Weekend Action 2019/2/15

Thank the Maker it's Friday! It's been kind of a grueling week, to say the least. Between some issues with my bipolar, and some weird news that I got, it's been tough. But, the weekend is here now, and it's time to relax!

It now feels odd to not have a loot shooter beta/demo this weekend, after three consecutive weekends with either Anthem or The Division 2. I guess I'll have to play actual released games.

I'd like to finish Resident Evil 2 this weekend, at least one playthrough, but I'm chafing at the backtracking and fetch-quest aspects of the game a bit. I'm overall really enjoying it, but my heart sinks every time I see that I need to find six different plugs based on chess pieces, and I have no fucking clue where to go to find the rest of them. Sigh ...

... I've also been contemplating jumping back into Pathfinder: Kingmaker and finishing it off. I dearly love a lot of things about that game, and then clench my teeth at other parts. I dig the story, characters, combat, and appreciate what Owlcat intended with the kingdom management bits, but I actually get angry at how 'hardcore' this game wants to be, and I hate that the game can set you on the path toward a fail state hours before you realize it. That shit's just lame.

I don't understand the crowd that wants brutally unfair and 'hardcore' cRPGs, but I won't look down on them, either. People find their bliss in different things, and that's part of what makes games great. The diversity in gaming is fantastic.

That being said, I'm not someone that a) enjoys being punched in the teeth by a game, and b) has the time to be overly challenged. I like having to think my way through things, but I need actual clues to work with, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker fails hard in this regard at times.

When I finish the game, I think it'll be the most hours I've ever put into a game that I somewhat hated (and liked at the same time.) Dragon Quest XI will be just behind it.

Since it's Friday, I'm streaming the Witcher 3 tonight at 7PMc on my Twitch channel. It's a really fun stream, with a great crowd in chat, and I'll be making black and tans live on the stream, too. It's going to be a great time.

Otherwise, I'll be putting some time into the Elder Scrolls Online, and I might wrap up the Summerset campaign this weekend or early next week.

And that's it.

What about you? What are you playing this weekend?

- Blaine

Weekend Action - 2019/2/8

Happy Friday! Whatcha playin' this weekend?

It was a decent week, but I'm always glad for the weekend. And I'm playing some awesome stuff!

First up, The Division 2 beta is live right now! I played a little bit last night, but I'll be playing through the entirety a little today and a bunch on Saturday with my oldest son.

And it's interesting having played Anthem the past two weeks and now playing The Division 2 beta. It's hard not to compare them in this circumstance, even if I think that the similarities are superficial.

Without really getting into the idiocy of 'OMG which is better LOL,' I'll say that I really enjoy both.

The gunplay is pretty different in the two, but I really like both. Anthem feels like Mass Effect, which is great, and The Division 2 feels much more real and grounded, which I also appreciate.

The traversal in both is fun, and totally different. Anthem has the flying and floating and zipping around, which is fantastic, while I really like the cover-to-cover movement of The Division 2, too. Totally different, but each feels great in the game's context.

Also, the environments in both look and sound amazing.

Really, they scratch different itches for me, and I'm glad I'll be able to bounce between the two for a while (once they come out.)

Tonight, as usual, I'm streaming The Witcher trilogy at 7PMc on Twitch. We're eyeballs-deep in Velen in The Witcher 3, and having an absolute blast. The in-game action is wild, and the chat is a great place to shoot the shit and relax. Get yourself a six-pack or make yourself a stiff drink and come hang out. It's a great way to kick off the weekend.

If you want to get caught up on The Witcher or any game series that I've streamed, check out my YouTube channel!



Otherwise, I plan to try and tackle more Resident Evil 2 and get some more quality MMO time.

I finally got a pro-tip from my boss at work to get me un-stuck in RE2 (I haven't been able to figure out how to get back to the goddam fucking parking garage), so I'll probably start on that post-stream tonight. I'm loving RE2 so far.

MMO-wise, I'll probably focus on playing through the rest of the Summerset campaign. I hate the Altmer, but this is a great expansion.

So, how about you? What are you playing this weekend?

-Blaine

Aaand I'm back!

First, The 1UP Rejects is on hold at the moment. Short version - we started out too big and too aggressive. It'll be back, at some point.

For now, I'm back doing my own thing, starting this Friday!

So, I'm starting small, and I'll be streaming two nights a week, Thursday and Friday.

Thursday, I'll be streaming the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series from 2000-2300 (central US time). I'm already a few episodes in, and you can watch those below. The intent is that I'll play through KotOR 1 & 2, and if people want, a campaign in SWTOR afterward. The KotOR games are using a fair number of mods to update the visuals.

