#as soon as I manage to figure out the actual plot of the main bulk of the fic

[tealeavesandtrash]

Sirius upon finding out about Jegulus: Reg, why? You deserve more than him. I’ve lived with him, his feet stink and he snores and he still asks people to cut the crusts of his sandwiches.

James: wait what?

Sirius: And James. You can do better. He’s feral, he’s bitten me twice this year already. He’s drawn blood.

Regulus: …

[geekkatsblog]

Making my heart race for 45 minutes every week season 17x5 or like everyone else likes to call it Grey's Anatomy.

"A VERY LONG BUT IMPROTANT PART TO READ BELOW."

Now before I get started I was idly scrolling through Instagram instead of studying like I was supposed to and I was recommended a Grey's Anatomy confession site to torture myself (because most of the time I feel irrationally sad after reading when I see my faves being bashed) and I was a good few confessions in when I noticed that someone had taken a part of lasts weeks review word for word and submitted it. I never really thought I would have to but I beg please don't do that. Confession sites tend to make my heart race and when I realized it was my words that were used I was already in the comments, none of my opinions in these are final so I'd rather not have my words posted anywhere else where people can't see the complete picture. Its definitely fine to use it as inspiration but Please do not post my reviews anywhere else, or at least ask first.

*Now finally onto the review*

All in all the episode was like I expected in terms of outcomes however Grey's has got to come up with another genetic disorder besides Alzheimers, because this is yet another doctor with the gene. Not much happened besides the main event so let's hope I don't talk all over myself again.

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Catherine Fox and Jackson Avery

Refuses to wear the mask like the pig headed woman she is. Her especially should take no risks because as it was pointed out in the episode she is immunocompromised. She didn't actually appear in person but I thought I would mention her part in the episode because it gave us Richard and Jackson scenes which I have grown to love and appreciate because they're always wholesome the one they had tonight on systematic racism was great and one that I hope managed to educate viewers on the situation. It's great to see Jackson have someone there who has a parent figure there to listen calmly. Catherine as great of a mother as she is in my opinion sometimes she can come across as an eccentric aunt. I'm glad Richad managed to tame the wildcat and convince her to wear a mask with his sexual promises. We've lost enough Grey Sloan staff and family from it so far.

___________________________________________

Meredith

A hopefully temporary resident at the fake beach where nothing is real. Unfortunately there were no new visitors at the beach. Like I stated last week, I'm not entirely sure if we'll see anymore of the greats such as Mark Sloan, Lexie ect but there's still a chance next week although it seems like she might be waking up, but like I always say with Grey's expect the unexpected She may or may not be out of the deep end yet but I'm just thankful for the few glimpses we got to see George and Derek grace our screens again the nostalgia was great. However as much as I enjoyed seeing them again, I want Meredith to wake up I miss her, she may not be as fun and quirky as she used to be in the earlier seasons but without her working in the hospital it's hard to deny that something's missing from the episodes.

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TEDDY / OWEN/ TOM

(Here we go again.) 😔

This triangle has been going strong for a long time almost too long, and once again they flipped the switch its always back and forth. A few episodes ago she was begging Owen for forgiveness and now she's telling Tom they have a future. I feel like she needs some time to process what she's really feeling most of the time it seems like she's confused and fair enough it all happened so fast the time between her being with Tom and Owen expressing his still lingering feelings to her but now she needs to make sure that the decision she makes now is the one she actually intends to stick with.

On another note Tom seems to be out of the woods, for now at least which is great when he asked for his son I was a little concerned for a bit I wasn't sure if he was really going to make it. He's a douche and a hard ass but he has the potential to have a great character development, so I'm glad he got another chance. And my comments about wanting Helm to be his new protege remains in that small scene they had last week something just clicked with me and there's also the fact that she wanted to treat him despite the risks.

Owen was here as a filler basically, and to reinforce the love triangle again.

___________________________________________

Jo Wilson

Is thinking of switching specialties, if Ben can do it like changing sweaters why can't she switch? I do think it will be a good fit for her the way she has been fawning over the babies of recent it was either that or give her one of her own which in my opinion I don't think she's ready for. But even in all of the excitement I can't help but think that she's only looking at the cupcake and rainbow side for now because although it's awesome being the first one to hold the babies and everything, not every delivery goes well sometimes the babies don't make it or in other cases the mothers die I hope she's ready to face that side of the package as well.

Just mentioning as well that I love the friendship between her and Schmitt. It was an unexpected but pleasant pairing one of which I'm looking forward to seeing more of in the long run.

