August 2023: The New Blaugs

It's been awhile since I've done a blog status post, so I totally missed announcing that DL managed to get our Guild Hall to level 20 in Neverwinter Online early last month! Also, it's been a minute since I've revisited anything Blaugust but it looks like there's a whole slew of new participants and while I'm not joining those festivities I'll be adding each one to my blog roll as time permits. Just as well since my list was whittled down to 28 over the gap period, so it's time for some new blood. Or new blaugs as it were.

Anyway, it's time for some cool links that I've come across. Mainly "I wish" links. Like, I wish I was this good at archery, or I wish I had Hikaru's precognition(?) of chess, or I wish I had the voice control of Avril Lavigne who can still sing like she's a teenager. Those are all super impressive for me.

If you prefer the funnies you can read through Warframe's red text shenanigans (Red text being the global chat alerts that take place when an update occurs). Or you can watch this amazing clip from an Indian daytime drama. Or relive Neon Genesis: Evangelion, condensed into 10 minutes of live action!

That's it for this post. Have a good day everyone! :)

August 2022: Day 188 of the war

Ukraine has managed to hit targets deep in Crimea, which the USA agrees is part of their territory. This has sent Russian tourists in that region fleeing back home and leaving the resorts empty. You can actually check on this webcam if/when people start coming back. That said, exploding stuff and retaking territory are two different things, but the counter offensive has begun.

Russia has settled into a defensive stance in anticipation of this so the battle lines haven't moved much from last month. Reports state that they are failing to pay some of their troops, but that doesn't stop them from threatening to explode nuclear power plants and deploying Steven Seagal. It might require one of these powerful exo-suits to stop that guy.

While this all might be "same/same" and war fatigue for you, Ukrainian redditor Saberflux gives daily updates from Kharkiv which seems to be on the receiving end of Russian missile strikes almot all the time. Redditor PCX99 also has daily war summaries for those interested.

Most Viewed Posts:
Warframe: Chroma and Xaku
Warframe: Excalibur and Zephyr
Warframe: Nyx and Rhino

August 2021 Review: Lockdown 2 Month 2

Sounds like a level of GTFO!

The lock down continues for me and I'm really missing our regular board game sessions. The Dark Souls: Card game ones I'm posting now are the last we managed to play prior. PC game wise Ghost Recon Wild lands has taken a back seat on the Friday night co-op list for Strange Brigade which is both funny and cool. Basically we start with GTFO then switch game when Archer needs to leave (not everyone can play into the wee hours). Meanwhile my non-Fridays are filled with a random scattershot of games, movies or TV shows which no doubt I'll be posting about shortly. :P

Most Viewed Posts in the last 30 days:

The Banner Saga
GTFO: R5B1 - Smother (Normal)
GTFO: R5A1 - Floodways (Extreme)

The Banner Saga was a really fun thing to play through. You do need all three games though so that you can do the full story. No surprises that the GTFO play through / walk throughs are back to round out the top three.

August 2019 Review

Wilhelm aka the Ancient Gaming Noob has an interesting Blaugust 2019 post about having review posts to better steer and refine his blog. Since I've already been doing a monthly "to do list" post routine I thought this would be a good time to add this data underneath and see how it goes. He does have way more experience at this than me after all! That also means I'll be doing these at the end of the months, rather than the beginning.

    End 2019 with less weight (0 kg from last month, running total: +5 kg)
    Make board game prototype (no progress)
    Complete web comic chapter 1 (worldbuilding planning)
    Clean out wardrobe (done)
    Clean the roof (no progress)

BACKLOG
Baldur's Gate 2 (done)
Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Enderal
Borderlands 2
Icewind Dale
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Neverwinter Online: Uprising (0/2)

Board games:
Zombicide: Black Plague Campaign (10/11)
London Dread Campaign (1/4)
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (0/13)

BLOG STATS

One Year Ago
I started the Masters of Eador story and participated in Blaugust where I gave some hints about myself.

Five Years Ago
I found a random knife in the garden and was watching some very violent and ultra gory movies. I was also upset at Wizardry Online closing and enjoying Mabinogi's G18 and Neverwinter Online's Tyranny of Dragons.

Most Viewed Posts last Month
The Cursed: Another Detour
The Cursed: Iron Shortage
Neverwinter Online: The New Workshop is STUPID

Top 3 Search Terms last Month
two female skyrim adventures go into...
d&d candlekeep part 17
charrus kitchens

Kinda wish I could see what the rest of that first one is... for scientific reasons, naturally. :P

August 2019 Status

Having mostly recovered from being sick, I'm hoping to get a move on these stagnant tasks. Also, the Cursed story is going to start up again soon as well as more Baldur's Gate content is completed, which is what I'm playing at the moment while Borderlands 2 occupies the co-op game night session.

