Battlefield 1....

With EA Play coming to Xbox gamepass in December there should be an increase in multiplayer numbers. That should help with all games not just Battlefield 1, Xbox and PC. Will have to wait and see but then again there may be too many games for players to pick and choose, where some games get left behind. I know I'll try BF V again on PC and Xbox. Maybe I'll actually get back into BF 4 on Xbox again(it's been a while)! So many games will be available.

Still pottering away on BF1 on PC. Fun is fun.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Football Manager 2020....

While I've been keeping an eye out on getting some sort of football(Soccer) management sim I've not seen anything that interested me(yet). A mix between a hardcore sim and something 'arcadey' would be perfect(Sociable Soccer!!!!!) but seems hard to get. It's almost been a year since I last posted about this(here and here). The later link was regarding a demo of Football Manager 2020. While the demo didn't do anything for me then, I was surprised to see the full game was free on the Epic store. 

Of course I claimed it as with all freebies. Seems there were a lot who did as well. There was enthusiastic news about it being free and that a huge number of people had claimed it. I think they may have oversold the hype about it free or not.

Loaded up the full FM 20 game I was as unimpressed as I was with the demo. So of course I biased. FM 19 and 20 are it seems just not my thing. So much about it is not a triple A game. Getting it for free now I'm still nonplussed. I don't see it as a game that's had a linage of improved game on improved game over teh course of years! They have really dropped the ball the last few years for sure.

Even the main game menu doesn't inspire confidence(for me anyway).

The graphics are ugly. No wonder Fifa thought they could muscle in on the management side of a soccer based game.

I'm finding myself really annoyed with most things in the game. There are plenty of buttons to click and options to choose but it's lacking soul, especially with matches, is soul destroying! 

A Casual Carebear Gamer

I'll not complain about the crowd cheers or the repeated lines of a Fifa game again!

This game has a certain lack of charisma(to say the least) and to me is boring AF. There's no motivation to get to match day when there's no payoff for that simulated hard work! Match day should be the crowning moment. I've played better manager sims on the C64(Match of the Day, Zeppelin, 1992)!

Back to looking at Fifa games for me...

Games with Gold....

To each their own but for me the October lineup of free Games with Gold, well I can't Meh hard enough. No gameplay for me this time round.

Slayaway Camp - A game that does nothing for me. Makes me want to look back at Hitman Go.

Maid of Sker - An interesting game based on sound(like some others). Makes me think about a better game based on light as well as sound.

Sphinx And the Cursed Mummy - An OG Xbox game that still stand up today. Just not a game for me right now. Still it reminds me of another OG game.

Costume Quest - I'm sure it was free with Gold a while ago. One I didn't play then and one I'll be giving a miss now. Makes me want to go back and do more with Portal Knights.

Star Trek Online....

After my last post where I waffled about it taking effort to do both high and low DPS in dungeons; I decided to see how I could actively sabotage a character. Forced to be bad. DPS wise in a TFO run.

I took a max level alt that has been ignored for years. Hopped into his Heavy Destroyer and removed his bridge officers. 

Basic mish-mash character, no flair at all.

Then using no abilities I went and did a normal TFO pressing only the space bar for attacks.

And the results were a surprise. Not that I did woeful damage, I did. But that there were 2 other players just as 'bad'; And they were not new players.

Proves my point more than I thought the process would. Players really do have to go out of their way to do woeful damage..... Or go AFK. AFK is hard to do in my book as the game is sharp to penalize you for going AFK. Anyway imho the effort needed to tread the AFK line and not be penalized is equal to 'just doing' the TFO as a participant. Why play the game to not play the game.

The TFO and the DPS numbers were a bit to easy to prove the point. Another run was needed to try and be 'worse'.

-

As an aside in order to improve my main's DPS I paid more attention to his bridge officers. I'd ignored their hardwired traits.

2 Were not bad with the Leadership trait.

I had two that I could use to improve the situation.

Uhura and Bashir.

I had also seen some info on using another Bridge officer from the exchange. When I got her she has no space traits listed. Maybe she had been changed in a patch. More work to lookup officers and traits needed!

What I would like is one of these Colony Bridge officers! Pity but Armada isn't there yet.

-

Anyway back to doing another 'worse' run.

