My faux-Lenten retreat from the insidious snares of the online world has run into a few snags. Nothing apocalyptic but enough to besmirch the pure wall of restraint I was hoping to build. At least my few small indulgences were so replete with vestigial Catholic guilt that they didn’t absorb too much time. Which was the main thing I wanted to avoid. Continue reading…
Category: review/consume
My opinion on whatever products of the mass market which have had the joyous task of helping me waste my time. Anime, TV, Films, Games, Books, Music, Microwave Meals, Pot Noodles – You get the idea.
Pillars of Eternity – Brief thoughts (Early AM ashcan edition)
Just finished it, all sidequests and whatnot wrapped up, played on hard, clocked in around forty five hours. Enjoyed my time with it but ultimately it feels like a good not great game. It’s early in the morning so this is a bit stream of consciousness (some of these I wrote as they occurred in play so some may be more strident due to that) There are less pros than cons. That’s because it’s generally easier to critique something than praise it. Don’t get me wrong. Pillars of Eternity is a good game. If you’re pining for an “old school” western computer RPG then spend your money freely secure in the knowledge you’re in for a good time. I enjoyed my time with it; after all I wouldn’t have put in nearly fifty hours (so far) if I didn’t. I’ll come back and tidy this up tomorrow when I’ve had some sleep. I dont think theres any real spoilers but youve been warned. Continue reading…
(Very) Brief thoughts on the upcoming Spring 2015 anime season
I dont really watch a lot of anime anymore. Well that isnt actually true, I still watch a fair bit I just dont watch it regularly. I tend to wait for a sesaon to complete and then binge for a month or so as I refuse to watch shows week to week. Still, I’d totally forgot about the upcoming season, clearly slipping. Continue reading…
Best of 2014 – Videogames
2014 felt like a very long year in terms of gaming, yet I didn’t really get through a whole pile of games. Perhaps my memory is going. What a sweet release. Or perhaps it was just that my pattern of play as it were changed quite a bit this year. I covered my thoughts on last year’s spending on games over here. I suppose one final note on that point was that I hit the deal hunter thing hard. Making solid use of sites like http://isthereanydeal.com/, http://www.cheapshark.com/, http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/, etc. as well as (the now sadly neutered) Steam trading sites like http://dispenser.tf/ and http://www.tf2outpost.com/ and importing I got as much gaming bang for my buck as I possibly could. Continue reading…
Return to the Dungeon (Part 01)
Sorry to disappoint my more salacious readers, but while I can bust out a turtle binding with the best of them this is about Dungeons and Dragons, not BDSM. Specifically it’s about my thoughts on Dungeon & Dragons 5th edition as I read through the core books. Dungeons and Dragons was the first role-playing game I owned or ran. After reading the original Dragonlance trilogy in first year of secondary school a number of classmates and I pooled our money to purchase the basic D&D boxed set (from Toymasters in Newry). Not knowing of course that the Dragonlance campaign used AD&D (how embarrassing I know). Also now that I think about those fuckers never paid for their share. Bastards. Continue reading…
30 Days of (space black) Night – Week 04 – Knocking on Tannhausers Gate
Wherein the reader is illuminated and amused by details of my fourth (and possibly last *gasp*) week back with EVE Online, or told how I played too much Diablo 3 and ignored EVE. Continue reading…
30 Days of (space black) Night – Week 03 – Massaging the shoulder of Orion
Wherein the reader is illuminated and amused by details of my third week back with EVE Online, specifically a tale of one man’s battle to free ore from giant space rocks. Continue reading…
30 Days of (space black) Night – Week 02 – C-beams in the dark
Wherein I detail the second week of my return to EVE Online; where I abandon the questionable glory of blowing the shit out of NPC pirates for the gold rush dreams of big mining! Continue reading…
30 Days of (space black) Night – Week 01 – Return to New Eden
Around this time a year ago my initial foray into the world of EVE Online ended, and at the risk of using an already over-used phrase, not with a bang but with a whimper (you can check out my glorious progress here – Part 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, Interlude 1, 06). Well actually to be accurate it ended with dis-interest. But a spare code for a months worth of game time and the lure of my characters name on a statue lured me back in. I initially wasnt planning to play at all, I didnt even have the game installed but I figured I might as well give it a go, even casually. So now I’ve 30 days to re-visit the world of, quite possibly, the most notorious MMO out there. How will I get on? Continue reading…
Brief thoughts on John Woo’s Stranglehold
Bought this on launch, got half way through it and then got distracted. Decided to finally get it out of the way today. It is ultimately mediocre but holy hell did it give me the horn for some classic 90’s John Woo. It also earns its mediocre status in an odd way, its not as if its simply dull its that some bits are great and some bits are terrible and it all even outs to being ok. Continue reading…