Path Of Exile 2 Will Be Playable In July 2023 At Exilecon
When it comes to Path of Exile, some RPG players who love the dark style will be familiar with it. This is the crystallization of the Diablo game inherited by the fanatic Diablo fan "Chris Wilson" after ten years of research. In addition to the various dungeons, weapon matching and other gameplay of traditional Diablo games, the game has also added a huge skill tree system. Adding points in the game can even make the talents and skills of each character point different from other players!
It is worth mentioning that, as a sequel to Path of Exile 1, Path of Exile 2 retains almost all gameplay, and even realizes dual-terminal intercommunication. The characters and items in the first generation will be transferred to the second generation. In terms of plot, Path Of Exile 2 tells the story that happened 20 years after Kitava's death. Naturally, this land is still full of monsters, which require players to explore and decrypt.
Developer Grinding Gear Games has confirmed that the long-awaited Path Of Exile 2 will be fully unveiled in 2023. The debut will be at Exilecon 2023. Until July, the game will also go to Gamescom for European players to enjoy. In fact, Path Of Exile 2 was originally slated for a 2022 release date, but it now looks like the sequel may be released in time for the series' tenth anniversary. As for the public beta time, it is still uncertain. But what is certain is that the exact time for the public beta will be announced when Path Of Exile2 is officially showcased at Exilecon.
Seeing that Blizzard's Diablo 4 is intensifying, here Grinding Gear Games also released a real machine demonstration of Path Of Exile 2 in April last year. Judging from the video, the game screen is as delicate as Diablo 4. Characters and enemies move in subtly different ways depending on the situation. Battles also leave physical scars on the environment, especially after intense battles, leaving piles of charred bodies and bones.
It is understood that Grinding Gear Games has invested a lot of effort into Path Of Exile 2, and it is expected to provide many new features, including 19 occupations, a new Skill Gems system, updated functions, and new weapons and armor. In addition, the sequel will delete 70% of the existing content. This is undoubtedly good news for new players, because they will no longer be confused by too much content!
Since the equipment no longer needs 6-Link, the first thing to delete is naturally Orb of Fusing. In addition, Portal Scroll, Sextant, Perandus Coin, Orb of Binding, Engineer's Orb, and all quality currencies will be removed. These currencies have always been less useful things when they were added.
Most of the existing old season content will also be deleted, such as Manors, decryption, Heist Filters, etc. These contents will become an affix on the map, appear in the form of monster groups, and will also drop season unique items and Orb of Alchemy.
At the same time, the map will also delete the reflection modifiers, and Vaal Orbs will make the map modifiers * 2, up to 16 modifiers. Presumably, it will take a long time to farm a picture in the future, and it will no longer be possible to complete it in a few minutes or even tens of seconds like now. Orb of Alchemy needs to be combined with POE Currency to use it, and an Orb of Alchemy crafting table is added at the same time.
Overall, Path Of Exile 2 is basically a brand new game, and it no longer needs to be dragged down by various season content. The benefits of this are also obvious, at least newcomers don't have to re-study the old seasons one by one. With the injection of fresh blood, Path Of Exile 2 must be able to shine again.
Hades II Is Coming In 2023
Hades is a high-degree-of-freedom action game developed by Supergiant Games. It won the "Best Independent Game" and "Best Action Game" awards at TGA (The Game Awards) 2020.
At this year's TGA 2022 awards ceremony, that is, on December 9th, Supergiant Games officially announced Hades' sequel, Hades II. The studio attached two character designs and released the first trailer. It can be seen from the trailer that this new work is still the RougeLike gameplay familiar to players. Due to the huge success of the previous game, it's hard not to let players look forward to it.
What Is Hades II?
Hades II is a rogue-like dungeon crawler. In the game, you will use dark sorcery in the Underworld of Greek myth against the evil Titan of Time. Hades II is arguably Supergiant Games' first ever sequel. This new work will be developed on the basis of the original Hades, and will bring players a new, action-packed, infinitely replayable experience. However, the story line of the new work is still rooted in the Underworld of Greek myth and its deep connection with the dawn of witchcraft.
In Hades II, you will explore a larger and deeper mythical world from the perspective of the Princess of the Underworld, Melinoë. You too will defeat the power of the Titan of Time with the full support of Olympus behind you. With every setback and achievement you make, you'll be drawn deeper and deeper into an all-encompassing story. New locations, challenges, upgrade systems, and surprises await as you delve deeper into the ever-changing Underworld time and time again.
Who Is The Protagonist Of Hades II?
In Hades II, you play as the Princess of the Underworld, Melinoë. She's an immortal witch and sorcerer with powerful magical abilities and deadly feats of shadowy weapons, and she has an old score to settle.
