Star Wars Outlaws

 

Being a Star Wars game, Outlaws was on my radar the moment it was first announced. When it was released, it got good but not great reviews, I think because of some quality of life issues around how the game dealt with stealth gameplay. From what I read, subsequent patches were released which improved on these issues. By the time I played Outlaws, a year after it was released, the gameplay issues which plagued the game were long gone. Outlaws is unique for a Star Wars game in that it doesn't feature any Jedi. In fact, with the exception of two cut scenes that feature Darth Vader, the game doesn't involve any of the traditional characters you'd expect to see in a Star Wars story. It takes place after the Battle of Hoth, or right around the time of episode V in the movies. From ChatGTP:

You play as Kay Vess, a scoundrel and thief trying to leave her troubled life behind and make it big with one massive score. Early in the game, she takes a job breaking into the vault of Sliro Barsha, the powerful head of the criminal syndicate Zerek Besh. The plan goes sideways when she discovers the crew she’s working with are Rebel Alliance operatives trying to free their leader, Asara Deyn. Kay is shot, blamed for the break-in, and branded with a death mark — essentially a huge bounty on her head.

To escape her predicament, Kay steals a ship called the Trailblazer but crash-lands on the desert moon Toshara. Stranded and desperate to fix her ship, she gets drawn deeper into the galaxy’s underworld and must work with or against various local syndicates to earn enough to survive and repair the Trailblazer. 

Eventually, Kay teams up with outlaw Jaylen Vrax and the droid ND-5 to assemble a crew for the ultimate heist — breaking into Sliro’s vault again. Along the way she recruits specialists across the galaxy, including a safecracker, a droidsmith, and even her estranged mother, the slicer Riko Vess. 

The game emphasizes a stealth approach, but you can use a blaster first approach if you prefer. Sneaking around all of the time is a bit anxiety inducing, but is definitely the easier route. When you're noticed, you are often outnumbered by a lot, and at times the gun battles can be tough, especially since Kay doesn't have any Force powers. There are few things in gaming more fun than aim and shoot gameplay, and I tend to enjoy this more than sneaking around. I'm glad this game incorporated both styles and not just stealth. There were also a handful of battles in your ship in space, which I didn't expect.

You get to visit a handful of planets with different environments, which was nice. You deal with different criminal syndicates, some of which are well known such as the Hutts, the Pykes, and Crimson Dawn. Depending on the choices you make throughout the game, you either get on the good side or bad side of each of these syndicates. I honestly thought this would play a bigger part of the game, but it really didn't seem to affect the outcome at all, which was a bit disappointing. I basically just did what benefitted me the most at the time and didn't worry too much about the various syndicates. 

In addition to the stealth and blaster gameplay, there was some mild puzzle solving and periodic platforming. My only complaint about the game is that on a handful of occasions I had to consult a YouTube video to figure out what to do or where to go to next. This happened despite yellow paint being used. Most of the time, if I couldn't figure out what to do next, it was a situation which involved using my sidekick pet Nix. After a bit I got used to this gameplay, but it through me for a loop a few times in the beginning. I should mention there were lots of vents to crawl through in this game, a la Snake and Metal Gear.

Overall I enjoyed this game quite a bit. The mix of stealth and blaster fire gameplay, along with visiting a handful of planets with beautiful environments, made for a fun time. The story was decent, and I had fun in the Star Wars world without being a Jedi. The main story clocked in right at 20 hours, which is just fine with me. I don't need every game to be a 50+ hour behemoth of a quest. I just need the game to be fun and enjoyable, and Outlaws ticked that box for me. 

My Game of the Year Award for 2025 (& 2024, 2023 & 2022)

Since joining Playstation Plus in 2022, I have had access to more games than I have ever imagined. I've been able to play games from major series for the first time, such as Fallout, Assassins Creed, and Final Fantasy. Additionally, I've been able to play smaller, more independent games. This got me thinking about my favorite game of the past year. I get to play so many titles, some until I see the credits role, others for just a short trial of an hour or two, that it is fun to think back on all the games I've played in the past year to determine my favorite. Keep in mind that I usually only post about games that I complete the main story. In 2025, for instance, I posted about 10 games, but played 67 games according to my Playstation wrap-up for 2025. I thought about this concept of game of the year in 2024, because my favorite game was a surprise to me. But I never got around posting about it, and now that it is the end of 2025 and I thought of the concept again, I thought it was time to make the award happen. This award goes to my favorite game that I played in 2025, it does not necessarily have to be a game that came out in the year of the award. With that being said, and without further delay, my 2025 game of the year award goes to...

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. I had seen the cover of this 2015 game many times prior to playing it, but had no idea what it was about. Geralt's face on the cover scared me, quite frankly. But it was available on Playstation Plus, and when I did a brief search I discovered that the game got fantastic reviews and was very well regarded. I decided to give it a try, and boy was I not disappointed. After learning the characters and what a "witcher" was, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. The story, characters, and settings are all intriguing. The gameplay and pace of the game in terms of how Geralt levels up vs the level needed for the next main quest is perfect. The music and visuals are great, especially for a game that is 10 years old. Just about every aspect of this game is done well. I enjoyed it so much that I even did some of the side quests, which is rare for me (and always a sign that I like the game). When I was about halfway through the game, it went off Playstation Plus and I was able to buy the game plus its two DLC packs for like $10. Since finishing the game, I've read the first book in the series, and plan to return to play the DLC packs and possibly watch the Netflix show. Runner-ups include Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Assassins Creed: Valhalla, and Dredge. To complete my game of the year awards in my Playstation Plus era, my 2024 game of the year award goes to...

