Into The Breach - Key's Gaming Journal

[Key]

Starfield - 60 Hours In
It just keeps getting better and better


My previous article about Starfield was about my experience throughout the first 30 hours of playtime. I'm now going to discuss Starfield with a bit more knowledge of the game and of course, time. As you saw from the title, I've just surpassed 60 hours playtime in Starfield, and boy I've got a lot to say, so strap in.

Where do I even begin to start, really? Well, Starfield in its current state and as it will probably stand for the rest of the year, is by far my favorite Bethesda game they've ever released. And don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls, you name it. But when you hear that one of your favorite RPG game developers is going to take on space, well you can't help but be excited. And man oh man, the more I play this game the more it strengthens the opinion that this is easily one of my favorite games but also one of the best games Bethesda has ever released. It's certainly the least broken comparatively. Again, eventually Bethesda works out the minor details, but it really seems like they wanted to make sure this game ran well and consistently ran well throughout ones personal experience. And it has held up. I'm 60 hours in and I've had maybe 2 or 3 times when the game bugged out and I had to restart. Very few and far between compared to their previous releases. Definitely one of the cleanest releases for Bethesda as far as day one releases go. Also, please do keep in mind that while I'm 60 hours into the game, there are still quite a few things that are waiting for me to experience, i.e. outpost building and I have yet to even finish the main questline of the game. Right now, I'm really enjoying all the faction questlines and a lot of the side quests are really cool. Minor spoilers, but even the gathering of different powers you can find can also be fun because the planets they're on give you enough to search for, and never really feels like it's the ONLY thing you can do on that planet. However, I have found myself doing these particular activities when I just need a break from the other parts of the game. Not that they're bad or anything, but it feels more like busy work comparatively. However, if I want to get everything done in this game, than I have to do that as well. I'd say at the moment, I have about half the powers available, so give it a little time and that will also be completed.

I talked in my last article about some of the specific things I really enjoyed about Starfield but that was only with the 30 hours of playtime that I had. After 60 hours of playtime, all of those things that I said I liked about the game I now love. And anything that I sort of had some issues with, have now been resolved. The one I want to talk about specifically is the ship building. As with most systems like this when it invovles building etc, I'm not always the best at it. I often times will get lost and sort of shelve an idea I have for a ship or building until I'm motivated to try again. I pushed myself to learn more about the space building in this game which is something I don't always do because sometimes I just count it as something I won't experience in a game. Starfield is the exception though because I truly want to experience everything this game has to offer. So I spent a little bit and watched some tutorials, and this is the result of that. I've built two of my own ships so far and I don't see that momentum going anywhere, at least soon. I call this one Kylo Ren:



The combat is really awesome, as I said previously, and that's just gotten better the more I've experienced it. Sometimes there are a few buggy moments with the NPC's and whatnot, but nothing you can't laugh it, in true Bethesda style. I've really started to enjoy the space combat as well now that I've upgraded my ship parts and level up a little bit more. I know a lot of people have been saying that the space travel and space fighting is certainly the hardest to get used to, but the trick I've always found that works is just make sure you're always trailing behind an enemy, and dodge oncoming missiles. There were countless times when I was taking unnecessary damage because I simply didn't turn a little bit to avoid an oncoming missile. It's not a perfect science and sometimes you'll lose a fight without even noticing your health dwindling, but you just try and try again. I'm almost level 40 now and with the upgrades etc, I've found space fighting to be really fun where I didn't think that in my initial 30 hours. Just takes time. The systems are all there to make it fun.

As I did mention however, I still have not finished the main questline and I actually think that's rather rewarding to think about because it just means I've been spending all my time experiencing the other aspects of the game. And with as many side quests as there are in this game, I have to say that I'm impressed with the fact that not only do the quests all work and you can finish them with no glitches or buggyness, they are all fun to do, though some can feel a little rough around the edges. Despite that though, I've had virtually no issues with the quests.

Everything else is really great about the game, and it's one of those games that I think about playing when I'm not playing it, and when I am playing it, I lose several hours in the day. And that is a true testament to a good game. Fortunately I am still getting sleep, but even in my sleep, I'm up in space fighting off pirates and looting their ships and stealing them for my own use, of course.

Of course, as I still have much to do, I will be doing one more follow-up article pertaining to Starfield once I have finished everything I want to do. At that point, it will be a full review of the game and of course my final rating on my experience of Starfield. If you have been hesitant and really haven't decided if you want to play this, give it a shot. That's all I can say.

