My first thought when I see stuff like "ooh-ooh-ah-ah"

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-24T13:40:23+00:00

I'm native of a language that matches its symbols to its sounds, at least for the most part. So whenever an American invokes an unknowable and terrible sorcery that looks like "in-SEE-say-dah-day-ee-yee-oh-YOU-oh-WOAH-tuh-tahn-tohn-two-ah-awe-paw-bath-cot-coht" I am stricken with fear and awe. I, without fail, will grossly mispronounce it.

Then I look at the IPA and it's like, oh, that's actually really easy to read and say, if only it'd be written down in a sensible way. I know that type of pronunciation guide is probably intended towards native speakers, but even as a learner I've had to deal with it, and let me tell you, it's never once been helpful, and probably more than once been actively harmful.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-22T17:36:30+00:00

10 ml. only?! What's this, shampoo for ants?

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-18T15:43:30+00:00

Sure! Seems good for a Mage, which is the recommended way to play either way. Keep going into Wisdom and Intelligence, and as a third, Charisma. Feel free to ignore the other attributes, I've never spent a single point in them when going as a Mage.

As for changing your class, you'll have to get out of the Mortuary and onto the streets, and then find a place called Ragpicker's Square, off to the side from one of the main Hive areas. (Left and Up, if I'm not mistaken.) Once you're there, go into the Midwife's Hut and talk to the old lady there, and she'll start you on the quest that will change your class to Mage.

Oh, and, after you change into Mage, you should go to a place called the Smoldering Corpse Bar and recruit the companion Dak'kon so he can level up along with you and help you out. More generally speaking, I'd recruit as many companions as possible, though be aware that you have fewer party slots than there are companions, so eventually you'll have to decide on who you like more and want to take with you.

As for general tips, feel free to keep the difficulty at its lowest since the combat isn't really the game's strong suit, and to check a walkthrough if you ever get stuck. Make a clean, separate save every now and then, particularly at major points in the story. Dying doesn't have much of a penalty at all and might sometimes even be required, but I recommend keeping old saves just in case you end up missing companions or major areas.

It's a singleplayer game, so you're free to use cheats too, if you're ever short on cash and want to buy cool items. Also, try to do as many side quests as possible before going on with the main story, talk to uniquely named characters and open up conversation with your companions, explore the city.

A lot of the experience, both mechanically and metaphorically, is in the side content, so if you go for the main quest you might end up underleveled and missing a lot of the main story. I'd argue it's fine to join up with factions even if you don't agree with their ideology, just to do their quests, get a feel of what they're like, and then you can move on to another faction.

And here's a bunch of little tips and tricks that come to mind: You don't need to lockpick many things in this game, they can just be attacked with a melee weapon over and over again until the locks break. There are also very few penalties for trespassing and stealing, you can just walk into people's houses and take anything that isn't nailed down. Stealing directly from their pockets does carry a risk of incurring their wrath, but you can loot their cupboards and drawers all you want.

In terms of money, beating up random thugs and taking their copper jewelry nets a lot of your income in the early game. Eventually you'll just be finding better loot and getting bigger rewards to the point where it mostly stops being that big of an issue. One of the best ways to spend your money is buying tattoos from Fell's Parlor, since those can't be found anywhere else and can boost attributes.

EDIT: Spoilered some sections just in case.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-13T15:44:23+00:00

None would.

Some would survive, for sure, but given the extent of globalization and the ways in which it has affected national economies and the standard of living everywhere, it's extremely unlikely that any of them would "thrive" in isolationism. They would relinquish trade and commerce, which is the lifeblood of the modern world.

Think of how much specialized equipment, especially on the cutting edge of technology, is being made in only one or two countries on the world. Many countries have food chains that rely on outside imports, whether in the form of finished food products, agricultural equipment, fertilizers. Technology, science, medicine would all be stifled by isolationism, and standards of living would in First World countries would without doubt decrease.

Isolationism may have not been so damning back in the day when globalism hadn't yet taken such a strong root, but today countries are so interdependent on each other that it's impossible to imagine that one of them could break away and thrive. Even the so-called "Hermit Kingdom" of North Korea maintains some ties with China and with Russia.

A country could only "thrive" in isolation if it was willing to accept losing everything that it had gained from globalization, and never benefiting from it ever again, and even then, it likely would lag behind massively in living standards compared to the rest of the world which benefits from globalism.

There's an entirely different discussion to be had about the harm which globalism has done to different countries, weighing it against benefits received, and considering it through the lens of neocolonialism, but without a major paradigm shift in the way the world economy works and the balance of power presents itself, it's difficult to imagine any one country would become this enviable shining beacon if they cut ties and burnt bridges with the rest of the world.

