I don't keep updated with the latest developments for Battlefield 4 so I was surprised (but not that much) to see another update to be released. Hot on the heels of Night Ops & Community Ops we now have Legacy Ops. This new update contains the BF2 map 'Dragon Valley'. Official site here.
Despite having played BF2 Bad Company I never played BF2. The trailer does look like it will be fun.
I hope this trend of new free updates continues, bringing with it new game mechanics, re-imaged maps and with luck and a lot of crossed fingers a few maps from Battlefield 3....
With the hype of Fallout 4 I've taken time to load up Skyrim. I've played it for a bit right where I left off and realised that I've done so much yet have still got a lot to do in that game. It's made me wonder a lot about Fallout 4. I'm becoming a lot more interested and am more in favour of Fallout 4. I still think I'll be wasting a lot of game time by not completing 100% of everything in it. Overcome my resistance to putting in so many hours of game time by taking on the immersion, enjoying the gameplay to soak up a new world. Fallout 4 - Survival tips. looks to be a good guide.
I'm still enjoying a great game playthrough by Many a True Nerd. The last video is a big move on the main story. I think I'll hold off on watching any more of the video's. Yet I still want to know. That's a compulsion to play that will probably move me to get the game in the next week or two....
My adventures in Star Trek Online have been ongoing. Thankfully I've not had any repeats of past experiences where I have been blocked and stopped from progressing. Since the new expansion I've found the game a more forgiving experience and that's a good thing. And not seen any of the previous odd or buggy behaviour.
I've completed all of the episodes bar the Delta missions which I am about half way through.
Rather than difficulty the Delta missions are a lot more convoluted. A mission in Delta requires visiting 4 locations and each of those locations is the same as a "normal" space mission. These larger missions seem to be a continuing theme. For me it's a bit of a grind with the progress. I'm also relying more and more on my fleet support ability so maybe I'm speaking too soon on being blocked by tough NPC's.
My friend was recently e-mailed about joining the new Alpha release of SC for testing. With luck he'll remember to take a few screenshots and let me know how things have changed. Talking to him last night the game crashed a few times when he tried to do anything (sit down, enter cockpit etc).
Myself and a friend both bought into Star Citizen. I did mainly because I introduced the game to him, as he went completely bonkers, head over heels in love with the game I decided I better buy a starter Aurora pack. I admit I bought a few other bits as well. Some with in game money and some with real cash. All in all I think I spent about €50. My friend has spend hundreds on the game. Both of us spoke and talked about it and as time has gone on we are both peeved with the amount of time it's taking to get any kind of game builds released to backers/users/players. I've complained a few times on this blog about the glitches not being fixed from one build to the next. Most famous for me was the sliding "golfcart", you run up to it and it would slide across the floor.
This was fixed recently but there is no real gamplay in these releases and there are more constant redesigns and bug fixes of bug fixes for stuff that hasn't been released. It's annoying. I think the big hullabaloo about being sued has made them see that they need to give backers something more substantive than the same talk on what they are doing over and over again. PTU feedback was interesting in parts.
There is so much in this game and it is all so interconnected that it
may take a loooong time to get a "release" build, if it ever gets
released at all. Never mind a polished release build.
The latest update is interesting if you can read it through but I would prefer a game to play instead of talk that no longer has any hype left in it.
I've played Oblivion and I've played Skyrim and spent waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many hours faffing about with side quests of side quests in far flung corners of maps that I should never have gone near.
I appreciate those games but they do suck the life and soul from you, not to mention the time whirlpool they are. With all that in mind I was never a real fan of sinking more time into the fallout series. I appreciate it and it's similarities to the games I've played but I'll stick to watching a play through and be entertained by that instead. Many a True Nerd has a great playthrough version going at the moment:
Again in saying all that I do have to agree with the video below on the negatives:
All in all you give and take with these types of games.....
They will again have an event mission "a persistent, unique, and un-rerollable mission" that will will give rewards for completion.
Earn 10,000 War Points. Reward: Council's Modified Repair Tool BPO.
They will also be adding more missions as the event goes similar to this:
Score 50 Kill Assists. Reward: 400 AUR.
For me I'll take a day or two and see how I get on with collecting war points. It really depends on the way the games role and how the community acts during the event that will determine if I stick it out of turn off the console.... time will tell.
In two days' time the new game from CCP will be released, details here.
