One Happy Team…

Author: TheAleosha

  • Evil Islands

    I almost dropped the game when the only quest I had was getting the gold back from the caravan. It’s guarded by overpowered skeletons, which spot you from afar. But at some point I just got lucky with their random patrolling.
    The quest with the ambush provided full set of better armour, which did help to push through. It’s ironic how Diablo 3 had those pilars of light coming out of items, while here I have to go back to town to discovered I actually picked a magical helmet.
    The experience system is quite weird. You don’t have levels per say, but your character HP does increase with XP. Most of the perks are extremely expensive and quite useless. At first I thought I’d take Sword perk, then I understood it gives same 5 points to attack as directly increasing the melee skill. The only amazing perk is unassumingly called Actions, and it’s a permanent 15% haste to both attacks and casting.
    The money problem got solved from an unexpected angle. Skeletons you find in Dead City drop bones, a crafting material. And a lot of bones. By selling them, I got more money than from all the previous quests combined.

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    Also in the Dead City, a dragon gives you an Ancient Sword. Not much damage, but it constantly casts Weaken on enemies, which reduces their total HP, making them easier to kill.

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  • Advent Calendar

    15th bottle is Starward Ginger Beer Cask, from Australia. The ginger comes through very strongly. I might not be a fan, but I can understand the appeal. Not for ~100GBP, though, no way.

    16th is Tullamore DEW 14 years, and Irish one, bottled at a weird 41.6%. It has nice warmth, but even compared to Redbreast 12, not much flavour. At 56GBP for a bottle, it’s not too expensive, but considering you can get a bottle of Arran at that price, or even aforementioned Redbreast 12, I can’t imagine why anyone would buy this one.

  • Evil Islands

    I think I even bought the original game back in the day, but never managed to progress far.
    It’s supposed to be a fantasy RPG, but it actually feels more like espionage stealth: you can crawl, target enemy limbs, characters leave tracks, and if they step into pool of blood those will be bloody, but can’t open your inventory outside of cities.
    The fact that you can get injured in arms or legs also means that it’s a rare system where badly damaged character is less deadly, as arm injury halves attack and cast speed.
    I wonder if I dropped this game because it didn’t work well on my weak PC, or because it was too difficult. Even a goblin can kill the hero pretty quickly at first. Maybe I didn’t understand you can pick a companion early on. Still, it’s quite brutal, with characters dying from a couple of critical hits. And monsters have infinite agro, so you can’t just run away.
    The game has elaborate crafting system, which you’d expect from a post Minecraft era more likely. You buy blueprints and materials, so a stone axe can be crafted from both simple stone, whatever that is, or granite.
    Money is very limited, as monsters drop almost nothing. I barely have enough to keep my equipment repaired.
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  • Northern Monk Oath and Harrogate Best Bitter

    I tried another Imperial stout from Northern Monk a few years back. Northern Monk Oath is a bit light for Imperial Stout. Not as sweet or syrupy. But its 8.5% hits like all 10% ABV. For a beer that’s sold in the supermarkets, it’s a bargain.

    And Harrogate Best Bitter (not the best name for a beer) we brought from actual Harrogate. And it has a very distinct rye taste, quite flavourful for 4.5% ABV.

  • Red Alert Remastered

    I mentioned AI in the Soviet campaign getting reenforcements from offscreen. In Allied campaign, it’s actually worse. First I noticed more planes coming than AI had airfields. Then in some missions it will drop flamethrowing paratroopers that decimate buildings, and don’t exist in normal game.
    Allies have more missions than require you to get a spy into a specific building, which caused a few Mission Fails for me because I would destroy it by mistake.
    With all that, as I suspected from the Soviet campaign, once Allies get helicopters, it’s game over for the Reds. They simply don’t have a good enough counter to that, plus Tech Centre that reveals the entire map.
    Evidence and Focused Blast are probably the most unfun missions in the entire game. The first gives you Tanya, but doesn’t explain it, while the second is just a chore

    There are a few interesting ideas: like timer carrying out between missions. But they are more annoying than fun.
    In the last mission, AI cheats a little, using Nuke even while not having a silo anymore. But other than that, it’s as I expected: helicopters all the way. The fun part is when you destroy enough buildings, AI attempts a zerg rush at you. But I still had to hunt the very last civilian to complete it.

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    The only positive about the Allied campaign is the satisfying ending.

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  • Red Alert Remastered

    After enjoying Command&Conquer Remastered less than expected, I didn’t plan to play Red Alert, but I ended up finishing the Soviet campaign anyway.

