The Batlord

Using all your best Bat-ninja skills one by one as Mr. Freeze stalks you like a shambling sci fi zombie was cool as ****.

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Key

And here we are with part 2 of this wonderful little mini series of discussion about boss fights. Are we onto more parts than this? Well, we'll see. Anything is possible. Anyway, I wanna get right into with certainly one of my more memorable boss fights in gaming. I'm most certainly talking about the Darth Treya fight from Knights of the Old Republic II



While again, it may not be the most absolute difficult boss on this list, it's certainly one that I will remember for years to come. The whole story led to one fight and that in itself is pretty amazing though I wish they would've let you continue onwards. Kind of a dick move to just cut the game there but oh well.

Yeah, I'm trying to keep the amount of Legend of Zelda bosses down to a minimum, but I do want to mention one only because the game is so near and dear to my heart. I'm not talking about the Ganon fight from Breath of the Wild though that one is amazing. I'm instead going to shine some glory to the Ganondorf fight from Wind Waker.



There's just something so magnificent and beautiful about this boss fight. Maybe it's just the fact that it's a full on one on one with Ganondorf, maybe it's the art style. Either way, I remember having a **** ton of fun doing this boss fight because yeah, it was difficult, but in a good way. If you were able to figure out the mechanics, you could beat it. The game itself is amazing but man, to have it lead up to an also amazing boss fight is just a great thing overall. Truly a remarkable game.

And of course, I did mention a Nintendo 64 game before so I do have to mention another one here. And although there are two separate occasions where you race this guy, both are still considered to be some of the hardest boss fights in that time. Yes, I said race. I'm talking about the Wizpig races from Diddy Kong Racing. As far as I'm concerned, both instances where you race Wizpig can be considered boss fights. Maybe that's just me. But I mean c'mon:

Key

It's the first of February everybody and it looks like we've got a brand spankin' new theme month comin. I've talked about open world games in the past with games through other posts, but I don't think I've ever truly dove into the genre itself. Like, what about it do I like and my own personal experience with it. There's so much to open world games and I want to dedicate an entire month to strictly open world games. Sure, I'll be talking about some games I've talked about before but why the hell not? Maybe opinions have changed and it'll be interesting to see some compare and contrast between my previous posts and what I think now.

That, and who doesn't love talking about open world games.

Anyway, look forward to several posts throughout the month. They may be daily, they may not. It really depends. But yes, welcome to the month of February and now we shall look into open world games.

Key

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Yeah, I've probably just about talked this game to death at this point, but I don't know where else to start and I don't think I've played a game that had such a positive effect on a series than this one has. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is the developers finally realizing that they can make this series great again, and they truly have.

While I've not spent a whole lot of time in this game yet, from what I've seen so far, this game is really a treat in and of itself. From the graphics to just the feeling of open-ness and potential danger around every corner. I don't think an open world style game to just hold my hand all the time. I want some aspect of danger and this game certainly brings it.

With the camps you can take on throughout the world to wild animals you can fight, it becomes honestly more fun to go around and just being the bad guy. But be carefully because you'll get a bounty. In my experience though, it's actually a lot of fun to try and lure the bounty hunters and just shoot them with arrows. It's a nice tactic and I get a lot of experience every time.

And yes, the combat is the same style of combat you'd see in Middle Earth: Shadow of War, but it's still got its own unique twist that makes it its own. Like I said, it's the combat style, and it's actually a combat style that I really love and I hope more games continue to use it. It doesn't get stale for me like it does other people. I enjoy being able to fight tons of enemies at one time. Spider-Man also did it great and we'll of course talk about that sometime this month.

When you get through the tutorial and you see the entire world open up, I don't think I've been as impressed with the true open-ness of a game until the map panned out and I saw what I was about to jump into. And again, while I haven't put a lot of time into it, I'm still enjoying going through this large world.

And may I say, the dialogue between the characters is also fantastic. I actually feel connected to the characters on the screen, and sometimes there is some sass thrown around. But with the body movements and the very closely precise mouth movements, it's actually really fun to watch cut-scenes because you don't know what you're going to get into. Again, you can choose to be either good or bad, and it's so much fun switching between the two. Be a saint then just turn around and be a huge dick. The game does it well. It's legitimately fun.

Yeah, I'm definitely happy I decided to give this series a chance again because It's nice to see that developers have started to put a lot more care into their games than they were previously. It's a new world for Assassin's Creed. I'm excited to see what they release in the future. I do still need to play Assassin's Creed Origins but that can wait.

