#I have a sizable backlog of games to work through.

[hedgeyart]

My new years resolution was to play more point and click adventure games. I'm aiming for one per month. Since I've finished my first two now, I thought it would be fun to draw the characters from those games hanging out together! 😄 Now let's see if I can keep it up for another ten months.

Close-ups under the cut:

[lostinfantasies38]

15 for whatever romance you want

@jellysharkbat seems to be the popular choice! I hope you guys like what I came up with. This Cullistair is set in the same universe as my young!cullistair long fic, in case you were wondering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the Commander tried to keep his thoughts from straying.  As he stared at the pile of missives and scouts reports, the stoic blonde tried valiantly to stay focused on his work. 

Over a month.  Five weeks and four days they’d been separated.  

It wasn’t supposed to be so long.  

A routine sweep of one of the nearby towns that reported darkspawn digging to the surface.  Likely drawn by the activity aboveground as the villagers resumed their mining operations since the closing of the Breach.

He hadn’t received word either, which was unlike Alistair and could only mean he and the other Wardens were underground, battling the horrors.  Sending a quick prayer to the Maker to protect the auburn-haired warrior and his team, Cullen returned to work with a heavy heart.  

The day passed uneventfully, allowing him to make a sizable dent in the backlog covering his desk.  As the sun began its descent along the ridge of the mountains, the blonde watched from the ramparts with a sigh and mentally tallied another day to their separation.

It wasn’t the longest they’d been apart.  Maker!  Cullen fervently hoped he would never have to endure another twelve years without his lover.  The pain of such a long estrangement left its cruel mark on both of them and made even short periods of absence nigh unbearable.

With his chest constricting in unspoken anguish, the Commander let his feet carry him to the tavern.  He would need an ale (or three) to quiet his mind enough to sleep tonight.  Normally, he entered through the top floor entrance on the battlements and took the interior stairs, but tonight he wound his way steadily down the exterior stone steps towards the central courtyard.

Distantly the blonde registered the frantic clop of hooves on the main bridge of the fortress and an authoritative voice demanding someone take his horse’s reins.  Cullen’s ears pricked at the familiar inflection and his heart sped up in response.  

Could it be?  

“Cullen!  Where are you?”

The Commander launched over the last few steps, weaving erratically through the crowd.  He practically bowled into the ruggedly handsome Warden crowning the lower staircase into the yard.  With shouts of joy the men embraced, uncaring of the audience in the busy evening when most of the castle residents were heading to the tavern to unwind.  Faces buried in the crook of each other’s necks, they held onto one another like an anchor, while murmuring softly against skin.  Promises and apologies and grateful pleas for their reunion.

They separated enough to press their foreheads together and shared gentle smiles.  “I’m glad you’re home safe.  I love you, you know,” Cullen murmured.

Alistair’s smile widened and his eyes twinkled mischievously, loudly declaring.  “I’m sorry, dear, I didn’t catch that last part.”

Maker, save him, he could never resist this man and his infectious humor.  Not since they were boys in the abbey.  Not as grown men in positions of authority, either.     

The Commander’s smile widened as his lover teased him.  Stepping out of the embrace, he quirked a perfect eyebrow and walked backwards through the crowd, leading the Warden through the parting throng.  

Alistair followed with a wicked smirk and cupped a hand behind his ear.  “What was that, you said?  I couldn’t hear you over all the noise.”

The blonde laughed, boisterous and free, surprising many of the spectators loitering in the courtyard.  Amber eyes flashed merrily at their little game.  Only Alistair could bring the old Cullen to the surface, revealing the playful, lighthearted person he was meant to be with the man he loved at his side.  

Directly in the center of the yard now, in front of the tavern door, Cullen’s grin rivaled the noonday sun in the orange glow of dampened daylight.  With a deep breath, he held the hazel gaze he so adored and bellowed.  

“I love you, you know!  Always have - always will.”  

Alistair’s steps faltered slightly at his pronouncement, momentarily surprised to see Cullen, his Cullen, so openly.  But in two steps he closed the distance between them and slanted his mouth over the Commander’s in front of the Maker and half the Inquisition.  The blonde’s shoulders shook with mirth as they kissed and the Warden’s heart overflowed with pure, unbridled love for the man in his arms.  

Leaning out of the embrace, golden brown and amber locked as he breathed reverently in reply.  “And I love you, every moment of every day.  Especially when you make public declarations in front of your entire organization.”

The Commander’s ears pinked slightly, but he remained carefree as he responded.  “I have no regrets because I meant every word and I don’t give a damn who knows.  But I am anxious to get back to our quarters, where I fully intend to lock everyone out for the night.”

Gripping his hand, the auburn-haired warrior led the blonde up the side stairwell with matching grins spanning their handsome features.  The affection they held for one another plain to see and charming all present as they stole to their tower.    

[howtohero]

Howtohero Announcements and Master Post

Today we reached our landmark 100th post so in honor of that we’ve got a couple of big announcements! 

First of all, Howtohero is on twitter now! Follow us at https://twitter.com/guidetoheroics and say hi!

Second of all, Howtohero is also on Patreon now! I’m still in college and working two jobs so any and all pledges would be super appreciated! Don’t worry, even if you don’t back me on Patreon I still love you and you’ll continue to get two posts a week here on Tuesdays and Thursdays but Patrons who pledge $1/month will get access to them early, basically as soon as I finish writing them (though I reserve the right to make some tweaks or changes to the final post that goes up here). Additionally $5/month backers will get access to extra stuff that I never would’ve written had people not been paying me. This could mean bios about Howtohero characters, short stories, or anything else Howtohero related that I feel like writing. So check it out!

Third of all, I now have a rather sizable archive of posts and I’m sure many of you weren’t here from the beginning and may have missed some of those earlier posts. So to remedy this I’m going to start reblogging older posts on off-days (Mondays and Wednesdays) which means for many of you, you’ll be seeing new (to you) Howtohero content four days a week!

For those of you who want to get a head start or who want to go through the backlog at your own pace, I’ve compiled this handy master list of all of the topics we’ve covered under the break.

Gaining Powers: Where we discuss optimal ways to acquire superpowers including genetic science, radioactive animals and blackmailing your local village mystic.

Weird Factor: Where we discuss the effect the emergence of a superpowered being has on the rest of the world (get ready for Sasquatches, alien invasions, and werewolves

Codenames: Where we tackles the ins and outs of what makes a good codename and what makes an easy-to-spell codename.

Costumes: Where we offer fashion tips to aspiring superheroes and warn against the (literal) pitfalls of wearing a cape.

Secret Identity: Where we stress the importance of having and maintaining a secret identity (not for the last time).

Hideouts: Where we lay out exactly why having a place where the press or your fans or supervillains can’t find you and teach you a lot about the US postal system and the priciness of space bases.

Team-Ups: Where we discuss how best to approach another hero for a team-up and give a brief overview about why having a teenage sidekick is a horrible idea.

Nemeses: Where we warn you about the people in your life who will most likely become your arch-nemesis.

Vehicles: Where we give you tips about how to pimp your ride.

Law Enforcement: Where we teach you how to perform the tight-rope act of collaborating with the police while being an illegal vigilante.

Doctors: Where we teach you how to best find someone to tend to your super-wounds on the super-down low.

Theme Music: Where we inform you on how to select the best style of music for you.

Using Your Powers in Your Secret Identity: Where we talk about the dangers of using your powers in the office and the importance of knowing what LARP stands for.

Lame Superpowers: How to make the best out of having lame superpowers and a thirst for justice.

Superhero/Villain Team-Ups: Where we teach you how to get along with the guy who you arrested for “holding a busload of nuns hostage just last week,” for the greater good.

Utility Belts: A handy list of useful items to keep in your utility belt.

