Category Archives: Miscellany
Flu A
I’ve never gotten a 102+ degree fever for five days in a row before, and when your whole family gets the same thing at the same time… no bueno.
The extra dumb thing comes after you “recover”: round two secondary diseases! Laryngitis, sinus infection, whatever happens to be laying around the house, etc. We’re slowly unburying ourselves over here, but it’s going to be taking a while. Mask up, or if you have young kids, well, good luck.
Frostpunk 2
I have played and completed Frostpunk 2 via Game Pass in about 15 hours.
Frostpunk 2 is a sequel to the original both narratively and from a gameplay perspective. New London survived under the Captain’s rule in this alternative history 1899 ice age, but with his death, the fate of the city now rests in the Steward’s (aka your) hands. With a much more zoomed-out perspective, you must carve out space for various districts, explore and set up outposts, and placate diametrically-opposed factions whilst also ensuring the city never falls to the cold.
In the original game, the “plot” was broken into various Scenarios. With Frostpunk 2, there is a single narrative thread composed of five Chapters, throughout which your city progress is maintained. This continuity resolves a lot of the issues I had with the original game, wherein tech tree unlocks seemed pointless considering you barely had time to research any of them before the Scenario was over. Continuity also makes your early decisions much more important, as you continue to receive the benefits of it for a dozen hours. For example, your scouts might discover wreckage and give you a choice: gain important materials, or get +800 Workforce permanently. Choosing the resources might get you out of an immediate crisis, but there actually is a “long-term” to consider here.
Of course, that also becomes a problem. Although I beat Frostpunk 2 in ~15 hours, realistically the game was over after about 8 hours. By the time Chapter 3 rolled around, I had maximized the citizens’ Trust, all Factions supported me, and I was running a surplus of every material with an immense stockpile behind it. I played on the equivalent of Veteran difficulty, and so it’s possible that this is an indication I should have challenged myself further. However, I doubt harsher RNG events and a poorer start will make some of the “binary” choices/tech less obviously OP. If anything, I am now much more savvy to which Laws are critical to unlock early and which can wait.
On the other hand, the likelihood of my playing again is kind of low. Having a strict narrative thread means experiencing the same events in the same order, exploring the same map, and maybe making different choices for roleplaying purposes. The game is extremely engaging in the moment – way “worse” than the Civilization “just one more turn” hour evaporation – but a lot of that depended on the consumption of novelty. There is an Endless Mode option available, although how interesting that may be is dubious; as I mentioned previously, there are actually ways to end up effectively infinite even within the base game. Best I can do is hope there are updates in the future that add new Scenarios in.
Overall though, Frostpunk 2 is an extremely slick and fun city-builder for the time I spent with it. Given how much was changed, it’s hard to say whether someone who loved/hated the original would find the sequel any better. It’s on Game Pass though, so it’s relatively easy to give it a whirl.
Losing the W
Monday, through an unfortunate series of events, a small stack of wood smashed the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. Nothing was broken, no bleeding under the fingernail, just a puffy, painful bruise (thus far). After the initial pain went away, I expressed gladness that at least it wasn’t either of my index fingers or thumbs – those would be much worse to lose the use of for general computing.
…unless, as I quickly realized, you are a PC gamer. Turns out the W and S are pretty key components of the whole WASD control scheme. And, you know, WASD is prevalent in just about every survival game.
So, yeah, sucks for me for a while. Technically, I could use a controller, as long as the left trigger button isn’t too critical, but that’s definitely not what I would prefer using with first-person titles. Perhaps I should just use this opportunity to catch up on TV shows or play some Rimworld or something.
Hmm. Wonder how Neuralink is coming along…
Wishlist – August 2024
A non-exhaustive list of game wishes at this time interval:
- SCUM ($15.99, 60% off)
- Terminus: Zombie Survivors ($15.99, 20% off)
- ASKA ($19.99, 20% off)
- Enshrouded ($29.99, MSRP)
- Sons of the Forest ($29.99, MSRP)
- Bellwright ($29.99, MSRP)
- Nightingale ($29.99, MSRP)
- Soulmask ($29.99 , MSRP)
SCUM would certainly seem to be the sort of survival crafting game within my strike zone, but there is just something… off-putting about it in the videos I have watched. I’m not opposed to super-realistic/detailed survival games (e.g. Green Hell), but they have a tight fun-rope to walk. Need to balance your macronutrient intake with a literal stomach size constriction? OK. Need to remember to remove dirty pants if you get a laceration on your leg lest you get an infection? Cool.
But what is this all in service towards? “Prevent the player from just eating berries all day in the woods, forcing them into dangerous zones.” I can get behind that. Of course, the actual gameplay looks kinda janky, zombies are all of the same type but a few are randomly screamers that spawn in dozens of new ones to immediately chase you down, etc, etc, etc. All of sudden, it seems a bit less “realistic” and more nakedly game-y. That sort of thing works in 7 Days to Die, but not here.
On the other end, watching videos of Terminus makes it seem like something I’d be interested in. Mostly. It’s a kind of top-down survival roguelike with action points, different builds, meta-progression, and so on. Part of my hesitation though is that it doesn’t feel like the sort of game where you would, you know, actually build a base and stay put. If you’re just going node-to-node, you may as well be playing a more traditional roguelike instead. Also… not to be that guy, but $16 on sale still feels like a lot for an indie game within this visual league. There are amazing 100+ hours experiences with worse graphics, of course, it’s just that this definitely feels like a Game Pass and/or Humble Bundle title. Literally hit 1.0 last week so that’s kinda shitty of me to say, but I said it.
