GamesRadar:
The rampant popularity of Pokemon's enduring dual-release format has inspired plenty of creature-collecting games to split one game into two for the sake of collectibility and extra profits. DemiKids Light and Dark, Digimon World Dawn and Dusk, Robopon Sun, Star, and Moon, Medabots: Metabee and Rokusho, Yo-kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Troupe and White Dog Corps - the list goes on and on. You've also got card-trading games built off the same model, like SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash and the Mega Man Battle Network series. But then there are outliers like the recent Fire Emblem Fates, with its Birthright and Conquest iterations, that share the same basic gameplay yet tell two unique variants of a unifying story.
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is a captivating farming simulation game released for the PlayStation 1 back in 1999. It has etched itself into the annals of gaming history, as well as being the spiritual predecessor for numerous similar games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley.
I put countless hours into this game... I think this is the one where I accidentally killed my dog from only feeding it nuts and berries, lol. Can't recall, as I played so many different Harvest Moon games throughout the years growing up.
Shuhei Yoshida chats with Yoko Taro, Yosuke Saito, and Keiichi Okabe about their work in the NieR series.
One thing about the action game genre that has less evolved and to an extent has even gotten worse is the use of camera in most action games.
Good read. Some of the games mentioned in the article really do put you through your paces in terms of getting the camera right.
Manipulating the camera in over the shoulder view games is as much a part of the game play as it is in a first-person shooter. It's not a crutch to have a close-up camera it's a design decision to give the look and feel the developer is going for. God of Wars no cut camera is a feature many loved and gave a great connect to the action and story. Would Last of us's story have the impact it does if it was top-down isometric? I doubt it.
This article feels like an ad for Bayonetta by the end.
Cameras pulled way back so the characters are tiny is fine if that's what you're going for but it doesn't mean all games should be like that.
I don't have a lot to add to this but I'll say that whenever there's an option to do so I'll always have the camera close in.
Football games are a good example, yes if you zoom out to a birds eye view you can see everything unfolding like a general on a battlefield, and you'll be effective, but it's not fun to play that way in terms of enjoyable gameplay or immersion.
Wow this writer sucks at modern action games. Controlling the camera with the right stick has been a thing since the original DualShock, it's been commonplace ever since.
If you have trouble with God if War '18 and Dark Souls camera angles, then you're pretty much bad at controlling the camera period.
I prefer having the camera up close too for the most part, I wanna see more detail and be up close to the action.
