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?
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.)
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.
Welcome to Monday. I didn't get a lotta time here last week, which is too bad, because I like typing at you. It helps me organize my thoughts.
It was a decent weekend, if too busy (again.) This will get remedied soon. I had some great family time, took in a game at Busch, and got some quality time with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and had a couple really good episodes in my ongoing KotOR Twitch/YouTube series.
Mass Lemming Effect
I'm now 35 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda and still don't hate it. In fact, I quite like it, actually. I've, on occasion, had a flickering scene. It's happened, I think, three times. Once, it was so bad, it lasted about ten seconds.
I know, I know, I shouldn't be snide. but the groupthink and lemming-like followers desperately wanting to pile on with hate for this game just really disturbed me. People were enjoying being dicks. I don't understand that.
This is a mass-market game that isn't a mass-market game. It's a quiet, introspective experience, at least relative to the melodrama and bombast of the original trilogy (which I adored), and I think a lot of people have brought, and will continue to bring, the wrong expectation to the game. I listened to their marketing, and the message I got was 'you're not pew-pew military guy, you're now explorer guy.' That had me super-hyped, and that expectation has actually been exceeded. I deeply roleplay my games, at least the first time through (one of the reasons I won't stream games my first time through), and this has been feeding a deep fantasy of mine, which is to be a space explorer. I love it.
What's upsetting is that the me-too pile-on gangbang of negativity is gonna harm this series, and make development even more directed by loudmouth forum trolls. I don't believe that art should be made that way. I like this direction, and I like how bold it is. I'm enjoying the quieter, more chill atmosphere, and I like the mysteries in the game.
I love that when I hear a character talk about a sibling back home, they and I both know that sibling has lived and died long ago, and that's so hard to process. Everyone I ever knew and loved back home is long dead. I just can't even reconcile that, and it is such a powerful feeling when I roleplay my character.
And I've loved playing him super-logical. That's my ideal version of me, and it's farther from the real me than I'd like, but it's a great fantasy.
I wish more people had given this game a chance.
STAR WARS EVEN MORE STAR WARS Star Wars Celebration is happening this Thursday through Sunday! I'm so excited!
There will be a live stream for those of us that have to work for a living. It'll be on the Star Wars YouTube channel!
I'm expecting a look at Episode VIII, Battlefront 2, a memorial to Carrie Fisher, a SWTOR announcement, possibly some new films announced, some new comics and books announced, and really, just a fun time. I can't wait to start watching! The last two I've watched have been an absolute blast!
Otherwise ...
Life has been INSANE since I got back from my annual Spring Training pilgrimage two and a half weeks ago. Work and family have both needed a lot from me, which is great, honestly. It really is great to be needed, but fuck, I am ready to chill out soon.
I can always tell if I'm totally overwhelmed by how long it takes me to get through books. If I take more than a few days on a 500-page novel, I am absolutely not having enough time. I've been reading the latest Witcher translation for the last two weeks, and it's 474 pages. There ya go.
And E3 is now just two months away ... YYYEEESSS ...
So, here we are, just less than three weeks from Torment/Horizon day. Game-wise, I've been hitting the unfinished classics pretty hard (Baldur's Gate & Morrowind), as well as a lot of ESO. It's been OK, but man, I am BURNING for something new and shiny.
I realized, this morning, that it's been a year and nine months since the last game about which I was insanely excited released. That was The Witcher 3. There's been some solid games since then, but 2016 was my (and this only my opinion about games that I like) JV squad in terms of releases. I'm fond of Deus Ex, Dishonored, Doom, XCOM, and all those type games, and I've really enjoyed the latest releases for SWTOR, ESO, and Guild Wars 2, but those all feel like snacks. Those are my second tier for games, and it's all I had last year.
Part of what caused this was Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars of Eternity, and The Witcher 3 all releasing in a six-month span, from 2014 November to 2015 May. It was wonderful and brutal.
I didn't even notice this 'problem' until I really started to think about my recent 'gaming malaise.' I am licking my chops, ready for something new and awesome.
Fucking Torment: Tides of Numenera. Bring that shit on, man. I'm actually taking the day off for it. It looks wonderful. Everything I've seen about it, and everything I've played of the demo tickle my soul.
Yeah, I know. Me not loving the same games you do can be a problem for some, and the fact that I only really get invested in RPGs triggers weird reactions in random folks, but I don't care. I tried some of the indie darlings, thought they were OK, and moved on. I didn't hate them, I thought they had good aspects, and that was pretty much the extent of my judgement. I didn't hate them, I didn't declare that other people shouldn't go crazy for them, I just thought they were OK. Relax.
