trying desperately to get my character in elden ring to mohg so i can do dlc stuff and i've been so careful to avoid spoilers and all the new loading screens got me like 
Everytime I got on Twitter or YouTube I risk seeing spoilers lol. I remember when Elden Ring originally came out I could only play on weekends because I traveled weekly for my job at the time and eventually the final 3 bosses were spoiled for me by youtube videos that showed up in my recommendations
the game of LIFE on MAXIMUM DIFFICULTY WHADDUPP BITCHEZZZZZ 
Total War Warhammer 3, N'Kari on Legendary, im trying to play without save scumming but its not going well, i've lost several important battles that i would've won had i save scummed
I cant comment on N'Kari but there is quite a bit of difference in difficulty between all the factions/Lords. Some campaigns like Grimgor or Tyrion are pretty straightforward for example (even on Legendary).
N'kari has a rough start considering you're surrounded by high elves. It's all about stabilizing your starting position and building a snowball of cultists and gifts of Slaanesh until you are rolling in so many devotees you don't know what to do with them all. Easier said than done though. I fucking hate siege battles as him though so I try to lure enemies into land battles with op as fuck ambush stance. If I remember right Forsaken are the way to go early against high elves, they have the armor to close the gap and butcher spearmen and archers.
You can always just abandon Ulthuan and return once you are op as fuck. Bonus points for proliferating a cult in Cathay, summoning a disciple army there, and relocating just to seduce and vassalize Miao Ying. Or Imrik if that's your thing.
I was playing the new Elden Ring stuff but think I might hold off until it (hopefully) gets some performance patches. I keep getting stuttering and frame drops which seems odd considering the base game never gave me any issues whatsoever.
Until then I think I'm gonna learn more Dwarf Fortress.
I started playing FE: Three Houses (Black Eagles/Crimson Flower on maddening difficulty). I'm stopping for a bit though because I'm not the best at Fire Emblem and it's making me feel maddened 😔.
I feel like maddening is super unfun for Three Houses lol
Black Eagles
Based
Critical Support to Edelgard in her struggle to end class society!
Standard sf6/strive stuff.
Hopped on granblue to remind myself why i dont like it. Still dont like it, but now theres also like nobody on ranked anymore. Kept queuing into the same person 4x in a row.
Played deeprock with some friends, is a good time.
Pseudoregalia seems alright but triggers my nausea somehow
Trying to gold stake a few more decks in Balatro, at 4 or five out of 15 so far? Shit's hard
Also running back another Dark Souls 1 enemy/item randomizer after just finishing one. There's a lot of fun to be had retreading a game you know well with so much stuff shifted around, especially one like DS1 where the first half is so intricately designed. It's basically a metroidvania with how you're trying to open new areas. Otoh there can be really annoying enemy placements - Darkwraiths my detested >:(
It's interesting how gold stake doesn't seem like it should be that much harder, but the fact that 3/4 jokers in the shop are very hard to justify buying means most runs struggle to get out of ante 3. It's brutal.
ya perishable and rental jokers are sneakily very debilitating, the former in that there's a chance your run-winning joker craps out on you in five rounds, the latter absolutely demolishes early game econ. it really does feel like you need to just restart until you get a decent joker to escape early game hell and hope you can find something in time before faster ante scaling from purple stake destroys you
Elden ring dlc just came out so naturally I’m playing through dark souls 1 for the first time
Europa Universalis 4, with the Anbennar total conversion mod. Been playing Ovdal Kanzad, my favorite Dwarf remnant in the Serpentspine. It's kinda funny how Kanzad went from having one of the most developed and expansive MT's to having one that absolutely pales in comparison to everybody else (Except Amldihr, poor thing.). Currently on a potato PC so i deleted 67% of the world, turns out slapping a bajillion new mechanics on an already processor heavy game makes it run like molasses on a cold Boston morning.
Oh, you gotta tell me a bit more about Anbennar. I've been wanting to play that at some point (despite barely playing EUIV). I know it's a fantasy full conversion mod, but that's about it. I've heard really good things though.
Ok, lemme give you the general overview of Anbennar.
Right, so Anbennar takes place on the fictional planet of Halann, and is set mostly in the same type of world as Dungeons and Dragons, with many of the same creatures inhabiting it. It has many new mechanics and a metric ton of L O R E. For example, fantasy races are a central mechanic, whose unique administrations and military give nationwide benefits and drawbacks, along with province to province effects depending on acceptance level of racial minorities along with tonnes of events who affect tolerance level and "problems" that may arise with certain groups. Like a troll suddenly outdoing a local lord in collecting bridge tolls. Depending on the choice made in the event, it will change noble loyalty, money gained and tolerance increases or decreases for Trolls.
Another addition is "adventurer" countries, imagine a DnD party but it contains enough murder hobos to form its own nation-state 100 years down the line. They are at first only found in the devastated and depopulated region of Escann (east of Not Europe (Cannor (Escann is short for East-Cannor))), they use EU4 natives mechanics, generating development, creating loose federations (actual federation is disabled) and migrating around, causing devastation. After enough reforms are gained, they can settle down and form their own country. They appear also in the New (Old) world.
