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My condolences.

as a rule of thumb, most pretrial judicial decisions is beyond the scope o' a demand for recusal, so am not knowing how far goes an attempt to remove cannon w/o a showing o' gross and intentional dereliction o' judicial duties. however, am also admitting we got extreme limited rl experience with sepa cases-- have learned more from the lawfare site and other sources in the last few months than we knew in previous decades o' practice. am not claiming expertise. reminds us. we keep making a mental distinction 'tween classified/sensitive documents and transmissions while ignoring practical aspects and legal reality. listening to biden defend self in his presser highlighted for us one such blind spot. biden seeming didn't see his notes/personal notebook as sensitive info for purposes o' possible criminal liability. hillary, based on the ig report done after comey's blunders, also had a curious issue with recognizing just what constituted sensitive info. emails sent to then secretary of state clinton which didn't have the "C" tag indicating classification could nevertheless be classified docs for purposes o' law if those emails even tangential referenced classified info. in an earlier post we marveled at how sooper secret docs could possible go missing w/o anybody noticing, but we did (and do) forget to mention how secrets may breed. the outline o' plans for invading iran trump supposed showed off to biographers o' the mark meadows book is clearly state secret material. the thing is, if trump quoted a portion o' the plan in a handwritten note to bob woodward, the handwritten note would be state secret material... and if somebody on trump's staff quoted the handwritten note and transmitted via an email, that too would be state secret and the mishandling and transmission o' such would be exposing individuals to criminal liability. as such our flippant characterization o' national secret security protocols in the context o' library books being checked out is falling far short o' capturing the real scope o' the problem. am mentioning the replicating aspect o' sensitive info data 'cause listening to biden reminded us o' hillary-- both o' those individuals were curious oblivious to the fact a classified or sensitive "document" label applied to more than documents clear marked with a big "C" or contained in a red-boarder folder. hillary, for all her faults, was not accused o' being cognitive impaired. she didn't have a personal computer or laptop and was spectacularly unsophisticated regarding technical matters, but she was not dumb. even so, she clear didn't get that rando emails sent to her from staff and white house personnel could be dangerously sensitive state secret material which had no place on her personal and unsecured home server. numerous fbi investigators interviewed hillary and they were sometimes baffled by her failure to grasp basic technical issues related to security. disconnect were too consistent and bizarre to be anything but genuine. likewise, biden still don't seem to understand that his personal notebook which included info regarding afghanistan operations were nevertheless classified info for purposes o' law. reports suggest pence also had sensitive materials at his personal residence, but am suspecting is many more individuals who made similar errors we will never know 'bout. jack smith in his case against tump ain't dealing with any ambiguities. subject matter o' the mar-a-lago case is not cc email chain material or one o' those post-its or napkins trump reported flushed down the toilet. even so am thinking there needs be a serious reexamination o' how sensitive materials is tracked and recovered, while recognizing there is limits to just how invasive tracking efforts may be given that in the US we got civilian and elected leaders, as well as their staff, routine handling the most secret o' secrets. HA! Good Fun!

Sorry for your loss Raithe

Very sorry to hear that, good luck dealing with the aftermath

Or maybe it was done specifically so you'll think about him like that.

Massive Explosion Hits Russian Plant Making Nuclear Capable ICBMs (msn.com) They really need to institute a no smoking policy in these type environments.

Should have just brought Lunar Tides or something for the zones. Citizen Sleeper is fun, is Disco Elysium lite, but nothing wrong with that.

An OC model RX 6900 XT is certainly capable of overwhelming an 850W power supply with transient power spikes, depending on the quality, age of the power supply and remaining system power draw. No, it will not. All modern cards have a voltage/frequency curve anyway and reduce voltage automatically while idle or under light loads. It can lead to crashing if you undervolt too much, but I would suppose that an automated undervolt function guesses safe limits based on metrics from the card, but it is best to make sure the card is stable by running something like 3DMark's Port Royale test for a while. Especially if you want to manually fine tune at some later date. Obligatory shade-throwing:

Have played this game for hundreds upon hundreds of hours. Veteren + Trial of Iron. Tried out a Priest of Wael/Devoted. Dropped Xoti and Eder off at the Inn to walk around alone and accrue some XP. Happened to select the wrong response to Galian, and his whole crew jumped me. For the first time, I lost what is supposed to be the easiest fight in the game behind Benweth. My run came to an end in the most embarrassing way possible, and I can't stop laughing about it.

