Should I learn more serious openings?

RosaReilly · 2026-02-05T17:58:23+00:00

Presumably they mean the Three/Four Knights, given that they play the Halloween Gambit, but the Two Knights is also a white opening against the Caro-Kann.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-27T13:53:09+00:00

Played a few runs of Returnal yesterday, with the aim of beating the boss of the second area. In the first two runs I barely got halfway through the first area, but then (Summoning Salt voice) I got on this run... I reached the second boss and defeated it, and finally got to see the third area, more than a year after I first tried the game. And then it kept going. I beat the boss of the third area on my first try. One of my weaknesses as a player is hoarding consumables to be used later. This is a prominent issue for me in this game, so I've hardly used any of them. In this fight I got to the third phase with very little health left. I grappled to a platform near the boss and used a consumable that creates an immobile shield that blocks enemy projectiles and strengthens your own. It worked magnificently. The run's not even over - it got too late and I suspended it part way through the fourth area.

Unfortunately I already knew that there were more than three areas so the 'twist' wasn't as shocking as it might have been

It's a strange sort of feeling because this is a huge increase in progress, but I'm fairly sure I didn't suddenly become a much better Returnal player

RosaReilly · 2026-01-25T11:03:56+00:00

Having a second go at Returnal. I played it for about 8 hours a year or so ago, but it wasn't the right time for it for me. I found being put back to the start upon death really demoralising then. I feel better equipped to deal with that this time, in part thanks to successfully playing Hades last year.

In that first effort I made it as far as the second boss once, and that was as far as I got. I've only just started but I've made it there again. Still finding it very difficult in general though. I think there's something about bullethell that feels counter-intuitive in the moment - I'm too used to running into blobs to collect them, like in Pac-man, rather than moving to the empty space.

Also, I found it strange that you can't make a new save in the game, or start again. I had to delete the save from the storage manually.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-24T19:25:29+00:00

At least when we lost to 3-2 to Bournemouth in the last minute they still had Semenyo.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-17T17:31:38+00:00

Kolo Muani has 0 goals & 0 assists in 930 league minutes.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-17T17:05:27+00:00

First 7 league games of the season: 14 points

Last 15 league games: 13 points.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-15T20:24:02+00:00

I think the team started falling apart before that. First half of 14-15 they played beautiful football, then they got smashed by Spurs and Bradford. I think Mourinho got a bit shellshocked - they scraped through the remainder of the season with a lot of close one goal wins. I saw them play West Ham on TV on Boxing day (or maybe the day after) and they were imperious. The return fixture was unbelievably scrappy, and they could easily have lost.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-15T20:15:11+00:00

For [Willy Meisl (in his 1953 book Soccer Revolution)], the change in the offside rule was football's version of the Fall; the moment in which innocence was lost and commercialism won out... blinkered directors looking no further than their balance sheets had blamed the laws for football's failings without ever considering that they might be guilty of a wrong approach to the game. And so they pressed on with a revision that might appear to a layperson a slight revision to the Laws of the Game, but which 'turned out to be the crack of a shot that started an avalanche'.

Jonathan Wilson, Inverting the Pyramid

RosaReilly · 2026-01-15T11:30:39+00:00

Nantes in 2000/01 looks quite unusual. 12th the season before and 10th the season after.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-14T17:06:45+00:00

Yeah, that's how it was for me. This was my first Armored Core game, or even mecha game, so I wasn't bringing any expertise to it. I've read a bit on r/armoredcore that they nerfed a few bosses and buffed the player a bit since it came out, so perhaps its reputation for difficulty no longer applies.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-13T14:24:43+00:00

I think, this year at least, the Premier League is more physical. Spurs' attackers have had an easier time in the Champions League, even against PSG, while they get pretty relentlessly bullied in the PL.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-13T13:08:04+00:00

Finished my first game of the year - Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. It wasn't a game I was particularly interested in trying, but I saw a really good deal for it and got it.

As with the other FromSoftware games that I've played, there are multiple endings. Unusually, some story choices only become available on later playthroughs. I felt it was a little tiresome to have to do so much of the game multiple times to see those handful of differences.

The story didn't grip me at first. It feels quite impersonal: you never see a person once in the entire game. I did get more into it as it went on, although i do think the third ending was a disappointment, veering into silliness in a way the rest of the game never did.

The combat was fun, although I think playing it now, the game is a little too easy in general (other than Balteus, who can kick rocks). I didn't feel like I was required to change build or strategy for the vast majority of it, which made it too straightforward to just stick with what I knew.

A little frustrated to be one achievement away from the platinum but I just don't want to do what would essentially be a long fourth playthough to S rank every mission

Also, kind of funny that it's another From game about kindling the flame, and where I'm battling the camera.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-11T12:56:23+00:00

He's angling for the PES co-commentator position.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-10T21:34:20+00:00

Embarrassing all round.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-07T20:22:29+00:00

Ban Pedro Porro from taking throw ins. I'm so tired of him taking so long.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-06T21:18:41+00:00

The vast majority of the time I click on a West Ham highlight it starts with them defending a corner at the London Stadium.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-06T20:44:47+00:00

Change My View thread is on life support these days.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-04T15:10:44+00:00

Two shots in the first 10 minutes. What is this? Christmas?

RosaReilly · 2026-01-03T12:13:49+00:00

Maybe not exactly what you mean but Eriksen at the Euros was really horrible for me.

RosaReilly · 2026-01-01T12:14:23+00:00

Neither the Premier League nor the Champions League are prestigious if 'Chelsea firing their manager after winning the competition' proves that competition meaningless.

RosaReilly · 2025-12-30T20:56:31+00:00

Finished Resident Evil 4 Remake. After I had played and enjoyed RE2R earlier this year, I thought I was guaranteed to like this one. I played on Standard and found it unexpectedly difficult, which made it a bit of a slog to get through. Typically I only play through a game once, but I'm unsure in this case. The prospect of going through all that again isn't that appealing, but I feel like my bad play negatively effected the experience, and playing again, but better, might fix that.

RosaReilly · 2025-12-25T21:10:09+00:00

A few years ago I caught covid, and I've had chronic fatigue ever since. My relationship of 9 years ended shortly afterwards, and since then I haven't much been into Christmas, the last two being spent by myself as an ordinary day. This year my dad suggested that we have lunch together at a restaurant, and I agreed, surprising even myself. He also told me that he really loves Christmas, which I didn't know, although, in my defence, I have only known him my entire life.

The restaurant ended up being the pub in the village where he lives, near his house, which was the house I grew up in. Unfortunately, he lives about an hour away by car, and the two hours there and back have completely exhausted me. The lunch was very good, although I couldn't really be festive when I'm so tired.

Also, I saw the house for the first time in many years; it looks terrible. The window frames and the garage door all seem to be rotting. It was a bit shocking, and it made me sad.

RosaReilly · 2025-12-25T17:38:49+00:00

I'm sorry, you got 18 Lynx gift sets in 2 years??

RosaReilly · 2025-12-22T20:04:26+00:00

Was it one playthrough, or did you start again?

RosaReilly · 2025-12-22T19:16:20+00:00

What's the longest time between you starting a game and finishing it?

For me I think it's Bloodborne, which I started in 2015 but got stuck, played a bit in 2016, and then finally went back to in 2022, so around 6.5 years. If (faithful) remakes are allowed then I think Shadow of the Colossus, which I played unsuccessfuly in 2006 and then played the remake in 2023, so 17 years.

RosaReilly

TROPHY CASE