The Adventures Of Pirotess: Hatching Tide 2020

The Hatching Tide event ran from March 30-April 13 and I was able to participate in it before it ended. For those who don't know, Hatching Tide is the Easter event in Final Fantasy XIV. The holiday events in the game are a nice break for me from adventuring and crafting. The rewards you get for the events are pretty nice too. I headed to Old Gridania to start the event. Everything was decorated for Hatching Tide and it was so bright and colorful.

Pirotess arrives in Old Gridania. 

Anyone who wanted to join in the festivities had to have a melee or mage character to at least level 15. This is true for all the holiday events. The event was divided into two chapters. I approached the NPC in the bunny costume to start the first chapter event, The Eggth Umbral Calamity. 

Pirotess starts chapter 1. 

This quest had me going to Central Shroud and speaking to an NPC there to get a temporary bunny costume which I had to wear and join a FATE where everyone had to chase and capture chickens. This was silly fun and I found myself laughing at all of us running around in bunny suits. Once this was done I returned to Old Gridania to turn it in. 

Pirotess the bunny is ready to catch chickens!

After that, I was ready to start the second chapter of the event and got the quest A Procession Eggstraordinaire. No bunny costumes here, just participating in another FATE that involved me walking around Old Gridania and passing out colorful eggs to all the NPC children. This was a nice easy quest to do. 

Pirotess starts the next quest.

Once that was done, I was able to run back and turn the quest in. The rewards for this event were pretty great. Available rewards were the rabbit suit, dapper rabbit suit, stuffed rabbit, and a Hatching Tide poster. I received the rabbit suit from the NPC for the first quest and the dapper rabbit suit could be bought with the bejeweled eggs that I got from the quest events. 

Items in the seasonal shop. 

Hatching Tide this year was great and it was nice to celebrate it with everyone. If you missed it this year, don't worry. It will return again next year with all the fun and colorful bunnies everywhere. I needed this bit of fun. I think many of us did. The events in the world have caused many of us to feel stressed, sad, anxious, and in some cases angry. Being able to come together and enjoy an event that celebrates gaming together and having some time to just enjoy things for a little while was a good reminder that we're not alone and there are still things we can enjoy. Remember to do your best to be kind to yourselves and to each other and be safe. Thanks for reading, see you at the next adventure! 

See you at the next adventure!

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: PC and Playstation4

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and have open and honest conversations about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mother Gamer Plays The Uncharted Series

I don't know why I had never played the Uncharted series. I think there are just so many great games to play out there that sometimes it's hard to pick up and play them all. I was able to get the Uncharted Collection for free with my Playstation Plus monthly free game and picked up Uncharted 4 on sale. I was ready to start my adventure with Nathan Drake beginning with the first Uncharted game, Drake's Fortune. The first game started off pretty well introducing me to Nathan Drake and showing right away his love of adventure, treasure hunting, and solving historical mysteries like what happened to Francis Drake. The menu system was easy to follow and the combat was a lot of fun. I was not a fan of the jetski waterfall level however because the controls for it were terrible and frustrating. I managed to get through it and get back to the adventure and enjoying how it turned out. There is a love interest aspect of course and I found I really liked Elena. She was smart, tough, and wasn't afraid to challenge Nathan. There were some interesting puzzles to work out in the various main story areas and if I got stuck, I could always check Nathan's  journal for hints. The nice thing about the series of games is you can adjust the difficulty. I tend to like to just enjoy the story so I had it set to explorer mode which gives you a hint if you are really stuck. I do like that mechanic in the game. The first game does show its age, but it was a lot of fun.

Nathan and Elena taking a breather from adventure in the first game. 

Next in the collection was Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and I was excited to start the next Nathan Drake adventure. The second game started off pretty exciting with a daring escape from a crashed and burning train. This gives you a nice refresher about the game controls and a run through of the combat. Then the game does a flashback where you get to play as Nathan and find out how he wound up dangling from said burning train.

Nathan climbs for his life from a crashed train. 

The combat in Uncharted is intense, but it's a blast trying out different things against the bad guys. There are some quick time events, but once you get the hang of the timing you can finish the fights with finesse. Of course I am a derp and I died quite a bit usually from mistiming a jump or blowing myself up with a grenade. I was able to laugh at all my misfortunes because some of the ways Nathan died were rather comical. I still remember bouncing off a flag pole and then going splat on the ground. There is an autosave feature so I was able to try again right where I left off.

Having fun fighting bad guys on our adventure. 

Of course there is lots of exploring of tombs, tunnels, and catacombs complete with puzzles. Figuring out where to go and what to do is always an adventure. I did like the story for the second game as we hunted for the main story treasure and clues. This was another fantastic adventure and there is a noticeable improvement in a lot of the graphics and gameplay. I really enjoyed it.

Nathan explores some caves. 

I continued my adventure in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. I found this one to be very interesting because there are flashbacks in the story showing Nathan when he was a kid and how he met Sully and got to be where he is in the present. It also gives some insight into who Sully was before and a little bit of his past. The present story goes hand in hand with both their pasts and the sense of adventure is present in both. There are even more puzzles and battles, making it a thrilling ride. There are also incredible vistas to check out set in the desert this time, but just as beautiful as the jungle settings from the previous two games.

Nathan on his adventure in the desert. 

The treasure that Nathan and Sully are working together to find is cool and adds some great story elements. There are stealth aspects in the combat which add to the fun. Some of the timing for the quick time events take a little getting used to, but they're not terribly challenging. There are driving battles in the game which were also in the first two games and I did have a rough time with those because sometimes the camera angles would go a little crazy and caused a bit of motion sickness. There aren't too many driving battles though so overall I had a good time with the game.

Finally, I was ready to play Uncharted 4: A Thief's End which is the last game in the series. I think this may be my favorite game in the series because of the story and the relationships that Nathan has with various people. He's older, married to Elena, and seems to have settled down from his life of adventure. Circumstances change that however and he's off on one last thrill ride. The story here shows some more of Nathan's past from when he was a kid and introduces his older brother Sam. It gives a lot of insight into why Nathan has issues with trust and why he has that intense curiosity about wanting to know about historical mysteries.

Nathan on one last adventure.

The combat in the game had not really changed all that much and it was still a lot of intense chaos and fun. Finding clues that showed where to go next was also a blast. The puzzles in the game are a bit more intricate and while I got frustrated with a couple of them, it felt pretty good once I figured it out and took the next step on my adventure. My favorite puzzle was the one involving a clock tower. It was original, creative, and I had a blast solving it.

Nathan having the time of his life. 

The big thing in the story was Nathan's relationship with Elena. Elena makes Nathan better because she does challenge him and she is his equal through and through. You get to see first hand the love they have for each other and it adds such a great element to the story. Sully is there too and it's nice to see the father/mentor aspect that he has with Nathan and there's a family love there too. I found it interesting to see how Sam and Nathan's relationship as brothers handled everything they had been through as well. A Thief's End does such a great job showcasing all those relationships in a thoughtful and wonderful way.

Nathan and Elena enjoying the view together. 

There are so many fantastic scenic views in the series. A Thief's End was my favorite because of the incredible story that gave a nice sendoff to Nathan and his family. I had a great time playing the entire series because Nathan himself is a likable character who has flaws, but he's charming and a genuinely good person at heart. The people who support him like Elena and Sully are what help him to be that better person and I loved them too. I'm glad I took the time to play through the Uncharted series because I had such an amazing time enjoying where the adventures took me.

Taking the time to marvel at that great view. 

*The Uncharted Collection and Uncharted 4 are available to play on Playstation 4

*Join our community on Twitch as we talk about mental health and play games: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mother Gamer Plays Forager

I was genuinely curious about Forager because it looked like a very cute game. I am always on the lookout for games that I want to play and that I think would be fun to play on my Twitch streams. Forager hit all those bells and whistles. A member of our community graciously gifted me the game (thank you JFTigers!) and I couldn't wait to try it out. Forager uses a mechanic that combines idle games with exploration and adventure. Right from the start I was hooked at the cute world of Forager, but I really got drawn in by all the crafting, exploring, and adventuring you can do. Automation and crafting is the name of the game in the world of Forager. You can build tools for crafting like a loom or a forge for smelting iron bars while you run around foraging and harvesting materials for crafting.

You have a certain amount of energy and hearts which represent your health in the game. The various tasks that you do take up that energy so you have to constantly forage for food. You can also level up cooking by making meals in your forge or in a cooking pot. Cooked meals restore more energy and health. This comes in handy when there are monsters to fight all over the different areas. You can craft weapons on an anvil to fight the monsters and the monsters drop materials for crafting.

Exploring, adventuring, and crafting ahead!

One of the things in Forager is being able to make money. This doesn't have to be a hassle at all. This is also how you level up your character and skills. When you level up, you get points that you can use in the skill tree to unlock abilities and different crafting paths. In the user menu, you will find several different paths you can unlock for your game that help with the crafting, adventuring, and foraging. The first thing you should unlock is the finance path because this makes coins worth more, allows for trade, and lets you build banks which will gradually accrue money for you slowly. You just run up and click on the banks and get your coins. Having two of each crafting machine and building is a good idea so you have plenty of materials and money to go around. 

The skills menu in Forager. Starting with the finance path first is a good idea.

One major aspect of Forager is buying land. There are several different land types in the game ranging from desert to snowy horizons. Each island has unique plants, animals, and ores that you can gather for your crafting needs. There are various NPCs on the different islands as well that offer quests you can do for rewards such as money and more crafting items. There are dungeons on some of these islands too which you can explore. Unlocking the islands does cost money and the price increases as you unlock each one, but it's worth it because you get a wider variety of crafting and building materials. 

Buy land and expand your foraging empire. 

Speaking of dungeons, each dungeon has its own unique theme with monsters to fight and puzzles to solve. It has a very Legend Of Zelda vibe with the combat style and boss battles that works quite well with the world of Forager. When you successfully finish a dungeon you are rewarded with special weapons such as a lightning sword. These come in handy when fighting monsters on the map and it's a lot of fun to see what each magical weapon can do. You can also farm in Forager if you wish, growing crops and raising animals like chickens. The nice thing is you don't have to focus on one thing at a time. The game encourages you constantly being on the move foraging, crafting, building, and seeing what adventure awaits you. 

Exploring a dungeon. Adventure!

Another fun thing you can do in Forager is customize your character. You can swap in different masks and costumes. Two of my personal favorites were the Cthulhu head and the Hollow Knight costume. As you progress in the game and open up different islands, this also unlocks more costumes and masks for you to swap in and out as you wish. You can also customize your backpack depending on which style you have unlocked. 

Choosing the Hollow Knight costume. 

Speaking of the backpack, you will need this for the items you forage and craft. All that gathering does add up and you will find yourself running out of space very quickly. The good news is that you can upgrade your backpack on your loom as long as you have the appropriate materials. This gives you more inventory slots. It's fairly easy to organize the items in your backpack. You can also build vaults which will automatically store items if your backpack is full. The only drawback is the vaults only have six slots, so building multiple vaults as needed is a good idea. 

Storing all the things in the backpack. 

There is a fun nod to Stardew in Forager with the museum on one of the islands. You can gather items for bundles and donate them to the museum. For example, you can gather ore and gems and donate them to the museum to complete the mining bundle. There are some items you won't be able to find until you buy more land or explore specific dungeons, but there's no rush. You can take your time doing all the things and there is an auto save function which allows you to keep playing and having a good time. 

Donating bundles to the museum. 

Forager is a great game for chilling out. It is a grinding game, but it's not a stressful one. You can play as much or as little as you like. The choice is entirely yours. For me, I spent hours foraging, crafting, and adventuring and I loved every minute of it. The cute designs of the characters and the world of Forager have a wonderful sense of whimsy that makes it a delight to play. It's a nice relaxing game that adds the right mix of grinding, exploration, and adventure. Now, I'm going to explore more islands and get my crafting on. Thanks for reading, see you at the next adventure! 

* Forager is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch

* Join our community as we play games and talk about mental health on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mother Gamer Plays Verdant Skies

A friend of mine gifted me Verdant Skies on Steam and I was intrigued when I was told it had Stardew Valley vibes, but in space. In Verdant Skies you are a new colonist on a planet called Viridis Primus. The first thing is to create your character and you can play as a male or female. The character design is great, offering a variety of options with outfits, hair color, body types, and skin tone. I spent a bit of time trying to decide, but eventually I came up with a character that I really liked.

Creating my character. 

You do get to meet with a few of the colonists who are already there like your boss Jade. I do like the fact that you get a quick biography of the person when you meet them for the first time because it gives you a general idea of who they are, what they like, and what they don't like. I also appreciated the fact that if you play as a male or female character you have 12 romance options in the game and if you wish you can romance more than one of them. Some characters will want a one on one relationship with your character while others are accepting of you dating more than one person. Having conversations with the other colonists and getting to know them gives you a better idea of what they're like and the hearts under their name will increase or decrease depending on how you choose to respond. I genuinely loved the diversity of the characters in Verdant Skies and finding out that one of the main characters is a trans woman absolutely made my day because representation matters. Not only that, she was in a position where she was in charge, everyone treated her with kindness and respect, and the more I got to know her, I saw the wonderful person she was and how she had gotten to where she was by being her true self. It was a beautiful thing that happened organically in the story and made me love Verdant Skies just a little more. It doesn't just stop there however, there are characters that are non binary as well. It showed how much thought and care went into making this game. 

Getting to know about Jade in her quick biography.

Of course there is farming in the game. You are trying to build a colony on this planet after all and you will need food for all those colonists. This is where your character comes in. If you have played Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon, you know what that entails. You start out with practically nothing. You are given some seeds to plant in the fields and you have to water them and tend them every day. When you get your first harvest you get a small reward for it, but you must keep farming to get that food for everyone. 

Tending the crops and doing my part to help the colony. 

Speaking of food, you do have to eat to keep your energy up. If you are low on energy your character will start to move lethargically and things will get blurry. You can eat food that you forage or you can make food in the kitchen of your house with the food you have found from foraging. When you eat, this boosts your energy so you can continue working and exploring the planet. 

Make food in your kitchen and eat to keep your energy up. 

There is fishing in the game and yes, you can cook and eat the fish. Fishing takes a little bit of finesse because you are spear fishing and you have to line up the throw just right in order to get a fish. Once you get the hang of it though, fishing is pretty easy and there are some mini quests you have to do for one of the colonists who is studying the different types of fish. There is one for studying plants also. 

Doing a little fishing. 

You have to make money of course in Verdant Skies and that is where the shipping bin comes in. Items you have foraged, crops you have harvested, and building materials can be put in the shipping bin and you get money. You are essentially building your home and your colony around you. The nice thing about Verdant Skies is that while it is a very relaxing game, it also encourages you to keep going with a myriad of tasks to do. Which colonist will come to the planet next? Can you build a town square for everyone? Can you splice some seeds together to make a better potato? These are just some of the tasks and I found I wanted to keep playing because I was enjoying the game and I wanted to see what I could do next. 

Shipping things and making that money!

There is also a ton of technology in Verdant Skies. You have colonists who are engineers that can help you build these things. There are even ways to clone animals like space cows. That's right, there are space cows. They are bright pink, fluffy, and adorable. There are so many possibilities with the technology in the game and it was fun trying to see what I could come up with. Overall, Verdant Skies has been incredibly enjoyable for me. It has the chill vibes that I love while being a creative and thoughtful experience with the diversity of the characters and a world that is fun to explore. It is a great game and I haven't stopped playing because it is that good. Thanks for reading, see you at the next adventure!

Living my best space colonist life. 

*Verdant Skies is available on Steam

*Join our community as we play games and have open and honest conversations about mental health on Twitch! https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer 

The Adventures Of Pirotess: Valentione's Day 2020

The Valentione's Day event in Eorzea is here! The event started January 29 and it is ongoing until February 29 so you have plenty of time to participate and get all the rewards from it. The first thing to remember is your adventurer must have a melee or mage class that is at least level 15 and that you have to have completed the quest It's Probably Pirates. If you've done all that, you can join in the festivities. Head over to Old Gridania where you can see the town decorated just for Valentione's Day.

Pirotess in Gridania for Valentione's Day.

You need to talk to the NPC Lisette to start the quest, Of Ardor And Argument. Basically for the quest you get to vote for one of Lisette's three proteges to be the emissary of love for this year's festival. You can only vote once during this quest and your vote will be counted in the world where you completed it. 

Pirotess with the three proteges, helping a villager.

When you have decided which protege you wish to vote for, walk up and talk to them. Whoever you vote for, you will be rewarded with a Valentione's Day outfit in a color that matches theirs. Your choices and colors are, Astrid for red, Rodrigault for blue, and Bert for yellow. 

Pirotess chooses Rodrigault. 

There is another thing you can do to celebrate Valentione's Day and that is the Valentione's Affinity event. You and a friend can participate by speaking to the Valentione's festival servant. If you are solo you will be matched up via the party finder. 

Talk to this NPC to start the affinity event. 

The affinity event consists of two trials. The first is a Moogle filled maze. You and your partner are linked by a bright orange chain and you need to stay close together, communicate with each other, and use teamwork in order to navigate the maze and not break your affinity. If you lose all your affinity and the chain breaks, you fail the trial. If you fail, don't worry. This is a repeatable quest and you can try again. The second trial is a card matching memory game. Again, you need to work with your partner and communicate what the cards are. When you match all the cards the trial is complete. The Moogle in charge will tell you and your partner what your affinity is and you are rewarded with Valentione's Day chocolates. 

Pirotess and a friend ready to run the maze.

You can trade your Valentione's Day chocolates to the NPC vendor for various items ranging from furniture for your house to Valentione's Day themed fireworks as well as the Valentione's Day outfit.

Trade your Valentione's Day chocolates for these items.

The Valentione's Day event doesn't take too much effort and it's a fun break from the usual level grinding and adventuring. You can hang out with your friends while celebrating it and the rewards you get for it are pretty nice. Thanks for reading. See you at the next adventure! 

Pirotess in her Valentione's Day outfit. See you at the next adventure!

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: PC and Playstation 4

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mother Gamer Plays Untitled Goose Game

I had seen some of the gameplay for Untitled Goose Game and I thought it looked like a lot of fun and wanted to play it myself. I got the game and I was ready to play as a goose and wreak havoc on the town. The controls for the game are easy to follow. The game starts with the goose coming from its nest and wandering the town. The goose can honk, flap its wings, and grab items with its beak. Honestly, just walking around and honking was a lot of fun for me.

The goose is on the loose. 

The village is split up into different area each with its own list of things you can do such as tripping a boy in a puddle or locking someone out of their garden. As you complete each item on the list, it gets crossed off. You can check the list to see what other things you can do to bother the villagers. The great thing about this is there are several different ways you can do each thing and the game gives you a lot of freedom to explore and figure it out on your own. 

List of things you can do as a goose. 

I had so much fun playing as the goose and being terrible to the villagers. It was awful and funny at the same time chasing a boy into a phone booth honking away and flapping my wings. Sneaking into a villager's yard and stealing his hat and pipe and honking at him on the other side of the fence was hilarious. Stealing darts from a man at the pub had me giggling. There were so many different ways for the goose to bother the villagers and be a general nuisance and I tried all of them, laughing at all the amusing interactions with the villagers. 

Honk! The goose with a stolen pipe and hat. 

One of the things I loved about the game was the fact that the villagers do their best not to hurt the goose. They shoo the goose away or chase it out of the area, but they are always kind even though the bird acts like a giant jerk. The game isn't very long about three hours, but it is funny and charming with a lovely musical soundtrack which made it so much fun to play. I had such a great time honking, flapping my wings, and causing mischief all over the village. 

The goose plots its next move. 

*Untitled Goose Game is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One

Join our community as we play games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Death Stranding More Than Just A Delivery Game

I love Kojima's work so I was intrigued when I first started hearing and then seeing things about Death Stranding. When I got the game I was ready to dive in and play it. Yes, the entire game is Norman Reedus as Sam delivering packages, but the game is also much more than that. The first ten hours of the game showing most of America is gone because of ghosts that killed people and when the people they killed died, the bodies went into necrosis and blew up. The explosions were big enough to wipe out whole cities and this series of events came to be known as the Death Stranding. After all of this, there's a need for porters, people who literally risk their lives to deliver packages across the American wasteland. This is where Sam comes in because he has a reputation as being a fantastic porter and this is where the story of Death Stranding really dives in. The president who is also his mother wants his help to travel all over and bring the isolated cities together by connecting them to a network system known as the chiral network. There is also another aspect of the story introducing bridge babies known as BBs who can sense the ghosts which are known as BTs (beached things) and Sam with his BB sets off on his adventure.

Sam is off to make deliveries in the wasteland. 

Porters have to walk all over the world. The terrain can be tricky which is why I found myself scanning often in order to see where it was safe to walk. You can have vehicles too of course, but be aware that some areas are rough and sometimes it's just easier to walk. Sam has an arsenal of tools that help him get across areas ranging from ladders to zip lines. This is where an aspect of the game comes in that I absolutely loved. One of the big themes in the game is how we come together and connect with each other with tools like the internet and how those bonds bring us together. There is a multiplayer aspect to Death Stranding in an indirect way. Once you are connected to the chiral network, this is where it comes in. You can build bridges, roads, or leave climbing ropes and ladders in hard to reach places that other players can use and vice versa. There is also a shared locker so you can gift tools or items that will help on the journey. You can also leave signs that are helpful telling other players about deep water or steep cliffs. You can give likes to each other for these things too. It's a great communal experience helping each other out without ever seeing each other in the game. It shows what people left behind to lend a helping hand and that is one of my favorite mechanics in the game. 

Leaving a helpful sign for other players. 

Of course there are dangers while making deliveries across the wastelands. The biggest one being the BTs which terrified me. Having my BB with me helped as they can sense the BTs and a scary rain known as Timefall could help be aware of them, but this still made for scary situations with black tar suddenly popping up around me and worse getting dragged under by a BT and my packages spilling everywhere. Luckily, there are weapons that can combat them and of course investing in building roads can help to avoid them too. In the areas that didn't have roads built, I learned how to sneak by and avoid as many BTs as possible and I did my best to help my fellow players along the way. During your journey you can stop and take a rest which is important so you can resupply on materials, items, and get more delivery orders. You can also build safehouses in the game for others to use. I was always so grateful to find a safehouse along the trip left by fellow players. 

Sam takes a break in a safehouse. 

The other fantastic thing about Death Stranding for me was the story. There is a myriad of characters that Sam meets along the way and it was always interesting to see their stories and how they came to be. This is especially true for the people he made deliveries to. There was a love story, a story about hope, and a story about loss. I was invested in all of it because the cast made me care about all of it because of their incredible performances. I was always excited for every delivery I made successfully and I was hooked into the story. Then there's our main characters. I loved Norman Reedus as Sam. He did an amazing job. Then there's Mads Mikkelsen in his role as Clifford Unger and his story was heartbreaking, yet there was a ray of hope and closure in his storytelling that was incredible to see. Then there was one of the most beautiful, raw emotional performances in a scene with Tommie Earl Jenkins as Die-Hardman and for me he stole the show. It moved me to tears. I'm talking tears rolling down my cheeks, my heart was breaking right there with him, and it was intense. For a scene to do that speaks volumes about the talent and skill of the actor. The story in Death Stranding had me caring about each and every one of these people and I kept playing because I wanted to see where the story took me. I was ready to go on that journey with Sam every step of the way. 

Sam makes a delivery and a connection. 

I understand that many people didn't know what to make of Death Stranding, but once I dove in I came to understand the bigger picture of what Kojima was trying to say about how each connection we make with each other may seem small, but in the long run they are important and those bonds matter. I loved the story, exploring, and I loved seeing how those connections came to be and how they grew into something that mattered and became important to Sam and to everyone. I was thrilled that after the main story was finished I could still explore, make deliveries, and keep building while making more connections. Death Stranding is a beautiful thing that I enjoyed with every step and every communal connection. 

Sam drives off into the sunset and to deliver more packages. 

*Death Stranding is available to play on the following platforms: Playstation 4

*Join our community as we play games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer