Diablo III: Season 5

The new season rolled around in Diablo III about two weeks ago and I've been blissfully grinding toward season five goals.  I have been surprised with how engrossed this new season has kept me--I've been doing nothing but leveling, bounty-ing, and rifting and haven't really thought twice about playing something else.  There are some new features that have kept me entertained (and frustrated) but last night I think the season five honeymoon finally ended.

There aren't a lot of completely unique new features in season five but it started off on a positive note.  Rather than creating a new seasonal hero and using up a character slot players were given the option of "re-birthing" a previously made character and turning them into a seasonal hero.  I had a wizard that I had never gotten all the way to 70 that I decided I would "re-birth."  The addition of timers showing how much time was left on massacre and destruction bonuses made it much clearer how long you had to kill another critter or slay a harmless vase.  Leveling to 70 was relatively painless and then the real fun began.

I have genuinely enjoyed the addition of the "season journey" goals.  These tiered goals give players attainable targets to go after.  This season also granted players a complete set of armor for completing specific goals in the last chapter of the journey.  Before this I didn't have the drive to complete an entire set and had grabbed a few individual set pieces.  It was cool to finally have a completed set and to be able to take advantage of the six piece set buffs.  The wizard set leans heavily toward fire talents and grants a powerful buff against elites and bosses that makes killing them a joke.

The Firebird set for season 5 wizards.

Since Blizzard was already giving players an entire set of armor they decided to give players content to accompany their snazzy new outfits.  Set dungeons are designed to showcase the powerful abilities granted by the new armor sets.  They are also designed to annoy the living heck out of anyone who attempts them.  Each set dungeon has a set of primary objectives (of which you only have to complete one) and a "master" objective that grants a special achievement.  The wizard set dungeon involves setting 20 enemies on fire within 3 seconds of each other...six times or, if you feel like dying a lot, you can use the set granted "on death" ability in which a flaming meteor resurrects you while simultaneously killing 50 enemies.  It took me many, many tries to finally figure out exactly what I needed to do and many others reported difficulties with objectives (setting enough enemies on fire before killing them was a challenge).  These new dungeons are decidedly un-fun which is a bit of a disappointment.  It probably doesn't help that the Firebird set bonus for wizards appears to be very buggy or to have strange triggers.  At times when I feel like many enemies are on fire I get no buff but at other times I have the buff for an extended time and mow through enemies until it randomly goes away.

I was really excited when I finally completed the set dungeon and completed my first tier of the season journey objectives.  My sparkly new portrait frame and weird pet were fitting rewards.  But wait...there are still other "slayer" objectives to be completed!  I didn't realize that the seasonal goals were set up to build upon each other and eagerly started my quest to check off more boxes.....I just don't have it in me to keep grinding.  Thanks Diablo III, it was fun while it lasted.

Rise of the Tomb Raider released it's PC port this week and I've been debating another adventure with the lovely Lara Croft.  I'm not a traditional Tomb Raider fan from the PlayStation days or yore but I had a great time with the 2013 re-boot Tomb Raider.  I just can't make up my mind about buying it (it's one that I think I would prefer to get on sale--I had a hard time re-playing Tomb Raider and don't see a ton of replayability factor to warrant paying $59.99 for it).  Oh and XCOM2 releases next week!  These games are trying to break my bank account.

Mass Effect: Andromeda News Makes me Nervous

I've mentioned my loving obsession with the space-drama/shooty Mass Effect series so many times that I don't really know if it's worthy of mentioning again.  Like other fans of the series, I try to stay up to date on the latest news related to the fourth game in the series.  Some of this news has been encouraging (the N7 day Shepard good-bye video and teasers from big conferences) but some of it has been anxiety inducing.  The news of several noteworthy members of the BioWare team exiting the company (notably Chris Wrynn and possibly only Dragon Age related--writer David Gaider) seems strange.  I don't really know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, it remains to be seen.

In looking forward to the supposed 2016 holiday release date for Mass Effect  Andromeda, I've been thinking about the series.  My thoughts have encompassed tough topics like the Mass Effect 3 ending and why I still periodically feel infuriated by it, why I never chose to romance Garrus, and more hopes for what the fourth game could bring to the series.  Prepare yourself for a buffet of Mass Effect!  (Please note that one courses on this buffet is spoilers related to the series.  Read with caution if you haven't played any of the games yet!)

One of the featured environments in Andromeda.
Will open world mean bland quest design?  Let's hope not.

