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If we're talking non-alcoholic beverages, I made a beautiful hot chocolate the otherday with a mix of whole milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream with 70% chocolate melted into it. Very good for a (relatively) cold night and highly recommended. But you know what made it perfect? Bourbon.

Dark souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin down. It's a weird game. Massively more ambitious than Dark Souls 1, but strangely taped together. I guess it's easy to say that when I've been told that's what happened, but I see it too. It's more imminently playable, but it fails to capture the imagination.

Yeah read about him as well, that guy has pissed on the grave of his business partner during a funeral… Russians must be proud to have such heroes… in other sad news 3 days ago has passed away one of the Major pilots, after 141 sorties during the war. Pretty impressive record for “non-existent” air forces.

Something different and little bit less sad from the conflict.

Oh man. Yes. Mimimi is a german Independent Studio that in recent years carved it's own nieche making Commando inspired titles. They appeared without nowhere with a really solid demo for Shadow Tactics: Blades of Shogun, that was "like Desperados but in Edo Japan". Interestingly enough the project almost killed the studio, as they went all in on the project - and came dangerously close to shutting down. Smart and clean interpretation of the forgotten genre, with some decent story: With how well they did the formula THQ Nordic hired them to do sequel to Desperados - they IP they were a holder off. Desp3 is pretty much a more polished version of Shadow Tactics, mostly using the same character kits and enemy archetypes with one new addition (which seems to be a jumping point to more fantastical Shadow Gambit). Both titles are very handcrafted in nature, with pre-determined mission order and pre-determined party compositions, so Shadow Gambits ambition seems to be to expand the underlying systemic sandbox those games have going for them. If they look like something you would like, I would recommend giving them a go. They are both excellent real-time tactics. Desp3 is a more polished of the two, with some welcome QoL improvemenets, but I personally prefered the vibe of SHadow Tactics - the M-Rated nature of Desp3 felt a bit off to me. There is also standalone expansion to Shadow Tactics - Aiko's choice, but it is a short DLC mission pack best played after original game. It is standalone, as it's been actually developed after Desp3 before going all deep on project Süßkartoffel, and team didn't want to mess with the old game, but it is best thought of as a minor DLC to the original - similar to the one Desp3 got.

the worst part of owlcat puzzle is not that they are awful annoying unpopular and make no sense is that owlcat keep insist on putting more and more of these puzzle in their game it is like one designer in owlcat just convinced they are some kind of puzzle making genius and have a unending hate and desire to torture for player

Just a splash ontop of the mashed potato garnish

No, creme de catsup. Which might be good in a bloody Mary. Maybe. Probably not. I had to look up Minttu and it looks good

Look at that, Xandria got yet another vocalist... I want to like them, really, but they keep pulling the rug from under me every time I get used to the new lead vocalist. I'm probably the odd one out who liked the first one best.

So, basically, when I think of someone who likes Crystal more than the original anime, I imagine a certain type of person, and I have to say this particular comment basically confirms my prejudices. Giant sentences, disjointed stream of consciousness, complete nonsense ahead: Small sample size, to be certain, but let it never be known that I am fair in my criticism of things I do not enjoy.

Did you put ketchup in it?

@ShadySandsBecause I'm a terrible person I feel it is my duty to try to knock you off the wagon. Sadly, I don't have a peaty Islay to tempt you with and will have to settle for Speyside:

Decided to kill Now I need to figure out who is a good enough replacement for that party slot. Disregarding the damage/tankiness that character provided, the more important thing was the healing in combination with that. Well a good opportunity to try out the other companions.

Trying to abstain from aka-haul so I'm having a vanilla nitro Pepsi and milk because I refuse to say pilk. I'll type it though. E: I'm really missing a good peaty Islay.

A theory I heard on that elevator is that you were supposed to go to the Iron Keep from the Forest of Fallen Giants Salamander area. This would have been a good fit since FoFG goes basically nowhere other than the back entrance to Bastille. Which itself seems like it's just... there. And that explains why there's Ironclad Soldiers in both areas. That elevator was probably going to head underground somewhere like the Undead/Dark Castle, which became the Crypt. I just started up Dark Souls 3 and it immediately blows Dark Souls 2 out of the water. The atmosphere is great. And the mid roll feels just fun to use. Combat feels similar otherwise (I haven't tried powerstancing and likely won't this run), but that roll is such an improvement.

