RPG Tourist

Warning: Spoilers Henry enjoyed another loopy adventure with Hans Capon. He should have found Hans sooner but apparently the concept of a third floor escaped him. Sure I’ll blame Henry for that. Hans really is a bad influence on Henry. He eventually resisted offering Hans hypocritical advice though he was tempted to. In the end this encounter furthered Henry’s transactional relationship with Theresa so all is well. So far the game has made it pretty easy for Henry to do the right thing or at least live with some questionable outcomes but he has now made a fateful decision to catch up with his reprobate companions Matthew and Fritz. Up until now Henry’s career path has not been disrupted by their shenanigans but they cannot be dissuaded from their latest scheme. Faced with equally awful actions Henry has opted for avoidance. I can’t help but think of my earlier assumption that the player will be able to take Henry in one moral direction or another but this is another layer. I ha...

  Warning: Spoilers Henry has now swapped his longsword for the best mace he can afford. After being bludgeoned for a few rounds by Captain Bernard, Henry finally had the confidence to accept Lady Stephanie's request. Plus his bounty in Sasau had expired. To my shock he managed to win an archery contest. Henry has become quite good at shooting things that stand still. It took some time to collect all three items but Lady Stephanie's idea of a reward was a let down. It seemed more like a reward for herself. I suppose it depends on how you look at it. Henry could only think of Sir Divish and of Theresa to a lesser degree so he just walked away. On the bright side, he gained enough confidence to start clearing some side quests and activities off the map. He stumbled across some new ones in the process. Eager to help the unfortunate widow at Neuhof stables, he agreed to enter a horse race arranged by the aforementioned Sir Divish. On the third try Henry was doing quite we...

Warning: Spoilers Ah yes back to Henry. I see that Henry is now wanted in Sasau. Oops. Henry was testing Lullaby potion treated arrows on a wayfarer. He missed of course. The wayfarer freaked out and ran off apparently to Sasau and I believe ratted Henry out. So Henry has been looking for things to do in other towns until the heat comes off. He has again lowered his reputation with the Uzhitz priest. I dread to think what that might mean down the road but Henry just has to live with the consequences this time. On the bright side Henry found a necklace for Theresa and that really accelerated her interest. The whole thing was a little tough on Henry’s ego. First she abandoned him in the barn and when he found her and tried to pin down her feelings for him, the conversation was awkward to the point of insulting. Henry is stupid though. They ultimately agreed whatever the future brings they are presently a couple. I had to laugh at the first dialogue option available with The...

As expected I flew through Heart of Stone with a very modest XP gain. I enjoyed the main story line but balked at investing in the runemaster. I turned to Blood and Wine intending to deal with the runemaster later. Blood and Wine is a substantial expansion. It’s also quite a departure from the main game. I’d describe it as whimsical Arthurian fables set in an idyllic Renaissance world. Violence and monsters are even more jarring there. Of course a monster contract prompts Geralt’s return. He faces typical moral quandaries but there was only one way it was going to end for me. There are certain story lines I just can’t resist. During the final mission I found myself thwarted by shortsighted gaming decisions. Geralt was still short of cash and resources. I had thought the Yennifer relationship was blown but a letter Geralt received indicated that it wasn’t. This caused me to obsess on reuniting Geralt with Yennifer post main quest. I collected all the grandmaster diagrams b...

I meant to get the last post up awhile ago but the Witcher 3 expansion bundle went on sale and I am now completely distracted by that. I really wanted to finish KCD before taking on another game but I could not resist reinstalling Witcher 3 and checking out the additional content. Odds are I’ll blow through it much faster than KCD so Henry is on hold right now. Even with Witcher 3 I had a false start and backtracked. Since KCD I seem much less resistant to doing this. I had forgotten how Witcher 3 works and started Blood and Wine first out of curiosity but regretted that not very far in. I had left Geralt at level 39. He has a full collection of mastercraft witcher gear but not much coin. He’s also over levelled for Hearts of Stone. Besides relearning game play, I found Witcher 3 overwhelming visually. I contemplated customizing the hud but eventually got used to it. Thinking the screen was too dark I adjusted gamma but the shock of Toussaint’s colourful fairy tale world...

Minor spoilers and some tips maybe I have lost quite a few hours now, either from dying unexpectedly or abandoning quests and back tracking. The easy going exploration is over and I’m at the consult guides and obsess over stats stage. It’s so much like Oblivion that way. At least KCD doesn’t tie attributes to specific weapons. To progress I must attend to skills that I have neglected. Even though horsemanship skills are valuable raising vitality requires a lot of running and jumping obstacles or surviving combat which Henry still isn’t good at. So for now Pebbles is only summoned for escapes. Sniff. I have equipped her with a better saddle though and she carts more loot. Other than that coin is preserved for food, repairs and training rather than niceties like clothing and tack. Thanks to combat training, Henry can handle one assailant fairly well or even two or three unarmoured peasants. Two or more armoured opponents are still a problem. I thought Henry could overco...

Warning: Spoilers At this point I decided Henry needed development and abandoned the main quest line. He is perpetually poor and cannot fight his way out of a paper bag. I did take advantage of Captain Bernard’s training in Rattay but after one round Henry is usually bleeding all over the place. His speech and herbalism skills however are skyrocketing. He now gets a strength boost from flower picking. Sad. His paltry funds go towards food, bandages and shoe repairs. I decided that Henry has no choice but to learn reading and alchemy. These two skills are far more elaborate than in most games. The reading is a nice touch and alchemy is hilarious but gets tedious quickly. I am looking forward to that auto perk. For right now, I am very happy Henry can brew Saviour Schnapps and Marigold concoctions. And instead of just waiting around for NPCs Henry can improve himself by reading a book. I must now amend this post. After spending some time on side tasks and sucking up to Th...

Warning: Spoilers Henry was rescued by Theresa and a party from Talmberg and he woke up at the mill operated by Theresa’s dad. Other than Theresa, no one seemed very happy with him. Mollifying the miller involved grave robbing and more lockpicking. Henry then informed Sir Radzig about his lost sword. He somehow convinced Sir Radzig to employ him. Sir Radzig really must know something the rest of us don’t. Henry got some training and was assigned to town patrol. We met an elite character that seems about as bright as Henry. During cut scenes Henry engages in some alarming behaviour. I hope this changes but I doubt it somehow. He was sent hunting with his new nemesis but he managed to do something heroic for once, made an influential friend and got the best reward so far which is Pebbles the horse. Unfortunately, he did not learn how to hit anything with a bow. Pebbles is part mule and part get a way car. She seems to reside in some always accessible ephemeral place and appears...

Warning: Spoilers On introduction main character Henry does not appear all that virtuous. I assume that the player can take him in one direction or another. His parents are much more tolerant than I imagine medieval parents would be but Henry does get assigned some simple tasks in the process of forging a sword for the local noble. Aside from basic game play, I learned about the benefits of allies and time sensitive quest objectives. Yeah Pa’s ale got warm and I had to go back. We got on with completing the sword and met some pivotal characters. I also learned that there might be more to Henry’s backstory than even he knows. Then Henry witnessed the cruel death of his congenial parents at the hands of the (I assume) central villain of the story and the next quest began. You know when a quest is titled Run things are going to get hairy. Henry was urged to run and warn a nearby settlement but he’s quickly taken out by a Cuman mercenary. Next time he managed to jump on a ...

Kingdom Come Deliverance: First Impressions Yay Steam Summer sale. My CPU just meets the minimum requirement for Kingdom Come Deliverance. This means I have to play on low settings but I can live with that. I should have purchased the Royal version but after looking through the DLC I cheaped out and just got the base game and the From the Ashes DLC for now. The game often gets compared to Skyrim but I’d call it Oblivion plus. KCD employs a similar art style and user interface but the overall graphics and character model quality is much higher as would be expected. Character development is more straightforward in KCD but there is a plethora of status effects and permanent attribute bonuses and debuffs that interact in complicated ways. Class refers to a character’s station in life rather than a traditional RPG play style and that shapes the role playing possibilities. There is no magic enhancement. Henry must rely on currying favour and developing skills. Unlike many o...