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Louelle, Scout Specialist Technical Exterminator
Date [standardized human time]: August 31, 2136
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Limna was right where I left her. She was sitting hunched over the interface of our transportation vessel, and as we entered, she twitched her ear toward us.
- His sacrifice was in vain - she said in a somber tone, her slumped posture still facing the main holo. - They won’t even look at the evidence.
Within the corner of my vision, I saw Pilipin's face return to normal. Anger slowly washed away from his features, and instead confusion began to take its place. Perplexed, he signaled me with his tail to clarify. I took the hint and pointed my claw at the screens that displayed various camera feeds, and he quickly noticed that one with the feed from the meeting room camera was dark. He was also quick to add things up, and with this new realization, a spark of resentment flashed in his eye. With one hand, Pilipin slipped off the human-made colorful attire and considered its weight.
- Well then, why won’t you look at the evidence yourself! - He shouted and flung the dream catcher away, in the general direction of the female Venlil.
The moment she recognized Pilipin's voice, Limna quickly spun around in her chair to face us. Unfortunately, the offending rag caught her by surprise as it zipped past her and, with a muffled splat, landed right next to her.
- You’re alive! But we… what is this thing? - She started asking questions as her eyes flicked from Pilipin to the prismatic garment stuck to the bottom of the screen. - What happened? - Finally, Limna asked the question that actually mattered.
- First things first. Louelle, check if you can somewhat ‘burry’ our submission, preferably deep - Pilipin ordered and pointed the main terminal with his tail.
Without further ado, I went to the ship console to unceremoniously unseat the confused civilian. Limna, sensing what I was just about to do, scooted from her seat and observed as I reviewed the last snapshot of the message resync tool.
- And you! – Pilipin caught Limna's attention once more. - You will answer a very important question.
I got myself busy checking system registers but still overheard everything they were discussing.
- What translation method have you implemented for the conversation with the savage? - he asked with the utmost self-control.
- The t-text t-translation for both sides was managed by the built-in Dict-o-box. It-t was managed by your own holopad with an updated human language library - she responded after a moment of thought. - I found out the app defaults to that option when it detects latency spikes, or in our case, when I proxied your conversation, so…
- Defaults from what – Pilipin caught a detail, and I had to stop my work to listen to Limna's answer.
- You have to understand that the conversation through the app is not E2EE – she started going more into technical details while Pilipin went back to retrieve his holopad from the cabinet. - It goes through a third party monitor, in our case, me, and an online context broker for some fancy smart functionality.
- Stuff me and hand me over to the Grays – I groaned and covered my face in my claws, shocked by the information she omitted about such a crucial component in her ‘hack’.
- Excuse me? - she asked at a loss from my reaction.
- Dealing with languages without a translation model Dict-o-box communicates with its servers to provide information to update or create that model, in response, it receives a frame of reference data – I stated the obvious. - Pilipin, do you remember the screw ups with the first Yotul recruits, sir? - I asked Pilipin as he came back with his holopad in hand. He groaned and winced as probably memories of the fuck-ups those backwater primitives caused flooded his mind.
- Well, it looks like now I’m on the opposite end of the shit sitck – he commented about his situation and motioned with his tail for Limna to come with him.
- Alright. Louelle, you do you, and Limna, you’re coming with me. As I understand it, this context translation function works fine on verbal translation implants, right? - Pilipin asked her, and I didn’t hear a yes, but right after the question, he continued. - Great, we’ll have a quick voice-to-text experiment in the back, and then, considering the output, I’ll decide what to do next - the sound of closing sleeping cabin doors was what I heard next.
Right, let’s focus back on the report.
Logs cleared. Registers overridden. I left no trace of sending anything from this shuttle. Now to login with my credentials, and maybe I’ll even be able to revoke the predator attack report completely before it gets processed further down the pipeline.
Where in deep hell is it? Why is there no ID with the right time signature? It was automatically rejected? Why?
I reread the automatic reply in my mind, as this was the first time I saw this kind of flag attached to a report.
Now this is just treason.
The line was supposed to take into consideration all signs and reports of predatory behavior, but judging from the reply attached to it, that policy has recently changed.
"Due to the increasing amount of false positive sightings and reports of human ‘true nature’ all new submissions regarding human predatory behaviors have been temporarily suspended. We suggest rereading the ministerial pamphlet ‘Social predators and you’ on human conduct and practices or trying to consult the issue on your holopad with a dedicated human volunteer to resolve the problem."
Kicking back in the chair, I loosen up and let my mind wander.
That’s one problem out of mind, but damn. You can’t even file a formal complaint against them. This is it! The conquerors must be bribing the corrupt and tricking the single-minded, if not to eat them, then surely to slowly subjugate and enslave the Venlil population.
Lost in my musings, I faintly noticed the stifled laughs and shouting coming from the cabin until the door flung open to the side.
- NO! I don’t believe it! I don’t want to! - Pilipin was shouting as he exited the small cabin, gripping his holopad tightly in his hand, while Limna giggled, her laughter emanating from the inside.
Oooh, he’s really pissed.
The officer's short cut fur was standing up on its ends; you could see the gray, undyed undercoat poking from underneath. His tail was low and lashing, restlessly bouncing from end to end of the metal doorframe. Face orange with embarrassment and rage, eyes frantically looking for something to set on down finally stopped on me.
- Just... tell... me – he stated, huffing with rage. - You somehow managed to 'unexist' the report completely.
- Ye-s. It was… it has been dealt with – I replayed, not bothering to explain and enrage him further.
- Great. That’s a good thing. One good thing – he repeated, slowly cooling his emotions. - The camera room footage? - Pilipin asked while walking to my station.
Flicking the security app back to life made the feed appear on the second screen beside me… the one that got slightly obstructed by the rainbow garment stuck to its surface.
NOPE! I’m not touching that. Not now, not ever.
