#like. really just the names they used in the game too like niflheim.. norse mythology.

[noxtivagus]

randomly thinking of ffxv n it influenced me sm fr i love the character's names so much

[spielcave]

God of War Valhalla DLC (Aka, 'Kratos and Mimir go on a bro trip that ends up being Therapy')

Just wanted to start by saying thank whatever is out there for Santa Monica Studios, for their phenomenal work into giving Kratos some much needed development and exploring his complexity. I'll explore this game in subsequent posts and maybe any suggestions you're welcome to shoot my way.

Spoilers ahead!

I think it's a testament to how beloved the Norse games have been through the amount of cheering the second Kratos came on the screen during the reveal trailer for Valhalla, Mimir in tow. After rewatching the "Raising Kratos" Documentary on YT, I know the team at Santa Monica Studios really feel the love from their fans. If they intend to make a game about Kratos going to another mythology, I really hope Mimir is with him. It's clear they've gotten very close between 2018 and Ragnarök with how at ease and personal they get, especially since I'm pretty sure if Kratos left him with Freya, she's likely to 'misplace' him in the Lake of Nine. I found the different difficulty settings interesting when you first chose Valhalla at the main menu. I started on the 3rd (the very middle) and am currently working my up when I feel it's getting to hard. Right now I'm at the one right before "Show Me Mastery" (the names escape me lol). I'm not expert at Rogue-Likes, but the consensus I seem to see is that the gameplay of God of War really lends itself well to the style of game. And what a genius way to utilize what was previously, I felt, an underused character, Tyr! Even when you free him in Niflheim, I feel I was waiting for him to do more outside the post-story interactions you get to get glimpses to his character (and potentially hint and later games). Him being Kratos' therapist is really demonstrates how similar they both are, how strong Tyr is, and what we can hopefully see Kratos grow into moving forward. As someone who recently started therapy around the same time as this DLC came out, I couldn't help but feel connected to Kratos myself. Especially Mimir. I, too, have been trying to improve from someone I wasn't proud of and as a result I'm too hard on myself sometimes. It limits me from achieving personal acceptance, like I don't deserve the good things in my life. What this game puts Kratos (and myself by proxy) through, is how to accept his actions, his mistakes. To acknowledge who we were and to not let it stop us from embracing the chances to do better. Now, you don't have to have killed entire pantheons, your family, and plunge a society into destruction with mountains of innocent lives at your feet... but I think we can agree that kind of message resonates. The scene where he sees his younger self in that throne just HITS. Kratos admonishes his past self for doing such awful things and being such an awful person... but also accepting him/himself to be more complex than that, he always has been. In a way, it sticks it to the people who said (prior to the 2018 game) that God of War is just about over the top violence, blood, tits, gore, more blood is missing the forest for the trees. They're big trees, sure, but not the whole forest. There was always more to Kratos that violence and the hack and slash genre, dude is a massive greek tragedy. And in Norse, he's putting Hero's Journeys like he was born for it.

The side conversations with Mimir hit me the hardest, grappling with your own self esteem when you feel you aren't enough for our loved ones, hearing about he and Sigrun first met, how utter in love he was with her throughout the last two games and here. It strikes a familiar cord... which is why I'm so glad he was able to let go so she can find herself in the end and the support he has from Kratos. We talk about all the time how the wise and loving decision is usually to let go (as it is!), but I think it must be said how hard it can be. It's the right choice, ultimately, but damn if isn't difficult to actually get there. I think my take away has been more of an affirmation that letting go is what I need to do, and the way to help ease the transition is to make sure I have a support system and learn to love time with myself in order to value my own merits, even if I have shortcomings. "Does she not deserve the smartest man alive?" CHILLS On a less serious note, it's good to see Freya out and about! Finding her freedom and stepping up as a leader for the 9 realms. It's good to see that post story, she does care about the both of them. Maybe they parted ways for a bit as Freya takes a more public role in organizing her council, but their journeys (which we can assume all side objectives you can do with her are canon) brought more than a professional connection. Like,

(sorry for shit quality) Totally gives off "Wife found Husband doing something reckless/stupid" vibes. And I'll admit, I am like... 85% if not 90% on the Kraya/Freytos/Warflower train. Baldur's death really does weigh on my mind when I think about Freya and Kratos as a pairing. And I do also like the idea of them being good friends as time goes on. Not to mention Kratos likely still holds Faye close and Freya's last marriage was fuckin bonkers. But I still do like to see these grieving parents, comrades at arms, finding a home in each other, a connection that makes each one feel safe, real, and loved. Not without bumps in the road, but they'd make an awesome power couple. And the shameless smut, but it goes without saying. Oh and whatever reaction it would get from Atreus would be hilarious.

In the end, this DLC really leaves me wanting more, theorizing where the story goes from here. I see a lot of people throwing out ideas on what mythologies they go to next, who's our next playable character. I feel it's still gonna be Kratos, but I also feel it has to make sense to his story. He's become very developed in this DLC, when you have a character who becomes so developed, there is little room/reason to really keep telling their story, at least in a way that can translate to an action pact video game epic. The only thing I can think of for Kratos, is we get to see him follow through with his development. And that, my friends, is another post. Until then! I hope enjoyed my ramblings!

[fanfic-collection]

Beach Fun: Loki x Reader - Pt 2

Eww... this is back when I still used (Y/n), I apologize, that’ll change once I start writing again.

