Random non sequitur posts catch-all thread

bnpederson wrote:

I think any of the social media platforms can be used well, but it takes effort, curation, and a general lack of replying to baiting comments. So not having the time or inclination to put in that effort, or being unable to keep oneself from getting into an internet argument, are completely reasonable reasons to just avoid them entirely imo.

I agree with this.

Dumped Twitter and Mastodon, my last two social media sites, 18 days ago. Was gonna reactivate before the 30 day window to keep your account, then deactivate again, but why bother? It just angried up the blood, and literally nobody has noticed I'm gone, except for a guy from there I helped get a job where I work.

The only reason I have facebook is that it's the only way to keep in touch with a couple people from back when I was in Illinois. It was fine for a while, it'd notify me when it was someone's birthday, or when I got tagged in a post, but the less I used it the worst the notifications became. Constant friend recommendations for people I don't know, or relatives of co-workers that I only knew from work. Then I'd get notified that So-and-so commented on Such-n-such's post!

I finally blocked push notifications on my phone for Facebook. Then last week, Facebook started texting me! I'm like what? why's someone texting me? and I look and see "So-and-so just posted a picture!" with a link. I very quickly googled how to stop that and hope it sticks.

Yeah FB has started sending me emails about notifications now if I don't log in for 2 or 3 days. It's a clingy SO at this point.

I've never used any of the big three.

I do use LinkedIn, even though it seems to be becoming FB for professionals.

Tscott wrote:

The only reason I have facebook is that it's the only way to keep in touch with a couple people from back when I was in Illinois. It was fine for a while, it'd notify me when it was someone's birthday, or when I got tagged in a post, but the less I used it the worst the notifications became. Constant friend recommendations for people I don't know, or relatives of co-workers that I only knew from work. Then I'd get notified that So-and-so commented on Such-n-such's post!

I finally blocked push notifications on my phone for Facebook. Then last week, Facebook started texting me! I'm like what? why's someone texting me? and I look and see "So-and-so just posted a picture!" with a link. I very quickly googled how to stop that and hope it sticks.

It's much better for me since I started using it as a website only. In fact I've removed a ton of apps for services that I can access just fine as a website, including all social media. Kill your apps.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

It's much better for me since I started using it as a website only. In fact I've removed a ton of apps for services that I can access just fine as a website, including all social media. Kill your apps.

I discovered uBlock works on mobile Firefox, which made the mobile websites a much better option than the apps.

They found the cat under the bed
his heart was filled with fear and dread

Is he gone he asked in a small voice
Is he gone the cat implored

what beast do you speak of
what has frighten you like a dove

the mouse sad the cat in a shiver
the mouse is the beast of this thriller

he no longer speaks in squeaks
he roars

A2nd behind them a little mouse let out a roar
A roar that freed demons from the darkest shores
A roar that said NO MORE
No more running from cats
No more being taken by bats
No more anything ending in ats
Not even humans in their hats

The mouse roared
it was the last thing they ever heard

What a lovely nursery rhyme. I can't wait to see the illustrated version!

bnpederson wrote:

I think any of the social media platforms can be used well, but it takes effort, curation, and a general lack of replying to baiting comments. So not having the time or inclination to put in that effort, or being unable to keep oneself from getting into an internet argument, are completely reasonable reasons to just avoid them entirely imo.

Bingo. I've begun actively managing the time I spend on Twitter because it's frankly just sh*t for my mental health. If Jack just shut the whole damn thing down I'd nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In other news:

So.... my new job has come with a increase in pay, but a immense decrease in time to play games. Which is mostly fine, I'm a creature of habit when it comes to gaming, there are a few annual releases I just play into the ground every year. But I'm considering getting a new game soon with my extra $$$, but I'm caught.

My interest has been piqued by, in no particular order....