In the room, there was a lone Sivkit in a janitor uniform, sitting in an office chair similar to the one I was in. Judging from his posture, it was evident he wasn’t cut for the job, as he was drifting into sleep from time to time, bobbing his head up and down as the urge to take a nap got the better of him.
- Competent as the pair we met before – I murmured, resisting the urge to check the clinic feed. - It seems the footage is stored locally and deletes itself after a few rotations.
Fiddling and scrolling past the system logs back by date and not finding anything older than two standard cycles confirmed my suspicions that the station had limited storage space for recordings.
- I think it’s best we leave it alone and let it remove itself. Our meddling would draw further unwanted attention – I continued my thoughts to Pilipin as he watched the substitute operator's ineptitude to do his job proficiently with visible relief.
- Alright. Let’s just hope this won’t come back and bite us in the rear - he concluded. - That leaves us with only one problem remaining – he added, leaning on the console and crossing his arms over his chest. - The one waiting for us outside.
- Oh, come on! - Limna suddenly materialized behind me, shouting her opinion. - You’re going to dump him after you get the best lick of your life only because he doesn’t fit your narrative?
Glancing at my colleague, I was certain to find him infuriated again by that statement, but instead he got lost in his reverie, brooding at her words and glancing in the direction of the bulkhead doors.
You can’t be serious?!
- Well, I do have to confess that, for me, he did pass the empathy test… orally. – Pilipin then took a deep breath, probably ready to surrender further to his temptations, but instead his features suddenly changed.
It was clear as daylight that the Venlil officer had figured something out, and soon he shared his idea with newfound confidence.
- Alright, Joe said he wants some good time? I’ll show him some good time – said the trapper exterminator as a mischievous smile crept on his face. - I’ll give him the best time of his life. In return, we’ll have the opportunity to see his true colors and maybe gain access to some of the restricted data on humans.
That was a solid argument to keep the predator close despite the dangers it would carry. When working with humans at the space port, the translator's notifications were often labeled not safe for life or restricted. Some of the information that crept up during their conversations that the translator software picked up was even fully censored, or access to it was strictly denied.
- Pilipin, after all of this, do you seriously still think they are some kind of evil conquerors? - Limna asked, her shoulders slumped and her tail slightly cocked in disbelief.
- In one way or another...– he replied, and started to tap something on his holo.
A moment passed in silence as we were waiting for him to further expand on his statement. Instead, we were startled by the sound of metal scraping against metal, which was immediately followed by a loud thumping on the shuttle doors.
- The handle won’t budge! – A muffled, low growl emanated from the outside.
- Leave the handle alone! It’s for emergency use only! - shouted Pilipin, who rushed to assist by opening the door from the inside.
The officer pushed the big red button next to the entrance and almost immediately jumped away from a brown mass that assaulted him the moment they opened. I was too surprised to move, but Limna scampered back to the cabin, tripping on the raised doorstep and tumbling inside. The other thing that soon tumbled through, although a different pair, was Joe. Having the unfortunate benefit of watching all of this unfold from the comfort of a seated position, I observed the meat eater flop on top of his enormous backpack face-first.
- I suggest we tie him up for the trip – I stated my concerns as the clumsy excuse of a predator regained his composure and started lifting himself off the floor. – For safety reasons – I quickly added as Joe's gaze settled on me with killing intent.
- Is rope bondage just a big friendship bracelet for your kind, or is this just you? – Joe humored my concerns and started checking his traveling duffle, probably for any rips and tears.
- Ha hah ha! Go ahead, officer, cuff him. You’ll just get him more horny – Limna added her own criticism, peaking her ears from the cabin.
- Enough! All of you! - Pilipin ended our dispute before it would even begin and motioned with his tail for his acquaintance to come out. - Joe, this is Limna. Limna, that’s Joe.
Although I dislike being the butt of someone's jokes, the female Venlil came out relaxed from this short exchange of humor. Still, she approached with her ears perked up and pointed to the dangerous predator in front of her.
- Hi. Joseph Savage, or Joe for short – he spoke and hunched over, stretching his hand forward.
- H-h-hello. Limna... – she introduced herself in return, unsure what to do with the human appendage practically shoved in her face.
- That’s a human greeting – I threw my experience in, probably saving her from any faux pas before she would come to any stupid conclusions... like maybe licking it. - You’re supposed to shake it.
She then proceeded to grip it with both of her hands and shake it in all directions.
Close enough.
- Great, now Limna here works in the PID. She will register you with the Magestratta. For the time being, your address of permanent residence will be assigned to my flat. She will handle the required paperwork on our way back – Pilipin reviled his plan. - Just follow Limna to the cabin and be a good predator. Don’t try anything stupid, you hear? - he added, pointing his finger to the predator's face.
- Sure thing, I remember orientations. Rule 8 includes ‘no petting without consent’ – Joe apologetically replied while Limna blushed orange on her face. - Although I thought it applied to different kinds of petting.
- The… WHAT? - Limna voiced her concerns, embarrassed by the lewd definitions the translation implant bombarded her vision with.
- That’s rule 73 for you – the predator quipped, quickly blinking with one eye at the female Venlil.
The human straightened himself, looked down upon the Venlil pair in front of him, and shook his head from side to side, letting out a small chuckle.
- Before I met my chew toy here in person, I thought you just didn’t like scritches. Now I think the guidelines have more to do with you keeping your dignity and not leaving an embarrassing snail trail on every pet person's lap you meet than…
- OUT! Git! - the officer yelled, his face orange with rage and embarrassment, not wanting to hear more about the depravity of his kind. - Go and fill out the bumfodder! - He shouted, probably not wanting to face more of the predator's lewd claims.
- Alright, alright! No need to go into super cheeto mode for this – Joe quickly came back on his comedy act – Ok, let's go fill them out.
We eyed the human being led to the cabin by Limna and felt relief as we soon heard the bureaucrat's first-line support interview questions.
Seething from the insult toward their kind, Pilipin walked back to the ship doors and closed them, pushing the button with a little more force than was normally required.
- Let’s go home, Louelle – he said with a sigh. - I need a cold shower.
I’m all for that, sir...
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INFO:

1. I found an engine, yay!
2. The series will continue somewhere in July under a different name. I heard there is a post for writers on this Discord app, so I'll have to check it out before committing more to it.
3. I'll like to thank Quill bot for grammar checks, KoboldAI for assistance in writing, TavernAI for a place where I could talk to Pilipin, Limna, Louelle, and all the other characters, and most importantly, this NSFW community for their patience and understanding. Without your comments, I would just keep their adventures on my drive, never to be seen by anyone.

Hi, I'm new here having just discovered what the term "truscum" means after a good ass whooping on the blue bird website for something I said.
I do have a lot of disdain for people who are "transtrender" (pardon if this word is not permitted here) and adopt the trans identity for the sake of clicks and likes. I believe that what should determine a trans person is the presence of dysphoria. To me that is close to the dictionary definition of dysphoria, which is a desire to have a gender that is not the one assigned at birth, be it enby, ace or the opposite gender.
I am curious to know what constitutes dysphoria. The term "transmed" sounds like the bar is higher to me and I wonder how do others feel as well when ask what constitutes gender dysphoria?
View Poll

Last night this dude legit throws a ring at me but I caught it and was like “wtf no way?” - then he pulls out a two page contract and tells me I need to read it because it will “put all your worries at rest”. Yep! That’s the proposal.
I’m 35F he’s 65M and he wants to “take care of me” until he dies. He’s not super wealthy but his parents are on their deathbeds and they have some money and land and despite the age difference we do have fun together. We go out frequently and have take trips together. However it’s nothing sexual on my end, even though he constantly tries. We don’t really kiss, but just have a good hug at the end of our hangouts.
Apparently he wrote out a “marriage agreement” before our last date specifying certain things like what’s below. AGAIN HE WROTE THIS; I HAD NO INPUT.

• he will provide for me and if I want to work I can but it would no longer be necessary because he can pay the bills with his jobs (this sounds nice but I make more than he does with my 3 business but I think he just means I can quit my corporate job which would be dope)
  
• he can ask for sex but I can deny it and that I am under no obligation to have sex with him at any time despite his desires
  
• he will “not be a burden” to me and if his health deteriorates then I can back out of the marriage —- this one seems weird to me and I think I would not be able to just back away from a dying man despite our love being different for each other but whatever
  
• I can pursue other relationships with women. He knows I prefer women and doesn’t want me to feel like I’m tied down to a man that I’m not super attracted to; he also stipulated I’m free to absolve the marriage should I become serious with one of these women
  
• he will always retain at least a $100k life insurance policy payable fully to me. This is separate from his normal life insurance he splits with his kids and will-be-wife (me)
  
• he will deposit all money into my account where I will pay bills and distribute his money for gas and food and such (he’s a compulsory consumer and gambler who wastes a LOT of money)
  
• we will conduct an annual review of this marriage and come to an agreement to continue it and/or amend this agreement
  
• I will have my own bedroom because I can’t sleep with his snoring
  

It all sounds reasonable to me, albeit a bit kooky at times, but is it legal to add stipulations like this to a marriage?
Am I an asshole for signing it and agreeing to it? Would I be an asshole if I DIDN’T sign it?? He knows I’m a lonely hermit who would love a roommate to share bills with and this feels like he’s taking everyone precaution to make this agreement favor me. Is it legal? Am I a prick because it’s so one sided? Should I just run and be alone for another decade?
Help!
TL;DR - dude i kinda like is trying to get me to sign a marriage contract that insanely favors me in every way possible and seems too good to be true. I’m still skeptical and unsure. Help!

