The familiar doesn’t always mean favorable.

So very tried of outdated standards….

Expedition 33 (E33) continues to deliver in most ways fathomable, not fixing what isn’t broken about the old school way of doing things, yet mediating some of the less favorable elements that haunted turn based RPGs of old. These kinds of moments always do bring into focus the march of progress, and why we keep some traditions alive, and throw others into the fiery depths of a volcano, as if plagued with an accursed object not suited for this plain of existence. To wit; if for whatever reason, a thought dawns on you, involving a way of doing things that seems antiquated and or counter intuitive to modern day standards due to an overlooked sense of rational, and you bring it up to someone of authority in the matter, who then responds with “it’s just how we’ve always done it”: this is not an adequate response nor ample enough justification to continue to do it unabated and without alteration. Especially after the point of attention has been drawn to the realization, and the practice continues, the only reason you continue to do said action now is not out of effective habit, but out of idiotic stubbornness of fear of change, in response to not feeling brave enough to leave the status quo behind, displaying a weak constitution in the process, and a sad cowardice ill-befitting of anyone with a will worth a damn.

One of the ways E33 kicks to the curb a holdover from turn-based RPGs of yore, and the design machinations they predicated themselves upon, was by foregoing the ever present but always invisible random encounters that were a dime a dozen back in the day. I’m guessing the random encounter, in all of it’s ubiquitous glory, was first implemented as a technological bandaid to fight against system limitations, in that it worked around what the processing power of the machine was capable of, so that the game could still maintain a sense of cohesion through regular combat encounters, without bogging down the performance of the game itself. I am no programmer, so this speculation could be inaccurate in some small ways, though knowing what I do about the tricks usually utilized by developers, I’d stand surprised if I was far off from the truth of the matter.

Ironically, even though the thought of random encounters doesn’t irk me, it is undeniable that the usage of the mechanic does seem played out, and certainly a relic of the past, all things considered. The idea of being able to see the enemies, and have them displayed on screen, of course gives a far greater depth of strategy of play to the whole experience, so why wouldn’t one do it if one could? Once again, that limited traditional standard we discussed briefly before, only remaining in most ways negative, outside of a couple of particular examples I can muster in my own imagination: one is doing a send-up, in truly sticking to the “spirit” of a games original foundational merits, ala a remaster, or a stiffer version of a remake…perhaps even an indie dev going for an authentic approach in designing as if they were of that time. Most other scenarios I’d imagine, represent that sort of weak willed cowardice I spoke of at the beginning, and deserve their place on the trash heap of historical precedent.

Interestingly enough, E33 has another standard that gave me pause of consideration for a moment, and as I broke the implementation of said design choice down in my own head, I realized I had possessed an evolution of thought over a decent period of time, but the logic tracks, and remains consistent with past diagnoses of other titles. I speak of the notion of circumventing the time sink failure can entail, with game overs representing a huge frustration where excessive difficulty and lot time is concerned. E33 avoids these pitfalls entirely, by having a save system ever present and extremely consistent in execution, saving most minor moments one can think of (once every couple of minutes more or less), so the save file is essentially always current. Hell, the devs even saw fit to include a way to load past save states, even before ones last official and current point in time, in case something goes horrendously wrong, and you fuck yourself into a 1 in a million pickle, or just happen into an unfavorable scenario, in otherwise creating what seems like an unwinnable stalemate of sorts. This is the kind of thing shooters could use, as the amount of times I was in need of such a feature when playing any number of shooters on their hardest difficulties (Halo especially), and a checkpoint popped that doomed me to a replete existence of woeful misery by respawning into a nightmare scenario, are nearly uncountable. Honestly, it’s one of those quality of life options that seems like an overwhelmingly obvious choice to include for these and so many more reasons, and one that is rarely implemented in the modern day age of console gaming. I know much is possible in this and other ways of innovative variety in making ones life infinitely easier in the realm of the PC, but for many console players, how the game ships is largely what the player gets; the price of convenience and ease of access vicariously made real through sacrifice of variable performance options and customization potential, sadly.

One extraordinarily important element of what is essentially, an always up to date save state scenario, is not just that one can reload and get back to playing mere minutes before where they are currently, but the saving grace of knowing one is never in danger of losing an excess of precious time due to an idiotic mistake, real world disrupting hiccup, or cheap strategy the game randomly throws at the player. E33 goes one step further, with the game offering up the ability to reload any encounter upon failing; absolutely no runback required. Initially, I sort of rolled my eyes, with an old school sense of pride in the face of coping with difficulty and a sense of begrudging loss that comes with it, thinking the kids have it “too good these days”, but I then continued to ponder upon my initial knee jerk reactionary stance, and looked at the scenario through a different lens, and saw worth in the decision. Interestingly enough, I borrowed from an unlikely source in reformatting my own perspective on the matter, and that was through the lens of Super Meat Boy (SMB), in all of its chunky glory.

You see, as an ardent fan of SMB, and hard games in general, I’m use to the song and dance of relentless deaths and restarts, all in the name of self-improvement and practice. One of the reasons I enjoy SMB, of course, is not just the difficulty, but also the quality of life Team Meat imbued within the title, as one is able to die and reload in a mere instant, never truly taking them out of the flow state at any point, as one is constantly able to push forward and try again. I think this logic represents (in a Kantian sense) a universality, and when applied to other games en masse, like E33, you have a streamlined sense of being, allowing one to more quickly practice trouble spots, and cut their teeth on those trickier skill maneuvers, like refined dodging and perfect parries, in really mastering what the game has to offer. The only caveat I can think of where I don’t feel burned in a developer not taking this route, is due to creative differences in making their experience as they see fit, so in the realm of where Silksong is concerned, I understand where Team Cherry was coming from, and harbor no ill will on the matter

With all of that said, I reiterate a basic notion: if tradition does not serve a purpose in enhancing the quality of life of those it affects, the tradition in question represents an arcane toxicity of meritless repute, and deserves to be quelled and purged from the standards of the modern day. The only ones who would be witless enough to keep it going after this acknowledgment, are the lazy, the foolish, and the cowardly; none of which I would prefer to have with me in a doomsday scenario of being stranded on a deserted island with.

Trust rings truest when coming from a source of wise concern or inspiring admiration.

-Pashford