PWB July

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Portal feels a bit like a demo for Portal 2 now, it's just so short, but it is still great and I'm looking forward to having another run through Portal 2 next.

Dicey Dungeons is the new game by Terry Cavanagh and I think I spent all day yesterday playing it, despite the fact that it really is just a demo.

My players have finally reached the second proper dungeon in my campaign. This one is The God That Crawls which I've been looking forward to running for ages.

Has anyone heard of Gaslands? It's a vehicle combat wargame which you play with Hotwheels or Matchbox cars and it has mechanics similar to X-Wing. It's awesome. (YouTube actual play here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq6mC0RBAjs&t=9s) I've spent the afternoon building papercraft scenery for it while listening to the Formula 1.

I did my first ever running event yesterday. 500m. I didn't even get a medal.

Want
I'm trying to start up a second (semi)regular gaming night. I want to run one-offs once or twice a month for the players who can't commit to a weekly game. I think I now have five interested players so it shouldn't be a problem.

Bin
Summer. It's 28C here. WTF

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Lumines Remastered - the soundtrack isn't as good as the Vita one, but it's Lumines, so yay! Only had 2 attempts so far, and did better than I expected but worse than I hoped; there are always one or two tracks that just start to get away from me.

Sea of Thieves - the current event is a good excuse to grind some Order of Souls rep, and it's pretty fun, relying very little on inter-crew cooperation. Looking forward to seeing what's next, and starting to wonder if they're actually going to be able to keep this fortnightly schedule going. I really hope so. The next expansion, Cursed Sails, is supposed to be out this month, too.

Want

I'm not really sure. I have a wishlist that's pretty long, but a lot of it is fairly idle desire; I keep hovering the preorder button on Hitman 2, though I've resisted so far.

Bin

The World Cup - football is not coming home. It is staying where it is. England are going to go out on penalties in the quarter-finals, and the sooner everyone accepts that, the better.

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Destiny 2 and Sea of Thieves are taking up most of my time quite comfortably, to the point of post-midnight shenanigans more regularly than my ailing frame is really able to support.

I'm continuing to plug away at my Monster of the Week campaign; chapter 2 has ended and I'm hoping to get a bit of an in-game interlude for the start of the next; I have two more mysteries ready to run and a third that's taking shape nicely.

I'm starting to draw up loose plans for my 13th Age campaign, but having run through character creation myself this afternoon (and spending a couple of hours on a spreadsheet that'll do most of the heavy mathematical lifting) I'm worried that it's too heavyweight after MotW.

Want

More time for games. Even though both games I'm actively playing are basically aimless timesinks, I don't have enough time to dedicate to either of them, which is putting me off starting anything more substantial.

Bin

I've got a work trip to Brighton at the end of the week, which involves about 18 hours of train travel in three days. It's the first opportunity I've had in a while to do any kind of socialising with the people I work with - one of the double-edged benefits of working remotely - so I'm equally looking forward to and dreading the entire thing.

Sea of Thieves - … Looking forward to seeing what's next, and starting to wonder if they're actually going to be able to keep this fortnightly schedule going. I really hope so. The next expansion, Cursed Sails, is supposed to be out this month, too.

The subreddit's consensus - aka, baseless speculation - is that it'll hit on the 24th, as there's another 2-week Bilge Rat Adventure planned between now and Cursed Sails. I'm pretty sure the previous event overran by a couple of days though, so it might drift a little beyond that.

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Assassin's Creed: Origins: Halfway through the second expansion, Curse of the Pharaohs, and it's starting to feel like I've been playing this game forever. Not really a criticism, because the scale and detail of the game remains absolutely breathtaking even after all this time: I'm regularly floored by how good the game looks, and there are very few parts of the game even after 70+ hours that I feel I've done much more than simply run through, there's just so much to do. I'm not as keen on Curse of the Pharaohs as I was on The Hidden Ones or even the main game - I liked the game as a meticulous recreation of Ancient Egypt, so all the reanimated Pharaohs, dog-headed Anubis guards and afterlife segments are a little out of place - but there's no doubt overall that Origins is the best Assassin's Creed has ever been. It feels like decades of work has gone into this and I can't quite believe there's another one out in just a few short months.

