Dealing with backlog: Alan Wake's American Nightmare

As you might remember I wasn't overly fond of the original Alan Wake after I had finished it. But I had bought this semi-sequel along with the original game and might as well play it.

This game defines linear. It could've ended after two hours. Could've, and maybe should've.

What we know from the original game is that Alan Wake became trapped with the Darkness in another dimension. What we know from this game is that two years have passed and Alan Wake somehow manages to write himself into a semi-reality based on one of his first every works - a script for Night Springs. Alan Wake is trying to defeat the Darkness which has now taken the shape of him, but a maniacal, psychopathic version of him (I much preferred the psycho old lady).

The player then spends the next 8-10 hours going round in a loop doing the exact same things over and over with only slight variations because the characters in the game are semi-remembering that this has happened before and help Wake along. Handy.

Step 1: Talk to the girl and crash the satellite.
Step 2: Talk to the girl and find the keys to the observatory in a motel room.
Step 3: Go to the observatory, talk to the scientist, fix the broken camera.
Step 4: Go to the drive-in and restore power.
Step 5: Rinse and repeat.

I don't remember if it was three or four circles in the loop, but by the time I was halfway through the second circle and realised that "This is going to happen again, isn't it?" I felt like I was thoroughly done with the game. I still completed it, but it was more compulsion to have it completed than entertainment. If the game wasn't so short I would've ditched it.

And what did I get at the end? Nothing. Sure I defeat the Darkness (again) but Wake also tells the player that it isn't permanently defeated and the player is led to believe that Wake is still trapped in the other dimension with the Darkness... So basically all this for nothing. Yay.

Rollspel: Mutant År Noll - del 5

Försvarsverket blev klart i RPs frånvaro och de påbörjar ett bränneri som blir klart direkt. Gruppen tar en buss och börjar ta sig mot koordinaten längst bort. På vägen får de syn på en grupp människor som lämnar fem bylten på ett betongblock och går därifrån. Danko kollar upp byltena och ser att det är fem levande spädbarn.

Jony och Danko följer efter människorna. De träffar på Ohm och hans 30 grisar och han är fastkedjad. Han berättar om Novasekten och vad de gör med bebiser som inte är Domedagsbarnet. Ohm visar ingången och följer med Jony och Danko tillbaka till bussen efter löfte om att hämnas på sekten.

De återvänder till ingången och går in i bunkern. De kommer in i templet och blir bemötta av Plutonia. Hon svarar på frågor och tillåter att de ser sig omkring. Danko fyller på sitt apotek (Danko har en otrolig tendens att hitta droger) och Index fyller på sitt garage (hon har flera bil och vägdelar i sin utrustning). De blir approached av Abbetina som är höggravid och vill fly från sekten. Hon samlar ihop andra tvivlare och de går ner till missilsilon. Danko ska just slå sönder datorn när han blir hindrad av Plutonias mentala dominans. Hon tvingar tillbaka Danko och Index frågar ut Plutonia. Hon släpper Danko och alla riktar direkt sina vapen mot Plutonia.

Plutonia sätter eld på Index som sprutar eld tillbaka och effektivt dödar Plutonia. Ohm blir hotfull med en skortkniv men manipulerad att stand down av Jony. De lootar kroppen. Ohm går med på att följa med tillbaka till Arken och hjälpa dem med en svinstia om de dödar människan Verter,

Jony och Danko går och letar upp Verter som är "upptagen" med en kvinna. Efter lite strid är kvinnan död men Verter har flytt ut till de andra. Jony och Danko rusar tillbaka till Index och Kvark. Kvark monterar ner missilen. Jony kastar först bensindunk och sen handgranat på kultisterna och bara tre överlever. Gruppen Skjuter resten och åker sedan tillbaka till Arken.

Dealing with backlog: Wolfenstein The New Order

I got this for Christmas back when it was first released and I originally tried to play it back in early 2015. However I was too much of a noob back then and managed lots of nooby mistakes before I even got to Berlin, which got me stuck and made me quit playing.

