Mogster

Oh yeah, it's much better than season 2 so far, in spite of my issues with it.

Just now, Herbalizer said:

Anyone had issues running Resident Evil: Village? Tried it last night and I had no sound. It’s verified for Deck so not sure why I’m having problem. 

I played through the whole of Shadows of Rose on it, and had no issues at all. It ran really well, in fact. I haven't played the main game on the system though.

26 minutes ago, T Pot said:

Oh, another point for me. I don’t own a gaming PC, so this is my only way of playing my PC games.

 

If I had a gaming system, I wouldn’t bother with a steam deck.

I have a very good gaming PC, including a 3080 and a neat Gsync monitor. 90% of my gaming now is on the Steam Deck. It's just so convenient, most of the time, and I'm sure I've commented before that a lot of games I like just suit a handheld system better.

I'm mostly all in on PC this generation anyway, which has only added to a ridiculous backlog of PC games I've never really played. I certainly won't have bothered subbing to Game Pass if I wasn't already paid up, as it rarely gets a look in at the moment.

2 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Everyone knows it’s an Amazon thing now

Do they? Amazon have Picard and Lower Decks, but that's it (for now). Netflix still have all the classic shows up to the current era in the UK. Again, for now.

It's fair to say that anything new will be exclusive to Paramount+, which is no doubt where everything else will end up once current deals expire. Discovery, SNW and Prodigy are there already.

36 minutes ago, Noopacity said:

It's great to see so much support for things JK Rowling has actually said. 

Please could you explain what your point is here? 

If Rowling had made those statements regarding trans people, then said and done absolutely nothing else on the subject, nobody would have a problem with her. The wording may have sounded a bit dodgy, but people would probably have given her the benefit of the doubt. Obviously this hasn't been the case though.

Yeah this was excellent, and seems to be setting up a great new arc too.

It was still a bit dark, visually, but at least it was used to good effect this time.

Ultimately I think discussion about this game will naturally die down, like anything else. The wider discussion about Rowling and her bigotry will continue in other threads.

In a way I'm glad this game came out, as its popularity has surely expanded that discussion to more people, including some who may not have been aware of Rowling's views or how harmful they continue to be. Most won't dwell too much on that, because it doesn't directly affect them and they'll probably file it away with all the other terrible things going on in the world, but some may take it on board.

Season 4 was mostly alright, but I'm not going to miss it.

It's been such a muddled show. I guess I can praise it for trying something a bit different for a Star Trek show, but the fact that it's still trying to figure out what it even is after four seasons shows that it's probably a good time to let it go. I'm glad it enabled Strange New Worlds, and I hope if a new Trek show is commissioned to replace it it takes more after that.

Of course it will probably be that Section 31 show they keep threatening us with. 

I managed to not open the app and claim the freebies yesterday, which I think is the first step to binning this. 

It's a great little game, but as compulsive as the whole season pass thing is I'm starting to feel like I'm just ticking boxes.

I thought this was fine, but nothing more really. It had some cool scenes but was lacking a strong direction.

I thought that episode was a significant improvement, as explained by the "Directed by Jonathan Frakes" credit at the end. No director can fix a broken script though.

21 minutes ago, Delargey said:

 

Are you new to Pratchett or revisting?

Basically new. I read a couple of his books in high school, but otherwise this is my first time. 

I'm planning to read the lot, so I'm going through them in release order.

I'm reading Equal Rites, and it's superb. This Pratchett guy is alright.

He's suffered enough without Kurtzman getting his hands on him.

This topic reminded me of when I looked up Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes a while ago:

and was surprised to learn that it was a cover of a radically different arrangement:

I thought that was pretty wild.

1 minute ago, Alex W. said:

Quick question for Nobody’s Listening before I dive back in:

 

  Hide contents

So a guy got “released” back in to a different floor, and when word spread that whole floor got killed. And there’s a bunch of ways that this could give urgency to their escape but I think I’m maybe meant to infer one of these in particular?

It wasn’t a mistake and:

 

1) They were never actually releasing people but somehow the word didn’t spread.

2) They’ve stopped actually releasing people because of the new directive.

 

So the urgency is from the fact that they’re never actually going to be released. Presumably the Empire isn’t counting on hundreds of de-released convicts keeping quiet.

Or it was a mistake and:

 

3) Eventually the guards are going to realise that their floor knows about the error and they’ll all get killed.

 

So the urgency is from the fact that they’re going to get knocked off before long.

 

I assumed it was 1 or 2, but it could also have been a variant on 3.

20 minutes ago, Majora said:

Of course in the game the characters are conversing in the background as you do all this so it does feel like you develop a bit of a tighter bond with them just by virtue of them hanging around longer.

