PixlBit

I briefly touched on a handful of games and then my friend and I got back into Diablo II for a good long time. Finally, I dug into Horizon: Zero Dawn on my PS4. 

Oceanhorn demo: I randomly picked this from my digital library. I saw Uematsu's name in the credits for music (apparently only a few additional pieces, not the whole soundtrack) which got me thinking about Dragon Quest. The game's graphics look a lot like Dragon Quest Builders. Gameplay is more like Zelda. For some reason, I forget now, it didn't quite grab me like I thought it would from the graphics and gameplay. 

Mass Effect 2: I continued from where I left off and flew to a new space station and did several missions involving hectic fire fights and the recovering of team members from the first game. It was cool until I had to find the doctor character in the plague slums. I couldn't find the darn place and no amount of hunting on the map could reveal it to me. WTF ME2, can't you even give me a pointer or something? I got tired of hunting for it. 

Lego The Hobbit: I decided to only randomly play the games on my hard drive instead of my whole digital library plus Game Pass. This way I can clear my hard drive slowly and then add another bunch. So Lego The Hobbit came up, and I returned to it and my all-lego-game project. I ran through a story mission and then wandered the world doing side missions until I had to stop the one night. 

Farming Simulator 22: Played this for Game Pass rewards points, and it wasn't the first time. I find this game interesting but too complex and quirky in its controls. It's clearly deveolped for PC first and doesn't feel right on console. But, it's fun to get the rewards points by just traveling 20 units of distance (whatever that means). I jumped in my pickup truck and tore off down the street and explored. I found a nonworking arcade machine at a gas station. Why couldn't they have made a mini game with that? Then I drove down a dirt road around some crops until the rewards unlocked. 

We Are The Dwarves: I played this a long time ago and got pretty far into it. This time I found the battle system quite annoying. It's a real-time system but feels turn-based. You move in real-time and select actions in real-time but there is a delay for some actions as if you had to wait a turn for enemies to attack. I found that a bit curious, and it got me dead a few times. It's a neat game though and based on a book series I want to read someday. 

Royal Roads: I played just 10 levels of this, pacing myself since there are 100 levels total. I love the challenge of building and doing chores in a race against the clock. You also have to choose your building/chores carefully or run out of resources. Simple fun. 

Diablo II Resurrected: I am now a level 75 Necromancer. I respecified all my stats, following a guide I read online. All my skills are focused on skeleton warriors and two spells to aid them. I also focused most of my character points on Vitality, using only just enough for gear in Strength and Dexterity, and none in Energy. Apparenly, with so many mana potions on the field, there's no need to boost character energy. So I have over 300 Vitality now and just under 100 Strength and Dexterity. 

My main weapon set which helps boost my necro army.

 I switch to my bow when things get tough, and I have to contribute damage.

My friend and I played co-op, and with my new build, we got through Act I on Hel mode. We also jumped into a few multiplayer Cow Mode and freebie giveaway maps to pick up new gear. Ultimately, though, my friend's Xbox One was disconnecting a lot during all this and it frustrated him so much, we stopped playing for a while. 

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4): I made up a DnD style random encounter table for consoles in order to help me get to all the systems I have hooked up: 1-6 is Xbox Series S, 7-8 Switch and 9-10 PS4. I rolled a 10 and turned on my PS4. 

I had gotten the complete Horizon Zero Dawn on a sale a week ago for $10. I've played it before but not for more than a few hours. This time I dug in for a long haul play. I set it to Story difficulty to help me get through it without any issues (I think last time I set it higher and got stuck somewhere). I played through the first few missions in the time left to me. I love the look of this game, and I'm getting used to the PS4's controls again. I'm already feeling like I'm totally engaged with this game. I'll probably play more over the Memorial Day break. 

I love, love, love jumping around from game to game, console to console. I can't wait for next month when I focus on the 70s and the Atari 2600. I'm thinking of hunting down an Atari Junior console. It's small and it's cheap.