Lurker > transience

I'm hoping that you grow up sometime!
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xyzzy

time to move on to 4 anyway

let me make your party so you don't screw it up
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xyzzy

...wait, you're still not done? dammit lefty
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xyzzy

Westbrook looked like he was trying real hard not to take over.

Lonzo not impressing me so far!
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xyzzy

looked like they figured something out in the third

I really think that team is going to be good once they figure out how to play a pick and roll. they should be able to guard well too.
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xyzzy

this game is confusing. OKC looks super out of sync, even players who have played together for years like Westbrook to Adams

but it also looks like they could be good if they ever figure out how to play together with one basketball
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xyzzy

yikes

hoping OKC shoots less 3s, or at least drive and dish type stuff because they have the personnel for it
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xyzzy

I remember lefty had miserable parties in eo1 and 2 too

I think we can just blame lefty
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xyzzy

these guys look weird in thunder jerseys
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xyzzy

that's fair. there's more to it in my example though - links being volt based, using a runemaster to increase volt damage, a dancer that chases each hit (usually after having done attack up on the party), etc. that's cool if you don't like that kind of strategy though.

anyway, EO5, pretty good despite having none of this!
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xyzzy

yeah I think you're right about not seeing eye to eye, cause I don't see your point very clearly. how is a skill that goes last + adjusting turn order to make it go first any different than my example? those are both 'forced' in the sense that the game gave you the option. it's not like the EO4 dancer's chase ability only works with that one class. it's something that naturally synergized. it almost sounds like what you're saying is that EO has gotten stale for you because it's a lot of been there done that with the class builds.

I thought EO1 and 2 were kind of uninteresting in general, not so much with the class builds, so they were still fresh for me when I found an EO game that did everything better (3). I only got maybe 7-8 floors into 1 and 2 before dropping it out of disinterest.
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xyzzy

hmm. I disagree about party synergy - I thought 4 had lots of interesting combinations, like a Landchrjejntnt/Runemaster doing rune links with a Dancer chasing each hit.

that said, I've found 5's party synergy to be fairly poor. the classes are super interesting on their own but they're not meshing together, at least not the ones I've picked.

character builds were great in 4, and are even better in 5. 5 drops subclassing entirely and lets you pick one of two paths with specialized abilities. that's awesome. I currently am rocking a debuffer that heals every time it inflicts a debuff and can auto-remove binds/ailments as I level up a skill. it can use an ultimate attack by inflicting a bunch of ailments and then dispelling them.

I have another guy who I've built as a suicide samurai that can equip four katanas and hit four times. he's a glass cannon physical character that does a ton of damage, can counter every hit the party makes and gets a skill where he can resurrect at the end of a turn. lots of fun.

so yeah, it's hard to mix those two classes but they're super interesting on their own.

5 goes full dungeon - no ship/balloon minigame stuff - so that should be less of an issue for you.

I should preface all of this by saying that I don't think EO1 or 2 are good games.
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xyzzy

https://streamable.com/p605e

sd this seems up your alley
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xyzzy

The Mana Sword posted...

Hows its stand up to 3 and 4 so far?

3 has the boat and 4 has the balloon. 5.. doesn't have anything major distracting from the dungeon crawling and that's a little odd at first. you're just grinding away. it has a lot of personal touches in the dungeons that make them feel fleshed out. there's probably 7-8 different little unique spots on each floor where something will happen and you'll get an item or some experience or whatever.

everything feels a little better than before. lots of quality of life types of changes that have been woven into the remakes but will feel like a big step forward if you're coming straight from 4.

character creation is deeper now. you choose one of four races and each race has a set of starting classes. you can eventually change classes. you get 8 portraits to choose from, a bunch of different battle voices and can change how your guy looks (hair, skin color, etc).

instead of subclassing, you'll hit a point where you can choose to build your character in one of two ways - so a healer that can learn powerful healing magic or stick with basic stuff and go down a melee path, or a fighter who can focus on bindings or pure strength. that stuff is really fun. the classes aren't great at first but really diversify after you unlock class mastery.

overall it's more of the same but everything is fleshed out more. I'd put it around 4's level. I'm playing on advanced difficulty and it's no joke. the game has had no problem beating me down and I've had to really slowly struggle to get stronger. I think I like it a lot this way but others may want to stick with basic difficulty if they're not super into the series like I am.
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xyzzy

man everyone will be talking about deaaron fox tomorrow

he's got 14 but it feels like 30
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xyzzy

they have decent to good guards but their big guys are just hilarious
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xyzzy

Phoenix down 35 at home with 20 minutes to go, eh

man Sacramento has a shocking lack of good basketball players
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xyzzy

wow, deaaron fox is going to be real good

he might be the worst team defender in the league right now, but I'll take it!
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xyzzy

some quick feedback from what I've seen:

Denver/Utah - Denver is my dark horse pick this year. they look good this game but it's because they've been unconscious from 3. they need to guard better to become a good team.

SA/Min - I've only watched a little bit of this, but Minnesota just seems weird. like there's no identity to them right now and they're just taking turns. Butler takes a turn, then Wiggins, then maybe they'll get it Towns (big maybe). Spurs are playing with Kawhi and still seem like the clear better team. Minnesota has a long time to get used to it but I've been really skeptical on them.

Kings/Rockets - DeAaron Fox is fast and very likable. Kings are scrappy but not very good. their local feed also plays these hilarious 'older than Vince?' commercials that are super endearing. Houston looks like a team that just won the game of their life the night before and have to turn around to play the Sacramento Kings.
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xyzzy

oh, and I was on vacation at the beach for the last week, if anyone cares!
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xyzzy

fultz's FT shooting form is new, too. I guess it's because of a shoulder injury that he does that now. it's gotta be in his head because he's been a joke for weeks now.

there's also talk that simmons shoots with the wrong hand. philadephia is all kinds of weird.

