Game completed: Vampire's Fall Origins

I picked this game up on a whim from a sale and mostly just because it said vampire in the title. 

But this is a port of a mobile game and the graphics make that clear. The gameplay is pretty simple, but there's a lot of content anyway. 

There are several bosses in the game; some are static and never leave their lairs so you can go to them and fight them; some are roaming and you basically just have to hope they'll turn up and that when they do you're strong enough to beat them. Dodging and Blocking are RNG mechanics, but you can raise the percentages with the help of equipment and levelling. When I felt finished with the game my percentage was around 50% for each, which is pretty high. The fighting reminds me of old-style JRPGs and is turn-based. You can't use potions mid-fight, but you have one healing ability (which I came to rely heavily on).

The game has a main quest and a multitude of side quests. 60 sidequests in the base game and around 50 in the DLC. The story is that you're a rookie wanting to sign up to fight the Witchmaster and his army. But before you have a chance to properly sign up the Witchmaster attacks the town you're in and kills everyone (except a guy named Sava), and he accidentally turns you into the very first vampire (so named because it happens in the town of Vamp'Ire). Sava either goads you into turning him or forces you to do it, so now you're two. Sava disappears for most of the game and you go off the hunt down the Witchmaster. The story for the base game ends when you find him and that's also when you find out his motivations for doing what he did. It's all kind of sad, really. The only thing left for you to do is what the DLC is all about - hunting down Sava. 

One game mechanic is called Rebirth and it's basically a NG+. It resets all the sidequests (but not the main quest) and all the bosses. You get to keep your levels and experience and gear, but now you can get even better gear that was unavailable before your Rebirth. 

All the bosses in the base game are defeatable without any Rebirth. I did it. But in the DLC there are mazes which is a set of 4-6 bosses in a row, the next always harder than the one before. And they have to be completed in one go. You can't go there and defeat one and then come back and continue with the rest. If you leave before you're done they reset and you have to start over. These aren't just hard without Rebirths - they're pretty darn impossible. I got the best gear possible without any Rebirths and even if I could manage the first one or two bosses in a maze, I could never finish all of them. Because of the sheer increase in difficulty.

However, I decided I was done without defeating the mazes. I had done everything the game had to offer, except that, and I didn't fancy doing all of it all over again just so that I might be able to defeat the mazes, and otherwise have to do it all over again AGAIN. There are six levels of Rebirth...

I enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought I would. The game has a cheeky sense of humour and it has a lot of references to pop culture.

Disenchantment S04

This season was really good. For the first half of it we were laughing pretty much every episode. Then about the halfway point came a couple episodes that were a bit too serious to suit the show. And then we were back to the fun stuff. The seasons ended on a cliffhanger so I really hope there are some more episodes coming. 

In this season we get to see the origins of both Elfo and Dreamland. Bean gets a new brother. Cloyd and Becky get what they deserve. Poor Satan is in way over his head. Steamland makes a surprising comeback. And Oona gets to save the day. Well... Sort of.

I've been around, part 2

I've been thinking a lot about travelling for the past few months. I miss it. A lot. Not travelling because you're not financially able versus not travelling because the world is closed, are two very different things. And before the pandemic hit I was finally getting to a place to be able to afford travelling on a more regular basis. The state of the world put a firm stop on that idea...

At the end of 2012 I made a post about all my previous travels, and I figured that now it's been nine years (and I'm unlikely to travel anywhere this year too so it will be ten years since that post) it's time to update it and add to it, because I have been to a few more places since I made that post.

2013: London. I returned with Toni. First time for him. Third time for me and this time with the purpose to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which was a magical experience. We did a whole bunch of other things as well. 

2015: Murcia/Archena/Cartagena. For my mum's 50th my dad brought the whole family to Spain for a week. It's an area of Spain that he visits frequently due to having business contacts in the region, but for the rest of us it was the first time there. My favourite memory is probably the Roman remains in Cartagena. 

2016: Köln. My first time in this beautiful, brilliant city in Germany. My dad goes every year to one of the big fairs organized in the city and this year his business contact brought me along as a kind of interpreter to help with English and French. I even got to use some Japanese when I got some time to myself and headed off to explore the Asian sector of the fair. Seeing the cathedral in Köln never gets old.

