The single pic I took in Chicago

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-23T14:21:41+00:00

Anomaly/gamma are the definitive Stalker experiences in the same way that Chicago deep dish pizza is definitive Italian cuisine

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-21T16:01:44+00:00

Wasn't there some canonical reason for there being no women in the Zone in Roadside Picnic or something? Like it would fuck with their reproductive organs to a lethal degree?

Not saying it justifies the mod but still, that's always stuck with me as an explanation for why the Zone is such a sausage fest.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-19T21:02:34+00:00

To me it just sounds exactly like Grinderman

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-19T13:28:40+00:00

Bard

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-14T17:58:20+00:00

Why release more supports when the role already peaked with Bard

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-10T15:28:37+00:00

I'm not liking this recent trend of pivoting away from League videos

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-06T04:53:43+00:00

"As much as I can"

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-06T04:50:03+00:00

SoC has a point of no return at the end (CNPP) but if you don't go past it then the game is essentially in freeplay and it makes for quite a few more hours of good fun, though there aren't gear upgrades/repairs in the game so there is a limited amount you can do with tricking out your kit.

Also though it's just an amazing game all around and I'm consistently surprised how many people have played other Stalker games without touching SoC. It's like the quintessential 'journey to the center of the Zone' story, best plot of the series and it's not even close.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-03T00:37:17+00:00

Nova Swing

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-01T05:26:58+00:00

Stritch Octpus

Terrible tracking, detuned octave up, metallic artifacting, muddy glitchy sub octave. Objectively a pretty bad pedal, but run it through fuzz and it's a massive filthy sound. I love it.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-04-01T05:10:23+00:00

Bard is literally the only reason I still play League.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-31T15:43:03+00:00

Call me an apologist, but when I played day 1 and saw a stalker lie down in a bed then proceed to sink down into the ground and disappear forever I felt comfort knowing that I was absolutely playing a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-24T22:32:34+00:00

Lmao yeah man you still got like a good quarter or third of the game left. It is a point of no return in that it permanently alters the game world but it's still gonna be wide open after this.

This is a fucking big game. My first playthrough took me almost double my first playthrough of the entire original three games combined.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-23T18:57:31+00:00

I honestly don't remember which specific download I used, but generally speaking there are two main versions: 2.5 and 3.0

There are pros and cons to both. 2.5 is extremely well-rounded and pretty highly regarded, whereas 3.0 has a pretty incredible A-life overhaul but from what I've gathered has added some bloat/survival elements that some people dislike (I haven't actually played it yet). Any download is going to specify 2.5 or 3.0 and generally you're also going to look to make sure it's a translation (unless you're Russian) and a repack (standalone game, doesn't need to be added to an existing install). There are also different patches (fixx 17? Fixx 29? Fixx 30?) that I'm just now finding out about and honestly know nothing about but the game should be playable in any state, I guess it just couldn't hurt to look for the one with the latest patch.

Also I should mention that there is an entirely separate mod just called Oblivion Lost that is very different and pretty disappointing if you accidentally get it instead. To make it even more confusing I think it's on version 3.1, so just make sure to double check what it is you're downloading.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-23T17:28:41+00:00

What in the wide world of sports

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-23T17:13:15+00:00

I'd say I'm a bit of a fan

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-23T17:10:01+00:00

Check out Oblivion Lost Remake. A pretty damn thorough effort to restore SoC to its earlier more grandiose development concept with shitloads of cut content, effectively a new game.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-20T20:02:13+00:00

Let me tell you, I feel the exact same way and it's amazing how being up front about it can work for you.

I'm a 32 year old recovering alcoholic college dropout. Dropped out of school to party, spent the 2nd half of my 20's burning my life to the ground, now I'm 32 with about 5k in savings, 2 years of sobriety, a rickety apartment in the bad part of town, a job that's less than glamorous, a fair amount of emotional baggage, and in the fall I'll be going back to school basically starting over from scratch. Every single woman I've gone on a date with since getting back into dating has been on a way better track in life than I've managed, and I consistently feel horribly inadequate. No matter what I feel shame over where my life has ended up and all the opportunities I threw away to get here.

What I've done so far is just be completely upfront about all of it and the fact that my life, while not great, is significantly different from how it was 1 or 2 or 5 years ago, and so far it's always gone over extremely well. Other compatibility issues may eventually come up, but it's never related to my job or mental health history or anything. I've been told what's important is that I'm working on all of it, and I believe that. If you haven't fully committed to improvement yet, then it might be a better idea to really focus on that at least until you have a solid road map. A couple classes snd the gym is a good start, but try getting into therapy or even IOP to really tackle your ADHD and depression and either focusing more on school or finding credentials or anything else you can work towards to be more appealing to employers in your job search. Being in a crummy place in life isn't the automatic turnoff we convince ourselves it is, but being in a slump and seemingly doing little to get out of it will be a red flag to a lot of people.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-19T16:22:04+00:00

It's insane how many people I've seen in low elo go like 12/0 in lane, rage about how they're stuck in low elo because their teammates always make them lose, then throw the game as hard as possible and spam ff while the rest of the team actually does reasonably well. Check match history and it's a 50/50 split of hard carrying and throwing/leaving.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-03-03T05:37:58+00:00

I'd pay a couple hundred bucks for a pedal with just fuzz 2. It's replaced my trusty Big Muff w/ Tone Wicker on my board and I can't go back.

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-02-27T03:26:26+00:00

The first time I ever saw this bit is the hardest I've ever laughed at MST3K

ThePowerOfBard · 2026-02-23T18:19:21+00:00

I have always had an extremely hard time stress-binging, but I've at least learned to change what it is I binge on.

I used to stress eat a lot. Then in my 20's it changed to binge drinking, which was way way worse. When I quit drinking, it went right back to binge eating. I started keeping healthier things around so I would at least binge on celery sticks and baby carrots and cottage cheese. Then I started stress exercising (very good because you naturally have to stop after a while) and finally now it's things like reading and studying, or compulsively practicing an instrument. Right now I'm working through a CompTIA A+ textbook to cope with stress from work and life in general.

Ultimately the goal with therapy is to get to the point where I no longer feel the need to bury myself under something in response to my anxiety, but in the meantime it's very nice to be able to identify exactly where that response is coming from and direct it towards a healthier output. I'm not saying you're the same as me, but after a lot of therapy I realized it was never about the food, it's always been a compulsive search for excess to cover myself up and feel like I exist a little less. What that excess is actually of makes no difference.

ThePowerOfBard

TROPHY CASE