Hurlshort

For my money, the Mass Effect Trilogy had the best cast of characters out of these RPG's. I mean the entire 2nd game is really just about developing their storylines, and that is probably the best in the series. Plus Garrus is the best friend I've ever had in a game. Although Hitman from Jagged Alliance is the best father figure I've ever had in a game, so maybe there is something wrong with me. He called me Ace.

SW:TOR easily had some of the worst NPC's, made much worse by the fact you couldn't just tell them to take a hike. In my first BG play through, Jaheira got smashed into many pieces by an Ogre, and I remember thinking...I could reload...but I also could use a break from her nagging.

It's not like he denied any of this. People just don't seem to care. I guess we will see on election night. Or, err.....like a week or two after election night and possibly a few legal battles.

Ugh, green are the worst. I quoted a fancy red one. I think Amazon charges .99 cents for green.

That'd be pretty neat. Although the easier thing is to just buy local, I suppose. Don't get me wrong, Jeff Bezos and any other visionaries deserve a ton of money for their billion dollar ideas. I'm just not sure if it is ideal that it becomes a 200 billion dollar idea, in the midst of a pandemic that is wiping out smaller businesses left and right.

This got me thinking... If I order a bell pepper for $1.50 from Amazon, where does all of that $1.50 go? We have a farmer who owns the field and plants it, a farmworker who harvests it, a plant worker who packages it, a driver who moves it to a warehouse/store, a grocer who sells it, and then another driver who delivers it to my house. Plus people maintaining the website, and of course Jeff Bezos. Who gets what cut?

I'm not going to speak on SA, but this is BS in the US. Agribusiness rakes in a lot of money for the people at the top. Meanwhile the people doing the work in the fields and plants barely make a liveable wage. We have a ton of inequity and it continues to grow at an alarming rate. The immigrant workforce is not the problem. All the monies are at the tippy top.

Sadly that isn't far off from the reality. Many agricultural regions have migrant housing tucked into the acreage. Cheap room and board, food from the fields, and little questions asked about immigration status. It sounds close to slavery, but while these parents are working fields, their children are getting an education and a chance at a better life. So what is the solution? Shut them down? That doesn't really help anybody.

That is pretty meta. Buying a game so you can plan out how to build stuff in another game.

Hmm, I get that. I would prefer it be preserved as well. I just think it was probably more a feasibility concern than "marxist erasing the past" that some folks are going on about. I don't really have any opinion on the work. It's fine, I guess. I am a lot more passionate about Diego Rivera, which probably makes me a socialist or something.

I sincerely doubt those will be there in 70 years. Ideally they will outlive their purpose of raising awareness about police brutality.

Yeah, it's not exactly a Picasso. I have a bunch of murals at my school as well. I doubt they are going to be there in 70 years and I doubt they are going to be preserved in a museum. I'm hoping I get a shelf in the library. But libraries may not exist in 70 years either.

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.