March 3, 2018 – Me Vs. Myself and I

I was told today that I have matured in my decision making when it comes to video games. In the past, if I spent $60 on a game chances are I’d attempt to play through it, even if it ended up being one of those games that “takes a while to click.” Generally speaking I will refuse to admit that perhaps I purchased the game too hastily, that I left myself get caught up in the hype. I admitted when I first wrote about the game that I did read about it on various blogs and that I was given a glowing recommendation from someone who’s opinion I trust, but therein lies the trouble with long-running series you’re just getting involved in. Monster Hunter is an established franchise, but I haven’t played a single entry. Going into things blind is sometimes a boon because there aren’t spoilers, but at the same time this is the type of game that defies definition. Though I was told it could be compared to a From Software title (and I understand why it was referenced as such) I just didn’t see it. I didn’t have the desire to explore this world. I didn’t feel immersed. Running around chasing a monster around a rather large map and stabbing it until it dies wasn’t appealing either. I assume that this game would be better with a dedicated group of friends that could co-op their way through it, but as the layers of complication added on I simply couldn’t be bothered. At this point in my life my time is too valuable to be wasting on something I’m not enjoying. As such, I deleted the game from my system and brought it into Gamestop to trade it in while it’s still considered a “new” game and get me the best return on investment.

That’s a laugh.

Gamestop offered me $25 store credit for a $60 game that came out just over a month ago. Not to be deterred, I scoured their shelves to find something that I knew I would enjoy. I saw titles that I wanted to play but would prefer to get on my PC, and then there were a couple of console exclusives that were tried and true games that I felt were worth the money. The trade-in value covered most of the Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy, and then I picked up a copy of the newly remade Shadow of the Colossus. The former is a collection of PSOne classics made by Naughty Dog (of Uncharted fame) of which I’ve played but I don’t think I ever completed one.

I have a longer history with Shadow of the Colossus. It’s unclear if it was before or after we lived together, but at some point or another my best friend showed me this game back in the Playstation 2 days. It looked interesting enough, but I didn’t play it at the time. Later on the Playstation 3, an HD upres remaster released and I purchased it. Perhaps it was too soon to play again for him, but I had some fun with it despite not really being all that much better looking than the original game. Like the Crash Bandicoot title, both of these games were remade from the ground up for Playstation 4, so they are supposed to be the same as the original games with up to date graphics. I’m excited to see them in action, and you know I’ll report about them here.

In other news, I had been trying to find the next game to strike off of the backlog list after completing The Order 1886, and tried picking up Alien: Isolation. I’ve had it for a while and being on a FPS kick lately it was a good choice, but I ended up getting stuck and calling the whole thing off. I deleted that one from my hard drive as well, and I’m sticking to my guns about this. It’s not to say that this is the first time I deleted a game without completing it (I couldn’t get into The Witcher 3 either despite rave reviews from literally everyone) and it’s not to say that I haven’t traded in a game at Gamestop a short time after buying it either, though usually it’s because I’ve completed it and have no use for it anymore. Nowadays I plan to play them through if I enjoy them, and delete them if I don’t. It should help speed up the process, at least.

I’m unsure if I will power through one of these two titles immediately or if I will pick up something else to run through. I know that I have an itch to play an RPG and I mean aside from EQ2 which I still am subbed to and need to spend some time on to at least clear the new expansion before breaking away until later in the year when there’s new content again. I am a good ways into Shadow Warrior 2 which has been on hold for sometime, but I’m tempted to start up the Dark Souls trilogy or Pillars of Eternity/some other isometric RPG that’s in the back log. Or perhaps it’s time to finish of Final Fantasy XV or Mass Effect Andormeda?

Clearly I’m still torn on which way to go but I will figure it out soon and continue on my journey to clear out the backlog.

We’ve known Masters 25 has been coming for a while now. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Magic: The Gathering’s existence, and that makes me feel a bit old. I can remember opening packs of these cards in elementary school and not really knowing what was going on, and spent in total probably around 8-10 years actively playing the game so it’s fair to say I’m invested. I’m glad that it’s managed to stay around all this time — it is my current obsession. With that said, the entirety of the set was spoiled recently and I had some thoughts on it.

It’s tax return season, and aside from putting some money into savings I decided to spend a little on the Zur the Enchanter deck I wrote about a few days ago. My girlfriend also hinted that she wanted to make my friends jealous with a purchase and I had two thoughts. My first desire was a set of the 10 shock lands, but then I thought about buying a box of Masters 25 which was a similar investment. Now that I’ve seen the full set, I’m glad that I decided to go with the shock lands that are currently in the mail. The really isn’t as much here as I was expecting. Sure, there are staples a plenty, but many of the cards are things I already own sometimes in multiple prints. The big chase cards are those that are currently worth money. Those cards like Jace, The Mind Sculptor that will actually lose value due to the reprinting but will eventually climb up again. Clearly I’m not thrilled here, but I’d still like to point out some cards that I desire and some great staples you should look out for especially if you play EDH.

Multi-Colored:

The only card here I wouldn’t mind having is Prossh, mainly because he seems like a fun commander to build around. Animar isn’t so bad either. The others are either staples or plain ol’ cool reprints.

White:

Rest in Peace is actually a decent card, particularly if you’re running a deck that doesn’t care about graveyard recursion, and even better if your enemies are! The older Thalia is a great add to control/stax/tax type decks, and there’s some other staples here as well. If you’re running a token deck, Darien and Luminarch Ascension are nice enablers.

Blue:

The real money card of the set is here in Jace, the Mind Sculptor. He’s one busted Planeswalker, and his recent unbanning in Modern means that people will actually be able to use the reprint. Getting him will be like winning the lotto though! Otherwise we have some great staples here, along with an interesting enchantment I’d like a copy of in Freed from the Real.

Black:

Doomsday is the real winner here, being a card that fits into many a competitive EDH list. Other staples include the 2nd printing of Ravenous Chupacabra, a great removal tool for black.

Red:

The Recruiter is nice, and would fit right into the Alesha deck I’m working on. I am disappointed to see Blood Moon reprinted so soon, as I lucked into a copy back when Modern Masters 2017 hit the scene last year. It was a $20+ card. We’ll see how much it tanks shortly.

Green:

Some interesting cards here, some token generation, tutoring, and cheating. I like these cards but don’t necessarily have a place I would put them.

Artifacts and Lands:

Some other staple artifacts get a reprint, along with a nasty pillowfort tool. Ash Barrens gets a 2nd printing, and we get a fresh printing of the filter lands as well. Good stuff to have.

Overall it’s a fairly hum drum set but as I said there are a handful of decent pickups. I’ll probably just buy a couple packs and then head to the singles store.