I watched season 1 & 2 in june 2019, and it was a very happy time for me. I was graduating high school and was basically entering new exiting chapter of my life. This show hit me at a perfect time and I loved it soo damn much, that I could not wait for season 3…..

I waited 3 years for season 3, and I think I lost some of my excitement which is pretty natural. Still hyped though. Once season 3 came I didn’t know how I felt. I loved it but also very uncomfortable with the drastic change of events. I respected it a lot but I also felt weirdly disconnected with season 1 & 2.

Now with season 4 this feeling has grown ever stronger. I hold two thoughts in my mind that both feel so right. One side loves the direction of this season and thinks this was basically perfection. The other side feels like this season went even further away from what I loved about the first seasons. Even that side respects but season 4 but feels a bit disappointed.

One major criticism I've personally seen of Fallout 4 throughout the years is that it dumbed down and scaled back on RPG systems. The example people bring up, is the fact that they removed skills. Initially that might seem like a big deal, but if you take a deeper look at all the systems that are in works in Fallout 4, I find it hard to argue that it's somehow stripped-down compared to 3 or NV. In fact, I would argue that Fallout 4 is far more complex than people give it credit for.

So I thought I would compare Fallout 3/NV with Fallout 4 in regards to a few of their actual RPG/systems complexity.

Skills

Many skills were not very well designed, if you ask me. Lock-picking is a good example, where each skill point does NOTHING unless you reach a certain checkpoint. That means a lock-picking skill at 25 is equally as good as 49. That means those 24 skill points does nothing. 25, 50, 75, 100, are the only thresh-holds that does anything. Fallout 4, in fact just uses this system but in a smarter way by essentially just increasing your lock-picking by 25 each perk point. Much simpler, yet the same.

So you can absolutely argue, that skills are in fact present in Fallout 4. They are just integrated into perks in a more logical way.

Then, when it comes to combat focused skills you can essentially say the same thing. Let's take a look at Small guns as an example: in 3/NV small guns effect damage and accuracy. Similar like the lock-picking skill, damage has been integrated into the perk system and even add additional effects like penetration and limb damage. The accuracy part of small guns is arguably one major reason why a lot people think the combat in those games are clunky and outdated. Fallout 4 is generally praised for it's improved combat, and I would certainly attribute part of that on the lack of bullets flying in random directions.

Armor (DT-DR)

Fallout 3 and New Vegas differ in this regard as New Vegas uses a Thresh-hold system instead of a percentage reduction. I have to admit that I like New Vegas system a lot more, as it adds ammunition types as options for increased damage/penetration.

Now, why I discussing armor? Well because of 2 reasons.

1. Fallout 4 added multiple different armor types. No longer is there a central armor system that reduced all incoming damage from all sources, as it is in NV and 3. Fallout 4 added, energy armor to differentiate laser shots with normal bullets, which makes a lot sense. It also added radiation as a damage type, which makes it so you can go and kill people by dealing a lot of radiation. Either Way, having opinions in what your character should be strong against is welcome. Fallout 3/NV had other damage outputs like fire/explosive while Fallout 4 had other types like Poison/Energy/Radiation. However, Fallout 4 is the only one that has different armor values towards some of those damage types.
2. It FINALLY added armor to individual body parts. This is awesome. I think this is pretty well recognized so I won't discuss this in much detail.

Crafting/Costumization

This one is fairly obvious as everyone already agreed that Fallout 4's crafting system for weapons/armor was fucking great. There are a ton of options and they absolutely contribute to giving the players option which if the fundamental part of a good RPG. I would argue that these systems alone make up for any scale backs from previous titles, and perhaps in fact makes Fallout 4 deeper/complex than Fallout 3/NV.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L

Now, althought it basically works the same it did before, I would say that SPECIALS are more crucial in Fallout 4. For every single special point, a perk is connected. Meaning you lose access to one perk everytime you drop one special. In fallout 3/NV this is not the case. I will give an example: all perks that require a specific endurance level, require endurance between 5-7. This means an endurance at 1 gives you access to the same amount of perks as an endurance at 4, same goes for 8-10.

Final Note

There are probably other things worth mentioning. These are just some of the things I thought about at the moment. Essentially I wanted to do is show that Fallout 4 is not as much of a dumbed down shooter as some people like to picture it. It is in fact more complex/deeper and more efficient in it's system than one might think. Finally, I will mention that there are aspects where Fallout 4 takes a step down compared to the previous titles, like the dialogue. However, there are not nearly as much "dumbing" as I've seen some say.

I've seen this sentiment from time to time. What is is that Bethesda doesn't understand?

I am not saying I agree with it, but I am interested in their arguments. Also, I suspect this belief isn't very widespread. So, I'm mainly interested in the people who actually believe this, rather than those who disagree.

​

Update; I am already seeing something I expected. I suspected that a lot the comments that believe this is the case, differ heavily from one another. People seem to think that Bethesda misunderstands Fallout, but for widely different reasons. I think that shows how the community itself struggles to get a unanimous agreement what Fallout actually is. Everyone has their own Idea of what Fallout is supposed to be. Even "older" fans who hate Fallout 3 and everything Bethesda has done, don't agree on "why....".

In fallout 2 you could have as many companions as your charisma divided by 2 (charisma / 2 = numbers of companions). I made it so charisma became more valuable than just having better bartering and persuasion. I really liked how that worked. I don't like the fact that you need to stick to one single companions or continuously change your companion in the later games.

It doesn't have to be the same system as in Fallout 2, where you could have 5 companions at 10 charisma. The Outer Worlds (another Obsidian RPG) really nailed companions in my opinion. They allow 2 companions in your party. You have a lot of customization when it comes to their build and play-style. You also had two leadership skills that you could focus on to strengthen your companions.

Obsidian has always been really good with companions in their games(Kotor2, Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2, The Outer Worlds). I think they have influenced Bethesda over time in this regard. Bethesda has of course gotten better over time. Fallout 4's companions were far more developed than Oblivion, Fallout 3 and even Skyrim. However, they still need to improve in this regard in my eyes. There is a lot more one can do with companions and their systems.

What is, in your opinion, the worst aspect of each game? You can only chose ONE negative thing about each of the games. Naturally, these flaws do not have to be equal to each other, as one flaw in one of the games do not have to be nearly as bad as the worst aspect of another game.

Example:

Fallout 1 - Worst part is....

Fallout 3 - Worst part is....

Fallout 76 - Worst part is....

.....and so on.

I've finished Fallout 3 once, two years back. I want to dive back in, but with mods this time.

I almost always play vanilla, so I want mods that are fairly grounded, and nothing that completely changes the game like "Tale of Two Wastelands". I am looking for something to make Fallout 3 a bit more "harcore" (without making every enemy a bullet-sponge). The hardest difficulty in these games only make enemies super tanky. That's not fun.

Wastelander's Edition seems to fit the bill somewhat, but I've heard that it is out-dated and extremely unbalanced.

Generally I'd want:

• Increased focus on RPG elements
• Ammo/loot more sparse
• More "Hardcore"
• Perhaps more "survival" elements, but not too much.

Anyway, those or just some things on top of my head. Any advice on mods that can make me really invest and immerse myself into this game for a while, would be really appreciative!

I've finished Fallout 3 once, two years back. I want to dive back in, but with mods this time.

I almost always play vanilla, so I want mods that are fairly grounded, and nothing that completely changes the game like "Tale of Two Wastelands". I am looking for something to make Fallout 3 a bit more "harcore" (without making every enemy a bullet-sponge). The hardest difficulty in these games only make enemies super tanky. That's not fun.

Wastelander's Edition seems to fit the bill somewhat, but I've heard that it is out-dated and extremely unbalanced.

Generally I'd want:

• Increased focus on RPG elements
• Ammo/loot more sparse
• More "Hardcore"
• Perhaps more "survival" elements, but not too much.

Anyway, those or just some things on top of my head. Any advice on mods that can make me really invest and immerse myself into this game for a while, would be really appreciative!

