Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@Ravix I have far too much time to think up stuff like this!
It took me a few posts to figure out who it was.

@AgentCooper Appreciate it 😄 Hope you and the fam are keeping well!

im binge watching breezing through old seasons 1-3 of Game Chasers.

darn shame that the Sights and Sounds store in Arlington permamently closed.

also Regina was kind of a nagging b**** back then. saying stuff like box of useless crap. lady, please. there's women your age that collects useless crap like dolls and precious moments and whatever else

There's an analogy to be made, about the structure of my mind and "two-headed dragon". The two heads, are, Free Jazz (in the middle, representing chaos) ,whilst the other represents order and corresponds to my Samurai-build focused video games. You could possibly add on a second "head" for psychology, with regard to the time I give volunteering a few times a week, in the field of mental health, but yeah ,probably two or three, let's say three "dragon heads", Chaos in the middle, with Order on either side. The body may encompass my other interests, Literature, Other forms of Music, Art and Film/TV, which are secondary to my primary interests and "at the back of my mind". In another sense, the Samurai-builds in games are like the "spine" or "structured support" of my being, maintaing focus in a more ordered direction, whilst the free jazz chaos swirls all about me. Keeping me grounded, whilst I plunge into the waters of free jazz guitar, in my personal playing.

@Hapless Hey man, how're you doing? Just a thought, given that you are a self-described Manga fanatic, I wondered whether you had ever considered writing or drawing one of your own, or perhaps creating one in collaboration with someone else, such as a friend or fellow student/professional colleague?

@Hapless No problem. No, I'm not creative in the visual sense, although I have been to a few art classes and got complimented for my 'unique' style. But, no, more of a music person when it comes to creativity, I used to write a lot when I was younger but, like you, drifted away from that and more towards music in my teens and from then onwards I have always played music in some capacity, on and off.

@Hapless I actually didn't. I got a bit put-off by the fact that he uses a specialised type of 'matchlock gun' ,rather than a tradtional katana or Nagakiba, a bit pedantic I know, but hey! Let me know if it's any good if you get round to it yourself, and I might reconsider. 😃

@Th3solution Your comment about the movie Logan, with regard to it potentially being similar to the upcoming Wolverine game, sent me down a rabbit hole of sorts, Sol, as I hadn't heard of the movie, before. I recently purchased and read the graphic novel, Wolverine: Old Man Logan ,which I thought was very good, and I intend to watch the movie soon, within the next few days hopefully, in anticipation of possibly playing the game next year. I love the archetypal nature of an aging superhero, coming back for one last ride into battle before heading off into the sunset, and the movie's alleged influence from Westerns and more gritty, realistic and mature take on the character intrigued me.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Nice! You’ll have to let me know how you like the movie and if you think it holds up to the graphic novel. I’m due a rewatch also, so I might just do that.

@Th3solution Definitely, I'll let you know what I think of it. Also, how is your BG3 playthrough going?

And I saw that you are interested in playing Ghost of Yotei, but aren't sure when you'll pick it, I've got it in my Calendar of goes to play, also, so our playthrough times might overlap, in that regard.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN BG3 is going well, my friend. I lost a little momentum in Act 3, but am still adoring the game. This final stretch of the game is quite complex and several plot threads are crossing over and coming to a head, so there’s just a lot going on in it. I have so many quests open and unresolved and it’s a wee bit overwhelming. One of my turn-offs for games is when they throw too much at you all at once, and it’s what made me fall off some other otherwise great games (like Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition, Yakuza 0, to name a few). I struggle if there’s too many activities and/or open quests, especially if the quests are complicated or have specific time-bound criteria or multiple steps to get through to come to completion.

Anyway, I’m not going to fall off BG3, but the pacing has been good up to this point and now it feels a little hectic, like on my way to solve one questline I run across three more on the way. Fortunately the game keeps a nice quest log updated regularly so it’s easy to keep up with what needs to be done. Still, there’s a very small spark of a feeling of it being a chore to get through some of the quests. The game allows you to completely skip any content you want and just engage with the main story if you want, but I’ve made it this far and invested a lot of time in some of these characters and factions of people, so I feel obligated to see it all through to completion. Just wish it didn’t all rise to a crescendo all at once. 😅

I do have a little FOMO for Ghost of Yotei, but I’ll be waiting until I clear some space in the gaming schedule. The game looks great though. And for a samurai enthusiast like you, it must seem very appealing. Depending when you get around to it, we might be tackling it around the same time. For me it will honestly be several months hence. Probably not until early to mid 2026. But I reserve the right to change my schedule at any time! If I wait too long then I might have the uncomfortable dilemma of having to choose between playing it or Wolverine. 😄

I know there are quite a lot of UK residents on here and probably quite a few globetrotters as well, so I thought I'd ask: does anyone have any recommendations for good restaurants and bars in Manchester?
I'm heading over for a long Halloween-weekend to see The Birthday Massacre live along with a mate and, while I've been there once before a good few years back, none of us are all that familiar with the city.
On the bar front, we're too old for places you have to scream yourself hoarse to be heard over the music; laid back atmosphere is what we're all about. Restaurant wise we'll eat pretty much anything, but neither of us are all that keen on super upscale places with stifling atmosphere and insane prices.

Anyone have any tips?

Anyone else occasionally do those surveys they get sent by email for Sony? I just did one all about media apps. It seemed to be trying to garner what would incentivize using media apps through the PS5. For me I couldn't see the point of powering up and using an additional electronic devise to do something my TV does very well on it's own. Ticked loads of boxes to basically say the PS5 is, and would be, an unnecessary extra step.
Not sure what benefits Sony to try and expand media app usage? 🤷‍♂️

@BearsEatBeets Using media apps through my TV works poorly with my A/V setup due to limitations with the eArc of my TV/screen, so running media apps from my PS5 where sound goes directly through the receiver is a far better experience for me. As such I would love to see more media apps available on the PS5 as today's selection is missing quite a few I use.

@FuriousMachine Hopefully this survey signifies a move towards that then. There was mention of plenty of apps I've never even heard of.

@BearsEatBeets @FuriousMachine Yeah, we used BBC iplayer, Channel 4, Netflix, Disney+ all through the PS5 as it seems to run the mostly smoothly that way.

We actually kept the PS4 plugged in for quite a while after getting the PS5 purely because it took so long for the iplayer app to come to the latest console!

@BearsEatBeets Sounds like it, so fingers crossed

@Thrillho Yeah, I did the same - took a while for some of the local apps to make their way to the new console here as well. And I'm still waiting for a couple to make an appearance.

I have finally joined the world of 4K. My LG t.v. I bought about 10 years ago had it's day, the backlight was going and it had a blue tint at times, most things were barely visible this week no matter what adjustments I made.

Now I have to go back and watch stuff and play stuff just because of how vibrant the picture quality is and the level of detail that shines through. Almost like viewing entirely different movies/games.

@Elfuggingjefe I'm looking forward to getting stuck in front of it later tonight and tomorrow. But treating my Mrs to a meal out and Blackphone 2 at the cinema later this afternoon, then brunch and some shopping tomorrow. Hopefully pick up some new books/blu-rays for myself too.

@Elfuggingjefe I've heard good things. Will let you know what I think in the movie thread later. Have a great weekend.