B's Blog

Brandon talks about video games and the video game industry.

[btendo]

Might be time to move….

I brought my blog to Tumblr thinking perhaps there would be some casual gaming community and haven’t found much. It’s a little hard to find a community of bloggers like there used to be in the 1UP.com days. Maybe I’m trying too hard to go back to those days in a world where it just might not be a thing anymore.

WordPress might be worth exploring. When researching recommendations I found a couple sites that suggested it has a large community. It’s when you start getting specific about wanting to find video game blogs and bloggers that the pool typically shrinks. Pretty sure I hopped on Tumblr way too late, and it may not have been blogger friendly to begin with.

So Tumblr-void, if you end up trying to find me and wanting to talk video games, I will make another post with a way to do that once I’ve come to a decision on where exactly I’m going. 💚

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Whatcha been playing?

I’ve been playing Destiny primarily. I didn’t actually care to look up the current level cap and stumbled on it yesterday. 😆 Turns out I’m very close to it being 1320 base currently. Caps at 1330 base with pinnacle drops. Iron Banner was fun as usual. I’ve discovered a new favorite auto-rifle, and solidified my distaste for sidearms. Considering getting with some clan mates soon for a raid. I used to raid in Destiny 1, but I have never tried raiding in Destiny 2. We’ll see if I commit to that.

I’m trying posting using my iPhone after sitting around wishing I owned a computer as fast as my phone. Finally decided to connect my Bluetooth keyboard to my phone and just go for it. The formatting using Tumblr seems pretty off on the phone but hopefully it’ll look ok when I’m done.

I’m playing through Super Mario 3D World for the first time, and I’m loving it. I’ve also started playing Monster Hunter Rise now that IB is over. It might be what I play for a bit. Also, Pokémon Go has grabbed my attention recently! With Zarude being an option I worked through the entire quest hoping to get Zarude for Sword. I was assuming I had missed the boat on getting signed up for a Zarude code. I even transferred it to Home but turns out you can’t move it from Home to any other game. So he’s stuck for now. 😕 I think I might get a code after all though tomorrow.

That’s all from me for now. Nothing happening in the industry that is inspiring me to talk about much lately. Still holding out for a new model of PS5 that isn’t ugly as sin. 😆

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Whatcha been playing?

I’ve taken a surprisingly long break from Destiny 2, only just now hopping back on to check out the latest season. Played two missions then was done for that night, but I’m considering coming back. The story seems very cool. In the meantime I got a few new Switch games and I’m excited to play those too. Been wrapping up my pokedexes in Pokemon Sword. I’m very close to having the DLC dex’s done. The other game that is on my mind is FFXIV. I really want to play it and get my character to max level one day, but for some reason lately I haven’t been compelled. I’m only level 17 at the moment, trying to make a paladin. 

In other news there have been some good moves made at Activision Blizzard. I hope they shake up management even further, maybe replace Kotick with a woman. After all this press I’m sure there are lots of eyes looking in Activision Blizzard’s direction now, so I hope that alone helps minimize the terrible behavior that brought this about in the first place. Beyond that I don’t have a lot more to say, you’ll find all the news you need on this story out there on ign.com and polygon.com. =) 

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My stance on the harassment of women at Activision Blizzard.

First off, I want to acknowledge that this kind of abuse is happening everywhere in every industry. I will always believe the victim. This one just happens to hit home personally for what I assume are obvious reasons if you know me:

I’ve dreamed of working in the video game industry since I graduated high school.

I’m trying to raise two girls in this messed up world.

I don’t have much of an audience so part of me has wondered what the point even is in saying anything just about every time something like this is brought to light. I really feel compelled to say something this time, so it is what it is. But in general, I know that not saying anything is part of what perpetuates this behavior. 

