Video Game Tuesday: Good Games to play in Quarantine

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m back with a list. It’s some Good Games to play in Quarantine!

Skyrim: This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever heard of this game but if you’ve got a fairly decent PC Skyrim has nearly endless potential for gameplay with it’s countless mods that have been released in the nearly 9 years since it first released. Even if you don’t have a PC Skyrim is full of fun things to do for those in Quarantine. Whether it’s collecting every piece of Cheese in the province of Skyrim or just following the story you’ll have plenty to do.

Bonus Suggestion:

Morrowind: If you are feeling really adventurous you can load up Morrowind, it’s been out for 18 years and it also has plenty of mods to use. Thankfully this game should run just fine on almost any PC that’s been made since 2010. I do suggest getting a mod that increases your run speed though. You do move very slowly in that game.

Tales of Berseria: I’ve always loved the Tales of games, and Tales of Berseria is the best of the bunch. It’s got an amazing story, fantastic gameplay, excellent graphics and musical score. Frankly this is a must play regardless, but you might find this to be a very fun game to play if you need something else to do and prefer JRPGs over Western RPGs.

Persona 5 Royal: Sadly this game is only on the PlayStation 4, but Persona 5 Royal is a great game that has a fantastic story and while less action oriented than most RPGs, it’s still a very fun game.

Minecraft: Like Skyrim, Minecraft on the PC has plenty of mods, and is literally endlessly replayable, although some might get bored eventually.

No Man’s Sky: This game has come a very long way since it first released and has gotten very good. If you want to explore a nearly endless galaxy full of planets and moons to land on, No Man’s Sky is the game to play.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday.

 

Serial Saturday: Kuro’s Days Chapters 1-13 by Branya

This week for Serial Saturday I’m covering a real oddball series. It’s Kuro’s Days Chapters 1-13 by Branya!

Plot Synopsis: I was a 30-year-old good for nothing, but because I had run out of food, I had to rely on my only hope. Expired instant noodles… When I finally awoke, I found myself as my loli game character from the game Skyrim in a magical cyberpunk world. I could tell that this new life was not a game and it would be a struggle just to survive. I experienced too much unreasonableness in my life. This time, I will absolutely live a happy life in this new world. Huh? You say instant noodles don’t expire? I also believed that, but in reality, they can….

Plot: Like I said, an oddball series. Honestly this is a self insert fiction that takes the main character’s abilities from Skyrim. It’s not that great, amusing at times, but not that great.

Characters: The entire cast is pretty odd, and while they aren’t lacking depth, they don’t have a ton of it either. Also Kuro is a huge pervert, so if that is a deal breaker you’ll really want to stay away from this series.

Overall: You can find a lot better series out there, but you can also find worse ones. This has it’s own amusing moments, but it’s got no overall plot, and really just showcases the protagonist’s daily life as she gets used to the new world she finds herself in.

For those who like: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Slice of Life, Action, Adventure.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, mediocrity, or perverted lead characters.

Video Game Tuesday: Graphical Mods

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m covering a topic that get’s overlooked by most console gamers, myself included. It’s all about Graphical Mods!

PC MASTER RACE!: Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard that before. It’s an old and tired shtick, and console gamers are pretty sick of it. There are downsides to being a console gamer, but there are also upsides. That being said, that’s a topic for another day. However there is one thing that warrants special mentioning. Graphical Improvement Mods.

Graphical Improvement Mods?: Yeah, so there are of course custom 3D model mods out there for all sorts of games, like Skryim or Grand Theft Auto. However this isn’t what I’m talking about, not exactly. I’m talking about mods that completely improve your entire visual experience of the whole game. Stuff like NaturalVision Remastered. Go check out the video I’ve linked. I’ll be waiting, and it’s definitely worth a view.

Done?: Great, so these sorts of mods are huge projects and I have immense respect and admiration for anyone who does this sort of work. It’s incredibly difficult and you rarely see something of such high quality like NaturalVision Remastered. Honestly the person behind the mod deserves to be hired like immediately into the industry. They are an amazing artist and coder who understands gaming engines and graphics to a degree that I can only wish I had even a tenth of their skill and knowledge. Of particular note is that the original NaturalVision mod aims to be as intensive as the base Grand Theft Auto V game. That’s an incredibly difficult goal, but they did it for the most part.

What goes into such a mod?: Well for a big part of it, it’s all about improving the textures to a much higher resolution and detail. That’s not an easy goal, not at all. You have to literally work on every single texture used in the entire game and improve them. That’s a massive undertaking by itself. However that’s not all, mods like NVR also tweak the physics and lighting systems and those are not any easier to deal with. The fact that the mod is attempting to do all of that and still be only as intensive as the base game is nothing short of a masterwork. Like seriously Rockstar, or any company with a decent reputation, you need to be trying to hire this modder.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday. Are there any favorite graphical mods you like and I didn’t mention? Leave a comment below!