Tali'Thread vas Clan Zorah nar BSN 6.0

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebOFIvAGG3Y

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1pdau2Ec0Q

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p5mip1Msbk

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBJYHQXw9xI

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0cGS5zSkeU

[Vol]

► Show Spoiler

The way Vashtorr describes it, I took it to be like the Old Ones’ equivalent to the Manhattan Project: a bunch of scientists are tasked in the middle of a horrific war with harnessing a force no one has done before and weaponize it, and while they understand the basic foundational mechanics/mathematics/physics of what they’re doing and can build a functioning device, they don’t really know what will happen for sure when it actually goes off. (Some of the Manhattan Project scientists were concerned the Trinity bomb could ignite Earth’s atmosphere and kill most if not all humanity, among other calamitous things. Their fears turned out to be unfounded, obviously, but the blast was still 200 times stronger than their 100 ton TNT test run, to say nothing of how little they understood about radioactivity back then compared to what we know now.) And the Old Ones were killed off before they could use/test them, and once the War in the Heaven was over and the Necrons went to sleep, the Eldar, freaked out by all those unfathomable big boy toys lying around just waiting to accidentally go off, dismantled and destroyed what they could and locked away what they could not deep in this now forgotten Webway Vault.

I’ll post the juicy bits of their fight, just give me a day or two to compile all the relevant text.

The Imperial fleet isn’t wiped out; they just fail to stop the ritual, and then retreat because of all the universe-twisting energies been unleashed by this giant Webway killdozer of a planet when it bores a giant hole in reality. The Lion saw that everyone on the planet was going to get annihilated if they stayed, and the fleet was in danger of being torn apart as the portal opened and orders a full withdraw. Live to fight again another day. There was no option to chase after Abby and Vash as the portal closed after they went through. The book doesn’t go into numbers; both sides inflicted damage on the other, but neither side was outright defeated or destroyed in battle; the clock ran out in Chaos' favor before the fight could play out to the end. Vash and Abby just needed to acquire the the relic from the Rock and prevent the Imperium from destroying Wyrmwood or disrupting its activation.

► Show Spoiler

Right, but they're the settings big Precursor race, the ancients of ancients who seeded life and wove their design into reality and yada yada, so if there is even a capability for us to understand whatever it is they were working on that they didn't understand, it becomes silly. That's the catch-22 of working in these spaces, as we saw in Shadowlands.

Still, whatever they reveal will be really cool tho lol

Ahh, okay, that's not so bad. It was something out of a video game, where you win the battle by running down the timer. I thought the implication was the DA were ravaged as bad as the BA, and probably a few fleets were lost, and a bunch of Custodes because they die easier than named Guardsmen, etc.

I'm currently taking a bit of a break from TW:WH3, because the game is currently running pretty badly in the late game... stuttering on the campaign map, notifications coming in late (which seems to cause the stuttering)... CA is going to bring out a patch this week which hopefully helps with that. I played the Sisters of Twilight, which was as satisfying as usual... until the Dwarfpocalypse broke out, which is when I dropped that game. Also had a half run with Boris Ursus, but man does it get tedious to never have any money and enemies come in from all sides. Kislev ain't that much fun.

Also, I definitely played too much of it over the last two weeks. I'm also currently not that wild about playing WoW and don't want to start anything too involved new, because this week a new expansion for Stellaris drops, so I'm kinda stuck. As a supplement, I got the first Everspace and this is episodic enough (it's a rogue-lite space game) that I can play a few hours and then do other stuff, although it's getting a bit repetitive already. Until my dual joystick set-up arrives in a month or so from Virpil, I really don't want to start the sequel, because I want to experience it with the joysticks.

In any case, I'll probably spend a lot of time on Stellaris the coming weekend, although even that is limited by three, yes three, movies coming out this week I am interested to see on Saturday... if my cinema shows all three in different connected time slots, that is. ^^

I'm definitely feeling that. Chugs horribly on near everything, notifications messed up, few crashes on skillups, etc. Got lucky, the apocalypse in my campaign is Welfs, and I've barely seen any of them in my neck of the woods. Friggin' Ghorst was a wild war, had some amazing battles, luck, tragedy, and let him sue for peace so I could secure the eastern front. Still not running much tier 3 units at all, which is hilarious, beating Slayer stacks with gobbos, and Sartosa came up with 3 stacks and just got _demolished_ by Wharzagg with a stack of savage Big Un's. Fun campaign, just wish it ran better than "horribly."

How is WoW doing now? Not even seeing hate-videos pop up from the usual content creators.

Sounds like your media plate is full indeed

[magnuskn]

The problem with the endgame scenarios is that the faction in question doesn't declare universal total war on everybody, but just on you. Thus, when you play an order faction and the dwarves or wood elves go cray-cray, suddenly they are at war with you and not the Empire... which is militarily allied to both of you and they start to hate you for the war you didn't declare. That aspect of the endgame crisis really does suck. I guess I'll have to find a mod for it one day, but normally I just turn off the order factions in my order playthroughs, I just forgot it for the Wood Elf one.

