Category Archives: General
And yet another minute…
Well, I think we answered the question I asked in my last post about whether I’d actually keep posting or not since I was out of the habit after having my pc crash when I played games for so long, and that answer is a big fat no.
Quick summary of what’s happened since last May is .. holding pattern with the occasional Warframe mission or FFXIV roulette. Tried out Guild Wards 2 for a few months but it never quite hooked me. the classes were varied and interesting and yet somehow none of them ever quite seemed to “click” with me.
I did about 1.5 months in New World when it released. I really didn’t plan to, as I was in an early test alpha — so early that all we had for weapons was the sword/shield. We got spears toward the end of that test. I think we might have had hatchets too. No “special skills” it was all about movement, heavy attacks vs the light combo (which made mobs stagger on the 2nd hit so you could actually get your 3rd hit off), and dodging or blocking. We could even build our own forts in claimed lands and build farms and whatnot in them so we could do all our harvesting in safety. Except for metals and oil. Still hadda run out and find those. You ran faster in light armor and faster still with your weapon sheathed, so anyone wanting pvp couldn’t catch you went with that. Inventory space was all about weight then too and a higher STR attribute increased carry weight, so me trying to be a miner/blacksmith put all my attribute points into STR and CON like a tank, despite running everywhere in light armor so i could outrun anyone trying to chase me and steal my ore….
Anyway…. reminiscing aside, I didn’t really care for the game in the test alpha, and even after they announced after it that they’d be adding pve elements instead of making it a pvp-only survival sandbox, I didn’t think there was enough game there to make it successful. But when it came out and people were talking about it and the pve actually sounded somewhat interesting I jumped on the bandwagon. Having more weapon choices was kinda fun, and a questline with a story was at least semi-interesting, but the inability to build your own base seemed like a big loss. Taking out the stagger that player hits caused so you can’t get your combos off anymore, while the mobs still stagger you felt like a huge step backward in combat fun. The revamped attribute system is better, especially with removing the inventory connection to the STR attribute. Making you not have to spend valuable leveling points in mining and blacksmithing so that you could just focus them on combat stats instead is also a plus.
And I’m still rambling about it….I didn’t feel any differently about the released game than I did the alpha. It was all right, but not great, nothing I wanted to keep playing, so… yeah. Done with that.
FFXIV released Endwalker and I really haven’t cared about it either. I enjoy watching “Lulu’s Highlights” of streamers playing it, but for myself… I read 2-3 books a week, and if FFXIV’s story was a novel, then I’d rate it decent to good, but that’s about it, so I’m definitely not one to fall all over myself about “the amazing writing” or anything like that. It find it to be enjoyable, but that’s really about it. Even so, I find myself disliking trials so very much that I tend to roadblock when a story trial appears. For Endwalker I’ve pushed to the end, but still have the final dungeon and trial to do before finishing the 6.0 MSQ. Despite that, I’ve got all the magic classes to 90 and am working on the ranged physical. Bard’s done, and I think I finished Machinist, but I’m not sure (showing you just how little I care…), and I still need to do Dancer after that either way. But I find myself just picking at the game here and there, playing an MSQ roulette maybe 4 or 5 times a week for leveling purposes and that’s about it.
And of course the new hotness is Lost Ark which I’ve been going at pretty hard for the past week or so. I bought a founder’s pack and got in the early access, but just picked at it then either. It wasn’t until last weekend that I decided to push at it. I got a sorceress to 50, but wasn’t quite feeling it. I’ve got a bard to 50 now also and am enjoying it, but it’s still not quite “clicking” either. I find that I tend to prefer ranged classes to melee anymore, so I’m thinking maybe a sharpshooter or a gunslinger to try next? We’ll see. I still have a lot of unlocks I need to do, so I think I’ll stick with the bard for a while yet and just focus on finishing through the story and working up my gear and the roster-level things first.
And so… yeah… I finally made a new post. Yippee, I guess.
Happy gaming out there!
It’s Been a Minute
I finally got a new graphics card and my pc is no longer constantly crashing when I play games. Hooray!
This means I might finally be able to start posting about things again. Of course, now I’m out of the habit of posting, so I guess we’ll see . . .
Have you ever…? Gamer Edition
From JVT Workshop —
Have you ever rage quit a game?
No. I tend to either drift off if annoyed or bored with the game.
Have you ever earned all achievements in a game?
Yes. I used to have all of them in Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, and would grab all the new ones as they got added. But I don’t let that game play itself on my computer anymore… 😉
Have you ever pulled an all-nighter gaming?
Yes, a few times, but not for a long time.
Have you ever live-streamed your gaming?
No.
Have you ever pre-ordered a game?
Does Kickstarting count? If so, yes. If not… I think I pre-ordered Baldur’s Gate 2 back in the day. I think I did SWTOR too. But my memory’s a bit hazy on that.
