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My adventures in the Neverwinter Night's "Darkness Over Daggerford" module continue!
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Oh yes! I managed to open the Baahl cult's secret vault in my new fortress! Three new rooms and tons of gold! Aside from a small fissure in the main wall, I think I've uncovered all of the building's secrets. Even better, this module actually lets you hire an interior decorator! Got me some coffins with an ominous glow, red carpets, skulls, some magical contraptions and even a throne! Now people sometimes visit me in my fortress to ask the great druid, Taurphenron Cromvir, for help!

As one of the sidequest's, I had to help a knight lay siege to the castle of a greedy noble. The noble, Feldran, had stolen Griswald's (the knight) girlfriend. The girlfriend, a princess named Soliana, had been lied to by Feldran so that she would be with him. Feldran told her that Griswald had moved to Baldur's Gate. So while Griswald and his fellow knights made camp outside Feldran's castle, Soliana was kept in her room and completely oblivious to the truth. The castle was along the Sword Coast, on the seaside cliffs of the Blade Hills and the only way in was the drawbridge at the front...or so it appeared. When night came I climbed down the cliffs and searched the base of the surrounding area. I happened across a woman tending to a lone grave at what appeared to be a camp. She introduced herself as Olhree and used it to fish for food ever since Feldran's mother, who was buried here, had died several years ago. Feldran's mother allegedly met her end by falling off the cliffs during a stroll. Olhree always suspected that Feldran had killed his mother so he could inherit the entire castle sooner. She told me of another way to enter the castle. A maze of tunnels beneath it that was used to empty their shit pots...

Turns out Olhree use to be the personal maid of Feldran's mother and just to spite him, she drew me a map of the tunnels so that I could infiltrate the castle. Much like Trevor Belmont in the Castlevania anime, I waded through shit to sneak inside. I emerged into the castle's subcellar from a fissure in the wall. Transforming into an iron golem, I wandered through the halls of Castle Exeltis, where I came across Lord Feldran himself. He couldn't shut up about how "honorable and sophisticated" he was, that Griswald was nothing more than a barbarian who was unworthy of Soliana. And so our fight began! He cast a lot of spells but he wasn't all that strong, especially given that he still couldn't stop shouting about how he was going to kill me. So after some poison gas and a few punches from my large iron fist, he teleported away with the usual, "This isn't over! You won't leave this castle alive!" Wandering some more I found Princess Soliana locked away in her room.

I had to let her in on the truth, that Griswald wasn't just not in Baldur's Gate, but that he was actively fighting to free her. She was of course drawn to Feldran's wealth and he always made sure to act sophisticated in her presence, but she also knew that Griswald always listened to what she had to say and that he loved her strongly. I managed to convince her that Feldran was a liar who didn't actually love her. During the conversation she confided to me that she was actually a falcon, one that had been turned human by a witch in a distant swamp. All that was left was to make my way to the front gates and lower the drawbridge so Griswald and his knights could storm the castle. I decided instead to kill any guards I saw so Griswald's knights had a better chance of success. While I was searching for the way to lower the drawbridge, I'd found the library, which had some motive-shattering evidence. It turns out that Feldran had stupidly gambled his fortune away and killed off the grapes that his family made wine from to create said fortune. So when he got word of Princess Soliana of some mysterious kingdom he'd never heard of, he began looking for information and devised his plan to replenish his fortune by marrying into money...

Amidst the castle's servants shouting "Intruder! Run away!" I made it to the ramparts, where the lever to lower the drawbridge was located. So I pulled the lever and Griswald's knights charged in! Felgran made his return in the courtyard, pompous as ever, to engage Griswald in battle! However since Felgran is an overconfident weakling (and a coward to boot), Griswald killed him with one swing of his greatsword. It was a very anticlimactic death, heh. Griswald made his way to Soliana's room and the two were finally together. She and I decided against mentioning the whole "bird thing" to Griswald. She may have been a falcon once but she's a human now. Why ruin the relationship?

So I've started a new playthrough (number 4 or 5?) of Mass Effect where I will try to do the worst I can in every situation. My rules are:
+ If I can ensure someone's death, they die, unless it's worse to spare them (e.g. the Rachni Breeder betrays Shepard in ME3 if spared).
+ Be a dick to everyone, even your squadmates (which will result in no romancing anyone).
+ No using charisma/intimidation abilities to persuade people.
+ Side missions are ok. Really it'd be worse to do no side missions, but I just can't pull myself to skipping so much (plus, I paid for all those damn DLCs!).

This usually leads to a Renegade style play, but at times I've gotta be Paragon (e.g. saving people in Zaeed's loyalty mission to ensure he isn't loyal).

Just finished Mass Effect 1: didn't recruit Garrus, killed Wrex on Virmire, killed the Rachni Queen, let the Citadel Council die, had Ambassador Udina lead the new human-only Council, and killed pretty much anyone I could in other missions.

Now it's time for ME2 where I'll get through the Suicide Mission by sacrificing all of my squadmates (except Morinth and Zaeed since you need two living squadmates in order to survive).

Oof. You monster, you're even going to betray Samara?

Also, have you tried a playthrough like this in Dragon Age Origins? It is infinitely more creative and evil with the many ways you can fuck everyone over.

Oh yeah, Samara gotta go since she's the obvious good choice. Morinth only shows up in ME3 through email (while Samara has a whole mission and can meet on the Citadel DLC), and Zaeed will die as soon as you meet him in ME3 if you don't secure his loyalty in ME2.

And I actually haven't played any of the Dragon Age games yet. Probably should get them on my Xbox 360 since apparently DAO is the only one on Steam.