Also remember that Barbaric Retaliation has an intresic +16 accuracy and +4 Penetration compared to normal attack (nothing exceptional, most similar abilities have similar bonuses, albeit lower cause they are from lower tier). It might be useful if building upon axes, because they deal only splash damages which can be limited vs some bosses.

If you can get the enemy to attack the barbarian, the battleaxe modal combined with retaliation on crit can deal pretty decent single target damage. The retaliation attack bypasses the downside of the recovery time penalty from the battleaxe modal. Obviously this incentivizes high intellect and low resolve so that the bleed lasts longer and you get crit more often.

Condolences, Raithe.

Picked up Enshrouded, another one of these new survival games that just hit early access. So far it seems pretty decent. Exploring the early parts of the world is enjoyable and it is a good looking game. It was only $30, so I'll probably stick with it.

@LadyCrimsonbeat me to it, but I also played the Outcast 2 demo: There's a lot of optimization work ahead. While I would mostly get a good framerate on my fairly high-end system, there are HARDCORE frame stutters and hitches aplenty. The game does look nice, though. Well, the environment looks great, the character models... See for yourself: The animations during conversations are quite stiff. The combat is functional but uninspired action combat: On the positive side, you have a jet pack that doesn't suck. I can think of another game that could benefit from a jet pack that doesn't suck (stares at Bethesda). You can even use the jet pack to swim really fast, like a motorboat.

Frieren 22 Frieren and Stark sleep an entire day, making Fern upset. They take her to a restaurant to change her mood. The next day, it happens again. I guess magic tests make people hungry

My condolences, Raithe.

I don't know how much it can be useful but I'm playing a run with a Corpse eater/Priest of Berath PotD solo as a Death Godlike (vanilla - no mods). I pick only blood frenzy as active barbarian ability and most of passive (blooded, accurate carnage, thick skinned, blood lust, one stand alone, interrupting blows and brute force ) and for priest the most important spells to fight solo: withdraw, divine mark, devotion for the faithful, barring death's door, and shields for the faithful, with touch of rot, holy meditation, spreading plague and salvation of time "free" as Berath spells. As passive for priest i pick all weapon style but one weapon, bull's will, spirit of decay (for touch of rot, my favourite spell, but useful more with groups than one enemy), arms bearer, rapid casting and improved critical. I'm thinking to respec taking barbaric smash in place of maybe interrupting blows and thick skinned. Unfortunately I tooke blessing as first level spells, now I'd take another first level spells (supress affliction). Early time in game I had spiritual ally and minor avatar, I can choose this last one in place of shields for the faithful but it is not so important. And i have also spirtual weapon, then I respeced. In any case, I usually start with gladiator sword and one enchanted large shield, then blood frenzy, holy meditation, switch weapon cast devotion for the faithful then auto attack and/or touch of rot: this is enough form most of encounters and strong enemy. In case of danger I recast some spell that were over and than barring death door (preferably on low health, for barbarian and death godlike more damage and power level), 2 salvation of time and enjoi. At last time, I cast withdrawn cause I heal myself where foes continue to suffer DOT damage from priest spells, barbarian abilities and my weapon. Gear is important, I maxed intimidate and wear Casità Samelia's Legacy and Whispers of Endless Path with "riposte" enchantment, very good combo; at top of that Whispers has also Run through, excellent versus only one enemy. For particularly encounter I change equipment, armor and weapons: three weapons slots are good for sword and shield, great sword and maybe a bow for distant enemies (when I can't reach them) or other situational weapon. I took most of all profiency with 2 arms weapons. With this PG I managed to kill magma dragon, concelhaut, sea dragon, nemnok and flooded cave (only situation where I had to pull enemies). Sometimes I equipped Effigy's Husk with percepction affliction immunity, modwyr for INT affliction immunity and ate shark soup for MIG, CON, DEX affliction immunity with Eviee as pet for RES resistance (more easy with this configuration). Vanilla corpse eater are not so good, but I like this subclass with death godlike and berath priest, well suited RPG form my taste Else I'd pick berserker and magran priest with fire spell, maybe more powerful, but with mod, as others said, corpse eater could be strong the same

