Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters First Impressions and Beyond League Tips

The folks at Grinding Gear Games have done a fantastic job with their free-to-play (except your time) action RPG, Path of Exile. They are consistently tweaking things and have recently released their second expansion, Forsaken Masters. Like their last expansion, Sacrifice of the Vaal, Forsaken Masters (FM) adds new content and changes the overall game in some fundamental ways. FM adds the idea that there are 7 Exiled Masters running around Wraeclast that the player can encounter and can undertake missions to help. The missions might be to recover something, protect something, kill something, etc.

Completing missions will give you favor with that master and get enough and they will level up (up to level 8). At level 3, you will unlock a hideout for your character that is basically your own town area to use as a home-base. Okay, great, Path of Exile now has player homes. However, the key here is that each Master also comes with their own inventory of goods you can buy and can help you modify your existing equipment to add additional "affixes" to make them better. All great. It should be noted that the Master missions are not easy and do require you to play in different ways than you may have in the past (you can't just tank your way through all of them).

Alongside the release of FM, Path of Exile has also added two new challenge leagues, Beyond and Rampage. Rampage is a standard league (you die and can resurrect and keep progressing) where as you string kills together you get more and more outrageous effects. Beyond is the new hardcore league (you die and your journey is done - character transfers to the standard league) where if you kill a large number of monsters in close proximity to each other, a portal may open that brings 4 over-powered demons through to Wraeclast. This mechanic adds a big challenge as the portal could open at any time (often at the least advantageous time for you). I can easily see the Beyond portal mechanic making its way into the regular Path of Exile game after the Beyond league ends. So Beyond is hardcore and has demons popping out all over the place - how can a newbie (which I pretty much am as well) survive and compete?

Well I have a couple suggestions:

• Play multiple characters. I have found it good to run a character through most of Act I (up to or after killing Brutus). Then start another character and run them to the same point. This means if you die trying to kill Merveil you will not have to start over from the very beginning. 
• Plan ahead. Save items that look decent for characters at or below your current level but are best for a different build/character class. This will make it easier to level up your 2nd and 3rd characters. For instance I found Meginord's Girdle unique with my 2nd character and built a Marauder around it and a rare staff I had in my stash - that character is now my highest level one in Beyond after only a few hours playing.
• If you tend to go face-first into fights and tank your way through, load up on life and resistances early. The Marauder I mentioned is currently running over 800 life at level 24 (which is good for me) and helps keep me alive when I have to wade in with heavy strikes.
• Don't be afraid to run away and come back later (or just leave). You don't have to kill everything on screen and in some cases it's best if you don't try. Especially in some of the Haku missions as they are best if you just speed run to the spirit and high-tail it out of there.

I still have a lot to learn and am worried whether or not I can actually get myself out of normal difficulty with any of my Beyond league characters, but I am having a great time trying. If you haven't played Path of Exile or have not been back in a while, now is a good time to give it another shot. The Forsaken Masters expansion gets 5 Mick Happies. See you in Wraeclast.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I know I read the short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber sometime during middle or high school. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is the story of a man taking a shopping trip with his wife but who continuously gets distracted with vivid fantasies where he is involved in or doing amazing things. I think if you asked my wife, she would say I am a lot like Walter in that I am often lost in a book or game. In 2013, Ben Stiller starred in the latest adaptation of the story based on a screenplay by Steve Conrad.

I am a bit hit or miss with Ben Stiller movies. I have really enjoyed movies like Along Came Polly, the first Night at the Museum and Mystery Men while others have fallen flat for me. I was interested in seeing how The Secret Life of Walter Mitty would turn out as the trailers had me thinking that the special effects might be way over the top. Luckily for us all, the actual movie was much better than I was expecting.

In the story, Walter Mitty (Stiller), works at Life magazine managing photograph negatives and has been tasked with prepping the cover shot for the final issue. Unlike the original short story, this Walter Mitty is single and love lorn, quiet and reserved but just as prone to daydreams. This is where the over-the-top special effects come in as we are whisked between Walter's real life and his imaginary one. Enter a really horrible take-over manager at the magazine who chooses to pick on Walter when he is found staring blankly off in his own dream world. What follows is the search for the negative and Walter's own character arc from dreamer to doer.