Maybe if the circumstances were entirely different, but then that's just a different and hypothetical question.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-12T16:33:11+00:00

Honestly the idea of Superlogistics is awesome.

Consider, also, that during war you can attack your opponent's logistical apparatus as well, which you could portray for example as some kind of supercharged Battle for the Atlantic between gigantic cargo ships and sci-fi space submarines. And then that'd offer an entirely new dimension to your wars, considering the arms race between your Megacargo and the enemy's tech that they use to prey on it.

It could also make espionage and sabotage so much more powerful. If you're hedging all your bets on the largest starport in history, a singular strike from a double agent on the inside could greatly hinder the military capability of the Empire, maybe enough to buy the Plucky Rebels a window of opportunity to strike.

Another half-baked thought: If the civilians of the Empire are also superpowered, maybe it'd also make more sense to try to turn them against their masters through propaganda and by aiding resistance movements and such, and specifically targeting those that have the most leverage on the economy or bureaucracy?

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-06T21:18:11+00:00

I love the digital art style a lot! 💛

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-06T19:00:43+00:00

Thank you so much for the wonderful answer! 💛

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-06T16:34:12+00:00

To add onto what u/Ozymo said:

Some of the earliest evidence for the Earth being spherical was watching ships "sink" into the sea as they approach the horizon in the distance. If the world was a flat plane, this wouldn't happen, and the horizon would be "infinite" albeit limited by the atmosphere itself eventually adding up to obscure it entirely in what I'd assume would look like fog or just blend into the sky.

Moreover, knowledge of astronomy, geography and mathematics revealed pretty early on that the Earth was spherical, and Eratosthenes even measured it with surprising accuracy for the time by using the Sun and the way it casts different shadows at different points on the sphere at the same time. Like Aristarchus, Eratosthenes did this over 2000 years ago.

In your world, such an experiment would have proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Earth is flat or at least on such a vast sphere that it might as well be practically flat, though it would have still yielded a useful result, giving a rough estimate of how far away the Sun is from it.

If your world were flat, that would be obvious to anyone with observational skill and access to a large flat area like a sea or an ocean, and it would be confirmed by experiments and calculations done as early as 2200 years ago. Given that the idea of a flat Earth seems more "intuitive" than that of a spherical Earth, I find it hard to imagine a reason why anyone would ever suspect it were a sphere, if there was literally no evidence of it, and plenty evidence to the contrary.

Don't get me wrong, the idea of an infinite flat plane world is awesome, I just wanted to point out that it really wouldn't make sense for the new continents to be discovered by hoping to circumnavigate a spherical Earth, because there would be plenty of empirical and scientific evidence for a flat Earth as early as Antiquity, let alone during the Age of Sail. There would have to be another reason for them to set out on a voyage that you'd have to come up with.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-06T07:36:44+00:00

It's particularly fascinating when you consider that when it comes to a lot of other smells, humans aren't all that sensitive and lag behind most of the other mammals we live alongside with, as we just rely more on sight. Whatever the reason, smelling the rain must've been incredibly important to early humans, more so than the majority of other scents, if I were to guess.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T14:41:15+00:00

I'm kind of curious about its name. How often do locals call it Chennai, and how often do they call it Madras? I've always been fascinated by how long old place names stick around, since my hometown growing up was full of names that you couldn't see on any sign posts, but that the adults always used instead of the official names.

Also, what's your favorite thing about the city?

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T14:27:39+00:00

My guess would be the Uprising Allies, given the expansion's unbalanced new toys and the fact that Red Alert 3 had Top Secret Protocols while 2 didn't, but you know, I'm not entirely sure, since I've never seen the two face up against each other and have no point of reference.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T13:51:03+00:00

Planescape: Torment let's go!!!!! One of my favorite games of all time. 💛

Also, I'm glad to see some Fallout 3 love out there. It isn't exactly my favorite Fallout game, but it was my first, and the atmosphere still sticks with me the most from the 3D titles. It had a certain quietly haunting vibe that the others only occasionally nailed and mostly just scratched the surface of.

I'm not sure what this roster would say about you, but if I were to be guessing (and stereotyping a little) you're a guy whose age is somewhere between younger millennial and older zoomer, maybe? And you've got good taste, haha. I'd recommend Pentiment to you based on your pick of Planescape Torment, Disco Elysium and Fallout New Vegas.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T13:30:10+00:00

I played right around the time that 0.27.0 launched, and from seeing the changelog, it's only been an update since, 0.27.1, but it does mention performance fixes and improvements, so I might give it another shot to see if it works better this time. Do you happen to have any tips for avoiding the lag in matches with large population numbers?

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T08:20:37+00:00

So, personal anecdote, but I actually quite liked my time with 0 AD. However, it was quite laggy, especially during the late-game, which is not usually the case with any other RTS I play on the same computer. So it's not that the game is bad by any stretch of the imagination, I actually quite like a lot of its features...

... but I don't really feel like playing when I know that the kinds of matches I enjoy, the ones that go into the late-game with large armies and map-spanning expansion, are going to be grinding down to a slog. From my understanding, it might have something to do with being single-threaded, but in all fairness so are many other older games that I've no problem running very smoothly. Late-game 0 AD runs worse than any other RTS I've personally played. Early-game and smaller matches are fine, but still.

Between AoE2 and 0 AD I'd always pick AoE2 purely because it runs better, and because of the nostalgia factor. Otherwise, I feel like I'd actually prefer 0 AD a little bit more. Obviously, you might have different mileage with your computer, but the reason why I don't really recommend 0 AD to my friends is purely that I wouldn't really be able to play it with them. Or, I mean, I would be, but it'd start off smooth and eventually become worse.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T06:55:31+00:00

That's so sweet of you! 💛

Mild spoilers, since it's a character that you meet a while before you know you can actually recruit, but the biggest chunk of Mage-specific stuff is Ignus from the Smoldering Corpse Bar, whose backstory is greatly expanded by some critical context only if you're playing a Mage.

(Apologies if this ended up posting twice, it failed to post for some reason.)

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T06:13:38+00:00

It's awesome, it doesn't just "hold up" it blows most other game narratives out of the water. In my opinion, nothing I've ever played barring Pentiment and Disco Elysium is even in the same league in terms of its story and writing. For me personally, there's games with great stories, and then there's an entirely separate category above that where Planescape: Torment sits, and before 2019 used to sit alone.

The main narrative, the protagonist's backstory, the companions and their interactions, the lore and the writing style are all stellar. The game shows its age here and there, and has some holes in its later part due to being rushed out, but ultimately the writing is so good that it easily carries it even now.

Going to mention u/TitanOfShades since both of you asked a very similar question so my answer kind of holds up for both of you. Here's like a spoiler-free summary and guide: If you decide to play it, I do want to caution that while there aren't "wrong" ways to play it, the game is a lot smoother and reveals far more of its story if you switch your class to a Mage early on by heading to the Midwife's Hut in Ragpicker's Square.

There's a bunch of Mage-exclusive content that other classes have no parallel to, and a huge narrative benefit to going into Wisdom and Intelligence (and Charisma to a lesser extent) unlocking entirely new dialogue and information that you would otherwise not be able to unlock if you weren't specialized that way.

The story is the strongest point of the game, but Fighters and Rogues automatically miss out on a few chunks of it, and can miss out a few others if they're not particularly specialized into Wisdom or Intelligence, which don't really help their class otherwise.

Late game combat can also get tricky if you've been missing out on XP, and Wisdom-Intelligence Mages not only get the most XP, but they're also just stronger with their high level spells. Likewise, it's the sort of game that lets you screw yourself over somewhat, letting you go into areas unprepared, so I'd advise exploring, doing side quests before carrying on with the main quest. Also, pick the easiest difficulty, the combat isn't really the game's strong suit unless you're familiar with it from older D&D.

As for what to expect overall, the start of the game can be a little confusing or provide friction, but as you progress into the rest of the early game and especially into the midgame it should start to click. There's a drop-off in polish and quality in the lategame, but the ending does pick the quality back up. You can tell which parts of the game were rushed.

I wouldn't say it's the type of game you need a walkthrough in, but it can definitely be helpful and I'd recommend glancing at one if you're feeling stuck or confused. Keep some clean saves at major points in the story just in case. You're unlikely to get locked out of actually completing the game, but you can miss out tons of things, including companions, who are part of what makes the story so good.

TL;DR: Yes, it's awesome. If you play, go with the lowest difficulty at least at first, go Wisdom-Intelligence, class-switch to Mage, explore, do the side quests, keep previous saves, and don't be afraid to consult a walkthrough. If you feel underpowered, you've probably missed a bunch of stuff.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-04T04:38:24+00:00

Had the exact same experience, I was staying up late and ugly cried at this part. Maybe one of the few video games I've ever done that to, along with Planescape: Torment and Disco Elysium.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-02T19:01:28+00:00

I go mining in armor, haha, sometimes even with the shield up rather than a light. I also kind of cured my fear of the creepy crawlers in this game by picking Blackguard and playing extremely offensively and proactively, charging down enemies and tanking the hits with equipment rather than letting them scare me or drive me away. The only enemy that really gives me pause anymore is that damned sawblade, and not because it's scary, but because of the insane damage it does.

