RPG Tourist

I haven't progressed very far with my dice program. I managed to put together some code without triggering a show stopping execution error but the computer player made dumb decisions and calculation errors. I am now in a cycle of refining and testing.  Predictably I have not stopped playing video games either. I finally finished off the last Assassin's Creed Origins DLC and moved on to my Witcher 3 NG+ save. This time I am playing Geralt as a gambling, womanizing jerk. He has just discovered that Ciri has turned up in the region with the Wild Hunt in pursuit. Even though he has agreed to look for her, he privately believes the search might only lead the Wild Hunt to her. He decides to just continue doing what he does normally and collect information along the way.  On my original play through I avoided alchemy abilities and Gwent. This time Geralt is a horrible looking toxic mess and just loves to play Gwent. Huh. Go figure. He is currently wandering Velen looking for...

Warning: Spoilers    Before I tackled the final missions, I decided to tame the SnowBlood Wolf. It’s nice to have an effective wolf at my side again. At least his growls mean something beyond “I think I might be voraciously hungry”. Unfortunately he’s not quite as strong or as fast as the demented BloodFang so the sabre tooth got recruited for the fight with top Udam, Ull. This mission was more involved than I expected but I still felt well prepared to face down Ull. Tough doesn’t describe this guy. I could barely put a dent in him and his minions kept appearing. My second effort succeeded by playing frantic healer to my beast and BloodFang eventually subdued the big man. My reward for this was a plot twist and more villagers. I was so exhausted that I quit for the day. The following day I decided to go after Great Scar Bear before rushing off to the Izila homeland. I had a difficult time finding my way to his region and managed to die a couple of times in the proces...

Warning: Spoilers    This isn’t what one would call a “frictionless” tour through the countryside but I have been enjoying the journey. The challenges are an incentive to constantly upgrade. Thanks to the Steam controller, I finally got frustrated. I ran into the ludicrous Urki, a man way, way before his time. He sent me on the first of his ill fated missions. I needed to collect materials that he believed would enable him to fly. I could not for the life of me take out a raven for it’s feathers even though I had detected their tendency to briefly settle on nearby rocks. I only succeeded once I finally thought of trying the keyboard. Thanks to aim assist I haven’t been that troubled by sensitivity issues on the right track pad so I haven’t bothered to fiddle with it. His next missions were just as stupid. The second one went fine but I managed to bug the third one out. I was supposed to collect honeycomb from bee hives which was a new twist. So I shot the damn thing and on...

Warning Spoilers I’m 26 percent of the way through the game now. More of the map is exposed and I’ve cleared off all the easy objectives and nearly all the medium ones. Most importantly, I have gained a bear and a smilidon. I want to call the smilidon Snagglepuss but no. The bear acts like a big goofy dog. They are much stronger than any other pets. Smiley has a disturbing habit of picking up corpses and tossing them. I read a guide recently and learned how much I don’t know. I’m not using my pets to advantage. Well I am using Smiley like a pit bull. He tries to kill anything he doesn’t intimidate so that’s good otherwise he just skulks along snarling and intimidating me. I didn’t know I could use the owl to direct the pet. This is another case of me seeing an on screen prompt and not seeing it. Thanks to me, Takkar is the least stealthy hunter going. The only way I get stealth bonuses is by repeatedly waiting for the owl to return. I forgot that I can slide into cover from a ...

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...