The Power to Wash

My fervor for Hades II has mostly dissipated--I managed to overcome two of the heroic challenges and then decided that I didn't have much desire to keep pushing toward that last one.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll feel the urge to go back (but by then will likely be so rusty that it will require starting from scratch).  Instead I've switched gears to an something that is basically the exact opposite--the relaxing effect of power washing an extremely dirty set of landmarks in PowerWash Simulator 2.

If you missed it or niche simulator games just aren't your jam, PowerWash Simulator 2 is the follow up to the surprisingly satisfactory first game that featured gameplay with a silly story that revolved around cleaning up very filthy locations around a fictional town.  These locations range from the mundane to the somewhat bizarre and even feature some DLC from popular games, movies, and shows.  Even though it might sound like the dullest experience in existence, many people have discovered that it is an oddly relaxing experience that is perfect for times when you just want to slowly dissolve some filth from a playground.

The second iteration has promised to improve upon the basic premise of the original game--more detailed dirt, a wider variety of locations, a whacky story that somehow ties together, and a wider set of powerwashing tools to make your cleaning experience even more enjoyable.  I've briefly delved into this bold new world of washing and have to say that the same fun spirit of the first game is still firmly in place, but that there are some more individualized features and a wider set of tools to make cleaning even more of a snap.

A collection of knickknacks to commemorate the places you've cleaned.

One of the best additions is the fact that you get your own home base/office.  Within your office you can view a large map that displays all your current (and eventually free play missions), you can hang out with your growing cat family (you've claimed the erstwhile Ulysses the cat and let's just say that she had a bit of a surprise in store). and as you complete jobs you can purchase used (and filthy furniture that requires powerwashing) to decorate your main floor space.  You also have access to an office where a giant corkboard displays articles related to all the weirdness that is constantly occurring in Muckingham and the surrounding area.  One of the best features of the office space a display wall where tiny models of the places that you have cleaned will appear.  It's fun!

When it comes to new tools, there are a few worth mentioning.  By default you have access to two different types of sprayers--the basic (upgradeable) one and the Urban XL sprayer that promises more power but less of a spread/control.  One of the best new tools is a floor polisher/cleaner for flat surfaces.  You no longer have to buy soap but it is on a bit of a cooldown which makes laying down a nice soapy later a good strategy for quickly cutting through dirt.

Traversing even the tallest obstacles is a breeze with the abseil.

Getting to all those hard to reach locations has also gotten much easier--there's a new scissor lift that can be raised and lowered to your desired height.  There's also a handy abseil that allows you to move across both vertical and horizontal axes in order to reach every nook and cranny.  There are numerous purchasable attachments and nozzles for every purpose--even one that can be adjusted from a concentrated stream to a finer mist for easier to clean messes.

If you're looking to clean up with a pal/partner, the handy co-op mode allows you to tackle the dirt together.  There are also numerous cosmetics to deck out your character in the color scheme or pattern of choice.  This time around that also includes your van!

Even though I've mostly just dabbled in PowerWash 2 it feels like an improved and more enjoyable experience than the original.  I would encourage anyone who is looking for some light relaxation to check it out.

Found em'!

(Spoilers ahead for Hades II end game--read with caution!)

My ultimate goal in Hades II was to locate the missing three fates.  Chronos, in his fit of evil, cast the weavers into the timeless abyss and intimated that there was really no way to find them.  As a result, Melinoë has to cast about killing fragments of Typhon and Chronos that are still lurking in other timelines.  I killed them both repeatedly and there were very few conversations about locating the fates.  I supposed that I just needed to continue venturing into the underworld.

It turns out that finding the fates is tied to one of the tasks on the fated list of minor prophecies.  Unfortunately, I have no idea which one--I think its one related to befriending various characters and especially Lord Moros.  It was after I had completed that task that I randomly noticed that the prophecy about the fates had changed--before it had simply said that you needed to find the fates and now it actually had instructions on how to do it.  It's not a matter of just repeatedly killing the big baddies, but rather a specific sequence where you need to equip Moros's keepsake (the engraved pin), activate it (by bringing you health down to 0 and then clearing the room within 10 seconds) in three successive chambers within Oceanus.  Then, you simply die and voila, there's a new cutscene where you meet the mysterious fates.  The fates decide that they're just going to leave the humans alone and let things happen without any intervention or prophecies.  There's a nice ending cutscene and an achievement about reaching the epilogue.

A magnificently inaccurate statue.

Now that I've completed my main goal, I'm not sure how much more I'm going to continue with Hades II.  There are still plenty of story and combat achievements that I am somewhat interested in seeing how they play out.  I decided to go for the first "champion of the night" challenge (it requires you to complete the surface and underworld with a certain amount of fear from the Vows of the Unseen) and managed to complete it fairly easily.  The reward?  A rather unrealistic statue of a very muscular Melinoë.  I haven't managed to develop deep bonds with everyone and somehow have wound up in a sort of romantic relationship with Lord Moros.  This whole "romance" thing is something I don't remember from Hades, but I guess it adds some flavor to the characters in the game.  I'd like to discover why Hecate seems reluctant to fully open up to Melinoë and figure out how to life Arachne's curse...so maybe I'll keep playing.

When it's all said and done, Hades II has turned out to be a great second entry.  The combat is challenging and enjoyable and the characters, voice acting, and story are well-designed to keep you playing even after you've accomplished your main goal.  I expect that it will take home some hardware in the upcoming gaming awards...and it's definitely well deserved.

Ascent

(Spoilers about the ending of Hades II ahead!  Read on with caution!)

To finally see the gleaming peaks of the temple of Zeus in Hades II felt like a real victory.  Granted, it undoubtedly took me much, much longer to defeat Typhon, the father of all monsters, than it should have.  I was actually very surprised that I had taken him down because the run had not gone very well--I had been sloppy on Eris and lost at least one instance of death defiance.  The boons I had cobbled together on that particular run had felt pretty epic though, so I guess it balanced out.

Actually making it to the Temple of Zeus feels epic.

Of course once you take down Typhon you are only partially done--it's back to Erebus and the underworld to finally take down Chronos.  Luckily though, I had the Chronos fight down pat (although I was surprised when he launched into a new third phase that I hadn't encountered before--apparently it's just part of the story though as I quickly noticed that I wasn't dying and my death defiance had an infinite symbol).  The actual ending surprised me a bit--I figured Melinoë would slay Chronos and it would be (mostly) game over.  Instead, it's up to Zagreus to convince past-Chronos to reconcile with the family who cut him into tiny pieces and sprinkled them throughout Tartarus.  Shockingly, Chronos decides to take the reconciliation path and in the current-time Melinoë experiences a rush of memories about what her childhood with this kinder, gentler, and grandfatherly Chronos would have been like.  She also finally gets to meet the entire Hades clan in the flesh--it's a fun jog down the original Hades path to be back in the House of Hades and be chatting with the old crew--Achilles, Nyx, Zagreus, Cerberus, and Persephone.  After that the credits roll--there's a great song to cap it off (I take back what I said about the music, it's definitely up to the Hades standard).

This doesn't mean that Melinoë's adventures are done--there's still the matter of the missing three fates.  Grandfather Chronos, who has slipped into a helpful role, has no idea where they ended up...he just cast them out into some random point of time and space.  So now it's up to Melinoë to continue investigating random pockets of time (a nice story mechanic to keep you fighting against the big bads that you have already defeated) in order to locate the three fates.  I have no idea how long it will take and there haven't been many conversations with other characters about the potential of finding them.  I guess I'll just keep on clearing until it happens...or until I get bored.

