LadyCrimson

More 7 Days to Die - well, all right, I'm pretty impressed with some of the new POI's. Just pure design, not whether they're fair or too hard or sleeper AI is borked. Just the design. And the RWG maps turn out a lot better road/terrain wise, I haven't noticed any terribad quirks. Add on my personal tweaks and it's shaping up to be pretty nice to casually roam/explore in. That said, I still think the magazine for crafting/item skills went a bit overboard. I get that it helps slow down early progression/lengthens "early game", but the main annoyance I have with it is reading magazines (almost every category is 100 to max it out, which is a lot of RNG looting) gives you skills in a specific order. Example: read 10+ handgun magazines and first it's craft lvl 1 pipe pistol, all the way to lvl 5 pipe pistol, and only after that will reading magazines have learn how to craft a regular lvl1 pistol. You can't pick and choose what to learn to craft/not to craft, you have to learn it all, in order. Magazines in loot isn't rare by any means, but it's still a choice-annoyance. You're more likely to find lvl 6 (not craftable) gear before maxing out most such skills. In other news, the dev's of Above Snakes announced their new game mode - they call it exploration, but I'd call it true sandbox, with some new features and highly requested QoL. I am more excited by this upcoming mode for this tiny indie game than any of these other giant games the 'net is a hubub about. I may end up liking this mode more - especially for replayability/sandbox - than the original quest-progression version. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1589120/announcements/detail/3653030337001095558

7 Days to Die A21 - "I'll just fiddle with the rwgmixer.xml numbers and try to make the perfect map for a bit." **10 minutes later** "Well apparently I made the perfect map (for me) already, I can quit now." ...more than one trader can now spawn within a modified humongous town now, so within the large lump are 4 (different) Traders, thus making single-city make more sense in that regard. ...they seem to have done better re: POI placement and repetition if you do this sort of altering, too. Buildings still repeat but better spaced out (like no more of the same gas station on all four corners) so it doesn't look as stupid, plus with better layout arrangement for the different types of City sections.

Rented that Adam Driver 65 movie. I know it was panned critically but I was still curious re: if my guesses after seeing the trailer were correct or not. And then the movie basically tells you what I was thinking re: trailer in the first few minutes or so, so any minor intrigue in that regard disappeared. All right then. It's definitely not a good movie, and it's not so bad it's good, either, even if I did LOL several times. I felt like Adam Driver and the youthful female lead were directed poorly and thus got subpar performances from them and to me any chemistry together was non-existent. Tension/suspense building and interest in characters was low. Still, something like Battlefield Earth would beat it in the "bad movie" category by miles and miles. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I watched the Aaron Paul episode of the new season of Black Mirror. Conceptually I liked it but it was very deliberately paced (eg, slow) and way too long. The acting was fine. The one thing I did like was I guessed at three different ending scenarios and I was wrong on all three counts. It wasn't a big shocker or anything, just the one angle my brain hadn't considered.

I so far have zero interest in Starfield. After Morrowind (and even Morrowind I wasn't into the story aspect at all), nothing else I've tried has connected at all (well, except that FO:4 doggo) and I pretty much gave up that any Bethesda developed game will ever truly be my thing. ...but if it ever goes on deep sale, and by then very patched up plus lots of mods, maybe I'll take a look one day.

7 Days to Die A21 - still haven't played it much but so far it feels like once again they have ramped up the starting/initial "survival" difficulty in some ways. A little more like very old Alpha's in a sense. On the flip side (for me) they keep making Trader's more vital which is annoying if you're someone who'd like to use them as minimally as possible, or never. Of course, whether that sticks or they just change half of it back again in a few weeks, as players whinge about change is bad, who knows. Not that it matters. Once A21 goes "stable" I'll be .xml editing the heck out of it as usual and playing my own way, again. Oh - the graphic stuff like textures, models and details have much improved this round, although the overall impression as you wander is about the same (and that janky grass....). In the meantime, I still keep going back to Above Snakes. Finished the short story four times simply to try different map arrangements/goals and despite the performance hit to too many world tiles, keep fiddling around in that regard with one save, anyway. It's just so chill and mindless and easy to grind it for an hour and stop. The dev's are working on some new (optional) play mode. No clue what it will entail but curious what it'll be. Maybe it'll give another reason to keep fiddling with it.

