Hawke64

Not directly related, just my visa application, which includes the work permit, was approved at approximately the same time.

Congratulations. --- I am delighted to share that I have earned my MSc Data Science with Distinction degree and was granted permission to work. Currently looking for work (IT Support Technician with 4 years of experience or Junior Data Engineer with no experience).

Finished Forgotten Anne. Had another soft-lock with a physics puzzle, when the "NPC" to use somehow clipped through the floor and I had to reload*. I am unsure how much difference the choices make, but from the Steam forums I gathered that the main narrative path remains unchanged, while only one ending is "true". It is somehow funny to compare it to Anno: Mutationem, which I've played recently, - Forgotten Anne has an adequately-written story, some minor choices, and the light and pipe puzzles are nice (slightly too easy, but not bugged), but also uncomfortable, unrebindable, and unresponsive controls with timed platforming sequences, while Anno: Mutationem has quite good rebindable controls, combat system, and encounters, but the story and characters are ridiculous. So, I am not reviewing either of them on Steam, with its "Recommended/Not Recommended" system. *a link to the video guide I used, which partially shows the bug. --- Started Grime, a Souls-like in a rather unique fantasy setting - something happened and life forms came from rocks. Another original concept is absorbing the foes by parrying their attacks with the head, which is also a black hole, in order to unlock talents (passive abilities). The controls are partially rebindable (mouse buttons and the I key are hard-coded), but the game can be played with keyboard only. The environments are slightly too grey, but very nice otherwise.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/meet-the-men-hiding-their-fifa-ultimate-team-addiction-from-their-families

Pillars of Eternity does not need to compete with whatever Larian is making - despite the cursory similarities, they are fundamentally different. Larian cannot write or design UI or combat encounters, while constantly disregarding the lore for no reason (from the Divinity 1 MC in D:OS2 to the Emperor in their latest title, and that lore was not even theirs to take a dump on). Obsidian, on the other hand, has excellent writing, relatable characters, meaningful and impactful choices, amazing graphics and UI, and engaging combat and stealth. Also, the pause function and system requirements. VA and mo-cap are a waste of resources for CRPGs, while the only paise-worthy aspect of Larian's games is the ability to skip all those mo-capped voice-acted scenes with a well-launched fireball (i.e. immersive sim elements). Which occasionally breaks the narrative (e.g. the boss thrown into the chasm teleports onto the platform to die in a cut-scene), because even this was poorly-implemented. While it is unlikely with Microsoft, I would definitely back another PoE game. --- Length-wise, I think, Deadfire was shorter, which was most welcome.

I guess, if a game is really good and is available on GOG after Steam/EGS, I am likely to repurchase it*. So, I assume that some players might buy the same game for different platforms (such as consoles or mobile devices) and different editions (GOTY, etc.) as well. *Also that one time when Obsidian messed up the critical path in PoEII (which is an important reminder about the control over the digital products/artworks we own and the lack of QoL features on Steam), so I repurchased it on GOG to have the access to the better version (which was the opposite of rewarding the good effort). Should've activated on GOG in the first place, though.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grapeocean/black-geyser-dlc-tales-of-the-moon-cult

Forgotten Anne. An adventure game with platforming elements. Reached the mid-game plot twist that was visible from the prologue. The controls are horrible and hard-coded, which together with timed platforming sequences leads to a rather frustrating experience. One of the puzzles didn't seem to work with V-Sync on (the MC didn't pull the lever fast enough), which was somehow odd and more frustrating (stopped at this point for now). Otherwise, the story is nice and the sound/visual design are lovely. The cut-scenes are not skippable, though, which somehow discourages replaying and checking how much different choices affect anything.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-gun-giant-remington-used-call-of-duty-to-promote-weapons-to-younger-players

I think the story would feel the most fitting with a young CG tiefling* bard. Or at least random sneaking animations during cut-scenes would be less irritating. Also the general body language and facial expressions. *in general, if the plot was about getting your grandma, who was exiled from Elturel, to Baldur's Gate, it would have been better. The Elturel refugees' quests seemed somehow more connected to the PC than the main story.

Shadow Tactics. Failed a mission by causing a time paradox. Overall, the variety of characters, locations, and ways to complete missions are good. Aiko's playstyle somehow reminded of Assassin's Creed 1, though Altair still carried weapons openly while using his monk disguise (walking slowly).

