Poll of the Day > PotdMon: Nerd/Geek

(+) Yeah! (+)

You know the rules, well you should by now: Post anything Geek or Nerd related. It can be anything in movies, television, video games, books, comics, board games, or even pop culture. But never sports... Us Geeks know nothing of the evil sports and the hated jocks, stupid jocks.

Per tradition we have an opening topic question to keep the conversation going.

"Whether you are a hero or a viallain what would be your fatal flaw? What would stop you from defeating the bad guy, or losing to the good guy every single time?"

Bonus Question: How would you overcome this fatal flaw, and more importantly, could you?

Wrap up from "Stan By Geek"in The upcoming post.
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My first fatal flaw would be how quickly or easily things break around me. I would attempt, furthermore, to direct this flaw at time and space around my opponent, and destroy them utterly, and existentially, before any death can possibly take them.

The second fatal flaw is how easily I piss people off the more right I am about anything, not because I wave the facts in front of their face (not something I generally do at all really) but because I'm constantly surrounded by people who cannot face facts, who must seek scapegoats for their own bullshit, and I'm always there trying to be a better person than I was before. As such, the more I try to improve, the more that the universe causes everyone else to act like opposing factions in any Total War game.
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The Wave Master posted...

"Whether you are a hero or a viallain what would be your fatal flaw? What would stop you from defeating the bad guy, or losing to the good guy every single time?"

Wow, starting the new topic with a typo.

And I'll answer the same way I do in interviews: My flaw is being too perfect >_>

The Wave Master posted...

Bonus Question: How would you overcome this fatal flaw, and more importantly, could you?

Dunno.
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Kinda regretting not wasting my money on that oversized combining Legendary Voltron set for $75 or so back when TRU was going out of business and clearancing everything. I still somewhat want it but buying everything separately is going to probably run me close to $120. At that point I could just get the new Classic Voltron instead since it lists about the same price. Granted, *neither* one is exactly something I need and it would eat up a lot of display space (which is always something of an issue), but I've never had a full combining robot and I feel more like getting that than buying a Legacy Megazord

Walmart.com has the Green listed for $13, the Blue for $15, and the Red for $17. The Black I could get on Amazon for $35 (full list), but it looks like I might be stuck paying $22 for the Yellow (which is more than full list). If all of that worked (and I couldn't find a cheaper Yellow or Black), that would put met at around $102 before taxes.

The new classic ones are $20 each for four and then $35 for the Black which, pricing-wise, is a lot cheaper than the Mattel run (and the after-market for the Mattel lions is insane).

And yes, there's also the Die-Cast line which is a bit cheaper (with the combined Voltron being smaller as well), but the savings aren't that huge and it feels like a substantial trade-down for a minor savings.

I should mention I *still* haven't even tried watching the Netflix series yet. >_>
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Sorry for the typo everyone. I didn't proofread as well as I would have liked, but I was distracted by my wife and some very bad news.

It turns out my older brother has septic shock, and is presently in a coma. He's been non responsive since Monday, and I didn't handle it well. I started drinking. Not alcohol, because I'm not a drinker or like the taste of alcohol, but fruit juice. With severe renal failure I'm on fluid restriction, and can only have 32 fluid ounces a day, and I went well over.

I was distracted by my wife because she was jumping up and down and asking me to put lotion on her foot and bribing me with boobs. I like boobs.

I stand by the typo because of a coma and boobs.
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I have a massive Warhammer 40k army and all my friends are dead (hyperbole, I don't have any friends - but my gaming group did shut down)

So I have no one to play with
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Popping in to tag the topic, be back later.


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On a side note: Don't do anything illegal in Japan. I mean anything illegal.

Judgment got pulled from Japanese shelves because of a drug bust on a voice actor in the game. I read this article, and I was blown away by how strict all of their laws are. Granted, I heard of these draconian laws before, but it's worse than I imagined.

https://kotaku.com/why-japan-is-so-strict-about-drugs-1833286755
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No drugs, but they drink like fish
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The Wave Master posted...

