This one has been putting some time into that also! Mainly when he isn't near his PC.

My Wiz7 party is making another stab at Old City, with somewhat more success than before.

Earlier, they got wind of treasure in the wilds somewhere off the road to Munkharama. (I saw it in an episode of a Wiz7 YouTube LP I occasionally follow.) I honestly expected them to fail, the chest being guarded by some very tough mobs, plus the chance for more nastiness en route. It was indeed a rough trip, with a number of reloads. To my surprise, the chest guardians, while challenging, were taken down on our first attempt. Very nice loot. An almost full set of quite good armor wearable by fighters, Lords, and Valkyrie, plus a powerful two-handed axe. None of our three melee warriors is working on the axe skill at the moment, but soon as one of them hits 100 in what he's practicing now I'll switch him over. Well, if it's the Lord or Valkyrie. Not sure the I'll bother with the fighter, since my plan is still to eventually switch him over to a profession that can not wield axes. Then again, I might rethink it and switch him to something else. We shall see.

Their stay in Orkogre was cut short. One essential area is guarded by foes that are too much for them at the moment. They backtracked and returned to New City to sell loot, vowing to return.

Looking back, I wish I had taken the time to roll better party members at the start. Most of those I have now are maturing satisfactorily, but I could have had a couple of the more elite professions had I worked at it. Also, several important "auxiliary" skills have been ignored so that no party member performs them well enough to be useful. Mapping comes to mind. Also, my bard still can't open locked chests...not even close. Again it's a matter of level-up point distribution. Ya gets so many points per level-up, ya spend 'em as best ya can and hopes for the best.

I bought Earthbound Beginnings/Mother 1 off of Nintendo's Eshop and so far I'm liking it, I decided to name the main characters after those in Undertale .

Not much to report, Wiz7 wise.

My characters are all busy mastering new (to them) weapon skill. All three melee specialists have already mastered swordsmanship. Two of them mastered Mace & Flail, one Pole & Staff. At the moment the Lord is working on Axe, the Fighter Pole & Staff, the Valkyrie Mace & Flail. As to our casters, they are all working at Pole & Staff, since those weapons can be effective from the back line. It's slow going for them, they of necessity spending most of the their time during combat casting spells. They tend to practice weapons only when mana runs out during battle, or when foes are super easy.

Just when I was really getting back into the game hot and heavy, something happened to put a damper on my enthusiasm. The game sports a neat A.I. feature where NPCs travel the Guardia in competition with my party. This adds welcome uncertainty. Yet, they can and do beat the gang to the punch, getting to essential quest items first, and taking them! If the party doesn't somehow run across those NPCs and somehow learn that they are carrying said quest item, the game's main quest line comes to a screeching halt. This has already happened to my group twice. What's more, one item they lost out on is indeed required to carry on past a certain point. They might never encounter that NPC, or be able to deal with him if they do. It's not a deal breaker for me yet, but as a quest junkie I'd like to complete the main story line, as almost happened did 25 years ago. That said, the game's battle system and character/party advancement system are quite compelling, enough to keep me going for a while yet.

Hmmm.... so much for having little to report.

Couple of good things happened, and potential goodness, in Wiz7.

Good thing 1: My Bard was able to disarm a locked chest, improving her skullduggery skill.

Good thing 2: My Bard was able to pick a locked door, improving her skullduggery skill.

Good thing 3: My Lord was able to successfully practice Diplomacy on D'Rang T'Rang, gaining a few points in that skill.

Potential goodness: Upon making an ally of D'Rang T'Rang, he (it?) told the group a number of rumors about where the missing maps we need might be. Not all of them mind you. But it's a start.

Otherwise, the group has done little more than practice swimming and fight a few insignificant battles. Our Felpurr (cat) Fighter is near leveling. If he gets one point in Dexterity he can become a Samurai. Tempting, but I've got him slotted to be a Monk. He's at least three improves away from that switch. My Faerie Bard in one STR increase from being a Ninja, but due to her small size I'm not sure she can wear or wield any Ninja gear. I'm gonna need to do more research on the matter.

Oh, the chest our Bard disarmed contained a crossbow, bolts, and a scroll. Nothing critical. All were put in storage. (The bow & bolts will come in handle down the road. At the moment no one in the party has any skill in archery.)

Wiz7 wise...

The group met a Dane NPC wandering the streets of New City. He had three maps for sale, each for 10,000 gold. Knowing those maps can be critical the gang pooled their funds and was able to purchase one of them: The Legendary Map. This looks be be a miraculously smart move. Later in the day, while looking for unrelated Wiz7 info, I read an article which states that Legendary is the one map that is absolutely required to advance the main quest past a certain point. All other maps are good to have (and help solve puzzles) but aren't absolutely mandatory.

I suppose I should point out that after buying the map they were flat broke. Only a bit of their former savings have been recouped.

They spent the entirety of my Wiz7 play time yesterday and this morning grinding our Bard's Legerdemain skill. She still has a way to go. Higher levels seem to reduce failure rate. She is not yet able to nab any of a merchant's high end wears. That said, she did filch a few decent pieces.

During our next round of level updates I think I'm gonna go ahead and transform my Fighter into a Samurai. Monk is my preference for him, but he's three skill boosts away from that. Nothing wrong with Samuria. If memory serves, my old 1992 party had one. Maybe. The Bard will become a Ninja, though I might not have her morph immediately after the level-up. We shall see. (She could become a Valkyrie now, but we already have one of those.)

Got back into playing Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, this game is beginning to become my favorite Tom Clancy game, also I'm LOVING my "new" PS4!!! Sure it's the regular PS4 but so far its acting more like the Pro did---gotta love those 1TB systems .

Our one remaining Wiz7 Fighter took the plunge and transformed into a Samurai. which allows him to cast Mage spells and opens up several new (for him) combat related skills. The down side for these switches is that the character drops to level 1 and suffers stat reduction to the minimum required by his or her new profession. In this particular case, as a Samurai he can not longer wear the nice (if still newb level) armor he wore before. This will eventually work itself out, but can lead to risky situations early on. On the plus side, a switched character retains all skills of his old profession, at whatever their level is at the time of the switch. In this case my Samurai retains 100 points (maxed out) in two weapon skill and is at 99 in another. Also, a level one character traveling with a higher level group tends to gain levels back fairly rapidly, to a point.

For now our front row consists of Dwarf Lord (warrior/priest), Rawulf (dog) Valkyrie (warrior/priest), Felpurr (cat) Samurai (warrior/mage). The back row is still a Faerie Bard, Felpurr (?) Alchemist, Elf Mage. I think that at least two back row folks will eventful morph. The Bard almost has to become either a monk or maybe a ninja, since Faeries are too small to bear the weight of armor needed by most combat oriented classes. (In compensation Faeries are so tiny they have naturally "low" armor class due to being harder to hit.)

Which reminds me. This game is old enough to sport the old Armor Class system in which a lower number designates better protection. Even back in the day I did not like this system. Was so glad when it switched to the current general practice of higher numbers = better protection. TES Arena uses the old system, Daggerfall the new.

I finally got my hands on Yooka-Laylee and I'm just--I waited over a year for this. Bless. Although apparently there are only five worlds? Eh. From the opening alone it definitely felt like a Rare game. Already hit with plenty of nostalgia. Now it's time to see how it sets itself apart from B-K. (I mean it's basically B-K 3 without the lawsuit bait, but still)

After an all but gameless four day break to get Win10 installed and partially tamed on my secondary PC, I at last rejoined my Wiz7 party at Munkharama. They are attempting to solve what appears to be a VERY tricky place-coins-in-the correct-receptacles puzzle, not helped by being dropped in a dungeon full of tuff mobs with each wrong guess. To be frank, I suspect this puzzle is nowadays beyond me. I'll very likely end up researching it online for hints (at the least) before all is said and done. I got through it back in '92, long before I joined the web. It might be my mind was more up to the task back then. Or maybe the puzzle was discussed in one of several PC gaming mags I subscribed to back then?

ADDENDUM: I indeed looked up advice on the puzzle. First article I found confused me as much as the puzzle itself. Next one made sense to me. I tried it. It did not work as advertised. Odd thing is, following its instructions I somehow solved the puzzle one placement phase before I was supposed to! Not that I'm complaining mind you.

SHADOWRUN RETURNS AND HER DLC

... At least I will when the weekend lands. This is going to be fun *rubs hands together while making slurping noises for some reason or another*

Her DLC?



Anyway, I'm bouncing back and forth between Skyrim and Monster Hunter Generations, though I'm starting to get something of an itch to put Monster Hunter on hold and go back to playing Fire Emblem Fates again...

Started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic yesterday. The last time I played was years ago, on a laptop with bad internet, but now I have a good PC and a good connection I can really enjoy the game.