Friday, I'll be streaming The Witcher series from 2000-2200 (central) and various Elder Scrolls games from 2200 to whenever. I'm a few episodes into this one, too, and the intent is to play through all of The Witcher trilogy. These will also use several visual mods.

Aside from that, I'll pop in when I feel like it with some Final Fantasy or whatever I feel like.

Of note - the KotOR series will be moving from the 1UP Rejects channel to my own channel.

I'll be starting up this Friday, and I'm pretty stoked. I'd been having a blast playing through The Witcher before my spinal surgery, and I loved the game when I played it years ago.

But first, you need to get caught up!



And also, you should get caught up on my KotOR series!



And the Elder Scrolls bit will be fun, as well. I'll be bouncing between various entries in the series, maybe even in the same stream. We'll see.

And the random streams ... I don't stream much of games I've not played through before, but the 'random streams' will be either new games or MMOs. Not sure yet.

I think I'll also post in here sometimes, as well.

For the moment, I'm focused on work, family, and getting this side hustle going again. And let me know if you have stuff you want me to write or stream.

Also, as a reminder, I'm starting all of this back up on Friday (I'm going to the Cardinals home opener on Thursday.)

*HUGS*

-Blaine

The 1UP Rejects + Me

Greetings, Earth Clan.

Nearly all of my energy has been going into getting the 1UP Rejects project off the ground. We've got a great group of folks contributing with written words, streams, a podcast, and some video work. It's actually coming together. It's still very early in the process, but it's actually clicking, and I'm in love with it. We're still figuring some things out. We're definitely still in a 'beta' state. Give it a look, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitch, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to us on YouTube, and just generally let us take over your life. Please.

Most of my contribution has been getting the systems up and running, and a little streaming and a little writing. And a lot of coordinating people. It's exhausting, and I'm looking forward to checking out mentally for a few hours tonight, but I love it.

I've always wanted a modern games media outlet that skewed toward us old timers. The people that came of age during the magazine era, into the early days of 1UP.com. I kept waiting for it to happen, and then, during these last few months, I realized I could just get off (or actually, on) my ass and make it happen, with a lot of help from fellow 1UP Rejects.

So, yeah, give it a look, understand it's still early, but enjoy the content, and let us know what else you want.

So, here's some of my streaming series I've got going. Dragon Age is every Tuesday on the 1UP Rejects Twitch channel, and Witcher is whenever I feel like it on my Twitch channel.




And that's it for now. This blog is my personal stuff, while the Rejects is my big project, hopefully for a long time.

Thanks for reading!

-Blaine

Some Updating

So, October, with the Puerto Rico fundraiser, wiped my ass out, but it was a great success.

I took most of November to rest, as I went from summer code crunch time to neck surgery to recovery to a month-long intense fundraiser, and I needed to breathe.

So, here's some random shit for you.

The 1UP Rejects
First, some of my fellow 1UP.com community alumni and I have got this thing going called The 1UP Rejects. It's a ... thing. Videos and writing and streaming and shit. Check it out. It's actually very, very early, and doesn't really launch until next year, but take a gander and feel free to go ahead and start enjoying it.

I'm streaming there every Tuesday evening, at 8PM central. Last night was the first stream from the new channel, and it was ... an adventure, but ended up being very successful.

So watch me there, and/or follow this playlist (warning: some NSFW mods in there):



We have a show we're doing every Thursday on the channel, too. 8PM central, also.

Really, there should be stuff going most evenings over there, with a great variety of streamers, and we're starting to get some lunch slots filled, too.

Check us out:
Blog
Twitch
Twitter
YouTube
Facebook

Moving on ...

2017 Games
I've played a few games this year, and the two that left the biggest impact were Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. Each of them are easily my favorite games of the year. They are wildly different games, and fed different parts of my soul, but I loved them both. DOS2 tickled my intellect deeply and let me stop and think. HZD was a really cool world and equally cool story with very rewarding combat and exploration.

Go play them both.

Also, any 'best game of 2017' nominee list that doesn't include them both is wrong and should be ignored.

This year, I've also enjoyed Torment: Tides of Numenera, Elex, Mass Effect Andromeda, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, ESO: Morrowind, and Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire. Go play all of those, too. Especially Torment.

What did I miss? What are your favorites from this year? Have you played HZD and DOS2? What'd you think?

I'm still playing through Elex, and I'm really looking forward to Seven: The Days Long Gone, which releases Friday. It's coming from some ex-CDPR devs, and it's isometric stealth parkour steampunk awesomeness.



Shit looks dope.

Follow me on Twitter for more stuff, probably streaming and random thoughts and shit. See ya.

-Blaine

HERE WE GO!!!

