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Another Very Meh Friday
Jan. 5th, 2024 11:55 pmLike, it wasn't ALL bad, but the start of the day was such that my mood took a while to recover. :( It being super cold did not help matters. . .but here's the meat and potatoes of my Friday --
Work – Welp, the traffic going in today was EVEN MORE MISERABLE than it was on Wednesday. Some form of road construction (which was cleared up by the time I got there) turned the highway I used into a parking lot and made me a half-hour late for work. >.< And then, after I finally got there and completed the GL, I discovered more credit-card-related stupidity that needs to be fixed. *heavy sigh* Most of the rest of the day was okay – mostly spent doing roster maintenance – but those two things really did wreck my mood. And having to listen to my coworkers talk about reality TV did not help matters. *sigh* At least I’m out for the weekend now.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – last night on the bike this week, focusing on some Baldur’s Gate III-themed videos –
A) “BALDURS GATE 3 Stealth + Summon Only Challenge Is Broken - BDG3 Is A Perfectly Balanced Game” by The Spiffing Brit! From three years ago, because this was Spiff playing the Early Access version (which was – rather less pretty and rather more glitchy than the version that Officially Released in 2023 XD)! This video focused on Spiff’s Lightfoot Halfing Ranger Chedder Cheese (who was appropriately orange) and showing off some fun ways to break the game – namely, by abusing summons to look for traps for you (as they got their own Perception checks in that version of the game; not sure about the current one), and by using the “Dash” and “Hide” mechanics to confound your enemies (showing Astarion standing on a high platform above some githyanki warriors, using Dash to get to the edge, shooting them with his bow, then hurrying back to where he was and using Hide to, well, hide – the confused AI didn’t even try to figure out where he is, instead just standing in place and letting him pick them off like fish in a barrel. To complete the metaphor Spiff then showed how you could flood the area by rapidly clicking on a nearby water pump XD). As Spiff was given his copy of the Early Access game by the studio, I suspect that they were hoping he’d pull exactly this shit so they’d know what to patch out. XD An interesting look at what the Early Access build looked like, and of course Spiff breaking games is always fun. :p Plus I’m pretty sure he has a modern-era BG3 video to check out at some point too. . .
B) “Baldur's Gate 3: Christmas Gift - An Animated Short” by Larian Studios themselves – a cute Christmas-themed short showing most of the Origin characters relaxing at a tavern for the holidays, only for Wyll to show up and insist they help this old man in a red cloak up a treacherous mountain. The guy let them reach into his magic sack for their hearts’ desire in reward – Wyll got a signed pin-up picture of his patron Mizora, while Karlach got infernal engine oil. And then while they were dealing with the disappointment, Lae’zel and Astarion discovered the “jolly old elf” had in fact slaughtered a bunch of elves and reindeer that he’d been traveling with. The gang proceeded to kick his ass, get real presents (Astarion ganked his robe) and enjoy the holiday. All to promote the game being released on the XBox (it had been delayed on that console because they had to make sure it worked without the multiplayer mode). Fun stuff! XD
C) And, since I had just a couple of minutes left after that, I just rewatched Astarion asking Gale for a loan and Us being adorable. :)
2. Continue writing “Start At The Beginning. . .Sort Of”: Check – Alice has delivered soup to Victor, who – after refusing to partake in any of Smiler’s Joy Serum (even after Smiler told him he didn’t really have to stick himself with the needle, it’s a pneumatic design – which the Smiler Inoculator apparently really is!) – is currently telling them how he’s somehow married to a ghost, and what the world looks like on the other side of the ghost field (weird, basically). He’s going to get through a bit more of this explanation and a bit more soup before Emily shows up, and then the real fun starts. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – just GrayStillPlays again this evening, with “Perfectly replicating the healthcare system,” aka Gray plays Hospital Simulator Doctor Game! This was a horrible mobile game about a hospital, where you played as various patients getting treatment, and occasionally the doctors and nurses giving the treatments. Most of the Unity assets for the people either looked creepy as shit or didn’t match; the dialogue was worded like it had been run through a few rounds of Google Translate; most of the STAFF models were laying in the beds in the emergency room, twitching every so often; and problems to solve involved diagnosing a man with a kidney stone (via X-Ray), helping to realign a girl’s broken leg (after her MRI), checking out a tiny man’s cavity (in his teeth) in the Dental Office (no filling, just fluoride gel and a mouthwash), and ever so slightly lowering a boy’s fever with completely random medicines. Basically, this terrible mess was the dream GrayStillPlays mobile game. XD You gotta love the broken crap that he highlights sometimes!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check –
Victor Luvs Alice – Finished up sorting out the pictures for the next Chill Valicer Save update, covering Egg Day at Moonwood Mill! Plus the mini-updates I did to the house before I got my latest packs. Eighty-five pictures all together – yikes. O.o This is why I switched to doing these updates every OTHER week.
Valice Multiverse – Nothing going on here, so I put the CB Victor gifset I found earlier and some A:MR fanart into the queue for tomorrow. *shrug* Something!
And now it is time for me to head to bed and see how well I weather this stormy weekend. . . .pun not intended. :p As for tomorrow, it's a non-cleaning Saturday, so I'll be spending the pre-lunch period working on my Chill Valicer Save drafts on Victor Luvs Alice, and then either playing Sims 4 (and helping my trio complete their New Year's Resolutions) or Baldur's Gate III (and getting Smiler further into the story. . .if I don't restart to install a patch to smooth out an XP valley my friend Squid told me about); keeping up with GrayStillPlays and hopefully clearing some stuff out of my Watch Later; and doing the second pass on Moose's gift fic. *nods* Should all be doable -- night all!
Work – Welp, the traffic going in today was EVEN MORE MISERABLE than it was on Wednesday. Some form of road construction (which was cleared up by the time I got there) turned the highway I used into a parking lot and made me a half-hour late for work. >.< And then, after I finally got there and completed the GL, I discovered more credit-card-related stupidity that needs to be fixed. *heavy sigh* Most of the rest of the day was okay – mostly spent doing roster maintenance – but those two things really did wreck my mood. And having to listen to my coworkers talk about reality TV did not help matters. *sigh* At least I’m out for the weekend now.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – last night on the bike this week, focusing on some Baldur’s Gate III-themed videos –
A) “BALDURS GATE 3 Stealth + Summon Only Challenge Is Broken - BDG3 Is A Perfectly Balanced Game” by The Spiffing Brit! From three years ago, because this was Spiff playing the Early Access version (which was – rather less pretty and rather more glitchy than the version that Officially Released in 2023 XD)! This video focused on Spiff’s Lightfoot Halfing Ranger Chedder Cheese (who was appropriately orange) and showing off some fun ways to break the game – namely, by abusing summons to look for traps for you (as they got their own Perception checks in that version of the game; not sure about the current one), and by using the “Dash” and “Hide” mechanics to confound your enemies (showing Astarion standing on a high platform above some githyanki warriors, using Dash to get to the edge, shooting them with his bow, then hurrying back to where he was and using Hide to, well, hide – the confused AI didn’t even try to figure out where he is, instead just standing in place and letting him pick them off like fish in a barrel. To complete the metaphor Spiff then showed how you could flood the area by rapidly clicking on a nearby water pump XD). As Spiff was given his copy of the Early Access game by the studio, I suspect that they were hoping he’d pull exactly this shit so they’d know what to patch out. XD An interesting look at what the Early Access build looked like, and of course Spiff breaking games is always fun. :p Plus I’m pretty sure he has a modern-era BG3 video to check out at some point too. . .
B) “Baldur's Gate 3: Christmas Gift - An Animated Short” by Larian Studios themselves – a cute Christmas-themed short showing most of the Origin characters relaxing at a tavern for the holidays, only for Wyll to show up and insist they help this old man in a red cloak up a treacherous mountain. The guy let them reach into his magic sack for their hearts’ desire in reward – Wyll got a signed pin-up picture of his patron Mizora, while Karlach got infernal engine oil. And then while they were dealing with the disappointment, Lae’zel and Astarion discovered the “jolly old elf” had in fact slaughtered a bunch of elves and reindeer that he’d been traveling with. The gang proceeded to kick his ass, get real presents (Astarion ganked his robe) and enjoy the holiday. All to promote the game being released on the XBox (it had been delayed on that console because they had to make sure it worked without the multiplayer mode). Fun stuff! XD
C) And, since I had just a couple of minutes left after that, I just rewatched Astarion asking Gale for a loan and Us being adorable. :)
2. Continue writing “Start At The Beginning. . .Sort Of”: Check – Alice has delivered soup to Victor, who – after refusing to partake in any of Smiler’s Joy Serum (even after Smiler told him he didn’t really have to stick himself with the needle, it’s a pneumatic design – which the Smiler Inoculator apparently really is!) – is currently telling them how he’s somehow married to a ghost, and what the world looks like on the other side of the ghost field (weird, basically). He’s going to get through a bit more of this explanation and a bit more soup before Emily shows up, and then the real fun starts. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – just GrayStillPlays again this evening, with “Perfectly replicating the healthcare system,” aka Gray plays Hospital Simulator Doctor Game! This was a horrible mobile game about a hospital, where you played as various patients getting treatment, and occasionally the doctors and nurses giving the treatments. Most of the Unity assets for the people either looked creepy as shit or didn’t match; the dialogue was worded like it had been run through a few rounds of Google Translate; most of the STAFF models were laying in the beds in the emergency room, twitching every so often; and problems to solve involved diagnosing a man with a kidney stone (via X-Ray), helping to realign a girl’s broken leg (after her MRI), checking out a tiny man’s cavity (in his teeth) in the Dental Office (no filling, just fluoride gel and a mouthwash), and ever so slightly lowering a boy’s fever with completely random medicines. Basically, this terrible mess was the dream GrayStillPlays mobile game. XD You gotta love the broken crap that he highlights sometimes!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check –
Victor Luvs Alice – Finished up sorting out the pictures for the next Chill Valicer Save update, covering Egg Day at Moonwood Mill! Plus the mini-updates I did to the house before I got my latest packs. Eighty-five pictures all together – yikes. O.o This is why I switched to doing these updates every OTHER week.
Valice Multiverse – Nothing going on here, so I put the CB Victor gifset I found earlier and some A:MR fanart into the queue for tomorrow. *shrug* Something!
And now it is time for me to head to bed and see how well I weather this stormy weekend. . . .pun not intended. :p As for tomorrow, it's a non-cleaning Saturday, so I'll be spending the pre-lunch period working on my Chill Valicer Save drafts on Victor Luvs Alice, and then either playing Sims 4 (and helping my trio complete their New Year's Resolutions) or Baldur's Gate III (and getting Smiler further into the story. . .if I don't restart to install a patch to smooth out an XP valley my friend Squid told me about); keeping up with GrayStillPlays and hopefully clearing some stuff out of my Watch Later; and doing the second pass on Moose's gift fic. *nods* Should all be doable -- night all!