On a side note: Don't do anything illegal in Japan. I mean anything illegal.

Judgment got pulled from Japanese shelves because of a drug bust on a voice actor in the game. I read this article, and I was blown away by how strict all of their laws are. Granted, I heard of these draconian laws before, but it's worse than I imagined.

https://kotaku.com/why-japan-is-so-strict-about-drugs-1833286755

I heard that story yesterday via this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tej7fiwmxwE" data-time="


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Just finished David Wong's John Dies at the End. It was one hell of a ride. It's funny how proud he is of the butchered movie they made of the book, since it hardly bares any resemblance to the published novel.
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The Wave Master posted...

It turns out my older brother has septic shock, and is presently in a coma.

Geez... How much bad luck can one family have? (Which I say even as my extended family has run into a lot of health and financial issues all within the span of a week.)

Lokarin posted...

I have a massive Warhammer 40k army and all my friends are dead (hyperbole, I don't have any friends - but my gaming group did shut down)

So I have no one to play with

Oo

Photos?!

The Wave Master posted...

On a side note: Don't do anything illegal in Japan. I mean anything illegal.

Judgment got pulled from Japanese shelves because of a drug bust on a voice actor in the game. I read this article, and I was blown away by how strict all of their laws are. Granted, I heard of these draconian laws before, but it's worse than I imagined.

https://kotaku.com/why-japan-is-so-strict-about-drugs-1833286755

While I *kinda* like that approach -- mostly because a lot of it is social rather than merely legal -- it's kinda stupid to object to a character playing a criminal getting into drug use irl. If anything, that should enhance his character. The only aspect I don't like as much is the rush to judgment, considering that the facts likely aren't well-established.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I heard that story yesterday via this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tej7fiwmxwE" data-time="

Ew, Jim Sterling.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

Just finished David Wong's John Dies at the End. It was one hell of a ride. It's funny how proud he is of the butchered movie they made of the book, since it hardly bares any resemblance to the published novel.

Well, Stephen King propped up the abortion that was the film adaptation of The Mist, so it kinda happens.
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Excited for Avengers: Endgame. Counting down the days. Have an alert to my phone so I can preorder launch tickets for that night or Friday as soon as available.

Zeus posted...

Oo

Photos?!

A long time ago I promised photos once I finished by Dark Imperium box... I haven't started the Dark Imperium box and went and got 3 more Betrayal at Calth boxes (one of which is on the floor beside me)

So since it looks like I'll never finish (or at least finish very slowly), I may as well get some pics of the whole lot.

https://imgur.com/lAilLTs
https://imgur.com/IDheJcw

https://imgur.com/Ftsm6Zh

https://imgur.com/4uNYXxf

https://imgur.com/JiWMPV4

https://imgur.com/YhXv6ZQ

edit: not actually pictures of everything since there's lots of unfinished on my painting table
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Zeus posted...

Ew, Jim Sterling.

Ehh, other than the fact that he can lean a little too hard into the SJW side of the equation (and recently his embitterment with major corporations like Activision and EA has him going a bit ranty anti-capitalist), 98% of the time he's dead on when it comes to criticizing poor business practices and the darker side of the game industry in general.

I'd certainly rather hear info from him rather than Kotaku or Polygon, though, because they have all of the same flaws he does but none of the positives to offset them. And you don't have to wade through their shit web site design or feed them click revenue.


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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'd certainly rather hear info from him rather than Kotaku or Polygon, though, because they have all of the same flaws he does but none of the positives to offset them. And you don't have to wade through their shit web site design or feed them click revenue.