Splatoon 2: Really enjoying this despite not being much of a multiplayer fan at all. The single-player's a bit perfunctory (although apparently the Octo Expansion is much better) but the multiplayer is impeccable; even a beginner like me can make a valuable contribution by charging around at the back with a paint roller. I've just unlocked a whole load of Ranked modes too which change the game in various different ways and the whole metagame with equipment and abilities is surprisingly deep. It's classic Nintendo.

Want

As ever, it's more time rather than more games than I could do with right now. I've got a backlog of quality stuff that I need to get to grips with, with XCOM 2, Yakuza Zero and the Mario & Rabbids DLC topping the list. I also need to spend more time with PSVR, though it's too damn hot at the moment to contemplate. Skyrim VR just got a big patch that's tidied up the graphics and controls a hell of a lot so if I ever get the urge to spend a couple of hundred hours in VR that's going to be the one.

However I'm not going to be able to resist getting Tetris Effect and Monster Hunter Switch, so I'd best crack on I guess.

I'd like to find something to watch that's as good as The Good Place so recommendations are always welcome. I'm going to check out the other shows by the same creator. My knowledge of American comedies is pretty much nil.

Bin

Depression. I've not had any real experience of this so it's taken me a while to realise that the last couple of years of unreasonable mood swings and waking up each day inexplicably angry at nothing at all probably have an underlying cause. The doctor offered antidepressants which I'm not keen on so I'm trying to manage things in other ways, with support from my other half (who is understanding without really understanding, if that makes sense, but I don't understand it either). I'd be interested in having a quiet chat with anyone here who's had experience of this kind of thing who wants to talk about it, because it's all new to me, and it feels in many ways like I'm outside looking in at something that doesn't make much sense to me at all.

This hot weather. Enough already. I'm English for god's sake, make it grey and boring again before I spontaneously combust.

I'd like to find something to watch that's as good as The Good Place so recommendations are always welcome.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, if you've not seen it, is magnificent.

That was the first one on my list. Excellent.

It's the best. My favourite thing about it is that it's completely devoid of cruelty, which is incredibly rare in comedy

I'd be interested in having a quiet chat with anyone here who's had experience of this kind of thing who wants to talk about it, because it's all new to me, and it feels in many ways like I'm outside looking in at something that doesn't make much sense to me at all.

… and THAT'S why you should be coming to Brighton in August. We can chat on the drive down. :D

I'd like to find something to watch that's as good as The Good Place so recommendations are always welcome.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, if you've not seen it, is magnificent.

Also, if you're going to watch the US Office (which you should), skip season 1. They did six episodes where they just reused scripts from the UK version.

It comes into its own in season 2, and you don't miss any backstory.

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God of War II - I lied about not playing this right away, because I tried to get into something else immediately after Platinuming the first one on my Vita and just couldn't do it. This, however, has sucked me right in. Guess I'm a frame of mind for battering mythical creatures right now.
Hitman - Taking this very, very slowly. Finally managed to kill both the Paris targets and escape, which is a miracle as they both need very different approaches. Picking off the challenges one by one. I could be here a very long time.

WANT
Fire Pro Wrestling World - Out in August, it's the only thing on my actual want radar currently.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - It'll be in the BAFTA nominations, so I'd better get a free copy of there'll be hell to pay.

BIN
Work-related alarm bells - Abandon ship and all that. Time to put an escape plan together. Might be for the best, we'll see.

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Kingdom Hearts 2 - Last time I played the Kingdom Hearts Collection I burned through KH1 and KH: Chains of Memories and got burnt out before I could really get into KH2. I burnt through KH1 and CoM again (I loved KH1 but I never want to play it again, played it about a million times -_-) and this time I'm still good for some more, so I'm on the second game.

I forgot just how much it improved on the first game a lot, I think I might actually have been wrong on the combat being worse than KH1 (I used to think it was too spammy) because I'm having a blast now. And coming back to this after playing all the side games and prequels, its hard not to feel a stronger attachment to characters like Roxas and Axel who suffered so badly before KH2 even began yet most people don't even know the half of it because they spread these games all over time and place.

