January 2017 Debrief

Hello all! It's been a while. I've been pouring all my writing and web formatting energy into other endeavors (that's me!) but I've also been up to some gaming things so without further ado, here is my very late January debrief:

It's true! I finally finished the main story of Skyrim. I have played 0% of the DLC's, and I still have things I want to do in the main game (thieve's guild, more exploration, etc.) but this is a major accomplishment for me. I didn't think I would ever say it, but I'm pretty burned out on Skyrim at the moment. So I'm not moving it out of the backlog, but it will probably be a while before I revisit it.

Salt and Sanctuary gets my Most Exciting Addition award. It's my first win in Actually Playing Games. Really looking forward to it. (I'm pretending to be writing this a couple of weeks ago. If I wasn't pretending that I wasn't already playing it I'd tell you I've been playing the heck out of this thing and I love it.)

In other news, I'm afraid I finally succumbed to the Humble Monthly subscription and finished the month with a net increase of 5 games to the backlog.

/salute

Abandoned

I was tempted to call Zack Zero beaten because I’ve gone as far as the game will let me. I found the gameplay and art style very enjoyable, but my experience was riddled with bugs: two different crash bugs that I was able to resolve thanks to the Steam community, getting stuck in geometry early on forcing a restart, and doors that are supposed to open but don’t. I was able to bypass the first broken door by exploiting another ‘infinite jump’ bug, but the second stuck door is save-breaking. If the devs ever update or patch the game, I will definitely give it a second try.

Finished!

Finished Maze Lord. It’s a cute and clever little puzzler with 120 levels that are not too difficult to complete. To three-star a level you have to complete it under a certain number of moves, and several of the levels are surprisingly challenging to do so. But there aren’t any achievements tied to three-starring, and there’s no time pressure, so it’s a fairly relaxing, purely cerebral experience. I will leave one of the fifteen achievements unearned because it’s too grindy for my taste, but it’s doable for people who want to 100% the game. I spent 9 hours total, but I’m very slow.

I’m both happy and sad to say this is my first finish since last August when I began my Skyrim journey … which is still not complete.

December Debrief

Most Satisfying Finish

Most Exciting Addition

I still haven't finished Skyrim. I didn't finish any games again in December. I haven't completed a game in over 4 months. To make matters worse, I added 13 games this month. When do they revoke my backlog assassin license?

The Secret World gets December's Most Exciting Addition award. I've dabbled in TSW before. I dislike horror and occult and I get bored with games in modern settings, but the storytelling is so well done it makes up for all of it. The only problem is it's an MMO and so you wind up spending a LOT of time marinating in a world dripping with occulty horrorish stuff and so I will probably actually never play it.

To prove I'm still working on Skyrim, here's my thief-ranger-mage, Finn, just before she became the arch-mage of Winterhold - my last gaming accomplishment of 2016.

P.S. I believe I have abandoned Clicker Heroes...

November Debrief

Most Satisfying Finish

Most Exciting Addition

I'm still obsessing on Skyrim and am no closer to finishing. I think I may need an intervention.

I finished zero games in November, added four from the Humble Day of the Devs Bundle, and was gifted Maze Lord by a friend. Thank you, friend :)

Here are some postcards from Tamriel.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

October Debrief

My Skyrim project is still underway. I haven't been posting but I've actually been playing more rather than less.

Thyreos spent two weeks smithing and today is the day he should head out on the next leg of his adventure. So I'm hoping to get to that ... but I'm a self-confessed alt- and mod-aholic... I've been playing a rogue/archer with a number of new or new-to-me mods.

Immersive Detection & Lighting

Replacement for an essential but buggy mod: Immersive NPC in the Dark

Shadow Toggle

Dynamic shadows for lanterns and candlelight! Finally!

Scoped Bows

Realistic? I dunno, but it's more immersive than a UI crosshair.

True 3D Sound for Headphones

This. is. amazing. The ENB of audio. Especially awesome for a stealthy character with UI indicators removed.

So, I completed zero games again this month. I added two. I won Please, Don't Touch Anything in a public GA, and was gifted Zack Zero by a friend. Thank you, friend :)

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Most Satisfying Finish

Most Exciting Addition

20 October DAY SIXTY-FIVE

Whiterun

Rappelled (walked backward to exploit game physics) down from Sky Haven Temple because I didn’t feel like backtracking back through it. Made it to Whiterun without incident. Bartered my way to a significant upgrade to my home basement.

Pumping Iron has me at a game weight of 30.5 which is still roughly 190 pounds I think. A week of brewing medicines isn’t very muscle-building.

I picked up a new enchanted sword in Sky Haven Temple. I’d love to use it and the other two I’ve picked up along the way but I have two problems: 1) I don’t have an effective way to farm the soul gems to keep them charged along with the moral issue of … farming souls … Who decides this is a good game mechanic? And I’m seeing it in a lot of games these days. In my head when I see the word ‘soul’ in a game I convert it to generic_game_resource_obtained_from_generic_game_mechanic and move on, and 2) I don’t have the skill to temper the weapons which means they are likely to break because of Loot and Degrdation.

What to do, what to do.

And there was evening, and there was morning, day sixty-five.

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19 October DAY SIXTY-FOUR

Sky Haven Temple

The Blades in action are a sight to see. We routed the forsworn at the camp outside Sky Haven Temple, then made our way all the way to the interior. We have info now that leads me back to the Greybeards at the Throat of the World. Will do some more exploring of the temple tomorrow then head for Ivarstead.

And there was evening, and there was morning, day sixty-four.

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18 October DAY SIXTY-THREE

Markarth

Time is short. Updates will be brief.

Rode to Markarth. Killed two blood dragons on the way. Both were frost-breathers. I need to get some fire resistance gear before I face the other sort. Witnessed a murder at Markarth’s front gate. The authorities assure me they have things under control. Rented a room at the Silver-Blood Inn. Tomorrow we’ll meet up with Delphine and Esbern and see if we can locate Sky Haven Temple to learn what the Akaviri knew about slaying Alduin.

And there was evening, and there was morning, day sixty-three.

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13-17 October DAYS FIFTY-EIGHT through SIXTY-TWO

Whiterun

Dragonsreach, Starry Night

I had enough gold from our adventures to upgrade my living room and make Lydia’s room more comfortable. Arcadia had the last disease compendium (Rattles) that I needed, so I studied that and then spent five game days brewing medicines. Living takes time.

I’ll think I’ll take a break now and read a book or something. See you for Day 63 on Wednesday!

And there was evening, and there was morning, and evening, and morning, and evening, and morning, and so on … days fifty-eight through sixty-two.

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