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That iBuyPower system is like buying a 5-to-7 year old upper-midrange machine today, realistically, never mind that the parts themselves are two generations old at this point. Actually it'd perform almost the same as my old 6700K + 290X system from circa 2015 that I just retired. I'd be aiming a bit higher, especially since you'll have no upgrade path with this and have a stated desire for it to last five years. I'd aim for something like this as a baseline of a value build: CPU: Ryzen 5600 (non-X) or Intel i5 12400F Motherboard: B550 for AMD and B660 for Intel RAM: 2x8GB DDR4 3200MHz CL16 (or 3600MHz CL18, almost identical performance) Video: RX 6600 Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD or some kind PSU: 550-650W is more than plenty Case to taste Tossed together a sample PCPartPicker list using only Amazon and Newegg parts because I don't know other US stores. Tried to choose parts that are from brands with wide distribution and which should be available at most stores though. PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($138.99 @ Newegg) Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Amazon) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Western Digital Blue SN570 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($79.14 @ Amazon) Video Card: Asus DUAL Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg) Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($97.49 @ Amazon) Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg) Total: $766.58 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-28 22:32 EDT-0400 Case is a bit overkill and oversized, because the microATX case market is pretty boring. Swap in a Cooler Master NR400 or Silverstone PS15 if you want to cut back there. A third-party CPU cooler is optional but grabbing a budget one like a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 or GTE is a good idea.

I'm just about to buy tickets for a friend and I for a Halestorm concert in early February next year. We've seen them once before in Australia. That was just before Covid struck, so the last concert for quite a while any of us went to. Looking forward to pick up on regular concert/musical/theater etc. going again.

I started up my Volvo 240 today for the first time in 1.5 years. There was a bit of moisture in the distributor cap and I had to fill up the water, but it started immediately. It didn't even hesitate Best. Car. Ever.

I played around with Bestware's configurator, but the share link it offered just goes back to the default configuration. Not that it makes much of a difference, I can't get a decent system to not go way above Hurlshot's price range even when making (nigh unaccaptable) tradeoffs on the SSDs, memory, the entire platform and the PSU. Ah, I also don't know if they ship overseas, and even if they do, that would add unreasonable shipping costs. Guess this post as very little helpful content. Newegg has - or at least had - bundles in their shop with incompatible hardware, like bundling DDR5 only mainboards with DDR4 RAM. Good job. Given the price and the curious lack of any brand names on the specs, I'd say this cheaped out on everything possible. Not that it is saying much, my parents had two of these cheapo prebuilt computers, and they worked and worked and worked and worked and never died. The last one actually lasted almost 10 years. Was still a third generation i3 doing its job (more or less, since my father picked up video editing as a hobby that proved to be a little bit of a downer - not much of a surprise, huh?). edit: link seems to work. Some modifications above baseline, especially for the SSD, just click on "configurator" to see the changes.

https://www.inet.se/kundvagn/visa/hJAJAWeOPW4vHapPmQHVTxY9_3U/dear-god

Always the biggest concern with prebuilts: cheaping out on the power supply, which later kills the system when it inevitably goes. From what I can see, this particular model advertises a "600W GOLD" PSU, which is...better than saying nothing, but there are still bad gold-rated PSUs out there. Didn't see anybody say what came with theirs when I looked up the model, though.

Halloween costume:

Finished Scorn, well, aside from the branching path The game really does have a very SOMA feel, gameplay wise, and honestly, removing combat wouldn't have been that detrimental to the experience. That said, do not expect the game to be anywhere near as good as SOMA. I feel like having the choice of fighting is probably more of a commentary on how we, humans, interact with anything when given tools. That being, our default instinct is to use the hammer we've been given to hammer in every nail, screw, and bolt we see, rather than considering alternatives. Feels a bit like an inverse Divinity: Original Sin, where in the former it just drives home how non-interactive most games are by giving us options we won't even consider since we're so conditioned by "mainstream" games being so...restrictive, while Scorn in a sort of similar vein makes fun of our tendency to assume any tool we are given must be used, because that's how we are conditioned. "Surely if they give me a gun, they intend for me to shoot things?" Personally I thought Scorn was a decent game, the atmosphere was great, the environmental storytelling was pretty decent (I got the gist of what was going on, at least). The puzzles are good, not too easy, not too frustrating, at least for me (well, except one, that I knew how to solve, since it was just a harder version of an earlier one, but I just couldn't be bothered). That said, I'm not a puzzle guru, so those among us that eat puzzle games for breakfast will likely think them trivial. Level design is pretty great. Most levels are like a giant puzzle, and that is kind of a neat idea. Unfortunately the level wide puzzles are rather restrictive, so just interacting with everything will eventually get you where you need to be. There's also enough variation in enemy density between levels that dealing with enemies didn't start feeling like a chore. Combat was functional. Some more details in the spoiler box, no real story spoilers, but some combat/enemy related ones. As for a conclusion, I'm not sure if it's worth the full asking price, maybe if they hadn't cut those two entire chapters, but the game, imho, isn't deserving of the hate it's getting. If you go in with the right, or no, expectations it's a rather good, but short-ish (took me 6.9hours according to Steam, but my actual playtime is probably a bit shorter), horror game. I'd probably score it a 6/10 or so, worth picking up on a sale, if you're into these types of games.

