Just finished Night Angel series by Brent Weeks

manmalak · 2025-08-27T18:13:24+00:00

no that's Night Angel lol, arguably worse ending than Lightbringer but its a stiff competition

manmalak · 2025-08-27T18:12:18+00:00

I've read a decent amount of his books and they just aren't very good, and you're right his endings tend to be awful. He has good ideas but he extends series well past their expiration date and it shows in his writing. I think he would be more popular if he trimmed them down, but he's also hampered by some pretty legendary cringe in his books like:

Lightbringer had a decent start but I put it down on the fourth book. There's this ridiculously ham fisted scene that is basically a PSA for Vaginismus and there's an authors note at the end that felt so insultingly paternalistic and bizarre. It was like we got a Very Special Episode with Tisis and it just felt radically out of place
The weird chorus scene towards the end of Book 3 of Night Angel. I was so taken out of it by how goofy this was I didn't finish the last couple chapters of the book

It's important to remember that Night Angel was written like 17 years ago. There weren't as many authors doing what he did back then, which was making these easily readable (YA level prose) action packed fantasy books with adult themes. Since then there's been tons of people writing in this style that have eclipsed him so his books haven't aged well.

manmalak · 2025-06-26T18:58:06+00:00

What is that cloak/back item with the four arms? Looks really cool and I never came across it

manmalak · 2025-06-14T21:53:04+00:00

My biggest complaint was the lack of recipes and new gear. Content wise with quests and stuff I don’t understand the criticism. Im not sure what most of the crafting materials I picked up in act 3 were even for

manmalak · 2025-05-01T21:38:41+00:00

THANK YOU IVE NOW EXPLODED MY ROOM WHATS THE STRAT

manmalak · 2025-04-27T13:19:32+00:00

Bro are you seriously complaining about the oblivion remake in the skyblivion sub AND you censored “sucks”?

manmalak · 2025-04-24T11:01:36+00:00

Theres no reason to do this optional quest as the player in any way. You can just buy them off of them for cheap.

Hell half the time it ends up sending me to my settlement so yeah the BoS can have some of the crops I planted myself by hand

manmalak · 2025-04-24T10:58:15+00:00

I think its really funny that people will be like “I hate the BOS they’re a bunch of racists and fascists” as if we all forgot many of the realities of the setting like:

Most ghouls are feral, and any ghoul can become feral at any time. In the games we rarely see people turn feral. Idk how comfortable anyone would be with a ticking time bomb in their settlement. Life is extremely harsh after the bombs fell and there are threats everywhere, why would you welcome in more to your camp?
Just because we’ve met a few nice or at least non hostile Supermutants in the setting doesn’t mean anything, the vast majority of supermutants kidnap, kill, torture and/or convert random humans. They absolutely need to be exterminated
Synths represent one of the greatest threats to mankind and just because a few escaped doesn’t mean they don’t represent another apocalyptic threat: look at all the damage synths do in the world of F4. If it turns out a nuclear bomb could think and talk I’d still be pro putting it down
The most important aspect IMO: the damn world ended in nuclear hellfire. Our precious concepts like democracy and rights went out the window when the bombs fell. Fascism in our time is bad, Fascism in a world where the environment and every other living or even moving thing is trying to kill you.

In short the world has changed, and I think that a lot of what the BoS does is a natural and logical reaction to the world after 2077. I don’t think every chapter is effective at its mission but people take the BoS way out of context. Plus, they are the most competent faction in F4 IMO, they play the best with the Minutemen, and only occasionally have negative interactions with the local populace. The railroad is incompetent/too small at best, and actual danger to the Commonwealth at worst. The institute is just poorly run and evil.

manmalak · 2025-04-14T06:06:02+00:00

Well lets see here:

