"The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem."
– Bell Hooks, The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, 2004
10 years ago, the Denver Nuggets drafted a 7 ft tall, unknown center from Serbia in the second round. It wasn't even shown on tv; the network was busy running a Taco Bell ad.
Jokic is fast, one of the strongest players in the league, and one of the best conditioned. He plays at a mile high altitude (18% less oxygen than sea level), and after every single game he plays, he goes back to the weight room with a trainer and lifts weights and does cardio for another two hours. He is also one of the most supremely skilled centers in history in terms of footwork, touch on the ball, making shots, and circus-style passes to teammates that absolutely defy belief.
But he doesn't fit the male gaze aesthetic box: he doesn't have a lot of definition in his arm muscles. He doesn't have a six pack. His arms flop and he shuffles when he runs. He looks nothing like a Michael Jordan or Lebron James, who play with flash and swagger and look and play like they just came out of a Marvel Movie. Stephen A Smith, a top sports commentator on ESPN, once famously called Nicola Jokic "A fat tub of lard who can't jump over a curb." He also got a reputation for "not caring" about basketball. He doesn't mean mug, flex, dance or celebrate after big plays. He very, very rarely talks shit, and when he does, it's wholesome and polite. He gives credit where credit is due in a calm and passive voice during interviews. And he refuses to play Hero Ball. The Nuggets are known for playing unselfish team ball, led by Jokic. He could be scoring 40 to 50 points a game, but instead leads the league in assists, passing the ball to teammates who are shooting hot or in better positions to score. His teammates (with the exception of maybe Jamal Murray, who can be a selfish shithead and often is) have embraced Jokic's ethics, selflessness, and philosophies behind team ball. Aaron Gordon, who was drafted to be a #1 star in Orlando and was traded to the Nuggets a couple years ago, has embraced Jokic' style of play and humility, even though he's often the third or fourth best player on the team. This interview the other day was really amazing.
In an age of American anti-intellectualism, Jokic is a robot brain who dissects strategy and positioning and plays chess when everyone plays checkers.
Even off the court, Jokic refuses to buy into the male gaze/toxic masculinity trappings. He has a nice house, but doesn't drive a flashy car or wear flashy clothes. He married his high school sweetheart, is the dad to a toddler daughter, and is fiercely devoted to them. You never see him living the high life, clubbing, or trying to be cool on TV. At most someone will snap a candid photo of him out at a dinosaur exhibit, with his daughter on his shoulders.
Despite his refusal to play the superstar game, Jokic has been wiping the floor with the rest of the NBA. He won MVP in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, sports commentators started pushing Joel Embiid to win over Jokic. Embiid is tall, strong, aggressive to the point of violence on the court, has a lot of swagger and ego. In other words, more of the masculine hero aesthetic and personality men want to see and emulate. Embiid flailed out of the playoffs early. Jokic and the Nuggets went on a tear, destroyed the playoffs, won their first championship, and Jokic won Finals MVP.
In a hilarious and famous interview after winning his first championship, instead of basking in the glory and the limelight and crowing about his accomplishments, Jokic was sad to find out he'd have to stay for a parade a few days later because it would keep him away from his beloved horses waiting for him on his farm in Serbia.
After experiencing Denver's joy and pride, Jokic was touched by the fan support during the parade and has loosened up a bit this year with the media. He also started doing a couple commercials. Not the cereal box and warrior-coded commercials. But goofy ones with a young teammate and a pony, and this recent hysterical one for Dispicable Me 4 (when this dropped during the playoffs, Jokic rolled up to the arena dressed as Gru).
The NBA brass and sports media have been beside themselves trying to push any flashy star besides Jokic and any other team than the Nuggets. Despite the Nuggets continuing to dominate in play, sports media rarely mentioned them and continued to try to push a lackluster, 10th place Lakers with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, who are much more likely to look good on a lunchbox. Strangely, the Nugget's scheduling had more exhausting back to back next day games by far than any other team in the league. Despite being a leading player in the league, referees refused to call fouls in Jokic' favor at the same rate as the other stars, or even mundane players, despite the fact that every game Jokic would sport multiple visible nail scratches covering his arms, sometimes to the point of bleeding.
It didn't matter. The Nuggets still swept the Los Angeles Lakers 12 games in a row, and the Boston Celtics. They tied for most wins in their division. And once again, Jokic won league MVP. The league and media institution were so sour that the "boring," "lazy," "fat" European won again, Shaqueel O'Neil opened up the awards presentation by telling Jokic to his face that another player should have won.
The Nuggets are currently in the second round of the playoffs. They were low energy and not great the first two games, dropping to a young and hungry Minnesota team with a 22 year old phenom named Anthony Edwards, who the media spent a week splashing across their screens and calling him the next Michael Jordan. The Nuggets and Jokic woke up and have won the last three games in absolutely embarrassing fashion. Last night, after accepting the MVP trophy at his home arena, Jokich played one of the most dominant solo games in the history of the NBA, absolutely wrecking an asshole 4 time defensive player of the year in Rudy Gobert like the dude wasn't even there. At this point, the opposing team, and the media, are shrugging their shoulders and begrugingly admitting there's nothing they can do. This guy is one of the best players in history, and nobody is going to be able to stop him.
Jokic's only acknowledgement in the press conference was a dry, deadpan, self deprecating admission that he's a freak of nature.
So if you're bored and want to watch a bunch of dudes subvert patriarchal expectations of what athletic men are supposed to be, Nuggets playoffs basketball is pretty fucking fun to watch. And they're dragging the NBA into prioritizing team play and humility over stars and aesthetics , whether they like it or not. The needle on what we should idolize in this country is moving.

I've been playing the hell out of this game ever since it released and I think I'm close to being done with what the game has to offer so I wanna make sure I have all possible collectibles in the house. I have: -the three forest clock decorations -the dog you get from the barcode melody -the skull from a no-death playthrough -the collectibles from the space clock -origami bunnies ...and I found the mp3 player with the message from the devs. I saw from another screenshot that there's also two bunnies that appear next to the bigmode frog figure in the house, am I missing anything else? Thanks in advance for the help!

Sooooo I’m dating Seb. Sebastian loves frogs, I love frogs, and we’re both older siblings. We’re both nerds. I tried really hard to pick any other character, but Sebastian is literally what I want in a partner irl so I was screwed the minute I saw his sixth heart event lol It’s been three seasons since my farmer started dating him. Im curious if I should wait longer, since I always get really nervous before the bit where the farmers get married in these types of games(I’ve played a lot of Story of Seasons). I know I have all the requirements met pre-marriage in the game.

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Educational
Estimated year of release: Early 2000s, I'd say no later than 2005
Graphics/art style: 3rd person, gloomy atmosphere, kind of like if dark souls was rated g and had super mario 64 graphics. I think the most color it ever got were from torches on the wall but I remember most of it being pretty grey
Notable characters: Some kind of frog knight. It definitely wasn't supposed to be a frog I think but I remember you played as something that looked like crazy frog's knight cousin
Notable gameplay mechanics: Typing simple words in order to get through puzzles and obtain keys for doors
Other details: Played in elementary school. I don't remember the objective of the game. Definitely cool graphics for the time, but aged terribly nowadays

