A Green Mushroom

Valkyria Chronicles has been a slow burn for me.  I've been playing it slowly but consistently since I first tried it in December.  It's been a fun strategy RPG. But, I've gotten to the point where I'm fed up with one aspect of the game.  They do the thing where they have unfair hidden information moments in the game and they can often instantly end a mission.  This is horrible in missions that can span 30-90 minutes. I've had so many times where I get more than half an hour into a mission and get instant failed because of some bullshit thing that was never explained or choreographed.  I made it close to 75% of the way through the game but I'm completely fed up with it.  It's basically to the point where there's no way to beat a mission on the first try.  Often it takes 3 or 4 attempts before even seeing all the hidden mechanics in a mission. I love the moment to moment gameplay and the story has kept me very engaged, but I can't deal with ...

Earlier in the month I was inspired to make a gaming to-do list because of a great post by Izlain .  Now that we're nearing the end of the month and the end of Blaugust I thought it would be a good time to check in on the status of my list. Here's where we stand: Persona 4 Golden - Still playing and enjoying!  I plan on playing more. Hearthstone - Succeeded in getting to at least rank 20 by the end of the month.  Kept up with the Tavern Brawl's every week for card packs.  Will continue to play for now FFXIV Heavensward - I did daily trial roulettes until they stopped being fun.  Now I have the game on hold until the next content update. [removing from list] KOTOR II - Tried and found it wanting.  Done with this game. [removing from list] Valkyria Chronicles - I got back to the game and have been playing it.  Still not complete.  Will keep playing Dirty Bomb - I tried it and didn't like it. [removing from list] Fire Emblem Awak...

I'm inspired by Izlain's post on the first day of this Blaugust event.  He has created a gamer to-do list.  I'm constantly doing this in my own head as I'm working through my backlog, but I never formally write it down. But since I loved his idea so much, I think I will write it down this time just to try it out.  It might be nice to have a gaming to-do list formally written out.  Izlain did a top 10, but I think mine will be slightly less: Persona 4 Golden - Continue playing until I either beat the game or grow bored of it and decide to retire the game. Hearthstone - Get to at least rank 20 by the end of the month.  Do the Tavern Brawl's every week for card packs. FFXIV Heavensward - Do the daily trial roulette as long as I keep having fun with it. (I'm already bored of the other roulette options) KOTOR II - Finally try the PC version since it got a major official update and has a community content fix patch on Steam. Valkyria Chronicles - Get ba...

I tried Valkryia Chronicles in my massive Steam backlog playthrough earlier this year.  It was one of the few games I liked that I played in my backlog, so I made a mental note to come back to it.  Now that I have gotten back around to it I'm having a lot of fun.  It's scratching the Strategy RPG itch that I've had lately.  Valkyria Chronicles has been satisfying in a way that the Final Fantasy Tactics games just haven't quite been. If you didn't know, Valkyria Chronicles is a ported game from PS3 to PC.  It just released on Steam in the past year.  I picked it up during one of the big Steam sales.  Although I played it on PC I used a controller the whole time, and I would highly recommend it.  The game plays great with a controller. Valkyria Chronicles does some Standard tactical combat stuff but it also does some really cool tactical stuff too.  When you move a character you jump behind them into a third person shooter view and...

I Played a lot of Games In total I sampled 66 Steam games that have been sitting in my library, unplayed.  The last 22 posts leading up to this one have been my impressions of them.  While it may seem to you, dear reader, like I played them over the course of many weeks the truth is different.  I crammed all these games into the space of one week, between Christmas and New Years. It gave me a great chance to put my new PC through its paces and it finally let me sort through my huge Steam backlog. What did I learn?  Let me tell you... Having a Controller is Key There were so many games that I tried which would be next to impossible to play with only a mouse and keyboard.  There is another big selection of games in my library that can  be played with mouse and keyboard, but are much better with a controller. My go to controller is from my dead Xbox 360.  The console is dead, but the controllers are all in fully functional.  I keep o...

Endless Legend Endless Legend feels like someone took the Civilization series redesigned everything about it that felt stale and dropped it in a fantasy setting. After only an hour or so with this game I already love it.  This will easily supplant Civilization V from my favorites and take its place.  It scratches the exact same itch, but I like this game better.  I recently picked up Civilzation: Beyond Earth and haven't tried it out yet but it and Endless Legend are going to have to slug it out and see who comes out on top. I've already deleted Civilization V off my hard drive and added Endless Legend in its place among my Steam favorites list.  It's really good. Endless Space This is a space game made by the same developer as Endless Legend.  While Endless Legend was a new release from 2014, Endless Space came out in 2012.  It's a 4x space strategy game. While I was able to get my head around Endless Legend quickly, I had more trouble und...