What I've Been Playing This Week (aka Pile of Shame Sunday)

I admire the crew's dedication, despite half the bridge being on fire, they soldier on

The following post is part of a series of posts that are published every Sunday to update readers on what Mark G has been up to with respect to finishing off games on his "Pile of Shame". The games to target are picked by Choicest Games contributors Choona, Luke and myself. As I'll be talking about my progress through these games, there may be spoilers ahead, especially for games containing a narrative. Consider yourself warned.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

• Picked by Me
• Percentage Complete = 16%

I finally got this installed on Lanna's machine and we even managed to play the Prologue mission. It was fun, despite the fact you're forced into using the in-game, always-on voice chat; I'm more of a fan of push-to-talk myself – and using a third-party chat like Discord.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

• Picked by Luke
• Percentage Complete = 69%

A pirate named Vane decides to help Edward Kenway on his quest to gain more intelligence on the mysterious Observatory but unfortunately, while pursuing a vessel the crew ends up having a mutiny thanks to another pirate called John Rackham (aka Calico Jack in real life). Vane and Kenway end up marooned on an island and Vane goes mad, so Kenway ends up leaving him behind.

I also managed to secure another Level 2 fort after a couple of attempts. I now only have Level 3 forts left and my next mission is in the port of Kingston.

King's Quest IV

• Picked by Choona
• Percentage Complete = 18%

Time to move on to the next King's Quest and I must say, this one feels like a breath of fresh air after playing the ridiculously difficult first three King's Quest games which incidentally, all used the old Sierra game engine known as the Adventure Game Interpreter or AGI (King's Quest IV was the first to employ the Sierra Creative Interpreter or SCI). Consequently, the game has better graphics and an interface similar to the early Quest for Glory games not to mention the inclusion of MIDI-quality music! The game even has a proper intro!

The game's puzzles seem more logical than the previous games (at least so far) and somehow Rosella seems to die far less than King Graham or Prince Alexander (at least it seems that way). Also, Rosella seems to be a domestic goddess since one of the ways you can get a bag of diamonds in the game is to clean up the house where the Seven Dwarves live!

Anyway, after getting about 40 points, I'm now stuck as all I can do is play an organ in a creepy house (for no apparent reason), visit a locked crypt and avoid an ogre from eating me. There's also a unicorn that is apparently under my spell but I can't direct it anywhere.

Despite not trying to read spoilers, I did find out from reading descriptions of the game that it takes place over roughly 24 hours and has day/night cycles… which means the reason I'm stuck is probably because I have to wait until night time to solve some of the puzzles.

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]