Pillars of Eternity 2: Risky Research

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Back at Neketaka from the iceberg, the team attend a meeting at the Royal Palace where it is guessed that the statue's target is somewhere within a section of ocean far too dangerous for any one ship to pass. Instead, they would need to gain favor with one of the factions OR upgrade a vessel to withstand the punishment. The Royalty themselves are already crossed off that list as they hate the squad for freeing the captive dragon their water benders were leeching power from, so Gerrod tries to appeal to the arch mages next by doing research retrieval for the local arch mage Arkemyr.

Doing this work sees the deaths of Yrsa who is impaled by a horned whale at sea, Zefr who is clobbered by staff wielding monk, Maia and Petrus killed by arch lich Concelhaut who had reconstructed himself from their last encounter. What makes it worse is that upon handing the research over, Arkemyr promptly refuses to help. At least his apprentice Fassina joins the team but that's not really the help Gerrod was hoping for.

Really hard to keep these dead.

The next faction are the constantly infighting pirates, but since they are naturally scum Gerrod hires the master thief Garrett to make them squabble even more. As they execute one of their own leaders the team kills all the remaining ones of the pirate's council throwing that entire organization into chaos - crossing another potential ally off the list. Phht. What sort of allies would these scum be anyway?

Pillars of Eternity 2: Death in the Afterlife

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Journeying in Rymrgand's land of the dead is a dangerous task, especially since his servants are still on duty to "make things stop existing". Farcol is the first to have his soul collected and soon after Esme and Sofie are exploded on a firey bridge (it's a strange afterlife). Maneha also gets abducted by more tentacles for eternity this time (what is it with her and tentacles) before the team finally confront the undying dragon.

Gerrod somehow convinces it to go fight Rymrgand for power and it loses badly. Since it brought its phylactery to the fight (to power up or something), Rymrgand destroys it - ending the dragon permanently. The god is not happy that he ended up doing their work and decides all of the team should stay forever. Combat ensues and Dijaam is disintegrated into the White Void while Vatnir and Arzang are both crushed under Rymrgand's hoofs.

It did not go well for the dragon.

Only Gerrod and Iholikan make it to the exit and seal the portal. To make up for their losses a number of end of worlders are recruited: Rook, Ubin, Ludin, Yrsa, Zefr, and Petrus. Gerrod's fellow arena buddy Voghiln is also here and is recruited once he sobers up.

Banner Saga: After the End

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Looks like victory to me!

Emerging from the basement, the few survivors of Arberrang are greeted by the warm sunlight of a once again moving sun. After taking in the view, Rook nods to his compatriots to enact "the plan". Aleo stabs Bastion in the back, but the dagger is too weak to kill the dredge who smashes the bard into paste as retaliation. Rook and Petrus take it down while Ludin and Yrsa murder the remaining dredge scum in Rook's revenge plan.

At the same time, Hakon tries a similar surprise attack on Canary, but misses wide and gets a poisoned javelin in the back instead with Scathach and Ro'Ech double mule kicking him on either side of his head to make it explode in a shower of blood. Fasolt manages to club Ro'Ech to death and catch Canary in his big hands - promptly throwing her off the cliff face onto the jagged rocks below to see if she can fly. Scathach runs him through before old Ubin catches the last horse born unaware with a mighty axe swing, beheading him. Then comes the grisly task of turning them into supplies.

The remaining survivors: Ludin, Rook, Ubin, Yrsa, Zefr and Petrus are left to decide if they will try rebuild Arberrang or begin marching elsewhere to see if anyone else survived the end of the world.

Insight: Welp, that was my "try be an idiot and get everyone killed" run through of Banner Saga though in part three I did try to make more sensible decisions when it came to Arberrang's defence and doom timer. I really liked that bit though, and wish they had more of it early on.

Banner Saga: A Bed of Enemies

[Part of my Banner Saga play through]

Much like the old tower, the relationship between the refugees and Ludin's father, King Meinolf, is also collapsing as they found their new leader in governor Rugga - who manages to stab the old king with a poisoned dagger just before getting his allies to attack the walls, desperate to get away from the growing darkness. So many are slain in the conflict that with the King's dying breath, he allows everyone inside the walls. Rook makes sure Rugga isn't one of them, which gains the approval of royal guard Petrus. Nid has the opposite reaction, and takes the first boat out of there to continue fleeing with a number of other cowards. As for Ludin - he's happy to pass all the responsibility to Rook.

One of the best parts of the game.

