Mother Gamer Plays The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

 I was excited to play Witcher 3 Complete Edition as I had never played it before, yet I had read all the books about the Witcher Geralt and liked them a lot. I have not played the first two games, but they are both on my to play list. Geralt's world is interesting filled with complex characters, fantastic monsters, and great storytelling. All I can say is that I have a ton of games to play and some things get backlogged. I still have a stack of PS3 games to play and of course, I'll be playing the remastered Skyrim for PS4 when it comes out and that's another game I haven't played yet, but for this moment let's discuss how much I loved Witcher 3.

 Yes, I loved Witcher 3. I stayed up way too late many a night playing this game because I was having so much fun running around killing monsters and helping people in need. My vision of Geralt was someone who did his best to do the right thing and that sometimes that meant siding with the occasional monster because there were times when humans were the real monsters. The story drew me in right away and these were characters and lore I was familiar with so I was thrilled to explore the entire world in the game. Truly, I unlocked entire maps because I just had to know what everything was. The areas that were too high a level for me at the time I made a note of where they were and came back later. I think it's great when a game makes exploration fun and it definitely helped having Geralt's horse, Roach to help that exploration go a bit faster.

Geralt and Roach doing a bit of exploring. What a view!

The environments in Witcher 3 are amazing. I would find myself stopping and just looking around at the scenery whether it was roaming through a forest or wandering the streets of a city. The attention to minute details was quite impressive. The gameplay is great. The gaming controls are fine tuned to make battles fun without feeling frustrating and the camera angles are spot on which made a terrific gaming experience for me. The music for Witcher 3 is beautiful. My favorite music was for the area of Skellige. Skellige was also my favorite place to explore because it was so pretty there with all the wild flowers and forests. I genuinely liked the people there too because many of them did not treat Geralt with complete suspicion or call him a freak the way they did in cities like Novigrad. They respected him and what he did; the fact that he was a Witcher and had cat eyes didn't really come up much. I felt that showed a lot of variety in the thinking of the people in the different areas.

There are so many side quests and that's not including the side quests included with the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine DLC side quests. The completionist in me loved that there were tons of side quests. Side quests are totally my jam and I hunted down every single one and had a great time doing it. I did the main quests as well of course and I enjoyed the story greatly. The big thing that I loved about the side quests and story quests is the complexity of the situations and the characters involved. There is no hard black and white line and many times there are gray areas. Some decisions weigh heavily because they are not easy to choose and they feel like you really have to pick the lesser of two evils, but whichever you pick at least one or many people will be affected by it. For example, do you let a group of children get eaten by evil witches and a baron's wife lives, but she's under a curse and is mentally ill or do you save the children, but release an incredibly angry tree spirit in order to do so which leads to the baron's wife dying, the baron committing suicide out of grief, and the spirit killing all the villagers who hired you to destroy it? These are the types of situations that gave me pause and made me think about my decisions very carefully. Throughout the game, your decisions affect the story and the endings which definitely makes things interesting.

Geralt doing his Witcher thing. 

There are mini games to play as well. I enjoyed the horse races because those were fun and worth the time and effort. They gave some great rewards such as saddle bags that increased my inventory space and saddles that increased my horse's stamina and speed. Then there's a card game called Gwent which you can play with various people ranging from innkeepers to some of Geralt's friends. I really tried with Gwent. It was a bit confusing for me and I found myself looking up videos on YouTube just to try and get the gist of it, and it helped a bit. However, a huge shout out to my friend Danny for giving a simple explanation of how it worked and the best strategy to winning because that helped more. I mainly just wanted to finish the Gwent side quests I had and I managed to do that. After that, I no longer bothered playing Gwent. It just wasn't my thing, but I will say graphics wise it was a well designed mini game and while it was a tad frustrating for me, I understood why many of my friends enjoyed it. There's also fist fights tournaments (think Fight Club) that Geralt can participate in. I aced the heck out of those and won all those prize coin purses. My favorite fight was the Rock Troll because it was interesting and I got to learn his name at the end; a reward for winning the fight.

Geralt wins the match! Yes, Witchers have many scars. It's a rough business.

Level grinding was not a chore for me in the game because there were so many quests and Witcher contracts which involves hunting specific monsters or investigating things that might involve monsters. These offer good experience and a lot of money for Geralt. There are times when the leveling feels a bit uneven because sometimes the main story quests give more experience than a few of the contracts and side quests. It's not a big deal, but it is noticeable. The skills menu for unlocking Geralt's Witcher abilities and upgrading them is easy to navigate and quite user friendly. My favorite skill was an upgrade of the Axii skill known as Puppet which could make enemies fight each other. The cutscenes and voice acting are superb; while the loading times are practically seamless which made me very happy. 

Geralt taking down a Basilisk. 

 Now, I'm going to talk about something relating to the game that has come up while I've been playing it. I actually debated about whether or not to put this in my Witcher 3 post because I love video games and I enjoy talking about them with my friends and family who also love them. Video games for me are an escape and something fun to do so I can relax and just stop worrying about things for a little while. I want to have fun and be lighthearted sometimes and video games is just one of the things that offers that to me. However, after three different friends gave me a hard time about playing this game I decided that yes, I would address it. I did inform them that I would be writing about this and that I would not mention them by name, but I wanted to make sure they would be comfortable with it. They were gracious enough to agree and I thank them for that.

First of all, I don't like anyone telling me what to do. Ask my parents. There was a time when I was told to eat my vegetables when I was a kid and instead of doing that, I stealthily put them under my chair and claimed my plate was clean because I wanted to go play with my friends. Hey, I was four. What the heck did I know about being a mastermind? My parents bought it for two minutes until they discovered it and yes, it was wrong of me to think that I didn't have to listen and tried to fool my parents but this gives you an idea about how long I've been like this. Don't get me wrong, if you just have a conversation with me and we have a healthy discussion I will listen to what you have to say. What I don't respond well to is comments like, "You should NOT be playing that game because of this, that, or the other thing." Ultimately I like to decide and think for myself and I think everyone should be able to decide for themselves whether or not they want to play a game, read a book, or see a movie. 

While playing Witcher 3 two things came up about this which were I should not play the game because there are no people of color in it and that it was sexist to women. I honestly did not know there was a huge hullabaloo about these things when the game was first released because honestly I get busy with things going on in my life and I tend to just choose games that pique my interest. I thought the game looked interesting, so I bought it. That's really all there was to it. 

Yes, I did notice that there were a lot of white people in Witcher 3 in areas like Skellige and Novigrad and yet I also noticed that there are many other races such as Dwarves, Godlings, Elves, Dopplers, and Rock Trolls. I also noticed that while there seemed to be some of the German language in the Nilfgaardian dialect many of them were not white. In fact some of the soldiers of Nilfgaard that I spoke to looked like Spaniards while others looked Persian. With the Hearts of Stone DLC many of the Ofieri looked like Ottomans, Turks, and Arabic people. So yes, there are in fact people of color in the game. 

See? It's not all white people. We're done here. 

 I'm not going to give you the, "But it's fantasy!" excuse because that just won't work and doesn't explain my thoughts on it. I will say this. Yes, I think we need media from ALL cultures, races, backgrounds, and walks of life. That is important and shows how vastly different yet wonderful our world is and just how many incredible people are living in our world. It is nice to see everyone represented, because that is our world and it's a beautiful one. That has been slowly but surely changing. With games like Mass Effect and Fallout 4 there are all kinds of different races of people in these games and I think that's terrific.

Here's the thing. That isn't Geralt's world. If you've read the books or looked up anything about them at all, you will see that. It is loosely based on Medieval Eastern Europe and these are not "white people Americans"; these are Polish and Eastern European people in the game. These are stories written by a Polish author and there's a lot of Polish folktales in them as well as Polish culture (thanks to my friend V. for informing me that much of Geralt's armor was based on traditional colorful Polish dress) and the game was done by a Polish studio. I feel that they have as much right to be proud of their Polish heritage, stories, and to celebrate the fact that something that comes from their country is popular as much as I love my Filipino culture. It is NOT racist to celebrate who you are and where you come from. Those stories and those folk tales are part of their background, their identity and to imply that they should be ashamed of it and not celebrate it is racist in itself. We need diversity and it's important to celebrate who we are and share our stories and cultures with each other. 

As for the second aspect regarding the game being sexist towards women, I just find myself wondering where this comes from. There are several, I repeat, several strong female characters in the lore of Witcher and in the game. How is any of it sexist towards women? Look, I understand not liking all the boobies in the brothels and the sexual scenes in the game. It's not for everyone and some folks are just not down for it. It never bothered me and some of those sex scenes have some amusing humor in them. The argument that Geralt feels no emotions so it's sexist towards women is utter crap. If a person takes the time to actually read any of the books, read the lore, or actually tried to play the game they would know that Geralt can not express emotions on his face because of all the mutations that Witchers go through. Geralt actually feels very deeply especially when it comes to people like Yennefer who is his true love, Ciri who is like a daughter to him, and of course Vesemir who is a mentor/father figure to him. The fact that he can't physically express those emotions due to him essentially being a mutant shouldn't count against him. 

The issues with things like Ciri being called a bitch by men or Yennefer being called a whore; those are things that happen in the real world and they sure as hell happened way too often throughout history. Part of the storytelling of many artistic things is that it finds a creative way to discuss real world issues and inform you hey, this kind of thing happens open your eyes. The part I loved is that these women did not need saving. They handled it themselves. The man who called Ciri a bitch? She broke his nose and she stuck up for herself. Yennefer handled the man who called her a whore and she held her own very well. These are not wilting flowers. These are strong, intelligent, and brave women in the story and I was thrilled that a fantasy game had them. Honestly, as soon as I heard the sentence, "Feminist Frequency said..." I felt my eyes rolling because this is such a stretch. I'm not saying that they're not entitled to their opinion because they are, but I did not see any evidence of that in the game at all and I disagree.

I am not denying that racism, sexism, and bigotry exist because sadly they do. I have experienced it far too many times as a Filipino queer woman. I wish they didn't, but we as people still have a long way to go. The good part is that there are many of us who are working together to evoke change and gradually change HAS happened. Our work is not done, but we'll keep working and fighting together one day at a time. 

Games are meant to be fun and for me Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was so much fun and one of the best games I've ever played. The story, the open exploration, and the diverse characters were amazing and I enjoyed it immensely. Now, I'm going to play through again on new game plus because the completionist in me wants to get all the different endings and the game is worth playing multiple times if one wishes. 

Geralt increasing his Witcher powers.

*The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is playable on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, and XboxOne

Fallout 4: Nuka World DLC An Imperfect Finale, But Worth Playing

I had been counting down to what I called Nuka Day, the release date for the Fallout 4 Nuka World DLC. I was quite excited to play the final DLC for Fallout 4 because the idea of an abandoned amusement park while not new (they did this in Bioshock) sounded like it would be interesting and fun in a setting like the Commonwealth Wasteland of Fallout 4. Once I had it downloaded, I started another adventure in the world of Fallout 4.

 It's best to come fully prepared when you start Nuka World. You have to be at least level 30 in order to start the quest. In my case, I was level 72 and by the time I finished I was level 79 which shows you just how much there is to see and explore in Nuka World. Definitely bring your best power armor as well as plenty of stimpaks, Rad-x, and RadAway because you're going to need all of it for many of the battles that come up.

 The way Nuka World starts is you get a radio signal from the Nuka World amusement park broadcasting advertising for it and when you go to investigate, you discover that it's a fairly nasty trap thought up by some raiders and you have to survive a deadly obstacle course known as The Gauntlet. At level 72 this was no big thing for me and I had maxed out several perks which included being able to disarm traps and mines which helped a lot. There are a few surprises here and there that definitely keeps you on your toes and my power armor really took a beating, but it felt a bit exhilarating to be running around and kicking ass.

Welcome to Nuka World!

Once you get to the end of the Gauntlet you have to fight the Overboss and this is where you meet Gage who tells you the truth about that particular fight, perhaps to further his own agenda or something even more sinister. Either way, you're prepared for that fight because of his help and it is a pretty spectacular one. The odd thing is that once you've achieved victory over the Overboss, suddenly you're thrust into the leadership position and become the new Overboss. That moment feels a bit awkward because you didn't really sign up to the be leader and were in fact tricked into showing up, but it does give you an introduction to Nuka World and gives you a good reason to finally get to explore it.

Kicking ass and chewing bubblegum. It's what we do in the Wasteland. 

 Your first area to explore is the main entrance of the park where you get to meet the three raider factions that seem a bit more organized than the usual raiders and who are unsure of your intentions and who you are. You also get to have a hilarious conversation with N.I.R.A. (Nuka World Informational Robot Assistant) the Nuka World greeter robot and you can get a quest from her as well. Once you've gotten acquainted with this area there are five main sections of the park to explore with themes ranging from western to space. My two favorites were Galactic Zone and Safari Adventure because they were interesting to explore  and there was a character in a quest located in Safari Adventure who I truly liked a lot.

A hilarious meeting with N.I.R.A. Nuka World's robot greeter.

 There are a couple of areas outside the amusement park to explore such as an abandoned town and a settlement with a religious group that calls themselves Hubologists. Nuka World gives you that feeling of a huge area to explore and there are a lot of things to see and do with a few more things that can kill you like Gatorclaws. That's right, two deadly things that can rip your face off merged into one. Thanks Vault-Tec scientists. It's exciting to explore and find all these different things because there is a sense of danger in some of the places you need to clear out for quests. I had to plan a strategy just to take out a Nukalurk Queen who was in a full blown rage because I dared to enter her territory. That fight was crazy and intense and I loved every second of it. There's a few new weapons and armor that you can get as well as a couple new power armor sets to add to your collection. There are a couple of fetch quests that are a little tedious because they don't really give you an idea of where to look for them like trying to find 35 star cores for a computer mainframe.

New power armor is always cool to have.

 There are radiant quests to do that the different raider factions give you as well as a few quests from folks like the Hubologists. This is where I had a dilemma about the fact that here are raiders who are not exactly good people and are all for horrible things like slavery. "No one has a bomb collar that doesn't want one and no one is a slave who doesn't want to be" is their messed up reasoning about this. My thought response was, YEAH RIGHT. I had played my character to be essentially a chaotic good type. I did my best to do the right thing, to try not to hurt anyone as best I could, and to help as many people and settlements as possible even when Preston Garvey drove me nuts with the radiant quests. 

 While it is an interesting concept and a cool idea that you can decide to join the raiders and become a big bad scary raider yourself, Nuka World doesn't feel like it really is friendly towards your lone wanderer if they're a hero. Granted you don't have to wage war on all the settlements you helped if you don't want to, but it seems like there are only a few quests that are you actually helping others. The rest seem to be blaze through in a storm of bullets and take what's not yours and it doesn't matter who you kill to get it. That's great for anyone who wants to try their hand at being the villain, but for the way I've played this character it did not sit well with me. I also find it strange that you would even raid your own settlements and I feel that perhaps this should have been a quest played alongside the main story quest instead of after the main one was finished. 

 You can at least finish the Grand Tour quest line before you decide whether or not you're going to live like a pirate or be a hero. I decided I did not want to be the villain. I felt that my character had worked very hard to help everyone in the Wasteland and I could not turn my back on the people who looked up to me and I could not turn my back on people who needed help i.e. the bomb collared slaves. This brought up the Open Season quest which you can get from one of the slaves who happens to be a doctor; Mackenzie who told me what I had already figured out about the raiders in Nuka World. This gives you a chance to continue being the hero if you wish, but make sure you've done everything you wanted to do before attempting it because it will finish things up. 

 The story feels a bit light in Nuka World and I think I liked Far Harbor better because for me, the story had more depth and even gave some great back story to one of my favorite characters, Nick Valentine. That isn't to say I didn't enjoy Nuka World because I did, but some of the pacing felt a bit uneven and forced. I did have fun exploring it however and I did like playing the last DLC of Fallout 4 because overall Fallout 4 has been a game that has been a nearly flawless and enjoyable gaming experience for me. This wasn't a bad way to spend twenty dollars. Nuka World is an imperfect finale, but it is worth playing because overall it is fun to play which is one of the big things that's important to me in my gaming. It was a creative and cool way to say goodbye to Fallout 4. 

