2022 – a year in review

If you say that right, it even rhymes!

2022, things change, things get back to normal.

About Bikes

MOTOGP! Finally. And the ride there and back was great, and the racing was excellent. I stayed in budget (very important this year). I camped, I had adventures… yup, read the two stories here and here. Was worth the wait. The only thing that didn’t work out was Jack Miller getting taken out by Alec Marquez at the new “Miller Corner”. I do think I will stick to my two year cycle and aim for 2024 for my next ride down. It’s at an awkward time of the year, work wise.

2022 Philip Island -Australian MotoGP

I hit most of the roads I had planned, changed a few over, mostly due to the bad weather.

My first night motocamping.

Otherwise the bike was a garage queen at least by comparison to how it (and my other bikes) have lived. It was lucky if it got a ride to the shops once a week. As the year finishes off, I think I’m in the market for a new battery. Even commuting is off the menu at the moment, as work is only 10mins away and I drop my two kids at school on the way.

I got a new bike… sort of. It was fun to build at any rate.

LEGO’s M1000RR

No bicycle riding to speak of really. Some fitness rides on the commuter.

Enjoying the sunshine and open space…. in the middle of the suburbs?

About Babes

Two girls in high school. Both doing well. One won a State Championship for her gymnastics so really well done there. Next year will be interesting as the other one can start learning to drive!

About Bytes

Nothing hugely dramatic here. My Surface is finally getting used a lot, I use as my school device and it’s been great. Except for a dead TypeCover. Replaced, but I am suspicious of the durability of this part.

I upgraded my iPad Pro 9.7 (v1) to the Pro M1 11”. It has been excellent, really nice jump in performance from my last one. They did eventually release an M2 version as I suspected, but it didn’t get the mini-LED display, so I don’t feel like I missed anything. Its keyboard cover has also deteriorated (common theme this year), there are some places where the soft covering material has worn through. It is still working, but has been put away and hasn’t been replaced.

The new PC has been working fabulously, though I really should step up the graphics card. Otherwise it’s been fast and reliable. I’ve since spent many hours using it for gaming, completing the last 3 Tomb Raiders and spending over 100hours in the Baldur’s Gate 3 pre release.

And I can play BG3 on the Mac too

The iMac also has been going well. It has also recently received a new keyboard, a Logitech MX Keys (not the specific Mac one). I’m really happy with this keyboard too.

Having all these devices has meant all my work is available everywhere. The school mostly uses Google’s environment so that was something to get used to. But with it all in the cloud (along with my OneNote) it’s easy to work anywhere. I also switched over to iCloud Photos and this has been working well too.

D&D has been fun all year. Wild Beyond the Witchlight finished up just a few weeks ago. That was a fun campaign for all. It’s been replaced by a journey in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which I am not DM, so currently I am a player in 3 campaigns (Dungeon, Strahd and a face to face home-brew) and not a DM anywhere. It’s so relaxed! Strahd is likely to finish up soon and the DM wants to put us in Spelljammer (D&D in space). I have never played in that environment, so I’m a little unsure. I’m writing my own home-brew adventure for when I get a DM slot again.

About Me.

My offical career change occurred in mid-April (not Christmas as planned), I stayed in order to finalise a couple of medical issues with work. Even though that was the offical date, I was on holidays from that work from Christmas until April and actually working as a teacher full time.

I am enjoying my teaching. My school has a really nice community working environment. There are some challenges, partly due to the children and partly due to my limited experience. However, the school has always been supportive.

The pay is a significant cut from my old pay, at least in these first couple of years. Once I complete my proficiency after two years it will jump up and be a lot closer. I don’t think it will ever surpass it.

To help make up for this, I have secured some part time work in my old career for the school holidays and that will be a nice bonus for me. It’s also a way to stay relevant and connected to that old career in case I am needed.

Next year will see me having my own class, and it looks like it will be a Year 5/6 one. Equally excited and nervous, but everyone at work assures me I will do a great job. That makes me feel very supported, but then also nervous that I don’t want to let them down!

My class, as it was handed to me… a blank slate.

2023, here goes…….

BG3 – More thoughts

Heck, first up, I’m enjoying this. I started a second character to experiment with different choices and builds and conversations.

So I started a fighter, and stumbled about. This time I found an extra party member, so I have 4 now. Climbing all over the place taking different routes, I ended up uncovering whole new areas. Even if this is a Early Access, and it is limited, there is a heck of a lot of game here. I’ve probably played about 15 hours across the two parties and I am still exploring.

Fighting has improved a lot. My party is now 2 fighters, a wizard and a cleric. The fighters have a few magic items and wield Greatswords. With 2d6 not 1d10/1d12, plus bonuses, they hit for at least 7 or 8, instead of 4 or 5. That makes a difference. Though one fighter seems to miss twice as much as the other.

