January Progress Picks: ABZU, Crusader Kings II and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Firstly, I have a new PC!!! I mentioned in my September update that I was looking to upgrade from my laptop that I’ve been gaming on since 2013… and well 4 months later it’s finally bought and working! So that’s exciting and feels amazing! :D I’ve picked Dragon Age Inquisition to play next, a massively difficult choice with the Witcher 3 in my backlog too but I’ve heard reports that game actually lessens the enjoyment of some other RPGs with how amazing it is… I don’t believe that’s possible but I can’t run the risk just yet! If anyone has played Dragon Age Inquisition and has some tips for a new game without spoiling anything then that would be really helpful :)
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ABZÛ
11 hours playtime
12 of 12 achievements
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Crusader Kings II
201 hours playtime
55 of 136 achievements
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Morphopolis
9 hours playtime
13 of 13 achievements
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Night in the Woods
18 hours playtime
27 of 31 achievements
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STAR WARS™: Knights of the Old Republic™
47 hours playtime
no achievements
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Superflight
3 hours playtime
24 of 24 achievements
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Under Leaves
5 hours playtime
29 of 29 achievements
ABZU - For whatever reason it seems like this has been a month of mopping up some of my unfinished games. I previously avoided completing ABZU solely because I wanted an excuse to revisit it, and unsurprisingly this was also the first game I tried out on my new computer and monitor. A visual treat!
Crusader Kings II - This took up most of my time in January before I decided I’d best take a break to prevent it being the only game on this list! I had about 150 hours in CK2 and only 7% of the achievements which bothered me enough to buy some of the DLC to see what changes they’ve made and to try out new rulers in cultures and religions I hadn’t played with before to try to increase that percentage. A really fun game, I love how unpredictable it is, with it’s focus on rulers, traits, and stories, making it far more enjoyable for me than Europa Universalis which I haven’t been able to get into yet, I’ll be sure to give that a second chance sometime in the future.
Morphopolis - I’d be surprised if you’ve played a hidden object game like this one. It was quite a peculiar experience! The most important criteria for me is for any game in this genre to be relaxing and it does that with the exception of the final puzzle that seemed unnecessarily frustrating, I just want to find hidden objects! The artwork in each level is great however, and if you’ve ever wanted to play in a world of insects, this was made with you in mind.
Night in the Woods - Another replay, there are two clear paths you can take while playing this, spending time with Bea or Gregg. I think it’s well worth a second playthrough to enjoy these new scenes, but in order to go for 100% you’ll need to complete the story several more times which I wouldn’t recommend at all as I found some parts to be quite slow to go through again that I couldn’t imagine repeating anytime soon… as well as the fact that who you decide to spent time with is the only real choice the game offers. The dreams especially while lovely at first would drive me insane if I had to do them again! “Seriously?” is an apt name for the achievement.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic - I don’t think it’s ever a good sign when you find yourself taking long breaks between playing a game and feeling reluctant to load it up. Yet whenever I forced (that was intended) myself to play it I really enjoyed it and wondered why I was struggling so much. I find it very interesting having played some other Bioware games, Dragon Age Origins remains my favourite, to see one of their early games and what ideas and features they’ve kept doing since. I really liked in this one the journeys to the different planets to locate the star maps as it meant each planet had its own contained quests and unique feel, just like in DA:O when you’re tasked with recruiting armies with the treaties and how you visit different parts of the world, or those main mission objectives for each planet in Mass Effect. It also shares the same issues with party management and who I’m going to bring along, or rather which characters I’ll leave behind and never interact with again, it seemed strange to choose someone with a blaster or a droid for instance as opposed to a Jedi with force powers and lightsabers, maybe another slot would have been welcome as just two is quite a limitation. I found the combat to be surprisingly impressive, the fighting animations in melee are awesome and the force powers look great, there’s quite a range in abilities too. The inventory simply sucks, that was perhaps my biggest negative with the game. The story is amazing, unfortunately I already knew about the twist but it was still very much enjoyable, having the option of light or dark side means a second playthrough is a possible but I don’t think I have what it takes to be that evil… and I loved all the cinematic cutscenes too, they seemed fitting just as if you were in a Star Wars film. It’s strange having only finished it recently but already I feel almost nostalgic about the early game, running around Taris with Carth moaning every step of the way, that’s how epic the journey is as it seems so long ago. Another classic finished and no longer in the backlog, Knights of the Old Republic is still worth it even as a first playthrough in 2018, just stick with it.
Superflight - AER: Memories of Old got me in the mood for trying out some more flying games. While this is nowhere near the same level it was still fun and having unlocked all the achievements it’s there in my library for if I just want to do some flying and object dodging.
Under Leaves - It came as a nice surprise to find out this had been updated with new content as it’s quite a special game for me. I remember buying it to play after my first proper job interview as a way of unwinding and having something relaxing to look forward to when I got home as I was incredibly nervous. So having been somehow successful, for some reason I can’t help thinking it helped on that day lol. Sadly the free update didn’t take long to finish and I found it much easier than the original levels, but Under Leaves will always be a game I am grateful for existing and it’s well worth playing even if you don’t have anything scary you need to remedy…
Congrats on the new computer, that’s super exciting. :D Enjoy!! ABZÛ is the perfect beautiful game for that!
I’ve had my eye on Superflight but haven’t heard anyone else talking about it. Glad you enjoyed it. :D Looks like a lot of fun to dip in and out of.
I knew you mentioned the Under Leaves update was short but was even shorter than I realised. I beat it in 13 minutes and I even got stuck on a couple. A few of the maps I got immediately, beat in like 15 seconds haha. Still very cute, I love how they incorporate the animals like the snails/turtles. They really nail the animation with the art style. :)
Thank you :) The intro especially where you take a short ride with a fish through the reeds and opens up the first area is amazing, it’s easily one of the most beautiful games I’ve played! Haha yeah it took me about the same amount of time too, it’s a shame but perhaps they might continue to add small updates in the future, I agree it’s very cute, animals are awesome!
An impressive number of games brought out of your backlog, Joe! I hope, too, to someday upgrade my computer - as much as I love my current one, I really think I need a proper gaming PC to be able to keep up. There’s more and more games that I just don’t think I can run, and I’m a little tired of running nearly every 3D game on the lowest of settings.
As for Dragon Age: Inquisition, I will tell you that the game is balanced enough where any class/race you choose is viable. (I played a Qunari warrior, and my biggest problem was how my like 7ft tall, 300 pound wall of muscle warrior stood and walked like a teeny faerie princess outside of battle, because of course that’s just how women walk and stand, right?) Going from earlier BioWare games to this, the biggest thing is: when they say open world, they MEAN open world, but there’s not actually all that much to do or to find. Don’t get lost in the Hinterlands - its gobsmackingly huge and really easy to fatigue yourself out on trying to do anything; by far the most boring map. Push through it to later parts of the game, and if you want to see it all come back later on.
Otherwise, I hope you enjoy it way more than I did. I don’t think I ever actually beat the final boss. I felt this was a letdown.
(warning: negative nancy above)
Thanks! Yeah it shocks me how quickly technology moves on and how easy it is to get left behind, I hope you’re able to upgrade your computer soon too but having been gaming on my laptop for 5 years there’s tons of amazing indie games I managed to play and it’s not all about graphics! :)
Haha thanks for the negative nancy warning, negative feedback can be more helpful than positive so I appreciate your comment! I’ll take your advice if I start getting bored in the Hinterlands.
I am waiting for paradox to release their last DLC for CKII before I start playing it again. Overall after so many years it’s still best grand strategy game so far.
Haha you may be waiting a while, I don’t think they’re planning on stopping the DLC releases anytime soon! I agree it’s one of the best strategy games I’ve played.
That is some impressive games you finished. Lately I always shy away from longer titles, nice to see some actually complete them.
I agree, CKII is a fantastic game. I have like 80 hours in it, but I feel like I haven’t even explored the tip of the iceberg. “Knights of the Old Republic” is one of my favourite RPGs. I played it in 2014 (I think) and the story was really great. I enjoyed DAO or ME a tad more, but KotOR is definitely close behind. Glad to see others enjoy it as well. Do you plan to play KotOR II as well? In my opinion, the second KotOR was good, but not as good as the first one.
Thanks :) Yeah kotor certainly took a bit of effort to get through but it was worth it and I found myself having longer sessions towards the end. It’s now on my favourite RPG list too.
I previously felt the same about CKII, I think going for the achievements and having each save be it’s own challenge helped a lot in improving my knowledge as I was seeing a lot more of the game.
Yes the sequel is definitely on my priority list! I’ve read a lot of debate regarding which is better, I’d be interested to know what it improves and what it doesn’t if you have the time :)
That’s a hard question, playing those games feels like ages ago. The gameplay definitely improved compared to KotOR, but the story and characters of the first game grew more on me. But the difference is minor, it’s not like I like the first one a ton more than the second one, only slightly more. Both are great games and I hope you enjoy the second KotOR as well once you get to play it :)
Thanks for the reply, that’s good to know and I’m sure I will enjoy it! I can understand what you mean about preferring the cast of characters more however with the exception of Bastila, Jolee, Mission and Zaalbar, I didn’t find many of the other characters that interesting so perhaps I might have better luck with the sequel in that respect. The story however is undeniably amazing and I’d surprised if it tops the first game. I was excited when I saw that they updated the Steam version a while ago with achievements and workshop support, that might give me more of a reason to check it out sooner rather than later.
