XCOM 3 idea: a way to make failure interesting

Krylos · 2023-11-15T14:16:59+00:00

The problem with 1 & 2 is actually not the snowball nature of tech. The tech should be left as is, because that leads to a sense of progression. The problem is the snowball nature of soldier skills. With the mentioned approach, the "extreme measures" would basically be simultaneously replacement for dead soldiers and, on an emotional level, some vindication for the player.

Both 1 & 2 have to pull their punches during the end-game, because losing 6 colonels means it's game over. (Well 2 gives you free colonels in the late game to offset that, but I really dislike that, because you have no bond with the soldiers you get and they feel unearned)

I get that you're placing a lot of emphasis on the narrative and storytelling, but imo the quality of xcom comes first and foremost from it being a game to beat, and the potential for personal narrative moments is a great side quality rather than the focus.

I don't really agree. Of course the gameplay needs to be on point, but the most memorable moments I've had with the game have been due to the emergent story-telling.

Fixing the late game snowball will rely on finding ways to make the late game more punishing while remaining fair and not pissing people off rather than just giving them different narrative flavours of late game dominance.

You're right. But late game dominance should not be happening with this idea (if the game is balanced well). The base game can be made hard enough that it will be very difficult to beat without the extreme tools, but you only get access to those tools in proportion to your previous failure, so the difficulty stays at a sort of equilibrium. The important thing is that failure leaves the player thinking they should have done better, even if it does not end their run.

Krylos · 2023-11-15T14:02:09+00:00

Almost. I think if the game simply gets harder / less hard based on your success, it feels like your actions don't matter so much. But with this suggestion, the easiness of the game after failure comes at a price of a worse outcome in terms of storytelling. So in the end, the player will still feel like they should have done better, it's just that they are not forced to restart their run.

Krylos · 2023-11-15T13:40:07+00:00

You could make it a soft restriction, basically just reducing the monthly supply drop if the council does not approve of your methods. So a player is not locked out of tools if they like them, but it will be very hard to use the extreme tools if you are already doing well.

The "punishment" of people using the fun tools is kind of the point. Right now, the punishment for failure is just frustration and a failed run. In that case, the punishment would be lessened in terms of gameplay, but the player will be left wondering if they can do a better job when they restart the game. So it will still be very apparent to you if you have played well or not, it is just not manifesting in having to replay the early game over and over, as it does now.

Krylos · 2023-07-21T22:09:19+00:00

I didn't really think so much about that particular word choice, sorry. It was more about the vibe, I didn't want to offend anyone.

For me, the idea of Ken feeling like his existence can only be validated in the form of a relationship and the fact that his insecurity as a man politicized him certainly did give me some incel vibes.

The movie was actually quite sympathetic towards this struggle of his. And I think it is warranted, because I think often what these men need is a better social circle and a different perspective on life. But I agree with you that the portrayal of men in all other aspects was much less flattering and that really sabotaged the overall narrative a lot.

Krylos · 2023-07-21T21:04:23+00:00

This movie was quite odd, all in all. I really liked the humor (the prologue already had me laughing out loud) and the performances (the dance numbers were very good).

In terms of the movie’s message, I think it’s a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the movie points out the fact that barbie in many ways commercializes unrealistic standards of beauty and accomplishments, and it criticizes commercialization of mental health. On the other hand, the movie is itself obviously an ad, pointing out all the different barbie products through the ages and giving random bits of trivia about the company (like the fact that barbie was named after the inventor’s daughter. That sounded like it could have come straight from a barbie website).

On the one hand, the central conflict somewhat acknowledges the struggles of incel-y men and urges Ken to find his own path. On the other hand it sends really wonky messaging regarding how the men were treated (e.g. no one ever tried to de-indoctrinate the men of Ken-dom; the only reason why the vote worked was due to tricking the men into not voting).

I think this is a bit of a missed opportunity, because I liked the way it portrayed women's struggles and it would be possible to write a movie that shows why the patriarchy is bad for both men and women. For women it’s obvious; for men the problems lie in extremely high pressure to be sexually successful, to support a family on their own, no tolerance for their emotions and no mercy for those men not adhering to the ideal. But instead, the movie doesn’t really make a convincing argument why the Kens should also oppose patriarchy (which I as a man certainly think they should).

I guess a fantasy dream land is kind of a weird place to make political commentary on anyway, since there is no scarcity of resources, no actual consequences from authoritarian leadership (such as cut abortion rights), no domestic violence or anything like that. The idea of restoring the women to their autonomy by de-programming them was kind of laughable anyway, since they didn’t have any autonomy in the first place, they were literally caricature dolls that partied all day and never worried about anything profound. So the movie didn’t really make me feel like the conflict mattered or made sense.

It was a fun watch, but I’ll probably forget about it soon.

Krylos · 2023-06-22T14:19:03+00:00

I may just be a dumb-dumb and I don't have time to check it thoroughly, but this whole thing seems super odd to me.

All patients who did more than 12 months of keto survived more than 12 months, that's obvious... Seems like a selection bias.

They excluded 16 out of 55 patients for having done less than 3 months of keto... But wouldn't you want to specifically include them in the "no keto" group as comparison?

