LadyCrimson

I might actually buy a remastered FO:NV. Not 100% for sure sure, but there'd be a good chance if it was done well (subjective I know).

Tainted Grail - still in Act2 ----came across a goblin thing wearing a silly big red mage hat. I wanted that hat. But he wanted a dictionary. So I gave him one. We became friends. I taught him to read. He gifted me with a Summon goblin spell. Pffft, I have no interest in that. I thanked him, left. Then I snuck back in, killed him with a fireball, and took his hat. FASHION OVER FRIENDSHIP. ---I was wrong re: the night-boss guy being Act2 specific. It's attached to the MQ main thing - if you finish that, he starts appearing. So technically you could start seeing him in Act1 while still low clvl. I did manage to smite him after gaining some levels and adding new perks. ---so many crafting resources seem to have no use. All I make are heal/mana pots and one or two foods and I barely need those anymore. After Act1 you barely find/get any new recipe/blueprints of any kind. A few. I don't craft armor/weapons (you'll find better), I only upgrade armor. eg, crafting/cooking/blacksmithing had potential but is hugely undercooked and in the long run you only need a few key resource things. The zillions of other things in my stash seem extraneous. Maybe they'll add in more crafting options later. ---a "big patch" is supposed to come out Fri or so, so I'm avoiding progressing too much until then. Hoping for more bug fixes, and I think such isn't typically retroactive on saves. Maybe they'll tweak balance stuff. By mid-Act2 I'm back to being totally OP'd (for Normal). ---I might start over. Conclusion so far: Fun game for the price, engaging, great first impression, but starts to feel like it needed more time in the oven. I'd generally advise most to wait a few months for more "big patches" before buying. Although if you don't, it's still great fun for many hours. It just could be .... more fun, better QoL, better balance, quests that are less easily broken, stuff like that. EDIT: still better than Bethesda

The normal bonfire can be used for general resting/point distribution, cooking. And with cobweb-fuel, recharge Arthur ability (with cobwebs) If you fuel bonfire itself with 10 cobwebs, it also lets you FT from the bonfire, do alchemy with it, ID items. I think a skill/perk tree lets you do even more, like blacksmith in it. And I think fueling is how you can rest in the Wyrd protected/shielded (a barrier like around towns) but I can't recall offhand. the "wild" campfires will definitely wake you up if you try to rest at night. Cobwebs drop from enemies ... at night. Although there are some day enemies that can drop a little. The special night enemies drop more at once. Un-id'd items only drop at night. I currently have 1300 cobwebs stored up.

Not familiar w/Skyrim but - ---there's a mild bell sound when he spawns. He spawns some distance away and there's a brief moment/period before he starts "hunting" you giving you time to bonfire or escape other ways. ---there's no specific event/timing re: his spawning that I can tell. You go beyond safety zones/warded bonefire at night and maybe you'll get to explore a fair time, or maybe you'll hear that bell/see him spawn in really quick. ---you'll see him/hear the bell in Act1, but he just appears on the edge of visual ranges then fades away - he doesn't start hunting you until you've reached Act 2 ---he scales I think, but skills/gear + the slow time Arthur skill as a leadup would eventually make him manageable. BUT he's immune to a lot of magic (frost, fire I think). Or maybe you could get him stuck on terrain and cheese him. ---if you manage to kill him before dawn, it's maybe a few game days before he starts up again. Edit: his purpose is to prevent players from excessively "farming" things that only drop at night, plus (I assume) just to annoy and present a skill challenge.

Some mild construction work on the house this weekend (the two shade structures, finally). Pretty noisy, couldn't sleep through it, haha. It'll be nice to have a real shade extension cover for summer tho - not just the cheap hard plastic sheeting that still lets some UV light through. Weather's heating up. Might be a pizza day. Yes, might be.

Tainted Grail - Act2 ---the quests and longwinded npc's are starting to wear on me. It's not bad quality, it's just the usual me reaction. ---definitely front-loaded. Also, the night-mega guy shows up too frequently imo, hindering free night-exploration. Technically some could beat him but it's not worth the time so most just run/FT away (preemptive bonfire use becomes more needed) *2ndEdit: I'm sure at some point it's dealable, but not for a long while ---starting to encounter a few more bugs (not just fun jank) re: certain features and quests. They've been patching but I'd say after 1st act game is not quite "finished". ---the MQ in Act1 had a method to get to act2 without having to do the MQ quest/faction. I appreciated that. ---There are more skill trees then what you initially see ---still love the item/finding stuff and exploration feels rewarding aspect ---Direct magic is good, summons however kinda suck. Wouldn't bother until their AI is better. Haven't bothered with melee, parry window looks really tight EDIT: also, re: parry, tap the button, don't hold it ---there are respec potions - you get a small number from exploring, saw one npc selling them but expensive ---3rdEDIT: there is no level cap - or rather, technically there is, but no one is ever going to reach it legit Still liking it/finding it fun. The Wyrd-night-boss mechanic is the only thing I really dislike.

@BruceVC As long as the difficulty feels good for you/is what you want. Besides, if it starts to feel too easy with later game progressions, I assume you could just remove some party members then, when you feel like it? I mean, sounds fine to me - like turning up difficulty if a game starts to feel too easy. Back when I was still more - motivated - I remember in BG1, after the first play, every restart I kept removing party members (4 max, then only 2), until I finally tried to solo run it (probably didn't finish but I think I got semi-far) and in MM7 sometimes I'd let party members die and never revived them, heh (had to create four, couldn't tell them to leave). Party members are just difficulty slider options. Edit: and/or strategic challenges

I haven't played this game so know nothing specific, but in general terms, I'd say since extra party members are not the intended party size the game encounters "expect" and were designed around, I would put it in the unbalanced modded category - whether you want to call it a "cheat" or not is up to you. And in SP, who cares. Do what is fun for you, imo. I mean, it's fun to alter rules sometimes, whether a little or a lot. Having all companions in FO:NV was pretty much a "win" thing for that game, but it was hilarious. Also, made for a better dance-mod line.

I'm apparently wrong. At least a couple enemies that only appear during the night-fogs do scale. One isn't a big deal, the other is. I see one of those, I run away. Night = all enemies are a little stronger then during the day, but these two are night-specific spawns.

Hubby had a new round of MRI/x-rays done and sent to a surgeon for analysis. The non-surgeon back doctor has now also mentioned disabling/removing (something) the nerves around the affected spine/vertebrae, re: pain management, if the back surgeon doesn't think disc/other major surgery is a course. Which sounds better than spinal fusion (maybe) but then again, pain exists for a reason. Wouldn't want to have zero pain to let you know if you're over-extending. As always we'll see. When they mentioned the nerve disabling tho, I have to say that what lept into my mind immediately was Serenity/Mal and the "shrapnel tore out that nerve cluster" moment.

Tainted Grail: ---I had a long and intriguing conversation with a chicken who had a long backstory. ---some side quests (dunno about MQ) can have choice consequences too, which can alter rewards or access/who survives, or just offer different conclusion to a "tragic tale." More than MMO/Diablo questing, but not as in depth as some. -- VA's are hit and miss, sometimes they're great (who voices Arthur? what a great voice) sometimes they're very mediocre. ---there is no level scaling within an Act area, so difficulty re: each one will be front-loaded. That is, could be super hard/die all the time in the beginning, then you're 1-shotting everything by the end of Act depending on how much you've explored and build/items/upgrades etc. ---loot appears non-random, at least the good loot. I suppose a deranged peasant randomly drops "fancy underpants" instead of "underpants" at times. ---I am told when the story ends, there is no "continue", but you can travel between Acts to finish things before that ---town stash box is infinite. Player inventory is weight based but there's ways to up it and it hasn't been a real issue even for a picker upper like me. If one *wants* it to be an issue, just don't increase weight limit. (EDIT) items with 0.0 weight do appear to weigh something. You won't notice with a stack of 10 such, but having 1000 arrows and 1000 various picked herbs in your backpack will still weigh you down a fair bit. Dunno if intentional/bug. Just saying. ---Beyond jank, have run into minor glitches but nothing terrible (yet). Still just simple, old fashioned, tightly/fast paced crpg fun. My current "concern" is the entire game may be "front loaded." eg, Act1 may have had the most time devoted to it, it feels full, planned out, interesting. I've played games like that where after that, it becomes less interesting, shorter, etc. That said, there's 25-35 hours to be had from Act1 alone - more if you're the type to seriously linger.

Tainted Grail - ok, I officially like this game. I don't think I'd say I love the game, but I sure do enjoy it. My description of overall gameplay/feel, from my game-life experiences, might go something like this: Elder Scrolls+Might and Magic 7 (or similar)+Diablo (the darker themes). --There's this weird charm, and old-school crpg flavor/nostalgia (including the jank and cheese here and there) that I'm getting while playing and exploring. I can't explain it. --I was in a tavern and some drunk side npc's at a table started debating to each other whether if you removed Excalibur but damaged it slightly, but then repaired it, was it still Excalibur (in the sense you could still become King for removing it). Their convo went on and on and I just stood on the stairs listening to it. It was pretty funny. --dual wielding two different spells, baby --initial slow rate of progression or good gear finds feel satisfying That said, there's still my personal "too many quests, bah!" irritation. More than half the NPC's I talk to want to give me little side quests and my log gets bigger and bigger. . I so have issues re: "I'll head off in that direction for that" but then totally sidetracked by finding an underground huge water cave/secret and forget. Temper expectations (it's not a polished AAA/uber graphic game) and for the $45, it's a pretty fun time. I'll be very interested in what this dev team comes up with next.

Well, I liked the prologue demo (it was still .9 vs. 1.0) enough to buy Tainted Grail. It is sometimes a bit janky/unpolished, combat is ok and so far straightforward, although for those that like "hit impact impression" or smarter AI - probably not going to find it here. Easy difficulty for me is almost too easy, Normal sponged it up more than I like. Wish there was an inbetween but oh well. It has the learn by using/doing, which led me to crouch-walk into a wall for 10 minutes just to see if that worked, and it did. Haha. The wandering around picking up everything, cooking, alchemy, swimming out to see if a boat was lootable, copious lore notes everywhere, satisfies the exploration/looter in me - that aspect doesn't feel "empty" and the pacing/design of exploration is quick/good, at least so far. I haven't yet had any major performance issues or trouble finding decent settings vs. 60ish fps, but there is occasional (shader loading?) singular hitching sometimes, like on a first spell cast. It wasn't in the demo, so perhaps a patch will come along. Dunno if I'll like it to the end, but it certainly has that early "lI'll just look around one more corner" vibe down pretty well.

@Agiel What game is that? I like the art direction.

Since Tainted Grail is out, gonna download the demo just to see if I like the early mechanics. Supposedly you can largely ignore the MQ if you want, decent difficulty options etc. Skyrim and Elder Scrolls had a baby? Maybe I'd like it more than either of those on their own, so to speak. Or not. We'll see.

^ The series always was,for me, just like Black Mirror, hit and miss. Like 1-3 episodes a fair bit, most "ok-meh", 1-3 "ick." Oh, and when I said cat episode, I meant the blue animated cat vs. devil one. I just watched another bit with a more realistic orange cat animation. I didn't like it as much.

Loved the first one, so I will definitely be watching Nobody 2. When it's available to watch by pressing a button on my remote. But I will definitely watch it.

I liked that cat episode of Love/Death/Robots. shocker, right. I watched a couple others, didn't care for them, the usual. Started watching Bullet Train Explosion, it looks pretty good for the genre, but then I was distracted 1/3 in and haven't gotten back to it. Before bed, I've begun watching the old series Castle via Prime. I never watched it before, only knew of it/clips. I think hubby did watch some of it before so I might've seen a random episode years ago. Anyway, I'm up to ssn1/eps. 8. It's ok. I wish there was more focus on the crime part of episodes. The intriguing thing to me is that even tho I'm not super-into Castle (yet), I rarely FFWD and it mostly keeps my attention. More evidence that for me, certain pacing, camera work, dialogue setups and other patterns in modern tv/films is a factor re: my short attention span/dislikes. I will say that I think I greatly prefer Nathan Fillion as Mal over Castle. Mal felt like he had a bit more substance behind the sarcasm. So far, Castle is just the "entitled rich but lovable goldheart" dufus. Maybe he grows up a bit later.

The Four Seasons (a series adaptation of the old film) - 1st and 2nd episode I think it's supposed to be a comedy, and it did make me chuckle here and there, but mostly it's kind of ... sad commentary re: friendships, marriages and life etc. One of those types. I recall my parents liking the Alan Alda film, so I know the basic premise, but I can't remember if I ever watched it fully. the Big Chill was the one I watched and loved ages ago. Just not my thing anymore I guess.

It's probably my imagination or poor camera angles, but over time re: all the brief little clips I've seen, I've felt like Trump has been slouching further and further downward in that oval office chair. If it continues, at the end of the four years all we may be able to see of him is the top of his fluffy toupee hair. Edit: oh, and I'm taking some singing lessons. Nothing serious. Just something to do. I used to be able to sing "average/ok" but now age and never doing it at all, I'd break eardrums, I'd like to at least not break eardrums.

Don't know - I guess it would depend on what they mean by "imported resources." I'm more concerned with panic buying re: news stories and human nature. Gonna become a real doomsday prepper at this rate. My bunker will have a dedicated room for a cat, of course. Could get lonely down there. On the other hand, too much work. Cat will have to be content sleeping on top of a chest freezer instead.

Another one of those larger stock-up type household buying days. I'm not completely convinced anything (for us) is going to be hugely impacted by tarrifs - day/weekly/general I mean, in terms of shortages/empty shelves - but I did buy enough toilet paper, paper towels, and meats (for the freezer) to last a few months or more. Y'know, just in case. I'm not getting caught flat footed, running around desperate to find even a single 4-pack of the cheapest/roughest 1-ply, or having acquaintances gift you with a couple rolls, like Covid times, again, ever. It's probably more a concern for back to school shopping or for anyone who likes to get a lot of smaller goods, cosmetics/clothes, "impulse" buys, specific needs etc, regularly. Edit: I looked at the package of my fave TP and it said "Made in USA from domestic and imported resources." I can't wait to pay $30 for 9 rolls of TP!

Watched the longish Borderlands 4 gameplay reveal thingie. Looks like Borderlands 3, except with the potential of a less annoying story and characters. Maybe. Didn't hate it, but didn't do anything for me either. None of the "Vault Hunters" look interesting to me. It looks/feels less and less like "Borderlands" all the time, and more and more like a kind of generic action game. Except with giant loot explosions, ofc. Although, at least Legendaries supposedly won't be raining from the sky anymore. BL3 was absolutely ridiculous with it - and the fact 95% of them were useless joke gimmick weapons that would drop over and over (sometimes multiples of the same one from the same boss) made it even worse. Just have the 5%. I keep hinting/reminding hubby that if he wants a new gpu or PC to play it (he's using a 1660 in the pc he plays BL on, I think, and some (newer/not ancient) Xeon type cpu), better get one soon if he doesn't want to pay out the nose just to play one game. So far he hasn't made any move on that tho. >.> I guess he could play at 720p on mostly Low settings. He doesn't care much about fidelity/phat fps.

Schedule I - I definitely feel like I'd like this game, although it does have a curfew/cops mechanic that is occasionally annoying. It's quite solid/sim addictive for what it is. I'm still just messing with the demo a bit tho. Not sure I'd want to EA it. Another "1 guy" project that (imo) is likely to take a long time to finish, unless they consider it almost finished to begin with. One for the wishlist. They keep updating the demo, too - having options greyed out bothers me not at all for the moment. And of course, still No Man's Sky off and on. They need to add a Freighter to abandoned mode so I can have my orbit-traveling storage and garden base. Don't care about having a "fleet" or "fleet missions" available or flavor NPC's wandering around inside (that just get in your way/glitch out sometimes anyhow), just disable all that for Abandoned mode. There are destroyed/derelict freighter encounters in the game - could pretend the chr. takes one of those and fixes it up just enough to be useful.