After a few days of quelling riots, Fasolt (the unkillable) arrives with the dredge army hot on his heels, rallied around a new leader called Ruin who uses a massive black anchor grappling hook to tear at the outer walls of Arberrang. Fasolt and Hakon aren't keen on Oddlief's cowardly plan to weaken Ruin with explosives so that's exactly what Rook opts to do and it works. They then drive a wedge right through the attacking dredge and its old Ubin who finally brings Ruin down, causing the remaining dredge back off and basically weep for they too fear the oncoming darkness.

"Let them rot," Rook decides, but is quickly countered by the arrival of Zefr who somehow survived the tower collapse. The old mender explains that the darkness will warp them into fiercer foes if left out there, so Rook and Oddlief make the bold move of opening the gates and inviting them in - and seeing Oddlief carrying a baby dredge she had kidnapped from the battlefield just earlier encourages them to do so peacefully.

Rugga's loyalists are having none of it though, and are quick to spear Oddlief to death upon returning into the city - causing further rioting and panic. Eventually with the help of a massive dredge guard called Bastion, Rook and Petrus round up all these rebels and burn the lot of them alive as a lesson for the others. That's how good rulers do it.

Insight: At the start of Banner Saga 3, everyone's gained level so make sure to spend all those points when you can! Petrus is especially handy since once per combat he can summon another guardsman into battle! On the Raven's side, you might also get Eirik who can do similar by summoning a bear!

Dark Souls III: Disconnect

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

De ja vu.

After using a familiar rotating tower I'm back looking at the palace of Anor Londo, only this time the knights are the ones guarding the place. It takes some practice to slay the first pair (at once), and there in his old side room I find the corpse of the friendly giant blacksmith. At least there's some advantage to having been here before, as I know exactly where the mechanism is to open the main door in the now pitch black hall guarded by fire cultists, like the ones in the Cathedral of the Deep.

I'm definitely glad I ran back out towards the bonfire after opening it though, because said cultists brought their terrifying furry pet with them! Yep, the massive spider chased me all the way down the stairs and ... into an invisible wall? Hurrah for flawed AI! Thanks to that barrier I just arrowed the beast to death. Yes it took long, but it was worth it.

Vengeance!

With a relatively clear run to the Smough and Ornstein's old boss room where someone rebuilt all those non-weight bearing pillars, I soon find myself facing Petrus Aldrich, who has eaten so many things he's now a sludge like beast that happens to use  a whole slew of attacks: the favourites of mine are the magic missile lights (which track) and the instadeath arrow volley which you can take cover from in phase 1, but not in phase 2, which also happens to follow you as you run around the room. Hope you have enough stamina! Lol. I recruit Myria (player) to try assist me here but midfight I crash out due to all the special FX Aldrich is using which is really annoying. Looks like I'll have to do this solo. Sorry about that Myria! :(

Dark Souls III: Unholy Ground

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

VICTORY!

After defeating the Abyss Watchers I was back in Firelink Shrine with enough souls for the Firekeeper to cure my dark sigil, so I did. Yuria was not pleased at this, saying I was a "false lord" and simply left. Eygon showed up in her place, though just to check on Irina. Ser Sad is also chattier than usual, telling me about the history of the Abyss Watchers and how they got corrupted by the very thing they defended against. He also speaks of another Lord of Cinder: Saint Aldrich, who was once just a simple cleric with a penchant for eating people. He gained a lot of power (and visavisfollowers) when he started eating gods though! I instantly thought of any chubby clerics I'd met in the past... no way, can't be him.

Since it was adventure time again, I then decided to face the Crystal Sage once more, this time while embered and with Eygon as my helper we smash him and his little mirror images. Past him was a pair of bandits and a hollow hunting party, and then the Cathedral of the Deep where I and am promptly invaded by Yorams (player). We had a good duel, complete with the exchanging of "welcome gestures", and for a change I'm pretty sure I had this guy - but our fight was cut short as Chara (player) of the Blue Sentinels arrived. I backed off and let the two duel with Chara eliminating Yorams without much incident. Thanks Chara, and good fight Yorams! :)

With the Cathedral doors locked, I explored the grounds in a lengthy detour through a graveyard with endless zombies and a challenging rooftop section with many midget assassin ambush spots. Inside it only gets worse as the midgets are reinforced by pretty tough evil paladins, and a pair of giants who guard the main, flooded hall. In one ominously large yet empty room I am also jumped by a terrifying spider monster who easily kills me in my panicked state - good thing I've found ways to open the shortcut doors back to that initial bonfire!

HOLY F@#K!

Dark Souls: Quest Hook

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

Following the narrow ledge into another cave with more skeletons I finally found the lair of Gravelord Nito - a giant, floating amalgamation of bones who summons even more skeletons. Fortunately his own area attacks take care of them, and it becomes a case of stamina management. He still gets me the first two times with surprise AoE but his soul is mine on the third go.

Breaking the bag of bones...

With all four lord souls now in my posession I return to Frampt at Firelink Shrine and ... find the sock puppet asleep!? Also seems that Ser Chubby's daughter has moved on and the girl from the pit I rescued before is Petrus' crush, a fellow cleric named Rhea. She also offers miracle magic but my low faith score makes them useless to me.

Since I have some time to kill I decide to see if I can track down Ser Chubby by bonfire hopping (teleporting). One of my first stops was that empty cave behind the hydra at Darkroot Basin where a golden crystal golem now resides, much like the one I needed to free Ser Chubby's daughter from. Indeed, killing it releases a woman - Princess Dusk of Oolacile. Who? What?

She claims to be a time traveler and before I can get more than that (well actually she's just hard to understand) a giant hand reaches through a whirling portal and drags me in! WTF just happened?

High five!?

Dark Souls: Covenant of Hollows

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

While farming some giant leeches in the swamp (yes, eww) I revisited a great tree that sat there and thanks to signs left by other players, found two secret passages leading to a drop called the Great Hollow. Because we weren't low enough yet? So I traversed the vertical maze of winding branches (inside the tree), slew more cute froggies, ran passed a colony of shroom people and finally at the very bottom, got out onto beautiful beach with a bonfire at the serene Ash Lake. Man, such a Warriors of the Wind moment.

It's so beautiful down here.

On the opposite bank was a hydra and due to it's close proximity to the bonfire I figured now was the time to learn how to fight it. Getting up close was the simplest - made easier as more and more heads were removed. Still a long fight, but not very difficult now. Hidden further along the shore was an even bigger surprise: a black dragon. Wordlessly he asked that I join his covenant. I said yes! Of course, I found out later that this was a more PvP one. Oops!

I speak only with my mind.

Anyway, the lake was a dead end so I had to climb all the way back up the tree and back up through Blighttown to get back to Firelink Shrine. This journey was getting a lot easier. Laurentius and Griggs, the two I had rescued before, were now here. Griggs offered to teach me magic (but my INT was too low) while Laurentius offered lessons in Pyromancy. Since that school of magic had no requirements, I learned as much as I could!

I also spoke to Petrus to rejoin the Way of the White Covenant (since you can only be a member of one at a time, it deactivated the PvP one) and learned his buddies had come and gone, and he was now quite worried about their fate. Unlike most normal quest givers in other games though, he drops absolutely zero hints on who they were or where they were headed.

Dark Souls: Kingseeker's Deathtrap

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

The mysterious death of the lava giant causes a good chunk of the caldera to solidify and be "survivably" traversable. Unfortunately the zone is home to a whole bunch of demons and while I manage to kill -one- it takes too much time and too many resources, especially as there are like six more behind him? Yeah, I decide to get out of there - purchasing a uchigatana from Shiva at Blighttown so I don't leave empty handed.

That's one ugly sock puppet.

I arrive back at Firelink to find the mute girl is dead, Lautrec is missing, and both Petrus and Ser Dick are as useless as ever. In the nearby ruin I also meet Kingseeker Frampt, the ugliest sock puppet ever, who tells me to go to Anor Londo to retrieve "the Lord Vessel" - something that can hold gigantic souls. Filled with purpose I head to the gates of Sen's Fortress (I wonder if there's any relation with Sen Mag dungeon from Mabinogi) which serves as the path to Anor Londo. Due to his absence I assume Ser Chubby forged ahead once that gate opened so I follow suit, only to find the entire place is a fricking death trap!

Blade pendulums: Check!

Apart from the reasonably tough lizardmen guarding the place, the layout is filled with narrow ledges with blade pendulums, dart shooting pressure plates, giant boulders rolling down various corridors, and chests that are actually really strong and freaky mimics! Since the bottom, flooded level (where you fall to if you goof up on the ledges) is inhabited by a number of those stone headless lightning things I decided that up is the way to go.

