Month: June 2018

Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Does Uncharted 2 remain one of the greatest games of all time?

Adventuring through my backlog of games, one game at a time. 

Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: October 2015 (Originally Oct 2009 on PS3)
Played On: PlayStation 4

backlog gamingThere was a time when Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was considered one of the best video games ever made, and certainly one of the best to emerge from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era (it comfortably sits at a remarkable 96/100 on MetaCritic).

To me it’s mostly the sequel to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Uncharted 2 is an improvement over the original in many ways, yet still hampered by some of the same flaws, including a horrendously awful final boss fight that’s even worse than the original.

*Note* – since I’m playing the remastered edition from the Nathan Drake Collection on PlayStation 4, I haven’t played, nor cannot comment on the multiplayer components of Uncharted 2. These Final Thoughts are based entirely on the single player campaign. Continue reading “Gaming Backlog Final Thoughts – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”

DMs Guild Review – Construct Compendium

New races, spells, feats, class archetypes, and monsters, all with a clockwork theme.

A review copy of “Construct Compendium” was provided for the purposes of this review.

Designed by: Brandon Norris, Richie Root

dms guild reviewWhile Dungeons & Dragons has always been firmly rooted in a fantasy setting, even the lowest of magic settings often include golems and rudimentary mechanical devices, like crossbows and spike traps.

The “Construct Compendium” provides a large amount of mechanical-related content. Over 70 pages provide new races, class archetypes, feats, spells, monsters, and a few magic items, all tied together with the theme of constructs. Continue reading “DMs Guild Review – Construct Compendium”

Westworld Season 2 Episode 10 “The Passenger” Recap

Everyone dies, some are resurrected, and this show will never be the same.

All of our characters and storylines came together for a 90-minute season finale full of twists, multiple deaths, a few rebirths, and a whole hell of a lot of frustration and confusion.

Which is appropriate given the somewhat maddening and ultimately unfulfilling sophomore season of Westworld.

Everyone is still headed to the Valley Beyond, the vague goal of just about every character in the park, for various reasons. Delores wants to find the means to conquer humans there. William (Man in Black) wants to destroy something. Bernard is looking for answers, and Maeve is simply trying to find her daughter, again.

The first chunk of the finale is getting everyone there. Continue reading “Westworld Season 2 Episode 10 “The Passenger” Recap”

D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 59 Recap

We gain entrance to the Sculptor’s Tower, the birthplace of TIM and the Warforged army.

Streamed, recorded and uploaded every week. Subscribe for our weekly adventures. Join us live on Fridays at 7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern!

Previously on “Storm King’s Thunder”

The inside of the tower was eerily quiet. Faces of anguish on frozen statues greeted us as we walked inside.

Beyond them, a pair of creatures turned toward us. They looked like someone had forcibly melded a dragonborn and a crossbow. Their gaping maws held giant crossbow bolts, and they kept them pointed at us while we step inside.

A pair of braziers suddenly alighted on either side, and a circle inscribed on the floor of a podium at the end of the hallway glowed green. In a puff of smoke a satyr appeared. 

“Is the master expecting you?” it asked.

“Who are you?” T.I.M. asked.

“I am Innslow, farrier of the master of this tower. Whom may I say is calling?”

T.I.M. and I glanced at each other, both of us blurting out different, random answers. The satyr paused curiously, the disappeared back into the circle.

Moments later, it returned. “The master has need of you,” it nodded to T.I.M., “but not at this moment.” The little goat-man suddenly looked around and addressed the whole room. “Gentleman these guests will be staying awhile until the master can decide what to do with them. Please make them comfortable.”

We heard a few metallic creaks and whispering groans as the statues around us lurched to life, the nearest one bashing me across the head as I narrowly avoided its grasp. Half a dozen statues lumbered toward us as the bolters began to fire.
Continue reading “D&D 5E “Storm King’s Thunder” Session 59 Recap”

Jurassic World Evolution Tips Guide [Pixelkin]

Read the full guide on Pixelkin

Jurassic World Evolution isn’t a particularly challenging or demanding theme park sim, but it has its quirks, and does a poor job explaining many of its systems. On any of the remote tropical islands within the Muertas Archipelago the Oooh-ing and Ahh-ing can quickly devolve into running and screaming. Or worse, you simply run out of money, whether through guests’ lawsuits or poor planning.

We’ve compiled a list of helpful tips to help prove that a dinosaur theme park can be a successful, and profitable, venture.

Read the full guide on Pixelkin

This week’s D&D session rescheduled to Sunday

Hello D&D fans!

It always pains us to reschedule our weekly live streamed D&D sessions, and thankfully we haven’t had to do it very often. But this weekend half of us will be out of town on vacation.

Instead of our usual Friday evening session, we’ll be live streaming this Sunday evening, June 24. Same time, around 7 pm Pacific/10 pm Eastern.

See you then!