Odine

I don't think I'll play starfield unless it's on sale for £10 but even then, time is more valuable than money to me and I don't really have time for a mediocre game anymore. I won't listen to music that is anything less than a 4/5 so why bother with a game that is anything less than excellent? Time is too valuable when you got a 4 year old and a happy marriage. 

The first thing that bothered me about starfield was the aesthetic and total lack of atmosphere. Skyrim ticked all my boxes because it drew heavily on Nordic myth and culture and stylised design, at the time when there was very little Norse inspired media, and it had atmosphere in spades. It was a relaxing almost languid pace of game but jam packed full of content too, where reading some old dusty book of lore next to crackling firelight in a dungeon somewhere was as engaging (somehow) as decapitating an orc destruction mage with my greats word. 

Starfield on the other hand just looks so goddamn dry. Zero atmosphere, when space is atmosphere personified (for lack of a better word). It has the design sensibility of a guy who wears blue jeans, jogging shoes, and a faded red/pink tucked in polo shirt. No offence but it feels very Midwestern US. I don't mean to be disparaging of people who dress in this manner or live in the Midwest, I just lack any other way to describe it. You don't want your design team to lack aesthetic sensibility. I feel like Todd Howard was the art director on this game which would be tragic. Dude probably wears square toed dress shoes. Nothing looks cool to me. If my character in an RPG can't look cool or hot while doing stuff what is the point? 

then the reviews came in. No flying your ship. Forced fast travel through loading screens. No maps. The mechanics, lackluster narrative, uncompelling characters.... 

so yeah. No time for mediocre anymore.

particularly in a post BG3 world... That game is a fucking masterpiece and should be played by everyone with an interest in game design. 

I used the dildo club on sascuatch last time I played and cheesed that fight really easily. I'm sure it's been patched since then to make it more difficult. That was one of my favourite sections of the game, all the Voodoo Boy stuff. Soundtrack was great in that area too 

Right at the end of my work shift, outside the shop  an old alcoholic guy got in between his two dogs that were trying to kill each other. One literally was trying to bite the face off the other. They were both male dogs, one a Mastiff and another a Staffordshire Terrier. Guy got in-between them and the dogs just absolutely savaged his hands. Multiple deep bites with gnarly puncture wounds and a big tear in his palm bellow the pinky finger where he tried to yank his hand free. Once the dogs were separated I tried to bandage his hands using four sterile bandages from the kitchen first aid kit. Someone tried to call an ambulance, on the phone for a half hour to only be told none are available. Alcoholic guy gets annoyed and angry and storms/staggers off with his dogs, blood soaking through his bandages. He's going to wake up tomorrow in a world of hurt and need some antibiotics and stitches. Hope he makes it to a hospital. Police got his address so hopefully they drag him down to the A&E clinic and get him to fix his dogs. 

Games I'm currently playing,

Baldurs Gate 3 (again) 

Mass Effect 2 LE (on pause cause I got sucked back into BG3)

Chivalry 2 (super super super fun if you just want some quick online first/third person medieval combat laughs with plenty of gory dismemberment and slapstick humour)

Games I have on my system but haven't played in a while:

Crusader Kings 3 with the princes of darkness VTM mod. (I love VTM). 

Cyberpunk 2077 

Stelaris

Fallout 2 

VTM Bloodlines 

I had to finally delete Skyrim cause I felt like 1700 hours was enough 

5 hours ago, R.CAllen said:

I am not trying to deny or defend child killing.

 

 

Do five year olds make up the largest number of fatalities?

Are most of the hostages released?

Mostly was a poor use of language again. 

However Israel has thousands of detained palastinian prisoners, hostages if you will, that also have not been released. Supposedly Hamas and Israel are closer to an exchange. The hostages that have been released by Hamas have all spoken of how they were treated with dignity and respect, much to the chagrin of the IDF and Netanyahu. 