And all of that is missing the point, anyway. I played a lotta shit last year, and none of it really ignited me. I had a very good time with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, as well as Dishonored 2. I enjoyed some time with Doom and XCOM 2. I thought whatever 2D indie darling games they made me play were OK.
But man, no matter what I try, the only games that REALLY grab me are the ones that are huge investments with depth everywhere, from the systems to the lore to the story to the characters, to the world, etc. I love games that I can just throw myself at for months. I actually approach my job much the same way. I tend to chase after the 'huge project' work, rather than the little shit. I like deeply investing in things.
Again, as a side note, the fact that I've never finished an Elder Scrolls game still somewhat baffles me. Those games are ridiculously deep. There's just something about the actual mechanics and design choices that throw me occasionally. Most of this is aimed at Morrowind.
Also, in this drought, I did finally find my way into the Fallout Bethesda/Obsidian games. It took several tries over several years, but I finally pushed through Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and adored them. Fallout 4 was very good, but didn't quite hit the mark that FNV did. I think part of it is that New Vegas was sooo good, and I played F4 like right after finishing it.
Anyway, I'm curious to see how this 2015/5/19-2017/2/28 stretch matches with other periods of time. It certainly feels like the longest I've ever gone. And like I said, it kinda snuck up on me. I knew last year was a 'B-team year' in terms of my favorite franchises and games, but the fact that you have to go back all the way to May in 2015 surprised me.
I'm not offering to do any actual research on the subject, but it really surprised me.
And then, after that, I've got Mass Effect: Andromeda three weeks later. And in those three weeks, I'm traveling for two of them. It's a good 'problem' to have, but goddam. I'll have Torment, Horizon, and MEA all queued up, and then I got Prey in May, and then the Morrowind expac in June, and then, I think, a long drought into winter. Good times.
What about you? You ever have a stretch like this? It's weird how my favorite games seem to cluster in terms of release. In theory, though, I should have a new BioWare game by 2018/3/31, and I have some Kickstarters that should be landing later this year and early next year (though I got money that says no way Obsidian hits 2018 Q1 with Pillars 2, and that's totally OK.)
Anyway, that's that. What about you? You ever have 'awesome game starvation?'
Also, get caught up on my 'The Road to Andromeda' Mass Effect series on YouTube here or below:
Thanks! I'll be resuming the playthrough tomorrow night!
Confession time. Actually, I've confessed this before, but it still needs to be reviewed and analyzed, so whatever.
I started gaming in the 80s, and very quickly took to RPGs. There's always been something about living a great novel that has always appealed to me. I love my real life, but I also love the escapism and investing myself in another world that comes with a great RPG. I love the lore, the compelling narrative, the rich characters, the deep systems, all of it. It's really about all I play. I'm at a point now in which, if I venture into another genre, it feels shallow and almost pointless. There have been a few remarkable exceptions, but nearly every non-RPG game feels like something in which I cannot find something to invest myself. 2D platformers feel like me just pressing buttons while getting aggravated. Even a lot of the old classics feel like little more than nostalgic diversions that ring utterly hollow.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN I JUDGE YOU FOR LIKING WHAT YOU LIKE, SO TAKE A GODDAM BREATH.
However, that atrocity is not what I am here to confess.
My early RPGs were things like Ultima and ... Ultima, maybe? And some really primitive shit on Atari of which I can't remember the name.
All that got blown out of the water, though, by the first Final Fantasy. I remember reading about it in a Nintendo Power strategy guide. NP briefly went to a weird format in which every other issue was a strat guide for a game. I wanna say the others were Ninja Gaiden II (one of the great non-RPGs of all time) and some other shit. SMB3, maybe?
Anyway, I read the guide in advance of the game, fell in love with all the numbers and huge land masses, saved up my allowance, and then walked down to the local Wal-Mart and bought it. And fell madly in love. That was potentially the single-most life-changing gaming experience I've ever had. It really altered not only what kind of games I knew I loved, but solidified that I wanted to be a creative person for the rest of my life.
And I pretty much stuck with JRPGs through the 90s (Final Fantasy was released in the US in 1990.)
I did have a time in which I didn't play much. I took a break from gaming to have sex with girls, smoke weed, and get drunk, before I realized I could combine all that with my love of gaming.
Side note - of any man I know, I have the highest ratio of taste in great games to hot chicks I bedded in the 90s. I know that Final Fantasy VI was the best console game of the 90s AND I slept with a model in the 90s. Just sayin'.