(The name of the ghosts are based off something I saw on TV that might have had something to do with Norse mythology, but I don't really remember. Also, the description of the realm is inaccurate but I wanted to use the name.)

Suddenly Tony’s voice came from beside you, “Alright lovebirds, let’s stop making googly eyes at each other and go eat dinner, I’m starved.”

Loki raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, “You’re one to talk, metal man.” He indicated Katie who up until moments ago had been clinging to Tony’s arm.

“What can I say, the ladies love me.”

Loki rolled his eyes, “Shall we?” He murmured as he turned to you, all previous embarrassment gone and once more the picture of suave sophistication.

Katie received a phone call just then, urgently sending her back to the office. Loki and the other Avengers assured her that you would be in good hands and would be able to return you late tonight. After dinner, the Avengers intended to go to Tony’s beach house. It was a twenty minute drive from here and also on the beach, but that section was completely private. They had only come here because this was Tony’s favorite seafood restaurant. A coincidence you couldn’t be happier about.

Normally the dress code for the Piscis was black tie, but as the owner, Tony had a special exception made for your group.

You were pleased to have had the foresight to pack a tank top and beach towel wrap for around your waist. Natasha wore a similar outfit, while the guys simply put on t-shirts after wiping off the last traces of sand.

Dinner went marvelously and you managed to endear yourselves to the others for they eagerly invited you back for the bonfire and s’mores. Loki couldn’t have looked more pleased to learn he was spending more time with you. Eventually Tony even offered you the couch, or one of the guest rooms, to crash on.

You gladly accepted, resting your hand on Loki’s thigh under the table and squeezing lightly.

The look he gave you when he glanced down sent shivers up your spine.

You knew you were playing with fire, but the brightness of this flame was too much, and you were more than willing to get burnt if it meant spending just a little longer with this god.

After dinner, everyone piled into the stretch convertible for the short ride to Tony’s beach house. You were squished in between Loki and Thor in the very back. Loki wrapped his arm around your shoulder. From time to time, Natasha would cast you a curious glance.

“So lady (Y/n), what do you do for a living?” Thor asked over the loud rush of air.

“Oh, I work as an accountant for a small law firm with Katie, my friend who was here earlier.” You added, in case they forgot.

Thor nodded eagerly, seeming fascinated by this. Loki was looking at you just as curiously, apparently it wasn’t a traditional job in Asgard. You went on to explain more of it, the two Asgardians questioning you in detail. Steve ended up interjecting a few times during the discussion.

“Alright, interrogation over everyone.” Tony shouted from the front seat. You hadn’t even noticed the car coming to a stop.

Loki stepped out first before offering you his hand to help you to your feet.

“Quite the gentleman.” You mumbled with a blush, though you spoke quietly so no one else could hear.

Loki smirked. “For a lovely lady, of course.”

“Well after earlier…” You started off slowly. Loki’s face straightened and his eyes darkened in upset. You noticed the faint red of embarrassment on his face. “Relax, I’m just teasing.” You quickly added, smiling as you lightly elbowed him in the ribs.

Loki frowned ruefully, then his eyes seemed to sparkle with mischief. “Careful darling.” He said leaning forward until he was speaking in your ear, “I’m the god of mischief, it’s not nice to tease.”

You ducked back, heart racing, but pleased that you were able to goad him. “I’ll keep that in mind.” You winked.

Loki’s mouth dropped open in surprise before quickly returning to that near permanent smirk that you couldn’t help love.

“Oi! Lovebirds!” Tony yelled from the rear of the car. “Well just you reindeer.” Loki scowled at the name. “Quit flirting with your girlfriend and help bring this crap inside.”

Loki quickly walked away and began helping the others unload the car.

“Well aren’t you interesting.” Natasha said, appearing beside you with arms crossed. She tilted her head to the side as she studied you. You hesitated for words. The beautiful spy was a source of great intrigue for the general populace and you admired her greatly. You couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. Before you could speak, Natasha patted your arm. “Don’t worry, that’s a good thing. Curious taste in guys though.”

You laughed weakly as you watched Loki carry a few suitcases inside the large ranch style house.

The back of the house faced towards the beach, so from here, you couldn’t see what it looked like. This side had a front porch and looked very cozy. It had two floors and though the exterior was more rustic, you had a feeling that Tony Stark would’ve ensured the interior was anything but. The house was set deep into a large wooded area, working as a great natural barrier for privacy. The tree line pushed up to the very edge of the coast, before cutting off abruptly to a large swath of sandy beach.

The sun was almost completely set facing the front of the house, so the sunrise over the ocean in the back would be gorgeous; should you be awake to see it.

Suddenly Natasha elbowed you, “Let’s go get blankets. The bonfire site is back on the beach, after the guys are finished bringing everything inside, they can help with the fire.”

You nodded eagerly and did as she said.

You were right about the inside being luxurious and there was enough space for everyone to have their own room, even you. The room you were staying in was a spare in case Pepper came to visit and didn’t feel like sharing with Tony.

The bedrooms were all on the upstairs level, the main being devoted to a large living/cinematic style movie room, an enormous kitchen, a regular seating area, a foyer, a dining room, and a game room – complete with pool table and air hockey.

You gazed around in awe as Natasha led you through to the backdoor, down a short rocky path and to the beach. Just a short distance away was a blackened fire pit with wooden benches circled around it.

