[Star Trek: Discovery]

Goodness. I can't believe this started in 2017. It still feels so new.

 

@TurboR56Mini  and I really enjoy this show. We can't wait to see where the next season goes and see what happens with Georgiou when they do her spinoff of Section 31.

[Handmaids Tale]

Is anyone caught up with this?

 

I read the book long before it was a TV show. I watched up to part of season 3, then I had to stop. I couldn't both be depressed about the world and be depressed while watching TV lol. I might pick it up again.

[Your Favourite Characters]

Felt like reviving this thread... I'll throw in a few.

 

TV

Josh Lyman - West Wing

Sam Seaborn - West Wing

Picard - Star Trek Next Generation

Daniel Jackson - Stargate SG-1

 

[Mass Effect: Legendary Edition]

So, I've finally took a small amount of time to start this. Just completed the first mission.

 

Man, this was such stellar writing (for the most part). You don't know what's going on. You don't know who to trust. You don't know what anything is.

 

I haven't played Mass Effect in 6 years. I burned through 3 playthroughs in the summer of 2015. I will admit, playing Mass Effect 1 isn't something I look forward to. 2 and 3 is where it's at for me.

 

However, this is a remaster. And, it's been so long that I don't remember all the fine details.

 

Crazy to think how old this game is and how far BioWare has fallen. It's interesting to see where the politics are given today's current climate. Also, incredibly fun to listen to the story just start to unfold when you already know where this is all going. But, it also makes me remember some of the storylines that were never finished.

 

This is by no means a perfect game. It's not a remake (although, if they really went the way of FFVII Remake, it would have been awesome to see). Even through the first mission, you can see where some of the dialogue trees don't make sense, but you sort of expect that when it comes to dialogue rich games.

 

I do still wish they could have really taken what modders have done over the years and put it into the game. Like, FFS... I want my character to have more hairstyles and longer hair that resembles mine. I want better facial options instead of just a really tan white lady. Like, couldn't have they at least picked up some of their stuff from Andromeda and sort of put it here? Eh. I guess not.

 

The controls feel clunky. But, that's how I always feel when starting a different solo game. It will take me a bit to really just be quick with everything. For now, with the initial set of weapons, I'm quick enough to get even sniper shots off and insta-kill enemies.

 

So far for Mass Effect 1, not much of the gameplay has changed much. The menus are what I remember, and that's going to piss off a lot of players who aren't used to traditional RPGs. So much customization. But, I think it adds a certain depth to the gameplay.

 

If I had like 2 weeks off, I would definitely burn through a full gameplay of ME1 - ME3. Just absorb the whole story again. Unfortunately, I am not of that age with that luxury. So, let's see if I can balance this along with other games once I really get into the meat of the story. I purposely shut off the game after the first mission because I know that once I really get going, next thing I know it's going to be 3am...

[FG play Civilisation V]

Ooooooohhhhh... @TurboR56Mini  is pretty cut throat in Civ.

 

I seem to have curved away from my days of amassing a giant air force to erase cities from the earth lol. Not that I won't if I'm provoked... it's just not my first thought anymore lol.

[VoG Atheon Oracles]

1 hour ago, Plumbers Crack said:

Have you tried K+M on the PS4?

 

I half thought about it lol.

 

Then, I got super lazy about setting it up. Hahaha.a

[Humankind]

Stumbled on this write-up by PC Gamer:

 

Humankind gets rid of a lot of the things that annoy me about Civilization | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

---

It doesn't outdo the king of one-more-turn grand strategy in every respect, but the challenger is looking smart.

 

[Valheim - Game News]

16 minutes ago, GazzaGarratt said:

Things that we'd also need to know and be open about is what impact it has to the existing worlds. You never know, we might have to start again (something that feels painful, but also a regular occurrence in survival games).

 

To be honest, while I will be sad to see my wolf sanctuary go if we have to start over, I sort of expect it in anything that is a "pre-release".

 

Like, you can't honestly release updates to a game that will eventually change game mechanics and not reset the worlds. It will cause too many problems for those on "old worlds".

 

But, I think a "reset" after major game-changing updates will bring back players that might have burned out on it already.