Like her older brother Zagreus in the first game, Melinoë is not an original Supergiant Games character, but is based on an ancient Underworld deity believed to be related to Hades. As a result, players' perspective on the Underworld expands as they explore her story and connection to her family.
Will Hades II Launch As An Early Access Game Initially?
Yes! Like its predecessor, Hades, Hades II will be in early access mode for a while until its official V1.0 release. Expect more information on Hades II early access sometime in 2023.
Early access means you'll be able to buy and play a beta version of Hades II, with the option to provide feedback and gameplay data. This will be invaluable to Supergiant Games as they work to perfect the game's potential. Feedbacks from the player community are fundamental to the design during development and was critical to the quality of the original game, so Supergiant Games plans to replicate that process in Hades II.
On Which Platforms Will Hades II Launch?
For this issue, Supergiant Games did not make a clear statement, they just expressed the hope that Hades II will eventually be released on PC and console platforms. Therefore, the platform on which Hades II will be released will not be revealed until the game is completed.
According to Supergiant Games' early plans, what we can know is that they will have an early access period for Hades II on PC, and it will be on Steam and the Epic Games Store at the same time.
Recently, Hades also took advantage of the popularity of Hades II to promote it on the Steam platform. Not only is it half price, but it's only $15.73. It can be seen that Hades has currently received a 98% favorable rate. Instead of waiting, you might as well experience Hades first, which may be helpful for you to experience new works later.
How To Get And Use Golden Parry Ash Of War In Elden Ring?
Ash Of War is actually a special item in Elden Ring. It can make parrying more cool and deadly and enables you to replace Weapon Skills and Affinities of your equipment with new ones or even one at all.
Since Ashes of War can be applied to most weapons and shields, you can tailor each type of weapon to your own builds and playstyle. Specifically, with Ashes of War, you can switch out the unique abilities of your weapons and use different abilities. This way the weapons you use can better match and optimize the builds you make. Of course, Ash of War is not a panacea. Some weapons have their own unique skills, which cannot be replaced by any Ash of War.
Elden Ring Ashes of War adds abilities to your weapons, changes their proportions, adds new attacks and more. Used correctly, these are powerful damage modifiers, and can open up any combat options you can apply them to. It's a powerful tool in Elden Ring, allowing you to get the best out of your weapons, and even adapting them to builds they didn't originally fit.
There are even some Ashes of War that can be used to further build a technique or a skill that existed in previous Souls games, like parrying. Actually parrying is done with smaller or medium shields. And this ability can cause massive counterattacks on unsuspecting enemies. If you use the Golden Parry Ash of War, parrying can also become more cool and deadly. So, where exactly can we find Golden Parry Ash of War?
Where Can We Find Golden Parry Ash Of War?
First, you'll have to find a way to get to the capital's outskirts, because later in the game you'll find the Golden Parry Ash Of War. To get there, you'll have to keep going until you find the Outwall Phantom Tree site of grace. From here, you'll need to keep heading north of you. Wait until a giant staircase appears in front of you and keep going up. Next, you are free to choose your way forward. Either fight the enemies you encounter, or ride torrent past the enemies. Whichever you choose, you'll have to find a way to find a little golden tree with a Golden Seed at the bottom.
After you collect the Golden Seed on the small golden tree, please go to your right, and there will be another huge staircase in front of you. Go straight up in the direction of the stairs, and you'll come across a few small groups of puny soldiers. They can be dispatched quickly or ridden with ease. After you've dealt with them, go straight ahead along the left side of the stairs, and you'll find a scarab at the top of the stairs. Keep going up until you are able to jump to the platform area where the scarab is. In this area, you'll also encounter a group of soldiers. But fear not, you can skip fighting them directly by jumping over the railing on the left. All you need to do is walk right up to where the scarab is and try to kill it. That way, you can collect the Golden Parry Ash Of War that drops from it.
How To Use Golden Parry Ash Of War?
It's worth noting that each Ash of War can only be equipped on one weapon at a time. If you want to use the same Ash of War on a different weapon, you can simply unequip the Ash and switch it directly to the next weapon. It's also worth keeping in mind that Ashes of War in Elden Ring are limited to certain weapon and gear types. For example, the Ash of War: Thunderbolt can only be applied to melee weapons, not any other equipment. Similarly, the Ash of War: Parry skill only works on shields and certain small armaments.
Since the arching golden light of Golden Parry Ash of War can expand the range of your parry ability, it is very powerful. Although it also has shortcomings, for example, its range is not moderate, and when the enemy attacks you, it can successfully distance you from the enemy. This parry has the same effect when you stun as well as distances you from the enemy, which is to make it take heavy hits in long-range and close-range connections. If you want to properly use Golden Parry Ash of War, you still need to calculate the parring time as usual. But the added distance in the process also gives you more room for error.
