Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PS4

I spent some time doing a few hunts at Hunter HQ, two of which brought me to the Steyliff Grove dungeon. Unfortunately, this dungeon is only available at night, which brought to light one of the more annoying problems of Final Fantasy XV; you can't move time forward...

This means I left Hunter HQ in the Regalia, went to the parking spot near the Vesperpool, walked to the dungeon and waited there until the in-game day ended. This takes a while... so I ran around fighting weak monsters in the meantime, but it was boring as fuck.

Tonberry is as menacing as ever with his little chef's knife and lantern

The two hunts were pretty cool. One of them had me fight 3 high level liches, so I used my best skills to defeat them. I'm starting to really like Ignis' Overwhelm technique. This makes all the guys attack with really strong attacks for a good long time, and keeps them invincible during the whole thing, it's actually crazy powerful... The second hunt was a rematch against Quezacoatl, the dungeon's boss.

The other hunts were pretty straight forward, and I've completed all of the hunts available at Hunter HQ except one, which requires that I rank up some more first. I even fought a Tonberry!

Overwatch

Date played: February 27th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night features me playing as Lucio on Nepal and my brother playing Tracer. I like to be relatively aggressive with Lucio, shooting ALL THE TIME, and it pays off in this match. While still healing the team and contesting the objective, I get quite a few eliminations, though most of them are from just a few shots on target and my teammates doing most of the killing.

The best moment is when our Zarya shoots her Graviton Surge on the point, trapping at least 4 enemies. I shoot at them all, then out of nowhere, our Reaper comes in and destroys everyone as I heal him. It was awesome!

Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 26th
Platform: PS4

Well, I made some significant progress in FFXV's side quests. I began by wrapping up my fishing quests. The last one, called Angler's Nightmare, has me fishing a giant fish at Galdin Quay. It took me quite a while to even find it since he doesn't show up on the minimap, and when I did, I had a hard time getting it to bite. Eventually, he bit and with some careful reeling, I caught the motherfucker. I was rewarded with the best fishing rod in the game and reached the maximum level of the fishing skill.

Angler's Nightmare indeed

My next objective was to level up quite a bit using my special items to craft some magic spells that grant experience bonuses. I ended up with about 25-30 spells to use, so I went to Altissia, ate some experience boosting lasagna and did a shit load of hunts in the big city. The last hunt put me up against a high level Flan that absorbs fire magic. I made sure all my experience spells were weak and fire-based so that I wouldn't kill it, then I fought him for a long long time.

I got into battle with it, cast my experience fire spell, then ran out to end the battle. I then waited for my magic meter to refill, then repeated the process 30 times to expend all my spells. Once I was all done, I slept at the most expensive hotel to get triple experience. I ended up going from level 61 to 91 in one shot!

After this, I spent a bit of time playing Justice Monsters Five, the arcade mini-game, but it takes way too long to get rewards, so I'm not sure if I'll bother again.

Finally, I went back to Lucis to start working on all my remaining side quests and dungeons. I did a few hunts at Hunter HQ and went back to the Myrlwood to complete a quest for the frog lady. That's all I had time for, but I've got dozens of hunts waiting for me, as well as a bunch of dungeons. 

Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 24th and 25th
Platform: PS4

Well, I played some more FFXV and have been working on some side stuff. Most of my time was spent betting at the Totomostro arena. This arena, in Altissia, pits groups of monsters against each other in battle and I have to bet on who I think will win. There's a lot going on here. The type, level, number and condition of the monsters all combine to tilt the odds. I won many, lost many and spent a LOT of time there so that I could get the best rewards.

Totomostro was fun

The best item I got is a Diamond Bangle, which grants Noctis a considerable power boost. I also got some new spears, a gun, a fishing reel and a speed upgrade for the Regalia. Once I was done with that, I went back to Cindy and installed my upgrades, spoke with Cid to upgrade some weapons and to my surprise, I had completed a quest that let me make a major upgrade to the Regalia. It is now known as the Regalia Type-F, and it can fly! It's really fast when it flies, but it requires a precise landing on a road or it's game over!

I also spent some time fishing to complete a couple of side quests. The first was the Vesper Gar at the Vesperpool. Now equipped with some better fishing gear, this wasn't as hard as the first time I tried it. I caught the elusive fish! Next, I camped near the Vesperpool to get the fishing quest from Gladio to catch the Liege of the Lake. This one was a lot tougher, but my gear helped a lot. I have a final fishing quest to complete at Galdin Quay, but I haven't been able to hook it yet.

