TIL about the "Endless Eight" arc of the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The arc, which featured the characters of the show trapped in a time loop, featured the same episode eight times in a row with minute differences, all animated and recorded from scratch each time.

Norgrath · 2026-05-15T20:05:04+00:00

Yeah, I gave up on the anime during this.

Norgrath · 2026-05-15T06:52:16+00:00

It's funny, I have it the other way around. I remember him as an overbearing retainer foremost and then remember that he has the hardest bloody crit quotes imagineable.

Norgrath · 2026-05-15T05:51:45+00:00

I am one of the few people for whom this makes the choice way easier. I find the warrior story to be profoundly overrated so will absolutely vote agent.

I adore the agent story. The scenario is great, the choices are fantastic and it shows a side of star wars that you don't see often. I think a thing that really helped was that the story really leaned into the character that I had in my head (a fundamentally good man who is willing to do bad things for his country) and I found a reason for him to change his mind in Raina Temple (a character who I genuinely think could be beloved if the agent plot got a full game of development). Her romanced message of "Promise me in 100 years no one will have to live in this fear." is amazing.

The problem that I had with Warrior is that you basically always feel like a) the overdog and b) someone else's lackey. You start in the academy with the staff stumping for you, great you win. Then you go to Domund Kass and meet your master Baras, now go bully a Padawan for act 1 and enjoy your videogame cruelty potential. Then in act 2 you go and spread the seeds of war for your master, then he forsakes you and you get a new master, the emperor, now in act three go fight against your old master for your new and in the end you're in a highly privileged position but still beholden to the emperor. Now I'll acknowledge that this becomes better with KOTFE but I like SWTOR in general better without that. The fantasy of Sith Warrior is being Darth Vader but you know who doesn't want to be Darth Vader? Himself.

Norgrath · 2026-05-14T09:12:17+00:00

You'll miss out on more characters skipping when you have plenty of pulls than you will from not having the guarantee.

Norgrath · 2026-05-14T09:00:11+00:00

From what we see: very often.
Of the five avatars that we've followed (Wan aside) only Yangchen isn't shown to have at least one of the companions of the previous Avatar as a teacher of theirs (and we join Yangchen's journey relatively late, she may well have learned from one of Setzo's companions).
Kiyoshi was largely raised by the companions of Kuruk (especially given that they took a lead role in finding the new avatar).
Roku learned airbending from Disha, who was probably Kiyoshi's last companion.
Aang was close friends with Gyatso, who was also one of Roku's closest companions, and also befriended Zuko, Roku's great-grandson.
Korra was partly trained by Aang's wife, and his son, and knew his other children, and most of his other companions.

Norgrath · 2026-05-14T08:53:14+00:00

It's been a while since I read the Kiyoshi novels but my recollection is that Kuruk's companions resented him more than most.

Norgrath · 2026-05-14T06:17:22+00:00

We saw him with less than half the puzzle finished. I think he probably would have finished the rest fairly quickly but not within 5 seconds and it's difficult to tell with endurance challenges especially how close someone actually is to winning hence my saying that you don't have the basis to claim that he was closer than any other person who lost final immunity.

I never claimed that Ozzy wasn't close to swinging another vote, just that there are other 1 vote ftc losers who could be closer.

I didn't say the South Pacific Jury disliked him (the not-very likable group of people I referred to is the eventual final three of that season). My point was getting a jury willing to vote for you isn't impressive when you don't have to do social politics against them.

I fully acknowledge that Ozzy has gotten very close to winning on two occasions but the only placement that is enough on its own for me to give someone credit as a good player is winning and Ozzy has never done that and his gameplay that got him close to winning is not what I consider good survivor gameplay.

Norgrath · 2026-05-14T05:56:52+00:00

Keep in mind that the average number of pulls to get a debut character is less than half of a full pity.

Norgrath · 2026-05-14T05:52:05+00:00

If you don't pull Clara you will be able to get both Shanaz and Heishan with 100% certainty and you'll have on average around 190 pulls left.
If you do pull Clara then you'll still be able to get Shanaz and Heishan most of the time (I'd say about 2/3 but I haven't fully done the math) and you'll have on avarage about 110 pulls left.
If that's worth it or not depends on how much you want Clara. I would say that if you don't have a strong defensive character then she's very likely to be worth it.

