The Return of the Weekly Hype Train – Week of 11/19/2019

Yes, I know, a day later than the title, but maintaining my theme of reset day week starts!

Doki Doki Literature Club: This game came out in 2017, so I am late to the party. I started it last night, with everyone in my house asleep, which was…a big mistake. I won’t say more, because I will likely end up writing a full post about just this title. Having said that, this is the rare instance I am glad I dodged spoilers until I played it, because while I knew there was a twist of some sort…boy was I not ready for what I got! The game is a masterclass in storytelling via games – I could explain the plot to you, but without the experience of playing it, it takes a lot of words and details to deliver less than the actual experience, which I think is a great thing. The game does an excellent job of both protecting its first big reveal of the true nature of the plot while also foreshadowing both that and plot elements beyond that moment. I haven’t finished the full game yet, so there is more to come, but I’ll likely be done tonight (playing while I’m not awake alone and being frightened by every noise in my house!).

AEW Television: It’s been a good while since I talked about pro wrestling here, but it is time. I’ve been really enjoying their weekly show on TNT, Dynamite – after enjoying their pay per views over the summer, I took a chance on resubscribing to TV service (this time via online app Sling for cheap rather than my actual cable provider!) so I could watch the show, and it hasn’t really let me down on that front yet. Each week has a solid mix of action, and clearly takes feedback from prior weeks to improve the future shows. While they started off like independent wrestling shows with a lot of matches and little storytelling or promo time for the wrestlers, the later weeks have gotten a fantastic blend down with a good mix of promos in-ring, pre-taped video promos, and solid in-ring action with the physical storytelling in the ring, most of which has carried over week to week and fed story developments. I’ve spent more to watch AEW this year than I have either WWE or NJPW, and I’ve been to live shows for both of those other promotions this year (now, if you count the cost of the flight to Tokyo in the cost of the NJPW show I attended at Korakuen Hall, it would be more, but that seems a smidge unfair…), and I have not regretted that decision yet. As soon as they tour on the west coast of the US, I’ll likely figure out which show fits best and go to it!

Final Fantasy XIV – Ishgard Restoration: I’ve already been doing this for about a week, but man, I am so happy for the 5.1 updates to crafting and gathering in FFXIV, and the Ishgard Restoration turn-ins have added even more to that change. I had my gathering jobs (sans Fishing) and Armorcrafting leveled to 50, but I was pretty much stopped there and trying to cycle through the other skills. I am so glad that I held out because now leveling them is easier by default, tweaks to enhancement skills and gathering in general with Quick Gathering make running through the jobs much easier, and overall, they’ve managed to strike a good balance between trimming out the pointless busywork while also maintaining what makes FFXIV professions unique.

FFXIV – Getting My Final Job Crystal: In other FFXIV news, I’ve been working to secure all the job crystals for the main War/Magic jobs, meaning leveling all classes to 30. About a month ago, I had Lancer, Archer, Thaumaturge, and Rogue left to level. Now, I just have Rogue, with all other jobs at least at level 30 and fully quested through to their current level. This has allowed me to focus on Retainer leveling via Ventures, something I hadn’t really bothered with until recently. Content-wise, there’s still a lot of the game I haven’t touched yet and my hope is that by the end of Shadowbringers I’ll be done with most of it so I can enjoy the new content added much more quickly.

WoW – Uh…Mythic Hellfire Citadel Farming?: It’s a lull for WoW, no question, with 8.3 not out until 2020, my guild done with AotC in Eternal Palace and therefore not actively raiding at present, and me with other things more worth focusing on. However, I still log in to WoW for two things – a weekly attempt at the Mythic Archimonde mount, since they stealth-nerfed Hellfire Assault a few months ago to be easily doable when solo, and doing emissaries with the 2,000 gold reward on as many 120 characters as possible to pull down some savings in game. Neither is terribly exciting, to be frank, but they keep me subbed and playing enough each week to stay connected to the game. Eagerly (and I mean EAGERLY) anticipating the live release of 8.3 or, hope of hopes, the Shadowlands alpha/beta to start really soon.

Writing – Some Interesting Posts in the Works: Coming up here, I’m working on posts about randomness and good vs bad random outcomes, Diablo IV, my Eorzea Cafe visit, the aforementioned Doki Doki Literature Club dissertation, and a bit of an exploration of best/worst case scenarios for Covenants now that the Game Informer cover story in the print edition is out showcasing the full gamut of active Covenant abilities for Death Knights.

So that makes a full week, and until 7 (perhaps 6) days from now, stay hyped!

 

Advertisement