Is turd vs shit really that much of an improvement? After all, at the end of the day...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdDMrncAy4U" data-time="
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Post'n post'n for that amp
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*arrives after another good D&D session*

Positive karma for Wave and family.
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Finished BotW's camel dungeon. Inadvertently stumbled on the fact that the central segments need to be spun so a power source lines up with some connectors which carry the power to the sides. First noticed something started spinning and, after carefully examining things, determined the cause. From there, the rest of the dungeon was pretty simple... and the boss fight was an absolute joke. In general, I'm more than a little annoyed by how short these dungeons are in addition to there being so few of them and, of course, everything centers around puzzles instead of having a mix of fighting.

Granted, part of the relative ease where combat is concerned is having the Master Sword (although Thunderblight's mechanics are also really easy regardless), since it has a buff vs guardians and corrupted creatures.
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Zeus posted...

Is turd vs shit really that much of an improvement?

If that's how you see the dichotomy, no, but since I wouldn't even remotely classify him as either, that's not really a no-win scenario.

To be frank, if I have to get my video game news from somewhere, I find him preferable to most of the alternatives. And he does have a tendency to address issues that a) really, really need to be addressed and b) that most other sites won't touch because they don't want to risk their big studio connections (and free review copies). I can put up with disagreeing with him about the occasional social justice issue every dozen videos or so in that scenario.

And honestly, I think a lot of people who dislike him only hate him because of the arrogant egotist persona he puts on... but that's sort of the point. You're not supposed to take it seriously. It's like getting pissed off at RedLetterMedia because Mike made the Plinkett persona a deranged misogynist serial killer. Or like liberals getting annoyed at Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report when his entire gimmick was essentially mocking the personality he was portraying.


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Marvel finally dod the right thing and reinstated James Gunn back as the Writer/Director of GOTG 3.

The stupid firing did result in Gunn going over to Warners and DC to Write/direct Suicide Squad 2. Considerong that the first film had some serious editing, plotting, and pace problems hiring Gunn to fix your franchise is not a bad idea.

Anyway he is back on GOTG 3, and hopefully no more crazy Tweets come up to hurt his projects.

https://m.ign.com/articles/2019/03/15/guardians-of-the-galaxy-3-james-gunn-reportedly-back-as-director
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

And honestly, I think a lot of people who dislike him only hate him because of the arrogant egotist persona he puts on

No, I mostly find his opinions awful or merely preaching to the choir. I also dislike how he came up in the business, I can't stand how he looks or his voice, his sense of humor generally sucks, and while I'm not sure whether or not I've really seen the arrogance gimmick or just his neckbeard gimmick, I don't like it either way.

And given that you admit that he relies on gimmicks -- something I thought you disliked -- I'm honestly not sure what you see in him.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's like getting pissed off at RedLetterMedia because Mike made the Plinkett persona a deranged misogynist serial killer.

Hardly the problem with RLM.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Or like liberals getting annoyed at Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report when his entire gimmick was essentially mocking the personality he was portraying.

I'm not sure if that ever really happened, other than the Suey Park stuff where he was in the wrong anyway (and bear in mind that I dislike Suey Park and her ilk).

The Wave Master posted...

Marvel finally dod the right thing and reinstated James Gunn back as the Writer/Director of GOTG 3.

lolwut? The right thing would have either been to keep him fired to protect his image or to have stood by him all along. This is just the shitty politically expedient thing, where they fired him to acknowledge outrage then waited for things to cool down before bringing him back.

The Wave Master posted...

Anyway he is back on GOTG 3, and hopefully no more crazy Tweets come up to hurt his projects.

Tweets? Forget tweets. Even if he did molest a kid, his fans would still support him 110% and Disney would want him for his money-making potential.
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I wish this update was good news, but sadly it is not. My older brother, who I referred to on this site as "Uzi" is near death. His septic shock has spread all over his body to his vital organs, and he is asleep and will never wake up. He isn't dead as of this post, but he has been unresponsive for a solid week now, and we have signed the DNR and removed his feeding and breathing tubes. He will ultimately pass away within the next 72 hours.

His real name is Christopher or Chris.

He is my favorite brother.

I know we aren't suppose to have favorite siblings, but he's mine. Oreon and I are too much alike to be compatible, and my oldest brother Speedy is too far away, Indiana, and much older 13 years, to be considered for my favorite. My sister is too deeply religious, and thus crazy for us to get along.

Which leaves Chris, because while his mindset and temperament are any different from mone he is always the kind of quiet spoken decent human being that I always wanted to be. Even his perfect teeth got to me as a kid. He took care of all of us when my father went to prison. He was just there, and now he isn't.

His name is Christopher Lee Toliver, and he is my brother, part father, and I guess my hero.

And yes, he was named after the actor.
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Geez, sorry to hear that.

I guess I'm probably missing some backstory, but is there some reason that your family seems to be in poor health? I thought you were still on the younger side.
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Damn, Wave. :-( I'm sorry, man.
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My condolences, Wave. That's horrible.
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Ouch. Sorry to hear that Wave.

Just finished the second book of the John Dies at the End Trilogy...much better writing than book one. Book 3 is definitely in the queue.

I refuse to accept Molly is dead. She's already died twice by my count and still shows up later because reasons.

I guess after this, I'm sort of obligated to actually get through Odd Thomas since the two seem to come from the same general place.

I...I have a hard time with Dean Koontz. He just...takes forever to get to the point of every paragraph. He's like the directors cut of Steven King's The Stand meets Charles Dickens. I appreciate his attention to detail, but I don't have to smell every leather jacket I walk past and know if they drink coffee or tea to get shadow things bad.
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

I guess after this, I'm sort of obligated to actually get through Odd Thomas since the two seem to come from the same general place.

While I'm not a fan of the series and have no interest in reading the books, I kinda wish they had continued with the films since the first one wasn't terrible (bad, yes, but still entertaining) and I became somewhat invested in the story. I guess I can just wikiwalk the rest, though.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

I...I have a hard time with Dean Koontz. He just...takes forever to get to the point of every paragraph. He's like the directors cut of Steven King's The Stand meets Charles Dickens. I appreciate his attention to detail, but I don't have to smell every leather jacket I walk past and know if they drink coffee or tea to get shadow things bad.

To the best of my awareness, I have yet to read a Dean Koontz novel although I own several at this point, including Phantoms which I picked up after seeing the movie.
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Zeus posted...

While I'm not a fan of the series and have no interest in reading the books, I kinda wish they had continued with the films since the first one wasn't terrible (bad, yes, but still entertaining) and I became somewhat invested in the story. I guess I can just wikiwalk the rest, though.

To be fair, I think a great many of us would sit through 3 hours of Addison Timlin reading a dictionary.
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My brother finally passed away last night. It just looked like he was sleeping, but he always snored so a part of me knew he was really gone.

I loved him and he will be missed.
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awww. I'm sorry for your loss :C
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My condolences to you and yours Wave.
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Early into book 3 of John Dies at the End, there is a throwaway reference to a Bible verse...out of morbid curiousity, I looked it up and was not disappointed...

https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/23-20.htm
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Let's talk about "Stadia." The new cholesterol drug from big pharma, I mean the new streaming service from Google.

It is twice as powerful as the ps4 and Xbox one combined, it can stream games seamlessly to your television in full 1080p, it can leap tall buildings in a single bound. It can lower your chance of a heart attack, and help you quit smoking, if you want...

The one catch is you need future internet speeds for it to work perfectly. We are talking 300mps download and probably 100 up, stable for it to be useful. Yeah, I'm going to get those speeds in the year 2525. I'm struggling to get a solid 50mps right now.

Good luck Google.
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I imagine that will do better in places where Google Fiber is available, which is limited already, but even that won't be great. It seems like Google is putting the cart before the horse here.
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Epic can have all the triple-A exclusives they want. I don't play those, anyway. *shrugs* Steam has the back catalogue of things I like to play.
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If any company but Google were behind the Stadia I'd expect it to go the way of the Ouya but I think the criticisms levied so far are also completely valid. So much of this country is still looking at coax or even copper for the last mile so this might be a case of Google's bubble biting it in the ass. Whatever happened to Google Glass?
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

If any company but Google were behind the Stadia I'd expect it to go the way of the Ouya but I think the criticisms levied so far are also completely valid. So much of this country is still looking at coax or even copper for the last mile so this might be a case of Google's bubble biting it in the ass. Whatever happened to Google Glass?

It's so far been deemed too imperfect and not worthy of general release release, and is still being tested in what is now a second iteration. So I guess they scratched the first one.
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I believe most of us hate our existing ISP's.

If Google wanted to make more profit they would bring Google fiber to smaller cities and more rural communities. Then Stadia could really flourish because of the synergy with the two products.
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The Wave Master posted...

I believe most of us hate our existing ISP's.

If Google wanted to make more profit they would bring Google fiber to smaller cities and more rural communities. Then Stadia could really flourish because of the synergy with the two products.

The problem isn't so much what Google wants to do but what they can negotiate in various areas. Spectrum and Comcast are blocking most areas still, holding people hostage with their own "deals."
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Entity13 posted...

The Wave Master posted...

I believe most of us hate our existing ISP's.

If Google wanted to make more profit they would bring Google fiber to smaller cities and more rural communities. Then Stadia could really flourish because of the synergy with the two products.

The problem isn't so much what Google wants to do but what they can negotiate in various areas. Spectrum and Comcast are blocking most areas still, holding people hostage with their own "deals."

Same with ATT. And if you dont like it you hate capitalism or whatever bullshit their supporters/stockholders/legislators spew.

Just finished "What the hell did I just read", the third book of Davin Wong's John and Dave trilogy and the title...is a pretty accurate synopsis of the book in a nutshell. I loved it. By far the best of all 4 of his books. It's absurd, and I love it. I put the series on par with the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, and I don't say that lightly. It's one hell of a trip. Ignore the John Dies at the End movie, read the books, you'll not be let down if weird is your thing.

Guess it's time to buckle down and get through the Odd Thomas series now...
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So the FFXIV Fanfest in Tokyo kicked off with a stage event to talk about the coming expansion. Some things to note:

- Dancer was indeed confirmed as a job for the game, with chakrams (and similar throwing weapons) as their weapon of choice. Fine, but then DNC will be a supportive ranged DPS instead of a healer, like hope predicted and wanted. The healers in the community are displeased. We are getting a new tank in the form of Gunbreaker (gunblades, lots of loathing from me).
- As (all female) Vierra were revealed as a playable race in the past, we're not getting a male Vierra. Instead FFXIV is getting an all-male lion race called the Hrothgar in the Prime (seventh) world, and Ronso in the First world. The RPers are mining away at their own salt.
- My prediction was correct that the main story will have us hoping to other dimensions. In-lore, there are thirteen worlds; seventh being Prime where the game's events have happened more the most part, the Void (thirteenth) where the Light is nowhere to be found and the Voidspawn dwell (we visited the World of Darkness in a 24man raid four years ago), and the First is a world being consumed by the Light. In the upcoming expansion we'll be heading to First to help restore the balance there... when we're allegedly going to also be finishing off the Garland Empire in Prime. This is also in line with the coming feature to visit other worlds on the same data center, so I imagine a tie-in between feature and lore, and have thought as much since the new system was announced months ago.
- The races in Prime have alternate names in First. The ever-annoying Lalafells of the main game are the Dwarves of First, they all wear beard-like neckerchiefs, and they have a village wear the only way you can get inside as a player is if you're a Lalafell. Cue the producer's sales pitch for Fantasias (body change potions), and me saying I might sooner step on said houses or set them on fire.
- The cat folk in First are rich and fat, and squandering their livelihoods in the face of the end of the world. I play a cat girl from Prime, and wouldn't doubt if I was both richer than them and way more active. <_<;
- The SE CEO and FF Brand Manager both came on stage, and my goodness the brand manager talks loud and is full of energy, unlike the majority of the series.
- Nomura, yes THAT Nomura, will be in charge of Eden, the 8-man raid series this expansion. So it looks like he's working on that instead of focusing on the ill-fated FFVII Remake. (For those who don't know, Yoko Taro will be doing the 24-man raid trilogy, but this was announced in a prior fanfest)
- "We have so much more we want to cover, but we're out of time on the keynotes." Yea... The keynote stage event started 15 minutes late, and was scheduled for an hour and a half.
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Coulda sworn I posted it recently, but finally did the Goron bullshit in BotW. Apparently if you just buy a fireproof potion, the whole Fireproof Lizard roundup thing is a lot easier because you can just go to that Southern Mine (assuming you know to find it -- a lot of the things in the game really make you think you need an item, etc, to proceed, but you actually don't. It's kinda annoying... by which I mean really annoying).

