The Galway Hermit
Place for me to talk about games & food, mostly for my own amusement. Please enjoy!
01 July 2025
July 2025 - Outer Worlds 100% completion (3 more playthroughs)
15 June 2025
June 2025 A Link to the Past (second time in 20~ years)
There was a lot of this. |
I had played this through at least once before on the Game Boy Advance back in the mid 2000's. It was a great experience and a game I wanted to play again sometime. Around 20 years later I finally sat down and played it again, this time on an emulator with an Xbox controller. Big change from a GBA.
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The Dark World. The music slaps |
I cleared it on the 14th of June 2025. It took about 2 sessions to finish - the first one on the 2nd of June I started it and got all the way to the Master Sword/Dark World, the second one I cleared all the Temples and beat the game.
Definitely an emulator. Save states are so handy |
Not much to say, I've been enjoying playing emulators here and there over the last few months.
Bombos is very handy. |
I started following a guide at various points, all of them show how to cut corners and skip optional stuff like maps and compasses in dungeons so I was all over that. I usually skip them on replays of Ocarina of Time now for example.
This fucking secret. Anything for a few fairies. |
There was also extensive tips on how to find all the heart containers and such but you get like 10 full ones from playing the game normally so I just picked up whatever I could as I went along and had 17 by the end.
Yes! |
Still a great game I'd recommend to anyone. Was a bit fiddly with an Xbox stick for movement but I eventually got better at it, just in time to beat Ganon et al.
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I went back to playing Outer Worlds [1] again after this. I cleared it recently on Hard by using a speedrun, will now try to finish it on Supernova. Then, go back and do it on Normal and play the DLC. Lack of saves is a bit scary, not as bad as Survival Fallout 4 but awkward for sure. Also, am trying to keep companions alive for experience kills so have to reload if they die. Ugh.
After that will probably give DayZ a run during the summer at some point and maybe play some new games, the backlog is shorter but needs to be cleared.
01 May 2025
May 2025 T.I.M.E Stories 1,2,3 again again again
I want to play all 9 of the original TIME Stories scenarios so I am making it happen. I have played 6 of them multiple times with different people and solo so I will try and clear them again with my good group of friends here then move onto the final 3 for the first time.
The Asylum:
I was the cannibal girl once again, the best all-rounder IMO. I think Royce was the nymphomaniac, Billy the old lady and Dave had anxious girl.
Billy's character has 1 hp so she was KO'd at one point; we did the dead end route at one point (still being brought up to this day). I think it took two runs but the lads were very good; they solved the riddle themselves IIRC.
Asylum is cool because the characters suck and there's a creepiness to the whole art and writing.
The Marcy Case:
I was the grizzled veteran for the first time.
Royce was the reporter girl IIRC, Billy the FBI agent and Dave the bodyguard. In comparison to Asylum, all these characters are absolute units.
This took two runs which is not surprising; I think we had everything we needed from the first run to breeze through the second run. The finale we didn't have some of the items to make it easier but had plenty of time. For the second time, lots of noise was made with firearms. In the first few plays of this scenario I did years back, the wisdom was to not use the guns at all - this has changed!
I used to think it was the outright best, but it might be slipping behind EE and Asylum.
The Prophecy of Dragons:
I played the Thief so we could have the option to steal stuff. I always take them if no one else does, so handy to have.
Royce was the Paladin (best character IMO) Billy was the Elven Ranger (also very good) and Dave was the Cleric (I'm still iffy on the mages in this scenario).
We found the 3 McGuffins easily enough and did the Fighter route to the midway point; we almost did the Mage route but I vetoed it as we would completely rely on poor Dave to make every roll.
We managed to clear it in one run, we got to the midway point and got our TU refreshed and then cleared the second half in a second session a few weeks later. We didn't use any tokens/beacons yet but did in Expedition Endurance later.
PoD is the weakest scenario - the multiple routes (4?) to the same midway point make it unfocused. There is no mystery, no plot, no named characters to keep track of throughout the scenario only at the very end.
Points per scenario and token taken:
# | scenario | points/token pick |
1 | Asylum | 31/green blue |
2 | Marcy | 42/green blue |
3 | Prophecy | 64/pink |
Next up:
Expedition Endurance we cleared at the end of May 2025 but soon we will play Under the Mask and eventually Lumen Fidei, bringing us up to 6/6 of the ones I've played; after that I will post an update here on those and then get to crack open Brotherhood, Estrella and Madame for the first time.
