My BackBlog - Week 1

My first week is in the books and I already have one game completed. While I technically started the game in December of ’17, I want to start out on a good note, so I’m counting it!

Games Completed:

Horizon: Zero Dawn

It’s weird, I had a lot of gripes with this game when I think about it…yet I’d still recommend it to people???

The combat oftentimes felt forced. Sure, I could do a cool slow-motion slide to take down the canister on that machine’s belly. Or I could just pepper it with armor-piercing arrows and roll around like a buffoon because I can craft 18 bajillion arrows with all those ridgewood resources you throw my way.

And the world that everyone seems to be so enamored with never really clicked with me. Yes, the backdrop, lore, and story intrigued me (that was ultimately what pushed me through to the end), yet I never enjoyed traversing the landscapes Guerilla crafted. Maybe I’m jaded from the Witcher, or maybe I’m just feeling open-world fatigue, but my favorite moment in Horizon was when I get the infinite fast travel pack. Is that bad?

Finally, I’ve never seen a game with such bipolar voice acting and dialogue scenes. One minute it is top-notch AAA quality, and then other times it is questionable at best. What I found to be most jarring were very bizarre camera angle cuts during dialogue which would always throw me off momentarily.

I hate to rag on the game, because, as stated before I’d still recommend this game, but all of its standout features are apparent to new players right from the get go– gorgeous graphics and an interesting premise. Unfortunately the nitty-gritty details of this game are where it gets a bit hairy.

Games Played:

NieR: Automata

Rotue A crushed...but I guess I can’t say it’s a game I completed yet? I don't know, I’m finding it hard to push through Route B of that game when I have so many other games to play. Hopefully this is as good as some folks are making it out to be because ending A seemed a bit trite to me. Though I suppose I did witness: robots doing it; a mechanical humanized robot form into a ball; an opera singer robot hack into my system; a creepy robot orb clown face thing sell me stuff from his car; and more...

Pyre

Alright…now I get all of the folks bringing this game up during Game of the Year deliberations. The story really has its hooks in me right now (I just beat my 6^th or 7^th Rite, and met Sandalwood). The celestial basketball wasn’t grabbing me initially, but it’s really starting to show some depth that I’m appreciating a lot more now. Looking forward to seeing this game through.

Cuphead

Things I have done:

• • Walloped an angry carrot.
  • Blew Gjimmy the Genie to smithareen-ies.
  • Nearly broke a controller because of a flying waffle.

Things I have not done:

• • Broken a controller

Divinity: Original Sin 2

I had put this game on the backburner to run through Horizon and NieR. Time to pick it back up. I’m 25 hours in and still on the First Act. It may seem like that’s a knock towards this game, but quite the opposite. There’s so many nooks and crannies crammed into this little island, and so many obscure sidequests I’m stumbling my way through. I can’t wait to put in another 30 hours only to realize I built my party/characters all wrong and restart the game (*sarcasm…I’ve heard there is a respec option somewhere in Act 2*)!