On paper, but in reality it can go either way, depending on multiple factors. I would not be surprised honestly, but I would guess that Plenkovic would need to first say something regarding them for him to form an opinion and make a statement.

a) if not solo, the most "legitimate" way is to equip everyone other than your tank with crossbows or arbalests with modals on and interrupt merges. you would have to deliberately hold off on shooting at times to make sure you have it up and available when you need it, since the merge can happen very fast. if you are willing to go this far, there's an xbow that shoots in a line. you could reload, cast spells (so you don't fire) and then when you see a merge, run into position and fire to hit both oozes. there's a chance you'd miss, but it might serve as a backup if below strategies don't work. b) the oozes are also vulnerable to dex afflictions - if you use petrify. it'll get resisted down to paralyze, which is still hard CC. but if you're doing this to stop a merge, you have to hit both mergers, if one is hard-CCed but the other is still able to merge, it'll still succeed. "potentially" was just game-dev future-proofing for adjustments of the percentage rate without needing to update text/translations. in reality, it's always been a 100% chance of success on a successful graze or better on a near-death enemy. however, this won't prevent HoW splits, and merges start happening at 50%. what about Concelhaut's Crushing Doom? interrupts multiple times, and does damage. you'd need to be able to rapidly recover it, don't know if that's possible w/ BPM's nerfs. just have a couple casts active on both oozes and the likelihood that they'll be able to merge is real low. does BPM nerf wall of draining? energized + wall of draining on HoW to keep it up. you can use jester's cap to act as a buff that you can drain from HoW (unless BPM fixed this interaction). use stuff like chill fog or something else (not hazards) that will do potentially lots of interrupts while being easy to spam/restore. This solves the problem too that lower-level oozes that start merging immediately and you might be caught flat-footed if you're in the middle of recovery.

Lol the 4090ti be looking pretty thicc, wtf https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidias-quad-slot-geforce-rtx-4090ti-titan-800w-graphics-card-has-been-pictured

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/sports/hockey/bobby-hull-death-nhl.html "Another controversy erupted in 1998 when the English-language Moscow Times attributed some disturbing views on race to Hull. The Russian newspaper said Hull felt the Black population in the United States was growing too quickly. He was quoted as saying “Hitler had some good ideas. He just went a little bit too far.”