Starwhal

Date played: February 24th
Platform: PS4

I went to my brother's house for the evening, and we ended up trying some 4 player Starwhal for an hour or so. Starwhal is a 2D local multiplayer game in the same vein as Towerfall. Each player controls a starwhal, which is really just a fancy way of saying a space narwhal. The controls are very simple, you can only accelerate and turn the starwhal's body from side to side, so it kind of feels like an old top-down racing game for this stuff. Gravity matters too, so when you swim up, you should expect gravity to pull you back down slowly.

Starwhal is ridiculous

The objective of the game is to use your starwhal's horn to smash the heart of enemy starwhals. Each player gets 5 lives, and each heart hit takes one life away. The game wouldn't really work if it wasn't for one small detail... The heart of each starwhal is only vulnerable on one side of their bodies, either the top or the bottom depending on which side of the arena the player spawns in.

Because the controls are physics based, the battles are hectic and exciting! I did pretty well for the most part, but I didn't win a lot, I often placed 2nd. Each level has a big influence on how the battles play out. There's a ton of different levels, each with a different structure and elements. There's even a couple of levels with environmental hazards.

We had a great time fighting each other as Starwhals. Hell, we even customized them to match our personalities! I had a pink starwhal who wore a tutu and had a unicorn mask. Starwhal isn't as great as Towerfall or Sportsfriends, but it's still really enjoyable.

Overwatch

Date played: February 22nd
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night has me defending the payload on Dorado as Soldier 76. It's super rare that I play Soldier, in fact, I kind of never play him. However, there was an enemy Pharah that was doing very well and we had no one that could take her out with ease. I tried using McCree for one round, but my aim was shit, so I switched to Soldier.

To my surprise, it went really well, even though I am not used to him at all. The thing with Soldier is that he's got way more range than you might expect, so he can sit back a bit and take potshots at heroes that are already engaged in combat.

In this play, I battle with Pharah and Sombra a few times, keep a Mei at bay and fuck with Zenyatta and Ana from range. I skirmish with a Zarya and Genji also, but nothing much comes of it.

Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 21st
Platform: PS4

I finished Final Fantasy XV!

There really wasn't much game left... As soon as we entered the Citadel, Ardyn put a nasty spell on Gladio, Ignis and Prompto, immobilizing them for a long while. Noctis fought Ardyn head on! The fight itself was pretty fun, since Ardyn can also phase shift and warp strike. Still, I hit him enough to trigger the next phase. After some dramatic soliloquy from Ardyn, Noctis was able to find enough strength to kill him, though that's not so severe when dealing with the lord of daemons.

In an wonderful scene, Noctis says goodbye to his friends as they camp together one last time before Noctis claims the throne and destroys Ardyn for good. The meeting between the 4 men is bittersweet... They knew it was going to happen of course, that Noctis would have to sacrifice his life to banish Ardyn, but still, it was a difficult moment for them all. After saying his goodbyes, Noctis leaves for the throne of Lucis to ascend to godhood.

I have to stop a minute here and comment on the incredible music that plays during this scene... That whole soundtrack is very special, and that track was one of the best in the game, easily.

Anyway, Noctis sits in the throne and begins the ritual that will lead him to the world beyond death. All of the former kings of Lucis enter his body violently, one after the other until only his father is left. In a great little moment, Noctis begs his father to trust in his strength. Once it's done, Noctis dies and enters the world beyond death. Of course, there's a final battle with Ardyn, who has been waiting for him.

This battle was fucking spectacular, as it takes place in an abstract environment. Still, with Noctis at full power, it wasn't long before Arydyn was slayed and put to rest for good. The epilogue is great... It shows that sunlight has returned to the world and that daemons are gone. Then, in a stroke of narrative genius, we see Noctis chilling with Lunafreya in the after-life, enjoying each other's company for eternity. Shit, the title screen even changes to add Noctis next to Luna in the drawing!

Awwww cute!

FFXV is a fantastic RPG, one of the few remaining Japanese RPG's that doesn't feel straight out of 2003. The animation, the world, the characters, the music, the summons, the monsters and best of all, the combat, all combine to create a rich, enjoyable experience. Now, I've completed the story, but I still have lots of stuff to do in the "past" world. I've got dozens of side quests, hunts, secrets and dungeons to discover, so I'm sure I'll spend more time in this world, even after spending 60+ hours with the game already. 

Overwatch

Date played: February 21st
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night takes place on Hollywood defense during the second portion of the map. I play with my brother who is Soldier 76, while I try my hand at using Ana to heal. I'm still not super comfortable with Ana, but I'm definitely seeing big improvements, and I want to practice with her some more.

The play is kind of sloppy, but still, I felt like I did a decent job as Ana here. It begins as I retreat from an aggressive Zenyatta, shooting him a couple times in the process. Then I heal our D.Va as she attempts to deal with a Sombra. I follow her around a little, then give her a Nano-Boost Ultimate as she is coming out of the safe area. In the meantime, I shoot down a Zarya and a Pharah near the payload.

I then do some fast healing to keep our Hanzo alive as he battles a Reaper at close range. It went south after this though. My team was a bit too spread out, and we lost a couple of guys deep in enemy territory, so we lost the payload pretty quickly after that. I slowed down a Zarya by putting her to sleep just out of reach of the payload, but Zenyatta took me out shortly after. My brother gets taken out by the same Zenyatta a few seconds later...

Overwatch

Date played: February 20th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night has me defending the hallway leading to the second point on Hollywood as Bastion. I set up shop on top of the little catwalk, decimating attackers on the far side. I dealt with a D.Va a couple of times, a Winston, a Mercy and a Sombra. Eventually, the Sombra got wise to my little trick and flanked me skillfully, killing me real quick. Still, I helped hold the hallway for a long time which led to our team's victory shortly after.

The Last Guardian

Date played: February 19th
Platform: PS4

This game has been a LONG time coming. Announced back in 2009, over 7 years ago, The Last Guardian is finally out. Japan Studio's last efforts were two of my favorite games of all time, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, so I have high expectations for this game.

My daughter was very interested in this game after I showed her the trailer a while back, so I waited for her to be free to start the game. It opens with a young boy who wakes up in some sort of big jail cell. Next to the boy is a large creature, chained to restrict it's movement. The creature itself is named Trico and is a super weird mix between a cat, a bird and maybe a dog? It also has small nubs on it's forehead that look like they might have been horns before. It also has wonderfully lush feathers and some of the coolest animation I've ever seen in a game.

They boy has empathy for the creature, or maybe it's pity. One of the first things I did was to remove a spear that was impaled in the creature's body. It cried in pain as I removed it and knocked the boy unconscious for a few minutes.

When the boy woke up, it became apparent that the creature was hungry, so I climbed around the environment and found some glowing barrels. I threw one within Trico's reach and it looked interested in it, but was looking at the boy with hesitation, almost like it wanted privacy to enjoy it's meal. I moved away and he ate the contents of the barrel right away.

Trico is adorable

I decided to try and free it from it's chains. Interestingly, the boy can climb the creature's body by grabbing onto it's feathers, a mechanic that is exactly like it was in the studio's last game, Shadow of the Colossus. Once I reached the head, I was able to free the beast from it's restraints.

It became clear that Trico was grateful for the help the boy had given him, as it followed him around and responds to the boy's calls. Together, we explored the "jail" and found a place where I could climb through a hole after being lifted up by Trico. This led to the discovery of a mysterious mirror. The boy can aim the mirror anywhere, then Trico will shoot big bolts of lightning at the area! We used this technique to blow up a wooden wall and make a path for both of us to get out of the area.

The next few scenes were all about navigating the dangerous ruins of the place as Trico followed me around. We braved the dangers of a steep cliff and found a way out of a deep pool of water together. Finally, we emerged from the enclosed spaces and went outside for the first time. Before us lies a giant tower, which appears to be the creature's nest or something, but it's still unclear. I have a feeling most of the game will be about reaching the summit of this mysterious construction. 

Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 19th
Platform: PS4

I managed to play a few minutes of FFXV and continue with the story. Noctis and his friends enter the Citadel in Lucis and are immediately greeted by Behemoth King, a large monster. This battle was pretty easy, I just had to be careful when he launched his stronger attacks.

Then, we spoke with Ardyn, and he's got quite a surprise for us... He had an ace in his pocket, the fire god Ifrit!

The fire god is well represented in this game compared to other appearances in Final Fantasy. He has a human face, but with giant horns and a bunch of fire burning around his body. He sits in a giant throne with a kind of nonchalant look. That doesn't stop him from being fucking deadly though. He shoots out walls of fire for a while until I dealt enough damage to him. He then got up and started fighting us head on, flying around, shooting fireballs and such.