Evil Clones: How to know if somebody is an evil clone and how to fight your own. Bonus: How to run a press conference.

Starter-Villains: How to get yourself an easy win on your first night on the job.

Dealing With Defeat: How to cope with losing a fight. Bonus: How to prank call a supervillain.

Artifacts and Talismans: How to rob a tomb and use what you find to fight crime.

Support-Squads: Where we discuss the importance of surrounding yourself with people who have useful skills and who you trust.

Animal Sidekicks: Where we discuss the usefulness of fighting crime alongside a highly trained animal.

Revealing Your Secret Identity: Where we talk about the best ways to reveal your secret identity for maximum dramatic effect.

Weaknesses: Where we lay out the ins and outs of dealing with and overcoming your weaknesses.

Finding a Mentor: Where we describe what to look for in a superhero mentor.

Legacy Heroes: Where we talk about the different kinds of people who carry on a superhero’s legacy.

Banter: Where we talk about smack talk.

Alien Invasions: Where we discuss how to game an alien invasion so that you wind up with a sweet alien cruiser.

Teams: Where we talk about when a world needs superhero teams and how to decide who gets the biggest bedroom in the team headquarters.

Pop Culture Parodies: How to use the fact that people are going to depict you in various ways across various media to your advantage.

State-Sponsored Heroes: A guide to superheroes who work for the government.

Roommates: How to find a good roommate when you’re a secret superhero. (Bonus: A sick idea for a tv show).

Giants: Where we discuss how to fight giant monsters, giant robots and generally how we should react to all manner of giant creatures.

Faking Your Death: A guide to when, why and how you should fake your own death (before someone else does it for you!)

Reformed Villains: Where we talk about how to deal with supervillains who are tired of being the bad guys.

Freak Meteorological Phenomenon: Where we discuss a superhero’s role when the weather gets all weird.

Zombies: Where we discuss different kinds of zombies and how best to fight them.

Collateral Damage: How to minimize damage in a fight.

Innate Superpowers: Where we talk about the lucky few who are born with superpowers and how to determine if you’re one of them. Bonus: A list of reasons why one might think they already have superpowers.

Lairs: A guide to identifying potential supervillain lairs and how to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

Heads of State: How to respond when a superhuman becomes the leader of a country.

Contact Info: Where we discuss how to let people get in contact with you.

Receiving the Key to the City: Where we discuss the dos and don’ts of speech, dress and combat readiness when you receive the key to the city.

Losing Your Powers: How to still kick butt even without your powers.

Being the Only Powerless Person on Your team: How to earn respect and make a place for yourself as a powerless superhero.

Mad Scientists: Where we discuss the dangers mad scientists pose and how best to fight them. Bonus: Fun mad scientist games!

Changing Your Codename: An in-depth list of reasons for why a superhero might want (or need) to change their name.

Child Sidekicks: Where we lay out everything you’ll need to know before you take on a child sidekick.

Photographs: Where we reveal the dangers of selfies.

Not Being Asked to Join a Team: Learn how to cope with rejection in a healthy manner by sabotaging those who succeeded where you couldn’t.

Going to Hell: Where we tell you to go to Hell.

Government Experiments: So you’ve just discovered you’re a government experiment, what do you do next?

Someone Stealing Your Look: How to deal with someone cribbing your style.

Public Identity Heroes: A detailed look at some of the most arrogant people in the superhero community.

Monsters Who Buck Conventional Stereotypes: Don’t judge a book by its cover and don’t judge a monster by it’s ten-inch fangs and obsidian eyes.

Choosing a Team: How to pick the right superhero team for you.

Souvenirs: The reason people become superheroes, the stuff. Bonus: Learn how to spell the word souvenir!

Respecting Other’s People Turf: Where we teach you all to live in peaceful harmony and coexistence with each other. Just stay in your city.

Faking an Injury: Maintaining a secret identity would be a lot easier if you stopped walking into walls and getting shot.

