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.
. . .
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.
. . .
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 :
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!
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!
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.
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 :
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.
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.
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 :
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
I have been enjoying the heck out of Sonic Forces. It is a pretty solid Sonic game, I may be even enjoying it so much more than Sonic Mania. I like how there are super simple daily challenges. I will admit I am mostly doing it so that I can earn the 10 daily challenges trophy but I do to mind playing a level a day and doing a daily challenge a day. The level designs are varied and I am enjoying all of the customization I get to do with my avatar.
This is what my avatar looks like right now :
I have over 50 items unlocked thus far.
Will I play after I unlock that trophy, only a few more days will know.
I earned that trophy and I already feel like I am done with Sonic Forces for a bit.
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I killed the first Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus. I liked playing enough, but like I initially felt, I don’t feel compelled to keep playing.
After watching Nathan of PlayStation Access kill the first few Colossi :
Makes me want to at least kill the second one, but I am not super excited to make the attempt.
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I moved my plans to make Life is Strange : Before the Storm my March Platinum to my April Platinum. I made this decision as I finally earned the Lego Batman 3 Platinum!
I really missed these early Lego games, where the missions do not feel like they take forever and the subchapter selection is nice. I have to play the full level in Free Mode but for clean up purposes, it is great to jump in and out of levels once obtaining minikits, or character tokens, or rescuing Adam Wests.
Walker Dennis and I have been playing Lego Incredibles and like Lego DC Supervillains, we are not both earning trophies so that has been highly disappointing. So for now on, I will just play games with Walker Dennis on his account, as I can only imagine how disappointing not earning a trophy is. I already started this policy with Lego DC Supervillians, and I am annoyed that I have to play that game separately, but earning several trophies in Lego Incredibles that he should have rightfully earned, was enough for me to make that decision. He also tells me how disappointing it is, so it is not a secret or anything. Such lousy game design, and with Lego games too. These earlier games are just the way to go.
I also already know I will not get the platinum for Lego Incredibles, as I can’t earn the gold in two races, so that has been a lousy feeling as well. I still want to finish the levels in Free Play, and I do like how there is a trophy for each main level. What I don’t like, is that there is no minikit red brick so I am going to have to look up how to get all of the minikits, which is also annoying. We still want to get more characters, I just have some work to put into it.
Whenever Lego Jurassic Park goes on sale again for under ten dollars, I will probably pick it up as I can only imagine it is a fun game. I know there is no DLC, so hopefully it is more like Lego Batman 3 and not Lego Incredibles. I should probably wait until we have finished Lego DC Supervillians, as it was causing some silly stress having three ongoing Lego games.
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I also earned my second bonus trophy for the year with Hitman Go! Which I can already see myself, once earning 12 platinums, just cooling my quest to earning a platinum a month. 12 sounds good enough to me, one way or the other. I am at five already.
Hitman Go was a lot of fun and so relaxing. Did i just follow a guide the entire way? I sure did and it was just a nice way to start a night’s gaming session. From what I have read, Lara Croft Go is not as good, there are puzzles added to it, which makes sense, and I imagine it is as easy to play but I have never been much of a Tomb Raider guy. I am not much of a Hitman guy either, but playing his games at least exposed me to the character and encouraged me to get this game. That and it being only three dollars.
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I was looking through the Double Discount sale and saw Bulletstorm : Full Clip Edition is currently $24. It was a PS+ title back in November 2018. We also got Yakuza Kiwami, Roundabout, and Burly Men at Sea, that month. I got the platinum for Burly Men at Sea, I enjoyed the silliness of Roundabout and I allowed myself to get stuck on the first real boss of Yakuza Kiwami, and that was enough for me. I never got around to Bulletstorm, as I am not the biggest FPS guy, but I also am trying to make a bigger point of playing these free games I have received.
I finished Act 1, Chapter 1, and got to the train sequence of Chapter 2. I had earned a few trophies along the way, and the game is pretty enjoyable. I keep running out of ammo, so I end up leashing a guy, and kicking him into walls or off cliffs, so that was a fun night.
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I heard Call of Duty Modern Warfare : Warzone was a free battle royale so I gave it a shot. I did the tutorial and the extra practice course for the free item both provided. I then joined the 150 other peeps who were also playing. I was grouped up with two other people for a squad of three. The game looks amazing. It took a while to find a gun with a scope that I prefer. I am a simple man, so I like a scope that just puts a dot on where I am aiming.
I essentially just followed the one guy around the map, and made it all the way to ninth position, so I felt pretty good about that. I probably will not go back to it but it was fun during the 10 minutes or so. There is no trophies for Warzone, so I felt pretty free to just enjoy it.
The one thing I would have liked was to know how to crouch, as I could not figure it out.
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I have made it to just past the Bane fight in Arkham Asylum. I am not sure if the game starts to look worst towards the end, as the main complaints I hear about the Return to Arkham remasters is that the cut scenes look drastically different (and for the worst), but the game looks good to me. The controls are slightly different from Arkham Knight, so that took a little getting used too. Mostly it is realizing I want L1 for detective mode, and not up. Everything else feels pretty good. That and in the fighting, I can’t seem to string a combo together. I am used to punching with Square, and pressing X to evade, and then follow up with punch again, but that does not seem to work as well, just I end up just punching and pressing Triangle to counter, to get any real combo going.
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I sort of feel like I am inbetween games. I really like Arkham Asylum, but I feel like I am waiting for another game to make an appearance to get pulled into. Chrono Trigger celebrated its 25th birthday on March 11, and I think I really want a JRPG to enjoy. I found a list of 50 games like Chrono Trigger on PS4 but the bulk of them are not really jumping out at me.
Persona 5 (1), but I would also just wait for the Royal edition to release. Though the 100 hour time cautions me.
Battle Chasers : Nightwar (6), which next time it is on sale for under ten, I will probably buy it.
I am Setsuna (8), which I know was made to be in the same spirit of Chrono Trigger but the game is rarely on sale, staying at $40.
Cosmic Star Heroine (9), which i played and platinumed, and is the type of game I want to play.
Ni no Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom (18), is on my psprices wishlist but is also an expensive game.
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition (23), I am not sure what “Pocket Edition” means, but if the Royal Edition ever drops to under ten, I could be convinced to buy it.
Lost Sphear (25), is the other game inspired by Chrono Trigger like I am Setsuna, but is also a rather expensive game.
What I am looking for is a game I can complete in, ideally, one playthrough, and is not like a 50 hour game, or the 12th entry in a franchise that I have never heard of. What I should do is just buy the Final Fantasy VII game for the PS4, play the heck out of that, and maybe get excited for the Remake. I tried the Demo and there is just something about playing a demo to a game I either will not buy or will buy in a year, that I could not adjust to it.
What I really want, is to be able to buy Chrono Trigger and play it on my PS4. I read that Chrono Cross is also available for the PS3 and Vita through the PSOne Classics line, but those do not have trophies and also, I do not currently own a PS3 or a Vita. If only!
Though seeing Battle Chasers and being tempted to play the game, has made me want to read the comic again.
I know it was never finished and I have the first seven issues (somewhere), but I should treat myself to the Anthology series, actually read it, and then get the game. That is how I should do it.
The March 2020 Free PS Plus Games are : Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces!
Shadow of the Colossus is a PS2 game that was remastered by the same team that brought us the Uncharted Collection, Bluepoint Games.
Sonic Forces was the other game released to celebrate Sonic turning 25, and we got Sonic Mania way back in June 2019.
I am going to commit to at least killing the first Colossus and completing the first level set for Sonic, and then see where I go from there.
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PSPrices
Shadow of the Colossus is typically a $20 game but goes as low as $10.
Sonic Forces is typically a $20 game but goes as low as $10, as well.
So both games are collectively $40 at their highest and $20 at their lowest.
We already got our money’s worth last month with our subscription for the high end. For the low end, we were at $41 dollars and now we are at $61, so that is one more dollar than the subscription service, so all of the games for the rest of the year are pure bonus. I may keep tracking it just to see what the overall value is for the subscription service.
I checked the PlayStation Store and none of the games have any paid DLC. Sonic Forces Digital Standard Edition which came with the free Shadow DLC. Shadow of the Colossus does not have any additional DLC.
The most repeated criticism is that we are now three for three months wherein we have received a remaster. Which I do not mind as I have been wanting to play Shadow of the Colossus for years now. The other criticism of the month is that Sonic Force is the lesser of the two Sonic games, but I am sure it is still playable.
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Here are the videos from my YouTube peeps :
Nathan with PlayStation Access :
Now that Elle is leaving, Nathan is having to do the Free PS+ video and the store update videos again.
I earned my 28th Platinum with Adam’s Venture Origins, a pretty enjoyable game. There were sections where it looked like collectibles were clearly meant to be added as there are some open spaces with nothing to explore. The game literally had to point out the characters names were Adam and Eve(lyn). Pretty clever. My least favorite element was the stealth required for Chapter 14, it took a while for me to figure out the routes, and there were only two routes really. Chapter 19 has the same stealth elements but I was able to figure it out fairly quickly.
I am considering Adam’s Venture Origins as a bonus platinum and still plan on earning Life is Strange : Before the Storm as my March Platinum. Good to stock up on these.
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Erica, a game I really have been wanting for a while, is finally five dollars. I did my first playthrough and only really messed up not walking across the carpet that Kirstie was cleaning. My second playthrough was a tad more disastrous and has killed my buzz to continue with the game for a bit. There is a moment when Detective Blake takes Erica back to her flat and he breaks open the neighbor’s door from across the hall. We have a moment to either follow or stay and I desperately wanted to follow. Instead, either the very gracious timer ran out or I did not hover the cursor over follow clearly enough. So she stayed and I lost like 30 minutes or so, it could have been 20. But it was so late at night that I did not want to restart it. I did tweet at Flavorworks asking for a patch to make the cursor a tad user friendlier.
@flavourworks I am really loving Erica! Could you please create a patch where the choices are more traditional where I can use the up and down arrows instead of moving the cursor around? I am finding myself missing the choice I wanted to not making the choice fast enough. Thx!
If it could be more like Late Shift, where the options are on the bottom of the screen or that I can choose what I want with the arrow prompts, that would be preferred. You can use a phone app to play the game or the controller. I did not like using my phone so I uninstalled the app but when you use the controller, you strictly use the touchpad. Which is not that bad until you want some precise decisions to be made.
I will eventually get back to it but I am taking a break from the game. I just have five more playthroughs, so I will do it but I will just move onward with my gaming rotation.
. . .
A game that is giving me no problems is Hitman Go. I am purely playing along with a guide but I am having such a great time with the game. I just love how it is like a chess board as we move Agent 47 around, completing either one of two goals. Sometimes, all three goals can be met at once but it is a rare treat. The goals are usually: complete the mission, do it under x amount of times, grab a briefcase. I have completed the first two chapters and have the third one of seven to complete next.
There is a Lara Croft Go but I may just wait on that one. I have never really played any Tomb Raider games besides attempting the third one on the original PlayStation One, and I barely could jump over the water slide onto the vine back then.
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With my final new game, Monopoly Family Fun Pack, I completed the Plus side of the pack and still have the Deal side to play. Plus was a lot of fun, and that is the half of it that I wanted the game for. There is a MyMonopoly DLC that is ten dollars, and it rarely goes on sale and when it does, it only goes down to eight dollars, so I probably will not be buying that anytime soon.
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I am in my final two levels of Lego Batman 3 in Free Play. I still have to go back and get the bulk of minikits, save Adam West, and obtain all of the character tokens. My main goal was to go through all of the levels in Free Play, earning the character token that will make Bat-Mite happy, obtaining the Red Brick with Plastic Man, seeking out any minikits that I can find (now that I have the minikit detector), and rescuing Adam West (now that I also have his location detector). I earned those last two red bricks, plus the character token red brick, way late in the process, so I will have to go back and get those. But in that clean up, I just have to get the item I want, and jump out of the game, which is pretty nice.
I am making my way through all of the Lantern planets, with just two left, Odym and Okaara. I am also making pretty good progress with the VR missions. After all of that, I just have to chase down all of the gold bricks in the Batcave and the Watchtower. Plus, all of the DLC missions have to be done in Free Play too, but I wanted to wait until I got all of the red bricks first so I can get those done in one.
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I found a pretty handy guide to get the Sims 4 Platinum rather quickly :
I got the Full House trophy but could not download every recommended community pack, but it just feels wrong to earn the trophies in this way. But I might commit as there are a few trophies that I rather not really put the work in for like outliving five spouses and making whoopie with a ghost and such.
In my proper file, I did master piano playing and programming, so that felt pretty good. While taking a shower, I noted all of my instrument playing and cooking, I have gained like 30 pounds so, and all around my midsection, so that is not great. I am working my painting skills now. I have to add a drink bar to my house so I can work on my mixology skill after that.
I have a real problem where I just want to play for like 30 minutes and I end up playing for hours, and I am staying up way too late!
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PlayStation is celebrating six years of the PS4 with a PlayStation Player Celebration :
I registered but never received a confirmation email but it states I completed 2/2 tasks so I believe I am in.
There are an assortment of prizes and giveaways.
Goal One is 125K games played, and 500K Trophies earned. We already hit the games goal and we are at 281,972/500,000 trophies earned.
We get an exclusive PS4 static theme and matched avatar.
Goal Two is 375K games played, 1.5M trophies earned and we get a set of five avatars. Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us 2, Aloi from Horizon Zero Dawn, and Drake from Uncharted 4.
Goal Three is 675K games played, 2.7M trophies earned. We will earn an exclusive PS4 dynamic theme.
The next goal starts when the previous goal is met.
The grand prize, to be given away on March 17, is a real-life Platinum trophy (that I really really want!) with our PSN ID on it, a $100 PSN voucher, and voucher codes for a selection of the PS4’s greatest games. Pictured is Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, The Last of Us Remastered, and Uncharted 4. So I would give away the Last of Us Remastered code, sell back my physical copy of Uncharted 4, and enjoy the heck out of Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War for the very first time.
I am pretty confident that the community will hit all of those goals pretty easily. We just have to play one game for at least one hour (across multiple sessions) and each trophy earned goes toward the goal but multiplayer trophies count as double. But only six trophies per day, so be careful out there!
We already got to the half way mark by the very first day so we are going to smash this!
I wonder how they came up with the 2.7M trophies number, seems very odd.
PS+ Subscribers received Sims 4 and the Bioshock Collection of games for February. Plus Firewall Zero Hour for the VR.
After thinking I would not invest too much time into Sims 4, I invested a crazy amount of time! I made myself maxed out on playing video games, writing, playing both the violin and the guitar. I am currently working on my piano skills. During my writing days, I was earning royalties for all of the books I was writing but I suspect those may be drying up lately. I made my wife who goes out and works all day so I can stay home and work on my skills, and I used the game’s genetics option to make Walker Dennis, who came out pretty well. Pretty much my face but with my wife’s proper proportions, so we are all pretty happy. I really need to move us into a larger house as the piano is out in the yard and that cannot be good for it.
I plan on trying to stick it out and keep the game into the rotation. It really is a lot of fun. Repetitive but fun. I was getting annoyed as I was trying to write songs and it takes forever to write a song, to the point, where I have not written any songs.
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Bioshock, and I am definitely not the first one to write this, is such a fun and interesting game! I pretty much played it over the course of two nights and I defeated Dr. Steinman, and that felt like a good stopping place for the moment. I am not usually into first person shooters but this game just feels so good to play and explore Rapture.
There is an amazing Remasters and Retro sale going on right now! I bought the Batman : Return to Arkham set for five dollars as quickly as I could! I also scooped up Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as Walker Dennis really wanted to play a Spider-Man fighting game after he saw me playing Injustice 2. UMvC3 is nine dollars and felt like a pretty good price. Infinite is way too much for this me, if I was more into fighting games, I would jump at all of the content for $24 but I can easily wait. Especially as I feel like I am already done with the game. I would be jumping right into Arkham Asylum but then . . .
The Division 2 was set to three dollars and I had to buy it! I knew next to nothing about it, except that it usually still goes for $60 and on sale, it still like $20, so three dollars was pretty worth it. I definitely got my three dollars worth out of NBA 2k19.
The one draw back is that the Division 2 is such a huge game so now I feel like I have to mainline it for a while to justify the space it takes up.
Here is Dave from PlayStation Access playing the game :
I watched a few minutes of the video and figured, “What the heck?” and bought the game.
I got to level 6 and completed the third main story mission. So I was able to unlock squads and definitely got my three dollars worth. The game is much better when you get matched with others, heck, even just having a partner made the game more enjoyable.
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Thanks to my 26th Platinum, Life is Strange, I finally got to level 18!
Such an interesting game. I still plan on making Life is Strange : Before the Storm, my March Platinum.
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Here is also a deal that Adam’s Venture Origins is only 19 cents.
I quickly picked up Erica for $5 and Monopoly Family Fun Pack for $6.
I was making such good progress on Lego Batman 3 again but that is okay, it will be there when I get back.
A lot of excellent games are on sale right now. I was surprised with how many games I already owned!
Batman : Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Marvel Collection, Mafia III, Ratchet & Clank, Man of Medan, The Last of Us Remastered, Lego Movie 2, The Witness, Uncharted 4, Until Dawn, and Until Dawn : Blood Rush,
Here are the two guides for Erica. One is for overall game :
My plan is to play it like Late Shift, with one playthrough, and then play another game or two and come back to Erica.
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For my birthday, Walker Dennis got me Lego Incredibles and we burned through the story mode and now just enjoying the open world.
We unlocked Splashdown, and Walker Dennis really wanted to use his mask for his Spider-Man creation, but it was not in the creation options. So that is unfortunate and disappointing. It would have been amazing!
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When I bought Injustice 2, it did not take long for Walker D to want to fight Batman and the Ninja Turtles. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 went on sale for only ten dollars so I bought it. I forgot the Capcom games did that team-up thing so it isn’t just one character versus another, but three on three.
Turns out, one of Spider-Man’s alternate suits is the Scarlet Spider, so I am super happy about that, but one of the other ones is the black costume, so Walker D likes that. Though he has been playing as the traditional red and blue suit, which is fine.
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I treated Walker Dennis and myself to Lego DC Supervillains Deluxe Edition, so expect some updates about that game!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 