I used to play a lot of Magic The Gathering back in secondary school. At one point I was running an undefeatable burn deck, until I got tired and scrapped it. Got rid of my cards years ago, and don't want to get back into it because it would probably end up being a huge moneysink.

I did get one of the games on the 360 though, that's pretty good fun, if somewhat limited.

And Recently I've been playing some Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Because going after bloody great monsters is always good fun.

Gah, goddamn burn decks!

I've got a few different decks on the go; a Green/White buff deck where I've ended up with a 15/15 card, I've got a Black/Green necromancy deck which, tragically, I've played very little with, and my favourite deck, a Black/Red dragon deck built around Haste and Intimidate, which I've nicknamed "Can't Block This" because, as it says, it cannot be blocked. Unless it's a Red/Black deck I'm also playing against, in which case I'm in a lot of trouble.

Heh, it wasn't so much a burn deck as a cardboard-based napalm dispenser

Ouch, they sound nasty. If I were to try and build a deck I'd go for something based off the one I use in the 360 game: A black/blue artifact deck. So damn vicious

Heads up people. Gog.com has Pillars of Eternity on sale for -33% off. That puts the 'regular' Hero version at $30 US. That is probably the best price it is going to be for a while.

Plus if you buy now you get Arena and Daggerfall for free. Granted, they are free already, but the Gog.com versions are easy to install.

They also have the early Elder Scrolls games on sale: Morrowind, Redguard, and Battlespire. Plus they have Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics as well.

What is Pillars of Eternity?

Edit: Never mind, I checked it out on youtube. Now to check out Gog, lol.

33% off at Steam as well as we speak.

And I've taken the plunge, downloading now. Had my eye on this for a while.

Edit:

5.8 gb download. On my internet connection... Going to bed, if I'm lucky it might be done by morning

You have 56K or what?

Back to Borderlands: The Pre Sequel, after finding myself rushing FONV too much instead of enjoying it- and trying The Witcher 2 and despairing of mastering the controls... (look- I am OLD, and learning a whole new control system is HARD).

All that said, NV is still in the rotation, and I will likely return to the Witcher also, maybe when I can play more than Friday nights and weekends...

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the Pre Sequel more now that I have some distance from BL2... I am not constantly finding fault with the things that are "different", and am instead simply enjoying the Gearbox humor and the gameplay (and of course, the guns).

Playing the Athena (Gladiator and Interplanetary Assassin) character for the first run-through. She has a really nice Aspis.

It's even "kinetic"!

I'm back on Bloodborne. I've been playing as a heavy-hitting high Strength/Vitality/Endurance build, and compared to the Vileblood build of my first playthrough (Skill/Bloodtinge with Evelyn and Reitterpallasch) I'm generally having a much easier time of things. My mainstay weapon right now is the Stake Driver, which is an absolute beast, plus Ludwig's Holy Blade on backup for when I need a weapon with some reach or if crowd control duties are in order. Combined with the fact that I'm ludicrously over-levelled for this point in the game and I've been able to power through most of the bosses I've encountered so far (I've just defeated Rom, and have done all the side segments so far including Amygdala and Darkbeast Paarl [Paaaaaarl!]) on the first or second try.

Plus this playthrough I'm actually giving the Chalice Dungeons a try, which I'm finding pretty fun, if a little repetitive at this point.

Spent last night playing through Dragon Age: Inquisition's most recent DLC - 'Trespasser'.

It's the last piece of DLC for the game, and is set 2 years after the initial campaign. The idea is that the Inquisition was created and built up to face a threat which no longer exists, so world powers now fear it. One country wants it disbanded, another wants it leashed under their control, and your Inquisitor has to deal with that while another war might be breaking out...oh and the mark on the Inquisitor's hand is slowly killing them.

It's good to see some of the decisions you make in the main game having an effect, and you get to catch up with your companions to see what they've been up to. The DLC is chock full of Elven lore and DA goodness, and helps to tie everything up nicely while setting the scene for future games.

Took me about 5ish hours to complete, and cost £11.99, which I thought was a pretty decent price.




Now I'm going to wait for the Destiny update to download, and then for The Taken King to arrive. Looking forward to this.

