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girl gamer diary

It's really a fairly gender-neutral gamer diary. Or, make your own mind up, I guess.

  • 05/02/2023 Dwarf Fortress

    Not much gaming in January until the 29th when I started playing Dwarf Fortress! For a very long time I'd always wanted to get into it but it was sooo ugly so I always rather played something else (Pharaoh, Creatures 2, The Sims, more recently Kenshi...). But the Steam version is pretty cute (actually the dwarves are ugly) and I appreciate not needing to memorise a whole keyboard layout of interface. It's so much fun!

    In fact, today I realised I have been neglecting my website (and my writing!!) in favour of playing all those years' worth of Dwarf Fortress kinda condensed into a week. I'm mostly playing the same embark I keep restarting because I decide on a better layout (and I hate how the constructed walls look) or I learn how to clean water or whatever. I've played this one about 15 times now, 5 times from the same save with the same dwarves+wagon, hopefully this time it sticks :)

    I learnt about giving my poor dwarves free time. The past two times, the two miners got married pretty soon. This time I was prepared for it and... it didn't happen! They both took up with one of the farmers. One of those was my first lesbian relationship in the game!! I had a gay couple move in a few tries ago... I see a lot of familiar migrant faces but they're yet to show up again ;_; I made them the tavern keeper and main performer :) The straight couple got married but the lesbian couple broke up. And got back together! But broke up again. And the miner took up with the doctor and I was worried about the farmer-cook all by herself... but she married the administrator just now! So of my starting seven, just the carpenter/supposed leader is single... I hope he can meet someone!

    That's what inspired me to write this up!!!! And now I am back to the game!!

  • 07/02/2023 Dwarf Fortress

    That fortress kept getting this massive migrant population explosion that made everything weird (literally I went from 19 to 55 the 2nd time...) and also it blew up my water system, I guess the hatch wasn't ice proof?? And so I ended up giving up on that one. I wanted to start a smaller fortress, maybe even trying to stick to the 7 and their kids, or just a few migrants (and maybe any visitors I convince to move in). I want to be able to keep track of them and their stories better! Yesterday, I started a new fort in a new world. A few false starts digging a nice road under a mountain, 'cause I hate channeling. But I got something good and we were away. Except... the dwarves refused to socialise when they were idle! I guess they hated each other! That's no good! I was willing to persevere with them being 6 women and a man too even haha! Today I'm starting again! I think I will pick somewhere with a river... I am tired of managing ponds!

  • 14/02/2023 Dwarf Fortress, Rebel Galaxy (kinda)

    I have done nothing but play Dwarf Fortress for three weeks. Or, just about. It's come to a temporary end not from boredom but crashes, unfortunately. I finally made a fortress I was gonna stick with but it's not behaving well, and I don't want to move to monthly autosave/saving after planning constructions/whatever. I was mad enough when my first babies here, a boy and a girl, were lost to a crash and became two boys (with worse personalities!), but I was gonna press on when I thought the crash was just from having the game open for like... a whole day lmao. But it's still misbehaving today and I'm fed up :(

    I never stuck with a fortress before these recent pair of updates, so maybe it's something that broke on those and is going to be fixed? I live in hope, and so do the residents of Catfortunes (on their VOLCANO GLACIER!!! with a CAVE!! it goes down to the caverns, though I haven't been... a giant lived at the top for ~3 years, had killed 4 people prior to embark, killed like 65 cavern things (and seabirds!!! ;_;) before finally being defeated. The cave is called Trashhell lmao. Trashhell the Shitty Cave or something like that. It's great)

    A few days ago for some reason I remembered Rebel Galaxy and its cool soundtrack, which I've been adding to my music library (this list really helped!) and then today GOG sent me an email that the prequel? sequel? which I'd apparently added to my wishlist in a trance was on offer for like 3 quid so I just bought it :) The reviews are mixed but I enjoyed the original a lot (which led into my brief time as an Elite Dangerous player, but I never liked the multiplayerness I think...) and anyway, I'm sure I'll like the soundtrack! It's downloading, idk if I'll start it today though. I have valentines plans and I also want to get some writing in!!

  • 20/02/2023 Dwarf Fortress, Star Valor, Pharaoh+W7 whinging

    I did go back to playing that same fortress but even with some ways to make it more stable it still randomly crashes. Super annoying. Today I still haven't got around to starting Rebel Galaxy Outlaw but I bought two new games, Star Valor and Greedfall.

    Star Valor is... confusing? The UI is confusing. The game is super simple, more simple than Rebel Galaxy even... idk what to make of it. I played for half an hour, I have some time to get a refund I guess. (high quality review, I know)

    I have super high hopes for Greedfall that I seriously need to temper. It's a new DAO!!!! Yeah yeah I bought the "it's like if Bioware made good games any more!!!" with PoE and look where that got me. (PoE is FINE I guess, and there's another game I need to finish...)

    In more hot gaming news I'm not buying the new Pharaoh 'cause it won't run on my OS. I don't think I degraded myself by wishlisting a game I couldn't play, I think they must have dropped W7 support because they are cowards in M$'s pocket OR maybe they just never announced specs back then more likely! It has very mixed reviews so idk how I feel anyway. I mean, global labour pool omg... and the redone soundtrack sounds great from the snippets I heard. But apparently it's pretty buggy and there's some weird maybe-bugs stuff like police don't fight hippos any more and like wtf have they been doing? It's not like they had much designing work! But on the other hand: Pharaoh!!!!!!

  • 02/03/2023 Desperados 3

    Before the Steam xmas sale (or during??) I'd added Desperados 3 to my wishlist. And I'd ummed and ahhed on half price £12.50 and decided I wasn't sure it was my kind of game. Now the fucking price has gone up when I noticed it's on sale for half price £16.something... but whatever, inflation, it sucks but I guess games aren't immune.

