I started this game with the intention to play through the entire AC franchise so I'd be up to date when Ragnarök releases this year. That... didn't happen.
As you know from my post about AC2 I don't like Ezio, and that didn't change with Brotherhood. I enjoyed the game mostly, especially the Ubisoft trademark things with all the collectables. But the story seemed repetitive after AC2. Same main character, same villains, same basic plot. The only thing I thoroughly 100% enjoyed doing was to restore Rome to its former glory. When I quit all the districts available to me were 90-100% completed.
From the looks of things, even in the very beginning of this game, the plot will turn out exactly the same as in AC2, except we know that Ezio can't kill Borgia because he's the frickin Pope. Everything went pretty smoothly (there were a few annoyances due to the wonky controls that I've come to expect from an AC game) until I got to the mission where Ezio infiltrate a party with the goal to kill The Banker. If you're spotted by the guards you get desynchronized, but they're positioned so that one of them will spot you if you move to kill another of them. So you have to basically just dodge and hide, but they can see from basically every angle. Also the target is moving and if you get too far away you get desynchronizzed so you kind of have to hurry. Also because the target is moving you're not allowed to lose sight of him, because if you do you get desynchronized within 25 seconds. After getting desynchronized about 20 times I gave up and started playing another game. I fully intended to come back to Brotherhood at a later time when I did, but after two weeks I realised that I wouldn't. So I uninstalled the game and read up on the plot what would happen next. And yes, it's pretty much exactly the same as in AC2.
I even played through the DLC telling the story of Leonardo's disappearance and got his war machines away from the Borgia soldiers. And aided Copernicus, although that was less fun.
If that mission hadn't seemed so unfair, or if I had been able to quicksave after getting past each obstacle so that I'd feel like I had made some progress I probably would've continued playing this game. I don't like it when games hold your hand too much, but I also don't like it when I feel like I make no progress and like I'm basically just banging my head against a wall. Having to restart from the latest checkpoint each time I desynchronized made me feel just that.
I'm still planning on playing through the entire AC franchise. But that won't happen any time soon.
This has been on hiatus for almost 2½ years! I'm going through this list and here are my previous entries.
28. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
I've wanted to see this one since I watched the 25th anniversary of the musical back in 2011. I read the novel before I watched this and this is a lot more truthful to the original novel than the musicals are. I enjoyed seeing the parallells between the musical and this movie (as well as the novel) but I especially liked seeing the references to the novel, like the Phantom's underground mansion and how he snorkled his way through the underground lake. Ofc being used to the musical the movie had a lot less oomph because there's no epic music, but the story is still the same and just like every time I watch the musical I just feel so sorry for the Phantom. He is what the cruel world made him. In 1925 when this movie was released the legend is that the women were warned to keep smelling salts with them because they were expected to faint at the face reveal. It's also said that Lon Chaney did the make-up for the Phantom by himself. This is a masterpiece.
29. The Innocents (1961)
Finally a haunted house that is haunted! I had never heard of this movie before, but it was a really good one. First thing it does is making me laugh because the uncle's attitude towards the children is so relatable. I loved the whole Victorian setting and I marvelled at the clothes of the governess and Flora. The story has two layers; the first one could be interpreted as an ordinary haunted house tale and the governess is trying to save the children from the ghosts possessing them; the other is a tale of a governess slowly losing her mind as it becomes obvious right at the end that she's the only one who can see the ghosts. I love the ambiguity! The first three quarters of the movie go by pretty slowly as the suspension builds up (I was pretty bored with it in the first half) but then it becomes oh so good. The final scene was a wtf moment for me.
30. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
First old-timey movie I see starring both legends Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee :3 And more will come. This is basically a remake of the Frankenstein movie from 1931, but with a little more refined storytelling. As with every Frankenstein movie I've seen it bothers me how different the monster is compared to how he is in the novel. In the novel the monster is sentient and quite intelligent, the only screen adaptations of the monster that I've so far found to mimic this have been in Penny Dreadful and Van Helsing. The conclusion of this movie is very final as both the monster and his creator are killed and disposed of.
