WDeranged

I'm 40 hours into Fallout 4 and (to my mild shame) I'm having a good time. I just wish they could have jettisoned that utterly incompetent (weird cg potato) baby plot thread...or at the very least get a truly capable writer to make it work. In fact if the game could have had just a handful of genuinely deep and interesting characters I'd find it easier to ignore the way they tore the heart out of the franchise. As it stands I'm trying to be forgiving and take the game on it's own merits and I have to admit that it does the Bethesda formula very well. After getting past my initial outrage I'm starting to see it as the Oblivion of the Fallout franchise. It's a soundtrack, designed to complement a game, not to be listened to on its own. And it works damn well for that purpose. Regardless, there's quite a few tracks that work stand-alone too. It's not really pure metal, so... Eh. Totally agree. I loved how the music reinforced the vibe of the game, and it also hearkened back to the NIN tracks from Quake.

Been watching this with interest for a month or so. From the first glance I realised it's gonna be one of those games I should avoid until all the patches and user fixes have landed.

Finally got around to watching Star Wars Despecialized. Thoroughly impressed at the level of quality they were able to claw back from all those crappy transfers. It felt very much like watching it for the first time.

So after burning through Dishonored 2 and the DLC I've jumped into Prey. I hate to admit that I'm slightly underwhelmed despite already enjoying a few standout moments. It feels like it could have done with six months extra polish. It's certainly not bad...at all. I'm loving the exploration and the mimic gimmick is neat but I'm not feeling any of the dread that people keep talking about. The environments feel too bright and optmistic, the enemies (for the most part) just mindlessly patrol. In a nutshell, love the systems and exploration, dislike the vibe and janky combat.

I also did this mission a couple of nights ago. I was more impressed by the level design here than in the Clockwork Mansion because the 'gimmick' actually had an effect on how you navigated the area. The Clockwork Mansion was mostly just pushing buttons and random stumbling. I did my first explosives build last time, it's a surprising amount of fun.

More Dishonored 2. Gave Jindosh an electrical lobotomy in the much vaunted Clockwork Mansion. Overall I enjoyed the mission but I expected a bit more from the mansion...it was very setpiece-ish. I was expecting a giant environmental puzzle rather than a big flamboyant maze. So far this run has been high chaos, what with me bumbling around for the first two levels while I re-learnt the ropes. Looking forward to a more technical replay as Emily.

Still infatuated with Dishonored 2. My only criticism so far is that some of the notes you can find are shoddily written. I also thought the identity of the Crown Killer was a bit of a damp squib, even if the actual mission and location itself was excellent. About to gain access to the Clockwork Mansion, giddy with anticipation

Grabbed Dishonoured 2 in the recent Steam sale. I was prepared for disappointment (especially in the technical sense) after reading some of the Steam reviews but happily the game runs excellently and looks brilliant. So far they seem to have preserved the spirit of the first game in it's entirety, I just had an excellent 4 hour session.

Three books I'm currently reading. On Liberty With a Chainsaw. Meditations With a Chainsaw. The Lord of The Rings With a Chainsaw.

In Morrowind I once found an Ebony sword sticking out of the ground, it was amazing. But as cool as this feels the first time around what's to stop you heading straight for that weapon on a replay?

I'm very slowly chewing my way through Tyranny but after eight hours I can safely say that I find this world far (farrrr!) more interesting than PoE's. Great characters too, though the voice acting really struggles to convey this. Also still impressed by how slick the PoE engine has become

Installed Tinder...

Finally got around to starting Tyranny. It's a really slick experience so far. I'm loving the world, characters and engine improvements. My only criticism at this point is that the hand drawn artwork feels slightly low budget and the voice acting borders on generic...but only just. Looking forward to going balls deep with this one

Also Yukichigai Unofficial Patch and New Vegas Script Extender's memory patch feature. Oh, avoid using the quicksave and quickload keys too. It's a shame we have to do so much voodoo raindancing to get this engine stable but at least it's possible. I only had a couple of crashes during my last 100 hour playthrough.

Finally decided No Man's Sky was worth buying for £15 after the latest update. Played for three hours last night and had a nicely chilled out time with it.

Facial Burns Simulator 2005.

Remember Kvatch!!

I recently did the Oblivion inversion of this quest, where you have to save the rats. There really was something charming about the derpy humour of pre-Skyrim TES.

Completed Life is Strange after getting it on Playstation Plus last month. The little things are what makes this game shine. All the tiny details scattered around the world that brings quite a surprising amount of life to the characters. My biggest complaint is the dialogue...it's tortuously bad at times. It sounds odd but I can totally tell that this game is made by a bunch of French hipster dudes trying to think like American college girls. If I hear the word 'hella' again I think I might gnaw off my own fingers. Still, it was worth playing for the interesting mechanics and competent world building.

I'd recommend Uncut Wasteland as it specifically restores the patched out content as opposed to stuff that was intentionally cut before release. It's managed by the person responsible for the YUP so it's pretty much bug free and functions perfectly.

I beat Fallout 4 in 18 hours during free weekend on Steam and I honestly feel that it didn't do much for me. As a game, I didn't hate it, but sure was not a good Fallout. It looked decent in some places. I still can't get over the ugly, interface, though. I can still play NV thanks to the game being fun, despite poor graphics. If they'd skipped capitalising on the Fallout brand I'd have been far less critical of 'Fallout 4'. As it stands, it's a fine game in its own right but it does a great disservice to the complexity of the franchise. Such a shame they turned it into Oblivion 2.0.

My Mum somehow managed to put her iPhone in the washing machine. Aside from some screen damage and occasional battery complaints it works just fine. They're tough little buggers.

I'd be very happy to see a historical setting. Or maybe something heavily inspired by an ancient culture. Love this idea.

Finally took the time (freaking hours) to properly set up Retroarch. It's a hassle but having a tv+gamepad friendly interface for all my old favourites is great. As a bonus the latency is lower than standalone emulators and some of the scanline shader effects are spookily accurate.

Do people have short memories? I'm honestly curious because part of what ruins any replays for me is basically remembering every single quest and every single outcome after I've played through before. So instead of any sense of awe, I end up reacting like, "And now he'll say this" or "And now this happens next". For me, in this case, it's like reading a good book again - you know the story, but you really enjoy the craftsmanship and as you change through your life, the things you focus on changes as well. So the story kinda evolves with you, if that makes sense? Bingo. Every couple of years I like to replay my favourite games, just as I like to re-read my favourite books. Each time you experience that world as a slightly different you. Not to say the first time isn't the best. Usually it is and I often wish I could suffer a temporary amnesia to recapture that moment.