Kyir

I guess I'm going to have to start running Far Cry 2 too just to give Nick some competition.

The closest thing I can find to a WR in Far Cry 2 is a 3:04:09 run that no longer has a video attached, so I think a bit of route optimization will be all it takes to get it at first. Of course, once you get the WR, people will actually want to take it from Nick.

Old Demon King is going to be easy for Nick now, but might be a good warmup for the last stream.

Just one boss left! Can't wait for the Nameless King stream.

I know that stream ended up being hard on you, Nick, but it really was entertaining the whole way through! If all people cared about was seeing progress getting made as fast as possible, we would just watch someone beat the game in like an hour and a half. I'm sure no one watching felt like it was a waste of time to do so.

I enjoyed reading your words about it! I view the change as being cyclical as well, but focusing more on how the usurpation of power gives way to slow decline (See: Gwyn's trajectory through the series, the Dragons, etc.) In this context, humans and the things closest to them have grasped power in the kindling of flames great and small, and are reluctant to let go. It strikes me more as narrative about power corrupting in the usual ways, but resulting in a far slower decline compared to other narratives considering the same themes. Most of the powerful enemies were human once, and almost all of them are sad to consider now.

I wonder if Nick is going to be interested in doing Archdragon Peak. It would be a shame not to I think.

Screaming at the stream is absolutely a normal stream thing. Trust me on this one.

Never expected to see see Navi getting an invite over EG again.

The whole "forcing teams into open qualifiers for breaking roster lock" thing sure doesn't seem to be a very strong deterrent.

It's not a book specifically, but I've given up on the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I'm 6/10ths of the way through, what feels like 7000 pages in, and all of the characters I had any affinity for or interest in have either died or changed so drastically that I don't care anymore. I can't see the path to the end and I don't remember how I got to the point I am, and nothing about the prose itself is interesting enough to keep me going.

EG and Secret are both just rolling disasters at this point.

Any chance of Dark Souls 3 today?

Talk about Liquid being on a tear through the lower bracket. Haven't dropped a game down there yet.

I'm actually looking forward to Liquid vs. Navi (tonight) more than I have to most of the ones in the tournament. Navi isn't exactly back to peak performance relative to the other teams, but they're far better than they were a few months ago, and I think they can go a lot further if they beat Liquid. On the other hand, Liquid's coming back from those day 1 games, but beating CoL isn't necessarily enough to prove that their form is significantly better. It'll be a good test for both teams.

Yeah, that was a harsh match to watch as a Liquid fan. I had to turn off the stream for the night. I have faith, but Kuro needs to get Matu to get his act together. Game 2 was eminently winnable. As for who the favorite is now, I would (to my displeasure) say it's MVP. Not many teams could have come back from that two-rax disadvantage with quite as much dominance, though I suspect a rematch between them and TL would turn out a bit differently. QO's Slardar in particular might be worth banning out in Phase 1 or 2.

Thus starts the main stage games! I think the smart money is on Team Liquid winning the whole thing (the smart money, as well as my heart,) but there's always the possibility for an upset!

If you don't do one soon your internalization% might drop.

Will there be a stream this Sunday too? I need to play my weekend around it.

Always up for watching blind playthroughs. I'll do my best to not backseat.

Yeah, please. I don't have a set schedule, but it's usually some time in between 9 PM EST and 2 AM. Mostly Dark Souls 3 right now, but sometimes Nuclear Throne or assorted other games.

Streaming a DS3 challenge run (broken sword only) in about 5 minutes at twitch.tv/kyir. I have no idea what I'm doing! EDIT: Finished for now, but I stream pretty often!

Nick got 4 bosses in the end though, and Siegward finally made it! I would call this stream a victory for Nick and the backseat crew. I also admit that I was probably underestimating Nick when I said that we absolutely needed Siegward to beat Yhorm, but I don't regret my effort guiding Nick down a needlessly complicated path at all. That's how Dark Souls should be. The next few streams will be very interesting, as Nick has one of the most interesting (I think) areas of the game to play through, one of the hardest bosses by most standards, and a whole lot of fairly-difficult normal progression. I'm predicting at least 3 more streams until he finishes the game, provided his internalization proceeds normally.

Frustration, then pride, then frustration again.

Nick almost made me cry this stream.