As the turn of the century hit, JRPGs tanked. Or I outgrew them. Or both. Or I dunno. It all kinda peaked for me with Final Fantasy IX and Chrono Cross. They're both amazing games, and signal, for me, the end of an era. I've played great JRPGs since then, most notably Final Fantasy XII and Lost Odyssey, but the PS2/Xbox era was where I made a pretty drastic transition.
I can point at two games that caused this major disruption for me. First, Final Fantasy X, despite the great battle system, was a bad game, at least for what I need from a game. The characters, the story, the tone, and the world were all off-putting. The lack of a world map grated on me, but I accepted that Squenix was trying to on-board new fans, and I guess that was a thing or whatever. I actually really enjoyed FFX-2 a LOT more. Gone was the melodrama and incessant whining, replaced with a hilarious and lighthearted tone, which was vastly appreciated.
So, FFX was the first incident. The second was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I remember reading about it, probably in EGM, and thinking 'oh, it's not turn-based, so I don't give a fuck.' Then, I was over at a buddy's place in St. Louis, pulling bong hits, while he explained to me this amazing 'KoOR' game that his other buddy had, and how there were all these different choices that you could make, and it sounded pretty cool. So, a few nights later, I hooked up with this hot Puerto Rican gal in Chicago, and as we were stumbling down a street, I saw we were going past an EB Games, and decided 'fuck it,' and ducked in with her. I snagged an Xbox and a used copy of KotOR. We went back to my place, and proceeded to get loaded while I set up my Xbox and KotOR. I ended up stopping because I could tell I was gonna miss out on my first Latina if I didn't refocus. We went upstairs, had our fun, and then, afterward, when she was asleep, I snuck back down to start playing.
In my defense, I did have breakfast made for her, since I'd been up all night trying to find Bastila.
And KotOR really tipped the scales. From there, I got into Jade Empire, KotOR II, The Elder Scrolls, and then I shifted over to PC gaming during the PS360 era, and discovered the wonderful Piranha Bytes games, The Witcher, and more. I still buy every Final Fantasy that comes out. I played through X, X-2, XII, XIII, but haven't finished one since. I'm pretty lukewarm on FFXV. Honestly, most of it is that it's only on console (I play almost exclusively on a pretty spiffy laptop that I can take anywhere), and the characters are BLAH.
Looking back, though, it's funny, because I missed out on some of the best PC gaming ever. I wasn't on PC at the time that Baldur's Gate, Torment, Arcanum, NWN, and others were hitting.
And that's more or less my confession. I can't decide if I'm a fraud or not. I'm a nearly-40 PC gamer that has never played through a BioWare game that came out before KotOR. I'm sure some snide neckbeard is sneering at me as he reads this, but just remember. I had a better 90s than you did. I guarantee it.
Looking back over the years, I think my greatest RPG gaming experiences, and this is really another post for another time, are probably Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins, The Witcher, SWTOR, Pillars of Eternity, and probably something amazing that I'm not thinking of at the moment.
What about you? Have you swung both ways, in terms of JRPGs and cRPGs? What do you prefer? What are your favorites?
Videos
Here's some cool shit about video games from today.
Also, I am streaming today at 1630 and 2000 (central time) over on my Twitch channel. Not sure what we're gonna at 1630, maybe some Divinity: Original Sin 2, and then 2000 will be the resumption of The Road to Andromeda: Mass Effect 3. See ya tonight!
OK, let's see if I can formulate this into a coherent series of words.
I'm actually OK with boss fights. In fact, I even enjoy a lot of them. Among my favorites are the final (real) battle in Final Fantasy VII, the final boss in Divinity: Original Sin, the final battle in Pillars of Eternity, and basically just about anything that doesn't rely on twitchy responses.
I'm actually not bad in really twitchy games. If needed, I can become quite proficient. It's just not how I want to spend my time.
See, I don't allow a huge amount of time in my life for gaming, even though I love it. It's probably my favorite hobby. But I also believe in having a rich, diverse life. I have so many great things, and time is now my most precious resource. I have two amazing children, a fantastic wife, a really cool job, plus I make time three times a week to exercise with a friend and take care of my body, plus I have interests outside of gaming, so I'm basically a weekend warrior. I usually set aside time for maybe one big play session, and I might be able to sneak in a second one. Especially during the summer, time is just tight. During the summer, I actually struggle mightily to hold it together because my days are so dense, and spend all day from 530-2130 going from commitment to commitment to commitment. It's not ideal, but it's where we are in life right now.
