Halo (TV Series 2 Seasons)

Needed more battles and less intrigue.

In this future based off a popular game franchise, genetically engineered super soldiers are humanity's only hope against the evil alien races. No, it's not Warhammer 40k - this is Halo with protagonist "Master Chief" played by Pablo Schrieber.

Over the course of two seasons there are some cool fight scenes with a decent body count but, in a prime example of shooting themselves in the foot, the story also focuses on... random people who have nothing to do with the franchise? What?

Yeah, feels like the woke got to this one which is why it only lasted two seasons. That and/or they needed better writers. While I still enjoyed it, I can understand why it got canned.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts

Where sniping isn't enough!

This first person shooter has you play as a lone sniper assassin sent on five missions to kill people, but it's never enough just to kill the target. You'll also be tasked to hack computers and steal diaries and such, often from pockets of the very target you killed. 

So yes, there's a sneaking around aspect to it where you can knife people but more likely you'll be shooting everyone (not just your target) dead. You can bring a customizable loadout but your sniper rifle will always be your primary weapon (especially since its the one that gets the slow-mo bullet kill cams), which means you will need to get used to ranging bullet drops and wind changes as this game takes those super seriously. And when you do get used to it, it is very fun!

That said the maps are large but it still feels like a short game. All up not a bad distraction from whatever main thing you are playing.

Busy September

Between working on "my own" TTRPG (in quotes because there's lots of external source inspiration) and actual work which is kicking my butt I've been a bit slack in posting. Hopefully that changes soon.

In the meantime you can try play around and make your own 6 second AI generated video for free! The site is Chinese but it can work with an English prompts. Tech advances are wild man. I'm also keen to see the remote machine guns Ukraine is developing (also, they've counter invaded Russia). Now gamers can really get into the fight? Curious to see if it will be stationary sentries or mobile with tracks or legs.

Then of course there's good old low tech sabotage and subterfuge, to do things like getting your enemies communication devices to just explode. That's pretty impressive too.

Pathfinder: Wet Skull

[Part of the Party Time journal]  

Almost immediately after clearing the fort the party hears the (magically audio boosted) alarm bell from Turtleback Ferry so they trek back there to find a third of the place now being consumed by flooding. Valeros and Merisiel ford the dangerous waters with ropes to save some kids and their teacher stuck in a turtle shell boat, dealing with a giant snake also being washed by the flood while they're at it. Once the civilians are saved they use the same boat to bring Kyra, Ezren and Shay forward to try save a church full of people stuck in the flood waters.

Also en route to the church is a giant water creature Loch Ness, the Black Maga, who the party manage to piss off enough so that it changes its focus to them. Ezren is the only one who saves against its confusing breath attack and basically the party is very much at the mercy of this ancient creature who has an easy time swatting them around (when they're not attacking each other lol). Inexplicably the beasty decides to not wipe out the party and instead leaves / gets washed away with the water.

Once they come to their senses the party saves the church goers (though, not really as the flood waters are subsiding by that point) and get to rest like heroes. Briefly. They are then tasked to check out the dam at Skull's Crossing (which is heavy on the Skull motif) as the flooding issue might be related so they head up there, parting ways with Baldy who takes some villagers to help clean up the Black Arrow fort.

At the dam the party discovers it being sabotaged by ogres so they get up there and slay them, including an ettin and a troll family living within (apart from a sea troll who manages to elude them by swimming away). In a side chamber Merisiel has a close call against a robot skull scorpion guarding the dam controls but they destroy it before anyone gets killed.

Ezren then works out the magical dam is powered by the life force of sacrificial summons, in this case a super weak pit fiend. To do a controlled flood and alleviate the danger, Kyra uses a summoned creature to help power it for emergency operations which Ezren handles - destroying the summon and the pit fiend in the process.

Arcade Paradise

The ultimate mini game chill out collection.

In first person business simulation game, you are put in charge of a laundromat that happens to have a small backroom with a few arcade games. I was quite worried about this game with the whole "business simulation" bit and grungy animation intro but when that last drawing fades into the crisp 3D view - I was quickly hooked. Especially since almost everything you do is income. Do the laundry mini-game? Get money. Pick up trash? Get money. Yank gum off furniture? Get money.

The game loop is very cool and quite relaxing and I for one enjoyed the laundry, but the whole point of the game is to expand the arcade space and number of arcade games (your only real expenses) on site which just generates passive income. And you can play ALL of them. Sure, a lot are re-skins of old classics but that doesn't make them any less fun. The carrot there is by completing goals on them they start making even more passive money. To do all this AND have a simple story arc mixed in there? Awesome. I ended up playing this A LOT. Highly recommended!

Umbrella Academy (TV) and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Not fighting fair.

