Wild fun....

I'm liking what I'm seeing in regard to Ghost Recon Wildlands. While I've not had a chance to dive into the Open Beta since last I posted about it. I'm 99% sure I'll be getting this game, I think this could also be a game I spend extra on and get the season pass. (Gold Edition gives all of the content of the Deluxe Edition as well as the Season Pass. The pass is for two major expansions for Ghost Recon Wildlands). Another game I'll be weighting my version options on right up to the last.

FRANKIEonPC

WoW.... Another mount

Last night saw myself and a friend play through the last of our matches in Heroes of the Storm to complete the 15 needed to claim the mount. Liking the game we completed a few more after that. Who knows what the game will hold for us if anything. I wouldn't be surprised if I get a message to team up and play some more.

I liked playing as Gul'dan but after a few in game purchases with the free gold collected from the matches I'm a little short to buy the character for my collection. It would be a pity to loose the character and not be able to play it after it's current free time for the wow event. But maybe I'm reading it wrong. My friend stuck with and liked Illidan.

Teaming up gave a good bonus.

The game map's are all varied and fun based on a blizzard game theme.

Even with the large amount of in game items to purchase with real cash, there are also a lot of unlocks to get from playing and a lot you can buy with the in game gold earned through normal gameplay.

After the 15 matches the special quest was complete and the WoW mount was claimed. While unboxing it within wow my mate and I both talked about it being another mount for the collection, one both of use will probably never use again.

Hitman....

The purchase was made and although I've only spent a few hours in the game I'm already enjoying it's intricacies. Glad I bought it and didn't talk myself out of it.

The challenges and feats add great replayability and tests the flexibility of the game and it's NPC's in a way that feels effortless.

Star Trek Online.... Principles

I'm really looking forward to seeing what's coming with STO. Not just with game narratives but with the game additions, balance changes and tweaking. It's all looking to have great promise ahead.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10402523


Despite other games in the same genre posting more blog's, video's and posts this one short STO dev blog is more powerful to me as a message. They have stated their guiding principles for game changes:

• "Increase the fun – Games are about having fun, and players should not be made to feel that their fun is “wrong.”
• Player investment retains value – While things need to be adjusted, a setup that was optimized before should still be useful and effective afterwards.
• Choices should be meaningful – Anywhere the game gives you a choice, there should be no choice that you always take nor one you never take."

Deep....

Noah Caldwell-Gervais

Conan Exiles....

A game I've not been waiting for but one that does have some hype around it's current beta release, that got me to look up some reviews is Conan Exiles.
After seeing the gameplay it's not pulling me in. Three things that stick out to me, the look, the epic scale and the pvp. The scale and the look of the game is very Conan and that's a good thing. But the PVP takes and drains all my enthusiasm and makes me look at the game and wonder how much they will need to do to improve and balance the game. While also maintaining the pvp/pve player needs. I can only hope that this isn't another game that promotes the pvp as 'the game'.

I'm sure that this game is one I'll cross paths with again as it will no doubt be mentioned in game news but I wont' be putting it on any wishlist.

A video worth watching for a first impression is from TheLazyPeon

A video worth watching for a playthrough series is from SplatterCatGaming

 
And for a sarcastic view a video worth watching for comedy value alone is from TheHiveLeader

Cities Skylines....

While I'd not do any massive modding to a game myself, I do like watching those that do and some are jaw dropping in scale, complexity, time and effort. Not to mention looking great.

Strictoaster's new project (Cities Skylines: Seenu) is looking like it won't disappoint.

 

Rome Total War....

I've been having a more interesting time playing as a lesser power on my own theme of non conquest.
I did take the last Seleucid town as well as two others from Parthia in a move early on that "secured" my borders. I now have 7 provinces all protected with garrisons on passes and bridges. My little empire is a fortress.

I've been using a lot of assassins, spies and diplomats to help shape battles and regional influence.
So far I've been using the Egyptians to help take care of Pontus and then the house of Scipii who pushed in on the weakened Pontic states.
I'm surprised that both the Brutii and Carthaginians have made such large gains. I'm surprised as well that the Julii haven't made more ground against the Iberian and Briton tribes.

