Happy New Year!!

Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh!!

My Gaming....

2019 to 2020 The gaming journey is ever-ongoing; I did this list in 2018 and this list earlier this year. Gaming is an all consuming hobby if you let it; I've let it and then some. So here's a blog post to update this years lists:

Completed/ 'Considered Done

Papers, Please

60 Seconds! And 60 Seconds! Reatomized

My Friend Pedro

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® Wildlands (Done and dusted)

PlanetSide Arena (could it?, no, no it couldn't!)

Dawn of Man (yet kind of on and off or until the next patch catches my eye)

Battletech (main campaign and 3 expansions done, more fun had but time is time)

The Outer Worlds  - Epic first but access through Xbox Ultimate for PC - Done.


Cut from the wish-list:

Assassin's Creed Odyssey (needs to be cheaper, no cheaper still) I've not played much of Origins and if this is another massive game I've no time for it.(my post here)

Soul Calibur 6   -   Waiting for a game of the year edition with all dlc.... and on sale.... (I'm not asking for much am I !!)(my post here)

ASTRONEER Couldn't get into it(my post here).

Octopath Traveler I decided that Octopath Traveller would be too much of a time sink that I decided to cut it from the ol' wish list as well. Put it back on and then I decided against it(again)!

"FINISHED" But Still Ongoing:

Domina (on and off or until the next patch, "Bleed on!")

Farm Simulator 17 (farm yard organisational micromanagement, oddly addictive)

Darkest Dungeon has seen a resurgence with my thinking about the second game....

Euro Truck Simulator 2 (events like here and here / extra (Beyond the Baltic Sea) DLC

Minecraft (on and off, plus the new changes coming)

Currently Playing:

Two Point Hospital (about 3/4 done but the last mile is the longest, also the new sandbox mode and DLC!)

Hitman 2 (this may take a little more time(inc Legacy Pack))

Crying Suns - The journey goes on

Radio Commander

Missionforce - Cyberstorm (from gog - my post here)

Ongoing Online Games:

Star Trek Online (very, very, very, very, very ongoing(*))

Battlefield 1 

EVE Online (-ish)

Started but on the long finger(the uphill gaming struggle is real! #certain_motivations):

Surviving Mars - Hmmmmm

Cold Waters

UBOAT

The Witcher® 3(plus all the DLC's etc)

Assassin's Creed Origins

Divinity Original Sin 2

(Xbox - I still have slow progress in Red Dead 2 and Far Cry Primal, with a side of World of Tanks, Star Trek Online and some random Hitman 2)

RUINER

Rebel Galaxy

WISHLIST:

Subnautica: Below Zero ('waiting' for 'full release')

Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries (10th Dec'19 but on Epic) Reviews say it needs a lot of work yet.....So maybe by the time it hits Steam!

The Last Night (still waiting)

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw - another epic exclusive.

Maneater - yet another one on epic first

For the Warp

Starbase (Maybe?!)

Yes, Your Grace

Foundation (another on and off again title for the wishlist - still undecided)

Phoenix Point (Epic store again) Reviews say it needs a lot of work yet!

Massive Galaxy

They Are Billions (sale, no, a better sale price please)

VirtuaVerse

Star Citizen.............. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh still waiting?

Sociable Soccer - devs changed it to mobile then to apple arcade - removed from steam (my post here)

Euro Truck Simulator 2 - Road to the Black Sea - waiting for sale.....

Evil Genius 2: World Domination - Epic store first(sigh)

12 minutes

Starmancer

Cyberpunk 2077

For the Warp.

Mini Motorways

John Wick Hex looks good but again with the Epic store....."delay"

Genesis Alpha One - bla bla bla Epic

XO

Praetorians - HD Remaster (can play the original but remaster may be worth it)

And I call myself a 'casual' gamer....

And the rest of the waffle....

So some waffle to clear the drafts folder, bits that didn't get made up into separate posts.....