Dave the Diver was my surprise game of the year for 2024. I played a lot of really good games in 2024, as you'll see from the runner-up list below, but Dave stood out for its intriguing story and fun gameplay and characters. This is a good example of a game I'd never play without access to Playstation Plus. My entire family liked this game so much we even went as characters from the game for Halloween. I'm really looking forward to the DLC package that is coming out in 2026! My runners-up for 2024 include Echoes of Wisdom, Fallout 4, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Ghost of Tsushima.

My 2023 game of the year is Tears of the Kingdom, and my 2022 game of the year is Horizon: Zero Dawn. God of War: Ragnarok is a runner-up for 2023, and God of War (2018) is a runner-up for 2022, as is Gran Turismo 7 and I was still playing Breath of the Wild in 2022, though it would have won game of the year in 2017 or 2018 for me if I were going that far back.

The White Lotus (Season 3)

 

We're back for a week long stay at The White Lotus! This time we're at their resort in Thailand. Season 3 of the show follows the same format as seasons 1 & 2. A group of tourists arrive at the hotel, each with different agendas for their vacation, and chaos occurs over the course of the week. This season is probably more serious and less comedic than previous seasons. You know something bad is going to happen, as the beginning of the season actually starts at the end, with bullets flying throughout the hotel common ground. But you don't know specifically who is involved with the bullets flying. There's something about this season that is a bit unsettling, a feeling that lasts throughout its duration. Once again, the music is phenomenal, and does a great job of highlighting the anxiety that hangs around the hotel. The main storylines, as summarized by ChatGTP:

The Ratliff Family

A wealthy Southern family arrives seeking spiritual renewal:

• Tim Ratliff, a powerful businessman, is hiding serious legal and financial trouble.

• Victoria, his wife, clings to appearances and denial.

• Their children struggle with entitlement, repression, and emotional detachment.

Rick & Chelsea

• Rick, a bitter, emotionally closed man, arrives with his younger, free-spirited girlfriend Chelsea.

• Rick is on a personal mission tied to unresolved trauma and revenge.

• Chelsea searches for meaning and connection but slowly realizes Rick’s darkness may consume them both.

The Women’s Friend Group

Three longtime friends reunite:

• Their surface-level harmony masks resentment, competition, and judgment.

• Conversations about wellness, relationships, and success gradually turn cruel.

• Old wounds reopen, revealing how time hasn’t healed their insecurities—only buried them.

These characters also interact with staff members, including Belinda, a spa worker from The White Lotus Hawaii, a character who has been in all 3 seasons, and security guard Gaitok and spa worker Mook. Gaitok has a crush on Mook, and I was convinced the entire season that Gaitok was going to be killed. Luckily he wasn't, and their relationship appeared to be progressing forward, which is nice! Belinda runs into Greg, a character who was in season 2 and killed Belida's friend Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge). Greg happens to be living near the hotel in Thailand, evading authorities. Belinda is suspicious of Greg, and ends up getting $5 million of hush money from Greg. I have a feeling this isn't the last time we're going to hear about their stories.

The women's friend group, featuring characters played by Leslie Bibb & Michelle Monaghan, were the least interesting characters, so I won't spend any time on them. I do want to focus on the Ratliff family, however. They're a family who on the surface seem to be perfect - degrees from Duke, wealthy, successful, etc. Things rapidly fall apart for them when Tim (Jason Isaacs) finds out he has been named as part of an FBI investigation for embezzlement. He spends the entire vacation trying to hide this from his family and keep cool, while becoming addicted to his wife's anxiety medicine and contemplating suicide and killing his family. It's super dark and unsettling, and reminds me of the plot of several 48 Hours mysteries I've seen. His wife (played by Parker Posey), clings hard to appearances and materialistic items, and is in complete denial about what is going on with her husband and kids. Their oldest son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is a complete douche, while their daughter Piper (Sarah Hook) is the black sheep of the family, completely uninterested in materialistic items and wants to live in a monetary. The middle child Lochlan (Sam Nivola) is stuck somewhere in the middle, being pulled towards acting like Saxon at times and like Piper at other times. The Ratliff family has the most complex story, and the entire time I thought one (or all) of them were not going to leave Thailand alive. While this came very close to being true, they all end up surviving.

This leaves us with Rick and Chelsea. Rick's (Walton Goggins) purpose for being in Thailand is to confront the owner of the hotel, who he thinks killed his father. Rick appears to be a burned out middle-aged man, always smoking and drinking and he just generally looks like he has lived a rough life. I was hoping they would get a bit into his back story, but unfortunately they didn't. He's paired with Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), a much younger and much more outgoing person. They are polar opposites on the personality spectrum, which makes them as a couple interesting to watch. Rick eventually confronts the hotel owner and kills him, just before learning that he actually is his father (a bit of a Star Wars moment). A chase occurs, resulting in Rick and Chelsea being shot and killed by security guard Gaitok, resulting in his raise. I felt bad for Chelsea, because she seemed like a good person, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time just because Rick was a jerk. And that is how the season ends. Although Walton Goggins is great, I wasn't sad to see his character Rick die. 

House of the Dragon (Season 2)

 

One of the challenges of watching modern TV series is the duration between seasons. House of the Dragon season 1 came out in 2022, and season 2 came out in 2024. I didn't watch season 2 until 2025, however, making a full 3 years in between seasons.  Subsequently, I remember very little from season 1 in terms of the details. I did remember that the king dies, setting off a race for the Iron Throne. I also remember that the timeline of season 1 was rapid, with some of the main characters starting off as kids and transitioning to adults, all within the same season. I also remember there being a lot of childbirth scenes, which is odd. I also remember thinking season 1 was good, but not as good as Game of Thrones.

