Man why are we fantasizing about this. What’s the reddest state you can think of, Texas? 42% blue. Florida? 43%. Even in ridiculous places like North Dakota, 1/3 of the people voted blue. What happens to them when blue states form their little utopia?

No reason to hate neo nazis in your opinion? Very interesting

Oh, the mechanics are superb. I also didn’t see it from the trailer, and originally got the game based on the art alone lol.

But the gameplay feels absurdly good. The main hook I would say is the talisman system. When you parry attacks, you build up charges of what is essentially an explosive that you can then use an another offensive option. Not only that, but it’s applied via a dash, which is a movement option (and can be used to do some cheeky sequence breaking outside of combat, if you’re into that sort of thing in these games). There’s an upgrade tree with several options for it that affect gameplay in a huge way as well.

Other than that I mean, I just like everything about the game. The story was well constructed and emotional. The characters are well designed, especially the bosses who are not just enemies but important characters in the story. The boss fights themselves as I mentioned. Music got me going. Environments are jaw dropping.

To give voice to the other commenter who bounced off the game after 4 hours, it has overwhelmingly positive reviews on steam but even among the good reviews a common complaint is that the game takes a fairly long time to spin up. There’s a lengthy linear section before you get some more freedom of exploration, and even then it never becomes the game’s strongest point. It also takes a long time to get certain essential upgrades. I think this is a good thing in terms of boss design, but can feel like somewhat of a slog if you’re experienced with metroidvanias and really just want your basic dash and double jump etc.

It’s a long game, took me around 40 hours. But I enjoyed it very much in the beginning, and continued to enjoy it more as I progressed and unlocked things. I went in with no expectations however, and was surprised as the game organically developed from “cool little project I’m supporting because I like the genre and the cat is cute”, to “possibly my favorite action game since sekiro”. I hope I’m not doing a disservice by setting expectations too high! But in the end, yes I was left feeling like it was that good

So awesome! I had some really nice cheese earlier, made my whole day

This is purely conspiratorial but I think given the studio’s notable previous controversy, they probably excluded it because Wukong has such a prominent presence this year.

Other than that, yeah it just doesn’t make sense to me. Nine sols has better sales and reviews than other games being honored

My GOTY personally. Left a really strong impression. Combat is an absolute joy, and the boss fights are my favorite since Sekiro. Story and atmosphere are incredible, you can at times really feel that this is a studio accustomed to making horror games.

They totally nailed it, in other words. Great post-release support as well. Can’t wait to see what they do next

So beyond excited for this, first game was a masterpiece. Loved their older work as well (In Other Waters)

Maybe “AI” can just push the water around for us?

We could dissect why "manly" translates to "being worthy of respect", but that's a tangent from your question.

I think this pretty much gets to the root of the friction I experience when this topic comes up. I wouldn’t mind digging into it.

You likely have already guessed that I would think of it this way, but isn’t it just that “good people are worthy of respect”? Because it seems to me like if you try hard to take care of your family and do right by others, you’re a good person deserving of respect.

You know what I mean? If there’s no need for the trait to be exclusively masculine, then why do we do it? Translate “manly” into “worthy of respect”, that is. Is there some benefit to thinking about it in terms of masculinity rather than just in terms of goodness?

However, the phrase "manly" is referring to societal measures

they should have favorable societal traits and behaviors

Also, I do acknowledge this side of things. I wrote some thoughts about it in a reply to another comment in this thread, if you want to check that out. It’s an important point, and I don’t want you to think i’m just ignoring it. In summary, I think it’s kind of a bummer if in the end, manliness is just a tradition people feel compelled to participate in

I appreciate your breakdown. In other words, what you’re saying is that a man’s feeling of manliness is most often rooted in how closely he resembles societal expectations.

I think it’s pretty much the most reasonable explanation. But it still strikes me that men generally do not themselves think about it in those terms, and in fact consider it to be inherently emasculating. Masculinity viewed through this lens in essence becomes an act of submission to an outside force, which stands in contrast to many evident directives of masculinity such as independence and inherent drive.

Indeed the OP touches on this, implying that masculinity simply must be secured from within, with brazen disregard for the way others perceive you.

So if it does really come down to matching expectations, then it seems to be, as you said, frankly impossible

I guess what confuses me about all of this is why these things are in any way manly?