Hubby's back no better. He's been trying to get into Kaiser for a check - to make sure it's not something unexpected (organ disease, spine bone spurs that need surgery, whatever), and/or just to get confirmation that it's simply a matter of hoping re: physical therapy routines etc - but since he's not actually dying or even urgent-care they keep telling him they have "nothing (appointment times) available, we'll get back to you." And so far they have not gotten back to him. He's put his sit-stand-motored KB/mouse table to standing height and we raisedf his big TV/100lb stand to max, so he works most of the time standing. Does an hour of yoga stretches and other exercises in the morning, and shorter bursts off and on the rest of the day. I am now the strong one in our 2-person family. Don't you dare touch that box/bag/chair, I will move/lift everything! And wrench all the low lying thingies that need wrenching! Easier for me anyway, I am closer to the ground to begin with. *flexes a bicep*

7 Days to Die: the never ending version series, Alpha 21, first build release Install went fine. Map generator went fine, at least for 6k and 8k maps. 10k maps on my rig took 12 minutes because it likes to hang at this one generation point (it's not just me) for ages. Probably an optimization oversight/bug re: not ultrauberCPU +128RAM rigs. Lucky for me I rarely want to play anything but 6k maps anyway. Hopped into a random map new game. Nice new surface paint or redesigns to POI's. The road system, towns/POI/trader placement, and chr. spawn-in placement - no more always spawning right next to a trader/city - is much improved. Water physics much better, I like. Not being able to scoop dirty water from a pond or lake, I think I don't like. Not because it's really hard to get water/drinks (it's not). It just feels weird, in a survival game, to be unable to get water .... from bodies of water if such bodies of water exist in the game. I can go with it, but it feels overly gamey. I personally like the magazines for some skills/abilities vs. everything being skill tree/skill point based. That all said, after a bit I thought, "not in the mood"...and turned it off. There was nothing that made me really want to dig in/test deep. Maybe next weekend.

--FF16 full demo gameplay played by MKIceAndFire, watched: Combat looks...ok, for what it is I mean, a little too busy, a little too much constant camera pov rotation (worse than ff15 even, perhaps) (maybe you can alter a setting). The doggo is adorable. Anyway, still hard to say. Part of me says yes, part of me says no. I'm more interested in it than I was in FF7-RM tho. --Star Wars Outlaws. It looks potentially interesting, but I still don't want an Ubisoft account. Still...if anything might make me do that, it might be this one. They didn't show much combat however. --Avowed...hm. Well I usually love companions, don't mind that. But it's sounding like something I'd be less interested in or committed to purchasing than I was hoping for. But once again, can't really tell from the trailer or brief feature mentions. Yet more info or gameplay vids needed. At least we know it hasn't been cancelled, haha!

I think hubby's been looking at the psoas, which is a bit more descriptive of his symptoms. At any rate, he's always been quite out-toed in stride (but not at all bow-legged) and it's probably been getting more pronounced over the years, especially left foot (left upper inner/butt thigh is one affected along with lower back). Habitually sits on one hip a lot probably, that sort of thing. At this point he probably could use something like a year with Forest Gump's leg braces or similar haha. He also has a reverse neck curve since probably birth (headaches) which likely affects posture/flexibility stuff. On the outside he looks/seem average/"normal" but structurally he's always been a little whack.

Hubby's lower back has gone rogue again the past month. Chiropractor, stretches - no improvement yet. Although at least it hasn't worsened the past couple weeks. He can desk-work/get around etc, just has to change position frequently, sit/stand very straight, and ofc the mental tension of wondering if it'll improve or not. He says it feels like it goes down more into one leg (muscle pain, not nerve/tingly) this time so he keeps trying alignment type exercises. My poor sweetie. Other than that, life scoots along and is pretty fair.