I'm more worried that Fultz's fat face. dunno why but that seems like a huge red flag
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xyzzy

yeah I know, I just really like him! he'll never get any attention but he's sneakily one of the better PGs in the league.
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xyzzy

okay, I'm just getting home after driving 750 miles today. going through the box scores to see if anything seems nuts.

Phi/Was - Embiid doesn't have like 37 points and 17 rebounds with 6 made 3s so I'm disappointed. Simmons and Fultz look okay numbers-wise and I can't wait to see if either of those guys are legit basketball players or not. they're so flawed right now that it's hard to tell. John Wall missed a lot of shots.

Cha/Det - hey Det is soundly beating a supposedly good team! why has some guy named S. Johnson played 38 minutes and shot 0-12 what in the world

Mia/Orl - Orlando's winning!! it looks like a balanced team attack?! Isaac didn't even play that much - that's a little disappointing! doesn't even look like Miami played bad.

Brooklyn/Indiana is 122-114 with 6 to go and I can't even take that seriously as an NBA game

Mil/Bos - Giannis looks to still be a monster! I need to watch him to see if he's leveled up. Kyrie isn't impressing me in a very limited sample size but I'm probably going to be a little harsh on him for trying to show he's one of the top 10 players in the league so loudly.

NO/Mem - Cousins the god! 5 blocks too! I won't hold my breath as a Kings superfan who's seen this kind of thing way too many times. Mike Conley also playing well - I really hope he breaks out this year after that amazing game against the Spurs last year.
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xyzzy

we are so hilariously partisan

CTE still the bigger problem for the NFL than Trump
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xyzzy

https://twitter.com/bballbreakdown/status/917921601466675200

yeah I can't wait til the regular season starts
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xyzzy

there are seven decent to good teams in the east. that eighth seed is going to be dreadful though unless philly is actually healthy and legit (huge if).
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xyzzy

29-53 let's go
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xyzzy

I don't think I'll have time to do a full preseason power rankings this year (I'd like to), but if I did the Pistons would be pretty low
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xyzzy

I keep coming across great stuff and need a place to share it

https://twitter.com/FredKatz/status/917822033861283840

https://streamable.com/yw5w1
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xyzzy

yo nickbush24
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xyzzy

what's the job?
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xyzzy

is anyone actually itching for a new smash? I dunno, maybe I'm comparing it to years past but it feels like the interest in that is much lower than before
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xyzzy

it's not bad if you know where to go

expect to die a bunch up front learning what you can and can't do

(Ori did this kind of thing better than Samus Returns)
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xyzzy

just what we need, 15 years of save my final fantasy topics
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xyzzy

I'm not righteous enough to boycott a game over a voice actor

but I am apathetic enough to neglect this game out of disinterest! take that jontron
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xyzzy

doctor acula god damn it

this is a really weird followup to one of the best animated games of the last decade.
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xyzzy

honestly, the only true snub is Actraiser

that game defined the early SNES
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xyzzy

re: gun control, I saw this video today and it kinda blew my mind


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xyzzy

man, Trump is like a video game villain when it comes to Puerto Rico
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xyzzy

wow those numbers are huge. yikes.

doesn't seem like a lot is known about the shooter yet, but it happened overnight.
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xyzzy

I just don't see the appeal outside of the aesthetic and the aesthetic doesn't do anything at all for me. it's certainly well animated but the gameplay looks very trial and error. that would be fine if the visuals pulled me in like they do for others, and worked with a game like Limbo or Inside where I can get behind its style but Cuphead is just.. yeah, I dunno. it doesn't pull me in. I watched the quick look and yep, deaths abound unless you memorize the screen. I've played games like that before and they usually don't appeal a whole lot. I like games more dynamic, like a Bleed 2 or something.

"original sin 2" is a really dumb title
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xyzzy

that part is terrible
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xyzzy

fair, next
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xyzzy

it's pretty unique
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xyzzy

I saw someone say it ran great on their laptop with a 940m

how are people liking cuphead? I'm just set against it and nothing I've seen has convinced me otherwise
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xyzzy

I am so tired of Trump impersonations

Colbert, Noah, Baldwin -- comedians just can't resist and it's exhausting
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xyzzy

so I've been thinking about Samus Returns on and off and I think I'm ultimately going to come away with negative feelings when I think back on it. it's just easiest to remember the parts where SR failed than the stuff it does well - because the stuff it does well is done as well or better in other Metroid games.

yeah, area 5 is amazing but it's largely reminiscent of Super Metroid Maridia with its open areas and interesting exploration. the music was good but it was a greatest hits collection of other Metroid games, especially Super Metroid. there were a couple of fun boss fights but they often involved fighting the controls.

on the other hand, I'll clearly remember the lack of enemy and environmental variety. I'll remember how they totally wrecked Metroid 2's ending, using the baby metroid as a weapon upgrade. (I think that's unforgivable. if there's one thing I hold in the highest regard, it's the metroid larva.) I'll remember that random as hell Ridley fight, which I think is a pretty fun fight but just feels completely out of nowhere.

I'll probably need to remind myself that I did end up having a lot of fun with the game, especially in the back half after I got space jump. it's like how I feel about Fusion -- a game that's in my top 50 or so -- but even more extreme.
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xyzzy

I've been neglecting it and I feel bad about it. I loved the hell out of 4.

any thoughts on it before I start? not because I want pointers or anything, I just wanted to know how people liked it.
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xyzzy

(though that mark brown video made me consider it for a couple of minutes just to compare the two remakes with my own eyes)
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xyzzy

nah. I can't play original gameboy games unless they have dragon quest in the title. that whole platform just isn't technologically up to the task of playing an action game.
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xyzzy