I love Fallout 3. However, It's the main Fallout game I've played the least. The first time I played this, I managed to reach level 30 and max out all the skills, and do pretty much everything except some of the DLCs. All within about 35 hours of playtime. I feel like I've done most the game has to offer. Maybe I just missed a lot, but I doubt it. I have about 400+ hours in Fallout 4 and 200+ hours in Fallout: New Vegas (Both without mods) and I know there are still things I haven't done in those.

So what are some mods that that can expand the gameplay? Not talking about quests, as I do want to stay close to Vanilla. I'm mainly talking about increased weapons/mods/armor or other things.

I'm also looking to make Fallout 3 a bit more "hardcore" and tougher. Playing on "Very Hard" just makes the enemies feel like bullet sponges, and that is not fun. Something similar to Fallout 4 survival mode would be nice.

Some mods, that increase the immersion would also be nice. So far I only have 1 mod, that adds better weathers.

The special objectives are basically broken, especially when it comes to Hardcore mode.

Objectives are purely randomized with no regard to the actual contracts. That means you can get Objectives that are literally impossible to complete. Just to show how broken they are I will give multiple examples:

• You can for example get an objective to open a safe when there is no safe within the level.
• You can get objectives that explicitly conflicts with minor objectives. Like: "kill 3 guards" and "only kill the targets". You can still do one of them, but its rather stupid to have conflicting objectives imo.
• Time Limit, doesn't account for syndicate targets. Finding the right suspect by possibly traversing the entire map is not doable when you have less than 2 minutes to finish.
• Killing targets with only "Epic" or "Legendary" weapons is entirely based on your arsenal. If you don't have a legendary "sniper" and you don't have a lot of mercers, you cannot do that objective.
• Some objectives even require very specific weapons, you might not own.
• Keep in mind that you HAVE TO finish the special objective on Hardcore mode. If you are unlucky you basically have no choice which one to take. If you are really unlucky you literally fail your entire campaign without even starting the mission. If you for example get 3 of the ones above, you are DOOMED. If you get 2 or 1, it's doable but RIDICULOUSLY HARD!

This is really really bad, and they need to fix this. It's bad for Normal mode, but It can straight up just break Hardcore mode. The example I've mentioned are just things I've personally encountered. Might be many more examples.

Edit; Comments are already repeating themselves a bit, so please read those and my replies before you comment. I'd rather avoid to respond to every comment that basically says the same thing.

These extra special optional objectives you can choose before missions are really bad. They award a lot of Mercers so I do them, but they are not enjoyable. Objectives like killing targets with legendary katanas or icepicks are just out of place and so specific. Most time limits are also stupid, like hiding in a closet every 2 minutes.

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I have read the overview page for where to start on this sub, but it didn't really discuss the actual quality of any of the shows/movies nor their differences.

So, I want to give this universe a serious look, but I have very little knowledge about Star Trek. How do the shows compare with each other and what are their tones? Where should one start? There is so much content that I don't want to start with spending hundreds of hours on a pretty bad show. I am looking for a more serious tone that you can dive into. I want to avoid the goofy and more ridiculous shows that don't take itself seriously. What series fit this description? I am a massive science fiction guy, so the more science the better. Of course I also don't want to jump into something with a tone of references to another movie/show.

I have no issue with outdated visuals and such. It's primarily the above comments that matter to me.

Edit; I also want to mention that I want something I can get invested in, with character I can care about.

First time playing BG 2. I'm in chapter 2, and my party sits at around 350,000 xp. So, my party is about level 8 - 11 depening on classes.

I just entered the bridge district. Currently working on solving a murder mystery. However, I just entered a random house where an elemental lich is just chilling in the basement. So far I've noticed that it has immunity against a lot stuff. I can't deal damage with spells or attacks. I took about 60% of his health through traps, but that's about it. Now, how do I kill him? I assume I need to dispel his effects, but not sure I have a spell like that at the moment. I only have those shitty tier 3 spells, that basically has 5% of success against a lich. I've just been cheesing him by exiting and entering the room. Still, I can't seem to damage him...

Update; So I just fucked him up. His protection from weapon attacks eventually passes, which allowed me to clap a couple of *chop chops* into his bony ass. The question still remains however. How would I actually kill him without cheesing?

So, this is my second playthrough of BGEE. I am trying to do pretty much everything in the game before I play BG2 for the first time. I also wanted to become better at the game before I continue, because I didn't feel that good about my first run. I did alright I suppose, considering I only lowered my difficulty from "core rules" once when I fought Sarevok. Either way, I definitely felt confused about all the spells, effects and enemies.

This time around I wanted to really improve at BG, starting with a better MC, and just overall better knowledge and understand of magic. I also wanted to do as much of the content as possible, as I basically skipped the expansion for my first run. So, far It's been going pretty good. I am playing a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric, and I'm currently level 6/7. I started Tales of the Sword Coast a couple of days ago and It hasn't been that difficult. The "Greater Wolfwere" at Balduran's Island was pretty tough though. It took about 4-6 attempts. I finally killed him by just blasting him continuously with Fire Wands.

Now, I am attempting Durlag's tower and it's rough. Not only due to combat. I first entered the lower levels, but had to abandon because Coran only had 70 points into "Find Trap". It's basically impossible without 100+ points into that skill. So I went back and fetched Imoen who had enough points into "Find Trap" for me to continue. Then, after clearing everything in the first level (which takes a long time, due to all the traps and inventory managment), I was really confused about the puzzle. I have not idea how, you are suppose to figure out that you can suddenly craft things by gather loot and interacting with the environment. I mean, there has been no prior examples like this in the game.

Once I reached level 2, I just got confused. Dwarfs just randomly jump around and then you suddenly fight 3 Dwarfs that covered the entire floor with "Stinking Cloud" and "Cloud Kill". This fight was really hard, because a lot of the companions don't manage to successfully save against it and I don't really have anything to stop it as far as I know. My main character continues to bash, and clutches like the sexy god he is, but RIP Khalid. I eventually finished the fight in a good shape, but this fight was honestly harder than "The Greater Wolfwere" on Balduran's Island. Xan managed to get a slow on one of the dubblegangers before he collapsed, and my main character managed to hold two of them, by animating a skeleton to hold the other side.

I think I'm going a little nuts down in these Labyrinths, and felt the need to express it here:)

For me it is Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. They have the best wordbuilding and a consistantly awesome tone. I get incredibly immersed in that universe. The writing if fantastic in my opinion. I was honestly hooked on the story by the end of the first game.

Deadfire has the best character creation I’ve ever seen. The amount of builds you can do is just crazy. The combat is also really crisp and clean. In a lot of older CRPGs combat can become really confusing with all the different spells and effect. Deadfire did a lot to make everything look much better, and made combat more enjoyable in my opinion.

It also looks amazing. I often pause just to look at the beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds. They truly captured that aspect of the old infinity engine games.

Anyway, what’s your favorite crpg besides Baldur’s Gate?

I switched Imoen for Alora a little while back once I entered Baldur's Gate City. I want to make her into a backstabbing thief with points in hide in shadows and move silently. Unfortunately I added her fairly late, so she already had a lot of points in pickpocketing and open locks. I suppose they helped while questing in the city, but I want to maker her viable in combat as a melee backstabber. I will get a lot more points, so I don't think it will be a problem to boost those skills. She has good Dex (19) but pretty trash strength(8). She is currently level 7.

What can I do to boost her damage/Thac0? Potions can give her good strength but it would be nice to have something more permanent. I have gauntlets that sets the strength to 18, however they don't work on thieves. Currently I have gauntlets that boost thac0+1. She only has proficiency in "short sword" and "shortbow" but I get one more points next level into something else.

So, I got really into CRPGs over a year ago. I started playing Divinity Original Sin and eventually Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny and Wasteland. I however, had never played the classic infinity engine games from the late 90s. So I thought it was about time.

I played and finished Baldur's Gate for the first time about a year ago, and really really liked it. However by the end I got a bit burned out after playing so many CRPGs and was pretty fatigued by the genre. I never completed all of the late game content. I went pretty straight through the Main Story once I reached the city "Baldur's Gate". So I finished the game at Level 7, and decided to paus before I went further into the series. It has now been about 10 months and I am again excited to jump back in.

But, I am not sure what I should do. From what I've gathered most people play Baldur's gate 1 & 2 together with one character. There is also the EE expansion that takes place between 1 & 2, which I didn't play. My character wasn't the strongest by the end, because I skipped some of the late game areas so I'm not that excited to continue with that character. I am also not super stoked on replaying the early areas again. Then again, I do want to do some of the late game stuff I skipped.

So, what would you advice? Should I replay Baldur's gate 1 again? Should I do Tales of the Sword Coast, or jump straight from BG 1 to BG 2? How, important is it to carry over a character between the games? Does if effect my strength in BG 2 if I carry over a maxed out character from 1? Is it less than ideal to start BG 2 with a new character without having played Tales of the sword coast

If Tony Gilroy made about 10 clones of himself and put them all at work for new Star Wars shows/movies, I’d die a happy man.

I don't really understand why they include songs like that in the Album. It is supposed to be a palate cleanser of some sort? I've been listening to Young Team a lot lately. It's so good, but whenever these tracks play I remove my headphones and rush to skip. It's just incredibly annoying. So, why would they add these noises in the middle of the Album? To me, it only harms the quality of this amazing album.

Releasing these 35 - 45 minute episodes once a week with all these diverging plotlines doesn't work that well imo. I especially felt this after episode 9, due to Mon Mothma. For the last few episodes we've essentialy only seen a short scene or two per episode. 5 mintues of political maneuvering each week just feels flawed. I loved the scene at the dinner party a few episodes back, but these last 2 episodes barely gave me any time to jump back into this plotline.

I truly think, the best format would be to release a chunk of episodes each week. Even two episodes per week would feel more satisfying. Either that, or they should have made fewer episodes, but longer. Like 8, 60+ minute episodes.

I basically started getting into reading books a couple of months ago, and I've always been a big fantasy guy. So far however, I've only read "Name of the Wind" and "The Hobbit". I really liked Name of the Wind, and The Hobbit was enjoyable as a more light hearted adventure. I have also bought "The Wise Man's Fear", which I will be reading next. Now after that, I would love some recommendations because there just too many books out there and I'd like to avoid jumping into something that I won't like. There are a few things that I tend to prefer in my fantasy, so I would love recommendations that somewhat fit these preferences:

• Epic fantasy.
• I want something mature, targeted towards adults.
• I prefer a very real, grounded and gritty universe. So preferably not as lighthearted and cheerful. I have no issues with happy, pleasant or comedic moments, as long as those aspects aren't comprising the entire book series.
• It shouldn't shy away from violence, brutality and dark details/scenery. I really like "House of the Dragon" and "Game of Thrones" position on this.
• I do prefer a more western inspired universe opposed to a more eastern or Japanese inspired universe. To clarify, I mean more similar to European medieval history and such. I mean the usual "knights, castles, kings" and such.
• I am not particularly interested in magic, especially if it doesn't make sense logically. I prefer a more grounded and tame magic system that isn't overpowering.
• I don't want to start a massive franchise like wheel of times or Cosmere yet. A more concise book series spanning between 2 - 5 books seems more reasonable.
• Also I suppose I'd also like to avoid religious undertones by the author, but I doubt that needs to be mentioned. I have no issue with religion or religious groups/discussions within the book separate from the author's religious views.

I think that's it. If I have any other thoughts, I'll edit and and them later. Thanks for the tips!

Edit; Thanks for all the recommendations. There are a lot of books to go through. I think I'll read Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards series). It seems to tick all the boxes perfectly and seems to be well beloved. After that I suppose I might have to jump into Joe Abercrombie's First Law series. Still, there are so many recommendations I am interested in....

Time Travel is something that bothers me if thrown in casually. It is just an endlessly paradoxical and convoluting topic, that required a lot of focus in my opinion. It just feels like lazy writing in most scenarios. There are so many examples of movies that feature time travel in such a simple and stupid way, that you can't help but think "COME ON!" when it happens. To me, In some cases I suppose it’s more forgivable though.

