68 entries. 56,737 words.
2021-02
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Tyranny.
2021-02-20.
Somehow March is almost upon us, and I still haven’t written about Tyranny, the other free game I got from the Epic Store oh so long ago now. It was the next in a burst of isometric CRPG games that I played around Christmas time, which started with Wasteland 2 and then Pillars of Eternity.
- Gaming
- RPG
2021-03
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Valheim and Outriders.
2021-03-06.
I don’t get the Valheim craze and I wasn’t wowed by Outriders either. There, I said it.
- Gaming
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Halcyon 6, Sunless Sea, and Surviving Mars.
2021-03-13.
This past week I found myself trying three free games I got from the Epic Game Store.
- Gaming
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Stadia Pro Free Trial.
2021-03-29.
I got a two-month free trial of Stadia Pro and have been trying it out.
- Gaming
2021-04
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Pillars of Eternity Video Adventures.
2021-04-04.
Video adventures uploaded in the last week or so.
- Gaming
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The End of Pillars of Eternity.
2021-04-11.
At last, the Pillars of Eternity series comes to an end.
- Gaming
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The Random Game Era Begins.
2021-04-18.
Before and after I started a new job in March, my gaming time and interest plummeted to nothing, so I commenced a period of short gaming sessions of mainly free games and demos which continues to this very day.
- Gaming
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Those D&D Shows.
2021-04-18.
Some Twitter activity prompted me to think about how and why I follow some D&D shows.
- Gaming
- TTRPG
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Free Stadia Game Phase.
2021-04-25.
And now we move into videos of games I’ve played during a Free Two-Month Stadia Pro Trial phase (which I got from someone at my new job). There are a whole lot of free games to click on and play with a Stadia subscription, but the down side is that 99% of them are games you’ve never heard of before.
- Gaming
2021-05
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Finding a Headset.
2021-05-01.
Finding a microphone that can also be used for content creation (aka. makin’ vidyas) in a noisy room is challenging.
- Gaming
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Another Week of Stadia Games.
2021-05-02.
Another week of playing strange games for free with a free trial of Stadia Pro. It’s really a fantastic system for trying out new games quickly. The technology is very cool. The sticking point is who pays for it, and how much this luxurious convenience is worth to a consumer.
- Gaming
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Scripted Twitch Streaming.
2021-05-06.
How to stream a local video file to Twitch with ffmpeg.
- Gaming
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Amazon Luna Also Streams Games.
2021-05-09.
Since I was experimenting with Stadia, it seemed fitting to try out Amazon Luna for comparison. It was only a seven day free trial, though. Also, it was noticeably worse quality than Stadia. Also, you have to pay for an early access subscription. Also, it had far less good games available for free. In summary, not a lot of pros with Amazon Luna.
- Gaming
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Firewatch Week.
2021-05-16.
Firewatch and other games I’m currently playing: ie. The Surge, Hellpoint, and Greedfall.
- Gaming
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FFXIV and Technical Debt.
2021-05-18.
I blurted out some tweets yesterday morning about Final Fantasy XIV which I think need some further clarification.
- Gaming
- MMORPG
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What Used To Be Controversial.
2021-05-23.
The end of my streak of miscellaneous one-off videos.
- Gaming
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Building a New Gaming PC (2021 Edition).
2021-05-29.
Or: “Battle for Your Oats.”
- Gaming
2021-06
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The Surge Begins.
2021-06-01.
The 42-part adventure in The Surge begins, a game that was fun except for the boss fights, and the last zone, which was an ordeal to finish.
- Gaming
- Soulslike
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The Surge - Central Production B.
2021-06-09.
The continuing adventures of Warren rending his way through his first day on the job at CREO.
- Gaming
- Soulslike
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PC Build Surprises (2021 Edition).
2021-06-15.
I put together my new PC build over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. There’re always some surprises when you build a PC: Things that don’t go according to plan. Here’s some of mine.
- Gaming
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The Surge - Resolve Biolabs.
2021-06-16.
The continuing adventures of Warren hacking and slashing his way through the Resolve Biolabs to reach his ultimate goal of … who knows? Warren doesn’t really have any motivation. Just an unquenchable thirst for hacking up robots and zombies. (Though he might have a secret backstory.)
- Gaming
- Soulslike
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The Surge - Research and Development.
2021-06-28.
The continuing adventures of Warren on his first day on the job at CREO. We’ve now reached the point in the story where I no longer remember what happened, didn’t write anything down, and don’t have enough time to re-watch the videos to figure it out. Soooooo. Yeah. Vague, one-sentence summaries!
- Gaming
- Soulslike
2021-07
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The Surge - The End.
2021-07-08.
It’s the last stretch for The Surge, as Warren finishes out his first day on the job. I hated the last zone in The Surge (the Nucleus) so much I almost uninstalled the game with only a couple hours left to play, but I powered through it because I’d gone too far to throw away so many videos. :)
- Gaming
- Soulslike
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Categorizing Boss Fights.
2021-07-11.
I was thinking about why some boss fights are fun challenges and other boss fights drive me absolutely crazy with needless frustration.
- Gaming
- Soulslike
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Another FFXIV Free Login.
2021-07-12.
There’s a lot of buzz about Final Fantasy XIV’s Endwalker expansion, and now I see it’s that time again when Square Enix is letting lapsed Final Fantasy XIV accounts login free for a couple of weeks.
- Gaming
- MMORPG
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What's Wrong With Nioh.
2021-07-14.
I simply have no choice but to rant about Nioh for some number of paragraphs.
- Gaming
- Soulslike
- MMORPG
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FFXIV - The Unending Journey.
2021-07-15.
I played Final Fantasy XIV last night. Sort of.
- Gaming
- MMORPG
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers.
2021-07-18.
I didn’t really intend to play Shadowbringers. I thought I was done with Final Fantasy XIV forever, actually. But a few things combined to get me back in this game.
- Gaming
- MMORPG
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Final Fantasy XV.
2021-07-27.
I did a weird thing: I bought Final Fantasy XV on Steam. It’s … not bad? Maybe?
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers Update.
2021-07-28.
We now bring you a brief Shadowbringers update.
- Gaming
- MMORPG
2021-08
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FFXIV - What's Still Holding It Back?.
2021-08-01.
Final Fantasy XIV is enjoying a massive surge in popularity this summer, but there are still a few things preventing it from reigning supreme in the MMORPG space.
- Gaming
- MMORPG
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FFXV - Leviathan.
2021-08-02.
Final Fantasy XV is on my mind this morning.
- Gaming
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Final Fantasy XIII.
2021-08-04.
I’m going to play Final Fantasy XIII next. That’s a 13. Those roman numerals are confusing.
- Gaming
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Final Fantasy XIII Screenshots.
2021-08-05.
I have roughly 15 minutes to think of, write, edit, illustrate, and publish a blog post this morning.
- Gaming
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Final Fantasy Status Update.
2021-08-09.
It’s time for a brief Final Fantasy update.
- Gaming
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Bless Unleashed.
2021-08-12.
Bless Unleashed: I mean, it’s free.
- Gaming
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FFXIV's Gandalf Moment.
2021-08-14.
The Stupid Face Boss in Final Fantasy XIII and The Gandalf Moment in Final Fantasy XIV.
- Gaming
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Pantheon Of Best Shadowbringers Moments So Far.
2021-08-15.
Yesterday I flippantly remarked, “Not exactly a deep meditation on the human condition,” about the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers story so far. But there was a conversation that my mind keeps returning to: A conversation between the Crystal Exarch and Lord Vauthry.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - How To Abandon A Main Scenario Quest, Kind Of.
2021-08-16.
I ran into a problem with Final Fantasy XIV and I thought I’d share the solution I came up with, because you certainly won’t find it anywhere on Reddit.
- Gaming
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Level Curves And Story Pacing.
2021-08-17.
I wish the arbitrary geometric leveling curve didn’t mess up story pacing.
- Gaming
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MMORPG Character Switcharoos.
2021-08-18.
Sometimes MMORPGs make you play a different character for narrative purposes and I don’t like it very much.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Oracle of Light.
2021-08-19.
I spent last night in Final Fantasy XIV standing at the Neverending Storybook (not the actual name) refreshing my memory on story events from the very end of A Realm Reborn and the post-Heavensward stuff with The Word Of The Mother and the Warriors of Darkness.
- Gaming
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Friday Screenshots - FFXIV.
2021-08-20.
I was going to pull out one of seemingly hundreds of half-written posts to finish them, but then I realized I hate all of them! And now it’s evening. So here’s some screenshots. It’s from that game I’ve been playing. You know the one I mean.