I think this is why the show is never going to be a perfect adaptation. I think my main criticism of the show as an adaptation is that it's focussing more on the cutscenes than the gameplay sequences, partly by necessity, and everything feels more fleeting as a result. We're still seeing the bond between Joel and Ellie develop over time, but we're not getting quite the same bond with them as we would in the game.

The latest episode was wonderful, although I found the game's version more affecting. That may well be because I'd already experienced the game's version though, but also maybe because of when you play it. Left Behind was DLC, and intended to be played after the first game despite being set when it was. I don't think this would have worked for the show, unless they released it on its own between seasons, and it did have the effect of slowing the pace down. I don't think I really minded though.

3 hours ago, fattakin said:

Sounds like this could be a bit like the Beatles Get Back on Disney+ - which is what 6 hours long.  Fuck me 22 hours is ridiculous.  Would love an edited version.

Get Back covered a few weeks. This covers seven years!

I loved Get Back, but this is also a lot more manageable with it its easily digestible episodes. 

8 minutes ago, Harsin said:

Looking back on it, it seems that the main reason they gave Klingons full on monster masks in season 1 of Discovery was to safeguard their shitty Clem Fandango twist.

I think it was more an attempt to move away from the "humans with different foreheads" cliché. Into Darkness had its own, similar take on Klingons:

27 minutes ago, dug said:

I thought nu-trek klingons looked like this?

 

How come Worf still looks like Worf?

They gave them hair again from Discovery's second season, as they'd all just shaved their heads in mourning or something. As for the rest of the changes, goodness knows.

I had a head canon explanation in that after fixing their TOS era human appearance thing, their Klingon features ended up looking a little less defined than they did in the Discovery era. The timeline is probably wonky there though, as the TOS look kicked off in Enterprise.

Of course the real reason is that Picard is all about nostalgia, and to be honest I wouldn't have wanted them to change Worf's look.

I'm a few episodes into this myself. I was quite surprised when I checked the playlist and saw just how long it was. 

I played about eight hours of Psychonauts 2 but never finished it, and this obviously made me want to go back. So I did, all the way to Psychonauts 1.

19/02/2023 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

I played Crisis Core on the PSP back when it came out, but unlike FFVII itself I can barely remember any of it now. After finishing Reunion I think I know why.

It's complete nonsense.

It takes a single plot point from FFVII, well, two I suppose, and drags them out into a full length game in the stupidest way imaginable. I checked out long before the end to be honest, although I did appreciate the FFVII fan servicey bits.

It was still quite fun to play though, and a perfect fit for the Steam Deck for obvious reasons. The PSP original would definitely have benefitted from dual stick controls! That said, the seemingly endless side missions remain extremely repetitive, albeit optional and mercilessly short. I found myself compelled to play them though for fear of missing out on some of the more exotic rewards, like new summon materia, which had the effect of both dragging the game out and leaving me massively overlevelled. By the end I could end most fights with a single spell, which would also fully recharge my health and MP, so all the challenge was destroyed.

All in all, I don't think I would recommend this these days. It's okay, but it doesn't really add anything worthwhile to the FFVII story and there are far better RPGs you can play.

13 hours ago, DeciderVT said:

Do Strange New Worlds and Discovery have that annoying little Star Trek ident at the beginning as well?

All the Trek shows do now.

I don't mind it, and they are at least tailored to the show they're matched with. This one has the Titan for instance, while SNW has the Enterprise and Lower Decks has the Cerritos.

I blame Marvel.

1 hour ago, Rain said:

I am reluctant to put my head above the parapet with this, but I feel it has to be said;

 

LGBTQ+ people can face capital punishment in Saudi Arabia. Which is beyond any harm potentially caused by JKR. 

 

As such, the same or harsher views should be directed towards Nintendo and their products. It should not just be hand waved away. Real people are literally being killed. Just because they aren’t in the West does not make them any less important or deserving of support. 

This is whataboutery of course, but put it this way. If JK Rowling bought shares in Nintendo, it would not stop me buying Nintendo games. If she somehow bought out a controlling stake and demanded Nintendo start producing Harry Potter games, I would.

Basically I don't consider the buying of a product of a public company to be supporting the views of its shareholders. If you do, then obviously you should consider things differently.

"Funding her views" is the wrong way to put it. It's simply giving money to someone spreading hateful views, which is what feels so distasteful for many including myself. It doesn't matter how rich that person is already.

Everyone's going to feel differently about that, and that's fine. I think the important thing is to make a decision based on all the facts. I wish I'd never bought a Harry Potter book for instance, and wouldn't have if I'd known the sort of person Rowling was.