LadyCrimson

We can all feel super smart for being able to get around/being nerdy enough to know how to alter things as we want (unlike the average consumer, which is what a lot of companies bank on, imo) but we're sorta still part of the statistical problem as users. Not that everyone has a choice in the matter, I know. I'm just in a very negative headspace re: current US state of AI/computer/digital dependence and monopolistic/privacy/profit sharing-investor desperation cycles. At least Google's being taking to task on something, recently. Something's gotta give (for a while - a new cycle) at some point.

^ Yeah I disable and got rid of tons of stuff in Win10Pro manually with the group policies and PowerShell. I've only updated Win10 "important files" twice I think, when a game demanded it. I'm sure I'd do the same with Win11. Edit: I always purchase the O/S, vs. free upgrading of previous. If I could buy an "enterprise" version for home I would (well, in the past, dunno about 11). But hubby says Win11 is also pushing for the MS account login to run it. That you can disable it but hard to find without knowing how. I'm sure they'll start pushing for subscriptions on top before long. It's just all going to the dogs.

I have now "Ignored" 2381 games on Steam. Maybe if I ignore 97,463 more, I might finally find/get shown something I like. If you can't tell from my blathering semi-bloggity increased presence, my sleeping has gone all to heck again. I've cleaned out (physical) file cabinets, cleaned files (virtual ones), a ton of laundry, dusted walls, baked a (low carb) cake, watched countless videos, watched some true crime episodes, tried to watch half a dozen movies, caulked a shower, watched hubby watching Prison Break, watched the rain and on and on. Can I go to sleep yet.

I watched this in syndication in the late 70's every day after school and I loved it. Maybe that explains a few things.

Another big factor for me is eventually having to decide if I'm going to deal with Win11 or finally try to deal with Linux re: gaming. Everything I hear re: what Win11 is up to/going to be up to (like that Recall stuff), makes me go "NO" 10000% more than Win7 to Win10 ever did. Maybe it's all overblown but ... sigh. Just an ol' granny who can't program a VCR, these days. I think the 9900k could be bios-updated to work with Win11, that thing, but not going to bother. If I go with Win11 it'd be on a new cpu/PC.

^ Yeah, the writing being "tutorial/hand holding" or "feel good therapy" seems to be a common complaint with those who don't like it. Can't say what I've seen contradicts it much. Combat looks like flashy but nothing special arpg flailing about. But I'm not playing it first hand so *shrug*. What Dragon Age was supposed to be the "good one/s," anyway? I vaguely recall the early ones coming out and I wasn't interested in those way back then either, because of my personal interests.

Winter. (US) time change (this weekend), Chilly feet (California chilly, that is). No new game interesting enough to actually pull the trigger on. Not much on the 'tube, either. At least there are always cat videos. <---- you can just put that on my tombstone

Hellbound - Netflix - first half of the episodes Hm. I knew one of the main lead actors was replaced because of an illegal drug use scandal/case. The replacement actor is doing an ok job but has much less intense charisma so it's not quite the same. Outside of that - the show has become more talky in the conspiracy/political-power aspirations type ways, in the way S. Korea likes to do, with too many characters/factions perhaps. So it starts out interesting, gets boring, becomes interesting, gets boring, repeat. It's not bad, but not as weirdly compelling as the 1st season. I also hear it ends on another sort of cliffhanger, which is a gamble. Sidenote: the problem with Netflix "originals" is that even if they greenlight more, it's often 2-4 years between any seasons. I'd guess partly because by the time they greenlight, it takes a while to get all involved schedules to align to work again, among other things. Whatever their methods, it often kills any momentum.

I was actually watching his (first ever) YT livestream when he interrupted it to stare at the camera to make his "early thoughts" video (that his editors cut out and post alone). Watching him play a bit, he does seem to be enjoying the game in a visceral way. But the specific dialogue and certain game systems he runs across, not so much. He's also still very early in the game. I'll be curious if it's one of the games he actually finishes or abandons the playthrough. He doesn't style himself as a reviewer, but he's (usually) a pretty optimistic/non-negative/rational sort. Always liked him. Sidenote: it's entirely possible my simplistic arpg brain might like some gameplay aspects about this game, but in my case I would be impatiently spamming my way through dialogue/cutscenes and getting irritated with the dialogue wheel, no matter whether it was good or not. It all looks so banal/been there conceptually before, and I wouldn't have the patience anymore. That's just me tho. I don't tend to play/choose games for immersive story.

Let's see, it's been ... over 5 years since I built my current rig, maybe? Based on stuff like this, I'll be hanging on to it for another 2-3+ years.

The Resident (tv series, via Netflix), several episodes --read Bruce Greenwood has a role in it (not a main lead but a higher supporting), so I gave it a shot because I like him. --a lot of focus seems to be regarding hospital patient care vs. business politics etc, but it's probably the worst medical series I've ever seen, far as the medical/patient emergency cases go. Just laughable. Not sure if I like the characters/situations enough to put up with it, ala House. At least House was sometimes funny.

The "content creator/influencers" - whether they purposely mean to/want to or not, often tend to foster/encourage a contentious, black and white sides audience/environment. And yes not just with gaming/YT. It's an internet culture thing or something. Did you guys see that jacksepticeye Help video? It's main aim was a mental-health fundraiser thing, but the intro first 2-3 minutes was like...yeah...that's the internet now (or at least how it often feels). "it's just people throwing rocks all the time."

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix) What a unique presentation and touching life-of/tribute type documentary. It got me in the feels. Thumbs up from me.

"Happy New Year, Welcome to 2024!" .... a few minutes later .... It's almost November already.

Once again I have zero personal interest in the game but YT likes to toss these things into my "algorithm" so I see them sometimes. >.> The review controversy is that they were very very picky re: review codes. Reviews are always grain of salt+confirmation bias, but maybe even moreso this time, for the early ones. And if you want a counter for "best game evah" type reviews, here's SkillUp. Sounds like this one is going to very divisive. His point re: the face artstyle vs. the Shrek's Prince Charming (around 5 minutes in) made a lightbulb go off in my head. I knew there was something I didn't like about the chr/face artstyle but I couldn't put my finger on it. I did like Shrek film but the animation style wasn't why for that, either. Personal tastes and all.

Why 7 Days doesn't have Steam cloud saves: --start new "6k" map, save folder size: maybe 16-18MB --1/4 of that map explored/revealed with countless terrain/building;container etc. edits everywhere: 350MB (most of this is "region" data) --by the time I reveal all the map (if I do, ofc, often I don't) and do even more terrain/building etc: 1+ GB save? I've seen ppl who run a server say bigger map saves get up to 10+GB. I imagine if I tried to redo the entire map with tunnels and towers and every POI altered, it'd be ginormous/even higher. --Final Fantasy 15 save, all revealed/finished etc: 2-3 MB. --Borderlands 3, single chr save: 1.1MB is the highest --No Man's Sky, single chr. save: 1.1MB is the highest (terrain is destructible but it's not permanent/areas reset after an edit limit is reached and other things) I hear Minecraft can be similar/worse, keeps growing and growing if you stay in one save forever and ever and ever.

Problem with most celeb's in games (that I've seen) is that often their chr. in the game is transitory/not vital. It's just spot the star for 3 minutes. They have a few appearances and speak a few lines each time. That isn't going to "sell" me a purchase. If you're going to use a celeb in a game to try and sell the game, for me I want to see them playing a character long enough that I'm going to see them as that character. eg, the player character (Death Stranding) or other main/integral supporting plot character. Where I have an actual character to judge/play as/get attached to or something, just like in a movie/tv series. Not just a talking-head role. I have a lot of fave actors/actresses, and am of the "movie star" generation where fondness for a specific star may influence my desire to see something, but if I learn their role in a film is a glorified cameo of 2-5 minutes, I'm not going to bother watching the entire movie for only that alone, unless I'm really interested in the movie by itself. Same thing with games.