If you want to defeat the scarab and get the Golden Parry Ash of War more easily, it is especially important to use Elden Ring Runes to improve your strength!
Team Fortress 2 - A Game That Will Keep You Entertained Even If It's Free!
This free game developed and published by Valve was officially released on October 10, 2007. The game supports 26 languages including Chinese. Although this game did not become a free game before, but with time over time, this game has been opened for free to play, and has received a favorable rate of close to 95% in all game reviews.
What kind of game can make players so popular? Today I will introduce a wave of Team Fortress 2 to you! Although this game has been around for more than ten years, the most important thing is that it has not stopped updating. This game is one of the most popular online action games over the years. It updates free upgrade patches again and again, and adds more maps, modes, as well as equipment. This is one of the few in all games.
Team Fortress 2 is well balanced. Although this game is not very accessible, it is definitely a good game for some players who want to try it. You don't need to spend money to buy items, because all you need is your own skills. There will be a large number of game modes for you to choose from in the game, and you can play according to your preferences. The most important point is that even if you don't know how to play, you can still be a support silently, attracting the firepower of others and you're done.
Game Screen
Although I don't know what the picture was like more than ten years ago, what is certain is that the current picture definitely has a picture quality experience comparable to that of third-person shooting games called Fortnite. These two games have similar cartoon character models, similar map structures, and weapon hitting effects, etc. And both of them have kept pace with the times, and will not affect the player's game experience at all because of the image quality.
Gameplay
Team Fortress 2 is a first-person perspective game. Although it is a multiplayer competitive game, it will not bring players the same frustration or poor experience as competitive games, nor will it make you lose your temper. Instead, its joyful game atmosphere can bring you a feeling of happiness. The game has nine modes: Payload, King of the hill, Control point, Capture the flag, Payload race, Attack defend, Special delivery, Random games and Mann versus Machine. No matter which mode you choose, you can spend your game time very happily. Of course, it would be even better if you bring your own friends.
Game Content
In addition to the above-mentioned game modes, the second is the equipment of the game and the costumes of the characters. Nine different types of arms have different combinations of combat capabilities and personalities, and also have different battlefield positioning. Players can play the game according to their preferences. Secondly, hundreds of weapon hats in the game allow players to collect, synthesize, purchase and trade by themselves. Of course, you can also use Metal directly to get these things.
In short, this game is very worthy of players to play, and the Metacritic evaluation of 92 points is enough to support the excellence of this game.
How Fun Is The Ultra-popular Hot Style Goose Goose Duck?
The popularity of Among Us and Fall Guys has made Party Game a force that cannot be ignored in the game market in recent years. However, as previously reported by GameLook, for party games developed by small teams on Steam, due to the lack of publicity resources, whether they can become popular often requires some luck in addition to the hard power of the product itself.
Recently, a party game that has been online for more than a year has become the latest lucky guy on this track. According to data from SteamDB, this game named Goose Goose Duck has suddenly exploded after a year of innocence. Moreover, the number of online users of this game on Steam is temporarily ranked Top 17, becoming a masterpiece comparable to many FPS and MMO ultra-popular hot styles.
So, the question also arises, how fun is Goose Goose Duck?
An Upgraded Version Of Among Us?
Goose Goose Duck has a rather nonsensical setting: a group of geese made a spaceship ready to go to space, but mixed ducks and other birds into it. According to different camps, players need to work together with their allies to complete a series of tasks in order to win the victory for their camp.
Does this setting sound familiar? That's right, in various senses, Goose Goose Duck has many similarities with Among Us, the big hit among space werewolves. For example, similar space settings, similar character styles, and of course similar gameplay. However, if Goose Goose Duck is just a skinned version of Among Us, it is obviously impossible to be so popular. Simply put, Goose Goose Duck is more like an upgraded version of Among Us.
In the past, The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow products were often divided into two camps, good guys and bad guys. In the good guys camp, the largest number are generally ordinary villagers without special abilities. This can balance the difficulty caused by the different numbers of the two camps. However, for ordinary villagers, the game experience is often quite bad, and they are often killed by werewolves without any achievements.
In contrast, Goose Goose Duck has an astonishing 30 kinds of professions, although it also includes the most common goose, but obviously there are far more players with occupations than other products, which also ensures that the game experience of players is not too short boring. Of course, this also leads to a problem: if all members are ruthless, wouldn't it be difficult for the camp of bad guys who do not have the upper hand to win?
