"Wall of Text crit for over 9000" It was Super Effective

I haven't kept to my promise of posting regularly, and for that I will apologies. I literally haven't really had the time to sit and write something. The time is now 12:09 AM and I am struggling to sleep due to one reason or another so thought, what better time to post on my blog!

I made a post back in October which was basically an update on where I have been, how I was doing and what to expect for the future, this was mainly because I was getting quite a few messages from people wondering where I was, and why I had not been as active as I normally am, whether it be on Steam or my blog itself.

This is going to end up being a mix of "the boring personal stuff" and end with a couple of reviews of games I have been playing recently.

I last updated about finally being diagnosed with depression. Whilst I have come to terms with this now, it is something which I have been suffering from since my adolescent years. I have come to terms with my illness and while I am still ashamed of it, I've accepted it. If you break your leg, you'll get sympathy from all quarters throughout the time you have your cast on - even though the initial pain has long subsided. If you have depression, it's far more difficult to open up about, as you don't necessarily have the outward signs on show.

One of the most frustrating things for me to deal is when people give out the old "what do you have to be depressed about" line - as if because you have a good job, a partner that you love, that you somehow negate your right to feel down. Personally I don't feel down all the time. I have times when I couldn't be happier. Most of those involve spending with with my girlfriend, who I love and adore more than anything else in this world, yet I know how it must make her feel to see me suddenly go from happy to down in her company. That's the cruel thing about depression, it doesn't just harm you - it harms those closest to you as well. It isn't the fault of the person I'm with, or the things that I'm doing if I suddenly feel down. Just because I might be feeling sad, it isn't necessarily because of you.

When I was younger, I faced a traumatic experience, rather than face up to the problem then, I buried deep, so deep I never really thought about it. About twelve months ago I started to see a therapist, due to struggling coming to terms with a breakdown of a past relationship, whilst the time with my therapist has allowed me to overcome this pain, it unearthed alot of my problems relate back to my experience when I was younger. Due to my life falling apart around me at the time, and couple that with negative thoughts already in my head, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Said disaster nearly came earlier this year. One day after work, I went straight to my room. I just began to cry, my head was going into overdrive with ideas and concepts. I closed my room door behind me and for one moment I had a brief spell of clarity. I composed myself, went downstairs and collected every tablet I could lay my hands on. I quietly slipped out the house and walked about half a mile to a local field. I used to play in this field when I was younger. No one came here now. I took a handful of the pills in my hand and swallowed them in one ago. As I sat and watched the vehicles go by on the road in the distance, I had a real moment of clarity. What was I doing? Why am I letting everything win? I stuck my fingers down my throat and regurgitated as much as I could and headed for the local walk in centre, from that moment on I vowed never to let it win. People who have hurt me in the past, or the demons in my brain.

I realize that to many that know me personally, some of the things above may be quiet surprising. I have never spoken openly about certain aspects of my battles before, and know that many won't know how to react. For me, just treat me the same you would normally. Just feeling like I'm wanted and that people do care can sometimes be enough. To the people that have had to put up with my dark moods, and in particular, Annie who is an ever present rock for me, thank you for being there. It means more than I can put into words. I'll probably always be battling these demons, but with the help of those around me, I know I can survive.

Something a little more cheery for me to say, is that just after Christmas, Annie and myself are moving in together, and I have never been looking forward to something as much as this in my whole life. I can't wait to wake up to her every single morning and go to sleep next to her every night.

-----

For the people that actually managed to make it through to this point, I will give a few quick reviews on some of the games I have been playing. Sadly I don't have any screenshots as I have been playing with a controller due to traveling and haven't figured out how to bind the screenshot button to it yet


//N.P.P.D.RUSH// - The milk of Ultra violet

 //N.P.P.D. RUSH is one crazy acid trip that I really wasn't sure was ever going to end. The game is one meaty bullet-hell gauntlet. Although the actual game has some crippling bugs, you can just about finish the goal in the allotted time.

The first major bug is that the time you get to complete your task of freeing people, actually starts before you start the game, it starts the timer on the menu screen, which is horrifying that this somehow got passed basic QA.

Game play is simple, but very very hard to master, essentially driving around on what I would assume to be a motorbike saving people while dealing with hoard and hoards of enemies. This game is soul-destroying hard and it took a lot of off-line play for me to finally get to the end by pure luck.

There are far better rogue like and bullet-hell games out there, this one just doesn't cut it for me.


10,000,000

This is a highly addictive game. A very fast paced match-three puzzle/action/rpg. Match three swords/staves to deal damage to enemies as you run along to your exit, collect gold, wood and experience to build better equipment and learn new skills.

