Tag Archives: Destiny

Don’t Blame it on the Sunshine

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Back from vacation. Back to work. I believe I can see the future, as I repeat the same routine.

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Still not fully re-activated or re-energized yet. It’s still summer. It’s still hot out. My new computer still sits on the floor, not plugged in or setup in any way. A heavy expensive tripping hazard… Still figuring out what I need to backup off my old computer to transfer over. Photoshop brushes and assets, stuff like that. Everything’s up in the cloud now anyways.

I have been playing some games though, since coming back from vacation. Booted up Darksiders 3 as that had been sitting in my queue for ages. Darksiders: Genesis as well. Also jumped back into Destiny 2.

It’s probably been about a year since I last played Destiny. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I only play Destiny for the story. So I typically jump back in when there’s an expansion. I don’t have friends to play with so I’m locked out of the raids, and multiplayer never really interested me. So I stick exclusively to the campaigns. When I last played, I was going through Shadowkeep. This past week, I bought Beyond Light and The Witch Queen.

Destiny 2 is a solid game with lots of content. If you want story, its there, if you want more, there’s more. End-game, raids, multiplayer, loot, quests – it has it all. And the visuals are amazing. Especially the area/map/level designs and detail. Sure it can feel repetitive at times as you retread a lot of the planets when going through the campaigns, but that just gives you more time to appreciate the level of detail. As I type this, I’m working my way through Beyond Light, before moving on to the latest expansion. And also coincidentally enough, tomorrow at Gamescon there will new Destiny 2 news.

In co-op, played through the latest new level in Human Fall Flat. And playing through Far Cry 6, and Rider’s Republic for fun.

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In the news, I saw that Death Stranding is coming to Xbox Game Pass PC. Somehow the publishers of the PC port got around Sony and got permission from Kojima Games to add the game to PC Game Pass. Not the new Director’s Cut but the original 2020 PC release. So it still remains a Playstation Console Exclusive, but now on the Xbox PC Platform and has Xbox Achievements. Take that Sony.

I’ve had this game for the PS4 since release, and it’s unopened. I honestly just don’t get around to turning on the PlayStation. I still haven’t played Days Gone or Last of Us II and I feel bad. But with this coming to Game Pass, it gives me a reason to try out my new PC as the game rig it was designed to be, play a game I’ve been waiting to play, and get achievements. Win win win.

Also saw that the Saint’s Row reboot releases tomorrow and the reviews have been pretty meh. I got into the Saints Row series with #2, and didn’t make it very far. I did have a lot of fun with #3, and Saint’s Row III was, in my opinion, the best of the series as it had the perfect blend of gang campaign + crazy weird stuff. After III they just went all-in on the weird and it lost a lot of its appeal. Still fun games in co-op though. But, I can understand why they would want to bring it back to its roots. I’ll have to do more digging, read more reviews and actually watch some gameplay before I decide to invest. I got enough in my queue and not enough time, that I don’t really need any new games right now anyways. (Editor’s note: previous paragraphs about Death Stranding notwithstanding – it’s not a new game 😉 )

That, AND I have 18 levels more to unlock in the Season 1 pass of Fall Guys before next week – so I’m busy.

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I’m definitely starting to get a little antsy, feeling the pull to get back to drawing (has it already been a month?), and excited to try out the new rig. So I think that will be my plan this week.

So many plans…

And I hate plans…

iRogan
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New Games, Games With Gold, and Oh Yeah, Destiny – IDL NEWS

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Oh, The Taken King is out? OK, I’ll leave you alone forever now . . .

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Just kidding. New games, new deals, and news: Uncharted 4, Mortal Kombat X, and Metal Gear Solid V.

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New Releases – Sept 15

NHL 16 (PS4, Xbox One) – EA’s annual NHL game is back for a new season, and thankfully fuller than last years bare bones edition. Online Team Play has returned, and EA has bolstered the Be A Pro mode. A new training mode is also available, as a new feature to catch new fans up to speed. NHL is an annual pick-up for me so expect some more impressions.

Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One) – Microsoft’s big simulation is back in a big way. 24 opponent races, rain and water physics and night-time races. The career still feels like a checklist and needs an overhaul, but the game is as gorgeous as ever with 1080p 60fps races.

Grand Theft Auto V Online – Freeworld Events (PC, Xbox One, PS4) – Today marks the new Online update. This has me interested in stepping back into the GTA world, and I already own the game.

Destiny: The Taken King (Xbox One, PS4) – The big 2.0 addition is finally here now, with actual story-telling, new missions, a new raid, new weapons, new playable area, new player sub-classes. All the things that will change Destiny is a big way. I’ll be jumping in tonight to transfer everything over  and check it out. Check out future impressions in the weeks to come.

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Deals With Gold

Xbox One

  • Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island
  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
  • Jet Car Stunts
  • Unmechanical Extended (My Review)

Xbox 360

  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • Grant Theft Auto IV
  • Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
  • Darksiders
  • Darksiders II (My Review)

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Some newsy type stuff:

Uncharted 4 – Uncharted 4: The Thief’s End will be released on March 18th, 2016. Sept 29th will mark the release of The Nathan Drake Collection on the PS4, remastering 1-3 into one nice package, and to catch everyone up on the series before 4’s release. Uncharted is a great series and one of the real reasons to own a PS3/PS4.

Mortal Kombat X – NetherRealm Studios has confirmed that it is still working on DLC for Mortal Kombat X. This includes new playable characters, skins and a new stage, due out in the first half of 2016.

Metal Gear Solid V – Konami has confirmed it has fixed the bug that plagued the game on all platforms, causing saved games to become corrupt when Quiet was brought along as a buddy on either Mission 29 or 42. The fix is available on the PS4 and PC, and will hopefully be coming to all platforms soon.

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This week I will continue to plug away through Metal Gear Solid V and will be jumping back into Destiny: The Taken King. I’ll be leaving my impressions of both, and possibly even writing another story, this one set in MGS V land. The game just lends itself to so many awesome encounters and creative experiences. I’ll also be picking up NHL and I know I’ll be dumping a ton of time into that, maybe even doing my first NHL review. And lastly, GTA V’s Online is calling.

This week’s Preview will focus on one of those games, and the What i’M playing feature will definitely be more MGS V. This is an exciting week to say the least.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – Tuesday Goodies and Today’s Top News

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So it’s no secret that I’ve locked myself away to play Metal Gear Solid V. Today I broke for some fresh air, a much-needed split from the Xbox One. I blindingly block the sun from my blood-shot eyes to view the crisp new world that is Tuesday. Breathing new air, I quickly jump to my phone and check what this week’s new releases are, and deals that the Xbox has in store… Not that I need any more games clogging up my library right now.

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New Releases – Sept 8

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a 2-player co-op micro-platformer set inside a neon spaceship locked in battle with hordes of space baddies. Players work together running back and forth between ship control rooms, manning turrets, lasers, shields and thrusters to rack up points and stave off a vacuumy demise. In mish-mash terms you could describe it as Jumpman meets Asteroids meets Han saying “Don’t get cocky.”

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Xbox’s Deals With Gold and Spotlight Sale – September 8 – 14

Xbox One

  • Evolve – 50% following the very popular free play weekend
  • Battlefield Hardline – 50%
  • Battlefield 4 – 50%
  • Assassin’s Creed Unity – 50%
  • Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China – 50%

Xbox 360

  • Assassin’s Creed II – 75%
  • Assassin’s Creed Revelations – 75%
  • Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – 75%
  • Assassin’s Creed – 75%

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Konami Issues a MGS V Save Corruption Warning
Konami revealed today that there is a risk that your game save file can be corrupted and unusable if you bring Quiet as a buddy on Mission 29 or Mission 42. The issue affects the game on all platforms and a fix is being worked on. (Luckily I am not there yet in the game’s story… phew)

Destiny: The Taken King’s Official Cinematic Trailer

The game’s release is next week, Sept 15th, 2015. This weekend Destiny will be showcasing its two new multiplayer Crucible modes for free, with 1.0 character and powers, as an exclusive look before the Taken King’s launch.

-iRogan

WHAT i’M PLAYING – LEGO Batman, Shiftlings, The Crew + News

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So, What I’M Playing is back to Wednesdays? Ok? Has a better ring to it.

So, since I have come back from my two week hiatus, (if you can call it as such since the reviews didn’t stop) I have picked up LEGO Batman 3, and Shiftlings. Batman was on sale during the BIG summer Xbox sale, so it was hard to turn that sale down.

LEGO Batman 3
Lego Batman 3 has been pretty fun thus far. TTGames has perfected the formula, and have just been applying it to new franchises. The game itself is a lot more fun in co-op, obviously, so I’m sure I’ll be playing it often enough with ILLESTRADER. That being said, the game seems to have decreased the difficulty curve, and have become extra bloated with characters.

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In prior LEGO Batman games, a lot of the puzzles required different suits. And that is still retained, but what I have noticed this time around, is that when you approach the puzzle, or the interactive area, the character will automatically change into the suit required. That, and for pacing purposes, the rooms and puzzles are extra bloated this time around, extending the duration of the level. Checkpoints aside, you still need to beat the level before you can save and exit. I haven’t noticed any save spots like in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.

Shiftlings
I also gave Shiftlings a try, in couch co-op, again with ILLESTRADER. The premise is like that of a game show. The goal is for the two joined space dudes to traverse the level to get to the door activation switch, and then on to the exit. The game is a fun platformer and the levels are small enough that you can zoom out the camera to see it in its entirety, to plan the trip.

shiftlings

The mechanic for this game though, is one of the space dudes has farted within the suit making it balloon shape in size, so one of the players at any given time is not able to jump high or fit through small areas, however you can transfer the air to the other players suit whenever, and the pair are attached by a semi-long breathing tube.

Its a fun little physics platformer, and super frustrating at times playing with a co-op couch partner. I’ll have more info about the game on Sunday as I’ll be dedicating my Achievement of the Week to it, and expect a review sometime later.

Xbox’s First Party Strategy
At Gamescom 2015, Xbox head Phil Spencer spoke about first-party exclusives, and his vision going forward.

“My strategy is more around our own first-party franchises, and investing in franchises that we own and probably fewer deals for exclusive third-party content,” said Spencer. “I want to have strong third party relations, but paying for many third-party exclusives isn’t our long term strategy.”

Gears of War Ultimate Edition and Backwards Compatibility
Microsoft and The Coalition have announced that Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, and Gears of War: Judgment will be backward compatible on Xbox One this fall.

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In addition to that, it was revealed that anyone who plays online in Gears of War: Ultimate Edition between launch on August 25 and the end of 2015 will gain access to every backward-compatible Gears game for free.

Doesn’t help me none since I own them all.

Destiny Sans Peter Dinklage
Bungie has revealed it has recast the role of Ghost in Destiny. Citing availability as one of the main reasons. Ghost will be reappearing in the next expansion The Taken King, and will feature Nolan North as the voice talent. All the original lines have been re-recorded as well.

Destiny’s Leveling System
More Destiny news as Bungie has announced that in the next expansion, they will be removing the Light system for leveling up. Players can level from 1-40 by completing missions, killing enemies and completing bounties.

“The conflation of gear and character level led to this place where your identity was determined by things outside of your control,” creative director Luke Smith said. “We don’t want to do that.”

Star Wars Battlefront’s Fighter Squadron and Mode
star-wars-battlefront-offers-first-look-at-fighter-squadron-mode-488398-2EA and DICE have announced Fighter Squadron, a new aerial vehicle-only multiplayer mode for Star Wars Battlefront.

