On 5/3/2024 10:38 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Thu, 2 May 2024 15:56:13 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
> wrote:
>
>>> * Dead Space 3
>>
>> Gifted! I just recalled though that the story really ends in the
>> Awakened DLC. That's $5 though, more than the game! You can get that
>> yourself :)
>
> That lack has just been taken care of. ;-)
>
> There is still a bunch of additional DLC (cosmetics, etc.) if anyone
> else wants to contribute to Justisaur's collection. ;-)
>

Aah, no please! I might not even like it. I can afford to buy my own
games (and DLCs, but I'm not spending money on cosmetics - though I did
once in Warframe, but that's more giving back to a game I liked a lot.)
I just didn't feel Dead Space 3 was enough probability of me liking it
to buy it at all. Not to mention all those other games I still want to
get back to at some point. And the ER DLC coming out in about a month
I'm sure to buy at full price and want to jump right into.

And having just started with Fallout once again, which prior to Dark
Souls was my favorite franchise.

--
-Justisaur

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On 5/3/2024 8:35 AM, rms wrote:
>> If you mean through steam, I don't seem to have it.
>
>   Look under justisaur/Inventory/Gifts  probably there.  haven't sent
> one of these in a while!
>

More for the others since we chatted. I got it, Thanks much!

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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`-'\ `--.___,
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\\
^'

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> writes:

> I haven't read a book in a long time.

I have this book pipeline in that my local newspaper reviews books and
if I see something interesting, I reserve it from the library. So then I
get it some weeks or sometimes months later since those reviews tend to
cause a rash of reservations. Works great except sometimes there's too
much to read or I have some bought books I'd also like to
read. Thankfully the library system here has a queue management system
so I can basically delay when I get a book.

> I've mostly been watching Star Trek Discovery of late. With a dash of
> Lower Decks, which I didn't like initially, but my daughter wanted to
> watch and it's grown on me. Lower Decks isn't entirely appropriate
> for her age, but I'm not about to shut it off for some sex remarks.

Oh, I came to like Lower Decks although at first it was more than a
little annoying. Discovery too but it was kind of all over the place. I
wasn't too big of a fan of the first season but it improved as it went
on.

As for recent reading, I read some 1990s detective stories by the
Finnish author Leena Lehtolainen. Mostly because her work has been
turned to TV twice now and it's been shot in my home town both
times. The newer TV version is really fairly poor, it has such abrupt
endings that after the first episode I thought it was a two parter. I
had to think back and then it was like "oh they did arrest someone, I
guess he did it then". In other words, a whodunit with the actual
whodunit revelation part cut to the bare minimum.

Well, the detective books are short, maybe more novellas than novels so
definitely light reading. But they do paint a picture of maybe more the
80s than the 90s (when they were written), no cellphones or internet but
there's a lot of driving around in old cars and references to dialing
rotary phones and phone booths and all that stuff which now seems
ancient but isn't really that old.

And on the non-fiction side, Julian Baggini's How to Think Like a
Philosopher. Finnish translation which I'm regretting a little now but
an interesting read all the same.

On 04/05/2024 06:37, Anssi Saari wrote:
> And on the non-fiction side, Julian Baggini's How to Think Like a
> Philosopher. Finnish translation which I'm regretting a little now but
> an interesting read all the same.

I've not read any of his books but I have heard of him and do think it's
good when people put forward ideas from philosophy in a more accessible
way as it's pretty common to see it bogged down in academic language.

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 14:50 this Friday (GMT):
> On 5/2/2024 2:56 PM, rms wrote:
>>> * Dead Space 3
>>
>>   Gifted!  I just recalled though that the story really ends in the
>> Awakened DLC.  That's $5 though, more than the game!  You can get that
>> yourself :)
>>
>> rms
>
> Uh, what? Are you saying you bought the game for me?! I don't know how
> to respond! *confused embarrassed grateful* I've only had one friend
> (RL) buy a video game for me, Torchlight II because he wanted to play it
> with me, but then we never seemed to be on at the same time to play it
> together, and we drifted apart.
>
> If you mean through steam, I don't seem to have it.

Oh cool, I didn't know you had their steam.

I think I've only been gifted 3 games..
Bug Fabls, N++, and Bad Rats (in that order)
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 16:27 this Thursday (GMT):
> On Wed, 1 May 2024 10:44:28 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
> wrote:
>
>>>What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2024?
>>
>> Another movie & book month for me. I did fire up the tutorial for
>>Homeworld 1 Remastered, but the initial hump of starting a new game hit me
>>hard and after fumbling with learning keystroke commands & finishing the
>>10minute tutorial I decided I had to set it aside for a bit. I did watch
>>15+ movies & finished 4 or 5 books in April though! I will try to switch
>>gears to a gaming focus in May, I promise!
>
>
> Either that or we start a "What Have You Been Watching?" and "What
> Have You Been Reading?" thread.
>
> (mostly Godzilla movies and CJ Cherryh novels here ;-)

uh
a lot of jr graphic novels about bugs
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote at 22:05 this Wednesday (GMT):
> candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:
>> >
>> > Diablo 4 in WIndows and Doo Lingo in my iPhone. :P
>>
>> So thats how you learned human language :D
>
> ;) It need ant language. ;p

True that'd be cute :DDD
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> Disappointing. I generally enjoyed the first "Horizon" game, even if I
> found it to be a bit too formulaic. But it had pleasing visuals and
> the central game-loop and mechanics were satisfying enough (the combat
> was a bit too melee-focused, and the camera was somewhat uncooperative
> but otherwise it was fine).

