We have our first PS5 game added to the November 2020 games! That game is Bugsnax, which some people guessed as it was not available for preorders. Those are some clever detectives there!
For the PS4, I have two games coming off of my wishlist, so I am pretty excited about that.
Middle Earth : Shadow of War, the sequel of Shadow of Mordor, two games that take place between The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I asked and it sounds like it is okay if we have not played Shadow of Mordor, we can jump right in. Though the Wikipedia page implies it takes place right after the first game, but maybe it will just be a puzzling first 30 minutes and then the new adventure kicks off? Like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, if I take to the sequel, I will make a point of actually buying the first game in the series. Apparently, like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we can play on Easy, as there are no difficulty related trophies. There are three missable trophies, so I will try to get those taken care of, as quickly as I can.
Hollow Knight : Voidheart Edition, is the second PS4 title, and I am super excited to play it. I understand the game is very hard, which is why I would never buy it myself, but I would like to see how how far I can get into the game. It is a Metroidvania style game, so parts of the game are going to be blocked until we find means to unblock those paths.
Do not worry about missing out on Bugsnax, it is a Plus title going through January 2, so you have time to enjoy it, if you are one of the lucky folks who are getting a PS5 this year. I am hoping to get one next year, but we will have to wait for that. Also, if you claim it now, when you get a PS5, you can play it then, so always always claim the Plus titles.
Also, in February 2021 (feels like so far into the future), we already know the PS5 game is going to be Destruction All Stars, so that is nice.
. . .
PS Prices
Bugsnax is a brand new title, so like Fall Guys, we will have to wait until November 3 to find out its price.
Shadow of War is typically $50, but has been as low as $10. I see there is a Definitive edition, but I suspect that is not the version we are getting in November.
Hollow Knight is typically $15, but has been as low as $8. The Voidheart Edition is the only edition of the game.
So that brings our total for the month to $18, add that to our total of $234, plus Call of Duty : World War II, brings our new total to $252, plus Bugsnax will be added when I do the write up for the December games.
Game of the Year Edition for Shadow of Mordor is only $6 right now.
PS Store
Here is as good of a place as any to complain about this. Anyone enjoying the latest down grade to the PS Store website? It used to be super user friendly, and now it seems purposely not.
If you get to the website through the PlayStation App, it still has the old format. Let’s hope someone forgets to update that.
Shadow of War has a few offerings :
Definitive Edition for $60
Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion for $20
4K DoM Cinematics for free, so I’m downloading that now. Maybe one day we will have 4K.
Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion for $15
Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion for $15
Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion for $15
Story Expansion Pass for $25; which only includes the story DLC – Desolation and Blade.
4K Cinematic Pack for free
Expansion Pass for $40, which includes all expansions for $15 more.
From what I have read, people really enjoy the Nemesis system.
Hollow Knight has no additional DLC to purchase, which is refreshing.
. . .
People on Reddit are very excited about this month, which always great to see.
Also, added to the PS5 Plus Collection is the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy and Black Ops 3, both games I already own, but that would be nice to have Crash digitally.
. . .
My YouTube Peeps :
Ash with Playstation Access (who has been a real treat)
Adam with Playstation Grenade
Ben with Platinum Chasers
. . .
Here are the links to PlayStationTrophies.org’s guides to the games :
I am probably going to start with Hollow Knight, as I can already envision myself heading a progress wall. Then I will give Shadow of War a chance.
. . .
Not much in a way of updates on other games I have played. I have made no additional progress in Vampyr. I have been playing Fortnite like a dman fool!
Ghostbusters came to Fortnite! I gifted Walker Dennis the lowest left one, and I treated him to the photon pack and the Ecto-1 glider. I had full intentions of not buying me anything as I’m holding out for Psylocke coming back to the game. But when I was trying to gift him the photon pack, I bought it for myself, and so I ended up buying the guy to the highest right. I do appreciate that they didn’t just release the eight Ghostbusters from the films, but went with more generic people. I know that doesn’t work for most people, but I liked it. Walker wanted Venkman and I was probably going to go for Egon.
Walker and I won another Duos, so I uploaded that video. I trusted it was only that match, but it added our nonsense ahead of the match and a previous match. The one to watch starts at the 24:37 mark. One of the weekly challenges was to heal each other with the bandage bazooka. I hadn’t realized it was a team challenge, so once he earned it, I had earned it as well, so the video towards the end has a lot of that going on.
I am hoping to get a pair of head sets for Christmas, so we can at least add commentary to our videos (hopefully that isn’t too hard to figure out), but I think the match was pretty interesting to watch back. He’s gotten so much better at playing Fortnite. I was Mystique and he was Wolverine.
Later tonight, Walker should be earning Silver Wolverine and starting his gold track and I just earned Silver She-Hulk last night.
If we don’t win, we typically do come into the Top Six or so.
From what I saw from the Week 10 Challenges, we should be able to knock out three of them so that we each can earn Mystique’s alternate costume.
If you are looking for a Fortnite creator to support, I highly recommend AdamAru, of PlayStation Access fame. He’s a good guy.
I knew Resident Evil Biohazard was not going to be an option as it is currently on sale, but I really thought Days Gone was going to be the scary game of the month. I am excited to pay Vampyr, as it has been on my list and it is from Dontnod who brought us the Life is Strange series of games. I am hoping Need for Speed Payback is fun and for Walker Dennis’ sake, can just be a game where he can drive around to his heart’s content.
. . .
PS Prices
Need for Speed Payback is typically $20, but has been as low as $4, for the base game.
Vampyr is typically $40, but has been as low as $12.
Which is a grand total of $16, which doesn’t seem amazing on paper. But combine that with the $218 in savings plus Call of Duty : World War II, that brings our total to $234! Which is truly incredible!
PS Store
Like Street Fight V the month before, Need for Speed Payback as a slew of DLC. None of it free.
$30 Deluxe Edition
$4 Aston Martin DB5 Superbuild
$10 All DLCs cars bundle
$10 Deluxe Edition Upgrade (which is a nice concept). Comes with the Story DLC, a NOS color, License Plate, Leaderboard Icon, 5 shipments, 5% rep bonus, and 10% discount on in-game content, plus the Platinum car pack including six cars.
$5 Fortune Valley Map Shortcuts
$2.49 Range Rover Sport SVR
$2.49 Alfa Romeo Quadrifogilo
$8 Speedcross Story Bundle (so two more dollars, gets you everything else from the Upgrade – decent deal)
$2.49 Infinity Q60 S
$2.49 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2
$4 Pontiac Firebird Superbuild; if it looked as slick as KITT, it would be an instant buy, but it doesn’t. It looks great, but the front is all wrong for what I would want it to be a substitute for.
$2.49 MINI John Cooper Works
$4 Chevrolet Range Rover and Alfa Romeo
. . .
Vampyr on the other extreme only has a Hunters Heirlooms DLC for $3, two weapons : Paulinus Aurelianus’ sword, Dragonbane, who was a mythical founder of the Brotherhood of Saint Paul Stole. The other being Carol Eldritch’s pistol, Baker, who was the secodn leader of the Guard of Priwen.
. . .
Reads like most of the comments are stating how it is a pretty average month of games, but most have high hopes for November now.
Adam also makes some amazing Fortnite videos, if you are interested. I have been enjoying his tracking of the map every week, since we’re still playing Fortnite like crazy.
. . .
Here are the links to PlayStationTrophies.org’s guides to the games :
I will probably not go for the platinums for these games, but I will at least knock out the four easy to get multiplayer trophies for Need for Speed, as those are my favorite kind. Just attempt to play ten races, beat your own speed once, and do a daily challenge. I will attempt to play the game proper, but once I hit a difficulty road block (pun intended!), I will probably be done with it.
Vampyr has collectibles and requires two playthroughs, one being a No Kill playthrough, and I can’t see myself playing it twice, so I will probably just play like I would naturally, and see what happens.
. . .
I have been playing Fall Guys on Walker’s name, as he really wants to create his own Batman with the limited suits he can muster. I finally earned him a fourth crown, so we are waiting for the superhero top.
It isn’t Batman, but it has a cape, and that’s good enough for him. It costs three crowns, so now we are simply waiting for it come back around in the store. Hopefully for Season Two, they add a third row to the shop. There are pants too, but that would be another three crowns, so the priority is top first, and then we’ll see. It is pretty cute though.
Hopefully if they ever do more license suits like Batman, that it costs Kudos and not Crowns. I know the Portal and Gris suits have been crowns, but those are a lot more specific, whereas everyone will want Batman. At least do a Crown version and a Kudos version.
I finally spend five real dollars on the game for 12,000 Kudos, as they added a white duck to the game, after I just said the night before how they should add a cute yellow duck. Plus, I’m well pass level 40, so no free money was coming my way. Walker Dennis had enough on his account, so he bought it too.
. . .
So I start every morning playing Fall Guys, and I start my gaming night, either finishing Walker’s leveling up, and then straight into Fortnite! So I level Walker up once, then I level up myself after that. It takes longer for my name, plus, then I can move onto another game while still logged in as myself.
Walker just earned the Groot screen saver, and next is the Rocket Raccoon icon, then it is the Rocket Raccoon buddy for Groot to run around together on the map.
Fortnite just turned three years old, so getting all of those challenges done, really got him caught up to where I am in the Battle Pass. I just earned Storm’s emoji and next is her trail blazing, the part before the glider comes out. I am two challenges away from earning 80s Storm, but I am not sure I will be able to accomplish those as the weekly challenges are becoming a tad difficult. The two easier ones are to eliminate Iron Man three times, and get three eliminations in the Woods. I have now defeated Doctor Doom thricely, but from the few attempts at Iron Man, he seems much more difficult. Wolverine is finally coming up on the Wolverine Challenges this week, so hopefully he isn’t too difficult to earn.
I also got both of us Red She-Hulk, which is fun.
I have been regretting not participating in the Deadpool battle pass, but I am not sure if it was ran like the current Marvel one. I couldn’t justify the $20 for Captain America this time around, plus Walker said he would really want it as well, so I really couldn’t justify the $40 for two Captain Americas. I have made peace with him wanting Batman and buying the suit for him, and not doing the same for myself. If they ever release a Riddler, that one, I may have to spend real money on.
Thanks to the Battle Pass, we have earned V-Bucks, but not enough to warrant any cool purchases, and I will definitely be saving those V-Bucks for actual characters instead of weapons or dances.
. . .
The game we are currently playing together, and is Walker’s new obsession, is Portal Knights, again. But this time, he is player one, and the game is finally clicking with me. Or I am just more committed to figuring it all out. We have two dedicated homes; Dusty Junction, a pleasant desert island, and North Point, a deadly winter island. Dusty Junction is the second island you visit, and Walker has really put a lot of time into turning one of the mines into a home, and it is super cute. North Point is a place where I have built essentially a war room of upgraded Workshop, Alters, Anvil, Furnace, and chests galore. I found out that if we built an Arcane Compass, it directs us to where Portals are. Though it is hard to determine if we have to build down or up, but I default to building down to mostly success. Sometimes it is just right around the corner on the surface, and those are always nice surprises. We both have iron weapons, I play as a Warrior and he is a Mage. We defeated the first worm boss and are trying to get to the second one, but we skipped over the key island for the second one, so we have to go back and figure out which island’s portal gets us there, but we also haven’t found the second grandbeast’s portal either, so we have time. I am having a hard time getting yellow shards to activate the portals, but it has been a real blast locating the portals and figuring out the locations. I really do like mining for gems, and building my staircases either downward or upward. This time around, we are building actual bridges to take us across gaps, so that feels good to be opening up the islands. We just have direction that we didn’t have the first time we played it, so the game is a lot better now.
. . .
I finally completed my fifth playthrough of Erica, so I am two hours away from earning my 34th Platinum, and I meant to go straight into my sixth playthrough. Well, I did start one, but kept dozing off in the beginning, so I turned it off that night.
Then Rob with PlayStation Access released the Weekly Store video :
Wherein he describes a new game, Genshin Impact. It is a free RPG, which are two of my favorite things!
I am not that far into the game, and I am committed to playing it until I have earned at least one trophy. It looks pretty great, it reminds me a lot of Omega Quintet, which also reminded me that I had to go back to playing Omega Quintet as well.
I probably only played for about an hour or so, but I am really enjoying it. It looks great. I chose the lady twin, whose names are Lumine and Aether. We have the option to changing their names, but I looked it up to see if they had canon names, which I am glad I did as the brother clearly had a defined name. There was a moment where I was going to name her, Kristie, and be done with it, but there was a thought I had that I was pretty sure she had some fancy other worldly name, and she did.
I am very much still into Archers, so I looked it up and the game as three of them. Amber, Fischl, and Venti.
The game started off as a mobile game, so there is a wealth of information out there. Except for where the chest is located on the heart shaped rock, as that’s one of the trophies, and once I recruited Amber, I was going to go to that chest for trophy, but no one has written about the location yet.
That website is pretty great, but nowhere does it reference where we recruit the characters, so hopefully I can get a chance to recruit those two before I move onto another game.
Right now, I have completed one of the three temples, and going to the second temple, it looks like I will be recruiting at least two more characters from Amber’s Knight clan. I chose her temple first as I wasn’t sure if I was able to lose her, but I didn’t, and we’re definitely moving together to the second temple.
Gacha Gamer has been releasing a slew of helpful videos relating to the game, including this handy tier list.
He comes down pretty hard on Amber, saying she is in the lowest tier, but I have been enjoying her a bunch. We have met Venti, but only in passing, and I have yet to see Fischl. I want a team of Lumine and the three archers.
Gacha Gamer also has two great tips videos, but they made no sense to me prior to playing the game, so I would recommend playing for a bit to get familiar with the mechanics, and then watching those videos. That helped me as I had a better frame of reference then.
There are 18 characters, and I believe we create teams of four; which seems like a lot of options, maybe too many, but it is a free game, so they are probably providing a lot so we spend a lot. Though I haven’t needed to spend any money yet, so hopefully the other two characters are not behind paywalls.
. . .
That heart shaped trophy is titled, Unswerving, and YouTuber, Nier Zero has a video up for it!
Thank you!
I believe Kaeya is one of Amber’s friends I am about to recruit. Looks like a lot of effort is going to be put into getting this trophy. At least I know it won’t take ten minutes, just four. Though I wonder if we could just swim there? From the comment section, it looks like we need a co op partner to have the chest appear, so hopefully I can log Walker in real fast and get the chest. Also from the comment section, the second player does not get the trophy. I wish the map section was in the beginning of the video, but it makes sense to show it at the end. I may have to set another trophy as my goal.
Actually, the Beloved of the Anemo Archon trophy appears to be much easier and I know right where it is!
Thanks to YouTuber R o b for hosting the video!
I was totally tempted to climb that statue last night too! But I opted to not do so as I was way into seeing where the story was going, but I will go there immediately after starting the game. I’m pretty excited!
. . .
Looking back, I do not believe I updated everyone that I finished the 2013 Tomb Raider game. It was such a great game, Rise clearly took everything that worked there, and just made it better. I found all of the tombs, and most of the collectibles. Multiplayer is dead, which I thought for three dollars, I would have found a like minded player, but I play super late at night, so the chances are pretty low. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is still new enough where the lowest price is $20, but if it ever dips below $10, I will definitely buy it.
VUDU and all of the other streaming services continue to refuse to stream 2018 Tomb Raider, so I keep checking on that. I recall there is a Need for Speed film with Aaron Paul. I can only imagine it is not very good, but I wonder if it is at least an enjoyable . . .
130 minute?! ooof, that seems like a lot of time, I wonder if it would have done better with a shorter length. I will see if I can stream it anywhere, and if not, add it to my list of films to check every Friday morning.
I’m sure that Playstation will trim the hour of pre-show silence to make the video more viewer friendly.
We got a second proper glimpse of the PS5 and along with some games!
First up, was Final Fantasy 16!
Thanks to IGN for hosting the video!
This should make Rob from PlayStation Access very happy and we will probably lose him for a month when the game finally comes out. This reminds me that I still haven’t played Final Fantasy 15 Royal yet, nor have I bought it.
Truth be told, Black Friday 2021 is probably the soonest I will get a PS5, but one can only hope for it to be sooner.
. . .
Second up was Miles Morales : Spider-Man gameplay!
Thanks to IGN for hosting the video!
This game looks amazing! I can only imagine the Tinkerer is like the Act 1 villain, right?
Game takes place one year after the conclusion of PS4 Spider-Man. Which I figured Peter would have gone with Mary Jane for the summer, and the game takes place more like a month or two after the previous game, but I imagine they write Peter out of it in another friendly way.
. . .
Then there were some other games shown like Call of Duty : Black Ops – Cold War and Resident Evil VIllage, but my interest in those games are not that high.
Fortnite is a launch title!
Thanks to Playstation for hosting the video!
Walker Dennis and I have become a tad obsess with Fortnite in the pass few weeks. I even stopped my Tomb Raider playthrough last night just so I can play even more Fortnite. He is close to unlock Jennifer Walters and I am close to unlocking Groot, so that’s pretty exciting.
He is eagerly waiting for either Batman Day (this Saturday) or the DC November Event for Batman to come back to Fortnite, as he’s all about Batman at the moment.
. . .
Then arguably the biggest thing that got me excited was the PlayStation Plus Collection!
Thanks again to PlayStation for hosting their own video!
This I need more information about.
The Verge has a pretty good article regarding it :
18 Titles are going to be part of the collection, availabe on launch day :
God of War
The Last of Us: Remastered
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Battlefield 1
Monster Hunter World
Fallout 4
Final Fantasy XV
The Last Guardian
Ratchet and Clank
Infamous: Second Son
Days Gone
Bloodborne
Detroit: Become Human
Batman Arkham Night
Mortal Kombat X
Persona 5
Until Dawn
Resident Evil: Biohazard
I have God of War, Fallout 4, and Until Dawn physically, but I would love to get them digitally. I am really hoping these work like current PS Plus titles, where we can download the games through the store. I really want it to work like how my Vita titles were just waiting for me once I was treated to that system.
Of the titles, I own most of them through Plus, but there is a slew of them that I do not have access to right now.
Battlefield 1, Monster Hunter World, Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, Infamous Second Son, Days Gone, Mortal Kombat X, Persona 5, and Resident Evil Biohazard
So half the titles at nine. That is a crazy amount of savings! I imagine these are all coming to Plus in the next few months as well. At least four of them, I am willing to bet.
Hopefully Plus doesn’t increase too much more than $60, but my amazing wife is usually pretty great to renew my subscription as a Christmas present. After I helpfully provide her the link to it on Amazon during Black Friday.
. . .
We also finally know how much the PS5 is going to be!
$500 for the physical PS5 and $400 for the digital version is amazing! Especially $400 for digital, I would totally be willing to give up physical and kiss my physical PS4 discs good bye for that price.
Plus, I will be keeping the PS4 and moving it to Walker’s room, so it isn’t like we’re trading one in for another.
It is going to be tough knowing November 12 is coming and the PS5 is going to pass me by this holiday season.
. . .
Then Sony Interactive Entertainment’s president and CEO Jim Ryan showed a quick clip of Ragnarok is Coming, which sounded like God of War 2 to me.
Thanks to IGN for hosting the clip!
Also, it is clearly God of War 2. I don’t recall seeing the initial logo.
Looking for it, I had already forgotten about the Harry Potter game. Looks interesting. I will have to ask my wife about what she knows about the lore of Hogwarts from 1800.
Such a great presentation!
Are you buying a PS5 on release day or even this year?
You want to know what would make for a great late Christmas present for me? The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 3!
I have no idea why this doesn’t come out the week before Christmas, that seems like a scheduling mistake.
I found out about this collection by making a ripe fool of myself on twitter. The Mutant Menace (a great Twitter account to follow!), posted their desire for a particular trade, and like a real jerk, I offered up how I’ve been waiting for a trade of mine own, and turns out the trade I want is actually happening!
Marvel is set to release the first Fantastic Four by Slott OHC and even a bloody EMPYRE omnibus of all things… but still no word on any Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer OHCs? pic.twitter.com/o1ytRlUpnD
Seriously, I have been wanting this collection to be a thing for years now! Just the entire Paul Smith run, in a beautiful hardcover. Now it being $175, is a bit much, and I am sure if I hunted around, I could find a store selling it for 50% off or it will eventually drop in price. Even $88 seems a tad much for my budget, but I also have a hard time treating myself to things that I really want.
But for $175, we are getting treated to what I will always consider THE run of Uncanny X-Men! All comics besides one are written by the greatest X-Men writer of all time, Chris Clarmeont!
158 is Rogue vs. Ms. Marvel 2 and aftermath of the Starjammers adventure.
159’s Bill Sienkiewicz’s Dracula issue.
160’s Brent Anderson’s Limbo issue.
So we are getting the entirety of The Brood Saga, which includes handing the torch from the legendary Dave Cockrum, to the living legend, Paul Smith with 165.
166’s, the first appearance of Lockheed!
168’s Kitty’s “Professor X is a Jerk!” issue.
The Morlock Saga!
171’s Walt Simonson Rogue joining the team.
The Japan Adventure!
Ending with 175’s passing of the torch from Smith to John Romita Jr!
Such an amazing run and lord knows I haven’t read 154 through 161 in quite some time.
Plus, that’s just the main title.
We get Annual 6’s Dracula sequel to 159 also by Sienkiewicz.
We get the very fun Scavenger Hunt in Annual 7 by Michael Golden and Bret Blevins, with an army of inkers.
We get X-Men God Loves, Man Kills by Brent Anderson.
Wolverine 1 – 4 by Frank Miller, the very first Wolverine mini series.
Special Edition X-Men, which reprints Giant Size X-Men. This will be the only comic in the collection not written by Chris Claremont as Len Wein had the pleasure of co-creating the second generation of X-Men. The Special does have A Day Like Any Other, by Claremont and Cockrum, wherein Kitty turns 14!
Magik the limited series, which 160 introduces and the limited series provides the full story. Drawn by John Buscema and Ron Frenz for issue three, and Sal Buscema (my favorite of the Buscemas), for the fourth issue.
Special thank you for Marvel Fandom for reminding me of how great these issues really are! They don’t have a handy link to the Omnibus so I had to search all around for the issues. Such a great website and these comics define the X-Men to me.
So this collection is going to look great, flip to any page, and a time tested and well received issue. Such a legendary run, and I really really want this!
If you know who the cover artist for the collection is, please let me know and I can update it as I’m searching around and I see people crediting the interior pencilers (which they should), but I cannot find the cover artist. It is a great cover and I’m happy Lockheed made it to the cover.
Also, apparently this came out in 2016, so I apparently could have had it four years ago. Oops!
Inks Bachalo, Holdredge, Irwin, Mendoza, Orlazaba, Parsons, Townsend & Vey
Colors Studio F’s Antonio Fabela
Lettering VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Dated June 2006
The First Forsaken, Part One of Three
I own issues 470, 471 and now this issue, because Kitty Pryde’s therapist from University of Chicago – Dr. Maureen Lynsinski, appears in this issue. I now own all ten of her appearances –
She is in all six issues of Mekanix, X-Treme X-Men 25 and those three Uncanny X-Men Issues. I will review these, someday but right now, we have issue 472. My next issue of Uncanny is issue 496, so who knows what happens in the next twenty issues.
Previously, Psylocke is back from the dead. Her insane older brother, Jamie, may have something to do with her resurrection. In Africa, Storm is doing some soul searching. This is after M-Day, and there are some killers that are going around, killing depowered mutants, in Africa.
Rift Valley Province, Northwest Kenya. A goon is about to kill a man, the goon wants the man’s children to join their army of children soldiers. Storm arrives and knocks some sense into the goon. She is running around with a tiger, which is pretty cool. Storm tells the tribe, that she defended, that it may be time to take the fight to the source, but they are worried that would mean war. Storm tells them that they are already at war.
The Xavier Institute, NY. Office of National Emergency, Mobile Operations Command Center. Since this is Post-M-Day, the government (in their brillance) want Sentinels to protect the remaining mutants of the world. These Sentinels, will never actually protect the mutants. The school will be constantly attack and the Sentinels are dealt with, so easily – every single time.
I do like that Valerie Cooper is running the show, she’s always been a great mutant government liaison. Colonel Reyes, the brother of X-Man, Cecilia – is the military representative.
They go around, checking in on the X-Men.
Rachel is in a mental therapy session with Kitty Pryde’s therapist, Dr. Maureen Lysinski. In the previous storyline, the Shi’ar straight killed all of the remaining Greys. It was rather intense! I’m surprised that doesn’t come up, every single time.
Bishop is visiting a wounded, Detective Charlotte Jones – I’m not sure who that is, I imagine someone from his District X days. Reyes hints that Cooper and Bishop have had a relationship – I must have missed that, too.
Cannonball and Husk are aiding the mutant refugees, as the school is housing every mutant that wanted to be safe.
Psylocke and Nightcrawler are in the Danger Room. The power shuts down, which isn’t suppose to happen. On the scene, is Jamie Braddock, who – instead of wearing tighty whities – he has graduated to boxers with gold hearts on them. Jamie takes care of the Sentinels.
Kurt and Rachel, who have plenty of experience against Jamie, are the first wave of attackers.
There is an ad for Marvel Legends, the Build a Figure is for Mojo. Shame the idea for the X-Babies didn’t go through. The action figures are – Baron Zemo (the father, and he has a maskless variant), Longshot (which makes sense), Falcon (with a modern variant), Original Iron Man (with gold variant), Psylocke and original Luke Cage action figure.
Psylocke and Cannonball join the fight but are taken care of. Bishop puts a gun to Jamie’s head, he laughs at the attempt. Bishop was merely the distraction, as Psylocke has used her focused totality of her telepathic powers, to put a psychic sword through Jamie’s head. I miss that she doesn’t talk like that, anymore.
Jamie convinces his sister to put her sword away. There is a bigger threat, that is coming. Uatu, the Watcher, arrives, as this could go horribly wrong.
Jamie explains how he brought Betsy back. Now she is no longer acceptable to being manipulated by beings likes Proteus and Shadow King – which I don’t think writers remember this being the case.
Once Jamie is done speaking, a hand brings him into a portal and Betsy knows that a being that is stronger than her brother – is a serious threat.
I can only imagine that everyone survives and the threat is dealt with.
The August 2020 Free PS Plus Games are going to be :
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered and Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout!
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (a clunky title, but it explains everything you need to know) was released only back in March 2020, and already a free game.
Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout is following Rocket League’s success by having its launch be part of the PS+ initiative. The game is very much inspired by Takeshi’s Castle, like a very colorful and crowded version of TBS’ Wipeout.
I’m pretty excited to try these games out. CoD MW2 CR comes out today, Tuesday, July 28, and Fall Guys launches on August 4. Hence why the announcement came early. I’m going to play Modern Warfare 2 on Recruit difficulty and try to get as far as I can in a night. Fall Guys, I’m really hoping has couch co-op as I think Walker Dennis will love playing it as well.
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PS Prices
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is currently a $20 game, and has gone as low as $15 in the past.
Fall Guys has no previous pricing, and I supposed we won’t know what it retails at until September, so I will have to remember to recalculate the running total for the October announcement as the game would still be free by the time the September games are announced.
Our current running total is $165 plus Call of Duty WWII Digital Edition, and I would add Fall Guys, but we’ll know the price of the game eventually. So adding $15, our new total is $180. We’re almost at $200 and not even into the fourth quarter of the year.
Since CoDMWCR is only the campaign, it was not given any DLC.
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Reddit reactions have mostly been comments about how this is the fastest turnaround for a game’s release to being a Plus title ever, at four months. People seem to be really excited for Fall Guys, so that’s nice. We will all be getting in on the game at the ground floor, and the lobbies should be super full.