[Guybrush]

I'm closer to 30 hours in myself as I'm currently level 26 I believe.

Something that is itching me slightly is outpost building. I haven't gotten into it and I feel like I'm probably missing out on a lot as I'm aware they can passively collect resources for you. I gotta check that out soon.

Other than that, I have various minor gripes, but still enjoy the game a lot.

[Key]

I've been hit with a bug, and that bug is creativity. With being in such a writing mood lately, I want to continue talking about Bethesda games because frankly, I don't think I'm touching another game for quite a while, at least until I feel complete with Starfield. Which...I don't think that's even close to happening. Instead of talking just about Starfield though, I want to take this opportunity and talk about, be it briefly, my experience with Bethesda games as a whole. Throughout these past few weeks, I've been talking about Starfield and how I have always been a fan of Bethesda games in general. However, I've not really gone into much detail regarding their other titles, and that's what I'm going to do now. Bethesda is probably my favorite video game studio, just a touch ahead of Nintendo. The amount of hours I've spent in Bethesda games is truly staggering, and on top of that, I've had some of my most memorable gaming experiences in Bethesda games respectively. The genre of open world RPG was not one I was too familiar with when Fallout 3 originally came out, but as soon as I got into it, it changed everything. I felt it. I knew I was about to embark on a year long journey of attempting to and sort of succeeding at playing every Bethesda title that came after and before Fallout 3. So, that seems a natural place to start:

Disclaimer: If games are not mentioned here, I either don't have a whole lot to say about them or I simply don't like them. It's mostly the former in the case of discussion but just in case you're wondering why I'm not talking about Oblivion for instance.

Fallout 3: After many playthroughs over the years, Fallout 3 has cemented itself in my top favorite games of all time. I'm sure that's the same for a lot of us, but let me explain why. As I mentioned prior, Fallout 3 was my actual first introduction to a very well crafted open world RPG. Before that, I had played countless hours of Fable and while that's a genuinely great RPG on its own, playing it nowadays you realize how linear that game is. Fallout 3 was basically like that but without the hand holding and the team at Bethesda basically said "figure it out." And that's what I did. I've written before about Fallout 3 so I won't go too far into detail but exploring that world for the first time and then coming into the Washington D.C. mall to see just the impact that the nuclear bombs had, it made me feel both excited and uneasy. Something I hadn't felt in a game in a very long time. It continues to be in the conversation when I talk about video games in general and I don't think that's going to stop any time soon. Evidently.

Fallout: New Vegas: When compared with Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas is what people would consider their favorites if they had to choose. I think over time I have had Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas trade places as my favorite among the two and the simple reason for that is I just simply can't choose which one I prefer. Fallout: New Vegas is by far a more interesting narrative however the desolate anxiety in Fallout 3 is not really there in Fallout: New Vegas. On the contrary, the story in Fallout 3 is not nearly as good as Fallout: New Vegas. Mix that with the factions and the Elvis club, you can certainly see why people would choose New Vegas over Fallout 3. They are both in the same league as far as I'm concerned. Fallout: New Vegas has probably less play time from me, however I probably found more enjoyable moments throughout my playthroughs than I did with Fallout 3. Not to say either lacked in any way, but I can definitely understand the argument both ways. And I know this was technically Obsidian Entertainment that took this on, but you'll forgive me for placing it here for conversation's sake.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: For my own patience sake, I'm going to be simply calling this Skyrim for the rest of this post. Frankly, I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about when I say the name as simply Skyrim so...I digress. So many people and I mean so so so many people still talk about Skyrim and there are various upon various reasons for that. One of the obviously big ones though - mods. The thing that I think separates Bethesda from other studios is their overall willingness to allow modders to really take their games to the next level. In some ways, it sort of makes me wish that the games were as stellar on release that they eventually are when mods get at it, but we don't live in a perfect world. What is true though is that despite a lot of their games having flaws upon release, Skyrim has truly stood the test of time and being someone that has gone back to Skyrim time and time again on subsequent playthroughs, I can certainly understand why someone would want to go back to it, even just to play the base game. I still remember the day that I decided to dive into this beast of a game the first time, and from coming out of my experience with Fallout 3, I had still little knowledge of how Bethesda RPG's worked with the ins and outs so while my first experience with Skyrim may not have been the best, each time I've gone back to it, I've had a better and better time. I think the last time I played I went with a Khajit sorcerer and it was an absolute blast. I already know that it's going to be even more fun the next time I jump in. However, I've decided that I'm going to try to do a heavily modded playthrough. I've heard that's recommended so I'm willing to give that a go. Skyrim is very good. You don't need me to tell you that though. It's still being played thoroughly today.