I've also been happy with the rebels that pop up in my lands, mainly archers that I can bribe to my side. |Retrained and rearmed they are as good as the ones I recruit.
For anything outside of my fortress empire I've been recruiting expendable mercenaries.With some weapon and armour upgrading they are proving their worth. Although since the Roman's have had their Marian reform they are now significantly more dangerous and hard to destroy. Most battles against them now need to be fought twice to weaken them down to a broken formation on the campaign map.

I think this game(save) will be coming to and end sooner rather than later. While I can side with the Carthaginians against Egypt should that happen, I'm happy to see how things play out. But I can sense a larger black cloud on the horizon. The Brutii are coming. Now I know how it feels from the other side.

WoW.... Speaking of mounts

Realised today that I could do some archaeology and get a mount. It's a bit of a grind but very doable.
I've not done any serious archaeology since my hunter in Pandaria so I got a few achi's for my warlock while doing it.

Once done the only thing I needed to figure out was what character could it be used by theme wise.
Goblin Shaman won out.

WoW... Raiding and the Primal Flamesaber

I noticed yesterday that the wow launcher had a promotion on. Play 15 matches with a battle.net friend in Heros of the Storm and you would get a wow mount. The Primal Flamesabe.

I messaged a friend earlier in the day about doing some matches as he is a mount collection junkie. His interest wasn't peeked until he saw some p.u.g. people join our guild raid later that night, they were riding the mount.
Raiding had stopped at 11pm my time, as we have people from all over Europe in the guild and being mid week on a school night people were valuing sleep more than a push on another boss. (Heroic Nightmare went well with two boss's down but the third needed extra dps in the form of pug people's).

Once the raid finished and people had logged off etc. I got a message to try out the game and work on getting the mount.
Before last night my sum total experience of the game was to try the tutorial and maybe a match or two. I dont' think i spent long with it at all.
I'm sure a lot of Heroes of the storm players are groaning with the number of new, non caring players invading their sacred sport.

We jumped in and to our surprise won the first round. Unsurprisingly we lost the second. But were stunned at how well we had gotten used to things (like what the objectives were/character abilities) and had won the third round to win the match.

This weekend should see the remaining matches done and the mount added to the collection.

Temptation....

Just as I mention it I get an e-mail to say it's on sale.
So, so tempting....

It's more tempting knowing that I've been unable to get a boxed version locally. Buying it on amazon for the normal full price can't be justified against an online sale price. Not even for the added extras that would come with it. Why haven't I purchased it yet.... The online & DRM issues.... I have a few more day's to think and research and weigh the options.

Days and weeks....

Up to about a year ago I used to get to browse the web. I had a list of my goto sites, they included the selected anniversaries section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:War as well as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:On_this_day/Today

Both were as much for general knowledge as well as an interest in military history. 

 

Why am I waffling about some lunchtime links... I recently found a youtube channel (The Great War) that follows World War One as an week by week update for how the war played out. 

I wish I had found this channel sooner, on the up side I get to do a lot of binge watching (playlists).

 

The Great War

Star Trek Online.... Yesterday on console

Yesterday I took the opportunity to update Star Trek Online on my Xbox.
Once updated to the Agents of Yesterday Expansion I played a new character through the starter missions. Which was a quick journey to level 11. The way they have transformed the controls from pc to console is so smooth it's hard to put into words. If I'd not spent so much time with characters on the PC version I think I'd be using the console version instead. The only thing that concerned me was the lack of players, there were a few but not many. Granted it was midday and midweek so that shouldn't have been surprising.

It's been hard to find good content providers that are showing the console version. So I'll share a video from Parallel Universe Gaming that shows gameplay from the start of the PC version. The content and graphics are more or less the same.

To see the content from a PS4 version there is this video.
To see the content from an Xbox version there is this video.

Hitman....

I recall the first time I heard about the latest Hitman game, due to it's shenanigans with staggered episodic releases. While I put it on the long finger I kept up with news about it. Like a lot of games I don't buy I've been watching a lot of youtube vids and playthrough's. Now with the launch of it's first season as an actual boxed edition I've been reevaluating it as a purchase.
What's really prompting me to post about the game is the release trailer for the boxed edition. It's quite epic and worth a share:

Cubed again....

