February check-in: World of Warcraft and Civilization VII

 

After The War Within Campaign

I'm officially on my next break from World of Warcraft The War Within.  I was just able to finish the campaign questline and the prerequisites for the Earthen race.  I enjoyed the quests and I'll try the delves and solo dungeons when I join again but didn't play for several weeks which shows it's time for a break.

I preordered the standard version of Civilization VII from Gamestop and so was able to start playing on February 11th.  I decided on the standard version because I thought it would have enough content to keep me busy until the DLCs went on sale.  I started a game as Catherine and Greece on a relative low difficulty and I've been enjoying my time so far.  Playing a relatively passifist side focused on science.  Just started the exploration age so we will see how that goes.

January Check-In - Holidays and Back to World of Warcraft

 

False sun in The War Within

Publishing my January check in on February 2nd because I haven't done this for December or January and I'm still hoping to have a February check in late in the month.

I had a two plus week break over holidays and thought it might be a good to time for World of Warcraft if the expansion went on sale.  Sure enough, it went on sale the day before my vacation started so I was able to get some play time in that first week.  However after that things go busy and I have played that much.  I have gotten to level 76 and I'm on the third of the four zones so I'm hoping I can complete the campaign and get to level 80 in the next week and I already plan to take another break after that.

In other gaming, I was given The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and Persona 5 for Christmas and my birthday.  I've played them both some but I'm not currently.  I expect I'll go back to them later this year when I'm in the mood.  I also was accepted into the Stars Reach Playtest recently.  I downloaded it and logged in and did a little teraforming to show that I could but that was all.  I don't think I'll play it more but maybe news for Wilhelm and Bhagpuss will inspire me to play. 

The reason I decided to cancel my World of Warcraft subscription in February is that Civilization 7 is coming out on February 11.  I was reading the different takes on reddit, but for me, as a player since the original Civilization (if not in 1991 soon after), I'm willing to pay for the game at launch but I know I won't have a lot of time for it.  Therefore, it makes sense to just buy the base game and wait for sales to purchase the DLCs and inevitable expansions.  I don't have an issue with the model.  It is expensive to makes games like this and I want them to keep improving on it and providing more content.

November Check In - World of Warcraft Alts

Back to Dragon Isles with Alts

I decided to subscribe back to World of Warcraft for a month for the 20th anniversary.  I thought it would be a good time to level some alts that I stranded during Battle for Azeroth.  There is a 10% experience buff and I visited the celebration in the Caverns of Time only long enough to get the extra 10% buff from doing a few events there.  I wasn't sure the 12 hour buff would be that helpful but the timer stops when you aren't logged in and it was more than sufficient to get my Priest from level 50 to 60.  I was surprised how much it helped to advance tradeskills and since she is my tailor, I was able to get some useful armor and bags out of it.  I also advanced my Warrior from 54 to 60 and have started my Mage who is still at level 40.  Being an engineer/enchanter I don't have the same incentive as I did with the tailor (bags) or gathering minerals with my miner Warrior.

The Warrior was extremely quick to get the six levels but even the Priest felt fast leveling to 70.  I did the initial quests for Dragonflight, got chose Thaldraszus since I had most of the side quests there undone.  I did the initial tailoring and jewelcrafting recipes and went and did the Chromie quest, one other quest at the anniversary celebration and the history question which was enough to get me the buff.  By the time I had done the initial tailoring quests and made a few bags I was at level 64.  I started to do the main quests in Thaldraszus but realized I had done them before and switch to the side quests that I needed for the Sojourner achievement.  I was at level 69 and there was only one left but I didn't have the prerequite for it. I then found a side quest close to the Tuskarr village in Asure Span.  I was on the last quest when I hit 70 and decided I'd like to finish the quest chain but the miniboss was difficult because he increased difficulty with your level.  I logged off not having decided what to do but when I was away I realized I had level 70 armor I forgot to equip.  Once I equiped it, he was managable and I finished the chain.

I only played a little Octopath Traveller II.  Now that I have the first few characters and know I am limited to 3 in the party, I'm less inclined to get the last few.  It was good for when I was sick but knowing how long it will be, I'm not sure I have enough incentive to keep going.