    I also suddenly noticed it had a demo, so I installed that the other day and finally got around to playing it today. It's FUN!!! So I bought not just it but the whole series bundle. It's my birthday soon so it was an early present hehe :)

    I can't believe it's been a week and a half and I still haven't gotten to Greedfall or made my mind up any further about Star Valor. Idk what I've been doing 'cause it ain't been gaming or writing lmao and it hasn't been anything else either. Mystery!! (Actually, I kinda think it was website stuff...)

  • 06/03/2023 Desperados 3

    it's my bday!! And I'm still playing Desperados 3 :D I finally have all the characters. The levels take me like 1h-1h30 on normal difficulty lmao, I have no idea how anyone gets the speed targets. I'm having fun though :D

  • 08/03/2023 Desperados 3, buying new games

    I did refund Star Valor in the end (on the 3rd!) and I used the money to buy Pathfinder: Kingmaker and its DLCs. I've heard good things about the sequel but it's more than I'm willing to gamble, so I'll try this one first.

    Apparently it's "too hard", so I'm curious about how I'll find it. I never really know what people mean by "hard" ("easy"/"casual" on the other hand is simpler - a game you can play without concentrating). The difference between an unpaid job and a fun challenge is going to be a little down to the devs but mostly a matter of taste, so it would be more helpful if people said something like "it's hard because there's too much inventory management" or "because ranged combat is weak and I only like ranged combat" or whatever it is. But, sometimes these things are hard to put a finger on!

    I hope it doesn't involve memorising damage types, because the only time I have ever tolerated that was Pokemon.

    Idk if I'll start it today. I feel like I should play something that isn't Desperados 3 because I was literally seeing it in the ceiling as I fell asleep last night lmao.

  • 09/03/2023 Desperados 3

    I did go back to Desperados 3. I finished it! The end really got on my tits. It's 6 missions per chapter apart from in the last one?? So I used my fave abilities like Isabelle's mind control before the finale... It was such a pain to complete, but whatever, I did it. It's a bit of a bland ending though. They don't even ride off into the sunset or anything. I guess it's the title screen but... meh.

    I will play the DLCs and maybe replay some missions but not before I play something else!

  • 11/03/2023 Icewind Dale, Catz 3

    Yesterday I decided to start Icewind Dale, idk why. I haven't played it since I was a little girl and I never finished it. Actually I never properly played it 'cause I sucked at it. I remember how I just wanted to kill the tavernkeeper and it was all I tried to do but... that must have been a different game 'cause it's a woman not a man like I remember, and the inn is laid out differently. I'm so confused!

    Anyway, I didn't get very far 'cause my party is weak so I'm gonna start again with hopefully better characters!

    I initially couldn't get it to run at all - this is the original non-EE version I downloaded from GOG in 2014 - but I found it runs if you delete ddraw.dll. That dll also caused me horrible treacle-like movement in FO1, but deleting it fucked up the cutscene video colour which I hated but had to live with. But no more! Maybe! Haven't checked FO1 yet but I found this replacement for ddraw.dll and it seems really cool!

    My new party is a lot more powerful but this game is so ugly and boring so far. I'm hoping it picks up now I've finally left the village but idk, I want to play something else! But idk what.

    I decided to... install Catz 3 lmao. The official downloads didn't want to install but I found someone extracted them which is sooo much easier anyway. Please tell me if that ever goes down and I'll put them up on here :) It also didn't want to run right without PetzA. BUT! It still crashed after like an hour with that... idk if I just have to close it down more often or what. My catz are fine, but all my lovely decoration got reset ;_;

    I forgot/never knew that if you cancel adoption partway you lose the cat forever!! So sad. I decided I wanted a tabby + persian and to get back to, jesus christ, 9 year old vegetablearian's life goal of breeding the kitten off the cover. I was slightly thwarted by rolling a grey persian... but she was so sweet and they got on so well... AND THEN I LOST HER because I was calling her Smoke but then I was like omg no Smokey would be better. ;_; But, I got a white one called Marshmellow instead. She constantly picks fights with Bournville (and licks him??) They are so much more lively than I remembered! Maybe I haven't played since I got my real cats, 10 years ago this year, and now I see so many more lifelike actions they do. :)

    Now I'm gonna play something else, ideally start something like Greedfall or Pathfinder or the Age of Decadence demo I downloaded... but... something tells me I'm going to play Dwarf Fortress even though it's so crashy!!! I was looking at Rimworld earlier after seeing Frostpunk was on sale and a review saying it was just a shit Rimworld and I have Rimworld on my wishlist but it's not on offer rn but I already have DF so.....

  • 12/03/2023 Just Cause 2, Star Drift Evolution, Deus Ex: Human Revolution

    I went back to Just Cause 2 and finally finished the mission I was stuck on last night. (This game has such an annoying heavy feeling... I feel glued to the floor... the cars all have several bodies in the boots too?) But then today, I met a bug and I'm just done with this game. I uninstalled it and asked for a refund. I don't think I'll get one, but it makes me feel better to ask lmao. But, after submitting the request, apparently I only paid 99p for it lmao? I don't remember it like that but it's probably right, it was all in a big bundle. Now, will I actually get along with Just Cause 3? I hope so, but I'm not installing it today. 1. mad at it 2. it's like 55gb and I have too many games installed! I need to play some!

    Last night I downloaded the demo of Star Drift Evolution and gave it a... spin... It's fun, I suck at it though. Neither of the camera angles work for me in all situations, but it has custom camera angles so I guess I can try those! I don't mind sucking at games, but I do kinda mind how EVERY time I lose this first race it's like "you know there's an easy mode babe?" like YES but I want to get good!

    It's RPG time today!!! Greedfall or Pathfinder: Kingmaker... or....... I have had Deus Ex: Human Revolution installed for ages, that's an RPG right? OR I can try to get further in PoE or IWD... or I can do some FO4 DLCs... or I can restart FO1 again... I will not start my new FO3 playthrough today though, no no no, I want to play games not set up mods.

    God, I've gone and jinxed myself, haven't I? :) But I really want to plaaaay something! Something fun, something that grabs me.

    Well, I started Deus Ex: Human Revolution. And decided I couldn't be doing with it. It's only 12 years old but it's uglier than Thief 1 & 2. Why is it so yellow? And the gameplay is clunky compared to Thief, too. Fucking console games! I have to stop buying them... I'm not surprised but I couldn't get a refund for Just Cause 2. Square Enix need to stop making shit pc ports and also I need to play games more promptly so I don't have to pay for them when they suck lmao. Apparently I bought DE:HR nearly 10 years ago! For a whopping £2.24...

    I'm gonna try and get a little further in IWD and then idk what! Maybe it will grab me by that point or maybe I have to try something else again...

  • 22/03/2023 Age of Decadence

    I haven't been updating: I didn't play a lot of games after the last update until the 19th. On the 15th I bought Starflight 1 + 2 on GOG, but I haven't started them yet.

    But on the 19th I finally started playing the Age of Decadence demo and I liked it so much I bought the full game the next day! I also bought Underrail, but I haven't started that yet.

    I'm in the 2nd area on my 2nd iteration of my thief character... I don't like the 2nd area so much. I think I don't like the sci-fi+fantasy stuff in a post-apocalyptic setting. I think I'd be more into the game if the abyss (which I just finished exploring) had been either a nuclear bomb or fantasy shit, not both. I'm fine with this stuff when it's not post-apocalypse though.

    Anyway, the game is fun! More fun since I decided to cheat a bit to make fights easier lmao (it's really annoying how the game sometimes lets me call on my allies when I don't particularly need or want their help, but then when I do I can't ask - but all my enemies have backup!). I do love the combat though! Assuming I don't hate the end game stuff, I want to play again as a fighter, maybe an assassin. (Maybe even if I do hate the endgame story stuff - I can just play until it starts being annoying!)

  • 05/04/2023 Age of Decadence, mad at Steam

    I was mostly writing at the end of last month (or, trying to). Then my attention was taken up by the announcement that Steam is stopping support for W7. Literally just after I bought loads of games, too, and only one I could refund and immediately rebuy on GOG. It pisses me off so much! Especially the stuff about ~security~ they added when they realised admitting it was just for their shitty pc-burning chrome shopfront made it sound like they should just, idk, stop (I can't believe they got rid of skins for that shit...). I have their stupid 2fa app, if someone somehow steals my account I'm pretty sure it's actually on them!

    So, no more steam games ever for me (and I'm furious that, when I refunded the half of my final £10 purchase that was eligible - that I'd paid 67p towards with my steam credit that had originally come from another refund from my own fucking money - they were like oh yeah I'm sure you wanted to pay for the game you're keeping with a real fiver, here's your credit back though for the other one :) like WTF?? It's a fucking insult). Today I finished porting my wishlist over to GOG. Sooo annoyed that I bought some recents like AoD, Greedfall, Desperados 3 on Steam instead of there! (I was just going by my >1GB rule - the manual installers are a pain to download over that. But, I'll just have to put up with it from now on. Thankfully most of the games I like/they sell are smaller!)

    I've been playing more AoD. I'm exploring some 2ndary locations before I go to the 3rd (final?) town. Also, I killed my guildleader so they hate me now so I wonder how that will stack up once I get to the 3rd town (I didn't realise I can go back to the 1st, and they're still cool with me at least, so...? Maybe I will try and join the assassins or something). I didn't actually kill him for his +1 constitution (not least because I have been cheating my arse off), it was because I didn't appreciate his tone with me lmao.

  • 06/04/2023 The Sims 3

    All of a sudden, I started playing TS3 again! And again actually playing, not modding or building or testing. I'm playing the same save I started last time as Simona. Okay, okay, I am kind of testing lmao and I'll build. But, I'd like to work out how to keep some of my changes I've made like Simona's house without having to move her in and out (but if I have to, it's fine) and her cute new outfits and hair/makeup I've done for her (again... I'll do it again). The thing is, I'll do it all again for SIMONA my precious testing sim who has been through so much for Monte Vista, but what if I get really into this and start doing up everyone's homes/wardrobes? So it would be nice to have a plan. In the meantime, if I want to do more future planning stuff, I have some civic buildings left to build/fill.

  • 17/04/2023 The Sims 3, Age of Decadence

    Mostly I've been playing TS3 here and there, but today I decided to finish AoD. It was underwhelming, like I kind of expected. The gods stuff is just sooo boring and there isn't anything else in act 3 really. It's depressing, because it has so much promise. When it's fun it's really fun. But there's nothing worse than a story that's meant to be so crazy and exciting but is dull as dishwater. This game without the fantasy/sci-fi bullshit is one of my favourite games ever, I can just feel it.

    I feel like I should try to knock out some steam games, especially ones I don't intend to rebuy on other platforms (is AoD one? ... probably not... not if I can get it for cheap... I so badly love half of what they were doing). But I kinda wanna start Underrail which I got on GOG. I don't really like starting games though haha. And I have two huge ugly games hanging over me for years, The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisiton which I feel like I should finish some day but. like. they suck (but I love their 1st games so much, and if I don't finish the 3rd ones, I feel like I slogged through the awful 2nd ones for nothing, you know? And they say the DLCs are the best part and redeem it: but then again, they say these games are good, so...)

    Otherwise I might start Greedfall or the Rebel Galaxy 2 whatever it's called. Wow, my life is so hard!

  • 22/04/2023 Fallout 4

    I went back to Fallout 4, trying to finish the DLCs. I want to replay FO3 but this is kinda in my way. Bethesda fallouts are soooo fucking gory. I'm playing Nuka World which is dull so far, but I guess you're meant to side with the serial killers (3 flavours of serial killers? is that the best they can do? Why not 1 serial killers, 1 violent thugs who do what they want, 1 eco-fascists or something... I would probably still kill them all, but at least it would feel like a choice. They have some cute armour though)

    Also I just updated this games diary to a cuter format :)

  • 27/04/2023 Fallout 4, Ozymandias, Astro Colony, Psychonauts

    Still in Nuka World. It keeps nearly growing on me. The outer parks have fun designs so far (I have done the sci-fi, the children's and I'm in the western one now!). It's spoilt by the combat. The combat was basically never fun in this game - maybe right at the start when it was hard, not just easy + slow - so it's so fucking irritating. I get into the level design and then take 2 seconds, 3 keypresses to kill some enemies that just spawned or whatever like christ what is the point? So pointless. Also, the navmeshing is awful, Piper's always falling behind and getting stuck.

    I tried the Ozymandias demo. I really want to like it, but I hate this kind of childish, large and noisy interface. Plus... I feel like after playing the tutorial I've had all the fun I could with it. It's just a little too boardgamish for me. So I won't buy it, but I recommend trying it out for yourself if you're at all interested.

    I also tried the Astro Colony demo. It's just hideous. You have to float around mining asteroids by hand because you need to make a machine to make oxygen. ??? It's nothing like the pictures and description. Tedious and unrealistic is not fun (tedious and realistic can be fun!)

    My husband is a big Psychonauts fan and has been trying to get me to play it maybe as long as I've known him :) Today I finally gave in. It's pretty fun so far! But annoying that it was all stretched and nasty until I changed the resolution, and the game doesn't start in a civilised way with a menu, just launches you straight into the opening cutscene (and if you haven't played before, you sit wondering, is it just that it has ugly text? because the characters do have wide faces anyway...)

  • 29/04/2023 Fallout 4

    Just finishing up Nuka World I guess. I got fed up looking for the code stickers so I cheated the last few, I'm about to go into the office with the sociopathic FO3 girl. This game is so bad lmao, such obvious oversights like I can't tell sexy tarzan to have a nice life with his family, I have to mention how the raiders are going to move in... the raiders I killed to the last man... yeah those raiders. They didn't test this and they didn't patch it in all these years. I heard they're going to make a stupid new version like they keep doing with Skyrim, wonder if they'll fix it then? I don't plan to rebuy this game on GOG (oh - they don't even have it!) but, at the same time, I keep seeing stuff and being like "oh next time I play I'll..." ...but I don't really think there will be a next time. Maybe in 20 years out of nostalgia. (Then again, I never thought I'd go back to FNV, and now look at me!)

    I think about other games I'm forcing myself to finish like DAI and TW3, series I feel like I love but actually, I just like the first game (well, I like more of Fallout than that). ~2015 was such a fucking dire time for games, so bloaty and so fucking unfun!

    I finished Nuka World, fucking underwhelming. No matter how many logs you found about another evil Fallout CEO, you have to be like "omg you poor innocent man" it's so tiresome. I started Far Harbor and did a little more in the top of the map on the way there. Far Harbor was eating my GPU but maybe it's just because my poor computer was overdue an AIRBLASTING. Hopefully it will run cooler now :)

  • 03/05/2023 Fallout 4, Gobliiins 5, Colony Ship

    I'm still making my way through Far Harbor. It's mostly fun - it's a lot better than the rest of the game, certainly. But I think the ending is going to piss me off :)

    Yesterday I tried the Gobliiins 5 demo. I can't get past the first map lmao. I think I played the first games when I was little - was I any better? Maybe I shouldn't be playing in French :)

    Today I started the Colony Ship demo (had to get it on Steam, it's not on GOG, or not yet?) and hmmm. I was captivated at first but the game was about to set my GPU on fire so I turned some settings down and now I don't like it any more lmao. I think it's just not really legible in low res so I'm physically struggling to play (I probably need new glasses!) Well, I'll give it another shot some time.

  • 06/05/2023 Fallout 4, Greedfall

    Well, I finished Far Harbor. I didn't like the ending (why the fuck can't I convince the girl to leave - fuck, why can't I just knock her out and drag her home - and then send in the vertibirds? And why does the sensible synth hater in the town get so mad at me when all I wanted was to send in the pros instead of the villagers...) but whatever, me and Nick closed the case didn't we.

    So, I guess I'm done with FO4. After 2 years, and nearly eight solid days of my one and only life. I can't really say I liked it - it pissed me off too much. But some parts are good. Nick, Piper, Ingram (and a lot of the Brotherhood actually - Tuvok was fun of course), the bartender in Diamond City I forget his name. The cats :) The OST is beautiful, really grew on me, Inon Zur is a genius. (The radio station sucks though! No matter what you do with the presenter!!) There are some really beautiful models, textures and settlement/dungeons designs and, here and there, interesting quests... but there's just so much shit to wade through. So, I'm kinda relieved.

    I still had the robot DLC to do but that really fucked up the main quest for me with the stupid spawns until I turned it off, so it really soured me on it. I think Far Harbor is as good as that game gets so best to leave on nearly a high.

    I started Greedfall and got like an hour in before giving up. It's intensely shit. Like an Assassin's Creed game except you play as a heavy lump. Unfathomable. Every single interaction has like 20 lines of voiced dialogue lmao wtf. Worst tenner I've ever spent on a game. People saying it's oldschool in any way have lost their fucking minds. Pointlessly large maps, MMO click to win combat, awful! Like Dragon Age 2 crossed with The Witcher 3. (Oh, maybe there are kids who think those are oldschool now, is that the problem?)

  • 09/05/2023 Pathfinder: Kingmaker

    I started Pathfinder: Kingmaker the next day and omg!! It's GOOD!! A new game I thought would be good is good! I'm not very far in - I've just started all the kingdom management part. And I've accidentally spoilered myself for some things about the end which seem annoying... and my hopes of a new Dragon Age series for me have been dashed by some things I learnt about the sequel... but oh well! I'm enjoying it so far!

    It's not as good as Origins (the companion interaction is weird and unnatural, not paced right, and the combat is not as fun) but it's a lot better than sticking BG, IWD and NWN in a blender, which was kind of what I expected. I like it a lot better than PoE - the lore is handled a lot better (maybe they were nervous about how to introduce it when it was all new, but I don't know fuck all about Pathfinder and I'm sure most people playing the game don't either?)

    I wondered if Inon Zur was the composer but no, well kind of, he made the title track and maybe 2 others, and all the rest is just a fairly decent ripoff of his work lmao. I like it though :) It's also pretty!! It looks like a Unity game, why do they look like that/anything?? But it's a pretty one. The voice acting is mainly fucking atrocious however, I might turn it off. Also, sometimes when you try and click to scroll through the dialogue it picks whatever's on that line... and when you skip dialogue too sometimes... and it doesn't properly recenter on the responses. You have to scroll through the text the character just said??? This is the worst thing about the game though (so far). I don't really like dnd alignment shit but I like how this game handles it, for example :)

  • 10/05/2023 Pathfinder: Kingmaker

    I wrote yesterday's update before playing and I'd forgotten the fuck awful way quests start/update, with 3000 popups and noises. Also the tutorial is really annoying, you can't just have specific features, you have to be like "so party formation is..." too. I turned it all off and I hope I don't regret it. I'm also annoyed at an issue that doesn't apply to me lmao which is that I only can properly engage with the kingdom stuff because I bought a DLC with an additional party member??? That is really hostile game design

    On the plus side, I like how this game integrates the missions your advisors do with the things you/your party does a lot better than Dragon Age: Inquisition. I think it's not a totally fair comparison because that game came out a few years before, but anyway, I like it better :)

  • 12/05/2023 Pathfinder: Kingmaker

    Still playing Kingmaker. I have some new companions including one I'd christened Nigerian Boone even before I heard him telling the enemies that they can't hide from him :) hehe! I've been romancing the evil tiefling, I prefer her sister but I read that you have to start with her?? I just got the event where they switch in bed but idk if I picked the right options to progress with that.

    I got so annoyed at the Linzi quest where my only options are "it's fine if you steal from the treasury" or "I don't want to do your quest" like why can't I execute her. Shit game. I guess it's because, one of the things I spoilered myself on, she can't die because she dies at the end... I'm sick of games trying to force small annoying american bards on me!!

    I respecced my character after getting a better feel for the classes and it's sooo annoying lmao you have to redo the whole character creation? And it gets rid of your alignment history... Anyway, I ditched archaelogist and now I'm just like equally sylvan sorcerer and whatever that summoner cleric is called. It seems like a fun combo, idk necessarily how well it plays but it has to be better than all three which is what I'd previously had! I think I will stop leveling cleric fairly early because it has no features but idk I don't want to be a shit cleric... also I don't get the super cool (I am assuming) dryad summoning from sylvan sorcerer this way... (I LOVE DRYADS) I guess I can just respec again if I start feeling weak? Well, I don't want to play full cleric but I have kind of replaced the blonde cleric with Nigerian Boone so I missed having bless and stuff, which I literally don't even have as this kind of cleric lmao. Oh well

  • 24/05/2023 Pathfinder: Kingmaker

    I was playing on the 18th but until today I haven't played anything, just been working on HTTWSB. I just did some of the cleric's personal quest and I feel bad 'cause I keep forgetting how this game often works is that if you kill/make flee the boss the underlings give up. I split the party between the toughest one and mopping up the crowd, so only a few got away lmao.

  • 12/06/2023 Pathfinder: Kingmaker

    After a long stretch of not playing anything (apart from checking some locations in FNV for HTTWSB) I played some more Kingmaker last night and... I don't like it!! It makes me mad. I really want to like it. But it's just awful. I keep playing because it sucks me in and I'm actually last night telling myself "why do you think you don't love this game?? it's fun!!" and then it's hitting me with another YOUR KINGDOM IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE and like. It's not fun. These things don't mix like the devs seem to think they do. I love isometric rtwp rpg, I love government-strategy-whatever games and they don't mix. Not like this with all the obnoxious timers.

    The worst was I had to go to certain area on a Monday. And it doesn't fucking tell you the day of the week on the map or in the quest log!!!!

    And I still get so angry at all the fucking popups when anything happens (and if you like, use these? to read a letter for example? it doesn't register as a quest stage!!) it's like malware simulator. fuck these devs genuinely. Now I don't have to buy the sequel. #moneysaving

    Why am I using hashtags. It's really hot here actually. Anyway, I'm going to finish Kingmaker probably. But angrily.

    I guess part of the problem is I'd like to continue with Psychonauts, Thief 1; start Arcanum, Rebel Galaxy 2, Dungeon Rats... but I feel compelled to finish up my steam games before the end of the year! (Actually I want to play Fallout 3 or Kenshi and these are doubly verboten because I already rebought Kenshi on GOG and I'll probably rebuy FO3 too). I was going to call it a hell of my own making but it's a hell of gaben's making actually so fuck you (he reads this)

    ^ look how in sunny mild May I'm feeling sorry for enemy NPCs and now it's like 27 or something and constantly threatening to storm I'm effing and jeffing all over the shop.

  • 19/06/2023 Pathfinder: Kingmaker, The Secret of Darkwoods, Pillars of Eternity

    So I played a lot more Kingmaker and I was mostly enjoying it despite all the problems but now I have a bug. I can't follow Tristian at the temple. I get an error. This was "fixed" shortly after launch where it would just load like treacle and you had to let it... but I can't do that. Because it errors. I tried an earlier save. The same. So fuck this game and fuck Owlcat the incompetents! If you're going to make the world's longest game you could at least test it!

    I tried The Secret of Darkwoods. It's boring. Sorry to the bloke who put his heart and soul into it but I gave up after 5 mins.

    I tried to play Assassin's Creed 3 but it won't load? I guess this new ubisoft launcher doesn't work on my pc? Well... that's another one ticked off...

    I went back to PoE. It's been more than half a year and I'd forgotten what I was doing/who the bad guy was lmao. I think, how I'd stopped, I'd intended to join the Crucible Knights. But I decided to join the Dozens instead. And now I'm going to City 2 except I can't work out how, but that will be later/tomorrow!

  • 21/06/2023 Pillars of Eternity, Starbound

    Didn't I say I gave up on Starbound? I changed my mind. I love that game. I've been sorting out some new story-cancelling mods and also just sorting through all the ones I had. I'm making it GOG-proof. Renaming workshop files really helps you narrow down which ones you actually care about. I think I have a nice little setup now (with a Floran "virus" I made for my Glitch ship... hehe). And now after like half an hour of testing, I want to play!

    I got to nearly the end of PoE yesterday. I have a few bounties and some of the castle quest but I'm basically done? So I think I will do the expansion, those quests and then yeah... if I don't get fully sidetracked with Starbound, maybe I'll finish today! (I have no idea how long the expansion is though actually haha)

    I'm still mourning Kingmaker 'cause I miss Nok Nok. I liked some of the other companions too (very some: just Ekun, Tristian, Amiri and Valerie) but he was my favourite and I was only just starting with his quest to be a goblin hero... Nok Nok you deserved to be a in a better game that was actually playable ♥

    I struggled to work out how on earth to start the PoE expansion and then I realised I don't have it. Hehe. So I will finish today after all, I think!

    Omg I can't beat the adra dragon. I even made them all eat pies. I hate making them eat, it's so annoying (can't split stacks 1 by 1, can't just say "hey guys we are eating pie now okay"...) So it's staying there. My castle is all nice and upgraded though so I think when she notices she'll be friendly about it. Now I need to go and lose the fight to the baby-eaters I was putting off. I'm at level cap on all of them now so it ain't getting easier!

    I finished it! The ending slides are so slow and annoying lmao why do americans talk so slow. Anyway, I guess I enjoyed the game overall! I don't know if I'll ever replay it. I liked it better than BG (1 - I never played 2 because the intro just offends me, why am I in a cafe, why do I have to save my most annoying party member...). I probably liked it about as much as NWN (1 and 2). I don't remember those games very well though, I think I played them about 10 years ago now. I don't know if it's just my mood today but it was all so melancholy. I got good endings and everything (well, not for Durance but I never liked him!)

    It's a pretty game and it has a pretty soundtrack. I guess that's what I'll remember most. (And sexy farmboy.) Frankly the whole "souls that are different people" thing makes no sense to me and bored me the whole way through, which is obviously a problem when that's what the game's about! I don't think I'll play the sequel (or the Skyrim ripoff they're making now haha)

  • 22/06/2023 Desperados 3

    I played some of the Desperados 3 DLC but it's kind of annoying. I don't want to kill other people who are robbing the same dead bad guy we are robbing... but it's tough! I killed one and feel bad about it...

  • 23/06/2023 Desperados 3

    I finished the first DLC mission! I just gave up and killed some, even the DOG I don't think I killed a dog in the whole main game.

    I thought the 2nd mission seemed weirdly short, like most of the map was optional... I only just got the real mission hehe :) But now I'm taking a break before I see viewcones everywhere.

  • 26/06/2023 Desperados 3, Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, Desperados 2, Helldorado

    I finished the DLC! Well... the maps were fun, but the story?? wtf?? The main game ending was anti-climatic but this one just sucked! I can't believe Hector would do that to Cooper! I heard it was bad but I still couldn't see it coming, it just seemed out of character (the terrible plans were fine though haha)

    I'd like to experiment with taking different characters in the maps but not today. But maybe I will start the first game?

    Okay, I tried the first game and I hate it lmao. I can't work out how to increase mouse sensitivity. It keeps telling me I can use hotkeys and doesn't say what they are anywhere. If there's a manual, it's not included on steam apparently.

    Okay I fixed the mouse sensitivity but I still can't get through the tutorial! He won't do anything with the building. Well, whatever! I also tried to play the 2nd one and it literally won't load.

    And the "third" one which is just not good. Well, that knocks 3 games off the steam execution list :)

    I badly want to play FNV. I'm waiting for the price to be -75% again on GOG like it was last xmas. Maybe this summer sale? Rn it's -67%. It's a difference of 70p or so for one of my favourite games ever, but it's just the principle of buying it twice lmao. (I want to do it before xmas because with the steam deadline being then, I don't want to have to be doing any kind of cross-checking troubleshooting or whatever when I'm busy with actual xmas) I want to try again with my legion/energy weapons/luck playthrough!! (It got bogged down in fic photography last time)

  • 09/07/2023 Desperados 3, Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magicka Obscura

    I've been playing more Desperados 3 here and there, but today I started Arcanum! It's fun - pretty frustrating, too. Lots of improvements from Fallout, but so much that's just as bad, and the game isn't quite as charming... still, I'm enjoying it :) (Now I just need to work out where I can sell this enchanted platemail...)

  • 11/07/2023 Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magicka Obscura

    I don't know how much I actually like Arcanum. Moving around is such a chore and the story hasn't really grabbed me. I think I'll put it aside for now and see if I want to get back to it. But then, what to play in the meantime?

  • 16/07/2023 Fallout: New Vegas (kind of), Dungeon Rats

    This week, I spent some time changing some FNV mods, including finalising my little clothing frankenmod, and I decided it was as good a time as any to switch to a GOG installation. Because the Data folder was all nice and tidy. And when you uninstall games on steam, they leave all the contents of the game folder even if it's dumb (like, a log or something). Except not this time!! I had all my mods in a separate installer folder of course but it was a pain to do everything again. On the plus side, I finally got them properly organised. I just realised I haven't actually started a new game to test, but it loads and that's the first step, eh?

    Today I started Dungeon Rats! It's fun. I'm playing on the normal ie evil difficulty lmao. I got as far as the caves and I'm starting to struggle. I need to get more to grips with the positioning in this game. I trained myself out of it with AoD because it didn't really matter. I think I can beat that centipede and not lose my actually useful companions so long as I use my healing salves first. That's something else I trained myself out of in AoD!

  • 18/07/2023 Oni

    Yesterday I got ready to start a new Fallout 3 game. But I didn't. Today I installed Oni :) I still have it on CD, but it wouldn't work. This replacement dll and this replacement exe fixed it! And I just got past the first fight with the big ugly bloke. God, it's been so long since I played this game, but it's so funny - I apparently played it so much I memorised every cutscene. It all came back to me when each one played. (And I seem to remember where all the extra health/ammo is, too.) I have some awful screentearing I haven't yet been able to fix (I have never really understood my GPU software) but I'm having fun!

  • 22/07/2023 Oni, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, Fallout Tactics

    I was playing a bit of Oni until I got to the bit with the green goop and managed to die 4 times (only twice from falling in it) oh my GOD why is that section so long. I need to go back to it. ;_;

    Yesterday I was filled with the desire to play what's widely considered the worst Fallout game ever, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. It took me hours and I broke my pc at one point but I finally got it running on an emulator. Now I need to either map up some good keyboard keys or try the old xbox controller we have for some reason (I almost swear I used to play FO3 on it?? No, that's mental... but then what? I found out recently I used to play something on it, but idk what and I can't find the file now). The intro is fun and the song is basically what convinced me to play it. It's cute :) (Based on this one.) I've seen lots of awful screenshots and writeups, too :D

    I started Tactics again in the meantime! Last year, I didn't like the real time so I switched to turn based and didn't like that either. This time I must have picked better settings, or maybe it's just 'cause I didn't come straight from FO1/FO2, because I like the turn based now. I got back to the bunker, I remember buying bad equipment last time so I'll be careful this time!

  • 24/07/2023 The Witcher 3, Fallout Tactics

    So I've had a bunch of useless TW3 updates in my Steam queue for years or whatever. I last played in March 2020. I never really liked this game. I started installing 50gb of updates (how is it more than the game itself lmao) and then wondered if I could actually just play it outside Steam seeing as how it probably doesn't use Steam as DRM. Yeah, it works. But then... I realised I don't like this game. I don't like how it controls, the story bores me... I don't like anything about it. I am in the middle of a quest where I have to use a magic lantern. I couldn't work out what key that was three years later and after firing my crossbow into a fireplace a few times I realised I am simply not bothered. I only wanted to play this game because people said it was good. I only liked the first one. I persevered through the second because the third is ~amazing~ and I literally never liked it. I won't make myself finish this one. No sense throwing good time after bad money.

    I want to love Tactics so bad but it's so bad!! The squad formation shit is horrendous, the pathfinding is nonexistent, omg. I think I need to play with a smaller squad but that's annoying. I think this is the real reason I gave up on it last time...

  • 14/08/2023 Desperados 3, Dwarf Fortress

    I haven't played a lot of games since the last update, but I was playing some more Desperados 3. I am replaying and trying to get some of the badges :) It's fun. I am not good at the timed ones. I can't recall if I've even managed the easiest one, the first one yet... I don't know if I want to try those otherwise at all, I find the controls a little too frustrating for that (not being able to pause to set commands in hardcore is bad enough)

    I've been playing lots of DF since last Thursday but I've given up again today. It's just too fucking crashy. I can't take it! I'm sick of retracing what I did and hoping it sticks. Never mind that so much of what happens is random and I want to keep it! I actually don't believe people play this game for years like they claim. I can only get as far as about the fifth year before it crashes multiple times a season and becomes unplayable. This game would be so fun if it fucking worked!

  • 17/08/2023 Dwarf Fortress

    ... the very next day, I went back to DF lmao. I read that windowed mode is more stable and it seems to be! I've gotten to year 11 :) Sooo many of my poor dwarves died in attacks from the caverns and it's just pretty much taken over by mostly-invisible rat people now who immediately kill every forgotten beast (we killed the first one in the tavern and made soap and gloves from it lmao). So they are walled off. I managed to get a well from the caverns working. That was stressful and took some saving and reloading when some bloke (a human - my fortress is about half humans, an elf and a cheetah person!) and his 4 pet sheep wandered into the caverns after installing the screw pump (like, 2-3 years after the first attempt) and TOOK A NAP. A nap in the caverns. Why! I didn't want to see what happened, I reloaded. Also when a cat got stuck down there and died. I've had so many kids and animals and helpless bards killed, I just couldn't take any more!