I knew what I had done wrong and this time I had a bunch more experience with shooters than three years ago. So it was time to try again.

I went into this game expecting a shoot-em-up without much story, but instead I found myself getting invested in the characters and I found so much more story than I bargained for, which was a nice surprise. Ofc the whole ambiguous point of the ending has been spoiled for me as I have seen the trailer and a little bit of gameplay from The New Colossus, but I guess that's how it goes when one plays a game years after release ;)

While the game had lots of epic moments, my absolute favourite was going to the moon. That was incredibly unexpected and so awesome and I had a lot of fun playing that part of the game.

I also enjoyed the prison camp part where I got several side quests that temporarily made the game feel less linear.

But my favourite part of any game is usually the base, the home, and getting to know the characters. I don't think there's any member of the resistance that I didn't like. I even got strangely attached to Tekla. And I loved getting to play around in the old Wolfenstein game in the base.

The final fight against Deathshead was strangely anti-climactic. After my long and badass and heart-wrenching fight against Deathshead's supersoldier/B.J.'s old friend, that final confrontation didn't amount to much and it seemed like it was over too quickly.

This was a much greater game than I expected and I'll enjoy killing Frau Engel in the next game.

Sweden Rock Festival 2018

TL;DR - Saw six bands, bought two shirts, ate lots of food, got badly burned and there was an unusual amount of puke in the camp.

Early on Tuesday 5th we packed ourselves into two cars and drove south. We arrived around 1pm and started setting up the tents and the camp and then it was time for music and alcohol before we went off to find food and exchange our tickets for wrist bands. I also decided to buy this year's shirt early because I knew I was getting it - might as well get it the first day. Nothing more incredibly exciting happened the first day there. We arrived, we had alcohol, we met and greeted a lot of people we never saw again and there was the annual hugging party when regular camp members from around the country showed up one after the other. The first night was cold but not as cold as they have been other years.

Scrambled out of the tent before 8am the next day because I was burning up. For once I wasn't the first one up and we walked off to buy ourselves some breakfast (that coffee saves lives). And then we were back to what we were doing the first day - music and alcohol and occasionally walking away to find food. The camp next door came over with an inflatable sofa which we had a lot of fun with. We didn't go inside the festival area until dark. The only band we wanted to see this day was Hardcore Superstar. They were as good as always. Nothing new on the horizon. Though I haven't listened much to their two latest albums so there were a bunch of songs I didn't recognise.

Same deal next day. Got up crazy early and went for breakfast. After some music and alcohol we went to the festival area pretty early to see In This Moment. They were this year's highlight for me and that concert was amazing. Easily the best of the year.

Afterwards I bought one of their t-shirts and then we went to find food and the went back to the camp. In the evening we returned to the festival area to see Helloween and Iron Maiden. I have seen Helloween before and they were just as boring as the last time I saw them. For Maiden the area was packed with people. We stayed for about an hour, maybe less. Maiden played for two hours, but we were pretty far back and the wind was in the wrong direction so the sound came off all garbled which kind of ruined the experience. None of us were major Maiden fans either. So we went back to the camp.

Friday was a slow day. We spent most of the day in camp and people were getting tired. The most fun thing that happened this day was when J told us of his side quest mission to find a hat. He found a pretty pink one which he exchanged for a sock. Don't ask.

In the evening we went to the festival area to see Stone Sour. They were really good, and made for a lot of nice sing-along, especially to Through Glass. Later in the evening Ozzy was playing but most of us decided to skip him since we had already seen him as part of Black Sabbath when they played a couple years back. Apparently the concert wasn't very good, and it seemed to be the general opinion that Zak Wylde took over too much.

