PixlBit

I ended today thinking, this is the last of my great gaming binges. It may not be, but I kind of feel like a change is happening. This weekend I have plans for other things, and next week I'll begin a new schedule; although, not a new job - yet. I'm not sure how gaming is going to fit into it all, but we'll see. Anywho, here's a breakdown of today's gaming. 

Lots more of the same Defense Grid 2 and Minecraft today but also some of Earthlock: Festival of Magic, a turn-based RPG and a Games with Gold freebee. 

I'm working on that last achievement in Defense Grid 2, getting the 100 Gold Medals. I got kind of burned out on the game though. I started doing crazy strategies just to see how the screen would look. I did clusters of lasers and the sight and sound of them made me think of bug zappers. The strategy didn't work too well though as I had nothing to stop cloaked enemies. I find it annoying that I can't excert some creativity in my tower building and still win. I guess I care less about a winning strategy and more about aesthetics. Story of my life, really. 

Then I came up with an idea for Minecraft. I built an enchantment table in a new world and got two Loot III diamond swords and Fortune III pick-axes made and put them in a chest. Then I destroyed the enchantment table and built a beacon so you couldn't miss the starter chest. With that saved, I waited for Mark to want to join and we started the game in Survival mode with a few powered-up tools. The diamond Fortune III pick-axe works like a jackhammer in The Nether. Nether brick just shatters like glass under its force. Otherwise we did as usual: found several villages, dug deep mines, fought ghasts and blazes in the Nether (I had some epic battles with ghasts this time) and hunted for the Stronghold. We got the library and enchantment table built in the village, and I enchanted all my other gear until my XP level was nearly zero. Then I kind of didn't know what else to do, so we stopped. 

Then I started Earthlock: Festival of Magic. It's a turn-based RPG by Norwegian developer Snowcastle. It seems pretty good. Environments are not overly detailed but the design is interesting. In towns you are in third-person, the camera zoomed out a bit as in Ni No Kuni, and outside you switch to an overhead view. Fighting is purely turn-based and you can switch to one of three stances that each have a different set of attack or magic options unique to each character. You start with one character and then others join you. You also switch main characters as the story shifts perspective. It's not an overly complex game. I think of games like Child of Light but with a deeper stat management system. I think I'll like it when I get more time with it. 

So maybe I'll play some games on Saturday, or maybe not. We'll see.