YI_Orange

@sombre: How's the writing on Ifan and Beast? I played through the game a while ago with a friend. We ran 2 skeleton avatars(me Pyro/Geo mage with enough aero for teleport and he ran straight 2h weapons 1 shot fools). We had a poly focused Red Prince(Medusa head is busted) and Lohse as Aero/Hydro. Red Prince was cool. but Lohse is up there as one of my favorite video game companions alongside the likes of Morrigan and Garrus. And the end of her side story is one of the absolute best payoffs for a side-plot I've ever experienced.

Anyway, I ask because I legitimately think OS2 is one of my favorite games of all time. And even though I more or less have the game "solved," I think about grabbing another person and going back in with different companions just to see their stories. Also, what's different in the Divine Edition? I know they cleaned up the last zone(which needed it), but outside of that I haven't heard much.

Final thing I'll say, while it is a hard as shit game, I found that unless you were punching too high above your level, Fort Joy was actually the most difficult section of the game. The power curve is absolutely fantastic and it does such an amazing job of making your growth into being crazy powerful feel great. Going from struggling against a couple guards to decimating entire fields with meteor storms or watching my friend shatter absurd amounts of armor in 1 attack was glorious. Man, what a game.

(for context I was born in 91)

I think this is it right here. This is the only context you can genuinely use the term nerd derisively and get away with it. Maybe not the political stuff so much, but pedantry to the point of being an asshole is definitely worthy of a genuine "shut up nerd." Outside of that, calling someone a nerd with the intention of it being an insult because of how they look or what they like or whatever completely benign thing you choose to target says more about you than anyone you could be "insulting." Even growing up you would have episodes of things like The Simpsons where someone tries to "get nerds" and the nerds pretty much never end up the ones looking worse or getting got.

That said, I'll use it plenty and in ways that make Abby's use of it feel completely normal to me. I'll use it as a greeting/farewell ("What's up nerds/later nerds"). Usually these are at either end of a session of Dungeons and Dragons or other roleplaying game. I used to bemoan some friends talking about comic books and I'm sure I used the term "stupid nerds" to express my distaste. Things like this would occur during a night of Magic the Gathering. And of course, here I am posting on a video game forum. Now that I think about it, I think it's used because what else would you use? Dweeb and dork are more playful and endearing, geek doesn't feel like it even has the potential for teeth. Anything more severe than nerds isn't warranted if you're not actually trying to be mean(and in most cases where you would use nerds probably isn't applicable)

I think what it comes down to, is other than the quoted situations, using nerds is like when a cat whacks you without it's claws. It might be attacking in a sense, but it's not really trying to hurt anybody and is more playful than aggressive.

@monkeyking1969: Hey, I've had Whale's Tale! I live in MA so everywhere carries Cisco. You're right about it being nothing special, but their Grey Lady is really unique and cool. I've had a ton of craft beers and I don't think I've come across anything like it.

As for my favorite, It'd probably go to Warlock by Southern Tier. It's a seasonal pumpkin stout, tastes like drinking a slightly crispy pumpkin pie. I've only ever seen it in the big bottles though, so if I'm looking for your standard 12 oz I can settle for Pumking by the same brewery(I'm a sucker for seasonals in general though). Otherwise, Clown Shoes, Weyerbacher, Two Roads, and Down the Road are all breweries that haven't done me wrong yet. Clown Shoes has the best stouts, and I think Two Roads has the best IPAs. I really need to find an amazing wheat beer, I love them but haven't found anything to match Troegs' Dreamweaver, which I can't find anymore.

My "I don't know what I want so this is my standby" is Allagash, they're just all around solid with a couple exceptional. I had one called Josephine(I think) in a bar in North Carolina and I wish I could buy it somewhere here, it was the best sour I've ever had.

Also, I'm not sure how wide spread they are and I've never seen anything but the big bottles, but Grimm is pretty fantastic.

I've only been to East, and I haven't gone in like 5 years, but I always found the expo floor to be a bit of a hellscape. The perception I get (from quite a distance admittedly) and what I remember from PA stating their vision was, is that PAX is moving more toward fostering community and being like a 3 day hang out with 60,000 of your closest friends and less toward being E3 lite. If people are becoming more interested in hanging around streaming booths than waiting in line 5 hours for a 10 minute demo of the new Rockstar Game then I think that's ultimately a positive change for what PAX was always meant to be.

Super Mario RPG is the best game to ever include Mario.

@nutter: Dutch starts to stand up for himself at some point. He has a subplot/romance with Corinne that just sort of ends without much ever happening. From there it's mostly(even with the cat thing too) about his ability to get inside the mind of a killer. He doesn't go down the expected route of it corrupting him since the cat is basically the darkest he goes, but he just becomes a really good detective. Pretty much it. It's nothing particularly deep but I usually enjoyed his subplots.

@nutter: Absolutely. I made that post while still waking up so my thought process was a bit muddy. The point I was going for is that I think a lot of things fail when they try to put a villainous character in the spotlight because they compromise one side of that character. They either have them go completely off the deep end or trudge down some redemptive arc until we forget why we hated them in the first place. As things near their end, it becomes a guessing game of either how they go down or how they get away with/fix everything. The Shield did neither and it was perfect. Breaking Bad, while certainly a great show, I feel like flopped this attempt. I very much found the ending to be unsatisfying and almost like trying to have their cake and eat it too. Dexter is a masterclass example in how to fuck this up.

A lot of my favorite characters probably do fall under that umbrella so I'm not opposed to them by any means. I love both Chris and Tony from The Sopranos. Stringer Bell, Omar, and Bodie from The Wire. Spike from Buffy/Angel(he goes pretty hard down the redemptive arc but I think it was done well). Maybe Wesley is a better choice. Jaimie Lannister from GoT. Dexter Morgan (seasons 1-4). Boyd Crowder from Justified is probably my favorite character from any TV show, which I know, he's a straight up villain but when he plays against all the other villains it's hard not to hope he comes out on top. Hell, all the most compelling characters in The Americans are Russian intelligence agents.

I guess, what I'm trying to get at, is when other people are calling it "edgy 2000's drama" I know exactly what they mean. The Shield was constantly on a slippery slope that could have sent it tumbling into Sons of Anarchy. For me, there was just this pervasive feeling of "am I supposed to be clapping for these guys?" that I think hampered my appreciation for it a bit. There was no celebration in any of their successes because(disregarding good storytelling) I didn't WANT them to win. I didn't want anyone to win. Even Dutch had to go strangle a cat. But I'm about to go in circles.

Also, the theme song doesn't do their tone any favors.

I finished watching it not too long ago on the recommendation of a friend. It's definitely significantly better than it seems like it's going to be. Early on it feels like it's in danger of becoming the anti-hero worship show, and there's absolutely a type of person who roots for Vic Mackey and thinks and he's a cool tough guy(similar to the worship around Walter White), but I think The Shield does a great job of making him an irredeemable piece of shit. Same with Shane. Fuck Shane. I absolutely love Walton Goggins and his slide into madness in the last few episodes was brilliant but good god what an absolute fucking travesty of a human being. Vic and Shane's arcs, especially taken side by side, are probably some of the best to ever air on television.

Unfortunately, it feels a little directionless outside of those two. Lem only gets a real arc in the run leading up to the grenade. Ronnie only starts becoming a real character toward the end(which is sad since he's the unsung hero of the strike team). I hate the direction they took with Dani. Tina and Claudette just kinda peter out. Julien was always annoying. Dutch and Aceveda have pretty good stories though. And as far as the seasonal guests, Forest Whittaker was fantastic.

One of the main things I've always seen garnering heaps of praise for The Shield is the ending. Maybe it's because Hulu for some reason has 2 versions of the last episode so I thought I had 1 more, but I was initially extremely disappointed with the ending. I slept on it and came around pretty much immediately though, it's basically perfect.

I don't think it would crack my personal top 10, but it's certainly very good.

I've never found any interest in the Olympics, so sure. I think the clinging to tradition that often goes on with this discussion is pretty silly. To me(tell if I'm wrong), the Olympics are supposed to be about the spirit of friendly competition more than the fact that it's represented by shotput or swimming or whatever. Also, saying "Chess isn't even in yet so no." is kinda strange. Why not just say, yes, but also Chess should be added.

The lack of viewer understanding is probably the best argument against e-sports making a more mainstream push, but while it can be a turn off for a lot of people, it can be exciting for some. I remember these last Winter games there was a big internet movement of people for some reason getting really into watching and trying to understand Curling who had previously had no interest in it.

As for the fleeting nature of it, I don't see how that's a problem. I guess you run into the issue of records, but as a cultural event goes, capturing zeitgeist can be just as exciting as tracking the progression of tentpoles. And maybe I'm wrong, but a quick google search tells me that Olympic numbers have fallen the past couple of events. If you told the world that that year's Fortnite was an olympic event, sure you would get some grumbling, but I doubt anyone would stop watching because of it. On the other hand, you would likely get a ton of people who otherwise had no interest to at least tune in for one event, and sometimes that's all it takes to try more.

One of the biggest problems I see is the ability for it to be global. Please correct me here, but for the Olympics, most/all competing countries are represented in most/all events, right? Taking even something like fighting games where you only need one person, the big tournaments tend to be US, Canada, South Korea, Japan, with an odd other country here or there. (Shoutout to Luffy taking the W for France in Street Fighter IV). Though I suspect if they became Olympic events it would become much easier to field competitors.

As for the argument of how hard it is to be a world contender at video games, these often sound like they come from people who have literally zero experience with any professional scenes. These players work extremely hard. Speaking specifically for League of Legends, they practice for like 10 hours a day with their teams and then some continue to play on their own. There's been issues of players getting wrist injuries in their early 20s. And for all games, the reflexes, coordination, stamina, foresight, and mental/emotional fortitude it takes to be anywhere near competitive is often under appreciated.

Now, if it never happens I won't care either way. I think it could be interesting, and I would probably tune in for some Olympic DBFZ. But mainly, It's just odd to me how against the Olympics evolving people are. New events should at least be tried. Electronic or otherwise.

@fatalbanana: It makes me happy every time these games pop up. After Hong Kong came out I played all 3 HBS Shadowrun games(in order) in the span of about a year. Like you, it was with an itch to tell my own cyberpunk story. I ended up playing the same character across all 3 games. A female Elf Decker with an emphasis on non-combat skills, Serathilion "Magpie" Thiel. Funny enough, there's an NPC in Hong Kong that goes by Magpie. When I got the quest to track her down I had to look it up to see if it was a situation where that NPC always mimics your name(it's not). If you enjoy Hong Kong, I would look back at Returns and Dragonfall. I personally ended up enjoying Hong Kong the most, but my favorite companion is from Dragonfall and all 3 are phenomenal.

Also, while not heavy on the Cyberpunk, there's a Shadowrun Actual Play podcast called Neoscum that might be the funniest podcast I have ever listened to. Like all podcasts, it takes them a couple episodes to really find their footing, but once they do it's nonstop greatness.