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Galaxy S10 til the wheels come off
  • It's not like it was a mutually exclusive option. I have an S9 and I swamp between wireless and wired audio all the time depending on the setting. These newer phones have only one option. Bluetooth does not work well everywhere. Frankly forcing more things into the same radio frequency just makes it worse.

  • This pisses me off so much
  • You probably meant motorcycle helmets My mind immediately went to Avengers Endgame. Everyone removing their helmet everytime they had anything to say... Was an awful direction

  • You can fit two cars there
  • Many of my family is in this. They keep getting bigger vehicles because they get the sense of safety. They cannot grasp how bad that mentality is and how wrong they are. And with bigger vehicles, it means that much less room for error too. And most people suck at driving. Not all the time, but that one time you make a mistake (as we all do) could be a big one in an oversized vehicle.

  • What's the most stupid trend (or fad) you participated in yourself?
  • There's a "modern" version of the Atkins diet, the keto diet. Same rules as far as I can tell, just rebranded. I went nuts. I couldn't stop thinking about bread. Sound of it, smell of it, taste of it... It haunted me day and night. I'd often find myself looking up bread maker reviews, comparing different bread makers on Amazon... Don't remember what I had when I finally gave up, wasn't nearly as awesome what you did. But I can tell you I did not buy a bread maker afterwards.

  • What shenanigans have you gotten up to in your play throughs?
  • I collect ever explosive I find along the way. At this point it's more about "How much can the game engine and my PC handle...". Even got a bunch of hirelings and used the vendor reset on level up to really milk some of the vendors. (This is also a great way to get some of those nastier fights in honor mode completed too...)

    Just to see what would happen, in one of my evil runs, Arabella dies and for some extra spicy evil, I brought her dead body to her parents and dropped it in front of them. To my surprise... they react.

    One play through I went minion master. ALL THE MINIONS. Terrible idea... each turn takes 5 years and things get clogged up real quick.

  • What is your BG3 unpopular opinion?
  • I have not found a way yet to play EA again. I've legit e-mailed Larian asking for it too.

    I can only guess as to why there was such a drastic change. Because one day (in EA) I'm playing the last EA patched version and the following day on release... a bunch of stuff blinked out of existence. My guess, is they ran out of time. Various zones (like Upper Baldur’s Gate) are just removed (said zone is just a stage now). Various story lines are incomplete. There's story threads that stop cold (there's supposed to be more Hags if the various letters/notes/and NPC conversations are to be believed). The whole end sequence were the capture dragon shows up... how they got that dragon is never shown... etc. So, that's my guess, they had more ambition than time.

    Oh another idea that wasn't completed. Karlach (the last character added/worked on) is the only origin character you play that you can hear the inner thoughts/monolog. Everyone else is silent.

  • What is your BG3 unpopular opinion?
  • tl;dr, the story and motivation for everything was far more fleshed out

    Here's just some of the things. Not even going into mechanics that are removed (like Wyll's eye). Or my personal opinion some of their starting looks were a bit more interesting/better (you get a bit of an idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MeutkQFliM or from the CohhCarnage videos I link later)

    There used to be way more dialog options for one. Your class/subclass/god/etc actually got reflected in more options. There was a great video of a cleric giving some unhinged prayer to the tiefling that opens the gate. It's not major, but it adds to a lot to the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KameRUsFv8Y (with all the BG3 videos now, it's harder to find some of the classics). Also, Shadowheart had a much more interesting conversation if you were also a cleric if you were a Cleric of Shar too.

    The camp was way more interesting. There's a ton of story ripped out of the game from the camps. This, was the thing that hooked me in EA. Daisy (the in-game code name for what would be replaced by your dream visitor) would entice you with power, encourage you to use the illithid powers. And when you finally do, and the narrator says "you've lost something you can never get back" probably makes more sense now. Once you did that, you got a class specific illithid power. There was no weird illithid skill tree, it was based around how often you used the powers. But going back to the camp, the companions would comment more about each other. Shadowheart and Lae'Zel's hatred for each other was shown way better, even commenting if you talked to one or the other first. Here's a couple of examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYRe2jHhBRc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw5q6u_iMN0 but overall, the camp at the end of the day was 1000x more interesting and really fleshed out the characters more and I'd say in important ways.

