Morrowind + Me

I think I finally clicked with the Elder Scrolls this weekend. I also played a shitload of Mass Effect 3, which you can get caught up on via my Road to Andromeda series below.



For someone that's never finished an Elder Scrolls game, I have an absurd number of hours sunk into Morrowind, according to Steam. Maybe 80 or so.

I think I've written about it here before, but on paper, the Elder Scrolls and I look a match made in heaven. Deep stats, deep lore, freedom of choice, loads of exploration, and on and on.

Yet, we've never quite clicked. I'll start a game in Morrowind, Oblivion, or Skyrim, and I just never quite feel comfortable. I got really deep into Morrowind once, but even then, it was never something in which I felt terribly at-home or like I was really loving it.

I felt that way about (Bethesda) Fallout for a long time. Up until maybe early 2015, at which point, I burned through Fallout 3 + all DLC, Fallout: New Vegas + all DLC (holy shit, I loved that game), and then Fallout 4, once it hit.

In the case of Fallout, I believe I had to dial back my need to have constant and rapid progression through the story. Both Bethesda Fallout and Elder Scrolls are very loose in their story structure, and I was really off-put by that for a long time, despite really enjoying the Wasteland setting in the Fallout games.

I wonder if part of my issue with Elder Scrolls is that I'm just not a big fantasy guy, at least high fantasy, but I dunno. I'm nuts about Dragon Age and The Witcher, both of which are more low fantasy. Hmm.

Part of it, I know, is my need to play things in order (though I did talk myself out of Arena + Daggerfall), and the journal system in Morrowind is utter shit. It's an active inhibition to my enjoyment of the game.

So, yesterday, I finally caved and decided to finally push forward on a new character that I'd been writing in my head for a while, AND I decided I'd use Microsoft OneNote on my iPhone to act as a journal and note-taker for my high-level objectives. This changed everything for me.

I know about the Nerevarine and all that in the game, so I decided my guy would be a Dunmer, raised in the Empire, who was coming to his true home, Vvardenfell, for the first time, with which he would fall madly in love. He'd throw himself head-first into being a Dunmer, joining the Temple, the Morag Tong, and despite not being a magic user, House Telvanni, which he regards as the most truly Dunmer of the great houses. He'd turn on his Imperial masters at just the right moment.

He'd also use the filthy Khajiit to make himself rich, making money hand over first off of their moon sugar and skooma addictions.

I got through Seyda Neen recently, and started rounding out all the quest-gathering in and around Balmora. It sucks that there's no way to join the Camonna Tong, but oh well ... I wasn't going to join the Thieves Guild or Fighers Guild, but changed my mind. It's a good chance to earn XP and some of the quests are fun.

My goal is to ascend to become ruler of Morrowind and to drive the Imperial dogs out of my lands. We'll do that via leveraging groups like the Temple, the Great Houses (though Hlaalu might be a problem), the Ashlanders, the Morag Tong, and the Dunmer themselves.

I'm using OneNote to jot down anything I uncover that will help me in that process, and I'm finding that's been a relief in terms of keeping myself organized.

Also, of note - I'm using all the official add-ons from Bethesda, as well as the Morrowind Overhaul mod, which is amazeballs.

Last thing about this. Part of what's helped is that I am NOT streaming any part of this. I'm keeping it all for myself, and taking it at my pace, which has been really nice. I'll go 20-25 minutes without really moving the plot forward, just by talking to folks and taking notes on my phone. It's pretty fucking great, honestly.

And a side note - I've enjoyed ESO for a long time, though that's a fairly different beast from the main Elder Scrolls games.

And, as a side side note, I'm pretty sure Bethesda and ZOS are announcing a Morrowind expansion for ESO tomorrow at 1300 central time. Can't wait!

So, any chance any of you have a game or series with which you should've clicked, but haven't yet? Or maybe you had to make an adjustment to your normal approach, and then it clicked? Is there a game or series that you really wish you liked? Tell me about it!

Also, if you wanna watch me stream, I'll be on tomorrow at 1630 central. Not sure what game yet. Maybe ME3. Lemme know if you have any requests. Maybe ESO?

