Executor Akamia

MechWarrior, and its parent series, BattleTech. I will never get tired of the kind of mech combat MechWarrior offers. It’s the gold standard of mech games as far as I’m concerned. Even at its worst, I still prefer it to whatever competition it may have.

MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries. Really, either of the MechWarrior 4 games apply; Vengeance and its expansion, Black Knight. But Mercenaries had the most 'Mechs to play with, and a certain mod to the game added even more. Unfortunately, you can't get that mod anymore. Or the game. Not legally, anyway.

I don't feel strongly enough about any hairstyle at all to really answer this one. 😕 As a child, I used to be pretty much incapable of playing certain games, especially two games that used to be associated with the early years of the LEGO Mindstorms toyline. One was called Stormrunner I believe, and I don't remember what the other one was called, but you played as a Mindstorms-powered car in a 3-dimensional world trying to track somebody down, I think... I don't remember the premise of the latter too well, but Stormrunner's premise was that you are marooned on an alien planet, and you had to use Mindstorms robots to explore the world outside and escape...? I think? I don't recall exactly if I'm honest about this one, but I recall very distinctly that the user interface was very similar in appearance to the Mindstorms Robotics Invention Systems' native programming environment at the time. Anyway, in both games I was too terrified of basically everything to make any real progress. I eventually made some measure of progress in Stormrunner, but that other game whose title escapes me is probably lost to time. I don't think Stormrunner is playable anymore either.

Final Fantasy XIV Leveling up all my classes while I still have game time and the “Road to 70” buff available to me. I also pre-ordered Stellaris: Federations yesterday; can’t wait to play it! But seeing as I can play Stellaris any time, FFXIV is my priority right now.

Honestly, I don't feel too strongly about one console over another, at least in terms of their internals. Based on their games, though? Probably either Xbox One or New Nintendo 3DS for me.

Yep. Indeed I have. I think almost everyone who's played a video game has at some point in their lives, especially if they started relatively young. 😂

I wouldn’t die for them, if that’s what you mean. But I would help them if I could otherwise.

For some reason, I have it in my head that I’m awful at almost all of the games I play, including ones I’ve logged hundreds to thousands of hours into. But maybe that’s mostly just me being some sort of pessimist. That said, I don’t have a particularly impressive record with shooters or RTS games. Or really any game where I’m up against other players. I love these games a lot, but most of the time, if not every time, I’m far below average. I think the only such game I came anywhere close to excelling at was Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. I guess I was pretty decent at MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries back when I could still play it, but by the time I was at all active on the online side of that game, there weren’t a whole lot of people playing anymore...

Final Fantasy XIV I've been sinking countless hours into this one, trying to level my character's classes as far as I can to unlock their stuff as I go through the main scenario questline. I need a break. 😰 I haven't spent this much time in two weeks on one game since Stellaris... Speaking of which, the Federations expansion is coming out in less than 3 weeks. I'm looking forward to it.

For True Story

Back when one of my friends was attempting to get me into World of WarCraft a few years back, I used to attempt to raid some relatively low level Horde town, expecting steep resistance. Mostly because that sort of thing is what I look for in an MMORPG most of the time, even though said friend isn't interested in the PvP aspects of these games. I knew I was in over my head, even when I brought a second guy, but we were going fine with hit & run tactics when some high level player (presumably a PvP veteran; my partner and I only had PvE gear, and PvE players usually lose in a straight fight with a PvP-equipped player of similar level) came by and wrecked us both. So honestly, I'd be disappointed if some upstart player didn't show up to stop me razing a town if I was feeling like playing "bad guy" for a given day.

Stellaris Went back to my inward perfection save. Decided to spare the Determined Exterminator neighboring me. Still alive, and they aren’t enemies anymore since I synthetically ascended. North of me is a Driven Assimilator who eventually cut down one of my neighbors, only to get roadblocked by the Enigmatic Observer Fallen Empire. They shifted gears and began to fight the local Fanatical Purifier instead.

Final Fantasy XIV A friend got me the full game – expansions and all – as a gift yesterday. So I'm happy. 😄

BattleTech My original 4 MechWarriors are now hilariously terrifying snipers. I've been nailing headshots using Precision Strikes with relatively great consistency. The most consistent among them would be any MechWarrior I stick in my MAD-3R Marauder, which has an innate Called Shot bonus that stacks with the bonus MechWarriors with high Tactics skill get. So far, that's been Dekker, but I have a suspicion that this would be more heat efficient if I ran Glitch in that 'Mech instead, as she has a skill that allows her to ignore hostile cover bonuses if she only fires one weapon. And since one PPC to the face is all that's needed to put most 'Mechs down if they don't have damage reduction...

I miss MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries the most, honestly. The MechWarrior series in general is something I miss playing. Haven't been able to play a single one since I got a Mac a little over 5 years ago, which MechWarrior games don't run on. I mean, I can always play BattleTech in the meantime, since they're both part of the same franchise, but it's nowhere close to the same experience.