All that's still there and the visuals are still pleasing and in fact,
you can fly. Or rather, there's a mount you can whistle up that
flies. And there's no tedious waiting for it to land and climbing on and
taking off, it swoops in and grabs you and throws you on its back in a
funny animation. Makes sightseeing easy and in fact the end credits show
off some of the sights.

> But it sounds like the sequel got kitchen-sinked*, with the developers
> adding in new ideas willy-nilly without really understanding how it
> would affect the overall balance, loop, and atmosphere of the game.

Unfortunately yes, I have to agree about the kitchen-sinking. They even
put in races! Still, it's not all bad, like the flying mount above.

Also, I didn't much use the other weapons in Zero Dawn either. The one
time I felt the ropecaster would be useful right then to tie down some
big machine, there was this other guy "helping", doing almost no damage
but his ineffectual firing caused the machine to pull loose from the
ropes. Just as I was trying to hit it where it hurts, of course.

On Tue, 07 May 2024 11:55:51 +0300, Anssi Saari
<anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Disappointing. I generally enjoyed the first "Horizon" game, even if I
>> found it to be a bit too formulaic. But it had pleasing visuals and
>> the central game-loop and mechanics were satisfying enough (the combat
>> was a bit too melee-focused, and the camera was somewhat uncooperative
>> but otherwise it was fine).
>
>All that's still there and the visuals are still pleasing and in fact,
>you can fly. Or rather, there's a mount you can whistle up that
>flies. And there's no tedious waiting for it to land and climbing on and
>taking off, it swoops in and grabs you and throws you on its back in a
>funny animation. Makes sightseeing easy and in fact the end credits show
>off some of the sights.
>
>> But it sounds like the sequel got kitchen-sinked*, with the developers
>> adding in new ideas willy-nilly without really understanding how it
>> would affect the overall balance, loop, and atmosphere of the game.
>
>Unfortunately yes, I have to agree about the kitchen-sinking. They even
>put in races! Still, it's not all bad, like the flying mount above.

Yes! You used the word! ;-)

>Also, I didn't much use the other weapons in Zero Dawn either. The one
>time I felt the ropecaster would be useful right then to tie down some
>big machine, there was this other guy "helping", doing almost no damage
>but his ineffectual firing caused the machine to pull loose from the
>ropes. Just as I was trying to hit it where it hurts, of course.

I was underwhelmed with the weapon selection in the original Horizon
game too. I mostly just used the standard bow. All the more exotic
weapons - the rope-gun, the trap-gun, etc. - just didn't seem worth
the bother. They seemed to situation specific; it was just easier to
snipe from afar with the arrow appropriate to the monster's weakness,
and running away if things got too hairy. Honestly, most of the time I
just found a ledge where the monsters couldn't reach me (or at least,
couldn't get up to me before I pincushioned them to death). The AI
pathfinding wasn't really that great.

And by the end of the game, my melee weapon was so powerful - and my
character so robust - that I often just waded right up to the monster
and whacked it to death.

Of course, I wasn't playing on the hardest difficulty levels, and
maybe there the other weapons were more necessary as the game gets
harder.

Still, it was never the combat that intrigued me with Horizon. It was
the pretty world, the intriguing - if fairly cliche - setting, and the
platforming that I most enjoyed. I'm a sucker for a good rock-climb.
;-P

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>
> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2024?
>
>
nothing.

>Oh cool, I didn't know you had their steam.
>I think I've only been gifted 3 games..
>Bug Fabls, N++, and Bad Rats (in that order)

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CSPIGA
Join the group and who knows? You may get lucky!

rms

H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote at 13:49 this Thursday (GMT):
> Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>>
>> What Have You Been Playing... IN APRIL 2024?
>>
>>
> nothing.

I love that game.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On Thu, 9 May 2024 08:29:41 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

>>Oh cool, I didn't know you had their steam.
>>I think I've only been gifted 3 games..
>>Bug Fabls, N++, and Bad Rats (in that order)
>
> https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CSPIGA
>Join the group and who knows? You may get lucky!

It's where all the cool kids hang out! You can tell that it's the Real
Thing because it has a built-in typo in the URL ;-)

There's even a comment once every three or four years! ;-)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 16:07 this Thursday (GMT):
> On Thu, 9 May 2024 08:29:41 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
> wrote:
>
>>>Oh cool, I didn't know you had their steam.
>>>I think I've only been gifted 3 games..
>>>Bug Fabls, N++, and Bad Rats (in that order)
>>
>> https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CSPIGA
>>Join the group and who knows? You may get lucky!
>
>
> It's where all the cool kids hang out! You can tell that it's the Real
> Thing because it has a built-in typo in the URL ;-)
>
> There's even a comment once every three or four years! ;-)

Has anyone ever used Steam Groups?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On 5/3/2024 3:33 PM, Justisaur wrote:
> On 5/3/2024 8:35 AM, rms wrote:
>>> If you mean through steam, I don't seem to have it.
>>
>>    Look under justisaur/Inventory/Gifts  probably there.  haven't sent
>> one of these in a while!
>>
>
> More for the others since we chatted.  I got it, Thanks much!

I've been playing it a bit. It looks and feels a bit old, and I had a
few bugs where I had to quit out and relaunch it for it to recognize
buttons I was pushing. Also once it made my video card freak out and
turn the screen to a bunch of random appearing colored lines. I did
leave it on for around 8-10 hours though as it has just the one save and
I'd lost a bit of progress a couple times, but only a few minutes and
didn't want to lose any more.

I put it down after doing a whole section hitting the save and quit, and
when I came back it put me back at the train station before that point,
and with the invincible enemies it took me about 20 tries to survive
waiting for the train. I lost a couple hours of play. If I'm losing
that much play, and can't leave it open in the background, I can't play
it as I don't have the time for long sessions often, and prefer to take
broken up sessions.

Dead Space just doesn't like me, what with the early game stopping bug
on #1 that there's no fix for, and issues getting very far in #2 (though
that's probably more on me not being able to figure it out.) and now
this with #3.

I was enjoying it, though I'm not sure I'm up for the heart pounding
mashing E while getting grabbed and generally oppressive feeling combat.
A little too action for me any more (which seems like it may be
becoming a problem with souls games for me.) Even if it weren't for the
bugs.

I got more than $3 worth out of it though, so it wasn't wasted at that
price. Thanks again rms :)

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Thu, 9 May 2024 17:20:08 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 16:07 this Thursday (GMT):
>> On Thu, 9 May 2024 08:29:41 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>>Oh cool, I didn't know you had their steam.
>>>>I think I've only been gifted 3 games..
>>>>Bug Fabls, N++, and Bad Rats (in that order)
>>>
>>> https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CSPIGA
>>>Join the group and who knows? You may get lucky!

>> It's where all the cool kids hang out! You can tell that it's the Real
>> Thing because it has a built-in typo in the URL ;-)

>> There's even a comment once every three or four years! ;-)

>Has anyone ever used Steam Groups?

When it comes to myself: Ever? Yes. Regularly? No.

But I'm old school. Usenet is as much 'social media' as I want to get.
If I need to chat online with friends, we still hop onto an IRC
channel. Facebook, Discord, all the rest: blargh. Tried 'em, didn't
see that they were doing anything better than what we already had,
except the new stuff had a lot of unwanted corporate nonsense
attached. We'd still be using the TALK command if it were still
viable. ;-)

It doesn't help that stuff like Steam groups is aimed more towards
immediate and short-form communications... and if you all know one
thing about me, it's that I /do not/ communicate short form. ;-)

On 5/10/2024 7:11 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Thu, 9 May 2024 17:20:08 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
> <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:
>
>> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 16:07 this Thursday (GMT):
>>> On Thu, 9 May 2024 08:29:41 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Oh cool, I didn't know you had their steam.
>>>>> I think I've only been gifted 3 games..
>>>>> Bug Fabls, N++, and Bad Rats (in that order)
>>>>
>>>> https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CSPIGA
>>>> Join the group and who knows? You may get lucky!
>
>>> It's where all the cool kids hang out! You can tell that it's the Real
>>> Thing because it has a built-in typo in the URL ;-)
>
>>> There's even a comment once every three or four years! ;-)
>
>> Has anyone ever used Steam Groups?
>
> When it comes to myself: Ever? Yes. Regularly? No.
>
> But I'm old school. Usenet is as much 'social media' as I want to get.
> If I need to chat online with friends, we still hop onto an IRC
> channel. Facebook, Discord, all the rest: blargh. Tried 'em, didn't
> see that they were doing anything better than what we already had,
> except the new stuff had a lot of unwanted corporate nonsense
> attached. We'd still be using the TALK command if it were still
> viable. ;-)
>
> It doesn't help that stuff like Steam groups is aimed more towards
> immediate and short-form communications... and if you all know one
> thing about me, it's that I /do not/ communicate short form. ;-)

I've tried to set up some co-op with others here using Steam and the
group, but never had any luck, scheduling or whatever.

Pretty much the same with my rl friends, though we did somehow manage to
play a good bit of Diablo 3 together when it came out.

The only other things I can think of that worked was 20+ years ago when
we played MMOs together. Everquest & City of Heroes. EQ was a good 2
years of time playing together a good deal, with a year of not much.
and City of Heroes only lasted about 3 months of that.

I guess you could count a bit of hotseat play with 1 friend in ages
before that.

Of course in person D&D was a thing, though that got much harder when I
had kids, and Covid at long last killed that off.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'