If you pay attention to the time frames below, you’ll probably notice I had quite a bit more game time than I would usually have to spare on the average week. As it turns out, I was off this week for a semi-vacation, and I tried to make the best of it for some desired extra game time. I had some interruptions here and there to assist people at work, but generally they were short, and not really much of an interruption at all. This asides from the desired breaks here and there, and some time to do chores and other errands I needed to do. I will say that Outward has turned into some adventures I had really not anticipated on. The game is challenging, interesting, and fun. There are certainly aspects to it I’m not a huge fan of, but in most cases (at least thus far), the pros outweigh the cons for Qvaid and I. The week was otherwise jam packed with gaming adventures and incredible fun!
Days played: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday
Players: Qvaid, Hobbit
Comments: On Monday, Qvaid and I had an outstanding adventure! We managed to make our way to Berg and back to Cierzo. We started the quest line to select the Blue Chamber faction on this particular run. I’m not positive if we will eventually manage to make a run with every faction as this is more or less a learning experience for us. Ultimately we headed back to Cierzo as we left all our supplies, and funds in our stash, and some of the critters around Berg were proving to be a bit more for us than we we ready for at our current stage in game. Upon our return, we fought our way deep enough into the Blistering Burrows to get the Shield Mushroom for Helena, and we scrapped up enough silver to get some new armor for me (currently playing the Tank role), and some fang weapons for the both of us. We made some vast improvements to our combat, although the Mantis Shrimps still seem to be a bit of a problem for us. We found several ways to gather up some silver, which consisted mostly of gathering materials and cooking it, then selling the wares since we had so many travel rations on us. We actually have more than enough to buy another set of Half Plate, although the blacksmith in Cierzo doesn’t offer more than a single set.
It appears our grand adventures were just beginning! On Tuesday, we were defeated on our way back to Cierzo after some exploration and resource gathering. We finally managed to defeat several Mantis Shrimps, but were fairly worse for well on the return trip home. It was dark, and neither of us noted the black giant chicken that managed to take us both down as darkness settled into our characters. We both woke up naked in a bandit mine, where we were forced to work to earn enough trust to be allowed kitchen and infirmary duties. From there, we managed to find our gear, and raid the bandit’s armory. We ‘thought’ we were going to pay a guard 30 silver to help smuggle us out of there, and since the quest never came to completion, I was under the impression that maybe we had to get our gear first. Well, we must have done something wrong. We came out of the armory with a literal army of bandits waiting for us. We fled back to the armory and managed to take some of them down before ultimately, we were defeated again. To the Hole we went! We washed up on a shore not far from the Bandit Fortress, and Qvaid was almost instantly taken down by our nemesis, the Mantis Shrimp. I managed to escape, and ran up the beach, ironically towards the bandit fortress as that is where it appeared my backpack was. I found my gear, equipped my bag, and circled back around to revive Qvaid, where we fled back to the safety of Cierzo and our Light House. After some much needed rest, we made our way back to The Blistering Burrows, where this time we managed to clear it completely. There was a door there that required a tiny aquamarine, and a small sapphire, but alas we only had the tiny aquamarine and couldn’t find the small sapphire to completely unlock it. We ended up giving up, and heading back to Cierzo again to rest up, and finished out the night with some exploration and resource gathering before it was time to call it.
On Wednesday, my wife and I had a few short adventures in Outward before starting an extended session of family game time. Mostly just a bit of testing and research where we learned we should pick up the ‘Fitness’ skill from the Kazite Spell-Blade class because it doesn’t count towards our ‘class’ options, and it’s just a passive skill to gain some extra hit points. I did end up picking up several of the other skills, that I could use with a shield. It compliments the current set of gear I have fairly well.
On Sunday, Qvaid and I managed to get a little bit of game play in Outward. It was mostly a bit of exploration and grinding. We managed to take down a couple more Mantis Shrimps, and gather up some materials to cook and sell. Over all it was a short session, albeit, still fun of course.
Days played: Thursday, Friday
Players: Error, Hobbit
Comments: Early in the day on Thursday, To start our gaming week, my son (Error) and I decided to revisit a game we both love, but haven’t played in some time. We already had Red Dead Online loaded, and we were ready to try some Western Themed Adventures yet again. Since we started the adventure earlier in the day, we got quite a decent amount of time before the hackers showed up to ruin the fun. Ultimately we did have some runs where we had to hope to another server/node. I find it so strange that Rock Star hasn’t found a viable manner to deal with these trouble makers. RDO is a beautiful game with so much potential. It makes me sad to know it could have been so much more than it is. Even still my son and I certainly enjoy some game play in RDO now and then.
Friday morning, Error and I were back at it again in RDO for some adventures. Ironically, and likely because it’s, well, Friday, we had encounters with hackers even in the earlier hours of our game play. Ultimately, though we don’t let it bother us too much. Fortunately for us, it doesn’t usually affect the bounties and missions as those are instanced, so we just ditch the current server/node we are on, and head over a new adventure somewhere else, until the situation arises again.
Days played: Friday, Saturday
Players: Error, Hobbit
Comments: On Friday and Saturday, Error and I hopped into BG3 to pick back up on the campaign we left off on so long ago. Initially that campaign also included Kilen and Eldon, however they decided they didn’t really care to continue it, and Error and I would like to complete it at some point (asides from the um, ‘Early Ending’.). Friday was mostly spent getting ready to continue the campaign. Things like inventory management, gearing NPCs we were using, moving gear around, etc… We had a plan on our next course of action, but ran out of time before we actually got to the mission. On Saturday, *SPOILER ALERT* We had a bit of a moment where we forgot Gale was kidnapped by Orin. We were in the sewers at the time, but really wanted to get some AoE fire power back into the group since Eldon was our resident Wizard. Gale seemed like our best option. To be fair we had him built up fairly well earlier on, although I suspect he is likely a bit behind the curve at this point. We resurrected Lazel (long story, murder hobo campaign), and leveled, and geared her up as a temporary filler. We didn’t actually manage to get to the point where were we ready to accomplish the spoiler task above however, because we get side tracked easy. We explored the House of the Water Queen, and got stuck in a house with a massive number of poltergeists after that. We were in the process of cleaning that house up, when Kilen hopped into Conan Exiles, and we found a stopping point to hop into CE with him.
Days played: Thursday
Players: Error, Falken, Iron, Hobbit
Comments: On Thursday evening, we mostly worked through Trader quests and gathering resources. We are getting the recipes and gear we need, but need materials to move forward with building, crafting, and other shenanigans that are 7 Days to Die. It was a great time, and we are close to several of us having motorized vehicles. I found I can create rank 4 armors now, although the duct tape required will be a bit of an issue. Several of us have water filtration mods for our helms now, and we all should have helms that can accommodate several mods to allow us room for head lights and the water filter. We are on day 13, I believe as I called it for the night. Prior to calling it though, I did some research and added the string needed to the server config which should allow us to do trader quest progression in more than sets of 3. My personal opinion of that setting is it is completely unnecessary. I understand I’m not a dev, nor have I ever created a game… but… why would you limit how many progression quests a player can do in a single day? It just seems completely idiotic to me. If you have the time to do the quests, then… you should be able to do the quests.
It turns out, Thursday evening was the end of our 7 Days to Die adventures for the week. Falken and Iron said they would be MIA until sometime Sunday to help with a project for friends/family. Iron did hope on later Saturday evening for a bit, and I offered to hop over from Conan Exiles, but he said effectively there was no need as he wouldn’t be on long. I suspect he was mostly testing after the extensive amount of patching that 7 Days to Die had on Saturday. I had to update the server not just once, not just twice, but 3 times over all to keep up with The Fun Pimps this weekend!
Days played: Wednesday
Players: Family time!
Comments: On Wednesday evening, we had an extended session of Family time that started with Uno No Mercy, but we ended up moving through several games. From Trouble to Phase 10, we played numerous rounds of Phase 10, ultimately using that to end the night. Unfortunately the matches of Phase 10 lasted so long, we were not technically able to complete the game, but it was all still great fun and certainly some quality time with the family members able and willing to join us.
Days played: Friday, Saturday
Players: Error, Kilen, Hobbit
Comments: Several of the gang told us they would be MIA until Sunday, so on Friday evening we loaded up for some adventures in Conan Exiles. We mostly grinded some more in dungeons to get better gear and too gather more scraps for the Godslayer Armors we all eventually hope to get. There was of course the usual inventory management, some new crafting stations, and leveling. I’ve really been enjoying Conan Exiles on this fresh start.
After Kilen hopped into Conan Exiles on Saturday, Error and I joined him for some epic adventures and the start of a new (and larger base) in the north. We are just a bit outside of the desert region and decided to build near water. We found a good spot (or what appears to be one) where a river horse shoes around. We started a larger build from scratch, and have a good start, albeit, it’s not quite finished just yet. In truth bases rarely are ever ‘completely’ finished in any case. Always changes and additions you can make to improve your survival quality of life to some extent, at least for some time. We headed to the Jungle for a bit of adventure after a semi-extended building period, and played there until it go so late we all decided to call the adventure to a close for the night.
Days played: Saturday
Players: Error, Hobbit
Comments: Error was anxious to jump into his most recent purchase: Chained Together, after we called it in Conan Exiles later Saturday night / early Sunday morning. We had a short start in the co-op adventure. It was getting incredibly late, and the lack of sleep was starting to affect our coordination quite a bit. Although, I’ll go ahead and admit that I believe this game is going to be a difficult one. The little bit we dove into was certainly fun and had some good laughs. It can certainly put you in some intense situations! Error also picked up the game for a few of our friends, so I’m looking forward to the possibility of a 3 – 4 person play through. I already had the game, as I picked it up as a possible play through with my wife (Qvaid), although I can’t say whether or not she’ll like the game enough to give it a try. If so, there could certainly be some posts about that at some point in the future.