OK, let's make a point, shall we?
So, knowing that I don't have a huge amount of time for gaming, but a pretty wicked brain, if I can use my vast intelligence and understanding of the game's systems to 1) over-level myself to ensure minimal enemy resistance, and 2) still be challenged a bit in strategic combat, I'm good.
What I don't like is the final battle in The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. It took me back to the original Ninja Gaiden on NES, and that game's horrendous final boss. It's in three stages, and if you die, you start at the very beginning of the battle. Right there, I was frustrated. On top of that, with imprecise movements, you can die in just a couple hits. And too much healing poisons you.
It was bizarre, too, because nowhere else in the game, or any of its expansions, is there a cheap-shit, cheesedick fucking boss fight like this.
But, I refused to give up, and actually repeated the fight more times than I normally allow myself, because I was so committed to ending the game last weekend.
I think the expected behavior is that I'd experience a sense of relief and accomplishment once I defeated the boss. Instead, when I defeated him, I felt intense annoyance at the shit I'd just had to wade through in an otherwise pristine and wonderful experience. And yeah, I was playing on baby bitch settings. I'd had other fights that were challenging along the way, but I was always able to get them within a few tries, and they allowed some margin of error. This did not. This was, even on baby bitch, stupidly hard.
The Witcher games are an exception for me. I tend to play mostly pause-and-play or turn-based RPGs, but each of the Witcher titles have featured a pretty fun and engaging approach to battle, and I can make it easy enough that it's still fun for me.
Understand, too, that I'm not condemning your love of Dark Souls. I tried it once. Not my cup of tea. But, I get why that's fun for some people. Me? I prefer to chill. I like using my brain and planning moves, as if I'm playing chess. I don't prefer intensity in my down-time. I like to chill. I spend nearly every moment of every day being extremely fired up and intense, and when I game, I wanna experience a story and some light strategy.
It's kinda the same way I feel about obnoxious puzzle-solving in games. Puzzles are fine. Obtuse puzzles that require a web search are a waste of my fucking time.
Side note - you know who does puzzles well? Naughty Dog. You know who does puzzles well and demands that you stop thinking about games like they're games? Larian Studios.
I used to be super-open about gaming experiences. I used to grab whatever the latest hotness was, regardless of genre, because it's what the cats at EGM and CGW were playing. I ended up with a sizable pile of unfinished games. As I got older, I made my interests less horizontal and more vertical. I now play lots and lots of RPGs, from the big AAA stuff to the smaller indie titles, so long as it's an RPG.
Occasionally, I'll succumb to peer pressure and try out one of those cutesy indie platforming games, and I'll enjoy it, but I think that's enhanced by the fact that I rarely play them. And it seems like a lot of the guys that makes those games are pretentious dickbags. What about you? What's your threshold for feeling like your time is being wasted in a game? What was one of the most rage-inducing moments you've ever had in a game?
Oh, and I played the first hour of I Am Setsuna last night ... check it out ... I have some warm feelings for it, but also some uncomfortable ones. I'm still formulating an opinion on it, and ... well, I need to play more first. I know it's not fashionable, but I'm actually not rushing forward with an opinion.
I'm one year closer to 40 soon. I'm actually not at all upset or worried about it. Each decade I've earned has been better than the one immediately preceding it. My 30s have been better than my 20s which were better than my teens. Let's see how long this can continue.
Few things are as likely to flip me out as my work computer rebooting while I'm coding, especially when it's updates forced by group policy. Time that shit so it's off-hours, moron. GAH. Anyway, I'm being forced to take a few minutes, so I thought I'd throw something up here real quick. Star Wars Celebration was this past weekend, and it was very cool. I always really enjoy the panels, and the Thrawn announcement had me spasming in my chair.
I finished Blood and Wine (the final expac from the final Witcher game), and it was a really emotional experience. Geralt, the main character, and I have been adventuring together in both games and novels for about a decade now, and it was tough knowing that was our final new adventure together, at least with a mouse and keyboard. It was a beautiful experience, except a horrendously difficult final boss battle. Seriously, the shit was on the level of the final boss in the original Ninja Gaiden (NES), which was fun when I was 10, but not fun as I approach 40.
Regardless, it was both beautiful and heartbreaking, and I am truly grateful to CDPR for the amazing and excellent trilogy. Playing through the trilogy was an experience that brought me a lot of joy and reshaped what I thought games could be.