I was able to read a summary of season 1 and got caught up quickly. I must say, I enjoyed season 2 more than I remember enjoying season 1. This show is like a light version of Game of Thrones. The concept is the same - houses fighting for the Iron Throne. The main difference is that the number of houses fighting for the throne are much smaller on The House of the Dragon than on Game of Thrones. In The House of the Dragon, only two houses are involved: Team Green and Team Black. Westeros is such a great setting for a show. Having just re-watched Game of Thrones, I enjoyed being back in the Red Keep, Dragonstone, Harrenhal, etc. With that being said, one of the most challenging aspects of this show is learning the characters. You get so used to Cersei, the Kingslayer, and all of the other characters in Westeros in Game of Thrones that it takes a bit of an adjustment period to acclimate to the characters in The House of the Dragon. Secondly, there are several Targaryen characters in this show, all of which have very similar names, and it takes a bit of time to learn which character is which. This is one reason why I'm not giving a recap of the season. The characters can be very confusing. But once I learned them, I started to really enjoy the show. I'm a sucker for Westeros, the Iron Throne, and dragons. This show is maybe not quite as good or grand as Game of Thrones, but it is quite good overall. I'm looking forward to season 3.

Clarkson's Farm (Season 4)

 

I've enjoyed watching Clarkson's Farm. When I initially started watching season 1, I thought the show was going to be a bit staged. I quickly learned that this wasn't the case, however. The show highlights the struggles of the everyday British farmer - the red tape, politics, weather, etc. - while highlighting the buffoonery of Jeremy Clarkson, which is always amusing. Despite such buffoonery, he genuinely seems to care about the farm and its success. I've come to enjoy the cast of characters on the show over the years as well. Kaleb, Cheerful Charlie, Gerald, etc. are always entertaining as well. Since Kaleb has become famous for being on the TV show, he was briefly replaced by a new farmhand named Harriet, who fit in nicely as well. Season 4 is mostly the same as the previous seasons. The big differences are the brief appearances from Harriet when Kaleb was gone, and this year Jeremy decided to open a pub. A lot of the season takes a break from the farm work to focus on the work needed to find a pub location and subsequently get it ready to open. This seems like an incredible amount of work, with a lot of opportunity to fail and much less opportunity to succeed. By the final episode of the season, however, they have the pub up and running, though it got off to a rocky start. It's interesting to me that a man his age would want to do all of this. If I were his age and with his wealth, I would most definitely not be working on a farm and opening my own restaurant and pub. His efforts benefit our entertainment, however, and overall the show has been enjoyable. As long as they keep coming out with seasons, I'll plan to continue to watch. 

Nintendo Switch 2

 

I purchased a Switch 2. It wasn't a matter of if, but when. The interesting thing is that when details of the Switch 2 were first revealed, there wasn't anything coming out with it that I thought was exciting enough to immediately purchase one. That hasn't changed. To this day, the 20+ year old The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap are still the most exciting games on the system to play that I didn't otherwise have access to. Both games are in the Legend of Zelda series, and I haven't played either one previously. Because of this situation, I balked at immediately purchasing a Switch 2. Plus, the last games I played on the Switch were Echoes of Wisdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, both around a year ago.  However, after getting the Portal, with its bigger screen, the Switch was really starting to feel long in the tooth. Plus, my kids still play games on the Switch on a weekly basis. What triggered me to make the purchase now was reading about a major update coming to the Switch 2 for Animal Crossing, a game my kids play regularly. I thought that if I'm going to upgrade to it eventually, I might as well do it now so that everyone can benefit from the upgrade instead of arbitrarily waiting. 

The larger screen is a much welcomed upgrade, though the ergonomics of the Switch 2 aren't any better than the original Switch. The Playstation Dualsense and the Portal that it's designed after remain top of the market in terms of comfort in my opinion. The OS looks the same and I haven't been able to tell much of a difference in graphics, though all the games I've played on it are Switch 1 games. The load times are noticeably faster, however.

There are several game ports available on the Switch 2, and the reviews I've read state that most of these ports are much better than the ports on the first Switch, which was severely underpowered for most of the port games. If there were games that I absolutely wanted to play in handheld mode or on the go, these games would be intriguing for me. As it stands, most of these games I've either already played or have access to on the Playstation or through Playstation Plus, so this hasn't been a huge selling point for me thus far. But it is nice to have the option, at least until Sony has its own dedicated handheld device. I'm interested in Nintendo hardware almost entirely because of their exclusive games. I'll almost always lean towards the Playstation for non-Nintendo games. For me, this upgrade wasn't a necessity at the current moment, but eventually Nintendo will come out with a Zelda game or a Mario game for the Switch 2 that I won't want to pass up. Because of this, I decided to just go ahead and upgrade so that I can enjoy other perks in the meantime, even if the biggest perk for me thus far is the ability to play two 20+ year old games. 

Daredevil: Born Again (Season 1)

 

Charlie Cox's Daredevil character is my favorite Marvel Defenders character and show. The original Netflix series has been one of my favorite Marvel series or movies in the entire MCU, actually. With that being said, I was super excited when Daredevil: Born Again was announced, complete with the entire cast of main characters, including Cox's Matt Murdock, Foggy, Karen, and Kingpin. The show got good reviews, and I've been looking forward to watching it since it was released about 6 months ago.

The season starts with Matt's friend and co-working lawyer Foggy being shot and killed by season 3 villain Bullseye. Fast forward one year, and Karen has left New York for San Francisco and Matt, devastated that he couldn't protect his friends, has left Daredevil behind. Meanwhile, longtime Daredevil nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, is elected mayor of NYC. Similar to how Matt has left Daredevil behind, Wilson is trying to leave Kingpin behind. Or at least he says he is trying. As predicted, things don't stay calm in NYC for long, as crime becomes rampant and Wilson vows to control the vigilantes. Wilson becomes increasingly unstable with his power as mayor, even introducing his own police force to deal with vigilantes, a force that doesn't necessarily have to play by the rules. Things boil over when Matt's client, who happens to be the masked vigilante the White Tiger, is killed by the police.