Started a Sith Inquisitor character, a Togruta called Tsarakiri. So far she's doing well, remaining more-or-less neutral but starting to lean more towards the light side. I'm really enjoying the Sith side of things - super interesting!

Tsara is currently on the Hutt world of Nar Shaddaa, tracking down relics for her master, Darth Zash. Something something scum and villainy.

So what is the pay structure like on that game now?

Been playing Mincraft on the PS4. It's nice to relax explore, build homes with lava in them as a type of light source.

I'd like to try out the Crafting of Mines, but I want an offline game..

My Minecraft home...is this safe?. Actually a trick I've learn on how to get safe obsidian is to make a bucket and get some lava from either in the lower parts of the mine or overworld if you come across it and place it near a lake and if done correctly instant obsidian and safe to mine----once you get a diamond pickax.

I heard you could make miniguns in Minecraft..



Do I need to say more?

Or you can dig a one deep canal (7 spaces I think) and fill it with lava. Put a dirt block on one end of the canal and then two more vertically behind that one. Stand on top of the two dirt blocks and dump a bucket of water on the dirt block below you. This will cause the water to flow over the lava, poof, obsidian! Obviously this would be better to do near a lava source for convenience.

It's free to play, but being a subscriber gives you a ton of benefits (playable races, extra exp, unlocking some stuff earlier etc.) I bought the Togruta race, and that's as far as I'll go with it. The game is enjoyable enough as a non-subscriber.

I know there's a dispenser in the game I just don't know how to turn that into a minigun, be interesting to see that in game. I know you can make a nuke.




That could work too .

Khajiit just likes the idea of having an obsidian forge!

Just need that elusive diamond to make the diamond pickax to mine the obsidian .

Lol, this one doesn't know where he'd find time for another MMO!


Yep. Man, this one hasn't gotten very far in Minecraft in a very long time. Perhaps it's time to try again.

Ah yes, Minecraft. I've not played it in some time, other than start a new game to ensure things worked correctly after installing Windows 10 on my secondary computer last week. Didn't stay long, only a couple of Minecraft days. These days I tend to launch the game only when a new building project comes to mind. None has in quite a while. Well okay, several such projects that have been on hold for some time. In ever case I know what I want to do, but not how I want to do it.

Wiz7 wise, my party still explores Munkharama Temple. Our Bard and Mage saw level increases. Our Samurai is very close to one.

Still playing Oblivion off and on.

I only got into Minecraft because a group of YouTubers (PBG, ProJared and company) did a series called Minecraft HC (hardcore) and it was a blast to see them play it. Sadly it seems they've stop doing it cause I think their channels exploded in popularity and schedules prevented a lot of them from getting together. It was the only reason that I subscribed to PBG's (Peanut Butter Gamer) channel but since those series ended I unsubbed cause I simply didn't like his channel.

I too got into Minecraft via YouTube, in my case due to watching a number of what are now considered classic MC LPs from the alpha/beta days. I still on rare occasions revisit bits and pieces of those old LPs. For a while I attempted to follow quite a few LPs. They eventually either went away, or I simply lost interest for one reason or another. Nowadays about all I watch is an occasional UHC (Ultra Hardcore) tournament. I do follow one long running building-centric LP every now and again, as much for nostalgia as anything else.

Khajiit got into it because way back when it was released for XBox360 they did a free trial... and Khajiit was very late for work that day, lol

Still playing SWTOR.

Tsarakiri, now a Sith Lord, visited Tatooine and Alderaan. Fighting sand people on the former, and doing politics on the latter. Both activities make liberal use of force lightning.

Now we're working on dealing with a powerful Sith called Darth Thanaton, who (surprise surprise) wants Tsarakiri dead.

A bit of "aggressive negotiations", eh? Lol

Still playing Ghost Recon Wildlands, I even went out of my way to find a BMG.50 sniper rifle and with my ADV Silencer (which allows me to fire a suppressed guns without the damage reduction penalty) I've become the bane of the Cartel . Still it's amazing how much they've packed into this game.

Looks very sweet. I have never played SWTOR but have played KOTOR back in the old days. Seeing your screen pics makes me want to start it up again.



This is another game I have wondered about. Does it have your recommendation? I have not bothered to hunt down reviews yet as I have too many other games to play. Lol.

***

Me, I am playing Resident Evil 7, Oblivion (again) and playing around with Forza 6 and Project Cars.
I should be playing Fallout 4 but I cannot be bothered.

