Hawke64

The Surge 2. From mid-game to the ending. (mid-game) Goddess Helena defeated. (end-game). I think that the game subtly encouraged me to brutally murder this guy. It took more attempts than I would like, but it was worth it. That one optional boss, whom I found, but never defeated. Brother Eli, round 2. It went faster and much easier this time, despite his slightly changed moveset. I also got his weapon. The Cathedral of the Spark. The Great Wall and NG+.

The Surge 2. I defeated the final boss by equipping the most OP implants I could find with the Iron Mouse set (0 CP consumption) and face-tanking him. Somehow it worked - I was able to regenerate and leech HP faster than he could decrease it. There was one choice after the battle and I did not quite understand what was the connection between the choice and Athena's comment (the kid sort of survived, by the way). In NG+ there is an extra scene at the plane before the crash. In general, random enemies have more HP/defense, there were several nanite ones in the tutorial location, bosses seem to be the same, though I have fought only two so far. I am unsure, if I should continue the playthrough - the game is great, but the first PT was as complete as possible. I only missed several audio logs.

The Surge 2. I've successfully reached the top of the Great Wall and was KO'ed in seconds by the final boss. Going to try again tomorrow. Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf DLC. The good thing about it was the management mini-game and more dialogue options. The premise of the story, protecting the village of Ninim from gnolls, was somehow uninspiring for a post-game DLC. Same for the outcome. The combat encounters were easier, because I knew that there would be just one or two of them before rest, thus I could use special abilities each turn and not worry about running low on HP/SP by the end. Amnesia: Memories. It is a VN, which I got on HumbleBundle and it is unrelated to Amnesia the horror series. So far I can say that it was made for consoles (the font is quite large), the controls are customizable (I don't know why, but it is still good), the art is consistent and detailed. The PC is nameable, so I got "creative" with it and the dialogues became more fun to read. The story follows the PC who got amnesia and an invisible friend (and they repeat the information received after each scene, because the players are incapable of analyzing it themselves). The choices in dialogues lack variety and there is little to none environment descriptions. Edit. For some reason in the first world (there were four parallel worlds to choose from) it was impossible to establish PC's personal boundaries and the main NPC was pretty much a control freak just asking for.. physical encouragement to respect the said boundaries. I threw in the towel by day 11. The mystery of why the PC had lost her memories was not worth it. I restarted from the prologue and the second route has been better so far (day 2), excluding the imaginary friend's comments.

The Surge 2. Defeated Harold. It seems that I am close to the ending, as important NPCs have started to die. The city of Jericho had changed a lot since the beginning and it became much harder to traverse, despite the fast travel system between non-combat zones. The journal told me to go to the Great Wall and I had a quite vague idea how to reach it, despite that the Wall and Athena in her new form were visible from almost any point of the city. The nearest location I remembered was the Gateway Brave and it was the last non-combat zone to revisit, so I headed in its general direction. Fortunately, the entrance location was still there and I was able to get to the A.I.D. Command Center. Its layout changed as well. It seemed that something just crushed through walls and buildings. When I approached the hospital, the statue I had seen before at the lobby turned out to be a boss. It took just 3-4 attempts to defeat.

The Surge 2. Defeated Matriarch Celeste and attempted to follow Eli. He was faster. By the time I reached the CREO Institute of Technology, he managed to kill Jonah Guttenberg. I absorbed what remained of the nanite brain, which allowed me to break through nanite barriers, and went after Eli. Harold the AI fell to the cultists as well and one of his rigs (bodies?) attacked me in the main hall. I was relieved that I did not have to go through all 13 levels of the building.

These people still benefited, regardless of the reasons why you helped them. It is fine to feel good knowing that they might feel somehow better because of you. I can't say anything about depression.

The Surge 2. I've successfully infiltrated the Cathedral of the Spark (power plant) and reached the boss, Matriarch Celeste. At the beginning of the story I might have accidentally killed her sons, then one of them respawned and I had to kill him again. Unfortunately, Eli got resurrected again just as I was closing on the target (the "Spark" itself). He escaped the arena with it, leaving me with the matriarch. Celeste used an electrified staff or a spear, flew (literally) and had quite impressive reach in combat. The arena itself became electrified as well during the second stage. I have not defeated her yet.

Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf. Apparently, I have completed the main game and unlocked the DLC (haven't figured out how to start it with another ending). The game felt surprisingly anticlimactic from start to finish. There were no clear goals or coherent narrative, just a story about a bunch of normal people trying to survive. Roleplay was very limited - PC's class was not referenced nor it was possible to choose a personality. The combat encounters in the last act were less numerous and more meaningful - each concluded a part of the main quest, and I appreciate that. The final plot twist explicitly informed that I had made a mistake when I had chosen the character. I suppose, I should admire it, as subverting tropes and expectations is ultimately a good thing, but there was no warning at any point, so I am just quite disappointed at the moment. The song from the credits was rather nice. I don't get the connection to the story, though.

