Not all chapters are equal. Primrose Chapter 2 is far easier than Therion’s. It’s curious how they directly reference Godfather opening scene in her chapter too. Also, it’s again of a darker tone, as her target is the owner of a brothel.
Mage’s chapter is as bad as Therion’s, with the same type of boss that’s invulnerable until you take out both minions.
Merchant’s chapter is easy, but it’s more of a filler side story, where she chases a corrupt magnate out of town.
One nice touch about the game is that different towns sell different equipment: one might sell better swords, another better staves. And equipment is relevant for longer.
The less nice bit is that although there is sidequests journal, half of the quests are still untracked. There’s one quest in the desert town, where a dancer tells you she wants to dance in a blue dress, and a sick girl tells you she wants to see a dancer. So I thought that first you give dancer a dress, then take her to the girl. But no, it’s either you give her the dress or take her to the girl.
Out of all 2nd chapters, Huntress is the most difficult. Not because of the bosses, but because it forces you to utilize her “Pokémon” mechanic, beating an enemy using only the captures monsters. The most fun 2nd chapter is Warrior, as unlike everyone else, he doesn’t have a dungeon to complete, instead it’s just arena with 3 bosses.
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Author: TheAleosha
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Octopath Traveler
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Path of Exile 2
Trial of Sekhemas is basically a rogue-like mode, where after each level you pick what boon or curse you want. There’s also a honor system: kind of global HP counter, that fails the run if it’s depleted, even if you didn’t die.
Out of ascendancies, I chose Witchhunter, as a straightforward option of instantly killing enemies at low health and gaining energy shield later. -
Road (2009)
I’ve seen this movie back in the day, but remembered almost nothing, so rewatched it.
I kept thinking of Mariupol, and how people there had to survive postaplocalyptic conditions for months, running out of food and water.
The movie on the second viewing is more of a form over substance.
The Boy acts as he wasn’t born into postaplocalyptic world, but is a modern day child. In Sweettooth, character innocent made more sense, as he was living in a compound. But with his attitude and skills it’s not clear how he survived anything.
Storywise, my main issue is that episodes feel disjointed. It’s almost as if you could shuffle them in any order and get away with it. All except taking arrow to the knee. But even that comes at the very end, and that’s not even the reason Father dies. -
Octopath Traveler
Unlocked healer Alfyn, despite his class, he actually is very sturdy and hits pretty hard as well.
Thief Therion chapter was objectively one of the easiest so far: boss had only one minion, and it’s pretty useless, and the boss doesn’t inflict any statuses, while the snake boss in clerics chapter poisoned the entire party. Starting quests for cleric Ophilia, who’s actually the stronger healer and the only one with Light magic and ranger Haanit are also easy. Finally, the party is complete, and I can start with the second chapter.
The game has a few interesting “lessons”. In towns, you often get sidequests to acquire some item. Usually you can either buy or steal it. If you steal it, there’s a chance to ruin your reputation, so nobody would talk to you until you pay a fine. But that fine is less than if you’d buy all the items honestly.
Also, at first I didn’t pay much attention to NPCs blocking some buildings. Turns out, if you provoke them, beat them unconscious in a duel, you can then steal valuable stuff from their house.
It’s still a slog, though. I went for Therion Chapter 2 first, because it had the lowest recommended level. Still, Therion is greatly underleveled, and I had to grind for hours just to level him enough so he could steal the items required to progress the quest. And even after that, I couldn’t beat the boss, so I had to switch to other character stories instead. -
Senja Kolkjerka Imperial Stout
This one I brought from Norway’s Vinmonopolet. It’s very reminiscent of Garun from Iceland. Scandinavian Imperial Stouts have lower ABV, lighter body and less sugar. Still hit like a truck, since it’s 500ml, not 330. But I definitely prefer something more complex.
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SAS Rogue Heroes S02
It so happened that I downloaded the second season of Rogue Heroes instead of the first, but since it’s a pseudo historical action anyway, I thought I wouldn’t mind much, and if I end up liking it, I’ll watch the first season as a prequel or an origin story.
It all very much resembles Ungentlemanly Warfare, both in style and substance. -
Devils, Joe Abercrombie
I’m past half of the book, and only now I have collected my thoughts to write anything.
It’s basically Suicide Squad set in a almost-Europe, where Punic wars were won by Carthageans, so the priests are female and wear a wheel instead of a cross.
