Bartimaeus

Yes, those were some of the underlying issues that I was referencing.

How much more unfeasible than tackling the underlying issues that actually cause gun violence? I'd wager probably not that much more. Not that that prevents people from ignoring the latter while continuing to harp on in regards to the former.

Thanks much, Shady.

I'll take Company of Heroes 2 + DLC.

I like the suggestion of four seeds automatically being guaranteed to division champions, but the exact seed not being guaranteed. That is, if a wild card team has a superior record or holds a tiebreaker over a division champion, that wildcard would have a higher seed than that division champion. Of course, this could theoretically create some pretty wonky scenarios like two teams from the same division holding the first two seeds, but the chances of that happening are...very low, and I'd wager it would've never happened if the system had been in place since the division realignment. Of course, the current division alignment hasn't been around for all that long... Even if that did happen, it wouldn't really be the end of the world. Realistically, I wouldn't be THAT opposed to adding two more wildcards and eliminating the bye week for the #1 and #2 seeds - the current system does make those first two seeds massively more beneficial than the #3 and #4 seeds...but I guess I'm also more or less fine with the current system, too. *shrug*

"For a Russian soldier to display a rocket launcher or something similar while passing on a Russian warship is a provocation." "If we perceive a threatening situation, we will give the necessary response." Hey, what's the appropriate response to, you know, actually having one of your own straight up murdered by somebody else's military for little reason...and with no apology after the fact? Yeah, that's what I thought.

I didn't feel as though it was actually oby...and given that they seem to actually be willing to leave (...well, based on their last message - we'll see if they actually carry that out), it kinda just reaffirms my belief it's not oby, since, you know, actually giving up doesn't seem to really be his style. But regardless of whether they're oby or not, what other conclusion besides troll can you reach with such consistent obstinateness and stubbornness in literally every topic they appear in, whether it's about Dark Souls, Star Wars, "western people", or any of the other political threads?

I realize now that the Big World Setup may be more or less synonymous with the Big World Project these days, but they are (or at least were) semi-distinct programs: Big World Setup is the program with the neat little UI where you can choose your install settings in depth if you want, it will tell you dependencies/conflicts/preferred components, it'll group components into different categories by what they do for easier choosing, etc., and then it'll install everything for you (or at least try to) after you select all the different components that you want. With just the Big World Project, ya' pick an install type setting, and it just installs a whole crapload of stuff based on the arbitrary "level" each mod and mod component is installed, and you're bound to get a bunch of stuff that you really don't want at all. You may already be using the Big World Setup (which is essentially just an extension of the Big World Project that sort of streamlines the process AND gives you more customization if you wish), so if so, disregard.

BWP just makes a big ol' mess of the game... At least try using the Big World Setup first instead,

troll.exe

Hold up...so there's singleplayer mode on the PS4 version? Like, legit "my internet is out right now, but I can play just fine" singleplayer mode? Oh yeah. There is. Honestly I own both the pc and ps4 version and after starting up the ps4 version, never really went back. Especially with how it controls on the controller. Further clarification: can you play those same singleplayer characters in the normal multiplayer mode? If not, that makes sense (works as Diablo 2 did), but if you can, that's pretty messed up, as that means somebody somewhere is making cheating tools to edit their characters in offline mode that they can carry into multiplayer.

Capra Demon sucks. Well, Capra Demon himself is fine: it's those stupid unpredictable dogs that'll screw you over a few dozen times in a row because they move weird and act differently every time you're in. Would not recommend on NG7 at SL1.

Hold up...so there's singleplayer mode on the PS4 version? Like, legit "my internet is out right now, but I can play just fine" singleplayer mode?

SL1 on NG1 was a pretty fun challenge: really requires you to know how to recognize every single attack by every enemy and boss, and what to do when they use them. I just decided to take it to the next level. It...actually wasn't all that much more difficult for the most part, because even on NG1, you basically need to have absolute mastery of most every enemy and boss. It did take the few non-insta-kill hits that you could survive in NG1 to now being almost all insta-kill on NG7. I wouldn't recommend Ornstein and Smough or Kalameet at SL1 on NG7: that crap was pretty hard. Ornstein and Smough are very difficult for obvious reasons, but Kalameet is awful, awful to play against because once in a great while, he uses attacks that he shouldn't at close range that you just cannot dodge - wouldn't be a problem if you had normal damage output with normal life, but at SL1 on NG7, you're literally instantly dead if he decides to use one of those attacks at the wrong time. And he SO much life... Yeah, I didn't enjoy Four Kings on NG7 @ SL120 (or so): took bloody forever to beat them with my Great Scythe. Not even gonna bother at SL1, haha. And yeah, I would hardly classify Dark Souls 2 or Bloodborne as "cash grabs"...at worst, Dark Souls 2 could've use some more development time, but when you're working for other companies, ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do, as I'm sure we're all very pointedly aware of as Obsidian fans...

