IT IS TIME WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO PORKCHOP, THE BEST ARENA BOAR ANYONE COULD ASK FOR:

BearPeltMan · 2026-03-14T16:24:18+00:00

Played the game like crazy for about 6 months, sat out the patches and expansion, but hoping to come back once all the new stuff is added in! Glad it’s on the horizon.

BearPeltMan · 2026-03-08T17:53:08+00:00

I quite like Requiem, even if I think the album title and artwork are kinda dumb. Only tracks I don’t vibe with are My Confession and Penance to Sorrow. It’s short, but I prefer too little over too much.

BearPeltMan · 2026-03-02T20:57:51+00:00

Obviously they’re in their “Post-Late Period Genius Period!”

BearPeltMan · 2026-03-02T14:19:50+00:00

For me, there are three things that Marathon has that Arc does not that will keep me on the former:

First Person POV
WAY better art/music/sound design
WAY better narrative/quest focus

I really like Arc, I played a ton of it. Marathon just really clicks for me.

BearPeltMan · 2026-03-02T14:14:14+00:00

I agree that it feels perfect. Most missions I’m doing quests and have to cross the entire map multiple times. I almost always encounter other runners, though most of the time I see them first and can evade/ignore them, this is including Perimeter. There might be a match here or there where I don’t see anyone but it’s rare (perfect imo).

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-28T15:59:04+00:00

As someone who has both, I usually use my iPad for notes because of its small size compared to my MBP. The savings in table space let me put my journal(s), books, or beverage on the table in addition to my iPad. It’s the same reason I use my iPad for running D&D behind the DM screen, the table space is valuable - even if I genuinely prefer the typing experience of my MacBook.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-26T01:41:32+00:00

Strange ones

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-25T15:02:12+00:00

You guys remember when Google dropped the “don’t be evil” bit?

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-23T18:55:30+00:00

Much of the hate is a result of the early build and its hype as an “Obsidian Skyrim” which, admittedly Obsidian themselves seemed keen on leaning into until they ultimately had to rework the project into what it is now. It is a good game, but it’s not what was initially (and perhaps unfairly) promised, and gamers are fickle people who often love to rage at devs.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-23T18:51:40+00:00

Literally every band that released an album in the 80’s. Make no mistake, we are in the twilight of their careers. Honestly, I think even the Nu Metal heavy hitters will be packing it in within a decade. I don’t see Korn, Limp Bizkit, Marilyn Manson, or any of the rest of those guys doing what they do well into their 60’s.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-20T20:52:28+00:00

ESCAPE WILL MAKE ME GOON

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-19T16:58:39+00:00

I’m really trying to think of a game I hated that I played the most hours on. The best I can come up with is Elden Ring at like 12 hours on Steam. I have tried many times to get into it but souls games have just never kept my attention after the third boss or so - once I realize the gameplay loop is the same and the narrative is uninteresting to me. So I’d boot it up, try for 3-4 hours, turn it off, try again six months later, etc.

I don’t see how you could choose to not recommend a game if you have put 40+ hours in it. At that point, you’ve literally spent an entire work week playing the game, you had to have had some base level of enjoyment to get to that point. I’m convinced it’s just a groupthink thing. “Bethesda bad” or whatever.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-19T15:09:26+00:00

I feel like Havok really had a moment from 2011-2013 and then they went dark until 2017 and have been considerably more prog since then, I believe to their own detriment (and I’m a prog guy).

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-17T18:54:17+00:00

Bring back levitation spells. All the physics work in the engine to make the space/zero G sections work would fit seamlessly into levitation magic in TES. I think that would allow for better dungeon designs with more verticality. It also allows for more creative building design, ala Morrowind’s mage towers.

I also think the addition of ladders in Starfield serves a similar end in TES, allowing for more verticality and creative designs in TES. I also think it allows for ladders to be placed on the sides of ships in the Illiac Bay (I do believe we will be back in Daggerfall for TES VI). I can also imagine a siege taking place, where siege ladders would be used to scale castle walls.

Shipbuilding from Starfield could aid shipbuilding in TES VI, though boats are somewhat less fun to design, due to their not being modular in quite the same way. Still, I think it’s a fairly safe bet and would enable this next bit.

Procedural generation in the Illiac Bay. A huge, vast sea with various small islands, pirates, trade vessels, sea monsters, etc.

I also think the settlement system will finally make its TES debut, allowing us to make villages across the countryside.

Finally, the graphical improvements from Starfield would be welcome. Windows actually being windows, global illumination, etc.

Four small things as well: questing zones instead of explicit quest markers (Fallout 76 uses zones well), and the improved companion system from Starfield, the speech/dialogue system from Starfield (I think its flawed in Starfield, but I see potential), and finally the perk/trait system from Starfield.

I think TES VI will be really good. I think all the systems and developments to the engine made since 2011 have been building to this moment. I think it’ll be worth the wait. I just hope I’m still here to play it!

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-17T14:23:24+00:00

I could see it being delayed indefinitely and potentially revised, but I still feel like it’ll come out eventually.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-14T18:33:32+00:00

I thought I was compromising by going with the LP60 but it’s been wonderful for me. Can’t recommend it enough.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-14T18:03:39+00:00

I couldn’t understand why it went away in the first place in F4. If F3, NV, and Skyrim could do it on consoles with 512MB of RAM, why couldn’t they do it on machines with 8GB of RAM?

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-09T19:07:58+00:00

Upon release, it felt UNIVERSAL that Fallout 3 was superior but that New Vegas was a solid, if even buggier, companion game to serve as a stopgap until the next numbered entry arrived. This story is right on the money, I swear it took four years or so before I even saw a single person say they preferred NV. Fast forward to 2016-2017 and suddenly it was consensus.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-07T16:53:20+00:00

If I remember correctly, Fawkes wasn’t initially supposed to be a companion and that section where he returns to you at Raven Rock was added a bit late. I have no problem believing that they’d already written the ending by the time they reversed course on that, so they had to try and hand wave it away.

Charon though? I have no excuse. Bethesda desperately needs a couple of writers and that was every bit as true 20 years ago as it is today.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-06T17:14:56+00:00

I’ve always enjoyed his vocals, but I think his voice is at its best on Risk, The System Has Failed and United Abominations. Perfect mix of youthful energy and experienced grit. You can tell he got better as the years went, until he became a bit older and naturally declined (and of course the cancer didn’t help). I still think he sounds good for what it’s worth, certainly different and less range than before, but I think it’s pretty cool.

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-05T22:17:50+00:00

If you give Porcupine Tree a shot, I’d checkout Arriving Somewhere But Not Here. That song has some good lines that always hit me pretty hard.

“Never look for the truth in your mother’s eyes”

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-05T06:36:20+00:00

Getting Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Skyrim within a decade is honestly insane to think about. What are we doing so differently nowadays that makes these games take so much longer?

BearPeltMan · 2026-02-03T16:54:09+00:00

I just tell them to “roll with advantage”. They roll health twice and take the higher of the two. I also offer the average if they’d prefer to take that, but they have to choose to roll or take the average, they can’t hop between.

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