Gaming

The Devil Went Down To Faerun

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Yesterday, after years in Early Access, Baldur’s Gate III finally released in full. It took me three tries, but I finally created my tiefling bard, Tavi. Her chosen instrument? Violin! Because I couldn’t resist the bad reference! The character creator is really well-designed, allowing you to choose from small previews on the buttons for the face, scars, tattoos, makeup, and hair. This makes my life so much easier than trying to remember which number style I had liked 5 minutes ago when I wasn’t paying attention to the numbers or forgot the strange name they assigned.

I didn’t make a lot of progress, even though I wanted to. But when I came home after physical therapy, my life lived up to my blog name. You see, I live on a military installation, which means there’s an ID check to get to my house, and I totally failed the dice roll! My ID had expired almost a week ago. Whoops! I thought I had another year. So I spent half an hour getting a pass to get through the gate, then went straight to get a new ID, only to remember I need my husband for that. So I called him, he got there, did his part, and went back to work. And I ran back to my house to get my second form of ID! I couldn’t use the old military ID like one would if they had paid attention to the dates and gone before it A: expired, and B: got confiscated due to said expiration. So I drove back (it’s literally 3 minutes from my house) and finally got a new ID. Yay! I’m legal again.

Now I could finally dive back into the character creator and play! Easier said than done. I went through several attempts to create and play, but every time, I found something I didn’t like or forgot to change the name. As you do. Finally, about two hours before I went to bed, I did it. And I got through the initial tutorial, found most of my companions, and set up camp! Maybe today, after I hit “publish,” I’ll actually get somewhere.

Knock on wood.

So Excited!

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I’m as excited as a bunny in a basket of carrots!

The day is finally here!! I have been DYING for a fully involved, in depth, beautiful to look at RPG for at least a year. I’ve played Mass Effect and Dragon Age (all of them) to the point of burnout. Like, seriously y’all I have the dialog paths memorized. I need STORY, I need choices and consequences, adventure and romance, and finally I can have it when Baldur’s Gate III releases! I’ve sunk 99 hours into the early access version and it was only ONE chapter!

In those 99 hours, I saw something I’ve never seen in an isometric game, high quality voice acted cinematic conversations. The character creator is detailed and the character models are gorgeous. So excuse my brief but enthusiastic blog post today, but I have spells to learn and weapons to polish, and a cast of characters to adventure with!

Recovery Gaming

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So my comeback to WoW didn’t pan out, what did I move on to while I was basically tied to a recliner and only had one arm? Anything I could play with a controller, that’s what! The following games helped me keep my ass in the chair, and out of trouble while my shoulder healed.

First, I tried a stealth game, A Plague Tale Innocence, and it was HARD, but the story was engaging as heck so I kept going. The atmosphere was gorgeous, yet terrifying, the playstyle was a new thing for me but I pushed through it. In fact I was so happy with it, I played the sequel.

The sequel was even better than the original. It had some very nice quality of life changes that made like easier for me. The accessibility options allowed me to just relax and enjoy the game rather than tense up and aggravate my very sore post-op shoulder.

The coziest of cozy game, Disney Dreamlight Valley quickly became a favorite past time before surgery, but I bounced off of gaming all together for a time and it sat unplayed. But being controller friendly at a time I couldn’t use a mouse it quickly became a time killer for me. Its low stress, Animal Crossing meets Disney style really just tickled my fancy for a while.

This one! Roots of Pacha took a lot of my time. Imagine Stardew Valley, but in prehistoric times with prehistoric animals! Or as close as one can get I suppose. It’s at least as charming as Stardew was, I played through it once, and plan to do so again at some point.

Finally, Harvestella! This is the one I probably spent the most time with. It got some mixed reviews but I enjoyed it. It, to me, was a nice combination of farming sim and JRPG. The story was engaging, the characters were varied and interesting, and it was more challenging than I expected. Definitely worth playing, but maybe wait for a Steam sale, $60 was a pretty steep cost but I was desperate.

And Thanks For All The Fish

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Today is normally a day that I’m climbing the walls waiting for Blizzard to finish maintenance, and let me jump into the new pre-expansion patch. But for the first time in twelve years, I’m not. I’ve mentioned before, back in March that WoW has left me feeling “Oh I’m max level, now what?” bored in long intervals. Usually I’d return with the next big content patch. But, now having something to compare, I realize what WoW has been trying to tell me for the last several years. This game isn’t meant for you.

Now, I don’t mean that as a dig at Blizzard, or other players. Rather, it is just what it is for me. I don’t have the hours upon hours required for gearing up, farming, and raiding. I did once, but it required sacrificing quality couch time with the Mister, and I’m not doing that anymore. I haven’t for years. But if you don’t raid, or PvP, there’s a hard limit on what you can do to keep active and happy. Pet collecting and Transmog used to fill that void, but with the pets there was no challenge left. Once you have 500+ there ceases to be a real point unless you enjoy the pet battles, which I never really did. And I had all the transmogs I cared about.

Back to raiding, it began to feel like Blizzard just kept piling on mechanics to each boss. Going beyond challenge and gear check, and into territory that required more precision gameplay and memory than I have. Due to things beyond my control, my memory for mechanics and such is swiss cheese. On top of that, raid night requires a minimum of two to three hours and two nights/week to make progress, so there’s that time factor. Group finder helped that, by letting me run one wing at a time during my daytime playing hours, however it also limited how much gearing up you could do that way. You were restricted from using group finder to do certain levels of raiding and dungeons, and the gear you could get from the content you could do was restricted as well. Mounts, or appearances that only came from levels above the group finder levels began the loudest shouting of “This game isn’t for you” to my ears, and that’s what finally got through.

