Category Archives: Columns
What’s Gus Playing – The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine
Which Witcher is Witchier than the Witches of the the Witcher? ~
Lloyd Sabin, 9 July 2018
there are new creatures to slay, dungeons to explore, armor to wear, and the main story itself is excellent
The Witcher 3 is second only to Skyrim as my favorite action RPG, probably of all time. Having completed the main story line and Hearts of Stone, that leaves only Blood & Wine left for me to enjoy…which makes me kind of depressed. Guess I should enjoy it, relish it, take it into my arms and tell it I love it. Well I did a few days ago when I took my first tentative steps in to the Duchy of Toussaint. This area of the game is as big as some other action RPGs in their entirety, and is more than a little similar to how I imagine Mediterranean France to look.
And of course it’s very Witchery…there are new creatures to slay, dungeons to explore, armor to wear, and the main story itself (I am only a few hours in) is excellent. However I have to say that the balancing of Blood & Wine is not good…there are amped up enemies everywhere and I had to turn the difficulty down many times to advance. The worst example of this is a tiny side story mission called Extreme Cosplay.
What’s Gus Playing: Total War: Warhammer 2 – Tomb Kings Campaign
The Magnificent Munchkin of Martial Mayhem Meanders Mischievously ~
Lloyd Sabin, 2 July 2018
In this Tomb Kings campaign, the majority of the lore is brand new to me and strikes me as quite dark and bizarre.
Damn it’s hot outside. As I write this it’s almost 100 degrees just beyond my window. I can’t bear the real heat out there anymore today so what better faction to play in Total War: Warhammer 2 than the one set in the brutal wastelands of Warhammer’s Great Desert and the Land of the Dead? None…absolutely none!
In this Tomb Kings campaign, the majority of the lore is brand new to me and strikes me as quite dark and bizarre. For a few turns I think that maybe I made a mistake and should just go and play something else until the campaign sinks its sharp, bony fingers in to the soft gaming part of my brain and I become hooked.
Tasked with finding five Books of Nagash to make my Tomb King faction unbeatable, I find myself getting drawn in to the game, which plays equal parts strategy game and adventure + exploration game. It is similar to the original Total War: Warhammer (which I played and came close to not losing as Norsca) but with more options and more varied story paths. There’s a lot about the Tomb Kings that is quite bizarre to my n00b gaming eyes, but I have grown to appreciate their undead, desert combing ways instead of being freaked out by them…mostly.
What’s Gus Playing? Assassin’s Creed – Origins, part 2
Today, a different kind of “Origins” as Gus takes us back to the desert ~
Lloyd Sabin, 25 June 2018
Still smarting from a harsh and quick defeat as Nabatea in Rome 2 Total War, I returned to the warm bosom of Alexandria in Assassin’s Creed: Origins. I am currently at Level 13, and have just cracked open the game world by killing the first in a series of other assassin’s who tried to kill my wife, Aya.
Progression in this game is effortless, almost to fault…mind you that the difficulty level is adjustable. Players get experience points for just discovering locations, in addition to more difficult tasks like completing side quests and advancing the main plot line and completing quests. The controls can occasionally be slightly wonky but this is offset by the beautiful set pieces and visuals, all accessible to the player.
If you have any interest in the ancient world of Rome, Greece or Egypt you will love Origins. And if you don’t, Origins may kindle that interest. My continuing advance through the game world of is below.
After a few hours of introductions, the player can gain access to ancient Alexandria, where the game really begins to shine.
What’s Gus Playing – The Shortest Rome 2 Total War Campaign – Nabatea
The Dwarf of the Desert delivers dangerous deeds and derring-do ~
Lloyd Sabin, 11 June 2018
Sometimes you got it, sometimes you just don’t.
I chose to play as Nabatea because the idea of armored camel cataphracts charging through the desert really tickled my pickle
The Total War series is one of my favorites and has been since Shogun was released all those years ago. Fast forward to 2018 and I could not wait to play a faction from the Rome 2 Emperor’s Edition DLC – the Desert Kingdoms. There are four to choose from, including the Kush and Nabatea (think modern Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia).
In doing some basic research on each, I chose to play as Nabatea because the idea of armored camel cataphracts charging through the desert really tickled my pickle. The campaign was rated as ‘Hard’ however, and even though that typically scares me off, I took my chances. Taking the plunge, I charged in to Nabatea circa 272 BC, and was psyched to get my first camel cataphract unit. It would be glorious.
Or it would be one of the more ignominious defeats in my TW history. I have had some lightning fast victories, mind you…I won as the Egyptians in the Medieval 2 TW Crusades campaign in under 25 turns! But this Nabatea playthrough was going to be the opposite of that.
All that said, I feel compelled to tell you that Rome 2, some 17 patches and many years after release, plays, runs and looks fantastic now. It really is a totally new game from the earlier versions. If you were frightened away by the nightmarish launch, it is worth it’s price now and goes on sale every so often.
Beware though that ‘hard’ means what it says here…there’s no messing around. So, let my ignominy be a lesson for you.
‘I am Nabatea.’ And I can’t wait for my first unit of shiny camel cataphracts. It’s going to be great.
What’s Gus Playing? Assassin’s Creed – Origins, part 1
When is “too much” actually “not enough”? ~
Lloyd Sabin, 4 June 2018
I love me some AssCreed. I’ve been playing the series since the first game appeared on PC 10+ years ago. Through the years my love has waxed and waned – I loved the series installments set in Crusader-era Jerusalem, very much enjoyed the installments set in Renaissance Italy, never played AssCreed: Unity, and absolutely loved AssCreed: Black Flag and its arcade portrayal of 18th century naval warfare set in the New World (mostly the Hudson River Valley and the middle Atlantic). And I loved AssCreed: Syndicate, set in 19th century, industrial revolution era London. I’ve even bought a few of the platform spin-off games, AssCreed: Russia and AssCreed: China…but still haven’t fired them up yet. I will soon. Most of all I have always enjoyed conjugating the title to AssCreed…it is the gift that keeps on giving and always makes me giggle.
Most of all I have always enjoyed conjugating the title to AssCreed…it is the gift that keeps on giving and always makes me giggle.
It took me some time to pick up AssCreed: Origins, mostly because of the ancient Egyptian setting. That is, until I learned that it was set in roughly 50 BC, during the waning days of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Hellenistic Egypt, with the Romans slowly encroaching, and not in the distant Old Kingdom era.
And so with my new found interest in Greek, Roman and ancient history, I lurked on Steam until Origins went on sale and got it at half price a few months ago, and just started playing literally yesterday in between bouts of Field of Glory 2 and a new campaign of Rome 2: Total War. I have about an hour and half invested so far.