In order to solve this problem, Goose Goose Duck also changed the design of the camp. In addition to the "good and bad" camp in the traditional sense, there are also some third-party camps. For example, for the role of Dumbbird, its combat goal is to be voted out by the big geese as a bad duck to win. Therefore, the big geese need to beware of these players who deliberately show their "duck" feet, and the ducks can also use the self-explosive flow. The way of playing is pretending to be a dumb bird, disturbing the cognition of the big geese.
The addition of third-party camps not only significantly improves the balance between camps, but also makes the experience of the game itself extremely brain-burning. Since each game can have up to 16 players joining at the same time, the game process is often full of unexpected emergencies, and it is not difficult for players to be so superior. Some players even left a message on Steam saying, "Before playing the game, I felt quite normal, but after I finished playing, I was mentally retarded."
Free To Download And Experience
The success of Goose Goose Duck is also inseparable from its business model. Today, Among Us is still a buyout game on Steam, but Goose Goose Duck has chosen the same free and in-app purchase model as Fall Guys today. The business model that everyone can experience for free will undoubtedly attract more players to test the water.
In terms of internal purchases, the current main payment point for this product is the sale of skins and decorations. These payment elements will not affect the player's game experience. In addition, although there are some elements involving item charges, such as special pets that provide game currency bonuses, the impact on the value is also very weak.
It is worth mentioning that Goose Goose Duck is also a cross-platform product. In addition to PC (Steam) and Mac, this game also supports Android and iOS smartphones. Sensor Tower data shows that the mobile game version of this product has been downloaded millions of times on both platforms, but the revenue is relatively bleak. Players' willingness to pay for this type of product is still a problem that party games need to continue to explore .
Therefore, how long the Goose Goose Duck, which became popular overnight, will remain popular is still a topic worthy of continuous attention. But it is foreseeable that Goose Goose Duck will not be the last popular party game. This simple and joyful multiplayer social game category will still have a steady stream of new surprises in the future.
Why Is Terraria So Popular On Steam?
Compared to Minecraft, Terraria may not be so familiar. But it is also a sandbox legend, which is completely different from the game charm brought by Minecraft. Terraria focuses on exploration, focusing on collection and growth, with the ultimate goal of saving the world. But it is food for thought, is the player's activity really beneficial to the world of Terraria? In this issue, let us enter the world of Terraria to find the answer to this question!
Terraria is a high-degree-of-freedom sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. It was released on PC on May 16, 2011, and entered the switch platform on December 19, 2019. Of course, this game is also available on mobile phones. And Terraria also received rave reviews on Steam, with 22w evaluations and a 97% favorable rate.
Ingenious Cthulhu Style
The advancement of Terraria's plot depends entirely on the guide's prompts. The guide often only speaks a few words, and never urges the player to do something. It is more like explaining and telling you the conditions for summoning each npc. I never say much about the plot of the game, only occasionally mentioning how to make boss summons. The plot itself is also driven by players exploring and killing bosses, so the game itself has very little plot. For players who really love this game, this kind of fragmented plot may often make them think hard, hoping to combine such fragmented information into a complete story. And when its idea can really justify itself, the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment is irreplaceable.
Of course, most of the bosses in this game are designed in Cthulhu style, from the eyeball of the first boss Cthulhu, or the guardian of the dungeon, Skeleton King, Roshan, and even the Moon Lord, you can see clearly Cthulhu style. There are not only more than 30 bosses but also special events. Do you think that after your house is built, you can sit back and relax after the npc lives in it? It's not that simple. Various special events are waiting for you to experience.
Picture Quality
Terraria is sandbox games as you see. But it is worth mentioning that its novel 2D design surprised me. It not only has the ordinary block setting of 2D plane, but also the setting of background curtain wall. You can also use a hammer to knock the block into the shape you want. All aspects perfectly meet your architectural needs. Of course, some npcs in the game also have very high requirements for buildings. You need to build a room that meets his requirements for him to live in, such as a room with decorative flags or furniture, or there are also requirements for the size of the room.
As a game that mainly promotes the collection of adventure monsters, let's not talk about the number of weapons themselves. The ranks of weapons and equipment in this game are as many as 11, and the enchanting attributes of equipment prefixes are as many as 112. Of course, through equipment configuration, it can basically be said to have all regular occupations in RPG. However, since there is no talent tree in this work, various armor set attributes are added to separate the occupations of players. Of course, this work also includes a fashion system. If you are not satisfied with the appearance of the armor, you can completely make up for it through fashion. In addition to armor, weapons, fashion, accessories and potions that are often found in rpg games are also essential. In this game, accessories mainly provide various special functions such as immunity to all buffs, flying, or increasing attack power.
