Gravedigging

Another Christmas just flew by, and I can tell you it was a stressful one. Not actual Christmas Eve though, that one turned out to be very lovely and relaxing, but the weeks before Christmas were quite something. Schoolwork up to the ears, Christmas presents and decorations that needed to get done, actual work, cars that urgently needed fixing... I almost didn't make it, but most things turned out okay in the end anyway. Now we're waiting for New Years Eve, and this time we also start a whole new decade. I just can't believe it has already been 20 years since the new millennium started.

As you can understand, I have barely had time to start any game at all for weeks. Right after Christmas Eve I started playing WoW again, and this time, I'm returning to Battle for Azeroth. I just started missing my DK, and I thought I would jump in again and finish quest lines and raids before it's too late(talking about upcoming Shadowlands, of course). Right now I'm finishing the War Campaign, and it has been a very interesting story so far.

I don't really have much more to say, it has been chaotic for a while now. But after New Years Eve, it seems like I'll be having at least a few days of pure me-time, so I'll probably be stuck to the computer then. One game that I have been promising myself I'll play during the holidays, is The Outer Worlds. I watched a little bit of gameplay, and I fell in love instantly. So much Fallout-vibes there..! There is no way I'll let this kind of game pass me by, I really believe I'll have a review up by the end of the holidays. Until then, cya..!

Little green men

This month has been flying by, and I haven't really been able to play as much as I planned. It started off with my birthday though, which was awesome..! One of the gifts I got was a really cool Sylvanas statue, which I have been eyeing for some time already but never had the money to buy. We usually keep most of the gaming merch in our dedicated room, but this one is now directly above my computer on a shelf. Another thing worth mentioning is that we went to a gaming event called GameXpo last week, where they had some merch for sale, tournaments and stuff like that. It was a lot smaller than I had expected, but it was still fun. We watched some PUBG games, where they had this big stage built with 100(?)computers, and you could just sign up to go play there, while the whole thing was shown on a big screen. There was also a cool arcade gaming area with lots of old coin-operated gaming machines, and we spent some time over there. It of course costed money to buy the coins, so the gaming time we had was very limited. But we got to try out a few cool games, like Street Fighter II, Gorf and Bubble Bobble. I really liked this, it would be cool to have a machine like these at home some day...

I haven't really progressed that much in WoW, although I managed to gain a few levels and find new places to quest. First I did some quests in Thousand Needles, and then I ventured through Kalimdor to get to Desolace, where I'm currently questing. I just wish I had more time for this, and what's even worse is the fact that I'm starting to miss Battle for Azeroth too. I can barely find time for one WoW, certainly not two... I have also made small progress in Super Mario Sunshine, I am quite confident I'll get a review finished on that one before the end of the year. Then I also found out about this cool game built on the Doom-engine, called Chex Quest, which I'm pretty sure is my next project when I have time. But Christmas is getting closer all the time, and I have so much to do both in school and at home, so I have no clue when I have time to start this one.

Now I have to start making myself ready, got a birthday coffee thing to attend. Bye..!

Spooky Fish

I'm soon reaching level 30 in Classic WoW, but my progress has been a bit slow due to a lot of schoolwork, and also since I went on a little trip this weekend. Anyway, I still have a few quests left that I would like to complete in Duskwood, and if possible, I would also like to go one more round to The Stockade. Then I was thinking about going questing to Thousand Needles for a few levels, and then moving on to Desolace. I think it will be a nice change to go to Kalimdor again, since I have been questing in Eastern Kingdoms for quite a while now.

I have also progressed some in Super Mario Sunshine, as soon as I have more material for that I'll make another game play video. I hope I'll also have time to continue on my Pokémon Crystal soon, I have left that hanging for way too long now. One thing I did recently though, was update my game collections page, that I created years ago. I just kind of left it in the middle, but now I have added the rest of my consoles as well. The only one that's not showcased yet is the Commodore 64 that I got in the summer. We were cleaning out the attic in my grandmas old house, and suddenly it was there..! A lot of different accessories, and also a lot of games, and everything seems to be in moderately good condition. Unfortunately I have no clue yet if it actually works, since I read some articles about the power supply, and after that I have been a bit cautious about trying it out. Apparently it's very common for the older power supply models to malfunction at some point, and possibly damage the console. So if this ancient thing isn't broken, I would not want to break it on the first try because of the power supply. You can buy modern replacements if you like, but the price is quite high for those, so I thought about making my own. Let's see when I have time for this little project, hopefully it won't be too long into the future...

Byebye for now!

Millennial

My WoW Classic spree has been continuing, but I am still progressing quite slowly. Currently at level 26, and questing in Wetlands. Tonight I hope I'll have time for some dungeons, The Stockade should be perfect level for me right now. I have been taking some time also with leveling my professions, I chose herbalism and alchemy, which I think can come in handy as a druid. I am also leveling my cooking skill, it's not the easiest since ingredients for certain recipes can be quite challenging to come by. Level 60 feels far away, but I am still enjoying the game, and I have no plans on leaving yet.

A few days ago I also picked up another old classic, Super Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube. It was my first game for the console back in the days, and I have spent sooo many hours on this one. Earlier this year when I tried out Super Mario Odyssey for the Switch, I got so much vibes from this old game. I played through a few levels yesterday, and I decided to make a video. I'll probably upload it today, if everything goes according to plans. I'll probably also try to make a review of this game later, but it's a pretty long one, so let's see if I actually have time. I really have to say though, Super Mario Sunshine has aged very well, even though it is already 17 years old.

I'll keep this pretty short today, I have a lot on the agenda. Also very busy weekend coming up, but I hope I'll still have time for some games. Bye..!

They have the family disease

So, since WoW Classic was released a few weeks ago, that's the only thing I have been playing. It's nice to be excited about a game again, but I will probably start playing other games again soon. I guess I wouldn't need to mention that this fall is going to be extremely busy again for me, but I hope I'll be able to fit in some gaming here and there, as usual. School started again, and with it came a lot of homework. I also have a job contract made all the way until next summer, so I suppose that's where my free time will go. On top of everything, this is my last school year, so that means I have some additional stuff to finish up before I can even dream about actually graduating. Busy times, yo.

I chose to play as a night elf druid this time, and I'll probably tank mostly, but I'm not yet sure what will be my offspec. It's either healer or boomkin, but that's a tough choice to make. I'm currently level 21, and I just finished my first dungeon, Deadmines. Leveling has mostly been a lot of fun, but there are of course some things that are different to retail WoW. I have been struggling with gold for example, it's hard to get by, and since you have to buy all your spells and abilities, it gets very expensive. Another thing is the endless running, there are fewer flight paths than in retail WoW, and you do have to spend a lot of time running between different places. I have also been very stubborn and not installed any questing addon yet, so that make things a bit harder. There is only one addon that I really, really had to install to avoid completely going nuts, and that is TomTom, which shows coordinates on the map. Without this I would have NEVER found certain quest objectives.

Anyways, I have been enjoying this old school Azeroth very much, and I'll certainly keep on leveling all the way to 60. I just hope I have time for some other games soon too, it gets a bit mind numbing otherwise. Now I have to go do things again, cya later..!

Siamese Dream

For once I have actually had time to make some new content, and since my last post, I have even managed to upload 2(!) new videos..! Both are WoW-related though, so I'll try to make something else next. So my latest video is all about WoW Classic though, and since release day is just around the corner, it was important to get it finished fast. As I mention there, I played on the open-for-all stress test, and I have to say I liked it. Up until now I have been avoiding the Classic hype-train, and really not thinking much about even trying it out, but one evening of gameplay was enough to make me think otherwise. I am obviously not quitting "regular" WoW, but I would really like to have at least one maxed out character in Classic, just to see what it's like.

I also finally started writing my review on Disciples II, which I have been postponing for a few months now. I hope it'll soon be ready, and then I can once again decide which game to pick next. I also got a bit further on my Pokémon Crystal, I think my party might be ready for the Elite Four now. I shouldn't be too confident though, I can't really remember how tough they were...

I'm going to keep it a little bit shorter today, I don't really have too much news other than WoW Classic. And since I already talked about that so much for the video, I won't repeat myself more than necessary. I am still not sure what character to pick though, in the stress test I made an orc warlock, so probably not that again. I am not even sure about Horde or Alliance, in one way I would also like to play a night elf... It's going to be a tough choice in any case, but maybe I have it all figured out before the 27th of August..!

Escape

I have been playing quite a lot of WoW these last few weeks, I'm really liking the new patch. Nazjatar is such a beautiful zone, and I haven't even went to the other zone yet, Mechagon. All in time I guess, right now I'm focusing on grinding rep with The Unshackled and collecting more Prismatic Manapearls so I can upgrade my gear. I really have to say I am surprised how much I have enjoyed questing in this new zone, it hasn't felt like this for a while. I know I also have to continue with my raiding soon, so I can try out the latest one.

I started thinking about for how long I actually have been playing WoW, and had to launch a small investigation. My Battle.net account didn't show any data older than 2012, but after a bit of research, I found a link that gives access to history older than that. So next Spring I have had my account for 10 years. That is, however, not the point when I played WoW for the first time. I started way before that, with leveling a character on a friends account. There was a way of finding out that date too, by going to Warcraft Realms. I still remembered the name and server of this character from long ago, so I could easily trace the date. Turns out that on 5th of August, which is next week, it is officially 10 years ago since I played WoW for the very first time. What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been..!

I also continued a bit on Pokémon Crystal, I'm currently pretty much done with Johto and I'm trying to level my Pokémon a bit more so I can fight the Elite Four and continue to Kanto. I decided to capture Suicune as well, since it would be a nice addition to my party. I had postponed this until I got to Blackthorne City where I could finally buy some Ultra Balls. I had to try a few times, because I just couldn't believe how many balls I had to throw before the bastard would finally get caught. I had him down to only a few HP, and he was also kept asleep all the time, but it took 33 Ultra Balls before he gave up. Well, now I'm a happy camper, and I'll just need to level a little bit more before I can kick some serious ass. Now I'm going to bed, cya..!

Look mom, no hands!

Midsummer just went by, and the weather was actually pretty good for once. I had time to relax for a couple of days, but then I had to get back to work. Still been too busy to actually have time to play anything, and right after Midsummer I also got a "little" car project on my hands, which has been taking up most of my spare time. This morning I had time for a little gaming though, the latest content patch for WoW has just been released, and I just had to try it out. Rise of Azshara is the name, and there is a lot of new stuff to explore now. Two new zones have been added, Nazjatar and Mechagon. With these we get a few new factions to grind rep with, and of course a lot of new quests. Now we also have the chance to complete the second part of the Pathfinder achievement, which means flying is finally going to be available..!

There are also some changes to the Heart of Azeroth, with a new feature coming along, called Essences. These are talent-like powers that you can collect from quests or defeating bosses. And last but not least, we get a new raid, Azshara's Eternal Palace..! Can't wait to try this one out, but I'll probably have to postpone it for little while. I don't have very good gear at the moment, and I still have a few of the old raids to complete first. But overall I'm very happy with this new patch, and I just hope I'll have enough time to explore it thoroughly.

Last week I also had time for some Overwatch, it felt good to play it again after a long brake. I'm glad to see that it's still a game that you can return to at any time, and still get into the mechanics immediately. So, now I'm going to need to leave for work soon, let's hope I have time to play some more WoW tonight. Byeee.

Unbound Darkness

Things haven't really cooled down yet, and there is still so much to do before my actual summer break. This new job is not making anything easier, it stresses me out to the point where I can barely get anything else done. On top of everything I also woke up yesterday with flu symptoms, so it only gets better and better. This last week I was away for most of the time, so there wasn't really any time for games.

I did play quite a lot of Fallout New Vegas a few weeks back though, I have been thinking about it for so long but now I finally actually bothered to start it up again. It was real fun though, I am trying this playthrough to take different quests and options than previous times. I might have time to play some again tonight, we'll see. I have also been playing some WoW of course, I got the Loremaster achievement for Northrend so I have moved over to Outland now. After this I still have Kalimdor and Easter Kingdoms left. I really don't want to leave current content totally behind for now, so I guess I'm going back to Zandalar at some point to do some quests and raids. I also need to level up my warlock, and after that probably my alliance priest. This is going to have to be a "summer project" once everything settles down...

