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Knits, Knots, and Knives
Knits, Knots, and Knives
Emmie Caldwell | 2022 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Can Lia Knit Together the Clues from Another Knotty Murder?
Lia Geiger’s normal weekend craft fair is looking a bit different thanks to a Civil War reenactment taking place on the property. She’s looking forward to it, although she quickly learns that there has been a recent power struggle in the group of reenactors. When the smoke on the battle clears, the dead body of Arden Sprouse is discovered. He was the one most responsible for the conflicts in the group. Unfortunately, suspicion has fallen on Lia’s neighbor. Can she figure out what really happened during the battle?

I’ve enjoyed this series because I really like Lia and her immediate family and friends. She is a little older than a typical cozy sleuth, which I appreciate. Her relationship with her daughter is a highlight as well. While the suspects are all strong, I wish we’d had more of a reintroduction to the minor characters who populate Lia’s world. The plot is good. I do wish we had gotten shorter clue recaps, but there were several good twists along the way to the logical climax. I also enjoyed some solid sub-plots. The reenactment combined well with the crafting theme. Those who have been enjoying this series will be pleased with the latest entry.
  
Fallout 4
Fallout 4
2017 | Role-Playing
More Fallout (1 more)
Crafting system
Dated engine (0 more)
It's Good To Be Back
To be honest, I thought I would have a lot more to talk about in my review. I was prepared to write a War and Peace style essay on how great Fallout 4 was and yet I find myself struggling to live up to that notion. Not because the game isn’t good, Fallout 4 is exactly what we have been waiting all these years for, but that’s just it. This game is exactly what we were hoping for and nothing more, which is more than fine with me. Playing this game for the first time feels like slipping on an old pair of comfortable slippers, the controls all come back to you immediately, the charm of a Fallout game is immediately present and it feels like you are right back at home. The world is vast, beautiful in parts and grotesque in others and I’m not just talking about the intentional aesthetic ugliness of the game’s world. Streched textures, dated character models, stiff animation loops, clipping, short draw distance and technical glitches are just some of the problems that come with Bethesda using the dated Creation Engine to create their first ‘next gen’ open world game. The best thing graphically in this game is the lighting effects and the more vibrant colour pallet. When the rays of sunshine hit the trees of Sanctuary Hills at the right moment this game can actually look quite beautiful, but that is immediately lost when you turn around and see the eerie face of Mama Murphy. So the presentation could be better, but I feel that’s to be expected from a Bethesda game and that is the problem. This shouldn’t be ‘expected’ from any game in 2015, if CD Projekt Red and Kojima Productions can produce large scale open world games that actually look like they were made this year and not a decade ago, then there is no real reason that Bethesda can’t. However even with all of these flaws and complaints that we really shouldn’t have to continually endure, Fallout 4 is still my GOTY. I mean all Fallout 4 had to do to be my GOTY was to be more of Fallout 3 and that is exactly what it is. The shooting is still clunky but I am a big fan of the VATS system and I’m really glad that they decided to keep the feature and it feels good to get back to being the loot addict that I am. Now, even the junk has a significant use! The crafting system in this game is such an awesome addition, I mean it obviously has its flaws as it isn’t the smoothest crafting system I have ever used, but in a game like fallout it just makes so much sense. I’m not really into the weapon, armour, chemistry or cooking crafting stations, but the ability to build your own settlements is awesome. It genuinely has stopped me from progressing the main quest. No spoilers, but I am at the part where you have to choose a faction to side with in the run up to the end of the game, but I couldn’t care less about any of that, I’m quite happy to just keep building up my settlements. That’s not to say that the quests and characters in this game aren’t interesting, because they are. The companions are all quite interesting, even if there is a strange lack of female options for a companion. The worst companion though, by far, is Dogmeat. He is the worst programmed and therefore the most broken. Constantly blocking corridors and doorways, not fetching items for you when they are within reaching distance and just being a general annoyance, he goes from being cute to irritant in a couple of short hours. The voice acting is also something that varies like crazy. Both the male and female protagonists are voiced excellently, (even if it is a Caucasian man and woman doing the voices, which means if your character is any other ethnicity, they will still sound white,) but the other voices of NPC’s etc are wooden and downright awful in places. The areas in this game are cool, they add to the tone and the immersion, as do the sound effects and score, but there is a level of polish that is absent here and there is no reason for it, it just lets the game down and prevents reviewers from giving that perfect 10 score. People on the internet have gave the dialogue system a lot of hate and while I can see where that is coming from, I personally think it functions fine.

Fallout 4 isn’t going to break any major grounds, it isn’t going to change the gaming landscape on any grand scale and it does feel like an old game and I’m okay with all of that. This is my GOTY because it’s more Fallout and that was all that I needed it to be. Sure it would have been nicer if the game looked a bit prettier and some of the systems were a bit smoother, but to be back in the wasteland, taking part in random battles that break out beside you as you wander through this dead world and looting until you can’t walk properly, it brings the feelings out in me that I haven’t felt since Fallout 3.
  
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Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) created a post

Apr 6, 2020  
Thank you for all staying with me during this difficult time. I've been trying hard to knuckle down and watch a lot of movies at home at the moment but I am finding it really hard to focus inbetween still working and with the pressures of the current situation constantly on my mind. I am also missing @fandomfanatichere a lot too but we have since found other ways to spend time together ie in the beautiful stars of @nomansskyoffical. ------------------------------------
I would like to say things will return to normal soon but as I can't my simple advice to anyone struggling at the moment is to just try and distract yourself in any way you can. Be it by watching films, playing games, turning your music up loud and singing, reading, cutting your own hair, eating nice food, drawing, crafting, buying that geeky statue you've always wanted or by just enjoying the peaceful bliss of doing nothing for a few weeks its all about looking after you and your mental state first. --------------------------------------
So please please please stay at home, keep yourselves safe and just think after all this blows over how much stronger the bond between loved ones will be, how much you will of learnt about yourself and how amazing its going to feel seeing all those people you have missed again. Love you all. Neon Nans 💜