Overall, I've greatly enjoyed my experience with Hades II.  I can definitely see how it is a contender for game of the year.  I think the boss fights were slightly easier--that three phase fight with Hades in the original game always felt like a toss up--but I can generally take down Chronos and Typhon without a ton of consternation.  The story (so far--I'm waiting to see if things take a turn when/if I finally locate the three fates) has a happy ending and I like the way they managed to make re-playing the runs tie-in with the story aspects.

Hopefully next week I can report on finding the three fates and whether or not Chronos is legitimately the friendly, grandpa-sort that he seems to be.  Happy weekend and happy gaming!

Stumbling Ahead

You know a game is good when you can make limited progress but still want to play.  That's my current situation with Hades II--I've hit a Typhon-sized roadblock, but oddly, I'm still having fun.  I think I'm chipping away at him, but it's hard to tell.  (FYI: some Hades II spoilers ahead).

My trip to the top of Mount Olympus in Hades II became much more thrilling when I finally took down Prometheus.  It was partially luck--I just ran around like a dummy while Aeto the eagle swooped down with his fire-attack of instant death and somehow managed to avoid getting hit (I think I had Athena's dodge buff and another one and managed to dodge at least one).  It feels really dumb that I STILL haven't fully mastered avoiding the dang fire attacks!  I've definitely improved and can generally avoid most of them, but I need to come up with a solid strategy for completely avoiding them.  Quite frankly, it's a mechanic that shouldn't feel as difficult as it does--you just have to remember the pattern of attacks...something that we do all the time in video games but for some reason it seems overly difficult.  Maybe our brains really are turning to rot thanks to screens?  I don't know, but I am determined to get it down.

One time I managed to take Prometheus down and still had ALL of my death defiance in place (I think 3).  I made it past the monster minions on the way to the top of the mountain and finally got to face off with Typhon.  The father of all monsters is a giant, looming baddie with another very annoying mechanic--his health bar totally disappears and you have no idea how much you've chipped away.  There are a few indicators--at one point (I'm assuming 50-60%) Zeus shows up and encourages all the Olympian gods to unleash on Typhon. They all zap him and you get the chance to briefly unload on an unconscious Typon.  After his nap, Typhon wakes up and enters into a phase that can only be described as bullet hell chaos--tentacles emerge from random parts of the platform, he launches his wind storm and crashing object attacks, and it's total pandemonium just trying to avoid everything that's going on.  I think I lasted all of 10 seconds during this phase.  I haven't managed to make it this far again, sadly.

Mel's bedroom area is starting to look fancy.

I'm definitely not done though, I'm still putting Melinoë through her paces in an effort to build up her skills and weapons to make up for my own lack of ability.  One aspect of Hades that I thought was conspicuously missing was the ability to add new decorations to your home base.  It's still there, it just takes awhile for it to pop up as an incantation.  Dora, the friendly shade, offers a range of new decorations to spruce up the Crossroads.  You can also perform an incantation that will make bosses drop gems that can be cashed in with the Wretched Broker for the currency to buy decor.  I've spruced up Mel's bedroom area and bought a few decorations for other areas.

Next week I'm hopefully going to be reporting about how I've taken down Typhon and maybe gotten to a truly happy ending.  Fingers crossed.

Utterly Bewitching--Hades II

I've been spending almost all my gaming time thoroughly engrossed in Hades II.  I've taken a few brief diversions into the recently released PowerWash Simulator 2 (which I will likely write about next week), but my failure to accomplish the ultimate goal in Hades II has kept me invested.  I'm happy to report that I have finally vanquished Chronos (I will fully admit that it probably took me waaaay too long) and just last night was able to defeat Prometheus for the first time!  While I still haven't reached the "true ending," I 've gotten a good feel for the game and feel like I can write my review.

What is it?

The second installment of Supergiant Games hit roguelite Hades.  You play as Melinoë, the younger sister of Zagreus, the protagonist of the first game.  Melinoë was hidden away with a coven of witches for her protection as a baby and has been raised by the legendary titaness Hecate.  As a result of this, Melinoë possesses a special "magick" ability that allows her to utilize new attacks.  The gameplay in Hades II has remained largely the same as in the original game--Melinoë must navigate an everchanging set of rooms filled with various enemies to eventually face off against a powerful guardian.  Defeating that guardian will advance her to a new area where she must repeat the process until she eventually reaches her goal of facing off against the ultimate big baddie, the titan of time, Chronos.

How much playtime can I expect?

Because of it's roguelike/lite design, you could technically play it forever.  Realistically though, if you want to reach the true ending (which I haven't reached) my best estimate would be 30-50 hours (*which is highly dependent on your skill level--I'm not great and I am already at 35 hours).  Honestly, the price to value ratio is great.

Pros:

+The core gameplay has remained largely the same.  Melinoë starts each night at her home base of the Crossroads and can spend time chatting up its various denizens and establishing relationships with them.  Then she can head over to the combat preparation area and pick out her keepsake, weapons, and companion before choosing a path.  Like the previous game, you get to choose boons from various gods and goddesses and utilize those buffs to fight through multiple levels of everchanging rooms filled with foes.

+ Combat is still highly enjoyable and challenging.  Melinoë can utilize powerful magick abilities that consume magick--a new resource that automatically refills at the beginning of each room.  This adds in another layer of strategy because there's no reason not to spend your magick.  Mel has a special ability that lays down a circle that can stop or slow enemies and it can even be enhanced by certain boons to do damage.  One change that seemed to bit a bit controversial during early access was the fact that they have increased the cooldown on dashing.  I found it to be barely noticeable and there are boons that allow you to dash more quickly and more frequently.

+ A great cast of new characters to befriend.  The Crossroads base is filled with various close associates of Melinoë--the head witch, Hecate; the famed adventurer, Odysseus; the broody Nemesis; and many more who appear as the story progresses.  And, of course, you can always practice your moves on Schelemeus (who has been promoted to commander Schelemeus).  The voice acting is great, as always, and befriending everyone is a relaxing part of the game.

+ New boons!  Many of the original gods and goddesses make an appearance with boons that are similar to what they offered in Hades, but a few new faces pop up.  My personal favorite is Hestia, goddess of the hearth (fire), who offers up various boons that will enhance your various attacks with a scorch debuff that is a damage over time ability.  There's also Hephaestus, god of the forge who can enhance Melinoë's circle attacks with very powerful damage that is on a longer cooldown.  Hera, the wife of Zeus, also makes an appearance and her boons cause a debuff called "hitch" that will share damage among all afflicted enemies.

+ A wider variety of infernal arms to choose from.  There are six different weapons that range from slower, more powerful melee abilities to fast, quick ranged attacks.  :Like the first game, each weapon also has special "aspects" that can be unlocked.  It's a lot of fun finding a new favorite weapon and experimenting with the various abilities of the new aspects.

+ One new feature of gameplay is resource gathering.  Sprinkled throughout the various zones are various plant and mineral resources that can be gathered and are used to unlock incantations at the cauldron in the Crossroads.  These incantations unlock some of the gameplay features that were purchasable with gems in the first game--things like infernal chests, additional fountains for each level, and even new areas of the Crossroads.

+ Companions are available early in the game.  Melinoë can choose to take an animal sidekick on her adventures (once she has located them and offered them a treat).  Each companion offers a different buff to enhance combat abilities and can shorten the amount of time it takes to gather certain resources.  For example, Toula, the cat companion will periodically attack foes and can automatically catch fish (she also adds an instance of death defiance).  I never unlocked companions in the original game (I believe it was something that required a bit of late game activity that I never completed) and I am loving it.  Pets are the best in games!

