You beat me to it, and I was already in 196, so I had to follow the rule

I guess we know why Anthony was in “de-Nile”

Seems I got a fairly good idea from your answer and OPs post.

Seems VP1 is more optimistic in its outlook by comparison as your companions seemed to have already been qualified to be tested to join the ranks for Ragnarök. But seems to place more value on an individual character as it has effect on the meta-narrative value.

I do know that CotP deals with some pretty heavy topics of the reality of the period and I did appreciate that rawness to it as it helped sell the setting and provide sufficient investment to see how far the rabbit hole went.

I have only played Covenant of the Plume - not sure that falls in the franchise - and I recall that game was grounded in human politics and the exploring the personal stories of the characters one interacts with.

It seems to be a more personal journey as the characters that one has access to and what type of story arc one plays is decided by the decisions one makes through the story and having to weigh the value of human life against a backdrop of colourful characters.

Seems the games are similiar in concept and design with some differing gameplay mechanics

I played it a long time ago, but still recall how the way of open fist and closed fist symbolized I guess concepts

Closed Fist, was a philosophy selfish desire and domination with the ideal of only the strongest getting to make the rules

Whereas open fist was selflessness with the ideal that one’s strength is only as strong as the weakest link

The morality was binary choice with the environments changing somewhat accordingly, but I recall it having a more noticable effect on the “kung-fu” you could learn and it was an interesting mechanic to try and match one’s fighting style to the philosophy one follows.

I recall open-fist felt more disciplined and “soft” in its impact whereas closed-fist had a more viseral feel with the intent to cause harm and show superiority

Although the choice was either open or closed fist it did leave a stronge impact on how different the ending sequence played out which at the time was something I really felt impressed with as the difference in tone during the last moments - showcasing that both paths can achieve the goal.

I think Mass Effect probably had its early roots, in regards to morality system, from Jade Empire with influence from KOTOR as well.

Thank you to everyone that left a comment, it has been helpful to snap me out of the negative spiral somewhat.

Again, something that I noticed is that my, not sure, brain I guess responds stronger to the perception of empathy rather than sympathy or at least it feels that way when I think on how I read what has been written. It might get warped with people I know over time as I sink into a negative mindspace.

But I do think I subconsciously attempt to try “feel” what is been written or seen and base an interpretation from that - mixed with a profile that I probably apply a bias to.

So thinking on that I probably felt frustrated at the friend when their writing had the appearance of not understanding what I am feeling and felt ever more dispondent when I tried to get them to understand what I am feeling which probably lead to throwing more and more negative emotion in an attempt to have it be acknowledged.

Probably it was an attempt to grasp at trying to not be alone, which I admit is probably not helpful to someone else, especially if they do not wish to “feel” that emotion.

It is like an emotional mismatch I guess, where one shouts " this is the solutions that I found that helped" and the other shouts “this is a problem and I want support”. It probably ends up feeling that either side is not listening to the other as both parties are looking at an issue from a different lens.

The video had a good example on how important voting in a functional democracy is, as it applies pressure and weakens the grip of stronger “keys” as the ones in charge must try to balance self-interest with survival. It also shows how this power can also be used against itself as those in charge try to manipulate the system towards a desired outcome.

Also thank you for confirming what book the video is based on

I assume the video is based on “The Dictator’s Handbook” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictator’s_Handbook?

The video, helps for me, conceptualise the rationale where one sees some of the decisions that take place in the world.

Makes me think past an individual and questions how an action is targeted for a result.

[Indubiously] Forta would be filled with pride knowing that. [Bewildered] Imagining having to script all of Hamlet with all that pretext

To be fair the greatness of experiencing Elcor Hamlet was intended to be seen through his actions not emotions.

[Regretfully and with much sorrow] One cannot truly experience it in its 14 hour splendour

[Restrained Optimism and sadness] It will be a different game considering the people behind it and the aftermath of the trilogy. [Wistful Contentment] Having the next Mass Effect have some grounded world building and, if need be, mix elements to a compromise of old and new

That is fair, I prefer renegade femshep as well. Jennifer Hale, for me, does her renegade lines with more menace and she carries authority better.

Male Shepard, I feel, does the vulnerable moments well, especially in 3… maybe it is a bias in the display of male lead vulnerability. I feel like Mark Meer does the more meme-worthy comedic moments better.

Generally I lean towards light hearted paragon MaleShep and badass renegade FemShep on voice preferance

Jade Empire, takes me back. Great game and had a nice morality system that effected how your character developed with skills and how the playable character interacted with the world and how it had a strong effect on type the ending that would play out.

Also thank you for the link, will have a look

Disppointed there are no insert

Greedy Corpo:

“Aah yes, 👐 A.I. 👐 we have dismissed those claims”

Jokes aside, at least in regards to Mass Effect both voice actors bring something to the game for me

Although, I admit female shepard is consistently better throughout the triology, male shepard has his charm as Mark Meer improved on his performance throughout the trilogy. The human element can do much to elevate a weaker performance and in its own way leave a stronger impact, at least for me.

Had to look it up to check its dates as a kid they only sold rip-off NES machines here, but the oldest game, i enjoyed playing, I found by date was Dig Dug, 2D game where you dig tunnels to get to all the enemies and defeat them by what I can only describe as throwing a bicycle pump nozzle into their mouths and pumping it until the enemy pops like a balloon.

