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Yes, after all this is a video game forum that draws in people who are used to engaging in detailed discussions over stuff like spell power creep of magic missile vs sleep. Steven Universe is next on my list unless the Cartoon Network acts like a bunch of ****. Let me know what you think about JoJo after you finish up Phantom Blood.

I'm wondering if the cancel culture phenomenon can be considered a form of moral panic? The definition comes close:

Final thoughts on Sailor Moon Crystal. Hard to say. In retrospect, this makes Sailor Moon SuperS look decent. I won't go as far as to say that it makes SuperS look good, unless you specifically want to look only at animation, because I think SuperS looks the best of all the five original seasons (and each of them looks better than Crystal). Sailor Moon Sailor Stars has some really good animation too, but with the entire team more or less changed in between, it does look noticably different. I've talked at length by now about how everything that was problematic in Sailor Moon was exacerbated by Sailor Moon Crystal. The worst part about watching this wasn't watching a cashgrab by Toei, even though that it clearly was in the first arc at the very least, or even watching a sub-par reboot of what isn't just one of my favorite animes of all time, but something that made a lasting impression on a younger version of me. No. That's not it. That would not bother me as much, the world is full of sub-par terrible looking CGI cashgrab reboots of shows that I watched as a kid, like Maya the Honey Bee. Watching Sailor Moon Crystal is like staring into the abyss and realizing that it would have taken just one wrong step at the wrong time, by the wrong person, and something that played such a large part in my life would have come out not only completely different, but absolutely, loathably terrible. Even now, I'm giving the manga the benefit of the doubt, even though I probably should not. It might be that Sailor Moon Crystal just distilled the really awful parts and made them worse, but that is certainly not the case for the major issues with the storyline(s). For now I'm hoping, against all reason, that the manga has more time for the girls and that it was a lamentable decision by the creative team of Crystal to put Usagi and Mamoru front and center, and that there is some reason why this was or is as popular as it is. Something beyond riding on the coattails of its anime adaptation. Because everything that could be called good in Sailor Moon Crystal has to do with other characters or their interactions with Usagi - every time she's not the sole focus of something it's at least potentially not terrible, and in a sea of darkness even the faintest of lights shine brightly. I liked Pluto's original role, even if it immediately took a dump over it five episodes later and reduced her to exposition lady #4 that talks about space and time really quickly afterwards. I like Chibi-Usa a lot in Sailor Moon Crystal, but I've also come to realize that I liked her in the original anime as long as I remove Sailor Moon SuperS from the continuity and pretend it doesn't exist. I wish I would remember more clearly why I hated her so much a quarter of a century ago, but I don't. It might have something to do with watching the German dub. I know for a fact that Rei was much meaner to Usagi in the dub than she was in the original, now that I've seen it with translated subtitles that were not the dub transcript. Dub Chibi-Usa might have been a lot brattier in R than in the original, and I hated how much she hogged screen time - and Mamoru in R. Mamoru was already being mean to Usagi for stupid reasons, and she just made it worse. I wanted the two to be happy (in some way this goes back to my self-hate at the time). I'm also somewhat certain that being older made me change my outlook a bit. Chibi-Usa blames herself for everything that went wrong in the future, and of course she immediately latches on the closest thing she finds to a father figure, thanks to time travel that happens to be her actual father. Back to Crystal for a bit now. I have no idea how Toei managed to adapt the material they were given into something as interesting, funny and moving as the Sailor Moon anime. This is like one of these rare once in a lifetime occasions where everything just comes together and works. From the time and budget starved artystle decisions, to the writing team that apparently was jackpot all of its own (until studio interference messed up SuperS), to the music made and used. You're probably getting tired of me bringing up X-Files, but it does share something interesting with Sailor Moon. When Chris Carter made X-Files, they initially had no idea what they were doing. The first season was a series of standalone episodes, but its massive success and fan reactions to certain characters led to them given much more expanded roles (and Fox demanding more, like Toei). Chris Carter came up with a conspiracy storyline the show would follow mostly out of necessity (Gillian Anderson was pregnant, so she was abducted by "aliens" on the show) until a somewhat satisfying conclusion in its 6th season - and afterwards the storyline just fell apart. It became clear much earlier on that the writers were just making everything up as they went along though. And like in Sailor Moon, while sometimes interesting, the story episodes of X-Files weren't the best episodes unless they focused on the characters and not the actual "plot". And like in Sailor Moon, over time, the strength of X-Files was in its incredible creative team, the way they shot and framed episodes and the on-screen chemistry of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. And like Naoko Takeuchi, nothing Chris Carter ever made came close to the success of X-Files. The creative team that worked on X-Files over the course of its run went on to make and work on, amongst others, Space: Above and Beyond, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, American Horror Story, Game of Thrones, Westworld, Supernatural, Smallville and The Man In The High Castle. This excursion is only there to illustrate that I think what is now known as The Chris Carter Effect apparently hit the Sailor Moon manga in full force. While the writing of the first arc - both in the manga and very much in Sailor Moon Crystal - leaves a bit to be desired (to put it diplomatically), at least it doesn't come across as schizophrenic. The story beats, while not really great, don't feel like they're made up just to fill a chapter each month. The second arc, but especially the third one do. This disjointed mess was clearly just written from one month to the next, with perhaps only the barest idea of where to go. How else would you go from "We will never be friends, or even allies!" to "We've always just wanted to be close to you and fight together!" in the span of 20 minutes? Then there's the creepy element. The first arc has Tuxedo Kamen be a stalker that abducts Usagi and he kisses her at a time she can't consent, being passed out from exhaustion. The framing of these shots isn't negative, unlike when the same thing happens to Usagi but it is done by a different character in the second arc. It's the same thing happening on the screen, just one is clearly wrong, the other isn't. This does leave one thinking that the line between flirting and sexual assault is the amount of attraction between two people. Is this the message you really want to transport today? The manga remains a product of its time, and as such should be left standing like that. I don't think it should be changed like it's all the rage nowadays, but if you make an adaptation it really doesn't hurt to overthink tropes or problematic scenes. It's also something that needs to be brought up again. This entire Black Lady business at the end of the Black Moon arc is deeply disturbing, and the implications have a lasting effect. I see Usagi, Mamoru and Chibi-Usa sleeping in the same bed, and it forms horrible scenarios in my head. One poor girl has a seizure on screen and I post what I thought not only once, but twice. Now don't get me wrong, before anyone accuses me of hyprocrisy. How can I read and enjoy Sexy Losers and then have a problem with (forced) incest or 12 year old girls in underwear. When I read Sexy Losers I know what I'm getting into. Sailor Moon isn't the right vehicle for topics like this, and I have no idea how or why Naoko Takeuchi got away with it in the manga, but it was a good idea to drop it. Lastly, one of the more annoying parts of Sailor Moon Crystal is when it unthinkingly takes internal monologue and dialogue from the manga and puts it on screen even though we see what's happening. I have no idea why that is in there. It is mostly pointless at best, and detracts from the scenes at worst. And it almost always is at its worst. So where does that leave us? Quick TL;DR: Go watch X-Files if you haven't already. The show was way ahead of its time, the lead actors are terrific and the writing is often outstanding. It does take a bit to find its footing in the first season, like many other TV shows, but unless you totally hate the supernatural (how or why are you watching anime then?) you should be good. It should also be noted that I loved the X-Files even though I normally can't stand police or detective procedurals. And unless you're curious, please, for the love of god do not watch the first two Sailor Moon Crystal arcs. I can't even recommend the Infinity arc, but it does make for a good comparison between the old and the new show (and how much better character development is when it isn't rushed).