Hey, we're really kicking things off this week, in regards to our Halloween stream fundraiser.

YOU CAN DONATE HERE!!!

And, oh, hey, check out my first night of Soma here:

There were some technical issues, but we got past them, and it was a really fun stream. Give it a look.

Ultimately, I'm really, really wanting to make a difference in Puerto Rico. The devastation that has been wrought there is unbelievable, and so several of us have teamed up to try and raise money for a children's hospital in Puerto Rico.

Check out this week's schedule here. I'll be playing more Soma, and my friends are playing all kindsa great shit.

And please, help me promote the shit out of this.

Other Gaming

Otherwise, I'm still plowing through my second playthrough of Tyranny (this time, with all the extra shit they've added since it came out), which is a vastly underrated game. I've slowed a bit on Divinity: Original Sin 2, but I'll pick up the pace again soon. I just kinda ran face-first into something I'm not ready to tackle, so I'll need to come back to it later, even though I really wanna do it now. We'll see.

I also just got Forza MotorSport 7, which, as always, is excellent. I love driving my Honda Civic Si in real life, and the Forza series really feeds into that. This iteration is excellent. I'm amazed at how well-refined each entry is. I'd thought about just sticking with only the Horizon branch of the series, but I gave in last week, and I'm I got FM7. It's an absolute blast, and fun to play with my sons.

Elex is out in a couple weeks, on 10/17, and I am very excited. This game, I think, is going to be my main winter game. I'll probably ease into it, as I don't think I'm close to finishing DOS2, but we'll see. They're vastly different games, so I could play them concurrently, but with my Halloween streams ... eh, we'll see.

The Cardinals are out of the playoffs, so I'll have more free time than usual in October. This is sad.

Not Gaming
I found out recently that a woman with whom I'd shared a magical summer, 20 years ago, took her own life. I hadn't spoken to her in about 20 years, and that conversation hadn't gone well. I regret that now. I was unkind to a wonderful woman, and while we probably weren't long-term compatible as lovers, we did have an amazing summer together that I'll always treasure. I'm very surprised at how hard this has hit me, as she was ... amazing.

I have two things to say about this. One, every conversation you have could be the last you ever have with that person. This shouldn't dominate your thoughts or control every conversation, but perhaps, if things aren't going well in that relationship, you should try to end it in a way that leaves your conscience clean. Mine never will be, in regards to Teresa, and it's not the first time I've had this precise regret.

Two, if you are considering suicide, tell someone. Talk to someone. It's probably not the right choice. In the cases of terminal illness, maybe it is, but I think most people deserve to be happy, and you're probably one of them. Just reach out and give someone the chance to help you.

Hell, if ya don't wanna go that route, the national suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255.

Give them a call. It's worth it. Life can be great if you can just find your footing.

Anyway, that's that. Death is permanent. A lot of us are still alive, and we can help others stay alive, whether it be through suicide prevention, or raising money for Puerto Rico.

Help us out. Please. And Spread the word.

-Blaine

Halloween Scream Team Team Stream

So, some fellow 1UP Rejects and I are doing a big-ass Extra Life fundraiser for a children's hospital in Puerto Rico. Hit that link and donate what you can.

I'm kicking off the first stream tonight at 8PM central (2000 for those that think of time correctly) with the Scorn demo!

Watch live video from taranwalker on www.twitch.tv

I'd love it if you joined me as we check out this amazing-looking game tonight!

Returning From Spinal Surgery

Hey All,

I am alive. I've been away. I'm recovering from spinal surgery right now. I'm mostly OK, but still missing some feeling in some areas of my body, and my neck, where I had the surgery, is pretty stiff.

I'm going to start doing more thoughtful and critical writing about games in this space, as well as some peripheral topics that will probably include media in general, and occasionally, sports and music.

I had a lot of time to just to sit and think, and one of the things that really sunk in was how much I need an outlet, and how much I enjoy writing. I also have an idea for a mod for Divinity: Original Sin 2 that I wanna get going on.

Oh, and Horizon: Zero Dawn and Divinity: Original Sin 2 are both incredible games.

I'm also going to get some streaming going soon.

-Blaine

KotOR No More ... until mid-May

Hey ya'll. I'm putting the KotOR stream series on hold until mid-May. I need the time on Thursday and Friday nights for other things.

I'll be doing random, barely-announced streams at other times. I'll still stream Dawn of War III beta this weekend.

-Blaine

Happy Almost-Friday

I didn't post the last couple days, but I still wanna be your favorite bloggist.

Some shit got kinda dramatic in a few parts of life, and it was a couple days in which it was best if I avoided a medium in which I tell the world what I'm thinking about or what's going on.

It can be hard to maintain perspective at times, especially if you've got a history that's had some rather dramatic moments, but not in a while, if ya follow me. I thrive on being boring. I'm boring by design.

That being said, sometimes shit happens, and it's no one's fault. You can either keep it to yourself, or you can talk to someone. I encourage you to talk to someone. If you think you can't find someone to talk to, keep trying. You might be surprised. Just don't give up. It's worth it to keep trying.

While talking, make sure to listen, too. I had a good friend this morning throw something back at me from another perspective that really surprised me, and it was actually extremely helpful, and something I needed to hear.

When you feel like you're in crisis, clear your head, and really look around you. Your support network is bigger than you realize.

Anyway ...



I'm really stoked because Dawn of War 3 is out in a week, followed by Prey the next week, and I'm already backlogged by Mass Effect: Andromeda, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Oh, and Elder Scrolls Online gets the Morrowind expac in June.

The good thing is that, after that, I've presumably got several months until anything interesting releases.

Regardless, this weekend, DoW3 is running an open beta that I'll be streaming on Twitch. I'm stoked to get in there and get my ass handed to me. I've loved the Dawn of War series for a long, long time, and I've loved Relic's ambitious and unapologetic approach. They drastically change the game with each numbered release, and that's kept the series fresh while also pushing the medium forward.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll be going live. I'm guessing probably Sunday? My weekends are back to being crazy for a while. Either way, I'll post to Twitter and probably here.

That KotOR Streaming Series
We're resuming the stream tonight and tomorrow night!

My last two episodes, the mic was fucked. I'm sorry. Thank the Maker for a friend that popped in and told me. That has been fixed, and we're resuming tonight!

I'll be going live around 8PM central both nights. Tonight, we start Tattooine, which is a really fun planet in KotOR.

Other Gaming Stuff
My gaming time, lately, is really cut down. That should alleviate once we into the second week in May. I think.

What little time I've had has been devoted, mostly, to Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I'm still really enjoying. I'm also squeezing in some Elder Scrolls Legends when I can, here and there. I hit a point the other night, though, where I really needed something else. I'm not a one-game guy. I'm just not. I fired up Torment for the first time in a month (I got frustrated by an unwinnable battle and Mass Effect hit), and fell right back in love. I was able to come at the battle another way, with no fighting, and move things forward. God, I love that game.

I think my goal is to finish Mass Effect and Torment before E3. We'll see. It would be fun to take the summer and do something different, which is play mostly PlayStation games. My family and I use the Xbox One constantly, but hardly ever touch the PS4, but it has two games I want to finish, which are Horizon and Uncharted 4.

I'm also giving thought to writing off console exclusives altogether. Console games are very inconvenient for me to play, and I really think I might just vote against them with my dollar. Not releasing every game on the device on which it was developed is just stupid. Not being able to take a game on the road or to work or mod it or any of that shit in 2017 is absurd, and I don't want to support it.

Anyway, that's all for now. Time for movie lunch at work.

Oh shit, and there's a new SWTOR release. I need to play that!

-Blaine

Star Wars Celebration Day 2 is Over! KotOR time!!!

First, watch this:



Wow. Just wow. Gonna watch that several more times tonight.

Day two was awesome, and it's still just building to the big blowout. Yesterday morning, with the 40 Years panel, and today, with The Last Jedi panel and then the Carrie Fisher tribute, were probably the emotional peaks, but we're gonna dig into the games and the books and the comics and all that great stuff the next two days, and I can't wait. We've already found out about some Phasma comics and novel coming, as well as another Leia novel from Claudia Gray, which is awesome.

Tonight, though, very soon, in the next several minutes, in fact, we're gonna settle in for some KotOR and talk even more Star Wars. Join me at 9PMe/8PMc over on my Twitch channel.

Otherwise, I'll post some more video-watching spots in the AM and preview some of the action.

See ya shortly.

-Blaine

Star Wars Celebration Day 2! Almost there!

Day 1 Thoughts
So, yesterday was an absolute blast. The '40 Years of Star Wars' panel was almost overwhelming in how emotional it got. It was an incredible experience, and one I will always remember. I think that's something that will never, ever be topped. I was a heaping mess by the end.

What's interesting about yesterday is that it seemed very much focused on the Lucas Era. The 40 Years panel, Ian McDiarmid, Ray Park, the surviving original cast, and more. It was all A New Hope through The Clone Wars.

I really liked that they did that, that they seemed to carve out a day just for those that are no longer with us in corporeal form, and those that do not have any more work with the franchise in the future. It wasn't something that they came out and said, but towards the end of the day, I began to pick up on the theme.

