Redwolf's Journal (continued)

 My thoughts about Once Human run a gamut of reactions. At the moment-to-moment gameplay level, I think it's pretty great. The movement and shooting  feel good, enemies have some variety to them, and the areas are generally interesting. Zooming out a little bit, the survival mechanics add some depth without feeling burdensome (though the temperature management added in the Way of Winter scenario may tip over that line a bit) as do the building mechanics. And yet, I also hit these plateaus where there doesn't feel like anything compelling to do. There is a series of story missions, though with some level gaps. The crafting progression is gated by the scenario phase, so I've played fairly heavily over a weekend and ended up having to wait several days for the next phase to be able to craft the next levels of workbenches and gear. Also, the way everything is wiped at the end of a scenario (which runs several weeks) means not getting attached to much other than gear blueprint ...

 So, yeah, I'm terrible at keeping up with between-session conversations and all the piles of possible channels/servers in Discord - especially when work gives me some time to think, but not Discord access. I believe a question was posed about thoughts on the state and future of the Adventures in Rokugan game, though, so here goes... In general, I'm enjoying the time and look forward to it more than feel burdened by it. The start time is a little earlier than ideal, but I don't mind making it work on Saturdays. So, net positive overall. I'm a touch "meh" on the mechanics of AiR. I like the familiarity of D&D, but the Rokugan-specific stuff doesn't feel very rewarding. Granted, this may just be my pick of a shadow acolyte, but I feel like I'm getting more functional mileage out of the sharpshooter feat than all of the special class abilities and level-ups haven't been particularly exciting. I've been tempted to multi-class into something els...

 I feel like Mechwarrior 5: Clans is the result of someone asking "okay, now what if we made a game for Battletech lore fans?" It eschews the freedom of the previous MW5: Mercenaries in favor of a narrative game that is laser focused on some big, pivotal elements of the setting lore around the early Clan Invasion. I know enough that it's difficult for me to judge, but I feel like anyone not familiar with at least the basics of the Clans could easily be lost. Under the hood, the game looks better to me than Mercs - I believe there was an engine upgrade involved. As all the missions are crafted rather than generated, the maps and mission flow are easily as good or better than the best missions in Mercs. A lot of breadth is lost along the way, though. There aren't any random missions you can run. The mech roster available to the player is pretty limited by comparison (to the 16 front line mechs used by the faction at the time). The mech customization feels a little sti...

So yeah, overall I enjoyed the game. I think it's good, though there wasn't anything that totally blew me away or resonated with me so much that it would feel a travesty for it not to win "Game of the Year" awards (as has been the case the last couple years with BG3 and ER). If this is comparable to Persona games, I might keep an eye on them going forward, but don't feel the need to consume the back catalog. The gameplay itself is fine - competently done, but a little heavy on menus. I still dislike the time slot management aspect because of how it taps parts of my psyche that feel a need to optimize everything, but I found there was ultimately more than enough time to do all the bond quests, raising traits, monster hunts, side missions, and arena fights. The story and characters were really the strength for me, engaging me for the lengthy run time. I liked almost all the friendly NPCs and most of the hostile ones were understandable. Several of the plot twists al...

 Last night, we roleplayed a meeting! Whee! Actually, it went pretty well. Players seemed invested, including myself. We discussed the current situation, which was probably a good thing. And as an outcome, the group seems more on the same page and most have things to do. Man, if only real world meetings went so well. - And this morning, I woke from a dream... Military shooter dream. I'm part of a very small team meeting up with a couple others in some Middle Eastern-ish setting. The travel happens following an arrow on a map, then I'm in a town waiting for the other to show up and scheduling a helicopter extraction. One of the other two groups shows up, but the third doesn't. Something happens with the helicopter, so I call in some favors for a different pickup. A short time later, a beefed up looking Osprey shows up and we get in, landing in the street. We get in and take off before the pilot starts going on about being called off a different mission to get us... and then ...

 A challenge to see if I can actually collect my thoughts on this into something coherent... There is a person in my online RP circles since Furryfaire day who irritates me. I don't really dislike them, though I may have framed it that way once upon a time, but I do dislike being "around" them, and pretty much always have. A long time ago, my introspective self considered why. The answer I came up with was not that they diametrically opposed to me or anything, but that in their behavior I saw my own impulses writ large. I could empathize with the desire to take control of situations, shape the setting, and be important. From the outside, though, I found that all struck me as extremely self-centered and I was, frankly, kind of disgusted by it. This led to a period where I kind of beat up my own ego, working to convince myself to see less importance on scenes centered on my own characters in wider RP. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if I went too far, as I find it harder to sp...