Overall, I enjoyed season 1 of Born Again. Anytime Charlie Cox or Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) are on the screen, they demand your attention. They are both very good at playing their respective characters. I will admit, Fisk's rise to political power as a known criminal and his willingness to push the boundaries of his power and the police force hit a little too close to home for me in today's political climate. Fisk does become mayor in the comics, but I do not know if his actions are similar there, or if his character for the show was written to reflect the parlance of our times. Additionally, there were a few episodes in a row earlier in the season where Daredevil doesn't make an appearance at all. This was a bit of a disappointment, given that he is the main star of the show. All of this is done to set up a complex situation where Daredevil comes out of retirement to protect Hell's Kitchen and NYC again. I anticipate season 2 will be a bit more faster paced and avoid this issue. Muse is a villain that appears this season, but he and Fisk villain Adam are both under developed and not that interesting, honestly. This show is about Kingpin and Daredevil, and that is a good thing, given how good those characters and actors are. There were a couple of scenes featuring The Punisher as well, which I liked. When the season ended, the Punisher was locked in a cage but was in the process of escaping. The season overall was quite enjoyable, despite Daredevil missing in a couple of episodes. I anticipate season 2 will be even better, and thus am looking forward to it when it releases next spring. 

My State of Mobile Gaming: Part 11 - Further Emphasis On Streaming (Part 2)

It's as if Sony read my mind when they expanded streaming on the Playstation Portal. I just recently said that until Playstation makes a portable device that can play games on the device itself, streaming was likely the best way to play games on the Portal given the reliability issues of remote play on the PS5. In the somewhat recent past, Sony introduced streaming for select games on the PS5. Where this gets a bit odd is that there were two groups of game libraries for streaming. One group of games was on Playstation Plus, a library of around 400+ games. The second group was from your own personal library, where select games have the option to stream. For the Playstation Plus streaming library, the only use I found for this was if there was a game you wanted to try before committing to downloading the full game on your console. Otherwise, there was no real advantage to streaming the game unless you wanted to play it quickly or save hard drive space. This changed when you could stream the games on the Portal, however. Now you had access to Sony's large streaming library on the Portal, which is a huge advantage given the aforementioned reliability issues with remote play. 

Having the ability to stream games from your own personal library was a bit difficult to understand. Your always going to get better performance running the game on the Playstation itself vs on the cloud, so why this would be a needed option was a bit confusing. That is, until Sony expanded the streaming capability of the Portal to include games from your own personal library. This is a huge upgrade, as obviously having the ability to stream the games from your library that you are wanting to play is better than being limited to an arbitrary library on Playstation Plus. This also expands the number of games available to stream to over 2,000+ games I've read. It's not perfect, as 4 out of the 5 games I'm playing right now don't offer streaming. I'm sure this will expand as time progresses, however. Last night I was able to play Forza: Horizon 5 for over an hour on my Portal via stream without a single disruption. Previously, I would have never tried to play a game like this on the Portal with remote play. Overall, I'd like to see Sony make a dedicated portable device that integrates with the PS6. I hope those rumors are true. In the meantime, the expansion of features and ways to play games on the the current Portal have been encouraging. 

Assassins Creed III

 

After playing Fallout 4 last year, I got into a Boston kick. We were able to visit Boston earlier this year and went on the Freedom Trail tour. Ever since, I've been on a revolutionary war kick. Assassin's Creed (AC): Valhalla was the first AC game I've played, and enjoyed it, and thus I've been interested in playing other AC games. AC III takes the franchise to the 1770s during the time of the American Revolutionary War, and thus was the perfect blending of recent interests.

AC III is a Playstation 3 era game, and was remastered for the Playstation 4. The remastered PS4 game is what I played, and initially it looked terrible. It looked like I was playing the game through a bad Instagram filter. A quick Google search took me to a Reddit thread which explained that this was an issue with HDR, and turning off HDR in the Playstation options would fix the problem. Sure enough, turning off HDR did fix the issue. In the grand scheme of things it was a minor issue. I only bring it up because of how strange of an issue it was. Now, onto the game. Below is a summary of the historical timeline, from ChatGTP:

1. Haytham Kenway (1754)
• The game begins with Haytham Kenway, an Englishman & Templar who appears to be an Assassin, sent to the American Colonies to locate a mysterious First Civilization temple.
• During his travels, Haytham meets and falls in love with a Native American woman named Kaniehtí:io (Ziio).

1. Ratonhnhaké:ton / Connor (1760s–1783)

• The story shifts to their son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who grows up in his mother’s Mohawk village.
• When the village is attacked by colonists led by Charles Lee (a Templar), Connor vows revenge and joins the Assassin Brotherhood under mentor Achilles Davenport.
• Taking the name Connor, he fights against the Templars’ influence in the colonies, believing they threaten liberty.

1. The American Revolution

• Connor becomes embroiled in key historical events, including The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s ride, Battles at Lexington and Concord, And George Washington’s campaign.
• He works with figures like Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and George Washington, while trying to protect his people and stop the Templars’ manipulation of the revolution.

1. Father vs. Son

• Connor eventually learns that his father, Haytham Kenway, is a high-ranking Templar.
• They briefly work together against a common threat but ultimately clash over ideology — freedom vs. order.
• Connor kills Haytham in their final confrontation.

1. The End of Charles Lee

• Connor hunts down and kills Charles Lee, the man responsible for his mother’s death, bringing an end to the Templar plot in the colonies.
• He secures the land for his people, but the encroachment of settlers continues — symbolizing the bittersweet cost of freedom.

It is really cool to see historical Boston and play through some of the major revolutionary war events listed above. It was by far the best part of the game, and to be fair, the majority of the game focused on the historical events. The AC games always have an underlying Assassins vs Templars theme, incorporating modern day events with the historical story using the Animus device. For me, these modern day events missed the mark. First of all, I didn't really understand what was going on. I think it was a continuation of a storyline from the first two games, maybe? It never really explained it, and every time the game jumped to modern day, I immediately wanted it to go back to revolutionary Boston. There were a couple of other gameplay issues that I had (the map was confusing, the gameplay was a bit simple), but in general I really enjoyed the historical timeline aspect of this game. It was fun playing through the historical events and learning about some of the historical figures. AC Odyssey was a miss for me. I'm glad I enjoyed AC 3. It restored my faith in the series, and I plan to play other AC games again because of it.

Jessica Jones (Season 3)

 

I've finished season 3 of Jessica Jones, and with that I have watched all of the Netflix-era Marvel Defenders series shows, minus season 2 of Iron Fist, which I skipped on purpose. The only show left to watch is 2025's Daredevil: Born Again. Jessica Jones is on my podium of favorite Defenders characters in third place, so I was looking forward to this season. While we're discussing the podium, surprisingly The Punisher is number 2, and Matt Murdock's Daredevil is number 1. 

Season 3 starts where season 2 left off. Jessica is still mad at her friend/adoptive sister Trish for shooting her mom and going through with the experimental surgery to become superhuman. The very end of season 2 eluded to the fact that the surgery was successful, with her dropping then "catching" her phone with her foot. Adept comic readers probably figured this out long ago, but in season 3, because of the surgery, Trish is transformed into Hellcat. I was completely aloof, and didn't see this coming at all until the end of season 2 after Trish had the surgery.

Trish turning into Hellcat sets the stage for season 3. As mentioned, Jessica is still mad at Trish from the events of season 2. Jessica is attacked by a psychopath killer named Gregory Sallinger, who targets people with abilities and powers, believing them to be "unworthy" of their abilities. Jessica uses her private investigation skills to try to imprison Sallinger. This proves difficult, and the newly aggressive Trish Walker as Hellcat seeks quicker justice. This reaches a tipping point when Sallinger kills Trish's mom, and Hellcat attacks and kills Sallinger. Jessica is compelled to do the "right" thing, and turns Trish in to the authorities. In the final scene, we see Trish being taken to the Raft with Jessica watching in the background.

This season was fine, but I prefer the dynamic we got in season 1 with these characters. As the season progressed, it became a bit unclear who the actual enemy was - Sallinger or Trish. I don't particularly like Trish as a villain as I don't think she's a bad person by nature. Sallinger is a terrible person, and a good villain for a psychological thriller, but a bit of an odd choice for a comic book villain. Also, his identify was revealed very early, and since Jessica is a private eye, it would have been nice for his identity to have been a bit more of a mystery. This season also suffered a bit from the same problem that I had with Luke Cage season 2. With Hellcat being the more aggressive character going after Sallinger, and then subsequently becoming the villain and going to jail, you could almost remove Jessica completely from this season and it would have turned out mostly the same. 

Jessica Jones as a character is a good one. Her alcohol loving, don't give a shit attitude is always entertaining. Each subsequent season of all of the Netflix-era Defenders shows got a bit worse (with the exception of Daredevil), but this doesn't mean they were bad. They just weren't as good as their initial seasons. Jessica Jones has been announced to appear in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, and I am excited to see her appearance in that show next year.

My State of Mobile Gaming: Part 10 - Further Emphasis On Streaming

It's difficult to believe that we are entering the last part of the Playstation 5 lifecycle. Yet here we are, nearly 5 years after the PS5's launch, and rumors about the PS6 are beginning to take shape. The PS6 is anticipated to launch in 2027, and one of the more intriguing rumors is that it will have dedicated portable hardware to play games on the go. With the success of the Switch, and the recent reveal of Microsoft's Xbox handheld device called the Asus Rog Xbox Ally X, it seems as if portable is the way things are going for consoles. I've never owned an Xbox, so while a device such as the Rog Xbox Ally X picques my interest, it isn't something I'm going to buy. Much like how I wrestled with the idea of getting a Steam Deck, I'm in no way involved with Xbox or PC gaming, so getting such a device wouldn't make sense. However, I like where gaming consoles are going. As streaming becomes more of an option, the idea of playing your games on multiple devices away from the console itself is intriguing. While I don't see the console disappearing entirely, at least not during the next cycle of consoles, this concept of accessing content away from the console itself has tons of advantages. The fact that portable devices are getting powerful enough that they can run mainstream games is impressive. Which brings me to my current state of gaming on the Playstation Portal.

I was an early adopter to the Playstation Portal, having purchased one almost as soon as they became available. I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the device, though it's mostly been love. My biggest beef with the device is that using Remote Play is finicky at best. I've done everything in my power and with my knowledge to optimize my network for Remote Play, and the damn thing still disconnects frequently. The thing is, it was working quite well for probably close to a year. For whatever reason, however, for the past 2-3 months it has had difficulty maintaining a consistent connection. This is frustrating for obvious reasons, but the biggest frustration is that it isn't exactly clear why it has connection issues in the first place. Researching solutions on the internet is useless, so I'm stuck in frequent disconnect limbo. Being an early adopter, I accept the fact that this device and technology isn't ready for the masses, so I'm excited to see devices like the Rog Xbox Ally X and the Steam Deck being produced, although from what I've read the Rog device may also not quite be ready for the masses.

