Rainy, Cooler, Low-Key Sunday
Aug. 16th, 2020 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYeah, it was either sprinkling or outright raining for most of the day -- raining right now, in fact -- and the temperatures never got much above 70. I was actually wearing my bathrobe for a good chunk of the day to keep properly warm! Days like these in the middle of more typical summer heat are WEIRD. It's like a little blast of fall, just to remind us that the colder months are coming up fast. (Really fast -- I mean, we're halfway through August already, damn.)
Despite that, though, I had a good, if very low-key day -- spent most of it reading tumblr blogs and poking around AO3 fics, if I'm honest. Or TV Tropes. It was kind of a day for sitting around on your bum just looking at words. But I did get a few other things done:
-->Watched a bit of YouTubery:
A) Yup, more ProZD mini-clips:
1. A quick vid on the fact that "social media" (aka, in this particular video, Twitter), for some reason, thinks we want anything but the ability to read our friends' posts in chronological order. * deep, weary, understanding sigh* Damn algorithms. . .
2. And oh, look at that, a video on tumblr! It's actually from 2018 and specifically references the ridiculous pornography ban that didn't actually take care of any of the porn bots but did happily tag random innocuous pictures (I suffered that with my Sims stuff – one of my female characters wandering around in lingerie is fine, but a couple of my male characters hanging out at the library is baaaaad). Sometimes you gotta wonder why the site still exists and why we keep using it. . . (Me, I'm hard to convince to change and it does still provide a decent way for me to show off Sim updates and babble on about my Valice AUs.)
3. And just to keep the theme going, a video about complaining on Twitter to companies who have wronged you (with a special emphasis on having the "verified" blue checkmark, which apparently makes you a big deal). Very over the top XD
B) Decided to switch to Fallout vids after that, with a video from Many A True Nerd about the upcoming Fallout TV series! Yeah, apparently this is going to be a thing. MATN had a few opinions on how he thinks the series should go (Vault Dweller protag on the West Coast; timeline somewhere in between Fallout 2 and Fallout New Vegas, during the NCR/Brotherhood war; include some of the best bits from all the series, like tracking down a synth infiltrator or rescuing a super mutant who becomes your friend; make sure it's shown that the pre-War world was pretty shitty despite the shiny plastic appearance). He wasn't afraid to say that they should tweak the timeline and everything either, which didn't exactly make him popular with some of the commenters. XD Personally, I think his initial guess – that they might just straight up try to adapt Fallout 4, which has the protagonists with the most settled backstory and a plot already well-suited for a series – find my kid – is probably right, but I personally would like them to explore a part of the US that we haven't seen at all, or at least not in a while. You could redeem yourselves when it comes to the Midwest and Texas, guys. . . (For those not in the know, those are the locations of the two spinoff games, BoS Tatics and just plain Brotherhood of Steel – the former is kind of liked, the latter is the one nobody talks about. XD)
C) And then I watched another video from him about what he thinks would make the perfect Fallout game – specifically, he listed two things he liked from each of the main titles, and one thing he didn't, with the view of "let's keep/bring back the former and ditch the latter." I of course can't speak for most of the things he mentioned, because I have played one main-line Fallout game (and Fallout Shelter, but that hardly counts here), but I agree mostly with his thoughts on Fallout 4 – weapon modding (though I'd say modding in general, as the armor upgrades are good too) and settlement building are pretty darn good; the dialogue system was not handled well (I mean, it works for ME, but I do look at the dialogue options I see in other games and sigh a little). I argue against his desire to remove quest markers though – dude, we gotta have SOMETHING for those of us who get lost easily! Though I agree with your idea of making the world have lots of distinct landmarks, that would be helpful too.