Noctis looks at Ifrit as Shiva freezes his nasty ass

He was a pretty tough foe, but soon enough, I was able to summon Shiva herself! Her summoning animation is fantastic... She freezes Ifrit and kisses his frozen lips as he becomes motionless. I'm sure there's more coming, but I had to stop playing for now.

Virtual insanity!

Date played: February 19th
Platform: PSVR

Since getting the PS4 Pro, I hadn't hooked up my PSVR headset. My daughter has been asking to play the Playroom VR quite often, so this weekend, I took a few hours to install it and play a few games on it.

I started with the demo for SuperHyperCube, a fantastic little puzzle game. The demo is short, but it was still pretty cool. I love the whole concept for this game and it would have been one of my favorite VR games, but it's way fucking overpriced...

I then spent some time with Playstation VR Worlds. I played a bit of Danger Ball and it's still one of my favorite VR experiences. The simplicity of this game really makes it shine, and it's one of the few games that gives me zero motion sickness.

Next, I decided to check out the other two dives in Ocean Descent, which ended up being very disappointing. The shark encounter descent was amazing, but the second two are way simpler and way shorter. The second is the same as the shark encounter, minus the shark and submarine, so that sucked. The third was a bit better, but it was just a short scene where I got to see some sea turtles up close.

I finally tried a new VR game with the free Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience. This thing looks fucking spectacular. The whole thing is spent inside the cockpit of a Jackal fighter, a space plane. It's interesting because the game offers full control over the ship, with pitch, yaw and roll being independent mechanics. It also allows for head tracking when aiming missiles. I shot a bunch of space planes, dog fighting my way to victory.

It was really easy, but also tons of fun thanks to the incredible immersion provided by VR. I was sure this would be a nausea inducing experience, but it turned out to be very comfortable. I think the reason I felt good is because I was surrounded by a static cockpit, giving me a good sense of place. It's also worth noting that this thing lasts about 5 minutes, so maybe longer sessions would have been more difficult.

I tried out Bound's VR mode and it's really not what I was expecting. In fact, it seems like VR is really wasted in a character action game like this. The game sets a static camera, where I can still look around the world, but doesn't follow the character. Camera movement is handled by "snapping" it back to the character. The image blinks out during camera transitions, eliminating motion sickness. While it works, it's also a pretty bad way to play a game like this because I had to change the camera every few steps. Seems like a waste to me.

We made "scared" faces for the ghost game

Finally, when my daughter came back home, we played the much beloved Playroom VR games. We played the cat and mouse, sheriff game, ghost game and a new one where we shoot toys with a cannon. The ghost game is a cool concept, where the TV players see ghosts in a room, while the VR player tries to shoot them down without seeing them, but the viewpoint on the TV was really hard to follow, so it didn't work that great. The new game with the cannon is awesome, but it's also a little bit too difficult for my daughter. Still, it's great to see her little face light up as she plays these games, I think she really loves VR. 

Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 18th
Platform: PS4

Chapter 14 reveals that the world is now in ruins. Noctis, bearded and looking a bit older, gets off the boat at Galdin Quay only to find that there aren't any humans around here anymore. Daemons have taken over the entire world, or so it seems anyway. Alone, I fight dozens of daemons as I walk towards Hammerhead, more than 2 miles away. Thankfully, a human-driven truck drives by.

To my surprise, the driver is Talcott, the kid who likes cactuar figurines! He explains that Noctis has been away for about 10 years. The world is invaded by Daemons and it's always nighttime. The few remaining humans has taken refuge in Lestallum, while hunters gather at Cindy's garage in Hammerhead. Gladio, Ignis and Prompto are still alive and well, but they don't really hang out together anymore. The empire has fallen, and Ardyn has taken the capital city of Lucis as his home. Iris leads a gang of hunters I think, while Aranea, Biggs and Wedge wield powerful armies to fight the daemons.

When Noctis and Talcott reached Hammerhead, they met with Gladio, Ignis and Prompto. Warm welcomes were exchanged, and things were almost back to normal right away. Everyone looks a little bit older, which is pretty cool. Our job is to get into the capital city and take down Ardyn. There wasn't a lot of flexibility in what I could do next, so I moved the story along.

These Naga were very difficult to beat

In the streets of the capital city, I fought many, many daemons. While most of them are pretty easy to handle, I ran into at least one that I had to avoid and simply couldn't fight. I also ran into a pair of powerful Naga, which I fought, but should have avoided. They are very resistant, they inflict status ailments like Toad, and they hit hard as fuck. In the end, the only reason I won is because I was in so much trouble that was I able to summon Shiva, who promptly froze the shit out of the monsters.

I'm ready to enter the palace now, which is likely the end of the story, so I'm excited to see how this wraps up!

Rocket League

Date played: February 18th
Platform: PS4

I played a few matches of Rocket League in the afternoon. It's obvious that I'm playing better and better, as I've been playing this game a bit more than usual lately. I hopped into one of my new cars, the amazingly sleek Aftershock. It's design is great because it looks like it has wings. It also sounds like a real RC car, I found that pretty cool. I did well, including one my most beautiful aerial goals ever, a long shot from the higher portions of the side wall! Rocket League is always great...

Aftershock is really slick

Overwatch

Date played: February 17th and 18th
Platform: PS4

My brother came over to play some Overwatch, and another of my brothers joined us over the internet for some fun. We played Mystery Heroes and 3 vs 3 together. Today's play of the night has me avenging my two brothers in 3 vs 3 as Zenyatta. I take out a Mercy, a Pharah and a heavily damaged Hanzo to win the match.

Overwatch

Date played: February 16th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is a weird one. I spent a bit of time playing Competitive mode, which I don't really enjoy, just so that I can complete my placement matches before the season ends and get a few competitive points. I didn't do very well... My best moment was probably this defensive play as Reinhardt on Illios. I didn't kill much, but at least I helped to hold the point for a good amount of time.

Overwatch

Date played: February 15th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night takes place on Hollywood as the attacking team. I used Reinhardt and at first, we had a bit of trouble pushing through the first chokepoint. Their Roadhog and Mercy combo was working well, and their Widow was a nuisance.

I managed to maintain a good push where I dueled a Winston, killed him, then used my Ultimate to stun Roadhog and Mercy on the point. I killed the Roadhog, but he was revived by Mercy. She was killed by our Reaper, who then helped me kill the Roadhog once more. I also took out a Genji on the point before finally capturing it. As Reinhardt, I am good at putting pressure on the other team, so I kept it up by charging into a Mei and pinning her, then killed McCree with my hammer, Earthshattered a Mercy, killed her, then took out a nearby Widowmaker.

I continued pressuring the enemy team as my team moved the payload, being very aggressive, yet retreating when I needed healing or my shield was low. I made a couple mistakes just before reaching the checkpoint and died, but it was a really good run. We won that match too.

Overwatch

Date played: February 14th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night is from Mystery Heroes, where I got a nice little healing run as Mercy. We were defending Hanamura's first point. We had pretty good team composition at this point, with a Roadhog, Lucio D.Va, Mei and Reaper I think. We didn't hit very hard, but we could survive a very long time. There was a Widowmaker causing trouble too, so I shot her a few times throughout the clip to make her move and keep her off my tanks. It was a fun run!

Invisible Inc.

Date played: February 14th
Platform: PS4

I played a couple more missions of Invisible Inc. last night. It's kind of a weird game to write about though. It's very slow and nothing or particular note really happens. The story isn't important, it's really just about the game's mechanics.

I think I played about 2 missions and both of them were pretty challenging, even though I'm playing on the "beginner" difficulty. Enemies roam around the maps a lot, they can walk a good distance and when they group up, they are deadly. I've started encountering armored enemies now, which can't be knocked out by regular stun guns unless they are hacked first.

Getting an interesting screenshot of this game is ... challenging.

I got lots of money and gear from the missions, which allowed me to upgrade my two agents quite a bit. Internationale is my favorite because she can hack stuff remotely, which is super useful. The other guy is Decker, who is a great thief. I've found my first gun in the game, a rifle that can be fired only once per mission, but kills it's target. I haven't used it yet but it seems like it will be useful.

There's a lot of careful planning to do during missions. This game is complex, but also very satisfying to play. Getting a perfect run feels fucking great. I fucked up once in a mission because I left Internationale on the wrong side of a door when I ended the turn. She was seen by a patrolling enemy, then killed. Thankfully, there's a "rewind" feature available. It returns the game to the beginning of the last turn, but it can only be used 3 times per mission. So far, I've only had to use it once, but it was really helpful and reduces frustration a lot.

Overwatch

Date played: February 13th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night has me putting offensive pressure on the second point in Temple of Anubis as Zenyatta. It was a really good game for me, it's almost like the other team ignored me while I shot them in the head with my big metal balls. I ended up with a lot of kills and damage dealt while still healing quite a bit.