The character arc for Walter is one of the best parts of the movie, followed by his interactions with Patton Oswalt's character, Todd. Kristen Wiig also plays his co-worker and potential love interest and is very subdued and good in the role. Another good part of the film is the smooth transition Walter takes from dreaming to doing that at first leaves you wondering is he dreaming this or is it really happening. Some of the early dream sequences are almost laughably overdone, but then subtly things change and you are left with a somewhat poignant, possibly predictable story of Walter's journey. If you haven't checked this movie out, you should go ahead and rent it right now. I give The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 4 Mick Happies. Now I am off to my fantasy land or in other words, Path of Exile.

RV Movie Review

We were all very sad to hear that Robin Williams had died earlier this week. I grew up in the 1970s and saw Mork & Mindy first hand and then later watched so many movies and comedy specials with Mr. Williams. He has always been a favorite for my wife as well, with his frantic energy and quick-talking banter. Therefore we were all on-board for re-watching one of our favorite Robin Williams' movies, RV, as a way of remembering the laughs he brought us over the years.

RV, is the typical family road-trip movie where the husband, wife and two kids are thrown together in a rolling house ostensibly to spend time together. In the background, of course, Robin Williams' character of Bob Munro is trying to keep his boss happy while keeping his family happy. As anyone who has ever tried to do both without cluing their wife and family into what they are going through, it never goes smoothly.

RV is not the best movie or even best performance Mr. Williams has ever been in/given. What sets it apart and keeps it as a favorite at our house is the family in-jokes, the struggles of sharing a confined space while traveling across the country and the unique people they meet on the trip. As a family that has driven cross the United States twice together, you get into a lot of interesting situations out there on the road. Imagine doing that in a huge rented vehicle that you have no idea how to truly operate. That should give you some insight into what you are going to run into with RV.

The characters around the Munros (Williams' family) are quirky and funny. The awkward interactions of the family with those around them will amuse. Plus there are some laugh out loud moments. My wife is sore today from laughing and this is at least the third time she's seen the movie. RV gets 4 Mick Happies in our household. It is one of the movies we have on DVD and periodically revisit and it is fun every time. Lucky for any fans of Robin Williams we will have a few more films coming out to enjoy.

Dystopian Future Movie Reviews

Lately, when not reading Honor Harrington books by David Weber (just finishing number 3), I have been catching up on dystopian future or apocalypse films. I find that I am morbidly interested in people's views on how the world will be after some cataclysm or other. Probably because I think one will come some day though it is more likely going to be socio-economic rather than environmental in nature. That leads us to today's quick reviews.

Goodbye World - this is one of a number of apocalyptic near-future movies that have come out in the last year or so (and most of them are starting to be available on-demand through Netflix). In Goodbye World, we are given a glimpse of a family living off the grid in Northern California and their "friends" who converge on their home when disaster strikes. The movie stars Adrian Grenier (Entourage), Gaby Hoffman and Ben McKenzie. The basic premise is a virus takes down the power grid and cell phone network, etc. and riots ensue and society breaks down. Meanwhile we get to witness the narcissistic friends who have come to James' (Grenier) home. There are also neighbors to deal with and things generally getting worse. What really was annoying about the movie was the sense of entitlement by some characters that those who stockpiled supplies/medicines should just give them up with no say. When did personal ownership go out the window? When was your lack of planning my problem? I was also annoyed by the opportunistic price gouging and taking advantage of those weaker than you. It was probably so irksome because I can imagine that all of these things will be exactly how many people will act with the crap really hits the fan. A sometimes slow, frustrating thought experiment of what people would be like during an apocalypse - Goodbye World gets 2.5 Mick Happies.

