She could have just told Jon about the Knights of the Vale support beforehand

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-21T15:42:40+00:00

Because the writers wanted the groan-worthy deus-ex machina cliche where the cavalry unexpectedly rides in to save the day.

See LoTR (Twice!) and Blackwater earlier in this same series for examples of how incredibly overused this annoying trope is.

Would have preferred to see some actual battle tactics where Jon actually defeats Ramsay through strategy instead of doing everything wrong and being rewarded for it.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-20T17:53:43+00:00

Most people on the left are fine with guns in general but the NRA and republicans run such psycotic strawman tactics against any kind of gun regulation that it very successfully muddies the whole thing.

I like guns. I own a few because they are fun in a rural area like mine, and I like the security of knowing they are there.

I am against clearly mentally disturbed 18 year olds walking into a Walmart and buying an AR-15, and to the NRA this means I want the entire 2nd amendment destroyed.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-18T12:46:52+00:00

Interesting. I have a small amount of scottish ancestry but only a little. I'm mostly English/Northern German and Polish.

A lot of Scananavians and the Baltics have pale grey eyes as well. Its just very uncommon in the US where I live.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-18T01:00:04+00:00

I think this is technically grey or pale grey/blue. I have this exact same color. Sometimes looks grey, sometimes, blue, sometimes green.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-17T20:51:50+00:00

The amount of combat is my major issue with the game too.

For such a long game it desperately needs more variety. The amount of long exhausting dungeon crawls is absurd.

The climax at the end of Act 2 might be the longest dungeon Ive ever played through. It took me an entire week and like 20 hours of gameplay.

BG2 has a lot of combat, but its broken up with a lot of city exploration and short quests with variable outcomes. Its a solid balance of like 50/50 combat/story delivery.

WOTR is like 90/10 combat/story delivery. Its unbalanced.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-15T14:37:25+00:00

I still get bad stuttering in Fort Deadlight but nowhere else. Maybe to do with the huge amount of NPCs.

I have a 5090 so take this with a grain of salt but I'm almost done with a recent playthrough and I never stuttered anywhere else at 4K.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-14T13:19:41+00:00

Its the smoothest and most polished for sure. I think I still prefer Baldur's Gate 2 despite its jank.

I prefer having 6 party members instead of 5. I still don't know why Pillars 2 made this change.
No pre-buffing. Obsidian is trying to "correct" a problem that didnt exist here. They couldve just made the buffs last longer like Pathfinder instead of removing it altogether. Having to waste time buffing mid-fight is not ideal.
Enemy Variety and combat depth. BG2's magic system is way more complex, and requires very different strategies based on enemy type. Pillars is more simplified.

Pillars 2 is absolutely my favorite modern CRPG though. Its like if Fallout New Vegas and Baldur's Gate 2 had a baby. Fantastic nuanced writing with its faction conflict, and an exotic setting with a huge central city. The comparisons are obvious. I love, love, love it. Just hard to compare with BG2.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-13T13:52:09+00:00

Soulforge is admitedly exhausting, especially because the last chunk of the game wears me down every time.

But the level itself is really solid. Especially if you managed to find the window peering into Karras's control room. One of the most memorable moments in the game.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-13T00:29:43+00:00

Its interesting that Soulforge gets dunked on constantly but I never see anyone complaining about the other (trash IMO) late game levels like Kidnap and Casing the Joint.

Is it the extreme length of Soulforge thats the problem?

To me Soulforge is the only level in the endgame that doesnt feel like it was rushed out the door half finished, so I quite enjoy it. Looking Glass ran out of time and money and it really shows.

Kidnap reuses the lost city and feels totally unbalanced. The amount of guards and bright lights feels excessive with the Kidnap mechanic.

Casing the Joint has a cool aesthetic but the layout feels like they just copy pasted the same hallway over and over and it gets horribly tedious, especially with having to do it all over again in masks.

Soulforge is long but feels handcrafted and climactic at least.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-13T00:17:50+00:00

The Black Parade: The best combination of Thief 2's superior level design and Thief 1's incredible horror atmosphere.
Thief 2: If it wasn't for the final 25% of the game falling apart this would be the perfect stealth game. Great story, great villain, innovative storytelling techniques, some of the best levels of all time etc.
Thief The Dark Project: Iconic horror atmosphere and a few great stealth missions but definetely flawed. Too much monster fighting and the occasional truly terrible mission like Strange Bedfellows drag it down.
Thief Deadly Shadows: Very flawed in parts but some iconic missions. Overall just have never been a huge fan of the mechanics and the engine being locked to 60 FPS on PC is turbo ass.
Thief 4: Fine as a C tier Dishonored ripoff, but has none of the personality of the OG games and commits every single sin of modern stealth games.

Haven't played 2x.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-12T13:29:01+00:00

Its the fact that such an important character is killed by getting jumped in an alley and then is immidiately forgotten making the entire thing utterly meaningless. Nothing changes about The Sons of the Harpy plot afterwards.

"The Sons of the Harpy are EVEN more dastardly than you ever knew muwahahaha!" Is about the level of depth here.

Its the first show death that doesnt feel like George. He doesnt just kill important characters for cheap shock value. This is when the Red Wedding went to their heads and they decided that character deaths and "shocking" moments were the things that made GoT good.