+ Boss fights that are challenging, but enjoyable.  You'll be facing off against a set of big bads with a range of combat abilities.  My personal favorite new boss fight is with Scylla and the Sirens.  When I first heard the haunting singing in Oceanus I was positive that it would be sirens...I just didn't expect them to be the version they are in the game.  I expected a big nasty monster fight, but instead found myself facing off against a wannabe band featuring three members--a drummer, a guitar player, and on vocals, Scylla the legendary siren of lore.  Scylla is a bit delusional about making it big and her dialogue is humorous.  She also sings a fun song titled "I want to drown you and rip out your eyes."  The fight itself isn't too bad once you figure out the various attacks that each band member is capable of and it provides some humor.

+ Features to keep you playing even after you've defeated the big bosses.  Similar to the first game there are combat modifiers that can be activated to make each run more difficult.  Upgrading the special aspects of the infernal arms requires utilizing a special resource that is only unlocked if you activate these multipliers and defeat the big boss.  They've also added a set of specific combat challenges that lock a certain set of abilities and weapons and reward a special resource--these challenges range in difficulty from simple to very difficult and the amount of resource awarded depends on the difficulty.

+ An enjoyable story that plays out in pieces as you complete each run.  I'm not going to spoil anything, but the story aspects of the Hades series has always been great.  The plot thickens more and more as you progress.

Ah, Lord Moros...so beautiful, but is doom itself.

+ Pretty new gods, goddesses, and others to thirst over.  They're immortal gods...and they look like it.  One of my new favorites is Moros, the embodiment of doom.  He's responsible for all the disasters that happen on earth and has the creepy task of being present when they occur and many humans die.  But hey, he's very pretty and soft spoken.

+ Arcana cards that grant Melinoë a specific set of abilities.  Melinoë can upgrade her "grasp," which grants a certain number of points that correspond with the number of arcana cards that she can utilize.  At the beginning of each run you can choose your set.  The cards are upgradeable (with specific resources).

+ A major difference in Hades II is that there are two combat paths that you can choose from.  There's the default path where you ultimately face off against Chronos and another path that requires you to travel to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods.  The foes you face are different in each area and it provides more variety to the gameplay.  (No spoilers here though)

Cons:

- The music in this game seems less memorable that in the first game.  I loved the Hades soundtrack and its music is great.  I find myself noticing the music much less this time around.  It's a minor gripe, but Supergiant generally does music in a big way in its games.  I still like the music in the game, it's just not as epic. (*EDIT:  The music is growing on me and I'm re-thinking this gripe a bit.  It's just that the Hades main theme was so memorable--and yes, they've basically reused it in Hades II, so maybe I should just enjoy it.)

- There's one particular boss fight that I hate.  It's a bit of a spoiler, but it involves a mechanic that I (stupidly) have not been able to overcome.  What is that mechanic you might ask?  Well, it's a bit like a memory game where a path for attacks will appear on the ground and you have to remember the sequence or else each attack will almost (or entirely depending on your health) kill you.  It happens at 66% and 33% of this boss's health and is first in a sequence of three paths and then five.  So far the only way I've managed to overcome it is by stacking death defiance and hoping I get slightly lucky.  I hate it and hate the fact that I just can't seem to figure it out.

Recommendation:

Just go buy it.  It's completely worth the full price and is another fantastic installment in a series that is definitely one of the best roguelites on the market.  Seriously, it's money well spent.

Witchin' it Up

I'm a firm believer that waiting is almost always worth it...even if it's really hard.  I thoroughly enjoyed Hades and it's truly one of my favorites and the only roguelike/lite that I've ever stuck with.  When Hades II was announced it was extremely tempting to hop into early access.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of playing during early access.  Sure, there is some value in being part of the development process and seeing how all the pieces fall into place, but I would much rather just wait for the finished product rather than the stop and start process of playing during EA.  I'm finally playing Hades II and it has definitely been worth the wait.

The first thing that I'll report is that I'm not great at it.  I still haven't managed to take down either of the big baddies (fun fact--there are two this time around!) but I definitely feel like I'm making progress.  Hades is such a classic that they've kept most of the base gameplay--you're still navigating through an everchanging set of rooms to reach your ultimate goal of facing off with a boss at the end of each zone.  Between bouts of fighting, Melinoe returns to her Crossroads base where she can invest resources to unlock special items/events that can appear during certain parts of each run.  And, of course, there are plenty of new companions to chat up and befriend--the legendary witch Hecate, the brave adventurer Odysseus, the friendly shade Dora, the openly hostile Nemesis...and others who appear.

Fighting in Hades II mostly the same as in the first game with a few notable changes.  Melinoe has the same basic attack and special attack but also can use special, powerful magick attacks that consume magick (a new resource that refills at the beginning of each encounter).  Magick attacks can be a bit tricky because they take a few precious seconds to launch and constant movement is almost required.  Successfully incorporating magick attacks definitely throws a new element into the gameplay.  Another semi-controversial change that I've barely even noticed is the fact that Melinoe cannot dash as constantly as Zagreus.  Fights are still very movement/dash heavy so it's vital to add in Melinoe's unique ability to drop a magickal circle that can stop/slow enemies.

My, my lord Dionysus...nice bulge you got there.
(*he's noticeably missing from the gods that grant boons)

The cast of gods and goddesses you meet in Hades II features many of the favorites from the first game--Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite (a much less clothed version), Hermes, and many, but not all of the originals.  There are also a few new faces like Hephaestus, Hestia, and Hera (the H crew!).  Hestia (goddess of the hearth) offers up boons that include a scorch debuff that serves as damage over time and is my new favorite.  Not to say that Hephaestus and Hera don't also have some great new boons--Hephaestus offers abilities that have a slightly longer cooldown, but can do an impressive amount of damage.  Hera's boons involve a new debuff called "hitch" that will split damage among all the enemies that are afflicted by it.

As you befriend the classic and new gods and goddesses they grant you a new set of keepsakes to test out.  One of my new favorites is the glass onion--a handy trinket that will grant up to a certain amount of health throughout a zone (it starts off at like 25 and then increases as you level it up).  It's handy for keeping your health topped up throughout a run, but is pretty useless once you've burned through it.

One of my favorite new boss fights features Scylla and the Sirens.

One of the new (*which might not be new, but that I didn't unlock in the first game) aspects of gameplay that I'm enjoying is the ability to befriend animal familiars who will accompany Melinoe on runs.  Each familiar has a specific combat ability and can also make gathering certain resources simpler.  So far I've unlocked three and they each offer up something different--Frinos, Melinoe's favorite amphibian friend, slows projectiles and can hypnotize spirits for their psyche; Toula, a stray cat, can periodically attack foes, can catch fish, and offers up an additional death defiance, and Hecuba, Hecate's canine familiar, periodically stuns foes and can dig up buried resources.  There are even more to find and unlock!

Even though I'm basically an abject failure at Hades II and haven't managed to accomplish the main goal, everyone knows that the best part is the journey.  Befriending your allies and all the gods and goddesses is like gradually unraveling a story.  The thing that Hades does well is making you want to keep playing even as you don't always have success.  I'm looking forward to my continued journey and DEATH TO CHRONOS (...someday!)!

Mo' Slimes, Mo' Problems

I recently finished the main storyline in Slime Rancher 2 and now it's time to share my thoughts about the newest slime-venture.  Should there be more slime wrangling in your future or should you just leave the slimes to their own devices?  Read on for the answer!