Turns out that the movie release schedule site I went got its organization wrong, this weekend it'll be only Sisu wich releases here in Germany, next weekend its Fast X and Knights of the Zodiac, so this weekend should be pretty relaxed.

The new Stellaris expansion releases later today, so I got some fun ahead of me there.

As for WoW, it's currently pretty competently done and has a very tight release schedule, but I am noticing my long-term burnout more and more again.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DhQiEiydpk

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhw43Uh52Do

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA2qMgH6od4

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGffinSuRQ8

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMAao7ooWhY

[Dragaros]

► Show Spoiler

Azrael cried out in dismay as Angron threw back his head and roared his triumph. The Blood Angels Chapter Master lay defenceless before him, open to the killing blow. Yet as Azrael watched powerless, shadows suddenly coiled about the Red Angel and his victim. Tendrils of mist obscured the figures, and from amidst the vapours spread incongruous green shoots of what looked to Azrael like plant life. Shifting shapes unfurled, resembling nothing so much as a sketch of a dream of half-remembered trees, their dense boughs more shadow than substance.
In the next instant, Azrael's bewilderment gave way to awe. A tall figure in a flowing cloak stepped from the mists to place himself between Angron and Dante. Space Marines in black armour manifested around him and spread out down the steps, but Azrael barely noticed them. He could only stare at the warrior with the glowing blade and glinting shield. It did not matter that Azrael had only seen him before in tapestries, frescoes and stained glass. His very blood knew this warrior's identity. His gene-seed sang with the truth. Teetering as close to being overwhelmed as it was possible for a Space Marine to come, Azrael went to one knee. He was looking at the Lion, returned to his gene-sons at the hour of their greatest need. Some part of Azrael squirmed with dread, for the Primarch had also returned in time to witness the sins of the Unforgiven writ large. His mind whirled with self-recriminatory images: the Rock defiled by invasion; Luther's escape; the horrors unleashed by the Tuchulcha Engine. Yet even these memories could not undermine the surge of raw vitality and exaltation that galvanised Azrael at the sight of the Lion alive and returned.
The battle-brothers of the Deathwing bellowed amazed oaths. As word spread from one band of Dark Angels to the next, the survivors of the strike force surged into their foes with redoubled zeal.
Atop the tower, even Angron had paused to glare at his former brother. Yet the spell was broken as the Red Angel howled and launched himself at the Lion. Their mighty blades clashed again and again, sparks raining from each impact. The sword Samni'arius struck the Lion's shield and rebounded in a concussive pulse of light and force. Several of the black-armoured Space Marines who accompanied the Lion lunged to lake advantage of the opening in the Daemon Primarch's guard, and only now did Azrael register with disquiet their resemblance to warriors of the Fallen. Angron swept Spinegrinder in a roaring arc and bloodied corpses scattered away from him. Azrael saw the Lion bark an order, and suddenly the black-armoured warriors melted away down the tower steps towards the battle below.
The Lion now backed away from his foe, and Angron stormed after him. Azrael realised this was no retreat but rather an attempt to draw Angron away from the fallen Dante. Back and forth across the tower top the two demigods battled, Angron raining a constant storm of blows upon his foe while the Lion demonstrated sublime martial skill in fending off or evading every strike. Flames and roiling mist whirled about the two combatants, tattering apart each time another shock wave burst from the Lion's shield.
Azrael was torn away from the spectacle as a hail of bolt shells whipped up from below to ricochet from the Deathwing Terminators' formidable armour. Vox-amplified howls rose, warning of a fresh band of World Eaters storming up the gantries from street level to assault Azrael's position. He realised he had been entranced by his gene-sire's arrival, but that there was a battle to be fought in the here and now. But even as he rose and let fly into the foes climbing up from below, Azrael could not deny himself a last glance at the tower top.
He was in time to see the Lion backing towards the edge of the tower, trading blows with Angron, still fighting defensively as though to goad his berserk opponent. Between one blade swing and the next, El'Jonson looked directly at Azrael, and their eyes locked. The sensation of his Primarch's regard hit Azrael like a physical blow. Fire seemed to race through his veins. No words could they exchange, yet in that moment the Supreme Grand Master knew precisely what his gene-sire wished of him.
El'Jonson was risking himself to draw the rampaging Daemon Primarch away, not only from his own scions but from the Blood Angels also. That left Commander Dante, and any others of his honour guard who might still cling to life, lying wounded amidst the ruins. There was a blood-debt here, a matter of honour and duty that the Dark Angels could not ignore. Azrael had his quest from his liege lord and he would see it completed. Whatever came after, he would deal with it if he lived that long.
The Lion leapt from the tower top and vanished from sight. Roaring his hate, Angron lunged in pursuit. Brandishing the Sword of Secrets, Azrael stepped forth to meet his own onrushing foes. 'For the Lion!' he bellowed. His war cry was taken up by the Deathwing, and then by all the Dark Angels fighting in the Warpforge Palace. Soon the air rang with their shouts, even over the thunder of battle and the endless churning of the planet's infernal machines.
'For the Lion, and the Emperor!'