[VoG Atheon Oracles]

1 hour ago, GazzaGarratt said:

I think its pretty clear that comms should quiet and to the point with these. That also means we all show some humility when someone starts calling them, it doesn't need another caller to call the same thing as we could overlap our words given were speaking over the internet and possible lag can hit. This also works the other way when on my run last week, I wasn't being a designated caller however both callers got teleported and its about noticing on the first oracle signs if no one is calling you may have to step up and do it. Its just about finding a good spot to see the callouts and not rushing when speaking.

 

Agreed. I mean, I didn't want to pick up the Relic when I got teleported, but I had to.

 

I didn't want to shoot Oracles during the Templar phase, and I cried about it a little. But, I did.

 

I'm fine with sitting on the platform when told what planet/area the other team is on.

 

Just... calling out what I see in the proper order? Lol.

 

Again, not even @TurboR56Mini  trusts my spatial awareness IRL. "Why did you think all of that stuff would fit in that jar?" ... "At least pour it over the sink instead of spilling it everywhere" ... "Why do you insist on parking crooked in the driveway?" 🤣 "No... that is absolutely not the center... and that's not half."

 

Yet, I'm perfectly fine with punching dead center on someone's sternum if needed. Figure that out.

 

I know my weaknesses. But I'll take calling out oracles before shooting them... until we get crossplay for raids. (I had a fantastic time on the PC version yesterday with @TurboR56Mini  and @Tar-Eruntalion ... my ability to just swap guns super quickly... aim without downsights... basically nail precision shots without depending on a bow and using almost any gun for them... :: sigh :: keyboard/mouse is just my speed, I guess). I wonder if it's easier to see what's near/far for Oracles if it's on PC.

 

But, yes... absolute quiet and calmness during Atheon is almost a requirement.

[Days Gone [PC Version]]

1 hour ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Finished the game earlier - took about 44 hours to do the story and I did a lot of the side content too. Very pleased with the game in the end and it really exceeded my expectations. Such a shame there wont be a sequel really! 

 

Agreed. Such a shame that this became a game that really found its footing and fanbase a bit later after release.

 

Bend Studios makes pretty good games. I think it will just take a little more time (or collective screaming from all the players) for Sony to reverse their decision on not letting them do a sequel.

 

Or, we end up waiting another decade or two...

 

Or, they remake Syphon Filter to really get everyone into the lore of where the virus came from and spread and who NERO is.

[Horizon Forbidden West]

5 hours ago, GazzaGarratt said:

 

How was the reveal, La? Not sure if Nick @Bluebear watched it too?

 

I thought the reveal was fantastic. Even the countdown to it. I found myself turning around from my computer to just look at the TV.

 

The thought behind just the countdown to the event shows that Guerrilla is in this 1000% percent. They've done their pivot from the Killzone game series to this incredible piece. Each scene shown in the countdown was well thought out. It showed different times of the day. I haven't even dared to look at fan theories about what all the numbers at the bottom of each "camera" was in connection to what Guerrilla was posting on social media about each scene (Tenakth clan villages).

 

Then, when it was time for the reveal, the switch from the cinematic parts to the gameplay was so smooth. They did not show too much about the gameplay menu, so either it was purposely not shown, or it's an option to only see certain things like health, inventory, etc. when touching the touchpad, or you choose to have it on/off completely.

 

They showed the new tools they are giving Aloy. The glider, which would have saved my ass many times from when I fell off high places; the breathing apparatus to allow Aloy to swim underwater for an unlimited amount of time; these were the most memorable for me. 

 

It looks like they listened to some quality-of-life comments from players of the first game. If you recall in the first game, you knew where you could "climb" if the item/edge/ledge was bright yellow. However, sometimes, this was not entirely clear given how the light in the game was. There was a time I was in a building for a solid 30 minutes because I didn't know how to climb up to a certain area. Frustrating but still satisfying to me.

 

Now, they are allowing Aloy's Focus (earpiece) to highlight what's climbable. This is super helpful.

 

The new weapons are going to be exciting to unlock and use. More types of arrows. For my type of gameplay, it absolutely works. I'm a "shoot from a distance" player. This is why I'm always a mage or a warlock or anything with long distance in games.

 

They did not forget those who are more aggressive. They showed more moves with the spear, and you can now pick up dropped weapons from enemies and use it. I think that type of immersive world factor is something to be applauded, and I hope more of that is to be seen in other games.