Intro (Difficulty: PotD upscaled) First of all I wanted to say that my English isn´t very good. I studied it years ago, but by not using it at work or outside of it, I have lost a lot of practice. Going to the topic, for the third time I played this game, I wanted to do it with the companions that I like the most ((Edér, Hiravias, Zahua, Aloth and Sagani) and building them around the abilities/spells that I also like the most, which are the ones that cause push, prone, stun (because what better push than those that knock enemies down or stun them), and the opposite effect, pull. All companions have one of these abilities/spells: Edér: Knock Down, Into the Fray, Overbearing Guard, and Clear Out. Hiravias: Winter Wind, Overwhelming Wave, Boiling Spray, Calling the World's Maw, Cleansing Wind, Tornado, and Storm spells. Zahua: Force of Anguish, Skyward Kick and Stunning Blow. Aloth: Slicken, Pull of Eora, Concelhaut's Crushing Doom and Tayn's Chaotic Orb. Sagani & Itumaak: Takedown, Stunning Shots and Master's Call. MC Priestess of Berath: Repulsing Seal and Pillar of Faith I played as the Priestess of Berath because her favored dispositions (Rational and Stoic) fit my idea of a group made up of bounty hunters. For new players and for all those who want to read it, I'm going to put the builds of each member of this "Pull & Push party" The Front line Edér His main role is to maintain the front line and disable enemies, causing push, pull, prone and dazed. With Hold the Line, and Shatterstar his engagement range is 3, and with Overbearing Guard the enemies think twice before breaking the engagement. Knock Down and Overbearing Guard can inflict prone, Clear Out push and prone and Into the Fray, approach an enemy (pull), does piercing damage and can inflict dazed. Into the Fray is hilarious when used against a priest who just cast Consecrated Ground to hammer their face, but it can also be used in reverse, against more dangerous melee enemies, for a face to face. If Edér is well positioned, Charge is his most powerful ability. Abilities: Fighting Spirit (a) Constant Recovery (a) Second Wind (a) (Athletics) (1 p/enc.) 1) Knock Down (a) (2 p/enc.) 3) Disciplined Barrage (1 p/enc.) 5) Into the Fray (2 p/enc.) 7) Armored Grace 9) Overbearing Guard 11) Confident Aim (better than Weapon Specialization) 13) Charge (2 p/enc) 15) Clear Out (2 p/rest) Talents: 2) Hold the Line 4) Weapon & Shield Style 6) Weapon Focus: Soldier 8- Bear´s Fortitude 10) Rapid Recovery 12) Apprentice Sneak Attack 14) Body Control 16) Bonus Knock Down (1 p/enc.) Skills: 14 (12 + 2 Mantle) Survival (for +60% heling received), 6 Lore, rest to Athletics Equipment: Shatterstar (Durgan Refined, Exceptional, Corrosive Lash, Slaying (Primordial)) + Dragon's Maw Shield Tempered Helm Wayfarer´s Hide (Superb, Crush-Proofed, +2 INT) Mantle of the Excavator Siegebreaker Gauntlets Girdle of Maegfolc Might Ring of Thorns Ring of Protection Boots of Stability Quick items: Potion of Power, Scrolls of Prayer Against Fear, Scrolls of Prayer Against Restraint, Scrolls of Binding Web I have chosen Shatterstar as Edér´s weapon because it does two types of damage, because of its Guarding enchantment (+1 enemies Engaged), you can get it soon and because it was carried during Waidwen's march on the Dyrwood. The buffs from the Tempered Helm's Freedom enchantment and Wayfarer's Hide don't stack, but I still keep them because the other enchantments these items offer are very good, and also give Edér the look of sturdiness and fierceness that I was looking for him. Hiravias He´s the main damage dealer. Hiravias starts by casting his buffs (like Form of the Delemgan), then debuffs/crowd crontrol spells (Nature's Mark, later Nature's Terror), then damage spells (Storm spells, Venom Bloom) and lastly, if there's anything left alive, then shapeshifting, because I'm more interested in its AoE damage. Talents: 2) Veteran's Recovery 4) Weapon Focus Peasant 6) Two Weapon Style 8- Wildstrike Shock 10) Greater Wildstrike Shock 12) Heart of the Storm 16) Apprentice Sneak Attack 14) Savage Attack/Marksman Skills: Survival 8 (bonus to healing), Lore 10, rest to Athletics. Equipment: Rêghar Konnek + Black Sanctuary (Durgan Reinforced, Exceptional) Greenstone Staff Stag Helm Swaddling Sheet Blaidh Golan (Durgan Reinforced, Exceptional, Slash-Proffed, +2 MIG) Celebrant’s Gloves Wildstrike Belt Gwyn’s Band of Union Orlan's Bramble Ring Boots of Stability Quick items: Potion of Infuse with Vital Essence, Scrolls of Confusion, Scrolls of Paralysis, Scrolls of Maelstrom Master Spells: Nature´s Mark, Insect Swarm, Returning Storm and Form of the Delemgan For early levels Winter Wind and Firebrand are 2 great spells. Winter wind is a fast cast, only damages enemies, disables blights, slows shadow teleport, and does decent damage. Firebrand is awesome when the shapeshift duration is over, the combat is still going on, and you don't want to waste a lot of spells. With my level 3 adventurer druid, she was able to reach 72 damage attacks. I put Hiravias in the front line so I can use spells like Overwhelming Wave and Tornado without damaging my teammates. The Second Line MC Priestess of Berath Race: Human, Meadow folk Background: Aedyr - Cleric Class: Priest Stats: MIG 16, CON 08, DEX 16, PER 14, INT 16, RES 08 Built around the concept of "The Pallid Knight": human female in black armor with black hair and milk-pale skin. Talents: Dominion of the Sleepers (Watcher) (1 p/rest) Steps to the Wheel (Watcher) (1 p/rest) Speaker to the Restless (Watcher) (2 p/rest) Crucible of the Soul (Watcher) (1 p/rest) Dozen´s Luck The Merciless Hand Scale-Breaker (1 p/rest) Blooded Hunter Dungeon Delver Berath's Boon Song of the Heavens 2) Inspiring Radiance (1 p/enc.) 4) Interdiction 6) Painful Interdiction (1 p/enc.) 8- Scion of Flame 10) Veteran's Recovery 12) The Pallid Hand 14) Two-Handed Style 16) Outlander´s Frenzy (1 p/enc.)