The squad consists of a vampire, a female werewolf, and an elf that can become invisible, chaperoned by an undying knight and a female version of Jack the Sparrow, Abercrombie has a particular love for that character, since he had one in Best Served Cold as well.
There’s also a magician, or a necromancer more like, although it’s a running joke the Squad go through their magicians quite quickly, and a failing young priest to oversee them, and it’s another joke that the Squad run though them even quicker.
There’s also a bomb, of course, in the form of Papal Binding, so they can’t just all run off.
All set to install a would-be princess on a throne of Troy (not Bisantium).
Reading it is like watching a TV series so much I wonder of Abercrombie didn’t write it with the intention of making a TV series, after his comics series died in infancy. -
Kilkerran 12
I’d be honest, I mostly bought this whisky because it was limited stock, and it was limited stock because it’s Cambletown. Still, here we are.
It smells like Irish whisky, what others call “toast”, and what I call “corn”. Tastes nothing like Irish, though.
There’s a surprising amount of sweetness for a whisky that’s only 30% sherried, and spiciness of the chilli level. Speaking of chilli, it has a lot of warmth on the finish. -
Drifter
Completed Drifter.
It’s a good length of a game, not too short, not too long, you finish it before mechanics start getting on your nerves.
Theme-wise, it’s all over the place: conspiracies, ghosts, monsters, time travel. Turns out it’s Zero Escape most of all, though: death allowing consciousness to travel back in time.
There are just a few plot twists that irked me in retrospective. First, the friendly homeless guy getting stabbed with protagonist’s knife. Both the false and the true antagonists didn’t had any reason to kill him or to frame the protagonist, this is just to give police reason to chase Mick. Annie, Mick’s sister, hitting a detective unconscious and walking free. I can believe in time travel, but this is too much. And finally Mick accidentally killing Annie during a hallucination. This is just to force him to participate in the experiment, but again, doesn’t make much sense, as him seeing his son’s ghost was always helpful until that point.
I thought that by the end they’d pull Shutter Island: Mick is in asylum, and the reason antagonist is wearing a lab coat is because he’s doctor in real life. But glad they didn’t go that way.
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Tacticus
Got Jaeger from Blessed Requisition. In the past I wanted him for the Octarius Mirror, but I’ve completed that campaign without him anyway.
Unlocked Commander Farsight from his Legendary Release Event. I can hardly believe it, as it’s the first Legendary Release Event I managed to beat, and it’s only 2nd out of 3.
Unlocked Baraqiel finally from Dark Angels campaign event. It’s a cheap and fun character, one of the few that is able to use active ability multiple times. I’m surprised I didn’t manage to get him sooner from a random drop.
Unlocked Cezare from his release event. That’s an easy character to unlock, at 100 shards.
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Redbreast 12
Since I already had it in the taster set, I decided to refresh my memory. It’s oily, and has almost corn-like quality. I guess that’s the unmalted barley popping. Suprised me how I finished a bottle of this years ago without noticing.
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Kasteel Donker
Not the rarest of beers, but since I haven’t had it in years, worth mentioning. It is sweet, molasses or demerara sugar, which is amazing for the first few sips. The problem is that it’s not very complex, unlike Imperial Stouts. The last sip is very much like the first. But it does give lightness I haven’t felt in ages.
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Drifter
I expected something set in 1920s, maybe. Instead, it’s modern days, 1999, to be exact. Story resembles Condemned the most: the guy was a runaway as a kid, divorced after losing his son, returns to his hometown to attend mother’s funeral. Discovers that homeless people are going crazy, and some specops dudes killing them, while the police hunting for a serial killer. And of course he gets framed as that serial killer himself.
In addition to a regular inventory the character also has inventory of thoughts, represented as pictograms. This acts as both quest log and dialog options.
Narrative-wise, it’s close to Ghost Trick. If the character dies, he rewinds the time, getting another chance.
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Shredder’s Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were never my favorite. Neither are beat’em’ups in general. But I can’t deny the quality. It’s very straightforward in how it presents advantages of different characters on the basis of range/speed/damage.
The enemies are clearly color coded. And the first level is such a flex, with ninjas goofing in the background. They didn’t have to do ninja-cooks and ninja-aerobics, but they did them anyway.
For some reason, PS4 version ran on my PS5 at a low framerate, so I decided to play this on Switch instead.
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Evil Islands
Completed Evil Islands.
The only good thing from Act 3 is that you can get a really good spear from one of the companions early. Otherwise, it’s the same critfest, if not worse. Either you crit and kill your enemy, or they crit you. My guess is that authors wanted it to be a stealthy game until the very end, but considering how well enemies see and hear you in the 3rd Act, it’s not very enjoyable. And it’s ridiculous that having maxed out melee, I still can’t land a hit on the Imperial Guardsman.
The last stretch has you deactivate a magic minefield. For some reason, they decided it’s a good idea that the only way to do that is to use two spells that you aren’t automatically given. And the only way to equip spells is to head back to town. way to equip spells is back in town. Have a great journey!
The actual story is surprisingly good. Zak is the male of the ancient race, which explains everything: how he lost his memory, why he ended up where he ended, why he was so attracted to the female of the ancient race. It’s just not clear why the curse is in the form of a flying demon. And it’s such a weird final boss. Even with all the levelling, and the armor given specifically for the final battle, it kills you in 2 hits. You have the Magician helping you, that hits it three times before he dies. So you just need to finish it off in the few seconds you have left.
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Japanese Whisky Advent Calendar
It’s almost July, and Japanese Whisky Advent Calendar is selling for 175GBP, which is below 250GBP, but above 160GBP I paid for it.
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Master of Malt Secret Speyside 15 Father’s Day Edition
I wrote recently about independent bottlings and also about Olorosum bottling from Master of Malt. They released a Father’s Day bottling, and a decently priced tasting set that included it, so I decided to give it a try.
And it’s a good one. Berry&Rudd Speyside 12 level. Malty sweet, with that tart oaky finish, and some nice warmth. Definitely worth 60GBP they’re asking for, although I’m not sure if I want a full bottle in my collection. -
Evil Islands
I’d thought I’ll never reach that point, but finally I can take on a blue troll. It takes time, as I can only can deal damage with crits. But at least I can outheal troll’s damage. Unicorns are even worse, since I don’t have a defence from their lightning, and they can be hit only with a spear. One thing you can give credit for: it’s a rare RPG that gives you a reason to use something besides swords.
Reached Act 3. I understand what they did, but I don’t like it: random quest in Act 3 gives you more XP than your final quests in Act 2, two chests on the first map give you more money that you could have accumulated in the previous act as well. It brings you up to speed, but while I killed blue trolls an hour ago, I can’t kill a random guard now, and die to a bunch of rats as well. Diablo 4 level of bullshit.
At one point you need to sneak past banshees, because they are too powerful for you. The problem is, they move in unpredictable manner, and have 360 vision.
Also, during the escape half of my armour got broken, including pants, and you can only repair them in town. So I fought mindflayers bareassed.
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HifiMan Edition XS
A few years ago, everyone praised HifiMan Edition XS for their sound, but they cost 500GBP, so I bought Sundara for 180GBP instead. Now XS cost 180GBP, so I had to buy them.
Strangely I prefer Sundara headband. And not only me, as there are even mods that let you glue your own. Otherwise, they do start to put pressure on my crown. They weight 415g, not that far away from Shure Aonic 50 at 330g, that extra 85g makes a difference.
How do they sound, though? Like Sundara, I’d say. The positioning is better, not necessarily due to drivers, but more due to their shape. And maybe the separation is clearer too, but you really need to look for it. -
Evil Islands
Due to the XP splitting I resort to leaving my companions back in town before completing quests, to get all the XP. Speaking of companions, the knight is great because he has some enchanted armor you can get from him.
The game has an actually solid upgrade system, which is just isn’t explained well. You can disassemble any item you have, and reassemble it using superior materials.
Disassembling items usually costs money. But there’s a bug, disassembling broken items actually gives you ton of money back. Recycling in Middle Ages 🤡
Reached the mines. The game is decisively unfun at this point, I’m not sure why I’m even doing that to myself. Almost ruined my playthrough when a troll chased me in the “green elves labyrinth”. Either trolls move to fast or see too far, but it almost impossible to sneak by them in those narrow valleys.
Then there’s fight with the magician Deidra, that kills you in 3 shots, because lightning passes through steel plate, and my character couldn’t hit her due to her ridiculously high defence. The only thing that saved me was a lucky critical.
And the game is all about those criticals. Another thing that is never explained properly, but it seems they can do x3 or even x5 damage, so it’s often better just to focus on them.
