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Wake up early, feeling motivated, gonna get some stuff done! a couple hours later "What great weather, sitting lazily out here in my patio chair with my tablet is definitely a better use of my time." I need a better patio lounge chair.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-handful-of-bottlenecks-remain-for-morrowind-remake-mod-skywind-but-its-still-progressing-steadily-towards-release https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/morrowind-in-elden-ring-mod-is-now-mostly-playable-despite-the-fact-its-creators-entire-existence-has-been-consumed-with-interpreting-gibberish-code It is good to see several different fan remakes of Morrowind being worked on. Though, the ER one is much further from completion.

I am somewhere mid-game in Lost Eidolons. It is a turn-based tactical game in a fantasy setting. It is generally playable, the controls are rebindable, the saving is functional, the writing is readable (as in coherent and grammatically correct). There are some interesting systems, such as Aides (a party member who does not participate in an encounter provides passive bonuses to another who does and gains XP) and the ability to explore the camp with the over-shoulder camera. It is also possible to teleport around via the map. The combat itself is rock-paper-scissors, with what beats what being shown in the lower right corner at all times. There are also some terrain effects and magical status effects which can work together. Now, there are a few issues that annoy me. The most noticeable one is that the character models look generic (and the characters of the same class look almost identical) and the general palette is the grey-brown of the 00's shooters. On the lower resolutions, it is quite hard to see the UI icons, while most portraits, as mentioned, are too similar to tell apart. There is an incredible amount of small talk and fetch quests with little to no player's input. Even with the in-camp teleportation and skipping, it still takes a lot of time. The character development system is functional - gain enough XP in the relevant skills and the class will unlock, the problem is that the high-tier classes and skills are locked behind the main story, so I've had the party maxed out for the last 5 or so chapters (I am at 14 of 27). As a character cannot carry an arsenal or switch between armour suits in combat, I do not understand why I would want my Barbarian-to-become to learn throwing fireballs. The story itself is generally decent (a mercenary company accidentally offs a local lord and decides to join the rebels to avoid persecution by the Empire) and the MC is a generic Chaotic Good MC with a few points in CHA. Despite the opening mission spoiling the main antagonist, it is interesting to see how it gets to that point. In terms of performance, I have not noticed FPS drops or crashes, but the game occasionally runs hot. I've had one hardlock when I tried to skip an enemy turn. Probably, I would have had a better experience if I did not play right after Symphony of War (better visual style, more complexity and variety), but I also would not have played now if I had not played SoW.

I also played a smuggler at release and did get to 50, but it was absolutely wild how they were absolutely set on making a melee spec for the smuggler, and so achieved that by forcing them to use a gun that only works at melee range. Yeah... To be fair, I have no idea how much of the concept of a melee gun was made up by the SWTOR team and how much is actual Star Wars lore. For what it's worth, I only ever got two classes to 50 because it took so incredibly long back then. One was the smuggler, solo, and the other was a consular in a co-op run. I think I got an inquisitor to around 30-40 some time later but ran out of momentum (and double XP weekends).

Saw a video clip of Phill Collins, where he sat down at a drumkit, held/hit with the sticks a few times then said "that's enough." He's 75 and looks/stands like 98. Guess he's had health/surgery/nerve issues and retired long ago. Wasn't a huge Genesis/Phil fan, but loved some of their big radio hits of the time - so seeing him like that made me a little sad. Which led me to some of his live performances re: drums. Which led me to other famous drum rift/beat videos, until I reached Wipeout (The Surfari's) - now that's a classic. Some people like rock guitar solos, I like bass and drums. Anyway, dropping this here today. Still one of the best drum breaks/fills around and perfectly used/placed in the song. Song isn't bad either. Thanks for the memories, Phil.

I looked it up again, and I don't see anything that's changed very much. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm Steam client has a wrapper dev's can use. They do not claim it is anti-piracy, and recognize it's more of a simple anti-freely-share with dozens of your friends, that can be easily circumvented. Steam recommends using other/3rd party drm on top of their wrapper, or "enhancing" legit copies with steam features that only work with legit Steam-purchased, to make having a legit copy more desirable, like achievements, trading cards, Steam's sever online-MP, etc. I'm pretty sure everything else is 3rd party, eg the current AA/AAA dev-popular Denuvo. The main ez-short test, last I knew, is to rename steam folder and the steam.exe and try to run games via the game exe to see if it'll run if game thinks Steam isn't there. There are many user-sourced sites/lists re: steam-drm free titles, whether they were initially or maybe removed later - but most of these fall into the moderate to very old, certain indies/devs, or somewhat obscure titles category.

@Bartimaeus Yes, he does go over many of those theories. Including motion (hunting) vs. color and pattern (gathering). I think outside of the house (store/shopping), of which I/other have no personal control, it's more that stores move and re-order things around constantly - even within the same aisle, and maybe men (average) have a harder time noticing/figuring out how things have moved. "One sees but does not observe." Based on only hubby/a few others, I also wonder if men just devote less brain/memory to remembering anything that isn't immediate survival/future plan/survival, and/or their absolute favorite thing/s plus already long-term auto-habit established. Like beer label vs. label of condensed milk, or a tupperware of meatloaf. Or despite being told/reminded 100 times, it'll take hubby 6-12 months to recall and actually remember/USE something like "if you don't want to go outside re: cans/bottles, just put it in this big plastic bin I've put on the kitchen counter." (eg, they remain put everywhere all over the kitchen, still). Where at some point much later, hubby will say something like "when did you put that there? That's a good idea." 😄

Takes me back to 2006, used to be on a Shoutcast station I listened to at work constantly.

Imo the most fun combination is Wizard/Monk and especially Bloodmage/Helwalker (or Nalpaszca or vanilla) because there's lots of synergies and the active abilities are most fun to use imo. Turning Wheel (+10 INT and burning lash) is great with an AoE weapon such as Spirit Lance since the AoE size grows a lot with wounds. Stunning Surge is awesome with Spirit Lance and also Kalakoth's Minor Blights. Blood Sacrifice is not only trading spell casts for health but also results in instant wound generation. Force of Anguish is hilarious with Spirit Lance (send enemies flying into all directions). Blade Turning with Wall of Draining is bonkers. You can just ignore melee attackers (they will kill themselves) while you calmly cast some spells. Paralyzing spells such as Ninagauth's Shadowflame work well in combination with Merciless Gaze + Swift Flurry & Heartbeat Drumming because of the stacked crit conversions. And so on and so forth. Wizard/Soulblade is good but imo it's too one-dimensional. Wizard/Fighter is also good (Wall of Draining + Unbending is bonkers and so is Clear Out + Spirit Lance) but imo it's less entertaining than Monk. Wizard/Druid can actually be a good melee combo of you like spiritshift. It's not that great early but had tremendous potential later in the game. Something like Bloodmage/Lifegiver (Cat form), combined with Wall of Draining, numerous self buffs and Zandethu's Draconic Fury does good melee dmg, casts very fast and is almost impossible to kill even if Blood Sacrifice is used a lot because the Restorations can be stacked and are so strong when shifted. For Wizard/Paladin I made a build that was very fun to play (Bloodmage/Steel Garrotes) - search for a "Bloody Parry" class build in this forum if you are interested. But it's less about melee damage and more about using a special melee weapon to combine passive healing with defense and constant spellcasting. I like Wizard/Rogue with AoE weapons (Blights or Lance or even a rod + Blast in the beginning) and Arterial Strike + spells that slows enemies movement down further (Arduous Delay, Chillfog etc.). They will run slowly but still get the raw dmg from Arterial Strike per 0.1 sec (the game doesn't count actual steps but just applies the raw dmg every 0.1 secs as long as enemies move). Assassin/Bloodmage can cast such a spell from stealth and immediately follow with an AoE Crippling Strike (stealth has a -80% recovery time bonus). If you then follow up with a Pull of Eora most enemy groups are usually done. Or you combine Gouging Strike + Arterial Strike at the start of combat for more raw ticks. That's also fun imo.

Rogue has Confounding Blind which can apply IIRC the heaviest active Deflection debuff. Spirit Lance allows you to do that in AOE. You also simply do much more damage with every attack. Tactician works really well with Wizard spells. Fighter also has the cheap Mule Kick that has the knock up effect, which can not be resisted by pretty much anything in the game. It doesn't waste enemy resources like proper interrupts do, but using it with Spirit Lance will reliably control a crowd even if they have Concentration or interrupt immunity. Soulblade seems to synergize with Spirit Lance, but I personally haven't tried it, so can't say how good it is.

Instead of correcting this little typo my mind immediately imagined a lance with an AoE effect that arranges the enemies in a specific order... 🥴

For any multiclass wizard, the best damage spell is probably Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar. It scales better than pretty much everything else you can cast. Helwalker has very high might and intellect, with such character you'll casually deal 100+ damage per pulse in a huge area, for a total of 6-7 pulses. On the other hand, most Evocation (missile) spells need high PL to shine. Like single class plus all kinds of buffs, that kind of high PL. Kalakoth's Minor Blights is an alternative to Sort Lance, if you put a melee weapon in the off hand, you'll attack at dual wielding speed which results more damage than Spirit Lance. Spirit Lance allows more monk abilities and has an AOE interrupt-on-crit effect, though.

I approve of the moustache, it seems to suit him. he looks like a character from a Wes Anderson movie. aaaaand. yes, he put a Wes Anderson movie in the bag.

Thanks for your understanding, Mizio. Welcome to the community and look forward to your contributions indeed!

Oh ok ! It's a bit confusing for new members like me 😅, but I've understood it's necessary to prevent bots. Thanks for the answer !

Never played older entries but Wizardry8 was a fantastic dungeon crawler.

We should be able to hold down a button/prompt to receive any item(s) we have in our chest to our chopping list. Instead of having to go through each chest one by one and retrieving items independently.

Damn but that was a burst of nostalgia. It's part of gamepass so I gave it a go, feels very close to the early installments. I still prefer the hero being a unit on a field (like in 4) but still good.

Jagged Alliance : Deadly games. 30th anniversary this year. How fast time passes. :/

Brought to you by the party of "reduce government spending": GOP bill would fund $1B in White House "security upgrades" for Trump’s ballroom Yes, the supposedly "privately funded" government ballroom is now requesting a massive inflow of taxpayer money. For a ballroom.

Is there any chance we could have foundations block bug spawns? Or perhaps some type of buildable land claim. I am constantly having to deal with ORC weevil and butterflies spawning in my base. Probably the most annoying thing about the first game was this problem. I want to be free to build a base in any location and not have to constantly repair everything in my base after killing bugs that have spawned inside. There are some awesome base locations that are being ruined by this problem.

A few titles I was interested in are available on Fanatical for £2.25 - 3.00 each (I probably will repurchase them on GOG if they are good). https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-fantasy-worlds-bundle

I have yet to mini-game fish in CD. I simply swim around and catch by hand. It works so why not. Every medieval/fantasy game needs the hangin' tree, right? There are 7 trillion "jigsaw puzzle" scenes in this game. Still like his hair. And the cat. Especially the cat. (they've also added birds as tameable pets now, heh).

Correct, and I consider the "occasionality" (had to look up if that words actually exists, hehe) of Defiant Resolve to be very okay. Having a +10 to all defenses buff that stacks with everything in fights with plenty of fear abilites and auras (Drakes, Dragons, Banshees etc.) and which procs off of many annoying spells from Ciphers, Priests, Chanters and Wizards is a very nice thing to have imo. Especially since defenses have increasing returns. It makes makes all dragon fights easier, the Banshee stuff in the Endless Paths, bounties, Crägholt Bluffs and so on.

My favorite party composition is: Edér Aloth Durance Kana Rua Hiravias Kana Rua is very useful on some maps in the early game because he has access to the "White Worms" invocation. As long as you don't reload a map (leaving/coming back or reloading as save) all corpses will stay on the map. Every corpse works with White Worms over and over again (they don't get consumed). So on a map like Raedric's Castly you can pile up corpse over corpse in some doorways and use Kanas White Worms invocation for massive AoE damage. Also in longer encounters the summoed Phantom is extremely good in the early game. It can win fights for you (as long as Kana doesn't go down). From level 9 on I give him "The Dragon Thrashed" as only phrase for his chant and give him a single one handed weapon (because the +12 accuracy bonus translates to offensive chants for some overlooked reason) which decimates all mobs in range automatically. It's very powerful. Hiravias as a caster is very good in general but also his Spiritshift ability is very potent. I give him Wildstrike + Greater Wildstrike + Weapon FOcus Peasant + Two Weapon Style and Outlander's Frenzy. Very important to give him a Wildstrike Belt asap (can be bought for very cheap in Ondra's Gift). He then shreds through single enemies who want to mess with him in melee like no other class (not even Rogues). I give him the soulbound scepter because then he can regain his 1 spiritshift use per encounter, making it possible for him to spiritshift twice. Durance as a Priest is kind of a must if you don't want to gimp the party. Priests' buffs are just so strong. Pick Inspiring Radiance asap. It gives you +10 accuracy for the party in every encounter and stacks with everything. Makes the early game a lot easier. Aloth for CC is also my preffered way of playing him. Try Blast + Penetrating Blast + Weapon Focus + Dangerous Implements + Marksman and then summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights. It's a very good (small) AoE dmg combo and only needs one spell cast (for figts where you not necessarly need a lot of CC). Later something like the Rod of Pale Shades is very cool like that, too because Blast works with weapon procs (in this case Stunning + Disorienting) Although not in my favorite party setup, Pallegina can be very useful if you give her a Marking Weapon (there are several, my preference for her is a weapon set set of Spectacular Spetum pollaxe asap + Blade of the Endless Paths estoc later, pollaxe I keep as backup against pierce immue enemies) - and in additon pick Coordinated Attacks. This means she can give the nearest ally who's atacking the same target as her +10 stackable accuracy. This makes it a lot easier to overcome single tough foes (bosses and the like). And it's all passive so it doesn't cost resources or action time. And on top she can do all the other Paladin stuff of course.

romancing Kyra

Skyborn was a bit generic but combat was simple and fun. It took maybe 10 hours to finish. Nice enemy art. There was no grinding at all necessary to finish the game. Echoes of Aetheria has annoying level scaling and requires you to grind for materials to keep up with the enemies. It also has certain very annoying puzzle/siege sections IIRC. The best rpgmaker rpg's imo are City of Chains and Atonement from Astronomic Games.

Dear Obsidian, I am writing to you from France to share an observation that I hope will not fall on deaf ears. There is one criticism that my compatriots repeatedly voice about your latest games: the lack of full French dubbing. In recent years, and I don't think my country is an exception, we have seen a rapid decline in reading, both in French and in foreign languages, for well-documented reasons I won't detail here However, and here's the issue, Obsidian's trademark, and the reason we love you, is precisely that you produce games rich in narrative content and therefore full of dialogue (which is certainly not to my displeasure, for those who might wonder about the motivation behind this post). I strongly suspect that many of my contemporaries dislike your games simply because they are not available in French, forcing them to read through tons of subtitled text (as their understanding of spoken English is also generally quite limited ; I am no exception in this regard🙄). For example, I know young people who loved Grounded but could never get into Avowed or The Outer Worlds 2, whose stories they found very “meh.” And for good reason: when I talked to them, I realized that they almost always skipped the dialogue sections! It's hard to appreciate the story under those circumstances! As such, and although I am an avid reader myself, I readily admit it's difficult to fully immerse yourself in a first-person game because of the constant disconnect between the words our ears hear and those our eyes read. Not to mention that at a certain age — which is getting younger and younger — nearsightedness and attention disorders come into play! In short, all this to say that, in my opinion, you would do well to carefully assess the loss of revenue when the question of including this dubbing in your future games arises (hopefully it will still arise!). Thank you for your attention and good luck ! Translated with Deepl.com (free version)

It's a computer. It doesn't have DID. It is glitching due to three different factions trying to give it three different conflicting priorities.

David Attenborough. .. isn't dead, he's turning 100. David Attenborough's big 100th birthday celebration takes place at Royal Albert Hall - BBC News