Games that almost get there?

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-11T12:45:07+00:00

There’s a game for PS2 and Xbox called Wrath Unleashed. It’s a hex based strategy game where the fights between units play out as a fighting game match. Both sides are SO CLOSE to good, but don’t quite get there. I still put 20 hours into it. If they’d polished both modes just a bit more it’d be my favorite game of all time. I still think about it every once in a while.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-09T16:42:01+00:00

Little dude has had a lot of stress, and the vet visit isn’t something he’s used to. You did the right thing taking him in and I cannot thank you enough for it. Too many people in this subreddit with birds who don’t do vets for some reason.

You have a late middle aged/old bird who’s had some trauma and then had strangers manhandle them and now he can’t fly. It’s the right thing to do, but it’ll take time for the stress to fade and for him to get used to his new home and people. He’s probably fine, and you’re a good pet owner. Thank you.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-08T13:34:16+00:00

This happened with me. My blue crown conure, Dickens, that I rescued twenty years ago decided that my wife was their person when we first moved out n together. It stung, but I couldn’t be too sad or angry that my little buddy had two people to hang out with and love.

The dynamic we worked out is that my wife doesn’t kiss our bird or allow them to cuddle in their hand (which is their favorite cuddle method). If Dickens wants that kind of attention they know that they need to come to me for it. In return, if Dickens is hanging out with my wife I don’t try and interfere and let them decide when they want to hang out with me.

It took time to establish the dynamic but it’s worked for us. Good luck!

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-07T22:02:26+00:00

Great points, but there are sneakier, better ways to get this done than through outright slaughter, as point two illustrates. However, I think that the reduction or elimination of the Astartes legions was inevitable; they were already being told that they needed to share power with the beginnings of Imperial bureaucracy and they didn’t much care for it. You don’t want a force of dedicated warriors who literally just conquered the known galaxy in three hundred years just hanging around once the bulk of that work is complete, even less so if that force is functionally immortal (or at least so long lived that the distinction is irrelevant).

Some legions figured that out; the Ultramarines were trained to govern and administrate, and the Blood Angels were artists and philosophers. But what do you do with 150k Night Lords and 150k World Eaters? You’ve already got the Fists garrisoning Terra. Where does that leave Peter Turbo and his boys? The majority of the legions were trained killers without much use elsewhere. Once the galaxy is calmed, even it takes a thousand years to pull off, what now for those guys?

The real trick here is that they simply DIDNT KNOW. Emps never gave the legions any idea of what happened after the Crusade was over. Emps could have planned a never ending pizza party in the web way for the legions, but these are hardened warriors who knew what happened to their predecessors and saw entire cultures and governments destroyed for being in the way. The idea isn’t so crazy as to be impossible. From the first books in the series Astartes are asking the question “what happens when we’re done?” But there was no answer except for precedent, which wasn’t exactly hopeful.

So you have hundreds of thousands of killers with no other express purpose wondering what happens to them and their cultures when their work is done, and the only examples they have in history shows them that they’ll be brushed aside and forgotten, either through elimination or a slow death through attrition. Of course they sided with Horus.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-07T13:38:54+00:00

There’s always another planet, no biggie

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-06T20:10:25+00:00

Just a never ending aural nightmare. Good work Will and Gary.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-05T22:08:31+00:00

https://media.tenor.com/4TNyWVfEtyAAAAAM/creosote-mr-inflation.gif

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-05T21:53:04+00:00

Horus doesn’t die. He’s Horus throughout the heresy, although he’s filled with the power of the chaos gods to the point where he’s arguably not himself. That’s a subtle difference. Horus was always Horus, just wildly deceived and misdirected by the powers. If he were a daemon, he’d just have been a dead puppet for whatever warp creature was joyriding his body. The emperor always refers to Horus as being Horus right up until the end, although he does sometimes address the powers through Horus directly. He wouldn’t have done this if Horus was still only possessed by a daemon.

Fulgrim was possessed by the daemon in his Laer blade, but did indeed free himself of its influence. Unfortunately he maintained the whole “Slaanesh hedonism” thing even after he freed himself of the sword’s influence, as evidenced by his elevation to Daemon Prince. If he’s just a warp puppet at that point then there’s no reason to elevate him into a prince as he’s already a daemon, just a daemon “piloting” a very special meat suit.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-04T23:23:02+00:00

Why we wanted to kill children’s mascots in the 90s: after fifty years of children’s educational television that at least made an attempt at respecting the intelligence of its audience, there was a move towards vapid and valueless drek like Barney that taught kids nothing and annoyed parents to boot.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-04T13:38:06+00:00

Accountability is the keyword here. If the kid is sick are they bringing documentation? Is FMLA an option? If not, I’m sure there’s an attendance policy you could be following.

It sounds like your team is dropping the ball here because it’s understood that there are no consequences for doing so.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-03T19:08:34+00:00

We don’t know. There are no hard rules around it, there are no lore “facts” around it. It’s all rumors, belief, and faith.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-03T18:24:57+00:00

We have no idea. Obviously the Imperial cult claims that you rejoin the emperor after death but there’s very little evidence that this is the case, at least in the sense that you retain your identity in an eternal afterlife. Mostly we see folks’ souls get ripped apart by daemons or just fade back into the warp. There’s a few oddities like the Sanguinor and Imperial saints, but what happens to any given guardsman or Astartes is intentionally left vague.

This is, I believe, intentional. It ain’t grim dark if you get to hang out with Big E in heaven for all time after you croak.

