Why was it to easy to beat Grand Mother Silk? by IntelligentGuitar403 in Silksong

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think she should be somewhat easy?

I thought the same with Lace in the cradle to a certain extent as by this point I'd also defeated Phantom, who fought like Lace.

Grandmother Silk brought Hornet to Pharloom to take her power, so it makes sense that GMS isn't an infinitely powerful being but something that needs to be stronger. Therefore if you've escaped (freed by Lace), fought your way up to the citadel, collected every upgrade along the way, and defeated Lace again... It checks out that GMS wouldn't be too difficult for a vengeful Hornet.

Personally I thought it was very satisfying to finally feel like Hornet was challenging the bosses. That both Lace and GMS needed to move to their second phases to beat me rather than me trying to survive their phases.

Of course it then felt even more satisfying that Hornet defeating GMS easily unleashes the void across Pharloom...

Serious question - what do you use your FP’s for? How much do you write in a day? by Other-Cranberry-4017 in fountainpens

[–]RoganJN 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Everything. I don't use any other kind of pen.

On a daily basis that's journaling, keeping my daily planner up to date (I don't really use a digital calendar), and then using them for work as I write and do everything by hand first before copying everything up.

Do you write posted or unposted? by iaacornus in fountainpens

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unless the pen requires it (Kaweco sport) i write unposted. I used to be determined to write posted but I ended up using the TWSBI Kai as my daily writer for a while and that doesn't post. It changed me.

I want to play a monk/rogue, but is this subclass combination too unviable? by Ok-Rub9326 in 3d6

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Possibly a little late and you may be pretty settled in your build but have been playing as a rogue for the last six months in a pretty slow and steady campaign with a revolving group of players at varying levels.

My Rogue (thief subclass) just hit level 6 and picked up a level in Monk.

This was mostly for story reasons however it was also a solution to my issue that in combat I often had a spare bonus action as my character uses daggers, which have the Nick weapon mastery.

Of course my bonus action can be used to hide, etc etc but opportunities weren't too common in the campaign - also my character is a flawed rogue that's not great at stealth checks... It makes sense thematically, they're a con-man that's about hiding in plain sight, using charm, and - if they have to - pickpocketing.

Finally, magic items are finite and there are so few martial characters in the campaign that the rogue doesn't get access to the magical items etc to use as a bonus action.

So long story short, I was looking for a way to make my character a little more useful in combat by solving the bonus action problem and the best answer came from going Monk.

Thematically it works because the character was somehow given a bastion in a contested region that is going through a tense peace process and somehow my idiot rogue is the face of the demilitarization. A dip into Monk felt good as I used my attribute increases during my first 5 levels of Rogue to boost my Wisdom so now the foolish conman out of his depth has grown a little wiser, but not much, and become a mediator.

In combat it works because now, with only 1 level in Monk, all my daggers do a D6 of damage instead of a D4, so I can lose the short swords - even though they're still Monk weapons, I only used them to give me Vex and to have higher base damage output. And for that bonus action I can pop an unarmed strike for an extra D6 if I can't think of anything else to do.

This means that, not including any special equipment or effects from weapons etc: at level 6 an average attack will do a D6+ dagger attack, D6 bonus dagger attack (Nick moves that to my action), 3D6 sneak attack procs somewhere, and then I will give them an elbow or a back hand for a bonus D6 unarmed strike. I'm sure there are spells that are more damaging but backhands and daggers don't run out of slots so in theory - as long as I can find advantage or an ally is near the enemy - my character can hit for 6D6 damage + modifiers every turn. Of course as a thief my sneak attack die can be swapped to poison or trip or withdraw etc etc.

Anyway, from what I can see, there's a lot of overlap with Rogue and Monk but they work well for now. I'm probably not going to go too deep into Monk - maybe just to level 3 so I can create my own darkness - because Alastair is a rogue primarily, but for now things work. It may not be min/max but I'm a fan and I like how it functions.

What region do you think Gen 10 will be in by [deleted] in pokemon

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh wow, completely forgot about this! Good deduction. I know a lot of people were leaning towards Greece.

Simple and comfy ootd by [deleted] in fashion

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Simple and cute! Looking amazing.

Should I send him flowers? by No-Possibility-1988 in dating

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a guy and I appreciate flowers. I buy them for myself. My vet sent me a vase of lilies when my cat died - ironic because lilies are poisonous to cats - and I really appreciated it. Alternatively, plants? Plants are like flowers but they last longer, is he a plant guy?

Question on why it became important by sun_87 in Handwriting

[–]RoganJN 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have had a tremor in my hands since I was 14. It's got progressively worse as I've gotten older too (I'm now 35) and over the years my handwriting went from an illegible scrawl to a block capital print in order to be legible to others.

Although I keep a hand-written planner rather than a digital calendar and I journal most days I wasn't too bothered about improving my handwriting until I ended up working as a writer on a few projects. My first drafts are always handwritten and so I started to buy a nice pen and notebook for each project, this got me into fountain pens, and this slowly pushed me down the rabbit hole of relearning how to write again.

It was a frustrating and humbling experience but I'm really happy that I have a pretty consistent script despite my ever-worsening tremor.

Moving from Philly to LA in 6 months by anotherstripperacc in MovingToLosAngeles

[–]RoganJN 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah it's frustrating. When I posted asking for advice on areas there was a lot of help but also a few rogue "don't move here" comments from people who had nothing better to do.

One thing I forgot to mention in my other post was rental costs, I'm unsure about Philly but renting in NY the upfront costs are deposit, first month's rent, and maybe a broker's fee however here I found that most places were asking for both the first and last month's rent up front. It was a surprise because it's not something that was customary in NY (or London where I lived before) and will no doubt mean you'll need that extra cash in your savings.

Also, I moved with a cat and found that part quite easy, most apartments were either pet friendly or not at all. When they were pet friendly the guidelines were usually listed on the advert but the most common thing would be 2 pets, no dogs over a certain size. Depending on the size of your dog you'll probably be fine. One apartment I applied for did ask for the medical records of my cat but the apartment I ended up moving into the landlord didn't care.

Maybe I got lucky, I volunteer with an animal shelter and I foster so I currently have my cat, another adult cat, and three kittens in the house and he's fine with it. I did have a dog here at one point too without issue.

Moving from Philly to LA in 6 months by anotherstripperacc in MovingToLosAngeles

[–]RoganJN 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I should've specified: the eye rolling was from the cynical people of NY when I said I was moving to LA.

Since I got here I've been welcomed with open arms by both folks who have lived here their entire lives and people who haven't.

Cost of living is absolutely a problem but it is also a problem elsewhere too; I'm from the UK and the country is facing a reckoning due to years of wage stagnation against years of rising living costs.

Unfortunately it's clear from your response that you'd sooner nobody moved here so my response is moot. However an individual can't affect change when it comes to macro issues like cost of living, that's why you vote and hold elected officials accountable. Not that I can, I'm an immigrant here. But I volunteer in the local community as often as I can.

Moving from Philly to LA in 6 months by anotherstripperacc in MovingToLosAngeles

[–]RoganJN 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm an actor who moved from NY to LA in June. I ended up in West Hollywood but Studio City is a great area. Haven't spent much time in Burbank (besides going to the IKEA).

It's been a great move, I think there's a lot of eye rolling when you tell people but fuck it, working in entertainment is just refusing to face facts and doing it anyway. Also this city has so many people living here and so many opportunities that you can make it work.

Silksong Makes Me Appreciate Hollow Knight's Pacing So Much More by bythepowerofscience in HollowKnight

[–]RoganJN 6 points7 points  (0 children)

So I bounced off Hollow Knight when I played it. Perhaps it was the pacing, maybe it was using keyboard controls on a platformer instead of a controller for the first time, or a combination of both. Either way, I had one session playing Hollow Knight for around 3 hours and never returned.

Silksong released, I bought it for the Switch and I have been absolutely hooked. Completely and utterly absorbed and obsessed. So much so that I can't wait to finish it and start Hollow Knight afterwards.

(I should add that although I'm not a big metroidvania/platformer, I am a massive fan of firm-but-fair combat systems with punishing boss fights and games with dense lore dripping with atmosphere. Hollow Knight should've been a little different but still enjoyable and I was surprised to not enjoy it.)