It will have you rage quitting and then moments late, you find yourself oddly compelled to open it up again and continue where you finished off.

The graphics style is pretty neat, you don't really play this sort of game for the graphics though, the fast paced music keeps the momentum going as well. There is next to zero re playability however, once you escape, you won't want to carry on playing, as you will have already full upgraded your castle, armour and abilities anyway. Yes you can keep trying to beat your high score, but that's just not my thing.

Most people will probably have this in their library from a bundle or maybe just for farming trading cards, but if you want a pick up and play game will keep you playing for hours on hours, 10,000,000 is really worth a shot.


Evil Quest

Evil Quest was a purchase I made not expecting too much from it, however after just completing it, it was well worth the ride. It's a nice change to play as the bad guy and want to take over and destroy the world for once. This classic SNES type RPG game did everything right for me. It doesn't take itself too seriously, I mean, c'mon, you have to kill God....

Towards the end of the game, I pretty much ripped through any enemies in one shot, you can collect some pretty overpowered spells, and if you are like me, and stacked Intellect to get a higher mana pool, you could simply AOE through most zones, mopping up the experience as you went.

The game is actually pretty simple. As long as you read the story, you won't find yourself wondering where to go next as it is quite clearly set out for you. There isn't any side quests to complete, however there are a number of achievements you work towards.

I would highly recommend this game if you are looking for something a little different and only want to spend £1,60, you can't go wrong with this five hour long title.

Child of Light

Brilliant little turn based RPG Final Fantasy'esk game. I had been sitting on this game for a number of months since purchasing in the sale. I had often thought the graphics would not suite me, but they really are enchanting once you start playing.

The colorful scenery, water effects, and lighting makes this a very pretty 2D game. I really enjoyed the story. It wasn't too short, and wasn't too long, which some games sometime seem to suffer from. I wasn't too keen on the fact you don't really have a "quest log" to view all of your side quests, they all seem to get jumbled up in your item inventory, why, i have no idea?

The combat system in very simple. Two of your party members fight up to three enemies at any one time. You can switch members around in the midst of combat so you can always try and get the advantage over the enemy.

This game is really an enjoyment play through. 100% worth the price tag of £11,99, so if you can get it cheaper in a sale, you have yourself a huge bargain!

Bound By Flame

So, I'll start out by saying there is no way this game is worth the £29,99 price tag that it has currently - at most it should be £20 and even that could be said to be pushing it.

The graphics look pretty good to be honest, yes you may need quite a beefy rig to play them on full, but they are well worth it. The actual game play represents a classic Action Game, consisting all of the usual, heavy attacks, blocks, swipe attacks, as well as your magic abilities. The combat system can feel a little clunky to begin with, but once you work out the timings on when to block and parry attacks, it's OK.

I would say the main story is a little short for the price tag. I finished the game in just under fourteen hours. I would highly recommend you finish the majority of the side missions as to get a few levels advantage over the story, as some of the end bosses are quite challenging.

That being said, the bosses in Bound by Flame have a very Dark Souls'esk feel to them. You have to work out the best strategy to take them down, often resulting in a number of failed attempts before it finally clicks.

All in all, this is a pretty good game, but I would wait until sale season starts before you pick it up since it is certainly not worth the full price tag.


------

Thank you if you made it this far through this long post. Although I said last time I was going to try and post more, I will try even harder to post more regularly. I have a few ideas that I would like to try out in the future that should make my reviews a little more interesting than just a few paragraphs, so stay tuned.

Signing out,
Tom

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - Completed

After almost a month of playing through Borderlands The Pre Sequel, I have finally finished it in just under twenty hours of gameplay. As huge fan of the Borderlands series after putting sixty hours into Borderlands 1 and over a hundred hours into Borderlands 2 I was very excited to see where the series was heading.

The game as a whole is very good. If you like the Borderlands games, you will like this, it's basically more of the same. The graphics look identical to number two, but that's not a bad thing since the cartoony style suits the game.  Pretty much all the gameplay mechanics are the same, apart from having to keep an eye on an oxygen level which can get a little tedious at times but you get used to it eventually.

You will be able to experience a new type of weapon in the form of Lasers. Personally I wasn't a huge fan, you can't beat a shotgun blast to the face if you ask me.  There are plenty of side quests to keep you busy as well as a pretty interesting story line that follows the story of Jack.

