Sunday, 31 January 2021

January 2021 Review: Speeding Up

Belated Happy New Year! Feels like its been awhile since I've done one of these yet I don't have a lot in the way of news. Well, that combat nerf update in Neverwinter Online is live now, and it's surprisingly not too bad and since the New Sharandar module is set to appear next month, I've been grinding the current one like mad since I can already foresee a shortage in Feywild supplies to continue our stronghold progress. 

I've also upgraded my internet which means its more possible for me to get those bigger titles now and there by get distracted from the Feywild farming. :P


That's a decent improvement!

Blog wise I'm also trying to compress down my posts in waiting so that I can get through them faster. You might be seeing more of these multi-targeted things shortly as I'm actually getting tired of having stuff "ready to go in advance". Might mean less posts afterwards but certainly more spontaneity.

On to some future tech, since powered exoskeletons have that problem of "power" - did you know there are unpowered exosuits already in use? Dang. That's news to me! Lastly this little fox named Finnegan (and the saveafox foundation) has really kept me entertained lately. Now you know the answer to "What does the fox say?"

 Lose 1kg this month (fail)
 Web comic (-error: no progress detected-)

BLOG STATS

One Year Ago

I wrote an Ode to some of Neverwinter's forgotten/removed content. That seems to be status quo now as the New Sharandar module next month will completely remove the old one.

Five Years Ago

I was playing Arkania and it's sequel Star Trail. Also our guild hall in Neverwinter was at rank 4... we've come a long way since then!

Most Viewed Posts in the last 30 days

MGSV: The Hammer and the Snake
GTFO: R4A1 - Cytology (Extreme)
MGSV: Fog of Skulls

While I kinda expect the GTFO tutorials to show up here I'm a bit surprised with  the two MGSV ones. Maybe it's because they have epic screenshots? :P

Thursday, 28 January 2021

Mortal Engines

A tale of hungry cities.

In the future, there is no lack of fuel (despite the plot suggesting otherwise) as mobile cities roam the world looking to eat other cities, but none of this hunger can compare to the ambition of the main villain who must be foiled by a girl driven by revenge and a bumbling fool.


It's just so ridiculous.

While the visual effects and action bits are entertaining, the plot has many question marks for me - everything from stupid decisions to some secondary characters being wastes of space. The main problem for me though was I never bought that they needed to eat other cities for resources which I assume is fuel, not food since no one is starving, yet every new scene just negates this fact.

My favorite is when the regular "bandit" types also use giant vehicles to chase prey. An ok "turn your brain off" flick, I give this two and a half cyborgs out of five. Yeah, I'd probably watch it again.

Metal Gear Survive: Solo Scout

[Part of the MGS Diary]

While Reeve and the team continue the Iris energy base digs I explore a little bit more of the map, finding it a lot easier now that I have the scout special ability active camouflage which literally turns you invisible for a time and makes all enemies drop aggro (or randomly attack the direction they are facing).

The cool down on it is pretty quick too, and it proves vital when I take on the deadly beast called Big Mouth. I can literally setup traps and shoot it a few times then run away and hide while the ability regenerates. It takes a little time and a lot of ammo but I am victorious!


Can't aim for the brain? Shoot the nuts instead!

I also try harvesting Iris energy from an abandoned airport - now this is meant to be a co-op map and it sure is difficult but I still manage a victory regardless. Unfortunately back at base camp, Reeve has fucked up on dig #6, and almost the entire camp is destroyed and wiped out.

Since that really means a lot of repetitive grinding to repair, I think I'll just call it a day here since I've had enough of it.

Insight: Co-op missions drop some excellent gear but they will make you work for it. For the airport map, but the large square traps (like flame) at the top of the interior staircases, as far over the edge as it allows (you'll get maybe 15-20% of it in midair). This really helps slow the horde down.

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

GTFO: R4B1 - Malachite (Normal)

Huge rooms with poisonous fog inhabited by giant sleepers await you here, but the worst part is the lack of gear. With that in mind, here's the loadout that took us to victory: DL (dmr/sniper/mines), Jim (dmr/combat shotty/cfoam), Me (autopistol/machine gun/cfoam). Yep, that second cfoam is imporant!