When I tried FFXIV and realized their group finder allowed me to go into ANY level of dungeon or raid, and allowed access to everything that came from them I was floored. Gear, pets, mounts, nothing was out of my reach anymore. The content itself is challenging and mechanics are still a thing, but they do a far better job of marking them out to avoid them, which saves me countless headaches with my memory the way it is. And the best part, even in 24 man raids, you can complete the entire raid in maybe an hour. Which I can do during my prime playtime, in the afternoons.

Now let’s bring Story into it. Storytelling isn’t WoW’s priority, I know that. And that’s fine. But what always bothered me about the story they did tell, was that I seldom got to see how it ended, because it ended in raids. I got further in Legion than I had in expansions past, and I could again in Battle for Azeroth. But what’s the story? Horde vs Alliance. Again. Repackaged, and with a fresh coat of red and blue paint, and bonus races and a new generation of faction leaders. No thanks.

I hope all my friends still playing have a blast, and that the loot Gods smile upon them. And I’m not going to rule out popping back into Azeroth at some point, because I know me, I’ll likely give it another shot eventually. But for now, it’s so long.

And Thanks for all the fish!

On The Radar

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The first half of 2018 looks to be a pretty good year for my gaming hobby.  It’s a welcome relief after the last several months of not seeing anything that really stirred my interest. Although, that drought did get me to try Final Fantasy XIV, which I adore, so it wasn’t all bad. Still, up until that point I was dying for something new! And this year is starting off pretty well in that respect.

First, we have Far Cry 5 releasing March 27. Normally I don’t bother with this franchise, they tend to have the typical dude bro player character, and we all know how I feel about that. But this time, you create your character, and they can be male or female! I was stunned since this is the same company that has yet to have a full Assassin’s Creed game feature a female assassin. Sure Liberation was made, but only for a very specific console. The port to PC was awful and it was nowhere near the scale of the others. I’m hoping if FC5 is a success they’ll take the hint.

Coming In May, we have Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. I, again, was late to the party with this game. I initially balked at the isometric view and the click to move. But one day I forced myself to play a little longer to see if the story could get me over that. I was happy to learn it did. I loved everything about it, aside from those two things, and Deadfire has my faith that it will measure up.

September is the one I’m really looking forward to. Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I have finished both the rebbot TR games, and I just ADORE Lara. She’s stubborn, determined, snarky, and badass.

With unknown release dates, we have Ooblets, which is some sort of cross between Pokémon and Stardew Valley and looks like an excellent time filler. One from a series I hadn’t considered before, Darksiders III is coming, with Fury as one of the Four Horsemen. Fury is an unpredictable bladed whip wielding mage sent to hunt down the 7 deadly sins. It looks pretty interesting. It’s already on my Steam Wishlist.

And hopefully, these are all enough along with FFXIV to keep me content and busy until the next Dragon Age game shows up! I love me some Bioware RPG games.

What’s in YOUR Wheelhouse?

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I mentioned in my previous post that I’ve been struggling to find games in my wheelhouse. This is partly my own fault, as I am really picky about what kind of games I’ll give my money to. When I was only playing World of Warcraft, I had never considered what other games I would like. I had WoW and just didn’t care about finding more. It wasn’t until I had branched out into Dragon Age: Origins and the Mass Effect Series that I started discovering my preferences. Indeed those games formed my preferences. Now I find myself asking a couple of questions before I even consider a major game.

Is it story driven?

A game for me must have a strong story, at least for the big titles. I want to be shocked, I want to feel the need to yell or cheer at my screen. I want to feel emotionally invested in both my character and the world around her.

Can I play a female character?

This actually should have been listed first, because if the answer is no…I stop reading. This particular requirement has gotten me quite a few odd looks and questioning responses. The first question is usually why. Well that’s simple. Unlike books or movies where you are not an active participant but an outsider watching from afar as the story unfolds, a game is inviting us to be PART of the story. It’s an invitation to be the hero, take part in the world, change it as you go. As such, I must relate to the character be it pre-made or custom.

As a woman, I find it near impossible to relate to gruff grizzled scruffy dude #24672. There’s no immersion for me. I don’t feel connected to it, or reflected by some scruffy dude.

I don’t feel I’m missing out on much by putting my money and time behind companies that provide what I enjoy, and not putting it behind people that do not. My husband buys and plays many of them, and I can watch the story just fine while I do other things.

There have been few exceptions to this rule, and those were the Bioshock games. Other than that, every game I play has a female in the lead or the OPTION to do so.

“Female characters don’t sell!” They shout.

Tell that to Commander Shepard, or Lara Croft, or Emily Kaldwin (Dishonored 2). Tell that Skyrim, Fallout, or Dragon Age because each has either a female only, or a female option and from what I’ve seen have been pretty successful.

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“Your principles won’t change things!” They’ve told me.

Well, I beg to differ. It hasn’t happened overnight, and it is dreadfully slow in coming but change is happening. Look at Farcry 5, due out on March 27. A customizable character, with the option to play as a woman. This is a really big deal, as it is the first time in the game’s history that they’ve done this. And it’s a really good step forward. I for one cannot wait to buy it and play it. Because it might as well say right on the box “Hey, we made this game for you! too!”.

Indie Games catch a break on my first point. But not on my second. I loved Stardew Valley to death, in fact I might play through it yet again the next time I’m between games. For Indie games to suck me in the need to be cute, charming, have a female option, and depth in what they do, be it farming or puzzles or crafting or exploration. Those are my favorites in the Indie world. Platformers are out, I have never liked them they make me /hulksmash.

So there you have it, Story driven games with the ability to play as a woman and charming indie games that keep me clicking but don’t make me jump with any degree of accuracy. That’s what’s in my wheelhouse.