Nappi

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Regarding the suggestion of discussing two episodes in one podcast: I'm all for that! (I'm assuming that the podcast will still be more or less weekly.) I already mentioned earlier that I have very mixed feelings about Season 2, but I had completely forgotten how long it is and how many stupid plotlines there are: In the next episode, for example, bunch of things are set in motion (again....) but nothing much actually happens.

What the fuck Tintin? To me the stuff that is going on in Arkham City feels very different from the wacky shit that can happen in Far Cry games. In Batmen the events feel heavily "scripted" – a group of criminals holding police hostage here, another bunch committing a crime there – and I can't remember encountering many emergent or improvised scenarios. Far Cry games may feel more dull than those games if you compare the frequency of events but man, when the grenade rolls down the hill and fucks up everything, it feels good! Or maybe you are just dull person, I dunno.

Yeah, I'm incredibly impressed by the puzzle design as well. I usually get fed up with these types of games once the puzzles become too massive or start demanding a lot of finger dexterity and finesse. I'm in the middle of Building B at the moment and so far all the puzzles have been fair and enjoyable.

Man, you really dropped your balls with that one.

There was a scene with Ben (and probably Jerry) in this or the next episode with huge delay in audio. There is also a scene where the traffic light is blue/cyan instead of green and it is driving me crazy because I don't know if its intentional or some issue with the bluray version. Also, yeah that guitar scene is so fucking bad.

Maybe a thread addressing this issue is in order?

Seems like I have bought (or included in my permanent Spotify collection) quite a bit fewer albums this year than in 2013. Still a lot of excellent stuff. For example: Hauschka - Abandoned City Jack White - Lazaretto Mirel Wagner - When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems Electric Wizard - Time to Die (Sorry, but I can't really articulate why I like them so much.)

Is there a way to donate the gems to charity or something?

You can upgrade your home base and buy some additional properties, but it is quite limited. Something like 4 upgrades and 7 properties. The gameplay is quite similar to Assassin's Creed 2, as far as I can remember, with some welcome improvements (which I have listed in one of my earlier posts). If you are not sick and tired of Assassin's Creed series and if they manage to fix the performance issues, then I think the game is well worth playing. The only technical issues I experienced were related to the framerate (bad every now and then, and horrible for a while at a couple of specific locations), and they did not ruin the game for me. Still, I'm a bit vary of recommending the game as it was on launch.

Read this, checked out my inventory and noticed that some of my wallpapers are worth 100 gems, got excited and went to the auction thing, was disappointed when everything was going for tens of thousands of gems.

Please, please, please, let there be Solaris DLC.

Cool tune indeed! The GTA V soundtrack in its entirety is pretty damn amazing. At some point during almost every play session, I have just picked a cool car, tuned to a radio channel more or less at random and gone on a leisure cruise around the island. It is the best. They added a shitload of new songs to the PS4/XBONE/PC version, by the way: http://www.ign.com/wikis/gta-5/Soundtrack_and_Radio

I have really mixed feelings about rewatching Season 2. On the one hand, it still has a lot of excellent Twin Peaks moments. Quite many in this first episode, in fact. On the other hand, it also has a couple of storylines that are so obnoxious (those who have watched season 2 can probably make an educated guess as to what I am referring to) that they have actually managed to tarnish my view of the entire show to some extent. Oh god, you are right! That is excellent. As I was watching the episode I kept trying to remember whether there was any "payoff" to the Cursed Sunglasses of Laura Palmer storyline. I had completely forgotten about the part in the spoilers. Also, that hospital food ( ). Also, Ronette Pulaski's nightmare ending. Jesus.

Yup, exactly.

My most horrendous experience with the Tetris effect is courtesy to Kurushi. (aka IQ: Intelligent Qube, apparently) for Playstation the original. Interestingly, I never owned the full version of the game, and only played the demo a couple of times. As a child, I was regularly sick with bronchitis and similar diseases, and often had fever in the 40 °C range (about 104 F). It wasn't nearly as bad as it would be now, to be honest: I could just lie in bed, eat, drink, and listen to audiobooks without having to worry about anything really, as my parents did all of the worrying. The only thing I had to face alone were the nightmares and, sure enough, they would be come practically every time I went to sleep during high fever. In the one recurring nightmare I had, I was standing on a narrow strip of cubes which was suspended in air and extending to the horizon. In order to traverse that strip I had to perform some simple but laborious and repetitive task involving the cubes. It wasn't exactly the gameplay of Kurushi, but the cubes and the strip - that endless fucking strip - definitely had its origins in the game. The thing that made the dream an absolute nightmare was the fact that I could see my family and friends, or at least imagine, in the background while some invisible force, possibly one that was inside me, was pushing me forward. I had an understanding of sorts that the strip would eventually lead me back home, perhaps having circled the earth, but I already knew how hopeless and long the task would be, and how unlikely my return. There was nothing that interested me on that strip and I had absolutely no motivation to carry on. But I had to. I had no choice. It was completely devastating, mostly because I understood perfectly well how completely pointless my endeavor was and yet I couldn't simply stop, turn around and walk back to my house, my family, who were still not very far at all, in fact, painfully close. Eventually, the strip would fade out and be replaced by my soaked pillow and sheets (fortunately not checkered), but my fever would cause the dream and the reality to get blended together, and I wouldn't feel relieved for a long time after, especially if it was still night and I had to get some more sleep. For many years, that dream was the worst part of being ill, and probably because I dreaded it so much, it would always come back to haunt me one of those high-fever nights. I haven't thought about that dream for a long time. In hindsight, there is something quite touching and true, I think, in the dread I experienced in that dream. At the time, however, it was just horrible. Variations of this nightmare could be quite common for all I know, so I cannot seriously blame it on Kurushi. However, that particular nightmare was definitely Kurushi-themed, even if the strip of cubes in that game did not push you farther and farther from everyone you loved and cared about.

Yes yes yes! The promise of space ghost busting makes me feel good!

Excited about the Victorian London! Vary about the schedule. I wonder if they will still ship a previous-gen Assassin's Creed game next year, and if not, then how it will affect the quality of Assassin's Creed Ripper. Interestingly, there were no playable future (Assassin's Creed present) sections in Assassin's Creed Unity at all. They were replaced by three mandatory "rift" missions that were set in Paris at different time periods (late 1800s, World War II, and late 1300s). I found these short glimpses of Paris at various eras much more interesting than exploring the Ubisoft headquarters or the Cave of the Space Gods. The futuristic user interface elements and the Abstergo commentary were still there, of course, but they did not bother me that much.

I take it the video was shot before the Coldblum (20 % off orders over $30 with code "Coldblum") become available? Anyway, cool cool stuff!

Hahaha, brilliant!

Not sure what to think of the whole project yet, but I can't wait to see the lighthammer and lightflail. Oh well, as long as they don't make a light projectile weapon...

What's next? People marrying animals?! (Most likely an actual argument by the opposition.) I'm surprised and happy about the result. Unfortunately, it is not yet completely certain that the change in the marriage law will actually be implemented (or so I gathered from the radio).

Congrats!

Ubisoft is sorry about fucking up Unity, releases a patch with a long list of fixes, offers the upcoming DLC for free for everyone, and lets season pass owners select a free game (including Far Cry 4 and Black Flag). Meanwhile, I have already finished the game.