- Spider-Man
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- Ace Combat 7
- Motorsport Manager (Me likey sim games)
- Divinity: Original Sin 2

So, I only really have time to play games on my weekends now, and have largely resigned myself to being spectacularly behind whatever is new and hip because I just won't have the time. And I can come up with arguments for each of those.

- I'm interested in arguably the best Superhero game of all-time
- I've enjoyed (but never finished after AC2) previous iterations of the Assassin's Creed series, and I have liked everything I've heard/seen about Odyssey
- I might really enjoy a wonderful, ridiculous, casual flight sim with a clipart dog.
- Again, I enjoy sim games (I am a longtime OOTP and Football Manager fan)
- I want to see what the people who are making Baldur's Gate III are all about and I love a good RPG game

And that's all BEFORE I get to the rest of my Steam Wishlist like Battletech, TW: Three Kingdoms, and Vampyr. So I'm asking for some advice, because I feel like I'm being pulled in five different directions here.

I haven't played the others, but for AC Odyssey, I would caution you that it is very easy to sink 100 hours in that game before you know it, and that is before the DLC. Its world is huge and meaty (with some filler quest lists). You can just power through the main quest plus a few side activities, but you'd be missing a lot of what it has to offer.

So if you want to play multiple games on your list, Odyssey might keep you busy for awhile, delaying the others.

So of those the only one I've played is Spider-Man, which is a spectacular (heh) open world game, but you will be repeating the same side dozen side-missions over and over again. How much you do that is up to you and I honestly enjoyed them for the most part, but it's definitely a thing. On the plus side because of that it's an amazing podcast-listening game if you also need to keep up on those.

Divinity Original Sin 2, because I'm Belgian and the game is Belgian and Belgium Belgium.

Spider-man is the only game on that list that I have played. But since it almost like AC with Batman-style combat, you kind of get an AC game for free. Two birds with one stone.

Spider-Man followed by AC:Od.

I'm the odd duck on this one, but I burned out fast on Spider-Man. It's a very pretty game, and there's an absolutely undeniable thrill in swinging around the city, but the overall structure of the game is tiring and repetitive.

You're encouraged to use stealth to takedown enemies before combat starts, but the wave-based structure means that you'll get sucked into brawling whether you like it or not, and once you're detected everyone has immediate perfect knowledge of your location. The enemy mobs also follow a very tired pattern in their design (normal dude; normal dude who has to be stunned first; normal dude who has to be disarmed first; big dude) and their implementation (this fight is three normal guys; the next fight is two normal guys and a big guy; the next fight is two normal guys and a guy with a gun; the next fight is two big guys and a normal guy; the next fight is two big guys and a guy with a gun).

If you want a really polished version of the exact kind of open world game that the industry has been churning out for the last ten years, then yeah, Spider-Man is a great choice. It didn't hold my attention for more than a few hours, although the few hours it did have my attention were a very pretty hyperbolic arc of exhilaration to boredom.

Motorsport Manager is a really good management game. If OOTP and Footie Manager are your bag, you'll love it. Bonus - it's cheap

I've been playing and enjoying AC: Origins (i.e. *not* Odyssey), and while I've sunk a bunch of hours into it, and will probably play more, it feels soooo soulless. It's an excellent game to switch your brain off and autopilot your way through clearing icons off the map. It's the game I play when I'm too tired to play something better.

I might pick up Ace Combat myself if the VR parts of it make it to PC...and it supports my flight stick.....so probably not...

Never change, Clocky.

Spider-Man. GotY 2018. In the running for GotD 2010s. Most "fun" I've had in years. Just simple joy of swinging around the city.

I am Spider-Man.

My wife loved Spider-Man, too, but burned out fairly quickly. She usually finishes games, unlike me. She has finished the first two Batman games, several AC games. HZD, and is now playing AC: Odyssey daily, probably over a hundred hours in.

Spider-Man got a week, and she moved on. But she really liked it for that week.