    I'd even say the starting area (Nautiloid) was better. The current one is sufficient I guess. But the original showed you more about the fight the Illithids have with the Gith, you got to see more of the ship, what the Illithid did to people, what it meant to become a thrall (to really sell it that this is a terrifying process). But it showed you a few more mechanics too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC-GWA_Yj2c starts at EP2, but you'll want to go to EP 3 as well. But you can see the differences.

    Tav used to talk.

    For me, the story around "Daisy" was way more compelling. The song "Down by the river" is in reference to these encounters. Here's a video on that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTw_9vM5LgA

    ... So these are just some of the things, lol. There's more like when you got down to the Underdark and some serious changes that happened there. And I haven't even touched on the stuff that never made it in (like the extra companion that was to be a werewolf... or the original Nightsong) (you can see some of it cataloged here https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Cut_and_unimplemented_content ) and I'm fairly certain all the companions were originally supposed to show up in Act 1 instead of 1, 2, and 3. There's a lot of dialog from characters for places they're not "supposed to be" like the eagles (can't find video, but its out there). But none of that is EA stuff, just cut stuff... but if the game had baked longer.... I'm just saying... it might not have been cut sutff.

  • which one do you prefer? having kids or no kids? and why??
  • I always wanted children. Damn near every major life choice has been fueled by that. Took a job I knew I wouldn't be happy at, but could be successful at to provide a better life. Yhe cars I've bought the safety rating for kids was to priority followed by reliability. The house I bought is within walking distance of every grade school, and the basement could easily be setup for a hangout spot for the teen years, oh and a good sized backyard for playing. One of the reasons I stayed at this job is I'm at max PTO and they actually offer paternity leave! I always make mental notes of fun places for kids so I could take them. When they were younger, and I was still considered cool, my niece and nephew wanted to move in with me 😆.

    Just never met the right lady.

  • New York’s Fat Beach Day gives plus-size people a space to be themselves
  • I don't really want to get into it, but, we have campaigns that actively target people who smoke and/or drink. Two other things that people can indulge in that can and will eventually lead to negative health effects and kill you, much like overeating will.

  • xkcd #2948: Electric vs Gas
  • That's really the only thing holding EV's back. If we can get away from lithium batteries and get something like graphene batteries (one can dream), range, recharge, etc. everything immediately get's better.
    But electric engines are far superior.

  • How many people actually want fully on-site IT jobs?
  • My job I'm classified as remote. And I like it that way. Recently they have decided that a bunch of people even if remote will now have to come on site at least hybrid. For "collaboration". I even noted that in my employment contract I had in there that I was to work from home, to which HR said that they really don't care.

    My last year-end review was stellar. Top marks, praises from multiple departments, even got a promotion.

    But I happen to live to close to a location, so there's 'simply nothing that can be done'. So I've already started looking for different work.

  • If you were offered knowledge of exactly when and how you'll die, would you take it? Why or why not?
  • I would. I could better plan out my life if I knew when and why it would end. If it comes back and says oh you dying 3 years from a brain aneurysm, I can't be stopped... Then why would I be trying to plan out for retirement? I can take everything I have and live happy for 3 years. Without knowing I feel like my last thoughts would be 'fuck, I wasted my life'

  • Stonehenge sprayed with paint by environmental protesters
  • When you attack Stonehenge I'm not listening to what your ideology is. Because all I see is you being a jackass. Attacking works of arts or in this case Stonehenge to me looks like a child in a restaurant yelling and screaming that they want a cookie. I'm not going to give in to the demands of the child just because they're loud. You'll notice I don't talk about the ideologies, I talk about their actions, so it didn't work.

  • What is your BG3 unpopular opinion?
    1. The original vision for the game would have been better. EA was more interesting.

    2. Pacing and toes of gear is done poorly. There's swords for days but only 2 interesting tridents, war picks, or hand axe for example. There's barely any usable druid gear (anything that actually matters if you wild shape). And the most useful stuff for monks is found only in act 3.

    3. A lot of people are nitpicky only because it won so many awards and it's not their own perfect game (if such a thing exists).

    I still give this game a 10/10 for what it is. Despite knowing if it baked another year it might have been so much more.

  • What popular product do you think is modern day snakeoil?
  • I really like the vibram shoes. They were fine for running, granted you could also get running shoes. But they also work very well for squats and deadlifts. And I do make proper lifting shoes too. But that's already too many pairs of shoes to bring to the gym for me.