There is the usual like Super Mario Brothers, Contra and I recall playing something where I think Diddy Kong throws barrels and “mario” has to avoid it to save the tied up princess behind diddy can’t recall the name

There is also Bomberman, Lode Runner, Double Dragon( specifically 2), Arkanoid, Ice climber (co-op) and a game I really enjoyed called Operation Wolf

Oldest original game is most probably Pac Man, but prefered the “3D”-like one which allowed pac man to jump in the maze which is newer.

Edit:

My bad, oldest game played in 2024, hmmm, Heroes of Might and Magic 1

Hope this cross-post works

https://lemmy.world/post/927104

Although, if I had to think of beginner tips - knowing the keyboard shortcuts help a ton in getting familar with the game and one can use the “enter” key until you get use to it

I personally learnt by using the starting scenario of the shelter to get familiar with getting the basics of water purification, food sustainability and crafting going and camped out in the shelter and get my crafting up to scratch.

I know that I started to enjoy taking advantage of the weaker zombies in the early game and try and find a small town and try clear it out for a nice cushion to get one up to have a lot of raw material on hand, but that is more when one is more confident in the ability to handle zombies and found a style of play one enjoys

Edit

There is another one on the [email protected] instance, but it is not my post but here is it is https://lemmy.world/post/1796938

Noita, a precedurally-generated fully destructible, with physics, pixel-graphics action rogue-like game where you play as a mage going through the various layers of a dungeon with the use of your spells that one can spell mix and match with a wand system that can provide the player with interesting and wacky spell combinations.

CDDA, takes awhile to get comfortable with the controls, but it does scratch a certain itch once one can get setup and start to test one’s luck in search of the good stuff.

One has to make their own objectives for it though otherwise one can sort of just get to a point and not know what to do. But getting to a point where you can just walk into a city and be the most dangerous thing there does have a certain charm to it considering the journey getting there. It certainly rewards exploring though as one can find all sorts of craziness hidden away waiting to be found.

I know it is cliche to say but it took me the longest time to really knuckle down and play it, but boy once I did - I basically started up another playthrough right after to see what I missed and the shift in perspective when I played a different type of character was interesting to say the least.

So started as a skeptical intellectual who had to pull themselves from a sorry cop to a regular cop and approached things logically with a touch of eccentricity and pangs of regret and then compared to a wishy-washy communist with fascist leanings (which characters called the character out on) psychic superstar cop with an alias he truly believed was his name and I enjoyed and saw a completely different side of the game which was unexpected.

I cannot speak on the rest of the series, but I have played devil survivor 1 and 2:

Devil Survivor 1 does have a bit of a difficulty curve that can take one by surprise with the first major boss and it is like priming the player towards what to expect but its story I personally enjoyed.

Devil Survivor 2 is lighter in tone, well compared to the Devil Survivor 1, but I felt it was a smoother experience - doesn’t feel as tightly packaged but it does compensate with having a better presentation and provides choice in a lot clearer manner.

I liked Devil Survivor 1 story better but enjoyed Devil Survivors 2 gameplay more

I know I cannot provide advice in this sitaution because I get what you are saying as I too have been dealing with the thoughts.

It can be difficult, I have had a LOT of instances of bad things happen because of my misaligned views ( been told I need a priest to exorcise the “demons” kind of bad) and I am still have to deal with my sitaution and the invasive thoughts that come with it. It takes a lot trying to deal with it, but somehow in my life I have at least found a few people that have accepted me.

Like I don’t need to maintain constant contact but for me it is being “accepted” is a lot ( a low bar I know) and in some cases just recently have been in contact with someone I haven’t heard in years, but I can still feel comfortable communicating with them after all that time.

I mean I really do not like my life where I am at and there is a lot of things that I wanted to do and want to do but cannot because there are reasons beyond my control. At least for me, it feels like I am hanging by the sinews of the good will of others.

So yeah, just a long winded reply going on about sharing in the pain. I don’t know what the answer is but I have tried to push myself lately to dig myself out of things otherwise I would be drowning in the tunnel that I am stuck in.

I been doing writing stuff and trying to be more involved in social media a bit more has been my “digging” out attempt

I am surprised no one has spoke about the mutli-launch fatman launcher? - Fallout 3

Quests I found interesting- limiting myself 7 points

Fallout 3 :

• Republic of Dave is a fun diversion
• Agatha’s Song add another radio channel if I can recall
• Working for the slavers and getting everyone on their list
• Dunwich building
• Killing all Behemoths
• Bobblehead collection
• Deciding what to do with the Declaration of Independace

Fallout New Vegas

• White Glove Society
• Sunset Sarsaparilla
• Collecting snowglobes
• Michelangelo quest
• Red Lucy’s Quest
• A decision with Euclid’s C-Finder
• Vicky and Vance Missing Gun

Fallout 2 recommendation

• Had to really earn brotherhood of steel trust
• Has a whole new play style at “brain dead” low intelligence level
• Mysterious hooded stranger on a bridge
• Can have a car
• Can build your own super brain bot buddy
• Meet an unlucky dog
• Get a deathclaw companion