Thursday, 11 May 2017
Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Darkest Dungeon.... NG+ complete
Last night saw me take a team into the Heard of Darkness. With only a few weeks left I had little more I could improve on to complete the NG+/Stygian run. The last patch reduced the turn limit before time ran out, which in turn made me push a bit harder to get a team ready. Besides I was looking for a distracting challenge and I've waited long enough to play it to it's conclusion.
Completing the game on normal was tough, the stress piled on fast before the final fight. The RNG gods were firm yet fair and I completed the run loosing two of the crew in the end.
The challenge complete and the achievements collected I've now taken my first steps with a fresh run set to Radiance mode. Even with one dungeon run done it seems to be a faster version. I look forward to it and it's alterations. It's a good run to do before the Expansion arrives. The entry for it on Steam has already been added to my wishlist.
I've yet to watch BaerTaffy's Radiant run which is currently ongoing.
More Eve Online Thoughts....
Before I do a post about my current character happenings I thought I'd post something general about the game.
Ah Eve Online, the eternal struggle, the joy and the sadness, the pleasure and the pain, Eve giveth and CCP taketh away(*see Nerfbat/Balance pass's).
There was less said about the future of Eve this year than other fanfests and I found myself fast forwarding through a lot of the posted content on youtube. At least they are taking it slower to "think" things out.... I hope. I still find a lot of their coverage cringe-worthy, but that's just me. The new song for instance is imho the worst yet.
There are others commenting about fanfest in a better light(?) than I. I'm bitter and salty.
I do hate the way the new version of plex is being treated like gold press latinum. Gold from Valkyrie has made it's way to Eve Online for marketing purposes. For a games company that shoots for the stars, they really scrape the marketing gutter at times. At least Star Trek Online has their universe currencies and runs with them on Star Trek themes. Plex until now has never been associated with gold before. As a pilots license it seemed more authentic, but splitting it up could have been marketed better any other way than goldifiying it. Its a small thing in the grand scheme but it irks me as I feel it cheapens the game image. Another game you can buy gold for 'oh joy'. Some things are not worth copying from other games!
I do really, really like the new character select theme music from the latest patch.
I applaud the latest quality of life changes and improving the overall universe, graphics etc. For me the only thing I wanted to check on were the new sun models. Really nice.
With fanfest and Eve development turning a corner to the PvE isle I'm been even more facpalming than ever. A constant needle in my brain is that my particular style of gameplay within Eve, solo PvE, part of the silent majority, despised by those that revel and enjoy player assplosions, is being reshaped yet again in ways that it probably doesnt' need to be. Why CCP wouldn't really shake up null for some proper constant war justifications is beyond me.... no wait they are scared of loosing players or having people that already shout, shout louder.
CCP say they are for all gamestyles but they will have to do and implement a lot to get me back into the game in any serious way(x2). Solo PvE content, it's what all other MMO's do without batting an eye, yet CCP have to work so hard and develop new tools before they try to make it all work. Not that I am convinced it will work. They are going to try and please people by giving them a challenge, that never works out well. If only they would copy the best parts of other games systems and improve on them within Eve. They wouldn't be the first to do so. Saying Eve has dungeons dont' make it really so. And why they are calling logistics 'healers' now is hypocritical.
There are concerns that PvE is being turned down a more PvP route(again) and i think that there is justification for thinking that, its called a lack of trust due to past experiences. Burner mission anyone!
I dont' care that there are Blood Raider ship yards and capitals to shoot, time will tell what their Hi-Sec plans turn out to be. Proof is in the pudding but I'm not hopeful. I've ignored their other hi-sec content additions and trying to get into the incursion clique community is hard, harder still due to not having any ingame mechanic for doing it(real dungeon system anyone!). I dont' like the way chef CCP thinks, works and implements what I'm supposed to 'like' the taste of. I'm not the only one to be thinking along those lines.
Ah Eve Online, the eternal struggle, the joy and the sadness, the pleasure and the pain, Eve giveth and CCP taketh away(*see Nerfbat/Balance pass's).
There was less said about the future of Eve this year than other fanfests and I found myself fast forwarding through a lot of the posted content on youtube. At least they are taking it slower to "think" things out.... I hope. I still find a lot of their coverage cringe-worthy, but that's just me. The new song for instance is imho the worst yet.
There are others commenting about fanfest in a better light(?) than I. I'm bitter and salty.
I do hate the way the new version of plex is being treated like gold press latinum. Gold from Valkyrie has made it's way to Eve Online for marketing purposes. For a games company that shoots for the stars, they really scrape the marketing gutter at times. At least Star Trek Online has their universe currencies and runs with them on Star Trek themes. Plex until now has never been associated with gold before. As a pilots license it seemed more authentic, but splitting it up could have been marketed better any other way than goldifiying it. Its a small thing in the grand scheme but it irks me as I feel it cheapens the game image. Another game you can buy gold for 'oh joy'. Some things are not worth copying from other games!
I do really, really like the new character select theme music from the latest patch.
I applaud the latest quality of life changes and improving the overall universe, graphics etc. For me the only thing I wanted to check on were the new sun models. Really nice.
With fanfest and Eve development turning a corner to the PvE isle I'm been even more facpalming than ever. A constant needle in my brain is that my particular style of gameplay within Eve, solo PvE, part of the silent majority, despised by those that revel and enjoy player assplosions, is being reshaped yet again in ways that it probably doesnt' need to be. Why CCP wouldn't really shake up null for some proper constant war justifications is beyond me.... no wait they are scared of loosing players or having people that already shout, shout louder.
CCP say they are for all gamestyles but they will have to do and implement a lot to get me back into the game in any serious way(x2). Solo PvE content, it's what all other MMO's do without batting an eye, yet CCP have to work so hard and develop new tools before they try to make it all work. Not that I am convinced it will work. They are going to try and please people by giving them a challenge, that never works out well. If only they would copy the best parts of other games systems and improve on them within Eve. They wouldn't be the first to do so. Saying Eve has dungeons dont' make it really so. And why they are calling logistics 'healers' now is hypocritical.
There are concerns that PvE is being turned down a more PvP route(again) and i think that there is justification for thinking that, its called a lack of trust due to past experiences. Burner mission anyone!
I dont' care that there are Blood Raider ship yards and capitals to shoot, time will tell what their Hi-Sec plans turn out to be. Proof is in the pudding but I'm not hopeful. I've ignored their other hi-sec content additions and trying to get into the incursion clique community is hard, harder still due to not having any ingame mechanic for doing it(real dungeon system anyone!). I dont' like the way chef CCP thinks, works and implements what I'm supposed to 'like' the taste of. I'm not the only one to be thinking along those lines.
Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Star Citizen, Domina, Waffle, GRW, more waffle, Earth 2.0, bad formatting, Sandbox's & Darkest Darkest Dungeon's....
Despite my inability to come up with a sensible or witty title for this post I've decided to drop everything I want to waffle on about in the title as well as the post, the flood gates are open....
I've found myself being a bit more random in some area's of gaming. No surprise given my mood/circumstances etc. etc. etc. Having more time to while away yet not wanting to be fully using a brain, with a mix of looking to be 100% distracted.
I noticed on Facebook (I forget the affiliate) a few day's ago that Saints Row 2 was free for a day on gog.com. I did claim it. Will I ever play this game? Probably not. I got the third game from a friend and I played it for about 20 minutes on the PS3 two years or so ago....
A link worth a share and a mull over: http://www.gamesradar.com/the-best-free-shooters/
It has me thinking again about CCP's non confirmed FPS. What it has to compete against in the Free-to-Play market never mind the paid games (Overwatch). The more I think about Dust the more I think about the newer version they demoed, the more thankful I am they didn't go with an arena shooter. It makes me think about what they could be doing. If CCP hadn't been so taken aback at the reaction the community had over that fanfest we might actually have a game the community would actually warm to.
There are a lot of games I just can't keep up with, the sheer volume of changes, patch notes, tweaking and adjustments. Especially with the likes of Star Citizen, BoredGamer does a great job of whittling down the information (like this & this) to what you need to know. Even at that I can't get through all of his content. By the time I do it's been replaced by more video's.
GRW had another 6GB patch. It contains one of the best quality of life changes in Ghost Recon Wildlands, when you mouse over a campaign save it now changes to show the character it belongs to....
The mods scene has exploded since I last talked about it. The community does love the game.