I also had the bad fortune of first encountering the NPC that gives that quest *outside* the mine -- iirc he was on that path when you first go into the canyon or whatever -- so I both thought you were supposed to collect the lizards earlier on and regroup with him in that same vicinity but nope, really gotta go to the mine. Not sure if it was a glitch or what.

The other Goron stuff was pretty straightforward. The quest/miniquest to gain access to the divine beast was completely without issue (unlike some of the *other* miniquests) and then the divine beast itself was relatively simple to figure out compared to the other three. The *only* thing that threw me for a little bit was having to light that torch at the top to release the ball. Granted, Fireblight Ganon -- who was absurdly easy for the most part -- took a while to figure out one of his gimmicks where I tried using other things before realizing I was meant to deflect that fireball with my shield -- among other things I tried was reflecting with my sword, which was how it *used* to be done in other games
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I'm having fun designing a batch of Undead to challenge my problem D&D player. You can't beat me by memorizing the Monster Manual, dude.

Entity13 posted...

Nomura, yes THAT Nomura, will be in charge of Eden, the 8-man raid series this expansion.

*watches the raid series get delayed to 2024*
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I'm about a third of the way into Odd Thomas, and I can't stress enough how much Koontz's writing style irritates the hell out of me. I've committed to the series and all, but JFC I don't need to know what every person in a hundred yard radius is wearing and what they smelled like. I don't need a breakdown of every plant and insect in the environment.

I get that he likes establishing a scene. Every scene. Like it's a script treatment for a photoshoot. But I wish the man would actually get around to telling the fucking story.

I'm half tempted to go back after I've finished the first book and red pen the entire thing for shits and giggles to distill it down to the narrative story-wise and see how short I can make the novel without his penchant for chewing every scene for everything it's worth.

To put it in video game terms if you've never read Koontz, imagine the first DMC game, and make every single fight an 8 to 20 stage QuickTime event. That's what reading this book is like. On some level I can appreciate his attention to detail, but I wish he'd tell the story instead of describing every minute detail of it in grueling detail.

He would have been an amazing biography writer, but applying the same style to a work of fiction is obnoxious on many levels. I mean I get it, but I'd rather advance the plot than thread count the garments of every guest at a dinner party.

That being said, he certainly has a cadence I can't compare to any other author even if his technique invokes Dickens, but Dickens had the excuse of being paid by the word, Koontz doesn't really have that same excuse.

Koontz would tell a great story, but he can't seem to stop himself from describing the story instead.
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

I'm about a third of the way into Odd Thomas, and I can't stress enough how much Koontz's writing style irritates the hell out of me. I've committed to the series and all, but JFC I don't need to know what every person in a hundred yard radius is wearing and what they smelled like. I don't need a breakdown of every plant and insect in the environment.

