(GR) Wildlands: Pardon

[Part of the Wasted Land story] 

Despite the recent set backs with my squad the cartel must really be hurting on other fronts with full on aerial assaults happening on their production lines as the cartel leader calls in to meet. After killing who knows how many people he has managed to negotiate his way to a Presidential Pardon and extraction to turn in other nearby cartels, but this doesn't sit well with the CIA handler assigned to this task force and she shoots him dead before fleeing the scene. Maybe there's some truth to Walker's intuition?

Nevertheless, we're sent to support an elite Splinter Cell operative Sam Fisher in catching her - at a Unidad base no less, where she's selling secrets to try make a deal to escape. She's already KIA by Fisher when we arrive, but he has to hack the database to purge the Unidad server of its intel (in the center of the base we just stealthed through, with a strict "drop no bodies" requirement) while we mount a defense at all costs (and kill everyone anyway - wtf) as the entire army is alerted and tries to get to us. 

Under barrel grenade launchers are great for helicopters and many Unidad soldiers go down for each Ghost Recon soldier that does the same. Eventually its just Sam and myself left as the wipe completes. We jump out a back window and run for the nearest car when an explosion erupts behind me, throwing me forward and into a wall. Everything goes black. [Seriously, I can't win this mission...]

(GR) Wildlands: Punisher

[Part of the Wasted Land story]  

The general is very forthcoming in his intel in regards to weapons Unidad has gotten their hands on, and so while other ghost teams are sent to steal their nuke chopper and disarm a dirty bomb, my squad is sent to a bunker black site hidden next to an abandoned train line to retrieve a captured engineer being used against his will to develop some new weapon.

Interestingly what we find within is a trail of dead bodies. Another operative: Walker "the Punisher", is already here and questioning the engineer we're meant to retrieve. The high tech drones the engineer was developing killed the rest of Walker's squad and he believes it was a government CIA spook that leaked intel that led to the hit. 

Didn't expect to run into this guy!

We manage to talk him out of executing the techie and giving us custody but sure enough the supposedly "under duress" engineer shows his true colors by calling for Unidad backup. Walker then shoots the engineer in the face and we fight our way out of there through a small army of soldiers to escape, splitting up with the disgruntled soldier who we learn later also survived but quit the military. Ultimately that's still a mission fail in my book. 

Kandahar and Guy Ritchie's The Covenant

Movies about war translators.

Kandahar

When an undercover CIA agent (played by Gerard Butler) gets his cover blown while he's overseas in enemy territory, he and his translator need to go on the run from multiple threats and reach the extraction site. While the action parts here actually are quite nice, this movie is just so damned slow. Script wise people also make really stupid decisions, like all the budget went to the over the top action set pieces and to hell with everything else. Not recommended.

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant

Not to be confused with the horror movie "The Covenant", this film follows a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal), his translator, and their squad as they look for enemy weapons facilities in Afghanistan. The pacing between action and story is really good in this one, and because the fight scenes are more realistic it immediately makes it better than Kandahar. The last third could have used something more, but all up a decent movie. If you are picking between these two, this one is the clear winner.

Dark Deity: The Long List

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The survivors finally reach the evil wizard and have to run around destroying his empowering crystals while he gets free shots in. As a result, he explodes the brains of Liberty, Sloane and Monroe, burns Fenton and Rose, shatters Bianca's psyche, breaks Iris' will, knocks out Cia, Wren and Faust, steals part of Sara's soul and nearly kills Alexa before Thae'lanel puts an end to him. The wizard's death releases the survivors from the ether realm to recuperate and rebuild the kingdoms.

Pretty cool game but the story could have used some work. Since this is the last of Dark Deity I'm putting the full character list up below to include the lucky four that didn't get downed the entire way through (keeping in mind I used a rotating roster to make sure everyone played, even if that put me severely under leveled some times). 

Wind walking Bianca was my most useful warrior only to be overshadowed by dragon riding Alexa at the end, Wren and Cia (who must be super lucky to keep getting that -0 magic penalty) were excellent Slayers (class), Sara and Sloane the best wizards and Rose and Caius the best sniper/green knight. None of them would have survived without the healers though, who are always handy lurking in the back.