- Gaming
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Saturday Screenshots - FFXIV.
2021-08-21.
Hey, writing blog posts every day isn’t that fun sometimes. Here’s some screenshots. From that same game again. Because they’re the only screenshots I took yesterday.
- Gaming
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Sunday Screenshots - FFXIV.
2021-08-22.
I didn’t even rename the screenshot files this time.
- Gaming
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FFXIV Needs A Limit Break.
2021-08-24.
I’m waking up to this news that Final Fantasy XIV has closed off all the North American Aether servers to new players indefinitely because they can’t handle the strain anymore.
- Gaming
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Best MMO Technology.
2021-08-25.
Yesterday I mentioned how much I worried that Final Fantasy XIV was staggering into their new expansion on duct tape and bailing wire, so I thought today I’d mention the MMORPGs that appear to have a much more solid technology base that I don’t have to worry about.
- Gaming
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Shadowbringers Done, Part 1.
2021-08-26.
I finished the first ending of Shadowbringers. The one before the long series of post-expansion patches.
- Gaming
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Nuts To The Post-Shadowbringers Blues.
2021-08-28.
I started into the post-Shadowbringers Main Scenario Quest last night and got a whole two quests in before the game slammed a massive brick wall down in front of me.
- Gaming
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The Endgame Grind Decision Point.
2021-08-29.
Should I dive headlong into the vortex of Final Fantasy XIV endgame possibilities or should I detox and play something else?
- Gaming
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FFXIV - New Game Plus.
2021-08-30.
I recently learned about New Game+ in Final Fantasy XIV, some time earlier in Blaugust, in the Blaugust Discord. I didn’t think it would work very well, but it actually does.
- Gaming
2021-09
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FFXIV - Contemporary Shadowbringers Reviews [+audio].
2021-09-14.
Out of curiosity, I went looking to find some contemporary accounts of why Shadowbringers was The Greatest Final Fantasy Story Ever. Because it wasn’t clear to me.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers Story Summary [+audio].
2021-09-21.
Similar to what I did with Stormblood, I wanted to write a brief high-level overview of the events of the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers expansion story, so I’ll remember it later.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers 5.1, Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty.
2021-09-24.
Notes on the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Patch 5.1 Content, Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty.
- Gaming
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New World Next Week.
2021-09-25.
Amazon’s New World is about to launch. For real this time. Maybe. Probably.
- Gaming
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New World, Launch Day, Zero Hour.
2021-09-28.
New World launched and I was there recording for the historical archives.
- Gaming
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New World Three-Day Saga.
2021-09-30.
The worm turns quickly for New World.
- Gaming
2021-10
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New World, Day Six Bullet Points.
2021-10-03.
Bullet points because I don’t feel like writing an essay.
- Gaming
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New World - The End ...?.
2021-10-04.
On the seventh morning of New World I think I can confidently report that this game isn’t for me.
- Gaming
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Now What?.
2021-10-06.
Searching for the next game to play, and also apparently listing every game I’ve looked at recently.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers 5.2, Echoes of a Fallen Star.
2021-10-12.
Notes on the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Patch 5.2 Content, Echoes of a Fallen Star.
- Gaming
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A Plague Tale: Innocence.
2021-10-13.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is good, with some caveats.
- Gaming
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Valheim, The Return.
2021-10-18.
I decided to try out Valheim again.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers 5.3, Reflections in Crystal.
2021-10-30.
Notes on the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Patch 5.3 Content, Reflections in Crystal, which I finished well over a month ago at the time of this publication.
- Gaming
2021-11
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Solasta: Crown of the Magister.
2021-11-14.
I stumbled upon a new (to me) tactical RPG based on the D&D rules.
- Gaming
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Disco Elysium.
2021-11-26.
Disco Elysium is one of those award-winning games I bought mainly because it was on sale and I heard it was award-winning.
- Gaming
2021-12
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers 5.4, Futures Rewritten.
2021-12-01.
Notes on the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Patch 5.4 Content, Futures Rewritten, which I finished well over two months ago at the time of this publication.
- Gaming
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FFXIV - Shadowbringers 5.5/5, Death Unto Dawn.
2021-12-09.
Notes on the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers Patch 5.5 and 5.55 Content, Death Unto Dawn, which I finished more than two months ago at the time of this publication.
- Gaming