~First~
Not Exactly Hidden
The sound of old bones creaking is the result of him finally sitting down and straightening a little. He twists his cane around and gently presses the head into the torso of the woman that just tried to sneak up on him. “Really now, we don’t have that kind of relationship, you can talk to me like a normal person.”
“I understand Daiju-San, I just want to inform you that I’m going to watch your conversation.” Madam Stepanova says as she forces away his cane with surprising force. Or perhaps not so surprising, she’s been out into the wider galaxy once already, it would not surprise him in the slightest if she was already doing something to restore herself the vigour and power of her youth.
“I doubt your old boyfriend is going to be where my grandson has ended up. No doubt he’s stirring up trouble in that very British way of his.” Koga Daiju, father of Koga Daigo, grandfather of Koga Daiki and Koga Daini remarks and his cane is pushed back into him with enough force to slide him down the plush leather of the couch somewhat. He pulls his cane back and she sits down next to him.
“Do you remember when we were both assigned to stop the deviant?” She asks and he chuckles.
“Yes. To be honest I knew he was hiding among the sumo-wrestlers I just figured it would be impossible for him not to get thrown out by the larger men. I had a lot of... how do you say it? Egg on my face? Yes, a lot of egg on my face when I learned that day how quickly he makes friends.”
“So it was your fault.”
“Yours as well, you could have told me the man could charm anyone.”
“There was a language barrier a mile wide and a cultural barrier at least twice it’s size! It shouldn’t have been possible!” Madam Stepanova says before growling. “Not that he didn’t pull that sort of nonsense off on the regular. We didn’t speak much afterwards, but I understand you received additional orders to let him go?”
“He uncovered a source of corruption and quite literally cut it out while fighting off the effects of deliberately improper fugu. After that it was determined that he would either no longer be a problem, or was not a priority problem any longer as he was departing and there was quite the mess he had revealed.” Daiju says before turning a pointed look to Madam Stepanova. “Of course, it’s not like YOU weren’t a massive problem to deal with as well. While I understand that weapon smugglers dealing with certain cults in our country were indeed an issue for us both, random buildings imploding with the dissected corpses of your enemies inside lead to quite a few sleepless nights.”
“Oh, you mean like what you gave my division when high ranking administrators were panicking at the sight of their own shadows, insistent that they were being stared at through them?”
“I fail to see how Gaijin superstitions are my fault.” Daiju notes with a warm smile.
“And I fail to see how the poor building practices of your country are mine.” Madam Stepanova replies primly. After about a minute they both smirk and look away.
“I’m going to call my grandson now. If you’re going to listen in, then I request a lack of commentary.”
“Since when have I been the type to give commentary?”
“Age, youth and I assume Axiom as well, all change people.”
“Like how you became a voyeur in your old age.”
“I simply lack a reason to avoid appreciating the lovelier side of things. Beauty is to be appreciated after all.” He says as he leans back a little and uses his cane to bang on a few buttons. A holographic interface shows itself and he spends about a minute slowly pecking at the long sequence of numbers for his boy. “Now then, mind your manners Madam.”
His teasing only earns a light scoffing before the screen lights up. Daiju moves quickly to make sure he adjusts his glasses at the exact same time Daiki does. His grandson pauses and so does he. Moves to the side and Daiji mimics the movement. Including several more shifts until Daiki holds up a hand and there is fire within it.
“Still learning to do that.”
“Grandfather! You’re alive!”
“Yes, when my time came I went to the western countries so I could challenge their reaper to go rather than chess. He wasn’t too practised with it, so I bought enough time to escape.” Daiju says and Daiki raises a skeptical eyebrow.
“So I can expect you soon then?” Daiki asks.
“Sooner than you think.”
“That does not help.” Daiki replies.
“It’s all you need.” Daiju says with a fond smile before nodding. “Now, how is this village you’ve told me about?”
“Our population has ballooned lately. There are many children underfoot.”
“You scoundrel! Tell me everything!”
“Not like that!”
“And much of my interest is now gone.”
“Even if I tell you it involves a blood feud centuries old with two noble houses butchering each other down into poverty even as they interbreed and turn from merely murderers to kinslayers in the process?” Daiki asks and Madam Stepanova leans a little closer at that revelation. “Grandfather.”
“Yes?” Daiju asks.
“I will never call that evil creature grandmother.” Daiki states and Madam Stepenova cackles at that.
“Grandson! Surely you understand I have better taste than that!” Daiju protests.
“Yes, but I also know that at your age, senility can be a thing.” Daiki says in a regretful tone and Daiju puts a hand to his chest as if wounded.
“My own blood! Turning on me!”
“I am merely concerned for your health grandfather. If your mind is so far gone as to woo so wicked a witch then there is so very little I can do for you. Little more than perhaps a mercifully swift...” Daiki says solemnly and Madam Stepanova cackles again even as she stands up and leaves the room.
“Put the knife down young man, or I’ll find a way to thump you from here.” The very amused Daiju says and is met with the much younger version of his smile from Daiki. “She’s gone now, well done.”
“Thank you.” Daiki says. “Now as to what bloated the village, our mutual friend Vernon, on his sappy romantic way, stepped into the middle of a centuries old blood feud and things got interesting in a hurry. Many of the details can be skipped, but the Forest Kami decided that the feud was a foul thing and intervened. As I am bound to it as it is bound to me I became part of it, and now the children of both the Barlis and Harkul clans are living as one group here. Forced to intermingle.”
“That’s... that’s one way of doing it!” Daiju says after a moment of consideration.
“It gets better.”
“Please continue.”
“Part of the way the families made war with each other was taking advantage of how rare and valuable men are.”
“Kidnapping?”
“Indeed.”
“Oh! And it led to the interbreeding. Quite literally one family with two names and an increasingly pointless feud... Oh! Tell me that there were some members who were known by different names to both sides and they were forced to try and fight themselves.”
“Not quite that crazy. Just a lot of stupid. The children still get into fights with each other across Barlis and Harkul lines... or rather they try. The Forest is powerful and ever watching. Any attempt to hurt each other just fails.”
“Fails how?” Daiju asks and suddenly Daiki is a few inches to the left without moving. “Shunshin?”
“Something like that. It’s called woodwalking and since they’re in the woods, they’re subject to it.”
“Woodwalking?”
“Teleportation is well known the galaxy over. But woodwalking is unique. It cares not for distance, it cares not for energy. It’s sensation is unique to those that understand how to feel for it, and it always leads back to The Forest in some manner.”
“This feel for Axiom. Can you teach it? From this distance?”
“Oh? Has the master become the student?”
“In the end a Master is merely the best student. And this student always seeks to learn.” Daiju says fondly.
“Very well, everyone Undaunted had a basic guidance. But... get comfortable.”
“Already done.”
“Good. Then turn your eye inwards. You’re already IN the Axiom. It surrounds you, it has merged with you. With every part of your clothing, with the cane in your hands. Your skin, your hair, your bones and muscles and organs. All of it. The gravity returning distracted you with the sensation of your muscles needing to work again, but there is something new. Something that you’ve been fooled into thinking is normal. Something that feels old, but is new.” Daiki explains
“And it is nowhere specific?” Daiju asks.
“It is everywhere, in everything.”
“In everything...” Daiju notes as he closes his eyes and feels. “It responds to thought?”
“It does, words and gestures can help but are not needed.” Daiki says and Daiju nods before suddenly moving his arms in gestures. After the third there is a brief flicker of flame which he catches. He holds onto the fire and brings it in front of his face before gently blowing on it. The flames grow and dance within his hand as a smile crosses his face.
“I believe I have found it.” Daiju says as he has the fire shrink and then dance along the back of his knuckles.
“Well... damn.”
“Oh come now grandson. I’ve just told you that I’ve learned to learn. And I’ve spent three of your lifetimes learning how to better learn.” Daiju notes before he catches the tiny rolling fireball and crushes it into a wisp of smoke.
He then breathes a small tongue of flame into his hand and nods as it responds just as eagerly. “This will make setting things on fire much easier. Thank you grandson.”
“I’m still a little annoyed you had so easy a time with it. I needed to have someone directly hand me khutha to get it.” Daiki says.
“Well as they say, youth is wasted on the young.”
“And wisdom is lost on the old.”
“Hey now, no turning my smug superiority around like that. Respect your elders boy!”
“You’re not an elder out here grandfather. Oh no, outside of Cruel Space you’re an irresponsibly young parent who sired an equally irresponsibly young parent.” Daiki says wagging a finger at him. “For shame grandfather! Siring a family so young!”
“Young he calls it...” Daiju says with a very amused smile. “Well, if I’m such a bad influence then I’m sure you’d to chastise me in person.”
“Yes, get over to Serbow as quickly as possible you’re on Genin training duties.”
“Oh no! However will I survive teaching children how to move and think and observe their surroundings! To think of my own grandson turning one of my favourite things into a punishment! The deviousness of it all!” Daiju keeps his tone so devoid of sarcasm in his comment it actually loops around to being sarcastic again.
“That’s what you get. You will be placed in a mountain village hidden beneath the branches of a mighty forest, surrounded by snot nosed students on all sides, forced to eat freshly hunted game and harvested crops on the daily and made to show your secrets!”
“Oh no! Mercy please!” Daiju is no longer able to keep the amusement or sarcasm from his tone and both Koga devolve into a half snickering laugh.
“I missed you grandfather!”
“I missed you as well my boy!” Daiju replies with a bright and earnest smile. “I really did fear I wouldn’t get the chance to speak with you again.”
“I...”
“No no. Just listen.” Daiju says and Daiki quiets down. “Do not feel ashamed that you chose the stars. What you did was courageous and necessary, bold moves are required to find new and better things. There is no shame in that boldness. I am proud of you, as is your father and mother and sister. Our family is blessed to have so brave and dutiful a child.”
“Thank you.”
“Good. Now that that’s out of the way, back to the topic! I was worried I would never get the chance to speak with you again! It was strange that I always got on better with you than with your father or mother. Or my own siblings. Strange minds think alike do they not?”
“Oh they certainly do, especially when they hear the call of...” Daiki says before clasping his hands together in a mudra and smoke erupts around him. Daiju starts to laugh even as Daiki reveals he is now hanging from the ceiling. “Ninja!”
“I’ll show you the call of ninja boy!” Daiju says through the laughter.
“No call of Ninja. Not call of Ninja Boy.” Daiki ‘corrects’ him and there’s a huff from Daiju.
“Is that the level of humour you’re going for? Something that simple?”
“Simple is effective.” Daiki says. “Making things more complicated is just asking for trouble.”
“True, but speaking of complication how difficult is it to master that trick where the elderly reinforce themselves to be stronger?”
“Just will the power through yourself for a basic enhancement. It usually helps as practice to think about a great hero or champion you want to emulate. Batman is a popular pick when The Undaunted were just learning how to do so.”
“I see. So if I simply focus on how...” Daiju begins to ask before he suddenly sits up straighter and gives his cane an expert twirl. “Ah! I’m twenty five again! If you’ll excuse me, I need make an old woman pull out her hair in frustration.”
“Try not to blow up the ship grandfather.”
“I’ll get to an escape pod first, I assure you.”
“Oh no!”
“Oh yes!”
~First~ Last

Latest Bios on MSI B450 Gaming Plus (Older Bios also made 0 difference) Ryzen 3600X 3.8 GHZ stock settings and works perfectly fine at stock and with AMD PBO, (MSI Gaming boost feature 4.7 GHZ disabled for obvious reasons as the chip was not designed to run at that speed) I swapped in a used RX 6700 XT and then the VRR works fine. Got a old GTX 1060 we had lying around work today tried it and VRR also works fine. Swapped back in the A750 did a full DDU in safe mode and updated to latest drivers still no VRR Tried same thing again put in an old drivers still no VRR. Resizable Bar Enabled XMP ram profile on and off makes no difference. Latest Windows 11 Pro 240HZ Viewsonic XG2431 Freesync Premium (Blur Buster 2.0 Certified Monitor) Backlight strobing disabled and Free Sync enabled in monitor DDC/CI also enabled in monitor. DP CableVRR enabled in intel command Arc control and Fullscreen/Window option also enabled. Sync options all disabled however doesn't matter if I choose Vsync or smooth sync or smart V sync same issue.
An easy way for me to test it without even loading into a game is to open "Frog Pursuit" https://www.aperturegrille.com/software/
^ This app is what I normally use when tuning the backlight strobing to eliminate cross talk and blur the app allows you to run at any FPS and pixel speed of the frogs if I have anything higher than 60 HZ like 120 or 240 HZ but I put the frogs on 60 FPS there will be nasty frame pacing and tearing it only fixes above 80 FPS
However in game like league of legends and DOTA 2 etc there is horrible judder and frame pacing when moving the camera lots of tears it doesn't matter if I cap the games to 100 FPS and have the monitor on 240 HZ it will still have tons of horrible tearing and judder
The only semi usable option is to enable VSYNC ingame and use RTSS software for Scanline Sync This will work for League of Legends presuming I can maintain 120 FPS but because league is DX9 it means the Intel cards are vastly inferior to AMD or Nvidia and sees drops to 100 FPS in scenes with enemies etc causing the tear.
I was gonna use HDMI 2.1 to see if that fixes the issue but then realized that Intel is so horrible they don't even support VRR over HDMI like literally every GPU From AMD and Nvidia.