Being the Chosen One: So just because some guy wrote a limerick on a cave wall 8,000 years ago now I have to fight a demon?

Coming Back From the Dead: It’s just like waking up! Except you’re in a box six feet beneath the ground.

Fireman Friends: Learn all about the superhero community’s hottest allies.

Museums: Learn how to respectfully bask in your own glory.

Villain Monologues: Bad guys like to talk, a lot. So we’ve compiled a list of fun ways to pass that time.

The Press: How to avoid having a break down when you become breaking news.

Getting Sick: Sometimes superheroes get sick (gross) and that’s ok!

Fighting Someone You Can’t See: Just because someone is invisible doesn’t mean they can escape justice. (Justice is blind so really everyone’s invisible to her as it is.)

Astronomical Power Sources: How to protect your planetary power patron.

Facing Your Fears: Where we teach you how to confront your fears and punch the monster living in your closet right in the face!

Mind Swaps: What to do when someone takes your body for a joyride.

Comics: These tales become a lot less astonishing when a man with two evil goatees makes it rain slugs every other day.

Revenge-Crazed Bad Guys: Superheroes make a lot of enemies, here’s how to avoid getting revenged.

Pets: Pets are a (super) man’s best friend, both here and in space.

Prioritizing: Where we teach you all how to go where you’re needed and make an impassioned plea to the super-genius community.

Young Immortals: Living forever is awesome!

Old Immortals: Hey wait I’m not so sure about this anymore...

Snacking: You’re bound to get hungry when you spend all your nights zip-lining on power lines and doing backflips on top of moving busses.

Rogue’s Gallery: The complete guide to all the villainous archetypes we hate to love. (Wait what?)

Poses: How to (literally) look good while you do good.

Heroic Sacrifices: Don’t do them!

How to Disguise Yourself as a Human When You are in Fact a Sentient Android: Where we teach you how to disguise yourself as a human when you are in fact a sentient android.

Super Senses: Where we go through the pros and cons to having super senses.

Underwater Adventures: It is the official view of Howtohero that anything that comes out of the ocean is a monstrous abomination that should be left down there.

Kidnapping: Supervillains are a lonely lot. They also have poor social skills. So maybe learn a little bit about hostage negotiations.

Tests: Life is a test so we’ll teach how to pass this one hyper-specific portion of it (you’re on your own for the short answer section).

Being a Role Model: How to (figuratively) look good while you do good.

Flying Safely: Where we teach you how to fly without being a threat menace to society.

Gestalt Consciousness: Taking teamwork to the next level.

Being Beloved by All: “Being loved by everybody isn’t as great as it sounds,” says a man who is not loved by everybody.

Actors: The only people more dramatic than supervillains.

The Multiverse: Where we teach you about the vast wonders of the multiverse, making you feel more like an insignificant speck than you already did.

Living Locations: Ever feel like your house or your office or the freestyle rapping sinkhole in your backyard are alive? They just might be!

Being an Ambassador to an Alien Planet: Where we make sure you don’t embarrass Earth or plunge us into a generations-spanning space war.

Sleeping: A well-rested superhero is a productive superhero.

Howtohero: The Musical!: Our network mandated very special musical episode!

Shrinking: Where we teach you to crush your enemies beneath your heel like the insignificant pests they are.

Time Travel: Where we detail all the best ways to wipe yourself from existence.

Plus the first three installments of our growing list of excuses to duck out of social gatherings to do superhero stuff alphabetically by job:

A: Accordion Player-Author

B: Babysitter-Butler

C: Cable Guy-Cymbal Player

[cocolinears]

Alisons, Aubrieta, Bloodroots, Camelia, Gladiolus, Hellebore, Hyacinth, Touch Me Not, Transvaal Daisy, Tropical White Morning Glory

Alisons: Sexuality?

I am asexual, and very much on the sex repulsed end of that spectrum as far as it goes for me personally lmfao

I also believe in and use the split attraction model! I don’t know if there’s a specific term for my particular romantic orientation but in that way I am attracted to women and my fellow nonbinary pals. Basically I just don’t have any interest in men!

