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Multiplay May

There’s a few games that have all managed to present an opportunity to play together. A couple are at REALLY good prices, and a couple are hitting a big release with some new content. I’ve outlined them below with some quick thoughts of my own. I’ve provided affiliate links, so I do get a commission if you buy through them. Let me know here, on stream, or Discord if you pick any of them up so I know who to look for!

Gloria Victis

This is a medieval MMORPG that is buy and play, no subscription fee. It’s $4.36 in the Humble Wargamez Bundle currently, and the cheapest price I have ever seen Gloria Victis go for. I’ve been following it since just before launch, and I’ve mentioned it several times here on my website. The graphics and sound are great, and it has crafting and PvP involved. I don’t think the player base is that big, but I think it’d be worth the money even if we only got a small group going.

Destiny 2

A Sci-Fi MMOFPS, which is an MMORPG in FPS view with an emphasis on shooting. It’s just $12 in the Humble Monthly, and is the cheapest price for Destiny 2 anywhere right now. The reviews are not great about this game, but a lot of it is due to lack of content. For $12 (plus the other games you get from the monthly) I can’t imagine there isn’t enough content. The game looks beautiful, and I’m only level 12 so it’d be really easy to catch up if you jump in now. No subscription fee, but there are two expansion DLCs out. They will cost extra, but might be worth it if you end up enjoying the game enough.

Conan Exiles

I played Conan Exiles when it launched into Early Access, the devs were awesome enough to give me a key. It is a survival game (Think ARK) set in the Conan universe. I clocked in over 100 hours in game! I really enjoyed the building aspect, and that is probably what I’ll spend most of my time doing in game. MSRP is $39.99 on most sites, but you can get Conan Exiles with a 10% Discount using the code MAY10 over on Fanatical. (Fanatical is NOT a grey market site, it is an authorized Steam key re-seller.) Conan Exiles is a great game, and I’ll also be doing a giveaway of a key or two provided by the devs on my stream Friday May 11, 2018!

Space Hulk: Deathwing

space hulk deathwing terminators

This game is a Left4Dead type horde shooter set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It is definitely better than the reviews let on. It had a bad launch, but has improved greatly since then. It does take a little time to find a group, but I’ve always managed a full group. MSRP is $39.99 on most sites, but the best price for Space Hulk: Deathwing is with a 10% Discount using code MAY10 over on Fanatical. I do expect more sales closer to/on release day. I really enjoy this game, and am looking forward to the extra customization features on May 22nd. The majority of the enhanced edition features are already out for PC. I’m hoping to do a full playthrough on stream with viewers.

Update: 60% off sale in the Humble Store!

One More Consideration

I’m looking really, really hard at State of Decay 2. It’s a 3rd person arcade style survival game. From the little gameplay I’ve seen, it looks a lot like the original State of Decay, but has multiplayer co-op in it! It’s only $29.99 in the Microsoft store, but no Steam unfortunately. The good news is, console and PC should be able to play together! So if you have an X-Box, you can still join me. I haven’t pre-ordered yet, but once I see more about how the co-op play is, I’ll make my decision. There’s also a free trial available if you want to try before you buy from what I’ve read.

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Tips and Help for Hunt: Showdown

99 problems, but a bounty ain’t one. There are 99 bloodline ranks, and the higher ranks are filled with some nasty weapons. The bounties are going to be fiercely contested, and the higher ranked players will have an advantage in equipment at the very least. Don’t be afraid to go into a game and just farm. Find clues, kill low level monsters, and extract. This will get you money to buy more/better gear, and XP to level up your hunter. It’ll be easier to take on higher tier hunters with more health, abilities, and equipment. You can level up your tier 1 hunter to a tier 3 hunter in a couple of good matches. While you won’t have access to the same weapons, you will have definitely closed the gap an enormous amount. It’s not smart to go all in every time.

Take a well rounded load out. To me, this means (1) a long gun of choice, (2) something to melee with, and (3) a first aid kit. A lot of items are dual purpose like the Winfield Talon, which offers a long gun and melee weapon in a single package. Additional items you might want to consider are a vitality shot and fire bombs if your cash flow allows.