Have you ever bought a game and never played it?
No, but I have bought games that I only played a couple of hours on and went “Nah, I’m done.”
Have you ever been jump-scared by a horror game?
Yes – I don’t really play horror games, but The Secret World and The Park both had some jump scares that got me.
Have you ever had a set squad for a specific game?
No
Have you ever bought a game on multiple platforms?
No
Have you ever got a console for the games specifically?
No. I don’t do consoles. I’m not someone who cares about “PC Master Race” or whatever, I just haven’t ever really felt the need to have a console also.
***
And there you have it.
[General] HAVE YOU EVER…?
Okay, since I haven’t been blogging much at all lately, here’s something a little different that’s going around —
Driven or been driven at 100 mph/160 kmh?
Yes. I personally haven’t gotten above about 90 mph, I don’t think (in an 80 zone, in central Nebraska) but as a kid Dad opened it up on a trip to Utah while going across Wyoming just to show us all what it felt like. He’d grown up in the era before speed limits existed on the interstates and loved to tell the story about going 110 in Nevada and having a cop blow by him like he was standing still.
Learned a possibly deadly skill?
Depends on how you define deadly, I suppose. I was a decent skeet shot with a shotgun in my teens, and I could hit the black part of the target with a .22 plinking rifle at summer camp. Did a bit of archery at summer camp and in gym class and could usually hit yellow or red on the target. Haven’t used any of those items in over 30 years though, so I dunno how skilled I’d be in any of their use anymore though.
Ridden in a helicopter?
Nope. Would love to learn to fly one, and maybe take a tourist ride over the Grand Canyon, so while I desire to do so — I haven’t made it happen yet.
Been Bungie Jumping?
Nope. Never had the desire. Been places that had it on offer, but never availed myself of the service.
Gone zip lining?
Yes. The Olympic Park in Park City has it as an option and I’ve done it there. I prefer the alpine slides, though. They aren’t over so quickly so there’s more time to enjoy the ride.
Been to an NFL game or Ice Hockey?
I’ve been to pro baseball games, basketball games, and soccer games, but never pro football or hockey. I have done high school and college football games, just never NFL. Never been to a hockey game at all, actually.
Watched Dr. Who?
I watched the “new series” starting with Eccleston.  I really liked him and David Tennant, but then I lost interest during the 2nd season of Matt Smith’s tenure. Haven’t seen the “classic” at all, nor anything with Capaldi or Whittaker.
Been to Canada?
Several times as a kid — my dad did presentations at an annual convention that was held in Toronto. I really only recall going up the CN tower a time or 2, and not much else of those trips. I had a sister live in Montreal for a while and when her job ended there, we went up as a family to retrieve her and move her back to Chicago when I was 19. She showed us around her favorite places in Montreal and also up in Quebec City where she’d spent some time also.
In an odd quirk of fate, while in Montreal I met Larry H. Miller, but I had no idea who he was. Just looked like a nice older gentleman. Shook his hand and said hi since it was a social function we were both at. My dad asked me afterward if I knew who that was, and I didn’t so he told me the name. Still meant nothing to me. Dad shrugged and told me “He’s a big deal in Utah” but since I was from Chicago…. About 8 years later when I moved to Utah his name was all over everything around here, so then I finally understood why my dad had made a thing about me briefly meeting some guy in Canada.
Visited Disney?
I’ve seen/driven by Disney Land on business trips in southern California, but never attended. I have been to Disney World twice as a teen — once was a family trip, and once was a high school band trip. It was fine, but I didn’t think it was a better amusement park experience than the Great America park located north of Chicago.
Visited an actual castle?
I visited Warwick Castle and Windsor Castle on a band trip to London when I was 16.
Visited Vegas?
I had a friend get married there, so my ex and I visited for the wedding. We went a 2nd time as we were returning from a trip to Phoenix, but it was really just an overnight stop, not really a “visit.” I also attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas in January of 2004.
Eaten alone at a restaurant?
All the time.
Played an instrument?
I played the trumpet from 5th grade through freshman year of college, then swapped over to the French horn. Haven’t played anything since college, though.
Ridden a motorcycle?
My family had a little moped when I was growing up. It had a top speed of 27 mph, though, so I don’t know if that really counts. My uncle had a cycle that he took me out on a couple of times, so I rode on it, but didn’t drive. I have driven 4-wheel ATV’s off-road, but never a dirt bike.
Ridden a horse?
Had another uncle who had a farm, and he sometimes had a horse when I was a kid, which he’d let us ride those summers. More recently I’ve done trail rides at tourist ranches in Colorado and Idaho.
Been skiing/snowboarding?
