LadyCrimson

Well I went ahead and bought Wolcen last night. The release price went to $40, not $45, btw. The latter is the price for the 'bundle' that includes the soundtrack, which I never care about. Installed fine, loaded up fine, graphically looks pretty nice. Cutscene heavy at the start, but they're pretty to look at. Voice acting seemed more than ok if a bit on the over dramatic side. Running with everything max except my usual disliked effects turned off (bloom, DoF, blur, blah blah). In 4k with vsync off the fps fluctuates a fair bit between 60-90fps mostly. Didn't get far (hubby brought tacos for lunch so I quit) but so far so good. Female chr. appearance is rather weird/bizarre/freaky (reminds me of Firefall beta w/tiny heads/super long legs/high heel, odd posture) but since most of the time you look at your chr. in full armor + small size, I don't notice or care when playing. Does look like a fairly linear campaign, at least to start, not sure how much it opens up. Am using Offline play - I think the Online server connection stuff is borked right now, too busy or something, unsure.

I was joking. Y'know, because I'm "old" and not with it. Electric cars aren't for me, plus I'd refuse to pay more than around $28k-$30K for a brand new car and even that's pushing it.

That old thread lasted a very long time. Guess I'll add my current/newer one here as well. i9-9900k EVGA 2080ti ftw3 2x16(32), Corsair Vengeance LBX Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master LGA 1151 Samsung 970 Pro 1TB Two 4TB HDD Corsair RmX850 Corsair Obsidian Series 750D case (a lot of Corsair...) 43" (not expensive) 4k led LG TV, 27" 1440 IPS Dell monitor, 27" 1080 IPS LG monitor, so I can play games, do web or graphic stuff AND watch cat videos all at the same time.

Ok, got more info from hubby. The repair estimate *is* for pulling the whole block out, so a lot of labor and hourly labor rates here are very high. >.> Both hubby and he know of those kits - repair guy says they're not strong/reliable enough (on average or for Subaru, no clue). He sent photos of what he uses to hubby. I personally can't really tell the difference from the kit but something about an actual solid insert (not a coil sleeve like in the kits) that has a rim to lock it in place or something. Similar yet different, dunno. I think he and hubby talked a while re: how the late 90's/early 2000's were the last "good" years before hi-tech took over. Ha. The dealership had better workers than last times we were there - they normally charge $350 just to look/diagnose and he waived it because he felt bad or something about our past experiences w/them, lol. Guess that was nice. Anyhoo, since I really don't want a car that runs by app (hahaha) with tons of electronics/software I don't need/want and envision needing repairs/rebooting/whatever I'll just try the repair first. Altho a Tesla would be fun to get just because. Wouldn't fit my lifestyle/needs atll, but it's the "it" thing to get so I could finally be WITH IT again!

^ That Husbands of Target video was great, so I looked up the channel and found this one too: This is so my husband and I. Which is why we stopped holiday "gifting" anyone, including each other. lol.

Since hubby's vehicle is a van I can't physically drive at all and I have knee/hand arthritis and upper back issues that make carrying anything remotely heavy not easy anymore, and I do pretty much all shopping/errand running, even if it isn't much in miles, yes I do. Also, hubby uses it whenever he has to work on-site at a place with a parking garage that his van barely fits under, or whenever we need a car that's more worry-free. Edit: I suppose I could call Uber or a taxi but ... nah.

1998 Legacy 2.5L GT (wagon). I'm not the one who talked to all the mechanics since I know jack. It could be the mechanic meant "bore" in the sense of what I'm seeing in YouTube videos for the HeliCoil kits I just searched for, where they're all using drills at some point for some reason (not to get a broken plug out). Assuming, of course, that I've looked up the right thing, like in this video (he has the block removed for ease of access) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIL-cQLYiow Those kits look like they run anywhere from $20-$50 maybe. I doubt hubby would want to attempt it - he's never worked on a Subaru engine (not enough hand-room, in his large-hands opinion) and he's reached the point where he rarely does engine stuff himself anyway. So I'd guess either the $2700 is a rip off price or maybe it's a quote for removing the entire block to do it vs. doing it while it's still in the car to make keeping "bits" out easier. But where I live, it wouldn't surprise me if at minimum it'd be $600-$1000 regardless, because that's just the way it is here 95% of the time. I'd tell you how much the dealership charged for a tuneup/oil-change etc - that did NOT apparently include changing the spark plugs because they go by mileage and they saw my odometer and didn't change them even tho we told them to - but you'd probably faint. Which is why hubby tried to find someone else to change the spark plugs.

While back hubby found some mechanic to change the sparkplugs in my car, since the dealership is uber-pricey and always too busy. My car started making a rough engine noise after a while. Finally had the dealer at least look at it. Turns out the spark plug ... holders? ... are sorta stripped (that mechanic did it wrong ...) so the plugs aren't staying in place properly. Hubby found one of the wires almost completely off not long ago cause air is pushing/pressuring them off. Anyway, dealer wanted $8k-$10k to fix since they want to replace whole block. Expected, no thanks, car's not worth that much. So hubby found someone else who claims he can bore it out, put in brass inserts that will work. Guy says he's done it before. $3k estimate for that option. My car is very low mileage (40,000ish) but over 21 years old. I'm not sure what I want to do, now. Low mileage and (was) a nothing special but reliable thing, yes but ... is it worth the $3k and do we trust another mechanic, haha? I swear most mechanics don't know how to service Subaru's engine design, here. Maybe I should just get a new-ish car. Not sure I'd like that either tho, don't like most new car designs. Bah. I don't like decisions.

I heard of Wolcen Lords of Mayhem recently, which is going full release on Steam tomorrow. Searching, I see a couple mentioned it here in the past ... over three years ago. It looks like a nice blend of Diablo/Grim Dawn/PoE (with a similar styled but more manageable, smaller passive tree). I was considering buying it now when it's cheaper ($30) (goes up in price on release to maybe $45 I think). But there are some concerns, like length and how long (if ever) for future planned content/polishing, buggy state, etc. Does anyone who has it already have an opinion re: whether one should wait some months and a possible even cheaper sale to buy it, instead?

After I built a new rig I want shiny packaging sometimes. Because it looks great on the 4k TV and is super immersive in a visceral way, and I like having that experience. Problem is, 98% of games that have such shiny packaging aren't games I want to actually play, or don't have an art style/setting I like. Thus I either fire up FFXV for the millionth time or I'm playing an older game I could've played on my ancient previous rig and I wonder why I ...

Hadn't played Path of Exile for maybe a couple years. Sheer boredom had me d/l and install it. Lost a few chr. names for being away so long (not the chrs, just the names) so pfft, I deleted them and some other mid-levels. Made a new chr. so I could figure out any changes to the tree and gems etc. before I use the "forced" reallocation of points on a few past high lvl characters. Still addicted to the Scion class, it's flexibility means it's basically the only class I play, outside of a single Witch as a stronger summon build. Don't care about the end-game stuff much (the maps and whatnot) but it's fun to run through the Acts . The first difficulty is so easy now it's almost sad. I found myself oddly missing Diablo 3's current ability to skip difficulties at whim. But otherwise ... since it's been so long, PoE might entertain me for a few weeks again...my current rig maxes settings at rock solid 140fps at 1440, smooth as butter. Haven't tried it in 4k. EDIT: I just tried it. Oddly it's seemingly still gets 120fps in 4k. First game that's done that.

Dear Path of Exile: stop making cute pets that serve no game function but I idiotically must have them anyway, k thx. (that's been over seven years, not all at once....)

Every game ever is over-rated.

It looks cool, is all.

Is that an upcoming Loki series? Dang it, why is there always this *one* show I want to see on a sub-service but I don't want to sub until there's at least three or five shows. Especially when they're very short seasons. Oh well. Watched Eps. 4 and 5 of The Outsider/HBO. It sort of feels like this should have been an eight episode series instead of ten. I'm still liking it overall but the pacing is so stretched out at times. Despite that, so far it keeps my attention enough that I haven't felt like resorting to any ffwd'ing, but with it being half over, I might start doing so, if it doesn't pick up from glacial to at least snail pace.

