Greed: Black Border boldly goes where every roguelike has gone before.

This is long overdue, mostly because I've been trying to get into another game since finishing Risen 2, and I've had a difficult time calling one my focal project. I'm not sure if it's that I'm playing 'meh' games or just that I lack focus at the moment. During the last couple of weeks, I tried out a handful of titles on Steam to see if any of them would stick. I've selected a couple to mainly focus on (indicated with *), with the others popping up from time to time.



Risen 3: Titan Lords*
I put a buttload of time into this one (or as "buttload" as my hectic life permits). Unlike the previous title, Risen 3 is pretty non-linear. It gives you several islands to check out near the beginning of the campaign and doesn't provide explicit details regarding where to go or what events you should trigger next. I chose to go to Calador, since it seemed that I could traverse most of that territory without rousing any overly difficult monsters. Since my arrival, I've initiated a fair number of quests, including one where I either had to clear a farm hand's name for stealing a golden candle holder or frame him so some bimbo would inherit the farm after her master's eventual demise. Since I'm playing as a "good" character, I decided to vindicate the guy. I've done a slew of other small tasks that have only amounted to a little bit of gold or positive Soul points (Soul being the stat that determines your alignment). For the main quest here, I'm supposed to talk to Eldric--a returning character from the last two Risen games--and convince him to form an alliance with a Admiral Alvarez. I've spoken to Eldric, but haven't even begun the negotiations. I will once I've completed more side quests on Calador.


Fallout: New Vegas
I didn't do much here besides create my character and loot the house in which I awoke. I probably won't be playing this one much, at least until I complete Risen 3. I may return here and there, though.


Greed: Black Border*
I actually played this game prior to a few days ago, using my previous computer. Sadly, that was when its graphics card was on the fritz and Greed wouldn't stop lagging (I may even still have a blog post on this site ranting about the ridiculous lag). Greed is basically Diablo in space. It's a simple, no-frills clone with nothing new to offer aside from a sci-fi theme. I'm a little over a third of the way through the game, and thus far I'm not impressed. I will soldier through this one, though, partly so I can scratch it off my list and partly so I can review it.


Pid
I defeated the first boss I mentioned in my last progress post and pressed onward. I found a robot who had her limbs removed blocking the path, and I have thus far succeeded in obtaining a few of her limbs. Baby steps...


Culpa Innata
This one is a point-and-click adventure title that I purchased when I first downloaded Steam. Here you work for a newly formed dystopian government, interviewing people and bringing about some kind of change that the game mentions during its opening cutscene. I have yet to interview anyone, sadly. I started the game and it seemed to suggest that my mission objective was finding my PDA before having a meeting with my boss. Try as I might, I couldn't find the PDA. It turns out I was supposed to click twice on my desktop computer to initiate a cutscene that got things moving. It took me so long to figure this out that I grew tired of the game. Between this and its cringeworthy voice acting, Culpa Innata is not off to a good start with me.


Valdis Story: Abyssal City
I can't remember if I mentioned that I defeated the first boss and advanced to the first town and received an assignment there. Though I want to tear into this game badly, I'm trying to take it slowly. I want to wipe out some of my more banal projects first.


I didn't touch Vessel at all over the last week or so, but I hope to get to it again soon. It's better than a lot of the games I'm playing, thanks to its clever puzzles. It's a bit of an overwhelming title, though, just because solving some of the puzzles can be exhausting. There's a lot to tinker with and discovering the order of operations can require a lot of trial and error, which hurts the old gray matter when you have to large segments with loads of climbing, falling, platforming, and lever-throwing. Thankfully, you can save at any time.

Most recent blog posts from Joseph Shaffer...
Stuff Played Yet Again Joe Playing Stuff Part 8375 Obligatory What the Hell is Joe Playing or Planning to Play

Feedback
No one has responded to this post yet.