Tumbleweeds! Tumbleweeds everywhere!
I joke, but seriously, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. The three of you that read this website are probably wondering what’s been going on. Well the answer is, a lot. Just, not here. Lots of things going on IRL, along with a metric shit-ton of games coming out in the past two months. I’ve been caught up in real life stuff, but when I haven’t been with that I’ve been trying to play as much as I can. When I’m writing, I’m working on my book, which I’ve also gotten waaaay behind on the Patreon for. Needless to say, I’ve been doing quite a bit, I just haven’t been writing about it.
So what’s the state of the Junkie right now? Well here’s a recap of everything going on behind the scenes:
I was able to push through Leon’s A scenario in Resident Evil 2, but Claire’s has been giving me some problems. Something about her scenario just seems shallower, almost rushed. And I really hate that six-shooter. For whatever reason I just haven’t been feeling it as much. Maybe when things settle down I’ll be able to go back and finish it up.
Crackdown 3 released in the Xbox store and on Game Pass. I downloaded it through GP and played a bit of it, and it’s alright. It’s definitely not a great game, but I also don’t think it deserves a lot of the hate that it’s been getting on the net. I mean let’s be honest, peeps, did we really expect a great game out of this? It had been in development hell forever, it was showcased at the Game Awards like, two years ago, everyone that previewed it said it was “meh” at best, and yet when it released everyone is like “Oh, man, this game’s garbage!” I get it, it’s the internet, and everything’s either hot garbage or the best thing that’s ever been created, ever, but I do think the vitriol being spouted was a bit over-dramatic. The game is fine. It’s there, it works, it’s playable, and it’s included in a service that is dirt cheap. Just play it and enjoy it, or don’t.
I started playthroughs of Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey concurrently, though I’ve been a bit more interested in Odyssey than Origins. Plus, Ubisoft’s still actively updating and supporting Odyssey, so I figured I should ride that wave till it hits the shore. I’ve been enjoying both quite a bit. Still a bit early on in both of them, so there’s not much to say on them, yet.
I have put around 15 hours into Final Fantasy XIII, as part of my push to experience the entire XIII trilogy, and holy shit is this game a chore. It looks great, but the story so far is babbling, melodromatic nonsense and Lightning (again, so far) is probably one of the worst main characters I’ve ever experienced in a Final Fantasy game. She’s not edgy, she’s not brooding, she’s not “strong” or “tough.” She’s a bitch, plain and simple. Lightning is a rude, selfish bitch, and not likeable in the slightest. I can’t imagine why Square-Enix marketed her as heavily as they did. I am really hoping she has some form of redemption arc later on in this game because for now I’m dreading the thought of playing the rest of this game alone, much less two more.
The final retail release of Black Desert finally hit the Xbox, and while I was hesitant to buy the $30 Standard Edition, when I realized the base game was only ten bucks, it was a no-brainer. I’ve put about 12 hours or so into it and it’s definitely an MMO with F2P roots. It’s grindy as hell, and that’s fine, but I’m having a really hard time adjusting to the Energy mechanic, which depletes every time you perform a specific action. The problem is, it takes foreeeeever for the energy to replenish. Like, one point every 3 minutes. When a single conversation can require six or more energy points, you’re looking at a lot of time standing around doing practically nothing. Granted, there are things that one can do to speed up the regeneration of energy, but I haven’t been able to find any of them, except for a bed, which only boosts my recovery from 1 point to 2 every three minutes. Not exactly setting the world on fire, there.
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X finally hit backwards compatibility, meaning I no longer have much of an excuse for not beating it.
As of this writing, Just Cause 4 is available on Game Pass, and I’ve put about an hour or two into it. It’s more Just Cause, but I can tell there’s an extra level of polish here that was definitely missing in JC3. I’m already confused as to how the side missions work, however. There are a bunch of little icons on the map with question marks, but no indication of how to reveal them. Perhaps I need to play further into the game before it truly opens up. Who knows, for now I’m just tinkering with it.
So you can see, I have my plate full when it comes to gaming goodness. A lot of it might not be worthy of a write-up, due to either the age of the game or whether I ever actually play it enough to do a write-up. Hopefully once this spring is over and the dog days of summer are upon us, the notable game releases will slow down and I’ll be able to catch up on some of the big games that I still have on my wishlist, like Spider-man, Red Dead Redemption 2, Anthem (we’re not even going there yet), Far Cry New Dawn, and Divinity II. Man, I really do want to play Divinity II.
