Hot Heart

I've started watching it. It's a bit hit and miss right now. I like some of the characters and bits but there's also lots of bad dialogue and shaky acting. DD and JJ had those issues somewhat yet tended to bring it all together well but I'm still worried it'll be like those where the season is just a few episodes too long and the episodes don't need to be that long. Plus, I can't quite put my finger on it but Luke Cage doesn't quite feel like the same person from JJ. Other observations: - The councilwoman is the grieving mother from Civil War - Love the little detail in the texting where the guy starts typing "Meet" but it suggests "New" before he finishes. - Frank Whaley! I remember that guy. - They're trying to make the Avengers stuff more colloquial but it just sounds more fake as a result. "The Incident" and not calling them the Avengers or by their superhero names.

It's from one of the What We Do in the Shadows guys (the one now directing Thor 3) so I am keen to see it.

Friend reminded me of this.

I always wondered why it wasn't planned for PC. A PC release would be cool, although unless there's cross-platform play, I'd probably stick with console myself. In theory, characters should be able to carry over since they're just logging everything (this is a game that can tell you your average kill distance). Then again, it would be more a case of your loot carrying over which they've not done wholly successfully/consistently anyway. I mean, character-wise, it's not as if I have a complex skill tree that I've worked on. You are just level, gear and ability nodes. ... and I think everyone wants to remake their character's face as well (I'd only change my Exo). The big thing is whether they are keeping the same ideas of "progression". Frankly, I'd love to see them experiment with the RPG possibilities a bit more; like, a wholly melee/ability-based class or something.

That's the one. It's definitely worth allying with one faction or the other (Dead Orbit, Future War Cult or New Monarchy) because, like the vanguard and crucible, after you rank them up past 3 they supply packages with higher light weapons and armour as well possible extras like class items and ghosts. To expedite the ranking up process, you can give them motes, heavy weapon synthesises (synthesese?!), weapon and armour parts as well as the planetary materials. You'll probably get a bunch of motes from just doing activities and engrams, heavy synths can be bought from Xur in multiples of 3 for 1 strange coin each, weapon & armour parts can be bought from Banshee and the planetary materials you'll be grabbing a bunch while on patrol but also from doing the bounties related to a planet (e.g. Mars one rewards Relic Iron) and from getting a ghost that gives a chance to earn more when collecting engrams on certain planets. I think the progression path is meant to be something like: 1. Story missions to get to around 340. Ranking up the record book by doing some patrol stuff can get you some gloves and boots if you're missing those. 2. Playing regular 320 strikes and completing bounties to rank up for vanguard packages and get better drops. Do a public event each day to get a legendary engram and 15 legendary marks (someone somewhere said 10 but I definitely got 15 when I checked). 3. Do the Gjallarhorn quest to get a 350 heavy weapon, which also happens to be the best heavy ever. 4. Once you're in the 350s, play the Heroic strikes because bosses will drop higher light level blue gear each time so you'll see a steady progression through to the 360s. Might be a good idea just to equip the higher gear before collecting the boss drops rather than keep infusing each time. Then when you're 360+ you can start working at the raid; just don't expect to clear it at that level because the final bit is 380. That's actually what I did with a blue drop from heroic strikes. Although, I'm usually getting anything but the strikes on earth...

That "everything is ready to upgrade" thing happened to everyone after the update. Extends the content. Yeah, I was dreading Supremacy because a) PvP still favours shotgun rushers, particularly titans and b) your average pub player can't handle objective-based game modes. I've been enjoying the content. I really wish we got more story stuff though, it just feels like a constant tease. The Rasputin stuff intrigues me but I don't think we'll learn anything more until Destiny 2. It felt a bit too easy getting the Gjallerhorn (the missions are fun though) but then I'm extremely glad the exotic quests haven't been like the old bullshit from before. Just working on getting the Khvostov at the moment and I got the Trespasser from an engram. Might buy the Warlock boots from Xur later but they sound like a waste of a slot that could have Starfire Protocol (probably the best Warlock exotic since they've improved the Ignite ability). Right now, I'm just focused on getting higher gear as quickly as possible. Right now, the best first steps are: - Buy a 350 ghost from a vendor since those don't really drop. - If you've got a class item legendary engram, exchange it for the one from Shiro rather than decrypt it. - Get the new artifact from Tyra as soon as possible. After that, you'll want to be doing a public event each day (you get 10 legendary marks and a legendary engram; I hear this can be done on all three characters each day if you're that way inclined) and focus on getting as many packages as possible. This means ranking up vanguard, faction and even testing guns for the gunsmith (he can reward you with some Suros weapons which are ace as well). I've just got to 350 so will focus on heroic strikes. I think my regular clan team wants to try the raid tonight but I think we're far below the recommended light for clearing the whole thing.

Yeah, Taken King had 5 main missions then a bunch of extra stuff. RoI isn't supposed to be as big as TTK but still has the same approach.

It's ridiculous. Who even plays Destiny anymore?

Only cosmetic things really. The "Iron Gjallarhorn" and Gjallarwing. The former is probably actually an ornament (skin) for the weapon and the latter is just a sparrow, which I believe can be bought with "silver dust" earned through playing or Silver bought with real cash money.

A couple of new updates. I'll start with the one I've played a few times now, with a couple of different player counts (5 and 8). Secret Hitler It's a social deduction game that will be immediately familiar to anyone who's played The Resistance or Avalon, with some slight twists. Players will be given a party membership and a role, which is actually more basic than that sounds. You'll wind up as a Liberal, a Fascist or Hitler (who has Fascist membership, no duh). The distribution will result in a Liberal majority (3-2 in five player and 5-3 in eight player) and, of course, one Fascist is actually Hitler. The Fascists get to see each other and know Hitler's identity; however, Hitler has no idea who his allies are. For Liberals to win, they need to either pass 5 Liberal policies (along that blue track above) or assassinate Hitler (through those two darker red spaces with bullets on). Fascists either want to pass 6 Fascist policies or get Hitler elected as Chancellor anytime after 3 Fascist policies have been passed. A round involves a player having the President role, which travels round the table clock-wise, who will then nominate someone as their Chancellor. It's then up to everyone to vote on whether they want this "partnership" to go ahead using their Ja! or Nein! cards. If it fails then the President role moves on and the nomination process begins as well; if the vote fails 3 times then a Policy is taken from the draw pile and passed automatically (more on that in a sec). Note: when nominating, the last successfully elected President and Chancellor may not be chosen. If it passes, then the President draws the top 3 policies, chooses one to discard and hands the remaining 2 to the Chancellor who will then discard one and Pass the other. Policies are simply Liberal (blue) or Fascist (red) but the make up of the deck is 11 Fascist to 6 Liberal (if I recall correctly). What this means is that a) it's quite possible to draw 3 Fascist policies and have no real choice and b) if a vote fails 3 times then drawing straight from the pile favours Fascists. As Fascist policies are passed and placed along the red board, they activate special powers for the President of that round. The second passed Fascist policy allows the President to investigate the party membership of another player (hence the difference between membership and role), the third allows the President to choose the next round's President (normal order resets afterwards), then the fourth and fifth allow the President to KILL PEOPLE. Player elimination can be a bit of a bummer (especially because that player is completely forbidden from influencing the game afterwards) but the game is quick enough that it's no real problem; plus, it's a social deduction game where it's still fun to observe. The interesting thing about these powers, obviously, is that for Liberals to take advantage of them, they have to pass Fascist laws. It's a real interesting dynamic and I failed to take advantage of it in our five-player game. Someone I pretty much knew to be a Liberal had already been killed which meant Fascists could lock the votes 2-2 and let the odds play it out for them but I was currently President with the Chancellor whom I suspected was also a Liberal. I drew 2 Fascist and 1 Liberal policy and discard one of the fascist ones. As soon as I did it, I realised maybe I should've just ditched the Liberal one and taken a shot at killing Hitler (which I would've guessed correctly). The Liberal policy passed but there was nothing we could do after that except hope "top-decking" would give us a final Liberal policy rather than a Fascist (it did not). Playing this down the pub with eight people was far more interesting though, especially the second game... I was on the Fascist side and Hitler was the same guy as from the previous game (where he had been unlucky with someone checking his party membership). Without any discussion, I allowed the more vocal guy to take the heat as the suspicious one. However, after what had seemed like early stumbles, he actually won the table over and had everyone willingly nominating Hitler as Chancellor (before 3 Fascist policies had passed, obviously). I was simply doing my best to subtly cast suspicion on the Liberals who had been caught by the "3 Fascist policies" scenario and I think maybe I had two people fooled for a little while. Things were going well for the Fascists and soon enough we could probably get Hitler elected Chancellor once the timing was right. Then Hitler got given the chance to assassinate someone... ... he chose to kill the vocal Fascist who had done all the work for him! I couldn't really protest without outing myself (since even with one death, Liberals would still control a majority anyway) and there was hope I could still get Hitler elected Chancellor. Problem was, I was President next and I couldn't nominate Hitler. After that, we couldn't really do much to prevent Liberal policies passing turn after turn... At the pub, I also got a chance to play Captain Sonar That above is the end of a 3v3, turn-based game (there is a real-time version with a larger map). At its heart, it's a hidden movement, Battleships-style submarine hunting game. Two teams go head-to-head as crews of a submarine with different roles: Captain, First Mate, Engineer and Radio Operator. The Captain is in charge of all the big decisions such as movement/actions, tracking that on their own map. The Engineer has a board with icons in different sections relating to the four cardinal directions the sub can go. Every time the sub heads that way, they must cross off an icon in the related section. The aim is not to cross off icons relating to actions the sub might want to take soon (e.g. torpedo) nor enough that it damages the sub. There's also a trick to the way sets of icons link together across the board; cross off all the connected ones and those ones all automatically reset. The First Mate charges up the available systems and actions with every move - torpedoes, mines, sonar, drones and "silence" - and lets the Captain know what's ready. Most take 3-4 moves to be ready and reset once used. The Radio Operator's role is to listen to the directions the other team is giving and try and locate them based purely on that. I wound up with that last role in our first game and thought it would be rather daunting, but I quickly worked out a system and had their location nailed after 10 turns even tracking them after they went "silent" (move 0-4 spaces in a straight line; sneaky bastards just moved 1 space). Essentially, after I had the first North then West, I could begin crossing off lots of possible starting locations (everything south, south-east and east of an island plus the entire top and left rows) while drawing in their route on the movable sheet of acetate. Gradually, once I had a decent amount of starting locations eliminated I could easily slot the acetate around to get their exact location. What also gave it away was when their engineer had to keep warning off moves they couldn't make; after they'd gone silent, I had to track possible moves, so that helped narrow down when they were either at the edge of the map or close to an island. The Captain and Engineer did a great job of keeping us moving and the right systems ready, so we managed to trap them in with a mine at one point and then just picked them off with indirect torpedo hits (it's actually quite tricky to get in range without giving your location away or trapping yourself) We tried the real-time version afterwards but I don't think that is something you can just jump right into. It's easy to make mistakes (I'd switched to First Mate and even that was tricky just keeping a count of your own moves) and is chaotic but not necessarily in a fun way. It ended rather quickly after the enemy got a lucky direct torpedo hit (2 of your 4 total damage) and then we didn't get far away quick enough (I'd been charging "searching" systems rather than silence). Good game though, and the turn-based version would probably make for a real tense experience with some practised players.

So, Bungie's started a new ARG for Destiny. https://owlsector.bungie.net/ I noticed some people yesterday with bright green "dust" floating around their heads. Turns out it's a "positive" virus that comes in various forms (colours) and boosts rep gains. It is passed on via orbs dropped in PvP, I think. More "infections" unlocks more stuff on the site, I hear. So, yeah, it's an STD (super-transmitted disease) that everyone's trying to get. Lore-wise, rumour is it's some special thing released by Rasputin in anticipation of the SIVA outbreak. Could connect to the Clovis Bray stuff on Mars since there is a hidden area in the Dust Palace that is mentioned on the site. It also seems like Rise of Iron will see Guardians temporarily banned from the Tower (hence the new social space at Felwinter's Peak) to avoid possible harm to non-Light creatures, i.e. regular humans.

As long as we can blame immigrants and the poor for all of society's problems there will be Tory governments.

Yeah, if "animal companions" were a feature, I figured that a) they'd be yelling all about it and b) selling some cosmetic pre-order bullshit related to fur colour or horse armour.

My XTC hit is still going.

There's green engrams dropping all over the place once again, heh. They've changed the UI for the better, although it'll take me a while to get used to the moved bounties. And I lost my Iron Banner ones. Makes sense though, since they're going to change it so it's easier to rank up in IB and adjust the difficulties of the bounties. Personally, I found it hard to get 1st because I've improved my PvP skill drastically by playing cautiously... which the points system does not reward. And there have been games where my team has won comfortably but one person on the opposing team pipped me by 100 points. I've seen people getting higher than 335 boots and I think someone got some Mk. 44 Stand Asides with an ornament already applied but without the nodes showing. The weapon balance changes seem good so far for ARs. They dropped off a bunch after HoW but they're pretty good for PvE now as well. Doctrine of Passing can still get fucked.

Thanks to T-Next for the heads-up about deals on the PS Store. This is currently £12. Insect Armageddon was the last I played and that wasn't great (different developer, I know) but after two missions with this I feel right at home and loving it. Even the squadmate V/O stuff is hilarious as ever. "If I die, take care of my family for me, will ya?" "I can't do that!" Definitely going to have to try and get my Destiny friends into it for some four-player. EDF! EDF! EDF! ED...IT! Since we might be able to get a group together, and since Scythe is on TTS as official DLC (that only one person needs to own), this was an eventuality. Fortunately, it's currently 50% off in the Humble Store.

inFAMOUS: First Light I didn't have high hopes going in but this was top-notch. The story is somewhat predictable since you know about Fetch in the main game but the types of missions serve it really well. The camera hunt stuff was a lot better here and riding on a truck as a "laser turret" is pretty ace. The coolest thing, however, is how they've done Fetch's power set. inFAMOUS always felt too rooted in third-person-shooter mechanics to really excel but this alters it enough to make it fast and fun. The "focus" (slow-mo) thing has been given a boost (and enables you to chain way more hits) so you can zip all around and pick enemies off as you sail through the air. Gone are the lame stasis grenades, instead you've got a proper stasis blast. And the melee is heaps more satisfying too. Plus, just the sound of the neon shots is much better. And the traversal is neat because you've got speed boost clouds and there are little races all over (that are way easy once you get the double boost time upgrade but still fun). Plus, you don't get caught on awnings and balconies as much as Delsin. It sort of feels like an open-world Sonic game (in a good way). Also, I jumped into a survival mode thinking it was a timer or round-based thing but it is literally a survival mode (who woulda thunk it!) Played far longer than I intended but I was doing well enough that I figured I'd see how well I could do.

After some later thought I decided I'm not bothering with S2 of Mr. Robot. Very little pay-off for lame story arcs, with a hackneyed, obvious twist. It feels like it shouldn't take itself so seriously for how it actually plays out. I'd only be tempted to watch more if it later turns out to redeem itself, but I wasn't exactly enjoying "the ride".

So, after completing Second Son, I moved onto inFAMOUS: First Light. I didn't have high expectations going in, but it's been pretty fun so far. I prefer Fetch's take on the neon powers (and the enemies she faces) and the city traversal is awesome; I haven't had that much fun getting around since Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.

A Most Violent Year A film about an aspiring heating oil businessman in New York 1981. It doesn't sound like gripping stuff, but it is. I'd say in terms of tone it rests somewhere in the region of There Will Be Blood and The Godfather (not that I'd say it's as good as those). Mostly, because it is pretty much a study of this one laser-focused businessman during New York's "most violent year". And that man is played by Oscar Isaac, alongside Jessica Chastain and Albert Brooks (looking very different to his Drive character). Essentially, the plot boils down to him taking the big leap to purchasing a riverside terminal that will be huge for his business. However, it's linked to a 30 day contract for securing the funds, which the bank is willing to loan him, or he forfeits. The problem is the heating oil industry seems pretty corrupt, with most of his competitors being gangsters or having gangster ties... and his trucks have started being hijacked. Then there's his wife, who's the daughter of a big-time gangster, who wants him to get tough... What follows is a look at how he copes with the increasing pressure and complications when he could lose everything. The ending is particularly enlightening and really seals it, but obviously I won't ruin it. It's currently free on Amazon Prime if you're at all interested.

inFAMOUS: Second Son I can't really fault it since it doesn't outstay its welcome, but it felt somewhat... insubstantial. Maybe Witcher 3 has ruined open-world games for me. It was p fun overall. I liked the different powers but I never felt like I really got to fully exploit them. Like, invisibility started to feel redundant when there were too many non-instant-subdue enemies about and neon grenades had way too small a range and timer even with the upgrades (plus, you can't see shit anyway with everything going on). Neon was good for getting the secret agents and using Video to land on the containers being carried by helicopters was cool though. I think I enjoyed the little calls Delsin makes to the DUP hotline every time he tags one of the big billboards for a district showdown. Example: The other thing is how much they modelled the actual characters on their voice actors. Delsin is Troy Baker, Fetch is Laura Bailey and Reggie is Travis Willingham. It's funny because I've seen the latter two so much on Critical Role (except they sound and act very differently) Onto First Light next, which I grabbed on PS+ aaaaages ago because I was going to play the game eventually.

On a massive XTC hit lately.

Millenials are killing the music industry one whoop/whoa at a time.

A bit late to the party, but I've been playing inFAMOUS: Second Son. I meant to get round to it at one point and it just so happens that a friend wanted to borrow Witcher 3 since he had no internet after moving and offered his collection of games in return. Since there's not much to do in Destiny at the moment, now's the perfect time to try and get through some other games. It's been alright so far. Some of the navigation is a bit janky but I liked the open-ended nature of assaulting the various DUP bases and such. Also, turns out killing birds isn't evil.

Tales from the Borderlands Pretty pretty pretty good. It made me miss the Borderlands games but then I remember I don't actually enjoy the shooting part. It had some nice twists and turns and some good gags and a neat bunch of characters. Plus, Rhys and Gortys are voiced by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson so you get to imagine it's like The Last of Us... right? Just me then. While it's a cool bit of bizarre spectacle, it kinda grates that there's one gag that is just basically a massive rip-off of Spaced's "unspoken telepathy" shoot-out stuff. Spaced being the earlier Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright TV precursor to Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz/The End of the World ("The Cornetto Trilogy") I'm not sure about the ending but I'd probably be up for a sequel if they have one planned/it was successful enough.