I don't know if you've read the very engaging stories we've swapped about school time in this thread, but I have a little anecdote to share. A friend of mine who I met at the school I went to repeated a year twice, which means he was in the course for 7 years instead of 5. This is also the maximum amount of retries you get, more than twice and you're failed out of school altogether. For the rest of this keep in mind that the school I was in, at the time, rejected 90% of the applicants, and 85% to 90% of those wash out. That friend was, for all intents and purposes, an Usagi (a really nice guy but not the brightest bulb, and we to this day have no idea how he managed to pass the applicaiton SAT), but at the same time he was an ingenious con artist. So where I got by simply because attending half the classes and putting in zero effort was enough for me to get passing grades, he got by on pure nerves, a hell of lot of effort put into cheating and simply talking teachers into giving him passing grades with some sob story he just cooked up, or flat out engaging them in conversation about anything but the question he was just asked so that they forgot about the topic and just gave him a passing grade. He was really charming and funny about it too. I remember he once gave a presentation in our history class. His topic was supposed to be the reasons for the mid 19th century unrests in Europe. He casually walked out, put on a single slide full of text and started reading the first paragraph out loud. Our history professor looked at him and went: "Did you even read the presentation you've copied? That paragraph was complete garbage." He just smiled confidently, and said: "Well then let's see if the next paragraph is any better, shall we?" That was such a funny situation it had the entire class in stiches, and the professor too, so she just said that he should go and look for a real presentation to copy and then redo it next time. For all intents and purposes he should have failed history, but he didn't. He put a little more effort into copying a presentation that was actually on topic later and got a passing grade out of it. Our school also runs a practice firm and a practice bank. We were supposed to spend two hours a week there, in years two and three (I think the current curriculum is either four hours a week in the second or third grade, not sure which one, but we were definitely the last class to do two hours for two years). Most of the time I just made sure to sit in the practice bank where I did all sorts of hilarious things (like making transactions disappear), and my teachers were happy enough to get me out of the regular practice firm because I kept being ridiculous. All the schools, including the one I went to, take this stuff really seriously. It's like serious business, you know, so nobody else really was into receiving bills that read payable in unmarked, non-sequential small denomination bank notes upon serviced rendered. I sure found it funny. To be honest, while it's admittedly a little childish, I still do. The guy that ran the practice bank, a real life banker with a side job as teacher, was more than happy to always have me sitting there because I easily got the workload done on my own and he could do whatever he did. Most of the time he was just gone. Guess he cooked up some money earning scheme or other, whatever bankers really do when they have free time, like getting high and posting confusing pro-fascist nonsense on the Obsidian forum. At least until the second semester of the third grade where the other teachers decided that other students also need to spend time doing practice banking. So, first time in the semester I showed up. We sabotaged the network before the class started so we couldn't really get any work done. For the rest of the semester, the guy I'm talking about, another friend of mine from my school days and myself went to practice field sales at the McDonalds next to the school for two hours. Every week. EVERY week. Wait, I need to mention some other detail now. Our student groups (called "class" here, which makes this a little confusing to talk about) at the time - this were the mid 90ies after all - had what was called a class registry. A small book where each teacher would note missing students, special circumstances or events and the topics of the classes prior to the lessons beginning. For the entire semester, the class registry would interestingly enough go missing for the two hours that we were supposed to be in the practice firm. Should the registry be unavailable, a provisional replacement must be used. In other words, just a piece of paper that the administrator of our "class" is supposed to copy into the proper registry. Since the practice firm offce rooms were on the other end of the school, and it took a couple of minutes to walk from one end to the other, nobody went back to look for the registry. It was always presumed to be forgotten in the classroom. It happens. The book usually stays in the classroom that you get assigned in the beginning of the year, unless your upcoming classes are taking place somewhere else (programming lessons always were in computer rooms, obviously, and the practice firm had its own offices). As luck would have it, the provisional register also had a tendency to disappear, right around the time when the real one was brought back from the McD's. Fast forward to the end of the year, we get our grades. The field sales force actually gets a passing grade, but just barely. Why? Well because we apparently always were present in the classes, but never stood out, neither negatively nor positively. Having never drawn attention in some way, the teachers presumed we did what was asked of us, but without applying ourselves or giving it any effort. The very definition of "passing" you see. Yep. Oh boy, some of the other guys in class who had received a failing grade but were always around and even spent some effort (but just couldn't hack it for some reason) were really mad. They went to complain, but nothing came of it. Heck, our administrative teacher, who was... nothing else but the P.E. guy (and someone who always skipped classes whenver he could, as he told us), even told them that they've just learned a valuable life lesson: Sometimes it is just better to cruise under the radar. Anyway, back to the story. I've told this one before, in a more compressed form, on the Interplay forum. The posters there took a somewhat dim view on cheaters and asked me how I can be okay with the guy having the same diploma that I have. The answer is really simple: He deserves it. Honestly, if you can fake it well enough to make it through a school that washes out what amounts to 99% of people that apply, then... dammit, that is some impressive bullsh*tting skill and should be properly honored. TL;DR: There's no reason Usagi couldn't have BS'ed her way through school. I've seen it happen in a much more competitive setting than a regular public junior high school. @KaineParker I sure will, but I'm not entirely certain how much free time I'll have in the upcoming weeks to sneak an episode or two of either JoJo's or Steven Universe in. I'm currently stuck in a business acceptance test that is about to finish, and unless the other parties involved find something that went wrong on their end it's going to be release time soon, and this one is not going to be pretty. In the show maybe. Manga Usagi becomes pregnant with Chibi-Usa at the age of 22, right around the time when the Crystal Palace is being built and she finally marries Mamoru. So that's some six years after the events of Stars.