03 April 2025
22 March 2025
March 2025 assorted WIBPL
I'm back working and whatnot so am too tired to do much else. But managed to get some classic gaming done via assorted means.
Duckstation: Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role
This was done in February 2025 prior to me knowing how to map the controls onto a controller, so I played this again with a keyboard. The first thing I did was create the Blacksmith and friends and then started the Season Mode.
I managed to clear the first year of the Season Mode. It was super weird. I was buried in various feuds with the likes of Val Venis, D-Von Dudley and xxx. I never feuded with any top talent at all until I deliberately won the World Title in Single Mode by beating the Rock in a TLC match. Then suddenly I was defending against the Undertaker over and over (losing once in the process) and despite winning the Royal Rumble I did not headline Wrestlemania 2000 or even defend my title. I wasn't even on the card!
It was a grand old time, nice to play the Season mode again. I had done like 4 years before in maybe... 2006? 2007? Idk. Apparently if you complete 5 years of the Season mode it unlocks everything. I don't know if I'll ever bother doing that, even though I can simply hold down Tab and 1000x speed through endless pointless cutscenes.
Duckstation: GTA 1
I had a hankering to play classic GTA 1 over the last few months so finally got around to it. I figured out how to map the controls of a classic PSX to the Xbox One/PC Controller I have here so was able to play GTA 1 again on my gigantic curved monitor. I cleared it for the first time a few years back but on the PSX; I could dig up the old console but eh, this is easier.
Not much to say except everything was fine until the 6th and final mission when it became glitch tastic. Like, I saw no issues until that point. Whatever. So I managed to clear the first 5 missions relatively easily despite all the driving and the final one is just a load of killing missions.
Holdfast segue
I briefly segued into Holdfast and played it a few times; always good fun, kind of mad seeing the same people playing it. Shoutout to Berry, have fought with them on either side at various points now and I am assuming that's a Sharpe reference.
Initially I was just farting around being a pure musician but then decided to try some trophies. They changed the achievements (sort of) but I managed to get 2 more: healing 1000 points worth of damage and killing 2 people with a blunderbuss blast. Was particularly happy with the second one, as it is both easy and difficult to do. Also, it's called Harper's Pride which is again a Sharpe reference. Sharpe's buddy Harper wields a volley/nock gun, a brutal looking 7 barreled weapon. God save Ireland!
Project 64: Majora's Mask
I had not played this since 2018/2019 when I infamously cleared as far as the fourth and final temple and decided to mess around with the cheats. I gave myself all the masks and items (just to see!) but then when I went to undo it it would not let me. So I lost all interest in clearing the game properly and stopped. I was also playing with a keyboard back then which was super tough.
So it was a billion times easier with the Xbox controller. My goals fluctuated a bit but I got set on: get all fairies, get all 24 masks, clear the game. Also, collect no heart containers and complete no heart pieces - just have 3 hearts.
All was well until what I dreaded was coming: the Goron race track on the moon. I fell off a couple of times but eventually managed to complete it. It was not essential but I was worried that maybe the controls were off and would prevent me from clearing the track. All was well in the end and I managed to finish the game easily with the Fierce Deity Mask.
I could go back now and attempt to clear the journal and get all the bottles, upgrades and heart pieces etc but that's enough for now.
07 February 2025
February 2025 Age of Empires 3 hotkeys
I was playing a bit of Age of Empires III (Classic/2007 edition) on Steam lately and realised I had a slightly different list of hotkeys for this game now (compared to my old September 2009 post about Aoe2).
- Army - Initially I assign this to the native scout you get for free, but later I might assign my mass of Cuirassiers/Strelets etc to 1.
- Army - rare, but sometimes I assign a second army. I've been playing the French a lot so often I only have one army of horsemen.
- Town Center - this is one I build either with a wagon or most likely with my Explorer. Essential in pretty much every game but especially when running my fave side, the French. Their villagers take longer to build.
- Town Center - as above, I only build this with my Explorer.
- Original Town Center - one of the first hotkeys I assign in a game, alongside the Explorer and then the Market.
- Main Military Buildings Group - so in the case of the French, I may assign 1-6 Stables to hotkey number 6, possibly with some Forts as well. Simply anything that will be pumping out Hussars or Gendarmes later. If I'm playing the British or the Russians, it's Barracks/Blockhouses pumping out Musketeers/Strelets.
- Market - one of the first buildings I... build. I don't abuse the market as much as I do in Aoe2 but it's got some nice villager/economic upgrades.
- Harbour/Docks or Native Outpost - rare but sometimes you need to zip to these fast.
- Explorer - one of the first hotkeys I assign. I usually pair the Explorer with Minutemen and go around killing treasure guardians, using the Explorer as bait.
Just wanted to post something handy!
01 January 2025
January 2025 Britannia 4 games write up
OK finally I can type up something about Britannia after having played as each of the 4 colours in 4 games between January 2023 and January 2025.
Color ranking
Red is the best, so far. 3 wins and 1 4th place finish (an aberration).
Yellow is second, with 3 second place finishes in a row.
Blue has been redeemed somewhat. They've been placed everywhere but now with the Saxon burhs rule being properly executed (see below) they should do better.
Green trails in fourth place; anytime I play it solo I do well with it, but the reality is hard.
Highest 4g | Lowest 4g | Average 4g | Total 4g | Grand colour totals | ||
Romans | 136 | 107 | 120.75 | 483 | ||
Romano Brits | 20 | 10 | 16 | 64 | ||
Scots | 56 | 34 | 47.5 | 190 | ||
Dubliners | 18 | 10 | 14.75 | 59 | ||
Norwegians | 40 | 20 | 31 | 124 | 920 | 4 games |
Welsh | 95 | 79 | 89 | 356 | ||
Caledonians | 36 | 12 | 24.5 | 98 | ||
Jutes | 34 | 12 | 19.5 | 78 | ||
Danes | 70 | 60 | 64 | 256 | 788 | 4 games |
Brigantes | 71 | 14 | 49.25 | 197 | ||
Irish | 30 | 6 | 14 | 56 | ||
Saxons | 159 | 130 | 142.5 | 570 | ||
Norse | 53 | 29 | 45 | 180 | 1003 | 4 games |
Belgae | 44 | 18 | 29 | 116 | ||
Picts | 66 | 50 | 61.5 | 246 | ||
Angles | 106 | 74 | 88 | 352 | ||
Normans | 50 | 26 | 35 | 140 | 854 | 4 games |
Looking at Yellow
Yellow has come second 3 times in a row, then finally a third place finish in the fourth and final game.
Romans are the main point scorer, obviously. I played Romans in the first game of this series and got a mighty 257 points and still lost by 18 points to Red.
It is basically essential that the Romans dominate everyone in England, Wales and Scotland. I accomplished this in my game for 128pts as did Billy in the last game for 136pts. Billy was able to benefit from the limes system as his burnt out forts were occupied by the Welsh. Royce did not go to Scotland, opting to turn around and thus only got 107 points.
The Scots are the other main point engine of the Romans. Billy lost his Scots by the very end of the last game and Scotland was a mess of sniping throughout so they scored lower than usual. In other games the Scots did well enough by simply holding the ‘Scottish Crescent’ of Skye-Dalriada-Dunedin. If Scotland is relatively peaceful throughout, they do well.
The Dubliners and Norwegians have extremely tight point margins, with both the former only scoring holding points (and not that many) in Round 13 and 16 and the latter can score up to 30 points for ‘passing through’ in Round 15 and then a lot less for holding ‘any English territory’ in Round 16.
So Yellow has done well, but the closest they got was Red doing better, which is partially down to a mistake I made in the rules (see Burhs section).
Look at Green
The Greens have been in third place twice and last place twice.
The Welsh are the main point scorer of the Greens, but are kind of funny to play. It is easy to fall into the ‘defensive trap’ and just spend the whole game sitting behind the ‘Green Wall of Wales’, watching as the others colours fight over England. You will net 70-80 points but the Red Saxons most likely will win the game. Green must sally across the Welsh line into England and cut down Red a bit. Not too much, but here and there, plus it helps the Danes.
The Caledonians should just sit there and then die (or hopefully survive with one territory) to the Norse. Getting around 40 points in the first 3 scoring rounds and maybe 8 in the subsequent two is all you can do with them.
The Jutes are a bit of a throwaway nation but if you can score the initial 8 points for holding Kent that’s all you can ask of them. I think I am the only player to have the Jutes live to the end of the game, netting 34 points total.
