Rudolf Dalita

Personal Blog for my interests. Pronouns: 俺 座右の銘: 粘る者に勝利あり。

[rudydalita]

I didn't enjoy Dishonored 2 as much as the first Dishonored. It makes me feel a bit bad syaing that considering that by technical standards D2 should be the better game and it's not like it's mechanically inferior, but I didn't personally like that your movements have more weight and feels more realistic. I loved the more nimble and and weightless feeling Corvo had in D1 and I miss being able to spam the crouch button lol. Also for some reason, the camera has this awful acceleration effect applied when you use a controller. Had to get rid of it using a mod but it shouldn't have been there in the first place. People complained about Delilah being reused but I kinda don't care lol. The story isn't really my main priority when playing these games; the plot's mostly serviceable. I'd say the levels of D2 are the main reason I didn't like it as much.

We all have our personal preferences when it comes to levels we enjoy and I think the maps are just too big for me in D2, they're overwhelming. I get lost very frequently. I don't want to make it sound like I'm shitting on the level designers, I'm sure they worked hard but it ain't for me. I'm not an expert in level design, so maybe I don't have the right to say anything but I once heard the the best kind of levels are the ones that feel open even when they are actually linear or small. D1's levels are actually kinda small, but they feel open and large due to how dense it is, right? There are multiple pathways, you can explore the different ways to approach a target and there are a couple of side missions all on a smaller scale. I kinda liked the smaller scale cause it made the maps easier to read. It gives a more focused and controlled experience. I just recently went through Coldridge prison in the DLC and thoroughly enjoyed the verticality. I imagined if it was reimagined in D2 it would be on a larger scale and I would probably get overwhelmed. The Clockwork Mansion is visually and technically impressive but something about it doesn't feel fun to go through.

Now I'm not overly familiar with what the community consensus on Death of the Outsider is generally, but the levels feel a lot closer to what the first Dishonored's levels felt like due to the reduced scale and is why I liked it a lot. It feels like it's Dishonored 1 again but with the skin and controls of 2. I think this is just a case of less is more honestly.

[rudydalita]

Dishonored is an extremely fun game. It plays well, it has a distinct art style, compelling world, premise, and fun levels and tools to play. It's nearly perfect in my book, and it's just a shame that posseses a huge foundational issue with its Chaos system.

Logically, it makes sense. If you kill more people, more food for the rats, more chaos in Dunwall etc. For the game's systems and story however, it doesn't make sense. It boggles my mind how Dishonored has such a shallow and binary morality system here. The game whose whole premise revolves around being a supernatural assassin tells you killing is bad.

It many ways it goes against the design of the game. Majority of the game's tools are built around engagement and lethality. The game barely gives viable non-lethal options that aren't just the sleep darts and choking people. The targets have special animations that happen when you kill them. There's special dialogue for Hiram Burrows for when you confront him directly. Why the fuck would have a system that is implicitly telling the players that this is somehow all wrong when it was clearly meant to be played this way?

I also don't agree with this message. Most of the assholes in Dunwall deserve to die. Why would you spare them? The nonlethal options aren't morally better. Branding Campbell and turning him into a weeper later on, giving Boyle to that creepy stalker obsessed with her. How are those better options that just outright killing them?

It legit upsets me. Dishonored nearly has every aspect of a fun game I love and would be part of my list of favorite games ever if it weren't for this one glaring contradiction with itself.

[rudydalita]

It's been a few weeks after Tom Kane's passing but for some reason my mind suddenly thought about him again. I read about his stroke and early retirement. I feel like there is something rather cruel and tragic over a voice actor losing their defining ability, and forced into an early retirement. There's certainly worse ways to die, but I can't help but feel a little sad over that. At least he reunited with his daughters one last time. That was probably the best way to go out for him.

[rudydalita]

I'm not really all that upset over The Boys losing its way and eventually becoming the same thing it criticized. I think it's just an inevitability that happens when you're in the engine of capitalism and the people critiquing it is inside of that system so they can't meaningfully make any criticism that revolves around dismantling it, it has to be a compromise and ensure that it still exists.