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    What surprised me is that the campaign of Red Alert isn’t broken by remaster, unlike Command&Conquer. Which doesn’t mean that the game isn’t broken: Soviet V2 being able to destroy power station in a single hit or target off screen is insane. On the other hand, same V2 have troubles with their AI, and would sometimes refuse to fire.
    Major change is how engineers work: now the building needs to be critically damaged in order to be captured. Otherwise, engineer will just chip at its health. Which is annoying, as either the building gets destroyed by one of your units shooting at it or by enemy unit, because it’s badly damaged.
    Either SAM sites were made weaker or helicopters stronger, but now you need multiple SAM sites in one spot to fend off helicopters. And Soviets lack any mobile anti-air, it seems, except Mammoth tanks 🤡

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    One interesting detail is that if you capture Allied Tech Centre, it will reveal an entire map by launching a satellite, and you can see the rocket.
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    Penultimate mission is unnecessary evil. Not because it’s hard, it’s actually easier that some previous missions, but because you have to capture radars tucked the the most faraway corners of the map. I had to build transport just to get my engineers to that last radar.
    In the last mission, AI cheats a bit, bringing reinforcements from off screen. But I think those stop once you destroy some of the Construction Yards, although that never explained properly. Nothing like a cruiser popping up to blast your base. Speaking of cruisers, they are also sprinkled in such a way that they blow all bridges, so you have to take the longest path possible. Ironically, paratroopera really help in that mission, as they are quite effective against buildings.

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    Despite all that, it’s a far more reasonable campaign than Command&Conquer Remastered, and I enjoyed it, despite how much they like to start missions with you being in the middle of a fight.
    Funny that despite all the plot being built around Chronosphere, Allies never use it against you. Maybe they had trouble with AI.

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  • Knife magnet

    I’ve been using IKEA knife magnets for years. Don’t remember if I brought the one I had from the old apartment or just bought a second one. But with my knife collection growing, I got a bit tired of scratches from metal on metal. So I decided to buy a wooden knife magnet instead.
    It’s a slight disappointment, I must say. For four times the price (IKEA magnet is around 15GBP) the magnets are weaker, and the knives leave marks on the magnet.
    I tried varnishing the magnet, but my varnish wasn’t fresh, so the rack ended up being sticky. So I had to scratch everything, buy a new varnish, and do it properly.

  • Path of Exile 2

    Compared to Diablo 3, I feel there’s less cooldown management, but more effect management. Diablo 3 had modifiers on skills, but here each skill has at least two modifiers. Enemies hit by poison start bleeding, enemies killed from bleeding explode, enemies killed while being electicuted electricute others, it’s all a chain reaction.
    Balbala the Traitor was the first side boss that had me pause.

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    She has a pit in the middle that spits poison fog, and I kept dying from it. She throws coins on the ground, so I thought that’s some kind of a ward. But those coins are actually summon spots for her minions. In any case, returning to her after a gaining few more levels helped. Turned out, it’s one of the most important sidequests, as it allows for Ascendancy, or specialization, in other words.
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  • Octopath Traveler

    Primrose arc is the best one yet, because it has gravity to it, which most JRPG plotlines lack. She is a disgraced daughter of an assasinated noble that works in a brothel.

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    Her friend helps her escape only to be killed by their owner.

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    I had a lot of trouble with this boss fight, mainly because I didn’t care to level up my characters much, while the bosses scale with number of members in your party.

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  • Signatory Whisky Speyside M 16 years

    Macallan is a strange whisky. It’s considered to be good, but not good for its price, and it doesn’t have characteristics that are considered to be good, such as 46% ABV. By this point, there’s an entire category of YouTube reviews of “MacCallan alternatives”.
    There is a catch, though, which is independent bottlers. I have a bottle from Berry&Rudd which I like, as well as more recent Olorosum and the Dark Fruit Feedback Loop 17 (Balmenach?) from Scotch Whisky Society.
    It is rumoured that Signatory independent bottlers buy distillate from Macallan, but do not dilute it like Macallan does. And that’s what Speyside M is. With the emphasis on M: there are just two distilleries in Speyside that start with M, and experts say this ain’t Mortlach. I believe them, since Signatory actually have a bottling from Mortlach, and they say so on the bottle. So it’s either Macallan, or Signatory playing the entire whisky community really well.
    I was delaying this bottle, until I discovered it almost entirety disappeared. There are plenty of 14 years around, but not 16. So I did get one of the last ones available.
    On the nose, it’s Christmas pudding: molases, dates, figs, raisins, all the sweet and sticky and dark stuff. And tastes as you’d expect: sweet, a bit sour, and with a very long warm finish. The closest I have at the moment is probably the aforementioned Dark Fruit Feedback Loop 17, although Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 2 comes close too. Definitely intesnse at 57% ABV.
    Considering that I paid 83GBP for that bottle, and Scotch Whisky Society at that age is around 100GBP, it’s a steal.

  • Command&Conquer Remastered

    I decided to try NOD campaign after all, if only for the CGIs, but on Easy. The difficulty is as I remember it, but on the other hand, the difficulty also lowers the costs of units, so still not the original experience. You can’t step in the same river twice, I guess.

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    I remembered the iconic scene where Seth gets executed in the middle of the briefing, but didn’t remember what that was about. Turns out, he wanted us to attack the Pentagon.

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    Another interesting detail, not sure how canon it is, but on the other hand, the entire C&C universe went to shit, so canon doesn’t matter: Kane says he was the one who discovered tiberium and gave it its name.
    I was always fascinated that if you capture GDI Construction Yard with NOD, you can build helicopters. It’s such a specific mechanic, as GDI doesn’t have its counterpart, and also there’s just the final mission that has two enemy bases, so by the time you capture a Construction Yard, it isn’t Mission Accomplished yet. Later, Starcraft will have that mechanic as well, but not any other Command&Conquer game, as far as I can remember.

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    NOD campaign is also weird, because it has 13 missions instead of 15 for GDI. And I’m not sure if it’s a bug, but Temple of Nod allowed me to build only a single nuclear missile, which I wasted, because I was used to firing Ion Cannon every few minutes.
    The ending is weird as well. Suddenly, Kane talks about netrunners and cyberspace, and there are three hackers trying to pass GDI cybersecurity defences and getting fried. How did it turn into cyberpunk, suddenly?

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    Also, for some reason Kane captures the Ion Cannon to frame GDI. Dude, you have built a nuke already.

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  • Commander Farsight

    This is the only model I wanted to paint when I started painting Warhammer a year and a half ago. And finally I got to it.
    I must apologise to Citadel Plastic Glue, it actually works well with Warhammer.
    It is larger than I expected, 60mm base, and has around 50 parts.
    The really nice bit is that the arms are on those ball bearings, which means you have a lot of flexibility for the pose.
    The not so nice bit is that it’s very hard to drybrush. I wish I had drybrushed it separately and combined later, but here we are.

  • Path of Exile 2

    I might say it as well now, this is everything I wanted Diablo 4 to be. The linear progression means you don’t fight level 50 hedgehogs. And the fact that enemy bodies do not disappear until you leave the zone adds to the spectacle.
    By level 15 I got my first unique item, and by “unique” I mean actually a unique: it’s a mercenary coat that emits smoke.

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    It is curious that they decided to add friction with identify scrolls and tiny inventory without autosorting, but you don’t have item durability.
    The bosses are such a spectacle, even the side-quest ones, like the Candlemass, a gargoyle that comes to life. Or even the pack of dogs in the circle of grass.

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    The Mansion is very interesting, as it clearly mimics Diablo 3 Cathedral design where you descent down a hole, getting close and closer to the bottom.

     

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    And the Count boss is clearly swordwielsing man-horse from Bloodborne, only he’s swordweilding man-wolf (which also explains why we were fighting werewolves when we weren’t fighting vampires). Speaking of vampires, those are Darkest Dungeon version, insectlike with clear bellies full of blood. The game has many inspirations.

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    Anyway, beating the count brings us to Act II, which is of course set in… a desert.

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  • Path of Exile 2

    I never managed to get into Path of Exile 1. Similarly to Titan Quest, the Greek/Roman aesthetics doesn’t appeal to me for some reason. Path of Exile 2 is another story: it’s gothic style is less of Diablo, and more of Warhammer.

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    I usually like to play as Paladin, but since there’s none available, I went with crossbow wielding mercenary, a bit like Demon Hunter from Diablo 3. WASD movement and roll almost turns the game into twin-stick shooter. And the fact that one of the skills turns the crossbow into a shotgun helps too.

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    The system where you need to pick a skill instead of getting one after a level up takes some adjusting to, but not too much. You can pick any skill, but the game does suggest you some that should be more useful to your class.
    Such a surprise that you can put the game on a pause. I got use to ARPGs forcing you to be always-on.

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    The best part of the game so far are the bosses. They are amazingly designed, clearly telegraph their attacks, and as I’ve already learned, deadly.
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  • Tiberian Sun Firestorm

    Completed GDI campaign. I think I’ll skip NOD campaign, as I’ve seen most if not all of the new NOD units already, and there wasn’t much new to begin with.
    To the best of my understanding, both the GDI and NOD endings are somewhat canon, because when you start the expansion campaign for GDI, they say they lost contact with Philadelphia space station (because NOD shot it down), but they need to recover Cabal, NODs AI, from the ruins of the temple, which you destroyed at the end of GDI campaign. Cabal then quickly betrays you, and you have to put it down.
    It seems that the pace of units getting experience has been increased, as in the Tiberian Sun, I rarely had a veteran unit,
    The new GDI unit, Juggernaut, is awesome. It’s a better version of NOD artillery, firing three shells instead of one, albeit less accurately. There’s a mission where you need to pair it with GDI commando, Ghost Stalker. The only issue in that mission is the commando himself, as he’s unable to shoot up slopes 🤦‍♂️
    Only the final GDI mission is really difficult, or unnecessarily evil, as you start extremely close to enemy artillery positions without many options to tackle them. Luckily there’s no time limit in this one.
    One final surprise is that once you capture three key points, a huge robot appears, and you need to destroy Cabal before that robot reaches your base, as it destroys almost any unit in a single shot.
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  • Tiberian Sun

    Completed the NOD campaign.

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    Once NOD gets artillery, it’s game over for GDI. The most overpowered artillery since Ground Control. It is even smart enough to deploy automatically once in range.

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    Story is still rough. You complete a mission, and the next thing you know, Slavic is captured by GDI, then rescued by Cyborg Commando. What is Cyborg Commando? It’s actually never explained.
    The final mission is a bit underwhelming. It also has a timer, and I thought that after placing the 3 ICBMs it will just stop, and I would still need to deal with GDI forces, but no, it’s the end of the campaign. And I didn’t even get to try the UFO-like Banshees.

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  • Garmin Fenix 8

    It’s an interesting watch, because almost everything I like about it could easily be implemented in Garmin Venu 3. How expensive is it to have 5 buttons instead of 3? But 5 buttons allow you to turn display on or off, and also scroll up and down without using the touch screen. In general, I feel like I could turn the touch screen off on Fenix 8 and be comfortable with it.
    Then there are watch faces. It’s actually funny how hard it is to find a watch face for Venu that has steps, battery level, day of week and date all on the same screen.
    Speaking of battery level, Fenix 8 promises 9 days with always on display. We finally reached Pebble levels of battery life, all it took us is 10 years in a 700GBP watch.
    Multiple timers are another completely software feature that’s only present in Fenix. Can I have two timers on Venu, please?
    Also, the fact that compass is just accessible from the menu.
    Features that do require special hardware: flashlight built into the watch. Neat.
    Smart alarm is another feature coming back 10 years from Pebble.
    It’s nice that you can assign actions to long press for each button, and you can also unnasign the voice assistant.
    Another very basic training feature: default rest time between sets. How hard can it be?
    Voice commands works surprisingly well. Those processed by the watch, not sent to phone. I managed to set a timer and cancel it as well. Saves a few button presses.

  • Aberlour 18 and Bunnahabhain 18

    There is a certain irony I write about random whiskey tasters, but sometimes ignore bottles I buy. I’ve had Aberlour 18 for over a year now, although didn’t touch it much, and I recently opened Bunnahabhain 18. Both are great whiskies for their price, although both are slightly subdued from what I had expected.
    Aberlour has the slight disappointment of being 43% and chillfiltered on top. But I didn’t learn about it until recently, and honestly hadn’t I known, I would have considered it to be superb. In fact, all the whisky Youtubers are still considering it superb, despite the characteristics. It’s slightly sweet, spicy and complex.
    Bunna 18 is more peated than I expected after loving Bunna 12, but still less peated than common Islay whiskies. It’s less sweet that Aberlour 18, although there’s still that, and also slightly savory. I call it “pancakes with bacon and maple”.

  • Tiberian Sun

    On one hand, it feels like I should have started with the NOD campaign, because Kain first introduced in it, and it has tutorial tips, which I didn’t notice in the GDI campaign. On the other hand, it still feels like I’ve started watching from the middle of the show. Who’s Hassan and why is he taking order from GDI? In general, it feels like the cutscenes for NOD were done by another person. Who loved to use the fisheye effect.
    Generally, the campaign feels easier. I still hate the ion storm missions, though, because you don’t have a minimap, and playing RTS without a minimap is a pain. Then both “Salvage Operation” and “Capture Umagon” missions made me scratch my head, a lot. They both can be completed in a couple of minutes. I’m just not entirely sure how. In Salvage Operation, you’re given a meager force to capture the downed UFO and intercept a train, which is almost impossible, unless you know where the train stops, and then you don’t even need to capture the UFO.
    And in Capture Umagon, you have about a minute to intercept her, which is incredibly hard. Unless you just know where the train appears, and then you can just bomb that place preemtively 🤡

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  • Mikkeller Beer Geek Vanilla Shake

    Mikkeller is as much underground as BrewDog there days, so it’s always good to see an Imperial Stout expression from mainstream producer.
    It has zero head, full body, like Imperial Stout should. What surprised me were the whisky notes. Turns out, it’s literally whisky infused. Not sure what that means, I understand “barrel ages”, but not “infused”.
    At around 9GBP, not cheap, but also not overly expensive. Worth buying.