A view of Nuka World from the top. Farewell, Fallout 4!

*The Nuka World DLC is available to play on these platforms: Microsoft Windows PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One

2016 Is Sad, Goodbye Gene Wilder

I was going about my day when I saw this article: http://variety.com/2016/film/news/gene-wilder-dead-dies-willie-wonka-young-frankenstein-1201846745/

2016 is sad and it seems that many of the iconic people that I grew up with are passing away. I mourned David Bowie and Prince; artists that showed that it was okay to be different, that it was okay to be yourself, and they made so much incredible music that was a gift to the world. Now, I am mourning Gene Wilder who was funny, smart, and a pretty great person.

I have so many fond memories of watching Gene Wilder movies with my grandmother. Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory was a favorite in our house and every time it was on we would watch it. We would also watch all the Mel Brooks films he did because those were favorites too. Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers were staples in our home and were watched often. I still watch those movies and I love them as much as I did when I was a kid.

My heart goes out to Gene Wilder's family; it's incredibly hard to lose someone you love. 83 isn't a bad age to go out; he had a life well lived, but it's still hard to say goodbye. Thank you Mr. Wilder for all the wonderful memories I have of watching your movies with my grandmother who I loved dearly and for all the smiles and laughs we shared together watching them. Thank you for your humor and your quiet, charming kindness. Thank you for being you; we will miss you. 

Puppeteer, Whimsical And Fun

 I was perusing games on Amazon when the game Puppeteer was suggested to me. I was intrigued by the cover and looked at the game description to see what it was about. It sounded interesting and it was on sale so I purchased it. I started playing the game and I was blown away by it because it's not like any game I've played before. The whimsical aspect of it is charming and it made me think of Little Big Planet which is also a fun and whimsical game. If you're a fan of Little Big Planet like I am, you will enjoy Puppeteer.
 Puppeteer is a side scrolling platform game and you play as a boy turned into an animated puppet who loses his head named Kutaro. Kutaro gains a variety of puppet heads to replace his own throughout the game. You have three puppet heads and when you lose a head, you have thirty seconds to grab the head and put it back on or you lose it forever. Your heads are basically like lives so when you lose all three heads/lives it's game over.  
 The story takes place in a fantasy world representing Earth's moon which is inhabited by a myriad of folklore style characters and they are all puppets as well. The game is set up to look like a faux stage with red curtains and you can hear an audience reacting to the events that happen in the story along with commentary from the narrator. It adds to the charm of Puppeteer, making it feel like a complete theater experience while playing a video game.  The first half of the game is on the dark side of the moon while the second half is on the Earth side. When Kutaro's story begins, the narrator explains that the Moon Goddess was overthrown by by her servant Little Bear who then seized her black moonstone and the scissors called Calibrus and dubbed himself the Moon Bear King.

Kutaro exploring the first level of the game. 

The Moon Bear King is the main villain, but there are several villains you have to battle before you get to him; twelve of his generals based on the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Each of them has a piece of the Goddess' white moonstone which Kutaro must get from them. Kutaro does get tools that can help him and eventually he does get Calibrus which are essentially a weapon for him. There are creative ways in which they are used besides as a weapon such as jumping to cut clouds to get to a high ledge or cutting seams to move faster while battling an enemy. They are also used to free the other animated children like Kutaro by cutting the puppet strings so they can return home. 

 There are other tools that are used as well such as ninja bombs which can open pathways for you and a pirate hook which can hook items or secret doors. They are smartly and creatively used with simple puzzles in various levels of the game which makes the game play entertaining and interesting. 

Talking with Ezma Potts, one of the many characters in Puppeteer.

The environments in Puppeteer are bright, colorful, and filled with beautifully done imaginative things. They're fun to explore and you can go back and play previously beaten levels because there are so many puppet heads and bonus items to collect. A couple of levels were my favorites such as the pirate one and the Halloween one because they put a smile on my face while playing and the Halloween one gave a Nightmare Before Christmas vibe that I loved. There are a few moments of frustration here and there with a couple of the boss battles and depth perception issues in a couple of levels, but it's not a huge deal because the execution of how the game plays and how well the story flows makes Puppeteer worth playing. 

Avast! Hanging out with pirates. 

 The game is about nine or ten hours of story and if you really want to explore to get every single puppet head out there, all the trophies, and bonus stages that can add a little more extra time and keep you pretty busy. The voice acting and music for the game is superb and there are even moments of humor that will cause you to laugh. It's quite clear that the developers of Puppeteer loved this game and enjoyed designing it and their imaginations really shine throughout the entire game; making Puppeteer a wonderful gem for gamers like myself who appreciate the fun and whimsy. 

 While some of the art can be dark and spooky like the Halloween level, there's plenty of light and fun levels making the game enjoyable for people of all ages. Overall, Puppeteer is a delightfully charming game and so much fun to play. It is worth buying and playing more than once because it doesn't take itself seriously, celebrates all things whimsical and fun, and is a terrific game. 

Kutaro having fun!