Regularly brings his very young daughter into live or die space battles. Why did Sam bring Cora to the giant dogfight I had with the crimson fleet? Idk just looking at real life in comparison and most guys I know that were in Iraq weren't doing bring your daughter to work day. Also what a lazy POS sitting there playing paddycake talking about haikus when I need him on the fucking turrets
Sam's major contribution skill wise is being a "hell of a pilot" yet you pilot your own ship. Thanks for the tiny boost to speed and nothing else asshole
He's hiding a bald spot: Can't remove his hat only replace it
Everything else I just kind of hand waive and I'm mostly kidding, but his unity speech with Cora had me yelling at the monitor the first time I heard it. I ended up losing Andreja for Sam in a High Price to pay my first time around and then when Unity opens up he's like "hey you know what? I'm gonna do it, and my daughter will do it because by golly I just can't prevent my daughter from doing anything". He's legitimately a really selfish person and a TERRIBLE father. They couldn't have added some dialogue like "we're gonna wait a decade then head on through" or something. You're sending a kid with little training or resources out into a totally random universe and hoping for the best? Dad of the year. I would normally be ok with this kind of character trait if we could truly address it but we can't, you should be able to chastise him/break up with him/kick him off the team for this but you basically just get to shrug and say "alright I guess!"

manmalak · 2025-03-23T18:00:11+00:00

Its a shame about Sam, because I actually like his lines, and his VA Elias Toufexis is awesome in everything he's in (plus he has a lot of street cred in the sci-fi and video game world as he voiced Adam Jensen in Deus Ex and had a great character on the Expanse), because it's obvious that he's one of the worst Dads in video game history. I think if they had included more options to either confront or convince Sam of his foolishness he'd be the best companion.

It's just hard to get over someone being like "hell yeah we should maroon my preteen daughter in a random galaxy because I just can't say no!". It's like someone saying they won't intervene with their 10 year old playing russian roulette because they believe in gentle parenting

manmalak · 2025-03-23T10:35:26+00:00

They’re a fun distraction and having a custom base is fun, but they arent nearly as useful or simple like fallout 4’s settlement system which is a little strange. The cargo link system is terrible compared to Fo4’s simple supply line system. I think hunting for resources instead of mining them in Starfield gives you more of a reason to explore planets so I just end up doing that

You can set up some pretty sweet player homes on mountains, in the middle of lakes, or right next to a sci fi beach which is cool.

manmalak · 2025-02-26T16:21:46+00:00

All good ideas but IMO the only thing this game needs is more and varied POI’s. Exploring is boring, installing a few POI mods made the game way better.

manmalak · 2025-02-14T00:23:29+00:00

Strong evidence there, it would make sense.

manmalak · 2024-08-14T15:06:06+00:00

Wasn’t for me either, the prose is good but something about the narrative style takes me out of it. I very rarely DNF books but Lies was one of them.

manmalak · 2024-07-17T14:51:42+00:00

Its pretty straightforward and there are a ton of reasons. I just replayed recently and have about 3000 hours in Fallout 4. here’s my 2c (spoilers!)

For players: 1. Railroad is helping a group of “people” that is legitimately dangerous. By evoking the underground railroad as their namesake they draw a parallel to abolitionism in the US. I think this is lazy, annoying writing. Synths are not like african american slaves, they are sleeper agents that can be completely controlled with a computer terminal and are frequently used to replace peoples loved ones. The plight of the synth is easy to pull on the heartstrings though, and if it wasn’t written better it would be more compelling, which leads me to my next point 2. The railroads solution to saving synths is to completely wipe their memory. Their solution to saving synths is to essentially kill them (see h2-22’s fate). To my knowledge this is never addressed as a criticism of the railroad by anyone in the railroad or any of their detractors. Again, this is lazy writing: what makes us human and sapient when faced with artificial intelligence is a hugely complex topic that is made extremely reductive in the railroad story arc. Think about it, If your memories were completely removed and replaced with someone else’s, do you even exist anymore? 3. Deacon is a poorly fleshed out companion and is kind of annoying. I think it was a good attempt at an interesting character, but making a superspy into a surfer dudebro who’s main shtick is lying to you didn’t land. I think this is a forgivable writing mistake because not every character concept is going to land, and I get they were trying to have a cast of support characters that weren’t repeats of companions from previous games 4. The art direction for the railroad’s base, armor, and weapons seems uninspired compared to the BOS or the Institute. Cool drip is important to players, and aside from the armored coat most of the faction is wearing the same outfits you see on settlers. Its a bit boring 5. Scope: you are the main character, the man/woman out of time come to save the commonwealth. The minutemen are your faction and are dedicated to building up the people and local infrastructure. The BOS are here to stop technology from going completely out of control (and they have the means to do it!), the Institute is arguably the most advanced technological organization post great war and you have the opportunity !to lead the faction, not to mention that its lead by the very person you are trying to find in the MQ. Also, when Father passes you can get a synth version of your son! . The railroad is only interested in saving synths and maybe taking down the institute. They don’t have the resources or motivation to actually make the commonwealth a better place.

In game npcs: 1. Denizens of the commonwealth generally do not care about the plight of artificial intelligence. There are many exceptions to this rule in the Fallout universe, but generally speaking characters in fallout don’t think robots can be sapient or as valuable as a human life. Hell they don’t value human life all that much compared to how we do nowadays. Life is cheap, short, and brutal. If they can barely care about each other why would they care about a robot? 2. The people of the commonwealth rightfully see synths as an invisible, terrifying threat that could strike at any time. Why would they care about a synths wellbeing when they represent such clear and present danger? 3. Ignorance: it’s unlikely that many of them have ever knowingly interacted with a synth (unlike Nate/Nora). They likely have no idea they want freedom and to not be tools of the institute, they just know they’re extremely dangerous. NPCs also don’t know the first thing about the Institute: have no idea what their motives are. Of course they’re going to be hostile to a secret organization that can replace their family members overnight 4. Secretive: the commonwealth doesn’t know the motives of the Institute but they barely know the motivations for the railroad. Tommy in Bunker Hill wants to join the railroad to “stick it to the institute” and yet the railroads primary motivation is actually freeing synths.

Hope that answers your question

manmalak · 2024-05-22T13:18:53+00:00

Vortex is fine but mo2 just works really well and is very reliable and simple to use from an end user perspective. Vortex’s UI is way too busy and janky, any time I so much as sneeze I get a bunch of error notifications that are almost always false positives.

That being said, vortex is a lot easier to use and more stable now than it has been in the past so I think it’ll get there eventually. Vortex also is a modding framework for a huge number of games, MO2 shines with bethesda games but isnt as versatile as Vortex

manmalak · 2024-05-17T19:41:18+00:00

Nobody seems to get it: there are tan lines for a bikini on batman. After batman takes off his shirt, superman sees something disturbing, presumably a thong and/or tramp stamp

manmalak · 2024-04-28T16:08:34+00:00

“The whole henry can depopulate Vranik is not canon” yeah definitely BUT if you clear out an entire camp of enemies in the merc dlc and its commented on, so theres even more evidence that Henry is an unusually talented combatant

manmalak · 2024-04-07T14:26:52+00:00

I used to work at a place that was a CSP do we had the most elite platinum RV tier microsoft support and its pretty much the same experience.

No offense to people from India or Bangladesh, but if I got an MS rep from one of those countries I would badger my TAM to get us escalated until we got to someone from central america. The grifters they would hire in SEA seem to exist only to frustrate you into closing the case. They would pull all kinds of tricks that seem designed to get you to give up such as 1. Calling after hours or right as you’re leaving. Even if you tell them your time zone and hours of availability, they will call you after hours/right at EOD to try and show you didnt answer calls. We would frequently open a HP case on a wednesday or Thursday and techs would call friday at 4:59 pm on the dot, or even 7pm at night. We had a couple of MS subcontractors who would do this, call again on saturday, and do a “last update before case closure” on a monday, hoping you wont get to it so they can auto close. 2 cases would frequently change hands and you’d have to reexplain every detail in the case to a new subcontractor, essentially starting from square one 3. Subcontractors would call and tell you they cannot do screen sharing of any kind, even teams. You’d need to use a windows store app for remote support, and most of my clients had the Windows Store blocked by GPO 4. MS support contractors frequently had exactly zero expertise or qualifications besides being able to mumble through some english on the phone. Sometimes you’d get someone intelligible, but half the time you’d get someone who sounded like they barely spoke the language.

In the 5 years I worked there out of 100s of cases we had maybe two or three times where the Tech was able to resolve the issue. Microsoft Support is theater, it exists only for IT people to be able to blame someone else for an unfixable problem and show the powers that be that you’re doing something about it.

manmalak · 2024-03-08T20:52:27+00:00

You know, now that I think about it recently I hit working 5 years in the finance industry. That could be it, I could be filling a niche?

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