Speaking of PoE 2, if you have issues with it crashing and hard locking your PC (especially on the latest Windows 11 version, 24H2) you might want to tweak the affinity of the PoE process. To do this, go to the “Details” tab of the Task Manager (which you can call up by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete) and search for the game’s process — in my case that is PathOfExileSteam.exe. Right click on it and choose “Set affinity”, then remove a processor core or two so that the process doesn’t use all of your CPU’s cores.

That way, only the game will lock up instead of the whole machine with you needing to reboot. This only happens when loading maps, so you won’t lose any game progress and you can simply restart the game again (not forgetting to tweak the affinity every time). I also set my renderer to Vulkan, but I don’t know if that is needed to make this work.

After almost exactly 4 days playtime in the game, and 208 deaths, I have just finished the Early Access portion of Path of Exile 2. That is, I finished acts one to three of the game, killed every boss and fully explored all maps — with a Solo Self Fund character. You can redo those acts at a higher difficulty and then enter the endgame mode, but I am not sure I want to do that right now. I’d rather start a new character in a new class and replay the content I have already explored.

In any case: What a great game! I’ve been loving every minute of this so far.

But let’s stop talking about bad games — and I think The Veilguard has definitely been established as such by now — and start looking at good ones. My recent favourite is Path of Exile 2, which is in Early Access now and already a masterpiece. Even in its current state it beats Diablo IV hands down and is probably my favourite game since Elden Ring already. It actually takes a lot of cues from that game, including an invincibility dodge roll (an ARPG innovation, as far as I know) and the fact that it is a very hard game. Much harder than its predecessor. I’ve been playing it a lot recently and it’s been massive fun. I really hope they keep going in the direction they set out in the Early Access version. It’s a late entry, but it’s my game of the year for 2024, even in its unfinished state.

Bioware discounting The Veilguard after about 2 1/2 months is a clear admission that the launch of this game was a disaster. Especially since 35% is a very significant discount. Baldur’s Gate 3, a game that’s over a year older (and a success, compared to The Veilguard), has never been discounted that much. The gaming press is now starting to catch on to this game being a flop. Even EA people are now kinda admitting as much. Of course, the most fatuous do-gooders are still clinging to their lost cause, but I think it’s time to admit that most of the audience is tired of this woke bullshit and all the condescending messaging and just wants a good game instead.

I streamed some games for the first time in a long while on Friday. First some Elden Ring with a new character:

And then I tried out Delta Force together with Halefa and Jonathan:

Bioware fucked up so bad with their too overt woke shit…

I’m 913 deaths into my Elden Ring playthrough and I’ve just killed Consort Radahn and thus finished the game’s DLC. Next up: finishing the base game.

I know that people have already mostly forgotten about Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This long awaited blockbuster sequel turned out to be so bad, most players dropped it like a hot potato. And after endlessly fawning over it for about two weeks, even the gaming press is losing interest. We are now even seeing the first stories that the launch might have not been stellar and that Veilguard might never be able to catch up to Inquisition’s sales numbers at this rate.

Still, I think it is important to, once more, point out just how bad the game’s launch was. The Steam player numbers continue to speak volumes. This is a prime example of go woke, go broke if I’ve ever seen one:

This is a screenshot from a recent promotional video for Kingdom Come Deliverance II. Apparently, the game will have a tavern called “The Hole” and that is its pub sign.

I loved the first game and the developers really endeared themselves to me by standing up to the utter unscientific woke bullshit that got thrown at them, so I really can’t wait for the second game. Long live the ass trumpet! Toot, toot!