Honestly, I had a pretty flavorless playthrough when it came to the Darkness stuff 'doer. I barely used the Curios outside of healing. It took a second crack at Plague to get the Feat, heavier on just those elements. I almost got the twofer thanks to the sentry Curio, which saved me the sloppy scythe work, but came up two hits short of solely winning w/out it.

It's hard to notice the extent of NG+'s meter effects when you're breezing through the Plains refilling the meter with checkpoints, but when the description says "ever depleting," it means that. Try an Order of No Quarter stage and see how it works out...

Oh, I didn't see that it said continually depleting! All I read was the two resources were merged. That is interesting ... The Curio Conqueror Feat is really simple w/ that sentry thing. Poor Treasure Knight ... I did become obsessed w/ trying to perfect one part of his stage and lost a bunch of gold doing so, scouting for the damage free candidate. I dunno bros, Torment didn't generate the same

fever for abuse in me that the previous two campaigns did. It's more likely me and what a spoiled gamer I've become rather than Spectre's action being of lesser quality. I'll let my after dinner mood decide if I want more of this or if I want to let Setsuna put me to sleep instead.

The more I play it, the more Specter competes for becoming my favorite campaign. I really like it. That's too bad you're not quite liking it as much.

Just an example of the type of close calls you might have in this mode. By far the most interesting new game+...

Sounds fun. Btw, I was made aware today that David Wise is half of the musical team on Yooka Laylee. That immediately joined my short Switch cartridge shopping list. @Jayse: I enjoy shoveling the most of all. It's pure, simple perhaps, but exacting. Scythe work is just too loose for me. *shrug* Also, recent titles have really driven home how important story is to me, and I really loved Plague's.

This is madness. ...I love it. By the way, how's Setsuna?

I haven't gone back to it since that Saturday session. It's gorgeous, heh, just uninspired ... I've actually been playing Steamworld Heist on PS4 since I got the collection disc on Sunday. My agenda is peculiar. Shadow of Morder, Witcher 3, and a surprise Wii U game are my next three to play, not necessarily in that order.

*Mordor* even, yeesh ... I've been curious about that game for a long time, and w/ its sequel out in August, I wanted to get into it. In Elzonire fashion, guesses as to the mystery identity of the WiiU game are welcome, but I will keep it a mystery until I start it. :)

I'm going to guess Pikmin 3, unless you count VC. Shadow of Mordor? I may comment on that log just to see if it does Tolkien's world justice.

Oh, for any prospective guesses, it is a WiiU disc, and exclusive to the console. That's all the hints/parameters I'll give out. @Blake: That has been on my mind as well. It's not like Star Wars,where you can just do whatever you want. ;)

Mystery game? That's exciting! I'm guessing you're not counting VC, and if that's the case, I'm with Blake. If you are...perhaps you'll finally play Golden Sun: The Lost Age?

I was actually expecting Fire Emblem if you counted VC. I expect you won't touch another turn-based RPG until you build up the strength to play FFX. But you're not playing a VC game. BotW could be the "surprise" game, but that wouldn't be much of a surprise.

David Wise also composed the score for Snake Pass, Stagger. I can't speak for the game because I haven't played it, but that alone makes me somewhat interested in the game.

Expect some discrepancies when trying to fit SoM into Tolkiens world. If anything it's much more influenced by the Jackson films. The lore is there, especially if you 100% it, but things happen in the story that are incompatible with the world that Tolkien built. It's still a great game.

It seems to at least be paying lip service to the Simarillion (sp? been forever since I read it) w/ the discussion of Numenor and placement of lore concerning Mordor's history. I'm one of those Tolkien fans who loves what Jackson did w/ the films, including the liberties he took in both trilogies to make each tale more suited to the medium. This seems to fit in well so far - definitely not lacking

for effort. I'm really interested to see how this Bright Master relates to the other Ring Wraiths, and fully expect it to be an original connection not drawn in Tolkien's writings. Interesting gameplay loop so far. The combat is well designed for these impossible Uruk horde scrums. I feel like Aragorn. That's cool. I haven't gotten into manipulating orc power struggles yet, but neat Sauron's Army

intelligence gathering process ... very promising so far. It does remind me a little bit of going back to play Devil May Cry after God of War and Bayonetta. The drop off/regression isn't nearly as severe, but games like Zero Dawn and BotW owe a debt to Shadow of Mordor. I assume Witcher will fit into the middle of that developmental mold. Pikmin 3 is the only qualified guess?

I can give a couple long shots that I don't actually except to see... Star Fox Zero. I actually don't have a clue how you would react to this genre...but you would probably enjoy it. LEGO City: Undercover. Actually, it's not a Wii U exclusive any more...but it does have a large, explorable world, and oodles of references you would appreciate. Although I doubt the game even crossed your mind.