Critical Role Cooldown
Campaign 4, Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on Beacon.]
Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Video Games
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Started today's session finding out the next point I needed to hit on my current 'main' quest, so headed straight there. 2¼ hours later, I finally reached that destination and decided it was a good point to put the game down for the day. As ever: so many distractions! But they're a bit part of the fun. I've just crossed the 40-hour mark, meaning it's 10 hours — a quater of my playtime — since I started this specific quest, but it doesn't feel like that at all. Great game.
Started today's session finding out the next point I needed to hit on my current 'main' quest, so headed straight there. 2¼ hours later, I finally reached that destination and decided it was a good point to put the game down for the day. As ever: so many distractions! But they're a bit part of the fun. I've just crossed the 40-hour mark, meaning it's 10 hours — a quater of my playtime — since I started this specific quest, but it doesn't feel like that at all. Great game.
Tuesday, 18 November 2025
Comics
2000 AD
Prog 2450
As I mentioned, a whole new slate of strips start this issue; and it's a bumper-length one, so there are six!
...except one's a text story, which is fine, but, I dunno, I never really feel these 'are' 2000 AD. And one's the first half of a story that concludes in the Megazine, which I don't buy, so I'm not going to read that. And one of them is a new series of Void Runners, which I seem to remember thinking was pretty shit last time (whether I stuck with it or it's one of those rarities that I abandoned partway, I can't remember). So that's... underwhelming.
Prog 2450
As I mentioned, a whole new slate of strips start this issue; and it's a bumper-length one, so there are six!
...except one's a text story, which is fine, but, I dunno, I never really feel these 'are' 2000 AD. And one's the first half of a story that concludes in the Megazine, which I don't buy, so I'm not going to read that. And one of them is a new series of Void Runners, which I seem to remember thinking was pretty shit last time (whether I stuck with it or it's one of those rarities that I abandoned partway, I can't remember). So that's... underwhelming.
Monday, 17 November 2025
TV
Critical Role
4x05 Branching Paths [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) for free on YouTube, or for subscribers on Beacon or Twitch.]
4x05 Branching Paths [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) for free on YouTube, or for subscribers on Beacon or Twitch.]
Tabletop Games
Daggerheart: Dragon Heist in the City of Splendors
Heading into Week 6.
Last week I mentioned I was considering signing up for a second game. I now have. It hasn't properly started yet (there's a full complement of players, but we're creating characters still), but I guess I'll start mentioning that once per week too.
Heading into Week 6.
Last week I mentioned I was considering signing up for a second game. I now have. It hasn't properly started yet (there's a full complement of players, but we're creating characters still), but I guess I'll start mentioning that once per week too.
Sunday, 16 November 2025
Video Games
Dispatch
Episode 1 Pivot
Yep, I finally started it! And it's really good... as a TV show. It's funny, it's emotional, it's exciting; the characters are likeable, the performances are great; it's all really well made — it feels like watching a 'proper' animation, not a video game approximation of one. But as a game...
Well, being able to choose dialogue options is fun, though I don't think they have any meaningful impact. This is no Bandersnatch, where I actually felt like my choices were changing things. Here, it's just some divergent dialogue before things slot back on their preordained path. I get why that is (it seems nightmarish enough having to create all the different eventualities for a finite film, something designed to run about two hours, so imagine having to do it for an eight-episode TV series), but consequently there's an element of "why?" about it. Even if it affected dialogue later on, that would be something, but (based on replaying some parts) I think once you get past the initial variant, it just clicks back to the same path.
Even worse are the QTEs — I see now why there's an option to just have them be 'cinematic' (i.e. no interaction), because I don't think whether I managed to hit a button in time or not actually changed a single thing. Why rush to participate if the fight's going to play out the same way anyway? Eventually there's some actual gameplay in the dispatching minigame... though, again, I'm not sure if your performance actually changes anything (maybe in future episodes? Though I have heard complaints that what you do doesn't affect the story, so...) Also, to be honest, that dispatching is not my kind of game. I muddled through it, and I did ok, but if Dispatch was 100% that, I'm not sure I'd choose to play it.
