Hurlshort

Did you read your own review? "Everything was great. Game was a letdown."

MLB The Show - I haven't played since 2019, but they've definitely improved the Road to the Show since I last played. You start in High school and get a chance to go to college before you end up in the minors. One slightly odd new feature is the ability to upload your own face for the character. So I did it, using the companion app. It is eerily accurate. So now my 40-something bald guy is trying to break into the big leagues after winning his High School championship. My wife is creeped out by all of this.

I've watched a few shows recently: Reacher Season 3 is fantastic. We binged it very quickly. I was bummed when i realized I had to wait for the last two episodes. Running Point: Kate Hudson is always fun to watch for me. She is very charming in this show. It's not breaking any new ground. It's following the Ted Lasso feel good formula. But I enjoyed it. Court of Gold - Another Basketball show, but this one is a documentary about the Olympics. It does a good job of shining light on the other National Teams not named USA. I didn't watch much of the Olympics, so this does a great job of covering the event as a whole as well.

I didn't get the impression that Avowed was overly buggy. I had one quest out of around a hundred that was a bit wonky. Other than that, it was the least buggy Obsidian title I've played. Outer Worlds was also pretty stable, so I suppose the engine deserves credit. FO:NV is still a buggy mess. As for @Wormerine comparing it to a Ubisoft title, that's crazy. Ubisoft games have forced narratives and completely shallow storytelling. I don't know how you can even compare the two. I could not disagree with you more on that. If you want to call it a Disney+ show, I guess I get that more. Not that all Disney+ shows are the same, but the fan service and stretched out concepts make sense. As a fan, I tend to enjoy fan service. I do agree the game feels stretched out in places. It's like they created a foundation, but they weren't able to build out the whole house. That being said, I absolutely loved the foundation and the parts of the house that they built. I expect to see them continue to expand on this type of game. It's like Outer Worlds was the prototype and this is V1. Anyways, despite the lukewarm feeling of the posters here, it seems to be doing very well. It looks like it is outperforming Outer Worlds, so we should see some plenty more content to come. I enjoyed PoE 1 and 2, but Eora really came to life for me in the Living Lands, and I look forward to exploring more of it this way.

Here is the rub, RFK Jr has had all his vaccinations. His kids are vaccinated. This crusade is solely aimed at the unwashed masses. He doesn't actually practice his gospel. But that is the standard of most politicians.

I finished Avowed and really enjoyed it. Next I moved onto Citizen Sleeper. Interesting dice-based narrative game. I was confused on the gameplay my first attempt (the mouse scroller let me move up and down the space station) but in my 2nd attempt, I really got into it.

I'm almost positive RFK Jr. is confusing Chicken Pox and Measles. People used to have Chicken Pox parties for kids.

It is going to be weird to see all of the Trumpsters trade in their gas guzzling trucks with American flags waving in the back for these:

I think the whole idea is silly, but I don't know what you mean by this. Canada isn't actually all that different than the different states of the US. Culturally there just isn't much to distinguish the two from one another. I mean, I guess hockey is bigger than football. But really, each state in the US is already fairly unique, so adding Canada to that (or 13 new states) would hardly move the needle. Health care was probably the big advantage Canada had on a federal level, but that has apparently changed in the last decade+.

I'm oin the 3rd zone in Avowed and I think I rushed it a bit. I might go back to an earlier save and slow down. There are some ways to skip over steps in the main story, but I don't think I want to end it too fast. The game has some super hard decisions though.

The internet trolls have won. What a time to be alive.

I haven't played Veilgaurd, but I didn't know it had parkour. Avowed feels pretty solid for me as a ranger. I read someone compare it to Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and I can see that, minus the kicking. I'm also playing in first person. I imagine it is less satisfying in 3rd person, as that seems like an afterthought. Other than that, I don't get what anyone else is talking about. The world is beautiful and lively, and the different hubs have a ton of history, engaging characters and personalities. But hey, I always thought Skyrim was pretty boring. I mean, sure, people wander around and go to bed. But they all come across as generic NPC's. I guess I prefer the Obsidian style of storytelling and character development.

Top Ten Obsidian Games: 1. Avowed 2. Fallout:NV 3. KOTOR II 4. Alpha Protocol 5. PoE 2 6. PoE 1 7. Outer Worlds 8. NWN 2 9. South Park 10. Pentiment

I think I am entering the final zone in Avowed and it has been a great ride. Eora has really come alive for me. I enjoyed the PoE games, but this is very different.

That's awesome. I'll have to keep an eye out for that axe.

Man, that's terribly young.

Didn't you used to say that about TB games in general?

Does the frost axe create the handy frozen platforms over water? I've got an electro pistol and a fire dagger. I use grenades for everything else.

Guns are crazy rewarding in Avowed for me. Both the musket and the pistol are just a blast. Plus my pistol/dagger combos are pretty great. I'm squishy, so I don't use it often, but it helps in a pinch.

Avowed has a much better inventory system than previous Obsidian games. The crafting is also pretty decent. I don't know who handled that, but they deserve accolades.

Oh, I also saw a massive ad for Avowed in Times Square. It was one of the corner ones that stretches around. Here are a few more good photos of our trip: The Bone Museum in Brooklyn One really good family photo. I don't know how we got the angsty teenager to smile.

I went and saw the Broadway production of The Great Gatsby this week. I was a blubbering mess for the majority of the show. I was the only one in my family who had read the book. First off, I never really understood how much of a difference a strong actor can make in a performance. I've seen a few shows over the years in San Francisco; Wicked, The Book of Mormon, Beetlejuice. But watching Sarah Hyland play Daisy was incredibly different from any other movie or show. I fell in love with her almost immediately. I'm going to put the rest of my Great Gatsby Musical stuff in spoilers so I don't ruin the story. So I sat in the audience and wept from nearly start to finish. My family looked at me like I had lost it, and I had. For better or worse. So go read the book and then watch the show. @Volourn would love this one.

Trip Report! I took the family to NYC this last week. It was the first time for all of us. My wife just turned 50, and my daughter is going off to college in the fall, so I figured this was a good reason to celebrate with a pretty big trip. It was a stretch financially, but I did my best to make it a special trip. Here are some highlights: Skating in Central Park: We actually packed our ice skates for this trip. An entire suitcase was dedicated to bringing our hockey skates across the country. It was worth it. We got out on the Central Park rink and it was beautiful. The hole park is amazing and I ran through it every day, despite the temperature feeling like it was in the low single digits. Skating with my wife and kids was my favorite moment. Dungeons and Dragons 20-sided Tavern: This was a fun improv show a bit off broadway. It was interactive. You chose whether you were a warrior, rogue, or wizard, and then you used your phone to vote on decisions for the party. My son really enjoyed this one. They were amazing at improv. The Great Gatsby: I'm actually going to talk about the show on a separate thread, since it affected me more dramatically than anything else I've ever watched. But needless to say, the whole family enjoyed it and it was a perfect Broadway show. We stepped out of the matinee show and it was snowing in Manhattan, so it was a pretty magical moment. I still feel like I barely scratched the surface of what Manhattan has to offer. We went to the Bone Museum in Brooklyn, we took the Subway, we visited the 9/11 Memorial. I ate bagels every day. But there was a lot I didn't get to. Hopefully someday we will take another shot at it. Maybe when the weather is better too.

Do we deserve it? PoE 2 sold less than the original. We did this to ourselves.