I love open world rpgs but I am an idiot

So, I am a dumbass.

There are so many great games out there and lord knows I love good open world rpg’s such as Dragon Age Inquisition and Witcher: Wild Hunt. These games are freaking awesome, but I go about playing them in the dumbest way possible.

Both of these games are awesome, and Witcher could eventually be my favorite RPG of all time. It is that good. But the dumb I do is I keep starting over.

I know, right?

So, I start the game I and love it. But you can tinker around with that kind of player you want to play. With DAO you can try different classes, and with Witcher you get to figure out which of the gameplay types you want. Do you want use magic? Or go all in on fast attack?

So, I do that for a while and then I start over AGAIN. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I do love the beginnings of games and both of these games are great at starting a story.  

So, the end result is that I have played DAO multiple times for over 75 hours. I have played Witcher about the same and recently started over. The problem is that I got burned out on both of them. So I am taking a break from them and playing old school final fantasy.

It is so stupid.

But now freking Fallout 4 is coming out and I really have to make myself just play the damn game and stop obsessing over tinkering around with the kind of character I can be.

One can only hope.

Does anyone else do this?

My thoughts on Star Wars Battlefront

First of all, I am a HUGE Star Wars fan. Saying that I did not get into Battlefront much before, mostly cuz at that point I did not do shooters at that point. But the love is there.

Secondly, the new Star Wars Battlefront game looks fucking amazing. I mean the shots on Hoth? Wow. It is what Star Wars fans have been hoping for years. Finally a game that truly feels like the movies. YES.

Well, if you play multi-player that is.

I don’t even know where to start. No single player campaign at all. This makes me really sad as I just don’t like multi-player games. The odd thing to me is that I keep hearing that they don’t think that many people even play single player. But I have seen hundreds of people on my social networking that all are upset about this. I am not mad, cuz what is the point of that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t wish it would happen.

So is this a mistake? I imagine that game is going to sell very well, but you have to wonder how much money they are missing by excluding people like me. As pretty as the game is, I won’t be playing it. I will probably still be playing Fallout 4 at this point. But how many people are going to miss out on what looks like a phenomenal game. But it really makes me wonder how many people will not buy the game just like me. Will they eventually have a single player campaign in a later game? Maybe, but not now.

Or it could be that I am being stubborn. Well, I already know that is the case, but I really wish I could get over my multiplayer bit, but I like to sit back and relax and play games at my own speed. But I am gonna miss out on kicking ass with a lightsaber or getting behind the “wheel” of an X-wing. Oh man I freaking LOVE X-wings!!!!!!!!!

So, who know what the right answer. I do feel like they are making a mistake in doing what they are doing, but at the same time they are going to sell millions of copies more than likely and may just not care.

I hope that isn’t the case, but I do hope those that play this game love the hell out of it.  

The Final Fantasy challenge

I love Final Fantasy. I always have, and probably always will. I mean they are even remaking my favorite one of all (FF7) at some point. No soon though.

I have also always loved IGN, and especially their playstastion podcast, podcast beyond. So, when Greg Miller and Colin Moriarty left their job to start their own youtube channel, I eventually started following them there. The reason this is relevant is that I joined their community on their web page (www.kindafunny.com) and we have talked A LOT of Final Fantasy. Especially as to which one is the best. The answer is usually 4, 6,or 7.

So, I had an idea. It may be a dumb idea that I may do alone…but that is ok. I am going to play all of the Final Fantasy games from the beginning. Now this excludes 3 and 4 as I don’t have them on the Playstation 3. Well, probably not as worst case scenario is that I can play them on steam or buy a vita.

The funny thing is I realized I have not finished all of them. I have not finished 1, 2, 5, 6 (don’t kill me), or 8.

While I am doing that, I am gonna then review each one once I am done to and rate each one. From worst to best. It could take a while. 

So, I was gonna see if anyone else wanted to do this with me. It doesn’t even have to be all of them, but maybe whichever I am on at the time. So, if I am playing 2, you could start playing it at the same time, and then we can all talk about it once it is done.

I know this may be a silly thing, but I LOVE this series and would like to eventually finish all the games.

*I left out Tactics, only cuz it is a different type of game and although it is AMAZING.

** None of the sequels either.

***This is insane I know.

What is wrong with Final Fantasy XV

First of all I am a HUGE Final Fantasy fan. I have been since I played FF 7 and Tactics back when the original Playstation came out in 1997. Ah, there are some damn good memories of me and a few friends just binge playing both of those games.

I have played almost every game in the series. I don’t do online games, so not XI or XIV. I also did not play the last two XII games cuz they looked awful.

But Final Fantasy XV was first announced I believe nine years ago. Really? Are you fucking kidding me? They have been working on this game for so long that a lot of people that are fans of the games no longer give a shit.

That is part of the problem. You honestly wonder if the game is ever going to be finished.

Then a demo came out when you bought Final Fantasy Type-0, and I was really excited for a moment. But the first issue is the fact that there are no women in the party. Oh joy. It just feels odd that you are all guys. Then you finally get to the only woman in the demo, an overly sexualized female mechanic. It was just tacky and it made me sad.

To be fair the demo was fun and I liked some of the game-play elements, so I do have some hope that it could turn out. But you have NO idea when it is going to be done and we are coming up on a decade…and I would be shocked if it came out in the next year or so.

But to me at least, they did an odd thing. They created a patch for the demo that added new things to it. I mean would you just create the damn me instead of patching a freaking demo? I don’t understand the point of this and saw no need in playing it again.

Then the new came out that they are remaking FF7. Which will be a different post at some point.

Then today a new demo came out and people have went nuts talking about it. Talking how emotional it was and how they cried watching it. You can watch it here.

Ok .First of all, I am a pretty emotional guy, so I get that part. But after watching it, I was underwhelmed. It didn’t actually show much of anything. First there is a scene of a small girl being threatened by something and oh a dog! Why are people going so crazy over a dog. Geesh. But the last part where the father is holding the little boy (which I believe is the main character) is sad. But how this is making people cry I don’t get. Emotion requires context and although it was a sweet scene of a father holding his child…that is all got out of it.

Other than that? Nothing. No game play. Nothing telling you what is going on. Just more camoflague by Square is what this feels like.

So, yeah I have serious doubts about this. The lack of diversity in characters as it is just four white dudes running about. The fact that everything year hear makes it sound like it is still not close to done…after ten years! That is just a bit much. 

Makes me wonder if FF7 WILL ever happen at all. If so, it will probably be like at least 5 years. 

EDIT. So, a rumor is circulating that the game will be released before 2017. I will believe that when the game is in my hand. Even then, I may think it is a fever dream or a psychotic break. 

I have superhero movie fatigue

I remember how excited I was last year when I saw Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy. I loved both movies, but for very different reasons. But the fact is, they were excellent movies that Marvel made in their never ending pursuit to have you give all of your hard earned money to them.

But those were the last I really got excited about. Yes, Avenger’s 2 came out this year, and I enjoyed it. But that movie has started my superhero fatigue. Hell, part of me wanted to see Ant Man, and I even heard it was good. But I just cannot get excited enough about it to watch it. And the Fantastic 4 movie? Please. This isn't even taking into consideration all of superhero tv shows out there now!

So, what changed?

Is it just that there was too much of it? OR is it something else? For me it is a few different things. 1. I was bored with Age of Ultron before the movie even premiered. Mostly due to the fact that there was a trailer/teaser every fifteen second either on tv or the interwebs. There was TOO DAMN MUCH OF IT. I made a comment to a co-worker today that I finally wanted the movie to show so it I could go see it and not have to deal with all of the damn promotion of it anymore. He laughed, and then agreed.

That is sad, cuz the second movie never had a chance of being as good as the first one anyways. That isn’t a bad thing, but the first had been built up with previous movies and it had a feeling of satisfaction to see it all come together. Ultron did not. But I digress.

Then there is word that there is almost 20 movies coming out between now and 2019 I think. Holy fuck. Reallly? Do I need to see another lackluster Thor movie? Yet ANOTHER Spiderman reboot? Or an Aquaman movie? I mean who is that movie for? Wow.

I will say this, I am at least intrigued by the Batman vs. Superman movie, and it will probably be the next one I see. Love me some Wonder Woman, but am afraid they will try to do too much and it will end up a mess. Suicide Squad? I don’t know many of them and don’t know what to make of that one yet.