Rolling Damage List:
Irving [DEAD]
Cia [4/5]: -1 Str, -0 Magic, -0 Magic, *-0 Magic
Benji [DEAD]
Elias [2/5]: -1 Dex, -2 Magic
Samara [DEAD]
Sophia [DEAD]
Lincoln [1/5]: -2 Str, -2 Luck
Corvan [4/5]: -1 Mastery
Garrick [1/5]: -1 Mastery, -1 Dex, -2 Str
Alden [DEAD]
Iris [2/5]: -1 Def. -1 Fort, *-1 Fort
Liberty [DEAD]: -3 Def, *-2 Mastery
Rose [1/5]: -1 Luck, -1 Spd, *-2 Dex
Ford [DEAD]
Aurima [DEAD]
Maeve [DEAD]
Thae'lanel [4/5]: -1 Fort
Sloane [DEAD]: -3 Dex, -1 Str, *-1 Def
Sara [2/5]: -1 Str, -1 Str, *-1 Str
Caius [2/5]: -3 Str
Wren [2/5]: -1 Magic, *-2 Luck
Fenton [3/5]: -1 Fort, *-1 Fort
Monroe [DEAD]: -1 Fort, *-4 Magic
*Bianca [3/5]: -2 Magic
*Faust [4/5]: -1 Def
*Alexa [1/5]: -4 Dex

Brooke [5/5]
Helena [5/5]
Maren [5/5]
Vesta [5/5]

Dark Deity: The Mountain

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Upon returning to the mainland where everyone hates them, Lincoln leads the growing team into a cavernous mountain to hide out but first must secure it from the resident dragon! Fenton the dwarf and an awesome snarky acolyte named Faust help them defeat it without any casualties. 

It looks pretty cool though!

Hearing news that King Varic has ordered mass executions at a nearby prison, the team does a prison break next - freeing archer Rose and barbarian Alexa (who they themselves captured before) along with other prisoners to join the revolt. Cia gets concussed again during this and Maeve and Ford expend some luck, but they are able to escape a cordon of soldiers with the help of some food buffs and the powerful storm witch, Liberty, who happens to be Irving's aunt.

Due to these actions the undead forces of the necromancer, clearly in league with King Varic, locates their mountain base and launches an all out assault upon them, weakening Iris and Liberty with necrotic poison, sapping the luck of both Rose and Ford, burning Alden to a crisp, beheading Aurima, giving Maeve lightning inflicted shakes, and beating down Thae'lanel before the necromancer finally runs out of mana and is forced to retreat.

Rolling Damage List:
Irving [DEAD]
Cia [4/5]: -1 Str, -0 Magic, *-0 Magic
Benji [DEAD]
Elias [2/5]: -1 Dex, -2 Magic
Samara [DEAD]
Sophia [DEAD]
Lincoln [3/5]: -2 Str
Corvan [4/5]: -1 Mastery
Garrick [3/5]: -1 Mastery, -1 Dex
Alden [DEAD]: -1 Def, *-7 HP
*Iris [4/5]: -1 Def
*Liberty [2/5]: -3 Def
*Rose [4/5]: -1 Luck
*Ford [1/5]: -2 Luck, -2 Luck
*Aurima [DEAD]: -7 HP
*Maeve [2/5]: -1 Luck, -2 Mastery
*Thae'lanel [4/5]: -1 Fort

Dark Deity: Crossing Field

[Part of the Cursed story line]

After saving her, Vesta basically takes command of the team - ordering them to march to a harbor village to relocate the chest of aspects the undead nearly got their hands on. En route, they find a pitched battle of Aramorans against the forces of King Varic and just beyond a swirling tornado of magic being conjured by another evil looking wizard that said armies are oblivious to. The genius moron Garrick talks the team into rushing through the battlefield to stop the spell, because... what could go wrong with that plan?

Samara gets mind wiped, Corvan and Garrick get slices on their arms, Cia and Elias get concussed, Benji gets an embarrassing scar and Alden is weakened by a poisoned blade before Caius reaches the sorcerer to interrupt his spell. The annoyed wizard then teleports away while the rest of the unit, now an enemy to both sides despite saving them, flees to the docks where they hire the ship of the smuggler/thief Ford. Also on board are the mage Monroe and his spear bodyguard Iris who are handy companions when storm spirits, no doubt sent by the annoyed wizard, attack the vessel at sea but Aurima wipes them out.