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1374930/eventcomments/3906367962690840828/ --- https://www.humblebundle.com/games/awesome-indies-from-humble-games There were at least 4 games that I wanted (Moonscars, Unsighted, The Wild at Heart, and Flynn) and the charity seemed good. --- https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum-devs-were-expected-to-make-an-ambitious-triple-a-game-on-a-tenth-of-the-budget-report-claims Somehow sad. Also, it is odd that Daedelic who had a lot of experience with point-and-click adventures, but not action-adventures, decided to go for the latter.

Shadow Tactics. A stealth tactical game in the Edo (?)/Japanese setting. Played a few missions, really nice in all aspects for the genre (e.g. no story choices or character customisation), except the lack of pausing.

Anno: Mutationem (not the strategy) Not sure why, but there were a lot of crosses:

Finished Anno: Mutationem. It is an action-adventure in the cyberpunk setting. The story follows Ann Flores, a security agency employee with a life-threatening medical condition, and her trusted friend, Ayane Misuno, in their search for Ann’s lost brother. During the investigation they stumble upon a larger conspiracy. Overall, the gameplay was fine, the story was ridiculous. Review:

There were 2 separate instances - the one mentioned in the article where the severance was inadequate (not related to unions) and another one where a contract with another company (Keyword Studios) was not renewed, then that company fired their unionised employees. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/canadas-first-ever-unionised-game-staff-working-on-dragon-age-dreadwolf-have-all-been-fired I hope that the people affected will be able to protect their rights and find new employment.

I guess, the high-level spells in general could be a problem - Plane Shift or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion would take quite a lot of effort to implement.

The combination of hidden timers and camp scenes bound to Long Rests is a puzzling one. I guess, if the map was separated into smaller logical areas with the rests taking place between them and all queued scenes triggering on the same rest, it would have been at least more transparent. Or if the camp areas existed at specific points on the map.

Icey. A hack-and-slash action game with meta commentary on game development. The keyboard controls are rebindable, the mouse is not supported, the progress is saved at check points. It did not seem possible to change the difficulty level after starting the game, while the "true" ending seemed to require to collect all achievements in order to unlock, which in turn required to replay the game with its rather inconvenient restart system (could not interrupt a run, but could start from an unlocked location). The narrator was slightly annoying (intentionally) and sometimes spoke too slowly (unintentionally; also the lines are not skippable). There are several bosses. The combat system in general should be good - there are combos, dodges, "parries", it is possible to change the direction between attacks, etc., but the enemy movesets (attacks and speed) felt somehow unpleasant. It was entirely possible to get stunlocked/juggled by lasers and be defeated rather quickly, despite the i-frames and armour, while being unable to see which foe was attacking. On a positive note, there is no contact damage. The new attacks and other upgrades can be unlocked for XP earned by defeating enemies or finding chests (unless the optional path chosen leads to an ending). I guess, collecting the remaining achievements should take about 1-2 hours, while the game up to this point has taken 3, but I'd rather let it be. That is to say, it was fine, not deep or outstanding, but playable.

TESIII: Morrowind. Decided to check out Solstheim after all, then, after resolving the quest I came there with, returned to Pelagiad. And the memories of the modded experience came back. Also, the density of the combat encounters felt (not "was") somehow higher than on Vvardenfell. Unavowed. The MC needed at least 1 more pixel per eye.

Soulstice is free on EGS. Crashed at launch for me and seems to use EGS DRM.

She is a paladin and a very passionate one. I would have liked to have both, the paladin and the cleric, in the party. Of course, the hirelings were fine, but they could not fly or righteously stomp the evil-doers. If Halsin does not have an exclamation mark above his head, he is not looking for sex at the moment. I don't think that he has anything else to do in Act 3, but might be mistaken.

Unavowed. Finished the game. It was a decent point-and-click adventure with some flexibility regarding the puzzles - there are several companions to take on missions and they provide different options for the solutions. Also, there are some options for the character creation and the quest outcomes. Got stuck once somewhere close to the end (tried to break a bottle against a table, which was not the intended path). Tried to continue with Batbarian. Died repeatedly. I definitely don't want to replay it from the start, but I am unsure how to continue. Should check all open paths, I guess, considering that it is a Metroidvania.

While the upper row might be based on nostalgia, the lower seems quite accurate.

32GB RAM and an i9 CPU should be quite enough for gaming. Though, getting more storage space (4TB+) might be reasonable - anything that requires these specs is likely to take a lot of space. Additionally, the PSU, the motherboard, and the cooling system should be adequate. The number and type of ports are probably less relevant if you are not going to upgrade some parts. I have been with my current PC for 8 years as well (I do have a spare one should anything go wrong), so cannot recommend anything more specific.