Minecraft....

Yea after talking up that I'd try No Man's Sky again, it hasn't happened. It was a half hearted attempt at motivation. Minecraft most definitely has won out.

The main problem with having a long term save is that when new content is brought out I need to travel further and further to see it(noted).

So when bamboo was introduced I got to see it as I adventured. However when pandas were released I needed to travel further and see newer bamboo generated biome's to in turn see the Pandas spawn. Same has happened for Bee's.

This kind of a save is a blessing and a curse.

There's nothing more frustrating than blasting off into the unknown via cape and fireworks traveling faster and further ....... Only to land at a village to find it looted and recalling that you were indeed here before at some stage in the past; Left wondering how on earth did I get this far by boat before.

I used to enjoy really long sea voyages dropping torches on shorelines every now and again to give some sort of navigation route. While I usually go along a line via a compass in hand it's still easy to get turned around, go in circles and get lost in Minecraft. Adventure and exploration doesn't follow a compass line. Which can all be fine in itself, but then trying to get back to a safe 'HQ' with a haul of stuff, distractions are usually bad. These day's my bases of operation are large and linked by rail. I don't want for anything. Adventure is the main motivation. So more travel needs to be done for further and for longer to see new things.... Adventure awaits.

Once I find an area that's in the middle of new content I usually set up a mini home of sorts. Then start linking if back to my rail network as resources accumulate(Portals proved to dangerously inconsistent in this world for use as shortcuts). For the most part the effort has been worth it.

Speaking of new content and portals; the latest is both. Ruined portals.

I've ventured and discovered a good few, they are supposed to be rare enough but I've been tripping over them, cursed by the ones I've found being in so close a proximity to each other that they all lead to the same underworld portal. Somewhat annoying.

Minecraft is Minecraft, creativity and adventures. Adventures overground, underground and in the nether(pork filled or not). The new additions are worth checking out and add a lot to the game. The new armour and weapon look great. Stats wise they are on par with with diamond versions but with an added anti-knock-back stat. So better?!? .... yea kind of. Plus they've a great black knight look to them.

As for other in game shenanigans.... It's a great game to 'just' be in. It's a 'one more thing' kind of game you loose yourself in. Blink and it's been an hour or two(or three or four).

Some times there's a need to park a pig.

There's something in those trees....

Eve Online....

All to easy!

Eve Echoes....

The very definition of count one's chickens before they hatch...

Tweet

4 Million eh....... Only 41 likes in 4 hours.... Early yet indeed.

I wonder how fast CCP would drop Eve Online if Echoes does blast off with even a million......

Games with Gold....

August's line up of games, at least to me, seems very 'meh' allround.

Maybe it's just my mood but a lot of these games are just not doing it for me. I'll claim to have but never play them.

2 OG Xbox titles Red faction 2 and MX Unleashed.... Decent games in their day(decent not great) but lacking the superb gameplay that they would need to have today in order to overcome their graphics and handling(Not aged well). 'Meh' for sure. I was never into either 'franchise'. Red faction just didn't do it for me back then and definitely not now. As for MX.... Well there have been better free motocross titles since(Motocross Madness etc). So if I'm not playing those better titles than this one doesn't get a look in. Claim and shelve for me.

Override Mech City Brawl as an Xbox One title is 'meh' of the 'meh'; Gameplay and graphics are all middle of the road. Not enough pro points over the cons to make it a try, not for me....Claim and shelve again.

Portal Knights as a freebie is a fairly recent Xbox One title of some note. An actual decent game above average for a giveaway. One I'll try as well!  

Today it's best thought of as a Minecraft Dungeon before Minecraft Dungeons. Should be fun to try.

STO....

Continuing to mess about with my Jem'Hadar I noticed that he didn't have the Nimbus iii mission arc reward, the Pirate distress call. It's a handy clickable that calls in support to both add DPS and heal you. More handy for the emergency healing boost than the DPS these day's(other clickable's for better DPS).

The reward is from an older chain of missions that was a mainstay back in the day. Wasteland was usually the first 'real' ground location that a player would stay around and do multiple missions(doing the journal chains sequentially). It's still possible to do them, but without the missions formally shown in the mission journal it's not easy to find and start. So when it does show it's skipped, ignored and/or forgotten. Truth is if not for wanting the reward I'd have not been to it with my Jem'Hadar. 