Fallout 4 (+Far Harbor DLC): As much as I enjoyed Fallout 4 on release and several years after, I haven't felt as much of a pull to go back to it as I did with the other games from Bethesda at the time. Maybe my familiarity with Fallout as a whole was not there or I just didn't really appreciate what the sequel was trying to do, but even though I eventually had a really realyl good playthrough of this game, and subsequently did the DLC's etc, that was about it for me.  I didn't much like the story as I felt it was a bit too cliche, but it didn't really take away from my overall enjoyment. It was sort of just...there. The base building and stuff was cool for a while but kind of got stale. At least for me. I think it was vastly improved in Fallout 76 though I suppose you could make the argument that they are very much the same. Hell I've even made that argument. Fallout 4, and more specifically, Far Harbor, are still good respectively, and I think they are certainly worth playing through especially if you love a good Fallout experience. If you haven't touched Fallout before though, I strongly recommend Fallout 3 or New Vegas over this one. It's the weakest title in the bunch for sure, but it's not bad. It's above average but not by a lot. 

Starfield: I promise I'll keep this short. Starfield is a 9/10.

Dishonored: Yes, before you send the angry mob at me, I know. This game was not developed by Bethesda it was published by them. It was actually developed by Arkane Studios but I'm talking about it here anyway. Sue me. I love Dishonored. It may very well be one of my top 5 favorite titles ever, but again that list changes every hour of every day. Why do I love it so much? Well it did very much the same thing that Fallout 3 did; introducing me to a genre I was not too familiar with - stealth. If I remember correctly, I did 3 separate playthroughs of this entire game; one full stealth, one normal, and one where I full on did every evil thing I could. And I'll tell ya, each playthrough was a blast and it is something I would highly recommend people do if you love this game. The sequel however is a huge miss in my opinion so I won't be discussing that much. I think Dishonored and all of its respective DLC's deserve your attention at least for one playthrough. If you feel the urge much like I did to do everything you possibly can, I highly recommend that too. Dishonored is an incredibly rewarding experience regardless of how you play it. And if you're big into stealth games, this is packed with that and also a pretty gripping story.

Fallout 76: I know I know this list compiles of 3 Fallout games now, but I don't care, it's one of my favorite game series of all time. Unfortunately, this is also one of those cases where Bethesda really had to pick up the pieces for this one. What I mean by that is they really did not have a great launch. It was catastrophic actually. I honestly didn't think Bethesda were even going to try to redeem this one - but they did. I played Fallout 76 at launch and while I was disappointed, I wasn't nearly as pissed as some people were. Giving it some time though, I eventually went back and I still have it installed on my Xbox. As broken as it was on launch, I can safely say that they totally took a complete U-turn with it and now it's quite good. Really cool story quests, NPC's, it just feels like a traditional Fallout experience, but online. That's not a negative either. I haven't had this much fun playing with friends online as I did with Fallout 76. A lot of that comes from the overall jankiness of Bethesda games as a whole so it made for some funny moments, but it doesn't take away from it in any way. Give it a shot if you haven't since launch. It's completely different than it used to be.

That about wraps it up I think. I know I'm missing quite a few and perhaps I'll come back to this list at a later time, but the important ones I wanted to talk about are all here.

[Key]

Starfield After 100 Hours - The Journey Has Come To An End
Sometimes, or even often times, it's tough to come to the realization that your time with a game that you've been loving dearly has to come to an end. Not for anything negative or what have you, I've just found that my time in Starfield is better spent somewhere else right now, achieving great things in other games. By this point, you've heard me talking about nothing but Starfield and how I feel about it, so this will work more as my closing statements as I sign off of Starfield for the last time.

Again, this is not really anything relating to how I feel about the game right now, I just feel like I've done everything I want to do, and now I feel like I'm at a point with Starfield where I'm simply searching for more stuff to do to fill in the empty gaps. That's not to say there isn't anything to do, but at some point you realize that it's time to just move on. It was the same way with Tears of the Kingdom, it was the same way with Diablo IV, you just move on. Will I go back to Starfield? Absolutely. Especially since I've heard news or rumors of expansions and DLC's so I'm definitely going to be strapping into that when the time comes. Either that, or i'll jump into the modding scene and see what people have come up with.