Aubrieta: Favorite drink?

I’m just going to assume this is referencing alcoholic drinks... I don’t drink very often at all but when I do 99% of the time I’m a Rum & Coke (I prefer white rum) or Midori Sour person! I mostly like fruity or sweet drinks in general since I don’t actually like the taste of alcohol lmfao

Bloodroots: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I actually have to laugh about this because when I was a young child (in other words back when I was still forced into having a prepared answer to this question) I always used to say I wanted to be a veterinarian... the reason it’s funny to me is that I am squeamish as fuck and a ball of anxiety that would never have made it doing that

Camelia: If you could visit anywhere, where would you want to go?

I really really want to visit Japan. It was a sort of passive goal of mine to do so before I turned 30 but it really doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen now since I literally have 1 year from today to do it...

I’ve also wanted to visit the UK for a long time too. Both of them are pretty cost prohibitive due to airfare prices (in normal times that is) and I would get along okay in Japan but at least in the UK I’d be able to speak the language fluently and read everything

Gladiolus: What is something you hope to do in the next year or two?

M O V E.

I need to move. I wanted to do it this year but who knows if that will be possible now. I am in the same area of rural Ohio that I have lived in my entire life, which is populated with bigoted people. As a member of the LGBT community it’s not the best environment to be in

Also the internet connectivity is horrible as you may have heard me say before lmfao

Hellebore: How do you show affection?

I am definitely an Acts of Service kind of person. I especially love that feeling when I can use information someone’s told me but the person has forgotten they told me/hasn’t expected me to remember. Watching that moment of joy and realization feeds my soul

Hyacinth: What do you like to do in your free time?

I play lots of video games! Lately I’ve been on Animal Crossing New Horizons but before I got my Switch I was almost exclusively playing PS4 games. I have quite a backlog but yet I still keep acquiring more games. It’s a problem honestly 😂

If I’m not gaming I’m writing though, whether it’s copying down a fragment that has hit me out of nowhere or I’ve sat down to get a sizable chunk done.

Touch-Me-Not: How do you feel about your current job?

I work at a big box hardware store, and I unload the trucks that come in and stock merchandise. The job itself I really enjoy for the most part! I spent the first 6 years of my working life doing direct customer service jobs, both retail and foodservice ones. I’d been trying to get into a non customer facing job since the beginning, so it’s really ideal. 

In November we got a new boss and he is a micromanaging dickhead so my enthusiasm has admittedly dampened a bit between then and now but I’m pushing through! I’m hoping when I move and transfer locations that I will have a better draw as far as that goes lmfao

Transvaal Daisy: What’s your favorite item of clothing?

I have three things that come to mind. The gray henley I got for my Crowley cosplay, the 3/4 sleeve baseball shirt I have left over from the time I cosplayed Lance from Voltron with my friends, and a hoodie I bought from a Japanese online shop called Super Lovers years ago. It’s black and it has a white musical notes pattern on it!

Tropical White Morning Glory: Describe your aesthetic.

Y’all are gonna think I’m being funny when I say this, but I can do it in one word.

That word is Crowley.

His modern times look in particular is just so me and that’s why I love it so much!

[origami-goblin]

Perfect Imperfection - GM Preparation 

—

 The first time I went backpacking, the planning process was full of worry, doubt, and circumstantial preparation. Would I have enough food to cover the journey? Was I ready to trudge through the brush in a torrential downpour? Could I even carry this much for any extended period of time? Not only was I essentially a greenhorn to backpacking, but my lack of experience meant I didn’t have a clue which of my worries were rational and which ones weren’t. 

After preparing a checklist that was a conglomerate of several sources, it was clear that I simply had too many items. Too much weight. Even worse, I hadn’t even factored in the weight of my meals and sustenance for several days of hiking. I didn’t have any choice; I’d have to leave some things behind and strip down my pack to the bare essentials. Mowgli would be proud. 

Extra clothes? Gone. Flashlight? Swapped for a 1oz headlamp. Sleeping pad? I’d have to do without. By cutting out the extra chaff and non-essential components, I was able to bring the total pack weight down substantially and completed the week-long trek. 

Relax - I haven’t abandoned my Gamemastery blog in favor of The Backpacker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This short story is merely the vessel I’m using to propel us into a greater discussion about GM preparation and knowing when to put down the pen and be content with the planning you’ve done. That backpacking trip taught me an important lesson about planning that carries beyond tabletop RPGs, but I will do my best to stay focused on that singular point of view. 

On a recent episode of Cannon Fodder, a weekly recap and behind-the-scenes look at The Glass Cannon Podcast, resident GM Troy Lavallee made a comment about being incredibly nervous and anxious at the beginning of each session, taking as much time as possible to prepare for the players. He goes on to say, “I just want it to be the best episode it can be every single week.” 

Taken by itself, this quote can be a bit misleading. Let me explain. As a GM, we are laden with a sizable chunk of the preparation. Enemy statblocks, maps, character voices, setting descriptions, rules knowledge...the list goes on and on. Running a pre-published adventure can knock down some of the prep time considerably, but in he case of a homebrew campaign, the work can be seemingly endless. We may feel the need to make everything PERFECT. That mindset, however, can easily get us into trouble. Perfection is impossible to achieve and if we set that as our only standard for whether or not a campaign is worth our time, we will be sorely disappointed. 

Too much preparation is nearly as bad as not enough. Tailoring the world to cater to your players’ every whim is difficult enough, but if you write out a complex plot with multiple levels of intrigue, red herrings, and suspense, and fail to leave any room for the creative agency of your players, that’s essentially railroading. Tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons are a collaborative storytelling experience that must involve the players alongside the GM. 

What happens if the players take a path completely detriment to your story? What if they miss an essentially connection with an NPC that takes the story in a completely different direction than the one you intended? Will you force that same story so that your preparation won’t go to waste? Instead, have a loose framework of where you think the story is going to go. Let the details come out of the play. Their ideas of how to solve problems and approach situations can easily be better than anything you could come up with anyways! Prepare ahead enough so that you aren’t caught off guard, but not so far as to risk forfeiting your efforts. 

Back to Troy’s quote. The important takeaway isn’t that he’s striving for perfection; it’s that he holds the DESIRE for perfection. Having a GM that cares about the players and the story that much has a passion that can’t be faked into existence. He wants to prepare so that everyone has a good time, and if the session isn’t fun it isn’t because he didn’t prepare enough. Once the game is no longer fun it will come to an end. Having the fire inside you to want to put in the time preparing to facilitate collaborative storytelling - that’s the key character trait that all GMs should have. 

The nervousness and anxiety before a session isn’t caused by the fear of not reaching perfection. It shows that the GM CARES enough about the campaign that they just want the players to be just as invested as they are. Experiencing some level of anxiety is completely normal. I get it all the time! Just like my backpacking excursion, I don’t want to leave anything out. Special abilities, interesting bits of dialogue, meaningful character development - of it’s fun i just don’t want to forget to include it. 

If you’re a new GM waiting for your very first session, don’t let that fear paralyze you. Everybody has started somewhere and everybody has made mistakes. Each session is a learning experience and you’ll get better with every subsequent session. And, hopefully, you’ll always get at least a little bit nervous with the excitement of the secrets and enjoyment that your players are on the verge of uncovering. 

After that first backpacking trip, the preparation became easier. My checklist was whittled down so that I already knew I wouldn’t have to cut as much equipment. I saved time and worried less. It became a science. Now, as I look at my jumbled scraps of notes and half-formed ideas floating around in my mind, I realize that my GMing isn’t a science. Not even close. But you know what? I’m okay with that. I prepare myself for fun foremost!  

