April Gaming Check In

 

The Last of Us Part 1

I see I never posted in March but I haven't done a lot of gaming the last two months.  I had played about half of the Last of Us remastered for PS4 a few years ago and decided I'd like to play both parts since one of my daughter's really enjoyed it.  I figured if I was going to start over, I might as well play the PS5 version that was on sale.  I am now past where I was in my first playthrough.  It is welldone and you could probably see the difference in the image above in the earlier versions of the game but, fundamentally, it is the same game and it is probably difficult to justify paying again.  I'm sure the TV show was justification for both and the PS5 remake for Part 2.

I keep thinking I'm done with Animal Crossing but I still play it almost every day.  I need a recipe to be able to make a robot which requires 30 parts I've managed to collect from saving the shipwrecked captain among many other part.  The only way I see to get one of the recipes is from a rare island so I've been visit Katrina in hopes of getting good luck in belongings so I get a rare island in hopes that I get the star island that can have the recipe.  I don't have the recipe but I do have more rare ingredients for other recipes.  Reminds me a little of rare MMO drops.

I also purchased the Katamari Damacy remake for the PS4 thinking it might be something my non-verbal autistic daughter might like.  I haven't showed it to her yet but I did play it some myself.  I'm a little worried the use of both sticks might not be that easy for her but we'll see.  I had played it some back when I had my PS2 but never played it much.

Finally, I purchased a relatively new game, Unicorn Overlord, when it went on sale.  Tipa had recommended it and I did really enjoy Fire Emblem Awakening on the DS even if I didn't get into the other Fire Emblem games as much.  So far, I've been able to stick with it.  I debated whether to get it on the PS5 or Switch but opted for the Switch for the portability and as a possible replacement for Animal Crossing if I ever actually stop playing it.

February Gaming Check In

 

Blanc was a cute, fun game

Not a lot to report for February but I would like to keep this up.

I received Blanc for my birthday and played it cooperatively with my daughter who gave it to me.  It is a very cute, sweet game about a fawn and a wolf cub who have to work together to join back with their packs.  It was nice how they each helped each other and most of the puzzles were interesting but not too difficult (though I did look up a couple of hints).  Pretty short, but also not very expensive so worth it if you like artistic games like this and like to play cooperatively with someone.  It is nice to have finished a game.

I am still not playing World of Warcraft and still playing Animal Crossing.  It's possible the pre-patch for War Within might bring me back for a month or I might just go back to buying the expansion once it goes on sale.  I do like that they have a patch for which they aren't revealing much (10.2.6), but it isn't enough to bring me back.  I'll probably follow along to see what it is.

My current goal for Animal crossing is to build the Robot.  I had collected the 30 rusted parts from the pirate that washes up on your land but didn't realize I would need star parts that drop from a rare island you visit by taking the boat with Kapp'n.  I learned that you can guaranteed to get a rare island by checking on your luck with Katrina if you have luck with belongings.  So far I haven't been getting luck with belongings very often but I do find the gameplay loop relaxing so it's enough to keep me coming back daily and building up my bells and tickets.

I tried Millenium when it was free to play and, although it's not as obscure as most Paragon games, I decided after playing the demo, I'd rather just play Civilization.

On the Playstation, I've decided I don't like the Undertale minigame that determines your success and so I'm dropping it.  I got it for free with Playstation Plus extra and at least I have an idea how the game works.  I'm thinking about going back to the Last of Us since I got around half way through it.  I'm trying to decide if I want to buy the upgrade since it's been about a year and it might be better to start over anyway.  I'm not paying $60 for a game I already have but maybe I'll pick it up when it goes on sale.

January Gaming Check In

 

My Animal Crossing Birthday Celebration

As mentioned in my previous post, I let my World of Warcraft subscription expire this month.  I was able to finish the Necrolords quests on Kantro before it expired.  I just happened to see where you could purchase 60 Covenant renown so I didn't need to wait for that, just finish the different quests offered primarily by Baroness Draka.  I'm not sure why I couldn't start the quests until I was level 60 (seems like a poor limitation) but I went ahead and completed all the Necrolords ones and was level 63 at the end.  I considered doing more in Dragonflight (I haven't done many of the quests after The Waking Shores) but I had seen the main story and decided to leave it alone.  I'm guessing I'm done with Shadowlands even though I didn't see the Revendreth or Bastion storylines.  I might go back to Dragonflight before or after The War Within but I'm hoping they handle it better than Shadowlands once it comes out.

In other gaming, one of my daughter's was back from college and I started Baldur's Gate 3 with her.  We found Lae'zel and the Owlbear cub, two things that we missed in my plan with other daughter but neither group has left chapter 1.

For my birthday, one of my daughters purchased Blanc on the Switch for us to play together.  We played quite a bit in the first session.  I saw it is supposed to be pretty short so it'll be interesting to see how much we have left.  It'll be nice to finish my first game since Horizon Forbidden West.

One is never really finished with Animal Crossing New Horizons but I still think I'm close to being done.  I've now seen all the seasonal events with Christmas and New Years (I purchased it for myself at Christmas 2022) and even had my birthday celebration.  One of my daughters bought me some of the Animal Crossing Amiibos, and it has been fun to invite them to coffee and I might invite one to the camp when a villager asks to leave.  I would like to finish the art gallery but I'm not sure I'll keep playing like I have been (see my December post).

I believe that is all I'm actively playing right now.  I'd still like to finish up some games, particularly on the PS5 but we'll see.  I'm considering getting a Playstation Portal since I looks like a good way to play in the house without having to be in front of the television.

Happy New Year!