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Two more games from 2019 I'd like to mention. Double Cross. It is a really good platformer. There is nothing exceptional, but it was engaging and enjoyable (and one bug I encountered was fixed a week ago). The Outer Worlds. While I do not like first-person view, open-world maps and combat-wise bland companions, TOW is a very good RPG - there are an interesting branching story with different choices, skill checks for non-combat actions, good writing and memorable characters (mostly, Martin the Moon Man Mascot). I have not encountered any bugs and was able to bind actions to the 4th and 5th mouse buttons.

The first domino has fallen. My brother just came to meet my baby, and proceeded to announce he and his wife are having a baby. It's like a disease.

"Personally, I'm more concerned with the planet" Why? The planet is in no danger... unless you know someone is making a Death Star. What secrets do you hold?

Friend got me Disco Elysium so I am playing that. Lost the game when I failed to make a jump to a ledge, luckily taking my pants off gave me the necessary 4% chance to succeed. Still mucking through Syberia 3, I want to exterminate the Youkols. Puzzles are still not interesting, too much tedious searching for things through environments that are too large.

Feeling pleased with myself for using "Only now, at the end, do you understand" in a work setting. Sadly I didn't electrocute the coworker at the end of it, but we take what we can get.

The problem with XBOX's befuddling naming scheme isn't a problem for you or me. They can call it the XBOX Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (thank God for copy & paste) for all I care. If I go to pick one up (unlikely, but who knows) I will understand what systyem I am picking up because I am a gamer and I follow this stuff. The problem is when random mom or dad who gives zero ****s about gaming goes to buy one for little Timmy and gets utterly confused because multiple machines share the same or highly similar names.

Making a whole cross-rib beef roast in the slow cooker. Just the roast in there with a smidgen of water on the bottom (will add tiny whole potatoes later). Never done that before, outside of a corned beef brisket which is different to me than a fresh roast. Hoping it will come out somewhat sliceable vs. insta-shredded, since strings around it. That's always been my thing re: beef in a slow-cooker. I feel like it's always a beef-stew texture/flavor which I'm not all that into. We shall see. (hubby would eat it either way) It just sounded easier to clean the crock-pot bowl than a slotted roasting pan top ...

It's good fun!

Gromnunism is the future.

Not sure why I find F4 better than F3, I guess because it doesn't shy away from what it's trying to be, an open world shoot 'em up that focuses more on mechanics and physics than half-assed RPG mechanics. I always skipped the settlement building stuff because it simply doesn't interest me. Bethesda: Bloated budgets and some fun if you're willing to overlook the bad dialogue and cheesy markety gimmicks. However, I do have a feeling some of these so-called "HARDCORE RPG GAMARS" like Bethesda games more than they admit.

you do realize you sound like the peloton commercial, yes? am gonna recycle from the food thread. 'bove is our goal for the first holiday season o' retirement. moderate success so far. best option for managing our tension has always been a nice nap, if we can manage such. as for the console, that's like $200? am too lazy to check current conversion rate, but second week o december were 1.35. *shrug* sounds like a decent deal. am recalling a few black friday and cyber monday deals which were better, but $200 is still pretty good. in the US, 'cause o' inventory and tax issues, after christmas is a great time to get special deals, particular on open-box tech items. not sure if is same for you folks. HA! Good Fun!

150 quid for the console and 2 games? Sounds like a bloody good deal pal. Don't own one myself, only have PS4/PC but that is a good price by the sounds of it.

Guys, methinks you are trying to converse with an adbot. There is similar thread started by never-seen-again user with the same naming scheme and there was at least one since deleted doppelganger of that post. Thought it kinda odd that Xbox would need such sneaky tactics, but maybe it really isn't, seeing how too much exposure to them filthy things make people build in-brain adblocks.

The actor does a great job with what he is given, that he has been badly written is a different thing.

I think it's the "Vulcan's Hammer" quest. I'm not sure if I already auto-botched this for Auntie Cleo, because I don't think I acquired the quest on this play-through but I think I did get the schematics. I'll have to go through and figure out if I can salvage this quest. I'm going to be out for a week working on other projects that will preclude me from checking, but I'm definitely thinking that next play-through I'm going to have both a checklist and a notebook, LOL. Thank you for reminding me about Journey into Smoke, also -- I usually approach quests from the most offset position I can, so I completely missed Lillian this time around, too. Huh! Yeah, that's not something I could do, either. I'm sure it's available on YouTube! Sheesh, for a game that supposedly was low-budget, there are a LOT of detail and options here. I am really looking forward to the DLC, which I hope opens up the other planets in the system.

Much like you I see the choice of Democrats and Republicans as no choice at all. When you choose the lesser evil all you ever get is evil. Heck I'm not even sure WHICH of those two even is the lesser evil these days. No, like you I'm voting 3rd Party for President as I have since 2012 and before 2008. Now we may find no agreement which 3rd party is best but at least we agree a third party is needed. Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected! Look there ComradeMaster my friend, and see those two wild giants with the huge arms, Donkey & Elephant, with whom we will do battle and slay with our 3rd Party votes! And with their stolen political power we can begin to enrich our land! @Gromnir: "Those are windmills" GD: Well, obviously Gromnir you don't know much about adventures!

The first time I didn't get more than those 53% but for the second time and forth I found another quest that just might have boosted it, but seriously I can't remember whether Journey Into Smoke really has anything to do with it or not. I'll check it up and get back to you as soon as I have, unless you prefer to find out by yourself. Yep, found him in Byzantium. I've never killed him because even though I think he is a moron I kind of feel sorry for him. However, there is an option to make him kill himself whilst still in Roseway. Never done that either. Can't act as the bad guy, remember?;)

Now I need to go back and find those other quests, because I don't think I've ever gotten about 53%. Hm! I've worked it Anton's way both times, so I'm not sure about the storyline you're talking about here -- but if you don't kill him (and I think if you give him his research), you do run into him again later, as a part of a different quest/storyline involving the "early retirees" in Byzantium.

Indeed! YouTube is really handy for that. There's a video about the "ice cream endings" that's pretty funny. As for Felix, I'm still holding out hope that his ending will change a little. If not, it'll just run in my head that he makes his home in Stellar Bay and is with Nell. Yes, I always pay attention to them when they say that -- always -- although I discovered quite by accident that Max will give you advice about the MSI/Iconoclast situation after a certain point (if I recall correctly, and I'm not saying that I am, it's after you complete the print shop quest). He didn't ask Aethel to talk with him at all, so now I make it a point to have her periodically talk with the companions. Aethel also had to go talk to Parvati in the Unreliable to kick off "Don't Bite the Sun"; Parvati didn't ask her to speak with her. But other than those two instances, the companions have spoken up when there's something on their mind. Yes! Although I'm disappointed that I can't actually have the captain ask Parvati to have SAM check in with ADA, or for ADA to be more overtly jealous of the way that Parvati pampers SAM. Have you been able to dig into ADA's background more, or get her to uncover the "[REDACTED]" parts of her self-knowledge? I have never played that, so I'm not familiar with that either. But I do hope you feel better soon!

I've never gotten past 72% so it's really the last 28% I'm curious about. Even after having completed all of their quests in the nicest ways possible (except for that I keep killing the matriarch) I just can't seem to get past that. And yes, I know what you're talking about. Slag him off completely and he will take that _very_ personal.

Seems like a pretty good deal. Although exercise is a better option for managing your tension.

You and me both - there's a hard block there somewhere, preventing me from playing an evil character. However, I did expose myself to a Youtube spoiler to see the Board ending and what happens if you don't finish your companions' quests and that's all sad for sure. I think I can understand why you find Felix' ending a bit saddening but I'd rather interpret it as he abandons his old ideals and find new ones instead. No kidding! That's one of the reasons why I'm currently on my 6th play-through! I'm on PS4 too, btw, and no the marker doesn't show up but on the other hand the companions seem to say "can we talk?" or "can I have a word?" whenever something's up, though. And after only one play-through you know that they will eventually want to talk and can trigger the conversations yourself. The love for Tossball unites?;) Speaking of romance between NPC:s, I find the "relationship" between ADA and SAM _hilarious_! I fell ill this Christmas and had to cancel all celebrations, why I stayed at home, sneezing, coughing and playing TOW instead. Alas, I've never watched "A Christmas Story" so the name Ralphie rather makes me associate to the ED-E eyebot in the New Vegas DLC "Lonesome Road".

I think you guys may be over analyzing Dandelion in a unnecessarily critical way He is a bard and would naturally be adverse to combat or try to avoid it, he also plays a pivotal role in changing the negative perception people have of Geralt through his songs and ballads...he creates or is a major contributor towards " The White Wolf " legend. I dont see him as comic relief at all considering how relevant perceptions are of people in this era ....he basically does exactly what I would expect of a bard

So i picked Divinity 2 in sales and I must say ... that game is bullcrap. I am playing it on normal diff and I feel like i am using everything I can to just survive. Game constantly throw you out of party placement so every second combat my mage is placed in middle of crap.... I mean I like the challenge but sometimes it feels like devs just wanted to screw you over as much as possible...

OP essentially does state it's just his own take - since he introduced his statement with "Anytime anyone ever asks me..." That's totally fine with me. It's nice if somebody takes the time to voice a cheerful opinion instead of a rant (which is more common). He didn't write something like "As we all know..." as some very special dudes in this forum might do (or have done. Didn't see SonicMage for quite some time...).

I made chicken jerky in the smokehouse yesterday. Don't worry, Duke and the hens are all fine. This was some unnamed chicken from Kroger. Still, what would they think if they could understand what I was up to? Sunny & Bela are VERY interested. They seem to think they will get most of it. Who am I kidding? They will.

Started to do quests in Defiance Bay and currently ended up in Catacombs I still have to decide which faction to join. Either Crucible Knights or Dozens. I so far prefer the Crucibles, but while doing some of the quests, I start to lean more towards the Dozens. I try to go for Rational, Benevolent and Diplomatic answers, and I still do not know, which of the factions suits for my character better (based solely on roleplay decisions) Also 11 videos already uploaded to my YT channel if you curious

The Wheel of Time tv series - Round up of all the current information

I will tell you that I've successfully saved the matriarch, but not without having to kill at least one or three of the lesser raptidons. I've been able to successfully sneak over to the tubes (just wait for the raptidons to move to their farthest "pace orbit" away from them), but getting to the terminal without having at least one or three of the little ones aggro on me is impossible. Could be I'm just impatient, but I have to kill quickly and then leap onto the terminal before mama enters the fray. I've been able to do it twice (but had to lock the companions to stand outside the chamber, of course).

thinking something similar and you may ask yourself, well how did i get here? same as it ever was same as it ever was same as it ever was ... HA! Good Fun!

In the first moment I didn't felt like that, but he was quickly growing on me. Also big fan of the dwarfs. Shame there wasn't more of them. Damn, I really want more episodes now. So hyped. Remember when lots of folks hated on Henry when he was announced as Geralt? lel. I don't want to imagine anyone else doing the role. /Edit: Oh I just remember... what was weird as hell and felt like pushing an agenda again... all the random black people showing up. It's like "oh damn, there's too many white folks around! Quick! Make this guard a black dude!" ....... And I can't shake off the feeling that because of the early backlash against a potential black Yen (or was it Ciri?), now Fringilla became a black person. This stuff feels just so damn forced to me. Always kinda reminds me of old 80/90s tv shows where there always was at least one black person, because there just had to. Isn't this also, like, a form of racism?

2019 My list of games finished this year. Only one is from 2019 though (technically ) And currently playing Pillars of Eternity, but I do not think, that I will be able to finish it before New Year Eve, so this might be complete list. 11 games – 8 GoG games, 1 PS3 game and 2 PS4 games 1 - January 3, 23:30 – My first game finished in 2019 became Xenonauts from GOG, after long break I've taken, when I've moved to my new place, two years ago. The game is excellent tribute to original Xcom games, and I've enjoyed it, despite some of the missions with Reapers were frustrating, because even if I ended my turn with lot of TUs saved for "overwatch" shots, most of my agents in most cases started to shoot at them, after they killed someone already. And that was actually the main reason, why I took such a long break from the game 2 - March 8, 23:30 – I have finished my first blind playthrough of Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition on PS4. I have been waiting for this game more than 5 years to be released in the West, on one of my platforms, after I've found out that Tales of series exist, and is awesome. The long wait was really worth it. It will definitely not be my favourite Tales of game, like for many other people, because I am bad at combat in this game but I've enjoyed the story and the characters, so I hope Namco Bandai will bring more of the Japan only Tales of games to the West. 3 - April 16, 20:00 – I have just finished Earthlock. A Norwegian made jRPG. The game is nice in the combat area, but the writing is not the best point of the game. Still, not bad, and I have enjoyed the game more than enough to recommend it further. I was also able to get 100% of achievements on GOG Galaxy, and it took me 40 hours in total. 4 - May 22, 22:45 – After many, many years, I have finally finished Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator from GOG. I played it for the first time around year 2000, but I've never finished it. The story is pretty solid, with the exception of the ending, but in the last 20 hours of the game, the combat gets very tedious, and there is to much of it. It kind of spoiled my enjoyment of the game as a whole, and then the ending nailed it down little bit further 5 - June 20, 14:15 – Having it pretty long time on my backlog, I've finished Hyperdimension Neptunia VII on PS4 today. My first playthrough ended with the most common Ascension Ending. The game is IMO much better than all previous installments. Cut-scenes are shorter, gameplay is more refined, sending out scouts is more user friendly. Can't wait for the release of Super Neptunia RPG in few days. 6 - August 8, 22:00 – I have finished my second playthrough of Tales of Symponia on PS3. I had not enough Grade to get bonus XP nor to transfer my earned Gald for New Game+, so I had to play it the classic way. With little bit of grinding for equipment and consumables for boss fights . I was able to finish every single sidequest and minigame, with the exception of Zelos' Gigolo title (because I've picked Kratos at the end of the game), which was a mistake during my planning phase for this playthrough. I've tried to achieve as much Titles as possible, with Kratos getting all of them, so the Platinum Trophy road is now at 54%. Game is still solid gold, with very good storyline, but it has not as enjoyable combat for me as other Tales of... titles I've played. 7 - September 24, 0:00 – After 3 years long break, I have finaly finished my Grand Campaign of Crusader Kings Complete from GOG. In 2015, I have started as one of the smallest counties in Kingdom of Hungary, as a Count of Gemer. Due to carefull planning of marriages, I have became 31 years later the new Duke of Nyitra, and 6 more years later in 1105, the almighty King of Hungary. After that, I have slowly expanded my realm to the east and south, with occasional special marriages, to get the possibility for my children to inherit other Counties and Dukedoms. 347 years later, after I've defeated Golden Horde, Bulgars and other heathens, and had few struggles with infidels of Byzantium, I had became King of another 7 countries. I've became King of Hungary, Bohemia, Khazaria, Burgundy, Croatia, Georgia, Sicily and Rus and was once crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. My kingdom had 102 direct vassals and 197 counts, dukes, bishops, and archbishops under my command. Some of them rebelious some of them loyal, but the Kingdom overcame few of their revolts and had a potential to grow more but the end of the game in 1452 came faster than I thought 8 - November 4, 0:00 – I have purchased STASIS: Deluxe Edition in this years Halloween sale on GOG, and I have to say, this was one of the best gaming deals this year. The atmosphere was really tense during the whole 10 hours of gameplay and the ending was unexpected. Some item puzzles were harder to crack, but 90% of the time, they were intuitive to solve. I have enjoyed the game so much, that I have purchased the deluxe content for the developers second game in the same universe called Cayne. This one, will be my next game to play for sure. 9 - November 9, 21:45 – Another game from Stasis universe finished today: CAYNE: Deluxe Edition. It was as good as previous, although much shorter. The puzzles were less complicated, although few of them gave me headaches, while trying to solve them . The ending was this time much more predictable, but it did not spoiled my enjoyment of the game. 10 - November 17, 16:00 – I have finished story of Reynard de la Foret in Celestian Tales: Old North as my first playthrough of this game. It's short but enjoyable game in a style of JRPG, which has some interesting plot twists for player to experience. The most surprising thing for me was, that it is one of very few games, where you do not play the hero, which has to save the world, but you play a squire, who with other pupils, helps the big generals with small tasks in the background of the comming war against a threat from The North. 11 - November 20, 16:45 – Just few days later, I have finished the Celestian Tales: Old North – Howl of the Ravager, DLC prequel to the original game. The gameplay is the same, but you play as one of the young lords of Old North, introduced in the base game. It's little bit shorter than the base game, but last two areas were for me tedious, which little bit worsened my impressions.

