Busy Beavers

After I finished up my latest The Witcher 3 playthrough (probably #10-12-ish--I know, I've got a problem, but it's my all time fave) I decided to switch gears and take on my mounting backlog.  In the last sale I decided to grab the city builder Timberborn since it had recently exited early access.  I've been spending my gaming time with my fantastic civilization of busy little beavers and trying desperately to keep them alive.

What is it?

A city builder with elements of survival and automation.  The twist...it's a civilization of beavers!  These aren't your typical beavers though, they are masters of science and engineering who are capable to building very advanced structures.  Like most city builders, your first task is to simply get your city on its feet--gathering and building all the required elements to simply keep everyone alive.  In this case it's housing and timber and berry gathering posts.  You can also build a science station that allows you to generate research points that can be used to unlock new, more advanced structures and features.

The beavers enjoying a dip in the river at the lido deck.

It's not just as simple as making sure your beavers have a food, water, and a roof over their heads.  Beavers are social creatures who want to do more than just gnaw down some lumber and eat berries, so it's important to keep them happy by beautifying their town with shrubs, lamps, and other decorative elements.  They also like to eat a variety of foods, so you definitely want to build a farm to start growing different types of crops as well as a grill, mill, and bakery.  Since they are partially aquatic they also like to keep their fur wet so it's vital to build showers (or the lido deck) so they can periodically take a dip.

Probably the biggest challenge are periods of drought and bad tides.  During droughts the water flow on the map is interrupted for a short period of time and everything dries up--this means all berry bushes AND any farmland.  It's important to plant a variety of crops because some have a limited tolerance to drought and will quickly die.  At first, droughts only last for a short period, but as you survive for longer and longer they will also get longer.  It's important to maintain a good stockpile of food and water to make sure that you have enough to get through these periods.  You can also build a dam which can help keep some water around even during a drought.  Eventually though, most of your crops will die and need to be completely replanted.  Bad tides are the other major disaster element--they start arriving after you've survived several cycles and are more difficult to deal with than droughts.  Bad water is water that is polluted with radiation and will cause decay to spread wherever it touches.  This means that your lands will frequently be spread with corruption which will kill all plants.  It also means that any beaver who spends too much time in the polluted water can also become ill with disease (luckily once the water is contaminated they will automatically stay out--unless they're busy with a task like building or harvesting).  Sick beavers must be treated with antidotes that are crafted by a healer in order to recover.  They won't work until they've fully recovered.  The solution to bad tides seems to be blocking off the water source that leads to your settlement with a sluice gate (or levee) until the bad tide passes.  This event winds up being a lot like a drought because everything dries up (eventually).

What I am liking/disliking so far:

Like:

1.) Semi-helpful tutorial that covers the basics well.

2.) Nice music and ambience.  The musical change during droughts and bad tides is fun.

3.) Variable game speed controls that are easy to use.

4.) Ability to prioritize different tasks easily.

5.) The added challenge of droughts and bad tides keep you on your toes.  It is possible to disable them if you're looking to make the game feel like more of a traditional city builder.

Dislike:

1.) Tutorial covers basics but not more advanced elements (at least, not so far).

2.) Slow periods of gameplay where I feel a sense that I should be doing something.

3.) Combining districts/expanding settlement is a bit weird and not explained well (but can be figured out/looked up).

Overall, I'm having a nice time with Timberborn and look forward to diving into some of the more advanced elements (if I can survive that long).  I have more of a feel for the basics and a sort of progression path, so it might be time to switch over to a new settlement.  Next week I should be ready to write up my full review.  Happy gaming!

Artistic Endeavors

I've almost wrapped up my latest The Witcher 3 marathon playthrough so unfortunately I'm not doing anything new (...yet!).  I have managed to prop up my backlog which is something I like to do in anticipation of some enjoyable summer gaming once the school year is over.  I'm likely going to hop into Timberborn (a city-builder set in a civilization of beavers) but have a few casual, good-times kinds of games on deck.  It's always a bit fun to have that anticipation of what to play next!

