2016 Upcoming Games

I was working on a "2015 recap" post, but then when I found myself just going on about a million games, I realized that it was just too much. Too many great games came out in 2015. And looking at my list, I see many games that came out that I wanted to play but just never got around to playing. That is disappointing!

So, I may still write up a modified "2015 recap" post, but for now I think I'd rather look towards 2016.

And looking at my list, 2016 is already threatening to be as insane as 2015.

Just for January, we have The Witness and Rise of the Tomb Raider coming out on PC.
On top of that, there's Paper Mario: Paper Jam for 3DS, and Dead Secret for PC/VR.

I am so incredibly excited for The Witness. It's been a long-time coming, and it's finally almost here! It's like a puzzle game mixed with Myst. And it's going to be huge.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is finally coming out for PC, and that'll be another big game.

Soon after that, Firewatch comes out in February, and looks very promising. Not sure how to describe it, but it's basically another exploration game with interactive storytelling.
Unravel comes out the same day. Why do all these games have to come out on the same day? Unravel looks absolutely charming. Frustrating that I'll be forced to get it through EA's Origin system if I want to play it on PC. I may just stick to getting it for the PS4 in that case.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD comes out in March. I'm very much excited for that. Twilight Princess was a fantastic game, and I played the heck out of it when it first came out with the Wii launch. So it'll be nice to revisit the game.

No Man's Sky comes out in June, and looks to be a huge space exploration / simulation game. There's a lot of big promises the game is making, so it'll be interesting to see if it manages to succeed.

There are many other games promised for 2016, and ones that didn't make it onto my list, but will still be looking forward to playing.
And judging by my 2015 list, I'm sure there'll be plenty of games that sadly get pushed onto my backlog.

Where does the time go?!

That game made me MAD

So. This is the story of a game that made me mad.
The game is called "PERFECT ANGLE: The puzzle game based on optical illusions".
As the name suggests, it's a game that has you rotating an object to uncover the secret shape contained within.
Sort of like an OK Go video.
Except without all the fun.

Now, this is a game that is available on Steam for usual price of $13.
However, it looks and feels like a mobile game that has been slapped up on Steam without any changes. And after doing some research, it appears that's exactly what it is.

The controls aren't great. The levels are all over the place, ranging from easy to "how does that even make sense", with some odd "objects" that you're supposed to find.
There is a story/narrative that is woven in between levels, but the writing is so horrible, and often feels like the game is in a fight with itself to decide whether to have the object match the story, or to have the story match the object. Either way, it never feels cohesive.

Again, some levels are so convoluted, that you cannot solve it without using a "hint".
They give you 10 hint tokens to start, but you'll run out quickly. And when you do, they're ready to sell you more hint tokens for $2.
This is a game that you already bought for $13 (well, $8.44 on sale). And they're wanting you to pay more for hint tokens.
And there's tons of billboards and posters within the game advertising their other mobile games.
Again, in a game that you already paid for for $13.

What a horrible mess of a game.
And I'm not the only one who feels that way. Check out this hilarious article on RockPaperShotgun that does a good job expressing my thoughts. (Although he dwells mostly on the story, I feel it gives a good indication of the quality of the rest of the game.)

I am so disappointed. I went in to the game wanting to like it. I wanted SO MUCH to like it. And I was let down.

My recommendation, buy Shadowmatic on iOS/AppleTV for $2.99.
It is vastly superior in every way imaginable, and doesn't have a story hamfisted into it.
It also includes hint-tokens, which yes there is an option to buy more, but they're generously given out for free when you complete a level, that I have more hint tokens than I would ever need.
Shadowmatic is a beautiful game. The levels are gorgeous, and the controls are perfect.
It is the standard that I was hoping that "Perfect Angle" would live up to.

So yeah, for a fantastic puzzle game based on optical illusions, just stick with Shadowmatic.

Xenoblade Chronicles X - Game View

This game is huge.
It's probably the largest single-player game I've ever seen. And it's on the WiiU.

This game is sort of like an MMORPG without the other people.
There's sorta an online aspect to it, where you'll basically be joining an online division, where your actions contribute toward a server-wide goal, where you can earn extra rewards. But you're not interacting directly with other people. You may run into a representation of another person's character in the world, where you can recruit them to fight with you. But again, it's more of an automatic thing, rather than an actual person playing with you.

That being said, Xenoblade seems to keep getting larger the more I play it.
You start out on one "continent", and as you explore and unlock more of the map, soon you start reaching out onto 5 different continents.

I've played for way more hours than I can keep track of, and I've only reached 3 of the 5 continents. And I only just now unlocked the big mech that lets me explore further and higher than I was able to before. So this game is dense.
So much to do.

It can end up feeling a lot like normal MMO games where you "go here and collect this, kill that".
But the characters, and story, and graphics, and everything is so finely tuned, that it doesn't get old.
And the story is fantastic, and there's been some pretty major twists that I am now so invested in, and want to see through to the end.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this game as much as I ended up enjoying it. But I really am glad that I gave it a chance.

Just Cause 3 - Game View

Let me start off right away by saying that if you liked Just Cause 2, you will for-sure enjoy Just Cause 3.

If you have not played Just Cause 2, I highly recommend it. You can often pick it up for less than $4 when it's on sale on Steam. Probably even lower during the upcoming Steam Holiday Sale.

In many ways, Just Cause 3 is more-of-the-same compared to Just Cause 2.
Just bigger, louder, and more intense.

Just Cause is basically about going around blowing things up. You'll travel across the map, clearing out different sections one-by-one.
There's enough variation between cities and regions to keep things feeling interesting without feeling too repetitive. And with freedom to play however you want, it keeps things interesting.

There's not too many things in gaming more satisfying than grappling a person to a gas tank, shooting a hole in the tank, and watching it fly off and explode in the air.

Or having a helicopter air-dropped onto a roof. Or even a battleship. Onto a roof. Yes, you can do that.

I finished the story part of the game on Friday. The story is fine. Although it ends up feeling a bit short. And some things happen near the end that made me really disappointed. I was expecting there to be some sudden twist, but the twist never came, and then I reached the end.
That being said, even after reaching the end, you still have a LOT of territory left to clear out. And even after you finish clearing everything, the game makes it easy to "re-oppress" the bases and cities, so you can basically go through everything again. And since there's so many different ways to approach things, and experiment, and blow things up, it's not a pointless feature.

I was expecting Just Cause 3 to be a lot bigger than Just Cause 2. Which would be a monumental task, considering that it's been 5 years and I've already put in over 110 hours into Just Cause 2, and have yet to complete all cities and collect all collectibles.
But with Just Cause 3, I'm at just about 30-hours in, and can already feel the sense of completion nearing.

That's just taking raw "completion" into consideration. Just flying around the map with the wingsuit in Just Cause 3 is a magical experience that one would likely not get tired of any time soon.

But Just Cause 2 had tons of extra collectibles to find, which had another layer to everything. Then again, that can sometimes feel overwhelming. Like an impossible task. So perhaps that was the reasoning to tone down the pointless collectibles. However, now it just feels like I'm just going to be going back to Just Cause 2 for another dozen or so hours to finish that, when I was expecting Just Cause 3 to completely replace that feeling for me.

