Mike's Unedited Let's Plays!

there's a whole bunch of me venting I must admit. it's a bit of a stressy time to be a Mike so if you're not into a northerner having a moan I understand completely.

so there's ten minutes of me not understanding how to play a football game followed by me just nattering for ages.

wowsers this one doesn't go to plan! might be a long time until episode 17 shows up 😅

More hanging out with the person who agreed to have kids with me. We play some of Escape the Dark Castle, a game with sublime visual design that feels a bit like Darkest Dungeon, a bit like old pen & paper RPGs, and a bit like Fighting Fantasy. Gruesome and the blackest black.

Cat Lady meanwhile is about collecting cats.

So listen to me trying to find time to play a game that didn't actually feel that rewarding to actually play. While absolutely knackered, and it turns out poorly too!

Might as well leave a mini review based on the three or four missions I've played, for the types to read podcasts descriptions.

From what I have seen this isn't exactly an incredibly deep experience, it's turn based tactics in a fairly no frills fashion. You get regular units based upon the scenario and can pick from a dizzying variety of commanders. There is a light upgrade system in a style more akin to a pc tactics game than an RPG. The visuals in battle scenes are actually pretty impressive with well animated renders of 3D models that may have been used in the PS2 and Xbox LOTR games of the time. The actual tactics screen/map is less easy to parse, with tree sprites and the like occasionally blocking the way. Whereas the absolute battiness of the main console version of this game has a huge charm with it's fanfic OC main characters and it's Final Fantasy X battle system, this feels like a lost PC game from 1997ish. The sort of thing that would appear as a demo on another game you inexplicably found at the pound shop (such as my copy of Rise and Rule of Ancient Empires, a naff Civ clone).

I don't think I'll come back to it anytime soon.

Ben really showing that he knows how to blow the proverbial out of a fellow piggy. Troy meanwhile isn't really using his new equipment because it's bloody difficult to judge the angle on a mortar. Also Frost continues to no-scope...

Ashley has got back into board games HARD! We're not always good at them.

The baby is predictably fine sleeping in her own bed 😊

I am secretly happily married.

I'm a fan of the occasional long title. So we take hogshead this time around which unfortunately pits us against the yellow team. There is some very uncomfortable humour of the variety you'd think a member of the 1980's UK alt comedy scene wouldn't be partaking in... Seems a bit Bernard Manning to me.

Perhaps I'm being over sensitive but it's a smidge uncomfortable.