BruceVC

What a game between NZ and Ireland with NZ winning, 24-28. I was supporting Ireland and both teams played exceptionally well @Zoraptor You can never write-off NZ Fans must be happy Now tomorrow is SA vs France

Lexx thats so cynical I had to laugh

Im at the expected point in this latest violence where Im fatigued by developments and its almost depressing. I knew this was going to happen and as usaul with violence in the Israeli vs Palestinian conflicts its because Hamas doesnt really care about the lives of Palestinians and they knew there would be a severe response. They cant be negotiated with until they recognize Israel has a right to exist and they wont do that Israel has a right to defend itself and to destroy Hamas but as usual they are doing things which is heavy-handed and falls on the entire civilian population of Gaza which is unfair and cruel The response from Western countries is extreme and difficult to really justify , both the UK and US have moved battleships to the Mediterranean. Not sure why thats necessary considering how Israel is already getting additional military aid from US. In other words as usual Israel doesnt need battleships to completely defeat Hamas . The US only needs to do this if Iran suddenly attacked Israel and even then it would be complicated. But the Israelis have won the last 4 Arab-Israeli wars without Western armies getting involved so Im confidant they would defeat Iran in a conventional war Im also glad I have no direct ethic or ideological connection to either side because the situation would be more depressing if I did I have always maintained that the 2 state solution is still the best way to achieve sustainable peace but that requires good faith negotiations from leadership on both sides and thats lacking. So the conflict will continue interminably until that happens. Im glad I dont live in either region

Its funny you mention " what Stealth games have I played " because I was talking more about how I generally avoid the stealth option in RPG, so I dont really have any proper Stealth dedicated expose to say that with examples And I did play one of the older Hitman, 1 or2, and I finished it. But I think its because I generally dont use the stealth options in RPG unless I am forced to or with games like Far Cry and AC where it really makes sense to clear certain enemy camps

I have only played Deus Ex: Revolution on your list. I am not really a stealth gamer so I dont think Thief would appeal to me but those others look good

Im about 40 hours into Dying Light 2 and Im loving it, its improved on all the mechanics of DY1 and has provided exactly what I was looking for which is a easy to understand " zombie killing game " with simple and appreciated respawning features when you die so you dont get frustrated when you die I am running the game on maximum graphic settings and I have enabled Ray Tracing so the game is very aesthetically pleasing, its beautiful It has lots of fun activities and side quests and I am focusing on those until I get bored and then I will focus on the main quests similar to games like Far Cry and Assassins Quest It has a fun and progressive crafting system and I like how the economy works. And the level and skills advancement makes sense Also because its an East European game there is very little wokeness so you see normal, attractive female NPCS which I always appreciate The only real issue I have is a minor one and thats the jumping mechanics can be little frustrating in certain parts of the map. Some places it has taken me 15-20 minutes just to climb a certain building or windmill. But Im getting better at that But excellent game if you looking for a quintessential Zombie "hack and slash "

I have mentioned this before but I have an unusual gaming history considering my age, Im 49, and what I have played and what games I havent played Because of Apartheid sanctions and lack of gaming investment in SA the first games I played where from 1989-1994 but they only Sierra games like Kings Quest, Space Quest and Heroes Quest. Then I stopped gaming from 1996-2007 so I didnt play any games released from that time But from 2007 I invested in my first gaming PC and played Gothic 3 and Morrowind. So I subsequently played many games since then but mostly modern games. But the last 2-3 years I have started playing more CRPG and older games and I have come to appreciate them and there mechanics. I love older games and modern games for different reasons But I still am absolutely committed to play games like Wizardry, M&M, Ultima and the Gold Box D&D games. They all on my list

Add to that the whole " but the Jews control the world " and " its the Deep state" so " of course they knew, how could they not have known " is the expected response of many people And then the conspiracy theory sauce is not being sipped but quaffed

