LemmySoloHer

Saving this to read after I get the game and finish it!

Disco Elysium is a fantastic one. There are an insane amount of choices that shape how you go about the investigation of the hanged man and ultimately what happens beyond that investigation. Choices of who to side with, how to side (openly or playing multiple sides, etc.), choices that ultimately define what kind of detective you are (by-the-book boring, superstar douchebag, violent tough guy, Sherlock Holmes-esque genius, etc., including my favorite: Twin Peaks Lynchian detective that bases their decisions off of dreams, intuition and imaginary conversations with the dead body), and even how failing or succeeding at something can lead to progress in very different ways. If you fail to hit that person you tried to punch, or miss that shot with your gun, or utterly fail to convince someone to help you, you progress through in very different ways so that failing your way to the truth is just as satisfying and entertaining as succeeding your checks to get there.

And of course Fallout: New Vegas. Whether you choose to support the New California Republic, Caesar's Legion, Mr. House, or a truly independent New Vegas, none of them are perfect. Each succeeds in an ideal society in some ways but completely fails at others, leaving you to decide which imperfect system you feel is the right one for the world instead of shoving an obvious answer in your face.

At one of the lowest points of my life when i was locked into contract and couldn't make changes that would better my situation, the lottery was my anti-suicide failsafe. If there was a chance, no matter how small, that life could get better, I had to keep going.

I knew the odds and it wasn't about winning, just that twice a month I'd buy something that meant I had to keep going because statistically it gave me a chance to change my situation.

However, getting a false win at that time would have absolutely destroyed me.

I'm pretty sure Neil Gaiman enjoys milk and cookies, he even wrote the story Fortunately, The Milk where a kid goes back in time to get the ever-important milk that his father forgot to pick up.

Ah yes, because Alex Garland never makes films that provide a cautionary examination and instead is a complete advocate for bringing those dystopian settings to real life. /s

"Captain, we now have the materials necessary to upgrade the ship!" -Adéwalé after every naval battle even when it's not true

Perfect Dark with dual analog controls is something I've wanted to exist and now it does! No Mac support though, gonna have to maybe take another look at clearing things out to make room for boot camp.

One of my favorite game publishers, this is wild (and not the Outer kind of wild). I'm super curious if the entire staff will start their own publishing company (which I imagine is harder to do without the financial backing of a billionaire's daughter) or if they'll split off and go their separate ways.

I'm also very curious if this will start changing the kinds of games Annapurna publishes or if they'll still take interest in odd and niche games that need a publisher. I wish I knew more about the dispute here but time will tell what happens next at some point.

This looks like a skill from Disco Elysium if it was a dating sim instead of a lynchian RPG.

The person reacting to your comment calling them a pigeon:

spice up your sex life

With 11 herbs and spices!

Not to mention every talk show host did the same thing, going on without writers and explicitly stating every show they need their writers back and support them.

Plus Conan continued to pay his writers out of his own accord throughout that strike. It's the same reason Conan only agreed to move from New York to LA if he could bring his staff with him to TBS: he cares about the people he works with. It's also why he paid them on his own accord again during the lockdown.

My opinion of Conan remains where it was: highest of the high. Team Coco #1.

"Jhjhjh" could be a One Piece laugh.

Definitely. There was this lucid dream where I was excited that I actually realized I was dreaming and could experience it conciously. There were certain things I couldn't do and eventually people in the dream revealed I couldn't control those things because I wasn't actually dreaming, but was dead.

It was a good twist. Freaked me out and I couldn't wake up so I figured it was true. Of course the double twist was that I wasn't actually dead and was just in fact dreaming, but it was a good ride. It's got kind of a lynchian vibe that I'd be down to just watch it as a movie.

Guys love a woman with arms built like the witch from Left 4 Dead and Reed Richards.

My best guess is the Tales to Tremble By scary story collections:

Each story had some creepy art by Gordon Laite:

A lot of this fits with your descriptions from the best of my recollection.

Edit: Removed paragraph about potential third scary story series containing spider egg story, just realized that one was from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 3, so Tales to Tremble By and its sequel is my only guess here.

The dichotomy of needing an egg in these trying times vs being in trying times because you already have one.

The premiere episode where they try to survive on minimum wage is still one of the best day-to-day documentations of the struggle and that was almost 20 years ago, well before the price gouging of today. I wish it had as much impact as Supersize Me which actually succeeded at putting pressure on McDonald's to make changes.

Ugh this is me. I used to love spicy food but something happened a few years ago where it switched to just destroying me.

All it takes is a little bit and I'm sent into an uncomfortable, mouth-searing sweating fit for essentially the rest of the day. I've got bottles of alcohol-based mouthwash like Listerine stocked up since it's one of the few things that helps in those times when I accidentally get a hit of the ol' spicy stuff. Once I do that and wash off my lips with face cleaner I'm alright, otherwise I'm struggling to keep hydrated because I'll sweat for hours and hours.

Finally went to see an allergist that found a ton of underlying allergies and thinks that having all those go untreated is what increased my sensitivity overall. I'm currently getting the allergy immunotherapy shots and hoping that results in some regained resistance to capsaicin. It's super embarassing to be out and start sweating like a maniac when I get a bite of an appetizer I didn't know had pepper extract or one of those steaming plates of hot spicy stuff that sends a pepper cloud in my face and just leaves me drenched the rest of the night.

Also all eight of Captain James Holden's parents!

The more I think about this the more curious I am as to what's on it. Nice work reaching out to the Smithsonian, sometimes you gotta take action to satiate curiosity.

