July 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on June 30, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

To celebrate PlayStation Plus turning 10 years old, the July 2020 Free PS Plus Games are :

NBA 2k20, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Erica!

Apparently NBA 2k20 was recently four dollars, but I bought NBA 2k19 when it was three dollars, so I must have missed that other sale.  One basketball game would typically be enough for me, but I’m looking forward to playing the latest version of NBA.  Apparently 2k21 is slated to come out soonish.  Which I forgot it was announced during the PS5 Future of Gaming event.  To get back into the game, I redownloaded 2k19 and tried to get some of the easier trophies in MyNeighborhood.  Once I got my character from Preclude to the Phoenix Suns, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even play one game as a Sun.  Just having the jersey was enough for me.  Looking into it, it is a real shame that 2k20 doesn’t have a Prelude, as I saw 2k18 did.  It is a nice free DLC tutorial, but I get incorporating it into the game itself, if that is what they even did.  My gaming goal for 2k20 will be to start a new character and get him to the Suns again.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the second sequel to the rebooted trilogy.  I have been having Tomb Raider on my mind, since replaying Uncharted 4, and wanting to watch the Tomb Raider films again, especially latest one that I have never seen.  Neither of the three films are available for streaming, but hopefully that changes relatively soon.  I added 2013’s Tomb Raider to my psprices wishlist, and I see the Definitive edition goes on sale for five dollars, but I wouldn’t mind playing Rise prior to the first game, as that’s what I have.

Erica is a game I bought when it was five dollars.  I had remembered it as I had completed two playthroughs and had been forced into making a decision I didn’t want to due to not getting the cursor to land where I wanted to in a third playthrough.  Turns out, I had only completed the one playthrough and that had occurred in my third.  So I completed my second playthrough last night, using the app, and it did seem to work out better than using the touchpad.  I’m going to complete a third playthrough and keep the game in my game rotation for the month of July.  There is only six playthroughs, so I should be able to do all six of them in July or August.  Using the app did seem to give me a few additional seconds to make a choice, but I could be remembering it wrong.

Some people are complaining about these being the games to celebrate 10 years, but it seems like a pretty decent month to me, and I’m pretty happy that Erica is getting some attention that it deserves.

.  .  .

PSPrices

NBA 2k20 is currently a $60 game, but goes as low as $19.79, so maybe people are remembering 2k19’s amazing sale and not 2k20.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is typically a $30 game, but goes as low as $8.39.

Erica is typically a $10 game, but goes as low as $4.99.

Our currently running value of PS Plus is $131, with us considering Call of Duty WWII a bonus game.  So we’ll round up and add $34 to the total to make $165, and that’s us now in the second half of the year, so I’ll say we definitely have gotten our value from the service for our $45 investment.  Plus, hopefully the price doesn’t go up too much for the PS5, but hopefully it still goes on sale for either Black Friday or the holiday season.

PS Store

NBA 2k20 has the standard edition for $60, and the game is heavily influenced by microtransactions.

5,000 VC for $2
15,000 VC for $5
35,000 VC for $10
75,000 VC for $20
200,000 VC for $50
450,000 VC for $100

There is a Digital Deluxe edition for $80 and a Legend Edition for $100.

Free International Commentary so I’ve downloaded that already.

I’ve never been tempted to buy VC (the game’s currency), but you do earn a small amount with most things you do in the game.  Just not as much.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the 20 Year Celebration edition, so it comes with all five DLC.

Erica also does not have any additional content.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s reactions to the games :

PS4

PlayStation Plus July games lineup & a thank you for 10 years of supporting PS Plus from PS4

PlayStation Plus

As PS Plus reaches its tenth anniversary, your games for July are revealed: NBA 2K20, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Erica from PlayStationPlus

PS4Deals

PS+ Free Games July 2020 – NBA 2K20, Rise of the Tomb Raider & Erica | PSN | Available July 7th from PS4Deals

Not sure what is happening with the Plus subreddit, they were trying to link to Twitter.

.  .  .

Here are my YouTube peeps :

Nathan of PlayStation Access :

Adam of PlayStation Grenade :

Ben of Platinum Chasers :

Ben has a fun little intro as the announcement came on a Monday instead of the traditional Wednesday, is like three months in a row of the announcement breaking from tradition.

Turns out, Walker Dennis is quite familiar with PlayStation Grenade thanks to Adam’s great videos relating to Goat Simulator.

.  .  .

Here are PlayStation Trophies.org’s guides to the games :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/nba-2k20/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/rise-of-the-tomb-raider/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/erica-na-ps4/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/erica/339001-erica-platinum-walkthrough-text-guide.html

Hey, NBA 2k20 has a guide!  I immediately checked and no one made a 2k19 guide, so I’m still just stumbling my way through getting those.

I apparently made some mistake in my first two playthroughs of Erica and did not earn Fall Out Girl, so hopefully one of the other playthroughs has me redo one of those activities, but it is pretty early on in the game, so it shouldn’t take too much and the recommended sixth playthrough is essentially play the entire game except do this one thing towards the end, so that’s when I will ensure I annoy each of the ladies then.

.  .  .

I’ve been making some great headway and keeping with my gaming rotation.  I will have to modify it to include two new games, but it was fun during the previous cycle.  It really just helps when I have so many episodic games to play.

I finally earn the Kifflom trophy in Grand Theft Auto V, which was one of the non-story related trophies I felt I was capable of earning.  I believe I did what was necessary to earn my million dollars for Online, but clearly I never checked again.  I will sometime around July 15, when I try to earn another million dollars.  Then I will play another mission or so.  I left the game where Michael is working for a movie producer and Franklin and Trevor are doing some mission Michael is not involved in.  So I will do the Franklin/Trevor mission and another studio mission as that was fun, and call it good.

I started playing Ratchet & Clank, and kept just thinking to myself, what an amazing game!  I really want to watch the movie now, but it isn’t streaming anywhere and I really don’t want to spend more than five dollars through VUDU and I want to say it was still asking $15 for it, and it came out in 2016 and I’m probably the only one wanting to watch it who hasn’t.  Well, I guess they just announced Rift in Time, so the desire is probably coming back, but I will watch for a sale for it.

Just because I was already at VUDU, they want $18 for the Angelina Jolie two films, and $15 for Alicia Vikander’s 2018 remake.  I do like how Lara Croft has been portrayed by two Oscar winners, she deserves that.  Jolie won for 2000’s Girl, Interrupted, Best Supporting Actress, and Vikander for 2016’s The Danish Girl, Best Supporting Actress, so also fun that they both won for Supporting Actress, as well.  $33 is a bit much for those three films, I’ll say.  Shame VUDU isn’t doing a three movie bundle like they often do for other movies, but that’s probably a rights issue.

I left Ratchet & Clank on Gaspar looking for 60 brains, which was super annoying to me as I found 40 on my own, and can’t really fathom where the other 20 could be.  Then I was reading the guide, and at some point, we earn a map that makes finding the brains way easier, so I’ll have to make progress and come back.  I really liked the flamethrower weapon, the Pyro Blaster.  I have it completely leveled up to 5, so I’ve taken it out of my weapon setup, but I’m missing it dearly, but I clearly won’t use other weapons otherwise.  Well, that isn’t true, I was using Mr. Zurkon as well, who I also loved as our buddy buddy.  I do wonder if Clank is jealous or annoyed by Mr. Zurkon.  Mr. Zurkon gives these amazing quips and I also have him maxed at level 5, so he’s out of the rotation.  The game is a lot harder without my main assets, but that’s on me, I should have been balancing them more.  Turns out, in New Game Plus, I can raise these higher to level 10, so I’m excited about that possibility.

I really got into Detroit Become Human playing for several more nights than I was expecting.  I was also surprised to see Connor come back, as I got him killed in the very first mission.  My Connor, unfortunately, is not very good, he’s let Kara escape (as how could I let him capture her?  She’s the best!), but he also failed to catch the bird Android person and also failed to figure out where murderous sex robot went, which he’s upset with himself almost as much as I’m upset with myself over it.  The bird android, I get, as we lost track of him in that final stage, but the sex robot, we were doing everything possible, but I was having to talk to more androids than expected.

Kara and Alice are still save, and we got new buddy Lucifer now too.  We’ve been to the abandoned amusement park.  That mansion where we meet Lucifer was intense!

Markus has met his crew and I want to ship him and North so hard!  Turns out, she’s played by Minka Kelly, so she’s giving Kara’s actress, Valorie Curry a run for her money.  But I still like Kara more, especially as Markus keeps doing at least one thing that annoys North, but then she makes it pretty clear what she wants to have happen next happen, and I make those decision so easily, even if it annoys the rest of the crew.  Valorie Curry was on Amazon’s The Tick, so now I really want to watch that show.

I meant to keep playing even more but then I was reading up on what skills I need in The Council and it made me really want to play that game.  Seriously, I really want more people to play The Council.  The first episode is free, and I love how it is a TellTale style of game, but with a skill tree.  I love the act of finding out which skills I need, I make a list, when it comes time to pump skills into the tree, I find out which ones I really needed during the previous quest, and I raise those skills and see how it effects the next quest.  I completed Episode 2, and just having a great time with this historical fiction.  I can’t wait to jump into Episode 3!

I finally got around to playing Metal Gear Solid V : Ground Zeroes.  I thought I was doing a pretty decent job at stealth, but I would blow my cover, but I eventually got my two buddies rescued.  It got intense towards the end of it, but I figured out a path, and got her out of there.  I hate to write this, as it may be controversial, but I think I much prefer Sniper Elite IV’s stealth to Metal Gear Solid V, but I was instantly taken by Sniper Elite IV, and I will give Ground Zeroes a couple more tries and try to get good with it.

I finished Chapter Eight of Uncharted 4, such a fun game.  Here is another game where there is just a lot of fighting, and I forget that besides amazing set pieces, that the game is a cover shooter.  Like, I forget all of the combat that is required to get through, just to get to the next place.  I’m playing on Normal, and I’m sure the two lower difficulties probably has less enemies, but after completing a chapter, I usually feel pretty good with my progress.

I finished the second episode of King’s Quest.  Still really enjoying the game.  I had to do one full run of Episode 2, and then pretty much two thirds of a playthrough, twice, to get the other two endings.  I recall reading Episode Four might be the same way with having to create saves to save time, but I’m still here for it.  A fun game, the characters are fun, not enough of Amaya for my taste, but she was barely in the first episode as well.  I doubt she becomes the future queen, but if she is, that would be amazing.

Doing these episodic games, I was reminded that we never completed the first episode of TellTale’s Back to the Future game.  So I completed my run, and then I helped Walker Dennis complete his run.  He started the second episode and the controls seem to be a tad better.  There was a lot of back tracking in 1955 that I wouldn’t have minded so much, if when I press the left direction, Marty walked in the left direction.  Because of camera angles, or not implementing a better control scheme, I was holding down to make him to across the screen in the right direction.  It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I was running across the central area and going to the soup kitchen and the jail a bunch, and the controls could have been a tad better.

A game that has pretty much perfect controls is Batman : Arkham Aslyum.  I finished the game with locking Harley up and moving onto the Botanical Gardens.  I forgot how creepy those lunatics are, and two different ones jumps on my back and gave me quite the freight!  That’s when I knew it was bed time.  I meant to play more, but then the free games were announced I wanted to play Erica’s second playthrough and that took almost two hours, but I still had enough time to knock out some easier trophies in NBA 2k19.

.  .  . 

Because I had filled the PS4 with my current game rotation and to make room for Erica and NBA 2k19, I had to delete Uncharted 4, Ratchet & Clank, GTA V (which was probably the only one I really needed to delete), and Detroit Become Human.  It was fun to revisit those games, but removing those games freed up a bunch of space.  Oh, and I deleted Final Fantasy XIV as well.  I clearly was not coming back that game any time soon.  So I should have enough space now for Rise of the Tomb Raider and I will delete NBAS 2k19, once I have 2k20.  I thought progress carried over between games, but I also clearly never finished a season, so what would I be carrying over?  I just checked and NBA 2k20’s demo is not the prelude, it does not have a story mode that benefits the game, so that’s pretty disappointing.  So I will spend a night (hopefully) of running around the neighborhood to earn the Marathon Man trophy and delete 2k19 in preparation of 2k20.

I’m sure I will redownload Uncharted 4 and Ratchet & Clank again as the desire will return, especially Ratchet & Clank, as I’m sure Rise of the Tomb Raider will scratch the Uncharted itch.

.  .  .

My beautiful wife got me the best Father’s Day present ever!  I am now the proud owner of a PlayStation Vita!  I’ve been wanting one for so long!  She also treated me to a 16GB SD card so I was able to fill the thing up with so many games, that I eventually had to delete a few as I got carried away with wondering how many filled up the 16GB as the first few games I downloaded, were super small.  Turns out, and I’m still getting used to the store format through the Vita, but I did claim some additional games that I didn’t think I did.  So that has been nice, and even one game I didn’t even know I had access too.  That game is Super Mutant Alien Assault.

At first, I had no intention of redownloading games I have played on the PS4 that were cross play, but then I realized how silly that was as that eliminated like 20 games, and I decided against that policy when I realized I had 20 Vita games, when I thought I only had like six.

Every Wednesday, I’m going to check psprices (I do this regardless) to see the cheap Vita games and slowly start building my collection.  Especially if the game is cross play as I like to give them a shot on the big TV before playing them on the Vita.  I bought Blasting Agent : Ultimate Edition as it was $1.19, and worth a risk.  I saw Cel Damaged was on sale for $3, but I think I can hold off on buying games until they are under $2, especially as I have so many new games I haven’t even played yet.

I did buy Demetrois : Big Cynical Adventure after reading it was a visual novel with a twist, and I think I really want to turn my Vita into a Visual Novel machine, as those seem to be perfect carry around and play type of games.

I write that but I have been playing King Oddball like crazy!  To the point, where I want to reinstall it onto the PS4 as I’ve been making crazy progress, but I’m also okay with not doing that.  Such a great game, if you want Angry Birds, but with a floating head that throws rocks using his tongue, King Oddball is the game for you!

I also been playing Sparkle 2 for a lot longer than I ever gave it a chance on the PS4.  I am mentally committed to playing it until I earned the Play for 4 Hours trophy, but I’ll probably see it to the end.

Divekick is a very fun fighting game, either we jump or we are divekicking.  I did one playthrough as the bear character and now I’m currently playing as Dive, brother to Kick.  Though I am playing with the YOLO gem, so one kick to me, and I lose and I have to kick my opponent five times, one kick per round.  It is for a trophy, and it like King Oddball, as a real “just one more go” feel to it.

Draw Slasher is not the Ninja Fruit clone I thought it was going to be, but I understand now where they make that comparison.  It is more of a side scrolling fighting game, where we are constantly swiping our sword at opponents.  Pretty fun, I beat the boss and felt good with my progress.  I’m essentially just trying out a slew of games to see what I take too.

For instance, I did not take to Atomic Ninjas, there is a lot of depth and abilities to the game, maybe a few too many, and I’m just plain not good at it.  Like, I felt good at the beginning of the tutorial, but then it goes on for like six additional abilities and then I try it for real, and I just end up bouncing around the area and shoving people into fire.

I sort of want to buy a 32GB SD card, but those things are so expensive but I just want to have access to all of my games.  Which is silly a the PS4 has clearly trained me to only keeping like six games at any given time.

Blasting Agent : Ultimate Edition was fun until I got to the second boss fight.  It took so many tries, but I did it, and felt I got my $1.19 out of it.  It also served as a cautionary tale to maybe not just buy every dollar game out there.

I really want to get Uncharted : Golden Abyss, I rather not spend $15 on it, but I think I might just be getting to the point that I want to play one of the best Vita titles out there.  I also saw there was Batman Origins Blackgate for the Vita, and I sort of want that game too.  Hopefully with people’s interest in the Vita since that one moment in The Last of Us Part 2, sales for games will start kicking in.  I saw there are already two company’s who are going back to developing games for the system, so hopefully that is a new trend.

I’m still no good at 36 Fragments of Midnight, but I feel like it could be a perfect Vita game.  Usually I tuck Walker Dennis in at night, then I sit and play on the Vita until he falls asleep, which has been nice as there were a few nights (too many, to be honest), where I started getting sleepy myself, and either dozed off or became to sleepy to hang out with my wife.  Now I am pretty alert and ready to hang out, so it has been worth it.

The Vita has a tutorial to learn more about its function, Welcome Park, and there were trophies associated with it, so I gave that a try.  I’m no good at that jigsaw puzzle, but I’m never good with those where we are missing a piece and have to move all of the tiles along to form the puzzle.

I’m hoping Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross go on sale, they were on sale in March or so, and if I knew I was getting a Vita then (it was still a dream at that point), I would have bought them when they were $5 each, instead of $10.  If they had trophy support, I would just buy them right now, but they don’t, so I’m holding out for a sale.

So a lot of gaming stuff is happening around me and I’m super excited for July!

June 30, 2020 – S&FwM’s Seventh Birthday!!!

Posted by John Klein III on June 30, 2020
Posted in: Retrospective. Tagged: . Leave a comment

I can’t believe I started this blog seven years ago!  Seems like ages ago my wife was visiting friends in San Francisco, and I had a lot of time on my hands and needed a break from Fallout 3.  We have come a long way from strictly comic book reviews and doing more PlayStation focus posts.  I really wish I had a comic book store that was local, but I also have boxes and boxes of back issues that I could be reviewing too.  I just barely have time these days to even game for an hour some nights.  Being an adult is not all it is cracked up to be.  But enough of the woes, let us get to the fun!

Like always, here’s our latest stats!

All Time Views :                    235,469
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At 8,168  views – our most popular post is still my post about Bounce Patrol.

At 1,964 views – our most popular comic review is still Avengers 51.

Best Month : May 2018, with 6,157 views

I’m still a tad obsess with getting my visitors from countries with nine views to ten views so if you know anyone in Guyana, Laos, Cape Verde, and Fiji, please encourage them to check out the blog!  I say that but apparently I have not earn any views from Cape Verde, Guyana, Laos, and Fiji, in over a year.  Well, dang it!

I did get additional visitors from Mauritius (10), Cuba (10), and Uzbekistan (12), so that’s nice!

Once again, thank you, all of the visitors who have made all of this possible – I wouldn’t keep doing this if it wasn’t for the constant encouragement of visitors.  Thank you.

Thank you again for everyone who has come to the blog, even with the lack of reviews of current comics.  People still do seem to be coming for older reviews, but I appreciate that the video game posts have been getting some love too as that’s mostly all I can write about until I get inspired to tackle a different topic.

Thank you for seven amazing years!

Excalibur 40

Posted by John Klein III on June 23, 2020
Posted in: Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Writer Scott Lobdell

Penciler Dave Hoover

Inkers Harry Candelario and Tim Dzon

Colorist Brad Vancata

Letterer Bill Oakley

Cover Dated August 1991

Thanks to Friend of the Blog, MoxieMk5, for suggesting I write the review for this comic.  It has been on my mind to do ever since!

Been a while since I wrote a comic, so let’s give this a shot!

This is the infamous issue where we follow up Lockheed getting hurt from the previous issue.  Since Lockheed is on nearly every page, I thought it would be fun to showcase the Kitty Pryde pages.

Also, special thanks for Marvel Database for having the creative team written out as the comic does not list them out.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Excalibur_Vol_1_40

The issue opens with a doctor remembering her cat died on her sixth birthday.  She recalls wishing people heaven and pet heaven was the same, as it doesn’t seem fair to never see your best friend again.

See how the credits don’t give the full names and duties?  I’m sure it made sense at the time.  Plus, that is a glorious splash page!  Actually, this entire issue has some great splash pages, that I’m sure Hoover, Candelario & Dzon have already since sold the original prints.

The team watches on as the operation lasts at least four hours.

Thankfully this is a comic from the early 90s, so I knew there was going to be a recap.  I had forgotten about the Doctor Doom arc of the past three issues, and how Lockheed got injured from trying to save Kitty from an attack by Doctor Doom.

Dr. Edgerton, the vet who lost her cat when she was six, is the lead doctor on the case.  She just patched Lockheed’s fifth lung.  She states that Lockheed’s recovery is up to him now.

Lockheed has an outer body experience that will take the bulk of the issue.  Since this could be seen as a dream sequence, it is hard to know how much of it could be canon.  I know he rarely is ever seen with the Flock outside of having a date to Kitty and Colossus’ would be wedding ceremony.

Lobdell has some fun writing in rhymes this issue.

I like how Lockheed knows his teammates’ names, and it isn’t like he has cute nicknames that he has given them.

It must take a lot of work to just instinctively know how to rhyme.  Lockheed would be amazing in a rap battle.  Though we do hear his thought process before in various future appearances, such as the Pet Avengers and SWORD, that he does not continue this.  It could be the medications he is currently on as well.

There is a lot of purple in this issue, which must have been fun for Vancata.

The Flock are putting Lockheed on trial.

I really miss the editor boxes as they could be fun on an occasion, besides being super helpful.

Lockheed is on trial for being . . . a traitor!  He left the Flock, and that is the highest of crimes.

They give Lockheed the option to defend himself with either science or art, how does that type of system even begin?  Lockheed chooses painting.

Lockheed is held in high esteem for all of his work eliminating the Brood.  He met Kitty in Uncanny X-Men 166, and snuck onto their ship to head home.  He was scheduled to get married the next day, so that isn’t ideal.

We get an awesome panel from Uncanny X-Men 168.

Lockheed must defend his reason for leaving a bride at the alter.

Lockheed states it was so he can join Excalibur, even though he was with the X-Men for years by that point.

He was smitten with Kitty (who isn’t?!), and gets cut off before he can really go into his case.  The prosecutor is really against him.

Lockheed begins to tell his side of Uncanny X-Men 168.  He says some really lovely things about Kitty.

This issue really serves as a great introductory to Lockheed, Kitty, and the entire cast of Excalibur.  The trial is just a framing sequence to do a little catch up for those who jumped onto the title with the Doom battle.

I would totally buy this print if I could.

He met a fellow warrior and he knew then, he had to be by her side.  The X-Men were believed dead, and she went to England, and he followed.

We get a great page of Nightcrawler’s origins.  Lockheed states Kurt is the backbone of Excalibur, which he is, but he is also the team’s heart and a great deputy leader.  This was also at the time when Kurt had a crush on Meggan.  It must be those elf ears!

The prosecutor is upset that Lockheed is revealing information from origins that Lockheed was not present for.  They discuss how humans don’t speak dragon, and Lockheed doesn’t speak human, they can’t communicate at all.  Lockheed reminds him that they are empaths, and that is enough for them to get along and be friends.

The prosecutor is called a casemaker, and his lovely wife explains how Lockheed is so passionate and clearly isn’t lying.  Turns out, the wife is Lockheed’s former betrothed.  Which, really, the casemaker should not be coming at Lockheed as hard in that respect, he got himself a lady out of the deal.  But a job is a job, I supposed.  She calls the casemaker, love-life, so I assume they are romantically paired.

Lockheed is not quite sure of Meggan’s origins, but she isn’t sure of her origins either.

Captain Britain’s origins are quickly recapped.

Captain Britain is searching for Rachel, the staff tell him she is on the roof.  She’s thinking about the events of Uncanny X-Men 207, where she nearly killed Selene, but Wolverine stopped her.  She has decided to not seek revenge against Dr. Doom.  Rachel gives Brian a quick recap of her origins from the Days of Future Past storyline, which I’m pretty sure he knows about by this point.  He’s very polite.

Back at the trial, the casemaker is asking Lockheed about being pals with the Phoenix, as she brings nothing but death.  The issue is really making a big point to remind us that Wolverine stabbed Rachel.

We get a nice recap of an earlier adventure in Excalibur with the Warwolves, Widget, and Colin.

Meanwhile, at Scotland Yard.  Inspector Dai Thomas and Alistaire Stuart are chatting about the wounded Lockheed.  Thomas, who doesn’t prefer superheroes, feels really bad for Lockheed, and doesn’t hold his pals being superheroes against him.  Thomas views Lockheed more as a dragon than a superhero.  Thomas gets a call and orders the roads between Scotland Yard and the hospital to be cordoned off.

I like how the trial is bouncing around Excalibur history, though I would have loved to see every issue recapped.  We cut back to them as they are discussing the Cross-Time Caper.  Lockheed has put the Flock to sleep with his tales.  The ship starts to rumble, as even the pilots are sleeping.  We learn that the Flock on the ship, are souls of the passengers, and their bodies are on their home planet.  Which explains how Lockheed is both on the ship and in the hospital.  If the ship crashes, Lockheed should be find, as his body is relatively close by.

Lockheed goes immediately into hero mode, as he tries to right the ship.  Lockheed could have easily escaped, but he didn’t, so the Flock see him as the hero he is.  Lockheed explains how he is who he always has been, but he’s now . . . Lockheed of Earth!  If his only crime was finding happiness, then he deserves to be sentenced to death.

Lockheed has earned the right to go back his body!  The Flock takes off, and Lockheed is left alone again.  He returns to his body, as a helicopter lands on the roof.

Rachel senses the hospital staff are now in a panic, and directs the team upstairs.  Kitty is worried about leaving Lockheed in his current state.  Brian wants to meet the threat on the roof, and away from the patients and staff.

The issue ends with the X-Men!  Jean Grey, Storm (with a short haircut), Colossus (the worst!), Psylockhe, Rogue, and brown costumed Wolverine!  As soon as the X-Men heard Lockheed was hurt, they were on their way.

The next issue caption hints that it is sort of a reunion.

I really should make a point to review more comics, but this one took a long time for me to find the time to do it, but I could have been better with my time management as well.

Playing Star Wars Battlefront II & Call of Duty WWII / Future of Gaming PS5

Posted by John Klein III on June 17, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I finally got around to completing what I wanted to complete in Star Wars Battlefront II, so here is my article.

Call of Duty WWII was pretty fun.  I was enjoying the first two story missions and could see myself going back for more.  The multiplayer was nice, I got my first ten kills, and got a trophy, and felt I experienced it enough.

Star Wars Battlefront II on the other hand, I had a lot more fun with.  I am no good with the spaceship missions.  I completed two of the story missions, it starts with some space battles, and then we land into another ship.  That was when I wanted to try multiplayer.  I did all of the arcade modes for the training of it all.  Then I did all of the multiplayer options until I won one of each for those trophies.  Some of them took much longer than others, probably because I was on their teams, but I feel like I was getting better at it, as I was playing.

Both games are off of my PS4, which freed up a bunch of room.

.  .  .

I’ve been playing a slew of games again.

Lego Worlds, I have completed the first three tutorial levels, and explored an icy world.  Walker Dennis has really taken to the game, he spends a lot of time on the Monster World.

World of Warships : Legends, I’m not sure what made me stumble across this game, I was searching for something else, and saw this free game.  I looked into it for the USS Arizona, and if I bought the Firepower Deluxe $30 combo pack, I could get a slew of great upgrades and ships, including the USS Arizona.  $30 is way more than I want to spend on a free game, and we could earn in-game currency to buy it, but that specific currency is a very slow earn.  Which I completely get, as there is a $30 combo pack that needs buying.  I played for a decent amount, I unlock Standard battles, which would be the PvP aspect of the game, but I really enjoyed the PvC aspect.  It felt like a team effort, and I wasn’t being shown up by veterans of the game.  I was able to pull my weight, which I appreciated.  The game looks amazing, and the learning curve is not steep at all.  Unfortunately, there were two games where we were being blasted out of the water, were down to two ships, and neither ship was even playing.  Which was irritating, but it was good experience.

That’s You, I was reminded PlayStation Access played this game and I recall how I bought this game for 25 cents at the GameStop in Missoula.  Walker Dennis was nice enough to play with me.  I went for some easy trophies, and we had a pretty decent time.  The game was over in like 20 minutes or so, it was very fast.

Lego Dimensions, I got the Scooby Doo and Shaggy team pack, with the Mystery Machine.  There are 27 gold bricks in the Scooby world and I was able to get 25 of them.  The two I am missing is a dumb car racing one, and another is a dumb flying one.  I tried so many times, and then I remembered I have a backlog of games (that I’m adding too, all of the time!), and just gave up.  25 out of 27 is pretty good, I’ll write.  Such a fun world and I loved how it got me using characters I haven’t used in forever.  I was clearing the underwater gold bricks and ended up using Slimer, Evan Hunt, and a Cyberman.  There was a Portal gold brick and a Ghostbusters good brick as well.

It really made me want to put aside some more money and buy more characters, but I need to start saving for a bigger item, I think.

36 Fragments of Midnight, is a game that is currently 89 cents, and is on many lists for easy platinums.  Which I am super annoyed by, as clearly, I am not going to be able to earn this easy platinum.  I can get up to 29 fragments, and then I fall apart.  Either the map is too big and I’m not used to it yet, or I’m rushing it as there are two timed trophies.  One is to beat the game in ten minutes and another is to beat it in six minutes.  But I clearly cannot even get the final seven fragments, but I keep trying.  It really is a pleasant platformer and a real mellow experience.

King’s Quest, I subscribed to the King’s Quest subreddit, even though I mostly only like King’s Quest IV with Rosella.  I heard she was in the PS4 version, but in the later chapters.  Like, The Council, the first chapter of five, is free.  So I downloaded it, and I had a really great time with it.  We play as King Graham, voiced by legend Christopher Lloyd.  He’s retelling his earlier adventures to his granddaughter.  If the collection ever drops below ten dollars, I’ll buy the rest of it.  Wallace Shawn is another voice actor in the game, and they worked in his great scene from The Princess Bride, with the poisoned cups.

Grand Theft Auto V, I started playing this again an obvious reason I will get into below, and having a pretty good time again.  I have been playing the Kifflom mission with the Epsilon Program.  It is the last non-story trophy I believe I will earn.  I’ve been waiting to start this quest and it feels good to do it, it is very long.  I am about to do the five miles in the desert mission, so I am pretty close to completing it.  While wearing the robes for 10 days, I bought the helicopter pad, stole a helicopter, and flew around the map and finally earned the sight seer trophy.

Walker Dennis has been really into Back to the Future, watching the trilogy, taking a day break from it, and then starting it all over again.  That first movie really is a perfect movie.  We’ve been playing in the Back to the Future world in Lego Dimensions and I even took the time to find a Ruiner in GTA V and bought a red vested suit.

So that has been a lot of fun.  Walker started the TellTale game and has gotten decently farther into the first episode than I did, earning a few additional trophies. So now I want to at least catch up to him on my own file, so I have it on my list to at least play and complete the first chapter.  It is very different than the other TellTale games I played, there is a lot of back and forth and exploring and going back to areas.  It isn’t as straight forward as the Batman games.  But now my playthrough should be much quicker now that I know where to go.

For the big sale that is happening, I did buy The Council, and keep wanting to jump right into it, but I put these games first to get out of my system.  I also bought Metal Gear Solid V Definitive Edition, so now I feel like I can properly say I’m a fan of Rob from PlayStation Access.  Not a super fan yet, as I would need to have bought Skyrim.

.  .  .

We were treated to the big PS5 presentation on June 11.

The system looks amazing, but I really want a classic PlayStation black edition, or another limited edition.  The white is nice, but I feel like it is going to be a real dust collector.

Thanks to PlayStation for hosting their own presentation.

Below are my Top 10 game moments from the presentation!  I’m just going in the order as presented.

10

GTA V is going to join the ranks of Resident Evil 2 and Skyrim, and be on as many consoles as possible.  PS4 owners of GTA V will be given a million dollars for GTA Online each month until the PS5 is releaed.  As I enjoy free money, either real or digitally, I figured I’ll take advantge of it and play the game.  I want that Kifflom trophy, then I will do one additional mission, and then probably put the game onto the back burner until next month.

Interesting choice to start with a PS3 game, but I think it was a good transition from the PS4 to PS5.

9

I am fully committed to waiting a solid year for Black Friday 2021 to buy a PS5 (or have that be the earliest I will buy it) as I want it to drop a $100, as there is now it will be released between the $300 to $400 range.  But seeing Spider-Man : Miles Morales, oh boy.  I want a PS5 so much!  I know waiting a year is the right play, plus all of these amazing games will be a tad cheaper by then, but gosh, this teaser looks amazing!

People keep saying it is going to work like Uncharted : Lost Legacy, where it is a smaller game, using the bigger game’s engine, but improved graphically, and a bold new story.  So I am here for this!  I really should add Uncharted 4 to my list of games to reinvest time into.

8

I deleted Call of Duty WWII and Star Wars Battlefront II, as I needed room to play all of the games I was inspred to play.  One of those was Ratchet and Clank, which I plan on playing for at least a level, after I have completed my current fun with GTA V.

I’m also a fan of the title, Rift Apart, such clever word play.

7

I’m not sure what Stray is about, but it looks super intriguing.  Developed by BlueTwelve and published by Annapurna Interactive are bringing us the game, and I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive into other Annapurna Interactive games after really enjoying What Remains of Edith Finch.  Donut County, Ashen, and Kentucky Route Zero, all look pretty interesting.  They also published Flower and Journey too, so a name I should trust.

Seeing the robots in this game, inspired me to reinstall Detroit Become Human, so I’m going to at least play another chapter of that game.  My main focus right now is playing chapters of games, and just having a fun time with it.

6

Sackboy A Big Adventure had a very fun opening, as I was like “Tony the Tiger, the Game?”  Then I saw the zipper on his chest, and I knew we were in for a good time.

5

Kena Bridge of Spirits, looks like a lovely platformer in the same vein as Rachet and Clank.  It looks amazing.  Ember Labs is the developer and publisher of the game.

4

Miles Morales is my clear favorite of the list, but my very close second will have to be, Goodbye, Volcano High.  It just looks super interesting, and I just want to know more about it!  It is being developed by KO_OP.

3

Solar Ash gave me real RiME vibes.  This game is also being published by Annapurna Interactive.  The game is being developed by Heart Machine, so no connections to RiME, besides my initial reaction to it.

2

Hitman III is coming to PS5!  I really wish I was better at these games, but they are so big that I sort of get lost in all of the options, but I really should commit to playing the first game again.

1

Horizon Forbidden West is coming to PS5!  So I’m predicting now that at some point this year, Horizon Zero Dawn will be a free PS+ title.  Which probably isn’t saying much as I’ve been predicting it for a while, but it has to be now, right?

Solar Ash is more of a bonus item, but of course, none of these games will be possible without . . .

The PlayStation 5!

I’m mostly looking forward to getting some truly amazing games for the PS4 through PS+, and then some incredible indie games for the PS5, if they run the program like they did when the PS4 originally came out, with smaller PS4 titles and bigger PS3 titles.

What are you mostly looking forward to?

YouTuber, 6BURGH Gaming, was nice enough to write the following time stamps for the presentation of the 26 games :

     GTA V – 3:50
     Spider-Man Miles Morales – 5:49
     GT7 – 7:30
     Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart – 10:08
     Project Athia – 15:49
     Stray – 17:01
     Returnal – 20:48
     Sackboy A Big Adventure – 23:10
     Destruction All-Stars – 25:20
     Kena Bridge of Spirits – 27:32
     Goodbye Volcano High – 29:54
     Oddworld Soulstorm – 31:50
     Ghostwire Tokyo – 34:10
     Jett The Far Shore – 36:10
     Godfall – 38:34
     Solar Ash – 40:00
     Hitman 3 – 41:47
     Astro’s Playroom – 44:28
     Little Devil Inside – 45:23
     NBA 2K21 – 47:39
     Bugsnax – 49:01
     Demon’s Souls – 52:10
     Deathloop – 54:17
     Resident Evil Village – 57:50
     Pragmatic – 1:01:00
     Horizon Forbidden West – 1:03:35
     CONSOLE – 1:08:31

These are exciting times!

New Mutants January 2020 Trailer

Posted by John Klein III on June 2, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , . 4 Comments

Thanks for friend of the blog, MoxieMk5, for tipping me to the very last seconds of the New Mutants trailer from January!

Thanks to 20th Century Studios for still hosting the video!

Right at the 2:15 minute mark, you can see Illyana approaching the Demon Bear and a little something or another is shooting it on the left side, also with a blue flame. Which matches Illyanan’s soulsword’s flame.

I took the biggest picture I could, so feel free to click on it and see those sweet Lockheed wings in mid-flap!

TVandMovieNews has a slightly better picture :

New Mutants Trailer Accidentally Reveals X-Men’s Pet Dragon’s Role

So this is pretty exciting news. Of course, he has to still make the cut, but the film still has to make that cut too.

I’ve been thinking about it, as the CW has been having New Mutants sponsored commercials during DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Which I really am glad the best Arrowverse show (by a bunch!) is getting to end their season properly.

I’m surprised they haven’t just put this on Disney Plus already and called it a day. I get that there probably needs to be some marketing behind it so that viewers know that this is not the Mutants coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that it is more of a final thing from FOX that will be X-Related, but I’m sure there are articles that will do the work for Disney. Like this one, for instance. 😉

Thanks again MoxieMk5, for having me take a closer look at it. I watched the trailer initially in January, but on my phone, but watching it on our TV, Lockheed can be seen a lot clearer.

. . .

I’ve been playing a slew of Final Fantasy XIV, still. I’m just loving how easy the quests are, nothing seems overly challenging, or long. Is it a lot of fetch quests? Sure. Do I go around killing a slew of creatures? Yes. Is it buckets of fun? Definitely!

I tried to join the Pugilist Guild, and the Thaumaturge Guild. Pugilist, I could get behind as who doesn’t enjoy bare knuckle fighting? Thaumaturge, on the other hand, I guess I’m not much into magic, or the animation takes so long, that it killed my buzz. I also didn’t care for how I restarted at Level 1 for both guilds, but it also makes sense too, as our levels are the current level in the guild, and not player character level. But still, I am a Level 16 Gladiator, and I rather just keep doing that until I reach a limit, if there is a limit.

I was about to do a mission on a shore city, past the Footfalls. I’m horrible with the names of the cities. I’m barely getting familiar with the layout of Ul’dah and the Steps of Thal. When I got a message about my gear may be breaking soon. It was a ring on my right hand, which I have to admit, I am mostly only caring about my actual cosmetics that I can visually see. I completed all of the first wave of training, so now my wife is running around in a pretty cool suit of armor.

I really like how she got glasses, but I sort of miss her having a helm. But I rather her have glasses over a hat as she’s prone to actually where glasses, and is not much of a hat person.

Unfortunately, when I am a Alchemist or Pugilist, I have lose all of my gear and go back to my default look, which is rather disappointing. Not as disappointing as all of my gear is still shown, just with tiny blue x’s, meaning I cannot select those. I rather just have the options I can choose from, rather than everything I can’t use, but I imagine it is an inventory issue, showing me my limited space, but I imagine it will take a long time to fill all of the slots, per category.

But I was curious about what I would have to do about completing my own repairs. So I checked out this site :

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Crafting

Of course, there is not simply one guild that grants us the Repair skill. I figured it wouldn’t be as easy as Fallout 4, but I was definitely not expecting eight guilds that would need to be ranked.

But I figured I might as well start with the three I have available to me at the Steps of Thal in Ul’dah.

Alchemist
Goldsmith
Weaver

I sort of want to rush to get to Limsa Lominsa, as that is where I can learn to fish, apparently.

I’m currently at level 10 of the Alchemist Guild. I got a trophy for completing my first alchmany experiment, so that was pretty exciting, and will at least get me to attempt the other two guilds. I have a Crafting Log, and one of the 6-10 skills, requires me to get a Princess Trout, and of course, the store person doesn’t sell that one, so I have to skip it in my crafting log, which really bugs me. I could fish for Princess Trout, but I’m under the impression I am nowhere near that other city that gives me that ability. Reading the description for Princess Trout

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Princess_Trout

I don’t see that I have any other way to get it. So I will have to move on in my crafting log. I’m not sure how far I will get with the Alchemist Guild, as it was pretty expensive to keep buying supplies for my recipes, but I was just having a great time doing everything and going down the list.

There is a trophy for making 1000 crafts as an Alchemist, but I doubt I have made more than a 100 items already, probably more like 50, so I will probably never see that trophy.

I’m not sure exactly when the game will ask me for a subscription service, if it is 30 days from when I started, or once I reach level 30, but I definitely feel like I’ve experienced the game. I will in no way pay to continue playing it, but I am curious how far into it can I get. I don’t believe it ever stated, your 30 days start here, or after this date, you shall pay for the service. I am definitely not bored with the game, and if it wasn’t for the subscription service, I could see the game being in my constant queue of games to play.

So I will probably try to either get to level 15 in the Alchemist Guild, or I may just jump right over to Goldsmith the next time I play the game.

. . .

I played a bit of Call of Duty WWII and I have added Star Wars Battlefront II to my download queue. So hopefully Battlefront is prime for me to play tonight, if not, I may have to delete some more items. I heard we need 120GB, but I just read how we may need more like 200GB of free space, to make up for the room, so I may have to delete Call of Duty WWII, and call my weekend with the game good.

Once I have played a bit of Battlefront, I will write my official reaction to the two games.

Tomorrow is also the official kick off of the Days of Play promotion so expect lots of sales of PS4 games! Hopefully Vita games too!

June 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on May 29, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The June 2020 Free PS Plus Games are :

Call of Duty WWII and Star Wars Battlefront II!

Both are multiplayer shooter games, but both also have single player campaigns, so that sounds pretty great.

Call of Duty WWII is available now, and Battlefront II will be available to download on June 2nd.

.  .  .

PSPrices

Call of Duty WWII is the standard edition, that they do not sale anymore, so typically if someone wanted to buy this game, that person would have had to buy the Gold Edition, which is typically $60.  So that makes it pretty hard to determine the proper value of this game.  The Gold Edition goes as low as $19.79.

Star Wars Battlefront II is typically $20, but goes as low as $6.24.

Our running total on the value of PS Plus, is $126, so let’s just add $7 to make $131, and we’ll just say Call of Duty WWII has been a free game, going forward.

PS Store

Both games have a slew of DLC.

Call of Duty WWII

200 points for $2
2,400 points for $20
5,000 points for $40
9,500 points for $75
13,000 points for $100

C.O.D.E. Personalization Pack Bundle for $10
The Resistance DLC Pack 1 for $6 (on sale now, typically $15)
War Machine DLC Pack 2, $6 (on sale now, typically $15)
The United Front DLC Pack 3, $6 (on sale now, typically $6)
Shadow War DLC Pack 4 for $6 (on sale now, typically $15)
Endowment Fear Not add-on for $5

Season Pass $20 (on sale now, typically $50)
Gold Edition for $60
Digital Deluxe Edition for $100

There is a Premium SHAREfactory that is free, so I downloaded that.
Endowment Fear Not Dynamic Theme for $4

So the Season Pass seems to save you four dollars, and probably comes with some additional stuff.

Star Wars Battlefront 2

Apparently there is a PSP/Vita version of the game for $10

There are two free static themes and a SHAREfactory theme, so I downloaded those.

Celebration Edition upgrade for $25
Celebration Edition for $40

200 Crystals Pack for $2.49
500 Crystals Pack for $5
1,000 Crystals Pack for $10
2,100 Crystals Pack for $20
4,400 Crystal Packs for $40

So it seems like the base game is good enough.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s responses.  The announcement was delayed for The Last of Us Part 2’s State of Play, and there was discussion if Call of Duty WWII was a bonus game or one of the two titles, as two years ago, Black Ops III was given away around this time, then we were given two proper titles.

PS4

Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty: WWII are your PS Plus games for June from PS4

PlayStation Plus

Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty: WWII are your PS Plus games for June from PlayStationPlus

PS4Deals

PS+ June games: Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty from PS4Deals

Some comments are stating how the games are pretty massive, download size wise.  So that’s good to know.  I’m going to have to clear an additional 100gb when I get home tonight.

.  .  .

Here are what my YouTube peeps are saying :

Rob of PlayStation Access :

Adam of PlayStation Grenade, he did two videos as the games were announced.

Ben of Platinum Chasers :

.  .  .

Here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s guides to both games :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/call-of-duty-ww2/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/star-wars-battlefront-2/guide/

So my main goal is to attempt the single player campaigns for both games, and maybe attempt multiplayer trophies that are pretty easy to obtain?

.  .  .

There are two pretty good sales going on right now.  One is another Games under $20 sale, and the other is a Double Discount Sale.

Double Discounts Sale | NA PSN | Ends 6/10 from PS4Deals

Lego Star Wars Force Awakens, Deluxe Edition, is finally $7.19 again, so I snatched it up.  I believe the only Lego games we are missing now for the PS4 are Worlds and Hobbit.  Which I guess I will buy those once they drop to under ten dollars.

Next week is supposed to be the beginning of PlayStation’s Days to Play, with loads of discounts, so that’s something to get excited about.  I am hoping there are some deals on Vita games.

.  .  .

In the past few weeks, I have been playing a slew of games.  Well, sampling games, I supposed.

One reason not to be upset about Call of Duty WWII not being considered a bonus game, is that we were given the base game of Final Fantasy XIV for free.  From what I can tell, you don’t have to pay the subscription fee until you reach level 30 or something like that.  I’m not sure how much more I will be playing it, but I have been having a great time.  For my own anxiety, I am trying to not fill up my duty journal with tasks, as my first night playing, I was racking up quests, but now I am level 10, and just learning how to do more things, and I am finally comfortable with the little of the map that I have explored, that I’m just taking one quest at a time, possibly two or three, if they are nearby.  I made a gladiator modeled after my wife, and I think she came out pretty well.

I’m mostly looking for outfits with purple in them, so I’m hoping those will be coming soon.  I need to get her some armor for her waist.

It took so long, but totally worth, but I finally earned some pants for her!

.  .  .

We watched the Sonic movie, and had a very good time.  We rented it through VUDU, but Walker has since fallen in love with the character, so after payday, we will probably be buying it.  I downloaded Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces again.  I made no progress on Sonic Mania, so that was lousy.  Sonic Forces, on the other hand, I completed several more levels, so that has been fun returning to the game.  I really should be playing one level of it, and then bouncing to Final Fantasy XIV, but that means closing one application and starting another, and that kills my buzz.

Except, really, it shouldn’t, as FF14 is completely online, so I am essentially starting it over every night anyway.

In our excitement about Sonic, I gave in and we purchased Sonic for Lego Dimensions.

Thanks to Lego Dimensions for hosting their own video.

Walker Dennis is way into Knight Rider again, so the above video has been nicely timed.  We already had Mr. T, and seeing that the only character we didn’t own from the video was Excalibur Batman, and I found him reasonably affordable on eBay, I bought him too.  So we’ve been playing Lego Dimensions again.  Excalibur Batman is around $11, so don’t spend more than that, if you are searching for him.

Turns out, we barely played the Teen Titans Go level, and a few more worlds had repair spots that we never did, so I have been trying clean those up, in anticipation of getting Sonic and Excalibur Batman.

We also watched Scoob, and now I’m way into Scooby Doo again.  We bought the two live action films through VUDU, and also the latest Scooby Doo meets Batman from Brave and the Bold, which was very good.  Riddler is in it, and I’m all for Riddler content.

I really wish Will Forte tried to do a Shaggy impression, but besides that, I really liked how they are trying to create a Hanna Barrera Universe with the film.

I had two different bids for Scooby Doo and Shaggy for Lego Dimensions, but both went above what I was willing to pay for it.  But now that the thought is in my head, after payday, I’m going to put another $20 aside, and try again.  I will probably be buying the Witch’s Ghost movie, and we saw there was a full length Lego Scooby Doo animated film, so I might buy that one once I have bought the Lego Dimensions set.

I own the original Scooby Doo meets 66 Batman animated film, but I would love to get it digitally as well, but VUDU is not selling it.

Walker Dennis and I have been watching the 2012 Scooby Doo Mystery Inc cartoon on Netflix, and that series is so worth your time!  Amazing how 2012 gave us some definitive takes on both Ninja Turtles and Scooby Doo.

.  .  .

Every time I try to load Omega Quintet, I get a black screen, so I have made no progress on that game, unfortunately, I am hoping that playing these other games, it will do something with that game, so I can play it again.  The only game that loads to black screen, and nothing comes from it.

I have successfully played the rest of the 2018 PS Plus titles that I never got around too.

Space Overlords, was simple enough.  I followed a guide, and earned several trophies for planet creation, and then I completed the first level.

Another World, I was following this video :

Thanks to Achievement_King for hosting the video.

He is a far better player than me, and I got stuck around the 20 minute mark.  Too much has to go right, and I don’t have the patience to keep up with it.

Laser League was fun, I successfully completed the tutorial, and did two online matches, lost both times, but I was getting a tad better at it.  I was tempted to keep playing until I won one, but I was ready to move on as well.  Both games, I played against computer peeps, so maybe no one is playing it anymore?

Rocketbirds 2 : Evolution was fun enough, but once I earned the first trophy, like an hour into the game, I was ready to delete it.  I’m just not up to the challenge of it.

Iconoclasts was another game that I was enjoying, and it was a challenge, but now I’m stuck trying to locate a fourth key, and it is harder than I am willing to spend time doing, so that’s that.  I’m pretty cut throat with these older games.

.  .  .

I played the first levels of both Lego Harry Potter : Years 5-7, and Lego Ninjago. I forgot how quiet the older Lego games are, but I enjoyed Harry Potter enough.  I have way too many Lego games going right now.  Lego Ninjago was good too, I didn’t experience any problems, besides the second level loading immediately after the first, but that happens from game to game.

Walker Dennis does not seem to be interested in playing the PS4 as he used to, so I may have to hold off on buying any more Lego games, but I enjoy them enough to at least have them in backlog.

.  .  .

I forget how it came up, but Walker Dennis wanted to play a racing game and I quickly downloaded Trackmania Turbo, for him.  Looking at the trophies, I thought I could do a few more of those, and made several levels, and earned like nine trophies, so that was nice.

I also tried the online game, Pox Nora, and I did not take to it.  Thankfully, I earned a trophy during the second of three tutorials, and that was enough for me.

.  .  .

I downloaded the first episode of The Council, and I really had a great time with the game.  If the Season Pass for episodes two through five ever drops under ten, I will definitely be buying it.  There is a charm to that game that I really enjoyed.  It is like a TellTale game, but with some RPG elements, and the historical fiction elements are really fun.  I like hanging out with George Washington.

So, I don’t really have that many more gaming goals.  Keep playing Final Fantasy XIV, keep attempting to play Omega Quintet, and eventually play Call of Duty WWII and Star Wars Battlefront II, probably try those once Battlefront II is an option.

Playing Cities : Simulator & Farming Simulator 19

Posted by John Klein III on May 13, 2020
Posted in: Games, Sales. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

So I finally gave Cities : Simulator & Farming Simulator 19 a try.  Cities really could a tutorial that holds my hand and maybe lets me build a small city, as providing little info pockets did not quite work for me.  I was hoping PlayStation Access would make at least one video for each game, but they did not.  I imagine they did not want all of the negative comments.

For Cities, I got a trophy for experiencing fog, having 40 population, and then I deleted the game once I earned the Unpopular Mayor trophy, as I could not figure out how to get water to my folks.  So that was pretty disappointing.

Farming Simulator 19, was not bad.  It could really use a trophy for completing the tutorial, as I really enjoyed it.  But then I was let lose in the game, and felt like it was really freeing.  Maybe too freeing, as I did not know what to do once I was free.  I somehow even fell off the guided tour.  I accepted a job, to harvest someone’s farm.  I went there in my harvester, and drove all over lot 6, and only got 40% success.  I was not sure what else I was supposed to do.  So I bought a chainsaw, equipped the chainsaw, teleported to my farm, and chopped down a tree, thus earning a trophy and deleted the game.

I really preferred Real Farm over Farming Simulator 19, but I credit that to having a guide that told me how to play the game, but I got a lot more enjoyment out of the smaller game.

.  .  .

After those two games, I went back to playing my other games.  I am in the middle of Episode 3 of Omega Quintet.  I am having a great time with the game, there is a lot of story, but I don’t mind that at all.  I just met the fourth lady, she’s hostile to us, due to story reasons, but the game is Quintet, so she’ll come around.

My favorite is Kanadeko, and if the game would let me, I would just try to ship her and Takt, as she’s the best!  Takt is constantly providing her support in battles.

I do wish I had control over Takt’s dialogue as he is a real nuisance, but hopefully he comes around.  There are nine chapters, so I’m expecting the game to get simply better as I play.

Kyouka, the fourth member of the team, does seem interesting, so I’m just waiting for her to officially join now.

.  .  .

I looked at my 0% completed games on my PSN account, and was finally annoyed enough to get into some games.

Since Call of Duty : Modern Warfare – Warzone is considered a part of Modern Warfare, but does not have any trophies, I will have to just commit to having that game be at 0%.

But I made a quick list and went down the list and earn at least one trophy each.

Q.U.B.E. Director’s Cut is a fun puzzle game in the same family of Portal, a first person puzzler?  Is that a thing?  I did the first segment, and keeping the game on my PS4 to go back to it.  This was part of the 2018 PS+ titles that I mean to get back to, so I will keep it in its place there to at least give it a second round.  I really wish it had subtitles, and I tweeted my request to the team.  That’s where I found out they are working on a sequel.

.  .  .

I originally bought Atari Flashback Classics Volume 2, for my wife, as she’s a huge fan of Maze Craze.  I looked up the guide, and got most of the easy trophies.  I committed to playing all of the games, for the trophy, and I made a point of keeping Maze Craze for last, for the screenshot.  A few of the games were not that bad.

.  .  .

I had attempted Don’t Bite Me, Bro!, and did not take to it.  It is a free game, and Walker Dennis was still a toddler then, so I could not fully commit to playing it when I originally attempted it.  Playing it again for the night, I really took to it, but got as far I feel like I am going to.  Pretty fun game, I do wish the driving mechanic was better, or that I was better at it.

.  .  .

I tried Absolver, and it was a lot of fun!  I joined a school, and I was loving picking up loot, and playing along side a few people.  Nice that the game is still being played.  I might have to go back to it, though I can already tell why people complain about getting lost in the world, as there is a lot of twists and turns.

.  .  .

I downloaded the companion app for Knowledge is Power on my phone and Walker Dennis’s Kindle, and we played the game that way.  It was pretty fun, with all of the ways we could hamper each other.  He did not earn any trophies, so he was not happy about that, but he was enjoying the cartoon nature of the presentation.

.  .  .

I am currently playing Extreme Exorcism.  I am mostly playing for either the 1000 kills trophy or the 1000 deaths trophy.  I played last night and got a weapon for 500 kills, so I’m hoping with another night’s play I will earn one of those trophies.  I have to be close to the 1000 deaths, I imagine.  It is a fun 8-bit game, where we kill ghosts.  I unlocked the Bedroom, so that was nice.  I’m enjoying the game enough, but I feel like I “got” the game an hour earlier, and now I’m just grinding for those two of the easier trophies.  I could not find a guide, but the description is really enough.

Then after that, I will go back to Omega Quintet to finish the third episode.  My next 2018 PS+ title will be Space Overlords, then Another World, QUBE for a second play, Laser League, Rocketbirds 2 : Evolution, and Iconoclasts.  King Oddball and Absolver have been my favorites thus far, but I hit a wall with King Oddball, so I’m probably not going back to that one anytime soon.

.  .  .

There is currently a Games Under $15 sale going on right now.  I bought the Lego Harry Potter Collection for $6, then found out, it was not even part of the sale, so there’s games that are discounted but not under that umbrella.  Also, a heads up, Lego Hobbit is back on the PSN, I’m waiting for it to go under $10 as there are DLC and no deluxe editions, so to balance that, I need the base game to be cheaper.

Regarding the sale, I do like how Fractured Minds is a dollar.  Life is Strange’s first season’s episodes are a dollar each.  Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man 256 are two dollars each.  Sonic Mania DLC is three dollars.  Rayman Legends is five dollars, and Uncanny Valley & LIMBO are $5.19 and $5.49, respectfully.  Horizon Chase Turbo is six dollars.  For eight dollars each – INSIDE, Jeopardy, Lego Jurassic World, and Wheel of Fortune.  Lego Jurassic World also has DLC and no deluxe version.  There is a LIMBO/INSIDE bundle is nine dollars.

STEEP and Batman Arkham Knight are $10 each, as are Mad Max, Sonic Forces, and Sonic Mania.  Even Trackmania Turbo and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

If you are interested in both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, the combo for those games is $14, so two dollars off.  A dollar off per game, even.

Apparently I can never spell Jeopardy, I keep swapping the o and a positions.

May 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on April 29, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Sales, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The May 2020 Free Games through PlayStation Plus are : Cities Skylines and Farming Simulator 2019!  Available on May 5.

Which I will commit to playing each one for a night, but my main complaint about these are that they are very similar games wherein we create and maintain.  But I am pretty excited to try them out.

I played Real Farm for a night, and it will be fun to play its older brother.

I imagine these games are the price we pay for getting the Uncharted Trilogy and Journey for free.  Then Namco was nice enough to give Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 for free, so we got five free games in the past week.  I am wondering if there will be free games for May?

.  .  .

PSPrices

Cities : Skylines is typically a $39.99 game, and goes as low as $9.99.

Farming Simulator 19 is typically a $39.99 game, and goes as low as $26.79.

So together, at their highest, the games are valued at $80, and at their lowest are $37.  So our ongoing total is $89 plus $37, making PS+ value thus far, $126, so there is no denying the value of the service.

PS Store

Both games have a slew of DLC, which I suppose makes them ripe for PS+.

I can only imagine Cities : Skylines will be the base game.

Coast to Coast Radio, $3.99
Content Creator Pack : Modern Japan $4.99
Sunset Harbor, $14.99
Carols, Candies and Candy, FREE, so I downloaded that right now
Downtown Radio, $3.99
Content Creator Pack : Modern City, $4.99
Campus, $12.99
Content Creator Pack : University City, $4.99
Radio Station 3, $7.99
Pearls from the East, FREE, so I downloaded this as well
Synthetic Dawn Radio, $3.99
Parklife, $14.99
Radio Station 2, $7.99
European Suburbia, $4.99
Green Cities, $12.99
Mass Transit, $12.99
Natural Disasters, $14.99
Radio Station Pack, $7.99
Content Creator Pack, $9.99
Snowfall, $12.99

A couple bundles are available :

Ultimate Content Bundle, $99.99
Downtown Bundle, $7.99
Season Pass, $39.99
Season Pass 2, $39.99

So that’s a lot of content, which reminds me of Sims 4, wherein, if you take to the game, and probably can envision a wishlist of content, that content is now available to you.

Farming Simulator 19 DLC includes :

Bourgault, $7.99
CLAAS Dominator 108 SL Maxi, $0.99
CLAAS Torion 1914 Dev Mule, $0.99
Platinum Expansion, $19.99
John Deere Cotton, $4.99
Holmer Terra Variant, Free, so you know your boy downloaded this, real quick.
Anderson Group Equipment, $9.99
Season Pass, $49.99
Mahindra Retriever, $0.99
New Holland T6 Blue Power, FREE, so another instant download.

I do like how both games came with two free DLC items.  That’s synergy I can get behind.

.  .  .

Here are my three subreddits opinions, which pretty much match my disbelief, but with a lot more passion.  I am glad that there are a percentage of people who are writing highly about the games, so that is reassuring.

PS4

Cities: Skylines and Farming Simulator 19 are your PlayStation Plus games for May from PS4

PlayStation Plus

Cities: Skylines and Farming Simulator 19 are your PlayStation Plus games for May from PlayStationPlus

PS4Deals

PS+ Free Games, May 2020 | Cities: Skylines & Farming Simulator 19 | Available 5/5 from PS4Deals

.  .  .

Here are my YouTube peeps :

Rob with PlayStation Access :

Adam with PlayStation Grenade :

Ben with Platinum Chasers :

In the middle of Rob’s review of Cities : Skylines, I did have the thought regarding if this is the lead game, what is the second title going to be?  Then I was quite surprised to see Farming Simulator.  I legit thought it was going from cities to small towns, but then I saw the title crept across the screen.

I love how Adam and Ben, the constant professionals that they are, just could not fake any enthusiasm for the games.  Like, one of them would have been fine, but two simulator games is interesting.  Though I do like how one is macro and the other is micro, I imagine that is how they justified it in the office.

.  .  .

Here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s guide to Cities : Skylines :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/cities-skylines-playstation-4-edition-na-eu/guide/

Unfortunately, I could not find a trophy guide for Farming Simulator, so here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s trophy list :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/farming-simulator-19/trophies/ [playstationtrophies.org]

Like Sims 4, I was hoping for some sort of direction to how to play the game.  Funny how Real Farm has a guide, but not Farming Simulator.  If you find a guide somewhere, please let me know.

.  .  .

There are two big sales going on right now on the PSN.

The Big in Japan sale :

Big In Japan Sale – US PSN (Ends 5/08) from PS4Deals

Games Under 20 sale :

Games under $20 Sale | NA PSN | Ends 5/13 8am PT from PS4Deals

For the Japan sale, I bought Omega Quintet for two dollars, I figure for two dollars, it is worth the risk.

We finally own all of the Lego games that are on sale.  I was really hoping the Harry Potter set was going to be on sale, as I told Walker Dennis I would buy it for him once he started watching the films.  Which my wife and he has started yesterday, but next time the set is on sale, I will snatch it on up.

Of the three one-dollar games listed for Under $20 sale, only Shalnor Legends : Sacred Lands has a trophy guide.  I feel like Omega Quintet will satisfy that itch of buying a new game.  Plus, I have all of those 2018 games to still play.  So let’s get into the quick reviews of what I have been playing.

.  .  .

I have been making some good strides with my backlog of games.

I earned my 31st Platinum with Life is Strange : Before the Storm.  I really liked how it is only three episodes, with a bonus one that I will play next time it is in my cycle.  I am not sure what will be my May platinum, I have two bonus ones that I can fall back on, if I cannot get close to earning another one.  I like how grounded the game was, the characters really stood out, and there was no lousy stealth segments from the first game.  It got a tad much for me in the first game, I get that it wanted to go bonkers with its finale, but I was glad to be over it when the final credits rolled.  If Life is Strange 2 ever goes under $10, I will pick it up to complete my collection.  The LiS2 is currently $16 for the current sale.

.  .  .

I really enjoyed Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, I am clearly a B grade player, but I enjoyed my time in the game.  Very interesting way to do a Pac-Man game.  If they would remaster Pac-Man World, I would be totally okay with that.

.  .  .

I did not take to In Space We Brawl, I made a list of all of the zones and the three subzones, and made a point of playing in each one for that specific trophy, then I also earned the 10 three-second matches trophy.  So I feel like I experience it enough.  I could not get pass one of the early tutorial levels, so that was pretty lousy.

.  .  .

99Vidas, I was really enjoying playing Izzy on Izzy (easy mode).  Right up until I got to the first phase of the final boss.  Then I just got slaughtered, but I was in Stage Three (of six), and felt committed to beating the game, replaying stage six over and over again, to unlock the other characters, then I just hit a difficulty spike that killed all of my buzz.  But I had a great time in the first five levels and the two bonus stages.

.  .  .

While playing King Oddball, I finally got over the hump of my final ten percent (that always feels like it takes over) and earned my PSN Player Level 19.  King Oddball is like Angry Birds, but without the precision.  It is still there, but instead of controlling our own trajectory, King Oddball’s tongue (that we use to throw the rocks), is in a constant state of swinging, so we have to time our release to attack the tanks, helicopters, and little soldiers.  I have been really enjoying the game, and I am committed to playing all of the levels, as it is pretty fun.  It can be frustrating at times, but there is a part of me that really wants to commit the level until I beat it, and then I want to try the next one to see if I can do it on my first try, then failing that, just keep playing until I can beat it.  Then repeat that process until it is 12:34 in the morning, and that is my hard cutoff time.

.  .  .

I also decided to start playing Injustice again, and finished Aquaman’s levels of storymode.  Which really annoyed me about my past self, and how he really should have finished that at the time.  So next time I play, I will be starting Joker’s story chapters.  I really hope the second game’s story mode lets me choose my character, as I really want to play as the TMNT.  So much so, that I feel compelled to finish the first game’s story mode.

I essentially am only doing the five or six moves that the quick guide tells me, and just button smashing, so I am the worst, and the fights do not feel as satisfying as they should, but that is clearly on me and my inability to be good at fighting games, but I am trying to learn the different combos.

.  .  .

Since I was in the mood to play a Ninja Turtles game, I picked up TMNT : Mutants in Manhattan, the character designs are still not to my liking, but the game play feels pretty nice.  A lot of sameness, but it is only nine levels, I think, and I completed the second level with Rocksteady.  The levels do not feel too long, but I think playing one level in my game cycle, is good enough.

.  .  .

So my current gaming plans for May are :

Playing Life is Strange : Before the Storm’s Fourth Episode, I suspect there are no trophies, but it has Max, and that will be nice to see her again.
Play my three active Lego games : DC Supervillians, City Undercover, and Jurassic World.  I need to rearrange my cycle so it is not the three games back to back to back, but I also sort of like the of having it all be in one big chunk, but I will think about it.
Play Joker’s chapter of Injustice.
Complete the third level of TMNT : Mutants in Manhattan.
Chip away at King Oddball, just playing a night’s worth of game.
Committing to playing the first chapter of Omega Quintet.  It looks fun, and I really want to experience a JRPG again.
Making time for both Cities : Skylines and Farming Simulator 19.

My big commits are to Omega Quintet, and the Lego games, as the Lego games are probably what my next platinums will come from.  I already know I will not be getting the plat for Omega Quintet, but I am hoping I enjoy it enough that completing the first chapter is not a chore.

I want to get back into Uncharted 4 and God of War, so I will probably sprinkle in chapters (Uncharted) and story segments (God of War), into May, which I know is so dumb, as those games are legendary, so I will probably put some major focus into completing those two as well.  I recommitted to them in the middle of that sentence.

I hope you are all doing well and keeping sane during this heighten time we are all in together.

Playing Uncharted 4 and Dirty Rally 2.0

Posted by John Klein III on April 20, 2020
Posted in: Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Sorry for the late review of the April Games.  My beautiful wife got me God of War for Easter and I wanted to try the game to include in this post.

Uncharted 4, I already knew I was going to have a great time.  I wished I had finished Chapter 7 when I initially played it on disc, as my checkpoint was not saved and I had to restart the entire chapter.  I believe I refound all of the treasures, but time will tell on that.  That was on me, I knew I should have finished the chapter, but never got around to it.  I am committed to playing the game until I finished it.  I have a pretty length game rotation shaping up.

DiRT Rally 2.0, on the other hand, was not a bad game.  Once I stumbled onto changing the car angle to the more traditional racing style – so that the camera is behind the car, I had a better time with the game.

https://gameplay.tips/guides/3877-dirt-rally-20.html

A nice redditor provided me a trophy guide for the game, so that was nice to have some direction.  I earned the following trophies : Adaptable, CAUTION, Don’t Cut, and A Household Name.

So I feel like I got to sample the game enough and feel pretty good about it.

.  .  .

Right now, Sony is currently giving away the Uncharted Collection and Journey for PS4.  Even if you redeemed Uncharted Collection back in January through PS Plus, they made it so you can claim the digital code separately, as once you claim the games, you have them forever.  It ends sometime early in May, so you may want to do it now.  I added copies to both Walker Dennis’ account and my wife’s account.  Might as well, as one never knows.

Announcing the Play At Home Initiative

The games are part of PlayStation’s Stay At Home Initiative, and they donated ten million dollars as well to independent developers.  The games are available until May 5.

.  .  .

God of War has been an amazing experience!  We are currently chasing a boar, after killing the second troll.  So I am pretty early in the game, but having a blast.  I keep thinking about how I need to be a better father.  There are all of these instances were we see Kratos trying or wanting to put his hand on Atreus’ shoulder, or his back, in support and to show some tenderness, but keeps hesitating.  Some heart breaking things.  Of course, I am playing at night, so I wake up with the best intentions to tell Walker Dennis how much I love him, and show him instead of just hoping he knows.

.  .  .

I have not had a chance to go back to Life is Strange Before the Storm, but I will get back to it eventually.

Walker Dennis got Minecraft for Easter, for the PS4, and we had a fun time playing that for an hour.  I could have really used a tutorial, but I was able to stumble my way across how to build things.  I bought him like $20 worth of DLC, but did not see any of it load, so hopefully the next time we log in it is there.  Most DLC I have purchased on my Plus account, shows up on his account, so I am really hoping Minecraft is not an exception to that rule.

.  .  .

I did get to play a good chuck of our Lego games.  I am committed to playing these games on Walker’s account, but he is not as dedicated to trophy hunting as I am, so I had to start new saved files on my own account.

Lego DC Supervillains, I fought Poison Ivy and reconnected with Harley Quinn.
Lego City Undercover, this game takes a little longer to do the Special Operations, which is the traditional Lego level.  Plenty to do on the open map, but I wanted to play the game until I got the first mission completed, and will do so until I got the second mission.  So I am set up for the next time I play.
Lego Jurassic Park, I got through the first level and like City Undercover, there is plenty to do on the open map.  Which now that I typed this, most Lego games have that transition from one level to the next, but both of these games feels like there is an activity we do prior to starting the next level.  Whereas the recent games, feel like we are merely following the trail, and getting to the next level.  Which I don’t mind, but I do sort of like incorporating the earning of the next level, plus it gives me a little more time in the game.

So that’s what I have been up too.  I am not sure when I will stop playing God of War to get to Life is Strange Before the Storm, but I might just hit a wall of feeling that I have played the game enough and start craving playing another game.

I have also made a list of games that I have gotten through PS+, and I do want to start chipping away at these past games.  These are the 12 games :

In Space We Brawl
99 Vidas
King Oddball
Absolver
Extreme Exorcism
Space Overlords
Knowledge is Power
Another World
QUBE Director’s Cut
Laser League
Rocketbirds 2 : Evolution
Iconoclasts

I keep having this nagging feeling that I want to buy a new game (which is dumb, as I have plenty of a backlog of games), but playing these games should satisfy that inch.  My plan is to simply go down this list and earn the first trophy and commit a night to the game.  Which I type that, and I have not been able to game for the past two nights, which is starting to nag at me as I really do enjoy my time to relax.

April 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on April 1, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Sales. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I meant to do a post about games I am playing during the Coronavirus but I have been working four tens for the past few weeks and I knew the announcement for the Free PS+ Games was coming soon, so I have been drafting this in head for a bit.

The April 2020 PS+ Games are Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0.  PlayStation Access accidentally revealed these last week, and now we know it was probably Nathan who did it, as he provides the narration in the video below.

I already own Uncharted 4, so I am going to wait for another bonus credit deal at GameStop and I can turn in both the Uncharted Collection and Uncharted 4 at that time.

Dirty Rally 2.0, seems to be a game that no one has taken the time to create a guide for, which seems bonkers to me.  I will at least play it until I earned one trophy.

.  .  .

 PSPrices

Uncharted 4 is typically a $19.99 game, but goes as low as $9.99.

Dirt Ralley 2.0 is typically $59.99, it is currently $39.99, so hopefully no one buys it this week!  It has been as low as $17.99.

So the games together are a value of $28, at their lowest.

Our running total was $61, so another $28, makes $89, so PS Plus is definitely paying for itself.

PS Store

Uncharted 4 has quite a few items on the PlayStation store :

You can buy points for the mutliplayer.