/Apprentice Sneak Attack Skills: Survival 8 (for +40% heling received), Lore 12 (Scrolls of Prayer Against Treachery and interactions), rest to Athletics Early in the game it works as a ranged priest, but once I buy the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer I start using it in melee with Firebrand. Late game, once durganized and upgraded, I use The Hours of St. Rumbalt She will never do as much damage as with her damage spells, but still, with Two Handed Style, Champion's Boon/Minor Avatar... the damage will be acceptable, especially if it lands a crit, with the multiple crit damage modifiers (Merciless Hand, the weapon's enchantment...). And with the gloves and Outlander's Frenzy, she will attack fast enough. Equipment Nightshroud + Little Savior (Durgan Reinforced, Superb) The Hours of St. Rumbalt (Durgan Refined, Legendary, Buerning Lash) Maegfolc Skull Cape of the Master Mystic Blackwarden´s Breast (Durgan Reinforced, Superb, +2 PER) Gauntlets of Swift Action Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer Gathbin Family Signet Seal of Faith Shod-in-Faith Quick items: Potions of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Potions of Infuse with Vital Essence, Scrolls of Prayer Against Treachery, Scrolls of Wall of Flame, Scrolls of Insect Swarm. I've leveled Lore on the other teammates to free her from having to cast Prayer Against... except the last one, so she can go on the offensive before the fights are over. Master Spells: Blessing, Divine Mark, Dire Blessing and Devotions of the Faithful Zahua It is something similar to a glass cannon build, whose main objective is to "clean" enemies from the battlefield. Start the fight facing an enemy. While he is taking wounds, Zahua can finish him off, come to the rescue from the rear or start cleaning up the enemies disabled by Edér. In tough fights he greatly benefits from Form of the Delemgam, and Potions of Llengrath's Displaced Image or Crowns/Shields for the Faithful. Also, with Graceful Retreat, and the Form of the Delemgam bonus he gets +37 defenses on disengagement Abilities: Fighting Spirit (a) Transcendent Suffering 4 (a) Second Wind (a) (Athletics) (1 p/enc.) 1) Torment's Reach (a) 3) Swift Strikes 5) Force of Anguish 7) Stunning Blow (2 p/enc.) 9) Enervating Blows 11) Iron Wheel 13) Skyward Kick (2 p/enc.) 15) Flagellanth's Path Talents: 2) Veteran's Recovery 4) Two Weapon Style 6) Lightning Strikes 8- Heart of the Storm 10) Graceful Retreat 12) Spirit of Decay 14) Weapon Focus: Ruffian 16) Apprentice Sneak Attack Anitlei Skills: Survival 8 (bonus Heal), Lore 10, rest to Athletics Equipment Fists Bittercut (Durgan Refined, Superb, Corrosive Lash, Slaying (Beast)) * 2 (Helwax Mold) Hermit´s Hat Robe (with blood) (Durgan Reinforced, Legendary, Crush-Proofed, +2 DEX) Ruphec's Watchful Cloak MKII Mourning Gloves Belt of Bountiful Healing Pensiavi Mes Rèi Ring of Protection Boots of Speed Quick items: Flask of War Paint, Potions of Llengrath's Displaced Image, Scrolls of Confusion, Scrolls of Prayer Against Bewilderment, Scrolls of Valor The +40% healing received from the Survival bonus + 25% from the Belt of Bountiful Healing, and the passive healing from Veteran's Recovery, help Zahua stay alive throughout the fight. Ruphec's Watchful Cloak MKII is very good here because I want Zahua to take damage, but not get overwhelmed, also the +2 PER. The Rearguard Aloth I use Aloth in a similar way to Hiravias, but with the difference that Aloth is the crowd controller of the party. Aloth starts, if necessary, by casting the scrolls of Prayer against..., then he casts his buffs (Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Eldritch Aim), if necessary some defensive spells (Llengrath's Displaced Image) and then starts with the debuffs / cc spells (Miasma, Pull of Eora, Gaze of the Adragan). Once the enemies are under afflictions, he starts casting damage spells, or I use blights with Combusting Wounds to not spend as many spell slots. Talents: 2) Weapon Focus: Noble 4) Blast 6) Penetrating Blast 8- Marksman 10) Secrets of Rime 12) Penetrating Shot 14) Dangerous Implement 16) Interrupting Blows Skills: Mechanics 13, 1 Survival, Athletics 1, rest to Stealth Equipment Golden Gaze (Exceptional, Freezing Lash, Slaying (Wilder)) Gyrd Háewanes Sténes The Witch's Hat Raiment of Wael's Eyes (Durgan Reinforced, Superb, Pierce-Proofed, +2 MIG) Lilith's Shawl Bracers of Spiritual Power Looped Rope Ring of Overseeing Telda's Ring Vietto’s Formal Footwear Quick slots: Potions of Infuse with Vital Essebce, Potions of Merciless Gaze, Scrolls of Insect Swarm, Scrolls of Prayer Against Infirmity Master Spells: Eldrich Aim, Miasma of Dull-Mindedness, Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Pull of Eora Sagani + Itumaak The second damage dealer of the team, if you invest in Itumaak's skills and talents. Sagani always starts with Stormcaller to try to trigger Returning Storm, then switches to Persistence and activates Twinned Arrows. For enemies immune to piercing damage I keep Stormcaller up throughout the fight. To get the most out of Stalker's Link and Stunning Shots, Sagani and Itumaak should attack the same target. Abilities: Hunter's Instincts (a) Second Wind (a) (Athletics) (1 p/enc.) 1) Wounding Shot (a) (2 p/enc.) 3) Predator's Sense 5) Stalker's Link 7) Takedown (2 p/enc.) 9) Driving Flight 11) Stunning Shots 13) Twinned Arrows 15) Master´s Call (3 p/rest) Talents 2) Resilient Companion 4) Marksman 6) Vicious Companion 8- Merciless Companion 10) Brutal Takedown 12) Heart of the Storm 14) Weapon Focus Peasant 16) Apprentice Sneak Attack/Envenomed Strike (3 p/rest) Skills: Survival 10 (+15 Accuracy Bonus), Lore 10, rest to Athletics With her high base class accuracy, high dexterity, her racial bonus, Survivai bonus, Blackwarden's Breast (friendly aura) bonus, and Cloak of the Frozen Hunt bonus she will crit a lot, especially against beasts. Equipment Persistence (Durgan Refined, Superb, Shocking Lash, Slaying (Beast)) Stormcaller Helmet of Darksee Cloak of the Frozen Hunt Tundra Clothing (Legendary, Pierce-Proofed, +2 INT) Gauntlets of Swift Action/Gauntlets of Accuracy Sentinel's Girdle Bartender´s Ring Ring of Thorns Glanfathan Stalking Boots Quick items: Potion of Infuse with Vital Essence, Scrolls of Protection, Scrolls of Prayer Against Imprisonment, Scroll of Moonwell Thanks for reading!

Not so much done today as going to do the next few days. Flying to Melbourne Thursday morning to meet up with my friend and hang out for a few days. Meeting an old colleague Thursday evening for some movies and Chinese food (he's Taiwanese and knows all the good places). Watching Halestorm concert Friday night, watching Phantom of the Opera on Saturday night and hopefully getting time for a bit of shopping in between. As well as a lunch at some point in something called 'The Danish House'. No idea what it is, but curiosity got the better of me. We saw Halestorm in 2019. It was great. Had to wait for Covid to settle down and the concert scene to pick up down under though. Her suggestion... none of us have seen Phantom of the Opera before, but we were both keen to see it.

DS2 v.2 is somehow more diverse yet consistent than DS2 v.1 in terms of enemy encounters and item locations, at least. I've heard that the lore-friendly reason why the areas are seem to be taped together is that the PC is losing their memories due to the Undead Curse. The out-of-universe reason is the developers running out of funds and time, as far as I know. DS3 has a similar location structure to DS2, but with a more clearly articulated in-game explanation (the resting places of the Lords of Cinder are the only things to remain while the world is collapsing into itself) and definitely not due to the deadlines. I think, Sekiro is the only other FromSoftware game on PC that had an interconnected world similar to DS1, though the "paths" are still more linear than in DS1. Expeditions: Rome. Conquered the first area, only the story quests left. The general opinion (better combat, but more bloat and RNG than in Vikings) has not changed.