Why Terraria Is Worth Playing
Although the 2D sandbox style is indeed sometimes unacceptable, it is still very good to get used to it. What I have to complain about is that the overly simple attack action of this work is a bit disappointing. In addition, for new players, if you don't check the strategy and don't like to watch the narration of the game, playing this game alone may dissuade you. Although it is fun to dig, explore, and find treasure chests all the time, but after a long time, the main plot has not changed at all, and the unchanging daily life and world may really make you feel bored. For veteran players, it can be a bit frustrating to have to wait for each update to continue exploring Terraria. But this does not affect that this is a good game and a masterpiece.
As far as I concerned, Terraria is still very fun, especially when you play online with your friends. One person cuts trees to build a home, one person hunts monsters and explores, and others can mine and develop technology. Sometimes in order to collect special dropped items to brush monsters together, complain about the European origin of the playmates. Or discuss the history of the Terraria world together. The charm of this kind of game has deeply attracted me. Of course, I hope that the game positioning of this work will not be too high. This is a casual game that can even be played on mobile phones. For players who like 2D horizontal version of the game, this game is definitely not to be missed.
Significant Note You Have to Know in 2023 New World Roadmap
Amazon Games' New World has made big changes in its first year online with major updates on a regular basis that have addressed many of the issues players had at launch. Nearly every month since its release, New World's updates have introduced new content, weapons, events, system reworks, and quality-of-life changes that have significantly improved the game in many areas. As a result, leveling has become quicker, crafting is easier, combat is more fluid, the early game is more streamlined, and there's plenty of content for endgame players. While the game's population may not be what it was in its early days, current New World players seem to be growing more satisfied with the experience.
A roadmap revealing many of the biggest changes coming to New World has been revealed during the New World Dev Update for December, including some features that have long been requested by players. New World will soon be getting transmog, gear set storage, 20-player groups, changes to crafting tiers, territory wars, and some challenging new PVE content.
Let's get into it and see what they have in store for us over the next few months. First I would like to just say I really like this dev blog a ton more than usual, this one was a lot more relaxed showing out takes cracking jokes, and the best part it wasn't two hours long, it was just a nice short chat about what's coming.
Winter Convergence
So the first thing they talked about was The Winter Convergence of 2022. We can expect this to hit live in the next couple of weeks, if you guys didn't play last year, at this time let me just start by saying. This was the best event in my opinion that new world has ever had. it had different things you could do quests collecting the meteors, killing the yetis, it was just an all-around fun event, and the decorations around the settlements really gave the game a nice feeling during the holidays. This year they're adding a few new things, there will be a new world boss, a new quest associated with the winter warrior. This guy will be big, and dangerous, much like the real Halloween event boss. I'm excited to see if they will continue with last year theme and give us a bunch of new home decor and skins. One thing a bit silly with this year's event is they chose the same style of settlement Decor on Brimstone, a desert it's burning hot, but in town you're in a snow globe sort of situation. But anyway not a huge deal, it's just for fun.
Territory Control
The next thing they talked about was Territory Control, they're making three big changes in December in terms of wars and territory influence. The first change will be an introduction of a company leave cooldown, this cooldown will last 72 hours, and during that time you can participate in any activity associated with territory control, so it will become more important for people to really think before leaving a company. The next big change will be to war roster limits, they will be implementing a new mercenary limit, they wanted mercenaries to still be a thing to allow players to still participate and show support for their faction, or potentially show their ability to get recruited. But they wanted to limit it, so what they will be doing is setting the mercenary limit for a territory defense team to be 10, and the attacking teams will be set to 25 mercenary cap. They are also introducing a daily War limit, the limit will be one attack and one defense per day, and this limit will be account wide per world. So if you have multiple characters per server, you will still be locked on both.
I know these changes will piss off some players out there, but I think it is a good step. it will allow more players and more companies to get on the map, and allow people to have access to a system that before was controlled by a very small group of players.
They also emphasize that this is a December change only, not the end. They will be watching Territory Control and all those systems closely, and will continue to make changes moving forward that will improve them.
Crafting Stations
They talked about how they are changing crafting stations, what they are doing is making all procedural recipes, not have a crafting station tier requirement, stuff that has drop down menus. When I heard this a few months ago was exactly what they addressed, so that's pretty awesome, which was why would any company bother to spend going to upgrade anything. There are still huge benefits to upgrading, you will still need High tier stations for high-end specialty stuff, named items and that kind of thing but also the higher tier stations will offer lower reductions in crafting costs, as well as the new territory control.
New cinematics, quality-of-life changes, a hardcore Sandworm Elite Trial for the toughest PVE players, cross-world Outpost Rush, and a free weekend are just a few of the other things to look forward to in the near future. I do believe that more contents will released and waiting for players to explore in the New World future.
