Techwright

I'd not heard of this series. I did a quick read up and it sounds like "Goonies In Space"? Hmm...not seeing it as a big interesting point in Star Wars. I'll tell you what would have interested me: if "Skeleton Crew" had been a series about Hondo Onaka and his merry band of pirates trying to survive extinction during the early Empire years. Then again, we don't know what character Jude Law is playing. He might very well be playing an old Hondo who has lost his crew and falls in as something of a guide (or perhaps whimsical Fagan) to a small band of lost kids.

I was previously unaware of that thread, and my apologies if this re-enflames certain feelings on the topic. I certainly don't want contention at that level. That Christopher Tolkien hated the movies, I was well-aware. (I found his anger a bit comical. After all, how could a proper version of the books be done in 9 hours only? Add to that, the first movie alone was responsible for generating 20 million plus of new trilogy book sales. That's gratitude for ya.) Personally, I found the changes in the LotR trilogy felt more of necessity to squeeze an 18 hour movie-thon into a 9 hour movie-thon. Some of the material thematically remained the same (such as the hobbits getting attacked by a living tree, not in the Old Forest as in the book which would have necessitated Tom Bombadil's intervention, but in Fangorn Forest with Treebeard as the stand-in for Tom.) The problem I had with The Hobbit trilogy was that material was being created whole-cloth for the purpose of stretching out a perfect story (and canon appendices) to fill 3 movies, when 2 would have sufficed. Literally the opposite of the LotR trilogy. The canon parts of The Hobbit trilogy were amazing. The filler parts were notably inferior, and not appreciated (IMHO). What I've been hearing, from admittedly my one source, sounds like they're going a step beyond The Hobbit trilogy. More like 1 part canon and 3 parts "whatever I think is cool regardless of how it breaks canon".

Outer Wilds (not to be confused with The Outer Worlds) is on sale on Steam, and I'm considering acquiring it. If you've played it before, can you spoiler-free comment on it, and especially what you feel its replay-ability might be (or not be)?

Amazon's Middle Earth series: I'm hearing from one of my geeky coworkers that this Second Age series has revealed it made substantial changes to the lore of Tolkien. For example, Galadriel's husband Celeborn is dead, and Galadriel herself is a warrior rather than one of the most powerful wielders of magic. Celeborn is a strong secondary character in the Third Age events of Lord of the Rings, and Galadriel learned her arts from the Valar even before the First Age. The list of changed mentioned to me was quite long, and for a Tolkien fan, more than a little disheartening. It makes the New Line changes to The Hobbit look good quite frankly. I had been under the impression that the series would hold to all lore and only craft new bits where there was no lore. My coworker says they'd hired a Tolkien expert to guide them, but when he did his job and kept saying "no, not that way", they fired him and replaced him with someone who'd say "yes". All this comes to me from one source, though, so I realize it could be incorrect. I'm interested to hear if others have learned of these changes, and if so, are they really this drastic? What was told to me sounds like a rip-off of Tolkien rather than a lore-respecting homage.

I better never see that placed down on a Scrabble board. (Google wondered if possibly the search was for "fork emulators".) 🤣

I ran into Nuclear Solution on Excelsior, a creation of global handle Blaquefire, and liked it so much I suggested Blaquefire post it to this thread. They're not a forumite, but asked if I'd take a screenshot and post it on their behalf. I was in a rush as my DFB was about to start, so my screenshot is not the best, unfortunately. It doesn't capture the motion of the radiation energy, for example, but I hope you get the picture anyway. Look for them in the game. It's an impressive look that had me backing up to observe, and that doesn't happen often.

I can see that. If I remember correctly from my armchair readings, if one has a line of dialog, they have to be registered with the actors' guild or some such, which involves a fee. I don't remember where the tale came from, but I recall a movie where some famous person had a cameo appearance, originally not saying anything, and when it was decided they should say a line or two, the director paid the fee to register them so all would be on the up-and-up.

Okay, that's some weird writing. Treaties are made with countries, not cities. But I thank you for bringing the text to light. It sounds like words now hold the good back, no matter how many sovereignty-violating incursions happen.

Yes, sadly the auction house likely won't be an option, but I like the P2W idea. I would add to your list to say I'd like a vendor for team and dual inspirations, like Luna in Ouroboros.

An excellent point. Probably not insurmountable, I'm guessing, but it likely would be the major part of the restructuring process.

I was just having a chat with a former player from early in the original game and we were discussing the auction system in the game, and later the storage in bases. He made an interesting comment. As I understand things, and please correct me if I'm wrong, within the auction system, certain materials of a same class are pooled together and the bidding covers everything in a given pool. So if I submit 10 of item A into the AH asking 1000 INF, the AH doesn't see item A, it negates the identity of the item and only sees 10 units in the pool. You might come along and bid 1000 INF for item B, but because they are the same pool the AH interprets the exiting 10 items as what you desired, and you are awarded 10 of item B. Do I have that correct? All that to get to the friend's comment: Could that pool system be applied to the storage racks for materials in supergroup bases? Rather than wasting space with 10 of this and 5 of that, if they are of the same pool as in the AH, they are stored as pool items and then withdrawn as what we want. The value remains the same. I wouldn't pull out a yellow if I put a white in and so forth. Note that I'm refering to materials, not finished product like IOs.

