Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday March 10

This past week was a doozy because two big updates launched for games that I love. Guild Wars launched its newest episode on March 6th. Life is Strange launched their highly anticipated episode entitled "Farewell". I'll spare you on the spoilers for LiS which means I'll talk about Guild Wars this week.

That said, DAMN YOU SQUARE ENIX!

For the next episode in the storyline regarding the questionable leadership of Palawa Joko, I found it to be enjoyable. We received the new story quest along with a brand new zone. I'm all about exploring new locations in a game. It's fun to see what innovative scenarios game developers come up with. That said, because of the addition of mounts, I felt this one was smaller.

The new meta achievements are inside buildings forcing players to find the entrances, which is entertaining. And of the new zones in Path of Fire, this one was the easiest to navigate for me. I managed to get all the vistas and points of interest fairly quickly. Even the masteries were simple to obtain. (Did I mention how much I love my griffon? It may not be as pretty as other people with the fancy skins but it's mine and it's awesome.)

I really enjoyed the part where you get the ability to float around an area on the map. Anyways, I'm not knocking the zone or the episode at all. It is always fun to explore new places for me. This is half the appeal of an MMO!

The storyline was interesting even though it felt a little short. The episode was not as epic as I expected because in previous episodes, I died a lot. This episode only killed my character when I failed to sneak around as a robot in the four minutes you get for the achievement. Other story episodes have been challenging and took me much longer to complete but even with real life distractions, this next addition didn't take as long.

Even still, the episode was fun. We tied up our friends to have a convincing undercover operation. The little light puzzles were easy to understand and therefore easily solved. That said, my favourite part of the whole story was being in a place where I took all kinds of screenshots. It was just too pretty.

For me, the biggest thing in this new episode was the addition of the new legendary dagger. I'm excited about it because I'm a thief! Not only does it look good, but it's useful to my class. To craft it, a player needs to work on making the Claw of Execution, Claw of Retribution, and the Claw of Resolution. That is to say that there are many other materials that need gathering. Legendaries take a lot of time to craft and other players know that it takes dedication to make one.

Anyways, overall I enjoyed this latest installment of Guild Wars 2. I must now achievement hunt!

Until next time peeps!

Article by Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner! - Sunday March 4

A couple weeks back ArenaNet, the creators of Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, announced that there would be a delay on the new episode for Path of Fire. The latest enemy which threatens the citizens of a new place called Amnoon, is Palawa Joko.

Of course, ArenaNet decided before Path of Fire launched that they would provide players with new content every quarter, allowing for constant playability unlike other MMOs. In Guild Wars 2, the player base is much more loyal to the game because of its frequent updates. Although, the PVP content has been lacking in desirability by those who solely PVP, but that doesn't mean ArenaNet hasn't considered balance possibilities. Even still, the majority of the players consistently return to Guild Wars 2 because of the regular content and special events. In fact, many have been enjoying the new raids.

Anyways, February 27th the Guild Wars 2 Twitter account graced us with a new trailer for Episode 2 of The Living World:

Gear up Commander, Lab Alpha-One-Nine awaits! ~RB2 #GuildWars2 #GW2 pic.twitter.com/zyrqfcLEOs

— Guild Wars 2 (@GuildWars2) February 27, 2018

Unlike the other trailers, this one starts off almost like a game show contest, but that doesn't last long as we are introduced to new characters. In the meantime, Taimi is telling us about the discovery of a scientist crucial to Joko's ultimate plan.

Through the course of the trailer, we discover that players will gain access to new masteries, a new legendary dagger (I want it!), a new map to explore, and more information about Palawa Joko. We must stop him! If the previous episodes are any indication, this story is going to have tougher bosses and more information about Joko and his army; at least, that's what I expect.

That said, the additions of mounts in Path of Fire, has created interesting new ways to explore, which is a concept that ArenaNet explored in the expansion 'Heart of Thorns'. In those zones, along with gliding, we were able to train different gliding abilities, use speed mushrooms, and use vine abilities, in order to traverse the new areas effectively.

In the trailer, the music changes to a song called 'Fear Not This Night', which players are intimately familiar with due to the Wintersday festival. This song has a dramatic 'musical' sound (a la movie/musical Phantom of the Opera), and is befitting of this trailer.

(As an aside, the singer for Fear Not This Night only recorded the small section used in the trailer. There isn't a longer version of the song and any searches for it give hundreds of results to other covers that are not the same. That said, here is his Twitter handle.)

A singular portrait of Palawa Joko completes 'A Bug in the System', which is a sign that someone has been naughty. The new episode will launch on March 6th, so I hope you are all excited!

Other News

Also launching this week is the bonus episode to Life Is Strange: Before the Storm called "Farewell", which will take place when Max and Chloe first meet in the base game. While I was underwhelmed with the ending of Before the Storm, this will tie things up in the way that I was expecting originally. But don't mistake me for disliking the prequel, I actually enjoyed the story as a standalone but I felt that it fell flat when it came to explaining certain things to bridge the two games.

March 6th also marks the day that this game releases and you better believe I'll be playing it. It's going to be a busy gaming day. That said, if you are interested in a behind the scenes look of "Before the Storm: Farewell" look no further.

With Farewell releasing this coming Monday, you can currently pick up the full Before the Storm package or upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition for up to 42% off on Steam!

>>> https://t.co/wbhPTE6ayg <<<

Countdown to Farewell here: https://t.co/rwGRRo2GYh pic.twitter.com/tKyVzpYWcf

— Life is Strange (@LifeIsStrange) March 3, 2018

As always, I can be found on Twitter and Twitch (@Jagtress). What do you think about either update? Let me know!

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.

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Life is Strange - Mac Review

I am no stranger to episodic games that rely heavily on story and setting to pull a person in. Life is Strange has a lot of similarities to titles from Telltale Games or the King's Quest chapters, but it does enough interesting things of its own to stand out as a unique and generally enjoyable experience.

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