I need another very low carb main dish for variety again. *google - "diabetic friendly simple beef dishes"* ---Korean beef and rice. Rice? Doesn't matter if it's brown rice. Still no. ---some kind of sloppy joes. Served on Kaiser rolls. No. ---beef stews. With potatoes. No. wtf is this. Yes yes I could adapt such recipes. Still ... Google fail. ...although my main problem is more that I largely only want soy sauce based sauce Asian flavors + very spicy. And I still dislike most vegetables. And low carb beans. And so on. Sigh.

Any arpg'rs try Wayfinder yet? I keep hearing it's not too bad, except the loot variation is a little lacking - more like Borderlands than Diablo, for example maybe. Looks like a mish mash of a lot of different games/styles. But I can't decide if it looks "simple" enough for my current gaming brain/if I'd like the mechanics I've seen in reviews/videos. Interesting that they were a MT/MMO thing, then publisher bailed on the dev's or something - note I do not not know any details - so dev's decided to turn into a SP/no-MT/offline (does have peer to peer coop) instead. Almost makes me want to buy to support "no MT/offline" gaming. Almost.

Feeling forced to join one of multiple factions (especially if sorta seeming "politically" story motivated) just to finish the plot is probably why I largely stopped playing certain types of rpg's. Mostly deep lore type rpg's. That type of "choice/consequence" doesn't really do it for me. imo there should always be a neutral/no faction option. Pfft. It was fine when it was something simple/two toned like "Choose Dark or Light" ala Might and Magic series where you'd just get a slightly different end spell set or something, but stuff like Morrowind just makes me go "le sigh."

If it's a fly, roach, ant, or those stupid little moths that like to eat all your flour/nuts/grains, and it's in the house, it dies. If it's a mosquito and it's anywhere near me, it dies. On the other hand, if I'm outside and I see a bee/fly/lizard/whatever got itself stuck in the pool, I'll fish it out and put it in the shade to give it a chance to recover (if it does). It's less that I mind killing an insect (vs. my convenience) and more that I don't like "suffering." Spiders I leave alone, except poisonous ones (around here that just mean black widows). Although I won't let them turn the house into a webbed mecca. Or if I'm in bed and a spider crawls across my pillow near my face, there's a decent chance I'll kill it without thinking. The funniest tale in this arena for me is still when I rescued/nursed a small butterfly back to health. When I went into the yard to release it, it left my hand and flew into the air, freeeee. Then 3 seconds later a bird came dive bombing out of a tree and ate it. I was aghast for 5 more seconds, then hubby and I howled with laughter. Such is life.

I think I once rushed through the end plot of New Vegas just to see the end title cards etc (then reloaded my "real" save) but other than that I ignored factions. Never did anything to officially join/align with Powder Gangers, pseudo Romans, the mech suit dudes, any of that. So faction considerations weren't a thing for me. I was the same way in Morrowind. Never finished the plot of that because I refused to join anything. Lone wolf forever!

Generally speaking if a newbie would follow roads or whatever, you'd run into deathclaws, go "nope" and go back. Although I think one might've been able, with some luck, to get through. It would take luck tho. Or maybe it was an exploit. I can't remember.

Had a great morning, life is good! Hop onto internet, check some news headlines etc. Economics, War, Politics, Hatred! Everyone's insane! Humanity is a terminal virus! ....oh yeah, that's why I stay off the internet more and more now. Imma gonna go kill some zombies and build some towers to feel better again, now. Hope everyone has a great morning/afternoon/evening!

@Gorth - I still listen to Big Country's first album The Crossing now and then. Although my favorite single is Chance. --------------------------------- Good interview, he plays the drums a bit between yaks. At 72, Copeland is still such a chaotic (personality) character and I love it. Watching him/the other two on stage back then as a young teen (Day on the Green, Oakland) was something. I wish I'd been able to see them (live) earlier but ah well. Considering I've rarely gone to live concerts, at least I got to once.