Pink-cotton slimes are the perfect cute combo.

What is it?

The Slime Rancher games are a pleasant mix of management, exploration, and some light action.  You play as Bea, an adventurer outfitted with a vac-pack that can suck up slimes (and various other materials) who is looking to join the ranks of successful slime ranchers.  Part of the game revolves around running your slime ranch--capturing the various slimes that populate the world of Rainbow Island, corralling them, feeding them, and then harvesting their valuable plorts.  The other side is more exploration oriented--exploring the various areas that comprise the world and unlocking new areas.  There are numerous hidden treasure pods sprinkled throughout the world and finding all of them (without looking them up) is a real challenge.  Overall, it's a casual, kid-friendly type of game that is nice for relaxing.

How much playtime can you expect?

This number can vary greatly depending on your own playstyle.  If you are just hoping to wrap up the main story it could probably be done in 10-20 hours.  My own total was around 45 hours and included some time spent tracking down and flagging resources (which I will explain in my review), searching for treasure pods, and completing the main storyline.  I did not find all the treasure pods or unlock many of the pods sprinkled throughout the Grey Labyrinth area (those require some grinding for shadow plorts).  You could definitely spend much more time--I would easily venture 100 hours if you're thoroughly exploring, unlocking pods, and are spending time decorating your ranch.

Pros:

+ A colorful, vibrant new world.  Part of the delight of Slime Rancher is the cute, bouncy vibe and Slime Rancher 2 manages to improve on the original formula.  Rainbow Island is made up of colorful areas filled with adorable slimes and exploring them is fun.

+ The new ranch is massive!  The starting conservatory area has plenty of room for multiple corrals and resources (growing crops and raising chickens).  There are also five additional areas that can be purchased and unlocked.  This large amount of space gives you plenty of options for how you want to manage your ranch and tons of room for decorating.

My sloomber-twin largos.

+ An assortment of cute new slimes to capture.  Almost immediately you are greeted by the cotton slime--an adorable species that resembles a bunny.  My personal favorites include the sloomber slime--a fluffy pinkish/purple slime that spontaneously falls asleep--and the butterfly-like flutter slimes.  There are also many classic slimes around like the tabby slime and crystal slime.

+ An absolute avalanche of decorative items.  If your playstyle includes turning your ranch into a beautiful, slime-filled haven there are tons of options.  Some can be purchased from the handy Pronto-Mart machine on your ranch; others are gifted to you from your friends who periodically call you on your phone kiosk; and there are even more that are unlocked in the various treasure pods.  Many of the items are themed to specific areas of Rainbow Island so you can specialize or just pop down a random assortment.  There are also numerous fun slime toys and gadgets.

+ Upgrade system that improves Bea's equipment.  There are numerous upgrade that will increase Bea's health, energy, vac-pack storage, and other capabilities.

+ Drones.  I never managed to cobble together all the required items to build one, but these popular items from the first game can be used to automate many of your ranch functions.  The downside is that they are fairly resource intensive and require some hard to find materials.

+ Many warp items to facilitate easier travel around the various areas of Rainbow Island.  There are multiple varieties of portals which allow you to set up your own system for travelling exactly where you want to go (and back to the ranch).

+ An enjoyable story with a heartfelt ending.  I won't spoil it, but it's as good as in the first game.

+ Tons of hidden treasure pods.  If searching every nook and cranny is your thing...you'll be an absolute pig in mud.  There are probably 100 or more pods sprinkled throughout the world--some are easy to find and others are definitely well hidden.  The joy of finding treasure pods is truly enjoyable.

+ A new flagging system for marking resource deposits.  Bea can create a set of flags to mark different types of resources and those markers will appear on the game map.  This is a handy feature if you're trying to gather materials for upgrades or for building certain items.  The downside--creating these flags requires resources (luckily they're easily accessible resources).

+ The music perfectly matches the vibe of the game and manages not to get annoying.

Cons:

- Map markers can be difficult to find and means that your map will remain covered until you find them.  I'm sure that it's meant to facilitate more exploration, but part of me wishes that they were located in easily accessible areas so you could get a better idea of the area for exploration.  I did eventually find the markers but some of them are pretty tucked away.

- Grey Labyrinth treasure pods are very grindy.  Each pod requires probably 30-50 shadow plorts which means you have to track down elusive shadow slimes and try to shoot them as many times as you can.  While it's not necessary to unlock all these pods, many upgrade components are found in the pods.  If you're hoping to find and unlock all the pods you're in for quite a bit of grinding out shadow plorts.  Personally, it's not something I enjoy, but others might not mind it too much.

Recommendation:

If you're looking for something relaxing but fun, Slime Rancher 2 offers up the perfect combination of cuteness, exploration, and some light management.  It's a very rated G kind of game, so it's perfect for kids.  There are tons of options to match your playstyle whether that is more completionist, aesthetically-oriented, or just playing through the main story.  

The Slime-venture Continues

I've been fully engrossed in Slime Rancher 2 and have managed to get to the point where my ranch is pumping out plorts (but not decorated or autonomous--I've found several drone modules but haven't cobbled one together yet).  My exploration progress has been a bit stunted--I've managed to track down a few more hidden treasure pods and find the mysterious Grey Labyrinth.  However, I still haven't unlocked all the slimes or science materials.  It's my goal to do more exploring and unlock these materials because it's holding up some of my upgrades.

Some Shadow Slimes lurking about.

The progress I've made has been a bit slow and I've noticed that I've reached the slightly grindy part of the game.  Once you reach the Grey Labyrinth you find a new type of slime--the shadow slime.  It cannot be caught (or farmed) and will flee if you get too close and will eventually disappear into the slimey ether.  Eventually you'll also stumble across a new type of container that has a day/night motif.  You'll also find a few holographic communication devices that reveal the identity of the mysterious "AI" who has left the drones sprinkled around the islands.  Engaging with these communicators is worthwhile because you'll learn that those day/night themed devices are unlocked by depositing the plorts of shadow slimes.  Rather than capturing these slimes you need to shoot them to get them to drop plorts.  Here's where the grindy part comes in--shadow slimes appear at random and disappear as you chase them around (usually frantically trying to shoot them as many times as you can).  Opening the day/night devices requires 30-50 plorts each.  Basically you should always keep a supply of fruits/veggies for shooting shadow slimes (luckily there are quite a few sprinkled around...for similarly grindy reasons).

Unfortunately the grindiness doesn't stop there...as you progress through the Grey Labyrinth it is revealed that the area is prone to prisma-disruptions--a sparkly haze that can randomly appear and will cause food sources to become unstable.  This unstable food will cause the slimes in the area to produce unstable plorts.  At first their use seemed a bit boggling--they disappear from your inventory rather quickly.  Speaking to the communicator reveals that these unstable plorts can be shot (or carried....) through special "stabilization" portals and turned into an entirely new kind of plort--the prisma plort.  The major drawback is that you don't know where these prisma disruptions will occur, so it's a bit dependent on being at the right place at the right time.  Alas though--you're granted a blueprint for a special device that can be placed around the Grey Labyrinth and indicates on your map when a disruption is occurring.  Now for the extra grindy part--building one of these detectors requires 30 prisma plorts.  I guess I better get to grinding out shadow and prisma plorts.

I'll admit that with all this grindiness that I've found myself feeling some bouts of boredness.  It's not necessary to unlock all the devices that use shadow plorts, but many of them contain upgrade modules.  I'm going to try to space out my grinding with some exploring--I still haven't found all the new areas of the Grey Labyrinth and am missing some slimes and materials.  Overall, I'm mostly enjoying my time with Slime Rancher 2.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend filled with cozy gaming!