Besides nimbus is kinda out of the way.

Having the mission chain broken up and only available via a more miscellaneous tab for 'secondary' missions called 'Available' is not intuitive for a start. Especially when you can't remember the individual mission names from the chain in that list.

However starting the chain isn't as simple as just searching that 'available' list for details. Nor as simple as dropping by the planet, strolling up to good'ol Horace at the front gate either(not any more).

First you need to complete a whole other mission chain from the journal. One that is listed, the Klingon mission arc/chain that has the mission "The Galaxy at Large". It's a starter chain for characters. With so much content players do a lot of picking and choosing so is a chain that can get skipped or dropped as well. Coming to the Federation as a late game 60+ level Jem'Hadar most players just do the first mission of the chain to get the S.S. Azura reward(clickable for bank/mail access in sector space); Then bail on the rest.

Anyway once that chain is done you'll be contacted by Franklin Drake of Section 31 and he offers the start of the Wasteland chain. Secrets of Nimbus. I've read but not seen that if the mission is available in the 'available' tab under Franklin drake it can be accepted but not doable(handin) till the Klingon War chain is completed. I think that's where things seem quirky and 'broken' for most. For me this mission only appeared in 'available' after the Klingon arc was completed.

Despite the research and runaround to start the chain I was glad to be back doing it. Nostalgia also played a part there. Going back to Nimbus to mission and not just for Endeavour reasons.

The chain still stands up today. It's an adventure and feel's like it(even with some busy work); Maybe more so today with fewer players around. The more players that are around killing mobs the faster the re-spawn rate of those mobs; Which can be a pain to make undisturbed progress in open world elements.

Nostalgia and action aside, my Jem'Hadar made progress and claimed the Pirate distress call; Bringing up the number and options available for his(mainly space based TFO)gameplay. Lots of non equipped employables, the best kind!

Overall the characters progress is slow. It was never going to be fast. I've not been in the mood to power through TFO's of late and in turn his Doff and Admiralty missions have not been done as much. Some progress still but lots more needed to finish off his transponder list(I'm ignoring the R&D for now).

However he might just be the first character I put in swimwear.....

Dawn of Man....

The latest update is out.

My Northlands save/play-through has become my 'main' save. It's the one with the most hard work put in and so the most I've pottered about with since. Any new patches requiring tech unlocks are easy on it due to it being used so much; A handy use for a buildup of Tech points.

Getting to add in the new production didn't prove to much more of a stress on the village ecosystems. Being as late game as can be I'd a good stockpile of resources.

I find the game is as enjoyable in end game as it is in the journey to get there(slim chance it could all go wrong makes for some tension).

I added in three of the new Armorer buildings to enable some mass production.

With plenty of charcoal already. All I had to do was open up a new deep Iron mine and reopen a closed mine that was near. Not that they were really needed but better safe than sorry. Add in some manual production of items (oval shields and mail armour) for an initial boost and that was it.

The village through a year was it's usual hover of 195 to 205 humans. Everything was sown and harvested with no waste. Some new animals were captured and others added to the 'storage'. Balance remains if not quiet the same as it was. The only real problem in production were the shields due to the hides needed. I was never big into shield production(nice to have the better ones). No longer being an active hunter village means that there is limited supply of hides. Which in turn had 'made' my usual animal capture turn back into all out hunting. Which in turn is a massive balancing act to keep the smoothly running village running smoothly. People management it's all about people management. Too many people out hunting as a season changes and the next thing you know your late in planting or harvesting and it snowballs out of control from there. Cause and effect.

There is fun in all the types of management. Safer fun if you remember to save the game as you go(autosave also helps).

Overall they are great additions to the game, I'll be pottering about with it as the day goes on.

While I'd like to see another 'age' added to progress game time and technology it's really after the Iron age that more specific 'peoples' seem to become distinct. Would be hard to see this generic catch all game become a specific country/region/timeframe(Viking/Hellenic/Roman) and I'm not sure a generic 'medieval' period would work, it's to broad a time-frame to push into.... Dev's have their own balancing acts to perform for sure.

