April 2020 Review: Self Isolation

It turns out self isolation and working from home isn't so bad for me, though I am one of those putting on a lot more weight! It's the "See Food" diet I tell ya. I see food and I eat it. Anyway, I've started trying to do some exercise but as they say "you can't out train a bad diet". The isolation affects people in different ways though, and I thought I'd share this particularly creative and funny music videos with you.

Lastly, thanks to Blapril I've added a whole bunch of new blog links on the side there. Please have a look when you have the time! I'll be trimming them down as usual starting next week.

On to the task list...

    End 2020 with less weight (+2 kg from last month, running total: +6 kg)
    Make 1 web comic page (stiiill nope)
    try make a boardgame (idea written out, needs testing)

BACKLOG
How to Survive 2 [gift]
Tomb Raider (2013) [free from Steam] (done)
The Lords of Midnight [free from GOG] (had enough)
Flight of the Amazon Queen [free from GOG] (done)
Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves [free from GOG] (done)
Doomdark's Revenge [free from GOG] (had enough)
Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius [free from GOG] (done)
World War Z [free from Epic Games]
Figment [free from Epic Games] (done)
Tormentor x Punisher [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
+Hob [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
+Gone Home [free from Epic Games] (done)
+Close to the Sun [free from Epic Games]
+Sherlock Holmes Crimes & Punishments [free from Epic Games] (borked!)
+Just Cause 4 [free from Epic Games]
+Wheel of Aurelia [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
+Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms [free on Steam]
+For the King [free from Epic Games]

Board games:
Zombicide: Black Plague (10/11)
London Dread (had enough)
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (6/13)
Mice and Mystics: Heart of Glorm (0/11)

BLOG STATS

One Year Ago

There was a fire at Notre Dame and Brexit was still perkalating away. Also finished up my Dying Light diary and started the tale of the Black Pits.

Five Years Ago

I was posting the Ambitious Dynasty story and was getting heavily into Payday 2. I also made one of my most popular posts so far: the Neverwinter Online Vigilance Quest Guide.

Most Viewed Posts last Month
Enderal: The Petrified
Enderal: Ark Siege
Enderal: Pulling Our Strings

Top Search Terms last Month
osrs infernal cape service price
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osrs infernal cape scythe

Seems like a lot of interest in my Enderal play through last month, though I'm very curious now as to what this "infernal cape" is. :P

John Wick

He makes an 86.52% accuracy rating look good.

Truthfully, I didn't know what to expect when watching this as my sole reason for doing so is that John Wick happens to be the character I use in the game: Payday 2. The movie begins slowly and quietly with the stoic John Wick (portrayed by the immortal, Keanu Reeves) having a really, really bad time. Due to the actions of a well-connected but naive scum bag, Wick is given the opportunity to channel all that rage into what he does best: Killing people. And it is spectacular to watch as the body count keeps getting higher.

He can never have enough guns!

There isn't much plot to talk of here other than revenge but the action scenes and setup of the "assassin's world" lore is pretty good. I also quite like that they don't make Wick invincible and that he gets his fair share of beatings during the progression of the film. In contrast, Arnie's 1985 "Commando" comes to mind, where he walks across a lawn during a fire fight and doesn't get hit by a single bullet.

There's also little in the way of computer graphics which makes the film grittier, and more "meat and bones" if you will, which blends well with the overall tone. All up I give John Wick three and a half bullets out of five, and recommend it for those of you who are looking for a "light on thinking" violent action movie.

Would I watch it again? To answer your question, I went out and bought the DVD - and I'm definitely going to watch John Wick 2! :)

PAYDAY 2

This game trumps its predecessor in all ways.

The Payday clown gang are back, and this time they have more allies and a better skill upgrade tree system that lets players juggle skill points between different class trees. You have the option of specializing or being a jack of all trades. You also have a wide array of weapons, modifications and masks to spend your money on but ultimately it is the skills that will be burning most of your cash - especially if you try to become "Infamous" which literally burns your stock piled money as a sort of New Game+.

Unlike the previous game you can actually complete missions stealthily now and move hostages around, which is pretty close to a multiplayer cooperative Thief game that I've been wanting for ages. Also, you are no longer thrown in (as) blind like before where the ludicrous objectives would often catch you by surprise. Now you can purchase mission beneficial equipment to help your task, and some missions offer blueprints which you can draw on to strategize with your allies before hand.

Probably the only thing I can complain about here is that it becomes a more serious game that the last? The previous game had tasks were so wacky and police waves like an assault of lemmings that it was pretty funny, letting me toss aside the "I'm playing a bad guy" somewhat. In this one there's a mission where you have to make drugs. Meth to be precise. Not just a button click either, you get the components and have to actively put them into the makeshift lab to get bags of produce. Because you're branching out from armed robbery into drug dealing I guess. More annoyingly sometimes it takes forever to connect to a multiplayer game. Not sure what that's about.

Those issues aside it is a pretty addictive coop FPS and/or FPSneaker and I give it four and a half bullets out of five. Unfortunately, it also makes the first Payday pretty moot. If you are new to the franchise, feel free to skip buying Payday: The Heist and jump straight to this one. I'm putting my brothers video of one of their early runs if you want to see what its like in game.