 

Towards the end of the gameplay, the artifact that was found displayed a map. I'm highly curious on what that means. There are two dots in the Gulf of Mexico, but this game takes place on the west coast of the US. Is this a bit of foreshadowing on the next game? I don't know. But, I'm excited.

 

We can get into the "headlines" of this game being about how Aloy looks, and I will tell you that I did not notice much of anything except that everything was rendered beautifully. I can go in-depth on my simmering anger about toxic guys being all "Aloy doesn't look like eye candy"... meanwhile, no one is talking about how Eren isn't a visual catch... but he's a guy, so he gets a pass. I could, and I happily will if someone wants to go there.

 

But, all in all, the game looks amazing. I think @Bluebear  is just as excited as I am about it.

 

On the side, I'm hoping that Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War are not Sony's swan songs to actually supporting indie studios and games that need support to be something great. God of War is only great now, it was not a great initial game. Guerrilla's Killzone games were not anything to sing about, but they now have Horizon. Let's hope that Sony has not completely lost their way.. and if their current thinking is just a misstep, let's hope they find their way back.

[VoG Atheon Oracles]

14 hours ago, Bluebear said:

I can barely make out how they sound anyway, the sides/distance callouts make far more sense for me when I've been shooting them.

I'm happy sticking with 'near, far, wherever you are'

 

 

Well, thanks for getting the song stuck in my head now lol.

 

 

[RenFengge's 2021 Fitness PPR]

5/30/2021 Workout

MMA

 

Thoughts: Coach Jonesly warned me that he was going to increase the intensity of our sessions. I was not expecting it to be 3-minute rounds, followed with 10 non-scaled push ups, then 1-minute rests after each round.. and just going until the end of the session.

 

He's also focusing on tweaking my form. So, bad habits I picked up when working with boxing instructors aren't going to fly with him. I get to unlearn everything I fought against when I came back to the US, and re-learn everything I used to do when I was originally combat training. Fantastic. Slips I learned in Eskrima are back as opposed to the slips I learned in boxing.

 

Part of me hates the fact that I've improved a lot of my fitness in just 5 sessions with him. Part of me loves it and says, "This is why we're here." Because even though I enjoy my previous boxing sessions, I can't say I improved as much in 30 sessions there as I have in 5 sessions with Jonesly.

 

I have always believed in varied fitness. It's part of the reason why I like to have things on rotation outside of my HIIT workouts as a base. I can't honestly say I'll go back to strict boxing after these sessions are up. I'll probably switch to wall-climbing for maybe a month or two, then I'll go back to Jonesly. I think this will depend on my conversation with Jonesly at the end of our sessions.

 

Rest day tomorrow. No way am I doing Murph since I didn't even train for the 1-mile run. I think it's going to be another Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday week for workouts.. wrapping up with the Saturday Squat Workshop.

 

Side note - I've come to terms with where my body is naturally. It just wants to be in this overall shape. My constant war on it is at a lull. I'm not saying I won't tweak it, oh, I will. But, I'll stop hating it so much. I'm back in most of my clothes from my hedge fund days. My smallest stuff when I started at the hedge fund will be a challenge. But, fitting into clothes I wore when I was 26 isn't completely realistic as I was not strength training then. I'll take my muscular tree-trunk thighs over not being able to fireman carry an average person.

 

Now, if I could only easily lift my 110lb fatty labrador... she's just so damn awkward.

[RenFengge's 2021 Fitness PPR]

5/29/2021 Workout

Squat Clean Workshop

 

Thoughts: I walked in completely unsure on how heavy I was going to be able to go for this since Carl and I got our second dose of Pfizer on 5/28 and my arm was sore enough where I couldn't lift it all the way up.

 

We started with complexes to make sure we were getting the form as good as possible. I've corrected the hang pull that I tend to have. Next will be the grip.

 

Color me shocked when actually pulling 125lbs (my current PR for squat cleans) wasn't too much of an issue. I still need to fix my grip when I catch the bar. I have a fear of the weight just breaking my fingers, so I tend to close grip when it gets heavy.

 

Got completely psyched out when I went to go for 130lbs. 5lbs shouldn't make a difference, but it does lol. We all were also probably tired after doing at least 30 reps of complexes before getting to our PRs. 

 

Next week will be the retest of our squat cleans. I'm aiming for 130lbs. Until I fix my form enough, I'll be happy with just a 5lb improvement.