Yes, I think everyone does have to have a tragic backstory in nutrek. Indeed, not only does everyone have a tragic backstory (or its close relative; dark secret) but of course Pike has tragic foreshadowing as well...

The blessing also gives you strength inspiration on being crit with fire, which could be useful... But I tried a bunch of variations of running through Ashen's Maw and I'm not getting this. The first group of Rathun in the Sentinel Wall I use diplomacy and they let me through to the bridge. If you kill the dragon first, you can get the "support" of the Bathor with diplomacy (not sure what you meant by that) but I'm still not getting anything. Tried instead going into the keep first but the Rathun Raider always attacks me without the torc. Tried not killing the dragon, then going into the keep. Doesn't make any difference. Even managed to convince the Bathor to leave, didn't make any difference. Finally I tried stealthing past the raider at the front to get to the bathor. And that managed to do it, one of them cast some spell on me and I checked and had the blessing. Stealthing past them required very high stealth and gear so I'm guessing you're not intended to get the blessing this way. So then I tried just fighting through the keep and slaughtering a dozen fire giants, and the Bathor kindly gave me his blessing. But he doesn't do it if you don't kill any rathun and deal with the dragon first. This game makes no sense.

Cold day out there. Slow remote workday. Prepping for a week of lots of Zoom and Team meetings! Hope the older pack member's right shoulder continues to heal, though vet thinking injury is now chronic and Border Collies are not know for taking it easy!

I wouldn't be surprised by that. In fact, you can see him twice in this anime alone, since Kazuki looks just like Miri's real father: I even saw some people confused, wondering if Kazuki was Miri's real father. With the way Artemis looks on this show, she still has to escape.

Obviously, the Croatian President is a Serb mole.

I got all the references but only did 17/25 of those things. Side-note: I don't think I ever owned a flannel shirt. When I was younger I used to say "I don't wear flannel because I'm not a truck driver." Ironically, I am now a truck driver and I STILL don't wear flannel. Perhaps my new phrase should be "I don't wear flannel because I'm not Canadian"? On the other hand, I can't really criticize fashion choices when I regularly rock Hawaiian shirts.

Are there anime stock character designs? I could swear I've seen that blonde haired guy in several other animes already. Edit: Kunzite just owns every scene he is in. edit 2: Artemis after Minako pranks him: Usagi's mother tells her to watch a frist grader, the daugther of a friend of hers. Usagi proceeds by offering her coffee. She looks like she escaped from some horror movie shoot. Talks like it too. And then Usagi just drops her off at a boy's house after creepy girl gives him chocolates for Valentine's Day. Uh, Usagi, are you sure about that?

If I'm going to be reloading I may as well take the easy way out and cheat. I think there may be a difference based on alignment, the CG and LE had different music at least and I remember slightly different map layouts....but it has been a long time since I played it. WotR is much the same, the big difference between Drezen in my two playthroughs was due to being an Azata or Trickster with my war management having no effect. Anyways I agree on both fronts, it would have been really cool to see Drezen or the Kingmaker city change as you build more stuff. The way it's removed from the game makes me feel like it feel like an add-on of dubious enjoyment. Anyways.....I'm gonna start a Lich playthrough next to finally play as an evil necromancer.

If it's the Ukraine/ Kosovo stuff it has been reported a decent amount. (There's definitely some funky things going on with the search though, Milanovic + Kosovo doesn't return the Reuters mothership article on DDG for some reason nor a bunch of articles based on the agency report. It does return the MSN reprint though...)

It works now, a thousand thanks!

Ok, I completely misinterpreted the *69 question, but I have used that function on the telephone too.

It's not just that. Remember those drafted convicts? Well, some of them already served (or "served". I'm reading there's a scheme running with rich and connected inmates getting "sent to war" on papers only) and are enjoying their freedom. Including, e.g., one who ordered a hit on his former business partner's family, two kids included. Even got a medal "For bravery", that one.

Yes I can totally see that with Abydon’s challenge, that build doesn’t work. Against HoW once it splits, scrolls of tornado, especially with BPM, are really good with high arcana. I think it was Kaylon who had come up with that strategy.

In Ashen’s Maw, if you get the support of the rathun to go in the Lair of the Ancient, they’ll give you +2 burn AR.

16/25 here. Covering my school books with a paper grocery bag really brough back some memories.

AFAIK Healthcare in Russia is currently getting worse. According to wikipedia since 2014. Life expectancy is dropping since 2019, and in rural areas it is 10 years less than in urban areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Russia

Fair to say that most people hated Enigma and either skip it or use a guide. Personally I thought it was OK. The puzzles aren't particularly hard, once you know what they want, but they're very badly (or barely) explained and there are far, far, far too many of them at once. Far too much combat too, though that's a general criticism of the game not just the specific area. Most of it is there at least trivial and easy to blow through in a few minutes at most, and the ones that aren't are better designed/ more interesting than most filler combats. And I actually liked the final fight despite it having what is usually a super annoying structure. Oh yeah, and their response was to ask if the 2nd tranche of dlc should have a dlc dedicated to puzzles. Pretty sure that was trolling. Pretty sure.

Is there such a thing as a will wallet saving throw?

I'm playing Control. I actually started playing this a long time ago, only got as far as the end of the intro, then stopped, not because of the game itself, other stuff came up and I just never got back to it until now. My feelings on the game so far very much mirror my overall feelings on Alan Wake, which makes sense given that not only are both games made by Remedy but Control is set in the Alan Wake universe, or Alan Wake is in the Control universe, whichever way you want to think about it. Anyway, the gameplay is... It's okay. It's a pretty bog standard third person shooter, maybe it gets more interesting later on when you unlock more abilities, but so far it's pretty ho-hum. However, I really really like the world and I'm very much invested in not just the story of Jesse Faden and her brother but also this world as a whole. I am happily going out of my way and scouring every nook and cranny for collectibles, not for completionist reasons, I don't care about achievements, but because I'm into the mythos of this world and I will gladly read all the text and listen to any and all audio logs if they help me get a clearer picture of said world. There's very much a SCP Foundation vibe going on and I'm all about that. My investment in the world and interest in the story are easily enough to carry me through mediocre gameplay and also have me excited for Alan Wake 2: The Wakening coming later this year. Edit: I should add that I'm weirdly enjoying the running commentary/narration that Jesse does during the game. It's something that potentially could get really grating really fast, and I suppose it still might, but so far I'm on board with it. Also, the Threshold Kids videos are really creepy and bizarre and I'm absolutely there for them.

Blackwater was so weird. Everything was hard right up until the boss which you oneshot. edit: I am way overleveled for the ivory sanctum. It's almost comical after blackwater, everyone is just exploding as soon as they appear.

Copper Dog blended scotch whisky: It's in the same price range as my beloved 12 year old Dewar's and thus makes for a reasonable comparison. The Copper Dog is shockingly smooth and easy drinking with virtually zero burn, it's definitely easier on the throat than the already smooth Dewar's. However, I'd say I like the flavor of Dewar's more overall. Dewar's has a nice woody flavor and hints of fruits and nuts while Copper Dog has a less pronounced bit of woody flavor with a hint of honey but not really anything else. It's sweeter than Dewar's and it's very pleasant to drink but it lacks the character Dewar's has. Still, it's quite possibly the most easy drinking whisky I've ever had and that definitely counts for something. I'm pretty sure that even those that typically drink whisky on the rocks or with water would have no problem whatsoever drinking Copper Dog neat.

Yeah those games likely don't play very nice anymore, interface and controls included. What I'm missing is that they're offering scenarios that have since almost completely disappeared from RPGs and crawlers. Makes me sad. And it's kinda puzzling as well -- it's not as if horror-themed settings ever have went out of style elsewhere. There's a few Ravenloft user campaigns for NWN 2 though.

It works brother!

Good news, was pretty painless to implement! Download: Carnage Indicator.zip Nexusmods: www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/448/