majestic

My parents decided that it's time to catch the 'rona. They're both fine outside of regular flu symptoms. I've been feeling a little tired, but otherwise I'm fine, in spite of having had close contact. Third time (that I know of, at least) I'm directly exposed due to coworkers and family. Antigen test came back negative, so not sure. Might be tired from something else, but it sure feels a little like I'm a little under the weather.

Unlimited paid time off, i.e. no set amount of vacation days.

Nichelle Nichols

Problems with license plates. #balkanthings

So this is basically you right now: Don't worry about getting flamed.

Made in Abyss, season 1. Well, finished the part that's currently on Netflix here, which is the 13 episodes of the first season. The last episode is twice as long, so technically it has the runtime of a 14 episode show with 25 minute episodes. Not that it changes much. The pacing is all over the place, which is less of an issue than it might seem. Over the course of the first season, Reg's penis is talked about on three separate occasions. Once after Riko examines him, once after a grown up looks at it in curiosity and once more when Riko and Reg go skinny dipping in the Abyss, which has a very obvious consequence that Riko comments on by basically asking him: "What's going on with your willy?" Riko, on the other hand, hangs naked from the ceiling, gets undressed after some distress because Reg wants to 'check' her for any injuries, gets undressed after a serious injury, and of course while bathing (where she can't do it herself due to the aforementioned injury). She also, on three separate occasions, soils herself. While it does make sense that she would do that under extreme duress (once unconscious while poisoned, once while in terrible pain), the reason why it was necessary to comment and in one case show it is not entirely within the grasp of my understanding. The third one was an 'accident' at night because she was afraid to go to the loo. Well, all in all, it could have been worse, I suppose. Riko is, at least according to the subtitles, 12 years old, and the nudity doesn't carry funny undertones or is sexually charged, skinny dipping commentary aside, perhaps. As far as random cruelty against children goes, we have the naked hanging from the ceiling punishment that is not only popular in the orphanage, and the group of people who research and explore the Abyss who randomly scoop up unwanted children from all over the world to use them in disfiguring to lethal experiments. Because why not. That said, back to the pacing. Soft spoilers from here on out - but they should be safe for @Bartimaeus and his patented spoiler reading technique. Now that all reads rather negatively, and the question then becomes, why binge it? Because, surprisingly, while the emotional part of the series did not work for me at all, the mystery part does. Like I alwas maintain, give me a decent mystery to look at, and I'm game. The Abyss serves that function wonderfully, and the exploration part of the series is really nice. It is also, ah, a prelude to a disappointing ending, I suppose, if such an ending comes. Can't recall a decent mystery series where the mystery didn't end up being a letdown, or unexplained. But never mind that, the second season is only ongoing, and who knows if it even finishes the storyline. At the risk of sounding like @Bartimaeus after watching Madoka, if you want me to care about the abject terror that characters experience, make me care about them first. With the characters not really working for my Darth Vader, I suppose, they're not really going to work for @Bartimaeus' Palpatine. I do forgive much more easily, after all.

@Amentep @Fionavar move to Grounded tech support please, nobody's going to read it in here.

I liked Event Horizon, and as far as horror movies go I'd consider it a favorite of mine. For some reason it's really divisive, many people just hated the film, other consider it a cult classic. The one thing that's certainly odd watching the film nowadays is Cooper, the bumbling comic relief, constantly talking black guy on the crew with the sexist jokes (offering coffee with a quippy hey, want something hot and black in you? - yeah, that wouldn't be in the movie if it came out today, huh). I would also argue that Event Horizon and the first Alien vs. Predator film are far from terrible as far as movie crafting goes. Actually was surprised by AvP because I expected Mortal Kombat level action trash and got a decent actiony film out of it. As long as you can accept the kooky premise and the universe welding. Prometheus one-upped that by fusing Blade Runner into it.

Particularily true in IWD where playing on insane difficulty doubles the experience gain. Harder start, much easier rest of the game. Power creep is less problematic than in BG2 because regular mages are useless due to the limited scroll availibility, but if you play the EE and take a sorcerer with you, even that become moot. Mind, the game experience significantly improves when you can just fireball your way through Kresselack's tomb, but it doesn't make the game as such more interesting.

