Summary for October 2024

Divine Beasts

Two scelettons, holding spiked clubs from which hang pieces of colethes, face each other in a torch-lit dingeon. There is a dialogue box on the screen where one of the sceletons says “Best not to think about it. I don’t want to fall to bits ‘cos of excess existential thought. Nasty…”.

Divine Divinity is a game from the era when attitude was a valid substitute for humor, message, or even story. So it is a bit surprising that it is very restrained. Not without its eyebrow raising moments, but nothing worth calling out, I think.

Starting with the good, it makes me more interested in what else Larian has done (I’ve already dipped my toes into some of their games, but no more than that). There’s also the bad: it’s a bit junky and its difficulty is uneven, to say the least: I only finished it by cheating my ass off. Do I regret playing it? No. Can I recommend it? Eh-h-h…

Princess Zelda, blonde elf in a blue shirt, dark pants and shoes, and a Tablet PC-like magical device called the Sheikah Slate on her belt. She uses a power of Magnesis, which looks like a big magnet in her hands, to smash a huge metal crate into a bunch of bokoblins (pig-like humanoids) and lizalfos (bipedal chameleons). There are a lot of them around, waiting for a fight.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is in its own subgenre, but it’s basically a beat-them-up. It can be repetitive, but on easy is at least not demanding. It tells the alternative history version of the backstory of Breath of the Wild, and manages to tour through it’s world, bringing most of the notable characters (with some very surprising choices along the way. Fan service-y? Sure, but still easy-going fun and a good excuse to revisit this world for the third time.