BruceVC

I completed Fallou3 after about 50 hours I enjoyed it but it had its weaknesses and its strengths. I think the biggest reason for much of both the fair and unfair criticism towards FO3 is because people understandably compare it to FO1&2 And thats a big mistake, you cannot do that because FO3 is so different. FO1&2 are excellent, iconic, isometric styled CRPG that literally set standards for post-apocalyptic games F03 is a first person\third person game with very different mechanics and it needs to be judged on that So what I didnt like about F03? The narrative was uninspiring, you want to find your father ....meh. But that also suited me because I tended to abandon the main quest and do side quests because I never felt any urgency to complete the main quest. And then the main quest ended in a very almost rushed way, I found the GECK and went back to the citadel ( @Gorth you were right, those children were very irritating at Lamplight cavern, I wished I had loaded the child killing mod ) and the Brotherhood of Steel said we must attack the Enclave with there giant robot Liberty Prime But Liberty Prime did all the fighting and I just ran behind it until we reached the Enclave ..and then you make a decision about who to sacrifice and thats it??? Game is over, very lacklustre ending Also I had some strange bugs like after Lamplight caverns I still couldnt use weapons in the Vault to get the GECK. The game is suppose to allow you to use weapons to kill mutants but the Child " non-killing" block wasnt removed so I had to use console cheats to kill every mutant which is very frustrating. Once I left Vault 87 I could use my weapons again Now what I liked about the game, its classic Bethesda open-world sandbox which Bethesda is renowned for and the game delivered on this. As I mentioned I loved randomly exploring and doing side quests like the Wasteland Guide. There were lots of interesting places to visit like the Oasis with the strange tree mutant Then the economy was well done, I never had enough caps for ammunition and weapons and that meant I had to constantly explore and find resources to sell which I enjoyed And then the game had some hilarious and memorable characters like Moira Brown and her comments and quests to get you to finish the Wasteland Guide and then Liberty Prime really made me laugh with his anti-Communist comments " "Death is a preferable alternative to communism." " , " Embrace democracy or you will be ERADICATED", " Communism detected on american soil. Lethal force engaged." Overall it gets a generous 60\100 on the world famous " BruceVC game rating system" and thats primarily because of the open world design which is always appreciated Im going to play Fallout:NV next and like F03 I have played it before but this time I will mod it properly and comprehensively and I am using this excellent modding guide as an initial reference but I will add more mods through MO2 https://vivanewvegas.moddinglinked.com/

I have raised this before but Trump is the funniest politician I have ever known and I mean funniest as in comedy and his mannerisms. Thats why SNL had such a field day with him And this will always be my most hilarious Trump moment, it still makes me LOL

Its interesting you suggest Bernie, if I had to choose between him and Biden I would choose Bernie because even though I disagree with on several issues his mental acumen is fine My biggest concern now is even in the unlikely chance Biden wins will Biden make it mentally another 4 years as president and is it fair to expect him? It just seems so irresponsible for the Dems to choose him as the best candidate and this is only because of his age Trump is a terrible candidate in different ways for the GOP but his mental state is more or less okay but he is also making fumbles and getting things wrong in speeches but its not at the same level as Biden

What a disaster for Biden, Trump focuses on the negative and how " terrible " the USA is as a way to motivate people But Bidens age is by far his biggest shortfall and the Dems have basically handed Trump the presidency. Im seriously worried how anyone can want someone of his mental acumen to be president of the most powerful and influential country in the world I like Biden on a personal level, I think he is honest and means well but he should never have been the Democratic candidate. Someone like Newsom from California should have been prepared Undecided voters can swing elections and after that train wreck for Biden because of mental acumen I doubt he would have convinced any of them

It would create an absolute economic disaster for the entire world, lets say you couldnt trade in the dollar. Its almost impossible to think how serious the consequences would be because of how established the dollar is Central Banks and countries would adopt other currencies and international trades would continue but it would create months of chaos and global financial instability would be severely impacted Imagine trying to negotiate what currency a country like South Africa could use for most global transactions, I doubt most people would accept our Rand and we dont have massive amounts of other currencies outside of the dollar in our foreign reserves

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/programs/geoeconomics-center/dollar-dominance-monitor/ Fascinating new study on the dollar dominance and the success and failures of the whole de-dollarization initiative Some people may dismiss Atlantic council as " Western\US" propaganda but the article gets it data around metrics like foreign reserves from the IMF which is the global institution that currency think tanks and analysts use This article really provides some relevant data from all sides of this evolving reality but if its TLDR then this link is a summary of the article that is based on the Atlantic link https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/us-dollars-dominance-secure-brics-see-no-progress-de-dollarization-report-2024-06-25/#:~:text=Dollar dominance — the outsized role,into other international and reserve Particularly pertinent "It noted that China has actively supported renminbi liquidity through swap lines with its trade partners, but the share of renminbi in global foreign currency reserves dropped to 2.3% from the peak of 2.8% in 2022. "This is possibly because of reserve managers’ concern about China’s economy, Beijing’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war, and a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan contributing to the perception of the renminbi as a geopolitically risky reserve currency," the report said."

Gorthfuscious do you still play GW2?

Trump could win, no one knows for sure And this article is nothing official and its more a suggestion but it puts pressure on both Ukraine and Russia to end the war if Trump decides to do it Putins demands have been very unreasonable so this might put pressure on him to really get to the negotiation table, Im not sure how Putin will respond to this type of threat " We tell the Ukrainians, 'You've got to come to the table, and if you don't come to the table, support from the United States will dry up,'" he said. "And you tell Putin, 'He's got to come to the table and if you don't come to the table, then we'll give Ukrainians everything they need to kill you in the field."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/julian-assange-reached-plea-deal-us-allowing-go-free-rcna158695 Assange is a free man, interesting that the US government that " was going to kill him if he ended up being extradited " has cut a deal with him Disappointing outcome but it is what it is

I am watching S2 of House of the Dragon and as predicted its good but after watching S1 I read the book Fire and Blood which is what the TV series is based on And books are always superior than what you can create on the screen. I doubt the TV series will follow the book completely but already I can see some similarities like how the rat catcher and gold cloak killed the prince so the TV series will probably follow the book around who dies and who lives and how they die Anyway, it means the excitement of not knowing is ruined for me but I will continue to watch the series because certain things are unique

I was about to post this, it looks excellent and its " day 1 " watch for sure Vampire movies need to be dark and terrifying. I dont like this recent interpretation of Vampires where they go around helping people and saving cats in trees This is exactly the type of Vampire theme I want to see and its based on the Dracula classic book

Absolutely, Duck l'Orange and similar dishes are delicious I always love to find how certain ingredients compliment a main meal like orange and duck But you must have lots of excellent Chinese restaurants where you live in Oz? I assume you have tried Peking Duck ?

https://en.thebell.io/the-hidden-reasons-behind-russias-mega-tax-rises/ Yes I see that, another consequence of Western sanctions on the Russian economy and the cost of the war The tax changes reflect a wholesale change in Russia’s philosophy when it comes to fiscal policy, said Buklemishev. For the last 20 years, the financial orthodoxy and core ideology was that Russia saved in the good years and then spent what it accumulated during rainy days or on grand investment projects. But this approach no longer holds up, because it is impossible to rely on being able to quickly raise funds to cover shortfalls without access to the Western financial market and convertible currencies. That means Russia can only fund planned new expenses by raising taxes. Buklemishev is skeptical of whether the Chinese yuan, which has become a vital part of the Russian financial system since the invasion of Ukraine, can fill the gap. “First, this is not a convertible currency. Second, it's hard work placing yuan in liquid instruments that generate normal returns. Third, we don’t know what will happen with the yuan as a currency over any longer-term perspective, because it is managed slightly differently from any other currency in which we have invested,” he said.

What? You have never eaten famous duck dishes like Peking Duck? Please do me a favour, take your wife out this weekend to a local Chinese restaurant and order Peking Duck to share. Its a great experience with pancakes and hoisin sauce and you make your own little pancake meals. Its a fantastic social meal like a Cheese Fondue Here are 5 restaurants in Chicago that serve Peking Duck (hopefully they still open ) https://stevedolinsky.com/top-5-peking-ducks-in-chicago

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-tv-drops-new-tucker-carlson-show I found this hilarious, only in Russia would you find the state controlled propaganda machinery creating a " Tucker Carlon show " without Carlson being part of it "It’s all fake obviously, like most stories in American news media. Of course I have no partnership with Russia. The first I'd heard anything about this was (this) morning,” he said. The CEO of Tucker Carlson Network, Neil Patel, said no deals had been done with Russia. "

What about NWN2? Didnt you enjoy that

Wow, that looks excellent. Definitely very interested

Sorry Zora but no ones ever heard of Diego Garcia, I always thought it was someone's name but I looked it up and it is real. Its an island @Gorth do you agree if we have never heard of a development then it cant be counted in the list

Absolutely, Cyb2077 is another example that games can survive terrible launches It just takes commitment from the development studio and mods can also address certain problems

But what other countries or examples would that apply to because Im missing the point you making?

I like to read posts like this because it confirms what I was hoping and expecting for Starfield The game had its predicated but still disappointing bad launch but now official updates and mods will change that initial bad experience and Starfield will start becoming a much better game I wont touch it for another 24 months

Wormie !!! No need for racism, this is a forum of tolerance and acceptance But there is a legitimate debate around playing the vanilla game first to understand " what was intended " and I agree with that sentiment But that typically doesn't apply to Bethesda games for several reasons or rather why I mod there games to change . And this includes the following HD textures and graphic mods dont change the narrative or mechanics except for improving on something that didnt exist at the time of development. So they become " must have mods " in the interests of enhancing the visual experience A game like Oblivion had some incredibly bad designs like level scaling, the idea that a rat can challenge you when you level 20 makes no sense and there should always be monsters that can defeat you on early levels like in Gothic games. So loading mods that change this is about the immersive experience and that for me is very important I dont load mods that change the fundamental narrative and all my mods are lore friendly And of course loading chainmail bikini mods is all about gender equality. I am a feminist and I always support a liberated and confident women and we must never tell any women what they can or cant wear. Even @HoonDingwill agree on this But in summary the mods I use improve bad designs and development shortfalls but they dont really change the vanilla experience because the vanilla experience isnt suppose to be a bad or a lazy design Of course there are exceptions to this, when I play Skyrim for the first time I am going to play Requiem but thats more the exception because thats a major overhaul mod but its the type of game I want to experience from the beginning

Yes but the Council of Europe, European Commission, the European Council are just 3 examples of the 78 who signed it Its easier to understand when you see the list and its definitely not mostly EU countries. There are African and South American and Asian countries "Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Canada, Chile, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Council of Europe, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, European Commission, European Council, European Parliament, Fiji, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, Sao Tomé and Principe, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Somalia, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor Leste, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay" But I do find it interesting how Russia's EU " allies " that include Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia signed it I would have assumed they wouldnt have signed it?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/80-countries-at-swiss-summit-agree-ukraines-territorial-integrity-required-for-peace Not really, the EU consists of 27 countries and 100 countries attended. And 78 countries signed it So the outcome definitely wasnt just an " expected " EU response. And its based on the UN view around respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty That hasnt changed and never will, you cant just invade a country and create your borders and the support for this document is more or less the same as how UN votes go around the war where Russia gets very little support but countries abstain But it wont stop the war, Putins committed to his warmongering and the invasion. Its more symbolic

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-passes-defense-bill-automatically-registering-men-draft Great idea and one I support but its unlikely it will pass the Senate vote Lots of young people in the US nowadays are despondent, populist and entitled and this type of law should go a long way to changing that bad attitude It doesnt mean you will be sent to war, you could do civil service work or something like national guard work