Yeah, I’ve noticed as well. I played the game before the achievements and workshop addon, so I want to give it another try at some point. But as you know, there is never enough time :D
What an excellent selection.
I agree with Morphopholis, it’s a very awesome hidden object game but I spent quite a long time doing that dreaded last puzzle. It was unnecessarily stressful. Under Leaves on the other hand is absolutely fantastic. It’s definitely my most favorite “pure hidden object” game. Abzu is just out of this world tranquil and therapeutic. I’ll replay it very soon, it’s already installed and waiting for another playthrough.
Long live Glitterhoof!
Thanks Lenor :) Haha I’m glad I’m not alone on that one, it did ruin the experience somewhat. I wish there were more games like ABZU, I could fill my library with them! Long live Glitterhoof and Gene :P
Bioware’s thing is they’ve essentially been making the same game since KotOR where they did away with act structure and opted for “you can do this in any order you want until the story finally converges”. Speaking of which,
I’ve picked Dragon Age Inquisition to play next, a massively difficult choice with the Witcher 3 in my backlog too but I’ve heard reports that game actually lessens the enjoyment of some other RPGs with how amazing it is…
Inquisition and Andromeda were their second wave of deviation from the formula as they adopted open-world approach with varying results. I am looking forward to hearing what you think about Inquisition and Witcher 3 once you’ve played them both, though. As someone who’s played the former and in the process of finishing the latter it’s certainly been an eye opening experience.
If anyone has played Dragon Age Inquisition and has some tips for a new game without spoiling anything then that would be really helpful :)
Crafting kinda breaks the game if you bother with it even remotely.
Yeah I’m a big fan of the Bioware story structure in the games I’ve played, I also like the story events that trigger depending on your progress which can lead to being locked out of returning to places or changing the world state when you visit a place you haven’t explored yet, I think that helps add a sense of danger and urgency that the world isn’t static. I do have high hopes for Inquisition despite its changes, it has to be better than Dragon Age II and I still managed to enjoy parts of that lol, I’ll see how it goes, it might help that I haven’t played an open world game for a while.
Congratulations on your new PC! Now you can enjoy your backlog with a multitude of new, pretty pixels!
When I saw your screenshots of KotOR I was thinking how good it looks for a game that old. You can see the obvious graphics limitations of that era but the overall look of the game has aged surprisingly well. Was it originally like that or did you apply some graphical mods to it?
Oh, and I had a very similar experience with Resident Evil 4 last year. I still don’t know what was putting me off because each time I got myself to play it I made a good amount of progress and enjoyed playing it. My playthrough was scattered over several months, which really wasn’t the best way to play it. ^^
Thank you :) It’s a bit overwhelming, my backlog now feels much bigger!
Yeah I agree about that, I was surprised with how impressive some of the locations looked. I was planning on adding some mods like higher quality skyboxes but I did have some problems with crashing which I didn’t want to increase, so no mods, I just used “flawless widesceen” to get rid of the black bars as it doesn’t support wide screen resolutions, that may however have resulted in some crashes perhaps, you can’t win lol.
Haha wow I probably would have ended up restarting the playthrough if it was spread over several months, I struggle to resume a game if I’m part way through it, this was definitely the limit for me over a month with gaps. Well done for getting through it though, it’s still much better than abandoning it and never playing it again! It’s strange how some games just don’t feel appealing to load up despite previously enjoying them.
that may however have resulted in some crashes perhaps, you can’t win lol.
This is especially true with older games, you might fix one problem and end up with two. ^^
And to be honest, I wasn’t so into learning all the backstory in Resident Evil 4. I didn’t feel like being “in it”, it was more like being an observer (and witnessing some really weird stuff…). A disconnection from the story like that probably caused me to jump into other games rather than sticking with it. But you’re right, it was better that I kept going instead of abandoning it. And I’m still willing to play more of that series, planning to start Resident Evil 1 remaster somewhere this year.
It’s always a pleasure to read your feedback.
I completely agree with you about :
- CK2 (although I regret the way achievements have to be earned, through that heavy bandwidth-hungry Ironman mode, and although I also love equally EU4) ;
- KotOR : I’m usually not a RPG type but I really liked this one (being a SW fan helps :p ).
Wow that’s a really kind comment, thank you so much! It’s always a pleasure reading replies :)
Yeah the ironman mode for achievements while understandable to keep everyone on the same rules is slightly irritating to have that autosave every month. Haha it really did feel like a perfect story told in the Star Wars universe, it was great coming across all the different races you’ve seen in the films and visiting Tatooine with those two suns, that has to be one of the most iconic planets so it was nice to explore!
Congrats on the new PC!
Under Leaves looks so lovely! I have to pick it up someday soon :)
Thank you :) Yes I’d recommend it to anyone!