Playing Tom Clancy Wildlands and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wind Waker.

Well followers in any game can be hit or miss, but on the whole I like the new characters. Obviously they're not as well established as previous Mass Effect characters though.





It's set in a different galaxy, 600 years after the trilogy. After the events of ME2, a plan was put in place to send settlers to the Andromeda galaxy. You play as a Pathfinder, who is tasked with finding suitable worlds to colonise. The Andromeda Initiative is a lot more advanced than the Milky Way was, and ships can use FTL travel more freely.

Another gripe reviewers had was that, compared to the Milky Way, Andromeda seems almost empty of intelligent life. They noted that there were only a couple of new alien races. Is this true?

So are you forced to play a human once again? Or can you play another race for a change?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Apr 1 2017, 04:45 PM

Two new alien races and a race of machines, but there are some the races from the original trilogy in the game as well. If they added any more it would get too crowded.



Only human, unfortunately. Always been a big gripe for me, considering you can play as different races in Dragon Age, and in ME's multiplayer.

So how many star systems can you visit?

Got through Tales of Berseria recently. The Tales series has been hit or miss for me since Vesperia (although tbh I haven't played many after Vesperia until recently) but Berseria easily ranks up there with it. Maybe even with Symphonia.

Definitelly an improvement over Zestiria overall, although the music and environment variety is considerably...less developed than Zestiria. Apparently they used a different game director so I guess it makes sense priorities were changed. (especially with the accusations of nepotism and the general poor reception of Zestiria in Japan)

Now I'm trying to fill the void, especially since it looks like I'll be limiting my time on ESO again soon. I'm thinking Kingdoms of Amalur?

Following a level-up that finally gave me the stat increase I hope for, I took the plunge and changed my Dwarf Fighter's profession to Lord. Timing wasn't perfect, as the group had only just entered Orkogre and faces a slew of potentially very challenging battles, which proved to be the case. During a profession change, stats drop (if they are not there already) to minimum necessary for the new profession. In my Dwarf's case that meant he lost a point and, in a few instances two, in all all but two stats. Worse, his strength dropped from 16 to 12, not ideally for a melee specialist.

Unsure of his survival, let alone his ability to contribute to the group to tough situations, the gang beat a hasty retreat, returned to the wilds surrounding the city, and combed the area for theoretically easier prey while the Dwarf recouped some of his lost levels. That eventually accomplished they returned to Orkogre and continue their quest to find the Gorn King.

I am happy to report that though the Dwarf has only attained 6 of the 9 levels he was at when the profession change occurred, I believe him already a better team member. He has not gotten back all those lost strength points, but he's closing in. Better yet, he's gotten decent improvements in Speed and Dexterity, the stats he was weakest in before the switch. The extra Speed is proving quite useful. Before, I was able to execute one swing or thrust per combat round. Now, he is able to get in one swing/thrust near the beginning of the round, and another near its end, potentially doubling his damage capacity. Plus, he can now cast a few weak, low-level priest class spells. Of those few, Heal Wounds is most beneficial for the time being.

I might have to reevaluate which character performs certain non combat functions. The Dwarf in particular has his hands in too many jars. Come level-up time, he never gets enough distributable points to do 'em all justice. Several haven't seen an improve in quite some time.

There are 37 star systems, if I counted correctly.

Morroblivion, FIFA 17, Fallout Shelter(a strange amount, ive already got nearly 6 hours in 3 days)

This one has been putting some time into that also! Mainly when he isn't near his PC.

My Wiz7 party is making another stab at Old City, with somewhat more success than before.

