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Happy Holidays indeed y'all! FYI https://forums.obsidian.net/announcement/74-happy-holidays/

But only about a month behind me playing it, so you are good, carants. Just be careful that you do Old Countries in a New World before Mystery if the Ancient Ruins. Anything else in the game you can progress and leave as you wish (the few times things are timed it will tell you). But if you progress those specific quests in a mix, you can get the game breaking bug I got.

Merry Christmas.

I recommend drinking while playing.

A danceable rendition of a Christmas carol

Happy horror days?

The part about the German gold bar serial numbers brought to mind Bilbo Baggins. All that precious gold just sitting around... "After All, Why Not? Why Shouldn't I Keep It?"

Didn't see one, so I figured I would create one, just to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all you lovely saints, sinners, heretics, heathens, faithful, lost and found people out there. I haven't been active online much the last month and a half, because crunch time and projects going live at years end. Comes with the profession Hope you guys are going to enjoy some time off with family, friends, loved ones or favourite spider pet, whatever you fancy

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to everyone

Merry Xmas everyone!

cthulhu and ghatanothoa got nothing on the south park guys for instilling outrage and horror amongst the faithful. warning: am personal able to see the humor, but am also able to understand the outrage the song inspires in "good" christians. you have been warned. nevertheless, in spite o' our descent into sacrilege, am genuine wishing a merry christmas and happy holidays to all. HA! Good Fun!

With the trends, it is Arcanum II - an online multiplayer survival crafting souls-like.

Enshrouded: Ok, I've been cursed with something called Hemotoxin for hours (RT) that never wears off. Drains health and blocks mana regen. There was no apparent way to get rid of it once I realized it wasn't going away. So I just dealt with it, because EZ settings made it a little annoying but not major. Then I got around to getting more NPC's into my base and one could craft a remedy, but it requires a resource found in another slightly higher level biome of which I had zero notion of where to travel to get there. I finally googled it. What poor design for a new player (allowing that curse to take place so early, in "starter biome", before one may have found/gotten that NPC or multiple biomes). Made my way there, just got into it, then died exploring a POI, and game put me half way across my known map because the only "load if you die" becaon I'd seen/encountered was ages ago in a different POI. I have two tower-FT locations found, neither anywhere near where I was. You can use base-altars as FT (place, delete later) but it's a hinky travel workaround with limits. On one hand, rationally it really isn't that bad. On the other hand, between that and all the curse stuff, I semi-rage quit. Also, not liking the storage options or crafting station/options stuff too much (No Man's Sky is better on both fronts imo). And the combat is still terrible. I'd guess once I have everything unlocked I'd enjoy it more in the sandbox fashion but getting there - maybe later. I get why it's popular, mind. Just a little too MMO or whatever for me perhaps. Time to try 7 Days 2.5.

I spent $60 on a pair (smaller, larger) of "titanium" food cutting boards, because they were on "sale" (Amazon). And popular. They're metal on one side, some solid "wheat grass" material on the other. Probably a fool parting with their money, but I've been meaning to get something besides the plastics I've always bought/used for years - because these days every time I use a plastic one, I'm thinking about how I'm probably scraping plastic bits into my food. Probably too late for me in that regard, my generation tended to love plastic/non-stick everything haha, but eh. Maybe at least non-plastic ones will make the daily thought go away. Or I'll start wondering if I'm scraping metal into my food. And no, I don't like wood cutting boards.

Well, BG3 spend 5ish? years in EA, so it checks out. Good luck with Act2. My 1st playthrough stopped there, I slogged through it in 2nd playthrough, and two consequent attempts stopped in act2 as well. I don't think you need to do all of its content to progress, and I wonder if my completionist mindset works against me in that act. It is soooo big, and narratively rather static.

Merry Christmas everyone and happy NY This is my best holiday of the year

YouTube recently recommended me and apparently about a million other people this 18 year old Christmas x Lovecraft song. Okay. Nice. Yeah, it's a lot better than random AI slop, I guess. Merry Christmas, everyone!

