PixlBit

Good morning everyone!

Be wary as some slight spoilers be contained below for Skyrim and FFX. I wouldn’t want any of ye to be irked by my hand.

So last week involved an interesting switch back to normality with me diving back into Skyrim. I haven’t played my save in more than a year (since March 2013 to be exact) so it was nice to pick things up again. My character build is hugely destruction mage with some alteration and conjuration magic mixed in for defensive purposes. It’s a lot of fun playing with the different spells (especially conjuration ones) to defeat enemies. I put about 5 or 6 hours in over the weekend mainly working my way through some miscellaneous quests I had been ignoring. I did finish one main quest called “The Mind of Madness” which turned out to be quite amusing. It involves using a staff called a Wabbajack to alter the form of your enemies. For example, you can change a wolf attacking you into a harmless goat. You don’t have access to any other abilities during the quest so the change is pretty interesting. I’m not sure I’ll use the staff much in the rest of the game but it could prove useful to keep in the back pocket should all other tactics go awry. Otherwise, I spent a lot of time traversing the map trying to figure out how to reach a particular area surrounded by mountains. I think I figured it out but I was killed by a Hagraven who surprised me.

Hagravens - I hate these things!

I like Skyrim a lot to the point that it may be my favorite game of the gen but I most definitely suck at it. I’m at around the 90 hour mark, am level 36 and have some awesome gear but still die pretty regularly (and thus have to save often). I think I could have done a much better job rounding out my character but I’m at the point now that I’m just going to venture onwards. I’ve far too much time invested to restart.

In other gaming news, I’m still playing the FFX HD Remaster on Vita. As I mentioned before, this is my first experience with the game and I’m still really enjoying it. I’ve started to figure out the Sphere Grid levelling system and am having decent results growing my characters. My one issue is trying to keep everyone involved so that they level together but already, I can see Kimahri is falling behind. I still don’t really see the use in him but nonetheless I want to keep him up to speed. I’ve spent some time grinding so I think the rest of my party is in good shape but it’s hard to judge with a non-number levelling system. I’ve just completed the part of the game where you get to control Seymour for a battle against some Sinspawn so I’m still pretty early on. So far I think the combat is my favourite of the series with enough variation and depth to keep things fresh. JRPGs are probably my favourite genre and so far this is living up to the acclaim.

As a side note, I’m really excited about the news coming from SquareEnix regarding their return to developing more “basic” JRPGs. In my opinion, there’s a real lull in the industry for the genre outside of handhelds so hopefully we see some really interesting games over the next few years. Some of my greatest gaming memories are playing earlier Final Fantasy’s and I’d love to get some new releases to match those days.

Some recent pickups for me include Stealth Inc., Lone Survivor and Thomas was Alone from PS Plus for free. I started Stealth Inc. and it’s pretty damn enjoyable so far. It’s plays like a puzzle game with you trying to figure out how to get your little stealth dude to the goal. Each level takes about a minute so far and some have proved rather challenging. I look forward to getting deeper into this as the week progresses.

Stealth Inc. - Cool little game

Finally, in a non-gaming related update, I’m travelling back to Ireland on Wednesday this week for a twelve day visit. I haven’t seen my parents or friends since June of last year so I’m really really excited. It’s tough to put into words how much I miss everyone but it’s always like we never left when we meet up again. Sign of a good friendship I say. My friends and I are already planning a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gra next year so at least I know when I’ll see everyone again this time. While in Ireland, the wife wants to do some sightseeing so I’m thinking  we’ll probably take a trip up to Galway and Connemara for a day with a buddy. For my part, I want to spend as much time as I can reminiscing over pints. Anything in addition to that is a bonus.

Just slightly insulting but funny nonetheless

As always, thanks for reading folks. I’m working my way through my inbox as always but it’s difficult (and time consuming) to read everyone’s blogs. I hope everyone’s keeping well and I’ll catch you all on the flipside of my vacation when I return.

Stay happy and safe.

Later