The Queue: You are likely to be eaten by a Grue

It’s dark out when I get home after work now, so when we walk Marshmallow we’re sure to wear reflective vests, pay attention to cars that aren’t likely paying attention to us, and being sure to keep light around us at all times so that the Grue doesn’t get us. We’ve been lucky so far, but I’m starting to run low on torches and the Solstice is still more than a month away. Some might say I should walk Marshmallow at lunch instead of after work; others might point out there’s no such thing as a Grue.

Still, I’m not taking any chances.

So while I break off chair legs and douse them in gasoline for easy ignition, let’s answer some questions!

In my opinion the key is flexibility; you want something that’ll appeal to most kids across a wide spectrum of ages. So there’s really only one answer: LEGO. Aim for one of the more generic sets like the 3-in-1 animals or my personal pick the LEGO City Jungle Explorer ATV Red Panda Mission Car Toy.

The video is actually an official one from the World of Warcraft team, but we here at BlizzardWatch already weighed in on the subject five years ago — and asked everyone else to weigh in too!

Of course I wasn’t a writer here at the time so my input was not received so I feel perfectly valid in weighing in myself now.

I may have mentioned this recently in another queue but I thought the quest chain that had you go to Uldum was super-intriguing with the way it ended:

…we seem to be at a temporary dead end here. We know what we need – the Plates of Uldum – but we have no idea where they might be. We’ll need to do quite a bit of research on this to come up with a solid plan of attack. I have a couple ideas where to start looking; I have high hopes that soon, we’ll be asking you to head out and recover them.

Spoiler: We never head out and recover them.

I’m still hoping to see Warlords of Draenor Remixed, as I really enjoyed leveling in that expansion and I feel it’ll be better received in the Remix format.

As for a nickname, I do like Cory’s suggestion of “FelAgain” but I suspect players will just call it Legion Remix.

World of Warcraft.

Hah! Just kidding. Honestly the closest thing that I play like that is Nerdle (think Wordle for math nerds) which has several different formats so I can usually find one to goof around with.

One game I used to love was Hoyle’s Puzzle & Board Games 2005 (which I still have somewhere on CD-ROM) but I haven’t tried installing it on my current PC. Since I’m using my Steam Deck so much I should try to find something similar to play on it.

I will probably beat the drum for Tales of Kenzera: ZAU until my wrists are broken. I thought it was a fantastic “metroidvania” with an interesting gameplay premise and a touching backstory. I talked about this in the snub article but I felt it deserved more consideration than just Games for Impact.

Pretty much everything else I played would be considered mainstream, however assuming Rift of the Necrodancer arrives this year as planned that may warrant a mention as well.

Oh, I guess Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut is technically a 2024 game so I’ll give it a shoutout as well. Speaking of Slay the Princess …

I’m going to have to go with Thorn. Of the ones I played it felt like the most therapeutic and consequential in terms of the relationship between the protagonist and the Princess.

I also enjoyed The Adversary more than I thought I would. But Thorn wins it for me.

I’ve only done a few of them but I agree they’re an easy way to quickly knock out normal dungeons, if only for the fact I don’t have to wait for the DPS queue to pop. Like all NPC AI I do wish it was a little smarter, but at least I don’t have to worry about them ignoring enemies I’m attacking simply because I’m at range.

glares at Brann’s dinosaur

Oh yes, definitely. I never would’ve considered Necromancy as a gaming choice (video or roleplaying) until Gideon the Ninth opened my eyes to its wonders. But I’m also in sort of a closed system feedback loop at the moment — I have a few mental character archetypes I really enjoy, so I look for games and stories that they could fit into and/or I can customize my characters to resemble them. Which makes me enjoy them more, which makes me want to experience worlds they can slot into more, etc.

There’s also the fact that every story idea I’ve had lately feels like it could take place in the Persona universe. I probably should rename this Makoto character …

That’s all the time and space we have for questions today! Make sure you stay hydrated, practice safe online shopping during Black Friday sales, and don’t forget to ask plenty of questions for Matt!