be implemented to make a cleaner and streamlined experience, I did really enjoy the game and do recommend it if you already like NES era style golf games that have a number of RPG elements and unconventional golf game elements (disc golf*, RC Pro-Am, boss battles).  This was a fun game and I am looking forward to the Sports Story sequel slated to be released (maybe) later this year (2020).

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.

* And what was up with Disc Golf?  You were forced to learn it early on in the game, had to beat some discers (?) at another course after the initial encounter, and then that was it?  I did notice other disc golf courses scattered in some of the other golf courses, but there was not an obvious way to play them or even a reason to unless it was to earn more money and experience points.

I also thought that there should have been more things to buy (consumables maybe, to replenish your power-ups meter?) after having bought all of the upgradable clubs?  Just a thought.

P.P.S. I probably would have some more interesting or action shots for this article, but the game did not allow for videos to be taken, being my preferred way to get screenshots, rather than trying to hit the screenshot button on the Switch controller at just the right moment and potentially honking up an otherwise great tee shot.

I recognize that continent!  Now.

MIDI Week Single: "Wind Scene" / "Yearning of the Wind" - Chrono Trigger (SNES)

"Wind Scene" / "Yearning of the Wind" from Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1995), PlayStation (1999), Nintendo DS (2008), Android (2011), iOS (201), & PC (2018)
Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
Album: Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version
Label: NTT Publishing
Publisher: Square
Developer: Square

25 years ago in North America, Chrono Trigger was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.  This was a game that I played a fair amount, but never owned until I bought it for the DS; I played Dr. Potts' game.  Back in late high school, I bought the three-disc soundtrack and listened the buhjeezus out of it, but surprisingly never wore out the disc.  Shortly after moving to the PNW, Dr. Potts and Friends came up for an obstacle course run, and during the 111-mile drive to our destination, we listened to nearly the entire soundtrack.  So deciding on a song to use for the MIDI Week Single this week was not an easy choice.

"Wind Scene" (as I have always known the song to be the title) is one of my favorite songs from the entirety of the soundtrack, and just looking on YouTube pages for the song, you will see similar sentiment.  [I spent about 15 minutes trying to write out why I love this song, going into the various sections in the song and now I'm doing a poor job of further explaining this.]. Someone better than me probably should have written this article, but Hunter S. Thompson is dead and Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelly won't return my calls.

You know what, I love this song when it crops up when you walk from the town of Guardia to the Castle in 600 A.D. and each time, I will wait for the song to repeat before entering the next area because I love how the song loops.  Or I will just listen to the song on repeat.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

Because When I Was Growing Up, I Said, I Love This

Game EXP: Old Man's Journey (NS)

Old Man's Journey by Broken Rules is a game that I actually received a Steam Code for through a giveaway on Instagram from Streamer acedicon.  However, I never found the time to actually play it on my computer (although I definitely will, eventually), for which I had felt pretty guilty.  So a couple of weeks back, I picked it up on the Switch, being the platform that I have put the most amount of time into over the last three years.

There are plenty of instances where you can walk to an overlook and the camera pulls back for a better
view.  Just because.  And I love that.

Knowing that this was a short game (playable in about an hour-and-a-half), I went in fully expecting to be finished in the same sitting.  That was not actually the case, partly because it is me and I like to take my time in games that look as beautiful as this, but also because some of the environmental puzzles took me a little more time than they should have.  But I am perfectly fine with the fewer than five hours I spent in this story.

I also played while Conklederp watched and admittedly, some of the scenes dealing with the Old Man and his relationship with his wife that happen between stages were kind of emotionally difficult, so I found myself breaking the game up into playing a couple of chapters at a time.

The bright yellow lines indicate which layers/hill you can move & where it interacts with other layers/hills.

The mechanic here is that you need to get the Old Man from Point A to Point B, and you do that by manipulating the environment, one section at a time so that he can easily traverse each section.  Unlike other point-and-click games, there are no items to gather along the way, although in more than one section, you do have to move hills/roads to get rid of barriers that otherwise block your path.

This would typically not end well.

Maybe it is because both Conklederp and I have worked in industries where the predominant population are people 70+ years old and hip-breaking is a real fear that can lead to the death of an otherwise healthy person, but the waterfall sections in this game were not readily apparent to me.  There are a couple of areas that require the Old Man to seemingly traverse across the top of a waterfall, but what the game wants you to do, is to have the Old Man begin to walk across the top, then he plummets 10+ feet, very likely shattering both hips and a handful of other bones.  Having this in mind, it was not readily apparent that walking along the top of a waterfall for the sole purpose of falling.  Couple with that with the game allowing you to drag a line in the waterfall when you click on it, only confused me before I figured out that falling was what you were supposed to do.  That was really my only gripe with the game.

I think I did look up a walkthrough (heh-heh) two times because I felt that I had gotten myself into a corner where I could not figure out which order I was supposed to move a hill, move the Old Man, move another hill, move the Old Man back, then move another hill another way and you get the idea.  The second time was in a scene where I had not noticed that upon moving a hill, I unknowingly rolled a boulder down to another hill destroying a cobblestone wall that was blocking my path further along the stage.  I had heard the hitting/crumbling of the wall by the boulder, but my attention was focused elsewhere and had not realized what had happened.