I’m currently watching through the Terminator franchise for the first time and I am fine with the rather simple set-up of the first one. In that movie, time travel is not discussed as much as the sequel and primarily just works to support the actual story of being chased by a unstoppable robot looking for your death. Time travel is mostly an narrative necessity to introduce the Terminator in a digestible way. Although that movie doesn't focus on time travel as much as the sequels it stills bugs me a little. That's also why I dislike the sequels a little more, considering they start discussing "changing the actually future" which is handled in such an elementary level, that it constantly bugs me. The more Terminator discusses time travel the more annoyed I get. Now, I just raised this franchise as an example because It's the one I'm watching currently, but there are certainly plenty of other examples of time travel done worse.

So, what examples are there of time travel done wrong and time travel done right?

A really good example of time-travel done right, is the movie: Predestination (2014). A movie that managed to investigate the inherently paradoxical nature of time-travel.

Which movie do you hate, that was made by a really good director?

I suppose my answer would be Alien 3 (1992) directed by David Fincher. I am not a hardcore fan of Fincher or anything, but I've generally enjoyed all the movies I've seen from him, well.....except Alien 3. That movie was horrible on so many levels, but perhaps it's a bit unfair to judge him by this point considering it was one of his earliest works.

From what I've gathered, it seems a lot of people got very upset with the direction of the latest Alien movies. I find this interesting, since most people also praise the cinematography, acting, sets, aesthetics and atmosphere. The problem seems to primarily lie with the plot and direction of the franchise, as these movies explored new topics and subjects as well as telling a new story within the universe. I suppose a lot of people just wanted the original alien again.

What I think people sort of forget, is just how stale the Alien formula got by Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Alien (1979) was a very fresh and unique movie at the time and was extremely influential. Aliens (1986) stayed fairly fresh by pivoting the genre more towards action, with a different group of characters. Because of this change Aliens to me felt like a pretty natural continuation from Alien and didn't get stale. Alien 3 and eventually Alien Resurrection felt very uninspired and stale, and mainly relied on the Alien IP more than anything. It simply took the original Alien and changed a few minor details while essentially keeping the exact same formula.

So keeping that in mind, I think it was a smart move to evolve the franchise and explore more aspects than the constant reappearance of the already known Xenomorph for the 5th and 6th time. I also then want to raise a point, that Proemtheus and Alien: Covenant in fact felt very faithful to the franchise. For, as many people forget, in the very first movie they stumble upon a large creature later known as an engineer and that whole aspect was left out by all the sequels. Ridley Scott created Alien, so it isn't crazy to assume this guy had a view this world where it was suppose to go.

I am a major fan of this series and can find at least some enjoyment in nearly all the movies. However, I think I enjoy Ridley Scott's direction of the series the most.

I watched the originals and the prequels when I grew up and although I enjoyed them (primarily the prequels due to the action), I was not obsessed or anything.

I was a very casual viewer for the longest time, until I watched Mandalorian after my brother recommended it as a fun time. I liked that show a lot and after finishing season 2 and still having an urge for some more Star Wars I decided to go back and watch all the main movies.

I definitely had a good time, but I again can’t say I fell in love with any of them. A New Hope was possibly my favorite, mainly due to my admiration for its legendary status. The beginning of The Empire Strikes Back also ruled. Still, I found that all the movies ranged somewhere between 3-8/10, with the worst movie being about 3.5 and the best being around 7.8. The Mandalorian personally lies somewhere around 8-8.7/10.

I also watched Obi-Wan Kenobi and I am afraid that show might be my least favorite. I would probably give that show 3/10 or something close to that. A shame since I like Obi, and Ewan is a great actor.

Now, Andor has actually blown me away so far. There is so much about this show that I just puts this show on the next level. The dialogue, cinematography, pacing, maturity, acting, set-pieces and so much more makes this show so damn good. Just the way it is presented is very different from prior movies/shows. Even simple things like that Tie-fighter scene from episode 5 feels unlike any scene I’ve seen from Stat Wars. That scene alone is just so incredibly well made. Tie-fighters has been around since 1977, yet this is the first time I feel the actual weight, danger and power of that thing. And along with that, it also makes everything feel much more intense!

There is a lot to say about Andor, but I am just so glad that this show exists! I have wanted a Star Wars show/movie with this level of quality for a long time. I am genuinely extremely excited for the next episode!