The Last of Us Part II: Miracle of the Ninth Art? or Just a Rubbish?
TGA, aka The Game Awards, has been successfully completed a few days ago. With heart beating brand new game trailers, Great battle between Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök, and of course Bill Clinton win the Game of the Year, it is hard to express that TGA 2022 is not good enough.
Currently lot of people put their sight further, predicting 2023 game industry form, and dig into overhaul technology to game immersions. But from my perspective, with a new TV series released, maybe it is the perfect timing to rewind a little bit to a massive controversial games two years age, I bet you guys already feel what I want to discuss, the Game of the Year 2020, The last of Us II.
Gameplay and Vision Performance
There is much to admire in Naughty Dog's ultra-dark revenge video game The Last Of Us Part II. And there is much to critique. The devs who poured their blood, sweat and tears into the game deserve praise for its technical achievements. The writers who mangled the story deserve the lumps that follow.
Despite its gore and violence, The Last Of Us Part II is a beautiful game, with renditions of post-apocalyptic Seattle and Santa Barbara that are simply staggering in detail and scope. The sights and sounds of this game are lush and lovely, gruesome and harrowing. In terms of presentation, The Last Of Us Part II is easily one of the best of the current generation.
The first game didn't have much going for it in the gameplay department, neither game is particularly strong as an action/shooter, and each forces players to spend far too much time tediously picking up odds and ends in order to craft bombs and med, kits, and ammo for your routinely empty firearms. (There's a setting that makes this somewhat less tedious in the sequel). But I do love the process of gun transformation in The Last Of Us Part II, absolutely vivid and attractive, hint how much developers paid on in-game details. So when it comes to gameplay, both games are fine.
Comparing the previous version, The Last Of Us Part II did an amazing update, open world, more characters, more weapons and fight systems. But we both know the result - most controversial game among the play community, two groups of players totally stand the opposite sides, no one can convince each others, even after two year those controversies still exist. What led to this situation?
Disastrous Narrative
There is only one correct answer to the question "How many lives would you sacrifice to save humanity?"
For the Last Of Us Part I, lackluster gameplay was more than made up for by a compelling story filled with complex characters in a gritty, intriguing post-apocalyptic world. It didn't hurt that it also had one of the best endings in video games, period.
It was an ending that deserved to be just that, the end of Joel and Ellie's story, unresolved and bittersweet. Brittle and precarious and powerful all at once. A happy ending in many ways, but an unsettling one, too.
Joel's was a lie told out of love, but it was still a lie. He kept that secret for the same reason he rescued Ellie from the Fireflies. Because he couldn't stand to lose his daughter. Not again.
That same lie kicks off the events in The Last Of Us Part II, but it quickly runs roughshod over everything we loved about the first game, trampling even our high opinions of the protagonists in the process. What follows is a too-pretentious-by-half story of nonsensical revenge and relentless violence. It masquerades at depth and meaning but fails to deliver either.
For Naughty Dog, the Sony-owned studio behind the series, the safe thing to do from a financial standpoint would have been to continue the first game's story in a predictable way that kept fans happy, as the makers of Marvel and Star Wars movies have done so profitably. But The Last of Us Part II does nothing of the sort. Instead, the punishingly bleak sequel kills off the original's main character and turns the secondary hero into a villain. It takes violence to a level that is uncomfortable even by the standards of video games, and seemingly does everything in its power to make gamers feel bad about the act of playing it.
Arrogant Screenwriter
Enough Budget, amazing technology, outstanding characters, charming views, tons of fans, why The Last of Us Part II step into the black hole? Just one single fool, selfish writer is enough, Neil Druckmann.
Revenge can be fun. John Wick does "fun revenge" very well. I remember watching Braveheart for the first time and William Wallace's revenge was thrilling. But the moral of the story in serious works of fiction is that revenge is bitter (not bittersweet) and never quite plays out the way you'd hoped. It creates a cycle of violence that hurts everyone caught up in its wake. Hamlet is consumed by his desire for revenge - prompted by the ghost of his father - but in the end it just means that everyone dies, including innocents like Polonius and Ophelia and, though she's perhaps a little less innocent, Hamlet's mother as well. Revenge, like that green-eyed monster, jealousy, is dangerous. Something to be avoided if at all possible. Even justifiable revenge, kill can lead to all sorts of problems.
What this game needed in the end was grace. The kind of strange, unsettling thing that comes over someone when they suddenly realize something profound and choose to take a different path. When Ellie sees her emaciated enemy hanging from a poll and, instead of feeling gleeful satisfaction, feels only horror and pity, she acted with grace and mercy and, in that moment, became the person we hoped she would become. It was never about killing Abby. It was about Ellie finding her own redemption.
And then they throw it all away.
Two angry, beat up, half-dead murderesses slicing each other over and over again in the shallows, blood and saltwater spraying everywhere, until suddenly Ellie gives up and let's Abby go. Again. I'm not one to usually criticize games for their violence, but this felt exploitative to me. And redundant. All that potential for mercy and grace lost.
The ending could have worked with mercy or revenge as the outcome, but apparently the writers had trouble making up their minds about which direction they wanted to go, and decided to try and have their cake and eat it, too. The result feels sloppy, repetitive and frustrating.
Overall Review
The Last of Us Part II is one of the toughest gaming experiences I've ever endured, and writing about that experience is equally difficult. I loved the original Last of Us despite the story far outshining the gameplay, but thought it didn't need a sequel. The ambiguity of Ellie's final word, "Okay," before the credits rolled earned The Last of Us a top spot for best video game endings of all time.
Furthermore, the sort of hate that is being leveled at the game itself is primarily homophobic, misogynistic, and transphobic in nature - attitudes beneath contempt. Unfortunately, that disturbing and abusive behavior has been conflated by Naughty Dog - and Neil Druckmann in particular - with respectful criticism of the game itself, notably the writing and pacing issues that I personally found grating. Moments in this game are exceptional, thus the devil deserves to be given its due before exorcising it.
Undoubtedly, The Last of Us Part II will be fondly remembered as the Playstation 4's swan song in the way that the original Last of Us game was for the Playstation 3. Purely in terms of technical achievement, Part II is a must-play for owners of the current generation consoles, and our own Andy Webb reviewed this game as "groundbreaking."
But in terms of narrative, I almost wish that Part II was never made, that the original game would forever live on as lightning in a bottle, the one zombie game that rose to the cream of the crop in an overly saturated genre. And though the sequel has moments of greatness that occasionally top the original, Part II leaving me cold at the idea of any future Last of Us games.
How To Marry Your Favorite NPC In Stardew Valley?
As a very good pixel game, Stardew Valley has a lot of new players because of its excellent plot and various ways of playing, and the old players have been unable to let it go. I am a big fan of this game.
If you are new to this game, you must not know that you can marry NPCs in it, right? Today, I will introduce to you in detail how to marry your favorite NPC in Stardew Valley.
When the favorability between the player and the villagers reaches the level of best friends (10 hearts), they can get married. Regardless of whether it is a man or a woman, the marriageable object has a "single" status in the social key. To fall in love, the player must purchase a special bouquet from Pierre's General Store, which will only be sold after the player's friendship with any marriageable NPC reaches eight hearts.
After the favorability reaches eight hearts, the player must send a bouquet to unlock the 10-heart limit, so that the favorability can continue to rise. And then you can send gifts normally to increase the favorability. In the old version, multiple bouquets can be sent to the same NPC in one day. And the bouquets are not counted in the number of gifts, and each gift can increase 25 points of favorability (1/10 heart).
After a recent update, the same NPC can only be gifted a bouquet once during a relationship. You can send bouquets to multiple NPCs at one time, and the favorability of each NPC will not be affected unless the player is married. After sending a bouquet to an NPC, an icon of the bouquet will appear next to the avatar of the corresponding NPC in the Favorability List, and indicate "Boyfriend" or "Girlfriend". After sending the NPC bouquet, if you don't send the NPC gift for a period of time, the favorability will drop.
If you want to get engaged, you must send a Mermaid Pendant. It is a token of love, you can get married immediately after giving it to a specific person. Players can buy the Mermaid Pendant at the Old Mariner on the beach for 5,000 gold.
To find him, you must meet the following requirements. First, you need to repair the wooden bridge with 300 lumber. The second is that you have to upgrade the farmhouse at least once. Under normal circumstances, the Old Mariner only appears in rainy days (spring, summer and autumn). If you want to get married in winter, you can use the totem to pray for rain and make the Old Mariner appear.
The wedding was held early in the morning three days after the proposal. After the ceremony, the player and spouse will return to the hallway of the farmhouse at 6:00 am. If an event like festival or farm house completion occurs, the wedding will be skipped.
With the continuous update of Stardew Valley, the game has added many new elements in the link of marriage.The developer confirmed that in version 1.1, Shane and Emily will be added to the marriageable objects. In version 1.3, online players can be married, and can buy the formula for wedding rings in the travel cart. And the wedding ceremony can be held in the morning after giving the ring and three days after the engagement.
Is New World Worth Playing In 2023?
New World is an MMORPG launching on September 28, 2021. The background of the game is set on the fictional supernatural world of Aeternum Island in the 17th century. Players will explore and fight, build their own characters, and create another self among three factions that are constantly vying for towns and territories.
The environment and picture creation of New World are expressed in an open 3D form. The vision is exquisite and can even be used as a wallpaper. And the character modeling is also very good. The game tells why players want to go to Aeternum Island at the beginning. A person whose body has changed found the captain and told the story about Aeternum Island, so the captain went to that mysterious place. But when he arrived, the captain's fleet encountered the situation that the person told. Afterwards, the player encounters the corrupted captain.
Following the quest process, players can gradually understand and experience the world. And the main line and branch lines basically follow the consistent process of massively multiplayer online games. Specifically, it is collecting items, killing monsters, and talking with NPCs. In addition, there are various tasks related to city construction and faction reputation, etc. Through these, players can find suitable weapons and complete the tasks they want and trade with other players.
Players can join three different factions, the Syndicate, Covenant, and Marauders. These three factions are constantly fighting for control of towns and territories. And as players, we also belong to different camps after choosing our own faction, and jointly complete the construction of towns and produce goods. Players can also buy houses and settle in their own faction.
Weapons
The novice tutorial of the game is more detailed. Players can use different weapons to attack, and each weapon has its own proficiency. After using the weapon frequently, you can gain skills and upgrade them. It can be said that the game does not have a specific profession, and it can also be said that the weapon used is the profession. Of course, weapons and tools have a certain endurance, and they will be damaged after the endurance is consumed.
Depending on the weapon you use, you can also change your professions. The profession is divided into two types: long-range and melee. Such as long-range Fire Magic, Life Magic, Ice Magic, Bow, Musket, and melee Sword and Shield, Greatsword, Hatchet, Spear, Great Axe, and War Hammer.
Each weapon can be equipped with three skills, such as Fire Magic's Fire's Reach, Sword and Shield's Reverse Stab, etc. The three skills are released during the battle and the specific three skills are selected by the player. Have different cooldowns. At the same time, after the character is upgraded, the attribute points also affect the player's use of weapons. Each weapon has two branches of combat skills, the main skill and the passive skill. The rich skill tree system makes the weapon skills of this game a feature, and it is also a point that impresses me deeply.
Survive
In fact, many construction games have a survival mode, and this game integrates it. In the game, players can carry out mining, hunting, skinning, logging, harvesting and fishing that survival games have. And these form different life skills. Players can choose what they like to improve their proficiency. As the level increases, more collectible items and resources that can be detected will be unlocked. At the same time, we can collect resources in the wild to make bonfires to make medicines and rest to restore health. In addition to using potions, your HP can also be recovered by hunting, making food and drinking water, which is quite like Red Dead Redemption 2.
There are different crafting stations in the city. After collecting enough materials, we can use these to craft and upgrade the level. Raising the level will unlock higher resources. In layman's terms, it is life skills. Some players like to make armor weapons, some like to cook, some like to make furniture and handmade jewelry, etc. These all take time to improve proficiency and level. Players can choose one or two to upgrade, or slowly accumulate with the game time and slow to master all. Pretty good.
Fast teleportation is also designed in the game, but fast teleportation needs to consume a currency called Azoth. If this currency is not enough, then you cannot quickly move between big cities. After death, you can choose to be reborn at the nearest found teleportation point and bonfire in the set initial city. But there are different cooling rates and limits.
Sense Of Experience
Both the sense of strike and the sound effect make the feeling of blocking and attacking very good, and the flat slash also uses the form of three combos. Different weapon combinations can form different teams. For example, Fire Magic can summon fireballs in a certain range. Of course, blocking and dodging with Great Axe will consume stamina. In terms of movements, climbing cannot climb rocks, you can stand on fences, climb over fences, etc. The overall feeling is very smooth.
There will be random monster attacks on the map, and all bosses are basically above level 25. When your main line reaches level 20, you can form a team to play dungeons and fight bosses to obtain high-level equipment. The follow-up battles between players between factions, and even siege games are even more exciting.
Here I want to talk about farming maps of this game. Except for fast teleportation, it can only rely on legs, and there is no automatic running. You only have automatic pathfinding based on the route, and there is no mount system, so it will consume a certain amount of time on the road.
In addition to various materials collected in the wild, there are also fantasy plants that we have never seen. At the same time, there are treasure chests and documents where some monsters are located, which can be collected and read. There will also be some fragmented information about the world in the city. We can learn a lot by collecting these.
New World integrates survival production into open world MMORPG, creating a unique legendary story under the background of the 17th century. Different weapons and rich weapon skill trees allow players to choose more freely in team combination and weapon specialization .The diverse elements such as survival, collection, production and exploration are the characteristics of this game. The choice of different factions, the battle between PVE and PVP all make this game more challenging and sustainable. Therefore, New World is a game well worth the time to play.