Bruce and Clint were in the process of dragging branches from near the house and down to the pit. You and Natasha carefully set the blankets down on the benches, mindful of the ever-present sand. A short while later, the other Avengers joined you and the wood pile was alive and blazing.

“Mind if I sit beside you?” Loki asked quietly.

You beamed up at him before sliding over and patting the bench. “I’d love it.” Then you lifted your blanket. “Want to share?”

Loki grinned back at you before sitting down and joining you under the warm cotton material.

“Alright!” Tony leapt up, startling Bruce who had been quietly enjoying staring at the flames. “First ghost and other scary stories, then s’mores. Any objections?”

Natasha and Clint shared a bench beside Tony and Bruce, then Steve and Thor, and finally you and Loki. The group made up a half circle around the fire with you and Loki closest to the ocean and Tony and Bruce nearer the house.

Tony started off with a gore filled story about the ghost of a dead axe man. Bruce attempted to explain ‘spooky action’ theory but Clint immediately got bored and yelled for something more exciting. Natasha started to relay a story about a Russian scientist who had committed all sorts of atrocities while studying his patients. You shuddered in horrified disgust the longer it went.

As she neared the end, or so you prayed, you felt a warm arm wrap around you. Loki pulled you tighter against his side and allowed you to huddle against him.

“Thanks.” You mumbled when she finally finished.

“That was real?” Steve asked slowly.

Natasha nodded, though remained quiet.

Clint squeezed her knee and whispered something quietly under his breath until she started smiling again.

“Uh, your turn Steve.” Tony finally mumbled, trying to get images of the scientist out of his head.

Steve told a more traditional ghost story that ended with him shouting ‘boo!’ causing everyone to jump and then laugh at the relative silliness of it. Then it was Thor’s turn.

“Brother, we should tell of the beasts on Niflheim.” He said, turning to Loki.

Loki frowned uncertainly before glancing down at you. “Are you sure? After Lady Natasha’s delightful rendition, I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

Thor frowned, pouting his lip out, “Please Loki? You always love this story.”

Tony glanced between the brothers. “Is it really scary?” He asked.

Loki nodded uncomfortably.

“It’s terrifying!” Thor cut in.

Smirking, Tony nodded at Loki’s arm wrapped around your shoulder, “Rock of ages is just afraid it’ll scare his new girlfriend.”

Everyone turned to look at you. You sat up straighter and looked at Loki who was eyeing you just as intently.

“It’s just a story. I’m fine. Let’s hear it.” You demanded, looking between the brothers.

Loki sighed, “Very well Thor, you start.”

Thor nodded eagerly. “It’s called the draugr. They’re a type of fallen warrior who feel that they have failed their task in life.” He glanced at Loki.

“Monstrous creatures.” Loki agreed and nodded for Thor to continue.

“They are creatures born of darkness and despair. Much like your Midgardian ghosts. They rise in the same armour they fell in, but they no longer resemble the person they once were. Their eyes are replaced with pools of fire, their skin grey and gaunt, and their breathing is ragged and sounds like moans. They look and sound like the very grave itself.”

As Thor continued to describe the ghost warriors in eerie detail, you felt hairs on the back of your neck rising. Once or twice, you swore you heard the creak of leather, and clank of metal, the armour of the forsaken warriors. You tried to glance over your shoulder several times, but Loki’s protective arm hindered you from moving. You took solace in noting that the Avengers were also trying to hide their own apprehensive looks. Loki chimed in with Thor’s description from time to time as a light breeze picked up from the ocean. During one particularly strong wind, you swore you heard a faint moan.

“So we were on Niflheim, trekking across the shadowy wastes. Only the dead and a few master craftsmen reside there. Odin needed us to obtain a rare cloth from these crafters so it was imperative that we make decent time.”

Loki took up the story, “The Bifrost touched down and we started hurrying along. It’s perpetually night there, with only the faintest starlight to see by. Somehow great trees still manage to thrive and catch the wind in the most disconcerting of ways.”

You glanced over at the forest near the beach house and the dark trees suddenly looked far more sinister.

“At the time, we didn’t know it, but we were passing the site of a massive battleground, empty for centuries but no less at war. The dragur clash constantly throughout the night and day, never able to rest for they have failed their mission.” Loki nodded for Thor to continue.

“Luckily we got to the craftsmen without incident, only ever hearing faint screams at night when we were forced to make camp for the evening. It was the last night that we were there, just another couple miles to the Bifrost. We decided not to have a fire that night, simply sleep long enough to be rested, then leave. Our nerves were already frayed to the tips and none of us had slept well for the several days we were there, but we were too exhausted to try and push through. So I lay down for sleep that night, Loki on first watch, and I’m deep asleep instantly. But that world’s trees seem to whisper as their branches wave and claw at one another so you can’t truly find rest.”

Loki continued, “We had no fire, but I can see quite well in the dark and I didn’t mind it, though I too was exhausted by this point. The constant chills up your spine, the whispers, the fatigue of wanting to spin around at every noise even when it’s coming from every direction… I prayed my watch would end soon and I could have some sort of reprieve in the quasi sleep we had in that world. Then the most disturbing thing from our entire trip happened.” Like a truly expert storyteller, Loki paused.

You could hear everyone holding their breath as they waited for him to continue. It didn’t quite register, but the whole area now seemed silent, even the crashing waves seemed to have stopped.

“What happened?” Steve asked in a hushed voice.

“Silence. Complete and utter silence. There was no wind, no screams, nothing. Just me and Thor. My pulse raced, you know what they say, the calm before the storm. I tore myself free of the almost spell like silence and desperately shook Thor awake.” Loki nodded at Thor.

“I woke with a jolt as Loki stared at me with wide eyes, clearly terrified. I struggled to wake up completely, hardly noticing the silence. Then suddenly the whole ground was shaking, the trees, everything. There was a loud piercing scream and-“

Clint shrieked, falling off the bench. A tall black figure, looking perfectly like the described dragur appeared behind him and let out a deep roar. Your scream quickly joined his as Natasha spun around, ready to defend herself.

Then the terrifying apparition was gone, the black figure disappearing in a glow of green.

Thor burst out laughing. Loki smiled weakly before looking down at you apologetically.

“What the hell?” Natasha yelled at Loki before kneeling down to check on Clint.

“What was that for?” Bruce growled, only just able to contain himself.

“(Y/n) is shaking.” Steve pointed out angrily. You were indeed, though you tried to hide it as you moved away from Loki.

He looked down at you sadly, reaching out to touch your shoulder then pulled away when he saw your glare. “I told you I didn’t want to tell the damned story.” Loki grumbled.

“That was really irresponsible, what if Bruce had lost control?” Steve continued.

Thor’s smile vanished and Loki noticeably stiffened at the mention of the hulk.

“Forgive us, Loki said he didn’t want to and I made him anyways. Apologies my friends, do not blame Loki, it was my idea.” Thor raised his hands placating to everyone.

Clint was finally waking back up.

“Couldn’t you have told it without the thing at the end?” Bruce asked.

Thor frowned thoughtfully and glanced at Loki.

Loki finally looked away from you. “Perhaps. That’s the only way I’ve ever done it though.”

“Well I have a story!” You straightened up and announced. “It’s the story of Tony Stark going inside and getting s’mores mixings.” At first the others looked like they were going to protest a story, but when they heard your suggestion, there was soft laughter and everyone agreed.

Tony grudgingly got to his feet and made his way inside. Thor volunteered to make amends and hurried after.

“I’m sorry.” Loki muttered, having moved away from you so you had space.

You sighed and ran your hand through your hair, “No, I get it. Your big brother wanted you to help him with something and you couldn’t say no.”

Loki sighed, “Well perhaps I should have tried harder.”

You smiled ruefully and nodded, “Yea, well, here’s to peer pressure.” You lifted up the blanket again and motioned for Loki to move towards you again.

Loki eyed you uncertainly for a moment before smiling and sliding over. “I’m not doing that well at endearing myself to you, am I?” He mused quietly.

You shook your head and chuckled, “Not really.” You agreed, “But I can see you’re trying.” You took his hand in yours and laced your fingers around his.

Loki smiled as he stroked your hand with his thumb. “Well that’s a second time I’ve made a fool of myself around you.”

“Wow, I feel really special.” You beamed at him then leaned up and pecked his cheek.

“You truly are.” Loki said before leaning down and kissing you gently. You felt your heart flutter in excitement.

Then suddenly Thor and Tony reappeared, s’mores mixings in hand. “Alright everyone! Who’s hungry?”

[ciathyzareposts]

Ragnarok: Gods and Giants

About how it goes every time I face a new monster.

            Playing Ragnarok is a process of repeatedly convincing yourself that your character is getting stronger and you’re getting better and then suddenly getting torn apart–quite literally–by the next level of foe. That’s not quite a complaint, but it’s inescapable that while the main game is about as difficult as NetHack, its worst foes would have the Wizard of Yendor for lunch.

I spent the bulk of this last session finishing up the dungeon beneath the opening forest. The dungeon consisted of 3 levels and 27 screens, and the key plot reason to be there was to obtain Odin’s spear, Gungnir, from Vidur. As I closed my last session, I was having no luck even scratching Vidur let alone killing him. I tried it hastened with Potions of Speed; I tried it invisible; I tried it under the influence of a Potion of Phasing, which doubles your armor class. He still kept killing me in one round.          

Maybe don’t eat random mushrooms.

        I took time to explore the rest of the dungeon to strengthen my character and hopefully find more valuable items. Some notes from that process:

The levels aren’t all randomly generated. Even when they are, there are rules set on some of them to avoid exits on certain sides of the map. The Temple of Vidur on Level 3 is only supposed to be accessible from a hole on Level 2, not any of the other Level 3 maps. However, a Wand of Tunneling or a pick-axe can undo such intentions–sometimes.

More intrinsics: fire dragons confer fire resistance; “blurs” make you faster (although I think just temporarily); wraiths give you level increases, although at a certain point they stopped working. Through other means that I didn’t fully note, I have also acquired resistances to petrification and death rays.

         This sounds so unappealing.

        There’s one mushroom that fills you up when you eat it. The others are not worth experimenting with.

Kalvins are horrid, hateful monsters who swipe one of your eyes out with every hit. It turns out that a blessed potion of curing will regrow an eye, but I was so traumatized by my temporary blindness that the next time I found a Scroll of Extinction, I used it on Kalvins.

Worse that Kalvins are Zardons. They can send out a piercing wail that hits you for about 50 hit points at a time from anywhere within the dungeon level. Guess what else soon went extinct? 

