RPG

As I promised Terra in my last post, I would be playing Drakkhen for the Super Nintendo. It’s 3D! It has dragons! You get to create your own party! And dragons! Well, there may be a couple bad eggs in the bushel. I really knew nothing about this game. Although I was a huge Atari ST fan at the time and played a lot of RPGs on it, I missed it on its original platform (and I hear it was better there, too, though graphically it looks pretty similar). Still, it’s better late than never. I started hearing bits and pieces about it on retro RPG YouTube channels, and when I saw it at the Hartford RetroWorld Expo, at a reasonable price, I took the plunge and bought it. ...

For a game where AIs rule the world, I thought it would be fun to ask an AI to interview me about my experiences playing “Stray”…

I asked OpenAI’s GPT-3 to generate 31 different videogame ideas, one for each day of Blaugust, each dealing in some way with that particular day of the month. Here’s its idea for August 3rd: “Three Frow”. In this tactical strategy sports game, you must recruit and play the best basketball players from around the world in order to win the NBA championship. Cheering crowds will be your constant companion on your rise to the top. These aren’t your ordinary crowds, though — if you make a bad play, expect the fans to boo you mercilessly, or even throw things at you. Make a great play or a stunning assist, though, and the fans may just carry you off the court on their shoulders. ...

Jusssst about 51 hours, though I went back in later and finished some side quests. Is this worth picking up for your Nintendo 64? Almost every review, maybe EVERY review, of recent tactical battler Symphony of War, mentioned that it was carrying a torch first lit many, many years ago by the Ogre Battle series, and seen seldom since. Tactics battlers aren’t rare at all, but those where you build an army comprised of many separate squads which you can direct but battle on their own, are rare. ...

I was looking for a game to keep me occupied during the long holiday weekend, and my partner handed me an old RPG from the original PlayStation days – Dark Stone. It didn’t run super well on my usual PSX emulator, so I was forced to try something different – RetroArch, now on Steam. Dark Stone questing Dark Stone is an action RPG. A necromancer, Draak, has resurrected himself as a dragon and is terrorizing the world. Seven crystals scattered across seven dungeons in seven lands are required to reform the Time Stone and allow you to put a final end to him. You take on the role of one of eight different classes (male and female versions of warrior, mage, thief and priest), go out, explore, hunt, get levels and gear, and then take on a dungeon. ...

I’ve finished the main plot to Elden Ring, and gotten one of the six endings. Now it’s time to go back and get my revenge on all the things I didn’t get to along the way. Oh yeah, Millicent is back! Non-Elden Ringers won’t know Millicent. Hers is one of the longest quests in the game. It begins with you finding her suffering from the Scarlet Rot and missing an arm. A nearby sorcerer (who might be a bug in disguise, who knows) calls her his daughter, the last of many, and tells of something that can stall the spread of the disease. You then meet her now and again as you help her discover who she really is, and her connection to the demigod Melania. ...

About three weeks ago, I finished the required fights up to the final fight. I then spent the time between then and now leveling and exploring all the parts I’d missed to that point, always trying to tune my build enough to push it over the edge. That plan was doomed to fail. I was about to quit this game. I told my partner today that I would finish Elden Ring this weekend, or put it away. I have other games I want to play. And then against all odds, I finished. ...

I am on the final boss fight for Elden Ring, learning how to get good enough against Radagon to still have enough resources left over for the Elden Beast. I think it’s one of the best games I’ve played in quite awhile, but I do have some issues with it. Spoilers below. Watching my boyfriend play Elden Ring, I was so very excited to get a chance to play it for myself, once he was done with it. I play a lot of action RPGs – Scarlet Nexus, Horizon Forbidden West, and so on. These aren’t “Souls”-like games that string together elaborate and punishing boss fights with a thin plot, but they do require being generally aware of what’s going on. ...

Those “in the know” remember how much I’m struggling in Bloodborne and Elden Ring, even as I finish up the last of the main campaigns in Wildermyth. Those, though, are all primarily solo games. When I want to hang with friends, though, there’s only two choices: DCUO, and Valheim. And Team Spode mate Calrain made a whole new world and invited me in to go through the game a second time as we wait for Mistlands to re-appear. ...

It’s a story, or maybe a comic. Some friends gather together to save their town. Well, a couple of them don’t really get along. A couple get along really well – REALLY well. And then bad stuff happens, but some good stuff, too. Time passes and people get old, but there’s always a new danger and new people to step up to face it. It’s… everything I ever wanted in an RPG. ...