I have seen statistics that have demonstrated that of the minors killed by the IDF the age most represented is 5 years old. I'm struggling to find the same source documentation again however 

3 hours ago, captainbleh said:

almost half of the population of Gaza is under 18 (and also too young to have voted in the 2006 election), so it's not surprising that almost half of the fatalities are under 18

Is that a defense? 

A graph you got from twitter? What are you trying to say?  I saw that one too. There is no indication that that graph includes data post October 7. There is also these articles that do.

If you're trying to deny or defend child killing I really have nothing more to say to you.

Oops

The best use of AI I've seen artistically is a painter I follow who makes a fairly sophisticated composition sketch/block in and feeds that to stable diffusion to make a render of his sketch, then he brings it back into Photoshop and finishes it. He gets very very impressive results. Kind of like using 3d modelling software to make a scene then bringing that into Photoshop to finish. 

Still can't get AI to make an amazing composition and then finish it in oil paint though. 

I'm a keyboard and mouse warrior. I hate controllers. The only exception is driving, however I can usually get used to it pretty rapidly. Keyboard and Mouse is superior for FPS games, and i play a lot of RPGs so clicky clicky mouse is the way to go. 

*amended original number in my rant. I should have been more accurate in my language but it's hard when you're mad. But about half the casualties in gaza have been children, which means 4,500 kids have been killed. There is no justification for that IMO 

On 11/10/2023 at 12:41 AM, Zathras said:

Probably an unpopular opinion here but I think it is unfortunate that this Israel mess has distracted us from the war in Ukraine.  I initially felt sympathy for the hostages, and still do, but I have no sympathy for Israel anymore.   Considering they have killed over 10K civilians, that is basically the same war crime they suffered, and the Russians still inflict on the Ukrainians.  Also, I see a danger of Israel dragging the US into a wider war, that quite frankly is unending, and there are no good guys on either side.  Contrast that with the naked aggression the Russians inflict on Ukraine, where there is a clear good and evil.  

Aint no such thing as good and evil when it comes to war. Just complicated geopolitical interest and nations doing what they want to acquire the resources/national interests secured of their respective nations. NATO's constant expansion in eastern Europe and meddling in Ukrainian/Russian politics pushed and pushed the Russian state to the point that Putins invasion was inevitable. The west is complicit. 

When the safety of one's family, and wider community is threatened all manner of atrocity can be justified by the perpetrators of atrocity to themselves. How far would you go in a time of conflict to ensure the survival of your children? With that being said, fuck the  Israeli regime. Fuck Netanyahu. They are committing a genocide. They have slaughtered over 10k civilians, half of whom are children (five year olds making up the largest number of fatalities), in response to an initial attack that resulted in around 1200 dead Israeli targets and a few hostages that have now mostly been released. Israel is an apartheid state, but is also the US's "aircraft carrier" in the middle east. The US foothold in the region. It's no coincidence that there is an estimated 1.7 Billion barrels worth of Oil under Gaza and Gaza waters. The Palestinian people of Gaza and the west bank are ultimately fucked. And the western "liberal democracies" are content to let a genocide happen because western geo political interest demands it. 

I couldn't be more ashamed of the British government. This is a fucking disgrace. 

As a trained painter AIs lack of anatomical knowledge makes me laugh. 

It can be fun to fuck around with. But there is so many AI images out there now most of the apps have started referencing other AI creations now. It'll lead to worse and worse reproductions in the long run. Like photocopies of photocopies Which is good news to me. 

I have a mesh top for my pc case and if it gets super hot I take the side panel off for extra ventilation. Not ideal with a cat running round but hey ho.

I love how you've gone from being console player who's skeptical about PC gaming to fully fledged PC nerd downloading and installing 50 mods into Mass Effect to make the game better. 