Hey Everyone! Welcome to the Cardinals Reddit Daily OveUnder Contest! I’ll post these daily as long as I’m able to, but I’m sure real life will get in the way here and there. This is all for fun. No prizes other than bragging rights.
 

Rules:

• Each question must be answered, including the tie breaker.
• Entries must be submitted before 1st pitch (I’ll do my best to turn off accepting responses at game time).
• Editing is turned off for the form entry. Duplicate entries will all be disregarded.
• At least 5 entries must be made for points to be earned for the day.
• All questions regarding the named probable pitcher will default to the starting pitcher for that team in the event that the probable pitcher does not make the start.

Scoring:

1st Place: 3 Points
2nd Place: 2 Points
3rd Place: 1 Point
Correct Tie-Breaker: 1 Point
10/10 Correct: 1 Point
0/10 Correct: 1 Point
 
I'll keep a tally and post the results as a comment in that day's post and link it in the next day's contest thread. Points will keep accumulating throughout the season. I will be using MLB GameDay and ESPN for official scoring.
Good luck, everyone! I hope you enjoy! I'm also always open to feedback on how to improve or suggestions for questions (it can be tough trying to get enough variety!).
 
Not required for entry, but I’d appreciate leaving a comment/vote for visibility on the page
 

OveUnder Contest: May 15th

 

At Angels, 8:07 CT

 

Lance Lynn Vs Griffin Canning

 

OveUnder Form Link

 

May 14th Results

 

May Standings

Reddit Username	Points
u/DSchibler	9
u/Flimsy-animator756	6
u/dan81989	5
u/SomethingAvid	5
u/Weezy2337yadude	5
u/fujiesque	4
u/Kevindoesnotcare	4
u/more_whales	4
u/dquizzle	3
u/gonelikecommonsense	3
u/jmikesyo	3
u/newtickled	3
u/PCBangHero	3
u/SGT_Apone	3
u/FKACaptainFlaherty	2
u/InternetGoodGuy	2
u/jacksonfake	2
u/ski_mom	2
u/StrangerFront	2
u/Xerowaltz	2
u/Nurlitik	1

 

Overall Standings

Reddit Username	Points
u/DSchibler	24
u/InternetGoodGuy	12
u/more_whales	10
u/Dan81989	9
u/gonelikecommonsense	9
u/NotGordan	9
u/StrangerFront	9
u/zap_the_frank	9
u/PCBangHero	8
u/Flimsy_animator756	7
u/jacksonfake	7
u/MVPBaseball2069	7
u/SomethingAvid	7
u/jmikesyo	6
u/Paulspike	6
u/SGT_Apone	6
u/theredd636	6
u/Nurlitik	5
u/seattle_lib	5
u/Weezy2337yadude	5
u/fujiesque	4
u/Kevindoesnotcare	4
u/Nerp_Rufflez	4
u/aga1397	3
u/dquizzle	3
u/EE89	3
u/iamfluffhead	3
u/JayBSmith	3
u/kyla__ren	3
u/LookitstheMeta	3
u/newtickled	3
u/No_communication101	3
u/ohforschern	3
u/Pizzayolo96	3
u/tehmeat	3
u/TronaldDumpsLogs	3
u/Vasego1	3
u/Actually_Actuarially	2
u/Bigdaddyice69	2
u/Clueless_in_Florida	2
u/Da_Choppa	2
u/defiant_edge	2
u/FKACaptainFlaherty	2
u/jabbernut56	2
u/PhaedrusThaSquatch	2
u/PTF_Voidwalker	2
u/Redflanehot	2
u/rjaspa	2
u/ski_mom	2
u/thachiefking47	2
u/untitled5a1	2
u/Waystonebb	2
u/Xerowaltz	2
u/7thton	1
u/Abyss_in_Motion	1
u/Da_Munchy76	1
u/FrogsOfWar14	1
u/jessner88	1
u/Lefty808	1
u/MissouriOzarker	1
u/UnlikelyCheddar	1

 

OveUnder Questions for later reference:

1) Quality Starts Recorded by Both Starting Pitchers Combined - O/U 0.5 2) Home Runs Allowed by Griffin Canning - O/U 0.5 3) Batters Faced by Lance Lynn in the 1st Inning - O/U 4.5 4) Pitches Thrown by Both Starting Pitchers Combined - O/U 179.5 5) Total Singles Hit by Cardinals - O/U 5.5 6) RBIs Produced by LF for Both Teams Combined - O/U 0.5 7) Total Team At Bats for Cardinals - O/U 34.5 8) Runners Left in Scoring Position with 2 Outs by Angels Hitters - O/U 2.5 9) Batters Faced by Angels Bullpen - O/U 14.5 10) Margin of Win by Cardinals - O/U 0.5
Tie Breaker: Total Pitches Thrown in the Game

Hello! I newly restarted this beloved game after many years and have had to start from scratch. I never had many neighbors before and would love to do things differently this time around! My friend code (linked above) is 4NZZK.
Happy Frogging!🐸

I really like how the spearhead game is looking and I think it would be a great way to start playing AoS.
Is the current vanguard box what will be used for spearhead or will there be an updated spearhead force for seraphon?
With how this next edition is looking, will things become more or less complicated?
How much customizability does this faction have in the new edition?
Is there anything you can change about a spearhead force such as how you can change enhancements in 40k combat patrol?
Do we know how many points the spearhead forces will contain in the main game?
Are seraphon good when you just put whatever you think looks cool in a list?
Will seraphon be fun to play in the new edition or are they reliant on a lot of gimmicks?
Sorry for the number of questions, I am trying to gauge whether or not seraphon will be a good choice. I know for a fact I like dinosaurs and chunky frog men but i hold the fun on the tabletop just as high. I am one of those players that is fine taking a loss if the game was enjoyable for both of us and if it was close.
Thank you!

Hey all, I'm not great when it comes to talking about myself but here goes nothin:
My names Michael (friends and family call me Mike) and i am 25 years old. I am from Western NY but I was born and raised on Long Island. I'm 6'1 and I will always ride the high of always being tall enough for all roller coasters. I enjoy playing video games, playing DnD, going on hikes, traveling, scuba diving, skiing, watching movies/shows/anime and much more. I'm always down for a new adventure to make new memories! I work for the airline industry and can fly anywhere in the US completely free, and international is super cheap as well, so traveling is a big thing for me and I like to travel to places I haven't been before. My apartment building doesn't allow dogs which upsets me bc I wish I could have a dog, so I got the logical next choice of a pet: a tree frog! His name is bazoo and he is a small distinguished gentleman. I enjoy nights out on the town bar hopping just as much as I do a night cuddled up in blankets watching some random TV show surrounded by snacks and drinks. I'm looking for something serious: a real lasting relationship that ends with us being together forever at some point. Just want my other half to help fight this weird thing called life ya know?
What I'm looking for: - A woman who matches my energy - Someone who is willing to put in as much effort into a relationship as I am. - Someone I can laugh with and build a sturdy life with in the long term. - Bonus points if we share any of the same interests - Someone who understands me at a personal level - Someone I can feel like I can be myself around. Someone I can tell my deepest secrets to. Someone who actually wants to share their life with me.
Things that are good to know about me/what to expect from me: - My love language includes time spent together, physical touch, words of affirmation, and gift giving. - I am loyal to whomever I am with. I have been cheated on multiple times and I would never cause that harm to anyone ever. - I am big on communication. I don't beat around the bush and I say what's on my mind. I'd rather address and solve a problem rather than avoid it. - I am considerate of other people's emotions, but I am willing to admit when I myself am emotional it is sometimes difficult for me to empathize. - My end goal in life is to find the love of my life, and be together with children. If having children is something you're not up for, then maybe it's best we not waste each other's time 😄 - I do my best to give whoever I'm with as much or as little attention as they desire from me on a daily basis. while I want to be around whoever I'm with, I understand we don't have to be glued to one another, and if you need/want space I'm always willing to do so. - a huge bonus is you'll have someone who says random things to make you laugh...seriously. I don't stop until I get to see you smile or laugh.
if you think we sound like a good match, feel free to start a chat with me, and we can get to know one another!
PS: if you got this far, DM me the secret code word: ✨️Bonita✨️

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2 of Let's Talk. Here I am doing the last thing I thought I would do a couple of years ago: Dissecting the greatest player of this franchise. David Warner might have been our greatest batsman, Rashid might have been our greatest bowler. Against the test of time, there has stood only one player for the last 10 years as the franchise's flag-bearer: Bhuvneshwar Kumar. As the epitome of humility, dedication, and loyalty, Bhuvi has been associated with the franchise more deeply than anyone else in its history. But we are at a crossroads where doubts are seeping in about this great man. Why is that? I ask myself that question often. What made us lose confidence in Bhuvi? What is the actual turmoil he's going through? And is it ever really possible for him to regain his past self? We shall discuss everything in brief(oxymoron, judging by the length of this post). For the sake of the sanctity of the discussion, the stats I'll be presenting will pertain exclusively to his IPL career.
▫️The When:
When did he reach his peak? When did his downfall begin? What is this "When" supposed to mean? The question we should be asking is, when did we stop trusting in Bhuvi? Did it coincide with the onset of his injuries? Yes. Was it because of the injuries? No. Let me explain the differences. Bhuvi's IPL stats for SRH are 147 wickets in 133 matches at an average of 26.1, a strike rate of 20.6, and an economy of 7.62. Prior to the start of 2024, Bhuvi was four wickets away from becoming the first Indian player to take 150 wickets for a single franchise (a feat achieved by Bumrah). But that never came to pass due to a poor start to the season.
Bhuvi's career can be diverged into two parts: the 2014-17 period, which represented his peak, and the 2018-24 period, which represented his struggles. We will compare the statistics (especially those in the IPL and somewhat in T20Is) of these two phases to understand the two biggest phases of his career. This time period is not strictly quantified as a specific type of performance. He has had his struggles during his peak, while showing occasional brilliance during his struggles. Such is the life of a sportsman.
Now, the pre-2018 Bhuvi was India's best seamer across formats. It would be called a hyperbole, but I believed him to be so. Not only did he find his place in the longer format thanks to those fantastic IPL seasons in 2016 and 2017, but he also spearheaded the LOI bowling lineup with the then up-and-coming Jasprit Bumrah to absolute perfection. Bhuvi's defensive bowling gelled with the attacking bowling of Bumrah like fish to water, and it elevated the performance and status quo of both of them. The IPL seasons following the international ones were both the cause and effect. During this peak period, Bhuvi averaged a ridiculous 18.6 at a strike rate of 15.4 while maintaining an economy of 7.26. That meant he was taking wickets almost every two overs despite being primarily a defensive bowler. The dot ball percentage in the powerplay during this phase was an impressive 59.7%, while he was bowling two dot balls per over at the death (dot ball percentage in this period is 33.8%). Two overs at the start and two overs at the death were the fixed template for Bhuvi. The overs seemed insufficient when he was on song, and no wonder Dave respects him so much as a bowler. Every single fan who witnessed Bhuvi bamboozle Vohra in that immortal match against KXIP remains his fan to this day because it just feels right. So where did it all go wrong?
▫️The Why:
It all went wrong as soon as the greed of Indian cricket triumphed over the well-being of its premier pacer. The year was 2018, and there happened to be a pointless bilateral series against England. I'm getting too far ahead of myself. Let's add some more context to it. The year was 2014. Bhuvi ended that season with an exceptional tally of 20 wickets in 14 matches while maintaining an impressive economy of 6.66 at an average and SR of 17.7 and 16.0 respectively. Those are quite literally his best overall figures in any edition of the IPL, but the reality goes far beyond these numbers. Let's go back a little further and add some more context. Bhuvi debuted under MS Dhoni in 2012 against Pakistan. "Duh! We all know that! We see the highlights of it on DeathRattlePorn every other day." Despite having a great audition, Bhuvi wasn't considered a solution to India's long-running search for a generational seamer. Many considered him a generic swing bowler from UP with a paper-thin career. He was compared to Praveen Kumar and RP Singh, but never beyond. I won't be a contrarian and declare these opinions invalid because they were absolutely justified. For a couple of years since his debut, Bhuvneshwar remained strictly a new-ball bowler. MS Dhoni made sure to use up his overs at the powerplay and maximize the utilization of the conditions if they suited him. It suited Bhuvneshwar with his skill levels at that point and paved a path for him towards a red-ball debut (and that excellent series in England).
The trend set by MS carried over to the IPL as well. In the otherwise spectacular 2014 season, Bhuvi bowled 60% of his overs in the Powerplay, while trying his hand at the death in merely 26% of the total overs bowled. His economy at the Powerplay was 5.53 which skewed the overall economy to the lower side, while the economy was 8.96 at the death in this period, which despite not seeming much in the current scenario was in the bottom 38% percentile in that season (for bowlers bowling 10+ overs at the death). This version of Bhuvi was not far from the best version of him despite having the best stats. He did have a lean frame, and his speed barely crossed 135 kmph with an average speed between 125-130 kmph. It needed something more to make him stand out. In 2015, he gained slightly more muscle and tried to increase his speed. This was the first time in his career when he started bowling yorkers more frequently at the death while being more confident in bowling during this period. The gained muscle, however, attributed slightly to reduced consistency and accuracy, which resulted in the economy at the death being increased to 9.11 (highest during his peak) and a dot ball percentage of 29.2 (lowest during his peak). The encouraging signs, however, were the increased overs percentage at the death (37%), which showed that he was getting more and more confident in bowling at the death. Then came the crucial 2016 season, which changed the general public's perception of Bhuvi as a bowler. The Purple Cap did help the cause; the stats expectedly reflected his growth as a bowler. The death overs percentage was 32%, while the dot ball percentage at the death reached 35%. The overall dot ball percentage also reached a career-high of 47%. (In comparison, arguably the second-best bowler of the season, Fizz, had a death over dot ball percentage of 34 and an overall dot ball percentage of 42.) 2017 was the peak for Bhuvi, who was a lethal death bowler. It marked one of the most important seasons of his career in terms of skill development. He frequently used Yorkers and Leg Cutters (he used to be overly reliant on Off Cutters earlier), which ensured a brilliant Dot Ball Percentage (DB%) of 38 (a career high) while bowling 42% of the total overs during this phase. This was the absolute peak of Bhuvi's career. He won the Purple Cap for the second time, consistently clocked past the 140 kmph mark, and maintained clockwork accuracy over his lengths and lines. However, this season also saw a drastic decline in his powerplay wicket tally, raising concerns among the cricketing fraternity about whether Bhuvi was losing his natural swing in pursuit of pace.
These concerns became his worst nightmares in 2018. After coming back from his career-best overseas tour against South Africa, he suffered his first major injury, which would become the pioneer in a long string of injuries. The additional muscle mass was in question; some questioned the heavy workload he was subjected to as an all-format bowler, and some attributed it to his lack of natural fitness. Amidst all this, he was prematurely drafted in to play a meaningless decider in a bilateral series against England. This match is widely considered the undoing of Bhuvi's career in the long run, as not only was he unable to complete this match but also his injury was aggravated, and he was sidelined for a longer period than he was expected to be. His frequent injuries were an even heavier blow to the franchise, which meant they not only missed out on their best batsman but also had a question mark over the fitness of their best-ever bowler. This resulted in a stop-start season for Bhuvi in 2018, where he played in 12 out of 17 matches and finished with a career-worst average of almost 40. More than the numbers, his bowling style was questionable. He never looked 100% while bowling; the pace was down, he barely could extract swing from the pitch (while the most average opposition seamers managed to do it far better than him on the very same matches), and his accuracy at the death was more wayward as it had ever been. A seam bowler suffering from recurring injuries or immediately after a recent recovery is usually very cautious regarding his body, which prompts him to hold off on effort deliveries like yorkers and bouncers. Injury recovery and rehabilitation is more physical than mental. At times, despite recovering completely cricketers catch a knack of frequently injuries because they are not ready mentally. So without complete psychological recovery, even the greatest of comebacks can fizzle out like that. Bhuvi went down the same spiral. With the newly introduced knuckleball proving to be a decent wicket-taking option, he adapted slower balls as his go-to deliveries at the death while occasionally missing his lengths trying to hit the blockhole. The more he missed his lengths, the more he shied away from the delivery. At some point, bowling these slower balls became ingrained as his stock delivery at the death. Despite being hit for boundaries at the death after repeatedly bowling the slower balls (at varied lines, however), he still didn't have second thoughts about his increased predictability, which continued to cost him dearly. The injuries concerns playing at the back of his head and the severe lack of self confidence were painstakingly apparent. After months of battling through injuries, he reached a point where his body recovered, but his mind didn't.
Coming to the indirect factors, the modern-day game is meant to kill bowlers like Bhuvi. The balls barely swing anymore, and the pitches are as unresponsive as a girl to her toxic ex. (Can the seam bowlers be considered toxic exes, given how exploitative they were in the late 90s?) The boundaries are getting smaller, and new cricketing rules are being introduced every other day to rub salt in the injuries of these bowlers. The bowlers are fighting a losing battle, and the game demands only the freaks of nature to survive. Bhuvi, despite all his greatness, is a mere mortal. So as much as his own shortcomings have haunted him, he has suffered equally worse at the hands of the system and environment. With every injury, he found the ball to swing a little less. With every comeback, he was questioned about his range of abilities. The lack of confidence and self-belief this man has suffered, thanks to the inside and outside factors, can never be brushed out.
▫️The How:
How does he come out of that shell? Is it going to be magical? Is he going to wake up one day and turn the clock back? No! That's not how cricket works. He has already sorted out his frequent injury issues. For the last two years, he has maintained an average speed of 132-135. And these are not mutually exclusive events. He has sacrificed bowling effort deliveries in search of swing again. He's going back to his roots, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. At this point in his career, it's impractical to expect any drastic change in action or run-up. Fast bowlers are far too stubborn about that anyway. To find out the hows, we have to go back into the whys again. In the first 8 matches of this season, his line and length were all over the place. I use a particular stat as the Hittable Area bowled; shortened as HA% (the lower the better), to evaluate a bowler's consistency with his line and length. This HA% was staggeringly high for Bhuvi in these first 8 matches at 58%. That means he bowled a pressure-relieving ball every second ball. Not only did his wicket column suffer because of that, but he also was uncharacteristically expensive throughout different phases of the game. If you bowl 3 boundary balls per over, you are bound to go for 10 per over even if you get lucky on two balls.
In the last 4 matches, however, his HA% dropped to a mere 22%, and he was the only bowler whose HA% dropped during this period. (Nattu and Pat's HA% increased during this period.) I didn't have the time to go through all of the bowlers to draw a wider comparison, but the couple of bowlers I drew comparisons to (Bumrah and Harshal), despite having a better overall HA% than Bhuvi (16 and 34, respectively), ranked below him since this mini peak of 4 matches (Bumrah and Harshal had 27 and 31%, respectively). So this is the solution to his conundrum. The increase in control has brought out the best version of him, despite the current limitations.
Three overs in the powerplay should be given to Bhuvi irrespective of the conditions, and an over before the 17th over would not hurt his initial momentum. Like the match against RR, he can be occasionally trusted in crunch scenarios thanks to his experience. But the clearer his role is chalked out (as said earlier, going back to his roots as a defensive bowler), the more his confidence will flourish, which in turn will reflect in his bowling figures (as in the last four games). In the powerplay, however, it's paramount that he's paired with an attacking bowler who can operate as a strike bowler. Time and time again, Bhuvi has proven himself as an excellent setter(when the conditions are not inductive to his bowling style) in the powerplay for a more attacking bowler to take advantage of the pressure created by him. Otherwise, his spells are used up without any collateral damage to the opposition, and the initial pressure built up gets relieved consequently. (HELLO, 2018 FINAL!)
▫️Epilogue:
Bhuvi is at an odd conundrum in his career. His international career has been declared dead by the selectors and fans alike, despite having so much left to give. In his own franchise, there are barely any fans looking at him as a genuine retention choice. Part of it can be attributed to the inconsistenty and part of it can be attributed ironically to his very own essence. The understated, underrated, and hardworking guy who will never scream about his own value. To me, Bhuvneshwar Kumar personifies Sunrisers Hyderabad: understated, underrated, and hardworking, but forever hesitant to take the spotlight. For that very reason, I have always considered Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the greatest this franchise has ever seen. Nights will change, and the days will pass by. On some days, we'll feel shaky about Bhuvneshwar Kumar. On other nights, we'll declare him the King of the world. Such is his career graph at the moments. But SRH needs to make sure that he's never forgotten no matter how much the rest of the world tries to feign away from his existence(as they've already started to).
For he is SRH, and SRH is Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Well, Axiom Verge is eery, or, in other words, there is nothing concrete in its labyrinthine world. To me, everything was abstract and uncanny. This made me feel like a stranger in this dimension, whom I actually were - seeking forms and shapes where they never should have been. The music was contributing to this impression with its outlandish rhythm. At one location, it begins with a humanish voice in a crescendo, making you inwardly shudder.
How should I describe the enemies, the locations, the bosses? Like something abstract, too. Unfathomable even. Albeit they would sometimes arise an association - say, with marine life, or with an alien desert. And then there were those colossal structures - Rusalki, they were called. And that weird, giant steel-made moving head. Something grim about it all.
Yet these are only subjective impressions. Frankly, Axiom Verge felt off-putting at first - but then I grew accustomed to all its quirkiness and came to appreciate it. From objective point of view, this metroidvania is almost flawless. The world is captivating to explore, and with every new ability, you might come back and visit previously inaccessible locations. Some of them are tricky as hell. But the reward is due, and you are somehow driven to explore every uncompleted corner in your reach. Honestly, I haven't felt such motivation in other games. And the world is diverse - locations are not similar to each other, and they are even dissected in sub-locations. There isn't a proper fast-travel system - but you don't need it either.
I liked the weapon system. You find new guns during your organic progression or exploring some nooks. Every weapon has its pros and cons, they all have their use against certain types of enemies. The bosses are not that hard, but will anyway pose a challenge and are fun to beat.
Oh, and the game is full of glitches - intentional glitches. They are part of the core mechanics. You have to pass through them, or even use them for your favor. You may run into the wall and glitch, but... nothing is really done without a reason. At one instance, you glitch yourself.
Overall, I liked it very much, but since I have run out of adjectives, I'd simply say it was very interesting. It's really worth playing. A shame it has got only 5 thousand Steam reviews.
P.S. Frankly, I not really grasped the plot, and I will have to watch a video on it or something. My bad - should have been more attentive. But I still sensed that I was in a ruined world, in an epicenter of a battle for the fate of it all, that I were a chosen one.

