Categories
PC Gaming

Blacksad

Completed Blacksad: Under the Skin.
That’s probably the best noir detective game I’ve played. Certainly better than Chicken Police, LA Noire or Backbone, and on-par with Wolf Among Us.

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The story was surprisingly ruthless. I certainly didn’t expect the German doctor or how that episode turned out.

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Monkey Craigg sacrificing himself was extremely well directed, when a lot of motives come together: his baseball glove that he uses to stop the fan, and him dying to a heart attack as he imagines that he plays his last game.

Categories
PC Gaming

Blacksad

Didn’t expect to enjoy this game so much. Voice acting is absolutely brilliant, as well as the writing. And there are new mechanics added from time to time. At one point, you’re given a flashlight, to highlight objects in the dark. At another point, you need to try and remember what happened in the past to get the right answers for an interrogation. And the baseball question game, when only the person with the baseball can ask the question is interesting as well.

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There’s an interesting episode, when you see a person about to be executed by a mob boss, and you can try and prevent this. But first, you discover that he threatened a widow. Then you learn that he did so by almost drowning her son in the toilet. So by the end of it, you may decide not to save him at all.

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Categories
PC Gaming

Blacksad

Blacksad, that is the original comics, is probably the reason there are so many noir games about furries. Backbone is just one example.
Taking place somewhen after World War 2, we play as a private detective from New York. A boxing champion went missing, and his manager apparently committed a very inconvenient suicide.

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Of course there are racial jokes, about a wife of a rhino “tearing his horn off” for being unfaithful. And the fact that Blacksad is a black cat:

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The problem with presented dilemmas is that you, as a player, don’t have a skin in the game. You’re offered a bribe, but you can’t spend that money. You’re threatened with beatings and death, but you know your character can’t die. So, you can be as honest and blunt as you’d like. It won’t change a thing.

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The game is made beautifully. Not LA Noire, of course, but still very impressive camera work, well written and all voiced dialogs, all that stuff. I don’t like how cats look basically like humans with cat ears, but that’s the original style.

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Categories
*.BAK

Within Temptation at O2

Went to Within Temptation and Evanescence Show at O2.
Getting there was easy. Just stick with middleaged people with purple hair.
Getting inside was also fast. Security scans are only if you have a bag.
There’s a strange fog inside. Not sure what it is. Probably some way to cool the air. It was rather cold inside. Maybe for those standing it wasn’t, though. Don’t envy them. I was sitting comfortably, with a seat to my left vacant.

Categories
PC Gaming

Minoria

Wow, it’s actually a metroidvania, and not yet another 2D-soulslike! With all-female cast, either nuns or witches.
There are some “souls” elements, like dodge and parry, and long telegraphs, and message after you beat a boss. But if you die – you just restart from the previous savepoint.
There’s experience, but it’s mostly just bumps stats a little. And there are coins, but you get them only when you find secrets, and you can only buy some spells with them.
Animations feel cheap. So the game look better on screenshots.

Categories
*.DOC

Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

Finished Eye of the World.
A rather weak Lord of the Rings fanfic.
Pathways is basically Moria, with Black wind acting as the Balrog. Moraine even says “I hope he couldn’t pass”
And Lan is basically Aragorn, with him being a great fighter and king in exile.
The entire episode with Green Man and finally is rather nonsensical. Forsaken are introduced, we’re told they are immensely powerful, then both are killed, one of them almost by an accident. And the all powerful Dark One is killed with his entire army in a matter of few passages.

Categories
*.AVI

Marcella S01

It’s a joy to watch, because it’s all filmed in London. Some places are very recognizable. Elephant and Castle, for example, before it was demolished.
The narrative reminded me of Sharp Objects quite a bit. Women can be abusive and dangerous. Not just men. Marcella stalks and even hits her husband that decided to leave her. And the camgirl portrayed by Florence Pugh beats a guy and steals his stuff. But there are also a lot of men with different levels of abusiveness. It’s like every episode we have a new suspect.
The idea of protagonist having blackouts or fits of rage to the point they aren’t sure if they may be the killer without knowing it is for sure isn’t new. Taboo, also set in London, is just one example. But I think it’s the first time when it’s a female protagonist.
Also, some themes I don’t encounter much. Like dealing with your kids while separated.

Categories
*.AVI

Black Panther

Blacksplotation movies are back!
So, you have a very advanced civilization, and you put as the head of all the research a teenager, that also happens to be the princess? That’s not suspicious at all!


