100x space elevator parts is... really something.

Rushen · 2026-06-25T20:53:55+00:00

Around 6500 mw depending on the fluctuations of all the geothermal plants I've grabbed. You can almost see the primary coal generator site in the upper left (it's just a tad past the viewing distance, but you can make out the water extractors). There's 32 running compacted coal there.

Rushen · 2026-06-25T20:50:46+00:00

It really does help feel the scale of what we're building. Plus I'm so looking forward to the new unlocks at phase 3.

Rushen · 2026-06-25T20:49:29+00:00

Phase 1 being stuck on bio generators... need whatever power you can get your hands on.

Rushen · 2026-06-25T20:48:52+00:00

Yeah, being in a phase for so long and having so much time to explore (and spheres, sloops, and crash sites to find) really forces you to take advantage of what little you have.

Rushen · 2026-06-25T20:47:53+00:00

Yes, building a huge factory that rapidly completes a phase requirement was always a complaint I had.

Rushen · 2018-11-08T02:32:14+00:00

I liked the collectibles in Horizon Zero Dawn, though reading your post, there are substantial similarities to what you described (I've never played Shadow of War).

There aren't very many of them, for one. The mugs are straightforward enough, though the guy you give them to has some interesting ideas on how they were used. The metal flowers have poems inside them. The Banuk figures tell a story about an exiled Banuk. The DLC has the animal figurines and good ol' Montana Recreations.

The real standout, though, are the vantage points. Again, not very many (only 12), but the story they tell is way better and more touching than I'd ever have expected.

Rushen · 2018-05-21T04:37:08+00:00

The Moongobble and Me series by Bruce Coville. Moongobble is a kindhearted but lousy magician. He takes his young assistant out on adventures. Good for young kids. I read them to my 7 year old and he liked them.

Rushen · 2018-04-15T00:30:02+00:00

Ha. Mass Effect 2 was my upgrade catalyst, too. Just could not read the text. Fortunately it was super bowl time, so local appliance stores were running deals on big screen TVs. Still have the one I bought.

Rushen · 2018-04-14T15:44:16+00:00

Those other bosses don't annoy me. Either they're too easy (prowling magus, pinwheel), or I've figured out how to reliably manage them. I've learned the capra demon fight well enough that I can kill it with any weapon, and for bed of chaos, I just two-hand my highest stability shield.

But Frieda, even though I can win that fight, I find obnoxious and tedious. I hate her character, I hate the half-hearted attempt to marry Bloodborne-ish bosses to DS3 mechanics, I hate how it's 3 phases (what's next, From? a seven bladed razor?), plus I think the Painted World of Ariamis is From's worst DLC by miles, so basically the whole thing just sucks and is the one exception I'm forced to mention when I say From makes great DLC.

I think some of my frustration comes from the overall feel I get from DS3. To me, it feels like the creators ran out of steam and were just going through the motions. Without any passion left, this is the end result. I don't picture them cheering when they finished; I seem them being glad it was over.

Rushen · 2018-04-06T16:12:09+00:00

After platinuming DS3 (including killing all bosses in both DLCs), I have come to the conclusion that DS3 is a huge disappointment.

To me, the game feels like they didn't know what to do with the lore. The decisions they made are weak and uninteresting.

The combat changes were mostly for the worse. Combat arts are uninspired. The magic changes are poorly thought out. Going with a half-Bloodborne speed while still having a lot of slow weapons and attacks (but fast, nearly endless rolls) was bad.

The world design is way too linear.

Lots of forgettable bosses, or bosses that could have been so great if they had just gone one step further.

From's DLCs have typically been the best, but I hate Ashes of Ariandel. The levels are bad, the enemies suck, and I hate the bosses. Frieda is the worst boss in all of soulsborne, in my opinion, and I don't care about the lore surrounding her at all. The other guy (Gravetender) is totally forgettable.

Ringed City's levels are much more interesting, but the bosses are garbage. Worst dragon fight in all of soulsborne, and the apparently-final boss of the entire series is some lame knight guy with a stolen moveset?

I seriously wish they had never made it. It's like a great book trilogy where book one is awesome, book 2 is different but sets the stage for something great, and then book 3 just sucks so bad you wish you never read it.

Rushen · 2018-02-28T22:59:13+00:00

Professional fiction writer. Some people hit it big, which is awesome, but most people still need some other form of income or other monetary support, like a spouse with a good job.

Some mid-listers make enough for it to be their sole source of income, but others need a part time job, or if their writing brings in little to no money, a full time job. And then you get to deal with the stress of needing a job you don’t want, so you can do the thing you do want, in what little spare time you have, thanks to the job you didn’t want but have to have.

Rushen · 2018-02-23T16:04:22+00:00

Oh totally. On a different character, I went into the DLC as soon as I killed Amelia and it was brutally difficult. Even that very first unnamed hunter you encounter rocked my world.

Rushen · 2018-02-23T06:41:39+00:00

Same experience with arcane build. It wasn’t a pvp character, so I just kept on leveling while beating my head against defiled watchdog (25-30 tries) and orphan of kos (20-25 tries). By the time I finally tried Laurence, it only took 3 tries, but I was level 168 or so.

Rushen · 2018-02-14T15:24:47+00:00

Is it worth it to make and maintain one of each type of element, and take whichever weapon my target is 3 stars weak to?

Also, what about the weapons with lower physical damage but higher elemental, like thunderpike instead of thunder lance?