In current gaming news, it was announced this week that the next DLC for Two Point Museum will be released very soon!  The "Arty-Facts" DLC allows you to run a quirky new art museum.  Give the trailer ye olde gander:

It looks like we'll get a new type of art expert who can also create artworks as well as performers.  I'm curious if you'll be able to hire different kinds of performers since the trailer shows mimes, dancers, and a Shakespearean actor.  There also seems to be some sort of guest emotion element that is tied to the displays.

Overall, I'm very excited for this DLC and love the quirky charm of the entire Two Point series.  The best thing about their DLC announcements is that they usually wait until it's pretty close to release--in this case, it's May 7th, so only a short wait.  It's extra fun to add to my upcoming playlist!

Good Looking Gear

Every time I re-play The Witcher 3 I try to mix it up a little bit with some different choices.  One departure I chose this time around was to opt for some of the non-standard craftable witcher gear sets.  You can purchase fragments of maps from various vendors that unlock the standard gear treasure hunts (your griffin, cat, bear, and wolf sets).  There are a few other gear sets that are separate and I usually don't pay much attention to them, but I decided to give them a go this time around.

The last big patch to the game added in a new story type of quest to investigate The Devil's Pit for a priest of the Eternal Fire whose colleague had gone missing.  There's an entire story that involves a long-lost Wolf School witcher who had been tricked into battling a particularly devious type of monster that had then possessed him.  The boss fight is a bit trickier than other fights because you have to figure out the sequence of skills to free the witcher from parasitic monster that is possessing him (it's not that hard though--just a couple of different signs).  After completing this mission the ghost of the witcher offers to share with Geralt the location of plans for a unique set of gear.  This gear is inspired by Netflix's "The Witcher" series and is called the Forgotten School of the Wolf (I posted pictures of it a couple of weeks ago).  The stats are similar to other gear sets but the level requirements are slightly different and the look of the gear doesn't change depending on the crafting level.

Another set of gear that I never checked out is part of the "Hearts of Stone" expansion. As part of the main story mission Geralt has to steal Horst Borsodi's house for Olgierd von Everec.  Geralt finds himself in the company of Vimme Vivaldi, the dwarven banker/entrepreneur from Novigrad, and is introduced to several of his acquaintances while waiting for an auction to start.  One of those acquaintances is the Countess Mignole, an older, very rich woman who is an avid collector of witcher-related items.  She offers to sell Geralt a set of armor plans (...and Vimme of course gets his cut).  I usually pass on her offer, but this time decided to check it out.  The armor is an upgraded version of the Viper armor from the beginning of the game and has a slightly flashier look.  The swords are found separately in two different main story missions (one as part of the auction house heist and the other in the final mission if you choose to solve Gaunter O' Dimm's riddle).  The silver sword is very easy to miss because it is tucked into a side area during the timed mission to solve the riddle.  Overall, the entire set is very nice looking (it's called Viper Venomous).

Since I had opted for these non-traditional armor sets I didn't feel like having to go through crafting all the lower-level versions of the more standard witcher sets once I was ready for the grandmaster level.  Instead, I decided I would check out the one grandmaster set that stands on its own--the manticore gear.  It's definitely a bit more of a hunt to cobble together the entire set--rather than finding all the plans in one place, Geralt must explore multiple locations related to the witcher Merten.  Merten apparently found religion and decided to join the followers of the prophet Lebioda in Toussaint.  As a result, the plans are scattered among the locations related to the prophet.  It turns out that the manticore set is some very handsome gear.  I really like the look.

Geralt in full Manticore glory.

 Like Geralt, we should all be enjoying the fine weather of sunny Toussaint.  I'm planning on enjoying the few days of nice, sunny weather where I live.  Have a sunny, beautiful weekend!
 

The Best Price is Free

Nope, I'm actually not talking about an Epic giveaway (shockingly).  I grabbed a couple of free titles from Steam this week.  And before you think it, yes, I will most likely play them!  You too should grab them if you feel somewhat interested.  What exactly did I snatch for the magical cost of $0?

