Bjorn

I like the controller for everything except watering and seed planting. I just keep my mouse next to me and grab it for those chores, then everything else is with the controller.

Fishing! I was doing it wrong :fart: :fart: :fart: I had somehow wrongly internalized that I needed to tap the button, which was really freaking hard to control the green bar. Holding it works much better.

A disenchanted Republican base that doesn't turn out is possibly the best outcome, as it gives the Dems a better shot at re-capturing some legislative seats, and hopefully make some headway in getting more Dems into statehouses. The Democrats badly, desperately need better organization and movements in states to get state legislatures back. I'm not sure there's a more important political battle to be fought right now next to the presidency, to try and reverse the attacks on voting rights and gerrymandering at the state level. If not for gerrymandering, the House and Senate would look like radically different beasts.

Once berries started appearing halfway through spring, my energy problems more or less disappeared. They're plentiful and fill up a decent bit of energy, enough to let me get some more clearing done in the evening after foraging and talking to folks. I felt the earthquake but hadn't figured out what it did yet. I think I have an idea of where to look now though! Getting fishing leveled up is the worst. I haven't even hit level one yet, because I've only successfully caught one fish, the rest keep getting away. Are there easier places to fish to get it leveled up?

I actually started over last night because I felt like I was being wildly inefficient, and I got back to day 12 and had so much more stuff. I'm not trying to min/max every day per se, but I'm getting a lot more into each day than I was on my first save. I foolishly prioritized getting the first backpack upgrade on my first save, which really put a huge dent into how much farming and stuff I could do by blowing that money on a quality of life improvement instead of investing it into things that would return a profit.

Upgrade materials were pretty plentiful in DS2, moreso than in either DS1 or Bloodbourne. And the respec item wasn't particularly limited either, you could get...5-6 per cycle I think. Although it seems like they might have reduced that by one or two in the re-release, or it took longer to get your first one or something. I'm pretty curious how rolling and invincibility frames are going to work in 3. I think that mechanic has been the least balanced one by far in 1 and 2, and they've just struggled to balance mobility with armor, where mobility and i-frames always trumped straight defenses. Bloodbourne just gave up on defense in favor of speed, but I'd like to see them try to find that balance without making a stat like ADP so valuable.

Welcome to the forums babe Danielle, that was a great soliloquy on good points of Lost Girl! Zanasta high fived me when you read my post, I hadn't told her I'd written that.

I'm hooked, this game is terrific (and has way more stuff going on than I expected!).

I think you mean it was the best to listen to.

We started listening to Mo'Nique's podcast with her husband Sidney, Open Relationship. I really enjoyed the first episode and it's definitely earned a place in the rotation for awhile. I think it's particularly interesting and worthwhile for a few different reasons though. Their first show talks about their open marriage, which they've been honest about for around a decade. In the kink/poly/swinging/open worlds, I'd say the most common voices, by far, are middle class white folks, many of whom lead relatively invisible lives to the world at large. So hearing from a black, celebrity couple about their experiences is a great, different perspective. I also just enjoy hearing their voices, it reminds me of hanging out with the lady's best friend and her family. There's just terms of endearment and phrases that I never hear anywhere else. It looks like the show isn't going to be just about relationships, the other shows they've already recorded cover a pretty wide ranging ground from more general emotions, parenting, death and aliens.

Oh wow, I just realized the Humble Monthly subscription also gets you a 10 percent discount in the Humble Store, and that applies to games that are already on sale. That's potentially really valuable. I don't buy enough games for that to cover the cost of the monthly subscription, but it certainly offsets it.

I've only had one time to play one evening this week, hopefully this weekend I'll get to check out the performance upgrade as well. I've never thought it ran terribly, but getting some of the stutter out of screen transitions would be nice.

I'm glad you're okay and that it's ultimately just an inconvenience and nothing serious!

Well, that is more or less our modus operandi around here.

Haha, what? Yeah, I've intentionally only kept one equipped so I don't overly rely on them.

I backed it, but haven't had the time to try it out yet.

I almost had my entire run ruined last night because I was tired and being dumb. I was doing the UFO intercept mission, and just meandered my way slowly back to extraction after destroying the thingie that grounded us. Figured I'd get some of my less experienced characters some kills to level them up on a mission where they could be guarded by my experienced people. Everything was going fine. I had everyone back within sprint distance of extraction. It was getting late and I was a tired. The next squad dropped, and it was four Mechs, three whites and one red. I wasn't positive I could take them all out in one turn, so I decided to call it quits. Sprinted everyone to extraction assuming that it would be like a normal extraction, where you can leave even after having sprinted. If I wouldn't have been tired, I would have noticed that I wasn't getting that option after sprinting the first couple of people in. But I didn't, and I spinted all fucking 10 of my people into extraction. Then it went to the aliens turn. I just moaned, "Oh noooooooo." The three white mechs all made it within firing range. The first grenaded my nicely packed troops, the second fired, and took my best grenadier into bleeding out and the third fired another grenade. No one else went down, but almost everyone was down to 3HP or less. If that red mech would have made it in range, I would have been facing losing 6-7 soldiers to another grenade shot. It's a fucking miracle I escaped without actually losing anyone. My next mission is a terror mission, and most of my people are still healing. I've got a colonel ranger, a few mid-level people and my good Psychonaut. I quit before starting it.

:tup:

It's probably worth actually pulling that number out, it's not just small, it's extra tiny in comparison to his total fundraising: That's what, about 3/100 of a percent of his total fundraising? Yes, it is an oddity worth questioning about, but it's also coming from sources like the ACLU, pro-weed groups and unions, none of which individually are people Sanders would mind being associated with. They aren't exactly what people picture when they think lobbyist.

Deffo that too, put two people within grenade radius of each other and it's just a magnet for enemies with grenades.

Haha, I forgot about those because I seem to never dodge shots and I find the shield ability to be more or less worthless. The one time it can come into play is if someone is in cover and activates it to provide additional angles of cover to other people. But I almost never remember I have it, so I never actually remember to do that.

Double Post! Oooo, Majesty talk (even if it was very brief)! The original Majesty is easily one of my favorite games ever, and I would make a pretty strong case for it to be considered one of the best games ever made, certainly deserving of a top 10 spot in a list because of the uniqueness of its design and the excellence in execution. In an alternate universe, it sits along side the likes of the original X-Com, System Shock 2 and Half-Life in reverence for old games in my mind. Rob, for what it's worth, it didn't really hit a dead-end within its own development. Majesty never got a followup from the original dev, but the property eventually ended up in the hands of Paradox. Paradox farmed out development to 1C. Unfortunately the 1C team used an existing engine that had never been designed for the kind of emergent, self-directed units with distinct personalities and goals that Majesty's design calls for. Ultimately they just couldn't emulate the AI of the original, and so the sequel feels bland in comparison because heroes overvalue the bounties a player can place and they do not seek out goals on their own well, which breaks the simulation/in-direct control element. Some other elements of direct control were also implemented, like being able to create parties (parties would kind of naturally form in the original). One of the most fun hero classes in the game, Gnomes, were completely eliminated likely because of AI issues. Gnomes in the original had one of the more complex AIs (they and the dwarves were the only two units who could pursue every major action available), but the gnomes were particularly hyperactive and ADHD. The Dwarves were also dialed back and some of their abilities were removed, again likely related to the difficulty the engine had with trying to emulate the original's AI. There's just a litany of issues with the sequel, most of which can be tracked back to engine limitations. It was less a design failure or dead end, and more a poor match of engine to design goals. The sequel also lacked a free-play mode, which is one of the things that made the original have such long legs. Paradox has gone on to make a number of games in the Majesty world, but none of others have ever attempted to replicate the design of the original, instead spinning off into more established genres. So for us fans of the original, we're still waiting for someone else to pick up the reins where the original left off, because a proper iteration or exploration of the ideas in Majesty has yet to be explored.

With armor, you have: Basic Tier - One utility slot, not real bonuses to speak of Second Tier: Predator (I think) - Some health bonus, no armor, 2x Utility Item slots EXO Suit - Health Bonus, Heavy Weapon Mount (any class), 1x Utility Item, 1 armor point Spider Suit - Health Bonus, no armor, bonus movement, Grapple ability (which is fucking amazing, it's a free action point, even allows snipers to fire after grappling), 1x Utility Item Third Tier: Warden Armor - Bigger Health Bonus, 1 Armor Point, 2x Utility Item slots WAR Suit - Bigger Health Bonus, 2 Armor Points, Advanced Heavy Weapon mount, 1x Utility Item slot Wraith Suit - Health Bonus, no armor, bonus movement, Grapple, Wraith (doesn't cost an action, lets you walk through walls, twice per mission), 1x Utility Item slot I really like the balance in abilities between the different armors. I think they overall made them a lot more diverse and valuable than the armors in EU. Edited to add: I initially assumed I would want an EXO/WAR suit on everyone because of the heavy weapon, but I can't stress the benefit of the Grapple's free move enough. Being able to move to flank, get a sniper in position, get in range of a Skullmine, etc., are all so incredibly valuable when you need them.

Danielle, please talk about Lost Girl. The lady is deeply, deeply enamored with that show. And yeah, it is trashy, but it's like the best kind of fun trashy. I haven't watched all of it, but I've probably caught about half the episodes with her and it's certainly fun enough to sit down and watch. Trashy urban fantasy is the lady's goto guilty pleasure, but the more she's got into it, the more she has convinced me that it has value in a lot of interesting ways. As a genre, it's one that focuses on women characters, women relationships, women getting shit done. I'd argue moreso across the board than most other genres right now. It also tends to be created by women. Lost Girl's creator is a woman, and the vast majority of the episodes were written by women. A few years ago I would have had a reaction a lot more like Rob's, but now hearing that reaction, it's disappointing to me that we do have this genre that's being created by people and creating the kinds of characters we lament not existing in other media, but it's so easily written off.