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Before Josh made his statements about "spirit of the game" and "bugs are ok because we weren't able to remove them so it's our fault" there already were plenty of known chssesy options like Brilliant + SoT or WoD etc. So abusing bugs and using cheesy tactics were obviously ok for the ultimate challenge. But I didn't hear anything official about the really impactful Strand of Favor trick which not only is very powerful but also requires no planning/skill/metakowledge etc. at all - so I wasn't sure if that also got sanctioned/allowed or not. In this thread it boils down to "what is the current strongest PotD solo build" - and you could discuss if that means with or without cheesy tactics - and where OP likes to draw the line. Besides that every discussion is fine if there's some knowledge gained and info - and opinions - shared. Everybody has to draw that line for himself - mainly based on what feels good for the individual player. I personally don't use consumables besides food and sometimes unguents and also almost never use resting bonuses or any kind as well as SoT, WoD and sources of Brillant (not even Tactician). I will use Gouging Strike and Lover's Embrace and also Brand Enemy - but only with a dedicated character where it fits. And only for one playthrough where it was fun. It loses its appeal very quickly though because it's too easy - which is the problem with all too powerful approaches. Yet I don't blame anybody for using any of this. Even Strand of Favor. If it's fun then do it. It's not for me so I don't do it but that's it. I neither did bash an exploit nor did I advertise any. I merey wanted to know what "allowed" meant in that context. Putting words into people's mouth doesn't look very serious either. The post afterwards was only explaining how I personally feel about the difference between lowering the challenge to the same levels with either official/intentional cheats (like the console) vs. using unofficial/accidental cheats (like Strand of Favor) - and how some people might think the latter is somehow "better" than the first. Imo there is none: you are just breaking the game all the same. But I also said that's okay with me as long as it's fun for you. I merely think as soon as others are involved - for example when you compete with other players for a patch or a plate on a wall of honor (where places are limited) there should be more strict rules or at least more sincere discussion about what is okay and what not. Imagine there's only one plate left, you did a "clean" run but got beaten by a guy who quickly ran through his attempt with Strand of Favor + Vanishing Strikes - how would you feel about that. Maybe something like "well I could have known about it, silly me" or maybe "well that's a bit unfair". Well it's now too late to redeem that "bugs are fair game" statement of course (I doubt that anybody truly believes that running through the challenge 100% invisible is "in the spirit of the challenge") - and maybe it also would have been too difficult to draw a line in the first place without giving the impression of pure arbitrariness. Imagine you think a bug is fair game but then get your run disqualified afterwards: major bummer. Difficult. I think I personally would have restricted the challenge to "only using effects that work as intended" which would include endless DOTs, WoD & SoT with Brilliant etc. But that would have required constant updates and monitoring so maybe that wouldn't have been feasible either. But of course that has not much to do with OP's original question. Since he's not here anymore I gues we will never know what he consideres "strongest" but not too cheesy and where to draw the line.

I think it's because I expect repetition from Sailor Moon that I can appreciate it for what it is. And it is much better and more fun than Super S, where even removing or editing the creepy stuff wouldn't save what is a very boring stretch in the series. I guess not every show can feature throwing Hamon infused balls at an Aztec gym god. That would have been a significant improvement. chomp chomp chomp the software had a snack

Speaking of the English and the Welsh. Hands up everyone who knew Wales provided the manpower to swing the tide of war in the War of the Roses and helped put the Tudors on the throne eventually, supporting Jasper Tudor and Henry Tudor. later Henry VII, the victor of the battle at Bosworth (archeologists were delighted when they dug up Richard III's remains from a parking lot in Leicester, which now covers the old battleground at Bosworth). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7702913.stm When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed. Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated". So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket. "When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh," said journalist Dylan Iorwerth. The English is clear enough to lorry drivers - but the Welsh reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."

For me, using a ranged weapon with a melee skill is also an exploit... Trying to find real life excuses for some exploits when that suit you in a fantasy game is a very weak argument. If I want to play the Devil"s advocate I would go even further and claim that Strand of Favor does exactly what it says. And in fact it uses the same principle as another "accepted" exploit which consist to switch Lethandria's Devotion over and over for infinite healing. What you imply is like saying that people who steal just for eating shouldn't be considered thieves. Once you accept an exploit you opened the door to all exploits, that's simple.

