melkathi

I identify as a politically homeless leftist - meaning, my family left "the party" as those masquerading as "left" and representing the party are immoral charlatans with only their self interest at heart. Political correctness by itself is not something I have an issue with. That is, I have no issue with teaching people what should be common decency. Bringing up Homer in this context though is extremely intriguing. Because truly reading those classics, not for the "Achilles was a max level fighter wit epic gear" but for the sociopolitical context they give us for the time, is fascinating. The Iliad especially (though later tragedies such as Aeschylus's Oresteia even more so) judges very harshly actions that we now explain away as "those were different times; you cannot judge them by today's values". It turns out, yes, you can. There is no denying that Cassandra is the most tragic character in the Iliad. She spurns Apollo and is cursed by him to see the future but have nobody believe her. She is locked away as a raving lunatic by the people she loves and tries to save. She sits helpless as she watches events that will lead to countless deaths, including her own. And the audience knows this. The audience back then knew that what Apollo did was wrong. Troy falls and Cassandra seeks protection in the temple of Athena. Ajax the Lesser rapes her regardless. The audience is on her side. It understands that rape is wrong. Perhaps wrong because she was a princess seeking protection of the goddess, where raping a slave girl would have been acceptable, but it is obvious rape wasn't just "just rape". As he isn't punished, Athena kills a lot more people than just him in retribution. Of course, that didn't stop the Locrians of venerating him as their national hero. Cassandra will later be murdered in Aeschylus' Agamemnon, first of the Oresteia trilogy of tragedies. Which incidentally has a lot to say about violence against women. Cassandra as the most tragic character shows that there was understanding for subjects we see as new now. Otherwise the audience could not have recognized the tragedy. But, as my pasta is getting cold, what I am getting at is: the classics have a lot to say about the matters we of the left are interested in highlighting. And they are not just a showcase of a more unenlightened time - these are matters that interested poets thousands of years ago as well. And they had something to say about the matter as well.

I just (9AM so 9 hours ago) finished Rythm of War (Book IV of the Stormlight Archives). Like all Sanderson books it is very well planned out. This alone makes it a joy to read: knowing that information is there for a reason and not simply to fill pages. Especially as there are nearly 1300 of those once more. I like that the story is constructed and build up through logical building blocks. While new information may be introduced, it never is the result of the author simply having a new idea and throwing it in there, disregarding what they had written up 'till then. True, I may just be happy that close to 2000 pages ago some information was introduced which had me go "Oh, that in one of the future books this will happen" and it now happened. I like being right. I also like feeling clever. On the other hand, I find every Stormlight Archives book manages to take a character and make their chapters tedious for at least half the book. While Kaladin was a great underdog hero in the first book, he became less enjoyable to read in book two. Now, his continued fight with depression has become easier to read - he no longer appears selfish, just in need of serious need of psychotherapy. And that works. Perhaps Sanderson has done some more research into depression and has a better understanding on the subject now. Still, the depression was always there, just not always communicated as well. Shallan on the other hand is now the character who really needs to truly evolve. Sanderson seems to be unable to properly write female characters. Or more than his signature female character. And as Shallan gets so much more page time than nay of the others ever got, the problems with this archetype show more. Women don't grow by pretending to not be themselves. They don't grow by making up fake personalities. It worked in Mistborn for Vin/Valette because she had to infiltrate high society and suddenly a whole new world opened to the starving street urchin. But it can't be copied onto every other female protagonist. Vin, Vivenna, Firefight, Shai, Shallan, they all merge into one character, with Shallan becoming the one who makes the reader (i.e. me) say "Enough already. Yes, young women try to find their place in the world. They don't do it by playing dress up as if they were a Barbie doll." What seemingly has been presented as character growth is an awkwardly written multiple personality disorder. And woosh, in book four of the Stormlight Archives, after torturing the reader for over 5000 pages, Sanderson acknowledges this. Shallan isn't growing, she is at best regressing, but mostly a nutjob. But the length it took to reach this realization makes me wonder if perhaps this is the one part that wasn't planned. That perhaps readers did write in all these misgivings I didn't air. The biggest hurdle to enjoying the book is, as in the whole series, the flashbacks. While the information may be important and give insights, it breaks up the flow of the story the reader is actually invested in. Worse, in this book the "one year ago" actually is the "now of two books ago. We have seen Venli being Venli at the time. We didn't like her. Nobody liked her. Yes, now Venli also doesn't like herself, but the rest of us don't truly need a reminder of who she is. What is interesting about the book is that the Cosmere meta-plot that bound most of Sanderson's stories together (Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archives, Emperor's Soul etc) is now merging into the main plot. Hoit is no longer a cameo sprinkled through the story in a Where is Waldo for the fans. It remains to be seen if this meta-plot, that has been building over so many years, will live up to the build up. At least Vasher says the truth in this book: "Hoit is an ****". Takes one to know one, Vasher.

Thank you. I don't seem to have the attention span for a title that long and missed it going through three years of topis

I don't know. Disco Elysium is a bit too mainstream.

Do we have a "What are you reading?" thread?

You know something we don't it seems...

