Pokemon Unite

Seriously, blink and it's already mid November!!! It's been, like, six months since my last entry and I have temporarily left the Witcher world behind (though I will no doubt be getting back into it next month when Season 2 of the Netflix series starts). So no more Gwent and no more Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

Instead, I've been playing Pokemon Unite, which has the potential of being a great MOBA but, right now, it is just kinda okay. The problem with it is that if you play solo (since I have no friends who are on call 24/7 to team up with me) you can queued into all sorta nonsense and I get extremely rage-y if my (random) teammates are a bunch of morons who don't know how to play (or just bots). 

Still, when things go the right way, it's really fun. Also, unlike Gwent, there is no pressure to play regularly in order to stay in the same rank. 

Meanwhile, have finally swapped my BlackBerry Key2 LE for the new Google Pixel 6 Pro ... it's great to have a powerful main phone again so I don't need to carry, like, three phones all the time. 

Taking next week off work ... time to ponder the future... 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Revisited (Part 4)

 

Here is Geralt looking fine in his traditional Skellige outfit. Have just completed the first main quest there so he is now at level 70 BUT still not strong enough to take that enemy swamp in the Hearts of Stones (Rose on the Red Field) side quest. May try again at level 75 ... what a grind !!!  and after several (10?) attempts I finally completed the Rose on the Red Field side quest in Hearts of Stone. The trick is to lure them to a spot where they just run into one another (or don't attack at the same time!) I think I used that for another fight in Blood and Wine too. Geralt is now at level 71 (!)

But I don't think I will try the frog prince quest just yet (I will probably need to level up some more for that one). So maybe I will do a few more quests in Skellige first or in Novigrad or even Velen. Actually this part of the game is quite fun since I can just jump from one storyline to another to get to know the Witcher world better (Post-Wild Hunt world is quite empty and sad!!!)  

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Revisited (Part 3)

Second playthrough, as it turns out, isn't as tedious as I thought it'd be (which is great) cos I can replay the main quests in Velen, Novigrad and Skellige in any order and, in doing so, levelling up Geralt to the point where he is strong enough to take on enemies in Hearts of Stone.  

So I decided to go straight to Novigrad (after the first Keira Metz quest, which is fun) and do the Whoreson Junior/Dandelion/Triss quests first, before sailing off to Skellige to meet Yennefer. Hoping to skip Velen (for now) -- cos getting the "good" ending for the Bloody Baron quest is quite time consuming -- and still able to get Geralt to level 70+. Also, this time Geralt will romance with Triss instead of Yen.

I'm now trying to do the Extremely Confusing "Get Junior" and "The Gangs of Novigrad" quests without getting a "fail" ... and this is what I am going to do:

1) Start the Get Junior quest first: find Whoreson Junior hideout;

2) visit Arena next, before speaking to Cleaver to avoid failing the arena quest (in The Gangs of Novigrad later). Here is the tricky bit, has to go to The Nowhere waterhole first to find a certificate that allows Geralt to enter the Arena.  

3) do Not read the documents x 2 (but read the mysterious letter)... note there is one (temporary?) "failed" mission (not finding info on Whoreson Jnr in Casino), which I hope the next step will redress;

4) now go and visit Cleaver and trigger the raid the Casino quest (without triggering the Arena one, which is completed already)

5) raid the casino with the dwarves, return to Cleaver and complete The Gangs of Novigrad with no fails!! 

6) continue Get Junior quest and get to his hideout -- do NOT enter from the front, go round the back instead and there is a stable of sorts and enter the grounds from there. From then on just kill all his henchmen, hear out Ciri's story (I LOVE using Ciri dash) and then KILL Whoreson Junior. If you don't kill him, then you get a RED X ... I actually wanted to spare his life in this playthru but ... not at the cost of a RED X!

So, all done! *clap*

Meanwhile, Roach needs a trophy so Geralt sailed off to Skellige and killed a Fiend (at level 84, I think). This is quite a tough monster fight if you went in with no preparation ... so I made sure Geralt had all the right potions (this is why I think the Alchemy build is THE BEST) and kept spamming Igni until the beast died. Above is the photo of Victory!!!