Hi! I have some extra keys that I'd like to give away. Comment with what key you'd like and some console games that people may not know are available on PC. I just found out Bullet Witch and Resonance of Fate are available, for example, and I'd like to add more of these to my Deck. I'd also like recommendations of more obscure PC games that someone who's been a console gamer most of their life might not be familiar with. I'll pick winners based on comments.

• Out of the Box
• Slime-san
• Surgeon Simulator
• Joggernauts
• Ganryu 2
• Animal Shelter
• Arx Fatalis
• Time on Frog Island
• Slaycation Paradise
• Mini Thief
• Embr
• I Am Fish
• Havsala: Into the Soul Palace
• Tempest Complete Edition
• Creepy Tale 3: Ingrid Penance
• Mortal Shell
• Nomad Survival
• Dead Age 2
• Doom 64 (GOG not Steam)
• Autonauts
• In Between
• Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG
• White Noise 2
• Kaichu - The Kaiju Dating Sim
• Chenso Club
• Super 3-D Noah's Ark

Just relaxing after a couple of very hectic days at work and wouldn’t mind some people to chat with.
My discord has been kinda slow lately and needs to be cleaned out and filled with some new peeps to talk to.
I don’t have many requirements except that you’re talkative. I don’t like dry conversations any more than Anakin Skywalker likes sand. Also at least 25/26 years of age yeah?
Me: Plays golf horribly, enjoys spicy food, long walks on the beach, video games and has a slight problem buying books when I already have stuff to read.
Massively dislikes spiders and aggressive hornets but otherwise likes animals, especially frogs and my cat who is a Royal pain in my ass.
I like fantasy of varying sorts, spooky stuff and cold weather, sweet tea, thinking about what I’d do if I won the lottery, and wishing I didn’t have a fear of flying. Hates radishes but likes water chestnuts even though they’re basically the same thing.
I like lame jokes and geeking out about nonsense. Let’s talk about our hopes and dreams for the future.
just looking for people who match my vibe. If you think that’s you then shoot me a message with a little about yourself!

A friend of mine started playing Fates for the first time, so once again I got bitten by the “complaining about Fates” bug. In particular, watching chapter 18 of Conquest again after so many years really got me going, and while the general consensus I’ve seen online about this chapters writing was negative, I wasn’t that satisfied by any of the overviews of it I read. I decided to give it a shot myself.
Dissecting why something doesn’t work is fun and all, but I think it’s also important to be constructive which is why I wanted to rewrite this chapter alongside my criticisms. I really do think there’s a lot of potential here that could have been the highlight of the entire story, and so I’d love to try my hand rewriting this chapter to be what it could have been rather than what we got. I have most of it done already, but Reddit only has so many characters before it cuts you off and this post is plenty long enough as is, so I’ll save that for another part coming up soon. This will be part 1, explaining what the chapter is and elaborating on my issues with it, while part 2 will be rewriting it along with my thought process and explanations.
Recap: https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Black_%26_White/Script
Corrin and Co are traveling when they decide to rest for the night at the nation of Izumo. They are greeted by Izana, the archduke of the kingdom, who seems to be a real goofball. After introducing himself, the levity is ended when it’s revealed the entire Hoshidan family has been invited here as well! Before any swords can be undrawn, Izana tells both parties that the kingdom has a strict neutrality pact neither of them can violate.
The scene cuts to later, where Ryoma enters Corrin and Xanders room to talk with them. Xander and Ryoma’s argument is cut short when Ryoma is dragged off by Nohrians. Turns out “Izana” is actually a Nohrian mage named Zola, who disguised himself to trick the Hoshidan royal family into a trap. Corrin and Xander don’t approve of such dishonorable methods to win, however, and fight to rescue their captives with Xander saying “we’ll win this war with honor or die trying”. After Leo kills Zola, the game cuts to later where we see Nohrians and Hoshidans alike having a meal, much to the delight of the real Izuma, who turns out is exactly as bizarre as the fake impression. Xander and Ryoma confirm with eachother that their fight will continue as usual, but Corrin states that no matter what happens they’re grateful they got to see both families eating together even if it’s not under the best circumstances, and the chapter ends with them saying they’ll revel in this feeling.
So on paper, I think this chapter is a great idea. Despite being at war, when one family is at the total mercy of the other, they lend a hand instead of kicking them while they’re down. This highlights how the two nations could accomplish so much together if only they weren’t at war with eachother. If utilized well, this could have been a great “eye of the tornado scene” emphasizing how tragic it is that these two families who share so much in common are forced by fate to fight eachother, making it all the more sorrowful when that’s brought to it’s conclusion through bloodshed. This would also encourage Conquest players to buy Birthright in a natural and subtle way as well now that they’ve had a nice sample of the other side. Of course, I don’t think this chapter was utilized well, and after reading the script again I believe it boils down to three major problems.
-Problem 1: The Lack of Worldbuilding Causes the Conflict to be Driven by Contrivances.
This is one of the many instances where the lack of fleshing out the world and it’s rules out really hampers the weight of the scenes. Unlike Awakening where there was a general cause-and-effect outlining the level structure, all of the Fates routes are much more individual and self-contained when it comes to chapters. This means the game has to really stretch itself to justify this elaborate setup being brought up and solved in one single chapter of regular length, and it’s very apparent when you write out the summary of events here.
Corrin and his army are just walking by when they happen upon the capital of the country. Corrin decides this would be a great place to rest for the night at and are instantly welcomed by its leader, who is also the only person in the game of that country. The entire Hoshidan family also just happen to bump into us because they coincidently came here at roughly the same time, with somehow neither party noticing the other until they were staring at eachother in the same room.
The only thing we know about this new nation we’ve never seen or heard about before is that it’s a peace-loving land with some sort of neutrality pact which means the two nations can’t fight here. What is the importance of this place that would entice all the Hoshidan royals to come over for a banquet in the middle of their country being invaded? Never explained. What exactly is this pact and what power does Izuno have to enforce it, if any? Never explained. Xander, prince of a nation at war and frontline general, has never heard of it. How does Garon or Iago never figure out or look into what happened here, considering the royals walked through their trap unharmed and everybody in charge of the trap vanished? Never brought up.
How many times here was this supposedly major event dependent on coincidences, seemingly important details left completely unexplained, and characters not knowing things that should be basic information of the world they live in? Things like all this quickly build up and make the world feel small scale and artificial, as if nothing truly exists until it’s in the peripheral vision of main characters. In a vacuum, this could all be excusable if the main meat of the chapter was just so dense and important that they just want a convenient excuse to delve into it. But about that…
-Problem 2: Nothing happens, either character-wise or plot-wise.
This is the only scene in both Birthright and Conquest where all eight of the royal families are together in one spot, and they’re unable to fight eachother. What a brilliant idea! How many great scenes could you come up with from this setup alone? How many directions could this move towards?

-The families bonding over their memories with Corrin (X)
-Calling eachother out for uncool actions, like Ryoma refusing to help Elise or Nohr siccing monsters on farming villages (X)
-Working together to defeat some threat they’d have trouble taking down on their own (X)
-Some cultural exchange (X)
-Some melancholy scene where, even if there’s a lot of resentment, they acknowledge how this may be the last time they ever get to have a meal with Corrin. (Somewhat?)
-Corrin sits down and has a mature conversation with his birth family elaborating on their choice to stay with Nohr (X)
-Some negotiation or debate between the two families about the future of their countries relationship, successful or not (X)
-Corrin being formally declared by the Hoshidan royals as a Nohrian, officially cutting them out of the family (X)

So what does Conquest do with this prompt? It does the unexpected route where all of them but Ryoma are shuffled out as soon as they’re introduced, captured offscreen, rescued offscreen, most of their dinner is offscreen, finishing their meal and leaving is offscreen, all of them sans Ryoma have barely any dialog, and none of them are even present in any of the CG’s.
We actually start off strong, Ryoma and Xander naturally puff out their chest and don’t get along when they’re in the same room, but seem to calm down when Corrin elaborates on how similar they are to eachother. But the game is so eager to get to fighting that it drags Ryoma away kicking and screaming before he even gets to share what he had to say to Corrin, let alone explore what having common ground means to the two of them.
1) I understand this is the Nohrian route so it makes sense the focus is mostly on them, but Takumi only gets three lines here, one of which is “…” Hinoka also only gets three lines, which I think is still more than she got in Birthright, and two of those lines are “You!” and “What are you doing here?”. Sakura lucks out as she’s the only sibling on either side who has anything to say whatsoever when Corrin says they’re grateful they could share another meal with the Hoshidans. That’s a start, but the fact remains Ryoma is the only sibling in the chapter whose remotely relevant, the rest could be omitted and nothing would change. They are only here to be damsels in distress heightening the stakes of defeating the local bad guy rather than providing any character development, checking up on how they are doing without Corrin and Azura, comparing and contrasting their differences between their counterparts, sharing any new information about them, foreshadowing Takumi’s possession, any notable interactions with their counterparts, etc. But no, nothing happens.
2) I also understand this is a video game and they don’t have all the time in the world before the next fight has to happen, yet Conquest is oddly completely uninterested in it’s own set-up. Zola, a minor chapter boss introduced and killed in this chapter, has more screentime and relevance here than any of the siblings, something you’d think would be the actual meat of the chapter they’d want to delve into.
The implications and weight of two dueling nations and families obligated to pause their fighting and dine with eachother could easily take up two or even three chapters as a pivotal arc, yet it’s completely blazed through as if the game considered it a cute novelty rather than a potential life-changing or history-changing moment. Simply put, it’s wasted potential, as if to say “Oh both of the two families meeting in a game about choosing between mutually exclusive families? Eh whatever.”
I wanna stick with just this chapter and not rewrite a good chunk of the entire story, but I can’t stress enough that in any other game this chapter would be the plot-defining moment paving the new way forward rather than chapter 15’s “we’ll expose Garon as a monster by helping him invade an innocent people.”
Neither of the two families are fighting because they outright want to, this isn’t a war about irreconcilable differences or mutually exclusive goals, the only reason for any conflict whatsoever as far as the game has shown us is that the guy in charge of Nohr is a sociopath who threatens to kill his own children at the drop of a hat. Sure, they probably won’t hold hands singing kumbaya after one extended conversation with eachother, but when all of them are in a truce far away from Garon’s authority having a meal together, nothing significant comes out of it plot-wise?
In fact, at the end of the day what significance happened here at all?

• -We learned about a new country, but we know very little about it and (other than Izama potentially joining the party later) absolutely none of it will be relevant after this chapter anyways.
• -Well, maybe this place is just set dressing so we have an excuse to meet up with our siblings again, but then nobody has any meaningful interactions, new info to share, planning ahead, or character development resulting from sharing scenes with them.
• -Then is the primary focus supposed to be on how this situation affects the Nohrian family? The antagonist and the conflict he brings is introduced and quickly solved without any consequences, with all the siblings instantly in agreement about stopping him. They don’t really talk amongst eachother about their feelings or how to go forward.

If there’s no juicy character interactions or exploration, and no setting up future events, then presumably the point of this big moment of Corrin and Xander leaping to save their enemies was made to show off that despite working in the same army, our heroes are indeed better than the swarms of war criminals under Nohr’s name we’ve seen and would never tolerate such things under normal circumstances. They’ve talked the talk about disagreeing with their father’s cruel methods, now here’s proof they’ll walk the walk, aren’t they such noble people? The way this is done however, opens up another can of worms…
-Problem 3: Protags come off as dicks
While our heroes are indeed more likeable and moral than blatant monsters like Garon and Hans, liking peace and disliking war crimes is not enough of a reason for a pat on the back. Our protags might not be burning villages for fun, but it’s difficult to take their proclaimed goal of peace seriously considering both the context of working for people who DO burn villages for fun and they way they handle themselves when presented with an opportunity to work on this supposed goal.
Corrin and Azura

• This is not seeing things under the worst possible interpretation to be a stick in the mud, Nohr is indeed invading Hoshido for no apparent reason and leaving war crimes wherever it’s armies go. Everybody in the building is aware of this to some extent.
  
• Azura and Corrin’s grand plan to expose Garon as a slime monster to his family indeed involves directly helping Garon conquer Hoshido, which they acknowledge will bring destruction and suffering that the nation and royal family have done nothing to deserve.
  
• Corrin and Azura are indeed presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here to sit down behind closed doors and communicate anything, just anything significant at all, to the royal family that still seems to value them, but our heroes don’t even try or seem to acknowledge that. Corrin doesn’t have any interactions with them that last more than a sentence or two, and Azura is never acknowledged nor speaks to them.
  
• And yet despite, all this, both Corrin and Azura are quite pleased with the turn of events here, with Corrin acknowledging they’ll “probably try to kill eachother next time they see eachother” but that they’ll “revel in this feeling.”
  

Azura in particular is problematic here. During Odovakar 's excellent overview of the problems with Fates writing, he goes into detail about how Azura’s line about “this is all quite heartwarming. We're like one big family...albeit, a dysfunctional one.” in particular comes off as incredibly tone deaf and tasteless given the circumstances of Azura and Corrin marching on one family’s homeland for the sake of the other family. What I think was also worth noting is the context leading up to that line…

Sakura: I was just, um...th-thinking...it's really nice to finally see you again. I'm glad you... I'm glad you f-found a way to be happy... Corrin: Sakura... I'm happy to see you too. Sakura: R-really? You mean it?! Oh, Corrin! Elise: HMPH! Back off, you! He/She's my brothesister! MINE! Sakura: Ah! I'm s-sorry! Corrin: Elise! Mind your manners, little one. Elise: But she's trying to take you away from me... She's my archnemesis

Whether intentional or not, this is actually a very clever microcosm of the family’s conflict acted out by the youngest and most innocent among them who probably weren’t even born when the conflict started. The Hoshidan loves their sibling, but their time with Corrin is interrupted by the Nohrian shoving them away and declaring Corrin for themselves. This is a great way to challenge our protags to some introspection about themselves.

Azura: Heehee! Corrin: Azura? Did you just...giggle?

Instead, Azura just finds this a real knee-slapper. I understand maybe this is just meant to be a cute image of imoutos fighting over oni-chan Corrin and nothing more, but the context makes it very hard to swallow the narrative’s insistence that all this is “heartwarming” as Azura puts it. Keep in mind that all the Hoshidan nobles are sitting at the same table watching all this. Do you think Ryoma also finds it funny that his little sister is scared off and declared an archnemesis by the daughter of the man who killed his father in cold blood? Do you think Hinoka also thinks it's like one big dysfunctional family when Corrin is preparing to march on her homeland with an army?
I get it, I totally know what they were going for, and in a vacuum it could be a great line making for a properly bittersweet moment. “Even if the two are at eachothers throats and the future is bleak, me and Azura are grateful we get to have at least one big normal dinner together like a real family.”
But the future is bleak because of Corrin and Azura participating in an invasion, the families are at eachothers throats partially because Corrin and Azura haven’t accomplished anything to reform Nohr. If anything, Corrin should feel great shame here. Elise just unintentionally reenacted the history between the nations where Nohr was clearly in the wrong, and Corrin is sitting directly across and staring at the family who’ve done nothing wrong to him yet are going to be hurt because of Corrin’s decision. Grateful they could spend time with them again? Maybe. But cheerful and laughing?

ProZD: D-did an alien write this game? blows gently

But at least Corrin doesn’t show outright contempt for the family they’re screwing over…
Xander and Leo

Xander: Corrin! There's no need to insult me like that. I could not possibly be anything like this sorry excuse for a prince. … Xander: We will win with honor or die trying. Come, Corrin. Let us go set free our sworn enemy. … Corrin: Heh, sorry... It's just that you and Ryoma really are so much alike. If you weren't on opposite sides of a war, I think you could have been great friends. Xander: Yeesh... Do me a favor and keep that nonsense in your head where it belongs. … Xander (to Ryoma): We only acted as Nohrian royals should. When we leave this place, you'll be nothing but an enemy to be defeated once more.

Okay, but why? Ryoma is not the one Xander overheard laughing to himself about how much he’s going to make Corrin suffer. How are the Hoshidan royals “nothing but enemies to be defeated” here when they’re just trying to defend their homeland from somebody who assassinated their king at a peace meeting? Where is all this contempt from Xander coming from?
It’s perfectly understandable he doesn’t get along super well with Ryoma because of the tensions between their nations, that makes sense, but I see no reason for why Xander is making several petty insults to his face unprompted, let alone so nonchalant and even somewhat eager to get back to waging a war Xander himself calls “a senseless war of greed and madness” in the epilogue.
He doesn’t treat his own people much better this chapter, declaring Zola and his henchmen as “traitors” to be “dealt with” for their dishonorable methods when ironically Zola taking over the country by disguising himself as the archduke is actually one of the least evil and self-destructive things we’ve seen the kingdom do so far. It must be emphasized that every sibling was in the same room watching Garon demand Xander kill Corrin if he interferes with killing POWs for his amusement, and half of them were in the same room when Garon ordered his henchmen to murder every singer they can find in a neutral country. So a few hundred or thousand innocent people, most of whom would presumably be young woman, murdered to snuff out potential assassins. Or Garon directly ordering the deaths of unarmed civilians in chapter 13 with Hans relaying “Villagers are just soldiers who haven’t picked up a sword yet.”
Xander talks a big game in this chapter about how “we’ll win this war with honor or die trying”, but how do you honorably win a war when your nation is constantly and openly rushing to pointless overkill brutality like this at every turn? What moral high ground does this country have that Xander is so determined to preserve he kills loyal soldiers over what he sees as sullying it, when at no point in the game does the influence of Nohr ever do anything but make life significantly worse? His sudden fervor towards doing the right thing is completely contrasted later on when Xander is the one telling Corrin there’s no justice to be found in war and you just gotta do what you gotta do rather than what’s morally right, in response to Corrin being upset the Nohrian army is killing woman and children who looked at them funny.

