LadyCrimson

Yeah, I used gatehouses to prevent low-level housing market ladies from grabbing food from the palace areas and so many housing areas were all fish or maybe fish and wheat only. Or something. You can do that if you have enough palaces/etc. IIRC. My fave war level was the one with the elephants.

Peace or War path? The peace one is actually a bit harder because of higher prosperity type ratings. I haven't played the whole campaign in ages but I do have the 'HD' version of it installed. 😄 Ah, gatehouses. I loved doing that. The market ladies and cart pushers always made me giggle. I remember in later Impressions games they had these little road-block squares you could place, but for some reason I didn't like them as much as having gatehouses everywhere. I can't recall why. lol. edit: maybe it was because it only stopped market ladies, not building workers and I liked controlling all workers? Maybe? Maybe not? Never mind me.

Tried DK2 pet dungeons again. Exited game/restarted after finishing each one, saved progress each time. Then I got to the 4th one again. Possessed a creature to group minions to get points (to finish the PD faster). Game froze. Wouldn't let me use my mouse on 2nd monitor/anywhere so I was spamming KB key combos for long minutes trying to close game window w/out a hard reboot. Come to think of it, the first time I did it, game did that "party like it's 1999" disco thing w/everyone dancing - and they wouldn't stop for ages, after minutes I could pick creatures up and drop them and they'd still be dancing on landing. Had to slap them all to get them to stop. Maybe that specific PD is just bugged in gog version, I've heard the campaign has a few buggy levels too. Copied over a couple of my self-made/altered PD's from other PC to Win10 PC. Playing those instead. So far they seem stable. Mine are more fun anyway - vamps can walk in water, creatures can train to lvl 8 (instead of just 4) and treasury tiles can hold a lot more gold per tile. Can't stand needing 10 treasure rooms... 😛

@Bartimaeus That sucks. Here's hoping she beats the odds. Hugs. @BruceVCLooks lovely/peaceful. I still miss my redwoods. Haven't been in a while, maybe this summer.

Rented Monster Hunter movie for six bucks. I probably would've gotten more price satisfaction from a cheapish grocery deli sandwich. That said, you know what you're getting, really, with this kind of movie (well, if you know who the star/director are anyway) ... and the very start and the last 1/3 was silly fun, I wanted more of that. The section with only Mila and Jaa and desert, while not bad, simply went on too long. Plus it felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be - horror/almost alien, or "monster", or fantasy, or superhero, or ... I'd say it's a $3 rental, not a $6 one. 😛

Didn't find any 4k game etc. but I did find one of LG's videos. It looks pretty good on my 1440 IPS monitor, right, nice and clean. Then I shove it over to the OLED TV and it's just "whoah." It is now what I'm going to use as a 15 minute pixel mover wallpaper after a longer gaming session. I need more stuff like this (whether CGI or 'live'), especially rain, because I like rain. Most similar uploads on YouTube are about color vs. blacks and/or has a lack of clarity (way too compressed for 55"). or is "rain on bedroom window" or "rain falling off a roof" where rain is barely visible (because rain is really really hard to capture on video without 'tricks').

Played the early levels of Dungeon Keeper 1, goofing off. Still runs ok but does seem a bit "laggy" at times like something's off. Decided to try DK2 (gog version again) - also the first time I tried on Win10. Loaded up fine. Started blowing through the Pet Dungeons to unlock them all. Got to the 4th one, finished, pressed space to exit map/start the next one - game CTD'd. Fine. Loaded up the game again. Didn't save progress, nor did it save my graphic/resolution setting (went back to defaults). Could do it again but now I'm wondering if it'll reset progress every time you relaunch. Pffft. Guess I'll test it by only doing first Pet D, exiting, seeing if it saves it. I may just stick to playing DK's on my old Win7 rig. Double pffft.

This basically describes every James Bond movie (that I've seen anyway). I'm not sure I've ever seen all of the Wild Bunch. I may have tried when I was younger but I don't recall. The Searchers was ok, probably one of the few Wayne movies I tried that I actually finished. But I have this tendency to dislike rescue-children plots. I didn't like that remake very much. I do/can understand why Wayne was considered such an icon - those movies just aren't for me tho. I'm kinda weird because there are some movies that feel like Westerns to me even tho they aren't. Like the more recent Coster/Hallerson's The Highwaymen (period based on true crime). Don't ask me why, I don't know and I'm sure it's not logical. Maybe it's just the character attitudes.

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

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.

Between covid delays etc. and my continual dislike for most current film/tv popular trends (in general, not just generic superhero, haha) I've just been rewatching past films or tv instead. It's interesting to note which ones hold up for me over time, whether it's been just a few years or a few+ decades. Apparently for me, westerns or at least stuff that has a kind of western "flavor" hold up very well. Maybe it's the themes that tend to be in such that I like. Not sure. Also, Kevin Costner has a very limited acting range, imo, but he does western-flavored characters so well. He's the lead or co-lead in so many of the more "modern" westerns that I've enjoyed. I'd include his father-Kent role in there, too.

Idle wondering: at this point, I wonder what percentage of total purchasable games on Steam are in the "early access" category.

That Jupiter's Legacy trailer: --first several seconds made me think long-haired fantasy version of The Mummy, for some reason. --The boiled down plot summary sorta sounds like Watchmen, but in more conventional superhero comic fashion. I think there was another one on Netflix that was more teen oriented with a similar device (parent superheros and kids), too. --There are so many superhero (for kids, for adults, for teens) series on Netflix now that I wish I could block the word superhero from any of their rec. list. --I can still like superhero stuff, btw. Just not 98% of what they keep coming out with these days. --Edit: I'd watch Loki series if it was on Netflix. But that's because Loki is hilarious and I'd be hoping he'd remain hilarious in the series.