2018 + 2019: Köln. Back again, but these two times as a guest of my dad's. I spent most of my time during these two visits to follow him around and offer some input here and there. An idea or two. Mostly I just enjoy tagging along to the fair because it's a lot of fun. After every successful day at the fair we and the other Swedes usually went out having beers (Kölsch!) and dinner and always at the same handful of places. 

2019: Edinburgh. Went back to Edinburgh with Toni. First time for him. Second time for me. It had been 11 years since my last visit and there was so much nostalgia involved for me. This time I did all the tourist-y stuff properly.

2020: Edinburgh. Went back as a sort of mini-getaway for myself after a stressful period at work. I had some paid vacation left over and figured why not. Met up with a friend and also followed in Rowling's footsteps and did some writing at the Elephant Café.

I also did go to Copenhagen with Toni back in 2012 on a day-trip, but I can't count that as travelling since I lived 30 minutes away from Copenhagen at the time. 

I miss travelling. I miss airplanes. Before covid hit we talked about Ireland as our next destination. Let's hope it won't be too long now until we get to travel around again :3

Locke & Key S02

When was it that we watched the first season? *scrolling**scrolling**scrolling* March 2020. Alrighty then.

Then it makes total sense why both of us were completely lost and confused through the first half of this season. Why was there no "Previously on..."?!?! It's been two years since the previous season - if any show deserves a "previously on" it's Locke & Key.

Anyway, halfway through we had recalled enough to lose most of the confusion. A lot of this season had us not knowing what was going on. Would Josh be a new bad guy? He definitely had some sus things going on. What was Gabe's end-goal? And omg could we get rid of Eden soon?

The introduction of the memory key was a welcome addition and having Duncan on the team was definitely a good thing. Every single episode after Duncan had his memories restored I kept waiting for the kids to use the key on Nina, because it was heart-breaking to me to watch her know that something was going on, but having no way to know what. So when Bode took the leap I was very happy. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

And I really hope Tyler changes his mind. Can't we just have the whole family know? Please?

Making the new villain a 18th century military officer who's already described as a terrible person, promises to make season 3 very interesting.

Squid Game & Alice in Borderland

Toni decided it was time for Squid Game once we finished Gotham. Everyone has been talking about Squid Game for a while now and as usual we're probably the last ones to the party. 

Squid Game seemed like an adult version of Hunger Games or Battle Royale, which makes sense in how it got so popular, seeing as all the fans who loved Hunger Games and Battle Royale are now adults and throwing themselves at the next similar thing that's also more mature than what they liked as teenagers. 

To me Squid Game was fun and exciting but also very predictable. Nothing really happened that I didn't see coming, less than halfway through the season the writers had pretty much established their formula and after that there were no more surprises. Sure, there were instances of "this would be logical/predictable to follow what happened here - will they do it that way or this way?" but whatever happened would always fit into one of two expected scenarios. 

Gi-hun has the strongest plot armour in the universe. Sae-byeok was my favourite character. Ali was exasperatingly trusting. Sang-woo was a calculating ass but I ended up wanting him to win. Deok-su and Mi-nyeo were so annoying we both actually cheered when they met their end. 

Squid Game was good. So good. But it would've been even better without some of the predictability. Maybe it's better this way? If Squid Game got even more popular it would've broken the Internet.

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After Squid Game I decided on Alice in Borderland. We had discovered this show way before Squid Game, but it was recommended as something to watch to fill the void of Squid Game for fans of that show. I didn't really have a void from Squid Game, but I figured now was the best time to watch Alice in Borderland. Fresh out of one slaughter show and in to another :P

Less than two episodes in and Alice in Borderland already appealed to me more than Squid Game. It was less predictable for one, and even if Arisu has some plot armour he actually does get hurt sometimes. 

The story of Alice in Borderland is a lot more open to possibility and it revolves around the characters' will to survive and to find out what happened. It creates a lot of mystery and the games are very intricate and fun. Fun in the sense that it's fun to try and solve them and figure them out before the characters. Especially that last game had both of us going off in completely separate directions only to discover that we were both wrong. 

Arisu is adorable and I can't not like him. Usagi is the strong, solitary type and I like how grounded she is in the midst of all the crazy. Chishiya is probably my favourite character, but Kuina gives him a run for his money. Niragi was unhinged, but I enjoyed watching him being unhinged. 

Nothing about Alice in Borderland is straight-forward and that makes it absolutely amazing in my book. Squid Game's popularity is making people discover Alice in Borderland and it's so well-deserved. This show is awesome.