RPG Tourist

The Warped Brindle Arabian that is. As usual, video captured post epilogue and may spoil plot. And that's when I named her Magic

 Well, I did do some complaining about Odyssey's environment so I am pleased to say that Valhalla's is much more destructible. Despite playing as a marauding Viking, looting is often not a simple smash and grab. To get the good stuff the player might need to search for keys, peer through every window and crevice and destroy things or move stubborn objects. There's the usual visual puzzles and some new types thrown in. I wasn't sure what to think in the early going but as more features unlock, the more enthusiastic I become.  The game world is not restricted to England of course, but so far it's the most interesting place. Before release, I was debating what gender to play. I played the female mercenary in Odyssey and this time I wanted to be a face stomping boy Viking. Well, I didn't know about the face stomping beforehand but I haven't regretted my choice. I really like Eivor. He's a bit mild mannered but he's savage when it counts.  The main quests...

  Warning: Spoilers I have been quiet for a while because I finally obtained Red Dead Redemption 2 and just finished all story missions. For me, the real game has just begun. When the game first came out, I claimed that I would likely turn it into my little pony and that’s exactly what’s been going on. My plan however has changed as I progressed through the game. Overall, the game is technically excellent and Rockstar has really raised the standard for open world environments. I think this is what Kingdom Come Deliverance was aspiring to and developers did admirably considering the time and resources they had. If KCD had been set in a world as lively, detailed and photo realistic as RDR2’s I would have declared it the best game ever made, end of subject. Despite being quite well designed, I have never liked the mission structure in Rockstar games and this is the furthest I have gotten in one. You never know if an interaction is about to suck you into something you’re not ready for...

Horizon Zero Dawn is a game that I deliberately avoided learning much about. It did not look like something I would normally play. It appeared on the PS4 recently (there are multiple accounts) and next thing I knew I was playing it obsessively. I really get the love for this title. You get to play the entire tutorial as an adorable little girl. Main game coming of age Aloy starts out with some moves. She is attractive, the NPC’s are attractive and the environments are attractive which make the robots appear even more unnatural and terrifying. The game play reminds me of Far Cry Primal but Horizon Zero Dawn is post apocalyptic science fiction so everything is possible and plausible. Denizens are articulate and even literate. The resource based economy is a little grindy but the game is generous with XP. Even though it’s obvious what caused societal collapse there is much mystery surrounding Aloy, her society and the weird machines. The game is lore deep. It is mostly a strategy game...

Warning: Spoilers Because I avoided learning very much about Mass Effect 3’s ending controversy, I didn’t really know what to expect. Well for me it’s over now. Yikes. On the surface, 3 isn’t much different than the previous game but there are hints of the catastrophic direction Bioware was about to turn. They deliberately made progressing towards the final mission more difficult for exclusive single play. They addressed this with an extended DLC but I still got frustrated with gathering war assets and cheated. Regarding the Steam version performance issues, enough hate buckets have been tossed that EA has responded. There’s no solution yet but they claim to be investigating. As well they should considering their asking price. I started the game on normal difficulty but got frustrated with a boss, turned the difficulty down and tried using my Steam controller. That got me through the boss fight but made the fps drops all the more noticeable. I think it’s because I put...

I have completed the Dragon Age II base game but could not wait to dig into Mass Effect 3 so I’ll return to the DLC later. Mass Effect’s performance issues are noticeable but it’s playable and I sprang for its DLC. I decided to resurrect the smarty pants female character that I abandoned in Inquisition but as class mage this time and left the difficulty on normal. She was pretty useless for most of the first act. To survive battles, I kept putting together incompatible parties to complement her lack of skill. Ok all the bickering was pretty funny but Hawke had become an irritating goofball that only Varric could love. The prospect of an incompetent Hawke left alone on an Act III battleground was looming over me. If I wanted to avoid that situation, I had to form parties that made narrative sense as well. Hawke also had to become a little more sensitive. Most companions were neutral enough that she could have gone the other way but working towards friendship seemed easier. I w...

I have been doing too many things simultaneously and have bogged down in all of them. I have yet to return to Witcher 3 even though I have watched the Netflix series for the second time. When I left, I was having difficulty progressing in levels. I am stuck in an end game boss fight in Uncharted 2 and trapped inside an outpost in Terminator Resistance with no exit strategy coming to mind. Kingdom Come Deliverance had been uninstalled to make way for other games but I correctly thought I needed to play more dice to progress with my own version. I did manage to complete the Ashes for Ashes DLC and Henry is now so wealthy he can pretty much do as he likes. He replaced Pebbles with a fully equipped Agro and what a difference. She's so fast he hardly fast travels any more. Poor Pebbles apparently just got vaporized which seems hardly fair. To my amazement, Henry did get around to discussing Radzig with Theresa and for once she became worried about their relationship. Wait til she f...

Warning: Minor Spoilers I have now breezed through Witcher 2. At least it feels that way compared to Witcher 1. Geralt can meditate wherever he pleases and the maps seem more compact and much more interesting. Despite many improvements I have some complaints. Geralt can only drink potions while meditating. This means either a full metal alchemist perennially poisoned Geralt or the save a lot, die a lot strategy. All the best gear and character abilities are reserved for Chapter 3 none of which carry over for a second play through. I found character development the most confusing of the three games. I tried to hold out for greater mutagens but only ever got two greater vitality mutagens and by the time I could spend them I was nearly at end game anyway so what was the point? I know that I missed some Chapter 3 content but I was more interested in story progression and didn’t really care. I believe that there is a fair amount of randomness in game play and others may have had a b...

Minor Spoilers Yes, yay! I have finished Witcher Enhanced Edition. Although there is a lot of things I like about it, I must admit it was a slog. I was not inspired to try out the premium content. I don’t think it matters to the story arc anyway. The story, the characters and the alchemy system are cool and you can pick out advanced abilities to complement combat styles you like. The gift giving can lead to some hilarious NPC interactions. Unfortunately important characters can show up in unexpected places or at specific times and Geralt can’t meditate wherever he likes. Climbing and jumping is also restricted and he can’t take short cuts across some of the maps. This means a lot of tedious running around for Geralt. I’m not sure how many quests I failed or how many rewards I missed but I don’t care much. The whole amnesia thing worked well for me because I didn’t know what to expect from the game and for the most part Geralt just goes along to get along until he’s forced i...