“Justice is an illusion, a fairy tale…Letting innocents die is a tragedy, but so is letting the chance for peace slip away. This is war. There is no such thing as a clean win when lives are on the line.”

“Justice is just a fairy tale, innocent people getting screwed over is something we have to accept in war because there’s no such thing as a clean win! But also we better win this senseless war of greed and madness with honor or die trying!”

• If “justice is an illusion”, how is killing Nohrian soldiers to free people who are apparently “nothing but enemies to be defeated” so you can fight them later on terms you prefer, directly prolonging a war which will lead to much more deaths on both sides, for the benefit of Nohr? By Xanders own logic, is this not letting the chance for peace slip away since there’s no such thing as a clean win? Forget Garon and Iago, I’m confident the citizens back home whose loved ones got conscripted would be the ones demanding his head if they found out about this. A very charitable interpretation is that ending the war this specific way will cause more chaos and fighting in the long-term compared to if they conquered and oppressed an innocent nation fair and square, but that’s nowhere to be found in the script whatsoever.
  
• If Xander believes in “We’ll win this war with honor or die trying”, why is he still following Garon? Garon is winning the war in part thanks to honorless and extreme acts of cruelty like blackmailing the Ice Tribe or making an example out of Scarlet’s body, yet instead of taking action against him like he does with Zola, Xander is instead the most loyal sibling to him to the point Corrin decides the best way to get him on his side is to expose Garon as a literal slime monster? Where’s Xander’s zeal of “Come Corrin, let’s go save our sworn enemies” when his father orders Hans is go through killing injured and surrendering foes who were promised they be spared? Where’s his conviction shown here about “not letting treachery go unpunished” when his father outright says he couldn’t care less about the welfare of his people and he’ll just kill anybody who complains to make an example?
  

I understand one might get the impression I’m going off topic or selectively picking and choosing quotes here from all over the game, but no matter how you look at it Xanders beliefs, morality, and priorities are just all over the place depending on what the plot needs him to do. This means not only is his motivation for helping his enemies here faulty no matter how you look at it, but it also makes the extreme lengths he goes to do so, killing his own subjects who won him victory on a silver platter because it wasn’t a “proper” victory, come off as baselessly self-righteous at best and outright cruel at worst.
I’m sure the game would assure us Zola and all his mooks are terrible people who had it coming, but the issue is no matter how virtuous you portray Xander and creepy you portray Zola, Xander is still directly managing the war for a megalomaniac and helping him achieve his goals in spite of his long history of open sadism and public crimes that make Zola look like a saint. By ignoring the clear root cause of Nohr's dishonor while going this hard against random goon's participating in dishonor, instead of being a gallant preserver of morals, he comes off like a bully who selectively picks and choices punishment.
On the topic of punishment, it particularly rubs me the wrong way how Leo just casually mercs Zola at the end, keep in mind Birthright confirms for all his faults he actually isn’t a complete monster like Garon and dies trying to help the protag.

Leo (smiling portrait): You’d probably rather die than live with the shame, correct? In that case…
Zola: Eek! No, please! M-m-milord... I was wrong! S-so wrong! I have seen the error of my ways! P-please...spare my unworthy life!!
Leo (still smiling): Make peace with it, Zola. Perhaps on the other side you will find forgiveness.

Leo makes a fair argument that the stakes are too high and Zola can’t be trusted not to snitch, but this is bit sadistic, no? One of the most powerful people in the country is smug and sarcastic as he’s getting ready to execute somebody whose bleeding on the ground begging for his life and genuinely confused as to why we’re upset with him. I know the intent of “I was wrong! I have the seen the error of my ways!” is supposed to be him saying whatever Leo wants to hear to weasel out of punishment, but that’s exactly the thing, he’s fully cooperating and doing everything he can to appease this guy. And then he’s just killed like a dog without trial or final words, presumably using the spell that skewers you with tree branches.
Didn’t the game use killing defeated foes like this to establish Garon as a bloodthirsty monster? Why is Corrin just standing there watching this happen? This exact same scenario in Birthright has them jump to spare Zola, but here their disapproval is very meek and only voiced after the deed is already done. It’s still apparently too much for Leo though, who chastises Corrin for being “too soft…I envy your innocence.” And then he declares the matter settled on their behalf.
I’m sure this scene was meant to show off Leo’s pragmatism and strategy skills, but it just makes him look like a sociopath and Corrin look spineless. And that’s the biggest issue with this chapter to me, more than the plot being driven by contrivances that aren’t explained or the lack of any character development or interesting scenes taking advantage of the setup, the actions and dialog of our protags don’t match the noble heroes the narrative insists they are:

• Corrin is openly enjoying spending time with innocent people they’re throwing under the bus so Corrin won’t have to risk their relationship with the Nohrian siblings by directly fighting Garon. They then clearly disapprove of Leo executing a surrendering foe begging for mercy but stand idle watching it happen.
• Azura sits directly across her former family who’ve been very negatively impacted by her decisions and actions, and will continue to be so in the future, yet she’s giggling about the conflict and doesn’t seem to be taking the fact that her two families might kill each other seriously.
• Xander insults Ryoma as a sorry excuse for a prince, and afterwards kills his own subjects to prolong a war of aggression so it can be won the way he personally wants it to be won.
• Leo seems to be having a good time killing somebody who’s surrendered and begging for his life. He then chides Corrin for being “too soft” when they wish that didn’t have to happen.
• And again, for no apparent reason, neither Corrin or Azura do the bare minimum to clue to the Hoshidans about what’s going on or even have a meaningful conversation with them despite claiming to care for them. This is the golden opportunity they were hoping for, yet they apparently spend the entire dinner instead talking to eachother about how happy they themselves are.

These are not the actions of heroic characters.
Summary: Overall, this is a very bizarre chapter. It feels like something meaningful happens here at first glance, your brain sees what’s going on and knows that this is supposed to be a huge moment. Peaceful music playing, a very well-drawn CG of dozens of individual units, liberating a country from Nohrian control, Corrin and Azura are happy and say some lines that sound like they should be deep and impactful.
But when you step back and analyze the bigger picture and context, you find that more or less embodies all of Fates writing, both good and bad. It has a brilliant premise that gets your mind going, excellent presentation to accompany it, and some individual scenes or dialogue in a vacuum are very welcome. If you’re a casual player who just wants context for your favorite characters fighting, it’s easy to feel satisfied at first glance and move on thanks to those factors, especially since the gameplay and MyCastle are very fun. At the same time, there’s no denying the severe flaws that hamper the experience.
Despite being the hyped-up main draw of the chapter, our exciting premise that opens so many doors is almost completely neglected in favor of (once again) exposition on meaningless settings and characters that aren’t relevant anywhere else and also reminding us how evil Nohr is, to the point the chapter title is Black and White. The context makes it very difficult to take the plight of our heroes seriously due to their lack of action (both before and in the present) to achieve their proclaimed goal despite ample opportunity, the proaction they do have being unnecessarily extreme and self-serving, and a narrative that insists they are in the right at every turn despite the results clearly showing us otherwise. There’s definitely bits and pieces of something great buried in all this teasing us, otherwise I wouldn’t be interested enough to write this much all these years later, but as is it’s just a mess. An enjoyable mess, but a mess all the same.

But what do you guys think of Conquest Chapter 18: Black and White? Do you also consider it a wreck, or was there something positive here you believed I missed? What would you like to see in a potential rewrite of it?

Trailer just came out, and I think it looks pretty good. But man, every line Yasuke speaks is like butter.
Naoe looks like a character that is very familiar with the creed since young, which is something that we've been aching for, as we've lacked characters that truly swear by the creed and understand its tenets. She's also just a cutie patootie.
Yasuke is very charming. The words he speaks implies that he is a thoughtful or wise character ('you are still a frog in a well, who knows nothing of the sea'), as he is shown to have received education and apprenticeship both in the trailer, and in real life. He also seems to be a kind man in a warrior's disguise. Reminds me a lot of Bayek.
I was skeptical about Yasuke at first, as I really wanted to just play as a Japanese character in a Japanese AC game. But the trailer convinced me that both are good.
Ubisoft Quebec, please, don't screw this up.

1. cbs fantasy baseball help notes Email Not Displaying? Click Here Wednesday, May 15, 2024 On a day when Aaron Nola threw a complete game shutout, it's Reese Olson's and Erick Fedde's partial shutouts that are more deserving of dissection. That's because the two of them are still available in roughly one-third CBS Sports leagues, raising the question of which is the higher-priority pickup. It's simply a fact that Fedde has been the more impactful of the two to this point, but that's mostly because he's 4-0 while Olson is 0-4. The team context should benefit Olson more in the long run, and Olson also has the better ERA (2.09 vs. 2.60) and WHIP (0.99 vs. 1.06) so far. Both pitchers seem likely to regress, but Olson perhaps not as much given that he has two pitches with better than a 40 percent whiff rate (slider and changeup) and an elite 55 percent ground-ball rate. Whatever Fedde is doing well isn't as demonstrable by the data. If you could afford to roster both, great, but from where I'm sitting, Olson would seem to be the better pickup.
2. [11:48 AM]Another standout pitcher from Tuesday was Chris Sale, who two-hit the Cubs over seven innings, striking out nine and walking none. He now has a 2.54 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 11.1 K/9 on the season, appearing to recapture his ace form after several injury-plagued years, and while some would suggest selling him before he gets hurt ... isn't every pitcher a significant injury risk? It's probably better just to enjoy the higher-end outcomes for Sale for as long as he's able to provide them. Meanwhile, Carlos Rodon turned in another strong outing and is verging on must-start status again. Reid Detmers got hit hard for a fifth straight start and is looking like a sit despite his high whiff rate. Ronel Blanco was ejected for having a sticky substance on his glove, which might dampen your sell-high hopes (not that he's a drop by any means). Also, A.J. Puk made his first relief appearance for the Marlins and got a save, albeit in the 10th inning. Tanner Scott remains the closer for now.
3. [11:54 AM]Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays 2023 minors: .324 BA (460 AB), 31 HR, .976 OPS, 42 BB, 100 K 2024 minors: .316 BA (98 AB), 7 HR, .967 OPS, 11 BB, 22 K The most notable development for Caminero over the past week is that he got a start at second base Tuesday. It was his first start there in the last two years, and it may present an easier path with Isaac Paredes and Yandy Diaz holding down the corners in the majors. Of course, Brandon Lowe is a pretty good second baseman and is trending toward a return from an oblique injury. Jonathan Aranda is also capable of playing second base and was just activated from the IL. It seems like Caminero's opportunities for at-bats are dwindling with each passing day. So why is he the top prospect to stash? Because the bat is legit, delivering some of the highest-quality contact at any level of baseball, and all it takes is one injury to the right player to make his path clear.