I've been more surprised by my liking of Xbox gold since it got upgraded to ultimate. So I suppose that I'm really saying that I like Ultimate. That's fuelled by having gotten it for €1! As a service it's good. I just wish that Gold and Ultimate were merged or there was a smaller upgrade cost from Gold to Ultimate. So I like Ultimate, not only to play a few games I'd not do otherwise; But that I get access to those titles on PC(if there's a PC version available). Speaking of which. The most value from it so far has been with The Outer Worlds, a great game. While I wasn't happy playing it on the Xbox via controller I did get to access it, install and play on PC thanks to having Ultimate via Microsoft Windows 10 Market and their crossplay. Microsoft are going to be doing well with Xcloud. While I may not pay full price for ultimate in the future I'll be keeping an eye on things with it. Especially with the next console coming out by this time next year. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/12/12/microsoft-unveils-xbox-series-x/

Epic exclusive games are already doing sale prices, I'm looking forward to getting some of those games on Steam at sale or even further reduced prices. A wait for games that synchronised with my own thoughts for a self imposed 'buy games later' mentality. Two games in particular have been of interest. Phoenix Point. But since it's been out Phoenix Point seems to have some 'issues' that make me think I wont' be getting it till it's patched/tweaked into greatness. Otherwise I'll be ignoring it.
The second game is Maneater, which looks to be great already even as is(kind of a release Beta?). Pity it's another Epic store 'exclusive'. But that said it's got an official full release date listed of May 22nd, 2020 so who knows; Maybe steam in 2021 then?!

There have been so(sooooooooooooooooooooo) many great updates to many, many games I have it's unreal to try and keep up with all the info never mind keep up in gameplay terms.

Deadcells latest legacy update.

Domina(roll on the extra work).

UBOAT Patch B125.

Crying Suns has been getting some really nice continual patching to perfect it's balance and quality.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/873940/announcements/detail/3180035790702298963

SYNTHETIK has been forging on with more changes and additions.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/528230/announcements/detail/1612780484152015700

No Mans Sky has another impactful update, https://www.nomanssky.com/synthesis-update/
I've all but given up on even trying the game after patches. Too much to keep up with.

Crying Suns....

Radio Commander....

Two Point Hospital.....

& so many other games.

Minecraft has been getting more content as well. Bees are in. The problem with new content for me is that my save has been there since the very early days; It takes an age to see new content - I need to travel further to get to unexplored lands for it to generate that new content.
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/updates/buzzy-bees?ocid=Minecraft_soc_omc_xbo_tw_Video_buy_12.11.2

Neebs Gaming

While I've claimed as many games as possible when Epic's 'freebies' I've not played many. I've installed two but am still 'waiting' for more time to play, Rebel Galaxy and RUINER. Even with RUINER, I liked the game on Xbox but needed mouse and keyboard to 'do it properly'. I now have access to it on PC via Xbox ultimate but still haven't gotten around to it. The same goes for Rebel Galaxy, I wanted to see the backstory before playing the follow up game Rebel Galaxy Outlaw. Now Outlaw is an Epic exclusive (-25%sale at time or blogging). I'm in no rush as it'll be a while yet till it hits Steam.

I saw  Hordes(https://hordes.io/) via a gameplay impressions video from TheLazyPeon.
Again not enough time to actually do it, tis the silly season after all. Maybe next month.

TheLazyPeon

Battlefield 1....

Not much Battlefield done in the last couple of weeks. What matches I did have were not the best. Lots of cheating players ruining matches. Not that it mattered as I was playing like cráp anyway. All said and done I was hard pressed to find any kind of footage to 'share'; For what it's worth:

A Casual Gamer

The Outer Worlds....

A quick clip from some of my recent game-play; A classic Star Wars parody moment.

A Casual Gamer

Also the voice actor in game reminded me of one of the main Stormtroopers from Troops.

STO....

I've been taking a look at my 'recruit' event characters. Ones I'd created to take advantage of the bonus's they get when completing in game content. Once these 'agents' unlock an item from their 'transponder' they receive bonus materials, marks, maybe a trait or equipment; But more importantly cross account unlocks regardless of faction.

Temporal unlocks to me are the pinnacle of the system; I've about 50% unlocked on my Temporal Science main(engineering was also a Temporal agent). Which all seems a bit too much like work to get done for fun at the moment. I'll get there soon enough. So I assessed the other two recruit types. My choice was between Gamma and Delta recruits. Looking down the Gamma(Jem'Hadar) list there's a lot for a character to unlock personally but none of it is really beneficial to other account characters. Delta on the other hand looked a lot more appealing.

That Delta recruit character was created during the last Delta event and also just as I bought the lifetime sub which was on sale. So a liberated Borg seemed apt at the time.

She didn't need that much extra work to clear most of the recruit benefits. Just one more level in R&D and she will hit level 5 for the last claim. More for completions sake. Plus I'd never really done R&D before so it's interesting. Even if 90% of what I create is turned immediately into salvage or sold to a vendor. Regardless it's been enlightening. A bit of a grind to level that lst big of R&D, a good excuse to do some Admiralty/rep/doff stuff, and enjoy the remaining journey.....

Transponder unlocks:

Reclaim across the account:

Like doing the R&D, getting back to a character that's more 'basic' is a refreshing eye opener. Not a shocking one but I noticed the little differences. Like missing reputation traits. Her rep is middling across the board so that's not really going to happen any time soon.

I've no aim for this character after this. I'll get the recruit stuff done and do a pass of her
ship/gear/ground setup/Boff and Doff's and once I'm happy(or happy enough) that she's "in the right place" I'll log off and move on. Never say never but my main and main alts need more attention.

It's been a nice change of pace while it's lasted....

Missionforce Cyberstorm.....

Cyberstorm or Missionforce Cybersorm to give it it's full name; Was always plain ol'Cyberstorm to me. A big box game in the 90's that I had hummed and hawed over in a shop till I bit the bullet and bought it.

It's been a game I then played for a long time back then, not out of being a difficulty game(which is there) but for the joy of tweaking mechs(technically HERC's).

Side note on the top splash banner, it's the banner from GoG which I edited. I like everything about the GoG banner except the dude in the middle. I don't recall him being in any way association with 'my' memory of the games promotion even back in the 90's. Even so I don't like the look so I changed it to the box art 'dude and mech'. Much better imho.

The original GoG banner(shudder)....

Even as a separate franchise I can't help but call them mech's. The game is strategic management against marauding a.i. Balancing weapons, armour and a plethora of parts is enjoyable. I really get a kick from taking an under-powered or 'disposable' force against the odds through a mission successfully. Then there's the repair and maintenance afterwards. Another aspect of the game that I liked. Pilots. The cloned pilots(bioderms) need management as well; Health, training or disposal. Clones have a limited lifespan, to be used or squandered.

In current gaming context it's a game akin to Battletech(2019); I think that's a fair comparison. Not to take away from MechCommander, Battletech or other Earthsiege games back then in comparison. I loved the Battletech/Mechwarrior games in the 90's(and since), one franchise was good, more 'mecha' is always better. Then and now. Just need to keep an eye on the good ones. Cyberstorm is a good one!

I'd tried the game with various iterations of Windows but as time passed the likelihood of getting it running faded. Some of the game community kept it alive with workarounds but I always had problems getting it to run consistently. GoG was a hope and I'd seen the game listed but with so few other players also requesting it, well; GoG seemed a distant saviour. So I stopped trying to make it work.

Then along comes the current winter sale on GoG and I see Missionforce Cyberstorm!!  What a gifted surprise!

It runs perfectly. I had thought there were better resolution options but it runs so I'll take it.

Way back when I'd used the below bitmap image as the shortcut icon(renamed the file type from .bmp to .ico); Which I've done on this new version and I'm even more nostalgic!

I also recall running Winamp and some 'tunes' in the background as the combat music in game was only about 6 minutes long. That gets repetitive fast.

Here's my first spin out in the newly reinstalled game. Pre-messing with the preferences. The campaign I loaded up was an original save from the 90's. The 'best' campaign which I'd prolonged to maximize OP 'fun'..... So I was very happy with that. Some minor re-acquaintance with u.i. and tactics but it felt like I was straight back at home. I'm looking forward to spending more time in this game.

A Casual Gamer

Happy Christmas....

Nollaig Shona Duit

Hitman 2....

I did a bit of a push to finish off the December content, minus the featured contracts as usual; For no other reason than to complete the content than any 'real' time limit.

The Snow festival was one I'd already completed last year but the rest of the content was fun enough.

I'd not bothered with the Santa content before in H2 as it was timed and I'd already done it in the first game. Doing it this time round as it's now permanent was more a nostalgic blast from the past and an excuse to revisit that was welcome but not long lasting.

