Welcome back! Periodically, I post helpful tips for horror games. Modern video games can be confusing, challenging, and overwhelming. I don’t want casual gamers and newcomers to flee from the gaming ecosystem because they’re not accustomed to the mechanics, design, and gameplay. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a good game with a unique storytelling system, but it has some flaws that might drive players away if they don’t have a few hints. The game takes place in the American colonies during the 17th century. You switch between two banishers who vanquish ghosts from haunting the living. Hence, the gameplay will focus on combat, summoning spells, exploring the environment, and interacting with other characters. If you’re interested in folk horror, Banishers might be a decent choice for you. Here is my survival guide to help you through the game.
Swap Characters Often This is an essential skill. You play as Red, a human banisher and apprentice. The second playable character is Antea, the lead banisher. Antea dies early in the game and she becomes a ghost. The story revolves around their journey to save New Eden and send Antea to the afterlife. Red uses weapons to fight enemies and Antea has supernatural powers. They have separate health bars and inflict different types of damage against enemies. You can quickly swap between both characters to take down mobs of specters. It’s important to learn this ability because a single character isn’t going to survive against larger hoards and more powerful enemies. I can tell it’s part of the game design. Talk to the Villagers Whenever Possible Don’t Nod and Focus Entertainment are infamous for their narrative stories. That means you’re going to spend a lot of time talking to the settlers. You don’t have to worry about getting bored because the story is very interesting and the supporting characters have a lot of secrets. Speaking to the villagers will also unlock many side quests, haunted cases, resources, and segments of the main story. That means you can’t avoid conversations. Like I said, it’s actually quite interesting. Prioritize Haunted Cases These cases might seem optional, but you need spirit points to increase Antea’s powers. The game will provide a large quantity of haunted cases and you can pick any number of them. They always involve a human who is being haunted by a ghost, which reveals character development and new story beats. You can take a break from the main story at any time and explore various haunted cases. Nearly all of these cases will include a combination of exploration, combat, puzzles, and dialogue. It’s a good way to explore the landscape, pick up resources, and learn more about the colonists. Let’s just say New Eden is being haunted by a vengeful, unstoppable force for a reason. You’ll find out more information by pursuing these cases. You Actions Have Consequences Main story missions, side quests, and haunted cases require you to eliminate the ghost or human at the end of each mission. You can blame the human and Antea will drain their life force, killing the person. This action is important for one of the oath options if you want Antea to come back to life at the end of the story. You can also banish the ghost, sending them violently to the afterlife, possibly to Hell. Another option is ascending the ghost. This action will send the ghost peacefully to the afterlife, perhaps absolving a pathway to Heaven. Banishing and ascending ghosts will contribute to a different oath. If you want to send Antea to the afterlife, banishing and ascending ghosts are the correct choices. When you kill or send any character away, the game will show major consequences, both positive and negative. Some characters will disappear from the game, you may unlock additional side missions, characters may become favorable or upset with you, prices might go up in a shop, etc. You’re going to see changes in the game that affect the story. Think carefully because your decisions are permanent. There’s No Stamina Gauge, So Take Advantage of It You can run, block, parry, and dodge with unlimited energy. That’s good news because you can save time by running through the environment, reaching your destination much more quickly. You can also block or parry enemy attacks throughout an entire fight. When in doubt, spam the dodge button when enemies attack. These tactics are a good idea to remember when you’re fighting enemies or traversing the environment. It will make the progression and combat more manageable and quite frankly, more entertaining. Upgrade Your Stats at Bonfires Bonfires are one of the most important elements in the game. You’ll find a number of bonfires in each village and through the environment. Bonfires are the only place where you can upgrade your character abilities, weapons, and equipment. The game becomes more challenging through the story, so you need to have stronger weapons, durable clothes, and more abilities during combat. You’ll gather skill points by completing missions and defeating specters, but you can’t upgrade anything until you reach a bonfire. What if you don’t like your current skill set? The game doesn’t penalize you for changing your skill tree, so experiment at your heart’s content. On the map, you’ll find various bonfires scattered through the environment. They start as a question mark on the map, but they become clearly visible when you get closer. Bonfires are also the only way to fast travel from one location to the next. Sometimes you have to cover long stretches of ground, which can feel tedious. Just hurry to the nearest bonfire and teleport to the next area. Keep an Eye on the Map I already mentioned question marks that appear on the map. When you get somewhat closer, these question marks become visible icons, such as treasure chests, enemy nests, bonfires, elite enemy encounters, breakable barriers, etc. Exploring the environment is the best way to gather resources, find new missions, and gain skill points. Your character will level up and have enough items for story progression without breaking a sweat. It’s also excellent practice against various enemies, so I guarantee your fighting skills will improve as well. Everything is on the map, including your main objectives, villages, and optional locations. The environment is surprisingly big, but it also has many barriers. So, you can use the map to navigate the best pathway to your destination. Don’t forget to use the map for bonfire locations because fast traveling is a great way to save time. Your Have Unlimited Inventory Space Thank goodness Banishers doesn’t have limitations on inventory space. You have the good fortune of picking up any weapon, resource, or quest item without worrying about inventory management. I highly recommend picking up every item along your journey. Useful items are strewn through the environment, both in the wild and villages. Items tend to glow when you come near them, so pick up visible items during every opportunity. You use many items for summing rituals, upgrading equipment, and progressing through the story, so this tactic is both practical and necessary. It’s also worth mentioning that you can snoop through people’s houses and shops without repercussions. You can literally steal anything in plain sight, including money and resources. Surprisingly, the merchants and homeowners won’t scold you for these actions. The game also encourages you to read everyone’s diaries, mail, ledgers, and personal letters. Apparently, it pays to be a thief and busybody. Follow the Yellow Brick Road Many video games implement a hint system to help players navigate through the environment. That’s good for people like me who don’t have the best sense of direction. In this case, items will have yellow paint or stains that will indicate if you can interact with them. You’ll find yellow spots on ledges for climbing, narrow paths for crossing, gaps you can jump across, tunnels you can crawl through, etc. I wish the traversal was better, but at least the game drops plenty of hints. Breakable items also have a shade of yellow. You can break boxes, barrels, and barriers to gather money, resources, and open entrances to new areas. Remember the color yellow or you’ll be completely lost and confused. Save Your Progress in Separate Slots I must say, Don’t Nod has a lot of performance issues and bugs in their games. Their previous adventure horror game, Vampyr, was unplayable because it had so many glitches and hard crashes. During my Banishers campaign, the game crashed a few times and I encountered a serious glitch that halted my progression. One of the haunted cases was supposed to prompt dialogue options between Red and an NPC, but the scene never triggered. I also was stuck because the game wouldn’t allow me to leave the area. Luckily, I had multiple save files. I returned to the previous manual save and avoided that particular mission. Don’t Nod probably needs an update for that quest. So, it’s a good idea to save your progress in many separate files. If you encounter a serious problem, you can always return to a prior chapter. You can save your progress at any point manually, so take advantage of it. Also, the game automatically saves your progress frequently, which is good if the game crashes for some reason. Stick to Your Oath Banishers expects you to choose an oath and stick with it. You’ll have one of the “Bad” endings if you don’t commit to your oath. You can pick one of two options. Red can help Antea ascend to the afterlife when they cleanse New Eden or he can help Antea become alive again by absorbing the souls of living people. The second option is a predatory path with many consequences, but it’s still better if you stick to whichever oath you choose. It’s very difficult to remain consistent because the story tempts you to stray. For example, you may feel compelled to sacrifice evil people, but that’s not a good idea if you want to ascend Antea. Likewise, you must murder innocent people if you want to bring Antea back to life. Sorry, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Pick the most desired path and remain consistent. Avoid Items from Merchants Technically, you can buy all kinds of useful items from merchants, including weapons, outfits, and other resources. However, items are quite expensive in the shops and I never found anything particularly rare or valuable. I never bought anything in the stores and it didn’t hinder my progression at all. You can easily gather resources through the environment, upgrade your equipment, and engage in summoning spells. I saw little or no difference between rare equipment and everything I owned from the beginning of the story. You can buy outfits or weapons for cosmetic reasons, but it won’t matter in terms of gameplay. Keep in mind, it’s always a good idea to visit merchants for dialogue choices, just like the other colonists. Some of the merchants will also give you side quests and haunted cases. Experiment with Difficulty Settings This game has five difficulty settings, which gives players a number of options. Based on my experience, it’s probably best to start on normal difficulty and adjust as the game progresses. You can freely change the difficulty at any time. If the game feels slow and simple, you can bump up the difficulty. On the flip side, you can lower the difficulty during challenging boss fights and large enemy hoards. You won’t have extra perks by choosing harder difficulties. In fact, I don’t recommend the highest difficulty setting at all. Most players will find it frustrating and the combat has too much grinding anyway. I’m also going to say something controversial. Most gamers aren’t good enough to play efficiently on the craziest difficulty level for any game. I’ve seen enough streamers and YouTube videos to know it’s true. Conquering Optional Enemies Will Give You Valuable Resources Spectral enemies might seem daunting, but they’re an important part of the game. After all, you’re a banisher to vanquishes ghosts and demonic entities for a living. You’re a seriously awesome fighter. Take the opportunity to conquer enemy nests and elite enemy encounters. They drop resources that are essential to upgrade your outfits and weapons. If you can’t upgrade your gear, later missions and enemies will feel overwhelming. Also, these optional encounters are another good way to practice combat. Some of your later encounters will feel trivial if you conquer many enemy nests and mini bosses beforehand. Beware the Point of No Return The third act of the game gives you a very important prompt on the screen. Basically, it’s a point of no return message. If you choose to proceed past a certain point, you can’t finish side missions, level up your character’s skills, gather more resources, or upgrade your equipment. It’s the endgame. Choose the “No” option if you’re not ready to play the final chapter. Banishers doesn’t have a time limit and you’re not going to win anything for being a speed runner. Take your time to finish anything that looks interesting or valuable on the map. That’s the end of my guide for Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. It should give you plenty of tricks and ideas to maneuver through the game. I’m checking out other horror games this year, including the remake of Alone in the Dark. If I finish these games, I might post more survival guides. Keep watching for more content this year related to gaming, my writing progress, and any news that sparks my fancy. I know 2024 is becoming increasingly tense in the political space, so treat each other with respect and adapt to any changes we encounter. Everybody is allowed to have their own options, values, and belief system. On that note, take care and I’ll see you again next week.
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Greetings! Quite a bit of news and rumors are circulating in regards to the big three console makers. Speculation is always a good way to develop false hope, but Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are bringing more information to the public. It’s painting a very interesting and unpredictable future for consoles along with other aspects of the video game industry. All three companies have plenty of merit and it seems like they’re going to have their own evolution for each brand. Check out my thoughts below.
Sony and PlayStation PlayStation Needs a More Profitable Model for AAA Games The PS5 has a plethora of successful AAA games, ranging from Marvel’s Spider-Man, God of War, Gran Turismo, and many more. Yet their business model doesn’t appear to be profitable. How on Earth does that happen? Sony must be spending money on AAA games that exceeds any possible form of profitability. Like many news outlets and critics say, the AAA model isn’t sustainable. That doesn’t mean AAA games are disappearing from the market. Sony and other developers just need to rethink their strategy. For example, nearly every developer in the industry laid off a ton of employees. It’s sad, but true. They will find other methods to close the monetary gap, such as making games shorter and more linear. Also, Sony will likely churn out fewer AAA titles each year. Get Ready for the Live Service Smorgasbord Yes, Sony is jumping on the live service bandwagon and it’s here to stay. Helldivers II is proving to be very successful, so far. I’m willing to bet live service games will encompass anywhere between one third to half of their annual market. That’s not a great situation for a single player gamer, like me, but PlayStation will continue to have other games as well. Why are developers obsessed with live service games? Technically, popular live games can reap large amounts of profit for many years. Look at Fortnite and Destiny. Audiences are tired of live service games, so Sony needs to be creative with this gamble. They Believe Consumers Will Throw Endless Money at the PlayStation I’m pretty sure Sony will make some foolish mistakes. Sony doesn’t think anyone can overcome them in the console wars. That’s probably true, but it doesn’t mean Sony is invincible. Unfortunately, Sony might hike up prices to unreasonable extents. For example, some of their AAA games might be $100. I’m talking about the base game without extra goodies. They seem to believe anyone will buy their games, regardless of the price. I’m sure there’s a monetary cap for many people. In fact, gaming is already experiencing a decline in players because it’s an expensive hobby. Alternatively, they might divide AAA games into multiple $70 releases. The Final Fantasy VII remake is already a good example. Sony is Supporting Physical Media Despite a major decline in physical sales, Sony appears to be supporting physical media at the moment. Nearly every first party PlayStation game has a physical release. Many smaller third party games also have a physical option. I don’t believe this business model will change any time soon. The next PlayStation console will probably include a disc drive. Granted, the next console might not have the disc drive included in the package. We might need to purchase the disc drive separately and attach it. Why would Sony adapt such a weird option? Because it’s another item you must buy. Remember, Sony is the console maker who’s milking your money more than anyone else. First Party Games Could Migrate to Other Platforms There’s a lot of controversy about Microsoft bringing their first party games to rival platforms. Guess what? Sony will adapt the same idea. I definitely think we’re going to see most first party PlayStation games on PC. Quite of a few of them will probably debut day one on PC and Steam Deck. The longest wait time for the PC will probably be one year. Also, they will probably bring smaller titles to the next Nintendo console. I’m sure the Switch successor will be pretty powerful, so this could be a good way to bring in a bigger audience and profits. They’ll deny first party games from the next Xbox console because it’s a more significant rival, but everything else is fair game. Microsoft and Xbox Just Throw Stuff at the Wall and See What Sticks Microsoft needs to figure out how to build their audience and maintain a successful business model. That means we’re going to see all kinds of strategies. Some will work out very well and other ideas might fall flat. For example, they’re already bringing certain types of first party games to the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. It makes sense for smaller titles and live service games. I imagine we’ll see a bigger emphasis on cloud gaming and possibly a handheld version of the Xbox. More accurately, it will probably be a handheld PC like the Steam Deck. I guess we’ll see what happens. The Xbox Needs to Reach a Broader Audience According to the toxic PlayStation fandom, Microsoft is bringing some of their first party games to other consoles and now the console wars are done. The truth is, Microsoft already knows they can’t beat the PlayStation. So, they’re adapting a different strategy. They just need to have a large, relevant player count. Prepare for different kinds of releases, such as day one releases on Game Pass, AAA console exclusives, Xbox apps on your tv screen for cloud gaming, select cross-platform releases, a mixture of digital and physical media, etc. You can even subscribe to Ubisoft+ on the Xbox. Honestly, I think it’s an intelligent strategy. The next console generation might be a lot more profitable. Game Pass Remains Their Flagship Project It doesn’t look like the Game Pass craze is going away. That’s good because I really enjoy Game Pass. You can’t beat the price for so many games, even when the cost goes up for subscriptions. PlayStation+ might have more subscribers because the PS5 audience is vastly bigger, but Game Pass is definitely the more popular service. It’s also one of the few components that keeps players in the Xbox ecosystem. I doubt anyone bought the Xbox Series X exclusively to play cross-platform games and rare exclusive releases. I’m sure Microsoft will expand Game Pass with the entire Activision Blizzard library. We’ll probably see a huge change in 2025. Microsoft Will Continue to Make Consoles Based on recent news, it sounds like Microsoft will continue to make consoles next generation. That’s good because it maintains a certain amount of competition. It’s hard to say if the next Xbox will be digital only. Despite leaks, we don’t know what Microsoft is planning. They won’t exclude physical collector’s entirely. The next console might include a disc drive. Alternatively, they might find a way to allow gamers to migrate the data from their physical games to the digital ecosystem. That sounds very complex, but Microsoft might have the ability to make it happen. Digital Media Will Have a Bigger Emphasis It seems like Microsoft will have a bigger focus on digital games than the other console makers. Game Pass completely eliminated the need for physical media on the Xbox. All first party games come to Game Pass on day one, which will include Activision Blizzard and Bethesda shortly. Many third party games come day one to Game Pass as well. Along the way, many other games drop on Game Pass, including long forgotten titles, indie games, releases that are less than a year old, etc. They also made it perfectly clear that cloud gaming is an important part of the future, even though current technology isn’t great for games via streaming. Fewer retailers are selling physical media and many developers are only releasing their disc games on PlayStation and Switch. So, digital media is the future, whether we like it or not. Nintendo and the Switch Successor The Switch’s Successor is Coming Soon Supposedly, the successor to the Nintendo Switch is coming in 2025. That makes sense because the Switch is much older than the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. It also has very outdated hardware. So, a new console seems like the most logical business choice. The Switch is insanely popular, which means the next console will probably be similar except with upgraded hardware and features. At one point, I thought the Nintendo Switch would become the highest selling console of all time, but that’s probably not going to happen now. Will Nintendo’s new console be cheaper or more expensive? It’s hard to say, but Nintendo will guarantee a profit one way or another. Nintendo Will Copy Many Elements from the Switch The Switch was truly lightening in a bottle. It would be foolish if Nintendo went in a completely different direction with the new console. The executives at Nintendo have plenty of business savvy, so they will probably retain many popular elements from the Switch. I assume the next console will be a handheld device or a hybrid. They’ll continue making games from popular franchises, such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, etc. We’ll probably see special edition consoles, continual development for the Nintendo Online subscription, cute little carry bags, and a zillion accessories. Everything that made the Switch popular will apply to the next console. You can rest at ease. They Will Find a Way to Surprise Us Somehow, the next console will have to establish its own identity. Each generation has some surprises. The Switch, DS, and Wii had interesting elements that were quite successful. Other consoles flatlined, such as the Wii U. Nintendo will find a way to surprise consumers. Perhaps, they’ll move away from cartridges and commit to digital releases only. Maybe the next console will be backwards compatible with Switch games. The next console might be a unique hybrid, such as a home console like the PS5 or Xbox Series X with a detachable handheld device. Anything is possible with Nintendo. The Upcoming Nintendo Console Will Dominate the Market The Switch is a real juggernaut. Everybody raves about the PlayStation, but it’s hard to beat Nintendo in the long run. Ultimately, Nintendo knows how to hook an audience and keep their attention through an entire console generation. That’s a surprisingly difficult task to maintain. I’m not well versed in entrepreneurship and business management, but Nintendo is quite savvy. Time will tell if the next console will match the Switch’s success and profitability. Regardless, it will probably outsell the next PlayStation and Xbox. I’m sure the console wars will be very dramatic during the next several years. That’s the end of today’s post. What do you think about the console market’s future? Do you have any predictions? Leave a comment. I’m sure we’re going to see a lot of changes in the video game industry, both good and bad. The weather is still quite tumultuous in many areas, so be careful. Take care of yourselves and game on! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2019
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