Down on the ol' Slime Ranch

September was a busy month for new releases and I've managed to reduce my wishlist by a few titles.  Within a couple of days Slime Rancher 2 and Hades II  both exited early release and I had some tough decisions to make about where to spend my time.  Now that the school year has started and I'm firmly ensconced in the chaos of work, I'm mostly looking for something relaxing when I come home.  That's why I decided to start off my exploration of these new titles with Slime Rancher 2.

If you're unfamiliar with Slime Rancher, it's a fun take on the more "farming" oriented games mixed in with some exploration.  Rather than planting crops and managing a farm you instead wrangle various cute slimes and then "ranch" them for their valuable plorts.  What are plorts?  Well.....let's just say they're a waste product produced when slimes consume the foods that they enjoy.  Then you can sell those plorts to earn cash that can be used to expand your ranch, upgrade your gear/ranch, and buy a plethora of blueprints to create the perfect combination of decorative items to make your ranch a regular work of art.

It may sound a bit silly, but there's quite a bit of complicated management to get your ranch producing at peak capacity.  Firstly, you have to consider the foods that your slimes consume.  Some slimes have very specific diets and will only eat one type of food.  Crossbreeding those slimes with slimes who are less picky can make the life of a slime rancher much easier.  Slimes also have favorite foods that will cause their production to greatly increase, so it's generally a good idea to have a steady supply of those items.  Once your ranch is up and running it's a matter of keeping your slimes fed and their plorts harvested.

The map so far.  I've barely made a dent!

You don't necessarily want to be spending all your time on the ranch and exploring is vital to discovering new slimes and discovering the many hidden orbs that contain components to upgrade your gear, blueprints for decorative items, and science items (a component in building items and upgrades).  There's also a story wrapped up in all of it--a series of mysterious drones hint at the original occupant of the conservatory (your starting ranch area) and part of the fun is piecing together the story.  Luckily, there's tons to explore in Slime Rancher 2 and the map seems much larger than in the first game.

I've spent about 15 hours with Slime Rancher 2 so far and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.  Your home base, the Conservatory, is a large, glass encased structure that offers up numerous customizable plots to facilitate raising slimes.  It also includes everything else a slime rancher needs: a cute home for the rancher, a link to the plort market, and an underground facility for scientific research (AKA storing and utilizing the many items needed for producing blueprints and upgrades).

Your home base--the Conservatory.

The gameplay in Slime Rancher 2 has remained very similar to that of the first game--Bea is still equipped with her handy vac-pac that can be used to suck up resources and slimes and can be upgraded to defensively spray water on those nasty tarrs (hostile slimes that are the result of a slime eating three different kinds of plorts).  She can fly through the air with her jetpack and explore the many nooks and crannies of the various areas.  Upgrading items is a bit more complicated this time around as you have to find specific components in the many orbs scattered around the islands to be able to complete it.  There are some additional exploration-based aspects that I'm enjoying--statues of slimes that require specific plorts to unlock that can provide a handy shortcut between different areas or unlock areas with orbs.

Overall, I'm having a great time with Slime Rancher 2.  There are new slimes to find and wrangle and a huge area to explore.  I will write up a full review soon, but until then, there are more slimes to find!

So Many Artifacts, So Little Time

I recently finished the follow-up to the fantastic plant-based mystery game Strange Horticulture.  Rather than boggling out the identities of various plants, this time around you're dealing with a collection of strange magical artifacts while you man the front desk of Strange Antiquities.  Of course there's also a mystery afoot in the ominous village of Undermere that requires you to utilize your knowledge of these random objects.

What is it?

A casual puzzle game that requires you to use your skills of deduction to identify a growing collection of bizarre items, to satisfy the requests of various patrons who are in need of items for specific purposes, and to solve a number of mysterious clues to ultimately stop a magical catastrophe in the town of Undermere.

How much playtime can you expect?

I finished a full playthrough (that included some pause time and I played through the epilogue to identify a few unidentified items) in 12.5 hours.  It's perfect for short or long sessions as you can save and quit at any point.  There's much replayability though (which I will explain).

Pros:

+ If you've played Strange Horticulture the gameplay hasn't changed much and is easy to pick up.  Each day you can click on the bell to meet with a new customer.  That customer will request that you find a specific item for their needs--sometimes they will describe a need and you'll have to consult your handy guide to magical items to figure out which item will best solve their problem or they will simply request a specific item.  Once you've picked the item that you think fits, you present it to the customer.  If you've correctly identified it a window will pop up to confirm that you've puzzled out the correct clues--this time around they've also included a handy setting (that you must enable in the settings menu) that will auto-label any items you've correctly identified.

Certain characters that are part of the main story will visit the store and present you with the option to pick between specific items.  Usually one item is a bit on the darker side and the other seems more innocent.  These choices play out in the story and at the end of the game you find out the effects of your choices.

+ Multiple endings!  I don't know exactly how many endings there are, but if it's anything like Strange Horticulture there are many.  There's a great amount of replayability built in to facilitate multiple playthroughs.

+ A vast number of options for labelling objects--you can change the shape and color of labels to better help organize them.  I didn't have much of a plan for this, but you could definitely group objects according to their traits.

There are three different books to consult for clues.

+ More layers to puzzling out item identities.  Often you'll need to consult multiple books (you get three guides in addition to the basic guide) to gather together the information that you need.  There's a book on gemstones and another one on symbols.  Plus, there's another item that I don't want to spoil.

+ Little mysteries around the shop to solve.  I just started clicking on random stuff in the shop that looked like it might do something and discovered several hidden puzzles that could eventually be solved to unlock more items.  It's fun to find these hidden (and sort of not-so hidden because they are eventually revealed) puzzles.

+ A cute new shop cat named Jupiter!  You can pet Jupiter and listen to his/her cute purrs.

+ The option to play the epilogue which will allow you to identify any items that you might not have identified.

+ Daily puzzle cards to solve.  Each day a new mystery card will challenge you to explore one of three different locations to find additional objects.  Most of the puzzles are easily solvable, but a few are a bit of a headscratcher (I'll admit here that I did look a few things up).

+ Music is calm and soothing--perfect for relaxation while puzzling.

+ If you incorrectly identify items you will eventually have to play a little game to restore your sanity.  This time around it's a dice game that requires you to match certain combinations of symbols.  It's fun to play and mostly easy to reset to the beginning of the day.

Cons:

- I didn't think the world and groups seemed quite as ominous as in Strange Horticulture.  There's still some inherent creepiness, but a slightly less strange and intriguing group of characters.

- Rather than one large map for exploration there are three smaller scale maps.  In some ways this was nice (figuring out which map to use is easy) but in others it made exploration a bit easier.  Some people might find this disappointing.

- Hints can be fairly unhelpful.  Usually you will have figured out the basic information but need a little bit more--the hints definitely do nor provide much extra help.  I wish they would give a bit more of a nudge if you need more than one.  I tried very hard not to look anything up but did eventually get stuck and resorted to Googling.

Recommendation:

If you enjoyed Strange Horticulture you'll find that Strange Antiquities is very much the same kind of adventure.  I had fun figuring things out and enjoyed the rewarding feeling of identifying items.  If you like puzzle games and using your noggin to solve problems from a vague set of clues, it's perfect for you.  If you're someone who gets easily frustrated and gives up, it might be best to avoid.  The replayability factor also makes it an attractive choice--you can go back and make different decisions to see how the story plays out.

