I will probably get around to checking out Cyberpunk, but at this point I'll probably wait until it's "Game of the Year" edition, or whatever.
A lot of my game time lately has been spent on Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I knew nothing whatsoever about this series, but I kept seeing good reviews about it, so I decided to jump in blind. The game tends to be a little heavy on cut scenes at times, which I'm not a fan of, but I like the actual gameplay. It has quite a few systems that I have not seen before.
You have a static party of 6 with a 7th slot that can be filled with recruitable heroes you meet along the way. Character classes can be swapped freely, and when you reach rank 10 in a class, you can choose it's skills as a secondary set. You get new classes from the recruitable heroes.
Combat is real time with auto attacks and skills with cooldowns. There is a Chain Attack gauge that fills up over time. It's not typically relevant during short fights against typical enemies, but it usually has enough time to fill up against Unique foes and the Boss Fights. When it fills up, time freezes, and you get to select characters and attacks and do powerful chain attacks.
Another feature is that each character is paired with another, and they gain the ability to Interlink, combining into what looks like an Eva Unit which has stronger attacks, but it can only be used for a short time. Each character has it's own skill tree for the Interlink form, choosing which skills are available and enabling the form to stay active longer.
It's a long game. I think I have over 10 hours in it, and it's still introducing new features. I'm not sure when I will be exposed to all of the systems. That being said, the do a good job of giving you time to get used to a feature before you learn the next one, so it doesn't get overwhelming. Having everything dumped at once would probably be overwhelming.
The world itself is a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid. The people (who must age rapidly, it's not clear yet) only live 10 years. If they don't die in battle, they have a homecoming where they dematerialize and their soul goes somewhere. As you play, it become clear that there is more to the story, but the secrets have not yet been revealed.
Overall, so far, I feel the game has lived up to its hype. Give the length, I worry I might not finish it. Sometimes, if a game goes to long, I will suddenly lose interest, but so far this one has kept me hooked.
While everybody was enjoying Leaguefest (maybe one year I'll make it), my wife and I were tearing out carpet, moving furniture, and putting down laminate. We got the job done. It was an experience. Though both of us were tired and aggravated by the end of it (my legs are still sore), there was never any conflict between the two of us. I really think I found the right one this time.
This weekend is another boardgame meetup. I am planning to introduce the group to my favorite game, Cthulhu Wars, which I have not been able to play since the world shut down. I also want to watch WWE's Clash at the Castle PPV that I missed last weekend, and the yard needs to get mowed. I didn't get to it last weekend, and it seems we have had ideal grass growing weather, so that will not be fun.
And tonight, my wife and I will enjoy cocktails while watching the recent Cats movie accompanied by Rifftrax commentary.
I have been trying to attend a local board game meetup over the past several weeks. The first time it was cancelled because the organizer couldn't make it. Two weeks ago, my wife had come down with strep throat, and I didn't want to risk passing it around to everybody else. I have RSVPed for tomorrow, so hopefully it will work out this time.
I also need to make a trip to the hardware store to get the last few things I need for next weekend, when we are going to replace the carpet in our bedroom with laminate. We decided to save it for Labor Day weekend to have an extra day if things go badly, but hopefully we can get it done in one.
I'm on the waitlist for the Steam Deck, but I think Cult of the Lamb will be a good fit for it, so I am waiting until then. I thought about getting for the Switch, but I think given the choice, I will only get games on the Switch that I can't get on the Steam Deck. If I can play it on the Deck, I can also play it on the PC, so I have a lot more options.
Most of my time lately on the computer has been with Subnautica: Below Zero. The Subnutica games are survival games where you spend most of your time in the oceans of an alien planet where you have crash landed. Unlike most survivial games, they have a focus on narrative (even moreso in Below Zero, the second game). Also, they have an achievable end that takes closer to 30 hours to reach instead of 100s.
The game is gorgeous, with a variety of biomes and interesting sea life. You get to build our seabase, though that is not an aspect I spend as much time on. I build the things that are functional, but I don't spend time adding beds and coffee makers that are purely decoration.
