Brannigan

I usually not into the job games, but this is just really hitting the spot for some reason!

Hardspace Shipbreaker! Had no idea this was a thing and suddenly I put hours into the early access! You play as an indentured spaceman tasked with salvaging spacecraft for parts to work off debt. Currently that whole debt thing feels more like window dressing, but boy is the ship snipping fun as hell. Effectively it's like a puzzle of dismantling, caring not to rupture fuel lines, causing explosive decompression, not damaging the goods, etc. You get a sort of gravity gun/tether to move bits and a cutting tool for slicing and dicing. Also have to mind your O2 levels, health if you do something stupid, and thruster fuel. You also work in 15 minute shifts, which may seem stressful, but you can work multiple shifts on the same ship, it's mainly there to encourage you to work consistently and again, remind you that you're on the job. There's also a freeplay mode which can be fun to muck around in, but it removes not only the time limit but gives you infinite health/O2 as well, great for trying to explode ships but takes out the dramatic bits of the career mode. Regardless of the mode, it's got a real zen like quality, very relaxing to play, for the most part. Ships get more complicated as you rank up, the progression from tier 3 to 4 was a huge leap and that was truly the first time I was just dumbfounded on how to approach a job, in a very good way(After surveying the ship for a solid 5 minutes, I immediately caused a violent decompression, then ignited the ships nuclear reactor maybe a minute later by accident.) Did I mention you're flying around in space in first person?

I'd say it does? I feel like it goes too big and loses sight a little of what made s4 good. Certainly better than the first 3 seasons though.

s4 is the highlight! from what i've seen! I stopped on season 5, just haven't mustered myself to watch s6 and on

I just powered through the main game and part of the epilogue....and uh. jesus this game is way too long. I enjoyed my time, but I wish they approached some of the design differently. Combat in particular feels like it could be much more exciting with just a few tweaks? I mean it was like 30 hours in before I realized that enemies could run up to you and knock your gun out of your hand and vice versa, that was thrilling! But the game rarely ever allows that event to occur. I feel like even just tweaking the ammo count to like, semi-realistic numbers would be a huge deal and vary up the combat a lot, encourage more close combat and movement rather than mostly hunkering down in one spot and hope you don't run of your 2000 rounds of ammo. You'd also likely have to reduce enemy count which, also would be nice? I'm pretty sure I've murdered the population of several towns just doing story missions and paying 50 bucks makes everyone cool with that I guess. The economy is also extremely fucked and does not gel with the story at all. There's constant talk about lack of money by characters and two of story based robberies had me set up for life basically. Arthur talking about not being able to afford something monetarily that is not expensive while holding 3000 dollars is wild(I did not do any side hustles either, money mainly came from story.) It's a very pretty game that is just filled with moments of design and story butting heads hard. I'm saying lot of negative stuff, but I enjoyed it! it's just frustrating at times especially since there's a lot of well crafted bits along with weird and sometimes bad choices in design.

Between two ferns was worth it just for the chicken strips joke

Re: Dany

Judging from the clip of Aladdin I saw, Will Smith could really have used that new sound.

With season 4 they change up how the seasons are written, with it being a couple interconnected arcs instead of stretching out one story and it actually becomes alot more focused and tighter because of it. The problem for me is with how season 5 starts and largely plays out it drops some threads that were important to the world of the show. It also goes for alot more bombast and Epicness which didn't work for me as it lost some of the character focus of season 4. There's no mad libs shit in either season though! I should add, I was into the show but not a super fan or anything, season 4 hooked me haaard though.

Season 4 is really really good! Though I also back up what secretasianman said

Yea the 5th season finale took place as the fight in new york happened, they actually show a clip of the ship coming in on a tv at some point. This puts season 6 a year post ginger snap. Anyway. I'll watch it, but a little skeptical? Season 5 was fine, there were parts I enjoyed, but season 4 was the highhhhhhhhhhh point of the show for me, there was such a focus on character in that season that I felt got a little lost when they tried to go bigger in season 5. Also Doom Patrol is kinda shitting all over any other comic book show I've seen, it's just so ridiculously good. I never root for properties, but I wish it wasn't on dc's streaming service so that more people could see it. I guess I should say I did watch the new ep of AoS, and it was fine. I wasn't super pulled into it, but we'll see how the show plays out.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Mechanically...fine? I hated the story and characters so much. I tend to bounce off of games or media that do the whole "far-future" or "alternate" timeline thing where everything has some sort of adorable alternate noun and this game felt like that 100%. It's like a non-numbered final fantasy game title that came to life somehow. Oddly final fantasy games are very much what I described but usually don't rub me the wrong way like this did. It also came off very flat in the acting and plotting from what I played of it. Red Dead Redemption 2: While I never finished the first one, I enjoyed what time I spent with it despite it's adherence to rockstar mission structure. The second one....I played for maybe an hour and never touched it again, I just felt absolute no need to play it more, partially due to the million dudes approach to rockstar game missions. I found the main character's voice to be very irritating which did not help. Fallout 3 and on: On paper I should be interested in these? Literally never clicked with me, not a single one. Felt too aimless...and I feel like what the systems are going for in theory and what they actually do don't actually match up, at least in terms of survival. Stalker: Call of Pripyat is the best fallout game! Fortnite: I....don't know why this game is so huge? The building aspect is cool I guess, but I just found myself so...bored, even when doing well. I was kind of angry at how boring it was, and I didn't even pay for the damn thing. I've always enjoyed multiplayer shooters and I just could not deal with this game and uninstalled it within 2 hours of installing it. Somewhat with you on Breath of the Wild. The mechanics didn't bother me but the game just didn't really grab me either, I played a while and just kind of stopped caring and haven't touched it again.

Artifact is a very long ARG for HL3, confirmed

Anyone else watching this? Recently gave it a shot and I am really, really digging it. Really leans hard into comic book absurdity, and apparently draws from the Grant Morrison weirdo run of the comic a lot. There's a lot of really great character building in this, along with pretty great performances by the entire cast. Somehow really threads the needle of complete absurdity and real character drama well. I kind of wish it wasn't a DC Universe subscription show, so more people would be able to see it, but at the same time they treat it more like prestige television and it seems like they're getting to do what they want with it. Somehow a robotman brendan fraser being able to yell "What the fuck" at every absurd thing thrown at him feels a little more real and lived in, because really, if someone who led a relatively normal life got thrown into a robot body and encountered weird shit there would be a lot that.

It is very episodic, though there's a throughline that eventually starts to develop