[rudydalita]

One of the most confusing things I have ever dealt with is the sexualization of characters and whether that's sexist.

Once in a while, you see this kind of controversy blow up. Stuff like Stellar Blade's protagonist's body being unrealistic, but it turns out it was actually modelled after a real human being so the sexist claims seem a little unfounded. There's that scene in Star Trek Into Darkness with Doctor Carol Marcus having a scene where she's in her underwear, got called out for being sexist, turns out she consented and worked hard to look good in that scene and was actually okay with it. So who's to blame here? Is it her being sexist towards herself? Are the directors/studios still to blame? It's all so unclear.

Neptunia famously has fanservice and sexualizes its characters, some other similar media sexualizes and treats its female characters a certain way, only to find out the people responsible for that were also women. The artist and creator behind Nekopara was a woman. The Character designer of Neptunia is a woman and so is the producer of the Neptunia games. A plot twist I've seen many times. It's easy to think "Hah! Now that means it actually wasn't sexist!" But then there's also the possibility of women being sexist towards their own gender and it muddies the conversation again. It just keeps going on and on and on.

People be criticizing media for men sexualizing female characters as if there aren't media for women sexualizing men and doing the same thing. They aren't mainstream but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Why do people act like we don't objectify each other the same way here and have to argue about it?

It's all so confusing. I mean I try my best to understand all perspectives here, being sensitive whether what I'm doing or thinking is sexist, but it's unclear sometimes trying to find your position in all this. So many competing claims.

[rudydalita]

Finished playing Resident Evil Requiem. A solid entry overrall despite shortcomings. Story is enjoyable and serviceable by RE standards. I've got a few thoughts.

The Rhodes Hill section of the game is legitimately amazing. I felt that it was hitting the peaks of Resident Evil all over again. It was very tense. Navigating around that big fat dude roaming the halls, avoiding The Girl weak to light, managing the zombies all over the clinic, collecting antique coins for upgrades. That Blood Collector thing adds another layer of inventory management to the classic gameplay loop. And then of course you switch over to Leon and its absoutely cathartic.

The character switching from Grace to Leon feels like that switch from Ethan to Chris in Village, extended throughout the entire game. A unique but welcome element to this game. Grace basically represents the horror aspect and Leon the action aspect, and his parts sort of serve as a reward or catharsis for getting through the Grace sections. Like you get to feel weak and terrified as Grace, then you get to feel powerful as Leon. That kind of pacing was great.

But then you get to the Raccoon City part, and it falls flat a bit. While it was cool to revisit Raccoon City's aftermath, I don't think they executed this section as well as they could have. I was initially glad you can finally get a long section where you can make a save file as Leon, but this was just too damn long. It overstayed its welcome.

They really could've shaved off a section or two. The journey to getting the bomb parts was getting tedious. The variety was appreciated, like the soldiers firing mortars, or the one where you're standing on glass and need to be careful, but shit just got boring. I was just waiting for it to end.

Thankfully the game picks up the pace again after this and the game ends somewhat competently, but not really reaching the heights of that Chronic Care Center part.

It was nice seeing the Raccoon Police Department again. I'm mostly neutral on the nostalgia baiting. Stuff like Tyrant reappearing, Hunk finally appears in the main story, and the Spencer stuff. There's probably some criticism here that can be made regarding these parts, and I wouldn't disagree, but I'm mostly indifferent. I wasn't too bothered.

Story did some things I have thoughts on. Grace was heavily advertised as the daughter of Alyssa, but it's revealed she had no relation to her and was simply adopted from Spencer. Her resemblance to Emily and Alyssa was just a coincidence. An interesting decision. It's a bit of a running gag to have some Resident Evil characters who are initially presented as being an average citizen only to be revealed they are actually special. Her resemblance to Emily raised questions, and made you think she was also some sort of clone. The resemblance turned out to be a red herring and she really was just some ordinary girl. I appreciated the commitment here and actually let Grace stay normal, no inherent special ties. Though this might change later on, no doubt lol.