[VoG Atheon Oracles]

I don't trust myself with "near"/"far". Shit. Even @TurboR56Mini  doesn't trust my own spatial awareness IRL lol.

 

I'd have to run this like 10 - 15 times with people who absolutely don't care about my mistakes for me to get it down.

[Valheim - Game News]

Steam :: Valheim :: Development news 28/05/21

STEAMCOMMUNITY.COM

---

Time flies and summer is just around the corner. Here at Iron Gate, we’re still working from home, and we’re still looking for the perfect office. While those two things remain unchanged, exciting things are still...

 

Development news 28/05/21

Time flies and summer is just around the corner. Here at Iron Gate, we’re still working from home, and we’re still looking for the perfect office. While those two things remain unchanged, exciting things are still happening within the company. The last couple of weeks we’ve been having interviews with several potential future coworkers, and we’re really excited to grow with more talent! While it may take a couple of weeks before the time comes, we’re really looking forward to introducing our new colleagues to you!

We have in a way already received a new team member, say hello to Valheim the horse! We collaborated with our friends at Skövde ryttarförening (Sköve riding club) to get them a new horse (technically pony) for their riding school. Isn’t she a beauty? You will definitely see more of her in the future. (This does not mean that we’ll introduce horses to the game, but it does mean that Iron Gate will take field trips to the stables to meet our four legged colleague)


Since last time we have as usual made some updates and fixes for the game. We, for example, overhauled the harpoon mechanics, added a pre saving message and updated the looks of the troll and two bosses!

Our work on Hearth and Home is still going well. The update is starting to take shape and the past month has been very productive, with many new items and mechanics being finalized. There are of course many more things we want to make before the update is released, as we don’t want to rush it. In our last devblog we explained how we work, wanting to let things take the time they need, and not setting a release date before we know for certain that the game is in a state that we can proudly present, and the response we got was fantastic! We are eternally grateful for having such a kind and understanding community! We are very proud to get to be on this journey with all of you.

In our last two updates we gave you some sneak peeks, and this time is no different! We all have a great time reading your theories on what the items could be, some are more correct than others, but they are all equally creative. This month we present to you these pictures, what do you think they could be?



We are looking into hosting some sort of Q&A, hopefully in June, where we can answer your questions about the game, development and the team! 

[Horizon Forbidden West]

For anyone who wants to watch, or at least have the countdown in the background until showtime (at least the countdown is actually really cool!):

 

 

[RenFengge's 2021 Fitness PPR]

5/27/2021 Workout

Rowing

 

Thoughts: I absolutely despise cardio. I hate spin class things. Every time I do these endurance things, it's just a reminder that I'm built for strength and not endurance lol. I also learned today that the rowing instructor also does SoulCycle. Makes sense.

 

I've changed my strategy on dealing with this. I'm here for rowing. Not for anything else. So, when it's time to do the bodyweight movements... I'll do maybe 3 reps then continue using the time as rest before the next 12 minute rowing clip.

 

Nope. I absolutely do not care that I look like a slacker. I'm sorry... not sorry. The dumbbells provided go up to 8lbs. What am I supposed to do with 8lb dumbbells when we do thrusters and renegade rows? My thrusters are usually at 75lbs, and renegade rows are at 45lbs lol. So, yeah. I'll take it as a rest time hah.

 

I will say that I have been able to do all three rowing segments without pausing... even the damn sprints. Best split time is still 1:53. To be fair, I never though I would ever get it under 2:15. Today's best split was 1:55.

 

While I absolutely loathe this class, I just tell myself that it's strengthening my will power as well. Because I want to stop usually 5 minutes in and run away lol. If I survive a 45-minute endurance class, maybe I'm just getting slightly better.

 

Total meters rowed: 7,451m

[Amazon buys MGM]

3 hours ago, Greboth said:

@RenFenggeI’m with you in that, I’m still bitter about Dark Matter getting canned.  Sadly though this merger won’t change the fact that a sci-fi show with CGI will cost significantly more than some garbage reality show while also not getting more viewers.

 

 

@TurboR56Mini  and I loved Dark Matter. I legit did not want to watch the last half season when I found out it was cancelled. It was well known that Dark Matter had a storyline intended for 5 seasons.

 

At least Killjoys was able to finish their story.