Another reason why I feel like this is the perfect stopping point for me, is...well 100 hours. That's not a small amount of time. It still feels like to me that the game just came out, so to have that many hours under my belt is pretty impressive, though I'm sure there will be many more milestones like that as I return to the game from time to time. Everything that I have said about Starfield in my previous reviews still holds true. It's definitely the best Bethesda game they've ever come out with, and while it doesn't do much to really push the boundaries for them, this is Bethesda at their best, and I can only hope that they will continue to grow as developers - especially with Elder Scrolls 6.

I'll keep this short and sweet, but Starfield will be put in the backlog for now, and when I pick it up again, I'm sure i'll have as much fun if not more when I jump back in.

I still strongly recommend playing this for yourself if you haven't yet. I've had and will continue to have a good time with it. For now, it's time to move onto something else. What that is? I don't know yet.

[Key]

And We Are Back...To Elder Scrolls Online

What can I say? I have an enormous affinity for Bethesda games and although this isn't 'technically' Bethesda's doing, The Elder Scrolls Online continues to be my go-to MMO when it comes to something that I simply want to grind in and have a good time. For a while that was Runescape, but after 15 years it's become a bit stale, time to move on in an essence. Zenimax Online Studios is the developer behind this gift that keeps on giving so while it is a Bethesda paint, thank the experience you have to Zenimax. Anyway, as opposed to playing Fallout 76, why should you play Elder Scrolls Online? Well, it's really simple. Do you like the Elder Scrolls universe and you just wish there was an endless amount of it to experience? WEll, look no further because that is what this game is. Just imagine Skyrim but like...there's no end in sight.

I've played them all - World of Warcraft, Runescape, RIFT, they are all great in their own right, but they all sort of miss the mark when they don't really have that 'something' to continuously pull me back in. Runescape is the exception, but you can classify that more as an addiction than enjoyment to be honest. Elder Scrolls Online just has the constant 'get over here, i've got something for you' thing going for it that makes me excited to boot it up every time I do so. It's got all the charm to love about Bethesda's universe created in an almost seemless experience not just with the gameplay but literally no loading screens between places and it all just feels good. Yeah sure your action bar is small but Elder Scrolls Online was originally and still maintains the motive to be available on PC and console, so for controller users, the action bar makes sense. And honestly, playing as a sorcerer who also uses a two-handed axe, I've had no issues coming up with cool combinations for my combat attacks. They all have their own special traits which makes them feel more than just a singular ability. Some will heal you upon hit and in true Bethesda fashion, you can level up your weapons to make them even better. And yes, enchanting them too. Like I said, endless possibilities. 

The main selling point for Elder Scrolls Online boils down to two things - availability and multiplayer/single player. It's available for free on Xbox Game Pass and even without paying the subscription and the additional DLC's, you'll still get 100's of hours just playing the base game. Hell I've been playing for years and I'm still making my way through completing the zones. Again, endless. What's really unique about this MMO is the fact that you can play with friends or if you want, you can go through it completely solo and doing the quest lines and get everything done. Aside from maybe some delves, you can literally do everything yourself. Even bosses. I've killed a few bosses by myself and I've had some issues, but it is possible.



This is where I will be spending my time for the foreseeable future, so whether you're gaming or not, I hope you enjoy the adventure.

Back to the grind!

[Key]

Elder Scrolls Online - The Journey So Far [Part 1]

If you have never played Elder Scrolls Online and you're not entirely sure what I'm talking about, the game is setup into zones with their own respective quest lines and things to do i.e. dungeons, boss fights, etc. Much like games like Assassin's Creed, Marvel's Spider-Man, to "complete" your experience, you'll want to do everything the game has to offer you. I've even done this with Marvel's Spider-Man as well as Middle Earth: Shadow of War. I'm taking on the task of trying to get all of this stuff done in Elder Scrolls Online as well. Not only because I love the feeling of "completeness" but I also just really love Elder Scrolls so any excuse to spend more time in the universe is time well spent imo. Anyway, over time I'm going to log my progress as well as give an overall look into how I'm doing so far. The next post will evidently be an update to the current progress posted here:

Zone Progress - Elder Scrolls Online

ALDMERI DOMINION

AURIDON


GRAHTWOOD


GREENSHADE


KHENARTHI'S ROOST


MALABAL TOR


REAPER'S MARCH


DAGGERFALL COVENANT

ALIK'R DESERT


BANGKORAI


BETNIKH


GLENUMBRA


RIVENSPIRE


EBONHEART PACT

BAL FOYEN


BLEAKROCK ISLE


DESHAAN


EASTMARCH


SHADOWFEN


NEUTRAL AND DISPUTED

COLDHARBOUR


CRAGLORN


CYRODIL


IMPERIAL CITY


APOCRYPHA


BLACKWOOD


CLOCKWORK CITY


GALEN


GOLD COAST


HEW'S BANE


HIGH ISLE


MURKMIRE


NORTHERN ELSWEYR


SOUTHERN ELSWEYR

[Key]

