Saturday!
Steam had its Summer Sale and I had a little intruiging $5 game on my wishlist but after saying “maybe I’ll get this someday, maybe, because the reviews are so good…”, I promptly forgot about it.
I mean, the game was called “Pony Island”. Even if the reviews were *AWESOME*, the game title was not an eyecatcher when I was perusing through my wishlist and if I noticed it at all, it was to ask myself “why did I put this on my wishlist, again?” before clicking on it and seeing “oh, yeah… the reviews were really strong…” and going back to forgetting about it.
Well, the Steam Summer Sale is doing its thing and Pony Island was 66% off to make it a buck-sixty-four. OKAY FINE.
And then I started playing it. And, holy cow, this game is freaking awesome. If you don’t want any spoilers, just get it now. It’s less than two bucks! All I’ll tell you is that it’s a game for a real mouse rather than a trackpad. Get it. It’ll have you laughing out loud at how clever the game is being alternating with you knitting your brow at trying to figure out how to get past this next spot.
If you want some spoilers, they’re in the field ahead:
It’s a hacking game that has you stuck in a game called “Pony Island” which is a game that was programmed by The Devil Himself. The only way for you to get out is to beat the game and the only way to beat the game is to cheat back against the cheating programmer. So there are platforming sections where you have to run and jump and there are programming sections where you have to hack yourself shooting powers and flying powers for the platforming sections as well as programming sections where you have to work your way around and through obstacles that The Devil Himself is throwing in your way.
It’s *REALLY* good. It’s really immersive. And it’s only $1.64. Even if you paid the whole five bucks, it’d be a bargain. But it’s on sale until July 5th! Get this game. Seriously. You’ll love it.
So… what are you playing?
(Picture is HG Wells playing a war game from Illustrated London News (25 January 1913[/efn_note]
One word of caution? I guess?
You’re not going to get 20 hours out of this game. It’s a two hour game, really.
But those two hours? MWAH. Perfect.
And it’s less than two bucks! You’ve paid a *LOT* more for two hours of entertainment. Seriously.Report
I’m off video games for a week, as I’m on my way to lovely Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have family there, including my 95-year-old grandmother. Try explaining WiFi to a 95? year old naturalized Italian immigrant who can’t stick to a single language in a single sentence. If my logins to the blog are intermittent over the course of the next week, you’ll understand why.
The sad part it, she doesn’t always remember that I’m recently divorced, and is likely to ask frequently where my wife is. “With her new boyfriend” won’t be an acceptable answer. Perhaps worse, she doesn’t always remember that her daughter, my mother, died about a year and a half ago. So I’ll be called upon to break this news to her periodically as her memory fades on the bad days.
The good part is, my aunt and maybe a cousin will be able to join me and offer some time off. There’s a Brewers game and a trip to Summerfest on the agenda, and perhaps some local craft brew to sample. And it’s a week away from the pressures and stresses of work, if only to substitute different pressures and stresses in their place.Report
Not a game, but y’all may be able to derive some amusement from the fact that back around 2010 I had to explain to my (70-something) mom why “teabagger” might be seen as an insult.
Yeah. That was one of the more surreal convos I’ve had.
(“Where did you learn THAT?” “From the internet, mom. I learned it from the internet.” Which was true, but still.)
There was something else she recently asked me about and I decided to feign ignorance.
(And am slightly disappointed to learn that Pony Island apparently has nothing to do with real ponies.)Report
With this comment, @fillyjonk becomes Queen of OT for the day.Report
“Grandmama, it’s like if two computers had walkie-talkies and they’re just chatting to each other. Only it’s every computer in the world.”
Have fun at the Brewers game!Report
There’s a Polish deli across the street from the park a stone’s throw from the cathedral with the green dome. Some of the best beer in the world waits you there.
Rush River’s Bubble Jack & O’So’s Picnic Ants are two native offerings that are definitely worthy of trying while you’re up there.Report
pony island is bonkers
jaybird, have you tried thumper? it is mostly extremely boss.Report
I hadn’t even heard of it. Looks like it’s going to remind me of either N20 or Frequency (or both).
I put it on my wishlist.Report
one of the dudes from lightning bolt did the music. it’s really, really good in terms of being the apotheosis of a rhythm game. it’s so well integrated. i hate rhythm games but like thumper. but it’s intense and kind of exhausting.Report
some x-wing miniatures today. maybe some more leveling up my diablo necromancer. Fun character class and having the hellfire amulet meant I could start a few difficulties higher than normal, so I’m already in the high 20’s, I think.Report
Yeah, I had a hellfire ring and amulet set from my Witch Doctor and those let me start at Expert and, within 20 levels, I was on Torment 1.
What’s your favorite skill setup?
My Primary is “Siphon Blood” and my Secondary is “Summon Skeletal Mage”.
I switched from exploding corpses to devour when I got really frustrated by running out of enough mana to summon my dang mages. Much happier now.
Plus it means that I don’t have to keep fiddling with the keyboard. Just walk past and get your mana. I’ve got the skeleton army on skill #2, of course. (Played with golems… keep coming back to the skeletons.)
As for the curses, it seems like all of the curses aren’t very good. There’s one that allows for cursed creatures to take more damage from your pets and I liked that one a lot (especially with the mages) but I eventually said “heck with it” and just switched to the one curse that acts like an aura. It has the benefit of me not worrying about casting it.
So I’m using Bone Armor. I really only have to worry about that one and it’s real easy to remember when I’m in the middle of a group of monsters because I’m freaking out about how close they got to me in the first place.Report
I bought the expansion, but I’m torn about taking him for a test drive or waiting until the new season starts… but that’s not until July 23?? Seriously Blizzard, sometimes I wonder these days. I suppose I could do both, but I can’t really figure out what the point of non-season Diablo is… Seriously Blizzard, sometimes…
Other than that, going to a wedding today; not family and not particularly close friends… so I guess we’re like Wedding Extras. On the other hand, it’s nice to witness the sacrament without worrying about Uncles, Cousins and bad blood. Sort of a community tax we pay by being there.Report
With luck, they’ll feed ya.Report
right now, I’m using the ground spikes or bone arrow (shifting between them), skeleton army (they don’t disappear like mages), the raise the dead one (dead bodies=more minions), the frailty curse, and the skill that raises a whole army of dead that charge the enemies–it has a long recharge, but it’s great for elites.
Between skeletons and minions, I tend to tear stuff up. I have the passive skill for longer minion life, and that helps, too.
It’s almost like a different flavor of witch doctor. I love playing the witch doctor with the passive that gave you a chance for a minion with every attack. I always had about seven or eight.Report
Okay. I got my build to pretty much where I want it. I’m running Torment IXs without too much difficulty (the first 10 seconds are where I am most vulnerable… but if I can get my Bone Armor set up, I’m fine for after that).
First off, the skills:
Primary: Siphon Blood with Power Shift rune
Secondary: Skeletal Mage with Singularity rune
(I’m not married to the primary. I could swap it out for the spikes, I think. Maybe I’ll test that later.)
Action Bar Skills:
Devour with Devouring Aura rune
Command Skeletons with Dark Mending rune
Frailty with Aura of Frailty rune
Bone Armor with Harvest of Anguish rune
As you can see, this is a pets build. The idea is to cast Bone Armor and get in close and have my skeletal mages beat the crap out of the monsters. Get in close? That’s insane!, I hear you say. Ah, but that’s where the items come in:
I’m wearing the Inarius’s Understanding set. Check this out:
(2) Set Bonus ?Bone Armor’s damage is increased by 1000%
(4) Set Bonus ?Bone Armor stacks are now refreshed. In addition, Bone Armor grants an additional 2% damage reduction per enemy hit
(6) Set Bonus
Bone Armor also activates a Bone Tornado, damaging nearby enemies by 375% weapon damage as Physical. Enemies hit by the tornado take 850% additional damage from the Necromancer’s abilities and minions
Holy cow!
I’ve also got the amulet that raises my potential stack of bone armor by five as well as the ring that gives me an additional skeletal mage.
This is a *LOT* of fun running around and bonestorming people.Report
Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m also using the Jesseth Arms set.
(2) Set: When the target of your Command Skeletons dies, your skeletons are automatically commanded to attack a nearby target.While your skeletons are commanded to attack a target, all of your minions deal 400% increased damage.
So when I encounter a guy, I sick my skeletons on him and the skeletons attack him and, as soon as he’s dead, everybody next to him.Report
Holy frijoles! That’s a sick build and some good gear. I need to level up and get into the torment levels.Report
I forgot to talk about the cube! On the cube, I’ve got the jewelry slot filled by the “immune to arcane damage” thingy.
On my set, I had a couple of items with arcane damage resistance, and one had an XP bonus thing on it.
So I went to what’s-her-face and started switching those useless traits out.
*AND* I had the insight that if I didn’t have a problem with damage but *DID* have a problem with dying that I needed to start exploring the special wacky jewels and socket them in my jewelry. I had only one socketed ring and put the “pets damage” in there and I was lucky enough to have the bone armor amulet drop again with a socket this time.
So I’m searching for The Perfect Ring (with a socket!) and I’m going to have the three gems be the Pets One, the Physical Damage One, and the Magical Damage One.
And, along the way, swap out set items as Ancient ones drop to replace the merely good ones I have now.
I felt like I had maxed out around Torment IX… but I’m thinking that, with damage resistance, I can push this past Torment X.Report
I picked up The Witcher 3 when GoG had a sale recently, so I’m ready to give that a go.Report
It’s a great game! Have fun.Report
Dominion.
Specifically, base set plus Seaside plus Adventures (which is a VERY different game than just the base).
[I’m, erm, playing it with one of the playtesters. “Donald, Outpost made an infinite turn engine again!”]Report