Like being reliable and following through on your commitments. Is it masculine when someone who isn’t a man is like that?

Or if I’m told someone is manly, have I now learned that he is in fact dependable?

I don’t mean to try and excessively pick apart what you’re saying, it’s just something I’ve always really struggled with understanding. People always seem to say things that strike me as being ungendered character traits when they’re asked about their gender.

Thank you for proving me correct!

I have the same mac pictured above, and also a windows laptop with many ports.

The mac I plug into my work center via a single usb-c connection which charges it, connects it to my external monitor, and connects it to all of my USB equipment (about 6 items ranging from m&k to music equipment). Having only the one wire is huge in terms of making it easier to break down the machine from its setup and pack it up for the road.

The pc is connected separately to power as it can’t be powered through the usb-c, and to the monitor separately for some esoteric reason. So then I need a third cable to connect it to my equipment.

So in my case the less-is-more approach is actually preferable

that all being said

I’m sure other windows laptops can be configured with a one-wire solution just fine. And I don’t mean to pretend the 2x usb-c config was a popular choice or anything. Only on like two models or something had it. The newer macbooks brought back sd card slots and hdmi and everything by popular demand.

I looked into it and you can still run everything off of just one usb-c on those ones, so at the end of the day more options is just better for more people

It is not ambiguous. The set {a, b, c,…z} contains every letter. “x” being a popular choice to use as a variable in general does not confer to it any other special significance that would exclude it from the set of alphabetically arranged letters

Not correct. The variable “x” cannot represent both the 24th prime number as well as an unknown real number. If you wanted to represent your proposition it would need to be written differently than in the meme

I think it’s correct as is. The “…” is used when enough information is present to complete the series.

For example, if the series really is anything other than the alphabet as it is commonly understood, (thus excluding “x”,) then that would need to be made clear by the person communicating the series.

For example, we can say with confidence that your example, “1, 2, 3…∞” is indeed the set of natural numbers, including “24” if we were to write them all out.

they're all just placeholders for individual numbers

Just normal variables, although used in a kinda “gotcha” way by obfuscating the “number minus itself” trick. There’s a very common teacher’s trick that relies on the same principle. You balance a certain equation and “prove” on the blackboard that 0=1. It’s incumbent on the students, then, to figure out that halfway through your shenanigans, you divided the right half of the equation by “x-x”. This is dividing by zero, which is impossible, and thus explains your farce.

I don’t buy it, personally. There were plenty of older folks in my college program who thrived in their studies. Plenty of older folks at work who adapt to new training just fine.

Personally I feel more focussed and capable of picking up new skills now than I ever did in my twenties. I just can’t believe your capacity for learning necessarily decreases with age.

Yeah I’m aware that we observe a correlation. You know what I think actually happens? You remember back in school, teachers would always complain about the “summer vacation effect”? Kids would come back to school after break and it would be a huge slog getting them habituated back into productive learning. Year after year, affecting children at every age. The effect is noticeable after they disengage for only a couple of months.

Now what happens if you go years or even decades without really challenging your adaptability? How hard would it be to get back into things, then? And because this effect required the passage of time to take hold, would most people not just assume it’s an inevitable part of getting older? What if it isn’t, and nearly everyone has the capacity to claw their way back?

That’s my view. Ultimately it’s up to each of us how we want to handle our own journey of aging. I would recommend against believing your “ship has already sailed” at thirty years old, considering the success people find when they refuse to accept that.

My apologies for making such a rant, and with such emotion haha. Your short comment didn’t really justify it, and this isn’t really directed at you. Just some stuff that’s been on my mind a lot as it is a very common sentiment.

But to close out my train of thought, I would also add that most people consider sarcopenia to be inevitable as they get older. However, we now know that the effects are completely reversed in virtually everyone who engages with strength training into their old age, enabling them to walk around in their eighties with the same strength as an average 30 year old. But in order to receive these proven benefits, you need to believe that it is possible for you personally, and you need to try.

You are indeed a math person!

Also fwiw most devices manage this automatically and you do not need to concern yourself with maintaining any given battery percentage

I think they’re saying you’ve mentally automated it by combining it with another activity. Offered as an example of the simplest type of “optimization mindset” that could be construed as automation.

I could be wrong, I don’t have a cat.