Steam Games

I finished Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning today at 51 1/2 hours, making it one of the shorter RPGs I’ve finished. According to the Steam achievement, only 2% of the people who purchased this remake on Steam have killed the final boss as of today. Achievement%Destiny Defiant (final boss)2.0Hero of Mel Senshir (reached final continent)5.1Turning the Tide (completed the Adessa plot)7.1No Destiny, All Determination (midgame point)17.7Reborn (started the game)87.9 I’ve played the original twice before, but never finished it. From my Steam achievements on the original game, I can see that I got past the “No Destiny” point, and was into the desert area leading to Adessa when I stopped playing. Interestingly, according to Steam achievements, only 2% of the players of the original game reached the end – same percentage as in the remake. ...

Rathir and Mel Senshir are twin cities, on either side of a strait that separates the lands of mortals and Fae from the land of the Tuatha, fallen Fae who seek to destroy the mortal worlds. Mel Senshir holds back the evil horde, but just barely. Like Minas Tirith, everyone feels the fall of Mel Senshir is the will of Fate, and after the bulwark falls, the Tuatha will cross the strait to Renthir, and then their victory will be assured. ...

I’ve uncovered some unsettling truths about this game, or rather, the original version of it that I played when it came out in 2012, and then again a few years later in 2016. I was pretty sure I’d made it to near the end of the game in my first playthrough, and then had made it quite far in the second playthrough before again getting distracted by a new shiny. ...

This post today isn’t actually about Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. Mostly. This post is, how can I talk about Kingdoms of Amalur – and going forward, other things I might play? There’s a few things that are stopping me from being a content creator. For one, I have a slow internet connection. And according to the Twitch app, my video card is of poor quality, even though it’s of the current generation (though not a 3080). I don’t have a webcam any more, I often leave the keyboard to deal with RL stuff, I don’t feel like doing hair and makeup and I don’t like the way my voice sounds on video. ...

When I started Kingdom of Amalur: Re-Reckoning yesterday, though I haven’t played for six years, it all came rushing back. I immediately remembered why I’ve never actually finished the game – the aching loneliness of running an MMO by myself. I remember really wanting, back in the day, a version of EverQuest without other people, just me and a party of NPCs, killing stuff and camping camps. Games like KoA remind me that something like that would be really boring. ...

Banner of the Maid has been my constant gaming companion over the past several weeks. In short, Banner of the Maid takes place in an alternate fantasy version of the French Revolution. Napoleon has fended off a British incursion and is now in Italy fighting against an Austrian invasion. Almost all the important NPCs existed in our reality, but in the game reality, there are the Maids – heroes imbued with divine powers whose powers arise when France needs them. The first, most famous Maid was Jean D’Arc. With France consumed by revolution, new maids have arisen. ...

Yesterday, “Kingdoms of Amalur: The Re-Reckoning”, an update of 2012’s “Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning” was released. It’s a refresh of a game that seemed groundbreaking at the time, being a single-player experience that would familiarize its players with the world of the MMO at that time known as Project Copernicus. The story of Project Copernicus and its developers, 38 Studios, would fill books. Its failure left Kingdoms of Amalur in a weird spot: An MMO-ish single player RPG set in an MMO world that would never exist. While playing KoA, it’s easy to imagine other people crafting at the quest hubs, teaming up for the dungeons, and bringing the world to life. As a single player game, it plays like an MMO just after the servers come up. ...

I’ve looked and looked and can’t find out where Microsoft ever officially said that you would be able to find your house in its world-spanning flight simulator, but it sure as heck looks like every other review of the game mentions that. First, I have always loved flight simulators. I think I bought every edition of the original Flight Simulator; I even tried that F2P version where you flew a bushwhacker in Hawai’i, though I never felt connected enough to actually pay for better planes or other expansions. I don’t think many other people did, either. ...

I’m still so pumped from Wednesday’s game night. I just want to play more Mahjong. Luckily, FFXIV is always there to help with that need. I’m still a novice, an absolute beginner, so I sat down at the beginner board and the game gave me some AI opponents to play with. I have played on the intermediate board; I didn’t win any more, but it was nice to chat with people, and they would offer help when asked. But I think for now it’s enough to just play against the AI and try to build up some skill. ...

Last night was a good night to be superheroing in DC Universe Online. It was a Thursday, the day all the weekly quests reset. And this week is double Aether week. That’s a very good thing. There are two currencies specific to the current episode, Wonderverse. Splintered Coins are used to buy normal gear, but a secondary currency, Empyrean Aether, is used (along with Splintered Coins) to buy Elite gear. ...