BLAEO — Backlog Assassins Extraordinaire

Been a bit since I last posted, but I’m going to try and do monthly updates now (and thank you to everyone who answered my questions last post about formatting). I think posting at the beginning of each month is the best option for me, gives me a specific schedule to stick with and also time for my slow butt to get something done, lol.

Also, does anyone know why Akantha’s templates say “CHANGEME”, and they say to change it, yet when I do it breaks the code? Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I think I figured it out now though after more poking, but I’d still like an explanation as to why its necessary and all that.

Secret World Legends

205 hours of playtime, no achievements
*Play off Steam

In preparation for the newest update of Secret World Legends (SWL) on April 4th, I've begun playing the game again. For those unaware, this MMO was relaunched from The Secret World to Secret World Legends and we had to start over. Wasn't all too happy about it, but I love the game too much *not* to restart, especially with new content on the horizon! Besides, I've been having fun replaying it with my boyfriend, especially now that there is a progression guide to make the storyline more understandable. There are currently 4 areas, Solomon Island, Egypt, Transylvania, and Tokyo, and we just finished the Solomon Island area and made our way to Egypt. I'm quite happy we got Solomon Island done, its one of my favorite areas and that means we only have 3 more places to go. Egypt wasn't a very good experience last time as it was confusing, but hopefully the new guide will improve the experience. I posted some screenshots and tried to keep them as spoiler free as possible. One thing I definitely like about the relaunch though is my character's new face. :D

Guardians of Ember

Unfortunately this game was removed from Steam due to the company being shady, so I can't show achievements or hours. Good news is that it being removed won't affect my stats, and I put it in the "Abandoned" pile anyways. The overall gameplay and storyline was not very interesting, it didn't capture my attention and nothing compelled me to continue. I had hoped it would be good as it sounded interesting from the store's descriptions, especially the crafting and housing bits, but it really wasn't, which is disappointing. One less thing to worry about though, and at least I can say I tried it. I saved one picture because I really liked the dress armor.

The Elder Scrolls® Online

0 hours of playtime, no achievements
*Play off Steam

I also bought Elder Scrolls through the main website, but have yet to play it because it requires so much space. Trying to move programs around to make space for it, as I have a lot of misc stuff that shouldn't be on my SSD. Getting closer, and definitely can't wait to play. I have zero experience with the ES series though, so I'm hoping there's enough lore in the game to learn most of it.

Shelter 1

1.2 hours of playtime, no achievements

I started this cute game recently. Its not exactly what I expected, as I was expecting more care options for the babies, but I like it still. Its a bit hard to play it for long periods as its mostly walking, and the colors hurt my eyes slightly. I'm really enjoying it though, I even named the babies (which is probably a bad idea)! Bob, Carla, Zero, Anais, and unfortunately I'm having trouble remembering the last name. Hopefully I'll remember when I get back in-game. I'm currently at the second part, and I believe there's three more after that.

Sid Meier's Civilization V

30.1 hours of playtime, 19 of 286 achievements

Played this a few hours ago in multiplayer with a friend. I always forget just how addictive this game is, and then I realize what I am missing while on break from it. I'm going to try and play more of this in the future. During the game I was having a terrible time, I was stuck in last place for so many turns! I finally made it to first place after I knocked off the annoying nearby barbarians and focused on building more World Wonders. The barbarian difficulty had been increased, and I unfortunately got stuck in an area where they immediately focused on me. After being in first place for a while, I was slowly going down the ranks towards the end of the game session due to being in debt with a large army. Oops. Hopefully I'll do better next time after more time refreshing my memory alone.

Time Mysteries 2: The Ancient Spectres

6.3 hours of playtime, 8 of 11 achievements

I finished this game a while ago, but after finishing Time Mysteries 1 recently (in the "Completed" tab), I decided to revisit this one to finish the last of the achievements and also see any storyline connections. So far I'm seeing just a family connection and that's it. Hopefully I'll see more as I replay.