///

The Warpforge Palace heaved with obscene life. Sinewy, gore- wet flesh surged from grates and valves, strong through with sparking wires, glowing eye-lenses and gnashing metal fangs. Roadways cracked down their middles, then yawned open like mile long trapdoors, Tilling bat t ling warriors ;Ind vehicles down into furnace-pits where cogs gnashed and piston-driven crushers pulverised metal, flesh and souls. High overhead, the arachnoid spines creaked into motion. Their tips curled clown and inward like the mandibles of a vast insectile maw. Gunships and flying Daemon Engines were smashed from the air by the descending masses of metal and muscle. Shadows pooled about doomed combatants who looked up in despair before they were crushed.
Through it all battled Angron and the Lion. El'Jonson was disgusted by his former brother's hideous form, contemptuous of the monster Angron had made of himself. Yet he did not underestimate the supernatural might that dark apotheosis had granted the Daemon Primarch. The Lion fought with every iota of skill he possessed, channelling all the lessons he had ever learned about combating wild and warp-tainted beasts.
For his part, Angron felt little beyond the furious pounding, pounding, pounding of the Butcher's Nails. He dimly recognised the Lion, but El'Jonson was just another foe to be slain. An eternity of unending rage and hate had blunted the Red Angel's capacity to revile one enemy more than any other. Angron would take his once-brother's head for Khorne, just as he had taken those of so many of the Lion's gene-sons already this day.
The two demigods fought their way across a mechanical plateau where piston-columns pounded maniacally and jets of white-hot flame erupted from hidden apertures. Angron sought to lop Eflonson's head from his shoulders, but Fealty was there to block the blow. Samni'arius rebounded again from the Emperor's Shield, and as the shock wave drove Angron back, the Lion seized the chance to duck around a pummelling row of pistons and gain some space. Angron dropped his head and bulled straight through the slabs of machinery. He bellowed as he wrenched aside sparking mechanisms and hacked apart steel-braided sinew, only to recoil as the Lion smashed the Emperor's Shield into his face.
El'Jonson retreated again, a strategy cohering in his mind as he clattered down a spiralling brass stairway. He was gaining a sense of his foe. Angron was a devastatingly powerful and unrelenting enemy, but the Lion thought he knew how he might defeat his former brother. His train of thought was disrupted as the stairway gave a violent lurch. Looking up, El'Jonson saw Angron had taken to the air, letting his weapons dangle from their chain manacles as he grasped the stairways superstructure then wrenched the entire edifice away from the side of the mechanical plateau.
With an oath, the Lion leapt clear as the spiral stair buckled under its own weight and collapsed. He dropped, cloak rippling behind him, and landed atop the roof of a gothic ruin. Despite the tumorous masses of bio-technology that grew from it, El'Jonson felt a horrible sense of familiarity as he glanced around the crumbling rooftop and saw the hooded statues that dotted it. He did not know precisely what this structure had been, but he recognised the architectural style of Caliban before Imperial compliance.
The Lion had no time for bitter reflection. Angron fell upon him like a roaring thunderbolt spat from skies of dancing flame. The Primarchs' weapons clashed and clashed again as the Lion gave ground before his enemy's brutal onslaught. Lost to rage Angron might have been, but hardwired instinct - coupled with the dark gifts of his patron god - lent him tremendous martial skill. Unleashing a flurry of blows upon the Lion, he forced open a gap in his opponent's guard before landing a kick to El'Jonson's chest that cracked his armour and threw him through a statue with punishing force.
Sensing what was coming next, El'Jonson kept rolling even as Angron's axe slammed into the rooftop where he had been a split-second before. Reaching the roof's edge, the Lion threw himself out into thin air and dropped onto a tilted metal platform some thirty feet below. He rolled with the impact and came up in a guard stance, shooting a quick look at his surroundings as he did so.
The sight that greeted him was a surreal one. This region of the Warpforge Palace appeared to have contorted atop vast, unseen gimbals so that what had been a flat plain of riveted metal plates had now become a treacherous landscape of steeply angled ramps. Crackling energy pylons thrust skyward from between the crooked plates.
It looked as though loyalist and heretic war engines had been duelling here before the cataclysmic awakening of the planet began. Dark Angels and World Eaters battle tanks lay helpless where they had been hurled onto their roofs, or blazed where they had smashed together or had slid into contact with the lightning-wreathed pylons. More tanks, and a handful of staggering Chaos Knights, were still mobile. Some crews looked to be falling back, trying to manoeuvre their vehicles onto more stable ground. Others - prizing hatred or vengeance even over life - fought on as best they could, even as their war engines slid inexorably towards oblivion.
Angron swooped from atop the gothic ruin and fell upon the Lion again. This time, Enonson was prepared. Dropping to one knee, he raised the Emperor's Shield and caught the full force of Angron's meteoric descent upon it. Golden energy erupted in a tremendous shock wave and the Red Angel was hurled back to smash down amidst the precariously battling war machines. If the Lion had expected a moment's respite from this gambit, he was disappointed. Angron rose with an incensed howl and hurled a World Eaters Predator towards the Lion with an underhand swing of his axe. Seeing the improbable projectile coming, El'Jonson dove aside. However, he was not quick enough to avoid the next tank - a Dark Angels Impulsor - that Angron sent slamming and bouncing end over end in his direction. The vehicle hit the Lion and smashed him back into the wall of the gothic ruin hard enough to crater the stonework.
Angron howled and charged, beating his wings to give himself more impetus. Bloodied and in pain, but knowing that he had moments to act, the Lion heaved aside the crumpled wreck of the Impulsor and leapt atop it. He spared a moment's thought for his gene-sons, slain within the ruined vehicle, and anger smouldered within him. Angron leapt to strike and the Lion dove aside, leaping away from the wreck and hammering the Emperor's Shield into the back of Angron's skull as he went. Propelled forward by the blow, the Red Angel smashed headlong into the ruin and was buried in an avalanche of rubble as the wall came down upon him.
El'Jonson backed swiftly away, limping slightly, dimly aware of tanks still duelling around him even as he kept his attention on the rubble heap. He knew Angron could not be so easily defeated, but he hoped at least to have wounded his former brother. If nothing else, the ignominy of being buried alive would have stoked Angron's fury to new heights - something the Lion was counting on.
The rubble heap erupted. Flaming chunks of masonry rocketed through the air, several striking tanks with the force of wrecking balls. Angron came at the Lion in a red blur, eyes blazing hate, weapons swinging wildly. So sudden and ferocious was the assault that even El'Jonson could not react in time. He managed to bring the Emperor's Shield up between himself and Angron, but the angle was poor and the titanic discharge of energy threw him backwards as violently as his foe. The ground fell away beneath the Lion as he tumbled backs then down into the fume-wreathed gulfs beneath the tilted platforms. Angron bellowed a war cry and plunged after him.

