Last week, Square Enix launched a teaser site with a countdown for a new project. At the time, opinions were divided over whether it was a new Star Ocean game or if Square Enix intended to troll fans by making it look like way.
No trolling today! Square Enix and Famitsu have revealed that Star Ocean 5 is under development by tri-Ace for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is set on a distant planet called Feycreed, it is inspired directly by Star Ocean 3 (Till the End of Time), and the subtitle’s meanings will become clear when you play the game. Its producer, Kobayashi, hopes to make more Star Ocean games after this. (Thanks, Gematsu, for these details and more!)
From the few story details that have been revealed, along with the new series trailer, Star Ocean 5 looks pretty cool.
Centuries after leaving Earth, after a multitude of trials, with the creation and spread of the ‘Galactic Federation’, humanity was on the verge of unified order and peace.
But the embers of conflict have begun to burn again.
Over 6,000 light years from Earth, on the unsettled planet, ‘Faicreed.’
Just as so many times before, the waves of history begin from a remote planet.”
That sounds pretty interesting to me. I’ve never played a Star Ocean game, although I have Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. I’ve heard mixed things, but fans seem generally positive toward the series, especially that game. So far, reactions to Star Ocean 5’s announcement have also been positive.
New screenshots, as well as several scans, have also been revealed.
Star Ocean 5 is set in between the second and third games. From what I understand, it’s possible to play Star Ocean games on their own because they all have separate plots, but I’d still like to have more familiarity with the series before I really get excited for this one. Like a majority of my anticipated games, then, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness has reminded me to get to work on my video game backlog!
Classic survival horror can be terrifying, tense, and brilliant.
It also can be very silly.
Silent Hill is probably one of the best examples of this bizarre contrast. While the series is steeped in dark imagery and psychological horror, its puzzles get a little weird. The supernatural elements explain some of them–if the world of the first Silent Hill is influenced by Alessa’s mind, for example, it makes sense that things significant to her will unlock doors–but even outside of the symbolic riddles, things are strange.
Just try to imagine one of Silent Hill 2‘s notoriously weird puzzles from a real-world perspective, rather than the context of a video game. As you’re exploring an apartment building, you happen to find a package of canned juice. Why on Earth would you pick it up, carry it upstairs, and toss it into the garbage chute? I mean, it’s great that doing so knocks an item you need for a puzzle down into the street… but why would you think to do that???
This is a can of light bulbs. A CAN of LIGHT BULBS.
The sheer number of broken doors in Silent Hill have led to running jokes in the fandom about the town’s desperate need for a locksmith, and of course, Silent Hill 2 believes light bulbs come in a can.
Classic Resident Evil, meanwhile, doesn’t descend to the same levels of weirdness, but it doesn’t have the supernatural angle to justify its puzzles, either. Hand-waving it by saying the designer was insane only goes so far. Just think about the amount of work the average citizen of Raccoon City–or worse, a servant in the Spencer Mansion–has to do to get from one place to another.
I have a slight reference to this in my horror/comedy novella The Accidental Zombie, when George draws on his video game knowledge to deal with a zombie apocalypse and suggests they should have been picking up random objects in case they need them to unlock doors.
I also hope to one day write a parody about some poor businessman who can’t get into his office each morning until he finds a specific book, uses the medallion inside to open a closet where he’ll find the key to the basement, goes to the basement and solves a riddle…
More recent survival horror games, like Alien: Isolation (which I’m close to finishing at last) have attempted a more realistic approach to survival horror mechanics with more environmental puzzles–upgrading a plasma torch to get through different types of doors, for example.
Now, I love Alien: Isolation and its approach to survival horror. It’s fantastic. But still… there’s something to be said for those older, sillier puzzles.
What are some of your favorite bits of absurdity from the survival horror genre?
Our mad quest to catch up on the entire Witcher saga before The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt comes out in May has brought us to The Time of Contempt, the second full novel in the Witcher Saga. The previous book, Blood of Elves, set the stage for Ciri’s story, which properly began in the short story collection Sword of Destiny.
(Although Sword of Destiny is currently available in English only as a fan translation, an official English version is coming out and can be pre-ordered now.)
When I reviewedBlood of Elves, my only criticism was that it didn’t feel like a complete story, just the setup for a larger plot. I’m happy to say The Time of Contempt does not suffer that problem.
The plot threads the previous book introduced are expanded upon, and it still sets the stage for future events, but its central plot feels more focused. While The Time of Contempt works toward the overarching saga with hints of prophecy and the Wild Hunt (we’ll get back to that in a minute), it concentrates on the political machinations and conflicts that are immediate threats, such as the growing power of the sinister empire Nilfgaard. It also feels much more balanced between its protagonists. While Ciri remains at the core, Geralt has a strong role in the story as well.
As in the previous Witcher books, this one brings together action, believable character interactions, a grim world, and sporadic moments of humor to craft an enjoyable narrative. Whether Geralt’s growing sarcasm at a dinner party full of spies or a truly unsettling scene with a character suffering dehydration, The Time of Contempt drew me into the story and didn’t let me go. It also has a few notable plot twists which I won’t spoil here.
One of my favorite parts was the brief introduction of the Wild Hunt. Previously, all I really knew about the Wild Hunt came from previews of The Witcher 3.
What are these guys? Other than “terrifying”?
Now, in folklore, the “Wild Hunt” is basically a group of spectral huntsmen galloping through the sky. It’s considered a sign of bad luck. The song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” is a reference to the Wild Hunt. The Great Hunt and the Heroes of the Horn in the Wheel of Time series may also be a reference, especially since the hunters in the Wild Hunt are often said to be gods or heroes, such as Woden or King Arthur. Of course, sometimes the Wild Hunt is depicted as evil, too.
I’m sure I could go on all day about folklore and different references to the Wild Hunt, so let’s get back to the Witcher saga’s Wild Hunt. Early on in The Time of Contempt it’s mentioned that the Wild Hunt has been seen, and then we get to see them for ourselves as Ciri flees through a storm filled with specters from her past–and the specters of the Wild Hunt.
The vague, ghastly shapes of riders become visible in the ribbon sliding across the sky. As they come closer and closer, they can be seen ever more clearly. Buffalo horns and ragged crests sway on their helmets, and cadaverous masks show white beneath them. The riders sit on horses’ skeletons, cloaked in ragged caparisons. A fierce gale howls among the willows, blades of lightning slash the black sky. The wind moans louder and louder. No, it’s not the wind. It’s ghostly singing.
The ghastly cavalcade turns and hurtles straight at her. The hooves of the spectral horses stir up the glow of the will ‘o the wisps suspended above the swamps. At the head of the cavalcade gallops the King of the Wild Hunt. A rusty helmet sways above his skull-like face, its gaping eye sockets burning with a livid flame. A ragged cloak flutters. A necklace, empty as an old peapod, rattles against the rusty cuirass, a necklace which, it is said, once contained precious stones, which fell out during the frenzied chase across teh heavens. And became stars…
It isn’t true! It doesn’t exist! It’s a nightmare, a phantom, an illusion! I’m only imagining this!
The King of the Wild Hunt spurs on his skeleton steed and erupts in wild, horrifying laughter.
O, Child of the Elder Blood! You belong to us! You are ours! Join our procession, join our hunt! We will race, race unto the very end, unto eternity, unto the very end of existence! You are ours, starry-eyed daughter of chaos! Join us; learn the joy of the hunt! You are ours. You are one of us! Your place is among us!
‘No!’ she cries. ‘Be gone! You are corpses!’
The King of the Wild Hunt laughs, the rotten teeth snapping above his rusted gorget. The skull’s eye sockets glitter lividly.
Yes, we are corpses. But you are death.”
You know, somehow I don’t think that’s Woden or King Arthur.
What a passage! As soon as I reached that, I couldn’t wait to learn more about the Wild Hunt–and just what’s up with Ciri, our mysterious child of prophecy.
That little tease is the Wild Hunt’s only real presence in The Time of Contempt, but that’s a good thing. If I’d read the book when it first came out, instead of after learning about the third game, I wouldn’t have realized the Wild Hunt’s significance. It serves as a tiny hint of stranger things on the horizon, and I think it works very well.
As for Ciri, we get some definite answers about here in this book, but I won’t spoil them for you. Let’s just say… things are going to get interesting.
The Time of Contempt is an excellent continuation of the Witcher saga, and a stronger novel than its predecessor. If you’re interested in Geralt, Ciri, the Witcher story in general, or just dark fantasy, give it a read.
