meant2live218

I'm with you, the ending of the 3rd book deflated me and actually lowered my opinions on the first 2 books. I'm curious whether the follow-up books do anything to fix it, but I can't find the motivation to read them now.

This week has been a bit of UFO 50 and Terra Memoria.

UFO 50 hasn't hooked me with a single specific game yet, but the entire package together is incredibly compelling and fun. It's just neat to hop in, play half an hour of a game that makes me think back to playing on my dad's NES, and then put it down for something else, much like how I played when I was 5 or 6.

I'm still very early on in Terra Memoria, but I think it's pretty neat! I like the combat system as they've introduced it so far, and it looks like there will be a lot of depth and choices to make in combat or team-building (maybe). Something about turn-based RPGs feel perfectly suited for the Deck.

I was gifted Tokaido for Christmas, and while I haven't played a game of it yet, I've gone through the rules and simulated a few turns, and it doesn't feel interactive or exciting. It feels fairly solitary, aside from the entire "do I want to be ahead of the group and get the bonuses, or trail in the back and get more actions?"

On the other hand, my playgroup has largely enjoyed Wingspan and Wyrmspan. Wyrmspan specifically felt like a good step forward, because the resources felt much tighter, and it felt like there were various approaches to the game that could work well.

PLEASE revive Inbox!

I've subscribed to Shortwave to help bundle and manage my emails, but it's not quite as clean as Inbox was.

I haven't delved into this game much, and I'm not well-versed in 40K lore, but do you only get to play as the Ultramarines, or do they have other legions/chapters to customize as?

I think it's a shame it had to come to this. I trusted the RC and CAG to make good decisions for the direction of Commander, and there will always be a risk of business execs higher than Gavin and MaRo pushing things to maximize profits, but I also understand why it had to be done. People apparently just can't be civil online.

This talk was a good look into who the format will be resting with, and it's encouraging, at least. They look like they're putting a lot of thought into how they want people to approach Commander, even if I think the entire tier system is wonky. I have some decks that are full of absolute junk and fun cards, but of course they have to run some efficient cards, whether it's removal or ramp, and if those are tier 4 and the rest of my deck plays like a 2, it would be frustrating to have to label it as a 4. Overall, it should just be a shortcut to indicate the general strength or speed of the deck, so people can all have fun in a game. It shouldn't replace rule 0, that's for sure.

I went to my public library for the first time since I was in high school. Applied for a new card, since they didn't have any of my old records, and checked out 4 books. I only brought one with me for a trip this week, Sweet Bean Paste, by Durian Sukegawa, since it was together with the other "book club" books.

I'm realizing that I've really let reading as a hobby get away from me; I have no clue how to look for recommendations, or even what I'm really looking for in a story. I feel like a lot of the SciFi or Fantasy I've read since high school probably still fall under YA fiction, and I don't know if that's what I should still be looking at or not.

I dislike the Epic Launcher and almost every move they've made as a company, but I'm glad that competition exists. People should have choices of where to get games, in ways that make sense for them. Unfortunately, I don't really see a reason to choose EGS other than exclusives and freebies, but hopefully they actually develop it into a valid candidate.

In general, having more publishers and storefronts and developers in a place of stability is good for the industry. It sucks when studios have to get shut down because the funding isn't there.

Any big finds in this list?

I've personally really enjoyed Sea of Stars. I don't know if it's too short or too long, because it did drop out of my attention for a bit, but the good moments are great. One of 2 games where I actually teared up/cried last year.

I like Into the Breach a lot! I'm not much for roguelike/roguelite games because I feel like I'm not improving/learning at the rate that the game expects, but Into the Breach is just so cool and fun, and it's the tactics-based game that has made me think the most on every individual move. Each team plays so differently, and they do make use of the run-based system in interesting ways.

The study isn't from Oxford. It's from a team of Chinese scientists (likely in China) who used a large dataset collected in the UK.

The study is published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, which the Oxford Academic collects and reproduces for their academic press.

If you care about story, I'd recommend going 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7 (Like a Dragon), Man Who Erased His Name, and then Infinite Wealth (8).

If you specifically want turn-based combat, you can start on 7 and honestly be pretty OK.

If you just want to have an enjoyable time, you can jump in on any side entry, like Judgment/Lost Judgment, Isshin, or this new Pirate one.

Overall, the mainline Yakuza games have an earnest and serious plot, with moments that take it over the top. But all of it is interspersed with moments of random goofiness and levity. My cousins have spent months on Yakuza 0 because they got really into learning Japanese Mah Jong and enjoyed the slot car racing.

The Chromecast with Google TV^(TM)