Twas the Night After Gaming,

On 04/14/2015 at 01:46 AM by KnightDriver

When all through the house. Not an avatar was stiring, not even a Mii. My 3DS was closed by my laptop with care, with no hope that Reggie would soon be there. . . Then I started this blog.

Monday began with a stop at a McDonalds on my way to my friend's place. I got 3 Miis from Spot Pass. I gotta stop eating those dollar menu burgers. I've been trying to stick to hot teas. Can't go wrong there. Hey! If hot coffee brings to mind a certain gaming related controversy, what does hot tea bring to mind? Food, or rather drink, for thought.

At my friend's place I played some Etrian Mystery Dungeon on my 3DS. I created four new characters of classes I haven't used yet and filled my one fort with them (you get four slots per fort). Then I ventured into the third dungeon. I did well there learning how to use items. On entering a room with more than one monster, I would go right to my items and pick a scroll of sleep or a potion of confustion. They effect every monster in the room. The boss on the final floor killed my whole party though. I wonder about this rescue feature. Apparently you can call for a rescue while in the dungeon. I'm not sure how it works yet, but maybe I'd better learn. In rogue-likes, you get beaten up a lot.

Speaking of rogue-likes, I listened to the whole Axe of the Blood God podcast on my way to my friend's place. Kat and Jeremy talked about Rogue and similar games as well as Etrian Mystery Dungeon. Jeremy Parrish liked the game in his review. He recommended Shiren The Wanderer for DS as a good first rogue-like game to play. I saw it was $2 at Gamestop and almost took a break from gaming to get it. I resisted though.

After getting killed at the bottom of the dungeon in Etrian Mystery Dungeon, I switched to Xbox 360 and played the trial for Tales from the Borderlands. I knew pretty much right away I should buy it but I played the whole trial and then bought the Season Pass. Then I played Episode 1 and 2 the rest of the night. Each episode takes about 3 hours.

If you are a Borderlands fan, you should not miss TellTale's take on the series. The writing, I felt, was actually better than the main series. That's not to say this takes the place of the main series, not by a long shot. Tales from the Borderlands is just barely a video game as such. You make lots of dialog choices that change the way the story plays out; you have some exploration segments like in any point-and-click adventure game; and you have very simple quick-time events during action sequences; but most of the time, you are just watching and waiting for these moments. What makes it all worth it is that it is very entertaining. The presentation is top notch: music, camera angles, editting, writing, and plot are all excellent. I was glued to the screen right through both episodes.

And that was my day. I'm annoyed that I don't have ten Miis to party with right now, but I shouldn't stay up too late anyway. I've got workouts to do the next three days.

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/14/2015 at 02:17 AM

I knew TellTale was point and click, but I thought you still spent more time playing than watching.

KnightDriver

04/14/2015 at 02:51 AM

I just noticed that I wasn't using my controller as much as usual. I'd push a button, swipe the stick in different directions, and pull the trigger but not constantly like in most games. A couple of times I actually had to move my character around a room and look at stuff. Such interactivity! You do have to pay attention though, because you never know when a dialog choice will pop up with that timer going beneath it. I had one dialog I missed because the timer was going really fast and I wasn't ready for it.

Oh yea, you also have to listen carefully to every bit of dialog. Sometimes you have to recall information for a dialog choice. I wasn't ready for that either.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/14/2015 at 04:49 AM

it is a lot like an interactive movie, but you do decide what happens, and it's really enveloping. Some people just don't like those games, but I think they're really great -- I mean, it's like a movie you control. really neat.

04/14/2015 at 04:05 PM

I like that the gaming elements really make you pay closer attention to the story. I was more attentive than I usually am with a movie because of that.

Cary Woodham

04/14/2015 at 07:27 AM

I miss 'old' TellTale, back when they made whimsical stuff like Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit, and Tales of Monkey Island. I'm glad their recent ventures have brought them success, but I still miss their older stuff.

04/14/2015 at 04:07 PM

I know what you mean. They have a lot going for them right now. Maybe they'll do something like that again with an appropriate IP. They are doing a Minecraft story next. I wonder what that will be like.

jgusw

04/14/2015 at 09:01 AM

I think I have Shiren the Wanderer on the Wii. I never got around to picking up the DS game. For $2, I'll have to look for it.

04/14/2015 at 04:15 PM

Jeremy said the DS game was the best, but he didn't go into any reasons for that. His description of the game got me excited for it though.

goaztecs

04/16/2015 at 10:51 AM

The thing with Telltale Games for me is that there is a lot of choose your own adventure like dialogue when I want a bit more action (This is coming from playing a little bit of Back to the Future, part of the first episode of Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones.) The concept is cool but its not for me.

I keep forgetting to bring my 3DS to McDonalds. Heck I made a trip to the mall last week, packed it in its travel case...and promptly left it at home.

04/17/2015 at 01:53 AM

I agree that they need more action. The action scenes were so good in Tales from the Borderlands. I just wish I could do something more in them then just a timed swish of the analog stick.

McDees has been very good to me. I've gotten a ton of Miis from them. The mall is hit or miss and some malls are better than others I've found.

PixlBit