So Many Games, So Little Time 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

It's been a while since I've had such a hard time choosing a game to buy. With the backlog we get here from time to time, my gaming course is pretty well laid out for me. I do have a few on the back burner at the moment, but there are three games recently released that I've been hungry to get my hands on; Civilization 6, Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. All three look really entertaining and have received fairly good reviews. I know more than a few people that are caught in the same predicament at the moment. Perhaps by discussing these three we might hasten our decision making process.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Will Never Live up to its Predecessor

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

I'm very excited about Red Dead Redemption 2. The trailer showed some beautiful vistas framed in ways so very typical of western films and the mythology that surrounds the setting. I think that it will be a great game with a lot to offer. I think that I will love its characters (whoever they turn out to be) and I expect to spend a great deal of time immersed in the world it provides. I do not, however, think that it will ever approach Red Dead Redemption in terms of expectations.

Westworld is a Fascinating Mystery

Thursday, October 20, 2016

If there are three things in a story that are certain to grab my attention it's AI, the old west and a good mystery. Westworld has all of these things. I absolutely love it. Even from just the first three episode, it is clear that there is something else going on beneath the surface of things. I can't yet say what that is as I've really no idea what is really happening. All I have right now is a ton of theories, but I am very excited to see where this is all going. If you're unfamiliar with Westworld or only familiar with the 1973 film with Yul Brenner, you'll want to check it out however you can. It really is something very special.

Different Virtual Views

Monday, October 17, 2016


During PAX West we had the opportunity to try out quite a few different VR units, and surprisingly when all was said and done, Ssalarn and I ended up going the console route for VR.  When it was released, we picked up a copy of the PS VR along with a couple of little goody games (samplers) to go with it. 

My First Raid in A Year: Wrath of the Machine

Thursday, October 13, 2016

My good friend Michael, who you may know as Ssalarn, has been spending a lot of time with Wesley and I on Destiny. We've been running strikes, tidied up the last of the Rise of Iron story quests and even struck out into the Iron Banner. Overall we've played more in the last two weeks than either of us has in the past six months. Our time with Destiny, rough as it has been in the past, seems to be smoothing out a lot for us.

Sadly, Wesley and I have not had much luck with the raids. The only one I've ever completed was the Vault of Glass back before any of the other expansions dropped. Since then, every attempt I've made at the raids has been a complete disaster. It is difficult for me to find the time to set aside for a raid, especially when completing one can take upwards of a few hours. Mike understood this and organized a raid group specifically for people who don't have much time for them. We were a gaggle of misfits to be sure, but it was the greatest raid group I've ever been part of.

Batman the Telltale Series Episode 2: Children of Arkham

Tuesday, October 11, 2016



When I wrote me review of the first episode of Telltale's Batman series, I talked about the difficulty of writing stories for so many well known characters. There is so much well established history to the Batman mythos and it is taken so seriously by some, that trying to bring a fresh eye to anything considered canon is a risky move. Movies, shows, animated features, games and even a few comics have aimed to accomplish something like this and failed, sometimes so spectacularly that it becomes a joke for years to come. I was worried that Telltale, in trying to bring so many disparate origin stories together in one series would miss something vital or go too far out on a limb in the name of innovation. After playing the second episode, my fears have lessened substantially.

Rise of Iron: Better with Friends

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Rise of Iron was released to rather lukewarm reviews. Some felt that too much of the content was rehashed bits from vanilla Destiny, others have said that the new content doesn't amount to enough real play time. Normally, I would be inclined to agree with both of these points, as my history with Destiny has been rather spiky. This time around though, I'm inclined to be a bit more charitable than the average reviewer.

REDUX: The Role of the Dungeon Master

Tuesday, October 4, 2016


A tabletop game like Pathfinder is a constantly evolving story. The boundaries of that story are limited by only by the party and the DM. The former is an occupant in the observatory, shining a bit of light into the darkness this direction and that. The latter, in this case, becomes the universe, the big bang that brought into being everything the party observes and interacts with. It's flowery and overblown, but the DM's role is too often misconstrued. Let's shed some light on the subject.

PAX 2016: Final Fantasy XII: Zodiac Age



While wandering PAX's massive expo hall, I found myself gravitating towards the massive display set up for Final Fantasy XV. That is not the game I'm going to talk about. Instead, I'm going to talk about another release I discovered tucked away into a corner of the same display, a remastered and reworked version of an older Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XII.