LadyCrimson

Drive, cheap hotel, poor sleep. Hubby in surgery. Maybe couple hours. Sitting in parking lot wondering if Im going yo nap or find a snack. Hopefully drive home tomorrow.

--Borderlands 4 - supposedly about 30 hours played. I think the first large region is the best thing - going into the other two regions the MQ sends you on are a snooze. Gunplay is even better than BL3, exploration ok, they tamed the "loot explosions" a lot (a good thing) and other positives, but it feels more repetitive for some reason (all the fight areas feel the same), loot hunting is meh. The "story" chrs are at least better than BL3 but not by much. --7 Days to Die - 3.0 is now my favorite 1.0+ version. Although the pure cheese of stealth in early 1.0 is still a fave mechanic, ha. But overall, all the options = easy to make the combat/gameplay feel more like A10-A12. More Walking Dead, less sci-fi looter-shooter/zombie-Skyrim wannabe. It was getting to the point where I turned zombies entirely off half the time, and 3.0 (after fiddling) is the first time I like having them on all the time, again, and I play a map far longer. I keep the zombie spawn level to "strongs", increase density of spawns, and none of the sci-fi/weird, bee-spitting, acid-exploding/spitting, bomb tossing or whatever else zombies are allowed to spawn. And no zombie digging. I've been playing it way more than BL4, still.

12:00 - 16-ish is the cat sleeping bag, and it's hilarious. To be fair, if the product was actually very close to like shown, I'd probably want one (but it'd probably be priced more like $500+ then).

*watches that Blade Runner series trailer Either the show is terrible - a "teaser" that is near 2 minutes long isn't always a great sign, imo - or the trailer editor should simply be fired. Lanterns looks a little more promising, from my "tired of superhero universes" perspective. Maybe I just like the "old" guy playing Hal.

Tried that Netflix Little House. I managed about a third or half the first episode, more or less - with my interest was not very engaged - to where there was a super obvious CGI wolf attack scene, and I noped out after that.

BL4 - ---If you like starting new characters from scratch, don't use Player Shared (or something like that). I picked that on 1st chr because I thought it would be like the BadAss ranks of previous BL's. It's not. It's more like a chr-stats NG+. So if you make a new chr that also has player-shared active, you'll start game with increased SDU's already, and all quests the other chr. has done (that give rewards) are marked as done on the new chr. You could still do them, but the rewards are already "claimed." Which is not at all what I wanted re: trying other classes 1st time. And you can't change it later, the choice is perm on the chr. --This would be useful if you want to make new chrs and just rush it to max lvl without having to do all the side stuff, so having one chr. like that would be fine. Just don't choose it on new chrs. unless you want that. I learned there are no other separated maps like before. It's one large world/map, with different regions, or something. Also, supposedly level scaling applies pretty much everywhere. Regions can have higher than you starting-level of enemies (if you get to areas early) but once you match that level, they'll scale with you. Although I'm not sure if this is true in the super starter region or two. And you can pick Easy/Normal/Hard at the start (and change it whenever). There is a TVHM at some point. It's all quite different vs. all 3 previous games. Certain mission/side bosses, you can't endlessly "farm" them, either. You have to pay Moxxi money to replay them, and the cost goes up. Interesting. EDIT: also, Legandary gear really is way more uncommon then in BL2 or BL3. Blues/purples feel about the same.

Ok - played more of BL4, a bit at a time. Still in the first map. I'd say this game "does get better" after the first 2-4 hours. Then ofc as you lvl and get more perks/gear to play with. Mostly, after that prologue and early few missions, where you start to feel like you can go do whatever you want and ignore the main mission for a while. The world design is somewhat denser than previous, in terms of both small/not much to larger bits smushed together. The double-jump and short jump-glide make exploring "what's over/up there" more engaging. The 1st vehicle (a sort of motorcycle I guess) you get drives 100% better than any BL game, although I still have little use for it vs. running. Because of a lot more heights (there's even a zipline system as well as teleport station), snipers seem more fun to use again too. I guess there's a big-bad villain but I keep not caring. Better than BL3's silly plot stuff but still not Handsome Jack. Main problem is I still don't really like any of the playable chrs. Tried 3 of them/their action skills. They're not bad, but don't fit my playstyle, not even the pet-chr. Usually I like at least one a lot. This time around they're all "eh." Also, while exploring is more fun than in BL3, I don't have a sense I'd want to replay it much, like it'd be a 50-100hr game and then over. And that might be ok. But just saying. Early conclusion: it's nowhere near as terrible as reputation might lead one to believe, but it's also not exactly compelling. I actually think in the long run I might prefer it over BL3, but not sure that's saying tons.