I Missed One...

In all the excitement about September new releases I forgot one!  The follow-up to the plant-filled mystery game Strange Horticulture arrived on September 17th.  This time around you're dealing with a vast array of magical objects in Strange Antiquities.  Strange Horticulture was recently featured as a freebie on Epic, so hopefully more people learned about and got to enjoy solving the mysteries of Undermere.  I've had a few hours to play around with Strange Antiquities and even though there aren't any plants, the gameplay remains very much in the same vein.

Jupiter and the storefront in Strange Antiquities.

Strange Antiquities starts off much the same way that Strange Horticulture did--a family member needs help tending the shop and you get to play that role.  The major difference this time around is that the items in question are an array of bizarre (and sometimes grotesque) magical items.  Luckily there's a handy tome filled with vague, semi-helpful descriptions to help you identify them.  There's also a fun, cute new shop cat named Jupiter to occasionally pet and make you feel better about the disgusting mummified hand that is sitting on a shelf.

The gameplay has been pretty similar to Strange Horticulture--townfolk visit the shop looking for a magical item to help them with their current issues and it's your job to correctly identify a totem, pendant...or other magical oddity to serve their needs.  On top of this there's also a mysterious illness impacting the villagers that seems to have some sort of dark and ominous source.  Every day a new mystery card appears and you can opt to try to puzzle out the clues to unlock even more items for the shop.  The shop itself also contains a number of different puzzles that hide new objects and information that can be used to help with the local mystery.

If you haven't checked out either Strange Horticulture or Strange Antiquities, I would recommend giving them a try.  There's some light-to-medium puzzle solving and a dark, mystery story to solve.  It's a great casual/mostly relaxing game with lots of replayability.

September Madness

It's beginning to look like the end of September is going to be busy with new/upcoming releases!  Both of the games that I'm eyeing have been in early release for quite awhile, but I'm someone who likes to wait for the full release.  Slime Rancher 2 releases on September 23rd and promises a relaxing adventure filled with a wider variety of cute slimes and tons of plort farming.  The other title that popped up on my radar is Hades II.  Like Slime Rancher 2 it has been in early access for a good chunk of time (over a year).  I'm very excited to see the full release of both titles.  Here's the release trailer for Hades II to get you all hyped up for some roguelike slaying with all the silly, hot, and strange characters of the underworld:

This one kind of snuck up on me--I had seen a bit of news about Hades II but didn't realize it was this close to full release.  I'm very excited--Hades was the roguelike that I enjoyed the most and I've been a fan of Supergiant's games since Bastion.  The music is always great so there's a few guaranteed bangers there.  It's also interesting to see which of the gods and goddesses that the internet gets thirsty for.

I can't wait to be roaming through the underworld, dying like a million times, and learning the ins-and-outs of combat in Hades II!  The 1.0 release is scheduled for September25th.

New Content and Release Dates

My Red Dead adventures have reached the epilogue and I'm perfectly content to experience the hopefulness of John Marston trying to shed his outlaw past for the sake of his family.  RIP Arthur (and horse...we can't forget his faithful horse).  I'm keeping watch for any news about my other favorite games and there have been a few fun little nuggets of news that have popped up!

News Nugget #1

The latest update for Two Point Museum added in a bunch of new features that include a variety of new displays from the "digiverse"--a sort of alternate dimension that can be slightly risky to explore.  On top of that, they also included a crossover with Dredge!  Now you can display the creepy denizens of the deep in your own museum.  I haven't played it yet, but fully intend to check it out once I finally (someday) finish my latest cowboy adventures.  You can view the preview video below:

News Nugget #2

Slime Rancher 2 will fully launch on September 23rd!  It has been in early access for a long time (like 2 or 3 years) and I've been seeing some of the content on social media.  If you are unfamiliar with Slime Rancher, I would highly encourage you to check out the original game.  It definitely falls on the casual side of the spectrum, but it's the perfect happy, relaxing game for just chilling with no stress.  The slimes are cute, there's a bit of management and exploration, and there's a background story built in.  I can't wait to see what the latest iteration has in store!  They're also releasing a physical edition (if that's your jam).

I'm hoping to spend some time in the future with both of these delightful games.  It's a Labor Day weekend in the U.S., so I hope everyone gets to enjoy some fun outdoor time and maybe a bit of gaming.

Horse Sense

Red Dead Redemption 2 is such an epic game that there's no way I'm done playing.  My adventures as Arthur Morgan have taken me from the beauty of the wooded lands around Valentine to the murky swamps and dirty streets of Saint Denis.  Poor Arthur is marching toward his inevitable end but I'm still having fun.

Since I've largely completed much of the side content I've been advancing the main storyline.  I did spend some time doing something that I said I wasn't going to do...but inevitably always end up doing.  Usually one of the first big adventures that Arthur takes is to find what is arguably the best horse in the game--the white Arabian that spawns in the snowy expanse outside Lake Isabella.  This time I told myself that I would organically find Arthur increasingly better horses--basically I would keep an eye out for different horses roaming around and if I saw one that was an upgrade, I would tame it.  This worked out pretty well, there's one random thoroughbred that roams around in the area outside Emerald Ranch and I managed to track it down and tame it.  It's a good horse--decent speed and it doesn't scare extremely easily.  I stuck with that horse for awhile and then stumbled across a random Nokota in the hills outside of Valentine.  Once again, I tamed it, built up the bond to level 4 and kept my eyes peeled for other horses.

My own stupidity doomed my "organic discovery" plan.  I decided that I should sell one of my previously stabled horses and thought I had selected JUST that horse to sell.  Instead, I stupidly sold ALL my stabled horses and didn't realize it until way too late (basically I noticed the stable icon was no longer showing a number for my stabled horses).  All those horses that I had worked so hard to find were gone.  There's no way I couldn't have a backup horse, so I decided to just pursue the normal path of tracking down the best horses.

My favorite of the horsies!  The coat pattern is so unique.

This time around I decided to check out the other wild Arabian that can be tamed.  Its stats are slightly worse than the white Arabian, but it has my favorite look of all the horses in the game.  You can find this horse wandering around the rugged terrain just west of the Wapiti Reservation.  The biggest challenge in taming this horse is the rocky terrain--the horse kept positioning itself on top of rocks or close to the edge of dangerous looking drop-offfs, so I had to chase it around a bit to get it in a place where I felt confident that it wouldn't buck itself into an early death while I was trying to break it.  Behold, the brindled Arabian!  It truly is one of the prettiest horsies.

Now I had my backup horse, but I wasn't content with just one, so I decided that it would also be worthwhile to go grab the white Arabian.  In previous playthroughs I've never had a problem finding and breaking this horse.  This time around it turned into a real chore.  It took me three different tries to catch the damn thing!  The first time was completely my fault--it was kind of blizzardy and I lost sight of the horse and accidentally rode too close to it and spooked it off.  Generally I could track it down using eagle eye, but this time it decided to take off on a bonkers path--it swam across the open part of the lake and made it to the small island in the middle and then just disappeared.  I rode fully around the lake multiple times and could not find it.  I gave up and decided to come back later.

The classic white Arabian.

Round two also turned into a disaster--I bundled Arthur up and ventured back up into the snow.  This time the horse spawned right next to two wolves that were playing (but not scaring the stupid horse...).  As soon as I got close enough the wolves turned to attack and I had to kill them.  The shooting scared the horse off (thankfully this time it didn't take off into the water) and I figured I could still track it down.  Unfortunately a random rider also decided to come by and scared the horse off even more (honestly, I never see riders up there so it was very oddly timed).  I wasted a bunch of time riding around and trying to find it to no avail.