What they didn't have the guts to commit was letting Emily stay dead. She gets shot by Leon after transforming and it was a bold decision I kinda liked. A bit of a subversion, not being able to save this kid companion. And I'm not saying I wanted the kid to die, but the way they wrote off her supposed death was kinda lame. Leon just suddenly says he didn't shoot her vitals which doesn't make sense. Why the fuck wouldn't you shoot to kill that thing?

Zeno was underwhelming. Setup to be this Wesker lookalike. Thought he'd have at least a fight or two as Leon, just gets killed off easily. A bit underwhelming but not too bothered by it.

Overall, I think this game was a hit. Another success for the franchise. It's flaws don't outweight the good its done.

[rudydalita]

I hate to say this, but the Raccoon City part of Requiem is getting kinda boring and long. The game started really fucking good with Grace being the horror segment and feeling powerful and cathartic with Leon. Feeling the contrast between the two is one of the best things the game has given so far, and genuinely felt like a good mix between the action and horror parts of Resident Evil. I'm glad that we get to have a segment with Leon being able to save, but this finding parts for the bomb thing is just too damn long.

I feel like they really should have cut down the length of this level or strip down the parts you need to find because it feels like a lesser version of RE4 Remake because there's less enemy variety, and the environment is just kind a boring to look at despite it being cool to revisit Raccoon City. I sure hope the game picks up pace again, cause I'm starting to miss playing Grace.

[rudydalita]

Just finished Bioshock Infinite, and I'm still just as confused as before. I'm typing this as the credits are rolling and they lost me completely man. Game did a pretty good with first impressions and presentation. Insane to think the game's from 2013. The art direction's amazing. Introduces you to Columbia, makes you think its a beautiful paradise then that impression come crashing down when they show you that interracial couple at the raffle and transitions to that gory execution of the guard and the first combat scenario of the game. Shit was peak. I wish the rest of the game was like that, but I found myself feeling mixed on Infinite as a whole.

The gameplay. I think it's a decent followup to Bioshock 1 and 2. When you're in tight corridors, and there's not a lot of ways to interact with the environment and it feels like a generic action FPS like Call of Duty cause the options are limited. When you're out in the open with the Sky-Rails and the things Elizabeth can summon, it does feel like a proper follow-up to the previous Bioshock games, cause now you're given a lot of freedom alongside verticality given by the Sky-Hook. It's pretty fun, but I do miss Telepathy and the Decoy Plasmid. Shit gets overwhelming sometimes and I kinda wish Decoy wasn't limited to an Elizabeth Summon.

So the story started fairly simple, right? Columbia looks like paradise, turns out they're racists, and Fitzroy leads a revolution while you're escorting Elizabeth. And then Elizabeth and her powers takes center stage and the whole revolution thing is sidelined. This is where the game completely lost me. I don't think they fully explained the mechanics of how all this universe thing works. Or maybe they did and I just missed a Voxophone or I wasn't listening hard enough. Either way, shit had me lost. This really did not need to be as complicated as it was. I think the last stages of the game was supposed to make me emotional over Booker's death but I couldn't feel much of anything cause of how lost I was lol. Promotional materials had me excited cause you were going to a city in the sky rather than Rapture but I now I kinda just wanna go back to Rapture.

Seeing Troy Baker and Courtney Draper performed that song in credits comforted me a little, I guess? A comforting song for a confusing ass journey. I don't know what to think, man. This is one of the weirdest mixed bags I've ever experienced.

[rudydalita]

So I think I'm getting close to finishing Bioshock Infinite and I'm kinda getting lost on the story. I'm kinda confused with Infinite and it's parallel universes shit. I thought this was supposed to be about a revolution, Fitzroy vs Comstock or something, and maybe I wasn't listening hard enough, but now there's Old Elizabeth appearing and that New York prophecy happening and I'm lowkey lost man. At least I got the gist of Bioshock 1 being about one man's vision of a city failing or Bioshock 2 being a custody battle for Eleanor with Lamb never shutting up about family but Infinite? I don't even know where to start. At least Columbia is beautiful and the game can be appreciated for its aesthetic beauty.

