MyNameIsAtticus

I took a break from AC Shadows and played some Halo with a friend today. We did Duos on public matchmaking. We got absolutely destroyed by this Duo like 5 times in a row on different games (they must have been the only other people on our server) but it was a lot of fun. We also matched with this one Duo on Halo 3. It was a bit less fun because it was like they knew our constant position and took us out within a second of spawning, but that's the way multiplayer is i guess so i can't really complain, especially in a game as old as MCC where the Competitive is dead so everyone goes to casual.

We also went through a playlist for fun and also for those sweet, sweet, tokens to buy Xbox gear in the exchange (i just need the OG Xbox to put on my back). We did a multigame playlist and chose Epic FIghts, which took us through a Halo CE level and also Metropolis (Halo 3 kept crashing). The picture above is from that after my friend jumped to his death and forgot that CE has fall damage.

We also did Metropolis, which i trailed slowly behind in a tank. We originally were going to grab the Scarab Gun and soccer ball, but we forgot the important step of the Banshee so we didn't.

I ended up going back to them with the Acrophobia skull and pushed the ball around for a bit. That in fact, did not last long though as i shortly after accidentally blew myself up with the Scarab Gun:

Someone made the suggestion to remove the "until i forgot part", which initially i was hesitant to do for consistency, but after 257 days, i think the chances i forget are slim and i just think it looks better.

I went back to AC Shadows today, and eliminated another one of the Templars (if that's even what they are). One thing I've neglected to mention is the main antagonist itself. (Spoilers). They did a really good job setting them up in this one in my opinion. They're all mysterious masked men, and they're introduced to you at the very beginning when they kill Naoe's father. It's this dramatic cut scene that does an amazing job of:

1. Setting them up as a threat.
2. Introducing why the protagonist is against them in the first place.

The game has yet to elaborate if they're templars or not. Chances seem kind of up in the air though, because the Assassins are called the Hidden Ones either. It seems the name was lost when Naoe's father dies, and with the order in Japan being dead, Naoe kind of restarts it. Only she doesn't know what to call the order because her father left her out of the loop, so she calls it the "League of the Hidden Blade" because the hidden blade is what she has to go off of.

Anyways, the Target i eliminated, had this fun arena setup. When i went into it asked if i wanted to fight him as Naoe or Yasuke. I ended up going Naoe because her stealth is really satisfying (picture above i took during the boss fight). I snuck around the arena and took out all the enemies one by one, leaving only the boss. There was one move i was proud of (which i wish i could have clipped) where i lured an enemy to a Shoji Door and then stabbed them through it before vanishing through a hatch in the floor.

After clearing the Arena i ended up using parkour to sneak around the back of the boss, and then assassinating him. This game still follows the RPG title's "Hidden Blade no longer one shots" rule, but it had made it a little more fair by making it a skill tree upgrade where each upgrade eliminates an extra bracket of health, so there's no longer this annoying grind too get the hidden blade upgraded.

After that, i took Yasuke on a little cross country road trip, all of which the above screenshots were taken on. I took him to meet up with an NPC to start a quest.

Before i did that though, i took a detour to get a synchronization point with Naoe (who's better at Parkour).

Finally though, that brings me to the main screenshot along with the one above which i took to accompany it. I took it after a cutscene and got this really pretty view of the landscape and the sunset. I also had some fun with the photo mode and took a portrait of Yasuke:

Some friends asked me too play Lethal Company with him today, and i decided to do that over a 4th day straight of AC Shadows. The screenshots for this one will be a bit light because i have to go through and manually censor all my friend's info to respect their privacy.

We ended up buying this Disco Ball for our drone ship. It ended up being a constant in the entire playthrough. We had it running the entire time. Somehow it got everyone but me killed, as i assume it attracted the enemy. The TV i bought probably didn't help either though.

Said TV is pictured above. Apparently my friends could all here it through the radio in the game, which was fun because they got to chew me out for watching TV instead of doing my job (it was all in good fun though).

At one point we landed on a moon that was foggy (seen in the screenshot), and immediately my friends i was playing with walked off a cliff and drowned to death. It was even funnier to hear though because one of them radioed in as they were drowning just to announce they were drowning, but it was all muffled because they were, you guessed it, drowning. That's not the only time it happened too. There was a second time where they immediately jumped off a ship and drowned in mud. it hadn't even been a minute before they all died. I had to pull the ship out because i wouldn't be able to get all the scrap alone.

Here's a bonus picture of my friend in a Rabbit Suit

Some friends asked me too play Lethal Company with him today, and i decided to do that over a 4th day straight of AC Shadows. The screenshots for this one will be a bit light because i have to go through and manually censor all my friend's info to respect their privacy.

We ended up buying this Disco Ball for our drone ship. It ended up being a constant in the entire playthrough. We had it running the entire time. Somehow it got everyone but me killed, as i assume it attracted the enemy. The TV i bought probably didn't help either though.

Said TV is pictured above. Apparently my friends could all here it through the radio in the game, which was fun because they got to chew me out for watching TV instead of doing my job (it was all in good fun though).

At one point we landed on a moon that was foggy (seen in the screenshot), and immediately my friends i was playing with walked off a cliff and drowned to death. It was even funnier to hear though because one of them radioed in as they were drowning just to announce they were drowning, but it was all muffled because they were, you guessed it, drowning. That's not the only time it happened too. There was a second time where they immediately jumped off a ship and drowned in mud. it hadn't even been a minute before they all died. I had to pull the ship out because i wouldn't be able to get all the scrap alone.

Here's a bonus picture of my friend in a Rabbit Suit

The screenshots for today are some more AC Shadows. I found out today that you can get pets for your hideout by petting Animals, so i've been doing that every time i see them. The above one was a Calico i found at a shrine. They're absolutely adorable. Still a little odd looking, but it's a cat, so it's still absolutely adorable.

I found this kitten too while exploring as Yasuke, and got to pet it. He was like a gentle giant (in heavy armor) to the kitten, leaning down to pet it and telling it that he bets it's "a good hunter".

The kitten was also out with it's mother, which i thought was really cute.

On the Subject of Yasuke, I recently unlocked him in Act 2, it's hard to pick a favorite protagonist. They both are fun to play (Yasuke is a fucking powerhouse while Naoe is the more classic stealth), both have personalities i really like, and they both have a Dynamic i really like. There was one cutscene where they both were staking out a Sumo Match waiting for the target, and Yasuke was really into the match, which Naoe had to remind him to stay on task. He also has just a lot of character that i like. For example, when you do a leap of faith with him, he's not an assassin and he's also wearing clunky samurai armor, so he doesn't quite stick the landing and comes out of the hay bale clutching his back. And another time when i was climbing a temple he comments that he thinks Naoe would like to climb it as a challenge. This game feels like it has so much more detail in it compared too Valhalla, it really makes the world kind of feel alive in a way.

Elaborating more on his playstyle, he's a heavy hitter. He doesn't have all the Assassin stuff like Naoe has, but instead he has a ton of combat abilities that are far more catered to being a Samurai. Like he has this one attack which will quickly close the gap between an enemy. Or another where he just straight up kicks them. And then he can just straight up sprint through doors like they're nothing. It's a lot of fun to just storm a fort as him. He's like a one man army.

Another thing i like about this game is that it feels far more unique in the world. There's actual Biomes it feels like and i can actually start recognizing landmarks, which is fun. For example the two above screenshots were taken in two different territories. Both look really different and if i had a map i think i could probably point to around they were taken. I will say, i so far have only been to a few of the territories though, so this may be subject to change.

Also, i wanted to share that you can drive boats in this game. There's not really a point too this one, i just thought it was neat. I stole the one in the screenshot above and crashed it into another boat on accident.

Today's game is some more Assassin's Creed Shadows. I was originally going to play some more Far Cry 3, but this game has somehow managed to get me completely hooked in just 2 days. What i meant to be a few hours, turned into me spending my entire day off playing the thing.

I think the gameplay needed a little bit to grow on me, because now that i'm used to it, it has to be one of my favorite stealth mechanics yet. The biggest factor that probably helped me was that i discovered i could crawl under floors. Like, crawl under the building and burst out of the floor from a hatch,

Once i got used to the controls, Naoe became a whole lot easier to control in my opinion. I stormed multiple castles today and they all reminded me of taking warehouses in black flag. I was sneaking around and air assassinating enemies.

I ended up swapping out Naoe's outfit for the one seen on all the covers. There doesn't seem to be any "cannon" outfit for her which is a bit disappointing (for example, there's no armor just called "Naoe's robes"), but this one is the one i see used in all the promotional media i think. I'm really hoping we get some legacy outfits too. Bonus points if both characters can wear them, but i think it'd be awesome to see Naoe in Edward or Connors robes.

Moving on from Naoe, the world in this game is gorgeous. The above screenshot i took while i was on my way to Kyoto. The forest was really pretty and looked amazing. It kind of reminds me of the forests near where i grew up.

There was also this river i crossed during sunset. This brings me to my usual water rating bit, which i'm proud to give this game a 9/10 on the water. It looks really good. The beaches have awesome waves too. If Bazzite's clip function worked, i would have gotten a screenshot of it to show everyone, because they look awesome.

Today's game is Assassin's Creed Shadows. I had Assassin's Creed Shadows gifted to me by a friend. I was hesitant to pick it up, and if i did, i was going to wait for the usual Ubisoft price cut when it goes on sale.

It's worth noting that the last game that i played was Valhalla, and even then that was years ago. Based on what i remember from it though, i personally feel like this game is personally more fun for me. It has some of the issues that i felt that the RPG titles held for me and i feel like the stealth has a few kinks to work out, but it's a step in the right direction.

Though, the parkour feels a lot closer too Unity then i felt Valhalla was. I do think it would have been better with a High Profile trigger instead of just tapping A or B to free run up or down.

Another complaint i have is that Ubisoft is still pulling the Micro transactions bullshit. It's all cosmetics still, but still, something about it rubs me the wrong way.

The game, honestly, feels like it has it's own identity though. There's one memory section you do where you fight a boss, and the entire time this really cool Alternative song is playing. It'd be kind of like if Assassin's Creed Unity played the same song that was in that famous reveal trailer in the middle of a Epic fight. It's the kind of identity, that honestly, i really love and hope to see more of.

You spend a large part of the opening playing as Naoe with a few parts as Yasuke, i have been avoiding spoilers though, and with the way the game is playing out i suspect he'll be important part of the game real soon.

Yasuke, from the brief time i played as him, almost reminds me of the Valhalla protagonist. He just storms entire forts by himself like a one man army. Honestly it's a lot of fun to control and really satisfying.

Meanwhile, Naoe seems to play far more like the traditional AC games, and honestly she's a lot of fun to play. She plays a lot more with stealth, and i spent most of my time playing her by jumping around on rooftops and assassinating the enemies like i was back in the Kenway days.

Speaking of the Kenway games, there's one section where you have to steal some silks back from some Portuguese pirates in order to get an outfit for a gathering. It had me climbing around on the rigging and mast and made me feel like i was Edward again. I had a lot of fun, and got this portrait of Naoe who looks like she wasn't having as much fun as i was (in case you couldn't tell i enjoy taking portraits):

Another fun thing i had fun doing was taking screenshots of Melee kills with the ink filter. They're a lot of fun to get and i think they look cool. I almost wanted to choose one of them for the main picture but it felt a bit cheap because it was taken with the photo mode and a filter. But anyways, i took a bunch of them:

Moving on from that, there's the hideout function, which i was expecting to be just another version of the Settlement from Valhalla or any of the other "Homes" in older AC games where you just buy the upgrades, but this one gives you almost full creative control over placement and stuff. It's honestly really sick and i love it. I got this Screenshot of the Main Area which i really liked:

Finally, i wanted to voice one last complaint, because the Animals in this game look absolutely dorky. I mean, look at this cat:

(It's still adorable though)

Today's game is Mario Kart 64. I originally was going to do some more Far Cry 3, but Ubisoft has this bug with the Launcher where it makes me sign in every time i want to play the game and that's just a major motivation killer for me when i'm short on time.

I did the Star Cup today, which is host to one of my favorite tracks in this game (though, i love all of this game's tracks. They're all really solid). That track is Wario Stadium, one that as far as i know hasn't come back ever compared to any of it's partner tracks which for the most part have been in other games (though i have a few issues with N64 Rainbow Road and Toad's Turnpike's Remakes), Which is really disappointing.

It's this really solid track full of bumps and jumps that almost feels like a monster truck arena. There's like one part that really feels BS and it's a jump that knocks you really far back if you get messed up, but that's it. Being bumped around is a lot of fun and makes me really want to see this track on modern systems.

Right at the end of the race Wario was right up my ass the entire time. You can see this in the screenshot along with a shell i had thrown earlier right above us. Wario was seconds away from passing me.

This wasn't the only time it happened too. On the very next race Mario was up my ass the entire time. Those damn penguins didn't make things any easier though. This cup is probably the most challenging for me. Each course has like one part that i can't do consistently.

This track above specifically has the most parts i get caught on, i'll crash into the Thwomps or fall of the Lava Bridge. The music too it is killer though.

This corner on Royal Raceway i always suck at too. I'll hit it too hard and then spin out into the water. This is like an every time thing for me too.

But the thing that makes it worth it is the Jump and the SM64 castle. Sometimes i'll pop into time trial just to visit the castle. I imagine it was probably to save on time and they just went "eh, let the player drive up to it", but it's so cool that it's there nonetheless,

Today's game is Far Cry 3. I got to do this whole quest chain where you go through some old temples and stuff. The whole thing was a lot of fun and helped break up the pattern the game had going. As much fun as i was having i felt it was starting to drag on with the some sort of missions it was having it do. The ruins questlines really highlighted how pretty the game is though. The above i took while exploring one. It's hard to believe this is a PS3/360 era game. It looks closer out of PS3 era.

One of them had you jump in this pit of water (in the picture above i'm looking out of the pit of water), which if you've ever played Fallout 4, reminded me a lot of that mineshaft filled with water that's a big Lovecraft reference. I spent a little bit swimming around underwater looking for things but couldn't find any.

One of the tombs was filled with these skeletons which had really dorky looking skeletons. Their ribs were all wonky and they were missing a ton of bones which makes them look silly.

Finally, i went into this cave supposedly full of acid. I have to say, for Acid it looks really drinkable in this waterfall. On my water rating system i give it a S, for "Stings, but this water looks really good"

Today’s game is some more of my Minecraft PS3 Edition world with my friend. I hauled my PS3 over to his house again for Splitscreen, and we made some progress towards getting to the end. And by we, I mean he did while I worked on my house (Pictured Above). Mostly because he lived next door to the Nether Portal and I in fact, do not.

I built this cool 2-story interior balcony for my home. The second story is host to my bed and a ladder up to the roof.

I also have this amazing view over a pond from my front door.

Moving on from my home, despite my minimal availability to help with the End, I did in fact help discover the End Portal. Our stronghold turned out to be split in two. My friend found the half without the portal but I managed to jump down a cave on the opposite side of his house and find the portal almost instantly. Unfortunately all but one portal slot is empty.

Despite him not finding the portal, my friend did find a floating torch. Which is fun.

Today's game is Halo Infinite. Me and my friend continued our Legendary playthrough and did another mission with it (and also cleared a few more FOB). The screenshot above was taken at the top of a mountain where we got an achievement. The games views are gorgeous and give me big BoTW vibes.

During the mission we had this boss fight with a Brute with a hammer, and it was unusually difficult. This game has a lot of good things going for it, but one complaint i have is that the boss fights feel off. Like with Halo 2 the boss fights felt rewarding to do, but in this one it just feels like every other shooter where you break the enemies shield, and then shoot them some more. I don't really know how to explain it but it feels more tedious than fun.

The last complaint i have is that the Legendary mode feels weirdly unbalanced. Like with older games Legendary is a constant challenge, but this one the common enemies are easy but then the game will rarely through a boss that is ungodly hard or even a pair of enemies that take forever or really precise strategies. I guess my complaint is i would rather for a constant challenge than it randomly spiking.

An example is the fight in the picture above (it was so difficult i took a victory photo). From what i've heard from my friend this fight is hard on normal too, but i can't confirm that. The entire fight took us like an hour because whenever we even peaked out to look for him they'd demolish us with their guns that explode. Imagine like a rocket launcher that fired really fucking fast would arc too find you. So there's like no hiding from it. We eventually persisted though after i trapped one of the two brutes in a crack and killed him and then i slowly whittled away at the other one with a sentinel beam and AR.

I made my way through Far Cry 3 some more today. I did another one of those dream sequences and it made me walk through this trippy underwater bridge. Someone before said that they get boring, and after accidentally bugging it out and having to do it twice, i completely understand that. They are very slow and a major pace breaker.

Shortly after the drug sequence, the game gave me a flamethrower and told me to go nuts. This moment was a lot of fun and i can understand why this is the most highly praised Far Cry game. It's so tacky that you can't help but love it. The entire time there's this catchy song playing in the background and you just get to go on this power trip of burning drugs and enemies with the flamethrower. It's probably one of the best moments in this game yet.

I had a few more screenshots i wanted to share, but Lemmy doesn't seem to want to upload them, but they basically boiled down to that my only complaints are that the game is bright as fuck (like someone turned up the saturation) and that any-non essential lines sound crunched to hell. Besides that though i'm having a lot of fun with it.