-Blaine

Videos & Heroes

Hey All,

I wanted to share some super coolness that came out this week. Some of my favorite people and franchises popped up on YouTube and I just gotta share.

First, Sven Vincke and Chris Avellone were on the PC Gamer Show, talking about the latest news, as well as Prey and Divinity: Original Sin 2.

I'm a huge fan of both both guys, and I LOVE that they're working together. I totally fanboyed out when I saw that they were going to be appearing together on the show. And it doesn't disappoint.

Next, THAT TRAILER hit Thursday night ...

Then, last night, Josh Sawyer showed up on Fallout: Off the Record. Again, I totally fanboyed out. Give it a look.

Very cool stuff.

Also, I jumped back into my Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut playthrough last night, and I had a fun stream. Here's the playlist.



And that's it for now. I'll try to get my Star Trek Convention Megapost up tomorrow.

Thanks, and lemme know if there's anything else you wanna see me stream. And is there anyone from the old-school RPG scene of whom you're a big fan?

-Blaine

wowsers (or 'wowzers,' if you're into that kinda thing)

Yeah, I know, I never posted Sunday's pics. And I'm not posting them right now. I'm going to do a monster blog post this weekend on the Star Trek convention from last week.

I have a lot to say about the convention, most of which I'm saving for the mega-post, but for now, I think I can summarize it simply by saying that it's as close to a religious experience as I've had in ... years, maybe? I dunno.

It was a really special five days for me, and the most I've enjoyed myself in a long time. I loved it, and I want to do it again in a few years.

Anyway, I got back midday Monday, and I've been scrambling ever since. I usually build in a 'buffer day' between vacation and work, and didn't this time, since I've already taken so much vacation time this year. With school starting back up this week for our oldest, it really did get hectic very fast.

And fantasy football is starting to ramp up, too, so that's taken some of my time.

And it's not like my weekdays were exactly overflowing with free time before this, either, so there ya go.

I definitely have more ambitions and goals than I do time. It's not like time is going to slow down or start adding extra hours to the day, so maybe it's time to start getting a little more real with what I expect to accomplish during the week.

I have ideas for two new books that I'd love to write. I have a Fallout mod that I want to make. I want to be able to game a little every day again. I want to have more time for exercise.

I'm already exercising, but I want to add more cardio to my routine.

So, I dunno. Going on that trip to Vegas to the convention really kinda shook me up, in a good way, and I have a strong desire to make some changes and just enjoy myself more. I feel like I spend a lot of time doing what I need to do, and not enough what I want to do.

We'll see.

OH! I almost forgot! Let's close this out with some awesome Star Trek: Discovery news!

-Blaine

my dirty secret

I take a lot of shit for gaming primarily on PC. Yeah, I'll tease some of my friends about gaming primarily on a console, but I usually reserve it for when they complain about something silly.

Occasionally, though, they get really pissed. No matter how much I reinforce that my preferences are not condemnations, friends (and not friends) will still perceive my stances as a slight. If I say, 'my kids liked the WiiU,' I'm not saying you are a child if you like it. I don't really enjoy anything on the console (aside from Mario Maker, which I'd fucking love to see on PC), but that doesn't mean other people don't. It's all good, man.

And genres. Holy shit. I love RPGs. I don't have a huge amount of gaming time, so I like to settle into a main RPG and a handful of MMOs, and just kinda ride that for weeks or months. I find value in occasionally deviating out of my comfort zone, but again, it seems to bug people, or they take it personally that my tastes skew toward deep roleplaying games.

Frankly, I find great value in diversity. I think having multiple genres is a great thing, because gaming shouldn't be all one way. The best thing about it is that it can be anything to anyone. Whether you wanna flick your finger across your phone for some period of time, or hone your reflexes in a super-deep fighting game, or live out your sports dream in a sports game, or bury yourself in story and math in an RPG, it's all there. AND the best is when genres colllide, and new ideas are born.

Honestly, it's started to get so bad that I've been pulling back from the gaming world in general. Years ago, I started to disassociate myself with the term 'gamer,' because a) I didn't like what the community was becoming (or maybe I was growing out of it), and b) I don't like belonging to things anyway. I don't like labeling myself at all, because I feel like it constrains identity and ideas.

