Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered....

Curiosity got the better of me. Looking at the remaster brings back nostalgia; So I hopped back into the game and it's world for a bit. Seeing as it was 'free' via EA Play through Xbox Ultimate Gamepass.... 

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Just like it's original release I've had fun with it. The graphics at least in my view aren't that big a deal; I think it aged well so they're not enough of an upgrade for me to consider buying the remaster. Having played the game back in the day it's also not enough to start regrinding in game efforts again. Fun to see for free... 

A Casual Carebear Gamer

On a harsher note; If I've not bothered to load up the original in years then I'm not the target audience for the remaster...... To play the original these days would need me to unpack an Xbox 360, as the old disk is not backward compatible on Xbox One....  That's effort. 

If I was tempted to play it again I'd just go get the remastered version on PC from Steam....

World of Tanks....

Well it got me back to the game alright, for about 3 minutes.... Of course they have to be 'purchased'...... What was I thinking.... Cool as the theme and tanks are....Sod that.

World of Tanks....

Well this is bringing me back to the game.... Just to see. Last time didn't go so well for me.

Just need to wait for the 14GB patch.....

Well..... That's Cool....https://t.co/HPaNb1AFWc

— A Casual (Carebear) Gamer 🇮🇪 🇪🇺 (@ACasualCarebear) June 29, 2021

Games with Gold....

That time again, more Games with Gold.

Conker Live & Reloaded; A classic of the classic Xbox era but one franchise I've never been into. I'm finicky with platformers. Either they click or not. Good as this one may be, even looking back with a retro eye, I doubt I'll play it. I'll claim it of course.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break; Another classic franchise and again another I've never been 'into'. While I can find humour in the Monty Phthon style I'm not a fan..... Heresy I know. It just doesn't do much for me. Still Monty Python is Monty Python, there are moments(like here and here). I'm not a total philistine.

Midway Arcade Origins; Has a ton of classics. I'll be hopping in to this and trying out some of them. Some being: Defender, Rampage, Smash TV, Cyberball, Vindicators and most of all Rampart.

Planet Alpha is by far the one game this month I'll probably sit down to spend time with. I'm not sure if I ever saw this in the past but given, as I've said, my 'finicky take on platformers that's no surprise. This one does seem to 'do it' for me. So in turn I'll be giving it a good try.

So two I'll play and two I'll claim just because free is free; 50-50 split, not a bad month again.

Maneater....

Maneater, maneater, maneater; I've been waiting for Maneater for a good few years. I liked it's initial release info during the PCGaming Show of E3 2018. Something new, different and fun.

Development time lead to an Epic store exclusive which lead to more dev time and a release on Epic and another year wait and more waiting.... It was finally released on Steam last month (May 25th 2021). 

That's almost a three year wait. 

That same launch event had another games initial release info; Two Point Hospital. Another quirky and fun game to watch.... And play. I did and have since played it to death a long time ago. No real waiting required...... Strange/funny how things go like that.

So in balance, from that E3 show I got a game I had to wait for and another I got to play soon after. Never mind wait times...The real difference in retrospect is that I really, really like Two Point Hospital and Maneater is 'just' OK. Both games with their own flaws but one has some that are more forgivable than others. Spoiler... It's not Maneater.

During that 3 year wait time I've seen and watched a good few Youtubers playManeater and while not spoiling to much for myself kept my interest afloat. But in the end I decided not to buy.

So why waffle about a game I've not bought; Thankfully the joys of Xbox Ultimate allowing access to games and has let me play Maneater for no cost other than what I was already paying for Ultimate..... 

The youtubers I've watched had issues with the game. Mainly the lock on control choice; And I can now see why as it's annoying A.F. Range based 'auto-change' as a target lock is a bad mechanic here because there are so many targets. Especially in some of the tighter game spaces(tunnels/sewers). The games controller setup is also a bit of a head wrecking experience, at least for me. That's coming from a gamer who is enjoying the button mashing of Hades right now. Anyway for me the controls are not intuitive. So much so that I'd rather not use some moves and stick to basic lunging attacks. 

Submerge, target, lunge and or lunge jump. If it wasn't for the epic sounds of the targets(mainly human) and the commentator/humour it could've been a game that got stale faster.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Once you do get used to the controls it's fast and responsive even with button mashing... Which kind of works as a theme for the game that it is. There's satisfaction at the speed and chomping nature of your shark. Way overthinking it but still... There's fun in it's doing.

For the most part it all 'works'. But it has it's frustrations for me. There's a grind element that's 'off-putting' for me. Gotta constantly feed the eating machine I guess. I do get that, but it reached the level of feeling like work early on. Filler for the sake of it. Your mileage may vary. 

The game still looks good, the comedy and 'story' are still entertaining etc. But if you go all in on just following the main story you'll go through area's too fast. I guess it's good to say that the game doesn't limit you..... Only it does if you want more from it.... The grind is due to brick walls of difficulty in the game. Your next objective is an enemy 5 levels above you so you need to grind the 'latest' area to get to a comparable level and then do it and move on. Motivation gets lost in that doing. At least for me. Work feels like work. Which all leaves me with a very 'meh' feeling for the game and no motivation to pick up a controller to get back to it. Maybe I'm overly cautious in game. Maybe I'm too much of a completionist. Maybe I should 'get gud'......

I don't know how gamers are being completionist with the entire game in 'just' 10 to 12 hours. Surely that's 'just' for main story pushers. That said it's a short game if you 'just' go for the main story-line. 

Take the first area, by the time I'd explored and collected about half of it's items/collectibles I was 25% through the main story....

The grind shows inconsistency to the flow of the game overall. Mini roadblocks; Not insurmountable but as a personal perspective something that didn't feel right to me. Maybe that's the completionist in me on one hand and the over-thinker on the other.....

Why grind this to see how the story goes when there's not much to it). Why do it when I could be in other games feeling like I'm making much more 'real' progress(cough HADES cough). 

Each to their own again.... 

I keep finding myself drifting off to other games rather than going back to Maneater. It's all subjective.

If I'd bought the game myself I'd be a bit disappointed but then again it would probably motivate me in persisting with gemplay. Trying to get value out of it. That's not a great reason for game motivation.

Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed parts of the game. But as is I can live with it being 'free' and being disappointing, while thanking myself for not buying it and swimming on.

P.S. On a side note.... Achievements show a playerbase that whittles down over time by area with about 15 to 20% being 'into' the game across a broad range of game mechanics/leveling...

But the broader plaeyrbase really is lacking given these other percentages.

The Settlers 2 GOLD....

The Settlers II, Gold edition. I've hazy memories of little plebs in blue and a land of yellow icons overlayed on terrain.... 

My main memory of the game are the sounds. Fake bird chirps, surveyor 'yippee' and the midi music....

The tutorial level is a massive nostalgia buzz as the Demo was 'mainly it' from what I can remember.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Even back in 1996 I never owned the game. I played the heck out of a demo from a magazine disc way back when. The Gold Edition, all singing, all dancing version from 1997 seemed a good one to get. As of posting the game it's -75% off, so it's €2.49 down from 9.99 on GoG. The nostalgia bug bit and I bought it.

I've no saved games from it back then so no reloading to be done. I'm sure I made an executive decision to delete it's old demo saves.... Space was a precious commodity back then.  Also being new to PC gaming back then I'm sure I had a lot of other 'full' titles to keep me occupied(some things never change). Civ II I recall had more of my attention. 

I'll plod along with it for a bit but I can't see myself devoting massive time to it; Not unless it just happens to soak up the time as I get all nostalgic. It's one of those games where your can blink and then find your a few hours in. A game where there's joy in 'just' doing.  AKA 'One more turn' -esque.

Settlers II then as now has a cute art style which seem's to be more cute as a retro title than was ever intended/anticipated. 

It's a decent game even now. Just don't overthink it. Again.....I'm not sure I'll be piling hours into it but I've had some fun already. Nostalgia is a big thing in that regard. It happens. If you've never seen it before then I think a 'younger' more 'modern' audience will think it a slow 'boring' game. Despite the draw of the art style it may now be more of a love it or not kind of gameplay title. Each to their own. 

Then again at a few euro for a 20+ year old game can a person really complain.... Yea; It's the internet, who doesn't complain about everything regardless.

If the art style and slower game-play appeal then it's worth a try. Really worth a try if you have any form of nostalgia with it. Even if that's from 'just' the demo from back in the day like me. If not, well then, enough said.

There's an equally cheap and updated version of the game available directly from Ubisoft. Which does add Win10 compatibility and graphical improvements (details here); All of which does nothing for me as my nostalgia is the main driver for getting the GoG version. It 'is' the old software. While the 'newer' version is akin to a remaster for the true fans/die-hards of the title.

