Bjorn

I started playing this a few nights ago, got through what I guess is the first area. Music/sound is fantastic for building tension, though I wonder if that will hold true through the whole game, given I hear it's fairly long for this style of game. I started on "Hard", and so far I'm not sure at all what that means. More aggressive Alien AI? Less resources? I know some kind of enemy besides the Alien shows up eventually. Are they just like harder to kill? I'm somewhat split on if I really care about playing all the way through it though. The faces are bugging the crap out of me (which is weird, because that thing usually doesn't bother me except in Bethesda games, but it is here). And it's just...it feels like a curiosity to me more than that I'm really getting into it? I think I'm realizing that these style of horror games are interesting to me on an intellectual level, but don't engage me on the emotional level I want for some reason. For a complete playthrough, I prefer the camp of ResEvil style, if for no other reason than have a wider vocabulary of verbs to use. I've yet to ever finish one of these hide from the monster types (closes I got was original Amnesia).

Found this today on an eBay key reseller's page. Great deal, totes legit.

I made it to the Throne for the first time last night! I died to the very first attack.

This comes via some friends in St. Louis, so I have no idea how factual it is as it's a facebook post, but it certainly has the feel of truth to it.

I started to write something else, and then it clicked that Justin is actually doing the thing that Rob and Danielle talked about recently on IW. He's basing part of his review on the expected audience reaction, rather than just his own reaction. The few reviews I've read since that discussion have suddenly made that review habit really stand out to me. They spoke of it in terms of imagining the person who will love a game, but I think the thought applies to imagining a player who will hate a game, or be frustrated by it, or whatever. His comments, if you boil them down to what he was saying, is that he was definitely frustrated, would have cheated if he were able, is glad that he didn't, because then he would have robbed himself of an experience, and knowing that makes him kind of sad about it. I think that communicates his concern without having to frame it in part around an imaginary future player. It's an unnecessary rhetorical device. If I have an issue with his thought, it's that there needs to be a reward that's more significant than just the success of having solved a puzzle. You don't get a bell and achievement for solving a crossword in the newspaper (for all I know, you do on phone versions, in which case :spinnyfartemoji:). Just the satisfaction of having solved a puzzle. Which I think is likely enough for many of the people most excited about this.

That's really cool, I didn't know that was how death worked in the Secret World.

I played through it twice and still enjoyed it for the weirdness and fun of it, while having absolutely zero familiarity with the visual novel genre, romantic or not. I did not play through for all the endings, as I didn't find it engaging enough for that, but going and reading about the secret ending was quite enjoyable and wouldn't have made much sense if I hadn't played the game.

That is a bummer, I didn't realize he had taken it down. The internet has a bit less joy in it now.

Out of curiosity, do you guys know it was an Thumbs forum member who made that Objective Reviews site? It seems like that was very close to the time that Danielle joined the cast, so it could have been an easy thing to miss.

I really don't care about oversharing about myself, but when it involves other people, that's the thing that keeps me from talking too openly about some topics.

Rudolph?

"Who is the Witness?"

Is something which cannot die truly alive?

Well, if your complaints didn't come off as the Grinch, I wouldn't have said that. One of your complaints was literally that the villain going to the subway once ruined your immersion in the show. I don't know how to treat that like a sincere criticism. It feels like trolling. Like, you cannot imagine a reason that the villain might have gone to the subway? Because traveling in New York is sometimes faster by subway even if you have a chauffeur? Because he was retracing Jones steps because he was a stalker and she uses the subway? Because he followed the guy in the purple jacket into the subway to take his jacket? I really don't see how that, of all things, is something worthy of criticism or immersion breaking. Edited to add: And that complaint is pretty much why I said you were looking for excuses not to like the show, because it comes off as that silly to me.

Dude. Some of your criticisms come off as simply not wanting to like this show, and looking for excuses. Like, sure, there are plot holes. Whatever, plot holes happen, bug some people more than others. Depends on the show and the hole how much they bug me. But almost all the rest of your criticisms are baseless, easily explained or so common in super hero stories if this is the kind of thing that bugs you, I can't imagine why you would bother watching any show with super heroes in it. I'm pretty sure I could counter-point each one, or demonstrate how it was decently explained in story what something needed to happen. But it's late, so I'll only hit two of them. Like, in non-spoiler territory, why can Jessica fight ordinary men without murdering them? Because she can pull her punches. Like Superman, Luke Cage, half the X-men, Spiderman, the Flash, Thor, Iron Man and on and on and on. Every single comic hero with super strength or super speed has the same problem. Jones has extra reason to pull her punches when the people she's fighting are tools of Kilgrave, and she's pretty bound and determined not to be forced to murder people, anyone, but doubly so when it involves people he's drug into their fight. So she pulls her punches to save their lives, and pays for it. And in spoiler territory:

I'd easily trade 1/7th of a small square of supreme/premium alfalfa for an indie video game, but I'm not sure I'm willing to give up two 9.4 inch plastic human skeleton models.

I feel like this thread was created just to empower that joke.

Really? Hmm, I could probably find some use for that.

Is.....is there cake?

Spoilers ho! (sorry also gorm)

Kilgrave might be the most frightening super villain I've ever seen depicted in movie or television. He was unnerving to a spectacular degree. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the season 2 villain was already established, if you think about it. That's if S2 happens, apparently there's going to be a super group miniseries of the Netflix heroes as well, and the timing of that shoot may interfere with a Jones season 2 anytime in the near future. I did feel like the show got very...heavy in the back third. But for me, it was more because that's when the really bad shit just started piling one on top of the other. Action wise, I was fine with that, you've got several characters who have established powers, and none of them had really been able to fully unholster those. Spoilering some thoughts on the action. My characterization of this is mostly that I thought I saw solutions to problems that the characters didn't consider, and in some cases fairly obvious solutions. And a lack of paranoia at times. Like, fuck, the entire back half of the show should have had way more paranoia going on than was demonstrated. Paranoia was a completely rational response that people didn't use enough. At least two characters deal with some pretty heavy consequences because they should have been more paranoid given what they knew. Beyond paranoia though, I'm trying to think about what actions I would have called irrational or out of character though. Simpson, maybe, but there are big loose, blank dangly threads about why he does some of what he does. Everyone else though I felt like the actions they took could be pretty easily forecast by their past behavior. edited to add: Oh, unless you're talking about... I don't want to spoil anything, but if you like the Marvel universe thingy at all, I'd rate Jones as a must watch element of it, for going against the grain of so many of the other stories in it.

We finished up Jessica Jones last night, and it was really fucking good! Like, maybe the best action oriented TV show I've ever watched (I don't watch many, because I usually find them not that great). Besides the content, one of the things that really impressed me with the show as the casting. This is a world full of people, and they're not all white and straight. Lots of one off or background characters are just people of color and/or women. Because why shouldn't a cop or a nurse be black. Why shouldn't the doctors be women. It's the argument that some people have made for years come to pass, that if a character doesn't need to be something specific, why not just bring some balance into casting instead of making 70 percent of your cast dudes, and most of them white.

Best advice I've ever heard about reacting to that situation is to 1) convey suitable, simple condolences (it doesn't matter if any one person's words has an effect, hearing something kind in aggregate may help some people), and 2) if you want to do more, offer specific help that's within the bounds of the relationship. If it's a work colleague who is stuck in the hospital, ask if they've got anything in their desk they might need. Small time of your day, might be huge for them. If it's someone you're close too, offer to bring food, shovel snow from the driveway, vacuum their house, get the oil changed on their car if they may need to drive on short notice, etc. Ask yourself, what would you forget to do if you were in their shoes. If you're very close to the person (very old friend, close family), just do something they need. They may not even feel comfortable asking for help, even if they need it. But that's reserved for a few relationships. Ultimately most people will turn down the help anyways. But communicating to them that you're willing to take specific action to help them can be a very powerful and helpful message whether it is needed or not.

Ah, the key seemed to be to remove the s from https. Embedding doesn't like a secure link.