///

The Lion battled Angron through Stygian industrial depths. They dueled amidst strata of grinding machinery and writhing muscle, dancing lightning and roaring balefires. The closer one drew to the core of Wyrmwood, the further one slid through the veil between realspace and the warp, so that soon empryic currents flowed about the two battling demigods. Where Angron's weapons struck home they manifested fiery blasts of hate to scorch the Lion's skin. Where El'Jonson flowed around his berserk foe's attacks, his cunning became writhing tendrils of mist and smothering shadow-groves that confounded the Red Angel. Diminutive robed figures peered from between the ghostly trees here and there, but at Angron's approach they vanished back into the shadows.
The dueling foes entered a region of daemonic furnaces and bio-mechanoid assembly lines where tormented souls were being bound into runic blades and firearms. Hissing overseers watched the fight wearily. Their sinewy whips coiled as though wishing to lash put and taste the demigods' blood.
Onward battled Angron and the Lion, ploughing through curtains of flayed skin, and out onto a wide circular plane of steel whose surface flowed into screaming faces and clawed hands. El'Jonson staved off another ferocious assault by Angron, parrying aside a decapitating strike and deflecting Spinegrinder with the Emperor's Shield. Then came a waterfall roar of discharging steam and a vertiginous lurch as the battlefield - in truth the top of a gigantic piston - hurled up and up. As poison-hued daylight returned, the Lion ran and threw himself clear of the piston's top before it could plunge into the depths again.