We decided to go home on Saturday evening. The only thing I had planned for this day was to see Tarja. But I also went to the area with Toni early in the day to see 69 Eyes, which is what caused my shoulders to get really badly burned (skin falling off bad). I'm not a big 69 Eyes fan, and listening to them on CD always makes me feel like they're a bit too much. But they were much better live.

Back at camp it was slow. More than one of the members were sleeping most of the day and the rest of us were pretty tired. An hour before Tarja started we packed up what we were bringing back home with us (Toni and I decided to retire our tent and air mattress). Tarja was great and the sound was good. With her voice and the high notes she takes the sound could easily have been coming off bad but it was really good.

After Tarja we went to the car and started the journey home. Once again we skipped Judas Priest (could they just for once not end the festival please?) We arrived home around five in the morning and immediately went to bed. Like always, the shower after waking up was the best thing ever.

Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset Collector's Edition!

It's been about three weeks since it was released and I got to bring home my box, but I wanted to wait to make a post until after I had finished exploring the new zones. But let's start with the unboxing!

(Base game CE unboxing and Morrowind CE unboxing)

The box in itself was really pretty imo :3 And when I opened it the first thing I saw was the Mephala statue on the top and the discs tucked into the bottom.

The discs were in a metallic case and I love the whole leaf design. The Mephala statue looks badass standing in my window next to my statue of Molag Bal from the base game CE.

Underneath the statue was a map of Summerset and this CE's book - The Alinor Codex. This book doesn't seem as impressive as the other two. Sure it's leatherbound and pretty, but there's more text and less concept art, and while a lack of pictures isn't really a problem for me when it comes to books I really appreciate the concept art in the other CEs' books.

And let's dive into the game. (Spoilers ahead if you haven't played it yet)

I was really excited for Summerset (maybe not as much as for Morrowind, but that was Morrowind - hello?!), mainly because I was excited for how pretty it was going to be. Auridon is my favourite starting zone in the base game because it's so darn pretty. And I wasn't disappointed.

However I wasn't surprised that the Maormer seemed the main enemy of the chapter, seeing as Maormer were prevalent everywhere in Auridon. But I loved the sidequest where a female Maormer and a male Altmer had fallen in love, but their love would start a war and so they had to leave. Spoke to the romantic in me I guess. On the other hand, the Sload were a nice surprise that I wasn't expecting. I've stayed away from every single piece of information regarding this chapter, except for the release date, and I had no idea about the Sloads. Ofc the devs bent the lore a little bit as these were Sea Sloads which haven't been part of ES lore before, but still impressive and imo added so smoothly to exisiting lore that I was actually surprised when I realised that this version of Sloads didn't exist before in the lore.

It was great to see Razum-dar again. I love his guts and he was the main reason why I stayed AD in the beginning years of my ESO tenure. But meeting Darien again after what happens to him in Coldharbour in the base game, made me way happier than I probably should be for a character ^^;

The Psijic part of the story was cool and I actually enjoyed running around Artaeum. My favourite part there being the delve where you found out about Mannimarco's and Vanus's common backstory. I also really liked the Psijic companion, Valsirenn, and by the end of the main story I felt like I knew her.

The main quest was really cool, especially towards the end when the Triad falls apart and then the final showdown against Nocturnal. So cool ♥

I also have to mention the Abyssal Geysers, which basically are this zone's anchors. So when I came running towards a map icon that I thought was an anchor I was really confused when I found a geyser. They weren't as much fun as anchors either, though the concept is the same. Cultists appear, kill cultists and a beam goes up into the sky. Kill all the rounds of mobs spawning and then finally kill the boss to finish the geyser and get some shiny loot and a chest. Same thing, but yet so very different and not as much fun.