So I waited, did a few missions, and then decided to give it another go (which is truly stupid).  Again, the wolves had respawned, but this time I was ready and quickly dispatched them while keeping an eye on the horse.  I was finally able to track it down and break it.  I probably wasted well over an hour on the pursuit of this dang horse.

I previously wrote about irritations I have with certain aspects of RDR2 and another one (sort of two) popped up with the taming of the Arabians.  NPC's love to comment on how awesome the Arabians are, but then I took them into the stables and the stable master stated that the horse was starved.  What?  I feed them whenever their health starts to dip.  That's when I remembered the whole "body condition" aspect of gameplay that is never explained well.  It's a counterintuitive mechanic where Arthur and horse companion need to eat at a certain regular pattern to maintain their weight (rather than the traditional RPG way of whenever health gets low).  It supposedly has some effect on stats (like stamina).  The game never explains much other than the fact that Arthur and horsey need to eat from time to time.  I'm pretty sure that there are guides out there that explain how to maintain body condition, but I don't know how much time I want to expend on this aspect of the game.  It's poorly explained and difficult to monitor--the only way to see the condition of your horse is through a pause menu option.

Even though I know exactly how Arthur's adventures will end (sad face), RDR2 is always a magical, western-style good time.  I forgot exactly how many people you shoot--it's staggering (maybe more than GTA V?).  Maybe someday I'll do a bandit playthrough...probably not though, I just don't like bad Arthur. 

I Finally Did It! (Like a Month Ago...)

After spending months and months fantasizing/doing research about building a new PC, I decided it was time to actually do the thing.  GPU prices were (and are) still on the high side, but I think I saved enough with a few other component deals to possibly offset the additional cost.  Here is a link to my ultimate final build:  7800x3d Build.

Basically it all started because I saw a Paul's Hardware video where he was doing a few build fixes and he mentioned that there were some good deals on motherboards.  Thanks to that tip I discovered that I could get a B850 motherboard for the same price as the B650 one that I had initially chosen.  Since it was a limited time offer...what was I supposed to do with just a motherboard?  I had no other choice but to finish the build (*I definitely had a choice).

CPU: 7800X3D

I'm sure you're thinking...why not a 9800X3d?  It's like $200 more.  If I was going for a fancier, more top of the line kind of build, I would've probably landed there.  I wanted to check out the supposed boosted gaming capabilities of the X3D CPU's and the 7800X3D is fine for the 1440p gaming that I'm doing.  The price appears to have gone up a bit since I bought mine but CPU prices do seem to fluctuate quite a bit.  

Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE

I decided to go with a slightly beefier (but still very affordable) dual fan cooler in this build.  This cooler has great reviews and performance for ~$40.  It required a bit of muscle to fully screw it in, but it has worked like a charm and is keeping my CPU nice and chill.  The only major downside was that I installed this beefier cooler before plugging in my CPU power cables to the motherboard--let's just say that I royally scraped up my hand and it was a huge pain the buttocks to plug both of those cables in.  If possibly, I would highly recommend plugging in the CPU cables before your cooler (if it's a beefier one like this one).  It also sits right on top of my RAM--there's zero space, but it does clear it.

Memory: TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan DDR5-6000 CL30 (16gb x 2)

I had originally picked some slightly more budget RAM but this set was on sale for the same price, so I went with TeamGroup.  I am not a big RGB person, so it doesn't have any cool, flashy lights, it's just RAM.  It was easy to install, was the right size, and changing the XMP settings was as simple as enabling it.  

Motherboard: MSI B850 Gaming Plus Wifi ATX AM5

This was the magical motherboard that started it all--it was the same price as the B650 one I had originally chosen but offered some decent upgrades (PCIE 5.0; Gen 5 M.2; Wifi 7).  It's a nice looking motherboard and features a fancy heatsink for the main M.2 slot (which I did not utilize since I didn't buy a Gen 5 M.2--I figured I could use it in the future if I decided to add a Gen 5 M.2) and a few other "futureproofing" kind of features.  I am skeptical of using Wifi and haven't enabled it, but it comes with a nice antenna and seems easy enough to connect and use.  It has some handy features for building like screwless M.2 slots.

Storage: 1x 1TB Kingston M.2-2280 (Gen 4) + 1 x 2TB Silicon Power UD90 M.2-2280 (Gen 4)

When I bought my CPU there was a deal to receive a free 1TB M.2 drive, so I decided to use it for my OS.  I like to maintain a bit of storage because I don't like uninstalling games and having to re-download them (my internet speeds are not great) so I also added another 2TB drive.  I didn't go with Gen 5 despite my mobo having the capability--I've read that the difference from Gen 4 is negligible and not worth the additional cost (at least right now--maybe in the future though).  The screwless M.2 feature on my motherboard meant simply snapping them into place--it was so simple that I confused myself and thought I had made a mistake.  

GPU: Gigabyte Gaming OC Radeon 9070XT 16GB

Even though I was angling toward team green and the 9070XT is probably one of the most overpriced GPU's, I just couldn't justify spending >$130 more for a 5070Ti with basically the same performance.  In the past I've had AMD GPU's and only had a few minor problems with them--namely software related issues (drivers/updates and whatnot).  I've never been terribly impressed with ray tracing so I figured I would go back to team red this time around.  I have noticed that this particular card does seem to run a bit loud (I haven't played anything that's too graphically intensive).  I'm giving 1440p a try and so far it looks great.

The Fractal Pop Air case (cyan version that I chose).

Case: Fractal Pop Air ATX Mid Tower

I did my first build in a Fractal case and liked it, so I opted for another one for this build.  This case includes features like built in zip ties for cable management, magnetic dust filters, and easily removeable side panels.  You can also buy it in a few fun colors--I opted for the blue one.  It comes with three case fans (that I didn't realize were RGB fans) and you can add in several more (if you want to add in a bajillion fans you'll need to buy a more expensive case).  I didn't want to mess with RGB, but this case offers up the ability to control the RGB through a build in controller on the case or to plug it into the motherboard (to be controlled with software...no thanks).  The RGB controller option likely doesn't offer up the variety of options that software would, but you can change the color options and pattern/cycle.  As someone who would rather not deal with RGB, I'm content with the case control. (*not so fun fact--this case does offer up USB 3.0/2 slots but you have to buy extra connectors)

Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850W+ Gold (fully modular)

My 9070XT recommended an 850W power supply and this one had positive reviews.  On my first build I had opted for a semi-modular PSU, but I like the fully modular style.  This PSU came with a special cable for NVIDIA GPU's (you know...to help prevent the melting cables issue), so if you're going with team green, it's a good choice.  There are plenty of extra cables included and they seem nice and sturdy.

Monitor: AOC Q27G3MXN 27.0" 2560X1440 180Hz

I decided that it was time to move up to 1440p and retire my ol' reliable 1080p monitor.  This particular model has been positively reviewed and falls on the more "budget" end of things.  It has a high refresh rate and HDR.  It is adjustable but does lack all the funsies like RGB.  I have been surprised by how much brighter it seems compared to my old monitor.

The build process itself was straightforward and I felt slightly more confident about it than I did with my first build.  Most of the difficulties I encountered had to do with making sure the fans were correctly connected (a bit of daisy chaining), getting the chonky air cooler properly screwed down, and then getting the CPU cables plugged into the motherboard around the air cooler.  The great thing about building your own is that I feel like I learn something new each time.  Installing Windows 11 was easier than I thought it would be--I initially feared that I would have to install Windows 10 and then upgrade to 11, but you can use a Windows 10 key for a free upgrade to 11.  To me, all Windows versions feel same-y and just take time to get used to some of the changes in how things are organized.