Then, you have all that technological advancement, but you still… train fighting rhinos? And you have street markets. Yeah.


Northern niggas confused me a lot. Although alright, technically Kilimanjaro is high enough to have an arctic climate.

I guess it’s considered a funny joke by some to call every white American “a colonizer”?

Why does your council looks like a bunch of clowns?


The first half of the movie is just setting the stage with a long chase in South Korea.

The second half is a strange combination of fighting and dancing. Neither is particularly enjoyable.


I was planning to write some more about how bad that movie is, but someone already did this job better than I ever could:

Categories
Nintendo Switch

Persona 5

Although I dislike the theme of masked vigilantes, I must admit that the game is phenomenal.
We play as a teenager that tried to stop a rapist, but instead got sued by him and now on probation.

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He’s bestowed with a magical app on his phone that allows him to visit Palaces: places that evil people build inside their minds. And if he’s able to steal their Treasure, it will cure them. Potentially also make them brain dead, but it’s one evil person less anyway.

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The most annoying part is that they brought back the persona dialog system from Persona 2. To get a new persona you first need to crit it, then you need to persuade it to join by guessing a right answer to a very vague question.

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Categories
PC Gaming

TIE Fighter

There are at least three versions of TIE Fighter available: original DOS version from ’94, Windows version from ’95 and a remake from ’98. Yes, they were doing remakes back in ’98.
The remake is a DirectX 9 game, has better graphics, but also interface is slightly more confusing due to CG that was popular at the time. ’94 game is more “pixel art”.


Also, remake puts boxes around your target, while the original makes your target blink yellow.


Remake doesn’t work without a joystick or a gamepad. Surprisingly, gamepad controls work very well. Maybe because the game was optimised for joysticks, and those are a bit similar.
Everything is very “hardcore”. Your TIE Fighter doesn’t fire indefinitely, unless you boost your weapon recharge power. And it doesn’t have a shield, so a few hits, and you’re done. Luckily, your enemies aren’t much sturdier. But at least they have shields.

 

Didn’t manage to complete even the first mission yet, and I’m not sure I will.

 

Categories
*.AVI

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Plenty to unpack there, and I’m sure I’ve missed most of it.
“Social-democrats that sold out the country”. French unwilling to negotiate and forcing a humiliating treaty. I had to check to make sure that the original book wasn’t written well after World War 2. But no, 1929. Now we can say that “the writing was on the wall”.
A lot of symmetrical shots. And some still nature shots as well. We can kill each other, and life will go on, maybe?
A lot of closeups, especially of Kat and Paul, but also others.
Kat’s monologue on not rather not returning home and eating potatoes with his comrades sounds relevant to this day (see Hurt Locker and American Sniper, for example).
Note how much attention is dedicated to food: Kat sharing bread with Paul on the first day, the joy of stealing a geese, eating French food while their corpses are still warm.
The scene with tanks and flamethrowers looks so alien, that even “Dune” seems closer to us than this. Yet this is historically true.

Categories
PC Gaming

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

Completed Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.

I like the fact that ships are different, and not every more expensive ship is necessarily better. I liked hauler more than the military fighter, since those turrets can rip enemies to shreds pretty well, while still being able to sell tons of cargo at every port.

There are two annoying issues with the interface of the game. First, there’s no good indication of missile lock. But there’s no visual cue for that, unless you’re looking at the missile, which is usually not the case. And second, count of your own missiles is displayed on the same screen as enemy lock, and the coms are on the same screen as well. So when you lock on enemy, you loose missile count, and when you get a comm, you also loose track of your enemy shields. There’s so much space in the cabin they put a second screen there, but it is just the duplicate of the first one. Instead, the comms could be an overlay, like in many other space sims. But no, a single screen is all you’ve got.

Turns out that Juno’s husband wasn’t killed, just went into hiding, on Juno’s mother orders, Tatiana. She’s a pirate lady, and wants to divert the traderoutes, so her daughter would inherit a legitimate trading empire. Very kind of her. There’s an option to betray her to the police or team up with her.
It all ends up with a whimper, though. At one point, everyone is freaked out by Tatiana being able to teleport ships without a jumpgate, something no one knows how to do. But this is never explained. “Final battle” is just routing a bunch of police vessels. And then Juno tells her husband to fuck off, something very inconsequntal, since we’ve seen this dude for two cutscenes at best. And there’s no credit roll, nothing.

Categories
Nintendo Switch

Persona 5 on Switch

Managed to install Persona 5 on my Switch.
I feel like I update firmware on it more than I play it.

