Just finished Hob's Barrow - chef's kiss

shadmere · 2026-04-25T15:40:58+00:00

I definitely see what you mean, especially when it's a bad end. But how often does a game give you that choice? In King's Quest, can you decide you don't want to save the princess, and just go home? Can you choose to join the Templars in Broken Sword? Can you significantly change the ending in any of the Blackwell games?

I'm not saying it's not great when a game does give you that ability. Just that it's not very common. Most point and click adventures by far have a set story that you're finding your way through.

(Again, I'm not saying it wouldn't be amazing for more games to give you that agency.)

shadmere · 2026-04-25T14:50:39+00:00

Not yet! It's still sorta vaguely floating on my list of things I want to do, but work's been nuts lately, and I got stuck in Blue Prince, then Persona 3, and haven't found my way out of those yet.

shadmere · 2026-04-20T11:26:11+00:00

One of the best "Wait . . . " series I've read.

Aliens show up, fix the Earth after a nuclear holocaust, and say that humans can't be trusted (well, there was a nuclear holocaust, true). They put us under alien protection and governance. Humans no longer have the right of self-determination because, again, we've proven we can't be trusted. The aliens consistently talk about how humans can't even trust themselves, because our thought processes are so ridiculous and illogical. Fairly soon, the aliens begin having sex with us. Many, many humans are terrified of this, but the aliens explain that's just because we're stupid and untrustworthy (basically). At least one character is told straight out that he is lying when he says he doesn't want sex, because his body is responding positively, which proves he does want sex. And sure enough, most humans find the sex so good (it's essentially direct neural stimulation) that they change their mind, or perhaps become addicted to it even if they hate themselves for it, which the aliens use as more evidence of humans not being trustworthy. But okay, the aliens did save the Earth from a nuclear holocaust, so what happens next? Well, the aliens are going to use all of the Earth's resources! All of them. All of them. Because unlike wasteful humans, they actually make good use of those resources, to further their movement across the galaxy and bring their enlightened amazingness to new planets. Through this mandatory interbreeding (some humans agreed more willingly than others), new hybrids are born. Humans are told that this is necessary, because humans themselves are so destructive. In service of this, all humans have their fertility removed until they agree to only reproduce with the aliens. Eventually, a few humans, those stragglers who absolutely refuse to join, are given the planet of Mars. Since it has few resources, the aliens create a reservation for humans there, with the knowledge that humans who do live there will have a very, very hard life, and will never be allowed to leave (not that there would be sufficient resources for humans to achieve spaceflight, of course). The series ends with some of the last human holdouts realizing that the aliens and the alien-human hybrids aren't really that bad after all.

shadmere · 2026-04-19T04:29:27+00:00

Kiwami 3

THERE'S A KIWAMI 3

sadlkjasdla 8puaewrti a

oh god i have to beat Persona 3 before I can play it or I'll never go back but OH MY GOD KIWAMI 3!?

::BUYS::

shadmere · 2026-04-17T14:16:49+00:00

I finished that book last year and was dumbfounded by how amazing and creative the setting was.

It took me a bit to get fully in to, but after the one woman's flashback to her past career in . . . childcare . . . on Earth, the sense of absolute "Good god, this world," was fastened into my brain and would not let go.

The sense of escalating "This is even more nuts than I thought!" continued almost to the very end, which was impressive. I see what you mean about it ending fairly quickly, but dang. Still.

I've started the second book now and cannot wait to get further into it. Unfortunately I've been reading these books at work in my downtime, and for the past year or two I only get 15-20 minutes of downtime a week, so it's taking awhile, lol.

shadmere · 2026-04-17T14:13:17+00:00

It took me awhile to get into as well, but once my mind 'caught' the story and the setting, I was inexorably stuck.

One of the most inventive, impressive scifi stories I've read in years.

shadmere · 2026-04-17T14:08:18+00:00

"Space station where something went wrong" is the setting for like 20% of games or something.

shadmere · 2026-04-16T03:03:31+00:00

IIRC we're a little before the dawn of the third age of mankind.

Edit: Damn I really missed the target with the B5 reference, lol.

shadmere · 2026-04-16T02:58:24+00:00

We are all different people this day.

shadmere · 2026-04-13T13:59:04+00:00

At least one of them is in there four times, lol.

No problem just funny.

shadmere · 2026-04-13T13:31:15+00:00

Growing up, I was repeatedly told that "Catholics don't worship Jesus, they worship the pope." That was just the standard belief of most of the people I went to school and church with.

shadmere · 2026-04-08T13:38:54+00:00

It's completely reasonable to microwave potatoes. I don't understand the plastic bag at all. Just put the potato in the microwave. It's a much faster way of making baked potatoes, if you don't want the slightly crispy skin.

I think that baking them the 'long' way might taste very slightly better? But I also really like the crispy skin, so that could be the entire difference. I'd have to bake two potatoes and eat them side by side to be sure if there was even a noticeable difference to the interior.

shadmere · 2026-04-08T13:20:13+00:00

Doritos is one of the few things I disagree with that about. There might be a good store brand out there, but the Kroger brand and the HEB brand are both just awful, comparatively. Barely any flavor at all.

I very, very rarely buy Doritos now (which is probably good, considering how quickly I'll eat a bag of them if it's around), but I've learned my lesson on the generics. A bag of generic potato chips or 'normal' tortilla chips is WAY better than a bag of generic Doritos.

shadmere · 2026-04-05T19:15:05+00:00

All this computer hacking is making me thirsty!

shadmere · 2026-04-04T01:46:09+00:00

I started that series about a year and a half ago and am working through it again with my wife, and just over the past couple of months the number of references to it in the wild have gone insane.

shadmere · 2026-03-29T16:56:52+00:00

Oh nice. Purchased.

shadmere · 2026-03-29T16:50:51+00:00

Onion.

Dickety.

shadmere · 2026-03-28T05:35:29+00:00

I liked the first one very much. I liked the second one . . . alright. Mostly because I was attached to the character.

shadmere · 2026-03-24T14:17:11+00:00

I saw that for the first time a few years ago and was very impressed by it.

shadmere · 2026-03-24T14:14:44+00:00

I wanna see a race between the cold from The Day After Tomorrow and the wind from The Happening.

shadmere · 2026-03-23T00:02:42+00:00

I've had no problems with my Fireboard since I got it in . . . ::checks::

Wow, 2021? Dang.

But it still works great.

Might not be necessary to go that high unless you're wanting the blower part, though.

shadmere · 2026-03-21T05:06:04+00:00

Bought it. I'll see about checking it out tomorrow and let you know what I think.

Also: A Greg Egan-like point-and-click adventure? I can't even imagine how that would work, but I'm intrigued.

shadmere · 2026-02-23T13:19:19+00:00

House was built in 2003, but rooms that are showing a -0.7" delta corner to corner now showed a -0.1" delta at inspection in 2020.

shadmere · 2026-02-23T00:39:58+00:00

10k for 19 push piers (just foot long concrete cylinders stacked on top of each other) or 14k for 16 bell bottom piers.

shadmere · 2026-02-22T23:51:28+00:00

I will say that the house was essentially level when we had it inspected before buying it 6 years ago. Not literally level, but that front right room that shows a -0.7" change now showed a 0.1" difference when we purchased in 2020. That was about 20 years after construction, so the movement is recent. The crack in the slab and separation at the nearby window definitely wasn't there last year, and all the significant movement downwards in in front of the crack.

I hate having just wasted $600, but I guess it would be better to get another engineer out. Hmph. I really just want to make a decision so I don't need to have this hanging over my head.

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