            I’m not sure I should have this kind of power.

         One damned hit from a werewolf is enough to give you lycanthropy, which requires a blessed Potion of Curing to cure. Scrolls of Blessing aren’t so common that I like wasting them on this.

On the matter of Scrolls of Extinction, I can’t be the only roguelike player who has secretly thought that if I just find enough of them, I can genocide every monster in the game. 

I keep finding Amulets of Quickening, which double my speed and are thus incredibly useful. But they have limited duration, and then they run out, they turn into something called “Eyes of Sertrud.” I have no idea if they do anything in their “Sertrud” form.

A couple of enemy types are capable of reproducing faster than you can kill them. One is these little tiny things called “secitts.” The second are tree creatures called “faleryns.” I had to abandon a dungeon level to the latter creature when they wouldn’t stop multiplying, but I gained about 15 levels trying to kill them all. If I need to grind, I’m going back there.

         You guys can have this dungeon level. I’m just trying to get to the stairs.

         The best spell scroll combination I’ve found is a Scroll of Blessing with a Scroll of Enhancement. Use the former on the latter and then the latter on a piece of armor or a weapon, and you soon have a +13 (or higher) item. I’m carrying a +14 mirror shield and a +13 silver sword because of that combination.

Some of the scrolls are “diaries,” which give you hints. 

          Glad I got this hint because I would have thought this was bad.

          Something weird happened with my strength. For a long time, it was stuck at 18.99, and I figured that was the highest, but at some point it rolled over to 19-something and has been continuing to grow towards 20 ever since.

At some point, I acquired the “Psi Blast” power. I have no idea when it happened or why. It doesn’t seem to do very much damage.

             When I hit Level 20, I got the “Fletching” skill, which allows me to make arrows out of woods. Since “Terraforming” allows me to turn any square into woods, I basically have all the arrows I want. Anyway, I took the game’s offer to change classes and changed to a conjurer. I spent 20 levels as a conjurer, skipping the first offer to change, because I hardly gained any spells. Even after 20 levels, I can only cast “Set Recall” (which only helps if you have a Scroll of Recall), “Reflect,” “Draw Life,” and “Illusory Self.”         

Casting spells. I thought I’d have cooler spells.

         At Level 40, I changed to a blacksmith. Somewhere along the way, I read a couple of Scrolls of Knowledge and obtained the “Fennling” skill, an extremely useful skill that lets you combine the charges of two wands of the same type. I also got “Relocation,” which lets me teleport on demand, “Ironworking,” and “Taming.” I haven’t really experimented yet with the latter two. 

When I was done exploring, I went back to the Temple of Vidur. He still killed me instantly, but this time I had one new item: a Wand of Death. It only had two charges, but one of them took care of Vidur nicely (unfortunately, not before he killed my new companion, whose release so enraged Vidur in the first place). Gungnir was on his body, and apparently I’m too weak to wield it.          

The first god falls.

        I headed back to the surface and found the forest absolutely swarming with monsters. They’re low level, and no danger, but they’re so thick that I can barely move. Thankfully, my teleportation abilities get me through. They seem to respawn as fast as I kill them. I wondered if Ragnarok had started while I was in the dungeon or whether carrying Gungnir brings the to me.             

My reputation must have taken a hit while I was underground.

           While I was in the forest, I happened to note an icon I hadn’t seen before. I (L)ooked at it and the game told me it was Thokk, the giantess who refused to cry for Baldur, meaning I’d have to bring her soul to Hela to get Baldur out of hell. I slipped on my Ring of Soul Trapping and killed her with a single blow. I made the mistake of not taking off the ring afterwards, and her soul was immediately replaced by the new slain enemies’. That required me to reload a significantly older game and replay Vidur’s temple again. The second time, I found Thokk in the same area and took off the ring after capturing her soul.         

Part of one quest down!

         Lacking guidance on exactly where to go, I escaped the monster hoard by jumping through a portal. It took me to Slaeter’s Sea and some other outdoor maps that kind of wrap around the opening forest, including the River Vid and the River Gioll. I can just stroll across the water because I have Skidbladnir (the magic boat) in my pocket.            

The River Vid is mostly water.

         I soon found out that if you go the wrong way out of these areas, you wind up in the open ocean and you immediately get attacked by Jormungand. The first time I found him, he damaged me for -60302 hit points. (I had a maximum of 452 at the time.) I tried the Wand of Death on him but it didn’t work. He’s also inescapable. I suspect you’re just not meant to go into these areas.           

I suppose if I could kill Jormungand, I wouldn’t need to do anything else.

         But there’s an enemy that roams the rivers and lakes of this “outer rim” that’s almost as deadly as Jormungand: the lorkesth. He gets like 5 attacks per round and does massive damage. He’s the reason I can’t just blithely stroll through the areas (the other enemies are relatively easy at my level). I have to watch very carefully for their appearance and use my teleportation ability to get to a safe square of land. There’s no outrunning them, since they can move three times for every move I make. If I stand one square away from the water, I can defeat them with throwing weapons and wands, but like any monster they may auto-generate at any time. If I get another Scroll of Extinction, they’re going to be strong candidates.          

I like to think I’m skipping these shurikens along the water.