At first, I was getting “failed to read NSP metadata”

Fixed that by installing the latest patches. The process is super-shady, as you just copy a bunch of random files you found on the Internet.

Then, had to figure out the Master Key password in Atmosphere:
up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, plus

That enables unsigned code installation, since the only NSP available at the moment is converted from XCI.

But it works. And the most surprising thing, it works on Firmware 12.1.0, while the latest is 15.0.0
I’m always afraid of upgrading firmwares on my Switch, as I almost bricked it once already, and lost all my saves in the process.

Categories
Nintendo PC Gaming Switch

Persona 5 for PC and Switch?

Looks like I completely missed the fact that Persona 5 is now also on PC.

And even better news, Persona 4 is planned for Switch in January as well. Dropped it on PS2, dropped it on PC, not I have a chance to drop it for the third time!

Categories
*.BAK

Wagyu

Today I finally tried the British Wagyu they sell on the Borough market.
Turns out it’s a cross between Wagyu males and Angus females. Expensive, but good. Very smooth, and with a very distinct nutty taste.
Cost around 22GBP for 270g, so about 79 for 1kg.

Categories
PC Gaming

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

The game grew on me slightly. The story flows nicely, in a GTA-like fashion. To earn some money for our vendetta we pair with a local idiot that was asked to steal a package from his own brother.

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The package is for a mafia boss, and it contains EMP missiles, that we use to teach police a lesson. Then a former friend turns up, and asks us to help break leader of their pirate gang out of the prison. Then the new gang leader, Durgan, tries to kill the old gangleader, that we help to break out. But we kill Durgan instead.

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What I liked about the fight with Durgan, is that although there are two frigates, you only need to kill Durgan himself, and he pilots just fighter jet, although a though one. But once you kill him, others simply surrender.

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Categories
PC Gaming

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

The original Rebel Galaxy was about battleships, which I liked. Here we have space jets and dogfights, which I like less. Luckily, there’s auto targeting, that makes the fights slightly easier.

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Signs of a serious space game: there are turrets on the ships.
Surprising that trading is actually a very viable option to get rich quickly. It’s actually easier to earn money as a trader, than by shooting pirates.

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Some nice details: sometimes after destroying an enemy ship, you can pick up the ejected pilot. Mostly for fun, as the bounty for pirates is negligible. Also, each ship has a completely unique interface. Very nice indeed.

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Storywise, it’s a space western. We play as Juno, as she avenges her husband. She even knows who killed him, just not where to find him. Story gets forgotten pretty quickly, though, as you need to spend a lot of time earning cash to buy a better ship, so it won’t get blown in a few seconds.

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Categories
*.BAK Hardware

Sage Precision Brewer

A couple of weeks ago we replaced our rather simple Russel Hobbs filter machine with a more sophisticated Sage Precision Brewer.

And boy, does it make a difference.
It doesn’t just pour boiling water, as some other brewers do. It controls water temperature using PID, like the higher-end espresso machines. The quality of coffee I get is comparable to filter coffee from Black Sheep. And it’s also easier to clean.

Potentially, it doesn’t even require paper filters. There’s a plastic basket that comes with it as well. But I got a stock of those paper filters during COVID, so I’m not sure if it’s worth to test the basket.

The downsides are that it’s huge. The tank is 1.7L, and it’s 1.7L of coffee. While we drink around 0.5L in the morning. So the pitcher always feels almost empty. I wish they had a smaller model for such cases.

Categories
Hardware

Going wireless

Must admit that until few months ago, I was worried about switching my keyboard and mouse to wireless. But it’s actually not a big deal. I get to charge the keyboard maybe every month, and it’s just for an hour, while it still works. Same for the mouse. And I don’t feel any delays, at least when the mouse is connected to the dedicated receiver. So overall, positive experience, not only for work, but also for gaming.

Categories
PC Gaming

Cultic

There is a clear Blood inspiration: bleak visual style, waking in a grave, cultists, dynamite and lighter. But then there are some more modern mechanics: reloading and upgrading weapons, physics (at one point you can throw an oil barrel down the hill killing some of the cultists) and even sliding.


I was surprised how long and varied the first level is. There’s some kind of police station, than a camp site, then mines and a den of chainsaw wielding maniac, all within a single level.

 

Shooting aspects work just right. Enemies aren’t too tough, and they have a bit of a fire delay, but if you aren’t careful, they will kill you without remorse.