Tale

Are you kidding? The Exalted Plains was the worst part of the game I think you missed the context. We're talking about changes due to the Mage/Templar choice. I suspect you think we're talking about how we would hypothetically change the game to improve it.

I don't see how Exalted Plains could change. The Templar/Mage quest, Haven battle, and Temple of Mythal are what I could forsee really changing. With some support quests like Samson's armor. I'd be curious to hear what else, though.

You've got to lure them to other parts, campfires work.

Defenders are the worst. Defenders that prevent you from jumping over them are SGDW$G$#$^##$#!ETRETWRTHWRGHSNF. Ranged guys are easy enough, they tend to shoot their own dudes if I'm surrounded. Though I did have trouble with one crossbowman who was also a combat master that I fought in the open. His only weakness was explosions.

There's plenty reason. Not having enough time. There's simply too many games in a backlog, why keep adding to it? At least you might get around to drinking that cup of coffee.

I toyed with doing my second playthrough, this time as a mage, but I think I'm going to wait for the first big DLC before I make a serious effort. It was good, but I don't want to commit 100 hours to the same stuff. All I missed the first time was Dorian's quest and the secret dungeon from Emprise du Lion. I guess that means I like DAO better. I was excited to do a second playthrough of that immediately after the first.

Walking Dead Season 2, finally hitting new territory. Episode 1 was kind of dull, but 2 was better. Good enough that I went ahead and splurged on The Wolf Among Us and Tales of the Borderlands. Ooh, I forgot about Game of Thrones. Any opinions on it?

Finished Last of Us Remastered. Hate Naughty Dog and their collectibles, apparently I missed 50 of the blasted things, over a third. Where the heck do they hide them? Not ready to play Left Behind, I'll finish up The Walking Dead Season 1 first.

The Last of Us Remastered. One of 2012/2013's trio of what I like to refer to as "dad games." I'm just about finished with the Hunter checkpoint section. I hate how there's scripted combat sections. This one had two waves. You kill everyone by stealth in wave 1 and right when you think it's okay to relax, they spawn in a new wave all over the map. Had to fight my way through that one head-on. I'm also playing Walking Dead season 1. One of the other two "dad games," this one also about a zombie apocalypse.

The Walking Dead, Season 1 Episode 1

"Shawn will remember that." Not for long he won't.

Saved by Playstation's Flash Sale. Both PS4 Walking Dead seasons are up for $6.49 each. Son'ys understanding of a flash sale is a bit weird, it's for 5 days. Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Evil Within are both up. The latter at 50% off.

Microtransactions and feature checklists.

Where do you live? Not on the Best Buy website. That's better than Amazon's deal.

And the final week of PSN sales is absolutely nothing. A good price on Ground Zeroes, but that'll keep me busy for 2 hours. Really needing a recommendation for what to get, guys.

I expect Dwarves to get mages every sequel.

Most suits have night vision built in, so night is primarily an issue in the start. Then again, I actually use a mod that makes the nights darker because I thought the original settings too bright. And you do have a flashlight too. I think, it's been seven years since I played SoC unmodded. Clear Sky is the real offender. SoC is visible enough at night. Clear Sky you can't see 5 feet in front of you with the flashlight on.

I just hope they gave a stern talking to the guy who thought a day-night cycle would be a good idea, when night is pitch black and there's no way to skip it.

I kind of want to play Tales from the Borderlands. I tried playing Borderlands 2 for a while then gave up after a few hours of hating it profusely. The thing is, I really liked the setting and characters, but I very much hated the gameplay. An adventure game/interactive movie set in that universe seems very appealing to me. I'm kind of waiting for the entire season to release and then Telltale to offer episode 1 for free as a demo as they've done before. Or maybe one of you guys will be a guinea pig. Maybe I shouldn't be so hesitant to buy Telltale games, I'm supposed to be the resident fanboy after all. But I always get wary when a company starts going to formula.

Ooh, or Lords of the Fallen. I hear good things about that. Sony's having a holiday sale at the moment, the final week goes up tomorrow. Leaks are showing it'll have Alien: Isolation, which I might get for PS4 since I originally got it for 360 and have since disconnected that machine. If they do any of those games on tomorrows sale, it's probably what I'll pick up. I know they did Tomb Raider, Wolfenstein, and Transistor already, but I missed it.

I kind of got tired of inFamous games. Second Son looks like it's been there, done that. Wish I could play PC games, but the only thing I have access to anymore is... just not good.

Looking to buy a game for the PS4, can I get some recommendations? I'm looking at The Wolf Among Us, Tomb Raider Definitive, Wolfenstein The New Order, Transistor, and The Walking Dead Season 2. Other suggestions are welcome.

I found the main story kind of ran out of steam after you finish off the Orlesian court and Grey Warden quests. The Arbor Wilds and then the final battle with Corypheus are considered two different quests, but they both "feel" like they're basically just the end run in a game that you know is drawing to a close. Playing a second time through, you get a better sense of just how short the main quest actually is. 90% of this game is fleshed out with those sidequests to the maps where they're not directly tied to the main quests. Arbor Wilds felt like Ilos from Mass Effect. A journey through ancient ruins for the McGuffin to stop the bad guy and realize something greater is going on. But Mass Effect had an appropriate setback. The bad guy gets there first and makes use of it. Leaving him on the verge of victory and the heroes to make the final attempt to stop him. And so you fight through the Citadel to stop him. But without the setback, without the villain working from that position of dominance in the final sequence, with his army and his power, a lot of the drama is drained.

So in the past two days I've beaten Dragon Age Inquisition, got the last few trophies for Shadow of Mordor, started and beaten Valiant Hearts. Now I'm starting Last of Us Remastered. It looks... off. Is it too crisp or what? I'm inclined to turn on my PS3 copy just to figure out what is bothering me about this too much. Did PS3 have a grain look to it? Was it aliased? Or is it just that it's going 60FPS now and my eyes are freaking out? Doing a google to see if I'm going mad, someone else seems to have the same problem. It kind of ends up looking slightly cartoony. Like the higher resolution forced the brain to stop considering it semi-realistic.

I beat Inquisition. Definitely has a pacing problem there at the end. There's no buildup in the final battle and he's easy as heck. Easiest boss battle of the series without even minor contest. Probably should have had a big epic dungeon or area leading to him. Like a ruined Haven, bringing it back full circle. I also got the Shadow of Mordor Platinum trophy, which is a first for me. And the DAI platinum doesn't look too far out of reach if I do a nightmare playthrough. Trophies are looking much easier this gen than last.