Sorry it’s long and way TMI - TL;DR at bottom
I’m 35(f) he’s 65(m) and he wants to “take care of me” until he dies. He’s not super wealthy but his parents are on their deathbeds and they have some money and land and despite the age difference we do have fun together. We go out frequently and have take trips together.
However it’s nothing sexual on my end, even though he constantly tries. We don’t kiss, but just have a good hug at the end of our hangouts. Last time I saw him he gave me a typed out document. Apparently he wrote out a “marriage agreement” specifying certain things like what’s below. AGAIN HE WROTE THIS; I HAD NO INPUT.

• he will provide for me and if I want to work I can but it would no longer be necessary because he can pay the bills with his jobs (this sounds nice but I make more than he does with my 3 business but I think he just means I can quit my corporate job which would be dope)
  
• he can ask for sex but I can deny it and that I am under no obligation to have sex with him at any time despite his desires
  
• he will “not be a burden” to me and if his health deteriorates then I can back out of the marriage —- this one seems weird to me and I think I would not be able to just back away from a dying man despite our love being different for each other but whatever
  
• I can pursue other relationships with women. He knows I prefer women and doesn’t want me to feel like I’m tied down to a man that I’m not super attracted to; he also stipulated I’m free to absolve the marriage should I become serious with one of these women
  
• he will always retain at least a $100k life insurance policy payable fully to me. This is separate from his normal life insurance he splits with his kids and will-be-wife (me)
  
• he will deposit all money into my account where I will pay bills and distribute his money for gas and food and such (he’s a compulsory consumer and gambler who wastes a LOT of money)
  
• we will conduct an annual review of this marriage and come to an agreement to continue it and/or amend this agreement
  

It all sounds reasonable to me, albeit a bit kooky at times, but is it legal to add stipulations like this to a marriage?
Am I an asshole for signing it and agreeing to it? He knows I’m a lonely hermit who would love a roommate to share bills with and this feels like he’s taking everyone precaution to make this agreement favor me. Is it legal? Am I a prick because it’s so one sided? Should I just run and be alone for another decade?
Help!
*TL;DR - dude i kinda like is trying to get me to sign a marriage contract that insanely favors me in every way possible and seems too good to be true. I’m still skeptical and unsure. Help! *

TDLR: Reshuffle Reddit’s leadership, double down on building with community, give users and mods the tools we need to rebuild the best social network
Key is to provide the infrastructure to allow the ecosystem to thrive: Trust, Communication, Actions
Here are the list of demands I personally would want to have deliver, else there is really no point to hang around:

1. To instill trust, Steve should resign from leadership role at Reddit
2. To revitalise new positive energy, new individual who is pro-community should take over as CEO, or in acting capacity while the search of a new (and capable) leader is ongoing
3. To allow third-party to survive and flourish: API policy to be reviewed and co-crafted with community, to be announced at a later date. Meantime, no change to the existing free-use API policy.
4. Invite TPA developers back to develop for Reddit and work towards API parity
5. Kickstart a form of transparency audit report to maintain trust within users and devs

To be clear, the community do recognise the value of Reddit. Many of us, don’t mind paying for our fair share to maintain the ecosystem and support the ecosystem. Personally, I don’t mind paying $9.99/month. Thoughts?
Obligatory disclaimer: This is not a threat. I have nothing to lose now that I’ve lost everything (referring to Apollo). As bad as it might sound, I really see no way around the current shit show. Really suggesting because this is what I feel could inch us towards an ideal outcome.
Thoughts?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special treat for you tonight. In this corner, we have the talented teens from My Life Me, Amelia, Anna, Alexei, and Zeke. And in the other corner, we have the bubbly and fierce competitors from BFB, Pencil, Match, Bubble, and Ruby. Who will come out on top in this rap battle? Let's find out!
Verse 1 - Amelia:
We may be just teens, but we're taking this seriously
You BFB ladies are acting all deliriously
Pencil, you're a tool, Match, just a spark
Bubble, you're not even real, and Ruby, you're just dark
Verse 2 - Pencil:
Oh please, you My Life Me kids are out of touch
Your show should be called "My Boring Life So Much"
Amelia, your raps are weak, Anna, don't even try
Alexei and Zeke, no one cares if you live or die
Verse 3 - Anna:
You're quick to judge, but you can't even compare
Our show's about real life, not just colorful air
Pencil, your name suits you, 'cause you're just a scribble
Match, you're not even a real match, just a stick of fizzle
Verse 4 - Match:
Ha, you My Life Me kids sound like robots stuck on repeat
Bubble, it's a miracle you can even speak
Amelia, your bars are like a boring lecture
Zeke and Alexei, you should've stayed in the back sector
Verse 5 - Alexei:
You BFB losers are all bark and no bite
You think you're hot stuff, but you're just a sprite
Bubble, you're a bubble, that's all you are
Ruby, your rhymes are weak, go play with a toy car
Verse 6 - Ruby:
Wow, you My Life Me kids really have no chill
Your show's so lame, it should be called "Time To Kill"
Amelia, you're a wannabe queen with no crown
Anna, Zeke, and Alexei, you can all go drown
Verse 7 - Zeke:
You BFB girls are acting like you're so cool
But when it comes to rap, you're just a fool
Pencil, you're always wrong, Match, you're just a clone
Bubble and Ruby, you should've stayed at home
Verse 8 - Bubble:
You My Life Me losers think you're all that and more
But when it comes to rhymes, you're just a bore
Amelia, you're boring, Anna, you're plain
Alexei and Zeke, no one knows your name
Verse 9 - Extra Insulting Verse - Amelia:
Listen up, BFB girls, we'll give credit where it's due
You won this battle, but that's nothing new
We may not have won, but at least we have heart
Unlike you four, who are just a tiny fart.

Foreword: This is going to be an in-depth opinion based on my 6 hours of playtime with the demo, and having beaten it twice, once with a motivity (strength) build, and once with a dexterity (technique) build. I ended up finishing the demo at level 30 in each case, with a +2 weapon. I don’t usually make long reviews like these, but I tried out the demo and felt compelled because I feel that this has the makings of a great souls-like, but falls short because it’s unsure of what to do with all the different mechanical elements it has and is unable to weave them together into a compelling combat rhythm.
My overall impressions are that the game has great potential, with a lot of neat ideas inspired by or reminiscent of the Souls games, but the elements here need more polish or a few changes to how they are implemented because they do not gel well together currently.
Starting with the great and the good:
The performance is very well optimized. On my Laptop (RTX 3060, 12th Gen i7-12700H), I was getting a very stable capped 75 fps at 1080p best rendering settings. (Could have pushed higher with some setting adjustments but I usually play Souls games which are capped at 60 fps and I was too lazy to overclock or anything like that). There were minimal graphical glitches, and I only really experienced pop in 3 times throughout my two playthroughs.
The atmosphere is pretty good, with the rain and “Victorian” cyberpunk aesthetic, and the bodies and bloodshed sell the feeling of a world gone awry.
The level design, especially the main level after you reach the Hotel is well designed and I like the enemy and trap placement, shortcuts, and use of verticality. I found myself looping back quite a bit, and mentally mapping out the locations as I did, and for a souls-like, that’s a wonderful thing to aim for in my opinion.
The enemy variety is decent, from the basic goons and dogs to the patrol officer mini-boss, enemies generally feel distinct and have different timings, ranges and hyper-armor to get used to.
It’s rather unfortunate then, that in my opinion, the combat system is not well tuned to get immersed in the atmosphere, level and enemy design. My negatives with this demo have mostly been with some aspects of the combat system.
Starting on the player side, the player has all of these mechanical elements to be considered when engaging in combat:
- The player has a “rally” mechanic on blocked hits, where you can regain almost all of your lost health back by attacking enemies after blocking attacks, similar to Bloodborne’s rally mechanic.
- The player has a perfect deflect “timed block” mechanic where if you time your block at the moment the enemy’s attack lands, you take no damage, similar to Sekiro’s deflect mechanic.
- The player has a dash step for a dodge when locked on, and a roll when not locked onto anything, again similar to Bloodborne.
- The player has a light attack, a heavy attack, a charged heavy attack, and usually the Fable Blade Art attack for their offensive options
- The player usually also has the Fable Handle Art for their defensive options
- The player has a Legion arm that can do a variety of things depending on your load out and is a tactical option to also be considered.
- Besides these actions, the player must manage health, stamina, the Fable Art blue slots, Legion bar for the Legion arm, and weapon durability
In these mechanical elements, my personal biggest gripe is that the dash step and the dodge roll feel very clunky, do not cover enough distance, and are generally not that useful in general combat or in boss fights. The dash step doesn’t usually get you far enough away from the boss’s attack to avoid damage, and seems to have such low i-frames that you cannot dodge into attacks with long lasting hitboxes reliably to avoid them either. The only real use I found for these is to reposition yourself around a boss, and that also only when you are far enough away to not get stuck in between the boss’s limbs. This made dodging seem worthless to even attempt in most cases, and I found a lot more success in trying to block and deflect instead.
This brings me to my second issue, and that is Bloodborne’s rally mechanic doesn’t really work neatly with a game that allows you to block, especially with weapons that can negate a lot of damage. On my strength playthrough, I found it a lot easier to block enemy attacks and then just hit them when they were in their recovery’s to regain the health, while on my dexterity playthrough, given that the rapier had terrible guard negation, I just fished for backstabs, or charged into enemies to stun lock them with light attacks and avoid being hit in the first place. In either case, the combat, for the general mobs, encouraged button mashing more than any tactical play.
Guarding on smaller nimbler weapons doesn’t seem like a great idea because you take a lot more damage and don’t heal back as much, which combined with the clunky dash, encourages you to rush a lot more into single enemies and light attack them to death before they can do much to you; while on larger weapons, guarding is too efficient, and given the higher stun potential, also encourages you to rally for all your health back after guarding to make sure that you don’t get chunked for too much un-rally-able damage given the slower startups. In either case, you are motivated to not be precise in your gameplay.
My suggestion to make this work better is to rework the rallying system to rally your health back on perfect deflects rather than on hitting enemies, and to improve the default evasive options (dash step and dodge roll) in their distance and i-frames. This introduces more options to be considered when playing tactically and rewards precise play. The question when making defensive plays becomes “do I avoid this hit by dashing, or try to deflect it head on to regen some health?”, instead of “I’ll try to deflect it, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll block it and try to regen as much on my next offensive play”. In line with this suggestion, rallying should not only work for damage that you took while blocking, but rather for all damage, with the amount of health that can be rallied being set to the last instance of when you took damage (this discourages holding the block and just waiting for the enemy to finish a 3 hit combo for example, since the amount of health you can regen would decrease to what your health was when you got hit the third time).
The perfect deflect as it stands, is not well integrated into the flow of combat. It’s more of a neat bonus for when you blocked perfectly rather than a thing to try to master, except for the red attacks that enemies can do, or for when you are on low enough health that blocking instead of doing a perfect deflect will mean your death.
Speaking of well-integrated, the weapon durability system felt like a chore and actively detracted from the combat experience. For level exploration, this mechanic is entirely useless, since all it amounted to was consciously making sure my sword was durable enough after I cleared a group of enemies. In boss fights, all it resulted in was moving away from the boss and repairing my weapon instead of engaging with the rhythm of the fight. It’s just another thing to manage that forces you to take a break in between the fight for whatever reason.
This should be done away entirely in my opinion, but if the Devs do not want to, they should look for ways to incorporate it into the rest of the combat rhythm and loop. A neat idea could be giving the player a timed damage bonus, like 15 seconds or so at the instant their weapon is repaired to max durability. This now adds more tactical options to be considered when engaging in offensive plays/ capitalising on openings- “should I use this opening to heal, regen my weapon to max to get a damage bonus for the next opening, or attack and lower my weapon’s durability even further, making it more difficult to get this damage bonus whenever I try to repair my weapon next time” and encourages players out of the simple dodge and light attack playstyle that most souls-likes encourage.
Moving a bit into the enemy side, the 2 main elements of enemy design that require specific responses from the player are the red attacks for when they are doing an unblockable, and the groggy state, where they can be knocked down for a critical attack if you land a fully charged heavy attack.
The red attacks are well done for the most part, although it’s very apparent that these are just regular attacks that the enemy has that now just happens to be a red attack. I’d rather there be specific attacks that enemies and bosses do that are red attacks and nothing else, so you are not punished for not following your typical response on seeing an attack be unblockable when the exact same animation was blockable for an earlier attack. This is admittedly, a minor gripe and I understand that this is likely because of time and resource constraints, and so don’t mind it too much.
As for the groggy state, I really liked the idea of enemies being worn down and then being susceptible to a knock down and critical using a charged heavy. It’s also executed well enough in my opinion, as I never felt that my charged heavy was too slow to not get it in time. The state lasts long enough, and all my charged heavies were fast enough that with precise play, the mechanic was executable. My only gripe with it seems to be that when this groggy state occurs is unpredictable. It seems to happen around the half way mark for a mini-boss/boss’s health, but seems dependent on how often you’ve hit or deflected them, and with what. I think. I don’t know, because the game never tells you what causes the enemy to be groggy, or shows a groggy meter. I’m not entirely sure why this is. If the grogginess is tied to a hidden meter that fills up when you perform certain actions like hitting the enemy or perfectly deflecting, I’d rather that such a meter be made visible so it’s clear how close you are to getting the opportunity to do a critical, or at the very least, weapon blade parts have a grogginess rating to compare how much grogginess they cause in a hit.
One of the final elements of combat design that I want to focus on are the supporting elements for the combat system, namely the blade and handle weapon assembly system, the quartz p-organ “latent ability” skill tree with perk system, and the healing system.
The weapon assembly system is a neat concept, allowing you to mix and match weapon blades and their base damage and blade fable art, with the handle’s scaling bonus and it’s handle fable art. I have a few gripes with the execution though:
Outside of a specific blade fable art, or weight limitations, you’d just always pick the blade with the greatest base damage. On my dexterity (technique) playthrough, the rapier was not that good for boss fights in my experience, since your guard absorption was terrible and the tactic I used for the first boss was just moving back or out of the way of anything I wasn’t confident in perfectly deflecting. But having learnt of the weapon assembly system from my strength (motivity) playthrough, the second I got the item that allowed for me to assemble my own weapons (unlocked after the 2nd boss), I chucked my greatsword blade onto my rapier’s handle. And now I had an unstoppable weapon for use, having the greatsword blade’s reach, high base damage, and high guard absorption, with the rapier handle’s dexterity (technique) scaling bonus and quick move set. The game does try to combat this by giving things that have a high base damage extra weight and costing more stamina to swing around, and I think some weight-swing calculations too (i.e. the heavier your weapon, the slower you do the moveset), but it hardly mattered. At the end of the game, I could do a light attack chain consisting of 9 attacks with my rapier before my stamina was completely depleted. I could do 6 with the greatsword blade on the rapier handle, and before my rapier could do it’s 9 attacks.
Now I get that this is the Devs’ way to encourage different weapon combinations, but in my experience, this is going to result in a lot of people just using the highest base damage and/or guard negation blade on the handle that gives them their desired move set and scaling most inline with their character. This will hurt the build variety unless the skill tree with perk system and the fable arts can provide enough varied options that suit different combinations of the blade and handle.
I’m not entirely sure on how to combat this, especially since we aren’t shown the full extent of the perk system and the skill trees, so this is something that the Devs will have to think about on their own if they plan to do anything with it.
On a slight tangent, speaking briefly about the fable arts themselves, I did not find the majority of them to be very useful and so didn’t really use them all that much. They don’t seem to do a lot more damage than light or heavy attacks, and the defensive options either also require strict timing, or are no more useful than a perfect deflect.
As for the latent ability + perk skill tree system, we do not know the full extent of the available choices in this system or the amount of choices we’ll be given and so it’s difficult to review it, but one which definitely perked my interest was knowing that extra dodge rolls were an unlockable perk. I am not a fan of this direction. Personally, The i-frames of your dodge/dash, and the distance that it covers, like the frames of your perfect deflect, are fundamentals that the combat is built on, and should ideally be a well balanced and play tested unchangeable provided by the Devs, as opposed to an unlockable skill that players have to choose to grind for. This reminds me a lot of Dark Souls 2, tying the number of i-frames in the roll to a stat, and it was hated there as well. The other perks seem pretty decent, with things like getting more currency, or getting some Legion Ammo on killing things, or taking less damage while discharged/ in the middle of dodging are all varied, interesting and worth getting, and so the limited number of quartz and thus unlockables could make for compelling design and playstyle customization, provided that the fundamentals (dodging, perfect deflects, fable arts, etc. are all well-tuned by default design wise).
Speaking of the healing system, I like it for the most part, having finite healing but being able to regen one health potion by attacking enemies is well thought out, even if it is a bit clunky. If I could make any adjustment to this, it would simply be letting us regen health potions constantly when attacking, and capping the number of health potions as the game already does. I prefer this mostly because there is no explanation in game for why when we are discharged, we can regen precisely one health potion by attacking enemies and no more. What’s ideally wanted, just personally, is consistency or an explanation. The discharged state could also be made compelling gameplay wise, as the perk system alludes to, by having perks that lower your damage when you’re discharged. Other perks likes this could make for a compelling gameplay where you are constantly teetering between having one health potion and being discharged, and it would be interesting to see.
A final note on some animation clunkiness. The combat clearly seems to be built with a focus on deflecting more than just dodging, but your character does not have any way to cancel a stagger into a block like Sekiro does. This is relevant because some enemies in the game have attacks which if you get hit by, stagger you long enough to be hit by the follow up in the combo, with no opportunity to deflect, guard, or dash away. This is also true for when an enemy deflects you when you are using certain handles, most notably the rapier handle. This makes you get punished twice for making a single mistake, and that feels unfun to play with, and so you’d want to have a way for the character to either cancel their stagger early, or space out enemy attacks long enough that you can respond to the next hit in the combo.
Moving out of the combat discussion, I have 2 quick addendums which don’t quite fit in other sections imo:
1) The AI needs improvement for the 2nd boss and for other humanoid bosses that the Devs may intend to release in the game. This boss is too vulnerable to circling and back stabs, and the strategy is also relatively risk free.
2) The UI and menus feels very convoluted and need streamlining

