I tried to get into Fallout 4 for the second or third time recently, and have just given up, and uninstalled it. It’s the simplified dialogue that ultimately robs it of any meaning for me. Nobody has anything very interesting to say, and the player just has a few one-word prompts to respond with. I don’t suppose that’s any different in Fallout: London? I imagine they’d have had to go to unreasonable lengths to change it.

The single-player NWN used 3rd edition. I played a lot of NWN2, which was based on 3.5.

Samesies. I think it didn’t help that I played the sequel first. It’s just really damned dated. Some older games age really well, but NWN did not.

It’s true that I’m not on any other social media, but I’m here every day. There really hasn’t been much talk about Veilguard at all. Nothing like, say, all the Starfield criticism.

Is it a big commercial failure? I noped out of the series after seeing the direction they went with Inquisition, but I haven’t really seen any negative press about it. Kinda seems like the article’s just trying to stir up some shit

Yeah, I don’t worry too much about my GD builds being “end-game viable”, I just like finding combinations that are fun to play, and there are enough unique item sets and abilities to keep me entertained for a while. I’ll check out Last Epoch—looks like it might be up my alley!

Have you by any chance played Grim Dawn? I really enjoy the mechanics and aesthetics of it, and I’m wondering how PoE2 compares. I don’t think I’ll ever be in the market for Diablo 4; the P2W cash-grab of Diablo Immortal really soured me on the franchise.

Yeah, I tried Black Flag a while back—because I’d heard good things—but just couldn’t be bothered with all the busy work. I did really enjoy Mafia 3, The Witcher 3, RDR2; I’m not anti-side quest by any means. I think I need a more compelling story, and that’s never been AC’s strong point (based on ~3 AC games I’ve picked up and quickly dropped over the years).

People are saying it. Many great people.

I think 75% is far too generous an estimate, tbh. Every policy I’ve acquired through the ACA-mandated marketplace has been garbage, right from the start. For-profit health care is evil, and the ACA just served to further entrench this evil in our lives. It did some marginal good, and I’m certainly not advocating for its repeal in favor of ‘concepts of a plan’. But 75%? I can’t get on board with that.

This is something I do, so I’ll take a crack at it—though, bear in mind, it might be total bullshit.

It’s a defense mechanism. Many popular things are—in my estimation—objectively terrible. Every time something utterly devoid of merit (and often actively detrimental to the public good) is generally agreed to be a popular sensation, the connection I feel to my fellow human beings takes a hit.

I want to believe in people—in society. But I’m clearly a judgmental sob. So maybe by avoiding the popular things, I’m trying not to further my own alienation.

Top 12 by play time. Definitely wouldn’t have guessed some of these were up there. I’ll often leave a game running while doing something else, which skews the results. I’ll have to check what gog galaxy says later.

Trust you to bring such a granularly appropriate reaction gif. 'Preciate ya, ummthatguy.

Never occurred to me before, but a legally recognized opposite day would be like the purge.

Hadn’t played any of these games until recently; picked up the remastered series on sale, and spent months playing through Yakuza 0. Really enjoyed the setting, the characters, the drama, the humorous substories and fun little minigames.

I finally decided to stop hitting the batting cages and move on to Kiwami, which I’ve just started. Loving it so far, although Majima seems to have gone quite mad in the intervening years. Looking forward to a long career of singing karaoke, racing RC cars, and swinging motorcycles around.

I don’t attribute a lot of positive things to social media, but I will give it credit for turning me around on spiders. Arachnophobia scared the crap out of me as a kid. For years afterward, I’d never sit down on a toilet without first getting down on my hands and knees to make sure there weren’t any spiders lurking underneath the bowl. Thanks to years of spiderbro memes, now I generally view them as comrades.

Alan Alda’s got a pretty good podcast now. I watched a lot of MASH reruns growing up. Feels strange that kids now don’t have the experience of watching a bunch of stuff that’s not made for them at all, just because that’s what’s on TV.

I’ve just reinstalled Grim Dawn, having last played it some years ago, and am currently working my way through Act 2. I don’t frequently play ARPG’s, but I’ll try a new one when I get it in a bundle or somesuch. Mostly, they don’t hold my interest. Grim Dawn, vanilla and unmodded (I assume there’s some kind of modding scene; haven’t looked yet) still manages to scratch that itch for me. At some point I’ll pick up the DLC. Right now I just want to find something good enough to replace this crazy caster 2h sword I’m using, so that I can bring Albrecht’s Aether Ray back into the rotation!

I really appreciate this take. It’s good-hearted and makes good sense. I’ll try to remember it going forward, when cynicism overwhelms.

I really wish I’d just taken your word for it. That’s depressing.