LadyCrimson

^ I've been "bored" enough of regular gaming where VR is starting to tempt me, just for something different. Although I'd be more interested in immersive walking sims or environment emulators vs. VR shooters or whatnot. I'd like to get lost in a VR rainforest or something, can you do that. But I doubt I'll actually do it ... since knowing me I'd want the most ludicrously expensive VR gear setup, then I'd try a few games, complain no one makes the type of VR I want, and never touch it again. ==================================== I reached Episode/chapt. 10 of Death Stranding. If what you end up liking most about the game is the open world/exploration and delivery route/speed challenges etc., which could take 40-100+ hours, after the very end of Episode 8 that all largely goes out the window (until you reach post-game for finish-up). I'm not exactly sure what I'm getting in these latter chapters/events - a lot of nightmare imagery and mind-you-know-whats. I've heard the last few hours is mostly movie cutscenes/endless endings and it's hard to get excited about it combined with a few clunky, almost hilarious combat moments, paired with super-serious exposition. Way too much talking-heads. I could just youtube it. One of those games where I could play the first half to 2/3 of it two or three more times over a few years but I'd likely always skip finishing it. Worth the $35ish I paid for and absolutely a beautiful, interesting game for the most part but ... anyway, the PC version's announced photo-mode would be tempting, but I'll wait for it to be $35 on Steam too.

Finished "Doctor Sleep." Offhand I'd give it a B- for its genre. A bit above average for its type but that's it. I remained unimpressed with the "shining vampires", they were a weak threat as setup, although the actress playing the leader was good/fun to watch, chewing scenery. I didn't like the ending all that much either. The film doesn't make me want to rush out and read the book. I probably liked it better than Kubrick's Shining tho. Edit: I also saw the recent version of Pet Semetary. Better than that older one by a tad, but still pretty lackluster. Didn't mind the switchup. C-. John Lithgow was fun.

@ Gromnir - I seem to find a game once every 2-3 years that I'll sink a lot of time into over some months but overall I turn games on then turn them off. I spent most of last year buying and trying several games and almost all of them I spent no more than 4-5 hours in. These days even if I like/respect a game, most of the time I'm usually not in the mood to be persistent, or to learn the mechanics well enough to become "good." And I do still shower if I'm active, have to go somewhere, or whatever ... just not every day at the same time like clockwork. It's like making the bed ... just going to get messy again, sometimes can't be bothered.

I rented/started watching "Doctor Sleep." Novel unread by me - I never had a huge hankering to know what happened to Danny when he was 40ish. The movie starts off fairly well, mood and visuals, although the beginnings of the "bad people group" makes me scratch my head a bit story/lore wise. "Shining" vampires I guess? About 30 minutes into it, Bruce Greenwood suddenly popped up which made me happy I hope he doesn't get killed off. Then I paused the movie 20 minutes later and became distracted away. I wonder if will ultimately justify its 2.5 hour length...I might finish it tomorrow.

I've skimmed the thread now and then but I don't have all that much to say on the whole state of affairs, outside of a joke or two. Nature...even if you succeed against one thing for some years something else will come along or what used to work will slowly stop working etc. There is no true safety net and I try not to waste energy stressing about something I can do nothing about. I already live in semi-isolation anyway. I certainly do hope everyone stays safe and that it all ends up being nothing major long-term, although I suspect this could all start some social changes before long. then again, maybe not - memories are short. *shrug* Side note: it was a little funny to be playing Death Stranding during this time, because I kept thinking that it could be the future - no face to face shopping or idle interactions for most of the population. Self-isolation to an extreme, far more than ppl sitting in silence because of smartphones. In a less sci-fi sense, shaking hands as a greeting could become anathema and go the way of the dodo at least.

I was going to make an "locked down, unshowered and stir crazy" joke but nah - I'm simply always like this.

Hubby's sick. Don't think he has a fever tho. Probably just a normal cold. See, he shouldn't have gone out shopping the last couple times. Me I still feel fine. But hubby ain't getting no hugs from me for a while.

This is the first time in 48 years of living in the same area that I've seen people with masks on. Not a lot of them, but some. Which is not to say there weren't other times people did such around here. Only saying it's the first time *I've* seen it in public vs. a news story of Michael Jackson or some outbreak in another country. I'm waiting for the consumer version of hazmat outfits to show up as mandatory wear if you even so much as step outside.

Still Death Stranding. I started a 2nd playthru to see what "online" was like. It's so much easier because of road building material help and vehicles EVERYWHERE. I have to constantly dismiss bikes and trucks blocking doorways and all the player structures that rather ruin the isolated/desolate atmosphere. The way the game chooses what to dump into your game is a mystery. Only nice thing is not having to build many things yourself, saving you power, and if you wanted to "speed run" you'd get much better times I suppose. I prefer offline and went back to my main playthru. But I reached ... chapt 8? ... and some of the actual story sections/chapters are annoying. Goes from open world to a bad shooter mechanic or something. At least *I'm* terrible at those, hence I dislike them, but at least they're very short. I have the feeling it's going to be like FFXV in a way, with this open world then sudden story sections that go faster and faster until you reach a movie ending. Then post-game is back to the open world. Not sure if I want to rush the story to get past it so I can enjoy the open world unhindered. Also I wish there were more things to build. Not just the roads, but more devices/structures. Still fun tho.