While I liked the idea of getting a rubix cube and I really like the idea of solving a randomised Rubik cube solo. The reality is a little more frustrating. I was trolled by the algorythmic solution. And while the official help video's are good, they are either really, really nice or truly condescending... I can't tell.... Maybe it's the frustration clouding my view....(./shakesfistintheair)

Anyway the more practical engineer side of me raged, took the cube apart in less than 30 seconds and reassembled the colours to their proper sides in less than a minute. They are designed that way. Guess I'm more practical then theoretical. I now also know how to "fix" a Rubik cube.

WoW.... Another first....

The last week has been one of firsts. The first guild normal Nightmare run ending with a complete clear in just under two hours; And the first guild run and clear of the return to Karazhan.

I'd not checked up on tactics nor watched video's about the boss's etc. So I have noting but praise for my guildies, both in and out of game. Our raid leader has put in a lot of effort to study tactics, mechanics and then communicate that onto the guildies during events.
I consider my warlocks DPS to be average and it feels good to be a part of the guild in such raids and dungeons, it's been a while. I really need to study up on the more personal items to make myself more of an asset.

Next up the first guild mythic Nightmare raid.

Star Trek Online.... Time to choose another one

I'm not into the end game max level min/maxing for ships and fits within Star Trek Online. I'm not spending any real world cash on the game and it's still very playable. I've geared my current max level characters with the best I can buy with in game currency.
I'll revisit my 60's for events and do some officer/fleet missions to add to the currency pools.
With a max level character of each class under the starfleet banner I was left wondering what I'd level up next. Levelling isn't as grindy as it used to be and in general the story lines can be varied and enjoyable with whats seems to be a faster pace these day's.
During the end of the Agents of Yesterday launch I recreated a character to be classified as a temporal agent and take it's advantages for whenever I decide to play it; But Levelling up another starfleet character is not that appealing after having spent my entire gametime with that faction. Which leads me to my other two character slots, a Romulan and a Klingon. 

Most of the free ships I have gotten are starfleet starships so will be off limits to them. There are about 5 event ships that they will have access to when they hit 55/60 so it's not all bad. 

In levelling up the Romulan to 11, I chose to side her with Starfleet. In retrospect that may have been a limiting choice.

While the broader mission arcs may be different from the general Starfleet missions I think having chosen that path makes that characters progression a bit 'samey'. I think I was leaning into what was known and comfortable when picking Starfleet.

The Klingon's are now looking like they are the best choice.
Separate from all the trappings of Starfleet. Being Klingon is as much a disassociation from the majority of players as it is a separation from Starfleet.
It's all about the journey and the Klingons may be a lot more interesting....

Fallout 4....

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking the high res pack is more "subtle" than expected. 
A video worth watching on the subject:

Many A True Nerd

Darkest Dungeon.... Radiant Update

The Radiant Mode update has been deployed, the full patch notes are a worthy read.
I like the amount of tweaks, enhancements and additional content added with these kinds of free updates. A real love of the game from it's developers.

While the NG+ (New Game Plus) mode is renamed Stygian
I was far more concerned with the changes to the mode itself. Especially as one line of those changes is: "ore stress, higher darkness penalties, more light loss per step, higher trap diff, enemy HP bump from 15% (prev) to 20%, slightly higher monster crits."
It's already the more difficult mode and now it's even more deadly. And to cap it all off, the Time limit reduced from 90 to 86 weeks and hero death limit dropped from 19 to 12.
I do like that once you have completed the mode and the timer is up you can still play the game. How generous of them!
In truth Darkest Dungeon is the epitome of the phrase "the harsher the game the sweeter the victory".
I will just have to be cautious and curtail my profanity levels.

Once that mode is done I'll be interested to start a new run set as the Radiant mode.


I dont' trust them when I read the patch notes and the last line is....

"...and more!"

For Honor....

