Remember when I said I needed a break from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey? Well, scratch that! It might be too early in the week to call it but I don’t think I’ll like anything this week as much as this.

I decided to dip my toes in The Fate of Atlantis DLC. It’s a three-part episodic story arc, I’m on arc (or episode if you will) one, Fields of Elysium. There’s so much to uncover and explore on this arc alone and again, another significantly huge map! I feel like I am playing a whole different game right now!

I am very positive I’ll be putting over a hundred hours on this game!

So good!

Assassins’s Creed Odyssey

I can’t put this game down! It has been almost a month since I’ve got it, for the Xbox One S, and just can’t, I can’t stop playing this game. The interesting thing is, that I actually own and had played this game before on another platform, the PS4. For whatever reason I really wanted it on the Xbox (maybe because of the achievements, or the fact that i had recently bought the Xbox) and it has been a very different experience so far. I have gotten into this game more than when I first played it on the PS4. (It also it glitches a lot more on the Xbox but that’s not here nor there 🤫)

On this play-through I’m exploring more and doing more of the side quests and extra missions, I am barely halfway the main storyline and I’m already at level 52 I believe. The world in this game is not just beautiful but also massive , it’s a huge world-map! And there’s so much to do and get lost in, I’m having a blast!

It has been a while since I have had this feeling of “I can’t wait to play when I get home”!! (Still I have to wait until everyone goes to sleep but you get the idea).

For over 10 years I have had the same Gamertag on both my Xbox Live and PSN accounts — Batbriel. The tag has some history for sure, way back from the Gears Of War days (the first GoW)but I grew tired or bored of it. I think it’s the only “online” handle that has lasted this long actually. Even my Twitter and Instagram handles have changed over the years, at least once. So I have changed it from Batbriel to Pixelat3dPanda, at least just on Xbox Live.

As I have grown older I have starting to have a thing for Pandas, I’m not sure why but I do. So for a while I knew that if I was going to change any of my online handles, it was going to be Panda related. Why pixelated? Well, I like pixels, pixels have always been related to gaming and I’m not sure how much this had to do with but I’m a fan of the Pixelated Podcast so, that’s how the pixelated part came into play. Also had to switch one of the letters “e” for a 3 because obviously the all letters version was taken.

Anyway, Pixelat3dPanda is the gamer tag on Xbox Live if you want to add me. For now I’m playing a lot of Overwatch so, cool cool!

Overwatch

I know I’m late to the game but I just happened to pick this up today and so far, I like it a lot. There was also some “per-pressure” involved (two of my coworkers are currently playing the game) and the fact that the game was on sale so — had to!

I have only played for a couple of hours but I can already tell I’ll be spending a few hundred hours on this game, kinda like when I got into Destiny a while ago.

I started playing as Soilder: 76, in my opinion the most basic character. Basic in the sense that’s probably the best character to get familiar with the game specially you are familiar with first-person-shooters then this character will be very familiar. Obviously I don’t want to be stuck using only this character so I have been spending a some time in the training mode. This way I can experiment and get to know some of the other characters in the game, which there are about 30.

If you’re still playing this game and want to add me to your party or something, I’m Pixelat3dPanda on the Xbox Lives.

We’re all soldiers now.

Katana ZERO

Katana Zero is a blisteringly fast slash-em-up with action that’s an absolute adrenaline rush.

IGN

This game has been under my radar since its release on the Nintendo Switch. I finally went ahead and got it and I am not disappointed. This game is a lot of fun! There’s a little bit of a learning curve and at first it might seem a little difficult but so far I haven’t lost my coolness –– or my patience.

I’m wondering if Cuphead really is as challenging as they say. It looks like fun and definitely pretty and all, but if I’m gonna have a hard time with it and be frustrated all the time, I much rather save the money.

Nintendo of America:

Eight travelers, eight stories, one amazing adventure. Experience one of eShop’s most celebrated role-playing games and get #OctopathTraveler today, only on #NintendoSwitch.https://t.co/9QqfYfDzGz pic.twitter.com/X5em8um8me

One of the best games I played last year. I highly recommend it!

Last night I decided to give another try at NIOH for ps4. Last night was the farthest I have ever gotten in this game. And still, this game it’s so difficult! I mean, at this point in my life what I want from a video game are good visuals and a story that’ll suck me in. I am not looking for big challenges anymore, I don’t have the time nor the attention span. Plus this game requires a level of strategy, I don’t like strategy, or at least not on this type of game. I just want to slice myself through and enjoy the story.

Last night I got to an area and died at least 10 times (laughing at myself here) before I quit, any little mistake would get me killed.

Nope! Not for me. Done! I quit!

I’m so sad though, I really want to play this game, but it’s aggravating and that makes it less fun. I want to have fun and enjoy the story, not get irritated and frustrated every second.

