June A test of patience and perseverance
June marks my first full month of searching for a new job, and to say the least… it hasn’t been going well. However, if there is one thing I have tested and honed this month… is patience. Patience to continue applying, to continue waiting while my current job continues to eat at me, for conventions to draw near, and to get some of these dang achievements FINISHED! In other news, I finally started ordering my materials for my next costume project… which also means much less excuses to put it off. Bittersweet to say the least, but it’s definitely good for me. I’ve also thought of more ideas for costumes to do in the process which is great, now to get this train rolling…
A lot of the reviews you will read for this game will either be a downvote because it’s too difficult or an upvote because the person was able to beat the game despite the difficulty and for others to stop whining. Both those types of reviews are both true and accurate.
Despite the difficulty I was able to beat the game and get all achievements, however simply overcoming this challenging task does not mean I recommend it. Far from it actually. It simply isn’t enjoyable, the game is far too challenging for it’s own good and many of the tools it gives you aren’t worth using half the time.
Plot and Mechanics
The idea behind the game is you come out of one of the few bases, go get a supply, and bring it back without being detected and killed by the roaming at random terminator-eque killbots. You are but a human in a high tech machine, so you must use stealth and various gadgets (stealth field, laser [only incapacitates them], doppleganger, and throwing stone]) to make your way too and from your goals. Obviously patience is key, HOWEVER every so often a bomb will drop in the distance and a deadly wind will make its way across the map that rapidly pushes you in its direction AND will kill you because if there wasn’t enough problems to deal with. The AI is simply too random and too abundant to give any real active gameplay (I sat in my base waiting quite some time for an entrance to clear up because they were all surrounded by AI walking randomly that refused to walk away) Then when you are able to walk out and exert the patience it expects, even if you try to be fast and cautious there is still a chance the deadly wind will come in before you can make it back and wasting one of your three lives.
Though it is probably a realistic representation of how difficult it would be to survive deadly bots looking to kill any organic life form, it simply is implemented poorly and does not make for an enjoyable gaming experience.
This will have been my second time completing this game, though the first with the new free DLC they introduced due to the announcements of their third game. Honestly I still love this game to death, I have put far too many hours into it on this and on the 360. To be even more honest I would probably play much more still.
Playing alone or with friends, either way it’s a fun looter shooter game. Obviously with friends makes the experience far better, I’ve enjoyed it plenty playing single. Loads of weapons, distinct playable characters (my girl Gaige is clearly the best choice), all sorts of baddies, multiple playthroughs, some stellar DLC, and a pretty decent storyline make for an enjoyable experience. If you haven’t tried it yet, it is almost constantly on sale for a pretty low price considering the amount of content you will be getting.
My only real griefs with the game is the amount of DLC that involves cosmetics though, as a first person shooter you won’t really be seeing yourself too much. Luckily that is generally optional, and with the sale on the entire Borderlands 2 collection, it doesn’t really effect the price too much.
Borderlands 2: Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary
Since this is relatively recent, I thought I’d talk about it for a bit. Generally, it’s just more Borderlands 2 with some slightly new story, new enemy variants, new weapons and weapon rarity, and a new lesser mechanic. Thought they stated it would bridge Borderlands 2 to Borderlands 3 it doesn’t really accomplish that as much as it introduces some characters, plot points, and character progressions from the TellTale game Tales From the Borderlands (which I don’t believe is currently for sale anymore) into the official series story . The better part of it all is that it is (was?) free.
Honestly though, I’d probably purchase this game for a fourth time if it ever seemed even remotely necessary.
This is a game that truly tested my patience. Generally it is a relaxing dive underwater to catch fish, find treasure, and take photos. The game itself isn’t too long (maybe an hour), but is an at your own pace play that could net you a few hours of play time. Essentially you are given tasks to complete to eventually move to the next area (3 areas in total), but you aren’t too pressured to do them and can enjoy the tranquility of the ocean and fish that swim in it. Not all fish are able to be caught and there are only so many fish types actually programmed into the game.
