thefncrow

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Posts posted by thefncrow

  3. Posted

    I've been a fan of some of the night stuff, but it's a lot of stuff to chew through.  I enjoy some of the odd pairings and some good discussion often comes out, but I can't fault anyone that says it's too much, because it really is.  The GDC stuff they used to do (and seemingly just don't anymore) was also this, even if some of that stuff involved even more of people getting drunk (see, the last major one they did where they had a bunch of people passing around a bottle of Buckfast which was then capped with Dave Lang being Way Too Drunk and yelling a bunch at Ed Boon).

     

    (On a side note, one of those old GDC cast nights was actually my first introduction to the Thumbs crew when Chris, Sean, and Jake were on the same night, and one of the panel breaks featured Jake and Sean watching mini-Chris play Space Asshole.)

     

    Also, that Leigh Alexander stuff is a real low point in a lot of ways, not the least of which is the ways that the GB crew themselves really spurred some of that shit on.  If I'm not mistaken (and this was like almost 7 years old so I could be wrong), a number of the crew walked out of the room and held a second stream from Jeff's phone while Leigh was on.  Also, the weird GB meme of "<>" stems from that podcast, where at some point it turns into this weird non-audio signal for "I think Leigh is being annoying".  And then it doesn't help that there was some screenshot floating around either from Ryan or from someone who was talking to Ryan online where it appears Ryan calls her a sociopath.

     

    There was some straight demonization going on there and no one from GB was exempt from it.   It's ugly and was unacceptable, and it worries me.  Because every time I seem to think things are OK, there's little incidents like their inadequate and late response to GG and how slow they were to react with the Samantha Allen thing (although the ultimate response there was a little better than the one they later mustered for GG).  It seems like they've generally been doing better of late, but I worry if that's not just me rationalizing this.  I guess we'll see whenever this latest round of hiring is completed.

  4. Posted

    On self-imposed rules:

     

    I like to play FIFA, and will play against friends here.  FIFA is a game with a million teams that you won't really ever use unless you force yourself to.  So, we devised a rule.

     

    No one ever chooses their own team outright.  Instead, you go to the top level selector, count down from 3, and both sides hit random.  You get 5 random rolls in total.  Both players decide before any more rolls are taken, but you live with your decision.  .  If you get a mid-level team on pick #2 and decide that you're OK sitting with them, you can't suddenly take your 3 remaining rolls if your opponent lands on an all star team with their next pick.  Similarly, if you leave that weird mid-level team you got early on and then got bad random rolls on every successive try, you can't go back and take that old team.

     

    This means you're normally playing with players you have never heard of, and with teams whose strengths and weaknesses you're totally unaware of.  You have to look at your roster, quickly look at some attributes, and try to figure out how to best play this team.  And you might have to do that while being massively outgunned because your opponent happened to roll Barcelona on their first try and you ran every roll you had in hopes of finding someone at a similar talent level and got stuck with the 7th place team from the Korean K-League because that's what you got on the last roll.

  5. Posted

    4 hours ago, Fingus said:

    Do they ever figure out the parry mechanic in MGR? I'm on episode 2 now and it is driving me nuts. I'm not one to go "you're playing it wrong!" but it just feels like such a bummer because it's what makes the combat in that game so satisfying and fluid. I just feel frustrated on their behalf for missing out on a lot of great moments. 

    Also I imagine that certain boss fights will become incredibly tough without parrying, like is Monsoon and Armstrong even possible to beat without parry? IIRC they have phase triggers tied to it.

     

    I'm through part 4 and the answer seems to be "No".  They manage to get through Monsoon because they turned on the auto-parry thing and it seemed like when it got to those spots the game just does it for them.

     

    I'm kinda torn on finishing this because it's honestly so frustrating to watch, even though I really want to see Drew's reaction to Armstrong.

  6. Posted

    5 hours ago, SgtWhistlebotom said:

     

    is the spot they're looking to fill in GB West? GB East seems sparse and I feel bad for Vinny having to pull double duty as video producer and on-screen person.

     

    Yeah, the spot they're going to fill is GB West.  GB East had the vacancy but Dan slid over to fill that, leaving GB West down a person.

     

    Also, the Metal Gear Scanlon with him playing Rising has been slowly driving me mad watching it.  Dan starts off by telling Drew not to bother with the single mechanic that actually differentiates that game and just play on easy so he can just mash buttons and get through.  That's left them with a lot more room for conversation, but it also means they've almost entirely tuned the game out, to where there's points where Drew's just running around without any idea of what he has to do despite the game having chimed in 2-3 times to say "do this".

  8. Posted

    Managed to get Silent Assassin on the new Elusive Target.

     

     

    I started in the plaza with a baton and a syringe.  I snuck into the basement behind the kitchen assistant, stashed his body, and then took his clothes and the key.  Went up to the top floor, and when both guys in the top room had their back to the door I went in and clubbed them both and destroyed the camera footage.  Took a bodyguard outfit and jumped out the window, went down the pipe to the room down a floor.  I noticed that the target was in the room with me for the moment, and then he started walking back into the larger office.  I jumped back out the window and went back up a floor and dropped a chandelier on him while he was standing in front of the desk.  Backed out of the room, back to the basement, picked up my suit, walked out of the level.