For instance: Upper Grasslands 8/10 molars. Hedge 7/8 molars. Like to help narrow down where molars are in each section like what you did with notes & tapes.

Hi, this is my first post in this forum. I'm an italian CPRG gamer since Ultima, Eye Of The Beholder, Baldur's Gate and so on. I've been playing POE1 since 2020 and now I wanna share a build that I had fun with. I hope you enjoy it Fire Godlike Druid - The "Human Torch" "It is no important what to burn, the important is to burn something." (Lavaric motto) Name: Lavaric PoTD: YES (ver. 3.07-1318 LATEST) SOLO: YES (ver. 3.07-1318 LATEST) - All TCS achievements (bounties, dragons and so on, base game AND White March 1 and 2 expansions AND Radiant Spore). ULTIMATE: discouraged with "full fire offense" configuration (see below), possibly with alternative "defensive" talent choice configuration (see below) and maybe 1 or 2 retrains. Race: Godlike (+1 Dex, +1 Int) Subrace: Fire (Battle-Forged) Class: Druid (+1 Lore, +2 Survival) Culture: Deadfire Arcipelago (+1 Dex) Background: Explorer (1 Lore, 1 Survival) Spiritshift: Stag (+7 all defenses, stag carnage) --- Attributes Mig: 17 (19 with Galawain's Boon and Gift from The Machine) Con: 8 Dex: 18 (20 with Race and Culture bonuses) Per: 9 (10 with Sonf of the Heavens) Int: 17 (18 with Race bonus) Res: 6 (for attributes values choices, se "RPG and various tactic thoughts about this build" section below) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final skills score Stealth: 3 (5 with Blooded Hunter and Dungeon Delver) Athletics: 2 (3 with Galawain's Boon) Lore: 6 (8 with Druid and Explorer bonus) Mechanics: 9 (10 with Dungeon Delver) Survival: 5 (8 with Druid and Explorer bonus) Stealth can be higher if you wanna go stealth in the beginning, sacrifice Survival for that, then respec. Athletics could be higher only for script interactions, then respec. Lore 8 is for Confusion and Paralysis scroll, with a +2 bonus you can have Maelstrom, for Lagufaeths add another +2 bonus from rest and you have Scroll of Prayer Against Imprisonment. Mechanics high for items rescue. Survival 8 is to achieve precision bonus +15 vs creatures (with a simple +2 bonus from item/armor) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bonus Spells Sunbeam (fire and blind, very good) Burst of Summer Flame (good fire damage) Firebrand* Boiling Spray (not the best 4th level spell, but burn damage and good area. Push can help too) * Firebrand is a second level spell like Burst of Summer Flame; since in third level tier spell there are no fire-based spells, I get another fire-based spell from the second tier. Alternative bonus spells You can take another spells instead of Firebrand. For 3rd level spell you can choose "Returning Storm" (good with spiritshift and few foes), Spreading Plague (if you want land a Embrace the Earth-Talon after), Infestation of Maggots (very good for crowd damage), Stag's Horn or Beetle Shell for RPG purpose, Twin Stones (best offense and damaging 3rd level spell) or Nature's Balm (healing in middle game is good). For 4th level spell Boiling Spray could go, if you wanna go sturdy Form of the Delemgan is very good and you can cast it every battle, OR if you wanna go offensive Calling the World's Maw is probably the best 4th level spell from this point of you, Overwhelming Wave is a good alternative and Moonwell can be good if you didn't take Nature's Balm. Sunbeam is good for every Druid build and Burst of Summer Flame has a good base burn damage also in the beginning, I suggest to not replace these two choices. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talents Weapon Focus Peasant (for low precision of druid) Two Weapon Style Wildstrike Burn Scion of Flame (increase wildstrike, lash and fire spells damage) Greater Wildstrike Burn Outlander's Frenzy (very good upgrade for melee Stag Spiritshift) Quick Switch (good for change armor and cast more fireballs quicker) Beast Slayer (biggest and heaviest enemies are Dragons, so you can go for it) Alternative talent choices You can drop Quick Switch (not as usefull as other), Beast Slayer (situational) or Outlander's Frenzy (not a game changer) for more usefull ones. You can keep going "offensive" with 4th and 3rd (or 2nd, since 3rd level druid spells is no so good) bonus spells, Two-Handed Style if you wanna have fun with Firebrand, or Vulnerable Attack if you mange to get zero recovery speed. Otherwise you can go more sturdy with defensive talents like Weapon and Shield Style, Body Control and/or Unstoppable, or Bear's Fortitude (fortitude defense in SOLO is very important). Alternative way, pick some utility talents like deep pockets (I don't like it but it is very powerful), Fast Runner (fit weel with our PG) OR Arms Bearer (with quick switch) for a third fire based weapon (es. Curoc's Brand). and even more fireballs. Talent and ability achieved through the run (* talent you can pick up among other alternatives) The Merciless Hand* (more crits damage for spells, fireball and melee spiritshift damage - better than others) Gift from the Machine (Lavaric is not a Good or Evil PG, who cares to take this or not... so I take it) Song of the Heavens (more PER is always good and we don't take care of living beings so much...) Dungeon Delver* (crit bonus, stealth and mechanics, far better than the alternative!) Flick of the Wrist Dozens Luck Galawain's Boon* (RPG choice, the God more close to Magran is Galawain) Blooded Hunter (more stealth) Scale-Breaker For RPG purpose you can drop/switch somenthing or take a Effigy's Resentment bonus if you don't run for SOLO achievement, it doesn't change so much in power. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End game equipment NB. I "stuck" to true SOLO achievement and so I don't consider (99% times) equipment achieved with Caed Nua adventures. Weapon set 1: The Flames of Fair Rhîan (Legendary, Durgan-Refined, Burning Lash, Slaying (Beast)) + Aila Braccia (Legendary, Durgan-Reinforced) Weapon set 2: Abydon's Hammer Armor: The Golden Scales (Legendary, Durgan-Reinforced, Pierce-Proofed) Neck: Lost Periapt of the Winding Path (take car of lack of concentration, +2 resolve, ) Hands: Bracers of Spiritual Power (increase damage of our spells) Finger 1: Ring of Searing Flames (fire and fire again!) Finger 2: Iron Circle (for our low Con) Waist: Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer (with fire based PG this is MANDATORY) Feet: Boots of Speed (non fire boots, we go on quick trait of this PG) Pet: Tiny Beetle (think it like a "cardinal beetle", it is red and in Italy we call it "fire beetle" OR you can think it as a "european stag beetle" - we have Spiritshift Stag after all... ) Full fire-offensive alternative equipment Weapon set 1: The Flames of Fair Rhîan (Legendary, Durgan-Refined, Burning Lash, Slaying (Beast)) + Aila Braccia (Legendary, Durgan-Reinforced) Weapon set 2: Taluntain's Staff (Superb, Durgan-Refined, Burning Lash, Slaying (Kith)) Armor: Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath (3 more Sunbeam) Neck: Necklace of Fireballs (8 Fireballs) Hands: Bracers of Spiritual Power Finger 1: Ring of Searing Flames Finger 2: Ring of Overseeing (increase Fireball and other spells area) Waist: Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer Feet: Sandals of the Forgotten Friar (for blessing) OR something like Animancer's Boots or Echoing Misery for damage Pet: Concelhaut's Skull (the only offensive pet...) Alternative equipment (beginning, fire-proof monsters, situational, ecc.) Weapons: Abydon's Hammer (Vessels/Eyeless), Steadfast (Dragons), Greenstone Staff, Gyrd Háewanes Sténes, Hearth Harvest (or any hatchet in the beginning), Curoc's Brand (another fireball, burn damage and ranged), Durance's Staff (burn damage, you have to kill Durance however). Besides hatchet in the middle game you could try spears (i.e. Cladhalíath) but they aren't so much effective. I "tested" the double flail configruation with Starcaller and Unforgiven (they both have an additional 10% burning lash above the usual +25% burn lash you can put on) and other "fire" weapons such as Vent Pick and the Unlabored Blade, but they don't add much to the build (chances for spell bind to these weapons occurs very rarely) and at the end you'll go in one of this ways: - cast/spell for CC and nuke initially - melee with spiritshift for last two/three foes Weapons is useful for this build only for additional fireball they can cast, "freeing" quick slot for other items. Besides that, Druid in melee (or ranged) lack abilities and/or talents to be effective with usual weapons. You can take those for RPG purpose, paradoxically (or ironically) you can have two legendary torch, but torch itself have a natural +10% burn damage than cannot be improved with the usual +25% lash... what a pity. For RPG purpose or for fun, you can try Silver Flash as alpha strike with Blind and potentialy a Divine Mark (10%) with burn damage. Shields: Little Savior or any small shield in the beginning. In the end I prefer Aila Braccia because with Golden Scales and durgan enchant, you have another counter offensive item with the reflect ability, and looks better Armor: Durance's Robe, Äru-Brekr or Heldrik's Coat (in Act 2), Starlit Garb (versus spells), Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath (if you wanna more fire spells). Blackwarden's Breast is a must choice for Dragon fight. For RPG purpose you can take Autumn Fire (it looks also fine) or Wurmwull (if you do stronghold adventures), another possibility is Elryn's Jacket with eyestrike enchant. If you like red vests, Vengiatta Rugia or Rundl's Finery are fine. Beside that, end game this PG for me looks better (and works) also naked OR with a red/yellow Exceptional Robe (try yourself)... Now I'm thinking I'd have to try a legendary red/yellow Robe Rings: Ring of Overseeing (increase Fireball and other spells area), Bartender's Ring (vs. Vessels and Spirits), Ring of Changing Heart (alternative to Charm Beast), Ring of Deflection/Ring of Protection Neck: Necklace of Fireballs (for plenty of fireballs), Cape of the Master Mystic (+12 deflection, invisibility), Cloak of Protection, Mantle of the Excavator (for low Precision of Druids) Hands: Bracers of Deflection, Gauntlets of Accuracy, Rotfinger Gloves (very powerful in Act 2), Spirit Spiral (alternative to Charm Beast) Waist: Wildstrike Belt, Looped Rope, Belt of Bountiful Healing, or whatever fits till you get Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer Feet: Shod-in-Faith (a must in Act 2 till you become more sturdy), Boots of Stability or Boots of the Long March or Fenwalkers situational or if you have no any better Quick slot items You can go full fire and burn damage with scrolls of fireball, ray of fire, rolling flame, fan of flames, wall of flame and so on (not the best for SOLO though), beside that potions of Major Endurance is always good, like potions of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion and Llengrath's Displaced Image. Some items are situational (Scroll of Prayer Against Fear, Scroll of Prayer Against Treachery), some scrolls are very powerful and almost mandatory for an ultimate run (Scroll of Paralysis, Scroll of Confusion), I like for druid Scroll of Defense (good in spiritshift where we lack shield and protection item) and Scroll of Valor (with high Int they last more than potions and can "cover" our conjurings). I don't like Maelstrom, it is bugged with druid and often (especially with Relentless Storm active it doesn't fire ), by the way we have many and many fireballs