I started playing PES 2021 in the middle of 2021. I was a like a year late because I was still having fun with PES 2019. I did give PES 2020 a try, but it had too many glaring issues that I couldn't get past. PES 2021 on the other hand, which is really like a patch plus a roster update applied to PES 2020, is a much improved game. So much so that I actually stopped playing PES 2019 to really give it a try.

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For my first Master League season in PES 2021, I decided to play Manchester United and used the club lineup. This meant that I had the players that were really part of United's roster at that point in time. That didn't last though as I quickly made changes to the lineup to better suit my play style.

So for my first Master League season with Manchester United, I decided to replace H. Maguirre with K. Manolas as my main CB. Honestly, H. Maguirre in this game is just too slow. If a speedy opposing player gets past him, there's no way he is catching up. And when you have a slow CB playing against fast wingers from elite teams like Liverpool and Manchester City, there's just no room for error. Manolas on the other hand is an awesome defender. Strong enough and fast enough to play against elite strikers in the game.

I also got Kostic to play LMF. This was because I was trying to play my preferred 4-4-2 diamond formation. And in that formation, I was playing Rashford at LMF, which he was having trouble with. Actually, I was having trouble with Rashford at LMF. With Kostic at LMF, that allowed me to move Rashford to SS, where he was much more of a threat and was less prone to getting injured.

After taking a long break from the game, I've recently come back to Ghost Recon Wildlands. This is a wonderful game if you like military shooters and an open world. It's kinda like The Division, but with more realism (no spongy enemies here) and the option for AI teammates.

This game requires patience and strategy, something you'll needs lots of once you get deeper into the game. That doesn't mean it's a bad game. It's just built different. Maybe even built for a different time (even if it only came out back in 2017). New games now are all about instant gratification. This game is more about delayed gratification, if that even makes sense. This game is more like Metal Gear Solid, where you spend a good amount of time planning your moves, then executing them perfectly. It's more like Chess instead of say Tic Tac Toe.

This review gives a good look at what makes Ghost Recon Wildlands great.

It's 2021 and I'm still playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2019. The game-play clip below is a great example of the core game-play loop that keeps me coming back for more.

After a few moments of terror, frantically trying to clear the ball out of the box, I get a second or two to breathe. Then it's straight into a counter attack. My excitement building as I start to see passing lanes forming before my eyes. It culminates into a shot at goal, at which point I get off my seat and silently scream (because the kids are sleeping), GOOOAAAALLLLL!

Found myself playing XCOM 2 and ended up frustrated once again. I very nearly got my whole squad wiped out in a “Retaliation” mission. The Muton enemy was so strong. It was able to consistently hit my soldiers who were in good cover and those who were on the rooftops with regular cover. Initially, I had it disoriented, which made it ineffective in combat. But I didn't have enough Flash-bang grenades to keep it disoriented until I could take it out.

I tried a new tactic of falling back into an overwatch position during firefights. The intent here was to avoid getting shot, while at the same time, giving my soldiers a free shot at approaching enemies. It works well against regular enemies. But it didn't work at all against the Muton.

I did learn one good tactic for a “Retaliation” mission that involves saving civilians. That is to make sure that the soldier approaching the civilians has a shotgun or a sword. And that the squad's sniper, has good line of sight to the civilian being approached. This is so that in the event that the civilian turns out to be a Faceless enemy, the sniper can shoot it, taking a good chunk of hp in the process. While the soldier who approached it, can finish it off with a shotgun or sword.

This is what my typical lineup looked like, during a game in the 2022-2023 Master League season.

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Had an amazing game against FC Barcelona.

Due to the way they were defending, I couldn't keep the ball in the center of the field. Once I pass the ball to my AMF, he would have just a few seconds before he is dispossessed. It's just not enough time to build up an attack. So, I tried a different way of attacking. I went from sending short passes into the center of the field, to lobbing through balls over their defenders.

I noticed that Goios times his runs perfectly. But even after a perfectly timed pass, Goios is just not fast enough to get to the ball before the defender clears it away. This happened 2-3 times before I realized, it is not going to work with Goios. That's because Goios only has a Speed rating of 70.

So, at the 55 minute mark, I decided to take Goios out and brought in K. Gameiro — one of my more promising strikers. The important thing to note here is that Gameiro has a Speed rating of 90. That makes him the fastest player on my team.

Finished my 4th Master League season (2021-2022) and I finally won a title as a manager. My team, Paris FC, were crowned Ligue 1 champions. It was a welcome result after a heart-breaking loss to Real Madrid in the European Club Championship. For next season, my goals are to win the French Cup and progress farther in the European Club Championship.

I'm at the Inquisitor Fortress in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I'm stuck in a place where I have to fight through wave after wave of enemies. This includes going up against Purge Troopers who are tough in battle. One in particular, wielded a huge sword or hammer, as big as the one that Cloud (from FFVII) uses. That enemy does AOE stun/lockdown damage. Need to be wary of when and where they strike, so as not to get damaged.

In the early fights, the platform splits up into separate sections. I can use Force Pull to cause enemies to fall through the gaps.

Finished the Potomac Event Center Story Mission. This was the most fun mission yet. The Outcast Controllers use RC cars equipped with saw blades. Those are annoying. It is best to take out the Controllers as soon as possible.

The problem with the Outcast Controller's RC cars, is that they are heavily armored on the front and sides. So, just shooting it outright oftentimes won't be enough to bring it down. One way to try and protect yourself against the Controller's RC cars is by using the Hive skill. Place the Hive along the path that the RC car will most likely take to get to you. As soon as the RC car enters the Hive's attack radius, it will start taking damage. Hopefully, it will have taken enough damage that you can finish it off with your weapons.

In my last play-through, I made a huge mistake of not keeping my army up to date. I went with defending cities with one Legion unit. Some cities had Pikeman units, and others had ancient Warrior units guarding them. This happened because I was taking a pacifist approach to the game. I was trying to win the game through religious victory. To win with a religious victory, you have to convert all other civilizations to your religion. You don't have to capture or invade cities belonging to other civilizations. So, my army was only for defense. I never started any wars against other civilizations. After clearing out the barbarians on my home continent, I let my guard down. I didn't notice that Japan, my next-door neighbor, was amassing Samurai units beyond my borders. Their target was my capital city of Rome.

It's been awhile, but tried playing The Division 2 again. I initially could not play because I was getting a “Bravo-09” error. I'm not sure what caused that error, though my guess is that it was caused by switching to a new Wifi router. I tried restoring my Xbox and fully shutting it down and turning it back on; didn't fix it. The only thing that seemed to fix it was uninstalling and re-installing the game. After re-installing it, I opened the game and it downloaded a patch/update. And then I was finally able to login and play the game.

On to the game itself, the Striker Drone skill really helps when you're playing Division 2 solo. It gives the bad guys something else to shoot at. I especially like using it when I'm going one on one against an elite enemy. In this situation it will draw fire away from me, allowing me to get better shots in, all while also dealing considerable damage to the enemy.

I pair the Striker Drone with the Reinforcer Chem Launcher skill, which helps you stay alive when playing solo. It is basically used to repair your armor during battles. And since it is a skill, it simply recharges over time. So, it's not like you will run out of potions or anything like that, which is why I think it is a very good skill when playing solo. I also found out that you can use it to stop yourself from burning.