Hurlshort

Ouch!

I think Star Citizen is going to nail the gameplay. I can see it being a more playable version of X4 and Elite Dangerous. My biggest worry is the story. X4 is a very well developed universe. No Man's Sky feels empty and lacks emotion. I hope they manage to get close to X4 than NMS.

I hope they put April in charge of replacing the mural: Really though, this is the important part of that article: So yeah, they are preserving the work. But they are also moving forward. This is a non-story. As a history teacher, whenever someone talks about removing statues, murals, or whatever, I tend to laugh. First off, textbooks are way worse when it comes to 'erasing' history. They are a real mess. Second, every mural I've ever used in a lesson is flawed by bias, and that is a big part of the lesson. From the Bayeux Tapestry to Diego Rivera's Tenochitlan, they are amazing visual examples of one artist's perspective frozen in time. So yeah, preserve that guys work. Thirdly, the Bayeux Tapestry is in a museum. It doesn't need to be hanging on the wall of Buckingham Palace. It's all right to move forward as a society. You can preserve and progress at the same time.

Aw, Bismarck is the only winner in the bunch.

We really need an angry face so some of our more pernicious posters can get wins around here.

I'll second Star Traders, but this really comes down to what type of gameplay you are looking for. Star Traders has a lot of RPG stats and abilities, and you basically have an entire crew to level up and adventure with. A lighter, more adventurish and arcadey version of that would be Star Control: Origins. Star Control probably has the most whimsical story and characters. https://store.steampowered.com/app/271260/Star_Control_Origins/ In terms of serious space sims where you fly a ship somewhat realistically, Elite Dangerous and X4 are both good. I preferred X4 because you could get out and walk around everything, but both were pretty overwhelming. You could definitely get lost in them, but that is good and bad. Limitless possibilities. https://store.steampowered.com/app/392160/X4_Foundations/ No Man's Sky has come a tremendous way since it released and is beautiful and easy to play. The story is pretty trippy. https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky/ Empyrion is a major gem in the rough. Think Minecraft Universe with a decent story. You can build a ton of cool vehicles, but it is pretty janky at times. https://store.steampowered.com/app/383120/Empyrion__Galactic_Survival/ Then of course there are strategy games like Stellaris and Galactic Civilizations III. Honestly who needs Star Citizen? Realistic Medieval Games - Kingdom Come is the big one, but this just came out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1129580/Medieval_Dynasty/ There is also just a ton of low fantasy medieval stuff. I've been watching Stoneshard in particular: https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/ Oh, Battle Brothers is the bomb: https://store.steampowered.com/app/365360/Battle_Brothers/ What's crazy is how these games all range in price a ton, and most have come a long way since they were released, or they are still being developed and will only get better. I don't know, sure seems like a great time to be a gamer. I have fond memories of playing games on my Atari ST and my 486DX (still remember getting a SoundBlaster card and playing Monkey Island for the first time!) But it doesn't really compare to the vast library we can bring up today.

Are we really talking about voter fraud like it is a thing here? It isn't. More than 40 percent of the US doesn't vote. That's a thing. That's a big number. The 0.01 percent of votes that get lost, or are dead people, or get counted twice are not the issue.

Courtroom drama games are a thing, so it may be a matter of time.

I caught it on tv at some point. I would say I regret giving it the time. I wasn't super aware of his story when I watched it, but I am not comfortable with the idea that I am in any way supporting him. MCA obviously isn't Polanski, creatively or criminally, but I don't see how he is sympathetic. He got a lot of bites at the apple, burnt a ton of bridges, and came across badly for years. That is all before the sexual assault and harrassment accusations surfaced.

I'm just not sure where we are seeing play-it-safe fluff. Maybe if you just look at AAA games, but we are literally living through a golden age of gaming. What game is not being made right now? I can't think of a genre that isn't getting some weird love from some development team. There has never been a better time to be a gamer. I can find multiple options for pretty much any type of game I want to play. I was on a space exploration kick over the summer and was overwhelmed by the options. Realistic medieval sims? Turn based tactical? Adventures? Tentacles? Everything is out there.

So are you guys big Roman Polanski fans too?

I'm fixing so bad for the new Xcom I actually read one of the Xcom books. Xenonauts 2 will hopefully be release ready soon. That tends to scratch the itch.

It's a fun one to revisit every couple years. You have been here awhile, expect us to repeat a lot of content.

Yeah, real shame that a guy like that hasn't been given any opportunities in the industry. I mean, he's only been given a few dozen shots. How dare he be held accountable for his actions!

Wing Commander is on my list too. That is where my forum name came from. I needed a call sign when I was a kid, and I settled on Hurlshot.

JA2 is at the top. Quest for Glory was the first game I ever fell in love with. Tracking hours is a fairly new phenomenon.

Speaking as a Californian, this is a bit of an oversimplification of very complex issues. I'm not going to bend over backwards to completely defend my state. I still grumble about state taxes, cost of living, homeless policies, and plenty of other issues in the sunshine state. But the issues you brought up have some big question marks. First off, Elon Musk is posturing. He is using the threat of leaving California to get what he wants out of the state. But take notice that Tesla was started in California for good reason. California is not going to collapse if Tesla leaves. Silicon Valley is still the tech capital of the world. Hollywood is still the entertainment capital of the world. Handfuls of celebrities and companies leaving for greener pastures is not going to change that because they keep getting replaced by new celebrities and companies. It's the same reason I can't get the housing prices to go down in this area. They are building new homes, and people keep talking about leaving the state, but at the end of the day the population keeps growing up, and a good chunk of that is wealthy immigrants. As for the green policies, wildfires, PG&E, and all that jazz, it is super complicated. https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/why-isnt-california-using-more-prescribed-burns-to-reduce-fire-risk/

I think it's fun to compare the judicial record of Garland, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh. Because we make it seem like these are some sort of polar opposites, when the reality is much more minute.

What I really got from that clip was the capital gains taxes are going to be raised on the wealthy. Which is great, since middle class wealth is shrinking and the wealthy are living it up.

Yeah, *bleep* Obsidian! Long live the Obsidian Forums!

The rest of your post was awesome and insightful. But this line is a silly dig. History teachers aren't experts on every geopolitical situation that has ever happened across the history of the world. We might have a few certain content areas that we are more well versed on than the average person, we are hopefully capable of looking at it through a historiographical lens, and lastly we should be able to teach it in an engaging manner. Pretty simple job, really. They pay me too much!

Oro is great and I always appreciate his perspective. He has made it very clear where he is coming from and why.

Eh, seems pretty reasonable, given some of these actors seem to have very little reason to be so heavily invested. I mean, look at Skarpies signature, and then try to figure out why he cares about all of this from the other side of the world. Has he even vacationed in the US? Does he have family in the US? It's pretty weird. How invested are you in what is happening in Poland?