Benie's Games Blog

Does anyone still remember Half-Life 1, the EP’s, 2, and the episodes? Of course you do. Anyone that was born in the 90’s, remembers playing the first Half-Life, and how it became a huge hit (even becoming Game of the Year).
And then happened Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and possibly the most depressing ending in modern video game history (the music captured it the best). Yet it also left one hell of a cliffhanger, that has lasted for over a decade of waiting ‘patiently’ for Episode 3 to at least be unveiled.
Valve said that it was “coming soon”, yet that’s all they did. Some theorized if this means “Half-Life 3 confirmed” (which started the meme that tried to keep our sanity (and hope) that there would be at least something). But as the years went by (and people noticed that Valve doesn’t need to make games anymore to get money (via Steam)), faith was being lost, yet this didn’t stop the meme.

Yesterday, it seems the wait is finally over. The main writer of the entire series (Mark Laidlaw) has released a transcript revealing what could’ve been Half-Life 2: Episode 3, through Gordon Freeman’s eyes.
Originally, this thing was on his blog, and he had it ‘encoded’ to change the genders and names of the characters (such as ‘Dr. Mass'(as Dr. Mossman), and ‘Elly Vaunt'(as Eli Vance). Some theorize he did this so Valve “wouldn’t see it” (and also to avoid legal trouble).
Others managed to easily decode the script, with one of them being the link I posted.

There’s a lot to be learned here, especially how he (as Gordon) explains what he saw while onboard the Borealis (and what happened to this strange ship able to transport through time and space, using portals). How it also showed the past, present and future at the same time. It’s all very interesting.
And just like the end of Episode 2, this also ends with a cliffhanger. However, not the way you would expect. He says he got flung into the future, and hardly anyone remembers him. And then he ends it stating: “this is my final episode.”

Since the release of this thing, theories began to emerge of it’s possible meaning (via Youtube videos). Though I could never understand why the hate people have for Valve to the point some say “we should boycott Steam”.
This didn’t come ’till a week later, when Youtuber ‘YongYea’ went over it as brief as he could, with his own theories. Having him staring at me, I feel helped me to finally understand the hate. As I just said, I never saw it (until now).
The ending of the transcript, where Mark says “I expect you know better than I the appropriate course of action, and I leave you to it.” (which was ‘backed up’ by a tweet made the day after posting the script), he’s basically saying he’s ‘passing the torch’ to anyone willing to either use his work to formerly ‘release’ Episode 3, or even make an unofficial non-canon version of Half-Life 3 (as Valve seems to not be interested).
That’s pretty sad. They’ve gone the route so many other companies have gone; greed first, customers never.

But, this news isn’t going to stop me from buying games on Steam. Valve only controls Steam, and gets a portion of the profits. However, they have no control over the developers willing to release their game on Steam (which is where the money is supposed to be going to). Of course, this means good games (not ones made in five minutes using Unity).
If they did, I’m pretty sure devs would simply stop using Steam. Since they have not, I’m not changing either.

In the closing of this blog post, kudos to Mark Laidlaw for posting this. You’re a good man, and God bless.
So, what about you? Do you feel the Half-Life series is dead, and has this also convinced you to stop using Steam (as a dev or as a consumer)? Let me know with an email.

I feel like I was robbed, doing a quest to help the Thieves Guild to get this mercenary group off their backs, and then suddenly it’s like someone reached into my quest journal and stole the questline when I wasn’t looking..because now it’s reduced to dailies being the only way to get skill with the guild.
I went to the Guildmaster, and they’re launching an investigation in what happened to the questline. One of them got a lead it might be the evil company named “Zenimax” that robbed me of a continuing questline. Unfortunately the investigation has gone cold, with another telling me it’s likely nothing I can do.

And as much as I wish someone would preform The Black Sacrament on the company (and I get a kill contract from The Dark Brotherhood), there really is nothing I can do.
The dailies alone are starting to get on my nerves. One is “go to these towns and pickpocket…even though you already have been to these same towns”, another is “be a nice person and retrieve this item.. even though you’ve already retrieved the item a day ago.”
And then finally, there are the “steal these items and avoid detection before time runs out, and if you kill someone or get spotted, you lose time” Heist dailies. These ‘Heists’ are the worst of all. They should had called them “Thief Challenges”..because that’s all they are. Anything that has ‘before time runs out’ is a turn-off for me. I refuse to be rushed (and judged for not being fast enough).

So I’ve gone back to The Dark Brotherhood, yet I feel both guilds have the same quest structure (they aren’t like the Mages and Fighters Guilds, apparently).