iCloud allegedly locked out a user over her last name Actor and author Rachel True reportedly added, "When I get a dog I'm naming it Boolean Bobby Drop Tables True".

Well, of course I did - it goes without saying that being turned into a giant tennis ball was obviously a highly traumatic yet meaningful experience critical to the growth of Usagi's character. Indeed, her turning into a giant tennis ball was really symbolic of the fact that she lacked her own agency early on in the show, not really having a clue what she was doing or was supposed to be doing and instead being entirely subject to the fortunes of deadly situations that were completely out of her control, while the greater players and shadowy puppet masters made her and the other Sailor Guardians dance along to their every whim...like a tennis ball being hit back and forth on a tennis court. It's quite profound, really. (e): In fact, I'd really say that it tells you a lot about Crystal that they wouldn't have the courage - nay, the GUMPTION - to turn its protagonist into a giant tennis ball like the original show did. It's all "Mamo" this, and "Usako" that - it's actually rather pathetic. How could they have so completely failed to identify what was truly important and made the original show work?

You guys probably know this by heart already but an Assassin/Cipher with Thunderous Report can really milk the Infinite Deltro Lash to one-shot essentially every non-boss opponent in an AoE. On the screenshot below I only had a 115% Deltro lash. In this case, Thunderous Report can reach ACC=183 and PEN=33 on Crit and of course ridiculous DMG, which is nice for the Deltro lash. Then you have the Everything and Anything lash from Kitchen Stove and the Biting Whip lash. Your one-shot automatically triggers invisibility from Slippers of the Assassin. Of course it's not an Ultimate-friendly build, but it's fun!

@BartimaeusThat's rough man. But at least you discovered an ambidextrous talent and got to enjoy the wonders of animation. @majesticYeah, like the episodes aren't necessarily bad in themselves (aside from the subtexts you can read in about sexual assault and pedophilia/beastiality, in which case OH NO) but in context to the last three seasons I just watched it's not good. I actually think having long-term writers can explain some of it if they decided or were instructed to go back to the tone of the earlier episodes and took that to jettison how the characters changed over the last three seasons. Another problem is that it feels like we're back to a(n even more) hyper focus on Usagi and Chibi-Usa with the other character sliding into the background.

