LadyCrimson

What? Nooooooooo.

"IT" (2017) I liked the first half or so, it felt very promising, but it semi-lost me in the 2nd half. That said I think it did pretty well at trying to shove half a huge novel into a 2 hour film and if I'd never read the book I probably would have liked it a lot more. But since I am someone who's read the novel maybe 12 times over 30 years, every tiny thing that's different really stands out/distracts (including updating the time period). I'll be curious how the adult-segment of the next movie fares. (edit: essentially TV version, imo, did better at choosing and depicting pieces from the book that gave it a flavor that felt more like the book - at least with the kids side of the tale) Things I'd pick bones with: --changing the "historian" role to Ben instead of Mike. I'd like to know the reasoning for that. Wait, maybe I don't want to know... --too much "R horror" and jump scares and not enough heart in the latter half. They tried but I didn't really feel it. What I want is Stand by Me flavor only with a creepy killer clown (which is how the book felt, to me, in a way), and I think the TV mini-series gave me more of that feeling. But the TV version was terrible when it switched to the adults. "Is that you in there Bev, or is that the clown??" Gah. If the movies can do better with the adult part, I'll be happy. --The rock fight between the two groups of kids was really anti-climatic and for the big moment of Mike appearing/joining the "group," was poorly done. TV series did a lot better with that. --Did the kids ever say "beepbeep" to Richie? I know I heard the clown say it once but I don't recall the kids ever saying it. Lost reference...or my failed hearing.

http://mikesrpgcenter.com/mm7/maps.html (MM8 wasn't bad either, but I liked 7 more overall) ...I'm trying to think of others where I loved their world/maps, but mostly what comes to mind is liking single-map levels from old strategy or building/management type games. Those favorite RTS maps you liked to play over and over, trying different strategies.

Hm. Oddly the game that comes to mind is Might and Magic 7. I loved exploring that game. Dungeons/mazes, dragon caves, stat bonus pedestals to find, teachers to find, treasure/ores, secrets, enemies all over, many towns, eventually flying. Skyrim was pretty but meh, I got bored wandering around pretty fast. In fairness I didn't get far, maybe some areas were better. FO:NV was ok but it too has the issue of many modern open world's where it just feels a bit empty/not much reward/things of gameplay interest for all the exploring. Everything too far spaced out so you're jumping/running/riding half the time for the sake of "realism." FFXV I love the game but even I will say the open world section needed more work. It can be very graphically immersive but also rather empty/unrewarding.

Was sifting through my almost-never-used-anymore YT account and found this small memory.

Nothing like spending a couple hours trying to catch some hard to catch fish in a game. Not hard to reel in, just very slow, and hard to get to bite lures in the first place - takes forever. In those two hours I caught three of the 30 or so missing from my "you caught these fish" list. Then I cast the line again and the game froze with Noct stuck in standing on a pier animation pose, with splashing fishing noises, but can't do anything control wise. First time it's done that while fishing in hundreds of hours. *turns FFXV off in a huff*

I think the only game I bought that seriously disappointed me, vs. just being "meh, oh well whatever", was Spore. I was expecting .... something completely different, is all. Bethesda games at this point I always buy with low expectations for my personal tastes and usually because I'm bored so what the hey why not. They usually have some fun to be had, but they don't generally make games that I find very engaging or immersive and thus I have yet to even come close to finishing one. I'm pretty sure I never even finished Morrowind's plot, and I played/enjoyed that one longest, for non-plot reasons. Edit: oh wait, I suppose release-Diablo 3 was a pretty large disappointment but I did play it for quite some hours despite that, mostly because I was trying very hard to like it.

Can't sleep, almost dawn, so here I am on the internet again. @Katphood - kittahs! I hate moving/uprooting, but sometimes a fresh/new start is just the ticket.

I like your chosen name.

It's funny how sometimes a little game you never heard of and just picked up on random store-run whim ends up a favorite beloved game, whilst that game you looked forward to for a long time and bought on day1 ends up being ... well, it's a common tale.

If funny counts as emotional impact, Overlords had me in stitches almost the entire time. Because ... minions. Whoosh whoosh whoosh. (no spoilers)

Typically/on average games don't hit my emotional core all that much. I think games in general is just a story-telling format that doesn't work for me in that regard most of the time or something. Not that I don't like the stories, it's just hard to get involved with them to any great degree. But FO:NV's Boone's PTSD almost made me cry. And in FFXV, it went darker than I was expecting, what with the sunny chocobo's and generic monster hunting, fishing, etc. beforehand. There's probably another example or two but most of the time my emotional impact of games is limited to amusement/laughter. I mean that in a good sense. I like funnies and the more I laugh while playing a game, the more I'll remember/like it. (edit - the humor I find is not always, I think, game-intentional, heh)

I'm just glad snails aren't giant sized and meat eaters.

