BruceVC

I wonder how this will impact the overall quality of the final game ?

Happy first year Its always a good sign when we make 1 year on a forum.

Yes I do have very comprehensive Medical Aid and I have a Medical savings account which pays for over the counter and GP visits So the reason I didnt go to the doctor was not because of money it was because I have some reservations around the virus at the doctors rooms and also I was just lazy but more I felt I could ignore the symptoms and I would get better

I have to share something , I am raising a valid concern around not going to a doctor early but 2 weeks ago I had Gastro which lasted 3 days which was the longest I have ever had gastro.....I should have gone to the doctor on day 2 but I kind of try not to go to Doctors unless I am very sick or I need a proper doctors script So even though you ailment was much worse than my 3 days of gastro I had real symptoms. I had no appetite, stomach cramps, restless sleep and nausea ....yet I just soldered on without going to a doctor So I am also naughty sometimes about going to the doctor

Gothfuscious I am shocked by this story. Its impact has not been one of a little toe injury and Im very surprised you did not go to a doctor sooner ....why you would put yourself through such an ordeal is beyond me but the most important point is you did finally go to the doctor but you did seem to leave it to the last minute , for example there must be other doctors you can see if your doctor is unavailable. I also have a view around "preferred doctor " but I would not wait for something this serious At our age Gorthfuscious its not worth the potential issue or possible physiological damage to ignore this type of health problem

Thanks for responding and I am glad you did because I am not explaining my point properly, some of what I need to share with you now you probably know and I apologize for repeating this but its important I respond with a series of points just so I dont create the wrong impression with you...and its not that I expect to agree, I would think you would agree because its the truth and you will probably know this already And I enjoy these debates because its good to understand different views. Also I can provide extensive links for any point if you want to do your own research? Yes you are absolutely right about there is no such thing as a " one fit " system around either political or economic polices for the world and this is by design. The world has regions that are important role players in the global economy and local stability is dependent on certain countries continuing to be functional and there current governments are necessary to allow these region to function. So we need to accept this and support this arrangement because this has been proven to offer the most sustainable and stable future for these countries .....we mustnt allow our personal and sometimes understandably biased views create a wrong view of this type of arrangement. Good example of this is Saudi Arabia and its influence in the region which matters on several important global realities, like the oil price and how OPEC directly can control this And then this is a good time to clarify something that many of us, including me, didnt explain or understand. The Cold War is framed, incorrectly because it creates ideological confusion, as a war of " Capitalism vs Communism " but it really was a war between " Democracies vs Dictatorships ..... Capitalism should not anymore be seen as a ideological policy but rather a series of proven economic policies. You need a typical functional government to implement polices that support the free market but this is normal and it is expected you follow governance and the rule of law and order And you are right again that you cannot assume this will always work ....you just need to understand and monitor the output and actual reality on the ground And finally the choice for any legitimate government to deliver services and allow for a quality of life for its citizens should be seen as mandatory.....in other words no elected government or psedo-leadership can decide that its citizens dont need access to things like education and ignore security. To be more clear " as a leader you dont have the right to loot resources from your country and only use them to benefit yourself "

Elerond I am concerned that you may have a misunderstanding of what myself and others raise as examples of far left politics or "socialist " policies. I may be wrong which is even better because then I dont need to worry but what is your view around "socialism " and how it can work or should work? And what would be your concern, if any, with the EU which is the worlds trading bloc Gorthfuscious I was thinking about that debate we were having around that poem " then they came for us " and I reread what I was trying to say and I think I was not making my point properly because it wasnt suppose to be about the poem but rather a view that sometimes you come across that really does suggest if you are concerned with inimical socialist polices like we have seen in Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba then you are supporting right wing views or you actually privately believe them But I shouldn't have quoted the poem which was just about why I was directly sharing my view around that a person is not necessarily right wing at all if they are concerned with far left influence . In fact ensuring the sustainability of the free market and understanding how we can incorporate more countries into the benefits of the global system IMO would not be possible for any right wing country that I know of ? And just to clarify, I asked Elerond a question around what do you believe is the best system that countries should follow around socialism or do you respect the current common structures that are about Democratically elected governments that all follow the same rules of the free market. ? Do you think countries like Cuba have had an unfair history and response from countries like the US And also we dont want to unintentionally conflate the success of the Nordic countries to believing Cuba could have been the same because the history and political decisions and outcome of what makes the Nordic countries success stories is very different to Cuba But I am always interested in peoples views on interesting debates around Capitalist countries and sometimes there internal issues around poverty or inequality and how a socialist system would somehow fix that ?