Well there’s that!

Loves and porridges.

Back when I got my Play Station 4, whenever that was ago, the first game I played was NIOH. Actually, I remember buying the console specifically because both of this game and the announcement of the Final Fantasy VII remake. Anyway, I quickly stopped playing Nioh, I found it extremely difficult. But for some reason I kind of want to revisit it and try again.

Will see, I am still hooked up with Diablo 3 on the Nintendo Switch.

I haven’t rage quitted a game in a long long time, until, the other night! I am a huge Megaman junkie, I have been playing Megaman games for a long time and loved every single one of the games I’ve played. No matter how frustrating they can be at times, I love them all. I have recently acquired Megaman 11 for The Nintendo Switch, awesome fun game! It’s got that old school Megaman vibe that I know and love, at least to me, but with modern graphics. I have been enjoying this game so far until I got stuck! Yes stuck, can’t go any further, at all! Just can’t ! “You shall not pass!” kind of thing.

The mechanics of the stage are very frustrating, I tried for a good twenty minutes or so until I could take it anymore. Got frustrated and said Fuck it! It makes me sad because I was enjoying this game so much but the level of “difficulty” in this particular stage it’s taking all that fun away.

I may comeback at try again eventually, I am sure there is a plausible way to go through this particular stage but I just didn’t get to explore it in my frustration. I sometimes forgets that in games (or just like everything in life) I need to take a step back and think about it and then proceed.

However, we will see about that. I am currently knees deep into Diablo 3 and The Messenger. Both games are a lot of fun.

Anyway, here’s a screenshot of the stage I’m stuck at.

I have been thinking for a few days how I wanted to do this. My 2018 end-year-review thing. And I had a hard time, too many things happened this year plus I am at putting my thoughts together sometimes. Also I did a poor job at documenting things, in an organized matter, this year. Jumping in between systems and note taking places and my changes on how to journal. Anyway, this my year-end review

Life vents.

2018 started a little out of wack in my personal life.

• Unemployed, that wasn’t fun. I had lost my previous job late in 2017, therefore I found myself at the beginning of 2018 without a one.

• Some hard life events involving some personal relationships and depression. But thanks to friends and professional help — and medication — things are looking much better now. With the occasional struggle, of course.

• Finally sometime in April I found my current job.

• Baby Luna, definitely the biggest event of the year.

Tech.

As far as my technology, there wasn’t much in 2018. 2017, though, was more eventful.

• The HomePod
• iPhone X🅂
• Apple Watch Series 4

Systems.

This is probably the most chaotic year. As I said before I changed and jumped around many systems which got me to be a little unorganized.

• OmniFocus
• Things 3
• TickTick
• Goodtask
• Todoist

Journal.

I have recently changed the way I journal thus the systems I use too.

• No more Wordpress
• Hosted blog with Micro.blog
• Ulysses/Drafts
• Bear

Games.

Games that have been acquired in 2018. Some I have either just installed or just played a little bit because, attention span I guess.

• Assassin’s Creed: Origins (PS4)
• Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (PS4)
• Spider-Man (PS4)
• God Of War (PS4)
• Destiny 2 (Xbox One)
• Octopath Traveler (Nintendo Switch)
• Pokémon Let’s Go: Pikachu (Nintendo Switch)
• Megaman 11 (Nintendo Switch)
• Celeste (Nintendo Switch)
• Diablo 3 (Nintendo Switch)
• Aegis Defenders (Nintendo Switch)
• Stardew Valley (Nintendo Switch)
• The World Ends With You (Nintendo Switch)

Movies.

1. STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI
2. BLADE RUNNER 2049
3. CARS 3
4. THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
5. COCO
6. GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS
7. FERDINAND
8. BATMAN NINJA
9. DEADPOOL 2
10. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
11. READY PLAYER ONE
12. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT
13. RAMPAGE
14. DEATH OF SUPERMAN
15. SICARIO: DIA DAY OF THE SOLDADO
16. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
17. PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING
18. ANNIHILATION
19. BLACK PANTHER
20. JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
21. VENOM
22. BIRD BOX
23. (here was for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 2019 then)

Music.

I listen to way too much music to remember everything but these are the ones I listened the most (I think) and quite describes my music tastes.

• ‎X 100PRE by Bad Bunny
• ‎A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships by The 1975
• Delta by Mumford & Sons
• ‎‎The Unheavenly Creatures by Coheed and Cambria

Social Media.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Micro.blog
• Mastodon

What do I want to work on for 2019?

• More journaling (blog and private notes format).
• “Settle for one task management system”.
• Be more present.
• Less social media.
• (Micro.blog doesn’t count as social media) ;)
• Read more, specially books.
• More photo adventures.
• For my Social Media, still trying to figure out what I’m gonna do with that one.
• And whatever comes along…