Finally, I must admit it difficult to remember what ASKA is all about off-hand. It arrived in Early Access around the same time as Enshrouded, Nightingale, Bellwright, and Soulmask, all of which are survival crafting games with various shticks. In reviewing the literature, it appears ASKA is the one with “skill based combat” and the recruitment of NPC villagers. Err… the one without masks involved. Or medieval plots against the crown. That one. But, hey, it’s on sale!
The other games aren’t on sale, so I’m not going to talk about them. We don’t MSRP around here.
Blaugust 2024 – Day 1
I have chosen to participate in Blaugust 2024 this year, despite the fact that I am currently on vacation.
Hello. My name* is Azuriel and I have been blogging for almost 14 years now. In the early days, my blogging was focused on World of Warcraft. In fact, “Azuriel” is the name of my main in WoW. I started Player Vs Auction House for the release of the Cataclysm expansion, and despite that ultra-niche topic, the blog did well enough for itself. Over time though, I started to realize that chasing gold trends was less interesting than the design philosophy behind the game, so I pivoted to that. Once I started drifting away from WoW itself, it was time for another pivot towards “let’s talk about whatever else I want.”
That is probably enough as far as introductions go. If this is your first time here, I recommend clicking on the drop-down over on the right labeled The Goods, and selecting Philosophy. Everything that I post is top-quality, but those trend towards a higher level. Or you can check out this list of posts, back when I participated in Blaugust 2015. Nevermind that my best work seems to be from years ago.
Otherwise, well, welcome.
*Not my real name, of course.
Space Saving
When I bought my new computer a while back, I splurged on a 2TB SSD to ensure I had enough space to install a large(r) number of games. I get in certain gaming “moods” and thus need to ensure that I have certain flavors available, lest I do something dumb like watch YouTube Shorts for hours instead. Unfortunately, not even 2TB can save me forever.
After installing Folder Size Explorer, I found the top offenders:
- Red Dead Redemption 2 – 120GB
- Diablo 4 – 45GB
- Starfield – 127GB
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – 51GB
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – 130GB
- Control – 50GB
- Death Stranding – 63GB
- Alan Wake Remastered – 38GB
- Baldur’s Gate 3 – 142GB
- Day’s Gone – 60GB
- Elden Ring – 48GB
- Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – 78GB
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins – 49GB
That’s definitely a Who’s Who of backlog shame.
Now, of course, none of this is a problem-problem. I don’t actually need to have SW Jedi Survivor installed when I haven’t completed the first one. Starfield can probably go too, since I already played it for 65 hours and am unlikely to go back prior to the expansion coming out (or at all). And not sure why I have any of the Assassin’s Creed games installed. But… You Never Know™.
Of the list, I am making the most current progress on Control and Diablo 4. Which is tragic, in a way, given the installed alternatives. But what I really want to be playing right now is some dumb survival crafting game. I am not playing one due to the fact that I have basically played them all aside from the ones not currently on sale. Mercifully, the Steam Summer sale starts on 6/27, so I can get back to vigorously scratching the eczema that is a predilection towards punching trees and hoarding resources.
…although, I’m just now realizing that I will actually need, you know, space to install these games.
Oh my. Better get back to it.
#JustPalworldThings
Courtesy of our friend Bhagpuss:
My hope was that I’d be able to get Pal fluid more peaceably, perhaps by extracting it painlessly from one of the creatures in my care, although now I say it out loud, I’m not sure that sounds any less disturbing. Sadly, it appears you can’t milk Pengullets or Teafants for their juices, so I had to jog down the path and club one to death for the final fluid I needed.
It’s not Rimworld, but it feels in the same galaxy.
P.S. Some interesting unlocks coming on my next level-up:
P.P.S. Did I mention Pal Spheres work on human opponents too?
P.P.P.S. Yes. The answer is yes.
They Know Me Too Well
Steam put together a summary of games you’ve played over the year, and this was my result:
My favorite part is the random “Warhammer 40k” among the other genres.
Nevertheless, they ain’t wrong. If you had to gift me a game knowing nothing else, you’d have a good chance of getting something I’d like somewhere on those axes. Of course, I already have most games on those axes, so you’re better off just getting me a gift card.
COVID Also Sucks
My family made it nearly 3.5 years dodging COVID, but alas.
A family “friend” decided her “sniffles” didn’t warrant a warning, and ended up getting my wife infected. Which then spread to the rest of us. Five solid days of continuous fevers and muscle pain thus far, let’s see how much longer it can go! Plus, the bonus roll on long COVID.
I’m not going to write more on this subject though, because it makes me (ir)rationally angry. Well, other than to say this: if you know you’re sick and possibly contagious, fucking say something.
Dog Days
I have a tag called “ennui” and that’s what is currently going on over here:
a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.
Usually the ennui I experience comes as a sort of post-game depression after-effect of spending 6+ hours a day on some particular videogame and then beating it. That is not the case currently – in fact, I have found myself incapable of completing anything lately. The motivation just isn’t there. The proximate cause in these situations is typically that I really want to play X game but cannot, for whatever reason. You know, because the game isn’t on sale or some equally asinine thing.
This time around, it’s possible there are two things going on. First, I have a number of games in my “Early Early Access” Steam category, which I am deliberately not playing. Well, deliberately stopped playing in some cases. The second is that we have the imminent release of Baldur’s Gate 3 and some other titles, to which I want to play quite a bit. Hard to enjoy an independent experience when you know you’re under a time crunch to finish before heading to something you are anticipating more.
We’ll see where things go. By many accounts, BG3 is supposed to be 75-100 hours of playtime just for the main story, which is a bit absurd. On the other hand, I’ve been “throwing away” about a dozen hours on 7 Days to Die (and some other random titles) these past few days. I feel guilty doing so when I have Elden Ring and other meaty games waiting for completion, but that’s just the mood right now.
In An Age 