I have this tradition where I play through the entire series once a year.  All three games, all DLC, spread out at times when I feel the need to re-visit them.  I recently finished a playthrough of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.  To keep things somewhat fresh I try to pick paths that I don't usually take--romancing a different character each time (basically impossible in the first game), completing missions in a different order, and looking for small details that I might have missed.  Nothing new in ME1, but I found a fun exchange that I had neglected in ME2.  On Illium in the bar Eternity you can experience several humorous exchanges taking place between the patrons.  One of the tables features a salarian, a turian, and a human gathered around a table on which an Asari is dancing.  If you click once on the table you learn that this multi-species exchange is a sort of bachelor party being thrown for the salarian even though he explains that a breeding contract isn't the same as the human concept of marriage.  In my past playthroughs I gave it a click, got a chuckle, and then moved on to whatever my next objective was.  It turns out I was too hasty with my clicking!  If you continue to click on the party the conversation expands--the salarian initially tries to explain that there's nothing attractive about the dancer but as you keep clicking the conversation continues and eventually they all agree that the Asari are attractive because they have features that appeal to all the major races--weird head appendages, flexibility (which seems important to turians), and nice skin.  It's a funny moment that I hadn't caught in any of my prior 8-10 playthroughs.

My ME2 playthrough was slightly botched because of my strategy to do all the DLC before I finished the final mission.  I hoped to acquire Legion earlier in the game so that I could use him in some of the Geth heavy DLC (namely Overlord).  I completely forgot that if you acquire the reaper IFF early and then wait too long to complete the final mission that some of your non-essential crew members will perish on the Collector base.  This isn't a big deal for ME2 but could effect some of the side exchanges in ME3.  Kelly Chambers, Rupert--the cook/janitor, and Gabby Daniels were all lost.  The casual exchanges between Ken Donelley and Gabby Daniels in engineering gave me a reason to visit the bowels of the Normandy!  Maybe this little screw-up will make my next ME3 playthrough slightly different?

After playing ME2, particularly the Arrival DLC, I started to feel irritated about the ME3 ending.  The most frustrating part of the ME3 ending wasn't the end of Shepard, it wasn't the obnoxious "star kid", it was the fact that it clearly contradicted lore established in the series.  Arrival ended the debate about whether mass relays could be destroyed and clearly stated that the energy released from the destruction would result in the elimination of life in an entire galaxy.  In both the pre and post-ME3 endings (the red, green, blue ones that resulted in fan outcry and the 2.0 ending) the mass relays appear to be destroyed.  The implications for this event seem so powerful and leave unanswered questions--1.) If the relays were destroyed, how will life continue in the galaxy?  2.) Without the relays travel between galaxies is possible but would be extremely time consuming.  Will travel to new systems even be possible?

It's these lore-based implications that make me wonder about the direction that the fourth game will take.  One interesting tidbit from ME2 that is easily overlooked happens in a conversation in the aforementioned bar on Illium with matriarch Atheta.  As you question her about her motivations for working as a bartender rather than as a trusted advisor she comments that one of the issues she was trying to promote was building more mass relays.  The possibility of making more relays isn't something that is directly addressed in the lore, but it is highly implicated that they would be almost impossible to create without access to reaper technology.  Exploration has been promoted as a big theme in Andromeda and I'm curious about how the lack of mass relays is going to play out (or if it's something that will be completely ignored).  This is a distinctly nerdy, lore-based hope that I want addressed.

Creating a new character who is distinctly NOT Commander Shepard is going to be the true challenge.  The developers have plainly stated that none of the characters from the previous games will be returning to Andromeda.  It's pretty clear that they're making a complete break from the old story.  I'm looking forward to meeting the new characters (BioWare creates great characters) but have always enjoyed references to the old squadmates and important characters.

I'm going to keep watching and hoping that the Andromeda continues the Mass Effect traditions that I, and many others, have grown to love.

"This War of Mine" is Tough...Like the Scavenged Meat I Just Found in a Pile of Debris

Over the holidays I had the sudden inspiration to re-play my way through The Witcher series.  This didn't stop me from making multiple purchases in the Winter Steam Sale.  I felt bad that I had bought several new games and that they were sitting unplayed in my library so I decided to take a vacation from Geralt and his monster-slaying hijinx (It's really weird how the second game in the series feels really short/small compared to the third).  One of the games that I purchased is This War of Mine, an indie game that is all about civilians struggling to survive in the middle of a conflict.  I have been pleasantly surprised at how engrossed I have been in the few short hours that I have played.

