theHunter: Call of the Wild, free on Epic at the mo(free is free after all, I don't buy off that store) and with the current Steam sale is -75% off. Either way not a game I was looking to get into. A friend plays it and every now and then I see he's added another DLC(there seems to be a lot of them). The only thing that draws me to the game, is interest in the visuals. It's a beautiful looking game.
It does look really picturesque. It's a true simulation. In action it doesn't disappoint. The game physics in action work as well as the game looks. The little details are all there from setting sun through the tree's to the cloud, rain, wind etc. It's all visuals, it's all audio and it's all atmosphere. It's just not a game for me. Great to see in person, I can get how a player so inclined would be into it.
EA may not be the flavor of the month(Year? Decade?) but a search of games from 2006(for PC) lead me to a game I'd played; The Godfather. A thematic GTA-ish game that I played to bits back in the day. I'm no massive fan of the film but I do like it and the trilogy(not getting mired in the which is better lark). It's a decent to good game, even with nostalgia glasses on these days.
My original disk installed on Windows 10 with no issues. The only problem was with playing the movie clips in game. There's a workaround where you need to rename the 'movies' folder within the install directory. A pity as progress in game is linked to the overall story of the first movie and plays those clips to link the game to the movie.
It's not all bad as the in game scenes still work perfectly fine so is very playable and still follow the story. Looking at the game graphics with a modern eye is 50/50, some things are passable and others are aged. Even for it's day it wasn't bleeding edge.
There's give and take and even with no nostalgia and a bit of forgiveness for a 15 year old game it still has playability.
The body shot aiming works even if the lock on system is a bit aggressive.
The cover system works. No complaints there.
The GTA-esque in game systems also work. Save points, skill levels, progression ranks. They work.
Unlocking all the execution styles was interesting and a bit of a motivation as I recall.
Character customization is good given the limitations of the day. Still, getting a 'proper' hat was a big thing.
Making it to Underboss is the 'end game' and there are no more main quests. Still there's plenty to do. Assassinations, extort every business, take over all the rockets, exterminate all the other families.
Also, buy all safe-houses for 100% completion of all content. Then you become Don. I liked the game but I was not into the end game grind for the sake of it. Some things never change for me. I ended the gameplay and moved on to other games having enjoyed my stay.
With this recent reinstall I spent about an hour in game from scratch to readjust and play the game. It was still fun. It's aged but the gameplay is still there.
Pottering away with missions, mining, trading and many games of 8-ball I've both fully upgraded Bountiful Vista and have a Blood Eagle.
There's been no disappointment with the ship, I've even upgraded some weapons and equipment.
Doing some more missions got enough credits which 'made an upgrade' to a Coyote(always looking at the next rung up the ladder) easier. One successful mission in Eureka later in it and I 'downgraded' back to the blood eagle! I barely survived it. Too much damage was being done too fast to me. If not for police and a buddy to help I'd have failed it.
Despite the 'difficulty' being a system set semi dynamic (ship/equipment) calculation, it's not an easy thing to get a gut feeling for. I've been in 'better' ships(on paper) and still been crushed faster in low end 'starter' systems.... I don't 'get' it.
Getting back into the Blood Eagle I felt I had upgraded enough to try the Durgan fight again. My new Blood Eagle and upgraded gear was stomped on faster in the Durgan fight than in ships I'd been in previously. While not feeling as down as I had about that first ship upgrade. I'm questioning the grind to get all the best gear because I've no idea if that's whats really needed to survive the fight. It's still a fight that a player reaches early in the game story arc; It shouldn't be that hard! Should it?
Progress is still progress; I've made some. This is another bump in the road. As for driving on from here, a break from the game may be needed. No Eureka moment.
Across both PC and Xbox I'm still playing more PC, no real surprise.