I've been casting an eye on trying to complete my NG+/Stygian mode run. The final crop of top level characters do not seem capable of doing it so I've been levelling up a few more classes to try out in a final run.
With the release of the expansion in the next few month's I also want to try and do a quick run of the Radiant mode.... That might be a bridge too far.
It's been interesting to watch
BaerTaffy He has been running a modded version of the game PBD, Pitch Black Dungeon and it has been kicking his ass. His return to the normal version in a stream has been a welcome return, but it seems that he is changing that to be a fresh Radiant mode run now as well. I'll be interested to see how he gets on in that run.
Cities skylines, a game I can tweak and make small changes without much thought. Set the time to 4 times speed and mentally disengage. Not much has happened here.
Star Trek online has had at least two updates in the last few weeks and since I don't have a proper internet connection I'm choosy about how I spend my data allowance. Like a child in a tuck shop trying to squeeze the maximum value out of that pocket money.
1.2 GB patch and then another for 800mb, STO has been less value per megabyte so it's lost out(patch the patch). With the new season out now may as well ignore the game for the next month as the patch for that will be another huge one.....
For anyone tempted by a sale on Zen you probably already new there was a sale on, I was in no way tempted.
I do seem to have a growing interest in my mind with regard to the summer event, and the ship it will have as it's main prize.
Star Trek Bridge crew is interesting but not a game for me. Max enjoyment means corralling as many friends as possible and I only know of one friend that has a VR headset. So if I bought one there would be two of us. This is not the game that "makes" me buy a headset.
YOGSCAST Hannah did two interesting vids in the game:
Rome Total War has had a brief look in. A save from an older Brutii campaign was left at a battle where one of my armies was being attacked by multiple armies from the Scipii. It's been interesting to see how the A.I. reacts to various tactics.
What has worked is to square up my legionnaires with missile support in the centre and brace the storm as a rock on the shore line. It's worked for the most part.
Many A True Nerd's recent playthrough has been entertaining.
Rome: Total War - Grand Finale - All Roads Lead
Rome: Total War - Epilogue - All Good Things
Speaking of Rome I have played a few rounds of Domina, getting to know it's way's. Three full attempts and one where I lost the ability to complete the game due to very, very bad RNG. It's still fun and it looks like it will receive a lot of content tweaking.
Heroes of the storm 2.0 has given a lot of loot but I'm clueless with regard to changes, updates and whats makes 2.0 so special. Opening loot is nice tho.....
I did plan on more waffle going into my time with Eve Online but I think I'll do that as a separate post.... This one is long enough.
Two video's worth a share:
TheLazyPeon 'Ashes Of Creation: MMORPG Overview "Why I'm Excited"'
On a final note I'm liking the new version of Google earth, worth checking out.
You do need Google Chrome to use it. Pity but I'm sure that it'll be available for Firefox.... at some stage....
Thursday, 27 April 2017
Narco Road.... Gut Reaction. And my off topic waffle.
So with a break from hospital visits I had the luxury of staying overnight in my own home a few day's ago. After the essentials were taken care of (House still standing, pet cactus watered.... it's a thing!), I got to boot the PC and take a look at a few updates etc. (Damn you Windows 10 creators update!)
With my updates UPlay downloaded the newest DLC "expansion" for Ghost Recon Wildlands. Narco Road.
It's only a small fraction in size compared to the main campaign. Smaller map size yet more challenging in events to complete. Your character starts at level 20 for this DLC. I'm not happy that I had to create a new character for it. Even with my characters recreated there is a disconnect in my mind. I would have liked some sort of character use from the main campaign or at least an import option.
As for the expansion, maybe because I've lost my interest in GTA in the last few years/editions that I'm not that keen on this DLC.
I recreated my first two characters, then played a few missions on the recreated first character.
While this DLC turns the game into a hyper GTA version of itself, living life to the max at full speed. I found that rushing in was not good even if the game itself suggest that it is, as I got killed in what seemed like increasingly convoluted missions. Complex for the sake of it not just to test your skills but hard to actually do in a meaningful way. I think it's the second mission that shows this best so far; Escort the chopper, but you can't ride in it, go by road and your too slow to keep up, even going off road, so you fly, fly as an escort and you get a new objective to remove two anti-air missile sites, yet still need to keep up with the mission chopper, by the time you try and destroy the sites the mission chopper has flown on. It's a mission that could have been done better as a multipart. And all the game gives you for your efforts to try harder is essentially hassle over not having the cojones to do it. No shoulder to cry on here, just a fade to black and try again....