Basically, in a nutshell, Just Cause 3 is a giant sandbox of exploding things. It's fun.
I'd recommend it, but I'd also still recommend checking out Just Cause 2. (although with caution, since JC2 crashes fairly often on newer computers, it seems.)

2015 Year-End More Games

Really awkward title, but wasn't quite sure how to title this post, without saying "2015 End of Year Post about random games that came out"

I've talked about most of the games that I've been looking forward to already.

Before I continue, I want to again say how much I loved Batman: Arkham Knight, and Mad Max this year. Two fantastic games that really stuck with me.
I played Metal Gear Solid V for quite a bit. Haven't totally gotten into it, but I have gotten much better at it (by my own standards, at least), to where I can at least enjoy it. It's a weird game, and I'm sure I'll spend more time with it over the next few months.

I wasn't really planning to get Guitar Hero Live, but I ended up getting it anyway, and I've enjoyed it for the most part. The "TV" portion is the best thing about the game though. Basically, there's a constant stream of songs being played, and you "tune in" and play the song, while the music video plays in the background.
You can "level up" and earn coins and "plays", which you can use to choose individual songs to play. Otherwise, you can only play whatever is chosen to play in the constant stream.
Some people may not like not being able to "own" songs, but for me, I like the automatic stream. Forces me to check out songs I may not choose otherwise. (And I've built up a large number of plays for if I do decide to choose individual songs eventually).

After Nintendo's recent "Nintendo Direct", it got me excited for a few games I wasn't planning to get.
First, there's Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash. I'm typically not into sports games. But I remembered how much I surprisingly enjoyed the Gamecube Mario Tennis, and feel that bit of "craving" for some silly Mario sports, so I figure why not?

As for Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, I ended up not playing much of the previous Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game (although it's been on my list to play eventually). But based on things I've heard from people, I'm probably not missing much. So I might as well try out the new incarnation to get the best version possible. I really like the Mystery Dungeon format, ever since I played the GameBoy "Azure Dreams", and absolutely loved it. So yeah, I'd love to revisit that type of gameplay.

And finally, Xenoblade Chronicles X. Graphically, the game looks amazing. And the previews claim it's one of the largest open-world maps, with a lot to explore. I like exploring. I just hope it doesn't end up feeling too overwhelming.
The game looks like fun, so I look forward to giving it a fair try.
But knowing me, and my gaming habits, it could just as easily be "super awesome" or I could give up early because of it being too complicated or something. Sort of what happened with The Witcher 3 for me, since the game just has so much to do, that it gets overwhelming, and I reached a point where I found I had too much stuff thrown at me at once to do, with most things not being possible unless I leveled up more, so it just felt like a large hill I didn't want to climb. Ha! I'm sure I'll revisit it eventually. But as I complain often, there's just so many games, and my backlog continues to grow.

And now I'm starting to think about all the games planned for 2016. Looks like I'll have another new post soon for that.

Fallout 4 - Post-Game View

Today, I finally made it through the rest of the main story-line of Fallout 4, after playing for 41 hours.
You can read my early game view write-up [here][1],
Since then, my feelings for the game remain largely the same.
I've been writing up a sort of journal of my chronicles through the game. Mostly in the voice as if I was the actual character. You can find all of those Daily Recaps [here][2].
While my "Daily Recaps" are essentially just me regurgitating the story as I experience it, and thus are very "spoilery", I'm going to try to keep this "Game View" as spoiler-free as possible.

The game is really dark and intense.
And lots of "go here, shoot this". By the end of the game, it really got to the point where I was like "Ok, I'll put that off until later, I guess" whenever I knew I would have to go to some remote location and clear it from raiders or some other big ugly monster-thing.
I still really like the game, but at the same time, I'm kinda relieved that I'm done with the main story. Now I feel like I can go back at my own pace and complete some of the side missions.

I must admit, the story left me kind of underwhelmed.
Don't get me wrong, the story was intense, but I just didn't feel satisfied at the end.
Essentially, the story splits near the end, where you have to choose one of four Factions to side with for the remainder of the game. Once I was forced to choose a side, basically everything started going downhill. And I felt like a horrible person for each action I was forced to perform.

I've seen games before do stuff that intentionally messes with your emotions. I suppose you could argue that since the game is all about freedom of choice, that it is just one of those things about making choices. But near the end, I started to feel like I was no longer actually being given a choice. When faced with specific situations, I kept selecting dialog options with the hope and intention of doing one thing, while the other character basically says "No, we're doing it this way" and then the quest continues as set forth.
The illusion of having a choice while not actually having a choice.
I'm not wanting to do these things, and you make me do it anyway.
So again, I suppose you could have a discussion there about human mentality and moral decisions and whatnot. But personally, I would rather enjoy my time with a game, rather than basically feeling hatred at the situation I'm being forced into.
On the other hand, I have not played the other three Faction endings yet. So maybe one of those would feel more personally satisfying. If/when I do that, I'll be sure to add a quick note here about my feelings.

So, ending aside, I really liked this game. Part of that may likely be my personal-bias, coming in from being a fan of the Fallout franchise for over a decade.
The game looks great, despite many glitches. (Incorrect subtitles at times, interface not loading properly after re-load, odd camera angles during dialogue,)

The Quick-Save feature is invaluable. The game is very shooty-shooty, so I died a lot. Being able to reload quickly to re-try a section was very convenient.
I'm not really a huge fan of FPS games, so that aspect really started to wear me down a bit.
But other than that, the writing of the characters was really good. For most of the game, I had a 50's-era detective robot as my side-kick, which was like the greatest thing ever.

I still have a lot of side-quests to complete, and probably the other alternate endings to try for, as well as the settlement management. So there's still plenty left of the game that could last me many more hours.
It's a big game.

But I need a break from it for awhile. It's just really intense.

Was it worth playing? Yeah. I think so. It's a solid game, which will likely only get better with patches to fix the bugs. And there's all the Season Pass content yet to come. So I'll be revisiting the Commonwealth wasteland soon, surely.

I probably wouldn't vote for it as Game of the Year, though. Despite my love of the series.
It's a solid game. Lots of love for it. But at the end of the day, there's just that little something that leaves me with a little hole. Probably just me trying to cope with the ending. I don't want to judge the game on that, as I realize that is just one of the endings, but so far that's the only ending I know, so that's the ending that I have to judge it on so far.

If you wanna check it out for yourself, which I do recommend, you can pick it up on Steam [here][3]

[1]: http://sstaver.typed.com/blog/fallout-4 "Fallout 4 - Early Game View"
[2]: http://sstaver.typed.com/tags/fallout "Fallout 4 - Daily Recaps"
[3]: http://store.steampowered.com/app/377160/ "Fallout 4 on Steam"

Fallout 4 - Final Day Recap

Took another few days off of Fallout 4.
But now, it's time to finish this.
Major end-game spoilers here.

So, Shaun wants me to find some rogue Synths.
Make it to Bunker Hill, and a huge fight breaks out between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Railroad.
Looks like any chance I had of working with The Railroad just dropped to none.
Finally made my way to the Synths, and... Well, I was met with an extremely difficult situation.
These Synths... Were afraid.
By all normal appearance and behavior, they seemed like normal human beings. All they want is to be able to live their own lives freely.
Yet here I am being told that I have to issue reset codes and send them back to the Institute.

This is really not fair.
I don't like this. Not one bit.

I ended up issuing the reset codes as instructed. I'm not happy about it though. (Maybe a future play-through I can try another option.)

Met with Shaun again.
Some more startling revelations.

It sure seems that Shaun is happy and fully committed to his place at The Institute.
And apparently he's the one who had me "let out" of the Vault at the beginning of the game.
So essentially, to him, it was just an experiment. To see what I would do. If I would survive. If I would fall to the "corruptions" of the wasteland.
It leaves a poor taste in my mouth.

The character's goal to find Shaun, feels like all was in vain. He didn't care about being found. He doesn't care about his father.

What am I continuing on helping him then?
I suppose it's because I've made it this far already. And there's really very few other alternatives. (And any other alternatives would likely lead to unnecessary deaths)

So, in the meantime, I attended the Institute's Directorate board meeting.
The other people at the meeting are clearly not pleased about my presence.
Learned about Phase 3.
Also learned that Shaun is dying of some disease.
And he's named me as his successor. Again, the rest of the people are not pleased.

My next mission is to help retrieve a beryllium agitator.
This will sure be... Agitating? haha!

Another big fight with the Brotherhood of Steel.

Got the agitator, although I had to go through a heavily radiated room for it. Luckily I had some Rad-Away to help.

Back at the Institute, I'm sent off once again. This time, to help recruit a scientist from the Commonwealth who may be able to help. He was being protected by the Minutemen.
I was able to convince them to stand down, and then convince the scientist to join The Institute. I sure hope this goes ok.

Now, it's up to me to boost the Diamond City radio signal, so that the Institute's "announcement message" is broadcast to as many people as possible. I have a bad feeling about this.

At the radio building, I finally meet Travis, that Radio DJ.
Man, he's such an awkward jittery mess.

However, I was able to take a detour to talk to the Russians at the bar to help build up Travis' confidence.
That was... An interesting quest.

Also stopped by to visit Virgil. He's definitely looking better. I'm really impressed.

Back at the Institute, I'm having to continue making difficult decisions.
Now I'm being forced to kill the people at The Railroad.
I don't think this is right. But I've come this far, and I've dug myself too deep into a hole that I won't be able to get myself out of. Gonna have to ride this to the end. At all costs.

At the Railroad, they were not happy to see me.
And I was not happy to be there.
That was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in a game. Really not feeling good about things right now.

Next, he wants me to help destroy the Brotherhood of Steel.
Doctor Li (a familiar face from Fallout 3! That's a surprise!) gave me instructions on how to find Liberty Prime. Off I go.

That was another big ol' fight.
After all is done... Nick is not too happy with me.
And I understand. I'm not all too happy with myself.

And looks like that's it.
The game's over. Shaun dies of sickness and I'm left in charge of the Institute.
Nothing left but go through all the old quests that I have left over.

What a depressing game.

Fallout 4 - Day 8 Recap

Getting closer to the end.
A TON of spoilers ahead.

I feel like we're finally going to get some real answers today.
At least, assuming that I don't get too distracted by side quests!

To start, I traveled to the CIT building. Followed the Courser's signal to the nearby Greenetech Genetics.
There, I had to fight my way up to the top of the large building, full of raiders.
Lots of shooting. And accidentally stepping on mines. That's fun. (not fun)

Found the Courser. He put up quite the fight.
Finally, was able to get the chip in his head.

Back to the Memory Den to have the chip analyzed!
Along the way, I was listening to the Minutemen Radio Freedom channel, and apparently there's someone at the Minutemen Castle looking for me. I'll need to remember to stop by and check it out.

Doctor Amari, unfortunately, is unable to do anything with the Courser chip.
But she gave me a good tip, on some people called The Railroad, that may be able to help. To find them, I need to "Follow the Freedom Trail".
I know where to start for that, as I stumbled upon the start of it very early in my quest, but gave up after finding some cryptic clues.
Sounds like I'll need to go back and face it head-on now.

Along the way, I decided to turn in an Overdue Library Book I found, to the local library. The place was crawling with Super Mutants, so I cleared things out.

I also stumbled upon Vault 81. In exchange for some fuel cores, they let me come in. Looks like a healthy community. I'll come back and look around more later, maybe.

Back on the Freedom Trail, I quickly figured out what I was supposed to do. There was some red paths paved on the road, all throughout the city. Followed it past several locations, and wound up at the Old North Church.

(The Freedom Trail is yet another thing that is kind of mind-freaky about how the game takes place in a fictionalized alternate real-world future. Based on real-world locations. It just kind of hit me about how.... Scary this whole thing is.)

Anyway, found my way into the church, and met with the Railroad leader.
Got the needed code. Talked to Virgil. Got some schematics to build a relay to transport me to The Institute.
Everything's finally coming together!

Took the plans to Preston and the Minutemen. Sturges took a look, and we're on our way to get this teleport machine built!

The machine was much easier to build than I anticipated. Turns out that during my travels, I had already picked up all of the necessary parts. Sweet!

And then... ZAP! I have teleported.

This is it... This is really it.. I'm finally going to find out where Shaun is.

As I arrive, I am greeted by a voice. The man calls himself "Father".
Oh boy. This is going to be one of those self-important types, isn't it?

Fairly quickly, I've made some amazing realizations.
Apparently.... Father is... Shaun. And he's an old man now.
This is heavy-duty, Doc.
And he seems so... Cold. Dismissive of his past. Doesn't care what happened to us. To me. To his mother.
I don't think I can truly trust him. Which is a pretty heavy thing to think about, when a father cannot trust his own son.
This game is insane!

Not sure what's going on. The game suddenly is just all over the place now. What do I do now?!
Everyone wants to destroy the Institute, and now I'm supposed to work with the Institute?
This certainly is a lot to take in.

...

This place is surely insane.
I just cannot wrap my head around it.
It's a huge underground complex, with tons of people, and scientists and doctors, and robots. Not sure what they're all really planning, but I've got a really uneasy feeling about it.

Walked around and met with some of the main doctors, to learn what they claim they're doing. They all seem to be expecting me to join them.
Learned something about Phase 3 testing. Sounds intense..

I found Virgil's old lab, and grabbed the serum he was working on. I hope this helps his 'condition'.
It'll take a week before we know anything.

In the meantime, Nick has an important personal case that he wants help with. So it'll be up to me to help track down some holotapes that have important information on them. I'm sure we'll stumble upon them in time.

...

I've made a decision.
From here on out, I can basically work for one of four different groups.

The Minutemen
The Railroad
The Brotherhood of Steel
The Institute

Each of them have their own reasons for doing things, and while they all seem to have mostly good intentions, they all rather annoy me.