Pokemon Scarlet

I don't remember the last time I talked about Pokemon Scarlet or if I've even talked about it at all. That's for a variety of reasons: I picked up Pokemon Scarlet for myself right around when other games were coming out, and unfortunately this one just took the backburner for a while. I also just wasn't really wanting to play a Pokemon game at the time, and I didn't want to sour my first playthrough with that mindset and I waited until I had an appropriate mindset and the time to put aside to play this, and now that I have, what do I think? Well, to be honest with you, I do certainly understand the criticisms about the graphics and the choppy gameplay at times, but I typically go into a Pokemon game for one thing - enjoyment. Whether we're talking about the old Game Boy games or the recent Scarlet and Violet, it's always been about enjoyment with me and am I able to get a team of Pokemon that I'm happy with. Both have proven to be true as of my current opinion. Pokemon Scarlet does enough things correctly and improves on a lot of mechanics that the previous games worked with and it really doesn't make it hard to enjoy, despite its issues.

Mechanically, Pokemon Scarlet is one of the strongest though I think I enjoyed the overall mechanics of Pokemon Legends: Arceus but I digress. I think the battling is definitely top notch and I really like how you can move your camera around when in battle to kind of get some really cool action shots, in a way. Musically, this is the best Pokemon has been. From the team star grunt battle music to simply the wild Pokemon music, it all fits and flows together nicely. I've even heard that certain environments play different music so that it can flow into other pieces of music. Very nicely done and I can definitely see that influence when going into different areas of the game. Not all the music is the same and that makes the world feel more open and alive. Of course I'm going to post my favorite out of all the tracks and honestly, it really doesn't get much better than this:

If you have a Switch and haven't checked this out simply because you've heard of the performance issues etc etc, Pokemon Scarlet does enough things right like I said, and that problem becomes less and less of an issue if you just don't focus on it too much. At times, you will be reminded of it rather strongly because there are areas where if things get too cluttered, your FPS tanks. And while that is unfortunate, this has me excited to see what Game Freak will do next given the scops that this game brought. Until then, I'm off to fill my Pokedex! 

[Key]

I "Finished" Pokemon Scarlet

All gym badges, all Team Star badges, everything. It's all done. Except for one thing - Pokedex. Yes, I am absolutely planning to fill up my entire Pokedex in Pokemon Scarlet but the real reason I wanted to post this here is because holy fuck this is the greatest track I have ever heard in a Pokemon game. It's of course for the trainer that has nothing but Eeveelutions and that just makes it ten times, no...a hundred times better. Anyway, I'm at about 180/400 as far as mons caught. Listen to this jam in the meantime!

[Key]

Pokedex Update

[Key]

My Early Thoughts On Diablo IV Season 2 'Season of Blood'

For some context, I've been playing Diablo since Diablo II and I've been playing Diablo IV since it came out in early access earlier this year. Initially, my thoughts on this game were that it is a worthy successor to Diablo III and it will stand the test of time for years to come. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Diablo IV had one of the most controversial patches I've ever seen in a video game, to the point that more than half of the player base basically said "fuck it" and never went back. I was one of those players. When the game first came out, it was really fun. Got a group of friends together and we just wreaked havoc on Sanctuary. However, some companies simply don't want players to have fun, so they released a patch which basically took all the fun builds that people were discovering, and said "nah, you're not having fun anymore" and nerfed pretty much every fun build that had been discovered up to that point. Not long after, 'Season of the Malignent' released as their first official seasonal content patch and...it was mediocre at best. We all know what battle pass is so you don't need me to tell you. If you don't know, it's a way for players to gain rewards as they level their character up in a seasonal journey. Companies will usually put the really cool items behind a pay wall whereas those that want to play the season for free tend to get mediocre to shitty equipment that has little to no value to the character whatsoever. Some would say, what's the point right? Well, there are other ways to gain rewards, through the seasonal journey. Experience, aspects etc. This is not out of the ordinary for games with a battle pass system unfortunately. The way it goes now is that if you have the money to put up, you'll get the benefit. I dont' really care either way about this but I know that it's a sour spot for a lot of people. Basically, Diablo IV had a really strong early access period and a pretty strong launch, but as time went on, Blizzard and whoever else was involved decided to start diggin their own grave. And...they did. Multiple times. There was a point where I said I did not see any reason to go back and play Diablo IV because quite honestly, I had had enough of it, and there really wasn't much more to bring me back to play. That is until 'Season of Blood' released.

I decided to go with the Necromancer class despite my early impressions of the class seeming too overpowered and not offering enough to make it fun. This isn't really a result of the new season, but I take back my initial impressions because I'm having a pretty good time with my current Necromancer build. Yeah, it does seem a bit overpowered compared to the other classes but that's ok. I'm not going to complain. So, Season of Blood, what is it? Well, in short terms, you travel in a new campaign that revolves around gaining vampiric powers and learning about vampires and the lore within. I've not gotten too far into the new campaign yet so don't worry about spoilers. What's really important here is what the new season brings, and from what I can tell, it comes with a lot of balancing fixes, some bug fixes, and things that in my opinion should have been the standard when the game released. If Season of the Malignant was Blizzard trying to appeal to those that were still sticking around after the patch, Season of Blood is Blizzard saying, "ok guys, this is the Diablo IV, we want you guys to play." The reason I say that is because the changes they made that they're counting as improvements should have been already implemented in the game when it released initially. The dungeon layouts, the quicker mount speeds and cooldowns. It just seems like Blizzard missed the ball on a couple things when the game initially released, and this is their way of sort of getting back to that. And honestly, I'm here for it. I mean, I already spent money on the game when it came out, and although I didn't have the most fun in Season 1, I did play it pretty much all the way through the seasonal journey so there wasn't a lack of stuff to do, just didn't keep me interested long enough to find more stuff. Part of me finds it a bit frustrating that developers will do this where certain things that should be in a game for whatever reason are just left out, and then they play it off like it's "new content" when the content should have been in the game by default. Whether or not that was their intention, I don't know. It doesn't seem like a lot of the developers seem to know what they're doing when it comes to Diablo IV so it's a mixed bag.

It's a little sad really. Because I really want to love Diablo IV. I love Diablo III despite its faults and Diablo II is one of the best ARPG's ever made, but something is still missing from Diablo IV that makes it feel like the others. However, with that all being said, I am actually having a lot of fun in Season of Blood, though I've only put about 2-3 hours into it and have mostly been playing in the Blood Harvest, which is basically the Helltide equivalent but instead, it's always active, you don't lose the currency, and it's available in World Tier II which is fantastic. It's hard to say right now whether Season of Blood will be a turning point for Diablo IV. If anything, this is just a start. If Blizzard can continue to make necessary changes and give players the game that they should have gotten back when it originally released, I'm willing to ride this train until the end. I genuinely want to see this game do well and it's a damn shame that it hasn't been doing so hot over this year. But...this is not really a big surprise with Blizzard. Hell, remember the Diablo III release fiasco where literally everyone was getting error messages? Yeah, this isn't new.

I'm going to keep playing in Season of Blood and will report on it more as I play, but while I don't strongly recommend jumping back in especially if you're already burned out after season 1, I do think they're at least trying to make the game more fun, and Blood Harvest on its own is a really neat addition with additional rewards which honestly I hope they just keep in the base game after the season ends.

For now though, I head back into Sanctuary and take on the vampires!

[Key]

More Thoughts On Season 2 'Season of Blood' - Diablo IV

I wanted to come back after putting a little bit more time into the new season of Diablo IV to provide a bit of an update on my overall thoughts and feelings on Season of Blood. I mentioned in my previous early impressions post that in its current state with all the additions the season brings etc, the game feels like it should have felt when it released initially before any of the seasonal content. And to be honest, I kind of still feel that way. Don't take it the wrong way though, because that's not meant to come off as a negative. If anything, it's an enormous positive and perhaps a good look into the future of Diablo IV assuming the developers don't mess it up again. As we saw with their handling of the season one patch, I imagine the team behind this doesn't want to have a repeat of that, so hopefully the game remains as it is now or if anything, gets more changes to make it feel better to play as opposed to the contrary.

