Patch Days are so “Fun”

I was super excited about FFXIV’s new patch that arrived yesterday. As is often the case with FFXIV, there was so much new stuff that I couldn’t even remember everything that was coming. I ran home from work and hurried to get everything installed and ready so I could try out new stuff with a friend. And then I hit a brick wall.

I logged in and spent a few minutes unlocking the new raid first thing. I really wanted to see it, since I love FFXIV’s raids and this one has bosses based on one of my favorite FF games. Raids are also the only way I could play with my friend with us both in our preferred roles (we’re both healer mains). Unfortunately once I got it unlocked, I couldn’t actually queue. My item level is too low.

We ended up running one of the new dungeons instead, since I could actually do that and they drop gear that will help get me closer to being able to join the raid. My mood was ruined though, and I suspect I wasn’t very good company. Instead of being excited to see the new dungeon, I was annoyed that I had to play SMN instead of SCH, and that I was missing out on the raid.

Once we finished I ended up spending some time messing around with the new glamour system and that made me feel a bit better. I’m hoping it will be relatively painless to get geared up enough to catch up. This exact issue is one of the reasons I bounced off of FFXIV last expansion, but I’m not quite ready to give up on it again yet.

The kicker of this story is that after my disappointment and bad mood I went to look at the shiny new races they added to WoW…and couldn’t. There was a bug going around where none of your characters would show up on the server list or login screen, and I was lucky enough to experience it. I took it as a sign that I should do something else, so I spent the rest of the night working on my creative thing for the day instead.

Here’s hoping tonight is a better night for gaming!

Aggrochat #188 – The Persona 5 Show

Featuring: Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen

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This week we are back after an impromptu absence brought on by the Flu.  It is time to record our December/January game of the month show…  Persona 5.  This was Tam’s pick and he went back and forth as to whether or not he should pick such a long game.  However considering we recorded two full hours of packed conversation I am guessing it was a pretty great choice.  We also announce Grace’s pick for the February game of the month…  Pyre a game that surprisingly only one of us has played given just how much we tend to love games from Super Giant.

Games While I’ve Been Alive

Belghast posted a list of the most important games to him for every year of his life. I decided this would be a fun thing to do too. Little did I know how much I would agonize over some of these choices. There were a couple years where I just could not choose only one game. Conversely, there were a few years where I barely played anything worth remembering. Without further ado here is my list:

1979 Asteroids
1980 Pac-Man
1981 Frogger
1982 Pole Position
1983 Spy Hunter
1984 Tetris
1985 Super Mario Bros.,  Oregon Trail
1986 Bubble Bobble
1987 Space Quest II
1988 Super Mario Bros. 3
1989 Prince of Persia
1990 Dr. Mario
1991 Lemmings
1992 Wolfenstein 3D
1993 Myst
1994 Final Fantasy VI
1995 Descent
1996 Diablo,  Tomb Raider
1997 Final Fantasy VII
1998 Parasite Eve
1999 Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
2000 Icewind Dale
2001 Pikmin
2002 Ratchet & Clank
2003 Beyond Good & Evil
2004 Katamari Damacy
2005 Metroid Prime Pinball
2006 Kingdom Hearts II
2007 Portal
2008 World of Warcraft: WotLK
2009 Dragon Age: Origins
2010 Plants vs. Zombies
2011 SW:TOR
2012 Diablo III
2013 Final Fantasy XIV: ARR
2014 WildStar
2015 Undertale
2016 Stardew Valley
2017 Horizon: Zero Dawn

Reading Challenge #83: The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks

It’s time to start on my reading challenge in the new year! The next item on my challenge list is the Culture Series by Iain M. Banks. There are nine novels in the series, but as usual I’ll just be tackling one to complete the challenge. Oddly enough I have read the first book in this series as well as one of the later ones before, and quite enjoyed them. This month I re-read the original Culture novel, Consider Phlebas, which was first published in 1987.

This novel takes place during a war between two huge space-faring civilizations, the Idirans and the Culture. It’s told from the point of view of Horza, a member of a highly-modified race that can shape their appearance to their choosing. He’s working for the Idirans, because even though he doesn’t subscribe to their religious fanaticism, he likes the Culture’s reliance on AI and technology even less.
His mission is to retrieve a Mind, the sentient AI core of a Culture ship, from its hiding place on Schar’s World. This is complicated by the fact that Schar’s World is protected by a race of superbeings that don’t want it disturbed by the ongoing war. It is also complicated because shortly after getting his orders, Horza’s ship comes under attack and he is left drifting in space.
 The story takes a few strange turns as Horza eventually makes his way to Schar’s World. It lets us see a bit of the wider universe, and the types of people and technology that populate it. I also enjoyed seeing the interactions between Horza and his counterpart from the Culture. They are on different sides of the war and are at odds from the first moments of the book but they never dehumanize each other and end up with something resembling a grudging respect at the end. Horza as a character is fascinating since he is treated as something of a second class citizen among the Idirans, and he doesn’t believe in their religious crusade. Yet, he’s willing to give up everything to help them defeat the Culture.
From reading both Consider Phlebas and Surface Detail, I can say that at least in some cases you can read books in this series out of order without issues. It makes a nice change from some of the sprawling continuous epics that are on this reading list. It’s also fun to learn more about this universe and the Culture from different perspectives. I will definitely be adding the rest of this series to my growing pile of “books I want to read once I finish my challenge list”.

TL;DR: This book has shapechangers, laser battles, intrigue, and super powerful AIs. You will probably find something in here to like.

The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks

Rating: 4/5 stars

Verdict: Would recommend!

Next up: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde