BruceVC
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Posts posted by BruceVC
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https://www.politico.eu/article/robert-habeck-wants-germany-to-rebuild-ukraine/
Interesting story about Germany helping to rebuild Ukraine
Some people might be cynical about this but obviously reconstruction projects have to go to someone so why not include Germany as one of those countries?
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2 hours ago, Zoraptor said:
That isn't even the correct wikipedia article Bruce. Which about sums that post up in terms of its accuracy. The US did nothing about its embassy being bombed then because... they didn't know who had done it.
Arms wise, a pending ICJ judgement of genocide against Israel would be a massive problem for Germany (and Britain, France) as it would mean they'd been abetting it, especially since the ICJ prelim was that there is a case to answer. Though I'd suspect Lexx's objection is more moral than legal.
In any case, the retaliation seems to have been a damp squib, and almost literally so. Hopefully that's the end of it.
My bad, it was the wrong link. That was another attack on US forces but Iranian proxies were responsible for US embassy attack and they acknowledged it , to quote your link " A pro-Iranian group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Organization took responsibility for the bombing in a telephone call to a news office immediately after the blast. The anonymous caller said, "This is part of the Iranian Revolution's campaign against imperialist targets throughout the world. We shall keep striking at any crusader presence in Lebanon, including the international forces."[8] The group had earlier taken responsibility for a grenade attack in which five U.S. members of the international peacekeeping force had been wounded.
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14 minutes ago, Lexx said:
I don't get it. Didn't israel strike first again iran? Who then retaliated, and now israel realiates the retaliation? Why the hell are we giving those people weapons.
Its not that complicated to understand the sequence of events
In summary
- Israel attacked an Iranian embassy in Syria : Iran is outraged
- Iran attacks Israel with missiles and drones : Israel is outraged
- Israel attacks Iran : Iran is outraged
But all these are limited attacks in a reality of Iranian proxies attacking US interests and destabilizing the ME like the Houthis and the Red Sea terrorist attacks
Also an attack on an embassy doesnt mean you " have to respond because its the same as an attack on the sovereign country "
In 1983 the US embassy in Lebanon was attacked by Hezbollah\Iran and dozens of US citizens were killed and the US didnt attack Iran because of that. But saying that an attack on any embassy is unacceptable and embassies should always be off-limits
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombing
And the international arms trade is a legal business and every country in the world has the right to buy military equipment, I dont think there is a single country in the world that doesnt have some sort of military budget
Its not the selling of weapons thats an issue, its what states and governments do with those weapons thats a problem
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15 hours ago, Malcador said:
Once that's done, watch all the doom and gloom articles evaporate. 3 months later than I expected though, but was coming.
I see the House will vote on Saturday on the Ukraine package and other aid
I dont know if the aid was ever guaranteed because this type of funding always needs approval from Congress and the political vacillations of representatives can delay or change things
And thats influenced by American citizens so very few things are " guaranteed " unless the US is actively involved in its own war
But the whole inconsistent MAGA ideology was part of this delay and pushback at least for some of the GOP
Anyway we still need the vote to happen so lets see how that goes
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7 hours ago, Keyrock said:
Why do all these types of games have the same exact plastic people looking models? Even if all you saw was a close up picture of the face, no body, no title, nothing else, you could be 100% certain of what type of game it is. Is there a specific game engine they all use with stock character models included or something? I have nothing against porn games, but diversify your art styles you perverts. As a fellow pervert I say perverts in the most loving sense.
Yes I agree but for me I have never played a porn game before, Romance in games is different to this and its part of expected party interaction if you on some epic quest to save the world. I always think of Conan and his interaction with women on various quests . Thats typically how I RP my character and its CG if you compare it to D&D alignment
If I want to watch porn then I will watch legitimate adult movies, I wont use a game for that but I realize everyone has different interests
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https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-israel-house-republicans-3f6f6af81c860eb8ce4104e61728a0fb
So it looks like US Congress is finally going to put the various aid packages to the floor for a vote and this includes the Ukraine $65 billion
Johnson is not worried about threats to remove him because he will survive a vote of no-confidence with Democrats help
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2 hours ago, bugarup said:
I had some ~*Dark Souls experience*~ with Fear and Hunger for myself over a weekend, that is, played a number of sessions without the savescumming mod and just let
badluck take me wherever. It went like this:† Won three Necronomicons in a row, won the coin toss to read them all without going mad and consequently dead, lost the toss to a monstrosity next door, died;
† Had a lucky streak with good armor and weapons, won the coin toss for successful rest, but it appears that if you don't kill this one really weak enemy beforehand, he drags you to his torture room where you, well, eventually die;
† Forgot to give the little girl I rescued from the cage her whiskey and opium, she got too sad and left;
† Some **** of a mage sang my limbs away, fortunately was able to will myself into suicide;
† Defeated some monstrosity surprisingly easily, it dropped a thing that would cancel annoyances like bleeding, infection and worms away, couldn't equip it because of cursed item in the slot;
† Okay, "What if I jump into the latrine?" is entirely on me.
And that's with mercifully brief combat. If I had to experience all this plus a drawn-out twitch-based fight before kicking it? Gimme that sweet Necronomicon.
On the savescumming runs, one party failed forward straight into their goal, unfortunately the dude I was hired to rescue turned up dead, so hauled my arse all the way back to see if I were allowed to leave since what's the point of staying there anymore? Indeed I was allowed to leave, got "Ending E", which implied endings A, B, C and D. Went to game's wiki and it appears I missed, like, 90% of game? Okay good. Wasn't planning to quit it any time soon anyway.
Im have no problem with savescumming when its necessary because of bad design or because of laborious respawn mechanics that force you to repeat the last 1-2 hours
Time is limited in this world
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So we know more about the Iranian attack on Israel and its objectives
So the Iranian hardliners had to " respond " due to domestic pressure after Israel attacked its embassy in Syria but they want to avoid a war with Israel and the US which they know they will lose but any country that attacks Iran will suffer consequence because Iran is not a pushover
So Iran makes it unofficially known they will attack Israel and 99% of the missiles and drones are destroyed and no real damage is done to Israel which was the Iranian calculus but they have also satiated the domestic nationalist fervour for a response
And the US unofficially makes it known they wont support an attack on Iran which ostensibly had an influence on the Israel war cabinet decision
Because the reality is the US has leverage on Israel and not the other way around which is what most of the Israeli\Jewish conspiracy theories misrepresent
And the US doesnt want to be dragged into a war with Iran especially if its not justified and IMO you cant justify a war with Iran considering no real damage was done to Israel and Israel did attack the Iranian embassy with was the reason for the Iranian response
We dont know what Israel is going to do but I doubt they will attack Iran without US support so maybe Netanyahu is hoping Trump will win in November and that Trump will support a military attack on Iran. But thats also not a given because we dont know how Trump will respond considering his capricious nature
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8 hours ago, ShadySands said:
At this point I'm not sure Israel isn't trying to make sure Biden doesn't get reelected.
But with all the domestic political issues in the US are large numbers of people really going to vote because of the Israeli vs Palestinian conflict?
I know within some US media circles this gets raised as a " possible " influence on election outcomes but I will be surprised if that will be an important factor or influential factor
I have also never seen a single current poll that includes this current war or even Israel as a main reason that people vote for?
I have seen R vs W, border security, increased crime and inflation\economy as the most important reasons that will decide the election
But I might be wrong, do you know anyone who will cast there vote based on perceptions of how the US is dealing with this latest war in Gaza?
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54 minutes ago, Malcador said:
Israel will probably go assassinate some other IRGC official. Good to know the US holds the leash, although I could see Biden caving and sending Israel help if they do decide to bomb Iran.
Maybe but IMO this is definitely not the right time to bomb Iran back to the stone age and definitely not because Israel was attacked, if the US was directly attacked by Iran that would be a different story but Iran uses its proxies with the dozens of recent attacks on US interests
If the US is going to go to war with Iran there has to be a legitimate reason to justify it and I agree with Biden on this
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Update the Iranian attack and what we know
- majority of drones and missiles shot down, I dont think any casualties. Several countries helped Israel which include France, UK and the US and ostensibly some ME countries
- The US intelligence gathering was correct AGAIN and they warned the attack was imminent
- Iran wont launch further attacks unless its attacked by Israel
- US wont participate in a direct attack on Iran
We now need to see what Israel does and will this lead to further escalation?
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6 hours ago, uuuhhii said:
why did anyone thought bomb embassy was a good idea
if usa and uk are stupid enough to back this people need to start checking if their city build any nuclear shelter during cold war era
Iran doesnt have nukes yet, no need to worry
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Im about 6 hours into Sons of the Forest and Im absolutely loving it
The game starts with ZERO hand holding and Im just exploring and using my GPS. I dont know what Im supposed to do except for find the " family " which is great
I havent really explored caves yet but thats clearly where the main quest needs to be but I did go to one cave and it was terrifying experience with strange mutants but lots of resources to find
I appreciate the complete randomness of the design and the rewards for exploring , I went down to the beach and swam to a raft and I found a gun !!!!
But I assume bullets will be a scarcity so Im using my bow in combat and I will only use the gun in critical battlesI had a disappointing moment where I came across this attractive blonde women lying in some bushes and I thought " nice, possible Romance arc with an NPC" but then she got up and ran away ...and she had 4 legs !!! Mutants just dont do it for me so major Romance interest destroyed
Forest 1 was my favourite survival game of all time and this sequel could deliver the same experience
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3 hours ago, Fionavar said:
That would be more than fine! It is always great if it is connected with OBS but the reality is as OBS work broadens it will attract different experiences, so happy to find that balance. DM if you want to explore further
Its easy to align my personal gaming experience with Obsidian games because NWN2 and PoE2 are in my top 10 games of all time
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23 minutes ago, Gorth said:
I probably beat you to it, but it's all out of my hands at the moment
Im also going to add something. My love and passion for gaming goes back a long way even though I didnt game from about 1995-2007
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On 4/11/2024 at 4:22 AM, Gorth said:
How to summarize 40 years of video gaming in a single blog post...
Gorthfuscious, you know what I would suggest?
Start at the beginning and when you get to the end then you stop
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On 4/9/2024 at 12:20 PM, LadyCrimson said:
Re: Hogwart's - I had a lot of fun with it (even tho for myself, I also had a lot of crash issues
) but it is rather simplistic. To me more of an causal adventure romp game vs. an rpg - no true choices/consequences, no real depth. I've seen the movies (they were ok, nothing that memorable for me), haven't read the books, am not a potter universe person. Game is light fun, but not something one is probably going to replay, as example. But I definitely had a lot of fun with it.
=
This is an accurate view of Hogwarts, there is no real choice and consequence except for the end of some side quests where you have an option to not return the item that you were sent on the quest to find in the first place. It seemed a bit silly that type of choice and I dont think there were any consequence for not returning the item
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On 4/10/2024 at 8:48 AM, bugarup said:
Fear & Hunger, little indie horror RPG where horror seems to be tailored for my tastes. Creepy art, creepy disturbing soundscape, grotesque monstrosities, dungeons you can practically smell, so much to love
It's also laughably unfair ("Hey hero, pick your traits. You wanna fast movement or tripper?") and unforgiving, which by itself wouldn't be too bad, but combine it with extra stingy save system and horror gets diluted with one of the most unfun things to experience, tedium. So after first twenty or so assortedly amusing deaths I installed 99 saves mod and can finally experience my atmospheric horror in nice short pieces before bedtime if I wish so. 
With its Wiki open though, because it doesn't explain mechanics and what are all these things in inventory either.
I see the game is created by a single developer, thats impressive
I am playing Sons of the Forest, I loved the first one and it was the best survival game I have ever played
Im only 4 hours in and Im doing lots of pausing of game and using google around " how to make a fire "
There is almost zero hand holding but its coming together with the mechanics
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13 hours ago, Gfted1 said:
Yeah, the anti-Vax thing is enough for me to mentally load him into a rocket and fire it into the sun. Now I know, "its not nice to fire people into the sun", but here I am anyway.
Are you planning on voting this election? Your vote counts, never forget that
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36 minutes ago, ShadySands said:
I can't because the anti-vax thing is an automatic do not pass go for me. Slam big pharma all you want but vaccines are one of mankind's greatest discoveries and that's just a bridge of stupid I can't cross. What are they coming for next? Fire? The wheel? Our precious flat earth???
I hear you but is that enough to not vote for him? He believes in other things that most of us would agree with like he is pro-choice
The point Im trying to make is one disagreement on a certain policy enough to not vote for a politician? What about the other things you agree with him on ?
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1 hour ago, Keyrock said:
For one, whatever people think of him now, the man did a lot good as a trial lawyer in his past. For example, he's the man that took Monsanto, multi-time winner of the prestigious Most Evil Company in the World Award, to task. Also, I agree with many of his stances, definitely not all, but more than the alternatives, that's for sure. Granted, candidates often make promises they have no intention of keeping on the campaign trail, that's politics. Still, at least there's a chance, however small, that he fulfills his campaign promises, whereas I already know for certain that Biden and The Donald are blowing smoke up our asses.
However, my support for Bobby has as much to do with what the alternatives are as the man himself. The other choices are Biden and The Donald, 2 of the most evil, vile, loathsome, disgusting, dishonest, pieces of garbage that this planet has ever produced. Would Bobby Kennedy make a good president? Perhaps, perhaps not; we won't know for sure until it happens. I know with absolute certainty that Biden and The Donald are AWFUL presidents, because I've experienced both of their terms already. I know exactly what I'm going to get with either of the 2 main party candidates and the thought of either is enough to make me want to vomit, not to mention move back to Poland.
Thanks, the interview on CNN I was talking about is the Chris Wallace show which is a weekly 1 hour show and he has 4 journalists on and most of them are anti-Trump and generally support the Dems and Biden but 1 journalist is always a moderate Conservative and they were objective about RFK Jr and most of the 4 journalists were saying things similar to you
They raised an interesting question about " does a vote for RFK hurt Trump or Biden more " and they were saying it depends on the state that he appears on the ballot on or it hurts Trump more in the long term and Biden in the short term but Im not sure what that means because there is one main election
But the main point they made is he is an alternative with certain views that resonate with people and thats more than enough to make him a viable choice for those tired of the theater of Trump and the inconsistency and frailty of Biden because Bidens age keeps coming up as a concern
Exciting times ahead for you guys in the USA
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https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rfk-jrs-ability-sway-2024-election-depends-ballot/story?id=108753511
I was watching on CNN the support that RFK Jr has gained and how some people definitely like him. The news anchors were saying he appeals to certain voters for different reasons and one of those reasons is he isnt " much of the same "
What do you like about him and would you vote for him? I am looking for a summary about what he stands for outside of the political rhetoric and exaggeration because he clearly resonates with people?
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4 hours ago, kanisatha said:
A question about the Hogwarts game: given that the Harry Potter universe is based on children's books and movies, is the video game at a level where it can be realistically enjoyed by adults? Serious question, as I know nothing about this or any other Harry Potter video game.
Yes but with a caveat, like I mentioned it doesnt have adult themes but that doesnt mean you wont enjoy it and it does have engaging components. I didnt get the thrill of exploring and risk vs reward like in normal RPG
For example the beasts are all cute and you dont really feel like you MUST kill the monsters because they truly diabolical like a Daedra or Baatezu with the exceptions of spiders which I hate in any game. And almost all your companions are teenagers and kids which was a bit weird and unusual for me but thats how Hogwarts is suppose to be by design
And then as you mentioned the books are written for a younger audience but adults do read and enjoy them which is the most important thing, adults are reading. And you dont want to shame people to suggest " why you reading a children's book "
But Hogwarts is light-hearted fantasy game and you will enjoy it if you understand its narrative limitations compared to " adult " RPG
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I think this is a really positive development, the IDF is withdrawing most of its forces from southern Gaza
Is this the beginning of a permanent ceasefire and real negotiations between both sides or is it something else?
I also think the mistaken killings of the Kitchen Aid Workers was the " final " straw for the US and the Biden administration around the egregious IDF military strategy and continuous and callous killing of Palestinian civilians
It's also laughably unfair ("Hey hero, pick your traits. You wanna fast movement or tripper?") and unforgiving, which by itself wouldn't be too bad, but combine it with extra stingy save system and horror gets diluted with one of the most unfun things to experience, tedium. So after first twenty or so assortedly amusing deaths I installed 99 saves mod and can finally experience my atmospheric horror in nice short pieces before bedtime if I wish so. 
With its Wiki open though, because it doesn't explain mechanics and what are all these things in inventory either.
What are you Playing Now? - Back to the Grind
in Computer and Console
Posted
Here is an exception to my rule, its an upcoming Vampire themed cRPG porn game called Vampire Syndicate. The developer is active on Codex and he is a really nice guy, very friendly and I sort of committed to buying this game when its released. I dont have to buy it but I dont like to say things and not mean it and its an indie game and his revenue is tight
So Im going to buy it on principle, you and others might also enjoy it ( NSFW website ) because its going to have RPG elements and lots of Vampire Lore similar to the Vampire Masquerade Universe with clans and all that
https://amemoryofeternity.itch.io/vampire-syndicate-gangs-of-moonfall