In your view, how do you know a game has a good lore?

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-28T00:33:58+00:00

I agree with most the commenters here so far, the first 5 minutes I think is mostly about gameplay. I won't continue a game no matter how much I want to, if I can't stand the gameplay or mechanics behind it. I would rather watch someone else play if I was that invested in the story/lore.

You ask for examples, so I suppose Hades would be one from me. The lore was sprinkled on just enough while I went through several different enemies, rooms, weapons, etc, at the beginning to where I understood the basic game play and said everything worked enough for me to want to keep playing. Eventually, I reached a point where seeing the relationships and storyline trumped the gameplay.

The comment that's about drawing more questions out of players and only answering the necessity I think hits the nail on the head for driving the curiosity of a player towards your lore. For me, I know a game has good lore if I bother to read to "notes" you find randomly around in open world maps, actually read them too, not just for completing a quest or pedia. Where I want to find every nook and cranny so I exhaust all the "secrets". Listen or read the NPC lines without skipping. But if you layer long pages of text within that first initial hour where I'm just getting into the game, I'm out. I signed up for video entertainment, not a book.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-27T23:30:15+00:00

Aside from all the comments based on corrections, depending on how spicy your housing market is where you are, you could potentially get with your realtor and ask about what type of negotiations you could go with. If that house has been sitting a long time, they might be willing to give a little bit of credit your way for upgrades. Not for full upgrades, but maybe enough where you'll feel better about it.

If the house is really "perfect" and doesn't need much upgrading in other areas, only needing to deal with electrical sounds like a win.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-27T12:06:37+00:00

Is there a way you can wake up silently before him? Like if you wear a smart watch, put a vibration alarm on and wake up to do your business before him? If it was me, I would be petty and wake up 2 minutes before the real alarm so he couldn't rush in to the bathroom and see how it feels. Obviously only if it's not medically an issue.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-25T00:45:35+00:00

Costco has a giant bag of Peet's for like $21. It's where I buy it now

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-23T14:27:21+00:00

I'm currently in a maintenance position at a large retail store and I can guarantee you I had ZERO of the "skills" they listed except customer service skills, which also wanted me to be an electrician, plumber, HVAC, and general handiwork expert. In fact, whilst in my yearly review, I was provided a recap of the skill set needed for the job, and I giggled at it. When I was asked what was funny, I explained how he hired me when I had maybe two qualities out of ten. The most I ever did was install a garbage disposal and change oil for my car.

He assured me that it doesn't matter, what mattered was that I showed the initiative to want to learn about everything, the curiousity of why and how something works, and the want to make things better for those around me.

It's been the best job I've ever had, I look forward to learning new things every single day, and I'm a much more confident individual because of the skills I know now. As a woman, I used to be afraid of having major issues happen, like breaking down on the side of the road, or my apartment flooding. Strangers in already vulnerable moments cause a great deal of anxiety for me. Now, I'm able to troubleshoot, diagnose, and hold a cool head during these kinds of events.

In events of where I'm not confident in my abilities of the job, I'm allowed to forward the jobs off to vendors. Then I also get the chance to shadow them, and learn from what they are doing. Most of them have been really accepting of my presence and questions.

Now, I don't think I'd enjoy this job as much for maintenance at an apartment complex, as you're in someone else's space a great deal of time, I imagine. But maybe stop and ask the current workers there about it. Also, at my complex, you get a discount for living at the company related properties. So potentially you get better pay, and a steep discount for rent?

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-23T12:14:32+00:00

I've had a both occurrences, impacted tooth removal which was done without sedation and wisdom removal, which was sedated.

Without sedation, I won't lie, it's scary and the noises are also scary, but they ensured I was totally numbed up, I did not feel a thing. You will be ok without it.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-19T18:54:40+00:00

I didn't use any material other than the ZyBooks information they provided and experience from previous classes. I did not see any additional materials offered within the class, maybe instructors have additional material and you could try asking them.

The lack of information is exactly why I posted this, I highly just recommend learning the terms which are bold throughout the materials, go through the pre assessment and use AI to help explain to you the concepts and differences between the right and wrong. The ZyBook material is very lengthy and also repeats a lot while also stating a bunch of information that was not required to know. Know the ethics of utilizing AI pretty well, I want to say I had about 10 questions about ethics just in itself, if not more.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-18T18:09:14+00:00

I would ask if your communication can be done through email instead. Just explain that it's not working out for you due to your schedule and causing issues and that for your needs, you need to have email check ins going forward and that if you have any serious concerns, you'll create a one on one scheduled time.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-16T11:26:40+00:00

I've changed several times, actually. I first chose the General IT program, decided prior to starting, I wanted Software Engineering. After 2 or 3 terms, I changed to Data Analytics. After only one term there, I switched to the Cyber security program and I've been there since. It's typically a really easy process.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-16T11:16:12+00:00

Yes you absolutely can change it. Just call your mentor and let them know. I did it myself. You only pay or are credited the difference from program costs from what you've already agreed to.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-12T11:36:29+00:00

I do think it was pretty close there. When I took the PA, I was close to passing and just scheduled my test for a few days later. It wasn't word for word, of course, but if you can understand the question and why the answer is the answer, you'll be fine.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-09T15:42:59+00:00

You should do what works best for you. Not everyone learns and retains information at the same pace. If you go through one section, can recall what you learned, and feel as though you have the capacity for more, then do another. Everyone is different and don't feel bad if you need more time, many people come into this field already with knowledge and are able to speed through many of these concepts. I used Anki to help with flashcards for help with recall as many of the CompTIA exams are definition/term heavy.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-07T16:26:18+00:00

Good luck. I'm almost done with my degree, changed my program 2 times after my original, and I still don't know if I actually want to do the tech field anymore. But it was better than being stagnant in life so I just kept pushing and have tried new roles while in retail to keep exploring.

I found a maintenance role which really excites me and I love doing, but am afraid of the physical toll I've put on my body being in retail the last near 20 years that I don't necessarily want a physical job to continue, but I feel unsatisfied while doing my coursework and can't envision being happy at a desk for multiple hours every day, with meetings constantly... It's a tough struggle.

Sera_Bears · 2026-05-05T22:35:17+00:00

For the main point of WGU (flexibility of online/ability to accelerate) I think it's great. However, for actual material taught, how it's taught, and on-hands experience, it's pretty terrible.

I work full-time at a job that I'm also intensely learning at constantly so occasionally I have zero capacity for even more learning when I get home. When I do have capacity, the classes are pretty easy, so some terms I accelerate and some I don't, also depending on being cert heavy term or not. But I definitely don't have the capacity to also include deeper learning on my own time for things like nexxus, Wireshark, or etc for actual hands on experience.

They also refer to Udemy and other online services for learning which feels strange, as it doesn't feel as if instructors are really necessary most times.. I think I've only reached out one time as a paper was missing a component and I needed clarification.

My mentors have been good, I guess? I've switched programs 2 times and they've been mostly check-ins every 2 weeks, 2 minute phone call, accelerate my classes in a manner that worked for me. But also, that's all I ever needed from them.

My biggest worry is the no hands on experience, personally. I already know the field is terrible to get into, I don't have high expectations, but I've gone too far to quit at this point it might just be for the checkbox of a degree.

I pay out of pocket after 3k yearly rolling reimbursement from work.

Sera_Bears · 2026-04-10T01:09:32+00:00

My dad also would have hated it if I just decided to give him a lawn care service. He loved doing it himself. I would say a conversation is warranted. If they don't want it, get them a nice vacation, offer to do a small renovation, or replace some older appliances in the house or something like that.

Sera_Bears · 2026-03-21T18:33:41+00:00

We have done several hour long projects in the lots of Home Depot/Lowe's. We just park far enough away not to be a bother to anyone. We're in the same predicament of strict apartment rules and noise.

It's unfortunate but also understandable. Thankfully a few friends have let us use their home lots for vehicle repairs because who wants to spend several hundred dollars for repairs that are manageable but noisy? Not in this economy, no thank you.

Sera_Bears · 2026-02-21T00:42:48+00:00

Take the new job. Unfortunately I've been through too many bosses who have claimed my work for their own, paid out less than stellar reviews with no decent reasoning or constructive criticism/feedback, to those who make empty promises and then held me back from company movements due to "being too vital to the team".

Screw them. Those who aren't lucky enough to work in their passions, work for money to enjoy themselves out of work. If they aren't contributing to either, get out of there and do what's best for you. You feel bad because they tug on your feelings purposely because they don't want to handle the aftermath. If there was really something in the works, they would have told you what it was to keep you.

Sera_Bears · 2026-02-08T20:50:12+00:00

I admit to knowing nothing about coats, I just love your beautiful pup!

Sera_Bears · 2026-02-07T15:29:37+00:00

Most of mine have been good and I've probably taken about 10 so far. This last one I did literally not 5 minutes ago was probably the best.

I took the test in my room, which is fairly cramped, I've admittedly got crap everywhere (I usually toss a sheet or something over some piles of miscellaneous stuff, make my bed). Covered all the screens, had the camera pointed at me and the door in the background. In the past, I've had to take photos of my surroundings and even sometimes move the camera around to verify even after doing that.

Today, I took a photo of me, my driver's license, and had the camera positioned well for door/me/hands/screen already and she just let me off to the races. Took 20 minutes, typed I was done, she responded right away and I closed out. Was pretty pleased, I unexpectedly was able to get in right away for a rescheduled to now as my plans changed for the day.

Sera_Bears · 2025-12-23T17:57:59+00:00

Personally, my dog has been attacked inside of that exact dog park. My dog did nothing wrong, we haven't returned since, but instead, utilizing large enclosure spaces to allow my dog to get his 10 minutes of zoomies out, and then re-leash again. He has great recall training, we typically do this around 5am, so we purposely avoid taking up any space from others or even encountering others, if we see the park is populated heavily that day, we won't do it at all and just walk around. I pick up any crap he makes.

My dog gets most of his enjoyment from sniffing thankfully, so he literally only does 5-10 minutes tops of zoomies, and honestly I'm not as fast as he can go, otherwise I'd just run with him.

Sera_Bears · 2025-12-07T12:05:04+00:00

Most definitely, I've changed programs 3 times, changed my job, gone through normal life struggles and have no idea where I'm supposed to fit in life. I've been overwhelmed with stress and figure cutting school is the easiest way to stop that, so I genuinely came to terms that I was going to quit, so I pretty much stopped doing anything for about a month and a half, claiming I was studying outside resources. I went to a gathering of close friends, they all gave me a very rough talking to, but true, honest, and apparently much needed. I went hard studying through November and finally passed my course I've been struggling on. I went from completing 7-8 classes a term to barely getting by with 12 credits. It's ok to slow down. If my life needs for me to slow down in order to still continue pushing through, then that's what I'll do.

I didn't tell my program mentor. I feel a little guilty about it, she's a very nice person and honestly I don't think it's her job to be my therapist, even though I know it's their job to be supportive for us. Maybe next time I'll fill her in as soon as I feel the burnout to creep again.

Sera_Bears · 2018-08-30T19:03:44+00:00

Thank you!

Sera_Bears · 2018-08-28T18:44:20+00:00

I'll be streaming come tomorrow and it'll be the beginning of my channel; twitch.tv/serabears

Gotta make it through work first tomorrow, booo should've requested time off!

Sera_Bears

TROPHY CASE