Was going to go shopping/stocking a bit this afternoon, then got advance warning of area "lockdown" announcement (hubby's client does a lot of govnt work) and rushed out earlier. I was going by myself but after that hubby insisted to go with me because y'never know how ppl will be I guess? He's so sweet, worrying. It's a total madhouse. The crowds/empty shelves etc no carts. But not as bad as it could've been if we'd gone later like planned. The parking lots were cramming even worse as we left. No extra toilet paper but plenty of food for a couple weeks or more at least. The Bay Area so far will be a voluntary "stay at home" starting at midnight, where they might stop you if you're out and tell you to go home etc but not enforced (schools/business are different, many closed/closing etc). Hubby's work was already preparing for all remote workers keeping hubby very busy setting/keeping that all up (also from home). Amazon Fresh is totally out of the question/out here, which is kind of ironic since having groceries delivered would seem "safer" then standing in lines crammed with your fellow humans. The grocery store workers were working hard we gave them thumbs up as we passed through. I feel terrible for anyone (individual or business) where something like this could really hurt them financially. The economy ... it's a worry. For myself tho, besides stocking up, nothing changes for me. Stay home, play video games - only govnt sanctioned now.

Pandemics have been the fear forever, I don't think anywhere in the world generally speaking has been ready for it, if one really could be "ready" for such a thing and on the bright side one has to be grateful it's not one of the potentially way more deadly things. In the meantime, I have 7 rolls of "mega-sized" toilet paper and a shower. And plenty of cloth and soap + bucket if it came to that. I'm set.

I saw "Lighthouse." Movie reviews made me interested and the two man cast was a factor. That was ... one really really weird movie. Starts off a bit surreal and maybe Hitchokian, turns into creepy-surreal, then at some point one is likely to start thinking one has the eventual end figured out, but by the actual final shot, one can't even explain it. Is it good? I'm not sure. It's full of symbolism, intense acting performances and mythology (maybe?) so it could appeal in that way. But I dunno, I feel like it's not good or bad. It's just ... weird.

Saw Venom. It was "free." Was this supposed to be a comedy? Because that's about all I got from it -a few moments of absurd hilarity. Plot and typical one-note chr. elements jumped all over the place, cheap tricks re: withholding/not showing to try to "surprise" (failed at that) and including a really poor, short-form and glossed over reason for why Venom suddenly wants to I mean ok, whatever. I did mildly enjoy watching vehicles slam around SF's hilly streets. C-. I've liked Tom Hardy ever since I saw him play the Romulan/"young Picard clone" in that STNG movie, but I didn't feel like he was a good fit for the human half here.

*Plays Death Stranding* *Plays Death Stranding* *Plays Death Stranding* *Plays Death Stranding* *Plays Death Stranding* *Plays Death Stranding* Well, that took care of the 5 pounds I gained the past few months... Sounds like hubby, albeit in smaller space form. He's obsessed with tomatoes. Although I think he said this year he's going to focus on something else for once.

Yeah I went through that Chapter where you get the killing-gear. I can't imagine why I'd want to use them outside of the prescribed story moments tho. I'm in Chapt. 5 now, trying to finish the road before I move the story forward, so I can start building yet more road somewhere, I'm sure. Think I've got everyone currently available at 5 stars too. Almost ready. I'd use all ziplines but not enough grid power for that and sometimes you have to carry more than what you can on your back. I've given up sleep for this game a few times already - at 70+ hours over the past two weeks. Edit: oh, discovered one of my fave anime/game VA's voices Reedus' chr. in Japanese, which would be better than Reddus' grunting, but the game doesn't seem to have a Japanese language option. Just French and a couple others. I guess they figured us Americans wouldn't care about it. >.>

I could spam pics of Death Stranding (or Wolcen) but it's not really a game where I feel like you can get cool/interesting or original shots outside of the lengthy cutscenes which everyone and their mother post stills from. Beautiful game but doesn't always translate well to stills. And no Ansel. *sniffle* Although, the zip lines are a lot of fun. It even made the unborn fetus/BT detector BB excited/happy! Sadly I can't use too many because they hog power. Or I thought it a bit amusing when I went afk from the game, leaving the chr idle in a spot, and when I came back the chr. was taking a nap and I had to wake him up before I could do anything at all (couldn't even get to the save/load menu, lol). Hauling 500000kg-to-infinity of stuff is tiring it seems.