and sometimes I find that Scroll of Missile Barrage can be very good with some kind of enemy (vessel or crush sensitive foe) and if we have to kill a boss or big monster. Figurines it's no so important with druid, but they can help for sure, above all in the first part of the game. ===================================================================================================================================================== RPG and various tactic thoughts about this build I took the idea to create a PG based on fire, aside some monk or barbarian builds still there, a kind of "Human Torch" like a Fire Godlike PG plenty of fire damage spells and fire attacks. I'm not a fan of the Human Torch hero, but he inspire me a bit (for quick traits above all) Wizard or Priest of Magran could fit that idea, but I like druids since the dawn of time, druids have good fire damage spells from the beginning and with scrool and equipmente they can provide for wizard spells like fireball, ray of fire, rolling flame, fan of flames, wall of flame and so on. Furthemore, druids have Wildstrike Burn talent in spiritshift, so the choose was easy for me. I wanted a quick and fast PG, so I maxed DEX and take some talents in that way (es. Quick Switch). If i wanna do a more powerful PG I'd max Mig and Int and raise Per instead. I don't like PG with min values, so Con and Res are not at minimum. I like average Con for good/high Fortitude value also. So I take Deadfire Archipelago as Culture for Dex attribute bonus and because Godlike can born almost anywhere, a Fire godlike in DeadFIRE Arcipelago seems good to me and in that region godlike are appreciated, so it's ok also for PRG point of view. Explorer is good for point in survival and lore and because I imagine this PG born alone with the desire to spread along the world and leave behind him a slipstream of... FIRE, obviously. Maybe he is a descendant of a noble family, abandoned new born because he is a Godlike, maybe he kwnows that and want revenge, maybe he changed his name dropping the first part keeping the last (-ric) and we can suppose who can be is brother with the same name suffix... who knows I choose Stag spiritshift beacause i am tired of all cat and boar out there, and because Druid have the spell "Fire Stag", so it fits well. Moreover, +7 all defenses it's not so bad, after all. This PG can kill the enemy with casts (spell, weapons/equipment abilities and quick slot items) AND spiritshift damage. I just tell that alternative weapons besides spiritshift don't work well for druid, see above. The tatticts middle and end game is usually: Relentless storm --> Fireball (other nukes) --> Spiritshift with some custom variant (Sunbeam as opening), confuse or paralyse before nuke. With spells, items ability and scrolls, with built can beat encounters in various different ways. Abydon's Hammer is a great second slot weapon for its +4 might, when you wanna land your fire spells, you can achieve another additional +12% damage bonus In the beginning you can go stealth, but as a Druid you can beat the Cave Bear at third with Charm Beasts and Hold Beasts and in Caed Nua spirits can easily sent to die with our fire arsenal, for example. Druids, with Charm Beasts and Hold Beasts, are also great Dragon Slayer Infact Adra Dragon is quite easy, Cail can be achieved easily at 10th level besides high burn resistance, also Llengrath was not so hard, the worst encounters are Eyeless (burn IMMUNITY and very sturdy), Alpine Dragon (stun and paralysis immunity) and Brynlod if you don't pull or kite, I tried to deal with every encounter with as few kite/pull as I could. Pay attention that Maelstrom is a very cool scroll, but it often struck out in my run (bug with Relentless Storm?) so you can provide for it with fireball or other scrolls if there is burn immunity (i.e Scroll of Missile Barrage for Eyeless who are sensitive at slash damage ). Necklace of Fireballs can be recharged if you sell him before the last charge and then rebuy it (after a respawn of shop items), but PAY ATTENTION! If you sell 2 necklage, they wil become one (it happened to me :(). You can arrive at Thaos with all possibile endurance and rest bonus (i.e. Salty Mast prostitutes boons) with this built, simple as craft paralysis scrolls, fireball scrolls, cast paralyse then nuke nuke nuke, 3 hits of fireball and some bonus spells destroy every encounter below Burial isle (I used also necklage of fireball and some poor figurines as shield for this thing). Not very low Con is a good thing for Flame Shield of the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer and fire shield of Battle-Forged, they seems to stack and with some Con, Consecrated Ground of Shod-in-Faith (or Lost Periapt of the Winding Path) I have sometimes seen my enemies melt down while I was stunned Ah, it is a pity that Curoc's Brand and Durance have pierce/burn and crush/burn damage, elsewhere they could be good melee and range weapon for this build! For not SOLO runs, a full offense fire damage items and talents choice makes this build a good nuker in the party. If someone wants, I can discuss about spells effectiveness and usage, i.e. 3rd level spell Purge of Toxins is always overlooked, but with it you can go through spider infested areas (like Caed Nua or Dyrford Crossing Cave) easily at low levels. ===================================================================================================================================================== MEDIA The image with The Golden Scales, The Flames of Fair Rhîan and Aila Braccia are at the beginning of the post, now an alternative look with Taluntain's Staff and Durance's Robe: VIDEOS I was inspired by him (@baldurs_gate_2) for some of those. Alpine Dragon Adra Dragon Concelhaut Llengrath Thaos

