TwinIon

So I looked up some tricks online and after more than a few save reloads I geared out my characters a good bit. I didn't go the full lengths recommended here, but I've been using dancing a lot and it's helped me speed leveling a bit. I got one lucky Exp X 100 roll and it leveled me up something like 10 levels in one battle. One recommendation if you want to do it as well is to not bother on bosses. Bosses don't really give much more Exp than regular enemies and if you're like me and end up rolling the outcome where it completely heals the boss after you've done 30k damage, it unnecessarily prolongs fights with no guaranteed outcome for more xp. I also followed this advice and stole a bunch of stuff from Grandport. After getting the boost I cleaned the town up with a bunch of 100% and 80% steals. There's a ton more I could go after if I wanted to reload saves a bunch of times, but I think I'm geared well enough for now. The gear I got from doing that was so much more valuable than jumping up 10 levels. This game is kinda odd in how heavily it weights stats from gear vs levels without having any requirements for the gear. Speaking to the visuals of the game, i've gotten used to the very shallow depth of field, but I feel like they don't make very good use of it. It's a shame that (so far at least), it's pretty much a static effect. They set one tilt-shift style focus and never change it. They're using UE4 to do all this lighting, effect, and focus stuff, but they don't do much with it. I feel like they could play with it more, pull focus to characters in cut scenes, move the camera, anything. I don't know if they were just too constrained by trying to emulate the past, or if they just didn't bother. Either way it feels like a missed opportunity.

I don't think there's really any content that the Roku or the Fire have that isn't also on the Apple TV. For a while you had to choose between iTunes and Amazon, but with that resolved I think the Apple TV is probably the best bet, though it is more expensive (unless you get a deal like Spork mentioned). The one feature of Roku that I do think is worth some consideration is the headphone jack in the remote. You can also use bluetooth headphones through the app, but either way if you are in a position where watching TV with headphones is useful, Roku's solution is pretty good. The Fire TV doesn't really have any stand out features other than being cheap and being able to buy Amazon content through the device (you have to rent movies on the web to watch on the Apple TV). I suppose there's some Alexa integration, but even as a heavy Alexa user that doesn't really appeal to me.

This. As someone very heavily invested in Google's ecosystem and primarily uses a windows PC, there still just isn't a great reason to avoid the iPad. It's just a class above the competition. I have some hope that Chromebook tablets will become a real challenger, but that's a few years away at least. The amount of quality tablet ready software on the iPad is just categorically different than with Android tablets.

I also actually quite like Man of Steel. It's a beautiful and beautifully scored film. Cavil is great in the role, and overall it's a slightly different take on Superman, a character that I've never really found interesting. The only reason that people care about Supes killing Zod is because of an attachment to another iteration of this character. This version of the character didn't really know what he was doing or what he'd gotten into (which is why I also don't have a problem with the city's destruction). He was pushed to his limits and had no other choice. Pa Kent's death on the other hand, is terribly portrayed regardless of the history of the character. I don't actually have much of a problem with his general outlook and what he teaches Clark. I think it's an outlook that feels more an more justified by the day. We do have an intense fear of the other and a legit super powered alien would kick up some intense feelings. The death sequence itself though is just stupid. Pa Kent doesn't tell Clark not to help until the end, and it feels so long between when Clark should have gone to help (people in general or his dad), so when Pa finally puts his hand up to say don't come it just seems silly. If he was going to help, he had ample time to do so, which seems like exactly what he was saying he wanted to do about 10 seconds before deciding not to. Also, Pa died saving the dog; not an old lady or a child, a dog.

I enjoyed my time with this. I hope eventually they come out with some fixes and dlc to get me back into it.

I don't want to speak for people here, but I do think it's worth pointing out that Bernie's plan is pretty far from the Democratic party platform on the subject, which supports a public option. While Medicare for all is increasingly gaining traction, a public option is very popular. You're quite right to point out that Bernie's plan is an outlier. Even when other supporters of Medicare for All talk about it, I don't think they're specifically talking about something as extreme as what Bernie suggests.

I have a few that I use for various things, but I haven't used any for emulation. I would recommend getting a case pack with heat sinks. There are a ton of them out there for cheap, and they can get a bit warm after prolonged use.

I picked this up to play while traveling recently. I'm about 15 hours or so in. I just figured out secondary jobs after stumbling across a shrine. Man has that made a world of difference. I'm now rarely, if ever, stuck in a situation where a baddie is vulnerable to only one character. I picked up every character and then did some grinding to get my core party up to the point I could think about starting Chapter 2. I think I underestimated how much stats are tied to gear vs levels. I've leveled up quite a bit, but I don't have much more HP and I'm not doing much more damage. I need to go out and really gear up. I got to the boss of Tressa's chapter 2 and it was taking forever. I was scraping by, but it wasn't worth the time. Anyone have any good tips for the best way to go about gearing up?

If he gets the chance, he should absolutely go back. Partially because I'm sure it pays well, partially because I know he's invested in this franchise, partially because doing otherwise would be a slap to the face of all his friends that got him a second chance, and partially because Dinsey is now owns ~40% of the feature film business worldwide, and it would suck not being able to get any future Disney gigs.

Yeah, I don't think this is going to be the movie that restores anyone's faith in Sony's ability to make superhero films.

Movie Pass is raising prices to $15 per month in addition to surge pricing and blocking popular movies. Makes my decision to cancel yesterday in favor of AMC feel even better. My first A-List ticket purchase was for MI in IMAX, which would have been $19 by itself. If the film is any good, I might go back and see it in Dolby Cinema, but I also have a bunch of small films I want to check out. I think I'll get my $20 worth.