I've liked him since Omen 3, although more from Dead Calm, after. Jurassic Park ofc - Hunt From Red October etc. Guess it's that time where most of the then-famous I grew up with, who were typically 12-25 years older than myself, are all going to start appearing here. :/ Life is too short. Ah well.

Is the right to use the IP the same as the right to use the engine (Beth's). Dunno how they worked it out. I don't know how much MS is/feels re: mega-user access re: modding. Especially MS-Store. I picture it being fairly limited plus maybe Steam workshop integration. Maybe they'll go for it tho. As to FNV popularity - well, yes, but that was the Obsidian from 15+ years ago and pre-MS. I'm sure some faith re: Obsidian remains (or at least the hope) but at this point the "it's not the same Obsidian" negativity outlook is also fairly widespread. Could end up a neutral wash re: any hype or early sales.

I think if I was Obsidian, my umbrella fear would be that this changing of things around by MS is their hail mary. eg, they (mostly, kind of) survived this round of MS cuts/restructuring etc, but if this new Fallout game they're being told to make (while canceling the others on top) doesn't hit big, Obs is gone (from MS anyway). I'm not sure if a new Obs-Fallout is going to be the actual marketing/sales success win-button re: the numbers that MS probably envisions/wants. I mean, I'd assume MS wants better than Avowed or Grounded sales and sees this path as the potential avenue for it. As others said, much probably also hinges on how much MS dictate/interfere with an Obs-vision. More big studio slop feeling or more old-school Obs-unique take etc.

Mirror in the Bathroom was great, but the only album of their I bought back then was the one that had this one it. I liked it a lot (the album) And of course, because.

^ It's a heartache, nothing but a heartache.

Hm. Obs doing another Fallout. Well, it's interesting news, if it turns out to be valid/happen. Not sure how interested I am in a possible Fallout: the Avowing (haha). I guess I'm a little dubious whether it would actually feel like a Fallout game - and I don't just mean re: Obs, but, y'know, changing times, what constitutes a "RPG" these days in style/structure/substance development (that I often don't like a lot), all of that. We shall see - could be a fantastic RPG, or more "eh." :D But never know - hopefully it'll be best sliced bread with the creamiest butter and a dab of fave jam! Oh and yeah - if it's fairly and easily moddable (doesn't have to be Creation-mod level) that would help. If it's not, my interest would be low.

I appear to have a webhost problem. The same one I've used for a couple decades more or less. It's complicated. I'm not sure if the hostservice was sold, or if the support email addy I have is still valid, or the owner died and it took forever for them to start shutting things down/notice I even exist, etc. Last contact I had with him was years ago, really. I think I also forgot to ever tell him my email changed when we moved, so my fault there. Anyway, it's all broken in weird ways. So I made a proton email and also tried sending msg from there. No reply at all yet (if it's even going through). Thus I am converting my email stuff to proton addy's (I got a package for 15 of them). Which I only need for online registrations, since I still refuse to give mobile #'s. Not that I really care much by now (I think I can live without image hosting for a while/forever), but PITA, no clue what's going on.

Since he discovered Borderlands 4 will run on his old PC, hubby bought his own copy and I disbanded the Family Group. Neither of us have really played it tho. We both did the tutorial and then I did the first couple quests, where they teach you another new ability (short gliding to reach areas too far for a jump) and how you'll find "safe haven" spots (teleporter, machines, kind of a mini-base in a way). They changed it so ammo/backpack upgrades aren't purchased with general cash anymore, now you get "points" as mission rewards (dunno if there are farmable items for it) and spend those. Nothing about these short early ventures inspires me to play long sessions. I could see myself doing one or two missions at a time, but that's about it. Could feel more "Borderlands-like" at some mid-point tho, who knows. But the backpack/gear/other menu UI still sucks/feels annoying to deal with, which is part of the "I think I'll stop here" sensation.