I stayed up a little too late to beat Rise of the Tomb Raider! Such an amazing game! I got to the last campfire and it said there was no turning back from this point and it was still around 11:45pm, so I figure I could give it another 30 minutes, at the most. Then I woke up around 2am this morning with mega heart burn, and that usually puts me in a wide awake frame of mind, so I finished two tombs, earning the Tomb Raider trophy, and that felt pretty good too. I may try to buy those last two guns in the Supply Shack, but first I need like 50 more coins, and I might finally get back to The Council. Just in time for one of our PS+ titles to come along too. So that all timed out pretty nicely. If either Tomb Raider came (Shadow or 2013) goes on sale below $10, I’m buying those games, no matter what! I had such a great time!
Though I do worry that Rise may have perfected any kinks that 2013 had, but Shadow should be everything that was great in Rise, but more of it, right?
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Walker Dennis has gotten really into Lego Dimensions again. He’s also gotten into Doctor Who, right when it can’t be found anywhere besides HBO MAX. Which I really wish Roku would just make a deal with HBO Max and make it so we can watch the app not on my phone but on our actual TV. Philo no longer has Doctor Who either and Amazon Prime Video has BritBox, but that’s an extra $7 a month that I rather not spend.
I bought Walker another Doctor Who disc, so once it comes in, we can have two Doctors on screen at one time, so that should make him pretty happy. He’s been pretty obsessed with watching Twice Upon a Time where the First and Twelve Doctors meet. I overrode the Simpsons TV toy tag so we already have two TARDISes (?).
If we play a level a night, we should be able to earn Walker his second Platinum, but sometimes our nights gets away from us, but it would be fun to earn that trophy with how much he loves that game. We have to finish five levels and then do 25 puzzles of each type : Searching, Painting, and Weather Powers, and I would have sworn we have done the work for those, but those are the three I’m concern we will have to keep completing the proper Portal 2 level in the main game. But hopefully we earn one of those during the next five levels, as I’m concern the game is glitched, but 25 does seem like a lot, so we must be close.
At first, I was confused why I bought this for Father’s Day 2015. I thought one of my three favorite websites tricked me. Then I came across the scene with Nightcrawler and Storm, at the Purity Rally. This was the only issue I was missing of Alice Tremaine’s 13 appearances. So now I own all of her appearances.
She is in all six issues of Mekanix (a great miniseries!) and then her final appearance is this issue. Then Claremont brings her back in X-Men The End, Book Two – issues 1, 5 and 6. He continues to use her in X-Men The End, Book Three – issues 3, 5 and 6.
Another interesting note about Alice Tremaine, that I just discovered with this post. If you Google “Alice Tremaine” you will see the stepmother (the wicked one) that harrasses Cinderella. That step-family of Cinderella’s last name is . . . . Tremaine! That has to be done on purpose, right? Claremont would know the most famous usage of “Tremaine” So Claremont, amongst all of the other kudos he deserves, deserves a few more points for the naming of this character.
In my collection, I own issues 448 and 452. I’ll review those, some day.
Inside front cover ad is for the Thomas Jane’s Punisher DVD. Such a good movie!
Previously in the title. The current team (think a Pre-X-Treme X-Men) are Storm, Bishop, Sage, Rachel Grey, Nightcrawler and Wolverine. This team is called, X-Treme Sanctions Executive (XSE). That’s the mission statement. Last issue, Viper (one of Wolverine’s ex-wife’s) is back on the scene, looking for some sweet revenge on Sage. Viper takes the team to a modified MurderWorld, she has also taken away their powers. As bait, she has taken the Queen of England hostage. Last issue ended, apparently, with her shooting Sage – to the head!
The Tower of London. Viper is bragging, over Sage’s dying body, no one insults Viper, and gets away with it. Rachel shows up and punches Viper to her silly face. Viper gives back, as good as she can take it, which confused me until I reread the recap page. I’m so use to skipping those, that the fight made sense.
There is an ad for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, I still haven’t seen it.
Bishop gets into the action and Viper teleports away. Sage stands up and reveals that Wolverine has been using an image inducer, this whole team. Wouldn’t the bullet have just passed through her head?
A flatscan introduces Alice Tremaine, of University of Chicago fame. They are hoping to turn a college movement, Purity, into a global party. Chicago to London, does seem like a major step.
Kurt and Storm are stuck in the room, and the only way out is through hateful crowd. Storm uses her African knowledge, that one doesn’t run from jackals, also, the flatscans don’t know that the two mutants don’t have their powers.
Alice Tremaine starts her hate speech as Storm and Kurt start walking towards the stage. If I know Alice Tremaine, this is her best case scenario.
Some dumb jerk throws a chair at Storm but Kurt’s tail catches it. Kurt, and me, don’t care for the term – mutie. Kurt confronts the idiot and that fool passes out.
Alice Tremaine confronts Storm. Earth is for humans and they will defend it. Storm whips out her XSE badge, they are sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them. Kurt steps between the ladies and tells Storm that they are done here. Some dumb face wants to shoot them, as they leave, but another guy (a smarter one) is worried about the backlash from their fellow mutant brothers.
Once they are far enough away, Storm shows off that her powers have return. Storm wanted to fight Alice Tremaine, so much!
Meanwhile. Old School Excalibur ally, Courtney Ross, wants to be the new London White Queen of the Hellfire Club. She wants Viper, who has a gun at her head, to be the Lord Imperial.
The London Eye. XSE gets to the giant Ferris Wheel. A taped message from “Arcade” (I’m not sure if it really is him or just a picture of him) reveals that it isn’t the Queen, in the upper car. Which I’m curious where the real Queen is, if this was ever a credible threat. I imagine, the X-Men are simply told the Queen has been captured, they believe it – that is the life they live.
In the top ar is Mrs. Ella Thurlough, one of the Queen’s housemaids. If nothing is done, a simple bomb will explode, only killing her. If there is a rescue attempt, even the slightest, a small nuke will go off.
Alistaire Stuart, old friend of Nightcrawler’s and Rachel, is there to confirm that what the message states, is true. Rachel can’t believe that Alistaire can be so cold hearted, or practical. I misread the page, I thought it read like – one bomb over the housemaid and a small nuke, somewhere else in the city. Instead, the two bombs are located in the car, atop of the housemaid.
Storm has a plan. Rachel is going to keep the housemaid calm, as Storm creates very intense winds Bishop is there to absorb the blast. Rachel brags that Storm’s winds are stronger than those found on Jupiter. Which seems too much, for such a small section. Of course, XSE saves the day. I do like how Wolverine has nothing to do, but watch from below.
Later. The team assumes that Arcade’s message is just pre-recorded and he wasn’t involved, at all.
Elsewhere. Sebastian Shaw arrives, to make a deal with Courtney Ross – who has to really be Sat-rr-9, right? As we saw original Courtney Ross die, pay back in the day, As they, Viper is there too, toast, their new pact – Sage has Shaw in her gunsight.
Other titles coming out in September 2004 –
Uncanny X-Men 448 & 449 – The X-Men trapped in Murderworld! By Chris Claremont & guest artist, Oliver Coipel!
Exiles 52 – Worlds Collide! Literally!
Alpha Flight 7 – The end of Alpha Flight?!
Gambit 1 & 2 – New ongoing series! The Ragin’ Cajun is back! By John Layman & Georges Jeanty!
X-Men The End 3 – The final story of the X-Men continues!
Starjammers 4 – Will Tolo exact his revenge?
District X 5 – Tragedy strikes as the hunt for Mr. M continues!
X-Force 2 – The coming of Jon Spectre!
Emma Frost 15 – Who is Astrid Bloom? And what does she know about Emma?
Weapon X 28 – The Series Finale! Sabretooth v Mister Sinister!
X-Men 161 & 162 – The Brotherhood of Mutants are back!
New X-Men 5 – New penciler Michael Ryan debuts!
Rogue 3 – Rogue and Gambit no more!?!
Cable / Deadpool 7 – The Burnt Offering begins here!
Jubilee 1 – New Series! By Robert Kirkman & Derec Donovan!
Wolverine 19 – Greg Rucka’s final issue! Guest-starring Nightcrawler!
Astonishing X-Men 5 – You’ll have to read it to find out!
Excalibur 5 – Food Fight begins!
Mystique 19 – The prelude to Quiet, the story where everything changes!
Nightcrawler 1 – New Series! By Robert Aguirre-Sacasa & Darick Robertson!
I imagine I’ve read the Uncanny X-Men issues. I must have read Exiles and Alpha Flight. Gambit, I own that first issue, still. X-Men The End, must be the first book. I would have also been reading Cable / Deadpool. Jubilee by Kirkman, I imagine that was him just trying to make a name for himself. Astonishing X-Men 5 is dealing with the after shocks of Colossus’ return. I should have dropped Excalibur after the third issue but I read all 24 of those. If Mystique was still being written by Sean McKeaver, at that point, it was still such a good title. Nightcrawler, now that was a series that could have lasted longer but I really enjoyed it.
X-Mail, with letters from – Nadav Millman of Israel and James Hunter of Newbury, England.
Next Issue, X23 joins the title! But she has already appeared in NYX.
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.
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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.
Not sure what is happening with the Plus subreddit, they were trying to link to Twitter.
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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.
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Here are PlayStation Trophies.org’s guides to the games :
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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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.
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.
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!
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 :
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
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!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 