    I worked out that I can add human mercenaries to a squad, so we have a squad now. I only have 9 adult dwarves left from 12-14 (I capped migrants at 14 and I think I got some kids? Maybe? Or some residents pushed us past the cap) and it's not enough for a military. They are all getting good with their picks/axes though, and I make lots of leather clothes, so they aren't totally defenceless. Same for the bards who join up nowadays, well they have picks and I'm slowly replacing their clothes! (I also set a weak/frail/something one I'm fond of to man a quern because I noticed it made a dwarf "mighty", I hope it can help her!)

    Selling food is so overpriced but I have to sell it because I overproduce it (and booze, but that's easier to just turn off, we don't start drowning in ingredients the same way) so we've been a duchy for a few years. It's just an inn really. All built above ground :) I'm slowly removing windows from the outside in expectation of surface attacks by building destroyers. I'm also moving the kitchens downstairs from behind the "bar" so I can put the duke's quarters there and the barracks where he was, on the main floor and near the cavern stairs (right now it's on the upstairs balcony).

    Especially since sealing the caverns I've been slaughtering animals a lot (I need meat for my cheetah person!) but also selling them to caravans. I've been experimenting with cage traps and training, too. Never did either before. We had some boars that always got into the pasture and caused all the livestock to flee (even though they don't attack) and I was trying to train some, trained them a bit, sold most of them, kept one but she died of old age... I think I can't actually tame them though, they would have needed to be born to her when trained to be tame? I didn't particularly want tame boars, I was just glad to find a way to stop them annoying us without killing them!

    But I've gone from my starting cats and 4 poultry types (my usual peafowl, and I tried ducks, geese and chickens) and 2 mares to being overrun with horses until I sold most, I'm presently overrun with sheep, I think I'm gonna give up on chickens and maybe on ducks and geese until I can pen them in a pond or something that would be cute?? and I have also laying an ostrich, a kakapo... I have some reindeer cows and normal cows... At one point I had a leopard and a black bear and I liked them but they fought the boars a lot which I didn't want. Same with the dogs I tried, even though I chained them! So I sold them all again (actually I think one dog got herself killed). Maybe now the boars seem to have gone I could try again? Or just keep them in the tavern itself, not like they need the grass :)

    I randomly rolled a fortress once that was called Catfortunes and I loved it and reused it a lot. I switched it up for this one, it's Catmarsh. 'Cause it's in a swampy area, the brook-y head of a river that I guess leads to the nearby sea. My 3 starting cats, a tom and two queens, all died to monsters... the cats roaming Catmarsh right now are all from caravan cats. Most of the cats (the kittens and their moms) are locked in the barn lmao. I also have my typical thing of the one tom + a neutered friend for him locked in a small room. It's one of the two rooms off the barn I built for hatching eggs :) So maybe I will let more of them roam later or maybe not. I don't want to lose all my cats again! Just a few loose seems to be enough to keep pests out of the stores.

    I have a dwarf who has lots of traits like basically indestructible lmao, he started off slightly strong and slow to tire I think? He's a real trooper, since one of the last cavern attacks he has been badly injured, he stil has a head infection??? But the big problem is he can't breathe!! He's constantly having these suffocation attacks, but he just keeps pushing on. He's one of the original seven and married to the chief medical dwarf, also one of the originals (and the one who eventually taught the whole fortress first aid through the doctors guild!) They have 9 kids so far, the 8th was the first and only son. The two eldest daughters were killed :( But they still have 7 kids, so that's nice for them right? And they're one of the few with their own bedroom (I always make an office and bedroom off the hospital for the chief medic, I don't think they use the office but it just seems necessary somehow) Okay, I found his description right now: "He is absolutely inexhaustible, basically unbreakable, quite quick to heal and agile." And he made an artifact but I forgot what it was. I thought it was the blinged-out splint someone made, but no. Oh, he has a pet donkey :) (His wife has pet horses. This is clearly what brought them together, even before either of them actually had pets)

    Our first manager-bookkeeper was a really nice bloke ("values harmony, quick to love, musical, creative, good focus, leisurely") and he had 2 kids with his wife (also original dwarf). He was killed pretty early on, maybe in the first attack where we had losses. The only of my seven dwarves who didn't couple up with each other - or anyone - was the expedition leader, now the duke. Well, recently he and the first manager's wife are lovers :) I hope they get married!

    I'm excited for the kids to start growing up (doesn't help that most of the oldest ones were killed lmao). I also need to keep an eye on the humans. Most are related (and related to the ones in our catacombs...). I think the only married couple who live here are the lesbian dancer-lasher pair. I think some are single and might get together maybe? It would be fun to have some human children too!

  • 18/08/2023 Dwarf Fortress

    One of the chief medical dwarf's daughters died in a tree of dehydration and I don't know why! I went back 3 days to the season autosave to try to save her but she was already dead. I don't know why she was up there at all, there weren't any jobs out there for her :(

  • 28/08/2023 Dwarf Fortress

    I played solidly until the 24th with maybe the third iteration of Catmarsh (this one had different migrants because I forgot to change civ at the start). The new one is built of green glass :) It's cute. But now I am writing HTTWSB again and games don't exist any more. Bye! (I seriously at one point had steam telling me I'd played more than 100 hours in the past fortnight... and that was before I stopped... I've a sinking feeling that after installing DFHack, the hours were only counted there, but there's no way I played 75 hours a week, right?!)