Leaderboard

Usually clean to music from my MP3 player, a Fiio X3, on my bluetooth speaker. Have to say scrubbing the bathroom to the Soviet anthem is indeed an experience.

Haha! I read right over the WM1 part. Jeez... 🫣 But still: the tips with fire dmg and Rymrgand's Mantle work there as well. But if you have the fitting prayers then this shoud be a walk in the park. If no prayers (from priest or scroll): Since it's well past Caed Nua you should have two situationally very cool items in your inventory that can help: Ilfan Byrngar's Solace (medium shield, Endless Paths lvl 6) and Blaidh Golan (hide armor, Brakenbury Sanatorium). They have the enchantment "Preservation" which adds +50 to all defenses when stunned or prone. And they stack because one is from a shield (weapon). So the tank (or anyone who usually struggles to stay alive in this fight) who gets attacked and gets stunned will gain +100 to all defenses while he is stunned (minus the stun debuff, but that's negligible). This makes sure that follow-up attacks from multiple spirits will miss - until the character isn't stunned anymore. This doesn't necessarily preven stun-locking, but it will reduce the amount of dps the character receives a lot. It can help to withstand the incoming damage a lot longer so the rest of the party can take care of the spirits without too much stress. This combo doesn't work against paralyze though.

I do not believe for a moment that religious doctrine was high on the agenda of Nordic monarchs. Out own king had ulterior motives when he gave in to popular uprising starting in Holstein in the 1520's and spreading. Ironically led by a Knights Hospitaller, Hans Tausen. The political situation was complicated too, because Swedish terrorists had started an uprising against their rightful Danish overlords, leading to political maneuvering and power plays, Game of Thrones style. A few years later, the obscenely wealthy Catholic church had its assets seized and reformation was introduced. Also, the ridiculous number of public holidays (all the St. Gorth and St. Nicholas and St.Mary and what have you holy days) were merged into a single public holiday aptly named (roughly translated) "Great Prayer Day", where the peasants, those who still cared, could worship their favourite saints all at once. Time to get the peasants back in the fields so they could produce taxable income. (see Nordic "history" above 😁) I was a bit curious about that. According to the local advertisers here in Australia, US citizens are required to pay tax in the US, despite living abroad. Ads everywhere in social media and papers here on how to get rid of your US citizenship (if you have dual citizenship) so you don't get double taxed together with Australian tax. Are you guys supposed to pay tax in the afterlife too??? The hypocrisy of British "expats" in Spain is particularly funny to listen to in interviews. No ways are they immigrants!!! 😖

"Fun" video with the Gamers Nexus guy if you hadn't seen it: Windows (and most other always online products, services, and features) is adversarial, by design, and it is always getting worse. On the latest patched version of the official Windows 11 multi-installer from Microsoft.com (including Home and Pro editions, along with some others, IDK, I wasn't paying that much attention to the list of options you get, I just chose Pro), found and freely downloadable here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 It is admittedly not straightforward to discern what you need to click on in order to not have to do the SHIFT+F10 OOBE stuff, but it is still possible: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/psttyrild3n998fzlhnx0/vmware_wFvbyAGVMu.mp4?rlkey=zi9bw7xlkiohwzzzjl4o8ookg&dl=0

Condolences majestic.

Sorry to hear that majestic. Sounds like he had good and long run of things. Been 6 years and 5 years since we had to say goodbye to our first dachshunds, cancer and a spinal injury that led to paralysis spreading, still miss those dogs.

Sorry for your loss. Hang in there @majestic.

Yes I mostly picking the weapons for passives, wether I choose the healing or the max health reduction on ennemies won't make a huge difference given Vatnir patheric melee damage. But I don't see the point of Silver Moon anyway other than ennemies healing themselves, which is VERY VERY situationnal, very rarely usefull.

I agree, for Vatnir, Lunar Excellence is better. Silver Moon can be good with a damage dealer and is situational, pick the one you feel better, Golden sun is OK, not so much difference in Vatnir' hands The plus of Sun and Moon are +2 power level and the chance to recast a spell (and in some situation, two attacks instead of one).

OP is having problems with WM1 but we immediately started talking Caed Nua 😛 This is rather minmaxy but you can build your priest to have crazy action speed (high dex, Unforgiven, Outlander's Frenzy). Also, your other party members can get high Lore and cast some "Prayer Against" spells of their own. Figurines are helpful for buying time to cast spells.

Thank you for all of your attention! You guys are really kind and helpful. Yeah I invited a friend of mine to try out the Gamepass version of the game (he does not have prior experience to the series so very clean/newly-installed game files I guess), and confirmed that there the bug still exist and it might be an unintended bug associated with the gamepass version. ironically figuring out what was happening with the affliction/resistance thing has made me learnt a lot about the game mechanics lol, despite the bug I still continue enjoying the game.

We can all feel super smart for being able to get around/being nerdy enough to know how to alter things as we want (unlike the average consumer, which is what a lot of companies bank on, imo) but we're sorta still part of the statistical problem as users. Not that everyone has a choice in the matter, I know. I'm just in a very negative headspace re: current US state of AI/computer/digital dependence and monopolistic/privacy/profit sharing-investor desperation cycles. At least Google's being taking to task on something, recently. Something's gotta give (for a while - a new cycle) at some point.