Zora are you saying she should win and if isnt going to win why not? I never knew NZ had a women prime minister but from what I have seen she has handled some serious issues in the country like that craven attack on Muslims by that Internet attention seeking so called " right winger " ......he was wearing a camera if I am not mistaken Also the way she dealt with the overall pandemic is impressive....yes NZ is an island and theoretically easy to control but there are islands out there where they have been hit relatively hard by the virus like Madagascar A couple of months the president of Madagascar claimed he a " cure " for the virus based on a known African herbal tonic. ....it had not gone through any live trials yet he was making these ridiculous claims. When the WHO politely explained it cannot be a cure until it has been verified through proper clinical trials.....he then played the classic " because its from Africa and not Europe people dont want to accept it " ...... https://nypost.com/2020/05/08/madagascar-coronavirus-herbal-mix-draws-demand-from-across-africa-despite-who-misgivings/

Do you have any polling data to support this view ? I only ask this because it is very difficult at the moment to read accurately into what the current numbers are telling us around early voting ....what we do know is there are unprecedented numbers of citizens using the early voting system in certain states, this is to be expected considering the pandemic the general view is most of these early voters are Biden supporters as many Trump supporters believe these systems allow voting tampering we are also seeing a much more galvanized and committed Democrat " coalition " that did not exist in the last election where certain groups that were suppose to vote for Clinton and the Obama legacy , which should have mattered for various reasons, simply did not vote for her.....this lead to the expected Democrat support base not having all the numbers they should have had I do have some concerns with some of the general views some Democrats make .....they can be a little condescending if they suppose to win people over

Yes I must add these forums have never been that for me generally but you do learn interesting things all the time and certain members have excellent knowledge of games and historical games which is always interesting for a gamer

Well a break is never a bad thing Barti But who has left this forum that you miss, I noticed volo has been very absent and I am worried ?

You make a good argument here but its very unfair to blame the UK for the terrible loss of Soviet lives This was about Stalins initial terrible strategy of sending literally unprepared and ill equipped soldiers to face certain annihilation from the vastly better trained and equipped Nazi onslaught.... The movie " enemy at the gates " offers a window into this reality

I appreciate you going into the details around what I said, I was hoping you wouldnt comment because I know my statement was a simplification of what both these outcomes meant and I generally avoid discussions around the law unless it is about obvious rulings I never had a shared opinion about either of these rulings until the outcomes except for what was obvious, the Russians had interfered in the 2016 election But I was just stating what the outcome of these cases was....but yes I agree that there is more nuance and relevancy to what this means for Trump. On CNN there was an interesting interview from one of the lead Mueller prosecutors, Andrew Weissmann, who just wrote a book on the Mueller report and things he feels they did wrong, like not calling Trump to testify. Weissmann comes across in a very articulate and reasonable way and literally wrote this book in the interests of the correct historical context. I imagine you would buy this book and read it https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/13/media/andrew-weissmann-book/index.html I also dont consider the Mueller report a failure and it was definitely necessary. Several people were arrested and jailed and it correctly identified that Russia had interfered which as I mentioned was never a debate for me But its still not the same thing as saying Trump had directed colluded with Russia about there involvement And the impeachment was an unlikely objective from the beginning because one of the technical charges Trump was accused of was " The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" But Trump made the phone call that was ostensibly evidence of this in a room full of advisors. He saw this as just an example of his normal transactional way of doing business and his intent was not criminal but just a lack of understanding or protocol around what a US president should or shouldn't say I would not expect a Republican senate to impeach because of this, I wouldnt have voted for that if I was in the senate

In the numerous attempts to look at other economies around the world and comparing them to the various economic problems SA have clever people I know created interesting accurate economic reports on various countries and they included the Nordic countries as I consider them a success story....however they work because of the real belief most citizens have in these countries about gaining from the strong government run intuitions, like free education for multiple degrees, but then people will work and contribute back towards the tax base which is needed for the next citizens. So in other words Nordic citizens do contribute back to the excellent public services...I am not sure if you agree with this around Denmark for example ? However my experience in countries like SA, USA , Middle East , UK and other places is we simply dont have that consensus and support that means " you must pay back what you utilized " .....its not necessarily an indictment of these countries but it means I doubt social programs we see in the Scandinavian countries would be sustainable. Here is an example of failed SA " socialist " initiative https://allafrica.com/stories/202010120233.html

Im unsure what you saying, what is your suggestion for a better USA system of government ?

But the Mueller report and the whole impeachment over Ukraine did not find Trump criminally liable. I didnt believe for a second that Trump had personally met with the Russians but several people in his campaign had definitely crossed the line in how they involved the Russians....doesnt mean Trump was personally involved ? But there is one consideration that needs to be accepted, Bidens son shouldnt have taken the well meaning offer of accepting the position on the Ukrainian oil company, Burisma He is a qualified lawyer but that doesn't mean he has the qualifications or institutional experience to be invited to sit on an Oil companies board. Its not a serious accusation as he was working in Ukraine for years but it can create conflicts of interest and raises valid criticisms from the likes of Fox .....of course there is also the normal embellishment from Fox but its a valid criticism

Comrade I generally believe people do mean what they say in posts so I do find these types of comments confusing? But I may be misunderstanding what you suggesting. What type of government would you like to see in the USA .....and I assume its based on a economic and political model that is successful somewhere You have confirmed in the past you support a Nordic model of government what is known as Social Democracies ? Gorthfuscious I wanted to ask you something that you have raised in our past debates around the current failures around socialism If I understand your general view correctly you dont have an issue with socialism because of your lived experience growing up in Denmark. And I agree the Nordic countries are a real success story but they not true socialist countries by the definition of its current failures .....for example you have a vibrant and working private sector in all the Nordic countries and no evidence that any Nordic government would nationalize, which in most cases means the theft of foreign or local assets, any international investment ? But from your belief in socialism is it based on Denmark ?

This is a good point, the USSR were woefully unprepared initially when Hitler attacked so there is no logical way they would have been preparing to attack Germany

Why would you ever think Trump would dismiss such an industrious and useful ally ?

I use to be the same, I could only game with M\KB until I wanted to play certain games that are recommended you use a controller for like Darksiders 1 and Sleeping Dogs I learnt how to adapt to using a controller maybe 20 % of the time as I still prefer M\KB but as you mentioned some games are designed for a controller. I am now in the fortunate position where I can use both if required with no general problems, for example a couple of months ago I played Vampyr using my Microsoft Controller and its was fine

I see The Yakuza trilogy is on special on Steam and Im considering getting it because of the good price I have never played any JRPG, even Final Fantasy, before but I have always been interested. I loved Sleeping Dogs ( not sure that can be classified as a JRPG ) and I remember you did as well. I was reading up on Steam around peoples opinions around JRPG and normal RPG and I am not sure if its accurate what people were saying? Basically people were saying games like Yakuza are not like GTA, Sleeping Dogs or RDR2 where you have an open world to explore but Yakuza is limited to certain maps and also the combat in JRPG is more frenetic ? But what I am trying to understand is a direct comparison between Sleeping Dogs and the Yakuza trilogy....would I enjoy Yakuza if I enjoyed games like Sleeping Dogs and Hitman ?

Why would you be interested in RPG soft-porn Hoonding? I am very disappointed in you and always assumed you were above such profoundly iniquitous, immoral and lascivious behavior....I hope your sister doesn't find out, imagine how disappointed she would be

I watched a movie recently based on a true story about a UK journalist who after WW2 uncovered the mass murder of Polish citizens by the Soviets So Poland was treated incredibly badly by the Nazis and the Soviets and I can both understand and agree why nowadays many Polish people are concerned with the correct, historical representation of the events of history and how Poland was treated by many countries

I remember in 2016. I was an absolute, hardcore Clinton supporter ( I still support her ) and she did indeed represent the continuation of the Obama legacy. I was under the impression that most Americans supported this because of polls and certain feedback from some US friends and family ( to be honest I also didnt exactly listen to dissenting voices I knew or general Republican views ) The global media houses also generally had the same view that Trump was bad and Clinton would definitely win So it wasnt just me and my view which was selective This forum should have been a relevant way to understand this real political dichotomy because most US forum members didnt seem that keen on Clinton for a variety of reasons which I also disagreed with for legitimate reasons at the time Then Trump won which irrevocably shattered how to interpret accurately US traditional ways of voting choice Anyway what I learnt is many Republican supporters will not participate in polls and arent necessarily going to use the mainstream media to openly support Trump. So you cannot assume victory for either party and this is to be expected because I can still see valid reasons I can vote for either candidate ..now if someone who is not a US citizen can possibly vote for either candidate I can understand how being a US citizen and there voting choice can also be undecided