I like what I like. I've been playing RPGs since the day Final Fantasy first came out on the NES, and I've been at it since. I outgrew most of the other genres. I'm glad you like 2D platformers and FIFA and the latest PSN sale and Mario and Rocket League and on and on. For real, follow your bliss, but try and let me do the same. A world full of happier people is a good thing. We all face enough trials without tearing each other down over something as silly as gaming genres and plastic fucking boxes.

Moving on ...

I actually didn't come here to whine about people being mean to me. I actually came because I have a problem that's been brewing for years.

Back in the 90s, and early 2000s, I was poor. I was working shit jobs, and then finally went to college, but didn't start really earning until the last five years or so, at which point, I did the natural thing, and started migrating to PC.

Before that, though, I was purely a console gamer. I missed out on all the amazing cRPGs of the era, and in fact, didn't get really converted until Dragon Age: Origins. That was my first balls-out PC RPG, and yeah, I know it was multi-plat. I'd played KotOR and Jade Empire on Xbox prior to that, so I wasn't a total BioWare noob, but I never played Baldur's Gate, or any of the Black Isle games, or any of the Piranha Bytes games, or any of the Troika games, and on and on. I've occasionally gone back and played footsie with one of them, but I always abandon them to play the new shiny.

Or in the case of Icewind Dale, it's just too fucking hard. Or I don't understand what I'm doing.

To that end, though, I've been toying with the idea of slashing this year's purchase list, and starting to play through the following:

Divine Divinity
Fallout
Gothic
Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale or Neverwinter Nights

Of course, I'm now focusing on Wasteland 2 and replaying DXHR. We'll see what happens. I've got Final Fantasy XV in the next couple months, DXMD next month, and Dishonored 2 in November. I'm guessing Deus Ex and Dishonored will both be pretty short, so maybe this fall and winter, I can finally rip through the classics.

And, naturally, I've loaded them with mods to modernize their look and feel.

Where do you think I should start? Any favorites, or other recommendations?

Alright, back to work. Thanks for reading.

Oh, and I'm going to append this post with some of my latest streaming fun.

-Blaine

Why PC Players Are Getting the Skyrim Enhanced Edition For Free

I'm a fan of the Elder Scrolls: Off the Record show, and they touched on something that I realize I'd been waiting to hear about.

Some people don't understand why the PC version of the Skyrim port for modern consoles is free to existing PC owners of Skyrim + all its DLC.

A few weeks ago, at E3, Bethesda announced that a port of Skyrim was coming to the two modern consoles, with some tweaked visuals, and it will have a similar ability to Fallout 4 (on consoles) to import mods. Before that got announced, I'd heard it was coming, and I was curious about the PC version.

One of the things I kinda figured was that the PC version was going to be free to existing Skyrim owners, since there's no way a lot of us would pay for an enhanced version, when we've already been playing heavily-modded, 'enhanced' versions for years. We wouldn't pirate. We'd just ignore it.

Then, as I thought through it more, I realized there was also a pipeline issue in terms of the mods for the console port.

The port is going to have an updated engine, and my understanding is that the new client is 64-bit, whereas the old one is 32-bit. This impacts memory addressing.

The mods for the existing version of Skyrim, as I understand it, can be ported to the updated, 64-bit client, but I'd bet that they'll need to be recompiled, and tested, in the updated SDK before they can function in the updated engine.

Additionally, not all of these are going to just 'work.' At least a few are going to need some tweaks.

Thus, Bethesda is going to need a fair number of PC Skyrim players, especially the big-time Skyrim modders, to have this, so that they can have the latest engine and SDK, and make their awesome mods available to console players.

So, there ya have it.

Existing owners of PC Skyrim and all its DLC get Skyrim Remastered for free because:

1) we already have access to mods that make the game look and run better than the existing vanilla version

2) Bethesda needs us to have the latest engine and SDK so that we can push mods that are compatible with the port that's hitting PS4 and XB1

Making it free to existing PC owners is a concession that we have no incentive to buy something we already have (or an approximation thereof), and they see making it free as an investment in their console audience, who will be dependent on the PC modders, as is the case with Fallout 4 right now.