Earlier, they got wind of treasure in the wilds somewhere off the road to Munkharama. (I saw it in an episode of a Wiz7 YouTube LP I occasionally follow.) I honestly expected them to fail, the chest being guarded by some very tough mobs, plus the chance for more nastiness en route. It was indeed a rough trip, with a number of reloads. To my surprise, the chest guardians, while challenging, were taken down on our first attempt. Very nice loot. An almost full set of quite good armor wearable by fighters, Lords, and Valkyrie, plus a powerful two-handed axe. None of our three melee warriors is working on the axe skill at the moment, but soon as one of them hits 100 in what he's practicing now I'll switch him over. Well, if it's the Lord or Valkyrie. Not sure the I'll bother with the fighter, since my plan is still to eventually switch him over to a profession that can not wield axes. Then again, I might rethink it and switch him to something else. We shall see.

Their stay in Orkogre was cut short. One essential area is guarded by foes that are too much for them at the moment. They backtracked and returned to New City to sell loot, vowing to return.

Looking back, I wish I had taken the time to roll better party members at the start. Most of those I have now are maturing satisfactorily, but I could have had a couple of the more elite professions had I worked at it. Also, several important "auxiliary" skills have been ignored so that no party member performs them well enough to be useful. Mapping comes to mind. Also, my bard still can't open locked chests...not even close. Again it's a matter of level-up point distribution. Ya gets so many points per level-up, ya spend 'em as best ya can and hopes for the best.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Apr 4 2017, 11:31 PM

I bought Earthbound Beginnings/Mother 1 off of Nintendo's Eshop and so far I'm liking it, I decided to name the main characters after those in Undertale .

Not much to report, Wiz7 wise.

My characters are all busy mastering new (to them) weapon skill. All three melee specialists have already mastered swordsmanship. Two of them mastered Mace & Flail, one Pole & Staff. At the moment the Lord is working on Axe, the Fighter Pole & Staff, the Valkyrie Mace & Flail. As to our casters, they are all working at Pole & Staff, since those weapons can be effective from the back line. It's slow going for them, they of necessity spending most of the their time during combat casting spells. They tend to practice weapons only when mana runs out during battle, or when foes are super easy.

Just when I was really getting back into the game hot and heavy, something happened to put a damper on my enthusiasm. The game sports a neat A.I. feature where NPCs travel the Guardia in competition with my party. This adds welcome uncertainty. Yet, they can and do beat the gang to the punch, getting to essential quest items first, and taking them! If the party doesn't somehow run across those NPCs and somehow learn that they are carrying said quest item, the game's main quest line comes to a screeching halt. This has already happened to my group twice. What's more, one item they lost out on is indeed required to carry on past a certain point. They might never encounter that NPC, or be able to deal with him if they do. It's not a deal breaker for me yet, but as a quest junkie I'd like to complete the main story line, as almost happened did 25 years ago. That said, the game's battle system and character/party advancement system are quite compelling, enough to keep me going for a while yet.

Hmmm.... so much for having little to report.

Couple of good things happened, and potential goodness, in Wiz7.

Good thing 1: My Bard was able to disarm a locked chest, improving her skullduggery skill.

Good thing 2: My Bard was able to pick a locked door, improving her skullduggery skill.

Good thing 3: My Lord was able to successfully practice Diplomacy on D'Rang T'Rang, gaining a few points in that skill.

Potential goodness: Upon making an ally of D'Rang T'Rang, he (it?) told the group a number of rumors about where the missing maps we need might be. Not all of them mind you. But it's a start.

Otherwise, the group has done little more than practice swimming and fight a few insignificant battles. Our Felpurr (cat) Fighter is near leveling. If he gets one point in Dexterity he can become a Samurai. Tempting, but I've got him slotted to be a Monk. He's at least three improves away from that switch. My Faerie Bard in one STR increase from being a Ninja, but due to her small size I'm not sure she can wear or wield any Ninja gear. I'm gonna need to do more research on the matter.

Oh, the chest our Bard disarmed contained a crossbow, bolts, and a scroll. Nothing critical. All were put in storage. (The bow & bolts will come in handle down the road. At the moment no one in the party has any skill in archery.)

Wiz7 wise...