*Puppeteer is playable on these platforms: Playstation 3

 

Mother Gamer Plays Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition

Once I finished Fallout 3, I went on to playing Fallout New Vegas. I really liked the opening introduction to the game's main story line because it hooks you in right away showing just a glimpse of the underlying chaos in the Mojave wasteland with a pretty badass introduction narrated by Ron Perlman. Then you get to meet your main character the Courier who is in a messed up situation as they're getting mugged for a platinum chick they're delivering and some jerk in a checkered suit is explaining that the Courier has made their last delivery and while it may seem like bad luck, it's just that the game was rigged from the start. I knew right then it was going to get worse and it did as he shot the Courier in the head. I admit my initial thought was, how the heck is this going to work if the main character is dead? I got my answer fairly quickly as it showed the Courier waking up in a bed with an old man hovering over her looking concerned and asking if she was alright. The man introduced himself as Doc Mitchell and explains how the Courier survived thanks to a Securitron robot named Victor and the adventure of Fallout New Vegas begins in a town called Goodsprings.

The Courier explores Goodsprings.

Goodsprings of course gives you a chance to explore and get familiar with the game controls and how everything works. The controls are much better here than they were in Fallout 3 which made me happy. It also introduces you to the people in the town and you get a couple of quests from them. You also get a chance to speak with Victor the robot who saved your life. Honestly, I found Victor to be really creepy. He seemed friendly enough with his cowboy icon face and talking in a friendly cowboy drawl, but there was just something weird about him. It also didn't help that he kept popping up in odd places during my adventures and seemed to be following me. He did own up to it which I will give him, but he was creepy. 

Once the tutorial introduction and quests are finished, you get to really explore the Mojave with the main goal being to find Benny; the man who stole the platinum chip from you and shot you leaving you for dead to get answers. For me it was to get answers, get the platinum chip back, and beat the crap out of him. I was still pretty ticked off about that whole ordeal with him shooting me. 

To say that the world of Fallout New Vegas is big is an understatement. It is huge and you get an immediate sense of just how vast the Mojave wasteland is as you explore it. There are three big main factions fighting for control of the Mojave and the Hoover Dam and your decisions throughout the story affect which side you will help. There's the NCR a military expansion government, Caesar's Legion a group of Roman style slavers, and Mr. House the mysterious ruler of New Vegas. 

There are minor factions as well which can be recruited as allies depending on how you're playing the game. There's the Brotherhood of Steel, Followers of the Apocalypse, Enclave Remnants, Great Khans, and Boomers. You also have companions who join you and that includes a canine companion named Rex; a cyborg dog. 

The future contains awesome cyborg dogs like Rex. 

There are so many side quests to do alongside the main story quests which isn't a bad thing. A lot of them were fun to do and the companion quests are interesting especially for the character of Boone. I liked Boone a great deal. There was a complexity to him that was intriguing and as my Courier got to know him better there was an understanding of why he was the way he was and a path towards him atoning for some of his past. It made for a great companion story and by the end of Boone's personal quest I liked him even more. 

There are quests that are hilarious too such as the quest where you need to find a sex robot for someone in a town called Freeside. Fisto was absolutely hilarious and I could not stop laughing during that entire quest. It definitely made adventuring in the Mojave a lot of fun. The environments look okay and there are some impressive sights such as the Ranger Unification Treaty monument. 

The Ranger Unification Treaty monument looks amazing.

While I enjoyed Fallout New Vegas, there were many frustrating issues with it that had me swearing up a storm when they happened. The major thing were the constant dropped frame rates and freezing that caused the game to crash. When the game worked, it was a lot of fun to play. It just killed it for me when the game would freeze every couple of hours. I make sure to save my game often anyway with my games and I think that games like New Vegas are why. I did all the tricks too with clearing the cache on the PS3 and rebooting and it would still crash after a bit of time. That's incredibly irritating when I want to fully enjoy a game. 

Then there's the weird quest bugs. I couldn't finish a quest for a couple of my companions because in one the quest item was nowhere to be found and in the other a quest the NPC I needed to complete the quest had disappeared completely. There were also occasions where I would get stuck in a wall or my companion would and I would have to reload my last save. I understand that there are going to be bugs and glitches in a game sometimes, they happen. However, the vast amount of glitches, bugs, and technical difficulties is inexcusable. I know that Obsidian the developers that worked on New Vegas apologized for all of that, but the thing is slapping a band aid on it is not going to cut it. For as long as the game has been out and the patches they had to fix the game, it should be fixed and yet those irritating issues remain. 

I also did not like the fact that they mess with the story line a bit with the fact that I had to play the four DLC quests before the final fight at Hoover Dam because a couple of those quests clearly happen AFTER the final battle. It wasn't a big deal, but I found it odd because with Fallout 3 and 4 you can continue to play the game after the main story is finished. When I realized that, I just reloaded my game save and went back to play them and then finished up the final main story quest. 

Speaking of the DLC quests, I wanted to like all of them. I really did, but there were so many flaws. I only really liked two of the quests out of four. That's saying something. One of them I just could not stand at all. That was the Dead Money quest. I could not stand Dead Money. It was very clunky with the navigation and hard to see at some points. Getting gassed and waking up in a strange place without any of my gear and some crazy ex Brotherhood of Steel jerk was not good.  As part of the story you also have a slave collar around your neck that happens to be on the same frequency as the radios in the surrounding areas and if you don't destroy the radios the collar will explode and kill you. This is an exercise in futility as every damn five minutes the collar beeps and you have to figure out exactly where the radio is. I found this tedious and slow which made this quest one of the worst I have ever played and I played Dragon Age The Descent. Yeah, I said it. The ending was a little satisfying, but not much because you don't really get anything out of it except a little payback to the egomaniac who put me through that nonsense. 

