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Achilles and The Grognard: Chateau Irenicus

By Bob Case Posted Saturday Oct 26, 2019

Filed under: Video Games 67 comments
Achilles and the Grognard: Vanquishing SarevokPrevious Post
Next PostThe Outer Worlds: We Should Do More Of This

The Grognard: At long last, here we are. Chateau Irenicus. The dungeon so nice that one of the series’ most popular mods is the one that skips it.

Achilles: So this is the one? I’ve heard of Dungeon-B-Gone, but I didn’t realize this was the place people wanted gone. I’ve crawled through way worse dungeons, to be honest.

The Grognard: It’s the repetition moreso than the quality. The first couple times it’s fine. After you’ve started your eighth new character, it’s like pulling teeth.

'Ah, the child of Bhaal has awakened. It is time for more experiments.' 'Interesting. You have much untapped potential.' 'Do you even recognize your power?' 'Intruders have entered the complex, master.' 'They act sooner than we had anticipated. No matter, they will only prove a slight delay.' I've played this damn game too many times. Also, I know about the 'go to settings to activate Windows' thing. I can't turn it off. Thorn in my side. Take forever to explain.
'Ah, the child of Bhaal has awakened. It is time for more experiments.' 'Interesting. You have much untapped potential.' 'Do you even recognize your power?' 'Intruders have entered the complex, master.' 'They act sooner than we had anticipated. No matter, they will only prove a slight delay.' I've played this damn game too many times. Also, I know about the 'go to settings to activate Windows' thing. I can't turn it off. Thorn in my side. Take forever to explain.

Achilles: I’m thinking that if this is the thing there are mods to skip, this game shows promise. Almost everything I’ve seen so far is an upgrade. The art is even better – more vibrant, more unique assets. At one point there’s a druid’s grove, then there are lavishly appointed apartments, then more dungeon, and then we scootch over the elemental plane of air for a bit.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Achilles and The Grognard: Chateau Irenicus”

 

Bob Case MrBtongue is the Pele of complaining about videogames and will soon be the Garrincha of complaining about TV shows. You can find his Youtube channel at youtube.com/user/MrBtongue.

Achilles and the Grognard: Vanquishing SarevokPrevious Post
Next PostThe Outer Worlds: We Should Do More Of This

67 comments

 

Programming Vexations Part 8: The Problem With Libraries

By Shamus Posted Thursday Oct 24, 2019

Filed under: Programming 77 comments
Programming Vexations Part 7: Where Does the Time Go?Previous Post
Next PostProgramming Vexations Part 9: The Problem With Engines

Whenever people get talking about the things you need in a game development language, we usually end up with a handful of features like manual memory management, pointers, low-level code, the lack of safety features like bounds-checking, and so on. One of the big items on this list is the ability to use external libraries.

Being able to use libraries is indeed a good thing. I certainly wouldn’t want to attempt to use C++ without access to a good set of libraries! At the same time, I think we often overlook the fact that importing and integrating external libraries is enormously expensive. A game developer will complain that they don’t want to have to roll their own sound library and someone will dismiss them saying, “Bah. There are lots of free sound libraries out there. Just pick one and start coding!”

While it’s true that there are free libraries all over the place, people are really bad at factoring in the cost of using them.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Programming Vexations Part 8: The Problem With Libraries”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Programming Vexations Part 7: Where Does the Time Go?Previous Post
Next PostProgramming Vexations Part 9: The Problem With Engines

77 comments

 

Minecraft Sky Odyssey: Comfort Food

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Oct 22, 2019

Filed under: Game Reviews 54 comments
Borderlands 3 First ImpressionsPrevious Post
Next PostNoita: Sim Misfortune

It had been a rough week. I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me. We all have a rough week sometimesAnd sometimes, more than a week. and you just have to roll with it. But when Saturday came around and it was time for my day offI take a day off no matter how busy I am. I’ve discovered this is ENORMOUSLY helpful in avoiding burnout., I realized I wasn’t in the mood for anything challenging. I didn’t want to have to fight with a game to make progress.

You might argue that this is kind of the point of video games, and that’s fair enough. But sometimes you just want to enjoy the sensation of progress without having to work for it. This is particularly true if the real world has been onerous lately.

Like I said on the podcast, I’ve been playing FTB Sky Odyssey, a modpack based around sky islands. These types of island worlds have been around in one form or another since the dawn of the game, but somehow I’ve never played one until now.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Minecraft Sky Odyssey: Comfort Food”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Borderlands 3 First ImpressionsPrevious Post
Next PostNoita: Sim Misfortune

54 comments

 

Diecast #276: Apologies, Manifold Garden, Mailbag

By Shamus Posted Monday Oct 21, 2019

Filed under: Diecast 115 comments
Diecast #275: Back to School, Kerbal Space Problems, Wendy's GamePrevious Post
Next PostDiecast #277: Halloween, Starbound, Manifold Garden



Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.
Diecast276

Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #276: Apologies, Manifold Garden, Mailbag”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Diecast #275: Back to School, Kerbal Space Problems, Wendy's GamePrevious Post
Next PostDiecast #277: Halloween, Starbound, Manifold Garden

115 comments

 

Achilles and the Grognard: Vanquishing Sarevok

By Bob Case Posted Saturday Oct 19, 2019

Filed under: Video Games 48 comments
Achilles and the Grognard: Special Guest AppearancePrevious Post
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Achilles: So Sarevok, like me, is one of the Bhaalspawn.

The Grognard: Correct.

Achilles: Bhaal, the God of overcomplicated schemes, sired human children to take over for him in the event of his death.

The Grognard: Murder. Bhaal is the Lord of Murder.

Achilles: Yeah, but overcomplicated schemes must be one of his sub-portfolios or something. I mean this Sarevok guy sabotaged several iron mines, had this “Iron Throne” group start another, secret iron mine, sponsored two different bandit groups to raid the roads, blamed all of the above on either Amn, Zhentil Keep, or both.

The Grognard: Not to mention the Shadow Thieves. He framed them as well, for the murder of one of the Dukes.

Sarevok tries to get himself named Duke. He was so confident in his plan that he didn't even bother to change out of his evil armor into something nicer.
Sarevok tries to get himself named Duke. He was so confident in his plan that he didn't even bother to change out of his evil armor into something nicer.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Achilles and the Grognard: Vanquishing Sarevok”

 

Bob Case MrBtongue is the Pele of complaining about videogames and will soon be the Garrincha of complaining about TV shows. You can find his Youtube channel at youtube.com/user/MrBtongue.

Achilles and the Grognard: Special Guest AppearancePrevious Post
Next PostAchilles and The Grognard: Chateau Irenicus

48 comments

 

Blizzard’s Folly

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Oct 15, 2019

Filed under: Column 150 comments
I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3Previous Post
Next PostWhat's Inside Skinner's Box?

If you’re reading my humble site, then you’ve heard about the controversy surrounding Blizzard with regards to China and the Hong Kong protests. However, it feels wrong to start an  article with no context whatsoever, so here’s is a super-fast one-paragraph summary:

A week ago the pro Hearthstone player Blitzchung won a tournament. Afterward, he appeared in an interview wearing goggles and a face mask and shouted “Liberate Hong Kong!”, showing solidarity with the Hong Kong protesters. The interviewers ducked behind their desk and laughed, and then the interview was terminated. Two days later, Blitzchung was stripped of his prize money, stripped of his title, removed from the grandmaster league, and banned from Hearthstone competition for a full year. Additionally, the interviewers were also fired, even though they didn’t express any overt support for Hong Kong.

Everyone hated this move. The entire gaming community has already expressed their disgust for Blizzard’s behavior. I realize I’m showing up a week late to this party. I wouldn’t bother weighing in at all, except there’s another angle to all of this that I want to explore.

So here’s what I want to do: I want to defend Blizzard.

Also here is the video version of this article, for those of you who aren’t into the whole reading thingI really need to come up with a graceful way of offering both of these options without it feeling awkward.:


Link (YouTube)

Defending Blizzard

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Blizzard’s Folly”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3Previous Post
Next PostWhat's Inside Skinner's Box?

150 comments

 

This Week I Played… (October 2019)

By Shamus Posted Monday Oct 14, 2019

Filed under: TWIP 170 comments
This Week I Played... (September 2019)Previous Post
Next PostThis Week I Played... (February 2020)

I wasn’t able to record a Diecast this week due to family engagements. I realize you can’t listen to this blog post during your commute, but I thought I’d cover some of the week’s topics anyway.

Saturday was Issac’s birthday!

Issac edits both the Diecast and our This Dumb Industry videos. He turned 18 on Saturday.

That’s it. The last of my kids has stopped being a kid. I’m now the father of 3 adults.

In addition to editing the shows, he sometimes captures gameplay footage for the videos. A week ago I was trying to figure out why his Borderlands 3 footage was blurry and I realized he was using the super-annoying 16:10 monitor I handed down to him years ago. I forgot all about that dumb thing. His native resolution was 1680 x 1050, which means all of his footage needed to be upscaled, and then cropped / squashed.

So I got him a proper 1080p monitor for his birthday. I don’t have anything against 16:10, except that it’s annoying to have when your job involves creating 1080p content.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “This Week I Played… (October 2019)”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

This Week I Played... (September 2019)Previous Post
Next PostThis Week I Played... (February 2020)

170 comments

 
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