Coffee Please

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I took a vacation from work just to play Monster Hunter Stories 3.

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I'm never not on, but I haven't posted in a while. I've been going to therapy for a lot of things. Mostly, I've had to put my life on hold. I was taking care of a sibling like I was their second parent. Anyway they don't need me anymore.(Obviously a good thing) Unfortunately a large motivation in my life was caring for them.

I forgot to care about myself. I have limited hobbies and not much wants. This was a long winded way of saying something simple, I apologize. I'm good at wood kits and decided to try an entry level gunpla kit. I just want something busy enough to calm my mind and keep my hands moving. So yeah, entry level gunpla's are fairly priced. I watched a few Gundam animes so I'm familiar with the concepts so I'm going to give it a go!

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I sometimes feel like instead of critically looking at a scene, we intentionally let our bias inform us about what is actually happening.

That's the conclusion I get from this ridiculous narrative that Sumire was right to confront Sarada.

Full disclosure, I am a Boruto/Sarada fan, but I didn't have any problem with Sumire until this chapter.

Sumire is 100% wrong for what she said to Sarada. Why? Sarada isn't responsible for the way Sumire feels full stop. Attributing someone else's action for your inaction is an easy way to remove responsibility.

Sarada hugging a friend after 3 years of no contact didn't prevent Sumire from hugging him. She could have hugged him immediately after. Instead, she chose to sideline herself.

Sumire is also a very dishonest person. Yes, she openly admits to liking Boruto. But she's constantly manipulating Sarada by either subtly trying to provoke her or in this case guilt tripping her.

Even before the timeskip she has very leading conversations with Sarada in order to get her to admit to feelings for Boruto.

Here, she makes it seem like Sarada was trying to maliciously hurt her. She's upset essentially because she already considers Sarada a rival. Meanwhile, Sarada has not openly admitted to anything. As such, she doesn't seem Sumire as a rival but a good friend.

If you look at the way she's drawn (her face in particular) in some of these conversations with Sumire, you can tell she's uncomfortable with the topic of discussion. Which would be obvious to Sumire if she cared to think about Sarada's feelings like she accuses her of not doing.

Then she uses Boruto's name to draw parallel between them to basically call Sarada selfish.

It's has to stop. Especially when we can clearly see Sarada is a lot more open about supporting Boruto. It's obvious in her flagrant disrespect towards Shikamaru and the fact that she's still a genin.

Sarada is one of the main reasons Boruto even escaped the village in the first place.

If Sumire wants Boruto, she should tell him that. Confess or whatever. But she should not be attacking Sarada because she's not brave enough to go get a hug.

It was very petty of her. And yes, she's just a teenager, but you're a ninja trained to kill. There's a lot going on at the moment that your list of priorities is really odd, to say the least.

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This is just my opinion. TINY SPOILER AHEAD.

I honestly could care less about the story carrying over from Origins and II. I know, probably hot take. For me, this isn't like Mass Effect, where we're experiencing one protagonists journey via Shepard. Every game in that series (not counting Andromeda) was about Shepard. We we're Shepard.

In Veilguard we're Rook. But we're also the Inquisitor. It's weird. Like an out of body experience. Rook won't know the Inquisitors trials. But we will, doubly if they've romanced Solas. In that way, my attention will be split between investing in Rook and my lingering nostalgia for the Inquistor.

I literally could barely make it through II, the dungeons we're so repetitive. I despised Carver and fuck Anders. Origins, while fun, didn't really carrier over much in II or Inquisition to have a big enough impact on me or really the story. I mean, Morrigan did, but the protagonist didn't.

Fans headcannon so much anyway they've created lore. After this game, they'll do much the same. I mean, AO3 is going to be lit.

Now, I can understand why fans are upset. But I honestly think the reason why Bioware didn't include all the choices is because they don't have the budget.

Seriously, let's try to keep things in perspective. Sure, we're all (mostly) excited. But this game is make or break game. It's a game that was so close to not happening, it still doesn't seem real that it actually is. I wouldn't be surprised if the budget was limited as such content on choices was extremely condensed.

Honestly, from what I have seen in the playthrough spoilers, graphically looks pretty good. You can say it looks dated or cartoonist, but again, that budget was tight. Bioware isn't a triple A studio.

I really think it's going to be a good game. Perfect? No, but I definitely feel it will be a return to form for Bioware. But as fans, we need to be extremely realistic.

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I need Aihlam Solas x Lord content NOW.

Like I love Aihlam already.

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I really want to know what Varric said to convince some random person to go stop a god after drinks at the bar.

Honestly I haven't played Inquisition in a few years so I really can't remember why Solas is doing all this. I remember vaguely some of his motivations, romancing him and even getting the Inquisitors arm amputated.

I don't remember much but I know right or wrong, he believes he's doing the right thing. That's why the horrified countenance that crosses his face at the end is so jarring.

Where did it all go wrong?

I'm not sure if it was because Rook interrupted the ritual or if it was always doomed to fail. But I'm sure summoning/awakening/releasing whatever the other two were (Evil Elven Gods?) wasn't part of the plan.

Solas for all the power he commands looked afraid. He looked terrified actually. Those two clearly are an entirely different kind of monster.

And while Solas was doing what he believes to be just, not necessarily morally correct, those two appear completely sinister in nature.

I'm so excited for Dragon Age the Veilguard. I said it in a previous post but the team at Bioware sounds confident. Yeah the animation is colorful and the demons don't quite push the dreadful despair enough for me. I haven't seen anything close to brood mother horror yet.

But we also only saw 20 minutes of gameplay and I liked what I saw. But then again I've never been terribly critical of Bioware for example I enjoyed Andromeda for what it was. I didn't hate it for what it wasn't.

I think this is the mindset people should have when approaching DATV. Keep an open mind.

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I wasn't expecting news today but I'll take it. I'm really excited for Tuesday. I mean after delays and falling near into development hell, honestly I though we'd never see it.

Idon't know what to expect but it feels good because it sounds like the team at Bioware are feeling pretty confident. That kind of energy feels positive.

I think the delays may have done them good. I hope they went back to their roots and took all the good things from the first three games and made them great.

No pressure but they have to hit it out of the park. I need this because I want more Dragon Age. But I also want more Mass Effect.

Also the divide over 'the' in the title is highly amusing.

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Any news about Kings of Paradise or Tokyo Love Hustle? They just quietly stopped updating the two and I loved the former and was really getting into the latter.

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She Loves to Cook, And She loves to Eat

Go read the Manga, watch the Jdrama. (Season 2 coming in 2024!)

It's chicken soup for the lesbian soul. It also examines the idea of modern women roles in a still fairly conservative context from the pov of Japanese women.

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Why is it everyday I get on this app and look at the Sarada tag, it's like someone brand new just discovered Boruto.

Is Sarada dressed ridiculously? Yes. Is it likely to change soon? No

It is, what it is. The moral outrage did help somewhat because Sarada is more covered up in the timeskip, but now y'all complain the outfit is ugly.

Either accept it or move on. Writing dissertations about the function of her attire and if it makes her a good ninja is stupid.

People out her bringing the dead to life, sending people to different dimensions and fending of alien invasions.

Also, stop comparing 12 year old Sakura to 12 year old Sarada. Why? Because 12 year old Sarada would beat the snot out of 12 Sakura. Clearly, her more conservative attire wasn't helping her be a better ninja. She put that work in.

I swear it's enough now. Everyday Damn chapter it's more about the looks than story. Everyone looks ridiculous in Boruto.

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Starfield is pretty much what I expected from a Bethesda game. So I'm having a pretty good time.

My only complaint is that I need a map and a dirt bike/ATV.

If you know, you know.

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Have I finished a playthrough of Baldurs Gate 3?

Nope.

Am I starting Starfield tomorrow when the early access drops?

Yup.

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While Sarada's outfit is pretty bad. (My opinion) There is nothing wrong with her having short hair. Femininity isn't tied to hair length. Stop it with that bullshit.

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Baldurs Gate 3 has a hold on me. I wanted to finish at least one playthrough before Starfield comes out. But that not likely to happen.

I mean, I'm still in Act 1, and I've stumbled into the Underdark, which completely derailed my plans.

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I think some people really just can't be satisfied. To that end, they will find something to latch on, too, and make it an issue. No, it's not even the critique of free roaming cats. That doesn't bother me at all.

It's this weirdly obnoxious preachy tone as if you're not playing a game filled with magic, giants, mermaids and a goddess.

You have to suspend at least some logical realism to play this game.

Oh, it's a game about conservation!

On an island that pretty much begins devastated by a man made disaster. Do you have any idea how long oil spills take to clean up? And yet you can just fish in these polluted waters and consume your catch just fine.

A game where trees fully mature in about a week.

You flit around the world in a swirl of Sakura petals. You can spend all day, literally all day underwater. Fight magical monsters in a mining shaft you decend with no personal protective equipment whatsoever. You just snatch up extremely poisonous insects bare handed, and that's okay?

The point I'm trying to make is how ridiculous complaining about the cats appears to be. Giving that everyone easily accepts all the magic and rule bending the game does everywhere else.

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Baldurs Gate 3 is coming out a month earlier. Considering I wanted to play both this and Starfield, it's great for me. But I already know I'm going to be going back and forth between the two. Not to mention the other games I want to play coming in 2023/2024!

Greed is Good.

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Starfield is not Mass Effect. Please stop expecting it to be Mass Effect.