I'm also enjoying the new SWTOR event, Dark vs Light. It's kinda like Diablo 3 Seasons. You roll a new toon for the event, blast through content, and your Light vs Dark decisions add up and contribute to an overall score game-wide. And leveling is insane now. I finished the first planet at double the level you're supposed to be.
It's also cool seeing the OG content again, AND general chat was the least toxic I've ever seen it. It's a lot of fun.
Also, SWTOR got a cool new expac announced at Celebration, Knights of the Eternal Throne. I can't wait to check it out later this year. If the last few episodes of Knights of the Fallen Empire are an indication of quality, KotET is gonna be great.
Last, I Am Setsuna hits today, which has me spazzing completely. It looks to be a blatant throwback to Chrono Trigger, and it's from Squenix's Tokyo RPG Factory. It unlocks in a couple hours, and I plan to stream it tonight.
And that's it for now. I'll probably be back for a bit at lunch. I want to discuss boss battles in the modern era.
I'm a bad bloggist today. I'm almost in awe of how busy I've been lately.
Regardless, I wanted to share my enthusiasm for the upcoming Star Wars Celebration, and in particular, its live stream.
SWC starts tomorrow, and they'll be streaming from London live. The SWC stream last year was TREMENDOUS. In particular, the Force Awakens panel, and the on-stage stuff with Mark Hamill, and especially Carrie Fisher were fantastic. This year's looks just as awesome. Check it out.
Otherwise, I'm just hoping to catch my breath. Fuck being busy. I hate being busy. I don't mind moving fast, but I'm a very deliberate person, and I badly need to just chill.
Man, I am just a monster on Monday mornings now. Yikes. I can kinda joke around, but I get so annoyed with people that aren't focused on the discussion at hand, and get pretty fucking dismissive about things that I see as irrelevant to what I am discussing at that moment. Wow.
That's like four work Mondays in a row in which I'm just not feeling like dealing with people. I usually roll my eyes at people that are like that, too. When did I become one of them?
Part of it, I think, is that, for the summer, I get up at 530AM Mon-Thurs to accommodate the family schedule. To accomplish that, I dose myself with various pain relief PM pills to help me get to sleep early, but then I'm groggy as hell in the morning, and I still haven't quite slept enough.
I dunno. On one hand, I need to get over it, but on the other, I'm OK with asking people to cut me a little slack at the front end of the week.
On the positive side, I did finish the main campaign for Dishonored, which was a really fun game. And about the right length.
Dishonored and Doom, both, have recently hit home for me just how important traversal can be for a game. A big part of the reason I enjoy them both so thoroughly is that movement is easy and fun. WASD + mouse look + context buttons are great, and when the first-person control constantly lands you where you were expecting ... man, it's just so satisfying. And the 'Blink' power. Ah. So wonderful. By the end, I was Blinking everywhere. I'd Blink up behind a dude, stab him in the neck, Blink to another dude, stab, and on and on. It was so awesome.
And yeah, I ended up with a pretty high Chaos level, but I felt justified. I didn't kill everybody, but I did take out the ones that I felt had lied to me and/or betrayed me. Or if they shot at me. Or if I couldn't take the chance of leaving them alive. You get the idea.
I then moved on to the first of the Daud DLCs (The Knife of Dunwall). I think I should've held off for at least a month or two, actually. One, Daud's jump is just waaay too floaty relative to Corvo's, and two ... it's weird right back in with lowered stakes. I dunno. Maybe I'll chill on it for a bit.
So, I have this thing where I'll hit max-frustration breaking point with a game, in which I decide 'this is no longer fun, so why am I spending time with it? I'll come back when I figure out how to beat this part that's making me crazy.' Sometimes, it's a week, sometimes it's nine months. In this case, it was nine months.
So, yeah, I saw that game in my 'installed' list in the Steam instance on my ROG, thought about it, walked around the house doing a little picking up, and then it dawned on me that a) I needed to leave one party member way behind while b) drawing the enemy forces into a choke point, and it worked!
And, man, I LOVE games by Harebrained Schemes. These guys are so good at what they do. The writing, art, combat, strategy, lore, and world-building are all top-notch in their games. I can't wait to play more, and then jump over to Hong Kong.
Of course, now, I'm at that point where I have too many games all going on. Dragonfall, Dishonored: The Knifs of Dunwall, Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, a second playthrough of Dragon Age Inquisition, the four MMOs I juggle, and I still wanna do another playthrough of Deus Ex: Human Revolution before Mankind Divided comes out. I think I'm gonna chill on Daud for now, focus on Dragonfall and Blood and Wine, then maybe come back to Daud after DXHR is done again. We'll see.