The State of California has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for discrimination. Here is an article with some highlights: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activision-blizzard-sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture

There are many detailed accounts of harassments and more at this particular video game company, and the representatives so far have doubled down on claiming the accounts in the lawsuit are false and out of context. https://twitter.com/Megan_Nicolett/status/1418605675790413834 This is not a good look at all. The culture at Activision Blizzard is clearly toxic and male centered. The only person who has denounced this behavior from the company so far has been the current president of the company, J. Allen Brack. https://gameworldobserver.com/2021/07/23/blizzard-president-j-allen-brack-renounces-bro-culture-and-canonizes-gloria-steinem-in-message-to-staff The same J. Allen Brack who responds to a woman suggesting they stop portraying their female characters in such scantily clad outfits in this video from 2010, by laughing at her and mocking her: https://twitter.com/chrisbratt/status/1418629194683125761 It just crushes me watching her eyes as some of what likely were her heroes straight-up laugh her away. Someone even took their own life after being the target of harassment by people at Activision Blizzard. https://twitter.com/Sabriality/status/1418007628383391745 This is insane and completely unacceptable!

I have always dreamed of somehow being a part of the video game industry and applied many times at Blizzard, Bungie, Nintendo and others. I can’t see myself pursuing this dream anymore. I wish I could have been there and taken the mic when that girl asked the leaders of Blizzard if they’d even consider dressing their female characters better, so that I could ask the same question and see what kind of reaction they gave a man. I bet they wouldn’t laugh me away. It’s such crap. What if my daughters end up as interested in the video game industry as I am? What am I going to tell them? People are dieing. 

The best thing I can do is speak up when I have the opportunity. Call people out when they behave this way toward women. Believe them! And in this particular case speak with my wallet. Until they clean house and figure this out, I won’t be spending any more on Blizzard products, that’s for certain. 

Thankfully there are many that agree with me currently protesting and canceling their subscriptions in World of Warcraft: https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1418352915371208708 Donating money to organizations that support women in tech. Excellent. 

I am eternally thankful that I work for such a wonderful division of state government that does not tolerate this behavior. My employer keeps diversity, equity, and inclusion topics at the top of their priorities and we have monthly talks on the subject. I hope Blizzard cleans up their act and starts down a road of healing and DEI talks as well. Their people deserve better.

No one deserves this kind of harassment and abuse. Women deserve a seat at the table. Shame on you Blizzard. Good lord.  I have no more words.

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Weekly ... lol

Well this blog didn’t turn out to be a weekly thing like I wanted it to be. Life got in the way and I simply forgot about the blog. My description has been updated accordingly to no longer claim to be “weekly.” =)

So Valve announced their latest hardware, the Steam Deck. A handheld device very similar to the Nintendo Switch that will play your entire library of Steam games. It will also allow you to install what you want on it and make it a gaming PC when connected to peripherals. What an awesome, affordable, handheld gaming PC! If there was anything Steam exclusive that I was interested in, I might have considered getting a Steam Deck. There isn’t anything on Steam that I can’t, or haven’t already, gotten a console version of. Even if there were said games on Steam, I probably would have invested in a gaming PC by now. Regardless, I love handheld systems and I’m happy for anyone out there that is stoked to get one of these Steam Decks. I think it’s a super cool option.

At just about the same time, the Nintendo Switch OLED model was announced. Another amazing handheld gaming machine! You can read the more detailed specs on the internet elsewhere, but in short the only improvements to the Switch hardware are that it features an OLED screen in handheld mode and the kick stand on the back is better. Docked it performs exactly the same as the original Nintendo Switch. I think anyone getting their first Switch should seriously consider getting the OLED model. 

Personally I’ve moved away from primarily playing Destiny 2. It’s currently the Solstice of Heroes event and that event in my opinion is one of the most grindy and boring events in Destiny. I just can’t bring myself to care right now when I have so many backlog games I’ve been wanting to give my attention. So probably until the end of August when this event ends, I’ll continue down my backlog path and just keep up on my clan’s Discord from time to time so I don’t get booted. =) 

What I have been playing has been Last of Us Part 2. I beat it and loved it. Quite the emotional roller coaster and thriller of a game. I considered playing it twice but it’s rare that I do that with any game that I complete. The next game I’m working on at the moment is Earthbound on SNES. I never played it as a kid and I’ve heard a lot of people adore it. So far so good, I think it has a great sense of humor and it does a little 4th wall breaking that you don’t see in many early video games. I hope I stick to it. Beyond that, I intend to get back into Final Fantasy XIV. I started a free service account since there is so much content and I don’t want to pay monthly for something I may not ever go beyond two expansions worth. Takes the pressure off of getting my moneys worth by playing every night as well.

Somewhere within the last year I realized we were paying more than we had to for Apple subscriptions piece meal. So I signed up for Apple One instead and ended up saving money monthly in the end. Now I have Apple Arcade and I’ve been exploring a lot there too. The big highlight is Cozy Grove for me. That game is wonderful. Grindstone is really fun too, I’ve played a ton of it.

I think this will cover it for now. Happy gaming!

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The endless backlog struggle.

Happy New Years folks!

So we all have that one game, right? That one game we return to all the time that sometimes keeps us from sticking to any new games. I don’t think there’s a problem with never finishing a particular game. I think that as long as you get what you wanted out of the game, then it was worth your time and money. For myself right now I’m trying to play other games than Destiny 2. It’s tough because I really like Destiny 2, but I’ve started Celeste and Persona 5. Now that I have started both of those, there are things drawing me back to Destiny 2. I guess in the end, as long as I’m enjoying my time with the game I’m playing then why do I care? I don’t know but it’s been on my mind lately!

At least this struggle has its pro’s, such as the fact that I didn’t rush to get Cyberpunk 2077 even though I’m very excited for it. I assumed I’d just play more Destiny and ignore Cyberpunk like so many other backlog items. But now I’m sitting here having not wasted the money on a broken game, and I’m thankful. So there’s that I suppose. =)

The one game I got for Christmas this year was Borderlands 3. I haven’t started it yet, but I will eventually! Once Cyberpunk 2077 comes out in an official PS5 version, I will finally be getting myself a PS5 and Cyberpunk. Until then, I’ll be waiting for a game to come out that I actually care about. There is nothing PS5 exclusive out right now that I care enough about to draw me into buying a PS5 just yet.

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What I’ve Been Playing

COVID-19 hasn’t ended ... but my college program has! I’ve graduated! =D

I now hold a Bachelor’s in Network Operations and Security. And I have that much more time for my family, and of course more time for video games. The one game I have kept up on throughout college is Destiny 2. I am still caught up but the latest event didn’t hold my interest from the beginning: Solstice of Heroes. That just means I can feel good about hitting other games, and my back log is still large.

I’ve started Horizon Zero Dawn and it is very cool. It handles story in the way I think most video games that leverage story heavily should, in that it reveals the story through the landscape and vague recordings of some kind left behind. As opposed to big blocks of text for example, or long-winded dialogues. So Horizon has been enjoyable. 

I’m also in the middle of Watchdogs 2. I loved the first one so that’s an easy old bike to hop on. I started Persona 5 but it hasn’t grabbed me yet. So then I jumped back into hacking Pokemon Red in the hopes of making legit Mews to transfer to Sword version. Inevitably it’ll be nice to have a few Mews ready to go for trade negotiations as I fill my pokedex.

As for more recent releases, on the Nintendo Switch the game Moon has finally come out in English for the first time. It’s a bit of an anti-hero game where you go around cleaning up after the typical hero who barges into other peoples’ houses and loots their homes. I’m excited to try it out.

Up and coming? I’m excited for Cyberpunk 2077, Watchdogs Legion, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Pikmin 3, and Super Mario 3D Land (from the Wii U and I never owned a Wii U. About time it came out on the Switch!). Destiny 2′s new DLC coming out in November will be amazing too.

I hope you all are staying safe and healthy. Take care.

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PS5 Event!

So Sony’s PS5 event was very fun! There are a number of games coming to the PS5 to be excited about, such as a new Ratchet and Clank, Horizon 2, and Hitman 3. I would have liked to see backwards compatibility as a feature but can’t win them all. I watched a few different recordings of the event and found IGN to be the best audio quality and least amount of commercial interruptions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrSseYU3cGM&t=19301s

The system design is pretty, and seems to be good for heat control. But it will match very little in my house. Probably will do well hidden behind our shelving unit haha. In any case, I’m definitely excited enough to be ready to get one, I just have to decide how much more of my existing backlog I want to go through first. And then there’s the matter of price that has not been announced yet. And if I am being honest, I was secretly hoping that Sony would reveal a console similar in design to the Switch with a dock-able tablet. I love that design.

I’m looking forward to seeing more!

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Summer Game Fest

If you haven’t noticed, a lot of gaming conventions have been cancelled due to COVID-19. It is a bummer, but many companies and industry people are doing wonderful things still. Summer Game Fest is one of them. It is being put on by Geoff Keighley of The Game Awards, and it has been real nice to get excited about the latest and greatest in the absence of E3 hype.

