Keyrock

Steamworld Dig 2 is currently free for 24 hours on Steam and GOG. It's a really good game, snatch it up if you don't already own it.

You're asking me to comment on a culture foreign to me. My answer is Yes, Atlus is a Japanese developer.

@LadyCrimsonHere's a traditional depiction of Nekomata: Mythological creatures all over the world are very often humanoid. Blame our ancestors for making them that way.

None of those are Japanese (there are plenty of Japanese folklore creatures in MegaTen games). Manananggal is Filipino, Norn, or Nornir, are Norse, and Belphegor is Judeo-Christian. MegaTen games' demons come from folklore and mythology from all corners of the globe. Edit: Here's a Japanese one for you: Kikuri-Hime

Not cat related, but I always thought Manananggal had one of the raddest designs in Megaten games: Also, Norn: Also also, Belphegor because my man is sitting on the throne:

@LadyCrimsonWould you prefer Cait Sith aka Puss in Boots? How about Nekomata?

If you are looking for scantily clad characters, Shin Megami Tensei 5 has you covered: There's even something for the furries:

I'm always appreciative when a game allows you to transmute an item, whether it be weapon or armor, to make it look like something else while keeping the stats of the item intact. It's the best of both worlds. You can have your +50 Armor +8 Constitution +25% XP gain armor and it can look like a sexy lace corset, a richly ornamented suit of plate with waaaaaaaaay too huge pauldrons, or anything in between. Fair, but I imagine plate would still be a poor choice due to the sheer weight and the metal heating up in the scorching sun. The gambeson by itself would probably be a much better choice.

I mean, if you're in the desert and it's 115°F and you go out there decked out in a gambeson with 35 lbs of metal plate over that, you won't have to worry about anyone putting an arrow through you because you will be dead from heat stroke.

+50 Distraction, +5 Charisma

I'm tempted to post some Boris Vallejo pictures here. Edit: Screw it!

I don't particularly mind boobplate. It's about consistency in the art direction. If everyone else in a game is wearing realistic and functional looking armor and suddenly you introduce a buxom babe in a chain bikini, that stands out and warrants criticism. If, on the other hand, everybody is wearing exaggerated, cartoonish, and/or show offy outfits, then a woman wearing a corset as armor doesn't look out of place. Anyway, Pillars had much bigger problems than boobplate, or the lack there of.

I was hesitant to call it a point & click adventure (& RPG hybrid), since Sierra On-Line (later just Sierra) games started out using a text parser interface, so point & click adventure is a misnomer. Later they changed to a mouse-driven point & click interface. I want to say QFG4 was p&c, but it's been so long that I can't say for sure.

It's an adventure game & RPG hybrid. The second QFG is still my favorite in the series, largely due to the Arabian Nights setting.

I haven't found much time to game lately, so I'm still really early in Bravely Default 2, I only just finished the prologue and got into the game proper. Freelancer has abilities at lev 9 and lev 12 (max) that increase how many job points (jp) you earn and whenever I see abilities that increase xp gain my natural instinct is to get them ASAP. This means that my party currently consists of 4 freelancers, which is a pretty terrible party. It will be worth it in the long run, though.

So, umm, I don't... What do you say about a game like that? I can't blame our defense, what are they supposed to do when they spend the entire game on the field because the offense can't do anything? There's having a bad game, that happens, then there is this. Our offense just collectively took a **** on the field.

So our offense decided to not show up for today's game. Alrighty then.

I sincerely hope you are right. I will be delighted to be wrong if that turns out to be the case, but I can't fight my own cynicism.

I would say that Obsidian is certainly capable of such a thing, but I don't know if at this stage they could do it. Okay, that sounds like I'm contradicting myself, let me explain. Obsidian has the writing chops to make a game like that, but they were a fairly high profile Microsoft signing so now they have the pressure of being one of Microsoft's star studios. Why has Playstation repeatedly bested XBOX in sales? 1st party games. As much as I hate the idea of exclusives, they sell systems. This is why Microsoft went on a spending spree acquiring studios to make games for them. Now, I'd love to think that Microsoft would take a hands off approach with Obsidian. "Hey folks, that sounds like a great idea, here's your funding, we'll leave you to it. You know what you're doing." Let's be real here. If this were a smaller crowdfunded or self-funded game, I could see it. However, with being a high profile Microsoft studio, there are expectations. Disco Elysium is a niche game. It's a great and successful niche game, but niche nonetheless. I can't help but fear that stuff will be shoehorned into the game to make it appeal to a broader audience. I hope I'm wrong.

It's entirely possible that I never build another rig again. What I went through nearly a year ago to build my latest desktop, I never want to do that ever again. The shortage and scalper situation seems like it's gotten slightly better since then, but it's still terrible. I'm starting to worry that this never fully goes away, that even when supply increases, assuming it ever does, and given the constantly increasing demand for silicon for devices of all kinds that's no guarantee, that scalpers will just buy more and still artificially create shortages. Even without scalpers, component prices have spun out of control. I know inflation is a thing, but prices are increasing much faster than inflation. I may just become a dirty console peasant. Consoles are often sold at a loss for the manufacturer, they make their money elsewhere, so you typically get much better value for the level of hardware you get, plus console games tend to be better optimized because the dev has 1 or 2, maybe 3 tops hardware configurations to optimize for, rather than potentially thousands with PC versions, so they can be a lot more specific. Honestly, console graphics have gotten so good that it almost doesn't matter. I was just playing Metroid Dread on the Switch, the lowest power current console out there, and that game looks great. If that game was 4K with ray tracing and extra god rays and volumetric fog or whatever would it look better? Sure, but how much would that have enhanced my experience? Nearly nil. Maybe I'll feel differently in a couple of years, but right now I'm so ****ing done this bull****.

I feel like Rodgers is paying me back for the multiple times he murdered muh Boys in the most painful way possible and ended our season. Between the will he won't he off-season drama and this latest media ****storm... *chef kiss* Magnifique! I hope he keeps pouring gasoline on the fire, this is great!

Geese are already naturally ***holes, you don't need to give them special properties to make them infuriating.

I'm having a bit of the Suntory Toki a bit before Rampage airs. It's very easy drinking and very mellow, I would compare it to a scotch most closely rather than bourbon, Irish whisky, etc. I took my first sip neat before adding my customary tiny splash of water and even straight up there was almost no burn, despite being 43% alcohol, so a wee bit stronger than typical. I'm not getting any hint of rice like I did with the Nikka From the Barrel I had last year. In fact, there really isn't anything very distinctive about the flavor. That sort of comes with the territory with a blend; if you want a distinctive flavor you should generally go for a single malt. Still, Dewar's 12 year old has more character to it and I would rate that as well as Chivas Regal ahead of this in terms of blended scotch whisky. There's nothing wrong with it, though. If you are looking for a very smooth, mellow, and easy drinking whisky this fits the bill nicely.

Me during the never ending string of Aaron Rodgers drama: