The Way it Was: A Week of Looking Back

Hi everyone! aabicus here, and you may have noticed these days that I’ve been pretty much invisible on the SPUF side of things. My last article was in February (still haven’t caught a shiny Rattata…) and the SPUF of Legend‘s last video was 3 months ago. (That should change soon, though! Got another one in the final editing phase.) My main excuse, unfortunately, is money. In a nutshell, after graduating college I co-founded a gaming studio but got written out of the contract at the last minute. Without a backup lined up, I had to leave my apartment for financial… [Continue Reading]

Goofing Around in Video Games

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With the amount of competitive engagements in both PvP and PvE games out there, it can sometimes get a little tiresome always trying to reach out to be the best of the best. So why not take a break from that and try to do fun stuff for once? Sure, doing fun stuff might not be the most efficient thing available – or can even be borderline griefing if not done in the right way – but it ensures a fun time for (hopefully) everyone involved. Be it T-Posing on hoverboards with your squad in Fortnite, trying out new mods… [Continue Reading]

Ephemera – Warframe’s Unusual Effects

Ash with the Smoking Body Ephemera

It was only a matter of time until Unusual Effects started fleeing Team Fortress 2 and infecting other games. In fact, Unusual Effects have been doing so for years. First these sparkly effects began infecting other nearby Valve games and before long everyone was getting into particle effects. But then everyone switched over to skins on guns and the world hasn’t been the same since. Sure, there were Unusual Guns, but they never really had the same effect that Unusual Hats did. Actually, right off the bat, I’ve kinda made a mistake here. Ephemera aren’t really Unusual Effects at all.… [Continue Reading]

Why Medic is better than Mercy

Different games, exactly the same damn problems. Medic and mercy

As a person who goes around the internet calling himself “Medic”, I get asked a lot about Mercy from Overwatch. I often get asked if Mercy is attractive and if Medic and Mercy would ever get together. I’ve actually answered that question before, and the answer is a flat out no. Their personalities are wildly different. There’s no way Mercy would even take a second look at Medic. Assuming Medic even makes it that long (since canonically he gives himself 50 more years to live back in the 1970’s and Overwatch is set in the future). Medic and Moira though?… [Continue Reading]

Why Soldier?

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There is one main reason why I pick Soldier: I can’t go wrong with it. It is rarely a bad time to go Soldier. Even Medic can be a bad choice if your team does not have a heavy class or you somehow already have three Medics. Soldier is just so versatile and powerful that you can have four in a team of twelve and you’ll still have a solid team. No matter the occasion, Soldier is a good pick. Offense, Defense, Payload, Capture Point, Soldier can shine in all of them. Whether you need someone to hold off the enemy,… [Continue Reading]

Why Scout?

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Playing Scout is not something I get to do much. Most of the time, either I’m needed to heal, or I need someone beefier to to barge through the enemy team. But when my team is heavy enough to go against the opposing team and someone else is on lab coat duty, I am in for a treat. Scout is the class I play when I want to turn off my brain and just play by ear. That may be why I am such a bad Scout, since I find myself bumbling into the whole enemy team as a lone… [Continue Reading]

Scream Fortress X is here…

A spoof Scream Fortress X update page

Scream Fortress X. Yes. X. That means ten in Roman Numerals. Ten. 10. That’s a pretty large number. There’s like, infinity+9 numbers all smaller than 10. For a video game, ten is a HUGE number. But here we are, with Scream Fortress 10. What’s actually in Scream Fortress 10? Not a lot. It’s a lot like Scream Fortress 9. And Scream Fortress 8. And Scream Fortress 7 as well, actually. There are two Halloween crates – a cosmetics crate and a weapon skin crate. For some reason the cosmetic case is called the Violet Vermin. I thought it was a… [Continue Reading]

Why is Mann VS Machine Fun?

The nerfs didn't hamper Mann VS Machine but there's upgrades there and no one cares about MvM

As one can tell from my increasing play times and number of articles about Warframe, despite the fact I still call myself Medic, I play very little Team Fortress 2 any more. Normally, you can’t get me to even open the game. I refuse to touch the competitive mode with a pointy stick, I couldn’t chill out enough to play community competitive and playing Medic in pubs is often a tiring experience as any Medic will tell you. But if someone invites me to play Mann VS Machine? Fuck it, I’m in! But why? What drives me to play what… [Continue Reading]

Severe burns and tough questions

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What you see here is the only unlock that is a straight upgrade in TF2. The Third Degree is functionally identical to the stock Fire Axe except for one thing: all players connected via Medi Gun beams will be hit as well. Below is a table showing how this works. So naturally, since the Third Degree is a straight upgrade with zero downsides, people will flock to use it, right? If you hesitated for even a moment before saying “no”, you are obviously new to the game. The Third Degree has an equip rate so low at least half of… [Continue Reading]

Healing among the chaos

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For years I have been playing Medic solo in pubs. If there is ever a law banning self-torture, I’ll be jailed for life. After trying to heal in an environment where cooperation is minimal and communication is optional, I realize that the holy trinity of Crusader’s Crossbow, Medi Gun and Ubersaw, while powerful, is not too practical for me in this setting. Thus, my own pubcrawler Medic loadout isn’t the holy trinity, rather it consists of the Syringe Gun, Quick-Fix and the Amputator. I am pretty well aware of the three weapons in the holy trinity, and I know their strengths,… [Continue Reading]