The last part of the Season of the Dragon. This DLC features a new zone, Southern Elsweyr, and concludes the story of Abnur Tharn and the dragons.
It took me ages to play this. Mostly because I think Elsweyr and the Khajiit never were a favourite of mine. Abnur Tharn most definitely is, though.
The zone itself is beautiful, and the main questline is definitely really cool. But the sidequests fell pretty short imho. They were way too few, and those that were weren't engaging enough. Except for the settlement Black Heights and the exorcism side quest that can be found there. I loved the painting!
The dragons in ESO remain unimpressive imho and the dragon world boss events are usually just something to overcome along the way to somewhere else- For me they kind of give me the same feeling that randomly spawned oblivion gates did in Oblivion; mainly just a big sigh and getting it over with.
The main quest however was so cool and I enjoyed (almost) every bit of it. I just wish that it was longer or that they spent more time developing the side quests and delves.
Since my planned time off this Christmas didn't go exactly to plan I ended up with a week of paid time left to use. I decided to use this week to take a well-earned holiday and go back to (probably) my favourite city in Europe.
This past Sunday I went to the airport and got on the plane. It was a very nice flight actually. I had booked business class rather than economy for once since the price differed very little, and I was all alone in my row of seats. Very nice. Both flight and tram to the city went by without a hitch. I arrived a little bit early for check-in at the hotel, but decided to try anyway and the receptionist let me check in :)
After checking in and dumping my bags I went to meet up with a friend and we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and also grabbing a coffee at a random café that we happened upon. Before we went our separate ways in the evening we also grabbed dinner at a sushi place (although neither of us had sushi).
The rest of the evening was spent watching TV and talking on Discord in my hotel room.
The day after I got on a train to go visit my friend at his place and meet his dog :3 Once again we had coffee and dinner and I ended up joining his stream on twitch. Time flew by and before either of us knew it I had missed the last train back, so I ended up staying at his place.
The day after I took the train back and then spent the whole day just holed up in my hotel room; reading, watching TV and being on the Internet.
Wednesday was my last day in Edinburgh and so I spent it the way I had originally planned to spend at least two days. I went to The Elephant Café and spent about an hour in there just writing. J.K. Rowling style :) After that I took a walk through the Greyfriars Kirkyard and finally found the Tom Riddle stone :) I then walked up to the Castle and spent about an hour or so there. I couldn't come up with anything special for dinner and so I ended up going to the same sushi place I went to on my first day. But I didn't have sushi this time either. In the evening I decided to go and grab a beer or two at The Black Rose. I spent the evening chatting to the bartenders and also getting completely destroyed at the pub quiz. I stayed for a couple of songs of the ensuing karaoke night before I called it a night and went back to the hotel where I fell asleep pretty instantly.
Yesterday was going home day and once again everything went perfectly smoothly.
The Agency: Chapter 1
This is a short one, since the devs decided to make it episodic and I only ever got the first part. Not sure if I will be getting the second part. The voice acting is terrible and the puzzles are super easy, although there seems to be a story there, and I'm all about a good story!
It took me 75 minutes to complete this episode and I don't feel like it gave me much, although there was one giggle when a window broke and this guy just casually walks up and says "Hey guys it looks like my bar is being attacked". One giggle is good so I may get the second chapter just because of that.
Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~
This is a visual novel in the most literal sense. There's very little interactivity and mostly you're just following a story and watching it play out. The only thing you have any control over is which areas of Tokyo to explore.
Had I never been to Tokyo I would've found this game extremely interesting, since they go out of their way to explain everything and highlight the little differences between Japan and most other countries. Having already been there a lot of the time it was like "Yes, yes, I know. Next!"
But more than anything this game gave me amazing nostalgia feels.
I got this game when I felt the need for a simple RPG and it looked very promising.
As soon as I booted it up I knew it was going to be different from what I'm used to. It's not your regular RPG or even adventure game. There's no levelling, no skills, no combat, but there's an open world to explore and quests to complete.
You're an artist travelling to the island of Eastshade. Your mother has recently passed away and she visited Eastshade several times during her life. To honour her memory you have decided to pain some of her favourite places on the island. This is the main quest of the game. Your ship sinks off the coast of Eastshade and you end up in the port town of Lyndow.
From here you're free to explore and do quests. Some areas can't be reached until you've learned how to make a raft, and later how to make a boat. Some areas can't be reached until you've gathered enough currency (glowstones) to buy a zip trolley to travel via zipline. And you can buy a bicycle to get around the island quicker. No horses or other mounts here! You have a bicycle!
You can't stay out in the freezing cold night without a coat or other means to keep warm. This is the only survival mechanic in the game but there are several ways to overcome it.
The painting mechanic is really cool and I haven't played any other game where this is a thing. Rather than people asking you to kill stuff for them (as things usually go in games) people on Eastshade asks you to paint things for them. The painting mechanic is integral to the game and the first thing the game teaches you is how to make a canvas to paint on.
I jokingly call this game the sidequest simulator because every quest in this game is what a sidequest would be in any other game. But it's a good thing. Eastshade is relaxing and nice to play and it's so so pretty.
I did notice some rendering issues with the trees and vegetation. A few times the big city wouldn't render at all and I'd fall through the map. This could be fixed by loading an earlier save. There were some bugs where mission important things wouldn't spawn, but they could all be fixed by loading an earlier save or sleeping in your tent and getting a new loading screen. Nothing game breaking.
I really enjoyed my time in Eastshade and after I finished it I discovered that the devs made another game before that, which takes place in the same world and the same island. I will be getting that later.
1. Tristan et Yseut, by Béroul. The ancient sappy over-dramatic love story that inspired all the modern sappy over-dramatic love stories. I hoped I'd appreciate this more when my university professor wasn't breathing down my neck to finish it in a hurry. I didn't. It's still over-dramatic and sappy and makes no sense. The king is a gullible fool. He sentences Yseut (Isolde) to death by burning for adultery, but she runs away with Tristan and after two years all she has to do to be pardoned is hold a passionate speech about how no man besides her husband has slept with her? So the king accused her of adultery with Tristan. And after two years by his side in hiding all she has to do is make a speech? Like, if the king believced in the accusations enough to sentence her to death... what does he think they've been doing together for the past two years and how is a speech enough to make everything alright again? I know it's somewhere around 700-800 years old and a lot has happened to storytelling over the centuries, but come on!
2. The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black. This is one I got in an OwlCrate and the blurb didn't convince me that I'd like it. True enough, it had its issues but on the whole I came out of it really having enjoyed reading it. Cardan seems exactly like the tortured soul I enjoy reading about and Jude perfectly depicts the desperation in being an outcast longing to belong. I enjoyed reading through the twists of the story and I really didn't see the end coming. So kudos to Holly Black for that. I'm kind of wanting to read the next book in the series but I'm also apprehensive about it, because with the way things ended in this book I can only see the next one going in one of two ways and I'm not really a fan of either of those ways. Still, this was a lot more fun than I expected.
3. Kallocain, av Karin Boye. Första gången jag försökte läsa denna så var jag ungefär fjorton år och jag tyckte att den var fruktansvärt tråkig och jag läste aldrig ut den. Alla dessa år senare så var den kvar i minnet och jag bestämde mig för att ge den en ny chans som vuxen. Den här boken smälter in perfekt i vår nuvarande dystopifokuserade populärkultur. Hade den släppts i år hade den antagligen varit väldigt populär, men istället får den finnas lite i skymundan; undanträngd av större internationella dystopiska klassiker som t ex 1984. Jag hade gärna sett att Kallocain var mer utarbetad med en mer detaljerad omvärld, men det är samtidigt detaljer som inte egentligen behövs. Det hade inte gett mer till storyn att veta hur världskartan var uppdelad i den här framtiden eller vad Kemistaden en gång hade varit för plats. Det enda dessa detaljer möjligtvis kunde ha gett till en redan riktigt bra bok, skulle vara en fastare förankring i minnet; en mer känslomässig koppling till vad som hände i boken.
