I’ve been playing modded Skyrim again to get my mind off of things and after playing three hundred hours of that game (according to steam, actually seems kinda low to me) in many different versions and I have to say: This game is actually just ok. Probably their best post-morrowind, although that really isn’t particularly high praise. When you mod it so that it’s better balanced, there’s more things to find and more things to spend your septims on, the gameplay loop actually starts working pretty well. There are also just many, many parts that I’ve never seen before (might try to finish the main quest this time), and that’s pretty cool for a game I’ve often felt I’ve gotten everything out of already. Like when I originally played it at release, it was like forty hours in that once the sheen wore off, that I realized that way too much of that games quests are just lazy excuses to send you into random dungeons, which still holds true, but as I’ve said, once the mods come in that gameplay loop actually works, although it does always still feel kinda flat in its execution.

The modding scene has also genuinely grown into something better than I would have ever thought: There are so many talented people working on that game, it’s absurd. The way they added unto that engine over the years is incredible (they only very recently added things like support for PBR textures, ships and carriages that actually travel the sea and roads and just checking out the Nexus, someone like last week made a mod that adds an Elden Ring-Style horse to the game) and tools like Wabbajack have made modding so much easier. I’ve been playing the “Nordic Souls” mod list, which isn’t the largest or most advanced engine, keeping it somewhat vanilla plus, with many quest mods and follower mods and the likes (all fully voice acted in more than decent quality). It’s been pretty fun. There’s also a mod for an enhanced and fully revamped main quest in the works, which looks pretty promising (maybe they can make a new mages guild afterwards, that still feels like the weakest part of the game to me).

Also wound up hopping backing into Black Reliquary.

Almost done Halls of Torment, and picked up the Brotato DLC and Vampire Survivors Castlevania DLC so I’m set for when that’s done.

Also did a test of my wargame rules for my an upcoming TTRPG campaign in TTS and it went pretty well!

I think I might be getting into a boomer shooter mood. Right now I’m playing Prodeus again and I just love this stupid game. I play on easiest mode so I can turn my brain off and just mow down baddies. It’s really becoming a comfort game to me lol.

I also redownloaded a few others I’m hoping to get to. I never gave Forgive Me Father 2 a real chance so I think that might be next up unless I grab something on the Steam sale. Right now my cart, after adjusting some, has Selaco, Dusk, Cultic, and Amid Evil. Still waffling over what to get. I really can’t afford a lot and Selcao on there being $18 really weighs down the cart page. Been looking up reviews by G@mers on reddit trying to help me decide.

I also have the Blood and Powersl*ve remasters on my radar but I think I’m after something a bit more modern for now.

E: went with Selaco, Dusk, Cultic, and Amid Evil.

I’ve first played The Indigo Parallel these past few days, I’ve now got around 3h in it. It’s a pretty stange game, it feels a bit like it wants to be random for random’s sake but it still somehow has a kind of plot, and regardless of whether of not the randomness feels forced I still enjoy it. Some of the bits are pretty funny.

Silent Hill 2. It’s my first playthrough and I am absolutely losing my mind trying to figure out what’s real and what’s in my head. Also, abstract daddy is terrifying.

V Rising, at least when I can get people to play with me, and doing some coop Sniper Elite 4 which was just on sale for like $6

Started Dragon Age 2. It’s immediately apparent that it was lower budget and lower quality than the first game, which I completed all 100+ hours of after all the DLC a while back. But I’m still having fun. I never played it because of the negative reviews around its release, but I’ve been done listening to gamers for a long time. They don’t actually read anything but RPG quest text and Twitter posts, so they can’t tell good writing from a dollar store novel. And too many of the opinions about these games revolve around character sexuality.

I’m here for the rock armor and pretending I’m an earthbender while I shoot stone fists at people. Working my way up to Veilguard because I tried to start it and was already lost at the descriptions of all the character backgrounds and choices that depend on what you did in Inquisition.

Beat all decks on Gold difficulty finally for Balatro. The Black and Nebula decks were the last two and took a lot of tries. Now it’s on to beating each challenge and getting Gold on all jokers.

I’ve been playing a lot of Half Life 2. That shit is so awesome. I absolutely have fallen in love with it. Played it for the first time at the beginning of this month, beat it a while ago, and about to move onto HL2: Episode 1.

