Dajmin

Video game nerd. Singer. Songwriter. Scotsman. I make gaming videos and put them on the internet. Sometimes people watch them.

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Dajmin the Gamer Scot

Gamer. YouTuber. Scotsman. I make gaming videos and put them on the internet. Sometimes people watch them. __________________________________________________...

I’ve moved all of my new content over to my YouTube channel. Please check it out and consider subscribing for a bunch of let’s plays and first impressions videos. And more to come in the future!

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Dajmin Plays

Gamer. YouTuber. Scotsman. I make gaming videos and put them on the internet. Sometimes people watch them. __________________________________________________...

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and watch a grown man playing video games! #LivingTheDream 

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Here’s episode 1 of my Victor Vran let’s play series. Check it out over at my YouTube channel! http://bit.ly/dajminyt

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Watch me play The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth here!

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I started a let’s play series on Dead Cells in May. We’re now 24 episodes in and it’s going great! Check it out here :)

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Steam Awards 2016

I’ve got my votes in for the Steam Awards 2016. So here are my nominations:

The "Test of Time" Award

Dawn of War: Soulstorm

The "I'm Not Crying, There's Something In My Eye" Award

The Beginner's Guide 

The “Just 5 More Minutes” Award

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth

The “Whoooaaaaaaa, dude!” Award

Pony Island

The “Villain Most In Need Of A Hug” Award

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The “Game Within A Game” Award

Can’t Drive This

The “I Thought This Game Was Cool Before It Won An Award” Award

Distance

The “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” Award

Featherpunk Prime

The “Simple. Elegant. Solid.” Award

Road to Ballhalla

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I saw on Destructoid that the full list of nominees has been announced for the 2016 Video Game Awards. So go there, then come back to see what I think the results should be :)

Game of the Year

Opinion: Uncharted 4 Prediction: Overwatch

I feel like Overwatch has too many hardcore fans not to pull this one off, and Doom should be a strong contender too. But I haven't played anything on that list other than Uncharted 4, which was awesome anyway.

Best Game Direction

Opinion: id Software Prediction: Dice

From what I've seen, Doom nailed everything about the world and character design. It's perfectly aligned with what the game is. But I think the award will go to Dice for Battlefield 1 because of how heavy a switch it is from the previous franchise entries.

Best Narrative

Opinion: Firewatch Prediction: Inside

Although I never played Firewatch, I did watch a full playthrough (thanks Jesse Cox!) and I really enjoyed it. Very intriguing storytelling. But Inside is newer and seems to be the "indie darling" of the moment. People are going nuts for it, so I think it'll scoop it.

Best Art Direction

Opinion: Abzu Prediction: Abzu

Because look at it. It's Journey but underwater. That alone will earn it points. Firewatch will be a contender again, but I think Abzu is going to take it.

Best Music/Sound Design

Opinion: Thumper Prediction: Inside

A lot of people I respect have said great things about Thumper. And I really enjoyed Audiosurf, a game with a similar kind of theme. But I've also heard people talk about the sound in Inside. And now that rhythm games aren't so popular I think it might just take the prize.

Best Performance

Opinion: Nolan North Prediction: Emily Rose

I had a hard time choosing between these two amazingly talented voice actors. I went with Nolan because he has always brought a very Han Solo-esque charm to the character and it was nice to see an older and more mature (sort of) Drake this time round. But Emily was amazing as Elena too, playing the long-suffering wife perfectly. Both of them totally deserve it.

Games For Impact

Opinion: That Dragon, Cancer Prediction: 1979 Revolution

Again I haven't played either of these so my opinion is probably invalid. But my family was affected by cancer this year so it's particularly poignant. But I understand that 1979 Revolution is a better game, so it will probably win. And especially fitting with the current political decisions countries are making.

Best Independent Game

Opinion: The Witness Prediction: Stardew Valley

The Witness is intriguing to me, but I have to admit I don't know if I'd be capable of playing it all the way through. But Stardew Valley has mad love from all over, so it'll probably steal it here.

Best Mobile/Handheld

Opinion: Severed Prediction: Pokemon Go

Where is Reigns on this list? It's way better than any of these other ones! Severed isn't on Android so it'll limit the market opinion there. But let's be honest, Pokemon Go is a shoe-in, whether it deserves it or not.

Best VR Game

Opinion: Eve Valkyrie Prediction: Eve Valkyrie

VR seems to really be suited to a couple of different genres right now. And the flight (or space) sim is one of them. The others on the list don't really benefit as much from being in a VR setting, so I'd expect this to walk it.

Best Action Game

Opinion: Doom Prediction: Battlefield 1

Both of these shooters are great. I feel like the way Doom skipped out all complex scripting and character development for a pure hardcore action approach. Battlefield 1 is more traditional (despite going back in time) but is newer and probably has more supporters.

Best Action/Adventure Game

Opinion: Uncharted 4 Prediction: Uncharted 4

I've loved all of the Uncharted games, so this has to be my choice. The newer ones had some storyline issues, but #4 keeps things a bit more believable. If that's what you want :)

Best RPG

Opinion: The Witcher 3 Prediction: The Witcher 3

I can't see this going anywhere else. I'm surprised Fallout 4 didn't make it onto the list. And I don't know if Deus Ex still falls into RPG category any more.

Best Fighting Game

Opinion: Street Fighter V Prediction: Street Fighter V

By now, SFV has pretty much proven itself the fighting game of this generation. I had high hopes for Killer Instinct when the comeback was announced. It was my favourite fighter back on the SNES, but it never really made the comeback. The ridiculous DLC plan probably doesn't help.

Best Strategy Game

Opinion: XCOM 2 Prediction: Civilization VI

Although I never got into the Civ series (I've got the first 4 but I don't get on with them), they are lauded across the board. XCOM 2 is also well regarded, but because it came out so much longer ago I'd expect Civ to win this.

Best Family Game

Opinion: Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Prediction: Pokemon Go

The Lego games are always solid choices for the family category, although IMO they are pretty much all interchangeable. But Pokemon Go will win because it's Pokemon Go and there's nothing we can do about it.

Best Sports/Racing

Opinion: Forza Horizon 3 Prediction: Pro Evolution Soccer 2017

I love racing games, that's no secret. I've never played the Horizons series the way I did the Motorsport ones, but it's still driving fast! That said, racing games never win these categories and PES17 has made a lot of football (sorry, soccer) fans very happy. I just wish they'd licence the teams properly.

Best Multiplayer

Opinion: Battlefield 1 Prediction: Battlefield 1

Yes, there are a lot of people who will say this should go to Titanfall 2. And they could be right. But Battlefield 1 is a multiplayer behemoth and it was never going to fall to a newbie like Titanfall 2. I'll be surprised if this award goes anywhere else.

Most Anticipated Game

Opinion: Horizon: Zero Dawn Prediction: Red Dead Redemption 2

This was a tough one! Although I think Horizon looks fantastic, I think the excitement over RDR2 will trump it (can we still use that word without the political associations?). I'm looking forward to RDR2 as well, but I've not seen enough to get excited about yet.

Trending Gamer

None of my favourites are in this category and I don't really watch any of the others here, so I can't say how this will go. Boogie2988 is cool though!

Best Fan Creation

I've only heard of one of these, so I can't judge any of it. I'm surprised that the GTA5 Redux mod isn't on here, but it's not up to me what gets shortlisted!

Best eSports Player & Team

I don't know enough about any of these to make a guess. I expect the winners will win this. Because they are actually the best. Isn't that how it works?

Best eSports Game

Opnion: Overwatch Prediction: Overwatch

Again, because Overwatch. There’s so much coverage of the game everywhere that I think this is all but guaranteed. I haven’t played it, but I can definitely see the attraction. And Blizzard knows what they’re doing.

We’ll find out how close my predictions and opinions are when the winners are announced on December 1st!

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Here’s my First Look @ Butcher by Transhuman Design. It’s a brutal and beautiful 2D shooter that’s also one of the hardest games I ever played!

Watch as I get my ass handed to me in the early levels :)

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Looking Back @ Lords of the Fallen

I haven’t had much time to play the monthly PS Plus games from September, but I got a little time with Lords of the Fallen a couple of days ago. I got to (and beat) the first major boss, so I’m gonna write about how I feel about this compared to my experience with Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

First of all, I like that LotF isn’t as unrelentingly bleak and depressing as Dark Souls or Bloodborne. There’s colour, which is nice. I love the gothic look of the other games, but sometimes it’s nice to feel like you’re trudging through misery. Yes, that means LotF isn’t as heavily stylised, but it still looks good.

Secondly, it feels like there’s way less guesswork involved. Maybe I’m too early for the sprawling to really kick off in LotF, but so far I’ve been given a decent amount of guidance where I should go. My next target is always available if I want to progress, but I’m free to explore if I want to. Demon’s Souls was the absolute worst for this, but Bloodborne is still guilty of it too - expecting the player to be okay with either repeatedly running away or dying to learn. When death carries such a heavy penalty, having a big open world doesn’t always make things fun.

Of course there are some downsides as well. Only 3 character types to choose from in Lords of the Fallen means that you might not find one you really love. I like hybrid characters - melee with some offensive magic abilities. That doesn’t really exist here (unless I just haven’t unlocked them yet).

I also don’t think it’s quite as hard as a Souls game. Whether this is good or bad will depend how much you enjoy the pain. I’m not a huge fan of losing a ton of progress because I made a single mistake or forgot what that boss’s attack “tell” was. I also like that the story isn’t hidden away behind lore that I might never find.

The combat still feels great though. My warrior feels like his armour is slowing him down. He moves like it’s weighty, but not unresponsive. The hits always feel like they connect and do real damage. And since this is what makes up most of the game, it’s important to get that right.

Only an hour or so in it’s hard to get a solid idea on how it’s going to be long-term, but so far I’m really enjoying it. More than I enjoyed my first hour of Bloodborne, for sure. I’m happy to keep playing and want to see where it goes, too!

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Battleborn Going Free to Play?

So apparently there’s plans to make struggling action MOBA Battleborn free to play in the future. Not a bad plan for a game that never seemed to be able to match up with Overwatch in the competitive arena genre. But will it help?

It’s hard to say for sure. Battleborn is so similar to both Team Fortress 2 and Paragon that it’s going to have just as hard a time in the F2P scene as it did with the premium price tag.

The move to free play made a success of Evolve after its online numbers fell far enough that it started to struggle, so there is hope. I guess Paragon is the closest direct comparison and it’s doing pretty well right now. Are the art style and 3rd person vs 1st person view enough to make a difference? Is the rumour even true? Time will tell.

One thing I can say for sure though. I don’t play any MOBA, but if I was going to pick one up (and pay money for it), I’d go for Overwatch. If Battleborn does go free, at least I’ll actually get the chance to play it!

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The Dawn of War

I’m a big fan of the Dawn of War franchise. I spent more time playing that in the late 2000s than I’d like to admit. My old Xfire profile said about 130 hours in the original and over 100 in Winter Assault. Most of that was in multiplayer, where I think it shone.

I was one of the many people really disappointed when THQ announced they were closing, but then really happy later on when they were picked up and announced Dawn of War 3 was on its way!

So I’m thinking of doing a YouTube series where I play through the campaigns of the first 2 games ahead of Dawn of War 3 coming out. I don’t know if it’s worth hitting up the multiplayer these days though. It’ll either be a dead zone, or only still frequented by the hardcore guys who will own me in seconds.

If anyone finds this post and is interested, please let me know either with a like here or a shout on Twitter. I hope there’s still a community out there somewhere!

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So That Was... EGX 2016

So me and my fellow rock star gamer, Billy, went up to EGX in Birmingham on Saturday. We did Rezzed back in March and wanted more. A bigger venue with bigger games seemed like just the thing we wanted.

And for the most part it was great. We got to see a few of the AAA games like Battlefield 1 (which we played and our team dominated) and Dawn of War 3. Billy played Sonic Mania and was happy to see the old blue hedgehog getting back to his roots.

That said, every single one of the mainstream developers had very strict “no photography” and “no filming” rules in place, meaning my planned video (like I did for Rezzed) didn’t work out. I was really disappointed by that, because I’d have thought this is the whole point of a convention - building hype and getting people talking for free.

But I have zero footage of EGX 2016. So all I can do is say that we enjoyed the games we played. Which is much less interesting than actually showing you. Sorry.

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Here’s my opinions on how they’re only screwing over their paying customers.

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I take a look at Intensive Exposure by Fireline Games. Run around, flashing at office workers. Does that make a good game?

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I take a look at The Final Station by Oleg Sergeev and Andrey Rumak, now known as Do My Best. Do zombies and trains combine to make a good game?

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I take a look at Featherpunk Prime by Super Hatch Games. Neon, cyberpunk and flamingos. But is it worth playing?

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I took a look at This Is The Police by WeAppy Games. Is it worth playing?