I switched ships. To a new old stock off the shelf Prototype Cruiser.

Same again, no officers, no abilities. Just mashing the space bar to fire the normal weapons; And the DPS numbers show it is indeed worse.

Still not as bad as I thought it would be. Still proves it takes effort(or going afk) to do so 'bad' little DPS.

Only way to do worse is to do the same again but take a new character that has no unlocked/placed traits. Do a TFO just as it becomes available(level restriction); But then your just a new player and there's plenty of them about.

Fun bit of faffing about.

Star Trek Online....

Within STO there are two overall statistics that I ponder from time to time. One on PC and the other on the Xbox version.

The PC version stat is based on player DPS within Task Force Operations, TFO's(Dungeons in other MMO's). With that being split between how a player can do so much DPS or so little DPS.
Two surprising extreme's that take effort to pull off. Both with deep tangents of consideration with more branches than I can shake a stick at(pun in-ten-ded).

The Xbox version stat is based on the games achievements. Each achi shows the % of the player-base that's also completed the same achi. I'm still (almost) shocked that so few seem to have the basic achi's.

So this post is concentrating on the later stat. I've waffled about Xbox achievement stats before(here, here, here & here).

The % of the playerbase that's done the same achi's is skewed. Skewed by what I'm sure are massive amounts of players who look for a free game, hope into it for a few seconds then decide not to play it. That's the short and simple answer to my pondering. How else can I explain a game, free to play with what looks like a healthy amount of active players in game. Yet has such poor %'ages for the basic achievements. So yea, skewed stats from players who don't play.

Here are the 4 stats that struck me again this week. Well the first three anyway.

While the last one listed is a more specialist, achi hunter kind if thing chasing points for a free ship; The others are what I'd call basic for a person who even casually(like me) plays the Xbox version of the game.

Less than 1% have a Duty officer commendation to level 4!
Just over 1% have maxed out an admiralty campaign!!
Both those activities are a main staple of wealth generation to say the least.

Only 1.4% have spent 30 specialization points on their character!!!
So only 1.4% of players have max leveled a character and spent some 'talent' points for abilities!?
Is 1.4% the real number of those that play vs those that try the game!?

The fact I've never had to wait for a TFO queue day or night means players are in game in numbers. Of those players I've seen, they seem on par with those on PC; Intelligent in TFO mechanics(mostly). With obvious signs of cash spent on Zen for in game items, mainly ships.

The game is played on the platform. The game is populated with good gamers.

So yea that 1.4% is interesting. Is the try and drop off rate really that high ?!?
Makes me start to question the vast majority of gamers in games on console.
I'm even more casual with my World of Tanks gameplay; It has some low player stats as well.

Whats my pondering conclusion.......

A lot more gamers are a lot more casual than they will ever admit and I'm a lot less of a casual player than I think I am.

Freedom Fighters....

I was surprised to see that there was talk of a remaster of the game. When the game came out originally it was in the midst of a bunch of similar games. While I enjoyed Freedom Fighters I think I preferred the Conflict games, Desert Storm(1 & 2) and Vietnam(I didn't get to play Global Terror). Freedom Fighters was a change, as an alternate reality timeline and I remember it as a fun shooter.

Reloading the old game on Windows 10 was painless(for me) and getting to see my old saves was interesting. Graphics aside everything stands up today, voice, music, sound effects, it's got fun game-play. A game of it's time indeed. Yes it needs a pinch of salt today but it's aged well all things considered. Game-play is still fun game-play. I'd say the remaster would need a massive visual upgrade to really please modern audiences but well enough tweaked for fans of the game who will be thrilled with any modernization's. The remaster is going to have the same fun no doubt with remastered improvements all round; Can't please everyone.

Playing the old game on a new PC caused the walking animation to glitch out for me. So every now and again the main character would float instead of step. No surprise the games graphics don't stand up to today's demands. All in all not bad for such an old game on a new system. A good blast form the past but I've no great need to play it's remaster.

The one thing that is nostalgic this time round is the AK magazine reload. The noise and animation for some reason. I think that's because the character auto-reloads fro you.

I also like the follower mechanic, gaining a crowd of 'recruits' like disposable lemmings to help is always good.

Good to have gotten back to it but I've sated the nostalgia.

