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Real shame Lutnick was late to work on 9/11.

Amerzone, a classic adventure game for grabs on GOG https://www.gog.com/en/game/amerzone_the_explorer_legacy Also System Shock 2 Remaster is on preorder.

Dein Wort in Gottes Ohren...

Offensive Parry doesn't do splash damage but only single target damage. And the base damage of Offensive Parry is pretty low. For that Cipher/Ascendant (and any character I think) it would be more effective to keep standing there and attack with some ability - and use high deflection to trigger Offensive Parry and/or Riposte on top of that. This would yield way more focus in the same time than trying to force disengagement attacks by running back and forth. It's also a lot less annoying to do. A more excessive abuse I can see is to use a Keeper of the Flame + Fire in the Hole weapon set + Riposte in combination with immunity to disengagement attacks but also when immune to engagement: run through mobs and trigger either disengagement attacks - or force misses by moving out of attack range by running past enemies too quickly (Boots of Speed, Alacrity etc.) - and the Ripostes would happen with an AoE mortar shot + bounce which would not have any reload time. And I cannot see atm how this could be fixed. And I don't know if it must be fixed. I'm inclined to say no. It's just not an appealing way to play - nobody uses that. At least I never read about it.

I have been mulling over why Avowed missed a mark for me. 1) Combat - I think Avowed suffers from lack of unique encounters. While combat is satisfying, vast majority of enemies comprise of the same template - be it Xourips, undead or Dreamthralls, they are all essencially the same thing. Than there are couple monster enemies: bears, spiders, Wraths, etc. which are all ok, though they don't exactly shake things up too much. Where Avowed really lacks IMO is lack of proper bosses. Bosses in this game (including the final one), mostly feel like a bit more spongy basic enemies. As such the game really lack spikes in excitement. If you find a dungeon you know there will be no unique enemies to find in there - if you get lucky you will get a bit buffed up generic enemy, and that's about it. Which leads 2) Exploration - like combat exploration is done well. While artificial, finding chests and items usually requires deliberate input from the player - the sound alerts to loots existence, and it is up to the player to analyse surroundings and figure out where it could be hidden. Fun! Rewards, while not too exciting, tend to be also universally helpful. Upgrades are welcome for majority of game's runtime, and ability to scrap/sell spare weapons and armor, means that any old rusty sword is still of some value. Still, I think exploration suffers from the similar issue as combat: lack of surprises. You KNOW more or less what you will find in each chest. You know a quest is likely to reward you with unique item. Generic exploration will grand you upgrade materails, in one form or the other. If you are REALLY lucky, you might run into one of the totem fragments, which while you are unlikely to ever turn on and use, at least will reward you with story tidbit at the end. What this design lacks is an element of surprise. I don't think you need to hide something new and exciting behind every corner, but if every once in a while you allow player to find something surprising they will be more motivated to keep looking for more. And masterful example of that is, of course, the Elden Ring - which while predictable in most cases, occasionally hides a real surprise to treat the players for exploration. While of course it is tough competition, I think Avowed would be better if it had few more cards hidden in it's sleves. Small narrative quests hidden around the map? Perhaps, items that will help you in resolving main story quests in different ways? Unique items to be found by exploration only? Maybe a hidden dungeon or two? Avowed has so little special content, that it feels that game can't efford players to miss it - maps guiding to special items, all dungeons have easily findable quests that lead to it. That unfortunately, in my mind creates a clear distinction between "quality content" and "filler junk" which is not great considering how much more filler there is in Avowed. If core appeal of Avowed is to just walk around collect stuff and kill enemies, I think this core experience would need to be more varied and rewarding. Edit: For a sequel: 3) voiced protagonists - I am a bit fan of silent protagonists, but only if they are highly customisable and definable in-game. Which how it is, Envoy is remains a player Avatar, devoid of connection with the world or personality. Considering how little players can interact with the world and story, I think Avowed would be better of with more defined and compelling protagonist to drive journey. Choices in the game meant little to me as a player, as I barely had an opportunity to interact with the world and characters (beyond slaughtering everything that looked at me, and stealing everything that hasn't been nailed down), but perhaps those choices could mean something to the Envoy.

I voted like this (leave as it is) before reading that Yes, good alternative! Maybe give a threshold of max 25 stacks, without auto-blast?

All the false penguins listed in a neat video:

I would bet every dollar I have that Lutnick would not call a landlord or lender a "fraudster" if they exploded for not getting their monthly rent or loan payment.

Per the Howard Lutnick article: As with many things this administration is implementing, they don't seem to have thought through the consequences. They want to: Make significant cuts to the Social Security Administration, including closing offices Make people come in person to verify their identity Alas, there may be nobody around to check the identities. Hmm, problem solved I suppose. I.e. just die old person.

While I replayed Arcanum handful of times, I am still yet to full tech playthrough. It's such a gem. Troika's RPG triumph. I wish someone would remaster it and tweak few things here and there.

Things to know about Arcanum: AoE works through walls. So the Jolt spell (if I remember the name) can clear most dungeons easily by walking along walls and killing the monsters on the other side. Generally magic is stronger than technology. The living one will be reborn on wings of fire. You can skip half the game by exploiting teleportation on the world map. You can't trust gnomes. Good and evil playthroughs are different enough to make a second playthrough worthwhile.

I decided to play Arcanum, its the last CRPG from that era I have never played Im loving it, there is something utterly compelling about these types of isometric games. I have only installed one mod which is UAP Its taken me time to learn the mechanics and skills advancement and whats effective but I'm comfortable with most of whats different about Arcanum Im only 7 hours in but great experience so far, lots of different quests and lore and very little map hand holding which I always prefer because I like to explore

That's a fabulous idea. Obsidian really needs to fix this though. There were a decent amount of people on reddit complaining about this same issue. But that will work for the time being. Thanks again!

I truly loved the first chapter and every run I do is different and immersive... but I always feel like something is missing and I'm sure these ideas might make The Outer Worlds 2 a great sequel! New weapons and armors, not based on reskins: The first The Outer Worlds had a lot of great weapons and cool armors, but as you make progress in the game, you notice that a lot of armors are simple reskins of armors that already exist (it's only a change of color). I know this might be based on the lore, but expanding the universe with new kinds of armors would just make the game even more immersive and customizable. Sentient alien races: This is something I would have loved to see in the first chapter: aliens that might be NPCs or even a companion that might join the crew! Aliens could have the aspect of creatures that already exist, for example humans with raptidon/canid heads, or they might add new kinds of aliens such as the greys or anthropomorphic animals. This would make The Outer Worlds an experience with groups of colonies or enemies that have their own laws. This is not very lore friendly but hey, anything can happen in a new system! Ship customization: The Unreliable was my favorite spot to spend time whenever I wanted to relax in the game and I loved staying with the crew listening to their chatting. But having the possibility to add furniture, decorations and other stuff would have made the Unreliable a lot better, so I'm wishing for it to happen in the sequel! Romance options: I loved Nyoka as a character, but I was sad when I found out I couldn't romance companions and the best I could do was to make them best friends. Romance options might give The Outer Worlds 2 even more repeatability to the game and unique perks to companions! These are my ideas. Drop your feedback in the comments, or even your own ideas! I have very high expectations for this game since the first was an awesome experience.

Please, for the love of Law and everything else, let me center the reticle. Please permit me to rebind all of the keybindings. Not really a gameplay suggestion, just a couple of things that were clearly overlooked or neglected in the first installment.

I can't play Arcanum with magic. For me it's a game where I must wear a powered armor with top hat and a cool pistol / rifle.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5208187-commerce-secretary-social-security-fraud/ Says a lot about their mindset