Well, I officially am hanging this game up for now, as of yesterday. I finished my NG+ experiment/fun run, and want to play other things, so I’m going to put this ol’ boy to rest for the time being. Wanted to do a quick “appreciation” write up for the game:
Been playing since Mid November, so I’ve been at this game for a little over 5 months now. In that time I think I’ve learned more things than I have about any other game I’ve ever played, and this is for a title I was already familiar with. This, along with many other(IMO) greats in the genre, you have to go in with an open mind. I came back to the game actively seeking things that would make it stick out from the pack.
I don’t think in the past I gave enough credit to the match system. It is truly brilliant to me. It really feels like the evolution of how knockdowns were handled in RE4. The fact that enemies can attack you while grounded, or while rising, and do it at varying speeds and with different attack animations just makes this system that much better. Especially on my NURs, going for a match throw was always a little bit calculated and risky. It wasn’t a case of “well that enemy is down, free damage”, I was still in danger, no matter the state of the enemy. True survival horror. The matches encouraging group knockdowns and kills is also a way to add special emphasis to most weapons, and I absolutely adore how the fire/match system is so interlocked with the game’s arsenal. I know some people don’t like it, but the fact that enemies can spring at you for a desperation attack before being killed by fire is excellent; it keeps the tension up, even after you think you’ve won. It could be seen as unfair, but as long you use fire-based attacks with the intention of keeping your guard up, it’s perfectly fair. Tense, dynamic, efficient...just brilliant.
Need to give a huge shout out to the game’s arena and scenario design, which are fucking incredible. The game seldom locks you in a room and makes you kill everything(not that there’s anything wrong with that), instead there’s a huge variety of different level layouts(tight hallways, mazes with traps, outdoor areas with different buildings, areas with traps and hiding spots) that you can use to just set up your own personal death traps for the enemies. The empty level or wave based fatigue never sets in here, since the game is relentless with its variety.
To add to this, the preset traps really made me think of how games can approach environmental hazards and interactions. Games usually just have “shoot this barrel” as the extent of their environmental uses, but these traps are handled so damn well. I love that the traps are a danger to you and the enemies, and taking them apart to make your own traps add a layer to it I just fucking love. Sometimes, I’ll shoot the time bombs when enemies are nearby, others I’ll take the tomb bombs and make my own shock bolts, because I would prefer to do that when the right kind of environment comes up. Bear traps I can lure enemies into for a guaranteed match throw, but maybe I’d rather take two bear traps to make a freeze bolt so I can group shatter that difficult mob coming up. Just excellent.
And the weapons. The bow and shotgun alone are probably my favorite weapons ever in a shooter, but then you add in a handgun with bodypart enemy reactions(2x leg shot for knockdown, 1 to running enemy, arm to drop weapon, stomach for lock-in-place hitstun), a 60% crit chance, and an amazing synergy with the match system? Just gold. I can’t believe how evenly I swapped between all of my weapons, both in a NUR and an upgrade run. The bow does it all: single enemy stuns, group stuns, opportunities for matches, opportunities for sneak kills, single target damage, group damage, boss stagger, boss stun, boss slow, long range fire(only way to achieve this), damage traps, stun traps, boss spawn traps, etc etc. The pinnacle of weapon design in shooters IMO.
I don’t think it was until my last challenge run where I really appreciated the enemies. The amount of animations, details, and reactions enemies have is ridiculous. Not only that, it varies depending on the enemy model: fat haunted put their arms up to block headshots, have really quick melees but run slower, tend to have longer weapons, while female haunted react to shots by stopping and then sprinting at you, will attack more wildly, will crouch walk to avoid headshots, etc. Enemies will take any opportunity to react and I literally never felt safe. Like I said, enemies attack while knocked down and while getting up, but do it in different ways to always throw me off. Again, I think people could say that’s unfair or you should be rewarded by knocking down enemies, but...isn’t it time we try new things in these genres? Not everything needs iframes. Not everything should be guaranteed just because we’re used to it, in my opinion of course.
Obviously there’s some things I’m not a fan of(every game has its flaws, after all). I wish melees were more consistent, since it seems like some enemies tank your hits with no real way to make them suffer hitstun. I also wish that the environmental stuff early in the game(hay bales and oil patches) were more prevalent later on. These are probably there in the early game to compensate for your lack of firepower, but that option would have been nice later on too.
I could seriously talk about this damn thing all day but I’ll just leave it at that for now. It’s going to be hard playing non-Mikami TPS from now on if I’m being honest. I played Control after getting back into this and I found the game absolutely dreadful: braindead, thoughtless, completely lacking in substance and detail. I can’t imagine other games won’t feel the same to me. I can honestly say that I think this is my new favorite combat system ever. It’s rough, doesn’t always perform well, and is cheap at first; but my fucking god, the depth and amount of raw satisfaction is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
That’s all for now. Sorry for the dumb post.
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For real though, even Vanquish has some similarities to these other two games, in terms of detailed the enemies are, and how the weapons operate(shotgun is amazing for stun and knockback, leg shots will make enemies fall over, explosions are amazing and fire overheats Sam, etc.). As different as they are in terms of pace and theme, you can find underlying ideas in them all. 
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