Bastion

Bastion is just too sweet for me to not play it for so long.

It's a hack-and-slash action-RPG set in a colorful post-apocalyptic world in the sky that constantly re-forms as you traverse it. You play as a spunky kid, and your goal is to collect Cores from dead locations in the old world in order to build a new world at your base, the eponymous Bastion. As you collect more Cores, you gradually build up your Bastion, adding new features to it like a Forge, Memorial, Armory, Shrine, and so on.

The graphics and sound are top-notch, and the controls are solid--everything is very polished. Also, there's this great narrator who narrates everything you do, which I am enjoying.

Here's how far I've gotten. As you can see, I'm headed to Langston River next. This is a big map; I'm looking forward to exploring it.

I'm currently using the machete and the shotgun as my weapons. The machete-thingy has a short range, but it's quick and has a good crit chance. The shotgun doesn't have the range of the bow, but it has a nice spread and knockback effect that I like. There are more weapons that I haven't unlocked yet, of course, so we'll see how that plays out.

Oh, and yes, I figured out how to enable my controller. So that's good.

Speaking of games I'm bad at, Valve finally came out with "Meet the Pyro", which is great. About time, too...only took them, eh, how many years? I dunno, but it's pretty good.

Today I tried to play some TF2 and maybe try out the new Pyrovision goggles, but I had problems with lag and stuff and also I kept dying, so it didn't really work out.

There is definitely an appeal to playing as the Pyro. You get to jump into people's faces and burn them. I guess there are strategic things you can learn, like, I dunno, airblasting, or ambushing, or... whatever. Don't ask me, I'm not the one who sets people on fire for a living.

I kind of like the Soldier too just cuz he has plasma cannons. That's pretty cool. Zap people with plasma rockets and disintegrate them.

Uh...that's all I have to say about that today.

Defend More Dungeons

Today I played a few more rounds of Dungeon Defenders with Django. The problem is that my character is 40 levels higher than his (he's 31, I'm 71). This makes things awkward. Luckily, it balances out a little because it turns out I'm, uh, well... not very good at the game.

We were playing Survival because that's the mode of champions (common knowledge). If we'd both been at Django's level, we could have done Medium, and if we'd both been at my level, Insane would have been appropriate, so we split the difference and played on Hard. First we tried the Hall of Court. My proximity mines did a good job of handling all the foot soldiers, but the giant ogres ended up breaking through (which was my fault--I should have killed them with my absurdly large flamethrower of death before they could get to the Eternia Crystal, but I wasn't paying close enough attention).

Then we tried the Servants' Quarters, and ended up dying there too. We could have managed it with better planning and more efficient defending. Those fire-resistant necromancer dudes are a pain in the neck, though... immune to my flamethrower, and they refuse to walk out of the doors to step on my traps? Pff that's like cheating.

Actually, if I'd just stood next to the crystal and gone AFK, my laser robot pet probably could have singlehandedly cleaned up any enemies that got past the traps. The problem was that that with the sheer number of enemies, I ended up running around repairing my traps to keep them from running out of charges (which Django couldn't do because at his level his casting rate is crap).

It would be better with three or four players. Miles wasn't online, though.

Dungeon Defenders is still great fun, even when I'm sucking at it. It's a testament to the game's inherent fun-ness. I also picked up some mana to max out a few pieces of my gear, which is probably not the most efficient use of my mana since I'm sure my gear is relatively mediocre, but it means I got to rename them to silly things like "Gloves of Glovery".

Noitu Love 2, cont.

Hey, I beat the final boss! Woo!

The final boss has this first form which is like where she's just inside a giant ball of zappy energy, so you blow up the shield generators, then attack the shield to break it. Then she goes into a giant mecha robot, and you destroy the gems on her arms to make her reveal the gem on her head, which you break. Then the ultimate form is just her with flying superpowers and giant energy attacks, and you have to dodge her attacks and hit her when there's an opening. After that the credits roll!

I thought I was done, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover an extra story mode where you play as Doppelori (or whatever the robot girl's name is), which is awesome! She plays differently from the default character, Xoda. Instead of a sword, Doppelori has a gun, which charges to shoot lasers. She also has different dash attacks and a slide and did I mention giant charge-beam lasers?

Little-known fact, the Victorian era was crawling with zombie robots.

So now I get to play through the extra mode, which, by the way, I am going to do, because this is a fun game.

Yeah, I thought this game looked cool the first time I saw the trailer, and my first impression of it when I initially tried it for myself was that it's cool, and now that I've played it for the...two hours? it takes to beat the story, I am ready to conclude that it is indeed a cool game.

Don't fear the reaper, Doppelori!

This was in the Indie Royale, right? Yeah, it was bundled with Escape Goat. Okay, so that's an awesome bundle and you should buy it. Wait, is it over? Yeah, it's over. Okay, well...uh...it's five bucks on Steam, maybe pick it up the next time it's on sale. Great game. Thumbs up.

Indie Gala VI

Oh, it's another Indie Gala. They're usually pretty meh. What is it this time?

...Meh.

Commandos looks decent, so I can go for it. The Void was already in the Indie Royale and I already skipped over it, so whatever. Not very exciting, but...meh. *shrug*

What's the beat-the-average deal?



$6.25? Pff yeah right, not a chance. Sorry guys.

Yeah, I don't have much to say about this one. The Commandos series is what inspired Trapped Dead. Obviously, it's about soldiers in a war instead of survivors in a zombie apocalypse, but the overall tactical gameplay should be familiar. And I still have no idea what The Void is supposed to be about.

As for these other games, four bucks makes me hesitant, five bucks is pushing it, and six is right out. That's about six times as much as I want to be paying. I might make an exception for the Humble Indie Bundle, since they've earned a lot of my goodwill with quality games, but the Indie Gala has too much chaff in it for me to trust them with that kind of a markup.