Matt Morgans
-
Posts
48 -
Points
203 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
13
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by Matt Morgans
-
-
Hi everyone - I recently posted the first gameplay commentary video on the VGR YouTube channel, which was part 1 of a Liu Biao campaign playthrough in Total War: Three Kingdoms. Jacob and I will be doing a part 2 of that very soon, but while that continues, I'm also going to record a second playthough with solo commentary. The only question is, who do you want to see me play in this series?
-
I finally got around to covering the mighty Zhang Fei, the last of the three sworn brothers! https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-zhang-fei-vanguard/
-
Day 3, and it's time for a look at Xu Chu, the "Tiger Fool," Cao Cao's bodyguard who began as a simple militia leader and became one of the greatest generals of the Kingdom of Wei! https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-xu-chu-the-tiger-fool/
-
Today's article is all about Sun Ce, "The Little Conqueror"! The eldest son of Sun Jian, it's possible to get Sun Ce as your faction leader very early in a Sun Jian campaign if you follow historical events: https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-sun-ce-conqueror/
-
Creative Assembly, being the awesome studio that they are, provided VGR with a review copy of Total War: Three Kingdoms ahead of release, and we decided to record our first gameplay commentary video for YouTube in the game's campaign, playing as Liu Biao! Check it out! We'd like to start doing more videos like this, so if you'd like to see us doing more of this sort of thing, please like the video, etc. and let us know in the comments!
-
Hi everyone!
Earlier this year, I wrote a whole series of in-depth character & lore articles about the historical figures featuring in Total War: Three Kingdoms. When the release date was delayed, that series ended up stopping as other things took priority. Now, with one week to go before release, I'm resurrecting it, and I'll be writing a new one every single day until release! The first up in this week-long deep-dive into Three Kingdoms lore is Sima Yi, the nemesis of Zhuge Liang whose sons would go on to end the Three Kingdoms era! https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-sima-yi-strategist/
If you want to know more about the characters in Three Kingdoms, look below for all the series entries so far! I'll be adding each new article to this comment thread when it goes up throughout this week, so stay tuned! Plus, keep an eye on the VGR YouTube channel tomorrow... something a bit different from our usual podcast fare is on its way! 😉
Cao Cao - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-cao-cao/
Dian Wei - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-dian-wei/
Dong Zhuo - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-dong-zhuo/
Gongsun Zan - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-gongsun-zan/
Guan Yu - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-guan-yu/
Huang Zhong - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-huang-zhong/
Liu Bei - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-liu-bei/
Liu Biao - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-liu-biao/
Liu Zhang - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-liu-zhang/
Lu Bu - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-lu-bu/
Ma Teng - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-ma-teng/
Kong Rong - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-kong-rong/
Sun Jian - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-sun-jian/
Yuan Shao - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-yuan-shao/
Yuan Shu - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-yuan-shu/
Zhang Yan - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-zhang-yan/
Zheng Jiang - https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-zheng-jiang/
- DC and kingpotato
-
2
-
Absolutely. I'm a big fan of the Total War series, which of course is a very historical franchise (Warhammer games aside!) - I've been writing a series of character profiles for the upcoming Total War: Three Kingdoms looking at the literary and historical backgrounds of characters who will be featuring. (I also did a series for Battlefield 5 looking at the historical battles which inspired battles in the game.) I haven't written any Three Kingdoms ones for a while, as I've been busy with other news, but I'm getting back to it today to finish the series ahead of the game's release!
Here's an example, but you can find the rest on the Total War news page: https://www.vgr.com/total-war-three-kingdoms-heroes-dian-wei/
- DC and StaceyPowers
-
2
-
As Jacob and I discussed, we felt that lootboxes probably should be banned. Banning microtransactions, on the other hand, is probably unnecessary, but there should certainly be more regulation of predatory practices involving them. The problem with this bill in particular is really the framing of it and the approach that it's taking in confronting the issue; by framing it as protecting children rather than addressing specific practices it calls to mind the moral panics in the US during the late 80s and 90s around violence in video games and so on, and it suggests that the senator doesn't understand the issue well enough to make a reasoned argument (admittedly, a common problem in US politics when it comes to technology, the internet, and games). I suspect that the bill probably won't get enough attention to progress, but if it does, I think this angle of approach makes it easy for publishers to make some small concessions and put up a facade of making changes while not really changing anything fundamental.
There needs to be a serious governmental debate around lootboxes and microtransactions, but I don't think that this bill is the right way to start it.
-
Hi guys, episode 6 is now available! We actually made our Monday release schedule this week, and now that video is implemented we're hoping to be able to stick to it as much as possible! (We're planning to implement webcam footage soon.) This week Jacob and I discuss the latest Apex Legends news, a new bill aiming to ban microtransactions and lootboxes, the God of War documentary, and more! As always, if you have any questions or topics you'd like us to discuss, please do comment here or below the video!
-
Episode 5 of the VGR Weekly Recap podcast is now available on YouTube! Apologies for the delay, we had some issues getting the file transferred between computers yesterday, but as you'll see, video is now fully implemented and a huge step up from last week! We're hoping to implement webcam footage fairly soon too. In any case, check out the latest episode: Jacob and I discuss the Rocket League acquisition, Borderlands 3 info and micro-transactions, Elder Scrolls: Online, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and more!
As always, if you have any questions about what we discuss or anything you'd like us to discuss next week, please feel free to comment under the video or on this thread!
- DC and kingpotato
-
2
-
Hi guys! Check out episode 4 of the VGR Weekly Recap, where Jacob and I discuss the latest console news, the future of Apex Legends, the possibilities of Titanfall 3, and Bethesda's response to pay-to-win criticisms! This is also the first episode to feature video, though as you'll see, we had some issues with sizing and resolution. The problem was being caused by an old monitor which will have been replaced by the time it comes to recording episode 5, so next week should look much, much better! Thanks for bearing with us as we work to make the podcast even better, we really appreciate it!
As always, if you have any other feedback, or questions you'd like us to discuss, please leave a comment!
- Aerielle del Rosario and DC
-
2
-
Hi guys!
Episode 3 of our weekly news recap podcast is now available on YouTube! Unfortunately, we had some last-minute hardware issues crop up, which stymied our effort to get video edited in time, so we had to delay the upload a bit, and then upload without when it became clear it wasn't going to be a quick fix. Fingers crossed we can get things sorted for next week!
Oh, and we're actively taking audience questions now, so if you have any questions about what we discuss, or other things you'd like us to discuss next week, please feel free to comment on the video or in the forum thread below! Jacob and I will be sure to go through every comment!
-
New forum thread for episode 2: check it out! https://www.vgr.com/forum/topic/5007-vgr-recap-podcast-episode-2-now-available/
-
Episode 2 of the VGR Weekly Recap podcast is now available on YouTube!
Due to an unforeseeable travel delay, we had to record a little late and weren't able to get video ready in time for this week, but it should be in from next week. Going forward, the podcast should also go live on Monday each week! Thank you to those people who gave feedback last week - we made a few changes, including raising the audio volume and putting timestamps to each topic in the video description. If you have any other suggestions, please do let us know!
Also, if you have any questions about this week's topics, or about the news throughout the coming week, which you'd like us to answer or discuss on next week's episode; feel free to post them in the YouTube comments or the forum thread below and we'll do our best to include them!
-
1 hour ago, TheSteelyardDweller said:
Fallout 3. NV is great but i like the story of Fallout 3 way better. what is your favorite Fallout game @killamch89 @DylanC @Matt Morgans
Personally, I don't think the writing in Fallout has ever really been stellar, so for me I think Fallout 4 would be the one I've played and enjoyed the most. Mind you, I didn't play NV until years after it came out, and so when I went back to it I felt like I needed an added incentive to play through it. As such, I do have fond memories of looking up online where I could find a Power-Fist at the lowest possible level and then playing through the whole thing with a pure unarmed, unarmoured build using just a Power-Fist and refusing to use any other weapon. 😅
-
Thanks for the positive comments guys! 😃 We certainly will be continuing - we're aiming to establish a weekly release schedule on Mondays. However, episode 2 will either be up tomorrow or the day after, as Jacob unfortunately had a flight that got cancelled yesterday and so we haven't been able to record yet! Going forward though, you can expect new releases on Monday each week!
-
Admittedly, I'm not exactly a common sight on the forum 😅 but I do write all of VGR's Fallout coverage; https://www.vgr.com/fallout/
-
Hi guys!
VGR has now officially launched our first YouTube podcast. It'll be a 30-minute weekly news recap/discussion podcast hosted by myself and fellow VGR writer Jacob Smith. We're very excited to be getting started with this, and we're keen to hear any feedback about what we could improve! We're currently working on adding gameplay footage/video, so that should be coming soon, but if there's anything else, please let us know and we'll take it into consideration!
If you like it, please support us by liking, subscribing, etc.!
- killamch89 and DC
-
2
-
On 1/29/2019 at 2:31 AM, DC said:
What living person, other than family members, do you most admire and why?
I could definitely name a ton of people who I admire in one way or another. It's tough to narrow down. I'm quite political when I'm not writing gaming news, and my first thought is people like Owen Jones, Ash Sarkar, and Mike Galsworthy, who do excellent journalistic work in the UK which I think is highly admirable; people who aren't afraid of speaking truth to power and cutting through propaganda and misleading stories to get to the facts. I don't want to be a political reporter myself, but there's still a lot I've learned as a reporter from reading their analysis, etc.
-
1 minute ago, StaceyPowers said:
Follow-up question: What video games have the best character development?
In my experience, the best character development in any game is in The Witcher 3; there's such a massive difference in character development when you play a totally pre-determined character, as opposed to the blank slates you play in most Bethesda games. Having a single character lets the writers go so much more in-depth with character relationships, etc. (plus CD Projekt Red put a colossal amount of story in that game!) I think Dragon Age Inquisition does a fantastic job as well - perhaps the best in my opinion for a game where you don't play a pre-determined character. The Mass Effect series did a great job too, but I think for a single game, Inquisition had stronger character development than any single Mass Effect title.
-
On 1/26/2019 at 9:37 PM, StaceyPowers said:
Favorite quests in any Bethesda games you play?
Hmmm. I actually don't have a very high opinion of Bethesda's writing and quest design; I feel that they tend to shine in open world design, but are often quite shallow when it comes to story. (Certainly when compared to games like Dragon Age Inquisition, The Witcher 3, or even Assassin's Creed Odyssey, more recently.) Some of the quests from Shivering Isles were particularly good, at least for their entertainment factor, and I did enjoy Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC main storyline, though definitely from nostalgia for Morrowind's Bloodmoon DLC to some extent. In truth, I wish Bethesda would put more time and effort into their story-telling - I can only hope that they do so for Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6!
-
Just now, Katri Marcell said:
What place in the UK one has to visit that not many people know about?
Great question, and there's a lot of good answers. If I had to pick just a couple, I'd recommend Cartmel in Cumbria, which is a tiny village close to where I live that inexplicably has two Michelin star restaurants (it's also the home of sticky toffee pudding). Way down south, I'd also highly recommend the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. It's an open-air theatre built into the side of a cliff overlooking the sea. I've seen a few different productions there and it's such a unique experience!
-
1 minute ago, Katri Marcell said:
What part of the day is your favorite and why?
Probably about 2 PM on sunny days, because the sun shines through the window of my workspace throughout the morning but by 2 o'clock it's no longer shining directly on my monitors, so I can work in a bright room without having to close any curtains. 😊
-
So the guilt of not being involved in the forums enough finally got to me! 😅 Seeing as most of my fellow writers have already done topics like this, it makes sense to follow suit. I've been writing for VGR since the website began, so if you're here you've probably seen some of my work on Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Cyberpunk, Witcher, etc.
If you have any questions, fire away and I'll answer as best I can!
VGR Recap Podcast Episode 7 Now Available!
in Gaming Forum
Posted
Hi everyone, episode 7 of the VGR Weekly Recap podcast is now available on YouTube! This week, Jacob and I discuss the new partnership between Microsoft and Sony, CD Projekt Red's pledge to try and avoid unhealthy crunch, what we expect to see at E3, and more! As always, let us known if you have any questions or topics you want us to discuss next week!