Tag Archives: Assassins Creed

Silence is Golden

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Welcome back, we missed you. A little bit of an absence here and there but at least I’ve been productive. Just not here…

My last update, from what I can recall was in November, post Drawtober. Since then I’ve played a lot of games. I’ve drawn a lot of pictures. I’ve been writing…elsewhere – and I feel guilty about that. But enough of the delays. Let’s talk about the last (gulp) 5 months.

We’ll start with the games first:

Starfield.
We first things first. I beat Starfield. Clocking in at just over 90 hours, finishing in December (started in September). 740/1000 gamerscore. I didn’t do all the completionist type stuff like visiting all the planets or Star Systems. I didn’t reach the max level or anything like that.

Spoiler warning: I didn’t even play any further than stepping through the stargate and becoming a Starborne. There is apparently an expansion coming, and I’ll step back in then, but for now I can comfortably say I’m done.

I played and beat Crysis 1 Remastered, in one sitting. 10 hours, 820/1000 GS. I still have two and three of the trilogy to play as well.

Illestrader and I beat Redfall, finally. 18 hours. 617/1000GS. I’m really annoyed that this game had some uneven GS achievements, and I’ll either need to play with other people, or go through the story again to complete those, but I’m honestly not interested. The game was decent overall as a co-op shooter. I’m glad I played through it as it had some good ideas.

Illestrader and I also went through Outriders and the Worldslayer expansion. I had previously gone through this game, initially in co-op but then finished it alone. With the replay I was able to 100% the main game and play the expansion. Finished 1260/1305 after 56 hours. The last two achievements will require more hours of grinding and I’m not interested in that.

I started playing Baldur’s Gate 3 with the wife. We played about 8-10 hours which is not a lot. She complained that I was holding her back – not making decisions in combat fast enough, so we’re not playing that anymore. I might still go through it some time. But I have a lot of other games so chances are low.

Finished Star Wars Jedi Survivor, 48 hours, 885/1000 GS. The remaining 3 achievements are collectible types and completionist stuff. Great game overall. Very good looking and fun combat.

Currently working my way through Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and nearing the end. 92 hours, 70% done the main story and already wrapped up one expansion. I want to wrap this game up before I tackle Horizon Forbidden West, which released for the PC a few weeks ago.

Alongside AC Valhalla, I am also playing through Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PC. I recently purchased this as it was on sale. It is my first FF game I’ve ever played, and for the most part it’s been a lot of fun. Even resulted in a Tifa drawing or 3, for obvious reasons ;).

I jumped into Helldivers II for a bit when it released. And I play a random game here and there and continue to follow the news about it. Fun satire game with good mechanics. Even spawned a Stranger Than Friendship comic idea that I might work on.

Now that Redfall and Outriders are out of the way, the next co-op game Illestrader and I have moved to is the Saints Row reboot. So far it is nothing great. Ugly city, feels like there hasn’t been much modernization over the last versions. Which is a shame. But it could be fun in co-op so we’ll see.

Ok, on to drawings. Over the past few months I’ve put out quite a few, which I’ll share below.

Here’s the list:

  • Wonder woman
  • Huntress
  • Black Canary
  • Fallout Vault Girl
  • Psylocke
  • X-23
  • Captain Marvel
  • Jessica Rabbit
  • Poison Ivy
  • Harley Quinn
  • Inked Red Sonja
  • AndrAIa
  • Inked Hawkgirl
  • Rose Wilson
  • Birds of Prey
  • Widowmaker (incomplete)
  • Lara Croft (incomplete)
  • Red Sonja
  • Tifa
  • Red Sonja again…
  • Spider-Gwen
  • Nightcrawler

Lastly, in January, I started writing about comics more, in a different format. I looked at my shelf and it dawned on me that I had accumulated over 200 graphic novels that I had yet to read (did a full count and I have 650 graphic novels / hardcover collections in total, and currently counting my single issue books which is 1500+). So I gave myself a homework project to read 1 every week. 52 a year, to help work down those numbers, because it’s not like I’m going to stop buying new ones. So since the first week in January, posting a new “review” every week, over on Substack. It’s been a rewarding venture thus far, and I can show proof that I am indeed reducing the amount of unread books.

