TheOtherTed

"Always it is the brave who must die. The soldiers."

Awesome. Even the hair is iconic.

Wear and tear? How do you mean?

Not an easy question. First, we don't have anything to approximate an iconic phaser pistol (at least, not to my knowledge). Second, future tech and non-human aliens place you squarely in the space of "anything goes." But off the top of my head, here are some powersets that might work for a good old fashioned human that, IMO, would fit in from TOS to DS9: Beam Rifle (Blaster, Corruptor, Defender, Sentinel) Devices (Blaster) Martial Arts (Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, Tanker) Martial Combat (Blaster secondary) Ninja Training (Blaster secondary) Ninjitsu (Scrapper, Sentinel, Stalker) Traps (Defender, Controller, Corruptor, Mastermind) Street Justice (Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, Tanker) Super Strength (Brute, Tanker) * Super Reflexes (Brute, Scrapper, Sentinel, Stalker, Tanker) Willpower (Brute, Scrapper, Sentinel, Stalker, Tanker) In addition, any armed melee set not mentioned here would work for enthusiasts, as well as human-adjacent aliens with martial traditions.

It's been a hot minute since I played, but by and large I enjoyed it. My only gripe is that the developers do what all MMO developers seem fated to do, and that is to make rules that they think the players want without really understanding why they want it. Off the top of my head that's packed with fuzzy memories, I remember that mechanic rogues switched from being masters with locks, traps, and secret doors to becoming crossbow DPS. That said, I've compared the game to COH in that each class has (or at least had) a wealth of options to choose from.

I was scrolling through my Steam library this morning, and discovered that hadn't played Elder Scrolls Online since 2021. As you can probably tell, it's never really been my first choice, but I like the general idea of it, not to mention the flexibility of character design. Is anyone here actively playing? If so, how is it these days?

I'm late to the party as usual, but all I can say is that I find ETFs to be far more frightening than Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Or whatever alien tribe they're culturally appropriating from. ...but maybe, just maaaybe, part of me hopes they're on to something.

Nope. Uh-uh. Nobody's taking my psychotic Gandhi away from me 😡

Fair enough. I may be showing my age and failing eyesight here, but I found the Civ 6 map itself to be weirdly distracting. And, yeah, Civ 5 was a very different game from Civ 2, which, even though it wasn't my first Civ, sort of set the benchmark for me. The Giant Death Robot eventually won me over, though, even if I only built them in one playthrough. If you've ever played Eve Online, it feels like the equivalent of building a Titan. Scary to encounter, but not exactly an optimal use of resources.

So what was it about Civ 6 that made it feel like it was no longer Civilization?

I sort of felt that way about Civ 5, but I chalked that up to a learning curve. Took me longer than I'd like to admit, but I did eventually climb that curve. That said, I never got into Civs 3 or 4. This is ancient history, and thus involves very fuzzy memories, but I thought Civ 3 added mechanics that I just couldn't grok. Simple enough design wise, but left me with a feeling of "... but, why?" As for Civ 4. I was too deep into MMOs at that point, and seeing Civ 5 pop up on Steam was a something of a wake-up call.

I just discovered that VII dropped recently. However, that discovery was through a youtuber whom I kind of trust, but who left a mostly negative impression of the game. I won't get into that person's complaints, but I would like to hear some opinions, good, bad, and/or weird. I also wouldn't mind some impressions of Civ VI, while we're on the topic. I'll admit, I dropped that game for the dumbest of reasons - the bobble-head leaders really annoyed me for some reason. Much preferred the more realistic portrayals and animations of Civ V.

My only reservations with The Sims 2 are 1) the music (the OG Sims had a fantastic playlist) and 2) the awkwardness of making basements. I'd imagine that modding Sims 2 might be tricky now, as well. Old mods might still be out there, but they may need updating, and I wouldn't be surprised if the modding scene has to "ramp up" before we see working mods again. I might check it out. Someday.

Ugh - where's the "ow, my ears!" emoji?

Back when I lived in a college town, I had neighbors who would blast their music as loud as they could while taking their morning shower. Knocking on the door didn't work. Pounding on the wall didn't work. Leaving notes didn't work. So, though I hated to do it, I brought out the big guns, the show stoppers. Yep, you guessed it, I placed the speakers of my deceptively innocuous looking stereo against he wall, cranked up the bass to brain-shattering levels, and let the boys from Primus do what they could with "My Name is Mud." The neighbors got the point after about a minute and twenty. What's more, the second time I did it was the last time I had to do it. Never heard a peep from after that. I'd be interested in finding out if it works for buzzards too. You know, for science.