^ But did you finish your castle? ...I love being a sniper in some video games. Long range/distance is my jam.

Warms my heart to know Prosper (may be) prospering!

It's been months and months since that trailer. Has there been any more news at all for this game? Has covid had any delay impact? I'm guessing not until maybe 2022 or 2023?

Depends on possibly the age and tastes of the family. It's more comical than horrific imo but really young kids maybe not. I unfortunately don't tend to watch "family" movies (or movies, really, these days) and can't think of anything I've seen in the past year or so that would qualify as such.

Stronghold: Warlords - well, it is a bit better than most of the other 3D ones and while the graphics are kind of dated looking, I do like the East Asian aesthetic. I haven't done much more than the tutorial and some freebuilding, so generally no comments re: military/combat yet. --runs great on my system at 4k/100+ FPS. :P Although it would appear older and/or "potato" systems may have low fps issues and/or crashes with a lot of units/buildings over time. There are total-unit limitations by default (rather low ones imo) but you can increase them via an .xml if your pc can take it. --units can now move in formation, which is nice. I remember in original game I'd tell hundreds of macemen to march over there, and they'd end up in this single-line stream rushing to attack. But, see, to me that was amusing... --there are a lot of building restrictions, which make sense in normal play modes...example, you place a large Temple or a small Fear Factor deco item and it greys out in the UI. There can be only one, sometimes two, of each type. In freebuild this is irritating because maybe I want more than one cherry tree in the whole town? They could make it so only the first one placed of each thing gives a bonus and extras do nothing. Would achieve same strategy restriction but allow you to have a little more aesthetic too. --castle building becomes more and more simplified and restricted every game in this series. Some might like this. Not me. --as is often the case with these updated "3D" of older top-down isometric RTS games, the maps are small and feel cramped - oh and there are no moats. >.> Anyway ... so far it's a bit like the 3D version of Crusader 2 they did a while back. Where I don't dislike it and I at least sort of like the freebuild (there is a map editor for it, so that helps), so I'll probably mess around with that and maybe AI skirmish mode off and on - but as is often the case, while the originals may be graphically outdated with "stupid AI", they still had more flexible/creative gameplay - and charm, the originals had way more charm. But at least Firefly still has their corny sense of humor: (when you click on chickens/pigs they have names...)

🤔 As I play the tutorial a bit, I feel like something is missing. Then it hit me: in the original games, when peasants dropped food off into the granary, or lumber onto the stockpile, there were these sound effects. A patterned sound. Plus other activity sounds. In Stronghold:Warlords, there is almost nothing but silence. Is this important? No. But "game personality" is lost.

*stares at Stronghold: Warlords in the virtual stores* On the one hand, it's supposedly the best "3D" version of Stronghold they've put out (set in East Asia this time vs. European medieval). On the other hand ... it's "3D" Stronghold, with likely more emphasis on typical AoE-like RTS over what made Stronghold unique in the first place. But I'm so borrrred/want a new non-action game. At least it would have freebuild just to goof on with.And it's not $60. 🤔

Wait ... they're making a Borderlands movie now? What? Like movies based on games have done so well in the past... https://www.shacknews.com/article/123666/borderlands-movie-official-cast-list Hmm...Cate Blanchett as Lillith? I can sorta see that, although I feel she's a little older than the chr. ought to be (I picture early 30's, not 50's). Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap? Mmm, maybe if he disguises his voice enough where I can't immediately go "that's Jack Black." Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis? That's not too bad, although again, seems on the older side vs. game chr. Maybe the movie is set 15 years in the future vs. games? And then ... Kevin freaking Hart as .... Roland? Roland is (in the game) a bland, stick-in-the-mud and military hoo-rah type personality. Well, maybe Mr. Hart can surprise me.

^ Yeah, I had one of those notes from my hospital that I was now qualified to make an appointment because I'm a certain level of "high risk" - when I went to the site the first available one was the start of May. >.> Can't pick which brand/company etc. I did flake off a week before trying to make it, maybe I could've gotten one a week earlier if I hadn't. Hardehar. I'm not in a hurry tho ... still don't really want one yet but eh ... while I never go out, hubby does more often and he could bring it home so I suppose I should. That guy from hubby's work recovered/is back, although he said he felt like he was dying (suffocating). He thought about calling the hospital at some point but thought he'd rather die at home (I can relate to that). Anyway, luckily he survived.

^ I mostly mentioned the after credit thing in case anyone was going to see it in the theater and didn't want to sit thru the credits. ...I would find it so strange to sit in a theater full of people wearing masks. Not that I'll probably ever go into a theater again (not because of covid, just because I don't want to). Also, since eating/drinking would mean lifting/removing the mask, will they still sell concessions? Will theaters finally stop smelling of stale and spilled buttered popcorn?

^ Hopefully the new drug mix works well. Also, I wish the peanut butter (or any food method) thing worked with cats. There's a reason most of the time vets give you cat medicine in a liquid form.

@marelooke Yeah, workshop mods ... I noticed if a creator deletes their mod, and you go Online, it disappears from your game. I don't know if that holds true with all game's workshop mods - I've only tried Workshop on 2 or 3 games - but ugh. I'm sure you can find the mods folder for that game and back it up and restore it when Offline again but per usual, just too much trouble for me when all I want to do is purchase and/or download a game or maybe post in the forums (the only reasons I go Online - I can go weeks/months without going Online). I'd only use non-cosmetic mods on Workshop if the game is past updating and/or the mod has existed for a long time/well supported. Everything before the Main Menu definitely should be skippable with ESC or whatever. Can't stand splash screens either. eg, we sound of similar mind. 👍