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As You Know I'm Pro, Part 2 - Let's Play Wanted: Dead What is Wanted: Dead? Wanted: Dead is a third person shooter/melee hybrid developed by Soleil and published by 110 Industries. The core concept existed as an idea being shopped around by Sergei Kolobashkin, CEO of 110, until finding a partnership with a studio formed by many ex-Team Ninja developers who split from Tecmo alongside Tomonobu Itagaki in 2008. Set in an alternate near future version of Hong Kong, where consumer technology has not progressed beyond that of the early '90s, the game focuses on Lt. Hannah Stone and the Zombie Unit, a special task force in the Hong Kong police made up of war criminals serving as a form of rehabilitation. A vaguely similar concept to classic cyberpunk anime like Cyber City Oedo 808, but the world and characters that inhabit it are significantly more eclectic and strange. Regardless, this is a game that is all about the merging of two gameplay styles: a melee action game, and a third person shooter. Both styles are integrated seamlessly and allow for effortless switching between the two as you fight with a customizable assault rifle, a side arm for quick shots, and a katana with a variety of moves. It's a frenetic game that defies being categorized into just one genre or the other, and being from some of the lead developers who've worked on various Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden titles, the action is ferocious and quite difficult at times. Even with all the slicing and shooting going on, this game has weird side diversions to mix things up over the several hours the game runs for. Things like a karaoke minigame, or a fully featured 16-bit arcade SHMUP, and a variety of different cutscene styles ranging from anime to Stefanie Joosten playing a celebrity chef while trying to not have her soul die on the inside. Yes, the lady that played Quiet in The Phantom Pain is in this game, and has quite a predominate role, both in acting and part of the production of this game. It's a fun ride. Why Does This Sound Familiar? If the concept of a game where you can effortlessly transition between fighting in melee and shooting a gun created by former Ninja Gaiden developers is ringing any bells, that's because this isn't their first time doing something like this. In fact the first game they did after leaving Team Ninja was the critically panned Devil's Third. At the time Soleil was simply an unnamed subsidiary of Itagaki's Valhalla Game Studios, where the bulk of the dev work was held, but as the long term plans for Devil's Third fell through after 2015, it was seen fit to turn that subsidiary into its own company, building up a portfolio of games based on existing licenses, eventually leading to the partnership with 110 Industries where the idea of a Hong Kong cop wielding a gun and a katana lined up quite closely to their previous experience. To say this is them doing the Devil's Third idea but good isn't entirely accurate, as one of my prior LPs being about the game and it's score attack mode shows that DT's gameplay mechanics were extremely well realized, let down only by the amount of sacrifices the team had to make to other areas of the game to get it out. Loads of jank piled on top of a game that should've been a breakthrough for a new subgenre as Itagaki once posited it would be. And after multiple attempts to have a free to play multiplayer version on PCs, platforms that could run the game under far better conditions than the Wii U, none of those stuck so it felt like the idea was left for dead. Now over seven years later, Soleil finally got to revisit the Devil's Third concept with a level of polish that has made it more presentable to people, even though there's still a bit of unevenness in the production. Is it a more palatable game than its predecessor? Absolutely, especially if you are down for more experimental, Japanese PS2 reminiscent type games. Is it better than Devil's Third itself? That's...a bit complicated, but more so because of the particular things I like about Devil's Third not being present in Wanted: Dead's gameplay. Both share the same high concept, but they differ heavily in terms of low level mechanics. As such, this LP is going to be about Wanted: Dead's qualities as much as it is a comparison to what Devil's Third did better and/or worse than it. And that LP I was talking about can be checked out here if you want a glimpse of how it was always meant to be played. So join me and Kaboom Dragoon for an LP of 2023's dark horse pick for Game Of The Year. Expect an arms race of nonsense between this game's existence and our usual tangents. loving Stop Talking About Devil's Third Never   Contents Part 1 - The Devil's Two-Thirds Part 2 - The Most Eurojank Japanese Game Part 3 - This Game Fails the Bechdel Test Part 4 - Extend the Nuremburg Trials Part 5 - Gradius Syndrome Hits Hard Part 6 - Only Kids Play Neko-Chan Mode Part 7 - Hans O'Steal Part 8 - Wanted: Alive Bonus: Japanese Hard NG+ (Patch 1.12, No Commentary) ArclightBorealis fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Mar 13, 2024 |
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Feb 14, 2024 19:00
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 12:39 |
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 Part 1 - The Devil's Two-Thirds The start of the game, with no actual gameplay aside from the brief tutorial at the end, because this ride can't start without first understanding some context behind how this game got greenlit, the connection to a very important 2015 video game, and just how weird this poo poo is out the gate. This also ends up being the shortest video of the bunch, trying to merge this with footage from the first mission would've made it way too long of a start for this LP. Fortunately it won't take long for things to ramp up from here.