-->Played a bit of Fallout 4 -- checked out my new mod, "More Grind-Free Game Settings," and yes, my precious crafting stations are unlocked! I couldn't actually BUILD any at the settlement I was at -- didn't have enough materials -- but it is nice to see them NOT locked behind "Local Leader" Level 2. Let my low-Charisma Victor make cooking stations, damn it! The actual meat of my playthrough was building a house for Terrence, one of my Settlers of the Commonwealth who now lives at GrayGarden with the Handies there (prefab shack with a bed, chair, and some decorations; I also added an outhouse outside), then doing a bit of exploring and clearing the super mutants out of Fraternal Post 115 (which is an interesting spot on the map, as it will mention a male Sole Survivor (or Nate if you're playing the female one) by name on a terminal referencing the speech he was supposed to give the day the bombs dropped, and there's a microphone on the stage you can activate to say the famous "War. . .war never changes" line). Good times -- it's nice to just putz around and kill some enemies in the game sometimes. :P
-->Got in a workout on the bike, watching some QI clips on the new TV down there -- gotta say, the workout feels like it goes faster and easier when you're not forced to either stare at a blank wall or the bike screen with the clock! Yay exercise~
-->Started edits on Chapter 12 of "Secundus 2," beefing up Victor finally getting over his fears about turning into a monster via deciding that Barkis will face proper justice instead of just killing him himself (which, frankly, no one could blame him for at this point). Barkis is naturally confused by all this, but you don't have to understand, buddy -- you just have to sit down and take it. :p Chapter's only about six, seven pages long, so this should be a pretty quick one to wrap up and post! We hope, anyway!
-->Did my queue for the Valice Multiverse (NOT drowning in anon questions, whew!), and I'm currently getting some of my pictures sorted for my Newcrest Adventures update on Wednesday. Also naturally need to answer my comment on DW.
Aaaand that's about it. Nothing too exciting, but that's fine with me. Need a day of calm before I head back into the world for work tomorrow. Guts are behaving themselves, and my breathing is fine, so whatever went through me, it seems to be good now. (I'm starting to think it was just portion sizes with the pizza I ate the night before or something. Body trying to clear the way. Just gotta be a little more mindful of that, I guess!) Back to the grind. . .hopefully without too much stress. Just gotta keep moving forward, honestly. And remembering that this week I also asked for another day off. :p Hey, I struggled through work alone for months -- I think I'm okay to get a few extra days here and there now!
Anyway -- time to wrap things up, then head to bed. Hopefully it's not raining in the morning. Night all!
Despite that, though, I had a good, if very low-key day -- spent most of it reading tumblr blogs and poking around AO3 fics, if I'm honest. Or TV Tropes. It was kind of a day for sitting around on your bum just looking at words. But I did get a few other things done:
-->Watched a bit of YouTubery:
A) Yup, more ProZD mini-clips:
1. A quick vid on the fact that "social media" (aka, in this particular video, Twitter), for some reason, thinks we want anything but the ability to read our friends' posts in chronological order. * deep, weary, understanding sigh* Damn algorithms. . .
2. And oh, look at that, a video on tumblr! It's actually from 2018 and specifically references the ridiculous pornography ban that didn't actually take care of any of the porn bots but did happily tag random innocuous pictures (I suffered that with my Sims stuff – one of my female characters wandering around in lingerie is fine, but a couple of my male characters hanging out at the library is baaaaad). Sometimes you gotta wonder why the site still exists and why we keep using it. . . (Me, I'm hard to convince to change and it does still provide a decent way for me to show off Sim updates and babble on about my Valice AUs.)