You can pick human as race and Monk as second class, pick a Morning Star (preferably Saru Sichr) and primarily use its modal Body Blows in combination with Efficient Anguish, Enervating Blows and Spirit Frenzy as well as Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming. The advantages are that the enemies' fortitude gets lowered by up to 45 points on the fly which usually means a virtual accuracy increase. There are few enemies that have 45 points of fort. over deflection. And those who have usually have crappy deflection in the first place (then use Stunning Surge or Barbaric Smash). Being able to pick between two defenses for your melee attacks (even without Brute Force) is very advantageous imo. Then Efficient Anguish (besides it being a PL1-ability that is cheap and scales very well) has a nice synergy with Carnage: it pushes the enemy into the Carnage AoE before it gets rolled. This means the initial target not only gets knocked down and pushed but also suffers the normal weapon damage PLUS the Carnage raw damage. Saru Sichr has a second weapon attack roll attached (vs. fortitude) which can trigger Swift Flurry/HBD as well as Enervating Blows and Stunning Surge refunds. It is substantially easier to trigger Swift Flurry chains with Sari Sichr than with weapons that only hit once. Also because both single attack rolls will proc two rolls again. In addition to that the DoT of Saru Sichr does stack with itself which is very strong against singular foes. It is poison however - so against some enemies it doesn't do damage (but still procs crits iirc). Thunderous Blows does also help if you aren't a Berserker. Hylea's Talons will help to gain woundsas well as add damage. Their DoT gets triggered by both attack rolls of Saru Sichr. All this makes the Barbarian/Monk excellent against singular foes. Against bosses with stellar defenses one might want to pick Instruments of Pain and Enduring Dance of Death in order to gain and keep a decent accuracy bonus on top. Barbarian/Monk with Morning Star is one of my favorite multiclasses. I personally like the razor's edge that is playing a Berserker/Helwalker, but it works well with any subclass combo. Another way to make a great single target Barb, especially against single casters, is to pick Ranger and pile up accuracy bonuses and crit chance (Marked Prey, Stalker's Link, Survival of the Fittest, Bloody Slaughter and so on) and use Wounding Shot with dual battle axes plus Bleeding Cuts + Barbaric Smash as finisher. Barbaric Smash does tremendous damage once it crits - especialy in combination with Bloody Slaughter. With Evasive Roll the Barb/Ranger is super mobile even before getting Leap and can reach enemies very quickly. In this case the ability "Master's Call" isn't bad if you are a Stalker because it ends Bonded Grief very quickly and also is a useful CC tool. Of course Bleeding Cuts unlock Predator's Sense which also help with single target damage. Your AC is a part of your character after all... I found that Barb/Rogue, while doing great weapon dmg on paper, is usually not as effective as those two options. I can see a Barb/Paladin doing well against single targets, too. Using Eternal Flame + Ring of focused Flames as the main source of weapon damage and finishing with Barbaric Smash while using Brand Enemy, Blood Storm and Bleeding Cuts (or other weapon DoTs) to bring down tough nuts. SC Barb and especially SC Furyshaper is great against mobs but imo lacks the tools that would make him good against single (tough) targets.

Honestly am surprised he'd even bother trying to reach a Western audience at this point. But worth watching it if Putin was condescending to Carlson. Also maybe one knock on effect might be more support for Ukraine as it's a little more in forefront as everyone will be angry at Putin

Zaluzhnyi after being dismissed recieved the Hero of the Ukraine award. Together with Budanov. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/02/9/7441110/ Meanwhile in Russia it looks more and more probable, that Gerasimov recieved Hero of the Open Window award right before he got “dismissed”