I played a bit, thought it was fine, but went back to Madden. I get why people like it, and Sony delivered the game at the perfect moment. Just enough time had passed since Rock Steady stopped making Batman games, that this seemed like the perfect evolution of the genre, and launched without having to compete with those games. But in hand, it feels like a weaker version of Batman. not better. But it could not have been marketed better.

Jayhawker wrote:

Spider-Man got a week, and she moved on. But she really liked it for that week.

That sounds about right. I'm glad I sampled it, but I'm also really glad I didn't decide to press on and try to finish it.

Ode to the anglepoise bird

Oh to have seen the anglepoise bird as it hung around fisherman’s camps.
I’d like to have seen it’s legs so absurd but they’ve all been killed to make lamps.

For some reason that came to me in the shower, fully formed, many years ago.

Spider-Man is in my top 10 games of all time. I played through the entire story, then started a NewGame+ that I'm playing through exclusively with my kids, then started a NewGame+ just for me to do again, then went back to my first completed game and started playing the DLC because I bought it when it was on sale.

I totally understand some people may bounce off, and the criticism that it gets repetitive is valid. I just didn't care because of the sheer joy I felt playing as Spider-Man. Besides the gameplay, I can not say enough good things about the story. The way they handle the relationship between Peter and MJ, the portrayal of Aunt May, the build up to the final confrontation, it's just all so well done. I even loved all the little Marvel easter-eggs hidden throughout the city.

If you're any kind of Spider-Man fan, you owe it to yourself to play this game. I seriously can't recommend it enough.

Does nobody have trouble with it? My buddy is playing it on the PS4, and likes it a lot but can barely get through a session without it crashing. He said one time it even crashed on the start screen, after booting up but before loading his game.

fenomas wrote:

Does nobody have trouble with it? My buddy is playing it on the PS4, and likes it a lot but can barely get through a session without it crashing. He said one time it even crashed on the start screen, after booting up but before loading his game.

Yeah, something's wrong there. I have been playing on a PS4 Pro both on a huge 4k television and (more recently) on an ultrawide monitor, and it has been rock-solid stable. Not a hint of stutter or crash in the whole time I've been playing.

Not sure what your buddy's configuration is, but he may want to consider a reinstall and/or consider a heat or hardware issue if that doesn't fix it.

Coldstream wrote:
fenomas wrote:

Does nobody have trouble with it? My buddy is playing it on the PS4, and likes it a lot but can barely get through a session without it crashing. He said one time it even crashed on the start screen, after booting up but before loading his game.

Yeah, something's wrong there. I have been playing on a PS4 Pro both on a huge 4k television and (more recently) on an ultrawide monitor, and it has been rock-solid stable. Not a hint of stutter or crash in the whole time I've been playing.

Not sure what your buddy's configuration is, but he may want to consider a reinstall and/or consider a heat or hardware issue if that doesn't fix it.

Same here. I've logged more than 100 hours in that game and never had a crash. I agree with Coldstream, your buddy should try an uninstall/reinstall and clean the PS4 fans/vents to see if that solves the issue.

That's a lot of votes for Spider-Man. I'll put it on the top of my list.

The world is full of distractions. Placing yourself in a place free of distractions is key. There is much to be learned in The Silence. You might learn who you are, what do you want, or where do you come from. In The Silence is where truth can be found.

Truth is a river. God is the mouth of the river.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

The world is full of distractions. Placing yourself in a place free of distractions is key. There is much to be learned in The Silence. You might learn who you are, what do you want, or where do you come from. In The Silence is where truth can be found.

Truth is a river. God is the mouth of the river.

Absolutely, Mr. Baron. Here, sit in this comfortable chair. How about your nice medicine now? You like your medicine, don't you? There we go, isn't that better? Would you like to watch TV? I think that nice Mr. Trebek is doing Jeopardy again...

+1 purely for "that nice Mr Trebek".

Starting a diet is always easiest after a huge brunch.