No Man's Sky(with a side of Minecraft)....

I have a muddied history with No Man's Sky. Almost 60 blog posts over the years of varying waffling'ness(this one is no different), from high's to low's. From it's interesting lead up to launch, it's actual launch, to my start in the game, my decided ending and the aftermath and the need for more.

A long term tried and tested history. A lot of been there and done that.

I'm all for patches and content updates. This game has delivered some great content and still gives more. The delivering on the promises made and the surpassing of those with work done since. Yet it's that work that plucked me from my planet. A planet that I chose and they removed me from. It was a gut wrenching moment. My entire adventure in the game lead to a patch that randomly threw me out into the universe. Choices to choice-less made my gameplay meaningless, a waste of all my previous time.

What's done is done. I do 'go on' about it, b*tching and moaning because to me it was such a hit in the face. Hard to forget. So yea my history in and with this game weighs my considerations down.

Can I ever get over that? I'm not sure at all.

I'm sure it's possible to find and travel back to that planet; But at this stage I doubt it's worth the efforts. The break was made. The journey altered.

So the game has been back on my mind since the Desolation trailer and patch:

New content, same'ol same'ol ? ?

Being away from playing the game (minor hopping back to see patch changes not withstanding), it's been about 2 years(ish). Seeing this trailer does makes me wonder about it. Not about hopping back in to quickly see changes; I'm past all that. Thinking more broadly about the game as a whole and getting back into it weighing the options.

It's not a case of 'just' playing it. Not for this particular gamer. There are better games to 'just play'.

While I've gotten value for money long term from the game; There's still a certain unfulfilled element for me. A loose end I'm not sure I can ever solve. The idea of No Man's Sky is still there if not the practicality for me. I do still want meaning from the game, more mysterious adventure.

Despite all the changes, additions and tweaking to the game; I'm still thinking that I've done it all before. How different is it really going to be on a deserted freighter this patch. Maybe the new freighter content is 'just' the deserted base on a planet only bigger...... And in space. So yea been there, done that.

I wonder if I can get back to the game again by starting fresh. The best way to 'get back into it'?
It's the question that drives us..... The potential of what could be.

Going back to my old all in one save only brings back the unwanted memories of what was lost; And how behind the curve I am. Missing out on the grind workload of newer content. The game is a grind. In both good and bad way's. Getting up to speed seems so much work(finding portals and glyph's, the space anomaly station thing, changes since my day, community event(s), different economies, racial standings, currencies, weekend events, more currencies, classes of upgrades be it ships or equipment. (All to name but a few). At least it seems so to me. A far cry from just being and exploring.

Lacking game knowledge is a massive time sink to catch up on never mind anything in game. Jason Plays channel has so much content per day that is fun and informative but compounds my feeling on how much I am 'behind'. Dependent on the gamer play-style I suppose. Multiplayer group content is not for me in this game.

Maybe with Desolation there's been so many changes since 'my day' that there is new purpose to the wandering again. Now more so in space as well as on planets that does go further. Turn off multiplayer in options..... Be a lone traveler with nothing but a suit and a ship. K.I.S.S.

Now, might actual be that time I mentioned. To start again, a real fresh start in a new save. It's tempting. No harm in trying the latest version from scratch.

Then again the new patch for Minecraft has added a lot of content which I've been playing. As well as enjoying it with my wife.

The latest Minecraft patch has an easier lan co-op and makes it a lot better than running the previous separate lan server option. It's been great to play my 'main' save co-op with her, a map with everything I've done since I first created it in mid 2011. A save I'm proud of(a few others not so much). Can't ever say that about No Man's Sky. Yea the NMS bitterness is coming back to me more and more. I've waffled about both games in comparison before. It's an easy comparison to do and an easy way to say Minecraft is 'better' as an exploration game. At least for me. So why start NMS again and waste spend time on the lesser of the two....

Here I am a year on and still pondering the same questions(Minecraft(with a side of No Mans Sky)).
Indecision is a killer. Hmmmmmmm.
No Man's Sky.
The potential of what could be.
Just a quick look....
Maybe....
At some stage from scratch again....