///

Lion smiled mirthlessly, for here was the perfect environment for the culmination of his strategy. He faded into the smog an instant ahead of Angron, who howled with fury to find his opponent vanished. The Red Angel was by now apoplectic. Though incapable of feeling fatigue, Angron was not accustomed to the mounting frustration of fighting one opponent for so long while they maintained a relentlessly defensive stance. He had claimed no skulls and shed only the merest drops of blood for what felt an eternity. The insistent pounding, pounding, pounding of the Butcher's Nails suffused his being with white-hot agony. His capacity for reason had been drowned in molten fury and pain. To find his foe vanished, then, was near unbearable.
Angron could scent the Lion's potent biology and the lapping powders of his armour. He could hear the Primarch's heartbeats, his footfalls, the servo-whine of his battle plate. He glimpsed the furnace-like beacon of El'Jonson's soul burning in his warp-sight, yet the phantasmic smog occluded even Angron's daemonic senses. The Lion, for his part, had less trouble keeping track of a foe that roared and snarled oaths and imprecations with every heaving breath. Angron hacked at half-imagined gheists and bellowed with rage. In response, the Lion surged suddenly from the flank and struck with the Emperor's Shield, sending Angron recoiling into the air with wings beating. The Daemon Primarch lunged, but El'Jonson was gone again into the fumes.
Angron thundered after his prey. Again the Lion evaded, struck, and faded back from his enemy's lightning-fast counter-attack. In his mind he fought monsters again in the mist-wreathed Calibanite forests. The few times Angron landed a blow, the Emperor's Shield was always there to block it and send the Daemon Priniarch reeling back. All the while Angron's rage mounted until it danced across his body as spectral flame. His muscles and eyes bulged as though he might literally burst from the anger swelling within. Then came a piston, rushing up from the depths and discharging steam as it slammed to a halt at its apogee. For a moment, it blasted aside the veil of smog. The Lion was revealed in the act of slipping around Angron's flank for yet another goading strike. There was no thought, only the primal urge to kill, as Angron beat his wings and hurled himself at the Lion like a living avalanche. He swung his weapons in wide arcs as he came, aiming to scissor them through El'Jonson's neck in a move no shield could possibly block. Yet this time, the Lion made no effort to defend. With blistering speed he instead dropped to one knee, braced his blade with his whole body and let Angron slam straight into its raised point. The Daemon Primarch's own impetus drove the glowing blade up through his torso until it erupted from the nape of his neck in a fountain of gore.
Borne on by the force of Angron's charge, the two demigods rolled and bounced through the fumes. Angron came to rest on his back, one wing pinned under him, his corporeal form unable to reknit its calamitous wound with Fealty still transfixing it. The Red Angel thrashed and howled. One clawed hand dug into his wounded sternum in search of the blade's ichor-slick grip. The Lion loomed over Angron, armour bloodied and dented. He gripped the Emperor's Shield with both hands and gave Angron no time to react. With a roar, Lion El'Jonson brought the glowing edge of his shield down upon the Daemon Primarch's head, driving it through the bridge of Angron's nose with such force that it embedded itself in the metal surface beneath.
Angron's corporeal form detonated like a tank round whose propellant was distilled hate, blasting his animus apart with such a tremendous force of released rage that even the Daemon Primarch's indomitable will could not draw it back together. El'Jonson was thrown clear of the blast and came back up with his cloak smouldering and his cracked armour scorched. Breathing hard, his body wracked with the pain of countless wounds sustained while battling Angron, he limped back to the blood-streaked crater in which Fealty lay. As he recovered his blade, the Lion felt certain that he would see his former brother again, likely sooner than he might hope. For now, though, Angron was banished.
The Lion sighed and shook his head. He tuned his armour's vox bead to the Dark Angels' command channel and listened intently. Hefting blade and shield, the Primarch set off south towards the nearest extraction site. As he limped along, he considered his deeds this day, his choice of his gene-sons over the wider galaxy. He had so much to tell them, so much to do. It was time to rejoin his Unforgiven sons and to begin the work of ensuring his sacrifices had not been in vain.

"You are nothing but a skull to be cast before the Blood God's throne! You are meat to be bled for his glory! Now fight me and die so I can get on with butchering your miserable sons!"



"The Dark Angels are my sons. All of the Dark Angels, those who name themselves Unforgiven and those they call Fallen. I have not forgotten this, and you may have my oath upon it that I will not allow it to be overlooked by anyone else. I care not whether they be lowly serf or my father himself upon his Golden Throne. I reject none but the faithless. The betrayers, those who spurned all that the First Legion ever stood for. Those who instead sullied their magnificence with the poison taint of Chaos. As did the traitor Serephax. As did Luther. Even such as they may know my forgiveness, but understand, my sons, their only absolution comes beneath the keen edge of my blade. So shall I end their suffering, their corruption, and the dishonour that they embody by their very act of being. But you... you are my Risen sons. You do me nothing but honour by your presence at my side. So shall it be known by all."

"What are you?"
"Dark Angels, lord!"
"I still hear echoes of another name behind those words, my sons. I tell you again to unburden yourselves of it, for I have absolved you. You may speak freely in this place, for the Watchers ensure none shall hear us. You are Fallen no more. You never truly fell. There is no taint in you, or I would have known it when we first met, and that moment would have been your last. So tell me again, my Risen sons, what are you?"
"Dark Angels!"
"Where did I find you?"
"Upon the questing road! Upon the liberator's path! Amidst the shadowed and misty ways!"
"And whom do you serve, my sons?"
"The Lion! The Emperor!"

"Gather the redeemed and make ready for battle, my sons. We go to do the Emperor's work, not for glory or for vengeance, but because loyalty is its own reward."

[Dragaros]

"Team Cherry has delayed Hollow Knight: Silkskong beyond its previously planned “first half of 2023” release window: Hey gang, just a quick update about Silksong. We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing. We’re excited by how the game is shaping up, and it’s gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can. Expect more details from us once we get closer to release."

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUDbfCWLCDk

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIDgJ4ml2L4

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89g8uuGaHdY

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtFl-j-lUzM

[Dragaros]

https://twitter.com/MortalKombat/status ... 7352426497

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPEN98EdBbU

"It has begun!"

So yeah, looks like MK12 is essentially gonna be a rebooted MK1, thanks to Liu Kang being the new Time God and resetting the timeline, just as most folks expected.

[Vol]

The problem with the endgame scenarios is that the faction in question doesn't declare universal total war on everybody, but just on you. Thus, when you play an order faction and the dwarves or wood elves go cray-cray, suddenly they are at war with you and not the Empire... which is militarily allied to both of you and they start to hate you for the war you didn't declare. That aspect of the endgame crisis really does suck. I guess I'll have to find a mod for it one day, but normally I just turn off the order factions in my order playthroughs, I just forgot it for the Wood Elf one.

Turns out that the movie release schedule site I went got its organization wrong, this weekend it'll be only Sisu wich releases here in Germany, next weekend its Fast X and Knights of the Zodiac, so this weekend should be pretty relaxed.

The new Stellaris expansion releases later today, so I got some fun ahead of me there.