My focus is much more on the exploring (and completing the story). Early exploring is nerve wracking because your air supply is limited, and if you aren't careful you can easily find your self too far away from a source of air, frantically swimming to either breathe at the last second or fade to black. Eventually you get tools that let you stay under water longer, and it gets more relaxed, and you can really enjoy the sights. When you start to get to deeper and more remote areas, things get tense again as you start to encounter leviathans that will typically attack on sight.
Sub Zero includes some land based exploration, but because of the cold, it still has limits on being out in the open for too long. I can't say I care as much for that portion as the underwater parts, though it still has a few areas that look good.
I'm nearing the end, having accomplished one of the end game goals and solving the mystery of the main character's missing sister (which is what brought her to the planet to begin with). Now I need to focus on the final goal, which is one you stumble onto as you explore the planet, and the one that ultimately lets you escape.
I think it's a tempest in a teapot. How many versions of Blade Runner are there? I think all of the cuts have their advocates.
How about LotR extended editions?
Director's cuts have been existed as long as I have been watching movies.
King revised earlier books in the Dark Tower series to make them better connect with the later books.
Retroactively editing a character to make him less creepy, possibly because he ends up filling a role you didn't originally intend, does not strike me as a problem at all.
This happens a lot in comics as well, but they just rewrite the history without actually changing the old books.
DVDs and Blu-Ray still exist. People still buy them. I do occasionally, but less often, since I don't rewatch stuff very often (I can hardly keep up with new stuff). Maybe I am misunderstanding, but you write like these things are gone.
And Star Wars edits predate streaming by a large margin.
I've been watching AEW over WWE lately, though I still check in for the WWE PPVs. AEW is such a weird mix of some really good stuff with some really weird stuff. When they treat the wrestling seriously, I love it, but then they do goofy comedy stuff that just doesn't work for me. I also feel like they are starting to bring back the worst of the nineties "surprise heel turn" every week.
Also, with the number of people getting injured, that suggests something needs to change. Most of their top stars are out right now. It's possible to work an exciting match but still be safe about it.
I'm interested to see what will happen to WWE with Vince gone. I'm not expecting it to suddenly become a different show, but maybe it will get more exciting again. For a long time I feel like it has been very paint-by-numbers.
I got around to looking on Meetup, and I found a board game meetup that meets on Saturday afternoons. I haven't really been able to play with anybody other than my wife since the pandemic. Assuming I don't decide at the last minute that I don't want to leave the house, that's my big plan for the weekend.
With this last move, there was a lot of purging of stuff that had been held onto for sentimental reasons. However, despite keeping it for sentimental reasons, the only time I had looked at any of it was when I was packing to move and deciding whether or not to keep it. I got rid of a lot of it. There were very mixed feelings about it, but I'll probably forget what I got rid of or that it ever existed.
Tuesday was my wife's birthday, so we're going out to dinner this weekend to celebrate.
Saturday we have a vet appointment for our older cat, just a checkup. I am also past due for a haircut, so hopefully I can fit that on the schedule.
Not too sure what else we are doing this weekend. There is a pretty good list of stuff to do, so it's just a matter of selecting what gets done. We're also getting ready to tackle the job of painting the house in the next few weeks, so we're probably going to pick out some colors and get the supplies we need.
I had a similar class in high school. 1995, I think. It was done on computers with word processing software, but we were taught how to manually center and things like that as well. I don't remember most of that, but learning to touch type made my life much easier.
I was pretty indifferent after Season one, though I think it might have suffered from high expectations based on the level of hype that it go. Sounds like I should give it another shot. Maybe once I get caught up on Yellowstone.
This weekend we are getting tires replaced, shopping for a new entertainment center, probably assembling said entertainment center, and catching up on yard and housework. Last week we did a four-day weekend and decided not to do anything resembling work. An actual leave-the-house vacation was not in the cards since we just got a new kitten a few weeks back, so that was our compromise. Since we moved in February, most of our weekends have been busy with setting up the house and doing minor repairs and all that fun stuff, and it was time for a break. Unlike previous weekends when I said I would take it easy and ended up doing way too much, we actually succeeded at not doing anything.
