One Happy Team…

Category: Aleosha Blog

  • Cyberpunk 2077

    There’s such a thing as “presence” in some games. Earlier Far Cry games had it, and Metro trilogy, and newer Resident Evil games. Cyberpunk has it too. It’s in the small details: how NPCs look at you, how your character places a hand over his eyes to shield them from a bright light, or puts one leg on the other when he sits.
    Storywise, it’s also very convincing. You spend a few hours of real time doing jobs with Jackie before he’s killed. Compare that to Far Cry 6, where your “childhood friends” are killed 5 minutes in, and as a player you have absolutely no connection to them.
    Or how V is not the chosen: when the jobs goes south, Jackie plugs the chip into his brain, and only because he was carrying the case, and just before his death you transfer the data to your brain.
    The role system is interesting: you have attributes and perks, which you level as you gain experience, but you also have passive skills, that level up as you use them.
    Weapons are strangely abundant. I’m used to not being able to pick anything but trash from dead enemies, but here, while sometimes they are broken, I assembled an entire arsenal just a few hours in.

    Even five years in, the game is far from perfect. It crashed on me once already, and I’ve only been playing it for 2 hours.
    At one point, I got a side mission to “rescue Brick”, although I’m not sure who’s that, which I failed, because I couldn’t find where should I rescue him from. When I reloaded, I didn’t get that mission anymore.
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  • Tacticus

    Unlocked Dante. I had plenty of his shards through his Legendary event, and bought enough from the Armageddon shop event.

    Unlocked Reanimator, Necron’s Machine of War, from the regular Incursion event. Couldn’t be bothered to do it during the 1st.

    Unlocked Judh from Guild War. Her I wanted for a long time, as she’s incredibly annoying to deal with. In a game where you try to neutralize enemy characters quickly, a character that can’t be killed by a first strike on their turn, returns to life once killed, and counterattacks is very useful.

    Unlocked Maugan Ra from farming his campaign. I just wanted a 4th Eldar to try and beat Eldar campaign, and I had more of his shards.

    With Maugan I finished the last campaign. Didn’t even need to level him all the way to Gold 1. As I suspected, the key is to distribute aggro between characters, not so much about their levels. Other 3 were Gold 3, and still struggled.

    So now I’m officially finished Tacticus. All that’s left is various PvP events, and occasional campaign event, which I have no idea why they aren’t making permanent.

  • Black Hole Mikkeler

    Mikkeler is a Danish brewery, but confusingly, this one they brew in Belgium
    Only after trying it I discovered that Black Hole is what Mikkeler uses for all its imperial stouts. In any case, this was the regular one, not one of the barrel aged ones.
    The taste is what a cold brew imperial stout would be like, I’d imagine. Not very sweet, smoky, with almost chili warmth, not sure if it’s honey or ABV.
    What I didn’t like is how bitter the aftertaste is. Interesting and complex, but not something I’d buy again.

  • Nikka From the Barrel

    3rd bottle from the Master of Malt taster set.
    I had a bottle of this about 3 years ago. But it still positively surprised me, despite being blended, with no age statement, and all the talk that most of Japanese whisky is just imported Scotch (Ben Nevis, most likely).
    It has some of this barley smell, the taste is sweet and quite smooth, finish is almost apple, and warmth very long.

  • Commander Farsight

    Finished painting it a couple of days ago.
    This model absolutely needs to be painted is subassemblies, painting it as a whole was a total pain.
    Not only you can’t paint the armpits, the jetpacks also block the back.
    I didn’t want to go with the standard scheme, as I find black and white to be too boring. But I just couldn’t find a scheme that would work for the buckler.
    Also, I wanted to avoid metalics at first, but nothing else worked, while Balthazar Gold actually did wonders.
    Same goes for the sword: at first I tried what worked well for Krittok, but it didn’t look good at all, so I went back to Leadbelcher.
    I didn’t have good blues for the plasma effect, so I went for the greens, Tesseract Glow and Hexwraith Flame. Those worked out well enough.

  • Vibram Fivefingers Scramkey and Spyridon EVO

    I wanted to replace my V-Train (17M6603) for a long time, since, like my FiveFinger often do, they started to tear at the thumb.

    The newcomers are Fivefingers Scramkey and Spyridon EVO.

    I picked Scramkey precisely for their reinforced thumbs. But they surprised me in other ways too. First, they have two hook-and-loop straps. I’ve seen one, I’ve seen it with shoelaces in V-Train, but I’ve never seen two. Also, that’s the first time I see two heel pull loops instead of one. And considering that the single loop on my V-Train tore off some time ago, I can see why.

    Spyridon EVO have very little to do with original Spyridons. They have kind of two layers now, and also the hook-and-loop goes all the way around the ankle.

  • Glenallachie 12

    Another whisky I wanted to taste from the Master of Malt box. It has that corny smell I associate with Irish whisky, strangely, but the taste is sharply Scotch, sweet and oily, with nice finish. For its price, it’s a good deal. But I’m not after good deals anymore.

  • Octopath Traveler

    Not all chapters are equal. Primrose Chapter 2 is far easier than Therion’s. It’s curious how they directly reference Godfather opening scene in her chapter too. Also, it’s again of a darker tone, as her target is the owner of a brothel.
    Mage’s chapter is as bad as Therion’s, with the same type of boss that’s invulnerable until you take out both minions.
    Merchant’s chapter is easy, but it’s more of a filler side story, where she chases a corrupt magnate out of town.
    One nice touch about the game is that different towns sell different equipment: one might sell better swords, another better staves. And equipment is relevant for longer.
    The less nice bit is that although there is sidequests journal, half of the quests are still untracked. There’s one quest in the desert town, where a dancer tells you she wants to dance in a blue dress, and a sick girl tells you she wants to see a dancer. So I thought that first you give dancer a dress, then take her to the girl. But no, it’s either you give her the dress or take her to the girl.
    Out of all 2nd chapters, Huntress is the most difficult. Not because of the bosses, but because it forces you to utilize her “Pokémon” mechanic, beating an enemy using only the captures monsters. The most fun 2nd chapter is Warrior, as unlike everyone else, he doesn’t have a dungeon to complete, instead it’s just arena with 3 bosses.
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  • Path of Exile 2

    Trial of Sekhemas is basically a rogue-like mode, where after each level you pick what boon or curse you want. There’s also a honor system: kind of global HP counter, that fails the run if it’s depleted, even if you didn’t die.
    Out of ascendancies, I chose Witchhunter, as a straightforward option of instantly killing enemies at low health and gaining energy shield later.

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  • Road (2009)

    I’ve seen this movie back in the day, but remembered almost nothing, so rewatched it.
    I kept thinking of Mariupol, and how people there had to survive postaplocalyptic conditions for months, running out of food and water.
    The movie on the second viewing is more of a form over substance.
    The Boy acts as he wasn’t born into postaplocalyptic world, but is a modern day child. In Sweettooth, character innocent made more sense, as he was living in a compound. But with his attitude and skills it’s not clear how he survived anything.
    Storywise, my main issue is that episodes feel disjointed. It’s almost as if you could shuffle them in any order and get away with it. All except taking arrow to the knee. But even that comes at the very end, and that’s not even the reason Father dies.

  • Octopath Traveler

    Unlocked healer Alfyn, despite his class, he actually is very sturdy and hits pretty hard as well.

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    Thief Therion chapter was objectively one of the easiest so far: boss had only one minion, and it’s pretty useless, and the boss doesn’t inflict any statuses, while the snake boss in clerics chapter poisoned the entire party. Starting quests for cleric Ophilia, who’s actually the stronger healer and the only one with Light magic and ranger Haanit are also easy. Finally, the party is complete, and I can start with the second chapter.

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    The game has a few interesting “lessons”. In towns, you often get sidequests to acquire some item. Usually you can either buy or steal it. If you steal it, there’s a chance to ruin your reputation, so nobody would talk to you until you pay a fine. But that fine is less than if you’d buy all the items honestly.
    Also, at first I didn’t pay much attention to NPCs blocking some buildings. Turns out, if you provoke them, beat them unconscious in a duel, you can then steal valuable stuff from their house.
    It’s still a slog, though. I went for Therion Chapter 2 first, because it had the lowest recommended level. Still, Therion is greatly underleveled, and I had to grind for hours just to level him enough so he could steal the items required to progress the quest. And even after that, I couldn’t beat the boss, so I had to switch to other character stories instead.

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  • Senja Kolkjerka Imperial Stout

    This one I brought from Norway’s Vinmonopolet. It’s very reminiscent of Garun from Iceland. Scandinavian Imperial Stouts have lower ABV, lighter body and less sugar. Still hit like a truck, since it’s 500ml, not 330. But I definitely prefer something more complex.