Getting all retro and back into Freedom Fighters got me back to playing Conflict: Desert Storm 2 tonight. Again an easy install and run on a Win 10 PC(for me). Lot to be said for tactics in real team based shooter. Better fun to hop between specialists(Sniper, MG, commander/rifleman, infiltrator).

Now I'm nostalgic for Hidden and Dangerous 2.

Star Trek Online....

Slow and steady is a generous way of stating my STO game-play. Mainly done as a daily login, daily event TFO and some faffing about. Very middle of the road. I did have the idea of going through my mains's catalog of fitted ships from least to best; But time and effort isn't that great a motivator for content creation especially when the mood isn't right. Guess it's just not right at the moment.

On my tactical main and (tact)Jem'Hadar they've taken a back seat. I've only been setting Admiralty missions and refining Dil with them.
My science main is the same but with the added task of getting the competitive reputation to 6. Work in progress.

Most of my time has been on my main engineering alt; Doing the daily TFO gaining some needed reputation marks and completing as much rep as possible.

Speaking of the event I'm one more day away form completing and claiming it's prize.

The latest campaign may be called the second but I think it's technically the third; With this current event, at least in my mind, the start of what I think is a fourth. It's a confusing inconsistent mix. With luck more lobi in the next as a reward whatever number campaign they call it.

The news of a new Zen for rep system coming isn't abhorrent to me. It's a nice shortcut for those with cash to spend for zen and zen to spend on an in game time saver. Doing rep manually isn't that hard, just takes time. So a cash shortcut isn't unfair in my view. Not at this stage of the games life. I don't see why some in the community are shocked and offended by it; It doesn't change the previous way of leveling up rep. It also leaves the last level to be done manually so......Meh.

On the Xbox side my character has missed the last few day's of the event daily; With the end of the event on the 8th of October there should be plenty of time to complete it. This time I double checked to make sure that each daily TFO does the give two points per TFO(won't make that mistake again).

Progress overall! Slow and steady.

Battlefield 1....

Theme of the week has changed to Back to Basics. A better mode than some even with it's limited main weapons. Speaking of limited. There's still limited numbers of players in game, servers on a work-night allow only 5 or 6 with 10 to 12 players per side, 16 if your lucky.
Anyway I'm a tiny bit better with bold action rifles because of this mode but handguns are still the order of the day. Still fun overall.

I watched a Neeb's Minecraft video during the week that had some cool music in it. When I looked the music up I saw it was free of copyright. So it seemed right to use the music with footage of a good match. Worked out well for an edit; Really like when that happens.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Soulcalibur VI....

A year on from my year on look re Soulcalibur VI and nothing has changed for me. In fact if it wasn't free to play through Xbox Gamepass I'd not have done anything more about the game.

I think I've been waiting for the game for too long. Expectation and disappointment for me. I'm sure there'll be plenty of gamers who love it and some more like me that don't. VI didn't feel like previous Soulcalibur games to me.

Trying it now has done nothing to make me want the game. In fact where I was 'meh' about it, I'm now anti-SC VI. All the changes to the game from previous franchise incarnations that have been dropped or altered and new elements are all doing nothing for me.

I'm probably overly harsh in talking about this game but that's because my disappointment is raw.

The start of the game has you slow scroll through the disclaimers; Not a good start!
The game is annoying to me on a number of levels. Loading screens at every turn, even between certain combat bouts of the same match if there's even a slight costume change.
Story scenes that need more button mashing to skip than the combat itself. I was never into the story of any Soulcalibur game; It's not a deep art. In VI however it's taken as the be and end of all. In previous games there was a usual 1 liner from a character at the start of a bout; That's all the motivation story intent I needed. Now instead of a short action based cutscene you get a ream of voice acted text in an anime scene that screams skip. Less was more in previous versions.
Overall the UI screens and menus feel cluttered to me which makes navigating it a mess of back and forth.

I can't stress enough the annoyance of the loading screen waiting, the button mashing to skip the incessant anime story and then more loading screens and then some combat. Uninstall was an easier option. 

A Casual Carebear Gamer

I'm no massive pro fighting game player. DOA and Soulcalibur were always my go to games as they provide a challenge with a low enough learning curve with options for pulling off pro moves if you want. I'm very disappointed by the combat in VI as I can't understand why a game has a player mash more buttons to get passed the story clips then to pull of moves in combat! 3rd story enemy in and I was essentially bored by the combat. A fighting game that didn't motivate me to even button mash to win. Low bar indeed.

It feels to me that the franchise has pandered to cash grabbing with DLC and made the game overly accessible in combat to bank on that cash grabbing. IV was the last version I was into but skipped V for reasons I can't remember but probably the start of cash grabbing etc..... I think VI has ended my considerations for this franchise.

Hotshot Racing....

Hotshot Racing has a lot of the same art style looks as Horizon Chase Turbo; That's the main reason Hotshot took my attention. They may look similar but besides some race modes that's where the similarities end. The differences are subtle but there. Those differences make me lean more towards liking Horizon Chase Turbo more than Hotshot. Turbo is a more forgiving game imho Hotshot is aggressive and if you're forced off the track it's harder to get back in position without restarting the race. Those A.I. cars in Hotshot really don't take prisoners.

Whereas Turbo has fuel consumption that you only need to cast half an eye on; Hotshot has a 30 second ticking clock pretty much in your face and checkpoints to pressure you. Another mechanic(pun intended) that makes me lean towards Turbo again..

Not to mention the tempo of the music ratcheting up in Hotshot when the laps tick down; But I kind of like that.

Hotshot has some fun driver characters, replete with cartoonish stereotypical fun and cheesy one liners. They do add a lot to the game.

The cars in Hotshot feel very different based on their stats. That's both good and bad imho. I'd again lean back to Horizon's more subtle car handling and greater car modification system.

Glad I got to try the game but even more glad I own Turbo.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Torchlight 3....

I've only ever played a small bit of the first Torchlight game on PC, which I don't really remember(loaned game disk and never got it back... Game faded away). I did get to try it out on Xbox when it went free with gold. The second game was one I was well into. So in turn Torchlight 3 is of interest to me.

Torchlight 3 has been available as an ongoing early access title for a few months. In that time there have been small and large changes to improve the game and it's mechanics. While I've not really been that interested in the changes or news it's now at a stage where enough has been done to peek my interest and look into it. Everything that I've seen in it's transition from MMO(Frontiers) to the next iteration of the single/co-op Torchlight franchise has made me happy. What I've seen, seems to be good.

I've no hype for it, I'm excited that a good game seems to be closer to release. I'm not going to jump on it immediately but it's on the wish-list and I'll be keeping a closer eye on it.

Idodmg

Vulkan

Multiplayer First Person Shooter Consideration....

My time in Battlefield 1 is making me consider getting into another shooter(I love BF1 but it's getting hard to get consistently good matches!). So I'm back looking to pick a new Battlefield-esque style multiplayer FPS, which in turn has brought me back to reconsider Post Scriptum vs Hell Let Loose.

Previously I was too dismissive of both games as I thought them overly hardcore mil sim-esque.

Time to reconsider.

As I've missed out on free weekends to test I'm going on reviews, opinions, hearsay and videos.

With the next Battlefield game to release looking like a 'modern' themed shooter I'm ok with the WW2 theme of PS and HLL; I think I prefer it. Battlefield 1 has spoiled me on the theme front for too long. Less is more(even with experimental WW1 weapons).

After my recent batch of research(googlin). PS is considered a 'lite' version of ARMA and HLL is a Battlefield-esque style of game in a hardcore mode with a more arcadey feel.

That said it would seem my choice should lean towards HLL. One good reason being that HLL is Battlefield big but not ARMA vast.

Also worth considering is that PS is a launched game whereas HLL is an Alpha that is still under development. I like that Alpha underdog element with regard to loyalty to players. HLL seem to have it; They seem to be answering community problems and applying fixes asap.
Also worth mentioning that even being an 'Alpha' they are compared on par with PS. HLL has potential as well as the momentum to pull that potential off. Not to mention a good looking roadmap going forward.

The official HLL retweeted a video from a YouTuber that captures the game in one. I find it very compelling.

Karmakut

The more I'm looking into both games the more I'm leaning towards HLL.

I even mentioned HLL to a friend that's into Arma3 just to see if his hardcore crew are already into it. They aren't but they are looking for a new game to get into. He said he'd mention it to them; So I have hope that things might turn into something more than me going solo into another multiplayer game. Then again knowing my luck they'll choose Post Scriptum over HLL.

So yea, Hell Let Loose, back on the list to be purchased in the not too distant future.

Twelve Minutes....

I've had an eye on 12 Minutes for a while.. Interesting looking game. My one issue is with it's replayability.... more details needed all round.

Annapurna Interactive

That 'home invader' looks an awful lot like Agent 47.... I hope the game has some Hitman-esque map style replayability.

8-Bit Armies....

I picked up 8-Bit Armies as a sale pack with it's soundtrack and expansion a few weeks ago. While I've seen it before I'd not really felt the need to get it. I already had C&C and it's iterations and the remaster was due. When the remaster hit and I wasn't enthralled by it, so didn't get it. Then I saw a vid on YouTube that used 8-Bit Armies game-play as background footage. Light-bulb! It's a fun take on the genre rather than a serious game. The graphics are cute and colorful 8-bit-ish. There's no narrative or story. Yet it's original Command and Conquer-ish game-play style now appealed to me more. The sale sealed the deal.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Motivation to keep playing the game is due to each map having difficulty based objectives usually with a timer or two. Unlocking campaign maps(70+ in the base game) is simple, completing the previous map on easy(bronze star). The other stars(Silver and gold difficulty objectives) are there for the challenge, if you want. A map may have an easy mode objective of destroying the enemy, medium difficultly could have an objective of not having any of your buildings destroyed(or not to build a unit type) And Hard mode could be to complete everything in 10 minutes.

The better you do on each map; The more map objectives you complete, the more you unlock as a starting loadout. Those extra's add up and can be great time savers going forward; Or backward to a map you didn't get the 3rd star on just yet.

As for my own game-play I'm happy to 'just' do the single player stuff. Definitely not a game I'm playing as a completionist. Not by a long shot. Those day's are well gone for me. I'm happy to unlock maps and potter about with them then move on to the next. It's simple and it's fun. There's a lot of options for game-play. Plenty of modes and maps to faff about with. Single player, co-op or multiplayer(online and lan). I've been having a look/observing muli-player matches..... Well there doesn't seem to be many at all which is a shame. Any time I look there's only 3 or 4 matches in progress; Usually 1v1 or 2v1. Not that I'm looking to take part but I'd say it would be a fun multiplayer game for those inclined that way.

This game has made me more curious to cast an eye on and consider the other 8-bit games(Hordes & Invaders).

Fun is fun. I'll be pottering about with this one for a while to come yet.

Star Trek Online....

Waffle and a rant(ish) - 8/9/20.

I'm still having fun in game even with Red Alert dailies rep mark farming. One event stops and the next event starts. I may not be playing the game a lot per day but I'm playing it daily..... While also getting other stuff done for my characters.

Still working on those rep marks to level said rep on my 'main' Engineering alt.

However R&D on my Jem'Hadar is complete. He's now completed all the Gamma recruit account unlocks(bout time).

Apart from that I've been leveling some alts, doing TFO's for fun. 

It's a game I like being in.... Just doing anything. 

Not much good or interesting in it's doing for a blog but fun is fun.

The Trek Day celebration is 'meh'. It's not like the ships are never shown or not owned by players.... 

Players see and fly them every day! So to see them parked outside Earch Spacedock is..... 'meh'. They don't even have fireworks going off... That would've been 'good'. As would some NPC shuttle traffic going from parked ship to ship.

To be nit picky I have a problem with the order they are parked up in. I have a problem with the inclusion/mix of those ships when they could have been grouped up differently. I have a problem with some of the info that the ships have.... Audio clips and text; Worst of which(for me) is the Enterprise D that uses alternative reality Picard(not mirror, or Picard series Picard, but alternative reality Picard(that Yar Episode) for a voice-over. They could've found better clips from the 'real' Picard TNG time-line but yea nit picky.

Others are good and worth it(like Janeway for Voyager). 

Others are not (like Discovery).

While I can live with Kelvin Trek. I dislike with a passion the newer Trek.... It's not Trek to me and it's dismissive nature of Trek and all Trek that came before it. Season 3 teaser/trailer for Discover makes me hate dislike it even more. Makes me sad for Trek and more passionate about all that came before Discovery/Picard/Lower Decks.....(What the man said). "Star Trek, in particular, has always represented hope..." 🖖, I don't see that in nu Trek. Not at all.

I've tried to ignore stuff, turn a blind eye; But it's like trying to sleep next to a house party, volume at 11 and it's 3a.m. Now nu Trek is more and more in STO it's becoming unavoidable.

At some stage there better be a Q scene where he's looking at alternative realities and does a one liner quick fix get out of jail free-card finger snap; Best for all involved not matter the series. 

Where fans clamor for the joining of Trek universe continuity; There now needs to be separation. Things have altered too dramatically in the 'Nu' shows and the consequences are like tidal waves that flood backwards and cover everything else(very bad retcon).

EDIT 11/09/20 :- That's not the q I wanted!!!!

Star Trek Online....

My Engineer main 'alt' is the worst of the bunch for a neglected reputation system; So I've been running a lot of the current week long red alert event TFO's. Quick and easy to blitz. I aimed yesterday to get at least 100 spare marks for each reputation. Which didn't take long. His reputations are at different stages so some will max out before others. The same can be said for the marks he already had. One or two have way more marks than others. With luck it won't take long to raise the rep levels.

I'll push for more spare marks with the red alert ongoing. Wasted opportunity otherwise.

Even with him on the Temporal dread(he does decent damage); I'm still more conferrable on my KDF Engineer. I'll have to do a comparison and see the traits/setup/abilities between KDF alt and FED main to pinpoint differences.

As for my Jem'Hadar is ongoing with his R&D. I've all but stopped the item creation. I'd flooded the market anyhow. Still it should be done by the end of next week.

Back to my actual main I've moved him from Risa(...I'll miss the event daily...Jetpacks!!) back to ESD and started messing about with some ships and fits. This years event ship has been discharged and it's upgraded fit and some inventory items were better for other ships in the roster so messed about with them. Not sure about the event console.
An endevour was listed for Tetryon damage so got my old main ship out for a spin and was surprised at the DPS(again). An old shoe that still fits well. Same can be said for the Bajoran Interceptor. Seeing as the old main ship did so well I took the interceptor out for a spin as well. Really happy with both. More bottering about for fun needed.

I might have to take the ship that shall not be named out for another spin.... See if it's improved with age(dev patches and tweaks), I don't think there's anything else new I've learned that would alter it's numbers. Lots of differeing opinions on what is 'meta', I go with gut and what works better for me.... Seems to work out the best, for me at least and for fun factor. Big numbers are great to get but not a casual thing to achieve(imho). I don't know what I'm missing on that score.

Last but not least my Xbox character, I moved her to ESD as well and did a Red Alert Daily. It's the first time I can remember that the Xbox and PC events are lock step with each other.



The voyages go on.




P.S.

While CCP may have problems spelling out official Eve Online twitter announcements; Cryptic seems to have a problem with working links in official STO twitter announcements.

Funny how that works out for two Space based games.... Synchronicity....

Minecraft....

A lil'bit'o'minecraft here, a lil'bit'o'minecraft there and the next thing you know your so far away from known territory that you decide to become overlord of a small village.

Rocket propelled Elytra wings are a blessing and a curse. Either way they have a lot to answer for.

One trip to find more pig portals, sorry Ruined Portals; saw me landing on a mountain with a village at it's base. Loot and pillage awaited. They don't need crafting tables, furnaces, blast furnaces, hay-bales, wood or 36 lanterns...... Neither do I, but a trip needs plundered loot!

Long story short and plunder aside I took interest in a village building. I've seen plenty of it's kind in the past but I really liked this version in this location.

Going a stage further I wanted to know what it was made out of (white terracotta and oak everything else); And how it was put together. So some deconstruction was needed. Not only to see the reverse engineering design but to re-purpose the same blocks. Waste not want not.

What villager, I don't see any villager!

Doing my own take on the same design gave a building that was slightly taller, wider and longer than the original villager version. Fun to do and handy enough to put up that I created one for a bit of a home at the end of two long stretches of rail. Not the exact same build, there is not definitive plan or layout but interesting to see what developed from a 'kind of like' template-ish design.

I'm a sucker for some aesthetic details so chairs a table inside and out. Not practical but gives a better 'feel'.

The bottom house has this internal floor layout(not bad for a pitstop/layover):