Sunday, 30 July 2023

Old is new, new is old, fun is fun....

Same'ol same'ol. More or less. Wouldn't be having fun otherwise.

With the Steam post Summer sale, sale on. Steam Stealth Fest was of no interest to me. Two games on my wish-list were on 'sale' but not enough of a sale. Not enough of a sale with the amount of DLC I'd need to make them a 'buy'.

Sniper Elite 5 and Hitman 3 are both games I've taken advantage of via demo/free weekends and of course through the Xbox Ultimate pass for PC. While I'd aim for physical copies those are a thing of the past and not even GoG can sate my 'need' for ownership. I'm all in on Steam and I'll sink or swim with that ship. Too big to fail(like Microsoft)? Anyway.
 
Sniper Elite 5 has a proverbial excrement ton of DLC, even with all the sale off pricing it's expensive. I'm under no pressure; I can wait. It's a good game in retrospect(I looked at it here, here and here), different than it's previous iterations but one to pick up cheap. I'll appreciate it more then. Besides I'm sure a lots been ironed out since then.... Right!
 

Hitman 3 has been in a state of flux with it's developer/distribution since the first one came out. There has been good and bad elements mainly due to DLC/pricing/distribution/iterations/versions(stuff like my time here and here as well) and the odd random clusterfaaaaak now an then(like Epic exclusivity etc). Again retrospectively I've played it I've had fun and now I'd like to 'own' it all(good and gooderer). I'm just still not there yet with a buy.


 
 
 
 
World of Warcraft....
 
With the alt boost for post 60 day characters I subbed for a month and have played the game. Alt'ing myself up. Upgrading them with the boost benefits and enjoying the asset/character management side of things. While trying to assist my wife as she actually plays the game, seriously.

 
That said the tweet above was also of interest. Having a character in the mid 20's(leveled with on eof my wife's characters), it seemed like a nice way to get back to both the game and a character to play with my wife. Which I did, gained the quest to claim the mount, went to do the handin and was stopped by a brick wall. Neither myself or my wife ever took part of the Battle for Azeroth expansion. Which explains why we says no NPC's in the main city and so no handin(even as we could see the gold ? for its location). Neither of us has the current motivation to do the 10(or so) part quest chain. Neither of us have done that in full... One or two characters have done some part way..... Maybe we were overthinking it and we'll get into it.... https://www.warcrafttavern.com/wow/guides/how-to-unlock-the-battle-for-azeroth-war-campaign-portal-room/





Eve Online....

Since I last posted I've not even touched the launcher never mind the game...

To further waffle on, again I still shouldn't be surprised by CCP going this route but I still can't get why they did so; Or rather I can't see why CCP would sully CCP with bad faith to sell out their beloved player base for cash.... I really shouldn't be surprised. A games company that could be so much better for players and still make a profit. Players, gamers, as customers are being used, really 'used'. Such a shítty situation. Glad the bulk of the community see's it the same way(more or less).

OZ_Eve





Mini Metro and Mini Motorways....

Two great games(Metro and Motorways) with ongoing content and updates. Reaching it's 10 year mark. I was initially confused by thinking that I'd missed out on Mini Metro on Steam but it's been out 8 years(2015) there; So it must have had a life before Steam...

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/287980/view/3676674869985617675
 

So on both games I've put in some time to see the latest maps and their challenges.

 
Seeing the games, especially Mini Metro as well as the PR push on the social medias has me wondering about the game on Android. Which I did get. I'm sure Motorways will make it there eventually as well.



 
 
 
Planet Crafter....

One of those games it's hard to put down and leave; I just find myself back in it. Asset management, export for the sake of export and a 'base' rearrangement for the sake of rearrangement than to live with what 'will do'. So useful but not necessary. Fun in it's doing and a time sink, blink and three hours have passed. Part of the joy.






Darkest Dungeon....

More of the same here as well so not as much done or worthy of mention.
 
Progress is progress; Game fun is game fun.
 
 
I did get a Grave Robber up to level 6 completing all classes of heroes(for this play-through).
 





Euro Truck Simulator 2 & ATS....

The next expansion seems to be getting closer to release.

The latest update video for American Truck Sim is looking good as well. I may not have a lot of content on that side of the coin but as with most patches/updates, the quality of life 'bleed through' is always good.