Tried to watch FUBAR. If you like Arnold's old school classic cheesy one-liner mode (which I do/did), there's plenty of those, at least initially, but it's overdone/too many, so a lot fall flat. Otherwise it's a typical spy/crime/comedy (shades of True Lies scenarios here and there perhaps) show, with a cadre of typical "team" members, a father/daughter conflict and Arnold pining for an ex-wife - sometimes a little serious, usually mined for comedy. I found it not terrible, but too dull for the most part, with lackluster writing, and occasionally obvious stuntmen (Arnold's old after all - they don't have his chr. do a lot but when he does...) - not even my fondness for Arnold's on-screen presence could get me past Episode 3. YMMV. Other stuff: I'm looking forward to the next season of Black Mirror - usually there's at least a couple episodes I like from it.

Above Snakes: well I reached around 400 world tiles (out of a possible 2200+ square grid or so) and fps has dropped down to 45. Although there's this odd combo where some of the optimization patches they've done have lowered gpu utilization by a ton (started at 99%, now it's at 50%...) and fps at the same time, beyond what world size building is doing. Regardless, like many such games, it's gonna get hardware/AI/fps limited before anything else. I might reach 800-1000 world tiles before fps drops to 20 or something, haha. I've decided however that there aren't enough variety of tiles to make a map of 2000+ squares not so repetitive as to get dull to even design it...I could make 2/3 of the map "ocean" but..... ...so maybe instead I shall use my 3rd save slot to try to see how minimal/tiny I can design it. ...I have been staying up way too late all week. >.>

Above Snakes: finished the straight-forward quest-story a couple times, spent a lot of hours map fiddling already. It is indeed pretty short quest/story if you do just the minimum to get them done. But to me that's fine because that's when the sandbox mode starts. The variety of items and the biome transition tiles isn't all that large (and forget about base-farming aspect, it's not effective) but enough to keep me in an undo/redo loop even if there isn't any game goal for it. Or to repeat wholesale to see how fast/efficient one can do the quests/unlocks. Map grid is 47x47 and I'm gonna pointlessly fill every corner, at some point, darn it. The dev is/was good at patching/fixing some issues very quickly, and made some quick changes based on feedback. So good on them. As much as I personally like messing around with it, I do think the average Steam user would likely think the price should be lower for what it is, however. Like, $13-16 maybe. It's not enough survival-difficulty, nor enough farming/base-deco sim. Good ideas, limited execution etc.

1:25-2:10 - "Tricked? I just wanted some Kool-Aid."

Because my MGM sub. had it - Top Gun2. --About what I expected, didn't dislike, didn't like. The flying scenes I'm sure were great on a big screen. FFWD thru all the romance scenes, didn't care. Anyway, it was mostly watchable, made me smile a few times, that's about it. Because my MGB sub. had it - Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves --Also what I expected (from reviews) but I enjoyed this one a ton more. Action was good, comedy was good, most of the actors were on point considering their roles. Not a masterpiece or something, often silly (but in a "good" way, imo), just fun entertainment. The whole long sequence with that actor from Bridgerton (Rege-Jean Page) was hilarious and awesome.

Above Snakes: purchased. Used my demo save - eventually I'll do a full restart but I wanted to see what the progression would be first. So far I'm still liking it. There are some things re: quests or functions that aren't very clear but one can figure them out before long. I did one quest and now seem to have a wolf puppy following me everywhere. I can't tell it to "stay" or anything, am not sure if it will remain forever (it stays on save reload) or if it can be killed etc. But it's cute I guess. I'm not sure if many here would like the game or not. It's not strategic or complicated. The combat - at least with a controller - is pretty clunky, but it's minimal. There's a story of sorts to the quests (many of the upgrades and biome-tiles are tied to completing them), but "rpg" it's not. It's not fast paced or thrilling. Mostly it's a casual at-your-own-pace design/redesign the map tiles/size with chill resource grinding to make/build different consumables, tools, stations, building materials. Supposedly about 20 hrs worth of short quests but someone like me might spend 100-200 hours just goofing off with the map tile mechanics. That sort of thing. Anyhoo, for myself, I like it/worth the $22.50 I paid.

