Lurker > Unbridled9

I'll be honest...

The story is pretty bad by pretty much every standard. There are a FEW moments that are legit-good (1,000 words) but most of it is lulzy-stupid.

The combat system is good. One of the best set-ups will be the Unerring Path grin with a WHM on one end and another class of your choice on the other. Though there is certainly nothing wrong with other grids.

Do all the sidequests and the like (though no one will fault you for skipping Blitzball).
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

The Vong are one of the worst parts of the EU bar none, and kind of sum up all of the worst parts of the EU as a concept.

If you think people are shitting on the Disney movies now, they'd be shitting on them far worse if they'd just aped the EU as a whole for a few movies and then brought the Vong in.

A strange and alien race that are a literal void in the force that utilize living organisms as weapons and are more than capable of overwhelming the republic at its full strength yet have fractures and flaws in things like their cast system and an unhealthy focus on the jedi? They may not have worked in the books and what-not, but if you can't at least see how that COULD work in a movie sequel than I'd have to seriously question you. I mean... Start off with the first movie involving the arrival of the Vong and a slow march that culminates with Luke and his Jedi making a heroic last stand at the Yavin temple before being forced to flee with heavy losses. Regulate the war itself to an animated series then pick up with the second movie going from the fall of Courscant, Jacen's fall to the dark side, and then the battle of Ebaq 9. Continue the mini-series and have it conclude with the second battle and defeat of the Vong. You can even throw some stuff in like having the battle of E9 'won' by having the Republic ally with the Imperial reminates. Star Destroyers and Republic frigates fighting alongside each other, stormtroopers beside Jedi, and everything. If we're gonna deviate from the canon we may as well make it big and show progress as opposed to having the first movie be Episode IV and the second be V in reverse if it was written by monkeys.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Unbridled9 posted...

Meanwhile, the Disney sequels took an expanded universe, one which a lot of fans liked chock full of characters that they loved like Mara Jade, that many of them had grown up with, and proceeded to tank it.

The problem there is that 98% of the EU was hot liquid shit, and pretty much needed to be burned down to the fucking ground if Disney ever wanted to salvage anything out of the franchise. And considering they did things like making Thrawn canon in the new continuity, and they were seemingly painting Kylo as an alternative version of Jacen, it seemed like the few worthwhile things that WERE part of the EU were being salvaged out anyway.

That being said, the real problem with the new movies seems to be that no one at Disney seems to have had ANY real plan for the films. Unlike the Marvel movies, which are integrated into each other and have overarching plots planned years in advance (and which have a single person in charge guiding the ship and making important decisions), it seems the Star Wars films are pretty much being left to the devices of each individual director to plot out and handle, which in turn makes it a jumbled mess at best and a collection of terrible decisions at worst.

Disney basically needs someone to fill the Lucas role - just preferably someone with better ideas than Lucas had, and who is open to criticism when they push stupid or insane ideas. Instead, we have situations like Rian Johnson saying he was told literally nothing about plot even when he asked, and was just told to make up whatever he felt like as he went.

Disney didn't need to 'salvage' anything. The franchise was well loved already. If anything it's gone downhill drastically. But they could have easily done something with the Old Republic (it's founding? The founding of the Jedi?) or something far in the future. The Vong would have worked perfectly for the movies as a villain as well. There was just so much they could have done if they didn't decide to take the stupid pills en-masse.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

kangolcone posted...

Mofuji posted...

Vice Admiral Gender Studies

Just to be clear. The original trilogy features a fish in a command position. But that's ok because it's a dude fish.

It's okay because it's freaking AKBAR! The guy is basically a legend in the original EU, everyone loves his quote (stupid as it is), and he wasn't a spotlight hog in the movie by any means. Heck, he had, like, three scenes or something where he was even present. As opposed to Holdo's... everything.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Mead posted...

What is it about Star Wars that makes some people act like giant babies about every little thing?

This isnt new either people were losing their minds about Ewoks decades ago. Take a chill pill.

Star wars is a huge franchise with a large amount of followers. There will always be people who object and will be vocal about it. However, here's the thing.

Ewok's were an annoying little addition. A lot of people felt that they were included just to sell toys, market to kids, and that their beating the empire was completely stupid (it's not but that's besides the point). People hated the ewoks as a result but they were tolerable. Likewise, Jar Jar was annoying and clearly existed to pander to kids and sell toys but, ultimately, he was just one character.

Meanwhile, the Disney sequels took an expanded universe, one which a lot of fans liked chock full of characters that they loved like Mara Jade, that many of them had grown up with, and proceeded to tank it. That could have been understandable and redeemable assuming that they did so because they wanted to introduce said characters in the movies without having to worry about prior canon. Instead we got characters that were... suspect at best. Plenty of fans were willing to give them a shot since VII was passable and so-forth.

Then this movie came along. We got two characters no one liked and felt hamfisted and like a backhanded slap, a lot of potential build-up simply ruined, and even older characters insulted.

Like, let's take an obvious one in Snoke. Who was he? We don't know. We'll never know because they killed him off without explaining anything. It's not the same as with Palpatine since his presence in the movie made everything clear. He was the leader of the empire, the lord of the Sith, evil and corrupt through and through whom controlled Vader like a puppet. Snoke? He's... we don't know. We really don't. And now he's dead. They could have gone with the Darth Jar Jar. They could have made him be some ancient Sith disgusted at how Palpatine turned out. He could have even been an ancient JEDI whom had either had his beliefs twisted or whom was following ancient jedi codes and ways that had long since been written out and removed. There was potential.

And now? He's just a stupid one-off villain who got killed before we found out anything about him.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

That would be better, but they could have skipped Rose and Finns part completely and shorten the ship down to like the first 3rd of the movie and it should have helpeda lot

A lot of things would have helped a lot. The whole movie felt like a giant middle finger to the franchise and good writing in general. The political stuff just rubbed salt in the wound and I wanna avoid that since it will devolve it down to just shrieking about SJW's. But about the only GOOD thing in it was the visuals... when it was trying. Just... What were they thinking? Even the obvious pay-offs (like Rei being Obi-wans descendant) would have been better than what we got instead.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Wanna know what would have worked MUCH better? After the jump the imperials follow and the Rebels discover that there was a tracking device installed upon their ships. Multiple ones upon all three. They have no idea who the traitor is so Leia puts her plan on a need-to-know basis. Poe gets upset because they don't tell him and, instead, put heavy suspicion on Finn and several of his pilots. Finn, eager to clear his name, starts trying to investigate on his own only to meet Rose, a technician who just lost her sister in the battle. Rose seems to be on his side and believes he's being unfairly targeted because he was in a coma. She claims she's helping him out as she searches the ship.

Rose discovers that there have been multiple imperial spies whom have slipped aboard. Meanwhile one of them, a former female stormtrooper companion, approaches Finn and tries to convert him back to the imperial side, pulling on old friendship and romantic ties. Meanwhile Poe believes he's found all the spies and is certain no one in his squad or Finn are guilty and, when Leia and Akbar claim they suspect otherwise, he gets furious and stages his little insurrection. He demands that they jump to hyperspace thinking the ships are clean. They do so only for the imperials to follow and, before they can get shields back up, they blast the two other ships.

It turns out Rose is the final spy. She had planted a new tracker because she was furious at Poe, believing he had let her sister die, and the Rebels in general for allowing such decadence as that casino planet to prosper. Upon discovering the spies she had joined them in the hopes of ending what she saw as one of two corrupt organizations and believing that the imperials couldn't be as bad as they were 'in the old stories'. The damage is done however and they have to evacuate ship. Akbar chose this warp point, however, because there was an abandoned rebel base. He had intended to use it only until repairs and refueling could be completed but it looks like they need to make a stand here as well.

Rose is imprisoned until she can be properly put on trial but, while in her cell, is revisited by the memories of her sister. She realizes that she's lived her life in a constant state of rage and never moved on past the abuse in her childhood, unlike her sister. Her cell is damaged during the walker assault and she slips out, finding one of those damaged mono-ski thingies and repairing it enough to get it running. She then shoots out onto the battlefield to try and stop that laser ram. However Finn is shot down in his own run. Rose realizes that even her decision to ram the imperial ram is fueled by rage and finally starts to grow past her past and rescues Finn instead.

Not going to claim it's 'better' because it's literally made up on the fly; but no stupid Holdo, no dumb codebreaker thingy, things are kept neat and tight, reasons for their decisions beyond 'the plot demands it', and Rose comes off as an actual person instead of a diversity hire.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

There wasn't much reason to be upfront with Poe.

Poe's your top pilot and, IIRC, the leader of your fighter squads or at least ONE of them. Why the hell WOULDN'T she have told him especially when she may have needed him to pilot a transport or fighter screen. Heck, the moment it was clear he was getting antsy and nervious she should have. It's not like Poe, the guy who just helped blow up a Star Destroyer, is going to rat her out to the imperials. Basically, even if there was a reason to not tell Poe right away he should have been among the first to know.

Unless... Ya know... You were making an intentionally stupid decision to keep your top pilot in the dark so that cheap suspense and drama could be elicitied from a viewing audience.

Given that they weren't sure how the tracking was actually working, it might not have seemed a viable strategy. Plus there were enough ships to chase all of them.

Less viable than trying to hide in a run-down base with a massive fleet actively shooting at you?

Their complaint was solid. Poe repeatedly disobeyed Leia's orders and, while they took out an impressive ship, it *was* a costly victory.

Not really. It was, what, three/four bombers and five to six fighters in trade for a capitol ship? I don't remember the screen exactly but, even assuming it was an ENTIRE wing, that's still LESS than 20 fighters in trade for a capitol ship. Imagine IRL losing 12 fighter jets but, in turn, getting to sink an enemy aircraft carrier. Besides, what were they going to do instead? The most they could have possibly done is have the fighters serve as a screen for the retreating transports and the damage they did to the enemy fleet in that one attack outweighs any contribution they could have made in either the following battle or the retreat due to removing a star destroyer and all associated tie fighters, turrets, and soldiers. Plus, like I said, those bombers would have been crap in a battle since they've got one long and massive section that's basically just targeting fodder even if you removed all the bombs. Not to mention it takes two crew-members as opposed to the Y-wing's 1. I still can't get over that stupid design choice. The Falcon takes a max of 3 people to man and it's an entire light freighter. Yet those bombers take 2 people just to drop space bombs (also stupid) and not be totally exposed?

Because Poe wouldn't have mutinied against either, even if they -- almost certainly -- stuck with the same plan. Leia *was* onboard with Holdo's plan.