Thanks, that validates my feeling about SuperS and that episode in particular perfectly. It's what I mean by shapeshifting aliens replaced all the characters, and/or the writers, because the writer of that episode had been on board since season one. It's even worse because earlier in the season, in the episode with the giant beach ball monster, Usagi isn't at all worried about the things she's going nuts over in the ninja one, even though she has much more reason to. Alternate dimensions don't bother me too much though. I guess I don't see it as invalidation of the "prime" universe. SG-1 had a version like that where a device called a quantum mirror was used to travel between alternate universes, and most of the episodes were either goofy fun or touching character explorations (and a way for otherwise dead characters to rake some of that sweet guest star cash in). It does have the bad aftertaste of being used as a deus ex machina-ish way to warn the prime universe that a major threat is incoming, but it's not like season one was really great anyway. Time travel, while I like it, is something best left out in your setting, unless it's a movie and is the only point. When it is good it's a nice exploration of whatever issue you want to highlight, when it's bad you get Star Trek: Enterprise's temporal cold war situation. So either use it lightly, or just go all out goofy with it, like in Doctor Who. It's okay in Sailor Moon, but not really good. And lastly, @Bartimaeus, that's some tough crap, but I'm glad that you found a way to make it somewhat workable. While I can't even begin to imagine losing control of my hands, I can see first hand how frightening that is. I mentioned it in one of the other threads before, my mother has Parkinson's, and it mostly affects her right hand. It's heartbreaking enough to see, can't imagine how terrible that must be to experience when things that used to be a matter of course in your life suddenly start to become problematic or impossible. Not that it helps you any, but I can relate to the problems with falling asleep. They're not caused by physical pain in my case, but they've always been there. My focus on entertainment waves back and forth. There are times like now where almost all my free time is spent on watching TV or films, then there are times where all I do is play games, and times where all I do is read books. It's never really a mix though, and a focus period can go for years at a time. Interestingly enough reading fiction for entertainment is the newest of these. It wasn't until I was in my late teens and early 20ies that I started to do that (did read a lot of non-fiction though).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/241620/Inquisitor/ Yesterday I finished Inquisitor, I spent about 200 hours playing this game and it provided a thoroughly entertaining RPG experience I recommend it but with some caveats, firstly the basic RPG mechanics, like party AI, and combat can be frustrating but from about level 35 as a priest you get access to effective combat spells which helps Also its definitely "hardcore " old school with no hand holding so dont play this game if you expecting an easy experience. For example on the various maps their are no beeping dots or marked areas where people and dungeons are so you need to explore to find critical quest related people But the narrative is really compelling and you can literally decide to be evil and serve the dark angels and decide to rule the world under eternal darkness if you want. Of course I chose the side of the good guys and defeated the demonic armies and their followers Their are also a myriad of quests and some of them have nothing to do with the main quest and that is always appreciated so you motivated to explore various places outside what you have to explore I give it a solid 68/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC gaming rating system "

I can take it in some interpretations (like Sailor Moon, Star Trek, and JoJo, all of which have very different instances yet work better than cape****'s 10000000000 universes that are mostly just **** in gaudy costumes) but generally the whole alternative universe/timeline thing is just dumb. That really sucks to hear about the chronic pain man. I don't have anything like that but frequent bouts of depression prevent me from really playing games like I used to, but I can usually watch **** so there you go. Most anime isn't good, but really we can apply the same to most movies, TV, games, or whatever. I just don't have patience for stuff I don't like anymore. Following what @majestic asked earlier, the most recent episode of Sailor Moon I watched, the ninja one, really captures my feelings so far about Super S. The gags are funny, but watching reheated relationship drama that was already resolved at least one season ago is just ****ing dumb. It doesn't add anything and just makes the show worse. At times I wish it was just ****ing awful so I could walk away, but the good bits and investment from the previous seasons keep me roped in.

Well, isn't that convenient? In regards to the "the original show was on the edge of a knife": it really is crazy how some stuff happens totally as a product of lucky happenstance - or the opposite, completely fails because of it. Pour one out for all the millions of great ideas, whether in entertainment or science or anything else, that people have had that didn't turn out because of some absolute random garbage happening that made it fail or be not even given a chance to happen at all. Sailor Moon made it for the most part, but was effectively the weird amalgamation of ideas, compromises, and redesigns between a pile of different people. Sometimes collaboration and compromises between different creative minds, particularly ones that would otherwise be limited in their particular fields of vision (e.g. Naoko Takeuchi), can be surprisingly better than just one person being given the reins. X-Files: I've seen all of the first season, and a bit of the later seasons (including the not so good 7, 8, and 9 seasons). My mom was a fan...up to a point, so I saw a lot of it. There were some absolutely great episodes that I still have fond memories of...but on the whole, when I sat down and watched the entirety of season 1 some years back, I found that this was the type of show that while it would have good episodes, it would also bore me to death half of the time. I've always said that I experience the negative parts of entertainment a lot more strongly than I enjoy the positive parts, and so I have a very tough time sticking with shows with a more rocky up-and-down nature like that. A little inconsistency is one thing, but that was unfortunately too much for me to stick with.

How have you changed as a person as a result of watching Sailor Moon Crystal, @majestic? Any new grand insights on life to share with the rest of us? I've belatedly realized that majestic actually mentioned Star Wars in his previous post by way of the "Abeloth", so that wasn't what you meant. Whoops! In my defense, I have no clue what any of the Star Wars or Marvel-related crap you guys are/were talking about is, so my brain probably just ignored it.