I do not see me doing all that much gaming over the next week, so may as well start looking back at the year now. Obviously the big disappointment was Necromunda. It looks pretty, but not only did they make design choices that went against what the game should be, it was and is a buggy mess with possibly the worst AI in computer gaming history. It is amazing how they managed this. If they had simply reskinned Mordheim, a lot of people would have been happy. The fact that Rogue Factor is now a subsidiary of Cyanide and Cyanide got sold, so Focus didn't care anymore for this title, didn't help. Immortal Realms: Vampire War was another disappointment. One of the "strange" things is that from beta to release, nothing seems to have changed. They called it a beta, but in reality it was a "Play bits of the game as we finish them". Troy - A Total War Saga on the other hand was a very pleasant surprise. It is the first Total War game I ever finished. It treated the mythical setting well and follows the "historical" events while giving players freedom to do as they please. I would call it one of my top purchases of the last couple of years, but it was free. Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Star Kings DLC was also better than I feared. The Empire mode makes skirmish games more involved and may have come a bit as a result of the very negative feedback the single player campaign got. It has its issues - the AI has real trouble handling some of the random planet traits and can become non functional city states. But it is a step in the right direction. Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark 's DLC was also great. The game becomes a little grindy towards the end, but I am glad I got it from the Giveaway thread and people who passed it by were silly Phoenix Point's Year One edition was on the other hand rather meh. It improved a lot over what had been released before, but all of that they could have done a year earlier if they had simply listened to Backer Build feedback. And the DLC so far is pretty bad. Especially the Legacy of the Ancients one is so grindy, it makes asian MMOs feel casual (yeah, a bit of hyperbole, but imagine you'd play XCOM, and to gather resources you'd have to keep the Avenger hovering over the resource site to pick up alien DNA one unit per hour and you needed 150 units for one weapon). It also means I feel that the rest of the DLCs will simply bloat the game and not make it more interesting or fun. Chimera Squad on the other hand I absolutely loved. Well, not some of the characters and their banter, which I found annoying. But the gameplay and direction the game took were very enjoyable and I did finish it three times to explore everything the story had to offer and try different squat compositions. I am looking forward to FiraXCOM3. The best writing this year was easily Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest. It would have been great if it was longer and the end felt a bit rushed. On the other hand, the whole story makes sense and is the best introduction to the world of darkness I have seen in a game.

1983 Orginal? Not a bad thing to remember. Though this year I have been thinking a lot about it. In V the visitors turned people against scientists...

Is this the first time we have seen Bokishi's hand? Or is that a hand model?

Did anyone else notice the Alpha Protocol cameo in that announcement?

The biggest effect Cyberpunk had: It allowed LadyCrimson to pass Guard Dog on the Obsidian forum Leaderboard by a margin of 6 points. Brought to you by Melkathi - News That Matter

And you didn't even play Necromunda.

As long as the link works and you get to play. Just remember that Ambushes are a complete waste of time and resources, so it is better to have a save before the exploration finished, so you can reload and trigger a different outcome.

Waiting for the patch notes: "Reduced spawn rate of ****"

I sent it to Chill because he was first, but mostly because I like him less and want to see him suffer.

I don't see myself using my Phoenix Point GOG key...

To be honest, Cyberfunk doesn't even have a release date yet.

Seriously, if they gave it for free, I still wouldn't bother to reinstall. On a different note, EPIC had accidentally mixed up alerts when the pre-loads for Cyberfunk started and sent me an alert that pre-orders for Werewolf: Earthblood started. They did start pre-orders yesterday for realz now. Release 4. Feb.

That moment when you see a character with a backer name in the game and they are called Catherine Jones, call sign "Zeta"... And it is one of the better names.

Just as with Witcher 3 they did not add a quickload apparently.

The music is the reason they fight. The ogryn listens to loud music and that is how the enemies found them The Sister of Sigmar is so meh. Looks like a lazy conversion of a warhammer fantasy miniature - as if someone took a sister from Mordheim, slapped a gun holster on her belt and said: look! Female Cawdor for Necromunda! Should have given her a chainsword instead of a hammer.

In two years when I get this game, I shall necro this thread.

Phoenix Point mind control: The AI will not attack AI creatures/soldiers you have mind controlled. In this it is very different to many other games, where you can mind control an opponent and use them as a meat shield. Mind control can be broken by disabling/panicking/killing the controller. Mind control is not broken if the controller evacuates the map. This I found out today, will lead to situations where all Phoenix Project soldiers have left the map, and a solitary mind controlled crab man hangs around. The mission does not end, because not all soldiers have evacuated. The crab man can't evacuate, because it is affected by a status effect (mind control) which prevents it from performing the action - the button is there, but grayed out with a warning that it can't be used. For the mission to end, the mind control has to wear off. This can take a few turns, during which the mind controlled crab man is free to do whatever. The other creatures will ignore it and move randomly. Free kills if you can get them in time...

I just stealthed a mission in Phoenix Point. Not a single shot fired by me or the New Jericho guards. Heavy used jump jets to reach the objective on turn 1. Everyone else ran to hide behind the building. Turn 3 everyone evacuated from the opposite end of the map. Max XP for everyone?