Gee. It's almost like it's a cheap narrative device designed to create artificial tension and conflict that could have been resolved easily but was used instead to make a plotline that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

I should have picked Holdo; but I thought that was the imperial guy. I screwed up. But yea... Holdo easily. Politics aside she's an incapable buffoon. She should have just been upfront with Poe and told him what was going on. If they had Poe's entire plot would have been avoided; not that it wasn't stupid anyways.

Yes, Holdo, you have the imperials actively shooting at you, striking your shields constantly, and even lost two ships. You could have all three ships go in opposite directions to try and make the imps have to lose track of at least one. You could have evacuated the two other ships ASAP then had the empty frigates hyper-ram the imperial fleet (which is bonkers stupid but not the point here). But what's your plan? To run to a dilapidated base with the imperials LITERALLY SHOOTING AT YOU THE WHOLE WAY before sacrificing your capitol ship and frigates in the HOPE that the imperials don't notice the MULTIPLE transports heading down to the planet despite being in blatant visual range, use your ship as a shield despite how the imps can launch fighters or just bypass your ship (they have multiples after all), then HOPE the imperials don't engage in a spaceborn bombardment or launch a ground assault since your BEST ground ships are ships that are not only stripped bare but can't even hover properly without the aid of a ski and THEN that the imperials don't have technology like AT-AT's that they're willing to deploy.

The sheer volume of stupid makes it seem more like she was an imperial plant than an actual capable and thinking captain.

Also, getting mad at Poe was INSANELY stupid! Like, the guy lost BOMBERS taking out a star destroyer (which is also stupid but not important right now). Those bombers weren't gonna be worth jack in fighter combat (unlike Y-wings which makes me baffled as to why they switched) and taking out a capitol ship is literally their intended purpose. Yes, they suffered losses, but either you were going to jump away and could replenish your numbers at the nearest republic outpost or you were going to, say, get followed and be forced into tense and tight fighter combat with imperial ships pounding at you from long distance. You know... A situation where sacrificing a few bombers and fighters to take out a capitol ship is the BEST outcome you can hope for!

Oh. And let's not forget that, in order for this to happen, they had to put Leia in a coma and KILL fan-favorite Akbar! All for this incapable purple-haired, director's pet to get control in the first place.

The most Jar Jar did was be annoying. He didn't do anything that actively sabotaged the good guys till the third movie.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Firstly the license board was a terrible idea. It was an attempt to replicate the success of the sphere grid but, where-as the sphere grid required a large amount of work and effort to become a full-on master, the LB would easily result in all your characters being near-identical clones of each other in combat. There was no reason to not have your characters master everything and it could be done about midway through the game if you knew what you were doing. Sure, it got fixed in Zodiac Age, but we're talking about XII not XII:ZA.

Also, gambits were an un-needed complexity that required a player to understand priority lists and how to build them, nevermind having to buy the individual gambits, before being able to have a character who acts in a 'passable' manner. Made worse by them not explaining them well enough. Sure, if you put in a lot of work and effort you could get some very good results that basically removed your ability to play. 99% of people had no clue what the **** they were doing.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

A simple riddle. Can you guess what song I'm referring to? The hint is as follows.

88, 88, 33, 33, 33, 86, 42, 86, 42, 42, 31, 31, 8, 57, 57.

If no one figures it out by 3 tomorrow I'll drop another hint.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Sarcasthma posted...

VixYW posted...

Delicinq4 posted...

The simple concept is that if I bring my kid to the mall and there is actually a guy who looks at him and thinks I want to fuck that kid, then that person is a fuckng waste of life, a degenerate, and an absolutely disgusting sicko who should be locked up.

I should not have to worry about people even creeping on my kids, it is NOT ok. I dont give a flying fuck if you believe its something they are born with. They shouldnt comingle with the general population. Its ok if they are shunned for life, we have enough people on this planet.

Not picking sides with anyone here, but I can't agree with this way of thinking. People should be punished by their actions, not by what goes trough their head.

Agreed.

Ditto. Besides, what are you going to do, thought police them?
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

For those who are confused...

Both of these people are horrible people. However, the rapist almost certainly will rape the woman (I'd say about a 95% chance) while the pedo, by comparison, only MIGHT molest the kid (and even then we don't know how so. Could be, at least comparatively, tender and loving as opposed to the violent and abusive ways of the rapist). If the pedo was more... evil... we probably would have an entirely different opinion; but with the info presented there's at least a chance to save the woman and to have the kid rescued as well before bad things happen; or at least for it to not be as vile as what would happen to the rapist. Especially since 'pedo' can basically encompass anyone from someone who likes 5 year olds to 17 year olds in todays world. I'm pretty sure that, if this was a 17 year old, you'd be saving the woman every time.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Go with the zombie one (Blanc). It's the better of the Nep Hack and Slashes and doesn't have the silly costume damage thing.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Shoot the rapist; then turn to the Pedo and tell him. 'You know, in all the excitement I forgot just how much ammo I brought with me today. I may have spent my last round, I may have one more in the chamber. So tell me, do you feel lucky?'
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

ZackMorris posted...

So you don't deny being a sociopath.

I also don't deny have both a foot-long shlong and F-cup breasts.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Maybe you can sponsor a student so that Mexico can have new doctors and engineers. Maybe you can support groups that seek to offer aid internationally (remember; Mexico isn't the only place in the world with 'a shit deal'). After all, this is about things like human compassion, right?

Yet, instead of doing these things people sit down and talk only about one nation, the nation right to the south of America, ignore the many nations in the world with massive problems that are far worse than what Mexico has to offer or, at best, think it's only places like 'Africa' where the destitute are, turn a blind eye to even notions like 'make sure we aren't letting legit criminals cross the border', treat people whom have fears and concerns (legitimate or not) about such things like they're a-moral asses who are one bedsheet away from the KKK, act like the government is a wolf in a chicken-coup going around and ripping people from their homes and dragging them off in the middle of the night to detention camps on people who are otherwise basically Ghandi and Mother Therisa with little Buddha and Mary bawling their eyes out as they watch the government bludgeon their parents into submission, and then run out to act like they're some paragon of morality for standing up 'against horrible abuse and government tyranny' without even stopping to think about the basics.

When my mom went to Poland years ago her class was greeted by an armed guard who almost shot one of the students and detained two others on suspicion of spying for America. They had problems finding things like 'working toilets'. In places like China and North Korea people starve to death regularly while singing the praised of a government that only barely, if at all, hides their atrocities. There are places where 'school' is basically a shack with a hot tin roof and chalkboard. Places where child slavery and soldiers aren't just 'something that happens' but 'every day life'. Mexico may as well be Eden compared to a place like Mali.

You want to know how I can be such a 'sociopath'? Because I realized a long time ago that the only way to actually help these places, the only way to actually change anything, is to become the evil imperialist that so many people condemn. That the only way to actually make these places 'better' would be to either pack up and devote my entire life to making that tiny little corner of the world suck less or to engage in a total takeover and fix it and pray we actually get the job done as opposed to just half-assing it then pulling out the moment we get bored or it starts to hurt. You can't just run in, build a school, and call it a victory. You gotta commit. Yet we have so many people running around like their own little victory of not getting Jose, their gardener who they only learned the name of when the government started coming a-knocking... and it's actually 'Juan', deported is somehow some great moral victory.

We have our own little slice of the world, a slice we worked hard to create, to make better, and turn into basically the best place on Earth. I'm more than willing to share it, but you got to follow the rules if you do and we also have to work hard to make sure that it keeps being the best place on Earth and not breaking out in hysterics the moment something 'feels morally wrong' and ignoring arguments dependent entirely on emotional appeal. If you have two slices of cake and you see someone with none it's okay to want to share with them, but if you see someone swoop down and demand you share because otherwise 'you're a heartless monster', you're not really sharing then; are you? If I put up a fence around my house I'm not unwilling to invite you inside, but I also expect you to use the gate and to be able to tell someone to leave if they just hop over it for trespassing.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

This is not what I said.

Yes; it is. Exactly what you said. That places like Canada and Japan are places with low crime, low corruption, and high wealth while large swaths of Central America are not. They are places with high crime, high corruption, and low wealth. This is a heavy implication that this is why you'd be okay with a Mexican walking into America but would have issues with a Canadian or Japanese person. Or would you be a-okay with them entering too illegally?

This has nothing to do with anything I said.

Yes. It does. It has EVERYTHING to do with it. If someone from Mexico can walk up to the border and walk on by without being a U.S. citizen, not even having basic traveling papers (like passports), and will get greeted and defended by democrats who believe deporting them is wrong, we may as well not have a border since we're not defending it with even the most basic means.

Or do you think the government should turn them away? If so, what's the difference between fighting tooth and nail to keep someone who snuck across the border into America as some poor refugee who will be killed by crime lords and someone just up and walking across the border? Is it because the former had to sneak in? Do you only care about deporting them once they're actually here?

According to a study -

I'm not going to bother with the study, because that's not the point. We're having a bunch of people cross the border and come into our land because they want to live a life of comparative wealth and ease. Not because they have people who will hunt them down back home or because American soil somehow cures some rare disease that they and only they have.

Why is it so hard for you to comprehend that people may legitimately believe that these people are being given a shit deal?

I believe it. I just don't care. They want a better deal; go back to Mexico then immigrate legally.

That they don't deserve to have their kids ripped away from them because that's a tremendously shitty thing to do? Why do you automatically assume it's about image and self-centredness, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary?

Are you that much of a sociopath that basic human compassion is a completely alien concept to you?

My parents, when they were younger, went down to Mexico for several months to help out the poor. My dad even proposed to her soon after returning. They went around the world to multiple locations and did their best to help out the poor, the needy, and the ill. I live in a neighborhood that is so heavily hispanic that almost two thirds the local businesses that aren't big corps like Subway use Spanish as their default language. Our local community shelters, which I give quite a bit to, are full of hispanic people. My job has far more immigrants than Native-born Americans (I don't mean 'white people' either. The vast majority moved from places like India or Russia. Ironically our hispanic workers are the only ethnic group with NO immigrants).

And here's how I know this is about image and self-centeredness. Because people who actually care about this situation DO things about these situations. At work I'm regularly standing up for my co-workers and helping them when some racist ass gets uppity. If you actually cared about helping the poor down in Mexico you'd be doing your best to either help Mexico improve or help people immigrate legally or find some other avenue that doesn't involve breaking laws and borders.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

darkknight109 posted...

Because Canada, Germany, Japan, and other parts of the US, are first world nations with low crime, low corruption, and excellent economic prospects, three descriptors that don't apply to huge swathes of Central America.

So what? Because their country is a shithole it's suddenly A-okay to cross the border and everyone should be welcoming and all that stuff? Bullshit. If Mexico suddenly became prosperous you know damned well that this exact same debate would still be happening with a bunch of bleeding heart emotionalizers claiming we should take every illegal immigrant. Just because America is wealthy doesn't mean I should suddenly feel bad about kicking someone out who snuck in through the back door. They want in? They can legally immigrate like they're supposed to.

And ditch the buzzwords about how the US "is not allowed" to protect its border. No one is suggesting that violent felons or gang members be allowed to stream unimpeded across the border and implying otherwise is completely counterproductive to the discussion, because anyone who doesn't already agree with you is going to immediately ignore anything else you have to say because you're peddling in gross exaggerations and falsehoods (it's the same as people on the left calling Trump a fascist dictator - whatever point you're trying to make is lost at that point, because you've displayed a willingness to exaggerate facts to the point where they are no longer grounded in reality).

It ain't a buzzword. If some non-violent, non felonious, non-gangmember person walked right up to the border, not even trying to hide it, walked right up to the check point and proceeded to pat the guards on the back before walking right on in, would you approve? Would you claim that they should just be allowed to enter in? Come to their defense when people get upset and insist that they get returned?

Yes, the US has a right to protect its southern border. It also has a moral and legal responsibility to offer safe harbour to legitimate refugees, and to treat those who do not meet that description ethically and humanely. Tearing kids from their parents' arms and leaving them separated for months, with no concrete process to reunite them, is neither ethical nor humane.

No we don't. And, even if we DID, we have the ability to offer that harboring WITHOUT just allowing anyone to cross over unimpeded to live their life basically un-monitored and without someone screeching the moment we try to deport ACTUAL CRIMINALS who DO get caught! And that's ignoring the biggest thing.

These people aren't ****ing refugees! There are precisely 0 actual wars going on with Mexico ATM beyond the conflict with their own drug runners. These are people who tried to come to America to live a life of wealth and prosperity without having to do things like 'pay taxes' and 'become actual citizens'. When ACTUAL criminals get caught they get bleeding hearts rushing to defend them. When they get involved in violent affairs, things that would get people thrown in jail or worse, they might get caught and thrown in jail or *gasp* deported!

Face it. When it comes to 'why' the reason is 'because I feel guilty and want to look good'. Your job and livelihood isn't in jeopardy, you don't live anywhere near these people, you wouldn't even consider going to do charity work or anything to try and help these other nations or these people, all you want to do is sound like you're a damned champion of the people without doing jack shit and blame it on someone else when problems arise.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

You know, this always bothered me about the who 'illegal alien' thing.

Why?

Seriously; why? Why is this even an issue? Would the democrats be so willing to jump to the defense of a Canadian illegal? What about a German or Japanese? Why is it that a nation, for some reason, doesn't have a right to protect it's own borders? To send back those who try to enter the country illegally? Why have a border at all if it holds no actual power or meaning? If you had someone who moved from NY to Cali then didn't proceed to file the proper paperwork and broke the laws for things legal in NY but not in Cali and got arrested for it; you wouldn't give a ****; and they're actual American citizens in America! Yet someone who is literally not an American citizen living in America against the laws of an entire nation gets caught suddenly it's some massive crime against humanity to deport them? This isn't some game of tag with a safe zone. This is real, adult, life!
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

We don't. It's erroneously reported shock news that's about as accurate as claiming that America didn't land on the moon because Russia did so first. That is to say it's got a tiny nugget of truth from something completely unrelated misconstrued for shock value with no actual evidence to support it presented as fact to tug on emotional heartstrings to ignore all facts and logic about the situation in favor of a narrative.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Wow... Guess nobody will be buying that model unless that mode is optional.

Look; I get it. You don't want guys picking up bad habits from using these dolls; but the whole POINT is to have sex with the dolls! It's like trying to order a burger and the waitress giving you kale because 'you're not vegan enough'. It's not going to make me want to eat healthier or approve of a vegan lifestyle or anything. It's going to make me want to not eat at your place again. If my sexdoll isn't letting me have sex then what the hell did I just spend all that money on? To get nagged and NOT have sex?
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

yutterh posted...

I personally don't think you should. Like some others have said, it's that people don't really understand mental health. Personally I don't think it's none of their business anyways. When employers ask for disabilities, It's mainly for physical limitations that could come up.

I think the problem is that a lot of people who don't have any major mental health issues think that you're either faking or that you can just 'get over it'. Maybe they'll understand that, if you have war-related PTSD that you shouldn't be a security guard; but try convincing them that your depression means that having him shout at you for providing 'sub-optimal customer service' because you forgot to ask a customer if you could help them with anything else is a BAD thing and you may as well be talking to a brick. And yes, that has happened.

Edit: Or are one step short of going full loony on them. So you're either faking, can get over it on a whim, or are about one step away from attacking someone with jelly rubbed all over your belly while screaming out 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy'.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Yes; it's important to list those if you have them. One of the things I've noticed is that a lot of employers don't know how to handle people with depression or PTSD and, if uninformed, can easily put them in situations which can massively aggrivate them. For example, putting someone with depression as a cashier where they're right in the line of fire for all sorts of customer abuse.

As someone with depression (and in the hopes someone will listen), employers... It's important to realize that we are NOT fragile beings who sob at the drop of the hat. If you have an employee who does that there are other concerns. However, just because you don't have to treat us like a danty little piece of china doesn't mean you can just shove us wherever and expect things to go okay. It's best to sit down and talk to them about their depression then figure out a job where it won't get aggravated and assign them there.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Hard worker... But that's because this is an 'either-or' situation. If I had just one job opening I'd take the best, but I'd also make sure said homeless person was informed about other job openings and, if he ever became the 'ideal' candidate for the job I wouldn't be opposed at all to hiring him.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Revelation34 posted...

Unbridled9 posted...

No. Not since Road to the Multiverse. I was kind of on-edge and basically looking for a reason to drop it and that one joke... yea. That was finally the straw to break that back.

What joke?

The 'In this world Christianity never existed and we're all in a technologically advanced utopia as a result' joke.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

No. Not since Road to the Multiverse. I was kind of on-edge and basically looking for a reason to drop it and that one joke... yea. That was finally the straw to break that back.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

As an anime schoolgirl? Possibly with Hilary as a Sempai-kun type student? All for the purposes of a stupid yet whacky off-beat high-school anime?
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Zikten posted...

I mean forget Trump even. I think a movie about Kim having to be ready for it would be interesting. it would be similar to that movie The King's Speech about a guy having to prepare for a speech and didn't that win Best Picture or something?

Yea; but let's be honest... No one cares about Kim in a vacuum beyond the meme potential. He needs someone to play off of to be taken as anything. Trump doesn't have that sort of a problem as he actually HAS that level of charisma that merely tacking his name onto something will draw attention to it. The 'Kim as a mortal god' type jokes only work when he has someone else to work off of (ex; him scoring 600 points in basketball only works if it has other pro athletes gushing over him or if it's 'when competing against crippled children' being 'omitted'.) Meanwhile you can do something as simple as gender-swap Trump and change his quote about girls to guys (grab them by the balls) and instantly the mental image comes to mind and the humor potentials become obvious.

It's why Obama doesn't get similar jokes. He didn't have that same level of charisma or the ability to be notable on his own. It can be funny to watch a republican hate him or a democrat gush over him for entering the room; but that's not because of Obama but because of the other people reacting to him. Meanwhile Bush flubbing an order or Clinton playing the sax can carry themselves as jokes.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Smarkil posted...

Why would we have a movie about an event where virtually nothing changed?

Why NOT? I mean, we have tons of movies that claim to be 'historical' and what-not yet get practically every detail wrong.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Jen0125 posted...

Those both sound incredibly boring.

A war between two rivals schools. One is a destitute school with few students whom are impoverished and can't afford to live anywhere else, yet holds fierce loyalty to their student president who is the epitome of everything they believe in. The other is a school full of wealthy students laden with success, yet are tumultuous and decadence and have recently elected a new student president to try and rid the latter. Both leaders hate each other but both are also afraid that, should their sports teams clash, the other school will do all in its power to sabotage them leading to a full-on riot; one which could devastate both schools. Thusly they agree to a meeting; neither willing to back down and both wanting to show to their student body that they are strong...

Yet something goes different. Upon meeting each other the Super-hunky Kim sees the sexy maiden Trump. Both are strong and opinionated with Kim wrestling anyone who disagrees into submission and Trump being more than willing to grab men by the balls to force them into submission. And the fluttering butterfly of love flies between them. Now they must balance their loyalty to their schools and beliefs, their desires to appear strong, and the budding romance between Jock-Kim and Maiden-Trump.

Starring: China as Kim's principle who keeps telling him to get in line but never actually does anything and Canada as the shrinking violet girl who has a crush on Maiden Trump but can never sort her feelings out and is eternally friendzoned as a result.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Nuclear Hearts: Fade to Orange!
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

rogerskg1979 posted...

Butz will never stop cracking me up. Who seriously thought that was a good name? lol

It's a translation issue. His 'official' name now is 'Bartz', but we will always remember the original Butz.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

FFI: The original on the NES with the Warrior of Light. International.

FFII: Firion, NES, Local

FFIII: Onion Kid, NES, Local

FFIV: Cecil, SNES, International, Originally released as 'FFII'

FFV: Butz, SNES, National

FFVI: Terra, SNES, International, Originally released as 'FFIII'

And from there on it has the 'official' numbering with VII staring Cloud on the PS1. People have adopted the 'official' numbering for a long time now especially with all the games playable here in the west.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

supergamer19 posted...

https://imgur.com/gallery/5yCRl1Y

Pretty accurate.

I don't feel that's accurate because the games listed ended up being successful and well-liked for the most part; as opposed to the games that got introduced and flopped hard or were blatant rip-offs. Like how Star Wars: Battlegrounds was a blatant Age of Empires ripoff (albet an enjoyable one). Like; putting the Shadowrun shooter in the 'online shooter' catagory would have been perfect.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Zikten posted...

and now mmo's are dying out. I guess it was just a fad.

No. They aren't. They've just changed form. Most are now freemium games with a lot of the cash-in titles having gone belly-up and a few of the more solid ones holding their own. Currently two titles have a grip on the sub market (WoW and FFXIV) and it seems unlikely that more than two or three MMO's can compete in the sub market at a time.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

How the hell did you play for 80 hours yet get only 30 boxes? You get one every level-up. Even a casual player can easily get one a day via quickplay playing for, like, an hour or two at most. Nevermind if you go to arcade.

Also, special modes don't vanish after a week. The event stuff usually lasts quite a bit (month or so IIRC) and even when nothing is going on you can get some via arcade which keeps multiple modes in constant rotation.

And even THEN I find it very difficult to believe you went through 30 boxes and got 0 skins. Maybe if you were referring to an epic skin, but the more common ones? You should have gotten at least, like, six or seven over 30 boxes.

And even THEEEN... With 800 coins you weren't too far away from being able to basically buy any skin you wanted.

AND EVEN THEEEEEEENNNNN... Overwatch has been getting a constant stream up updated content. We've gotten six new heroes since launch along with six new 'normal' maps and all the specialized maps for other modes such as arena.

So really? Your complaints sound less grounded and more like you just didn't like the game and are trying to badmouth it to justify your dislike despite not having played it a lot. If you don't like it or weren't good at it, that's entirely fine... but complaining about a lack of new content (despite frequent champions and skins and events) and not getting any skins in their lootboxes (which sounds awfully suspicious) doesn't help your case.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

It's probably going to be Hammond judging by that trailer.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Well... Trump is the God-Emperor... And sacrifices must be made.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

Look at ant colonies!

Okay, that's an example we can work with.
- Ants only produce 2 things, tunnels and more ants.
- Ants have to go outside their colonies for resources because they don't develop a means of cultivating those resources themselves.
- A resource gathered by ants is only worth its nutritional value. It does not appreciate because the ants never modify it in a way that increases it's benefit to the colony.
- Ants have no regard for the lives of other ants. The queen and colony are all important while an individual worker ant has no value other than the labor they are able to perform.

Is that a society you would want to live in?

- Ants get eaten by spiders that are larger than them. Do YOU want to get eaten by a spider bigger than you?
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Unbridled9 posted...

Because 'true communism' is impossible to achieve on anything more than a micro level. You simply can't manage a nation through the idea that everyone should just produce what they're good at to be consumed by everyone according to their needs. It just doesn't work. It can't work.

But, of course, they'll gladly point to literally every communist nation ever and claim it wasn't 'true communism' and 'it will work better next time' because it's an ideal that simply cannot be obtained. Like making cardboard wings and jumping off a cliff in the belief people can fly and claiming that the corpses at the bottom 'weren't true fliers'. Blindly chasing an ideal, rationalizing each attempt and finding threads of justification, reveling in ignorance, and ignoring reality.

I'd like to note that America's mismanagement of Capitalism that's bred recent talks of Communism. Disenfranchised people aren't going to listen to you, he who promotes the ideology that failed them, when you call other ideologies impossible.

The problem isn't capitalism. Not by a longshot. The problem is that we have a generation now that firmly believes that everything is effectively owed to them reared in a society that has not seen communism on a large scale in a generation yet littered with professors and 'intellectuals' who sing its praises and gladly blame every shortcoming on oppression. We live in a nation where even the poor live a life of relative luxury compared to the rest of the world. Many of the things we take for granted (like flush toilets) are not reliable in other nations. Yet we have a generation now that feels it's okay to lamblast the hard-working person so long as they're white men, that feels it's perfectly fine to support the repeal of freedom of speech so long as it's THEIR speech that gets protected, that gets 'triggered' at every minor thing like they're some post-war vet except that their trauma isn't seeing their squad killed by mortar fire but, rather, that ice cream is racism, that believes white people have no culture and stole everything from other ethnicities, and so-forth. These aren't the failings of capitalism but, rather, of a toxic and communistic mindset that needs to be stomped out and destroyed.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Because 'true communism' is impossible to achieve on anything more than a micro level. You simply can't manage a nation through the idea that everyone should just produce what they're good at to be consumed by everyone according to their needs. It just doesn't work. It can't work.

But, of course, they'll gladly point to literally every communist nation ever and claim it wasn't 'true communism' and 'it will work better next time' because it's an ideal that simply cannot be obtained. Like making cardboard wings and jumping off a cliff in the belief people can fly and claiming that the corpses at the bottom 'weren't true fliers'. Blindly chasing an ideal, rationalizing each attempt and finding threads of justification, reveling in ignorance, and ignoring reality.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

I don't think that poll is clearly worded. Anyways, I support lifting the ban. I think it was insanely stupid and discriminatory to enact in the first place and relied heavily on fear-mongering and plucking the heartstrings of moral guardians. As such I have no qualms of lifting the ban and, if it needs to be banned again, banning it for actual reasons as opposed to basically going 'Think of the children!'
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Sure, so long as I got the proper meal breaks and a chair. Otherwise forget it. Standing for 8 hours with almost no relief is bad enough; 20 would be murder!
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

PyroBlade1985 posted...

BlackPortrait posted...

I support dropping California into the ocean, but I suppose I'm willing to compromise here.

In all seriousness though... I do support breaking it up as I feel it's too large for proper representation; but I'd much rather the californians decide how they want it broken; be it a north-south divide or something else. Basically anything else to get the big cities from basically deciding the biggest voting bloc by a large margin.

This is kind of what republicans mean when they talk about how unfair California is. If you want to go by sheer voting power somewhere like Wyoming has its votes worth much more than a Californians. However California has the largest amount of votes by a sizable chunk yet it's almost entirely controlled by a few select cities which are almost entirely under the liberal thumb.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Honestly no matter how this falls-out it's a big blow to North Korea unless Un ends up tearing Trump's head off Mortal Kombat style or something. Here's the thing; North Korea functions heavily on a mentality of military first and that the rest of the world is out to get and destroy them. A huge part of the reason this is able to keep going is America's unwillingness to talk as well as the chance that hostilities could escalate at any moment. Even if war was declared and America nuked Pyongyang to universal approval with every nation (except North Korea obviously) sending Trump congratulatory fruit baskets, this wouldn't break North Korea. It would only prove that Un was right to talk so much about how much the rest of the world wants to destroy them. A land war, besides not only getting massive amounts of protest back home, would be incredibly long and costly and result in massive 'civilian' casualties not just from north artillery strikes on the south but from the sheer number of civilians who would fight back convinced American soldiers were about to kill them, rape the bodies, then throw the remains in a pot set to 'simmer'.

Even if we 'won' we'd have decades of occupation and peace-keeping ahead of us as, not only would the north need to be built up to be able to survive the unification, but they would need to stomp out any groups attempting to revive the communist ideal. However, with a peacetime, Un will potentially lose a lot of his power-base as the ideology will lose a solid bit of its foundation and the civilians, hopefully, will be able to branch out instead of having a fanatical devotion to the military.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

It's decently portable. It's size is large enough that you won't be able to store it in your pocket easily (unless you have huge pockets or a coat) and it's battery life is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours; but it's otherwise pretty portable. If you bring along the charger and are going somewhere with sockets you can play forever. The carts/cards are fairly small and robust as well so you can cram them into a small bag and have, like, 50 games on you in your bag; not to mention digital download titles. You'll want some way to protect the screen when not in use though. Cases can be purchased to help with that and basically eliminate all problems aside from battery life.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

IMO... No. And neither would banning guns result in a true decline in school violence. While the tool would be less effective there would still be people engaging in violent acts. Here is what I see as the primary cause.

1) Publicity. If you engage in school violence and shoot up a school you will hit the national news. Your name will be plastered everywhere. You may go down as a villain but you will go down as something. For someone who feels depressed, useless, and suicidal this is the 'jackpot' since you can make a mark on the world while, hopefully, also ending the lives of those who made your life hell.

2) Social media. No. I'm not going to go nuts on social media being evil. What I will say is that it allows massive amounts of negativity to reach a person while in the comfort of their own home while, at the same time, seeing the success and positivity of others. Can you imagine how devistating it must feel to find out that the girl you had a crush on is dating the kid who bullies you... and then have to be reminded of it every time you use facebook?

3) Terrible schools. The fact is that American schools are horrible. They're basically processing factories in which the product is, instead of packaged meat, students. Not even ones with 'good grades'; just graduates. There is little encouragement to engage with the students, teachers, classmates, or generally anyone if the only thing that really 'matters' is getting that A. Teachers only intercede when it can harm their career, students form cliques, and students have little reason to talk to teachers or staff even in dire need.

4) A lack of self-worth. This is probably the biggest one. Now-a-days so much of who we are and what we are worth is decided by external factors with little control. Are you a boy or girl? Not only is one going to be praised by the other but you'll find society actively chastising the other merely for existing. Are you gay, straight, or something else? You'll be favored or chastised. What music you like, what color your skin is, what your hobbies and desires are... they can so easily lead into a massive loss in self-worth. Once you have nothing left to lose, are reminded of it every day, merely going to school is a trial, and you will become famous if you do it as well as potentially kill those who made your life a living hell... Why not?
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Gardevior. No. NOT BECAUSE OF THAT!

When I was just starting off in pokemon it was at the end of Gen II and moving onto Gen III. I knew of how powerful Abra was and when I saw someone catching a seemingly-useless psychic type in a fairly early area something clicked in my brain that went 'That's the new Alakazam'. I caught a Ralts and proceeded to train it up and... well... It was freaking POWERFUL!

I so wish power creep wasn't an issue.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage

Chewster posted...

Why are people so elitist about breakfast food/restaurants in general? Nobody thinks you're savvy or unique for saying "DAH LOCAL STUFF IS BETTER THAN CHAINS!" But breakfast in particular isn't really a big deal. Yeah, there is stuff out there that's better than Denny's, but breakfast is the hardest of the three meals to screw up.

Because it makes them feel better and they think it makes them look classy. After all, homecooking is the best and that local pizza place uses authentic brick ovens and has a chef who tenderly massages the dough and whispers sweet nothings into its ear as they work. But that Domino's? It's nothing but greasy bread with a bit of tomato on top! That McDonalds? It's food can be barely stomached and tastes like cow anus!

Nevermind that your 'homecooking' is literally just cracking an egg and some bacon into the frying pan and making a sausage patty is probably the limit of your cooking skill, you can't fully cook a burger patty and couldn't bread a chicken to save your life. Nevermind that the local place is currently under investigation under the accusations that the local chef has been making love to their food and you find hairs in the meal on occasion. Nevermind that, despite how much you badmouth the chains, you still put out an order for pizza delivery and have a wastebasket full of Big Mac boxes. Clearly the chains are terrible and you would NEVER be so degrading to eat there!
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage