What a week of gaming! There was variety! There was lots of variety! To be fair, I tend to get a decent amount of game play in variety in any case. This particular week was a bit more than usual. With schedules a bit out of sync for other plans, I made due with the changes and adapted to play games I don’t always get the opportunity to play on a regular basis. This was also topped with a bit of extensive testing to get Age of Conan running (because I’m stubborn, and just wanted to see if it were possible). As you’ll note below, I did finally have some success and enjoyed a rather long session of play through out the day on Sunday. Gaming on Linux isn’t always ‘easy’, but it is still fun, and thus far I’ve certainly been enjoying getting my cake, and being able to eat it too. I can’t say it will be the outcome of every attempt, but I do have a few more tools in my arsenal to make at least the possibility of installing and playing other games a reality, even if those other games might be older titles. Gaming for me is rarely about playing the latest and greatest. It’s always been about the adventures along the way, great games are not always ‘new’ games after all. Some of my favorite games were made decades ago. I enjoy a great story, and good game play. If a game can meet that criteria, I’ll enjoy it no matter how it looks on the surface. Game on my friends! Game hard!
*POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS*
Days played: Monday, Wednesday
Players: Qvaid, Hobbit
Comments: Qvaid and I picked back up on Monday evening for some more Outward Definitive Edition adventures! We started out the day with a clearing of the Undercity Passage in our home in Levant. All that time we had been running around, and neither of us noticed a doorway in our new home that lead to a dungeon!? After we cleared out the Undercity Passage (at least as much as we could), we headed over to the Walled Garden in Abrassar and cleared out the golems there. To be fair, we’ll admit we ran into a bit of a problem with one of them, and after a defeat, we had to head back to show him we were not so easily daunted! After finishing up the looting in the Walled Garden, it just so happened we came across an Iron Halberd. Qvaid has recently picked up a fancy for the halberd weapons, and I recall we had materials to craft a Horror Halbred with this new Iron Halberd in tow. The night was falling on us in Outward, so we hoofed it back to our home in Levant, and crafted the Horror Halberd to see if it might be of an interest for her. The initial impression was good, and Qvaid decided to bring it out for the next set of adventures. We moved on to the Hive Prison and cleared it out, and we were going to try to hit the Ancient Hive close by. However, we got a Secret Palace Key and noted that it might go to a door in the Undercity Passage, so we decided to do that first. We headed back into Levant, did some quick inventory management, and preparations, and off we went! Now, I suspect had we chose a different faction that both areas might have held a bit more in terms of combat, but we went Blue Chamber Collective for this run, and we’ve already completed that quest line as it were. We did have a bit of combat in our first run through the Undercity Passage, but not too much (if any) for our trip back. We found some loot, and still had fun, however. Unfortunately, but this point we noted we probably wouldn’t have time to attempt the Ancient Hive and finish that up in a reasonable manner (unless it isn’t really a dungeon). so we opted to head back into town, pick up some supplies, repair, and do the ever occurring inventory management to finish out the night.
On Wednesday evening, Qvaid and I had prepared for our adventure to start in the Ancient Hive. Apparently in our exploration we missed a path, and initially we had some difficulty finding out where we were supposed to go to reach other areas. Pro tip, you can’t walk on the spider web at the top of the cavernous area. I may or may not be speaking from experience. “MY LEGS!” So anyway, we managed to clear the Ancient Hive completely. From there we headed back to Levant, with everything cleared (to our knowledge) in Abrassar, we decided we wanted to head back to the Hallowed Marsh to collect our over due payment from the Gold-Lich. However, I needed to make a stop by the Friendly Immaculate’s camp to pick up the Possessed Boon (Magic User Buff), before we left. After a slight scare with a bunch of scourge, I did manage to get the buff, we headed back to Levant to rest before starting the long journey to the Hallowed Marsh. In truth we were hoping the Soroborean Caravan might be travelling to somewhere advantageous for Qvaid and I. Sadly, he was not. Oh well, looks like we are hoofing it again! We headed toward the area that lead to Enmerkar Forest in Abrassar, and made the journey with relative ease. We fought some bandits along the way to stop in Berg as I wanted to pick up another item required to craft Brand, since I had already picked up the required item from Levant. We rested again, repaired, did some inventory management, and grabbed travel rations to start to the Hallowed Marsh. Once we arrived in Hallowed Marsh we headed straight to the Spire of Light and spoke with the Gold-Lich to collect our late but due payment of materials. Sadly the game crashed on us after that, and I once again loaded up the GE-Proton-9.13 version for Steam to see if that might improve anything. To be fair, it is the first (well second) crash we’ve had since I moved to Linux, but I figured with all the praise GE-Proton gets, it might just be worth it to give it a shot. From the Spire of Light we started the trek towards Monsoon, where we were attacked by random dinosaurs, bandits, and a Blade Dancer took us by surprised and took down Qvaid. We did manage to defeat it after I ran around, picked my backpack up, took a drink of water, (almost ran out of stamina, “Drink the water you stupid, Bastard!”), and revived Qvaid. We made a pit stop at the Ash-Giant’s City, but nothing much had changed so we picked up a few supplies and headed out to Monsoon. In Monsoon we were getting ready to wrap up for the night. I did go ahead and purchase the final item required to craft Brand, and I know have the sword and recipe. It’s a one handed sword, so Qvaid doesn’t really have any interest in it. I’m thinking I might legacy the Brand to the character I play next (given our interest holds up, and Qvaid is willing to try another run). Qvaid and I finished up again with the ever required inventory management and rest to prepare for whatever day our next adventure begins!