Oh, and this is a separate post for another time, but I installed Pokemon Go to bond with my oldest son, and it's been a lot of fun doing something with him where he's the expert instead of me. It's made him really happy, and it's been a cool way to spend time together. More on this later.
You playing anything cool lately? Anything coming out soon for which you are crazy-hyped?
-Blaine
Oh, and I streamed some Final Fantasy XIV for no reason, but ended up having a great discussion with chat about what defines a 'Final Fantasy' game. Check it out, and feel free to chime in the comments.
I don't ignore social problems. I just don't have the same instant outbursts of vitriol that have become fashionable in this age. It's like there's a race to see who can have a strong opinion the fastest. Just not my cup of tea. I'm content to hang back, observe, see what happens, and then, if I need to, form an opinion. At this point, most of it just sounds like children screaming.
I also don't think that 'cops killing black men' is as simple a problem as it's portrayed. Were I to look at it more closely, I'm guessing I'd find that socioeconomic problems on both sides are in play, as well as psychological issues on the part of the police. There's probably also some conditioning that's happening that predispose the two 'sides' to antagonism toward each other.
Regardless, if I pull way back and look at the issue from the perspective of time and space, I see a) things really are getting better. It's hard to see when it's all up in your face, but things really are getting better, and b) social media warriors ... most of them make their platform look like idiots. Bring reason and manners to the table or get the fuck out. All caps and hyperbole don't help your case a bit. When's the last time you got your mind changed about a political stance because of a Facebook post or fucking bumper sticker?
Anyway, it's tiresome. Were there actual discourse involved, I might be interested, but it's millions of people all trying to shout over each other. It's a mess.
Thus, I'm thinking about what I want to accomplish with the rest of the summer.
Off the top of my head ...
01) finish Blood and Wine
02) finish Dishonored
03) Play through Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut (I played the original release, but feel a playthrough of this would be a helpful refresher for the next game in August)
04) Build a basic RPG in Unity with the ORK Framework
05) drop another 20 pounds
06) blog nearly every day
07) build a stable streaming audience
I think that's probably plenty.
Anything in particular you all wanna see me stream? I'm mostly PC gaming, and have a ton of properly modded shit, and a huge library, so I can accommodate nearly any request.
I'm also thinking about starting to toss some fiction up here. Not sure. Maybe a weekly serial? We'll see. I've got some cool original stuff that I've worked on over the years, and I won't lie, I have a pretty bitchin' Star Wars fan fic idea from the Old Republic era that I've been itching to work on.
Anywho, it's been a fucking hell of a week, and I'm ready to chill and stream.
Word. Thanks for reading. I hope reality stops harshing my buzz like immediately.
I got back last night from my weekend in exile. Good times were had.
They live in northern Illinois, about 90 miles outta Chicago. Close enough that driving into Chicago for a day isn't too bad, but far enough out that everything smiles like pig farm everywhere.
I got lucky with the in-laws I got. I don't have the horror stories that a lotta people have. That being said, while I like them just fine, I'm not one for rural living, or the lack of creature comforts. I've spent every moment of my adult life living in either the city or the suburbs, so the rural thing is, even after fifteen years of visiting them, still a drag.
Regardless ...
... we drove up Friday, got to eat dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Corner Grill, I got to meet my (hopefully) future brother-in-law, who's cool as shit, and then I wound down the evening with some Witcher 3: Blood and Wine.
Oh, and the my in-laws don't have AC or clean water (well water is not clean, sorry), but they do have broadband + wifi now, which was a HUGE game-changer. I also grabbed some brief time with Chrono Trigger on iOS, because I forgot my fucking Vita.
Saturday was party time. We went and saw some friends and their new baby, and then my in-laws hosted a big-ass blowout. My oldest son drove my youngest son around on a tractor, which was hilarious. Lotsa people smoked in front of me, and I didn't smoke, which was cool. I wound down that evening with a new character in Dragon Age Inquisition. A female Qunari rogue that grew up in Thedas, and resents the other species because of it. The imported saves feature strongly anti-Mage choices. Should be interesting.
Sunday, we drove into Chicago and saw The Book of Mormon, which was AMAZING. Go see it. Now. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Also, it helps that my family was among the founders of the Church of LDS, but my faction split off about the middle of last century. Grandpa fell in love with a Catholic girl. A man's gotta do what he's gotta do to win the woman, ya know?
Anyway, the musical is fantastic. Everything about it. The performances, the music, the humor, the social commentary, the choreography, and on and on. SO GOOD.
And then dinner at D'Agostino's, one of my favorites from when I did my undergrad in Chicago. We met up with some old friends, and good times were had by all.
I love visiting Chicago. I cannot say enough about how incredible my undergrad years were there, living downtown, meeting my wife, partying my ass off, using public transit, getting into the local scene, and ... it was a remarkable time in my life. I'm also glad I left when I did. I'm from St. Louis, and it was time to come home and start a family.
But, I really need to spend like a week in Chicago some time. It would be cool to head over to the Columbia campus while school is actually in session, soak some of that in, check out some of my old haunts. I'd have no intent of reliving the past, but I always find it fascinating to see the ravages of time in person.
And Chicago is just a fun place to visit. I'd never live there again, as it wore on me after a while. It's an incredibly negative town with an almost oppressive atmosphere, and Cubs fans are bandwagon-jumping jackasses, even if their team is the beloved darling of ESPN and Fox Sports.
And, for a dumpy little league park, Wrigley is a fun place to hang out and see how the Cubs are going to complete fuck it up yet again.
And then, yesterday, we came back. And today I had a REALLY intense day at work. And now I'm writing at you. And now I'm ready to sneak in a little gaming.
Remind me, I wanna talk about alternate playthroughs of BioWare games some time this week. Word.
The summer time is often the dead zone for gaming. And, I guess, it kinda should be. It's usually the best time to be outside, walking, fighting bears, toiling in the yard, or whatever it is that people that like being outside pretend to enjoy doing out there.
The only time I like being 'out there' is if I'm at a ballgame (GO CARDS), or exploring something and/or learning something. I do enjoy summer evenings. Back when I used to smoke and drink, the back porch was where you could almost always find me in the evening. Now, it's my couch.
Holy cow, do I get off track like really crazy fast, or what?
ANYWAY, this is the time of year that I'm finishing games, clearing out the pile of shame, and trying new experiences (games, not weird sexual things (that's year-round)).
Right now, I have a rotation going made up of Dishonored, Doom, Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, and the Torment beta, as well as several MMOs. It's too much, but it is what it is right now.
I'm zooming in on the end of Dishonored right now, after which I'll play the two story DLCs. I like that game's compromise between a linear, mission-based structure, and free-roaming within each mission. I think that's a wonderful approach, especially relative to all the HUGE RPGs I play. The story and world are also really cool. Some LOVE the visual style, and I've slowly come to appreciate it, but I still think it's just kinda ugly. It's like BioShock, only not as ... effective? I dunno. Either way, overall, it's a fantastic game.
Doom is just fun. I play a mission every few days. I've stopped playing the multiplayer. This is not because I don't like it, but multiplayer shooters are just never a priority for me.
The Witcher ... I've been a big fan of this franchise for a long time. I've been a few of both the games and the books for years. It took me a couple years to really understand the first game, but once I did, I went nuts for it. The books, I fell in love with right away. It's been painful waiting for each translation, but I devour them quickly. They are each worth the wait.
It was interesting this past weekend, though, knowing that, in Blood and Wine, I'm concluding my video game time with Geralt, just as I was also really getting seduced by the Torment beta. It was this weird feeling that I was sunsetting one intense relationship, just as another was beckoning.
I saw an interesting quote during all this, and I wish I could remember where. I want to give proper credit. Basically, someone posited that 'The Witcher' franchise wasn't a fantasy RPG, it is a folklore RPG. I wholeheartedly agree with that. So much of it pulls from Polish folklore, which is a huge part of what gives it such distinct flavor.
It was really great juxtaposing The Witcher and Torment this weekend. I really didn't mean to, but I kept flipping back and forth between the Blood and Wine expac, and the Torment beta.
Where Blood and Wine is, itself, a great juxtaposition (dark, grim Geralt in a bright, whimsical setting), Torment is a fascinating blend of post-apocalyptic science fiction and high fantasy. And something else. I don't know enough about the Numenera setting yet to really say much, but every aspect of this world grabbed me by my imagination and intellect and YANKED.
For me, that's probably the highest compliment that I can give to a game. I play games to experience other worlds, and to live out stories in them. I feel the same way about The Witcher.
And while I'm slowly bringing my final adventure with Geralt to a close, it's been interesting getting settled into Numenera, and appreciating how these two games accomplish similar feats, albeit in utterly different ways. Where the Witcher is over-the-shoulder, action-based, and told from the point of view of a fixed character (though you influence that character's choices and overall demeanor), Torment is an old-style cRPG, very dialogue-driven, told from the perspective of a character that you create, and turn-based combat. These games are utterly dissimilar, aside from both being RPGs. This kinda highlights what I love about the genre, which is its versatility. I love how broad the experience can be.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share some of my musings from the weekend. It's about the only time I have to game anymore.