You can't feasibly buy either the Enterprise or LTSC editions of Windows 10/11 (subscription-based volume licensing), but both of them sure are easy to obtain the official installers for and use without issue. Don't ask me how I know...or maybe do, depending on how interested you are, . It's pretty much the same situation as it was for most editions/versions of the Windows 10 installer: unplug/disable your internet as you start the installation process and when you get to creating an account, it'll try to make you connect, it won't work because you don't have internet and then you can say "nope, as you can see, I am a poor soul that doesn't have internet", Windows will go "very well, you filthy peasant", and now you can proceed with creating a local account. The whole presentation of Windows 11 feels like a MacOS facade that you have to immediately hammer and drill back into its proper shape before you can use it. Stupid.

The Inquisition actually ran through to the 1830s though, and was very very active around the time of the reformation. Despite the Templars being (mostly) suppressed and the Holy Land lost the church still had a bunch of military religious orders* extant during the reformation and founded the Soldiers of Christ- ie Jesuits- in 1540. The brutal suppression of native belief in the colonies was directly contemporary with the reformation too, but generally doesn't get talked about so much because, well, nobody now or then cared about it as much as Europe. *bit of a, uh, double edged sword when the Teutonic Knights (mostly) switched sides of course. Always an interesting 'what if' to speculate what happens if you didn't get Prussia founded on the Teutonic Order's legacy of militarism and genocide. Evidence certainly suggests people will always find a handy excuse to fight each other and religion isn't the problem. Ultimately Henry had a point. He should not really have been allowed to marry Catherine of Aragon under church doctrine since she was married to his deceased brother which would make it technical incest. If you grant an Indulgence for one you can grant one for the other too. And every ruler had a point about the enormous tracts of land that were accumulated, and still being accumulated, by the church and returned nothing to the crown and very little to the people they were meant to be helping.

I am not absolute sure of that it was zealotry that sold Lutheranism considering for example that in Sweden (and Finland, as it was then part of Sweden) converted to Lutheranism because Sweden had acquired heavy debt during Swedish War of Liberation that it had hard time to pay back to Lübeck, so when Luther started to preach that church should not have worldly possession, then king of Sweden Gustav Vasa saw opportunity get rid of political influence of Rome (as then Pope Clement VII insisted that Gustav should reinstate Gustav Trolle ally of king Christian II of Denmark and Kalmar Union) and pay Sweden's debts same time and ordered The Reformation. Same time in England Henry VIII also reformed English church and founded Anglicanism, because he also wanted get rid of political influence of Rome and take Church's money and lands to the Crown. In 16th Protestantism was able to success because Pope Clement VII wasn't that good in diplomacy even though he was elected because of his high reputation as a stateman. Although Pope Clement VII didn't have easiest time as Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and king Francis I of France were in cold war, both demanding that Pope would take their side, Ottoman Empire was invading Eastern Europe. But one would have probably should considered that such time is not the best time to make enemies among European royalty, especially among those who control border lands and therefore are farthest from Roma's influence. But at end Pope Clement VI succeeded to lose Sweden, England, big sunk of current Germany, get Rome sacked by Charles V and get himself imprisoned, I don't think any other Pope has been such big influence in European religion and politics.

The absolutely most important thing to change in Windows 11 is the stupid new context menu on right clicks. Nothing else comes even close to being this essential. Whoever had that idea over at Microsoft should be shot to the moon without a return ticket, along with the other criminals deserving of such a fate, like Putin, Xi and Trump.

Nah, can't laugh about this anymore. It was funny like 5 years ago, now it's just sad.

Drova - The art style has grown on me, but I am rubbish at the combat. I am trying sword and shield because that is usually easy. It is not in this game.

The Hunt 1896 It's an extraction shooter set in Louisiana with supernatural bosses. The shooting mechanics are really good, but the sneaking around in the woods trying to set up traps for enemy hunters is what gives it extra feel. I'm on a quest to become average, meaning the kill to death ratio is one. I'm stuck on 0.94 The general skill level is very high as it tends to be with competitive shooters.

Yes, it works with any abilities with "fire"/"frost" keyword (besides any bug - depending on the enchantment) if you keep in a hand of yours while casting.

I think this guy nailed my own observations (about the writing and dialogue) pretty well... also his delivery is funny if you like snark

Winter. (US) time change (this weekend), Chilly feet (California chilly, that is). No new game interesting enough to actually pull the trigger on. Not much on the 'tube, either. At least there are always cat videos. <---- you can just put that on my tombstone

When there is unexpected help at the Cosplay Hospital...

I hear rumours that in less than a week we are getting the bestest blogpost evAr.

Only a handful of hours and I feel like I'm playing a AA fantasy action adventure instead of a AAA RPG. It's going to need to really nail the landing to end up getting a positive review from me by the end. The biggest issue might be how cinematic it wants to be while not quite managing it well. The game wants to have frequent cutscenes, but very little worth having a cutscene. Very little drama or action. Just dialogue dragged on a bit too long. Needed an editing pass to cut back the word count and add some drama. Right after the prologue when the new big threat is revealed, the party gathers round to discuss next steps. The other two characters come into scene by kicking back with cups of tea and I am a little lost as to why everyone is so cozy. There's just a jarring absence of tension 90% of the time. And the new darkspawn designs are the worst yet. But, on the other hand, the blight is the best yet.

I have done it. I Went for the Sunken City NG + without help of summons 😆 Once again, the area design is gorgeous! Now, that I knew the areas, I was able to move through the city with pnly three deaths. Two of them was my clumsiness again 😂, the third one was Jester Thomas. As always, the first boss in line was Elana. Well, what can I say… Now, that I fought her solo, I feel a little bit dissapointed. Her design to me feels now pretty cheap. She’s not much of a threat alone, pretty similar to Vendrick fight, all you need to do is follow her patterns, and not be greedy with hits. But then she starts summoning. The skeletons are more or less manageable, even by a clumsy old man like myself, but Velstadt… It’s just cheap way to punish player, if he has a bad RNG luck… sighs… Especially, if she summons him back to back, and starts to throw double fire explosions… I am just to clumsy, to defeat her if she summons him… Thankfully after 45 minites or so of attempts, I had luck few with double or triple skeletons in row, so I was to train the dodging and DPS enough to finally defeat her. IIRC, only one Velstadt attempt has ended with her under 50%… On the other hand, Sinh, is what I would call a properly designed skill check. On one hand I ****ing hate him, on the other hand, I ****ing love him 😂 Same as with Kalameet in DS1 😁 It took me just a short time, to learn all of his attack patterns, but it took me a ****loads of time to “master” avoiding them. But I had a lot of fun, trying to overcome him. And yes, a lot of “mental breakdowns” as well, when I was to slow to dodge his fire showers 🤣 In the final attempt, I was even able to cut off his tail 😂 I didn’t even knew, that this mechanic is still in DS2, but no reward for doing that at all 😩 I think it took me more than an hour, maybe hour and half to defeat him, with many many many “This will be my final attempt for today”. But whenever I said that, I had good attempt, so I went for another. And another. And another 🤣 But now I am not really looking forward to finish the Sunken City. I already know, that for my skill level and reflexes, the Gank Squad will be atrocious experience… sighs…

Oh no! Next they are probably going to make you choose some sort of fantastical race like a dwarf or an elf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nmI7SHRlSE Old release pre patch but it can be do in SOLO. Spirits are sensitive to fire, so put fire trap on their path, go plenty of fire scrolls and item and take figurines, I guess you can have two in that point of the game. Buff every char with food and other. If they engage figurine, you can have time to kill one or two, then put other figurine and you can win without any loss. Oh, you can cast protection from scrolls and keep spell for other things (i.e., fire, as I said or heal).

The color palette in DA:O was less saturated. I think that's what people mean when they say it was dark fantasy.

Simon the Westie, April 1st, 2010 - November 3rd, 2024 Good night, sweet prince. You brought joy to everyone who knew you. On the one hand I am heartbroken, on the other I am happy that he did not have to suffer. Just around midnight he got up for the last time, wagged his tail, and went back to sleep. This morning we noticed that he didn't breathe any more. Being able to die peacefully in his sleep is a blessing we never expected him to have after he was diagnosed with lymphoma six months ago. The vet gave him three to six weeks without treatment, and he went on to enjoy his life for six more months. He put up a valiant fight, and now he gets to rest and hopefully join my mother in law who used to watch over him while we were working when he was a puppy and during his adolescence. Every now and then I catch myself wondering if we shouldn't have taken the vet up on the offer of chemotherapy, but then, he was 14 already, he hated going to the vet to the point where he tried to run away (which he never ever did otherwise) and it would have been a three month treatment, with no chance of actually curing him. Ideally it would have put his cancer into remission for a while. We'd trade three months of him being miserable with three months extra time with him? No, and looking back, I can't imagine to have made a different choice. You will be missed my sweet doggie. I know that every pet owner says this, but he was special and the cutest and the best.

Pro.

I have now "Ignored" 2381 games on Steam. Maybe if I ignore 97,463 more, I might finally find/get shown something I like. If you can't tell from my blathering semi-bloggity increased presence, my sleeping has gone all to heck again. I've cleaned out (physical) file cabinets, cleaned files (virtual ones), a ton of laundry, dusted walls, baked a (low carb) cake, watched countless videos, watched some true crime episodes, tried to watch half a dozen movies, caulked a shower, watched hubby watching Prison Break, watched the rain and on and on. Can I go to sleep yet.

Some co-workers bought a box of different organic peppers ripe from the end of growing season for me, since I'm the "spicy food" guy (I'm not really that much of a hothead, but I do cook with and eat stuff like bird's eye, habaneros, and scotch bonnets, don't usually go much higher than stuff like that). I wasn't sure what would actually be in the box or how hot the peppers would be, and I ended up eating this lumpy and misshapen pale pepper called a "jay's peach ghost scorpion". Suffice to say, I suddenly remembered why I normally stick with the peppers that I do.