Outside of his most obvious famous roles, is it wrong that my fondest memory of him is from Tough Guys? Him and Lancaster - I loved that movie when it came out, cheese and all. And dang he was already old when he made that 34 years ago! RIP ... legendary in everything.

Godzilla 2 via HBO - ... nope, not even for the dumb action. Pikachu movie also via HBO - ... well the yellow guy was cute but, nope. Parasite is available for rent off of Amazon-Prime now. Since it's subtitled I don't have to wait for hubby either. Midnight rental here I come.

Ah, that is more problematic. :D

You could not go. Assuming you really don't want to go. But then I'm someone who chose to have very little to do with almost all of my family more then two decades ago - we're not hostile/they're not bad people or anything, but there were ... reasons ... - so perhaps I'm not the best example.

Surfing through TV last in the wee hours last night, I realized that the 1st episode of Picard is "free to watch" via Fire TV/Amazon, without needing to push the "try CBSNow 1 week/month/dunno for 'free' " button. So I tried to watch it. It put me to sleep before it was half over ... so I guess I'll have to try again later. I was not liking anything about the episode outside of the fact it's always nice to see Stewart. Mostly, I was just bored by it. Also, no offense to Stewart but the sound people need to realize his vocal chords are aged and put the boom mike closer. Or do a better job of sound mixing in the editing. I kept turning the volume up and up because it's so gravelly/hoarse or whatever I couldn't understand him half the time. Either that or it's me and my age. Also saw HBO has a new series called Avenue 5, starring Hugh Laurie. Sort of a "Lost (Cruise ship) in Space." Two episodes watched (there's four currently available). As a comedy it's very uneven. Has that very dry type of humor where chrs. take themselves seriously while yet being almost slapstick, that's supposed to make you laugh. Large cast. Some of them I liked, some of them you just want to toss out a window. I laughed almost never although I did smile several times and there was one Hugh Laurie line/bit referencing his American accent that did make me guffaw. Anyway, comedies are hard, it could find its footing more later. Hugh is a priceless treasure regardless.

Oh no, I have discovered the new (to me) "paintbrush" tool. But I need a bigger wall to write on! Time to build a Great Wall of Scribble that stretches across half the map. Because I can. ...its main purpose is for decoration tho. You can paint different colors/textures that aren't available as building-blocks (the "bookshelves" are paint) onto blocks to hide the ugly (or cure boredom). Sick of concrete or steel grey everywhere because it's the best defensive material? The magic of the wipe-on, wipe-off, then wipe-back-on Magic-Paintbrush has you covered. Forgot to paint the floor...

Nostalgic or frightening? Undecided.

I remember when people at concerts used to just dance/rock out when a song started. Now apparently they all hold up phones to record it. That's not a negative thing, btw. If I was at a concert I'm sure I'd do the same thing, hehe. It's just funny to watch Gorth's video where at the start you can see like half the audience raise their phones. Used to be mostly arms. Then lighters. Then phone screens instead of lighters. Soon we'll have cameras implanted in our eyeballs and then what will places do if they don't want recording devices inside? Ha. At any rate, it's nice to see Billy Idol's still rockin' and enjoying himself.

Mostly 7 Days to Die. I haven't played it for more than an hour or few for almost two years I think, and it's changed so much since then it's been fun to goof off in it again. I tweak the heck out of it to suit my personal tastes since I'm no longer all that into adrenaline-rush tower-defense gamey-ness. So at first I altered skill points gained per level gave myself enough points to max out everything almost instantly, on one save, to see what all the perk/skill changes were like/what I'd want to focus on. Then started a new save and have been sneaking around on relatively easy settings, to figure out where and how I want to build a base. Turtle-ing underground in a giant dug out cavern is no longer all that effective (not a bad thing) because zombies now dig downwards and have magic sensing AI. Besides, what with all the new electricity, turret and trap defenses I have ideas for a huge cliffside fortress. Problem is finding the right spot for what I have in mind and the dozens of hours it'd probably take to build one (without using Creative, anyway).

...wanted her op'd air-dancing sword so I had to farm her a few times.