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So I compiled a few stats from the first 5 games, comparing the presumptive top 3 forwards from both the Oilers and Canucks. I know there have been arguably better players on both teams, but these are the forwards that SHOULD be the top 3 for their respective sides.
First off, man are the Canucks top players being outshot by the Oilers'. No surprise there as that's pretty much been the tale of almost all the games. Also, Drais is a beast with 11 points while Pettersson(misspelled in the table...oops)only has 2. But this is where things start to go south for the Oil.
All Oilers on this list are minuses despite them having collectively 4 more points. Meanwhile all 3 Canucks have positive +/- with Miller as the best of the bunch.
Another worrying trend is each Oiler has only 1 blocked shot. All 3 Canucks have 2 or more. Now I know that's not a super important metric and the Canucks aren't dramatically ahead. They're all averaging less than a block a game. However, I think it is a bit of a window into the character of each player. Far too many open shooting lanes and pucks getting to the net in the Oilers zone. I'm going to single out McDavid even though all 3 are guilty of this. McDavid is the captain. Good captains lead by example. If your captain, the best player in the world, drops down to block a shot then you better do the same next time you see a player on the opposing team winding up. I will say this about McDavid though, he has been hitting. He's 2nd behind Miller with 14.
I thought I would come away thinking that Drais is the best player in this series. He certainly has the most points. But he also has the worst +/- of all 6 players on the list, and less than a hit per game on average. In fact...all of Draisaitl's hits came in game 4. So 4/5 games he wasn't recored with finishing a single check. I'm sorry to say it to everyone, but Miller is the best player in the series...so far. 6 points, +4, 4 blocked shots, and 16 hits. Several of which were bone-crunching. In addition to that he's fantastic on draws.
So what needs to change for the Oilers to win? Hyman and McDavid need to keep hitting while Draisaitl needs to start finishing some checks. I get he's likely playing hurt, but he showed he can hit in game 4. He just needs to keep delivering that kind of performance. On offence I can't complain too much. Obviously Hyman and McDavid need to step it up a bit, though.
I will say that all three need to ramp it up a lot defensively. They also need to start getting into shooting lanes and blocking the odd shot. They're playing for their playoff lives now, so show some heart. I am also aware that they are only 3 players out of 20. But these are the leaders and they are letting the team down in a few meaningful ways.
They all are better than they have shown and in my opinion are at a point where they need to decide what their legacy in Edmonton is going to be.

C N'Faly Dante from Oregon declared for the draft but is waiting on a waiver to see if he can be approved for a 6th season in college: https://twitter.com/MattPrehm/status/1790792301511589996 Originally from Mali, Dante was a five star recruit out of Kansas in 2019, having moved to the States to further his basketball development. He has suffered through a litany of injuries throughout his career, starting in HS as a sophomore where he tore an ACL. He suffered through tendonitis of his knees as a freshman and was cleared late with eligibility issues, tore his left ACL in 2020, suffered an ankle injury that ended his season in 2023, and had knee surgery after one game this past season, which kept him out 14 games.
Through all of his injuries, he has been able to return to the floor each time and has turned himself into an NBA prospect. The athleticism he continues to possess even after the injuries he's suffered is impressive. He measured in at 6'10 w/out shoes at the combine with a 7'6 wingspan and 9'3 standing reach. 260 points. He's a 6'11 in shoes absolute unit of a physical specimen. Strong, wide, has huge hands, and is very quick in the open floor for a big man. He's gets off the ground quickly and powerfully and is a decent leaper that can elevate from a standstill and gather and power up quickly. He's not the smoothest guy laterally, but is certainly not slow footed by any means and is really mobile for his size.
Dante does all the things you want from a traditional big well. He is one of the very best finishers this class has. Over 80% at the rim. Generates a ton of contact. Elite offensive rebounder. His ability to power up from a standstill, his frame/strength, and his wingspan and large hands gives him a very large catch and finish radius and make it extremely hard to effectively contest his shots, he's an above the rim finisher in the halfcourt. He does a fantastic job making himself available for dump off passes and working his way into position for the catch down low. He catches most balls clean but not every one, but when he doesn't he has the ability to regather himself and finish with ease. He has effective ball fakes that get defenders off their feet.
He is an elite transition threat. He's one of the most dynamic guys at his size you'll see running down the floor. He's an elite transition finisher. He beats guys down the floor and catches lobs or seals defenders and finishes at the rim. He does a great job with seals in the paint. He was one of the most efficient post scorers in college basketball this year. His post game is fairly simple but it's economical, he has nice touch in the post, and the position he gains and the space he clears with his drop step usually gives him a shot right in front of the rim. He has decent footwork in the post...he has a step through move he likes to use in the post. He has a fake spin/hook in his arsenal. He prefers the right hand but will go left. He has the ability to catch balls under the rim and work his way above it. His large catch radius, how light he is on his feet, and his strength, make it easy for him to carve out space down low. That's what really gives him an advantage from the jump as a post scorer. He's pretty decisive in the post...he gets into his moves quickly, which both forces contact and makes him hard to contest.
He is a top class screen setter. He's a wall as a screen setter. He really walls off defenders and clears them out of the way, without being called for fouls, whether that be out of the DHO, off ball, or PnR. He creates a lot of open shots with his screens. He's also great at sealing defenders for drivers for easy baskets. His screen setting contributes to how good of a PnR roller he is. He's also a fantastic slip guy. He's so mobile for his size. His ability to get off the ground quickly and his leaping ability along with his hands and catch radius makes him a major lob threat. He really peels off screens in a dynamic way and with fantastic timing. It's very hard to stop him once he gets going downhill. In a traditional PnR set, it only takes him 1-2 dribbles for him to get to the basket.
He gobbles up rebounds on both ends. He's super strong with the ball as a rebounder. He's a force as a rebounder. He attacks balls in the air, and he is fantastic with positioning. He has natural rebounding instincts, knowing where the ball is going to be off the rim and placing himself in position to grab it. He does a good job keeping the ball high when he grabs an offensive board which makes him an elite put back guy. He can grab rebounds outside of his immediate area with his length and athleticism. He can reach back and grab balls in the air. He will rip balls out of opponents' hands. He often beats opponents for position for offensive rebounds. Once he has you on his back, you're in trouble.
Dante can make a midrange jumper on occasion. He shot 61% from the line. Similar ~60% the last three seasons. He'll never be a shooter, and his shot is a bit flat, but the mechanics are not bad from the midrange. Being able to make a midrange jumper will give him a little more dimension offensively and it wouldn't hurt to provide a little spacing.
His touch and skill on shots outside of the rim is not as good as it is around it. His post range isn't that large. He gets more inaccurate the further out from the post he gets, but he generally gets to his spot close to the rim regardless. He does have some intriguing face up game from both the free throw line and in the post. He likes facing up and attacking his man with a strong dribble or two and usually finishing with a hook or a layup, and he is very effective with these shots. He'll use his strength to drive opponents back on these shots as well.
He is mobile, gets great extension, and has a quick first step and accelerates to the rim, which gives him an ability to drive and finish from the FT line/elbows. He's a straight line driver and things can get a bit adventerous when he has to put the ball on the floor. He's fine with space, but if you close his space, he's not the most secure as a ballhandler. Not much in the way of advanced moves either. Not a part of his game that we'll see much of at all as a pro, but there is some raw ability there as a face up guy.
Dante is a bit of a mixed bag as a playmaker. He has the ability to make some really sharp reads and has pretty good vision. He will make kick outs from the post and can find cutters. He'll make skip passes from the block and hit shooters on the outside. He can find cutters from the top of the key. He does a good job finding the kick out on the double team. He will bait a double team and hit the kick out. That's an important skill for him to possess...he's not a black hole and you can end up getting burned doubling him. He's not an advanced passer overall, but he will make the right reads more often then not, and some impressive ones too.
He gets ahead of himself at times and that's where turnovers can come. Both when putting the ball on the floor, but he makes careless passes a little too often. He will travel on occasion when putting the ball on the floor. His touch and timing aren't always where they need to be. But for a guy who is really gonna be a pure play finisher at the next level, the fact he does have some playmaking ability in him gives him a wrinkle many in that category do not possess.
Dante is an expressive communicator and the heart of the Ducks defense this season. Can he seen pointing to and directing his teammates into position on the defensive end. He can switch a bit on the defensive end. He can hedge high. He's a drop big, but he has switchability and his mobility gives him versatility as a drop defender, he doesn't have to deep drop and can contain ballhandlers fairly high in drop. He uses his length really well as a drop defender...he uses his hands well too. He plays man and ball effectively, with the short space mobility to recover back to his man...he uses his length to disrupt ballhandlers. He gets his hands on quite a few balls as a drop defender, breaking up dribbles or breaking up passes. He makes himself big as a drop defender, which makes him a great rim deterrent.
He's got very good instincts as a rotater. Very good awareness overall defensively. Remains engaged and keeps his head on a swivel. He does a good job rotating over and covering cutters and opponents ducking in around the rim, and does a good job helping the helper. His awareness and his mobility along with the timing he has and his leaping ability makes him a very good shotblocker, both on the weakside and strongside. I think he can be even better, he does miss out on a few potential blocks just by being a bit late on the rotation, but his block percentage sells him short on how many shots he deters and alters around the rim. He's great with verticality, and he does a good overall job not biting on fakes. He's not massively foul prone. He'll pick up some cheap fouls, but he doesn't bite on fakes consistently. He contests with his hands up and tall, and the threat of his shot blocking sees a lot of offensive players looking to avoid his contests and being cute around the rim, or even avoiding taking shots in his vicinity.
He's a very good post defender. He anticipates post passes really really well. He nabs a ton of steals beating opponents to the ball off post passes. He has quick hands. He can be very aggressive with ball denial. He has really good instincts in reading the pass and taking it away and doing so without fouling. He does a good job sticking with an opponent's moves in the post. That along with his strength and length makes it hard to get clean looks off Dante in the post. The players that had the best success against him where the players who had the aggression and strength to seal and quickly take it to him, but very few had such capability. It's easier said than done.
Dante isn't the absolute smoothest mover from side to side but he is a very mobile one. His length also aids him on the perimeter, and he slides his feet well; he has the quickness to not just hang with but cut off drives on the perimeter. He's not someone you can target. I don't think he'll ever be a pure switch guy, but he can more than hang on the perimeter. You can't really just beat him for speed on switches. It may not always look pretty but he can hang with double moves on the perimeter. He does a good job forcing opponents to take the shots he wants them to take from all three levels. He will block jumpers, both on the ball, and when rotating out on contests.
The factors that make him an elite offensive rebounder make him great on the defensive boards as well...he has great technique as a rebounder. Boxes out, asserts dominant position, and he really goes after balls in the air. He really is a vacuum as a rebounder. He tracks balls really well. As a rebounder and as a shotblocker. The elevation ability is the cherry on top, along with his strong and large hands.
N'Faly Dante's length, strength, and athleticism is at the heart of his abilities on both ends of the floor but he's got real skill as a player on both ends as well. He's a mature player who has battled through a lot to get to this point. He's a plug-and-play guy with fantastic physical tools and someone you can envision can fulfill a 10-15 minute role immediately in the NBA. We will see what comes of his waiver process with Oregon, but his current focus is with the NBA as that process continues.
Are you all Thumbs Up, Down, or Across on N'Faly Dante?
Note: Accidentally deleted first post

