Borderlands 3: The Bluehairs

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

While the overweight mechanic Ellie repairs the Sanctuary III, mostly damaged by the idiot droid Claptrap, ship doctor and artifact specialist Dr. Tannis determines where the map is pointing to: a planet called Athenas. Luckily Lilith knows of an ally on that planet: her siren friend Maya who openly admits that they are guarding a piece of a vault key... and that they are under attack from Maliwan forces who are after the same thing!

Maya's also a cosplay favourite it seems.

Maya fights through the hi-tech Maliwan soldiers (the backpacks always seem to be their weak spot) to get to her idiot brat apprentice Ava who was busy not guarding a library as ordered and instead clearing a ratch infestation from the local brewery.

After a long and arduous climb (this is such a grindy and poorly designed level and is in an awkward place in the actual game) the blue haired pair then manage to reach the high temple, make heavy use cover to defeat the Maliwan raid leader and collect the key fragment before beaming up to Sanctuary.

BDO: Row Row Row, you're Sunk

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Not long after taking care of Illezra, I am asked to investigate a growing pirate threat in the nearby islands. Turns out there are A LOT of islands out there, and while some do have a few pirate scouts it takes awhile before I find the large land mass that holds their main base. They aren't pleased with me nosing around and promptly give chase and sink my rowboat with cannon fire, which I narrowly avoid by jumping into the water!

That's the end of that boat...

Luckily I have one of Ellie's magical maps to teleport me out of there as it would have been a long swim to anywhere. The Calpheon council is most interested in my reports and I am granted a two-cannon sailboat (which needs crew and supplies) to continue my efforts against the pirate scum.

The first thing I use the cannons on is a baby sea monster though, and it is really tough to man both the guns and steer the ship while in combat. I still win, and take my damaged vessel back to the pirate base where I kill a few of them while freeing some of their prisoners before taking refuge on a different island. Since there's a town here I put the boat in for repairs while I checkout a deep cave nearby full of mutated fish people "Prottys" whom I slaughter hundreds of, only to realize they are peaceful? Oops. They do make for a good grind spot though.

Apparently these folk were displaced by ancient weapons (golems) that crashed into the sea with that meteor. I swim down to their underwater city (which looks amazing and has air) to beat up a few of them before heading back to report. This earns me a shiny new cog ship which has no cannons but needs no crew and absolutely flies across the ocean - a big improvement from the slow sailboat! Alas, while doing dive quests I manage to get this speed boat sunk in a storm.

Insight: To reach the depth of the "air gates" of Sycraia you might need to get the 5 minute swim buff from the NPC just to the island on the beach just South of it. Fortunately, you can't actually drown - but running out of air forcibly makes you swim up.

BDO: Life Skills

[Part of my Adventures in Black Desert Online]

Since I skipped almost all the non-combat quests to do the main story line, I find myself back at Velia to learn more about these "life" (crafting) skills which is both super involved and very boring... especially fishing. God I hate fishing. Luckily the beginner fish quests can be cleared by fish stolen from fishing nets already lying around.

 

Doesn't matter what game it is: I always hate fishing.

I am also introduced to the beginner worker management and trade route marketing which involves hiring workers, getting them lodging, buying space for whatever factory you want (farm, smithy, etc), feeding your workers, making sure you have the "starting materials" in your storage and on and on it goes. It is SUPER technical and I don't really get my head around it, nor do I want to as it isn't my jam. I do earn a donkey, a small cart and a mini elephant from it though - and ride it back East, to train against Desert Nagas and Desert Fogans.

At Valencia, I finish upgrading my secondary weapon (which I could have done anywhere) but more importantly I rent a crescent blade (spear thing) from King Nesser which is stronger than the one I have. I also find Ellie's event food is more awesome than I initially thought (+AP which I need in the harder zones) so I buy a whole bunch of that too. With this new gear I am feeling pretty hopeful as I make my way back to face the aliens at Star's End.

Insight: I goofed up by ditching my weak Canon Awakening weapon which I would have been able to trade into Narchillan gear. Nesser's rented weapon is an easy next best option as it doesn't degrade and only eats up contribution points which I don't use for anything anyway since I'm not in the crafting game.

Borderlands 2: Overlooked Help

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

Only after dismantling another Hyperion facility and killing a Shai'hulud Thresher do we finally reach the Highlands that Sanctuary is floating over. Can't just warp to it though, no sir. For that we head to the village of Overlook to get the warp machine programmed properly, all while Hyperion sends more bots.

I get to really show off here, as all the enemies are clustering towards a fixed point we are meant to defend. DL and Jim get overwhelmed a lot, but rampaging through the enemy (in melee) keeps me aliiiiive! Hahaha I will kill your death! As expected the programming finishes after all the fighting, and we are free to teleport back to Sanctuary for a heroes welcome! Or... not. Actually I doubt most of these meat sacks realize the city is now airborne.

While the Crimson leadership continues to plan the next move, we're kept busy by a sudden influx of new jobs at the now flying Sanctuary, the highlights of which include finding a murderer in which we accuse the wrong suspect - letting the culprit get away, inviting people to Claptraps birthday party which no one attends, helping Ellie put an end to a gang war which we helped start, and retrieving a safe for Marcus from some big blue elemental which we abandon since it is immortal thanks to a bug.

The killer is one of those four guys...

We then return to the town of Overlook with Dr. Ned's meds to help them cure their brain disease then proceed to assemble a town encompassing shield to protect against further Hyperion attacks. Naturally this shield needs to be tested, so we raid the nearby Hyperion outpost and after breaking all the guardian mechs use their super mortar and fire it right at the town.

It goes as well as you might expect!

Insight: The only way to "fix" the blue monster was to leave the area and come back. We got him on our second visit.

---

Blaugust Bonus: "What skill do you want to improve on the most?" -Stingite

Currently, anything music related. Finding time to do that is really hard though... Maybe I should change that to focus on time management skill instead? :P

Borderlands 2: Firehawk - Ashes and Dust

[Part of the Wasted Land story]

On a quest to save Princess Roland, we three heroes find ourselves in pyromaniac valley - home of all things spicy, hot and burninating to find "the Firehawk" who supposedly knows which closet Roland is being held in. She certainly fits the bill.

Thinking with our fun heads, we mutually save each other from a massive attack by a rival gang - the Bloodshots. She says that Roland is in their castle, no doubt experiencing whatever it is Princess Peach feels while a prisoner to Bowser. But before we go rescue him the Firehawk wants us to check up on her cultists... they are actually really fun guys who seem only focused on setting themselves on fire. This is great as we get to help them burn. Win/win! They do go a bit far when they kidnap a few villagers for roasting though so upon Firehawk's command we ice them for good.

One of the best missions ever!

Then its off to rescue Princess Roland at the Bloodshot Castle Dam but they ain't stupid enough to open the gates for a random looking car so we have to drive all the way out to the Dust where we meet Ellie in her junkyard who offers to make us a "bandit technical" vehicle if we bring her the parts - which is really easy since we destroyed like ten of these cars before reaching her.

When asked why she's all the way out here and not in Sanctuary she says its to get away from her overbearing mom, Moxxi, and her creepy ex Scooter who also happens to be her step-brother. Yikes.

Insight: While in Gunzerking mode, Jim (Gunzerker) constantly regenerates health and ammo!

---

Blaugust Bonus: "What are some key sources of media (games/movies/etc) that have shaped your worldview?" -Mailvaltar

Ultima Online showed me early on both how evil some people can be as well as how awesome it is to work cooperatively. Hence I now always strongly prefer cooperative endeavors rather than competitive ones.

Dark Souls II: Size Compensator

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Before facing Vendrick again I thought I'd go explore more of those ash towers, finding I missed huge sections with more ash statues to destroy as well as a chamber full of invading Prowlers which was different. At the top there was also some ancient armor that took me into a memory segment fighting the katana knights again and their lord, Sir "forever" Alonne, a very samurai themed dude wielding a daikatana who turned me into sushi.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the tower was a cave filled with a gauntlet of horrible scum which led to a blue smelter demon. Sunbro Miloradinko tried to help me fight it, but the fiend was just too much with his sword that kept getting bigger. That's what actually gave me the idea: I NEEDED A BIGGER SWORD! Looking through my pack, I found the biggest sword I could wield (a greatsword) and upgraded it as much as I could.

That's what she said.

With this magnificent new weapon I went back to face Mr. Forever Alonne with allies Drifter swordsman Aidel and Steelwilled Lorrie (possibly related to Ellie) and slammed him so hard that he couldn't even down one of us. Next stop was the blue demon, again with Aidel and Lorrie. To his credit the demon slew both my companions, and was close to defeating me too but thanks to my new extended reach - I was the victor. With a crazed grin on my face, I made my way back to the Undead Crypt. This time Vendrick. This time, I'll get you!  

For some reason he's scarier when he's blue.

Dark Souls II: The Crown Collector

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

After proving myself to be the "true" Havel cosplayer, I decided to revisit the locked door beneath the Iron Keep finding that I could open it this time and soon found myself standing upon a set of towers covered in ash. This place was home to comparatively weaker ash undead empowered by ash statues, ghost archers, lightning rogues, as well as cowardly bomb carrying goblins who were the foil to the very dangerous giant headless warriors that lurked around.

Odd that explosive ogres worship a flaming torch...