For now, however, I will go ahead and work with The Institute.

"Father" (Shaun) wants me to go help a Courser reclaim a rogue synth.
This is a very weird thing to think about doing, considering all my experiences up to this point.

Long story short, found the raiders, and was able to help retrieve the rogue synth.

I think it's well past a stopping point. Should rest on all the stuff I found today, and I can find out more stuff tomorrow.

Fallout 4 - Day 7 Recap

It's been a week since Fallout 4 was released.
I've spent 30-hours playing the game so far.
It's kind of weird to think of it that way. Out of the last week, I've spent one whole day of the entire last week, playing Fallout 4.

Anyway, let's get back to it.

Went to investigate some missing person at Diamond City.
Found a receipt for facial reconstruction surgery. Interesting.
Went to talk to the local "Doctor", and hit a dead end. I found a blood trail into his basement, but I can't get in without either picking the lock, or finding (or stealing) the key. Can't do that in the middle of the town without getting some odd looks, (or worse!)

So, I decide it's time to head back on the quest to find the Memory Doctor, over at Goodneighbor.

At Goodneighbor, I got distracted by the local ghouls. Picked up a few quests to check out later. Including one from a shady-looking gal(/ghoul) who seems to be digging up something that's not theirs.

Continued on my quest to the Memory Den, and suddenly I'm on some weird Assassin's Creed/Matrix/Inception-type mind-trip.
It was interesting.

Looks like I need to hunt down a Institute scientist that went rogue. Sounds like there's a good chance that he's at the Glowing Sea. Now I just need to find a way to withstand the radiation.
May be a good job for the Power Armor. I've been hanging on to my Fusion Cores for some time waiting for the right time to use it, so now's my chance! Serious mega power!

But first, I took a detour to the Minutemen's "Castle", to clear out all the Mirelurks there.
I do not like Mirelurks.

So, next up, I get my Power Armor all souped up, and then head toward the Glowing Sea.

The Glowing Sea is scary.
It's dark. Hazy. And radioactive as hell.
I dare not take off my Power Armor, else I'd likely be microwaved.

Found a crazy cult that seem to be worshipping the remains of a nuclear bomb. They worship "Atom". Heh.
How they survive out here, I don't know. They have some sort of metal strainer strapped to their belly. I have a feeling I'll be learning more about them later.

Well, I found Virgil. Seems he's having a slight.. Problem.
Regardless, he gave me some clues I need in how to infiltrate the Institute.

So looks like my next stop is the remains of the CIT building near Diamond City, to hunt down a synth Courser.

I'm getting ever so closer to my goal. I feel like it can't be much longer now. I'm really excited to find out what happens next!

That, however, shall wait until tomorrow.

Fallout 4 - Days 4, 5, 6

I took two days off of Fallout 4 to focus on work and other things.
But I'm back! And there will likely be spoilers.

It was time to fetch Dogmeat for his smelling ability. On my way back to Sanctuary, I came across Sunshine Tidings Co-Op, and set up a beacon, to hopefully allow that place to become a settlement for other folk in the wasteland.

We found several spots where this "Kellogg" guy must have passed through.
Ended up at Fort Hagen, where we found our way inside.
The place was full of Synths, supposedly protecting Kellogg. It was a long battle.

Finally got to confront Kellogg about the location of Shaun.
Left me with more questions than answers.

After the confrontation, I exit the Fort, and notice a large airship. I lock on to a Brotherhood of Steel radio transmission demanding all recruits to return to the Police Station. So I head over, and there's a bunch of BOS members at the place now. Apparently they're gearing up for war..

I took a pitstop back at Sanctuary, to improve my weapons and armor, before heading back to board the BOS Vertibird.

The BOS Elder is rather young. He seems eager to go all out war on The Institute.
I am getting very bad vibes about the Brotherhood. I don't like their sense of superiority attitude. I am going to need to be wary of them moving forward.

I've also decided that Nick Valentine is my favorite companion so far. His voice-acting is awesome, and I like his story and personality, and his sense of humor is hilarious. (Beep.. Beep.. Beep)

I decided to put off the Brotherhood mission, and continue back to Diamond City to talk to Piper regarding what happened with Kellogg.

So now I'm off to the Memory Den to try to find out possible leads to where The Institute is located.
But that will have to wait for another day.

Fallout 4 - Day 3 Recap

Back for more? Alright, let's go! (Spoilers)

When you start out your day by clearing out an old hardware store full of raiders in order to get a can of green paint, and you consider that a slow start to a day... That just goes to show what a strange world you live in.

Stumbled upon a random Protectron who started shooting at me. So I dismantled it. (With a laser pistol.)

I sure do love my laser pistol. I got it from the Brotherhood of Steel Paladin Danse after my first mission with him. It's been pretty useful. Haven't found anything to replace it yet.

Some raiders kidnapped an outpost leader's sister, so I gave her the caps to pay the ransom, because I wasn't feeling like hiking to another distant location to fight some raiders.

Stumbled upon a comic store. Found it infested with feral ghouls.
Also found some sort of movie studio at the top. Found a neat costume. Looks important.

On my way to turn in some random item to the BOS Scribe, I witnessed a UFO crash!
I searched for the location, and came across some slime. Followed the slime trail to a nearby cave, where I FOUND AN ALIEN. It instantly started attacking me, but it died quickly from my laser rifle. (Guess it was still injured from its crash.)
Found an alien blaster weapon near him. It seems powerful. This may be fun.

I ended up back on the trail of the missing detective. Tracked him down to where he was being held in Vault 114, by some local gangsters. Go figure, this whole thing is feeling very 1920s all of a sudden.
A long fight with some ghouls. And then Nick Valentine lead the way back to Diamond City.

After describing to the detective my situation, we may have found a lead! We investigated the local thug's house, and found a secret room.
Sounds like I should have Dogmeat track down the scent here.

That'll have to wait for tomorrow.

Fallout 4 - Day 2 Recap

Another day in the wasteland. (Spoilers, again)

Today, I decided to go looking for those missing Brotherhood of Steel (BOS) Patrol members.
Along the way, I stumbled upon a small community, heavily barricaded behind a wall, very well defended.
It was easy to get into, all I had to do was pass some sort of SAFE oral test to prove I wasn't a Synth.

The more time I spend in the wasteland, the more it seems everyone is paranoid about these Synths.

Anyway, they call this place Covenant. There's definitely something "off" about this place. The folk seem to be hesitant to talk to me, and rushing off if I try talking to them. But they seem well-meaning, I guess.
Met a man named Honest Dan, who is looking for answers as to the fate of a caravan. He thinks Covenant has something to do with it.
He tasked me to help look for clues.
I checked out the caravan and found some "Deezer's Lemonade" among the rubble. Deezer's Lemonade seems to be Covenant's specialty drink, made there. (Although nobody knows what's actually in it. Hmm..)

I didn't have any luck finding any additional information, so I went back to my hunt for the BOS members.