Now we get to make up for not doing anything. Totally worth it though.
We're taking the dogs to the vet tomorrow for their annual stuff. Other than that, I don't really have plans. I may try to watch the RoH Supercard of Honor that I missed last weekend. I might try to get in some board game time. I imagine I will do some work on getting the house organized. Overall, there is nothing that I have to do, so a lot of choice about what I actually do.
My wife and were talking about Grunge and 90s music the other day. I loved Nirvana back in the day. I can barely listen to them now. Maybe a song or two, but not a whole album (excluding Unplugged in New York). I feel like some of the other bands were so much better. Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden all stand up much better. STP even did what Kurt talked about, which is to move away from the grunge sound. Their later stuff sounded nothing like the stuff on Core.
I think when people talk about 90s as The Grunge Era, they are lumping a lot of the miscellaneous alternative music in there.
Here is some of my favorite commentary on Grunge: https://youtu.be/Iq73FAo4x38
My wife and I had the same thoughts. I was super pumped after night one. I was even considering checking out Raw. Night two? Pretty annoyed that I stayed up until 11 for that on a night before I have to go back to work. Remembered why I quit watching.
Jackass match and Steve Austin segment were the only things worth watching on Sunday.
Why were the New Day squashed in a match against the guy that broke Big E's neck?
Did they have different people in charge of creative for each night?
Yeah, that sums up my opinion. I feel like there is more of the good lately, but there are times where they get a little too "indy" and cute. When I see Best Friends come on, that's a good time to take a bathroom break. I think they are trying for the 90s WCW "variety show" format, with different styles to appeal to a larger audience. Unfortunately, too much goofy stuff can make it more difficult to care about the serious stuff.
But watching MJF and his goons abuse Wardlow week after week, waiting for it to come to a head, and finally getting the satisfaction of Wardlow screwing MJF and CM Punk finally getting his win was a great moment.
I quit watching WWE right around the time the pandemic hit. I don't even remember what was going on, but I was not enjoying things, and I finally ended my Network subscription which I had kept non-stop since it was launched. I dropped wrestling as a whole for a while, not long after. AEW did some super goofy stuff during the pandemic. The match on the football field was just a mess full of comedy spots. Wrestling had its "Me Too" moment. I stopped enjoying it.
AEW seems to have gotten its act together. It's still flawed, but I can enjoy it overall. They have long term storytelling that takes months or even a year to pay off. Hangman Adam Page's journey to the championship, Wardlow breaking away from MJF (best heel in the business today), and others. And the payoffs are actual payoffs, not just a pointless swerve that leaves you unsatisfied. You know where the story will end, but that's okay, because it makes sense.
That being said, I decided to see what's happening with Wrestlemania this year. Peacock network is just a few bucks for a month, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than whatever 2 days of a PPV would cost. It sounds like WWE finally figured out how to make Reigns interesting. Who could have predicted that turning Reigns heel and putting him with Paul Heyman would work? Besides anybody paying attention, I mean. . Cody Rhodes might or might not show up. He's doing a great job keeping himself in the news. Steve Austin and Kevin Owens? Should be entertaining. Bianca Belair? I was a fan when I was still watching. I don't know what's going on with most of the storylines, but it's Wrestlemania, so there will be plenty of recaps to let me know what's happening.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Cyberpunk Finally Gets DLC”
I will probably get around to checking out Cyberpunk, but at this point I'll probably wait until it's "Game of the Year" edition, or whatever.
A lot of my game time lately has been spent on Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I knew nothing whatsoever about this series, but I kept seeing good reviews about it, so I decided to jump in blind. The game tends to be a little heavy on cut scenes at times, which I'm not a fan of, but I like the actual gameplay. It has quite a few systems that I have not seen before.
You have a static party of 6 with a 7th slot that can be filled with recruitable heroes you meet along the way. Character classes can be swapped freely, and when you reach rank 10 in a class, you can choose it's skills as a secondary set. You get new classes from the recruitable heroes.
Combat is real time with auto attacks and skills with cooldowns. There is a Chain Attack gauge that fills up over time. It's not typically relevant during short fights against typical enemies, but it usually has enough time to fill up against Unique foes and the Boss Fights. When it fills up, time freezes, and you get to select characters and attacks and do powerful chain attacks.