.... Spends 3 hours in Minecraft.

STO....

Yesterday saw my final daily to claim 'that' suit which I promptly left in the bank. Needless to say I wasn't overwhelmed by it. Comparing it to my mains 'ordinary' armour was no comparison at all. Despite all it's gimmicks, I was running things just as fast without it then with. Without it I had a little less hassle than with. Situational and unscientific, yes but still.

Unfortunately you can't give the suit to a bridge officer so to the back it went. Onward to day two of the bonus Dil claim today.

Going back to my STO Xbox character proves I can't read..... I just presumed that the daily awarded 2 points instead of 1 which was obvious to see.  Hmmm enthusiastic blindness. 

Another difference between PC and console to remember.... Pity, if it was 2 per daily I'd have gotten it.

STO....

Perhaps I was a tab bit optimistic about doing it in time....

STO....

So Eve Online has a 'thing' where a player passing time can spin their ship in the hanger. The game even counts the number of rotations. There's noting like that in Star Trek Online; But I did find something similar that I didn't know of before.

While doing the daily on my Xbox character I quit back to the character select by accident while also holding the right thumb stick on the joypad.... This made my character on the selection screen spin.

Not a total surprise but unexpected. A new novelty for a few seconds....

It got me wondering if my PC character would do the same.... And he does but not with the mouse and keyboard but with a connected controller with the right thumb stick. Super novelty and I'll probably never do it again, but interesting to know.

It's the little things.....

Plus it also reminds me of another game I went all rotisserie on. Can't leave STO out!

In no particular order my STO characters -

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Now back to some serious business.

STO....

Back to the Xbox version. I surprised myself with relogging back into it. I'd not been in the game a long while and then last month I hopped back in.

A bit of an urge got me back to it yesterday and not just for updates. So yea back again. Busy work is busy work but it's fun(imho) to 'just' be in Star Trek Online. The UI on STO Xbox is streamlined, which makes it a super casual experience. Especially for TFO's and space combat. Fun is easier and in turn it's easier to be casual...... Super casual.

As the Xbox events are slightly behind the PC version I was happy to see the Maru event was still going on. I must have done one of the event dailies the last time I was on as I already had 2 of 14 progress for it. Between yesterday(Thursday) and today I got to redo that Maru event 3 more times. With essentially 4 day's till the end of the event. I should have enough time to complete it and claim the Maru as a ship. Such a tight timeline(98 hours of event with 80 hours of cool-down needed...).

Challenge accepted!

STO....

A return to my Jem'Hadar character over the last week-ish has been 'relaxing'. No surprise but I'm doing things casually, no rush here. I've not totally neglected him since he was first created, but kinda did.

As a Gamma recruit he still has a fair bit to do to unlock all those benefits(personal and account). Mainly his reputations and Doff missions; With side orders of TFO's, missions and R&D. All of which 'just' take time.

I've also been doing the current event on this character to both gain tokens for rep and to add towards his TFO counter. He's getting some gametime attention now for sure.

He's flying the Vanguard Heavy Destroyer which I feel is a step up from his previous upgrade. Bigger isn't always better as the saying goes. The Vanguard is more of a happier medium(for me) between the starter ship and the Dreadnought(handles like a whale!).

Not to much upgrading done on it's fit. Some of which were from the R&D that needed to be done anyway for the recruit rewards. Some lucky quality improvements but mainly still sticking with the 'free' gear.

While I'm happy to plink away with it; So it was in a recent TFO that I was surprised to see one of the newest ships to the game in action.

It covers the cool looking brief and when it deploys it's sentries it reminds me of a Marauder in Siege mode from Eve Online(Here's a story). At least for me it seems like a ship that is very meta, very leet....

Anyway, I'd not quiet gotten into the habit of turning on the combat log for later analysis. Wanting to see what super damage the new ship in it's deployed mode I set the combat log on for the last two stages.

I was surprised(again) to see that my character in all his alt of an alt casualness did 50% more damage than the nearest statistical player and then did just as much as the next highest dps'ing player for the last stage.

While I do know that 'the ship doth not make'th the player', it's clear that an active player with the newest ship still needs to be fitted with some thought to get the dps out of it. No real pay to win face rolling(imho).

Players have off day's etc... TFO's that don't do them justice. If it wasn't for the charts I'd have thought (and did at the time) that the TFO went smoothly. In my minds eye I'd have thought (and I did)that that was probably due to an overpowered player in their new shiny ship.... That would have been wrong imprecise.

Then again maybe I'm reading all these charts wrong and the fact that my average ship has average DPS and still registered more DPS is misinterpreted....

Crying Suns....

Getting back into the swing of things over the last day or two was better than last time.

My latest trip through the last cluster was relatively uneventful. Surprisingly so. Thankfully I've seen some positive interactions, luck with scrap/fuel and it's been one of the better runs to reach the end overall. I'm presuming that patches, game mechanic tweaks, have all made the difference. Subtly differences for the better on top of some of the larger changes and additions(ship cores and the advanced tactics patch/update in general!).

So yea that end system/node with it's three phase fight while still a massive pain in the posterior; Ended well this time round. Thankfully the last of the three in a row fight was less harsh than I remembered. Maybe I was just lucky.

The end brings with it a mountain of text to leave no facet of explanation and story uncovered. That's a good thing. Text I'll skip 'if' I return. Your given a choice at the end.... a choice of options that each have an achievement.... I'm in n no rush to get back and redo them one after another just for the achi. As for the story..... Hmmmmmm.

Completing the game adds chapter selections up front, so there's more replayability on top of the replayability it had in spades. I may not be back immediately to the game but it'll get played again.

Getting this done allows me to strike another off the list of ongoing games to 'complete'. All for fun now, by choice! 

I've completed it. I've read the story-line and chosen my ending(potential spoilers below - just more thoughts).

No major spoilers but.... 

Kaliban is such a dick! A passionate, selfish, disloyal DICK! 

Cool, calculating, unemotional my buttcheeks! 

My poor crew.... disposable to the end... What does that make my character really!! Statistical anomaly!? Plaything of the Omni's!? Choice that isn't really a choice. speaking of which.

Fuppin ascension Omni's are likewise dicks! Ascended my áss. Superior leetist a**holes! No wonder the suns are crying!!!!!!!! 

Lot of Matrix vibes going on in the endings re the machines(Omni's). Vindictive a**holes even if they wont' admit it and reason otherwise.

I'm not unhappy with the ending, I'd have been happier if I'd not have gotten so much more new information as well..... These things happen. If I'd not have gotten all the new info I'd be asking even more questions.

Yea I'll be back for more once I gloss over some of the story in my memory with thinking about the fun gameplay.

Kaliban.... 

Kaliban........

........................you dick!

Battlefield 1.....

As I was saying, I've been having some great late night matches in the last week. So a mashup video felt right. Maybe not as regular as before....

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Battlefield 1....

I've been having some great late night matches in the last week. All that despite what seems like a massive influx of reappearing clans.

Maybe the bar of random players late at night has improved, maybe I'm just lucky to get with good random groups.

Either way I'm glad that I'm still lucky.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Ghost Recon....

At a quick glance I have 160 blog posts regarding Ghost Recon Wildlands. I loved and played that game to bits for years. I could gush for hours about the game, imperfect as all things are but a massively playable game.

At a quick glance I have 4 Ghost Recon Breakpoint blog posts. I didn't even buy the game. Playing it twice via pre launch tests. Proof enough(of it's changes away from Wildlands and how bad I thought they were implemented in Breakpoint).

All ancient history now. Mid to late 2019 and up to March 2020 was Breakpoint's window from testing to launch; I could rant about it but it' snot worth the time.

I am surprised that it's been kept going and updated. Supported buy Ubi devs is commendable. I'm not sure if it's due to bone headedness or desire for profit(doubling down as it were). A.I. Team members seem to be coming in after all. Good effort after the horses bolted from the stables. I'm not sure Ubi/decision makers have really learned anything from the Breakpoint process.

At least thematically they are returning to a more true to form Tom Clancy genre for the franchise. Almost like they are in Bolivia again.

