There's a Sale A-Brewin'

If you're in the market to spend some of that hard earned cash the Epic Mega-Sale is currently taking place.  I know--it's Epic, but there is generally a good reason to check out their sales.  The first is the fact that they like to offer up some good games as giveaways--they're offering up Death Stranding this week only.  I very much enjoyed Death Stranding, even though the story was straight up bonkers (you can read my full review here).  Another good reason to check out the Epic sales is because their coupon offers are a nice way to knock 25% off of the price of a game (and you usually get the coupon for grabbing the free games, so it's a double bonus).  I'm not really in the market for anything right now, but I hope people find some decent deals.

Last week I stated that I hadn't really read anything too bad about Diablo IV, but this week I did.  In two different PC Gamer articles, there was some definite doubts laid down about the upcoming ARPG.  The first article described the fact that the class balance is currently really out of whack--some classes are super OP and others are miserably weak.  I suppose we can sort of give Blizz the benefit of the doubt--it's still in beta, so hopefully these issues will be hammered out before the full release.  The second article bemoaned the fact that it simply feels like more of the same--it doesn't offer up anything new or unique to the ARPG genre.  (And, actually the first article also gets into this fact).  I'm not sure about the total validity of that argument--so many of the triple-A's don't really bring anything new to the table--they have a big enough fan base and name recognition that people are willing to shell out $69.99 for the newest, shiniest iteration of almost the exact same game.  That's not necessarily a bad thing--I mean, if people genuinely enjoy the gameplay.  I think the challenge lies in the fact that eventually people will get tired of it (I think that's something that Ubisoft is currently dealing with) and then they're in a real pickle.

Myself?  I've been marching Geralt through the main story of the new and improved The Witcher 3 (I'm not so thrilled with this "new" version, but some of the issues I was having do seem to have been ironed out in a recent patch).  Even since I got the worst ending in my last playthrough I've felt a driving desire to go back and get the best ending.  And, mission accomplished, so I feel good now.  The best parts of the "new" version are the added items--there are a couple of early game armor sets and there's also a new set of plans that can be unlocked by completing a new quest in the Devil's Pit.  This quest sees Geralt investigating a haunted mine pit, finding out that the Church of the Eternal Fire is still up to no good, and meeting an old Witcher who offers up the location of a set of plans for an armor set that is inspired by Netflix's The Witcher series (which sadly has lost its Henry Cavill).  Since it was something new, I decided to give the new armor a go.  The stats seem pretty similar to the Wolven set with a few differences and it looks alright.  Check it out:

The front view.  I don't love the flat medallion, but the whole set has a very...black vibe.

The swords are interesting.  For some reason the way the silver sword narrows and flares makes it seem weirdly large.

Have a happy gaming weekend and maybe check out some of those deals on Epic!