Another feature is that each character is paired with another, and they gain the ability to Interlink, combining into what looks like an Eva Unit which has stronger attacks, but it can only be used for a short time. Each character has it's own skill tree for the Interlink form, choosing which skills are available and enabling the form to stay active longer.
It's a long game. I think I have over 10 hours in it, and it's still introducing new features. I'm not sure when I will be exposed to all of the systems. That being said, the do a good job of giving you time to get used to a feature before you learn the next one, so it doesn't get overwhelming. Having everything dumped at once would probably be overwhelming.
The world itself is a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid. The people (who must age rapidly, it's not clear yet) only live 10 years. If they don't die in battle, they have a homecoming where they dematerialize and their soul goes somewhere. As you play, it become clear that there is more to the story, but the secrets have not yet been revealed.
Overall, so far, I feel the game has lived up to its hype. Give the length, I worry I might not finish it. Sometimes, if a game goes to long, I will suddenly lose interest, but so far this one has kept me hooked.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Back and Batchin’ It”
While everybody was enjoying Leaguefest (maybe one year I'll make it), my wife and I were tearing out carpet, moving furniture, and putting down laminate. We got the job done. It was an experience. Though both of us were tired and aggravated by the end of it (my legs are still sore), there was never any conflict between the two of us. I really think I found the right one this time.
This weekend is another boardgame meetup. I am planning to introduce the group to my favorite game, Cthulhu Wars, which I have not been able to play since the world shut down. I also want to watch WWE's Clash at the Castle PPV that I missed last weekend, and the yard needs to get mowed. I didn't get to it last weekend, and it seems we have had ideal grass growing weather, so that will not be fun.
And tonight, my wife and I will enjoy cocktails while watching the recent Cats movie accompanied by Rifftrax commentary.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Getting Sick”
I have been trying to attend a local board game meetup over the past several weeks. The first time it was cancelled because the organizer couldn't make it. Two weeks ago, my wife had come down with strep throat, and I didn't want to risk passing it around to everybody else. I have RSVPed for tomorrow, so hopefully it will work out this time.
I also need to make a trip to the hardware store to get the last few things I need for next weekend, when we are going to replace the carpet in our bedroom with laminate. We decided to save it for Labor Day weekend to have an extra day if things go badly, but hopefully we can get it done in one.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Cult of the Lamb”
I'm on the waitlist for the Steam Deck, but I think Cult of the Lamb will be a good fit for it, so I am waiting until then. I thought about getting for the Switch, but I think given the choice, I will only get games on the Switch that I can't get on the Steam Deck. If I can play it on the Deck, I can also play it on the PC, so I have a lot more options.
Most of my time lately on the computer has been with Subnautica: Below Zero. The Subnutica games are survival games where you spend most of your time in the oceans of an alien planet where you have crash landed. Unlike most survivial games, they have a focus on narrative (even moreso in Below Zero, the second game). Also, they have an achievable end that takes closer to 30 hours to reach instead of 100s.
The game is gorgeous, with a variety of biomes and interesting sea life. You get to build our seabase, though that is not an aspect I spend as much time on. I build the things that are functional, but I don't spend time adding beds and coffee makers that are purely decoration.
My focus is much more on the exploring (and completing the story). Early exploring is nerve wracking because your air supply is limited, and if you aren't careful you can easily find your self too far away from a source of air, frantically swimming to either breathe at the last second or fade to black. Eventually you get tools that let you stay under water longer, and it gets more relaxed, and you can really enjoy the sights. When you start to get to deeper and more remote areas, things get tense again as you start to encounter leviathans that will typically attack on sight.
Sub Zero includes some land based exploration, but because of the cold, it still has limits on being out in the open for too long. I can't say I care as much for that portion as the underwater parts, though it still has a few areas that look good.
I'm nearing the end, having accomplished one of the end game goals and solving the mystery of the main character's missing sister (which is what brought her to the planet to begin with). Now I need to focus on the final goal, which is one you stumble onto as you explore the planet, and the one that ultimately lets you escape.