Discovered that the sport supplement store was open and bought sunflower protein powder (soy protein powder was out of stock). Unfortunately, I was unable to follow social distancing guidelines there (not enough space). --- Jogged for 80 minutes (my new personal record), then walked for 20 more. I suppose, I should increase my physical activity, I did not feel well during the last week. --- Jogged for 75 minutes, then walked for 30 more, because I misjudged the distance and my walking speed. Still, it felt generally good.

The Surge 2. I've successfully cleared Gideon's Rock (a park). The vegetation and nanites were slightly problematic, because the former hid many (most of) optional paths and the later happened to cause damage if I stood in it. There were several NPCs with quests. The most remarkable was the garden droid - it asked me to collect and plant 5 seeds (I spent about 15 minutes looking for the last one, which was on top of the hub) and gave me a staff as the reward. The boss of the area was the nanite beast from the tutorial area. During the first attempt I discovered that my PC did not particularly liked the boss or the arena (I blame particle effects). Thus, after careful consideration I turned on the aggressive dynamic resolution mode. The first phase of the battle was fairly easy - the boss had large hitboxes and slow attacks, so as long as I had stamina, it was safe. The second phase was much harder, mostly because the boss' hitbox changed and I was plainly unable to hit it and ended up using the drone. The third phase required me to use charged attacks and I realized it (looked up a guide) only on my second attempt. Then there was another vision of the kid and the boss - Athena had sent it to save the PC. I did not know that she could control it nor that it was at the detention facility specifically to get me out. Besides the weapon, the boss dropped its brain. I was to deliver it to the CREO Institute of Technology. The entrance was within the area, so there was no reason to delay. I could not find the other hunters, the non-hostile ones, which was odd, considering that we had agreed to share the reward. At the CIT I finally met Jonah Guttenberg, I had heard of him in The Surge 1 and assumed that he had died. For obvious reasons the area around him was marked as non-combat. Guttenberg asked me to rescue his granddaughter, Athena, who apparently was held at the A.I.D. Command Center with other children. So it was my next destination. Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf. Act III was somehow more engaging than the previous two - the structure was clearer and there were less trash mobs. Also Legendary (unique) weapon started to appear. Edit. The Surge 2. I've cleared the A.I.D. Command Center. "Cleared" as in "slaughtered everything remotely hostile, grabbed everything that was not nailed down, completed every quest available". One of the NPC I've met turned out to be the protagonist of the first game, Warren. He did not participate in combat, but his quest chain has been great so far (uncovering what and why had happened). I finally found the Force Hook, only to realize that there was also a Lift Hook, thus I could travel only down exo-lines, not upwards. The force hook was at the highest point of the area and this tool was necessary to reach the boss. An NPC near the med-station asked me to give him the hook and warned that I would have to get another one at the same point as the first. That was unexpected, but with all shortcuts unlocked another run through the area was much faster. From the narrative standpoint, the area was depressing. Athena was the last surviving child in the center. The thing I don't understand is why she needed a human to save her, if she could control that nanite beast, which was arguably stronger. Then I went to face the boss, Major General Ezra Shields. There were two scenes before the battle. I suppose, they were meant to inspire to brutally murder the general. That part did not go as planned - the target had power armor. A really sturdy large suit with a flamethrower, a laser and a mini-gun. All of them regenerated, if destroyed. I managed to separate them, the armor still was at the arena and shot at me. The general himself used only power gloves and had another armor suit, fortunately, normal-sized. After many attempts I defeated him (my first "hardcore" kill), only to see Athena dying. Also there was a warning before the boss battle about it being a point-of-no-return. Not exactly immersive, but really nice. The Surge 2 has infuriatingly hard, proper bosses. I somehow missed it.

The Surge 2. (pretty low settings) No gory intro this time. I admire the level design - large green arrows that fit the setting. Little Johnny defeated. It feels a bit ironic to play a game about a city on lockdown now. Captain Cervantes defeated. There was a similar thing in DS. Delver defeated.

The Surge 2. Defeated Little Johnny. It took much longer, than I had hoped, and in the end I used turrets to destroy the cooling tanks on his body, because I could not reach them myself. Then I spent half an hour running around the area and looking for the entrance to the Underground I saw earlier. To proceed it required a tool I did not have yet, so I returned to the main quest - reporting Johnny's death to his brother who had requested it. The reward was another boss battle, this time against Eli and two other cultists. It became very obvious that I was supposed to directionally parry his attacks, which I could not do reliably, so I kept dodging and carefully counter-attacking. Unfortunately, I killed Eli before I managed to cut off his right hand and, most likely, missed the chance to obtain his weapon. The interconnectivity is as high as in the first game, judging by the first two locations - there was a single med-station ("bonfire") and a lot of shortcuts. Though, it was hard to remember where to go. Edit. Tales of Aravorn: Seasons Of The Wolf. It is VN/RPG from the developers of Loren. I've reached Act III, which, I assume, about 50-60% of the game. The story seems smaller - nothing particularly epic or significant, the art became more realistic. It also has randomized colour-coded loot in abundance, which I strongly dislike. There seems to be more combat and management in general - HP does not restore after battles and there are time limits for side quests. And sounds in combat are somehow off. I can't say that I like it as much as Loren, but it could be worse, I suppose.

