Redwolf's Journal (continued)

Y'know, looking back at my  review of Shadows of Mordor , there's really no surprise here. The game plays okay, though the mashing of buttons, quick time counters, and hit streak power moves are all feeling a bit dated. Assassin's Creed Origins moved a little bit away from that, and it feels better in my book. The Nemesis System has evolved ever so slightly, but feels less revolutionary than the first iteration. I saw a handful of orcs come back from the dead repeatedly and it made little impact. The story was serviceable, but scattered. Shelob (prettied up and a little less spidery) gets a whole lot of focus in the beginning, then largely steps off to the side, leaving Talion and Celembrimbor to intersect with a few other characters. I quite liked the Gondorians (though Idril was entirely too "clean" looking to be going through battle), but they too are only around for perhaps a dozen quests. Most of the play time it going to be spent fighting through/running a

I've been in a pretty critical mood lately, I think. That said, I'd be hard pressed to find things to nitpick about in Black Panther . About the worst thing I can think to say about it is that it lacked some element that really resonated or sang to me that would make it great in my book. Which means it's very solidly good. The ultimate villain could perhaps use a little more on-screen development, but still managed to be believable and sympathetic. The hero is likeable. The supporting cast is pretty great all around. There's some social commentary running through it all that didn't feel like I was bludgeoned over the head with it. The early part includes some very James Bond-ish scenes before getting into more sci-fi/superhero stuff toward the end. The final battle feels a little small-scale, but I could blame that on the relatively tight timeframe as much as anything. Slight Spoiler : I was a little disappointed the Soul Stone didn't make an appearance, tho

"The (US) Civil War, but with magic," is the short-form description I read about this book. And while that suffices as a decent description, I might have envisioned something a bit more literal. This doesn't try to take place on Earth at all, though there are some major parallels that can be drawn. There's no human/racial slavery involved, though there are shades of that debate in the magic-connected religious differences that the war is based on. And while I was just chiding the practice of achronological storytelling in another book recently, this one makes use of it to a generally positive effect. Here, about every other chapter toggles between the present of the scarred and rough spy-turned-war veteran heroine and the past that forged her. The flashback chapters skip along a bit, but general relate in a sense to what's going on in the "present" and explain things more. It serves as a way to flesh out details in a way to provide some suspense regardi

In Babylon 5 , that was a very Shadow question - to the point of pissing off Kosh. It's also a question that plagues me constantly in ways large and small. I face it in little ways daily, deciding what to eat or what to do during the evening. It's so very rare that I have an answer, rather just sort of... do something. There's a choice involved, but it's not backed by any real desire. It's come up more than a few times over the holiday season and birthday period, and I've really had to scrounge for anything resembling answers. I picked up a few video games, and that's fine - they provide entertaining distraction, which is nice to have. But beyond that? I possess enough physical stuff that it actually bothers me to a degree. This compounds with (and may well be because of) my reluctance to part with things. I have boxes of comic books and Magic cards that might theoretically be worth something, but are not worth the effort to liquidate, so they just sit

A ton of balance changes went live this last week, affecting frames and weapons. When you get down to it, though, I don't think any of that particularly changes things for me. No, the changes for me are not so mechanical. I've managed to get a few hours of play in as a group, and that is a radical change. Easy missions become laughably trivial. While I haven't done any real higher-difficulty ones with others, having a group of four removes a great deal of challenge - to the point where it might be hard to get 30 kills (an occasional bonus affinity requirement) because things are dying too quickly. On the one hand, it's nice to be able to gain quick affinity with things. On the other hand, it removes some sense of accomplishment as well. And that bring me right to a big question. I now have the opportunity to join a reasonably-active clan. Doing so, however, would mean leaving behind the clan I made myself in order to research/unlock items. The clan in question is

So, work's been relatively quiet of late, which opens up time to warm up the Kindle app and start in on the list of books I've had on my virtual probably-to-read pile. Some of these come from review websites, some from happenstance, and some from my Amazon recommendations list. The latter has been disturbingly flooded with isekai-style (though probably US and self-published in origin) books that look like things that would be far more appealing to my early-teen self than who I am now. Among the Fallen: The Genesis Thankfully, it was cheap. The protagonist is killed in a fight between two still un-explained baddies/beasties/something, and is brought back into her home city after a few months in the middle of a zombie apocalypse in which a demon-like world is being overlaid with Earth. She's given a suit that gifts her with superhuman powers (primarily uber-regeneration at this stage) and sent off to defeat several of these "Fallen" lieutenants to prevent the rit

Subnautica is one of those games I've been aware of for a while, but haven't given much thought to. I really don't like to devote much consideration to "Early Access" titles these days because that usually ends with me either burning out on interest or actually playing and... well... burning out on interest before a thing is even "done." But it had its release recently at just the right time as I was finishing AC: Origins and holding off purchasing thing on my wishlist until after my birthday. It seemed fairly well regarded, and I kind of wanted a serene-ish survival game. To me, it was definitely worth it (and not even because it costs less than half a triple-A release). The survival gameplay loop/cycle is pretty solid. The atmosphere is relatively calm with a setting that is more "alien" than hostile with probably 90% of the ecosystem indifferent to your presence. And there's a trail of breadcrumbs delivered in such a way to keep you mo