Week of 27 Nov 2022
“A single bird flies against the wind”
Achievements Earned In:
- Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two 🎮
- Umurangi Generation Special Edition 🎮 ☁️
- Race with Ryan 🎮 ☁️
- Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth 🎮 ☁️
Boy, did Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two continue to be an absolute bore. I just don’t know why, but the entire game never grabbed my attention in any way, shape, or form. Luckily, following the guide on TA will get you through the game with little hassle…mostly. Whomever the author is tended to be a little vague sometimes on some directions, also forgetting to mention outright when an upcoming achievement is missable, ALMOST screwing me in a few ways. When I got to Ventureland, the guide failed to mention that a route through the area would make an achievement for ignoring the advice of two characters missable. On top of that, you need the materials you get to keep for ignoring them for the completing every quest achievement! Missing that would have caused my having to play an entire ‘nother full playthrough. Luckily, the items you have to sell to Laralee are in greater number than is needed to finish the quest, so when I accidentally gave up the four items for Daisy in Ventureland I replaced them with the tires you get in Autopia. Bought them back and moved on! The rest of the playthrough went off without a hitch and soon I was onto my second, much quicker run. Wow, this game is VERY short if you just blow through the main story! I also grabbed my missable I’d missed, and soon I had this bland game all wrapped up.
Oh, speaking of Ventureland, there’s oddly enough a glitch when playing on the Series consoles that breaks the game when trying to purchase the Anvil Sketch! Easily fixed by loading the game up quick on an older console, but still worth noting.
Achievements unlocked: 46 (+19) | Completed
GAH DO NOT WANT!
Sadly, my spouse again ended up in the ICU this week. It’s been…taxing, to say the least, but this is a gaming blog so in that way I needed another Cloud game to play. The list of games being removed from the Game Pass library hadn’t been posted yet on Wednesday, so I went with short/easy: Umurangi Generation Special Edition! This is a photography game, with you playing as a rebellious Māori type going around a near-future New Zealand and snapping pics of what’s going on. I haven’t gotten beyond the third stage so far, but it’s very chill and the art style is reminiscent of PS2 or GameCube. Maybe even PS1? Anyway, you simply find the needed targets (seven birds, five bicycles, etc.) and snap their pictures, all within ten minutes. I know the game is quite short, but with other Cloud games to play, this is being put on the backburner for now.
Achievements unlocked: 9 (+9) | Completion: 39%
Course, right after I start a Cloud game, they do release the list of games leaving the Game Pass service, and one of them is one I had started previously: Race with Ryan. I’d started the game back in August during another stay at Mayo and kept it around in case I needed a quick game to continue my streak. But now it’s leaving, so it was time to buckle in and get this done. It’s a very mediocre Mario Kart clone, that is so easy you can have it play itself to pretty good effect, even on Hard. Which, good thing, because as I plowed forward to finish this on Friday I kept dozing off! I’d close my eyes during Lap 1 and snap awake on Lap 3, still in 1st place. Pretty funny to say I can literally complete this in my sleep, but there it is. If you have the time to squeeze this in before it’s gone, I definitely recommend! Though…who are these characters? Why does this kid keep making such stupid faces? My daughter saw me playing this and made a disparaging comment, so I’m guessing this is even after her time? Seems like one of those obnoxious things parents let their kids get involved in but is painful to have to watch with them.
Achievements unlocked: 23 (+19) | Completed
I wanna be Ricky Bobby when I grow up!
On Saturday I headed back to Mayo to be with my spouse as she recovered, so I figured I’d start another of the games leaving Game Pass in my downtime. One that I had actually wanted to get around to is Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, and I’m so far glad I did. It’s a very simple “Metroidvania”-type title based on a manga franchise, and, so far, is also quite easy. Usually in these types of games, there are multiple unlocked areas you can backtrack to once you open a new door or gain a new ability, but this one seems to keep it to zones and there’s overall very little need to return to older areas. If you make sure to uncover the whole of the available map before heading in to fight the next boss, you should easily be able to keep everything moving along for the “uncover the whole map” achievement. There are secret areas, but spamming the will o’ the wisps magic will seek those breakable wall sections out. It looks like there’s a boss rush mode to complete later, but I’m not too worried about that if the boss fights I’ve completed so far are any indication how that’ll go. But, hey, so far I’m enjoying it!
Achievements unlocked: 7 (+7) | Completion: 28%
Highest ratio: 9.55
Master Pin Collector (Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two)
Lowest ratio: 1.00 (tie)
Penguin Friend (Umurangi Generation Special Edition)
Welcome to Wonder Labyrinth (Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth)
