Storypost | 2015.11.16

Fallout 4

Fallout 4 power armor settlement

At long last we can crawl the postapocalyptic wasteland again, Fallout 4 is here. I haven't played all that much of it, and it's taken awhile to settle back into the gameplay style.

I'm sort of just button mashing my way through the adventuring, here is a taste:



(Nothing special, just initial gameplay action.)

Fallout 4 screenshot Back Alley Bowling

The game looks great, with a few caveats:
Fallout 4 vats feral ghoul roamer Dogmeat

Like Fallout 3, the combat system is extremely unforgiving at lower levels. I expect things will get easier as I level and put less skill points into lockpicking and crafting.

Fallout 4 screenshot diner

The signature Fallout retrofuturistic style and alternate timeline really flourish in the new installment. Polygons and lighting go a long way.

thumbnail Fallout 4 Deezer robot thumbnail Fallout 4 cinematic monorail industrial plant thumbnail Fallout 4 load screen Broadsider cannon thumbnail Fallout 4 cinematic mobile missile launchers in town
thumbnail Fallout 4 cinematic war room map mushroom cloud



The other characteristic of the series is the dark humor of Vault-Tec instructionals.

Fallout 4 cinematic pip boy mutation three arms legs Fallout 4 cinematic pip boy bartering fork gun Fallout 4 vault boy prepare for the future billboard

Fallout comic ctrl alt del

The most discussed feature Fallout 4 is the construction/customization of ally camps throughout the wasteland. It feels a bit like the Mass Effect 3 war asset gathering that was supposed to help you in the final battle. I'm not sure how it will play out and am avoiding spoilers for the moment.

Fallout 4 screenshot settlement construction Fix Er Upper achievement

On the whole, though, this one plays much like Fallout 3 and quite a bit like Skyrim. It's great to have more of a good thing (and prettier), but considering the innovation that went into Fallout 3, the fourth is lacking.

Fallout 4 power armor overpass abandoned Fallout 4 conversation minutemen Fallout 4 cinematic mushroom cloud nuclear explosion
Fallout 4 dog dogmeat Red Rocket Fallout 4 night dog Fallout 4 satellite dish ruins Fallout 4 cinematic Chinese soldier paratroopers invasion Alaska
Fallout 4 house Codsworth conversation Fallout 4 view freeways wasteland Fallout 4 load screen stingwing
Fallout 4 combat explosion night Fallout 4 pip boy Fallout 4 installation screen mushroom cloud Fallout 4 prologue nuclear explosion vault


Turkey Bowl


The Thanksgiving(-ish) flag football game is fast becoming a tradition. Starting last year we decided to theme it like we were still in grade school and wear really lame Pilgrim/Indian costumes.

thumbnail Flag football Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl childhood throwback thumbnail Flag football Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl childhood throwback thumbnail Flag football Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl childhood throwback thumbnail Flag football Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl childhood throwback
thumbnail Flag football Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl childhood throwback

The home team won it, zone defense prevailed in a packed 7v7 matchup.
Some more Planetside caps

Planetside 2 Vanu ap mine hidden flowers Planetside 2 Vanu night attack Planetside 2 Vanu Liberator Old Shore Checkpoint M20 Drake
Planetside 2 Mao Tech Plant zerg Planetside 2 Vanu Grey Heron Shipping sunderer mounted gun Planetside 2 Vanu Genudine Holographics stealth Planetside 2 Vanu Liberator Howling Pass Checkpoint air attack
Planetside 2 Amerish Warpgate Jetrape scythe Planetside 2 Vanu parked Liberator Hidden Ridge Mining Planetside 2 Hidden Ridge Mining sunderer centipede
Planetside 2 Vanu Liberator Mao Southeast Gate air power Planetside 2 Mao Tech Plant tanks Vanu Planetside 2 Vanu Mao Tech Plant sunderers Planetside 2 liberators parked at Hidden Ridge Mining



Storypost | 2015.11.04

We got some rare t-storms last night. It wasn't until they started dying down that I realized it'd be kind of fun to shoot them.

lightning clouds night

Right out the back door there were strikes stretching across the sky. Not very scenic though.

clouds night lightning

Having confirmed that there was some lightning left, I set out down the trail to get a better view.

lightning clouds night long exposure

After some waiting, the sky right over me lit up. The thunder came so hard I bumped the tripod. The dog was not pleased.

tags: el nino


Storypost | 2015.11.02

Hex spells books Halloween decorations brewery

Halloween happened four times this year. So, four costumes.

Jabba the Hutt costume Star Wars Halloween

I happened upon an awesome Jabba the Hutt costume, it's a Star Wars year. The space slug went over very well at the Cooley party and the hosts were going as Luke and Leia.

Faith militant costume Halloween Game of Thrones

I wanted to do a GoT costume, but since I don't think Gurm licenses them, creativity was required. Well, not much. A robe, some chains, a marker, and bam, you're a Faith Militant. I wanted to keep it Season 5 and iconic-looking, the other option was a Son of the Harpy, but the mask would not have been easy.

Chewbacca hoodie Halloween costume Star Wars

For Halloween itself, I hung out at Draft Republic with Dave and Marcia. Foosball, shuffle ball, Marcia spraying ketchup everywhere. Since we were staying mellow, I just went with a Chewbacca hoodie. Dave borrowed my shark victim costume and received a few complements.

Weimaraner vampire costume Halloween

The fourth costume was for Howloween.
Garbage

The little bro thought the below LM note was worth visibility outside our four-team league of champions. Really it was just a subtle dig at the Chargers getting wrecked by the Raiders. Okay, maybe I would like to see this issue dealt with.

Futurama ball of garbage rocket

I want to believe that as Commissioner I have some editorial leeway, like how Roger Goodell has litigial discretion and Santos can assemble LM notes by pasting the first non-football google hit for each player name.

So it is important to talk about the aromatic taint of 2nd quarter garbage time. I'm looking at you, 34.7-point Andrew Luck, 50-point Ty Hilton, 28.8-point Danny Woodhead, 16.8-point Keenan Allen, -1-point Mike Scifres, 23.9-point Arian Foster, and 8-point DeAndre Hopkins. Yes, the Colts, the Chargers, and the Texans found themselves in unwinnable games well before the fans filed to the concourses for their midgame cuppa and chicken tenders.

These players were week seven frogs-turned-princesses owed completely to their teams' terribleness. It is against everything the Champions League stands for. This is not champion behavior, this is little brother behavior - benefiting from your own incompetence. I have half a mind to strike down all points gained in garbage time. If only it weren't so much work.

Somebody needs to tell ESPN to eliminate all points when your team is down by 21 and does not win (Jacksonville). In the mean time, shame on those managers that rode this gravy train, Jon, Ryan, Kevin, and Chris.

To the football.

JR lit it up with Garbage Foster, Garbage Luck, and Gurley as WRs are now irrelevant. He clearly didn't watch the latter half of last week's Pittsburgh game and benched Tony Brown. Kevin had a strong core performance, but made what looked to be the right call in benching a quiet Mike Evans and worthless Mark Ingram... who promptly put up huge games that could have made Kevin the top scorer.

Things looked great for your heroes early Sunday with the Rams defense putting up a 30+ performance, but then Brady and Gronk got some late points and Garbage Hilton ran around a defense that didn't care. It was proper garbage time going into Monday, though Palmer made it look respectable.
More PS2

Planetside 2 flaming skull event Halloween


An unnaturally successful run as a cloaker in a wide open battle.


Planetside 2 dive bomb shockwave storage depot