I know of the Genesis game but never played it (though I do own the newer titles in the series), but did some digging to see what I could find to answer your questions:

Am I imagining this games difficulty? I feel like I am making little progress and I’m always getting ganged up on. / Does this game require a lot of grinding or repeating tasks before moving on?

Everything I'm finding is saying yes to both, with the grinding resulting in the increased money, stats, contacts, equipment and practicing/refining your own strategy for completing runs. Luckily, there are multiple strategies for "quick" grinding, and certain equipment and stats that really help whether it be just straight up powerful stuff or specifically helps to deal with pesky foes like ghouls. Because there are different sections to the grinding with different strategies to doing it efficiently, I'll leave the specifics out since they get a little spoiler-y in case you want to figure it out on your own. But, do let me know if you'd like me to reply with specific strategies that may be seen as too much of a walkthrough or too spoilery for some (they don't seem like gigantic story spoilers or anything so if the grinding gets too tedious and you stop having fun, they might be worth knowing about).

Should I be killing these innocents I see on the street? I try to get shadow runs but they seemingly always involve killing ghouls, which bend me over and spank my samurai butt. I’ve put my morals on hold and have been tediously murdering the population for the little nuyen and items they have.

Luckily the Karma explanation section on the Shadowrun strategywiki actually explains this pretty well. I went through it and it looks like a straight up explanation without story spoilers so I feel comfortable just linking it here for you: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Shadowrun_(Sega_Genesis)/Karma#Karma

-is the samurai class the all-rounder character or should I just restart as a shaman or netrunner?

I found a really good explanation on the Shadowrun wiki: https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowrun_(Sega)/Archetype. Thankfully this also gives a much needed explanation of the differences between classes without spoilers. It seems like this info is very important to know upfront depending on what your playstyle is like.

As far as the game itself, I did not play the genesis version but definitely looked into it after I got the Shadowrun trilogy that GOG games gave out for free a few years back. From what I found, the Sega Genesis version is superior to the SNES version in a few ways but a lot of people enjoyed both. I really like the style and concepts presented in the series and the newer Shadowrun trilogy seems to have taken all of that and improved on it, with each game getting better and better at giving the experience intended. I'd say it's worth taking a look at if you enjoy the Genesis game, or if you really like the elements of the Genesis game but aren't enjoying it so much, the newer series might be what you're looking for.

Edit: Spelling, grammar and formatting.

Edit 2: Also, here is a link to a PDF of the original game manual for the Sega Genesis version, which helps navigate the UI and buttons, etc., just in case you need it since manuals were kind of a big deal back in the day!

Apparently they're called "butt babies" according to James Gunn's Peacemaker.

How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

This seems like something Kelvin would do on The Righteous Gemstones.

It's happening again...

Looking for stuff that’s truly scary and not just gore

1. Hereditary (2018) - Still one of the most unnerving things I've ever seen. Does NOT rely on gore and has only maybe 30 seconds of blood in the entire thing. The horror of it comes from the skill of the storytelling and only at the end did I realize how many little things were said throughout the movie.

2. It Follows (2014) - Unique and does an incredible job of making you constantly check the background for potential danger. Did not scar me like Hereditary did but instead offers a very fun version of anxiety for its runtime if that makes any sense. The first is a must-see. Skip the sequel.

3. The Ritual (2017) - Brings some of that Lovecraftian style horror. One of those movies that just creeps you out and brings that fear of the unknown in style, yet brings out that primal survival instinct at the same time.

4. The Others (2001) - Just a damn good ghost story. I won't say anything else to avoid spoiling it.

5. Nope (2022) - I'll say that there are a lot of layers going on here. This is probably better recommended for movie nerds that love intertwining story themes, characters and backgrounds that serve as a foil to the main plot, a slow buildup of details that culminate into an expertly told story, and an emphasis on sound design and symbolism.

Honorable Mention: Coherence (2013) - I know, I know. It's not a horror movie. But that existential dread, that fear of the unknown, that feeling that makes you panic, it's all there. This is a sci-fi puzzle movie somewhat like Primer so I'll say the dread and terror is not in itself horror. That said, it's a creepy watch and I'll always recommend it as a good palette cleanser after something like Hereditary traumatizes you or after binging fun, dumb classic horror style stuff.

Cal: "You're indeed brave Scout Trooper, but the fight is mine."

Scout Trooper: "Ohh, had enough eh?!"

Cal: "What? Look, you stupid buckethead, you're stuck in a wall!"

Scout Trooper: "Just a flesh wound!"

"doesn't sound so bad" is the best compliment Ole' Gil ever got!

You've got red on you.

Parents taking an interest in their kid's interests and One Piece are two things that make this world a better place!

May the odds be ever in your favor.

That actually did come out! Mel Brooks produced it, it's on Hulu.

I was able to find that this is part of the 2020 Spider-Man and Venom: Double Trouble series but couldn't find anything about a Doreen Green appearance happening in it. Does anyone know if The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl shows up to help during this plot line?

Extra points for The Simpsons reference in your title, 11/10 post.

She's eating that Kraft Macaroni and Deez nuts.

This is well presented and thorough, I gotta say he does a fantastic job at actually showing the big differences that make it really clear once he gets into it. I expected a lot of the Sega hardware to come up but was surprised to also learn about the current gen version of Super Monkey Ball vs the original.

I can't believe I never heard about this before. This is fascinating, thank you for sharing. I'm sure some movie producer is trying to get the rights to Ken Ono's life story if someone hasn't already!