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Revisited (Part 2)

I have NO idea why I thought enemy levels in NG+ (expansion) was going to be around 60 ... cos it is not!!! After completing the chapter in Vizima in the base game -- that is when Hearts of Stone becomes accessible -- enemy levels spiked to 80+ !! !! !! Which means they are way above my Geralt's level (almost 60), rendering this expansion totally unplayable (Geralt just gets OHKO without quen, even with top gear and skill tree almost maxed). 

What a bummer and disappointment! So basically the game just wants players to re-play the base game until Geralt reaches around level 80 before attempting HoS. 

But I don't want to replay the base game !! 😕

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Revisited

So, here is a thought.

Maybe I should replay the Hearts of Stone expansion in New Game+ as a separate standalone playthrough. That is, I won't keep or accumulate anything from this playthrough for the main game/save (which I will keep separately); neither will I carry over anything from my main save to this NG+ file (to make Geralt's life a bit more challenging). He will only be wearing the Ornate and Manticore sets.

Geralt's level is currently 56 so should be okay to tackle enemies that start at level 62. 

Just updated my "Flavour of the Week"... Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is still up there (one of my all time fav games!)  Final Fantasy XV and World of Final Fantasy are both long overdue new entries ... and I suddenly have the urge to play Final Fantasy XII again (it is being voted recently, yes, in 2021, as one of players' fav FF games) but I have completely forgotten the super-fun battle mechanics (and I am close to reaching the end of the Trial Mode dungeon). Oh, lemme checking my last Save ... brb

WOW, I am actually just five battles away from completing Trial Mode; and my party is up against the Ultimate esper/ summon, which I recall is a pain in the a**. Hmm, wonder if I should actually quit the dungeon now cos there is absolutely NO WAY I can beat anything without reacquainting myself with the battle system. Also any items gained from Stage 90 onwards I cannot keep. But returning to the main game means starting the story all over again... will have a think on how to move forward. 

Got back into FFXV last week while vacationing ... now waiting for the (collectors') guide I ordered from Amazon... its ability tree looks extremely complicated. The problem with this game is that all the side quests are not particularly interesting. And I want to level up a bit more before jumping back into the main story. 

Meanwhile have decided not to play ranked in Gwent cos there are just so many toxic players around. If can't beat them, join them ... so I have come up with a Neutral deck that is quite good for trolling on the ladder LOL  

World of Final Fantasy Part 2

First post of 2021 (!) and we return to a game that I bought and wrote about back in 2018 ... (just checked my blog history, the two years sandwiched in between these two posts I spent much of my time playing Final Fantasy XII and The Witcher games, mostly cos I bought the Nintendo Switch). 

The World of Final Fantasy is one of those games that I find hard to get into (at the beginning anyway)... don't know exactly the reason (maybe cos it targets the younger demographic?) ... but, yes, I played it for awhile then I put it down for months/ years. I recently picked it up again cos I think I odd to give it another go and even maybe finish it.  

(I think this title -- and perhaps Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (Koei) -- are the last games I am gonna play on the PS Vita. I'm finishing one more route on Steins;Gate on my PSP also).   

I actually got a lot further in the game than I remember... I think I now only have a few more chapters to go. But I was just checking out my setups for Lann and Reynn ... and they are a bit all over the place. I don't blame my (old) self though, cos the battle mechanism actually has a bit of depth to it and, for some reason, I repeated/doubling certain skills instead of maximising all the ability slots. Never mind.. still has a fair way to go till the final boss and it's better late than never in realising my mistakes!

Just picked up the Stealth skill, which minimises monster encounter (which can get v tiring ... and perhaps that was why I had to put down the game cos of the grinding...) I'm levelling up Shiva and Ifrit cos I kinda like them ... I just hope they are strong enough to carry me through the game, right to the end... I don't really wanna try out other monsters (no, I don't wanna catch 'em all!) 

On the yoga front, I think I will focus on the split and maybe returning to learning the handstand now that my shoulders are regaining some strength and flexibility ...Been listening to this album a lot ... Belinda Carlisle really has a fantastic vocal.

PS just saw that my first ever blog post features my pet dog Batman, who just a few days left us and has gone onto doggie heaven... he may be gone but not forgotten!!