I find myself in a situation unlike any experienced in the past twenty-six years. Mid 2014 a chronic lung condition worsened. From then until just a few months ago I seldom felt up to gaming or much of anything else. I'm markedly better now (knock on wood), but for whatever reason haven't recovered my interesting in games beyond a lengthy unheralded Minecraft building spree that ended early Aug. If and when I do get back in to gaming, I'm sure to continue my 2k+ hour Oblivion play-through, and of course Daggerfall and Minecraft. I bought PC ES Anthology just as my lung condition worsened, so hope to start new heavily modded sessions of Morrowind and Skyrim at some point. Likewise with Wizardry 7, a long-ago favorite repurchased at GoG just as I was getting sick.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Lots of fun. Even though I've only played a tiny bit of the older MGS games, I couldn't resist getting the new one after hearing lots of good things about it.

The open world aspect is really nicely done, and it allows you to approach missions however you like. Then there's the base building part of the game which has you upgrading Mother Base by recruiting new people and researching various bits and bobs to help you in the field. It all fits together really nicely and feels like you're really part of a spec ops style outfit.

The story is a bit confusing if you haven't played the others, but the game does help fill in the gaps. The missions are all interesting enough in their own right anyway, and there are endless side quests to occupy yourself with too.

There's also a cute dog.

Cute dog? Pictures!

Or it didn't happen...

Ask, and ye shall recieve. Apparently when he's all grown up you can take him on missions. For now though he just bounces around the military base and barks at everything.

It is adorable!!!

Aww! I want!

Here he is again, all grown up. Turns out he's a fantastic buddy to take on missions. Using his keen senses to spot people, plants, animals etc.
The only other buddy I have available is a horse, who just doesn't have the same combat and stealth benefits. The dog can also be equipped with a knife, so there's that too.

This game sounds (and looks) Awesome!

And I see they both have an eyepatch!

Currently playing Ninja Gaiden 3 on NES. Apparently a pretty rare and expensive game, I have had it since childhood.

Earlier this week I at last broke my months-long gaming hiatus in a relatively minor way, returning to the Autocracy to resume work on a longterm Hill Fort upgrade project. My avatar also braved the wilds to tame and return with a horse, though there is as yet no equine housing facility within the fortress.

Here's the fortress as it currently stands, seen on-high from the east. The Lower Terrance remains very much a work-in-process, with sections un- and under developed. The eastern (near) end of the Upper Plateau is better established though it too continues to see tweaks of various sorts. The Plateau's western end, unseen in my link, remains in primitive condition.

BTW, I have for some time seen an obvious plausible link between Minecraftia (the land in which 'the Autocracy of Decrepia' resides) and Nirn. In Nirn during the 'Crisis', portals transported adventures to a hell dimension filled with unearthly, savage beasts and scattered fortresses. In Minecraftia, portals transport adventures to a hell dimension filled with unearthly, savage beasts and scattered fortresses. There is, in my opinion, a visual commonality between portals and hell dimensions of both realms.

Is that Minecraft? I see kids playing their MC games on our demo iMacs (the 27" 5k Retina display ones are the most popular for these kids) in the store almost daily, especially during the summer months. Some of the stuff they've created is mind-boggling to me!

That reminds me, I still need to download Minecraft onto my Xbox One.


Anyway, I'm still playing MGS:V. 76 hours in and it says I'm at 56% completion though I've only got 1 or two more main quests to go. Every time you think you've done everything, a new mission pops up, or a new bit of tech becomes available that you just can't resist playing with.

The main questline itself has been pretty good, and deals with loads of stuff like the ethics of nuclear weapons, deadly parasite infections, and child soldiers. Then you get a random switch in the mood with bits like a cameo from Hideo Kojima, or the stoic Kaz Miller trying to create the perfect hamburger.



Oh, I've also been playing Destiny, now that The Taken King is out. It adds a decent bit of content, but not enough to justify the £40 price tag. Still, it's fun. That's what matters.

Yeppers, Minecraft. I find it a perfect complement to the Elder Scrolls series, sharing a number of similarities but calling on different forms of creativity. I'm almost always in the mood to play one or the other, health permitting. At the moment its Minecraft I favor. Yeah, I've seen some amazingly elaborate Minecraftian builds. Me, I'm more into the basic survival aspect. I do consider myself a decent survival builder, but its not always the primary focus of my play-through.

One thing PC Minecraft and TES have in common is a thriving modding community. Unlike with the Elder Scrolls series, in Minecraft I'm something of a purist, preferring vanilla survival mode except for the addition of high-res textures, and within the past several days have auditioned a few popular shader packs.

Here's an image of my fortress Lower Terrace east-side entrance ramp as it was less than a week ago. At that time it stood unchanged since my avatar established the fort's perimeter walls early 2012. This passage was the Hill Fort's weakest point, allowing spiders unhindered access. Seen are what passes as high-res textures but no shaders.

Here is that same entrance passage as renovated several days ago, now far more secure. Also seen is a newly erected two-stall stables. The tall structure at screen left is the fortress keep atop the Upper Plateau. Same textures with Sildur's Vibrant Shaders.

Here's the east-side gateway protecting an ascending ramp to the Upper Plateau, with new stables screen left. This shot utilizes SEUS shaders v10.2 preview 1. I think it looks more natural than Sildur, but there are trade offs.

Here's the open-air Shrine to the Goddess atop the fortress annex, established several months ago. SEUS shaders v10.1 Official Release. Note the glitchy clouds, corrected with v10.2 preview 1.

Lastly, a direct link between Minecraftia and Nirn. On a second-floor hallway wall in the Inn at Autarch Neglect Village hangs an image of the Mythical Champion, a legendary figure said to have entered the realm during the far distant past via portal. He and a companion are honored by the current Autarch . . . may he live long and prosper . . . who traces his ancestry back to the Champion. Scholars dispute any such connection as well as the validity of the otherworldly paladin himself.

Knight of the Nine, huh? I played that questline a few times, but it never made its way into my fan fics.

I liked how you integrated a bit of Nirn's Oblivion into Minecraftia!

Hmm, the courtyard in the first few pics is quite stunning. Almost like a Zen or Moorish garden. Yummy!

These screens are amazing! It looks like an ultra concept town based on Legos or something!

Like Legoland!

Link or it didn't happen! I tried to look it up and found only Lego theme parks, lol.

That is what Legoland is - a Lego theme park! I think the first one was created in Denmark, and then after that was successful other sprouted up all over.

OMG, I'll have to go look again, lol. I thought I must be looking at the wrong thing and closed the pages out without any real inspection,






Okay, well there is one 15.00 entrance fee I can save myself from spending, lol. I think that is probably for parents of really young children. I liked Walt Disney World okay, and LOVED Universal Studios, though!

Wandered back to Borderlands 2 for a bit, felt the need to go shoot some pixels. Blasting my way through one of the dlcs; Captain Scarlett and her pirate's booty. I'm somewhat overleveled for it, making most of it a complete cakewalk, but it has some amusing characters. And I really like Scarlett for some reason, can't quite put my finger on why...

The dlc also has me wondering who's crazier: Tiny Tina, or Shade?

I've been playing the remastered Xbox One version of one of my all time favourite games- the side scrolling action adventure RPG, Castle Crashers. The original game was released 7 years ago, and my friends and I spent endless hours playing through it, getting all the collectibles, and having a jolly good time. Though 4-player co-op is tons of fun, I'm enjoying it just as much going through it solo these days.

You play as a knight who is sent on a world-spanning quest to find some missing princesses, fighting various enemies along the way. There are lots (and I do mean lots) of playable characters, weapons, and animal companions to find and collect. The art style and comedy is the same as other classic Behemoth games (Alien Hominid, Battleblock Theatre) and the combat is pretty fun and simple. Each character has unique magic abilities too and these become more powerful as you level up.

I'd recommend picking this one up if you just want something fun to play. You can get it on all platforms, I believe.


I've also been playing the Rainbow Six Siege closed beta. It's...ok. Gameplay is standard first person shooter, graphics are average (but nothing compared to other games I've played recently like The Witcher 3 or Destiny). I'd like to play more but actually getting, and staying, connected to the game servers is proving a difficult task even though there have been multiple betas already. You'd think it'd be something they'd fix, right?

Woo Hoo, let's go save Princess Peach again!

Mount and Blade: Warband with the 1257 Anno Domini mod. In the middle of a Genoa lord playthrough, just winding down to a truce with the Pisans when the Milanese attack. Bastards. The Veronese also have cause for war, but they've not taken it up yet. Also, in a bizarre turn of events, Venice declared war on the Byzantines and the Scots declared war on a faction in Hungary.

Also the Pope doesn't like me.

Who could possibly not like you !!!!!


*mALX turns green and grows to giant proportions, rips shirt off*


"FRAAAANCIIIISSSS! Leave RoHi alone!"

No...Pope Alexander IV. I have a Muslim trader and a Pagan navigator in my army, and he's not too keen on it.

Actually Venice vs. The Byzantines is not a stretch. Venice established naval bases all throughout the eastern Mediterranean. It was part of their monopoly on sea trade from the Middle East to Italy, and thence to the rest of Europe. Up until they came along everything had gone through Constantinople instead. So Venice and the Byzantines were in direct competition for centuries. The Venetians even diverted the 4th Crusade to Constantinople, which eventually resulted in the Crusaders sacking it. The famous four bronze horses at St. Mark's Basilica were part of the loot.