Old World Blues was alright, but I hated the fact that once again I'm basically drugged and wake up in a strange place without all my gear. Seriously, was this the same writer for Dead Money? So I had to figure out where I was and I met the insane scientists in robot bodies who had brought me there. The thing that kept Old World Blues moderately entertaining for me was the humor. There were moments that had me laughing especially when one of the scientists claimed that my toes looked like tiny penises. There were some cool places to explore and some interesting things to see. The big thing that makes Old World Blues shine are the smartly written jokes and the humor about trying to understand another species and the differences between you. That's what made it fun for me. 

Open Hearts was my favorite. I loved Open Hearts because it tackled the subjects of religion and strength of conviction in an interesting and subtle way that makes for a good story. I loved exploring Zion because it was a nice change from the Mojave with areas that were actually lush and green with trees and plant life. The characters for this story were quite interesting as well and I found I really liked the one companion character Follows Chalk because there was an innocent curiosity to him as he asked about civilization in the Mojave and stated he wanted to see for himself. I liked how the story was presented as there isn't really a completely good or completely bad scenario; that sometimes you make difficult choices and do the best you can so there's some gray areas. Overall, I enjoyed this DLC quest a lot. 

The Lonesome Road was disappointing for me. It started out strongly with the introduction of this other mysterious courier, Ulysses demanding you show up to answer for what happened in a place called The Divide. There isn't really a strong urge to explore and it just seems to be travel from point A to point B. During that time you get to hear Ulysses drone on and on about the NCR, the Legion, and how you were the catalyst for nuclear missiles blowing up in the Divide. I like history a lot, but Ulysses made it freaking boring because he kept harping on the same thing repeatedly. It shows just how nuts Ulysses is because essentially he's blaming a mailman for something that had nothing to do with them. What happened in the Divide was an accident and while yes the Courier was delivering the package (a detonator) that awoke and caused all that, they had no idea what it was. The NCR did however and probably the Legion, so that's on them. Look, I get it. Ulysses had something very traumatizing happen to him and he needed something or someone to blame in order to be able to wrap his head around it, but when I was there face to face with him all I could think was, this whole thing was not my fault and you're crazy! I mean he wanted to punish a bunch of innocent people for the traumatizing thing for just a chance to wipe out the NCR and the Legion; that does not sound like someone who is operating at full capacity. Luckily, my speech, intelligence, and science perks were high enough that I convinced him peacefully that destroying all those people would help and even earned his respect. It's obvious in the writing that they meant for Ulysses to be a companion, but I guess they couldn't quite figure out how to make it work and this is what happened. It was okay, but it wasn't perfect and they could have made this a great story instead of a mediocre one. 

Once I finished all those, I wrapped up the game with the final quest which was the battle for Hoover Dam. I had decided to help the NCR because while they're far from perfect I felt that they were a better choice than the group of rapist slavers that represented Caesar's Legion. I also liked and respected the fact that the NCR seemed to be protecting the idea of democracy and while they had their flaws, they were at least trying to do something good. The battle for the dam was epic and because I had successfully convinced the minor factions to join the NCR I had a lot of help battling Caesar's Legion. I totally loved the Boomers with their salvaged airplane taking out Legion soldiers from the sky. We fought hard and the battle was won; the NCR still had control of the dam. The game ends then showing all the different things that happen to the people and areas in the Mojave depending on your choices. Overall, the ending was pretty good and I was glad to see that many of my choices helped a lot of people who needed it. I can honestly say that I enjoyed playing Fallout New Vegas in spite of the technical issues and I'm glad I only paid 10 bucks for it. When the game works, it is worth playing and there is lots of adventuring to do with a great main story and solid side stories. Play through it at least once is my take on it. 

A great view overlooking the Hoover Dam. 

*Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition is playable on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360

Mother Gamer Plays Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition

I know. How could I have not played Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas? There are many games I haven't had a chance to play and as I've gotten older, I've become a little more discerning about which games I buy right away and sometimes I just miss a game or two here and there. I also wait until things go down in price and only really pay full price for a game if it's something I know I really want. Again, that comes with being an older nerd. At any rate, when I saw that I could buy Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas for 10 bucks, I did jump at the chance and I was excited to play. I started with Fallout 3 first of course and it was quite an interesting adventure.

The opening sequence was intriguing with the lone wanderer being born and of course this is so you can choose to be a boy or a girl and design your character and decide their race. I went with Asian girl and as I was picking out all the facial and hair designs, I wondered why there were several varying choices of bald. I mean, I get it. It's Fallout and with spiffy things like radiation poisoning hair falls out and people are bald, but so many choices of bald over actual hair. It was weird. I found a hair choice I liked and everything was great and I started my Fallout 3 story.

So the time jumps from baby to ten years old were interesting for getting to see how life was for my lone wanderer in Vault 101 and there was a birthday party for me where I get my very own Pipboy. Neat. Wandering around talking to everyone including a ridiculous bully named Butch (I was not nice to him and punched him. That was my freaking birthday dessert damn it!) was cool and it definitely sets the story up nicely. Then the time line jumps again and my character is 16 years old and has to take the G.O.A.T. (Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test for Fallout newbies) to decide what they'll be doing.

16 and ready to take the G.O.A.T. test. 

