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Wrigglezeus (511 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Fallout 76 in Video Games
May 4, 2020
Fantastic story adding to the lore (2 more)
Brilliant environments
Wastelanders Update
Broken gameplay mechanics (5 more)
Randomly kicked out or servers
Combat
Bullet weight
Other players
Pay for private worlds
Lackluster
As a lover of all Fallout, there isn’t much I can forgive with this game. Deep within the lore of Fallout you play a vault dweller leaving the vault 25 years after the bombs fell. Hence forth you are the first to venture out and hear from holotapes and letters, and thanks to the new Wastelands update, from characters as well telling their stories before and after the bombs fell.
However, whilst a fantastic lore, world story telling and brilliant story plot can be a saving grace, it’s the lack of gameplay performance that is its biggest downfall. The enemy spawn rate is chaotic, and I have often found myself walking down a barren wasteland to instantaneously become surrounded on all sides from enemies who have suddenly appeared in front of me. This has lead to my near death on several occasions. Furthermore in some dungeon, as other players fast travelled nearby I have found myself often fighting an infinite amount of enemies within one area. It’s not disappointing, it becomes frustrating.
Let’s talk about other players, as I found to my disappointed hunting and gathering throughout the world only to find out a story location has already been raided and looted, meaning those precious chems and materials required have disappeared as you’ve struggled through the enemies spawned as you enter the location. I still believe that Fallout should, and should always remain, a single player game. Now Bethesda have sorted a solution for this issue, after spending so much for a game we are then asked to pay a subscription to allow the use of private worlds, a pay wall behind a pay wall. Something that would’ve saved them face had it been offered to the public.
It’s due to this, that whilst the world is great, with much to do and the story is gripping. Excluding the other players, it’s the gameplay mechanics that brings the whole experience down. However the addition of the wastelanders update has brought to the game what it was severely lacking.
However, whilst a fantastic lore, world story telling and brilliant story plot can be a saving grace, it’s the lack of gameplay performance that is its biggest downfall. The enemy spawn rate is chaotic, and I have often found myself walking down a barren wasteland to instantaneously become surrounded on all sides from enemies who have suddenly appeared in front of me. This has lead to my near death on several occasions. Furthermore in some dungeon, as other players fast travelled nearby I have found myself often fighting an infinite amount of enemies within one area. It’s not disappointing, it becomes frustrating.
Let’s talk about other players, as I found to my disappointed hunting and gathering throughout the world only to find out a story location has already been raided and looted, meaning those precious chems and materials required have disappeared as you’ve struggled through the enemies spawned as you enter the location. I still believe that Fallout should, and should always remain, a single player game. Now Bethesda have sorted a solution for this issue, after spending so much for a game we are then asked to pay a subscription to allow the use of private worlds, a pay wall behind a pay wall. Something that would’ve saved them face had it been offered to the public.
It’s due to this, that whilst the world is great, with much to do and the story is gripping. Excluding the other players, it’s the gameplay mechanics that brings the whole experience down. However the addition of the wastelanders update has brought to the game what it was severely lacking.
Fraud Analytics Using Descriptive, Predictive, and Social Network Techniques: A Guide to Data Science for Fraud Detection
Bart Baesens, Wouter Verbeke and Veronique Van Vlasselaer
Book
Detect fraud earlier to mitigate loss and prevent cascading damage Fraud Analytics Using...
SmartRace - Carrera Race App
Entertainment and Sports
App
SmartRace Race App for Carrera Digital Bring the racing action directly to your living room with...
Survival Island 2017 - Savage 2
Games and Entertainment
App
Love survival games with great graphics? Download and play now! “Hey, survivor! Get to the coast,...
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Winter Trials in Books
Nov 16, 2018
This review can also be found on my blog - www.diaryofdifference.com
A winter tale about two men finding themselves and each other. A short beginning of what I believe will be a long-lasting relationship, in a book filled with warmth, bravery and magic.
I was lucky enough to be approached by the author – K.S. Marsden, and I was excited to read both her books from the Northern Witch Series.
Winter Trials is the first instalment, and it is a perfect short introduction to the environment and the character. The story is about Mark, a 16-year-old boy, who decides to start practising magic, just like his grandmother.
And when a new guy comes in school, Mark is instantly attracted to him. But Mark’s magic, and Damien’s troublesome past will suddenly find each other, and a huge danger is near…
I really enjoyed reading this book, and it was a shame that it was so short. I loved Mark’s character and especially cheered for the grandma witch – she was the star of the show, with her sassy comments!
There wasn’t too much in-depth character features, and character development, but I would assume this is an introduction to a world that is to come.
Mark is a typical high-school teenager, with normal things hanging around his head, and some of the thoughts and discussions were refreshing, rather than when you read some usual cliches in other books.
I loved the bonfire night gathering, and the magic scenes were breathtaking.
The love story between Mark and Demian developed a bit too fast, and that is my only little disappointment, but apart from that – I enjoyed reading it, and can’t wait to dive into book two.
If you love LGBT romance, YA and a bit of magic and witches – grab this book, and read this series!
Thank you to the author, for sending me a hard copy of this book. All the opinions stated in this review are entirely my own.
A winter tale about two men finding themselves and each other. A short beginning of what I believe will be a long-lasting relationship, in a book filled with warmth, bravery and magic.
I was lucky enough to be approached by the author – K.S. Marsden, and I was excited to read both her books from the Northern Witch Series.
Winter Trials is the first instalment, and it is a perfect short introduction to the environment and the character. The story is about Mark, a 16-year-old boy, who decides to start practising magic, just like his grandmother.
And when a new guy comes in school, Mark is instantly attracted to him. But Mark’s magic, and Damien’s troublesome past will suddenly find each other, and a huge danger is near…
I really enjoyed reading this book, and it was a shame that it was so short. I loved Mark’s character and especially cheered for the grandma witch – she was the star of the show, with her sassy comments!
There wasn’t too much in-depth character features, and character development, but I would assume this is an introduction to a world that is to come.
Mark is a typical high-school teenager, with normal things hanging around his head, and some of the thoughts and discussions were refreshing, rather than when you read some usual cliches in other books.
I loved the bonfire night gathering, and the magic scenes were breathtaking.
The love story between Mark and Demian developed a bit too fast, and that is my only little disappointment, but apart from that – I enjoyed reading it, and can’t wait to dive into book two.
If you love LGBT romance, YA and a bit of magic and witches – grab this book, and read this series!
Thank you to the author, for sending me a hard copy of this book. All the opinions stated in this review are entirely my own.
DW
Data Wrangling: Munging in R with SQL and MongoDB for Financial Applications: 2016
Patrick Houlihan and Alexander Moreno
Book
This book teaches practitioners and students how to gather, clean, and manage financial data in R...
Jingled
Book
Matt Daughtry has always felt like he and his parents live in separate worlds—his shaped by the...
MM Speculative Fiction
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The Walking Dead - Season 7 in TV
Dec 3, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Season 7 of The Walking Dead opens with a hard to watch bang, and one of the most infamous scenes from the comic series.
The introduction of Negan is suitably bleak, gory and unexpected, delivering a throat punch of two main character executions.
It is made clear that Rick could very well be out if his depth. It's a strong and terrifying opener, but it unfortunately does not set the tone for the rest of the season.
As I've mentioned before, TWD settled into a formula - a season would tend to consist of a couple of outstanding episodes, a handful a good ones, and then passed out with a lot of filler.
The main problem with season 7 is that after the opening episode, the remaining episodes all feel like filler. For the first time since it's beginning to, I found myself bored with TWD.
The plot remains very samey for the most part, with Rick and co. gathering supplies for Negan to avoid anymore culling of the cast.
Meanwhile we're introduced to new communities in the shape of The Kingdom and Oceanside, and it becomes clear early one that the four communities (including Alexandria and Hilltop) will unite to take on The Saviours, but it takes an excruciatingly long time to get there.
The side plot of Daryl's capture is dragged out for way too long and becomes testing.
The side plot of Eugene's reluctant turn to The Savior's is dragged out for way too long (it doesn't actually get resolved until the end of season 8!)
It all just feels like a bit of a slog.
We're also introduced to a group of survivors lead by a woman called Jadis, who are so f*cking pretentious, that they made me want to stop TWD altogether.
Its not all bad. My personal highlight of the season is probably Negan himself, a character that a lot of people didn't like. His jokey demeanor works well against all the seriousness, and to be honest, I'm just a fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan in general.
Overall though, season 7 is thoroughly average, and unfortunately, it's not quite the low point of TWD. The main positive here is that it reminded me just how good the first few seasons were.
The introduction of Negan is suitably bleak, gory and unexpected, delivering a throat punch of two main character executions.
It is made clear that Rick could very well be out if his depth. It's a strong and terrifying opener, but it unfortunately does not set the tone for the rest of the season.
As I've mentioned before, TWD settled into a formula - a season would tend to consist of a couple of outstanding episodes, a handful a good ones, and then passed out with a lot of filler.
The main problem with season 7 is that after the opening episode, the remaining episodes all feel like filler. For the first time since it's beginning to, I found myself bored with TWD.
The plot remains very samey for the most part, with Rick and co. gathering supplies for Negan to avoid anymore culling of the cast.
Meanwhile we're introduced to new communities in the shape of The Kingdom and Oceanside, and it becomes clear early one that the four communities (including Alexandria and Hilltop) will unite to take on The Saviours, but it takes an excruciatingly long time to get there.
The side plot of Daryl's capture is dragged out for way too long and becomes testing.
The side plot of Eugene's reluctant turn to The Savior's is dragged out for way too long (it doesn't actually get resolved until the end of season 8!)
It all just feels like a bit of a slog.
We're also introduced to a group of survivors lead by a woman called Jadis, who are so f*cking pretentious, that they made me want to stop TWD altogether.
Its not all bad. My personal highlight of the season is probably Negan himself, a character that a lot of people didn't like. His jokey demeanor works well against all the seriousness, and to be honest, I'm just a fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan in general.
Overall though, season 7 is thoroughly average, and unfortunately, it's not quite the low point of TWD. The main positive here is that it reminded me just how good the first few seasons were.
The Greatest Traitor: The Secret Lives of Agent George Blake
Book
'Sober, accurate and all the more thrilling for it. The best thing on Blake that we are likely to...
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Our Endless Numbered Days in Books
Sep 26, 2018
I don't like unreliable narrators. I didn't realize, at first, that Peggy was one. Even though she mentions at the start of the book that a doctor said she had Korsakoff's syndrome - meaning malnutrition has messed with her memories - I assumed that it was just because her experiences were so unbelievable that the doctor thought she'd made things up. I also don't like unreliable narrators because the author obviously knows what truly happened. Leaving the reader in the dark about it seems rude.
Peggy's narration does seem childlike, often. While at the beginning of the book, that can be excused because she is eight years old, by the end she is seventeen, yet still talking about things with a child's understanding. I thought that was the effect of Korsakoff's syndrome, not that she was entirely making some things up.
In our endless numbered days, Peggy is effectively kidnapped by her father when she is eight, and taken to some place deep in the German forest. She spends the next nine years alone in the forest with him, trapping squirrels, gathering roots and berries, and growing simple crops in a small vegetable patch. He tells her, repeatedly, making her repeat it back to him, that the rest of the world was destroyed in a massive storm. They are the last two people alive in their small, sheltered valley. She doesn't question it until she sees a man in their forest, and that eventually leads her to find civilization again. The book is told in two timelines, flashing back and forth from her memories of her time in the forest, and the present where she's attempting to re-acclimate to London.
I'm not really sure what to believe; Peggy's memory or what her mother thinks happened. There are just enough oddities to make either story plausible. I think I prefer Peggy's version. But that's the trouble with unreliable narrators; there's no way to actually know. I don't like ending a book frustrated. Books should make you feel things, yes, but frustration is an odd emotion to aim for.
This book is odd.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Peggy's narration does seem childlike, often. While at the beginning of the book, that can be excused because she is eight years old, by the end she is seventeen, yet still talking about things with a child's understanding. I thought that was the effect of Korsakoff's syndrome, not that she was entirely making some things up.
In our endless numbered days, Peggy is effectively kidnapped by her father when she is eight, and taken to some place deep in the German forest. She spends the next nine years alone in the forest with him, trapping squirrels, gathering roots and berries, and growing simple crops in a small vegetable patch. He tells her, repeatedly, making her repeat it back to him, that the rest of the world was destroyed in a massive storm. They are the last two people alive in their small, sheltered valley. She doesn't question it until she sees a man in their forest, and that eventually leads her to find civilization again. The book is told in two timelines, flashing back and forth from her memories of her time in the forest, and the present where she's attempting to re-acclimate to London.
I'm not really sure what to believe; Peggy's memory or what her mother thinks happened. There are just enough oddities to make either story plausible. I think I prefer Peggy's version. But that's the trouble with unreliable narrators; there's no way to actually know. I don't like ending a book frustrated. Books should make you feel things, yes, but frustration is an odd emotion to aim for.
This book is odd.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com