The footage was broadcasted live, for the whole of the galaxy to see. So confidant were the Thrals, so wanting to put the humans in their place. To show who the superior species is, to douse the flames the humans have lit with their mere existence.
The Thrals hated it, the humans’ biological superiority, taking their once proud title of hardiest species. The hatred only grew when it no longer became objective, but a fact supported by every study done on the matter.
The Thral evolved on a desert world, few resources and ever present danger, they conquered their world.
But the humans, they thrived upon theirs.
A blue marble, a world lush with life. Unsuspecting upon first inspection, with natural resources abundant in every corner. And yet, if one were to look below its beautiful surface, its rolling mountains crying flowing water, fields of gold and green, one understands why such a world warranted the creation of a new classification of planet, a classification only she bares.
‘Death World’
With their reputation stolen from them, the Thral lashed out. A small mining world on the edge of human territory, young and perfect pray to teach humanity fear.
The attack was brutal, slow and merciless. Overwhelming force insured the desired effect the Thral so craved. And yet, it all crumbled around them.
The glory they yearned for, the fear they desired, it all crumbled from under them.
It was a human officer, the one chosen to fall last. His death, to be a symbol, was brutal.
The Thral snarled and roared to the stars, voicing their victory to the very gods above. Calling for any to challenge them, their might, their title, their throne.
The call was answered the moment it was sounded.
The commander of the massacre, large and imposing, fell in an instant. His form split in two.
Standing in his place, the very human officer sacrificed mere moment prior. Right arm torn from his form, left barring a sword never thought to shed blood in a hold that cracked the handle with organs bare for all to see. His body shook and quivered beyond control, lifeblood slowly dripping from wounds untold.
In the silence, carried by the wind, his voice as broken as it was, carried forth unchallenged.
“I am not done.”

