More than Nothing: In Search of Magic

[Part of the Party Time journal]

Praetor Artorias arrives at Drystan with a few more troops including horny priest Carpef, three Pale-dogs gang members and Il'bakstabyo to join the PC's regiment who are then free to load up with any gear before they want (as well as eight "coins" from their collection travels which serve as free rerolls) before being sent as part of five boat load of troops to the island of Caphtor, rumored to be a source of magic, the type of rumors that have to be more than nothing. Their mission is to claim this magic power for Praetor Artorias' cause and more importantly stop others (mainly his rivals for the still empty throne of Aeternia) from gaining it.

The fleet navigates through the misty waters just fine and upon arrival Eagley and Lord Jhonen start setting up a base camp on the beach with majority of the troops while Mamita leads her twenty two man squad to start exploration, defeating a strange and hostile puddle jumping knight and receiving an ominous warning about a Hydra rising that only "the coin knight" might have a chance of slaying before she dies.

As dusk falls they enter some woods and assist a small forest village defeat a vampire attack but the cowardly villagers have no answers for them in regards to their quest, other than "the magic knights come from the city", so they push onto some farmland destroyed by a huge crater, within which a pair of giant tigers tied to a chariot munch on farm animals. The charioteer challenges them to combat but a low initiative draw for him sees his tigers easily dispatched by the soldiers while Jerghonson himself uses the god spear to shatter through the chariot and the charioteer in one powerful thrust, killing him.

Continuing towards a main farming village there is a minor altercation where the squad is accused of slaying a celebrated green bull, but upon explaining to their ultra muscular leader Hyga that it was the work of winged fiends (who no one else has seen) and showing the claw marks she believes them and invites them to stay, provided one of the males of their number spend the night with her. Horny priest Carpef eagerly volunteers.

In the early hours of the morning Mamita, standing watch, sees a pair of winged fiends - the same type that killed the green bull - fly to Hyga's house so she wakes her companions and investigates, finding that Hyga is feasting on Carpef's naked corpse with the two demon like creatures! She and Jerghonson take down the demons while Ughh stabs Hyga through the neck, breaking his sword in the process but it isn't enough to kill her so Aah sets her and her house on fire, which finishes the job. It also gets them banished from the place by the remaining villagers, as again they have no proof of their monstrous claims. They accept this decision and move on.

Person of Interest

You are being watched.

In the wake of 9/11 the US government paid for a machine that could watch everyone at "all times" (not really, but close enough) to alert them of potential future terrorist threats. The machine saw everything though and since the government was only interested in relevant threats, potential crimes deemed "irrelevant" fell through the cracks until a small group of vigilantes (our protagonists, primarily played by Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson) decided to change that.

This sci-fi crime drama spans spans five seasons and while it starts out as a crime of the week sort of deal is quickly weaves in major story threads to give it backbone as well as impressive character growth for all the cast. With a good premise, interesting stories and likeable characters, I don't mind that the action bits are a bit clunky at times: at least these protagonists aren't bullet immune. It's worth the watch - recommended!

Bullfighter Board Game

A boardgame where the board has most of the game time!

This four player competitive kids game has a simple premise: on your turn you roll some dice, move some spaces and hopefully you're the first to cross the "finish line". The track happens to just be the exterior of the arena (which is cleverly built into the storage box itself), and the die pair have symbols other than numbers as well: maybe you'll be drawing some cards, putting on some temporary armor, or most likely - activating the large battery powered toy bull in the center of the stage.

This mini red roomba then randomly moves across the arena for 15 seconds while playing some themed bull fighting music and making everyone pray that it doesn't trigger their spring loaded character clip. If it does, your character is sent flying and basically have to go back to the start unless you've got a resurrect card.

Quick to learn but a little long to set up the first time as you need to put all the stickers on, including the die faces. The best component is no doubt the bull, but it's not so much Bull fighting as it is trying to sneak around the arena hoping it doesn't spot you! Also, given the number of times its going to activate - it sure feels like the bull gets more game time than the players do. 

Theoretically it can be a quick game if the beast misses you each time but really its the bull who is going to decide if and when someone is going to win. All up an amusing distraction but not something that you'll want to play over and over.

Voidwrought and Citizen Sleeper

Games of the void. In this case, void of interest for me.

