Lurker > colliding

A lot of Dems don't seem to understand that when your first go-to defense is "the other guy is way worse" they have immediately failed to reach a large number of people. It plays into the exact same strategy the republicans use to villify the "woke washington liberals."

Dems needed to find a way to rise above this in the last four years. I said this when Biden was elected. This needed to be a transitional presidency during which the party built up a younger and more inspiring candidate.

When are Democrats going to learn they need to be younger and more progressive if they want to appeal to the youth vote, whom they desperately rely upon?

When are Democrats going to realize that funding Israel's ongoing extermination of Palestinian civilians is not a popular platform?

When are Democrats going to be more vocal about their policies and platforms and not rely on "but the other guy" to galvanize voters?

(yes, I'm voting for Biden)

that last episode was such a gut punch

insane series. probably the goat

no not them. the blue guy wearing a mask asking them to get the black materia

I still have a question about the trailer

who are the blue people? new?

Honestly, both cool and extremely frightening

shine might not be famous, but I feel like he has touched the most amount of lives

I thought you were super against this due to no FeMC/Answer stuff

maybe I'm mistaking you for someone else

Metaphor looks good

they should cast me as Kanji so I could have a ticket to VA superstardom

Tanthalas posted...

People who say this were never going to vote Biden in the first place.

This is simply not true, unfortunately

the cost of making AAA videogames due to long development times and huge teams has outstripped the profit they get from making them

obviously at some point

one would hope after persona 6

welp there's a big topic on the game board that is titled GAME HAS LEAKED so I'm going off the grid

honestly disgusted with the results

you'll all look back on this in shame!

edit: also I didn't vote so lol at me

I think I'm the only person who loves the Moon S. Link

Mega Man
Ryu
Jill
Phoenix Wright

brock played pretty good. way more consistent than he was in the last two games.

I maintain that he's an extremely up and down QB.

sorry I never get tired of watching the niners lose. they beat my team every year so it's fine

it did feel inevitable there at the end

there's the mvs I remember

they gotta sneak mahomes

would've been ballgame five years ago

good to see both teams get a chance to possess

kelce's getting the hollywood ending

GranzonEx posted...

Mahomes pick 6 coming

if it's intercepted they would go down immediately

damn the packers should've beaten this team

Leonhart4 posted...

Playoff MVS strikes again

green bay fans are in shambles

has a kicker ever won sb mvp?

chiefs are shook

Leonhart4 posted...

A fellow Chattanoogan? I had no idea!

best years of my life, (high school and most of my 20's)

objectively speaking that halftime show was boring

but i'm legally bound to support a chattanoogan

GranzonEx posted...

Why didn't we get Taylor Swift for the halftime show this year

if y'all aren't enjoying this halftime show you clearly don't have enough fond memories of awkwardly grinding on folks to confessions

I am transported to the aughts right now

kick it

Forceful_Dragon posted...

I think everyone lost money in that.

there was a prop bet that a non-quarterback throws the first TD. I remember simmons talking about it on the pod

pachec- oh no

ladies and gentlemen we have points

there's been a Jesus ad the last two years I think as well

hi fi rush

This has got 14-10 KC written all over it

TomNook7 posted...

colliding you usually have such good opinions what happen

bad case of bonkus of the konkus

VectorAgent posted...

Anyhow, happy to read your essay if you feel like posting it.

Okay well maybe a short version that doesn't mention Chrono Trigger, since you already said you don't particularly care how it measures up compared to its predecessor. How it handles the prior game's characters and resolves its plotlines is really only insult to injury.

Cross's story on its own is nonsense parading as intellectualism. I find the details of it utterly incomprehensible; it also lacks a strong emotional core to carry players through the density of its plot details. One reason it lacks a core is because it gives players the chance to recruit 40 terrible playable characters (only maybe 8 of whom are actually interesting). Instead of having characters participate in the plot in a meaningful way, the game just has throwaway boxes of dialogue at important moments in the game. Lots of playable characters works in Suikoden because there's a castle-building mechanic tied to the character recruitment mechanic. I'm sure some people love this aspect of CC, but none of them, including Poshul, really worked for me, and I would much rather have had a core group of 8 characters that could participate in the narrative. Right now, the game rests on how much you enjoy the character of Kid, which is problematic due to spoilery reasons.