"It's not safe out here. (Space) The ocean is wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." CluckCluck, I say. ...and today I'm just aimlessly wandering around the house, missing my cat, posting on forums, watching the rain. I might allow myself to temp. gain back a pound this week via buying some chocolate cheesecake. I need some comfort junk food.

Shady won't be dirt poor there though. How about Iceland ? Iceland isn't really known for it's beaches.... But it does have the Blue Lagoon hot springs resort. Which to me would almost be better than a regular ol' beach. Always wanted to visit there. Or one of the other less resort-y hot springs they have, which actually would be more preferable if it was less people...one of the best hiking trips I was on had this small hot springs in the mountains, all by our lonesome, it was awesome.

These two pictures encapsulate why I love the main chr. animation in FFXV. They are all four different and recognizable in more than face/head, skintone, generic "weight" setting and different outfit/armor. I can immediately tell who is who from their different shapes, size, stances, hunched or straight shoulders or arm/leg positioning, and walking/running gait. Even when entirely covered up in the same firesuit I know who it is from their movements/stances alone. The effort made to make them visually individual is extraordinary and I love that aspect. XV may have a lot of flaws (story, mostly) and sometimes generic overall graphics but most of their animation work is lovely and for some reason I could watch it play out all day.

Noticed something called The Mountain Between Us for rent via Comcast and the preview made it look like one of those survive a disaster (two strangers stranded after a small plane crash) plots that I sometimes enjoy. Kate Winslet and Idris Elba too, sounded good. First half was all right. Then I began to realize it was really a romance film. Now I'm not against romance as a rule and often enjoy it as part of or even the main background of a story if they're well done (vs. say, most US rom-coms, which typically aren't). But it wasn't what I was expecting and the survival parts of the film were pretty silly after a while. Anyway, for what it was it was ok but my attention drifted a fair bit in the 2nd half. Idris Elba was still awesome tho.

I have to drive for at least 4 hours before I even have a chance of seeing snow. But there was an earthquake tremor last night which shook the house for a bit more than a few seconds as I lay in bed blinking (hubby was snoring, he didn't notice). Probably the strongest one I've felt in a long while - which is still very small potatoes/no danger, mind. Just a reminder to restock any emergency supplies. :D ...I wish we had snow a bit closer sometimes, but I'm glad I don't have to deal with it as a daily-life type of thing.

Full and prolonged immersion in water isn't exactly our natural environment. I love water but usually only in contained spaces. Like a hot-tub. I have the same mild fear of wild water that I can't see the bottom of (as well as not liking sand/dirt in my pants...). It's not a serious phobia but it will make me hesitate and I generally won't want to go more than wading. Also, undertows. I've been pulled around/under by them when swimming not very far out on some of the rocky west coasts, and that put me quite off.

May not be that related, but things like this are why I've never been very happy with the world going more and more completely computer/electronic-storage dependent. Wouldn't take much for all that info to be lost. Backup and backup and physical hardcopy as much as possible, man. Also, it's why I don't use the "cloud," at least in terms of modern usage of the term. More and more I want to retreat from it but it's such a part of the world now it's impossible to do so completely unless you want to go mountain-man. I didn't see it linked to, so I'll just add this general-report forbes article to it. Probably has nothing too different, but never hurts to read more perspectives, especially for non-techie people. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/01/03/intel-meltdown-spectre-vulnerabilities-leave-millions-open-to-cyber-attack/#5f0170bd3932 ...at any rate, a small drop in gaming performance isn't something I'm likely to notice on a personal level, if I must endure it at some point. It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out in the long run. And kinda makes me glad I (still) haven't built a new PC yet so I can wait and see before doing so.

So I'm sure I've asked before, but since time has passed, and I rarely keep up with gaming news anymore, I'll ask again - are there any new-ish single-player 3D open world RPG's (emphasis on exploration vs. politics, perhaps) that have a full party (at least four)? Even FO:NV I needed a mod to make that happen. Even if I had liked FO4 more, the lack of full party in most modern games of this type keeps me non-enthused. I really like party interactions/combat but I also like modern day open world. One of the big reasons I keep sticking to FFXV. One main character and sometimes a follower or guest follower doesn't do it for me.

RIP to my footwarmer cat. Hubby has wanted to go on a "real" vacation for a while but sick kitty made it hard for me to travel far. I guess we can go now. But I told him he better do it within 6 months or sooner, because no matter how often I say "I'm done with owning/taking care of cats/pets" I find I'm awfully prone to suddenly showing up at our door one day with a new cat...

Oh, look at the peaceful giant water grazer thingie! Let's take a picture. Then kill it.

The two who voted for Dungeon Keeper 1 get +10 in my book. ...placement is about right for my tastes, too. I mean I personally love that game to death but it shouldn't be anywhere near the top of a 100.