  • SAS Rogue Heroes S02

    It so happened that I downloaded the second season of Rogue Heroes instead of the first, but since it’s a pseudo historical action anyway, I thought I wouldn’t mind much, and if I end up liking it, I’ll watch the first season as a prequel or an origin story.
    It all very much resembles Ungentlemanly Warfare, both in style and substance.

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  • Devils, Joe Abercrombie

    I’m past half of the book, and only now I have collected my thoughts to write anything.
    It’s basically Suicide Squad set in a almost-Europe, where Punic wars were won by Carthageans, so the priests are female and wear a wheel instead of a cross.
    The squad consists of a vampire, a female werewolf, and an elf that can become invisible, chaperoned by an undying knight and a female version of Jack the Sparrow, Abercrombie has a particular love for that character, since he had one in Best Served Cold as well.
    There’s also a magician, or a necromancer more like, although it’s a running joke the Squad go through their magicians quite quickly, and a failing young priest to oversee them, and it’s another joke that the Squad run though them even quicker.
    There’s also a bomb, of course, in the form of Papal Binding, so they can’t just all run off.
    All set to install a would-be princess on a throne of Troy (not Bisantium).
    Reading it is like watching a TV series so much I wonder of Abercrombie didn’t write it with the intention of making a TV series, after his comics series died in infancy.

  • Kilkerran 12

    I’d be honest, I mostly bought this whisky because it was limited stock, and it was limited stock because it’s Cambletown. Still, here we are.
    It smells like Irish whisky, what others call “toast”, and what I call “corn”. Tastes nothing like Irish, though.
    There’s a surprising amount of sweetness for a whisky that’s only 30% sherried, and spiciness of the chilli level. Speaking of chilli, it has a lot of warmth on the finish.

  • Drifter

    Completed Drifter.
    It’s a good length of a game, not too short, not too long, you finish it before mechanics start getting on your nerves.
    Theme-wise, it’s all over the place: conspiracies, ghosts, monsters, time travel. Turns out it’s Zero Escape most of all, though: death allowing consciousness to travel back in time.
    There are just a few plot twists that irked me in retrospective. First, the friendly homeless guy getting stabbed with protagonist’s knife. Both the false and the true antagonists didn’t had any reason to kill him or to frame the protagonist, this is just to give police reason to chase Mick. Annie, Mick’s sister, hitting a detective unconscious and walking free. I can believe in time travel, but this is too much. And finally Mick accidentally killing Annie during a hallucination. This is just to force him to participate in the experiment, but again, doesn’t make much sense, as him seeing his son’s ghost was always helpful until that point.
    I thought that by the end they’d pull Shutter Island: Mick is in asylum, and the reason antagonist is wearing a lab coat is because he’s doctor in real life. But glad they didn’t go that way.
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  • Tacticus

    Got Jaeger from Blessed Requisition. In the past I wanted him for the Octarius Mirror, but I’ve completed that campaign without him anyway.

    Unlocked Commander Farsight from his Legendary Release Event. I can hardly believe it, as it’s the first Legendary Release Event I managed to beat, and it’s only 2nd out of 3.

    Unlocked Baraqiel finally from Dark Angels campaign event. It’s a cheap and fun character, one of the few that is able to use active ability multiple times. I’m surprised I didn’t manage to get him sooner from a random drop.

    Unlocked Cezare from his release event. That’s an easy character to unlock, at 100 shards.

  • Redbreast 12

    Since I already had it in the taster set, I decided to refresh my memory. It’s oily, and has almost corn-like quality. I guess that’s the unmalted barley popping. Suprised me how I finished a bottle of this years ago without noticing.

  • Kasteel Donker

    Not the rarest of beers, but since I haven’t had it in years, worth mentioning. It is sweet, molasses or demerara sugar, which is amazing for the first few sips. The problem is that it’s not very complex, unlike Imperial Stouts. The last sip is very much like the first. But it does give lightness I haven’t felt in ages.

  • Drifter

    I expected something set in 1920s, maybe. Instead, it’s modern days, 1999, to be exact. Story resembles Condemned the most: the guy was a runaway as a kid, divorced after losing his son, returns to his hometown to attend mother’s funeral. Discovers that homeless people are going crazy, and some specops dudes killing them, while the police hunting for a serial killer. And of course he gets framed as that serial killer himself.
    In addition to a regular inventory the character also has inventory of thoughts, represented as pictograms. This acts as both quest log and dialog options.
    Narrative-wise, it’s close to Ghost Trick. If the character dies, he rewinds the time, getting another chance.
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