The first objective is to plug three power cells that came down with you into their respective generators so remember to bring them with you out of that room. There's a  handy terminal near the start too which you can use to ping stuff and Jim has actually advances to writing things down in a notebook per run. Important things to find are the keys and the fog turbine.

Easy tip to getting past the first door: jump and stand ON the lock, then use a hammer to simply break the door. As long as your head is above the gas, you won't get infected. Go through and there should be a ladder to your left to get out of the fog.

Now this whole bit of putting the cells is pure stealth and for practice I could actually do it solo. That means there should be no reason to fight anything at this point (still stealth bop little guys if needed), though you might need to go back and forth a bit depending where the keys spawn. A cakewalk after sneaking past that mother in R4C2. For this walk through we'll pretend you got everything in the first room (which never happens).

From that ladder you will spot a key-locked security door. Once you have the key it will open with no alarm, but the room beyond is dark, always populated, and has those ugly screaming sacs on the walls and ceiling (which can be subdued using your flash light).

Carrying one cell I went in solo and followed the right wall eventually there's a small door to go through then turn right. There's good odds the generator required is in that corner. If there's a giant in the way, remember you can actually flank around and get to the generator from the other side - though it requires a quiet jump. Get out of there and that's one done.

Note: there is a second door from that initial dark chamber which you'll need to visit if the generator isn't in this room. Don't freak out if you goof up. I did on my way out and we had to fight the room, yet we still had enough gear to win the mission. Use the space provided to gun em down. :)

To find the second generator you simply need to explore to the North. It won't be in the fog nor will it be up any stairs. This is the easiest one to find/do. You also need to find the fog repeller and bulkhead key anyway. If you keep going North you will reach a darkish room that opens up to a "courtyard with balconies" sort of deal. The doors to the left hold both the bulkhead controls and a terminal to help ping stuff.

Once you find the bulkhead key, plug it in and choose the normal mission then head North again to find the actual non-alarmed bulkhead door. Things you need to bring here are a cell and the fog turbine. Ideally you've loaded up on fog repellers too as you will need them.

Go slow and follow the right wall, up the stairs and down the other side - you will find a big door to go through so do so and shut it behind you. The last generator is in here somewhere (usually to the right of the door). Find it, plug in the cell and now the fun part. Clear this room of all enemies as quietly as you can! Use repellers as needed if you need the fog turbine carrier to drop it for hammer use instead.

You need this clear as to reach the forward extraction you have to do the class III alarm door in this room! Once done, set mines and cfoam the door. Also put a fog repeller so that door-duty guy (in this case Jim) can focus on icing the door while everyone else does circles. He managed to hold it until all were done and then it was simply a matter of shooting well. I did toss a few more repellers to keep line of sight though.

Do the next zones as normal and avoid the scout if you can. Your last challenge will come from an Alarm IV blood door. If you've shut all the doors on the way in, there is only one the swarm will try enter from - the one nearest the blood door so Jim was on cfoam duty again, calling out when he ran low to swap with me. Some of those circles drop into the fog so again, repellers are handy. Obviously DL mined the door too and again all circles were done before the door broke.

Once done just hold the furthest space opposite the door. None of the scum even made it to us. Use everything left for the blood door and hold the corridor the scum came from next, as there are a pair of hybrid shooters in the mix that will come out. For some reason, there was also a pair of giants still sleeping in the final room that we killed just in case.

Anyway, the forward extraction circle is right here and it's a fast one to complete. Basically if you've made it here, you've already won.

Tuesday, 26 January 2021

Tacoma

A good way to tell a good story.

As a contractor sent into the Tacoma space station, you must explore the seemingly abandoned corridors to find out what exactly happened there. There's decent controls to help you through the very good story, and the use of "recorded" imagery works really well not just in "cheating" for simplified models but fits in the setting so nicely. The voice acting is definitely good enough to cover for it anyway.


Full of simple but effective ideas.

Also, props for an ingenious use for sign language. The only drawback for some is that this is definitely a "story" more than a "game" but for something this good, it shouldn't matter. I wish some of the loading times were faster though. Still highly recommended, I give it four space cats out of five.