           To the west, the world ended at the Bifrost. (Which I have been unable to take seriously since I discovered it’s properly pronounced “beef roast,” although I think it’s cool that the Norse conceived it as a rainbow. So many things in mythology are dark and dreary.) I figured it was too soon to go to Asgard, so I went the other way. Mapping in this game is complicated; I’ll explain more thoroughly in my next entry. Suffice to say that the particular section of maps I was in ended to the west at the Bifrost and east at the River Gioll. The Gioll map had some patches covered in fog and a river swarming with lorkesths, but oddly no other enemies or items on the map. For some reason, my Ring of Locus Mastery doesn’t work, meaning when I teleport, I just teleport to a random place. Something is also causing me to teleport frequently even if I take off my Ring of Relocation.

In the middle of a patch of fog on the east side, I ran into a character named Harbard. He was rooted in place and didn’t pursue me, but if I walked up to him, he killed me in a couple of blows. So I stood a couple squares away from him and hit him with the second and last charge in my Wand of Death. His body disappeared in the fog, but when I walked and stood upon it, the game told me that there was a staircase. Taking it led me to Niflheim.           

Hell looks a lot like Maine in April.

          I immediately had one of those moments that I described in the opening. I had been killing fire dragons and frost dragons in single blows, so I wasn’t bothered by the “hel dragon” heading in my direction–not, at least, before he killed me in one attack that left me with -1,006 hit points.              

My brief foray into hell.

          Upon reloading, I tried again, taking pains to avoid the dragon, and I did come across some luck when I stumbled on a Wand of Wishing with three charges. I immediately wished for another Wand of Death, and while it worked fine against the next hel dragon, it did nothing against the unique enemies of the area, including Konr Rig and Plog. I reluctantly returned to the surface and decided to try again when I was stronger, although given the fact that I’ve already maxed in most of the game’s classes and I have incredibly powerful equipment and near-max strength (I assume, since it’s now going up by decimals instead of integers), I don’t know what “stronger” is going to look like.

Still, I moved north from the River Gioll to what turned out to be the mountainous realm of Jotenheim. I expected to meet a lot of giants but mostly found the same creatures from previous areas, including a lot of faleryns, who fortunately didn’t seem to be as interested as replicating as they were in the dungeon. Teleport control still doesn’t work, which makes it hard to explore systematically.         

The transition to Jotenheim.

        After I cleared most of the map, there remained an impenetrable rectangle of mountains and trees. Figuring it must hold something interesting, I used my “Terraforming” ability to change a tree into regular ground. Inside the rectangle was a small building populated by a large foe named Gymir. He had the decency not to kill me in a single blow, but his attacks were capable of doing more than 100 damage each. I quaffed a Potion of Speed and a Potion of Curing and proceeded to kill him in legitimate combat. He left behind Mimming, Freyr’s sword. I’m too weak to wield it.           

My character doesn’t just chop down trees; he changes the very nature of the landscape.

           Jotenheim continued for two maps to the north. To the north of that was “Mimer’s Realm,” a map of mountains, lava pools, and fog. A new monster called “iridorns” were introduced. They can kill in a single hit by ripping off your head, although they die pretty easily if you can strike them first.            With Mimer’s Realm, I found Mimer’s Well, mentioned in the backstory as the residence of the serpent Aspenth, the transformed version of Gjall, Heimdall’s horn. But I need the “Swimming” ability to navigate there and I don’t have it yet.            

My character at the end of this session.

           At some point, while exploring Jotenheim, Heimdall’s voice bellowed from the sky:               

O great heroes of the world! I must have Gjall to rally the forces of good. Time begins to grow short. The sea rages with the anger of Jormungand. The earth quakes mightily. Loki seems ready to burst his bonds. The moon and sun shall soon be swallowed by the mighty wolves Fenrir and Garm. Surtr is honing his sword of destruction. The evil ones are gathering their forces.

To speed you in your quest, I will use my powers over nature. The lesser creatures of the realm shall grow weary and despair. They shall no longer wish to battle against your might.

               This announcement suggests the game has a time limit (and also that Heimdall just removed my ability to easily grind). I’m going to explore to the north a little further, but if nothing pans out, I’ll use my Wand of Wishes for Scrolls of Knowledge and see if I can pick up the swimming ability. At this point, I have three of the six quest items. If I can get one more, it might be worth heading to Asgard.

Time so far: 15 hours

*****

B.A.T. II: The Koshan Conspiracy was going to be next, but I’m not sure how it got on my list in the first place. None of my sources call it an RPG, not even a hybrid. I can’t find evidence that any commenter defended it as an RPG. I’m dumping it unless someone can make a persuasive case. The Adventure Gamer already covered it if you really need to read about it.

That means we get to our first random roll for the next game on the list! Pulling up the list, adding a “Random” column, filtering out games I’ve already played or rejected, we get . . . Xenus II: White Gold (2008). But of course I’m not going to play a game before its predecessor, which in this case is Boiling Point: Road to Hell (2005). That’s also the first game on my list from Ukraine. I can’t find mention of any other necessary precursors. But I’m just kidding because I’m not going to let myself jump that far ahead in one go. The actual next game needs to be in the next year I have not yet played, and a random selection from that year brings us to Shadowkeep 1: The Search by the same author as the Bandor series. Meanwhile, Planet’s Edge gets moved up a notch to Game 358, but I’m having trouble with that one. DOSBox crashes every time I try to leave the intro screen. So the real next game might be Ishar while I try to solve that problem.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/ragnarok-gods-and-giants/

[game-refraction]

Game Review: Vikings - Wolves of Midgard (Xbox One)

Released among the gaming blockbusters Persona 5 and the latest Mass Effect; Vikings: Wolves of Midgard may not get the attention it deserves. While the title does little to innovate within its own genre, Wolves of Midgard is a satisfying experience even if it is a bit of technical mess from time to time.

Whereas a game like Diablo III dove into the battle between heaven and hell, Vikings: Wolves of Midgard deals with attempting to stop Ragnarok, the end of the world. You’ll travel to Midgard, Utgard, Niflheim, Dvergheim and interact with a fair size cast of characters that can share in as equally weird names as those legendary locales.

While Vikings: Wolves of Midgard can come off as a bit of a Diablo clone, although, let’s be honest, Diablo is also a clone of other games as well, it just happened to be the most recent one to do the genre any real good, Wolves of Midgard does find its footing in offering its own spin on a few things to its players. When you drop the body of a frost giant or cleave the head off of a small imp-like creature, each of the fallen will drop orbs of blood, the game’s resource for leveling experience, and can be the source of a few grins in co-op, which I’ll get into a bit later. You can pull of multi-enemy kills to earn bonus blood orbs or equip better gear to increase the amount of blood earned.

The environments are also another part of the game that offers up something new; temperatures and status effects. Certain locations will be cold, hot, poisonous or electrocute you should the exposure meter fill up, and you’ll need to rely on safe zones to escape to and take a few seconds for the meter to go back down before venturing out again. You can equip items or spec your character out to create a stronger resistance to these effects, and while those effects occur in many of the game’s levels, it wasn’t until a level near the end did the electricity effect ever really bother me.

You play as the Chieftain to the Ulfung clan, creating either a male warrior or a female shieldmaiden. You’ll race into your village to find it under attack and once you rebuild, the story of stopping Ragnarok begins. Wolves of Midgard can at times feel incredibly generic; you have your two smith’s for armor and weapons, the shopkeeper, and an old man and a young woman who help out with runes and rings, not to mention the crazy old person who claims to see visions of death and chaos. You’ll be sent on quests from time to time from a few of them and you’ll even find items needed to level each of those vendors up and gain access to better gear.

You’ll need money and resources to buy better gear and while splitting a troll in half will net you a nice bit of blood, you’ll also want to smash and destroy your surroundings and leave no barrel, box or chest behind. One thing the game really impressed me with was the number of destructible items in the environment. You’ll gather wood and iron that are needed to craft most of the gear in shops, as well as a few other resources that will be needed in the late game. During the almost 30 hours of play, you will track down fragments of artifact gear; purple colored weapons that have amazing stats, and look pretty sweet as well. I constantly found new and exciting gear throughout many of my adventures to far off locations that I was constantly changing the look of my character with armor ranging from basic iron and leather to crystal and bone. While it may seem like something fairly trivial to critique, I found it rather unfortunate that I couldn’t favorite certain items of gear and this lack of a feature lead me to accidently dismantle or sell a high-end piece of gear more than once.

Vendors are not the only locations that you’ll upgrade as you also have an altar to enhance your skills with. Apart from using the blood you’ve earned to level up, you can upgrade your altar a few times and this will allow you to put more points into certain skills. I tend to play more with the bow and so I would put points into attacks that favored that weapon. You pick a deity at the start of the game to earn instant favor with; Thor, Loki, Odin, etc.. and that will set you on the path based on what weapon you tend to use most. You can, if you want, put points into another deity as well and have a balance of both, just don’t expect to fully level out a character during a standard playthrough if you tend to mix and match.

This system of advancement lacks a lot of depth to that of something like Diablo III, a game that the genre is currently weighed heavily against, but that’s simply because Diablo III is nothing short of brilliant. Blizzard’s giant of a game had a vastly deeper skill system that is just far more rewarding, more experimental and just better designed. While the skill system here isn’t bad in any drastic way, it lacks the variety needed to really set this game apart from the would-be Diablo clones. I do prefer what developer Game Farm have done here to make the game very easy to get into unlike something like Sword Coast Legends which can feel bogged down with stats and menus.

The skills you earn can be pretty satisfying to use but can border on being somewhat bland and uninspiring as well. As the archer you have a close combat kick that is pretty much useless later on, a powered shot that can cleave through mobs, a multi-shot arrow that is good for crowd control, a fire from above attack that launches down dozens of arrows to cause some pretty good damage, and finally an electrical shot that is just.. ok. While some of these attacks are great in practice, I’ve pretty much seen every single one of these skills in other games. There is also a rage meter that builds up and grants you a bit more power, but frankly, I hardly used it as it didn’t seem to be that effective, other than pausing any of the status effects from adding to the meter for a crucial few seconds as you race to one of the many safe zones across the map.

Apart from skills, you’ll have access to special items that are based on traits of characters like Thor or Odin and offer special abilities that any class can use. You can turn enemies into tiny pigs, become invulnerable for a few crucial seconds or lay down an area effect healing spell and just stand your ground. I found these fairly fun and while a few are present in other games of this genre, a small few are fairly original to this title.

The game also offers replayable levels called Hunts that have a specific enemy type to kill and can also net you rewards of more resources as well should you complete certain objectives. These objectives, like killing a specific amount of enemies, smashing certain objects or finding iron skulls, are also present in the story levels and can net you the same types of rewards as well. I did find a bit of confusion on what certain objectives were as some of the shrines you have to smash can pretty much look like half the rocks in the game and finding them all in dark levels can be quite the chore.