REPLACED....

REPLACED, looks to be an amazing game..... My attention was drawn to it the moment I saw it. Not least because it shares a lot of game looks/style and gameplay elements as a now new 'replacement' in my gaming wishlist for The Last Night. 

While The Last Night has had a long and winding development history and pause or whatever state/limbo it seems to be in..... I would still like to see it come out as a game..... As is that's not happening and so yea REPLACED looks to sate a lot of the same gaming needs. So much so I can believe the conspiracy theorists out there saying its the same devs's/crew etc..... Still worth a look either way!

Coatsink

___________________

On a side note The Last Night used the Acid Rain track from Lorn. Which has lyrics and visuals that are more than they seem. All good and interesting, but not that long I saw a Youtube video of a metal version of that song... Worth mentioning as it 'rocks'!

ArtificialFear

Star Trek Online....

Speaking of which:

Starting next week, Captains on PC can make a Gamma Recruit by making a new Jem'Hadar character!https://t.co/tcoEhxXplB pic.twitter.com/pQN9shPK7q

— Star Trek Online (@trekonlinegame) June 17, 2021

Star Trek Online....

Jem'Hadar, the foot soldiers of the Dominion. As a 'special' playable character within the Star Trek Online game; 'Gamma recruits' are interesting to play. They allow a gamer/player to have massive role-play options; If that's not a consideration then they do offer a high level starting character which skips the 'early game' leveling; Akin to Death Knights in WoW. So if noting else a practical shortcut. I've waffled a lot about my own 'main' Gamma recruit in the past(On PC like here and on Xbox like here). Despite taking my time(see here and here) to fully gain my(PC) Jem'Hadar's transponder rewards. He's now a fully ranked up Starbase desk jockey. The Xbox version is still on a long long finger.

This is a long way of saying that when playing the game, no matter the version every idle Jem'Hadar character 'looked drunk'. Swaying in place. I always wondered why.

I'd often wondered if players had set them to 'have that look' as a cosmetic choice; And/or if there was something in the meta to have htem that way.....

But it wasn't till my own Jem'Hadar on Xbox was doing the same thing that I realized the role-play element ran deeper than I knew.... 

Seeing it this time round on my own character it hit me ....  I'd never given my character a 'hit' of Ketracel White. The Jem'Hadar aren't drunk... They have withdrawal symptoms! 

It's not just an optional buff for these characters to take. They ARE effected when they don't get it. Just like in the show. Talk about character building! 

A lot of players will dismiss it, or never notice the swaying or call 'duh of course' on it, but that the effect is in game is great!

How do you 'fix' it.?!? Go see a Vorta of course!!

The Dominion has an office on Deep Space Nine. Across form the Replimat.

Inside are the faction specific NPC vendors for Jem'Hadar bridge officers, weapons etc.... And the Vorta Loriss. While she features in a lot of storyline content, her permanent place of 'residence' in game is this DSN office. At least for this version of her Vorta clone.

Talk to her and she has the dialogue that all Vorta in the Star Trek franchise utter.

The White can be claimed from her once every 20 hours.

This journey of discovery was later diminished when I read some info that any Jem'Hadar can replicate white for free in unlimited amounts....  Inventory -> Replicator....

Two sides to the coin; I guess I'm more appreciative of the role-play way.

Speaking of which:

Starting next week, Captains on PC can make a Gamma Recruit by making a new Jem'Hadar character!https://t.co/tcoEhxXplB pic.twitter.com/pQN9shPK7q

— Star Trek Online (@trekonlinegame) June 17, 2021

Palia....

Palia. An MMO, a new MMO, a different MMO coming to fruition. Like a fantasy Stardew Valley as a multiplayer/co-op MMO.

Palia Official Announcement Trailer:

Palia

It looks like a great game. There's a game who's aspects scream sweet, cute, fun and well.... super carebear. I've signed up and fingers crossed I get into the Pre Alpha. 

Perhaps another game that both mywife and I can play together. She has Farm Together, I have Stardew Valley so maybe Palia can bridge the two....

An ultimate chill MMO.

Really looking forward to seeing more about it. Early days yet!

A community member has compiled a google doc of all the known 'ask the dev' info...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ECHPsDvyC0KP6ldYRaeFtmR0mhwBVGckWEPcH_zNc7E/edit#

This youtuber has done a good video read of that doc.

PixelShaun

Battlefield 6....

Battlefield 6(2042); My initial gut reaction for the new game is that it's 'just' a futuristic Battlefield 4 that really does nothing for me or the franchise(imho). Maybe I'll be proved wrong.... 

I'm not new to multiplayer FPS games, let alone Battlefield games. So for now......."Meh"...... Very, very meh! 

A multiplayer game set in the future, given a narrative for that future take but with no campaign....

Right.... 

No campaign is being 'sooooooooo' touted as a good thing. Ball'socks!

They may as well have called it Battlefield Infinite. Yea I don't like that Call of Duty titles futuristic take either, never mind this. Then again CoD Advanced Warfare may be a better likeness... Still.... Why would Battlefield go down that route!!! Still chasing CoD..... BF's CoD complex! Still?!

This new game piles on Battlefield turning into a non tactical Call of Duty path only being a big Nuketown, battle royal wannabe via the hype of shills(SO MUCH BS!)... Without a battle royal mode...... 

Night Ops. Great BF4 mode and good to see it back in another BF game but proves BF6 is BF4 in disguise....

Maybe it's just me but there seems to be so many people 'sooooooooo excited' about it.... All I can do is raise an eyebrow and wonder what the excitements about. Really, whats new about it. It's cloning Battlefield 4 with a futuristic skin. It's a modded BF4.....

Been there, done that. 

Proof of the pudding will be the game balance... Given BF5 is what it is I have no faith. This could all crash and burn fast on it's first day out.... Hello Cyberpunk! It's how 'big' games roll these days.

Dynamic weather...... Big maps with a sandstorm...... I'm still seeing that in Battlefield 1. 

Battlefield 1 will live on for some time yet! 

A.I. Bots!?! What is this 1999 in Unreal Tournament!?!?! This makes me have no faith in a pure Multiplayer game if it's got a big 'party mode' element to it. Bots for multiplayer but still no super a.i. for a campaign?!! The gunplay balance of this game better be the shizz. I'm really waffling now....

Battle passes..... (insert eye-roll meme of choice here). 

Yea the more I see enthusiastic views about the game the more frustrated I get. It's like all the franchise history be it the games/game modes or the meta are lost to history after 6 months!!! Touting the same ol'mechanics,(metric ton of sarcasm)whatever next, collapsing buildings? OR maybe a player could put C4 on a quad bike and ram into someone..... Imagine that!!!!!!!! 

So yea..... 'Meh' is as good as it gets for now.

Lets see how this all works out.....

Battlefield 1....

A video I'd delayed/was 'stuck in editing héll' finally for out of the draft stage. Noting like a bank holiday weekend to free things up and clear some backlog. The footage is from a few weeks ago when Frontlines was the theme of the week(s). I'm quiet happy with the edit. That may be down to more luck than 'mad skillz'. I'm biased as it's all the best bits of a match that went my way; And I like the music. It all 'just' came together.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Battlefield 1....

More often than not I get to play a few matches of whatever mode is the current 'theme of the week' each night. The last few nights I've 'enjoyed' (more or less) a return to 'Back to Basics'. An acquired taste for sure but one I'm into these days.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

While I'd not call BF1 a dead game it's not in it's prime either. BFV being what it is has also helped BF1's longevity. Still getting a server with players can be a feast or a famine. I've found that I need to be online earlier (7PM-ish) or really late(1a.m.-ish) to get 'decent' EU servers. Still no guarantee there wont' be wall hack/cheaters etc.... These things happen and they usually get a torrent of abuse from both sides which can be entertaining in itself.

Anyway, I've had a lot of good matches. Recently I've tried a few times to do up a post and a video but like my blogging in general it's all been delayed, put aside and unfinished. Such is life. Drafts to get back to at some stage.... Some time.... Later......Maybe....

Domina....

Speaking of which....

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Domina....

Yesterday saw the release of DOMINA v1.2.90. After a long Beta testing 'phase' the fruits of the labor are officially released.

I love the game and enjoy it often but I think being able to access all the now released content free via the Beta had spoiled me. 

Gamers can still take full advantage of the 'free' access to all the new features/content via the Beta(for now). Reliability with the Beta goes to show how well it's being developed/managed and tweaked. A real life gladiators struggle in that I'm sure.

Anyway I purchased the new DLC....