 

Refresh recruits after every round. You don’t have to buy all the recruits in front of you before you get a new batch. Look at the health, traits, and weapons each hunter offers. If it’s not a good deal for the money, take your chances and hit the refresh button after each match. You can stock up on up to 5 hunters, so don’t shy away from a good buy. Good traits to watch for early on are Determination, Quartermaster, and Greyhound.

Be a good teammate. Check over your shoulder every so often to make sure you aren’t leaving your partner behind. Communicate very clearly about what you want to do. I had a partner tell me he was going to discover the lair and come back. Once he discovered the lair, he proceeded to fight the boss leaving me outside alone just as a team of two showed up. I engaged one, and was shot in the back by the other. And my teammate died moments later.

Keep quiet. Especially after you get revived. My partner revived me once, I thanked him and immediately alerted the team we were in a gunfight with. Everything you say in game can be heard by anyone nearby! If you’re talking, you’re alerting nearby players to your presence. Watch for crows, watch for horses, and for the love of all that is good in this world, do not use an open mic!

L2 melee. Killing random zombies with melee weapons, even a simple knife, will keep things quieter. Shooting at zombies, hives, and even hounds sends up a virtual flare to your location for other players to see. Keep things stealthy until you’re ready to make your move. Additionally, if you can melee the boss, you won’t be sending out calling cards to players exploring nearby areas. Additional tip: Take a stamina shot just before attacking the boss and watch it die in record time.

Turn lights off at night. All the little lanterns inside, and outside, in game can be turned on and off. If you’re in a building, turn them off. That way you won’t cast shadows, and it will be harder to see you from the outside. The same goes for lanterns outside, turn them off. You’re much easier to shoot at standing in a well lit area. Turning off lights also includes flame carrying zombies!

Never stop moving. At first, my KD was terrible. I was standing still to look around a lot, and crouching too much. I got some tips from viewers in chat who also played the game, and I went from 1:3 to 1:2 in a week, and still steadily climbing. Don’t forget to jump occasionally as well. It can mean the difference from a lethal head-shot, to a survivable body shot.

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Are You Ready For Hunt: Showdown?

Hunt Monsters During A Battle Royale Showdown

Everyone’s played battle royale games before. Everyone’s played zombie games before. Everyone’s played monster hunting games before.

But has anyone played a game with all three at once?

Hunt: Showdown is a mashup of several different types of games, and it comes together well. There are bugs to work out, and optimization needed, but I personally have had very stable gameplay from Hunt: Showdown so far. I’m going to hit three big highlights that have struck me the most in the game so far. Despite having elements of multiple genres, this feels like a whole new game.

Mechanics

Tracking down malevolent beasts after they’ve ravaged the countryside gives a certain sense of satisfaction and unease. Using your darksight as well as triggering the clues leaves you vulnerable, but moves you one step closer to the location of your prey. Meanwhile, other hunters are hunting you! All the while you’re having to look out for shambling zombies, undead bee swarms, and other lumbering hulks of flesh. Death is permanent in Hunt: Showdown – your hunter will be gone from your bloodline forever if you and your partner are taken out! Sometimes it’s better to live and fight another day, than risk taking on the monster – and every other team of hunters that come to claim it.

Environmental Scares

Everything in this game’s environment wants to tell on you. Chickens, dying horses that tug at your heart strings, and angry dogs sound off whenever you come close. Hunt: Showdown relies on a certain amount of stealth, and the environment works against you at every stop. Splashy mud puddles, hanging chains, and broken glass are just a few of the ‘hazards’ that will give away your position instantly. All of these problems are intensified on a nighttime map! Light isn’t always your friend at night though.

Gunplay

I’ve taken a liking to slower paced type of gunplay. Hunt: Showdown is somewhere between Rainbow 6 Siege and Holdfast: Nations at War. There aren’t endless magazines, or even an abundance of ammo. Shots come at a slower pace than your average run-and-gun shooter, and it adds to the game’s suspenseful atmosphere. Your shots must count! Every time you fire, it signals open season to every hunter within earshot, and you risk bringing them all down on the heads of you and your partner the longer your gunfight goes on.

Let The Hunt Begin

I’ve gotten a lot of positive comments from stream viewers about the game. Seems it’s as enjoyable to watch as it is to play. Even the time period is something that’s not often explored in a shooter style game. The devs at Crytek update the game almost daily, squashing bugs and adding options to the game. No doubt there will be more monsters, more maps, and more weaponry added to the game’s core content, it’s not finished by any means.  I’m very excited about what I’ve seen so far, and I’m just as excited about what’s to come.

To be continued…

 

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Upcoming Warhammer 40k Games for 2018

The Emperor Requires Your Attention

I’ve become quite the 40k fanboy ever since playing Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade in December of 2016. Dawn of War II and Space Hulk: Deathwing have both been good purchases since then. I also look forward to checking out Dawn of War III and Warhammer 40,000 Space Wolf, I just haven’t found the time yet. Each of these games offers something Warhammer 40k gamers have not gotten to experience before. This is really going to add to my game backlog.

The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth

This title is probably one of the more exciting for me. Betrayal at Calth offers the first 40k (30k) virtual reality title. It has the potential for quite the immersive turn-based strategy experience, being able to stand next to your troops in battle. While the game is a VR title for both Vive and Oculus, it can also be played on regular PC. You play as the Ultramarines, with various weapons from flamers to power fists at your disposal. Betrayal at Calth also has multiplayer capability.

This game has already released, and I was lucky enough to get a key from the devs. Unfortunately right now I’m waiting on a patch for better Oculus support. The devs stated the next patch should fix the problems. I’m really looking forward to seeing it in action. I was able to get a small taste before the problems started. Quite promising.

Space Hulk: Tactics

Another spinoff off based on the Space Hulk board game, but this time with a twist. Space Hulk: Tactics is a turn based tactical strategy game, implemented with a card-based system of some kind. No details yet on the card system. There will be two singleplayer campaigns; In a Warhammer 40k first, you will be able to play as the genestealers. The other campaign follows a squad of Blood Angels space marines.

There will also be multiplayer that provides chooseing between Space Marine chapters (Blood Angels, Space Wolves, the Ultramarines, or Dark Angels) as well as Genestealers. And for that extra-long life, there will be a map creation tool and the ability to share with other players.

The game will release in 2018 on PS4, XBox One, and PC. I’ve had a lot of experience with card systems lately in Paladins and Star Wars: Battlefront II. This certainly looks to be an up and coming game mechanic.

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War

I think this game will make the biggest splash of all the 40k games in 2018. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius will be the first entry into the 4x genre for the 40k universe. Play as the Astra Militarum, Space Marines, Orks or Necrons. Each race will have different stories, characters, tech trees, and playstyles.

The game will offer singleplayer, co-op, and multiplayer modes. No word on the Steam page about console release, but obviously it’ll be offered for PC.  4x has been hit or miss with me. I enjoy Stellaris, but other titles have been mostly miss. A co-op campaign might offer a little bit of incentive. The graphics look amazing.

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II

Saving the best for last, I can’t tell you how hyped I am for this title! I really loved Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. The visuals in that game have to be some of the most incredible, even on low end systems! BFGA II offers another campaign, but this time it has drop-in/drop-out co-op! That really makes me think it’ll have some semblance of open world gameplay. There will be twelve factions available at the start, which means you likely won’t need any DLC to play your way (unless you’re a fan of one of the more obscure races).  Bigger battles, improved multiplayer, and more customization are just a few of the things in store.

The game will be released for PC only, at least so far.  This will be the first Warhammer 40,000 game that takes place during the Gathering Storm setting, which literally splits Imperium space in half.

The Emperor Wants YOU!

As you can see, there will be plenty of opportunities to serve the Imperium of Man in 2018. From VR to 4x to card-based, it is all unexplored territory for Warhammer 40k (and 30k) fans. All of this is on top of DLC for other 40k games like Dawn of War III, Space Hulk: Deathwing, and others. And if you still can’t get enough Warhammer, there’s still Total War: Warhammer II DLC on the way, as well as Vermintide II rapidly approaching. Bottom line is there’s plenty of purging to be done people, let’s get to it. For the Which game are you most excited for?

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

Spoiler Filled Review of Episode VIII

Last warning of SPOILERS.

Ok, now let’s get into it. I spent three days over Christmas in a group text discussion with friends about what we liked, and didn’t like, in this movie. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and several good points were made. In the end though, this is going to be a very critical review of the movie. I did not like the movie, and rank it 4th from last in the series (including Rogue One). If you loved the movie, and don’t like reading opposing viewpoints to your own, I’d suggest moving on now.

Two And a Half Hours of Finger Wagging

All that social commentary. Businesses are evil, selling to both sides to make money! Save the animals, we may need them some day! Men are useless! I felt like I was being talked at the entire movie. I hate political or social commentary in any movie or any form of entertainment for that matter. This is Star Wars, and I just want to watch some epic lightsaber duels, thrilling space battles, and solve a galactic mystery. Keep your political and social agendas out of my movies. Ramming it down my throat doesn’t make me sympathetic to your cause.

Useless Men

It was really disappointing to see every male character portrayed negatively. Poe turned out to have a god complex, only trusting in himself and his ideas. In the end causing dozens of Rebel lives to be lost. The movie really went to great lengths to dump on poor Finn. He was yet again the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz. Why was his attempt to leave treated like desertion? He was trying to save Rey, and potentially Jedi Master Luke Skywalker who she was bringing back to help! Why could’t Rose and Finn just tell Poe how they met? Or why not just explain to Admiral Holdo why Finn needed to leave? Next, Finn is portrayed as naive because he didn’t know that Canto Bight was funded by the Imperial war machine? I’m pretty sure that no matter where you live, you have a pretty good idea of who your country’s enemies are. Not to mention, he was in the First Order and probably had more access than the average galactic citizen about who The First Order’s allies were.

Meanwhile every female character gets a solid, positive portrayal. Leia is the strong leader, Holdo is the brave sacrificial hero, Rose is the undervalued, hidden gem. Even Phasma wins the fight against Finn, only to lose when Finn catches her by surprise. Strong, positive female portrayals have never been a problem. Women have always been in charge of the good guys in Star Wars. Queen Padme was always ready to get into the trenches and fight herself. Leia was entrusted with the Death Star plans. Mon Mothma was in charge of the entire Rebellion (though only showed up on screen during Return of the Jedi). Jen Orso led the Scarif assault team during Rogue One. My only problem was that the gender line was used to determine who was heroic, and who needed to go sit in a corner and think about their actions for a little while. What does it say that the greatest portrayal of women in Star Wars to date comes only when every single man fails spectacularly? Can’t women look good and strong alongside equivalent male roles? How do you set the bar for women’s equality when men aren’t even participating? This isn’t a zero sum game. Men don’t have to fail for women to succeed, and vice versa. If Chewbacca had gotten more than 7 minutes of screen time, this wouldn’t have bothered me so much.

Awful Endings For The Old Cast

I also did not particularly like Leia’s depiction. She was always looking just so tired and ready to be done with everything. The Leia I remember was a fighter. Leia talked smack to Darth Vader and a high ranking Imperial about the Death Star, Leia grabbed a blaster and blasted her way into the trash compacter, Leia demanded Lando turn around to save Luke while the Millenium Falcon was being chased, Leia volunteered for a risky mission on Endor. I would never picture Leia just sitting around, no matter how old or worn out she was. There were exactly two moments when the old Leia popped up. First was when she stunned Poe Dameron, and second when she had the blaster rifle in the hanger as Finn and Rose came sliding in with the Imperial shuttle. Showing her as resigned to her fate like this really tarnished the character for me. Much the same way they did with Luke, but a lot more kind. Poor Luke Skywalker was portrayed as a coward and a quitter. Once Kylo ran off to Snoke, WITH OTHER STUDENTS, Luke just gives up, and let’s a Sith Master start his own little academy of doom, WITH LUKE’S OWN FAMILY. Wow.