My point is that is that too much? I mean it is great that we live in a world where these movies can be great. But with this many movies coming out in the next few years, will people just get tired of them?

I already am a little, but I know I can be brought back into it with the right movie. Here is how I feel about each movie.

Ant Man-meh

Fantastic 4-god no

Deadpool-meh

Batman vs. Superman-they are winning me over

Civil War-excited!

X-men Apocalypse-a little excited

Doctor Strange-nope

Suicide Squad-jury is out

Gambit-meh

Wolverine 2-meh

Guardians 2-a little excited

Wonder Woman-hell yeah

Spiderman-Jesus, again?

Fantastic Four 2-see previous

Thor-see previous again

Justice league-depends on how movies do

Flash-more into the tv show

Avengers: Infinity war-not really

Black Panther-know nothing about him

Aquaman-is this a joke?

Captain Marvel-mildly interested.

Shazam-Wait. What?

Yet another avengers movie-ugh

Justice League 2-don’t know

Inhumans-meh

That is not really inspiring. Of the 20, I may go see 8. I know there are people out there that may be excited about a lot more than this, and that is cool. Go see what you love and I really hope they are all amazing. 

Why Proven Guilty may be my favorite novel of all time.

So many spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone that knows me knows how much I love the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. There are a lot of reasons as to why this is the case, but mostly I just want to talk about the awesome things in this particular novel.

It started with the opening lines of the book, which are among my favorite, ever. “Blood leaves no stain on a Warden’s grey cloak.” Wow, do I love the symbolism of this. Combine that with the fact that the first scene of the book is the Warden’s of the White Council was executing a young man that had broken the laws of magic. Obviously Harry felt sickened by this as he was in the same position as a child. What an awesome way to start the story.

That is crazy. The parallel of how he went through that, and then at the end when he was willing to die to keep any harm coming to Molly?? That is some powerful stuff right there. Standing up against things knowing that odds are that you will not succeed? Wow.

But not that that, also realizing that he had to forgive Mccoy for what he did. The end of the book ended with him and his mentor going to get some food. But before that it was just kind of emotional realizing that Mccoy did what he had to do with the Ortega in Death Masks. He is the Blackstaff after all.

But more on just themes on how his friendship with Murphy has grown over the year to the point where she is there battling with him every step of the way. Them realizing why they have never been together as Harry cannot casually commit to anything. Realizing how sad that moment was.

The moment when he found out why Charity despised him all those years? Wow. Afraid of her own magic and he was always a reminder of it? Her accepting this and then lowering those walls between them and the actually became closer.

I cry so many times when I read this book.

Other awesome things:

Them attacking heart of Winter, trying to get Molly back.

The phobophages being from horror movies. Awesome.

Harry almost getting sold on Ebay.

Michael just being Michael and awesome.

Splattercon!!!

The master/apprentice thing that starts here

Murphy losing SI, and finding out there are consequences.

Harry's relationship with the fallen angel Lasciel. 

Molly. Fucking love Molly so much. 

I don’t know if this is my FAVORITE books of all time, but is up there. The pleasure I get in reading this each and every time never gets old and it always gets me in an emotional. There is a reason this is my favorite series of all time.

I will leave you with this. It gets me every damn time. 

We looked at each other for a long moment and my old teacher bowed his head to me. It conveyed a lot of things. Apology. Gratitude. Happiness. Forgiveness. Affection. Pride.

Is the Witcher 3 my favorite rpg of all time?

There are some light spoilers of Witcher 3 here. Be warned.

This is hard to answer, as video role playing games have changed quite a lot in the last 10 years. Think about those games you used to love? For me it was Final Fantasy 7, way back on the PlayStation.  It was the first time got truly lost in a world and it is something I still love to play to this day.

But now? These rpg’s can last over 150 hours if you have no life and just want to find everything.

It started (at least for me) with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. That was the first game I played for soooooooo many hours. Over 150 easy. Then came Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Dragon Age Inquisition, and lastly, Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

So, yeah, things have changed quite a bit, and for the better if you ask me.

But the Witcher may already be my favorite game of all time, and I have just scratched the surface of the game.

