Tag Archives: Alan Wake

Atheren’s Games for January/February 2024

Once again I largely played World of Warcraft and Elder Scrolls in January. 

Elder Scrolls Online

My game time dropped in ESO once I found myself with six level 50 characters. Though there are many places in Tamriel I haven’t played through yet, there’s something about doing so with maximum level characters rather than leveling characters that simply isn’t as fun.

I purchased a character slot for an Argonian I felt I should have, and she’s great, but again, she is treading ground I’ve been over numerous times.

While I was briefly enjoying dungeons, they’ve felt like an empty experience after a bit, once my characters had better armor than they were getting questing. I hoped to get furniture and other recipes in dungeons, but you can never stop to loot even a crate or you’re way behind the crowd. My feeling was they ruined the game for me a bit. All flash, no truly interesting loot.

Now, I’ve just been logging in for the daily rewards each day, not even doing my Main Crafter’s Writs most days.

Even so, I’m super excited about the Next Chapter, the Gold Road.

I had looked at pre-reveal speculation on the next chapter, and Skingrad seemed the most popular choice. My first thought regarding Skingrad was Vampires. Not my favorite thing in any game, let alone Elder Scrolls. Never speak to me about Knights of the Nine.

Even so, look at that picture. Sun drenched adventure. Everything you want in Elder Scrolls is promised by that one painting. I pre-ordered immediately. Here’s part of the map from Oblivion, showing the Gold Road and Skingrad.

Is it possible we will get to visit Kvatch, Anvil and Chorrol as well? I haven’t been so excited about a Chapter since Morrowind and Elsweyr. Goal oriented person that I am, I should have my main character work through as many of the Pact areas and expansion areas as she can by June, so she can go in strong, adventuring along the Gold Road.

World of Warcraft

My time in Hardcore Classic and Modern Era Dragon Isles might be about equal in the last month, again with little Wrath time.

Hardcore’s version of the game where everything matters remains irresistible. My Paladin Main is halfway to level 30. My Paladin Blacksmith is 19 and my Priest who levels with my spouse is just about there too.

My secondary Alchemist who was doing all the low level alchemy crafting, was killed by a Harvester in Westfall last week. Dang. It’s still horrible to lose a character completely. She was a level 13-ish Warrior. I’ve been playing Prot Warrior in the Wrath version of the game, and wanted to do that here too. My usual spec has always been Arms. I was playing her as Arms until she got Revenge, and was busy nattering between the two stances when I got within the Very Long (!) aggro range of a harvester and she couldn’t fight him effectively, and classically tried to run too late and poof.

In her honor I made a character with her name on Blackwater Raiders, so she lives on and can’t be destroyed again.

I also created a character in her place just to hold meats and fish (somebody has to do it). I came up with the name Sophiebear on a whim and loved it so much, I created a live game Pandaran with that name and got her through the Panda starter are in a single night. I really dislike this area, and it often takes a month or more to struggle through. Sophiebear FTW! I love her so much.

Speaking of love, here is my Kul Tiran Druid and my real life little sister queuing up for a few dungeons.

The Trading Post is becoming interesting to me beyond logging in to get the new Mount of the Month. I’ve found myself looking at some of the pets and transmog items. 

Since I’ve been killing off and creating new modern era characters left and right, I’ve had some of the lowbies who survive these purges doing Pet Battles, something I never got far in, and I go to the Transmogrifier after every dungeon run to get my character’s “look” back.

Alan Wake 2

Department of games I’m not playing: Alan Wake 2. My son got it for Christmas and I’m sure he’s not afraid of anything in the game, but he and I disagree on what they did to Alan’s face. Aggh. WTF. The new version, with no explanation of his changed visage, looks like he should be in the Last of Us. Axe Man must have got him

Screenshot

Real Alan

The Elder Scrolls Castles

It has apparently been released in the Philippines, but there’s little information on the game. Here, however is a Redditor’s guide that may give you an idea of game play. It looks different than anything else I’ve seen from Bethesda. I like that they are doing so many new and interesting games.

The Elder Scrolls Castles: A General Guide for Beginners
byu/Boukrarez inESCastles

Gaming Goals for February:

ESO get Main through to Aliki’r Desert

Wow “live” continue Shadowlands for most modern characters, level my “Fabulous Five” on Blackwater Raiders through Dragon Isles (Druid, Warlock, Mage, Paladin, Rogue).

Hardcore keep my Paladin main moving along without dying, natch.

Starfield

A short note on Starfield-I did have to uninstall a fair few things to get it to run, and it wasn’t enough. Everything was sluggy. I uninstalled Starfield last week and will try to (gasp) finish something that remains installed, then poof that to make more space. I don’t know how I fill a hard drive so fast.

IntPiPoMo 2021

It’s that time of year, for you to show off those screenshots you’ve taken. For the month of November, you’re trying for 50 screenshots or other pictures, drawings, creations. No certain number of posts, no pressure to post every day. Visit Gamer Girl Confessions to get the full details and to sign up.

IntPiPoMo 2021: Information and Sign Up

I am taking the opportunity this year as I often do, to dig around in my Steam Library and try out some of the games I’ve bought, or to revisit some that I paused in my progress in (yup, got stuck). I’m just going alphabetically down the list of what I have installed. Then I’ll see what I can install that’s new. I’m always low on disc space, somehow, so it will also be an opportunity to clean house and uninstall a few things.

Starting off with the exciting, dark, spooky, far too scary for me to play for more than 12 minutes (thanks for timing it, Steam) Alan Wake. There’s a remastered version out now, but if I can only play for a few minutes at a time, I think my current version will do.

Back to the lumber yard, where I left off. My goal is to reach “the path above”. I spent time in this area last round jumping up on and climbing up on various piles of lumber, trying to see where I could go next. I got nowhere.

This time around I found a ladder going up to what looked like the PATH!

And Pfft! You do go up a bit and there’s a creepy cabin which I tried to walk around and avoid going in. Because, yo creepy guys in there for sure. In was however the only place to go.

Inside, just a broken stove, and one interactive box with batteries. The cabin seems to just be on a landing by itself. I thought maybe I could jump up on some boxes and make my way to the roof and jump up to the path. No. I could jump on one box but not get to the next one. I tried jumping on rocks outside the cabin to get higher. Nope.

It appears I came up here solely to get those batteries and I have to go back to the lumberyard (where the Axe Man could leap out at any moment) to look for another way. I just left Alan by the creepy cabin for now.

Bendy and the Ink Machine

Here’s an interesting game. Your friend Joey Drew, who was also your former boss, invites you to stop by his studio as he wants to show you something.

The studio is completely a cartoon, and we can surmise Henry is one too, though you don’t see him.

Nobody seems to be around, certainly not Joey. Is that ink pouring in from the ceiling? Something seems to have gone awry.

Do the ink production notes add up?

I found Bendy and the Ink Machine to be slightly scary. I’m supposed to be finding clues about Joey, but only three objects were interactable. I’ll have to go back through and check every inch of the place.

On a lighter note, Crash Bandicoot n sane Trilogy

What a happy cheerful little fox-thing he is. Here my habit of hitting Print Scrn instead of F12 kept me from getting actual gameplay shots. I find it odd, but I had a much easier time on my son’s PS1 playing this. Even so, it is fun, and I was doing well, getting the moves down. Somehow, though, once I fell in a pit, I couldn’t stop falling in pits. Hmmm.

Dragon Age Origins. This is just not the game I remember, but I liked it. It looks to me as if I actually started the series with Dragon Age 2. In any case, I chose a Dwarven Warrior. If I’m playing a game of this type that I’m not familiar with, I always choose a Warrior as my class. Dwarves sounded toughest.

The game at first asked for a code then an EA login, but I was able to close those out and keep going.

Here’s my final character, awfully pretty for a Dwarf!

I made some careful dialog choices. Beraht is your crime lord/boss who sneers about selling your sister’s favors. So, no option to kill him on the spot?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, he sends you to see if one of his minions has been holding out on him and cheating him in trades with the surface dwellers. Again I chose the most reasonable options, but the guy was a slimer and was cheating, and he tried to bribe my character and my rogue pal. Really the only way to come out of the situation with honor intact was to kill the guy. I would have preferred being able to find a way out of the situation without bribery or his death. However, my sister would be endangered so, no.

Here’s the dazzling city of Orzammar.

I’ve taken the next quest from him. The Grey Wardens are holding combat contests to recruit for their numbers fighting the Darkspawn. Boink! As soon as I saw that it’s yo, off we go to prove ourselves and gtfo the Dwarven slums. I hope her mother and sister can come away with her.

However, there’s the task of drugging one of the competitors, so Beraht can win a bet on his chosen favorite in the contests. I sure don’t want to do that. I hope there’s a choice of dialog that allows my dwarf to compete without any drugging/maiming/killing.

There we are, fifteen screenshots.

GameNotes December 3, 2019

Mechagon Follies

While doing a daily quest all of a sudden Rustfeather pops up.  Where are all the people who camp him, I thought.  Luckily very shortly a bunch of people showed up and I didn’t need to die.

 

Unbelievably the annoying crone Scrollsage Nola with her nails on a blackboard voice showed up in Mechagon.  Ack.  I knew she was evil, though, she thinks her colleague  Maokka is too gentle and she wants you to assassinate some goblins.

 

Saturday was particularly frustrating in Mechagon, so I found myself dropping down to work on my level 80 Hunter who is in Northrend.  Northrend can be so pretty after spending time in a junkyard.

Amber Ledge sparkles.

Even Coldarra seems fun.

Fashions of the week

My Monk in a fish head.  I just love the fish heads.

 

A Balance Druid in a nicely transmogged outfit. She might be drooling.  Still a cutie.

 

Wow Classic Atheren, a Hunter, wears those furry hide pieces with aplomb.  You skin it, you wear it.

Her pet Snuggles is now her Best Friend. Awwwww.

I hope one of my Hunters can tame one of these giant crocs in the Wetlands.  They’re so adorable.  Look at this guy, dead, but posing like he wants his belly rubbed.

 

I’m finding interesting old echoes of today’s BFA all over.  Note the Lost Third Fleet of Kul Tiras.

 

ESO

I haven’t attempted the dragon’s lair yet again, but apparently I need to beat that dragon to see southern Elsweyr? Bleh.  While taking a break in Auridon, what should show up in the sky?

 

Alan Wake

I did some reading on strategies for playing Alan Wake.  I did make some progress forward over the weekend.

I came back into the game by the Stuckey guy’s body.  I think that’s who it is.

I meant to look around the yard for a flashlight and gun, thinking I had missed them.  They were never there.  Instead, they were in a little well lit shack.  I ran past the axeman this time around and got into the shack.

Call for help!  There’s an old fashioned phone that doesn’t work.  I think all it does is position you in front of the window so you can see the big piece of construction equipment start up.  Then the thing pushes the shed off it’s foundations with a mighty roar.  On the plus side, you can now see what’s coming your way and you can shoot at it.  Managing to hold the flashlight on the now multiple axe men isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. You can only get one guy at a time, unless you drag them into the light, where they’re considerably easier to kill.

Run, Alan run.

 

There’s no clear path through the woods to higher ground.  It’s worth exploring all the paths for batteries and ammo hidden around the place.  I just have to try to be calm and look around for anything helpful.

You can see your next goal, but how to get there?  Good guess, a generator is somehow involved. Love my flashlight.

If I’d known that there would be axe men galore, I would have gone through the tutorial myself, but silly, silly, I thought he was just a dream.

 

Bartle Test

You’re likely familiar with the Bartle Test which categories you as Explorer, Socializer, Achiever, Killer.   On his QBlog, Bartle links to new player tests that are updated for today’s games.

http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2019/QBlog291119A.html

 

I can’t find my old test results, but here’s the new one:

 

 

 

Screenshot Saturday November 23, 2019

Sneaking in a few more screenshots tonight.

 

Alan Wake

The man has troubles.  When last we saw him, he was a mere 200 yards from Stuckeys, according to the sign.  There is of course no quick way to it, so he goes on a ramble through the woods.  I thought I heard him mutter something about an axe murderer in the woods, but nah, right?

He makes it to a junkyard (I think it’s a junkyard), climbs up a log through a fence, and…

The axe man sure is a weird fool, kind of madly cackling before leaping away.

Alan finds two manuscript pages on the ground!  This is the story he was planning to write next!

 

I spent a fair amount of time trying to find my way out of the mini-maze of the lot or junkyard or whatever I was in. There was NO FLASHLIGHT! Just a thermos of coffee.

So, of course, who pops up, and I have no flashlight, no weapon, it’s just me and my pal The Axeman.  Did not go well. Will have an opportunity to slow down and look for a flashlight next time.

(Note: My son tells me I have a flashlight, I just need to right click to use it.  He also thinks I have a gun, which I can use by left clicking.  It was all in the Tutorial, he says!  Which I had him do for me because of the Axeman.   I’ll try the flashlight next time, but I’m certain nothing happens when left clicking because I tried that in case I could just punch him.  Unless.  You can only shoot at something pinioned by your flashlight.  Yikes.)