It's a tough world out there though if we're going to be completely honest about things. Blizzard kind of dropped the ball during their season one patches etc, and as I mentioned in my prior post, it caused a lot of the player base to take a step back from the game and perhaps not come back to it again, myself included. Though I've been diving into the seasonal stuff. Do I see this season bringing back those players that really don't see a way for themselves to come back into the game? That remains to be seen. So far, the general consensus of season two is that it does bring a lot of welcome balancing changes that makes the early and mid-game feel more satisfying to play as opposed to feeling like a grind that eventually leads into a wall. But again, I genuinely feel like that should have been the base of the game and the seasonal content will add onto it, but I can't be too harsh I guess. The game is what it is right now and whether you're jumping back in after the blow that season one brought, or you're jumping in for the first time, I'd definitely recommend playing this season as it is pretty cool. It's not covering all the problems the game has accumulated over the course of this year, but it does look like Blizzard is starting to listen to the player base and are making some welcome changes. It could be a bright future for Diablo IV but they really gotta just keep delivering. Another season like this one and I think people will be coming back in flocks. We'll see though.

[Key]

Lies of P

When the original demo came out for Lies of P, I downloaded it and gave it a shot and instantly loved it. Unfortunately, when the full game came out, once again I was busy playing other games to dive into this one properly. However, I have now put quite a bit of time into Lies of P. At least enough time to talk about it here. I'll make this simple, if you have been anxiously awaiting a sequel to Bloodborne but have also accepted the fact that that dream is basically never going to happen, pick up Lies of P. A lot of reviewers have already said it but this to me feels like a true successor to Bloodborne in almost every way. And in some ways it actually does better than its predecessor, which is precisely what it is supposed to do.

The theme is pretty simple yet also captivating - imagine if the people behind Bloodborne and Dark Souls took on the story of Pinocchio. Yeah, that's what you've got here. The only difference is that Lies of P was created by a relatively unknown studio, though hopefully not unknown for too much longer. We've had a lot of attempts at souls-likes over the years, but I really feel that Lies of P not only captures beautifully the essence its trying to bring the character through, but also is easily the best attempt and succeeding at being one of the best souls-likes that has come out in recent years. Don't get me wrong, games like Nioh and Elden Ring are fantastic in their own right, but up until Lies of P came out, I never truly realized how much I would have wanted a souls-like based on the Pinocchio universe. And lemme tell ya, it is delivering. I've not gotten completely through the whole game yet, but I have taken down two, or maybe three of the main boss fights. And in true souls-like fashion, the bosses are not unfairly difficult, but you better know how to dodge and block. It's not as important as it is in Dark Souls because again, Lies of P is far more like Bloodborne in the sense that it wants you to be up close and personal with combat. It doesn't feel purposely sluggish and hard to control. I don't mean that as a negative towards Dark Souls. In fact, I think the sluggishness actually helps Dark Souls be an even better game, because it's not going to hold your hand. You need to basically as they say 'get gud'.

Graphically, the game is stunning. It's darker much like the souls games and Bloodborne but the Pinocchio theme really lends itself well and I rarely ever feel like the characters are taking me out of the game. Some of the voice acting is hit or miss like the voice for your little flying companion is a bit of a miss for me, but I'll get used to it. It's not bad or anything, just wasn't expecting such a normal sounding voice.

The game does really shine through its combat and weapons because although this is a little spoilery, you eventually find out how to disassemble your weapons and craft new weapons with the already existing parts that you've found throughout your playthrough. It is heavily incentivized to try out new weapon combinations because some with come with their own effects. For example, I picked up a hammer like weapon early on and it comes with a shock effect, however it's stronger when I put the handle of my previous weapon on it due to it making it lighter and easier to use. I've gone with a full on strength build so I'm favoring two handed weapons over the alternatives. I've not tried the other builds, but so far I'm having an absolute blast boosting my strength level up and wreaking havoc on evil puppets.

This game is delivering on everything I wanted it to and I'm gonna go play for a few more hours now.

Toodles!

[Guybrush]

Hmm.. I did notice that Lies of P came to gamepass and it looks like one to try.

Thing is I'm still deep in Starfield (and have been enjoying your write-ups 🙂) and so I'll try and finish that before I move on.

Another game I've wanted to play is the Dead Space remake. I finished the original game (and sequels) before, so I didn't feel like I had to jump on it, but now it's at a 40% sale 🤔

[Key]

Cassette Beasts - Pokemon With Cassette Tapes (First Thoughts & Impressions)

I know right off the bat the title of this articles makes you go "wait what?" but hear me out.

Cassette Beasts is probably the best Pokemon-like RPG that I have played in quite some time. And I mean that genuinely. A lot of times when you get games like this that are trying to copy what Pokemon does well, they tend to fall flat or more importantly, they lose out on creating their own identity on top of the identity that they are basing their game off of. I don't see anything wrong with being inspired by other works especially if it means it allows the creation of something of better quality or similar. In this case, I'd say Cassette Beasts actually does several things better, especially for someone like me who has had many many years of Pokemon throughout the years. And even if you haven't played Pokemon or have always been interested in the series but not enough to jump in, Cassette Beasts is a great alternative for not only the reason I mentioned but the price is far lower than the current Pokemon games on the market. And, if you have Xbox Game Pass you can install it and play it right now. That's what I did.

The game starts you off in an unknown world that you somehow washed up on, much like Link from Link's Awakening. However, in this game, you're brought to a place that seems to be separate from Earth and those that inhabit it also consider your current location somewhat of an anomaly. Doesn't stop them from being welcoming and positive though. You quickly realize that you're about to set out on an adventure and it's up to you to decide how you want to do it. Instead of being a super linear "one way to go" outline, Cassette Beasts surprisingly takes on the open world RPG approach by allowing you to go wherever you wanna go, within reason, and do whatever quests you want to do, and when you want to do them. It'll hold your hand a little bit to get through the tutorial and everything but once you're done, you're pretty much free to do whatever you want. Hell, I spent an hour of my playthrough already just battling the other creatures on the overworld and jamming to the soundtrack. I'll mention that quite briefly but yes, the soundtrack of course is fantastic. Then again, if you are trying to develop a game in the realm of Pokemon, you simply have to have a great soundtrack to go along wtih it. And one track in particular is especially fantastic.

Something interesting to note: when I first saw Cassette Beasts show up on Game Pass, I was instantly struck with the memory of my playthroughs of Floppy Knights and Dicey Dungeons, and I was certain Cassette Beasts was developed by the same company. Well, that ended up not being the case, surprisingly. I was so certain of it too but I suppose these two developers have a deep love of old school computer technology. Hell, if it means we get more great games, I'm all for it. I just thought that was funny.

I did mention it before that Cassette Beasts is set in an open world RPG setting and at first, I was a little bit unsure as to what that meant in this type of game, but I should have assumed it would be similar to games like Link's Awakening where it gives you a small start, and sends you off. Or even the original Legend of Zelda if we want to get really specific. Either way, I was actually pleased with how the open world setting works in this game in tandem with it's Pokemon style RPG elements.

I'm only a few hours into the game and Cassette Beasts for me is one of those games where if I turn it on, I can kiss the next few hours goodbye. And often times I wouldn't even consider that a bad thing. I just vibe with the gameplay and the music so well that it's hard to turn it off once I get the game going. Fortunately, much like Pokemon, Cassette Beasts not only comes jam packed with quests and cool things to do, but also there are so many different creatures to "record" and "upgrade" that it will still take me some time to finish it up. But I certainly recommend this if you're in sort of a lull and need a game to pull you out of that lull. Cassette Beasts is definitely one of my big surprises for this year.

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Starfield - The Journey Continues

I'll be honest, when I was initially finishing up my time with Starfield before, I definitely wasn't feeling the rush to go back to it, at least until I played some other games that we're on my waiting list at the time. And although it really hasn't been that long since I played last time, I've decided that I want to continue the journey and keep pressing onwards into this vast universe that Bethesda has graciously provided us. Do I think it's the perfect game? No, it's still got some little issues to fix here and there. Is it the game that I want to spend all my time on? Yes. And that to me is the most important thing. I already know that even though I'm installing the game again right now, I'm going to have so much fun playing that it's going to be hard to put down.

I think what I did with my first 100 hours is exactly what I wanted to do going into it the first time. Get all the main, side, and faction quests done before moving into the new game+ mechanic, then once I go into new game+, I do everything that I wasn't able to do on my previous run due to alignment purposes (good / evil). I then did that and tackled the pirate faction quest that I didn't do in my first playthrough and absolutely enjoyed it. And all the while, I found myself losing time exploring the ridiculous but wonderful number of planets that you can jump to and explore.

Now, what am I planning to do with the rest of my time in Starfield? Well, I'm thinking I'm going to treat it more like a No Man's Sky sandbox and just do whatever feels right at the time. Not really needing to focus on any side quests or faction quests or what have you since I've already done and experienced them. So, if I want to repeat them, sure. I might. I think this will allow for a much freer feeling adventure than it did previously, and that's not to say it didn't feel free to do. But on the contrary, it's going to feel really nice to jump into a game that I've already put a ton of time into...and just sort of let the wind lead my journey. It's going to be a blast, and certainly I will provide updates as I go. But since this isn't my first rodeo with Starfield, the updates may not be as common.

Off to space we go!