Robots, Dispatches, and D&D

Daily Ramble 156: Robots, Dispatches, and D&D

Today’s ramblings take me all over the place from the world of Neverwinter Online to the world of D&D and I even take a stop by Westworld to watch the next 15 minutes. We actually get to see behind the scenes a bit in todays installment of the show and we start to get a hint at the potential problems they may have in future episodes as one of the robots kinda glitches out.

In my trip along Six Degrees today I take a look at I Has PC where Isey talks about Dauntless, D&D, and Slay the Spire…all games I could see myself getting into.

Finally, I take another step in my journey through Neverwinter Online by leveling up to 11. These first 11 levels have gone pretty quickly and I wonder if the leveling pace will stay the same or get worse as I get higher and higher.

I Has PC

The Fifth Degree of my first Sic Degrees of 2018 takes me to I Has PC. Isey is the host there and once again I find that the blogs within six degrees of mine find enjoyment in many of the same games I do. One thing that Isey does differently though is they focus mostly on PC. Sure, I like a bunch of PC games myself but I don’t have issue with trying out stuff on my PS4 or XBone. For instance, Isey talks about Dauntless which looks like it’s kinda a Monster Hunter for the PC (at least until MHW comes to PC). From that is mentioned, it looks like something I’d be interested in once it jumps outta beta. But as Isey says, it’s still pretty rough in its current state…let’s let this one cook a bit more.

Another interesting thing Isey is into is D&D. Listening to podcasts and reading up on all the monsters and handbooks has always been something I’ve enjoyed. I even purchased who sets of versions I never played just because they were so fun to read. Isey seems to be in a similar space and I enjoy reading the posts covering these games.

Finally, Isey covers a game that actually looks pretty cool and like something I could get into – Slay the Spire. According to what Isey describes, it seems to be a rogue-like dungeon crawler with a deck building mechanic – pretty cool. I could definitely see this as being fun since I recall playing and spending hour upon hour with the original Rogue back in the day.

On the whole, I’m impressed with I Has PC and I’m glad I found it. It’ll be a nice addition to my blogroll as another successful spot in my Six Degrees.

This has been an installment of my Six Degrees 2018 series in which I take a look at the wonderful blogs that surround Beyond Tannhauser Gate. The blogosphere is large but there are so many friends to be found within Six Degrees.

Behind the Scenes – Westworld Episode 1, minutes 15–30

In this segment of the first episode, we start to see things going on behind the scenes in Westworld. We meet more of the key players in Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), the lead programmer and we get introduced to Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins)…the Boss. We also clearly see that the hosts are robots, along with the animals that populate the world, and we see that Teddy and Dolores have been reset in their narrative with no memories of the actions of the Man in Black from the first 15 minutes. Dolores even talks to the MIB as though she didn’t know him.

We learn that just recently a new patch has been rolled out on some of the hosts and that things may not be “normal” for those who were updated. In fact, Bernard is called in to take care of some unauthorized activity by a host but it just turns out that Ford wanted to have a conversation down in the bowels of the complex – 83 levels down. Apparently they have about 2000 hosts active in Westworld, but they also have a bunch down in “cold storage”. Ford was the architect of the new “reveries” where hosts are able to spontaneously generate gestures based on memories they carried over from previous iterations.

Back in town we again see the sheriff trying to enlist people to go on a hunt for an outlaw and a couple of the new guests take him up on the posse. Things seem to be going pretty well and they’re enjoying themselves until the find some of Hector’s dirty work and the sheriff glitches out. Something broke with his programming and he just kinda froze.

Back in the lab, Bernard is doing a full diagnostic on the sheriff but he’s not sure what the problem might be. The head administrator, Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babett Knudsen) wants to pull all the updated hosts but that’d screw up a couple dozen storylines which would really mess up the guests’ experience. Things could definitely go crazy if the update caused the problem but the decision is made to keep things “normal” until they know better what caused the problem. Fortunately, his core code is intact so he couldn’t hurt anyone even if he wanted to…the robot still follow the 3 laws of robotics…

Ding 11!

One thing I’ve had to finally take advantage of in game is the store. I’ve finally filled up all my inventory slots with stuff and I had to throw out – sell a ton of things I’ll never be able to use as a Oathbound Paladin. Between the class locked items and duplicate whites and greens, I was able to go from inventory full down to about 15 items. I’ll have to keep things pared down from now on since I don’t want to have to purchase new bags just yet. I’ve also gotta find a bank so I can drop off some of these dyes I’ve grabbed along the way…I’m not gonna be using them on this low level gear so I want to make sure they’re in a safe place. But I’m not ready to leave the Tower District yet – I want to get another level or two before I head back to Protector’s Enclave.

To that end, I ran through Pedlar’s Path trying to find information about some disturbing reports regarding the Many-Arrows Orcs. After a few small skirmishes with said orcs, I gathered up the dispatches and headed over to the Guard Post and Captain Janros. Fortunately I had set my self up for advancement and upon delivering the documents, I leveled up…Ding 11! So far, it’s been fairly straightforward and easy to level up and it doesn’t seem to take much time. I wonder if that’ll continue as I move higher and higer. In any case, I am gonna break as I examine the abilities I should advance and I’ll get back to the game soon.