Well, in that case the point is kind of moot. It's not really required anyway, but if you artificially deflate experience values your DC experience will vary greatly. I'll freely admit to not being able to judge BG1 fairly insofar as it has way too many useless side areas that I can't ignore, so I waste significant amounts of time in the wilderness, and since I already finished the game once, I'm usually nope, I'm outta here either before Cloakwood or after entering Baldur's Gate. I also don't really enjoy the hands-off story telling of either IWD or BG1 and prefer the IWD2 and BG2 way of being more directly engaging. It's not as bad in BG1 as it is in IWD. I'd be more inclined to sit through IWD's dungeon slog if everything was a little more engaging, but you're directing a group of nondescript adventurers through a bunch of locations on a relatively small scale group of quests that sometimes tell stories about those locations - like Kresselack's Tomb and Kresselack's problem with the Priestess of Auril - but I always find myself not caring an iota for any of them. The nice visuals, the music, the mood and, indeed, the writing - nothing of it is in service of anything interesting. IWD2 on the other hand improved on these aspects. Yes, the characters are still a bunch of nondescript nobodies I don't care a fig about (in what is one of life's little ironies, building the characters is more fun in IWD2, so that helps too, even if I actually don't like 3E that much), but everything else is better. In IWD, you talk a bunch with the villagers of Easthaven, and are then off, and the game gracefully kills your only point of attachment, then gives you a new one (who is boring as hell) and kills him off quickly too. In IWD2, you spend some significant amount of time in Targos getting to know everybody, shore up defenses, then fight off the incoming attack and go on a counter offensive. It is much more engaging than trying to help Kuldahar with its bunch of numpties (except Oswald, but he's not doing much in IWD). It's combat is - for better or worse - equally sloggy, but it feels more dynamic and interesting due to the encounter design and some fresh ideas (war drums, exploding kegs, fortifications, etc.). Even if it makes no difference in the long run, I want to save that bridge and rush for the enemies wanting to destroy it. In IWD, by the time I reach Kresselack, I'm done with the game. Screw Kuldahar, who cares if they get snowed in. I don't really see where IWD's gameplay would rank significantly above IWD2's. They're both full of endless trash fights (funny how some of us expected something different from Pillars of Eternity, talk about not learning from experience) and IWD2 is just smoother in almost every way and isn't just "go to this dungeon, kill everything in it" all through the game. IWD2's Ice Temple and Dragon's Eye time loop might get old after going through them once, but IWD's Kresselack's Tomb gets old the first time you're there. Never mind Dragon's Eye and its five ginormous levels, and then there's still more and more and more to slog through. Ugh. Yeah, no, let me walk through empty wilderness please. We had that exact argument on this forum like seven years ago, and there were (are still, probably) posters who believe that any and all RtwP game would be significantly improved by simply slapping a turn based mode on the existing encounters. Baffling, really. Can you imagine going to rescue Dynaheir in BG1 with turn based combat before your party has any significant amount of area of effect capabiities? Fighting off 200 gnolls by taking turns where only like two of your party members have any realistic chance of hitting them? That would be awesome indeed!

PS:T > BG2 > IWD2 > BG > a rock > rusty nails in your scrotum > slow, agonizing death by necrotizing fasciitis > IWD. Willing to die on that hill. Come at me.

That half attack translates to a full attack under Improved Haste, which is a huge boost to damage which otherwise took going to level 13 in case of dual classing. It's also 28 more hit points - more with the book from BG1. Going from fighter 9 to mage 10 - which is the most XP you can take for a dual class at fighter 9, anyway - takes 500k experience, which is like a sixth of BG2's original experience cap. Not that much, especially with reduced party sizes to break the XP curve. If you're in the mood for Beamdog content (ugh) then it's pretty much a no-brainer with Siege of Dragonspear. Fighter MCs can still get to the cap because they eventually reach level 13, but, well, you'd end up with less hit points and a slower overall progression. Ultimately it doesn't really make any difference, Anomen proves that, but if you go for cheese, why not the expensive one. I got through IWD once. By making a paladin, two fighters and a bard, then dualling the two to thief and cleric at level 9. That gives plenty of staying power. Bit of an annoying beginning, but that's what you've got rest until healed for. The bard is good enough a mage for anything in IWD anyway. Cuts quickly through the horrendous amount of combat - that just leaves the annoying dungeon layouts. Can't do anything against those. But hey, the great writing of the utterly uninteresting story your personality-free group of boring characters stumble into and the great music tides over everything, no? No?

Not as clear cut as with the EE's proficiency table, which more or less necessitates a level 9 fighter dual class. I mean, if one wants to have a perfectly optimized character. If one doens't, then everything goes, really. The reason is getting to the attacks/round hard cap, basically - which was a level 13 warrior type dual class in the original BG2. Not counting any fixes or nerf-mods or whatever else one might have applied. MCs have certain advantages when it comes to HLAs (one does get a HLA at every level up past the original BG2 XP cap, after all) - the most glaring one is the fine bug in the original BG2 where a fighter/thief MC could pick up Assassination as often as wanted. Which was pretty goofy fun. Fixed in some mods, probably fixed in the EE too. Never played BG2 EE long enough to find out.

