Outer Wilds is on sale. Great game if you like space, puzzles or platforming!

How they treated professional Melee and especially Project M was the moment I realized Nintendo was just another out-of-touch company. So many indie devs would kill for fans that passionate, let alone a modding scene that robust. Nintendo threw it all away.

Edit: and that ignores the graveyard of fan games Nintendo has killed. AM2R, Pokémon Uranium...

With this character's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created.

There was this from the Bible lol:

“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

IIRC, Elrond isn't as stuck-up in the book, but it's been a year or two since I last read Fellowship.

Boycotts don't work when John Gamer spends hundreds of millions on microtransactions. I could never buy another EA Sports game for the rest of my life, and all it takes is one whale to wipe out ten of me boycotting. The economy of boycotting games is completely broken at scale when whales exist, and companies know how to cater to them.

I'm over here with the 1,400-page book... shoutout to Tolkien making me emotional in the appendices:

::: spoiler Tap for spoiler We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. :::

And

::: spoiler Tap for spoiler (1541) In this year 1 on March 1st came at last the Passing of King Elessar. It is said that the beds of Meriadoc and Peregrin were set beside the bed of the great king. Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf. And when that ship passed an end was come in Middle-earth of the Fellowship of the Ring. :::

Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind lets you fly around, jump over whole cities, and kill most NPCs with one high powered spell. It's a very unique game, but if it clicks with you there's nothing quite like it. Vibrant modding scene too.

The base game is certainly playable, but if you want modern resolutions and some vanilla-friendly bug fixes OpenMW is an open source recreation of the engine, there's instructions on their website.

For what it's worth, I'm a Christian who didn't. Mainly because I read the book... he's a textbook false prophet.

Now we just to find drugs and giant worms on Mars and we're all set.

I think they didn't read the book :/.

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭41‬-‭45‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭21‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

In fairness, lots of Protestant churches have very plain furnishings as a direct reaction to this kind of opulence. Personally I'm torn. Cathedrals are beautiful to visit, but I don't think I could ever actually attend somewhere that imposing without being constantly distracted by it. Now some Evangelicals have gone full-circle with megachurches that are even worse...

The OG St Nicholas was pretty cool at least.

It's sad. For almost ten years people have argued about what went wrong with Star Wars.

Too many genres? The EU was scattershot and unfocused at times, but never hurt the brand in a significant way. In fact, it led to some great books and games

Too much politics? The villain of TPM is named after Newt Gingrich, and nobody really cared. ANH was inspired by Vietnam, and was still a box office hit.

The fanbase hates (insert minority)? While the internet has magnified the extreme weirdos, all six films have some mix of assertive female leads and non-white characters. Lando blew up the Death Star, Mace Windu was considered second only to Yoda. Every clone, etc. Still had a successful brand. Clone Wars focused hard on the clones and is put above the prequels by many of the hardcore fans. This isn't to say there aren't awful people who acted unhinged, but that goes for basically every large group of people in human history, let alone fandoms on the internet.

The answer is quality of writing. The originals were written well, and had coherent world building. The prequels struggled with character writing and general complexity, which is why they are more divisive. Good writing is the difference between the comedy of C-3PO and Jar Jar. It's the difference between Luke and Rey. And it's the difference between soul and slop.

The people at Disney either don't understand this, or don't care. It is an organization of Nico Harrisons who don't understand the fundamentals of their industry. This pattern has been repeating across pop culture since the 2010's, and was blamed on culture war instead of the real issue. It's a miracle that something like Rogue One or Andor was ever greenlit.

Also, did you know the box office drop-off between 4 and 5 is the same, down to the percentage point, as the drop-off between 7 and 8? And yet, 5 is the most beloved, while 8 had so much backlash that Disney panicked and turned 9 into damage control, instead of working off of 8.

The difference? ESB is well written. TLJ broke space combat entirely for a cool visual. I don't want to absolve TFA, which gets off way too easy because of what followed, but this comment is already too long....

If anything, media made for a malleable audience with low critical-thinking skills should be held to a higher standard, not lower. I still remember how much I loved The Hobbit as a child. Even at the age kids don't remember stuff, you still set the groundwork for the rest of their lives. The argument insults kids and betrays the speaker's low opinion of them.

It's a shame discourse is still stuck where it was when SWSH came out. I hope the fandom can move forward some day and accept that a billion-dollar franchise isn't immune from critique.

I also blame the broken sound update, and the focus on class balance changes over new weapons and maps. Even when they did make new maps, they'd often be overhauling a bad, but fun map into a fine, but generic map (new Basra). Imagine if Valve "fixed" 2fort or Dustbowl. I think it's that bad, given old Basra's ridiculous sniper battles were a highlight for me.

Was it unbalanced? Absolutely. But it was stupid fun and something no other game had. The choke point in the middle was just a big mosh pit, but it was so much fun because of how people used proximity chat. Helicoptering over the carnage while someone played 70's rock over radio was part of why that game went viral.

I know the map isn't removed from the pool entirely, but it speaks to a design philosophy I personally disagree with. Having a couple "bad" but funny maps are more important than having a bunch of okay generic maps. New Wakistan looks to be making the same mistakes (if it's ever released).

This ended up being long. I played for a couple hundred hours, so I guess I'm passionate about it :).

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭15‬-‭17‬

This verse pops into my mind when fellow "Christians" praise Trump. It saddens me that they are happy to help a crook and a rapist into power, all because "the Democrats are worse." Elect a more morally upstanding republican then! Why does it have to be THIS guy?

I question if they ever actually read the Bible with an open mind... after all, wasn't Satan the one to tempt Jesus with earthly political power? Even if Dems were worse, didn't Christ call us to love our enemies? They've completely lost the plot, and then wonder why the Western church is in decline.

Let them eat... dolls?

Politicized media discourse is so annoying. The Disney Star Wars trilogy wouldn't magically become good if conservatives were in charge of it. Crap writing is crap writing, no matter what ideology (or lack thereof).

Legendary game, only thing that comes close to M&B Warband as a sandbox IMO (shoutouts to Daggerfall)