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Gaming Diary: Dragon Age Inquisition Off the List

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Dragon Age Inquisition first rift

That’s right, I finally sealed the deal in Dragon Age Inquisition. I honestly tried to put it off as long as possible. I looked to complete all of my collections. I searched for new sidequests. Even kept pushing the envelope with the war table operations. I had personal quests I could do for Iron Bull and Sera, but I wasn’t that desperate. I’m not sure why I bothered recruiting them at all.

When I couldn’t stall any longer, I begrudgingly set out to complete the last few story missions. Thank you, mutant ability to avoid all spoilers, because I have no idea how I avoided such huge reveals for the last four years. I didn’t expect any of the twists at the end, especially the final reveal. Fairly certain my mouth stayed dropped open for quite some time after that. And then I stayed up a few hours later going over everything.

But before that, I bawled like a baby.

When my Inquisitor climbed the courtyard stairs at Skyhold with everyone clapping below, and her War Council bowed to her, I lost it. Yes, the story was incredible and it kept me thinking (and still thinking) for hours afterward. But that’s not why the tears flowed. I was devastated that the game was over. No more putting it off. No more restarting. It’s no longer there waiting for me with fresh gameplay. No learning big reveals for the first time.

I usually feel relieved when I finish a game or elation that it’s over. With long RPGs, I always get to a point when I’m done with the grind and I’m ready for it to be over. I didn’t have that this time. At all. I was never tired of it. I didn’t want it to end.

Thank God for DLC, right? I finished Jaws of Hakkon last night, and I hope to finally wrap up Descent this week. I’ll most likely put off Trespasser as long as possible, since that is THE very end. That is, it is unless I start a new game, which I have been considering. With everything I learned, I think it would be nice to try playing as an elf. Perhaps an elf who really doesn’t care about much else aside from elves and mages. Oh and Dorian. Must romance Dorian. I can’t romance Cullen again because he’s with my main Inquisitor, and it shall stay that way.

So there’s one game from the past done. And it was loooong past. So now I need to pick an unfinished game that released a little sooner, probably in 2017. I’m leaning toward either Wolfenstein II or Assassin’s Creed Origins. I think the shooter would be shorter, but the first game was fairly long for a shooter. I have no idea what other game from the past I’ll play after that, though. I’m kind of scared of really looking into my backlog. I see Dragon Quest Builders, Dragon Quest Heroes (the first one), Final Fantasy XV, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, and World of Final Fantasy at a first glance. Oh, wait, I forgot about The Last Guardian and Witcher 3. And then there’s Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess on the Wii U. I keep forgetting I own one.

I don’t have anything short on the table pre-2017, do I? So happy there’s nothing really releasing in 2018 that has my interest. Yet.

Gaming Diary: Dragons and Olympics

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I am a huge Olympics fan. Whenever it’s going on, my TV is showing it whenever I’m awake. I claim all rights to the TV two weeks every two years, and I love every minute of it. As I write this, women’s 1500M speedskating is running in the background. Corruption aside, the Olympics is everything sports should be.

However, the Olympics did not stop me from getting in some serious Dragon Age Inquisition time over the weekend. I packed up my PS4 in my GAEMS case (seriously, that’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made), dragged it downstairs, and set out to save Thedas while watching the Olympics at the same time. It was pretty much the best weekend in ever.

Cullen Rutherford

The last time I was able to devote a weekend to gaming for myself and not for a review or a charity marathon was back in 2014 when I beat Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Awakening. My youngest son was about 1, and that’s a big reason why. My eldest wasn’t involved in twenty things in school, and the youngest wasn’t as needy. That was back when I could hold him in my lap while playing games and he was super content. Those days are so long gone. Now if I try to play a game, one of them tries to set the kitchen on fire (or at least that’s what the screaming and crying always sounds like).

It was sleeting most of the time, so we were going to be hermits regardless. They actually played well together upstairs while I burned through sidequesting. I’m now at the point in the game where I’m going to have to plan when certain things happen, so the kids don’t walk in on any romantic moments. I’m not ready to have that talk with the eldest, and I’ve firmly declared that the husband’s responsibility. (If I had girls, it would be mine, so simmer down.) I also noticed my in-game clock has me at over 35 hours already. I may have lost my mind. Maybe I’ve been ignoring the kids too much?

Eh, they’re alive and nothing was burned down, so that’s a victory in every parenting book.

Oh hey, the US woman speedskater is officially in the lead in this race. Now I’m on the edge of my seat.

Gaming Diary: Back to the Stack of Shame

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fetch quest memeAt the start of every year I always have such grandiose notions that this is the year I’ll get through my stack of shame. This year, I still want to do so, but I’m tackling it a different way. After every recent game I finish, whether it’s in the stack or not, I’ll go back to an older title. After I finished Star Ocean: The Last Hope, it was time to keep good to my promise. I started Dragon Age Inquisition. Again. Yes, this is the third time. No, I haven’t rolled a completely new character. Yes, I have problems.

I tried starting my second run of the game, my first on the PS4, and I was so lost. I had no idea why we were where or what decisions I needed to make. It’s a bummer to lose all that progress, but I’m so glad I decided to start fresh.