In this play of the game, I deal a bunch of damage to a Junkrat, a Mercy and a Mei that were just frozen by our Mei's Blizzard. Then, an enemy Reaper jumps in and uses his Death Blossom to kill me, but I counter with Transcendence, surviving the Reaper and healing our Soldier and Reinhardt. It feels good to get play of the game as Zenyatta, it doesn't happen very often for me.

Rocket League

Date played: February 13th
Platform: PS4

I felt like playing a little bit of Rocket League last night. I wanted to play with a friend, but she never joined, so I played a few matches by myself. I've bought a bunch of new cars, so I tried out one of them, the Masamune. It's a really slick car and it gives off a vibe similar to my favorite car, Takumi.

I love the Masamune

In the 3 or 4 matches that I played, I did pretty well. I seem to be matched up with players with less skill than when I was playing heavily. There's not a lot of aerial play and people miss the ball a lot, so while I'm still not amazing, I am definitely pulling off more complex moves than most of the other players right now. I got MVP a couple times, scored a few sick goals and really enjoyed my new car!

Invisible Inc.

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PS4

On a whim, I decided to try out Invisible Inc., which I got for free from PS+ a while back. The game is made by Klei, who have made my favorite stealth game ever, Mark of the Ninja. Invisible Inc. is a turned based strategy stealth game. In the year 2074, an espionage agency's computer is under attack from corporations (I think?). The remaining agents must protect the computer and recover it's agents from the field.

This game seems to be structured a lot like X-COM. There's an overall mission timer. There's a world map with multiple missions available simultaneously. Units can be upgraded. Weapons and items can be equipped. It all feels a LOT like X-COM. The big difference is that this game requires stealth.

Units can move behind enemies and knock them out. There's also hacking available, which can disable security systems and open locked doors and computers. So far, I've been able to take two agents out on the field at once, so there's already a lot of strategy required.

I always love these types of games, when they're well made anyway. Invisible Inc. made a great first impression on me, so I'm excited to play more than a couple of levels.

Overwatch

Date played: February 12th
Platform: PS4

Today's play of the night happened when I jumped into the Mystery Heroes playlist for a few matches. I got Junkrat Dorado defense, a hero I almost never use. While this play isn't amazing, I'm pretty proud of myself since I'm shit as Junkrat.

I protect the payload from the roof of one of the buildings, throwing grenades and an Ultimate, killing two Bastions, a D.Va mech and an Ana.

Final Fantasy XV

Date played: February 11th
Platform: PS4

After a couple of weeks of traveling for work, I was finally able to continue playing FFXV. Last time, I was still going through Zegnautus Keep as Noctis, still alone. He's looking for Prompto, and trying to find a way to recover his weapons.

Armed with only the Ring of Lucis and one of the Royal Arms, I fought a few demons and went through countless corridors. Eventually, I reached a sort of puzzle room where I had to activate circuits to open doors. There could only be two out of three circuits active at once, so there was a bit of back and forth before I could progress.

Throughout the dungeon, Ardyn spoke with Noctis. I also found some documents that explained a lot. Basically, Ardyn and the Empire have found a way to breed daemons. That's also why the Magitek soldiers are not really human, they are basically humans turned into daemons... The whole keep is the breeding ground, which is why there aren't any real humans there.

At one point, Noctis was trapped in a corridor with electric fences blocking the exits. Thankfully, Gladio and Ignis found a way inside and managed to regroup with Noctis and saved him. Shortly after, we also found Prompto! In a weird twist, Prompto revealed that he was "bred" as a soldier of the Empire. The group was very understanding of it all, and they worked together to retrieve Noctis' weapons. We found the device that blocked his abilities and destroyed it.

Things started being fucking crazy at this point. Ravus showed up, and he's being transformed into a demon... We had to fight him. He was really strong, but now that we've got all our abilities, and the team is back together, we beat him without too much trouble. Noctis has to reach the crystal in the depths of the Keep so that he can fulfill his destiny as the King.

We were ambushed by a huge number of daemons, too many to handle. Noctis had to make a difficult decision and leave his team behind as he rushed towards the crystal. I'm not sure what happened to my friends at this point. Noctis did reach the crystal, but it wasn't what he expected. Basically, he must "enter" the crystal to gain enough power to defeat evil. This evil is none other than Ardyn himself. It was revealed that he is a daemon with eternal life who was denied use of the crystal a long time ago, due to his inherently evil personality.

Inside the crystal, Noctis was greeted by Bahamut, one of the 6 gods. The scene was very cool, and Bahamut's design is amazing. Bahamut reveals that Noctis can defeat Ardyn, but he will need to give his life in exchange... Much time has passed while Noctis was inside the crystal.

Noctis meets Bahamut

He wakes up, bearded, fucked up and confused. He's on the little island next to Galdin Quay, but the world is in ruin, similar to the world of Ruin from FFVI. He gets on a little boat and heads to the dark, daemon-infested mainland. I wonder how the story will continue... I could always go back to the past and try to complete some sidequests, but I think I'm getting real close to the end, so I might push forward and do side quests after the story ends.  

Overwatch

Date played: February 10th
Platform: PS4

I think I've said a lot about Overwatch on this blog, so from now on, I'll just post my "Play of the Night", highlighting some of my more interesting plays each night.

My brother came over to play some Overwatch on Friday. Our most satisfying play was when we pushed the payload to victory. My bro was on fucking fire with Soldier 76, he was real good. As Reinhardt, I protected him as he slaughtered the enemy team one by one. I did my share too, with a couple of fire strike kills and a spectacular charge on a Genji using his Ultimate. Let's just say, it was a very fun play, and you can watch it below!

Final Fantasy VI

Setzer and his late wife, Darrell

Date played: February 8th
Platform: Vita

It's been a long time since I've played Final Fantasy VI, so I was quite lost when I decided to boot it up again. Thankfully, I had saved in a spot that made it somewhat obvious what I should do next. Sabin, Edgar and Celes are traveling together after helping Figaro castle regain it's former glory.

We headed north to a small town called Kohlingen and entered the pub. We found Setzer there, drinking his sorrows away. After a bit of convincing, he agreed to rejoin us and help us find all our friends. The old airship, the Blackjack, has been destroyed, but Setzer reveals that he has hidden a second airship at a nearby tomb, Darrell's tomb.

The tomb is a small dungeon, crawling with undead monsters, including the infamous Malboro. There were many treasures to be found too, including some sick new claws for Sabin and some powerful armor. I completed a few simple puzzles too, where I had to change the water level to reach new areas.

At the end of the dungeon, I fought a couple of bosses. The first was a dangerous snail that hides in his shell, but he wasn't too hard. Then I fought the dungeon's final boss, a headless horseman with many powerful magic spells at his disposal. This was definitely a lot harder, some of my party members even died a couple of times. Thankfully, Celes was able to keep everyone healed and alive (or revived...) while Sabin, Edgar and Setzer dealt heavy damage.

After the battle, Setzer explained that this tomb was his wife's. She died in an airship accident years ago. Setzer found the wreck, restored it and stored it in this tomb as a monument to his lover. The airship itself is called the Falcon, and it's beautiful. We now have access to the airship and can travel anywhere in the world of Ruin, so I'm sure there's a ton to discover! I want to find my other party members...

Rocket League

Date played: February 3rd
Platform: PS4

I went to visit one of my brothers to hang out a bit, and towards the end of the night, we played a few rounds of Rocket League with him and a friend. We hadn't played that together in a while, but Rocket League is the kind of game that is always a shit-ton of fun, no matter what.

We ended up playing rather well overall, and won most of our matches. I had really good ball control, and would often set up great plays. My brother was the sniper, the finisher, while I was the play-maker. Our friend was more of a front line brawler, supporting the attack or defense as necessary. We had a few incredible plays and had a really good time together. 

Chrono Trigger

Date played: February 2nd
Platform: Vita

I finished Chrono Trigger!

I took Crono, Robo and Lucca into the depths of the Black Omen to confront Queen Zeal, and eventually, Lavos itself. The Black Omen is a very linear dungeon, but it's very long and filled with the most challenging enemies in the game. This took a while, but my party is now very powerful, and I've got some pretty clever equipment combinations to maximize their potential. For example, Crono has a ring that guarantees a counter-attack, and his sword has a very high crit rate. This makes him deal a lot of "free" damage during battle.

Eventually, I fought with Queen Zeal herself! The battle was pretty easy though. I was surprised by the advanced graphical techniques used to make the event look cool. Considering this game is from 1995 on SNES, it does some really impressive stuff. After the battle, we were finally ready to take on Lavos!

Lavos is a 3 stage battle. The first is against the armored form that we've seen throughout the game. It actually consists of a bunch of smaller battles, mimicking each main boss in the game. The only one that confused me was Tyrano and Azalea, since I forgot that lightning was the key to dealing damage.

Once that was done, we fought the armored version of Lavos directly, but it was pretty easy. Then we went inside it's shell and fought it's second form. This one is more humanoid looking, a giant robotic monster with two large hands. I killed the hands first then had no trouble defeating the main form.

