GameNotes December 31, 2019

Happy New Year!

In an attempt to do a best of the decade report, I looked at the best games of the year from 2009-2019.  In all but one year I picked a single game I have, and have played and enjoyed.   If I didn’t care for anything, I wrote None.  There are a fair few of those!

On the plus side, many of the games I bought recently and am looking forward to playing were on the top pc games lists for their years.  Good stuff ahead!

My Favorite Games 2009-2019

2009 Dragon Age: Origins

2010   Bioshock 2    and  Mass Effect 2

2011  Elder Scrolls Skyrim

2012 Torchlight 2

2013 None

2014 Dragon Age Inquisition

2015   Fallout 4

2016  None

2017  None

2018 None

2019  None

 

World of Warcraft, BFA

Atherne is at Exalted with Proudmoore Admiralty, Storm’s Wake and the Order of Embers.  I’m working to get the rest while the extra rep xp lasts, except for the dread Rustbolt.

My Paladin is also working on her rep and on gearing up.  She was further ahead ILevel wise than the other 120s, as I had sent her to Nazjatar at some point.    Somehow I’ve become a fan of rep grinding and can’t stop.

The third character getting limited playtime over the last week is my Hunter who is sailing through Pandaria with her trusty crab Oscar.   I took him in one dungeon, and at one point someone said “bad BAD crab!” so I guess I was not attentive and he pulled a few mobs.  Tsk.   Sorry, Oscar.

I’ve been decorating a few of my character’s garrisons for Winter Veil.  Atherne’s is the best because she has so many followers walking all around, it truly is festive.

Wow Classic

I had not played this over the holidays at all, or barely.  I’m back in working between my Feral Druid and my Paladin.

I did the Winter Veil quests only on my Paladin, who looks adorable as a gnome elf.   I fear I’m holidayed out, so a return to normal would be welcome.

 

More from the Steam Sale

What a fiend!

Moebius Empire Rising (Jane Jensen)

The Tesla Effect (Tex Murphy)

Shady Brook, A Dark Mystery Text Adventure

Full Throttle Remastered

Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb

Titanic Adventure Out of Time

I have a really nice list laying in wait for the next sale.  I also find myself looking at game reviews, and if they are mysteries and have puzzles, boink!   They go on my list.

So far, I’ve only looked at Bioshock Infinite, The Call of Cthulu, and Nancy Drew and the Silent Spy.

As you probably know, Bioshock Infinite and The Call of Cthulu are “hand games” with the Cthulu hands being all bloody and eeew.   As my son remined me, I did used to play these first person shooters all the time, including the much revered Half Life with its wrench.  I don’t recall the hands thing bothering me.  I did figure out why they bug me now though.  It’s all the crochet (and other)  You Tube videos where you never see the person, but only their hands.  And you notice their nails (and what’s under them eek), you notice the skin–smooth, scaly, whatever.  I kind of hate them.  So they’re what put me off the first person shooters with the gangly, bloody or claw-like hands.   There’s always a reason.

I originally played Bioshock Infinite only up to a certain point, in my first playthrough long ago. I haven’t gotten to that point again in my new game of it.  What a bizarre society.  I do like the clothes and storefronts and the floating city of a weird alternate 1912.

The Call of Cthulu is pretty grim and dark, but the lead guy is a detective, so I’ll likely enjoy it.

Nancy Drew and the Silent Spy is unexpectedly really good.  It’s relaxing, has lots of puzzles, I like the voiceovers.  The story is certainly interesting.   I like having my notebook out again for a game, taking clue notes, making drawings.

 

GameNotes December 24, 2019

Merry Christmas!  I hope you’ll find some good games under the tree or a Steam Sale Card in your stocking.  I looked at a few things during the “autumn sale” a few weeks ago, but nothing appealed at the time.  In a merrier mode this sale season, I had the best time reading about games I might like, looking specifically for RPGs and Mysteries, but also looking through current popular titles just in case.  By the time this posts (it was written longer than usual in advance) I will have peeked at a few of these.  I’ll save my thoughts till the December 31st game notes, so I have some interesting notes to finish out the year.

My purchases:

Bioshock Infinite (I have the disc but it was cheap and I thought it might be simple to just purchase and install on Steam)

Call of Cthulhu (While reading about The Sinking City, Call of Cthulhu kept coming up in comparison.  It also was well reviewed on Steam and came up in a few articles I read.)

Hollow Knight  (A platformer, but weirdly gothic looking and described as darkly atmospheric.  Well reviewed.  Wish me luck on the platform jumps.  Haven’t played a platformer in ages)

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Mystery, well reviewed, cheap)

What Remains of Edith Finch (Mystery, well reviewed, a fair few bloggers seem to have played it. )

The Wolf Among Us (Telltale Games, have never played, always well regarded. A sequel in the works. Came up in Mystery game reviews.)

Sherlock Holmes Bundle!  (This has six of the games.  I was going to try the generally reviewed  favorite The Secret of the Silver Earring, but, yo, what a good deal.)

Jenny LeClue, Detective (episode one, it seems, but a Mystery, liked by Steamers.  Cute and has an attitude. Plink.)

Don’t tell my husband I bought all this. (Elder Scrolls just popped in there…have had for a long time….)

 

Looked at:

Blacksad, but lots of comments about poor controls, which can be maddening.  I’ll wait for a controls fix which will hopefully come.

Cuphead   I know it’s supposed to be super hard, but I may crack yet.

Disco Elysium  The graphical style is off-putting.  It takes place in a single city block? Isometric?

XCom 2   Not what I hoped it might be.  Thought more strategic, spy like.

Subnautica    May crack. I have dubbed the first person perspective games “hand games” because all you see are the creepy hands at the bottom of the screen.  It looked pretty, was well reviewed, seems to have interesting gameplay.

Dark Souls  The title comes up a lot so I thought maybe, but nope, looks all hack and slash.  Commenters mention the awesome armor…zzzzz….

Black Mirror 1  One reviewer compared it to the old game Sanitarium.  You won’t have played it, but it was fascinating, crazy, but very buggy.  I was compelled to play through despite constant crashes.  The trailer for Black Mirror was very odd, with this long sequence showing an old man writing in his study in a tower.  There appears to be something coming up the side of the tower towards his window.  The view switches between the two, and finally, finally the window bursts open and the old man gets popped out the window.  Reviewers on Steam liked the game but many mentioned how incredibly slow the narrator and everything in the game moved, which, if the trailer sequence is an indicator, could be torturous.

Return of the Obra Dinn sounded great but whoa, black and white graphics with an odd sparkling, strobing light effect.  My eyes hurt after a few moments of the trailer.

Nancy Drew  Jury is out on trying one.  I really like the CW series and am likely to try the first couple of books in the series too.  The games? Dunno.

Outer Worlds, another “hands game” that sounds so good but doesn’t look that great in clips and there’s the creepy hand thing.  On sale again though.

 

Need ideas?

From PC Gamer, the Best Detective Games on PC   https://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-detective-games-on-pc/

Games Radar  25 Best RPGs to Cozy Up with This Winter   https://www.gamesradar.com/best-rpg-games/

Rock Paper Shotgun’s Best RPGs on PC in 2019, but many of these just aren’t going to run.   https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/10/11/best-rpgs/

 

GameNotes December 17, 2019

I haven’t played since Sunday’s grand flight accomplishment.  Tonight I peeked in, ran a few relaxing world quests with Atherne, then sent her to her merrily decorated garrison, so full of NPCs that she adventured with in Draenor.  It remains one of my favorite expansions.  They should be adding more holiday and other décor to Garrisons, there is still time!

 

After all the tribulations in Mechagon, I set her down for the night at her Inn amongst the convivial company, including John J. Keeshan who is everywhere.  It felt like home.

 

I spent a little time doing World Quests with my Rogue.  I like doing them in most cases anyway, but she can really use the item upgrades, the gold, the War Resources.   Going forward I’ll gear up my 120s, level the others on Blackwater Raiders, and just enjoy the game.   Speaking of enjoyable, what glory to just fly from World Quest to World Quest.  What a time saver.

 

I made note of Ken Levine’s new studio Ghost Story Games.  I’ll have to sign up for the newsletter.   It’s always exciting when favorite developers start new ventures.  I love the name!

https://www.ghoststorygames.com/

 

Happy gaming, baking, shopping and wrapping till next week!

 

I Believe I Can Fly Part 20

Bye, bye, Mechagon!!!!!!

GameNotes December 10, 2019

Perhaps you watch the show The Good Place.  If you do, you know the Good Place is really The Bad Place.   Guess what? Mechagon, that land of torment, has it’s own Bad Place called The Other Place.

Wow, you say, what a hellish landscape. Mechagon gone very very dark and full of fire.

I did like the Clockwork Giants.   Why do they remind me of the Iron Giant?

Clockwork Giant…

 

You needed to kill these and scan them after they were dead.  I got twitchy and killed three at a shot but got no scan from any.  Other Place, indeed.

Atherne has 9,473 of 12,000 towards revered status with the Rustbolts.  Then we fly.   There are two other places in Azeroth I vowed never to send a character through after I completed them: Thousand Needles and Vashj’ir.   Both are looking pretty appealing right about now.

In Classic nothing noteworthy, just leveling.  I spent two gold on Paladin skills and could have bought more.   Back to Duskwood to make money.  Everyone has their money making ways, but I just like hitting up humanoids who drop all sorts of fun things.

I have to make my move to do her level 20 Paladin quest because she’s going to hit level 30 otherwise then have that quest.  I’m also dawdling on my Warrior and Warlock level 20 quests.  My Warlock is level 29.  Oops.

Alan Wake

No new Alan this week. He’s still pondering how to handle three axe men at once.

ESO

I planned to send my Templar to try the dragon since she’s so tough, but I could not get the same quest line.  Instead, she went directly to Senchal and Sai had the horn and now he’s got a dragon on an island he wants to fight.  I’ll try the Templar first.

 

Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition

I missed this was out there.  I have the Diamond Edition but an updated edition would be great.

 

Bioshock

Coming someday, a new Bioshock title.   https://www.destructoid.com/new-bioshock-title-confirmed-as-2k-reveals-new-studio-cloud-chamber-574598.phtml

This will give me time to play through Bioshock Infinite before a new one is released.  I’m so speedy.

 

Dragon Age 4

I’ve catching up to do in this franchise as well, but could be ready when DragonAge 4 arrives, also sometime in the future.  At least they’re talking about it and have released a trailer that reveals nothing.

https://www.gamesradar.com/dragon-age-4-confirmed-release-date-solas-wishlist-news/

 

 

 

GameNotes December 3, 2019

Mechagon Follies

While doing a daily quest all of a sudden Rustfeather pops up.  Where are all the people who camp him, I thought.  Luckily very shortly a bunch of people showed up and I didn’t need to die.

 

Unbelievably the annoying crone Scrollsage Nola with her nails on a blackboard voice showed up in Mechagon.  Ack.  I knew she was evil, though, she thinks her colleague  Maokka is too gentle and she wants you to assassinate some goblins.

 

Saturday was particularly frustrating in Mechagon, so I found myself dropping down to work on my level 80 Hunter who is in Northrend.  Northrend can be so pretty after spending time in a junkyard.

Amber Ledge sparkles.

Even Coldarra seems fun.

Fashions of the week

My Monk in a fish head.  I just love the fish heads.

 

A Balance Druid in a nicely transmogged outfit. She might be drooling.  Still a cutie.

 

Wow Classic Atheren, a Hunter, wears those furry hide pieces with aplomb.  You skin it, you wear it.

Her pet Snuggles is now her Best Friend. Awwwww.

I hope one of my Hunters can tame one of these giant crocs in the Wetlands.  They’re so adorable.  Look at this guy, dead, but posing like he wants his belly rubbed.

 

I’m finding interesting old echoes of today’s BFA all over.  Note the Lost Third Fleet of Kul Tiras.

 

ESO

I haven’t attempted the dragon’s lair yet again, but apparently I need to beat that dragon to see southern Elsweyr? Bleh.  While taking a break in Auridon, what should show up in the sky?

 

Alan Wake

I did some reading on strategies for playing Alan Wake.  I did make some progress forward over the weekend.

I came back into the game by the Stuckey guy’s body.  I think that’s who it is.

I meant to look around the yard for a flashlight and gun, thinking I had missed them.  They were never there.  Instead, they were in a little well lit shack.  I ran past the axeman this time around and got into the shack.

Call for help!  There’s an old fashioned phone that doesn’t work.  I think all it does is position you in front of the window so you can see the big piece of construction equipment start up.  Then the thing pushes the shed off it’s foundations with a mighty roar.  On the plus side, you can now see what’s coming your way and you can shoot at it.  Managing to hold the flashlight on the now multiple axe men isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. You can only get one guy at a time, unless you drag them into the light, where they’re considerably easier to kill.

Run, Alan run.

 

There’s no clear path through the woods to higher ground.  It’s worth exploring all the paths for batteries and ammo hidden around the place.  I just have to try to be calm and look around for anything helpful.

You can see your next goal, but how to get there?  Good guess, a generator is somehow involved. Love my flashlight.

If I’d known that there would be axe men galore, I would have gone through the tutorial myself, but silly, silly, I thought he was just a dream.

 

Bartle Test

You’re likely familiar with the Bartle Test which categories you as Explorer, Socializer, Achiever, Killer.   On his QBlog, Bartle links to new player tests that are updated for today’s games.

http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2019/QBlog291119A.html

 

I can’t find my old test results, but here’s the new one: