Sweden Rock Festival 2024

I was really looking forward to Sweden Rock Festival this year, but it turned out a bit different from previous years due to us missing a couple people who were otherwise always there. One of them missing meant I had to drive all the way there, which I wasn't thrilled about, but it went really well considering I hadn't been behind the wheel for seven years. 

We finally arrived around 2pm and got the tent set up. The others were already there, and this year we had invested in a cart so it was easier to transport all our stuff from the car to the camp. Setting everything up went surprisingly smooth, and as soon as everything was settled the party started. I went to bed relatively early, though, being exhausted from driving for seven hours. 

On Wednesday we only had one concert planned: Electric Callboy, and it was absolutely amazing! They played all my favourite songs and the crowd went wild for Hypa Hypa and We Got the Moves. It was great! I also saw the first couple songs by Five Finger Death Punch, but because they aren't a band I really listen to I didn't stay for the whole thing.

On Thursday I saw W.A.S.P and Journey. Two classic bands I had never seen before. Journey was really good, although I wish they had interacted more with the crowd rather than just do their thing on stage and then leave. W.A.S.P. wasn't as good as I'd hoped with Blackie being essentially stuck to one place, leaning on a stool due to either injury or illness (I don't remember). My video of Don't Stop Believing is too big to upload directly T_T

On Friday I went to see Evanescence, which was one of the shows I had looked forward to the most. I had wanted to see them since I was 13 and finally, FINALLY, I got the chance! When they played My Immortal there wasn't a single dry eye in the audience. It's a special feeling to see really big, buff, Viking-like metalhead dudes cry xD In the evening we returned to the festival area to see Judas Priest and Dimmu Borgir. Toni was stoked for Dimmu and he stayed for the whole thing, whereas I left after a few songs. 

Saturday was the last day, and we had resolved to leave in the evening after the last band so in the early evening we started packing everything up. But not before we saw Steel Panther! There was only one band I really wanted to see today: Alice Cooper. Avantasia played immediately after and most of the camp wanted to be front row for that so they camped out in front of the other stage for them, and nobody else was as stoked about Cooper so I went there alone and camped out in front of the stage. Front row for Alice Cooper! I was so excited! Eighth time seeing him live, first time at front row! It started raining halfway through his set, but it didn't matter! The ambiance was amazing, the crowd was intense, it was so great! (My phone couldn't quite manage the volume of front row though lol)

After Cooper I lingered a bit to watch the first couple songs of Avantasia and then I went to the car, where Toni and our friend (and designated driver) were waiting. We got going and arrived home just before 8am today. 

The weather this year was kind of chilly which put a bit of a damper on the party - who wants to drink cold drinks when they're already cold? But aside from that this was a really good year!

Game completed: Ghostwire Tokyo

It's been a month since I completed this game and I think it might be one of the best games I've played this year so far. I was curious about this game as soon as it was announced at E3 2019, but other things kept taking priority. 

I love Japanese mythology and this game really delivered on that part and it was both cool and weird to run around Shibuya like: "I've been here!" So trippy. 

I had some issues when I first started in that I got sound but no cutscenes, the screen was entirely black, so I had to do some troubleshooting first thing, which kind of killed the mood to play it a bit. But I'm glad I stuck with it and played it because it was amazing *w*

I found the fighting really cool. The weaving was just very aesthetically pleasing to me. The parades were scary at first but after that first time I just charged into them whenever I encountered them. I also had a great time grappling around the tops of the skyscrapers. 

The added content from Spider's Thread was mostly cool. The graffiti was a bit annoying to find at times, but the spirit photography was cool and the quest in the school was the scariest shit I've played in a long time. Once that mannequin started moving and following me I was just running around like "I don't wanna. I don't wanna. I don't wanna T_T"

I loved the shinobi outfit which changed the bow for kunai and wore that most of the time. 

After I finished the game I also played through the free prelude, which is a visual novel type game that sets the scene for the game. However the prelude spoils some things from the story of the main game so it's recommended you play the prelude after the game itself as some extra background of some of the characters. 

Eurovision Song Contest 2024

It's been a week, but that's enough time to gather all my thoughts. This year was great with a pretty high level on all the songs. A surprisingly large amount of songs that I actually enjoyed. 

Last year I watched Eurovision totally not understand Lord of the Lost or their music as they got a whopping zero points and came in dead last. So I while I loved Ireland's song this year I was totally prepared for them to not even advance from the semi-final due to the song being unconventional. Imagine my surprise when it didn't just advance from the semis but actually came in top 10! *surprised Pikachu face*

Ukraine's song was incredibly beautiful and I couldn't get it out of my head for days despite not understanding most of the song. 

There was an unusual amount of songs not in English this year and it wasn't all bad. Italy and Lithuania were catchy af. I loved Luxembourg and France. Both Spain and San Marino were great. Serbia was repetitive but not bad. Armenia and Greece were so not my thing, but they did well. No clue what Estonia was on. Norway had another unconventional song that somewhat grew on me over time, but apparently didn't grow on the people and they finished dead last in the final. 

Cyprus looked like it could be taken from the early 00s/late 90s and not miss a beat. And Austria sounded like it was straight from the 90s.

Croatia won the people's vote, but Switzerland won the contest and deservedly so imo. Switzerland's song showed multiple musical styles and so much talent. As fun and catchy as Croatia's song was, Switzerland's song was my damned favourite of the competition and I'm happy it won.

What happened to the Netherlands was unfortunate and too harsh and coloured the entire final. Eurovision is supposed to be non-political, but if you're denying Russia entry due to the war, then you should be consistent and do the same to Israel. 

Game completed: Redfall

After Sons of the Forest we set our sights on Redfall. Of course we had heard all the negative stuff about it, but when we bought the game the recent reviews on Steam had started to go up, which we took as a sign that the game had gotten better. 

The game is still uninspired, though. Take Borderlands and Dishonored. Water them down to the absolute bare basics. Add vampires. You have Redfall. 

The looter shooter part is extremely barebones with the same couple handfuls of weapons being constantly recycled, and who cares because you're more likely to get a flare gun than something actually useful. 

The special vampires battles were cool the first couple times. The boss battles were usually easier than a random special vampire fight. The nests were supposed to be challenging but they were copypaste to the extreme and after the first three or four we were just "the nest is on the way to this quest location, let's just get it out of the way". They were reduced to something to get over with and out of the way. If the nests that popped up on the map weren't on the way to something else we didn't even bother with them.

Player character interactions were supposed to be one of this game's big things but all the banter was extremely corny and extremely repetitive. The same handful of lines every time we were out in the world. Sometimes more than once during an excursion from the base. And every time we wandered off a little bit too far on our own to the point where the characters didn't buff each other by proximity the characters would pull the exact same line about being too far away. JUST LET ME EXPLORE WITHOUT COMPLAINING FFS. 

The story was the standard "vampires blot out the sun and enslave humanity" which is a fucking idiotic thing to want. Because as much as vampires can't be in the sun, humans very much rely on the sun to survive. Vampires need humans to live, humans need the sun, the sun is a fucking necessary evil. To want it gone is to doom yourselves in the long run. MORONS. 

How they got vampires was pretty interesting though. Experimental blood trials at a health clinic, which is also how our dear Layla ended up with psychic abilities. 

The combat AI seems to have improved since launch, but it's still sluggish. Usually we managed to kill the mobs before they had even reacted to being shot, even if they required multiple shots to die. 

I did enjoy the idea of the gameplay with the base and gradually clear the map by doing quests and favours and unlocking safehouses. Didn't like not being able to go back to the previous map after we advanced to the second map, though. Why only three guns? Why not four or a weapon wheel like so many other games? It limited how much I wanted to experiment with different guns. 

On the whole, the one thing I thoroughly liked throughout the entire game was the aesthetic. I loved the artstyle and how the game looked. And I still believe the idea behind the game is solid, it just had a really poor execution. 

The Fallout TV show S01

Months before this show came out fans were excitedly apprehensive. The general consensus was that this show would either be amazing or completely crash and burn, there was no middle ground. 

Luckily it turned out amazing. Sure, there are some instances where the lore peeps can point out that the writers didn't adhere to established lore, but overall I don't think I've talked to anyone who actually disliked the show. Okay, there are some people who think the gore was excessive, but aside from that. 

Toni kept referring to the dog as Dogmeat even before the Ghoul did. Just a callback to Fallout 4 although there's no chance it's the same dog. 

The reveal about Lucy's dad didn't surprise me. Kyle MacLachlan never plays a straightforward character. 

I'm happy that it got renewed for a second season even before the first season was released!

Chernobyl

When this show was new we talked about watching it, but always ended up watching other things and then we kind of forgot about it. However, when it was recently my time to choose a show for us to watch I randomly remembered this show and decided it was time. 

I wasn't alive when Chernobyl happened (born four years later) and Toni was barely two years old, so neither of us were really around for it, but we've both heard stories. Like how mushrooms and berries were prohibited to be picked in the wilds of northern Sweden for years afterwards due to radioactivity. 

The show was brilliant in showcasing what went wrong and slowly, bit by bit, allowing the audience to become completely horrified by all the covering up and endangering that was going on.

The slides at the end of the last episode which showed real photos and told the story of what ultimately happened to the people portrayed in the show was absolutely heartbreaking.

This show was fucking amazing.

My last 5 books: Mostly YA!

1. Eliza and Her Monsters, by Francesca Zappia. Only reason I decided to pick this book up several years ago is because Hannah of A Clockwork Reader kept gushing about it on Booktube. I went in with absolutely no expectations, but I was hooked almost immediately. I resonate so hard with both Eliza and Wallace, being that socially awkward person in every context. When Eliza described herself in one of the first few chapters saying she should've grown out of it I knew I was hooked. And then Wallace's stepdad saying those absolutely parent things about his writing is so close to everything I've been told myself. And finally Eliza's parents refusing to understand what's going on despite it being clear as day if they made even the smallest effort. Even her parents have brushed her off as "She's weird, we don't understand" and then still claim that they're trying. News flash: you're not, stop lying. This book made me cry on the commuter train. 

2. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, by Mackenzi Lee. This is another book that Hannah of A Clockwork Reader talked about on Booktube. It came highly recommended by her which is why I picked it up. As much as I enjoy historical fiction and as much fun the plot of this book was, it didn't wow me. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad, it just was. As much as I tried to relate to Monty, he mostly just exasperated me and I found myself wishing for more Felicity and less Monty. Percy was genuinely the best character in the book. I did enjoy the alchemy stuff, though, as I find alchemy to be an incredibly interesting subject. I might give the sequel a try since it'll be about Felicity. This is one of few books that actually had me read the author's notes at the end. 

3. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. I went into this book expecting YA so it was very jarring to realise that this book read like Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's absolutely beautifully crafted and the characters are immensly interesting, but the plot took its sweet time to get going. I think I was around 200 pages in when I finally got to a place where I found the book hard to put down, instead of just remaining mildly interested in where this story would take me. I'm not a fan of the ending. I don't like Isobel. I wish Hector and Alexander were given more room and didn't just amount to "father-figure the young people complain about", because their backgrounds and motivations and personalities are all there, just below the surface, being teased but never properly utilised. There were two shocking moments in the book that had me actually pause and then reread the page. I can't decide if I like this book or not. It definitely has its strengths, but at the same time it just feels very very long. Sometimes unnecessarily so. And getting to the end was very unrewarding. But I really like Celia. In the end I think I liked it more than I didn't like it, but it definitely requires a specific mood to be enjoyed. 

4. Den Tusende Följaren, av Jenny Milewski. Ni vet den där känslan när en vuxen person som inte har en aning har försökt sätta sig in i en grej för att relatera med kidsen och framstå som modern? Den känslan är hela den här boken. Stella är sjutton år och småkändis på Youtube men hon råkar få en stalker/troll på halsen och hennes småtrevliga celebritet blir plötsligt en mardröm. Tycker det är grymt fascinerande att Stella har haft en närvaro online sen hon var tretton år, men aldrig fått en dickpic skickad till sig innan det här trollet kom in i bilden. Hela boken känns som skrämselpropaganda för unga människor att "kolla hur farligt internet är!" Samtidigt ska det här vara en ungdomsbok och huvudpersonen är sjutton, så det skär sig lite med en detaljerad sexscen mitt i alltihop. Dialogen är glättig och uppstyltad. Och på något vänster kommer det fram att storyn egentligen inte ens handlar om huvudpersonen. Den tvisten var mindre uppskattad av mig i alla fall. Milewski's författarskap har hittills varit väldigt hit or miss för mig. Jag har tidigare läst Yuko och Skalpelldansen. 