Yes, for those of you that are utterly pedantic, there were references and glimpses of post-Lucas stuff, but the focus was utterly on Lucas Era.

My previous post has the video of the 40 Years panel. Watch it, seriously.

Day 2 HYPE
Today, though, we're talking about THE FUTURE! MOSTLY!

First up! The Last Jedi panel! Watch below (and then it'll go totally dead after the live stream)!



Then, as soon as that's done, the day rolls on, with The Star Wars Show Live!



I cannot frakkin' wait. I REALLY HOPE The Last Jedi stream doesn't totally shit the bed, like the 40 Years stream did toward the end.

Either way, enjoy it, and I'll be back a little later with a wrap-up and to pimp tonight's KotOR stream, which will happen at 9PMe/8PMc, in which I'll be talking Star Wars and even more Star Wars.

See ya'll later! Enjoy the show!

-Blaine

Star Wars Celebration Day One & KotOR!!!

Wow. What an incredibly emotional day. That opening 40th anniversary panel was just mind-blowing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out below.



I'm man enough to admit that I was in tears for parts of it, that I was doubled-over in laughter for parts of it, and in awe for parts of it. It was beautiful.

Otherwise, the rest of the stream was just pure joy. Ian McDiarmid, Warwick Davis, Ray Park, and more were amazing to hear from, and Andi Gutierrez and Anthony Carboni are great hosts.

I'll be talking more tonight as I continue my KotOR stream/video series. Check out the current progress here or below.



I'm really having a great time replaying these games, and I love sharing my love for them, as well as a decent amount of knowledge. And I know a lot of you also love these games, so come hang out, talk KotOR, talk Celebration, talk whatever. It's a blast. We have some fun Dantooine stuff lined up for the weekend.

I'll be going live at 9PMe/8PMc. I hope to see you there!

-Blaine

Happy Almost-Weekend

I've been a bad bloggist this week, I know. Shit got real busy at work, and I've had to work through lunch every day, or I've had to go watch Vikings with the team. Either way, I gotta figure out a way to be more consistent here, as I really do love writing at you.

Anyway, I'm back with KotOR in high-res tonight, so I'd love to see you come hang out with at 8PM central tonight AND tomorrow night on my Twitch channel!

Get caught up here or below!



Otherwise, I got a lot to talk about with ya'll. Soon. I promise.

I'll tell ya this, though. I hate being busy more than I do pretty much anything else. I despise it. So much. SO FUCKING MUCH.

Anyway, I gotta go eat dinner and drive my kids around, so I'll see ya'll tonight.

*HUGGLES*

-Blaine

KOTOR TONIGHT

I love Mass Effect: Andromeda. I know, I've said it a buncha times already, but I actually think about wanting to play it when I haven't played it in the last 24 hours, and that's unusual for me. That's kinda my litmus test for whether or not I love a game.

Still, I'm really excited to start my KotOR stream series tonight!



It's gonna be really interesting having those two games juxtaposed for a while, since KotOR came out of BioWare back in 2002, and MEA, also from BioWare, just hit. One can actually see the basic framework for the Mass Effect series in KotOR, since that dev team went right into the first Mass Effect from there. It'll be fun playing those side-by-side.

A big part of the reason that I'm so excited for my KotOR (1&2) stream series is 1) I haven't played them in several years, and 2) KotOR rescued gaming for me. I'd been a JRPG guy up to that point, but Japanese dev, especially roleplaying games, had gone a direction that I was not digging, and KotOR acted as the lifeline that I needed, and it led me to a much larger world.



Also, Star Wars is one of the things in this world of which I am the most fond. The Old Republic setting, in particular, really resonated with me. It's thousands of years prior to the films, which unshackled BioWare from having to work in or around the film lore. They went to the comics and referenced the Tales of the Jedi series, which is FANTASTIC AND YOU SHOULD READ, and this gave them a great jumping-off point.

There's also a great KotOR comics series called 'Knights of the Old Republic' (imagine that), and it is nearly as good as the games.

When I play through the first KotOR, I'll be playing only with a few mods that let me set the resolution to 1920x1080. When I get to KotOR2, it'll be heavily modded, so that I can play something that resembles a completed game. It'll be modded to support 1920x1080, but it'll also have the cut content restored and finished, some of which I've never seen. This is going to be a blast!



The schedule, right now, is Thurs and Fri nights at 2000 central. I'll probably also sneak in some weekend sessions when I can. I suppose adopting a more strict schedule could help my regular viewership. What do you think?

While I'm playing, I'll be dropping some fun knowledge about the development, the in-game lore, and my own personal stories about previous playthroughs, how I first heard about it, funny tangential stories, and the like. You're gonna love it, I promise.