As with most Borderlands games, I will expect a boat-load of DLC to be released for this title which will keep the replay ability and longevity of this game running into the same amount of play time as its predecessors

I can't say the game offers ground-breakingly different when compared to Borderlands 2 however. So if you are on the fence whether this game is worth it, try 2 first as it'll probably be cheaper and see how you fair on that.

Update on meeeeeeeeee :3

So, I haven't updated my blog in a couple of weeks. I also haven't been gaming much at all since I last updated. I had just been getting quite a few messages from people asking where I was, and asking whether I was OK. So this is a little update post on my life right now.

Just before my last post I had started seeing a girl, I was very cautious about entering a new relationship as I wasn't sure whether I was ready or not after previous experience. I have to say, after being with this girl for over two months now, I am the happiest I have felt in a very very long time. I made it clear at the beginning of our relationship that I am carrying a lot of baggage, and I opened up to her about things that I never told anyone before. She's exactly what I've been looking for.

A couple of months ago, I was also diagnosed with severe depression. I had been taking medication that started to make me feel better after a couple of week of horrendous up and down moods. I made the mistake a few weeks ago of stopping taking them, I knew at the time that this was a stupid thing to do, but for some reason I carried on not taking them. Take it from me, do not ever do this. I didn't feel like me at all. I hit rock bottom again and I struggled to pull myself out of it. Now I am back on my tablets I am starting to feel like my self again. Even though I still have moments of panic and anxiety, I am thankful to have someone in my life who supports me and reassures me that everything is going to be alright.

At the beginning of September I went on holiday with my family to Florida. I had been looking forward to the trip for the whole year. Even though I still had a wonderful time, I couldn't help but feel sad at times when I remembered things I did there with my ex.

Now I am back home, and me and Annie have been practically inseparable. We are going to be living together after Christmas, and I cannot wait. I have never wanted these types of things before, she makes me want them. I cannot wait to live with her.

Due to  being extremley busy traveling with Annie and work, I have not had much time for gaming, but when I have had time, I have been playing Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Not very far into it yet but I am really enjoying it so far.

I hope to be able to post another update soon but I really appreciate all of the messages you guys have been sending me.

Kind regards,
Tom

Blackguards - Completed

Blackguards was an interesting playthrough, coming off the back of a similar run through The Banner Saga a few weeks ago, I was looking forward to playing through another turn based role playing game, however this sadly wasn't on the same level as The Banner Saga, mainly because that was such a fantastic game, anyway...

Blackguards looks really sleek, some really impressive graphics and story line included here. The game length is just about right and keeps you guessing right to the end. However there is an extremely high learning curve to keep you on your toes. I struggled to keep up with the leveling and progress of the enemies and had to revert to a walkthrough for the best way to defeat some quests as they were just ridiculously hard.

There can probably be quite a bit of replay ability here thanks to the variety of different ways you can play your character. A small tip would be not to pick archer as your class on your first play through, I did and I found myself getting overwhelmed with small enemies in the early parts of the game which made it very displeasing.

Character's stats are based heavily on D&D style rules which the nerds among us will absolutely love. Like I said however, this turn based game isn't as good as Banner Saga, however it is still a decent pickup for about twenty hours of game play (at least).

BattleBlock Theater - Completed

I had heard good things about BattleBlock Theater so picked it up in the previous summer sale for next to nothing - I had high expectations for it due to the praise it had received from online reviewers and YouTube playthroughs, and I was not let down.

The game is a 2D cartoon art style platformer, like  many other platformers out there such as SuperMeatBoy, it will have you smashing your head against the desk with anger due to the amount of times you fail at one specific jump only to realize you had been doing it wrong the whole time.

This is probably one of the longer platformers of it's type, the solo play through of the story took me a little over seven hours, this was on normal mode also. There is a never ending supply of user made content through the Steam-workshop, as well as a hard mode included for the main story too.

One of the most attractive features about BattleBlock Theater is that you can play local Co-Op, a feature that these games often skip over.

I absolutely loved the cinematic in between each stage as well, the dialog had me in stitches the whole time.

I wouldn't recommend doing what I did and powering through this game in 2 sessions as you will end up wanting to scream the walls down, but you should definitely pick t his game up, even when it's not on sale its a huge bargain for the amount of content and giggles you will get out of it.

The Banner Saga - Completed

After my Assassin's Creed binge last week, I took a bit of a break to wind down a tad. I started playing Banner Saga a few days ago however - I wasn't sure what to expect from it, the screenshots looked more like a point and click adventure, a genre which I normally don't enjoy as much - thankfully I was wrong.

The Banner Saga is heavy role playing game where you face numerous scenarios throughout the story, each decision you make will impact the outcome and general feel of the game.

The story goes extremely deep into Viking saga and history, which if you are interested in that sort of thing, this will already be a winner for you. The devs have done a very good job at making you feel you are part of the caravan and are right there in the midst of it all.

The game does start out quite slow, but as you get past the first chapter, it picks up pace and you keep wanting more.

The actual game play is a turn-based strategy basis. Again strategy is not normally one of my favorite genres but The Banner Saga does a very good job at introducing all the elements and features of the game at a slow but reasonable pace for you to get used to them.  By the end of the game you'll be able to blast through your turns without thinking at all, very simple (which is a good thing in my eyes).

Graphic wise, the 2D art is beautiful. It looks as if every scene has been hand drawn. Length of the game is just right - a full playthrough for me took about seven and a half hours, and this was with picking up quite a few achievements along the way.

I highly recommend The Banner Sage as it will be a welcome addition to your library if you give it a chance.

Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry - Completed

The final Assassins Creed game of the marathon and the series. Freedom Cry is actually a standalone game of Blackflag era. Although I wasn't a huge fan of Blackflag, this one did end up with me wanting more at the end.

The main character, Adewalé, who also played a part in Blackflag is one of the most bad-ass characters I've played, not just in Assassin's Creed, but gaming as a whole. The is built like a tank, and won't take any crap from anybody. Proper bad ass.

The story is very DLC style length, and leaves you wanting more after you complete the main mission. There is still plenty of side quests, challenges and hidden treasures to find once you finish it, so for a standalone game, the quantity of gameplay is actually rather impressive.

Graphics wise, very impressive. Built on the same engine as Blackflag, you will not find your self disappointed at the visual side of this title.

I would highly recommend this game. If you are unsure about purchasing Blackflag, this is probably your best starting point as the gameplay is exactly the same, almost like a long demo. As a stand alone as well, this is a very well put together game that you will certainly get a lot of enjoyment out of.

Assassin's Creed Liberation - Completed

The Assassin's Creed marathon continues. This time it's Liberation, a story set in the same time era as Assassin's Creed 3, you don't need to have played number 3 to understand the story, it's completely stand alone.

The game was initially released as an exclusive to the PlayStation Vita, but was released on Steam earlier this year renamed Assassin's Creed Liberation HD. Sadly the graphics are anything but HD, you can definitely tell that this is a port from a console since the graphical options are next to none.

I failed to follow the story after reaching the halfway point, but the game play is pretty much as you'd expect from a Assassin's Creed game, the earlier stages are actually quite challenging, but once you get your hands on the whip, taking out swarms of enemies becomes as easy as taking candy from a baby.

This is another that you'll need to play with a controller to fully get to grasps with, but the controls are simple enough to pick up once you start playing.

Although this game is good, it is definitely the worst in the series, poor graphics, and the difficult to follow story line really drag it down. I would only recommend you playing this if you are huge fan of the series or have nothing else to play and want to fill ten hours.

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - Completed

Aaaaaaaaaaaand more Assassin's Creed. Due to the crappy whether this weekend, I hibernated inside and finished this game over three days. #nerdout.

I feel like this game tried to be something apart from an Assassin's Creed title. If it was anything other than an Assassin's Creed named game, it would be a very good pirate sim, but because it comes with the name and reputation that the series carries, it some times falls down.  The actual regular normal "on foot" gameplay techniques are a huge improvement over the predecessors. The combat seemed flawless and you can really wrack up some cool looking combos.

Being a pirate game, I would of excepted to of really enjoyed the captaining the pirate ship, and sailing one into the heart of battle, but it just seemed very clumsy and out of place in an Assassin's Creed game and I almost wanted to skip these parts all together if possible. I just didn't enjoy them. 

Story wise, very interesting saga. Enjoyed the story more than the others in the series. Maybe it's because I enjoy the whole pirate tales but it just seems to draw you in.

This was probably the most impressive game I have played graphically. The SLI Titans in my rig very rarely have to put any effort in, but they at least had to get out of bed to churn the beautiful graphics this game can produce. 

There is huge amount of side quests, missions, activities to complete and treasures to find. The main story for me took about twenty two hours to complete, so that in it self is pretty impressive. 

Another game that you can easily get immersed into by sitting back and playing with a controller on a big screen TV. 

Would I recommend this game? Hell yes! Although if you aren't a fan of sailing boats, you have been warned, there is alot of boat type missions. The overall game is very good though. The graphics are simply breathe taking.