Fiction begins... THE FLY'S THE LIMIT! We’re excited to announce the branching out update! In this update, the oak tree gets a much-needed glow-up, and we expand on Grounded's mechanics in new exciting ways! Filling the niche of difficulty progression somewhere between Wasps & Infected Broodmother WHAT'S NEW LOCATIONS ROTTING ROOTS A small underground area now directly follows the exit to the Stump Lab Outpost. It introduces the players to two hostile new mobs, and a new explosive as a progression and combat tool. The B4 explosive is required to destroy the new purple-hued 'Heavy Rocks' and exit the Rotting Roots. Upon doing so the next time the player sleeps, Millipedes, Slugs, and Snails will enter the yard. Giving the garden a fresh layer of challenge and progression. The entrance to the Brawny Boy Bin is also now a Heavy Rock, making the entrance a little more visible, and obvious for progression. Players can destroy this with B4 as an alternative to angering the wasps, but the effect will be the same. There are a few new micro-locations across the yard that are blocked by Heavy Rocks with new trinkets and treats to complement the features of this update. OAKWOOD HOLLOWS The interior of the tree now has a path up to the new canopy. We’re calling this intermediate zone inside the tree, ‘the Hollows’; A network of claustrophobic tunnels and galleries. Expect the xylophagous insects and detritivores to be making this place a home. They might not appreciate intruders! Expect all sorts of creatures that like the dark, both old and new. This is the primary location where players can get RESIN, an advanced building material. It's also a new central location for splinters. Players will need the B4 explosive to access the Hollows. OAKWOOD CANOPY This location has a lot more substance to it. It’s now a fully playable area with roughly five times the walkable area of the hedge. It has a number of new mini areas and points of interest but comes with its own challenges., verticality only being one of them. The main way to access this area is through the Hollows after the Stump Lab Outpost, but players can build up to this level at any point. Just be aware that Hornets patrol the tree, creating a sort of intentional ‘aggro-barrier’ between the upper trunk and the canopy. They will rain down hell on any climbing micronauts. These deadly wasp-counterparts are our way of saying “you SURE you want to come up here NOW?”. There are also additional voice lines to further indicate this might be a risky move. Once the Brawny Boy Bin has been opened, the hornets will scatter across the garden and will occasionally be seen fighting wasps. Players with existing bases in the tree may find it intersecting with the new meshes, but no changes have been made to the trunk exterior. MECHANICS FIZZ! The classic radical sugary goodie seems to be landing across the yard. FIZZBEES! These rice paper disks of fantastic fizzing sugar are another upgrade material to enhance your weapons with. The fizzing elemental effect does no damage on its own, instead causing the “Fizzing” status effect. Fizzing enemies will take 50% more elemental damage (Including poison), and creatures with a vulnerability to fizz will take double. Fizzing will also prevent certain enemies from healing. The paper Fizzbees must be cut open with any level III axe to reveal the delicious Sherbert nuggets within. These can be refined in the same way as the other elemental candies with a unique staff and sword, the Fizzfoil. WINGSUITS We appreciate that we haven't given much love to fall protection despite the garden's verticality. We're creating a new accessory slot called the wing slot. This will only take wing accessories. Dandelion Tufts are now classified as wings. We don't want to completely remove falling as a hazard. The tier of wings will determine the speed, durability, and level of control while in the air. The Dandelion Tufts are relatively unchanged and fill the niche of a wingsuit that has no durability but lacks speed and control. Wingsuits will take damage like armor in addition to taking a little durability on landing. The only minor change to Dandelion's is they take a longer to fully reduce a falling player's velocity. The tiers of wingsuit are as follows: Dandelion Tuff > Dandelion Parachute > Ladybird Wingsuit > Moth Wingsuit > Butterfly Wingsuit GUNKBOOTS GUNKBOOTS. Gunge-Galoshers! Ooze-Boots! Once you release the gastropods into your yard, you're going to start seeing a lot of slime. The snail highways are not a nuisance unless you're trying to walk across them, well what if these gooey roads across the garden could be traversed? The Gunkboots let you do just that. An upgrade to the Aphid Slippers, these will not only protect you from the slowing effect of mucus, they will let you SURF it. Slip along at high speeds as an alternative way to travel the garden while shouting "Wahoo!", "Gadzooks", and "Radical!" But the fun doesn't end there. Gunkboots keep you stuck to mucus surfaces even upside down. Ever wanted to know what it's like for bugs to crawl up walls? Now you can! Essential for getting to those canopy secrets hiding just under your nose.... just don't jump if you're hanging upside down... They don't defy gravity. Having a pair just makes leaping around the canopy a little safer! CREATURES SLUGS & SNAILS Slugs and snails are not hostile. These giant beasts simply roam across the garden munching up grass and leaving a trail of mucus which can be collected with a shovel. These new slime trails slow anyone crossing it but can double up as a new form of travel with the Gunkboots. Some snail highways go up walls! If your base is still made of grass at this point you may need to put down some spikes to deter them from eating your walls and floors. Slugs and Snails drop tough gunk and Mucus, a new resource that is used in some more advanced tools and blueprints. It can also be combined with resin to make a renewable source of repair glue. Snails are larger, and more troublesome to kill; once they reach half health they will hide inside their shell and regenerate. Only explosives can break the shell; these fragments are a useful resource in some armors and furniture. CARPENTER WORMS Think of these like the Grubby’s big scary brother, with a bite that can bore a hole in a tree (and you), but a soft backside! These larger, angrier grubs live inside the oak’s trunk and upper branches. They are an excellent source of grub goo, as well as their impressive tree-chomping mandibles! MILLIPEDES These cyanide-laced skittering nightmares glow-in-the dark, so at least you can see them coming if you don’t hear them first. Packing a painful venom and an armoured shell you’re facing off against the tanks of the insect world. Players will need to take advantage of its long, snaking body and stay away from its head. It’s vulnerable to explosives, so the new sticky B4 will allow you to throw on some heavy ordinance and detonate at a safe distance. Millipedes crawl around the dark areas of the stump and Hollow Climb, but will venture out at night. They're also capable of climbing up walls and over short gaps, creating new challenges for base design & defence. BUTTERFLIES Butterflies are found in the canopy and occasionally come down to smell the roses. They function very similarly to moths but will flee players unless directly engaged. They have a powerful gust attack that can send unprepared micronauts flying. They primarily drop twinkling dust, an alternative way of making jewels. HORNETS These big orange cousins of the wasp are renowned for their painful sting. Thankfully these Hornets are more solitary (and less likely to sit at range healing). They're vulnerable to the new Fizzing status. You'll find them mostly up in the canopy and near the castle once the Brawny Boy Bin is open. Until then they fly around the upper trunk being very territorial. ITEMS & GEAR Armor & Weapon Sets There are three new armours designed to provide a more varied set of playstyles and utility for the endgame. Xylophage Set - Xylophage Winged Heaume - Xylophage Plackart - Xylophage Greaves This armor set is made from a number of the yards wood eaters, including Millipedes and Carpenter Worms. It has a Teutonic Knight aesthetic with a teal underglow and cloak fabrics. Tis But A Scratch - Debuffs to movement and damage are less effective. Parry Heal - Heal a small portion of health on a perfect parry. Cleaving blow - Slashing weapons create a wide aoe that passes through enemies in the radius. Carpenter Claymore - A two-handed sword that had a bonus to damage based on the more enemies that are near. Stinger Set - Stinger Columbina - Stinger Suit - Stinger Boots This armor set is made from parts of the wasp queen, hornets, and bees. It has a superhero aesthetic with a bee-fur ruff; moving creates a yellow trail after the player. Extra Arrow - Grants an extra arrow before needing to reload with a crossbow. Lightweight - Increased jump height, reduced fall damage and wingsuit are more effective. Coyote Time - When using a ranged weapon in the air, the player will hang for a moment. Has a cooldown. Hornet Arbalest - A repeating crossbow that by default can load up to 3 arrows. The arrow type can be sequenced in the arrow selection menu. Allowing the crossbow to fire a variety of arrow types with each volley. Pixie Set - Pixie Crown - Pixie Tutu - Pixie Shoes This armor set is made from parts of the moth, butterfly, and scarab, as well as Sherbert. It has a magical fairy aesthetic with a sparkle effect. Fairy Power - Staff projectiles travel faster and the cooldown is slightly reduced. Glittering - Butterflies and Scarabs are less likely to run away, and have a chance to drop more. Treasure spots glisten more often. Furious Fizz - All non-staff attacks apply fizz. Fairy Wand - Providing you have the requisite staff in your inventory, the fairy wand will have that damage type in a selection menu (like arrows), by default, the wand can perform salt damage. Wraith Set - Wraith Death Mask - Wraith Cowl - Wraith Wraps This armor set is made by mixing various potent venoms and poisons with resin. It has a grim reaper-like aesthetic, the player will appear translucent when remaining still. Cloak & Dagger - Recudes the range in which enemies aggro and adds sneak attack damage if you damage them before they aggro. Tolerance - All poisons and venoms first detract from a recharging meter before doing damage. Shady - You are invisible to enemies while staying still, provided you're not already in combat with them. Mantis Sythe - A slashing weapon with an impressive reach. Increases the drop quantity from enemies. Other Gear B4 - An explosive crafted from four splatburst, some gum, and gunpowder. Functions like a sticky splatburst with a little more oomph, but has to be damaged to begin the detonation timer. Also used to destroy Heavy Rocks found throughout the yard. Snail Sheild - A tower shield that vastly reduces player speed when blocking, but with a very large block gauge. On perfect block, inflicts the Mucus debuff, slowing the movement speed of the attacker. Carpenter Hatchet - Millipede Trowel - Hornet Pick - Three "miniature" tools that operate at Tier 3. They do reduced damage to enemies, but increase the upper drop quantity from harvesting. In addition, you can use the reload context menu to switch between them saving hotbar space, or set them to auto switch based on what you're harvesting. Spyglass - Made with resin! |Now you can finally get a long-distance look and see what all that blurry scenery is all about. BUILDINGS ELEVATOR - After completing the Canopy lab you will get a few things to make life a little easier and expand on the possible base designs. One of these is the elevator. They require a permanent clearance between the two platforms but are an advanced way to scale heights once you're established... (rather than building 83 spiral staircases) LOOM - The loom is an advanced version of the spinning wheel. It crafts more, faster. FRIDGE-FREEZER - A large fridge with three times the space. Raw food and jerky will stack to 10 while in the Fridge-Freezer. CASTAWAY COLLECTOR - Four drums around a large funnel. An upgraded blend of the Dew-Collector & Water Container combo. FORGE - The forge is required to craft Resin Ingots from tough gunk and resin. It is a larger oven. Additionally, it allows acorns to be crafted into ash. FLY PAPER - Hanging traps act as lures for flying creatures, which use mucus to glue these enemies in place, making them easier targets. TREE TAP - An upgraded Sap Catcher that uses carpenter mandibles. It can be toggled between sap or resin. It will gradually create up to three stalactites. FURNITURE BASE PARTS New wasp-paper & bur wall set with a Japanese partition style, with Origami roofs in a pseudo-oriental style. Burnt Mushroom - Ash can be added to mushroom bricks to make them grey and cracked. This set is identical to mushroom but darker with some cracks and moss. Resin tiles & Bricks - A set of polished tile floors in shiny resin-yellow and resin brick walls combined with grey mushrooms. Employs an organic golden palace style you might expect from high elves. Mucus Windows - Grounded's very own disgusting version of glass. Stretched thin and dried these glossy windows finally keep the cold air out. Butterfly Stained Glass windows - for the castle builders butterfly wings can now be turned into stained glass style windows. Billipede Sofa - Several modular sections of sofa made from Billipede boss parts. Grand Hearth - A large fireplace set made from mushroom and resin. Resin Table - Several modular sections of table. Millipede Candelabra Some new Mucus-glazed and butterfly-decorated vases. Bubble tube - A classic 90s bubble tube made with fizz Fiction ends... Thank you for reading. This is a work of fiction and entirely written as a "What if" Obsidian created another big update, or DLC for Grounded. I am out of work at the moment, so with some extra time on my hands I wanted to do a game design study practice a few design areas. I find Groudned such a unique and inspiring game. Both relaxing and stressful of equal measure (in a good way!) I definately went a little overboard, but Grounded makes my brain a faucet of ideas. I looked at deleted content, old concept art, and tried to think of what was a realistic yet interesting set of additions to the game. TLDR: Grounded is great and I would love to see more of it.

I was looking for something completely different on Youtube (Drachinifels coverage of the Battle of Jutland) when the algorithm gave me this... Looks like a small series of shorts made by the studio for whatever purposes. About 1 minute each and you have to manually activate subtitles. Thought it was cute

that is the stuff am certain we couldn't endure. star trek (am not having seen any trek since first episode o' discovery, so, am not certain o' the current status quo) at least tried to work real science and a smidge o' practical engineering into their designs and storylines. trek were often the first place non stem background folks mighta heard o' wormholes, dark matter and string theory when those episodes first were released. yeah, star trek took liberties, particular with transporter and holodeck technologies, but we understand folks discussing the science and tech behind trek, 'cause the science were often integral to the show. star wars, on the other hand... star wars was fantasy. lucas purposeful embraced elements o' joseph campbell's hero cycle to create what were having common thematic and plot elements o' the oldest stories ever told. setting were long ago and in a galaxy far, far away-- spaceships, laser guns and all the sci-fi trappings were indulged, yes? sci-fi were only surface. star wars included a dark knight and a merlin/gandalf figure as well as magic swords. first movie climax is the young hero slaying the dragon. is gawain, gilgamesh, and odysseus as 'posed to daneel olivaw, david bowman or valentine michael smith. aerodynamics o' pod racers? serious? bootstrapping real world physics and engineering into star wars feels just a bit silly. kinda reminds us o' the legion o' internet pundits who are serious when they try and explain the physics behind the ninja run. ... and y'know there is more than one obsidan poster who is an advocate o' the naruto run. but again, different strokes. HA! Good Fun!

Guild Saga: Vanished Worlds demo: Turn-based tactical RPG with 16-bit-ish Pixel graphics. Really nicely made, though, a lot of attention to detail. The camera zooms in and focuses on a person when you talk to them and it's very smooth and slick. The animations are nice and there's all types of idle animations; capes fluttering, people shifting their weight, that sort of stuff. It's not only turn-based but also grid-based. That will be a turn off (no pun intended) to some, but I'm a big fan. I like how in grid-based you can give specific shapes or directions to spells and abilities, like the movement of chess pieces. It makes positioning even more important. What surprised me is that it's always grid-based, not just in combat. This doesn't bother me, but it might you.

The Il76 that was shot down carrying PoWs (or, if preferred, 'carrying PoWs') at the end of last month was meant to be the same as an Il76 that was regularly going to Syria and Iran* (and thus carrying a cargo of S-300 instead of prisoners). That Il76 has however been back flying to Iran etc again. *per wikipedia: "The independent Russian media outlet iStories, citing Ukrainian OSINT investigations [NAFO], reported that the aircraft had flown over Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea and Iran before disappearing from radars and reappearing over Belgorod Oblast."

Yes, I've tried some of them; a few are quite good. They can suffer a bit from balance issues though. Perhaps from a lack of play testing?

Outcast 2, demo: ---This one put time limits on the two non-endless-combat gamemodes (explore, story) available - 20 minutes (kicks you out) and two replays. Annoying. Could've been just two replays, no time limit. Or at least give an hour. ---Visually decent (not "next gen", just looks nice), felt like most might be able to get a decent working performance with setting tweaks and/or DLSS. ---horizontal jet-pack flying/gliding, as well as "jump" being vertical high jet bounces (edit: which will be used in quests or reaching items). In explore demo you could do it endlessly, don't know if there will be fuel limits to range/time in full game, I would guess yes. ---no UI scale in demo and the elements are all huge and often pretty visually disruptive. ---I played "explore" for the 20 minutes and ran into one enemy glitched into the ground so I couldn't shoot it, meaning I couldn't get the quest complete. I was however able to melee punch it when it popped half out of the ground once. I was a fan of the original Outcast game's attempt at doing something different, but wasn't an actual big fan of the gameplay itself. Outcast 2 feels a bit more generic pseudo openworld exploration/rpg, at least in the demo starts. The demo did, however, sort of immediately trigger the curiosity "want to know/explore more" response, vs. wanting to almost immediately turn it off, which I would count as a positive.

Venom is interesting, as his story obviously ties in Peter as well and overall works in creating a likeable npc who isn't all bad but has issues. The others you didn't miss anything storywise. Deadpool and Storm were forced into it. Neither really has anything to offer in their discussions either - you already have Captain America and Wolverine to talk to for the experienced old people, you don't need to rechew it with Storm. Morbius works well for the DLC story arc and makes absolute sense there. So for me the DLC was a 50/50 success with the additions. It doesn't help that I didn't like Deadpool's mechanics either and by the time Storm was added, was too indifferent to care about her mechanic, which on paper isn't bad. I could have done with a smaller roster as well. I felt Wolverine was just random fanservice. The avengers kinda work to create this Avengers vs Midnight Suns dynamic, but overall for me they diluted the midnight theme. I would have liked the game to have been more bold and not just throw everyone in who they hoped would get one more fanboy to play the game.

Finally finished up Marvel Midnight Suns. It was a fantastic game from a combat perspective. I enjoyed the mix of Xcom style combat with card usage. The story and exploring the Abbey was good, for the most part. It got pretty tiring talking to all of these people about life. It felt kind of repetitive, I guess. Like, there were a lot of them wanting to talk to me about my mommy issues. I didn't even get the DLC characters, and I'm positive I don't need 4 more people to chew the fat with. I feel like the hero roster could be 6 and it would have been a more focused game.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/homeworld-3-delayed-till-may-to-incorporate-player-feedback-to-war-games-demo And they delayed the game. Well, guess that's good potentially.

Copycat, demo: ----well, it's sorta cute. Controls are pretty clunky, camera view control is pretty clunky. I do like the cats 1st furperson purspective, like staring at legs from under a shelf. It's no Stray, but maybe. Pacific Drive, demo: ---visually looks decent if you can keep certain settings High/Ultra. Driving the car is fine/didn't feel too hinky etc. ---demanding game performance wise. Shadows and lighting is visually/atmospherically important, so one may not want to turn such down a lot, and middling/older PC's may find themselves playing it at 30fps. If you're the type who wants 85+fps at all times/higher resolutions, likely to be disappointed. YMMV. ---not a very intuitive tutorial phase re: what to do next and the UI in general is a little annoying but I can see getting used to it enough. ---THERE IS NO AUTOSAVE. Save triggers are far between and in most "zones" it will not save until you've finished a bunch of tasks or something. It's done this way on purpose. I get it, gameplay tension design and save-scum prevention. Some may enjoy it. For myself, I like being able to stop and go to bed vs. feeling forced to continue because I haven't figured out/done what will trigger a save to happen. Still, for the type of gameloop, it might be marginally tolerable if you love everything else. Undecided.

I enjoyed Palace of Ice. I think it was the most polished extra campaign.

Yes, I've finished most of that campaign now. It's pretty decent, about on a par with the other Solasta campaigns. I'm not sure how much I want to finished the final slog though. The best part is the new add-on tilesets and other features that are sure to start showing up in user modules. It might even be possible to build an Icewind Dale-like campaign now.

Chinese New Year event in D4 is a joke. You click on shrines for a Feat of Strength and kill enemies for an hour. Such awesome.

Frieren 19-20-21 epilogue/end of the first test Old man Denken didn't get to where he is just by giving up easily, so he is determined to take a bird from another group before the sun sets. Being all out of mana (magical energy), it comes down to brute force. Luck is with them and they stumble across a another team, who has lost a member (one of the dead bodies they ran into previously, killed by monsters). I.e. they have automatically failed, but still wont relinquish their bird Explaining his tactics to Richter... and what do you know?... a few bruised knuckles later, Denkens group also has a bird! Some of the other teams also get a lucky break in the dying minutes of the day... Ferns group also just hiding and waiting for the day to end now... Frierens group doing their own thing... We haven't really seen much of Stark for these last, several episodes, so we just get a glimpse of him too, getting stuff off his chest, sharing with a sympathetic tavern keeper

Not really useful here, but funny Feeblemind worked on Areelu The random enemies in Threshold were tougher than Derpskari Storm of justice did >1000 damage, good thing Owlcat boosted his HP I guess

Well, that’s exactly what I would say, if I wanted to spread some kind of propaganda

My father went into hospice care on Tuesday because of the rapid downturn he went into over the weekend. After spending the last 24 hours with my sister at the hospice, he passed away mostly in his sleep at 0550 this morning. Gotten home, snagged a couple of hours sleep, and now onto contemplation of the needful things and divvying stuff up between my sister and myself for phone calls and such to make. I now need to find where a mysterious fortune is so I can start on my Batman path.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986). It definitely improved from being in Japanese over the English dub, but it wasn't nearly as strong of an improvement as which Porco Rosso experienced. I think I'm just not the biggest fan of this story (which is basically the same story as both Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water as well as Future Boy Conan) or the characters (also a lot of similarities to both of the aforementioned shows as well). There's a certain scene that makes my skin crawl in this film, which I think is intended to be humorous but which I do not find to be. But while I think Castle in the Sky is not quite totally my thing and has some unnecessary issues that take away from my enjoyment of it, I still think it's a fundamentally good children's adventure film. Princess Mononoke rates as "it's just about the best a film could possibly be except for the fact that I don't like it basically at all" for me, so Laputa obviously places above it. But the gap between Princess Mononoke, my second least favorite Miyazaki film, and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, my actual least favorite Miyazaki film, is quite vast. I've watched Ponyo twice, once by myself and once with small children, and I had a very bad time during both watches. I'm curious to see if I like The Boy and the Heron: from the little I've glimpsed of it, I am guessing it'll probably be another Princess Mononoke or thereabouts for me.