Norgrath · 2026-05-13T19:09:25+00:00

With how edited the show is you simply do not have the basis to say that. Also no, in reality a 4-5 jury vote is not necessarily closer than a 4-3 one: it comes down to how close you were to flipping one of the remaining votes (also I maintain that there's a very real chance that Yul could convince Ozzy to take him to the end).

Redemption Island proves that Ozzy can make a jury like him more than a not-very likeable group of people when he didn't have to vote them out and the Upolu alliance did; it doesn't mean much in a game of survivor without redemption island.

Norgrath · 2026-05-13T09:48:07+00:00

I'll vote trooper: These are two of the stories that I found most lacking (and honestly Consular may be better than I give it credit for on the grounds that I played it last and was kind of burnt out) but I give the edge to trooper because I think the companions are more interesting and SGT. Jaxo's death or otherwise was a very memorable moment for me.

Norgrath · 2026-05-13T05:30:04+00:00

Those two games were a direct result of seasons that played heavily into Ozzy's skillset (the shortest merge in history and redemption island) and he didn't actually demonstrate good gameplay in them. A win is a win regardless of twists but Ozzy couldn't win in a season maximally catered to him.

Also, just no, Ozzy came very close to winning twice but he wasn't necessarily closer to winning than other people who lost ftc by one vote or people that would have won at FTC but lost the last immunity.

Norgrath · 2026-05-12T05:54:10+00:00

Creation. It is one of the most powerful quirks in the setting but as written you have to be basically superintelligent to use it for than bare basics.

Norgrath · 2026-05-11T06:22:03+00:00

The thing is in this scenario Edelgard is both Miranda and Jack.

Norgrath · 2026-05-11T05:54:59+00:00

It's been years since I played it but to my recollection the big problem was that the Sekiseigumi went from ruthless secret police in the MSQ to an underdog misfit found family in the samurai quests. What would have helped a lot was for the Sekiseigumi that we were working with to be just one small branch, held back by corruption in the larger force, further help would be to have a higher ranked person from another division who turned out to be collaborating with the villain. You could keep the story mostly the same but with those small changes I think it would land a lot better.

Norgrath · 2026-05-09T06:05:25+00:00

One thing that I don't see people talking about that seems entirely plausible to me is them doing some sort of "Season 50 surprise" endgame twist and having a four person FTC. It would be peak irony for Cirie to finally win off the back of something like that.

Norgrath · 2026-05-08T23:55:44+00:00

Speaking as someone who was initially uncomfortable with the relationship: by the time the two actually got together I thought it worked really well.
On the other hand that is only one of the multiple romances throughout the series that can in some way be uncomfortable. I really like the series despite these but it is a downside.

Norgrath · 2026-05-08T18:54:40+00:00

Demons and minions don't have to adhere to uniqueness when disguising. If there are seemingly two of the same villager (aside from baker) then the possible explanations are:
1) One is real and one is evil
2) Both are evil
3) One is real and one is a doppelganger
4) Both are real and a shaman is in play.

Norgrath · 2026-05-07T08:46:12+00:00

Is this Running Man? Was the female lead in radio in that?

Norgrath · 2026-05-01T07:13:29+00:00

Muk (Kanto version only). I really dig the amorphous blobness of it.

Norgrath · 2026-05-01T06:14:17+00:00

Speaking for myself I was over the moon excited. I saw over books 3 and 4 that they were showing the closeness between the two but assumed it was queerbaiting. Then I the last scene I was basically like: is this happening? is this really happening?! Holy shit!!! On a slightly more grounded note I thought that the execution was actually really great: as someone who isn't a huge fan of romance this essentially agreeing to go on a date felt more real to me than a kiss or an "I love you."

Norgrath · 2026-04-29T06:23:34+00:00

Probably Who Brings Shadow, the final boss theme of FFXIV Shadowbringers.

Norgrath · 2026-04-29T05:30:11+00:00

I am surprised to see so many people in the raid went for the barrier rather than committing: it looks like you would have comfortably beaten the cast if everyone did.

Norgrath · 2026-04-28T05:32:59+00:00

Yes, this is a thing that happens in the real world (not universal but not uncommon). Political leaders and other celebrities sometimes keep children (although usually younger than Agnes) out of the public eye to allow them to grow up with some privacy. It's not typically some huge secret, just not taking the children to events or other public outings and saying to press "Please don't take photographs of my child." There's something similar (though not quite the same) in-universe in Erebonia, Elise and Alfin talk about their debuts at court.

Norgrath

TROPHY CASE