4. World War Z, by Max Brooks. This book was terrible. It's told after the fact and while it's an interesting take on the zombie story it doesn't fully work. Mostly because it very quickly becomes the exact same story told from several different points of view but in basically the same words and formula. It gets repetitive and boring and I had to force myself to finish the last 150 pages because I really didn't want to, but 150 pages is nothing so I persevered... And felt completely fooled when it was done. So not worth it.
5. Deception Point, by Dan Brown. If you've read one book by Dan Brown you've read them all. I read the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons about 13 years ago, and 16 y/o me absolutely loved the action and the conspiracy theories. This book I got from my grandmother a couple of years ago and I only got around to reading it this year. While the action is still entertaining (although at times completely eye-rollingly unbelievable) the formula for this book is 100% the same as for the Da Vinci Code and because of that I had every single twist figured out before I was even halfway. The shocking revolution of the traitor isn't very shocking when you've known who it is for the past 100 pages... Basically this book got 2 stars on Goodreads because the action is entertaining, but I'm never reading Dan Brown again.
Always Remember Me: I watched Dodger play this otome game on Youtube years ago and wanted to try it for myself. I played through the normal Eddy route, misclicked and had my save overwritten, game wanted me to start over. I disagreed and didn't play it any more. I might pick it up again at a later time, but tbh Amarantha bothers the crap out of me.
Crysis: "Can it run Crysis?" Ofc I had to try this game! The whole legend around it makes it necessary! Unfortunately I didn't like it. Too little story and too much "go here and shoot stuff just because. also there's something weird going on but we're mostly going to ignore that except when we feel like we need to really bring your attention back to the fact that there's actually a story". It got repetitive and boring incredibly quickly.
Cities: Skylines: City building sims are usually straight up my alley and I had heard so much good about Cities Skylines that I seems almost rude to say that I didn't enjoy it much. I gave it 7 hours of my time and not once did I feel like I was actually getting somewhere. My towns got to 5000 in population pretty quickly at which point I always, always, always without fail got to watch it collapse back down to 800, go back up to 5000 and collapse back down to 800. Didn't matter how many different towns I did or different maps or different ways to build the city. At 5000 people the city would just die. I lost my patience trying to figure out why after having it happen about a dozen times. I haven't looked back since uninstalling it. But it seemed so promising~~
I got this game on release so it has taken me an inordinate amount of time to finish it. I blame work taking too much of my time :P
I played all four paths and ended up somewhere around 180-200 hours total game time. The replay value of this game is insane!
The general plot is that you're Byleth, a mercenary's child with a shady past. You don't know your past and you don't know how old you are or even how old your father is. Due to circumstance you end up teaching at the Garreg Mach Monastery's Officer's Academy. This year the Academy's three houses are led by soon to be national leaders. As the year goes on it becomes apparent that some sort of darkness is doing things in the background and chapter 12 inevitably ends with the continent falling into all-out war. A war where ordinary people are fighting aginst each other but also against saints, dragons and demons. And that's going to be all the details I'm giving. I'll try to avoid spoilers.
When I originally started playing I immediately felt a strong pull to Claude. So I decided to save his path for later. Which turned out to be a great decision since his path offers the most answers. If I had played his path first the other three would've felt somewhat lackluster. In hindsight, the order I played the paths in turned out to be pretty darn perfect.
First path: Azure Moon (The Kingdom of Faerghus/Dimitri)
I chose this one first, mostly because I felt the least pull towards any of these characters. Dimitri's dark past tugged at my heart and especially after I realised what kind of end he got in the other paths. Felix and Sylvain soon became two of my absolute favourite characters and I made an effort to add them to my house in every subsequent path. Interestingly, this is the only path that even goes into the Kingdom to try and save the situation there and fight against Cornelia. The other paths just treat the Kingdom as a lost cause and ignore it. This path offers pretty much no answers at all, and is mostly just about saving the Kingdom and rectifying the situation. The end to this path is basically a return to the status quo in terms of the social order, although the country map has to be redrawn. I married Dimitri in this path, although it was pretty much a coin toss between him, Felix and Sylvain. In hindsight I'm still not sure whether I would've preferred to marry Felix or Sylvain instead of Dimitri. The final fight was epic and crazy and in the end the only two left on the battlefield was Byleth and the Hegemon Husk.