It was revealed that Lavos is some sort of alien creature that steals all resources on a planet to produce it's offspring. It then sends out it's children into space to eat another planet's energy, repeating this pattern forever.

Crono faces off against Lavos' final form

The final form of Lavos is still humanoid, but this time it's organic. This battle was harder than the others, since I had to take out little orbs around Lavos to damage him. The orbs would often get revived, so it took a while to win. We did beat him though, and saved the world!

The ending was great. Back in the year 1000 AD, the King summons Crono and his friends to the castle, then reveals that they brought some friends from other time periods to celebrate our team's success. There was a wonderful moonlight parade at the Millennial Fair, the King even commissioned a new bell for Leene Square!

Soon after, it was time to say goodbye. Ayla went back to the prehistoric era and married Kino. Frog went back to 600 AD, returned to his human form as Glenn, and married the Queen. Magus left too, but I'm not sure where he went. Robo had a fantastic moment with Lucca, where both of them show a lot of emotion as they leave each other. Lucca is worried that Robo won't exist in the future anymore, since Lavos never attacked, but Robo seems confident that he'll survive. Finally, Marle and Crono get married to each other, so that was sweet.

At the very end though, Crono's mom chases their cat through the time portal, just before it disappears forever! Crono, Marle and Lucca jump onto the Epoch and travel through time looking for her as the credits roll on screen.

Chrono Trigger is a masterpiece that will always be remembered fondly. Now that I've played it, I understand why. It has amazing art, great music, a fun world to explore, a satisfying combat system, lovable characters and an intriguing story. I'm very happy to have finally played it from end to end.

Chrono Trigger

Date played: January 31st
Platform: Vita

I finally went back to Chrono Trigger, thanks to a work trip that confines me to a hotel room for much of the evening. I ended up completing my last two major sidequests. The first had Marle visiting her father at the castle. Apparently, the chancellor has deemed it necessary to bring the King to trial, accusing him of stealing a valuable family heirloom and selling it to a merchant. The heirloom in question is none other than the Rainbow Shell, which we placed in the castle in 600 AD.

The whole situation seems completely crazy, but it quickly became evident that the King would need some sort of proof to be cleared of the charges. I took Crono, Marle and Lucca to the basement of the castle and fought a few weak enemies. At the end of it, we were glad to find the Rainbow Shell intact, meaning that the King is truly innocent. It also means that the chancellor is trying to frame the King so that he can take over...

We went back to the courtroom, but were not allowed to enter. Marle decided to take matters into her own hands and crashed through the courtroom's elaborate stained-glass window. She presents the evidence, which should have exonerated her father instantly. Instead, the chancellor revealed his true nature. He is an evil monster in disguise! Obviously, we fought the motherfucker and beat him.

This was a great moment

In a touching moment, Marle and the King reconciled as soon as the battle was over. We also found the real chancellor, trapped in a treasure chest (what???). Melchior also made an appearance, and he used the Rainbow Shell to craft us some incredible gear. I got the Rainbow sword for Crono, which has a very high critical rate. I got 3 Prism Helms, which are very high in defense and prevent any status ailments. We also got a pair of Prism Specs, which boost attack power quite a bit.

Next, we traveled to 2300 AD to complete a side quest that explains a lot about Robo's origins. Geno Dome is an isolated facility on an island. I took Crono, Robo and Lucca to explore it. It wasn't long before we discovered that this place is the home of Mother Brain, the "boss" of all robots.

Now, this place is a real fucking maze. The whole dungeon is filled with elaborate puzzles and hidden paths. It's also full of robotic enemies, though my party is really strong now, so none of them were much of a challenge. I flipped a dozen switches, opened secret doors by charging Robo with electricity and even fooled a couple of robots into an infinite staring contest!

I got lost a couple times, but in the end, I managed to find my way to Mother Brain's room. Just before entering, we were confronted by a pink robot named Atropos. She calls Robo "Prometheus" and keeps saying that humans must be destroyed. She thought Robo would gladly join her, but Robo refused. In a unique type of battle, Robo had to fight Atropos without the party's assistance. When she was defeated, Robo was granted a huge speed and magical defense bonus.

We then finally reached Mother Brain's chamber. Thankfully, she isn't as scary and as dangerous as the Metroid series Mother Brain. In fact, beating her was a piece of cake. At this point, all that's left is for me to complete the Black Omen and beat the shit out of Lavos!