Also it just isn't fun to play. Battles are slow, and in a game with really really good music, the battle theme is the most annoying nails on a chalkboard mess in any JRPG. I legitimately hate it as a piece of music. Both the regular attack mechanic and the magic mechanic are more trouble than they're worth. Regular attacks you have to chain together "combos," which makes battles go way longer than they should. With magic attacks, there's some kind of benefit to using magic of the same element repeatedly, but it's so rare that this ever happens that no one really cares. Again that also requires staying in a battle for a while, and you want to finish these as quickly as possible so you don't have to listen to the terrible music anymore.

the end

Tom Brady
Dan Marino
Brett Favre
Patrick Mahomes

Andrea's iconic

I guess I'm just THAT out of the loop then. In any case, as soon as like "official spoilers" start coming out I'm gone.

VectorAgent posted...

Cant remember how long it has been since I posted here on B8, but I know this is probably still the right place for a question like this.

I have in my possession a number of PS1 JRPGs that Ive never played before, and Im hoping to get some opinions/guidance on things like which one might be best to start with, maybe the full order that anyone who responds would recommend playing them in, even just general thoughts on how good/bad they may be in general. Basically, if anyone has any kind of opinion to share on these, Im interested in hearing it.

The games are:

Vagrant Story
Suikoden II
Xenogears
Final Fantasy IX
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Chrono Cross

Appreciate any thoughts people might like to share. Stay safe!

Suikoden II*> Xenogears> FFIX > Lunar:SSC > CC > Vagrant Story

*make sure you play Suikoden I first

Suikoden I and II is an all-time JRPG in terms of character, world-building, plot and immersion. The battles are fun but simple. The castle-building and character recruiting aspects are iconic. A top 5 JRPG experience.

Xenogears is a masterpiece whose strengths overpower its notable flaws.

FFIX is a really solid entry into the Final Fantasy franchise, though I've grown to like it less as I've gotten older (I've also started to appreciate VIII and X more at the same time). It's a little too safe.

Lunar SSSC is foundational. I imagine it would be a rough first playthrough in 2024 though. Still have really fond memories of it though. Eternal Blue is better.

Chrono Cross... maybe I'll write my standard essay about why this game is disappointing later, but I don't think it's very good. Awesome soundtrack though.

Vagrant Story I never liked. Though if I'm completely honest I only played it that one time when it came out, and I dont think I understood its systems.

I'm probably going to go completely off the grid as soon as a whiff of a leak appears.

If there's no leak then for sure that first week or so I'm completely internet silent

Heineken14 posted...

How so? I thought it was pretty apt. Also... I do not take public transportation. lol

I mean if I had a choice to ride a taxi that killed 100 people or a bus that ran over 5 people I wouldn't get on either.

Resident Evil 4

StealThisSheen posted...

This is the problem, though. You know BOTH are bad on the Palestine issue, but by not voting, you are willingly not only saying you're okay with the potential of a negative on the Palestine issue, but also OTHER issues, such as LGBT, women, the environment, and so on, too. Taking the "principled" stance of not voting is, in practice, saying "I don't actually care, because neither impact ME directly," since... It's well known what not voting could cause.

EDIT: It's like the trolley problem. Taking one track kills one person, taking the other track kills four people. If you take the "principled" choice of not doing anything at all, and the trolley crashes and kills all five people, well... You did not take a principled action at all.

I appreciate you standing up for me.

For the record, I am likely going to vote for Biden, but I admit I am feeling quite bad about it. The issue with the trolley problem analogy is that I feel like there are ways off of the track that we simply refuse to take.

The point of my posts is just to emphasize - speaking as someone who has worked with student democratic organizations for twenty years now, first as a student and now as a professor/advisor - that the Democratic party is in serious trouble at this current moment. I think Biden should've spent more of his term getting a successor lined up. Either rehabbing Kamala or someone else. And yes, they shouldn't have continued to fund Israel. I have to believe there was a way for the U.S. to respond to Israel after Oct. 7 that didn't involve 27,000 dead Palestinians.

I don't think it's wrong for people to have a principled take of "I'm not voting for Biden because of his handling of Palestine." Even though not voting for Biden is worse for LGBT individuals, women, the environment... everything. The administration is supporting Israel as it mass murders innocent people. I know that Trump would've done the same or worse, but that doesn't mean it's fine that the Democratic President did it too. Voters shouldn't have to be told to stomach genocide (and it is genocide but I won't do your homework for you) for the greater good.

If you have to ignore genocide for the survival of people at home, the country's already lost. Call it moral grandstanding, or call it pearl clutching, if you want but I'm sorry.

Voting for the lesser of two evils is one thing, but when the lesser of two evils still supports mass murder, sorry, I'm not with you.