July 5, 2024
Hello! Welcome back to our regular column where we write a bit about some of the games we’ve played over the past few days. This week we’re bashing our heads against Shadow of the Erdtree, suffering for our ailments in Baldur’s Gate 3, and enjoying the change in Diablo 4.
What have you been playing?
If you’d like to revisit older editions of What We’ve Been Playing, you can consult our archive here.
Diablo 4, PS5
Diablo 4 is a perfect companion game in the sense that it’s a welcome change of pace from whatever you’re playing. I returned to it again this week, inspired by many of you who are still playing it, and as always, I was impressed. It’s such a smooth, well-made package that I feel like a kid with an action toy who just wants to smash it against another action toy; I pick it up and it compels me to play.
The slight setback I had this time around was that the loot had changed. I picked an older character to spend some time with – one that I had completely forgotten how to use, so I just had to trust that I had done the ‘thinking’ and built something viable, and button mash until the old strategy came back – and I quickly discovered that all the gear I had was now considered ‘legacy’. On top of that, I started looting things I had never seen before: weapon schematics that could be applied individually, core augments, and new systems like Tempering. It was the same game, but also a different game.
This is what’s happening now: games change. Take some time away from them and you might come back and find something completely different. Watch Cyberpunk 2077, watch World of Warcraft, watch any live service game really. And yes, it might take some getting used to, but I also kind of like it. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the loop that Diablo 4 pulls off so well. What I will get tired of is the wraparound feel and the sense of purpose I have in the game. As long as that’s constantly being renewed, I’ll be happily eating Diablo 4 between meals for years to come.
-Bertie
Elden Ring, PC
I’ve been up to my ears in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for the past few weeks, trying to figure out every last secret and turn it into a guidebook of sorts. This weekend, I spent several hours playing as a monster of Bayle the Dread, a giant dragon boy who’s one of the optional bosses that lives at the top of the giant volcano in the southeastern corner of the map.
Actually, I should have realized this was a bad idea when I first climbed the mountain. As you emerge from the base of Jagged Peak, the sky is already blood red—a marked change from the eerie grays and blues you left behind on Gravesite Plain. But things only get worse from there. The wind picks up, ripping through the trees so hard and throwing so much dust and flying rock into the air that you feel like you could be whisked away in an instant, if only you weren’t wearing a full suit of armor. Then red lightning starts streaking through the air as you cross a disturbingly rickety-looking wooden bridge, and oh boy, is it now tearing the ground open before me like an almighty bolt from whatever this game’s equivalent of Zeus is.
The higher you climb, the more apocalyptic it gets. The sky turns redder, the dust becomes all-consuming, and did I mention there are dozens of smaller dragon corpses on the way up? It’s carnage and chaos, and yet I still struggled to the top, before spending over three hours running into the same boss arena over and over again, only to be eaten and pulverized each time. I made it eventually, but even now I wonder if it was really worth it? For the work, sure. But for my own enjoyment? I guess I’ve yet to figure that out.
-Katharine
Baldur’s Gate 3, PC
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Have I backed myself into a corner? I’ve been working hard on my Dark Urge playthrough of BG3 and I’ve hit a stumbling block: Act 3. There are some climactic battles in particular that I don’t seem to be well prepared for. My problem: lack of spell casters. I have Shadowheart and that’s it. I killed Will and Gale – I did say it was a bad playthrough! – and I never found Halsin, so the only character who can drop such powerful spell bombs is Shadowheart.
My party composition currently consists of two paladins – myself and Minthara – plus Shadowheart and then either Astarion or Lae’zel. That’s the sum of my options. In some situations it works. When I was fighting Astarion’s evil vampire sire, the built-in radiant damage of my paladins was wonderfully useful. But now that I’m in Hell and fighting devils, that’s less so. Worse, I lack the firepower to deal with the strongest of them efficiently.
In some ways, I don’t mind this. I know I can go to Withers in my base camp and ask for a mercenary who’s a Wizard or a Sorcerer or a Warlock or whatever I want them to be. I can create a perfectly balanced party if I want; I can even change my own class. But I also want to face the consequences of my actions and the evil I’ve done. I will reap what I’ve sown.
-Bertie