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Axe of the Blood God Weekly Newsletter
August 5th, 2020

How RPGs Are Helping Me Keep It Together

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Greetings, Disciples of the Blood God!

We sure live in a society, don't we? That's why I want to pause and just ask you a question: How are you holding up? Now, a second question, if I may: Does playing RPGs factor into your coping mechanisms?

I know it factors into mine. July was a bit of a frightening month; I came very close to losing my mother to a virus that greatly resembled COVID, but supposedly wasn't it. (Who knows? COVID is still so tricky, so mysterious.) She came through in the end, so that's a relief. Unfortunately, my August isn't off to a red-hot start either. In the end, between the pandemic, my family's health, and my muddled state of mind, I've been turning to RPGs for little bites of happiness.

Final Fantasy 14 is my main squeeze right now. I'm finally into Stormblood for real now. Real talk, I kind of miss Isghard. Heavensward's opening hours are just one thing after another, boom-boom-boom. The opening hours of Stormblood are comparatively calm. They remind me of a passage from Bill Wurtz's History of Japan video:

"Please help us overthrow the Empire," the Scions said to the Confederacy.

"No," said the Confederacy.

"Do iiiiiiiiit," the Scions said.

"no," said the Confederacy, quieter this time.

I'm sure things will pick up. At any rate, I'm so hyped for Shadowbringers' story, I'll plunge through anything to get to it.

When I'm not playing Final Fantasy XIV, I'm working through Trails of Cold Steel 3 for the Switch. Yes, it's an excellent port. Yes, Trails of Cold Steel is brilliantly suited for the Switch's handheld mode. No, I still can't recommend skipping directly to Trails 3 before playing the other two games--or at least the first game. Yes, the entirety of the Trails series needs to be on the Switch. You're singing to the choir, my friends.

Finally, my PS Vita is getting some exercise because I'm picking away at another Chrono Cross save file. I had a very lively discussion about the misunderstood game on Retronauts recently. The ep is currently behind a paywall, but it'll post on the Retronauts site soon. You should support Retronauts via Patreon if you can, though. It's very cool.

There you go. That's how I'm keeping things together. (With the aid of swimming several times a week--Toronto has opened up its pools, and I hope they stay that way.) Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and keep playing cool RPGs.

Stay safe and happy adventuring,

Nadia

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With the next generation of consoles nearly upon us, Kat is joined by Reviews Editor Mike Williams and Senior Editor Caty McCarthy to discuss the future of the genre. What surprises do the PS5 and Xbox Series X hold for RPGs? Will it all be Destiny-likes and Witcher 3 clones? Or will we be treated to new settings, A.I. innovations, and other fascinating changes? We discuss! [Listen here!]

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