I am unfortunately going to have to leave this quite short today as well, there is just not much to say at the moment. After next week I'll probably have a better understanding of how this summer is going to look. Bye for now.

City lights

As you can notice, this last month has been a total roller coaster, and I haven't really had time for the website at all. This is unfortunate, but I hope it will get slightly better closer to summer. First of all, I have been on a two-week work trip to the north, and when I came home from there, it was almost straight away on a school-related trip for a few days. Now I'm finally home, but I still have another little trip to Germany planned next month. On top of that, it seems like I'll be starting a new job next week, so my stress levels have really been through the roof. I also have a few tests that I have to take next month before I can really leave school behind for this semester. So all in all, I have a little push left before I can finally relax for the summer, and start playing games again.

I haven't really been totally without gaming though, while on my two-week work trip I brought my laptop with me and was able to play a lot of Torchlight II for a change. I gathered some material from that, so I might be able to write some review about it later. I also had some time for WoW while being home between trips, and I got interested in the Loremaster achievement again. So I went back to where I left off in Icecrown, and now there's not many quests left before I get the achievement there, and also the Northrend achi on the same time. It feels good questing in the old zones again, I guess I just need a little brake from Zandalar.

One evening we also installed a new mat in our gaming room, so I took the opportunity to sit down and play some Super Smash Bros Melee. It really felt good playing that again, it just never gets really old and boring. Went through a few levels there and gathered some more trophies. I really hope I also have time for the old consoles in the summer. Now I have some stuff to do outside, it's starting to get really warm and nice now, which also means a lot of yard work...

Anyway

There has been so much school work these last few weeks, that I haven’t really had too much time for gaming. I did, however, finally get that Pathfinder achievement, so I’m really glad that’s over. After this I have mostly been leveling my warlock, so that I can finally get a few more max level characters. Besides WoW I have been continuing on Disciples II, and I have soon played enough to make a review of it. It’s really not an easy game, but it has still felt interesting enough to continue playing. I can’t say it’s the best strategy game I have ever played, but it’s not the worst either. If I have time later in the Spring, I thought about making a how-to-play video. I would probably just show how to get started with the game efficiently, and give a lot of tips and tricks on how to actually get through the maps. I kind of missed this when I started out with the game myself, it was hard to find any decent guides. Or there is a lot of player-made content available for Disciples II, but unfortunately the majority is in Russian, since the game apparently has a huge fan base over there.

I have also been playing more Pokémon Crystal again, I’m in the last city now before Kanto. I am also at the point where I need to catch Suicune, so I’ll need to stock up on some Ultra Balls. I can’t really remember anymore if Suicune actually was a powerful Pokémon to keep in your party, but I guess I’ll have to kick out some other one in that case, because I have a full party at the moment. On another note, I really hoped I would have had time to play some more Harry Potter on Gamecube as I mentioned earlier, but unfortunately that project has dropped for now. I did record some material for a potential video earlier, so I really hope I’ll have the opportunity to continue this later in the Spring.

Well, now I would maybe need to go back to concentrating on the lecture. I am that student that does just enough work to get through the courses, but not more than that. Maybe not the optimal way to go, but I have so much other things to do as well, like this for example. Cya laterz..!

Beat me out of me

This month has gone by so fast. I have been doing a lot of other things besides gaming, so there has not been too much of that. I finished the Crash Bandicoot review though, so that's a plus point. We also finally put up the shelves in our gaming room, they have been lying on the floor since we moved in. Then I brought the rest of my old Pokémon stuff from my parents, and now it's all decorated and things are in right places. Feels good man, and then I of course had to sit down and play for a while. Decided to pick up Harry Potter 2 on Gamecube, it's a game that I bought used just a few years ago, so it's not a game from my childhood. I have the first Harry Potter game for PC though, and I have played that A LOT. So, I also decided to try some recording, and I kind of got my setup working. I have this really cheap video grabber that hooks up to a laptop, and it's not the best system ever. This means my console is basically hooked up to the laptop, and shows gameplay only inside the actual recording software. So in order to get the gameplay shown on the TV, I then have to hook up the laptop to the TV and fullscreen the recording software. In a way this is totally fine by me, I'm not that picky, but unfortunately this makes the graphics a bit more blurry and weird looking on the TV. Oh well, that's what you get when you buy really cheap stuff, I shouldn't complain.

I have been playing more WoW of course, no Pathfinder yet, but it's so incredibly close now. Then I also started playing this older strategy game on PC, called Disciples II: Rise of the Elves. It's a turn-based game, and even though I have put in some hours on it already, I still can't decide if I like it or not. I guess I'm going to have to finish a few campaigns before I really can tell. It seems a bit difficult, but it might also just be me being stupid. Everything was a bit confusing in the beginning, and I had to watch some tutorials before I actually got the hang of it, but let's see now what this game can do.

I played some more Pokémon Crystal, I'm getting closer to the end of Johto, so then it's Kanto that awaits. I have a kind of balanced team going on now, so I'm quite happy with the choices I made in the beginning. Now I just have to kick Team Rockets ass once again in Goldenrod, they are such a nuisance. Anyways, it's time for breakfast now, cya laterz.

Moldy cheese

So, I finally took some action today and started playing Crash Bandicoot 2 on my PS1 emulator. It's just as good as I remembered, my cousins had this game when I was a kid, and I played it almost every time I went over to their house. Later on I also got The Wrath of Cortex for Gamecube, but sadly my little brother lost the game disc somewhere, so I can no longer play it. Anyway, Crash Bandicoot 2 is still a very solid platformer, and it's not terribly long if you don't aim for collecting all the crystals in the game. There are many good games for the PS1, as well as a huge amount of really shitty ones, but this is definitely on the good list. I'll write a review on it later, when I got time.

I have also played more WoW as usual, I'm currently only two factions away from getting that Pathfinder achievement. I also leveled my warlock a bit more. Getting better gear has turned out to be a really slow process, and I still can't enter that new raid. Otherwise I have been continuing on Pokémon Crystal a bit, I plan on playing a lot more tomorrow when I'll go on a little car trip. I'm currently kind of stuck, meaning my pokémon are too low level to defeat the gym leader. This only means that I'll have to level them up before trying again, but it's not the fastest process. Well, pokémon games are supposed to be a little grindy at times, I'm not complaining.

I borrowed the latest Super Smash Bros today, so I hope I'll have time to try it out this weekend. I'm still pissed off at Nintendo though, since I found out that there is no other way to back up your save files in the Switch other than a paid cloud service. I just can't believe Nintendo would do something so fucking stupid, and just act like it's for some kind of "safety reasons". I really hope someone will come up with an easy way around this, but that might take a long time. Anyway, now I really have to go to bed, stayed up way too late once again.

Bleeding

The new year has started off reeeally slowly, and I feel like a zombie most of the time. It has been really cold and snowy outside for weeks though, might explain some things. This is also statistically my "worst" time of the year, so I am really not surprised. Still trying to get stuff done though, I haven't quite given up yet. During the Christmas holidays I did get my Psychonauts review done, so I am at least very pleased with that. I have also played some more Overwatch, and discovered what happens when you level past 100. Which technically means you start over from level 1 again, but you get a star in your portrait. Woop.

I have played WoW too, still just grinding rep and trying to get better gear. I am very close to revered with most of the factions now, so not much left. Tomorrow the new raid opens, but I haven't got nearly good enough gear to be able to enter that yet. I actually also started leveling my warlock a little bit, he is now 112. I thought I really would try to have a few alts at max level this expansion, last one didn't really turn out as I hoped.

I am trying to decide what game to review next, I kind of would like to go with Crash Bandicoot 2 on PS1, but I haven't decided quite yet. I am also starting to feel a little bit Fallout-sick, so I really need to pick up New Vegas again, or maybe play some more Fallout 4..? I'll get something done as soon as my energy meter goes up just a little bit. Next week we're going on a little trip, maybe after that I'll feel like a new person. (Press X to doubt)