Royce Lewis did some light running on the field Tuesday. He'll do more aggressive change-of-direction things later this week and that will give more insight to the timeline for his rehab assignment.
Evan Carter received a cortisone injection in his back and could rejoin the Rangers lineup on Friday.
Bobby Miller will throw two simulated innings on Wednesday. If all goes well, Miller will either move on to a sim game or a rehab assignment. He's on the IL with right shoulder inflammation.
Both George Springer and Justin Turner were out of the lineup again with that illness hampering the Blue Jays.
Zack Gelof has been reinstated and was in the lineup at second base for the A's.
Imaging revealed structural damage in Jung Hoo Lee's left shoulder. He'll receive a second opinion from Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Thursday.
Rhys Hoskins was placed on the IL with a right hamstring strain.
Evan Phillips will throw a bullpen Wednesday. He's on the IL with a strained right hamstring.
Patrick Bailey was placed back on the 7-day concussion IL, retroactive to Sunday.
Noelvi Marte has been able to play in exhibition games in Arizona during his suspension.
Jonathan Aranda was activated by the Rays and wasn't in the lineup against a RHP. They opted for Paredes at DH with Amed Rosario at third base and Richie Palacios at second.
The Mets will recall Mark Vientos on Wednesday. It sounds like he'll work in a platoon with Brett Baty at third base.
Michael Soroka has been moved to the White Sox bullpen. Brad Keller will take his spot in the rotation.

Nerdy Neurospicy (audhd) into: Pc games, spooky stuff, fishing, flea markets, D&D and more.
Music is life. PolyJAMorous, but a few faves are: TMBG, Weird Al, Mountain goats, Cake, Front bottoms, and many more.
Lover of animals. 3 cats, 5 frogs, 4 chickens, betta, tarantula and hognose. I relocate spiders. Vaxxed.
Large, but musculastrong, on journey to get healthier. (Down 26 lbs so far) Eclectic pagan. 420 friendly. Love to laugh/be goofy. Just want to find my person. Not into hookups.
Pic for pic. I like having a face to put to a convo. Also, not a fan of piercings or fake nails. Just not my jam.

Here's a story incorporating the emotions and ideas conveyed by the emojis:
Once upon a time, I was feeling surprised and disgusted (😳💩) by a sudden turn of events. I was crying and feeling nauseated (😿🤢) thinking about it. But then, I decided to take matters into my own hands and punched the air (👊) in determination. I was ready to face whatever came next, even if it felt like a skull-crushing challenge (💀).
As I embarked on this new journey, I felt a surge of excitement and energy (🤩⚡️). It was like playing a thrilling video game (🎮) where I had to navigate through obstacles and reach new levels. I was fueled by a sense of adventure and a desire to explore new horizons (🚀).
Along the way, I encountered some fun and quirky moments, like meeting a friendly frog (🐸) who offered me a refreshing ice cream treat (🍦). I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear (🤣) and feel grateful for the little joys in life.
As I continued on my path, I encountered some intense and explosive moments (💥) that tested my courage and resilience. But I persevered, fueled by a sense of determination and a desire to reach my goals (🍏).
Finally, after many trials and tribulations, I reached a place of peace and tranquility (👌). I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride, knowing that I had overcome so much to get here. I celebrated with a cold beer (🍻) and a sense of contentment, feeling like I was exactly where I was meant to be.
And that's the story of how I transformed from a place of negativity and uncertainty to one of triumph and joy! 🎉
WELCOME BACK DFV

I loved Rebirth, and while the side quests were vastly improved they were still pretty hit or miss. Which side quests did you like/hate?
I’ve decided to review all 36 quests for some ungodly reason.
Grasslands:

• Flowers from the Hill - C
  • Kinda cute storyline, but they missed an opportunity for some Aerith backstory - idk, what’s her favorite flower or something? Or a memory tied to flowers? Devious on hard mode.
• Lifeline in Peril - F
  • I don’t like Kyrie, I don’t really like to not like Kyrie. A collectathon and doesn’t have much to do with Barret. A unique boss, but not a very interesting one.
• A Rare Card Lost - A
  • I like the bartender’s dialogue and VA, you get a great reward, and there’s a nice scene with Tifa that gets referenced later in a meaningful way. Wish there was more to Thorin, though.
• Livestock’s Bane - D
  • You get some Red development, but it’s a tracking quest and I don’t like the setup or enemy at the end.
• Where the Wind Blows - A
  • A lot of setup required, but the Broden stuff is good and is referenced later. The boss fight is pretty good (the first time). Doesn’t have much to do with Red.
• Hustle and Grind - C
  • I don’t really like Beck’s Badasses, but the interview is silly and you get to see the motorbike dudes. An annoying fight and doesn’t have anything to do with Barret, though.

Junon:

• Stuck in a Rut - C
  • Kind of awkward setup but I like the wrinkly old tatted dude and you get a good view of the cost from the hut on the cliff. Following the map was OK.
• When Words Won’t Do - A+
  • Probably my favorite quest and it’s an escort mission! Top tier banter between Barret and Cloud and the bow wow wow song is so good.
• Calling All Frogs - B
  • I wish there were fewer enemies for the frog encounter because it drags on for too long. Quirky, weird, and Tifa and Cloud flirt. Also frogs are cool.
• The Hardest Sell - D
  • I still don’t like her. The decorations bump it up to a D, though. Red has nothing to do with this quest.
• Dreaming of Blue Skies - C
  • A nice scene with Tifa at the end, but it’s a tracking quest. Not particularly interesting, but overall OK.
• Tides of War and Worry - A
  • I liked this mini game. Revisiting it once much later on was fine and it doesn’t overstay its welcome (and it’s pretty easy).
• Beneath Still Waters - C
  • A unique boss, and we get to see our infantry bros again, but aside from them not turning us in there’s nothing interesting about this encounter. Not any Aerith development.

Corel:

• The Saga of the Seaside Inn - B
  • Unique premise, and Yuffie and Cloud continue talking about it as you have to come back to it later. I don’t like collecting the wood blocks - mindless busy work.
• Rendezvous in Costa del Sol - F
  • Look I really don’t want to do those mini games again. The Aerith date is kind of off-putting. Fair enough, it makes some sense but it’s still a bummer.
• Bodybuilders in a Bind - D
  • I had trouble finding the group of monsters on the hill. The food talk with Tifa is OK, but kind of boring. Missed opportunity to talk about Zangan which would have been much more interesting. The sit-up mini game was way too unforgiving.
• Of Robed Men and Ransoms - C
  • A unique mini dungeon with a unique vibe is cool. Makes sense that it’s a Red quest. I don’t like the team rocket duo at the end, they aren’t really interesting in any way.
• Missing: Mr. Birdie - F
  • Cute premise, but I did not like setting and then returning to the traps.
• Trouble in Paradise - C
  • Kyrie, but you get to threaten to kill her. Also a cool boss fight at the end of this quest. A Yuffie quest even though she really has nothing to do with it.
• Gold Cup or Bust - F
  • I really like the lore for this quest, and it’s only a bit of a stretch for it to be a Tifa quest. But man, you have to do a LOT of races for this one. Too many.
• Sand and Circuses - C
  • Cool to see Leslie again, will probably come back next game. Some of those fights were kind of annoying, and it forced me to use the materia menu a lot which is always a pain.
• Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop - F
  • He should have stopped. Luckily it wasn’t bugged for me.

Gongaga:

• The Pursuit of Perfection - A
  • I liked following the pictures. Nothing to complain about here.
• O Chicken, Where Art Thou - F
  • Annoying AF. Funny ending.
• Teach Me, Great Warrior - D
  • Despite the Zach connection I wasn’t really feeling it. The enemies died too quickly to be staggered, that was annoying.
• The Spice of Life - F
  • Too much work and not really any payoff. Not really any Aerith development either.
• Escape from Endless Writer’s Block - C
  • Kind of annoying to actually get the photos, but story-wise it was nice.
• Woodland Vigil - F
  • I did not like going back and forth to do the spotting, and we don’t really learn anything about Zach or Cissnei.

Cosmo Canyon:

• Bonds of Trust - F
  • Did not like this mini game. And you have to do it three times. The story is boring and predictable. Really wish the chocobos could just fly, gliding isn’t nearly as fun.
• Absence of a Sign - D
  • A cute moment between Aerith and Cloud, but I didn’t like fighting that same scorpion 3 times and taking the pictures was finicky.
• From Whence Life Flows - D
  • I didn’t like following this particular map, I didn’t like having to do them in a specific order and I feel like you don’t really learn much lore from this quest which is kind of annoying.
• Promises to Keep - D
  • Didn’t like running across the desert and the story is kind of nonsensical? I like how they handled the Gi overall in this game, though.
• Victim of Circumstance - F
  • Hated following the signal, hated fighting enemies that can swallow party members.

Nibel:

• Esoteric Secrets of the Elders - C
  • Picking up the plants is kind of fun, there’s a kooky guy in a chocobo onesie.
• My White-Haired Angel - C
  • A little too long, a little too annoying of an escort quest. Still nice and it’s kind of funny to keep the cat catching theme going. Funny to have the cats in the piano performance at the end.
• Lament of the Damned - D
  • Shinra manor was kind of a letdown, and even though you get to go on a quest with Vincent the actual encounters in the combat simulator were way too repetitive.

Phew. Well what does everyone else think?