If you haven’t been enlightened yet, please check out The Glass Cannon Podcast. They produce a high-quality episode every week of their Pathfinder campaign through Paizo’s Giantslayer Adventure Path. It’s seriously too-notch, and I’ll be writing a complete primer/review in the future. In the meantime, there’s over a hundred episodes of backlog for you to sink your teeth into! 

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/im-playing-now-far-cry-4-zelda-wind-waker-sports-champions/

What I'm Playing Now: Far Cry 4, Zelda Wind Waker and Sports Champions

This week, I dove into Far Cry 4, exercised my mind with Brain Age (I know, I’m about ten years behind on this one), started The Wind Waker HD, and played my first PlayStation Move game in Sports Champions. Let’s take a look at what I’m playing now! Far Cry 4 My backlog is rather extensive, and with an abundance of new titles releasing in the coming months, it goes without saying that I need to be efficient in choosing which games to play, to manage my time and have the most possible fun (for as much as I’d like to, restarting Fallout 4 with a focus on melee wouldn’t make much sense at the moment; there are just too many other games to play). However, Far Cry 4 wasn’t among these games—those which I hoped to clear from my backlog ASAP. I purchased the Kyrat Edition some time ago for $30, and until the realization that I’ll detail next hit me, I didn’t really plan to play it anytime soon. As I was choosing my next game, though, I noticed something odd:  a sizable stockpile of new Assassin’s Creed titles waiting to be played. AC 3, 4, and Unity were all purchased for next to nothing, and it hasn’t slipped my attention that Syndicate is rapidly dropping in cost. Also, another new title is coming out sometime next year! Ubisoft’s affinity for releasing yearly installments and my affinity for good gaming deals has created quite the conundrum—one that may never quite be repaired (the odds of me playing all four of these AC games before the next title’s release are close to zero). With Far Cry: Primal plummeting in price as well, and history indicating that Ubisoft won’t delay in crafting another entry, I realized I didn’t want to find myself in the same situation with another series—or at the very least, I didn’t want to find myself in a situation that was this bad with another series. So, somewhat begrudgingly, I began Far Cry 4 on the PlayStation 4. My first impression was that the game looks technically impressive, in terms of its graphics, and that Ubisoft has dedicated quite a bit of newfound energy to developing the story and character of this entry. Both impressions were true. From the enemies to the animals and even the aerial views, Far Cry 4’s graphics are beautiful. In terms of adding personality to the game, the characters speak for themselves (two hippy stoners trapped in Kyrat and occupying your parent’s home, the main dictator antagonist, a gun-toting warlord-turned-priest with a knack for righteous justice, a surprisingly funny and interesting radio host, etc.). The player choices found in the game also add to this personality, as completely different main-story paths can also be chosen from. Furthermore, even relatively minuscule details—like some one-line item descriptions—earned a chuckle from me. The lush landscapes and never-ending supply of exotic animals—especially elephants, which can be rode and used to trample enemies—are also of a very high quality. Moreover, the numerous vehicles, main quests, side quests, capture missions, and the sheer amount of things to do in the game are impressive—for new players, that is. For those of us who have played previous entries, the laundry list of tasks to complete in Far Cry 4 will be an annoyance more than anything else. Climbing up and liberating radio towers to change their propaganda frequency to a pro-democracy message is all well and good, but I did so in Far Cry 3 (and something similar in 2, if I remember correctly). The same can be said of the races and outpost missions! Even the involved healing procedures, where the character removes a bullet from his body, puts out a limb that has caught fire, snaps a finger back into place, or performs another healing action based upon the specific damage incurred is getting old! It was appealing when I saw it for the first time in Far Cry 2, cool in Far Cry 3, but now, it’s just a bit worn out. Therein lies the problem with Ubisoft’s quick-fire release schedule: they continually come-up with an exciting concept, revolutionize it (Far Cry 1 to Far Cry 2 saw massive improvements, as did Assassins Creed 1 to Assassins Creed 2) and then replicate this revolutionized product with minor variations through each new release. For as intriguing as the healing system is, it first made its debut