Hello. Hm... About for Brilliant itself. The was a lot of suggestions, and a lot more brainstorms between me, Max and Elric – then i've tried to make various adjustments and test. It was hell of a time – basically i've tried everything, every aaproach. And for now CP stops at this variant: 1. Spell tiers were divided according 3/6/9 tier scheme 2. Every tick now acting as separate status-effect with fixed duration in seconds (3, 9, 15 etc.) and can be programmed individually. 3. Characters receives 1 resource at the end of each effect timer, according this scheme BRILLIANT INDIVIDUAL TICKS MANAGEMENT Tick time (sec.) Spell tier (up to) Alt. version 3 3 9 6 15 9 21 3 27 6 33 9 39 3 45 6 51 9 57 3 4. No "initial" tick. 5. Brilliant maximum duration is limited by 57 sec. and cannot be prolonged by any spell (even non modified): +N% Beneficial Effect Duration and +N seconds Beneficial Effect Duration (SoT) have no effect. 6. Reactivating Brilliant with Tactician practically makes no sense: you'll receive 1 up to T3 resource on second 3 >>> then reengage cooldown ~2 sec >>> then you receive another 1 up to T3 resource on second 3 = 2 up to T3 resources in 8 sec. While if you keeping Brilliant active all the time, you'll receive 1 up to T3 and one up to T6 resources in 9 sec. 7. Ancestor's Memory base duration has been adjusted from 12 to 15 sec to cover one full cycle of Tier 3-6-9 spells. I post link to download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wTjd-0-GFmf5BqgKBW0CmaVYU4ObWVOH/view?usp=sharing You can put this file in CP Basic/Extra or whatever mod folder to make it work. When effect is working you'll see a combat tooltip on character icon's right side, with each every next tick countdown (this is for info and test purposes). This is not final version anyway – as i said, each tick duration and Spell Tier can be adjusted (we can simulate even a random distribution). We just want to get your feedback, based on this version, based on real usage in various game situations. We also working on DBB, Unbending and WoD exploites and, in the end, want to check how all system, all adjustments, will work in complex. And last: this adjustment not belongs only to me – @MaxQuest@Elric Galad and @Boeroer (sorry for me being so rude sometimes), and others – all gives a big part (especially Max with his mathematics). We all must find the solution to implement this Brilliant Goddamned effect properly. Cheers!

I have to admit, that review is kind of selling me on QG as well. I've been looking for a replacement for Dark for a while. Closest was Discovery S3, but while that certainly was depressing it wasn't so in the right way.