I also thought the scene where she gets back to the ship using the Force was awful. Great idea, using her connection to the Force to save her and inspire the troops, but terrible execution. It was very over the top and tacky.

The Small Things

Where are all the aliens among the good guys? There was like one token alien, and a few minutes of Chewbacca, and a few seconds as Ackbar was sucked off screen into space was it. Half the freaking Jedi were aliens in the prequals. Yoda, Chewbacca, Nein Nunb, Admiral Ackbar all played important, albeit largely secondary roles during the original trilogy. “Many Bothan spies died to bring us this information.” Remember that? The Force Awakens had Chewbacca and Maz, but in this movie, there’s that one token alien in a couple scenes. Are the alien races now siding with The First Order?

There was a lot of humor in the first half. Rey broke something, the keepers got mad. Porgs, porgs, porgs. Sea cow milk. There has always been humor in Star Wars, but I think they went a little too overboard early in this movie.

How many names are the good guys going to go through? They change their names like they change their clothes. The Republic, The Rebel Alliance, The New Republic, and now The Resistance? But they still call themselves the Rebels? The names change, but the mission and people never do. It’s really dumb. This also really adds to my social commentary conspiracy theory with the whole #TheResistance vs Donald Trump thing on Twitter. Again, leave your personal politics out of your movies.

When BB8 got in that AT-ST and started firing, I about lost it. Droids cannot kill people, unless they are war droids. Which, if you’ll notice, have gone the way of the dodo. BB8 is not a war droid, and should not be killing anyone, stormtrooper or not. If droids could kill people, why do you need pilots for starfighters? Or AT-ATs?

Star Wars on a Treadmill

Nothing happened in this movie that progresses the Star Wars story. Rey started untrained, and she finished untrained. We hoped Luke would train her, and we still hope Luke trains her. Kylo started the movie conflicted, and ended conflicted. The First Order started the movie winning the battle against the Rebels, and finished the movie still winning the battle against the Rebels. It’s going to take a lot of work for Episode IX to justify The Last Jedi. Otherwise, you could just watch The Force Awakens, followed by Episode IX, and The Last Jedi will have been a monumental failure.

The Good Stuff

There is a lot of negative in this review, but I want to end on a positive note. I may not have liked the movie as a whole, but there were still some good things in the movie. I loved the Porgs. You see them nesting in the Millenium Falcon, so I hope we see them in the future. I think it’d be a cool little change to have the Porgs start injecting some of the humor that the droids did previously. I also liked that Rey’s parents were inconsequential. She’s not from royalty, she’s just a regular person like you and I. Or at least me, because maybe someone with royal ties may be reading this. I also like the little plot twist where Luke’s momentary impulse to kill Kylo resulted in pretty much everything going downhill. Even though the impulse was fleeting, and Luke ultimately decided not to kill Kylo, the entire Republic started to fall because of that misunderstanding.

Summing Up The Last Jedi

The story this movie tried to tell was good, but thanks to awful storytelling, The Last Jedi holds zero consequences for the Star Wars universe. The biggest thing that happened were the deaths of all those Rebels aboard the transport freighters. All those off screen deaths of nameless Rebels. Do you even remember what any of them were wearing? If any of them survived would it have changed anything? If all of them survived would it change anything? How about that blazin’ lightsaber battle amirite? Where TWO JEDI defeated a bunch of guards? Bet you never saw that coming. Who were those guards anyway? If they were still alive, what would they be doing? This movie did have some character building and arguably even some world building, but it was all just background reference material. Chewie and Rey remain my favorite surviving characters. I just wish they had gotten to go somewhere in this movie.