As amusingly rough and off topic as real player co-op can be they are a help in most ways, in this expansion you don't even get the a.i. versions. At least early on. Anyway I'm a solo carebear first so I want to try it all solo. It's why I have three characters.... Solo once, solo twice, laugh at co-op character three.
So after an hour with the DLC I'm not feeling as compelled to play as I did with the main campaign.
That's my initial gut reaction.
Given my current real world happenings maybe I'm being overly critical and missing the obvious.
While writing this I thought I was harsh but there is this review, which I mostly agree with but have to say I feel the opposite in regard to the way the author feels about the vehicles. In my view the plane is the worst handling and the ground vehicles are feeling a lot better in the expansion. I guess it's all about game settings and perspective.
Here is another review also worth the read:
http://moviesgamesandtech.com/2017/04/25/review-ghost-recon-wildlands-narco-road-dlc/
So abandoning the DLC I went back to what I knew best, the main campaign.
I was a little taken aback when I saw that each of my characters campaign progress was reset to zero!!!!!
But thankfully after logging into each it was showing the proper progression details.
I was again tempted to pick between The Ilama and The Division rifles on my third character. The Ilama is better on paper but in practice I still find The Division rifle "feels" more accurate and effective. A true first world problem. As I said before it also sounds great.
My mood wasn't up to doing anything with serious objectives so I went onto my co-op character and tried some tag along.
Ultimately my mind wasn't with it at all, so it wasn't long before i bailed from the game altogether.
It's going to be a week or more before I get to do anything like that again.
On a side note: Yes a pet cactus, my wife isn't a cat or dog lover so there are compromises(on my part). In truth I saw the cactus in the local hardware place and it looked cool in a bonsai tree way, I had to get it. Comedic love at first sight, I picked "him" up, turned to my wife and said "I shall call him Spikey", then popped "him" into the basket with our other purchases. Another funny moment came a week later when we needed to return an item we had gotten on that day but couldn't find the receipt. I gasped and with a sad face turned to my wife and said "you lost his adoption papers!!"
Well worth the purchase for those two moments alone. :-D
With my updates UPlay downloaded the newest DLC "expansion" for Ghost Recon Wildlands. Narco Road.
It's only a small fraction in size compared to the main campaign. Smaller map size yet more challenging in events to complete. Your character starts at level 20 for this DLC. I'm not happy that I had to create a new character for it. Even with my characters recreated there is a disconnect in my mind. I would have liked some sort of character use from the main campaign or at least an import option.
As for the expansion, maybe because I've lost my interest in GTA in the last few years/editions that I'm not that keen on this DLC.
I recreated my first two characters, then played a few missions on the recreated first character.
 | |
| #1 |
 | |
| #2 |
As amusingly rough and off topic as real player co-op can be they are a help in most ways, in this expansion you don't even get the a.i. versions. At least early on. Anyway I'm a solo carebear first so I want to try it all solo. It's why I have three characters.... Solo once, solo twice, laugh at co-op character three.
So after an hour with the DLC I'm not feeling as compelled to play as I did with the main campaign.
That's my initial gut reaction.
Given my current real world happenings maybe I'm being overly critical and missing the obvious.
While writing this I thought I was harsh but there is this review, which I mostly agree with but have to say I feel the opposite in regard to the way the author feels about the vehicles. In my view the plane is the worst handling and the ground vehicles are feeling a lot better in the expansion. I guess it's all about game settings and perspective.
Here is another review also worth the read:
http://moviesgamesandtech.com/2017/04/25/review-ghost-recon-wildlands-narco-road-dlc/
So abandoning the DLC I went back to what I knew best, the main campaign.
I was a little taken aback when I saw that each of my characters campaign progress was reset to zero!!!!!
I was again tempted to pick between The Ilama and The Division rifles on my third character. The Ilama is better on paper but in practice I still find The Division rifle "feels" more accurate and effective. A true first world problem. As I said before it also sounds great.
My mood wasn't up to doing anything with serious objectives so I went onto my co-op character and tried some tag along.
Ultimately my mind wasn't with it at all, so it wasn't long before i bailed from the game altogether.
It's going to be a week or more before I get to do anything like that again.
On a side note: Yes a pet cactus, my wife isn't a cat or dog lover so there are compromises(on my part). In truth I saw the cactus in the local hardware place and it looked cool in a bonsai tree way, I had to get it. Comedic love at first sight, I picked "him" up, turned to my wife and said "I shall call him Spikey", then popped "him" into the basket with our other purchases. Another funny moment came a week later when we needed to return an item we had gotten on that day but couldn't find the receipt. I gasped and with a sad face turned to my wife and said "you lost his adoption papers!!"
Well worth the purchase for those two moments alone. :-D
Saturday, 22 April 2017
GRW.... An update
I've not been able to play Ghost Recon Wildlands in just over a week, due to circumstances/being away from home etc...
I am however able to view the screenshots I took while I was playing and with my forced spare time I may as well fill in a blog post to keep things updated. Some details, some relevant screenshots and some not so relevant eye candy. If it's one thing this game can do it's give you more than ample opportunity to capture eye candy.
The Unidad Conspiracy was pushed out, It was cleared easily with my main character. Being only 3 missions long and seeing as I'd already cleared that map sector I wasn't surprised. The requirement for getting the content was to have preordered the game and played the game on or before a specific date (release day I think). As the game itself was released a few week ago I think The unidad Conspiracy should have been in game since day one. This contents main story would have made more sense as part of the bigger picture. Still nice to get it.
My second character, my solo SMG/LMG specialist is doing well. I like having the close in rapid SMG firepower, sync shots from the NPC squad mates don't make me really miss the sniper rifle and an LMG for taking out vehicles or bunched up enemies is reassuringly effective. Effective and fun. I've been clearing out the main campaign map in a slightly different order than my main. This has lead me to see and tackle missions from alternative angles that give more perspective. This has lead me to be very effective during co-op missions, more on that later.
Her loadout at the moment:
Maybe it's been the latest patch but I feel it's now more easy to get Unidad and the cartel to shoot at each other.
I've also begun to master the plane 'landings'. A crash on a crashed plane is a thing.....
My 3rd character, my co-op grey man.
While I did go over my co-op experiences in the last GRW update, there are a few more things to talk about.
There is a sweet spot for co-op gaming that suits me. 8PM to 10PM (GMT). It seems to have the right balance of people playing. Playstyles/attitudes/maturity etc. Everything that matters (to me) seems to align for my optimal gamplay experience and enjoyment. I've played outside those hours and had great fun but 8 to 10 PM seems to be the sweet spot.
When I mentioned earlier about alternative perspectives on missions I think half the fun is the unknown challenge. Knowing too much and getting from A to Z bypassing all the letters in between can take the fun away. That's where co-ordination and communication comes in. Without those you can ruin a groups fun in trying things out. On the flip side if there is a mission that is on the 3rd or 4th try showing an effective alternative is also a must. Fine line to balance on but the fun factor is a great reward. Plus maybe learning things in a new way can be good(Drunk player on a motorbike causing a distraction at the base you are going to attack etc.).
It's funny to me that people will join a group, fail in a mission and like a failed dungeon group in WoW people will start to bail on the group. I put that down to people wanting to be carried. While I've not seen a great deal of it happen in GRW I did see it happen. I would hate for that to be 'the way' it goes.
Gaming with these guys was great, planning, coordination, execution, fun.
It may only have lasted for a few missions late/early in the a.m. but was well worth it. And if they ever read this blog and recognise themselves from the pic.... the helicopter incidents had me cracking up.
I also got to try out the new free assault rifle, the SIG556 Llama. I thought it may be better than the freebie division rifle but the tradeoffs are not worth it(imo).
I'll be sticking to my usual.
I am however able to view the screenshots I took while I was playing and with my forced spare time I may as well fill in a blog post to keep things updated. Some details, some relevant screenshots and some not so relevant eye candy. If it's one thing this game can do it's give you more than ample opportunity to capture eye candy.
The Unidad Conspiracy was pushed out, It was cleared easily with my main character. Being only 3 missions long and seeing as I'd already cleared that map sector I wasn't surprised. The requirement for getting the content was to have preordered the game and played the game on or before a specific date (release day I think). As the game itself was released a few week ago I think The unidad Conspiracy should have been in game since day one. This contents main story would have made more sense as part of the bigger picture. Still nice to get it.
My second character, my solo SMG/LMG specialist is doing well. I like having the close in rapid SMG firepower, sync shots from the NPC squad mates don't make me really miss the sniper rifle and an LMG for taking out vehicles or bunched up enemies is reassuringly effective. Effective and fun. I've been clearing out the main campaign map in a slightly different order than my main. This has lead me to see and tackle missions from alternative angles that give more perspective. This has lead me to be very effective during co-op missions, more on that later.
Maybe it's been the latest patch but I feel it's now more easy to get Unidad and the cartel to shoot at each other.
I've also begun to master the plane 'landings'. A crash on a crashed plane is a thing.....
The Assassin's creed pack unlocked and I was able to try out it's content. The flintlock pistol (Jackdaw) is unique, as is it's reload animation. For me it's an impractical weapon. You would really need to be hardcore roleplaying to use it.
And some more eye candy....
My 3rd character, my co-op grey man.
While I did go over my co-op experiences in the last GRW update, there are a few more things to talk about.
There is a sweet spot for co-op gaming that suits me. 8PM to 10PM (GMT). It seems to have the right balance of people playing. Playstyles/attitudes/maturity etc. Everything that matters (to me) seems to align for my optimal gamplay experience and enjoyment. I've played outside those hours and had great fun but 8 to 10 PM seems to be the sweet spot.
When I mentioned earlier about alternative perspectives on missions I think half the fun is the unknown challenge. Knowing too much and getting from A to Z bypassing all the letters in between can take the fun away. That's where co-ordination and communication comes in. Without those you can ruin a groups fun in trying things out. On the flip side if there is a mission that is on the 3rd or 4th try showing an effective alternative is also a must. Fine line to balance on but the fun factor is a great reward. Plus maybe learning things in a new way can be good(Drunk player on a motorbike causing a distraction at the base you are going to attack etc.).
It's funny to me that people will join a group, fail in a mission and like a failed dungeon group in WoW people will start to bail on the group. I put that down to people wanting to be carried. While I've not seen a great deal of it happen in GRW I did see it happen. I would hate for that to be 'the way' it goes.
Gaming with these guys was great, planning, coordination, execution, fun.
It may only have lasted for a few missions late/early in the a.m. but was well worth it. And if they ever read this blog and recognise themselves from the pic.... the helicopter incidents had me cracking up.
I also got to try out the new free assault rifle, the SIG556 Llama. I thought it may be better than the freebie division rifle but the tradeoffs are not worth it(imo).
I'll be sticking to my usual.
Friday, 21 April 2017
Darkest Dungeon.... Shrieker
A boss added with the radiant update tempted my on my old NG+ save. NG+ (New Game plus) is now called 'Stygian Mode' I think.... modes.
I'm not sure I have enough time to get new characters up to spec to clear the last Darkest Dungeon run. With that patch came an extra reduction in timescale, I now have only 10 more weeks left and my luck has been bad. Time will tell.
The new boss is The Shrieker, I expected a full dungeon run to get to the boss but it was a one room fight. Maybe I should have looked that up as I over stocked my inventory in anticipation. I also seem to have won that fight by getting the boss's health to 50%. The rewards are worth the effort, it's not that hard a fight for my top end people. Trinkets galore. I would like to have see the special item that allowed me to finish combat and claim the boss specific trinkets. Maybe there will be a next time.
I'm not sure I have enough time to get new characters up to spec to clear the last Darkest Dungeon run. With that patch came an extra reduction in timescale, I now have only 10 more weeks left and my luck has been bad. Time will tell.
The new boss is The Shrieker, I expected a full dungeon run to get to the boss but it was a one room fight. Maybe I should have looked that up as I over stocked my inventory in anticipation. I also seem to have won that fight by getting the boss's health to 50%. The rewards are worth the effort, it's not that hard a fight for my top end people. Trinkets galore. I would like to have see the special item that allowed me to finish combat and claim the boss specific trinkets. Maybe there will be a next time.
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