[rudydalita]

I'm proud to say I've finally finished Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (again). My first experience with this game and Splinter Cell in general, believe it or not, was Splinter Cell 3D on the 3DS. An unusual place to start the series, but I was just a kid with a 3DS, and it was one of the games my dad bought for me. I remember having so much fun with that game and the amount of freedom you got. The amount of cool ways to approach a situation, distract enemies, playing around with the light and noise and shit. It was incredible and I must have played it like 5 times.

I only found out later in life it was based on Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, and it was actually an inferior version. So I had bought the game on Steam hoping to play it, but got disappointed it didn't have controller support on the PC Version, so I simply emulated the Xbox version on xemu. I was having a lot of fun until I got to that Bathhouse level. It was going pretty fine at first, until I got to that room with the 3 mercenaries and the part where you need to defuse the bombs. I don't exactly remember how this went in Splinter Cell 3D. It must have been a different level. I heard it was based of the PS2/Gamecube version.

It was a very painful experience. Shetland's mercenaries spot you so ridiculously fast it was annoying. It led to me to quit playing the game for several months. But there was a part of me that didn't want to leave any unfinished business behind, but didn't know how to address that annoying section of the Bathhouse, so I was simply waiting until I got interested in the game again.

I eventually found a thread on Steam that actually modifies the game to give it proper controller support like the Xbox version except for browsing menus, so I downloaded that, and replayed Chaos Theory all over again. This time I had to strictly follow a guide just to get by that one portion of Bathhouse. You notice it's the only level below 95%. I don't care much for that level and I'm glad I've finally moved past it and properly finish the game.

[rudydalita]

Grand Theft Auto is one of those media that makes me a bit glad I was born in the Anglosphere and can enjoy it in its native language. I imagine if you're like a Japanese playing this game, half of the game's humor and satire will probably fly over your head, cause most of the funniest quotes in the games are from the open world and the radio shows lol (They aren't subtitled in the Japanese versions of the games.)

[rudydalita]

So I've been trying my best to learn the stock market in GTA 5, but it's honestly kinda boring compared to the drug dealing in Chinatown Wars. You basically just invest in stocks, sleep a bit and wait for the numbers to go up. The drug dealing gave you an incentive to explore the open world and actively engage with it, and was way more exciting. A lot more stuff could happen and it made it more fun to continually do it. I was planning to make some money using the stock market. Generally I like to make money within the constraints of the game and its mechanics, but I think I'm just gonna edit my save lol

[rudydalita]

Thoughts on Bioshock

So I've been playing through Bioshock recently. Bioshock is a franchise I've been hearing about for a decade now. Suddenly one day I felt like trying it out, just to finally see what it's all about.

I finished Bioshock and currently halfway on Bioshock 2. It's a pretty interesting FPS. It differentiates itself by giving you creative freedom in how you kill enemies with the Plasmid abilities while still having a linear format. It's actually very fun, and every environment feels like a huge playground.

Bioshock tells it's story through audio diaries you pick up throughout the game. This style isn't really my preference, I prefer the story being direct, but I do appreaciate the fact that this style isn't too intrusive on the gameplay. However, most of the political themes and greater context of Rapture kinda flew over my head, due to me having listening problems and the fact that I was most likely being shot at while one of those diaries were being played.

Remastered is the version of Bioshock I played, and unfortunately it made my experience with the first Bioshock very rough. It crashes every 30 minutes apparently, and there hasn't been a definitive fix for it. Meaning I had to save frequently. I've had moments where I've lost like 1 hour of progress all because it suddenly closes for some reason. It was very frustrating. The rather fun and unique combat system was what kept me going. I had pirated the first game to check it out. I'm not sure if the crashing was due to all this. Maybe I should've played the original version, but I was already really far into the my save file and didn't want to start again, so I just had to finish it.

For Bioshock 2, I tried downloading the original version, in fear of it constantly crashing, but it was quite difficult finding an active torrent. I was still unsure on whether I was gonna invest money on these games, but fortunately the Bioshock Collection was on sale during this time, and was pretty cheap. Turns out the 2K launcher was removed in the latest patch of the Steam Version, which I assume was the culprit in the crashing. They gift you both the original and remastered when you buy it on Steam.