Key

And here we go, finally a time in my journals life where I'll be going really in depth talking about one of my favorite games of all time, Fallout 3. I'm serious, if you were to ask me right now, a year ago, even two years ago, I still would've said that Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of all times. It's switched ranks multiple times throughout the years but it's consistently stayed in my top 3 games I've ever played, and I plan to go into that as much as possible because I feel it's both appropriate and I really want to go in depth as to my experience and the overall feeling I get when I talk about or play Fallout 3.

This will be in multiple parts as I've got a lot to talk about, but I'll start things off easy by simply talking about my own experience and why this game is so near and dear to my heart.

I know this has been said many times before in other posts, hell I've even talked about Fallout 3 specifically before, but up until now, I don't think I had a necessarily dedicated theme month or place to talk about it, and I just figured why not? So, what makes Fallout 3 great? Looking at it from a different perspective, you see a game with not the greatest graphics, but something about it is enticing. I was familiar with Fallout 3 before I had actually played it to completion, but I never really understood it as it was one of my first experiences with a Bethesda style RPG. Hell, I didn't even know who Bethesda was. But the game looked like it could be fun and around the time I started playing it, I was heavily getting into these style of games, so it fit perfectly.

When I started it up (I was on PC at the time) the age of the game showed right away with it being programmed to use Windows Games Live or whatever it's called. So, from the get go, modding was necessary. You have to get both a mod to bypass the Windows Live sign in and you have to download a patch which allows the game to play longer than 10 minutes before it crashes. Once you do that little bit of troubleshooting, Fallout 3 opens up. And it opens up as you as a child, your first look into what you're about to get into.

The opening dialogue with your father and your journey through the vault is definitely something I'll remember though I'm not really surprised to see that other Fallout games have gone this route as well. I mean, it makes sense. The world is in its own post apocalypse, so of course you need shelter. Go through the quests in the vault and you can finally get out into the once lively Washington D.C.

Again, before I had played this game, I had seen some images of Washington D.C. in Fallout 3, but I didn't realize just to the extent of what I'd be seeing in this game. Of course, the game doesn't start you right in the middle of the mall, no, you're met with a vast dead world just waiting for you to explore it. And on I went.

One of the first things I walked up on was the town of Megaton, which if you've played Fallout 3 before, you'll know why this place is so great. Long story short, Megaton seized to exist on my first playthrough.



What I love about this particular scene in the game is the fact that it's really giving you a good idea as to why kind of decisions you can make and the people you'll meet in the world. This of course led me to one of my favorite locations in Fallout 3, Tenpenny Tower.



I love this place. I loved going through another playthrough and sniping Allistair Tenpenny at the top without him even realizing I was there. But on my first playthrough, I decided to make Tenpenny Tower my home. I didn't let the ghouls take it because...well I wanted it. And just in general, this building is just an awesome building to explore, while there isn't a whole lot left to look at once you explore it. But I also enjoy going out to the deck on the top floor and just looking out. Again, realizing the true vastness of this game.

Admittedly, the game can seem desolate at times, but that's exactly what I want in a post apocalyptic game. I don't want an experience like Fallout 4 where the game feels lively and growing. That's not Fallout to me. Fallout to me is the feeling of angst and depression as you walk through the ruins of D.C. and look at all the historical landmarks post-apocalypse. Lincoln without his head is one worth mentioning, but there's another one that gave me chills the first time I ever saw it.



Yessir, I'm talking about the White House. You can find it in Fallout 3, or at least what's left of it. Which is nothing at all. But if you make your way into the crater, you'll be met with a Fat Man and some nukes. Get your radiation suit though, you'll need it. I think just the thought of the White House being completely destroyed in the war is enough to fill me with dread, but in a good way. I legit was in this one location for quite some time, and I always went back. There's a lot to be said when a game can create a particular atmosphere much like this one.

That's Fallout 3 in general though, the atmosphere. I don't think I would've nearly enjoyed this game as much as I did if it weren't for the depressing atmosphere that filled you over and over again. However, we'll be getting into that in more depth in part 2. But to end this part on a high note, Fallout 3 is not only my favorite Fallout game in the series, but it's the one game that I will always say needs a true remaster. I'd play the **** out of it. Hell, I'd play the **** out of it now.

Key

While I may have already mentioned the White House in the previous post, I wanted to talk more about the Washington D.C. mall and my experience upon arriving there for the first time. Fallout 3 certainly captivated me from the start with its honest vastness, but when you make your way into the centerpiece of the game, it blows you away in a way that only a game of this caliber can do. I just remember taking everything in and looking around me noticing burned down buildings and structures that had to be fixed and used for other things. For example, the Washington Memorial is used for as a satellite to transmit radio broadcasts. It's also gotten severe damage throughout.



