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

Screenshot of Diamond City in Fallout 4


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.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

  • Picked by Me
  • Percentage Complete = 13%
As I explore more of the gameplay mechanics it seems to be even more similar to Assassin's Creed than I initially thought – there's a lot of hanging around and waiting to make your kills as stealthy as possible. There are even alarm bells in this game (nooooo – they were the bane of my existence in Assassin's Creed IV). Anyway, I met this Uruk called Ratbag (yes, that is actually his name) and he apparently wants to climb the ranks to Captain. The player character, Talion, reluctantly agrees to help Ratbag in his power struggle and it means you get to learn a bit more about Uruk culture as a result (if you can even call it "culture").

Fallout 4

  • Picked by Luke
  • Percentage Complete = 27%
Okay, I somehow decided to push on with the main storyline. I managed to use my charm to get a key in Diamond City; this key unlocked the door to a house once occupied by a guy suspected of abducting Shaun (the player character's son). I found a secret room and a branded cigar which Dogmeat used to pick up a scent. After travelling to the western part of the Commonwealth it seems the trail ends at an old military base, and that's where I'm now up to.

Also, Piper asked me for advice on how to deal with her sister. She was worried that her sister would follow her eldest sister's example and take on her dangerous line of work. Piper's suggestion was that she distance herself from her sister in the hopes that she would not follow in her footsteps, however I suggested that she instead continue to love and care for her sister and that distancing herself was probably not the best option. The conversation eventually gives your player character the option of flirting with Piper which was apparently successful when I tried this time, but she was rather taken aback by it all and tried her best to change the conversation topic.

Quest for Glory I (EGA)

  • Picked by Choona
  • Percentage Complete = 55%
I'm getting very close to finishing the game as I've now rescued the Baron's son Barnard. All that's left is to rescue the Baron's daughter Elsa and deal with Baba Yaga and it's GAME OVER YEAAAAHHH!!!

One annoying aspect of this game is the passage of time. You need to do certain events at certain times like pulling the mandrake root in the graveyard (as an errand for Baba Yaga) at midnight. This means waiting until the correct time to do something and you can't just force the game to wait until the correct time: you can only pass time when your stamina gets low by resting (but only a limited number of times) or sleep (which only wakes you up when the sun begins to rise). It would be good if there was a wait command instead of grinding strenuous activities but that's how the game works, I suppose.

I tried storming the front of the brigand fortress (which is actually possible) but couldn't defeat the third brigand (you have to take on multiple brigands to get in). So, it's just as well that I stumbled across the key for the back entrance to the fortress (which I'm told is the correct way for all classes to do, as you only get awarded points doing it this way).

LINK:
[ The Pile of Shame ]

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