This week I’ve been playing more They are Billions.
My opinion of the game hasn’t changed since last week, I like the game, but it’s frustrating when a mistake can lead to up to an hour of time lost. Also I’ve had the game crash sometimes when I change tabs, it might be due to having the game in full screen, but when it crashes it becomes stuck. Unable to be closed by task manager, or shutting down windows.
Other than that, I’ve not really done much.
Anyway, what’s everyone else done this week? Also, happy new year!
Hello there! It’s been a while since I said hi.
I know these days the only time I come in here is to sulk, and I do try not to (hence the prolonged lack of anything on my part) but I don’t like sitting here silent. So I thought i’d just talk about things. ‘Things’ being m0stly my dad. And a bit about why I personally haven’t taken part in the site for so long.
It’s a bit of a gloomfest, so if that’s not what you’re looking for this year, I wanna wish you a very happy new year right here. I’m grateful you’ve all stuck around as much as you have, you’ve been a wonderful part of keeping this site alive and we’re all so grateful to you.
Thank you.
Now onto the moping.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Reflections, (kinda) explanations, and a happy new year.”
…depending on what calendar you use. Not to mention if you live on a different planet. This holiday season seems to be just a bit off-kilter, timing-wise. I mean, it’s still *days* until New Years. I’ve been using my time off (and difficulty adjusting to everyone having different schedules for a few weeks) collecting “Snow-Covered Parcels” in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I think I’m just about done. I did not notice that all purchasable Life Day rewards are “bind on pick-up,” which means you have to either carefully plan which character might actually use anything you buy, or buy everything useful for *each* character. Except stronghold decorations, which bind to legacy because that’s the only way decorations work. But that’s my fault; I didn’t read the label closely before starting the event.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “…and a Happy New Year*”
Merry Christmas and Happy Life Day to all the readers of Twenty Sided!
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Happy Life Day 2024!”
This week I’ve started playing They Are Billions.
I’m so far enjoying the game. The post zombie apocalypse, steampunk world is a really cool setting. I like the Starcraft-style base exploring side missions, and I also like that the zombies remind me of Project Zomboid, in the sense that one zombie left unchecked is very dangerous and could completely destroy your colony.
That being said, just one zombie being so deadly does highlight one of the game’s major annoyances. The long missions paired with the lack of a quick save system. A lot of the missions’ times last at least an hour, and it’s not even due to the fact that I play RTS’s kind of slowly. No, it’s due to the fact that most of the main objectives have a set time before they can even be completed. And this makes the lack of saving so much worse. Now don’t get me wrong, you can save, but that’s for not having to restart the mission if you close the game, if you fail the mission you can’t load that save, you just have to start over. That is, unless you forcibly close the game without saving, then you can load one of the very few auto saves.
But, all of that aside, I’m still having fun and I’ll probably play more over the next week.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Christmas and if you’re getting together with family I hope that dinner has no arguments.
Just a few news items for now. I’ll try to get something up later in the week, too. I made it through one family gathering and *just* managed to get through the preparations without shutting down and spoiling everyone’s day. This is actually much better than I used to be, where I would have reached my emotional limit and got really angry and pouty and start demanding things work they way *I* wanted them to work. Even when you’re right about something, getting loud and pushing people around isn’t the way to deal with stressful situations. If you’re stressed, so are they. We feed off it.
I have seen the new Superman teaser poster with the introductory music and the first trailer. I have maintained minimal awareness of the movie because James Gunn creating a Superman movie at least has potential. Gunn has fought hard to create movies that fit his own vision. Sure, I don’t always like the results; I don’t care for the Guardians movies, as an example. But he also made one of the greatest superhero parodies ever: The Specials. I think it’s worth pointing out that The Specials core message was about the primacy of the found family unit. It was also one of several movies from the turn of the millennium that feature commentary on corporate sponsorship of superheroes. ’99’s Mystery Men rotated around B-tier superheroes saving the city when the prominent superhero stages a fight with a paroled nemesis to boost his flagging sponsorship deals, only to get killed in the process. The Specials has subplot that essentially dovetails with the “oddball” nature of the various titular superheroes. If they want to make the headlines, and get invited to solve world-threatening problems, they need marketable images, personalities, and powers.
The world needs a good Superman movie right now. The trailer gives me hope. And I’m not the only person to comment on the trailer with those exact words. We are *all* that small Boravian child raising a home-made Superman flag praying to be saved by the one person who may care. And I suspect that whatever is going on in Boravia (and only a handful of things *ever* go on in Boravia) this segment of the movie is going to be highly filtered except for a handful of images. Because there are some clear parallels that *could* be made with current world events. And I can’t imagine DC being willing to say anything that might be construed as having an opinion on anything other than the conceptual.
Excepting the identity of various characters, most of the rest of the trailer is speculative in meaning. Possibly a corporate-backed Justice Society of America. Hawk Girl is in it, which I’m sure makes my kids happy. The Shayera Thal/Hol Hawk Girl was a favorite character from Justice League/Justice League Unlimited. This movie’s Hawk Girl would most accurately be based on the earlier Shiera Sanders-Hall, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they lean more heavily on the later interpretation of the character.
The music, of course, has been the star. Other than Krypto. The teaser’s use of the haunting, barely-discernible variation on the Superman Theme had me tearing up. Moving from that to the louder, clearer electric guitar version of the trailer was an excellent decision. If they’re smart (no evidence) we will NEVER hear the full, orchestral, Superman Theme until the final act or the END of the movie. Bring the house down.
So, yeah. I’m looking forward to the movie.
I hope everyone is finding the Steam sale to their liking. I haven’t actually checked what all *exactly* on my wish list is on sale. But I also try to avoid spending money *for me* in the days before Christmas. Steam gifting is such a useful tool. It’s a shame other services *still* haven’t figured it out.
Like last year, I’ll be back on Christmas. Because we’re all in this together.
How did this niche racing game make a gameworld so massive, and why is that a big deal?
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2013.
Why killing you might be the least scary thing a game can do.
Some advice to game developers on how to stop ruining good stories with bad cutscenes.
So what happens when a SOFTWARE engineer tries to review hardware? This. This happens.
This series began as a cheap little 2D overhead game and grew into the most profitable entertainment product ever made. I have a love / hate relationship with the series.
How does image compression work, and why does it create those ugly spots all over some videos and not others?
A long-form analysis on one of the greatest horror games ever made.
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2014.
People fault EA for being greedy, but their real sin is just how terrible they are at it.
T w e n t y S i d e d
