Yay for BG:EE. I had a lot of fun with it. I loved Baeloth! You can get him as a companion in the regular campaign. If you did the Black Pits first that is probably why you had such a rough time of it. I think it was intended for characters who had gone through most of the game before starting it. The early levels of the Pits are easy. But the later ones are brutal. Especially that Beholder who has an instant kill attack.

Wow, it'd be good to meet him again, and this time as a party member? I must prepare for his alliteration some more then! Whoever voiced his character certainly did a good job; so affably evil that you can't help but laugh with him, even if the object of scorn was you. Heh, I even liked the way he had those villainous breakdowns when you conquered a Tier. For me personally, I had a hard time fighting those guys from Thay. Utterly ridiculous spells; one cast a Color Spray and BAM! Four of my party members immediately went down, unconscious and easy prey for more sorcery. Had to fight them at least five times before I finally got them.

This game is real fun, indeed.

One thing I don't like about the BG games are the magic. You have to strategically use spells to break your enemies spell defenses to beat them. Something I never mastered. But if you do some digging on the various BG forums you will see there are spell combos you have to cast in order to bring defeat enemy mages - because they are so ridiculously overpowered.

Baeloth is the secret 4th companion in the Enhanced Edition. You meet him in Larswood, but you have to be at least 5th level before he appears. He is an awesome magician to have in the party. He's still full of fun things to say too. In combat he'll say things like "Oh, I'm going to work out a lot of anger on you!"

Level 5, eh? Hohohoho, no rush for me then. I can barely kill skeletons as it is (which is sad, because they were my favorite grind victims in the Pits) lol. Yeah, I also noticed that you have to be more strategically more mindful when it comes to combating spell casters. Or combat in general, when playing this game. I tend to pause a lot mid-combat, gather my deteriorating sanity, and try my best to be a general.

But everything falls apart when That One Enemy casts Fear (or whatever that spell is named, the one where a screaming face appears from the ground), everyone scatters like headless chickens in the map (thereby attracting MORE enemies) and you can only just sit there, smiling and nodding contently at how this game abuses you.

XD

XP

X(

Pillars of Eternity is much gentler in that regard. It has all the party-based, isometric goodness of the BG games, but without the insanely powerful enemy spellcasters.

Minecraft:
Spent the past some days capturing new screenshots for my Autocracy of Decrepia official Minecraft Forums thread devoted to visually documenting building projects of note within the realm. What I mainly did was replace images which showed the Keep sans its upper floors and roofing, though a few other images were updated as well. (What I ought to do is a total revamp of the thread's Autarch Neglect Village section, which is woefully out of date. Not that that's likely gonna happen any time soon.) Also uploaded a downloadable save of the Autocracy, current as of the very end of Aug 2016. Oh yeah, the Autarch did a bit more resource gathering within the fortress.

Daggerfall:
Observed my avatar both last night and, unexpectedly, for a lengthy session first thing this morning due to waking super early with too many aches and pains to get back to sleep. Those adventures will likely be covered in detail in the appropriate sub-forum.

ARK: Survival Evolved:
I intended to devote yesterday morning to ARK. Alas, the game has had a huge update since I last played. Download time was estimated at over a day. Didn't wanna tie up the internet that long, so moved on to other things. (I meant to let the update partly download overnight, but me being me totally forgot about it. Maybe I'll remember tonight????)

If you are on Xbox the Ark update improves he resolution and slightly helps the framerate. The issue with it deleting games has been corrected.

I've been playing the beta for Battlefield 1. Having a blast, but there are a worrying amount of bugs/glitches for a game that is going to be released soon. Lots of it is just simple stuff like bullets not hitting people when they should, cover not giving you protection, doors and windows not opening when you activate them. I spawned in a match earlier without a weapon, which was hilarious for all of 30 seconds when I discovered that the enemies were fully equipped.

Feels like the older Battlefield games (Bad Company etc.) with a huge, open map and a variety of vehicles from tanks and horses to planes and trains. The weather effects like sandstorms and fog are also really cool, and can dramatically change the flow of battle.

The classic Battlefield classes of assault, support, medic, scout work quite well, but feel a little unbalanced at times. The support is really powerful, and the assault have good anti-tank gear, but the medics and snipers don't have many cool gadgets.

The sniper gadgets are flares, a periscope, and armour piercing bullets (that do very little damage). I used to love playing as a sniper and calling in artillery, so compared to that this one feels really weak. The ability to put down a mine or tripwire would really give snipers more of an edge. They also need to fix the bullet drop, because it only seems to exist 50% of the time.

The medics have the same gear as always - health packs and a revival item. Unfortunately the revival item is really glitchy and only works about half the time. The medic has a rifle which does average damage at mid range, but if you actually want to do any medic-ing then you're in for a hard time.


Now I'm even more undecided about buying the game when it's released. Lots of promising stuff and a really solid foundation for a good game.

I took a hiatus from TES games for several months and went to Canada. Specifically, Great Bear Island in the Vancouver region. It's not a real island, as in you can find it on a map, but it is the location of a game I've been playing in alpha stage. At this time it's only Sandbox, but oh, my god, it is the best sandbox ever!

Survival. Canada. Winter.

Add to that no electricity. That means no cell phones, no Internet, no space heaters, and worst of all, no coffee makers. Cars don't run because the batteries have been fried.

And you are the only one left alive, apparently on the entire island. There are five zones, or maps, that have different characteristics and different challenges.

Your biggest enemies are, in no particular order, hypothermia, hunger/thirst, and wolves. Yes. Wolves. Hungry, vicious, numerous wolves that will as soon eat you as look at you. Much like the wolves in Oblivion and Skyrim. Except there is a vague reason for this, just as there is a vague reason for the desolation one finds everywhere.

A first time player starts in Mystery Lake, with nothing but the clothes on his/her back (you can play as male or female), a few matches, a couple of candy bars, and one's innate cunning. The first day is really, really hard. Once you unlock other maps, you can start a new character elsewhere.

Mystery Lake is great for beginners - rich in resources, with relatively low predator pressure. It's like a national park/nature resort kind of place. Coastal Highway is more of a lakeside place full of a mix of vacation homes and year-round houses. The gas station there has everything you need, but the neighborhood is reminiscent of Saturday night in Detroit. From here you can go on to Desolation Point, where there is an abandoned whaling facility, a rather picturesque lighthouse, and a unique destination that adds a whole new dimension to your crafting skills. In the other direction is Pleasant Valley, the largest map by far, anchored by a sizable farm in the center and a farmhouse that looks as if it should be quite cozy. However, given the circumstances of the game, it is really quite desolate, like the abandoned family farms that are not uncommon around here. The trail to Timberwolf Mountain, the most challenging map of all, is hard to find. And TWM (as we call it on the community forums) is the most challenging map of all. If you want to go all bush, this is the place to do it. Yet there is a treasure trove of survival items in the presence of a cargo plane crash. But you have to climb to the top of a challenging mountain to get to it. And there are bears and wolves and steep cliffs between the plane and you. And it's easy to die of hypothermia if you are not prepared for it (i.e. fully crafted fur gear head to toe and a heavy bear bedroll to boot).

You can't customize the character, you can't see yourself, as the game is entirely first person. I really rather like it, because it forces me inside the PC's head, and I don't worry about my appearance or looks.

There is a heavy emphasis on foraging, harvesting and crafting to survive. Think the Skyrim mods Hunterborn and Frostfall, only set in Canada. Everything takes time, so it forces you to play at a less frenetic pace.

The graphics are low detail, but beautiful. The emphasis is on atmosphere and light, and it is amazing to live in this world. I think the best way to describe the art design is Jerry Schurr meets tissue paper collage.

The development team (Hinterland Studios) is small, but extremely experienced and professional. Several of them have previously worked on AAA titles, including (gasp!) Morrowind, so the depth of development is there. What's amazing is that the purpose of the alpha is to elicit community feedback in the game mechanics and UI, and it's incredible to see how that has impacted the development of the game. The community forum is much like here, warm, welcoming and active considering the small size of its membership.

Story Mode has not yet been released, but I don't care. It's in my game rotation for when I want some peace and quiet. No dialogue but your own internal monologue, no zombies, and at this point, no purpose beyond survival. Though I suspect Story Mode is going to be a whole ' nother game.

If you want to see yourself as you play, don't get this game. If you want to run around fighting everything, don't get this game. If you want to knock down quest after quest, don't get this game. If you want swords, or axes, or magic spells, or fast travel, don't get this game. But if you are looking for something slow-paced, something that emphasizes strategy and tactics over speed and brawn, if you are looking for something that is realistic in terms of survival, crafting, and so on, if you are looking for something that is meditative (when you're not hiding from wolves and bears), this is the game for you.

It's available on Steam and GOG. It's called The Long Dark.

Wow, I gotta say that sounds like a very interesting game, h-e-r. Glad you found something new that was this interesting

I played The Long Dark on Xbox Preview a few months ago. Had a lot of fun with it, and it provided a good challenge without the need for combat or anything except pure survival. Only got a short time in the game, but it's on my 'to play' list when it eventually gets released.

What I'm NOT playing at the moment, though I'd like to, is ARK. It's that darn huge update download. Not gonna tie up my internet for it during normal computer usage hours. What I want to do is let it download over several nights while I'm abed and the computer is normally off, certainly not in use. Problem is I'm not an evening person. Not long after supper, which I suspect I eat appreciably earlier than many, I tend to get super groggy. So groggy I never remember to start the download before hitting the sack. Far as I know there is no way to stop ARK from automatically beginning to download when I launch its desktop play icon. (PC Minecraft, on the other hand, handles updates pretty much ideally. It even lets us easily download and play older versions of the game all the way back to alpha, maybe pre alpha. I, for instance, have not yet made the jump from MCv1.9x to 1.10x and am in no way badgered to do so.)

Speaking of Minecraft, the Autarch was recently horrified to find a spider atop the Annex Goddess Shrine. The Annex, as with the entire fortress, SHOULD be free of mob spawns and infiltration. He double-checked lighting throughout the Annex and found nothing amiss, more or less ruling out a spawn. Nor could he find a spot along it protective walls that would allow spiders to reach the top from below. After much scrutinizing we noticed one minuscule wall section where a slight chance spider ascension might be possible. Maybe. With misgivings the Autarch adjusted that section to remove any possible threat there. We have our doubts that that wall section was the culprit, but with nothing better to go on we'll live with the "fix" for now and hope for the best.

As to the Iliac Bay Kingdoms, my avatar nears completion of one the Emperor's two assignments. Leastwise we think so. More will be revealed in the appropriate sub-forum once his current task runs its course.

Doh! I was sleeping at the switch, a common occurrence, and posted this Daggerfall entry in the wrong sub-form. Ignore the below unless you're rather not bother checking out that other sub-forum.

ADDENDUM: Now Thursday morning, I'll keep this post somewhat legit by stating that I once again forgot to have the big ARK update partly download overnight.

In the Iliac Bay Kingdoms the vengeful spirit of King Lysandus is now at rest. In the process my avatar gained brownie points with Wayrest's ruling family. Mission accomplished he returned to Daggerfall City posthaste. Almost immediately on arrival he received notification that his initial Imperial contact in this entire affair wished to see him...in an obscure Wayrest village. Off he went again. The Lady was met in the village's one inn. He was given a new assignment on behalf of the Empire. He once again returned to Daggerfall City, and hopes to get in a round or two of mundane organizational quests before tackling this new major assignment.

Of no consequence whatsoever is that his recent meeting occurred on game save 0600. I have of course saved the game a zillion more times than that. Most assignments are given a number and brief description at their start, which is overwritten (under the same number) until completion/turn-in. Some important and/or overly lengthy assignments get several numbers/save-slots.

Oddly or not, reference to both King Lysandus ghost and "the letter" disappeared from my avatar's log once Lysandus' spirit was appeased. I do not recall him having seen the letter quest-line to its conclusion, though I suppose it's possible he did so at some forgotten date long past.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Sep 8 2016, 11:52 AM

I've been playing the closed alpha of For Honor today - lots of fun!