Finally got the chance to see it. It's got the Sam Raimi stamp all over it, right down to you-know-who in a goofy fun cameo. (Well, at least he wasn't selling chainsaws.) Thoughts with notable spoilers:

Sounds a bit like the old Tabula Rasa crafting system which let you take a grey vendor trash item and color by color increase its rarity turning it into an orange, eventually and potentially, but with ever increasing chance of catastrophic failure for each level and with greater cost in resources. Oh, and you could also craft bonuses features onto it. I've not played BDO, but I actually enjoyed the TR system, though I rarely tried for purple or orange.

I'm not sure "momentum" is what season/series 2 needed. What it did need is to free Obi-Wan from the twins, at least for a time, to pursue other adventures, like figuring out what a Krate dragon sounds like and how to use it to scare Sandpeople.

I'd not heard of it until now, but a quick googling revealed that @Hyperstrike has a video from around the 2012 shutdown showing the pathing.

Hmm, there's the concept that's used in some of the instanced missions of The Old Republic, which is, depending on your archetype, there's certain shortcuts and beneficial effects that can happen in the instance that only one of your archetype can do. So, here, in theory, add content where mission/task force functions alter how the scenario plays out. Example: your team reaches a level where a large fire started by Hellions blocks your path. To your right is a stairway but the Hellions have placed a magical ward on, blocking entrance in hopes of forcing you through the flames. To your left is a custodian's closet that they didn't put a ward on. Do you: A. Brave the fire and take notable damage B. Have a magic origin teammate attack the ward on the stairway door (melee or range strikes) shattering it and allowing you a means of circumventing the fire. C. Have a science origin teammate McGuyver the chemicals in the custodian's closet to create a primitive fire-snuffing foam to create a passage through the fire. These kind of adventures would offer several points of decision making encompassing all 5 origins. This would mean you'd not have any power creep, nor the potential of one origin outperforming another. You wouldn't even have to form a team with all 5 origins. You could always muscle through either taking extended damage, or possibly having a longer path, etc. And you might have multiple origin options at each challenge point. Hey, you might even have two origins working the same problem: how does that flame-retardant foam get delivered to target? The tech origin jury-rigs an extinguisher.

Meme time

Interesting. And this is from text, you say?

Okay, really rough, off-the-cuff thinking here, but what if we gain 1 origin effect to be applied to any 1 power either every 10 levels for the first 50 levels (so 5 total), or per Terra Volta respec mission unlock (so 3 total)? Call it the "8th slot" (You'll see why in a moment). Anything in the 8th slot is slight in power, but increases every time another origin effect unlocks. So at level 10, I may only have a 0.5% damage or chance, but at 20 it will increase to 1.0% as will the new unlock, at 30 it will be 1.5% and so on. 1. Mutation Origin: "Randomization" - Each 8th slot origin effect enhancement is a slight effect of a random beneficial mutation not necessarily related to anything within the power. So, for example I might be an energy blaster and receive a random 0,5% dark damage ability to put in the 8th slot of my choice, or if put in a defensive ability, it might create a 0.5% chance to create a feedback stun to any enemy that hits you. 2. Magic: "Spell Binding" - slight proc can trigger any one of the active slots on a power (the proc might actually be slightly higher in value since it isn't constant like other origins) 3. Natural: "Discipline" - slight increase specific to one or two slots in a power suggesting the idea that a natural character focuses on honing a skill, like accuracy or endurance. 4. Science: "Discovery" : slight usage of an enhancement not current slotted but potentially usable for a power. If power has one or two enhancement possibilities (say a defense power) then a slight boost to that enhancement. 5. Technology: "Invent": unlocks a seventh slot, but it only gives a slight amount to whatever enhancement you slot there. As I said, this is a quick thought without deep considerations to the pros and cons. It's brainstorming. If it's liked, I'm sure others will sand the rough spots and improve upon it.

One comment in orange.

Yes! Thank you for pointing out that pair of big plot holes. I would add...

I welcome your other perspective, as it has not been my own experience. Most companies I've worked for tend to hold onto legacy software as long as possible. We're grappling with some issues at my new company right now because they've been retaining software that refused to upgrade and remains tied exclusively to Internet Explorer, while a database program we're trying to force out dates to pre-2008, as near as I can tell. That's not to say everything is archaic at these companies, but when graphics or added processing power are truly needed it is almost always the engineering department or marketing department that are asking for the power computers. Some executive ask because they want the shiny, the perceived prestige. That or they think it makes their video golf game better. I only wish I were making any of that up. 🙄