I'd still not touch the game with a barge pole but you got to love the dedication..... Or boneheadedness with them trying to improve things. Given it was a massive part of Wildlands(A.I. team) that took a long while to implement(in Breakpoint), it's a wonder it never registered(with the development of Breakpoint) as a no brainer element of the game from day one.....

Just saying...

Space Hulk: Tactics....

Another game from the long finger hit list. My journey with Space Hulk: Tactics has indeed been a long one. After saying I'd be keeping an eye on the game, I promptly forget about it and then rediscovered it at the start of this year. Playing it a bit for free via Xbox game-pass ultimate. Although it had it's up's and down's there were more positives than negatives(at the time). I enjoyed it but it's a harsh game; The masses of Xenos are an unforgiving lot.

In playing it though Xbox Ultimate I knew I'd need a lot of time to play it properly and felt it deserved a forever purchase on steam. Xbox Ultimate/Gold is a great value system but some games are long and need time. Also games added to services can be removed later down the line. I don't like that uncertainty, a purchase at a good sale price solves that problem(at least for me). It'd been on the wish list for a long time till I bought it in a sale on Steam(added to the delay in playing it as well).

It's been a game I've hopped back to on and off ever since that purchase. I do like other PC based 40K games, be it space based with Battlefleet Gothic Armada (and again) or ground based in Space Hulk Deathwing (and again) or even with Space Marine. This game ticked all the boxes. In nostalgia alone I'm recalling my day's of space crusade on the C64! However, now I've done a good bit more gameplay it's proven to be very bitter sweet indeed. The more I play the more I'm pushed away from it.

The nostalgia is real, the good of the game is still good but the frustrations. The frustrations have been highlighted more and more to me. Most games like it 'make' me reload a save and try the beat the next phase/challenge better. Not so with this game. Loose a Space Marine and I'll drive over his body to move on. No wonder there's so many downed Astartes all over the maps. I've found it more frustrating to retry, than enjoyable trying to succeed.

The game has the look and feel of 40k in spades. It does it well, it does it justice. It's atmospheric and faithful to the franchise. But gameplay, game balance feel's off. The rush of the Xenos against the time pressures of objectives over and over again, it's to much sameness in it's variety.
A space hulk adrift for a millennia and only now in 12 turns do I need to collect all downed Astartes from a specific section. It's the very definition of an unreasonable task from a boss for the sake of it. Bigger picture my Astartes!

It's not tactics if there's only one way to get a successful outcome in a mission; By doing it that way due to limited turns. Like playing 12(and only 12) move chess.

It's that realization that spoiled the game for me. To win you need to do specific tasks at a specific location at a specific time. Sacrificing team-members as you go means nothing if it was inevitable you were always going to loose them to win a scenario.

So yea, it seems that the turn limit was also a noted impediment to enjoyment way back when( and here).

Like I said frustrations mount the more I'm in game. To a point now that I don't want to play the game. Progression isn't fun. Today I started the game, loaded the last save, took a second staring at the screen and then exited the game. I can't even be bothered to face it's trials. There's no fun in even trying anymore.

40k game story-lines in games aren't the most complex at the best of times so it's not a motivator here. Team building doesn't really mean anything(imho). More-so in this game because your loosing marines like confetti at a wedding; No matter how upgraded they are, not a motivator either.

Swapping over to the Xenos campaign proved to be even more frustrating as the marines you face seem to be (at least in my view) AI cheaters. There's no way that any of my marines could move as far and while also firing at everything as they go. The time limit pressure is even worse. Playing that campaign.... Attempting to play that campaign results in me quitting the game mid mission. Usually in an expedited way via Alt+F4. Not a rage quit but a frustration quit.

I can only go so far with this game. I got some enjoyment out of it but that has drained fast.

Trying to do anything online is a no no as the servers are long since (unofficially?) offline.

Still I have to agree with these two user reviews from Steam. They're both correct about Space Hulk: Tactics.

Taking the good with the bad is par for the course franchise wise on PC since they opened up the license. Glad I've always gone for sale prices. The more I look at the games of the franchise overall the more I see two things... The games don't fully live up to the franchise(even the 'good' ones) and the games have harsh time limiting factors which I usually say I hate. It's a wonder I play any of them.

Anyway, another game struck off the list.