I’ve been cross-country skiing as a kid in Illinois. Never done downhill stuff, in spite of living so close to so many ski places near Salt Lake City now.
Gone to a festival?
If you mean a music festival, then no. I’ve attended movies shown in SLC as part of the Sundance Film Festival, but that was really just going to a movie. The Salt Lake Comic Con/FanX could be argued to be a festival, but is more likely labeled a “convention,” so… eh. Whatever.
Driven a stick shift?
I learned how in my late teens, but the last time I drove one I was… 22 or 23 I think? So it’s been over 20 years since the last time I did.
Ridden in a police car?
I sat in a police car after a minor fender bender while the cop did his paperwork, but I’ve never been cuffed or actually ridden anywhere in one. I have ridden in a fire truck around O’Hare airport, though. It was a demonstration of what the truck could do, not on a fire call or anything, but was still a neat experience.
Driven a boat?
I’ve rowed and sailed boats, so arguably “drove” those, but never was at the wheel/controls of a motorboat, just ridden in and skied off the back of those.
Eaten escargot?
No.
Been on a cruise?
No.
Been on TV?
I’ve been in the background of local news shots that friends saw and told me about. And in high school I was on a trivia team that had one of our events televised on local “public access” tv. I’m sure about 8 people saw that….
Been in a paper/book/magazine?
I was at the 1st night game at Wrigley Field. There was a long-shot photo of the crowd, and I knew where my dad and I were sitting, so I could pick out the white blotch of his shirt and the darker spot that was where I was sitting. Does that count?
Eaten Sushi?
Probably about once every 2-3 months or so. I like it, but I like a lot of things, so it’s not something I really work into my “eating rotation” all that often.
Seen a U.F.O.?
No.
Rescued an animal?
I got my cat and last 2 dogs from the shelter. The cat was from an unwanted litter that got dumped at the shelter, and both dogs were found strays that the shelter had taken in and would have had to put down shortly if they weren’t adopted. I dunno that that’s truly rescuing them, but I’m glad to have had them.
Met someone rather famous?
Well, as I mentioned up above, I met Larry H. Miller when I was 19. I escorted 1991’s Miss Illinois back to her seat at Medieval Times after she’d been selected as the “Queen of Love and Beauty” when she attended there, but I don’t remember her name. I’ve attended several comic cons and they always have celebs, so I briefly met quite a few of them – short list from top of my head is Phoebe Tonkin, Brendan Routh, Walter Koenig, James Marsters, Nicholas Brendon, Clare Kramer, Julie Benz, and Nathan Fillion. There were more, but I honestly don’t remember them all. I’ve never really cared about celebrities. You may notice several of the names in that list were from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the reason I met them is that my wife is a huge fan of that show, so she wanted to meet them all and I got dragged along. 😉 I got Phoebe Tonkin’s autograph for my daughter, as she liked the actress in that Australian mermaid show “H2O” from 15-ish? years ago. Brendan Routh’s booth was next to hers, so I went over and met Superman too as long as I was there. I enjoyed Walter Koenig in Star Trek and Babylon 5, so he was one I wanted to meet for myself. Nathan Fillion for his work on Firefly also fell into that group, even though he appeared on BtVS also.
***
And there’s the quiz. I hope it wasn’t too boring of a post…
Happy gaming out there!
Star Wars Ep9 Non-Spoiler Review
Saw Episode 9 tonight for my company’s “Winter Holiday Party.”
My verdict: It’s decent. Not great, but not a complete waste of time either.
For comparison’s sake… tbh, I don’t really recall what I thought of TFA at the time — basically just remember thinking it mirrored Ep4 and did all right, but there was a lot that didn’t make sense too. Even so, overall I’d give that one a “thumbs up.”
Rogue One I enjoyed well enough, but I also haven’t ever felt the need to watch it a 2nd time either. I’d still say it’s the best of the films that have come out in recent years.
TLJ I just felt was pretty meh. I didn’t hate it like a lot of people seem to, but I certainly agree with their points as to why they hated it. For me it as just a big let-down. I was disappointed when the credits rolled.
Solo I left the theater feeling very entertained. I won’t say it’s a great movie, but I still felt upbeat when the credits rolled — had a smile on my face as I was leaving the theater.
And now for Ep9… several scenes that were supposed to be dramatic and full of tension had been spoiled by the trailers, so there actually wasn’t any tension in them. The “final battle” definitely had some thrilling moments, but then the denouement was just …. You know those rumors that focus groups shown the 6 different endings tended to laugh at the film? Well… I laughed at it 3x, so that left me at the end going “Eh, it was okay overall, but I’m never going to be seeing it again. Better than TLJ (but that’s a very low bar) and worse than TFA or Solo.”
OTOH, my wife absolutely loved it, so….there’s division in the family now 😉
Nomadic Gamers 