On the other hand if Jo switches this gives us more of a chance to see Carina as well because she was signed on a a series regular yet we don't get to see her enough except for on Station 19 and on there she's only Maya's girlfriend. I hope it changes soon and they give her more of a plot or something.

___________________________________________

Amelia/Link

Not much relationship content other than Link finding out about her and Koracick's fling and he took her going into the hospital before the end of her maternity leave quite well. They are one of the healthier relationships in Grey's. Right now at least things always get trickier later.

I'm glad she went in though it let Koracick know that he still had people who care about him and she managed to make Teddy who everyone was treating like garbage as well feel a little better.

___________________________________________

Maggie

No Winston today but we got a lot of Maggie content which was great. She was the moral support once again but today I was fine with it I always enjoy her moments with Bailey and at least she was able to be there for her seeing that Ben was MIA and Webber was busy taking care of her patients along with Jackson. Once again a very needed conversation between her and Bailey and I loved that she still went to comfort her despite the fact that rehashing her own mother's death had to be painful to do.

___________________________________________

Bailey

(Thanks for ruining My Girl for me Grey's now instead of feeling happy I'll forever think of Bailey saying goodbye to her mother.)

We all know that whenever Bailey starts spouting out her feelings and asking for help and advice things are about to go down.

Before we get completely into it I'd just like to express my disappointment in the fact that Ben literally dropped everything took the aid car to save his in laws no questions asked then dropped off his mother in law at the hospital with Covid and left his wife who has anxiety without even checking in. I know he's a first responder as well and he isn't allowed into the hospital that easily either but geeze no other phone calls or messages to check in?. He better have been stuck putting out a huge fire or something equally as bad, besides being him being hurt himself at least.

Another foot note to appreciate Bailey primping before her facetiming with Ben. Go get it hun. Their relationship be cute as usual.

Then the big revel her, mother has dementia, yet another doctor with the alzheimers gene. The moment between her and Meredith was heartwarming to be honest it's a foreign thing seeing them so close and having life conversations still but it's something I hope we get to see often they've had them as semi rivals/ semi friends long enough.

It was hard to see her have to say goodbye and the fact that her father couldn't be there to tell his wife any final words and be there to hold her as she passed made it worse, his wife that he was married to and loved for so long had to die without the comfort of her husband by her side and her daughter could barely hold her hand because of the bulk of her suit, then one of the saddest parts was that she possibly didn't even know what was happening to her. But thankfully Bailey could have been there to sing to her and keep her calm, a lot of people don't even get that much of a chance during the pandemic their loved ones die alone.

The moment I saw the conversation with her dad and the way she was only half listening I knew she was going to blame herself at some point over what happened, it remains to be seen if Maggie's speech worked or if she's going to continue to blame herself. Like I stated before I love the conversation her and Maggie had. One of the reasons why I haven't stepped off the Grey's Carousel is because they touch on topics that others don't cross they aren't afraid to touch the important and controversial things.

I was too being sad over her mothers death at first but I also want to talk about her and Webber's friendship he immediately postponed everything to be there for her, he took over her workload and still made sure he was there in time to be there and support her when she watched her mother flat line.

___________________________________________

The pandemic has always been real to me but somehow seeing the names of those that passed at the end was surreal I found myself just staring at the screen for a few minutes later reflecting on everything.

___________________________________________

Next week is the winter finale and I have no idea how it could get anymore dramatic than it already is. There's been so much already but Grey's always manages to surprise me. Then after that episode it's back to nothing until March 😭😭😭.

[deitiesofduat]

DEITIES Updates 5/7/17

Heyyyy everyone~ It's been a while since one of these update, hasn't it... oTL

I've been meaning to write a proper update for the DEITIES blog this month, and while I had mentioned some of what I've been up to in this last ask reply, I'll try to expand on the more relevant topics here!

Most information will be under the cut, but TL;DR this update will cover the (almost) end of my semi-hiatus; progress with the main and prelude stories of DEITIES; plans for Worldbuilding June 2017; the upcoming Patreon for DEITIES and my other artwork; and other updates and plans for DEITIES Project and the blog.

END OF SEMI-HIATUS (N-not yet, but soon…)

As the post regarding the semi-hiatus had mentioned, I hadn't planned to end it any earlier than the end of May / beginning of June. And with all that's been happening the past few months, I think it'll be best for me to stick to that initial estimate. Once I finish the bulk of my obligations this month it'll be a little easier to breath and return focus to my artwork and DEITIES progress, and with keeping the blog a bit more active.