So I have seen a lot of positive reviews for the game, many really anticipating the game in general. I think this stems from the first game, that we all had great time and good mods and whatnot, but you have to understand that this game, we're starting with Zero DLCs, zero mods and what we get is what we get. What if there is no workshop support? Then what.
To me this sounds like a potential for a failure. Like KSP2. This game flopped so badly it was sad. Or Men in Black 3, there but pointless.
I did see from the last image in the leaked screenshots that the majority of the map looks empty. Like the person didn't build anything there for some reason, now there might be a reason for this, I don't know why, maybe they were still expanding it? The first cities skylines game images the map was filled out.
These maps look empty, like the tiles are in hexagon shapes like some have predicted, with no-touching areas similar to Simcity 5. Where there is a border around the map.
The buildings all have these stupid F* gaps that simcity 5 had, even between the tightly placed buildings, somebody tried to say that the game wasn't done yet, but to me it looks like the final product. That's the final game man. They're just fixing bugs, adding new features, testing it and doing all that, it's definitely in beta stage, NOT alpha as some twits claimed. Alpha state was probably in March or in feb.

Background: I’ve been playing for over a year and feel confident in the game. Know all the regions very well with the exception of HRV. Have been there a few times and even mapped it for Faithfull Cartographer. 🙂
Day 271 Voyager run. First run since DLC came to consoles. Just got to HRV and was going to settle into my first base in the region. I chose the same cave I’ve always used. It’s just NE of Stairsteps Lake. It’s the one with the scrub brush in front of it.
I had downed a deer on the way in and was at full scent bars. No worries since the deer was on the lake and the cave was just over the hill. I know there is a bear cave off to the east but no sign of him.
So there I was inside the cave still holding all of the raw meat just setting up my little base getting ready to make a fire and cook some yummy venison for lunch. All of a sudden I hear the spine tingling sound of a bear roar. I turn to look at the cave entrance and there he is standing up getting ready to charge. I hit the quick draw button trying to get my pistol out but not in time. Before I know it he’s on me. It was one heck of a mauling.
After he’s done with me, I hear the heartbeats and realize I only have about 15% health. Yikes! Ok I think, no problem. Let me stop that bleeding and disinfect the wound. A quick snack from my emergency MRE and some water and I’ll be fine. No sooner than I get the wound dressed and here he comes for a second round. He never left the cave, he just turned around and came back at me without any provocation. Well, needless to say that was that. I’m now his lunch and the run is over.
Post run debrief: So I realize I should have dropped the meat as soon as I got in the cave. However I’ve never, ever seen the bear patrol by this cave. Does he and I just missed it before?
Secondly, would a shot from the hip stop a charging bear? I feel like it would have but not sure. I definitely didn’t have time to go into the radial and select the flare gun.
Lastly, I’ve never been re-attacked by a predator without provocation that I can remember. Since this is apparently possible, should I have pulled a flare gun before beginning the damage control process?
Please tell me how you would have handled this situation. I am always a student of this game and would love to know all the ways I messed up. Thanks survivors!

I've seen mixed reviews of them but I've used Cambridge earbuds before and the sound quality is superb, and caters to the sound of the music genre I like. Is there an alternative that has the same quality and will also last me a few years with relatively no issues?

I can't do this i'm doing the last of the property mbe and so far got 3 right and 9 wrong. I review all the old mc answers and the outline and it seems like I just do worse and worse. Please tell me this is harder than the actual bar mc. 😭

Sounds like a dumb question but as the title states is it normal for a pc to struggle on wifi after being upgraded? I'm computer stupid anx recently took my pc into a place to get new upgrades installed (they had good reviews on google and the staff seemed nice) but ever since getting it back its had horrible lag issues on wifi and takes forever to download things, I've played single player games offline with 0 lag so I know its not the parts.

Hello, I need your opinion and advice. I am sorry if this sounds more like ranting but I am at my wits end and I am also terrible at expressing myself.
I've known Jane for the last 8 years, I don't think I need to write down every little thing that happened between us, but I will focus on the ones that I find the most hurtful.

• Since I've known her Jane would never offer to help me with something or another unless it benefited her.
  
• She gets jealous when I am in a relationship or completely ignores my attempts to talk to her about a person I have a romantic interest. While on the other hand I encourage and always ask about her romantic interests, it feels like a one way street.
  
• She was annoyed and angry that her last date was not ready to be intimate with her, this isn't about me personally but I felt really bad for her date and the way she treated him.
  
• She's sucks the joy out of everything and is only interesting in doing things like clubbing, bar hopping, dinning which I do agree to most of the time but she never reciprocates with activities I enjoy doing.
  
• She manipulated me into doing things I did not want to do.
  

I am lost, I don't have other friends but not close friends as I find it very difficult to open up due to past experiences, but this can't be all there is right?
I want to distance myself from her but I can't deal with anymore drama and the town we live in is rather small and far from everything else.
-edit formating.