Rolling Damage List:
Irving [DEAD]
Cia [4/5]: -1 Str, *-0 Magic
Benji [2/5]: -2 Luck, *-1 Mastery
Elias [2/5]: -1 Dex, *-2 Magic
Samara [3/5]: -1 Fort, *-1 Mastery
Sophia [DEAD]
Lincoln [3/5]: -2 Str
*Corvan [4/5]: -1 Mastery
*Garrick [4/5]: -1 Mastery
*Alden [4/5]: -1 Def

Dark Deity: Spear Dancer

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Mage apprentice Alden, novitiate cleric Maren and rookies Garrick (archer) and Irving (warrior) are recruited into King Varic's army under battle group leader Lincoln (cleric) and his second, Bianca (spear girl). En route to reporting at the capital, they stop to help a village fight off some bandits where locals Elias (spear guy) and Cia (buxom rogue bartender) assist in routing the enemy, and then pursuing them all the way back to their base where they rescue the sorceress Sloane and her scout ally Sophia who were the bandits "guests" for two weeks. 

 

Based on how she's dressed, I can guess how they spent the time...

Lincoln is pretty happy with his teams performance as there were only two friendly injuries sustained: Irving getting the wind clubbed out of him and Cia getting manhandled by some lucky bandits when her impressive speed put her in an isolated spot. Said curs were put down like the dogs they were. On the flip side, Bianca is amazing and really knows her way around a pole spear - being the MVP in most of the skirmishes.

When a unit goes down this game places perma-debuffs on characters instead of letting them die, so I'll be keeping track of that below. Maybe I'll go with 5 worth of lost stats is "death". That should be nice and easy.

Rolling Damage List:
*Irving [4/5]: -1 Def
*Cia [4/5]: -1 Str

MGSV: Fortune and Glory

[Part of the MGS Diary]

Our previous victory has really brought the money pouring in, with jobs paying almost double from before and clients as high-profile as the CIA. Diamond Dog strike teams are now deploying and dying all across the globe for glory!

I continue to focus on Africa and Afghanistan though, mainly to clean up the numerous puppet soldiers the Skulls left behind. At the same time the Russians and the other private forces are upping their game in trying to kill me, setting traps and sending their heaviest armored men and machines after me.

With Quiet by my side and our newly developed wormhole fulton abduction device that can steal tanks, they still have no chance. Miller, who I am beginning to suspect is the worst base commander ever, then reports the child soldiers I previously brought onto the base have escaped - mainly thanks to Eli who also managed to steal Sahelanthropus!

You seriously left the keys for the giant robot just lying around?

Insight: For zombies, puppet soldiers are close to harmless. You can tranq or melee them down (a few times) or toss a sleep grenade to capture them.

Safe House / Safe

Safe

Getting killed is bad business.

A little Chinese girl who happens to be very gifted with numbers is kidnapped and used by Chinese mobsters in the USA to "count" for them. She is eventually also given important information that makes her a target not only by the rival Russian mobsters but also to the corrupt police force. Jason Statham, who manages to piss off the Russian mobsters right at the start of the film, runs into her by coincidence and decides to protect her because he's the protagonist, and that's what protagonists do.

 

Does he look like someone you want to piss off?

Good stuff first: Statham is in good fighting form here, and racks up a decent body count. The little actress (Catherine Chan) is also very good and not annoying in any way. It's also nice to see Reggie Lee (Sgt. Wu from Grimm) here, and while the film ends somewhat abruptly it fits in well and doesn't become dragging at any point. Worst part is the start, which is unnecessarily messy and convoluted with all the sudden cuts. It's a good example of misuse of timeline as it only serves to be annoying.