As for WoW, it's currently pretty competently done and has a very tight release schedule, but I am noticing my long-term burnout more and more again.

Yeah, I just discovered that firsthand. And it was the wood elves that popped, which happened to be riiiight along my longest, least defended border, where I was also occupying a WAAAGH target. I couldn't lose the campaign, too many tier 5 cities they'd need to break against, but eh. Having the wood elves in particular gunning hard for me, with Greenskin units, is a grind I don't want to deal with. Rather dick around with Taurox!

No rest for the wicked, alas. Start of next week, riiiight back to the shore. Two McMansion powerwashings, then painting another house. It's flattering the rich folk out there find us so respectable (read: white) that they keep wanting us to come back out there, but it's also a bit annoying living out of hotels for a week!

[magnuskn]

Yeah, I just discovered that firsthand. And it was the wood elves that popped, which happened to be riiiight along my longest, least defended border, where I was also occupying a WAAAGH target. I couldn't lose the campaign, too many tier 5 cities they'd need to break against, but eh. Having the wood elves in particular gunning hard for me, with Greenskin units, is a grind I don't want to deal with. Rather dick around with Taurox!

Have fun! I am currently finding the new Stellaris expansion, with the new expanded leader mechanic, very stimulating.

No rest for the wicked, alas. Start of next week, riiiight back to the shore. Two McMansion powerwashings, then painting another house. It's flattering the rich folk out there find us so respectable (read: white) that they keep wanting us to come back out there, but it's also a bit annoying living out of hotels for a week!

Yeah, I can imagine. Well, at least you're making some money. All the best!

[Mazder]

Okay, so I have finished Star Wars Jedi Survivor.

So for the spoiler free part, it's a fun game, bringing more of what I loved from the first game and left me wanting more. I think that in terms of the lore it has a certain spot but can fall to some problems if you're not consuming everything for the new stuff.
Other than that it holds a great story and plays beautifully with the aspect of how the Force is vs game mechanics, via the supposed suspension you'd need to have to justify murdering thousands of people as a Jedi.

So on to spoilery stuff;

► Show Spoiler

So the game picks up a bit after the first game, a few years maybe, and Cal's team has kind of broken up. But it's okay, he has a new one. For the first mission, and your only survivor from it joins you in getting the band back together for a big old quest for a hidden spot away form the Empire.

The way to find it comes form a bunch of High Republic material and while someone who is currently consuming that media might get a thrill from it I am honestly just "fine" with it. The Jedi you free from the HR stasis is essentially your main antagonist for the game (or is he?) and upon meeting him bleeds his crystal in front of you and fights you to escape.

Oh and also he's teamed up with a Gen'Dai. Y'know, the same race as Dirge from that old Clone Wars cartoon? Yeah, so they're canon now.

Through visons and the usual tech search stuff you get to meet up with your old team and get the band back together.
Greez owns a bar, Merrin (the total babe and yes you do become an item and yes her new outfit is fit!) is actually going around being a kind of "Jedi Nightsister" by the way that she's doing good things, despite being in the "dark side users faction", and Cere has got a base on Jedha and is a key stop on the Hidden Path.

So the Hidden Path was dropped in Kenobi and it's a really cool thing I hope they explore in further games/media as it's a Jedi Underground.
Oh and she's also rebuilding the Jedi Archive/Library. And sadly she has the stupid fucking books from The Last Jedi. But here they don't feel as obnoxious as in that film as they make sense being here.

Now some might be thinking "what time period is this set in as if they're on Jedha shouldn't there be a Rogue One crossover?" Nope, this takes place in the same time frame as Kenobi, so about 9-10 years-ish before Rogue One/A New Hope.

And this game plays with the themes of the Dark Side's easy seduction, even going so far as to have a mechanic that plays directly into it and how it portrays how the Dark side is the more seductive "easy" path.


There are LOADS of things I could go on about but I feel like you should play it once the performance is better.
Because yeah, despite the great stuff done with the plot/themes the game is kinda brought down by poor performance.
And that's honestly a shame because it is a stellar game and is the closest I'll be getting to Souls-like/light games for a long time, but if more were like it and the community were more like the ones for this game then the format/playstyle might become more welcoming to others.

[Vol]

@Drag: I'm too drowsy to parse it, during the fight

► Show Spoiler

what exactly did the Lion do to kill Angron? Something about baiting a swing then cutting him in half?

@magnus: Ah, Stellaris is your ole' faithful, eh? It's good to have a game like that, if so.

@Mazder: Wish I hadn't clicked the spoiler, though it didn't give away much of anything, but you do make it sound like a really great game I enjoyed the first game quite a lot, though not enough to play it a second time. But to make that attempt of a more accessible Souls game with an IP _ripe_ for that kind of combat was respectable, the story didn't piss me off, and the ending sequence left me happy. Was tickled pink. Though it sounds like waiting for some big patches would be wisest.

► Show Spoiler

Does it treat the Dark Side as having existence of its own, or just a perversion of the Light?

[magnuskn]

@magnus: Ah, Stellaris is your ole' faithful, eh? It's good to have a game like that, if so.

Well, it used to be WoW, but that has since passed, it seems. Although I get suckered in every once in a while.

Stellaris and Total War: Warhammer 2/3 are the two games I think I spent the most time on in the last five years, so yeah, I can always come back to them, after having a little break. It helps of course that new content is still getting released quite often.

However, I also get a hankering for playing games like XCOM 2 or The Witcher 3 every few years. I might be going back to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous one day, when I can allocate another 150 hours to it. I'm looking forward to playing Everspace 2, whenever Virpil has sent me their products, i.e. in more or less one month.

[Dragaros]

► Show Spoiler

Oh and also he's teamed up with a Gen'Dai. Y'know, the same race as Dirge from that old Clone Wars cartoon? Yeah, so they're canon now.

► Show Spoiler

I always thought the Gen’Dai were a neat concept that should have been explored more. Always wanted to delve more into their culture and homeworld. And their biology is fairly unique among the alien species in Star Wars. Durge was always an atypical example of his kind, both from the radical experimentation he underwent and his own psychopathy, so you couldn’t infer too much of what his people was like from him.

Funnily enough, Disney did re-canonize Durge himself not too too long ago. But he’s now in the post-Episode 3 era, and wasn’t active during the Clone Wars, and thus had no rivalry with Kenobi or Anakin nor was he ever hired by Dooku or the Confederacy. Disney isn’t doing anything with him at the moment, though. No one wants to use him for anything. He's just standing there…. menacingly!



Now can someone please bring back the Ssi-ruuk? I can’t be the only Star Wars fan that liked those space raptors!

@Drag: I'm too drowsy to parse it, during the fight

► Show Spoiler

what exactly did the Lion do to kill Angron? Something about baiting a swing then cutting him in half?

► Show Spoiler

Long story short: The Lion goaded Angron into making a mad bull charge so he could impale him on his sword, the blade piercing his chest and erupting out the back of his neck. Angron’s momentum causes him to fall; when he stops rolling he was on his back with one wing pinned under him, attempting to pull the blade out. The Lion takes the Emperor’s shield in both hands and smashes it down hard enough to cleave through Angron’s head and into the metal floor beneath him. Angron’s corporeal shell explodes and his spirit banished back into the Warp.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh0U1Wh8bTQ

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h28Ixk8-zFo

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsGdrOzly-Y

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DBWRh15enQ

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10IpWxOIoVU

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmnThfSE3AE

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeYAVDj-gO0

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zae5vHrQQ8A

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPM6WI7SAcM

[Vol]

Well, it used to be WoW, but that has since passed, it seems. Although I get suckered in every once in a while.

Stellaris and Total War: Warhammer 2/3 are the two games I think I spent the most time on in the last five years, so yeah, I can always come back to them, after having a little break. It helps of course that new content is still getting released quite often.

However, I also get a hankering for playing games like XCOM 2 or The Witcher 3 every few years. I might be going back to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous one day, when I can allocate another 150 hours to it. I'm looking forward to playing Everspace 2, whenever Virpil has sent me their products, i.e. in more or less one month.

Been aware there's a big fan-made Hardcore community on the Classic WoW servers, with an addon to keep track and lots of highlight clips of hilarious/tragic deaths. Just found out that today Blizz confirmed they're going to integrate a proper version of Hardcore mode into the game. As Vanilla is and always will be my favorite version, I'm probably gonna sub just for that. And play a lock or hunter, heh.

I can't bring myself to replay the Witcher games, though I've beaten all 3. Yuge, sweeping story games have to be virginal to get me into them the last few years. Though every 2 or so years, I _have_ to do an XCOM2 run, it's uncanny.

► Show Spoiler

Long story short: The Lion goaded Angron into making a mad bull charge so he could impale him on his sword, the blade piercing his chest and erupting out the back of his neck. Angron’s momentum causes him to fall; when he stops rolling he was on his back with one wing pinned under him, attempting to pull the blade out. The Lion takes the Emperor’s shield in both hands and smashes it down hard enough to cleave through Angron’s head and into the metal floor beneath him. Angron’s corporeal shell explodes and his spirit banished back into the Warp.

Ah, gotcha. Much appreciated. My brain's been fried the last few work days. Though that scene is a good example of why complicated physical scenes are so hard to do well!

[magnuskn]

Been aware there's a big fan-made Hardcore community on the Classic WoW servers, with an addon to keep track and lots of highlight clips of hilarious/tragic deaths. Just found out that today Blizz confirmed they're going to integrate a proper version of Hardcore mode into the game. As Vanilla is and always will be my favorite version, I'm probably gonna sub just for that. And play a lock or hunter, heh.

I can't bring myself to replay the Witcher games, though I've beaten all 3. Yuge, sweeping story games have to be virginal to get me into them the last few years. Though every 2 or so years, I _have_ to do an XCOM2 run, it's uncanny.

Oh, geeze. I'm not sure how a hardcore server in WoW could ever work out in terms of raiding, since the entire game there revolves around dying until you get it right. In any case, not my sitch and I couldn't play old WoW ever again and feel good about it, anyway.

Luckily I like going back to old books and re-reading them for the prose and the nostalgia of excellent moments in the story, so it's the same for me for games, although I notice that I can get tired of that in the middle of a long run. Probably not exactly that strange, given the time difference to read a decently long book (I can easily do 300-400 pages in one evening) and a game which takes 150 hours to complete.

[TTTX]

well I decided to go out of my house for once and visit copenhagen zoo.

I had a good time and saw the pandas, I really needed that for my mental health, staying at home all day most days isn't good for you.

[SciFlyBoy]

That sounds awesome. I haven't been to a zoon in ages. I hear Copenhagen is quite beautiful and that the new rail system is superb. Did you have to travel far?

[Vol]

Oh, geeze. I'm not sure how a hardcore server in WoW could ever work out in terms of raiding, since the entire game there revolves around dying until you get it right. In any case, not my sitch and I couldn't play old WoW ever again and feel good about it, anyway.

Luckily I like going back to old books and re-reading them for the prose and the nostalgia of excellent moments in the story, so it's the same for me for games, although I notice that I can get tired of that in the middle of a long run. Probably not exactly that strange, given the time difference to read a decently long book (I can easily do 300-400 pages in one evening) and a game which takes 150 hours to complete.

No idea! Because the urge to wipe out 39 other players on C'thun for sweet trollbux might be awfully tempting for some. But I love the ambience still, just need a reason to play again, and the necessarily slower pace of HC might be even more fun! Though some very important details need to be worked out, vis-a-vis soulstones and griefing.

Mhm. I finished Congo for the nth time on my cruise, Death of WCW during the last work trip. I have a few books I'd reread endlessly but for the need to read the endless stack of new ones! Especially the philosophy books, which are brain-draining and take real commitment to _focus_ on.

well I decided to go out of my house for once and visit copenhagen zoo.

I had a good time and saw the pandas, I really needed that for my mental health, staying at home all day most days isn't good for you.

Excellent! Never had a bad day at a zoo, animals always make me happier. Have any other fun sightings?

---

Well, lads, I can't see to spend more than a week in my own bed before I'm forced away again. 2-3 day work trip, at the shore, once more. Ahhhhhhhhh. Powerwashing on high ladders too, so I'll be completely exhausted. But at least I'll get to eat and drink well down there. Back in a few days, Wednesday hopefully, so keep calm and carry on!

[SciFlyBoy]

Aye, sir!

[TTTX]

That sounds awesome. I haven't been to a zoon in ages. I hear Copenhagen is quite beautiful and that the new rail system is superb. Did you have to travel far?

I live like an hour by car to Copenhagen so yeah not a small trip to take.

Excellent! Never had a bad day at a zoo, animals always make me happier. Have any other fun sightings?

going to be honest it all felt fun to see as I said I really needed this.

I haven't been out the house just to have fun in years because of a lot of reasons including covid.

[Mazder]

@Mazder: Wish I hadn't clicked the spoiler, though it didn't give away much of anything, but you do make it sound like a really great game I enjoyed the first game quite a lot, though not enough to play it a second time. But to make that attempt of a more accessible Souls game with an IP _ripe_ for that kind of combat was respectable, the story didn't piss me off, and the ending sequence left me happy. Was tickled pink. Though it sounds like waiting for some big patches would be wisest.

► Show Spoiler

Does it treat the Dark Side as having existence of its own, or just a perversion of the Light?

Yeah the performance patches are needed but otherwise the game is fantastic. It's honestly peak Star Wars game for me right now.

► Show Spoiler

Well as far as the Dark Side having an existence of it's own, they treat it more as an addiction, which it kind of is if you take what Yoda/Obi Wan infers in The Empire Strikes Back. Cere especially struggles constantly with the Dark Side in the first games and here we see her at a better place but she still feels the pull of it on hr in her life. But she has let go of her fear and you see it play off very well for what can be shown in the game.

And as far as gameplay experience with the Dark Side, throughout the game Cal's "freeze" mechanic is always unlocked to be used at any time, it's essentially another bar to be filled for your special attack, and once a certain threshold is met by the story Cal kind of loses his cool and this freeze goes. Instead he "embraces the darkness" and your saber stance is locked in to single bladed, the screen goes all red and fractured and your damage is significantly buffed for the period is active. Now other than the story moment once it's passed activating it is completely optional, you never have to use your "freeze/darkness" button ever again, except for one moment during the final boss when you have no choice to get past a cutscene, but after that you don't need to use it to beat them. So it's a very clever way of portraying how the Dark Side is a more easy route to power, but won't be nearly as rewarding as it makes the game easier, defeating the point of souls-like combat.

[Dragaros]

well I decided to go out of my house for once and visit copenhagen zoo.

I had a good time and saw the pandas, I really needed that for my mental health, staying at home all day most days isn't good for you.

Nice.

Last time I went to a zoo was... I think 7 years ago. Still as much fun now as when you parents take you for your first time as a kid. Zoo's rock.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDeOYJbg_zo

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAvVdlrHAKA

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_fRLkCW300

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYtsJTTZvas

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8iw0mOdBI0

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8xF43HFIY0

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiqtacBz0L8