Someone in one of the Discord servers I haunt shared this.. I don’t get what’s so special, it’s just footage of the vanilla game. /sarcasm
Back 4 Blood: Will I Get It?
I’ve had a couple friends inquire if I would be grabbing it, and I probably will a sale or two from now (but inevitably it will be a yes). I don’t have time for multiplayer gaming anywhere near like I used to, mostly due to my work hours. That, and the toxic behaviour found in multiplayer games these days has encouraged me to stick to single player gaming when I have my alone time. The only thrill I get from dealing with an internet asshole is not having to hold back, other than that it just because tiring, especially after a long day of dealing with assholes in person.
I will get it though! I’ve seen gameplay of it, and from feedback I’ve read it does get good stats under Linux. It might even be fun enough to stream, when I actually stream!
Gamer Talk
I’ve got a few work buddies that I like to swap gaming stories with at work. There’s one that I share a lunch with a few days out of the week; I told him about my adventures through Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night! I even shared a few of my screenshots with him from the comfort of my tablet. I inadvertently introduced him to the series, and after playing Yakuza Kiwami he couldn’t help but buy the entire series on his XBone. He spent the weekend playing Yakuza 6, and even revisited Fallout New Vegas for a time. I also got another one of my co-workers into Yakuza series recently (on PlayStation in his case) — again, not intentionally. I just have really weird influential powers. Still, it is nice to talk about a game with someone and actually have them know what I’m talking about! Even if we all hail from different platforms.
We may come from three different gaming realms, but one thing we can all universally agree on is this:
Goro Majima has to be a Daedric Prince! He’s everywhere and he never fucking ages.
Evening Open Thread
I don’t have much to write about tonight. I had a good breakfast bowl, a robust tea, and tore into some of my to-do list, and my headphones arrived for wireless musical entertainment while conquering my real life side quests. I also worked on setting up a small 3D stage for a future project, nothing really worth mentioning as of yet.
That said, next Saturday there will be a video! It’ll be nice to break the silence on my YouTube channel, if only for a little while!
Open Thread!
Demonic Cats and Cursed Barbers
As promised (to myself) I immersed myself in more of Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night, continuously pressing on through challenges and evil demonic beasts (as seen above). If you haven’t treated yourself to this game yet, it’s a metroidvania type that takes places in late 1800’s anime-ified England. You play as Miriam, a young orphan cursed to be a Shardbinder, a being who is slowly being consumed by demonic crystal because of an alchemists curse. She can consume other shards, granting her numerous abilities throughout her journey.
Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night has a fun cast of characters; Tonight I met Todd, a poor soul cursed to roam the halls of this demonic castle as a Killer Barber, a demon that typically cuts more than just hair (and wears high heels for some weird reason). In order to release him from this strange and unusual curse I’ll need to find different hairstyles on my journey, and then impart my knowledge to him so that I can get him one step closer to humanity, and one step closer to achieving the perfect look:
This was the last hairstyle I obtained before calling it a night. I also unlocked a French Braid, and of course lots of weapons and cosmetics. 😛
I’ve also been doing a lot of Alchemy, and stocking up on potions to ensure that I can escape certain situations… and also feed an old lady who keeps rewarding me with extra swag. I made her these chips and she gave me designer sunglasses as a thanks… late 1800’s Anime England is weird.
My biggest challenge was defeating Zangetsu, a super powerful fire samurai, voiced by David Hayter himself! There’s no hiding that dummy thicc voice from me! 😛 It took me awhile, but I finally learned how to defeat him; though something tells me that I’m not quite through with him yet, and not because he’s also a playable character now! I guess at some point I’ll have to take control of him, he looks like he could be fun to play.
In order to improve my experience I ventured over to the PCGamingWiki and found a fix for jagged 3D models that appear during NPC chat and the status screen. On the left is what it looks like without the mod, and on the right is with the mod in place. By default, the game is set to render these models at 1080p even if you’re running at a higher resolution (1440p in my case). This mod upscales the models to 4K for a less jagged look. The mod can be located here.
All in all, from the 7 hours I’ve invested into this game thus far, I can say that if you like Metroidvanias you should definitely consider this one (assuming you’re like me and haven’t played it already). It has stunning visuals, excellent voice cast and it’s a fun kind of grind with a gripping story… or perhaps it’s the month of Halloween possessing me to have a good time. 😛
This Game Is Simply Fabulous!
In continuing my Octoberfest of Digital Horror I kicked off my weekend with another game to match the theme! I was in the mood for a metroidvania flavoured game, and I think I’m starting to understand the genre enough to get further in the game. I even got a couple achievements! I defeated a stormy hentai mermaid, and became an alchemist! I might consider grinding at it a bit more tomorrow. I’m thinking this will be one of the many games I’ll be loading on my Steam Deck once it is well within my possession. It’s the kind of game that plays perfectly on any controller, great for a portable or TV, and I’ll be able to do it all without buying into another platform!
Not everything in the 21st century is bad, I guess.
Why Yes, Exotic Beer Is A Thing
I was going through my RSS feed, as I typically do throughout the day just to see what’s on the up and up — and I found a couple interesting articles over at SoraNews64, a blog where I get my fix for all things Japan and Asia! I stumbled upon this post from 2015 in the related, and never have I have I been overwhelmed with an equal amount of disgust, and intrigue at the same time… that was until I saw the Watermelon one and went “fuck me”. That one is probably the most likely beverage out of all of them that I’d be willing to drink, and the grapefruit one might even be a close second; but the cream and cotton candy ones both delight my eyes and make me puke in my mouth all at the same time.
Maybe I would like some of them though? I mean, most people think I’m insane for liking Kimchi…
Hug A Pillow, Save A Shoulder
There was something I wanted to post… but I’m in severe need of sleep. I couldn’t nod off last night to save my life, though on the bright side I think I’ve found a way of sleeping on my side and not waking up to the random feeling of having my shoulder crushed. Someone suggested hugging an extra pillow, and surprisingly that seems to do a good job of relieving most of the tension in my shoulder.
I’ll try to post something with more energy in it when I’ll hopefully have more… energy.
Pining For Pine!
One of the many things keeping me from investing in a proper smartphone is the severe lack of control for the end user; you either have to sign up with Apple or Google if you want to use any apps, or you sideload all of your apps from an outside source (which can be risky if you don’t know what you’re downloading). I want a phone that functions like all of my other devices, and when Android was announced in what feels like an eternity ago I thought it was a novel idea to carry around a Linux powered phone. Of course, Android is just Creepy Uncle Google’s competitor against iOS, a version of Linux turned evil by those who claimed not to at one point. If there was a smartphone that offered the same level of customization without rooting/jailbreaking I would of have jumped on the smartphone bandwagon an eternity ago… and now something interesting this way comes.
I’ve been following Pine64 for awhile now, and so far the PinePhone seems to be the most viable option. It doesn’t offer much for the built in camera, but I wouldn’t really be using a phone for a camera when I prefer using kick ass cameras, but I do admire the idea of having physical kill switches for the microphone and camera functions. Of course, the best part for me is being able to swap out a MicroSD card with any Linux OS of my choice! By default it comes with Manjaro, and powered by KDE Plasma for the interface. I’m not ready to drop the cash on this project just yet though… I like the idea, but it’s still in the beta phase. I’ll be keeping an eye on things, and if it meets my standards in reviews I’ll snag one before it rolls out of beta. I would like a phone that I could just update via a main repository (and any other swag) like under typical desktop Linux.
That said… I am in need of a watch! and the smartwatch business never really interested me for a lot of the same reasons that persist with smartphones and most tablets: having to sign up for shit. FitBit, Apple, and others all track your steps and other analytical data that your device is capable of picking up. I’m well aware that the PineWatch isn’t as sophisticated as such other devices, but for what I want a smartwatch is going to be overkill. Give me something that tells time, tracks steps, and lets me program the shit out of it! The watch itself is a decent $26 at the time of writing about this, and if you want to do extra level tinkering, you can also purchase the devkit version containing a regular watch and an unsealed version for you to perform mad science experiments upon. For now I don’t think I don’t think I’ll be doing anything outside of swapping firmware depending on what version of infinitime the watch is running. I’ve also been hearing good things about WaspOS, as well.
I’ll do a follow up once the latter device is in my possession. 😀
Apple Cider + Chai = Autumn
I’ve been continuing to plow through my tea collection, and I managed to polish off the last bit of red chai from Republic Of Tea, which if you haven’t tried it is a really nice blend of Rooibos and spices you would typically find in a chai. I still have quite a bit of cider leftover from the weekend, and decided to drink half red chai and half cider. Drinking equal parts cider and red chai is just instant autumn for me; the spices you would find in a chai are used throughout the season, and apples are also a must. I have half of my chai puerh leftover from work this morning… I might add cider to it tomorrow, assuming a little milk doesn’t seem more tempting to my weak morning stomach.