  10. Posted

    In addition to what Cordeos just said, there's also the fact that Trump has indisputably built his fortune on a record of defrauding people, whether it's the Trump University scam that he just paid out $25m to avoid the indignity of being the President who was on trial for fraud or his more normalized fraud where he defrauded contractors by just deciding he wasn't going to pay them after work was complete. 

     

    Trump is a prime example for why this country needs better mechanisms to prevent the entrenchment of power via inherited wealth. 

  11. Posted

    There's really no need to wait. Trump campaigned as a bigoted monster, and since being elected, has been selecting bigots of his same strain for positions in his government. 

     

    If you have someone who says he will burn down your house if you give him access, and after you give him access he starts dousing the whole thing in gasoline and sending people out to buy him matches, you don't have to wait to render judgement until the house has been lit aflame. He told you what he was going to do, and if that was not enough to believe him, he started to make preparations to follow through. Thinking he deserves any benefit of the doubt is unbelivably naive. 

  12. Posted

    11 hours ago, Athis said:

    My main concern during this recent US election cycle was world peace. From her rhetoric and track record Hillary seemed the greater threat in that respect to me.

    Under Hillary there would be a real threat of war with Russia - in Europe. We Europeans have been down that road several times in recent history and it has not worked out well for anyone.

     

     

    The idea that a former Secretary of State with a long history of diplomacy with foreign nations is going to be more reckless with the military than a hate monger who goes on a rage bender every time he's criticized by a comedy show is a bit of a ludicrous position. 

     

    The potential for war with Russia is a concerning issue, most definitely, but the reason that an encounter is so possible is not because the US is actively antagonizing Russia, but because Russia is pursuing a very aggressive foreign policy that endangers security and stability abroad. Trump avoiding any potential for a war by being Putin's lapdog is not going to be a positive thing for safety and stability on the world stage. 

  13. Posted

    I've been playing on PS4.  Steve created an Idle Thumbs network back during the beta and I'm still part of it, but it's really tiny and there's never anyone online, so I've been switching over to the Giant Bomb or Waypoint networks.

  15. Posted

    Played a couple of rounds before bed. It definitely has that Titanfall feel, maps I played were good, feels good. 

     

    I also played Attrition, so maybe just Bounty Hunt is the actual problem. 

  17. Posted

    My first run, I took out two targets without using opportunities.

     

    I used the battering ram and I killed Mask Guy by overdosing the guy he's watching to lure him into the basement.  The activist I killed by poisoning her water in the greenhouse, and the main guy I killed when he strolled into the building I was using and started washing his hands at a basin while everyone's back was to me.  So, I tossed in a remote explosive and blew it up, and since no one saw me throw it, I just walked away.  I was starting to worry that my poison plot wasn't going to work at that stage, but as I'm walking away, I got the notification that she was dead too.

  18. Posted

    So, I'm seeing the performance issues on PC now too.

     

    I think the reason I didn't see them sooner was because when I got my choice for the second festival site, I picked the Outback.  I noticed it showed me that only like 25% of people take the Outback first.  When I'm out there, my i5-4590 and GTX 970 were holding basically a steady 60fps with the High dynamic setting.  That was surprising, considering what I've been hearing of people with beefier cards not being able to do High.

     

    When I picked Surfer's Paradise and started driving over towards it, that's where the game stopped being able to hold at 60.

  22. Posted

    EDIT: I can't tell if I own the PC version? I have the xbox one digital version but I can't find any info on how to get it on PC. I just have the standard edition so maybe I just need to wait a little longer to get it.

    You should be able to preload it now. Go into the Windows Store on your PC and make sure you're logged in to your XBL account and it should show up under your purchases.

  24. Posted

    I just got The Pharmacist.

     

    I had an attempt two nights ago where I started at the auction, but found quickly that was not a fantastic option because she comes up the back stairs where only bodyguards and auction staff have access.  I quit that out for a variety of reasons after I saw her get into Dalia's office for her meeting and decided to give it a better try later. 

     

    Tonight I started as a stage tech with poison and the explosive cell phone.  I took the auction staff disguise, dropped my gun, grabbed a kitchen knife (lethal thrown melee is so fun in this game), and went upstairs.  While I was looking at what I could set up in this area, she comes walking in with her bodyguards.  Since I had the explosive phone, I decided I'd give it a try.  I dropped it on the stairs and walked off.  She spots the phone (I guess this is the tweak from them saying she's been tipped off that someone's out to get her).  The guard goes ahead to look at the phone, picks it up, and walks back towards her.  I call the phone while they're saying it's nothing.  She just starts to walk away as the guard answers it, and the explosion kills her and both bodyguards.

     

    From there it was onto the balcony, down the long drainpipe to the ground floor, and I just walked out the front gate.

     

    I took penalties for 2 non-target deaths and the discovery of the bodies, but it felt like a solid if safe run for an elusive target.