You could put Daniel Day-Lewis in that role and I think it would still be a terrible film. A good actor cannot rescue a story that inept. They might be able to wring some pathos from otherwise inept dialog, but it’s not going to change the fundamental structural issues with the movie, and, as you allude to, it might strip it of what makes it entertaining in the first place.

I don’t think of that as a difficult problem. No, I am not interested in Teardown if I’m searching for that particular set of tags, and I don’t want Steam guessing at whether to show me a game or not. That’s fine on the home page, or in the discover queye, but If I search for 5 tags, and a game only has 4, the game doesn’t meet my criteria and ought to be hidden. I forget what the number cited in the article is, but there is a deluge of a games added to Steam every single day. Enough that there’s almost certainly a fair chunk of games which meet my hypothetical criteria exactly, so I don’t want to wade through games which “might interest me”. There are other section of the store dedicated to that concept, including on the pages of the 5 tag games I’m browsing for.

Full disclosure, the last time I studied chemistry was 20 years ago, and I was not a particularly good student, so take this with a heaping helping of NaCl.

It isn’t the direct reaction of Drano + PVC that causes the issue. Rather, it’s the heat given off from the reaction of the clog and the lye. Apparently it’s significant enough to be an issue. I tried looking up how much heat might be released by the reaction, but I went crosseyed reading the formula, so someone else will have to do the math on that one.

Also, I know you said caustic material doesn’t react with metal, but Google doubts you on that front, for whatever that’s worth. In fact, zinc is specifically called out as a metal with which sodium hydroxide reacts pretty strongly, which is important because many water lines are steel galvanized with, you guessed it, zinc.

Ignorant question here, but it relates to discovery issues I have on Steam, so maybe this is the thread for it. Is there a way to filter by multiple tags? It’s entirely possible I’m just dumb, but I find the tags system useless without that ability. I don’t want to see every FPS on Steam, I want to see specifically Singleplayer, Story-Rich FPS games with an emphasis on Weapon Customization and Environmental Destruction (for example). I’m on mobile at the moment and that query doesn’t seem possible via the app, but I’ve had similar issues with the desktop client as well. My experience is that I can only browse one tag, which is not especially useful most of the time.

Like I said, this seems like something that I’m just missing, and I’m willing to eat a big helping of humble pie if someone can set me straight.

I can’t speak to the applicability of the term as it applies to this particular game, but I’ve heard the term used for several years now. In my recollection, it started to come into vogue when Vampir Survivors blew up, but I wouldn’t swear on that. The concept seems to be that, in a bullet hell game, the screen is filled with projectiles that you are attempting to avoid for fear of death. In a bullet heaven game, the screen is filled enemies that you are actively pursuing to earn xp and loot. In fact, a screen full of enemies is sometimes desired, because that means more efficient levelling.

Idk, take from that what you will. As any punk rock or metal fan will tell you, genre descriptions are an imperfect science at best lol.

Mmos and arpgs are intrinsically linked by their gameplay loops. Admittedly, this can vary to a greater or lesser degree depending on the specific games being compared, but Diablo 2 was, in many ways, proto-WoW.

Fair point! To be honest, I had a lot of internal conflict about saying anything at all, what with this being a “I don’t care about Star Wars” thread and all. I’ve never let reading the room stop me in the past though lol

Far be it from me to defend most of the goofiness in Star Wars, including its politics, but I don’t think there’s any contradiction in those particular facets of Leia’s character. Being a princess doesn’t exclude her from supporting rebels, nor does it mean she can’t have prejudices. The history of most aristocracies is a bunch of prejudiced nobles supporting various schemes against one another.

Wandering through to mention that your local library almost certainly has a collection of cookbooks spanning decades, and, depending on your area, might even have stuff tied specifically to your region. Take the book, photocopy the recipes you’re interested in, return it, get to cooking!

Hell March 2 intensifies

“WE WILL BURY HIM…literally, in this case.”

After VtM 1’s tumultuous release, not to mention the drama surrounding the sequel’s development, that makes sense to me.

That being said, I don’t think it’s quite as big a leap as the person above is making it sound. To use their words, The Chinese Room are known for “strong art direction, atmosphere, and story, [and] weak gameplay”. They also suggest that the games TCR make are “the exact opposite” of Bloodlines 1. Which is kinda boggling my mind, cause I’m pretty sure the critical and user consensus of that game is that it excelled in its art direction, atmosphere, and story, and fell comparatively short in its gameplay. In fairness, I think he was referring to the limited open world nature of VtM 1 vs the straight linearity of the “walking sim” genre, but still. I’d argue the most memorable section of VtM is the Ocean House Hotel, which is, basically, a linear walking sim level, and it’s not as though the og game did a ton with its open world.

Now there’s an argument to be made that Paradox made the wrong call by doubling down on the peripheral elements of the game, rather than hiring a team that has ARPG gameplay bonafides, but I think that’s only an argument that can be made with the benefit of hindsight. Additionally, is it true that the gameplay/combat of VtM2 is glaringly bad? I can’t speak for myself, but the handful of reviews I read characterize it as serviceable at worst. Which, again, seems right in line with the first game.

I’m very much on the outside looking in though.

Apropos of nothing more than my idle speculation, I’d guess they will return to the transport tycoon genre if they are able to do so. Before Skylines took the crown from SimCity as the preeminent example of the genre, they made the Cities in Motion games, which were narrowly focused on improving the mass transit of existing cities (as opposed to building the city itself). I know the second CiM game had some interaction between the city and your efforts as transportation czar (in the same way you could indirectly influence a citiy’s development in, say Railroad Tycoon), but the emphasis was always on transit. I imagine the newly independent team will want to keep their focus narrow, unless another publisher swoops in to replace the safety net.

Lol you’re correct. Idk what happened there, meant to say fun!

Tremors is up there for me. Every couple of years I revisit it and have just as much time as the last.

Sorry man, I’m not knowledgeable enough about computers to provide a summary, but I’ll mention this fun tidbit: apparently, the shipped version of task manager contained thus guy’s home phone number in the code by accident. He commented it out, but left the phone number in there, which means he can find instances of the source code being hosted online by reverse searching his home phone. Which is still a number he maintains, and he asks people not to call. Which is a bold thing to leave in the video imo

Ah I see, I misunderstood how you were applying the terms. My bad. I suppose I don’t typically talk about consoles or games independently of the experience that they offer, so whether it’s a new product with a vintage inspiration, or something vintage all the way through, I’d think of both products as retro, because, to me, they are both offering an experience reminiscent of an earlier era. I understand that’s an incredibly subjective experience though, and your take is probably more factually correct.

Rad! I love the docs that Danny and the rest of the team do, and I just watched a bit of the preview they did of the tavern keeper game. Glad they’re having success enough to expand a little.

Tyl what til means!

Okay, I’ll bite.

My brother and I routinely dig out our old N64 when we go home for the holidays and enjoy an afternoon of retro gaming. In your opinion, I am using this incorrectly, because I’m actually vintage gaming, since I am using original hardware and software to do it (if I understand your assertion correctly).

But, our specific purpose in using that original hardware is to, as you say, “[relate] to the past, past times, or the way things were”. We engage in this ritual as an homage to when we were kids and getting a new game for Christmas was one of the highlights of the first quarter of the year. So, I argue our use case meets your definition of retro as well vintage, and that you’ve invented a false binary where none actually exists.

Ah, the old adage holds true: everytime Morrowind is mentioned, someone starts a fresh install.