Says the most important thing is combat effectiveness. Adds an 8 CON single class cleric to the party, drops the fighter/druid for it. To be fair to Khalid, all of the companions have sub-par stats, some are just less bad than others. One can easily made do with Khalid as tank, but there are better options. Still, I think the game (series) plays best if you play a tank main character. So, basically, something like a fighter/mage dual class. With the EE nedlessly mucking about with the original BG2's nerfed Grand Mastery, it does pay off more than before to not simply use a multi-class. Lord knows what Beamdog thought there, but hey, it wouldn't be Beamdog otherwise. It does give your character a broader range of off-hands to use, which is nice, but it basically kills the multi classes in terms of effectiveness.

Jaheira's viability in BG1 is hampered by the available items, but she's a powerhouse in BG2. Well, any Fighter/Druid is, but she's the only NPC one. That said, there's no real decent early alternative for her, and she's good enough as a healer and can pack a punch. Everything else is kind of secondary. Viconia, meanwhile, is as useless as any other single class cleric (well, any single class divine caster, including the stupid EE shaman). The only thing she has going for her is that she's not a single class thief, but that's a bit of a stretch, particularily in the EE where thieves can set traps even early on in BG1 and actually make a bunch of otherwise difficult encounters easier and multiclasses might not have enough points yet.

It ain't over until the fat lady sings you're through AvP and the new Ridley Scott films. You know you want to. AvP 2 in particular, that one is so bad even people who enjoy cheesy stupid action films hate it. Stir whip stir whip stir whip whip whip stir!

Neighbor told my mother that I dumped some trash next to the trash bin today, so she actually went there, picked up the trash and threw it into the bin and asked me what the hell I was thinking. I haven't even been close to the trash area of our appartment building in over a week (more like two) as I don't really have an awful lot of trash to dispose of - and I wouldn't buy half liter bottles of soft drinks, which was apparently what the trash consisted of mostly. Stupid ass drunk probably left it there himself, or else lord knows what or who he saw in his stupor.

Obligatory Prometheus + Alien: Covenant post:

Watched the first two episodes. The orphanage has a punishment for wrongdoing that consists of being hung naked from the ceiling, and Riko, the main character, is of course an apparently regular victim. Her voice is also really grating, but that's something very subjective. Somewhat strange exposition dump at the end of the first episode that's basically the Cliff Notes for the book What Happened In This Episode For Dummies. Riko being in an orphanage also necessitates an exposition moment with soft piano music about her missing (presumed dead) mother and her last adventure in the titular Abyss, but to the credit of the series that happens only in the middle of the second episode, not immediately right at the start, and the scene didn't feel emotionally manipulative, it's more like Shinji and Gendo when they talk about his mother (in terms of mood, not in terms of quality). Other than that, nothing much happened yet, except: Uhm. So... well, at least none of the characters are inherently loathsome. Riko's stuck with a sort of shouneny drive and ambition to outdo her legendary mother. Not sure, that's about all I can say after two episodes. It's not bad by any means and it looks better than it has any right to, even with the character models being weird. The punishment meted out to unruly orphans makes me question our poster's assessment about the children being tortured for reasons inherent to the world they live in and not just for random cruelty. That's just pointlessly cruel for cruelty's sake - or to animate naked children. Either way is, let's say, a tad weird. Have an animated gif of the scene: Still not as bad as Nanoha's burnt off clothes-tentacle rape transformation or the girl bashing her bullies' heads into lockers. Which I'll just link here too, because why not. For everyone who missed it when we talked about it. It's time coded, but feel free to watch all of it! Anyway, still, the first two episodes were okay. Kinda afraid that Riko will end up naked some more.

Like I said, I have no excuse for this one.

Yeah, not the biggest fan of compilation movies, but hey... they can't be any worse than Nanoha's. Funny how everything doesn't seem so bad when put next to the Nanoha franchise's really, really god damned awful entries. edit: Guess having a magical girl transformation sequence that burns off the girl's clothes and leaves a smoke/shadow entity that continues on to sexually assault her is hard to beat by anything that's not explicit hentai. The hell. Heh. Mission accomplished. Beats that pointless 10 page reply to Bruce.

All right guys, I'm switching Strike Witches with Made in Abyss, if that isn't better than crotch shots of 13 year old girls wearing only underpants I'm going to make you lot watch a 10 hour loop of Nanoha's two minutes of lolicon content.