I am going to take things a little differently this time, especially when it comes to the Hinterlands. In the past, I let myself get bogged down with sidequests. I spent 3-4 hours in the Hinterlands before I started on my first story-progression quest with previous playthroughs. This time, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do and completed any sidequests I happen to find on the way. This way, I hope to deal with Hinterlands sidequesting each time I go back there. There are several opportunities to go back to that part of Ferelden, something I didn’t know the first time I played. The Hinterlands is also the worst when it comes to getting a fetch quest in the middle of your fetch quest that is required to finish the original fetch quest. Paring this area down isn’t only a wise strategy, it makes for a sane player.

I’m also finally hunkering down to finish A Link to the Past. Thanks to the Keysanity Randomizer Tournament, I’ve gotten the itch to finish that game. Over the weekend, I knocked out both Ice Palace and Misery Mire. I’m dreading Turtle Rock just because every speedrunner complains about it. However, they also complain about Swamp Palace, which I loved. They love Skull Woods, which I hated. So who knows. Regardless, I look forward to finally getting this one out of my stack.

Gaming Diary: And the First Game Finished in 2018 is…

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Thanks to the miracle that is remote play, I finally finished Star Ocean: The Last Hope HD & 4K Remaster. It took some time to get used to the rear touchpad for the L2/R2 buttons, but once I did, things were rolling.

Star Ocean The Last Hope

I can now say I have finished my very first Star Ocean game. This one was not very good. The only reason I finished it was because I had already invested so much time, I might as well see it through the end. I’m not so sure it was worth it. I unlocked all of the endings except for two, and I don’t care enough to try to unlock them. It had a good message, but I’ve played a game very similar to this and it was called Mass Effect. Earthlings going to the stars, befriending aliens, and saving the universe from an ancient power that wants to reboot it? All that was missing was romance options. Not to mention, the writers had to suddenly explain why Earth had all this technology in SD 12, yet they just now have this tech three hundred years later in the first Star Ocean game. Honestly, the reason why was lame and so is the fact that they didn’t have this tech for centuries after leaving Earth. Seriously, no one wondered in the first couple of generations how they left Earth? I suppose if the story of their origin was not passed down through the generations, they wouldn’t have a clue where they came from. The only way I suppose I could find out would be to either read the plot summary on Wikipedia, play the PSP game (which means I need to replace my PSP battery), or wait for another remaster. Square Enix likes their remasters, so it’s possible.

Pokemon Pearl should be the second completed game of 2018. I just cleared Victory Road, so there is just the Elite Four and the Champion left. I’m not sure if my team is powered up enough, but I’ll try at where they are. Worst case, I have to do them all over again, but I get to keep all the experience earned, so that’s a better grind than going back into Victory Road. I can’t take any more Golbats.

So what’s next? On the PS4, I promised a friend I would finish Dragon Age Inquisition. It’s a bit ridiculous that it’s taken me this long to sit down and finish it, when just a couple of years ago, I burned through Dragon Age: Origins Awakening and Dragon Age 2 plus its DLC in a matter of weeks. As for my handheld, I’m not getting the next Pokemon game. Instead, I’ll finish one of my Legend of Zelda games, most likely A Link to the Past first. I’ve gotten addicted to these randomizer runs, and that urge to finish ALTTP is back. I’m only three crystals away from Ganon’s Tower. I can do this. Right?

Gaming Diary: Pokemon Pearl and Randomizer Races

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ALTTP randomizer racesThanks to Awesome Games Done Quick 2018, I’ve gotten back into watching speedrun races on SpeedGaming‘s various Twitch channels. Every day last week I watched some A Link to the Past randomizer race or Legend of Zelda randomizer race. When I first got into watching these randomizer races, there was only one version of a randomizer. Now ALTTP has four versions, and LoZ has a couple. They are fascinating to watch.

SpeedGaming has daily races for ALTTP each day, and they aren’t all the same version. There is still the original one, but now they have these three:

  • Open World randomizer – Starts players in random locations (instead of at the beginning of the game) and the world is their oyster.
  • Enemizer – Also starts players in random locations, but now they have no idea which enemies (including bosses) will show up where.
  • Keysanity – Again, players start in random locations, but chests now have specific keys for specific dungeons. These races really test runners’ mettle, knowledge of the dungeons, and routing techniques. These races also take the longest.

I’m not a huge fan of the Enemizer seeds, but I really enjoy the other three. Keysanity makes me want to rage quit on behalf of the players at times. I usually get a bigger kick out of seeing where items will show up instead, but Keysanity is still a good time.

During these races, I’m either working or I’m playing Pokemon Pearl. I’m nearly done with the game—on Victory Road now—and it’s the last Pokemon title I have in my arsenal. I have two strategy guides for this game that I picked up at a Half Price Books, and I think I’m going to do a comparison video of them. The differences between them are rather astounding, and yet, neither has all of the information I need.

I’d also LOVE to finish Star Ocean: Last Hope this week. I have so many other PS4 games that need my attention last month!

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