Gabe

Good grief this place can be tedious at times. It was merely a thought I had after seeing Man City had won another double and I contextualised by referencing other teams that have gone on to win doubles since. I wasn't slagging them off, I didn't intend to analyse all the myriad of reasons (of which I also acknowledged there would be a lot), no lack of appreciation of what the club has achieved, no sleight on anything that happened in 1989 or intending to get into a debate about it, no sitting here sad about it all. But thanks I suppose, because next time I just won't bother posting anything.

I was quite deliberate in not calling any of them failures or anything remotely like that because they weren't, but they were disappointments for the club, the players and the fans, that's obvious. Yes, even 1989. And you say that, but they still managed to deal with the trauma of Hillsborough go on to win the FA Cup prior to that league game; nobody for a second would think any of that easy, but I don't think that is necessarily as big a factor in that Arsenal match as you suggest - a cup final against Everton was a more likely emotionally-charged occasion. Regardless, in the context of that game, the players were just seconds away from what would've been an unprecedented achievement at that time. I suppose the other thing I sometimes think about is that despite the periods of dominance Liverpool had during the 70s & 80s, they were never actually all that great in the FA Cup and only won 3 in those 20 years. I always find that curious.

Spain is quite desert-like in places, no?

Whatever your views on Man City and their finances/squad depth, you do have to admire that no matter the team that plays any particular game they have that belief they will win everything. And then they win everything. It shows how there's elite sport, and then there's elite sport. Liverpool had a number of opportunities to do the double since 1986 and just never got over the line. The rather limp performance vs Wimbledon in the '88 FA Cup final, or unable to hold on against Arsenal at Anfield in 1989 through to last season - whereas since then we've seen Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea & Man City complete multiple doubles and Chelsea grab their first too. There are lots of different factors of course, but I always feel they should've had more ('89 being literally seconds away from it.) I don't have a point, just thinking aloud.

I would also recommend the mod that increases your inventory to 999999 ( because like all ME games, the in e tory management is awful) and there's one called 'Hyper mobility' that gives Ryder a much faster sprint and stupidly high jump - both very helpful for traversal, especially when you need to travel a long stretch (IIRC it made running faster than the vehicle). I also used one of the powers/ability revalancing mods; it didn't make anything overpowered by any stretch, but just made some of the less useful skills in vanilla more viable. You may have a different attitude to such things, of course. Anyway, enjoy! It does have some great moments and as I've said before, I really liked the whole scope of your mission, much like I found the narrative push of ME3 to be better than Me 1&2 - it just feels bigger-scale.

I instantly thought so too, but a quick google suggests not - chipotle (raw, versus being in a sauce which would dilute it somewhat) can be up to 10,000 scoville units, where sriracha sauce is up to 2,500 (generally less than a jalapeno). That said, I don't think I've ever had a chipotle sauce with any kind of kick, so I'm intrigued by whatever McDonalds are giving out. Is it a sachet @SeanR or just within the food (I'm guessing it was in a wrap?)

That is terrifying and horrible to see, hope it doesn't cause any psychological after effects to any of them.

That looks really nice and a) isn't on Game Pass and b) was given away on Amazon Prime Gaming back in August 2021 - the one month I didn't collect the games

38. 31/05/2023 - Expeditions: Rome (PC) The third title of the Expeditions franchise, this is by far the best of the lot (though in fairness I abandoned Conquistadors and never tried Vikings. But anyway...) It's mix of tactical combat, free-roaming RPG-lite and conquest meta game, was really good fun - but oh my there's a lot of it. My playthrough was about 57 hours, which is too much, especially as the game goes on a bit of a loop where you do the same thing (in a different location) three times. It's to the games credit that the story and political intrigue is interesting enough to fuel that, but it can be a real slog at times, testament to that fact being I started it pretty much day 1 when it hit Game Pass and it's taken me nearly a year, after having a couple of long breaks. Still, complete it I did, and like I say, it was good fun. There's the usual mix of classes, skills and loot, but they allow you to create a fairly different team (although there are certainly some skills on certain classes you'll want regardless of what direction you ultimately take them.) The missions themselves try to mix up the objectives, and there's a rather odd card battler that abstracts your legion fighting other armies. That was the weakest aspect and the sheer volume of battles you need to fight can be tiring, so it becomes something you need to do to progress than because there is any great depth or fun to be had. The tactical battles - the meat of the game - are good though. Like Divinity: OS2, there is limited interaction with the environment - so you can cover people in oil and throw a torch at them, or pour water over a burning ally, but there's also benefits to positioning, buffs and utilising your limited-charge skills at the right time. The RPG elements - levelling-up, branching narratives (within a certain framework, of course) and side missions all get thrown in too, and they all work to make a satisfying whole. As noted though, there's a lot of it. I think you could easily cut 25 hours and still tell the same story, have the same depth and have a much tighter, leaner experience and my hope for the next one (because I like to think there's another one coming) would be just that. Previously completed:

Well, quite - and by that token I'd be surprised if their terms ever officially mentioned that password sharing was allowed (it is more likely that it didn't strictly stipulate the opposite).