Time Mysteries: Inheritance - Remastered

3.6 hours of playtime, 10 of 10 achievements

I actually started with the sequel to this game first, before finally buying this one. They are different in gameplay though. I liked this HOG, it was just the right difficulty and the storyline wasn't bad. I really enjoyed the characters too, where normally I find HOG character's to be flat, usually due to the writing and voice acting. I especially liked "Ball" as he was funny. The HO scenes in the costume room were hard to see though, as there's this constant pulsing light that almost whiteouts the scene. Other than that though, it was pretty fun and I recommend anyone who hasn't tried it to play it. It is an older game though and it shows that age, so keep that in mind.

I'm going to try playing some of my SteamGifts wins next. I'm thinking of starting with these two. Regency Solitaire, as its more of a casual game I can do at anytime and play only for a few minutes if need be, and Maize because it looks very interesting. Not sure if I should try a challenge after or not, but I'll think on it.

Regency Solitaire

0.0 hours of playtime, undefined of 17 achievements

Maize

0.0 hours of playtime, no achievements

Lucky Thirteen

I enjoyed SWL a lot at the beginning, but then it somehow became… stale. Funcom mostly failed to deliver something to keep players coming back, in my opinion, it was a little too obvious that SWL isn’t meant to be a game you enjoy, but something you’ll be spending money on. Quite a shame.
I absolutelly loved the story, though! Both the main storyline and the plots of the side missions are a real masterpiece :) Especially the whole Solomon Island location was really appealing to me with all its Lovecraft/Poe/horror references, that was right up my alley

I also own Guardians of Ember (grabbed it while it was free at one point, if I recall), I’ve been meaning to play it but I kind of can’t decide if it’s worth it or not :D The fact that the game got removed from Steam doesn’t inspire much confidence, either… Hmm.

MizoreYukii

Yeah, the cash grab system is very obvious, but it seems to be working since its motivating them to make new content. South Africa seems to be a success so far, as the cut-scenes and story seem to be on par with their previous work. At least that’s what I’ve heard so far, but I’ll have to see for myself! I’m so excited for the new content and really hope it is good. And also hoping they’ll continue past SA and make more content….the game, despite the silly cash grab system, deserves to live solely for the story. There is so much lore to explore, they could make a whole franchise off of it. I don’t think the Funcom heads truly see just how much potential it has!

Eh….I don’t recommend GoE unless you’re very curious. It really doesn’t have much going for it both in story and gameplay. Of course each person is different and maybe you will like it, but I don’t know how long the servers will be up either way. When I was on, I saw one person the entire time. Chat was dead too. RIP, lol.

Arbiter Libera

Also, does anyone know why Akantha’s templates say “CHANGEME”, and they say to change it, yet when I do it breaks the code? Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I think I figured it out now though after more poking, but I’d still like an explanation as to why its necessary and all that.

Keep in mind you also have to change the matching “div id” tab it references while dropping “#”. I just change numbers and call it a day. :D

Anyway, that’s a GREAT looking SWL character. Female characters look great in that game. Are those all regular outfits or some cash shop action? You’re just missing Guild Wars 2 and you’d pretty much have my installed MMORPG trio, although to say I play them might a stretch considering I barely get anything done these days. TESO is pretty decent but you need that DLC in order to get all the content and I’m talking tangible stuff like stealing, etc.

MizoreYukii

I’m supposed to remove the # too? Dangit, lol.

Thank you! And they do! 1 and 3 are cash shop, the rest are obtained free from the game. Ohh, I received GW2 (from Yogscast bundle) but haven’t played it either. I bought Morrowind and the Gold edition, so just missing a couple of other DLC and Summerset then?

Out of both GW2 and ESO, which do you prefer?

Arbiter Libera

Yeah, if you have the Gold version then you have the vanilla game and four of the DLC released during that time period. Most of the other ones are dungeon-centric with the exception of Clockwork City.

Out of those two? I think they’re both perfectly fine as “off MMORPGs” aka something you don’t really spend half a day playing like you would with regular MMORPGs because you’ll run out of content. I like GW2 because of how alive the world feels and it is closer to typical MMORPG at its base line versus ESO which kinda comes off as Skyrim Online but with some concessions made like soft tab-targeting and such. I’d also highly recommend subscribing to ESO if you’re serious because having access to unlimited crafting storage is a game changer, not to mention access to all non-expansion DLC. You have both so give it a go, just keep in mind some of GW2 content nowadays is locked behind two expansions and Living Story episodes which you normally get for free by logging into the game when they’re released, but have to pay for if you weren’t around when they released.