Spy x Family 17 Anya is back at school in another hilarious episode. One of the teachers is sick so Mr. elegance takes his place. No Franky! Oh, and now we have Jesus Anya too:

Well this thread is a about all possible so no problem to change current topic. This is technically possible, and I've thought about it in the past. The reason I've discarded it is that it would be a new scaling rule, which is already complex enough. The reason one would want it is that Shield is quite homologous to healing. The issue is that you won't get Might scaling anyway (adding Might scaling would be a tediousness nightmare) so the 2 will always diverge, adding a layer of confusion to what scale or not. Meanwhile there are several numerical effects that do not Scale at all (Such as pure attributes buff). So Shield can just be part of this category. Also I don't think there are Shield based abilities that are in need of a buff (and often their durations do scale). The absence of scaling is specially annoying for damaging attacks cause it gives them poor PEN and (to a lesser extant) poor accuracy that make them kind of obsolete in late game. Shielding does not have this issue, so a change isn't critical (in addition to be potentially confusing).

Well, Henry pretty much confirmed that he had to force his hand on the scene where Roach died ... apparently the writers originally wanted Geralt to make a funny joke about it, which Henry refused to do. Now imagine you have to fight about stupid stuff like that in every episode...

Finally managed it after much running around confused and wondering what I could possibly need. I should note that I DO have all mutations unlocked (not maxed though), so if that is still an issue then yes that should be patched ASAP. Things I didn't know I needed until I found them: - 2 extra milk molars above skill cap (thanks Kirt!) - Abomination Totem & Ant Head Totem recipes I will link the site I used below to check off what I needed - I honestly don't know how you would find some of this stuff from exploring alone. https://mapgenie.io/grounded/checklist

Not even Chris but Liam Hemsworth? We can't even get Thor Witcher... Thritcher?

Was it actually in there? I super do not recommend it to you of all people, it's not driven by what I would consider to be interesting or fun character or even any decent theme stuff at all. And now...for something I've been meaning to get back to for a long while. Devil Lady is the weirdest show. The constant switching between gentle friendship and lighthearted romance stuff to literal evisceration and disembowelling is...I mean, they just don't really go to together in theory, but they kind of keep each other in check and it's enjoyable (albeit horrific), somehow? Oh, Jun's meeting up with a girl who had a crush on her in high school but whose feelings she couldn't reciprocate, they're having a nice time seeing each other for the first time in ages, they're talking about how their careers are going and how everything that happened is all water under the shed...and now, Jun is decapitating her because according to Asuka, devils are attracted to devils (and also have their "devil" sides activated when they're around other active devils), so it seems pretty much anyone and everyone that would like Jun (or that she would like) must therefore necessarily be a devil. Well, I gotta say, it sure freaking sucks to be you, Jun, especially since it seems like Asuka is deliberately setting you up to activate and kill people that you like. Fancy cat cross necklace thing:

"dear god" has me laughing, but that price is scary.

In the Lost Valley DLC of Solasta ...

Yeah, just wanted to post exactly that, these prices are probably without factoring in user location and varying sales taxes. Buying the same components in Austria costs a bit more, but that is after a 20% VAT. Things sure have quieted down a bit on the hardware market. I also noticed that the Bestware build link actually works now. Funny, could have sworn it did not yesterday, perphaps a caching problem. Looking at the typos in my post, I should stay away from late night posting. Edit: Also, by throwing in another 50$ or so, you can get the above system with an i5-12400F and a B660 DDR4 mainboard, which will give you one more potential CPU generation upgrade to an i5-13xxx later (by all accounts those are ~20% faster than 12th gen). As far as I know, new AMD CPUs will require new platforms with DDR5 which are much more pricey. That depends a lot on whether you want to upgrade later or not - and you'd need to pick a mainboard where a BIOS upgrade to support 13th gen is realistically on the table, which should be no issue if you stick with one of the larger brands.

"Completed" Sable. With the quotations marks, because the ending can be triggered after 2-3 masks have been collected. I had expected something slightly more epic than "go on your coming-of-age journey and come back" - there has been no grander purpose. On the other hand, there is one lore-related mystery I am going to explore more, which also has some light puzzle-platforming elements to it.

Appleseed (1988). Yeah, I don't know about this keyboard layout. Why do we need 5 "A"s, exactly? Anyways, kind of boring but competent (and overly serious) buddy cop action movie in a pseudo cyberpunk setting, don't really recommend unless that's your thing. Pausing and looking at this silly keyboard was probably the most interesting thing to happen for me. I mainly checked it out because of Discotek, which is probably the best U.S. distributor around for BDs of old crap. (...Also, kind of funny to compare against Gunsmith Cats, which is...not totally dissimilar except for the "cyberpunk" stuff, but just so much better in every possible conceivable way. Yes, I'm probably going to be comparing all old action stuff I see against this as a kind of gold standard from now on.)

I can do a lot of things terribly. I'm not actually going to go out or even answer the door like that. I imagine parents getting freaked out when their trick or treaters are greeted by a guy holding an "evil black rifle". Even if I would make sure it was empty and the safety was on, they don't know that. I just dressed up for a goof when I realized I had everything for the costume at home.

Apparently she is also a MAGA loon, so at this point it's all kinda self explanatory I guess.

lolol. This woman is just derailed.

For that money it's more than good enough, although newegg has gone down the drain from I have heard. What concerns me more that the ram is the no brand power supply and no hdd. He is going to fill up that ssd very quickly.

Elon's in charge, the chances of Twitter catching on fire are pretty good

Not traumatic memories, just feel weird being a mid 30s man going back to high-school, even if its just a game. I actually like super basic jrpg combat, but persona does do it very well, all about weaknesses and getting new monster personas(I think that's what they are called? Guardian forces?) Its the only game i use a guide for, because the first time i played i got to the final dungeon and realized i made like every mistake you could make (which is common for me) but this game really needs you to so things right

no, i think it was unclear what i was saying by a max of 6. i meant that there was a max across your dispositions of 6. each can still only get up to 3. I specify this because you can have a mix, e.g. 6 disfavored 0 favored, 6 disfavored 2 favored, 4 disfavored 6 favored, etc. but in favored_score1 you can only have up to 3, favored_score2 you can only have up to 3, etc. so you'd get .2 + .05 * (1 + .6 + .6) = 31% lash (you forgot the 1 as well. it means in the neutral case you have 25% lash)

Can you give specific examples?

One one hand it makes sense, on the other I think game’s junkiness saves it. W1 is fundamentally flawed on many levels, both gameplay and narration wise, and I am not sure how they hope to make it better, unless they just attempt to make a completely different game with some plot similarities. Theoretically if they can focus on good stuff W1 did, and remake bad stuff it could be something worthwhile - but that’s a big ask.

I banged werewolf, bone golem, vampire, ice dryad and had a few orgies and threesomes in D:L (and who knows what's still to come). It's like a parody of a Bioware game.

I mean, its nice sandbox, pretty much what I expected. Little unsettling because I have my wife in my warband and she is automatically participating in tournaments - so I constantly beating the bejesus out of her with giant sword while she is pregnant xD

I've reached chapter 4 in Plague 2: Rat Boogaloo. Near the end of chapter 3 there was what I guess would kind of sort of qualify as a boss fight. It's the only part of the game I haven't liked so far because it forced me to fight. I mean, this game isn't Deus Ex, but it kind of felt similar to those boss fights in Human Revolution that felt so out of place from the rest of the game. The majority of the game is rather stealth focused and it gives you a decent bit of freedom on how to get through areas, letting you try to ghost an area, have the rats kill soldiers, or kill the soldiers yourself, plus there are multiple paths. Then you have a forced fight and it feels like a different game. Oh well, hopefully there aren't too many more forced fights.

Caught up on House of the Dragon. Overall, a strong start, though certainly a lot of room for improvement in certain aspects. Which probably ought to happen, since S1 was ultimately scene setting over an extended period which doesn't lend itself to coherent storytelling on TV. I have a strong suspicion Aemond may have hijacked my keyboard once or twice there, looking back.

I'm sure many (many, many) videos have referred to this general topic (lack of experienced writers, differences between tv writing and series formats today vs. in the past) in some fashion, since half of YouTube these days seems filled with angry "Why TV/films/games/whatever suck". I appreciated Escapist's non-ranting version.

I've been playing A Plague Tale: Requiem. It's pretty good. It's mainly a stealth game. I never played the first game, but I know enough about it that there's a rat plague and Amicia's little brother Hugo is the Rat King. Hopefully, eventually I'll be able to control the rats and use them to kill soldiers. I mean, I can kind of do that already by putting soldiers' torches out, but I'm hoping for rat tornadoes and such.

Wheel of Time with guns.

Intro After having played Grounded only just 7 days (game time) since the 1.0 release I've loved every single minute of it. I played Solo on survival (Medium difficulty I think) and when watching some YouTube videos from other players (Mediocre Milton, JadeCraft, Sir Sim-slot etc) there have been a few things I think the game needs. I have completed the main campaign and currently collecting gold creature cards and building bases around the yard for when we get some new DLC. Now to the Juicy stuff... Ideas Bugs The variety of bugs in the game is awesome and after seeing some of the potential cut content there are a couple of bugs that I think would work really well. Stick Insects - They could be a nice addition to the lower or upper yard, since the size of them could be large in comparison to the player they could be menacing and could hide on the branches or plants and get agro when you're near. Wasps - This was something that looked like it was cut and understandably since they can be aggressive but could be cool as a hidden dungeon type area with a next being put on the tree or up on the blue tarpaulin. The issue would be the amount of them and them flying around but could be cool to have a nest. Frogs - Now these might not be creatures we can kill but similar to the Koi fish they could be leaping around the pond and potentially cause havoc on bases or get agro if you go near any of them. If we can kill them it would be cool to get some new armour that improves jumping height or swimming. Caterpillar - Again similar to the frog this could be something just around the garden to give it some extra. If we can kill it then again we could have some sort of mutation like the caterpillar does when turning into a butterfly. Butterflies - Just something else to be flying around the air that doesn't want to stab you like the mosquito Grasshoppers - These could be a cool addition and like the frogs when killing we could get some unique armour that lets us jump higher making the game have more verticality meaning the game doesn't have to stay in the one back yard but more on that later Beetles - I guess depending on where the garden is set you can have a whole range of beetles but something different to kill and with a whole range of unique colours. Quality of Life The game does a great job in guiding players through the garden but for those that are familiar with survival, games that have RPG elements where different builds offer different things we're used to seeing certain things and here are some suggestions. Mutation Phase Info - Right now when you unlock a mutation some have 3 phases, each phase obviously gives you a different value with that mutation but there is no indication on the percentage or dp it gives. Having a small bit of info at the bottom that says... Mutation Name Phase 1 - 10% buff Kill 20 more (bug name) for Phase 2 or something like that. Damage Numbers - In most RPGs you see the amount of damage you're doing to the enemy so we could have this as an option for players who actually want to see the damage being dealt like traditional RPGs. Map Markers - When you discover landmarks or key areas on the map the icon is shown on the map, for me this should be similar to Milk Molars, SCA.B's and Raw Science. Once you've found the location it can show up on the map until you collect it then it's gone. Reason for this is that there is no way to actually track which molars you've collected. Bug Attack Info - Currently and I could be wrong because I don't have access to the game when writing this but I don't think the creature cards tell you what types of damage the bugs do once you scan them. They tell you weaknesses and resistance but knowing what damage they deal will also allow those players who do go to certain areas with certain gear to better prepare Some New Things The game as mentioned has a lot of variety in what you can do with the game when it comes to base building parts, armour and weapons but I've got some other ideas. Weather - We already know that weather effects are going to be added at some point as it's been on the feature board but I want to go a little deeper with this. Snow 1. The pond could freeze over and we can break the ice to get through, once inside the water is colder so we also need to worry about temp as well as air. 2. The garden itself will be harder as ice will form on certain plants, the snow can cover a lot of it if it's a thick snow layer meaning traversal could be fun trying to work your way through the snow. You might not get as many bugs flying out in the snow or travelling but being out in it could allow other materials to be farmed like Frozen items Rain/Storms 1. The garden could have more flooded areas until the rain dries out, also if your base isn't elevated it could start taking damage from the mud and things moving in the garden through the rain. With this we could fashion little boats to travel to perhaps new areas that could be added. 2. If it's a storm you'd obviously have lightning that could strike your base or even you as a player. The field of view could also be reduced due to the storm being so bad which adds another dynamic to the game. Hail 1. hailstorms could just be another weather effect that can cause a lot of damage to not only you but bugs also considering the hail will be considerably bigger. Armour Customisation - We're in the back garden and it's super colourful, it would be cool to be able to perhaps go collect certain things that we can then make dye and recolour our armour. It's a simple thing and doesn't really offer any game value except it looks cool and for those in multi-player doing challenges and Whoa they could all look the same with cool coloured gear based on the builds and sets they like. Almost like a transmog for your armour but colour also. Base Building Free Cam- Right now base building is sooo much fun, after playing No Mans Sky for over 450 hours the one thing I think Grounded needs is a free cam base build. If you have the materials also then instead of having to climb to the top of that tower you're creating you can actually build from within free cam. Even if the base part needs stems or grass you can hold them on your character and still build in free cam. Now this might change the immersion a little because it was funny trying to build a tower and your parkour skills failed and you fell to your death or into a bunch of spiders but would make building easier. Underground Base Building- So a lot of the labs are underground, it would be cool if there was a way we could do similar and build these cool bases underground. With that we could introduce the worry of the weather above or worms causing damage but this is just a crazy idea and not something I'd do a lot of as there is soo much to see up top. Base Blueprints - So this is going into more of what I think would be cool for DLC but for those who have completed the game and really ventured into the labs they have cool shrunken down beds, cooler workbenches etc Obviously this tech is from Ominent but would be cool if there was a way we could make similar or get similar by perhaps stealing materials from the other labs or something along those lines. Mounts and Flight - So traversal is fun in the game, getting around can be great but once you're in the end game and building bases you want to get to sides of the garden to farm materials quicker. I think it would be cool to have perhaps an Ant as a mount, if Ominent have the little beeping thing on its head to control it then why can't we hack that and then control the ant? I know there was talk of pheromones and being able to control the ants that way which would be awesome. Other things for better traversal would be a more solid version of the Tuft, I know there was like a clover glider or something like that from the stuff I have seen but why not build like a wing suit from the moth wings and allow you to glide? this would mean you need to be high up to take full advantage of being able to travel the whole garden but it's a faster glider than the tuft and something cool. DLC Ideas and How it Could Work So the whole idea of the game is to survive the backyard and grow big and go home. Now once this Is done people might be wondering how could DLC or more content be added to the game, I have some ideas of my own New Garden - During the game it mentions that other kids have gone missing, with the main 4 kids being shrunk down against their own will we could make it that in the DLC they choose to be shrunk again and therefor more prepared as they're working alongside Wendell to try and stop Ominent. I won't spoil the good ending or bad ending but those who know both will know how this could work. If we're more prepared and we know that Ominent are up to no good like all evil organisations then it could mean we venture into a whole new garden because we know they've been kidnapping kids again meaning a whole new area even if it's the neighbours garden. We could have more tech since we're working alongside Wendell meaning cooler armour, similar base building options like the labs as well as cool tech suits and abilities that make building, traversing different. Another way we could introduce a new garden is to have the kids similar to above shrink down because there was something lost in the undershed, when they go down and into the sinkhole, a rain storm hits and flushes them away down the pipes and they end up elsewhere. Yeah it would be a little convenient if they managed to end up somewhere that happened to have shrunken labs but the pipes could have been how Ominent transported things from Garden to Garden. The Shed - I know there was a leak of the shed but as some of the content creators I mentioned above have stated in their videos this could just have been a dumping ground for all the assets but I think actually going into the shed is a cool idea for easy DLC for now until a new Garden or area is opened with story content. The shed could be introduced as Wendell may have a different version or an earlier model of the SPAC.R in there and he was using that with limited resources. Or we could just make it that Ominent knew what he was doing and took full advantage and setup base in the shed without him knowing. A whole world of possibilities in that shed. There are tonnes more things I have ideas for but this is a massive read for anyone that does chose to do so so thank you if you've got this far haha. Might see you in game Cheers

We should be able to continue playing in our save after finishing the game, without going back to an old save of the world before embiggening, and getting attacked constantly by O.R.Cs.

A Plague Tale: Requiem

...during chr. creation, you start with 1 pt in each attribute (re-assignable) and some extra - there are none for leveling up or (I think) on gear either. Choose wisely? Hm. So....strength? agility? I don't need any of that. Not sure what max spell summon count is yet. I have two here early on. I think it might depend on mana available/skill pts + gear Anyway, short take - Gedonia is not "deep" and its combat is clunky (if you're no agility/strength, bow seems better than melee early on by far) but I'm finding it light fun/absorbing enough. I could see getting rather absorbed with it once you get past any clunkiness.

I wanted to take some combat screen shots from Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Sadly, the newly patched in photo mode doesn't work in combat. For being an isometric, party based rpg, the small scale of figures etc. the graphics are actually pretty nice. No doubt that Ember (the elven witch in my party) is wielding a fire themed staff and Sosiel the cleric riding a boar is wielding a weapon with some side effects besides physical damage Only way later did I remember that I can switch between turn based and real time combat at any time. Maybe the photo mode works in real time Maybe Hell isn't such a bad place to go... I mean, it does seem to have its perks Edit: Using the new photo mode, you can move the camera around, hide the game UI, zoom in a lot closer and if feeling like it, add effects like frames, making it look like vintage photos or a painted canvas etc. I still need to play around with those

Got a quest to capture a Sailor Moon wannabe that was terrorizing people in the mines. I think she got the wrong idea of how to be a magical girl.

It's time for my biennial attempt to play a MMO. Since this is a terrible idea, I figured I might as well double up on the bad ideas and play a MMO on a console. With that in mind I looked into what MMO I can play on xXxBOxXx that doesn't completely suck, which narrowed things down to 3 choices: 1) Black Desert 2) Elder Scrolls Online 3) Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis Choice 1 is a no go, I may be crazy but I'm not crazy enough to try to get into a Korean grindfest MMO. That leaves choices 2 & 3. I decided to go with choice 3 since I loved the Phantasy Star games and SEGA will never make another single player PS game because we can't have nice things. So this is the closest I'll ever get to Phantasy Star 5. I decided to go with a Bayonetta-esque sexy librarian look and I named her Eunice, because why wouldn't I? For a 10 year old MMO it looks relatively good. I'm sure it's gotten several graphical upgrades along the way. Also, Eunice does not skip leg day, she throws some serious plates on the squat rack. I'm playing a gunner so that I can live out my John Woo fantasies.