Let’s start with the company. CD Projekt Red. They are awesome. The game itself came with: the game, a map, a small compendium, two stickers, the soundtrack from the game, and a thank you note for buying the game. Really? That is so awesome.  In an age where some companies do not seem to give a shit that you buy there game, they stand out Oh, and they have already had like 5 patches to fix things and you also get 16 free DLC from them. What more do you want from a company?

Let’s start with graphics, as it is the most amazing looking I have ever seen on a console (I have a ps4). I love that you can create screen shots of the game and have a few really pretty ones on my computer. Including one that is the background for my pc. There are times I have to stop what I am doing cuz what is on the screen just amazes me. Love it. Yes, some people are annoyed that it doesn’t look as good as the trailer of a few years ago, but the game loos amazing. I have to stop sometimes just to take in the scenery and that is something that doesn’t usually happen.

Gameplay. This was hard at first. I was so used to the sword and shield method in oblivion and skyrim. Attack, block, retreat, attack. But you have two swords and five different types of “magic”. Fire, shield, telekinesis, slowing them down, and confusion. They are handled well, and you can use them in most situations. BUT not all. See, that is one of things I love about the game play.  It did take some getting used to, but once I did I felt like a real badass.

The setting is amazing. The world is in chaos and you can see that everywhere. Villages burnt to the ground, and people that are desperate to find anything they can to survive. You go from place to place only to find people that are starving and bandits trying to take advantage of people. The setting is handled very well in this game and they do an amazing job of making it feel like the world in the books. Love it.

When you get to Novigrad? That size of the city is astounding and i spent like 15 hours there. Crazy how big it was. 

It is really hard sometimes.

I die like ALL the time. Mostly cuz you can come across monsters/bandits that are 15-20 levels higher than you. But even more that, you are always getting hit. Always. Yes, you can dodge, roll, and use your shield, but eventually they hit you. You do NOT have healing magic, but a wide array of potions, and things you can eat/drink to give you health. That was also hard to get used to, but I like it now.

The other thing is they swarm you. One or two drowners (I HATE drowners), sure no problem. Then 4 more show up and things get crazy. Same thing with wolves, bandits, etc. They just keep coming and you can find yourself dead really quickly. You have to plan sometimes and try different tactics depending on what you are fighting. This is even more shown when you fight the monsters in the witcher contracts. 

Some of these creatures are HUGE. Or they cannot be hurt unless they are within small field created by one of our signs. Either way, you have to plan a bit sometimes for them. Luckily there are potions and bombs and such to help you.

The story. I really like it. You are trying to find Ciri, a woman that is like a daughter to you. The story itself is a huge portion of the game, and although I have not finished the game yet, it does a good job of keeping me interested. Which is hard to do considering how much you can just explore the world and do side quests. The characters are interesting, and you don’t really have to read the books or played previous two games. I have read the books and it does help, but nothing that I feel would take away from someone that comes into the game without having done so.

So many side quests. SO many. There are only a few fetch type quests, and the rest are very interesting for the most part. Having you make hard decisions that affect not on the quest, but the world itself. I also like that not all quests are happy ones. You can be searching for a woman’s son, only to have to tell her was hung. This is not a happy world.

 This is also true in the main story line as you have to make very difficult decisions that can have HUGE ramifications in the main story. Wow, I was stunned by some of the things that happened. One decision can cause multiple changes in the world. Hell, the game has like 38 endings or something.

There is also a huge element of crafting both in weapons/armor, but also with herbal and witcher’s potions. Those are potions that help you in some of the harder fights. A lot of awesome here.

The not so good?

A lot of naked women for no real reason sometimes. I don’t care that you can have sex in the game. They aren’t the first to allow that, but occasionally the naked women everywhere was a bit awkward. I don’t go and have sex with a prostitute, cuz I don’t understand why someone would do that in a game. So, I was able to avoid a lot of that nonsense. But the interesting thing is before you think that the world is really sexist, you find out the most powerful people in the world are the sorcerer’s. They wield so much magical power, it is a bit crazy at times. So, it was a mixed bag when it comes to that.

The other thing is a game this big could just be overwhelming for some. I can see that easily. There is so much to do that it can be too much for some people.

Overall, I love this fucking game. It does everything I love right and although there are a few nitpicky things, I think it may be my favorite rpg of all time. Well, until the FF7 remake comes out. J