Check it out on Twitter @summergamefest and the website www.summergamefest.com.

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What I’ve been playing!

Hello folks! I don’t think I actually have any readers but writing feels good so here I am. That is reason enough to come back and contribute I think.

So I’ve fallen off of Destiny 2 again for a while now, since a few weeks before the Guardian Games started. I accomplished my goals in the game, the last of which was to get the 4th Horseman shotgun. The 4th Horseman was one of my favorite weapons from D1 so I was very excited to work on getting it. After that I worked on one of the Rasputin bunker rewards, but for the life of me I can’t actually remember what it was. I only remember it being a royal pain to achieve, and in the end was not that interested in what I got. Which informs why I can’t remember now. I’ve found the latest armor sets in the Eververse to be pretty ugly so I haven’t bothered with pursuing those. I love the Trials armor sets but I don’t have the drive to go for those either, plus I don’t really want to end up just looking like everyone else with how popular the sets are. 

So now that I’ve talked about what I am NOT playing maybe I should move on to the topic at hand. =) Haha, sorry about that. So I started playing Dragon Quest XI, which is a beautiful game and feels nostalgic to play. The mechanics of DQ have not changed a lot since DQ VIII, which may not have changed much from other installments. I only played DQ 1 all the way through, then jumped back into the series with DQ VIII when it first came out on PlayStation 2. With DQ XI they really went all out to cater to fans. They spent a lot of time making everything just right in the DQ world, the story is compelling, and the voice acting is spectacular. I decided to stop playing until I was ready to focus my gaming time solely on it because I’d really like to be immersed in it when I do. I ended up checking out Final Fantasy XIV during one of their free trial months at the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdowns. 

So after the first bout of free time I got with FF XIV I was not wholly convinced I wanted to take the plunge. But after the most recent one from a week ago, I got hooked. I found myself excited to play it and thinking about it while working on chores and such, which is always a good sign with me and my attention span. Ended up making a Lalafell soon-to-be paladin named Sir Bippy. Should be fun. =) I’ve only just gotten started, I think I’m level 10 gladiator at this point. 20 more gladiator levels and I can start the paladin class. (Sir Bippy pictured below)

Finally what I’m currently playing today is Watch Dogs 1. I’ve gotten through to starting Act IV, which I will begin tonight. I’m enjoying the story and really want to finish the game so I’m going to see it through. It’s going on a little longer than I would have liked but I’m close. (I looked it up haha.) A game where I’m a badass dude trying to rescue members of my family, gotta say it’s very much my jam. I also have Watch Dogs 2 in my PS4 library so I’ll have to explore what the jist of the story is and decide if I want to tackle it next. 

I’m focusing on my back log and still deciding what I’d like to play next. On my Nintendo Switch I have both Pokémon Sword and Dragon Quest XI waiting for me. I’m considering jumping into DQ XI. FF XIV will be distracting me from that though, as will other PS4 titles that I’ve been interested in playing. Including Elite Dangerous and Persona 5. Then of course I’ve been enjoying third person shooting so I’ve been entertaining the idea of Mass Effect Andromeda multiplayer and The Division 1 or 2. I never finished #1 but I may just jump to the sequel, I hear new Division 2 content is coming soon anyway. The other PS4 title I have been considering going back to is Anthem. All this to say I’m really unsure what I want to play next but man I feel bad I haven’t spent much time on my Switch since I finished Breath of the Wild. Oh well, it’s important to spend time on the game you are enjoying most. Who cares what it is right? Time enjoyed is not time wasted.

I think that’s a good, chewy update from me for now. If you’re reading this I hope you and yours are doing as well as you can be during these trying times. Take care! Happy gaming!

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A piece of art I ran across on Twitter the other day, it’s very good. https://twitter.com/mrmoncus/status/1260982249098485760?s=20

[btendo]

A short one.

I’m excited for the kids this year that will be experiencing Pokémon for the first time! Potentially on their new Nintendo Switch! Reminds me of the year I got Pokémon Red for Christmas, that was a magical one right there. Changed my gaming world.

[btendo]

03-09-2019

Hello folks!