[CLASS BUILD] Vorpal, The Quiet Executioner – Assassin Devoted with Amra 2H Axe - Solo PotD Class: Assassin/Devoted (technically Amra gives you 2 Barbarian-like abilities that will proc in almost every fight, so this is more an Assassin/Devoted/Mini-Barb!) Concept: Very synergistic mix of stealth and melee dealing high damage and CC to multiple targets. Can be crudely summarized in 6 words: Clear Out With Amra From Stealth. This is a No-Rest build. Game Version: RTwP. Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying). PotD Solo Viable: Yes. However be advised that you will NOT be able to best Hauani o Whe… at least not without a lot of tedium and RNG luck involved. Not that it really matters to this build anyway. Companion: Nope (meant to be played solo by definition). Maybe Edér could approximate but he would be noticeably weaker. As always, this is going to be a somewhat long post so please bear with me. I’ll explain briefly why I think this toon is interesting, go over the specs and key abilities, and detail some useful strategies throughout the game. -----INTRO------ I won’t bore you with my long thought process on trying to build a strong solo melee MC Assassin, but I’ll just explain why I ultimately landed with this one and why I find it interesting enough to share with the community: It is one of a few melee glass cannon builds that is viable to play solo on PotD. Also one of a few strong MC Assassin combinations that is neither a ranged weapon user nor a spellcaster. It makes optimal use of the 2-handed Axe Amra, which is a super cool weapon obtainable very early, but that can be somewhat hard to build around effectively. It is very synergistic: the end result is noticeably stronger than the sum of its parts. You start with a typical Fighter/Thief archetype, but you end up with a cloaked meat grinder from Hel. It has a very fun playstyle, feeling both very dynamic and powerful. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll have very few reloads. Tearing groups of enemies apart with a well-placed Clear Out leaving sturdy opponents prone with half their health missing while you turn invisible for a second round is some of the most fun I’ve had in melee with this game. Before going through the specs, I’ll just mention a couple more things: Devoted is optimal here in combination with Assassin + Amra and other items because together they concentrate a lot of goodies that are important to this build: on one hand piling up a ton of Accuracy, (Crit) Damage, Penetration and Sneak Attack/Deathblows-enabling Afflictions to kill very fast and on the other hand having Invisibility, Crowd Control and lots of passive Healing to stay alive. The downsides are almost nonexistent because: you can still use other weapons with pretty good accuracy if needed, there are very few enemies strictly immune to Slash DMG and you can punch through virtually any Slash AR. Plus as a backup before getting Amra, Devoted bonuses also apply to your fists (hello Monastic Unarmed Training). It has been said before but for those who are wondering: Assassin builds can somewhat counter-intuitively benefit more from a high DMG 2-hander than from dual-wielding, even if most of their offensive abilities are full attacks - and this build is another one to prove it. This is mostly because of stealth and recovery mechanics and how they work with initiating combat, but also because in our case we will use a lot a certain Fighter ability (Clear Out) that is a primary attack anyway. -----SPECS------ Race: Aumaua (Coastal probably optimal, doesn’t matter too much) Background: The White that Wends – Hunter FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs): MIG 30 (18 Base +2 Aumaua +2 Berath +1 Gift from Machine +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Hot Razor Skewers +2 Woedica’s Strangling’s Grasp +1 Chameleon’s Touch) CON 10 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Konstanten Boon +1 Upright Captain’s Belt) DEX 23 (16 Base +1 Chameleon’s Touch +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Guile +2 Amira’s Blessing PER 28 (18 Base +1 White that Wends +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +1 Effigy: Sagani +2 Alchemic Guile +1 Savage Cunning +1 Cauldron Brew +1 Ajamuut) INT 24 (17 Base +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Charm of Bones) RES 11 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Nature’s Resolve +2 Rikuhu’s Blessing) ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS: Food: Hot Razor Skewers Adratic Glow All Trainings Dawnstar Blessing Luminous Adra Potion Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy) Savage Cunning (Survival) Galawain’s Gift x3 (Acc. against beasts) Infamous Captain, Bonus Skills, Champion Stats, Port Maje vendor, Fully discovered Map, Bonus Money… invested all 105 Berath’s Blessing Points SKILLS This time counting all the bonuses and items I invested to have 13 Athletics, 13 Mechanics, 12 Stealth, 12 Diplomacy, 18 Survival, base + bonuses on others). Temporary focus on Arcana as needed to steamroll certain big end-game DLC fights. ----- ABILITIES ------ ASSASSIN (+GENERAL) Crippling Strike, Backstab, Fast Runner, Smoke Veil, Blinding Strike, Dirty Fighting, Two Handed, Arterial Strike, Gouging Strike, Combat Focus, Persistent Distraction, Tough, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds, Improved Critical, Deathblows. DEVOTED Disciplined Barrage, Warrior Stance, Disciplined Strikes, Rapid Recovery, Weapon Specialization, Conquerer Stance, Unbending, Armored Grace, Clear Out, Unbending Trunk, Weapon Mastery. OPTIONAL/SITUATIONAL Until you get Amra, you should go Monastic Unarmed Training and 2 weapon style. The Rogue’s Deep Pocket is helpful if you temporarily switch to Arcana-heavy to remove a bump in the road with a barrage of scrolls. I will comment on those choices in Strategies further below. Note that I have tested a lot of the other passive/offensive abilities and none seemed to bring a lot of additional power or utility - happy to discuss though! -----GEAR------ Weapon Set 1: Amra! Mythic, Wanton Gore, Tempered Fury. Weapon Set 2: Nothing critical here but I like to keep handy Oathbreaker’s End, Magran’s Favor, Slayer’s Claw, The Red Hand, Dragon’s Dowry... Head: Helm of the Falcon. Keep handy Acina’s Tricorn. Neck: Charm of Bones. Keep handy a couple Fireball Necklaces for fun with Boeroer’s stacking trick. Chest: Devil of Caroc! Mythic, Heart of Bronze, Devil’s Due. With permabuffs, it gives us 12 Guile & Discipline / Encounter. Cape: Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak! Gloves: Woedica’s Strangling Grasp. Keep Burglar’s Gloves and Firethrower’s gloves handy. Ring 1: Chameleon’s Touch. Keep handy Ring of Focused Flames. Ring 2: Ring of Prosperity’s Fortune. Keep handy Ring of the Marksman (keep Kuaru’s prize handy) Boots: Slippers of the Assassin! Keep handy Rakhan Field’s Boots for fun, and Sandals of the Water Lily. Belt: Upright Captain’s Belt Pet: Abraham. Keep Eviee handy. Potions: Invisibility, Ryngrim’s Repulsive Visage (this potion is always amazing in tough fights if your enemies are vulnerable to RES afflictions), Ascension, Healing. -----GENERAL STRATEGIES------ The general strategy until you start fully solidifying this build is to use Rogue abilities to focus down targets one at a time, and reset the fight as appropriate with Smoke Veil. Do not keep the fight up for too long at a time. At the beginning, you will use your fists, which are surprisingly effective and will carry you well into level 12-13. Buy all the nice stuff in Port Maje, the Necklace of Fireballs from the optional vendor in particular can be nice to quickly dispatch the drake and its buddies at the Digsite and save some time. You can go to Gorecci street at level 4+ and punch everybody to death, which is nice. After Port Maje, you can start getting a lot of levels under your belt quickly, while starting to pick a lot of the items and permabuffs that will enhance your combat abilities. Pick Amra when you want to go to Dunnage, there’s no rush. At this point already, you can virtually kill anything with Gouging Strike if you take your time. The Slippers of the Assassin are a great early add for a free invisibility once per fight. Helm of the Falcon + Abraham + DoC breastplate + Armored Grace is going to put your recovery in a really sweet spot. From an item point of view, Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak is really a big upgrade when you get it (increased ACC, DMG + free Stun on hit from Stealth/Invisibility). Things start to be really strong when you get Clear Out. Then of course Deathblows with Persistent Distraction/Clear Out and Unbending Trunk when needed will drastically improve your combat potential. Let’s discuss some cornerstones of the build: AMRA: what a beauty. Very high base DMG and PEN, bonus crit DMG, a situationally nice weapon modal when you want to boost your DoT, a no-drawback Frenzy proc that puts our MIG to the max of 35, a Carnage-like proc that can seriously boost your DMG output on all enemies around… In practice, those procs will always trigger in serious fights. The build is entirely well, built around this weapon. SMOKE VEIL: Absolutely crucial of course. Can be used to run away and reset a fight, or more honorably to ignore incoming attacks, deaggro enemies and prepare your next devastating attack. ARTERIAL STRIKE AND GOUGING STRIKE: The bread and butter of most Rogues, these abilities are useful from beginning to end. Arterial Strike is really nice when you can make the enemy run around or chase you without taking nasty disengagement attacks. Potions of Ryngrim’s Repulsive Visage and Clear Out will be helpful for that, and of course you can create a horrible DoT-fest between Arterial Strike, Gouging Strikes, Deep Wounds, Bleeding Cuts… Gouging Strike is cheesy but so powerful of course. It can simplify a lot of fights and help you effortlessly farm Mythical Adra Stones with Dorudugan and Belranga. DISCIPLINED STRIKES: Disciplined Strikes and other Hit-To-Crit modifiers can get you to serious conversion rates, to complement your already high ACC. This is key to maximize because a lot of our crazy DMG bonuses are On-Crit. With Disciplined Strikes, Dirty Fighting, Uncanny Luck and Prosperity’s Fortune, you can get to almost 50% Hit-to-Crit conversion, and up to 61% with a potion of Perfect Aim on top. [1-(1-0.25)*(1-0.25)*(1-0.15)*(1-0.1)*(1-0.1) = 61%] CLEAR OUT: I could write a poem about this ability. A weapon ability that hits in AOE is always great. If it pushes and inflict prone on top, even better. Clear Out actually hits enemies twice with damage for some reason unknown to me, which bumps it up a tier. I think there are a couple funky things happening with those double hits in terms of the interactions with Sneak Attack, Deathblows, Assassinate and Backstab (the Raw DMG lash version from the Community Patch) but the bottom line is that in almost all situations you are going to hit like a truck. DMG per target will very often be in the 200-300 range, and you can of course prone-lock opponents. Now this ability is supposed to be balanced by the fact that it targets FORT, which is usually the highest defense on PotD. But we can reach an ACC of 173 from invisibility and a high Hit-to-Crit conversion rate so… yes, this ability is insanely powerful with this build. Clear Out alone with a few Smoke Veils can win a surprisingly large amount of harder fights. UNBENDING TRUNK: With such high MIG and Dawnstar’s Blessing, your healing is so high that this ability becomes essentially a “Cannot Die” effect for as long as it’s up. As simple as that. -----THE END------ Always happy to read your thoughts and potential for improvement! If like me you’ve ever wondered what would happen if we gave a giant battle axe to The Predator and dropped him on Eora, then I think you may have fun with this toon!

What if someone else starts watching tho? I think he'll beat me, I'm having to slow down because I'm too tired after work to watch more than 1 a day.

I'm leaving rewatching it for next year, the 30th anniversary of the show. It was one of my all time favorites and I always wanted to do it and see all the (would be) famous "cameos". I have to agree with you here. Some students have "different" skills. As for Usagi, maybe she used her magic pen and changed her grades while looking like the principal. In S she is already looking more childish. So it gets worse?

40 minutes to midnight, and I'm sitting here pushing some code for an unplanned quick release necessitated by one of our branches and a customer simply starting with a new business process that we discussed where I asked them for a week's notice to set everything up. I mean technically they gave me a week. Like "hey we started last week and this doesn't really work, what's the deal?"

I don't even know why I just watched a 4 minutes video listing minimum and maximum specs for a game, that I already know won't sweat my rig. Also I don't know how it took them 4 minutes.

how lame

Yes, that's pretty much what apparently happened. I've read that Toei wanted the show re-tooled/soft rebooted to recapture the tone of its earlier/earliest episodes, to stay relevant for new kids tuning in mostly. The show ran for three years at the time, so the old target audience that started watching became older and Toei thought it would be better to drop them and go back to find an entirely new audience. That worked so well that the last of the old writers and directors left over SuperS. Reading that they left over creative differences really just all but confirms the theory of studio interference. A strange juxtaposition to the manga, where the crazy in the earlier arcs and chapters was reined in by editors and Toei gave the showrunners more leeway to do their own thing (like the girls dying heroically in battle, rather than just keel over to transfer their energy to Usagi like they do in the manga), and the more time passed the crazier the source material was allowed to become and the tighter controlled the anime got. I put potentially spoilery things into the spoiler. It doesn't contain much, but anyway. Final question for today guys, did you think we'd be sitting here discussing the finer points of Usagi's character growth and how SuperS regresses her character in favor of having more childlike humor (childish at times even) when you saw her getting stuck in a giant tennis ball in episode 14?

So I was playing more Troubleshooter. @melkathiI finally played Scent of the Past, and my initial pick was Irene. Of course, then I went back and played all the other ones (I'm curious if it's possible to beat Anne as Adventurer Dorori) because there are masteries and what not you get from doing so (I didn't expect the different characters paths to be so different, though.) Hadn't been in the mood for something that takes quite so much attention the past couple weeks, which is why I hadn't played more earlier.