Besides that I look at stuff like Strand of Cheesor the following way: There's not much mechanical difference between cheating with the console to become immortal and using Strand of Favor to become immortal. The only difference is that one way marks the savegame as cheated while the other doesn't. If one thinks the second way more "legit" than the first one they're just cheating themselves. What's the point of doing a solo run on the hardest difficulty if you remove the challenge with one simple switch? Could as well do a party story mode run then - if it's not about the "achievement". But what is an achievement actually worth if you can get it so easily? Don't get me wrong: I love to read about tricks like that and applaud the effort to find and research it. But I cannot really get behind using it. If one has fun using it: cool with me. As long as it doesn't affect other players nobody should apologize about the way they play - with console, with cheats, with abusing glitches, whatever. And on has to admit that using Vanishing Strikes + unlimited duration probably is "the strongest" solo build as was asked for. It becomes tricky though when I look at the Ultimate Challenge (which wasn't what OP started with though).

I've got a British passport, lived there for a couple of years and all bar my immediate family live there. Born and bred in kiwiland though, and haven't been back to the UK in a decade. Ironically I got the passport mostly so that I could visit EU countries with no hassles...

Just those? No request for toilet breaks, trench feet, STD treatments, haggling with shopkeepers and searching for fences because normal shopkeepers only sell things rather than buy trash, darning socks, hauling the canary cage into the caves with you to prevent gas poisoning, spending a week in shackles pelted with rotten taters because the local noble took offense to how you barged into his dining hall uninvited, things like that, no? Pfffft. Some hardcore grog you are.

I've got to go watch both the Wild Bunch, which I'm sure I've seen at least in part but a very long time ago, and Outland, which I've never even heard of before today.

USA and Russia both promised to ensure Ukraine's independence if they give up their soviet era nuclear weapons, in Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine

am suspecting most o' the modern westerns is inspired by a handful o' older westerns which were less silly and perhaps a bit more dreary. high noon, the searchers and the wild bunch is among our favorite westerns o' all time. am s'posing wild bunch could be deemed silly as it has tarantino levels o' the ultra violence but if it were campy it weren't meant to be so. the more silly westerns is still being made today, but they ain't set in the old west. superhero films and action movies owe much o' their genesis to the old less dour westerns with impossible characters (heroes and anti-heroes) doing the improbable as they confront a cartoony villain who is getting his/her comeuppance at the climax o' the film. actors and directors is fans o' the dreary old westerns, so they wanna be part o' making more such films. high noon in space... sans grace kelly. am recalling once having read that every american actor wants to do at least one western and every english actor wants to be in a gangster film. inspired by the debate in the political thread, am not sure where that leaves scotsmen. the thing is, am thinking the american actors who wanna do westerns is less interested in doing a rio bravo reboot. HA! Good Fun!

I'm already starting to feel a lot better. I popped a couple ibuprofen this morning and the headache is mostly gone, plus I got some of my energy back. I think I lucked out getting the 1-shot Janssen vaccine. I didn't know that's the one they would give me, that's just what they had. My dad got a 2-shot vaccine (I don't know what kind or if there are multiple 2-shot variants), he was mostly fine after the first shot and had a really sore arm after the second for a couple days.

I metaphorically turn off my brain when reading spoilers. It's a 'power' that I have, I guess: right now, I'm literally trying my best to remember any of the spoilers that you or InsaneCommander have mentioned for this season, and I honestly don't remember a single thing from any of it except for when I mentioned the thing about the plane. Unless I'm spoiled something that makes my brain immediately snap to attention upon reading it to re-evaluate or re-frame how I feel about a character or story, I will not remember it unless I'm actively committing it to memory. It's not a thing I guess that most people can do, and it's why I'm generally not ever bothered by most spoilers unless it's actually very important, and for Sailor Moon, the story and characters are what they are, so there's basically nothing that can make my brain snap to attention if I don't want it to. If you start just making crap up like "and then Usagi literally ****ing cut this dude's head off with her new giant meteorite axe" or "Chibi-Usa pulled out her gun and blew Helios' brains out all over the walls and everyone clapped", that would probably get my attention - silly stuff or relatively inconsequential plot points, not so much, . So don't worry about it! @majestic If you ever are looking to play it again, look into DevilutionX - contrary to the cheesiness of its name, it's a shockingly competent engine update that changes almost literally nothing about the gameplay, and makes the game run and work so much better while having miscellaneous features like letting you turn the speed of the game up and down on the fly (playing at even a modest speed boost is seriously such a godsend after having put some time into other ARPGs like Diablo II and Path of Exile - the very slow pace of the game was always the biggest problem I had with it, and no more is that an issue). I have a great appreciation for D1 given that it seems to have been designed as a relatively tight and compact singleplayer game instead of an endless grind like almost every other ARPG that's come out in the last 15 years. That, and the gameplay still holds up relatively well. SU:

I know your comment is addressed to @Boeroer but if I may, personally this is where I really struggle to draw any kind of line: Should you put in the same bucket something that improves QoL or gives a marginal power boost vs. something that makes you totally untouchable? Hiding out of sight while dealing damage can be considered an exploit, but it does make some sense (mortally wounding an enemy and waiting it out - it exists in real life). Whispers of the Wind using dual single-shot firearms isn't considered an exploit, but this combo makes zero logical sense. At the end the only line I can confidently draw for myself is: using something that removes the challenge altogether isn't fun on the long run so I try to avoid it. But I'm not against occasionally recharging a necklace of fireballs.

If one wants to aquire Engoliero do Espirs earlier: It's possible to export a character who already has the estoc. Then import that character as a hired adventurer in your new game. It will be quite expensive, so it's not really blatant cheating - you can't afford it without Berath's Blessing money. You cannot use console commands to get the weapon for the "mule" char because he will be marked as cheated as well. It's a good way to play a character idea without waiting too long for it to become available. Players can share such exported characters.

You got to love the onion.

only startrek worth of watching - yeah I sad it, what you gonna do about it?

Somehow my kid finagled an appointment at a local pharmacy on next Tuesday. When I asked how she managed to get an appointment early she said "they gave me the appointment and I didnt ask any questions".

I've been lying in wait to make that joke or one about Dio getting ahead.

Got invited into a DnD campaign thats running via a mix of discord and roll20. It's been running for about a year, and one of the players had to leave for various reasons so my friends invited me into the space created. Had the first session where the rest of the players just assumed they hadn't made it to a point where the DM could bring in my character. They didn't know I was a Ranger/Druid and because of timing, I had been wild-shaped into a big eagle that some key NPCs believed was their spirit guide. The Players all assumed I was the NPCs familiar and overlooked any non-Eagle behaviour. So I sat around, making a few comments, and passing secret messages to the DM. It's all key to making a grand entrance... On other slightly amusing matters, I decided to pick up the Horizon Zero Dawn soundtrack. But weird things afoot. The digital MP3 album is on Amazon for £25, but you can pick up the CD physical album for £12 and that comes with a free autorip of the MP3 album. Tres Bizarre whoever made that decision, but oh well, I'll take it.

Yeah I try to avoid total gamebreaking stuff. Salvation of time + BDD is something I no longer do really. I used it on occasion to beat megabosses but it felt cheesy so I don't even do that any more, and generally just avoid mega bosses unless I really feel like grinding it out or have a build that is especially suited for them.

I do think it is important to realize that a Lifegiver can still dish out respectable damage with Druid spells like you said. People might see the name and assume healbot. Yes it can heal exceptionally well but the offense is surprisingly good too. Druids are just a really strong class. One of the best.

Everclear and OJ. I'm not ****ing around.

Haha, that just made my day.

And some people say Sailor Moon shouldn't be darker. Poor Dire, what a cold reception his ultimate technique got. I have never played Diablo, but I sunk a huge amount of hours into Diablo 2 as a teenager. I remember next to nothing beyond cleansing the DEN OF EVIL and hunting for gems.

It is a really good sabre and worth keeping - if you want to spend the resources to upgrade it. Besides the normal sabre stats it is accurate (+5) which is great. And the best thing is not even listed under the list of echantments (or "Additional Effects") : This is a 20% burning lash. Lashes are mutiplicative dmg bonuses and therefore pretty good. This sabre works as if you'd have a "passive" Baby-Flames of Devotion: +ACC and a burning lash. It doesn't have the usual sabre "sharpness" which is +10% dmg. But that's only an additive dmg modifier and a lot weaker than the +20% burning lash. On top comes the 20% chance to deal some additional burn damage that is not connected to the initial weapon hit (has its own base dmg) and which you can upgrade to an AoE. This makes it one of the rel. few melee weapons with an AoE effect. This effect can happen on any hit roll. So for example if you use Heart of Fury, Whirling Strikes or Whispers of the Wind it can proc multiple times. And it emits light! Yay! Edit: I forgot - the burn AoE which can happen 20% of times targets Reflex instead of Deflection, also has its own base dmg (something around 8 or so I think?) but gets all the bonuses a normal weapon attack would get: weapon quality (fine, exceptional etc.), Might, Sneak Attack, Accuracy buffs (even the +5 from the sabre itself) and so on.

It might be faster, Sony finally realized that selling stuff makes money.

Using velcro to wrap my knuckles works pretty well. I need more 4k game graphic environment porn showcases. edit: wish Ghost of Tsushima was on PC

HZD looks absolutely stunning and right up my alley but I AM NOT SPENDING ANOTHER CENT ON A GAME until I get through a good chunk of all this other crap I bought.

I should probably clarify that when I say Western I don't mean John Wayne or anything too similar to his style of movies, which for me were utter bores. In terms of older stuff Treasure of the Sierra Madre and High Noon would be examples. After that it was mostly from the 60's/70's and 80's/90's. Western Adventure and Western Action might be better categories. Clint Eastwood, obviously, Silverado, Lonesome Dove mini-series (although that feels a bit dated now, outside of Jones and Duvall's excellent performances), Open Range more recently. I liked Dances with Wolves a lot when I saw it in theater but for me it doesn't hold up for many rewatches. I loved the black and white Lone Ranger series in reruns when I was a kid, silly as it was on hindsight. Star Wars was often called a western in space, and imo it's rather true. Star Trek (original series at least), same. Firefly obviously takes a lot of Western cues. There's a frontier flavor, certain themes, sometimes the white hat and the black hat, justice/revenge, that I guess I typically find entertaining or compelling.

Well, I apparently managed to get 60.2 hours in on Horizon Zero Dawn, finishing it (and the Frozen Wilds dlc expansion) with a 95% completion rating... I have to say, I am very impressed with the storyline. Some of the turns I could see coming, but it was all impeccably told with some very emotive beats to it all. Suitably reinforced with the soundtrack. Nicely roaming open world, although it really re-inforces the "hunter not warrior" with how meh the melee combat aspects to it are. If you aren't sniping with a bow, or sneaking up to silent strike, things will go horribly wrong. I understand the sequel is in the works for release on console this year, so I imagine it'll be another 2-3 years before we get the PC adaption.

Cipher beams have a fixed duration, INT doesn't change it. I know for sure because I once played around with potential 1-INT-builds (using Ring of Mule's Wit). I didn't check and don't remember my ingame experience because I don't use beams much but I believe all beams work like this - but maybe the non-cipher ones are different. There are some other things that don't work with INT like one would assume - like the weird AoEs of Missile Salvo or Storm of Holy Fire. Also those "straight line" AoEs like Iconic Projection or Mind Lance etc. are unaffected by INT as well.

RIP Prince Phillip

Yes, it is very hard for me to understand why there even is a disagreement here. Calling bug abuse/exploiting "cheating" is just wrong by definition already. A cheat is abusing outside tools like mods cheat engine or in games like Poes case even the console. As you said if some people want to do completely exploit free runs ok cool for them. (It's also strange to me why some of those people seem to think they need to point out how bad they think it is for others to exploit, when we're talking about a single player game) But to advertise using other exploits/bugs just because the magnitude/impact of them on the game is slightly lower is weird to me. Either all exploits are fair game or none of them, but this in turn means only a few selected classes will kill megabosses solo and even less classes will be able to complete the ultimate. Most people who use strand of favour are just sick and tired of seeing only priests and bloodmage, and very few people have the patience to kill every single enemy with slow endless dots or chanter summons only.

That sounds like the normal temporary symptoms many people go through after getting a vaccine so nothing to worry about IMO

I got the vaccine just after 10 am yesterday. I felt perfectly normal, save for the occasional tiny bit of discomfort where they stuck my arm, for most of the day. Around 6 or 7 pm I got a headache and felt really worn out. That's how I still feel today. Thankfully, I don't have to do anything today, I can just veg out.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/in-search-of-tomorrow#/

That statement was made before any buffing abuse exploits, not just Strand of Favor. At best there can be a discussion about playing the game without using any exploits (no buffs abuse, no hiding out of sight while doing damage, no unlimited Draining Touch, no charged items stacking, no Bounding Boots or pause stealing, etc...). Bashing one exploit, while advertising the others doesn't look very serious.

That photo looks a bit like the beginning of porn to me. : >

Talk to the NPCs. They have their own lives that go on as you progress the game. It has nothing to do with you, it's something very easy to miss, and yet the creators still wrote thousands of lines that 90%+ of players never see. Also, the world building is pretty great but they don't just dump all of it on you at once. You have to play father into the series.

Told ya. TBH I'm a bit more positive about the game, even did the second playthrough, though cheated and was drunk for the sh!thouse at the end. Truth be told I'm not against yet another run some day, but only if I culled the majority of unfun bullsh!t like encumbrance, bloated stats, permanent debuffs, webs and greases you cannot unsummon, "Help I am crossing a field of molasses" movement speed, etc, etc, etc. It's not even cheating if GM is a griefing ****, it's just DIY QoL. And yet, Kingmaker has one unique trait among my RPGs - I reveled being evil in it. Like, I'm normally one to talk with every monster and minimize murdering whenever possible - but not in Kingmaker. The memory of how I executed every single official of the city I conquered, then razed it to the ground and refilled with barracks, prisons, gibbets and goblin quarters still warms my heart. Eagerly looking forward to what can I do in "Pathfinder: Wrath of the Stuffy Hypocrites".

Finished "Prey". Was pretty omnipotent towards the end of the game with so many consumables and ammo I could set up shop. Decided I'd go typhon-only neuromods for the second playthrough and it appears to be hard mode. Teeny tiny inventory, no sneaking, no gun upgrades, short psi bar...on the other hand, now when I can't just stop time and bash a critter with the wrench, I have to do things like paying attention to possible exploits in environment. It's still fun, just with much slower progression. Game good and I already miss its approach to moving about in other games, where Hero Almighty gets defeated by a fallen tree on his path. Also decided to try out a JRPG. Read glowing reviews for "Trails in the sky", bought it, realized that, a) those reviews were written by JPRG fans, b) J and W RPGs seemingly run on very different sets of quality criteria, c) I am not the target audience. Like, game's world building gets praised as something extraordinary, but it's just, well, 3.6 roentgen. I wonder how bad other JRPGs have it if this passes for excellence. Also, fighting takes too long, monsters look very silly, soundtrack is elevator music and the game seriously pushes romance between protagonists who are adopted siblings. The story itself is game's saving grace, at least so far, so I'm going to get the sequel when it goes on big discount next time. Unless the last act falls apart; you can never fully trust a game that's pro-incest.

Getting down on some moonshine made right here in cackalacky: It's quite tasty and smooth, sweeter than I expected; it's almost like a liqueur. I'm drinking it straight at room temperature, it doesn't need ice, nor a mixer, nor a chaser. If I wind up passed out face down in the middle of my living room, y'all know why.