As I got closer to the last known location, I picked up a distress beacon, which guided me to the site of some sort of explosion. At least one dead BOS member, and several empty (I think!) sets of armor. I also found a Holotape, where it was reported that they were attacked and retreated to a nearby National Guard Training Yard.

I found the place overrun with feral ghouls. I found the remains of one of the BOS Knights, along with a Holotape pointing the way to a nearby Satellite Array.

Turns out, the Satellite Array was infested with Super Mutants. Man, this is turning into one of those days...
There, I also found the remains of another BOS member. Pointing me to yet another location up north.

I decide that I don't really feel like going there right now, so I head back to Sanctuary to see if there's anything I can build.
I stop to clear out some Raiders at the Corvega Assembly Plant, and then Preston Garvey joins my team.

At this point, I feel my next goal should be to get back on the case of locating Detective Valentine.

But that'll be a job for tomorrow.

Fallout 4 - Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of Fallout 4.

Spoilers follow.

Technically, Fallout 4 was released on Monday evening at 9pm, and I played for 4 hours then.
After work on Tuesday, I then played for another 7 hours.

Here is a quick (hah) recap of all I experienced in that time.

There WILL be spoilers.
Except for the beginning. I'll go ahead and start up AFTER the Vault scene.

So, after witnessing his son, Shaun, being kidnapped, your character decides to go find him. (Because of course.)
Soon after I came across Dogmeat, my new loyal companion, I suppose!
Made my way to Concord, and helped out Preston Garvey and the Minutemen clear out the Museum of Freedom. Got to experience the Power Armor. Oh boy, it is crazy-cool. But sucks up power super fast. I'm gonna need to keep my eye out for the necessary fuel cores to power up this sucker.
I get a helpful tip, saying that I should go to Diamond City, where I may find some help/information regarding my missing son.

Once we all went back to Sanctuary, I helped Sturges set up some clean water, food, and bunks to sleep. I think this is going to make a really nice home base. Quite nice, indeed.
My robot-butler Codsworth agrees to come with me on my quest. Dogmeat stays behind.
While looking for food, I came across a nice farm. I listened to their story about the raiders stealing their crops, and their daughter's missing locket. So, being the kind and caring person that I am, I promise to go retrieve that missing locket.
Along the way, I find an old junk yard that has a bunch of what appears to be recently-killed cult members. Not sure what happened here, but I have a feeling I'll be returning at a later time.

After returning the locket, I again start heading toward Diamond City. I come across a diner where some thugs seem to be threatening the owner, demanding money. I help resolve the situation, and I continue again toward Diamond City.
I soon pick up a radio distress signal. So I follow the signal to the Cambridge Police Station. There, I meet Paladin Danse, Knight Rhys, and Scribe Haylen from the Brotherhood of Steel being attacked by feral ghouls. After the area has been secured, I agree to assist Danse in retrieving a Deep Range Transmitter, to help them call for assistance (or something, whatever).
I follow him to the ArcJet Systems building, where we find the DRT, along with a ton of crazy robot things that I learn are called "Synths". These things are freaky, and powerful. I'm going to do my best to avoid these things as much as possible..
On the plus side, I found a fusion core for my Power Armor! SCORE!!

Because of how awesome I am (or something, whatever), Danse invites me to join the Brotherhood of Steel as a new Initiate. With the promise of support from the team, and sweet weapons. Sure, I'm game.
My first quest with them is to help locate the lost Recon Team that previously set out for the Commonwealth.

But then I remember that I'd rather go back to finding Shaun.
I make it to Diamond City, and meet the mayor and the local "Journalist", Piper.
After a bit of persuasion, the mayor gives me a tip toward the local detective. Apparently, I'm not the first person looking for a missing person in Diamond City. I learn about something called The Institute, and how they're likely the ones who created those Synths I saw earlier. Scary stuff, man.

The local Detective seems to be missing. How convenient. So now I have to play detective, to find the detective, to help me find my son. Argh.
So, after learning about Detective Valentine's last case, I set out to follow the trail.

BUT I get side-tracked, because of course I do. I pick up another radio distress signal, from a nearby radio station. So off I go.
This building is filled with Super Mutants. Holy cow, they're angry and aggressive.
(OOC: But their voices are hilarious. I imagine the voice actor had a lot of fun during recording day.)
At the top of the tower, I rescue Rex Goodman, and his friend.... A Super Mutant?!?
Apparently this Super Mutant's name is "Strong". And he's friendly because of reasons.
He agrees to join my team, to help in his search for "milk of human kindness". Alright then. Codsworth goes back to Sanctuary. (I can switch between companions whenever I want.)

That's the end of Day 1 of my trip through the desolate wasteland, of what remains of Massachusetts. So much going on.
I've made a lot of new acquaintances. And I'm that much closer to finding out what happened to Shaun.

See you tomorrow!

Fallout 4 - Early Game View

As of writing this, I've played about 11-hours of Fallout 4 so far, and felt like sharing some of my early thoughts.

Already, I can say that this game is awesome.
I may get excited about a lot of things, and many games, but this game truly is awesome!.

I was a bit nervous about whether this game would live up to my hopes and expectations for Fallout, since I never really got into New Vegas.
But turns out, Fallout 4 deserves that "sequel numbering", very much so.

Fallout 4 is huge. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface, and I'm already juggling 10 quests, having to go here or there. Of course, I'm free to ignore them and just focus on the main story. But I'm enjoying the side stories, and improving my stats.

The new Perk system is pretty neat. It's a lot more streamlined.
I do wish that there was an easier way to note things on the map, since I've encountered several areas that I know I'll need to come back to later, once I unlock a certain talent. But I'll probably forget.

The game is gorgeous. Which is weird to say of a desolate wasteland. Everything has a visual weight to it, and you feel like this stuff could really exist. It makes you care about this world.

The game does have some issues though.
I found myself getting stuck on a wall, falling through a wall, NPCs seeming to disappear during conversations due to weird camera angles, seeing broken subtitles in dialogue, un-synced lips for character, etc. The game even completely crashed at one point.

But the rest of the game feels so fantastic, that it makes it easy for me to overlook the glitches. (Although hopefully they're fixed in new updates)

If I had a real complaint, it'd be that quests involved in going into a large building, end up frustrating me a bit. I get lost easily, and if I'm trying to make sure I don't overlook an item, I end up just all over the place.

There's a "crafting" aspect for weapons/armor, which is pretty clever. I didn't expect to care much for it, but it has shown so far to be fun.
Settlement management is available, but it feels natural, and I've found myself spending a surprising amount of time just playing around there.
I find myself looking forward to getting a certain material, so that I can improve a weapon, or build another piece of a settlement.

I'm still early on in the game, but I can see that I'm going to be spending many many more hours here. There's a lot to do in this game. It can be a bit overwhelming. (I had a similar issue with Skyrim.)
They key is that it doesn't feel like filler quests. Each quest feels like it belongs, and I find myself wrapped up in these issues that need to be solved. (Since I'm such a great person, and all that stuff.)

So yeah, the game has issues, but it's a lot of fun.
It's safe to say that if you liked Fallout 3, then you'll like Fallout 4.

I must admit something. After discovering that I could use "console commands" in Fallout 4, I think I'll be having even more fun.
Fallout 4 is a tough game. I'm not planning to enable god mode or anything. However, running out of ammo or having to struggle to scavenge scrap to sell for extra money.. I don't find that fun. That was an issue I had with Fallout 3. So I admit I may give myself some extra ammo now and then just to keep things going. :)

The Pip-Boy app for iPhone is really freaking sweet. It gives me instant access to my Pip-Boy functions in the game, on another screen. So I can tap over to heal, or change inventory, or have a constant map available, without constantly opening up the in-game Pip-Boy. Pretty dang cool.

Virtual Reality is coming

I had my first experience with VR last week.

My life will never be the same.

I am being 100% serious here. VR is the future. And it is GLORIOUS.

Two weeks ago, if you had asked me about VR, I would have said something like, "Oh yeah, you put on an obnoxious helmet, and it's in 3D. Woo. Of course, I'd be interested in checking it out and trying it, but I doubt it'll be a HUGE impact for me".

Oh you poor, naive fool.

Even after my brief, limited experience with a VR demo, I was blown away.
From that moment on, I knew.

I knew.

I have seen a glimpse of the future, and it will change everything.

I realize I may sound a bit hyperbolic. But I assure you that I am being serious.
This is special. This is going to be huge.

This is going to change everything.

We're still in the early stages, where developers are starting to create experiences specifically for VR.
Once the Oculus Rift comes out, and more people have VR devices, and more games are made for VR, and developers become more comfortable with the platform, and ideas have more time to grow...
We're going to see some seriously awesome stuff.

Just imagine with me for a moment.
Close your eyes.
Imagine that you're hiking through a forest.
You come across a ravine. A bridge crosses to the other side.
You approach the bridge. Look over the side.
A long drop into nothing below you.
You start to cross the bridge.
Each step, the bridge creaks a bit.
You're nervous.
You slowly make your way, and finally reach the other side.
The emotions you experience there. Pretty terrifying and exciting, right?
Now, open your eyes.
YOU ARE THERE.
With VR, you're there. No need to imagine. You see everything with your actual eyes, as if you were there. You feel like you're there.
You look around, and the view moves with you. Super natural.

I wrote about "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes" before. (Check my 2015 archive here)
So, imagine that game. You're sitting in a quiet room. Alone.
In front of you is a strange box. A countdown timer appears. You have buttons, and wires, and you have no idea what to do.
You have someone talking to you to guide you through things.
The pressure feels real. The pressure is real.
The amazing thing is that this game ALREADY SUPPORTS VR. It's there. It's ready. It's real. We just need the actual VR devices to be released! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
I am excited to be able to play it with VR.

Yesterday, I came across this article about a game called Dead Secret.
The game sounds like a perfect fit on VR.
How exciting? Exploring this puzzle-filled house, trying to solve a mystery.
I now have it pre-ordered.

The Witness comes out in January. I've been excited for it for some time. And as it gets closer, I get more and more excited for it. I didn't think I could be even MORE excited for it, but after my VR experience and hearing that The Witness will support VR, it has managed to again increase my excitement.
Being on the island of The Witness, and exploring everything. BEING there, with full view range, and solving the puzzles. My brain is having trouble comprehending the awesomeness.

So far, my VR experience has been limited to silly little demos. But it was enough for my mind to instantly think of the possibilities. Along with what is already known, and announced.
Things will only get better.

This is an exciting time. The start of something unique. Something truly special.
I am excited for what's to come with VR.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

Here I am playing "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes" with my friend TigerSkunk!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gdAqxTAtu0


“Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes” is a new game that just came out, and it is SO MUCH FUN.

To get the game yourself, head over to Steam here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/341800/

And if you are playing the game and need a bomb expert, give me a holler, and I’d be happy to play!

More Games

It feels like a ton of games have been released lately, and there’s still a ton more to come out throughout the rest of the year.

A few surprises showed up.

The Swindle
Hacknet
Rocket League
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon

They came out of almost nowhere and were super awesome games.

The Mad Max game came out this week, and I’ve spent about 20 hours with it so far. Really digging it. Never seen any Mad Max movie, and I’ve been enjoying the game regardless. It doesn’t seem to matter, since it exists as it’s own thing.
The reviews for the game have been mediocre, which is disappointing considering how much I’ve enjoyed it.
Part of the disappointing reviews may be in part due to the release at the same time as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was a hugely anticipated game from people and stuff. I had no interest in MGS, but I am a sucker for hyped things, so I decided to check it out and give it a try.

I’ve discovered that I absolutely suck at stealth games, and strategy.
I am loud and dumb.
It’s definitely going to take me quite a bit more time to get “into” the game. But I am certainly willing to give it some more time. Especially with all the freaking weird stuff that it’s got going on. It genuinely had me laughing at certain parts, and saying “WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK IS GOING ON!??” at other parts. Just the first 3 missions. So there is “something” there, even though it’s making me literally scream for how much I keep dying.

But yeah, I can’t wait to get back to Mad Max.

And there’s still new games coming out, practically one new big game, each month, for the rest of the year. Just the ones that I know of. Not to mention the “surprise” games that are sure to show up.

Super Mario Maker comes out next Friday, and I wasn’t originally thinking about it, but it’s Mario, and the more I see about it, the more I’m like “OMG that sounds so cool!”.

So yeah, I complain all the time about this. How there’s just so many things out there that exists.

I realize it’s impossible to always go through absolutely everything. But that won’t stop me from trying. And I’ll continue to complain about it. In the best way possible.
Because it can’t be a bad thing to enjoy stuff. How boring life would be if there weren’t things to enjoy? Or something, I dunno. :)

So Many Games

2015 is the year of games.

I probably say this about most years lately, but I am seriously overwhelmed with all the awesome games that have been coming out, and will come out, in 2015.

The sheer number of games that I’ve been excited about, have been difficult to keep track of. So I kind of want to share my thoughts on games that I’ve played so far this year, and some games yet to come and why I’m looking forward to them.

So far, there’s been Splatoon, Her Story, Witcher 3, and Batman Arkham Knight that I’ve all been super excited for. Also a few games that I was surprised at, such as Grow Home, Fallout Shelter, and GTA V for PC.

And I’m currently playing “The Magic Circle” which I just found out about this week, which totally surprised me. Not sure how to explain this game. It’s like a game about an unfinished game?? But it works, and I’m very much enjoying it. Somehow I knew about the game a year ago, but I don’t remember where I found it from, but then I completely forgot, and happened to be subscribed to a YouTube channel that recently made a new video about it, and the game’s available now, so… Ok, cool! I’m digging it! It’s fun and funny. Seriously, i’m a bit confused about this game’s existence, but I think that probably just adds to the intrigue!