I'll definitely be continuing though, because — like I said — this is a really good slightly-interactive TV show... even if, on the evidence of the first episode, it wouldn't have lost much by being just a TV show.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
When I started up Skyrim today, I had a specific plan: head straight out of the city to investigate the missing 24 hours. On the way, stuff happened... and then more stuff... and then other distractions... Two hours of playtime later, I still hadn't left the city, but I had completed a couple of minor quests, had several instances of combat, and was midway through various other storylines. Whoopsie!
But I set those storylines aside for the time being (partly because I became aware that finishing one would lead to a whole other one that I'd have to play immediately) and set off out of the city for the next location in the aforementioned investigation... and, of course, immediately encounted more stuff. Another 2¼ hours later, I put the game down again, this time outside a dungeon I'll tackle next time — but I'm still not close to the next stop in my search! Maybe I will get there next time I play. Maybe there'll be more distractions.
In short: damn, there's a lot of content in this game! I am going to have to seriously think about consciously making time to play other stuff alongside it, otherwise it'll be nothing but Skyrim, Skyrim, Skyrim for... months? Years? The rest of my life?
Episode 1 Pivot
Yep, I finally started it! And it's really good... as a TV show. It's funny, it's emotional, it's exciting; the characters are likeable, the performances are great; it's all really well made — it feels like watching a 'proper' animation, not a video game approximation of one. But as a game...
Well, being able to choose dialogue options is fun, though I don't think they have any meaningful impact. This is no Bandersnatch, where I actually felt like my choices were changing things. Here, it's just some divergent dialogue before things slot back on their preordained path. I get why that is (it seems nightmarish enough having to create all the different eventualities for a finite film, something designed to run about two hours, so imagine having to do it for an eight-episode TV series), but consequently there's an element of "why?" about it. Even if it affected dialogue later on, that would be something, but (based on replaying some parts) I think once you get past the initial variant, it just clicks back to the same path.
Even worse are the QTEs — I see now why there's an option to just have them be 'cinematic' (i.e. no interaction), because I don't think whether I managed to hit a button in time or not actually changed a single thing. Why rush to participate if the fight's going to play out the same way anyway? Eventually there's some actual gameplay in the dispatching minigame... though, again, I'm not sure if your performance actually changes anything (maybe in future episodes? Though I have heard complaints that what you do doesn't affect the story, so...) Also, to be honest, that dispatching is not my kind of game. I muddled through it, and I did ok, but if Dispatch was 100% that, I'm not sure I'd choose to play it.
I'll definitely be continuing though, because — like I said — this is a really good slightly-interactive TV show... even if, on the evidence of the first episode, it wouldn't have lost much by being just a TV show.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
When I started up Skyrim today, I had a specific plan: head straight out of the city to investigate the missing 24 hours. On the way, stuff happened... and then more stuff... and then other distractions... Two hours of playtime later, I still hadn't left the city, but I had completed a couple of minor quests, had several instances of combat, and was midway through various other storylines. Whoopsie!
But I set those storylines aside for the time being (partly because I became aware that finishing one would lead to a whole other one that I'd have to play immediately) and set off out of the city for the next location in the aforementioned investigation... and, of course, immediately encounted more stuff. Another 2¼ hours later, I put the game down again, this time outside a dungeon I'll tackle next time — but I'm still not close to the next stop in my search! Maybe I will get there next time I play. Maybe there'll be more distractions.
In short: damn, there's a lot of content in this game! I am going to have to seriously think about consciously making time to play other stuff alongside it, otherwise it'll be nothing but Skyrim, Skyrim, Skyrim for... months? Years? The rest of my life?