There are also the Dwarovar adventurers and warbands, orcs, goblins, kobolds, harimari (Anthropomorphic tigers) and dwarves all seeking to grab a piece of the wast riches of the Serpentspine. A mountain range so massive, it severs the continent in two, with only narrow passes between them. Inside said mountains are the ruins of the old Dwarven civilization, whose holds and ancient railways lay derelict in the darkness. This is my favorite part of the game. Holds are super-provinces, reaching up to 120+ development, with their own unique digging mechanics. The Dwarovrods, the old railways can be restored to improve movement speed and trade, and hold specialization can give huge benefits over time. Of course, only select races can dig holds, of course including the Dwarves, but also Kobolds and Goblins. Orcs get their own set of mechanics based around collecting loot and doing their own things with the holds. (There's also Roadwarrior, hope you like owning 1 province the entire game. Don't worry, your job is to make sure everybody has none provinces.)
To go further into depth with dwarves, you might think "Hundred dev provinces? Railways? Precious metals and gems all over the place? That must be broken, balance-wise" Which is completely correct, there is no real "balance" in Anbennar, as having a fun and unique experience is prioritized by the devs. This doesn't mean it can't be hard as all hell though. Dwarves for example get about 6 or so disasters, all of which are BRUTAL and will leave an unprepared player with a hundred loans, 0 manpower and 50% devastation on all provinces (also development loss during one of them).
But moving on. We got an entire world to cover after all. We got Haless (Not-Asia) where many unique mechanics and countries lie, we have the Harimraj, a caste based empire administered by the Harimari, tigers given ascencion in the year 0 AA (After-Ash( what does that mean?( Don't worry about it.))), meanwhile to the north the Great Hobgoblin Command (or just The Command) is planning it's invasion of all their neighbors, in the mountains the devious Oni seek to corrupt the ancient temple complexes, releasing the chaotic spirits sealed within. The golden kobolds search endlessly for their missing dragon mentor, the Xiaken lands are trying desperatly to unite, the mayor of Feiten is looking into lighter-than-air travel for commerce purposes, the Dwarves of Verkal Ozovar are bringing their human vassals under tighter control (Literally 1984) and many many more. Watch out for The Rending.
God, what more? We got Aelantir, the lost lands of the Elves. You see, 1444 years ago, an Elf named Ducaniel blew an entire civilization up because he didn't get to marry his niece. This ended elves living practically forever, weakened the bonds between the different planes, disappeared all the Djinn and Genies, made a mahoosive crater-turned new sea in the epicenter and blasted most of elven civilization into exodus or back to feudal society. Known as the Day of Ashen Skies, it fucked everything up for everybody big time, but especially the elves. In fact, the (relatively) few elves that managed to escape by boat accidentally got trapped in the plane of water for 1000 years until a witch king trying to conquer the empire of Anbennar accidentally let them out and then got his ass kicked by them. Basically you can RETVRN as the elves of Venail and create a genocidal settler-colonial empire with many flavors of despotism to chose from, from Napoleonic war state, literally 1984, and elven ice-queen Hitler who turns native (Ruinborn) elves into magical batteries to make her castle float. Yeah.
What else is there to say? Way too much, like, I haven't even mentioned the magic mechanics, casting spells, studying them, becoming a lich, siege magic, undead armies. Then there's the artificers, capacities, artificer regiments, inventions, controlling relics and damestear provinces to further expand invention capacity. There's all of Bulwar, the Jadd, all of Sarhal, THE VALLEY, the forbidden plains of the centaurs, the lake federation, the Kheonai, the Eordand, the Ynn, the Deepwoods, the Dragon Coast, Gerudia, the Harpies, the Ogres (includes Shrek reference) the Trolls, the Gnomes, the Halflings, Gawed and Lorent, etc etc etc etc etc. There is SO MUCH STUFF in Anbennar, it's redonkelous.
You know what you should do? Go play it, please, it's so so so so so good, you'll never run out of things to do, I promise you.
Oh, you asked me to tell you "a bit" more about Anbennar? Whoops.
Now, while that all sounds really cool, I have very little experience with EUIV and have to admit I struggle a bit with the game. I'm okay at Stellaris (600 hours) and CK3 (200 hours), but I have maybe 20 hours in EUIV. Do you think I should start with Anbennar right away or spend more time with EUIV vanilla to learn the systems, etc.?
This is a question that is asked often in the Anbennar subreddit (Yeag I know 
). The most common answer is that people with lack of EUIV experience who want to get into Anbennar are better off starting with playing Anbennar so they can familiarize themselves with both the base game's and the mod's mechanics simultaneously. I think the same thing, there are many tooltips in the custom UI that explain everything, so don't worry about having to pull up a wiki every time an event popup happens. (In fact the wiki doesn't even contain gameplay mechanics anymore, just L O R E)
But keep in miiiiiiind, Anbennar can be harder than EUIV and some parts of the game expect you to have a deep understanding of the mechanics, after 3000 hours of EUIV I can't confidently say I could play the most difficult countries. So what I'm trying to say is, do not be afraid to cheat. I mean, the A.I. already does it, and player enjoyment matters more than anything. So if the going gets tough, or you just don't want to wait 50 in-game years to see the next mission and event cause you missed an obtuse mission requirement, just pop off with the console commands!
Thanks for your indepth answer. You did help me a bunch 
I'm almost finished with the Thousand Year Door remake, just beat the final boss last night.
Just have to wrap up some post game stuff like the Pit of 100 Trials, but I'll probably be able to do so in one more sesh. Fantastic remake :)
FFXIV. Catching up for Dawntrail on Friday
getting my ASS kicked towards the end of the elden ring dlc
adapting to my new leverless controller in sf6 by learning to play Jamie, currently getting my ass whupped at low gold
I'm just gonna play Stellaris for a bit tonight. I've been playing the game since its release back in 2016. I really dig the game in its current version; it's perfect comfort food. Also, its synthwave OST is a banger.
Splatoon 3 and my eternal sisyphean task of trying to reach S+ rank.
Picked up the new Tropican Shores DLC for Tropico 6. It’s great, playing on a huge archipelago map in sandbox mode and it is very challenging, I dig it.
I only played the base game around release. I'm usually 50/50 wether I click with city builders, but I enjoyed Tropico 6 a fair bit back then. What's your take on the game in its current state? (DLC/updates, etc.)
Oh it’s fantastic! I’m surprised it took them this long to get the Tropican Shores content into the game, but it’s here now. The only DLC I haven’t picked up is the plague one but I’ll probably grab that eventually.
My only gripe with the game is that once you hit your population cap the game basically breaks because you no longer have a source of uneducated workers, but you can still make it work by destroying huge parts of your economy that rely on those workers lol.
Started a new Factorio game. First game I thought I could survive by just having a perimeter of gun turrets around my base with double walls, but I never got around to making the red ammo so they became useless as soon as big biters started to spawn. I learned my lesson so this time I prioritized military science and have been building fortified outposts at each ore patch. Been loving building the huge rail network too, going much bigger than my last game.
I am hosting a friend from out of town, which has been negatively impacting my ability to play lots of Elden Ring.
I started playing Thrive, you play as a single cell organism and you mutate each round to evolve to suit the environment. It's still being developed, it's fun so far.
Picked up the new Tropico6 DLC. First time playing on a huge archipelago map and it’s very challenging, I dig it.
I'm stuck between games because I finished Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin last week. Extremely different from other FF games, somewhere between DMC and a soulslike, with a delightfully focused protagonist and a plot complex enough to retroactively make the original Final Fantasy's plot as over the top as later entries'.
Taught my coworkers how to play Nine Holes, because I must do my part to free the peoples of the world from the stranglehold of tic tac toe
I'm taking the Yasumi Matsuno pill, except QUICK what do you do about blackmages and their one-turn wind-up for a spell that hits for two thirds of a unit's health bar? Final Fantasy Tactics is sillyass.
In other news I booted up the PAL version of Auto Modellista just to try it, and found it really fun. Gonna try to get a Dualshock 3 working in PCSX2.
Terra Invicta its pretty fun and decently materialistic (still some 
though)
Friend got me into Rimworld. One of those games where you check the clock and hours have passed.
I have to enable the in game clock or i would never quit
It's so good. Can't stop playing. Got the Ideology and Biotech DLC and its been so much fun. The ideology DLC definitely turns the weird shit up to 10.
Ideology is a great DLC, though trying to build communism you can see the brain worms
Squeezing this in here because I have only been back on checking from a long hiatus, I've beaten the first 3 Dragon Quest games on nes (my wife has documented my past few months games) (Her Post here, she's a huge fan of Tactics Ogre if you're unaware)
Final Fantasy (NES)
Mother 1
Castlevania II - Simon's Quest
Castlevania: The Adventure
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Castlevania Legends
Dragon Quest I (NES)
Dragon Quest I (SNES) (decided it was too easy) (8:7 gang)
Dragon Quest II NES
Metroid
Metroid II - Return of Samus
Phantasy Star
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II - Adventure of Link
Dragon Quest 3 NES
But I'm now working on Final Fantasy II for the nes
Me thinking that you playing Final Fantasy I will be funny, and then turning around to you churning through half the fuckin famicom library 
I thought I'd do the jrpgs in release order with some games in between to prevent burnout 
I can't wait to get to other stuff like Megami Tensei and Deep Dungeon and such, but those will be a bit later 
Resident Evil 4 and Street Fighter 6. I'll get cammy to master rank one day 
Some buddies got me back into Smash a bit and playing as Hero made me want to check out Dragon Quest 11. So I downloaded the demo and it's actually pretty charming. Just a classic JRPG with nice character designs and excellent music. I'm considering getting the full game.
Otherwise I've resumed my Blue Lions run of Three Houses.
Tabletop, DnD, board games, and minecraft. Also Animal Crossing.
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