salted food would be great. i would settle for the food recipes that use salt (or the non-drinks that use alcohol) to have a longer expiration date. in practice, the way rymrgand's challenge plays out for me is this: don't grab "Fresh fruit" and "water" while i'm sailing around unless I need it (sometimes means i make stops on the way back from a bounty on an island i had visited before it means refreshing my supply of fruit and water) when I pick up new food, I immediately put it into food/drink for my ship instead of letting my crew chomp down on water and hardtack start paying more attention to the deadfire merchant ships in case i need more food or some special food that expires quickly and i'm too far away from nekata (mariner's porridge is the big one os i can avoid hangovers) keep track of merchants with specific food typeseggs are a big one because i have a corpse-eater barbarian. kith meat is hard to come by pre-shimmering isles, but you can do corpse loaf which uses vessel flesh (which doesn't expire). sayuka merchant has both aged shark meat and fire kelp for shark soup avoid resting if at all possible, once i have a good set of resting bonuses (especially since with alcohol you get hungover and mariner's porridge is harder to come by and every time i rest i might spoil something else) (probably later on) invest in faster ships so I can cross more of the deadfire in a given amount of time (will be relevant for doing recipes from whale meat since IIRC that most plentifully comes from encounters) the more i play the more i really like this challenge. probably my favorite. definitely going to flip this on again in the future. weird fact: food/drink in your ship management food/drink section that spoils stays there and your sailors will eat it if it's the next thing to eat. they'll lose morale, but it'll fulfill food/water needs. however, once you pick up the spoiled food/drink, you can't put it back into the food/drink slots. i guess the way this translates IRL is: sailor 1: "aw cap, our hearty breakfast went bad!" ...day passes... sailor 2: "they ain't listening to us" sailor 1: "well, i guess we have to eat it" (-1 morale) captain: "what's all this then?" *picks up spoiled food* captain: *examines spoiled food* captain: *tries to put it back down* sailor 1/2: "nonononono take that away"

Maybe something like a timer for the next food expiration? So as each item expires the timer would change to the remaining time for the next piece of food.

Just tested Rymgands Challenge. I don't know if it's a bug or intended, but a running countdown on the food you have would be nice. It doesn't help me much that a certain food spoils in 7 days if I can't remember when I got it. 3 days -> 2 days -> 1 day -> 12 hours, I can use.

Treat it like a puzzle game and it's OK. It's very much a matter of finding out what is coming and unashamedly gaming the system to your advantage or finding the 'trick' which makes that battle trivial. It's mechanistically awful with its magical and physical armour plus utterly useless initiative system and the game cheats blatantly in its combat design and how enemies behave so have no qualms about 'cheating' equally blatantly yourself, eg spam summons like it's the final battle of Baldur's Gate 1, because you can guarantee your enemies will do exactly the same back.