A last time jump happens and the lone wanderer is 19 years old and the main story of Fallout 3 begins. The Overseer's daughter and my friend Amata, wakes me up to tell me that her dad is losing it because my dad has left the Vault. Initially I was shocked and wondering what the heck she was talking about, but it turns out it was true. Dad left and didn't say a damn thing to me about it so of course I have no idea what's going on. Amata tells me she'll help me to leave because she doesn't know what her dad will do, so here I am running around trying to escape the Vault and thinking, geeze this is a messed up situation.

I was trying to play the chaotic good path, so I didn't kill the Overseer out of respect for my friend even though her dad was a freaking paranoid psycho. I managed to escape Vault 101 and here was this vast world in front of me and I couldn't wait to explore especially since the setting was in Washington D.C. a place I was familiar with having grown up in Virginia. So I set out to explore what was now known as the Capital Wasteland.  I discovered the town of Megaton and the people surviving in the Wasteland and picked up some quests as well. Megaton was definitely cool with all the different houses and the crazy atomic bomb that is just there in the center of town. 

Enjoying the view of Megaton. 

From there the big thing in Fallout 3 is finding my lone wanderer's dad and getting some answers about why he left and what exactly he was up to. There's all kinds of main quests and side quests for hours of game play giving the impression of a vast world. There's all kinds of danger in the Wasteland too ranging from Super Mutants to Mirelurks which definitely kept me on my toes. There's all kinds of weapons too and of course I liked that I could modify and build my own. You get companions who travel with you too and that includes everyone's favorite canine Dogmeat. I did like the fact that you could have two companions travel with you. I ended up choosing Dogmeat and my Super Mutant friend, Fawkes. They both worked really well together with taking down enemies. There's also two factions of the Brotherhood of Steel, the Brotherhood and the Brotherhood Outcasts. They seemed to have different ideas about what they should be doing. I did like Elder Lyons the leader of the Brotherhood of Steel though. There was a kindness and gentle wisdom to him that was incredibly likable. I did find it amusing to see Maxson and MacCready (they're in Fallout 4) as kids in Fallout 3. They seemed so different from who they are now. I actually liked Maxson better in 3 because he seemed a little kinder and a little more open.

Taking down a Mirelurk. 

My lone wanderer did find her dad and got to actually talk to him about what he was up to. Project Purity was a cool concept; the idea of clean water for everyone in the Wasteland was great and the fact that he figured out how to make it work was also great. I just didn't understand why he couldn't tell his own kid what he was up to and instead just left without saying a word and his excuse was the Vault would keep me safe. Really? Sure. I was so safe with the Overseer and his goons trying to kill me. It was hard to stay angry with him though when he was so apologetic and then proceeded to say nice things to his kid about how proud of her he was for surviving and trying to be a good person. 

Then, dad and daughter team up to work on Project Purity. I did do some side quests along the way before getting back to the main story. I enjoyed exploring the Capital Wasteland and seeing some familiar places such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. There's even a quest where you can break in to the White House to get somewhere. Granted the majority of it is destroyed, but it was still a pretty neat quest. 

Checking out the Jefferson Memorial with Dogmeat.

Of course in the main story, things don't go as planned thanks to the shady people simply known as The Enclave. That's where the Brotherhood of Steel comes in as you work towards the common goal of eliminating the Enclave who apparently have an issue with the idea of everyone in the Wasteland getting pure water that isn't irradiated for free. Again, I ran around and did more side quests for more level grinding and more things. I did like that I got a free house for helping the people of Megaton by quietly disarming that atom bomb before it blew everyone sky high. One of the vendors there sold themes for the Megaton house and I went with pre-war which was nice with a 50s retro feel.

Cool, I got my own house!

Did I enjoy Fallout 3? Absolutely. That isn't to say there weren't flaws. This is Game of the Year Edition so there was no excuse for a lot of the issues I had. This included all the DLC titles and these were fun to play. I especially liked the Broken Steel and Mothership Zeta quests. I also liked the nod to the Cthulhu mythos with the Dark Heart of Blackhall quest. The big thing was the constant game freezes. Mothership Zeta was especially bad with this and it got incredibly frustrating. I did all the tricks suggested; turning off the auto save and clearing some data. That helped a bit, but every once in a while the frame rate would drop and the game would freeze. It turned out this was a common problem on the PS3 and I found myself annoyed with it. Sure, it wasn't a big deal because I could just reload my last save and it would be fine. However, it does take away from the atmosphere of the game when that happens. There would also be odd glitches like Dogmeat walking up in the air above me or my character would disappear and there would be bits and pieces of me visible such as my hair and my hands. That was incredibly weird. The controls were a little clunky and I actually had to change the difficulty to very easy until I got used to them. It wasn't a big deal, but it was noticeable. 

I love the Fallout series and there's so much to enjoy about them. However with things like this happening, Bethesda should be embarrassed. For as long as the game has been out, there's no excuse in not fixing known issues especially when it comes to dropped frame rates and the game freezing. It made me glad that I follow my mantra of save my game and save often.

Technical issues aside, I did have fun playing Fallout 3 and liked the story a lot. The characters were good and the different paths I could take for the storytelling  were great because it did make me really think about what choices I wanted to make during my adventure. I'm glad I finally got the chance to play it and it was a great game. Now, I'm ready to check out Fallout New Vegas! 