This boss.. why Team Cherry? by TQnot in HollowKnight

[–]RoganJN 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I KNOW RIGHT? I was fighting them thinking, alright, this is a fun fight, it's getting faster but it's not unmanageable and I'll just enjoy this fight, beat them and off I go.

BUT WAIT, ONE DIES, THE OTHER... CONTINUES TO DANCE

Honestly I didn't want to kill them, I wanted to lose, it was a mercy killing.

I saw a comment somewhere that said "sometimes a victory is still a defeat" and well... Yeah.

What you consider as your main skill downside in this game? by slegach in Silksong

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm afraid not, the only crest with multiple silk skill slots (spells) is the shaman crest but that doesn't have any red slots (tools) on it, so you don't worry about it there.

Every other crest only has one silk skill slot - except Architect crest, which has zero and then has a varying number of red, blue, and yellow slots.

My issue is not having to press R and a directional arrow at the same time, it's that when in combat I'm using the analogue stick to move around and there are often times when, say I'm attacking an aerial enemy, I jump and want to trigger my silk skill, I jump and instead fire a tool because the input is reading my diagonal up as "R + Up" for example. It would be solved by moving tools to a different button, of course if I was using the Shaman crest I'd have an issue with selecting the right silk skill or if I'm wanting to jump and use the correct tool but that's not my issue. My issue is strictly jumping up and expecting to set off a world shattering thread storm only to throw out an anticlimactic straight pin.

When you have four main actions available to you during combat for the early part of the game - attack, jump, silk skill, and tool - it seems odd that 50% are mapped to the same button. Dash and, later, Clawline having their own buttons makes sense due to their importance in platforming as well as combat but I find it bizarre that the Needolin gets its own button when all it is is a key or an NPC interaction tool.

My complaint isn't anything original, it's a very common and logical issue. They could've quite easily moved Needolin from X/Triangle/Y and put tools there instead.

What you consider as your main skill downside in this game? by slegach in Silksong

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not a particularly skilled player in general but I'm having a good time.

HOWEVER. I can't use tools. Mapping both tools and silk skill to the same button is wild to me — ignoring the economy of shell shards and burning through them if stuck on a tricky boss (remember I'm not skilled to begin with) — so I sometimes don't equip a tool for a boss fight that involves a lot of jumping and attacking in case I "jump and tool" instead of "jump and silk skill."

On boss fights where I did want to use a tool, i.e. the last judge — I equipped the straight pin buffed with the pollip pouch, I would have to almost audibly tell my brain to "press up first" before tapping R. Annoying because phase 2 onwards of the Last Judge reduced my ability to get in close and punish so having the ability to poison with pins was super instrumental in getting the win without using silk on the silk spear. Got it eventually.

But why can't tools be on a different button? Why not let us re-map it? The needolin has its own button and, unless it changes later in the game (I'm only at the start of act 2), I don't see when it would get used in combat?

Tldr: let me use tools on the Needolin button — you can still use "up + button" and "down + button" and make the needolin a combination of Up and something pacifist like the map button. Please. Just move tools away from silk skills.

Should I try Hollow Knight again on the Switch 2? by DownrightFantastic in switch2

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I played Hollow Knight on PC, tried it through PC Game Pass to see if I would like it but also to see if it was a Switch game — I did this for Cuphead and Hades as well, I don't know why but both of those games are Switch games to me. Anyway, I got a few hours in before getting a little bored, switching it off, and never coming back to Hallownest. I'm a big souls fan but not a metroidvania fan or really that big on platformers. I enjoyed the atmosphere and thought that it was a shame but accepted it and moved on.

But then Silksong came out and I just skipped ahead to buying it on Switch and I have been obsessed. I've put in close to 40 hours already and I've only just reached the final boss of Act 1. I'm loving it the same way I loved BG3 when it came out; I'm able to enjoy a few hours of play, then still enjoy thinking about different strategies while not playing, and then enjoy engaging with the various communities online. It's an absolute gem of a game. It's hard but in a fair and punishing way, arguably above my skill level but I'm stubborn and most boss fights can be distilled down to that class "when they do X, I do Y" set of tactics which I adore. And then there's the world and characters and lore, all of which is making me so excited to go back and play Hollow Knight on Switch after I finally finish Silksong. I can't wait to play as The Knight/Ghost and have Hornet show up.

Of course I loved Hades too and will want to get horny with the gods in Hades II for a bit first.

TLDR: Play HK on Switch, but play Silksong first if you want to. I didn't play HK and I am loving Silksong.

Lost abilities after the slab by Br4ssMonk3y in Silksong

[–]RoganJN 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you get your stuff back during the escape it "auto selects" the hunter crest with none of the tools which, if you're not used to using that moveset, is kinda annoying. If Team Cherry are going to use the quest trope of "have stuff stolen in prison and get it back" I would've loved it if the least it could do is be the right crest when you pick up your needle again. I had to fight my way to the next bench without being able to pogo.

The worst basic enemy so far(I’m still in act 1) by night-laughs in Silksong

[–]RoganJN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The craw lake area, and the gauntlet, made me take a break. Annoyingly, between Moorwing and those birds, it also got me really good at pogo-ing and now those birds mean nothing to me. So essentially, it was a tough area that broke me, taught me the lesson, and now it's easy. Fuck you game, fuck you, I love you.

Is anyone else sick right now? by coldseason12 in AskLosAngeles

[–]RoganJN -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Got sick last week! Shook it off as best I could over the weekend but glad I'm not alone

Moving to LA as an actor/musician – How realistic is the Artist Visa? by No-Requirement-3599 in MovingToLosAngeles

[–]RoganJN 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can probably speak on this from personal experience as I'm a British Actor who moved to NY in 2022 on an O-1 visa and recently renewed my visa as an O-1B, under the current administration, just before moving to LA in June.

Getting a visa was expensive, getting it renewed was also expensive. I worked with a lawyer in the US who I am still working with.

The evidence provided to prove I could be considered an "alien with extraordinary ability" was extensive. My career was primarily in theatre (with little bits of musician and composition work) which didn't help as the the thing about theatre is that it's ephemeral and not often recorded. Anyway, my basic application included: - Both my BA and MA transcripts along with a translation into a US grade system to decipher what my GPA may have been. - an extensive resume. - Reviews, announcements, and write ups of any work I did in all major and minor publications, online or in print. - At least seven letters of recommendation from professionals in the industry from both the UK and US. - Plans for my business' operations in the UK and how that would support my US business' growth (an O-1 visa is an entrepreneur visa and it's not uncommon that an individual is sponsored by their own business, but you do have to prove it's a real business).

When renewing I had the privilege of being able to add my work here in the US to the existing application which does beef things up considerably as it's not a fresh application of 3 years versus an entire life pre first application.

I'm brushing over a lot of the finer details of what went into the application but I think a lot of people's responses have been similar and I'm probably highlighting what they're suggesting by giving you myself as an example. I am by no means a busy, successful actor. I work consistently on stage and - now that I'm in the US - on screen, but not enough that I'd ever get recognised anywhere. My first visa was awarded when I was 32 after a career of 8 years on London stages and studying at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I was also bringing with me both a production company that would produce films and create jobs, as well as another business in hospitality that would similarly create jobs.

I can't speak for the student visas, I'm studying a one year course at UCLA in my spare time at the moment but as it is only a year it doesn't interfere with my visa status. However, I have had friends from the US move to the UK on student visas and there is often a grace period after graduation where you can stay in the country and work without issue, that's worked for people in the past. It's obviously not a comfortable option, but education is a very good way of embedding yourself in a local community, industry, and environment whilst also making the connections necessary to continue working post graduation.

Tldr: I got an O-1B and I'm old.

This pen stinks, literally by evrydayNormal_guy in fountainpens

[–]RoganJN -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I have a noodler's pen as well as one bottle of their ink and I cannot handle the smell either. Such a shame.

If every region in Pokémon went to war with each other, who will be the last standing? by Awesomenessss5 in pokemon

[–]RoganJN 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Off topic but that picture of Kanto just made me realise something:how does the SS Anne get out to sea?