On “Extra! Extra! The Ten Second News Links We’ve Overlooked!”
I think it's a tempest in a teapot. How many versions of Blade Runner are there? I think all of the cuts have their advocates.
How about LotR extended editions?
Director's cuts have been existed as long as I have been watching movies.
King revised earlier books in the Dark Tower series to make them better connect with the later books.
Retroactively editing a character to make him less creepy, possibly because he ends up filling a role you didn't originally intend, does not strike me as a problem at all.
This happens a lot in comics as well, but they just rewrite the history without actually changing the old books.
"
I thought I was replying to Kazzy, but I guess I just posted a comment to the page instead.
"
DVDs and Blu-Ray still exist. People still buy them. I do occasionally, but less often, since I don't rewatch stuff very often (I can hardly keep up with new stuff). Maybe I am misunderstanding, but you write like these things are gone.
And Star Wars edits predate streaming by a large margin.
On “Vince McMahon is retiring from the WWE”
I've been watching AEW over WWE lately, though I still check in for the WWE PPVs. AEW is such a weird mix of some really good stuff with some really weird stuff. When they treat the wrestling seriously, I love it, but then they do goofy comedy stuff that just doesn't work for me. I also feel like they are starting to bring back the worst of the nineties "surprise heel turn" every week.
Also, with the number of people getting injured, that suggests something needs to change. Most of their top stars are out right now. It's possible to work an exciting match but still be safe about it.
I'm interested to see what will happen to WWE with Vince gone. I'm not expecting it to suddenly become a different show, but maybe it will get more exciting again. For a long time I feel like it has been very paint-by-numbers.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Finding Ancient Treasures”
It's at the local "Real Estate Entrepreneur's Center," whatever that is. I imagine it will be a bit quieter than the game store or a tap house.
"
I got around to looking on Meetup, and I found a board game meetup that meets on Saturday afternoons. I haven't really been able to play with anybody other than my wife since the pandemic. Assuming I don't decide at the last minute that I don't want to leave the house, that's my big plan for the weekend.
On “Extra! Extra! The Ten Second News Links We’ve Overlooked!”
Joe probably gets in a lot more trouble if he calls Jill "Kamala."
On “Weekend Plans Post: Saying Goodbye”
With this last move, there was a lot of purging of stuff that had been held onto for sentimental reasons. However, despite keeping it for sentimental reasons, the only time I had looked at any of it was when I was packing to move and deciding whether or not to keep it. I got rid of a lot of it. There were very mixed feelings about it, but I'll probably forget what I got rid of or that it ever existed.
Tuesday was my wife's birthday, so we're going out to dinner this weekend to celebrate.
Saturday we have a vet appointment for our older cat, just a checkup. I am also past due for a haircut, so hopefully I can fit that on the schedule.
Not too sure what else we are doing this weekend. There is a pretty good list of stuff to do, so it's just a matter of selecting what gets done. We're also getting ready to tackle the job of painting the house in the next few weeks, so we're probably going to pick out some colors and get the supplies we need.
On “Anxiety and Hardships”
I had a similar class in high school. 1995, I think. It was done on computers with word processing software, but we were taught how to manually center and things like that as well. I don't remember most of that, but learning to touch type made my life much easier.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Back To The Gym, Again, And Stranger Things”
They exist: https://www.climbstation.com/
"
I was pretty indifferent after Season one, though I think it might have suffered from high expectations based on the level of hype that it go. Sounds like I should give it another shot. Maybe once I get caught up on Yellowstone.
This weekend we are getting tires replaced, shopping for a new entertainment center, probably assembling said entertainment center, and catching up on yard and housework. Last week we did a four-day weekend and decided not to do anything resembling work. An actual leave-the-house vacation was not in the cards since we just got a new kitten a few weeks back, so that was our compromise. Since we moved in February, most of our weekends have been busy with setting up the house and doing minor repairs and all that fun stuff, and it was time for a break. Unlike previous weekends when I said I would take it easy and ended up doing way too much, we actually succeeded at not doing anything.