Finally I have to mention the new trial, Cloudrest. It's a new mini-trial, sort of like Asylum Sanctorium. Cloudrest has a ton of mechanics that were really confusing the first time we went in there. Our first guild run was blind so we figured things out as we went, still the trial took less than an hour to complete. I went in there with visions of Halls of Fabrication from Morrowind expecting several wipes and several hours of trying and failing and still not completing it on the first blind run, and then we just finished Cloudrest like that. I was a little bit disappointed. The trial was cool and all, but it did leave a feeling of "is that it?" when we finished it. However, the first run being so quick opened up for us to do it several times that evening. So I went the first time with my main healer and the two other times with my baby healer. That place has to be farmed because all the end-game BiS gear drops from there now.... *sigh*

All in all, I really liked how amazingly pretty Summerset was and the main quest was really cool. But thinking back it never gave me the same wow feeling that Morrowind did (or the base game for that matter when that was brand new). Summerset was cool and had a lot of fun side quests, but it lacked wow factor and compared to Morrowind it seems pretty bland.

Two months at new job!

It's already been two months! I feel like I'm getting into it and getting used to the daily business though there are still the occasional day where I feel like I'm struggling to keep my head above water. I guess that's how it goes when you throw yourself into a brand new business in a position of responsibility.

The first three weeks I was in a state of perpetual confusion. I had never worked in the hotel business before - no experience and no education. My whole life I've been in sales and customer service (and tourist information - that goes under customer service imo). But when I decided it was time to move on from customer service I first tried to apply for jobs in shops but without luck (interestingly enough seeing my experience in that kind of work) and instead I figured the next natural step from tourist information was hotels. So I started looking for those kinds of jobs. Mostly they were entry level jobs, but then there was this one; Front Office Supervisor, that I applied to for the heck of it. And I got it. I'm still not sure how I managed to pull that off, but I did, and I'm so happy that I did. Most days I love it. The job is flexible and no two days are the same and that makes the days pass by so incredibly quickly.

The first month was mainly educational. I got to learn the computer system for making reservations, checking in and checking out. I was also away on one course to learn the closing of the books (which we do every month) and internal controls (which the financial controllers at HQ perform once in a while). Another course was called Pre-step to leadership and was mainly about how to be a good boss and how to manage employees when they don't behave or when they come forward with complaints, or when the boss has to take action on something and how to best go about it. That one was very interesting in educational but since I had only worked for a bit over two weeks at the time it felt a bit too soon and practically non-applicable for me at that moment. Though it was good for me to do because when I get there I will know what to do. And then there was another course a couple weeks back where I learnt the scheduling software that the hotels use, so that I can manage the employees' schedules.

This past month has been hectic and mostly it's been going well. I remember when my first big group of 100 people came to the hotel and I was so nervous and anxious but everything turned out fine. Two weeks ago we had two large tourist groups arrive at the same time and while that was chaotic it also turned out fine.

I've experienced several days where the hotel is so fully booked that it's actually overbooked and we've had to use the spare rooms that are only for "emergencies" like a full house. My first angry guest brought me to tears because I was at that time still so new at the job that I hardly knew what to do, but since then I've gotten more comfortable and now I can deal with angry guests the way I used to deal with angry customers - without getting myself riled up.

Three weeks back we had the inauguration of our newly renovated rooms (that had been in use for something like 5-8 weeks) which was a lot of fun, and only last week we had an annual summer party thing for Circle (the Circle consists of hotels belonging to Stockholm municipality but which aren't actually in Stockholm City). That was also a lot of fun. There are a lot of events like these coming and going and that amkes the months interesting.

This last week it was time for the closing of the books again. It was the second time for me, and while I still felt confused and uncertain with how to go about it, I soon remembered everything I had been told the last time around. The goal is that I should be able to manage on my own and I feel a lot more confident doing it the next time now than I did for this time.

Every time I feel anxious or uncertain the bosses are there to pick me up. I've been told by the hotel manager that she thinks I was brave to jump into a brand new business the way I did. Both the front office manager and the hotel manager have told me how quickly the think I learn, and even the general manager (top boss) has told me she's impressed with me. And hearing that is really helpful and keeps me thinking that I can actually do this.