 

I wish Defiance was able to properly wrap up their story.

 

Honestly, I legit hate how most TV shows are owned by mindless American shops. Because American shops don't know how to not do anything that isn't a procedural show. Look at all the fantastic shows that got ported to the US, whether it's anime or not. Sherlock was amazing. Luther was amazing. Most people's cult favorite anime shows are freaking mini-series (Parasyte, Death Note, Clannad, Elfen Lied, etc).

 

Tell the story. Have a beginning, middle, and end. Don't waste studio money on filler BS. Look at the Watchmen mini-series or Lovecraft Country. 

 

I find it hilarious that people will praise these well-produced stories, grab everyone's attention, yet American studios are still "nah... we're terrified of telling an actually good story within a timeframe."

 

Supernatural was a 5 season story. I stopped watching around season 11... and seasons 7 onwards were infuriating.

 

2 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

I think this is an absolute disaster move. Amazon literally buying up anything they want because they have the means but not only is this bad for industry competition, they have so much bloat on their services, things could get cancelled or forgotten about and suddenly there is literally competition within its own service just to feature in prime Prime slots. It also opens the doors for them to milk and stale brands so I expect we'll see a James Bond TV series and future films will be stweemed. 

 

Agree.. but at least it's some competition for Disney. Disney's MO (more ramped up now) has always been to buy whatever they aren't producing if it looks worth it. Going to bet that Disney was bidding on MGM as well, but they didn't see enough possible profit to outbid Amazon.

 

Disney seems to own everything, and if they don't, they are probably looking to buy it. At least Amazon can attempt to compete. 

 

I'm still not thrilled about it though.

[Spam and Bots]

So, who wants to click it? 😂

[Spam and Bots]

We, occasionally, "test" our employees on clicking things. Especially with passwords.

 

I work directly for the President & CEO of the company.

 

Every Executive I have ever supported knows they are never to touch anything about their passwords. They want their password? They ask me if they are too lazy to look in their password locker app.

 

What does my current boss do during IT Security week? She clicks the button and gets phished.

[Days Gone [PC Version]]

4 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Done about 20 hours so far and really enjoying the game plus it's getting better and better. It's weird how two of the most saturated and tiresome genres (open world/zombies) of the last generation can still provide a highly entertaining game without doing anything new or revolutionary.  I like how the story is guided and you don't have to chase a bloated amount of icons sprawled all over a large map like we see in Ubisoft titles. Although it did get off to a slow start, there are some good missions popping up and the story itself is still intriguing. The characters are likable too and although the narrative and writing is nothing spectacular, it's still perfectly fine. The crafting and looting is simple so you don't have to worry about bashing a rock against a tree or eating a cabbage for stave off hunger for 3 minutes. Riding around is fun and the map isn't overly large so travelling doesn't become a chore. 

 

As an open world game, they've definitely found a good balance - something Ubisoft has failed with in many titles in recent memory. 

 

I am one of the few who cannot stand Ubisoft games... Dunno why. Just bothers me enough to stop playing them.

 

But, I'm glad you're enjoying Days Gone! I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed it due to the genre of zombies. I totally, mentally, shitted on it when I saw the announcement of it and thought "another zombie game? ew."

 

Really loved how they gated some of the weapons and tied it to the story. I just wish there was more.. story development? The gameplay, however, is stellar.

[Spam and Bots]

5 hours ago, phil bottle said:

Just don't click on anything 🤗

 

 

If only it was that easy...................................

 

Should put it on a shirt too lol.. and walk around corporate offices when we all get stuck back in cubicles.

[RenFengge's 2021 Fitness PPR]

2 hours ago, Baabcat said:

Blimey La!! I make that 50  80kg deadlifts, that’s pretty good going I would say!

 

Thanks! my 1 rep max for a deadlift, currently, is 225lbs (102 kg) about.. Original PR is 260lbs, I need to work on my deadlifts to get there again!

 

Yeah, I'm moderately sore today. I skipped my gym session this morning. There's no way I would have been able to do a god awful amount of toes-to-bar, walls balls, and burpees lol.

[Amazon buys MGM]

I find this slightly unsettling.. but I hope it means that we can have more stellar shows like The Expanse rescued from the cancel-happy executives that run the cable production companies. Stop cancelling my sci-fi shows, damnit.