Keyrock

Now if we could just get rid of the horrific chromatic aberration. Both filmgrain and chromatic aberration are 2 trends that need to die a fiery death as soon as possible. I drives me nuts that developers keep cramming this crap into games.

In a related story, I'd like to announce my availability for mo-cap work for Cyberpunk 2077.

I like to imagine that this was playing in the background during those mo-cap sessions:

Sadly, it has been revealed that The Witcher 3 does not have 16 hours of sex scenes as falsely reported earlier in The Guardian. http://nichegamer.net/2015/01/it-took-16-hours-to-record-all-of-the-sex-scene-mo-cap-for-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/

Which line in the ini? I'm really enjoying the game btw, hopefully I won't end up overpowered as most of the fun comes from surviving. I think you have to unpack one of the data files then change something in one of the .scr files in the unpacked archive, then pack it back up. I plan to do this myself when I get home as I'm not too keen on the film grain effect. Edit: Here is the Steam Forum post on how to go about disabling film grain.

It looks like I got off lucky. Some more snow fell late last night and early this morning. In other places it never stopped and just kept going until this morning. The further east and the further north you were the harder you got hit it seems. I live in Hartford, which is pretty much right in the center of CT. We got off easy with only 13". Manchester, where I work, got 19". Mansfield, where my boss lives, got 22". Thompson, which is in the extreme northeast corner of the state, got over 30". Some places in Massachusetts got 3 feet.

Dang, Dying Light went from easy to insanely difficult right quick. I gotta go to an area that's ridiculously packed with zombies. The regular ones I could avoid, but they have virals there, several of them, which are recently turned zombies that are ridiculously fast, can climb, and jump around like monkeys making them hard to hit. Worse yet, I gotta hit them like 15 times with my crappy weapons to put them down for good. I desperately need a better weapon but I can't afford one and I haven't been able to find a halfway decent weapon anywhere. I think I'll need to abandon this quest for now and scavenge around a safer area for a while, because I got no chance in the area I'm trying to get to now. I can kill one or two virals provided I can fight them one at a time, but half a dozen is way too much for me to handle right now and I can;t just run past them because they're pretty much smack dab in the area I need to get to. I do like how after the first couple quests, which a very much scripted and will happen at certain times of day regardless how quickly you get there, the time of day runs freely and you can decide on your own whether to try to get something done while sunset is approaching or to play it safe and go back to a safe house to sleep until morning.

So far, yes. The story definitely has me interested, but I'm very early in. We'll see if it can keep me interested.

I'm playing Dying Light. As is, sadly, expected, the game has some bugs and issues at launch, but they can be worked around, most of them, anyway. There is noticeable stutter, ghosting, and a weird issue where sometimes characters' lips don't move when they speak (other times they do). The stuttering seems to be across both Windows and Linux, I'm not sure if the other issues are Linux specific. The stuttering can be gotten rid of by simply turning off Steam Overlay. I don't know how the two are connected, but turning off Steam Overlay solved the problem, so whatever. The ghosting I solved by turning on AmbientOcclusion. It's not in the settings menu on Linux, I turned it on in the config file and the ghosting magically disappeared (or it's a coincidence or placebo effect, small sample size and all). The lack of lip movement I have not been able to solve, but it;s not a showstopper, it just makes some conversations look weird. I'm playing the game at 1440p maxed out except antialiasing off (I don't notice jaggies anyway) and motion blur off (because I hate motion blur). The game runs fine other than the lip movement issue. I haven't thrown the FPS counter on it (don't think I can without the Steam Overlay or using a 3rd party app), but I'm getting a smooth playable framerate and haven't noticed hiccups. It's a very pretty game. The lighting effects are pretty spectacular and the texture quality and character models are all quality. The game plays like a better Dead Island with a greater emphasis on mobility and evasion. During the day most zombies are pretty docile. They will come after you if you get close and they spot you, but they can be easily distracted and you can get away from them quite easily. I'll fight zombies if I have an isolated zombie or two, or if a quest demands it, but if there's a pack of them, I just run right past them. The game has a free running system. it's not quite as smooth as Mirror's Edge, but it is adequate. Generally speaking, during the day, if you climb up on a rooftop or on top of a bus or van, you are untouchable as zombies can't climb. Everything changes at night. When the sun is about to set, it's a mad scramble to get back to either the tower or a safe house. If you get caught outside during nighttime you are in a world of trouble. There are super strong, quick, agile zombies that only come out at night and they will hunt your ass down and they will murder you. Maybe at higher level I'll have the skills and means to fight them, but right now if I'm out at night and I get spotted I'm all "F this ****, I'm f'n out of here". Running from the zombies at night is a pretty pulse pounding adrenaline rush. They are just as fast as you in full sprint, maybe even slightly faster, and they can climb. There is a risk/reward mechanic where all experience earned (you get experience for not just fighting, but also doing free running) during nighttime is doubled, so it;s a good way to get stronger, also a good way to get killed. Anyway, I'm liking the game so far. The gameplay during the day is mostly laid back since zombies are so easy to escape, but I like the fact that you generally don't have to fight them if you don't want to. Gameplay during the night will get your heart rate up. It's freakin' intense. I'll post some screenshots once they sort the Steam Overlay problem out. Without Steam Overlay I can't (easily) do screenshots, unless there is a screenshot utility in the game itself I haven't noticed.

