Last time, you decided thatpetting the dog is better than entering cyberspace.
I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed.
Fine, fine, whatever.
This week, it’s all about self-imposed challenges.
What’s better: fighting your double, or optional challenges giving rewards upfront?
I am always delighted when a game makes me fight my double.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivions’s Shivering Isles expansion similarly makes you face your shadowself.
And Control’s mirror side-quest is absolutely worth hitting just so Jesse can claim esseJ’s cool coat.
Go on, tell me more examples.
The mirror match can be difficult.
You get to see your build performed without the slowness and clumsiness of your meat.
In some ways, this is validating!
Your buildcrafting is proven solid.
It’s interesting too, because players and NPCs rarely fight with the exact same toolkits.
This is how monstrous it feels like to face me, huh?
In many games with doppelganger duels, people find ways to cheese it.
I’ll admit to equipping bad builds inGuild Warsto cheese the mirror match on some of my characters.
I do feel a little bad for them, but I still appreciate the thought.
If you want, I’m willing to hear arguments that fighting game mirror matches could count.
This is: a bit boring.
One thing I am starting to see more in roguelikelikes is the opposite.
You know exactly the rewards and the risks, so how do you feel about this gamble?
Are you confident that these items bring enough extra power for you to take down the bonus baddies?
Or do you want to roll the bones and chance it?
If not, hey, no worries, go right ahead with the formal fight.
This feels like a great dare, especially when you know the next wave is a horde.
Survive and you’ll come out laughing.
But if you’re overconfident or miscalculate the strength of your run, you could easily die.
I have died to both of these items, and I have thrived with both.
Putting these effects onto items is a clever way to handle it.
Catch me off-guard idly browsing for bargains and confront me with a dare.
Let’s save that specific thing for another time.
Arm me then send me out to get battered.
Give me opportunities for hubris, because no feeling defines me more.
But which is better?
Yep, that seals it for me.
But what do you think, reader dear?