I've been enjoying gaming on my new PC since early July and am glad I made the move to Windows 11 before the October deadline.  The only real problem I've had is with the stupid installation issue with the Rockstar Games Launcher.  If you haven't built a PC before and are interested, I would highly recommend checking out Paul's Hardware for his "how to build" series.  Paul's videos are extremely helpful and he explains things in a way that make them easy to understand.

Horsey Time

Recently I saw a social media interview where they asked gamers about a game that simply lives on their PC/console--the type of game that you never uninstall because you just might want to pick it up.  For me, one of those games (because I definitely have more than one) would be Red Dead Redemption 2.  I finally caved and built the new PC that I had been fantasizing about and it was the first "big" game that I installed.  I've been happily engrossed in the various activities that Arthur Morgan can engage in (and mostly neglecting the main storyline).  As I play through RDR2 and enjoy so much about it, there are still a few things that irritate me.

Irritation #1

Why must we still have the launchers within launchers in the year of our lord 2025!  I downloaded all ~130 GB of game only to go to launch it and be prompted to install the Rockstar Launcher.  And yes, the Rockstar Launcher installation isn't a big deal...except I got a weird error where some of the "prerequisite" items weren't able to properly install.  I shrugged it off, but have felt like I've had a bit of an unstable experience with some crashing and some weirdness related to graphics settings (I've moved up into the world of 1440p).  I attempted to fix the issue by verifying my game files on Epic (but it's not a game files related issue) and also uninstalling and re-installing the launcher.  I've still had some issues which might actually be related to an AMD graphics specific setting.  Look, all I want is to be able to sign into one thing and not have remember another password or mess with another program.

Wendy the horse.  A beautiful Nokota.

Irritation #2

I'm grateful that we did actually get RDR2 on PC because it is definitely one of my favorites.  Yes, the PC version of Rockstar games is generally an afterthought (who knows when we will see the PC version of GTA VI) but they did actually throw us a bone in the form of photo mode.  I love a good photo mode in a beautiful game like RDR2 and enjoy stopping to snap a nice screenshot of something scenic.  However the way that screenshots are stored and retrieved is stupid.  Screenshots are actually saved locally on your PC...just in a weird format that requires using a special program or doing some strange editing using notepad.  The other method is to upload your screenshots to Rockstar Social Club (which has apparently gone the way of the dodo) and then log in to the website and retrieve them from your personal profile by downloading them.  This is entirely too onerous and turns what should be a fun additional feature into more of a chore.

Horseshoe Overlook is one of my favorite scenic spots.

Irritation #3

I'm a completely unashamed save scummer in games that allow the constant mashing of the quicksave button.  Rockstar games are not those games--the autosave system is a bit of a mystery.  There's no message at the beginning of the game to look for a tiny spinning symbol to indicate that the game is being saved.  I like to assault a gang camp whenever I stumble across one--occasionally those assaults can go a bit sideways, so I thought I could simply save pre-assault (manually).  I thought wrong--when I loaded up my save Arthur was in a totally different location and the camp had disappeared (a sort of minor annoyance because the camps do respawn at different points).  I guess I just have to live with the consequences of my actions (I accidentally shot the dude chained to the bed in the basement of the gun store in Rhodes in one playthrough...it was stupid, but completely undoable).

Even with these faults, I still love RDR2.  The world is amazing and it's easy to spend countless hours exploring, hunting, or taking on the numerous challenges.  I guess the story and characters are okay too...jkjk...we all know that in true Rockstar fashion they are great.  I have no idea when my current playthrough will end, I'm just biding my time with Arthur and trying to find things I've missed in other playthroughs.  I've had some mixed success--I think I'm up to 4 found dinosaur bones and I've been on a search for those damn cigarette cards (I've never completed a single entire set in any of my several playthroughs).  RDR2 lives on my PC and always will--irritations and all.

20-Sided Dice of Joy

The new DLC for Two Point Museum--"Fantasy Finds"--released a couple of weeks ago and I spent many enjoyable hours checking out all the new additions to my favorite silly management series.  If it has been awhile since you picked up Two Point Museum, this is the perfect time to add some fun new content and check out the many quality of life changes that have been implemented.  You can grab the new DLC for just $7.99 on Steam (and maybe Epic...I think I've seen Two Point there too now).

What is it?

The first DLC for Two Point Museum.  It features a brand new expedition map with a large number of new Points of Interest to explore and tons of new fantasy themed exhibits, staff traits, and decorative items.  To fully explore the map/unlock all the new items you're looking at a good chunk of additional playtime.  I have always found the $7.99 price tag to be a good price point for DLC and I feel like I got my moneys worth with this one.

Pros:

+ Full lean into the "fantasy" theme that is a lot of fun.  The new exhibits fall into several classes--there are enchanted items (my favorite being the chicken spawning totem that randomly pops out a bunch of goofy looking fowl), goblin-themed items, dwarven items, mythical items, and even some new dragon bones (which technically fall under prehistory as fossils).  There's an entire storyline about fighting a dragon that serves as the progression on the map and can even affect which locations you are able to access.  If you're into going all out on the theme decorations--there are new fantasy inspired items to make the perfect fantasy land!

Chickens!  It's a bug, but they're kind of cute.

+ Staff traits that are DnD-inspired.  Rather than just hiring a fantasy expert you hire experts that have a fantasy "class."  We're talking warriors, rogues, bards, and wizards that even feature a set of "stats."  Rather than relying on the traditional museum training requirements, your fantasy experts will typically need to meet stats-related thresholds--for example, there might be a negative event that is countered by having a certain number of dexterity points.  When your staff levels up they gain XP and you can add to their base stats.  There are also special mythical items which can either be displayed as an exhibit or used to buff your staff--one of my favorite items is a pair of winged boots that buff dexterity and give your character crazy speed--they will randomly scramble all over the museum.

+ Dwarven items can be linked together and used to refine geodes into a display that is a 20-sided die that can be rolled to provide a random buff (or debuff...) for your displays or staff.  It's fun to randomly roll and see what you get (although I rolled a bad one that slowed staff way down and it didn't expire for a pretty long period of time).

+ Crossover content within exhibit themes.  For example you can take a supernatural expert and capture goblin spirits or take a botany expert and find some new plants.

My fantasy wing with many exhibits.

Cons:

- DLC does not feature a new museum.  I was a bit bummed about this because I was hoping there'd be more of a storyline/set of objectives to earn stars.  There was a new museum added as part of an update, so you could view that as an opportunity to lean fully into the fantasy theme.  Unfortunately for me, I had already started that museum and had played through a 3 location preview of the new content.

- Staff training with fantasy staff is a bit pointless and could definitely be improved.  Basically you just want to focus on improving their stats since the fantasy expeditions are not focused on specific skills.  I wish they had added in more fantasy specific training (there's one new fantasy specific training--potion brewing).  The chicken totem item is currently bugged and will keep spitting out chickens that don't disappear...I say, why not make that a trainable staff skill--chicken banishment!  (Sadly, they are fixing the chicken bug)

Recommendation:

Even though there's not a new museum, the fantasy theme is a lot of fun and there's a ton of new exhibits to discover.  For $7.99 it's a good deal and will provide many hours of dragon fighting and exhibit discovery.  Give it a whirl!