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Feb 14, 2024 19:01
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This... sure looks like a video game! The diner scene itself is more than enough to grab my interest, but the combat kit does seem like an interesting mishmash of cover shooting and parry poking.
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Feb 14, 2024 21:22
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Looks cool so far, although most of those breakfast menus are borderline suicidal. Who the hell starts their day with an Irish coffee?
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Feb 15, 2024 00:04
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I bought this and refunded it because the gameplay was just too stiff and frustrating, but I was curious about the story, so thanks for this.
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Feb 15, 2024 00:28
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I do think you spent a tad too long on the title screen for this first video, but the game does at least make enough of an impression where I'm curious to see where this goes. I can always get behind an action game with whack-a-doo energy that isn't just trying to ape DMC or God of War.
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Feb 15, 2024 00:49
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anilEhilated posted:Looks cool so far, although most of those breakfast menus are borderline suicidal. Who the hell starts their day with an Irish coffee? An alcoholic with a dead end job.
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Feb 15, 2024 01:59
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I can think of several people but they're not exactly role models or in any kind of armed service job.
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Feb 15, 2024 02:30
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Looks like the Steam version is on sale!
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Feb 15, 2024 15:32
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So the game is not only on sale for its 1 year anniversary, but it also has a new patch to address some of the jank the game had been stuck with since launch. Which includes nerfing a pretty tough early game encounter that'll be shown in the next video this Saturday. Boy that's gonna be fun knowing that some of this footage and commentary recorded for this is no longer gonna be applicable. But at least that means the bonus video at the end of this LP will be recorded with the most up to date version and you'll get to see some of the differences.
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Feb 15, 2024 18:55
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That’s always one of the weirdest things to have to deal with when Let’s Playing modern games, even ones you wouldn’t figure getting updates that fundamentally alter the game sometimes do at the most random times. Makes the videos an interesting time capsule at the same moment at least.
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Feb 15, 2024 18:57
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I remember seeing the teaser video a while ago. From Devil's Third, huh? Well, there's something going for it already then.
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Feb 16, 2024 04:28
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 Part 2 - The Most Eurojank Japanese Game Now we get the first real piece of gameplay in Wanted: Dead, with a basic explanation of the game's systems, enemy point values, and that one section that was a clear roadblock for people playing this for the first time due to the nature of this game's checkpoint system. It got me for a while when I first played, I'll admit. As I explain early on, when I went to record the footage for this LP it had been a while since I touched the game, so there was a bit of rust to shake off in addition to remembering that no, I don't have all of my skills on me because this isn't New Game Plus. Although now that this game had a major patch for its 1 year anniversary, said roadblock has been basically nerfed. You can tell all of this was recorded back at the end of January.
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Feb 17, 2024 19:00
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Ah, there it is. I died to the ninja like 3 times and gave up on the game since i wasn't enjoying the gameplay very much in general up to that point. Fixing it a whole year post-release was certainly a choice.
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Feb 18, 2024 07:25
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Always love it when a game commits to animations with objects even if they are far from properly lined up with the character model. Hopefully we will see many telekinetic shotgun executions to come. For another MGS parallel, that cooking segment reminds me way too much of the surreal live action videos from the opening of MGS4. You could probably slide it into one of the channels in that sequence and it wouldn't seem out of place at all.
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Feb 18, 2024 17:16
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Is there any mechanical upgrade or change with the new Katana she
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Feb 18, 2024 18:26
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Alas, no. It's just an aesthetic change, and all upgrades are strictly tied to the skill point system. Game's committed to doing its own thing regardless of sense, but that's what makes it fun.
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Feb 18, 2024 18:34
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It's a shame, I was hoping she'd just yoink bigger and fancier swords until she wound up with a gold and platinum Dragonslayer in the final mission.
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Feb 18, 2024 19:20
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I'm definitely looking forward to more of that cooking show at the end with more, uh, lore-building questions and sponsorships.
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Feb 19, 2024 06:24
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It is I the person who has played this game twice from start to finish. (To be fair you can finish this game in one afternoon). WD has a small cult following because there's not a lot games in the Ninja Gaiden subgenre of action and even the former NG studio Ninja Team shifted towards more action rpg style of gameplay. Interestingly the devs are still planning on updating the game and they've released 2 small-ish in 2024.
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Feb 19, 2024 10:53
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Oh poo poo, I remember seeing trailers for this, but then it falling completely off of my radar. Will be tres interested in seeing how this goes.
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Feb 19, 2024 15:26
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 Part 3 - This Game Fails the Bechdel Test More gameplay in Wanted: Dead, but of a different sort. This game's bizarre quality comes as a result of the insane pacing it has, where after surviving the opening mission with its occasional difficulty spikes, you get a chance to earn a ton of skill points without needing to kill anyone. The result by next video will be most evident as the amount of skills unlocked will make it feel a bit like playing a different game. Until then, enjoy this game's idea of downtime, which includes crane games, a shooting range, score attack challenges, and eating ramen. Also we get introduced to Officer Paws. Please show your utmost respect to Officer Paws. He is the bestest, fluffiest cat.
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Feb 21, 2024 19:00
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I enjoyed RE4make a lot but I gave up on shooting range because the rewards are not worth the effort. I also completely ignored all the side activities in Wanted:Dead for the same reason. (the minigames are ridiculous so I just put my controller down until they were over). I'm glad delimbing is back and the enemies actually die reasonably fast unlike in NG2 Sigma.
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Feb 22, 2024 08:47
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There was a lot to take in for this video and yet at the same time it feels like very little actually happened. Certainly wasn’t expecting Hannah to fall into an anime sequence and then randomly get thrust into a 10 minute long ramen eating rhythm game.
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Feb 22, 2024 15:31
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Man, Mercy really hit on hard time after Overwatch got disbanded. I'll admit the joke sounded better in my head. 
Cooked Auto fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Feb 23, 2024 |
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Feb 23, 2024 13:30
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drat, haven't seen food that animated since Like a Dragon.
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Feb 24, 2024 12:12
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 Part 4 - Extend the Nuremburg Trials And now back to the real game of Wanted: Dead, in which we murder a bunch of totally synthetic and not real human workers staging a non peaceful protest in Kowloon Park. All those skill points earned during our downtime at the police station were put to good use at getting us to the third level of unlockable skills, and as a result the game started to feel closer to what I had been used to for my last several playthroughs. Guaranteed finishers on delimbs especially help as it's one of those abilities that make the game scratch some of that Ninja Gaiden II itch for me. Oh, and we can't forget more food shenanigans at the end. Between the park massacre and Vivienne's cooking, there's definitely a lot of crimes happening this episode.
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Feb 24, 2024 19:00
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I guess we shouldn't be surprised Stone is such a loose cannon, being Swiss as she is. That's a big plus, but always comes with a red flag.
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Feb 24, 2024 21:08
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MIIIIIIIIIKEE! 
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Feb 25, 2024 02:02
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Big fan of how both this and Devil’s Third treat bullrushing automatic rifle fire as the optimal way to handle combat situations.
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Feb 26, 2024 19:21
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 Part 5 - Gradius Syndrome Hits Hard After another lecture from the captain over our police performance, we got another round of minigames to go through. Mainly an entertainingly bad karaoke session of 99 Luftballons, and the latter half of the video is entirely focused around one of the best side activities this game has: a side scrolling SHMUP that feels like it was made to stand as its out legitimate game. It even got a free release on Christmas of 2022 in lieu of a traditional demo. As much as I would have liked, this isn't a full playthrough of Space Runaway, just a run that got as far as stage 5 before Gradius Syndrome kicked in like a motherfucker. Also I guess this video doubles as free advertising for Angel At Dusk? I still need to check out that game among others in the genre, there's some solid SHMUPS still coming out to this day.
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Feb 28, 2024 19:00
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If I remember right, Tommy Wiseau is from Poland and spent a decent chunk of his youth in France before coming to the US, so he’s got quite the variable mix when it comes to accents. One thing you can definitely say about this game is that it isn’t repetitive. Certainly wasn’t expecting multiple rhythm games and a fully realized shmup to be in it just based on the first level.
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Feb 29, 2024 16:09
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 Part 6 - Only Kids Play Neko-Chan Mode We're back to the main gameplay of Wanted: Dead, and it's gonna stay that way for the remainder of this LP as we've exhausted all the minigames this game has to offer and now the plot is aggressively forcing us towards its conclusion. And because of that, it's at this point the commentary started to pivot towards more gameplay discussion in relation to what Devil's Third did better or at least different compared to this. The tools that are specific to Wanted: Dead are fun to use, but some days I'm wishing I could just do a targeted long jump with a sledgehammer or any of the other fun tricks that Ivan could use. Also you'll see near the end the first instance in which I got a Game Over. You won't see any more due to editing, but I did die at a few other points near the end of the playthrough, but not as much as when I first played this game on release.
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Mar 2, 2024 19:00
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Also, if anyone cares to hold on to a silly redraw I did of the Touhou "Easy Mode" meme and put in the thumbnail, here you go. Use it as you see fit.
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Mar 2, 2024 19:02
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The game's practically over before it properly started. That said the final levels feels like they go on forever
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Mar 2, 2024 19:24
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It's kind of impressive in a weird way how the cooking segment isn't just a one off thing and there are several. I saw the blue corn and just thought blue milk from Star Wars.
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Mar 3, 2024 05:26
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 Part 7 - Hans O'Steal Back at the police station one last time, both as a brief respite and as an actual level where the game's challenge has escalated quite a lot. This is also the level where I start emphasizing the use of Vivienne's custom AR because of its ability to instantly delete riot shields, which become way more of a problem from here on now that we're facing off against Engel's soldiers. Hard as it is compared to the rest of the game prior, I do greatly enjoy this mission and the next one. Despite the pacing as a whole being all over the place, the 5 levels that are here I feel are able to push the game's combat scenarios as far as they can, in what amounts to just under 2 hours of raw gameplay (about as long as a 5 stage run of Spikeout). Plus, there's some wonderful catharsis facing off against a ninja again after the first mission and being more than equipped to take them with ease.
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Mar 6, 2024 20:00
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Some of the checkpoints in this level were pretty brutal but you also get a good variety of encounters because you fight those samurai commanders in addition to other enemy types we've seen. This and last level were probably my favorites
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Mar 6, 2024 20:35
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The comment about the boss looking like Tom Cruise reminded me suddenly of the game Blacksite: Area 51. The installer for that features a screenshot that to me looked very much like a younger Tom Cruise.  Which is also pretty much the only thing I can remember about the game, because I never got further than the first level because of crash issues.
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Mar 6, 2024 21:54
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It’s weird to see a game with a pretty realized combat system and a so far extensive array of secondary gamplay systems rush so quickly to its conclusion. I guess its nice it doesn’t overstay its welcome on a single playthrough, there are definitely a lot of games these days that are a tad too long for the sake of being long.
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Mar 7, 2024 19:14
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