Insight: Don't worry about missing stuff. Any plot important codes you need to find, you will find simply be experiencing the story. The only thing explorers get is a bit more world building and background.

Sunday, 24 January 2021

GTFO: R4C2 - Pabulum (Normal)

Finally won another mission in GTFO - this time we're in R4C2: Pabulum, with the almost standard loadout of DMR/Sniper/Mines (DL), DMR/Combat Shotty/Cfoam (Jim), and Autopistol/Machine Gun/Auto turret (me). My particular kit this round is focused on stunning enemies rather than killing as there's a sh*t load of them who will make your circle standing hell.

Immediately after the drop you've got a huge circular chamber with a pit in the middle that has three doors branching from it. The base objective is to retrieve 15 jars of GLP so use the terminal to scan ahead where you need to go / what doors you *must* open, keeping in mind one the doors to Z8 from this circle chamber requires a key.

The blood door holds a nightmarish swarm of hybrids who will give you a run for your money in a shooting contest, but luckily that is one door we didn't need to enter on our succesful run. Instead, we hit the large class IV alarm to Z10 first which is tricky in that the swarm comes from your drop point and the circles also sometimes go there.

Hopefully you get lucky on placement, but half the battle is preparation - mines (at least one at giant height) and the auto turret facing the top of the ladder was our setup. You can also parkour across some tubes and on the railings to buy time while drawing/running from enemies.

Z10 itself is filled with big rooms but only one or two will be packed with enemies. It also branches out into three more zones, and on this run we skipped the North one (class III alarm) because we knew there was enough GLP elsewhere and opened the non-alarmed West door first, to find a pair of scouts! As the designated hammer assassin I managed to bop them both with a lot of patience and good spotting from DL and Jim.

After looting everything its on to the South security door which looks like a regular non alarm scan but is actually a CLASS IV alarm. Mine and cfoam all three doors (we found lots of cfoam grens) and with Jim on door icing duty we managed to complete the scan before even one broke. The turret and my autopistol also helped in holding the wave afterwards.

Beyond the door is basically a sneak mission. You need to get everything and escape without waking up the MOTHER sleeping inside. Stressful but easy peasy for us now. One of the items here is the KEY to Z8 back at the start so that's where we go next - after a large mining type cavern there's a non-alarmed security door leading into tiny dark rooms. Any room that looked bad we just skipped unless we confirmed a GLP was inside. Collecting the last of the 15 we then returned to the extract point and setup defenses. Sure enough, entering the final team scan triggers a wave but just as they came into view we got to 100% scan and GTFO. =)

Metal Gear Survive: Aftermath

[Part of the MGS Diary]

With the Lord of Dust dead, we are now able to mine Iris energy right at base camp. This obviously attracts wanderers but I can finally let Reeve and the team deal with that (especially since the gap between attack waves is in the 12-22 hour mark). Instead I go rescue more people in the horrible jungle where it seems the spider things and mosquito things now also dwell.

On one rescue I also encounter wanderers who are fully armored or flaming, both of whom I simply flee from. Powerful creatures have also been detected in the dust, no longer hiding since the great centipede is gone - I make it a point to avoid those for now as my ammo is scarce.

I do manage to activate the teleporters I previously skipped though - the one in the swamp being much easier now since the trackers and mortars had moved elsewhere. It's there I find a portable oxygen resupply item, which would have been much handier earlier on!

Anyway, I retrieve one last memory board - this one located further past the mansion in the mountains but a walker gear assists to cut down the travel time. Upon making it back, this one unlocks "class" abilities and the four classes of assault, medic, scout and jaeger themselves... definitely an interesting place to find that.

Now its up to Reeve and the squad to harvest that Iris energy and figure out what to do with it while I do what I do best... scavenge and rescue.


Basically you want three times the attack values coming for you.

Insight: In end game base digs you can choose to defend yourself or leave it to your team (and stupidly no in between combination). Leaving it to the team certainly seems easier as it is literally a mathematical battle per directional sector which you can observe on an active digger. Since explosives are plentiful, I've taken to dotting the base with mortars which increase the score of each side by a whopping 900 per emplacement. Hopefully that will be enough for Reeve to keep winning!