Splatoon (WiiU) is just oozing (hahah) with charm and it’s a lot of fun. One of the first multiplayer games that I’ve felt very comfortable with. I haven’t played as much as I would want to just yet, but I plan on it soon. Luckily, Nintendo is still strongly supporting it, so that’ll keep things freeeesh longer (Staaaay fresh!)
I already said my thoughts on Her Story. Go buy it.
Grow Home (PC) was a surprising release, came from almost nowhere. Really interesting game about collecting diamonds in this weird world. It’s just fun!
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC) I got for free from buying a graphics card for the gaming computer I built, but I really wish I had actually paid for it, because it’s been a lot of fun, and there’s just SO MUCH stuff in the game. I feel like I’m nowhere near getting started, even though I’ve spent many many many hours playing.
Batman Arkham Knight (PC) I’ve spent 40 or so hours playing, and very much enjoyed so far, despite the controversy around it’s release and issues with the PC version. My issues with the game have been minimal, although some freezing/crashing have been had, auto-save has got me back right where I left off without issue. I finished the main game, and have collected 88% of the collectibles. May or may not go back to play through the New Game Plus mode. It’s a shame there was such issues with it at launch. You can’t even buy the game right now. It really is quite an awesome game, and I enjoyed it deeply, harking back to how much I enjoyed Arkham Asylum. They’re still busy “fixing” things for the people who had issues with it on PC.
Fallout Shelter (iOS) is a neat spin-off of the Fallout series, basically just a simply vault-management game. But Fallout. It’s free, it’s neat. Yay!
And then GTA V, I’ve already posted my thoughts about that game, although probably a bit outdated now, since that was for the PS3 version, when I’ve since played it on PS4, and now on PC. The PC version is definitely the best version of the game, due to the added time the developer spent on it. I have mixed feelings about the game. There are many parts that make me feel very uncomfortable, but in the end the whole thing just seems to work well, and is fun. I haven’t been able to get into the Online parts of the game. Mostly because I’m just not much of a multiplayer person. Although see Splatoon for exception.
There was a bit of hype around Kholat (PC)when it came out, and I saw a few bits of gameplay from YouTubers I follow (Jim Sterling and Markiplier of primary note). The game looked super interesting so I had to check it out for myself. It reminds me a lot of a game called Miasmata that I enjoyed several years ago. Basically, it’s you exploring a large world, and all you have to guide you is a map. Just like The Real World, the map doesn’t really tell you exactly where you are. You have to figure it out yourself based on your surroundings. You explore the area discovering things. In both games, there is an enemy-sorta that will come after you, but it’s really rather easy to avoid it, while just focusing on the story of the game. So yeah, how much I enjoyed Miasmata influenced my want to try Kholat. I haven’t finished it yet, but I’ve dug it so far.

The year’s half-way over, with a ton of great games already been released. Somehow, it seems that the 2nd half will contain an even larger number of games I’m excited for.

I’m a bit skeptical that all of the games will be released though, since half of the ones on my list do not have actual release dates yet.

Games with release dates are:

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture: August 11th
Mad Max: September 1st
Yoshi’s Woolly World: October 16th
Fallout 4: November 10th
Just Cause 3: December 1st.
(there’s also Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer, and Chibi-Robo Zip Lash that come out in October, which I’ll probably end up getting, but not necessarily “excited” about. Home design was always the part of Animal Crossing I cared least about, but maybe this game will change my mind. I absolutely LOVED the original Chibi-Robo game, and have been disappointed that it has never gotten a proper sequel, but it really will be nice to be able to re-visit the character. AND I MUST HAVE A CHIBI-ROBO AMIIBO. I simply must.)

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture captures my interest, because it looks great, and will be heavy on telling a story. I’m always keen on checking out games that aren’t afraid to do something different in a interesting way. The developer’s previous game Dear Esther was more just walking around without doing much, but seems like this game’s going to be interesting. Not sure how I’ll play it, since my PS4 is on loan to a friend. Maybe I’ll stick to watching a YouTube Let’s Play on this one. Disappointed that there’s no PC version..

The Mad Max game looks interesting. Looks a bit like RAGE, which I quite liked. This Max Max game is by the same developer that makes Just Cause, and I’m a bit fan of the Just Cause series. More on that in a bit. But this game looks pretty big and action-y, so heck yeah, why not? Not seeing any pre-orders available for the PC version, just the PS4/Xbone versions, which is kinda concerning, but there’s no reason to expect there to be an issue with the PC version coming out same day, right?

Yoshi’s Woolly World. What can I say? I’ve been a HUGE Yoshi fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up playing Yoshi’s Island on the SNES. (I must have been 6 or 7 when it originally came out.) I stunk at playing it at first, but then several years later I actually was able to go back and finish the game, and loved it. Definitely one of my all-time favorite games ever. Since then, I’ve been a Yoshi fan. I didn’t get much into the Yoshi’s Island 2 DS game that came out some time ago, but Yoshi’s New Island seems like a lot of fun, but I’ve been slow getting into that. Either way, looking forward to Yoshi’s Woolly World. The game is already out in Europe, which makes it all the more unfair that we have to wait until October. :(
But seriously, just look at it. How adorable is that? I’m going to try to get all three Yarn Yoshi amiibo. (Have I mentioned I may have an amiibo collection obsession? I may make a separate post on that later.)

Fallout 4. Well. I’ve been a fan of the Fallout series for quite a long time. Fallout 1 and 2 were probably the first “M” rated games I ever played. Which doesn’t seem like a big-deal ‘now’ but at the time I was probably 13 years old, so there was a sense that I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to do. Ooooh, I’m such a rebel. (But my mom actually did buy the games for me, so I totally had parental permission, and was deemed Mature enough to play. For what it’s worth.) Got both games in one bundle pack. Not sure what year that would be, I want to say 2001 or 2002.. I must have been in middle-school, and the only games I could play were when I was able to use “allowance” to get a cheap $10 jewel-pack game from Target. This one happened to have both games in a double-jewel pack, so it was like oooh, getting two games for the price of one, Smart shopping! Turns out, it was a very wise decision, because I really dug those turn-based tactical, dark, post-apocalyptical role-playing games. And the memory playing them has stuck with me all this time. I even participated in a forum online “roleplay” story set in the Fallout universe. That was probably right around the time I was entering high-school. Gosh I was such an awkward teen. (Still am awkward, but that’s a different story). I had a lot of fun on that forum. It kind of dissolved after awhile, though. Kind of a bummer. Anyway, I remember soon after I got Fallout 1+2, Fallout Tactics came out, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. Eventually, I was able to find it on one of the game end-caps hidden at the back of a store (probably also a Target), and ended up playing through and loving that too. It was very different from Fallout 1+2, but still enjoyable revisiting the universe created in those games. And then Fallout 3 is totally not like any of the other games, because it’s more first-person fully 3D game. I remember when FO3 game first came out, I couldn’t really afford it. Eventually it went on sale on Steam, and I was in the middle of nowhere at the time, and bought it for like $30. One of the first games I bought on Steam sale that I can remember. Haha! In hind-sight, $30 was a pretty high price to pay for a game on Steam Sale, but it was still more-than-worth it. I don’t think my computer at the time could even handle it, so it wasn’t until a year or so later that I was able to actually play through it. (If you know me, I tend to play “the long game” when it comes to actually playing games. I have many games that I am “in the middle of” but eventually get back to actually playing. Then I’m like “OMG I love this game, why didn’t I finish this sooner?” and it’s typically because there’s just so many other games that keep coming out. Like this year! But I’m also making a lot of progress playing through games. Even while balancing having an actual job! Me, with a job! Sometimes that still surprises me!

Anyway, long story short (too long), I am very excited about Fallout 4. And it was just announced out-of-the-blue not too long ago, so the hype is still strong. It looks great from what I’ve seen. And maybe now is a good excuse to go back and finally finish playing Fallout: New Vegas, which has been on the backlog back-burner for some time. I have Fallout 4 pre-ordered at Best Buy and Amazon, because I want myself that real-life Pip-Boy. Oh yeah.

Just Cause 3. Not sure which game I’m more excited about, Fallout 4, or Just Cause 3.
I got Just Cause 2 as part of a larger “Square Enix Game Bundle” on Steam, which included Batman Arkham Asylum (which also had a sequel released this year. See above.)
JC 2 was probably my first significant introduction to modern Open World games, and also fairly violent. (although in hind-sight, it doesn’t seem as violent as some other games I’ve seen recently). I’ve spent ~100 hours on JC2, going through the story, finding all the collectibles, destroying all the target destroyables, etc. It’s just super entertaining. Everything about the game just resonated to make a perfect game. And the new one sounds like it’s going to be punching a bigger punch, so I am definitely excited. Hype Hype Hype HYPE!!! Already pre-ordered.

Games that have do not have a release date, and may or may-not actually be released this year would be:
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Obduction
Firewatch
The Witness
No Man’s Sky
Soft Body
The Room Three

Torment and Obduction are both games I backed on Kickstarter, and have been following for quite awhile. Torment: Tides of Numenera is a sorta-sequel to Planescape: Torment, which I enjoyed as a teenager. (Another game I got in a “combo jewel pack”, see above. This one came bundled with a game called “Soulbringer”, which fast forward to 2015, is available on Steam and I ended up getting there for nostalgia purposes). Planescape: Torment was another game from Interplay that I ended up really liking. (Was a big fan of Interplay before they fell apart. Icewind Dale is another game I really enjoyed). Not sure much about what Torment will do, but many of the same team that worked on Planescape: Torment are working on this one, so that along makes me excited. I liked the story involved in Planescape: Torment. A lot. The whole atmosphere of the game was just captivating and unique. They can’t use the name Planescape, since that is trademarked by a different company. Heh.
Obduction is made by Cyan, the same company that made Myst. If you know me, then you know I FREAKING LOVED the Myst franchise. Such an amazing franchise, even through the ups and downs. And the books. OMG I loved the Myst books. I loved the Myst books so much, that in 12th grade, we had to write 4 book reports throughout the year. Three of the reports I did, were on each of the Myst books. I think that speaks largely on how much I loved the books, and how awesome my English teacher was. So, now we have a new game by the same company, I’m definitely eager. There’s something really magical about being able to explore a world without a timelimit, and be able to just uncover the secrets the world has. Probably a reason why I enjoy Grow Home and Her Story, and why I’m curious about Everybody’s Gone To the Rapture. So yeah, Obduction will be great. I’ve enjoyed following the development of it through Kickstarter.

Firewatch. This game looks super interesting, and curious, and gorgeous. I am very interested in this game, and I’ve been looking forward to this game for a year or so. The linked trailer is from August 2014, but there’s much more newer stuff available, including some early-game footage, if you’re interested in looking. Another game that I’m excited for just diving in and soaking in the story.

The Witness. This game. I’ve been looking forward to this game for 2-3 years. It is absolutely beautiful adventure game. It looks like a sort of Open World huge Myst-like puzzle game crammed full of puzzles. This is a game by Jonathan Blow, the same guy who made Braid, which was another game I absolutely loved. It was supposed to come out in 2014, but now it’s supposed to come out this year, but I won’t be surprised if it slips to 2016 due to there still not being a release date for it. But the hype is strong with this one, and I’m excited for it.

No Man’s Sky looks interesting. A procedurally generated exploration/adventure game I don’t really know too much about this game, but it looks cool, and will be worth checking out. Look at the graphics. It’s gorgeous. I’ve often said that graphics aren’t the defining aspect of what makes a game good, but there are some games where the game’s emphasis is primarily on exploration, in which case just look at it. Being able to just freely explore a humongous universe that looks just so gorgeous. It just screams out to want to be explored. This game has practically been confirmed to NOT release in 2015, in which case it shouldn’t be on this list, but last I heard was that it was 2015, so it may be, may not be. Probably not. Still keeping it here.

Soft Body by Zeke Virant. I saw this game covered during E3 2015, and it instantly captured my attention.
“You are a beautiful, gooey snake, and you paint the world with your soft body.”
What else can be said?? Check out the linked video.

The Room Three, I just found out about today. While writing up this post. OMG I really liked the first two The Room games. Basically, you have these rooms with puzzle boxes, that you solve the puzzles to open the box, to discover more about what’s going on. It’s really quite mystical and just awesome.

So that’s about it. I probably missed something, but that’s ok. This post is long enough already.

“You don’t have to get every game.” Yeah, I’m aware of that, mother. I don’t get every game. It just so happens that a lot of games are all coming out in the same year that I’m interested in.

I’m not quite sure if that means more amazing games are coming out in 2015, or if it’s just that my taste in games has grown so much over the years to where I am more open to a wider range of games? Probably both. I definitely think “Just SO MANY great games coming out in 2015″ is a primary factor. Although it is also true that my range of games that I’ve come to play and love has dramatically grown over the years. In part due to the increase in the overall increase in quality of games that are released more often, and to it being easier to find, and buy games now, than ever before, with the growth of the internet and dominance of Digital game purchase/download/distribution.

No matter how you look at it, there’s never been a better time to be a gamer, than right now.

Her Story - Game View

I only learned about this game about a month ago, and since then, my hype levels have been off the chart.

It’s always fun anticipating a game, and the closer it gets to release, the more difficult it is to wait. A week. 5 days. 2 days. Tomorrow. 12 hours. 1 hour. Is it out now? Where is it? WHEN?? Why can’t I find it?!

Finally. Downloading. Playing.

So often, a game will fail to truly live up to the anticipation.

But for me, Her Story totally exceeding all my expectations.

You’re at a computer, trying to find search terms to find video clips related to a murder investigation, over a suspect’s interview segments across 7 different days.

The story that you discover has so much subtlety, and slowly unfolds, that you get sucked in, being unsure what’s going on.

“OH!! I totally know what’s going on!”

Haha. No you don’t. You find that one more bit of information, that flips your thoughts entirely.

You learn more, you understand more.

Such a journey.

Such an experience.

This is one of the most satisfying games I’ve played in SUCH a long time. And it makes me want to shout it out to encourage more people to give it a try. I truly think it’s an experience worth trying.

Here's the link where you can purchase it: http://www.herstorygame.com/purchase/