A shame to see a AA publisher go down in today’s market. I know indie dev is touted as the panacea for modern gaming, but the projects that come from that space are often a little more slight or niche than I’m interested in. I’ve enjoyed games from all three of the named dev studios.

Ultimate Drummer looks like the best kind of high-effort shitpost.

Hazarding a guess that they feel OP is using schizo as a shorthand reference for crazy/delusional, given the context is Internet conspiracy theories. They possibly feel that it is being used as a perjorative which disrespects folks who struggle with schizophrenia. In essence, calling something you find crazy “schizo” is the same as calling something you find dumb “retarded”.

I don’t have a dog in the fight one way or the other, but, in the absence of their reply, that’s my assumption.

You would take this frozen juice concentrate, mix this with copious amounts of whiskey, and then set it in the freezer. Because of the high alcohol content, it would not freeze like regular liquid. This was in anticipation of a family get-together around the 4th of July. Without judicious monitoring, the adult men would drink all of the punch before it was ready to be served.

Clear as mud?

Idk man, could be I’m just projecting on you conversations I’ve had with myself, but fondly remembering the sense of discovery you had with the Infinity Engine games while being sour on BG3 because it was “spoiled” for you seems like it has a lot more to do with your sense of nostalgia than any rational critique. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the sorta person who will break out my soapbox to yell about Morrowind’s virtues vs Oblivion or Skyrim, and I’ve also attempted to cajole several friends into giving BG1 a shot in the lead up to and wake of BG3’s release, so I’m sympathetic to your broader point. I just think, unless you’ve been out here reading reviews, watching Let’s Plays, opening discussion threads, and sucking down all in-house marketing Larian did, you vastly overestimate how much of the game is spoiled for you. And, frankly, if you’ve been doing all of those things, then the real culprit is how you spend your time online, not being online in and of itself.

Besides, the game is massive. Even watching multiple Let’s Plays of Act 1 would still leave room for discovery, simply because there are so many paths to pursue, many of them mutually exclusive. Hell, my big critique of the game is that I find the plethora of choices to be overwhelming, as I’m the sort that likes to consume all content in a single playthrough, and that’s literally impossible.

Are you really so arrogant as to believe that perception of socio-economic class is exclusively an American consideration when it comes to dating?

If anyone’s curious, they actually wrote a song addressing that whole kerfuffle a few years after the fact called “Not Ready to Make Nice”. In so far as pop-country goes, it’s pretty good.

Also, “Gaslighter” is a bop, while I’m recommending songs of theirs.

this is an older performance of theirs, but is one I frequently throw on while choring about the house. Perfect vibes.

For what it is worth, I found it thrilling as a snot nosed teen who watched it in class for some reason or another. It suffers a little from its reputation as “the greatest film ever made”, but, it remains a very good character drama. Interest in the history of film and filmmaking will also go a long way towards making the movie compelling.

I checked out their FAQ, and it seems like the HoMM3 version of the fheroes2 project (or maybe vice versa, I’m not sure which came first).

I noticed that one of the features of VCMI was a totally reworked AI. Do you have insight into how that feels vs base game AI? A minor concern I have about these sort of fan projects is that the contributors tend to be among the most passionate and knowledgeable fans of the base game around, and their tweaks are balanced around that level of game knowledge.

I am certain that I would love HoMM3, but it’s just one of those games that I’ve never gotten around to sampling. As a kid, it was purely an access thing, but, as an adult, it’s a case of wanting that sweet nostalgia sauce drizzled over the meat and potatoes HoMM gameplay. Therefore, when the SRPG urge strikes, I find myself reaching for 2. I’ve heard nothing but good things about 3 though, so perhaps it’s high time to advance a little. Besides, I can only betray Roland for that sweet Archibussy so many times before it gets a little old.

My reservations about the art style aside, I think fans of the series would do well to check out the demo. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but, the price is right, and the gameplay feels very solid to me.

Mmos and arpgs are intrinsically linked by their gameplay loops. Admittedly, this can vary to a greater or lesser degree depending on the specific games being compared, but Diablo 2 was, in many ways, proto-WoW.

Fair point! To be honest, I had a lot of internal conflict about saying anything at all, what with this being a “I don’t care about Star Wars” thread and all. I’ve never let reading the room stop me in the past though lol

Far be it from me to defend most of the goofiness in Star Wars, including its politics, but I don’t think there’s any contradiction in those particular facets of Leia’s character. Being a princess doesn’t exclude her from supporting rebels, nor does it mean she can’t have prejudices. The history of most aristocracies is a bunch of prejudiced nobles supporting various schemes against one another.

After VtM 1’s tumultuous release, not to mention the drama surrounding the sequel’s development, that makes sense to me.

That being said, I don’t think it’s quite as big a leap as the person above is making it sound. To use their words, The Chinese Room are known for “strong art direction, atmosphere, and story, [and] weak gameplay”. They also suggest that the games TCR make are “the exact opposite” of Bloodlines 1. Which is kinda boggling my mind, cause I’m pretty sure the critical and user consensus of that game is that it excelled in its art direction, atmosphere, and story, and fell comparatively short in its gameplay. In fairness, I think he was referring to the limited open world nature of VtM 1 vs the straight linearity of the “walking sim” genre, but still. I’d argue the most memorable section of VtM is the Ocean House Hotel, which is, basically, a linear walking sim level, and it’s not as though the og game did a ton with its open world.

Now there’s an argument to be made that Paradox made the wrong call by doubling down on the peripheral elements of the game, rather than hiring a team that has ARPG gameplay bonafides, but I think that’s only an argument that can be made with the benefit of hindsight. Additionally, is it true that the gameplay/combat of VtM2 is glaringly bad? I can’t speak for myself, but the handful of reviews I read characterize it as serviceable at worst. Which, again, seems right in line with the first game.

I’m very much on the outside looking in though.

Apropos of nothing more than my idle speculation, I’d guess they will return to the transport tycoon genre if they are able to do so. Before Skylines took the crown from SimCity as the preeminent example of the genre, they made the Cities in Motion games, which were narrowly focused on improving the mass transit of existing cities (as opposed to building the city itself). I know the second CiM game had some interaction between the city and your efforts as transportation czar (in the same way you could indirectly influence a citiy’s development in, say Railroad Tycoon), but the emphasis was always on transit. I imagine the newly independent team will want to keep their focus narrow, unless another publisher swoops in to replace the safety net.

Brb, updating my grindr profile…

Tyl what til means!

Man, if they aren’t putting “It’s David Cronenberg’s Kenshi, more or less” on the metaphorical box, they’re making a mistake.

Not relevant to the Tom Joad specifically, but I want to share a couple more Woody Guthrie tracks that I discovered over the past week. I’m sure many people are aware he is much more than just “This Land is Your Land”, but I wasn’t.

Tear the Fascists Down

All You Fascists Bound to Lose

And a bonus cover in a modern bluegrass style: The Bootstrap Boys - All You Fascists

And finally: The Almanac Singers - Which Side Are You On? - this is like a supergroup of leftist folk artists, including Guthrie, who recorded a whole album of labor songs in 1941.

Sorry for the tangent.