Hack and slashing your way through much of the Norse mythology here can be pretty fun as who wouldn’t want to play a Thor-flavored Diablo game and what that would entail. The game works rather well on the controller in terms of combat and with the right stick offering a fairly impressive dodge roll, it can be a very fast paced game depending on your play style. The speed in which combat is offered here, and not to mention just how fluid the action is, can make this feel like an arcade experience for all the good reasons. You have your typical assortment of weapons; axes, staves, swords, shields and a bow. Picking certain weapons will put you at the mercy of a specific skill tree to be able to use skills related to those weapons, as I have mentioned. You can swap weapon sets with a simple tap of up on the d-pad and pull off some fairly good combo attacks. I found that while the game offers the bow that it was the only weapon that didn’t have some cool camera shot when I pulled off a certain type of kill and that the range you could shoot would vary drastically. I also found several instances of where my bow just would not fire and I’ll point out that I never had one issue with attacking with melee based weapons.

You can have a friend join in via online co-op as there isn’t any form of local combat, a mode that would have easily made this game far more attractive. The co-op sadly feels tacked on and not fleshed out in any regard. The person joining you cannot save their story progress nor can they trade weapons or items with you either. My co-op partner experienced several disconnects and despite putting my game to private, it would change it to a public match whenever they disconnected, and put a random player into my party, even if my friend was already loading into my game.  We also had several glitches where my co-op companion would see visual oddities in the level, but only on their screen, of things that are present in the village but are only supposed to be there much later on in the game like several NPC’s and visual effects from a portal that shouldn’t be there yet. I did find it rather amusing that should you become separated from your co-op companion, you need only to follow the blood orbs indicating the chaos that went on without you. What I rather liked about the orbs was as while you were not there for the battle, you can still collect in on the experience earned as if you participated in that battle. You never feel like you missed out on anything.

I would say that the weakest part of the game visually is your character themselves as I found them blurry unless you zoomed in or viewed them from the character select screen. Despite this, they just came across as far too blurry and lacking crisp detail. Environments look great and offer a fairly decent amount of variety to hack and slash through that are also fairly large scale in size. I did find that the game does artificially make itself longer by having you travel back to certain locations and I would have preferred a random level generator for the hunt levels as traversing the same levels again and again can lead to boredom. The enemy designs are fairly interesting and some of the boss encounters are rather impressive, with some of them having some very interesting mechanics behind them as opposed to just being creatures that are there solely to take damage, which of course the game does contain far too many of those kinds of fights. I did find the final encounter to be lacking as I didn’t even come close to being challenged and I took down the final foe without even dropping much in health. The battle lacked variety in its design and the ending that follow was sadly disappointing.

I can’t recall much of the music in the game as is the way to say there isn’t a single piece of memorable music what-so-ever here and the voice acting itself borders on ok to just downright cringe. NPC’s and bosses can have some entertaining dialogue and the occasional good bit of voice over, but your main character, oh my, what a pain they are to listen to. I played as the shieldmaiden and nearly all her dialogue was “Oh, stop your rambling old woman, just tell me what I have to kill.” or “Blah blah blah, just point me in the direction of where to go” and more amazing bits of dialogue like that. Nearly any interaction with my character and someone who would push the plot along was met with that type of response and it just made my character feel like someone who was bored of this game, which I rarely ever was. You’ll select various bits of dialogue in the game and while your answer may sound fairly innocent, be rest assured that they will answer back in the rudest way possible.

I had various glitches throughout my 27 hours with the game, apart from what I have already listed off, but none of them really blocked me from anything I couldn’t just reload from. I’ve had doors not let me pass, arrows not fire from my bow, enemies not take damage or mini-bosses just flat out disappear unless I stood in a certain area and let them come closer to me. Again, any of those issues were solved with me just reloading the game. The most bizarre glitch was losing all collectible progress in an early level and having to complete the level with no items found, which sucked as it prevented me from earning an achievement.

I do feel that co-op was tacked on late in development as some of the issue surrounding it feels lazy and the least amount of effort given to a mode like this. I hate the fact that if my co-op partner wants to use their character in a single player game that they lose everything story-wise they have experienced in my game. I’ve read articles talking about how they may add local co-op and that will certainly get this game more attention, but until they allow co-op to save the progress of each player, It’s hard to recommend unless you only play the game with someone else, or make a character for both single player and multiplayer, like I did.

I personally loved Vikings: Wolves of Midgard far more than my initial few hours with the title would have suggested and with how generic the game can totally feel. Sure, it can be a bit of a technical mess from time to time but the gameplay itself is solid and enjoyable, even if my character themselves isn’t. Combat, earning gear and slashing down enemies inspired by Norse mythology is satisfying here and the game is just fun to play, and that is a very important factor that is often overlooked. No, Wolves of Midgard isn’t as visually impressive as it could have been and yes it lacks some of the enjoyment found in the mechanics of something like Diablo III, but as for a tale about Ragnarok, it’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Vikings: Wolves of Midgard was played with a retail copy of the game on Xbox One and all screenshots were captured and acquired from the Xbox One App on Windows 10.

Game Review: Vikings – Wolves of Midgard (Xbox One) was originally published on Game-Refraction