Having said that, I'll admit that taking this hiatus was probably a good call. I've missed updating the blog, but it helped that I took time away from it without fretting over staying active. I was able to revisit other personal artwork and interests, had time to handle some personal struggles, and have been making some necessary (but positive??) adjustments to different areas of my life, both online and offline.

While I'm still figuring things out, I'm feeling more at ease and I'm in a better place than I had been 3 months ago. And I thank everyone for being patient and bearing with my MIA-ness during this time.

As for DEITIES, my motivation to continue working on it hasn't diminished; in fact I'm feeling more energized to work on sharing updates with it soon. But I have been using time to reflect on how to keep everyone updated and engaged with the project, while simultaneously focusing on creating the comic for the main story -- both of which I enjoy, but also each take a lot of time and attention as an independent creator. Which bring me to the following updates:

MAIN STORY + PRELUDE PROGRESS

Even tho I hadn't had much art to share on the blog during the semi-hiatus, I did keep to my goal of making significant progress on  drafting the story for DEITIES, albeit not in the way I expected. Before the hiatus, I was at about the halfway point with the main story, and when I went back to revisit it, I realized I needed to adjust my approach. So I spent some time re-formatting my longer synopses into more digestible outlines -- something that seems more intuitive in hindsight, but that I had never really learned or practiced, before.

While doing so, I was able to make a few changes to the storyline and even figured out how to fix a few roadblocks / potential plot holes I was stumped on -- at least, so far. I even managed to draft out the ending chapters of the story -- which would be SUPER EXCITING if I still didn't need to work my way thru the remainder of the middle so the plot makes sense o)----< But at this point, I can say that the story's draft is about… 3/4th done?? And if I can keep up my momentum I can hopefully finish it this summer, if not sooner.

As for the prelude -- for those just tuning in, DEITIES has a prelude comic in the works -- a way for me to practice the process of creating a shorter comic before diving into the larger one. Unlike the main story, the prelude's first draft IS more or less completed, but it needs heavy revision, esp with the changes I've made to the main story. It'll get worked on soon tho, and hopefully I can start moving to thumb-nailing, and then page-making, soon!

WORLDBUILDING JUNE 2017

Yep, it's nearly that time of again~ My run from last year's Worldbuilding June was one of my more productive months in 2016 for sharing written and drawn worldbuilding notes for DEITIES verse. I'm hoping I can do it again this year, not only to complete some long-overdue notes, but to also update older notes and complete some missing/placeholder artwork -- even redraw a few of them if I find the drive and time!

For now, I want to complete at least two new sets of written notes -- “Divine Regalia and Weapons,” and “The Was Scepter” --  and all artwork that comes with it, but if I can get to more notes and artwork in that time, I'll do so! It'll depend on how much free time I can afford while I work on another large project in June -- one that I’ve considered for quite some time, but that I've finally decided was worth starting...

UPCOMING PATREON (~JUNE 2017)

Guess I might as well share this too haha >> The idea of starting a Patreon to help support my work on DEITIES has been on my mind for a while, but I wanted to wait until I had the project well established first, and had gathered enough interest. I also wanted to be sure I had the means and time to offer decent incentives to those willing to become a patron, as a thank you for the extra support.

During my hiatus, I had time to revisit the idea, as well as observe other creators launch their campaigns and watch how they managed their patreons. I eventually realized it would be more ideal to start my own patreon campaign sooner rather than later, so I'd have the time to practice and learn the interface. And by supplementing my art with a bit monetary support, I'd be able to more easily prioritize time to work on my general art and DEITIES Project.

For anyone who's concerned about missing out on things because you’re unable to make a pledge at this time, please don't fret! I've never obligated anyone to make donations to DEITIES Project, nor will I require donations to view artwork that I already share. Patreon will simply be a way to allow supporters to enjoy a few extra perks, including but not limited to: early access to viewing my art (and eventually, comic pages from DEITIES); WIPS and progress shots of said artwork; and some visual and written notes for the story that I normally don't post online! There will also be some milestone I'll set that will not only unlock more rewards and tiers, but also allow me to provide more art and content online, for everyone to enjoy!

This pitch is very simplified from the one I'm working on for patreon, but I'll save the details for later this month / beginning of June -- which will be more than likely when the patreon will "soft launch" for the first few months as I restore activity to the blog during Worldbuilding June (meaning, patrons will get to see artwork and notes early as I work on them o)9). Once it goes live, I hope you'll all consider pledging early to help support me and the project, and with spreading the word, which will be greatly appreciated!

OTHER UPDATES 

It's been a while since I've mentioned it on the blog, but the DEITIES Spotify has had some playlists updated with new songs -- though you may have to look thru the tracklists to see which ones they are >> Off the top of my head, Set's Masterlist and the Set & Sobek Masterlist have been updated with some notable tracks, with the other playlists adding new tracks here and there.

I also still have about 3 other playlist in the work, I've just lacked time to makes decent covers for them. That, and one… well actually maybe 2 of the upcoming playlists also veers into nsfw-ish territory (lyrics-wise, not the cover lmaosdjflksdf), so I'll be sure to mark it and mention it as a heads up. But as a comparison, if you can comfortably listen to the two aforementioned playlists above, these next ones should be fine~ Just use headphones--

Meanwhile, updates on the DEITIES Instagram have slowed a bit, as I work on drafting the story and the patreon, but they will resume once I kick myself to draw more pencil sketches in general. Chances are some pencil sketches will be shared on IG after I share the finished artwork on patreon and the blog, but they’ll still remain available for all followers to view.

Annnnnnnnd I think I’ve covered the bulk of things? From now until the end of my hiatus, I’ll continue building the patreon, drafting more of the story, and prepping for Worldbuilding June, as well as making a few tweaks to the blog here and there. As usual, the DEITIES Askbox is still open for any general questions or comments about the blog, characters, or story.

Until then, thanks again to everyone for your interest in this project and your patience with my absence (and with skimming this update haha) -- I can’t wait to return with more progress on DEITIES Project soon!

[ciathyzareposts]

The Two Towers: A Decent Percentage of Those Who Wander Are, in Fact, Lost

Well, that’s helpful.

             We haven’t had many games that support multiple parties adventuring at the same time, and each has handled the notion a slightly different way, depending on the reasons for the separation. For instance, some games support multiple players operating simultaneously, either cooperatively or competitively, such as the Stuart Smith titles, Swords of Glass (1986), and Bloodwych (1989). In contrast, Ultima VI‘s ability to send an individual party member off on his own was more a matter of expedience in exploration and combat. In some games, you need multiple independent parties to solve puzzles–a dynamic we saw in The Magic Candle (1989) and Fate: Gates of Dawn (1991) .

The Two Towers is the first game to require multiple parties solely for fidelity to the narrative. It is also the first in which parties, by design, can never meet. They can’t swap equipment, can’t help each other out, can’t arrange party members in the ways that makes the most sense given the nature of the area and the enemies that they face. I realize why this had to happen to preserve the link to the source material, but given the number of narrative fancies the game manages to introduce within each section, one wonders why they couldn’t have taken the same laissez-faire attitude to the story as a whole.

         Frodo’s “lore” skill comes through.

           When I started the game, I thought that the action would switch only between two parties: Aragorn’s and Frodo’s. It turns out there are three. The game actually found enough for Merry and Pippin to do in Fangorn Forest (most of it non-canonical, of course). Three parties is too much to juggle. Maybe it changes later, but playing the game in its first few sessions is like playing three separate games with the same engine, and no control over switching among them. The game’s abrupt and arbitrary movement among the parties makes it easy to forget what one party was doing before it was so rudely interrupted. I’m not enjoying that aspect.

(Note: if you’re already lost because you don’t know anything about the source material, I’m afraid this entry is going to be rough on you. It’s hard enough to explain all the deviations without explaining the original text, too. I recommend at least watching the film trilogy to get a sense of the original characters.)

The last session had ended when the action abruptly left Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas and cut to Frodo and Sam, on the other side of the river that I originally thought was the Isen but now know to be the Anduin. Knowing that I had to eventually go south into the Dead Marshes, I began exploring in east-west strips between the river to the west and some mountains to the east. 

             Gollum meekly joins the party.

           The area was quite wide. I had to climb down several tiers of cliffs (using the “Climb” skill) in the opening stages. In between two sets of cliffs, I ran into Gollum. I expected some sound and fury from the encounter, but instead a simple use of the elven rope enlisted him into the party. There were no heated words from Sam. In general, party members in this game don’t speak to each other very much, which of course is a notable change from the original story.

At the base of the cliffs, we found a small hut with a hostile man named Beredu inside. He yelled us not to enter, then yelled at us when we entered anyway, then attacked us when we didn’t leave. We killed him. He had nothing. It didn’t seem like an encounter that was supposed to go that way, but I’ve decided to just roll with everything in this game.

            Gollum, you may be strong and crafty, but don’t go up against the completionist tendencies of the computer RPG player. You’ll lose every time.

          Moving on, we came to a three-story structure that turned out to be owned by a vampire. The attic offered combat with some bats and nothing else. The main floor had a room with a bubbling cauldron where we freed some souls and got a casting of ELBERETH in return. The basement had four sarcophaguses, one of which held a spirit that asked me for the Star Ruby of Gondor, which he said I’d find in a sinkhole out in the marshes.

             I have a bad feeling about this.

         In the middle of the room was an obelisk that sucked us in to an area of darkness, and the vampire attacked. I wouldn’t have thought two hobbits and Gollum would be very effective against a vampire, but we killed him in a few rounds.

           Does Frodo canonically kill anything in the books? I don’t think he does in the films.

         Afterward, we found an elf named Gilglin lurking around the corner of the basement, overcome with ennui. I can’t remember exactly what I did to rouse him–I remember running through all my skills–but he eventually livened up and joined the party. I assume he’s original to the game. The newly-bolstered party had just wandered out the front door of the vampire’s keep and started wading through the marshes when action suddenly shifted to Merry and Pippin in Fangorn Forest.

              A momentous choice.

           Fangorn was a large maze. We soon encountered an Ent named Longroot who offered to take us around. When we asked about Treebeard (which I guess was a bit of a cheat), Longroot offered to take us to him, and we accepted. Treebeard had a bit of introductory dialogue before he took us to some part of the forest called Wellinghall. When we spoke to him about Saruman, he agreed that the wizard must be stopped and summoned the Entmoot.

             Part of the maze of Fangorn.

        The game gave us the option to wait around for the Ents to come to their decision or explore the forest. I decided to explore. Treebeard warned us about evil living trees called “huorns,” but he said they’d leave us alone if we had an Ent in the party, and he gave us one of the “hastier” Ents, called Quickbeam. (The adorable little icon looks more like Baby Groot than the Ents from the flms.) As we explored the forest, we had repeated notes that Quickbeam’s presence kept huorns and perhaps other creatures from attacking.

             What do you want? A cookie?

          It didn’t stop anything else from attacking, though. For a fairly weak party, Merry and Pippin were assailed far more than the two previous groups, mostly by orcs and uruks, and soon their health was at the minimum. Fortunately, Quickbeam had strong attacks and a lot of hit points, and I was able to use him as a tank in most encounters.

The health system hasn’t changed since Vol. I, and it’s a bit weird. While there are some items that provide minor amounts of healing (e.g., eating rations restores a couple of hit points), healing occurs more often by plot point than by player choice. The initial pool of hit points is expected to last for long intervals.

Characters get knocked unconscious if their hit points drop below 6, after which they lose 1 hit point per round until they die or combat is over. But if they don’t die, they “wake up” with 6 hit points and are good to go. For a lot of Merry and Pippin’s session, they remained on the edge like this, lasting only a couple of rounds at the beginnings of combats, but waking up slightly healed after Quickbeam had wrapped things up.

             In battle with some orcs.

         There were a lot of side areas and side-quests in Fangorn. One confusing questline seemed to ask the party to find the source of the “Entwash,” a river that runs to the south of Fangorn and feeds into the Anduin. Some of the Ents I found were inert, and I needed water from the Entwash to revive them. I also needed Entwash water to hydrate a small seed that an elven ghost (Linandel, if that means anything to you fans) wanted me to plant somewhere. In any event, while exploring I ran into an Ent guarding a cache of Entwash water, so I think the whole business about finding the source turned moot.

The forest was full of (I suspect) non-canonical Ents–Greenroot, Longroot, Skinbark, Leaflock–who provided a variety of hints. I rescued some of them from orcs, who had apparently been tasked by Sarumon to chop down as many trees as possible. Eventually, one of them joined us–a young Ent named Twiglate who we saved from a forest fire. That was late in the session, though; I could have used him a lot earlier.

               And the two hobbits will survive a few more battles.

           On the west side of Fangorn, we found an orc encampment of several buildings and multiple battles. Merry and Pippin got some chainmail and shields (they had started with just barrow daggers), so that helped a bit. On the north side of the camp, a tunnel went into the mountains and we found ourselves in a fairly large dungeon. I probably need to cover it more next time because I don’t think I fully finished it this time. The opening room had some large trees, “parched husks,” that we’re clearly meant to do something with, but the obvious solutions (such as giving them water) don’t work. There’s also a large obelisk that I can’t figure out anything to do with and a silver door that I can’t open.

           Saruman has parties of orcs everywhere trying to find us, and we’re in his basement stealing his tobacco.

            Past the obelisk, a tunnel took us to an adjacent cellar full of storerooms with rations and pipeweed and other supplies. Emerging up from this cellar, we were surprised to find ourselves on the main level of Isengard, and two difficult battles with uruks and Dunlendings. Clearly, we were extremely far afield at this point, so it was a slight mercy when, while exploring the edges of the area, the game intervened to tell us we’d gone too far, and warped us back to Fangorn. 

