Best of 2014 – Videogames

2014 felt like a very long year in terms of gaming, yet I didn’t really get through a whole pile of games. Perhaps my memory is going. What a sweet release. Or perhaps it was just that my pattern of play as it were changed quite a bit this year. I covered my thoughts on last year’s spending on games over here. I suppose one final note on that point was that I hit the deal hunter thing hard. Making solid use of sites like http://isthereanydeal.com/, http://www.cheapshark.com/, http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/, etc. as well as (the now sadly neutered) Steam trading sites like http://dispenser.tf/ and http://www.tf2outpost.com/ and importing I got as much gaming bang for my buck as I possibly could. Continue reading…

Return to the Dungeon (Part 01)

Sorry to disappoint my more salacious readers, but while I can bust out a turtle binding with the best of them this is about Dungeons and Dragons, not BDSM. Specifically it’s about my thoughts on Dungeon & Dragons 5th edition as I read through the core books. Dungeons and Dragons was the first role-playing game I owned or ran. After reading the original Dragonlance trilogy in first year of secondary school a number of classmates and I pooled our money to purchase the basic D&D boxed set (from Toymasters in Newry). Not knowing of course that the Dragonlance campaign used AD&D (how embarrassing I know). Also now that I think about those fuckers never paid for their share. Bastards. Continue reading…

30 Days of (space black) Night – Week 01 – Return to New Eden

Around this time a year ago my initial foray into the world of EVE Online ended, and at the risk of using an already over-used phrase, not with a bang but with a whimper (you can check out my glorious progress here – Part 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, Interlude 1, 06). Well actually to be accurate it ended with dis-interest. But a spare code for a months worth of game time and the lure of my characters name on a statue lured me back in. I initially wasnt planning to play at all, I didnt even have the game installed but I figured I might as well give it a go, even casually. So now I’ve 30 days to re-visit the world of, quite possibly, the most notorious MMO out there. How will I get on? Continue reading…

Brief thoughts on John Woo’s Stranglehold

Bought this on launch, got half way through it and then got distracted. Decided to finally get it out of the way today. It is ultimately mediocre but holy hell did it give me the horn for some classic 90’s John Woo. It also earns its mediocre status in an odd way, its not as if its simply dull its that some bits are great and some bits are terrible and it all even outs to being ok. Continue reading…

Warframe – Brief Initial Thoughts

Played two or three hours of Warframe, enjoyable enough, the game is pointlessly obtuse, theres basically no introduction to the games complex systems and interface, I mean none. It tells you what buttons move (WASD, shocker) and what buttons shoot. Thats it. Also I currently suck at it, though not to the point where it actively detracts from the experience. The matchmaking is fairly well-done and no-ones called me a cock hungry cum drinker which is always nice. The gameplay itself is enjoyable and the range of content is impressive, especially as its in the whole “Oh its a beta we swear” bullshit phase. Took me three hours (due to zero fucking instruction) to figure out how to add mods to my gear (you drag not click, only place in the interface it works like that). Well not continuous hours. This seems unduly negative, but thats probably because I’m so tried I can see through time (even without the required mustache). I mostly enjoyed my time with it and will play it again, its going to take a bit to make up my mind on it. One thing I will say is that Im glad I had the +50%xp boost from using a referral code (though if I had actually been progressing with mods like the game intends levelling wouldnt have been as bland). I suppose I’ll plug my own referral link – https://warframe.com/signup?referrerId=52a6b4c01a4d80f32000002e Its free to play and the monetisation doesnt seem particularly obnoxious. I’d like to try it out with a proper four man team as opposed to random fuckers, so if you’re giving it a go add me on Steam http://steamcommunity.com/id/aueberon/

Best of 2012 – Games, Anime & Manga – An abandoned post

Planned to have these three finished in January. That clearly did not happen. I no longer have the motivation, or seemingly the ability, to put together even a mini-review for stuff. I think I’ve spent too long wallowing in the extremely toxic environment of online anime and gaming forums. Where “discussion” is largely people screaming at one another about their subjective opinions. It’s driven me to a standpoint where I just want to enjoy what I enjoy without having to explain or justify why I enjoy it. I may get around to filling in the missing entries when I re-read/watch/play the stuff in them. But some of them I havent looked at in over a year (I really should do rolling Top X lists as it would be easier to keep stuff fresh in my mind). The gaming part is mostly complete, 7 out of 10 more or less complete. Anime and Manga are more or less just list/links. Continue reading…