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| Probably one of the more redeeming characters |
Where the fuck to start? Borderlands 3 was a... reasonably good game. It's got some big problems, the biggest of which is that it's taken the Loot Shooter aspect a little too far. You get a gun, pick it up, and either sell it or use it if it's good enough. That can be fun, but the levels are all pretty ordinary especially when they have added all this Parkour to it with Kicksliding, Mantling, and Power Slams. I don't find they add much to combat, even with the artifacts that add to them, but the puzzles, THE PUZZLES! There's some really basic environment stuff that focuses on those, a few climbing spots mostly, but after that it's just really underutilized in my opinion, so theres just a bunch of rather bland levels.
Otherwise there's the same problems everyone else has, the story is very safe and ordinary, and draws WAY too much from the previous games. The DLC's are doing a good job in that, but the main story just whiffs significantly.
Then there's the big flops over the last 18 months. I wanna talk about them, how Rage 2 had some good aspects to it but just really really really was a vapid game. There was literally 8 main missions, and that was it. After that you had to make your own fun.
Don't get me wrong, I love a supersuit story. Crysis is one of my favourite series and to be running around a massive map with that sounds like a fucking fun game. It was my hope for Crysis 3, in fact, but you'd be roaming about New York under a Dome and fulfilling whatever Psycho needed you to do. It wasn't bad as it was, but I was a little let down by that.
Rage 2 however just seriously underdelivered. If they make a Rage 3, I hope they either fix what they did wrong, or they just do something completely different.
Same goes with Fallout 76. The game had potential, they have this massive intricate map with a veritable tonne of different landmarks and events, but it just didn't have any real impact on anything and hardly made it worth playing.
Then the marketting. Holy shit what a scumjob that was. Right now you can purchase a subscription which allows you to play it as a single player game, even though you already paid full price for the game, and you still have to be able to access it online. If you're on console you need your online subscription on top of that which can double the price. I was at least hoping I could just roam about by myself the other day, but I was shut down pretty quickly on that.
You'll notice that all these games were big Bethesda releases, and to add to that list of disappointment was Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Yes, you can have a friend or random join you as you roam Nazi 80's Paris. But if all you're doing is just fetch missions or destroy missions with little to no purpose behind it, you're just playing with yourself at that point.
The credit to those three games is that they are very cool looking. They have gorgeous landscapes and art, a lot of real character behind them, and the potential to even be more characterful given the right writers and direction.
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| Two seconds before they became Red Mist (TM) |
The other thing I wanted to talk about is Warmachine. I know I said I've not been wanting to play it, but that doesn't mean I don't want to have myself an awesome army to pick up and adjust when I want it.
And that army is definitely my classic 4th Assault Legion, last known as the Legs Eleven. That army has significantly built out under its theme of "Armoured Corps". I've got a gripe with having to play under themes now, but I'm foregoing it for the sake of this army.
It starts of with Kommandant Sorscha Kratikoff, a character that I previously didn't like for her assassin playstyle and considered too easy, but loved her character. I still think her first form is still too easy, even with all her nerfs and such, but her Second and Third Incarnations are signficantly riskier and more fun for all parties.
Naturally, she has to take Beast-09 with her. I love pairing Casters with their Personal Warjacks, and just about everyone has a pairing at this point. Battle Mechanics, Bombardiers, Demo Corps, and Shocktroopers each have their own Command Attachments. The Demo Corps have a character who romps around with a pair of hammers to lay the beatdown on whoever's in front of him.
The Solos have expanded out as well, accompanying the Drakhun and Kovnik are the Forge Seers, basically Greylords in Man-O-War Armour, and Tankers: Man-O-War the size of Warjacks.
Now, just because they're the same size as a Khadoran Warjack, doesn't mean they're quite as tough. They have about a third of the health and almost as much armour, which they make up for with a pair of shields, but they still do a good job of playing Glass Fuggoff Cannons.
The Units are all paired up with Officers now, the Bombardier adding to an already fun unit, and the Shocktrooper giving them everything they every need and resemble: an encroaching Wall of Iron. Almost completely immovable from their places.