Friend came over so we played more Silent Hill 3 (like 1/2 through now maybe?) and then we started Metal Gear Solid Integral and did the first 2 bosses. MGS1’s kinda’ janky, honestly, but outside that it’s super good. I really like it.

On my own I’m playing Captain Toad Treasure Tracker on the Nintendo Switch (hacked) since I never played the Switch-exclusive levels and that Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics thing Nintendo also did. Which is actually a cool way to introduce someone to a bunch of board/dice/card games. Never played Hanafuda before (could probably dig it if the cards were marked more visibly like standard playing cards). Mancala is really fun, might actually get a physical board of that sometime soon.

Wanna’ finish Far: Changing Tides and the Elden Ring DLC which I recently got back into at some point after stalling out since October.

Gotta be Project Zomboid, with Build 42 unstable out, there is a wealth of new things to test out. Quite buggy, unsurprisingly, like the bowl duplication glitch or whetstones being uncraftable. But that’s peanuts to the fact that the map is expanded, animals are added, guns are totally different and crafting if much more interesting. And all the pieces of flavor! The randomized basements, novelty keychains, dice of all varieties, books and magazines have titles (and are no longer eaten by your character after reading) tons of new zombie stories (I found a silver ring on a “rude letter” on a kitchen counter, I guess a zombie apocalypse is a good time as any for divorce) it’s just so much and so good. And it’s not even all balanced or polished yet, it’s only up from here!

Combat is also totally different, with muscle strain and randomized zombie behaviour, its more difficult to cheese them, and now leveling strength and weapon skills are doubly important as it reduces muscle strain. And guns, yes, no longer are they “melee weapons with a really long range.” They actually spawn 3d bullet objects when fired and have to be aimed properly at the undead. Jams are too frequent tho, so I modded those out. The JS 200 shotgun is a real blast!

Well, not experiencing the “proper” game rn tho. Computer is very weak, so I reduced zombie count a lot. Still keep getting scratched tho, I blame lag!!

Metaphor Refantazio continues to deliver me a cute little guy saying silly knight shit with fantastic menus and music. I’ve learned the rhythm and order of operations for the game’s various features and I’m excited to see where it goes next.

I’m considering making a thread for a hexbear game of Dominions 6. Would anyone be interested in that? I’m imagining a game that’s pretty casual and geared toward teaching people to play multiplayer. Maybe even being open with our builds and what we’re doing? Let me know if that is something you’re interested in.

So close to 100%ing Unicorn Overlord. It’s kinda fun but gets pretty same-y 2/3 of the way through. Fun overworld to run around on and quests. Battles can be skipped so that’s nice too!

I came to the conclusion that Cities: Skylines is too basic, and C:S 2 doesn’t really seem like it adds all that much, so I started playing Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic. The game offers a lot of difficulty options, so you can make it play somewhat like C:S if you want to, but it is an entirely different beast in it’s “realistic mode.”

In Cities: Skylines, you plop down a power plant, pumping station, sewage drain, run some cables and pipes, zone some residential, and unpause the game. In WR:SR, you must manage the logistics and construction of all these things. The sewage and water mains can only run from higher elevation to lower elevation, unless you install additional pumping stations. The electrical network requires you to build switches and transformers to step from 105KV to 22KV to 230V, and appear to observe Ohm’s Law with regards to current and voltage drop. You also need to build heating plants and pipe steam to your residences and public services.

All of this infrastructure must be built by workers and machines. All these machines have fuel tanks which need to be filled, wear and tear which requires maintenance. Even something as simple as road construction requires delivery of construction materials, workers, and machines, and while that work is being done, no traffic is getting through. If you are not careful, you can block your buses carrying your workers to the heating plants in the dead of winter and cause a death spiral. It takes several hours of gameplay to get to the point where your first citizens can move in.

It took me several attempts before I could even start settling people, but here is my first residential microdistrict. My infrastructure is already absolutely cursed. That’s the other thing. Once something gets built, you need a demolition crew to dismantle it, so if there is a power pole where you want your road to go, or an inconveniently located water main junction is preventing you from building a factory, you need to send more work crews and excavators and garbage trucks and haul the scrap to a dump. And that will shut down services for anything relying on that power pole / junction box.