I'll try to remember The Blade Itself to see if there's a kindle version and even download a sample. Just to have something while Martin tries to finish the last two books.
A Quick Update
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 On 06/09/2016 at 04:18 AM by Blake Turner See More From This User » |
Hi everybody! Blake here with a quick update, as he is wont to do. I'm trying to blog more often, hopefully it sticks this time. So what have I been up to?
Well, I had a blackout today, so I downloaded the first two God of War games for my Vita and gave them a go. It's been a while since I played them, and I have to say the first one is a touch clunkier than I remember. That could be due to framerate on Vita, but regardless, I'm having a good time.
I like the pacing of the first game, and the way it uses spectacle a little more sparingly. It makes the big moments a little grander, and even with the dated graphics they're somewhat impressive.
I'm not entirely sure why IGN gave the Vita version a 6.3. They seemed to heavily compare it to the PS3 version which ran at 60 fps and was polished up to high heavens. Problem is, Vita's not a PS3, so I was expecting a lesser framerate, and the framerate here is generally around 30 with some dips. Not great, but this is a handheld title and I expected MUCH worse.
I've been in the mood for some gritty fantasy since playing The Witcher 3 again, and this is hitting the mark nicely. It's slow to start, but once it does, it's fucking awesome. It's a bit like A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones for you illiterate fucks) in terms of violence and moral ambiguity, but it's been a lot less keen on the sex, which is nice. I mean, I'm 200 pages in at the moment and there hasn't been one, which compared to the Game of Thrones novel had at least 3 that I remember by that point. And George R.R. Martin kept going on about how Dany's nipples felt under her garments which always struck me as a bit weird.
Anyway, The Blade Itself is pretty great so far. Unlike most fantasy, this isn't really a typical medieval Britain and more along the lines of Fantasy Civil War America, which is kind of neat.
I've heard this is the weakest in the series which means I'm in for a good time, as I'm utterly falling for the characters at the moment. One used to be the most handsome and beloved champion of his land before he spent x amount of years being tortured in a dungeon. Now he has no teeth and he's crippled, so he tortures others for his government. He's such a cynical and amusing bastard though, and the violence isn't too gratuitious so it doesn't really get old.
One of the others is an ex-Barbarian who's sick of violence, and one of the more complex and interesting characters I've read. Jezal is an utter sexist, racist and classist twat but his chapters are still entertaining because of the plot that happens in them (and the "character development" that helps make him less of an insufferable cunt). A bit like Jaime Lannister was in the first book but with much less incest.
I got a physical Gwent set with my copy of The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine set and I've been playing that a bit. Gwent's still a bit simpler than the other card games I've got but it's quick and MUCH easier to explain to people who don't play games like Magic or Netrunner. Games generally devolve into playing "pass the spy" but it's fun regardless.
Blood and Wine is likewise fun. It's a lot more lighthearted than the base game, which is a nice change. It's still got some darkness and a bevy of emotional weight, but it's made me laugh a lot more than most other games I've played lately. Unfortunately, I encountered a bug that halted my game a bit that will hopefully be patched out, but until then I'm not really feeling up to keeping on with it.
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