I had tried out both to see which was more stable. Ironically, this time the original was actually the unstable one, as it kept frashing every few minutes, while the remastered is the more stable one. I've only had one crash so far in remastered, but more or less I've been able to play safely for more than 1 hour. I'm extremely relieved that I don't have to be paranoid and make a shit ton of saves anymore like the first Bioshock game.

So Bioshock 2 is basically more of the first game, but it plays way smoother. You can now use both hands simultaneously, the camera feels better. You play as a Big Daddy now, which yields a few advantages and feels like a nice contrast to Jack. The story is still whatever to me. I try my best to follow, but like I said I have listening problems and I prefer a more direct approach but seems intriguing so far. I'm more hooked on the gameplay though. It feels a lot better and I'm experimenting more on the Plasmids now since I'm more familiar with the games.

Sonic Boom was the Plasmid I used the most in Bioshock 1. It helps give breathing room when you're getting shot at. I only found out how useful Telekinesis is very late into the game lol. I'm currently liking Insect Swarm and Decoy. I didn't use Decoy all that much since I preferred using the guns to kill enemies and the more offensive Plasmids, but it's pretty useful in redirecting fire from you. Insect Swarm is pretty good for scouting ahead since it automatically finds enemies, and gives you a moment to ambush them. I like comboing it with Incinerate. Bioshock 2 has been pretty fun so far. Feels more accesible than Bioshock 1.

Overall I would rate Bioshock 1 a 7/10, Bioshock 2 an 8/10. They feel roughly the same in quality, but Bioshock 2 is a lot smoother to play so it edges out. I'm looking forward to Infinite.

[rudydalita]

Engage Kiss thoughts

So Engage Kiss was a show that I first heard and got interested in 2022/2023. I had tried watching the first 2 episodes but couldn't really follow the plot so I had given up. Then I noticed nothing new was coming out regarding this anime and found out the gacha game failed and now it's another one of those failed multimedia projects we're never gonna see again. I became interested again and had started watching it out of pity, knowing that we're never gonna see these really appealing Tsunako character designs ever again lol.

Before I had watched the show one of the most prominent criticisms I kept hearing about the show was the protagonist, Shu being unlikable. I even scoured out interviews of the show in the official website. Him being a scumbag seemed to have been a central part of his conceptualization. These are my thoughts regarding the show.

I think Shu is fine as a protagonist. He's decently compelling, and his scumminess is less emphasized after episode 3 when his circumstances are fully revealed. I don't often encounter a protagonist like Shu who is that scummy, so to me he kinda seemed refreshing but I get why people have hard time following him. The show didn't telegraph his hidden depths early in a good way, focusing too much on how much of a freeloader he is on Ayano and Kisara in a comedic light. By the time they reached Episode 3, most people had already solidified their image of Shu as a scumbag, so it was now harder to flip that impression around with his tragic reveal. I never felt this way, but I get why people complained about it.

My problem with the show is more so the tonal whiplash. Engage Kiss heavily promoted itself as a romcom between Shu, Ayano, and Kisara, then it starts becoming this supernatural drama midway.

There's probably a writer out there who can feasibly combine the romcom elements and the supernatural stuff, but I don't think Engage Kiss pulled this off properly. I prefer stories that advertise itself as one thing and actually sticks with that premise instead of changing it up midway. Engage Kiss doesn't really improve as a story just because it became more serious, it just switched genres and now the beginning parts just seem out of place, like foundations were set but they were never used again. Episode 9 ends on a pretty sad note. I'm surprised at how well they built Miles Morgan's character. I actually felt pretty sad over his death. Then that ED plays and it just doesn't fit. The ED and OP heavily emphasizes that Romcom aspect despite not being relevant anymore.

Everything else about the story is okay. Decent premise, decent setting. Nothing ground breaking, but decently compelling.