SWTOR update: Tsarakiri is still on the trail of Darth Thananton, should be done with him soon.

All good Sith Lords need apprentices, so that's what we've been working on. Our first apprentice is a Jedi padawan, Ashara Zavros. Even though she's now technically a Sith, Ashara likes to stick to the Jedi code and help people whenever she can, which was pretty much how Tsarakiri did things anyway. Ashara is also a great help in combat - her dual lightsabers are a perfect accompaniment to Tsara's force powers.

Last night we landed on Hoth, which has some of the best wildlife we've seen so far. We helped one of the native species protect their geothermal generators from the Republic, and made a deal with them which should mutually benefit the locals and the Empire.

Meanwhile on Korriban, a group of young Sith are going through the trials. Whichever one survives will become Tsara's second apprentice, so we're looking forward to seeing which one it'll be.

Is the content in SWtOR geared towards group or solo?

Both. The story stuff is easy to solo, but you can group up if you want. Then there's tougher content that's designed for groups and guilds I think (haven't really looked into that stuff.) Some story stuff (class specific quests) and space battles put you into a separate instance so no random players can wander in.

The server I'm playing on has a really low population, so it pretty much feels like a single player game.

Cool!

So far I'm enjoying it, flying Helicopters isn't to bad but trying to fly a plane in this game takes some time to get used to since they control differently. Also you better come up with a good strategy when dealing with the Unidad soldiers, these buttholes will throw everything at you if you allow the petrol level to max out.

I finished Yooka-Laylee a while back and I loved it, in spite of how little worlds it had. That said, I felt like something was missing. Maybe it was the seemingly abrupt ending? Or that it felt out of order compared to other Rare games. (They usually had a fake final boss fight which was either followed by one last challenge or the second half of the game in Jet Force Gemini's case)

idk. Music was great. Loved the platforming. The worlds, as limited as they were, were fun to explore. Great game, 8/10, can't wait for a sequel. Or A Hat in Time's release.

Probably playing Kingdoms of Amalur next.

Well I got the easy part of getting a Switch now comes the hard part----actually getting a Switch.

Heh. Like getting the ammo before getting the gun


Let's hope you'll get your Switch before long

I like to think of it as a good luck charm . GameStop's suppose to get some in on the 5th of next month, hopefully I can get one then.

Finished the Sith Inquisitor story on SWtOR today. Had a great time with it.

Tsarakiri finally defeated Darth Thanaton, after much running around (almost too much, it was dragging on a bit). After Thanaton's death, Tsarakiri took his seat on the Dark Council and was named Darth Imperius, Holder of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge.

Apparently your Darth name is determined by your dark/light alignment, which is a nice touch.


Going to start a light side character next, but I'm not sure which class.

More SWtOR.

Since I couldn't decide which class to choose next, I made 5 new characters of different classes. There's a 6 character limit and 8 classes so I don't have a Jedi Consular or a Sith Warrior. I then played through two planets with each character to get a feel for them and their story, and unlock their starships (each class gets a different ship).

So far the Bounty Hunter is my favourite, so I'll be proceeding with her. She started on Hutta, attempting to gain favour with a local Hutt lord in order to get sponsored for a bounty hunter contest called the Great Hunt. Now on the Great Hunt, she has to track down various targets all over the galaxy, and defeat other bounty hunters in the process. Her current target is an assassin called The Eidolon - we have no idea what species or gender they are, but we've removed our fellow hunter (a group of Ugnaughts and a war droid) from play and things are proceeding smoothly.

Awww, the little Ugnaughts?! Poor little guys!

The Ugnaughts were unharmed. We convinced them to drop out of the contest rather than fight - they hadn't finished building their war droid so they didn't really have much choice.

lol, oh ok!

I don't think I'm going to be able to get a Nintendo Switch anytime soon, they're just to expensive and hard to find. I wish I can find a store with an active layaway but most places I go either have layaway around Christmas only or simply don't have the item.

That's too bad, especially since you already have the Zelda game


If I can get one over here... Wanna trade that AK?

Well I've already beaten Breath of the Wild on the Wii U, I just want to see how it is on the Switch. As for trading for the AK goes...I don't think customs from both countries will be very happy to see an AK-47 being sold over seas .

Oh the game I bought for my 3DS system is A Link Between World, the sequel to A Link to the Past, another favorite Zelda game of mine.