Keyrock

I go back and forth on whether Bob Weir looks more like a walrus or a Civil War general. Either way, phenomenal look. I can only hope I look even half as badass when I'm 70.

Star Citizen

What comes out first: Mount & Blade 2, Cyberpunk 2077, or Playstation 5?

Apropos of Nothing, I feel like I've been waiting a decade for Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord (I know it hasn't actually been that long). What are the chances it comes out this year?

How sad is it that that statement could be applied to the majority of open world games?

3 new (to this game) Elder Dragons have appeared. First up, Kushala Daora: For an Elder Dragon, Kushy doesn't do particularly much damage, but I still almost failed the mission by running out of time (I had maybe 2 minutes left when I slew the beast). The problem is the wind constantly staggering you and pushing you back, making it quite difficult to get in for an attack. This is one monster that would probably be much easier with a ranged weapon, or some wind resistance gear, but parts for that are hard to come by. Oh well, got the job done anyway.

Insect Glaive seems like potentially a really powerful weapon if you can master it, but difficult to grasp. I know I was really crap with it when I tried it out in the training arena. Gunlance and Switch Axe also both also fall into that category for me. I struggled mightily when trying them out, but I can see enormous potential in the hands of an expert user. I'm just really comfortable with the hammer and reluctant to go through the learning process with another weapon right now.

I still fall into the trap even though I know better. There are times I know I should use a less powerful attack or cancel out of the spin attack early, but it's just so tempting to max out the damage that I sometimes do it in ill advised situations. Edit: Just defeated an Azure Rathalos. Fight started out terribly for me as the Ratholos went straight into enraged mode and I was fighting it in the worst possible location (surrounded by lava). I had to burn 2 mega potions right away before I got a lick of damage on the Ratholos. I recovered and eventually won (without fainting once, though I came real close a couple times) with both help and hindrance from Bazelgeuse (ol' Bazey likes to drop in and interfere in your battles against other monsters). I need to take down Bazelgeuse, it's been a fight I've been putting off for a while. Bazey keeps interfering in my battles, as he is wont to do, so I think it's about time I teach him a lesson.

I took a high rank Kirin down in MHW since I needed parts off its corpse to upgrade my Awakening Charm, which in turn unlocked (most of) the sleep ability of my Crushing Beak 3 hammer. Even with the Thunderproof Cloak I got as a reward for defeating Kirin the first time (at low rank) it was a very difficult battle. Even with the cloak active, the damage Kirin does with lightning spam is still really high and the cloak doesn't completely prevent getting stunned by lightning attacks (despite what the item's description says), it just reduces the chance of getting stunned. Just 1 mistake in the battle can cause you to faint (something I did twice in the battle) since Kirin can take you from full health to zero if you get stunned by a heavy lightning attack and he follows up with another heavy attack before you can recover, even with the cloak active (and it doesn't stay active forever, it's effectively a potion with a long cooldown). This is where my choice of weapon, the hammer, hurts me. The hammer's one major drawback is the long recovery time from its powerful charged attacks. This leaves me open to Kirin's lightning spam and unable to dodge out of the way. The solution is to either use a different weapon for the battle (nope) or adjust my fighting style. I have to not get greedy when I have an opening. Usually, when I see an opening against a big monster I go in for the big fully charged spin attack and maximize my damage by delaying the powerful upswing that takes you out of the spin as long as possible so that I can get 4 full spins in before I upswing. On most monsters this works well since, if I choose the proper angle, the momentum of the running spin attack tends to take me under the beast, a spot that most monsters can't attack me in forcing them to reposition, which takes time and allows me to unload maximum damage into the belly of the beast, sometimes even catching their head as they scramble to move to a spot where they can hurt me. The problem is that Kirin has no need to reposition, he can just drop lightning wherever, including right under his body. I have to go for the upswing after 2 spins, or even just 1, to cancel out of the spin early so that I can recover and get out of the way of a lightning strike.

Monster Hunter World has become Capcom's best selling game of all time: http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/html/e180305.html Well deserved. Capcom pulls some shady stuff sometimes, as do the other big publishers, but in this case they released a really awesome game without any lootbox bull**** and it sold like hotcakes and was nearly universally well received. Turns out that if you make a really good product, promote it properly, and don't try to rip your customers off, you can still make money. Who knew?

It doesn't have to be fancy, simple dishes can be quite delicious. Did you hunt Bambi yourself?

