Must be noted, these game logs were written back in 2022. So when I say a “few days ago” below, I mean it happened back in 2022 when this was all written down.
After a break (2021) from playing PES 2021, I started playing again a few days ago (2022), and I found myself struggling to get a win. Every game was a struggle to not concede a goal. I was getting really frustrated with the game. I eventually still won the English Premier League. Barely though, just by 1 point. Had some help from the CPU with Liverpool inexplicably not winning against a lesser team. But the biggest surprise to me, was that I was actually playing in Super Star difficulty. No wonder I was struggling so bad. It was bad enough that I took a break from the game. It was a shock to get back and find the CPU playing so well against my team.
I was going through my journal and realized I have stopped posting about my Pro Evolution Soccer 2021 game logs. This was due to a tagging mistake on my end. I started using a new tag to track game logs and consequently lost visibility of my older game logs.
Must be noted, these game logs were written back in 2021. The game itself is old and can no longer be purchased today. Still, I think it is still a great game and this is a fun way to track my progress in the game. Plus, sharing it might help somebody new to the game. So, anyway, let's pick up where I left off shall we...
While trying to improve my game, I decided to try swapping the positions for Pogba and Van De Beek on the field. Instead of letting Pogba play CMF, I played him as my AMF and had Van De Beek at CMF. On offense, I think this was a better setup because Pogba is a much bigger threat at AMF. Van De Beek on the other hand, is much better at covering the defense because of his speed and aggression. So playing him as my CMF also worked out well.
I'm on my 2nd Master League season and I'm struggling in PES 2021. I keep conceding goals. Even with Manolas in the game, I still concede. I even signed up Elvedi to increase the availability of quality CBs in every game. I'm still conceding. And it always seems to happen in the first half too. They just break down my defense in the central areas. Not sure how to stop it. Even when I went with 2 deep CMFs, I still conceded.
Character Name: Edgewater
Class: Soldier
Playthrough: 1st
Level 18 now in Starfield. I had to reload a save to avoid getting the Rank 2 Weapon Engineering skill. I initially got it because I wanted to be able to craft suppressor mods for my weapons. However, after unlocking it, I found that I still needed to do more Research Projects before I can actually craft a suppressor. On top of that, I was missing materials for the Research Projects. So I unlocked the skill, but couldn’t make use of it right away. In hindsight, I don’t think it was worth it getting it at this point in the game.
So yeah, I reloaded an older save file, and this time I decided to max out my Ballistics weapon skill. The difference here is that this skill upgrade takes effect immediately.
I then decided to roam around outside the Lodge and didn’t realize how much I was missing. I found a store called Centaurion Arsenal that sells really nice modified weapons. I found an Assassin’s Beowulf, which means a Beowulf rifle that already has a suppressor and a medium scope on it. This was what I wanted to be able craft via the weapon engineering skill. But in this case, I could simply buy the weapon and use it right away. I don't even have to worry about finding materials for my research projects and all that tedious stuff.
This is going to be a short one. Just some helpful tips for when you're in the final stages of the game, in the city of Insomnia.
The photo below shows the location of the entrance to the hideout in the city of Insomnia. At one time, I was roaming both ends of the map trying to get back to the hideout. This should save you some time.
A few months ago, I bought Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition because it was on sale. I have played the standard edition before, when it was available on Gamepass. But I never really got past the first few hours in the game. This time around, after having bought it, I resolved to actually finish the game.
This game is such a quirky RPG. Maybe it’s because I haven’t played a lot of Japanese RPGs since Final Fantasy 10. Maybe these features are already in other games nowadays. But I found this game to be a departure from what I expected a Japanese RPG to be. It's like going on a road-trip adventure with your best friends, where you and your friends look like you belong in a K-pop boy band. You could say, it's like a boy band got their own action adventure RPG made for them. Weird, but good.
The game takes place in a fictional world, but is based on our modern world. Almost like a parallel universe. There are cars in the game. There are activities like camping and fishing. Cooking and eating food is a notable part of the game. One of the characters brings along his camera, which he uses to take photos and selfies throughout the game. Characters carry cellphones and would occasionally get on a call in the game. It’s not what I expected from a Japanese RPG. But man is it a good game.
Bought Elden Ring last November. I struggled with it during the first few hours of the game.
I tried taking on the Tree Sentinel, who roams around at the starting area of the game. The Devs must have put that boss there as a preview of what's to come and maybe just for laughs. Because unless you are a very skilled player, you are not going to be able to defeat that guy, no matter how hard you try. I was both a newbie to the game and an unskilled player. I could not defeat the Tree Sentinel. Just at this very early part of the game, I already died more than 10 times I think.
Anyway, so I moved on and tried to follow the golden markers. I ended up at Gatefront Ruins. Instead of resting at the next site of grace, I only touched it and moved on to fighting the enemies at Gatefront Ruins.
^ This was a very noob mistake, because if I had rested at that site of grace, I would have unlocked the ability to level up. As it is, I kept racking up runes (they are like XP, used to level up), but had no way to make use of them. I could have made my life easier by leveling up, but didn't know I could do that.
I then spent multiple hours trying to clear the enemies at Gatefront Ruins to no avail. I could not defeat the Knight with the Spear and Shield.
^ What's hilarious is that, this guy was not even a field boss. He was just a regular enemy, granted, he was the strongest enemy at the ruins. Couple that with my mistake of not unlocking the level up feature, it's hilarious to look back and think that I could have made the fights against him so much easier.
Character Name: Edgewater
Class: Soldier
Playthrough: 1st
Just had an encounter with Spacers (basically space pirates) while traveling to a different planet. At first, they were happy at having someone to bully. But after realizing that I was flying the Razorleaf, the ship that belonged to The Mantis, they apologized and grav-jumped away LOL. This surprised me as I didn't know that would happen when flying the Razorleaf.
The Razorleaf...
The Razorleaf is a starship that was piloted by The Mantis, a space vigilante. If you finish the quest line for The Mantis, one of the rewards you get is the Razorleaf. You also get the Mantis armor set, which is one of the best armor sets in the game IMO.
To finish the “Check out your ship's inventory” mini quest in Starfield, you need to find the Cargo Hold in your ship and intentionally take out an item from the Cargo Hold. It is not enough to just browse the contents of the Cargo Hold.
This is Neon, the 2nd or 3rd big city I visited in the game. From the outside it looks like some big fish market out in the middle of an ocean. But from the inside...
Note: This game log is a few weeks behind. What I have written below were my early thoughts on the game. It's more of a first impressions post than a game log, but it is what I've written down on my journal. I emphasize the word early because it would seem, from what I've written below, that I hate the game, or that it's no good. But my viewpoint changed as I kept playing and kept leveling up. Just to note that at the time of this writing, I've actually already finished the game. Anyone that's a fan of single player RPGs will enjoy this game.
Character Name: Edgewater
Playthrough: 1st
Still playing Starfield and the initial excitement I think has worn off a little. Below are a couple of my thoughts on the game.
Persuasion System/Minigame
The dialogue Persuasion system/minigame seems unfinished, or clunky, or at times broken. Some of the conversations end up with unrealistic results. At one point the person you're talking to is adamant about pushing their point of view, then you say something very minor, then all of a sudden they have a huge change of heart and now they're agreeing with you. It seems very unrealistic to me.
I had one such conversation with a gang leader, whose gang was holding up a bank and had hostages. I used the Persuasion system to try to get them to back down and release the hostages. My initial dialogue choice was a hard stance, basically saying something to the effect of, “Hey man, no one is going to bail you out, you might as well release the hostages because the Marshal is not going to agree with your demands.” To this statement the gang leader responded with something like, “You want to be a hardass? I can be a hardass too. You either cater to our demands or we'll kill the hostages.” At this point, I was convinced there was no way to persuade the gang leader to release the hostages.
First ever playthrough of Starfield. Here's some backstory on my character to help set the tone for the rest of my playthrough. Note that this is mainly for my reference as I continue playing the game.
My character's name is Edgewater. He used to be a Soldier before deciding he wanted to try living life as a regular citizen. He heard of a mining expedition in the planet Vectera and decided to join the crew. And this is where the game starts...
One of the earliest scenes in the game. My character was about to head out into a mine with Supervisor Lin and Heller.
Headed down into the mines. You can play Starfield in first person view or third person view.
One of the earliest scenes in the game. My character was about to head out into a mine with Supervisor Lin and Heller.
Headed down into the mines. You can play Starfield in first person view or third person view.