5. Vita Tigern, av Christin Ljungqvist. Okej så den här boken tilltalade mig inte alls till att börja med. Avalon var en bråkig skitunge, texten kändes hackig med alldeles för många korta meningar efter varandra, och world-buildingen var minimal. Men efter att jag hade lyckats ta mig ungefär halvvägs så blev förbättrades storyn radikalt. Avalon insåg att hon hade varit en bråkig skitunge och tog sig i kragen och blev därmed spännande och intressant att läsa om, man fick veta mer om världen och det blev färre korta meningar och bättre flow i texten. Slutet störde mig dock. Det kändes för plötsligt med så många obesvarade frågor. Och hur dum är Avalon som totalt dumpar Teodor efter att hon får veta att han är "in on it". Borde inte det vara något som för dem närmre varandra?! Ja, han kanske var utsänd att hålla ett öga på henne, men allvarligt? Alla hans intima gester och känslomässiga snedsteg hade knappast med det att göra och Avalon är så dum jag orkar inte. Jag vill ha en uppföljare.

Community

I had seen a multitude of clips from this show before, but never the entire show. Toni was sure I'd like it so we went to watch the whole thing while it was on Netflix. 

The first four seasons were absolutely golden, but as people started to leave in the fifth and sixth seasons the show lost a bit of its momentum and as a result the last two seasons weren't as good. 

Troy and Abed were the best duo and I loved all their shenanigans, but I related so much to Annie. 

My favourite episodes were all the paintball ones as well as the one with all the timelines. I loved finding out the origin behind that one gif I see used on Discord all the time:

Honestly, if you haven't yet seen this show do yourself a favour and watch it. 

Happy 30th, Elder Scrolls!

On March 25h 1994 The Elder Scrolls: Arena was released and a franchise was born. This franchise has come to mean a lot to me for a lot of different reasons, and because today marks its 30th anniversary I'm going to take you on my journey. 

I started playing Skyrim in 2012. The first mention of the game on this blog is from April 2012. Skyrim wasn't just my first Elder Scrolls game, but my first open world game and my first RPG, and it opened the world of gaming for me in a way no other game I had tried before had managed. 2012 was my first playthrough. 2021 when Anniversary Edition released on the game's 10th anniversary is to date my most recent playthrough and I still come back to it. I have Skyrim screenshots from every year from 2013 to 2021.

Top left: Oldrim. Top right: Special Edition. Bottom: Anniversary Edition

After I played Skyrim I became interested in the other Elder Scrolls games and I played both Oblivion and Morrowind in 2013. As a skybaby my first foray into Morrowind didn't go at all smoothly, but with some tips and tricks from an online friend on Steam I managed to play through the game and Morrowind became one of my favourite games of all time. I also tried my hand at Arena and Daggerfall around this time, but didn't complete them. 

Top left: Arena. Top right: Morrowind. Bottom left: Oblivion. Bottom right: Skyrim.

Having played all those games in the same universe I got a little bit curious about lore and started reading about the different races of the world. Especially the extinct races caught my fancy. But I didn't delve too deep into it at that time. 

Because in 2014 Elder Scrolls Online released and for the next few years I was stuck. In 2016 I joined a guild called Masters of Eternia where I met a bunch of people who later formed the Guild of Adventure in 2017. These guilds are what prompted me to join discord and through these guilds I met a lot of people who've become close friends. Some of whom I've even met IRL now! 

Left: Cradle of Shadows in 2016. Right: Victory in Halls of Fabrication in 2017

I was a guild officer for both guilds until I left MoE in 2017 and GoA in 2020. I'm still in contact with a bunch of the guildies though! Joining discord for the guilds prompted a whole new era of Elder Scrolls for me. In 2019 I joined the server for this youtuber and quickly became a staff member of that server. Via this server I joined the r/Skyrim server in 2021 and once the youtuber server era came to an end (for reasons I don't need to go into here) the Skyrim server became my main server on discord. I joined the staff team there on April 2nd 2022. Turns out a lot of the Elder Scrolls related servers on discord share members so via the Skyrim discord I joined a whole bunch of other servers (most notably the r/Oblivion server) and now spend most of my days with other TES fans. Via all these servers I've gotten to know so many people and many of them I consider real friends. 

As for the games... In 2017 I played Legends, the card-game spin-off, which didn't impress me much back then but I might give it another shot. Last year I started playing Blades, the mobile RPG, and this year I started playing Castles, the Fallout Shelter TES replica, as soon as it was released in Sweden. 