The premise of Fighter Squadron sees the Rebel Alliance hunting down an escaping Imperial transport shuttle, which the Empire team must protect. Each ship has its own abilities, giving the A-Wing and its homing-missiles a different role than the X-Wing, for example.

Tomorrow I’ll catch up with more news, and hopefully prepare a review before the week is over, and then Sunday is an Achievement Update.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – The Catching Up Week, and Windows 10

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Hi again! If you’re back reading this, it means I’m a decent blogger, right? I’ll add it to my resume!

So this week will be a combination of new news and old news as I start my catch-up from the past two weeks. While I was gone, I published a Top 10 Xbox 360 list and published a new short story. As well as started the run-down for Gamescom 2015. I’ll be adding new articles to that page as I get to it.

That said, the rest of the week should be the usual: News, New Games and Deals, What I’m Playing, possibly a review, and achievements.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Exclusivity
Square Enix has announced that the console exclusivity for Rise of the Tomb Raider would last one year. The Steam/ PC release would be early 2016, and the PS4 version likely available holiday 2016. No exact dates were revealed.

World of Tanks
Released on the Xbox One on July 28th, World of Tanks supports cross-platform play between the Xbox One and 360. Additionally, the Xbox One version features enhanced graphics and battle damage, and a new PVE mode for newer players. It’s free-to-play, so I’ll be providing my opinions of the Xbox One version when I jump in.

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Xbox’s Reverse Streaming
More on the Window’s 10 features and impressions later on, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that Microsoft is currently looking into making it possible for Xbox One owners to stream PC games to their console now that the infrastructure is in place to do the opposite. This functionality would eliminate the need for a Steam Box.

New Battlefield Game in 2016?
EA has confirmed that a new Battlefield game will be released next year. EA has confirmed that a first-person-shooter over the next few years will be one of the core titles. Battlefield Hardline was released earlier in the year, and Star Wars Battlefront is late this year. I still haven’t completed Battlefield Hardline  but I hope to soon, to remove it from my ever-growing list of incomplete games.

Star Wars Battlefront News
A new multiplayer mode has been confirmed for Battlefront, in Blast, which will give the players smaller, close-quarters encounters instead of the featured large-scale battles.

10 versus 10 team deathmatch face-off between Imperials and Rebel forces. Winning team is the first to reach 100 kills or lead the way after 10 minutes. Maps won’t be scaled down version of the regular modes, but specifically designed close-quarters maps taking place within interiors of several key settings.

Destiny’s Dreadnaught
The Dreadnaught is a brand new playable environment coming with the next Destiny expansion, The Taken King. The Dreadnaught is the home of the Hive enemy class. It will proved the setting  for the upcoming campaign missions as well as Patrol and public events too. The new strike and strike boss, Darkblade, will be fought aboard the Dreadnaught. Expect more destiny news as we approach the September release.

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I upgraded to Windows 10 when I came back, and so far I’m really impressed. It has a cleaner interface, and improved navigation, especially for tablets (which I use primarily). Now I haven’t used it to its full potential, and never will, but the Xbox App was the most important feature to me, and it’s incredible.

It has a very impressive feature set and works seamlessly with the Xbox One in the same room. It’s more robust than the smart glass app, and supports Xbox parties and game DVR. The last feature I tried was the Xbox Streaming, and with a Xbox controller wired in, it nearly works seamless. A little graphics loss, to be expected, but it did glitch out when I tried plugging in headphones to the tablet. Could be a hardware issues, so I’ll have to look into it further.

The Xbox app drops you into the Home screen when you log in. This looks similar to the Xbox One home, where it shows you the activity feed and friends list on the right. It will also show you your current party, last played game, and menus for customization, Achievements and friend options.

On the right is your menu: Home, My Games, Messages, Activity Alerts, Achievements, Game DVR, Store, OneGuide, Connecting to the Xbox One and Settings.

It’s not 100% polished yet, but it’s very impressive already with more TV DVR options in the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue with the news catch-up, new game releases, game deals and Games with Gold discussion.

-iRogan