Saturday, 15 November 2025
Films
Street Law (1974)
[#91 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
I was considering watching How to Train Your Dragon 2 this evening (as I’ve been intending to since May), but after playing four hours of Skyrim and reading a Fafhrd-focused Lankhmar story, I decided it was probably a good idea to get some variety from viking-themed fantasy.
[#91 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
I was considering watching How to Train Your Dragon 2 this evening (as I’ve been intending to since May), but after playing four hours of Skyrim and reading a Fafhrd-focused Lankhmar story, I decided it was probably a good idea to get some variety from viking-themed fantasy.
Video Games
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Inevitably.
I sat down this afternoon intending to finally start Dispatch. If you don't know, it's structured like a TV series with eight episodes, so my plan is to treat it like one: play a whole episode, then either do the whole next one or aim to spread them out, paced like how I watch TV TV. But instead of finally diving into episode one, I 'accidentally' loaded Skyrim instead. Oopsie.
Today was good, though. I've spent my 30 hours so far all in the same locale: the first town and city the game leads you to, and their surrounding environs. I keep meaning to venture out (there's a lot more world to see) but get distracted by local quests (or other business like looting, crafting, potion making...) Well, today I got into a drinking contest in the tavern... and woke up a whole 24 hours later in an unfamiliar temple, which turned out to be in a city on the other side of the continent. That's one way to do it!
In terms of how the game is programmed, this is a quest that can trigger in any tavern anywhere after you reach a certain level — I could have explored every single place on the map before starting it. But I think the way it's happened for me is the best, frankly. Walking out of the temple into, not only an unfamiliar city, but one that looks completely different to anywhere else I've seen so far, was a fantastic experience. It made what has happened narratively hit home in a way I don't think it would have if this were somewhere familiar — it feels like I've been on a black-out-drunk adventure and have no idea how I got here or why, rather than just "oh, I'm in this place again". And now I have to not only work out what happened, but also make my way 'home' across half the world that I've not seen before.
Yep, I'm certainly not stopping sinking time into Skyrim now!
Inevitably.
I sat down this afternoon intending to finally start Dispatch. If you don't know, it's structured like a TV series with eight episodes, so my plan is to treat it like one: play a whole episode, then either do the whole next one or aim to spread them out, paced like how I watch TV TV. But instead of finally diving into episode one, I 'accidentally' loaded Skyrim instead. Oopsie.
Today was good, though. I've spent my 30 hours so far all in the same locale: the first town and city the game leads you to, and their surrounding environs. I keep meaning to venture out (there's a lot more world to see) but get distracted by local quests (or other business like looting, crafting, potion making...) Well, today I got into a drinking contest in the tavern... and woke up a whole 24 hours later in an unfamiliar temple, which turned out to be in a city on the other side of the continent. That's one way to do it!
In terms of how the game is programmed, this is a quest that can trigger in any tavern anywhere after you reach a certain level — I could have explored every single place on the map before starting it. But I think the way it's happened for me is the best, frankly. Walking out of the temple into, not only an unfamiliar city, but one that looks completely different to anywhere else I've seen so far, was a fantastic experience. It made what has happened narratively hit home in a way I don't think it would have if this were somewhere familiar — it feels like I've been on a black-out-drunk adventure and have no idea how I got here or why, rather than just "oh, I'm in this place again". And now I have to not only work out what happened, but also make my way 'home' across half the world that I've not seen before.
Yep, I'm certainly not stopping sinking time into Skyrim now!
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
This week, a bunch more pickups from recent offers (a couple of Criterions from the ongoing UK sale, for example), and a couple of new releases — including a DVD-to-BD upgrade, continuing to gradually chip away at that old format's tally. I certainly don't think it will ever get to 0 (not even close), but... well, it is what it is.
Number of titles in collection: 3,634 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 980 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,654 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 480 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 8,731 [up 9]
Number of films: 4,641 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 473 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,188 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,278 [up 7]
See you next week, faithful reader.