It's just amazing and remarkable what the atmosphere can do to a city you know pretty well. I think this resonates with me in this way because I actually saw the Washington Memorial in person. I've been to D.C. so playing this game was sort of surreal to me in a way.

I mentioned in the previous post about the Lincoln Memorial and its missing head, well, yes, it is a thing. Check this out:



The first thing I thought about doing when I walked into the mall for the first time is "I should find the Lincoln Memorial". Though when I went there, I was evidently unprepared. But eventually I got up close enough to realize that the head was missing. Nice touch, Bethesda. But yes, it's pretty striking to see such a beautiful structure in real life be resulted to a pile of trash. And yes, there is a way to get the head back.

I still remember trying to actually walk slowly through the D.C. mall for the first time in this game because I genuinely wanted to take everything in. I mean it when I say that this game had an effect on me like most other games have not been able to do. Not all, but most. Fallout 3 is just a beauty to play and honestly, the outdated graphics give it that extra charm that makes it the unique beast that it is.

One of the cooler parts about the D.C. mall is the potential to find other things within it. Like going to the Museum of Technology and try to loot those places. But when I walked into the Underworld for the first time, I was thrown back by the fact that there were ghouls living down here. And they were all so chill too. I decided to just keep neutral with these ones because they were extremely helpful. But god damn, this place looks beautiful.



I thoroughly enjoyed walking around this place specifically because of the dark sense of emotion it brought. A world beneath the dead world full of ghouls. Brilliantly done.

And that's about the most I can remember about my first time walking into the Washington D.C. mall in Fallout 3. I know it was a pretty cool moment for a lot of people but it especially resonated with me again, because I've been to Washington D.C. in person. We'll be continuing to talk about more of my personal experience with Fallout 3 in the next part or two. I just wanted to talk about this beautiful center piece in this game on its own.

The Batlord

Washington DC was definitely the best open world thing Fallout ever did but the entire world of New Vegas felt so much more realized and like a wild west hellhole. Fallout 3's world was so much more nondescript and everything was the same.

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Key

Now, when it comes to other locations in Fallout 3 that I remember pretty vividly, the little city that was on the boat was one that probably carried the most weight. I genuinely enjoyed talking to the people inside the structure and getting to know them. It was like they lived in a completely separate world apart from the dead world on the outside. I probably spent the most time there doing quests and all that good stuff, and again, genuinely enjoyed it. But that's pretty much easy to say about the whole game in general. I explored pretty much everything that I could in this game and I did much the same in Fallout 4. And yes, there is a lot to explore.

There is something specifically that did have a pretty eery effect on me though, and that's probably due to the fact that it's literally a cemetery, but god damn Bethesda did this cemetery so respectfully that it was genuinely an interesting time exploring the lone house on the hill. Be warned though, when I went in there for the first time, I didn't have the internet to tell me what to expect because I didn't want anything spoiled, but man, good ****.

Anyway:



Walking into the Arlington Cemetery for the first time when you've already been walking through the post apocalypsed world around you, it certainly leaves an uneasy feeling that even though the world is dead, these people were already dead before it and they have no reason to believe anything happened. It's also crazy to think that there are potentially bodies underneath the ground that you're walking on, but maybe that's just me and my silly paranoia. Either way, I loved walking through here for the first time because it genuinely felt terrifying and it did leave a feeling of unease.

Another location that I do want to just briefly mention is the whole sequence of you being trapped inside of an old 1940's esque neighborhood. Yes, I'm talking about this one:



Good ol' Tranquility Lane. Where everything seems innocent up until you realize what you've gotten yourself into. I loved this part in the game because it was riddled with such nonsense behavior that it was genuinely enjoyable watching everything unfold and fall apart. And of course the added benefit of finding your dad but y'know, whatever. I wish they would expand on this idea some more because it's genuinely a really good one and it was implemented into the story so well. It didn't really feel random or anything like that.

Otherwise, I just sort of went on my own way and explored as much of the map as I could. Seeing all the museums, going into every building and seeing everything the game had to offer. Fighting bandits and all that good stuff were really fun but just the exploration of Washington D.C. in ruins is just its own reward. Probably in the next part I'll be talking about the DLC's that I enjoyed the most. And once that's done I'm thinking we'll wrap up Fallout 3 and push onwards.

Zhanteimi

Did you ever play BG2 back before Steam? Just wondering, and hoping that if you did you played some of my NPC mods, like Yasraena, Saerileth, or Tsujatha. Even Willie Bruce is good for a laugh!

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Key

I feel it. I've agreed with you on this before, I just prefer Fallout 3 since it was my first Fallout experience.

I didn't but now I need to.