The game itself is all fine and well at a cheap price (there are some DLC, but they are not achievement dependent nor did I even look to buy them), but the fact that it is such a short game blows my mind that they would include achievements including spend 24 IN REAL TIME hours under water. However, the game cannot be put into the background else it will freeze (had hours wasted when this happened by accident) and your air supply will run out unless you manually tell your character to go back up and refill the tank. Achievements generally shouldn’t be taken into account when reviewing a game, but my kami was that annoying to deal with. My tip: Figure out a macro and check up every so often to make sure the window doesn’t go into background
I originally bought this game thinking the mechanic that allowed you to scream (or howl :3) to move your hot air balloon seemed neat and fun. … That got old pretty fast, as much fun as it was hearing my neighbors laugh from hearing me screaming trying to get the damned balloon to float higher, I was also rapidly losing my voice within the first few levels.
The game itself definitely feels like more of a smartphone app game and it shows through its UI and general design. Another key issue is that it felt incredibly slow. Waiting for the wind to push your balloon from point A to point B just felt like it took eons only for you to almost complete your task and have your balloon pop and cause some more than mild frustrations. Further frustrations were caused by poorly explained mechanics and hard to tell if something was in the background or going to pop your balloon.
I did however enjoy the sort of Steampunk horror art style for what it was worth and the bonus flappy wings level was generally enjoyable.
Based on the Fables comics, the world is very much like our own except the people and creatures from famous Fairy Tales are living among us camouflaged by magic that makes them look like humans called glamours. Each is as powerful as their tale and only made as powerful the more their tale is known. However, as many of us may know life in our world isn’t always so glamorous and someone has to keep all the magical folk in line with rules. Enter Bigby Wolf, your character who acts as a gritty and generally unliked Sheriff for all these mythical residents in check and solving mysteries. Fairy Tales meet modern world meet a Noir setting… count me in!
Like most TellTale games it has some illusion of choice that more stylizes the dialogue to your choice (not that it is necessarily a bad thing), with some more key options effecting later outcomes. Finding out what came of characters of the old tales, and what they must do to survive is very interesting. Definitely one of the better story based games I have played particularly of the TellTale variety and will definitely looking out for the comic series to read.
My first playthrough of this game left me a little bitter and disappointed. Now that I got a chance to play it again, I generally liked it a little bit more, but still have plenty of issues.
Set between Borderlands 1 and 2, it seeks to tell the tale of Borderlands 2 well liked antagonist Handsome Jack as you play as his crew. Playing as the villains from a previous entry? Sounds Awesome!
…Well this may have been true had it been done properly. My first issue is that half of the playable characters have very similar action skills to previous characters.
Secondly, though I appreciate CL4P-TP becoming a playable character, Jack’s Doppleganger should have been part of the main crew, while CL4P-TP be the bonus DLC instead of the vice versa that it was. Third, from all the characters I have played at least one whole skill tree only had abilities that worked with other players. This may be great if I actually played with anybody, but since I didn’t it was just a waste of space. I understand having a few abilities that affected other players here and there, but to have a whole tree devoted is a bit excessive. Even CL4P-TP’s action skill was thought of with other players in mind.
Thirdly, it felt a little bit like the joke that the moon was like Australia (voice actors, references, and various jokes, landscape, etc.) was maybe a bit much and either it went over my head at times, or it just didn’t click with me as funny. Less so of a problem on the second playthrough, but still not all that funny. In particular I found a main character, Pickle, to be quite annoying.
Lastly (maybe), the biggest issue (easily) is the inconstancy of writing. I understand trying to make Jack seem the hero he was, but the reasoning behind people seeing him as a villain and various plot points seemed generally nonsense and cheap. Some parts seemed well enough, subtle keys and tones that give Jack a sense a path of villainy were fine, but the more blunt parts were just utter trash and made all the characters look bad.
For sure lastly (maybe), the game generally felt far easier, shorter (though it is a spinoff game), and the final boss was a disappointment. Also the fact that the raid boss is just the final boss again
Overall, it is just more Borderlands 2, but in space, with laser guns, boost jumps, butt slams, and cryo element type. The character DLCs were fun to play, at least the Baroness was. The Holodome is just their typical arena type event, but with a commentary recapping the events of the Pre-Sequel (with my girl Gaige being one of the commentary. ;) ). While the Claptastic Voyage was generally better with a generally difficult final boss, which was a nice change of pace. Chances are you got this with the Handsome Bundle if you got it for any of the other games, so you may as well give it a shot… preferably with some friends.
