Tale

Inside of MMOs, aren't 40H grinds typically reserved for endgame time wasters that only exist to kill time until the next update? At which point the grind is trivialized. Because everyone knows the game isn't all that fun, but you got to keep them playing anyway. Probably why I hate MMOs.

All heroes are already locked behind up to three gates. The first gate is faction. Your desired hero is inaccessible simply as a consequence of what team the game put you on without you having any choice. The second is exclusive to galactic assault, and the character has to be earned in the match using Battle Points. These Battle Points can range from 60k to 80k depending on the map. The last gate is exclusivity, if anyone else is playing the hero, you can not. It's not unheard of, especially when the heroes cost 80k, for the map to end before you can even use them. To borrow your analogy. It would be as if you had to beat the game with every character, then you had to get to the final boss again, then flip a coin. And if the coin came up heads, you could use it for one fight. And you have to repeat that process from scratch to get a character to appear when the coin lands on tails. I get where you're coming from. And this would be actually a whole different conversation if you could play entire galactic assault matches with these characters. But you can't. You already have to earn them. Why earn them twice with a ridiculous grind?

I think RPGs should give levels semi-frequently. Not ask you to stay level 1 for 40 hours grinding a handful of dungeons to unlock a single spell you can't even use half the time. An important spell they know a bunch of players are buying the game to cast. But it's okay, you can buy statboxes with real money so you can keep getting +1s without interrupting your grind. Not really. Heroes are not in loot boxes. Heroes are purchased with credits. Credits are obtained at a slow rate from matches. Note that it doesn't matter if you won, lost, or what your score was. Just how long the match took. However loot boxes can also contain credits if you end up with a duplicate card. So buying loot boxes can make it go by faster.

I could go on a rant about everything wrong with EA Battlefront II, but some days I get tired of being mad about video games. And just want to delight in watching people be mad about them in my place. It's sort of like looking at Command & Conquer 4 all over again. Except if Command & Conquer 4 had a half-decent base game underneath it, but with 4x the problems.

Speaking of NWN and Obsidian... I'm actually trying to drag Mephasm into the D&D game I'm about to start playing. Made him the patron Fiend for my Warlock. While I'd love to see them take a shot at 5E D&D, I doubt they'd have a hand on the license. I'm mostly hoping this is going to be Indiana, with them creating a new setting.

You acquired it before the change.

But you can't store it in inventory to then give out at a later time. You have to select who and when at the time of checkout.

But when the keys are entered in a Steam account, I bet Steam gets a cut from the publisher, for servicing the account. They actually do not. Valve's been open about monetization. They only get money for sales through Steam.

Muv-Luv Alternative is starting to bore me. Which is sad because it's the top game on VNDB. It just really drags stuff out. Started a bit of Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth. Already loving it after loving the last one. And trying to get back into my latest Tyranny run. I should finish it before I forget about it entirely.

Okay. Because Humble is not a reseller. Humble gets keys from the publishers, not by buying them and reselling them. Steam doesn't get any of it, not even indirectly. I get you now.

Can't you just buy from Humble instead of key resellers?

Writers guild strike did a lot of damage to TV. And I can see voice actors striking causing problems for games that are operating like a series. Losing several characters pointlessly in the AC series killed that for me, and that wasn't even due to a strike, just Ubisoft trying to save money. But at the same time, I don't see the actors as the draw like I do for TV or movies. They add something, and the consistency they bring in recurrence is great. But aside from Claudia Black being the main reason I bothered with Dragon Age, I don't chase after them.

Because that's the type of FPS I prefer. I don't play highly competitive shooters. I play the kind where there's explosions and swarms of guys shooting at each other at a checkpoint, while another crew of like half a dozen try to flank from a different corridor.

I keep looking at it and thinking "this is so cool!" But then I remember it's just a 6v6 FPS and my interest immediately dies again. If it had 32 player modes, I'd probably be all over it. The only way I can get into Titanfall 2 is all the little NPCs to shoot at.

The real solution to being a lefty is to only right in Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, or historical Japanese.

I just ordered my second fountain pen. Another Pilot Metro, but one of the Retro Pop styles and with a medium nib instead of fine. I also bought my first bottled ink so I'll be moving on from cartridges. Is it weird to be excited about a pen? I'll be writing in purple and deep lavender, aww yiss.

I have sacrificed my beard to the gods of writing so that I may gain their favor on this NaNoWriMo. Blessed be their quills.

He's wiping the blood on his sleeve.

Anyone who's not excited by Ghost of Tsushima is dead to me. DEAD TO ME

There's rumors of Bioware working on something else, but I don't think any confirmation. And supposedly Visceral's project is moved elsewhere to be reworked.

I've recently added Transformers: War for Cybertron to the games I'm playing. I missed this game. Still playing too much Titanfall 2 and too little Muv-Luv Alternative.

By the time I get around to it, I'll probably have forgotten this conversation. BACKLOG SO HUGE

Hey that looks cool maybe I'll... oh, already did.

I'm 3 minutes in.

Stranger Things season 2!