.
EDIT: Yep.. I was right. Now these ‘Killer for Hire’ dailies are also repeating themselves. Plus, I just did this area I did a day ago and fucked up not knowing how to handle it (and even having to call for help)… yet they aren’t the same two targets. It’s the same place, but not the same targets as before.
I asked in Zone chat in a shocked and annoyed tone: “So, the only way to advance the questline on both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood…is to do dailies (until I get to the next level of these guilds)?” And I get a very disturbing “yep”. Disturbing as in ‘HOW IN THE FUCK CAN YOU LIVE WITH THIS BULLSHIT?! Dailies should NOT be used to gate content FFS!!’
COME ON!! Fighter’s Guild, you gain XP from… well, killing mobs. And the Mages Guild, you get them from finding books. Both, work with what you normally do. These…these are only in specific locations (instead of part of the world). Plus, they’re just like dailies from WoW! Even one who has the fucking NERVE to say “come back tomorrow” to me.
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What really slays me, is stealing items and fencing them gains skill with the Thieves Guild…yet you don’t gain Dark Brotherhood skill from killing innocents with the Blade of Woe. To gate the questline behind dailies is one thing, but to not give options to level the skill outside of them? That’s messed up, ZOS.

I really feel burned by this. IMO, you have got to be a special breed of human to feel this bullshit is acceptable. There’s just no way in the bowels of hell, I’m the only one pissed off (or was after the releases of the DLCs in 2015/16) about this. People were pissed off over Morrowind not being included in ESO+ (that I felt I was the tiny 0.01% minority that was pissed about that), so surely they were pissed (at a time) over this. Yet ZOS did nothing (and this clearly proves it). And I bet just like Morrowind, the debate over it was 70/30 (in favor of the “we’re adults, we know what hard work means”) people.
Now, I’m an adult too (even though I never act like one) and I don’t feel this is right. Dailies, should only be optional content to give the player something to do while doing the main content… not -as- the main content. Doing the same thing, again and again (and having it happen the same way everytime), is repetitive. Of course so is life, but this is a video game we’re talking about god damnit! Video games are supposed to be there to ESCAPE the grinding of a job in real life, not fucking imitate it (aka Wurm Online)!!
Why people (and especially video game companies) can’t see it like this, is beyond me. If I wanted to play a life simulator, I got The Sims to do that (and it does it quite well(in its silly “aww.. do you gotta pee?! Then STOP FUCKING PLAYING GUITAR AND GO PEE!!” way)).

*sigh*…I dunno what I’m going to do now. Quitting will do nothing (instead of leaving me bored and knowing all I got left is Wurm again). Guess I’ll just do zone questlines ’till I hit Level 50 and then do the main questline (or do them and wait ’till it’s time to deal with Molag Bal(for the 3rd time)).
“But Benie, the main questline is grinding too! You’ve already done it twice” you might say, and you would be right in that regard. But at least the main questline isn’t the same quest, or the same area..every. fucking. time. Heard when it comes to the Dark Brotherhood alone (and since the Thieves Guild uses the same questing structure, I would assume both are affected) that there’s 4-8 random ‘dungeons’ that are used. So either ZOS is deliberately trolling me (as when it comes to the Black Sacrament, I keep getting the “I propose a challenge” one), or I’m getting a ‘bad roll’.
The ‘I propose a challenge’ thing, takes me to a multiple route cave. I originally thought this was just some initiation and then I would get the good stuff. Yet I’m being told to go here again, and kill two different people. This has to be, the LAZIEST excuse of a daily I have ever seen in my life as a gamer!
I get that done, and go do a few kill contracts. Come back, and there’s another Black Sacrament one for me. Felt like “finally, something new!”…same. fucking. location..different. people. to kill.

*eye twitching INTENSIFIES*
*sticks up middle finger at quest, everyone in the room, and leaves while holding finger at every player I see*
If I may barrow a line from Mister Joe Vargas(aka Angry Joe as he’s named on Youtube)..
Zenimax? “You DONE FUCKED IT UP!!!”

So this is a late late late…*yawns* late blog post.
First off, this isn’t clickbait. Second, I made it to Eastmarch and the Rift (mainly to do a few Thieves Guild quests). Getting to the Rift alone without completing any of the zone questline of either Stonefalls or the Rift itself, required me to go out of my way around two locked doors preventing quicker access.
Yet in doing so, I managed to come up on one of the many player homes in the game. It’s quite small, but feels homely (like a log cabin feel). Plus it has a small courtyard. The price for it (in crowns) was quite reasonable (even while furnished). Though I decided to ask in the forum (decided to ‘un-ban myself’ from the forum, and tried to get people to stop posting in the ‘is Morrowind worth it’ post I made last month).

Proceeded to Riften, the long way (while grabbing every wayshrine on the way.. and being swayed like blades of grass in the wind of the ohh so “this feels like sex” music of Skyrim 1,000 years in the past(HUGE kudos to the music team for these slow, breathtaking music scores)).
Finally made it to the city. Did a few ‘side’ quests, but was able to pull off my final heist of quickly picking the lock of a safebox with only seconds to grab the goods and get the hell out of there before the guy behind me turns around. Usually I take my time with picking locks. It’s not as difficult of picking a lock in other games (just involves locking five pins down before they spring up).
Anyway, there’s a somewhat larger house on the hill to the South of Riften, that’s also available for purchase. This one has a second floor, and it costs twice what the smaller log cabin-like house would be (around 7,500 Crowns). Though my current crown balance (now down to 6,700 crowns after going on a shopping spree), buying some more wouldn’t be that too much of an issue.

Finally got a response in that forum thread, and I’m glad I refrained from doing so. One of the biggest “make or break” was chests, and if I could store stuff in or they’re just decoration. Seems…that’s all they are. Though, the person also stated it’s one of the common features people also want added. When (or if) Zenimax does it, is when I’ll feel spending the crowns is ‘worth it’.
I’m not paying for something I cannot 100% utilize. I want to be able to store all of my shit (just like player housing in Skyrim).
Though, that bed upstairs. It may be not much to look at(like a bunch of animal skins sewed together), but it has four dragon head carvings on the top. If only I could saw them off and put them on a shelf. Fuck the bed, I want those wooden dragon head carvings! 🙂

However, in ways I can see one instance why housing (as it currently is implemented) would be useful (which would be the free teleport). Having the house near Riften would help get to it faster (and cheaper) when being out in the open and you can’t get to a Wayshrine.
Plus, since these houses are shared by your account, your alts can use them to access areas that they normally couldn’t. This…pretty much makes houses a ‘one-way personal Wayshrine’.

I still remember the blog post I made about affording a horse, and being told that stealing is quite profitable. It also felt like a grind. But now I’m stealing while questing. Infact, it’s getting addictive. Everytime I enter a building, I start looking for things to steal.
But so is killing people with the Blade of Woe. Successful kills reward 40g in stolen goodies, and definitely beats the random percentage chance of pickpocketing (and the risk of failing it and receiving an undesired bounty).

Speaking of bounties, they have been really getting under my skin. I’m even getting bounties..without doing a fucking THING to warrant it (while sneaking and not getting caught)! The system is broken, or doesn’t like me.
There was even this one time where I’m coming out of this building, getting ready to complete this quest. I’m outside, and I’m noticing I’m still in a trespass zone which is quite odd (but seeing how I didn’t have a bounty I felt I was OK), yet I didn’t know the guards were still hostile (as if I had a bounty) and one kills me without warning! I was SOOOOOOO furious after that. When I finally made it back, all of my stolen stuff was gone and I had no way to cover the repair cost. The only thing that kept me from ragequitting is actually making a profit (somehow) with a lot of gold.

Oh yeah, I’m now with the Thieves Guild by the way. Killing things literally took a dark turn for me a day ago. It made me really think about how to sneak around (such as to get a set of ‘Night Mother’ gear to help make myself nearly invisible to mobs). Though I haven’t done the second thing yet, as I feel I’ll out-level the set eventually. Though, being part of the Thieves Guild has some pretty awesome (and definitely useful) passive perks (mainly for dealing with failed stealth attempts and having a bounty). One of these will clear a bounty somewhat faster (removing 22g every three minutes, so I won’t have to wait -as- long for it to clear).
I also unlocked a new conversation option to tell a guard not to mess with me (won’t have to pay the bounty/have stolen items taken away) if one catches me (can only do it once per RL day, though). It will also keep other guards from catching me for one minute after using it. So this can be seen as an ’emergency’ if I have a really large bounty and a guard gets me, and I’m not paying attention.
There’s also one that increases the payout of stolen items that I can fence by 2% (goes up to 4% with more skill in the Thieves Guild tree). That’s quite nice.

Who ever said “crime doesn’t pay” never tried this game, or this NPC guild. It pays, quite well. The trick is to be a shadow and never get caught (though IMO, and this is frowned upon in the Thieves Guild, a good quick stab with the Blade of Woe to get rid of the asshole that was dangerously close of seeing me, works quite well). Yet sometimes I can wind up in a room with no one in and just start stealing everything 40g or higher.
Always look for Treasure. It pays off bounties and keeps your coin purse fat (if you can get to a fence while avoiding every guard in the city).