I have quite of bit of time off between now and January 3rd so I'm hoping to get some gaming, including some with my daughters.  My middle daughter likes bugs so we tried to new Diablo IV expansion with the centipede but the centipede doesn't seem to be a companion like the druid has, more like a temporary special attack.  I'm hoping The War Within goes on sale and I can see some of that as well.  I hope anyone still reading has a great holiday!

October Check In

The Disco Zoo Office (End game)

There wasn't a lot of focused gaming in October.  The only game I played consistently was Disco Zoo on my phone.  I had 'finished' it previously but, as part of the 10 year anniversary, they came out with two new areas which meant 14 new animals and the need to do two more rewinds to see them all.  At this point, I've done the two rewinds and am primarily working on the space coins so I can get the space animals while alternating in the last of the non-space animals I need.  I've gotten to the point where I'm building up enough money I'm never going to spend it all but that's fine, it's one less thing to worry about.  If you had played Disco Zoo before, it's a great excuse to play it again.

I started playing God of War again on my Playstation after finishing Plague Tale Innocence.  I was actually surprised that starting back from where I left off more than a year ago wasn't an issue but it didn't stick.  I may still go back to it again because it is fun and I know it's a great game but we'll have to see whether I can ever focus on it.  I'm ok with that as well.  The only other thing I've done is play a few free games to get the Playstation Stars.  I played Doki Doki Literature Club a lot longer than I expected to and I'm interested to see at least some of the twists I know are coming but, again, no promises.

I was sick for a few days and needed something I could play in bed and decided to buy Octopath Traveller II on sale for the Switch.  I had a great time while I was sick but it is a long game and haven't had focus now that I'm well.  I am hoping I'll get back to it but I'm not sure I'll be able to focus enough to finish it without a longer time, possibly during my Christmas vacation.

For November, I'm thinking I'll resubscribe to World of Warcraft for the 20th anniversary event without buying the expansion.  I can use it to see some of the content and I heard they've added some things to make leveling alts faster so it could be a good way to use the Dragonflight content to level them to 70 so they'll be ready for The War Within when it inevitably goes on sale.  That's another possible item for my Christmas break.  I'm also interested in the new Dragon Age game.  In September I briefly played Origins on my laptop but I wasn't able to stick with it.

If anyone is still reading, I hope all is well in your real and gaming life.  I'm hoping these monthly posts will help me remember what I've been doing gaming-wise if I ever want to look back at it.

September Check In, Plague Tale Innocence

 

Plague Tale Innocence team

Not a lot of gaming in August or September.  I am feeling some envy of those playing World of Warcraft the War Within but not enough to pay full price.  I know the price will go down soon enough and there isn't anything I need to do early (though my guild doing some minimal group content is something I'll likely miss out on).  I was also interested to see the Civilization VII announcement.  I got enough hours from Civilization VI that I might go ahead and buy it on release.  It is one of the few games (with World of Warcraft) that I'd rather play on PC than PS5 or Switch.  I tried the Switch Civ VI and it felt awful.  I have played every Civilization game including Alpha Centauri so I'm confident I'll enjoy this version as well.  I'm not sure how much it'll push my Dell G7 with and NVidia 1650.  We talked about getting my daughter a computer, so it might be a reason to get an upgrade and give this to my daughter.  It is almost exactly 5 years old, but it is still doing pretty well.

I am very glad I was able to finish Plague Tale Innocence.  I thought the setting was very well done and I don't think I've seen any other games set in the Middle Ages like this one.  The mix of realism and magic was well done too and I liked the use of the rats in the gameplay and they were suitable creepy.

One minor quible was with the difficulty.  The length was great (it took me 21 game hours) and it seems like a game that one could very well Platinum but I'm not inclined.  The ability to make potions and upgrade your equipment reminded me of The Last of Us but, in order to make the game easier, I probably used more potions than better gamers.  Because of that, I didn't have some of the components that would have allowed me to upgrade my sling and I believe that led to one of the later levels to be significantly more difficult.  I'm ok with rewarding exploration (I would have done more if I had to do it over) but because of the overlap between potion and upgrade materials, it ends up punishing you for using potions which feels like making it easier for those who are good at the game.

Otherwise, I thought the difficulty was pretty good.  There were a few areas where I looked up hints (and was glad for the built in hint system) and a several levels I had to repeat a few times but nothing illogical or unfair.  I know it's an older game at this point, but I am glad I finally got around to playing it and the PS5 controls were very good.

Now, I have no idea what I'll play next.

August Check In

 

Plague Tale Innocence (obviously don't undertand photo mode)

Happy last day of Blaugust for all who are participating!  I knew I wasn't going to post much this year so didn't want to join.  I stopped World of Warcraft as I expected at the beginning of the month and then had two weeks of vacation where I was travelling most of the time so I knew I wouldn't have much time to game.

I did complete the very short 'Visions of Azeroth' lead in to The War Within in World of Warcraft before my subscription ended.  I had already decided I wouldn't do any more of the Pandaria Remix because I felt like I had done it before and enjoyed it more with the farm.  I did use a free day that was given towards the end of August to try out the Radiant Echoes event on two of my characters which netted my warrior two levels and two large bags and two large gathering bags.  One can never have enough bag space.  The War Within can wait until there is more content and it has a discount.  I decided several expansions ago that I'd rather wait and see the content later.

I tried a few games briefly, but nothing really caught on.  I played a little of Dragon's Age Origin again after hearing that the new game is coming soon but I'm not sure I'll go back to it unless it comes to the PS5 or Switch.

I have had 'A Plague Tales Innocence' on my wish list for years and received Requim as a free game on PS Plus so I tried the Innocence demo and decided to buy the PS5 version for pretty cheap.  I'd guess I'm about 30% through so there is a pretty good chance I'll finish it.

I classify Innocence as mostly a puzzle game.  There has been some combat with a sling, but it is used more as a distraction and hiding is the primary method to keep from being killed.  The story is very intriguing and both of the main characters are quite interesting and the use of the Middle Ages in a more grim style is refreshing.  I'm looking forward to playing more.

I've been having fun watching my daughter play Dredge with the new DLC and Dave the Diver and I played both briefly but I don't think I'll be playing more of either.  I do look forward to playing The War Within when it goes on sale, I'm guessing it'll be over Christmas break.  I'm hoping Lego Horizon will appeal more to me and my daughter since Hobbit didn't catch on.

June/July Gaming Check In

 

Ellie, Joel and the giraffes in The Last of Us

I did go back and finish The Last of Us on the Playstation 5 in June.  It was very well done and there is good reason it is considered a classic.  The only real negative is that there did seem to be too much killing in some sections, though some of that might have been because I'm not very good a stealth.  There were a couple of sections where I used the hint feature and I'm grateful to have it.

I've been looking for then next PS5 game and tried out Jedi Fallen Order and briefly opened up God of War but neither are compelling me to play.  Watch my daughter platinum Dredge. It was fun to watch pieces of it, but I think I've seen what I need to there.  I saw the preview for Lego Horizon and since both my daughter and I have enjoyed the Horizon games I think it would be a fun way to play together but it isn't available yet.  I downloaded Lego Hobbit and Lego Harry Potter as other co-op games but after playing Lego Hobbit with my daughter some I think we'll just wait to play Horizon.

Possibly the last of my Dragonflight Achievements

I decided to resubscribe to World of Warcraft early in the month thinking I'd like to try the Pandaria remix and see the last of the Dragonflight quests.  June was successful in both but I did a lot less of Pandaria than I expected.  After playing some I decided to go back to Kanter and work on finishing off the achievements above, all of which I enjoyed.  I played briefly on my Warrior and might work on the side quest achievements with him.  I did keep my subscription for July but have already cancelled it in August so I can't forget.  At this point I have a pattern of waiting until the first discount (as long as I have time) for the expansion and plan to do the same for The War Within.

After I finished Unicorn Overlord on the Switch, I downloaded both 13 Sentinels (from the same developer, Vanillaware) and Celeste.  Celeste definitely isn't my kind of game (I've never really played platformers).  13 Sentinels was fun but just not as much fun as Unicorn Overlord so I put it aside.  I haven't played Animal Crossing since starting Unicord Overlord so I think I'm done with that.  We'll see if something new brings me back to the Switch but I haven't played it for weeks at this point.

Really nothing is pulling me in right now on any of the platforms.  That happens but it'll be nice when there is something new (or old) that brings me back.