A live stream over last Christmas gave a discussion of the ETS 2/ATS game engine being incompatible withe consoles; They also talked about updating and changes to the game engine allowing console developments. I hope that happens. The console players deserve it as much as SCS do. 
Non truck hauler games like Snowrunner aside I was interested in seeing what games on console were out there today to please my ETS 2/ATS trucking needs. 
A void does get filled after all; I've been down a rabbit hole of truck comparison on Xbox. Mainly between two games. One better than the other and even that better choice has a lot of issues. Delay's, broken DLC/mechanics, prices etc, etc. Neither ideal but when they are all a player can get; So yea a void gets filled. 
ETS 2 and ATS may have the PC market sown up but to have a clone(even in an arcade style more than Sim) of such games on console was not a thing I knew about till I saw trailers. The better of the choices was Truck Driver. I've seen some other similar games of less quality before but not heard of this branch of the 'clone' market for Trucks. As it's own thing, fleshed out with a character and story narrative; It has me looking at it as a somewhat worthy game. Even if it's got so many cloned elements..... Then again it doe show a lot of it's own ideas.... So it's worthy. Looking at it with interest at least. It may not beat ETS 2 or ATS but as a change, as a game that's got the potential to be the same but different; That could be 'interesting'.That games new DLC:
 
 
There's a lot of the game that's somewhat generic in some looks. A game that 'looks ok' gets more interest because it's such a sparse market; Not to harp on the point but that void is large.

Truck Driver seems to have been released in 2019 for PS4; As well as on Xbox One. This latest version seems to have some 'enhancements' since. 2021 saw it on Steam(https://store.steampowered.com/app/768180/Truck_Driver/).
Xbox does seem to be it's comfortable home. Main game, DLC's etc etc.


On The Road The Truck Simulator is the 'other game'. A 2017 (2019 on Steam) release game that's not proven it's worth for a long time(or so I've read). However it seems in the last year it's started to prove it's worth? That said from what I've seen it's got some good additions over ETS 2 but is still 'rough around the edges'.The game is on Steam but to be fair as good as it 'could' be..... ETS 2 is King.
So 'On The Road' is the lesser 'clone' of the lesser 'clone' which is Truck Driver. With no ETS 2 or ATS on Xbox it makes more room for other 'clones' to breath and find their own feet. So finding out more about Truck Driver curiosly interesting.

In saying all that they are expensive games for what they are. IMHO they are not worth it no matter what I find out. ETS 2 and ATS are by far so ahead in all areas by such a distance as to be the only choice. If only they were on console(gamepass does not count in this regard).... So when you don't have that choice...... Options can be 'considered'..... For Xbox. Yet with those prices this is only a thought and/or blog waffling exercise.
 
 
 
 
 
PowerWash Simulator....
 
Progress to the end.
 
  

The Kiffness
 
 
 
Boat, RV/UFO all done.




I'll be waiting a while before tackling the next and last map of the main campaign. The new and most powerful washer will help but it'll still take time.

 
 




Star Trek Online....

On console there's an ongoing Temporal Recruit event but I'd no need to take advantage of it at all on any platform.

Also on console the next event is coming up as the Summer evnt has ended. I will be doing the so called Flagship Celebration Event, though I am not looking forward to it. The Borg: Disconnected TFO is the better choice but I have doubts about random players for smooth and quick runs. I look forwad to being pleasently suprised.
 
 
On PC there are two weeks of Red Alerts against the Borg which is always quick and smooth; The rewards will be good to collect and add to teh account bank.

There are the usual plethora of stuff to buy as well as a new packs etc etc. I'm not a player of the game that is into buying the newest new for the sake of it never mind old ships updated for the now. Says the guy happy in an event ship. Plenty of Youtube STO creators talking about said pack.

A double XP event on PC is a much better event bringing players less of a mission grind(or Doff grind)
So lots for everyone.

Best for me is the current Phoenix Prize Pack Even. I've been gaining a lot more crystaline consoles and red matter devices to cover alts and theior ships. Not to mention every last Zen to Dil to buy upgrade tokens.

In the last week I'd been playing the end days of the Risa Summer event. Daily for the Dil and Summer store tokens from the event participation; More for the sake of stockpiling than aiming to buy anything.
Still, with a few days left of the event it was still hard to believe the event had come and gone. At least for me the time seems to have flown.


 
The problem that was fixed on PC does not seem to have trickled down to console. Maybe a more involved fix needed.


Speaking of console my KDF recruit finally got to finish off the Doff Marauding option. Not that I'd really tried to do it but even in orbit of Nimbus it seemed that there were not that many assignments to help do it. If only there was a phoenic event on Xbox so I can get him the Zefram Cochrane Shotgun.

 





Warhammer 40,000 Boltgun....

What started off as a 'usual' blast of fun continued on the next day as a much longer session to complete the game. I'm glad to get to the end; But I'm not completionist with it. The secrets I've missed along the way will stay secret.


And it's from here I was getting absolutely fk'd up by streams of nerglings. Making me run out of ammo. But in a one more try way late one night I pushed through to the end and ended the source.

 
 
Moving on to the end.

 
 
 
 
  
 
The end is a horrendous yet fun and by this stage stereotypical larger, open arena; Filled with guns, ammo and secrets. Waves come at stages of larger mini bosses and the main boss himself..... A few times between the waves and his health/return. It's a slog but a fun one.
.
 
 
 
 
 
In 'wining' I was reminded of the Star Trek Jem'Hadar mantra "Victory is life"; So too with 40k Marine life. Happy to win but more to do elsewhere. No time to rest*. Typical 40k!
 

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