The Demolition Corps, aka: Big Blokes with Fuggoff And Chill Hammers (tm), have their own Sergeant attachment in the form of Dragos Dragadovich. If it wasn't awesome enough that they attack out of turn, he also romps around with two Fuggoff And Chill Hammers (tm) to bang about like a Salvation Army Drum.
Then, the creme de la creme: The Battle Engines. It sounds really awesome when you say Battle Engine, but then you feel differently about a bloke in power armour behind a mounted Cannon while his Chariot is being pulled by two Clydesdales plated to the rim.
It really is a fantastic army to even consider. Add in a few mercenaries of similar stock, like an Ogrun Bokur or Steelhead Ironhead, maybe even Herne and Jonne to add more AOE's to the Bombardiers, and you're good as Gold.
That's the ideal list. Just tankly upon tankly, themed out the wazoo, and a fun list to play all around.
Thats one of the things that I fell in love with when it came to Warmachine. Blokes in pressure cookers beating down infantry with Halberds and stuff. That's why I want to get part of it as my Gaming Tattoo. I mocked up a Heraldry with a modified Shocktrooper Shield, Sorscha's Frostfang Hammer, and the Shocktroopers Annihilator Blade. It's not a great image but at least if I give it to a proper artist I can give a few pointers and say "This is what I want", explain it more, and go on from there.
Couple that with the Sonic 3 and Knuckles logo, the Ghost in the Machine Logo, and Death riding a motorcycle (from the cover of Terry Pratchetts Soul Music) and you have my ideal gaming arm tattoo.
I've looked into a lot of tattoos, toying with the idea of "If I were to get this" and google comes back with a tonne of awesome results. One time I just went on a binge of "What if I got a beer tattoo?" and after looking at a bunch of different beer tatts, I remembered that I don't like beer and prefer Cider, so I went searching for Cider tattoos.
I didn't realise how old the cider culture actually was. I was originally thinking about getting the Magners Irish Cider logo on there but it was pretty ordinary, nothing like the Guinness stuff. Then I found out about the German stuff and that was really cool, the traditional glasses and the Bembels that Germany uses, there is a lot of cool stuff.
I have an idea I want for other tattoos, but they're all ideas, nothing too serious. Kinda like my want to get a Datsun and a Motorbike. I toy with the ideas of getting a Motorcycle because it's cheap and cool, two things I can really enjoy. But because Im a wuss and am already pretty convinced that I would end up A over T before I know it, I want to get one with a sidecar. Then I could take my lady love for a drive.
A friend of mine pointed me to Ural, a Russian company that specialises in bikes with sidecars, and I kinda fell in love. I love the style of bikes from the War time era, kinda bare bones and everything. Ural kinda has that look with a few modern amenities, so if I were to get a brand new bike I would definitely be looking these guys up.
The Datsun would be a passion project, an old car that I could learn to fix up and then take out for a cruise on weekends. I figure it's a two-birds-one-stone idea, but with our living situation I don't have anywhere to keep it, let alone anyone to teach me.
To dream of having that one day though, to be cruising down the old highways of the US, enjoying the scenery, some awesome music playing as we stop at different places and try new foods or experiences... well that's the dream.
I got more inspiration from when we went to Florida. I found I kinda inherited my dads ability to drive at night with little hassles in exhaustion. Really, my only problem was my leg cramping up a bit, but that's more than likely from sitting in one place for 6+ hours at a time coupled with a bit of dehydration.
The inspiration is the Outrun theme. In my mind I'm thinking Turbo Outrun, a game I played on the Sega Mega Drive where you drove from New York to Los Angeles, also known as The Cannonball Run. But when I look it up in Ye Olde Searche Engine-e, I find out that it's a theme around neons and sunset/sunrises.
I began following the r/Outrun subreddit and since then gotten buckets of more inspiration. Simple things, like gentle glowing interior outlines and console colours, and even a pair of pictures to put on the rear panels of the car mixing the Outrun Sun with the Datsun logo, then just making it a little cheesier by having the right hand side the Japanese Logo and styled like a sunrise, and the left hand side the English Logo styled with a sunset, and bob's your mothers brother you have something cool.
Again though, it's all dreams and Pixie Dust. Maybe one day in the future, but in the mean time I'll keep that in my pocket in case the opportunity crops up again.