Despite what some friends had told me, I thought I was going to like this game… I generally didn’t. Side-scrolling shooting game w/ objectives to promote “Bunnylord” as mayor is the general plot of the game. As you complete optional objectives and missions you can unlock more characters with different guns and abilities.
The gameplay itself felt choppy, sloppy, and just overall not enjoyable. That with the added dark-ish, bubbly, and “OMG I’M SO RANDOM LOL XD” type of humor that made you feel like it was written by an edgy teenage girl who thinks she is far more spontaneous than she actually is (I’m sorry if this feels like you are being attacked, you’re not, just the best way to describe the god awful dialogue in this game) Not to mention the weird “whap” eraser screeching sounds the Bunnylord makes when he talks is even more painful.
I’m trying really hard to complete this game, but I don’t know if I can keep torturing myself with this game much longer.
- **Gears of War 4** It's not that I expect much out of the **Gears** series anymore, but this still managed to disappoint me. Despite it being nice to play a game in the series again, the general plot was simply bland and low calibur compared to the rest of the main entries. **GoW** *Attempt to wipe out the Locust with a bomb*, **GoW2** *Invade the Locusts and try to assassinate their leadership*, **GoW3** *Wipe out the locusts and lambant for good*, **Gears of War 4** *Find some missing people and end it right after, with a random cliffhanger*. It really only feels like a setup for the next entry, maybe better off as a spinoff or something. Furthermore the new younger cast and crew you play as were just as bland as the story visually and personality wise compared to the original crew. Level designs were kinda shaky at best, and though I enjoy the new environment hazards introduced in each game this games "Windflares" happened too consistently and not only became annoying, but felt as if they were being used to fill up time for gameplay more than anything. It is in my sincerest hope that the developers look to improve on the next entry, because I really would like another good **Gears** game to come out again. (Please excuse the previous errors with syntax, I am too lazy right now to fix coding with my "other games/consoles" template.) That wraps up that, not as eventful as I would like, but work as been working me to the bone, I got to enjoy another convention, and generally needing to put my time elsewhere. Also, despite all the patience I experienced this month, I think I spent it during the **Steam Summer Sale** where my wallet became sad and empty while my library became more bloated. Guess I'm going to have to find the time to work off all those excess purchases. *puts on headband and queues various motivational music!
Gears of War 4- PC (Game Pass)
NANANANA
I also didn’t have much fun with Gears 4. Worst part is I bought it about 3 years ago already, pretty close to release date I believe and I got disappointed so bad. But I’m still kinda excited for the 5th release. Let’s hope they’ll offer something good this time once again!
Honestly, I’m on the same boat. I can’t help but feel some excitement and anticipation for the next entry, though I don’t have any reason behind it. Perhaps a good feeling. Hope we shall and cross our fingers!
So The Pre-Sequel should definitely be played after Borderlands 2?
Most definitely!
While I’m on the subject, TWAU was probably one of Telltale’s top tier games. Such a shame it only exemplified what a poor approach to writing they had by basically winging it along the way vs having a finished script going into production. That really backfired in a game built as a detective story relying on strong narrative and investigation. That intro, though.
By the by. if you actually want something similar (dark humor and detective in a fantasy setting) I’d recommend checking out Discworld Noir. Keep in mind it is actually a P&C adventure so that brings its own baggage, but it’s a really great title with its own spin on an established property like Discworld. Good luck finding it anywhere legally and I would recommend the PC version because it has superior 3D models.
I definitely agree it’s one of their better games. Also, I am not surprised they winged a lot of it writing wise due to a lot of story threads going no where or not having a bigger impact than they lead it onto. Still loved it, and that intro is in fact some of its greater aspects.
Discworld Noir hm? I’ll definitely check it out, though sounds like I’ll need some detective work to find it ;) . Thank you for the recommendation!
You really honed your patience, Depth Hunter 2: Deep Dive achievements are a nightmare. I remember one where you had to play for hours and hours.
I also subscribed to the game pass yesterday. Is it possible to play GoW4 if I haven’t played a Gears game in 10+ years (since Gears 1 tbh)?
Good luck with your job search! I’m sure you’re gonna get something good. Patience is a top quality they look for in new employees! :D
You might be missing a few key plot points, but they do a very general comb through history of the series, including the books in the very beginning. So, you should be able to know enough from that.
Thank you, feels like I need it. Surely my patience and perseverance shall pull through!