RenFengge

Hopes and dreams for that to happen... I mean Days Gone came out how many years after Syphon Filter??

Days Gone fan here... super disappointed... and I was one of those people who watched the announcement of it during one of the Playstation shows and thought "Oh look. How boring. Another zombie game." Only to be incredibly surprised at how enjoyable the gameplay was.
 
Days Gone was/is totally a game that could have turned into a great franchise. It is a game that could have really knocked it out of the park with better writing. Because Deacon is just... a bit cringe. But, they do nail a lot of the psychological issues that vets have when coming home.
 
Skizzo needed a bit more development. But, was thoroughly easy to hate.
 
Just like how Horizon Zero Dawn gave hints on the outside world, so did Days Gone... and the "secret ending" scene... just wondering what it meant for that world... what crazy new zombies to face against... yeah. It would have been exciting. The lore in Days Gone reminded me a lot of I Am Legend with the discovery of the freakers actually still having some traces of humanity via holding their relationships and whatnot.
 
Days Gone would have been one of those franchises that started off not perfect but had subsequent sequels be perfect.
 
So, seeing Sony put God of War in their "must not fail" bucket is a bit irksome... given that the first God of War was fun, but trash.

Wait. What? WTF is this bullshit?
 
Days Gone has a pretty solid and growing base.. Uncharted has a huge following... and their doing a cash grab for TLOU? What? Did an EA exec sneak in or something? Bend is going to help Naughty Dog on some multiplayer BS? I took and nap and woke up into this? What?

So, imagine my surprise while I'm in the kitchen, prepping to make a batch of blondies, annoyed that I am out of chocolate chips that are over 70% and have to settle for 55% because I don't feel like hand chopping the 80% chocolate blocks, and I see this topic pop up in my notifications (initially, I wondered if it was spam...)
 
Since I'm waiting for my browned butter to cool before I make the blondies, I thought I would pop upstairs and form one of my sort-of-coherent posts.
 
So, we want to talk about chocolate, eh? Just the general percent stuff and not the disgusting mass-produced stuff, right? (Although, I will admit, the only mass-produced chocolate I like is Lindt because they somehow kept their flavor, texture, and quality after being merged with Ghirardelli and the trash that is Russell Stovers)
 
Let's get something straight (and I say this in the most friendly and not food snobby way possible), @GazzaGarratt and @Spacedeck ... White chocolate is not chocolate. It is the absence of chocolate. It is sugar, cocoa butter (which is a by-product from making all sort of other chocolate and cocoa things), milk stuff, and vanilla flavoring. You're basically saying you like vanilla lol. Which is something entirely different. And, if I were to make a vanilla ganache or vanilla anything else that involves something creamy, I would be reaching for "white chocolate".
 
Percent-wise, I prefer anything between 70% and 85%. Below that is too sweet to just snack on. 55% is probably the lowest I would go and that would be used in different applications that require the sweetness to balance out whatever else I just put it in.
 
Over 85% gets a bit too bitter and probably should be diluted in something/mixed into something else. For example, hot chocolate where you can add sugar accordingly.
 
Chocolate, itself, has an interesting history in that the way that we generally know it now as a sweet... was not always the case. It was a spice. And various cultures use it as such like Mexico in their mole sauce.
 
Chocolate being sweet was a result of Europeans taking the cacao back home and going "let's add some milk and sugar to it".. then chocolate as we know it was born. It's why Swiss and German chocolates are a thing, yet they don't have the climates to grow cacao.
 
Now, if we want to get into the food snobberiness that I come very very close to, there's even single origin chocolates. And, I can tell you now that I love chocolate too much to actually write down which single-origin chocolates I like over the others. They all have different flavor notes. Some more fruity. Some more bitter. Some that have a tannin-like feel in the mouth. It really just depends on what I have bought and have on hand at the moment to enjoy, that I enjoy.
 
As for what chocolate you will see me buying... it's going to be from an eco-friendly, fair trade company. Right now, I mostly buy Endangered Species chocolates because of what they do with their profits. I recognize that my love for chocolate and coffee can have a negative effect on the environment, and it fuels my anger towards the big producers, like Hershey's and Mars, because they produce shitty tasting chocolate and are destroying the world as they do it.
 
Bottom-line. I like dark. And, I like it over 70% lol. And, it better be actually good quality. 😄

So, imagine my surprise while I'm in the kitchen, prepping to make a batch of blondies, annoyed that I am out of chocolate chips that are over 70% and have to settle for 55% because I don't feel like hand chopping the 80% chocolate blocks, and I see this topic pop up in my notifications (initially, I wondered if it was spam...)
 