Hey everyone, EzeDoesIt back at it again with a surprise spoiler breakdown of everything Creative Director of the Rules and Lore Team, Luis Loza ( u/Paizo_Luis ), talked about during his interview today from BadLuckGamer! This was a last minute notification for me, so I made sure to spend the time today detailing every spoiler Luis talked about. He held back a few times, due to how close PaizoCon was (coming up next weekend!). But he did spill some beans, so I'll be relaying what was said.
Please check out the VOD for the full interview, and all the interesting discussions I did not cover HERE!
Beware ye, for there do be spoilers:
Gorum was chosen as the god to die, since his death would result in a lot of interesting changes and developments in the setting. It was not due to Gorum being boring, but rather the possibilities of the stories his death would create made it so he was the one that needed to die.
At one point, the god that was slated to die was actually Torag, not Gorum! Luis cited the ending hidden message in Lost Omens: Highhelm as a hint for Torag's possible death, and also set up the Dwarven Pantheon without Torag as either another hint of his death, or as a possible explanation if he did go on living ("You need to learn to live without me"). There ARE changes to the dwarven pantheon in the coming months, though!
Nethys was never on the chopping block. Luis doesn't want to "pop that balloon", and feels that the mechanics around magic would've needed to be changed in response to him dying. So he's been safe since the beginning. Again, the update to the Archives of Nethys lining up to Nethys being marked safe was a coincidence, but a fun one at that!
Luis was asked if there was anything in Pathfinder that he worked on that he was particularly proud of? And Luis answered, saying he's the most proud of developing the Automaton ancestry, and was really proud of being able to secretly doubling the ancestry's feat count by having the Enhancements in the level 1-9 feats.
Luis' crown jewel book he's worked on is Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries! AND Divine Mysteries was actually conceived BEFORE the OGL fiasco! They always wanted to do a sequel to Lost Omens: Gods & Magic, and came up with Yvali to delve into what makes a god and what makes them tick. Having a good framing device/narrative makes writing books more exciting for writers, and that excitement can definitely be felt by those who read the books!
Different pantheons are gonna be talked about in depth. The Orc pantheon and the Crucible will be covered. The Goblin pantheon, due to the interesting bits with the Barghest Goblin gods will be covered (Eze Note: this was mentioned before the OGL stuff came up in conversation, so not sure if Barghest Goblin gods will still be around or if the Goblin gods will still be Barghests, given new Barghests in Monster Core). The Azlanti pantheon is being explored as well, talking about how previously prominent gods fell into obscurity.
Luis made sure to grab every god stat block he could find and update them for the Remaster. All of the domains across all the books and AP backmatter have been collected and updated as well. Luis wanted to make sure every god was covered, so players wouldn't be left out in the cold due to switching to the Remaster version of the rules.
Luis talked about his job as a Creative Director of the Rules and Lore team, and cited an example where he had to make the call on whether Centaurs should have pointed ears or rounded ears. After consulting previous artwork and seeing it was split in the middle, Luis decided that Centaurs will have rounded ears. That way, it's one less detail artists will have to worry about.
The freelancers working on Divine Mysteries didn't know about Gorum's death! Gorum was put in the outline, and Luis assigned Gorum to himself to help keep the scent off the trail. Only the freelancer working on Arazni's section knew about Gorum's death ahead of the announcement, due to Arazni's promotion to the Core 20.
Luis was asked why archetypes aren't playtested like classes are, and Luis answered that the designers know how to make archetypes due to their knowledge of how classes work, and generally archetypes don't have brand new tech in them that warrants playtesting like that of class playtests (Commanders' Tactics and Exemplars' Ikons being stated as a new tech that needed testing). Also, classes are the thing players are most likely to interact with. Most of the time, you're not getting an archetype at Level 1 (obvious exceptions not-withstanding). But classes are, and so classes need to be put through the paces the most.
Another reason too is, if every archetype needed to be playtested, they would either not be able to put out as many books as they are currently, or they'd have to release far fewer archetypes due to how long the playtest process works. If they needed to playest the archetypes in the APG, they'd only have 5 or 6 archetypes at most, instead of the 40 archetypes we did get.
"Which lore books are you doing for the foreseeable future?" Can't talk about that since they aren't announced, but regional books are a safe bet! Aside from that, just know that the people assigned to future books are assigned to them because they are excited to be leading/writing them, and that should hopefully come through in reading the books in the future.
The word "Bloodrager" is gonna be spoken at PaizoCon. Such a tease!
The Battle Harbinger in Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries is gonna have their spellcasting diminished a bit and have their Divine Font change significantly in order for them to gain new, interesting combat abilities to allow them into the frontlines (or engaging more directly) more so than Warpriests already do. Doing so as a class archetype, they aren't restricted by the small wiggle room of the Cleric's doctrines. Luis dropped the fact they will have "Battle Auras", and left it at that!
Luis answered several of my submitted questions! The first one is in regards to info about Apsu and Dahak. Apsu and Dahak are getting entries in Divine Mysteries, and they are still around. Their story is getting changed and retcon'd, due to the OGL situation. But it's also being expanded! Dahak is gonna have other siblings, so the idea of more Dragon gods are being teased out in Divine Mysteries.
An interesting detail that's not getting talked in full quite yet is about Apsu and Dahak's granted spells for Clerics. Typically, unless they're a god like Nethys or Abraxas who are all about being tied into magic, most gods only grant 3 spells to Clerics. But Dahak and Apsu are "setting a particular and unique standard that's tied to them specifically" in that both will have 4 granted spells each. It'll make sense when you see it, but they'll have that extra 4th spell that they share that is setting up this common theme.
Luis mentions, as a comparison, themes that come up with the gods that people might not be aware of that have come up in development for them. The example he gives is Mzali and the three sun gods. He decided, in development, that they each grant the Zeal domain due to how all three of them have such enthusiasm and drive to them. So they not only share their connection to the sun, but they also all have the Zeal domain. So Apsu/Dahak will be further connected by the spells they grant, as an additional way to associate them with each other.
Next, Luis talked about when content outside of the Core 4 books will see about being Remastered. When it makes sense to bring something forward, they will (like how they're Remastering all of the domains in Divine Mysteries). But he feels like they've done a good job overall with keeping the game compatible with the previous content, sanctification and wizard schools being the most egregious changes. They're gonna address the most glaring things that need adjustment, but he asks to not expect them to go back and adjust every single thing to the Remaster. As the large amount of time it'd take to Remaster 4-5 years of content, it would mean next-to-no time left to create new material.
As an example for the above with bringing forward old content into the Remaster, there'll be updated Witch patrons in Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries, and Baba Yaga's entry the one that was specifically called out! (Eze Note: that'd just leave Mosquito Witch and Pact Patrons left to update to the Remaster, so I wonder if one or both of them will be coming forward as well?)
Luis does encourage this: If there's something that needs to be updated and you want it to be done, he recommends letting them know so they can assess that and find the time and space to get those issues looked at and addressed. Also, it might take time for those opportunities to publish these things to happen! Some might even be happening right now, but until it's announced or published, people just need to be patient and wait for the books to come out.
Someone asked about the Ysoki Tailblade being in the game? Luis doesn't know! He does know there's ancestry weapons in PC2, and of course Ratfolk are in PC2 as well, but he honestly does not know if it's in there. The same person asked about new ancestry weapons in general later. Luis couldn't say for sure there was new ones, and didn't want to get people's hopes up by making a mistake remembering which ones are new or not.
"Who does Arazni have a weird bond with?" In Arazni's entry in Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries, it's confirmed she will have a Herald! Luis wouldn't say who they are. She will have a shared history of trauma with them, and it's said Arazni will be learning to trust others a little bit to explain why she now has a herald (in addition to her needing a herald now that she's a Core 20 god!).
Another of my questions is answered! I asked if Luis was excited that Wrestler is in Player Core 2, and he of course said yes! He's not sure if it's been expanded at all (he joked Mike Sayre might declare it's perfect the way it is, lmao), but he's glad it's in the Core book now for more people to look at.
Luis' favorite player options in Tian Xia Character Guide is some of the new Magus stuff coming, but he doesn't elaborate further as he feels that TXCG is more so James Case and Eleanor Ferron's baby, and they should be the ones to talk about all that's in that book. He's also excited with some of the new ancestry stuff, especially the Yaoguai!
"Has there been anything as a Creative Director that you wanted to change or add, but you weren't able to?" Luis, and maybe other people might have this feeling as well, feels that maybe the timeline for Golarion didn't need to go back 10,000 years. A ton of stuff has changed just within the past 2024 years, so to conceive 10,000 years of history without as much change stretching the suspension of disbelief quite a bit. Obviously there's fantasy tropes of long histories, but sometimes it complicates some matters.
Final question I asked got answered, which was if Luis has helped out the Starfinder team with stuff in regards to the lore, especially considering SF2E is gonna be 100% compatible with PF2E. I also mentioned knowing they both have separate continuities, but wondered if there was still some collaboration there. Luis said yeah, he does. He, James Jacobs and Thurston Hillman (hi Thursty!), the three Creative Directors, get into weekly meetings with each other to discuss what each side in the Pathfinder rules, Pathfinder adventures, and Starfinder teams are all doing. The two games try not to do the same kinds of stories at the same time, like not wanting them to tell a Runelords story that's exactly like Return of the Runelords. Likewise, Starfinder probably won't be killing any of their gods right after War of Immortals comes out.
Although they try to keep the timelines separate, everyone still keeps in touch in order to make sure they aren't breaking each others' toys and keep at least some kind of connection between the two games. And there's an interest in crossover potential, too! So maybe there's a desire for things to line up, regardless. And we'll likely see some of these developments in the coming years!
And the final question is about whether frog-centric content is coming to PF2E! Luis mentions the Tripkee (new name of the Grippli) being in Player Core 2, and since they'll have a bit more space in PC2 compared to before, they'll be expanded a little bit.
Finally, Luis leaves us with this. He's teased enough about Divine Mysteries in today's stream, but he's sure to tease a little bit more during the Keynote at PaizoCon this coming weekend, and if you end up liking that tease, then you should show up during the Godsrain panel that same day so he can talk some more about what is in Divine Mysteries and show off some of the cool art in that book.
And that's all the spoilers said during the interview! Next post will be all of the spoilers I'll collect in the Discord Events server during PaizoCon! If you got questions you wanna ask, feel free to let me know (preferably via DMs here). I'll try to ask as many as I can during the entire weekend. Until next time!

Many of my "friends" were never my friends
I had difficulty understanding why my longterm childhood "friends" bullied me. In adulthood, I was physically assaulted by every one of them, lied to through denial of abusive events that I know and remember what happened, silent treatment for months saying they are "busy" while I see them online playing video games, telling me how to feel, and not trusting what I say while calling themselves my "friend" for so many years. I could never do this to anybody
I understand now, after reading this article and I wanted to share:
"depending on the personality, commonly used strategies for ending relationships:
Machiavellians: manipulation, cost escalation, avoidance/withdrawal, and de-escalation
Psychopaths: manipulation, cost escalation, and distant/mediated communication
Narcissists: open confrontation"
source:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/finding-a-new-home/202305/how-narcissists-psychopaths-and-machiavellians-break-up
You need to define what a friend is and stick to that. Id say trust, consent, communication and willingness to meet you in person to have fun is the hallmark of friendship imo. If they violate it, such as blatant lies or assaults, call them out and end it. Then walk and block. Psychos will not and do not do this to you, since they arent your friend; they will just use you for as long as you put up with it. Do not ghost them or accept ghosting, for they wont contact you for years and then contact you to move their stuff, money, attend their wedding, etc

BEHOLD: the floating city of Calcia. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the size of Bangalore, with a population bordering on 35 million, the island sails North towards Greenland. A sprawling network of skyscrapers and underground systems, it truly is a sight to behold, stuffed to the brim with life.
Chapter 1: Big Nesh Buzzard
We begin the scene: Big Nesh Buzzard walks down Shower Street. The locks of his hair flutter like a flame in the wind. The moon hides behind the smog, but it's okay. It's less dangerous with the lights out anyway.
Shower Street, named for the multiple rows of shower service cubes that line it, leads up to Patriot Circle. Most of the other pedestrians are in AugMode, and those in driverless cars with their minds on autopilot, fully plugged into cyberspace.
Big Nesh doesn't fuck with cyberspace, he prefers to look at the world with the flesh in his eyes, no augmented reality either. How do people deal with all the pesky ads oversaturating their brains? The streets aren't filthy but they could use a scrub; so could he, if he was being honest, a shave too.
The passersby watch him. It's not his unusual size or his bright green mundu that makes him stand out, but the fact that he's unplugged. Just a Sewer-Rat out on the Surface, they think. He doesn't care; he just flashes them a cheeky smile. He would prefer not drawing attention to himself since he's out to commit a crime, but what the heck? He's too smooth to get caught.
He passes by a tall tower. The sign reads 'New Brick International'. In the alley beside it jutting out the side of the building, going into the ground, like four pieces of metal macaroni, are four metal chutes. They lie there, as if waiting for him to go and rip them open.
He pops into the alley, and makes sure there are no cameras watching him. Then he walks up to the first chute from the left, and rips it open with his bare hands. Nothing special, he just has that extra oomph in his DNA.
It's a bad idea: it's the organic waste chute. The shit —and some of it is shit— oozes around his legs. He tucks the mundu up into his waist to prevent it from getting dirty. He spits a few times too, just to get it all out of his mouth. He steps up to chute two, again ripping it apart.
This time it was the right one, but he cut his hands on it. Blood drops to the floor, mixing with the ooze, as pieces of scrap metal flow out of the chute. There are some rusty brain-machine chips that he pockets. Then he sees something good: an android head. That'll fetch some good credits.
As he examines the head, a voice calls out from down the alley, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"
It's a guard or something. He isn't going to wait around to find out. He makes a run for it, back to Patriot Circle and back down Shower Street. His long legs make the run quick. The guard is far behind him when he reaches Portal Street which goes further down, towards the coast. As he approaches the city's edge, he hears sirens from further up the road.
He says, “Samurai.”
Luckily, the manhole that he used to get up here is close. Some onlookers stand on the street to block traffic. The samurai are pretty unpopular, even among the Surfacers; even among themselves. Their cars come rushing in from all directions, but Nesh is already in the hole. After making his way through the tunnels, he slides through a tube that leads into a large cavity known to Sewer-Rats as Mulberry Town.
Well, let's jump into the Sewers then.
In town, he heads over to Jenny's. Furr Computing is a small hemispherical building, smack dab in the middle of the cavity. It's pretty popular since it's the cheapest place to buy BMI chips in Calcia.
Most people without chips in their head, have no way to store money and very few ways to earn it. Nesh, of course, uses an untraceable and encrypted physical wallet, a very rare thing. For other Sewer-Rats, Jenny's low-priced chips are a godsend; she represents the opportunity to plug-in to the cyberspace.
He walks into the hemisphere. “Guess who's back, baby! It's Big Nesh!”
Jenny sighs. “You really don't have to say that each time you visit.”
“Well, guess what I got for you?”
She notices the android head in his hand and then gasps. “Where the hell did you get that from?”
“Some fucking corpo tower at Patriot Circle.”
She gives him a concerned look. “You just robbed New Brick International, jarbus.”
“I know but it’s just trash. They won't care about this. Come on. I'm sure Alice would love to get her hands on this.”
“I don't want to have to deal with the samurai. Did you cover your tracks?”
“Uh, I might have left some blood on the ground.”
She looks at his hands. “Oh, your hands!” She exits through a door behind the counter.
He looks around the place as he waits for her. The room is a minor segment of the hemisphere, filled with a plethora of computers and gadgets and stuff Nesh knows nothing about. She keeps the place so clean it reminds him of the posh megastores on the Surface. Jenny comes back in, holding bandages, and walks over to Nesh.
He continues talking as she wraps his hands. “So how much am I getting for this?”
She looks up at him. “They're going to get you soon if they haven't already tracked you here.”
“Eh, I can hide out for a few days. In the lower levels.”
She stares at him for a moment, then finishes bandaging his hands. “You’re so much fucking trouble, Nesh. But I guess I can give you 400 credits for the head.”
Nesh grins, the kind of grin he saves for friends. “I knew you'd come around. I got some chips too. And data cubes. All for free.”
She smiles back, shaking her head.“You don't have to do that.”
“I'm sure you'll find some poor souls who need the chips. And I'd appreciate it if Alice could get some intel off of the cubes for me. I bet New Brick has some juicy secrets for me to get my hands on.”
“Well, thank you, but you should watch your back if you’re going to make an enemy of them.”
He just laughs. He places the chips and cubes on the counter, as she transfers the jewels to his wallet. Then he heads to the door. He says. “Later gator.”
“Later.”
Soon after Jenny’s, Nesh heads to Rictor Rowan’s and picks up some weed. Then he walks down a lane that leads to the labyrinth that is the Tunnels. Only a true Sewer-Rat can find their way through it. As the path winds down, he rolls a joint and lights it.
He decides to head to Rhavida before he heads to the lower levels. You know, play a game of 3-D Go with ol' Ishin. Couldn't hurt, right?
He passes many others on his journey: a bunch of drunks laughing and dancing, a couple of furries copulating, mutants trying to kill each other; you know just an average day in the Sewers. There are dim lights that dot each tunnel, but they aren’t so close to each other that there aren’t patches of darkness between them. All kinds of music play, and as he walks he stops to listen to the songs he likes. The weed has hit him.
He pulls out a day-old half-eaten lab-flesh sandwich from his coat. It's slightly crushed but still tastes good. Someone's playing a song. It hits just right: say to me what you want from me. The lights flicker. One dude passes by him and grunts, takes out a knife. Wild.
"Empty your pockets!"
Nesh shakes his head. "Look I'm a big guy, fella, you don't want to do this."
"Empty your fucking pockets!"
Rude. Nesh punches him in the chest, not too hard. He's goes flying across to the other wall of the tunnel. Looks like he passed out. Nesh just continues left, going lower into the Sewers Another left, then a right, climb down the ladder one level, two more rights and you reach Rhavida.
Rhavida is one of the filthiest places in Calcia. The place overflows with people and trash. Most of the shacks are built with said trash. The ground is always wet but at least it's always warm. That's what you get when people are packed like sardines. The whole cavity is dark save for the dim light emitted from some of the shacks. Most Sewer-Rats’ eyes have adapted to see in the dark and eye augments are very popular down here.
Towards the edge of the town, the edge furthest away from the Surface entrance, lives Ishin Kawamoto. A war veteran, Ishin has lived in the Sewers for close to 30 years, almost as long as Nesh. enters the shack to find the old man asleep, with a thin blanket, opposite the entrance. There are two stacks of clothes at his feet, some bottles of beer by his head and a 19x19x19 3-D Go cube beside him. Next to the entrance sits a small lamp.
Nesh says. “Wake up, old man.”
“Mm, go away. Let me rest.”
“You afraid you'll lose?”
The man opens his eyes and stares at Big Nesh. “Well, if you want to get your ass beat, I won't stop you.”
He sits up and pulls out the stones; black and white in two separate bowls.
He hands the bowl with black stones to Nesh. “You can start.”
Nesh sits down cross-legged and places the cube between them. “Let's get into it.”
He begins the game by putting a piece on the (to him) bottom front right corner of the cube. “So, how have you been?”
Ishin places a stone right above Nesh’s. “Could be better. Waiting for the ritual next week, to be honest.”
Every month, dealers sell their surplus psychedelics to everyone above the age of 20. With music and beer, they perform a community building ritual.
Nesh plops another stone into place. "Don't think I'll be here."
"On the run, again?"
"Mm-hmm."
Their game continues. Nesh covers a lot of territory, but Ishin is able to surround all of the young fella's constellations, capturing all his stones.
"Well, fuck."
They're about to begin calculating the score when a voice calls from outside. "Nesh Buzzard! Looking for a Nesh Buzzard?"
Nesh says. "Who the hell is that?"
He leaves Ishin to count the pieces as he steps out of the shack. There's a man, blue jeans and a leather jacket, raygun in his hand.
"You must be Nesh."
"And you're a samurai."
"Damn right big fella."
"So you're going to try to arrest me?"
"I gotta bring you in alive, but no one said awake."
Nesh rushes to punch the guy. The raygun hits him in the shoulder. He falls to the ground on his knees.
"Fuck!"
"Sleep tight, big man."
The gun hits Nesh's head. He fades to black.

Clover

Five humans, missing...

Spoilers for all of Undertale Yellow's main routes below
Undertale Yellow is a fan-made prequel to the hit indie game Undertale. While Undertale follows the story of Frisk, the seventh human child to fall into the monster ruled Underground, Undertale Yellow follows the story of their immediate predecessor. Meet Clover, the sixth human. Unlike the humans that fell before, this gun-toting cowboy is unique in the sense that their journey to the Underground was no accident. Clover entered the Underground voluntarily in order to investigate the disappearances of the previous five humans and, if it turned out they perished at some point after their fall, hoped to avenge their deaths. See, while Frisk possessed a red SOUL that embodied Determination, Clover's SOUL is yellow for the trait of Justice. Clover's journey would lead them all throughout the Underground, meeting some monsters that will be familiar to those who have played Undertale and some brand new faces as well.
Like Undertale before it, Undertale Yellow's story can be altered significantly depending on the player's actions. Perhaps Clover befriends the monsters they meet and determines they were unfairly trapped underground, deciding to sacrifice themselves to bring monster kind closer to freedom. Or maybe Clover will blame the monsters for the deaths of the previous human children, avenging them with swift cruelty. Either way, Clover will act in the way they believe they can best embody Justice.

So How Do the Fights Work Anyway?

Like its predecessor, Undertale Yellow tends to treat RPG mechanics as literal aspects of the game's world. Due to the abstract nature of fights in both Undertale and Undertale Yellow, with enemy monsters targeting Clover's SOUL rather than their physical body, it's understandable that there may be some confusion about how Clover actually scales to certain monsters. Luckily, this is a bit more clear in Undertale Yellow than it was in the original game, as the reveal trailer shows that the attacks of monster are things that Clover physically has to react to and dodge (we even see this same attack utilized in game) even though the battle menu only shows their SOUL.
But this is just for when encounters have already begun, what about before that? And what triggers encounters anyway? There's an area in the Wild East where boulders are falling onto the path that Clover needs to dodge. If they fail to avoid them, this begins an encounter too, where Clover is given the opportunity to avoid the "attacks" in the battle menu to negate damage. Other examples include Clover escaping damage from hot steam after touching it and avoiding damage from Axis' energy balls after they hit them. What this means for standard versus fights is a little vague, but it likely means that any attack that would deal meaningful damage starts an encounter and that it would be impossible to simply kill Clover with a sneak attack. Even if it hit them, Clover would still get the opportunity to dodge before the proper fight begins. That said, there is one example of Clover dying without triggering an encounter at the end of the Neutral Route. It's possible this is because it was an unescapable situation but the mechanics of it are still vague and unclear.
As seen with the previous examples such as the falling boulders and steam, it seems that attacks that hit Clover's SOUL and their physical body are more or less interchangeable. Or rather, it isn't possible to circumvent the SOUL to only hit the physical body because even attacks that hit Clover's physical body will trigger an encounter that can then be dodged or endured by the SOUL.
Finally, it's worth noting that the sizes of objects can vary from their appearances in the battle to what they look like in the overworld. We see Clover's SOUL alongside their physical body a few times throughout the game and it's pretty consistently a little larger than their torso. So this thread will describe feats with that scale in mind.

Other Things To Note

• At the end of certain routes, Clover acquires certain abilities/powerups that don't necessarily apply to the rest of the game. Feats or items that are limited to those routes will be marked with the corresponding route.
  
  • [Pacifist] Feat
• Like your standard RPG's, Undertale Yellow possesses a leveling system that will increase the more enemies that Clover kills, with certain abilities being unlocked after certain levels are achieved. However, in the Genocide route Clover showed off the ability to level up rapidly simply by being filled with enough righteous fury. Abilities that are locked behind certain levels will also be marked accordingly.
  
  • Feat^{LV 19}
• The majority of feats will come from Undertale Yellow, but occasionally clips from trailers and other promotional material on the director of the game's Youtube channel will be used, which will be labeled with a T like so:
  
  • Feat^T

Physicals

Strength

• Breaks a piece of wood that had jammed an elevator door with a pickaxe, which broke the pickaxe despite it being described as sturdy previously
• Pushes aside a cabinet
• While physically holding the lid of a trash can Clover is able to deflect Axis' energy attacks back at him which destroyed portable generators about as tall as Axis himself
  • Clover also uses this lid to deflect Axis' bombs
• [Anti-Feat] Needs Martlet's help moving a table

Speed/Agility

• Runs roughly 2/3rds faster than they walk, traveling the same distance in 1.5 seconds that it took them 2.5 seconds to walk
• Climbs a good distance up a rope, though Flowey resets the timeline before they reach the top
• While fighting Decibat they react and move relatively to various attacks that appear to be sound-based
  • Note that blue attacks don't harm you if you're standing still and orange attacks don't if you're moving
• Passes over a bridge when the boards were constantly elevating and lowering
• Moves out of the way of Dunebud's arrows
  • We see in the game's reveal trailer that these arrows move much faster than their in-game counterparts would suggest
• Avoids the soundwaves produced by Starlo's bell attack
• Escapes Axis during their chase
• Jukes the hell out of Axis
• Moves relatively to the arrows and flintlock pistol shots of a pair of mini robots
• Climbs a laundry chute

Durability
Blunt

• A tumbleweed knocks them onto a lower platform and they don't even flinch
• Even while using the Patch, Clover's starting accessory that offers no extra defense, Clover can withstand several giant boulders smashing into them
  • While using the Steel Buckle or superior defensive items, this damage is totally negligible
• Takes several blows from Ed that launch massive boulders into the air
• Withstands the Guardener's attacks which could smash giant gears that are larger than Clover
• [Genocide] Gets hit by large meteors summoned by Zenith Martlet

Falling

• Jumps down a hole into the Underground and lands on a bed of flowers
• Falls through the floor of the Ruins and lands in a bed of flowers in the Dark Ruins, quickly jumping to their feet afterwards
• Crashes a speeding boat over a ledge, sending them over and into the mines
  • Flowey did comment they seemed pretty hurt by this
• Falls down a trap door

Heat

• Survives in the Steamworks with no issue, which was hot enough to light Moe's clothes and stand on fire over the course of their conversation
• Withstands multiple fire attacks from Asgore before eventually succumbing to them (with Asgore being the strongest non-final boss monster in the original Undertale)

Other

• Gets shocked repeatedly by Dalv's electrical attacks, enduring four before eventually succumbing
• A giant fan produces a sandstorm that pushes them back a considerable distance
• Gets hit by dynamite thrown by Starlo
• Survives multiple shots from Starlo's revolver
• Withstands hits from Axis' energy balls which later destroy Axis' portal generators
  • During Axis' boss fight, Clover takes no damage from this at all
• With the highest defensive accessory they take negligible damage from Ceroba's attacks which shatter stone pillars (they also take a glancing blow from these attacks in a cutscene without damage, though it takes them some time to return to their feet)
  • [Pacifist] Clover later withstands Ceroba's attacks after she had powered up into her Kitsune form, which dealt double damage compared to her previous attacks (2HP with the best defensive item instead of 1HP)
• [Pacifist] Endures for a little over a minute after their soul had been extracted from their body (though they were too weak to do anything but crawl)
• [Genocide] Gets crushed by blocks with enough force to shatter them which are not affected by their SOUL's energy beams
• [Genocide] Here is the top of UG Apartments before Clover's battle with Zenith Martlet compared to after, which assuming Martlet's attacks were responsible for any of this damage means that Clover would scale to it
• [Genocide] Clover grows so powerful that Asgore's trident shatters against their SOUL^{LV 20}

Skill

• Shoots a hat off a dummy
• Beats Starlo in a quickdraw contest
• After being fully lasso'd by Starlo, Clover is still able to effectively avoid his attacks and even tricks him into shooting his own lasso twice
  • Starlo is accurate enough to shoot sticks of dynamite out of the air
  • Clover is still able to fight back as well
• Can shoot something as small as a micro froggit
• Opens a door by shooting its control panel
• Plays a mean harmonica^T
• Holy shit they're so sick with it^T

Justice SOUL

• Flowey talks about how Boss Monsters are stronger than others and that a human SOUL is even more powerful than them
• [Pacifist] During the final boss, Clover is powered up and given a plethora of different abilities (the reason for this isn't explicitly stated, but it's likely because they felt their cause was just, more so than they ever had in the rest of the game)^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] Endures repeated enraged attacks from Ceroba that should have killed them before returning to full HP as the next phase of the boss starts^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] Can fire energy blasts from their SOUL which are strong enough to overpower Ceroba's own charged blasts^{LV 1}
    • They can quickly fire smaller shots on top of the more powerful charge shots^{LV 1}
    • A weaker version of Ceroba's attacks could shatter stone pillars^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] Is able to phase through attacks, including otherwise unavoidable AOE attacks^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] Clover is able to Hope, allowing them to take an extra hit without damage^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] Clover is able to Endure, regenerating health from a range of 5HP to 10HP^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] Clover is able to Remember, granting them a speed buff over the course of that turn^{LV 1}
  • [Pacifist] After cracking Ceroba's Kitsune mask, Clover is able to see a memory of her past talking to her dying husband^{LV 1}
• [Genocide] After hearing that Axis, the penultimate boss, killed a human child, Clover is filled with such rage and a desire for justice that they automatically leveled up and developed the ability to shoot energy blasts from their SOUL. The first blast obliterated the trash can lid Axis was using as a shield and after further leveling up they fired a massive beam that obliterated Axis entirely. Clover also gained an assortment of other abilities at this point^{LV 15/19}
  • [Genocide] Smaller shots can be rapid fired and a brief charge allows Clover to fire the beam^{LV 19}
    • [Genocide] It required two small shots to destroy the meteors Zenith Martlet summons and they're completely obliterated by the beam^{LV 19}
    • [Genocide] With enough shots Clover destroys Martlet's armor that their gun was completely useless against (based on the fact that the Fight button is locked during the phase of the fight that she's wearing the armor)^{LV 19}
    • [Genocide] Clover's beam is strong enough to completely obliterate Asgore as well as his throne and the wall behind him^{LV 20}
  • [Genocide] Like in the Pacifist ending, Clover is able to dash which smashes blocks that their shots and beams couldn't break and allows them to phase through otherwise unavoidable attacks without damage^{LV 19}
  • [Genocide] After destroying Martlet's armor, Clover is able to see into mind and witness her backstory^{LV 19}
  • [Genocide] Clover is able to Endure, automatically recovering anywhere from 20HP to 25HP^{LV 19}
  • [Genocide] Here is the top of UG Apartments before Clover's battle with Zenith Martlet compared to after, with Clover presumably being responsible for at least some of the damage^{LV 19}
• [Genocide] Throughout the game, Clover is able to undo mistakes thanks to the SAVE function. Primarily, this is thanks to Flowey doing so for you, becoming an in-universe stand-in for standard RPG Saving and Loading and ultimately allowing them to revive at the latest SAVE point for standard enemies or directly back into the battle for Boss encounters. However, at the end of the Genocide route Clover levels up enough to steal Flowey's control of the timeline, ultimately taking the SAVE ability for themselves which they can use to SAVE and LOAD in the middle of battle^{LV 20}

Gear

Note that while Clover can store excess items in boxes they find around the Underground, they can only carry eight items in their inventory not including their current Weapon, Ammo, Armor, and Accessory. Later in the game they discovered the Dimensional Satchel which allows them to access the boxes from anywhere, but they still only have eight slots to bring into an encounter.
Weapons
Guns

• Toy Gun - Clover's default weapon is a simple toy gun
• Wild Revolver - A gift from Starlo, purchased from Blackjack's shop
  • While the Toy Gun only fires once per turn, the Wild Revolver is fired six times in a row
  • While the Wild Revolver looks and functions like a typical revolver, note that Blackjack does say that he made it so as not to be lethal (though the following line about how anything could be lethal if used enough times consecutively makes this seem more like a meta joke about RPG fight mechanics, even going so far as to mention the ballet shoes that are a weapon in the original Undertale)

Feats
Note that cutscenes will always play out the same regardless of whether the Toy Gun or Wild Revolver is being used, so while the Revolver is obviously the more powerful of the two the Toy Gun is much more powerful than it's name would suggest and the following feats apply to both weapons.

• Damages machinery
• Critically damages Axis who could withstand his own energy balls being reflected back at him with no physical damage, merely draining his power instead
  • After being rebounded Axis' attacks destroyed portable generators as tall as Axis himself
• Destroys robots with repeated shots
• Executes undamaged monsters in cutscenes/scripted fights in both the Pacifist and Genocide routes
• [Anti-Feat] Was unable to destroy the trash can lid Axis was using as a shield

Ammo
Rather amusingly, Clover will jam whatever odd materials they can find into their weapon which somehow works perfectly^T

• Rubber Ammo (AT 0) - The default ammo that Clover started their journey with
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
• Pebble Ammo (AT 3) - Small rocks that Clover discovered in the Dark Ruins
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
• Ice Ammo (AT 6) - Discovered near the start of Snowdin, these fragments of a shattered ice crystal don't melt and cool Clover's gun upon being loaded
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
• Coffee Ammo (AT 4 + 1 SPEED after perfect attack) - Found in a barrel near the exit of Snowdin
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
  • Compare the increased speed to Clover's normal battle speed
• Flint Ammo (AT 9) - Salvaged from an ore deposit outside the East Mines
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
    • Note that the shots make small explosions upon impact
• Glass Ammo (AT 5 + 2HP) - Taken from a shattered glass in the Dunes Gift Shop
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
• Silver Ammo (AT 3 + Bonus Damage for Perfect Shot) - Purchased from Blackjack's shop
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
• Nails (AT 10) - Found in a box in the Steamworks greenhouse
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver
• [Neutral/Genocide] Friendliness Pellets (AT 11) - A gift from Flowey, acquired outside of the Steamworks
  • Toy Gun Wild Revolver

Armor

• Warn Hat - The default armor that Clover started their journey with
• [Pacifist/Neutral] Nice Hat - Visually identical to Clover's old one and offers no extra defense or benefits, but it is a pretty nice hat

Accessories

• Patch (Armor DF 0) - The default accessory that Clover started their journey with
• Feather (Armor DF 2) - A stray feather located in the tunnels near Dalv's house
• Honeydew Pin (Armor DF 4) - Purchased at the Honeydew Resort shop
• Band Merch Pin (Armor DF 5) - A pin given to Clover by a band's super fan in Honeydew Resort
• Steel Buckle (Armor DF 7) - Found inside a cubby in the East Mines
• Safety Jacket (Armor DF 6) - Found on a hook in the East Mines
• Fancy Holster (Armor DF 8) - Purchased from Blackjack's shop
• Safety Goggles (Armor DF 9) - Acquired from Vendy in the Steamworks
• Silver Scarf (Armor DF 6 and +2HP Every Turn) - Given to Clover by Slurpy in Snowdin after freeing his tongue from a frozen pole
  • Here is the scarf in use
• Delta Run Patch (Armor DF 10) - Purchased from Bits and Bites at UG Apartments
• Golden Bandana (Armor DF 12) - Found in a chest in the Steamworks
  • This did come at the cost of sacrificing the Golden Pear, Golden Coffee, and Golden Cactus

Food/Healing Items
Note that at their weakest (LV 1), Clover has 20HP and at their strongest (LV20), Clover has 100HP
Single Use

• Lemonade - 7HP
• Lukewarm Pop - 8HP
• Candy Corn - 9HP
• Packing Peanuts - 10HP
• Sea Tea - 10HP (+ Temporary Speed Increase)
  • Here is the Sea Tea in use
• Monster Candy - 10HP
• Corn Dog - 12HP
• Cold Pop - 12 HP
• Sponge Cake - 14HP
• Hot Pop -14 HP
• Trail Mix - 14HP
• Corn Chowder - 15HP
• Moss Salad - 17HP
• Ice Tea - 20HP
• Green Tea - 21HP
• Flower Stew - 20HP
• Hot Dog - 20HP
• Fruitcake -25HP
• [Pacifist/Genocide] Adult Soda - ???HP
  • It's actually 20HP
• [Genocide] Oasis Latte - 25HP
• [Neutral] Cake - 30HP
• [Genocide] Cinnamon Cookie - 35HP
• Golden Pear - Invulnerability for two hits
  • Here is the G. Pear in use
• Golden Coffee - Increases Clover's speed for 3 turns
  • Here is the G. Coffee in use (also note that this buff carries on to future encounters if the three turns aren't used)
• Golden Cactus - 15HP for 3 turns (Lose 5HP after first bite)

Two Uses

• Grassy Fries - 14HP
• Beef Jerky - 16HP

Unlimited Supply

• Spider Donut - 12HP
• Popato Chisps - 13HP
• Honeydew Coffee - 14HP
• Honeydew Pancake - 16HP
• Ice Water - 15HP
• Monster Candy+ - 15HP
• Root Beer - 18HP
• G.B. Bear - 20HP
• Dihydrogen Monoxide - 20HP
• Feisty Slider - 30HP
• Gravity Granola - 30HP
• Cinnamon Butterscotch Strudel - 30HP
• Floral Cupcake - 50HP
• Gun Powder - ???HP
  • Completely maxes out Clover's HP
  • Note that Clover can only acquire one of these on the Genocide Route

Misc

• Solves Martlet's extremely complicated lava rock puzzle
• Beats the infamous Shuffler gang at their own game
• Uses flint and a steel buckle to burn a thick stick that was jamming an elevator
• Keeps up with El Bailador during their dance off, who was out of breath after the fact
• [Pacifist/Neutral] The Doc in the Wild East can overcharge Clover's health with a one time extra 15HP (nearly double their health at LV 1)
• Stealthily creeps around the Steamworks factory, figuring out a passcode while staying out of Axis' view
• Clover has incredible willpower, since even after Flowey kills them and attempts to absorb their SOUL, Clover is able to resist him for the entirety of the ensuing boss fight which ends when Flowey realizes they'd be fighting for all eternity if they continued and opts to simply reset the timeline instead
• Breaks it down

Somebody calls for help
You answer the call

For those familiar with steam input this is going to be fairly straightforward, but for those who aren't I will try to explain as step by step as I can. There is an easy (and kind of janky/bad feeling) way to do this, and a more involved but better feeling way. Fair warning the harder method also involves swapping aim to a bumper and not a trigger due to some Steam Input issues. These steps should be the same regardless of which controller you are using (DS5, SC, even switch maybe). First lets make sure steam input is enabled.
Enabling Steam Input
Find the game in your library and right click. Under manage you should find a controller layout option. If you do not you need to instead go to properties >> controller and then make sure steam input is enabled for whichever controller you are using. From here simply open the controller layout menu and confirm that you are set to the default official config. From here there are two ways to go.
The easy way, gyro as joystick input
This is very easy. Simply click edit layout, find the gyro menu, and set the behavior to "camera movement as joystick". Now go into the settings beside that option and change the gyro activation buttons to both soft and long pull of L2. Now the gyro will be active as long as you are holding down L2. Feel free to mess with the settings but in my experience it doesn't get much better. If this kind of aiming is acceptable then congrats, you are done. Otherwise disable the gyro and go to the next section.
The harder way, gyro as mouse input.
This is the preferred method for doing this in any game because it is more accurate, but GoT makes it difficult by not supporting simultaneous mouse/gamepad inputs. Try holding down L2 and looking around with the mouse and you will see what I mean. To solve this we will need to only provide the game KB+M inputs while we aim and fire. This will be done with action sets/layers. Think of an action set as a basic gamepad configuration, and an action layer as a temporary configuration that is only active under certain circumstances. In this case only while we hold down the aim button.
In the bottom left there will be an action sets menu. In this menu you will see in game controls, this is your default button layout for game play. Click the cog and add a layer to in game controls. In the settings of this new layer add an always on command set to the left control key (this is the aim key for keyboard and will always be active while the layer is active). Now when changing any settings the top left action set icon should let you see which set you have active. Start by changing the behavior of your left triggebumper in the "in game actions" set. Your left trigger should be changed to block. Your left bumper should be changed to "Hold action layer (whatever you named it)". Now whenever the bumper is held the action layer will be active.
Everything on the action layer you created should be changed to the equivalent KB+M input. Left sick needs to be changed to output WASD for movement, right stick changed to output mouse movements, right trigger to left mouse button, etc, etc. This is all pretty straight forward, just remember that if your aim is being broken it is being caused by the game detecting controller input. Also be careful that you are only changing the layout of your action layer and not the default controls. Now we come to the gyro. Under your action layer turn the gyro on and set it to "as mouse" for behavior. It will likely be way too sensitive so you will need to adjust. Most of the settings are intuitive enough and will need to played around with. I would however strongly advise against using acceleration, and even turning mouse acceleration off in windows settings as this can effect your aim as well.
EDIT 1: changed to using bumper to aim and not trigger due to steam input weirdness.

In 2016, a game called "The Culling" came out. Today it's a little-known part of the history of the Battle Royale genre - and a sad story about what might have been. The Culling was the first standalone game in the genre and brought in a set of fresh ideas that had players hooked. Highlights:

• It relied relatively little on classic ranged gunplay, focusing more on melee weapons
• Combat mechanics were deep and with a huge risk/reward. You could block every attack without taking damage if you did the timing perfectly. That made each encounter adrenaline-rich, even vs supposedly lower opponents
• It had a strong identity: The game maps were stages of a supposed TV show with the players as contestants. It was all over the top with a lot of slapstick humor from the announcer
• It had a bunch of other new ideas. It introduced crafting into the genre. And you could airdrop in equipment (yes, really)

The players and streamers loved it - to reference a common sentiment back then: "PLEASE don't fuck up". But they did. They didn't understand their own game, didn't understand what made it so fun. Every update released fucked with the balance. They made classic shooting guns OP, they completely destroyed their own innovative block mechanic. And a few things more I don't remember. The community was not happy, begging for reversal. They eventually did release "The Culling: Origins" which was the game at its initial early access state - a testament to how much went wrong. But it was way too late obviously. When players aren't complaining any more, they also don't play anymore - they move on. PUBG and Fortnite were already released by then and we all know how that went.
This isn't really about The Culling, obviously. It's a tale about how difficult it can be to make games feel right. To not just catch lightning in a bottle, but also keep it in. Resemblance to other games is not coincidental, make of this what you want :>

Probably not going to be implemented, but I think it would be really cool to see a bit more survival mechanics implemented into the game, so that you have to worry about more than just zombies.
For example: 1. Water as a resource 2. Electricity as a resource 3. Illnesses, diseases and injuries 4. Childcare and eldercare
Water as a resource:
It would be cool if water was a resource, just like food and wood, etc. In real life, often times dehydration rather than starvation is what kills people in survival situations, especially in hot areas like the Australian outback. This way, securing water, either by setting up near a rivelake, or by digging wells/building water pumps, would be really important.

• Survivors would require a daily water ration alongside their food ration to survive.
• fields and barns would require a water upkeep in order to maintain production
• increased water supply would result in increased hygiene, resulting in healthier survivors and higher morale (reducing risk of sicknesses occurring)

Electricity as a resource:
Others have already suggested this, but I think having electricity as a resource in the game would be interesting.
Benefits of electricity could include: - increased productivity of production buildings - increased morale from shelter due to luxury - longer shifts in production buildings due to electric lighting
Electricity could be generated by: - solar pannels - water wheels - diesel generators - windmills
And could be used to power all buildings, including the water pump mentioned earlier
Illnesses, diseases and injuries
As it stands, besides unhappiness, there is really no need to build shelters and houses in the game. Likewise, there is no really incentive to use smaller, suburban houses for shelter.
Also, there isn't really any need for the medbay. I've done multiple playthroughs now, and each time, I didn't even research medbays because it's just a waste of books.
Having a disease/illness/injury mechanic would change that. Having something akin to frostpunk, whereby, if survivors shelter needs aren't met, they may get sick, or even cause a pandemic would give meaning to the medbay, and make securing shelter and HOUSES way more important.
How sickness could work:

1. If the survivors needs (food, water, shelter) aren't met, they may become sick, reducing their work efficiency, and reducing the happiness of the zone. They can recover back to normal health naturally with rest, with treatment, or if their needs are satisfied. If their needs are not satisfied, or they are unable to rest, they may progress to become seriously ill.
   
2. If survivors become seriously ill, they will consume the same resources as usual (food, water, etc) but will not be capable of working until they recover. They can recover naturally if their needs are met (low chance) or they can recover if treated at the medbay. There is a small chance of death as an outcome as well. If their needs continue to be neglected, they will die.
   

How housing would effect it:

1. No housing = high risk of sickness, no chance of recovery until no longer homeless, high risk of spread to other homeless survivors
   
2. Shelter = medium risk of sickness, medium chance of recovery without intervention, high chance of spread to other survivors using the same shelter
   
3. House = low risk of sickness, high chance of recovery without intervention, medium risk of spread to other survivors using the same shelter
   

LARGE BUILDING = increased risk of pandemic due to large number of inhabitants of building
SMALL BUILDING = decreased risk of pandemic due to small number of inhabitants in building
Basically, it puts more value on suburban houses, as they naturally quarantine the individuals within them, whereas large apartment blocks tend to result in huge spread of illnesses
Medbays could then prevent this issue by separating the sick from the healthy and treating them so that they recover.
Childcare, eldercare, and deathcare
Not everyone in society is of working age. Half of all zombie movies are just about trying to save a child from a big bad world. The game could mimic this.
In the game, according to the weather station, 1 day = 1 month. So after 120 days, a child born on day 1 would be 10 years old.
Having population growth and decline, as well as children and elderly people would make it more interesting ethically. If you have survivors that want to join you, and you don't have food you might kick them out, but what if they are children? Maybe in 20 days, they might become 16 and be able to grow the zone?
Basically:

1. Survivors will eventually grow old and die
   
2. Survivors will reproduce, regardless of the situation, especially since there is limited access to contraception
   
3. Children, and the elderly can not work, but still consume resources
   
4. Children and the elderly can be expelled from the population if you want.
   
5. Death of a child or elderly, refusal of refugees who have children or elderly, or expulsion of children or elderly will significantly reduce happiness
   
6. Birth of children will increase happiness
   
7. The dead must be disposed of, either through burial, cremation, or through "other" means for differing resource/happiness costs
   
8. Unnatended children have a risk of getting themselves killed by misadventure
   
9. All human corpses must be disposed of (even raiders)
   
10. Corpses that aren't properly disposed of significantly increase the risk of disease, may increase unhappiness (if it's a survivor) or even attract the infected
    

Buildings that could be added:

• childcare/school: keeps children safe from misadventure, improves morale
  
• aged care/care home: takes care of the elderly, prevents sickness and improves morale
  
• graveyard: buries the dead and holds funeral services. Funerals cost nothing and reduce risk of disease, reduce unhappiness caused by death of a survivor, but need space (like a field)
  
• crematorium: burns the dead and hold funeral services. Funerals cost 1 wood, reduce the risk of disease, reduce unhappiness from death, but take up no space
  

-composter: converts the dead to fertiliser (or food if you become cannibals) for an increased risk of disease and no reduction in unhappiness from death of a survivor
I feel like this would add a looootttt of flavour to a playthroughs.

Want to say on the outset that the Codex is cool and at least 5 of the detachments are going to see play by this CSM player. I know this is part of the game but some of these decisions seem to be overly profit driven. I know GW is a company that wants to make $ but this planned obsolescence is too aggressive. I don't have much time so it takes me a long ass time to build my stuff and by the time it's done they've removed the rules for my stuff or made their rules sucky. GW's insistence on completely invalidating entire playstyles that has a material impact on my collection is pissing me off.
I'm looking at my CSM collection right now, and I have 3 Decimators (basically my first purchase when I started this hobby), Abaddon, 120 ranged cultists with special weapons, and 9 Bikes.
Bikes are still good, but we all know how much the ability to hop on and off the board is beloved by players (feels fucking cool man). They decided to take that ability and give an even better version of it to Warp Talons AFAIK. So now I gotta go build 10-20 Warp Talons, and Abaddon+ Cultist horde may be on the shelf for the next year+.
Abaddon losing his ability to buff cultists was probably OK, but ontop of the other changes overnerfed the playstyle. He shouldn't have lost all 4 marks that was the coolest thing about him for me, felt so cool using all the different strategems on my Terminator block in the Index detachment.
Stuff like the Decimators is particularly terrible. GW was happily selling these weeks before they cut the rules on them. In my case it was literally my first big purchase of new GW merchandise and I had only just built them when they were Legended. And their Legends rules suck compare to pre Legend, so even if I play them with Legends they aren't nearly as cool as before.
I heard some Guard players saying the same stuff about Leman Russes being not as great at start of 10th edition vs Rogal Dorn and leaving GW as it felt like they were purposely making LR not as good to sell the RDs. Mordian Glory made a video that he was swearing off GW merchandise and going to 3d printing/3rd party for this reason.
It does feel like GW are weaponizing the rules to drive profits by constantly making some stuff OP then nerfing it to obsolescence or removing their rules entirely. Like they obviously know a ton of us went out and put together ranged cultists hordes since it was really strong and also cool. Now they cut that from the game and are expecting us to be like 'Oh crap, need to pick up the new Battleforce so I can play the game!'
All this said, we are pretty blessed as CSM as we only have ~10 datasheets we need to max out on to play all the powerful archetypes of our faction. LSM have it 10x worse as you have like 50+ datasheets you need to have a full playset of to be able to field the flavour of the week.
I think GW needs to have a reckoning and more of us need to turn to 3D printing and 3rd party if this is how they are going to treat us. Wizards of the Coast fucked around and found out with me and I lost all love of MTG after decades of dedication and I dumped my massive collection and noped out due to their decisions last few years. Now GW has done the same with me for 40k.

For context I've used H pattern shifters in sims since the very first commercially available Act-Labs shifter in the early 2000s, the different Logitech G series offerings, the Thrustmaster TH8A, and for the last 5 years I've been using the Frex GP.
I have not owned but have used the Pro-Sim shifter at a local sim shop so I can draw comparisons to this unit as well.
Of the above mentioned if I had my choice budget not being in question I would certainly go for the Pro-Sim, it simply had the most satisfying two stage feel to the gear engagement (getting into neutral and then getting into gear) however, at over 3x the price of the Frex I just felt like it didn’t offer enough to justify the move. Frex also simulates the two stage feel through detents on the shaft that gets acted on by a spring ball plunger, however with the Pro-Sim this feeling is much more pronounced. I kept going back to the shop over the last few years picking up the odd piece of equipment and giving the Pro-Sim a row each time but at the end of the day I figured I'd hold out for something "active".
On the subject of "Well does it feel like getting into gear in a real car", having driven dozens of cars I don't recall any two that feel the same. The feeling has been anything from G25 like spongy and sloppy in a 2007 Accord, to a very mechanical sharp and direct feel of a Mk4 Golf, to everything else in between. I have never driven anything race prepped that is H pattern equipped but I've rowed through some gears at an auto show in a stock car and a touring car and these felt closer to what the Pro-Sim feels like vs road cars.
Naturally the next thing in the evolution of the shifter was some kind of feedback, something to take the simulation further and prevent getting into gear if you aren't doing the correct things. Frex did this a long time ago but ultimately it wasn’t realistic as it was a mechanical solution, you have to press the clutch to shift gear and in real life both synchromesh and dog boxes allow for shifting clutches with correct technique.
On to the Bash Pro.
Construction is solid and the unit is heavy. The only nonmetal bits are what I'd call the dust guard, buttons and electronics housing frame components that are not stressed in any way. I wish the dust guard bit was polished in some way so you do not see the obvious 3d printer markings, same can be said for the other 3d printed bits, but hey if this shaved off some decent dollars from construction cost than why not. I've read a lot of "at this cost and 3d printed bits" and quite frankly I don't get the comments, the cost is actually "fair" considering the price of the competition.
Aesthetically its nothing to look at and if it were up to me I'd do away with the carbon fiber box for electronics and just make it all metal. I swapped the original 6+R knob for the black/carbon Frex knob and I think it looks miles better. It’s just a box that is pure function and I will take the footprint of this unit over the very cool looking competition any day. It does come with a mounting plate and easily screws into a piece of 40xXX profile. In my case it screwed into the Advanced Sim Racing shifter plate. The software controlling the unit is a plugin for SimHub.
How does it feel?
It has the gear engagement feel of the Pro-Sim at a 3rd of the size. There is a two stage feel to shifting gears but even more so due to the programable delay and the blocking gate mechanism. For delay we are talking about milliseconds, but it really makes for a great, into neutral and then into gear feel. There is a very strong and pronounced feel in taking it out of gear, into neutral, and then into gear again. The throw is heavy, but I don’t think its adjustable, this might be an issue for some, I’ll gladly leave it as is as I prefer heavy controls all around. In H sync mode you can control the delays between each gears, for example 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6 can all have different delay timing set, or just remove delay all together. The unit is loud just like its pears.
The parts of the shaft which slide into the gates/gears have spinning bearings attached, the gates themselves are very thick as is the lockout gate which are all rounded off. The bearings fit perfectly into the slots which results in absolutely no play/slop when in gear and in a very smooth action when sliding in and out of the gates. In neutral position the lever just returns to middle position without bouncing around like the Frex would. The staged feel is achieved by the gate returning to the lockout position as soon as you pop into neutral and then muscle your way through the now "allowed to move away" lockout gate and into gear.
Price wise, this shifter comes in cheaper than the BDH and way cheaper than the Pro-Sim, making it a no brainer for me. There is nothing those shifters offer over the Bash Pro at this stage, hopefully the unit proves to be reliable. I do not like to talk about price/value as it’s really about what you want/need and willing to spend on something and from watches to cars, it starts at next to nothing to won’t afford it in a lifetime. But in this case, I must say it is good value if you compare it to the high-end competition. This is an innovative product, first of its kind, and its clocking in at a significant discount over the competition. This stands in stark contrast to the Simucube Active pedal, which is a first of its kind, and is an end-game product, however, the cost of this offering reflects it. With the Bash Pro you got something similar, something moving the hobby to the next level and its cheaper than its “passive” neighbours.
As I type this up, Pro-Sim is working on an addon for their H and sequential boxes that will also block out gears when not doing this correctly, and this is great news for existing Pro-Sim owners. This unit will also work off of SimHub, will be curious to see what kind of options it will have.

I (18f) am a senior in high school. Because of covid I lost every friend I had from previous school years (like most people), I ended up doing online school the entirety of my freshman year. Sophomore year I had covid the first 3 weeks of school, so I was late to the friend making game. I ended up eventually making friends with this one kid in one of my class. Or friendship for sophomore year mainly consisted of us working on school assignments together, and eating lunch together. Junior year we had more of the same classes, around 3, one of which is band. We both play the same instrument and while I sucked at it because I started later than most and because of covid, he was no doubtedly the best at our school. I worked really hard into becoming a better player (remember this for later). Since we had more classes we ended up taking more. Whenever I said something that I didn't like I was told I was being sensitive. Whenever I said something regarding school he acted like I'm wrong. He's been a strait A student since the 6th grade, while I, although very good at school and very good grades, have not had a strait As since middle school, mostly due to go through trauma that severely impacted me. He started dating someone about half way though the year.
Senior year starts, I am not as "sensitive" as before, mostly because I just stopped showing that I cared for the most part. Me and him have 5 classes together. And this is where the problem starts.
I had heard a rumor where he tried to sexualy assault his girlfriend at the time (they broke up). I was livid, not at him, once I found out I called him, told him what I heard and that if she dared spread that rumor I would start a fight because that's not something to joke about. He acted calm and just said what he always said "the people who would believe that just aren't real friends, and it's not my problem". He says this is you say any criticism about him. I was so angry at her, until...
One of my friends took me aside and told me what they had heard. They heard that it did happen, and that he (the person who had the rumor about him) had talked about fingering her before. They told me that he had talked shit about me to his (ex)girlfriend, saying that he hated me. Which hurt a lot. I ended up asking her if he did, and because we had never really been on bad terms she said that all he ever really said about me was that I was bad at playing my instrument, but I know she was keeping things from me. Because he is the type of person to do that. From this moment I spotted letting him get away with everything.
Fast forward a couple months, I slowly stopped letting people just get what they want no matter what I want. In my music class my teacher gave us a stack of music to choose from, I had the stack in my hand and someone took it out of my hand and I chose last. Which made me upset but I didn't fight it. The next time we got to choose music I was looking though the stack and I said I would play vibraphone, then looked and it played 3 times and then said I would also play xylophone, which the friend that took me aside was not happy with, (probably should have named them, from this point onward the original guy a x, the friend that pulled me aside is y). Me and y ended up arguing and he ended up with the xylophone and bell part (which both played way more then the 3 notes I got to play). I wasn't happy and I was showing it, after class y started coming at me saying I was being ridiculous and that it was just music and was just talking down to me like I was stupid. I ended up yelling "I am done with the converstation" only after multiple minutes of being talked down to and talked over. People when over to him and asked him what he did which he did not like. A couple days later y text me saying he hated bad blood but it was clear pretty early on he didn't want to work though things he wanted to prove me wrong and say that I was being sensitive and dramatic (which I have been called multiple time since this insident), after this conversation this topic was dropped.
A couple weeks later a different friend (z) gave me a milk carton and called me a very derogatory term that I did not like, and because no one ever takes me seriously I said "I fucking dare you to say that again" which got the work out that I was being serious to most people at lunch, except x who just laugh and then when he looked at me asked "Wait really?", the next Day it was brought up and someone said that should apologize and he did, he then goes to get x and tells x, then x comes out of nowhere, starts talking down to me saying that z doesn't have to apologize and ignoring everyone else who is saying that if you hurt your friends feelings you should apologize. He starts digging into me specifically and I didn't even make him apologize. After several minutes I get so angry I throw my empty milk container at him, and then go to class. (Yes immature I know, but I throw things like pickles at people who are Annoying me, it's funny). After school I final tell him what I'm feeling, granted it though text because of my anxiety. I tell him that he was the asshole, that z dosnt need him fighting his battle, especially if there is no battle to be fought, I reiterated that if you hurt someone feelings, whether or not you think it's ridiculous you should apologize, I told him whether or not he thinks I'm being dramatic (which I have heard them muttering under there breaths) that i have a right to be dramatic. I told him he going to regret putting people on pedestals that don't deserve it. I told him I was tired of feeling like a last choice, and that be makes me feel like garbage. His response to this was "good for you". Which hurt because I thought he would actually take my feelings seriously. The next day I bring it up to y to see what he heard, (because x likes to gossip and spread things more than a girl when it comes to things I say) and he said that he heard that I freaked out after being called the derogatory term, and made z apologize. When trying to tell y my side of the story he said I was being ridiculous, that I wasn't going to make friends in my future if I got offended by being called that term. At some point he asked me who I expected him to believe, x and z or me, and whenever I said ask anyone else who was there his reasons was "of course there gonna take your side". He ends up getting angry that I'm getting upset by what he's saying and says that z hasn't been sitting with the group at lunch because of me, and that z dosnt even like me anymore and dosnt want to be friends. Which made me cry, I ended up walking away after that and cried so hard it gave me a migraine.
Since this event I spotted sitting with them at lunch and if I do sit with them I sit away from x y and z. I don't text them anymore, I block them on Instagram (which I only check once every blue moon). Z found out about this, and confronted me, I said I just needed a little bit of space and done extra privacy and his response was "well I guess I'll just never talk too you again" and then proceed to not say a word to me for a week. During this time x and y have been rolling there eyes and snickering at me.
For the last few weeks I have been getting compliments on how much I have improved on my instrument, like where my band director has yelled out in class telling me good job. It has made me really happy that they see me improving and I really needed someone not think I'm incompetent. Since this has started x has been stand off ish, been arguing with me more. Like I say I'm sad and he says "just don't be sad" or I say i have trouble running the mile because I have server asthma he say "just don't have asthma" and when I say that's not how it works he says I'm closed minded. He said that he has had trama and he's fine, and he doesn't understand that not everyone's perfect. He stared rolling his eyes more and stuff like that.
In my math class for the last unit we are put in group and then we will teach the class a part of the lesson, my group was the first to go up and we go up and x and one of his friends are laughing the whole time. I get in my head about it and loose all my confidence, and as I'm showing how to solve a problem I get my answer and say to the class "I'm sorry if this is wrong but this is what I got" I felt really embarrassed and I hear him say that's not what he got, and then they start laughing. Again he is a start A student and doesn't try. After a minute or two my teacher come up to me and tells me I'm right Which made me feel a little bit better. After me partner was done with her problem I go back up to show one more and I point out that the problem I wasn't sure on, that what I had gotten as an answer was correct.
Last incenident (sorry this is so long) Me x and y are in a group and we preform piece in out instruments (we all play the same) we have a couple events coming up, one of which we were practicing for and x was moving his drum up and down so I started to copy what I saw. My drum sits higher and most of x's body was blocked so I copied what I saw. When they see he they said I look ridiculous, and telling me I'm doing it wrong and I say I'm copying what I'm seeing, and this goes back and forth and y said "yup your right and everyone else is wrong", all I'm trying to do is defend myself that what I see may be something different then what he's doing. Another event is coming up where we preform this one song we spend 2 to 3 months on at out schools talent show, there are 6 of us in the group, 3 of us want to do it, one of us has the SAT and dosnet know when the SAT starts to he doesn't know yet but x and y have been complaining about it saying they don't want to do it because they think that No one will show up and that it will be lame. Auditions are tomorrow and they both say they are bust, granted y has a valid excuse, x hasn't said an excuse just said that he was busy even though he hadn't mention it in previous conversations about this subject and only said it at the last minute which made me said, that they aren't getting out of the talent show and that they can't always get what they want.
So AITA

This variant is inspired by funny videos of players playing blitz with giant chess pieces, where player position and movement matters too. In addition to the regular pieces on the board, each player has a token that represents the players themselves. Players take turns to perform an action using the token: either to grab or drop off a piece (including pawns here for brevity), or move the token. Pieces are still moved according to normal chess rules, but cannot be moved without using the token. A normal chess move just becomes two or more player moves in this variant. A player must finish a chess move before the opponent can make a chess move, but a player who has the action but not the chess move is allowed to perform actions that are not chess moves, eg. moving the token around, temporarily adjusting pieces or dropping off captured pieces.
A player token occupies a square, and can move up to distance 3 in any direction (3 squares orthogonal or 2 squares diagonal) when unobstructed, or jump over pieces up to distance 2.5 (so a knight's move is OK, but not 2 squares diagonally) at a time, to any empty square. Also a token cannot jump over another token. A player token cannot move onto an occupied square. (I know in real life players can probably walk between pieces on a giant board but it's hard to simulate that way.) Unlike pieces however, tokens can occupy imaginary squares just outside of the board.
A player can grab or drop off a piece up to distance 2 (1-2 squares orthogonal or 1 square diagonal) away from the player's token. A grabbed piece/pawn is not on any square, so its original square is considered empty. Pieces can only be dropped on empty squares. A player can grab a piece and move the token to drop it off later. In a serious game, the touch move rule applies, so once the player grabs a piece without saying J'adoube they must make the move with it. Also in a serious game a player would politely avoid blocking the square the opponent is trying to move to or drop a piece on. In a not so serious game, it's OK to put a piece back and move another instead, just like it's OK to use your token to obstruct squares your opponent wants to access (but they can try a different move anyway).
A player can normally only grab 1 piece at a time, but can grab a second piece to capture it or to castle, or to "adjust" it temporarily. To adjust a piece, a player must announce "J'adoube" before grabbing it and drop it off on the same square before performing any other action that's not adjustment or token movement. (So you can't "adjust" and grab a piece then play an illegal move as if it's not there.) You can only adjust on your own (chess) move, and can adjust up to two pieces at a time to go through difficult positions if you are not grabbing anything else. To castle, the player must shout "Рокировка" before grabbing the second piece because you aren't supposed to castle with both hands. To capture an opponent's piece, the player must grab their own piece first, then the piece to capture (after moving if necessary), and drop their own piece on the target square, then drop the captured piece outside the edge of the board(it will occupy a square's space, but you can drop off further away from the board to avoid obstructing yourself later). An optional rule allows them to yeet the captured piece instead if they wish, to any unoccupied space outside of the board, up to distance 12 away; however, this causes the piece to land prone and take up 2 adjacent squares. Another optional rule to speed things up is to allow moving pieces within distance 2 (so 2 orthogonal or 1 diagonal) with only one action, no need to grab and drop the piece, as long as both the start and target squares are within grabbing distance of the player token. To add some challenge not found in normal chess, an optional rule gives players a chance of tripping and falling over when their tokens jump over any piece(s) or moving at the maximum speed of 3 squares orthogonally or 2 squares diagonally; when doing so the player must roll d20 and if the result is 1 then they trip and fall, knocking over all pieces within a 3x3 area around the target square their token was moving towards, and they must pass their next turn to groan and roll around before getting back up, and for each piece knocked over they must pass an additional turn to replace it. If their own king happens to be knocked over, they are treated as if they have resigned. For each piece they are carrying (grabbed and not dropped off), increase the DC difficulty by 2, and if they fall they also spend an extra turn to pick it up.
A variant simulating giant chess blitz adds an imaginary "clock" on two squares just outside of the board, on ranks 4-5 of the ` file (next to the a file). After finishing a normal chess move, a player must move their token near their side of the clock square within grabbing distance, and use an action to press it. The clock counts how many actions each player has taken in the game while their clock is running(but doesn't count the action used to press the clock, since it's unavoidable). Players start with 120 (or 60+2 per chess move or something) actions each and if one player runs out of actions, it's treated as running out of time in normal chess (a loss unless against insufficient material etc). This is assuming the players are simulating super GMs at blitz/bullet who don't need to pause and think. A more realistic challenge might be having a real timer and an extra rule that a player who takes more than 6 seconds without taking an action is considered to have passed the turn.
Another variant simulating chess without turns simply allows any action in your turn whether the opponent has finished a chess move or not, as long as you are only making one legal chess move at a time (so no grabbing another piece until you have legally dropped off the first one, except for castling/adjusting etc). And you are allowed to play moves that are legal in the current position (ignoring opponent pieces being grabbed and thus not on the board). So if you grabbed a piece to move it to one square, and the opponent grabbed something else so a better square opens up (that would be legal if your piece was at its original square and the opponent's grabbed piece was NOT on its original square) you can drop off at the new better square. You cannot make two moves at once though, so you can't grab your own piece to open up moves for another friendly piece. Also you cannot adjust your opponent's pieces, or it'll be too easy to get through defenders. To avoid players grabbing their king forever to escape checkmate, maybe add a rule that says a grabbed piece can be captured as if it's on the same square as the player's token, or forbid holding onto a grabbed piece for more than 3 turns, or add a rule that says it's an automatic loss if you have nothing on the board (apart from grabbed pieces) for 3 consecutive turns against sufficient material for checkmate.
Yet another variant simulates a more chaotic version of the game, where it's like simulated chess without turns but players are allowed to adjust (read: kidnap) the opponent's pieces as well. Unleash your inner Anish Giri and grab a tricky piece when the opponent's token is not nearby to get rid of it. But beware, the opponent can grab it back when your token is within grabbing range of their token. However a piece currently being carried by its owner cannot be grabbed by the opponent. For maximum mayhem, players are allowed to drop off grabbed pieces (if otherwise legally) onto the square occupied by the opponent's token, threatening to crush their foot. If they do so, the opponent goes "ouch" and is forced to move away to any available square, using up their next action, and the first player gets another turn. The exact mechanics of this variant still needs some work but the aggressiveness already makes it seem appealing.

I finally finished Secrets of Grindea on the hardest difficulty, getting the true ending and 100% completion ingame, took me about 30 hours which I think is very reasonable, doesn't overstay its welcome. Here's a short review in case anyone is thinking of getting it, no spoilers of course.
Story:
As the game tries to emulate SNES JRPGs, the story consists of you collecting various macguffins to achieve your goal that becomes clear as you progress through the game. That's all I can say without spoilers.
Music:
It's very good, one of the game's strongest parts. You got cheerful songs that make you forget about your worries, you got spooky songs, you got desert theme, you got sick orchestral songs. It's overall very good, one issue is that most of the songs are roughly a 1 minute loop so you will get tired of them eventually.
Controls:
They are not the tightest, I often found myself shielding in the wrong direction because the shield came out slightly too late or using a skill in the wrong direction, it just doesn't feel tight enough especially for the later bosses. The hitboxes in the game are also very bad.
Gameplay:
As the name implies, there is grinding. As I said at the start it took me about 30 hours grinding included, multiple retries at bosses to learn them so it's on the lighter side of JRPG grinds. The gameplay has a lot of variety with 2 melee skill trees, 4 magic skill trees and 9 utility skills that are neither and 3 separate passive skill trees so there is a decent amount of variety and player expression. I tried out a bunch of the skills and they all mostly felt good, I played a melee tanky 2 hander.
The main thing you will be grinding for is cards which give you small stat boosts that add up, for 100% you will also be grinding for enemy specific drops which are usually 1% or less droprate or materials to craft every item for completion. Cards start at a very low droprate depending on the enemy, some enemies start at 1% but most start below 0.5%, however there is a pity system that slowly increases your chance and I don't think I needed more than 400 kills of any enemy to get their cards.
Balance:
The balance is very questionable. In my experience 2H was significantly worse than 1H but I'm stubborn so I refused to switch, I never used basic attacks on 2H because they are very slow and their damage does not make up for it, I bonked everything to death with the slam attack. Armor is kind of useless unless you specifically stack it. Hybrid builds are not very good because you will just not deal enough damage, you can also only max out 2 spells completely by level 40 which is the soft level cap. Skills past a level need Gold Skill Points which you don't get a lot of.
Utility skills are amazing so they will be taking up majority of your hotkey slots, they also only cost 3 points to max out so their value is massive.
I think balance needs some work but it's not gamebreaking.
Puzzles:
I'm not a puzzle guy but the puzzles were pretty fun. You got usual sokoban, you got bouncy mirror puzzles, you got math puzzles, you have treasure maps with images and poems. They are mostly easy and don't take a lot of time to do with the exception of a few optional puzzles.
Enemies:
You got basic things like slimes, rabbits, boars, but there is also sand golem, ghosts, yetis, stone statues, teleports behind you man. The overall enemy design and roster is very varied and they are all unique but there is one problem. During grinding, the longer you stay in a room the more enemies will spawn and this gets really bad after halfway into the game because there is a lot of enemies that got massive attacks or shoot projectiles nonstop so the entire screen will be covered in projectiles and you cannot see. Enemies can also interrupt your spellcasting if you get hit, there is a passive that gives you a chance not to get interrupted the more armor you have but if you are a spellcaster, you don't have enough armor to use that effectively, even my melee bonker with 150 defense often got interrupted which is very annoying.
Bosses:
The part I'm the most mixed about. There is a lot of gimmicky bosses, some normal bosses that are just dodge checks and some bosses that will make you want to turn the game off. There is a lot of bosses that take from the enemies in filling the screen with projectiles nonstop but the lack of tightness in the controls makes dodging them very annoying. There are bosses that are multiple bosses so you have to pay attention to 4 different things and try to block all of them at once which you can't so you will get hit unfairly because you can't look at everything at once. Of course every boss can be beaten with a little trying or grinding but majority of them wasn't very fun, the rest of the game is but the bosses feel like they were made for a different game.
The game also has an issue with insane difficulty spikes out of nowhere.
True Final Boss:
This needs its own section.
It took me about 3 hours to beat him and he was incredibly hard but for the wrong reasons. Its attacks are randomized and they can overlap in various ways, some way harder to dodge than others so it becomes a really RNG heavy fight when the fight is supposed to be pure skill with no cheese strats. On the highest difficulty, the fight takes away your health potion and your magic bubble so you cannot use them, it's meant as a fight to show your mastery of the game. It requires really split second parries and turns and really tight dodging but as mentioned above, the controls aren't the greatest so you will get hit when you thought you blocked the attack combined with dodgy hitboxes.
It's a very cinematic fight though and I am 100% happy that I spent the effort into getting the fight and actually learning it despite all of its issues.
Overall:
I think the game is a very solid 7/10, it has its issues but it's still a great game even if it pissed me off in a couple of places and I would definitely recommend. I haven't even touched the arcade mode yet which has its own story and own gameplay, I'll do that later.

Former Colorado Buffaloes F Tristan Da Silva declared for the draft and is 100% committed: https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1785032667370832128 It's his birthday today...he is 23 years old. Born in Germany to a Brazilian father and German mother, with a brother who also played in the States at Stanford (Oscar), Da Silva made the jump from Bayern Munich's youth academy to Colorado. He improved every season of his four year career and now is headed to the professional ranks.
Da Silva measured in at 6'8.25 w/out shoes and a 6'10.25 wingspan at the combine. 217 pounds. He's got the height/length you're looking for from a combo forward, although he's on the thinner side. He doesn't have the widest frame but I do think he can gain muscle from where he currently is. He already has year to year and it's something that'll be important for him to continue to add as strength concerns are one of his biggest question marks as a prospect.
Da Silva's athleticism is something that has been called into question. I've read the posts about him in recent days on here, which is somewhat why I saved him for last of the three Colorado guys. I wanted to cut to the chase and really see what people think and think he is someone that seems to elicit a lot of debate. I think he's a better athlete than some think he is, but obviously, he isn't a standout athlete either. His lateral quickness is viewed in a negative light by some but it really isn't bad. His lateral quickness is above average. He can hang with guards on switches. He can hang with most forwards in isolation. His length really aids him on switches against smaller players. He has the mobility to stay linked and will contest/block when they put a shot up.
Da Silva's issues athletically are that he doesn't have great balance and doesn't have great flexibility. On a straight line drive, Da Silva fares well laterally. He can handle a crossover, he can handle some counters and stick with guards/wings. But it's when he's really forced to make a quick change of direction and reaction where he has his struggles. His biggest issue athletically is that he's not the quickest twitch. He's mobile, he has good feet, he's coordinated, but he's not the most fluid and he's not the quickest twitch. His defensive footwork is very good when he's not being handsy, but unfortunately he does get handsy at times on the drive.
Defending quick rips closing out defensively for example is something he struggles with. He doesn't react consistently well to initial moves. He often does, but not consistently. You can get by him defensively with a quick initial move. His all around defensive awareness is worse than some people seem to think it is...ball watches a ton, back cut a ton, misses out on rebounds, misses out on rotations. When he's focused and dialed in, he's a fantastic rotater. He makes on time, sharp rotations. He helps the helper. He hustles and flies around defensively and is active shoring gaps. But he doesn't do that consistently. He loses focus way too much, for a guy who is billed as a 3/D player. His screen navigation is pretty substandard for a veteran. Just does not navigate traffic well enough and strength sees him bumped off spots when navigating screens. He doesn't get taken out of plays, but he does end up behind plays. He can recover with length and hustle at times, but not always.
His lack of strength hurts his ability to defend the post. He can be a little too upright defensively in general and while he will battle in the post at times, he can be pretty weak down there. Not being down in a stance possession to possession means you can drive into him from the post and the perimeter. Were a few possessions he actually fell down with drivers going into his chest, and he couldn't maintain his balance. He is generally good at closing out on balance and in a disciplined way but not always...he gets jumpy on defense. He overhelps a lot defensively, ends up in no man's land, and gives up open 3's or drives off closeouts...one of his biggest negatives on the defensive end.
He does use his length really well on contests when he stays in front of drivers, he defends PnR ballhandlers well, and he uses his length well in passing lanes. He isn't a major event maker defensively but will break up passes and generate steals with his length and activity off ball. When he's locked in, he's a very good team defender. He's simply not always locked in and he just does not have the physical tools to not be locked in every single possession, either on the perimeter or post. He's one of those guys who's versatile defensively but in a tweener way. He's not really an elite option on anyone, but he's capable. He doesn't have the instincts or the toughness to be a guy who can switch up the lineup, but he is capable against 2/3/4 positions.
Da Silva is a pretty mediocre rebounder for his size which is another red flag surrounding him as a prospect, he's not a bad one but also not someone who's necessarily pursuing balls aggressively by any means. He will be expected to be a contributor on the boards as a swing forward and not being able to do so will undercut his value.
Da Silva has a unique blend of skills on the offensive end. His jump shot is his best trait. He was awesome as a midrange shooter this year and he shot 39% from 3 on 5 attempts. 83.5% from the line, and has shot at least 37% on increasing numbers of attempts the last three seasons. His shot is for real...great mechanics. Great extension, great balance. No wasted motion. He makes shots off screens, and he's an elite C&S guy who does a good job creating space for himself off the catch when coming off screens and when relocating on the perimeter. He has some movement shooting ability, but for the most part he's someone who works his way off flare screens, out of DHO's, off-ball screens and leaking out to the perimeter, and catches and fires. He's a very good pull up shooter. He likes the pull up out of the PnR, off curls and off DHO's in the midrange. He will duck in and find himself open around the FT line and take the FT jumper; he's good at finding gaps for himself for jumpers all over the court. He has a little bit of PnP ability. He sets solid screens himself to open teammates for 3's. He does a very good job slipping screens and diving to the basket or leaking out to the perimeter and obtaining easy looks from the outside. He's always catch ready and he's quick into his motion as a shooter across the board which along with his size makes him hard to contest.
Da Silva will find rollers and cutters out of the PnR. He finds the dump off guy when cutting to the rim. He moves the ball and will make the right read within the flow of the offense. He will bring the ball up and can facilitate and get his team into offense. He's not really an advanced playmaker but has some drive and dish ability and can make solid reads as a live dribble passer, but he also overpenetrates and turns the ball over with bounce passes that don't hit the target. He turns the ball over a lot that way. Gets cut off on drives and attempts a dump off bounce pass to get himself out of trouble. Picks up his dribble at inopportune times. He's not an amazing ballhandler overall...he's a bit gumby like with his movements, he's a bit herky jerky, long strides, has a spin move he likes, and he has a good crossover that does gain him space, but he doesn't have incredible burst nor a special first step and he does not have a ton of advanced moves. He accelerates well and he will get to the rim off his own creation but he isn't always gonna create separation with his handle, and he can lose the ball while looking to create, he will have the ball stripped, and he's not always strong with the ball. He is good with the hostage dribble and keeping defenders on his back...he overall does a nice job with pace. He understands pace, he understands taking rhythm away from defenders, he does have an in-and-out move and he has pretty good control on these moves. He works his way to his spots both in the midrange and inside, in a somewhat deliberate way while still being decisive, but he will be stonewalled in the paint and on drives.
His cutting really is a special part of his game. He has awesome instincts as a cutter---he reads his defenders, and has great timing in concert with the offensive flow of the possession. He dives quickly to the basket. He's good for a few baskets a game as a cutter. He moves well off the ball in general and keeps the offense humming. Off ball screens, weaving through the defense, he stays active on the offensive end which helps keep defenses off balance.
Da Silva has an excellent ball fake. He draws fouls with it down low, and he freezes defenders with it on the perimeter which allows him to get past. He also has a jab step. He will change his stride length and draw contact on drives. He will change speeds and explode to the rim. He has a behind the back counter. He doesn't have a ton of dribble moves but does have a diversity of tools he will turn to, to get inside the paint. He overall has very good timing as a driver, which is what allows him to get inside. He uses the glass well and has opposite hand finishes in his disposal. He drives with both hands. Sometimes he'll try to bait a foul and throw up poor shots with no real chance of a finish. He will be swallowed up around the rim at times where his lack of elite athleticism/strength/ability to create space can come back to hurt him.
Da Silva really likes to use spinners, floaters and hooks around the rim. He gets good extension, has a lot of range as a finisher and will take shots from pretty far out and make them at a high rate. He has very nice touch on these shots. For a guy without tremendous halfcourt explosiveness, this is a very good skill for Da Silva to possess because it gives him an ability to beat contests and an ability to score at the rim even if he isn't able to get directly to it. He has a jump stop, eurostep at his disposal. He has a lot of craft as a creator and around the rim which allows him to be a solid overall finisher but not an elite one.
His comfort with the ball makes him a good transition player. He does well getting to and finishing against defenses that aren't set, at the rim. It also makes him good against closeouts. He can be a little passive at times, which is a drawback many have had of him over the years. When decisive, he does a good job taking advantage of scrambling defenses in both the halfcourt and in transition. The coordination with the ball and the fact he takes long strides allows him to get to the rim quickly in these possessions. It also aids him as a PnR ballhandler.
Da Silva will use his size to his advantage in the post. He turns some drives into post-ups. He will find cutters and shooters from the post as a passer. He'll hit turnarounds, he'll turn in and finish with layups, he'll turn to the middle and take hook shots and floaters. He has nice touch on these shots and has nice footwork in the post and doesn't get rushed. He's someone that can take advantage of switches down low which is an important wrinkle for a forward these days.
Tristan Da Silva has elicited a lot of conversation on this board the last several days. I see him as a guy who is underrated and overrated from person to person. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. He's an interesting talent, and he's got the framework of a player who has the skills teams look for in a swing forward today, but not every dot connects. But with his shooting and all around versatile skill set on the offensive end and he having real switchability possibilities defensively, he's someone who is viewed by most as a guy with a pretty high floor.
I'm a little bit...I'm not sure what to think honestly. I'll leave it to y'all. Are you all Thumbs Up, Down, or Across on Tristan Da Silva?

About Experium SMP:
The Experium SMP is a whitelisted 1.20 vanilla server. We have been on a bit of a hiatus since our previous season, but we are starting a brand new one with a fresh world on June 1st and are looking for new players to join us (so please only apply if you're okay with waiting until then to begin playing). This server is all about having a fun and dedicated community of players, where everyone feels included and actively contributes. So if you're looking to enjoy playing Minecraft on a dedicated SMP, look no further than Experium.
We are still working out some details of the coming season, but we will most likely begin the server on 1.20 with the new 1.21 blocks included. With 1.21 expected to release soon, we can keep our builds within a set area and then reset the chunks outside of that once the update comes out to include new terrain features.
This SMP is very much inspired by the Hermitcraft server, as I am a long time fan and am constantly motivated by their community and content. While we aren't trying to replicate Hermitcraft completely, we do play with several iconic features of their server, including several vanilla tweaks datapacks, a clearly defined shopping district, and a big emphasis on community and group events/projects.
This makes for a great time and encourages members to contribute. But this also requires members to get along with the community, make smart decisions, and play actively. That's why I have created a simple application process that you can fill out by clicking the link at the bottom of this post. Now, here are some of the server details.
Member Requirements:

• Have Discord and be willing to voice chat with other members
• Be able to remain active
• Be an experienced and capable Minecraft player
• Have decently good Minecraft building skills
• Age 18+
• Speak English

Server Rules:

• Show respect to all other members and their in game creations (There is a 0 tolerance policy for any hate speech, slurs, or disrespect towards how people identify)
• No griefing other members (know the difference between a fun pranking/trolling and straight up griefing)
• No taking the resources of other members unless given permission
• No use of cheaty mods/hacks such as x-ray (things like optifine, minihud, etc. are completely okay)
• No duping of blocks/items aside from TNT
• Try to keep builds mostly lag friendly if possible and don't build lag inducing builds in common areas

Server Details:

• Version: 1.20
• Edition: Java
• Difficulty: Hard
• Host: Apex Hosting
• Server Location: Vint Hill, Virginia

Datapacks:

• Multiplayer Sleep
• AFK Name Display
• More Mob Heads
• Player Heads
• Wandering Trader
• Armor Stand Statues
• Silence Mobs
• Coordinate HUD
• Nether Portal Coordinates
• Universal Dyeing
• Track Statistics
• Track Raw Statistics
• Anti-Enderman Grief
• Dropper to Dispenser

Thanks for reading and have a great day! Make sure to apply below if you're interested and leave a comment about what you think or if you have any questions.
APPLY HERE: https://forms.gle/EykiELGCfCdWMuck8

Sorry, this is a long read but I feel like I need to vent and maybe be judged for being an idiot. I will try to be as unbiased as possible as I know I'm at fault too.
So I (m30) and my ex (f26) met on Hinge and quickly started playing video games together (Destiny 2, and to this day it's still one of my best memories). We stayed up for so long just talking for hours; we hit it off instantly. This theme carried on until we met. I traveled to her (this will become a pattern), and when I tell you it was love at first sight, I mean it. I just could not stop smiling; she was so perfect in every way. As the relationship progressed, it only got stronger. She helped me open up (we both have broken pasts and trauma to go with it). She helped me become soft and as silly as it may seem, she helped me cry again. I have never felt so safe, secure, loved, seen, and heard by anyone. I truly looked up to her and appreciated her as a person, and I know she felt the same. She told me on many occasions how happy she was, how no one had ever been this good to her. She had a bad past with men, so I took that into consideration and even asked if it was OK to touch her and if she was comfortable during our intimate moments. We honestly were perfect and everyone could see how happy we were. Everything I liked, she liked. If I played a game, she got that game to join me (she even got a PS5 just to play with me). She was my little copycat; she even stole some of my jokes and sayings. We were inseparable; she was my best friend and future wife.
Fast forward to us moving in together about a year into our relationship. I moved everything; I left friends and family and packed everything up to be with her. Things were still amazing and healthy. We both have a child each, so that added to the mix, and honestly, they were a pain now and again, but I can safely say they loved having each other around... when they weren't bickering, and I loved them both. I took her child as my own and loved her; I still do.
We went through a lot together and I was always there to support her, and I think I did a good job of it too. I helped her through all her problems; I was always there to help and be a shoulder to cry on. She told me about her past and how every single one of her exes hurt her in some way from the r-word to abuse and cheating. I made sure I was nothing like them. I respected her in every way possible. I made sure I kissed her, told her how beautiful she was and how lucky I was to have her, how much I loved her. I hyped her up every chance I got. I made it my mission to make her feel confident again, and it worked. She finally saw what I did, but let's focus on the issues because every relationship has them. We both got sloppy. I have ADHD and she has her own personal issues, and we let the house get on top of us now and again. She definitely cleaned more than me and I never took the initiative, but when I cleaned, oh boy did I clean, and this was something we were working on and I honestly was getting better but I feel like she didn't see that. I was also struggling to find a job and I got more and more depressed, and in the last month of our relationship, I let myself go completely. I was in a hole and I just needed support, support like I always gave her. She started to argue more but I shut down when I feel like I'm being attacked (it's childhood trauma I'm working with a therapist now). I now see I could have handled it better, but at the same time I told her about this and at times she talked to me about it instead of fighting and it helped. I'm painting myself in a bad light here. She also had her problems, like she would nap a lot and I'd have to deal with the kids, or she would also shut down, especially when her PTSD kicked in. But I never minded. I knew who she was and I fully accepted her for it, and I understand people aren't perfect. But the love we had and the good times we created heavily outweighed the bad.
The night we broke up was the worst night of my life. The day started off so well. We were the amazing loving couple we always were. She and the 2 kids were play fighting and she was egging me on to join, so in a joking fashion I told her no and told my son to go beat her up for me. He took it too far and hit her too hard (he's only 5 at the time). She then out of nowhere hit me across the face and I didn't know what to do. I shut down. I calmly got the kids to bed and just shut down. She was begging and pleading for me to talk to her and I just ignored her like the child I am. The sweetest, most loving girl I've ever known and I ignored her. She left the house in the dark in her pyjamas and I couldn't stop her. I had this battle in my head that wouldn't let me.
She came back an hour later with no emotion. She wanted me and my son out. I tried and tried to talk to her but she wasn't there anymore. Everyone hated me and I couldn't understand why. I know I had a few issues but doesn't everyone? It was our first big fight and all of a sudden I'm manipulative and a narcissist. All I could do was apologize. It got to the point I was saying sorry for things that I didn't do. I was lost and confused. She kissed me before I left and that only made it worse. Me and my son were homeless and living on my mom's couch. I tried talking to her but she got nasty, started with the name calling and belittling, pointing out all my flaws. I didn't know what to do. I just kept apologizing and telling her I loved her and I'd be better. I was losing my mind. She was the best thing that ever happened to me and at one point I was to her. I couldn't understand how she could completely do a 180 and hate me to the core. I made all the mistakes. I begged, I pleaded, I even messaged her nan hoping she would understand and help me but it only made it all worse. I sent gifts, I tried reminding her of the good times... Like I said, all the mistakes. I became obsessive (since then I have done a lot of work with my therapist and I had a nervous breakdown due to my abandonment issues and anxiety). I even turned up at her house; granted I did message beforehand because I needed some documents for the next day but she never got the message.
Well, as I'm sure you can all guess what happened next. She rang the police and I was blocked on everything. I did stop messaging her eventually and only did when I needed to sort out my belongings(admittedly I did mess up now and again but no one is perfect), and at one point we talked on the phone. She told me she didn't know if she wanted to involve the police anymore (gave me false hope). We talked a little; turned out she needed some money so I sent her some. Then it was back to her being cold and evil... She made reports to child services (I've been cleared of them). She reported me for having firearms... They were airsoft guns :/ and she knows this. She's been talking about me behind my back and making me this monster that ruined her life when it was I that lost everything. Even one of her friends came forward and told me all the nasty things she's been saying and all my insecurities she's been mocking me about.
I got to a dark place. I had nothing. It was 3 weeks into the breakup and I snapped. It all got too much. I felt like I failed everyone and I had nothing left to live for. I tried taking my own life. The only person I told was my child's mum so she could come get him.
News got to my ex and she took it as an attack on her. She somehow made it about her. This only made her more vindictive, calling me a narcissist and manipulative yet again. This fucked me up more. For weeks all I could do was research narcissism. Even after my therapist said I wasn't a narcissist, I was still unsure.
I finally got a truck sorted to get my stuff from her, and there was a lot missing so I had to go into the house to sort it. I even made her laugh at some point (bad idea... made her hate me more somehow). But when I was leaving, she turned yet again (I now know it's because I was in front of the ring camera and she wanted me to react to her abuse to further paint me as the bad guy). She laughed in my face and called me pathetic for trying to end it... It destroyed me. She also said if she didn't hit me she would have hit my son, then called me a pussy for not hitting her back.
Do I deserve all this? I know I wasn't a perfect, I'm trying to at least better myself. I fucked up by bugging her for sure but is this level of revenge justified? She's ruined my life. My mental health has never been so bad. I don't feel like this is normal. But then again, I've never loved like this and definitely never felt a heartbreak like this. It's nearly been 3 months now and I still blame myself for everything. I feel like a monster. I've not bothered checking up on her and I'm trying my best to move on She still hates me and from what I heard and the smear campaign is still going strong.
I miss the sweet adorable good girl I used to have, I miss the funny out going person I used to be and I miss the family we had, I'd do anything to have that back but her actions are telling me it's never going to happen and maybe that's for the best I just wish I could stop crying everytime I think of her I wish I could fix this I wish I was better for her but I'm broken.
Will she allways hate me? Is this all my fault? And will this pain ever go because I'm struggling I don't know how much longer I can do this, the one woman I ever fully loved with all my heart hating me over a mistake is weighing heavy on me, maybe one day she will understand that it's not just her with mental health issues and I was only trying my best but I'm not holding out hope.
If you ever read this A Im truly do love you with everything I have and I know you must be hurting too, I'm sorry I did this to you, I'm sorry I couldn't be better, I let my trauma get the better off me and ill never forgive my self for losing the love of my life, I know I made you happy and hopefully in the future I'll get the chance to make you happy again.

So caveat right off the bat that this is just my current concept that I'm still workshopping, and this won't be one size fits all for all tables and parties etc etc.
I really like the campaign, I think it lays out a great foundation for a truly memorable campaign that I can't wait to start. That said, I also really hate how it's Central Hub and then a series of fetch quests with little to motivate the players, especially since the fetch quests are to get an item that's not even needed to destroy Vecna, so it can feel punitive unnecessarily. I know a lot of folks have put forth their own ideas on how to improve these things, this is just my take after having read the book and speaking with a bunch of folks.
Prologue/Setting:

• Evernight is cool, but the book wants you to complete that portion, give the players the Vecna Link, and then do a time skip. Instead I plan on running that chapter as part of Tomb of Annihilation, which my party will be running to go from levels 1-10 before Vecna truly starts. The players will be unaware of their Vecna Link until they're summoned to Sigil.
• Most interplanar travel is limited due to Vecna's unraveling of the universe but powerful NPCs aren't yet sure why. Alustriel deduces that she can still travel due to being a Chosen of Mystra, but rather than go hopping around the Multiverse herself, she's secretly using her Sanctum to collect other powerful beings to try and empower and stop Vecna. The players can travel because of the Vecna Link, and Kas can also travel because the Dark Powers give him the power to do so. This is why the players must take on the quest rather than the Wizards themselves, Kas has to pretend he's Mordenkainen and Alustriel is using all her power to keep a window open.
• The Dark Powers want Kas to defeat Vecna so that he can be their pawn and they can feed off of the souls he enslaves.
• MordenKasnen will suggest the players find the pieces of the Rod as it is rumored to be the key to unlocking a vault holding the Sword of Kas, which can defeat Vecna. This way the players aren't totally wasting their time trying to find it and they still have the Sword as a goal.
• If players die, they can resurrect with the power of Vecna but at a cost. They will gain a new element of madness and Vecna will become aware of his power being sapped. From this point on, he will keep an eye on the party, growing increasingly concerned as they grow in power. He can't leave his base due to the ritual, but he will start haunting their dreams, sending members of his Cult, and generally trying to impede them if he sees them as a potential threat.

Underdark:

• Honestly no major notes, I like how this is laid out and always enjoy running around the Underdark. The players will get their first piece and then excitedly return to Sigil to start on the second. I plan to keep this portion short since it's not as exciting for many players as going to other worlds.

Spelljammer:

• The players go to the Astral Sea to try and retrieve their first piece, although I'm going to have them sail the high seas for a while first so they'll need to actually navigate to the dead god and all that.
• The rod piece is locked in a chest that only Inda can open. She is willing to help the party if they fix her prosthetic wing. Unless your players have an artificer in the party, consider pushing them to find one in Eberron, which may be where Inda first got the wing made. My plan is to actually keep the players from getting this Rod piece until after Eberron.

Eberron:

• This will be the first world wherein the players run into members of the Cult of Vecna. I plan to replace the Lord of Blades' followers with Cultists, or at least have them work together. The cult will try to steal the rod piece before the Party can.
• I'm giving Mercy an engineer in her party of pilgrims that could repare the angel wing (see Spelljammer notes). They'll agree to do so if the party assists with the Cyran veterans.
• Kalyth and the Cyran veterans meanwhile will know where the players can find a decent Docent.
• The host of Landro should be a vast supply of knowledge, but not infinite. Maybe he can tell the party of the rumored Hand and Eye of Vecna (which I'll have in Avernus and Greyhawk, respectively). He may also have heard of the Amber Temple in Ravenloft or some other important info.

Ravenloft:

• I have a lot of ideas to change this portion and I haven't fully settled down on one yet. Here are a few of my thoughts which I may combine or select from:
  • Rather than fight at Death House, I may start my party in the village of Barovia where they meet Ismark, who suggests that if they seek guidance they find Madame Eva. She then conducts a Tarroka reading that points the party to the Amber Temple.
  • Madame Eva may also read that they can find allies in Vallaki or Krezk (or wherever you want) where they can meet Esmeralda and van Richten who tell them lore of Kas and the Domains of Dread.
  • The rod piece would be located in the Statue to the God of Secrets (Vecna) in the Amber Temple, protected by the Arcanaloth.
  • As the players leave, they're confronted by Strahd, who has been watching their actions. If for some reason the players have deduced that they're fighting Kas, then Strahd would be willing to let them leave Barovia and take the Rod piece to punish the other vampire lord, whom he finds annoying. Otherwise he tries to claim the piece, they have to fight him, upon his defeat they can leave the mists.
  • I think I'll have Sarusanda be a member of the Vecna Cult disguised as an Inquisitor. She might lure the players into Death House to try and have them killed amongst its traps, thus allowing the cult to steal their assembled rod pieces.
• Like I said, my thoughts here are still messy and I'm figuring out what would fit best for the party.

Krynn:

• After their defeat in Ravenloft, the cult will move back and try to refocus their efforts not on the Rod, but on trying to reclaim the Hand and Eye of Vecna. As such, they will be mysteriously absent from Krynn in such a way taht should make the party paranoid.
• I plan to move the Rod piece to Dargaard Keep and have the characters showdown with Soth. I like Teremini and her plotline, but I think it might work better as a precursor to the main event.
• The players will find MordenKasnen speaking with Soth in a heated argument, trying to get the Death Knight to give him the rod piece and join his side. When discovered, Kas will attempt to flee, but he leaves behind his amulet that goes to his homeworld (Oerth). Before he goes, he destroys the portal to Sigil, leaving the players only one option to escape Krynn.

Oerth:

• Oerth is the homeworld of Kas, Mordenkainen, and Vecna himself, so this will be a chance for them to learn some lore. I plan on the players being transported to Kas's old stronghold, which still has some broken down statues of Kas in his hey day. They will have to navigate to the Tomb from Keoland. This way, when the players go to the unreality, they see the same setting but with vecna statues, etc.
• Acererak will have already made an appearance in my game, since we're going through Tomb of Annihilation first. As such, Acererak will be the final boss of this setting.
• Acererak will have gained the Eye of Vecna during his travels, but his distrust of Vecna means that he doesn't like carrying it on his person. As such, he has put the eye into Rerak. The cult will navigate the dungeon along with the players, forcing occasional run ins. the final fight should be large and epic and have 3-4 competing factions (Players, Cult, Acererak, and Rerak if he's turned against Acererak)
• Once Acererak does fall, he makes an escape through a portal to Avernus, leaving the Rod piece behind. The cultists will try to convince the players to take the Rod and they'll take the Eye.

Avernus:

• Avernus will be home to the Hand of Vecna, in possession of Arkhan. The cult is desperate to get the Hand and is willing to work with the players to get it. Arkhan will offer the players access to Tiamat and the Rod piece if they side with him and destroy the Cultists. The players will have to choose either side or attempt to fight both of them at the same time.
• Once again, the cult is willing to let the party take the Rod if they get the Hand.
• Keep Windfall and her motivations, as they're great in the game. If the players aid Arkhan, he'll bring them to Tiamat but in chains.
• There's a spelljammer in the casino that an unlucky patron gambled away in the past, the players can use this to get back to Sigil after claiming the last Rod piece.

Betrayal:

• Once players return to Sigil with the completed Rod, Kas reappears in the Sanctum and attempts to steal it. Big fight, Alustriel and Tasha join the party, Kas escapes quickly into Pandemos, ideally with the Rod.
• Alustriel and Tasha suggest the players follow him so that they can still regain the Sword of Kas and defeat Vecna. They go to Pandemos and there I go back to book to pretty much run as written, apart from beefing up Vecna's stat block significantly, especially if he does regain the Hand and Eye.

Again, it's not for everyone but I think I'm going to try and go about it in a similar vein to this. My notes on this are still scattered and I'm purposely not trying to iron out every detail, since of course the players will have a lot of agency on how precisely this all turns out. Still, feel free to offer some feedback on what you think may or may not work.

Tl;dr Version for anyone who doesn't want to read a bit of a rant: This game is way too damn greedy. <--
Important Edit: I'm new to reddit but guess I'm just not allowed to talk because I have slightly negative Karma? I'll just try to edit this as I see more and more comments I can't respond to, or DM if you feel like it ig.
Some Various disclaimers and background information before the rant:

1. No, this is post is not to shame people who aren't FTP. Do what you want with your money, I just want to explain why I don't think I'll ever support this game financially and see how the rest of the community feels. This is also not some propaganda to get you to either not spend money or stop spending money, or in other words by all means keep supporting Shift-Up and their products, do you boo.
2. I'm not the biggest gacha game player, I've only played two prior to this (Girls Frontline and some Star Wars one), both that I did end up throwing a little money at to support them despite Nikke ultimately being more fun imo (just to show no, I'm not against in game purchases for free games out of principle). Big bold letters here tho incase you missed it: I HAVE PLAYED GACHA GAMES BEFORE
3. I do enjoy this game and don't imagine I'll stop playing any time soon, as far as phone games go this is probably the most fun I've had (not the highest bar to set, I know). More big bold letters, because I know you like them (icky small letters go away >: ( I DO LIKE THIS GAME
4. I understand that ultimately the goal of any game is to generate income, and I don't hold it against any game. Rather I have a problem with how this game "encourages" you to spend money.
5. I started playing this game during the RE:Zero collab and quickly came to this conclusion, don't know what ultimately compelled me to rant about it (maybe just one too many all blue pulls)

Okay with that out the way let's get to the meat of the issue, which can honestly be summarized to 2 main sins so hell get ready for another list I guess : ^ )
1.The top heavy nature of the roster. "When everybody's special, no one will be"- Angry animated ginger dude (rip in peace). When I first started playing this game and doing some pulls I felt like a superstar, I mean wow I'm pulling all these super rares like it's nothing, even got all my counter girls maxed out and after about ~60 pulls I've managed 2 super super rares! Then I started to notice how all these "super rares" seem to have all hit max limit break and peeked at the Nikkepedia to realize the sad truth of this game. Given my past experiences with gacha I expected maybe something like 30% of the roster to be "SSR", not 95%. What's even more baffling is that the SSR actually does have it's own subcategory of "hey, these are actually the super rare ones" with Pilgrims having a miniscule chance to pull. I didn't want to put a list inside my list ( yo dawg, heard you like lists) but there's a few reasons why I really dislike this, and it was getting more and more "massive block of text" while I typed it so sorry.
-The first and probably most readily apparent issue being that it means you're unlocking new characters at a snails pace. It feels like the intended way to unlock new characters is to throw thousands of gems/ recruit rosters at the slot machine so you can do the high quality mold to actually have a chance (more on this later) to get a new character. I realize luck is a subjective matter, and yeah I've seen posts from people bragging about pulling 4-5 SSR in a pull, but objectively speaking the other gacha games were far more generous with the unlocking of new characters.
-Secondly, and probably what I hate the most, is that these "SSR" are simply not created equally (putting aside the obvious and aforementioned "actual SSR" of the pilgrims). I'm not saying every Nikke has to be an absolute powerhouse (more on this later) but if you want to make Nikkes that are just inferior versions of other Nikkes or have kits that just straight up aren't good, I dunno chief...maybe put them in a lower tier of the roster? Hell putting aside the meta/ actually caring about the kits of your waifus let's just talk about the lore/ backstory of these characters. Matis (my favorite squad, big hearts and kisses especially for Drake), the super star hero squad and best the Missilis company has to offer? Okay sure, makes sense they're SRR. Prima Donna Nikkes that...work in the music industry for some reason? Uh okay not sure why these military bots are making music but they're famous ig so why not, SSR it is. Oh hey Absolute, Rapi's former squad and supposed elite of Elysion now that's a contender for SSR for sure. Maid for you, Nikkes that run a maid cafe...well let's make em SSR. Okay okay I shouldn't hawk on the waifu game having waifus that are character archetypes even if it makes absolutely no sense in the setting of the game but you still get the point right? You have characters that are presented to you as the cream of the crop (in other words have lore friendly reasons to be classified as SSR) thrown into the same category of rarity of characters that work in maid cafes or other random civilian jobs/ hobbies. This all putting aside the actual strength of these character's kits (Matis is pretty good at least, big hearts and kisses) I'm simply referring to the story reasons for characters to be presented as "SSR".
-Thirdly this all just reeks of some system you see in a lot of games where they use certain words to artificially make you feel more accomplished, if that makes any sense. The lowest tier (of absolute garbage) is referred to as "rare", the slightly better but ultimately still useless (<3 u Rapi/ Anne) tier is "super rare", and the bulk of the roster is "super super rare." Fellas, that's not how the word "rare" works at all. I feel like most games at least refer to their filler trash as "common" or the like so why does the game call the, in lore, mass produced no personality foot soldier Nikkes "rare"? This leads back to "SSR" having it's own category of rarity, did they realize "SSSR" would look and sound stupid so that's why Pilgrims don't have their own category? I dunno, could have called it "ultra super dooper cream your pants because you're a real winner rare" or they could have just (alongside making some of the "unworthies" a lower tier) gone with 4 tiers with a more honest and conventional naming system (common- uncommon-rare-epic) but they didn't because that doesn't trigger the dopamine in slack jawed gamer so they like you more and spend more money or whatever reason so many games use terminology that feels like patting you on the back. Almost lost my cool there, sounding a lil schizo huh? Let's move on to the other main point to save face.