Yeah, their teritories are basically adjacent in-game, but I found the notification "Reppublia di Venicia has declared war on Imperium Romanae" to be hilarious, especially as the only Venetian territory I see in my campaigning is the city proper; the rest is in Greece and Croatia.

I've been playing Valiant Hearts: The Great War. It was released just over a year ago, and I played through it on the 360 back then, but it's free on the Xbox One at the moment.

If you haven't heard of it, it's an adventure/puzzle game set during World War One. You play as various characters over the course of the game, who each have various reasons for being a part of the war effort and each come into contact with one another at some point over the 4 year timeline between 1914 and 1918.

The art style is gorgeous, as is the soundtrack, and reflects the way the game can shift between heartwarming moments, to times of absolute tragedy. There's no fighting or anything, you don't run around shooting stuff, and instead the game focuses on telling the story of ordinary people during the war. There are also collectible items and historical facts throughout the game, which help paint the picture of wartime life.

There's also a cute dog, so...

Every time I watch the trailer, I cry. Seriously. I literally and actually crie everytiem.

When the dog lies down on the mound of dirt and the picture wafts down to him?

No, it's the phrase "bravest of warriors" that kills me.

SHE JUST WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE WHY FIRST WORLD WAE WHY?!?!?!

The dog gets me.

Valiant Hearts is also available on the iPad, and that's the version I have. Beautiful storyline, and I loved it, even though I haven't yet played all the way through. But I really loved how this game captures the human, emotional side of a very shocking, gory, grisly war (for its time).

As I'm beginning to get into WWI military history, I find it fascinating that this war defined not just warfare to come (farewell, war horses, hello tanks, and so forth) but also society. It was such a devastating war that it resulted in social upheaval back home. Soldiers and women (those who were caught up in it and those who volunteered) returned home and questioned traditional roles and mores. The repercussions of that war echo even to this day, nearly 100 years later.

Real-life issues have cut into my gaming time. What little I do continues to occur in Minecraftia. My only recent building projects, insignificant though they are, are the conversion of an old-style wood fence secondary chicken pen into a rabbit pen that fits in with other livestock pen renovations. Atop the small rise behind the pen an oven bank facility was erected, housing ovens connected to chests via hoppers so that I can smelt / cook hundreds upon hundreds of items without the need of constant supervision. Truth of the matter is I don't really need so elaborate an oven setup. The facility also houses a snow-golem farm, which lets me quickly and easily amass large quantities of snow as needed. My fortress being situated in an old-style taiga biome, such a farm was not needed until climate change caused natural snow to cease falling in the immediate vicinity.

Otherwise, my avatar mostly devotes himself to harvesting timber and food crops at various fortress farms and branch mining for cobble and valuable ores.

Here's a capture of Lower Plateau sheep ranch (near left) as it was as recently as early June this year. Here is the ranch as it is now, following total renovation. This is the project that triggered my current Hill Fort upgrade spree. The seemingly overabundant amount of lighting can't be avoided if one plays in survival mode and hopes to prevent hostile mod spawns.

Wow, Minecraft looks neat. Like a good Xmas present for my daughter.

Some people are playing war games, others are playing Minecraft. Me? I picked up Sims 3 again, lol. I always gets an urge to play Sims this time of year for some reason. Get way into it for awhile, then I get totallly bored of it. But it's pretty much the same pattern every year. Must have something to do with school starting up.

My favorite = I like that bank facility! (mALX prepares plastic explosive to rob bank...)

For your daughter, sure.


Don't bother. The oven bank facility has no doors. You can walk right in and take what you want. Right now that would be snowballs. That's about the only thing I've needed to produce. Oh . . . there is a decent amount of coal to fire the ovens, and some misc. construction material. Diamonds, gold, silver and emeralds are stored in the Keep. It does have doors, but they aren't locked or booby-trapped. They aren't even iron, as I might need in hard mode. (I play normal mode.) On hard zombies can break wood doors. Creepers can of course blast either door to smithereens along with whatever else is nearby, but . . . well, it's best to not get ambushed by creepers close to valuable property, unless its surrounded by obsidian. (Two of my underground storage facilities, whose roofs are right below ground level, sport obsidian roofs. Almost nothing phases obsidian, certainly nothing normally encountered on the overworld surface.)