           So “free will” isn’t much of a thing in this setting, huh?

          Merry and Pippin’s session ended when we returned to the Entmoot. Treebeard told us that a couple of Ents hadn’t shown up and asked us to go rouse them. I suspect they both need Entwash water, and I’m pretty sure I already hydrated one of them. Treebeard also gave us a “spell” of sorts that would summon Ents to help us in combat, something we really could have used for the bulk of this session. (Perhaps I was meant to wait out the Entmoot rather than explore while it was deliberating.) Anyway, the game didn’t give me a chance to find the Ents or try out the new spell. It abruptly returned the focus to Aragorn’s party instead.

My time with Aragorn his group–which included the recovered Gandalf–was mostly spent cleaning up quests discovered in the first session. The primary one was to satisfy the “weregild” set by the survivors of the ruined town of Estemnet. The leader of the town had wanted me to find her husband’s sword, her son, and a bag of gold stolen from the town.

The latter two were both found on the edges of Fangorn on the north side of the map. In one clearing, I found the “youth” (although he’s depicted as a middle-aged man with a mustache), Harding, fighting orcs alongside a woman named Folwyn. We helped them out and they joined the party. The bag of gold was in another clearing.

            I suppose that if we were role-playing an “evil” fellowship, we could have just watched him die.

            The main orc encampment was in the middle of a burned section of forest. Every time I entered, the game told me that there were too many of them and gave me a chance to take about one action before they attacked and we met a scripted ending. I attempted various skills during that brief pause and finally hit the solution with “Sneak.” This caused the main body of orcs to drain away, and we were able to set an ambush for the remaining ones. When the dust cleared, we found the sword on the leader’s body.

           I just don’t understand why one character’s “Sneak” skill can hide the entire party.

             Harding and Folwyn left us when we returned to Estemnet and delivered the items. The leader, Leofyn, promised that the survivors would try to clear orcs from the land. I’m not sure what that does for me, but perhaps it results in fewer random encounters.

               You’re  glass-half-empty sort of woman, aren’t you?

          Next, we solved the puzzle of the corrupted mearas pool by attacking the orcs’ altar at night, releasing a bunch of barrow wights, and killing them. Nearby, a local resident named Heof told us that to finish purifying the pool, we would need to get one of the mearas to drink from it. I don’t know why Gandalf is incapable of summoning Shadowfax at the moment, but our solution was to find one to the southeast of the pool and lead him to the pool. 

              “…which, admittedly, wasn’t that long ago.”

             At that point, before we could even take steps towards Edoras and the next stage of our quest, the game yanked us back to Frodo, Sam, Gollum, and Gilglin, who I hope is non-canonical because his name sounds a lot like “Gilligan.”

                 We’re back with the Ringbearer. But for how long?

            Aside from all the chain-jerking between parties, the one thing that really annoys me about this game is that despite decent graphics, it fails to visually depict important environmental features. It tells us about a tunnel into the mountains rather than showing us. We wander into what looks like an empty building but suddenly get a message that there are orcs all around us (and then, of course, they visually appear just in time for combat). The evil altar on the north side of the mearas pond doesn’t appear until we first get a message telling us about it. NPCs show up suddenly in the middle of blank grassland. Too much, in short, depends on the party deciding to walk into what otherwise looks like empty areas, rather than seeing something interesting graphically and saying, “Hey, let’s go check that out.”

             How did we get this far into the building before noticing a “group of angry orcs”?

Neither that shrine nor those wights were visible until we walked upon the right set of pixels.

             But it’s early, and the game may yet have some surprises. I look forward to seeing how it handles certain plot elements while also wondering how it justifies, say, the ability to freely explore Isengard.

          Time so far: 7 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/the-two-towers-a-decent-percentage-of-those-who-wander-are-in-fact-lost/

[mceproductions]

December 2018 Blurbs

12/1/18 The final Chapter on 2018's book began with me checking out the sequel to Wreck It Ralph. And it was Near perfect in every way possible. What wasn't was my drive back and the snowstorm that laid waste to the road, never had driven in snow that bad until today. Honestly was shaking for nealry 20 miles. Luckilly came back in time to see Bama win in epic fashion. I may not like them but they are #1. UCF won as well hopeful they can make the jump. 12/2/18 Connor ended up picking up a new kitten, he and Amber named Nelson. Now I know how Peele felt in Keanu. That cat was adorable and so sweet to be around. Especially that poofball tail. Packers stink as usual to the point where McCarthy got fired during his postgame press conference. Bama, Clemson, and Oklahoma will batlle on the 29th to see who gets the chance to play in Santa Clara. Notre Dame will join them, this should be expanded by all counts. 12/3/18 Andrew has another job, this one late at night. Hoping he'll stick this out. Heisman this year went down to the 3 QB's from Bama, Oklahoma and Ohio State. Wonder how the finalst math is done to drop the number from 5 to 3. Gifts need to be sent out to Eric and Company soon. New Tree skirt looks hopefully ok. 12/4/18 Stuff can take the cake really quickly when it comes to life. Connor apparently has broken things off with Amber now his gut is killing him. Karma at its finest people. Other than that, I don't mind having to get called out to do carts what irks me is when someone like Cole, drops off so I'm completley alone out there. His weaseled out method just really iritates me more. Bowl Mercahndise looking rather dull this year, may save money along those lines. 12/5/18 Well, Connor may have gut problems like me. The real kicker is how incompitent our hospital is here, and how they were throwing in words like liver failure and appendix issues. Grabbed mounted photo which allowed me to finish wrapping the gifts to be sent out to Eric and them. Hopeful that Eli Like gummi Bears. Main gift hunting will begin next week. Do love Holiday seaons, and all that they entail. 12/6/18 The cat may be be cute, but Connor breaking, entering and placing him on me in the middle of the night. Nope. He, can really take the cake when it comes to not knowing how to amicably end a relationship. Rebought Hobbit and that gave me, Legos for the first time in 15 Years. Will only get the Target lego hobbit editons and that will be it. Survey for class is adjusted and will hopefully be done by weekends end. Seminar I still have to do, hoping Dad will give a hand with that. Looking forward to Mamoa on SNL. 12/7/18 Pearl Harbor, a tragic event that led to a worse movie. But on this day there should be a new atalige on when it rains it pours for the winter. I call it When it snows it bursts, cause we all had issues today. Bravada may have a frozen gear shift. Eric lost another girlfriend, Connor may be out of a job, and Andrew may actually be doing better than any of us for once. This is a burst of bad luck. 12/8/18 A day that i had originally set out to do nothing now had me doing even less, thanks to the Bum gear shift. Not sure how we can fix that, other vehicle still waits in the wings. Watched more SpongeBob then i had in a long time wow I missed a bunch. Could really use some good in these next few days. 12/9/18 Packers finally won, just need miracles to happen in order to squeak into wild card. Vehicles e break lite may give me clue in order to fix it. Winter and Christmas need to show up quicker cause it certainly doesnt feel like it especially not around here. 12/10/18 Early night when it came to the back. Used VTO to leave early, stinks i lost a day but at least i caught up on stuff. 12/11/18 Bravada i bought finally became mine with licence plates. Saving insurance for after Christmas. Store had less on today which made the work at least plenteful. But the group with the exception of me and 2 others all left at 9:50 as we got left with the bulk of the cleanup. Not cool in the slightest. 12/12/18 First day with Bravada, not a bad go of things. Penultimate class, surprisingly am at an A hoping i can get this done within the next week. Contingency plan needed for tomorrow, will see SpiderMan on Saturday and hold off on Aquaman until after Christmas. 12/13/18 Nice to find out i can still tack miles on my feet. Will need to do that again soon. Packages got sent including book for retun. Retuned a bunch of stuff for gift stipened, hoping dad likes revenant more than hacksaw ridge. South Park finale made no sense. 12/14/18 Saving spiderverse for sunday, mainly so i can get rid off stuff at BAM, more cash more presents. Will still read Mortal Engines even though movie looks lousy. A lot of ties on countdown, and just discovered a couple i overlooked. Binging Bob's Burgers like crazy. Man that show is a lot better than i gave it credit for. Busted truck is gone from parking lot, didn't expect to have to have management nearly call cops on stolen vehicle though. 12/15/18 Day from hell is an understatement. Eric getting arested, Im working on stuff and Andrew seemed to not know when to keep his mouth shut. Bowl games starting today brought only form of relief. 12/16/18 Better day, Animated Spiderman was something to behold. Got bulk of christmas shopping out of the way. Bravada held up just wished i could get it back fully. Packers got knocked out of postseason. Just hope we can win one more, at least chances are good. Smash Bros Ultimate is awesome. 12/17/18 Mom's gift now safley wrapped. Football continues and the Saints better be hoping they stop stinkin things up. 12/18/18 Cap 2 was down to 4 with a mysterious virus going round. As everyone left by 6, i managed to get out early. Just hoping this doesnt come back to bite me in the butt. Hoping to wrap up gifts by Friday, Aquaman on Saturday may be possibile. Glad thats in town at least. Also did annual watch of Haruhi Suzumiya movie, how come they can't make a movie that long in America. Stinks it has to be shorter than 2 for animated. 12/19/18 Last Class, thankfully was short and sweet. Walked out in good mood after making thank you card. Just curious to know when i may get funds, cause have to take 2 classes otherwise just to get scholarship. Rose Bowl shirt looks great. Will finish gift wrapping by friday at least. 12/20/18 I dont know why but it just doesnt feel like christmas this year. Snow almost gone, skies are dreary and whatever mood were in around here just keeps going up. Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls seems more and more perfect in telling the moood were in right now. Hoping for a few good days, free christmas dinner at store tommorow should lift funk. 12/21/18 The mood certainly is festive store wise. Finished grabbing gifts. Wil be hoping they like them. 12/22/18 Down to the single digits in days left of 2018, one goal of mine i wished i picked up more on was the sign language aspect. Will be putting that back on the 2019 docket. Store for a few more days. Just hoped to go watch Aquaman thanks to VTO but based on what i got coming, better to hold off on that. 12/23/18 Penultimate truck of 2018, thankfully got that done by 10, finally got tree from mountain, bulbs i picked up worked brillantly. Hard to belive it all ends in a week. Good year overall. 12/24/18 Short 4 hours with only Chris and Cheyenne. Best store day of the year in which we turn off all lights and tell people who come in to leave. Cole on the other hand, once again, i got drugged out to fix his mess. Not pleasent. What was was prime rib and quiet dinner with family before i gave them gifts. Poofball hat idea worked on all but Dad may have to return his. Looking forward to nba on christmas day. Wonderful life and Polar Express double feature to round things out. 12/25/18 Linus from peanuts says it all. With angellic hosts proclaim christ is born in bethlehem. 12/26/18 Amazing how one day in total silence with family can turn into one explosive return to reality. All for the best 5 days of the year i suppose. Aquaman movie ended up being pretty great, never figured Julie Andrews would play a squid. Badgers Bowl game tomorrow then final day of work for year on friday. Just hopin i can get final blog posted on monday before library closes. Year is rapidly closing fast. Also 2nd Charlie Brown Christmas special sucks, a little bit much on the meaning of the season and not on what made the first special great all around. 12/27/18 Rain filled the day, a lot of water that may turn whatever snow we have into ice. Badgers won in Yankee Stadium and tomorrow is Walmart 2018 finale for me. Just wish i didn't have a week off after that, but i can make do with micro paycheck for a bit. Already trying to figure 2019 Goals, dont know whether to up it or lower it. Found Attack on Titan Season 3 on Digital. Yeah gonna be good tv this weekend. 12/28/18 The 2018 Season finale at Wallyworld. Epicly enjoyable. Just miffed that  have a week off with little to no Coverage coming in. May seek alternative option. Truck tire thankfully got fixed but other issue may now have arisen. Bad luck streak wrapping this year up strong isn't it? 12/29/18 Another college football playoff another Bama Clemson beatdown. At least Kyler and Oklahoma actually put up a fight. Not sure what movie to see tomorrow. Possibly saving Bumblebee for next week, or VICE. 12/30/18 Entry 364 and on this penultimate day, I chose to go see the Mary Poppins sequel. Oh man it was charming. The welcome balance of modern with slight hat tips to what came before. Packers embarrassingly concluded thier season. Orville came back on tonight and that was equally good, a bunch of side plots that somehow all culminated in one odd ritual where Bortus took a dump, and it was good. Looking forward to adding that on DVR. 5 Packages to send out tomorrow, not sure what i'll be doing when ball drops. 12/31/18 Bye Bye Yesterday...The culmination of 365 Days of life, and as we conclude 2018 I think, there was so much more I could have gotten done. 2 Weddings, A Super Bowl visit, watching Connor finish school, buying my first vehicle, nearly seeing a sporting event, and a prmomotion at wally world. So much more I could have squeezed in. Finished today up with helping dad with bread, and  he made chili, hoping that that wont make us all sick as hes been these last few days. As for this journaling buiness.  I may look into continuing this come 2019. After all that is now as i have put it the year of the endgame.  Definetly would want to chronicle that. Though maybe i'll go the Your Name Route and download an app to chronicle that for my Phone and Ipad. Here's to you 2018, now as Thanos snaps at 11:53 you'll crumble to dust and fade away in our minds and hearts. Its time for the next chapter, and im ready...To Be hopefully continued.

                                       End of 2018 Journal