LadyCrimson

Oh yeah, I totally get such wouldn't be for music artists/professional mixers etc. But we're talking game streaming/playing. I think for just talking to other players, even a decent clip on would work as long as one is mindful re: arm/hand movement around it. One doesn't have to go even close to semi-audiophile for that purpose. The thing about the Yeti specifically even for that purpose tho, imo, is it is far too large/heavy (or plain not compatible) for most cheap mic stands/arms and didn't have much support of its own. So it's not very flexible in that regard, which streamers are likely to want because of myraids of desktop setups and room/couch configurations. I would not have bought it if I'd realized/noticed it was that large/heavy. >.>

Most starter streamers use USB mics, like at one time things like Blue Yeti or cheaper/smaller (Yeti is not a very small mic, I have an older one and it's heavy) alternatives. They're fine/good for voice. But then you usually need mic stands or over-the-head swing bars or whatever or they get in the way of, or pick up too much noise from, your keyboard. Which isn't a problem if you're a stream-reactor/chatter, but gamer with a mechanical KB say...haha. I'm not sure about headphones and directional sound tho. I very rarely use headphones cause I don't need to + I hate wearing them, and when I do I just use these cheap Koss hook behind the ear things that sound pretty decent but are probably only a slight step above earbuds. Edit: to be honest, half the game streamers I see are just using earbuds + USB mic - maybe they're expensive/fancy earbuds dunno. Most of the other half use those headphones+mouth mic attached combos. It's usually only the ones with huge audience/pro set ups that have anything more fancy.

Problem with many open worlds imo these days is they end up being collection games because Achievements. I personally think this idea that most games need Achievements has altered the way games are designed. I usually ignore them - if I get a lot of them it's just cause of game/easy trophy design or because I like goofing off in the game long enough. I doubt I'll ever bother getting those last three. Hogwart's world really isn't that large - but it would have been more interesting if the collecting had more purpose outside of trophies and the only way to level up. If they're going to make it action-rpg in a way, do more with it for replay value. Imagine Diablos with almost zero loot variety or "builds". No one would play it for long. Can you turn off the other-player aspect of the Events or just turn Events off? Or is the only way to not see/interact with other players to ignore Events etc. entirely?

LOL Well, they wanted those saying that they 100% the game, to truly mean it. But yeah, I have those two and the battle areas (so, 3) left. I think the Collections one is worse because when you're missing one or three it can be hard to figure out how to get them. It's probably Butterflies one missed, something like that. Or a chest/counter bug.

I did not watch the Oscars, but I guess Everywhere...All At Once won Best Picture and Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress. Good for her, happier about her win then the Best Picture thing. Naatu Naatu won Best Song which also pleases me, although the Academy's dance rendition of the piece was "meh." The Oscar's ratings went up a bit this time ... it was the 3rd worst in its history instead of 2nd worst.

Diablo4 - I have Rhykker's YT stream on (he's playing a Rogue) but so far the early stuff isn't all that interesting to viewer-watch. A lot of people are stuck in queue, surprise surprise. I dunno tho...it reminds me of D3 in the sense that first impression of watching is that it could be one of those games that grows on you/me until you like it quite a bit by the end, but the early sections are meh. Especially if these "events" are the best way to xp. And I still dislike the almost straight down view perspective vs. a bit more tilted. That's just a visual (like in dungeons with walls, feeling like seeing enemies is really restricted) preference tho. I didn't like it in PoE either (edit: or any game that feels similar viewpoint wise). Although it would annoy me less if you could pull up/out a bit farther.

@Lexx

@Keyrock So what cha playing next? I liked running the early section of other Houses and I intend to finish a 2nd full story playthru, minus the collect-a-thon, but after that ... I guess it will be back to pressing the Meow button in Stray. eg. I need a new game again. I've seen some videos of "upcoming 2023 rpg's" and a few singleplayers look maybe interesting but I'm so clueless these days re: what's supposed to be good/what's out. ...I wish I was interested in Diablo4. Or rather, I wish there would be an Offline version of Diablo4. Assuming it's actually not a minefield of transaction fees.