Yeah, we got less than a foot where I live, maybe 9 inches or so. It's not over yat as we might get more snow later toady, but nothing heavy. Works for me. I still get the day off paid and cleanup is easier. Win-win.

I'm getting paid for the day(s) too. So as long as the power doesn't go out, lucky bastard indeed. We has a freak storm about 5 years ago at the end of October (which is extremely early to be getting snow here). The temp was just above freezing when the storm hit. Had it been colder it would likely have been at least 2 feet of fluffy snow (and far less damage) but because of the temperature we got about 14" of heavy, wet, water saturated snow. It took down trees all over the state, which in turn took down power lines. Power outages all over the state. Where I was living (different town than where I live now), power was out in the entire town for 3 days, and I mean the entire town, everything. After 3 days some of the town was running, after 5 days much of the town had power, where I lived the power was out for a full week. That sucked. Highs in the mid 40s lows in the mid 20s. No electricity, no heat, no hot water for 7 days. Those first 3 days when I wanted a warm meal I jury rigged a stand to put a can of soup on and put a candle underneath it to heat it up. Only about an hour and a half of "cooking" and the soup was kinda warm. After the first 3 days at least I could walk somewhere to get a warm meal even if it was Burger King (in that situation I wasn't being choosy). That was a rough week. On a related note, I hate Connecticut.

Look at it this way, to southern Californians a storm like this would be the end of the world, to a Minnesotan, this would be a joke and we should stop being such p*****s.

Quen is far and away the most overpowered ability in TW2. If you don't use it battles become much harder and much more interesting. The combat is still not responsive enough, but without Quen at least you're forced to use your brain. Quen is essentially the "I Win" button in TW2, particularly if you upgraded it.

We got hit with about 22-24" 3 years ago, and had back to back storms that put down 16" then 12-14" within a week 2 years ago, so unless this storm winds up being in the extreme upper end of the estimation (30") it won't be worse than what we've gotten recently.

I'll make sure to make JOKEZ when you enjoy your wildfires in about 6 months.

Connecticut is shut down. Gov. Malloy has issued a travel ban. I'm home. I got plenty of food and I got booze. Obviously no work tomorrow, possibly no work Wednesday, depending on when this stops. Last I checked estimations were 18-30" where I am. I just hope my power doesn't go out. As long as I got power I'm good to go. I made sure my laptop is charged in case we do lose power so I at least have some contact with the outside world besides my phone. Edit: Made sure my flashlight is working. (My flashlight is my bicycle light detached from the handlebar).

My favorite electronica artist of all time Tom "Squarepusher" Jenkinson

That, for whatever reason, reminded me of this

Geralt's glorious beard gets shaved off? No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I like how instead of going down a hill all awkward like still using the regular walking animation, they have Geralt slide down it sideways. Edi: Phew, they just confirmed it's possible to keep the beard. Beard Master Race for the win!

Have some classic Zlad Long live Molvania.

I think there is room for games to be more artistic. I feel there is room for games to be more diverse. I feel there is room for games to be educational. I feel there is room for games to deal with unpleasant topics and to disturb. But I also feel there is room for games to still be goofy nonsensical romps. Heck, I feel there is room for games to have giant boobs in bikini armor and there is room for hentai dating sims.

I can has Curse of Monkey Island? I believe they were already leaked. It's all Star Wars. I recall one was Republic Commando. ****ing Star Wars, always ruining everything for me.

The best/most heretical part is that I sometimes think Curse is the best game in the series. I feel that game is really excellent and Ron Gilbert not being involved doesn't bother me one bit. I go back and forth between Le Chuck's Revenge and Curse as the best MI game.

I can has Curse of Monkey Island?