Days played: Tuesday
Players: Hobbit
Comments: On Tuesday evening, Qvaid had plans to do some crafting again with my sister. SoSirius was supposed to join me in NMS for a bit of space adventures, but his schedule didn’t clear up and I was left to my own devices. The original plan was to start new characters and do a bit of multiplayer, maybe fighting some sentinels or something. Since that didn’t come to fruition, I decided to fix the power grid situation with my Elysian Shire Head Quarters. After the planet changed the solar panels and batteries I had in place were not sustaining the base through the entirety of darkness. I resolved that by adding more solar panels and lowering the number of batteries I had in the base. I suspect the excessive number of batteries I had ‘could’ have worked, but I just went with the recommended number for the number of solar panels I ended up with to be safe. I also visited my Spicey Shire Outpost and Corrupted Shire Outpost to check on things there. I haven’t been to either since the update, and wanted to be sure my bases were still accessible and not buried in some hillside somewhere at this point. All appeared to be in decent order. I topped off the generators at the OPs, and did some testing at my HQ to be sure the power was good. I also built the Nautlion exocraft for the first time in this game. I do love me some NMS, and I was tempted to just spend the rest of the night playing just that. However, solo gaming is a rare oddity for me, so I decided it was the perfect time to hop over to Hogwarts Legacy and make some progress in some wizarding adventures for a bit.
Days played: Tuesday, Friday
Players: Hobbit
Comments: After I wrapped up in NMS, I decided to make use of some solo gaming time to progress in Hogwarts Legacy. I finished up the visit to Hogsmead with Nati and met with Professor Fig about the locket we found and the secrets it holds. He asked me to speak with Professor Hecat, and complete her assignment before we even consider delving deeper into the dangerous path we were on. I got side tracked with the Moth Mirror Puzzles, and side quests. I found all 6 gobstones for Zenobia, but I mean I have to help out a fellow Ravenclaw student. I suppose I also picked up the quest to help Lenora solve the Moth Mirror Puzzles, although to be fair, I’d already solved a few by the time I ran into her, and completed that quest. I also picked up a treasure map from Arthur and I was able to complete that side quest as well. I had some practice with wand dueling via help from Lucan, and then I started the Cross Wands quest. I did struggle with that a bit, and I had two game crashes during my somewhat extended session of Hogwarts Legacy. On the final load, I decided to try out the GE-Proton-9.13 version of Proton I loaded up earlier in the day. Otherwise the game has been running incredibly well on Linux so far. I managed to complete the Cross Wands duel, and headed off to complete a side quest for Nellie with the Deadalian Keys. I found one of the keys, and got it into the lock, then headed back to Nellie to let her know. Having completed the assignment from Professor Hecat, she taught me Incendio. From there I picked up another side quest to find the hidden herbology area. It took me a bit, but I found the area, but alas it was time to call it a night at that point. I decided to save there and pick back up later as scheduling (or if) allowed.
Since the gang all called it fairly early Friday evening, I moved to some Hogwarts Legacy to finish out the night. As always, it ended up being a bit later than I had initially intended. I managed to get the proof Duncan needed to prove his bravery to everyone from the Hidden Herbology area I left off on previously. Imagine the irony I felt after getting the left from some hideous looking venus fly trap, only to see a slew of them in the common herbology area. I mean, granted they were not ‘gigantic’ but even still. That said, I was happy to assist Duncan, and maybe the rest of the students might stop teasing him. Mostly, I spent the remainder of my time running around solving Moth Mirror Puzzles, the doors with the two locks with symbols, collecting chests, upgrading gear, and a bit of troubleshooting as the recent move to Ge-Proton-9.13 didn’t seem to be all it was cracked up too be. I rolled Hogwarts Legacy back to no forced compatibility, and finished out the night with no further issues concerning my session. After I finished up the last puzzle I was working on, I decided to call it a night there.
Days played: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Players: Error, Falken, Iron, Hobbit
Comments: In effort to keep us from having to limit play time, Falken, Iron, and I decided to move forward with the 42 day Horde Night in 7DtD on Thursday evening. We all logged in and prepared, then I bounced the server to load up the 1 Hour server config for Horde Nights. Our typical game days are 4 hours long, which as I’m sure you can imagine would make for a fairly long Horde Night. While we’ve certainly done it in the past, it makes keeping up with the ammo and supply demands a REAL task. We opted to just perform this method with automated scripts on the server, that we log in and run to swap back and forth. They are automated in a sense that it’s just click and run, not that there is any mechanism on the server to detect it and do it for us. In any case, we were able to wrap up the 42 day Horde without too much trouble… Although, there was a bit of a mix up and we started the night with the vault doors open and the vault hatch on the gauntlet path down. So, an unwelcome DEMOLISHER made his way into our base. Yeah, so Iron and I were trapped in a SOLID STEEL cage with a zombie suicide bomber. Fortunately either him, Falken, or I killed it with a shot that didn’t trigger the bomb. We promptly corrected that issue. Otherwise the remainder of the horde night went as planned and per our usual. The cops and Demolisher’s did do a number on the road in front of our base though, it’s already repaired because I had asphalt ready to go in our base below. After the horde night and inventory management was over, Falken and Iron called it a night. I moved to some testing, because I did note some anomalies with audio while I was playing and using several of my weapons. It wasn’t anything game breaking, but I just wanted to see if I could resolve it and/or improve performance. I attempted use of Ge-Proton-9.13 with 7 Days to Die, but much like the Steam versions of Proton, the dedicated server kicks me with an integrity file error while they are in use. It does appear to make the graphics more ‘Windows’ like, which I suspect could be an improvement on performance, but I haven’t had any luck getting them operational with EAC running. After a brief discussion with the gang about it, I’ve turned that off for some testing. If I remember, I’ll post how that testing goes over the weekend. Given we get to play again over the weekend. The scheduling for the majority of us over the last few weeks has been interesting.
On Friday evening, Error, Falken, Iron, and I headed out to complete another Tier 6 Infestation mission from the local trader. Unfortunately, Error joined a bit late, so he wasn’t able to get credit for it, but he still wanted to help us clear it. We didn’t have too much trouble with that, although brass is starting to become a bit of an issue as of late. We still have a decent supply of ammo, but given all the Tier 6 missions, and horde nights, it’s clear that we will eventually deplete those stores in the somewhat near future. Falken called it after the mission, and my son and I headed out on a run to get some brass before we decided to call it a night as well. Over all, relatively early for a Friday night.
Saturday, Error, Falken, Iron, and I headed out for another Tier 6 infestation mission and some more brass runs. Over all it was a short-ish session as Falken and Iron had things they needed to attend to, and while they came back later in the day, by that point, Error, Kilen, and myself were a bit busy with another game, and Falken called it not long after he joined Discord after a bit of chat with us.
Days played: Saturday
Players: Error, Hobbit
Comments: On Saturday before the gaming group was ready for anything, Error and I hopped into Minecraft for some more adventure. Error also spent some time researching nifty builds via videos, and did some of that in his Creative World to he tests in on Saturday, and again on Sunday. Otherwise the majority of the adventure was spent with exploration, which in my opinion is a great way to enjoy a game. We stopped by a few villages and, um, borrowed a few things. On our last couple plays, we haven’t even made it back to our base in some cases, we just log out where we are so we can pick back up later as scheduling allows. After we’d played for a bit, Falken and Iron hopped on and Error and I called it to hit some 7 Days to Die.
Days played: Saturday, Sunday
Players: Error, Kilen, Hobbit
Comments: On Saturday, technically speaking, I didn’t get any ‘real’ game time in on Age of Conan. I did manage to help Error correct the issue he was having with account registration for the game, and he hopped on with Kilen for awhile. I was in the process of testing to see if I could somehow manage to get the game running on Linux. At some point, I had the game installing via a method other than Steam, and it looked hopeful, but ultimately, it crashed, burned, and sank into the swamp. From there we moved to Conan Exiles for a bit, but since we didn’t technically play and just ran around looking at things we built, I choose not to include it on the list this week. It was more so just something to pass the time. Error and Kilen called it a bit after goofing around in CE, and I moved back to attempts to get the game running. I remembered reading a ‘somewhat’ recent thread where someone listed how they got the game working, and decided it was worth a shot. PlayOnLinux was the key to rescue my hopes of being able to play Age of Conan. Unfortunately, the installation of the game when you are not using Steam, is painfully slow, but by the end of my time, I had the game up and running!
With my recent success of installing Age of Conan, Kilen, Error, and I had quite an extended session playing Age of Conan on Sunday from earlier in the day until a bit later in the evening. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, it was an absolute blast! I forgot just how engaging the combat system was in AoC, and the story in the early game is certainly a treat as well! I admit Error and I did get a bit hung up in the ‘solo’ missions you need to complete for your destiny, but it was so much fun. I ended the night picking up a slew of quests for Whitesands Isle, the Under City, and the Acheronian Ruins, which is basically inhabited by Pict Savages at this point. Given the weekend was coming to a close, I imagine it will be a bit before we manage to get back to AoC, but after the success of getting it installed, and the fun I had, I will look forward to a bit more of it, no doubt!
