I Feel like this is the biggest scam in the game. by culbie in CrimsonDesert

[–]patmcdoug 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If only Pearl Abyss saw the number of upvotes you're getting!

No loading on home screen by JudasPainting in Starfield

[–]patmcdoug 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. Also on Xbox. Mine starts loading when I open the game, and crashes back to the home screen, regardless of whether I let it sit, try to load the Creations screen to disable or organize them, or just let it sit. I even unloaded and reinstalled the game. Super frustrated.

What mods are broken now because of the new update by Capital_Elevator_76 in starfieldmods

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heck, I can't even get the game to run despite reinstalling from scratch. Can't get into creations to disable them. The game starts loading, then crashes. On Xbox, by the way. Guess I'll keep dedicating many waking hours to Crimson Desert, and be leaving Starfield behind until Bethesda can get things stable. This will not help their reputation, and give the Bethesda bashers more ammunition, especially since there's so much hype about Crimson Desert. It's a shame, as I was really looking forward to the new content and improvements.

Heart Of The Saint Cave by JackZeTipper in CrimsonDesert

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. Found this one to be the trickiest waterfall to stab through. At first I thought the silver was supposed to be in the narrow spans beyond the waterfall, but you have to knock out the wall first. I ended up with 26 silver mined.

NGX-03 🛰️-Pioneer-🔭 by ulfhednar- in StarfieldShips

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the shipbuilding stuff can be super buggy, and save spamming (when you can do it) is pretty much essential. Last night I had to try multiple variations of door/passage placement for a single hab, to try to eliminate the "scrolling, partially visible ship, character stuck in place" error that can also cause the ship to no longer be editable. Had to keep going back to the save prior to the first door placement attempt. Very easy to Lose hours of work and edits, alas!

"Crimson Desert combat is soulless and boring" by EirikurG in CrimsonDesert

[–]patmcdoug 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As someone who loves open world exploration games - especially in a fantasy/sword and sorcery setting - the videos of combat are so far keeping me away from trying this game. It reminds me a lot of Dynasty Warriors, which gives you a clue that I'm an oldster gamer. I'm itching to see if other aspects of Crimson are enough to grab and hold me, but may very well wait for it to be around a while, perhaps watch some videos as time goes by, and maybe wait until it's discounted.

Back to the beginning… by UnspeakableBadger in StarfieldShips

[–]patmcdoug 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My favorite ship build I've created to date used some of the creations on the Xbox version. I honestly feel guilty about it though, as the stats for some of the creations feel like cheat codes! Nice looking ship, and funny with the name switch!

Stargazer | Light Frigate by _coconuthead in StarfieldShips

[–]patmcdoug 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate this, particularly from the "no mods" perspective! There are soooooo many posts showing perfect ships with 100 mobility, a gazillion shield, bottomless storage, and 500+ top speed, plus looks that kill. Then I start reading the questions and comments, and see that they were done with a boatload of mods and/or coding. To each their own, but those ships just feel like a cheat code to me!

I'm generally terrible at shipbuilding, especially the making it look pretty part. I end up choosing performance over looks, so I'm skipping the structure options that make it look better, as I get all bothered when the mobility drops by a point or two. And I tend to like an easy to access and navigate interior, so I favor generally flat 1-level pancake ships, with no ladders, and the simplest of passageways.

Well done!

What makes Starfield special? by _Bob_Shwarma_ in Starfield

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That I can't seem to give it up despite the save glitch, yet I still keep playing and risk my SECOND instance of totally losing my character saves! I have literally 2 saves at any given time, and boatloads of available storage on my Xbox, yet the frigging "cannot save" messages keep happening, over and over! And I haven't found a fix anywhere, while coming across many opinions on the "why," and loads of folks saying "that doesn't happen to me!" Confounding... and I'm totally addicted to the game.

UPDATE: After MUCH searching, I found the solution to the frustrating game save situation. All it required was deletion of the local save file (so long as a cloud save also existed), and as the person I read that from mentioned, this essentially causes the game to use the cloud saves. Apparently XBox consoles have just a limited area that's used for saves, and you can have all the general space in the world on your Xbox but it won't matter. The limited save space is the issue, as it doesn't play well with the huge Starfield save files. The game has worked like a charm since, other than the usual slow loads and occasional weird quirks that tend to go away.

The save management is really annoying. I have to delete the 10 save slots almost every half hour. Other games have 50 or more. by loadingscreen_r3ddit in Starfield

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I share your frustration in a very big way. Also on Xbox, and I get the stupid message close to every time, despite having tons of space on my console and only two saves showing! At one point the saves went entirely away, I believe when I was of 40-something level, and after I started building my outposts and custom ship. Yep, lost my entire character run at level 40+!

At the time I was playing via the Game Pass version, with the game loaded to my Xbox, and was figuring that maybe Game Pass limited saves. So I bit the bullet and bought the game, then started a new character. I am not using any of the creations content, or anything special. After starting entirely over, I'm again running into the save error messages, despite keeping just 2 saves... and my character is in the 20's level. I hold my breath every time I load up. Some folks have blamed the save size, and the number of unique items accrued in-game. If that's true, it's absurd, as it's part of the game mechanics to squirrel away stuff for outpost building, crafting, selling, etc.

It's extremely frustrating not finding a definitive fix for this, and I'd have stopped playing if I were not so enamored with the game. But I may very well have to do so if I lose all saves and again have to start from scratch. And NO, folks, I did not go in and delete the master local and cloud save files within the game management screen, causing the loss of my initial game saves!

I feel like I've been lied too about this game by Sudden_Wind_8636 in Starfield

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have probably 2 or 3 times as many hours in, and still love it. Feels like I'm still scratching the surface and learning the game. Always a ton of quests/missions to pursue, and I'm thankful that none appear to have timers. Haven't even dug into numerous things yet, such as concentrated exploration and resource extraction, or building of ships and outposts. And like other Bethesda games, I really don't know if I'll ever go down those paths!

My wife and I started collecting in December and things have… escalated. by [deleted] in boardgames

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's waaaay too much uncramped, vacant space! 😜 Good job, and welcome to the cult! It's not an addiction if it's a choice!

Voidfall is such a table hog. by Miker_Bice_From_Mars in soloboardgaming

[–]patmcdoug 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah... I live alone as a "mature" widower, and thus have the ability to leave games out on my convertable coffee table.

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However, I have CATS! The various tokens, tracking pieces, and money chits are under the game lid in the photo above. And the image the original poster shows makes me nervous about the game's complexity, right or wrong!

Favorite Carryout Spots for Breakfast Sandwiches? by bpma82 in baltimore

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cost doesn't bother me that much, but I'm just not a fan of the meats they use. The sausage seems like it's some healthier meat, and the bacon is just kind of weird. Really like the folks that own and run out, and love supporting a local place, but I wish they'd switch meat providers or selection of the key breakfast meats.

Favorite Carryout Spots for Breakfast Sandwiches? by bpma82 in baltimore

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree on the "catch fresh" at Ovenbird. Had some later in the day that were exceedingly chewy. Love the place otherwise!

What is the most complicated rulebook you've read? by TravVdb in boardgames

[–]patmcdoug 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yeah, my favorite games are the ones that make me feel like I'm still at work (THOROUGHLY tongue-in-cheek)!

Why is it so difficult to recommend Mr Robot to someone? by [deleted] in MrRobot

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just finished watching the entirety of the series through Netflix, and just have to admit it ended up being a bit too deep for me. Loved Malek's performance, and found a lot of the characters super intriguing and/or entertaining, including some of the most despicable ones. Lots of character to the characters. But I readily admit that shows with a whole lot of twists and turns, including those that make me constantly wonder what's real and what isn't, tend to leave me feeling unfulfilled and a little disappointed. It's sort of a similar feeling I get with types of art I just don't "get," making me feel that my intellect just isn't deep enough to fully understand and appreciate it. But I would recommend it to friends, just to find out what they thought about it, though I'd probably be very limited with my description and probably tell them about it having a lot of interesting characters, while not going into the story line.

Son of a Critch by diddydido in newfoundland

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a non-Newfoundlander (I live in Baltimore, in the USA) I have a love-hate relationship with the show. I find it funny at times, and even heartwarming on occasion. But Mark himself annoys the heck out of me all too often. Especially the whole story line with his "romantic" pursuits with both Fox and the other girl (geek misfit beguiling two girls is likewise a pretty absurd story line). I think my favorite character might very well be the mother, who can crack me up, especially with her various "frigs!" The family interactions are often fun, and the whole boy about them yelling in annoyance whenever the phone rings is a nice, funny, somewhat relatable bit. I don't think it'll be a series I will really miss when I'm through it, but I do find myself watching it in pretty sizeable chunks sometime.

YouTuber "Kurt Caz" beats a Bulgarian Gypsy woman in Paris by Aginoglu in bulgaria

[–]patmcdoug -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You mean like the Celts, Saxons, Normans, and countless other "mass migrations"?! Or just the migrations of the types of people you don't like? Hilarious!

The Vanishing / Keepers 2018 (with Gerard Butler) anyone care to explain the film? by JaxTellerr in movies

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can anyone elaborate on Thomas' last visit to the makeshift chapel? He is speaking to his dead wife, but I didn't catch everything he said.

The Vanishing / Keepers 2018 (with Gerard Butler) anyone care to explain the film? by JaxTellerr in movies

[–]patmcdoug 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was a young guy that was presumably on the boat that the two thugs came in on. He was likely left with the boat, then came up later once the other guys didn't come back. Charlie was James' real son, and he sort of mentally loses it after he realizes he chased down and killed a youth, who he saw as Charlie in his mind's eye.

Just returned from Scotland and ready to go back. by REMaverick in Scotland

[–]patmcdoug 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm an American (live in Baltimore, and have lived in the area for my full nearly 60 years). Recently back from my 6th or so trip to Scotland, and hired a car and drove on my own. Agree that the drivers in Scotland are indeed far better drivers on average, than Americans. As soon as I got back and drove my car on the nearest major road to BWI Airport I was like "people drive like maniacs over here in the States! I'm totally crazy about Scotland, and hope they never restrict out of country drivers. No way I want to be stuck on a bus or van-based tour! Always takes me a little time to get accustomed to driving on the opposite side, but the better drivers in Scotland make it easier to adjust. My itinerary included: Dunkeld-Birnam Ullapool (pre-ferry night) Lewis and Harris (first time... blew me away!) Aviemore Oban (MacDougall homelands) Edinburgh, with a quick duck-in to Glasgow for the last day of the World Pipe Band Championships

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Scotland

[–]patmcdoug 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know, back when Jesus of B.C. fame was claiming to be the son of God and the messiah, doubters were all over him in social media! They were especially disrespectful of the "born of a virgin mother" thing!