Over the past while I've found out more about the game. Watching more gameplay video's has made me conclude that this game is not for me. Not that I think it's technically bad in looks or mechanics but it's not a game I can see myself playing beyond an initial flush of enthusiasm. As balanced as the game seems both in it's gameplay, match making & network code, I could easily see myself getting frustrated. It's more a PVP frustration thing with me in a lose ten matches and throw the controller kind of way.


These two articles shine light on the game and the peer to peer code that should make people less uneasy about it.

http://www.techradar.com/news/meet-for-honor-the-game-with-a-life-of-its-own-that-its-creator-had-to-relearn-how-to-play

http://www.techradar.com/news/for-honor-developer-responds-to-networking-and-framerate-criticisms

I'm still interested to find more information about the single player campaign.

Limit Theory....

 

After a refresh of my browser I culled a lot of my saved bookmarks and came back across a game that I'd not checked up on in a long time, Limit Theory.
It seems it was good timing on my recheck as there was an update about it's development.
I'm looking forward to see where this all goes.

Star Trek Online.... The double

I got to do the final daily on my Engineering character today and claimed the event ship and while doing so I levelled him the final part to level 60.

 
Having the event ship on my science character now feels a lot better than the previous Krenim ship
which felt very awkward to fly. The ship slots are much the same so the fir went from one to the other with out much effort. This new ship is much more zippy.

Star Trek Online....

One more daily....

Speaking of the cube....

Since I wrote about my cube acquisition I've been doing a lot more delving into that puzzle world, and it is a massive world. What's most interested me are the solutions. I've always been wondered how people can solve the most complex randomised cubes so fast. While I'm sure there is talent to the way some people do it there is also an algorithm you can follow/learn to solve any cube (God's algorithm / God’s Number).

 

How to Solve the Rubik's cube! (universal solution)   

video from NathanWilson

Fallout 4....

With the addition of the 55+ GB of high definition graphics data added to the game I checked today to see what the difference was. Oddly enough I was surprised that I had a hard time telling if things had changed. With the 50 plus gig's of data you'd think that there would be a massive overhaul of everything.

What I did notice with a kick ass PC and a 1080 Nvidia card is that there are small improvements or should I say more subtle enhancements. Particularly with items that you wouldnt' normal take a closer look at. The colours are also a little more vibrant, particularly with lighting. Not that Fallout 4 has looked bad but the colours in the post apocalyptic wasteland are brown with a washed out dull tone so maybe it's my eye's focusing too much on whats not really there.


Playing the game now with the new patch I do like it, it seems to show more, I can't quite put my finger on it.

I've tried to compare my old screenshots to the newer ones I've just taken with the HD patch and I'm hard pressed to tell which is which.

Yes the light/time of day/weather is different not to mention the angle of the screenshots but....

OLD

NEW

_________________

OLD 2

NEW 2

Cubed....

The last week has seen me getting a Fidget Cube....

And a VCube3 (Pillowed version)....

Coincidence Cubed..... Good thing there wasn't a third purchase.

Star Trek Online.... Console Agents of Yesterday.

The latest Starfleet faction is coming to the console version of STO in a week's time. The latest expansion brings Agents of Yesterday a 23rd century (Original series) playable character. After having played and levelled up two characters from the expansion on the PC version; I'm interested to see how the console version looks and feels on my XboxOne.
In saying that and having put so much time into the PC version I may not spend that much time on the console version but it's peeked my interest, in all the expansion's 70's film grain glory. I guess time is relative given the expansions main theme....

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/xbox/star-trek-online/news/detail/10353803-agents-of-yesterday-is-coming-to-consoles

Eve Online....

My PVE Alpha character had a moment. I got distracted and lost track of the NPC spawns in a mission. I destroyed a trigger ship that then spawned a massive wave of ships. This mistake was compounded by my lack of speed and lack of alignment to a warp out. Not to mention being within the 2.5km optimal range of the NPC Gallente blasters and the sheer number of those ships firing on me. Thankfully I just about got out and warped away to be fully repaired by a nearby Raitaru.
It's been a while since I've been hit with the jolting shock of an impending ship lose. Something that is much more emotive than in any other game.