Yes, 6 years ago. Not sure that's particularly relevant today, unless they have still been running with that messaging in recent times (were they promoting it during the lockdowns, for example?) Ditto for VPN usage.

Not having anything didn't stop Sony the other night (or MS for the past 5+ years)

As I was typing it I couldn't actually think of any, no, but I got most of the way through it and so committed to pressing 'Post'!

For paid-for sub games (like FF14) do you also need to pay for PS+ to even have online access?

Oh it's definitely worth playing - it is more Mass Effect, after all The vehicle is similar in that it has that slightly-awkward control scheme and you will still have fun seeing a big mountain and trying to find a way to get to the top - which in many cases you can. Part of the problem is that it moves really slowly and the planets you access are now pretty big and can be quite sparse. If you are on PC, you can get a mod to speed the vehicle up, so I recommend that. The main problem with the maps is that there just isn't all that much to do, unless you want to hunt every last collectable. Somehow, despite the universe now being bigger, it often feels like there is less to explore (and some of the main environments you have to visit are very much copy & paste jobs). I did have a real sense of wonder at the start, but that diminished as I progressed. Like I say, unless you are absolutely loving every aspect, don't chase all the side content. Most of it is fairly light (I think there are only a handful of more beefy side missions) and it might help you not get tired with it.

@Mikes As someone who loved the ME trilogy, Andromeda is a real let-down. There's a good story and concept in there, but it is ill-suited to the open maps they went with. It loses all focus and with a lot of empty spaces it can be quite tiring just traversing the (often barren) landscapes. It's a real shame, because like I say, the central conceit had promise. There's still some fun to be had, but I suppose my advice would be don't focus too hard on a lot of the side-stuff, because in the environment they've created it'll just bog you down (to the point I think my playthrough stretched 3 or so years). Edit: Just re-reading what I wrote in last year's thread and it was actually over 4 years! Blimey.

Was Hypnospace Outlaw on there previously or am I imagining that?

37. 29/05/2023 - Sly Spy (ARC) Another arcade game I wasn't specifically looking to play (let alone complete) but, of the Shinobi 'style' games I've played of late, this was the quickest and, by a distance, the least frustrating. Sure, like most arcades it's a coin-guzzler, but it does a couple of things that help you not feel so cheated when you have to make a blind drop down into a mass of enemies. Firstly - it lets you continue from exactly where you fell; no 'back to the start of the level' here. Secondly, it retains any health you've chipped-away from bosses, meaning that even if you really, really, suck, you can still brute-force it. And, of course, I used about 20 credits (I wasn't particularly playing with safety in mind) but unlike Shinobi in particular, this never felt really unfair. Those blind drops down are a pain (though I think with knowledge and enough skill you can prevent being ganked), but even then it didn't really lead to a point of friction because with another credit in the machine you just carried-on, so no need to have to relive such things. I applaud that. I'm not one who cares about high-scores of 1CC'ing something - so that's me very much one & done - but it was a fun 17 minutes. Will I be able to say the same when I play the next game in the Shinobi franchise? Previously completed:

@Fry Crayola will know the answer to this, I'm sure - but how often does the team placed third (in the Championship/League 1&2) go up via the playoffs? Is it usual?

Yeah, the bit at the typewriter and the end of that trailer is Keanu. When you weren't just walking around a samey forest, the town itself was nice, yeah. But (as mentioned by others) the combat was rubbish and the core loop wasn't all that good. I do still own the Special Edition somewhere, I think, with the novella and whatever other stuff it came with, wonder if it's worth anything? That aside, this just looks like plenty of other 3rd-person, over the shoulder horror titles and, as such, is a bit . That setting is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting, I imagine.

Most of them have Patreon's and suchlike for donations, don't they?

Crying Suns was given away by Epic I think (so it would probably be given away again in future).

It was always going to be hard to see Bournemouth doing much really, I suppose Leicester actually doing their part was more the surprise today. Everton are safe mainly because the three clubs below them were so much worse, rather than Dyche performing any kind of masterclass, you feel. Edit: Actually, Dyche has a) been there longer than I remembered and b) did slightly better than I remembered too. Though it doesn't change the point the Leicester & Leeds were largely awful.

I'm genuinely not really fussed if Everton go down or not - aside from it being hilarious - but perhaps relegation wouldn't actually be the worst thing for them. It would force them to have to sort the rot within the club out (whether or not that would be successful of course is a different matter - but they'd really have to try). It would probably be better long-term than having another floundering season fighting to stay up.

Even as a Liverpool fan, nobody cares about that match today (even though both teams have thrown away 2-goal leads).