@CitizenVectron I have an old 80-200 f2.8 with a broken autofocus that's probably too expensive to bother fixing. I've been waffling back and forth on replacing it with a 70-200 f2.8 or a f4. What made you choose the f4?

I wouldn't bet against a Pokemon game coming out for the holiday season. It doesn't matter if the game is good or not, it's going to sell consoles and those consoles will need more software. I suppose this makes sense is if these guys think Nintendo is going to miss their own targets. I'm not a financial analyst or anything, but I've seen Apple's stock drop after record quarters because they didn't sufficiently beat market expectations.

Did I miss something? I thought all that happened with the 3D printed gun thing was that the guys that made it are allowed to post the plans for the guns, not print and sell them.

The question that started the thread wasn't "is the X1X more powerful than the pro", it was "have there been any games that set the X1X apart from the Pro yet?" You're absolutely right that there isn't an argument as to if the X1X is the most powerful console or not, but I think there is a very reasonable discussion to be has as to if that power is making a meaningful difference. For the most part, the question seems to become "how much do resolution and framerate matter to you?" because it seems there aren't many (any?) examples of games that are obviously better looking on the X1X aside from those two factors. I know a lot of gamers really like to argue about minimal differences in resolution and framerate, but a whole lot of people either have a hard time distinguishing between something like checkerboard 4k vs "true 4k" or framerate problems if it stays ~30, or simply don't care. If you're one of those people (and my guess is that's the vast majority of people, if not necessarily those of us on a board like this), the answer to the OPs question seems to be no. If you have an eye for that kind of stuff, and there are certainly some folks around here that do, then yeah, the X1X is putting out meaningfully better looking games.

I think I'm finally done with Moviepass. I got far more than my $10 a month out of it, but it's just becoming too unreliable. The whole point of it was that it turned the theater into a subscription, so I didn't really have to consider much other than if there was a showtime at the right theater. Between surge pricing, unavailable movies, and a continually shoddy app and service uptime, it's becoming a chore to use. So I'm going to give AMC's new service a try. My local AMC is a few minutes further away than the theater that takes moviepass, but it's a far nicer theater, giant leather recliners and all. I didn't realize until just now, but there's also an AMC that's ~20min away that has a (fake) IMAX screen as well as a Dolby cinema. Between the nicer theaters, reserved seating, premium showings, and hopefully more reliable service I think the price increase will be worth it.

How is it that a Republican President, with Republican House and Senate majorities, whose only legislative achievement this term has been a massive tax cut, needs to engage in this kind of tomfoolery?

They're both action films that probably cost ~$100M and will open on 3000-4000 screens. Mission Impossible isn't getting anywhere near the kind of marketing or box office that a Fast and Furious, much less a Star Wars film does. We're drawing lines arbitrarily somewhere.

They do specify last summer 2018 blockbuster, but even that seems wrong considering at least The Meg and The Predator.

Good. Master of None is one of the best shows being made right now.

I think that especially when you take an existing character and change their race/religion/gender/etc. it's a lot like changing a superhero's powers or their origin story. You do it because it allows you to tell different stories within a familiar framework. It's not a wholesale replacement for creating new stories with those characteristics, it's just another tool one can use to try and tell a good story. I feel like a lot of the fan reaction to this kind of thing in comics and any other media comes from a place of wanting the same stories to be told again and again ad nauseum, and I personally find that boring.

Ok, admittedly Hollywood "courage" is an exceedingly low bar to clear, but it's still noteworthy that the stars of the film are taking some kind of side on the issue. Of course, if they wanted to they could absolutely force Disney's hand here. I'm sure they all have crazy Marvel contracts, but nearly all of them also have other franchises they star in. Still, it's pretty rare that we see even this minimal kind of public support by such high profile actors.

I just got back from vacation, I'll probably post a few pics in this thread once I do a little post processing. It's almost cheating, but some of my favorite photos were from my safari in Africa a few years back. I bought a 150-600mm for Africa and I've been starting to get into birding to put it to more use. I primarily shoot Nikon. I have a D7100 and a D7000 and a small collection of lenses. I also have a Fuji XT-10 and a Sony RX100 MK1. I'm really interested in the upcoming Nikon FF mirrorless. I've been wanting to upgrade my body for a long time but the D850 is a bit pricey and the D750 is a bit long in the tooth. I was looking very hard at the Sony lineup, but replacing the lenses would be really expensive. If the new Nikon can hit the right marks, I'll probably sell off the Fuji. If it doesn't, I'll either wait for a D750 repalcement this year or just start saving up for a D850. I've been wanting to go FF for a long time, but it can be hard to justify the cost when my existing cameras take pretty nice shots. I do really love the little Sony. I got it years ago refurbished and on sale, and it's a beast of a pocket camera. The 20MP 1" sensor is really excellent, and when I don't want to carry something big it's a wonderful little camera to keep in your pocket. I also found an underwater housing for it and it's been my primary dive camera for a while now. I don't have a full strobe setup or anything, but it's rather impressive what you can get out of it. Shoot at f 1.8 in RAW and you can really recover some amazing color without a strobe (in shallow water and decent light at least.) When the housing for a DSLR goes for as much as the body did when it was new (and they basically never go on sale), the sub $500 price for the Sony and the housing is a steal.

There's no way he does it, but I do think this budget debate is going to be interesting.

That letter sends a pretty strong message. I hope he gets his job back, but I'm not really sure what I expect Disney will do.