Second path: Crimson Flower (The Adrestian Empire/Edelgard)
My second choice is pretty much the exact opposite of my first path. Edelgard became one of my favourites, but Hubert and Linhardt both totally stole my heart. Bernadetta also became very dear to me. All in all the Black Eagles had a lot more interesting characters than the Blue Lions. This path forces the war and playing it drives the war home. The map is redrawn in blood and the social order is torn apart. This path offers a few more answers regarding the darkness, but nothing definitive, other than that they're there and they're a separate and ancient power that needs to be defeated. Along with a footnote at the end that they devoted time in finding and defeating them. This path involved the most killing of other characters, except, surprisingly Lysithea. The game offers an option to save her, but gives no reason why Lysithea is special. Not until after I had played through the third path did I start to draw my own conclusions why, but the game doesn't really specify. This is the only path that turns Byleth back to their original appearance. I married Hubert in this chapter, although I did consider Linhardt for a while. This path had the least intense final battle, but some of the most rewarding post-battle cutscenes.
Third path: Verdant Wind (The Leicester Alliance/Claude)
Still feeling strongly for Claude, this was the path I was the most excited about and so I resolved to make the absolute most of it. So I recruited everybody I could find the time for (Linhardt, Caspar, Bernadetta, Dorothea, Felix, Sylvain and Mercedes as well as the Church of Seiros characters). I absolutely loved playing this path. All the characters in the Golden Deer house are amazing (even Lorenz who was the first character I blatantly hated when I first got to really talk to him, but who then really grew on me after the timeskip). Marianne made me so proud towards the end. Her personal growth was phenomenal and totally believable. This path had the most interesting paralogues, and the truth bombs at the end were very welcome. Although, after having played three paths hearing the truth was more like getting suspicions confirmed rather than having the truth dropped. And then we had Chapter 21 when this game suddenly turned sci-fi. That was a major wtf moment and I was not expecting it! The sudden sci-fi elements was more surprising than the actual truth! I married Claude in this path, because how could I not? He's amazingly adorable and funny. My heart broke for Dimitri in this path, but having Dedue back by my side felt nice. This path offers a definitive final fight against the darkness as well as answers to what the darkness is and where it came from. The only path to explain it. This final fight was amazing. Like literally wow.
Fourth path: Silver Snow (The Church of Seiros/Rhea)
After getting an amazingly satisfying ending to the third path I felt sort of ambivalent towards playing the fourth path, but I went ahead and did it anyway. This path is actually a sidestep of the Black Eagles path. If you choose to side with Rhea over Edelgard you end up with this path instead of the Crimson Flower one. In terms of which battles it was pretty much exactly like Verdant Wind, with the exception that this path doesn't do the fight at Gronder Field. Instead we get a report about how the three leaders basically decimated eachother. Edelgard is severely wounded, Dimitri dead and Claude missing... So that's great. The game doesn't explain what actually happened to Claude, but from the other paths I have a theory. This path offers the same truth as Verdant Wind, but in less detail. I married Seteth in this path because I love him :3 He's probably the character who's grown on me the most throughout the game. From being suspicious and not trusting him in the first path to feeling bad for having to kill him in the second path to loving every interaction he has with all the characters in the third path to loving him in the fourth. The final fight in this path was the classic and preordained dragon fight that figures in every Fire Emblem game. And this fight was crazy. Like all my characters were over-levelled but still I only had Byleth, Seteth and Flayn left to fight the boss. But we won :3
All of the paths end with the map having to be redrawn, since the countries always dissolve one way or another. Claude's goal is the most admirable imho, while Edelgard has pretty much the same goal in mind but a much bloodier way to get to it.