About a year ago, Sony enabled streaming on the Portal, completely bypassing the need to have a Playstation. In the past year, the streaming library has expanded a lot. My experience with streaming has been very positive. While not perfect, streaming provides a much more consistent experience than using Remote Play from the PS5. My connection with Remote Play has become so finicky that I'm starting to factor in whether or not I can stream the game on the Portal into my decision on which games to play. I've had the chance to stream games on the Portal and play them later on the console, and cloud saving between the devices worked perfectly. I did this a bit with The Witcher 3. 

I'm interested in hearing more about the capabilities of Sony's portable device for the PS6 (if the rumors are true). I imagine that it will involve a combination of streaming from the library in addition to local installation for games. I already have opinions about what this could look like and the pros/cons of this approach, which I will save until a later date. In the meantime, I'll continue to play my Portal, but will likely lean a bit more towards games that I can stream over playing Remote Play.

The Witcher: The Last Wish

 

I've been on a big The Witcher kick after recently completing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Prior to playing that game, I knew little to nothing about the character or series. I knew the games were based on a series of books, however, and it just so happens that the books are available to read on Kindle Unlimited. I discovered that the recommended order to read the books was not the same order as the books were released. The Last Wish is a series of unrelated short stories about the main character, Geralt of Rivia. There wasn't much in the way of introductions or story setup, and if it weren't for my background knowledge from the game, I would have had no idea what was going on in this book. I suppose since it came after some of the other books, the author Sapkowski assumed readers would have familiarity from them. At any rate, I'm glad I had some background of what was going on from the game. If someone were wanting to start the books from scratch, I'd probably recommend they do a little research, at least on the main characters.

At any rate, The Last Wish is a collection of six or seven short stories. They introduce Geralt, and you get a good sense of his demeanor and what he deals with as a Witcher from the short stories. I already had a pretty good sense of this from playing The Witcher 3 for 50+ hours. However, there were a couple of short stories in this book that caught my interest. The first involves Ciri. The entire plot of The Witcher 3 is about finding and protecting Ciri. You learn that she is "special" because she has Elder's Blood, and you know that she isn't Geralt's true daughter (she's more of an adoptive daughter), but you never really learn how Geralt came to know Ciri. The short story in the book explains how this happens. Geralt saves a man's life, and invokes "the law of surprises". From the book and ChatGTP:

As a reward for saving Duny’s life, Geralt refuses gold or land and jokingly claims the Law of Surprise himself — “Give me what you already have but do not know.” Moments later, Pavetta becomes nauseous, revealing she is pregnant. That unborn child is Ciri, tying her fate to Geralt’s forever.

The thing about this chapter, though, is that Ciri's name is never mentioned. I figured out that they were referencing Ciri based on the context, but had I not played the game I would have never known Ciri existed.

The second story that stood out described the circumstances of how Geralt met Yennefer. Geralt's friend, Dandelion, releases a djinn (similar to a genie) from a bottle. Dandelion is injured in the process, and Geralt finds the closest sorceress to heal Dandelion. The sorceress happens to be Yennefer. Yennefer agrees to help Dandelion, under the condition that Geralt helps her. From the book and ChatGTP:

Yennefer heals Dandelion but senses that Geralt still holds one unspoken wish from the djinn. She decides to use him and the djinn to capture the creature for herself, hoping to gain immense power. Her plan backfires: the djinn goes berserk, destroying parts of the town and threatening to kill her.

In the chaos, Geralt realizes Yennefer is doomed unless he uses his final wish. What he wishes for is never directly stated, but it’s implied that he wishes for their fates to be intertwined forever — binding their destinies together. The djinn vanishes, Yennefer is saved, and the magical explosion subsides.

In the aftermath, Geralt and Yennefer — drawn together by both magic and newfound emotion — spend the night together, beginning their complex and tumultuous relationship that continues throughout the Witcher saga.

Yennefer was much discussed in The Witcher 3, and she was referenced by name in the book (unlike Ciri), so I was quite familiar with her character. They even reference their bond in the game, and in one scene they meet up with the djinn to break their bond. In the book, however, the importance of this bond is unknown, unless you are familiar with the rest of The Witcher lore. 

At the end of the day, I enjoyed The Witcher 3 a lot, and thus was happy to extend my knowledge of the characters by reading this book. I think had I started with the book prior to playing the game I would have been lost. I have access to the other books on Kindle Unlimited and will likely read at least some of the other books. I haven't had access to Netflix since the days they were shipping DVDs, but there is a decent chance that I'll pick up a subscription in order to watch the TV series as well.

The Punisher (Season 2)

 

On the surface, The Punisher is a character, and thus show, that I wouldn't be overly interested in. From a superhero perspective, he doesn't have any special powers, per se. He's a violent, and oftentimes murdering vigilante, and in general this character type doesn't appeal to me. However, this show is so well done that he has become one of my favorite Defenders characters. Most of the shows in Netflix's Defenders seasons had better debut seasons when compared to their second season, and this is the case with The Punisher as well. Season 2 just wasn't quite as good as season 1. With that being said, however, it was pretty decent, and better than Luke Cage season 2. 

Season 2 starts with The Punisher trying to separate himself from the events of season 1. He's on a little road trip, but quickly finds himself involved in a violent scene in a bar, where he saves a young woman from a group of attackers. He had become friendly with the bartender, who was killed in the attack. This series of events leads to one of the main plots of the season. From ChatGTP:

1. Frank Castle and Amy Bendix

• Frank meets a teenage girl named Amy Bendix, who’s on the run after witnessing a murder tied to a covert operation.

• Amy is being hunted by professional killers, so Frank takes her under his protection.

• Their relationship grows into a surrogate father-daughter bond, grounding Frank emotionally.

3. John Pilgrim and the Schultz Family

• John Pilgrim, a violent ex–white supremacist turned religious enforcer, is sent by the wealthy Schultz family to silence Amy and protect their political ambitions.