There's only so many times you can smack Santa around before it becomes mundane.

The last H2 Elusive Target wasn't all that elusive at all. Easy to spot, easy to finish off. Meh.

All said and done there wasn't much that stands out as a real must do; It was all content, good enough, but done once and never to be seen again. Even the redressed maps of Paris and Hokkaido while nice to see, there's no real need to revisit beyond doing the challengers and some quick sightseeing nostalgia.

A Casual Gamer

STO....

Today was the last daily race needed for the current winter event. So I got to claim the ship on both PC and Xbox. I've not touched the Xbox version yet, my character there can barely equip the summer ship she's in.

It's an interesting ship.

Getting the ship and getting a character into it is a ridiculous thing. It's like something that's risen from the depths of a Pirates of the Caribbean film. It's a massive ship. Ridiculous in size, looks and abilities. As a fairly straight laced Federation player I can't take my character seriously in it.

It's slow and takes an age to aim the ship well enough to fire off the directional a.o.e. weapon with any effect. That said, even with a slap dash fit it's very effective. Love those hanger pets. I also added the Romulan vanity shield(green) which I think gives it a better look. I'll try and finish off it's mastery levels this weekend.

 
It's been a day of ship claims. I wanted to get another Red Matter device from the phoenix store. In claiming more tokens for it I also got an epic token! So took that opportunity to claim the Risian Luxury Cruiser! Small and fast, the complete opposite of the winter event ship. A free upgrade makes it a T5-U, one I'll cherish. I'll have to search for a fitting fit.

STO....

The remaining seven ships have been completed; In terms of their mastery at least. Again as a tactical player I've always discounted using science heavy ships with him. While I wasn't surprised by the Krenim and Lukaro ships lack of punch using the ad-hoc fit, it wasn't the worst experience ever.

Between the two I think the Krenim ship has a better feel for doing DPS/science abilities but it's such a whale in space. Not a friendly ship to manoeuvre at all. The Lukari ship was nippy enough but lacked the punch the Krenim had.

It wasn't till I got into the Temporal Multi-Mission Science that really brought the sense of what science builds are about. Granted it required a bit of extra faffing about with crew stations but it was worth it and really felt like a different experience. A good one, almost great, I'd even go so far as to say that Science builds rock....

Very much makes me want to revisit my Temporal agent-science main and do out a proper build. I think the time and effort for that is very strongly worth it now.

The other Temporal ship was the Dreadnought. Slow and almost as unwieldy as the Krenim ship it was a mixed bag of 'meh'. I like having extra DPS from hanger pets but overall I'd rather be back in the multi-mission science.

For paid ships, even with free zen and bought though the store, I still find it hard to get ships like this to be 'good' without needing to put in huge time and effort. Both with researching(for me, about playing a science character) and in gaining the needed fit/skills/officers. Pay cash for a ship, hop straight in and it's usable; Even with half the modules missing but it won't be an overpowered ship and it won't function or feel like a hot knife through butter.

I've said it about the game before but I don't see any "pay-to-win" in the store bought ships. I've tested fits on event gained and store bought ships and 90% of my roster is still event ships. Yes I'm a casual player and yes the game is casual friendly, very fit forgiving. Also there are so many overpowered players in the game now that they can carry a group. 

With those ships out of the way the double XP weekend kicked in to help level up three more ships a lot faster. The Breen Chel Boalg warship was at least in my view a lot like a glass cannon, all DPS and no survivability. It didn't win me over.

The Vorgon Carrier was an even slower pain to use than the previous large heavy ships but did bring the DPS to be useful. Just not enough to make me want to do more with it.

And lastly the Vorgon Dreadnought. Faster and still as effective as the carrier but the speed didn't do anything to make me want to use it any more than the slower carrier.

So at the very least I've a bunch of extra mastery traits to pick and choose from. Maybe in the future some extra knowledge or game change will make for some usefulness from these. Not to mention a greater understanding of practical science ships in space.

The double XP weekend has only begun and it feels a shame to waste it; Since my main has no more ships to master (till the next event ship is claimed on Sunday), I might just take a trip or two on my science main(alt).


I think this is another franchise crossover I'd not seen before, kudos to this Avatar:

And Kudos to STO for the change to the memorial.