Ayano and Kisara are okay. Ayano is the one I felt pretty bad for. She's easy to get attached to, since she's responsible and pretty reasonable. And I guess I find her flustered reactions kinda cute. Kisara is okay? She's advertised as the Yandere, but I don't really care much for that archetype. She's just a tool Shu uses to achieve his goals. I don't really understand her reasons for liking Shu and it still isn't made clear after I finished the show. It's sort of the same thing with Ayano, but at least it's sort of implied that Shu used to be a thoughtful boyfriend to her before.

Sharon's art that I've seen over the internet was another reason I got interested in Engage Kiss back then. She's very attractive, and I was hoping she could be like Kurumi from Date A Live where she at least has an interesting relationship with Shu, but she's not really explored all that much. She doesn't seem to have much depth aside from providing fanservice. I don't really get what she's supposed to add to Shu's harem. She's literally just some woman Shu slept with lol.

I feel pretty sad over the failure of this multimedia project. I don't think it's some underrated masterpiece. The story is very messy and deserves its 6/10 mixed reception. The best compliment I can offer is that Tsunako's character designs are appealing, as usual, but it's a real damn shame we're never seeing them again.

[rudydalita]

I've never been a fan of people who dislike the Isu/ Sci-Fi stuff in Assassin's Creed and simply prefer the historical stuff. I know we all have a our preferences but I feel that the Isu lore makes things more interesting as is it gives the franchise an overarching story instead of being history simulator. People who prefer the historical stuff are often people who compartmentalize the historical stuff and the sci-fi stuff when in actuality the combination of the two is precisely what makes Assassin's Creed's world so interesting and unique. Many people really tend to look at AC games with a shallow lens only judging them based on the historical settings used by the games, but to me I've always viewed the historical settings as simply an instrument to tell the true story of Assassin's Creed. I've been waiting for a proper conclusion since the first game. Ever since they killed off Desmond in a very disappointing way, learning how the series was supposed to be a trilogy and that Ubisoft hijacked it to turn it into their own Call of Duty I've gotten really untinterested in the franchise beyond AC2. It's why I haven't played anything beyond AC4. 1 and 2 are really the only ones worth playing. Everything else was a cashgrab.

Unless there is a massive reform or restructuring at Ubisoft, or rebooting this franchise with a solid plan for the modern day, I really don't feel like touching any of the Assassin's Creed games beyond 2 unless Ubisoft finally gets their shit together. I'm already worried for that Splinter Cell remake.

[madame-helen]

[rudydalita]

Me with Ubisoft right now, especially after announcing the cancellation of that Sands of Time remake. This damn company just continues to dig its own grave.

[rudydalita]

It always irritates me occasionally passing by posts and videos trying to argue about whether the remakes or originals of the Resident Evil games are better than the other. I don't participate in such unproductive discussions anymore, but everytime I see the occasional post whining about which is better it always reminds me of this long held opinion I've had about the remake discourse and I want to lay it all down somewhere.

I feel like most people who are vehemently against remakes of Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4 etc. are simply just oldheads and purists that can't let go of their memory of the original game and simply judges the remakes based on how much it matches the original and not for what it is. Some of the stupidest critcisms I've heard about the RE4 remake is claiming censorship over Ashley's design just because she's not wearing a skirt anymore or how there's no ballistics line. Like, nigga, are you hearing yourself? It's a character design change you fucking idiot. How can you call that censorship? Or how this thing doesn't resemble this thing from the original therefore it's worse even though the new context provided by the remake justifies it. Like what the fuck are you even saying by this point? Are you even properly judging the game? Alot of these criticisms are really blinded by nostalgia and unfortunately a lot of these reviewers are prominent on Youtube.

I have nothing against people who prefer the originals. Everyone is entitled to feel however they feel, but I've never understood how looking down on people who prefer the remakes helps anyone. That's just being a close-minded asshole. Remakes are a chance for more people to get interested in something which should be a good thing. If it gets them interested in the original, good for them. If not, let them be. They aren't obligated to play the original if they really don't want to.

I've actually been meaning to play the original Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 4 for a while now, but I want to play it when I feel like it and want to get a new experience, not to compare it to the remake or because I want to take part in this shitty remake discourse.