Mera'din

I figured the Monica being upset about Carol thing was because she basically fucked off for over 20 years to play space ranger, came back for like 15 min. (to Monica's perception at least) and then fucked off again immediately. So the last time she saw her was as a little girl who had been promised she would come back as soon as she could (whether her reasons for being gone were valid or not) and probably feels a bit abandoned, I imagine she's pretty damn disillusioned with her at this point.

/thread

They've done it before, just not consistently. I have one from 2018, but remember trying to find it after 2019 was done and not being able to. My stats: 27 games 1906 hours (Destiny 2 cut into this since I put in like 500 hours on PC for that. Think my 2018 total was like 2300 hours. XD ) 1725 locally, 181 online. Top 3 being Avengers, Persona 5 Royal and Destiny 2 (somehow managed almost 200 hours even though I feel like I barely touched the console version). 296 days played out of the year. 542 trophies earned (11 platinum). There's a separate section for PS5. Not sure if that's part of the total from the top or not though. Put a lot more time in on PC in 2020 than I had in previous years so my numbers were lower than I would have expected. XD

Seen some interesting (if a bit cospiracy theory-ish) rumblings about them starting to set up for the next "big" villain with this show. Specifically, the running theory is that it will be Mephisto which tracks a bit with what we're aware of at the moment. The reasons for this are many and myriad, including the fact that apparently every single clock, radio and dial is missing the number 6 (have not had a chance to verify, but that is certainly something to note in general if not for this specific purpose). More concrete reasoning that I thought of though is more based on the general sense of what they're appearing to try and build here and going forward using precedence from the comics (spoiler tagged just in case since it's some heavy comic info that could relate directly to how the show plays out) :

As a fun side note, the nickname her mother had in the picture of her at the SWORD headquarters is one of Monica's super hero names she's had over the years.

Based on the 1 min. sneak peek they put up after the episode came out, we'll get more sitcom stuff and more outside stuff. Seems like as time goes on, Wanda's control is going to slip more often which we saw in some of the original trailers too. Other points of interest in the sneak peek that I caught: - Military vehicles driving full speed at the town's barrier. - What looked like it may have been Wanda exiting the barrier ready to throw down. - Vision questioning more and more and trying to exit the town. - Wanda and Vision having a standoff. This shit is going to get intense. ?

I'm honestly surprised they got that for it and not just the original version. The PS5 version doesn't even come out until February. I was planning on buying it again too, so I guess I lucked out. XD

Yeah, there were a couple times I was expecting it to set up for SWORD (especially when they all woke up in space for that one season finale) but then the story turned a completely different direction. Think the closest it got was a cheeky pseudo-reference (one of the characters jokingly asking that if they're SHIELD, is there a division called SPEAR or something like that). Looking it up, it appears they WANTED to use SWORD in Agents of SHIELD, but Marvel shut the idea down. They're also mentioned in a deleted scene from the first Thor movie I guess. Seems a little dickish they shut the idea down for Agents of SHIELD considering it was supposed to be a sub-division of SHIELD AND Joss Whedon created it. XD Regardless, if we're finally getting SWORD, we better get Abigail Brand too.

1.) Man Eater This was the free PS5 game on PS+ this month and I figured what the hell? Nothing special, but it has some entertainment value. Swim around, eat things, get stronger. Repeat. Has a basics story that was a fun distracting. Camera is a little janky, and it was a bit hard at first, but once you get a couple solid upgrades it gets super easy really fast. Think it took like 12-15 hours to Platinum. Was fun to load up when I didn't have a lot of time. 2.) Astro's Playroom As MT said, this is basically just a tech demo to show off the PS5 controller's new features and some of the visual capabilities, but it was a hell of a fun way to do it. The only other PS5 game I've played other than these two was Mile Morales, and that used the rumble stuff in relatively cool ways sometimes, but this REALLY shows the true potential of the controller and I honestly can't wait for more games to really dig into some of these features. The nostalgia trip of seeing all the old consoles and peripherals was really cool too and I loved all the little easter eggs to different Playstation games and not just first party stuff either (even some of the trophy names are fun references). This was just an all around wholesome experience and I wholly recommend giving it a run through. Another straight forward platinum too. Think it only took a few hours to find everything.

I don't think all of the town people are SWORD agents. I think some of the more prominent characters probably are though. I think the basics of what are going on is relatively clear, but I wouldn't call what they're doing "drip feeding" the story. It might feel that way to an extent with fore knowledge of the character from the comics, but anyone I've talked to that doesn't know all of that stuff is pretty entrenched in the mystery. From the standpoint of the story itself, we don't know the first thing about SWORD and have just started to get strong context clues with this last episode. It flows well stylistically too. Aside from that, it feels like the REAL mystery here is Vision. The way people have started interacting with him, it's like they're trying to appeal to him to notice that something is wrong as Wanda is clearly a willing participant. Though it seems like the people on the outside may not be aware of that fact. The two neighbors seemed intent on cluing Vision in that she wasn't supposed to be there, and they seemed frightened of the fact that she was with Wanda. If they are agents, they must know that appealing to her is fruitless, but Geraldine's approach seems to indicate that those on the outside are unaware of this (though not for much longer based on the episodes end). Conversely, it's possible this was all intentional and SWORD is (or at least originally was) helping Wanda as a means to revive Vision. Shuri was in the process of copying his data over so they could get rid of the Mind stone but it was interrupted. Perhaps what's happening here is they're attempting to "complete" the process by instilling a set of memories into the empty spaces of what they were able to copy. He's clearly self aware of what he is, but beyond that his memories of events seem to be absent and even when he starts to realize something is off, it never extends to true memories of what had happened (counter to Geraldine mentioning Ultron when she was starting to remember). Either way, Wanda may have had ulterior motive, or her compromised mental state led to the process going awry and now SWORD is attempting to intervene to save the people trapped in her delusion.

I finally put god mode on. Before that point I struggled with first boss a few times depending on the weapon I was using but I don't think I've ever failed on the 2nd boss (a lot of regular enemies in second area can suck it though). 3rd is a pain in the ass though. I always need at least one revive to get through it.

I don't mean that they'll actually do House of M or anything even approaching it, just that they'll pull from the comics in terms of her completely kicking reality in the nuts and breaking it badly enough that it requires outside intervention (relating to the upcoming Dr. Strange and Spider-man movies in some form or another).

Been playing a few things recently other than the normal Destiny routine I've fallen back into. Cyberpunk 2077: Got this at launch but have been working through it pretty slowly since it's pretty buggy in places. REALLY glad I got a PS5 to play it on because everything I've seen from it being played on the PS4 is pretty awful and I don't think my PC would do a whole lot better with it at this point. Haven't run into too many bugs personally other than one side quest bugging out on me so I can't do it. Only thing I've seen is it seems to crash every couple hours on the dot and a few Skyrim-esque "WTF even was that!? XD " type bugs such as this: Hades: Bought this one thanks to MT. I love all of Super Giant's games, which is extra surprising because I don't think I've ever liked the style of game that each of their games is. This one being no exception as it's a Rogue-like (Rogue-lite? I lose track of these fucking subgeneres. XD ) which I normally hate. This one really grabbed my attention though. The story, the depth, the music, the characters, the voice acting, is ALL on point. The gameplay loop is also fun and addicting as hell so I find myself playing more than I ever intend to at a time. Think I've made just over 20 "attempts" at this point and I've reached the surface I think like 5 times now. Though I finished finally and then it turns out beating the boss there isn't the end of it and I thought I was gonna cry (beat him with like 20 health left and then he stands up and his health bar fills again and I was like NOOOOOOOO). Might have to turn on the "God Mode" at this point before I cave and give up since I got other stuff I want to play coming out soon. X_x Man Eater: Free game on PS+ for the PS5 this month. It's decent. Not the kind of game I would ever buy myself, but it's fun to kill some time with. You are shark. You eat things. There's a pretense of a story. Big map to swim around in, collectibles, some challenging fights here and there. Was actually a little hard at first getting used to the controls (and the awful camera if you get too close to the surface of the water) but once you get a couple specific "evolutions" it gets a LOT easier. I've had fun with it.

I'm on board with what MT posted then. Definitely seems like what is happening. As things start to bleed into her sphere of influence more and more, I wonder if that's where we'll see the "style" shifts. The helicopter being such a jarring thing that it was in color, then the blood, and the fear of someone finally "breaking" in forced her to alter the "narrative" and everything shifted to being in color to try and guard from similar intrusions. Kind of wonder if they won't semi-pull from the comics for the end of this and have it culminate in her "coming back" to reality, finding out her kids (and possibly Vision depending on how that side of it goes) weren't real, and REALLY looses it and basically shatters reality and fixing that will be where Dr. Strange comes in since this is supposed to directly set up for his next movie from what I read.

Is it confirmed that that's who that lady is supposed to be?

I still need to watch this. I've had it for a while and keep forgetting with the sheer amount of stuff I still have to watch. X_x I'm really glad his name is getting around as much as it is these days though. He definitely deserves the accolades. What We Do in the Shadows was pretty good. Felt like watching a movie version of The Office, except it's about vampires. Still want to watch the tv show remake being done at some point too. Everything I've seen from it is pretty funny, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

That's one thing I like about the streaming shows overall is there's no "set" length to episodes like they usually need to adhere to with network TV. Episodes of the Mandalorian were all over the place anywhere from 32 min. to 54 min. and were as long as the story they were telling needed to be. Definitely expecting to see that with this one.

Really enjoyed it. The vibe from the show is exactly what I was hoping for.

I think you'll like the Miles Morales game considering your gripes on this one. The story is a lot more focused and streamlined and gets rid of the kind of stuff you seemed to dislike. Though the primary villain they went with may make or break it for you. Random crimes are still there, but feel less NESECCARY overall, and the changeup to combat with the addition of Miles' unique spider powers really makes the combat flow nicely (though arguably makes it WAY easier than the first game once you get used to them).

Video on the PC version. I am more and more impressed with this company the more I see. It feels like they're going out of their way to make sure everything about it is out in the open and any info you want is readily available. On that note, learned via this video that the game supports FULL crossplay between all platforms (Steam, Epic, Stadia and both last gen and new gen Playstation and Xbox consoles) so it doesn't matter what everyone gets it on if we decide to play it. Hoping to see a video with more specifics about how that works soon.

That shit is so annoying. And it's gotta be WAY worse right now. We lucked out and had rented a house with no rent increase for a solid 4 years or so until a guy bought that place and all of the original owners other rental properties and within a few months we got a "We noticed your rent has been the same for a few years so surprise!" letter. Was going from $550 a month to $625. That's when we noped the fuck out of there (place was kind of a shithole anyway and they would almost never fix anything) and I ended up just buying a house and paying about the same as our original rent even figuring in the taxes and insurance.

I keep forgetting that exists. Seemed more interesting than the one they had on the PS4 at least since the majority of that needed the camera. Need to try it out sometime.

I bought/listened to that audiobook a few months ago. I enjoyed it. Also made me want to play GoW again as well, but I'm holding out until the next one gets closer. XD

I usually go for games like this on PS4/5, but can do whatever everyone wants for the demo at least. I work on the 25th itself, but half that Fri/Sat/Sun off so should have plenty of time to play during that weekend. Here's a link to their youtube channel. They have videos on pretty much every aspect of the game including class/skill breakdowns if anyone wanted specific information on anything: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyHurXEuoMCfah2bmyRRXZw