Voidwrought

This platformer is functionally ok though it does feel from the little I played like the protagonist has the strength of a wet noodle - and that's already following the quest marker! While I'm not usually into this type of game due to backtracking, I have managed to stick with and finish the few whose stories managed to grab my attention. Alas, this isn't the case here giving a very alien sort of protagonist who I didn't care much about. Story is important! If you like platformers this might interest you, otherwise stay away.

Citizen Sleeper

This heavy reading game has you playing in an artificial body in space, and surprisingly has many mechanics similar to Blades in the Dark including die rolls and clocks but excluding an important one: death. It seems you can just hobble along badly impaired as much as you like, but not really a spoiler: its not fun. 

The lower quality art and game play that sees you taking less and less actions doesn't do it any favors. It's like those stupidly designed board and card games that tell a player to "miss a turn" or "lose half a turn", which basically tells people to play it less. You can do yourself a favor and just not play it at all.

Otxo and Many Nights a Whisper

Two small games.

Otxo

This black and white (and red) top down rogue like shooter has you playing as a man wearing a cursed mask who needs to clear a mysterious beach side mansion to free his girl. Except the mansion is full of gun wielding goons who all need to die to clear each level. Being able to use the cursed mask to get a temporary focus (rechargeable slow-mo) mode is your only counter to being outnumbered. You can also import and buy drinks which give you bonuses for each run, and can select what weapons will be found in the mansion (ie. what your enemies will be wielding so you can pick them up after they die). Getting killed yourself just restarts the loop and that's pretty much all there is to it and yes, it gets old fast. Even the cool soundtrack doesn't help. 

Many Nights a Whisper

In this simple game you play as the dreamer, chosen to light a distant cauldron during a ceremony as a child. In it, you get one shot to sling a fireball and if you're on target: everyone's wishes come true, if not... then does it really matter?

There is no heroic adventure here though, its simply getting good using your sling to throw a fireball. In the days leading up to the ceremony you can practice to your hearts content at the many other cauldrons around, and each evening you get the interesting decision of listening to petitioners wishes. If you accept them, you collect their braids (its a society of long haired folk who grow braids purely for this ceremony). These are then tied to your sling to make it stronger, making that target not seem so far with each wish accepted.

The catch is all the wishes accepted will come true if you make that shot and there are some pretty dark and crazy wishes thrown in the mix. On the flip side not having enough braids might mean you can't even reach the cauldron to grant the few select wishes you do like. Short, sweet and rather well done. This one is worth a try.

The Odyssey (2026)

A modern retelling of Homer's epic.

It's taking a long time for Odysseus, King of Ithaca (played by Matt Damon) return home from war and in the years of his absence many suitors are patiently harassing his wife, the Queen, to marry them instead yet she and a few of her household still hold out hope for his return. 

Other than some odd casting choices and that the story jumps back and forth between the Queen and Odysseus himself which is quite jarring at the start, the films settles at a good pace and is truly a spectacle to watch with decent acting, good props, and excellent cinematography and visual effects. Is it worth the price of admission? That's an easy yes. I just wish it didn't keep suddenly cutting to a different shot which is an odd editing choice. 

Dead Island 2

More zombies, more morons.

The continuation of the Dead Island series takes place in Hel-LA with a new (set) of protagonist(s, up to 3 players co-op) who find themselves bit in the opening act before somehow surviving but "being changed" - which becomes a pretty cool game mechanic later on. The maps are beautiful (even the gross places) and the game play is pretty fun, at least when playing co-op. If you were playing this solo, I'm pretty sure it would get old very fast. This is because many of the quests are of the find and fetch variety, with a mandatory "now you must withstand the horde" segments each time. Worse, most of the time these quests are done for the stupidest people. As Jim frequently liked to point out: it seems only morons survived. There's a reason I'm not doing a play through journal on this one!

There is a defense game mode as well, but again better geared for co-op, as up to three of you now play three students in a rogue like type event where you pick one of three quests per day with various rewards and on day five you need to mount a defense, building traps and such, at your shelter as waves of zombies come to break the doors down. Again pretty fun in a team, unlikely to appeal to a solo operative. Overall recommended only if you liked the first Dead Island and have people to play the game with you.

Free tip: while there are many zombie types almost all of them have the same weakspot: their legs.