https://andrewrogan.substack.com

Alright, that’s all for now.
Rogan
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Pre-Draw-Tober

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In my last post I discussed Drawtober as I had started some preparation. I’ve curated a list of 60+ characters that I want to draw for the first time (although some are ones I’ve drawn before). I made it through 6 of those, some of which I shared last week. Then I saw a Drawtober list for X-Men super-villains. I figured that might be fun, so I switched to prepping those instead. Made it through 4. So by my count I have 10 prepared already. I’ve also been thinking about my wrestling comic a lot… about re-attempting it. It’s been 3 years since I started it, and I’ve learned a lot in that time, and I’m a good place to pick it up again.

So Drawtober will be a last hurrah of sorts, for single character drawings. Get it out of my system so that I can attack the comic again with new energy. A new challenge.

So last week I shared work-in-progress versions of Dove, Zatanna, Fire & Ice, and Spiral. Today we have Mystique, Magneto, Mr Sinister, and Deadpool.

I don’t really know what my overall plan will be. I have 10 drawings prepped for the month, and I definitely want to practice my colour. So I might just spread these out: sketch, ink, colour, or just see what I have the capacity to do.

Unrelated to Drawtober I drew Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. This was in response to the announcement that the TR original games were getting a remaster collection next year. Maybe I’ll clean this one up a big, and ink and colour it too (or maybe just colour the pencil).

More Starfield photography? Sure. But you asked for it (I should probably create a sub-section for these):

{“Source” : “GeForce SHARE”, “B64” : “eyJEUlNBcHBOYW1lIiA6ICJiZXRoZXNkYXNvZnR3b3Jrcy5wcm9qZWN0Z29sZF8zMjc1a2Z2bjh2Y3djIiwgIkRSU1Byb2ZpbGVOYW1lIiA6ICJTdGFyZmllbGQiLCAiU2hvcnROYW1lIiA6ICJzdGFyZmllbGQiLCAiQ21zSWQiIDogMTAyMzI4MTExfQ==”}
{“Source” : “GeForce SHARE”, “B64” : “eyJEUlNBcHBOYW1lIiA6ICJiZXRoZXNkYXNvZnR3b3Jrcy5wcm9qZWN0Z29sZF8zMjc1a2Z2bjh2Y3djIiwgIkRSU1Byb2ZpbGVOYW1lIiA6ICJTdGFyZmllbGQiLCAiU2hvcnROYW1lIiA6ICJzdGFyZmllbGQiLCAiQ21zSWQiIDogMTAyMzI4MTExfQ==”}

Other game news, I bought The Crew Motorfest since I had wrapped up NFS, and per-ordered the new Assassin’s Creed Mirage game. Although I should probably put more time into Valhalla before attempting Mirage. But Starfield has been my main focus. And The Remnant on co-op nights.

More comics?:

Week of Sept 6th:

Week of Sept 13:

Week of Sept 20th:

Phew, busy update. I shall have another one probably next week as I kick off Drawtober, with some updated drawings and more Starfield photos.

See you then.

iRogan
G383,465

Why are you like this?

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Hello. Why do I lose track of time?

Colour Wheel Challenge
Where in Valhalla am I?
Readings
Screens For Days

//

So my last update was back in May. I shared Cortana and a Star Wars character, Darth Talon, and a WIP of Red Sonja. I was hoping I’d have more, but I sort of got hung up on the Red Sonja drawing. It wasn’t looking right, something was off. So I took a break. A few weeks went by without motivation so instead of trying to pick it up again or starting it a-new, I moved onto something completely new. DC’s Flatline:

A fun, fairly quick drawing from June to hopefully spark something. I still intend to go back to the Red Sonja either to pick up where I left off to see if I can force it, or just start over fresh.

Following Flatline, I saw a new Twitter challenge focused on a colour wheel. 8 colours, and to draw a character for each colour that represents their overall colour scheme.

I’m halfway through the initial stages of getting the characters in, not coloured or inked yet. My theme is female or gender-bent DC Batman villains, and so far I have Scarecrow, Firefly, The Riddler, and Killer Frost. It is an interesting challenge to try and get the characters fitting into each pie piece. Hopefully next update should have all 8 characters, and hopefully started on ink and colour.

I think for the remaining 4, I have Catwoman, Talia al Ghul, Two-Face, and Deadshot.

//

In the game zone, ILLESTRADER and I finally wrapped Gotham Knights, and we’ve started Wolfenstein Youngblood to mix it up a bit, and playing NFS Underworld online.

I actually started playing a bit more NFS and starting to get a hang of the NFS arcade style again, and I like the art style they’ve added. Cell shaded animated characters and special car effects, but hyper realistic cars. Kind of a neat merger of styles.

Tried out Biomutant but I don’t think I’ll see it through, and I think that goes with The Witcher III… It’s just not really grabbing me. And so instead, I’ve started on Assassins Creed Valhalla. The Assassin series are really what I like in an RPG and they’ve never really disappointed, so I am much happier spending my precious gaming hours in this Viking world. After that though, I may return to one of the prior games. But there’s new ones too. Like Star Wars Survivor on my shortlist.

I also wrapped up a smaller title in Planet of Lana, from Gamepass. I find these artsy side-scroller puzzle/platform games to be really enjoyable as they are shorter, pretty, and just focus on platforming puzzles, so not a lot of deep mechanics or details to worry about.

In other gaming updates, I finished another episode of our Halo Infinite Co-Op Misadventures:

//

Just finished reading SITHRA Vol 1-6, by Jason Brubaker, which I feel like I’ve been sitting on for ages. He’s a great illustrator/cartoonist and I will always follow his work.

Also picked up the manga Wolverine: SNIKT! by Tsutomu Nihei. Speaking of Wolverine, they (Marvel) recently announced they he’ll be taking on the Ghost Rider mantle for a stint, going by Hellverine, which is awesome in my opinion, and gives me some drawing inspiration. Kind of like the Gweniverse idea, but Ghost Rider universe. And another recent pickup: Deluxe Edition of CODA. By Simon Spurrier/Matias Bergara after seeing it recently advertised.

Comics Recently Wrapped:
Junkyard Joe
Ordinary Gods
Batgirls
Vanish

//

On the big TV and small, still watching The Witcher as season 3 debuts. Also watching Severance on Apple TV+. Watched Extraction 1 (again) and Extract 2.

Biggest screen over the last month I’ve watched Fast X, Across the Spiderverse, The Flash, Transformer, and Indian Jones.

I think that catches us up from mid-May to early July. I intend to continue with my colour wheel, so I should have another update on that soon. Also a Hellverine, as that sounds good.

Boom.
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iRogan

Happy Wrestling Day

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Holidays, full swing. Hopefully yours have been pleasant. Happy Holidays to all. This year, like last year, we are in the middle of COVID restrictions. So we didn’t spend time with family save for a presents and gifts swap from the front door. Maybe things will settle down again in the New Year.

//

What I’m Playing

Halo Infinite has been the game of choice, Multiplayer, not Campaign, which is very un-like me. But for some reason this multiplayer experience has been fun, and I’m going to ride that wave while it lasts. I bought the Battle Pass, and the Cat Ears and everything:

I also bought my son Hot Wheels Unleased for Christmas, so we’ve been playing a bit of that. I tried The Gunk briefly tonight. Which is a enjoyable platformer/puzzle game where you start by investigating a dying planet and find a gunk-like substance that is consuming the planet’s energy. You have a grapple/gun-type arm that sucks it up and slowly start healing the planet. Its free on Game Pass. Dirt 5, ripped through another DLC, only one more to go.

//

True to my word, I’ve put down the digital pen, and taken a break from drawing. I have a few ideas queued for the New Year. My will may break this week as I have a few days off work, but I might use those to just catch up on sleep, and comics.

//

What I’m Reading

  • Batman/Catwoman #9
  • Catwoman Lonely City #2
  • Gunslinger Spawn #3
  • Radiant Black #11
  • A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #3
  • Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #6
  • Batgirls #1
  • Nightwing #87
  • Nightwing Leaping into the Light HC Vol.1
  • SPAWN Compendium 2

I hate to say it but I’ve been really disappointed with Batman/Cawoman ever since Liam Sharp took over. I don’t know why he took over from Clay Mann, whether it was some behind-the-scene thing, or deadlines or if he had other obligations but I’m just not a fan of the art since the switch which has really turned me off the book sadly. And I am a huge Tom King fan. I’ll push through to the end, but begrudgingly.

Nightwing is not my typical book, but I’ve head a lot of good things from this run with Tom Taylor, and #87 in particular is one long no-frames un-cut sequence which is pretty cool to pull off within a comic book.

//

2021 Reviews Done Quickly

I’m just going to add the list here for now, and then by the end of the week, write up the full post. These are the games I completed or consider done with, in 2021. Some of which may not have been released in 2021, likely earlier. And when I say complete, I mean either I 100%’d it, finished the main campaign story if it is open-ended or has end-game content, or I consider it done enough that I won’t be revisiting it. Also the order below is roughly Jan through Dec, for when I completed the game, and not necessarily when I started the game. You’ll get the idea as you read the list.

I usually start with the main game from the previous year that I wrapped up the year with, and that was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and the finish with my in-progress, not-ready-for-review games.

  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • Little Nightmares
  • Donut County
  • The Touryst
  • Fortified
  • Generation Zero
  • Just Cause 4
  • Zombie Army 4: Dead War
  • Rain on Your Parade
  • Marvel’s Avengers
  • NieR:Automata
  • Super Lucky’s Tale
  • OUTRIDERS
  • Boomerang-Fu
  • Twelve Minutes
  • Surgeon Simulator 2
  • Aliens: Fireteam Elite
  • Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
  • Morkredd
  • Dirt 5

    in Progress
  • Watch Dog’s Legion
  • Grand Theft Auto III
  • Borderlands III

Good riddance 2021! On to Twenty-Twenty Too!

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iRogan

Shadow of the Surgeon Simulator Too

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After wrapping up Outriders, I was stuck with what to jump to next. I always try to have a few different games on the go. Usually a racing title that I plod through, a co-op game or three that I play with Illestrader, and then a lengthy single player story game, for me.

Outriders kinda filled two of those holes, but I found myself playing that game mostly single player as it was hard to find time to coordinate co-op sessions and I really wanted to see that game through to its conclusion.

In the racing game category I’ve playing Dirt 5, checking off the DLC races while I patiently wait for Forza Horizons 5.

Co-op, I’ve been playing The Ascent, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Zombie Army 4, and recently tried Surgeon Simulator 2, as a new Game-Pass addition. Played through the tutorial and first level, and I’ll tell you… that game is not easy to grasp the controls. But it was a riot.

I’ll probably write up a separate piece on Aliens Fireteam Elite, as I have a few things to saw, but I want to progress further in the game.

Helloooo!

Moving on to single-player choices, as I have a few in the queue to say the least: Assassins Creed Valhalla, DOOM Eternal, Immortals Fenix Rising, and Watch Dogs Legion. Tip of the iceberg.

But the choice I ended up landing on was Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. 2017 sequel to Shadow of Mordor. And I really can’t explain what directed that pick. I can really only guess that it was because it was still installed on my HDD after all these years. I’ve always wanted to play it as I really enjoyed the first one. But there were so many distractions along the way. At the end. of the day I really just wanted a game where I could swing a sword and kill lots of enemies. Like just surrounded by them, hacking and parrying. AC Valhalla easily offers that but I just re-emerged from the AC depths with Odyssey not that long ago, well over 100 hours invested, and I honestly need a break.

Mordor: The Road

ME: SoW still looks good and plays well. I find the main character to be a little slower than before but that could be my memory. Slow walker that is, purposeful, methodical. But I just run everywhere and use the boost.

An interesting choice they made was to turn Shelob the Spider into a sexy human female for most of her appearances. Interesting choice. Not a complaint.

The Nemesis system is still a lot of fun as well, so I’m glad that made a return. I am still early on in the game, with lots left to discover, so I’ll check back in later with the results.

-iRogan