All up it's an average action flick that doesn't require much thinking, and I give it two bullets out of five. Would I watch it again? A solid maybe. It's really neither here nor there. Guess I'm playing it Safe?

~~~

Safe House

Making house keeping look awesome.

Ryan Reynolds is a "house keeper" for a CIA safe house, which is made out to be a very boring and lonely post. This all changes when a highly wanted criminal (Denzel Washington) is brought in for safe keeping, resulting in all hell breaking lose. Despite the title and the setup, very little of the movie is spent in a safe house which is good as the script keeps everything in flux, in turn keeping the characters and the audience on their toes.

Good thing too or it would be a boring movie.

There are also good action sequences with shooting, hand to hand and the mandatory "car chase if movie is not using heavy CGI". Acting wise it also gets a thumbs up from me, though it does suffer a little from a few plot holes and "but he could have done -x-" moments towards the end. I give this film three and a half guest rooms out of five and can easily recommend it to action fans. I would also happily watch it again.

Tropico 3: I am Undone

[This is part of my Tropico 3 Journal!]

Despite the poor conditions on the island I find that I am winning the elections easily (must be getting the knack of speech craft). I soon learn that the terrorist group Joghurta, which I can only assume voodoo shaman Katunga is part of, has other ideas and has planted a WMD that creates natural disasters inside my presidential palace. Instead of taking action that might harm my island, I invite a UN delegate to disarm the weapon which inadvertently destroys cities in both the US and USSR. The angry American president also then demands that I hand the device over, which I do but apparently it goes off again in his home killing a few people. To make matters worse I find the US were actually trying to make clones of me (to take my place) in my private residence (not the palace). To stop their plans I have that location demolished.

Mental note, storing radioactive stuff in your house is a bad idea.

It goes without saying that US warships are soon patrolling the nearby waters so to placate them somewhat I hand over KGB agent Mina Petrova who was trying to convince me to release Llama Flu upon my populace. My own agents soon discover that Joghurta is trying to bribe my own military to stage a coup, so to increase foreign relations request a joint CIA and KGB operation to take them down. With them out of the way and the rebel numbers at an all time low I can refocus on building up the population so I try my best to make people happy with a visit from the Pope, the construction of a sports center to host Pan-Caribbean games, and sneakily put a ban on contraception to increase numbers. I even splurge the treasury money on recruiting foreign experts to just try boost population numbers much to the annoyance of the nationalist faction.

Alas it is to no avail. With people dying of starvation and my economy going all over the place I simply didn't have enough workers to manage everything. Basically the town grew too fast, and it was evident by the number of unmanned construction sites that I splurged the treasury foolishly. Manipulating the wages of farmers and the like also proved to be a mistake as with so many jobs offering the same pay, people were just chillaxing and job jumping instead of having roles filled by demand or necessity. By the end of my term I only have 150 people on the island with a happiness rating of 54%, very short of my target. Mission failed.

Tropico 3: Voodoo Tech

[This is part of my Tropico 3 Journal!]

I next found myself governing the isle of El Muerte which while having natural mineral deposits and crude oil for mining was a mess for people to navigate due to its terrible terrain structure. To make matters worse there was a serial killer and terrorist of the "magical" voodoo variety named Katunga who enjoyed demanding tribute lest he unleash his dark magics in the forms of sorcery and curses. Refusing to bargain with terrorists, the island was subjected to bad luck, earthquakes and hurricanes that destroyed buildings and killed people. There were also USSR gun ships ready to attack who I managed to dissuade at the last minute, and a strange microchip doctors discovered inside me that cost 15k to remove, putting the treasury deeper in debt!

Being generally unhappy, some of the populace resorted to rebellion, and attempted to destroy one of the oil refineries. Fortunately I've learned that a well paid military often performs better so they managed to drive them back into the jungle after a short gun fight. A bomb threat on the same refinery saw it still closed as it was swept for explosives though. Meanwhile the US kept offering all sorts of deals to establish various businesses (fronts for the CIA) on the island to secure their interests and despite my constant public rejections the KGB tried to off me by sending agent Mina Petrova to kill me and install their own puppet in my place. I spent a lavish 7k to seduce the woman instead. El Presidente is smooth with the ladies.

Then I had my portrait painted. 

It is soon made clear to me that the two ways to "succeed" here were either to take the capitalist method of earning $500k worth in exports or the communist way of increasing population to 250 people with a happiness rating of 60 or higher. Due to the tryst with Mina, I foolishly chose the latter.