Enhanced edition, or..? In my experiences, moderate is the hardest difficulty of them all in the enhanced edition, though it probably depends on play style. I'm not an AoE2 expert or anything, but I can beat two of the hardest AIs by myself, while two moderates is...significantly harder. However, if you're playing on the original AoE2, don't bother going to a harder difficulty than moderate: same AI, just cheating via extra resources. Not worth the trouble. (e): Reason why moderate is probably harder for me is because they play more conservatively than the harder AI settings: harder AI settings really try to crush you as soon as possible, and if you're good at defending against their immediate rush, they then play at a severe disadvantage as a result of using all their resources to try and crush you more early in the game. Moderate AI, as I said, tends to be more conservative and willing to sit back and try to build up resources rather than attack first, which can be tricky to play against if you're playing two of them at once. This kinda matches my own basic strategy, which is probably why it's harder to defend against for me.

Me after that Packers' game: (probably also applies to Lions fans)

And the Packers continue their downward spiral... Actually, ignoring the anomalous Vikings game, it's really more of a free fall.

Kind of depends on what you define as "supporting", doesn't it? I think the NFL is a complete joke (as an organization): I don't buy any sorts of football gear, I don't buy tickets, I don't buy any sort of special NFL packages...does watching illegitimate streams online count as supporting it? I like the sport...I hate the organization providing it. (edit): Shoot, I gave a serious reply to BruceVC. That avatar changing business really works, it seems.

Against...the AI, or in multiplayer, or..? What exactly is the bar for "good", here?

I own the game on Steam, and tried to play it somewhere between half a year and a year after release, I think, so presumably, it wasn't because of the unpatched business. For me, it was like...I was trying to use a normal longsword, like the Sword of Heidi (or whatever it's called), or the Fire Longsword, or...just any longsword at all...and they're just...so sluggish-feeling to me, and so short-feeling to me. My favorite sword to use in DS1 was the Balder Side Sword, personally, which had a great moveset (in my opinion), great speed, good length, O.K. damage - not good damage, but O.K. damage. I also loved the Great Scythe and the Lifehunt Scythe if I needed something a bit more heavy duty...and it's like, I spent the entire game (Dark Souls 2) trying to find something I liked like I did those two weapons, and I never stinking did. It was instead weapon after weapon that I felt was too slow, that was not fun at all to use. It drove me crazy, and it really just did not feel like the same game at all to me. This was also compounded by the shorter i-frames from rolling: I mean, the amount in Dark Souls 1 was admittedly pretty ridiculous, but you compound my weapon troubles with the severely shortened i-frames and the fact that I basically never even once used a shield in Dark Souls 1, and it just became...so much frustration for me. I beat the game...and the DLC...but I tell you, I didn't enjoy it one bit. You think somebody who was able to beat Dark Souls 1 at SL1 on NG7 (with the exception of Four Kings: I was able to do literally everything else) would've been able to adapt to the slightly different intricacies of the Dark Souls 2 combat system, but I really just couldn't. Just hated it.

No...I would definitely call you a troll, or at least troll-like. But hey, if that means I can troll a troll by saying that (which, by your own admission, is exactly what I'm doing), I'm all for it. (edit): Though I will definitely say that I won't be pleased if Majek doesn't at least acknowledge the semi-legitimateness of my complaints in the context that I have voiced them: I didn't write out that long...or...uh...moderately-sized post that very coherently explained what I specifically didn't like about the game just to be ignored, and for his last word on the matter to be him babbling about how I'm sort of troll when I actually adequately explained my position whereas he immediately resorted to ad hominem...not exactly my idea of a good conversation. And stop...branding my posts with your silly "like"s, Qistina! I don't deserve the punishment of actually bothering to read your posts.

Like Qistina? The person I put on my block list after reading like two of their posts? Hmm, that's not exactly a comparison I like. Yes, I felt that combat was significantly slower in Dark Souls 2, though, of course, my impression could be totally wrong: I was very busy not enjoying the game, after all. Nevertheless, I did have the constant feeling of, "Holy crap, why are my attacks so slow, why does it take a million years to recover from doing a light attack to be able to move/roll again - or to do anything besides another light attack, as even trying to do a heavy attack afterwards is significantly delayed for no apparent reason - why does it feel like I gotta be at point blank range to be able to hit any of my opponents with any of my swords, what happened to the visceral feeling of combat that I loved that was present in the first game". I couldn't even begin to count the amount of times I died because I did a light attack while an enemy was in the middle of doing their own attack, and I had to sit there for a second realizing that my character was about to get hit/die because the delay in between doing an attack and being able to move again was so much greater than it was in DS1 and I could simply never, ever get used to it. It was quite maddening to me: in DS1, you could chain light and heavy (and, I guess, the forward light and heavy attacks, too) as you please, and you could roll so, so much quicker after an attack, particularly with lighter weapons...in fact, I stopped bothering using lighter weapons in DS2 by the end of the game, because it made me so stinking mad: at least using a greatsword (I was particular to Lost Sinner's Blade, to be specific), I felt like I deserved the slow movement. I'm not arguing anything else Qistina may or may not be saying: I'm not even reading what they're saying! Just trying to explain why I really, really, really did not enjoy DS2, and really regretted making myself play through all of it in what was evidently a futile attempt to do so. I'm glad so many other people apparently enjoyed it, but I did not. Also...do I know you? Though you're not completely wrong: I can definitely be a bit of a troll. Just...uh...not really about this.

On NG1? Hah, yeah, let me know when you switch back to beating bosses with that sword hilt.

As the guy that's beaten the game on NG7 at SL1 with the sole exception of Four Kings (mostly because I don't feel like mastering the art of fighting three to four of them at once), clearly.