The first title is a bit of a niche genre that I enjoy, so it might not be everyone's cup o' tea.  Steam has a fairly consistent rolling calendar of genre-specific events/sales and this week happened to be Hidden Object Fest.  I'll admit that I enjoy a light, hidden-object game from time to time (my personal favorite is the classic Hidden Folks).  I decided to check out some of the sale titles that are part of this event and stumbled upon an entire series of cat-themed games that involve locating hidden cats in a number of very artistic environments.  One entry in the series is free to play--An Arcade Full of Cats.  I happily added it to my library and am looking forward to giving it a try (the series seems to have a pretty avid fanbase).

The other game I grabbed is a bit of a classic but has positive reviews.  Graveyard Keeper has been around since 2018, but it's one of those pixel games, so it's not like age is going to make a huge difference.  I had checked it out in the past but never pulled the trigger, so it's something nice to have in my back log (not my pile of shame...hopefully!).

If you're looking to flesh out your back log (...and not your pile of shame!) give these titles a gander.  There's no better price than $0, so what's there to lose?  

One Decision I Won't Change

Unsurprisingly, I'm still playing through The Witcher 3--and I have both "Hearts of Stone" and "Blood and Wine" left too, so it's going to be awhile.  Last week I wrote about a few new quest experiences that I encountered, but this week I had the realization that there's one side decision that I've never ventured away from.  I just can't do it...and that's saying a lot because I have even made choices that have led to the "bad" ending (which sucks and is sad).

Geralt in the Netflix series inspired gear set.

I'm talking about the mission to participate in the assassination of Radovid, but more so the end of that mission.  I've experienced both outcomes of Geralt either refusing to participate in the mission or completing it, but there's another decision after the main event (Philippa Eilhart emerging to get her revenge on the psychopath that is the King of Redania).  After Radovid's demise, Geralt and crew flee to the abandoned theater to meet up with their other co-consiprators (one Sigismund Djikstra and Thaler) under the guise of celebrating their victory and cementing their post-assassination plans.  It's here that a side-plot is revealed--Roche, Ves, and Thaler have negotiated a deal with Emhyr that Temeria will stop resisting Nilfgaardian rule in exchange for becoming an independent vassal state.  It's not exactly the free Temeria that Roche and Ves seem to be fighting for, but it's basically the lesser of two evils.

I particularly like the swords for this set.

It's here the Djikstra emerges from backstage and reveals that he actually has his own plan--he will replace Radovid as the new king of Redania (umm, ok?) and will continue the fight against Nilfgaard.  A pack of his minions emerges and Geralt can make the decision to either leave Roche and Ves to their fate (will they be able to fight off all of Djikstra's goons?) or to defend them.  I've never chosen to leave--it just feels wrong abandoning Roche and Ves given that they helped fight off the Wild Hunt at Kaer Morhen.  I am a bit curious about how things would differ if Djikstra was in charge--maybe a decision for next playthrough.

It's a beautiful day where I live, so I'll likely do some adventuring away from the ol' PC.  I hope everyone has a nice weekend either spent outdoors on a lovely spring day or inside with a nice, cozy game.

A True Skelliger

A few weeks ago I started a comfort play of one of my favorite games, The Witcher 3.  It seems like an inherent millennial trait that when things might be a little rough that we turn to our old familiar favorites--that might be a movie or TV series that you've watched a million times or, in my case, a game that I've probably played through at least 10 times.  There's something about that strong sense of nostalgia that manages to soothe the stress of real life.  One of the things that always surprises me about The Witcher 3 is the fact that I'm almost always able to find something new that I missed in one of my previous playthroughs.  So here's my record of what I've discovered in my umpteenth playthrough of The Witcher 3 (plus, a stupid argument that I have with myself every time that I play).

Sometimes you stupidly mess up something that you've done correctly a million times.  This time around it was the mission to trick Caleb Menge (the leader of the evil, sorceress torturing and burning Temple Guard) by pretending to turn in Triss.  Geralt has to keep his cool while he can hear Triss being tortured in the other room and every other playthrough I've done it perfectly.  This time around I decided to click on a slightly different dialogue option (one where Geralt tries to pretend as if he and Triss never had any kind of past relationship) and Menge immediately caught on.  Instead of coolly waiting for a mangled Triss to  appear in Menge's office after escaping from her captors, Geralt and Triss had to fight their way through the entire Temple Guard.  I figured that I had royally messed things up, but it turns out that there's an alternate way to wrap up the mission.  It involves finding a secret message with a method to meet with a spy outside of Novigrad--apparently Menge used this spy for his nefarious purposes.  Geralt can ask Djikstra about it and then he and Triss can meet the spy.  Triss still goes a little bit nuts (this time on the spy, which is a lot less satisfactory than it being Menge) and it's obvious that she's a bit cracked from her encounter with the Temple Guard.  You can still fully complete the mission to free Dandelion afterwards.

There are a billion side quests and many of them you just have to sort of stumble upon.  In my totally insane desire to discover all the question marks in Skellige (which I will discuss later) I discovered two men on a random island who were having an argument about how one of them had corrupted the others sister by luring her away from the priestesses of Freya (a sort of Skelligan religious sect for the ladies).  Geralt can intervene and slay the attacker.  The survivor then is a bit conflicted about the situation and asks Geralt to find books about different religious practices and then bring them to him.  I have always noticed the random items tagged as quest items that are for sale by some vendors, but had never actually encountered one of them.  Now, for the life of me, I cannot remember where to find the books for the quest since they are sold by random merchants.  And, honestly, this quest is highly inconvenient because it is located on a small island with no nearby fast travel markers--getting back to the quest giver means hopping on a boat and returning to the island.  If I find the books, I might complete it, but I'm not planning on going heavily out of my way to do it.

Behold, the lack of question marks!  (Take a look at ol' Geralt's finances too)

Every time I get to Skellige I am always confronted with what is a very stupid internal debate--do I save myself a lot of time (we're talking multiple hours) and ignore the numerous question marks polluting the map or do I needlessly do them?  There are pros and cons to this debate--the main pros include the fact that you might find a decent item or two that you can actually use (out of an absolute mountain that you will sell) and that you will earn an absolute Skelligan longships worth of gold (which, again, you don't really need).  The cons--sailing around to ALL the question marks means fighting off scores of some of the most annoying enemies in the game (sirens and ekidhnas).  It also means having to manage selling off all your loot--another annoyance since finding vendors who have enough coin to buy it all can be difficult (you can wait for 24 hours until their stock resets).  And, most importantly, it's fairly pointless.  The sad reality--I still do it every time!  I think there's something wrong with me.

Surely I can't be the only one who does this?  There has to be other insane people out there who refuse to let the question marks remain  If that's you, I hope you enjoy your adventure--I used it as an opportunity to get caught up on some podcast episodes that I had missed.

Happy spring to the gamers out there!  The weather is getting nicer, so maybe it's a good opportunity to get outside and touch some grass.  Or maybe we just stay in and explore some more pointless question marks on a map.  Either way...win-win!

Museum Updates

I haven't dipped my toes into the Two Point Museum pool since the "Zooseum" DLC, but have been paying attention to the many seasonal updates that pop up from time to time.  One very cool feature that they added into the game is the ability to choose which season you want to play and then have access to all the features/events related to that season...even if the timeframe has already passed.  This is such a great idea because it lets players have the chance to unlock all the items even if they missed the season.

The newest update features a new rift in the digiverse (a sort of side-quest like task that involves hiring a special expert but that unlocks some cool new displays and items for your museum).  The digiverse generally features a collaboration between another game and has featured content from Dredge and Vampire Survivors.  This time around it's an absolute mobile classic--Angry Birds!  Man, I loved some Angry Birds back in the day.  It's fun to see the content in another game that I enjoy.  Check out the preview video:

Besides all the fun Angry Birds stuff, there are also some Easter themed seasonal events and items.  A new botany exhibit, a bunny suit, and some bunnies for the zoo!  I might have to check it out.