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Gaming Diary: Mass Effect Andromeda is More Fun When You’re Not Under a Deadline

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Mass Effect Andromeda

After shunting Ys: Oath in Felghana roughly to the side, I moved on to Mass Effect: Andromeda for strategy guide reviewing purposes. I started over completely, including working with the character creator. The facial animations still make her look weird, but at least it’s with a character I designed and not the base model who looked weird in the first place. Best part though? I’m playing this game how I want to play it.

There’s no burning through the story as fast as possible. No more skipping scanning systems to save time. No more ignoring the insane list of tasks. No more picking just ONE loyalty quest to follow. No more ignoring all of the sidequests after Eos. Finally, I can do whatever I want, and dammit, I want to do it all. Maybe then if I separate the main storyline pieces by several hours or days, I won’t loathe it as much. The main story is kind of like extended family—you can only take it in small doses. In between those doses, you enjoy running around and living your life.

It’s definitely made a far more enjoyable experience, as really any game is when you’re not under pressure to finish it in a matter of days. I’m still under a bit of pressure with the strategy guide review, but not like how it was. It’s a different kind of pressure, but one I will wholeheartedly take over the stresses of game reviewing.

So yes, you can see how I don’t miss it. At. All. I can’t wait to give Horizon: Zero Dawn the same treatment with that strategy guide.

Gaming Diary: Good-bye, Ys: Oath in Felghana

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Rage QuitKnow what’s best about no longer reviewing games other than the fact I can play whatever I want? I can quit playing whatever I want too! I exercised both of these privileges over the weekend, when I decided that I had enough of the crazy platforming in Ys: Oath in Felghana.

The platforming in this Ys title always pushed me on edge to begin with, but the Clock Tower dungeon was the last straw. When I realized I was trying the same jump sequence for the last 30 minutes with no progress or ideas to how to even get across, to the point my thumbs were hurting, I knew I was done. I’m not under a deadline. I’m not having any fun. As my lovely friend Blake says, sometimes you have to say “Fuck this game!” and walk away.

I didn’t even try to save my progress. I knew I didn’t want to even attempt the platforming on the lower levels again to get to where I quit. While I’ve gotten far better at platforming, it’s still not my forte. I don’t enjoy it. It stresses me out. I get frustrated way too easily. I know I don’t have the skills to do this. And you know what? I’m fine with that.

I used to hate quitting games. I always felt so guilty about it or that I was a failure. I can’t do this part, which confirms how terrible I am at gaming. I shouldn’t quit because I’ll never learn if I quit. I’m almost at the end; how can I quit now? Sometimes you have to embrace the fact that this one thing just isn’t your thing, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Life is too short to force yourself to play something making you miserable that is supposed to be entertaining. I love the Ys games, I really do, but I can’t deal with the platforming in this particular one. And that’s okay.

I still hope that Ys V and VI will be ported to the Vita. With Ys VIII on the horizon, this would be the perfect time to drum up some hype in the West. Until then, though, I suppose I’ll have to make do with Breath of the Wild and Mass Effect Andromeda. I think I’ll survive.

The Corner of Randomness: Goodbye Souls

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The final DLC for Dark Souls III dropped this week. With the launch of The Ringed City, the Souls games are now at an end. From Software, or more accurately Hidetaka Miyazaki, have said that they are done with this series and are moving on to other projects. This makes me both very happy and also pretty sad.

I’ve loved the Souls games right from the beginning. I remember when Demon’s Souls was announced. I was intrigued by the setting. My interest grew even more when I found out the game was going to be punishingly difficult. The game was not going to hold your hand. You had to figure stuff out on your own. If you killed a vital NPC, too bad. Yeah, I preordered that bitch so hard.

On my first romp through Demon’s Souls I was hooked. Heck, even my wife got into the game. We had to take turns playing our characters. She would go research some aspect of the game she was working on and I’d sit and farm some item I needed for my bow. It was a great time.

Then Dark Souls was announced and I already knew I’d be buying that game as well. With this game, I even got my brother-in-law hooked on the series. I bragged about how good the strategy guide was and convinced him to snag the guide as well. This would happen once again with Dark Souls II. Sadly, he doesn’t have a PS4 and thus it’ll be a bit of time before I can get him to bite on Dark Souls III.