On Xbox my character interactions are a distilled version of what I do on PC. A form of character maintenance mode. Log in, collect/setup R&D, Doff assignments, Admiralty/Reputations, refine dil and complete the daily of the day/week/month with a character. Not a lot of work on 3 characters but it adds up over time, time wise. I miss less gameplay as the increase in daily events has increased. The three characters there are a temporal tactical 'main'(She's really an Engineer but everything is played as Tactical)! A Jem'Hadar Fed aligned tactical. The third is the first of my 3 Delta recruits, a level 47 Federation, you guessed it, tactical character. While I'm happy to potter away with them, casual as can be I'm not pushed about their advancement and completion. If that level 47 reaches 65 then I'll move onto one of the the other two Delta recruits(3 needed to gain all Delta rewards). The other two, KDF and Romulan(FED) are in statis.... As is a level 7 Romulan that became obsolete when the Delta recruits came back. Still an option for deletion. Then again I rarely do that unless space is an issue.
Where's the fun....? In the doing for the most part. The novelty has worn off slightly but it's still a different enough version of the game to be 'interesting'. The more I get into really doing things on any of those characters I'm nagged by my brain that I need stick with PC characters instead. I used to use the Xbox version as a simplified break from PC but as the game has pushed for more daily events one after another it's now a case of needing to not play both to take that break.
On PC like on Xbox the daily logins continue. Which are more intricate and detailed as I do login and 'do' all the same things that are relevant on all my characters(rep etc is only really done on the lowest 'newer' characters etc).
My main KDF recruit is only a handful of TFO's away from completing all his transponder items. Which crept up faster than I thought it would. With his done all recruit types will be complete and all account rewards unlocked.
Given how much of the newer content is Discovery based I'm still surprised that the Discovery class of recruit character doesn't have a transponder for doing such Discovery content.... Maybe in the future? Not something I'm really looking for, but now that I've done with all else..... I'm willing to consider alternatives....
The two characters I've been 'messing' about with the most have been my second Jem'Hadar and my Ferengi characters. Both Federation aligned and both with ships themed on their species. While the Ferengi worked out well, the Jem'Hadar has fared less so. I've just not had the time to really 'do what it takes' to get him in his ship up to speed.... I'm still hoping I can learn(still so many video's to watch!)
He's behind me ... isn't he...... !!!!
I've had another hankering for a themed character. A good while ago (years?) I got to claim the Caitian Atrox Carrier. I don't remember how I got to claim it or why, I'm 80% thinking it was free for some reason.....
But it and a Caitian character have been on my mind. Again I had thought the Caitian race were unlocked for me but it's only the KDF version the Ferasan. Which again I think was free, from an STO anniversary. So 2+2 = Farasan in a Caitian Atrox Carrier. For no other reason than the faintest hint of being thematic. Plus it'll push me to 'know more' about these larger ships and fitting them out.
That said I found it funny that the Fleet version of the Atrox Carrier was listed as CounterYolo Gaming's, fourth worst science vessel in the game. If that's the fleet version then the 'normal' iteration is 'bad'. As well as all that I wanted to level the character without any account unlock items and only use the carrier when he reached level 65.... All that in consideration I'm still going to 'do it' just for funnsies and 'interest'. What could go wrong!
A short post for a long process; Just like taking those last few hitpoints from the last boss herself.
The last two Crimson Court boss dungeons are ones I've spent a lot more time on. Thankfully this last week week or so saw the end of the Countess.... Finished with eight and a half minutes of combat(progress, progress, progress). Progress in the NG+ save has been slow at my own request. It's been so long since I defeated the Baron! Even longer since The Miller! My own fear of the tasks ahead causing more delay than the doing of their completion. Fear of a grind, fear of RNG. If not fear than a repulsion of the game due to those negative feel, a revulsion of defeat; As strong a demotivator as victory is a motivator. I did it before I can do it again, hedge bets and pile in!
As with most boss fights(and combat in general) it's a matter of survival, that being healing. Which in turn is RNG based(what isn't). Maybe I've been lucky but I've pushed some groups under stress and wasting effects to the limits and gotten away with it. Anyway The Countess is defeated. I've also taken some time to defeat the Garden Guardian a few times for the extra trinkets. Something that I should probably persist with for another 10 runs! It's doable, just time consuming.
Whats left to 'really do'. One boss the Sleeper from The Farm. That boss will be a grind. Again the fear of that long process 'may' delay things. Especially after just finishing the Crimson Court. Burnout plays a factor. As much as I love the game I need a break as much as any of the Heroes on the roster.