Death Stranding - I spent 15 hours beating up "cargo bandits" with hand to hand and gas grenades, to take all their ceramics and metals and stolen goods out of their camps (and steal their trucks to transport it) so I could start building the game's version of US interstate-80 (or route 66 or...). You don't kill humans in this game, you knock them out (corpses have nuclear like consequences if you don't burn the bodies fast enough...) for a few hours (so they're back again later). And when that wasn't enough materials I kept marching around collecting more in the form of "lost cargo" that you can pick up as it appears here and there and other slow methods. Wore out a lot of shoes. Which all reminds me of resource gathering patterns in survival games except you aren't using axes and mining picks. None of which is truly required to do if you just want to see the story. The road/other stuff decays over time, btw, because of "timefall rain" - repair is a thing (but it takes a long time). Probably won't do the whole road (you do it in sections) but it hits the "obsessive" brain quite a bit. I think calling it just a walking/delivery simulator is a bit extreme. It is, and it isn't. Survival, resource/management/strategy, stealth aspects are all there too. Depends on what you want to do with it. And I want to replay it a 2nd time later just to see how different it feels if you do have the "online" aspect on - at the least it'd make some aspects a lot easier I'm sure. I can understand why some would find it too boring but I'm having such a blast. See you all in a few weeks. *wink*

*hops and skips her way through that 1.5 hour long video* Turn based. Meh. I'll probably skip it. No I'm not saying turn-based sucks, just not my thing. Am I the only one who's tired of watching characters largely just stand there for 2-3 minutes while speaking whole paragraphs? It was kinda fun way back when the novelty of seeing chrs. nod and frown with flapping lips was new, but now I just get impatient. Even in New Vegas I recall madly mashing the spacebar (or whatever it was) to skip the vocalizing since I could read 10x faster. If the vocal lines are short back and forths it's fine but long speeches or exposition...Edit - maybe they'll have an option to see text and skip too tho, didn't notice. Anyway ... graphics are ok although as noted by some the close-ups of heads/faces is a bit odd at times. The "I'm peering down into a canyon much of the time" perspective makes the 3D party stuff work I guess but not my favorite type of viewpoint since it tends to emphasize any corridor effect. Gameplay wise ... who knows. Can never really tell from an hour of demo. I liked when the game went wonky on them at the end tho. Hahaha.

It looks even more awesome in-game and in-motion, with music. After 18 hours it's so weirdly more and more addictive that despite a few moments of slight irritation here and there, you just can't stop plowing ahead. Although...was this really necessary, game? Yes the chr. is doing what you think he's doing ... but the AMC ad in the game! And the exact leg/foot positioning. It's too weird! All the lingering showers makes up for it tho. This game is so hilariously bizarre. I love it.

Still Death Stranding. I was in late Chapt. 1 trying to get "stars" with the first ... bunkers? by picking up Lost Cargo over and over ... and realized my shoes were wearing out and I had no way to make more. Pushed forward, managed to steal some MULE's shoes (bandits-like) and a quest later I could make shoes. Phew. I get the feeling at the start one should do less exploring and push the story chapt. forward a bit so you get more options/gear etc ... then you can do more sidequests and mess around etc. The game gets steadily more addictive (and more trippy if that's possible). I played for quite a while last night and want to jump right back in today. It's the first game where I'm hoping it will NOT rain. Edit: if you have a heavy/tall load, walk with both triggers held down all the time - no more of that stupid timing of 'press RT or LT if you lean'. EditEdit: oh I'm playing with the "online" feature turned off, so I don't get the help of seeing/being able to use other players structures. Or their Likes. I don't need no stinkin' outside "Likes."

Rented Terminator Dark Fate or whatever it's called. I liked it. Sure it's derivative of the first two films (in some action cases almost beat for beat for long moments) and doesn't do anything creative/new, but at least it was entertaining enough. Since they could never figure out what to do with the films after the 2nd one, as a coda/topper to a film series - by pretending everything after T2 didn't exist - it works for me. I just hope they end it there, since this one apparently didn't make much money etc. Let it end. I still wish they had figured out how to show, say, the future and John Connor's rise. Salvation tried and for that alone I give it a bit of credit, but the result was a mess.

^ When medium/large 4k screens/tv's at 120hz are in the $500-800 range, that's when I'll care about high hz. It'll also be when I upgrade the gpu. Or build yet another PC if I must (hopefully won't have to tho, since I'm not a huge action or competitive gamer). Ideally a 43"-46" "4k" as a center screen and two 30-32" 1440 on the sides. Until then, I'm still perfectly happy with 60hz monitors/TV. My eyes are just fine with it since I've never bothered with higher yet and I'm not going to upgrade (and then maybe grow unhappy with 60hz like how going bigger screen made small screens "unacceptable" to me...) until I'm sure I can do/achieve what I want. Edit: I'm guessing it'll be the 40xx nvidia line by then...

So BG3 will be turnbased or is that just a hope? Meh. Rtwp would be ok. Do we actually know what graphicstyle it'll be or are ppl just speculating still? Edit: that dragon in the preview of the preview suggests 3d cutscenes anyway.

I need a cure for short attention span. Anyone got one?