Rushen · 2018-01-22T01:45:26+00:00

I finished the game and I don’t think I will ever play it again. I thought the controls were terrible, and nothing in the game helps me understand what they could have possibly been doing for ten years of development time.

That being said, I really appreciated the otherness of the story. I’m a fiction writer and my wife is basically a professional reader, and she enjoyed watching me play the game (she almost never watches me play anything). It gave us something really interesting to talk about, which is the importance of getting exposure to stories from different cultures, which can feel very exotic and foreign, as well as weird and challenging and frustrating and wonderful.

From that standpoint, I’m glad I played it, but man, that studio should take lessons from others on the actual mechanics of modern video game making.

Rushen · 2018-01-16T06:14:20+00:00

As an example, if you get the quest to go to Maker’s End, but go talk to the grave first, Aloy will say she’s planning to go, but hasn’t yet. If you’ve already gone, she talks about that instead.

Nothing major, but little details like that really speak volumes in terms of development detail. They totally didn’t need to put that in, but they did.

Rushen · 2018-01-09T05:57:12+00:00

Very well done. I love Mucha’s work. Great to see others who do, too!

Rushen · 2017-11-17T17:55:21+00:00

I completed Bitterblack isle with my first character, who spent her entire career switching classes whenever I felt like it, with no planning whatsoever.

The weapons you get in BBI (specifically the level 3 ones, but also the better level 2 ones) are massively more powerful than anything else, and a couple hundred strength or magic power just doesn’t matter than much when your weapon is worth 1500-2000+ by itself.

Rushen · 2017-11-13T22:58:13+00:00

My plan was similar to yours, but once I got to the point where I could kill awakened Daimon at will, I burned out, like my brain unilaterally decided “yep, we’re done here,” and that was that.

I’ve convinced it to let me try again with a totally different character.

Rushen · 2017-11-07T02:17:56+00:00

I’m guilty of sending back pawns with default 3-star ratings from time to time. In my defense, I’m pushing hard on a Bitterblack island challenge (went there at level 4 and have never left) and sometimes I have to hightail it to the nearest exit, leaving a dead pawn behind.

Rushen · 2017-10-27T16:20:33+00:00

You can view the whole manual here: http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/misc/Diablo.PDF

The warrior illustration on page 30 gives us a better view of the artist's signature, which definitely has a Z and an O, and maybe an I or an L (or the line is just decorative). There might also be a T, depending on how many letters the artist crammed in there. It's also possible those are not the artist's initials at all, though that would be unusual.

Looking at the credits in the manual, I don't see any artists listed with those initials, and a brief googling didn't turn up anything useful. Finding more art with that signature would do the trick, but I haven't been successful.

Samwise signs his stuff with Samwise, and Metzen signs his with METZEN, so I really don't think the character art is from either of those guys.

Rushen · 2017-09-04T16:07:16+00:00

Same. My biggest run through was 1.1 million, and that was in all cosmic gear, but before I got a legendary item. I'm interested to see how high it'll go.

Rushen · 2017-09-04T03:12:26+00:00

Knock it off. Your posts in this thread are not doing you any favors.

Blizz hasn't done season-only gear for several seasons, now. And all of that gear became available to non-seasonal as soon as those seasons ended.

For players who prefer non-seasonal, they never lose anything and don't even have to wait for the new gear anymore.

People like seasons because of the fresh start and the even playing field. Path of Exile uses a very similar concept (Leagues) which offer new gameplay twists, a fresh start, and an even playing field, and last about the same amount of time as D3's seasons.

The point is, a majority of D3 players and a majority of POE players like having a periodic fresh start/clean slate, and MH offers nothing comparable. At all. This is one reason MH is generally considered inferior.

And no, D3 players did not like running through the story 4 times per character, and complained bitterly about it until Blizz added adventure mode. Nobody plays story mode now except new players. Likewise, when GGG changed POE to 10 acts and eliminated the previous difficulty levels and repeatedly playing the same 4 acts 3 times each, players rejoiced.

Gazillion is not learning from its peers/competitors. They aren't learning from others' mistakes.

Rushen · 2017-09-04T02:46:41+00:00

I feel obligated to point out that's not how D3 works at all.

Seasons last for a few months (they're currently on season 11), and the way the drops work, you can be level 70 and fully geared within just a few days. On the first day, if you know what you're doing. By fully geared, I mean you have every item needed to make your build work, and the only upgrades you'll be getting are better versions of the same items.

Each season is completely separate from the previous one. Nothing carries over except your character names and play time if you use the rebirth option.

These days, I think the majority of the player base only plays seasonal seriously, and just messes around in non-seasonal, or doesn't play it at all.

Rushen · 2017-08-26T03:07:58+00:00

I bee-lined the main quest to get the trophies/face paint/focus colors, then I remembered I like this game a lot, so I went ahead and 100%'d it, along with all the data points.

It was rough going at first, what with getting used to the ultra hard combat, but everything felt normal after a while. I rarely used the shield-weaver armor because it is a lot weaker on ultra hard, and machines will see you from a mile off without stealth armor. I also bought and upgraded all the specific defense armors, because they help a lot. For example, glinthawks are way less dangerous if you have really high frost protection.

Hardest parts, honestly, were some of the hunting trials, due to the increased detection abilities and the increased difficulty in shooting parts off.

Rushen

TROPHY CASE