Dark Souls: Down, Down to Blighttown

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

With seemingly nowhere else to go in the forest, I returned to Firelink Shrine and was pleased that Lautrec (whom I had freed earlier) was now here and thankful to be free. Petrus was still waiting for his group, and Ser Dick reminded me ringing only one bell is meaningless. Thanks Ser Dick. Since I now had a divine rapier I decided to retry that graveyard and was pleased that I could now defeat the skeletons residing there. Alas the skeletons in the catacombs further in had a skill I wasn't expecting: they'd get back up with full HP. That was enough to send me running and looking for a new place to explore.

Also, if the divine weapon doesn't connect it doesn't really help...

I ended up choosing to venture into the ogre cave, discovering they aren't so hard to defeat after all being so open to counters and backstabs. They also make looting shit very literal. Still, the tunnel opens up into a massive underground slum called Blighttown where pretty much everything tries to poison you. The giant mosquitoes, giant leeches, ugly spider things, blowdart guys, even the floor when you reach it is a poisonous swamp (which coincidentally slows your movement). What a wonderful place. I wonder if it is connected to where the monsters from Dragon Age spawn from... Interestingly, Shiva the Ninja is here too - selling overpriced gear.

In one of the cisterns I am "invaded" (the not so good side about quasi-multiplayer thing) by Maneater Mildred who thankfully is an NPC since a) no one would intentionally name their character that and b) she opted to use a ladder instead of take a six foot drop. This led to an easy victory as I could basically stab her butt while she was stuck on the ladder. After resting at the local bonfire I get my more of my anti-venom moss ready (thanks spriggans) before heading out to explore the rest of this horrible zone.

Weakness: Woman therefore try rear!

Dark Souls: Jolly Cooperation

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

Feeling brave with a closer bonfire I decided to head back to that church and beat up the hollows guarding it. The mage on the second floor was a bit scary, but by fighting everything else out of his field of view he had no backup when I got to him. Near the back I found and freed another knight in cool gold armor: Ser Lautrec of Carim, but the main event was on the roof where a pair of gargoyles blocked my path. Good thing Solaire was there to back me up! :D

Jolly Cooperation!

With him tanking the gargs this fight was pretty easy. Upon their defeat Solaire went on his merry way while I finally reached the bell tower and rang the first bell. Woo! This summoned a creepy guy called Oswald but he didn't do much else apart from "offer to pardon my sins" and laugh like an insane person... something he shares with almost everyone else I've talked to actually.

He mentions that Cleric Petrus is also drenched in sin...?

Before moving on I notice that Andre the smith is selling something for 20,000 souls. Figuring I would need that item eventually, I camp the church and purchase the strange medallion. Good thing too because I use it to open a door in the next area I go into: Darkroot Forest, home of spriggans, living statues and... a giant moth that shoots magic missiles!? It takes some evading, patience and a few throwing knives but I eventually slay the overgrown bug. Thanks to player left messages (because this game has a cool quasi-online thing happening) I also find a hidden bonfire behind an illusionary wall giving me another save point before venturing deeper into the woods.

Dark Souls: Lesson Knight

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

Surprisingly the giant bird didn't kill me, it just brought me to a cliffside camp called Firelink Shrine which is home to an imprisoned mute woman, a chubby cleric named Petrus, and some random guy I'm going to call Ser Dick - thanks to his "winning" personality. Dick informs me I'm not the only one to escape from the prison, and suggests our quest involves the ringing of two bells for some reason. Petrus has no insights in the matter, instead offering to sell miracles (spells, but my faith was too low) and covenant membership to "The Way of the White" (PvE flag) while awaiting the rest of his party.

That's one way to make a quest hook I suppose...

Left to my own devices I decide to explore and find a few ways to go: a graveyard with skeletons that kick my butt, a flooded ruin with ghosts that I literally can't hit, a valley with drakes, a big dragon (whom I stole some treasure from) and scary ogres, or up towards what looks like a city guarded by low level hollow soldiers. To the city it is! The town is appropriately named Undead Berg since there are tons of hollows here, all hostile except for one psycho merchant who happily trades wares for souls.

Yep, souls are the main currency for everything here, and they are very easy to lose (through dying). I spend a lot of time in this area working out another key mechanic in the game: parrying, which requires specific key press timing to execute but if it works leaves your enemy wide open. My favorite training partner comes in the form of a towering knight, who killed me a quintillion times while I honed this skill. I was both relieved and sad when I finally passed this self imposed test, because unlike the other hollows - he didn't respawn.

Right in the crotch.