Left; The Elder Scrolls: Blades. Right: The Elder Scrolls: Castles

Last year I also started to delve deeper into the lore. As they say in Doctor Who: it's bigger on the inside! I'm having a lot of fun learning about the history, cultures and metaphysics of the Elder Scrolls universe and love seeing how all these things connect both in-universe and with RL inspirations. The lore is badass and messed up and wonderful. Have this amazing fan video of Pelinal as reference:

As for fun things that have happened over the years I've been involved in the games/fandom:
• In both 2017 and 2018 GoA did madness runs of trials (12-person dungeons), completing them with severely underlevelled characters.
• We accidentally started the cult of dagothwave on the Skyrim server and to date the dagothwave song has been played over 2000 times. Listening sessions are called "wavin". 
• I discovered a total overhaul mod of my favourite Total War game, placing it in Tamriel rather than Europe, and played that extensively. 
• Last year was the first year I bought an advent calendar since I was a kid, and only because it was Skyrim. 

The Elder Scrolls have given me so much enjoyment. Not only in the terms of hours of gameplay, but also in the form of shenanigans and hijinks, intellectual discourse from lore stuff (so much comparative religion omg), and so many friends. I'll be forever thankful that I decided to try Skyrim that day and that it opened the world of gaming and TES for me ♥

Today, as part of the 30th anniversary celebration, Bethesda released two announcements. Both of which reference the next Elder Scrolls game, and I'm hopeful this means we'll see a new TES before the 20s turn into the 30s!

Let's end this massive post with a song (one of the best version of this song that I've ever heard):

Game completed: The Outer Worlds (twice)

Been hearing lots of good about this game so I picked it up. It's been a fantastic ride! One of my favourite games for sure. Only complaints are basically that it's too short and there's no romance (Maaaaaaaaaxxxx ♥♥♥♥)

So for my first playthrough I went in completely blind and without any clue what the game would be and how it worked. Lockpicking took me a while to figure out: how the magpicks and the skill levels worked together. I was on the regular edition but with both DLCs. I played through Murder of Eridanos before I even met with Sophia Akande and was stumped when max level turned out to be 36. What kind of arbitrary number is that? I was level 36 before I even started the Gorgon DLC and it kind of ruined the game a bit that there was nothing more to be gained really. No more growth left. So I decided to finish up the story on the regular edition and then play the game again on the Spacer's Choice edition that released last year where they scrapped the level cap. This decision made me rush a bit through the rest of the game. 

So for my next playthrough on Spacer's Choice I decided to focus on the Stealth, Tech and Dialogue skills and let my companions bring the fire power. No lock or speech check could stop me. I explored every inch of every map and ventured to unlock as many achievements as I possibly could. Which included separate saves so I could get all the achievements for branching story paths. Ultimately I made some different choices on this playthrough than I did on my previous one. I saved as many people as I could.

As for the companions everybody loves Parvati. But while she's very sweet she's also so awkward that it hurts. Her banter with other companions is just all fluster and nerves and I eventually stopped bringing her because I couldn't stand her stammering. Ellie and Nyoka were a fun combo and I really like them both. However, my favourite companions became Max and Felix and I brought them along for basically everything all the time. Their banter is priceless. 

My favourite areas to explore were Eridanos and Terra 2. Edgewater even brought a Morrowind vibe with that volcano and big mushrooms. Although Groundbreaker was a really cool place and I love the effect of entering it for the first time. It's so pretty. 

Can I have a sequel, please?

Doctor Who: The 2022 and 2023 specials

Eve of the Daleks.

This one was actually pretty good. One of Jodie's best imo. New Years Eve. Time loop. Unrequited love. Daleks. Does it get any better? Probably not by much. 

Legend of the Sea Devils.

I wanted to like this one. Bringing a Classic mosnter into New Who is something I'll always approve of, but this was badly done. They should've updated the Sea Devil costume, modern TV requires more than what they did with them. You can't just slap a 70s costume on actors and expect it to work today. It'll only look amateurish. The story should've been cool with pirates and stuff, but it just fell short.

The Power of the Doctor.

Master is back. Classic companions are back. UNIT is back. Friends and enemies from Jodie's era are back. This was such an amazing send-off! Easily the best thing that has come out of Jodie's tenure as the Doctor. And that regeneration... ♥ Fantastic send-off!

The Star Beast.

Tennant is back. Donna is back. UNIT is back. The Meep is a fantastic villain. It's got fast-paced banter and all the hilarity from the Doctor trying to avoid Donna while the universe keeps pushing him towards her. It would've been fantastic if it wasn't so preachy. I suspect RTD thought he was very clever in reutilising Donna's "binary, binary, binary, binary" this way. There's a right way to be inclusive and declare you're an ally, this wasn't it.

Wild Blue Yonder.

This episode was amazing! Just the right amount of creepy, but also hilarious due to the comedic duo that is Donna and Tennant. This episode brings to mind Midnight and Flatline, which were both amazing episodes in their own right. 

The Giggle.

I was excited for this episode from the time I saw it announced. They brought back the Toymaker! A villain from the 60s! Hartnell era villain! I was so excited and holy shit NPH didn't disappoint. More Classic companions! More UNIT! And omg Bernard Cribbins ♥ And 10th finally got the family he wanted. I was so so happy for him. That dual-regeneration was weird though. But at a first glance - Ncuti seems really fucking great as the Doctor.

The Church on Ruby Road.

Ncuti's first real episode as the Doctor and it was a blast! Ruby seems like a great companion too! The goblin song number was pretty cringe, but aside from that this was a really solid episode and a great introduction. I hope that old lady will show up again and play a bigger role! 

Two years, three Doctors. Not bad :D

We survived The Forest (twice)

After Grounded we set our sights on another survival game: The Forest. This game is immensly popular and so neither of us had missed the broad strokes of what the game was about. 

We decided to make our camp at an almost island since the cannibals can't swim and felt so secure there that we didn't really bother to build anything in the way of defence for a really long time. We took our time exploring the island, fighting cannibals, crafting everything we possibly could, and going into every cave we found. 

And then our camp was attacked by three Armsy, two fatasses and two of those shaman looking cannibals. And we had no defences. They completely demolished most of our camp before we managed to kill them all with the help of explosives and molotovs. After that we spent several play sessions just building our base; a big wall around the entirety of it, at least one of every kind of trap available, every kind of effigy available, shelves for extra explosives and even a rampart we could use to stand on to throw explosives and molotovs down on any attackers. I also had to rebuild my cabin and bed after they destroyed it. And I made sure to put in some extra decorations this time around. After all that and the only attack that came was from a half a dozen ordinary cannibals and then nothing more for the duration of the game. We completely demolished the forest for no reason lol.

The To-Do list was our go to for what to do besides base-building. But once our only objectives left were to find a way to the bottom of the sinkhole, find Timmy and find what happened to the passengers we resorted to look online to find out what we had missed. There were two caves we had missed: the Lawyer Cave and the Chasm Cave. The Chasm Cave then led into the sinkhole and the entire ending of the story. We went inside there at around 2am and I just wanted to keep on playing because we were so close to the end. We ended up finishing the story at 4:30am xD The final boss battle was crazy and we wiped once, but thankfully the boss didn't reset and we only had a couple hits left on it before it died. 

The Forest was so great for so many reasons and just like with Grounded I feel like I could start it up and just play around with crafting and building

When we finished the story of The Forest we set our sights on Sons of the Forest. 

Sons of the Forest gave a very different feeling compared to The Forest. As soon as we started out we went to find a good place for a camp, set up some basic shelters and a rudimentary wall and then went exploring. Which in The Forest would've been an entirely plausible thing to do. But in Sons of the Forest when you only have the stick weapons it's basically suicide. The mutants are tanky as hell and hit like trucks. Soooooo many deaths in the beginning and we got so annoyed at re-emerging in the middle of mutant camps, having to snatch up our gear and run like hell just to not get killed again and have to do it all over again. 

So after getting sick of dying we decided to return to camp and just build for a while. Kelvin was a big help (most of the time) in gathering crafting materials. The one big thing where he failed was that he never considered which direction the trees would fall in when he chopped them down to gather logs and he completely demolished my walls more than once. 

After the first winter we started to get a hang of things and the game picked up. We managed to completely explore a bunch of caves and bunkers that we previously had had to abandon either because we lacked equipment or because we simply couldn't manage all the mutants with our basic weapons. Once we got the shotgun though... Hahahahaha come at me, fuckers! 

The thing we missed the most from The Forest ended up being the To-Do list. As rudimentary as it was, it gave a clear idea of what we had left to do and how much we probably had left of the story. Without it, the end of the story came as such a surprise. We didn't even realise the story had ended until the pop-up that told us that we had (accidentally) chosen to remain on the island. 