The basic gameplay concept behind This War of Mine is that you control a small group of survivors in the middle of a war zone.  You must scavenge to find items and build new items to help keep your group healthy....and alive.  The game opens with your three survivors in the bombed out house that they have chosen as their shelter.  There really isn't any tutorial, but the controls are simple and intuitive enough that you can figure out what to do.  A brief journal-entry style page informs you about what your survivors are feeling and things that they would like to see improved.  One of the first notes told me that building beds was a good idea so that people don't have to sleep on the floor.  Your base has a small workshop where you can use scavenged materials to build items that are essential for survival, comfort, and eventually prosperity in the war economy.

Your home.  Survival not included.

My three survivors--Marko, Pavle, and Bruno each have their strengths.  Marko is a skilled scavenger which means he has a larger capacity for carrying items; Pavle is a fast runner which gives him an advantage when it comes to fleeing from danger; and Bruno is a good cook which seems to mean that the food that he prepares is more filling.  Beside these strengths I noticed that one of my survivors had a description stating that he was slightly sick.  I started off by having my group explore the house and scavenging enough materials to build some beds.  Gameplay is split between a day/night cycle.  During the day cycle you control the characters in your house--generally you have them building items, resting, or collecting materials from items that you have built.  The night cycle requires you to choose what happens to your group and is the key time for scavenging.  A menu pops up and you can assign characters to sleep, guard, or scavenge.  If you choose to scavenge you have to choose a location from a map with several different locations.  Each location has a brief description about materials that can be found there as well as information about any possibly dangers in the area.

Well, this seems easy!  I assigned Marko, my good scavenger, to travel out to a nearby gas station that wasn't described as being dangerous.  I commanded him to stealthily creep across the map and explore small areas to find any materials lying about.  Marko's inventory can hold 15 items and it fills up very fast.  I hadn't managed to loot every pile of rubble before his backpack was completely full.  There is some inventory management involved as you really have to prioritize your needs.  Being a total noob I didn't even pay attention to the fact that Marko had looted tons of parts and wood and no food.  Each night cycle is on a timer so you only get a limited time to scavenge.  It is important to get your scavenging character to the exit before the timer ends or else they have to return to your base in daylight which is much more dangerous.

Back at base during the day cycle I set my survivors to building new items from the parts that Marko had brought back.  Survival basics seemed very important so I built some rainwater collectors and a stove....to cook all the food that I didn't have.  My survivors all showed that they were hungry and they were starting to grumble about not having eaten.  The limited supplies that Marko brought back only allowed for a few items to be built before they were exhausted.  I sent Marko to bed to rest--your characters need to rest for at least a few hours every day or else they started to get really sluggish.

I decided to send Marko back out to scavenge and picked a different location with the hope that I could find some food.  Again, this location didn't appear to have any food.  I looted more parts including some electronic components and hustled Marko to the exit before the timer ran out.  Upon my return to base I found out that my survivors had been attacked during the night.  Bruno was severely wounded and needed some bandages.  Pavle managed to avoid any injuries but I definitely needed to plug up the holes in the wall in my shelter to prevent further attacks.  Besides getting attacked, my survivors were starting to move very slowly from lack of food--I absolutely needed to find some food!  I attempted to use the materials I had found to fix up the holes but found out that I only had enough to fix one.

The food situation was getting desperate so I specifically picked a location that had food listed.  The downside was that the location I picked was occupied and I would need to steal.  I was amazed at how bad I felt about this.  I really didn't want to steal but it was becoming obvious that if my survivors didn't get any food that they would probably starve.  Marko slunk across the map towards the fridge (yeah, another noob move was not thinking logically about where to find items like food) and proceeded to steal all the food.  It was very easy to avoid the occupants of the building so there were no physical conflicts.

I thought that returning to base with food, no matter how I actually acquired that food, would feel great.  Instead, my characters all lamented the fact that I had to steal to acquire the food and about the consequences for the people who I had stolen from.  I just fed you and you're complaining?  It felt bad....so bad.

XCOM 2 Has me All Aflutter

There have been very few games that have been so frustratingly difficult but so enjoyable that I've actually pushed through to finish them.  XCOM:  Enemy Unknown is one of those few games that has managed to force me to obsessively save my game, fearing that every move would be a dumb one resulting in the catastrophic destruction of my entire squad.  I wish I could brag about how I played it on the highest difficulty and aced it all.  That would be a bald-faced lie.  I felt really proud when I finished my one torturous playthrough on "classic" difficulty.  In preparation for the February 5th released of XCOM 2 I've been reading a few early previews.  Reviewers seem positive, but the difficulty sounds much tougher than Enemy Unknown...and I'm actually excited about it.