The Units are all paired up with Officers now, the Bombardier adding to an already fun unit, and the Shocktrooper giving them everything they every need and resemble: an encroaching Wall of Iron. Almost completely immovable from their places.
The Demolition Corps, aka: Big Blokes with Fuggoff And Chill Hammers (tm), have their own Sergeant attachment in the form of Dragos Dragadovich. If it wasn't awesome enough that they attack out of turn, he also romps around with two Fuggoff And Chill Hammers (tm) to bang about like a Salvation Army Drum.
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| Not just any cannon, a VULCAN Cannon |
It really is a fantastic army to even consider. Add in a few mercenaries of similar stock, like an Ogrun Bokur or Steelhead Ironhead, maybe even Herne and Jonne to add more AOE's to the Bombardiers, and you're good as Gold.
That's the ideal list. Just tankly upon tankly, themed out the wazoo, and a fun list to play all around.
Thats one of the things that I fell in love with when it came to Warmachine. Blokes in pressure cookers beating down infantry with Halberds and stuff. That's why I want to get part of it as my Gaming Tattoo. I mocked up a Heraldry with a modified Shocktrooper Shield, Sorscha's Frostfang Hammer, and the Shocktroopers Annihilator Blade. It's not a great image but at least if I give it to a proper artist I can give a few pointers and say "This is what I want", explain it more, and go on from there.
Couple that with the Sonic 3 and Knuckles logo, the Ghost in the Machine Logo, and Death riding a motorcycle (from the cover of Terry Pratchetts Soul Music) and you have my ideal gaming arm tattoo.
I've looked into a lot of tattoos, toying with the idea of "If I were to get this" and google comes back with a tonne of awesome results. One time I just went on a binge of "What if I got a beer tattoo?" and after looking at a bunch of different beer tatts, I remembered that I don't like beer and prefer Cider, so I went searching for Cider tattoos.
I didn't realise how old the cider culture actually was. I was originally thinking about getting the Magners Irish Cider logo on there but it was pretty ordinary, nothing like the Guinness stuff. Then I found out about the German stuff and that was really cool, the traditional glasses and the Bembels that Germany uses, there is a lot of cool stuff.
I have an idea I want for other tattoos, but they're all ideas, nothing too serious. Kinda like my want to get a Datsun and a Motorbike. I toy with the ideas of getting a Motorcycle because it's cheap and cool, two things I can really enjoy. But because Im a wuss and am already pretty convinced that I would end up A over T before I know it, I want to get one with a sidecar. Then I could take my lady love for a drive.
A friend of mine pointed me to Ural, a Russian company that specialises in bikes with sidecars, and I kinda fell in love. I love the style of bikes from the War time era, kinda bare bones and everything. Ural kinda has that look with a few modern amenities, so if I were to get a brand new bike I would definitely be looking these guys up.
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| Imagine being this close and not being able to justify it |
To dream of having that one day though, to be cruising down the old highways of the US, enjoying the scenery, some awesome music playing as we stop at different places and try new foods or experiences... well that's the dream.
I got more inspiration from when we went to Florida. I found I kinda inherited my dads ability to drive at night with little hassles in exhaustion. Really, my only problem was my leg cramping up a bit, but that's more than likely from sitting in one place for 6+ hours at a time coupled with a bit of dehydration.
The inspiration is the Outrun theme. In my mind I'm thinking Turbo Outrun, a game I played on the Sega Mega Drive where you drove from New York to Los Angeles, also known as The Cannonball Run. But when I look it up in Ye Olde Searche Engine-e, I find out that it's a theme around neons and sunset/sunrises.
I began following the r/Outrun subreddit and since then gotten buckets of more inspiration. Simple things, like gentle glowing interior outlines and console colours, and even a pair of pictures to put on the rear panels of the car mixing the Outrun Sun with the Datsun logo, then just making it a little cheesier by having the right hand side the Japanese Logo and styled like a sunrise, and the left hand side the English Logo styled with a sunset, and bob's your mothers brother you have something cool.
Again though, it's all dreams and Pixie Dust. Maybe one day in the future, but in the mean time I'll keep that in my pocket in case the opportunity crops up again.
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| In Mother Russia, Bear Run Over YOU |