*Fallout 3 is playable on these platforms: PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360

Backlog Gaming: Tales Of Xillia 2, Pretty Good Sequel

I finished Tales of Xillia so I was ready to start playing Tales of Xillia 2 which is a direct sequel to Tales of Xillia. The story takes place a year after the events from the previous game and Rieze Maxia and Elympios are now connected via a large bridge. The two worlds are now trying to work together to try and find a way to coexist peacefully and that's where the new protagonist main character Ludger (pronounced LOO-GRR, yeah I know) comes in. The majority of Tales of Xillia 2 occurs in Elympios, but you do get to go to familiar locations from Rieze Maxia as well. The characters from Tales of Xillia also are in the game and you get to see what they've been doing in the past year. You also get a few new party members who join your adventure. 

Meet Ludger. He's pretty cool. 

I started my new game and I thought it was very cool that the game found all my previous Tales game saves such as Zestiria, Graces, and Xillia and it rewarded me with weapons attachments and costumes. So I started the story and the main plot has you running into a little girl named Elle who is looking for something called the Land of Canaan because it's supposed to grant the person who makes it there one wish.  In the meantime, Ludger and friends are working for the Sirius corporation exploring fractured dimensions because your dimension is considered the prime one and they want the fractured dimensions destroyed.  Essentially Ludger and friends are tasked with finding the divergence catalysts in the fractured dimensions and destroying them. There are even more things involved with the story and the reason behind it, making for some interesting insights about existence and adds more depth to all of the characters.

The gameplay is as good as it was in Tales of Xillia. Upgrading skills is a little more streamlined with something called an Allium Orb, allowing you to just select an orb and while you have it equipped you learn all the different skills it has in it. Think sphere grid a la Final Fantasy X. The Linked Artes system is here too and with the fact that Ludger has three different weapons he can swap in and out easily, he can pretty much link with anyone in the party and do some great combo attacks. Ludger also has special skills that no one else has allowing him to really wreak some havoc on enemies. 

Linked Artes are as awesome as ever. 

The anime cutscenes are gorgeous and the music soundtrack is really nice. There are also the usual skits that come with the Tales games and a lot of them are very funny. You also have the opportunity to do companion story quests which flesh out the personal story of many of Ludger's friends. This builds up your affinity with them and they'll give you rare items and skill books after you complete their stories. I really liked the interaction between Ludger and Jude because they seemed to be very similar in their determination to help others and they really came to understand each other and became friends.

Anime cutscene with Ludger and Jude. 

As you continue your adventure you get to see the subtle changes in some familiar areas showing how much can change in a year such as an orchard full of tall trees that is very pretty. The new areas are beautifully done as well. The voice acting is as good as the first with the original voice acting cast from Tales of Xillia. There's all kinds of extra costumes and props to collect as well so you can customize your party members in things like pajamas or Tales plushies.

A pretty orchard. 

There were things I had an issue with. One of the big things that I really did not like was the debt system. It was part of the story and basically poor Ludger gets conned into this huge 20 million gald debt. While I get that it was a stepping stone to pull you in to the story, this was the dumbest idea in the game. Not only was it frustrating, Ludger's annoying "friend" Nova calling you every other minute or any time you have any money at all on a device called a GHS (think cellphones) to nag you to make a payment on your debt because she's a broker became insanely irritating. I actually started to hate the sound of her voice. That's not a good sign. 

Oh good, it's Nova calling. AGAIN. 

The good news is that there are ways for you to earn extra money to pay off the debt. You can take a variety of jobs from the job vendor and you get paid for each job completed. The best way is definitely hunting elite monsters as the reward for them is worth a lot of gald. It made the debt dwindle in no time and it also helps with all the level grinding. You get rewards for consistently paying it off which is something at least. However, the debt system is not fun and real life does not belong in a freaking fantasy video game.

It really bugs me that Ludger doesn't really talk. During conversations you're left with an L1 or R1 choice. The rest of the time he mainly only talks in the skits or cut scenes. While I understand that this was to hide a huge plot point about Ludger, I really wish they had just made it so he talked like everyone else. The lag in a couple of the towns is odd. I'm not sure why they were the only places that lagged, but it wasn't a total deal breaker. Elle is okay as a character and while I know she's a kid, it seems odd to have her be the only unplayable character. I also found it odd that I could not swap party members in and out like I had before in Tales of Xillia. Much of it was due to the story, but it was a little irritating when I had party members I wanted to take with me only to find that I couldn't because they had stayed behind for some reason. I didn't mind that the game has three different endings. It's designed to give you a choice about things. What I didn't understand is why it seems like only Ludger gets screwed over in every single one in a sense. I know we can't always have a happy ending and that the theme is you can't save everyone, but there should have been at least one ending where something good happened to him instead of all of it being sad or messed up.  

There are some fun side quests too. I especially liked Kitty Dispatch which lets you send out Ludger's cat Rollo to different towns and bring back helpful items for you. There is also the Kitty Sightings quest where you have to find a lady's cats all over Rieze Maxia and Elympios and return them to her. You get extra money for this as well as items and costumes. I had a lot of fun doing both these quests and the names of all the cats was hilariously creative. 

Kitty Dispatch is so much fun. 

Kitty Sightings is a lot of fun too. 

Considering that Tales of Xillia 2 is a direct sequel, it's a pretty good one. While there are some flaws, it does not detract from the fact that the game has an interesting story and gives you a lot of hours of solid and fun game play. It's worth checking out and worth playing.

*Tales of Xillia 2 is playable on the Playstation 3