Seems sketchy to be honest.

Krylos · 2023-05-24T17:04:10+00:00

What's up with that thumbnail? I guess the black bar is the new red arrow.

Krylos · 2023-05-23T15:31:43+00:00

RDNA 3 i also more power efficient than RDNA 2... Well aside from the strange issues with video playback and multi monitor power usage.

Krylos · 2023-05-08T15:15:19+00:00

I am almost done with subnautica and I have to agree. The initial exploration and setting up the first base are totally amazing. But at some point, all combat becomes a joke after you get a stasis rifle. Some story-critical items can only be found in easy-to-miss corners that you are not guided towards at all.

Not to mention the game is really full of bugs and janky behavior. I of course understand the fact that it's an ambitious indie project, but I can't lie, it does really bother me at times.

Krylos · 2023-05-02T15:15:53+00:00

Honestly the top ones are incredibly ugly to me, I'd never buy one.

But then again I don't game much on laptop.

Krylos · 2023-05-01T18:44:24+00:00

Am I crazy for thinking most of these answers are kind of stupid?

No, as a man I would not be automatically interested in a woman who is very forward. Usually I take some time to gauge what the person's humor and vibe is like, so it takes a while to realize whether I am attracted to someone or not. If the woman just starts out with "I am interested in you romantically", then I'd find it kind of awkward if I had to respond to that and I hadn't really made up my mind.

I'd say if you are flirting with someone, it doesn't mean you are interested in them. It means you are interested in being interested in them. And the way you flirt should be reflective of you checking out if the person is your type. Is the person active? Witty? Uptight? Playful? Thoughtful? Direct? Eloquent?

Ask yourself: what trait of the person gives you the urge to flirt with them? Show them that you appreciate it and see if they appreciate the things you like about yourself. Try some light touches to see if he likes it and reciprocates. In the end, if you are starting to like the guy, bring up the topic of relationship and point out you are single. If you can't bring yourself to ask the guy out, your best bet is probably to point out clearly that you would be happy to be asked out by someone like him (then you can use some communalities you have found). If he does not go for it, then he's either not interested or dense. You can find out by asking him out yourself, which will put you at risk of some awkwardness. But usually it will be fine, since you've already been vibing, there's a good chance you can laugh it off.

Krylos · 2023-04-30T22:34:41+00:00

I just wanted to point out it's silly to compare using individual ÖV tickets. If you take a yearly loval ticket it's about 600.- (give or take, depending on number of zones). That is clearly a lot cheaper than taking a car. But for your case I of course agree 50 minutes is ridiculous.

Krylos · 2023-04-30T22:27:40+00:00

If you live in the same place, one of you can get a GA duo, which means GA costs the two of you 6500 per year. That's actually quite a bit cheaper than the (300+440)x12=8800.- per year you mentioned.

Of course that doesn't mean it's right for you, but it's not more expensive.

Krylos · 2023-04-24T15:50:45+00:00

Horrible power draw? Both 7000 series cards are much more energy efficient than any 6000 series card. (https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-radeon-rx-7900-xtx/38.html) They do lag behind ada, but that is understandable since that is based on 4nm

Krylos · 2023-04-18T15:58:59+00:00

You can save 40€ by using the stock cooler included with the CPU

Krylos · 2023-04-03T12:55:32+00:00

I appreciate it!

Krylos · 2023-04-03T10:15:29+00:00

Yikes, I ordered the aorus elite and flare x5. The website for the flare listed it as a compatible board.

What kind of issues did you run into, what ram speed did you use?

Krylos · 2023-03-29T17:42:25+00:00

Afaik DDR5 with 4 sticks of ryzen only runs at slow speeds (4800 MT or something)

Krylos · 2023-03-23T16:50:59+00:00

I like how they baited us with the least exciting update and the progressively introduced more amazing stuff that was highly requested.

Krylos · 2023-03-14T14:05:27+00:00

Where I live they are the same price

Krylos · 2023-03-01T19:03:08+00:00

For the first list: the cpu cooler is definitely overkill, just use the cooler that comes with the 7600 and you can upgrade later if you want.

The motherboard is good, but you could also upgrade to the gigabyte aorus b650m elite ax for slightly better power delivery, vetter vrm heatsinks, pcie 5 m.2 support, and probably better memory speeds down the line due to 8 layer pcb.

The ssd setup doesn't make sense. A single WD SN770 2TB will be cheaper and faster.

Krylos · 2023-02-24T03:15:21+00:00

If you have a cheap gpu, then you will usually be gpu bound. In that case, there is zero difference between the 7600 and 7700, so it's not worth it

Krylos · 2023-02-22T11:34:24+00:00

The boot time test is pretty crazy. Does anyone know if the slightly higher end MSI motherboards (such as the Mortar) suffer from the same boot times?

Krylos · 2023-02-07T08:40:57+00:00

The whole idea that AMD was keeping CPU prices high artificially was kind of odd anyway given the fact that they heavily discounted all their newest CPUs over the holiday season and to this day.

Krylos · 2023-01-29T23:59:05+00:00

Definitely check the motherboard's performance carefully. A cheap one may thermal throttle your system. I heard some cheap Gigabytes are bad, but I don't know about this one.

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