From Software has crafted a wonderful series with these four games. The Souls games will always be one of my favorite gaming experiences. Hell, I’ve purchased Dark Souls I and Dark Souls II twice. All I need now is a good Steam sale on the third game and I’ll have bought that one twice as well. I don’t have a problem. Nope. Not at all.

Thank you From Software for these games. I’m excited to see what you come up with next. If the next project is anything like Bloodborne, I’m confident we’ll be graced with yet another marvelous experience. Still, it’s sad to see the Souls series come to an end. There is still lore left unexplored and unexplained. Yet, I find that fitting to the style of this series. I guess it’s time to put out this bonfire and wait to see what happens next.

 

YOU DIED

Gaming Diary: Continuing that Ys Hype Train

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Wooo woooo!

Since I’m not reviewing any games (woohoo!), I planned on starting Breath of the Wild for that guide review after I finished up Ys Chronicles II. I was almost done with that, so I knew it wouldn’t be long. In fact, I finished it Friday night and got pumped to finally try out Breath of the Wild the following day. On Saturday morning, I received a reminder that my Mass Effect Andromeda collector’s edition strategy guide would be here on Tuesday. Yeah…there’s no way I can do both of these. I called Chris for help, and he’s on it for Breath of the Wild. He’s been playing a lot of the game already, so he’s the best man for the job.

Now that I have time to wait for Andromeda, I figured why not start the next Ys game I have in my catalog? I never did finish Ys: Oath in Felghana, which is a remake of the third Ys game. Of course, I’m going to play it on Easy because I don’t have time to challenge myself in games anymore. Also, this game is a bit old, not to mention incredibly punishing. Go on ahead and say current games have made us all sissies and then ask if I care. Because I don’t. That’s the glory of various difficulties! It’s also kind of why I got into strategy guides; I don’t like being punished.

Ys Oath in Felghana

Even on Easy, Oath in Felghana is a bit difficult in that you’re punished if you don’t have the right armor. Usually buying new armor, finding new armor, or tempering the armor makes all the difference in the world, particularly with boss fights. That first boss handed me my ass in two minutes, but then I tempered all of my equipment and she went down in less than two minutes. I had the same results with other bosses. I think I’m about halfway through the game, so I won’t finish it before the Andromeda guide gets here. However, Andromeda guide will get top priority once it shows up. I’m ready to roll a new character in Andromeda and play the way I want to and do all the side quests I want to.

Until then, I’ll remain overly frustrated at the ridiculous platforming in Ys: Oath in Felghana. I have a feeling this was rather simple to do on PC, but the controls are awkward on the Vita/PSP.

The Corner of Randomness: Taking in the Wild

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Well, I cracked the other day. Yup, I snagged Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Much to Keri’s dismay though, I got it on the WiiU and not the Switch. As much as I want that shiny new Nintendo hardware, I just can’t justify buying it for one game currently. I also really want to play the new Zelda now and not in a year! So, this was my best option at this time.

Breath of the Wild is absolutely fantastic. The open world aspect of the game is a nice change of pace. I like that I am free to go explore the world in hopes of finding new temples or little towns. The clichéd phrase of “if you can see it, you can visit it” applies here as well. I’ve climbed up small mountains, scurried up big towers, and glided to little islands. All in a quest to obtain more heart containers so I can finally get my grubby hands on the Master Sword.

There have been complaints of performance issues, lack of music, and little hand holding from the game. I can confirm I’ve run into the dreaded frame dropping. The frame dropping is pretty infrequent, which is both nice and horrible. It’s nice because I run all over having fun. It’s horrid because when it does happen, it is extremely noticeable and a bit of an immersion breaker.

As for the lack of music or little hand holding, I’m not bothered by either of these complaints. The music that the game does provide is of the standards we’ve come to love and expect from this series. I feel music playing all the time would just drown out other immersion factors like hearing your gear clank as you run, or the rain falling, or birds singing in the forest. The lack of hand holding doesn’t bother me either as I’ve played plenty of games that make you explore and learn the game mechanics on your own. It’s really not a terrible thing.

Hell, now I wanna jump back into the game and explore some more. Oh, and if you’re curious, I did beat Horizon Zero Dawn. I absolutely loved that game. The world was well crafted, the story was pretty solid, and the game play was on point. Heck, I’ve even gone back to hunt down an extra trophy or two, and I never do that. I really do hope some DLC comes out for that game because I’d love to explore that world even more!

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