I'll be streaming on Twitch, and then pushing it to YouTube after each stream is done.



So, again, that'll be tonight at 2000 central time. We'll start from the beginning, and it'll probably be the first time that a lot of you see KotOR in a modern resolution. Also, for those that are interested, it is going to be a canon playthrough. Our KotOR 1 protag is going to be a male, and the KotOR 2 protag will be female. I'm also going to try and make choices within the bounds of the canon. Well, the canon within SWTOR, anyway. As you may know, Disney deleted the expanded universe, including all the excellent Old Republic stuff.

Regardless, I look forward to seeing anyone that wants to hang out and talk Star Wars or KotOR tonight!

-Blaine

Aaand we're back!

Woof! I'm back home! What a whirlwind couple of weeks! Florida, as always, was amazing. I never thought I'd be one of those people that treasures going to Florida once or more per year, but I am, and it's rad. If you live in the midwest, and don't give a shit at all about 'going to the lake,' then maybe you feel me.

Maybe I'l try 'going to the lake' this summer. Hmm.

Anyway, I'm back. I'm returning to work on Wednesday. I'm taking tomorrow to play Mass Effect: Andromeda all day. About this, I am incredibly excited.

I know MEA's reviews have been all over the place. I'm surprised at how defensive I feel about that, and I shouldn't feel defensive at all. I worry, of course, that might impact whether EA allows BioWare to make another Mass Effect, and I'm also just soured that other people don't love what I love. I guess that's part of being human, but it's also a stupid way to feel. I shouldn't care at all what people think of something that I love, but I guess even I'm subject to the stupid behaviors on the internet.

Oh well. I just gotta suffocate that tendency. And it's not like I haven't seen in every single person that I know. We shouldn't care, we tell each other that we shouldn't care, and we all do. Oh well.

I really do adore the game. I played the length of the single player trial and had a blast. I liked the slow pacing and exposition. I get why the slow pacing might irritate someone under a deadline, or why that goes against the grain of modern gaming style, but it suits me just fine.

Anyway, I'm back.

And I went from no new games to play to Torment: Tides of Numenera, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and MEA all being slammed down on the table in front of me. It's a good problem to have. If I clear them all by the end of April, when I get Dawn of War III and Prey, I'll be just fine.

I'm also starting my KotOR stream this week ... I think. My plan is to start a new stream series with KotOR 1&2. I'll be streaming 2-3 times a week. I'll be rocking lotsa mods. Good times.

Tentatively, we're looking at Thursday and Friday nights on my Twitch stream, and then that'll be uploaded to my YouTube channel.

What kind of stuff do you all wanna see in the stream? Or hear about? I plan to drop some Star Wars Expanded Universe knowledge, and any fun development anecdotes that I can find, as well as fun personal stories that tie into it.

So, that's how the gaming front is looking. MEA will probably take top billing for me for now, but I'm also loving Torment and HZD. And I'm REALLY excited about the KotOR stream series I'll be doing.

That's it, for now. I need to get back to getting my ducks in a row. *HUGS*

-Blaine

AppDev + Next Stream + Vacation

That GameCon Application ...
Yeah, so I kinda went crazy with the Game Con app I talked about yesterday. I wanted to just sketch out some SQL tables and basic design, and decided to just start rapidly prototyping, and ... well, I was amazed at how quickly I pulled together a working application.

I now have it so that it'll present one or more live streams on a page dynamically, based on the schedule you enter into it. Also, I built out a system that lets me just enter some basic info, and it builds the schedule out for me. I just give it a basic panel/demo name, the date/time for start and stop, and what instance of a convention with which it's associated, and the application handles the rest, so it'll cut between streams on a single page, or show them side-by-side if they overlap a bit (which I'm going to refine).

It also lets me input an upcoming instance of a con via a web interface. I seeded the repeating cons via a SQL script, and then built an interface that lets me then create instances of those cons at will.

Then, within those cons, I can enter some basic info for panels or demos that I want to see, and associate them with a stream provider, and I stored the iframe info for each of those streams in data, and blammo, we have what we need to just fire it up and kick back. It's pretty sweet.

I'm almost disappointed that I'll be so busy with travel and vacation during most of PAX East.

I'm also looking at creating Xbox One and iPhone versions of this for myself. I may even stand it up on Azure (where the DB already is), so that I can hit it from the web whenever I want.

I also built out some very rudimentary calendar and con-specific pages. The calendar is very simple right now, and will need a lot of refinement. The con-specific pages ... I'm still thinking over what to do, but they're intended as a 'stream firehose' (no pun intended), so that you can get a look at what's live from everywhere right now at the con. The PAX one has five streams on it, and I've been tinkering with the embed code that Twitch provides to really make it cool. We'll see.

Anyway, more on this to come. Still no plans to provide it to the public, but if there's interest ... eh, we'll see.

Also, if anyone cares, I built it entirely with the new Visual Studio 2017, which is slick as hell.

My Next Stream
I'm leaning toward KotOR 1 & 2. I really adore those games, and I know a hell of a lot about the Star Wars universe. Also, it's been a looong time since I really played through the games, so that'll be fun.

Any thoughts? Objections?

I'd also play them heavily modded, so that they're in 1920x1080, plus any other neat mods I can find. KotOR2 will also have a shitload of restored content mods.

I'm gonna target that to start toward the end of the month. That'll give me ample time to do some research and a little bit of scripting.

I think I'll do what I did for the latter part of my Mass Effect series, and live stream via Twitch, and then shoot it to YouTube. We'll see. I may live stream on YouTube Gaming, but I worry about limiting my audience. Of course, there's less competition over on YTG ... we'll see. It'll probably be Twitch, but I'm gonna research and think on it.

VACATION!!!
As I've been blabbing out, I'm heading to Spring Training soon, and then to Key West. I'm very excited, as it's always the most relaxing couple of weeks of my life. And I'll wrap it all up with a few days of Mass Effect Andromeda. AAAHHH ... cannot wait.

Sunshine, baseball, family, Torment, creative freedom, and Mass Effect ... awesome.

I'll still be posting almost daily while I'm there.

Anyway, that's all for now. *HUGS*

-Blaine

And in the end ...

... so I had another post almost ready to go yesterday, but work and life get really busy occasionally, and my blogging tends to be one of the first things to go ... for now.

Anyway, I had a pretty neat pre-travel blog in the works yesterday that'll now be some time next week. Basically, it talks about my travel gaming as I prepare for my annual Spring Training travels. Basically, I go spend a couple weeks with my beloved Cardinals, soak up some Florida sun, get away from the Midwest winter hell, and it's all pretty great. I sometimes also shoot down to Key West for a few days, as I love that place.

During all that, I do find some gaming time. I'll talk about that more next week.

The Road to Andromeda
I finished it. I started the Mass Effect trilogy playthrough stream on 8/28 last year, and completed it last night, 3/2. WOW.

You can see the whole damn thing here.

It was a really interesting process, and honestly, it's kinda stupid, but I'm proud of it. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, but I finished it, and I learned a LOT. And I had a good time!

The best moments were when chat would get really animated, and we'd have some fun discussions.



I'm still kinda reeling from it, and honestly, from a few personal and professional shocks (all good) that have happened over the last 24 hours, but it was really cool, and I'm going to do it again.

I'm not sure what series or game I want to stream/record next, but I have a few things I'm going to do differently.

1) have more set start and stop points, and more consistent lengths of time that I play
2) bring more fun 'behind the scenes' info to the table; research the section that I'm about to play a little bit more in advance, and have some fun factoids to throw out
3) bring more personal stories and humor; either stories from pervious playthroughs, or personal stories that I'm reminded of while playing; I have a pretty wild history from which to pull, and I need to leverage that more
4) a little more professionalism; I had too many instances of screaming child and/or background noise; I also want to get a green screen; I'll probably also run some cabling to my basement and set up a pro streaming thing down there; we'll see
5) get better with the graphics for my thumbnails and shit; I'm a goddam fucking professional developer; I should be able to handle shit like that (though my dear friend Marc makes them sooo well)

And I welcome any feedback ya'll have. I really wanna make this more fun for all involved, and I wanna grow my audience. What I need to do next time is make a fucking great first episode that can get circulated and really give people a chance to see that I'm not just another falsetto-screaming jackass that's trying to appeal to the millennials. I'm an older dude trying to hook older, more mature, more seasoned gaming enthusiasts, or just chill people that want a fun time.

I think with the above Mass Effect series, I had long stretches where I wasn't injecting enough of my personality into it, or where I was just REALLY tired. Both of those things will be addressed in the next series.

I also need to figure out how the hell to market this. I think that's where I'm really shooting myself in the foot.

I also wanna figure out if I should be streaming on YouTube Gaming or Twitch. I've gone back and forth. I think YTG might be good because there's so much less competition and I like the interface better (as a viewer), but Twitch has sooo many more eyeballs. I dunno.

Also games and game series I'm contemplating: KotOR 1&2, Dragon Age trilogy, Pillars of Eternity, The Witcher trilogy, a Telltale series, Jade Empire, and ... what else? What do you wanna see? I tend to shun games that I've never played before, for a couple reasons, but I won't say never. Again, what do you wanna see?