So the key to Green doing well is the Danish. I still have not figured out how to do it, but I think they will start to do better soon (see Burhs section). Dave scored the best with the Danes with 70 points, though the average over 4 games is 64 points. I think all 4 of us who have played the Danes don’t carve out the Danelaw on the east coast, opting instead to brutalise the overstretched Angles further north. Though York is tempting, it is probably better to carve out a beachhead based around Lindsey. I think we all replaced the Angles on the east coast in Rounds 11-13, but were eroded in turn by first the Dubliners then the Norwegians. Better to hit the Saxons, plus any Angles and Belgae in the area and live in the Danelaw. Cnut’s kingship and later Svein arriving have to be played well. So Green must fight Red in the south.
Looking at Red
The Reds have 3 first place finishes and one last place finish somehow.
The Brigantes get loads of points (6) for killing Roman legions, most likely in self defence. In the last game of the series I was the Reds for the first time since 2007 and I did not kill a single legion. In two other games, they managed to kill at least 2 for a fat 12 points in the opening rounds.
In one game, the Brigs refused to surrender and were wiped out by Round 5. This was the game where the Reds were in last place. Looking at it now, if the Brigantes had survived and held a reasonable amount of territory all game they probably would have won instead of being in last place.
It just goes to show how important they are as a ‘points engine’. They average in the region of 50-70 points for the whole game.
The Irish arrive as raiders and remain as raiders for quite some time, after which they must settle down. In the last game, my Irish were wiped by Round 7 I believe so were a non-factor. I failed to land in Cornwall and after living in Cheshire and/or Cumbria for a round or two they were killed off.
The Saxons are the top scorer for the Reds. It is not unusual to win all 3 Bretwalda votes and 4 kingships with them with relatively little effort. They are generally pulverised (or wiped out in my case) on or around Round 16 but they did their job already.
In the last game, the Norwegians used their stack of doom and major invasion to push as far south as the Downlands. The Welsh sniped from the West, the Danes the east and the Angles were sitting in South Mercia. The Normans then landed and Harold the Saxon was killed off by the Welsh at the start of Round 16. I was the Reds/Saxons but praised the Welsh player particularly for not letting me run away with the game, he had been actively crossing the border all game at Hwicce/Avalon and kept the Saxons in check.
In other games, the Saxons became this absolute behemoth that no other player would dare attack. With up to 20 infantry tokens and 8 burhs, they were unstoppable. It was so formidable the Normans could not land properly and other sides that might oppose the Saxons with some success (Welsh, Angles, Norwegians) simply didn’t bother. See the Burhs section.
The Norsemen are a nice spoiler in Scotland at the end. They typically annihilate the Caledonians and live in their lands for good points in R13 and R16 (6/6/6 then 4/4/4). A visit to Cumbria (and loads of other territories) nets nice small points in the late game, which is quite possible given that they have boats for a long time and everywhere is potentially weakened and/or empty.
Looking at Blue
Blue has placed everywhere, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in 4 games.
The Belgae generally submit, then burn a bunch of forts with Boudicca and usually die. They have only lived to the end in one game, the last one under Royce’s control. He managed to burn 6 forts, 3 with Boudicca, then 2 more near Wales and finally against all odds a fort in Lindsey where they would survive until the very end of the game as standard. I think in the very last round or two they retreated into Norfolk, but they lived for 44 points total. Every other game they scored around 20 points and died before Round 5.
The Picts should usually just live in the ‘Pict Triangle’ Mar Moray and Alban. Anything else is a plus. They must live to the end of the game anyway to qualify as one of the two Blue point engines. In pretty much every game they have done well.
The Angles are the key to Blue winning. Blue has won once under Iain’s leadership - this was the game where the Brigantes were dead, so there was plenty of peace in the north of England. The Angles must live in the north and all along the east coast, somehow, then get as many Bretwaldas and possible kingships as they can. If they can’t get them, they must at least deny Red from getting them. They also must avoid the ‘overextension trap’ that almost all of us have fallen into, stretching ourselves way too thin on Round 10 for holding points, then midway through Round 11 the Dubliners and Danes start cutting the Angles in half.
The Normans did not do so well in the first 3 games, scoring around 30 points average and having lackluster landings. On all the postgame maps, the Saxons still have 3-4 territories due to the Burhs mistake probably while the Normans only hold 3-4 territories by the end of the game. By the very last game I had realised my mistake with the burhs, making the Saxons much more vulnerable and thus justifiably being wiped out by the Welsh, Norwegians and Normans. Iain, when he won, had held 5, but they were all along the east coast, possibly due to the (erroneous) defensive strength of the Saxons. In the last game, they scored 50 points, their best ever, and held 6 contiguous territories. So Blue will only get stronger now that Red has been corrected.
The Burhs mistake
In the first 3 games, I had made a mistake with the Saxons. In rounds 12 and 13, the Saxon player is allowed to build forts, 1 for every 2 population points, instead of getting units as normal at the start of the turn. So if the Saxon held, say, territory worth 16 population points, they could decide to spend 6 points on 3 forts and the other 6 on a single unit as possible, netting him 3 forts that function as regular units except they can’t move plus an infantry he can place anywhere and move as normal.
The ruling also states: the Saxon can only place burh/fort tokens equal to 8, minus the number of Saxon territories. So if the Saxon controls 6 territories, they can place 2 burhs if they can afford it. Conversely, if they control 8 or more territories, they can place none.
There are 8 burh tokens, and in the past, the first three games I did not adhere to the 8-territory rule properly, resulting in all the Saxon players having sometimes all 8 of the possible fort tokens placed between Rounds 12 and 13, freeing up loads of Saxon troops to defend their borders or even expand like wild in those rounds and beyond. By Round 15 when the Normans were expected to land off the English Channel, they usually faced this absolute behemoth and it seemed impossible.
I’m rambling but I don’t think it would have affected the results too much, but there were definitely moments in these games where by rights the other players should have been sniping at the Saxons, but psychologically couldn’t do it, because the Reds had so many fecking units. Likewise, the Saxons had all their territory goals so didn’t bother pressing too far out in any direction. The biggest losers were the Normans, who kind of needed to land convincingly but were severely blunted by sheer red numbers on the beaches, followed by the Angles losing out on kingships etc and the Danes not bothering to cut into the south-eastern coast too much.
So it’s fixed now and I was pleased to be the first Saxon player to be affected by this ruling, with Saxony being justifiably wiped out by Round 16. In other games, the Saxons held on in 3-4 other territories by the end. Billy’s Norwegians felt emboldened enough to swing south and take a bite out of the reds, followed shortly after by the Normans. In the past, this simply would not have happened.
So while I still think Red is the best colour overall, it only is if the other players go easy on them. Once I had won the Kingship in Round 14 for the fourth time as the Saxons, they were fair game in Round 15 and 16 and rightly so. In the past, players probably wanted to cut down the Saxons but there was no easy way to do it.
Ironman nations
Romano-British - have survived often enough, surprisingly. I think everyone is fine with them living in March.
Jutes - have only survived one game to the end, when I controlled them. The Saxon player was very defensive so it helped my cause there.
Irish - the Irish can fail and die, as they did for me in Game 4 but it's not essential. In most games, they have lived in Cornwall-Devon peacefully enough.
Belgae - Belgae living all game in Lindsey is not unusual. I think in the 4 games, the only time they were wiped out early was when I, as the Romans, deliberately did so.
Anachronistic Awards
Welsh in London - Dave occupied many burnt out forts for Billy in Game 4, but infamously did not occupy Essex, denying Billy 6pts. He allowed the Romano-British to live in Clwyd as an apology, I think. I think in Game 1 Cian did the same thing for me when I was the Roman but was gracious enough to stand in Essex haha.
Brigantes dying - it has only happened once, in Game 1.
Other instances -
Bretwaldas
I think only myself and Darren have swept every single Bretwalda.
I recall myself and Cian voting against Royce the Red to give Billy's Blues the Bretwalda one time.
Kingships
Again, I think only myself and Darren as the Reds have swept the kingship stakes.
There have been no Yellow or Green Kings. Certainly no Kingship for Cnut in Round 14, sadly. One day maybe!
Regicides
Specifically Harold, Harald, Svein and William.
There have no kings in England at the end of some games, usually there is at least one king but they do not hold 'double territory' so no 10 points.
No more tokens
Almost always the Saxons. Once or twice the Welsh.
Conclusion
Britannia is a great game, I have fond memories of playing it back in 2008 or whenever it was and finally bought a near-pristine copy of it in 2022 (?) for 100+ euro. With 4 games played with 8 different people, it's been worth it.
July 2025 - Outer Worlds 100% completion (3 more playthroughs)
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