As you may know, San Diego Comic-Con is currently taking place, which means that all of the world is planning out which superhero movies they’ll be seeing over the next three years and we get to find out how you really follow up the Avengers franchise. However, toy company Hasbro is also there, and they have followed in their traditions of the past few year by not so much offering exclusives or far-reaching previews as just saying “here’s the stuff we’re going to open up for pre-orders at the end of this sentence at specific retailers.”
Obviously, Eliot does not need any of these toys. Your game this week is figuring out which of these unnecessary sets Eliot purchased:
- A four-pack of characters which consists of one actual character, one redeco based on a comic book art error, and only one color scheme between the four toys contained therein.
- A three-pack consisting of one figure he wanted, which was the one that breaks apart into accessories, who happens to have a new deco here into a complete non-character and is sold with two other versions of toys, one of which is ugly and a toy he already passed on before.
- Another three-pack which contains one character he cared about solely because he had the toy as a child.
- A toy he already owns two copies of but now in an uglier color scheme and missing an accessory.
- A redeco of a large toy he already owns in a color scheme based on a Radio Shack produce released before the Transformers branding was applied to the imported toy.
- A three-pack containing no characters who have ever done anything but they turn into a camera together with some extra accessories.
- A character he already has a toy of but now it’s in black.
Go ahead and guess. Leave your answers down in the comments of What Are You Playing. Or don’t, it’s entirely up to you. (For the record, the answer in this case is not “all of them” or “none of them.”)
Bonus question: What single-player video game have you beaten unusually quickly, whether you were intentionally speed-running it or just going quickly?
Andy McAdams: Well, I’m not sure how much because my system started acting up and it’s not looking good. Assuming that it doesn’t decide to end its existence in a glorious ball of flame, I’ll be hanging out in Final Fantasy XIV and Rimworld. And I know I’m late to the party, but I just got Breath of the Wild for my switch so I’m excited to dive into that too.
I’m not really one known for finishing games … which is both ironic and understandable because I’m a completionist – I want to experience everything before moving on! That really ends up with me petering out on the game before I actually beat it.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Believe it or not, I got sucked into Villagers & Heroes this week, so if I can recover from this sinus infection, I’ll probably be wasting time in there because there’s no way I’ll be going outside in this heat.
I’m having a hard time with the bonus question; the single-player games for PC that I play tend to be the kind you don’t “beat.” Probably the answer to this is a mobile game for me, but I can’t think of a specific one I’ve zipped through!
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): I’ve hit the level cap in Final Fantasy XIV, so now I just need to knuckle down and wrap up the MSQ. Maybe that’ll be a thing this weekend. Hard to say. I’ll also be taking a peek into Dauntless for the latest update and I’m also going to fire up Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 at some point as a palate cleanser.
I think the fastest I beat a new game recently was Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, though I’m pretty sure I didn’t fully beat it so perhaps that doesn’t count. I also feel like I beat the PS4 Spider-Man game in reasonably short order, even getting 100% completion. I mainlined that one for weeks, it was so good.
Colin Henry (@ChaosConstant): I’m planning on joining the zerg of people mindlessly killing world bosses in Guild Wars 2 this weekend as a part of the world boss rush event. That is, assuming my computer doesn’t melt down from the ridiculous number of particle effects shooting around the screen. Not that lag really matters; with that many people, mechanics are meaningless. You just need to get enough hits in to register that you showed up, then collect your loot on the way to the next one.
I really love the legendary indie game Cave Story. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve beaten it in various forms, and one day that I had nothing to do I beat it in under 24 hours.
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): There’s still so much more leveling to do in Final Fantasy XIV, even though I have cleared the new raid series and have been hard at work capping out gear on my various jobs. Heck, this isn’t even during the “real” tomestone cycle. Seeing as how my other main job over the weekend will be some variant of nurse, it’s a welcome distraction.
While I’ve never actually speedrun anything, I do find the process of speedrunning fascinating, and when in the right frame of mind (and with few enough games to play) I’ve had several titles that I’ve learned to burn through quickly. My fastest was probably the obscure Atlus ARPG Crusader of Centy, which I could burn through in about half an hour back in the day by my memory (this is probably an incorrect memory, since the world records are listed at around 40 minutes and I sincerely doubt that I was faster than that). Other familiar standbys include Mega Man X and the original Final Fantasy.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): I’ve actually been pouring a lot of time into World of Warcraft over the past week, getting my character caught up. I haven’t yet started on Patch 8.2 content, but I shouldn’t be too far off there. Other than that, I am deep in Goblin Town in Lord of the Rings Online and working on some House J quests in Dungeons & Dragons Online.
Mia DeSanzo (@neschria): I will be teaching my daughter how to drive and preparing for the landlord’s annual walk-through, so play will be limited. I might play Skyrim in the evening when I am too tired to do anything else. It isn’t too taxing and I don’t feel any internal pressure to make progress.
Samon Kashani (@thesamkash): I haven’t decided yet what to play this week, but I’m seriously considering taking Carlo up on his offer of helping me understand Black Desert Online.
I think the game I beat recently (and unusual compared to the originals) was the first Megaman collection for the Xbox. I think it included the first 4 or 5 NES Megaman games. This version includes checkpoints, so you don’t have to replay whole levels when you die, just back to the checkpoint. Any case, it is surprising how quick you can beat those games when you don’t have to repeat entire levels.
Tyler Edwards: I picked up the original Torchlight for free on the Epic Games Store, so I’m playing a bit of that. It’s very basic and obviously low budget, but manages to be pretty fun all things considered. I have a pet ferret with steampunk goggles who shoots fireballs.
I’m very much a “stop and smell the roses” kind of gamer, so I’m not quick to finish anything. If I finish a game quickly, it’s because it was a short game to begin with. Remember Me and Portal both stand out as games I wound up burning through much faster than I expected to, though.
Every Saturday, join the Massively OP community and staff for What Are You Playing, our roundup of what MMORPGs and other games we’re hoping to play this weekend (with a bonus question or two for our amusement). Tell us what you’re up to! Go off-topic! And don’t forget to have fun!
