What I've been up to lately

On 11/13/2019 at 01:02 PM by Ranger1

I haven't really been gaming all that much lately. I was usually too tired after getting home from work at the park, walking Beau, and making dinner, and then I started at the market and pretty much the same deal. Anyway, this is what I've played since the Ratchet & Clank reboot:

Dreamfall: Chapters - I loved the first two Dreamfall games, and was highly disappointed at the way the story left me hanging after The Longest Journey. Chapters tied up all those loose ends rather nicely.

The Witness - I'm having a love/hate relationship with this game. I wish there was more story to it. Some of the puzzles I'm really enjoying, some of them I find impossible to figure out (the tetris shape ones I just can't wrap my brain around). It's a very pretty game and has some cool areas to explore. In some ways it reminds me of Myst.

Arkham City - After a year's hiatus (I blame DQ XI), I finally got back to this one. Only to realize I've forgotten how most of the controls work, etc. Getting back into the swing of things, though, and enjoying it. I'm planning on finishing it this time around. I just finished beating up the Joker in the Steel Mill and now I have to go stop Hugo Strange from releasing Protocol 10. I think I'm almost done with the main story, but I want to get the side missions and as many of the Riddler's Trophies as I can before I'm done.

As for what I do with my time when I'm neither working nor gaming: I'm catching up on my reading. I'm 14 books away from my goal of reading 50 books for the year, and I've been chipping away at the IMDB's top 250 movies list. I've been using the 2013 list, but I bounce around between that, 1001 Movies You Should See Before You Die, and the AFI Top 100. I also subscribed to Disney+, so I may never come up for air again. I also had a cheap subscription to BritBox and watched a shit ton of British mysteries over the past couple of months.

And there you have it, my boring life in a nutshell.

KnightDriver

11/13/2019 at 10:08 PM

I played a little bit of the first Dreamfall years ago. I remember thinking the graphics were really nice. I'll give it a try again if it comes up again on sale or in Game Pass.

I stopped playing The Witness because puzzle games make my brain hurt.

I played like an hour of Arkham City a little while ago. I really liked it. It's another one I'll play again one of these days.

Like you at the market, I'm really loving working at the library and with all my coworkers there. It doesn't pay the bills though and I'll have to get something additional or something different pretty soon. I wish I could just stay there all the time, though.

Ranger1

11/13/2019 at 10:20 PM

Some of the puzzles in The Witness I'm a whiz at, but some of them I just can't figure out, even with the solution in front of me.

I really enjoy the Arkham franchise, even though there have been some sections that have frustrated me greatly (there's one part where you have to use the radio-controlled batarang, fly it through an electrified area, then turn around and fly back through a small hole and hit a target to get a door to open. I suck at that.). If I ever manage to finish Arkham City, Arkham Knight awaits me, courtesy of one of my nephews who bought it off Steam and gave me his PS4 copy (along with Rise of the Tomb Raider), because it's one of his favorite games and he wanted to make sure I got to play it, too. I love that kid.

11/13/2019 at 10:37 PM

I get frustrated with some of the Arkham games too. I generally don't like stealth in games, so I only got half way through the first game. I loved everything else about it though and always meant to play all the games. I'll get to them sometime. I own several of them now and they go on super sale a lot now.

Super Step Contributing Writer

11/14/2019 at 12:27 AM

Never played Dreamfall, dropped The Witness despite enjoying the puzzles cause I wasn't sure where to go next. Don't get me wrong, I started sucking at the puzzles too, but I'm willing to trudge my way through legitimate challenges or at least look up a guide. When I get geographically lost in a game that's not really about exploration (or shouldn't be if it is), that's when I call it quits.

Arkham City is my least favorite of the Arkham games, but I still really like all of them. I'll be interested to read your take on the Batmobile in Knight if you get around to it, since it's so divisive (I love it).

11/14/2019 at 01:17 PM

The key to navigating around The Witness is to find the boat. I found it completely by accident, by the way.

So far, I liked Arkham Asylum better than Arkham City, but still like both of them. Yeah, I suck at driving elements in these kinds of games, so I have a feeling of trepidation about the Batmobile stuff.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

11/14/2019 at 06:59 AM

I've always wanted to play those Dreamfall games. Wasn't really into gaming when they came out originally.

I've read a lot this year too. But it's never enough!

11/14/2019 at 01:20 PM

Steam frequently has the first two on sale. I actually played them out of order, as I didn't realize that The Longest Journey was a sequel, and then found out I could only play the first one on PC, which I couldn't have done at the time anyway. Both of those are more or less point-and-click adventures, but with really deep stories. Chapters is still point-and-click, but there are branches in the story depending on some of the choices you make in the game.

mothman

11/14/2019 at 02:29 PM

Weird that The Longest Journey would be the sequel when it came out years before Dreamfall. TLJ was first released in 1999 and Dreamfall was 2006. So really you didn't play them out of order and Dreamfall was a prequel. :)

11/14/2019 at 02:24 PM

I have The Longest Journey in physical PC form but it won't install on a modern operating system. I didn't get very far in it. I think I was going downtown to meet someone in the game and there was a theatre(?) involved in one of the puzzles at the end of my play session.

I picked up Dreamfall when it came out for Xbox and started it but only played about an hour. Not the games fault.

I have Chapters on Steam and PS4 but once again it is barely started.

12/26/2019 at 11:01 AM

You should fix that. I really liked the story in all three, and how everything tied together at the end of Chapters.

SanAndreas

11/14/2019 at 06:07 PM

I picked up DQXI on Switch. The game was already great, but the Switch version is a truly sublime experience. I'm having a hard time deciding between it and Fire Emblem: Three Houses as GOTY.

12/26/2019 at 11:02 AM

So maybe you'd like to get some little Ranger a Switch so they can experience the sublimeness of DQXI all over again?

Cary Woodham

11/15/2019 at 09:20 AM

Well I'm a lot more boring than you, but I'm OK with that! You can check out GamerDad to see some of the games I'm playing and reviewing, but currently the ones I'm enjoying most right now are Luigi's Mansion 3 and New Super Lucky's Tale.

12/26/2019 at 11:04 AM

Cary, I usually do check out GamerDad to see what you're playing . I don't comment, but I do read.

And there is a lot to be said for boring.

PixlBit