Divergent - This is the first film based on the Divergent Series by Veronica Roth. Divergent is the latest in a group of dystopian future young adult series like Hunger Games that have taken over the post-Harry Potter reading world. In this case, we have future Chicago surviving behind a wall and everyone distributed into 5 factions based on their defining character traits: intelligence, selfless, brave, honest and peaceful. The main character, Beatrice (Tris - played by Shailene Woodley), was born into the selfless faction but at 16 chooses to join the brave team. Thing is that she actually is divergent, having 3 key character traits. This makes her a threat to the status quo in the society where faction boundaries are important to keeping people in line and things running smoothly. Of course there is a broader story going on in the background. Joining the brave group, Tris is put through training, which is often brutal both physically and mentally. What caught my eye in the movie and is probably based on the young adult nature of the source material is that most people focused on in the movie are under 25. Yes there are parents and some older people but most of the leaders are not shown and the story focuses on those in the 16 - 20 age range. Why do future societies put so many of their children into danger (a la Hunger Games) and when did 16 become an age where readers/viewers are so angst ridden that they would choose to leave everything they know to join another group? Is that a thing and I have just missed it? With all the things I know the story is trying to pull off, Divergent isn't bad at all. I thought the casting was a little odd (I don't buy Shailene, who is a fine actress, as a bad-ass) but okay. The movie and setting are compelling if far-fetched (I can't imagine a society being setup like this) and so I give Divergent 3 Mick Happies. It is okay but not as visually compelling as the Hunger Games films (which I have issues with many due to the violence to and by children).

So there you have it. The two dystopian films I have seen recently. I hope that the world won't devolve into jerks and society broken down based on single characteristics. I would like to think we would do better than that, but I think I know we won't really. Seeing these types of movies always kicks off thoughts of moving to a spread in Idaho or Wyoming and living off the land. Not sure if the family would buy into that, but on days when my internet service is giving me fits or I am sitting in traffic for 40 minutes to go 5 miles and I hear about another company laying off 5,000 people while their stock price shoots up on the "news" - I wonder if I might not be better off out there milking a cow.

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Review

Ever since the Guardians of the Galaxy movie was announced, I have been interested in finding out more about it. I had never heard of the Marvel comics that the movie is based on, but a story about a ragtag bunch of ne'er-do-wells helping save the universe sounded pretty good to me. Fast forward to the trailers coming out with "Hooked on a Feeling" blaring in the background and I knew I wanted to see it as soon as I could. Each subsequent trailer has increased my interest. Yes, I know you can be burned by good trailers being made from bad movies, but luckily Marvel has a built up a bit of credibility via their string of solo superhero and Avengers movies.

I can rip the band-aid off right now, Guardians of the Galaxy, co-written and directed by James Gunn, is as good as the trailers led me to believe. It is a lot of fun, visually stunning and has a little bit of a plot thrown into the mix. All good things. The start of the story is Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, (played by Chris Pratt) a human abducted from Earth in 1988 is seen in the future recovering an artifact from ruins on a desolate planet. From there we have lots of people trying to get hold of the artifact. Along the way, Peter gets involved with a colorful cast of characters including a sentient plant, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), an angry bio-engineered raccoon, Rocket (Bradley Cooper), a muscle-bound inmate, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), and an assassin, Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Action, mayhem, destruction and fun ensues. To say anymore would ruin the experience of watching the movie for yourself.

Rocket and Groot

What Guardians does well is mixing completely out of place in space 1980s pop-culture references, 1970s music and more than a bit of humor in with action and spaceship battles. The special effects are top notch and the story is more than serviceable at introducing the various characters without being slow and boring. Each of the main characters are distinct visually and emotionally that you can easily keep up even if you have no background in the Guardians of the Galaxy universe from the comic books. Plus you get a number of stunning locations in the film, oh and some space ships and space battles too. Having just re-watched 1984's The Last Starfighter last night before seeing Guardians of the Galaxy it is amazing how far film-making and special effects have come.

I am glad that the movie is doing so well at the box office so that we will get to see more Guardians in the future. Unlike other comic book inspired movies, this feels more space opera and fun than the current run of gritty violent films we typically get. If you like science fiction movies, or generally like action-comedies then jump on over to the theatre and watch this one, you'll be happy you did. Or be like my family and wait for the DVD (which is fine with me 'cause I will get to see it again). Guardians of the Galaxy gets 5 Mick Happies. In my mind Rocket is basically what I think my chihuahua would be like if he had been engineered to talk and hold weapons…lots of fun. As always, stay until the very end of the credits to get a little extra snippet.