300 Points, $2.99
500 Points, $4.99
1,500 Points, $9.99
3,200 Points, $19.99
6,500 Points, $34.99
10,000 Points, $49.99

A slew of avatars, that are all .49 cents :

Harry Flynn
Orca
Knot
Katherine Marlowe
Victor Sullivan
Nathan Drake (which you may have already as it was part of the Player Appreciation package).
Sam Drake
Elena Fisher
Zoran Lazarevic
Charlie Cutter
Victor Sullivan (Hero)
Sam Drake (Hero)
Nathan Drake (Hero)
Elena Fisher (Hero)

Pack 1, $1.49 (including both brothers, Sully, and Elena)
Hero Pack $1.49, which includes Cutter and the characters from Pack 1’s hero version)
Villain Avatar Pack, $1.49

Themes

Fire, $1.99
Shipwreck, $1.99
Ink, $1.99, which I bought, as it was the only one that featured Elena.

Dirt Rally 2.0 DLC includes :

Vehicles 

Subaru Impreza, $1.49
Fully Loaded Rallycross Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Mini Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Ford Pack, $1.99
Citroen C$ Rally, $1.49
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (STARD), $1.49
Sea Ibiza RX, $1.49
Renault Megane R.S. RX, $1.49
Mini Cooper SX1, $1.49
Peugeot 208 WRX, $1.99
Volkswagen Golf Kitcar, $1.49
Opel Manta 400, $1.49
Lancia Delta S4 Rallycross, $1.49
H2 RWD Double Pack, $1.99
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (MK8), $1.49
Lancia 037 Evo 2, $1.49
Porshe 911 SC RS, $1.49
SKODA Fabia Rally, $1.49
Ford RS200 Evolution, $1.99
Rnault Clio R.S. RX, $1.49
Peugeot 206 Rally, $1.49
MG Metro 6R4 Rallycross, $1.49
Seat Ibiza Kit Car, $1.99
BMW M1 Procar Rally, $1.49
Peugeot 306 Maxi, $1.99
Peugeot 205 T16 Rallycross, $1.99
Subaru Impreza (2001), $1.49
Starter Car Upgrade, $0.99
Car Variety Pack, $3.99
Opel Kadett C CT/E, $0.99
Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec, $1.49
Audi S1 EKS RX quattro, $1.99
Ford Focus RS Rally 2007, $1.49
Ford Focus RS Rally 2001, $1.49
Ford Fiesta RXS Evo 5, $1.99

Maps

Greece Rally, $3.99
Sweden Rally, $3.99
Finland, $3.99
Monte Carlo, $3.99
Bikernieki, Latvia, $3.99
Wales, $3.99
Estering, Germany, $3.99
Killarney, International, South Africa, $3.99
Yas Marina Circuit, $3.99
Lydden Hill, UK, $3.99

Various

Colin McRae : Flat Out Pack, $9.99, which includes 40 challenging scenarios, 12 new breathtaking rally routes through Scotland, and two vehicles.

Year One Pass, $19.99
Seasons 3 & 4 Pack, $11.99

There is also a Game of the Year Edition for $59.99.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s responses to the news :

[Video] PS+ April Titles: Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0 from PS4

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and DIRT Rally 2.0 are your PlayStation Plus games for April from PlayStationPlus

PS+ Free Games, April 2020 | Uncharted 4 & Dirt Rally 2.0 | PSN | Available 4/6 from PS4Deals

Some seem annoyed that now everyone owns the entire Uncharted franchise, minus Lost Legacy.  Some predict Lost Legacy will be the free game in a few months.  Almost like a movie is in the works, or something?

Then poor Dirt Rally 2.0 seems to be a real head scratcher.

.  .  .

Here are my YouTube peeps :

Nathan with PlayStation Access :

Adam with PlayStation Grenade :

Ben with Platinum Chasers :

Ben’s video finally made it to the top of the list of results for “PS+ April 2020 Games.”  Usually I have to do that search and add “Platinum Chasers,” to the search, so hopefully that means people are finding his excellent videos and he’s moving up the list.

.  .  .

Here is the PlayStationTrophies.org guide to Uncharted 4 :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/uncharted-4/guide/

Here is the link to their list of trophies for Dirt Rally 2.0 :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/dirt-rally-2/trophies/

Looking at the list, I am hoping I can at least earn one of these :

Antilog Engaged, Purchase your first FIA World Rallycross Supercar
That’s Dedication, Complete 3 Weekly Community Events
Eat my DiRT, Complete 20 Custom Events
Clown Car, Complete 50 Joker laps
CAUTION, Don’t Cut, Complete a stage without damaging your car (I doubt it though)
Qualified, Complete Your first AI Challenge
Adaptable, Complete a stage in Dry, Overcast, Rain and Wet conditions
Fine Tuned, Create and save your own tuning setup

I imagine I will at least earn Qualified and Adaptable, those would be my main goals.  I am not great at racing games, or races in general, if I have learned anything from the Lego games.

.  .  .

There is currently a big April Spring Sale going on right now :

Spring Sale – US PSN (Ends 4/28) from PS4Deals

I bought Walker Dennis Lego Jurassic World, as the base game is $5.99, the lowest it goes, and the three DLC plus game came to $10, so that was a pretty good deal.

.  .  .

In Batman Arkham Asylum, I got to the point where I have to leave the Asylum, to chase down Warden Sharp.  Then I got distracted by the big March sale and my new games.

Walker Dennis and I completed Lego DC Supervillains, on his account.  I earned trophies like every other session, so I have to play on my own.  We completed the six bonus missions, so now we have full access to the open map, so he’s excited about that.

.  .  .

Slender The Arrival was pretty cheap, like three dollars, and I saw there were like four trophies we could earn during the simple Prologue, so I bought it and earned those trophies.  Maybe in October, I will really commit to playing the game again.

.  .  .

I bought Walker Dennis Lego City Undercover, and we completed the Prison Island mission, which is essentially a complete homage to Shawshank Redemption, which I really appreciated.

.  .  .

Walker Dennis has been at home as his school is closed until April 10 (hopefully!), and he just loves the Goat Simulator game.  My wife was kind enough to buy a $20 gift card and now he has the DLC collection.  I was hoping she was going to buy a $25 card and I would have gotten five dollar credit, but she outsmarted me.

I really enjoyed the MMO and the Payday DLC.  Zombies is alright, I am not much of a zombie guy, and Space seems to be the one Walker Dennis really enjoys the most, and it is the one I earned the least amount of trophies in.

.  .  .

My wife and I have started really playing Jeopardy on the PS4, and we are having a blast.  I do not forget how smart she is but I am reminded of how smart she is and also how competitive she gets.  I definitely enjoy Jeopardy over the Wheel of Fortune game, but we have been playing that as well.

.  .  .

I treated myself to Joe Mad’s Battle Chasers Anthology, that collects the first nine issues and has a slew of extras :

The reviews state that the spine of the trade is pretty weak but I did not have any problems with my copy.

During the March sale, Battle Chasers Nigthwar was around eight dollars, so I snatched it up.  I like how it purposely takes place in a different area, so you do not have to read the collection, but it helps to get to know the characters better.  The game gives little hints at previous adventures.  I am at Junktown, and just having my butt handed to me.  Most of my team is Level 12, and I get the impression I am probably two levels below where I am.  But I really wanted a RPG, so I am trying to not forget the game and come back to it as often as I can.  The main town has a mission where I have to clear out all of the slime, the same city that had the spider problem, and I am clearly supposed to be level 15 for that.

I want to be at least at the level of the main threat, which I believe was level 13 for the slime, and most enemies at Junktown seem to be level 12 to 13.  I have four members and I know I am supposed to recruit two more members, one I am very familiar with and the other seems to be unique to the game, as I do not believe I saw him in the comic.

.  .  .

I started Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and I barely started it.  I downloaded the bonus episode four, and I am still in Episode 1, Chloe has gone downstairs, and I have the fourth graffiti to still do.  My gaming goal is to finish an episode, getting all of the graffiti at the same time, then play Battle Chasers until I level up, and go back and forth between the two games until I earned the Platinum for Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and make serious headway into Battle Chasers Nightwar.  I really just want to fill my team with all six characters, and see what clicks.

I feel a tad bad for Calibretto as he was one of my original three with Gully and Garrison.  I recruited Knolan, and he was a level higher than my party, so I sort of knew then that I was below where I should be.  I believe I am close to getting Red Monika, as the notes around Junktown are referencing a red hair assassin, so that is pretty exciting.

Knolan has a group heal, and that’s sort of what I need.  I am still learning the mechanics and finally understanding the merits of using the overcharge battle system, so I have my team hit once, then on their next or third turn, use an attack or heal, that uses up mana (or overcharge) points, and that, I preserve my mana for when I really need it.  Which has taken me hours to finally click with the system.

A fun game, I enjoy it, besides the long time it takes to load into the game, but even if I can just load into the game, and complete a few battles on the map, those are less battles I have to do later to level up.  It is a bit of a grind fest, but I am here to try for it.

Junktown is such a bigger dungeon as well, with lots of options.  I have yet to find a second portal within it so that I can finally save time, as I keep having to leave, go back to the village, rest, and go back.  I have committed to stop buying revive potions, as they are expensive and i might as well just die and use the 80 gold to auto return to the village and make my way back to Junktown, going through minor villains, who are not minor at all.

I do like how, with lesser enemies, I get the option to engage in the fight or just move on.  If we engage, then we do not earn any xp, but do earn materials and gold.

I like the fishing mechanic as well, but I clearly need better bait and a better fishing rod.

I am clearly just in the beginning of the game, going up against my first real hurdle in it.  I will get there eventually, but unlike with Arkham Asylum, I want to commit to this as I have not beaten it before.

Also, owning Nightwar, makes me less incline to purchase other games in the Spring sale.  Though seeing Waking Violet for only $2.09 is pretty tempting, even if I just do a few of the puzzles, but I am resisting that urge.  Plus, I have these Lego games I can be playing as well.  So I really do have plenty of games to play.

Now that my wife is playing on the PS4 (she has really taken to the Switch with Mario Odyssey and Toad Treasure Tracker), I am tempted to buy a few more games for the PS4 for her and I to play, such as Uno or Trivia Pursuit Live.  Uno is $4.99, and Trivia Pursuit Live is $5.99, so those are pretty good prices.  We used to play Trivia Pursuit on PS3 a bunch, back in the day.  Which was a Tuesday.