LogFAQs > #951752138

Gall posted...

I totally agree about procedural generation. It can feel like a real missed opportunity when a game has fun movement/combat/etc, but the level design doesnt properly take advantage of it. I find that I like procedural generation the smaller the scope of the randomness.

I think that's become a very pronounced feeling for me. I was interested in Eagle Island when that was coming out but when I found out it had procedurally generated levels and rougelike elements I felt kind of let down, like the falconry concept had been put to waste because it was connected to those mechanics.

I was running like 5 different idols at my peak, but I stuck with just 2 after I had to restart that one level. My impression is that they really aren't that necessary for the rewards they include and serve more as a mechanism to let players challenge themselves a little more from the second playthrough onward.

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I finished Bastion. The last few levels and ending were definitely really cool. It's revealed that the Calamity was caused by the Kid's country trying to wipe out the Ura, and Zulf was smashing up the Bastion as a form of revenge. It turns out that a decent number of his countrymen survived and they come back to attack the place. I lost my pet blob and bird in the raid, sadly. To get the very last shard, you end up going into the Ura territory, where it's revealed that everything the narrator has been saying to the player has been him telling the game's story to Zia as they wait for the Kid to beat the last level, which explains why some of the references to her were in second person. The function of the fully-upgraded Bastion is to set things back to the way they were pre-calamity, but it also has the option to give up on going back and take the few survivors somewhere new. You're given two choices at the end of the game: whether to save Zulf when his countrymen attack him for leading the Kid to them or to leave him behind, and what to do with the Bastion. I chose to save Zulf and to evacuate.

I thought the whole moment where you're dragging Zulf along and the few remaining Ura fire on you at first but then eventually just let you pass, and the narrative device where you finally hear Zia's voice right at the end were both really cool. The central dilemma about what to do with the Bastion is interesting. On the whole I thought it was quite an emotional ending, and probably the best part of the game.

Final Thoughts on Bastion coming tomorrow.

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I'm playing every game from GotD 2020! Games Completed: 19/129
Currently Playing: Deus Ex: Human Revolution