Pile of Shame Sunday - 2 August 2020

Screenshot of Quest for Glory II when you visit the money changer and look at the guard
Wouldn't be an adventure game by the Coles if there weren't a pile of puns

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.


Kentucky Route Zero

  • Picked by Me
  • Percentage Complete = 5%

I actually played the first four acts of Kentucky Route Zero a while back but back then, the game wasn't exactly finished yet as everybody was still waiting on the fifth and final act to be released. Well, the fifth act was finally released earlier this year and considering the first act was released in 2013, the game has been in development for well over 7 years… a bit like Star Citizen (except this game is actually complete).

Kentucky Route Zero is a very strange and surreal game and there's not actually that much you can interact with as it takes its cues from old interactive fiction or Choose Your Own Adventure games. The audio in this game is pretty phenomenal though and if you close your eyes, you could almost imagine you were there. The low poly art style is also appealing.

So far, I've only made a bit of progress through Act One and have just completed exploration of the (rather creepy) mine.


Fallout 4

  • Picked by Luke
  • Percentage Complete = 57%

I finally got some time to play Fallout 4 again. After meeting all the Division Heads at the Institute, a Courser chip was implanted into my Pip Boy which means I can teleport in and out of the Institute whenever I feel like (which seems to be a rather risky move on their part).

I have also been given a mission where I have to take out a rogue synth by cooperating with a Courser. I'm kind of conflicted with helping the Institute (since they don't seem to treat their own creations too well) but if it's taking out the leader of a Raider gang, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? At least for now…


Quest for Glory II

  • Picked by Choona
  • Percentage Complete = 9%

I also got some time to play Quest for Glory II this week. Lots of nostalgia playing this game! I've imported my fighter save file from Quest for Glory 1 and there's just so much stuff to do in Shapeir! I love the MIDI music and the Arabian Nights theme and the only thing I could potentially criticise about it is traversing the desert which requires the ancient art of drawing maps (which we haven't needed to do in computer games since the 80s/early 90s).

My fighter character called Mykros Wielder has spent 3 days in Shapeir so far. He's exchanged money, bought a map, bought a compass and bought a saurus... although I forgot to bargain for the map and compass (since that's actually a thing in this game) - not sure if I would've got it for any cheaper though so I hopefully didn't lose too much. In terms of characters, I have met Uhura, Simba, Rakeesh, Aziza and the Astrologer. Once I found out where Aziza lived, I made sure to learn about the sad tale of Julanar the next time I visited her: I guess I can now make a start on that side quest.

LINK: [ The Pile of Shame ]

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