Since I'm waiting for my browned butter to cool before I make the blondies, I thought I would pop upstairs and form one of my sort-of-coherent posts.
 
So, we want to talk about chocolate, eh? Just the general percent stuff and not the disgusting mass-produced stuff, right? (Although, I will admit, the only mass-produced chocolate I like is Lindt because they somehow kept their flavor, texture, and quality after being merged with Ghirardelli and the trash that is Russell Stovers)
 
Let's get something straight (and I say this in the most friendly and not food snobby way possible), @GazzaGarratt and @Spacedeck ... White chocolate is not chocolate. It is the absence of chocolate. It is sugar, cocoa butter (which is a by-product from making all sort of other chocolate and cocoa things), milk stuff, and vanilla flavoring. You're basically saying you like vanilla lol. Which is something entirely different. And, if I were to make a vanilla ganache or vanilla anything else that involves something creamy, I would be reaching for "white chocolate".
 
Percent-wise, I prefer anything between 70% and 85%. Below that is too sweet to just snack on. 55% is probably the lowest I would go and that would be used in different applications that require the sweetness to balance out whatever else I just put it in.
 
Over 85% gets a bit too bitter and probably should be diluted in something/mixed into something else. For example, hot chocolate where you can add sugar accordingly.
 
Chocolate, itself, has an interesting history in that the way that we generally know it now as a sweet... was not always the case. It was a spice. And various cultures use it as such like Mexico in their mole sauce.
 
Chocolate being sweet was a result of Europeans taking the cacao back home and going "let's add some milk and sugar to it".. then chocolate as we know it was born. It's why Swiss and German chocolates are a thing, yet they don't have the climates to grow cacao.
 
Now, if we want to get into the food snobberiness that I come very very close to, there's even single origin chocolates. And, I can tell you now that I love chocolate too much to actually write down which single-origin chocolates I like over the others. They all have different flavor notes. Some more fruity. Some more bitter. Some that have a tannin-like feel in the mouth. It really just depends on what I have bought and have on hand at the moment to enjoy, that I enjoy.
 
As for what chocolate you will see me buying... it's going to be from an eco-friendly, fair trade company. Right now, I mostly buy Endangered Species chocolates because of what they do with their profits. I recognize that my love for chocolate and coffee can have a negative effect on the environment, and it fuels my anger towards the big producers, like Hershey's and Mars, because they produce shitty tasting chocolate and are destroying the world as they do it.
 
Bottom-line. I like dark. And, I like it over 70% lol. And, it better be actually good quality. 😄

really am late to this but hope you had a happy birthday La

Yooo happy birthday @RenFengge hope it's a great day todayA

Oh wow, is it La's birthday today? Epic, has her voice broken yet?
 
 
Happy Birthday La, hope Carl's treating you like the princess you are ❤️ 

In fact it was, had a nice 🥩.

Happy Birthday La, hope you have the most amazing day. 🎂

Happy birthday @RenFengge

Happy birfdayz La!!! @RenFengge Hope its an awesome day filled with millions of cake and steak 😍❤️💃🎂

Happy birthday @RenFenggeMUAH!

I'll set up a night and we can have a chat about it. From memory we have a few with the game now.
 
Maybe next Saturday? I can do any night except Tuesday.
 
@GazzaGarratt
@Plumbers Crack
@Diddums
@Bluebear
@BO7H B4RRELS
@Misneach_
@TurboR56Mini
@phil bottle
@tronic44
 
Maybe Carl can convince @RenFenggeto try it out🤗
I'll also be strong arming @Greboth into getting the game. By strong arming, I of course mean withholding sexual favours.

Thanks to everyone who so far started an FG Membership ❤️ I did the draw earlier today whilst at work and stuck it straight onto YouTube so you can see the winners:
 
 
 
Well done to @J-Lurch  @Misneach_  @techno  @TurboR56Mini  and @RenFengge. Let me know what game you would like or if you want to gift one of the above games to another FGer. ❤️
 
Memberships of course will stay around and whenever anyone gives it will always be appreciated. Much more FGFGF to come I'm hoping to make us smile.
 
 
(Note for existing FG Membership peoples....keep giving me feedback on how the payments are working please - it may take the recurring payment or it may send an invoice to resend one.)

Thanks for love @GazzaGarratt. @RenFenggeand I would like to donate our wins. Thanks for all you do.

We stopped for a bit but @RenFengge @Tar-Eruntalion and I have by far played the most. If there is renewed interest I'm down for a nice change up!

I finally started playing this last night after picking it up at the weekend (and waiting for the 98gb download since i used the free ps5 upgrade 🙄) and I am already addicited and remember why i enjoyed Zero Dawn so much. I only managed to soend about an hour and a half on it but instantly remebered the controls and how fun it is to take down the machines. Really looking forward to where the story goes and getting to explore the world and missions 🙂

Just an FYI to those playing right now.  I ran into a bug during a quest called "Ancient Relics" for the Oseram salvager north or the main tenakth settlement.  You have to collect relics needed to create armor in 2 locations.  The location north of bleeding mark is bugged.  My advice?  Before getting this quest, go to both areas and collect all the purple relics found in old war machine and vehicles.  The other area is just east of the mentioned above settlement near a ravager location.  There's 3 in the first area and 4 in the ladder.  Once you've got them, then go get the mission and you'll complete it right away.

Good stuff @GazzaGarratt
 
Everyone shower Lee with some love.  This is a really great way to get folks engaged with the site.  
 
You're a LEGEND bud.

So it took a while but was live last night and looks like many of you have found the bits and pieces so far, which is great to see. What I've picked up so far just from my own viewing:
 
Ranks are reasonably set well, may need a slight tweak with numbers here and there. However, my intention to bring 5 extra ranks into the mix at a later date might come forward so the most active here have something to chase and work towards. Added a Widget on the front page showing Recent Rank Promotions and Recent Medals Obtained. Rocket League medals are under consideration Taking Quizzes was one I wanted to get out but just missed the launch due to how the software is created. An update will come soon that then will introduce lots of medals for interacting with Quizzes - and doing well too. There are some already live for people that create them, and with the update there may be ones where people get extra medals for people not being able to 'Beat the Quiz Host', etc. Note these won't backdate, just means we'll have to make more Quizzes! 😄 We need to identify the topics for each Game where it can help us understand what Medals people have been obtaining. Thats from one evening through my eyes so hopefully you see more.
 
Oh, and when you obtain a badge that less than 3% of FGers have, it will have a 'RARE' badge across it, so you can see how even more special it is whilst it sits on your Profile. Definitely been way more fun checking people's profiles out recently. Thanks for all the support so far.

Have you read the Article yet? Take a read below first if you haven't already!
 
 
So, i'll grab the key points to be aware of first from the article:
 
PLEASE TAKE NOTE
Its a brand new, never done before FG System. We will have issues problems from time to time so please share your thoughts and help us make it better! When its first turned on, it may take upto a few days to register everything - it has to run through every single rule i've created for every single FGer. Hopefully you'll see your Medals grow over time! We may tweak the Ranks and their respective points targets after going live if we find they are imbalanced in some way. Most Rules for points will be retrospectively activated when Live. There may be rules we add at a later date that will only look forward (e.g some Quiz ones will be created soon but look forward, not backwards) unless I rebuild the system...which may mean you get 're-awarded' automatic points and medals you had. Games will not look backwards - this is to help give everyone a chance to focus on starting out how to get them all and create some buzz about bringing FGers together. Most Games Medals are manually awarded with the help of the FG Team here. I expect us all to start talking and sharing information about our escapades as FG online in all of our games. It helps bring to life what we're all achieving together and it speeds up the validation time to award Medals. I will NEED HELP with this. If you're interested in supporting the cause in helping, please let me know. Its about doing things here but also encouraging FGers to get involved across all aspects of what we do.  
 
Outside of this, lets hear your questions and stuff you want to know more about below! Thanks All!
 
P.S. If you want to know how soon it will be....well, its already moving so hopefully it won't be long today! 
 

Might be a great idea to hold off on it. I held off on the original.. just as its one and only DLC was coming out. I was super glad I integrated the DLC story into my first playthrough.
 
However, since this is the game for me for 2022, I will not be waiting.
 
I might be holding off on Elden Ring. Haven't decided.

Sony isn't EA, so I'm not exactly "worried." 
 
Then again, while I play D2, it's not a game I cherish... nor do I think there's anything really to ruin by this acquisition. We all know the general grind for D2. And, the story is like background noise if you haven't played since D1. D2 is straight loot shooter. Any RPG elements that made it unique and interesting was left in the D1 era.
 
I would be more "concerned" if Microsoft bought D2... Sony actually lets its developers go do their own things (in general) and not dictate nonsense (RPG developer - yeah, you don't do that anymore. You do loot shooter).

Might be a great idea to hold off on it. I held off on the original.. just as its one and only DLC was coming out. I was super glad I integrated the DLC story into my first playthrough.
 
However, since this is the game for me for 2022, I will not be waiting.
 
I might be holding off on Elden Ring. Haven't decided.