I see. Yeah ok I will try to add some more flame material in the bottom left of the Arcane Archer icon so the arrow will be more centered. Will take me a bit because my sister is visiting atm.

I love Sushi and I remember the first time I ate Sushi was also during that "gastronomic epiphany " time period about 15-20 years ago when I first move to JHB We went to this well know Japanese theme restaurant called " Codfathers " , I ordered a plate of sushi for the first time and even though I didnt know how to use the chopsticks I enjoyed my first taste. I didnt know what the purpose and etiquette of the ginger, soy sauce and wasabi was and I assumed the wasabi was a dipping sauce of some kind. So I smothered one piece of sushi and put it in my mouth .... It was the hottest and most uncomfortable experience, at the time, of my life. My nose started running uncontrollably and I literally rushed to the toilet to try to cool myself down. But I learnt my lesson....wasabi is not quite like barbeque sauce that you smother your food with

TNG Cause and Effect Fun Time Loop story (think Groundhog Day before that movie came out.) Weird to see Kelsey Grammar in such a bit part, and the episode doesn't seem to have an end so much as just stops.

lmao I used to be a fan of Marvel comics (hell, my username on this site is from a superhero comic I was reading at the time oh my god I have been on here a long time) but I really soured on superheroes and a lot of stuff over the last few years*. I can remember some stuff, notably those stupid ****ing universes have an assload of alternate timelines and ****, but I don't care and can't be assed to watch them. Really though cape**** is like most porn, once you've seen a bit you've pretty much seen it all. *This coincided with me getting back into anime, watching more movies, and reading more nonfiction

Are you psychic, how did you know I was typing up a storm just right now? edit: I also just realized that I barely touched on the production value aspects of the show, but I don't think there's anything left to be said. It looks terrible, it's animated terribly and evn the upgraded third season doesn't change that too much.

Found first crazy hard mission for the first time in Druidstone. Took me more than two and half hours, and the last two enemies were defeatd with the last living character with 3 HP left Thankfully she is archer, so I was able to outrun their movement long enough to finish them off

Microsoft Exchange hacked, by China this time. Might be time for the big US corps to upgrade their protection from McAfee, and the NSA to deprioritise dragnetting gran's chain emails and funny cat videos for some industrial espionage prevention?

I imagine it will be used a very great deal, at userbenchmark.

I think this is an awesome idea. We should all stop using that name. That dude would be best forgotten

Biden administration supports congressional war Powers reform I never thought I would say this but hats off to the Biden ministration and the Democrats in Congress. This is much needed and long-overdue. So far I have been neither impressed nor upset at anything the Biden admin has done. They have been very predictable. And that’s a good thing. But this is big because this is a president indicating they are willing to give up Executive power. Granted it’s power the executive should not have been granted but the fact that he’s OK to go along with it says a lot. Makes me happy.

You must finish the journey you have started, you just need to complete DA:I. This is all about gaming integrity and commitment and I have every confidence you can do it

in Greece it would be "problem -> voting -> PROBLEM -> voting -> PROBLEM"

you could also add dyes in general so you could dye armor or paint your base rather than just the ziplines

@FostahBoss, sorry mate, I couldn't resist!

I hope so too! It'll be fine (for me) if they don't add it in. I can play with the legs on (not all 8 tho), I just have to stop for a moment and let the feeling that spiders are crawling all over me go away.

re: chanters in TB. My first completed TB run had my watcher as a MC Skald/Bleak Walker, and I had no issues at all with phrase generation. Admitted, that could have been due to the MC combo, as I was DWing in melee, and using chants like Thrice She Was Wronged as insta cast, point blank AoE. I didn't try any summomings as that was not her role in the group. My core party was my MC, Barb Serafen, Druid Tekehu, and 2 Geomancers, Maia and a hired adventurer, which also gave me two pets, so I didn't feel the need for chanter summons. I found Skald to be very powerful in TB. I would imagine a summoner chanter, or a caster chanter, would be equally powerful, but I haven't played one yet in TB, so I can't be 100% sure. I suspect that the passive chants might be slightly weaker, due to what I think is slightly less linger, but the invocations were not weak in any way.

How about an interstellar post-apocalyptic setting in which the habitable planets of the galactic empire have been turned to rubble by giant death machines? That would save the developers the trouble of building world settings; instead it's all bases built from surviving freighters, outposts, recycled spacecraft, and other relics. Your job is to help rebuild a federation of new colonies, while destroying the last of the death machines.

Coalition and all those studios stuck working on the next FIFA, NBA, NHL games? But, yes. Most studios will want to work on multiple different IPs. While working on FIFA games might give you a guaranteed paycheck each month, any creative type will get sick and tired of doing the same stuff all over again. Feargus even commented on this on the gameindustry.biz interview, and how he wants to be able to shift his workforce from larger projects to smaller projects and vice versa. I think they are well aware that if you have someone working on same kinda games or the same IP for years, at some point that person will jump ship and go work for someone else. When you give those same workers different opportunities from larger scale games set in different IPs and worlds and the smaller projects where they have more of say on the outcome, those workers will stay longer.