LadyCrimson

Summer's around the corner which means ... I eat too much and gain a little weight back (yearly 5-8lb yo-yo). Mildly cooler/darker weather makes me lose appetite, while mildly warmer weather and longer daylight makes me want to eat chocolate, ice cream, BBQ's, deli sandwiches, munchies-food in general. *shakes fist* *goes for a walk*

First episode of Netflix "original" series The Rain. Kind of post-apoc predictable with what appears to eventually be mostly a 20-something cast/angst, but the first episode was watchable enough I'll try another two episodes and see where it goes. The English dub was horrifying, if you try it stick to original language/subtitles.

I have not seen it but reading reviews, sounds like the new Han Solo movie will be typical lightly enjoyable entertainment. It's always weird to see someone else's face associated with such an iconic character tho. Doesn't matter how good the replacement is at nailing the role, it's still weird. I also watched The Clapper via Amazon or Netflix, I forget which. I found it to be an odd movie in the sense that the main character is kind of unlikable, but the film as a whole has this low-key-charm so I kept watching. Plus the cameos of famous to meme-famous (the Shamwow guy made me lol) people was fitfully amusing. But by 3/4 of the way through I'd sort of had it with the main character and began to tune out.

Hehe, yeah, I'm not trying for extreme settings. Just saving space over the default Fraps recording. I use H264 at "slow" rendering and get it down to around 2GB and it looks pretty good for general viewing. Just a game video after all. It's just 15 minutes duration. I could really use something besides Fraps but despite the enormous file sizes I really like its very non-lossy recordings. Already compressed on the fly videos are terrible for editing purposes imo. It's a pain tho when it's for something you don't care about editing.

Oh yeah, the joy of compressing a 25GB video taking 1.5-2 hours to render. I remember that. *twiddles thumbs* Guess I'll have to search for funny cat videos on the laptop. And tonight, after trying some from some local joint, I've decided nachos should never have any amount of BBQ sauce in them, even if the beef brisket bits and tomatoes and other things are still tasty.

Used "The Ring" for the first time in this PC playthru. First time I used the Alterna spell + Ansel while casting it my jaw dropped. I mean it's silly-cool in-game/normal use to begin with, but on the 4k TV seeing the full effect of it via repeatedly hitting Ansel and being able to circle around it was a serious wow moment to me. I typically avoid using the Ring but after that I was using it constantly just to view it some more. (1min 40sec, best in 720 or 1080, ofc)

So, hubby was also feeling extra tired/having extra trouble staying asleep the past couple weeks. I mean sure we're aging and we're not youthful-athletic-in-shape anymore, but most of our free time we kept taking naps/couldn't stay awake long, yet also couldn't sleep for long, it was ridiculous. We finally decided we must have come down with some strange malady. No other obvious symptoms, no fevers etc. Strangest thing ever. Anyway, I finally feel half-way normal again and able to sleep more hours in a row + stay awake/feel like I can concentrate/do tasks. Which means I have a lot of delayed housework that needs doing. >.>

Belatedly realized PoE2 is out, read up on some of the tech issues....don't really care about using my PoE1 save file (it's not even installed anymore, although the save file might still be there in Documents or something), but I think I'll wait some months and then buy the GoG version so I don't have to deal with waiting for patches routine. I am interested in checking it out at some point...just no hurry.

Corven looks kinda to my tastes, on first description. Interesting list.

I think in my entire "gaming" life, I've only gotten past half-way in maybe about 30% of all the games I purchased. Full completion (or obsession) is a really small percentage. I mean, I don't buy many games these days, but pre-digital times I bought a lot more of them, more frequently. Still have them all in boxes in a closet.

Real warriors only need animal skin loincloths for armor. Everything else hampers movement and is overkill. Plus, isn't as sexy. ....I don't think leather armor was ever really intended to prevent major slicing/direct hits damage. It was more just to save the skin from those almost-got you glancing-miss blows (those "papercuts" can hurt/distract after all!), as well as from brush and bushes when you decide you have to suddenly flee into the woods.

Rented SW Last Jedi. Maybe I was just in the right mood, but most of the humor bits struck the right chord with me and I chuckled a fair bit. It was silly stuff ofc, but still made me laugh. The red-haired evil fleet commander was more comical than menacing to me as well, I kept snorting in amusement every time he was on-screen - was that on purpose? The plot stuff just felt like more recycling, although it worked better than in the movie before this one. Still, it's kind of like watching the (older, and maybe reboots too) Star Trek movies at this point, where it's always the same plotline, contrivances, threats. Instead of time-travel, "only ship in the quadrant," etc. you have the evil empire constantly just about to "stamp out those pesky Rebels", Force "balance," "there's good in him I know it!" "I failed as a teacher" and so on. So...yawn. (edit - the side-filler journey to find the "codebreaker" was kinda awful, for many reasons) But it was better executed than prequels or Force Awakens so more enjoyable as light entertainment. Too many characters tho, meaning not enough focus on what should be main interest leads. And I can't take it seriously anymore like when I was 9-14, so it's just this humorous space-fantasy yarn. And in that capacity, it was pretty much all right. Certainly beats those prequels by 100 miles anyway. 2nd Edit: ^ I should mention that while I enjoyed it on a light level, this did not prevent me from checking the 'net on my phone a few times while watching, however.

Around 65 games on Steam. Most bought between 2010-2014. Only reason I have that many is I impulse bought some during a couple sales, didn't install/play most of them and never did that again. The ones still/currently installed are: Bought FF-XV start of Dec. 2016 on PS4 and haven't played anything else, really, since (and now I have it on PC too). Almost everything else I haven't touched for 3+ years. Last three Steam games I bought (besides FF-XV): Fallout 4 (release day, played some hours but never finished) (oh wait, did Pillars come out after FO4? then that one instead. I can't remember well these days. ) Planet Coaster (late 2016, tried it a few hours) Firewatch (April 2017, barely started) From GoG - I'm not sure, maybe 30ish bought, most never installed (I just wanted digital versions of them). Maybe 5-6 faves are installed.

I finished Chapt. 10 in my PC playthru of FFXV. Next two are quick quick, then the long Chapt. 13. Getting close tho, finally. I keep trying to look into the unofficial modding tools/stuff for the game, but seems like every time I manage to find a tool that works for it, that tool needs another tool, and so on. I feel like folks are really stingy about sharing such things. Takes a lot of "googling" and the right search terms to even find the little I have. Bah. Oh well. Just curiosity. I don't want to get too wrapped up in such until/unless the official tools can't do what I want. If the official tools will do what I want, why spend hours fussing with/learning all the other stuff. Still...I at least want to know what's available/keep track of it all in case I need it later. PITA.

A week plus has gone by without any FFXV pics from me (the short video doesn't count, I say!). I shall remedy that. Ok, I give in, for the Ignis DLC "fully down" hair, and only for that hair, I will use CheatEngine. For now at least, only occasionally for screenshots and when not playing story (the CE table overrides a certain something in the main story....immersion y'know). Once the skinning tools are out (maybe end of month?) hopefully I can do it with that instead. Prompto, still the best sad-puppy face in all the land! I just like it. Plus this is often what happens to Noct (me) when I'm too busy taking pics to combat properly. Safe zone, can't cross the line. Neener neener.

Woke up early this morning, started to putter around, my brain/muscles just went "nope" and before long I flopped back into bed and slept hard for 2 more hours, then my eyes popped open. I felt slightly better tho, did some housework, file organizing, daily stuff, nothing strenuous. Now I'm ready to flop again and it's not even 10pm. And I'll probably wake up in 3 hours. I may have to try the exercise until you drop routine and see if that breaks this cycle. I don't know why I get these wakeup-insomnia bouts these days. Used to never happen. A few days of it is ok, a couple weeks tears me down.

Gave that new Rosanne a try since I did enjoy the original series for a few seasons. First new episode I think I half-chuckled once. Felt like half of them were reading lines off cuecards. I don't know, their line delivery timing felt way off. Darlene was the best performer. It's nice to see John Goodman in anything but other than that...eh. It's not that it's bad, but I didn't find it funny.

*reads post/skims thread* ...my mind was not blown.

Just keep expectations in the more ARPG category vs. a choice-filled RPG, with simple quests and fast paced button-mashing combat (vs. strategic) and you'll likely be fine. ...although imo the story in the latter half does have some very strong aspects. It just has some glaring narrative pacing issues. It really is all about the bro's and their camaraderie (plus villain). Don't expect much from any other chr. If you haven't already, I'd recommend watching the free official anime Brotherhood (YouTube), it helps the sense of connection with the bro's with some background characterization of how they became friends/worked together in the past (it's not spoilery) and is easy to watch. The Kingsglaive movie is a loud and noisy mess that doesn't add much to the game itself - one could watch it after if one wants more lore knowledge tho.

Using Ansel pauses the game, right? Well, apparently it doesn't pause Hairworks. The Hair keeps on moving, in a fashion. I don't know if it's intended or some kind of Ansel glitch but it's creepy/cool at times. I haven't found Hairworks to be anything exciting outside of that (in FFXV anyway) and it isn't even used that much. But in Ansel it becomes interesting. Haha. (22 seconds)

Sliced sourdough is all I buy, the good stuff that's dense and chewy, not the soft stuff that's like white bread with a slight sour smell. Mostly for toast as a between meal snack occasionally. Hubby's the sandwich person, I almost never use bread (I'm a rice person) anymore. Although that cibatta style bread makes even better toast than "San Francisco" sourdough. The only other bread I tend to like is bread I bake myself and that happens almost never. Today....I have no idea what I want to do. I'd like to get further ahead in FFXV's storyline but I'm sleepy all the time from having "waking insomnia" again (always wake up after 3-4 hours). So just sort of hanging out at the desk listening to music and fighting the urge to nap and then nap some more.

No comments about Avengers? No one's rushed out and seen it yet? I know someone who saw it already, they thought it was awesome. He's a pretty big Marvel film fan tho. I'm still superhero fatigued, I might catch it on video.

Radius (2017, via Netflix) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6097798/ Low-key, more talk than action sci-fi thriller. Great premise that starts off pretty well, has a slowish middle section with some tension-build moments, a big reveal and an abrupt ending that actually surprised me. I mean, I guessed/realized what was going to happen about 5-10 seconds before it did, but it surprised me in that it went that direction. Acting is serviceable but nothing stellar and the sci-element isn't interested in science or explanations so don't expect that, it's just a framework for other ... morality? what-ifs? ... issues to ponder, Stephen King or Twilight Zone style perhaps. So...interesting little film that despite feeling a bit lackluster, still leaves an impression. I might give it 6.5/10. Worth a try if you're bored. I'd avoid watching trailer first tho.

Yup. The Bestiary says it weighs over 4000 tons, so I suppose anything helps. Maybe they're enchanted.