savedatamemory404

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As I played through Dragon Age: The Veilguard I kept thinking about the criticism it was getting for everyone getting along too well, weak writing, not enough "mean" or "bad" choices. And I kept coming back to a particular thought. Veilguard is about hope.

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Drova, surviving the Land of Legends with earplugs

🎮 Highlight from recent Drova - Forsaken Kin gameplay! Minor mechanics and exploration spoilers ahead.

While out exploring near the Remnants' Camp, I stumbled upon a corpse tucked away amidst some cliffs. Naturally, I raided the poor sod’s pockets and found… earplugs. The description read:

“Some noise just hurts. These wax plugs help with that.”

I equipped the earplugs, which slotted into the helmet gear slot. They muffled the game’s sound effects! Ambient sounds and footsteps were augmented because of it. I adore this attention to detail. Nifty, but I soon removed them.

Later, I went to harvest an unfamiliar plant, and it turned out to be a Mandragora (mandrake). I uprooted it and it flew around screaming at me. Painfully so. Fucker took 80% of my health in one go! After a couple failed attempts at shooting it out of the air, I recalled the earplugs and equipped them. Just like that, I approached the Mandragora, and it opened dialogue/action options to interact with the ugly little critter.

I’ve run into and promptly run away from a couple Harpies. Like a dolt, I curiously followed the sound of singing until I saw the flutter of wings at the edge of the screen. Nope! When I go back to take down a Harpy, I’ll make sure to put the earplugs in.

Curiously, helmets and hats are cosmetic only without any stat effects. The straw hat given to me by a farmer indicated as much. The earplugs, however, did not have this noted in its description and also use the helmet slot. So far, I’ve only come across earplugs from that corpse, but maybe they show up in a shop elsewhere. This is the kind of exploration and creativity I love to see in an RPG. It rewards interacting with the world and rewards giving things a try without beating you over the head with what you’re supposed to do. Thanks Just2D!

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Drova - Gritty and Delightfully Whimsical

🎮 I have been playing Drova - Forsaken Kin on SteamDeck and wow is it hard to put back down once I start a session. A 2d pixel RPG in the spirit of the Gothic games and Risen.

It’s old school, but not a pain in the ass. It’s difficult, but not punishing and unfair. It’s gritty, but delightfully whimsical.

The following contains minor gameplay spoilers.

Piss off certain NPCs and they might beat you up, withhold training, or not help you further. I kept picking the “grunts” dialogue option to a guy that only grunted at me. After a few grunts he trounced me!

I can pet every cat and dog I come across and interacting with them may have surprising benefits. One cat coughed up a ring in a hairball for me. How nice!

The world takes the plot seriously, but the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some of the NPCs, dialogue, and item descriptions are just plain silly. I even went on a crazy bender with a warrior and woke up in an animal pen missing all my gear. Cheers!

Only ten hours in across three play sessions and I’m hooked. Each time I think I’m going to save and put the game down, I end up down a rabbit hole of finding out what’s along this path, or completing a quest, or reaching a new settlement, or going back to smack around some bandits that I had to run away from earlier.

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Blogging to Remember

I live in the moment, stress about the future, and dwell on the past. Most notably, I’m terribly forgetful. I remember in broad strokes rather than in details. The name of that restaurant in that one city, a character’s name in beloved media, or the year something occurred — these details often elude me.

I’m blogging to remember. Welcome to Save Data, my personal blog. Largely focused on video games, movies and television series, books, Dungeons and Dragons, places I’ve been, food I enjoy, my two dogs, and miscellaneous musings.

The goal is to write “in the moment” — or near enough — before the moment becomes faded memory.

Memory 404