I tend to slow-jam certain games, so I'll be playing Blood and Wine for a while. Torment beta and Dishonored, I'll wrap up soon-ish, and then I'll probably start beating up another of my MMOs (Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, ESO, FFXIV). I should probably post my server info for anyone that wants to play together. Hmm.
Anyway, I'm heading back into Visual Studio. Keep it real.
-Blaine
BTW - in case you were curious, I post those Amazon links because I get a cut of the sale, and I wanna make money off these blogs, because I love doing them.
If I back a game, it's because it's filling a need that I don't see being filled by publishers, or it's a need that I want filled without publisher intervention. I don't want it to have mass appeal. I want it to be very specific in its audience.
Pillars of Eternity is a fantastic example of this. It was the game that first got me excited about the possibilities of Kickstarter, and it absolutely fulfilled its promise, and then some. It's one of the best games I've ever played. It was part of this magical time in which Dragon Age: Inquisition, Pillars, and then Witcher 3 all released in short succession, and I got to play my two favorite series, and a new favorite in the middle, all one after another.
Anyway, I'm really getting off-topic. Sorry, but it was a very magical time.
So, yeah, I backed the hell out of Pillars, and kept adding to my 'backing,' so that I'd get more and more stuff. Including the beta.
What's funny, though, is that I did play a little of the beta, but I put it down rather quickly. I didn't want it spoiled. I wanted my entry into that world to be one that was new, and fresh, and utterly magical.
And it worked out. I held off on playing much of the beta, which was a vertical slice that was early in the game, but not at the beginning. It filled in some lore, but then, like I said, I backed off pretty quickly, and saved myself for release night. When I got the game, it was magical, and many months later, we were both left panting.
I fucked up. I played a bit of the first beta release, but did the same thing I did with Pillars. I got a bit of lore, and then set it down.
Well, they updated it. A lot. I got kinda curious last night, and ... I made a mistake. I fell in love. This game is utterly incredible. I need to stop. The beta is so good, and so complete, and beautiful, and exactly the kind of game I so badly need ... but the finished product is in 2017. If I keep going, it's only going to hurt both of us. We have to stop. It's what's best for both of us.
But, I played more today. And it was so good. I'm worried. I'm worried that I can't stop.
That's it. I'm exhausted. I'm going to get in bed, and ... read one of the novellas that's part of the mega-backer package that I put down for. I need more Numenera.
So, I've not posted in a bit. Yeah, I hate seeing these 'dude, I'm sorry I haven't posted but my double-wide burned down and I lost my job, and my dog left me' and all the country song bullshit kinda posts, so I'm not making one. I just haven't really felt like posting anything, and I promised myself I wasn't gonna pressure myself to do recreational things I didn't feel like doing. Now I feel like it again.
I will say that I worked a pretty hectic schedule over the summer, and also took some time to think through a few things. Nothing crazy or worth sharing.
What have I been up to?
Let's see.
- upgraded all my development and gaming stuff to Windows 10. That's pretty neat. Everything went smoothly. No hiccups or incidents.
- the Cardinals, predictably, have been doing very well despite the entire goddam outfield getting hurt.
- I don't remember if I talked about it on here or not, but I finished my epic Dragon Age: Inquisition - Pillars of Eternity - Witcher 3 playthrough that I started in November of last year. I actually shuffled Pillars to the end of that, since I kinda wanted to slow-jam that one.
- I also played through the final Dragon Age Inquisition DLC, 'The Descent,' which was pretty fantastic.
- lotsa reading, not as much writing as I'd like; but that's about to change
The big thing, though, is that I'm finally dipping my toe into the streaming world. I'd thought about it for a bit, and after taking some really good pain meds for my back, I decided to really go for it.. I've made some alterations to my setup, I still have some things to work out, but we're kicking off the streaming schedule starting tomorrow @ 1600 central time.
So, on August 21st, 2015, @ 1600 central US time, you can check me out at my Twitch.TV channel and see some live Shadowrun: Hong Kong, see some gaming news for the week, and chat with me about this week's discussion topic.
The intent is to also start posting here more regularly. Sometimes, it'll be quick, funny micro-posts, and other times, it'll be like a feature magazine article. Just whatever I feel like.
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.