The wind is making our flimsy/old patio cover thingie sound like a tornado is ripping the roof off, again. Priority #1 this summer is getting someone to build a new one. Wonder if the power will go out, heh. It's been a while, I don't remember what it cost with our super-uber Kaiser plan. I don't think it was all that much per bottle, by that I mean $20-25 maybe (Humulin, I didn't use the newer injection pens). But I've seen news vids on monthly insulin cost like $300-600, for I assume no-insurance cost, or less inclusive insurance plans. Glad they capped it. I think those faster delivery epi-pen like methods cost more, but a "bottle" of the twice a day syringe injection fluid would be maybe about a month's worth, more or less. Some ppl use a lot more per injection. >.> Anyway as long as I stick to 50-100 carbs/day with a few cheatish days per month etc + moderate exercise, numbers are fine and I only need the bottles as emergency stash, replacing only when expires.

Hogwart's - possible Windows CTD fix: Deleted the files in this folder: ---\Users\$yourname$\AppData\Local\D3DSCache They repopulate themselves, but you can back them up to be safe. It's apparently a Windows DX related folder that normally you wouldn't touch, but if one or multiple games are crashing a lot, it's something to try. I haven't had any CTD in Hogwart's, over multiple session, since (couple of days), whether trying to start the game or after a few hours or more. I also did yet another round of nvidia gpu and game cache folder deletions at the same time, but not sure that was necessary as I'd done that before and while it sorta seemed to briefly help, it would always get worse again, for me at least.

Hogwart's - For different Houses, the flavor and certain early bits change, but it pretty much ends after the Trophy gain point. So they created/filled in a Trophy incentive re: Houses but that's about it I think. I'm not going to bother doing full run with all 4. But I think I will do a (quicker) full run as Slyther House, because I can use that Any Time Companion mod to use Sebastian or Ominus most of the time. Mostly because I like the idea thematically. Plus it'll be a run where I purposely try to stay somewhat underpowered (no mega-enchants on gear at least). And maybe also because, it's been raining for days and it's still better than watching a lot of TV etc.

The only issue I had with the last episode of The Last of Us is ... it wasn't long enough. That was the fastest 40ish minutes ever. I wish they had found a way to stretch it another 10 minutes. Overall I'd give the whole series maybe ... an 8/10. Since some episodes were 7ish, others were 8.5-9 etc. Edit: I'm not interested in a ssn2 if they stick to the game. I did not like the sequel's game story/direction. Just me tho.

...this is my Gryffindor (however you spell it) chr. My first was Ravenclaw, 2nd (dude)/Hufflepoof, not sure what I'll do for Slyther, maybe a gal with green hair. Although I don't like the skirt outfits for females (some full dresses are ok but they look a bit silly with robes/coats...). There are pants outfits, but harder to find one you may personally like. Not that any of it matters, but when they give you choices, I like my color-tone coordinated outfit aesthetics. That's my fave scarf, because it compliments a lot of different color schemes in the game vs, say, a bright purple scarf. Er, yeah. I'm like that.

Fair point. Although I think with zero medical insulin access, if I ate almost nothing but rice and beans 2-3 times a day for a year, even if not a coma I would at least be pretty sick. Low carb is the only reason I don't "need" med. insulin. Still, maybe if I just ate once a day. Gotta keep the weight down enough to escape zombies, anyway.

"Stalking" Sebastian. Explanation: I was curious what npc's do so I followed a string of students after one class, who all walked to my next main quest class. I did that class, and then followed Sebastian around like glue. It was actually kind of impressive - the AI would put him in this pattern of walk up and down floors, sit, and either do idle stuff or converse with some NPCs, repeat, all over the castle. When it became night I expected him to walk to his Common Room and disappear into a wall or something (most students/npcs disappear at night so no one for the AI to "talk" to), but instead he wandered in the gardens and castle until morning. Probably didn't feel safe going to sleep when some weirdo was following him. LOL. I now want to follow all the main students, see if they have different walking routines.

Great to hear from you again, @Guard Dog and hope the journey to good health continues positively! @Keyrock Are there any zombie-apoc food storage options that aren't mega carb? I guess I could live on pickled/canned veggies and soups for a few years...

Hogwarts: having started two other House chrs, it does have a slightly different feel for that first hour or so after you get to the castle. The way the game introduces you to different House chrs, some dialogue bits. In one case the oddball entrance to one Common Room is this painting that I stared at/could not interact with while with another House. They are brief/small and not hugely significant but it makes the first section a little replayable. I would guess it feeling "different" would largely end once you start seriously free roaming outside of the castle and get a few hours into the main quest/collect-a-thon of the game.

3rd person open world rpg's usually allow you to turn the camera while they are standing still, or running/turning corners, so you get to see their face all the time in gameplay. Anyway, it's not a big deal, limitations of tech or glitches, most of the time I don't think about it or notice, usually only when stopping to smell the flowers/take in a view, or running thru certain types of lighting areas (dark but candles, sunbeams) etc.

The very last one "very glitchy ragdoll" ... I've seen that so many times, lol.

^ Hm. I started wondering if what we are both referring to should be labeled as tropes, not archetypes. Which led me down a small rabbithole of trying to find what's the bloody difference. Far as I can tell, there would be far less archetypes and they tend to have deeper human nature reveals/purposes, and tropes, while similar, have a broader/shallower focus, thus why there's 7 million of them. I think tropes are close to cliche's then archetypes but I profess I'm still confuddled on what the difference is, at least in terms of TV/film. Rapid fire, over-talkative sidekicks tend to annoy me as well. I think I'm one of the few who does not find Mr. Pesci all that amusing in the Lethal Weapon series, although he does get a few really good one liners. I seem to recall mostly liking the reindeer in Frozen - probably because it was "cute", heh - but the snowman I wanted to melt with a hairdryer. But it's not like I loved Frozen overall to begin with. I still haven't watched Banshees. I still want/meant to. I just haven't.

Blow dryer starts around 1:40

@Bartimaeus I'm curious what those archetypes that you tend to dislike, are. I know a few archetypes that I tend to gravitate to (methodical, intense, and/or logical/rational, Spock, Data, Sherlock, certain villains), but if I almost immediately dislike a character it's usually because of something like "ugh, they remind me of someone I knew irl that I couldn't stand" and I can't disassociate, vs. an actual archetype. Or any character like this one (male, female, child, don't care, can't stand it): Edit: I'm not sure if that's a true archetype or more a director's direction, thing.

So I had no idea The Last of US is finally coming to PC soon. This makes me debate with myself whether I want to buy it, when I already know the story (YT videos and watching someone play it, but a long time ago), plus it's not typically the gameplay style/genre I'd play. ...still, especially after watching the TV series, I sorta wonder what it would be like to play it vs. watch it. ...I'm sure they're counting on the TV series to boost sales. >.>

I still love the first season of BBC's Sherlock. And that's as someone who's a fairly big nerd re: the original written stories. But it did go downhill quickly, even if it still had some good moments here and there and what they did with Moriarty was ... interesting. Elementary on the other hand - wasn't awful as a show itself, but the lead's interpretation didn't feel like the chr. Sherlock Holmes to me at all, not even in vague spirit. I didn't watch more than a few episodes I think. My favorite not-named-Sherlock fictional US TV series "genius/slightly unhinged" detective was probably Vincent D'Onofrio in Law and Order: Criminal Intent. At least the first two or three seasons. I didn't watch much past that and I think Vincent became less prominent with shifting/different detective team leader/multi-actor focus and stuff.

Postscript: The thing about modern 3D games recently that I've disliked is all the massive directional lighting/shadow tricks. Environmentally it can look great, don't get me wrong, but on characters...where even when it's night-time (vs. bright sunlight say), from one angle, your chr's is lit up nicely/naturally, but then you turn them 70 degrees and their face becomes this murky hole of terrible shadowing, or their dark hair turns white/red/green/purple, stuff like that. Anyway, maybe I can continue trying the early game with other Houses now that the game doesn't crash every 15 minutes.