Weekend Highlights: FFXIV, Trove, Salt and Windward
It’s the last weekend before Heavensward drops for early access folks, so I decided to mix things up as much as possible this weekend, especially with the Steam Summer Sale going on. I’m being very careful about what I buy knowing I’m probably not going to touch many other games than FFXIV for a while. But that’s a post for another time!
Finishing Up in FFXIV
While I already completed the Hildibrand quest line on Zuri months ago, Zeb and Tai had yet to complete the final episode. So Syn and I set out to get that finished up on Friday night. I’m not sure if they’ll continue with more Hildibrand quests. They left the option there without promising anything in stone. It’s some of the quirkiest and funniest questing I’ve ever done, and I loved most of it. Even the part that forced me into trials.
We managed to fall in with a group of really experienced folks for the Battle at the Big Bridge, so the fight went really smoothly. It’s good to get that quest line finished up and always fun to revisit Hildibrand.
I’m still working hard at leveling my crafting classes, having buckled down to add the Ixali quests to my daily routine this week. I’m about to rank up with them again (though I have no idea what the highest Ixali rank is), and the extra experience these quests give me may be just enough to push me to 50 on all classes before the FFXIV servers go down all day Thursday. I may have to push some leves in there (which I’ve been avoiding) if not.
At this point, I only have two classes that are not at 50 – quite an accomplishment for me!
Trove
It’s funny how Trove is slowly becoming a daily log-in for me lately. I’m not sure how long that’s going to last with Heavensward coming out later this week, but I’ve really started to enjoy what Trove has to offer. I’ve worked my Dracolyte up to level 11 this weekend, though I haven’t really been paying that much attention to leveling. I’m starting to enter the Uber 1 level areas, which are a huge jump in difficulty for me. Healing potions are going fast and I’m dying a whole lot more than I did before, but I’m still persisting!
I also unlocked the Neon Ninja this weekend, leaving only three classes left that I haven’t purchased yet.
I managed to finally catch up with Ironweakness last night and was invited to the Waiting for Rez club. It was good to meet one of the fellow bloggers and get to chat for the first time!
I also got caught up listening to the amazing music rails that some of the Trove folks have crafted at the Trovian Maestros club. I spent much of Saturday gathering what I needed to craft my Mag Racer and riding the tracks in that amazing club. Thanks again to Ironweakness’ Trove Tunes post for opening my eyes to that really incredible experience.
Windward
I was in the mood for some high seas adventure, so I picked up Windward a bit more this weekend. I’m currently talent level 25 (started at 22), and decided to work on capturing some of the level 15 and 18 areas in the name of my faction. The pirates in this game don’t play around – these maps are really tough to get a handhold in. But once you can capture one town and start spawning more friendly ships, things start to turn in your direction.
I managed to get some upgrades for my ship and impress the Sojourn faction so much that they invited me to join them. I decided to stay Consulate because I like what’s going on here. I’d eventually like to impress some of the more elite factions, but those are probably a good ways away for now.
Salt
While I am trying to be careful at this summer Steam sale, I knew that I was going to pick up one of the newer sandbox/survival games on my wishlist. It was a toss-up between Salt, Stranded Deep and The Long Dark. I read over reviews, watched a few videos, and all prices being about equal, couldn’t make up my mind. It seems that Salt is more of a relaxed exploration sandbox where Stranded Deep and The Long Dark are much more survival oriented. Salt also doesn’t have the fancy graphics and looks to be more alpha than the others.
However, Salt popped up as a daily sale, dropping under $8, so I decided to pick that one up for now. Yes, the graphics are quite simple and the game looks like it has a long way to go, but I’ve been learning about how things work and enjoying the game so far. I opted into the Testing build because it provides the new crafting UI, and that has made the game so much easier to play.
And you can FISH! Woo!
This game certainly deserves its own post, so one will be forthcoming, once I learn more about how things work!