XCOM 2 promises to bring new enemies and new tactics.  One preview I read (PC Gamer) mentioned the addition of loot drops but that it adds a whole new tactical aspect to each map.  Now you have to make the decision about whether it's feasible to chase after a piece of loot that might be located in a dangerous place.  This sounds akin to the decisions from the expansion Enemy Within where you often had to make tactical decisions based on the countdown timer on canisters of meld.  Do you rush ahead towards a canister with a low timer or do you just abandon it in the name of caution?  I can't even remember how many canisters I lost or how many frustrating times that I ran my scout ahead of the team...right into a mass of oncoming aliens.

In a different preview (Rock, Paper, Shotgun) the difficulty of the upcoming game was the big focus.  The author mentions that the whole "save everyone" concept is almost unrealistic.  A new set of maps means that you won't see the same repetitious set of maps like in Enemy Unknown.  Beside the number of new maps there are also supposed to be a number of differing mission objectives.  I never really found EU or EW stale, but there wasn't a lot of variety when it came to differing mission objectives.  Increased difficulty could make XCOM 2 a long haul with even more saving and re-saving.  I would much rather be pushed than simply cruise through the game.

A plethora of soldier customization options.

The character creation system also seems to have gotten much bulkier and now you can individualize your squads beyond just their hairstyles.  It also sounds like unlockable cosmetic features will be part of the mission system and it seems like there are a ton--eyepatches, facial tattoos, scars, helmets, piercings....  Making your squad much more individualized will be considerable easier than in EU.  I hope they continue the trend of having soldiers from different countries speak the language of their home country.  This was one of the small changes added into Enemy Within but it made the experience feel much more authentic.

XCOM 2 is the first game in 2016 that I'm really excited for.  I was very surprised that I enjoyed Enemy Unknown/Within as much as I did.  I don't usually play strategy games and am usually kind of bad at them.  Squad-based games have always fascinated me and I loved Fallout:  Tactics and it's focus on strategy and squad building (it's an older game, but still really fun).  If you're on the fence about strategy games I would encourage you to check out Enemy Unknown/Within.  Don't be put off by the initial difficulty--it gets easier as your squad develops and you learn basic strategies.

I will be blasting aliens on February 5th with the rest of the XCOM 2 people.  So far I've managed to restrain myself from pre-ordering (it's my sort of New Year's resolution).

My Game of the Year--2015

At the turn of the new year it's nice to look back and reflect on the year that was 2015.  When I think about the games I played in 2015 they were a mashup of many different genres.  The games that stand out to me fall into two distinct categories--RPG's and episodic story games.  It was an exciting year...PC gamers finally got to experience Grand Theft Auto V in all its splendor.  We also saw the expansion of episodic story games into many different areas.   I spent the year anxiously awaiting new entries into two very different story games--Life is Strange and Tales from the Borderlands.  Starcraft II saw it's last entry in the three part series with Legacy of the Void.  Fallout 4...well, it brought more Fallout to the world.  Yep, I played them all (and probably many more that I can't remember).  I enjoyed most of them and would definitely recommend them to other gamers, but they aren't my pick.

For me, one game really stood above all the others.  The Witcher 3:  Wild Hunt was such an enjoyable journey that I played it completely through (120+ hours?) and then immediately started another playthrough.  There are very few games out there that can hold my attention the way that The Witcher 3 did.  It's a game that just does so many things right.  I usually struggle with games that describe themselves as "open world."  Unless there's a good story that ties in with a huge, sweeping world it's easy to get bored very quickly (not to name any names *cough*Fallout 4*cough*).  The story and characters made it easy to spend hours riding around on Roach and investigating the monster infested countryside.  The world is gorgeously detailed (remember the whole "graphics downgrade" controversy?) which made you want to wander around and view all the scenic vistas.

Love him or hate him, the Bloody Baron is an interesting character.

The biggest strength of The Witcher 3 is it's brilliantly written characters.  These characters are memorable because they are highly flawed.  Most of them can't be lumped into groups of "good" or "bad" and you want to find out more about their stories.  The Bloody Baron is the best example of a very complex character.  In your quest to find Ciri you stumble across the leader of a mercenary band.  He acknowledges that yes, Ciri was at his castle, but draws you into his own plot and machinations.  Before long you find yourself mired down in an investigation into the disappearance of his wife and daughter.  As the story unravels you learn that the Baron is not the helpful savior that he initially appeared to be--he is a career soldier who has experienced many wars, he is a father who cares deeply for his daughter, he is a drunken fool who beats his wife--in short...he's human with all the flaws that stem from his good and bad decisions.  Even Geralt himself has very complicated motivations and his actions can be difficult to categorize as heroic or villainous.