1. The way progression is handled (and how that ties to the roster) "When you come to it and you can't go through it and you can't knock it down, you know that you've found the wall, the wall, the wall." -Mark Henry (still kicking, I think). Gacha games, or really most games, have parts that are for the cream of the crop. The real go getters (or go spenders) who invest a lot of time (or money) into the game and are rewarded for it. Usually these are things like raids or other limited time events, typically speaking though it's not the main story of the game that's the major hurdle for the playerbase to surmount. Typically speaking there's a slow and steady incline of requirements for players to progress through the story of a game, be it skill (let's be honest, not really a factor for gacha games) or equipment/loot, but not here. Instead you have rapidly increasing arbitrary "recommended power levels" (yes, we'll talk about this later) coupled with a massive middle finger in the form of level limit/ limit breaking in a nice package of pain and inconvenience, because I hate you for enjoying and caring about the story we wrote (which the game will proceed to spoil in events, which have a way lower bar of entry) or something idk. Jamie, pull up that list again.

-So pulling a SRR is "accomplishment" enough, pulling the same SRR 3 more times is whack crazy luck, doing that whole process 5 times is insultingly absurd (b-buh muh Kilo tho, because rip anybody who wasn't here for this event). Technically speaking there are systems in place to make this easier, but both of them are still hella rough. You can either use the wishlist feature (on the normal recruitment, and not for pilgrims) to cut out the massive bloat of SRR you don't care about and still pray on that 4% chance or you can grind out 200 total recruits to get mileage tickets to knock out one of 20 pulls you'll need in order to get pass this wall. You've already seen posts either lamenting their luck or singing praises to lord because after months people have managed this, and imo that is not a good system of progression for the main story of your game. I don't have a problem with there being content that encourages you to spend money, for heavens sake they have a "hard campaign" (which is just the same lay out of campaign maps with massively spiked up requirements with the same exact rewards as the normal story, minus the actual story part) so why not just let people enjoy the normal campaign. It comes off as a really cheap and scummy way to encourage people to spend money, holding the story of your game hostage. Just lower the requirements of the normal campaign, I'm sure older players don't have the "naw these new players need to suffer like I suffered" mentality, nobody is going to be mad at you.
-Oh yeah, recommended power levels. A lot of games have the system of "increase your number to keep up with the enemies increasing number" but none of those feels like a slap in the face as this game's system of "you'll either meet this required number or we'll just nerf your damage to the ground" (evidently the exact percentage of this used to be a lot worse before they patched it, further proof that the playerbase isn't against the game being made more accessible). This is probably the part where the Nikke superfan tells me I just have a massive skill issue and it's totally possible to clear these missions at a deficit, and this is absolutely true. I've seem some superstars talking about clearing levels while under 20k or more the recommended amount (I've only managed 10k, all thanks to Crown whom I love and cherish) and you know what the secret to success is? I just hinted at it in those parenthesis but it comes down to pulling "the right" SSR Nikkes. Okay that's a little disingenuous , as there's a little bit of skill/ understanding of the games system involved and grinding out the various resources you need to level said actually good SSR Nikkes, but it doesn't change the fact that there are Nikkes you actually want if you care about progressing through the game and there's all the ones you don't that seemingly only exist to reduce your chances of pulling these Nikkes. Let's backtrack to that "wishlist" system for a bit, which is what is intended to make sure you get the (non pilgrim) Nikkes you want like Liter or Tia. You'll recall that the wishlist doesn't increase your total chance to pull a SRR (makes sense) but just ensures that you only pull the designated SSR, but the problem is this only applies to this normal pulling. It is still my opinion that most of the SSR you're gonna get are going to come from the various molds, which cleverly has no such system of wishliting (because let's be honest, this would probably destroy any incentive to pay money for people who don't care about costumes). So you're either dealing with a system of most likely not getting any SSR from normal pulling or having a slim chance of pulling the SSR you need (assuming you even pull a SSR to begin with) with the mold, neither of which sound too appealing to me
-Speaking of molds, and this probably going to be my most controversial take (or at the least the most demanding), it is blatantly unfair that high quality and company molds aren't a guaranteed SSR. In the case of of the high quality mold the process of getting one is slow enough (I maybe manage 1 a week, outside of events or CD redemption that may give more) and there are enough SSR (putting aside the fact that you want to pull the same SSR multiple times anyway) that I really don't think it would be that bad if you just don't let us get kicked in the gut by pulling Neon after all that effort. In the case of the company specific molds from the tribe towers you are quite literally hard limited to pulling 3-7 a day (assuming of course you have a squad capable of tackling the tower), and you're going to make them have an even lower total chance of a SSR than the normal high quality mold. I'm only half way to my pilgrim mold (I had to wait till crown before I even felt like starting the tower, because even doing the easiest levels is mind numbing with just one Nikke) but I've heard horror stories of going 5 pilgrim molds with no pilgrim in sight, and ngl I may just weep when it's my turn to experience that. If you want to further reduce the acquisition of molds to still encourage some spending that's fine by me, but please let us have some safety net in this ruthless Nikke grind.
That's pretty much it for the rant so I just want to finish with some closing thoughts. I really do like this game, honest, and I wouldn't mind supporting it if it just didn't make me feel so used and abused. There are plenty of games with microtransactions or additional content where it feels like you're buying them because you want to support the dev, not because it feels like they're holding a gun to your head, and I just want this game to feel more like the former. I'm happy to discuss this rant further if anybody has their own ideas and opinions (or even if people just want to defend the game) so let me know what yall think, assuming you even read that blob of text up there.

Everytime I go on erkul to look for the best weapons components for my ships theyre rarely if ever actually sold on Hurston, the weapons manufacturing planet, instead its mostly space stations or fucking Orison (which I hate). What's the deal CIG? This doesn't make much sense to me. It feels like it'd make more sense for Hurston to be THE PLACE to get good ship weapons. How can a company with a planet not dominate the market in the system it resides in? They control a planet for pete's sake you'd think that'd give them an advantage of some sort wth.
EDIT: it's even worse then i thought, HD Showcase = 9 weapons CR Showcase = 2 bombs, 19 missiles, 18 missile racks, 4 mounts, 24 weapons NB CenterMass = 19 missiles, 19 missile racks, 9 mounts, 65 weapons Area18 CenterMass = 19 missiles, 18 missile racks, 9 mounts, 47 weapons
HOW THE HELL DOES HURSTON ONLY HAVE 9 WEAPONS, WHAT! THEYRE A WEAPONS MANUFACTURER. AT THE LEAST THEY SHOULD HAVE A SHOP LIKE CENTERMASS WITH A GENERAL INVENTORY FROM OTHER CORPS. CIG literally have made Hurston the worst planet in every way but one, its location. It doesnt have a weapons shop, it has the worst tram system in the game, (did I mention this already) it doesnt have a weapons shop (ugh), leaving its residence block you will be slowed down by a sandstorm most of the time, and it has no FPS armor shop either. Why do they hate Hurston so much? The only thing keeping me here is the Bladerunner minus the neon aesthetic they have going. It desperately needs some love.
To hammer my point home Orison has Cousin Crows which direcly overlaps in offerings with Crusader's official Showroom W. Both the showroom W and Cousin Crows offer weapons and mounts. All I'm saying is that Hurston should have the same setup, have the HD Showroom in the business district and then have a CenterMass or Cousin Crows equivalent in the city.
Edit: Immersion isn't even a good argument as to why Hurston has so little on offer because Orison has Cousin Crows which directly overlaps in offerings with Crusader's official Showroom W. Both the showroom W and Cousin Crows offer weapons and mounts. So clearly CIG isn't trying to say that the corporations that own each planet have totally monopolized everything to the point of excluding all 3rd party vendors. Don't forget also that Everus Harbor is a stone's throw away, if someone really wanted to get weapons and start a rebellion they could just go there and smuggle the weapons into the city. By that logic Hurston shouldn't allow players to store weapons in the local inventory of Lorville for further *immersion*. I'm all for immersion but not at the cost of my time or not when it could be easily appeased (as will be explained a few sentences later). All I'm saying is that Hurston should have the same setup as Orison, have the HD Showroom in the business district and then have a CenterMass or Cousin Crows equivalent in the city. For FPS weapons and armor you could have a section of Lorville that is rep gated, CIG could place a ton of guards there, have you go through a checkpoint just like you do when you exit the space port, and have it setup so that if you aren't a certain rep level with HD you are tresspassing. Boom there you have a lore friendly solution. Also throw in a Dumpers Depot, Hurston has a section of the city literally dedicated to salvage (Reclamation something something) but yet it has no place to get salvage modules, or heavy-duty ship components, WHY? I don't understand why CIG hate Hurston so much that they have left it in this sorry state. The only thing going for that place is its aesthetic, and that is it. New Babbage also has Distributions Hubs and better market offers, Orison has better components, and ArcCorp has more shop variety.

I just gotta level with you guys, are Yakuza games even fun? Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the Yakuza games, but are they even really good games in the first place? I'm sitting here on my Yakuza 5 playthrough just contemplating life because I've raged about bullshit in every single one of the games up to this point, and idk if these games are even as good as we make them out to be.
The minigames are fucking bullshit and I despise them. I'm not talking about simple minigames like the Karaoke or the Cabaret clubs because I adore those minigames, I'm talking about the miserable slogs of minigames like golfing in Yakuza 2, Pool in Yakuza 5, or any fucking time there was Mahjong in a Yakuza game. Seriously, I've set up Mahjong calculators out of sheer frustration to try to beat those minigames and the calculators won't even help me win. Almost all of those games are pure RNG bullshit and are just meant to waste your time and infuriate you. It's absolutely excrutiating when the game roadblocks you and makes you either fork over money or play their minigames too, because it feels like a slap in the face.
Why on God's green earth do they think that creating "hard" enemies mean that they have to either create characters where they cross of half of your mechanics or they just fill a room with stunlocking enemies? I see practically everybody throughout the fanbase complain about this because its bullshit. I work my ass off to get all these upgrades and skills, and then some random nobody that walked in during a cutscene can't be blocked, can't be grabbed, can't be Heat action'd, can literally start their combo while you're attacking them, and they have super armor. I dont think there's a single Yakuza game where there isn't someone like this in there and it drives me insane, especially Lao Ka Long in Yakuza 3 because that's when I was recognizing the trend and was sick of it. And then there's boss fights where they just dump enemies with guns into a small space with you because guns are the only thing that can definitively stop you. Why can't they just let us be overpowered like the game intended for us uo to that point? The final bosses from Yakuza 1 and 4 did this and I often hear Yakuza 4 being called the worst final boss of the series. Luckily I didn't have a ton of issues with that fight because Tanimura's grappling is godtier and saved my ass the whole fight (I had much more of a problem with Saejima's fight because of that stupid kid's super armor street fighter combo), but seriously, why do they make the fights downright unfair just to make artificial difficulty? The only time they somewhat rectified this was in Yakuza 2 Kiwami with that godlike armor that makes Kiryu auto-block bullets. I got lit up with a machine gun in that game and he tanked the whole thing with his forearms. That was a good memory in my eyes.
And finally, its just the lazy writing at points. I don't mind the whole rubber bullets plot point in 4 or the secret brother plot point in 3, but seriously, why is it that in EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. Kiryu or someone else doesnt just kick a gun away from a villain and just walks away with their back turned, only for the scumlord villain to leap back up with the gun and end up shooting someone who the character was shielded by. We lost quite literally every interesting character that isn't one of the few main characters this way, and at this point the trope just pisses me off. Yakuza 2 even went crazy by doing it twice. Its almost as obnoxious as the fact that there is a Kiryu fakeout death at the end of all of the Yakuza games but 0, but I was surprised to see that Yakuza 4 broke the trend. Literally, I'm sticking with the games because I adore the story. I want to be having fun with all of this, but I cant lie to myself and say this is fun when I'm constantly irritated by shit decisions the developers continue to make. Idk, do people share in these opinions, or am I just going crazy? I'm going to keep playing the games because I'm going to finish the story, but other people are frustrated with this crap as well, aren't they?

Hello mappers and adventurers,
We're thrilled to announce our latest updates and improvements, designed to enhance your mapping experience and game management! Here’s what’s new:
Instant Default Maps:

• Rapid Map: We've added a few default maps for those times that you just need to throw a map on a table and get into the combat.
• Multiple Categories: We're working on more default maps, but we've split them into categories to make it easier to find the one you're looking for. Forests, Villages, Plains, Rivers, etc.
• Map Loader: We made a map loading spinner so that people aren't confused before the map shows up

Overhaul of Attacks:

• Damage Types: You can now specify that it's slashing or fire as part of your rolls
• Connected to Trackers: You can automatically subtract 1 from Spell Slot level 3 when you cast your fireballs. You can also get super nit picky if you want and make it so that your arrows go down by one each time you use your longbow attack (we recommend making it a ratio of arrows so each time you know how many you used in case you want to gather 1/2 of them back up)
• Notes: You can now attach notes to the attack like "dc 12 con save or they go unconscious"

Overhaul of Fog:

• Overhaul might be a stretch :), we made it so that now each fog block that you add can be toggled independently to be hide or show
• We added a banner when the world is covered with fog to make it easier to know that your players see nothing but a black screen

Technical Enhancements:

• Major overhaul to our websockets: We kept getting odd disconnections, people had to refresh the page regularly, etc. We overhauled the way that websockets in general work in our product, giving a dedicated server to just them to hopefully add a great amount of stability.
• Token Overhaul: Now when you move your favorite hero from map 1 to map 2 (as a subscribed user) the hero themselves move. This means if they take damage on map 2, they have less hit points when you go back to map 1.

Bug Fixes and Style Enhancements:

• We’ve ironed out various bugs and refined styles across the platform to improve your overall experience.
• Monsters in DND no longer have proficiency bonus, instead we calculated it from their CR
• We went through several player tests to find more things that didn't make as much sense as we'd like and we revamped them. For example - it's not called handouts anymore now it's called Full Portrait.

Thank you for being a part of our community. Happy mapping!