in 2008—nearly a decade ago! This point is further illustrated in Far Cry Primal. It took me about an hour to find that the animals were the coolest part of Far Cry 4—throwing bait (it helps that your character is equipped with the launching power of an MLB pitcher) and watching as a ravenous predator attacks your enemies is awesome, as is riding elephants and trampling all who stand in your path. This unique, albeit relatively minor in terms of size, bit of creativity appealed to other players as well, and Ubisoft in-turn developed an entire game around the theme in Primal. The point is that, if Ubisoft delayed releases and focused on further innovating titles, their games wouldn’t be stockpiling in my collection. While it’s true that I don’t represent the whole of their sales community, it’s important to note that I’ve been playing Ubisoft’s games for years now; new players will be in the same boat as I am in no time at all. The long-term implications of this development style aren’t purely financial. Sure, Rock Band and Guitar Hero were beat to death, but by then, Activision had made boatloads of money. Call of Duty sales are continually slumping, but once again, the profits are already there. The real long-term implications of this quick-pace development style are simple: their games will be played because they are technically sound, but they won’t make history. When Rockstar releases a GTA title (or any other game), Naughty Dog creates games like The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, or Nintendo launches a new Legend of Zelda or Smash Bros entry, for instance, they are able to make history, capture the attention of the entire gaming industry, and still turn a massive profit. Brain Age While I’ve played a lot of DS games, I haven’t quite experienced everything the system has to offer—mainly because I focus primarily on consoles. Brain Age is one of the DS’s most notable titles, and because it’s been sitting in my collection for well over a year since I bought it for fifty cents at a yard sale, I figured I’d give it a go (sound reasoning, right?). I’ll keep this brief, as I’m sure you don’t want to hear too much about it, but this is an awesome game! Admittedly, I thought it was purely a collection of mind-bending mini games before playing. While these mini-games are present (and very well made), I’m finding a lot of use in the title’s one hundred Sudoku puzzles. Performing one per day is a lot of fun, and they make me wish I’d enjoyed Brain Age a while back. I’ll keep my eye out for a cheap copy of the sequel. Sports Champions I bought a PS Move bundle from an FYE store for 75% off, bringing the cost down to about fifteen dollars. I’ve wanted to try Move for a long time, and with two new games as well, I thought the bundle was worth it for the price. Sports Champions is another one of those titles that I imagine you’re not interested in hearing too much about, so I’ll keep this brief. In fact, I’m not even that interested in playing it—while it’s technically sound and well-made, I think the lack of another player (the bundle only came with one controller) and my Wii Sports days have burned me out on motion-controlled sports video games. I really wanted to comment on the Ping Pong portion of Sports Champions. While I breezed through the opposition in the title’s other sports (and had fun doing so), I can’t seem to find much success at all in table tennis. To be fair, I suck at Ping Pong in real life, but the way the CPU players return my serves and hits repeatedly seems to be a bit much! Has anyone else had the same experience? Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Finally, I began The Wind Waker HD on the Wii U (or more specifically, my brother did). While I only played for about twenty minutes and watched for an hour or so, I was reminded of what makes the game so incredibly special—this is a great example of a title that truly deserved to be remastered. The HD graphics look spectacular (the pigeons on the side of the telescope your sister gives you at the beginning really made this clear right before the landscapes and characters did), the gamepad works impressively well (in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been an outspoken proponent of the gamepad for a while—I thoroughly enjoy playing with it), and the game had aged outstandingly overall. Now, if only the fun I’ve had with the Wind Waker HD (and will have when I play it myself) didn’t remind me of Breath of the Wild’s delay! Next week, I’ll dive into one of the many downloadable games I have on the PS4 from Sony’s numerous sales, as well as a new title altogether (retail). I should be finished with Far Cry 4 soon, and I’ll record my final impressions of that too. Until next week!

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