This week, a bunch more pickups from recent offers (a couple of Criterions from the ongoing UK sale, for example), and a couple of new releases — including a DVD-to-BD upgrade, continuing to gradually chip away at that old format's tally. I certainly don't think it will ever get to 0 (not even close), but... well, it is what it is.
Number of titles in collection: 3,634 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 980 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,654 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 480 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 8,731 [up 9]
Number of films: 4,641 [up 8]
Number of additional cuts: 473 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,188 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,278 [up 7]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 14 November 2025
TV
The Mighty Nein
1x01 Mote of Possibility
Surprise! Episode 1 is streaming free on YouTube this weekend only, ahead of episodes 1–3 releasing on Prime Video (as originally announced) from Wednesday 19th. And it's really good! Phew.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
1x01 Mote of Possibility
Surprise! Episode 1 is streaming free on YouTube this weekend only, ahead of episodes 1–3 releasing on Prime Video (as originally announced) from Wednesday 19th. And it's really good! Phew.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
Video Games
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Over two hours today, but almost all of it admin — collecting stuff, selling stuff, going back to collect more stuff, selling more stuff...
It's my own fault — the game isn't making me do that — but it feels wasteful to leave all that coin-generating loot behind when I could get, y'know, the coin. But it also means I'm spending way too much time on, as I say, admin. Need to break the habit, I think — advance some storylines; fight through some more dungeons. Of course, that will just generate more loot...
Over two hours today, but almost all of it admin — collecting stuff, selling stuff, going back to collect more stuff, selling more stuff...
It's my own fault — the game isn't making me do that — but it feels wasteful to leave all that coin-generating loot behind when I could get, y'know, the coin. But it also means I'm spending way too much time on, as I say, admin. Need to break the habit, I think — advance some storylines; fight through some more dungeons. Of course, that will just generate more loot...
Thursday, 13 November 2025
TV
Critical Role
4x05 Branching Paths [1st half]
Probably would've watched this by now if it wasn't for Skyrim. New episode's out tonight, which made me realise I really did need to crack on lest I fall too far behind.
[Watch it (again) for free on YouTube, or for subscribers on Beacon or Twitch.]
4x05 Branching Paths [1st half]
Probably would've watched this by now if it wasn't for Skyrim. New episode's out tonight, which made me realise I really did need to crack on lest I fall too far behind.
[Watch it (again) for free on YouTube, or for subscribers on Beacon or Twitch.]
Video Games
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Of course.
Today is my seventh day playing — i.e. a whole week — and I've clocked up over 24½ hours in-game (not to mention even more hours reading up on tactics, etc). That's... a lot. It's an average of 3½ hours a day, every day. I rarely manage "every day" with films, and most films are shorter than that, and I'm supposed to be a "film guy". And, for even more perspective, most of the other games I've played in the past couple of decades would've been completed three or four times over in that time (or I'd've played three or four of them).
Maybe I'll slow down now. Or maybe I won't. There are other things I should also be playing, though! In particular, the Dispatch finale came out yesterday, so the whole game is waiting for me now. I should probably get to that before I see any spoilers, which are more likely considering it's been incredibly popular.
Of course.
Today is my seventh day playing — i.e. a whole week — and I've clocked up over 24½ hours in-game (not to mention even more hours reading up on tactics, etc). That's... a lot. It's an average of 3½ hours a day, every day. I rarely manage "every day" with films, and most films are shorter than that, and I'm supposed to be a "film guy". And, for even more perspective, most of the other games I've played in the past couple of decades would've been completed three or four times over in that time (or I'd've played three or four of them).
Maybe I'll slow down now. Or maybe I won't. There are other things I should also be playing, though! In particular, the Dispatch finale came out yesterday, so the whole game is waiting for me now. I should probably get to that before I see any spoilers, which are more likely considering it's been incredibly popular.
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