Played Lately (Mid-February 2015)

So I'm still working on my backlog plan, but a few things have gotten in the way of my progress. The biggest blockade?

Dragon Age Inquisition

I've been playing Dragon Age Inquisition for a good seven weeks now. Last I checked, I had about 60 hours clocked into the game. I was really hoping I'd at least get through the entire storyline, but no such luck yet--I'm probably about halfway through? At about level 14 or 15 at this point, but it still feels like I've got a long, long way to go. At this point, I'm strongly considering putting the game aside for a while because I've had a lot of fun with it, but I now feel like I really want to play other things.

I'd say my biggest complaint about the game is the travel speed. While I didn't mind it at first, getting from place to place within the sprawling zones has become less and less interesting to the point where I seek out fast travel points and largely avoid quest markers that are far off the beaten path until there's nothing left in the zone to do. This is mostly due to the lack of a fast and fun travel mechanism--your only choice is mounting up, which takes time because it requires going through the rather sloppy interface and then waiting for the horse to spawn, which you then run over to to mount up. Then riding the mount feels somehow slow. It does take you places slightly faster, but it doesn't feel particularly fast because the mount is huge and moves at a realistic pace. It sounds like nothing, but what a difference a faster mount system would have made to the fun factor.

Anyway, that's not to say I don't enjoy the game a great deal. Dumping 60 hours into a game when I have as many alternatives as I do is nothing to shrug at. Still, I'm putting it on hold for the time being and (hopefully) I'll come back to it in the future after I play some other games and give it a chance to feel fresh again.

Since feeling like Dragon Age Inquisition was getting a little stale, I started to play a few other games, with a particular emphasis on portable and more bite-sized indie games. Which brings us to the other games I've been playing lately...

The Swapper

Free on Playstation Plus last month, this is a game that I'd been interested in for a while. I was enthusiastic to see it was free and gave it a shot. It is as interesting a game as I expected it to be based on what I'd heard. Being a pretty big fan of puzzle games, I've enjoyed the few hours I've spent with The Swapper. That said, with only an hour or less per day to play videogames generally, sometimes I find myself only getting through one or two puzzles in The Swapper because I'm so tired by the time I get to it, which makes it a bit unsatisfying. Not to say that's a problem with the game itself, though. Really it's more just my situation.

Regardless, I would give The Swapper thumbs up and it's definitely worth playing. I'm a good chunk of the way through the game, and I'll probably finish it up.

Oh, and one other thing about The Swapper. I'm not a huge trophy hunter or anything, but I do kind of enjoy getting them if they're well done. The Swapper has this meaningless list of trophies that apparently could never be figured out without a guide, which I find kind of unfortunate. It's no big deal considering how meaningless trophies are in themselves, but still--a few denoting progress can be fun.

Rogue Legacy

Free on Playstation Plus this month is Rogue Legacy. I played it a bit on my PC, but didn't get that far into it. However, with it being available on Vita, I couldn't help but start it up again and... damn that's possibly the perfect Vita game. You can play it in bite-sized chunks, it's rewarding, it's engaging, and best of all it has automatic cross-save.

I'm continuing to play Rogue Legacy regularly right now. I'm still restricted mostly to the first area, and I'm not exactly sure when I'm "ready" to move to a new area, though I did just venture into the underground area today and managed to farm up enough gold for some upgrades. Anyway, I imagine I'll be playing Rogue Legacy for months to come (years?).

Peggle 2

Because why wouldn't I?

Stealth Inc.

Otherwise known as Stealth Bastard on Steam, I finally played through and finished all of the regular levels in Stealth Inc. on the Vita. I mildly enjoyed this game--it's light fun, and a decent puzzler. I don't feel compelled to S-rank all the levels, though--it's not that compelling. However, I enjoyed it enough to pick up...

Stealth Inc. 2

Now this game I just started recently. It was on a good sale on the Nintendo eShop, so I decided to splurge and go for it after enjoying the first one enough to justify the $10 buy-in.

Stealth Inc. 2 is one of those rare indie sequels that isn't just more of the same--it's actually a far superior take on the gameplay from the original game. Stealth Inc. 2 includes a similar series of "test chambers" as the original, but this time each set involves the use of a novel device that alters the gameplay enough to keep each set very compelling and interesting. It makes each set of "tests" a lot more fun than in the previous game, where they were different mostly in design and enemy type.

The other thing that's great about Stealth Inc. 2 is that outside the test chambers, the game is designed as a Metroidvania-style side-scroller. It has major wings of a huge building where the tests are occurring, and each area is gated by the item in the tests of the previous area. The game also very much has a Portal-inspired feel, with some sort of artificial intelligence or "controller" character who makes snide remarks as you go (similar to but better than the original).

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Stealth Inc. 2 now, and I fully intend to "finish" the game. Again, like its predecessor, I'm not convinced I'll go ahead and try to get S-rank on all the levels. But so far, the game has been well worth it and I'm enjoying it a lot.

Final Fantasy Theatrhythm Curtain Call

I've had this one for a while and played it for a few hours before quietly moving on to other things. One of the major reasons is at the time, my wife was very pregnant and could not abide the incessant tapping and the way I'd be mesmerized while playing. I could understand that. However, after recently hearing that there was Chrono Trigger music added to the DLC setlist, I decided to jump back in. What can I say about Curtain Call? It takes the formula from the first game, which I enjoyed, and simply perfects it without really damaging it. Throw in some improved game modes and all-in-all it's a superior game through and through. Anyway, it's one of those titles you can keep coming back to, and I'm sure I'll do just that. For now, though, I'm regularly playing a couple of songs a day.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

The final major game I've been playing lately is from the top of my backlog--Wolfenstein: The New Order. I had heard a lot of good things about this game, and although I'm not generally a huge fan of shooters, I got this one a few months back for $25 and figured I'd give it a shot. I'm still early on in the game, but so far it's a mildly entertaining shooter with good, interesting environments and a surprisingly interesting and robust storyline. I'm not sure yet if I'll finish it. A lot of that depends on how much I enjoy the next couple hours with it. Regardless, I've enjoyed what I've played a bit and I can see why people like it.

I guess, more and more, I've come to realize I'm just not that into shooters in general. The last shooter I was really into was Killzone Shadow Fall, and I truly enjoyed the single player campaign and even more than that, the co-op Intercept mode (basically horde mode) added as DLC (and subsequently a standalone purchase). I only got to play it a few times, but what I did play was fun. Before that I had played Bioshock Infinite, which was one of those games where I powered through because of the story, but really didn't find the shooting to be overly fun.

Oh, I forgot Borderlands Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2. For some reason, those never come to my mind as first person shooters, and I do enjoy them a lot. But I'd say they're exceptions.

Anyway, the bottom line is that while I'm enjoying Wolfenstein quite a bit, I do find myself dreading getting into it each time I start it up, or coming up with excuses to play other things. I guess standard military FPSes stress me out or something (even if they do involve goofball weapons and killing Nazis).

Conclusion

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Anyway, there it is. I'm playing the hell out of a ton of different things. It's no wonder I'm not actually "through" anything lately!