Now we get to make up for not doing anything. Totally worth it though.
On “Elon Musk Buys Twitter”
I think he's just annoyed that people bash Tesla on Twitter, and buying the company is a petty revenge.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Stolen Day Off”
We're taking the dogs to the vet tomorrow for their annual stuff. Other than that, I don't really have plans. I may try to watch the RoH Supercard of Honor that I missed last weekend. I might try to get in some board game time. I imagine I will do some work on getting the house organized. Overall, there is nothing that I have to do, so a lot of choice about what I actually do.
"
I know they sell normal chocolate chip cookies now. I'm not sure about the little ones, though.
On “Grunge Was the 90s Music Palate Cleanser, Not Its Highlight”
That's a lot shorter than I expected.
"
Now Billie Corgan owns the NWA. Not sure who had that on their 2020s bingo card.
"
My wife and were talking about Grunge and 90s music the other day. I loved Nirvana back in the day. I can barely listen to them now. Maybe a song or two, but not a whole album (excluding Unplugged in New York). I feel like some of the other bands were so much better. Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden all stand up much better. STP even did what Kurt talked about, which is to move away from the grunge sound. Their later stuff sounded nothing like the stuff on Core.
I think when people talk about 90s as The Grunge Era, they are lumping a lot of the miscellaneous alternative music in there.
Here is some of my favorite commentary on Grunge: https://youtu.be/Iq73FAo4x38
On “Florida “Parental Rights in Education” Bill: Read It For Yourself”
Headline from the Babylon Bee: 'We Need To Protect Our Kids From Inappropriate Teaching On Sex,' Say Parents Who Let Their Kid Have A Smartphone
Their best stuff is when they target their audience.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Batchin’ It for WrestleMania”
My wife and I had the same thoughts. I was super pumped after night one. I was even considering checking out Raw. Night two? Pretty annoyed that I stayed up until 11 for that on a night before I have to go back to work. Remembered why I quit watching.
Jackass match and Steve Austin segment were the only things worth watching on Sunday.
Why were the New Day squashed in a match against the guy that broke Big E's neck?
Did they have different people in charge of creative for each night?
One bright spot: no cinematic matches this year.
"
Yeah, that sums up my opinion. I feel like there is more of the good lately, but there are times where they get a little too "indy" and cute. When I see Best Friends come on, that's a good time to take a bathroom break. I think they are trying for the 90s WCW "variety show" format, with different styles to appeal to a larger audience. Unfortunately, too much goofy stuff can make it more difficult to care about the serious stuff.
But watching MJF and his goons abuse Wardlow week after week, waiting for it to come to a head, and finally getting the satisfaction of Wardlow screwing MJF and CM Punk finally getting his win was a great moment.
"
I quit watching WWE right around the time the pandemic hit. I don't even remember what was going on, but I was not enjoying things, and I finally ended my Network subscription which I had kept non-stop since it was launched. I dropped wrestling as a whole for a while, not long after. AEW did some super goofy stuff during the pandemic. The match on the football field was just a mess full of comedy spots. Wrestling had its "Me Too" moment. I stopped enjoying it.
AEW seems to have gotten its act together. It's still flawed, but I can enjoy it overall. They have long term storytelling that takes months or even a year to pay off. Hangman Adam Page's journey to the championship, Wardlow breaking away from MJF (best heel in the business today), and others. And the payoffs are actual payoffs, not just a pointless swerve that leaves you unsatisfied. You know where the story will end, but that's okay, because it makes sense.
That being said, I decided to see what's happening with Wrestlemania this year. Peacock network is just a few bucks for a month, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than whatever 2 days of a PPV would cost. It sounds like WWE finally figured out how to make Reigns interesting. Who could have predicted that turning Reigns heel and putting him with Paul Heyman would work? Besides anybody paying attention, I mean. . Cody Rhodes might or might not show up. He's doing a great job keeping himself in the news. Steve Austin and Kevin Owens? Should be entertaining. Bianca Belair? I was a fan when I was still watching. I don't know what's going on with most of the storylines, but it's Wrestlemania, so there will be plenty of recaps to let me know what's happening.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.