I get that he likes establishing a scene. Every scene. Like it's a script treatment for a photoshoot. But I wish the man would actually get around to telling the fucking story.

I'm half tempted to go back after I've finished the first book and red pen the entire thing for shits and giggles to distill it down to the narrative story-wise and see how short I can make the novel without his penchant for chewing every scene for everything it's worth.

To put it in video game terms if you've never read Koontz, imagine the first DMC game, and make every single fight an 8 to 20 stage QuickTime event. That's what reading this book is like. On some level I can appreciate his attention to detail, but I wish he'd tell the story instead of describing every minute detail of it in grueling detail.

He would have been an amazing biography writer, but applying the same style to a work of fiction is obnoxious on many levels. I mean I get it, but I'd rather advance the plot than thread count the garments of every guest at a dinner party.

That being said, he certainly has a cadence I can't compare to any other author even if his technique invokes Dickens, but Dickens had the excuse of being paid by the word, Koontz doesn't really have that same excuse.

Koontz would tell a great story, but he can't seem to stop himself from describing the story instead.

I'm curious if you'd enjoy Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles. The books are quite detailed and the world stage is set, but sometimes, the chapters and pages are just a bit much. Still very addicting, like a triple-decker toasted bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sandwich. Super delicious, but just takes a while to get your mouth around and often needs some dissecting with a fork and knife.

WastelandCowboy posted...

WhiskeyDisk posted...

I'm about a third of the way into Odd Thomas, and I can't stress enough how much Koontz's writing style irritates the hell out of me. I've committed to the series and all, but JFC I don't need to know what every person in a hundred yard radius is wearing and what they smelled like. I don't need a breakdown of every plant and insect in the environment.

I get that he likes establishing a scene. Every scene. Like it's a script treatment for a photoshoot. But I wish the man would actually get around to telling the fucking story.

I'm half tempted to go back after I've finished the first book and red pen the entire thing for shits and giggles to distill it down to the narrative story-wise and see how short I can make the novel without his penchant for chewing every scene for everything it's worth.

To put it in video game terms if you've never read Koontz, imagine the first DMC game, and make every single fight an 8 to 20 stage QuickTime event. That's what reading this book is like. On some level I can appreciate his attention to detail, but I wish he'd tell the story instead of describing every minute detail of it in grueling detail.

He would have been an amazing biography writer, but applying the same style to a work of fiction is obnoxious on many levels. I mean I get it, but I'd rather advance the plot than thread count the garments of every guest at a dinner party.

That being said, he certainly has a cadence I can't compare to any other author even if his technique invokes Dickens, but Dickens had the excuse of being paid by the word, Koontz doesn't really have that same excuse.

Koontz would tell a great story, but he can't seem to stop himself from describing the story instead.

I'm curious if you'd enjoy Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles. The books are quite detailed and the world stage is set, but sometimes, the chapters and pages are just a bit much. Still very addicting, like a triple-decker toasted bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sandwich. Super delicious, but just takes a while to get your mouth around and often needs some dissecting with a fork and knife.

I'll consider it, but I'm already hell bent on slogging thru the Odd Thomas books, and at the very least, I'm going to need to finish something else on my Kindle as a pallette cleanser before reading what you're already telling me is going to be an equally as frustrating author.

A third of the way into Odd Thomas and I swear I can cut this book down to 15 or 20 pages, and it's still only about 6 hours short of midnight on the first day of the story. Admittedly, there is a certain staccato or cadence to his prose that I have difficulty in comparing to another author, but still, I don't need a weather report everytime he steps through a doorway.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion drops on Netflix Jume 21, the last day of spring.

It's my favorite anime of all time.

Yes, I'm not naive enough to know that the show is not without a **** ton of problems, but I like the characters, (hell even Shinji) and the plot, even when it fails to make sense, and the music is great as well. I just enjoy the show.
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