Looks amazing, even at low graphics settings

But it has meant that together they have killed the gnolls that were a roadblock for the other party, they’ve cleared out the goblin camps and a bunch of other groups have fallen to their blades and spells. I’m keen to drop them into the underground and fight the spiders. I am certain there is a lot under the map too.

In the spider caverns. Still struggling in here.

The other group has also been exploring, finding a trapped crypt and fighting some undead. They also fought the hag, though the hag retreated somewhere that I can’t figure out yet.

My skill at fighting has improved, but I’ve not quite figured out how to set up an ambush when characters are not all initially involved in the battle. For example, I had set up most of the party in cover in a hallway, and then I planned to kite the enemy into the hallway with a longbow shot. Set everyone up, put the fighter with the longbow in range (but where she could pull back, encouraging the goblins to follow) and let loose.

No reaction from the target… not even damage. So I moved forward, was spotted and “Battle commenced”. But the rest of the party was not “in the battle” so it was a messy start. I will experiment with this.

Deep in the goblin camp (an old temple)

Things I have discovered. FAST TRAVEL. I didn’t realise that you could click on a waypoint any time and it would transport you there. I thought you had to use waypoint to waypoint, like flight paths in WoW. This has been a massive revelation.

Some NPCs will change their next conversation with you depending upon how the last one went. So if you miss a chance at a quest or offend them, they won’t be interested next time. Other NPCs may not actually be in the same place – the biggest one is the second fighter. IF you don’t find her captured (right near the crashed ship where you start) then you won’t find her until the gathyanki patrol encounter. This is part of the intent of the 2 games I am playing, to experiment with the options.

There is some adult stuff too. I crashed open a barn to find a bugbear and an ogre…. ummm having a good time. Nothing was seen, but they were very unhappy at being disturbed! It also appears that my character has entered a relationship with the cleric. And perhaps pissed off the other fighter? Speaking of relationships, I am curious why the trader I keep selling my loot too doesn’t seem to like me….

So still lots to explore and figure out. And then at some point between now and later, the full game will be released… I suppose.

Shadows of the Tomb Raider

So Tomb Raider moves up to clear second place (in my tally of games in a franchise that I’ve completed). About 23 hours to finish. Some side missions and a little (but not as much as in Rise) of going back to gather materials and equipment.

Lara may have started the Apocolypse

Really, Spiderman has NOTHING on the climbing abilities of Lara Croft. She goes all over the place, never gets tired, always manages to find a way and she doesn’t have webs or superpowers. And NO fear of heights either…

Seriously, no way am I swinging my way out there….

Shadows was a fun game. I have definitely enjoyed all 3 in this last set of TR games. The improved swimming was especially noticeable, it’s now more like the very first TR game ;P. Again, as I played on normal modes again, I found myself with plenty of resources and skill points. This time there are ways to pick up the “special” materials several times so this isn’t a limiting factor.

Not everyone or everything was friendlyOn

My favourite parts (alongside the sotry itself) were a couple of the challenge tombs and side quests. Specifically “Howling Caves” had me a bit stumped. It was the only time I used a walkthrough, and only for 1 step). The “Howl of the Monkey Gods” was a fun puzzle, and “The Pillar” was lengthy and impressive locations. In fact all over the locations were beautiful, or horrifying or expansive or amazing.

Howl of the Monkey Gods

In Croft Mansion

Stations of the Cross

Path of War (or Battle?)

More puzzles

This was a fun puzzle too.

The main problem I did have was with the map and getting lost on side quests. I ended up taking up about 5 side quests in Paititi and trying to complete them all at once. Only problem was I kept getting mixed up and heading to the wrong places for each quest. Then I got lost trying to find my way back to the skull cave to hand them all in AND I forgot who was which….

Facing Evil Zombie Lara

The end story was fun and the last boss fight, even on normal, was hard without being frustrating.

Great game.

Sacrifice.

A Survivor is Born…..again

Again.

Well that went a lot faster. I’ve finished TR again. I am sure there is one main thing that improved my performance this time. It is MUCH easier to fight with mouse and keyboard than the PS Controller. This made aiming easier even when compared to the auto-aim on the PS version.

Finding a body with a sword in a place full of “scary magic”, pulling the sword out is NOT something that I would have thought to do…. too likely to ‘wake’ him up again! Still it didn’t turn out bad. This time.

I enjoyed the story and I think this time I was happy with the less Tomb Raider and more hunter-killer story. Partly again, it was that my expectations were better aligned with reality and I could see how it fit with the story.

This penultimate fight was tough, the warriors you faced were tougher than the crazies you normally faced. But being careful about not biting off the whole thing at once, it is manageable.