One tower also had flammable half ogres who worshipped a flaming stick, which obviously I needed to steal to "power up" the main tower. Lol. The invader Quicksword Rachel tried prevent this theft but she couldn't live up to her name. Eventually I reach the bottom of the place, finding an ash covered dome protected by four ash statues. After destroying them and activating the nearby bonfire, I stepped through the fog gate and was confronted by the fume knight (possibly named because he's high on fumes) who promptly kicked my butt.

Dude's not good at handling multiple opponents.

The second attempt was much better since brought the ever persistent Ellie and the Sunbro's Zou and Kikimimi. The fume meister killed Zou, but didn't have enough gas to endure the rest of us, leading to his demise. Behind him was a roasted corpse and another king's crown. Awesome. Thank you Zou and Kikimimi! Feeling that I was on a roll, I returned to Vendrick for a rematch ... and got totally p0wned. Damn this guy hits hard.

Dark Souls II: Victory feels good!

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Having experienced the one hit killers of this game, I knew it was time to overcome the "lesser" challenges that still blocked me. My first stop was to fight Aava the sabertooth again, this time with Glencour, Ellie and Sunlight Brothers (players) Gibo and Rafael Vidoff. Strength in numbers, as well as learning when to attack, block, and run, finally led to victory against the great cat - though both Gibo and Rafael were slain in the encounter. Thanks guys!

Gotcha this time kitty cat!

This resulted in the blizzard raging across the city to cease, but I wasn't ready to go exploring just yet. Instead I warped back to Sanctum City, ran down the Mayan Temple and fought the ugly siren with Ellie and Benhart again. As usual she summoned her skeles and mace knight but this time I did it the Neverwinter Online way: kill the adds. It was a long and tough slog with Ellie getting KO'ed and Benhart almost dying but finally the siren would sing no more.

Finally destroyed!

Her death caused the sculpture door to open, leading to the white dragon - Sinh, the breaker of equipment! Fortunately I was joined by Abbess Feeva and Transcendent Edde the dragon knight. I guess this white one didn't get along with his master. Feeva's area heals were quite useful but she got KO'ed pretty quick. Edde on the other hand, knew how to tank like a boss, and thanks to that left the dragon open enough for me to slay. Turns out the dragon was the king down here, for from it's head I found a crown. Victory feels good!

Dark Souls II: Me:OW.

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Now experienced with defeating Velstadt, the grand knight, I thought I'd have another crack at the ugly siren with Benhart and Ellie. I also decided to try the drake armor for mobility since I know she likes her adds. It goes much better but still ends in defeat for us. Withdrawing, I opt to revisit the Shrine of Winter again which takes me to a snow fortress (now visible since there's no snow storm).

Backstabs with two handed swords are cool.

The gates open for me this time and despite a voice warning me about "the old chaos" I enter anyway. Surprisingly there's a boss fight nearby, the disembodied voice warning that "Aava is watching" (like the Jesus is watching joke?). Welp, the zone is a blizzard and I couldn't see a damned thing as some invisible thing (which I guess is Aava) tore me to bits!

Putting myself back together at the bonfire I opted to go the other way this time, and explore the rest of the city. As expected it was guarded by ice themed undead who were weaker than their poison cousins in Sanctum City. At least this let me make progress, gaining "the eye of the priestess" near a large flame at a central tower. After defeating the invader Holy Knight Aurheim, I was joined by my old allies Glencour (still Masterless) and Ellie to face Aava. Turns out Aava is a giant, sabertooth cat!

Bad ninja kitty!

Being able to see it doesn't help much as we are all sent packing pretty quick. Such a strong kitty!

Dark Souls II: Song of Defeat

Tales from Dark Souls - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The bridge leads to the lowest section of the temple where a haunting song is echoing along the crumbling staircases. A small handful of elite knights guard this place, but they are easy enough to turtle backstab or simply avoid entirely. At the very bottom I group up with Benhart of Jugo, Steelheart Ellie the boxer and Jin (the player) to try take on the ugliest siren ever.

One of the more difficult bosses thanks to her adds.

Alas she proves way too tough with her dark magic, teleportation, heavy halberd staff, and most annoyingly her penchant in summoning either a bunch of skeletons, a grand mace knight, or a trio of piggies. Thanks for trying Jin! I must have tried ten times to no avail before heading back to Majula in defeat. The Emerald Herald consoles me, telling me I should probably visit the castle instead now that I have the four great souls.

You mean this castle?

I heed her advice, finding I'm able to now open a once locked door in the misty woods. There's another shrine teleporter to some frozen region but locked doors and poor visibility due to a snow storm send me back quick. The Emerald Herald even shows up there to remind me what I'm supposed to be doing. After fighting a whole bunch of hollows and some elephant knights I soon reach Drangleic castle and its seemingly endless supply of soldiers. Took awhile before I worked out that they needed to die next to the hollow golems so that they can open the main door.