The Surge 2. I've successfully reached the Seaside Court. TS2 is a souls-like, but there are several notable differences - an actual quest log, crafting system (getting schematics first, then components to actually craft an armor piece), rechargable "Estus flask" (in combat you generate energy, which can be used to generate injectables), leveling system (Power level determines how much armor and implants you can use). The Seaside Court itself was a combat-free zone, so I did not worry about accidentally hitting NPCs, though the inability to mess with the story was not encouraging. From what I understand, at the end of TS1 the nanites were launched, somehow infected one city and the city is on lockdown. The PC's plane crashed when it happened and there were only two survivors - the PC and a random girl, whose luck apparently was better - she got some super-abilities from the nanites.

I suppose, people carefully choose the information to share, regardless of the medium, be it online forums or meatspace. I think, I've successfully adapted to the quarantine, as I fell asleep at work and reached my normal level of exhaustion and apathy. My clients became more active, so I had to work slightly longer than I expected, which made up for the time I slept. Today I've completed a body-weight workout (pushups, leg raises, crunches, squats, lounges, calf raises) and attempted drawing, which reminded me why I mostly do B&W sketches (might be NSFW).

I've finished my 2nd playthrough of Loren: The Amazon Princess and thinking about purchasing the next part, Season of the Wolf (sequel?) or Cursed Lands (prequel?). Not sure, which one I should play first, so additional information would be welcome.

Anima: Gate of Memories; Alpha Protocol; Beyond Good & Evil; Contrast; Dex; Dishonored; Double Cross; Loren: The Amazon Princess; Mars: War Logs (or any other game by Spiders); Prince of Persia; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Okami HD. Completed the game. Loren: The Amazon Princess. Started the second playthrough, this time as a warrior. The PC's survivability increased, as warrior's HP and damage depend on one stat, unlike rogue's.

I quite liked it (3 playthroughs). Combat encounters were rare, but meaningful and diverse. While there were few option for visual customization of the avatar (only gender and equipment), there were many (9?) combinations of classes and skills. Dialogue option allowed a lot of RP and the alignment system was somehow better than the classic D&D (though, alignment systems in general don't work well in games, telling every NPC you meet your motivation is weird). The only negative aspect I can recall is skill checks in dialogues - if I have 10% to succeed, I will succeed.

Loren: The Amazon Princess. Okami So I used Inferno (they did not burn) and spent next 15 minutes trying to find the required brush technique (which I already had).

Loren: The Amazon Princess. I've completed the game with the normal and DLC endings. The important thing that the in-game tutorials had not mentioned (or I forgot) was that it was possible to change equipment during combat (I discovered it only at the beginning of the third chapter), so by the end I had five elemental and several normal swords and was actively switching between them. Not sure, if it was by design. Also I was able to get the "Alone" achievement. For some reason, only 2.6% of players have it. Okami. I successfully restored all cherry trees in Sei'An after looking for the last one for ~15 minutes in both quarters. It was on the head of the NPC who gave me the quest. Somehow Issun started to annoy me more than before, though considering that the PC is a wolf, I understand that there had to be a talking NPC nearby.

The park I used to jog in was closed, so I jogged around the park yesterday. Considering that it rather early (2-3 AM) I was surprised to see people near a 24/7 fast-food restaurant. The work has been less active - most of my clients are closed. I switched from the netbook to a VM. Apparently, the default Microsoft drivers for Win10 do not support HDMI and it was rather inconvenient to try to find the right ones with the netbook. So, now I have the VM running on the second monitor, which I was able to connect to my main PC. Somehow the current level of social interactions and, more importantly, the expectations of social interactions feels much more comfortable. The only thing I miss is the gym - I don't have enough equipment at home (a pair of dumbbells (4kg) and a fitness mat), so I've been trying to do body-weight exercises with relative success. I could not find any back exercises, except wide-grip pushups.

Spoilers for NieR 1. I suppose, NieR 1 better subverted the hero's journey trope (not sure, if Automata tried to do so) and subsequent "playthroughs" (technically, it was one playthrough, but some parts were awfully similar) were less irritating, due to the fact that enemies and especially bosses did not scale, so by the third run, it required 2-3 minutes to deal with each one and move on. Also not being forced to play as a support character was great (I do strongly dislike 9S).

Loren: The Amazon Princess. It is a visual novel with turn-based combat and Loren is not the protagonist. So far, I am still at the first chapter, but the story and lore look interesting. Okami HD. I defeated Orochi and acquired my first sword. This multistage boss battle felt much more engaging, than the previous ones.

The goal is to connect remotely to the work PC with the minimal risk to the home PC (despite my willingness to go to the office, it is not possible right now). There are several applications that have to be running on the work PC specifically and I must be logged in. I successfully created a VM with as little additional software as possible (Win10x64, Avast, TeamViewer, Mozilla Firefox). So far Avast hasn't discovered any threats.

I have an unsecure network (2 ransomware viruses in 2 years, Win7, half of the PCs does not have any antivirus software) I have to connect to. What is the safest option? My spare netbook does not work well enough to do anything (1GB of RAM). So I am trying to set up a VM (VMWare Workstation 12 Player). Is it reasonable?