This is part of the blog where I have to be sarcastic and say that I'm really looking forward to my free items for Gunjack as a CCP Mystery code holder. Hmmmmm maybe I should highlight some key words in their statement........
"This is just the beginning of what the Mystery Code will unlock. In
the future, whenever we have big things happening—not just across the
EVE Universe but across all CCP games—you will find a Mystery Code
element to enjoy.
There’s much more planned we can’t discuss right now, but you can rest
assured that as we continue our journey into the Second Decade with you,
the Mystery Code will be your perfect traveling companion."
In Star Trek online last night I decided to step away from the normal missions and check out the current featured episode.
The episode for the latest patch is a reworked version of some of the "older" content, changing part of the Cardassian mission chain. Streamlining it and making it for the most part a better experience.
I've enjoyed it so far. There have been some moments of semi frustration on going up against some NPC's in space that are at least for me overpowered so need to be handled with care to defeat. I recall the older missions as being a lot more frustrating due to the larger "swarms" of ships involved.
Thankfully the fleet support talent is a literal life saver.
The new episode adds a lot more "lore" and really has a better storytelling motivation for each mission.
Graphics seem to have been updated as well.
The photobomb (videobomb) moment came as a surprise to me during the Jabberwocky mission.
I went to do the next part and bumped into a character that I thought I recognised. I'm not one to bother a player, even a famous one. I've mentioned him and his youtube videos many times and have to say that if not for them I would know a lot less about the game. His free-to-play series matched my own return to the game and has kept me interested in it. Brent Justice main youtube page & his Let's Play Star Trek Online - Federation Faction 2015 Free-to-Play
I took a screenshot to capture the moment and was happy. This blog post seemed to be a decent place to wave my "it happened to me" moment.
From his video
My screenshot
I did think to myself that my character is now "background guy #3", akin to these adds.... :)
Over my last few Eve related posts I've commented on how CCP has a captive audience at all events as well as how the pvp minded think that their game is the be all and end all of EVE.
However I don't write articles (I waffle on a blog), but this one from NevilleSmit.com
does a great job of summing up my feelings.
This is the keynote from the last Eve Vegas. I'm not sure it tells me anything of any real update/importance.
Judging by the comments on youtube for this video, CCP needs to give out a lot more info.
Another late post from me the new season of Star Trek "New Dawn" is out and has made some good changes. I think the updates are all good and well worth it. I'm still playing a as a Free-to-Play member of that game.
BrentJustice has two good video's about the mountain of changes recently.
This one talking through the latest news/notes and patch details.
And the one below on first logging in after the patch.
The only downside for the patch that I have is that I only leaned that they were giving away free T5 ships from the in game store the morning after the offer ended. Bummer. And I have to say that that has demotivated me when going to play this game. We'll see how this progresses.
With the weekend that was in it I am very late with posting thoughts about the patch that is being deployed as I type.
There are two main things that caught my eye:
A fix to help against gankers reshipping while still on a timer, dubbed hyperdunking, more info about it here.
"A character with a criminal flag in a high-sec system is no longer able to board/switch ships whilst in space" I have to say that it is a good move on CCP's part. Funny how hi-sec gankers think that it's such a big thing for hi-sec dwellers like we should be so grateful. CCP may have said it was "ok". But I bet this change were due to the impact on hauling and the economy. One thing that will hopefully now happen is that I'll be able to get a courier contract fulfilled, it's been so hard to have stuff moved it's no wonder CCP took action.
And the return of getting to play any of the Eve music you want. Info here.
New parts like Brain in a box, scanning changes/ui changes are all welcome for the game. Game progress as time passes is a good thing, all good quality of life updates. Good info from Sugar Kyle about the patch here.
The first mainly because it details the PVE round table that I've commented on before and the second because of it's last Q&A answer.
"Q: What is happening to NPC stations?
A: NPC Stations will always have a place. They will always exist. We
want to make Citadel more competitive. Such as markets. The structure
owner keeps most of the taxes. There will always be a NPC sink attached
but we'd like it to be that a structure owner could make it appealing to
market from their Citadel instead of the NPC station."
Thats all the certainty I need to proceed with gamplay in my own style. Enough certainty that I can adjust and adapt that gamplay to the coming citadel changes. Maybe CCP did learn from Incarna. Hmmmmmm.