Even with legendary edition I had to skip half of ME1 and get right into ME2. 1 just feels so clunky and awkward that I got frustrated and skipped it. No regrets. Me2 is night and day better, I'm looking forward to 3. Then back to night city baby 

Fuck yeah. You've just sold it to me. I was umming and ahhhing about getting phantom liberty but Imma get on that as soon as I finish mass effect (again)

16 hours ago, Hobbes said:

I could have sworn there was a pet thread, but I can't find it--se feel free to merge.

I've had my sweet baby boy Murray (named after a Flight of the Concords character) for nearly 16 years.  He was able to do long mountain hikes even up until last winter when his health took a turn.  He improved some when all the snow melted, but sadly his age was showing.  About month ago I noticed a bump on his snout.  A week later I noticed it was substantially larger.  We took him to the vet yesterday and it was confirmed to be cancer.

The vet says he is basically in hospice care and we should focus on his comfort (which has been the story of his life).   He doesn't seem to be in pain, still eats and drinks without issue, usually poops and pees outside, still loves to be loved on, and although his hips are weak he can make it up and down the stairs and even runs around on the steep hill in the back.   But at night he wanders the house due to a form of dog dementia called sundowning, his vision and hearing aren't the best, and although he still gets around--he still struggles with his back legs.

Given everything, his quality of life is quite good.  Although my dream is for him to go peacefully in his sleep, I know that seldom happens.  The vet said his death will likely be traumatic for everyone, especially him.  He did say his health will fade exponentially and we will know when it's time--but at the end of the day, I don't think I can do it.  I know it is selfish and I am bringing my own existential dread and absolute paralyzing terror of death and non-existence into the issue; I could barely kill a black widow that took up residence in our sliding back door in the fall.  I have been with people when they put down their pets. It is still haunts me;  I still cry over Molly, Peanut, and Murphy. 

What has worked for others in helping the guilt?  I know to focus on the good times and remind myself that is what I would want, I am being selfish keeping them alive and blah blah blah--but I am not strong enough.  I feel am taking a life that is not mine to take. 

Just to be clear--I am not judging people that make this choice.  I know it is the right thing to do. I just need help with the horrible guilt. 

Here is the bump:

 

 

 

 

 

Rough. Let him go peacefully man you can do it. It's the right thing to do. 

As an aside and not to derail, have you considered psychedelic therapy to help with your existential dread/fear of death? The success rate treating anxiety and depression, particularly existential anxiety, with psilocybin treatment is amazing (but not surprising to anyone with psilocybin experience). 

But in seriousness, at least he's at peace now. Guy seemed to be miserable for years, battling his addictions and subsequent depression. 

Hasn't been his day, week, month or  year has it

On 10/21/2023 at 6:48 AM, RUAJedi2 said:

I found a deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) attached to me. I picked it up sometime on Thursday. They're the vector for Lyme disease.

Ticks need to be in for about 36 hours before Lyme's disease is possible. Was the tick inflated or still tiny when you removed it? If it was small still it hadn't started drawing blood yet which means it hadn't been in long and so the chance of Lyme's is very small. Just watch out for the ring rash. 

You should be ok. When I used to work in the forests once I found 7 ticks on my legs (cause of all the deer). I removed them all with no transfer of Lyme's.

6 hours ago, Zathras said:

It's terrible.  War always is.  But I hope we keep our beaks out of that hornets nest.  I have a sense that the Israelis are going to do a Fallujah with Gaza, this time. 

Good luck with that. Netanyahu is going to do his best to drag the US into this. Maybe into conflict with Iran since they're trying to link Iran to the Hamas attack. The boards of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin will be salivating.

Dark times. 

Act 3 is not quite as polished as the previous 2, but larian have been steadily releasing patches to bugfix things and add missing content. 

I did Dark Urge first playthrough so my 3rd act was quite different to most. Need to have some time away before I re start a good guy playthrough 

10 hours ago, Zathras said:

Ray Stevenson who plays Baylan died earlier this year. 

Oh shit. That's sad 

Why is Baylan getting recast?