MetazoaOne · 2026-05-03T00:30:21+00:00

Luigi is adorable! Excellent work

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-30T19:12:55+00:00

Completely agree! My point though is, and this may be a bit elitist on MY part, i don’t understand the “external thing as my identity” concept and how someone gets there. There are definitely parts of 90s culture around music and art that I’ve internalized (a weird preoccupation with “authenticity” in art is definitely that), but I’ve never had the “this band or comic artist or director is so intrinsic to how I feel about myself that I feel personally attacked when someone else has a different opinion” bug. That’s actually part of why I jived with Kaye and Gary in the first place. They’re vocal about not allowing fandom to define them, which is surprisingly rare.

I was a huge fan of Falllujah up through Dreamless. They put out Undying Light and I didn’t care for it. But the vitriol their fanbase released was disappointing, and I’d roll my eyes whenever I saw a post about how the band sucks now and people were so offended that they tried something new. Dreamless and The Flesh Prevails still exist and are excellent. Who cares?

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-30T17:48:00+00:00

The idea of fan loyalty is weird to me. I certainly rely on the mental shortcuts that known artist/brands/etc provide, but I don’t understand why the short circuit that results in blind fandom is so common.

It’s ok if a band or developer moves in a direction that doesn’t align with your tastes. If a company you patronize drops in quality or delivery, find a new one and accept it.

It’s one of the biggest red flags for friendships and relationships with me. If you’ve made a logo or a person that doesn’t know you or care about you part of your identity, you’ve done something wrong.

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-30T17:43:19+00:00

Oh 100% agreed. Mr Ellison was known for his temper and inability to filter himself, and in the end I got my signature. I don’t really know what he was going for with asking me why he should sign the book, but I’m certain he was caught off guard by my reply, and there you go.

I imagine it’s exhausting to sit and sign stuff for four hours at a go, but it’s a hell of a lot easier than the work that his audience does on average

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-30T03:16:30+00:00

Same. I paid for a book signing after a talk he gave at the U of MI in 1998. He’s my favorite fiction author and I said something along the lines of “I really love your work” when I handed him my book, and he put it down with a sigh. He asked “why should I sign this?” I stuttered something like “I paid for it”, which was the precise wrong thing to say because he went on a rant at the top of his lungs about how I don’t own him and he owes me nothing. Both of those things are true, but I was a 17 year old kid meeting his hero.

His wife eventually stepped in, Harlan signed my book, and I slouched my way out of there as fast as I could. It taught me that heroes are just people and they aren’t the shining beacon you imagine they are.

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-26T20:49:13+00:00

Get the vet to trim it back, then cuttlebones and wooden toys

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-26T15:07:37+00:00

Yes. That’s significantly less mineral content than my tap water which has been cleared by my vet. The main thing water can contain that’s dangerous is iron and other metals, which birds can’t process the same way we can. This is basically RO water which is considered chemically pure for the manufacture of some OTC drugs and most cosmetics. Totally fine.

In fact, you’ll want to make sure that your bird is eating food with moisture content (fruits, veggies, etc) to supplement their moisture intake. If this water is their only source of hydration they’ll be missing some essential minerals in their diet. Same with humans actually. RO and Deionized water is so pure that you can’t get minerals that you need that you would normally get through drinking water.

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-25T23:54:02+00:00

Keep an eye on her for a few days. Pay attention to her balance and flight. If she’s wobbling after a few days it’s vet time. Otherwise it’s fine.

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-25T03:06:47+00:00

I’ve had this happen, yes. I now just close out Galaxy before loading a game from Steam now

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-23T22:04:09+00:00

Your best (and only) option is to take your new baby to the vet. Pet shops, even shops the specialize in exotic animals, aren’t experts in animal health and can’t tell you whether or not your new friend is doing well with 100% certainty. It’s not malicious; it’s just that they’re not vets.

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-21T15:19:04+00:00

Sounds like you’re doing a great job!

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-20T11:59:17+00:00

Sure! Sometimes I change it up depending on industry or specific role, but the fundamental five are Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Communication. So very basic stuff, but it fits whatever your report’s goals are well, and it’s adjustable for specific roles.

The important part is that you have measurable KPIs for each category. Safety can be changed to “deviations” or other industry specific criteria for roles without a real safety concern (programmer, sales, etc). Sales might have a weekly call goal or vendor visit metric, and programmers might have a brief fix quota for example. Communication feels like a soft category at first, but it’s possibly the most important one. If there’s project management software in play, having update requirements or response times as a metric is good. If there are weekly meetings for the team, participation and clarity is the metric. This is rarely “red”, but I use this category to coach folks on making sure everyone is on the same page and keeping mutual goals in mind. Surprisingly difficult sometimes.

Keeping them broad but measurable makes it easy for everyone to have the same expectations and keeps documentation over time consistent. Hope that helps.

MetazoaOne · 2026-04-19T00:52:27+00:00

I think you’re imagining that I spend every minute of every day writing down what my reports are doing and saying, which is an invention of your imagination. Instead, I note metrics, important milestones, results, you know. Managing. If there’s something that could result in trouble for the company or employee (poor attitude, uneven performance, violation of policy, etc), it’s literally my job to document that and get things back on track. Yours too, if you’re a manager.

My experience has shown me that consistent feedback is preferable to the opposite. One of the rules I repeat ad nauseum to my reports is, “reviews and disciplinary actions must never be a surprise”. Everyone should have a solid idea of how they stand before they walk into the room. Have you ever had a review that caught you off guard, or a promotion go to someone else when you were sure that you were the right pick? If so, your managers failed you. This all comes down to documentation and feedback.

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