Haha, Origin is the best one anyway. Two is actually a lot better than it gets credit for, but Inquisition is shit.

I second Laurentus mostly, except DA2 definitely had issues that made some of the criticisms about it legit (such as the consistent rehashing of old environments for new areas), and the story could get a bit odd and convoluted.  Gameplay wise though, it still has the most refined battle system...which inquisition went back on in favor of a sort of hybrid between Origins and 2 (which was "meh").

On the ME topic, you actually kill Morinth as a Reaper-turned-thing in ME3 if you pay attention to the names. So yes, you can kill literally everyone from ME2.

Now it's time for ME2 where I'll get through the Suicide Mission by sacrificing all of my squadmates (except Morinth and Zaeed since you need two living squadmates in order to survive).

IMO, better to do Jack and Morinth, if the objective is not so much get them killed as you actively kill them yourself; if you ignore Grissom Academy in 3, you can later fight and kill a Phantom named Jack on Horizon, the same way you, as Ruguo says, kill a Banshee named Morinth on Earth (it's the Banshee that pops up right after you launch the Cain at the Hades Cannon).
If you sell Legion to Cerberus in ME2, you can also fight him as a 'Legion Assassin' (essentially a reskinned Nemesis) in the Cerberus HQ.

Well, it is more to make sure everyone is dead than to kill everyone (killing is just quite efficient). And I chose Zaeed since he and Morinth have the smallest footprint in ME3 (aside from maybe Kasumi, but she can't die in ME3), while Jack's role is not insignificant (plus I want to do the Grissom Academy mission with her dead, and on top of that, I'd have to upgrade the Normandy in ME2 to save her, which I don't want to do). I will, however, be selling Legion to Cerberus, and I won't open Grunt's tank (if he's never born, then he's never really alive to kill, and it's easier to get only Zaeed and Morinth to survive without him to account for).

Finished Mass Effect 2. As someone who had everyone survive in every past playthrough, it was really unsettling to walk around the Normandy at the end with only three remaining crewmembers on the entire ship (Zaeed, Morinth, and Joker). I also decided to destroy both Maelon's genophage data as well as the Collector base because why keep anything possibly useful when you can destroy it?

The change in combat was quite jarring at first (moreso than I remembered), and I think I preferred it in ME1. The different guns were fun in ME2, but having a shared cooldown for all abilities (and fewer ones at that) made it feel clunkier.

Also realized how many fewer decisions there were in 2 than 1...

Personally I love 2 more than 1 in every way. I can't go back and play ME1 anymore it's all so...odd...compared to what I play now.



As for my games been playing tons of Pillars 2. Filed in the entire map.

I'm scared I've been playing every major faction in this game and I know it's not gonna let me stay on that route forever. I don't rightly know who I'll choose.

Most recent decision I made pissed off the Queen but I freed the slave dragon without a 2nd thought 

The last few days I've been relaxing with some of the old themed city-building games from my teen years: Caesar III and Pharaoh.

Both games work pretty much the same way...you create housing, which people flock to, then you have to provide goods and services to improve the quality of your housing so that they create more tax income. That means you have to create farms to feed them and industry to create the goods they need and to trade for money...there's also building for their education, religious (don't anger the gods!), and entertainment needs, plus on some scenarios the need to build a military to repel invasions or hostile natives.

I was attracted to Caesar III for nostalgia...I saw it on the Sierra Humble Bundle, and the first few scenarios were fun and charming. The more I got into the game though, the more I remembered why I've never finished it...it's very repetitive. Each scenario is mostly the same as the last but with more obstacles (less starting money, more difficult map configuration, larger invasions, more demanding success requirements). It got boring fast.

Then today I started on Pharaoh, which is somewhat better because the scenarios are more dynamic...there are more industries and ways to make money, trade routes can open and close based on conditions, and features were added to make cities easier to manage (such as the roadblock, which prevents wandering server-providers such as merchants from strolling to some part of your city far away from the houses they're meant to serve). The farming is particularly more challenging...in most scenarios, you must build your farms on the flood plane. Every year, there's a flood, and the quality of that determines the quality of your fields for the next growing season. It's generally random (though pleasing Osiris (the god, not the region) can help with that). It means you have to plan for challenges unseen in Caesar III, like having enough food to get through a bad year.

After losing my second character after a good week of gameplay you'd think I'd stop playing on ironman mode for PoE2 but nope I'm a stubborn idiot who is now starting a third ironman run.

This time I at least died in combat. I'm nothing if not persistent.

As for my games been playing tons of Pillars 2. Filed in the entire map.

I'm scared I've been playing every major faction in this game and I know it's not gonna let me stay on that route forever. I don't rightly know who I'll choose.

Most recent decision I made pissed off the Queen but I freed the slave dragon without a 2nd thought 

Shit, same!
I just finished the last DLC quests (Beast of Winter and Seeker Slayer Survivor were neat but Forgotten Sanctum is definitely a cut above) and knocked off the final raids (oh my god, Sigilmaster Auranic was a bitch and a half), and so I figure I'll just make a save here and then be able to do each of the factions individually.

As for my games been playing tons of Pillars 2. Filed in the entire map.

I'm scared I've been playing every major faction in this game and I know it's not gonna let me stay on that route forever. I don't rightly know who I'll choose.

Most recent decision I made pissed off the Queen but I freed the slave dragon without a 2nd thought 

Shit, same!
I just finished the last DLC quests (Beast of Winter and Seeker Slayer Survivor were neat but Forgotten Sanctum is definitely a cut above) and knocked off the final raids (oh my god, Sigilmaster Auranic was a bitch and a half), and so I figure I'll just make a save here and then be able to do each of the factions individually.

Hell yeah, I lost that while save though