The combat system is a bit tricky to pick up at first with the guard stances and whatnot, but it makes combat really exciting and you have to be paying attention to the way your opponent is moving and standing. Fighting against a fast moving Viking Berserker or Samurai Orochi really keeps you on your toes, and slogging it out against a Knight Conqueror or Viking Raider is very intense.

Each of the different classes (there are 6 in the alpha) has their own unique style, visually as well as combat-wise. I've been playing as the Warden - knight with sword. You can customise your character, their weapons and armour, unlock new abilities etc. There's a lot more to it than I thought there'd be.

Busy working through the Bioshock Collection. Finished the first game yesterday and now on the second (which is my personal favourite.)

As remasters go, it's pretty good. Both games are noticeably better looking, without losing the original style and charm.

GAAAAAH!!!! Loving the part you crossed out,

I'm playing:
Star Wars Battlefront on PS4.
Star Trek Online on PS4.
Overwatch on PS4.

These past several RL days the Autarch removed all trees within his Lower Terrace Wool Ranch and regrew them in ever so slightly shifted positions in a forlorn hope of alleviating too frequent mysterious sheep disappearances. Alas. He visited the pens this afternoon to find one of his three black sheep missing. (It was easily replaced by breeding the two remaining black sheep.)

Here's a very recent (as of this posting) replacement overview of the fortress seen from the east:

Little has changed visibly since I posted this image's predecessor. There are minor tweaks to the Keep roof, a subtle tweak to the Keep sixth floor exterior to correct a lighting glitch, the addition of a small wheat field on the Lower Terrace dedicated to the horse & mule stables and, almost impossible to see behind the wheat field, a music station. Beetroot Hill and the Vine Farm were added between the two shots, as were minor alterations to fencing protecting the south-side Lower Terrace entrance ramp, but those can't be seen.


Now we go into the past. Here a very similar view of the fortress captured late May 2012, showing progress three months in:

Fortress protective outer walls have been defined and mostly sheathed in cobble and brick. Keep, open-air farm shed and Enchanters Tower exist in their crude first incarnations. The Upper Plateau underground food storage facility might or might not be in place. Crop fields and livestock pens are evident atop the Plateau, in positions they still occupy. The Lower Terrace is an unutilized buffer zone, and not overly effective in that role as I did not yet fully understand the principles behind light placement to prevent mob spawns. (The Upper Plateau suffered in this regard to a lesser extent.) I did not bother to show Lower Terrace north-side, where the Wool Ranch now resides, it being very poorly defined at the time.


Here's a similar view of the area that would become our fortress as it appeared day-one:

It's fairly easy to get one's bearing by comparing trees between this view and the late May 2012 capture. It becomes harder with the modern view as many day-one trees no longer exist, including some that remained in place as recently as mid 2015.

On a different note, I devoted several hours per days these past two days to downloading ARK updates but have many hours of downloading yet to go.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Oct 2 2016, 05:41 PM

Well poot. Devoted time yesterday, including overnight while I slept, to downloading ARK updates. Woke this morning to see that, ideally, I still have some five-and-a-half hours to go. Un-ideally . . . well, let's not dwell on that.

Oh wait . . . it now says I've "only" two-and-a-half hours to go. Better. Gonna need to stop the download in a few minutes in any case as I wanna watch YouTube videos while doing my morning TMJ exercises.

Minecraft wise, the Autarch went on a lengthy branch-mining expedition. Results were surprisingly slim. He found only six diamond blocks and not much iron and gold. Not even a lot of coal, though he did okay in that regard.

Not doing any TES at the moment. Several important things on my mind that don't allow me to concentrate on game-play enough to do those titles justice.

ADDENDUM: Spent a LOT of time today DL'ing ARK updates. No closer to the end than I was when I started, thanks to a new update that hit today. Gave up a few minutes ago... don't wanna tie up the internet any longer...suffering from YouTube withdrawal.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Oct 1 2016, 09:41 PM

Decrepit - I can't see any sheep in the above screens; black, white, or otherwise! All your sheep are missing now? And ... if you can say it on a family site ... how do you breed sheep in Minecraft? And ... what causes them to disappear?


Color me intrigued,