• Pilgrim is torn between his brutal missions and his desire to protect his sick wife and children.

• His path eventually collides violently with Frank’s.

This part of the plot is the more interesting story. Unfortunately, it often takes a back seat to the other main plot, which is a continuation of Frank & Billy Russo's story from season 1. Billy, having his face destroyed by Frank, is now known as "Jigsaw", although I don't remember anyone actually calling him that in the show. Again, from ChatGTP:

2. Billy Russo’s Return as Jigsaw

• After surviving Frank’s brutal attack in season 1, Billy Russo suffers brain damage and memory loss.

• He forms a group of disaffected veterans, while struggling with rage, trauma, and his fractured identity.

• Russo becomes increasingly unstable, plotting revenge on Frank and those he blames for his downfall.

Frank & Billy's story works well in season 1, because it expands on the Punisher's background, first discussed in Daredevil season 2, and explains the background reason behind Frank's family being murdered, and how Frank became the Punisher. Their story is less interesting in season 2 because now that we have had the history explained to us in season 1, all that is left is for them to kill each other. Billy as Jigsaw is unstable at best, and is generally just a crazy character at this point and not all that interesting. He also forms this relationship with his psychiatrist that got a decent amount of screen time and I didn't find it all that believable. 

Frank's story with Amy & John Pilgrim was more intriguing, but unfortunately there were entire episodes where Amy wasn't even in the show. Eventually you learn that John is working with the Schultz family, but they get very little screen time. They are evil people, and when Frank finally kills them, it is somewhat satisfying, but I think it would have been more satisfying if they were featured more and Billy less.

At the end of the day, The Punisher was one of the better Netflix Defenders series shows. While it did suffer from season 2 letdown and seasons that were probably 2 episodes too long, Frank Castle turned out to be a much more complicated character than the psycho killer he's portrayed as (though he is that as well). Jon Bernthal does an excellent job portraying Frank, and his acting adds a lot of depth to the character. For season 2, I just wish there was a little less Billy and a little more John Pilgrim.

The Witcher III - Wild Hunt

 

Other than a brief trial of the original Assassins Creed (AC), I had never really played any of the AC games until Valhalla. I really enjoyed AC: Valhalla, and I have access to most of the AC games on Playstation Plus, so I decided to give another game in the series a try. I picked AC: Odyssey because my kids really like Greek mythology and they wanted to see the game. Maybe it's because I never got into Greek mythology, but I didn't really care for AC: Odyssey. I disliked it so much, that I quit the game after 5 hours of gameplay. This was disappointing, considering how much I liked AC: Valhalla. Despite my disinterest in Greek mythology, my biggest complaint with AC: Odyssey had to do with pacing of the game. Focusing mostly on main quests, I quickly ran into an issue where the main quests were requiring player levels much higher than I had accomplished. I would enter a quest as a level 5 with the quest recommending a level 8, and I would quickly be outmatched and die. I don't mind grinding out some side quests to level up, but spending 15-30 minutes on a side quest would only give me a fraction of XP needed to level up. I quickly grew tired of this situation and quit the game. I'll circle back around to this situation in a bit, but this is supposed to be a post about The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, so let's move on.

Prior to playing this game, The Witcher was a game and character I was vaguely familiar with but knew nothing about. I had seen the cover of this game several times, and quite frankly, Geralt's face scared me a bit. But the game was (emphasis on was) on Playstation Plus, and after reading about it decided to give it a try as it got fantastic reviews. At this point, I knew Geralt was a "witcher", which meant that he hunted monsters. Otherwise, I knew nothing else about the game or the world in which I was about to encounter.

Here is a brief plot summary from ChatGPT:

You play as Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter (witcher) searching for his adopted daughter Ciri, who is being pursued by a mysterious, otherworldly army called the Wild Hunt. Along the way, Geralt gets entangled in political struggles, ancient prophecies, and the fate of the world itself.

Gameplay is in a large, open-world medieval environment. It is an RPG, with Geralt's skills and weapons leveling up as you progress, and you are allowed to chose which quests you go on and where you go in general. I brought up my frustration with AC: Odyssey, because the pace of The Witcher is fantastic. You are introduced to fast travel right off the bat, and can utilize fast travel to go to any location that you've discovered. You can also discover any location at anytime, limited by just the degree of enemies present compared to the level of your character. Not one time could I not advance the story or finish a main quest because my character hadn't leveled up enough. Here's the kicker - I did some side quests, not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. I never felt like I was grinding away in this game. The story and characters were intriguing enough that I wanted to do some of the side quests. I'm generally a person who focuses on the main story only. One of the ways I know I really like a game is when I willingly do side quests.

I assumed this game would involve fighting a lot of scary monsters, and in the nearly 50 hours it took me to finish the main story, there was plenty of them. However, this game is very story heavy. That could be seen as a negative, but I found the plot so intriguing that I thought featuring it so heavily improved the game. Expanding on ChatGPT's summary above, the main goal of the game is to rescue Ciri. In doing so, you're dropped into a medieval world filled with monsters, sorcerers, and soap opera-esque political struggles. It's intriguing enough that you want to explore and interact with NPCs. The war going on doesn't involve you, per se, and you can choose to ignore it if you want. However, it does involve your friends, and you need their help to save Ciri, so you have to get involved to some extent. Geralt being neutral in the war is an interesting aspect as well. I want to give a brief shoutout to the load screen plot summaries. I can't remember ever playing a game that did this, and I found them quite helpful after I dad taken a pause for a few days to remind me of what was going on. I would say more games should do this, but load screens are becoming a thing of the past.

