Nappi

The level of randomness in missions can be quite crazy. I launched a mission before quitting for the day, but as I started playing again the next day, I realized that I had enough supplies to upgrade my gear, and so I loaded an earlier save, bought some stuff, and launched the mission again. The first time I had 12 turns to reach an enemy VIP that was perhaps 4-5 full sprint turns away from me, but the second time the VIP was less than 2 full sprints away from me. I basically beat the mission in 2 or 3 turns (excluding evac) because the VIP was killed by an exploding car that was set ablaze by an overwatch shot. I reloaded the game because I wanted to see what happens if I bring the VIP in alive, and things got a lot tougher because I triggered a codex, 2 stun lancers and 2 Faceless in basically one turn. The only overly stressful missions so far have been the retaliation ones, and there the randomness can be a real pain in the ass. In my first retaliation mission, the aliens had already killed several civilians before I even reached the one nearest to me. The sense of progress in this game is mostly really satisfying. I like how almost everything costs roughly the same amount of supplies, so that I can buy and upgrade my stuff as I see fit without feeling that I have to be saving resources for some next tier of stuff, which in turn would considerably increase my pay grade. I also appreciate that most of the equipment upgrades are applied automatically to every soldier. My soldiers are constantly getting more badass, and it feels super good to be able to destroy a bunch of tough enemies before they have time to do anything. I still dislike the Avatar project counter. I understand why it is there, but I don't like having a doomsday clock that is spread across tens of hours (?) of gameplay. This makes it almost impossible "get a feel for it", unless you are committed to playing the campaign multiple times. For example, my counter is about three quarters full, I have two facilities (one in my region with 1 pip, and the other two regions from my region with 2 pips) on the map, and am about to build a shadow chamber. What should I prioritize here? Should I even be worried yet? Have I already messed things up? Impossible to know, I guess, unless I read a bunch of posts by other players. Again, I can understand the design decisions here, but the stress over the uncertainty of possibly already having fucked up my campaign is just not for me.

Yeah, I tend to skip a lot in the orbital adjustment sections. The teaser for episode 12, on the other hand! What the fuck Vinny?

Whenever this discussion resurfaces once a week I immediately start thinking about recent games that have taught me some skill (or something) that is applicable in real life. The only one I can come up with is Kerbal Space Program, and even then I doubt that I will ever be part of the space industry. (Rest of the discussion drifts out of focus as I continue going through the list.) For the record, I agree both that each game requires you to learn its own language which is often of little use in real life, and that people are free to look for real life applicability in their games.

Ok, so I built a Guerrilla Tactics School, researched the technology of having 5 soldiers in the same area, upgraded some of my weapons and armor, and tackled the first facility mission. I was a bit scared because this was the first mission with a difficult difficulty that I had tried, but it went relatively smoothly: 23 enemies killed and all my soldiers wounded to varying degrees. After the mission I was a bit panicked, though, because I had like 3 healthy soldiers and all but one were newbies. I recruited a new rookie and changed the HQ scanning effect to faster healing. After a couple of days of scanning I got a red UI elements event where I had to choose between 3 missions. One of the status effects was a UFO that chases you hovering HQ. I did a bit of digging and it sounds like this is something I definitely want to avoid, but the mission to prevent that was marked as difficult. I managed to heal enough soldiers to have a full squad of non-rookies, but if this mission goes similar to the alien facility mission, I might end up with a really bad situation healthy soldiers-wise. I guess I will have to pray that things will be a bit quieter for a while after the next mission. In short, I really wish that I had built Guerrilla Tactics School and Advanced Warfare Center earlier on.

I read it last year and quite liked it. I had a different translation (Larissa Volokhonsky and Richard Pevear) but it also had notes. Those helped a lot in understanding the historical context of the book, who the various characters might be based on, and so on. For some reason, the Pontius Pilate part was by far the most fascinating to me.

Ok, thanks for the clarification. What is the cause of the pips on the pacific icon? My worry was that I had let the facility complete whatever it was doing, so that attacking it now was pointless, but it sounds like that is not the case. Are the non-facility related pips there so that you can reduce them by completing storyline objectives? It feels like this game expects you to either read a bunch of guides before you start playing, or to be willing to restart the campaign once you realize you have fucked things up completely. For example, the first building I constructed was the proving grounds. This was one of the first campaign objectives, and because I have played a recent video game, I assumed that the objective was helping me get started with the base building. If I was to restart the game now, the proving grounds probably wouldn't be among my first five construction projects. I have managed to do quite well despite my poor initial decisions, so the game already seems more forgiving that the previous XCOM, but then I'm also playing on the second easiest difficulty and relying on save scumming in some of the more surprising situations. I imagine things getting quite brutal on going-in-blind runs on harder difficulties. This issues aside, I'm enjoying the game a lot. I was worried that the ramped up brutality of the game would make it less enjoyable for me, but so far this has not been the case. Some of the timers have been quite unforgiving (especially if your first moves are in the wrong direction), and many of the enemies are absolute dicks (looking at you sectoids, stun lancers and snake ladies), but as I said, so far I have been doing ok. I have been quite liberal with save scumming and will continue that in the future, simply because that makes the game a more enjoyable experience for me. I can see the appeal of an ironman sort of run, but I already know that it is not for me. This game can look absolutely gorgeous, especially the maps with urban decay. I also love how destructible the environments are.

Assorted stupid questions about in between missions stuff. My current situation is that the first facility is in one of the regions I have made contact with, and there is another facility in a region that I have not yet contacted. The first facility is white, and the second facility is red and has a pip below it. The avatar project has 5 pips in total (1 on the facility and 4 on the floating statue thing). I assume that I can set back the avatar project by 1 pip by attacking the second facility, but is there a way to remove the other 4 pips? Or did I fuck things up permanently by not attacking the first facility earlier (I did not pay attention whether it had pips below it or whether it used to be red)? I guess my main point is whether I should attack the facilities as soon as possible to prevent permanent increment in the doomsday clock, or just make sure that I destroy them before it reaches 12 o'clock.

I wish more levels in Superhot played like intricate puzzles. There were definitely levels where you had to execute a set of actions to survive the initial scenario, but towards the end of the story the game leaned more and more on enemies just spawning all around you. I especially disliked the last three proper levels because they took away an interesting mechanic that they had introduced only moments earlier. I hope Superhot will get a scenario editor at some point.

I'm six missions in and I have only one engineer. I got a message about engineers and scientists being available for recruiting, but couldn't figure out where I was supposed to hire them, although I went through every room in my flying base thing. Having to fly over your non-flying base thing to recruit staff seems a bit random. Will the black market open up later on or am I just missing it as well? Also when should I do the first alien facility mission (or whatever it is called.. that red one)?

Lots of save scumming ahead to make sure that she never dies... I still have no idea what I should be doing in the map view, and if, for example, I can somehow hire more engineers.

The book is definitely worth reading even if you know some of the plotpoints. I've been meaning to re-read The Name of the Rose for some time now.

Significantly better, in my opinion. The show really finds its direction during the second season. Hang in there, it is brilliant.

Decided to try this game out after all, and so far I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I have completed three proper missions on normal, and have managed to avoid casualties (with minor save scumming). My biggest concern was that since most of the missions now have some sort of a timer, I would be forced play way too recklessly for my tastes. So far this has not been the case, and I have completed the missions with many turns still left without taking too many unnecessary risks. I had to get rid of my overcareful move-overwatch-move-overwatch routine of the previous game, though. How brutal does the timer get later on? You were right about the between missions stuff being completely overwhelming at first. I've done some reading on how to proceed with research and so on, but there are just so many things to take into account. Oh well, I guess I will figure out what I should have done eventually. The performance is quite sketchy at times, but I haven't encountered any serious bugs yet. There is definitely some weird dead time during battles, though. Hopefully the Stop Wasting My Time mod fixes at least some of that while waiting for the patch. Thanks for the tip! There is something about the "feel" of this game (and its predecessor) that I really like. It's hard to describe what it is exactly. A sort of well-oiled gun feel of the movement and action perhaps.

I'd say start with Steve Gaynor's rekall tumblr, and then read Neuromancer.

Austin was a great guest! I hope he will join you again soon.

By the way, has anyone followed the hunt for secrets in The Witness that must be taking place in the more obsessive parts of the internet? Has anyone found anything interesting?

Thanks guys! I was really happy with the results. I have made stuffed peppers a couple of times and ended up with them half-filled with fluid. Next time I will try to remember to preheat and empty them before stuffing them.

This could technically be considered a late entry in the savory crêpes category, but I actually just want to share this because for once something I try in the kitchen actually turns out great. Sorry! Thick Russian-style buckwheat blinis with salmon roe, sour cream, red onion, and pickled cucumber. I let the batter rise overnight, added the eggs, beer, butter, and the rest of the flour, then proceeded to make a complete mess of my kitchen.

Yes, I think hiding it in plain sight was a cool idea. There is another way, though.

If I remember correctly, the final part was cut in a very strange way. Basically, "I'm afraid Vic died in a car chase" > "It's pretty crazy that I'm in NBA now. Shame about Vic, though." > "Mum and dad, I bought you a house or a vacation or whatever." > "If you are hearing me read this letter, I'm a ghost. I just wanted to let you know that your mom is super hot." It could be that Vic was already suicidal and acting recklessly which resulted in the police/gangsters chasing him. I like to think that he wrote that note as a ghost. Mostly, I just don't care.

I'm enjoying the gameplay quite a bit. Throwing my empty gun at the enemy, catching his gun in air, and shooting him and his friend makes me feel like a badass every time. My only complaint is that sometimes the enemy spawning can feel quite "cheap". I guess I could make a 360 after every action to see if there are any new enemies around, but that is not badass. Also, the weird white rooms with red shattering enemies look works really well for me.

What the fuck? That there was almost 2 hours of that hot mess? Well, I guess time flies when you feel embarrassed for everybody involved. On some level I probably found it quite fascinating, though, because I didn't skip any of the cutscenes. Bo$$-Key-Yacht$, man, Bo$$-Key-Yacht$.

I am currently binge-listening The Adventure Zone, and have also subscriped to My Brother, My Brother, and Me, and Cool Games Inc. All of them have been great. So far, The Monster Factory has had the most laughing-in-tears moments, though. The incredible dynamic between the brothers (and the father) is a joy to listen.

Yeah, I can definitely see that. However, the fact that Griffin is leading the players does not bother me personally, as the premade adventure is so interesting and I feel like he still gives them enough freedom to resolve the situations. For example, I'm happy that they ended up taking part in that wacky race during Petals to the Metal, something that I doubt would have happened without some heavy steering from Griffin's part. I admit that I might feel differently about this had I ever played a D&D game. I agree with Badfinger that the quest for Mexican food story-arc is absolutely hilarious.

Yeah, The Adventure Zone is great. I started with My Brother, My Brother, and Me, then stumbled upon the video series, and realized that I'm really into this McElroy stuff. I have never played D&D, but The Adventure Zone actually got me quite intrigued about the prospect. Somehow, I suspect that it will be hard to find as entertaining a dungeon master as Griffin though?