If(When) I do defeat The Sleeper I'll consider the save complete. That'll be two saves and two full runs completed, 'normal'(Stygian) and 'hard'(NG+, Bloodmoon; NG+ is technically completed). After that there's just easy mode.... 'Radiant'. That is along way off.... I see a break if I get back to the game and a further longer break before I do return for Radiant.... Trying not to apply pressure to gameplay.... Fun in accomplishment from a long journey needs to be savored.
I've waffled about my retro, back in the day Halo, OG Xbox times.... I've gotten all re-retro nostalgic in a 2019 post; Getting and playing games I'd not had back then(like here). While I still stand behind my previous posts(for the most part); I can say I was wrong in the Xbox platform having a fade away effect on me. Since 2019 if anything the platform and PC have been even more joined at the hip by the Ultimate subscription. As such I've been 'more into' the Xbox platform(Star Trek Online, Darkest Dungeon, Battlefield 1, all games I play on PC as well). The lists of games go on ..... Cross-platform games the big winner.
So why an I waffling about all this... The Master Chief Collection. I've taken another look. Last time I was nonplussed about the new v old textures(very 1st world problem). This time round I'm more appreciative of the new and of the switch new to old and back texture option. I still think some of the older stuff is better..... But each to their own.
Old frozen waterfall:
New frozen waterfall:
Pluses and minuses to each but to the eye of the beholder it's each to their own.
Which has all driven me to play more but mainly for achievements. Being in a non said achi point competition can lead to a person doing things that they wouldn't normally do... This is mine.
Anyway this all lead to an interesting moment. The location of that frozen waterfall is a large area filled with enemies, small to large, with plenty of enemies in vehicles, including a tank. When the combat was all said and done one grunt decided to take a post combat time out; Must've been all that running about he did.
Gameplay has been casual as casual can be. Combat but only minor combat as I'm not stretching myself to the limits on that side of the game. Even then I'm waiting for the buddy timer to cooldown. I've probably done more 'radio negotiation', all peaceable like, than combat. Unsurprisingly communicating does seem to work with a better success rate on an empty cargo-hold. Some things just need to be done and combat was getting in the way.
Not that I've been doing much of other 'activities' either. Many, many games of 8-ball do help earn some cash, get free items and are still 'fun' for me. The 8-ball mini game is as fun and casual as you can get, especially if I'm watch a YouTube vid on the side, as well as semi afk mining in Eve Online on another screen.... Who says I can't multitask.....
Overall Bountiful Vista has been the focus of my attention in game.
All the main parts of the station upgrades have been done.
Mission Board..... Check
Equipment Bay.... Check
Bar....................... Check
Ship Bay.............. Check
Only the bar extension is left for upgrades. Dice Poker, slots, arcade game and of course a Pool table.... I look forward to that last part. Not so much the Dice as I suck at it......(blaming the RNG of course!!)
It's a pity that there aren't any options for Commodities for the station; Then again that could be used to really mess up the A.I. market buy/sell ecosystem. Lead it to be 'gamed'. Would've been nice to have a sale point at the very least, for 'acquired' cargo, legal or not.....
No Merchant or Merc Guild is a bit of a pity as well but again if there were all those missions on top of the mission board you'd never leave the system or jump more than a few systems ever again.
Still it's 'nice' to have a base to call 'my own', provide some passive income and have as a safe haven.
As for goals outside of adding the mini games to the bar, I 'need' to earn 100k credits to buy a new ship. Upgrading weapons is nice but a new ship is going to make a 'real' difference. That said I was aiming for a Durston. Just to try out with no expectations, not like last time!(here and here). That may also be because of the miner/hauler calling in me.... Then again there's an upgraded version of the ship I'm currently in, an interesting one for sure.... Maybe I should double down on credits for it instead! Either and anyway I'm going to try and make a lot of profits....