When I was halfway through the game it fell off Playstation Plus. I was able to buy the complete edition with both DLC packages for $10. What a steal. This game is so well done in almost every aspect. It is one of the better games I've played in a while. I like it so much that I've started reading the books (more to come on that) and have even thought about getting Netflix to watch the TV series.

City Journal: Steveland - Project Pollution Solution

 

Above is a picture of current and modern Steveland, a bustling city of +400,000 people. Steveland is the "city-center" of the Steveland Metro area, which currently has 600,000 people and is still growing rapidly. Very rarely do I build small cities. I'm always inspired to play SimCity by visiting large cities, and thus try to replicate them on the game. One of the aspects of a large city is always pollution. I never want my cities to be polluted, but I've always chalked the pollution up to being part of the cost of running a large city. Despite nearly always having high pollution levels, my cities always seem to thrive, and thus I never tried too hard to reduce the pollution levels. For the first time in 20 years of playing SimCity 4, I decided to pay attention to pollution. Cities: Skylines was my inspiration, honestly. Pollution is a big part of that game, so much so that it can kill off cities by making people sick. While this doesn't happen in SC 4, I thought that in order to make Steveland the best city possible, I should focus on pollution. 

The above picture is a pollution map, showing where pollution is the heaviest. The darker the color, the more pollution is present. As you can see, essentially the entire map is covered with some amount of pollution. The pollution levels on the chart are above 200. Below are the same pollution maps and graphs, but this time after Project Pollution Solution. As you can see, the map shows almost no pollution, and the graph shows the pollution level around 20.

As you can see, there has been a dramatic decrease in pollution levels, and the land value and environment opinion polls in the city are far in the green and going up. I have never had a green environment rating in a city opinion poll in a city of this size. There were three main ways I accomplished this. The first was with a tax plan that favored manufacturing and high tech industry, while more heavily taxing dirty industry. The second was with an emphasis on higher education in order to have skilled and competent workers for the more high tech industries. Lastly, and likely most importantly, I used air pollution mods, which acted as gigantic air filters to suck pollution out of the air. So basically, I cheated. But either way, Steveland has become the cleanest and most environmentally favorable city I've ever created.

Luke Cage (Season 2)

 

Season two of Luke Cage picks up where season 1 ends. With Cottonmouth dead, Mariah Stokes (Dillard) is now fully in charge of the Stokes family business - selling guns. However, a person from Mariah's past shows up, fully ready to take on Mariah and rule Harlem. His name is Bushmaster, and he's all hyped up on Nightshade. From ChatGPT:

After clearing his name, Luke Cage has become a hero in Harlem, admired by the community but also pressured by the fame and expectations that come with it. While Luke tries to balance his public image and personal life, new and old enemies rise to challenge him.

• Mariah Dillard fully embraces her role as Harlem’s power broker, seeking to build a criminal empire with her partner Shades, but her brutal methods and family secrets start to unravel her influence.

• Bushmaster, a new villain with enhanced strength and a personal vendetta against Mariah’s family, emerges. He wages war on Harlem, forcing Luke into the middle of a violent conflict.

• Luke’s strained relationships with Claire Temple and his father add emotional weight as he wrestles with what it means to be Harlem’s protector.

• Misty Knight, recovering from the loss of her arm in The Defenders, rebuilds her career and identity with the help of a bionic prosthetic from Danny Rand (Iron Fist).

By the end, Harlem’s balance of power shifts dramatically:

• Mariah dies in prison, leaving Harlem’s Paradise to Luke.

• To protect Harlem, Luke reluctantly steps into the role of “the new King of Harlem,” blurring the line between hero and crime boss, and raising questions about his future.

Season 2 of Luke Cage is a decent gangster show, but is not a great superhero show. Initially it is a little unclear who the main villain of season 2 actually is, but as the season progresses it becomes clear that it is Mariah. Bushmaster is the new character, and he is not a great guy, but has legitimate reasons to be angry at Mariah and her family. I think Mariah not being a superhero herself as the main villain, and Luke being too nice of a guy, becomes an issue as the season progresses. Luke fights with Bushmaster a couple of times, but despite having opportunities to kill Mariah (or at least not help her in the fire), he doesn't harm her. I remember one scene where he and Misty are looking for Mariah, and she's at Harlem's Paradise (her club, which is basically where she's always located) the entire time. She never hides. Misty's actions as cop, then former cop, then cop again, as well as Luke's involvement with law enforcement are problematic as well, but that's a rabbit hole I won't go down here. Likewise, I don't know how much I enjoyed the Luke as a celebrity aspect of the show either.

Probably the best part of season two was the relationship between Mariah and Shades. Shades (played by Theo Rossi) is an exceptional character, and the dynamic between the two characters always grabbed your attention while they were on screen. 

Going back to the comment about season 2 being a decent gangster show but not a good superhero show, the reason why I said that was because I feel like Luke could have been removed from the story and it would have played out exactly the same. In the end, Mariah's daughter kills Mariah, not Bushmaster or Luke. Luke doesn't even eradicate Bushmaster from Harlem - he just leaves on his own. Luke had multiple opportunities to get rid of Mariah, but instead he bounces back and forth from wanting her dead to protecting her. Potentially Bushmaster would have succeeded in replacing Mariah as the king/queen of Harlem had Luke not interfered, but generally Luke could have been absent and the story would have been the same. This is a major problem since the show is supposed to be about Luke Cage. 

In the end, I suppose Luke succeeds and ascends to the throne as king of Harlem. But it's almost like he just falls into this position, as opposed to earning it through his superhero powers. I like Luke Cage, the character, but all of these reasons are why The Punisher has been the better show. On the surface, The Punisher is a character (and show) that I wouldn't be interested in at all. But one thing is for sure: You can't take that guy out of the show and have the same outcome.