Plus, there's Gwent.  The other Witcher games featured plenty of mini-games to provide some sidequest fun but nothing that compared the the card collecting mania that is Gwent.  Perfecting your Gwent game proved so much fun that I found myself neglecting whole quest lines to seek out the next gwent challenger or a certain vendor who sold cards.  Card games are a hot fad in gaming right now and adding gwent as a mini-game was perfect.

There were/are just so many things I love about The Witcher 3.  Cool cutscenes, highly detailed armor sets, challenging combat, memorable characters and places....no other game from 2015 drew me in quite like it did.

I think it's encouraging that the episodic story genre is growing and that other developers are entering the scene.  I genuinely enjoyed TellTale's Tales from the Borderlands and TellTale still holds a commanding lead as the developer that does episodic story games.  Dontnod entered into the fray with Life is Strange which wasn't perfect but was very emotionally captivating.  The old-school King's Quest franchise has also been reborn in episodic story fashion (I haven't played it yet, but have heard that people have enjoyed it.  Buyers need to beware because you cannot buy the entire series an episode at a time and must buy the entire collection in order to have access to the entire story.  As a consumer....this strategy sucks!  Some people have only discovered this after purchasing a single episode--the first episode was featured in the recent Steam Sale for only $.99).

There are several titles slated to come out in 2016 that I am looking forward to--notably Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC!) and XCOM 2.  Maybe 2016 will bring something even better than The Witcher 3?

Steam Sale 2015--Less Flash Doesn't Necessarily Mean Less Cash

I actually thought that this Steam Sale might be the one where I don't purchase anything.  Other than the whole Christmas day caching crisis, the Winter Sale has been a muted affair.  Rather than offering a bunch of flash sales with looming timers the sale this year rewards players for exploring their discovery queues.  For simply scrolling through your discovery queue you are rewarded with three free trading cards every day.  If you're not into the whole virtual trading card thing you will probably ignore this.  One thing to remember is that these cards can be sold immediately for a few cents (or, if you're lucky enough to get a foil card, almost $.20!  That's a veritable windfall in trading card terms).  You could possibly rack up enough cash to buy a really cheap game.  Of course the real reason why they want you to explore your discovery queue is so that you'll spend non-virtual moola.  My queue explorations led me to make my first Winter Sale purchases--I'm not sure how they're going to pan out.  I will say that using my discovery queue made me look at games that I would never have found.  The strategy of eliminating the timers and flash sales may pay off for Steam...

My purchases thus far have included Legend of Grimrock, Legend of Grimrock 2 (these two games were bundled together for $5.99--super cheap), Hand of Fate, The Wolf Among Us, and This War of Mine.  I think there are some winners in the group and possibly some duds (for me personally.  This doesn't mean that others might not enjoy them).

Legend of Grimrock is a dungeon exploration game similar to those from the early golden days of PC gaming.  It harkens back to the good ol' days when you sat by the computer with graph paper and attempted to figure out a map for the area (there's even a difficulty where you can choose this option) and fought off any enemies in your path.  It's not extremely flashy but it is challenging.  Your little band of four characters doesn't feel like a powerhouse group that slays freely and it's often a good idea to use your wits and the environment to get rid of any unwanted enemies.  I'm not so sure that the bundle was a good idea...I'm going to save it for later.

In Hand of Fate you face off against the enigmatic dealer...and your own choices.

The highlight of my purchases has been Hand of Fate.  It's a sort of card game that requires a lot of luck and skill.  There is a story mode that allows you to progress through a set of different enemies who unlock special powerups that make your deck more powerful.  As you progress and unlock more cards and face more encounters they get more challenging.  There is a minor combat aspect to the game that requires you to fight and defeat different enemies.  You have to focus on managing your resources, gaining more powerful gear, and simply choosing the right path.  Some encounters require you to choose from "success" or "failure" cards which will either reward or punish you.  Each new step on your journey is different.  The first few levels were relatively easy but now things have gotten a lot harder.  There's also an endless mode that lets you play until your character meets it's end.  This game is a pleasant surprise!

I haven't started up The Wolf Among Us or This War of Mine yet.  I've read nothing but positive praise for both of them and am looking forward to playing them.  The really weird thing is that even though I've purchased all these games, I'm really wanting to go back and play some of my old gems--I've started up a new campaign in The Witcher and feel the magic that was 2008.

The Steam Winter Sale is winding down.  Get your hot deals while you can!