Again I've been both dedicated and lax with my daily login of STO.... Sometimes I'm thorough and sometimes not so much. I guess that means I really am casual. STO gaming again hampered with timings. Real life is real life. The usual daily cool-down(of 20 hours) means a late login one day followed by an early login the next can lead to skipping a lot till a further day goes past when things have been reset way in advance due to that 'disregard'. Not that I'd be an up to the second min/maxing player but there's still an 'old skool' gamer urge to not waste a second(old habits die hard); Which I think comes more from my original Eve Online days, when a skill queue was fixed/limited at 24 hours(adding long skill times for overflow to the end few minutes to stretch things out)....
So whats been happening with me in STO this last while..... Same'ol, same'ol, that's a good thing. Fun still had.
The Halloween event was fun overall, a change form other years for sure and one that I appreciated. A new ground TFO with a theme and mechanics that made it interesting.
Those TFO mechanics, a lot like escape rooms were enjoyable, ranging from having to read(and many team mates didn't), to following instructions(and many team mates didn't), to plain all out DPS keeping mobs in certain area's(and many team mates didn't). As with most Dungeons in most games you get good groups and you get not so good groups. I got to run a good few of my lower end characters through it to do the daily and gain them some XP(points not leveling) and rep marks.
Speaking of which, unimpressed JemHadar is still unimpressed. My second(pun?) Jem'Hadar is now at a stage where I'm semi happy with him in the ship. It's got DPS output but not a great amount. I can join TFO's and 'help' but it's very mediocre. Buffs, pets and pray. Meh....... Moving on to another character.... Too much time and effort needed to do anything serious with the character. Dil farming retirement for him.
The event mirror warship reward is a ship I've used on characters to gain a trait for the sake of it as I grind out rep marks..... The other T6 promotional Temporal ship was used in the same way. Interesting ships for a week but not ships to use as any mainstay on any character... My account has so many options built up it's kind of ridiculous. So much can build up over time.
The latest patch with it's updates has been a really good one to see in game. Adding in the specific EVA suit slot has been great. I admit to some nostalgia loss as I removed rebreathers on some characters! They are still useful but as your character will switch automatically to an EVA suit in toxic zones your better to have a suit you want rather than a forced basic suit. Which also opens up a device slot on a character to add another 'utility' item.
The EVA suit change made for a lot of upkeep admin per character and for each their bridge crew setup as well. Looking at some of the setup's I had they indeed needed the TLC time, updating armour/shield/weapon and new eva suit.
The latest Red Alert event while being a daily has felt less so given the last few months of ongoing events. I say that a lot about a lot of the repeatable content... Maybe I'm overly familiar with some content. Each to their own. I'm kind of looking forward to the winter event.
The latest updates to graphics, explosions and damage to ships has been good to see as well.
Maybe it's just me but graphics for STO on Xbox (like a lot of other games I can PC on XBOX compare) appear to be softer. This makes the explotion update on Xbox look even better(imho).
Seeing the latest updates to even the splash screens on STO Xbox looks 'better'. Again that could just be me and the longer things don't change the more outdated things seem/look. The newer splash screens make all the difference to me. Little differences.
I've been trying to help with some of my wife's alts and I have. Even if we both benefit co-op character wise; I'm still finding more of her game-time is started by doing things with my characters than vice-versa. Husband C+ must try harder...
The more I try to learn about STO the more I run into leetism. Trying to find info on STO it seem's that it's either teaching or preaching and nothing in between. So leetism is still a growing concern. The last week has let me see players with capability bemoan players who question their high DPS. If I come across a high DPS player in a TFO I'm happy n couldn't give a toss. It gets me out of the TFO quicker and on to something else. For my part I question the replication of outcomes based on ship/fit and character trait duplication. There are so many stat multipliers that are so different from character to character never mind player to player that the bemoaning players saying 'get gud' by spending time and cash to learn is leetism in itself. Funny how some gamers can go on youtube, give pointers, say whats good in general and not be bÃtchy. Yet gamers in the wrong setting, reddit, twitter etc and everything turns sour quickly. Social media giveth and taketh away on so many fronts.
I'm waffling, what the fk do I know.
There are only so many hours in the day and I've more than just STO to have fun with never mind real life. My STO YouTube backlog of learning is ever growing by the hour:
