PixlBit

So, I put about 9 hours into DQ Builders this weekend. It's pretty fine but I got a little bored after a while. It's very much like Minecraft but with a very directed approach. You start with a busted up town and a single villager and she gives you things to do that bring more villagers to town and teach you how to build buildings and craft items. More villagers give you more quests and the game goes on from there teaching you new things as you go. There's not a lot of figuring things out. You fight in real time in the wilds and even have to defend the town occasionally.

So I got Titanfall today with some birthday money, two copies, one for me and one for Mark. They were $8 each for XBO. I always wanted to try this game out. Well, while waiting for the install, I played a bit more Doom II and then this free-to-play game Battle Islands. Details follow. 

It's very frustrating to lose soldiers you've carefully customized and promoted after several victories. One mistake in a mission and you pay with lives; not just with injury, but permadeath. It makes one want to stop customizing these soliders. What's the point when they will die just after making lieutentant. 

Started the day with some XCOM 2. Made some progress on my restart of the game. I got a "Flawless" rating on one mission and I haven't lost a single soldier yet. I'm focusing on weapons upgrades and built a Guerilla Training Facility that gives rookies some skills before their first action. I'm beginning to figure out how to use Overwatch and how to move soldiers across the battlefield without getting caught in the line of fire. This game reminded me today of the board game Squad Leader I used to play. There's a lot of choices for types of action every turn and there are environmental hazards like fire. Note to self: don't take cover behind a buring car. Usually they blow up after a turn or two killing everyone. 

So I finished up with Skylanders Superchargers. I got every achievement except the one where you have to beat the game on Nightmare difficulty. I played several levels at that setting and it was fine until I hit a certain boss that seemed mostly unfair. The difficulty being just that you take much more damage from hits than other skill levels. I went through every Skylander I had and then played it again with my highest level ones first and still couldn't beat that thing. I can only imagine how bosses in the later stages of the game will be - nigh impossible. Of course, as you level up the portal, you gain abilities that help with Nightmare mode but I was well over level 70 and didn't feel like grinding a whole lot more. I did pull out all the Skylander characters I had and tried them out. That was fun. Each figure has very unique abilites that evolve as you level them up. I almost wanted to just level up all the figures just to see their special powers. Maybe with a half dozen level 20s (max level) I could handle Nightmare mode. It just seemed more work than I wanted to put into it. Maybe I'll dive in again someday when I want a serious challenge. I'm not trading in any of this stuff. I like them too much. 

My more regular schedule has left me with little time to blog, but I found some tonight (Sunday) and maybe I'll get into this habit every Sunday night while I do wash. I did manage to find time to game though. I'm making good progress in Dragon Quest VII on 3DS and I'm still gaming on the the weekends with my buddy Mark. And oh yeah! I went to a gaming convention, Retro Con. Here's a quick breakdown. 

I saw Kubo and the Two Strings the other day, Saturday. I really liked it. Lovely papercraft Japanese art style and lots of good messages not handled in a corny way. I didn't realize the film maker was the same who did Box Trolls. Now I really regret not seeing that one when it was in the theaters. I was so close to seeing it too. 

(Loverboy song reference 80's fans) So, on Friday, after a run and some study, starting at daybreak (new schedule for me), I did some more detox at Mark's place playing Minecraft.

Yes, out of work again. I guess I'm just mad. Or insane, or not mad, just annoyed - maybe stressed beyond tolerance, I don't know. Anyway, I needed to escape so video games to the rescue. Too stressed for serious stuff, so Minecraft it was.

Back to a normal schedule (for me anyway) with being off Sunday-Monday (Fri and Sat were total hell at work btw, but I listened to a lecture on Buddhism while knight driving and it actually helped me to power through it). Today I didn't have all day because of a family dinner but I played a few things: Pockey Card Jockey, Defense Grid 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.