The group met a Dane NPC wandering the streets of New City. He had three maps for sale, each for 10,000 gold. Knowing those maps can be critical the gang pooled their funds and was able to purchase one of them: The Legendary Map. This looks be be a miraculously smart move. Later in the day, while looking for unrelated Wiz7 info, I read an article which states that Legendary is the one map that is absolutely required to advance the main quest past a certain point. All other maps are good to have (and help solve puzzles) but aren't absolutely mandatory.

I suppose I should point out that after buying the map they were flat broke. Only a bit of their former savings have been recouped.

They spent the entirety of my Wiz7 play time yesterday and this morning grinding our Bard's Legerdemain skill. She still has a way to go. Higher levels seem to reduce failure rate. She is not yet able to nab any of a merchant's high end wears. That said, she did filch a few decent pieces.

During our next round of level updates I think I'm gonna go ahead and transform my Fighter into a Samurai. Monk is my preference for him, but he's three skill boosts away from that. Nothing wrong with Samuria. If memory serves, my old 1992 party had one. Maybe. The Bard will become a Ninja, though I might not have her morph immediately after the level-up. We shall see. (She could become a Valkyrie now, but we already have one of those.)

Got back into playing Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, this game is beginning to become my favorite Tom Clancy game, also I'm LOVING my "new" PS4!!! Sure it's the regular PS4 but so far its acting more like the Pro did---gotta love those 1TB systems .

Our one remaining Wiz7 Fighter took the plunge and transformed into a Samurai. which allows him to cast Mage spells and opens up several new (for him) combat related skills. The down side for these switches is that the character drops to level 1 and suffers stat reduction to the minimum required by his or her new profession. In this particular case, as a Samurai he can not longer wear the nice (if still newb level) armor he wore before. This will eventually work itself out, but can lead to risky situations early on. On the plus side, a switched character retains all skills of his old profession, at whatever their level is at the time of the switch. In this case my Samurai retains 100 points (maxed out) in two weapon skill and is at 99 in another. Also, a level one character traveling with a higher level group tends to gain levels back fairly rapidly, to a point.

For now our front row consists of Dwarf Lord (warrior/priest), Rawulf (dog) Valkyrie (warrior/priest), Felpurr (cat) Samurai (warrior/mage). The back row is still a Faerie Bard, Felpurr (?) Alchemist, Elf Mage. I think that at least two back row folks will eventful morph. The Bard almost has to become either a monk or maybe a ninja, since Faeries are too small to bear the weight of armor needed by most combat oriented classes. (In compensation Faeries are so tiny they have naturally "low" armor class due to being harder to hit.)

Which reminds me. This game is old enough to sport the old Armor Class system in which a lower number designates better protection. Even back in the day I did not like this system. Was so glad when it switched to the current general practice of higher numbers = better protection. TES Arena uses the old system, Daggerfall the new.

I finally got my hands on Yooka-Laylee and I'm just--I waited over a year for this. Bless. Although apparently there are only five worlds? Eh. From the opening alone it definitely felt like a Rare game. Already hit with plenty of nostalgia. Now it's time to see how it sets itself apart from B-K. (I mean it's basically B-K 3 without the lawsuit bait, but still)

After an all but gameless four day break to get Win10 installed and partially tamed on my secondary PC, I at last rejoined my Wiz7 party at Munkharama. They are attempting to solve what appears to be a VERY tricky place-coins-in-the correct-receptacles puzzle, not helped by being dropped in a dungeon full of tuff mobs with each wrong guess. To be frank, I suspect this puzzle is nowadays beyond me. I'll very likely end up researching it online for hints (at the least) before all is said and done. I got through it back in '92, long before I joined the web. It might be my mind was more up to the task back then. Or maybe the puzzle was discussed in one of several PC gaming mags I subscribed to back then?

ADDENDUM: I indeed looked up advice on the puzzle. First article I found confused me as much as the puzzle itself. Next one made sense to me. I tried it. It did not work as advertised. Odd thing is, following its instructions I somehow solved the puzzle one placement phase before I was supposed to! Not that I'm complaining mind you.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Apr 16 2017, 02:40 AM