RPG Tourist

Warning Spoilers   Recruiting new specialists was the next essential step towards more upgrades. This meant venturing a little further out towards slightly tougher areas. I gained a cave lion companion in a desperate but effective attempt at not being eaten. Cave kitty is stronger than Wolfie and a rather terrifying walking companion. I’m not sure it’s ominous growls mean anything and beasts now sneak up on me more often. Hunting is easier though. Pissing seems a bit of a theme in this game. I got peed on by one armed cave dweller Wogah the Crafter. He called me “piss man” and ran off chortling all the way. “Oh just wait until I get out of this baffling jaguar infested cave” I thought. I forgave him when I found the grappling hook. Yeah okay seems sketchy but its a game after all and we need cool gear and fun things to do. I’m sure you don’t need two arms to construct one either. Then there was sarcastic hunter Jayma who called me “mammoth feet” and sent me off aft...

Warning: Spoilers I had to do the mission over again and got poisoned again anyway. It eventually wore off. On completion I was rewarded with all kinds of busy work which I am now busy at. I also endured another vision quest which was actually kind of fun this time. These folks have good drugs. The two priorities now are opening spawn points and upgrading weapons. I learned that on death Takkar respawns at the last campfire he visited and bears kill me and Wolfie every time. Wolfie did endear himself to me by taking out two unnoticed Udam and pissing on one of their corpses. Takkar is a much better archer than Henry but I haven’t really made effective use of his spear yet. My favourite thing so far is the background noise. I feel like I am on a treacherous nature walk. I kind of want to turn off the HUD and just rely on audio cues but I’m chicken. I don’t seem prepared for anything even with the HUD and the owl. So for now I’ll just keep on keeping on and moving out slowly towa...

Warning Spoilers  I have progressed quickly. I made my way to a Shaman. This character may be a narrative flourish but this is high adventure so fine. A slightly aggravating vision quest turned me into a Beast Master. I am perfectly willing to go along with this because that got me an owl and a wolf as companions. The owl is a vicious killer not like that random wimpy eagle Kassandra has. The wolf is deadly and intelligent. My confidence has soared. Ha ha. These two protect me while I fumble around with my weapons and help me collect the numerous things I need to build my village. Neolithic here we come. I triggered a new mission from my fan girl and got interrupted just as chaos erupted around my village. I neglected to put the game on pause and when I returned I was still alive thanks to Wolfie but I was poisoned. The game is suggesting there must be a cure somewhere. What? Should I redo this mission or just carry on? I quit instead. Next Post  

Warning Spoilers I decided to foray into the Far Cry Universe and installed Far Cry Primal. Why this one you say? It’s set in the Mesolithic era. Ok but why this one? Linguists extrapolated languages for it from Proto Indo European. A proto Proto Indo European language apparently. I have actually read a book about PIE and I am curious. I can’t honestly say that I grasp the linguistics part but the time period from Mesolithic to Neolithic fascinates me. After a nice opening, everything goes south. I am left alone in a marshy area. But I have Witcher sense! Well no it’s hunting sense but works in a similar way. I learn to hunt goats and make a club. I learn to set it alight. Then I get attacked by hyenas or something and set everything including myself on fire. Good thing I have healing mojo. I track down a girl and a bad bad tiger. We escape and she sends me out for healing leaves. On the way back I encounter aggressive cannibals and I just flee. I have no faith in my clubbin...

I had some trouble finding a comprehensive guide on all enhanced abilities attainable through the Fate of Atlantis DLC. For once I may have something useful to contribute. Since I had decided to equip all of them at once I thought I might review them. Because there are only two Hunter Abilities, the rest take up all the melee slots which meant I had to give up some favoured abilities and adjust my play style. I particularly missed Shield Breaker and now have to rely on charged and overpower attacks. I thought I might miss Hero Strike but these abilities deal enough damage that I don’t really. Engravings that reduce cool down times and adrenaline spent on overpower attacks also help out. If you don’t like the enhancements you can revert them with no penalty. I don’t have exact cool down times but note if they seem fast or very slow. Descriptions are from the in game menu. Fields of Elysium Might of Artemis : Hunter Tree. Acquired through Sunken Jaw of the Styx. Enhances R...

Minor spoilers For the first time ever I have achieved a platinum trophy. I achieved this in the AC Odyssey base game while avoiding the Fate of Atlantis DLC. I have completed the main missions in the Bloodline series. That was enjoyable. For once, Kassandra was invested in a romance although it inevitably led to tragedy. I agree that this mandatory romance didn’t make sense from a role playing perspective but it tied the story to Origins and I appreciated that. Once Kassandra recovered she committed to the vulnerable brother she encountered in Korinth and that was the end of romantic flybys for her. So on to Atlantis and the grueling journey to get there. Elysium is very pretty but irritating to navigate. Enemies can drain adrenaline. Missions are contradictory. I was soon back in Greece pursuing useless achievements. I couldn’t avoid Elysium forever though and eventually Kassandra was chucked to Hades. I loved this episode despite the gruesome environment. The story line...

There are a number of games that probably should be on this list that I haven’t played for some reason or another. The most notable are Civilization, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Update August 23, 2020: Have now added Red Dead Redemption 2 and Mass Effect 3. Update November 30, 2021 Added Divinity Original Sin 2   Update June 1 2022 Added Final Fantasy XV Red Dead Redemption 2 I have completely rewritten this entry and moved Red Dead to number 1. Some distance from the Van der Linde gang has softened my views. I may have had more freedom to create a character and story with other games in this list but I am role playing the daylights out of Red Dead free roam. Horses as NPC companions are fantastic and I am completely free to invent personalities for them. After hours and hours, there is some repetition but the ambient dialogue and activity continues to amuse and amaze. There is so much going on that I do not understand how this game was optimized for cons...

Warning: Spoilers I have been struggling with my Outer Worlds game journal which caused me to stop writing altogether. It’s not because the game is not entertaining, rather that my journal isn’t. I’ve decided to abandon it and move on. The character I settled on is a disgraced corporate agent hoping to redeem himself working for the Board. I thought it would be fun to write out a series of cynical reports to no one in particular considering after 70 years his cover was so deep no one was aware of him at all. Difficulty was set on hard this time. He was supposed to be a charming yet treacherous assassin and handgun specialist. He did throw in with the board and ended the game running the Lifetime Employment Program under Sophia Akande’s leadership. A corporate hired gun all the way. This play through was quite different than my first one. Even small effects from doing quests in a different order were amusing. I could not stay disciplined when assigning points however. He w...