 

Mass Effect

I was doing really well here this session, no deaths for my squad.  Boom.  Disarming bombs, not difficult, but I ran out of time and didn’t get them all.   22 seconds on the clock with one more to find and BOOM.  Unfortunately, my most recent save is the one with only 22 seconds left, and I have to start the area all over.  I will full save more frequently, agh.

 

Kind of a bad night.  In the lair of the dragon, I fell several times to the dragon and his kwama pals.  Don’t know how I’m going to beat this guy.

 

Ten screenshots this post for IntPiPoMo

Total  45

 

 

Screenshot Sunday (IntPiPoMo)

I meant to do a screenshot Saturday, but Sunday is also alliterative and available.  I’m looking at some of my recent downloads, and through my vast screenshot archives to make a nice dent in my IntPiPoMo numbers.

 

Elder Scrolls Online

I’ve started the new Dragonguard quest line which should lead me to Southern Elsweyr.

It all began for my character in Auridon with a trip to Tanziwell, and a group of clues leading to a secret chamber. Kasura is your guide.

 

The secret chamber.

 

The Valley of Blades sounds pretty exciting, but I was disappointed that it was mostly a ruin.  Maybe a great deal of fighting training goes on amongst the broken pillars and fallen walls. Perhaps it’s an ideal place tactically.

 

Someone’s a fan of Wow’s Stormheim, I’m thinking, because you get to use a Grappling Bow, much like the grappling hook used by the Vrykul and you. I loved those hooks.

 

Big beefy Sai Sahan accompanies you to Wind Scour Temple, deep in one of my favorite places, the Alik’r Desert.  You’re going to look for anything that will help you learn the secrets of the legendary Dragonguard, so you can fight the dragons of Elsweyr.

 

Alan Wake! 

My son got me past the beginning axe man sequence, so I went in to take a look.   Being warned that you should just run when there are too many enemies right off, eek.

 

We open with Alan on a ferry ride.  Welcome to Bright Falls!

 

Alan’s wife, who is slightly creepy and none too likeable so far, asks Alan to pose with “the old man at the railing”.  He’s the local radio host who would love to interview Alan.  It turns out Alan is taciturn and none too friendly.  He says he just wants a quiet time here, but he seems to mostly be a jerk.  Just my opinion.   The character faces are a little rough around the edges though the scenery is beautiful.

Alan’s an author, and his agent plans to hound him by phone.

 

A stop for the cabin keys at the local cafe gives you an opportunity to meet a few locals and learn how to maneuver and interact.   Oops, the boss is in the bathroom, and Alan is too antsy to give him the personal time.  When Alan approaches the guy in the bathroom, a strange woman in a veil pops up behind him to give him the keys.

 

At the cozy cabin, the lights aren’t on.  Night is incoming and it turns out Alice is afraid of the dark.  Our first look at the World By Flashlight. I didn’t notice while playing but what’s with the little flashlight in the upper left of the screen? Charges? Number of flashlights?  His wife did seem to indicate she’d bought a few of them.  She hangs out on the deck while insisting Alan go to the shed behind the house to get the generator working.

 

I had a little trouble figuring out how they wanted to get the generator started.  There’s a circular indicator and a little mouse button picture.  In the cafe, you started the jukebox by pressing the left mouse repeatedly.  Here, it was a little different sequence but luckily the lights went on.

 

The nicely lit house and relaxing time with his wife was cut short when she delightedly presented him with a den complete with typewriter and paper.  She’s eager for him to overcome his writer’s block, giving him no escape from it at all.  Angry, he runs outside to be alone.  Cue all the lights in the house going out, with Alice screaming for him, then shouting get away from me.

How like me to panic immediately, get turned around in the dark, and end up by the car high above the cabin.  Sorry Alice, if you’re already dead.

So…heading back down, get attacked by a swarm of crows who have been hanging around…open door…and back up at the car.  It seems to have crashed?  Alan has no idea what has happened.  I had a bad moment the axe man would pop up but no.   Fortuitously, he’s just 200 yards from Stuckey’s friendly café.  He should go there for help, right?  I stopped at this checkpoint because I was scared and the movement of the game made me a little queasy.   The combination will have me playing in short sessions.   I do like the story of it so far.

 

14 pictures for IntPiPoMo in this post

Total 19