The most annoying thing was the artefacts, which probably came from us playing this in the last month of early access. We quickly found the first piece, then two more. Then we found a note saying they had shattered the artefact into six pieces. We found the fourth piece and then the story abruptly ended. All confused we went about trying to find the last two pieces. But we ran out of caves and bunkers after the fifth piece... Looked it up online only to find out that the sixth and final piece doesn't even exist in the game yet. You'd think the game would be pretty much done when there's only one month left to full release... We spent the entire game referring to these artefacts as "the bzzzt", because they were always crackling with electricity when found.

All in all we had fun with Sons of the Forest too, but not as much as with The Forest. Seasons was an interesting addition, but aside from winter the seasons weren't all that noticeable. And winter was annoying. The majority of the resources were covered by snow and ice. And even after we found the winter jackets we had to walk around with the torches constantly to not have half our stamina stolen by "You are cold". You'd think the winter jacket would help. After the first winter we learned to properly hoard for the next winter and our camp looked like a fishery with all the drying racks with drying fish (and body parts) on them. I really missed the warmsuit from The Forest whenever winter showed up. Animal pelts can only be used to craft hide armor and nothing else. 

Clean water was an annoyance, because even after we had managed to craft the canteen it could only hold two gulps of water (basically two gulps, you can drink twice and then it's empty) unlike in The Forest where the canteen had four gulps iirc. We got the cooking pot and tried to boil the dirty water clean, but nope it can only be used to make soup. Did make some ramen though. And all those water bottles in the bunkers can't be used to refill the canteens. So we lived off energy drinks and dirty water because it was what was available. 

Enough complaining. The overarching story was pretty cool aside from its abrupt end. I'll never forget the time we went into a really long winding cave and then we came to a fork in the road. On one side was a dead astronaut and I decided we should follow the astronaut. In the tunnel leading from him was another and then another and then another, until the tunnel opened up into a large cavern with a spaceship in it being assaulted by lightning strikes. It was so cool. 

Finding out how all the mutants came to be via information in the bunkers was also pretty cool. Each bunker leads to a new bunker if you remember to interact with the laptops. 

The most important gear are the tin man costume, the shotgun, the shovel and the rebreather. The vehicles spread throughout the world were fun but ultimately unusable because of the uneven terrain. 

There was a larger variety of gross mutants that dropped creepy armor (my go-to for protection) but even the lowliest mutants are super-mega-deadly unlike in The Forest where the lowliest mutants can be poked thrice with a crafted spear and then they die. 

Our camp got raided a lot more frequently in Sons of the Forest than our camp did in The Forest and I built multiple traps of every variety all around the outer walls and they worked really hard. We got so many skin pouches just from sitting in camp and letting the traps take care of the enemies. Skin pouches are the best loot in the game xD

After we finished the story and ran out of caves and bunkers to explore we decided to keep the game installed until after full release and then maybe start it up again and play it a bit more. We hope they'll add some stuff immediately upon release and fix a few things as well. But all in all, we had a good time. 

The Ranch

Toni originally watched this a couple years ago and late last year he decided it was time for me to watch it with him. I was uncertain I'd like it. Mainly because of Ashton Kutcher, because everything I've seen him in he's been playing the "I'm so dumb it's a miracle I can walk and talk at the same time, but I'm pretty so it's okay" character. And I hate that character. But I decided to give this show a shot.

It was so worth it. 

This is a story of a family of characters who all do their best to survive the changing landscape between corporate economy and family-owned businesses. Throughout it all there's a lot of love, family, drama and real profound sorrow. So many issues they work through together without ever sacrificing their individuality.

Beau is my favourite character. Maggie gets too preachy. Abby can be a bit entitled but generally I like her too. Joanne is great. I never liked Rooster. Colt is a personification of Linkin Park's song "In the End". 

I didn't like the storyline they made for Mary after Rooster, but up until that point she was one of my favourite characters. Heather got some real substance beyond season 1 and she really grew on me. 

Just do yourself a favour and watch this show.

Game completed: Baldur's Gate 3

My journey with this game has been quite something. When it was released as early access I was moderately curious after having played the first one several years ago. But I wanted to wait for proper release. When it did release properly last autumn I was busy playing Starfield and I ended up completely pissed off at this game due to everyone comparing Starfield with it and everything that was wrong with Starfield was because it did things differently from Baldur's Gate 3 according to these people. I wasn't going to play it at all as a protest, but as much as everyone talked about the game my curiosity eventually won me over and I started to play it in December. 