The plan is to then hit the next Neverwinter module: Uprising, then finally getting a start on Witcher 3. Speaking of the Witcher, I'm quite hopeful with that Netflix trailer!

    End 2019 with less weight (+3 kg from last month, running total: +5 kg)
    Make board game prototype (simplified, test board created)
    Complete web comic chapter 1 (world building is annoying!)
    Clean out wardrobe (no progress)
    Clean the roof (no progress)

Backlog Update:

FROM GIFTS (or freebies)
Baldur's Gate 2
Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Enderal
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (done)
Borderlands 2
Celeste (done)
Icewind Dale
Inside (done)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
+Neverwinter Online: Uprising (0/2)

Board games:
Zombicide: Black Plague Campaign (10/11)
London Dread Campaign (1/4)
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (0/13)

As one of the game group is averse to cold (as she's 80+), Zombicide and Waterdeep are on hold. Instead we've been playing Forbidden Sky lately, and can't get enough of the victory "launch" sound.

August 2018 Status: Blaugust Reborn!

Not really a Blaugust related post today but I just wanted to keep this status thing going to see how I'm progressing with my task list. Apparently I'm not. That's what happens when you prioritize gaming over other things! Eek!

Expect more Blaugust stuff for the rest of this month, and given my increasing work schedule it's going to be challenging to clear stuff off this list.

    End the year with less weight (-1 kg from last month, running total: -2.9 kg)
    Draw 12 drawings of anything (7/12 - no progress)
    Make board game prototype (no progress)
    Complete web comic chapter 1 (no progress)
    Clean out wardrobe (no progress)
    Complete NWO: Ravenloft (0/2, only boons to go!)
    Prep Eador Story (done)
    Board game re-review (done)
    Witcher board game redemption trial  
    Update Facebook pictures (no progress)
    +Destroy Black Mold invading the house

Backlog Update:

FROM GIFTS (or freebies)
Sims 3
Hand of Fate 2 (in progress)
Sniper Elite 4 (haven't installed)
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Done)
Hyper Light Drifter (Done)
Battletech (in progress)
Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown (in progress)

COMPY CAN'T RUN (but I want to play)
Batman: Arkham Knight
Dying Light
Alien Isolation
Shadow of War
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Satellite Reign
Assassins Creed Unity
+Astroneer (Alpha)

Neverwinter Online: Curse of Icewind Dale

The new content is big, beautiful, and awesomely dangerous.

Indeed, prior to Module 3's release last week I maybe only died a couple of dozen times through the whole game (only a few epic dungeons included). I've since died just as many times out in the new zones thanks to the common veteran and elite level Black Ice corrupted beasties and "Heroic Encounters" (which work a lot like GW2 open world events) that can really put you in your place if you drop the ball (or are silly enough to try solo something that suggests 4+ players). A number of people have been complaining about the required 10k+ Gearscore and three boons from one of the previous campaigns which serve as a barrier to entry - well my main is on 11K+ GS and has all the boons and I'm still getting thrown around like a ragdoll sometimes.

The other thing some are complaining about is the 20 silver fee for injury kits when they die in to the not-so-open PvP present there. Basically there are large red zones on the map and stepping one foot into them flags you as a PvP participant. Stepping out doesn't turn it off - you have to reach distant campfires (or die) to do that. The black ice nodes present in the said PvP zones act as a lure for many who then often find either vastly being outnumbered or vastly curb stomping the opposite team. I have to laugh at that since the 20 silver is a pittance - I wonder how these folk would fare in games you could lose all your gear (UO) or potentially get perma killed (WO). Doesn't bother me though as the PvP areas are easy to avoid and the PvE quests never take you into them. There is a PvP quest line and campaign too, but obviously I don't bother picking it up.

He can get you some artifacts, if you have two IWD-ready characters.

The PvE campaign which sees you gaining influence and investing in Caer-Konig's businesses comes with a 35+ day grind (of completing 1 HE and collecting 300 Black ICe) which puts it in the middle I think in terms of length between the pretty speedy Dread Ring arc (especially if you only do the daily lair quest) and the grindingly slow Sharandar one (where at points you'll need to do up to 10 quests a day). The black ice you harvest can also be turned into a new tier of equipment - potentially the strongest for addicts. Why? Because the base black ice gear won't beat the already available highest tiered stuff. You have to keep plugging in more black ice to power up your suit and weapons for it to surpass them, and I mean indefinitely. That "charge" drains constantly but I suppose won't be a problem for those who can forever keep powered up.

Anywho I am certainly enjoying the exciting times in Icewind Dale - why don't you come and join me? If you start now, you'll probably be fully geared up for the next module, Tyranny of Dragons, planned for release in August. ;)