The puns in this game are amazing and it's always a joy to watch the characters in their respective support dialogues, which is why I did so so so many auxiliary battles. So I could get as many of them as possible!
I really love this game, although I feel pretty full with it after 200-ish hours. Still I want more story. I really wish for a DLC giving us more Fódlan, because I feel like I need it.
RP jobbar på svinstian. Index uppträder. Kvark har hört ett telepatiskt meddelande. En kvinna behöver hjälp. En spejare kommer och berättar att han sett en stor varelse som strandat. RP väljer att åka dit med sin gummibåt. De ser kadavret. På södra stranden står en man och vinkar. Han varnar RP från att gå nära den andra stranden. Han presenterar sig som Kejsaren och säger att på andra stranden finns det ett monster som slukar allt i sin väg. Jony går fram till kadavret och blir attackerad av en etterbest som spottar och missar. Sen hör Kvark det telepatiska meddelandet igen. Hon verkar närmare den här gången. Index gömmer sig bakom en sten och råkar bli amfibisk efter att hon misslyckas med att känna zonen. Kvark känner zonen och får redan på etterbestens HP. Jony attackerar och etterbesten dör, men när den dör dyker det upp en etterbest till samt en skövlare. Danko känner zonen och får veta skövlarens HP. Rösten försöker övertyga Kvark att skydda varelserna. Index känner zonen och får reda på den andra etterbestens stats. Kvark försöker svara på telepatin men misslyckas. Jony och Danko står över. Kvark blir telepatiskt lockad att skydda varelserna och en raggbest joins the fray. Index misslyckas med att känna zonen.
Kvark lyckas få kontakt. Han får veta att hon kallar sig för Hydran och hon vill ha hans hjälp. Jony misslyckas med att känna zonen. Danko känner zonen och får reda på raggbestens stats. Hydran vill att Kvark attackerar Kejsaren. Index slår för att manipulera Kejsaren och får reda på att de är ett tiotal plundrare. Kvark frågar varför han ska attackera Kejsaren och får till svar "Så han inte tar min mat". Kvark frågar var Hydran är och tar en poäng förvirring och får inget svar.
Jony avrättar Kejsaren och alla plundrare kommer fram. Danko skjuter en av dem till döds. Plundrarna börjar skjuta. Index blir bruten. De andras mutationer skyddar dem. Danko vårdar Index. Jony laddar om. Plundrarna laddar om. Index gömmer sig på andra sidan stenen. Kvark, Jony och Danko skjuter. 1½ plundrare faller. Plundrarna skjuter men allas mutationer skyddar dem. Striden fortsätter tills alla plundrarna är döda. När alla plundrarna är döda rör det sig borta vid norra stranden. Ytterligare sex varelser kommer fram. Efter dem kommer en mask-/larvliknande varelse med stor mun och en massa tänder fram. Den kravlar fram till kadavret och börjar mumsa. RP bestämmer att de klarar sig utan kadavret, och börjar istället loota Kejsaren och plundrarna. RP tar sig sedan tillbaka till Arken.
1. Norra Latin, av Sara Bergmark Elfgren. Jag har hört så otroligt mycket om den här boken. En del besvikelser och en del förälskelser. För min egen del är jag inte helt övertygad. Jag gillade uppbyggnaden av historien, innan magin introducerades och Erling inte var mycket mer än ett spöke på en gammal skola. Sen kändes det som om hela historien balanserade på ett hår från att totalt spåra ur. Riktigt bra böcker brukar få mig att känna något som påminner om ett adrenalinsug när all action i klimaxet sätter igång, men här var det väldigt lugnt. Just för att klimaxet i sig var väldigt lugnt. Jag gillade Tamar och såg mycket av mig själv i henne och Clea var en riktigt övertygande karaktär, men Tim kändes mest överdriven i sin karaktär som en tonåring dramaqueen med attitydproblem. Ingenting i boken överraskade, utom möjligtvis avslöjandet av vem Rut egentligen var. När jag väl satt och läste så ville jag bara läsa vidare, men när jag la ner boken för paus så kunde det ta dagar, t o m en vecka, innan jag plockade upp den igen. Den skapade inget sug efter mer. Den gjorde mig inte nyfiken på vad som skulle hända sen. Den hängde sig inte kvar i tanken efteråt.
2. Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo. When I finished Six of Crows I immediately ordered the sequel and I loved it! Even though there was no grand adventure type och thing happening in this book it was still enough action to keep me on my toes trying to figure out Kaz's schemes before they happened (I rarely succeeded). The book was an emotional rollercoaster. The highs from watching the schemes play out like expected and the lows from seeing the schemes averted when it becomes obvious that their enemies had anticipated their every move. This book was an amazing ride and I couldn't have asked for a better ending concerning Kaz and Inej. I couldn't have asked for a better ending overall, with just enough heartbreak but mostly happy ends all around.
3. Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo. I loved the Six of Crows duology so much that I went and got the original Grisha trilogy. This book didn't do much for me until the very end. I think I've been reading too many fantasy YA in a court-life setting recently. I used to think fantasy court-life was dazzling to read about, but in this book it mostly bored me, and I didn't like Alina much at all. Too mousy. And Mal was just out to misunderstand every situation and every word ever. So annoying. The Darkling was what kept me reading. Every scene he was in was brilliant and I loved his combined menace and sadness. The Darkling alone is what made me give this book three stars rather than two on Goodreads.
4. Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo. Things start to heat up and this book is slightly better than the previous one. Every scene with the Darkling is what gives this book life. But as much as I loved reading about the Darkling it was Nikolai who stole my heart. Alina doesn't deserve him. None of the characters in this book does. While the Darkling as a character is amazing imho his power gets a bit over the top in this book. It gives him an edge, but it also makes him virtually untouchable and seemingly unbeatable. I want to feel like the protagonists have a chance while still feeling the threat from the antagonist. It's a delicate balance and I feel like she tipped it over.
5. Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo. This book was amazing all the way until the ending. Alina finally stops being a mouse (thank you!!!), the Darkling's backstory is revealed along with Morozova's story and the truth about the amplifiers, and my heart broke for Nikolai. I expected an epic battle between armies with Alina and the Darkling at the centre. What I got was a complete anti-climax from the third amplifier and the Darkling's ultimate defeat. The final scenes and the epilogue were disappointments and not at all how I would've preferred the story to end. The ending is what made me give this book four stars rather than five on Goodreads.
Growing up with no brothers and no male relatives interested in games I didn't discover games until I was in my late teens/early twenties. So obviously there are a lot of classic that I've missed! One notable franchise that I've completely missed is The Legend of Zelda. So here are three Zelda games I played on my 3DS.
Ocarina of Time
Definitely the most popular games of them all and the one I've heard praised the most. It's definitely cute and the feel of the game was pretty straight-forward. Some puzzles required some time, but nothing that got me stuck. I did spend quite long in each dungeon, though. The very first dungeon inside the Deku Tree I stayed in for about one hour. Mainly because my hands aren't very good with controllers. Kb+m is much easier for me. The ocarina is very gimmicky, but such an integral part of the game that I couldn't imagine it without it. But fishing can just eff off in every game ever. It's such a pain! The game is very cute and quite enjoyable, but the dungeons get repetitive, even with the varying puzzles.
Ganondorf has a humongous nose.
And shut up, Navi!
A Link Between Worlds
I had a really hard time with this one right off the bat. Mostly because the game introduced moving platforms and blocking projectiles in several different directions in the very first dungeon and my clumsy controller hands struggled to keep up. But apart from this the dungeons are pretty straight-forward, although with seemingly more advanced puzzles than in Ocarina which made the later ones a real pain to get through. The story in this one has a better flow imo, because everything you do feels connected to the main story in a way Ocarina didn't. I really don't like the top-down view, though...However the mechanic of going inside walls is really cool :3 And the difference between Ocarina's "This is Navi and he's your personal fairy and he'll help you" versus LBW's "catch a fairy and put it in a bottle" is hilarious to me.
