Hurlshort

Drova - The art style has grown on me, but I am rubbish at the combat. I am trying sword and shield because that is usually easy. It is not in this game.

It is a question I raise with my students every year as a writimg prompt. I start with voting age, which was 21 until the 1960's. They can usually puzzle out why that was changed with a few hints. Then we talk about voting with a criminal record. The last topic is voting and citizenship. Most of my students are either immigrants or children of immigrants, and a fair amount of them have parents without citizenship. So the question is: should a person who is here for years on something like a work visa, who is raising their kids in this country and paying taxes, have the right to vote on issues that affect them? Should a citizen living overseas have the right to vote? Anyways, I don't share my personal opinions on the matter to the kids, but my opinion is typically the more people voting, the better. I want as much input as we can get in these elections. My middle schoolers aren't really less informed than most adults. They should get to vote too.

Great, Inquisition was like a decade ago. All I remember was I had a cool granite table in my castle where I planned stuff.

I wasn't willing to sign up to read the story, but the idea that religious fanatics and terrorists are some sort of cultural group is a fun bit of bigotry. There are 1.9 billion Muslims and 2.4 billion Christians in the world. They aren't all fanatics and terrorists. We are probably going to all figure out a way to get along, just like Protestants and Catholics had to figure it out centuries ago.

I finished The Lamplighter League. I enjoyed the game, but the ending was a big letdown. The final mission was good and my main team was effective, but it was a real blah finish. I think they were setting it up for DLC or something, but it didn't do well enough. I don't typically care that much if a game doesn't end well, but I expected at least some better lines from all these mercs I recruited.

Oh no! Next they are probably going to make you choose some sort of fantastical race like a dwarf or an elf.

I dismissed that headline out of hand, since Dragon Age has never been dark fantasy. Blood splatter does not make a game dark fantasy. Slaughtering refugees in DA2 was pointless and nonsensical, not dark.

Damn, I was going to book your hotel when I retire in 15 years and finally get to travel the world.

You are absolutely correct that there are many statistics that paint a grim portrait of the US. But there is also a tremendous amount of hyperbole that inflates the issues. For example, people have been railing about the US public education system for decades. It is apparently in shambles. But that misses the real complexity of the system. It isn't a federal system, instead it varies by each state, by each county, and by each school district. It has tremendous failures and tremendous successes. It's not on the verge of collapse. I'm in the trenches every day teaching these kids and I can tell you that we are going to be fine. For another example, San Francisco is being made out as some sort of dystopian tent city filled with shuttered skyscrapers and feces laden streets. I go to SF all the time. It's a beautiful city with fantastic restaurants and amazing places to explore. Each neighborhood has its own personality. In reality, there is one area of the city that is struggling to recover, and that is the financial district. I have no idea how to fix that, but it doesn't reflect the city as a whole. Just like DC doesn't really reflects the country as a whole.

You can use Bud Light to roast chicken, or something.

Yes. But I played through the tutorial and it does seem like my jam.

Nah. We already had 4 years of his train wreck. The reality if we have a solid balance of power that tends to wipe out or neutralize a lot of executive actions, for better or worse. Both progress and regression are slow. It's also interesting how far removed the narratives are from the reality. The reality is the economy is doing great and everyone has jobs. Prices are up, but so are salaries. The craziness of national politics don't actually affect what is happening on a local level. I'm not saying things are perfect, but things continue to be better on average than then they were in previous generations.

Almost done with Lamplighters. The story has really grown on me. I'm not sure why I need a roster of 10, since I use the same 4 people for every mission. But hey, they have good backstories.

This game comes out soon? I have so little hype about it despite playing and completing all 3 of the other games. I even read a couple of the books. Huh. Anyways, I've got a bit of a backlog with Drova and USC: Counterforce on my docket.

Yeah. I don't understand how it is close at all. But it is, so I'll just hold my breathe.

Keanu Reaves IS Cyberpunk.

Unfortunately it will be outdated by 2026 and they will need to rework the whole thing.

That is possibly the most cringe website I have ever seen. What a sad crusade. I'd love to see how they'd rate Sierra during their heyday.

I've never heard of it, but just because Awakening is in the title, doesn't mean it is 'woke'. Based on the reviews, it sounds like the game is a technical mess. Nobody mentions DEI in the reviews. Hoonding's analysis is still correct.

My alma mater has been in the news a lot lately for volleyball. They have a transgender player and a bunch of schools have been forfeiting against them. Trump even commented on it: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2024-10-17/san-diego-state-refutes-donald-trump-claim-transgender-san-jose-state-volleyball-player-injury This is a pretty crazy story. First off, she has been on the team for 3 seasons, so this is quite the delayed reaction. SJSU is following NCAA rules and it sounds like she is being tested regularly. The interesting thing is one of her teammates has joined the lawsuit against the NCAA over their transgender policy, and she's been making the conservative podcast circuit. That is quite the teammate. The concerns people seem to have revolve around safety and fairness. First off, sports are not fair. There are always people that will be faster, stronger, and smarter. No one is evenly matched. That would probably make for a very boring matchup. Volleyball is also not a safe sport. People get hurt. But I want to see the data. Does this transgender player hit harder than all of the biological females in college? If you can show me that she outmatches everyone else, then maybe there is an argument to be made. As is, it is a weak argument that seems to be just targeting a very small minority. Nevada players wanted to forfeit, but the university put out an amazing statement: I love it. That is a solid statement.

I've had the word Apprenticeship on a test for about twenty years. The students are supposed to describe the process of being an apprentice. Today a student wrote that an apprenticeship is a ship that holds many apprentices.

Lamplighters - I played this on the gamepass and never got into it, but I was in the mood for a good TB combat game, and it was on sale on GOG, so I grabbed it. It caught my interest better this time around. The combat is a bit awkward, but mostly well done. The story is decent. I'm enjoying it. I'm bummed that this is the game that kind of damaged Hairbrained, as it is pretty solid and a nice attempt at a unique IP. That being said, I can see why it didn't sell well, as it does strike a strange tone. Still, it has gotten better as I've played it more, and I am looking forward to finishing it. I did read an article recently from a lamplighter producer that said there isn't room for more Xcom style games to thrive. I think that misses why this game struggled. There are a ton of good games with Xcom style combat that have done well. Most aren't charging full price. JA3, for example, was a solid hit. Also BG3 succeeded with similar TB combat. The reality is the Lamplighter setting is very niche, and they thought it would bring in a larger audience. It was overly ambitious.

I'm significantly less wary of deck-building games after playing Marvel Midnight Suns. They were all a hard no until that one, and now I'm just lukewarm on them. If all of the other pieces look good, it might be worth a try.

Rogue Waters - This is a turn based pirate game. It plays like Darkest Dungeon on a strategic level, and then the combat is a puzzle turn based combat. It's alright. I don't really dig the story or the characters, but I like the combat. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, as the missions don't really make me feel like I'm sailing the open seas, but I don't regret the purchase. I was hoping to play Tavern Keeper this month, but it has been delayed until next year.

I assume it is a similar number to the players that are delusional enough to think Bethesda makes bad games. Starfield isn't perfect, but it is a very solid game. It also doesn't seem like any of their titles have bombed. Fallout 76 was the closest they've had to a flop, but they keep releasing updates and apparently it has enough players to keep it active. It helps that the show was a huge hit and attracted new players to the IP. Bethesda isn't hurting, so I'd say the delusion is either widespread, or maybe they just aren't making games for you. I get it. There are plenty of things that bother me in Bethesda games. But by and large they do a lot of stuff right, too.