LadyCrimson

No, I get that. If we had six arms and four legs spread out in a sort of square shaped stance, we'd probably draw most "aliens" with a similar structure. We draw what we know. But for games, films, TV in this modern era, it'd be nice to see something with better vision more often, vs. just "sexy human bodies with animal heads/tails." At least that last one you posted got the four toes/fingers (evolved from paws, not human feet/hands) much better. Actually, some ancient culture mythical beasts or gods I probably like a bit more to begin with, vs. modern game/media stuff....

Decided to download/try the demo of Sword and Fairy 7. It looked ok, and at least without ray tracing (I'm assuming default demo settings would have no RT) it played in 4k perfectly fine. Unfortunately the demo has zero English dialogue or menu subtitling so I had no idea what to do, outside of figuring out what was the jump and attack buttons. >.> The full game does have the English subs/menus but the demo was not very helpful to me re: whether I wanted to purchase or not. I did manage to whack some starter enemies to death and roamed some wilds and picked herbs for a bit...seems very dialogue/cutscene heavy, possibly typical for the type of game (fantasy wuxia? something like that?).

^ Something like Puss n Boots is so children-cartoonish that it doesn't spark bizarro alarms. Nekomata just looks like a human wearing cat ears/other halloween costume parts or some such. I'm also culturally used to things like typical fairies, where they just have small wasp like wings etc. Using a more full insectoid as example (vs. Tinkerbell fairy), if you want something humanoid in that it has two legs/walks upright etc, I'd prefer something like this: I guess for me certain artistic concepts of non-human+human hybrid is too uncanny valley, for lack of a better word. Or at least, they don't resemble anything that in my mind would likely actually evolve from the known base form (edit: so I can't take them seriously at all). Just me tho.

...I love cats, but I didn't even like the Khajiit in Skyrim. Humonoid-ish animals or insectoids is one thing but basically just sticking an animal head on a human body is so visually weird. At least give them something like, oh, only four fingers w/padded palms vs. a human hand, and/or leg/joint angles (walking on toes) that match felines a bit more, something like that.

Those cauliflower/egg round things make good "pizza things". So I've been toasting them first then adding the sauce, pepperoni, cheese, jalepeno's and spinich and top-broiling them. Went to make more today and ... the large tub of sauce I'd made was near gone. Stared at hubby. "Oh...yeah. I forgot to tell you. You're going to have to make more pizza sauce." (it's not like he doesn't know how to make it himself...) Last week he also ate my last piece of dark chocolate bar. I think he needs some re-training lessons. Anyway ... it's nice to be able to eat "pizza" without much carb guilt.

You don't need armor if you kill everything in one hit.

Total agreement. Also, for me personally, I don't even like most armor designs, male or female, in terms of gaming (not real life warring states where IRL protection is a factor) - I prefer ... clothes. So something like where "armor" is just something you wear stat wise, like an accessory, but the character appearance can be changed with clothes to whatever. FFXV, Tales of Arise style, for example. That way you can have your stats and whatever appearance suits your personal fancy/ideals too. I absolutely hate it in games where in order to get the best or close to best armor stats your character has to wear that stupid looking horned nose-pieced helmet and bright blue suit of armor, or whatever. I mean yeah if the intent of your game is historical accuracy, fine, but otherwise ... gimmie suits or t-shirts and jeans anyday.

The house itself isn't all that much bigger, but you'd still be free to stay on the couch. I think the house itself is maybe 1280sf + 2 car garage (3bd/2 ba), while our first house is 980sf + 1 car garage (3bd/1 ba) ... the lot size is the main difference. 10,000sf (if that= 1/4 acre) vs. 5000sf. Wider in the backyard than the front yard. Decent size for cheaper suburbia around here. It's a good house for the hubster to spend his days frittering around in for sure. Garage came with some ancient beat up but still functional metal workbench/cabinets too. Actually, come to think of it ... I may have to "chase" him in circles around house/yard just to find him as he moves constantly from place to place like a jackrabbit with all his "project spots". Hm. I am lazy. Maybe I can install a comprehensive intercom system and just page him from my tech-cave.

I ... don't know how to feel about anything Borderlands anymore. At first I thought it was going to be another BL3 DLC, but apparently it's a "full priced" game. And will be Epic exclusive at first, but no one knows for how long. Could be only a month, could be six months. At any rate ... taking a major fan favorite DLC and turning into a game (vs. an official "BL4") that likely uses the same engine/mechanics as BL3 and (assuming) charging 60 for it feels ... kinda oogey. Not to mention lack of creativity. Being able to "multi-class" by mixing up 6 skill trees on one chr. might be interesting for a looter, but it better be full-price game length, at least. Tiny Tiny was a great DLC but I'm not sure how well it'd stretch out to full-game. Hm. I think on my own I wouldn't buy it until on deep sale but I'm sure hubby will get bored next summer and "make" me play it so we'll see. I will say tho, that if this ends up boring or company-annoying me in the long run as much as BL3 did, I'm done with this franchise. Hubby can continue to play it alone, if he wants.

I don't think I feel quite as strongly about it as Keyrock, but I am of the same mind. Keeping up with PC's as well as costs is just becoming too silly. Not that I ever kept up with PC tech religiously or anything but. Still, I like the ability to mod and use cheats, the ability to have or more easily swap around hundreds of saves, and the video and screenshot capabilities on PC. I'm sure every console will only get better at those things eventually too but ... yeah. I expect to build at least one more PC (or at minimum, just a GPU) to keep up with 4k/60 on "next gen" games but that's still a few years away. After that ... eh ... I don't think I game enough on average anymore to care - especially AAA gaming. Might just go with PS6 by then.

It's nothing fancy but main reason for this house (besides the pool hubby wanted): Big spot for a garden. There's a 2nd covered patio/storage on the house-side, too. ...and could still put a big/long workshop on the other side. Also, outdoor couch and I can sit here with a laptop all day, rain or shine. Maybe I should wall it in and turn it into a "woman cave?" Probably too humid tho. Haha. The actual basic room for my "cave." It's 13-14 feet long. Currently planning for efficiency and function. Think the window wall is going to be all desktop attached to the wall, with an L/desk that sticks out towards the door. I could have four monitors plus the TV! Or two big TV's and two monitors! Hm...needs more thought...must be perfect cause once done it's not changing. Maybe I should make it a U instead. Walking space? I don't need that. Edit: also ... no trees on our side or big street trees. No more tons of raking/being knee deep in leaves. The neighbors have enough greenery to stare at - saw squirrels and lots o' little birds, so they'll be around like I like.

This empty house is loud. Concrete foundations are so much quieter and better at not transferring room to room sound. Might need to sound insulate some walls. Maybe carpet the bedrooms. Covered patio is always nice, can finally sit out while its pouring and watch listen to rain on the pool. Pluses and minuses. I dunno. Ill get used to it eventually...

I know the point is it's good for competition, but my 9900k is still underworked/yawns at anything I've thrown at it. By the time I need a new CPU, desktop PC's are going to have to be stored in a freezer so they won't explode.

I apparently liked water enough as a wee lass that my mother was worried I'd accidentally kill myself and stuck me in swimming lessons when I was maybe 5. I remember being awarded "tadpole" or something. Spent a lot of time in friends pools, rivers etc. Then somewhere I had a bad outdoor swimming hole experience and now I'm a big fat water weenie. I can swim - I just generally will avoid it/stay on shore. Well, open water anyway. Pools are ok.

@Wormerine Ah, ok. I've never bought/played Dark Souls. Watching videos made me know it wasn't my thing. Didn't even know it had MP. More importantly - will Elden Scrolls have a photo mode?

I realize it was probably a joke suggestion, but I tried skimming 3-4 episodes of it when it popped up on recommended. Kinda like that other one with a similar style, Baki (I think?), I found zero characters likeable/don't really like the animation style and turned them off. Not for me. Anyway, glasses and the myriad of personality traits/tropes that tend to come with them ... yeah, that's my anime thing. Although glasses aren't 100% required - mostly it's the personality traits/tropes they often indicate. Frankenstein in Noblesse over Rai any day. Or Spock over Kirk. Technically I married a sorta-Spock type, so, yea. haha

The new house is supposedly ours now (title). The previous owners had to wait for a death certificate to come through. So we're likely going up tomorrow to take a longer look at it and figure out what we're going to do re: any small repairs/changes and moving. So today I'm slouching about wondering if I'm going to go up there and realize I hate the place. HAHA. ...sigh. Did I mention already that I hate moving? Although, it does appear we have good timing for once - one of our current next door neighbors appears to be building an in-law type extra dwelling room/apt. structure in their backyard, close to our side of the fence. Which would be honestly annoying to live next to, with these small lots here. So instead we'll let some renters live next to it.

I need more anime with adult* male megane characters. Because I'm feeling shallow like that lately. Maybe I'll just rewatch Ajin: Demi-Human. The supporting chr. of Tosaki and the main antagonist were my fave things of that anime/why I kept watching. I haven't been able to see the films that came before the series, wonder if they're available anywhere. Never read the manga. Maybe I should start buying manga novels and line a wall in the new house with a giant collection. *by adult I mean at least supposed to be over 21-25/not in highschool.

*looks up Elden Scrolls* ...hmm, Dark-Souls is often referenced. Ugh (for me). But it looks nice. Maybe there will be a wemod or other cheats. ...if it is "Dark Souls like" then it would feel odd if it's too open world ala Skyrim, I'd agree. That said, it could be more akin to Tales of Arise (except somewhat more expansive so you can showcase leaping off cliffs with a horse) ... where areas feel open world-ish while you're in them, but is still very linear (a lot of that scenery looks like inaccessible backdrop, tbh) with a lot of loading screens and separated areas etc. ...on Steam's page: the game supports a unique asynchronous online element that allows you to feel the presence of others. ...Death Stranding like? You'll see signs of others horses or trails or camping or who knows what? Will it help you out in any way like someone can leave small gifts for other players to find/use, or just there visually?

I don't watch enough anime to recognize tons of voices...that said, I am pretty good at recognizing voices (if the VA does not ever change it up, or if they're not super vanilla VA's...) but even if I recognize a voice, it does not imprint a character onto another character. A character remains a separate entity for me if there is no facial imprinting. Hearing James Earl Jones does not make me unable to view an animated chr as anything but Darth Vader. Seeing a live-actor's face after 2 or 3 movie roles ... he later then never becomes Neo, Bill, or John Wick - he's always Keanu. I love Tom Hanks, but yeah...he is always just Tom Hanks and what I'm doing while watching the movie is loving Tom Hanks performance, not a character.

^ I think the main appeal of animation to me (outside of visual/imagination things you can't do w/live action) is that you do not really encounter the "Al Pacino is always Al Pacino in every movie" syndrome. Even those actors that are not quite as extreme cases as that become overly familiar in their common style/mannerisms after a long while. Sure anime faces are often similar in basic shape or form but there is no live-actor association for you to get bored, annoyed, or expectant from. Thus they feel like fresh characters, not a famous face.

I think it's more to do with material and whatever fantasy elements there may be. Some thing just work better with the wilder artistic freedom of animation vs. what live actors/cinematography could do. Like, I could easily picture Grave of the Fireflies being a live-actor film. Would it feel different? Sure, but I could see it still working. Maybe even Sword of the Stranger, since it's closer to straight up fantasy-action/drama. But Howl's Moving Castle? No. At least, I can't picture myself liking any live-action attempt at a film like that.

I should clarify it's not specifically "female" but more the way writers write "female." Especially ensemble female. Character traits for ensembles tend to have similar patterns regardless of gender - there's the comic relief/maybe a little stupid one, the strong silent one, the "average/normal" one, the heart of gold one, the "fanservice so at the least we can make fanservice jokes" one, etc. Doesn't matter if they're male or female, those tropes will still be there. But I mean more ... writers go "we're trying to specifically appeal to a female audience with this show/film, what conflicts/drama/plots and concerns will do that." And apparently most of the time, what most writers (yes even female writers) think will appeal to female audiences, is not what appeals to me. I don't care at all about the characters "concerns" and get bored. No different than me getting bored whenever the drawn out "parents-in-law" subplots come on in some c or k drama drama and I FFWD through those segments. Just total disinterest. I do like equal gender mixing, where the interaction/relationship conflicts between differing male and female perspective (no it doesn't have to be romantic) can be interesting/amusing etc. if done well. And of course there are individual female chrs. I've liked a lot. It's just not all that common for me and I sorta gave up trying/avoid most "aimed more towards female audience" stuff.

I sadly have no nostalgia re: anime, unless you count US Eng. dubbed versions of Speed Racer ( a few episodes that I recall) and Transformers (a "season" or two maybe?) back in, maybe, '78-'83. I knew of anime and some memes/tropes ofc but it wasn't until Netflix had a bunch of anime - 11-13 years ago? - that for some reason I decided to try a series or three. So my attractions towards any anime are/were colored by the fact I didn't watch any until I was 40ish and already jaded re: media overall. I'm also someone who generally doesn't find heavily female-dominated cast shows/films very appealing (in general not just anime) - for whatever reasons I almost never relate to such - so that tends to remove a large section of animes/shows from the equation. I feel like I've tried a lot of anime series the past 12 years or so, from action to romance to teenager to sci-fi/fantasy or period settings (enough to recognize/know about most of the common "tropes"), but most of them I don't finish all available seasons or they were enjoyable at the time of watching but not so memorable that I remember their names.