So, lots to think about and research. Please, let me know what you think, and what you wanna see.

Thanks, and happy weekend!

-Blaine

Torment is Torment

Torment: Tides of Numenera is a profound experience for me, and I wanna tell you why.

I'm going to, and it won't take long, but I wanna say something else first.

Not everyone needs to like the same things that you do, or that I do. In fact, that kind of diversity can make latent experiences seem fresh. I didn't come into cRPGs until waaaay late in the game, and now I love them, and I have a huge library from which to choose. Tastes also inform a lot about a person's perspective, which I find interesting, as well.

Also, beware something that only you love becoming popular. No, your original experience aren't at all tainted, but there's a framework in place that says if 'game x' or 'band x' or whatever becomes popular, then its next effort needs to try and appeal to an even bigger audience, and that's where it all falls apart. By trying to appeal to everyone, you end up being loved by no one. You might sell well, but there's not gonna be that person that really latches onto something you've put out there, really relates to it, and then carries it with them their whole life. Look at what EA has done to Dragon Age. DAO and DA2 were intimate experiences with personal stories and great pacing. DAI was ... not. Look at what happened to Star Trek. It went from a thoughtful, pondering franchise to a generic action movie trilogy. Yuck. There's no soul in any of it, and people figure that out after a while.

And don't get me wrong. I fucking hate 'indie fans.' The people that make it their goal in life to only listen to the bands you've never heard of, to swoon over yet another cheap-looking 2D platformer, or to only celebrate films with budgets less than the average income in small town Missouri. There are great big-budget mainstream experiences to be had, just as there are great low-budget experiences to be had.

Along those lines, I've really been enjoying Horizon Zero Dawn, still wish so much that it was on PC, but I adore it nonetheless, and I have many praises for it.

But, Torment ... goddam ... this thing reaches right into my soul and just masturbates it. It's a profound experience, and every time I wanted to try something I thought might break most games, or just wouldn't be an option, I could do here. I'm trying to talk around this, without giving away spoilers.

On a superficial level, it looks like Pillars of Eternity. It's the same engine, actually. This has a totally different color palette, plays very differently (Pillars is real-time, this is turn-based), and most of the mechanics are totally different. Perspective-wise, though, it's highly similar.

And it's really detail-oriented. This is not at all a game that caters to the ADD crowd (I have ADHD, by the way), which I appreciate. It challenges you to pay fucking attention, it has a ton of text, it has a lot of strategy, and it treats you like an adult. If you don't want to ever fight, you don't have to. If your skills are allocated properly, you can never fight. I've had a small amount of combat, by choice, but for the most part, I've been bullshitting my way out of conflicts. It's awesome.

The combat itself is great, but I'm trying to accomplish a specific goal in this playthrough, which I'll talk about in a separate post some other time.

The companions are rich, too. So are the conversations. The writing is great. Oh, and the lore. By the Maker, the lore is amazing, and sooo deep. I've been reading through the novellas, hitting the wiki, pulling out the map, and I still can't get enough. Also, if you're interested, it's based on the Numenera tabletop RPG.

So, seriously, check it out. Give it a shot. I've seen very little coverage on it relative to Horizon, which is absolutely deserving of adulation, but I really think people might enjoy Torment, if they try it. If you're not into cRPGs, it'll be an adjustment, but it'll be a worthwhile one.

Anyway, I'm gonna go play some more.

The Road to Andromeda
Starting tomorrow night, I'm finishing the fight, and starting the end of Mass Effect 3. Come hang out, shoot the breeze, and help me wrap this up. I'll be on Twitch at 2000central/2100eastern. The previous episodes are in a playlist here, and these will be added after.

So, any thoughts on Torment? Lemme know!

-Blaine

A Post About the Post Post-Apocalypse

This is gonna be short, because I desperately want to get back to playing.

I spent a couple hours last night with Horizon Zero Dawn and absolutely loved it.

Watch live video from taranwalker on www.twitch.tv

That was fun. I was also REALLY tired.

Today, I've finally got some proper time with the release build of Torment: Tides of Numenera, which I'm firing up again in just a moment.

I adore both of these games so far, and highly encourage everyone to try them both. They are utterly different mechanically, but each present a fascinating look at a very distant future in which society as we know it has been dead for a long, long time. I'm sure that there are other fictional portrayals of a post-post-apocalyptic society that is set waaay after 'the incident,' but I've never seen one (if you have, I'd love to hear about it. I'm really enjoying this.)




Again, these games are so utterly different, yet have such compelling settings and lore, they are a perfect pairing. I'm gonna go play some more.

Are you playing either of them? If so, what do you think? I'll have more to say tomorrow. Adios, muchachos.

-Blaine