No more delaying the inevitable, time to face Nergigante. I hope I'm ready. I'm ready! Am I ready? Yikes! In the end, I took ol' Nergi down first try, although it was really really close. I fainted twice during the battle (third time would have resulted in a failed mission) and was completely out of healing at the end. Nergigante was wounded and staggering. I was wounded and desperately trying to avoid Nergi's powerful attacks while looking for any opening. I managed to barely sidestep a powerful lunging attack and snuck in under Nergi's belly and unleashed a powerful charged attack that felled the beast. Next time I battle Nergi I'll go full into defense when choosing a meal since I now know he has no elemental abilities, just really really powerful physical attacks, so getting elemental resistance was a waste.

Pepper encrusted pork loin with potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms.

Pretty much agree completely on the comparisons between the 2 games. One of the best decisions I made in my Tyranny playthrough was setting difficulty to easy, or casual, or whatever it was called. This made all the combat in the game trivial (and less tedious!) and took any temptation to make decisions based on getting specific combat perks out of the equation, because who cares when the combat is so easy? I went pure role play for the whole game and made every decision solely on the basis of that's how the character I envisioned (cold, calculating manipulator) would react in that situation, and it was a great experience throughout. Like you, I just wish it had been a bit longer.

^ I'm jealous of your triple monitor setup. I might do that in the future for the Murican counterpart of ETS2... or I might go VR when the next iteration of the headsets comes around in a few years.

I mean, 90% of Monster Hunter is grind, 98% if you want to max out. You fight monsters to gather parts off their corpse or, better yet, captured body. You use said parts to make better gear. You use the better gear to fight stronger monsters. Lather, rinse, repeat. Always repeat. The loot treadmill works in Monster Hunter because the grind itself is enjoyable. Fighting the giant monsters is fun and always exciting. Even fighting the same monster again and again you can have very different experiences because the other creatures in that environment don't just disappear, they still go about their business. You may be fighting an Anjanath when a Pink Rathian decides to intervene like "Surprise Mother*****." Then **** gets crazy.

I have so many games to play on the PS4 alone. I still need to finish Dragon Quest Heroes 2 and Watch_Dogs 2. I am super excited to dive deep into Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I haven't even started Technomancer or Nier: Automata. I just can't pull myself away from Monster Hunter World. Every time I think "Let's take a break and play something else for a short bit." Then I fire up the ol' PS4 Pro and I just immediately start MHW. As soon as I see the logo on the screen I can't select anything else. In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Monster Hunter. Anyway, I'm at hunter rank 13 now and have unlocked the battle with Nergigante. I've scrapped with ol' Nergi twice before, but both the times it wasn't a fight to the finish, it was just to drive it off. This time, I suspect, it's time to finish the job. Before I do that, though, I'm going to do several optional quests and investigations to get geared up as well as I can. I may want to invest in a weapon with Elder Dragon Seal, but the one I can currently get with the materials I have is kinda low in the damage department. There is a very definite possibility that I'll get my arse handed to me the first time we fight for real. In fact, I'd be almost disappointed if I didn't. If that does happen, I'll use the knowledge I've gained during the battle to better equip myself for the next go round. This will be the 3rd elder dragon I've fought, the other 2 being Kirin and Zorah Magdaros. For those unfamiliar with the MH universe, Elder Dragons don't have to look like what most people picture a dragon to look like, they can be anything. Elder Dragons are monsters that are very powerful and are beyond classification in any category established by the Research Commission, as they don't fit into the ecosystem.

My mom is nuts about capers. I like em too, but maybe not quite as much as she does. I never thought about charring romaine. I imagine it has to be done very quickly at very high temp to keep it from wilting.

Yrden is easy to cast in TW3. It just creates the circle with the center being wherever you're standing. To use the alt form (after you unlock it in the skill tree) you hold down the cast button for a while instead of just pressing it

^ Set the difficulty to easy (it's called Just The Story, I think). Signs heavy will work. You can zorch your way through many encounters. I'm a big fan of the sign that creates a circle on the ground that slows enemies, Yrden I think. The alt form of that sign places what is essentially a turret on the ground, it's stoopid useful, especially against flying foes , as it can knock them out of the air and cause them to fall.

Some gamer - "After the Battlefront 2 loot box debace, I don't know how any game company can become more hated than EA." Konami - "Hold my beer."