Also listening to Utada Hikaru's new theme for Kingdom Hearts 3 and it's really grown on me, the fact that she's been here with us since the series began is pretty awesome too.

Final Fantay XIV: Stormblood New Palace of the Dead floors released tomorrow, I think I'm going to level up Red Mage.

Monster Hunter World They are releasing Arch Tempered versions of the Elder Dragons, which hit harder and are way more dangerous but offer better gear than regular versions. Soon we get the Summer Event which brings back every past Event, so I can get Sakura from SF this time.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - I said if I can beat Azure Rathalos after so many years, I can give Monster Hunter Generations a rest and just play that, lest I get too far in before Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is out. I killed it, then I killed the Stygian Zinogre, now I'm on a Frenzied Brachydios, who has exploding fists he punches you with.

Want

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate - Yes, I HAVE said the words 'Monster Hunter' a lot, but okay. I downloaded the demo of the Japanese Switch marketplace ages ago and they ask you to fight the new flagship mosnter in a reduced time limit and set gear, it's hard but after many months I finally did it. The feeling is incomparable tbh.

Kingdom Hearts 3 - "I want you for a lifetime, but if you've gotta think twice, then I don't wanna' know baby, I don't wanna know baby" Also Toy Story world. I watched Frozen at last since that is also in the game and wow that movie is hot trash, I can't believe it's so big. (What the FUCK were the trolls about?)

Bin

Working in hot weather is the worst, man, especially when you're already soaked in sweat from the commute.

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Splinter Cell Blacklist. This passed me by, despite loving the series. I can vaguely remember some furore over Sam's voice… but what the holy living fuck have they done to Sam's voice. He sounds like a generic NPC doing a bad Michael Ironside impression. Ironside was the best thing about Splinter Cell. Are they bringing him back?

On a different note, I can't get past the tutorial. I keep dying. Like actually dying. On a tutorial.

Also playing Legion, having burned through Warlords of Draenor. If it keeps up this level of quality it'll be one of my favourite WoW expansions.

I think Ironside is back for the next one, yeah. I think he did the voice when Fisher briefly showed up in Ghost Recon Wildlands (I think it was part of some limited-time event, or something? I dunno, I don't play Wildlands).

Been playing some Elder Scrolls Online with a friend, and I'm enjoying a lot more this time around, but man, every other MMO I play just reminds me why FFXIV has done so well over the past years, it doesn't feel like it's held together with duct tape and bandages like TERA or DCUO did, but it shows that it's a F2P MMO for sure at times, although it is a really pretty game.The Elder Scrolls experience is great, still unsure on it as an MMO though, did a few dungeons that were well designed but the actual crawl through felt really lacking, and I dunno if I like tanking in ESO, no aoe aggro?

Yeah it's an odd game - to be honest it feels like a single-player game that happens to have other people running around in it, and the dungeons are kind of scrappy as a result, just four people hacking their way through an instance rather than any kind of organised team. There's none of the strategy of FFXIV.

Maybe that changes at higher levels but in general the fact the game auto-levels to match your abilities all the way through means it's a game with little sense of progression - you can go anywhere at any point and you'll be the right level for whatever you're facing. That makes for a fun, relaxing experience as there's a lot of entertaining stuff to do but it also feels slightly pointless as apart from gaining new abilities as you go, you're not really achieving very much. I think I'd have preferred the original version where things were gated according to level, as at least you'd always have something to aim for.

As much as I'm finding the controls pretty imprecise and frustratingly forced on the motion controls, I'm really enjoying Gravity Rush on the Vita again. Kat's Gravity Shift has that element to it where it's fun just fly around in, watching as you 'fall' into the sky before freefalling back down to earth but it's also really handy for getting around and bopping Nevi on the head is nice little gaming pleasure imo the way she rebounds of each one enough to gravity kick again).

Kat is heroine who never got the popularity she deserved (the bit at the start where's so happy to have made a 'bedroom' from junk in that pipe, so likable) but she had one of the best games on the Vita at least.

I redownloaded this (I believe my first ever PS+ game on Vita, if not first Vita game…I think) to stop me buying Gravity Rush 2 and all it's done is make me want it more, as that game looks fucking gorgeous and just as, if not more fun than the original.