Recent reviews by Prague

Just saw the banned card list for Magic Arena. Counterspell, Lightning Bolt, and about 30 more. That is an integrity violation of the highest order. I was there in 1995 slugging it out with those cards the build MTG. They have been and remain mainstays throughout decades. There's not enough "kiss my fat, white A$$" in the world for those admins.
Who....in the F***....has ever built a blue deck without counterspell. That's exactly like taking the baseball out of.....BASEBALL. Yeah....uninstalling.

My unit is entering their second tour in this game and while the first tour (almost 4 years ago) was a little underwhelming, this second try at the game as been absolutely OUTSTANDING! The word to describe it: Polish...Polish...Polish. Everything runs flawless, everything interlinks with perfectly balanced math, everything flows as though the game is riding on sheer liquid. What an excellent experience to have when I expected "diablo clone" and got "everything Diablo WISHED it could grow up to become". If Blizzard were to start on Diablo 4 today with the hopes of overtaking Path of Exile...it would take them a decade to do so. I am astounded. Go play...have fun...there is a LOT of it to be had!

Well beyond what I expected. After a week of pondering "what could it be like" after hearing so many people commenting in other forums about it, I broke down and bought Blackberry Honey. After watching the video for it I half imagined it was going to be a poorly written "Engrish, Japanimation Smut Book". I couldn't have been more wrong. Actually, whoever wrote the book is a very articulate, well-educated native English speaker. I am about half way throgh the book now and I had to stop to come write this review. The characters are well defined, the settings for each scene are done both in description and visually so it takes a lot of the description necessary in traditional novels out in lieu of literal imagery. Think of this as a good novel that uses visual placeholders to show you what room you're in, who is present and what their condition is. If they are standing one arm across then that is the "maid's attention posture", if they are standing arms out "they are working", if they have their finger on their face "they are pensive or curious". Etc. Overall, if you're looking for a good novel that is completely devioid of "he said, she said", this will be a good read for you. Enjoy the music and the general ambiance, sit back and just watch it slowly come together.

I recently acquired this game on a friend's account in order to test it to see if it was fit for human consumption yet or not. So many Early Access titles are just not ready for public use. This is not one of them. It took me 20 mins to establish that not only was this a stable and efficient engine, but the depth they have included was staggering.

I play a GREAT many survival games, some "a little like real life" and some are so close that you dream about them as though you were there (See The Long Dark). While the graphic engine is simplistic in nature, it is more than complex enough to suck you into the world. After 10 mins of learning to "move things around" from your bags to containers and such, getting your feet under you, then...all your "The Walking Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead" training starts coming out.

Once you've worked the interface out and are comfortable with it enough to function, you then slip easily into your "survival boots". Your senses go high, you mind starts running in the background on its own, plotting out what-ifs for anything that might happen, all the while you are actively looting your first house (likely your own house).

As you gather things you quickly come to understand that you can't (and shouldn't) take everything. You are now alone in the dark. You have no help coming...and as long as you stay quiet and inconspicuous, you have a lot of time to think on your plan of survival and start to pool resources together and get your feet under you.

The crafting engine can seem overwhelming at first, but it is actually quite forgiving as long as you have the curiosity to read the possible designs and think to yourself "how can I make this help me". And to have a hoarding nature will help...gather ALL the stuff you find and put it into a workshop style environment. Then you sit down and quietly tinker all night long from one thing to another.

The physiological and psychological aspects to the game are amazing, even to this old survival sim veteran. As I sat there with a screwdriver, disassembling a remote control for its I.R. sensor, I looked over and realized that I have become well-adapted to being (in this case) 5 things at once...I am a little hungry...I am a bit tired...I am getting bored...I am having some pain in my left forearm (due to glass from breaking a window last night)...and I am being soothed by the sound of the rain outside. The depth of ailments, conditions, and afflictions are really amazing. If you were to be stabbed, you wouldn't just "Lose 25 hp and get 'bleeding' condition". No no...you would take the hit...stab...I've been hurt...then blood spurt 3 seconds later...I am bleeding and it's severe...then 10 seconds after, I am getting scared (seeing so much of your own blood) and in some pain...then 20 seconds after as you stuble towards your camp, I am in tremendous pain and am wailing out and cannot help it...30 seconds...I am cold and trembling and sliding into shock.
Apply sterile bandages (you made yesterday from whiskey and ripped bed sheets)...and the conditions slowly subside over time. This makes for an IMMENSELY more engrossing event than "I got stabbed and lost 25 hp".

I am just scratching the surface of the jewel...and already I have declared "You have SOO earned my money on this game". I bought my own copy and am likely to purchase a 4-pack for the rest of my gaming unit. Multiplayer HAS to be just righteous.

So for TLDR: Well worth the money, take 10 mins and learn the interface, then go live your life in this REALISTIC survival simulation. Make your own server, tweak your "in my end of the world zombie apocalypse things would be like this..." settings. Then immerse yourself into a sim that will carry you for 100s of hours as you push your boundries and your imagination.

There is a serious issue in the efficiency of the graphic engine. I have an AMD FX-9590 CPU and an AMD Radeon 295x2 Video Card. In fullscreen at MEDIUM settings it will not sustain more than 13 FPS. In windowed mode it will not sustain more than 17 FPS. When I load into Warframe I am getting just over 800 FPS at max settings. Fair warning to those who have to whom this may apply.