Stop Messin' with Me Games!

On 11/22/2016 at 12:57 AM by KnightDriver

Played a bunch of games today and almost all of them frustrated the heck out of me. Here goes.

I'm done for the time being with Skylanders: Trap Team. I got all the level related achievements and the one for finishing Kaos mode (that's the survival/tower defense challenges), but I got stuck on one of the arena battles. It's the one that takes away all your health and gives you a shield that takes one hit. So you get two hits before a game over. Great. Skylanders is not a game of defense. You always take some damage. You don't move very fast and there are no defensive moves. The best you can do is choose ranged attacks, if your figure has them, and use your trapped villain as much as possible. Half way through this arena fight they take away your villain as well. So I failed the arena about a dozen times with five different figures before I'd finally had enough. I left 3 achievements unfinished and an adventure pack to do whenever I pull out the game again, but for now it's shelved.

Then I played some Doom. A couple hours worth. Fun game but, just like original Doom, I keep getting lost on the levels looking for that elusive key card or key card door. It's funny how the game seems so new but at the same time has all the elements of the original intact.

Anyway, I needed a break chasing key cards and looking for the right door and so played an hour of Minecraft before that pissed me off as well. I got my obsidian cut, built the Nether Portal, and luckily it spawned me inside the Fortress. Everything seemed great on this map until I decided I needed water for my brewing stand in the middle of the night. On the way to the pond, I saw a Enderman and attacked him. During the battle a creeper popped out of nowhere and blew me up before I could move. Minecraft is really good at greifing you. I don't know if it's the way it spawns creatures or the fact that, being in first person, you don't have a good view behind you, but I'm sick and tired of being surprised by a creature I know wasn't there a second ago. I knew I shouldn't have gone out for water at night, but still. Freakin' annoying!

So I quit out of that and XBO and fired up my PS4 and played a half hour of Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. I wanted to cry it was so beautifully drawn. I love the graphics in this game so much. I only had time to get past the first few missions, which are all story, but I had one battle and didn't get put in an overly delicate possition, or had to find a key card, or got griefed by a suddenly spawning creature. I can't wait to play more of it.

Then, I got home from Mark's place and played a little bit of Dragon Quest VII. I'm stuck on this mission that asked you to go find a sea serpent with golden horns. It's not on the island you're on but on some other island and the hint you get is that it's northwest of that island. "that island". Really? I don't know what island he's talking about. Also, a member of my team clearly knows where it is but won't tell me. Strange, strange. I think I might quit and go play Kirby: Planet Robobot.

I just want some games to not "f" with me for once, dammit.

Bye.

Ranger1

11/22/2016 at 10:43 AM

I know that feeling well!

KnightDriver

11/22/2016 at 12:58 PM

I was in no mood for griefing and unfair game design that day. Luckily though, it's sent me to other games. I just got Severed on Vita and I'm about to pick up No Man's Sky.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

11/22/2016 at 10:57 AM

Valkyria Chronicles is a great great game, but it has some frustrations too. But overall.... man, it is just great. I hope we see a proper console sequel sometime. It's just such a unique game in so many ways, I should really buy the PS4 or PC version and play it again!

11/22/2016 at 12:55 PM

I played it on PS3 and got stuck somewhere in the middle of it. It does get hard. I wish other games used their active-time, turn-based battle system. It would be great for military strategy games. I think Operation Darkness on 360 was the only one like it.

mothman

11/22/2016 at 01:18 PM

I can tell you where the skull with the golden horns is if you like? :)

11/24/2016 at 02:50 AM

I'm just annoyed that I couldn't figure it out. I went to a bunch of islands based on the rediculous hint from the pedestal host which said something like "it's on this island that's northwest of another island" WTF! You call that a hint with so many islands that are NW of another island? Maribel clearly knows what, or where, it is because of some of her responces, but she won't come out and say it. That's hugely frustrating. She makes it worse like in this situation. I was searching this tower on an island I'd been to already for a long while, and in the middle of the search, I talked to her and she said to me, "this is the last place I want to be right now". Well, then tell me where that darn golden horn thingy is then! Argh! "F it", I said. I went to play Severed on Vita instead.

I guess I might have remembered the thing they want me to remember if I had played the game all at once instead of spread out over many weeks like I did. But really, give me a good hint, not something that makes me search every darn island all over again. It's a total waste of time.

Cary Woodham

11/22/2016 at 08:25 PM

Kirby won't mess with ya! You can't go wrong with Kirby!

11/24/2016 at 02:35 AM

I wanted to play that next but it's still $40. So I got Severed on Vita. Turns out, I had a bunch on money there on my PSN account that I'd forgotten about. Probably put it there a year ago.

PixlBit