Tale

I have to give up on Grounded. I played it originally back in 2022 and gave up because I thought combat was tedious. And I'm not inclined to say the game has improved, I've just maybe narrowed down why I do not care for it. Tier 2 enemies are all ridiculously unfun to fight. Wolf spider is a death sentence. They might as well be tier 3, but a whole bunch of tier 2 stuff requires parts from them. Stinkbugs pretty much require a gas mask, which requires you to kill stinkbugs to craft. Half the bombardier parts seem to be in wolf spider nests, with a bunch of others roaming in packs. I just can't keep throwing myself against a wall.

LIDAR Exploration Program: This is the third LIDAR horror game I've played and it falls squarely in the middle of the pack. Scanner Sombre, which inspired it, it still king. Anomaly Exit: In the growing genre of anomaly hunting games, this is just another one. It's a decent indie horror game for jumpscares, but nothing special at all. There's a bunch better of this type, whether you're looking at Exit 8 (which kicked it off), Ten Bells (highly recommended), or Shinkansen 0 (Chilla's Art's take on it). Inzoi: I just wanted something relaxing to calm down from all the FFVII Rebirth excitement. But it really feels early access. No pets, barely any jobs where the Zoi doesn't just vanish from the world while they work. Just killing time with it.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth It's weird. Being as old as I am and getting to the end of a game and hesitating because I didn't want it to end. Seeing something from my childhood in new lights and crying at it all over again. I'm so used to seeing things from my youth being done a disservice. I won't say Rebirth is perfect, I won't even say it's as good as the original. But it's still damned good. The team understood the assignment when they made this. It is worthy of standing alongside the media that I love. That final boss fight was overdone as hell, though. How many phases did it need?

Finished Avowed a couple days ago and I also really liked it. Then I went back to Final Fantasy VII Remake. Trying to catch up before going into Rebirth. Feels like I'm having a mid-life crisis playing a remake of a game from my childhood, what with Suikoden also just having come out again and calling my name.

I've taken up the neckbeardiest of hobbies, painting Warhammer figurines. I don't play the game, I just like coloring in little dudes. It's like playing dress up with really small dolls who are evil robots. It's fun and I can watch Star Trek at the same time.

Spider-Man 2 finally hit PC and it was worth the wait. Not as good as 1 and better than miles. Insomniac are doing a bang up job of transitioning comic book stuff to a cinematic medium. Better than Marvel is at the moment, anyway.

I'm getting into painting Warhammer figures. And by "getting into" I mean I started up a month ago, realized I needed more supplies, got sick, and am now in a position where I can finally paint again. Why is coloring plastic so inticing?

I gave up on Veilguard. It commits the cardinal sin of being just... boring. Boring gameplay and boring characters. Jumping around between games now. Silent Hill 2 has some areas that are a bit long in the tooth, like the prison. Cyberpunk 2077 replay is stalling. Replaying Disco Elysium and loving it, but still not scratching whatever itch I'm clearly looking to have scratched. I've played a bit of Indiana Jones. It's fun enough, but also probably nothing special. Has its charm, though.

The game this most felt like it wanted to be after I started up is Jedi Survivor/Fallen Order. But not as good. The prologue is this linear cinematic action affair with a zipline and a slide even. But it doesn't sell the action or adventure nearly as well.

Only a handful of hours and I feel like I'm playing a AA fantasy action adventure instead of a AAA RPG. It's going to need to really nail the landing to end up getting a positive review from me by the end. The biggest issue might be how cinematic it wants to be while not quite managing it well. The game wants to have frequent cutscenes, but very little worth having a cutscene. Very little drama or action. Just dialogue dragged on a bit too long. Needed an editing pass to cut back the word count and add some drama. Right after the prologue when the new big threat is revealed, the party gathers round to discuss next steps. The other two characters come into scene by kicking back with cups of tea and I am a little lost as to why everyone is so cozy. There's just a jarring absence of tension 90% of the time. And the new darkspawn designs are the worst yet. But, on the other hand, the blight is the best yet.

The reviews I've seen all point to some big emotional finale of the franchise so far. And that has kind of sold me on it. If it can stick an ending and wrap things up, I guess I can work with that. DAO will always hold a dear place for me. And I think each installment has less magic than the last. But if this is potentially answering some of those big questions from long ago, I can't resist. I think I spent way too much time after DAO speculating on the nature of the Fade, the Blight, and the Black City to pass up.

I guess I'm a Warframe guy now.

Finished Shadow of the Erdtree and trying to figure out what to play next. The First Descendent? A story so offensively stupid I couldn't go on. And gameplay that just feels like waiting to die. I kind of own both Dying Light games. Maybe I should at least try them.

Still wasting too much time on games. Destiny 2 is looking to make up for Lightfall, but the constant FOMO and grind make it an easy game to burn out on. Maybe with The Final Shape I can give up on playing it for the story and go to other games that aren't made for gambling addicts. Dragon's Dogma 2 was pretty great. Weaker than the 1st in key ways, which is why I immediately started a playthrough of 1 after finishing.

How many months was I gone this time? Anyway, I'm playing a mix of Lethal Company, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Rogue Trader. RDR2 is the hardest to recommend, but maybe that's because it's a slow start. Probably more on me than the game.