  • Handbreak encoding help

    This might not be the best place for this question but I honestly can't think of another place, but if you know of one please let me know. But I figured someone here might have the experience I'm looking for.

    I own the discs for various Star Trek series and everything Stargate. What I'm trying to do is use handbrake to encode them to put them on Plex. But everything I try, it just looks worse. Is there a repository of like recommended settings for various media?

    15
    My love letter to Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian Studios

    I'll try to keep this short, sweet, and to the point.

    I, like so many of you, love this game. Possibly more than we should. But for me, before this game, I had truly lost most of my interest in video games as a whole. Every year, various problems get worse and 2023 was the final straw for me. Ever increasing greed (Blizzard, Unity, EA, just every studio really). To say they came out in a lazy, incomplete, greedy state undersells it I feel. I truly feel we're still on the brink of another video game crash. Because the crash wasn't just one game (E.T.) but was the general greed and terrible quality of the industry back then. Pushing new products (games, consoles, accessories, etc.) just to push new products with crazy turn around time all in the name of profit. And this year, just stacked with all prior years, I had enough.

    This game is so good in all the right ways. The writing, the acting, the world feels alive. NPCs respond differently based on who you are and what you've done. Even banter between your party. A truly impressive amount of thought put into things allowing you the player to really play however you want. It's not a mad loot carousel because your character power isn't based on gear directly and is tied to the character which allows for far more interesting items. There's no greed either, no stupid 'sEaSoN pAsS', no excel spreadsheets worth of 'versions', no subscription, no shop using real money for gear/cosmetics, no 'planned DLC' that's obviously content they cut out in order to sell back to the consumer. Heck, this game supports multiplayer... REAL multiplayer in that I don't believe you ever actually need a dedicated server. I believe you can do direct remote, split screen co-op, and LAN play... what other game in the last decade does that?

    It reminds me of how games used to be before Bethesda broke the seal with horse armor.

    BG3 is just a complete, high quality game, for gamers. It feels like it was made with love, care, and respect. And playing the game brings me joy.

    19
    [SPOILER] Where to find EA information

    Are there any good collections anyone might be aware of, for EA information or datamined information.

    I'm curious to see what ideas got scrapped and how things changed. I know of a few things, like a little on Daisy. How certain abilities were actually going to be handed out.

    But places like Grymforge really elude to something... there's a bunch of stuff hints that something might be near. From whatever caused some of the destruction you see. Because I refuse to believe it's all a vague reference to Yurgir.

    And then there's some MTG pictures I saw, that list someone has potentially the main villain, in the very least a bad guy, and in the current game plays a very different roll.

    Edit: Added spoiler tag just in case

    0
    Only 'complaint' with BG3

    So, after playing many hours and just recently starting Act 3, there's been one thing that's been bugging me and I finally have it sorted out.

    The whole "rarity" attached to gear is really dumb and misleading.

    It's using the overly used grey/green/blue/'purple' coloring and naming that's common and many other RPGs. But in those games, it's somewhat reflective of rarity... which is what it's described as in BG3, the rarity of an item. But it's a lie.

    Example Periapt of Wound Closure is an item that's sold by a vendor. How is it rare? As far as I can tell, there's just one in the game. But every named item I have, there's just one in existence.

    I think labeling things as common/uncommon/rare/ etc. is wrong and thus makes people think certain items are better simply based on the 'color' of the gear instead of considering what the gear does. I've already had this conversation with multiple friends who absolutely think they're going to give a "stat stick" to their caster, because they're so used to Blizzard's way of thinking. Or that they 'needed' new gear because they leveled up and now must replace gear asap (even in Act 1). The fact I showed videos of some guy soloing the game, or beating the game as lvl 1s, or a video of some guy causing havoc by chucking potatoes and only potatoes... falls on deaf ears.

    I think if the naming was swapped from 'rarity of item' to 'quality of enchantment' it would make more sense, but I still think it's not necessary. Or if it was standardized to like normal gear (nothing special) remains grey, gear that's just slightly enchanted (like +1 Sword) is green, and all unique named items are blue. Since you certainly can get lots of grey, fewer greens, and only one named. But that's just an idea.

    4
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)CA
    CaptPretentious @lemmy.world
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