Good morning munchers and gobblers, welcome to Day 80 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.
As mentioned at the end of yesterday’s review, my period has descended upon me, a stumble on the path to greatness that estrogen has granted me. God knows I would be too powerful if I could have the benefits of euphoria without some crippling debuff, and so sees fit to bring down my potential.
Which in this case has manifested in a loss of appetite… yeah kind of shitty my body has afflicted the one of the few things I have near limitless passion for: my love of food.
That and writing, cause my brain is fogged up in addition to not feeling like eating.
So my extremely brief “review” is going to be the most recent Warbond from Helldivers 2, the “Obedient Democracy Support Trooper” Legendary Warbond.
For context, Warbonds are one of the ways Helldivers 2 distributes premium content, being similar to a battlepass in having multiple pages that unlock as more items are purchased using an in-game currency called “Medals”, earned by completing missions.
Though that is where the comparison to most battle implementations end, as Helldivers 2 is extremely unique in that the premium currency, known as Super Credits, is entirely farmable in game, found in intervals of 10 or, very rarely, 100 at points of interest around the map during missions. This is unrelated to the main review, I just want to highlight it.
Most Warbonds cost 1000 Super Credits, though the new Legendary Warbond for Halo 3 ODST costs 1500 instead, potentially to help cover licensing fees.
Full disclosure, this is the first Warbond I have actually spent real money on, which was £7.99 for 1000 Super Credits to supplement 500 I already had through game progression.
This is a decision I have no regrets in, especially after actually getting to use the weapons within it. The fact a Halo crossover is present in one of Sony’s headline titles is something I want to support in the industry, and Arrowhead’s implementation of Halo weaponry is incredibly loving and faithful.
Thus far I have only unlocked the assault rifle, and from the few missions I have used it on I am thoroughly in love with how it has been brought over. Rather than aiming down the sights of the weapon when going into first-person mode, like all the other weapons do, the first-person mode for the assault rifle mimics how the view looks in Halo, with the assault rifle off to the right side. A small detail, but a clear indicator of how much the series means to the developers.
Additionally, whilst I have a minor gripe with the shotgun being “light armour penetrating” (the lowest value in the game) considering it is modelled after the Halo shotgun that is supposed to annihilate Flood, from what I see of it on its stats page within the Warbond itself makes me confident it will be powerful nonetheless, having a damage stat far exceeding that of the highest damaging base-game shotgun. I look forward to destroying the enemies of democracy with it.
And again, I have no regrets spending my real money on this. For all the game’s faults and technical deficits, I think Helldivers 2 is a shining beacon in today’s modern game industry – regular free content updates, premium content that can be earned entirely through gameplay, and a beautiful community brought together across all three major platforms. I am proud to support Arrowhead, and I will continue to do so by playing Helldivers 2.
For a brain addled by hormones, I think I did pretty well writing day. Thank you for reading this edition of the Redundancy Review. Wherever you are I hope your weekend is good, and you can find relaxation throughout it.
Good morning leviathans and wyverns, welcome to Day 22 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.
I have my own domain now!
No longer carrying the “.wordpress” part, I have a simple .com domain that will look a lot more professional on my CV and be a lot easier to say to people who might want to look up my work.
It is part of a greater upgrade plan I am looking at to take my work to the next level, with the next steps including getting a professional logo for the site and looking at upgrading my phone to make any photography I need to do look even better…
…and considering I smashed the screen up a while back along with the battery being on its way out, it makes practical sense as well.
This is being enabled by the fact I have got almost all of the money I am entitled to out of my redundancy, the only thing I am missing now is my lack of notice pay which I hope to resolve today after my Jobcentre meeting.
Which, yeah, is not something I am looking forward to today. I have a very dim outlook on the unemployment system in the UK, seeing it as a necessary evil for myself currently but having little to no optimism in how they can help me beyond monetary assistance.
I will be receptive to their input and if they can find me a holdover job that holds some relevance to my areas of interest I will be thankful, but having been through the system once before and having those close to me go through it multiple times my confidence in what they can do for me is low.
To be frank, there is a little bit of arrogance in my outlook. The Jobcentre is primarily focused on getting those who have been out of work for a while into a job with a secondary focus on helping people acquire basic skills that they might have missed out on due to life circumstances – right now I fall into neither category.
I have a plan in mind, I know what steps I need to take, and I really do not need a digital skills course that teaches me how to open Microsoft Word when I have been working at the apex of a heavily specialised technological industry for the last three years.
A little bit of frustration this morning, but getting it out every so often feels good.
In honour of the Jobcentre meeting though, I am going to do a variation on my call to action today. Whilst I am looking to start getting into paid writing work, it is more of a desire to pivot than where my career specialty actually lies. So what have I done every day since 2021?
I break things.
For the last four years, I have been working as a Quality Assurance Engineer/Analyst/Specialist, whatever you want to call me the core foundation of my career has been the ability to find bugs in all sorts of software projects – I am even credited on two EA Sports games (F1 2021 and F1 22).
Finding bugs is not just a career for me, it is a way of life. Even when playing games on my own time I am able to find bugs as easy as I breathe, my brain switching into QA mode once I do and seeing if I can replicate it.
I am good at what I do, and I know it. Any software project I get my hands on will be tested thoroughly with a can-do attitude and a tenacity to see it through right to the end.
With that done, it is time to review something from a game today, but considering it is a very recent addition, I will put a spoiler warning.
If you have not played Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 2 content, please click away now. If you do click away now, thank you for reading today and I hope you have a great day!
With that done, I can get into it, and I am excited because I love Monster Hunter.
I really like Monster Hunter.
I really like Monster Hunter.
From being a complete newbie to the franchise back in 2022 to becoming way too obsessed today, Monster Hunter has wormed its way into my heart for its combat system, ecology design, and “fashion hunting”, the term for making layered armour sets out of different monster parts.
And with Wilds Title Update 2, a fan favourite monster finally returns to the franchise properly.
Lagiacrus was first introduced in Monster Hunter Tri as the flagship monster, releasing in 2009, with their inclusion in Wilds being their first representation in almost a decade, leading to many experienced fans being excited for their return.
For me though, I had no prior attachment to Lagiacrus but I was still excited to fight them for the first time, especially with the inclusion of a form of underwater combat as part of their fight mechanics.
Screenshot taken from the Title Update Trailer – I had taken footage but it seems to have corrupted
Underwater combat was a headline mechanic back in Monster Hunter Tri, being essential to Lagiacrus’s fight back in that game. Whilst the dev team for Wilds did not fully include a full combat system underwater, they did incorporate it into this new iteration.
After Lagiacrus retreats to its nest, it will dive underwater, giving hunters the opportunity to follow. During this fight you will need to use slinger ammo and collapsible underwater structures to stagger Lagiacrus to open a window to attack with your weapons, finalising with a cinematic finishing move once enough damage is done.
The introduction mission to Lagiacrus was extremely fun, not only serving to teach these mechanics to players, but also elaborating on one of the other characters in the Forbidden Lands with very thoughtful writing.
However, that is only one half of Lagiacrus being introduced, as after completing that mission they are now able to spawn in the world regularly, including being able to appear as a “Tempered” variant with stronger attacks and more health.
Tempered Lagiacrus is fucking terrifying.
Myself and my partner only fought a three-star version, supposedly on the weaker end of the scale.
It took us twenty minutes of consistent attacks and effort – longer than some base game tempered monsters, which included my partner fainting twice from the relentless onslaught of attacks.
Which, y’know, people had been asking for more challenge in the game.
And to get a non-spoilery thumbnail for the article, have one of my favourite fashion hunter sets from Wilds.
That does it for today, and that is possibly the most recent topic I have reviewed yet. Thank you for reading all the way if you did, I hope you have a relaxing day whatever you do.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available on Xbox Series, PS5, and PC.
Good morning robots and androids, welcome to Day 16 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.
I am extremely tired this morning, primarily because of guest-starring in a friend’s D&D game last night. He had included a former character of mine as backup for the party and initially wanted me to weigh in on what they had been up to in the proceeding time.
Discussions took form, eventually leading to me inquiring if he would be okay with me dropping in to reprise my role. I had retired from doing evening D&D games a long time ago, wanting to spend more time with my partner who I was long distance with at the time and just not having the social energy to keep a game going into the late hours of the night.
Was reprising the character fun? Extremely.
Blaze is my main character who is not like me in some way, shape, or form. They are an unhinged bucket of bolts whose main motive in helping the party was to take advantage of the situation to incite a war between two factions in this world, and why?
“It’d be really funny to see!”
Especially given the events going on in my life right now, playing a character who is completely off the wall insane was a lot of fun, more so when it came to improvising his motives and talking about collateral.
Am I still not capable of evening D&D games? Oh yes.
I have started writing this review later than I usually do because of how long it took me to even begin shaking the sleep off to get my laptop out and start writing – even on nights where I have gamed longer than I intended to I do not wake up like this, and it is definitely a social energy problem on my side.
One I am not… entirely hankering to fix, if just because “unable to socialise long past 9pm” is not really a priority issue for myself right now.
What is priority is the fact I have now received my unpaid wages for my time at my old company after shit hit the fan, which means today will be spent budgeting on various different topics, including:
What to contribute to the bills account to keep myself afloat for a while
Investing in some things around the flat to make summer easier and bring the place more to completion
Putting money into savings to help pay for VExpo (vtuber convention) later this year
Potentially going to a restaurant and having an actual date night out with my partner
I am still due money as well, in the form of statutory redundancy payments and whatever I can get from my lack of notice pay, but what I have got has gone a decent way to making me whole again – especially as the job search has hit a demoralising point.
Returning to full time work is somehow existing as a superposition in my mind right now. I am craving the return to routine enforced by someone else, but also enjoying the recovery that comes from not being in that situation anymore. Whilst the lack of a routine is definitely affecting me, there is also a certain amount of peace I am feeling from existing in my own rhythm once more.
Would I appreciate being back in full time work? Yes, especially as it gives me the resources to pursue the lifestyle I enjoy, but am I also considering what other paths might exist for me? Definitely.
If you would like to consider helping me explore one of these paths, please get in touch about hiring me for your projects. The life of a freelancer might not be one I have had a taste of yet, but the idea of jumping from client to client, project to project has an odd appeal to me right now. I would love to work for whoever is reading this!
So, one of the things I did after getting the news of my redundancy was start a game I had in my Steam library for the longest time after getting it in a Humble Choice bundle.
Yeah… I have been playing it a bit too much lately, but I did finish the story yesterday so I feel I can convey some thoughts at least, at least in a somewhat short form.
The core gameplay loop of Death Stranding is delivering packages. Playing as Sam Porter Bridges (portrayed by Norman Reedus), you go all throughout a post-apocalyptic America to deliver all sorts of goods to a colourful cast of characters.
Several hazards present themselves during these journeys, in the form of supernatural “Beached Things” (BTs), MULE and terrorist encampments looking to take your cargo or life respectively, and the ever-present threat of “Timefall” – rain that induces accelerating aging upon whatever it touches, which includes corroding your cargo’s protective containers.
You do not have to do your job entirely on the ground though, as the game provides several tools for making your life easier. Various structures can be constructed, ranging from humble ladders that can help you traverse rock and river, to giving you the ability to make a zip-line network later in the game, allowing you to complete deliveries door-to-door without encountering any threats whatsoever.
Your hands are not the only ones that can build structures though, as the unique selling point of Death Stranding is the integrated online aspect of the game. Whilst it is a singleplayer game and can be played offline; the game becomes significantly more populated when playing online, as the structures that others have built can appear in your world, helping you out when you might need it most.
Hideo Kojima is both the game director and sole writer of Death Stranding, the latter of which I was extremely excited for going into the game. Metal Gear Solid is one of my favourite video game series for its impactful writing, so I was excited to see what Kojima could cook up when fully in control.
The core theme of the game is “connection”, going through a broken continent to connect cities, distribution centres, and shelters into the “chiral network”, hoping to make a new America in the form of the United Cities of America (UCA). Every character you meet is extremely well written, with frequent twists and turns in what you learn about them, never leaving you bored in terms of story content.
That said, I definitely did have some issues with the pacing of the story, and not just because I am a glutton for side content in this game. Specifically from the end of Episode 8 onwards, the game accelerates in such a way that completely shifts the gameplay loop out of sync with what you were doing before.
Whilst it is still possible to do deliveries, and there are one or two required story deliveries still, the game shifts focus into action-mode, with greater dangers appearing as you head back east to the starting zone. These make it difficult to do “standard orders”, which are the bulk of the game’s side content, as the routes become fraught with danger and the Timefall is near constant.
Despite the pacing being an issue, I actually have no issues with the actual story content of the last act of the game. Almost all narrative threads have a payoff, even ones set up as far back as the game’s prologue will yield results, and those that do not are still satisfying enough that you are left wanting more in a good way. Even with the rapid pace of episodes in the endgame, there were still plenty of moments that left me shouting “WHAT?!” at my TV.
My playtime to go through the game landed me at just over 69 hours (nice). This included doing lots of side content between episodes but every minute of playtime was worth it for me – I recommend playing Death Stranding without hesitation. For people who enjoy great stories, and for those who just want a game to enter zen mode with, there is something for everyone.
I am not done talking about the game either, as there are several things I still want to write about it, but hopefully this short review gives enough information on the game to make you consider purchasing it.
Thank you for reading today, writing these Redundancy Reviews honestly keeps me going in a way that is extremely beneficial to my psyche, and with the small audience I am cultivating right now, I am very happy with the direction of my website.
Rosalia Rambles 