Week 2:

My second week has come to an end and the long weekend in the States helped me put a nice dent in a couple of games on my plate. I will soon be scratching a few games off the list and will need to determine what to play next. Stay tuned on the message boards, since I plan to involve the community on this initiative by letting you all pick what game(s) I play next! I’ll be curating the options of course, so I won’t be stuck with something I don’t enjoy (or at least that’s the plan), but I think it will be a fun process to involve the community!

Games Completed:

None this week, though I put a good chunk of time into games I’m currently playing.

Games Played:

NieR: Automata

Okay, so I started Route B, and I must say, I think I have to put this one on the backburner for now. With so many games to play and a story that doesn’t really have its hooks in me that much, I think I need some time away from this game for a bit. I’ll certainly come back to it in the later the months of the year, so you can expect to see it show up in my game choice polls on the message boards, but for now…I’m scratching it off the list. Sorry Nier fans :/

Pyre

Whoo boy. I am getting so close to completion on this one. It’s been a fun ride up to this point but unfortunately I think it starts wrapping up faster than I would have hoped. Right when I had a full squad and a firm grasp on the game mechanics, the game makes you start removing folks from your squad. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an interesting concept but I’m not sure I liked its execution. The Liberation Rites force you to remove a character from your squad and send them back to the Commonwealth, but that character has to be one of your best 3. I get it, they want it to be a tough choice, but it just feels like I’m being penalized for playing with the characters I enjoy the most. And at the end of it all, I’m now stuck with a handful of characters left that are my least favorite of the entire cast, so I’m losing interest in the story now. Again, interesting concept that I think was not entirely sought through and it ends up being a detriment to the games overall enjoyment.

All that aside, I’m still super happy I purchased this game during the steam sales because it is an enjoyable ride that’s easily worth the $9.99 admission price.

Cuphead

Things I have done:

• Played one of the most annoying platforming levels in existence (an amusement park that flips gravity back and forth)
• Completed world 1 and made it nearly 50% of the way through this game (5/6 bosses beat in world 2)
• Gotten really pissed off at a featherless, bed-ridden bird
• Played a co-op drinking game with a buddy and had a few too many beers due to some aggressive frog boxers

Things I have not done:

• Broken a controller
• Enjoyed the platforming the levels…

Divinity: Original Sin 2

I am so glad I’ve welcomed this game back into my life! Yes, it can be a time sink and the inventory management can be quite a pain in the rear at times, but when the game’s strong points heavily outweigh any negative I could bestow upon it.

The good news is that I’m finally passed Act 1! I can’t remember the last time my palms got so sweaty during a boss fight (Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3, probably…?). For those that have played it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. That showdown with Alexander really let the game flex its muscles and show off the awesome battle mechanics. I did die once or twice, but I kept getting better and always felt the losses were my fault. My successful run involved me splitting up the party so my archer and mage were flanking enemies from opposite high grounds. Yes, my mage was standing next to a giant barrle of poisonous ooze, but he has a unique trait that actually causes poison to cure him, so it was the perfect setup! Meanwhile, the warriors and battlemages came waltzing down the middle to take on Alexandar head-on. Larian does a great job of balancing this fight to make you always feel on edge though. Right when I felt like my end was near, a dark worm came bursting out of the ground to distract the enemies a bit. It was a spectacular ‘WTF’ moment and it gave me a chance to breathe and heal my party.

So now, with the worm slayed and Alexandar defeated, I am happily sailing away from the island in Act 1 and off for better shores. And yes, that means I can finally respec my party…so all those points I wasted in my mage’s single hand attribute can be reallocated to magic element traits where they belong!

And so that brings week 2 to a close (sorry for the delayed post). Stay tuned on the message boards for a poll to choose which game I play next. I think I’ve picked a healthy spread of genres so I’m really curious to see which game the community picks.

Cheers and happy gaming!

-Chris