I'm in no way new to the turnbased combat mechanic and as usual Luck was absolutely not on my side. 95% chance to hit? You bet your ass I'm gonna miss. I think I even missed a few 99% chance hits. And sooooo many dice rolls ended up as either complete fumbles or fails because Luck/RNG just hates me. 

The whole companion and camp mechanic gave me strong Dragon Age Origins vibes already from the get-go. Honestly if Dragon Age 4 ends up being like Baldur's Gate 3 I'll be so happy. Open world but still staying true to the roots. Modern but still sticking with the old style that people love/d. 

There will be spoilers in the mix from this point forward.

It soon became clear that the characters were the pivotal driving force of the game. As much as the open world was amazing and full of things to do and discover, and as much as the over-arching story drew the player forward, it's the companions that made the game. Jaheira and Minsc were a great throwback to the first game. Sarevok not so much. I was so happy when I went to Jaheira's hideout in the Lower City and found out she married Khalid. 

I wasn't too keen on Shadowheart at first, but while in the Shadow-Cursed Lands she really grew on me and her whole character arc drew me in. By the time we got to Act 3 she was one of my favourites. Laezel was equally difficult. I didn't expect to care so much for her and surprised myself when Orin kidnapped her in Act 3 and my reaction was to immediately go save her because don't your dare kill my githyanki. Karlach and Halsin are both big cuddly teddybears and I liked them from the start. Wyll was an outlier and it took me the longest to get to like him. Gale was instantly a favourite of mine and for the one hour I had him without the entire team assmbled in Act 1 I thought he'd be the one I'd romance in this game. Then I met Astarion and immediately fell in love with him. His introduction reminds me of Fenris' introduction in Dragon Age 2. 

After I got Astarion every choice I made in the game was the one I thought he would like the most. Except for the choice whether to allow him to go through Cazador's ritual or not. Sorry, but no, I like you the way you are and I'm not replacing one monster with another.

The Emperor was a really cool character, but I put Laezel above him and freed Orpheus. Which made the Emperor leave me for the Netherbrain. I saw it coming and was still sad I had to fight and kill him in the final fight. And he was so mad when I made the deal with Raphael, but dude calm your tits. I fully intended to break into the House of Hope and destroy the contract when I made that deal. Chill. 

My favourite parts of the game were when I talked the Toll Collector into defeating herself, the fight against the Surgeon, confronting Cazador, the fight against Myrkul, and the entire Shadow-Cursed Lands. The Toll-Collector was such a wtf moment, when I passed the persuasion rolls and she ended up blowing herself up without the need for a fight. The Surgeon fight was creepy in every way and I loved it just because of that. Confronting Cazador brought out a whole lot of stuff on Astarion and it was such huge growth in his character. The fight against Myrkul was the first "oh shit oh shit oh shit" moment of the game for me. The Shadow-Cursed Lands were bleak to start but it's also where the game really gets going. Act 1 is sort of a prolonged prologue, Act 2 and the Shadow-Cursed Lands is where the story really kicks off and all the companions come into their own as actual people and not just NPCs and it's just so great. Ngl the fight against Orin was damn cool too.

As for the endings, I chose to destroy the Crown of Karsus with the help of Orpheus who had turned into a mindflayer. Afterwards he asked me to kill him and so I did. Astarion is still a spawn but in a relationship with Tav and out adventuring with her and trying to find a way to let him walk in the sun again. Shadowheart has gone to Selûne with her parents watching over her as moon wisps. Laezel has joined her people as the Comet and his fighting against Vlaakith. Gale retrieved the pieces of the Crown, reforged it, and gave it to Mystra. She freed him of the Orb and now he's a teacher. I broke Wyll's contract with Mizora, he lost his warlock powers and re-educated himself into a Ranger and is still a Blade of the Frontier. I didn't want to force Karlach to go back to Avernus and couldn't find a way to fix her engine so she died. 

I'll probably replay this game a few more times, but as for now this is it. I had a lot of fun with Baldur's Gate 3 and while I don't agree with the people who say that this is the best game ever made and we can just give up now because nothing will ever top this - I do agree it's a good game.