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Looking For Quacks In The Pavement

Category: Games

  • Satisfactory: Upend Away

    I am, once again, for the Nth time now (for differing values of ‘N’ depending on if you count all the multiplayer saves or not) back on my you-know-what.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: Moments after placing the Hub building for the first time in a new save, the delivery pod comes in for a landing. It's a beautiful day in the grassy starting area of a new world.

    Yes, I’m leaving the “Quantum of Solids” save behind, possibly for good. (Before that came “New Clear Plan,” before that came “Choo Chooing Scenery,” before that was… “eSthetics,” I think?) After some agonizing over whether to start fresh again or not, then more agonizing over which starting zone to select, then further agonizing over arguably the most crucial decision (what to name the thing)… this afternoon I started a save titled, “Upend Away.”

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  • Satisfactory: Depots Change The Game

    It’s been a month since my last post about Satisfactory, and to be honest I’ve been on a sort-of-break from the game while I wrestle with how to cross the finish line on my current somewhat-botched save. (The nuclear power plant is a mess, but replacing it would mean building a whole second one elsewhere, and the first one took long enough as it is! And that’s not the only problem.)

    I might yet start fresh soon. We’ll see. I’d have liked getting two FICSMAS events in a row out of one save but if I’m going to be miserable the whole time, why bother? But if I start fresh I want to kick that off before month end so I’m ready for presents to start falling out of the sky…

    Anyway: I’m here to talk about the Dimensional Depot and how its ability to make all sorts of materials available anywhere in the map changed one of my long-held snobby opinions about alternate recipes.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: A blue hologram depicts where a Mk.3 Miner is about to get placed on an iron ore node. Below the hologram is a row of icons indicating what parts will be required to build the machine, and in what quantities.

    I have my coworkers to thank for this one, as it turns out.

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  • Guild Wars 2: Settling In

    One of these days I’ll get back into playing one of the existing characters from before my 7-or-8-year break.

    Guild Wars 2 video game screenshot: Character select screen, focused on a red-colored plant-based character named Itzal Darque. Some character and account details are also shown, along with icons for the other dozen or so available characters in the account.

    Today is not that day, however.

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  • Satisfactory: Release +1 Year

    I may wander off, I may restart time after time, I may abandon more saves than I finish… but I love this game as much now as I ever have. It’s gotten me through my diabetic years (and the pandemic years, both of which are ongoing) at least as much as any other piece of entertainment you could name, and moreso than most.

    This image uses one of the new screenshot Photo Mode filters added in version 1.1, the “Noire” filter in particular.

    Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Satisfactory’s version one point oh release. The reasons I keep coming back are varied and probably too many to count, but I’ll count some of them here anyway, in no particular order:

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  • Cruel Summer

    I only managed three posts in August. Whoops.

    Guild Wars 2 video game screenshot: Painterly image of several of the heroes looking at the game world after the battle against the undead dragon, Zhaitan. Only, the player character model has been replaced by a pink-feathered moa bird due to in-game shenanigans.
    Look. The Box o’ Fun transformed me into a moa bird, then we triggered the post-battle cutscene, and… well, this isn’t entirely my fault okay?

    Let’s catch up a bit.

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  • Blasted Epoch

    I decided to take a bit of a break from Satisfactory. Yes, again. The news of Titan Quest 2 hitting “early access” made me consider getting back into Last Epoch (they’re both what’s called an “ARPG” for whatever reason) so I looked around for information about Last Epoch’s upcoming “season” event.

    What I found instead was the news that the game’s studio was sold to Krafton, the folks behind such hits as PUBG, the debacle that is the Subnautica 2 situation, and the gen-AI hot mess that was InZOI.

    Oh.

    Well, Last Epoch was fun while it lasted but y’all might as well uninstall it if it’s on your hard drive because it’s about to be hyper-monetized and micromanaged into oblivion.

    And the alternatives aren’t great: Diablo products are of course from Blizzard, with all the baggage that entails. The aforementioned Titan Quest sequel? THQ, thus Embracer Group, which is a non-starter for reason I don’t have the stamina to delve into right now. (If you know, you know. If not, you have a new research project now, don’t you?) Torchlight? I think it’s a mobile game now or something, and Torchlight 3 was a cruel joke. My experiences with the Path of Exile game family aren’t great. Which leaves me with… playing old games for nostalgia value.

    All I wanted to do was spend a quiet Sunday afternoon having some fun. Instead, I’m even more depressed. Feh.

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