RenFengge

Wow! Looks awesome! It's so satisfying when I see a fellow introvert completely make a space into what they want. I almost got there, but now I have to share my game room with @TurboR56Mini hahaha. :: cries ::

Have you started the game? I go back and forth on starting it or not... out of fear that a fantastic MMORPG will consume me lol.

I think FFVII Remake was the best any FFVII fan could have asked for, and it also definitely exceeded my expectations. Lifting the entire game and slapping on next gen graphics would not have appeased anyone. The route that Square took with this was a very wise one. They modernized the game and kept as true as possible. The core values of it are still there (I actually wrote a term paper on FFVII and the ethics explored). I think most people forget that the golden age of JRPGs actually had stories that went 80 hours, even 120 hours. So, FFVII Remake Part 1 is on track in terms of hours. The original story was as good as any intense book I read as a teenager, and the remake is still lightyears ahead of average games these days. Definitely looking forward to the next part! Glad you enjoyed it!

So, daytime runs approximately 20 minutes, with night time running around 9 minutes, I think. There are mods to extend the time. However, I think I have a general fear of breaking shit and unable to unbreak shit. But, I will look into it. If it is an easy mod to install and remove if necessary, then most likely I'll add it. I would love the days in general to not go by so quickly!

As a NYCer, I can't bring myself to watch anything about 9/11. I'm sure the documentaries and movies about it are worthwhile, and good for the sake of history keeping. But, everything about that day and the days and weeks after are something I don't want to watch or relive. I work now just 2 blocks from the WTC memorial, a place I never thought I would work. Last week in the city, as I got off the subway and walked to the office, it was somber with all the ribbons and whatever. I'm glad others are able to tell their stories about it to help heal... To watch these films to heal and know more about it. I just don't think I'll ever get there. Especially as other terrible things in the world continue to happen.

@Baabcat - @TurboR56Mini will be back on Friday night and should be good for the weekend. I have a standing 8:15am ET appointment on Saturdays and am taking a weightlifting break, so I'm home by 9am ET on Saturdays. my Sundays are also now open for our usual raid time lol.

I hope those who were able to log into the new server are enjoying it! Kinda cool that we have 2 servers now. Anyway, I wanted to post about my wanderings and "beacons of hope" to weary explorers of Valheim. Originally, you may have stumbled upon various campfires I left around. I do enjoy just dropping a campfire in the dark, not so friendly areas. Next, in our original server, you may have discovered my Wolf Sanctuary! Now, in our new server, I have decided to somewhat "upgrade" my "beacons of hope" with little houses that I have repaired along the way. If you happen upon these places and see that I may have claimed a bed, do not worry! Feel free to dismantle and recreate the bed, so you can use it! Sometimes, while I'm repairing, I also need to "sleep", so I use the bed. Each place should also have a chest with some stuff to help you along. Also, in the new server, @TurboR56Mini was kind enough to create a "welcome" center. In that area, you will also find a tree farm that I sort of manage to keep a steady supply of wood and fine wood. Chop what you need. The trees in the farm have no grass under them. I think one of the new tools is a "cartography" table, which allows us to share maps. Even though we have not unlocked it, I look forward to it! I think that's all. Happy Valheim-ing!

Kiddies - out of @TurboR56Mini 's generous (and impatient) heart... he has decided (for us) to gift FG the additional Valheim server. I will set it up now, then pass the credentials onto @GazzaGarratt for other admin things.. DM me or @TurboR56Mini or @GazzaGarratt for the server details.

Vote and comment below if you like.

@Teenwolf25 has given great intro advice. So, thanks for that. @Diddums makes a good point on keeping the weapon you like, trying out new ones, etc. Because how you play is going to be different than others. For example, initially, I was very much a long distance player. I still sort of am. Originally, I was all about snipers and bows... probably a good minute on submachine guns... and definitely rocket launchers. Currently and probably for the last 2 seasons, I've been on a heavy grenade launch with certain specs instead of my favorite rocket launcher. I currently do not like snipers and prefer bows... and I love my auto-rifles over SMGs. I think for armor builds, @Therealraiser has some fantastic advice on what to spec out your armor and how. He's usually found on our Discord chat, but feel free to DM or ask him here instead! I am by no means good at this game lol. But, our top players like @Venom , @Teenwolf25 , @Baabcat , @Riff Machine , @Forty6_N_two , @TurboR56Mini , @MrSwainey101 , and others who currently escape my mind and not previously mentioned can give such amazing tips and info. Just reach out to them.

I like @TurboR56Mini 's idea to keep the FG-OG and get a new server for the new stuff. It's ~$137 for a 10 spot server for 1 year. @GazzaGarratt - would you like us to handle the second server, so we don't add to your list of things to do? That is, if we go this way?

Hi Emma, Welcome! I felt the urge to respond to this, as your comment reminded me of my time in HS. My response is going to go against the rule of thumb, which is desktops for gamers. So, there's a reason why I was gaming on a laptop for many years. However, that is not to say that most of the time I didn't have a desktop. I did. I had both a desktop and a laptop usually. It wasn't until I was in college that I was laptop-based for a good while. But, I was also a nomad, sort of. Here's the main benefit that I had with a laptop --> I was mobile. If I was kicked out of a room, not a problem. If I ended up staying late at school for one reason or another, it didn't matter. If I wanted to game and the family was going on a trip for the weekend, that's fine, I had my laptop. Here's the downside --> any gaming laptop worth the money is going to be "heavier" than a basic laptop. However, today's heaviest laptops are what the lightest laptops were during my time as a "nomad" (my friends considered me a nomad since I was always on the move). I carried around a 18" laptop that weighed around 14lbs. I think that was the heaviest one I ever carried. Had to look for a certain bag just to fit it. I think the lightest laptop at the time was around 5lbs. Maingear's (maingear.com) most robust gaming laptop is 4.4lbs today. Are laptops upgradeable? Lol. Absolutely not. The cases are, in general, designed for the specs. You can't just be adding RAM or swapping out a graphics card. However, if your son is young enough, and if you basically get the best possible thing out there, he could technically use the laptop for like 4 years. Why am I saying this? Before I got my husband @TurboR56Mini into gaming, my concern was always about getting kicked out of my game room/home office. So, if he needed the space, I could just take my laptop to the living room. I ended up also buying him a gaming laptop when I bought my last one in 2015. Our laptops lasted us until December 2020. Technically, they could even still run some games today like Destiny 2, Civilization, Sims, Fallout, Witcher 1 - 3, Mass Effect, etc. But, those laptops were also near-top of the line at the time too. Each laptop cost us about $2800 each. Paid for by year-end bonus. They did their jobs well. I still use mine to watch things if I want to lounge in bed. Now, if you do go desktop, which is always going to be the best way to go, I would suggest trying to find a quality PC maker to start you off... or a local PC person to teach your son how to build one. These days, I can't be bothered to build my own. Plus, getting parts is a pain. PC builders tend to have parts that consumers cannot get. Since I don't build my own anymore, I'm very loyal to Maingear here in the US. They are a great company. They have fantastic customer service and top notch quality. They work with you if you want to upgrade components. The only reason why my latest PC is from Xidax is because Xidax gave me a killer deal and they had the chips I wanted... Also, another good company.. but they are not in driving distance to me if I want to do a component swap. Anyway.. just some thoughts I felt like throwing in for this conversation.