How many Republicans does it take to change a lightbulb? None. Trump will just declare that the lightbulb has been replaced, and everyone's applauding in utter darkness.

finally played dispatch great art and genre style didn't feel a game are this good and want to play again immediately since mass effect 2 hope this is the direction telltale style game is going

Perhaps this also explains the current administration's weird obsession with striking some notional grand bargain with Putin. *In fairness to Czarist Russia serfdom would be abolished about the time the American Civil War kicked off, two years before the Emancipation Proclamation, and almost four before the 13th Amendment was ratified.

Poked a bit more at S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 now that 1.8.1(.1) is out and, well, feels mostly the same as before. The main difference appears to be that some mutants feel tankier again (Bloodsuckers, notably) and there's more of them in the wild (Poltergeists especially). I also have visual artifacts now, so yay for that? Haven't found the new weapon/missions yet so no opinion on those. Honestly, this is one of those games that the more I play it the more disappointed I get. The environments are great, but they gave up on everything else that made the original games great to get that fidelity it feels like, immersion being the main thing, but the storytelling is just bad in a lot of ways, and given that it's pretty in-your-face in this one it's kinda hard to ignore. Just played through the SIRCAA part (again), and am now at the Noontide base As a side note, ambient subtitles are still broken (though slightly less than before), most of the time (by which I mean: "almost always") the first line of a dialogue doesn't get subtitled. My Ukrainian hasn't gotten any better since the last major patch so it's still really annoying.

I Think It will have to wait a little bit in my backlog. I am a little bit busy IRL last few months, and my current primary gaming goal is to finish my last two owned Soulborne games, before I turn 50 and still have some reflexes I have nit started them yet though, so my plans might be still subject to change

yeah, just imagine what frank sinatra might say to stephen miller. late 1800s and early 1900s US nativism has been forgotten by too many. let's hope it don't take another world war to once again snap us out o' our collective stoopid. HA! Good Fun!

I suppose, Disco Elysium is worth trying, at least to see which parts of its design bled into the adjacent genres (damned be the side panels and RNG in dialogues). The art and visual style are gorgeous, but the writing, the setting, and the narrative could be described as "Meh". You cannot fail the investigation (there is a choice-based conclusion, but it is not related to your objective), the NPC interactions are as exciting as watching paint dry, and one of the last sequences was completely lost on me, let's say, due to the "cultural differences". But the game did manage to portray minors in alignment with my opinion of them, which games rarely do. Sorry We're Closed was free on EGS a few days ago as well. If you've managed to get it, the game absolutely rocks.

Interesting video, I like 20 minute videos that are succinct and explain the point they trying to make clearly I didnt know much of what he mentions, especially the interesting part around the history of why Germany keeps its gold in other countries but it makes historical sense juxtaposed to the fears of Soviet invasion I agree with several things he says and then I dont think his concerns will be realised Germany should be keeping its gold reserves in Germany, that makes sense. I doubt all the gold that Russia and China have been buying lately is not stored in there country I did some quick research and most of Germanys gold is now kept in Frankfurt. And the transfer from NY was completed in 2016 which was several years ahead of the original 2020 schedule https://www.bundesbank.de/en/tasks/topics/bundesbank-completes-transfer-of-gold-from-new-york-647150 " Last year, the Bundesbank transferred a total of over 216 tonnes of gold to Germany from storage locations abroad: 111 tonnes from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris. This means that since 2013, the Bundesbank has successively relocated just short of 283 tonnes of gold from Paris and 300 tonnes of gold from New York to Frankfurt am Main. As at 31 December 2016, 47.9 percent of Germany's gold holdings were in storage in Frankfurt, 36.6 percent in New York, 12.8 percent in London and the remaining 2.7 percent in Paris." So basically 37% of Germanys gold is still kept in the US as you can see from the table in the link But he raises worrying points around gold investment and paper contracts, allocated and unallocated investment in gold We dont really invest in gold, all our investments are properties, bonds and shares but it makes sense what he warns about. If a country wants to recall its gold and the holding country cant produce it that could crash the paper and unallocated value of that type of gold investment. Thats basically what he is talking about Moral of the story, ideally keep your gold at home as a foreign reserve if you a government and as a gold buyer make sure you buy allocated gold and avoid the paper contracts. Also we know most banks would battle to provide all the money if every single customer suddenly said " I want my investment withdrawn now " so trust is still important and so is an understanding of how banks work and what they can or cant do immediately around mass withdraws But good video, its definitely though provoking

Today! Have a good one.

Normally I don't read much stuff about global banking, but this one caught my eye because I always tell my dad off for not investing his money in something more solid, like gold (instead of as cash under pillow, not kidding, old people and their quirks, never trust a back etc. etc.) I wonder what @BruceVCs take would be on this (he knows way more about the workings of banks than I do). It's a 20 minute video and its of course the last 10 minutes that are the most interesting. The less obvious consequences of removing tonnes of gold from the US reserves.

From what I remember Activision, which means MS, which means it's possible.

Greedfall - This game is pretty good. Story and setting are engaging. I'm only 6 years behind on playing it.

Time to play a game: “let’s overanalyse each word that comes from Tim’s mouth to try to figure out what he is working on at Obsidian: 5:00 1) Tim knows I am watching and is too smart to reveal he is working on a new IP 2) Tim works on existing IP 3) Tim works on a new IP, but it is not his. I still know nothing.

Well, Enshrouded for me seems to be one of those games where you're never quite sure how much you truly like the game, but every day you sit down and keep playing it. It's neither rpg systems enough, nor free-sandboxy enough to fully enjoy it in either fashion. Pros: ---Exploration really is the best aspect far as I'm concerned. Although like any larger open world type map, there are empty areas, mostly around map edges. Still, points of interest at least aren't super spread out, so density is decent. And one time I dropped down a barren ledge (ledge hopping to get down a cliff), saw a gravestone in the middle of nowhere. Wondered if I could break it with my pickaxe. I could - and there was a loot chest revealed. ---in the first area/biome, dungeons have been small but kinda fun. Nothing difficult but the climbing, jumping, traps occasionally make it feel like brief, simplified tombraider-ing. Kinda. The design/similarities might get repetitive tho. ---loot/chests enemies, areas etc seem to respawn, but takes an hour or two of real time spent in game (exiting game doesn't work with chests tho/patched out, I hear). So far areas don't seem level-scaled. eg, respawns feels like a cross between MMO and ARPG's but a slower pace perhaps. ---Since it's voxel, if I can't jump high enough, I can just pickaxe myself a few dips into a rockface and go up, if I want. Stuff like that. ---the Glider feature is nice. I keep forgetting I can use it to, say, shortcut-leap down a chasm, but it's a great traversal feature. Cons: ---Why do I have to literally kiss a tree or flower to chop it down/pick it up? Or nearly stand on top of dropped loot to pick it up? Does my character have three inch long arms? ---a strange sense of minor latency (even Offline) between actions and it actually applying or game doing its notification things, or sometimes re: comabt actions, like switching weapons. ---am still not fond of the progression systems (crafting, upgrading), which I've mentioned already. It's nice in theory/I'm sure it clicks with many, but I constantly feel like I'm going to waste my time doing anything until I have everything discovered/unlocked that might make early thoughts/work obsolete. ---combat is terrible. I don't mean difficulty, I mean auto-targeting is terrible, especially with the wands/staves. No way to turn it off completely that I can find and it means if I want to target something behind an enemy, I can't. Apparently this seems to be a common complaint. I tried melee and my chr. scoots forward 2 feet with every swing animation, which I hate. Luckily with the easy settings you can mostly just ignore how bad it is. Still, it's terrible.

Given the current Epstein news perhaps the weird parallels to the Pinochet regime and Colonia Dignidad are a sign from up high:

the leaked email which were the impetus for the current 60 minutes bruhaha specifically references your déjà vu. "CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that “low point.” By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones." ... just as an aside, 'cause the point keeps being ignored/overlooked, but the people sent to cecot by the US were not deported. w/o due process we transported residents o' the US to a dystopian hell hole where they were to serve sentences for an indeterminate duration. we paid a central american dictator millions o' dollars to incarcerate and torture people-- not deportations. trump correct recognized that americans wouldn't care if he made theatre outta cruelty as long as those suffering were part o' a disreputable them. a few hundred venezuelans? so what? they were possibly gang members and they weren't american citizens regardless. virtual nobody were gonna rush to the defense of them. additional aside bob dole literal fought nazis in europe. this generation is increasingly nazi curious? HA! Good Fun!

WATCH: The 60 Minutes CECOT Segment - by Allison Gill

I'm sure I've posted it quite a few years ago, but I really did love the double dvd set they released, complete with a hollow tentacle to hang over your fireplace so great Chtulhu can bring you gifts Shameless plug for the source material https://www.hplhs.org/solstice.php

Trump signs executive order reclassifying cannabis, opening door to broader weed access An actual, sensible executive order? Wait, I need to mark this on my calendar. Previously, I thought Biden should have taken care of that before he left office, but having this POTUS do it instead probably makes it longer lasting as a Dem President is unlikely to revert the order. Not that I'm actually in favor of marijuana use, but having it classed as Schedule I drug made no sense. Now law enforcement can focus on more dangerous drugs. Hopefully this act makes it okay for insurance companies to cover pot shops.

Just finished Dispatch. All things considered, it was pretty good. First time in god knows how many years that I've seen D's flopping around the screen. Not just once but multiple times even. Last one ... and I guess first one(?) was in GTA4, I think. You know, it's kinda sexist to show boobs and all in so many games, but the D is off-limits. Now I feel more represented. Some of the choices felt a bit weird, but oh well. For example forgiving a villain in the end, when that character torched a lot of stuff. This is just not right, you can't just be like water under the bridge, imo. But still. Probably the best Telltale-style game I've played in a long time.

You already lost me here. - Someone who doesn't watch anime with male protagonists because of how awful they and their animes are in 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of cases that was exactly 99 "9"s for my sig figs, for the record, i was doing a thing

I like this conversation. A number of people who dislike things I dislike, dislike things about BG3 I would be bound to dislike, were I to play it. So I guess I can skip it.

@Theonlygarby, @Hawke64, I agree with you both on BG3. I'm not as negative on some of the issues, and so I'm able to handle playing the game, but your critiques are spot on for me. The painful battles are especially surprising, because I was told repeatedly by the TB fanatics on the Larian forum that the battles are few and not trash mob battles like in a RTwP game. Well, they lied as far as I'm concerned. Trash mob battles are aplenty in BG3, and I'm able to get through them without driving myself crazy only because I'm playing with a party of six and on a mix of low and normal difficulty settings. The UIs are horrible. The hotbar practically useless. Party movement a huge pain. And yes, the story is everywhere.

Tried for the fifth time to give BG3 a chance. I need to stop giving it a chance. There is nothing I like about it. Closest thing would be the combat. I don't mind the combat but I absolutely hate the 3D enviroments for CRPGs. Constantly feel disoriented. Also everything tends to look the same from what I've seen. Some abandoned temple looks the same as a goblin fort. Which also looks exactly like every dungeon i saw in divinity Story wise there is just way too much going on. Squid people, demon people, every companion is a vampire, or a demon or some person who has a demon in their head or sold their soul to a demon. Dice rolls for dialogue is painful. It feels like they want you to save scum. Can you not? Sure but you will just die in that combat and end up redoing the dice roll anyway. I might be just dumb or not giving it as much attention as it needs, but I never know what the hell is going on. I'm going to save some druid leader but then he's working for the goblins and also some demon has a deal for me, but not yet he will be around later. And I guess I'm supposed to help squid people but also they are the enemies. I just... don't care. It's way too much stuff that is thrown at you with little context. Anyway I hate this game and hopefully I never try to play it again.

And if you want to add another element of joyous, look up Daniel Craig's reaction to the above..

A "**** you" to the devs who thought waiting until December 2nd before announcing that the "fall" update won't be out another 3 months. You suck, Obsidian.

Game has been rock solid for me and I haven't noticed any bugs but this second DLC has twice now had sections where I have to play other characters/groups. That is one of the things I hate the most in games so it's really dragging down my opinion on the whole thing.