Well the official announcement of the next generation of main-line Pokémon games has happened: later this Fall it’ll be Pokémon Sword and Shield!

These new games will be set in the Galar region, which appears to be a London themed area. It’ll be coming out exclusively to the Switch, which is a big deal because this will be the first time a main-line entry in the series has made it off the handheld system and onto a console proper. Nintendo and Game Freak are going to go all out on this one, and I can’t wait for it to come out! It’s the first time I’ve been undecided on who I want to start with after seeing the announced starters, I actually kind of like them all. It’ll be an easier decision once I see what their final evolutions will be.

Since my last post I played some Apex Legends. That is one hell of a game, and they really should have charged money for it because it is very well done. In general, I’m not a huge competitive game player but I’ll play this one from time to time I think. I love Pathfinder and intend to get good at him.

Another game that I’ve been playing since my last entry is Anthem. It is Bioware’s latest game, and it’s a bit of a looter-shooter chasing the Destiny model a little bit. I’m having a lot of fun with it, but it does have some game-crashing bugs going on so definitely enter at your own risk. There have been a few reports of PS4’s getting bricked after crashing but I don’t think it is happening very often. March 12th there is supposed to be a patch to correct the issue. But like I said, I’m having a lot of fun with it and so far I’ve been playing the Interceptor. As far as traditional role-playing classes go, the closest comparison I can make to the Interceptor is a rogue or melee class like a monk.

Regardless of your choice of Javelin (the armored suit you wear in the game) it feels like an Ironman simulator, and that’s a good thing. I wish they either wouldn’t limit how long you can be in flight before overheating or at least adjust it so that you can stay in flight longer. Having to land and cool off or dive through waterfalls can interrupt the amazing way it feels to fly in this game. But man the combat as an Interceptor feels like combat in the Batman Arkham games: I love it! Unfortunately I haven’t had enough time in the game to unlock any other Javelins yet but I will report back when I do.

A couple other games I’ve tried briefly are Titanfall 2 and World of Final Fantasy. They both have great introductions and have had incredible discounts in sales lately, Square Enix’s sale will be going on for another six days or so. I haven’t gotten past the intros of either though so I’ll have to revisit and write about them again later.

Lastly, I finally reached what used to be the max level (until last Tuesday) in Destiny 2. I also found all the armor I had been chasing, so I’m taking a break from it now to try new things. I love D2 so I’ll certainly return to it eventually, but Anthem is definitely drawing me back in every night. It’s nice to have something new to play. Speaking of new, I should be hearing new stuff coming out of GDC soon so I think I’ll probably have more news in my next entry. And with E3 starting to get talked about here and there, exciting things might be just around the corner!

Well I hope you all are having a good time with your latest games. Until next time, thanks for reading and happy escaping!

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02-15-2019

Hello there!

Yea it’s been a while, I’ve been getting my butt kicked by college. But right now I’m working on a paper for a Business of IT class I’m taking, and it got me in the mood to write. So here I am!

Things are getting exciting in the video game industry. A new year is bringing on new rumors of new hardware, and there have already been a couple bombshell games released. The Resident Evil 2 remake is apparently very, very good. Horror games aren’t my favorite so I generally avoid them, but I did play the original Resident Evil though Resident Evil 3 for as long as I could stand back in the day. But from what I understand, if you enjoy Resident Evil games you really shouldn’t sleep on this new remake.

Another great game that came out recently was Respawn’s Apex Legends. If you don’t know, Respawn is the team behind the Titanfall games and Apex is supposed to exist within the Titanfall universe. It’s a free to play battle royale game that I’ve heard feels real good to play and is extremely well polished. Right now you have to play in squads of 3 and the heroes you can play as all have some special abilities outside the usual run and gun formula. I downloaded it on my PS4 and will definitely try it out!

Nintendo recently had a Direct where they talked about games coming out soon. Here are a few things that were highlighted that I’m interested in: Deltarune by the makers of Undertale will be out on the Switch February 28th and will be free, so that’s one I’ll definitely check out. More details were shown on the new Fire Emblem Switch game, subtitled “Three Houses.” Dragon Quest Builders 2 on Switch is slated for July 12th and what looks like the best version of Dragon Quest XI will come out on the Switch this Fall. I’m stoked for both of those ones! Lastly, for those subscribed to Nintendo’s Online service Tetris 99 will be available this year for free. It looks like you have to play it online against 98 other players, kind of almost a battle royale version of Tetris I guess. I’ll have to try it out, I love me some Tetris and you can’t beat free. Oh! And god-damned Links Awakening remake coming to Switch! It’s one of my favorite LoZ games, so excited!

So for the tech-heads like me out there, some credible rumors from Resetera have come out. According to one of my favorite insiders: Arthur Gies of podcast Rebel FM, the next Xbox at least is said to have 16 GB of DDR6 with a bandwidth of 600-700 Gbps. That’s some new and fast graphics memory! The next Playstation is rumored to have about the same amount of memory but DDR5. Both the next Xbox and Playstation will likely have a bit of dedicated RAM to the OS as well, like they did this generation. Sony is targeting a $400 price point and Xbox is likely going to be more like $500 for their flagship system. They are talking about having a cheaper model though, codenamed Lockhart it will likely use a less powerful chipset of some kind and maybe have less memory too but that’s just conjecture on my part. Either way, previous rumors that it would need to be a streaming box can be forgotten, Lockhart will not be a streaming box. All next generation hardware is supposed to have their entire system on one chip, CPU and graphics processors alike. Man things change. The only other thing I’ve heard is that Nintendo likely has another Switch in the works, maybe a cheaper more compact model? I seriously have not heard much on the Nintendo front as far as hardware goes, but that’s typical since they often keep their information close. That’s the majority of the hardware rumors I’ve heard, we will likely see more soon though as GDC approaches.

In other news, a mint in packaging copy of the original Super Mario Bros on NES was sold for $100K recently. That’s pretty much the comic book equivalent of Action Comics #1 in the gaming world so I’m not surprised, but man I wish I had $100K free for other things right now… haha.

Well my gaming time when I get it lately has been late at night for about an hour at a time, and I’ve been spending it on comfort gaming i.e. Destiny 2. Still dreaming of one day making a career out of the industry, but in the meantime playing and writing about it scratches the itch well enough. Thanks for visiting my blog, and happy escaping!

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Destiny 2: I’m back. / Updates are going to get slow.

So I’m going to need to focus on my studies from here until March, updates to my blog will slow down. I wanted to be consistent on Tuesday updates but I may need to switch to weekends or skipping weeks. It’s not that I don’t have time to update, it’s that I haven’t had time to play much so I’m starting to lack content.

For now, enjoy Bungie’s latest trailer. As well as a video of me kicking some Servitor butt in a mission I probably shouldn’t have soloed. I’m definitely back to playing Destiny 2 now that I fully understand what I did wrong with the whole infusion thing that set me off. The new Solstice challenges are very fun. Maybe I’ll be able to get a group together to wrap it up this weekend, but it’ll be a busy weekend for me. It’s my birthday weekend, and more importantly my 1-year-old’s birthday today! 

Thanks for visiting! Happy escaping!

[btendo]

Wow! World of Warcraft released another expansion.

Hello, thank you for visiting my blog!

So this week yet another World of Warcraft expansion launched: Battle for Azeroth. I have only been following WoW at a very basic level since I only played it from launch to about 2007, but this expansion looks to be a pretty good one. The level cap is now 120 and as usual they allow you to advance one of your characters to a reasonable level (110 in this case) to get you started. Got to love those quality of life adjustments they have been making over the years. I’m seeing that they have new raids, new locations to explore, and some new versions of existing races that you can “recruit.” I’m assuming you can make new characters after you have unlocked them. I won’t personally be playing but I’m happy to see Blizzard still supporting their best franchises. I can’t wait to see what the new Diablo rumors turn out to be! My money is on Diablo 3 for the Switch and an announcement for Diablo 4.

The Nintendo Direct on the 8th was really fun! I’m definitely going to want this game this Christmas. There were all kinds of content announcements including assist trophies such as Shovel Knight and Klaptrap, and new playable characters including King K. Rool and SImon Belmont. No Waluigi yet though but my fingers are crossed. I like that crazy, purple, string-bean of a villain. The roster looks to be enormous. One other bit of Nintendo news I noticed is that Go Vacation was released on the Switch late July. It looks like the closest thing to Wii Sports I’ve seen in a while, maybe I’ll rent it if there is no demo. I did have fun with Wii Sports back in the day.

I have officially downloaded and installed both the demo for Octopath Traveler and the Paladins game to my Switch. But I still haven’t tried either of them out. It looks like Paladins is a lot like Overwatch. Typically I only ever play one or two games at once then move on to the next once I am finished. This combined with the season of life I’m in right now has made it easy for me to take on the mantra of “Only play what you are enjoying.” Well right now I’m enjoying Mario Kart and Destiny, and I’m also thinking of returning to Diablo 3. I did play a bit of Diablo 3 last night and man did I miss that game! The only real exception to this “play what you are enjoying” mantra is Pokemon; Ever since Red and Blue, I usually have been spending a little time on Pokemon each week. It’s just so easy, bright, and fun to play, and can be done in extremely short bursts or long grinds. Whatever works for me at any given moment.

Well it has been a fairly slow gaming week for me, but there were some interesting things that happened. Back to prepping for my next exam! Happy escaping!

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Destiny 2 and the News

Hello folks! Thank you for visiting my blog!

While I have been enjoying the heck out of No Man’s Sky, I often find myself thinking about Destiny 2. Destiny 1 was the game I wanted most when I got my Playstation 4. It quickly became my favorite online shooter, and Destiny 2 is no exception. When Destiny 1 was released in September of 2014, I had been a father for just about seven months and somehow still found time in the evenings to raid with my friends. I have to take a second to thank my wife for making the journey with me to what I think was central Washington (I might be remembering wrong) just to get the Playstation 4 in the first place. I remember that road trip very fondly, even what music we were listening to has stuck in my head from that excursion. (Kanye’s Yeezus album mostly, haha)

Well I haven’t played Destiny 2 in about three weeks or so, I got very frustrated trying to increase my Power Level. Once you reach 344 or higher it becomes a struggle even to bump up 1-3 levels if you don’t do any raiding. But it is possible to do, once a week via the Public Event milestones as well as other milestones that result in “Powerful” engrams. The reason I got frustrated with the game (frustrated enough to uninstall it from my PS4) is because I had completed my Public Event milestone and got a couple of exotics that if equipped would have bumped me up a couple Power Levels. The thing is, these weren’t as appealing as the equipment I already had. I have a couple favorite legendary weapons for example that I look for chances to beef up via infusion whenever I can. Without looking it up I assumed I could infuse a legendary with an exotic I didn’t want and end up with a legendary at whatever level the exotic was. It had held true legendary to legendary so I figured exotic to legendary would work the same if not better. This exotic weapon was I think 351 and my favorite legendary was 345 and after infusing, my legendary stayed at 345 and my time spent on that milestone was wasted. I still haven’t been able to find an explanation that matches what I experienced, but perhaps it has to do with base power levels. I don’t know, I still am not motivated yet to try again. That all said, I do look forward to the upcoming Forsaken content that will release September 4th. Hopefully it will improve the grind.

Beyond that over the past week we saw the sales stats announced by Nintendo that the NES Classic outsold all current gen systems for the month of June, so that was pretty cool to see. I have the SNES Classic and I’m hoping that the Nintendo Switch Online update this fall will bring some old games to my Switch instead of having another system to add to my already full entertainment center. So even though the NES Classic is pretty easy to find these days, I haven’t been motivated to make the purchase.

Other news that I care about includes the fact that Overcooked 2 came out! My wife and I loved Overcooked and have yet to play all the levels, but I definitely want the sequel. If you haven't played it, it is cheap and worth every penny. Another game starting with “over” came out with a new hero: Overwatch and Hammond the chubby hamster who operates a round, killer robot. (Hahahaha chubby hamster!) A surprise Nintendo Direct was announced for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It'll happen at 7 am PST on August 8th, could more challengers be announced? (Where is Waluigi???) Lastly: the developer behind Fortnite bought a whole slew of llama pinatas from a struggling, woman-owned pinata shop, saving her business. I thought that was pretty darn cool.

What I’ve been playing aside from No Man’s Sky has been Pokemon Go and the game of studying my butt off for college classes that I have to double down on due to time constraints. It’ll be worth it in the end and it helps that I enjoy studying the course material. Thanks for visiting my blog, and happy escaping!