3. And just to keep the theme going, a video about complaining on Twitter to companies who have wronged you (with a special emphasis on having the "verified" blue checkmark, which apparently makes you a big deal). Very over the top XD
B) Decided to switch to Fallout vids after that, with a video from Many A True Nerd about the upcoming Fallout TV series! Yeah, apparently this is going to be a thing. MATN had a few opinions on how he thinks the series should go (Vault Dweller protag on the West Coast; timeline somewhere in between Fallout 2 and Fallout New Vegas, during the NCR/Brotherhood war; include some of the best bits from all the series, like tracking down a synth infiltrator or rescuing a super mutant who becomes your friend; make sure it's shown that the pre-War world was pretty shitty despite the shiny plastic appearance). He wasn't afraid to say that they should tweak the timeline and everything either, which didn't exactly make him popular with some of the commenters. XD Personally, I think his initial guess – that they might just straight up try to adapt Fallout 4, which has the protagonists with the most settled backstory and a plot already well-suited for a series – find my kid – is probably right, but I personally would like them to explore a part of the US that we haven't seen at all, or at least not in a while. You could redeem yourselves when it comes to the Midwest and Texas, guys. . . (For those not in the know, those are the locations of the two spinoff games, BoS Tatics and just plain Brotherhood of Steel – the former is kind of liked, the latter is the one nobody talks about. XD)
C) And then I watched another video from him about what he thinks would make the perfect Fallout game – specifically, he listed two things he liked from each of the main titles, and one thing he didn't, with the view of "let's keep/bring back the former and ditch the latter." I of course can't speak for most of the things he mentioned, because I have played one main-line Fallout game (and Fallout Shelter, but that hardly counts here), but I agree mostly with his thoughts on Fallout 4 – weapon modding (though I'd say modding in general, as the armor upgrades are good too) and settlement building are pretty darn good; the dialogue system was not handled well (I mean, it works for ME, but I do look at the dialogue options I see in other games and sigh a little). I argue against his desire to remove quest markers though – dude, we gotta have SOMETHING for those of us who get lost easily! Though I agree with your idea of making the world have lots of distinct landmarks, that would be helpful too.
-->Played a bit of Fallout 4 -- checked out my new mod, "More Grind-Free Game Settings," and yes, my precious crafting stations are unlocked! I couldn't actually BUILD any at the settlement I was at -- didn't have enough materials -- but it is nice to see them NOT locked behind "Local Leader" Level 2. Let my low-Charisma Victor make cooking stations, damn it! The actual meat of my playthrough was building a house for Terrence, one of my Settlers of the Commonwealth who now lives at GrayGarden with the Handies there (prefab shack with a bed, chair, and some decorations; I also added an outhouse outside), then doing a bit of exploring and clearing the super mutants out of Fraternal Post 115 (which is an interesting spot on the map, as it will mention a male Sole Survivor (or Nate if you're playing the female one) by name on a terminal referencing the speech he was supposed to give the day the bombs dropped, and there's a microphone on the stage you can activate to say the famous "War. . .war never changes" line). Good times -- it's nice to just putz around and kill some enemies in the game sometimes. :P
-->Got in a workout on the bike, watching some QI clips on the new TV down there -- gotta say, the workout feels like it goes faster and easier when you're not forced to either stare at a blank wall or the bike screen with the clock! Yay exercise~
-->Started edits on Chapter 12 of "Secundus 2," beefing up Victor finally getting over his fears about turning into a monster via deciding that Barkis will face proper justice instead of just killing him himself (which, frankly, no one could blame him for at this point). Barkis is naturally confused by all this, but you don't have to understand, buddy -- you just have to sit down and take it. :p Chapter's only about six, seven pages long, so this should be a pretty quick one to wrap up and post! We hope, anyway!
-->Did my queue for the Valice Multiverse (NOT drowning in anon questions, whew!), and I'm currently getting some of my pictures sorted for my Newcrest Adventures update on Wednesday. Also naturally need to answer my comment on DW.
Aaaand that's about it. Nothing too exciting, but that's fine with me. Need a day of calm before I head back into the world for work tomorrow. Guts are behaving themselves, and my breathing is fine, so whatever went through me, it seems to be good now. (I'm starting to think it was just portion sizes with the pizza I ate the night before or something. Body trying to clear the way. Just gotta be a little more mindful of that, I guess!) Back to the grind. . .hopefully without too much stress. Just gotta keep moving forward, honestly. And remembering that this week I also asked for another day off. :p Hey, I struggled through work alone for months -- I think I'm okay to get a few extra days here and there now!
Anyway -- time to wrap things up, then head to bed. Hopefully it's not raining in the morning. Night all!