I even completed it with 90% of the things to find done. I think this directly contributed to finding the battles easier. My weapons have a lot of upgrades and I had a lot of skills completed. I have no idea how much I was upgraded in the last game, but I’m sure it was significantly less. Even completed several of the extra tombs this time too. One of them, I didn’t even realise was a tomb until I got to the treasure at the end (It was inside the Research Base).

The big guy goes down. Easier aiming, better weapons and a better understanding of dodge attacks and weak points meant an easier kill than last time. Still a challenge though and he hits HARD.

Mattias is beaten!

The Storm Queen is about to be released from her torment.

Here comes the sun….

So on to the next TR? Haven’t picked it up yet, I’ll have to see if its on sale.

Because the adventure is just starting.

One word

and it’s not Avengers, it’s Battletech.

The new Battletech from Paradox (also available through Steam) is excellent.

And personally the best news, its ON THE IMAC as well. So I can play it.

And its really interesting and really well done.

 

I’ll do a longer review with pics in a bit. But if you’ve ever been a table top player, then I think you’ll enjoy it.

Old School

Ha, there is one thing I need to post. It’s my eldest birthday soon and one of the things on her list is a Nintendo 3DS. Not too keen on that idea, She already uses the PS1, the Wii, and the PC. And a PS3 when I move back to Sydney. I don’t think another game machine is right just now.

So I dug about in my box of stuff and pulled out my old Gameboy Colour with Red Pokemon and Pokemon Pinball. Pinball got some action for a while.

But then as I dug through the box I decided it was time for a real lesson in history. Stashed away was something that is really showing my age.

Picked up some batteries from the shops and when we got home I broke out some other Nintendo products. You can see them in this picture.

History Time

Anyone know what they are? One is orange coloured, one white and I have another dark brown.* Early ancestors of the very 3DS that the eldest wanted for her birthday.

Let me tell you they were a hit. Way more interest in them than in the GB Colour.

*The original Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong II and Oil Panic.

Triple crown….

Portal 2 completed.

Three games in one year I’ve finished now. And one of them I only started this year! (The three are Tomb Raider, Walking Dead and Portal 2, Portal 2 being the one I only started this year).

The last chapter and finale levels had a couple of curly puzzles in them. I admit to resorting to the INTERNET on a couple of occasions. But it was certainly a fun jaunt and some cool puzzles. I might go back and play the first one, but that would mean adding another game to the cupboard.

I highly recommend Portal 2 if you haven’t tried it. A great game to while away those server shutdowns and the like with some brain teasers.

But what’s next….

Looking into the Steam Library I see some Assassin’s Creed, Batman: Arkham City (not sure why I bought that, I have it on the PS3 as well) and Trine 2. Or otherwise there is WoW, Eve or Mechwarrior???

Maybe its time for that PC now?

 

Portal Progress

I’d become bogged down a bit in Portal. A couple of real puzzlers had me taking a long time to get just a little bit through the game. In the end I needed a little prompt from YouTube, which was disappointing.

However the trials are easy again. I seem to be getting close to the finish, I’m in Chapter 8: The Itch. I’m out of the old testing area and back into the original one. Here the crazy AI that I helped at the start (before he through me down the hole) is in charge. Testing me.

They’ve turned easy actually, even with the new twists created by the tractor beam type thing.

Oh Cross Platform

So I’ve been playing Portal 2 during the last few weeks at Canberra where I play on my iMac. When I go home to Sydney to see my family I don’t usually play anything as it takes away time from my family. I only get two nights at home and I don’t want to waste it.

However this past Saturday I found myself with the chores done and the kids engrossed in a video (and amazingly it wasn’t Frozen!) so I downloaded Portal onto the PC at home. I knew it was a cross platform purchase so I figured Icould muck about in it.

What I didn’t expect was to be able to continue from where I left off last week in Canberra on the Mac! Now that is cool. And a surprise because I had tried that with something else and it didn’t work that way (oh that’s right it was Borderlands 2).

Of course I only got through one room after spending an hour waiting for it to download, before the kids came wandering in having finished the movie

And here’s another cool thing. It’s a great clean non(ish) violent puzzle game. So we puzzled our way about in the next room without much success.

Portal 2 – Gee catch up!

Hey this Portal 2 game is really cool [yes, we already know that you all think!]. Some really good puzzles – not enough to totally frustrate you, but enough to make you sit and think for a few minutes. Most seem to have only one solution so far.

Story so far seems to be that I got back to where the evil robot was, swapped the core with the robot that had been helping me only for it to get all mean (or defensive) and throw me down a tube.

My buddy turns mean

A long, long, long way down

This ended me up at what is obviously a sort of 1960s era first version of the laboratory that I was in.

And I’m guessing I’m in the first of 9 stages to get through this one. So a fair bit of puzzle to go.