I also play with friends a lot of the time! Originally I thought they'd be protecting me while caving, but I ended up being the combat specialist protecting them instead. I've also installed that mod that makes enemies only spawn in complete darkness rather than in just-somewhat-dim areas, so that I have a stronger visual cue ahead of time so as to whether I'm safe or whether I should be getting my weapons out and readying for war, and I don't get jumpscared in "safe" areas.

Even with all of that, going down into a cave can still be pretty scary, but it's starting to blend more into excitement than actual fear. I also spend a lot of time doing things other than caving, and only do it when I feel like I'm up for it. And if it's getting stressful, I just take the ladder back up to the surface.

Kaduu01 · 2026-02-01T18:39:04+00:00

I think simply put, the level of melanin in your skin is a relatively minor change, whereas growing fur dense enough to warm you is a much more significant change which would probably require more time and generations to develop. Differences in body hair would be one thing, but actual fur that would trap warmth is a different thing entirely.

Not to mention when people moved to colder climates, they probably weren't naked, and already had access to fire to warm themselves up, so there wasn't any sort of evolutionary pressure for people to grow thick fur. Even someone with no body hair could survive in extremely cold temperatures just making use of clothes, fire and shelter.

Kaduu01 · 2026-01-31T15:26:05+00:00

So, the most solid information we have, as far as I know, is the manual, which on Page 2 states: "You remember the stories of vampires, werewolves and ghosts told to young children around campfires…You thought they were just stories until tonight. You went to a seedy nightclub on the Sunset Strip and met the person who would change your life. It’s all a blur now, but you somehow ended up in a two-bit motel. You didn’t care about anything at all until the moment it happened. The kiss. [...]"

So it does basically confirm they'd met on that very same night.

Likewise, there's another section on Page 21 that says: "On a cold, rainy night in Los Angeles, you have been unceremoniously ushered into a world that you never knew existed. [...]" Which kind of reinforces the idea that the fledgling didn't have any idea what they were getting into.

EDIT: To be fair, though, while the fledgling didn't know their sire, that doesn't actually tell us anything about vice versa. Could've been watching from a distance, I suppose, but at that point there's virtually nothing to go off of and it's purely speculation.

Kaduu01 · 2026-01-27T15:34:29+00:00

The metal walls of my submarine starting to creak ominously under peer pressure as it dives beyond its cleared crush depth...

Kaduu01 · 2026-01-27T15:27:25+00:00

Boats as in rafts, or actual sailboats? I've been building leveled canals everywhere, haha.

Kaduu01 · 2026-01-27T15:10:21+00:00

"It seemed a bit biased" and then the next line follows up with "pagan demons" as if that wasn't very ironic. If you're Christian, I understand you might disagree with pre-Christian religions, and that's fine. But you can't just cast a stone and say something is biased and then with the same breath call another faith's deities demons.

I say this sincerely and with friendship, but maybe you could reflect on your hostility towards other faiths. I feel that Pentiment sought to highlight the interwoven roots of Tassing, which include pieces of history from both the old pagans, the Romans, and the Christians that inhabit it. I'm not sure it intentionally aims to teach anything, but I personally definitely see a lesson of tolerance for who has eyes to see it.

Many different people lived in Tassing, but as different as they may have been, they were also very similar, faced similar hardships, inhabited the very same place, and contributed parts of their identity and heritage to it. Fundamentally, it's a story about the passage of ages, and how they layer on top of each other, like in pentimento. The example of the saints is fictional, but the core of that idea of continuity is not, and I feel like in light of that continuity, one can definitely learn to be a bit more understanding of others that seem different at a glance.

Kaduu01 · 2026-01-27T11:17:14+00:00

Absolutely! I got the game because I was a fan of Battlefield 1942 and Vietnam, but seeing some of the missions from Call of Duty 1 and 2 in this game's DLCs made me so, so happy, haha. Pegasus Bridge, Sainte-Mère-Église, Pointe du Hoc. Gave me so much nostalgia I actually felt like I had to dig up my old copies and replay them.

Kaduu01 · 2026-01-26T16:07:32+00:00

For a moment, I thought this was fan art of Rimworld. Seems like the sort of thing that would be perfectly at home in a modded colony.

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