I've also heard some other questions out there that I think I can answer.

Why can't I make mods on my console?
Your console is not a PC. If you've never used an SDK before, trust me when I say that you absolutely need a mouse and keyboard to use it. Also, I question whether the modern consoles have the hardware specs to handle proper development. I would guess they don't. And storage space, too. Anyway, I understand the impulse, but trust me, even if the Creation Kit were made available on console, it would be a sub-optimal experience.

Why isn't this free for console owners that already own Skyrim and all its DLC on the previous generation?
First, there's the question of proving ownership. If you own it digitally, that's easy. For disc-based, though, no.
Second, and I'll be blunt, but console owners voted against backwards-compatibility this generation, and they voted heavily for re-buying games they already own. On console, Bethesda is following the same trend as many other publishers.
Yeah, I know Microsoft has been working to correct this, while Sony has been going the opposite direction, but the lack of backwards compatibility on consoles that, conversely, is inherent to PC is a larger issue that we're not getting into here. I wasn't thrilled to see Bethesda (Zenimax) contribute to this problem, but they, like every other publisher, are in the game to make money, so I can't fault them.

If you have any other questions about this, or wanna discuss any of this, leave a comment below! I'm always interested in having discussions, getting alternate perspectives, and talking shop!

Now, I'm gonna confess something, but don't tell anyone ...

... I've never finished Skyrim. I'm actually kinda stoked for the 'remaster,' because I plan to actually finally play through it. And probably do some modding.

Oh, yeah, in case you didn't know, the Skyrim port is hitting PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 28th this year. Between this and Dishonored 2, I'm going to have one hell of a Bethesda holiday.

Alright, enough of this. Back to gaming!

Don't forget! Comment, follow, share, whatever! I love doing this, and wanna do it more! And check out my YouTube channel!

Thanks, and enjoy the Lard's Day!

-Blaine

RPGoodness

Something I've been mulling over lately is a recent streak, dating back to November of last year, in which my 'core franchises' have each delivered a new entry in the series. Dragon Age Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and Witcher 3 all released in a quick, six-month succession, and it's been kinda crazy.

Yeah, Pillars is a new franchise, but it also hearkens back to a different time, when the term 'cRPG' was still a thing, and imagination still colored in a lot of the experience.

In any case, it's been this really weird time in which I've gone from mega-huge game to mega-huge game, when I usually have some down time between monster releases. Given that I almost exclusively play RPGs, and big damn ones at that, I tend to have several months at a time in which I'm spending most of my gaming hours in the backlog, or in an MMO or two.

Instead, I played through Dragon Age (November) up to about the time Pillars hit (March), jumped right into that, then put down Pillars for a bit to play through Witcher 3 (May), which I finished over last weekend, and then I jumped back into Pillars, which it turns out, I'm almost done with anyway.

Of note, I grew up with most RPGs being in the 40-60 hour range, but each of those has been around 100 hours. Granted, I'm much more a completionist now than I was when I was younger, but still ... that's a lotta bang for my buck. And, shit, I was a day-one backer for Pillars, so that was about $20 for me (though I sunk in more later for some more goodies.)

And I expect to finish Pillars this week(end). After that, it'll be the first time since before Thanksgiving 2014 that I'm not committed to a new game. After that, the next new one will be Sword Coast Legends, from the great Dan Tudge, he of Dragon Age: Origins fame.

Oh, and The White March is hitting ... soon? And Witcher is getting a couple expansions, too. And DAI is supposed to get one more real DLC. It would be kinda neat if they all landed in a row.

Anywho, that's all for now. That's been rattling around in my brain for a bit, and I now wonder how long until something like this happens again? Mass Effect Andromeda is next year. Torment will come out some day. And I still have Divinity: Original Sin and Wasteland 2 unfinished ... and New Vegas. And shit, Fallout 4 this winter. OK. ENOUGH. I really do gotta go. I'll holler later tonight.