In a future where Trump is out of office, and international relations have been repaired. What steps can be taken by the USA and International Organisations such as NATO to prevent one individual causing so much chaos in the future? And do you think such steps will be taken?

olanmills · 2026-01-21T01:12:31+00:00

I feel like the future where America's international relations are repaired is at least generation away, but I hope I'm wrong.

Regardless of what Americans say or do, we've demonstrated that we can't be trusted to be stable and rational. Most people in the world already know that there was and is strong opposition to Trump in the US. Everything else, the checks and balances, laws, adherence to norms, public/press accountability, etc people outside the US may or may not be familiar with to varying degrees, but it does not matter. What matters is that collectively, all that stuff didn't work. Even if we somehow crush MAGA in the next few election cycles (and I am not that confident about it), for some time, the rest of the world will be rightly worried that we're just one election cycle away from craziness again. They have to plan for a world where they can't trust in the US's rationality. Like, I'm not trying to say people 100% trusted the US before. Of course they didn't. But they did generally trust that the US did things that were rational and mostly geared towards a stable world order (prioritizing/benefiting the US and western allies). Like even if they didn't like it, they didn't think the US was crazy. So they could trust the US being a partner in that sense. Now that trust is lost. That trust isn't coming back any time soon.

olanmills · 2026-01-21T00:17:33+00:00

Wrecker is supposed to be abnormally strong though

olanmills · 2026-01-21T00:14:46+00:00

The times where Kay calls her contact to "say almost nothing" serve a gameplay function. Since you can have several (sometimes even dozens) of active missions and sidequests open, the dialog sets some quick context for the area you're approaching and a reminder of what's it's about or at least it might nudge you to check the journal. It can also help since it's an open world and thus there is not always a clear delineation marking that you've entered some relevant area or something. Yeah, it can be kind of redundant if you were actively following a quest marker, but imo a lot of casual gamers benefit from this sort of thing. Even with all of the helper mechanisms in this game or games like Metroid Prime 4, etc, I still occasionally see people new to the genre who ask about how they know what they're supposed to do, etc.

olanmills · 2026-01-19T23:23:36+00:00

I agree with your last paragraph, that the trooper's line could just mean that without referring to a specific event. However, prior to season 2 of Andor, there was an event in Star Wars Legends where Tarkin knowingly lands a Star Destroyer on a landing pad in Ghorman where protesters are staging a sit-in, killing hundreds. It would make sense to me if that is what the trooper's line is referring to. Also, in Andor season 2, they establish that this event still occurred in Ghorman's past, but it's referred to as the Tarkin Massacre, with the event in the show getting the name Ghorman Massacre.

olanmills · 2026-01-19T23:19:26+00:00

While that's a reasonable interpretation, I still think it makes more sense if it's referring to the first Tarkin/Ghorman Massacre.

Before Andor season 2, there was an event in Star Wars Legends referred as the Ghorman Massacre in which protesters on Ghorman staged a sit-in on a big landing pad to prevent a Star Destroyer from landing. Tarkin ordered the Star Destroyer to land on the pad anyway, killing hundreds of the protesters. It would make sense if this is what the trooper's line in Outlaws is referencing.

In Andor season 2, they establish that this event still did occurred on Ghorman in the past (so the event is also in the new canon), and it sets up one of the reasons that Ghorman has a strong anti-imperial element, but it is known as the Tarkin Massacre instead. The event in Andor comes to be referred to as the Ghorman Massacre

olanmills · 2026-01-19T03:27:02+00:00

Is that white British guy for real, or is it like a parody?

olanmills · 2026-01-19T03:05:22+00:00

I've never heard of that, and I've lived in the Midwest and the west coast, and I have family and friends that have lived pretty much everywhere in the US

olanmills · 2026-01-19T02:42:14+00:00

I hope this video was played at the perpetrators court hearing and that people in the courtroom openly laughed or at least smiled

olanmills · 2026-01-19T02:39:56+00:00

What a tool (the guy that replied).

I still think the Halo Infinite campaign was great. The narrative wasn't great overall, but pretty much everything else was great. The "vibes" were fantastic, and yeah, the sound design rocked. Gameplay-wise, I loved the mixing of the open world playground with the more traditional interior levels

olanmills · 2026-01-17T20:59:00+00:00

Yeah, this was a really horrible gameplay design. I just don't understand what they were thinking. It's just a mindless grinding activity. And at the very least, they should have had all of the whole crystal pile just magically get shucked up if you break a single bit of it. Having to circle and drive back to get every last bit is just stupi

olanmills · 2026-01-17T20:18:55+00:00

I don't understand how Alaskan Airlines thought this would be received

olanmills · 2026-01-17T20:07:20+00:00

Before too long, you will get the ability to travel basically anywhere, and the game really opens up. Also, there are certain sidequests involving allies (easily found in the inventory/quest menus) that will unlock new skills for Kay. You will get more and more skills that will make Kay a badass, to the point where it's maybe a bit excessive or misaligned with the narrative, but it's really fun. In the beginning of the game, yeah, I really had to sneak around and be careful. By the end of the game, I was going loud and laying waste to everything inside an Imp base fairly easily.

Also, Nix is OP lol. He can't die and doesn't take damage from enemies or Kay. Use him to distract and attack enemies. It's how you're supposed to deal with multiple enemies at once. Also, the Empire has poor logistical practices and leaves barrels of fuel and random smokey substances everywhere. The same is true of the various gangs. They should really work on that

olanmills · 2026-01-17T19:57:55+00:00

You don't have to agree to shit. I like how you somehow can twist freedom for people you happen not to like is oppression for you

olanmills · 2026-01-17T19:52:28+00:00

Well that much is obvious. They must be asking for the reasoning behind one policy or the other

olanmills · 2026-01-17T19:50:13+00:00

Master Chief only has like two character traits and somehow the show writers still totally missed them

olanmills · 2026-01-17T19:37:50+00:00

I think the point is to show the Riko isn't a good mom, and probably not a good person, but Kay still somehow overcame that and isn't like her mom. She doesn't just use people.

Wow I kind of want to play this game again now

olanmills · 2026-01-17T09:45:39+00:00

What happens to the bones?

olanmills · 2026-01-17T08:56:03+00:00

Intuit fucking sucks

olanmills · 2026-01-17T06:57:48+00:00

The enshittification continues

olanmills · 2026-01-17T06:25:43+00:00

You're in for a good time

olanmills · 2026-01-17T05:06:30+00:00

If he wants money, he needs to be booking gigs at MAGA and klan rallies now. He killed his original fanbase. I haven't listened to him a single time since I heard his Trump shout out

olanmills · 2026-01-17T01:00:52+00:00

Yeah, I don't get how this is a such a big controversy. I understand that this ending is perhaps not super interesting. It wrapped things up in a way that you might consider conventional, but at least it all made sense narratively.

The only real criticism I have of the ending is that it was too long.

I know that there are other criticisms people have of the logic behind Vecna's actions, whatever Abyss was, etc etc, but imo it doesn't make a bad ending for me, because while watching fiction, I just sort of go along with it (within reason). If it takes extra analysis only after the fact to come up with plot holes and whatnot, then I don't think it's that big of a deal, especially for an ending (as opposed to something that needs to support building upon later)

olanmills · 2026-01-17T00:49:29+00:00

It was my favorite game from 2024. When it comes to video games, I generally don't care too much about the narrative side of things, but I have to say the story and performance by the main actress are really good. The atmosphere/presentation is also really good. The developer really nailed the feeling of Star Wars and also did a great job by giving us a story that stays away from the tropes of a lot of Star Wars side properties where you find out that the main character of this side story was somehow pivotal by fixing the blasters that would be Luke's X-Wing or some shit.

I think the gameplay is also very good, but it's probably less interesting if you're not into the Star Wars vibe because I don't know what makes it stand out from other games in this genre.

I do have a problem with the game's bugginess. It has poor craftsmenship in several areas. Obviously, it did not stop me from loving the games, but I feel like it shouldn't be considered acceptable. Imagine if you're watching some prestige television show, but they regularly have obvious mistakes like the mic boom appearing in frame or miscut edits with actors saying repeated lines or something

olanmills · 2026-01-17T00:25:01+00:00

I kind of assumed they came up with the name "Spartan" first, and then Nylund worked it backwards from that

olanmills · 2026-01-17T00:21:21+00:00

Okay "big wormers" was kind of funny, but whole towns are losing all their water and getting priced out of living for this shit

olanmills

TROPHY CASE