Status Update: December 2020

I don't yet have my miniatures nor paints, so hobbies have been more on the reading and playing videogames side.

Fiddling with emulation I ended up starting again Zelda: Breath of the Wild (this time the WiiU version). The game is a masterpiece and a second playthrough is great both because of the amazing mechanics and story, and because of the memories it brings back. A nice extra is that I was able to finally finish the Master Trials DLC, which I desisted on the Nintendo Switch .

Zelda: BOTW master trials complete

I have also finished Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - Future Connected, the DLC that the Switch version brings. It provides with a few hours of extra content, it advances the story a tiny bit (set in the near future after the main events), but it is too cheesy and the changes in combat, mainly the Nopon prospectors specials, is more of an excuse to force you to do all side-quests than a real amazing mechanic. But hey, was free, had new enemies and items and was good enough to be worth investing time on it.

I try to mix in a few old games now and then, as there are many old jewels and classics I wish to play. A really old adventure with RPG aspects I just finished is Veil of Darkness. While the RPG components are just basic stats and die rolls in combat, the game at least attempted to be something more than a mere isometric adventure. The results... are mixed.

And finally, I'm playing the one game everyone is talking about this 2020 xmas: Cyberpunk 2077. A game that makes people go to the extremes: either you love it, or you hate it. I'm not going to enter discussions about its state, I'm playing the PC version and while it has some bugs I'm having no serious issues and had actually worse "launch experiences" with GTA IV and V, Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, to name a few.

So, into the game... It is an insanely ambitious game, trying to combine mechanics from so many places: Deus Ex, GTA V, Dishonored, Borderlands, Fallout 3 & 4, Skyrim... And while due to a non-trivial amount of bugs it's not yet there, I'm having a great time with it. Doing very frequent quick-saving as it is true twice quests glitched, and the physics can go crazy, but still it feels almost alive (if you try to role-play and ignore the glitches, the city is really awesome).

You have hacking, pretty much like Fallout (mini-game based), but with more choices than a Deus Ex: camera hacking, pinging to detect other devices in the network, distracting enemies, opening doors... And the experience levels are dual: you get general experience, level up and can increase basic attributes, but then have lots of perks, which also live inside sub-skills and those skills increase by using them (shooting handguns, running, moving stealthy, and the like).

The main storyline has incredible quests, they really stand out, but then side quests are sometimes really funny. Overall, once bugs are solved it would be a great game, but if the creators add more stuff (content cut from previous videos or promised but not present), it can be an incredible cyberpunk setting videogame.

Cyberpunk 2077 Evelyn Parker screenshot


Status Update: December 2020 published @ by

Categories: Videogames

Comment Share