Tag Archives: Dauntless

Blog: Calm Before the Storm – 06/05/19

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Next week the video game world goes bonkers with announcements and news that tantalize us with all the shiny new things to come in the near future.  So before that happens, I wanted to just do one last games roundup before the storm hits and my motivation to continue playing these titles dries up.

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THE OUTER WILDS

The Outer Wilds is a game I desperately want to put more time into.  The basic premise is that you’re a creature whose people have figured out the most ramshackle way to explore their solar system.  They’ve hobbled together spaceships out of wood and glue, and have conscripted you into their space program to have you explore the depths of space and learn about a mysterious race of technologically advanced aliens that have essentially vanished.  Or at least that’s what I’m aware of so far.

The game is purely about exploring and learning as you follow the many weaving and winding story threads that bring you to every planet in your solar system.  Each planet is hand crafted and has it’s fair share of hidden secrets and stories to uncover.  There isn’t much in the realm of gameplay aside from steering your ship and trying not to fall in big holes or run out of oxygen, but the sense of tension this game is capable of instilling is unreal.  That and the mystery gets really good after about the first thirty minutes of playing.

I am so excited to see where the game goes from here.

DAUNTLESS

I’ve written about Dauntless before, so my thoughts on the game as an early access product are pretty well documented.  But, it did recently get a full release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, which warrants a little bit of discussion.

Since it released, I’ve only been able to play it once.  The servers have been getting hammered by the ridiculously high amount of people trying to play the game.  That’s a good sign for the creators I bet, but less fun for me.  But from the one session I did play, the game is still good, and something that I’ll be checking in with periodically.

X-MEN DESTINY

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I actively went to the mall the other day to buy this hunk of shit game from 2011.  I remember it being bad, and surprise, it didn’t age like fine wine.

It sucks too, because X-Men Destiny has a cool concept, where you basically choose a new mutant to become an X-Man, and go on adventures with them.  Unfortunately, everything else in the game sucks shit.  The combat requires you to know just how to hit the X button over and over.  The art is terrible and the game runs like garbage.  Every ounce of “quest design” in the game is lifeless and uninspired.  From tip to toe, this entire game is bad… but I still wanted to play it again.

That’s been my past week in video games.  High highs, and low lows.  But with E3 around the corner, who knows what I’ll be doing with my time outside of just writing things for this website along with the occasional snarky tweet.

THIS IS THE ONLY PICTURE I COULD FIND WITH DING DONGS IN IT!

Oh, and real quick, there’s a game on Steam that’s currently listed as a “top seller” called Bonecraft whose presence on Steam fascinates me.  Not because I’m eager to play it, but just how awful it looks.  The pictures are of Orcs and elves and stuff just boning down.  And I just watched the Steam trailer and it’s worse than anything I’ve ever seen before.  There’s penis monsters and people doing George W. Bush impressions, so I think this game is from like 2006 and is meant to parody World of Warcraft… but with dicks and stuff.

I don’t think I’m exited for E3 or even video games in general anymore.  Maybe I’ll take up knitting.

Early Impressions: Dauntless

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Let’s just get the obvious comparison out of the way from the jump; Dauntless is basically a more streamlined, more accessible, Monster Hunter game that strips out a lot of the complexity.  Because of this more simplistic approach, I’ve found myself gravitating towards Dauntless in a way that I didn’t expect.

For the uninitiated, Dauntless is a cooperative monster hunting game, in which you and your party go out into the world in search of various creatures to slash, smash and blast apart in an effort to collect their parts, and fashion more efficient monster dispatching weapons and armor.

The core loop is pretty straightforward and fun, but it’s the stuff around the edges that really do the heavy lifting in terms of appeal in my eyes.

I hate to keep drudging up this comparison, but it’s something I feel that’s important to highlight.  Dauntless and Monster Hunter and two sides of the same coin, offering up similar experiences for different kinds of players.  Monster Hunter relishes in the details and sweats the details in a way that Dauntless does not.

From the complexity of the world, the abilities you have at your disposal, item management and more, Monster hunter offers a more robust and granular experience.  Which is great for the people who are looking for that.  But for people like myself, with more of a curiosity about Monster Hunter, Dauntless provides an easier ramp for players new to the monster hunting genre.

From the jump, Dauntless gave the impression of being too shallow due to the size of the maps, the limited amount of missions, and lack of weapon variety.  Instead of letting me choose from every available weapon from the start, I was limited to melee based armaments.  After a few missions though, Dauntless revealed that it has ranged combat in the form of guns.  It was a little thing, but the gentle slope of exposing more of the mechanics worked for me in a way that didn’t feel like over tutorialization, but encouragement to step out of the comfort zone it had helped me establish.

I also really appreciate the first few levels of upgrades and craftable items.  Dauntless obscures a lot of the more complex options and doles them out at a pretty good pace.  Early in the game, Dauntless introduces you to the idea of tonics that when consumed on a hunt, can offer different effects.  The first one they show you is one that makes you faster for a period of time.  And for a while, that’s one of the only things you can craft.

Whereas Monster Hunter feels like diving into the deep end of the pool, Dauntless is you gently wading into it.  I’m still early in my time with Dauntless and have found a lot to love thus far, but that isn’t to say it’s without any faults.

So far, I’ve found that there’s less actual hunting, and more walking into the clearing where you can see the only other animated creature in it.  It wasn’t until a little later on that the zones got bigger and more complex, but even then, there isn’t anything else moving in the world aside from you and the monster.  Although I did wander around a zone for a while only to see a monster climb out the ground to attack me.  It was neat, but the game might as well have just shoved us into a closed arena instead of making me wander aimlessly to trigger the beast.

I also found that there isn’t a lot of complexity or variety in your move-set.  Maybe that changes later on, but up front, you have 2 or 3 combos per weapon, and a special ability or two based on how you kit your character out.  I wouldn’t say the combat is boring, but it is repetitive.  I’m sure that changes as the monsters get more varied and have more attacks and phases, but as it stands now, most fights break down into a war of attrition.

All things considered, I really am enjoying Dauntless.  I don’t find it to be overly aggressive with pushing micro-transactions or painfully grind heavy, but I’m still fairly early on in my time with it.  It’s also free to play, which is a pretty attractive price in my mind.

Dauntless is currently in open beta and available for download through their website playdauntless.com and will release exclusively to the Epic Store on May 21st.