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I think they might have, uhm, you know, like, made fun of you if that's actually the date they've given you.

Got my invitation to the citizenship ceremony. Unless something really bad happens, I'm likely to become an Australian citizen on the last day this month (Monday 31st of September). I better remember to treat myself to a glass of my special Cognac that day (which means I'll have dual citizenship, Danish/Australian)

Neon Genesis Evangelion and End of Evangelion - I have the Third Impact song stuck in my head. Does this hold up? Absolutely, no question. There's something disturbing about seeing the classic animation before CGI was an option, and honestly it's ****ing terrifying. There's just something so raw about it...I can honestly emphasize with Gendo now in a way I couldn't before and that's ****ing me up. Not afraid to admit I cried at the omenitau sequence and by god I think that's a near perfect ending. Anyways I guess I'll see how I take the rebuilds whenever I get to them again.

An American Werewolf In London (1981) A componently made horror flick that has no poetry in it's soul. Perhaps as a viewer I am tainted with the knowledge Landis is a piece of **** (sorry to insult excrement by comparing it to Landis) but I found the film to be hollow. It's pretty but I find it lacking, I think it just lacks substance to make it anything more than 20 minutes of Werewolf with over an hour of an unlikeable **** floating through Jolly Olde England. Mulholland Drive (2001) - KP rewatch I don't know how many times I've seen this film, but I think this time made me think of my father a lot. If Naomi Watts had only made this film she would deserve to be remembered as an actress of a generation, the shift between bright-eyed up and coming starlet to a battered and tired woman bitter about having been abandoned by everything brings echoes of Ergo Proxy's examination of raison d'etre. Glued together by Lynch's trademarked surrealism, this dream reminds us of the hell of waking up. Not as iconic for me as Lost Highway, but still one of the best films ever made.

I see. So they are really just suspecting. When I have a chance to sail to that area, I probably would try putting up a flag of the Vailian Trading Company and see if the target would attack me or not. If I get attacked, that would prove the target really is guilty and I would then take the opportunity to complete the quest.

Very likely her evidence is too flimsy to make a case. Something like survey ships in the area report keep reporting back after being intimidated. Perhaps all reports mention an Auamua captain or a ship flying an RDC flag. Regardless Desiwa the Shark is known to sail this area. So it least seems plausible that she might be the one responsible, no?

The ambiguity of the final bounty from him might actually be saying something with what isn't said. If you look at the way he sells the previous bounties to you: "-a pirate shirking any pretense of lawful conduct in the open seas" "-a Vailian captain and seeker of lost ruins. There is no wicked length he would not go to plunder the dignity of these isles." He appeals to you from a perspective of what is lawful and just. The Deadfire should be a place of order and civility in his eyes. Surly you agree? But then when it comes to Burunga: "-a Huana captain of many seasons." What threat does she pose to order in the Deadfire? Seemly nothing. Further more his dialogue after accepting the bounty could be read to imply he might actually admire her. This goes back to what he said when hiring you: "-empty the seas of competition in exchange for profit." This what never about taking out the scum that plague the sea, this was just business.

I think Wakoyo is just telling you that Burunga is a druid, so that you can prepare yourself before fighting her.

I'm pretty sure you cannot

Just something for the aviation enthusiasts... from this years Riverfire in Brisbane

Toybox is your friend

My party is currently a level 10 party and has 5 characters. And the title of the quest Hunting Season in the Journal does not have a level indicator, which it should have. Those druids were not easy to deal with, and each of them had a level indicator of 1 or 2 skulls (for my level 10 party). It look me three tries with the uses of two figurines to defeat them. The quest title's lacking a level indicator can be misleading because it makes players think the quest is designed for their current levels.

Finished The Outer Worlds, while aiming for the more peaceful outcomes (still shot Rockwell without talking). I suppose, everything about the game has been said already, so in the context of Avowed releasing soon (2025?), I am unsure if I should hope for more gameplay depth. The shallow systems work with the satirical narrative, but more complexity for a high-/dark-fantasy epic would be welcome. As well as the less focus on the combat, which is not particularly satisfying* - something smaller, but with more immersive sim elements or stronger story branching. Regarding the environmental storytelling, on one hand, there are party members' cabins with items placed very thoughtfully, then there are level-scaled modern guns or Adreno on the Hope in the areas unused by UDL. So, as mentioned, smaller and with higher attention to details would be preferred to RNG. I guess, I have seen worse itemisation in Divinity: Original Sin 2, but that one was the worst - level-scaled colour-coded RNG'ed faceless trash with no story significance appearing in random crates (it got somewhat better in the D&D game - the unique equipment could be kept throughout the game, but there still was a lot of literal trash). *I can't tell if repeatedly failing to notice being hit in the back is an UI issue or just my low perception. I don't think that there are clear indicators of the direction where the damage is coming from and the first-person view does not exactly help. So, I am very happy that Avowed offers the third-person camera option. Still, TOW was good, because of the quality of writing and world building, not the combat or itemisation. The character creation and development systems were serviceable.

My own personal choices would be Amira's Wing or Rod of the Deep Hunt. I do find non watershaper focus rods underrated. Rod modal is crazy vs crowd, esp with Shared Nightmare (same as mortars and watershaper focus). The big difference is that non-watershaper focus rods are good enough vs single target. Nothing shiny but still way better than Watershaper focus/mortars which basically requiring weapon swapping vs single target, instead of just modal toggling. They feel super flexible and have decent enchant. Ciphers do get decent accuracy to use frostseeker, but it requires setup (Borrowed Instinct, Psychovampiric Shield, some flanking). I don't find it reactive enough for most fights. Amira's Wing also has spell like abilities which benefit from weapon quality (+60% damages for legendary, not even counting PL scaling). Sure it's 1 per rest, contrary to Kitchen Stove but Horrid Writting with +60% bonus damages and Shared Nightmare is... Horrid ? And it will most likely replenish full focus. I also love Rod the Deep Hunt. Sure you don't have all of Amira's Wing spells but the minus deflection and recovery time is exactly what you want vs bosses (and is decent vs crowd), when rod modal becomes suboptimal. Again nothing shiny but the whole party will benefit from your boss debuffing (-5 Deflection +15% recovery isn't a bad passive debuff vs a strong single target). Second slot : A few bosses are very resistant to slash AND pierce damages and REQUIRE essence interrupter. Which is also quite good vs single target because of Hunting bows modal. It's a close to necessary secondary slot. Sometimes Redhand is nice for the single target burst/focus gain.

Frostseeker. It's both good against single enemies and mobs alike and its AoE generates focus. Use Borrowed Instinct (more crits), Time Parasite and pick the Shared Nightmare passive. Frostseeker's AoE on crit will grow with Shared Nightmare, so Shared Nightmares makes the AoE bigger with more focus - which generates more focus because you reach more enemies - which makes the AoE bigger... and so on. Serafen's mortars are good against mobs as well and will profit from Shared Nightmare, but less good against single enemies. Kitchen Stove is very good because of Tunderous Report (high dmg AoE cone 1/encounter). It generates a ton of focus if used against numerous foes and is great to fill your focus up asap 1/encounter. After that it's just a regular blunderbuss though with its rel. low PEN pierce-only damage. Waterhaper's Focus (enchanted with Ondra' Wrath) is very good against mobs - but really bad against single enemies. Hunting Bow + modal is a good option. Essence Interrupter and Aamiina's Legacy are both great. Only useable against single targets though. That's why all in all I'd pick Frostseeker.

Rogue Trader completed Post Mortem: They tried. They tried to do something with the setting that was more than a space marine spouting fascist one liners while shooting anyone not a space marine. They tried to show a setting that actually works, and how it doesn't. They care about the setting - more so than Games Workshop and most fanboys do. People queuing in the bureaucracy being sleeping bags, not knowing how many days they'll be there. The story both works and does not work. In general, if your villain needs to monologue at the end and explain their plan, because Mr Bond the laser will kill you anyway, then your plot was contrived. The game is split into a tutorial prologue and five chapters. The prologue works. It sets up how you become the Rogue Trader, gives you the first three party members, and lets you explore the setting and system. The first alignment choice is good - the scene with the choice is crap - if a person materializes out if nothing in a fire, in a world where daemons are real, you don't chat with it. *Rolleyes* Chapter 1 shows, as so often in rpgs, that it got a lot of attention. It is compact, has choices that make sense, with outcomes that are understandable. The outcome is over the top and slightly confusing, as two things happen at the same time - luckily the villain at the end of the game will monologue and explain The choices at the end all make sense (except possibly the heretical. I wouldn't know, I didn't make choices that would unlock it). Chapter 2 starts OK and theoretically gives you freedom to explore. The Devs expect you though to play in a specific way. You go to Janus first. If you head off in the wrong direction as I had done in my first attempt, you do things out of order and break stuff. Is it important stuff? It depends. Do you want Yrliet and to do her personal quest? If you want to do her personal quest you do Janus first. Not because by delaying the visit time passes and you are too late, but because while exploring you will likely run into the personal quest encounters before having the quest, so once you do get it, the encounters are gone and it can't be progressed. In general chapter 2 works, but lacks a cohesive feeling. It has the BioWare Game middle problem: you need to do three things, in the order you choose, where each thing let's us tell a different story and use a different colour palette. This is always detrimental to cohesion. Chapter 3 was created out of fan enthusiasm that Games Workshop gave the okay to use a specific location and explore it in a way it hadn't yet. I get it. You are allowed to do something cool. But why do the players need to suffer for it? And I actually like Harlequins! I understand what they tried to do. Part of it works. Part of it is terribly made. I replayed the complete chapter because I didn't manage to talk to an NPC - they were behind bars, I should have clicked between the bars, yet I always clicked the bars so always got the boring description and eventually decided "I probably can't talk to them yet". Chapter 3 is where you find the most people online getting annoyed, looking for walkthroughs. Chapter 4 throws you back into freedom. The difference to 2 is that theoretically you care a bit more. And if you are cynical like me, you may be positively surprised that there is more stuff to do than you expected after the experience of Chapter 3. They are working on the bugs. I only had one. The problem of this chapter is that it shows, Owlcat expects players to play in specific ways: full dedication to one alignment and always picking those choices when they come up. You are supposed to do three playthroughs and each with 100% dedication. If not, you suddenly realise you are locked out of gaining any alignment points halfway through the game, as you don't meet the requirements to make more alignment choices... On top of that, a number of companion quests complete in this chapter and I have ranted about that already. The conclusion of the chapter held some annoyance on a mechanical level for me (what do you mean you are saddened I never collaborated with you faction, when in every choice I have sided with you, simply did not trade enough to reach the final tier?) Chapter 5 goes back to being linear. It is expectedly short and throws new stuff at you because plot twist. I understand the plot twist, saw it coming. But still, "and now for something completely different" should be left to Monty Python sketches, not for plot resolutions. I feel the finale and certain possibilities are too over the top. Verdict, the best look at the setting in a video game. A lot of love and excitement by the Devs. Direction completely pushed aside by said excitement. No understanding what makes mechanics fun/unfun. An attempt to learn from their Pathfinder games, but not truly having learned the lesson.

I guess I'm a Warframe guy now.

1) It is quite fascinating that there is hardly any wiki and game guide stuff out there. So many choices and at best one Reddit discussion talking about there not being any info. 2) Shady, can you edit the title of this thread to capitalise the first letter? I went all the way to page six searching for it as I wouldn't notice it being all lowercase

I had a room in Novac where I had one of each cooking ingredient in the fridge. Meat like skewers etc and a pilot light in the oven. One of each clothing/armour in the wardrobe. One of each weapon in a box. Crafting material in a different container. Books, and household junk in the dresser... I do not see a problem. Then again, I sneak skill books into the chest in my children's bedroom in skyrim, to get them reading.

Yep, show was good and was pretty consistent with the games imo. There's a potential lore mismatch with Fallout 1 I noticed, though it isn't serious- the way the show vaults are shown and where they are located the Master would have found them when he started looking well before the events of F1. I tend to pick things apart for verisimilitude/ 'historical' accuracy and if that's the worst I could come up with there isn't much cause for complaint. The one most people complained about was the date for a certain plot point regarding the NCR that was shown on the classroom whiteboard not matching up with New Vegas' timeline, but that was clearly indicating that said plot point happened after the date indicated, not at it, so no actual inconsistency.

I really enjoyed the Coteries of New York games, the first one had a bit of a slim plot but the art is super appropriate and atmospheric for the setting and they did a really good job with the cast of characters who really feel like they belong in the VtM setting. Shadows of New York was just chef's kiss. Loved the main character and the story was awesome, you had a good mystery that delt with a lot of the faction politics and it also had that bleak nihilistic element as well which fits in perfectly with Vamparism being a curse and not a fun existence. Apparently the third in the series will be the last one, which makes me a bit sad because these games filled the void for me now that LA By Night have stopped doing their show but if they stick with their tragectory then Reckoning of New York is going to be really good. I did enjoy Heart of the Forest, I'd been very curious about Werewolf at that point but had never seen a rulebook for it. I guess it was a good introduction to that world but it felt really brief and I didn't really understand the structure of a werewolf tribe and basically was left wanting more, it did help me understand what werewolves were in the World of Darkness though and I think it did a decent job of introducing the concept of Gia. I need to pick up the second one, I hope now that they've done some world buidling they focus a bit more on the plot and characters because I feel like the studio has it in them to make a great Werewolf game that's on par with the New York trilogy. I know visual novels have always been a niche market but I think Different Tales and especially Draw Distance are doing a great job with their iterations of it. I think if they added a good narrator and made a longer story they could tell a pretty epic adventure. We need more World of Darkness games, it's such a good setting.

I liked it from the start, but that I think is mostly down to me treating it like a Looking Glass type sneaky game. For that approach, the massive 2.0 mechanical overhaul really had minimal impact. The random generic loot? Doesn't matter. The unbalanced combat? No impact. Indeed the biggest change probably came in an earlier patch, when they made throwing knives non-consumable. So yeah, it's very good at that. In terms of its other qualities, I rate it as a mediocre RPG, and as a spectacle shooter ...I don't care because I hate that kind of gameplay, as evidenced by my recent rant about Phantom Liberty. The game is at its worst when it funnels you into their grandiose set pieces.

Is that the LadyCrimson seal of quality?

Stray Blade. Finished about 2 weeks ago, but have not (possibly, will not) written a review. The action-adventure was not especially horrible, but it was not exactly good. I liked the general plot (the twist was more funny than tragic), the main characters, the character customisation options (the MC always wore a full suit of armour and a closed helmet), the rebindable controls, and the 2D cut-scenes/art. On the other hand, the combat was generally irritating, there were relatively few bosses (7, with the beast generals being rather underwhelming), the exploration was not exactly engaging (most weapon blueprints were dropping from any human enemy based on the MC's level), the number of save slots was limited to 1 (granted, the story was linear and the last save was before the point of no-return), the graphics did not align with the system requirements and performance (I had severe FPS drops in some areas). Fallout 4. I continued my 8 year-old save file. The side effect is that I have a very vague recollection of what is in my inventory or who the child at the main settlement is. The inventory management in general is rather painful - there are a lot of items, but the sorting options are very limited and have to be cycled through (I am also only guessing the abbreviations). With the Full Dialogue mod I at least know what the PC would say, so that's very nice. The number of the dialogue options being limited to 4 is less nice. The combat is rather horrible. On the other hand, making engaging first-person combat is challenging. So, I have reached the Far Harbor town in search of Kasumi, whom her parents asked to bring home or to confirm that she had left on her own. The first battle at the town's gates took me several attempts to get through. Afterwards, the locals asked me to kills some random ghouls and mantis-like creature and find some tools to reinforce the gates. One of the locals offered to guide to the town where Kasumi supposedly had gone. On the way to the mantis-like creature, I found a Vault and something I initially thought to be a weird bush. It was a Legendary irradiated yao guai.

Was up late for other reasons, so when time came, went to buy Manor Lords (on Steam, for the moment): --- "Too many people want to buy this game, so you can't right now, try again later." --- "But not too many times in a row or you'll hit our attempts limit and be frozen out for a while." I guess millions of wishlisters is too much for Steam's purchase software. Bought it, it started fine, spent 15 minutes with settings and such (will be doing EZ no-combat mode while learning town mechanics, then try normal mode). Game loaded me into a spot with baskets of bread, 1 ox, and some peasants. Looks nice. But I save and exit. Sadly too tired from staying up all night to test-play within "2 hr time limit" window. Later. But I did make an angry squirrel, purple-white coat of arms to match my purple dress/white hat wearing, grumpy old fart female avatar. Color/mood matching is important after all.

Started playing Star Wars the Old Republic again. Just enough to try out the new story bits and level a few characters up to the new max. This, together with the gear grind made me love Guild Wars 2 even more! edit: GW2 has had no level increase or gear inflation the last 10 years. You don’t lose anything by taking a break from it

I somehow sank over 500 hours into Kenshi without noticing it, because it's emergent stories are so, so to my liking and I think I only explored, like, half a map yet. What mods I recommend would be "Less foliage and rocks" and some texture compression mod, because Kenshi is not exactly optimized, SCAR's pathfinding, Let's Talk (because by default everyone only says something once and game gets too quiet). I also use and love Map Borders mod, one that makes your base gates bit sturdier, one that scatters about more potential recruits and one that allows for really big parties plus a bugfix or two.

I cannot. I'm not a mod or Gromnir, who I haven't seen in an age and hasn't responded to or viewed any messages I've sent and I'm starting to get worried. I still tried though just in case I really was Gromnir all along but didn't know it.

Finally watched The Thing from 2011 yesterday. The landscape shots were nice, but the rest of the movie is very... meh. The original movie is so much better.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) I enjoyed it. I think that I would have preferred it if it was more like other Mad Max films taking place during a single conflict instead of an origin story, but preferences aside the film was solid enough. The cgi means that visually it can be lacking but for me at least it wasn't as grating as superhero trash. I hope if they do another Mad Max there's a big twist reveal that the rest of the world is still normal but only Australia has descended into chaos. Drive-Away Dolls (2024) Not gonna lie, serious contender for movie of the year. Ethan Cohen still has the Fargo juice and really pumped it to make this.