There is lots of people who assume Israel " must have known " or think " how could one of the worlds most advanced surveillance and military states not know " But I dont believe for a second that Israel knew because they would never have allowed the attack if they knew, they would never knowingly sacrifice Israeli lives. In 2011 Netanyahu was also the PM and he authorised a prisoner swop with Hamas of over 1000 Palestinian prisoners for a single Israeli soldier https://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/17/world/meast/israel-prisoner-swap-explainer/index.html Does that sound like someone who would allow an attack on Israel if he knew about it? And then the anger from Israelis towards the government security failures is also something that I doubt any sitting Israeli government would be prepared to risk. In latest polls 85% of Israelis say the surprise attack is the failure of leadership and 56% want Netanyahu to resign once the war is over https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767880 So for me its much simpler than what many people think, the Israelis were caught by surprise and there was both a security and intelligence gathering failure which has already been highlighted but more details of these failures will be revealed once the war is over and heads will roll. I also think Netanyahu's divisive,imprudent and controversial attempts to change the Constitution and laws in Israel created a real distraction and weakened and divided Israeli society which meant less attention was focused on the normal things like intelligence gathering

Would you play any of these older games now? The reason I ask is on Codex there are people who have played similar older games and they still do Because I have realized that a good game doesnt mean you have to have the latest graphics and its more about the interaction and personal experience?

https://www.timesofisrael.com/years-of-subterfuge-high-tech-barrier-paralyzed-how-hamas-busted-israels-defenses Here is a really interesting link about how Israels defensive line was breached with Gaza and the overall sophistication and planning involved with the Hamas attack. No doubt in my mind that Iran was involved in the strategizing and resources Its reminiscent of the failures of the Maginot line in France

Here is a question for you and this aligns into why Russia did have a valid reason for attacking the Nord pipe (but we dont know for certain who attacked the Nord pipe ) I assume you agree Russia is behind the attack on the Finnish pipe, so why would Russia attack the Finnish pipe? What do they achieve by doing this from your perspective

How serious is the damage? How soon till its repaired It will be interesting to see the response from Vatniks and Russian apologists especially after the denial of the Nord pipe being attacked What it tells me is something I already believed, Russia does have the Special Force training to commit this type of attack

Well thats an easy one to answer, there is no rules based order implementation when it comes to this conflict and most of the actions of Israel or Hamas It didnt exist when Hamas attacked on Saturday and it wont exist in the Israeli response and thats fairly common with the response and actions from both sides

To be honest Im a little confused by the point you making, I didnt think you cared about the rules based order because you often mock and joke about it? Does it matter to you and do you believe in it?

I dont get it, please explain ?

Are you being serious? Why would friendly Sweden do that, you joking right?

I tend to agree, the suggestion that because Biden showed up for a photo op and said " I stand by the unions " is definitely not any convincing argument that he cares about the working class But I think both parties care about the working class in there own way because they represent potential votes and they contribute towards the economy so it would imprudent to ignore them in any country and Democracy So the real question is what legislation would you like to see that would demonstrate either party " cares". Because then we would be discussing political changes that people can campaign on? For example better access to loans for housing?

The globally respected " BruceVC game rating system " doesn't asses games on there age or the reality of older mechanics I just havent played many of the older games that you probably have played

But do you think either party wants people who will vote for him?

As far as I know the Israelis have called up 300k of there reservists . But not every Israeli is a soldier or reservist because its age based and the festival had children. elderly people and people on holiday and Hamas indiscriminately killed anyone they could It was definitely not a legitimate target by any non-terrorist definition

Absolutely, the standard response from SA Hamas sympathizers is " but the Israelis have killed civilians " Today they had a Hamas spokesperson come on to one of the talk-shows and when he was asked "why did you target civilians " he said " no, every Israeli is a legitimate target. No such thing as civilians " No surprise considering its a terrorist organization But the reality is this conflict is going to continue until we see leaders on both sides prepared to compromise and negotiate in good faith but thats lacking so the violence will continue

Or maybe people could adjust there spines when a music festival is attacked by Hamas and hundreds of revelers are slaughtered, really appropriate target Those spines really need to be adjusted consistently

This is definitely not an attack on the US, a real example of political grandstanding and exaggeration

I would assume you now see that NATO was never going to attack Russia which means that was not a justification for the invasion You might now be asking "so why did Russia attack Ukraine " and this is more subjective but very relevant. I can share my opinion if you interested and other people can give there's? Let me know if you want to debate this