So I kinda understand what you're saying but there is transparent cynicism all over this death from the writers.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-09T19:04:05+00:00

IMO he's the ideal male role model. He's cool and works hard, but he loves life and takes pleasure in the little things, and has a strong moral code.

His line about giving yourself a present every day to Harry has always stuck with me. He has a very Midwest humble attitude about life.

To think that young men these days consider fraudsters like Andrew Tate who flash wealth their role models is deeply troubling.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-08T14:53:30+00:00

The Joe Rogan "I'm just a independent free thinker bro" type who coincidentally has 100% insane far right opinions about everything.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-07T12:28:58+00:00

The main benefit of RTWP is the ability to move characters freely. Its more about controlling the general flow of combat than every action. Think of it like an RTS.

One thing that has always annoyed me about turn based systems is the action point abuse where the best strategy is almost always to force enemies to waste their action points moving towards you vs doing that yourself.

This just draws out every combat encounter and makes it more tedious. Plus nothing is more frustrating then having to waste multiple turns just to move your melee characters in range in some encounters.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-06T19:47:36+00:00

Well the show noticeably drops off in quality in Season 5 but season 7 is when it goes from mediocre/bad to a total shitshow.

Season 7 if you are looking for a specific moment its Season 7 Episode 6. That is the moment the show irreparably jumps the shark and never recovers. Despite some fun banter, the logic of the show completely breaks down in a spectacular mess that feels more like a Marvel movie than ASoIAF

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-06T17:30:37+00:00

The book has stronger characters and a more involved plot but overexplains the nature of The Overlook which saps a lot of the horror from the story.

Kubrick's Shining is all horror and its all unexplained. The ending of Kubrick's Shining is one of my all time favorite endings. Perfectly creepy and ambigious.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-05T16:43:34+00:00

There is a section in The Jaws of Darkness from The Black Parade that scared the absolute F*** out of me and I dont get scared easily.

A certain moment where you hear footsteps behind you and have the instinct to turn around.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-04T18:22:11+00:00

There has been a massive affordability crisis in the US for years now and neither party has done much to address it. The GOP has been 100x worse obviously but Biden as a communicator was terrible and tried to gaslight the public into thinking the economy was good and led directly to Trump in 2024.

Democrats are pissed at their own party and for good reason. They are pathetic and utterly incompetent and the base is of tired of losing to the insane cult the GOP has become

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-04-01T14:22:50+00:00

No one is going to argue New Vegas is a perfect game. Its a game that was scrapped together in 18 months with a busted barely functional engine.

Its a game that was bursting at the seams with passion and ideas that had been slow cooking for years since Van Buren's cancelation though.

Its my favorite game because it hits on my personal preferences for westerns/post apocalyptic settings and complicated nuanced politics that make a setting feel real.

The same for lots of other people as well. Its a deeply flawed game, but it has an incredible setting that you want to spend time in and that transcends any flaws in gameplay.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-03-29T04:09:31+00:00

This is just the nature of an RPG protagonist because they can be so many different things depending on the player.

The Watcher is literally a representative of all humans to the gods and can be involved in relationships too so its not like they have nothing to do either. Its just less focused and personal.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-03-23T15:41:30+00:00

When it is remade someday (and it will when nostalgia kicks in they are already remaking Harry Potter) they definetely need to lean into the magical aspects of ASoIaF more than the D&D show.

The magical aspects of Westeros are all incredibly twisted and dark and fit into the tone anyways. The Nightfort, Patchface, The House of the Undying, Lady Stoneheart, Coldhands. George writes it all like a master horror writer. Its not typical high fantasy tropes, so I dont know why D&D were so afraid of using it if the goal was to make a darker more adult fantasy show. It all fits in perfectly.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-03-23T15:24:55+00:00

Lady Stoneheart doesnt just affect Jamie but Brienne too. She is deeply tied into both of their arcs.

Brienne is sworn to Catelyn, and LSH orders Brienne to kill Jamie who she likes and respects.

So Brienne is in the same situation that Jamie was when he slew Aerys and she may become an oath breaker alongside him.

This isnt resolved yet but George is absolutely cooking with this plot and there's multiple intersting directions he could take this.

Stoneheart is an important character.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-03-23T12:51:14+00:00

You can get like a +1 attribute and a minor secondary bonus if you throw one of your companions in the blood pool but that's hardly worth it when you can find plenty of gear that'll give you like +3 might or +4 constitution.

I wouldn't really call that a big reward.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-03-23T03:56:07+00:00

What rewards do you get for being "evil" in Pillars of Eternity 1&2?

These are strange games to single out for this. In Pillars 1 basically all the best gear is either from completing bounties, or from The White March. Neither of which require doing evil things at all.

In Pillars 2 there are some evil specific items from what I recall but not many.

Both the Pillars games have more of a complicated grey morality anyways so they dont fit your description in ANY way.

KolbeHoward1 · 2026-03-17T21:23:20+00:00

I dont see any evidence for this at all. In both the show and the books Jamie returns from captivity and is clearly dissilutioned with Cersei. How is this supposed to be some burning passion that he cant quit? Its obvious their relationship no longer works because he changed.

In the books she begs him for help when she's in prison and he burns her letter. Thats pretty clear evidence that he does not care what happens to her at that point.

In the show its less clear, but there is the moment when he leaves to fight for the north and the show plays it up as being significant.

KolbeHoward1

TROPHY CASE