A bed of roses

So, on Sunday afternoon I became gradually aware that I was coming down with a cold. Having survived my husband, son AND line manager all sniffing and coughing around me a few weeks ago, I was a bit miffed because this seems to have come out of nowhere. Unless I picked it up whilst giving blood last Monday. I also had to inform the blood people because I'd contracted an infection within 2 weeks of giving blood, which is a bit of a bummer.

Anyway, Monday morning I emailed work to say I wouldn't be in and settled down to three days in my PJs with my PS4 controller in my hands.

My gamer-colleague had lent me Detroit: Become Human, which I protested I wouldn't be able to play until December, but which I actually started on Saturday. Spoilers about, so proceed with caution.

It took a while for me to warm to it. I seriously disliked Connor (which I think is probably normal) and didn't particularly care about Kara or Markus. In the first mission, with Connor, I saved the little girl but felt guilty about lying to Daniel - although I wasn't sure I WAS lying until the end. I have no idea if you can save the girl if you tell him the truth.

Anyway, stuff happened with Kara and Markus and then Connor again. And then I found myself in an android graveyard collecting body parts for Markus and... I began to be interested. Then Markus staged a protest in a square, after freeing a number of androids and my choices suddenly seemed very significant. I chose a pacifist route and stuck to it to the end of the game. Before then, my choices were just... choices. Obviously, they impacted the story and the other characters but I didn't feel especially invested. But I wanted to do RIGHT by Markus.

Luther died, which I was sad about. And so was the 'Chloe' who is sort of the UI on the loading screen. At one point, she suggested not playing any more and leaving things as they were. That was an interesting addition to the game - interacting with the menu screen.

At the end, Kara also died. I played her consistently, too, I think - I made choices based on what she saw as best for Alice, even though sometimes Alice disapproved. Alice did survive, making it to Canada with Rose and Adam. And I had my suspicions about her fairly early. Oh, and I think I would try to save her more quickly if I was to play again.

The character I messed about with the most, I think, was Connor. I converted him to the cause and he helped to release the androids from the warehouse. IF I was to play again, I'd keep him as a cold-blooded android investigator. As it was, he and Hank were life-long friends. I did get through 3 dead Connors, though, and didn't catch the blue-haired Traci at the Eden Club. None of that bothered me too much, although I did think the gravestones in the Zen garden were designed to make me feel guilty!

Overall, I'm glad I played and the choices didn't traumatise me too much. And I'm satisfied with the endings I got to. Shitty things happen to good people in real life - video games don't always have to be rainbows and unicorns.

The sheer number of potential combinations is mind-boggling. The impact of the choices didn't hit me right away, and I'm not quite sure why that was. I was invested in Markus by the end.

Irritants include the camera - so many times I couldn't get it to turn very far - and in a community of androids, why are the 'male' ones still in charge of Everything and the 'female' ones take on motherly roles?

 So, I've done some levelling up and killed the Urutan Eater and I think I'm finally ready to tackle King Raithwall's Tomb.  My gamer colleague has a hard back edition of the original official guide that he's brought into work, so I think I'll have a quick glance at that, just to check the recommended level.  It's a really beautiful book, and so detailed!  Apparently, there are 21 sidequests, all of which I have engaged with at some level in the past but some of which I've never finished (the fishing, for example).  But now, of course, there are trophies...  Perhaps I can learn to fish for the sake of a trophy?  It will definitely be a test of how much I care about trophies!

Otherwise, not much to talk about...