And Ganon... is a pig? O_o
Majora's Mask
This game stresses me out with the timer constantly on the screen xD This game is dark, and creepy, and the first part of the game is spent running around as a Deku rather than Link (well it *is* Link, but he's been transformed into a Deku). This is also a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, which in my book just means that Link just can catch a break! The ocarina plays a part in Majora's Mask as well, but now it seems even more gimmicky imo (although without the ocarina's time power the game would've ended within the first two hours). The mask system is pretty cool though!
The moon really creeps me out... I'll have nightmares about that moon...
And ofc Majora's weak spot is between the legs smh xD
After having played these three I think I must agree with the consensus (for once) that Ocarina of Time is the best one. At the same time I'm feeling like these games aren't really my thing. I enjoyed playing them, but they didn't wow me, and I can't pin-point why. RPGs and dungeon-delving are usually right up my alley. So yeah, I'm not gushing about these games but they were quite enjoyable and I'm happy they weren't 100+ hours games. I might give BotW a try one day! And I really needed this video to figure out how it's all connected:
The hype gets less for every chapter. Or is that just me? The hype train left without me when they announced that there wouldn't be a physical Collector's Edition of this chapter. A dragon statue would've been perfect beside my Molag Bal, Dwarven Colossus, and Mephala But ofc I still pre-ordered it! Now it's been a month since I finished the chapter, but here's a late post!
New class, new zone, new story and the return of a bunch of characters! I was pretty excited to get into it nonetheless. I immediately made a new character in the new class, necromancer, and started playing it. Got to say that while the necromancer has some pretty cool skills I didn't have as much fun playing it as I do playing templar or sorcerer. Imo necromancer was a pretty meh experience. However, it's a very versatile class (much like templar in that aspect) and a lot of people enjoyed it (and I got to admit that there are very few things as satisfying as summoning a flesh colossus on an enemy and have it pummel them to death).
My angry little necro
I enjoyed the story a lot more when playing through it on my templar main, but that could be because several of the characters were old friends and acquaintances that were all too happy to see me again :3
The story revolves around Abnur Tharn, former high chancellor to the emperor and one of the five companions with whom you do the mainquest. Cadwell also plays a big part, so it's one big reunion from the mainquest days :3 Abnur has accidentally let loose dragons in Elsweyr. Dragons that had previously been imprisoned and the two dungeons in the earlier DLC tells the story of how that happened. The chapter continues with how they're defeating the dragons and I assume the next story DLC will show how they're getting rid of them again.
The story starts pretty slowly like these things do but the last few quests are just epic battle upon epic battle and I loved the final showdown.
Dragon battles spawn in specific points on the map and they're basically this chapter's anchors, which also work like extra world bosses. These dragon battles aren't as much fun as the Skyrim ones though. I think everybody expected Skyrim dragons, but we got something different and I'm not entirely sure that I like them. But that can be due to the sheer amount of people playing through this zone at the same time I did, which usually meant you had to run like an idiot to get to the fight in time and when you got there practically manage to just get in a hit or two before the dragon was dead. Their HP just melted under the sheer amount of people attacking it at once. When I get back into ESO after the novelty has worn off the battles may be a lot more fun.
In every new zone there are side quests that catch my attention, sometimes more than the mainquest itself and in this case there were two. I really enjoyed The Stitches and the story there. Sereyne is so hilarious and a bit sad. Perfect combo! There's also the side quest where Raz show up again and we're shown a completely new side of him :3 A story/quest can't go wrong if Raz is in it ♥
Elsweyr was a fun adventure and I was thrilled to run around with Abnur again. My favourite out of the five companions. He's so delightfully sarcastic. And finding out about Cadwell's backstory didn't hurt. Elsweyr was pretty good overall, but neither Summerset nor Elsweyr have lived up to the standard that Morrowind set as the first chapter release.