I'm telling you, the vistas in the game. Mm!!  This could be a painting.

Yeah, I enjoyed Old Man's Journey, even with it taking more than the 1.5 hours HowLongToBeat hypothesized it would take me (it took me just under 5 hours), but this is a game that is calming to look at, even when the game changes to this peaceful countryside strolling to a truck driving-on-rails game.  The art style makes traversing the hillsides and through small villages a lot of fun and peaceful-like, which was an interesting juxtaposition compared to the emotional tone of the story which has its ups and downs.  Just like the countryside.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
There is Peace in the Meadows

MIDI Week Singles: "Assimilate" - ATV Wild Ride (DS)

"Assimilate" from ATV Wild Ride on the Nintendo 3DS (2013) and the Nintendo DS (2011)
Composer: Swift Justice and the Hired Goons
Album: ATV Wild Ride
Label: Renegade Kid / Bandcamp
Publisher: Renegade Kid
Developer: Renegade Kid

ATV Wild Ride 3D was a 3Dified revamped port of Renegade Kid's ATV Wild Ride that was released on the Nintendo DS two years prior.  I picked up ATV Wild Ride 3D on the 3DS back in 2016, probably after the game went on sale.

So this song, "Assimilate" performed by Swift Justice and the Hired Goons, a band created by late Renegade Kid's co-founder Greg Hargrove, is the song that plays during your first race on the first track in Mexico.  For me, it's a great high energy song that is stupidly catchy and really got me pumped for the easiest of stages (even on higher difficulties, although even then it can still be hard as the AI drivers are more competent) and then leading into the rest of the game.  There are some other good songs on the soundtrack (no longer available from Bandcamp), but for me, none of them stand out as much as "Assimilate" on their own, but they all work very well when taking in the context of racing an ATV through some part of the world.

Sadly, this is the only evidence I could find for Swift Justice and the Hired Goons (and I have reached out to Jools Watsham in the past via Twitter) so I cannot say if Greg created the group specifically for Renegade Kid games or if they did some local touring around Austin, TX.  At least they (continue to) exist on the Internet for now.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
The Final Edge of the World

Monthly Update: August, 2020

So July happened.  Huh.

Thankfully/Fortunately? Conklederp and I do not live near downtown PDX, not because we are afraid of being graffitied, but because it has been pretty warm during the end of July that we have had to have our windows open (a lot of homes here do not have air conditioning, and our house doesn't even have any vents/duct-system installed).  And having tear gas wafting in through an already 80ish degree house with a sleeping two-month-old Goblino would be an unpleasant experience for all involved.  Plus I am sure our PCP would be annoyed at having to frequently treat a newborn baby with mild to moderate external and internal chemical burns caused by exposure to CS Gas.  But hey, all in the name of progress, right?

Just over a week ago, I finished (again) the first season of The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season on the Switch, then breezed through the 400 Days DLC and promptly jumped back into Season Two.  I have talked a bit about why I am replaying this series, but just to mention it again, because that is part of why we are here, is because the third season and my computer did not get along and I have not finished the series yet.  I am also playing through Golf Story for the first time and I do not know what it is about non-realistic golf games, but I would rather play something like this or Mario Golf rather than something closer to PGA Tour 2K21.  Realism is not something that I am looking for in a golf video game, kind of like Tecmo Bowl is to Americal football.

Back towards the beginning of the month, I put together a spreadsheet of all of the games in my Switch queue that I have not finished, which does include games that I have started but never finished for one reason or another, like Battle Chasers: Nightwar, Goetia, Darkest Dungeons, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  I did this as a sort of self-check if only to show myself that there are a number of games that I can start without buying more games, although it can be difficult if something like Blasphemous or Catherine: Full Body goes on sale with a significant discount.  I guess I should give up hope on either The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass or Fire Emblem: Three House - Expansion Pass going on sale.

But you know, using the spreadsheet, I did select four games that I finished last month: The Sinking City: Deluxe Edition, Old Man's Journey, The Office Quest, and the first game in the Apocalipsis: Wormwood Edition; granted three of the four games could be completed in 1-5 hours and finishing The Sinking City opened up a lot of time I had been spending on that game to spend on others.  Maybe after I finish up Golf Story I will start in on either Mother Russia Bleeds or maybe, just maybe, I will finally give Night Trap - 25th Anniversary Edition a go because who doesn't love some good ol' FMV schlock?

Something that has surprised me over the last month is that I have not been playing The Witcher III: Wild Hunt much at all.  What I think this boils down to is that the game does not look as great on the TV so I instead prefer to play it in handheld, and since three of our four Joy-Cons are out for repairs (more on that update later), my only option is with the Pro Controller.  This means that the Switch screen is sitting on a stand, further away than it would be if I were holding it, and that makes reading text more difficult, especially since the text in TWIII:WH can be pretty small at times, especially in the inventory screen.

And yeah, Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 is 7:X weeks completed.  I was at first annoyed with how much water there was everywhere, but now I feel that there have not been enough changes to the map following the flood for it all to feel as interesting as it could have been.  Unless all of the water recedes and previously hidden and undiscovered underwater areas are revealed, which might be pretty cool. (Called it!) [This article was written between Monday, June 27th, and Friday, June 31st].  Ugh.



~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

We Knew It All Yet Lacked Understanding