BL3 did improve the mechanics of shooting/gunplay and some QoL stuff, it's true. At least if you like frantic, frenetic. If you want more cover-sniping and/or a less frantic pacing, stick to BL1 or BL2. My main criticism of BL3 (besides the "story") is still the area/map/quest design. Much of it doesn't feel fun to run through and is an actual slog in some places. I found it a mental struggle to even get thru the campaign (to reach the "end game") with all four classes (eg, I didn't), just to check them all out, and since Mayhem mode exists, TVHM is even redundant. You can now also random-re-roll most Anointment bonuses on gear, too. So if you found the perfect shotgun but it has the "wrong" anointment, you can change it at Earl's. Although there are still some that you can't get by re-rolling. Edit: I have now purchased my missing two DLC for $12. Flak's robot pet ... yeah, I can see why some think he's the best one, in terms of damage. With the right gear you can stand around while he kills everything, including bosses. Kinda dull tho, lol. And Moze's Iron Cub instead of crawling into a mech suit - I like that much better. I might actually play her now.

Can relate to BL burnout - I overplayed both BL1 and BL2 a lot myself. Without hubby I probably would've waited a year to try BL3. Hubby, btw, also thinks BL3 is mediocre vs. the previous. He just doesn't game often enough to 100% burn out, so they're still something he can pick up once or twice a year for 2-4 weeks and then he goes back to being a total not-gamer for months again. At least they made the "town/shared by all chrs stash" 500 items big. No "mailing" items to other chrs or mules 4 at a time or whatever. I think that's the best thing about it! Hahaha...

Above Snakes: Prologue was patched again. Seems to have fixed a few bugs I had, changed a few mechanics a bit. Added Playstation icon prompt option, although a few of them show up wrong. >.> At any rate, only a few more days and I can get the full game. Hopefully it'll stay fairly chill like I was liking and won't become terrible half way through or something. Also: Borderlands 3 current sale. The only thing I/we don't have and might buy is the DLC that gives 4th skill trees. It is not on sale by itself, but if you buy the two remaining DLC packs together, it's $18 instead of $30. But then, oddly, if I chose the current "Ultimate BL3 Bundle" instead, because I already have ssn pass 1/base game, apparently I'd also get both remaining DLC packs for ... $12. Just put the individual DLC's on sale for $5-$6 or something, then, will ya?

This has been an issue for years. Especially as someone who has a shorter profile car amid all the higher suv's so many have now. If adaptive headlights are already a thing, please get off your butt and get on that, US. Or just stop using "blue" lights, or don't make them as bright, or whatever.

Hubby's has taken or had some days off but yeah we haven't gone on a planned vacation type thing in a long while. We're planning on doing something this year tho, probably in the fall. Nothing major, just rent a place on a lake or something like that, unplug, stare at scenery and chipmunks, that sort of thing. From isolation in the suburb to isolation ... somewhere else?

A recent comedy/sitcom/reality tv show on FreeVee/Prime, called Jury Duty. It's eight 30 minute episodes. Premise: everyone during a "trial", from judge, lawyers, other jurors is an actor playing a role, except one juror named Roland. He's told someone is making a documentary, to explain the cameras and interviews. Scripted but I'm sure lots of improv while reacting to the one juror's responses. There's one famous person involved (James Marsden playing a douche version of himself). Shades of Truman Show maybe. One even starts to wonder how Roland didn't catch on, and/or is really another actor, but a quick google seems to say he isn't/wasn't. Anyway, it's very silly, lightweight entertainment, but I liked it.

I think it's more likely they don't often get offered great or varied film roles. Sure it may be changing these days (especially in TV series) but if you are a "minority" and also female, well, (USA) movie wise, probably not tons of consistent opportunity for meaty roles or A-list making turns to hone or show off abilities (vs. disappear in an ensemble/supporting/hey look it's the wife). From that list I mostly know of Angela Bassett and Alfre Woodward ("You broke your little ships" in STNG film, among other roles ) and I thought Danai Gurira was great in Walking Dead, although being an ensemble show she didn't get tons of screen time.

Hm. On the one hand, it feels like I've seen bits of the plot before in multiple other movies.....on the other hand, that's true of almost anything by now, and if it's done well/actually good, or has an unexpected surprise or two, I like those sorts of sci-fi plots. At least it's an original IP, in that it's not a sequel, based on, or a re-interpreting/reboot, far as I can tell. Side note: is 2+ minutes really a "teaser"? Is the full trailer going to be 4 minutes? I think I'll avoid any more trailers for it. >.>