Umbrella Academy (4 Seasons)

This show focuses on a dysfunctional superhero "family" adopted by a domineering and eccentric billionaire father who uses them to fight crime. Alas after a botched mission they all go their separate ways for years until their hated father figure dies. It's as this point they discover they have to stop the apocalypse (or, a chain of them as it turns out). Some funny bits, some cool bits, and some decent fight scenes pepper the very weird plot so it is entertaining for the spectacle if nothing else. Acting wise I'd say Aidan Gallagher is the stand out performer here and easily steals the majority of the scenes he's in.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

It is World War II and the British have had enough of the Nazi's dominating the seas thanks to their U-boats, so they assemble a small team (with members played by Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson to name a few) to go an unsanctioned undercover mission to hit the U-boat supply station on a Spanish controlled island. On one side it's a very humorous take with Nazi's being terrible shots and having so many of them as fodder but there are a few brief bits of torture just to reinforce that the Nazi's are the very bad guys. Ultimately a movie to turn your brain off for, as that's the best way to enjoy it.

Pathfinder: The Real Ogres

[Part of the Party Time journal]  

With Ezren's owl, Stolas, providing "drone footage" information the heroes along with Shay and the Black Arrows eventually decide to try lure out the ogre guards from the fort via a flaming sphere that explodes the "blocked" Eastern gate of the place. Sure enough, ogres start pouring out from both of the fortress gates led by a tall red one DL likes to call "Carly"?

Half the ogres are handled by Valeros' flamethrower along with the Black Arrows and Kibb (who is the only one to take damage in this group), while the rest including Carly are dealt with with Kyra's AoEs and summoned bear and eagle (both destroyed by Carly), Ezren's AOEs and magic missiles, Merisiel's archery and javelin of lightning and Shay's archery, ending the first wave of fifteen. Apart from the animals none of the assaulters are damaged yet, but that changes quickly as Ezren sends forth a silent image to see if there are any more ogres lying in wait and five more spring from hiding.

Two of the five are special big boys though and they do manage to get into melee range with the first one slaying Baldy with a ridiculous one shot overkill. Kibb is also lucky to survive retreating against a free hit before Valeros finally gets into position to tank them down. Kyra uses the beginner ressurection scroll she's hanging onto to revive Baldy but semi-fails as the result is simply delayed an hour, which is fine as the team had retreated back to the forest to camp briefly to regain spells (Ezren only needs two hours now thanks to a magic ring bought in Magnimar).

With Stolas not finding any more movement the squad heads through a secret passage near a waterfall where they collect much needed arrows then ignore some cute lightning lizards and banish a ghost before looping around to the castle proper. Valeros smashes the door down... stealthily? And then Merisiel leads the team in pretty much ganking the individual rooms of ogres who are no match for them until they get upstairs to face the daddy ogre. This guy is nasty and survives lots of big attacks while also ganking Stamp with criticals (190-ish damage)?

The last major battle is with a lady in the basement, who turns out to also be an annoying lamia matriarch (and is the ogre's boss). Her six attacks are quite deadly at the start, but then Ezren lands a ray of enfeeblement on her which makes her much more manageable with party members able to risk the free hits to step into the room to surround her. Merisiel eventually finishes her off and DL announces we have officially cleared the fort! Too bad for Stamp, we found evidence that he was the traitor who helped the ogres in so he can stay dead.

Pathfinder: The Black Arrows

[Part of the Party Time journal] 

It takes a month before Pug completes the flamethrower for Valeros (me) and for Ezren (Juris) to learn his new spells, but soon they along with Kyra (Rose) and Merisiel (mom) are tasked by the governor to check upon the Night Watch Black Arrows, a group based out in the mountains defending against the wildlings(?) beyond. They take the already paid for Ferry where they meet up with Shay once more who is also headed to look for a Black Arrow of personal interest to her.

It's an uneventful trip up river apart from the incessant rain the gods have decided to inundate this area with just to screw over anyone bringing a flamethrower (lol). Soon the party gets to the village of Turtleback Ferry and get some random rumors about ogres and sunken ships they can do nothing about since their ride has already left. So, they decide to start the trek to the Black Arrow base of Fort Rannick on foot (the horses couldn't go on the ferry) and en route come across a big cat stuck in a trap about to become ogre and ogre dog food. The team defends the kitty and slays all the attackers to discover this wasn't an ogre but an ogre-kin (half-human half-ogre) hillbilly.

The freed cat then leads the team to the hillbilly's ramshackle home for some reason and the party just gets to work tearing up all the scum present starting with their home where traps and a surprise attack in the basement causes the most damage, followed by the barn where the fat necromancer matriarch fled to (via dimension door) after being defeated in the house. All foes including the zombie swarm and their pet giant ogre spider are easily handled with Valeros' cleave and flamer (indoors is fine? lol), Merisiel's new backstabby sword, Ezren's +50% spell attribute metamagic fireballs, and Kyra's new slew of holy magics and celestial bear.

Three captives are rescued from the homestead, all Black Arrows and one of whom is the one Shay is looking for - step daddy "Eye Patch" who is the owner of the cat (named "Kibb"). With him are "Baldy" and "Stamp" (not their actual names, Valeros just keeps giving nicknames to people). Stamp is a bit concerning as he has a sihedron tattoo on him, a mark usually left on victims of the previous bad guys (and similar tattoos were spotted on villagers of Turtleback). He claims it was just to get discounts at a now sunken pleasure barge which is good enough for the team but Eye Patch and Baldy also agree to keep an eye on him as their next stop is Fort Rannick, now fallen to real ogres.