Tale

So is that just like it says on the tin, only cosmetic? Meaning this race doesn't offer any species advantages/disadvantages like I assume the other base in-game species do? It's just a portrait you can use when creating a custom race. Traits (advantages/disadvantages) will be chosen from the normal lists. All races/portraits have access to that same list. I think the regular pre-order portraits are the best. But if you're too late for that and want to be spiders, the one from Nova is pretty sweet looking.

Up until past 1 playing Stellaris. Still haven't gotten far enough to make a judgement call. I barely met my neighbors yesterday, two moderately crappy groups who will inevitably try to destroy me. One xenophobic hive mind and one group of dudes who think the galaxy belongs to them. Here I am trying to spread safety to all races in the galaxy and I'm situated near these buttheads. The seemingly more hostile ones actually liked me a bit better since we're both arthrapoids. But the long term prospects of them not try to attack me are slim, so I'm cozying up to the other dudes who also have a stronger fleet. Other than that, I've got a nice big section of the spiral arm all to myself. Pretty much the entire limb. Perhaps more once my science ships decide to brave the terrifyingly peaceful space amoebas. Hostile, hah. So far, it just feels like Gal Civ with RTWP, leaders, and a bonkers tech tree. We'll see how it goes.

I've never actually played a Paradox grand strategy game, but I just ordered Stellaris based on the reviews, the premise, and the assurances that it's well written. Also to get that spider race. Don't you judge me. Now, that's not to say that I don't own any PDX GSGs. Crusader Kings 2 is sitting in my Steam library from some sale. How fair are their games, anyway? My 4x background is limited to Civilization and Galactic Civilation. And there the non-player civs always seem like they have advantages, allying with each other, hating everything you do, never having internal struggles unless I'm intentionally culture blasting them.

They were actually labelled Ferelden Deserters. Which, again, makes little sense. They deserted their homeland to make a suicidal attack on the city guard? Random thugs would have been dumb enough, but that makes even less sense. If ASOIAF taught me anything, it's that you can't trust deserters. They'll do anything.

Binged through Deponia Doomsday over the weekend. And then Undertale. Almost done with my pacifist run.

Thought I'd finally give DOOM 3 BFG a try, since it wouldn't run on an XP machine. DOOM 3 is every bit as tedious and a chore as I remember it. I barely made it out of the tutorial before this game's second chance had run out.

Oh good, so it's not just me thinking that. I suspect Blizzard's hooked on all the attention Starcraft esports got over the years. As an old TF2 dude, this is why I'm not that interested. I want to play Bastion. But my group has two Widowmakers and no support. So Mercy it is. I also really miss the big stalemates that go on for 10+ minutes until part of the assaulting team makes a surprise assault from the other path. But in Overwatch, the match ended like 5 minutes ago.

This is the third time I've seen Marvel tell the Civil War story. And it's the first time I've actually thought it was good.

Apparently there are people at my work, including my boss, who think that I play games at work. Does that mean I should start?

Shadow of Mordor needed either a hard mode or some sort of ultra-hard endgame area. It was lots of fun before you got abilities that let you cut a swath through hordes.

I spent several hours playing Overwatch today. I like it. But I do not love it. I can't think of any reason to come back tomorrow. It plays like they took a really incredible game and trimmed it down until it was just 10 people in a very pretty box, never letting off the trigger. The pace is simply too fast. There's never anytime to think, strategize, or just do anything but keep firing. Part of this is the abysmally low 5 minute round times. You're either crushing or being crushed. There's no time for players to search for any other groove.

Everyone knows it should have been a third person shooter. Now that's real skill. Puked in my mouth a little.

I've got the stronghold. It's only the second castle I've conquered in this game. But they wouldn't let me keep the first one. Which I totally did not expect to be my stronghold at the time. And anyone who tells you otherwise is a slanderer. Or libel, depending on medium. I'll sue!

Even in pong you're playing a role in a game!

I only enjoyed DOW2 enough to get through the campaign. DOW1 was an addiction. I'm glad they're bringing back base building, but they're going to need to reveal more than just a large unit to keep my excitement levels.

No, it's an Imperial Knight. http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Knight The Warhound's baby brother.

http://www.pcgamer.com/dawn-of-war-3-inside-relics-biggest-rts-yet/ A couple screenshots are released, just Space Marines vs Eldar. The marines themselves look pretty low-def, but the Knight looks awesome.

"THREE DEVASTATING FORCES" And here I was thinking they were saving Chaos Marines for a later reveal. I was also hoping that the Necron Lord release for Last Stand meant they were starting with Necrons this time around.

I'm supposed to be playing POE, but there's so much I missed it's hard to focus. I believe the idea is called "choice paralysis." I'm wanting to replay Spec-Ops: The Line, Portal, Dark Souls, Witcher 2 with the DLC I never tried, Dungeon Siege 3 with its DLC, buy Deponia Doomsday, XCOM, Undertale, or rebuy Dragon's Dogma. And then there's Doom 3 BFG and Tomb Raider that simply didn't like Win XP. The next Steam sale is going to kill me. Edit: Oh, and Legacy of the Void. I never did get to see how Starcraft 2 ended. But before I even think about that, I need a refresher run through of the previous parts!

Now that might get me to buy a Call of Duty again.

Seems Activision is bringing back 2142 since EA won't. And then going a bit beyond.

Initial impressions are very positive. Death Godlike Cipher that I think will be two-handing weapons. I did not expect to see anything like that in the very first town. Geeze.

I know I heard disappointment around the game, but I am excited to say that the maiden voyage of my new PC will be Pillars of the Eternity. All I'd ever been able to do with any of the borrowed laptops I had access to was get through character creation and then a horrid unplayable slideshow that had to be shut off immediately past that. I'm actually going in quite blind, which is new for me with games I'm excited about. I didn't see much point following it since I couldn't play it.

Expect to see more of me. It's been 2 years, but I have a PC again. Dell XPS 8900, on sale and open box. Still need to get speakers and I think I'll get a new monitor, but I'm very excited.

The Magic Circle: Gold Edition I don't care what anyone says, Ishmael Gilder is a genius. Anyone who is a true fan of the original text adventure will love it. It'd make sense if you played it. It's actually a game that's an amusing parody of development hell. You go around the game world bringing back deleted content and changing object properties to solve puzzles. Right now I'm tasked with finding a way to kill a couple of the fictional developers.