I’d agree that racism and sexism are separate from religion and I didn’t intend to suggest that religion is the source of racism or sexism. It runs much deeper than that with sexism and racism being expressed in different ways by both religious and non-religious alike. That said, where and when I grew up they were all intertwined with and reinforced by religion. So when I threw off the yoke of religion it was easier, for me at least, to recognize the many small and large injustices being committed by me those around me because that was our “culture”.

I grew up in a very religious, rural part of the country (US) and in a time when sexism and racism were the norm. I’m now an atheist and now recognize how damaging all of that is to the individuals it harms and to society as a whole.

Haven’t played the sequel yet. Waiting to get it on sale if/when it shows up on GOG. That said, I don’t have big expectations. Sequels rarely live up to the original.

No, it’s not bad. You have a best friend and that’s great. Assuming there’s nothing amorous going on between you, the fact that they are the opposite gender as you shouldn’t matter.

Just be careful to invest time in your relationship with your boyfriend as well. Remember that they are also your friend and even if they trust you they may tire of the situation if they perceive they are being neglected. Just saying this because I have seen relationships fall apart because of similar situations.

Fair enough. There were a lot of weapons and variations of the weapons and I’d agree that some things weren’t explained well or at all. But for me part of the fun was experimenting and figuring out what worked and what didn’t.

As for the story, it really didn’t click for me either until later in the game when the how and why of that world became clearer. Prior to that it felt like just another derivative (post-post-)post-apocalyptic story. But from that point on I was fully invested, which made the ending all the more impactful for me.

If you don’t mind me asking, what specifically didn’t you like about the game?

Horizon Zero Dawn - From what I saw from the marketing seemed just odd. Relatively primitive looking humans fighting animal shaped robots. It just looked a bit too gimmicky. Several years after it’s initial release I saw that it was on sale and gave it a shot. I was genuinely surprised by the depth of the story. It was much more emotionally impactful than I expected and the story now feels almost prescient.

I drive a small car with stiff (sport) suspension. In my area manhole covers typically aren’t aligned well with the road surface making them quite bumpy to drive over. This can jarring and even painful for me due to medical issues that I don’t care to get into here. So I routinely avoid driving over manhole covers.

Not sure that’s a universal thing with cats. Unless she’s really hungry, the current feline resident of my household most definitely will turn her nose up at a dish if it’s the same as she was fed in the last meal.

Keep the rule and LOL @ “orange lardsack”

Fallout 4 is the first to come to mind. The story was all too predictable and the options for resolving the story were far too limited in my mind.

Besides the story issues and the usual Bethesda jank, was just how clunky the settlement building process was. In addition, I had a major issue preventing me from doing pretty much any of the Brotherhood of Steel missions besides the basic ones offered by the BoS solders holding out in the police station.

I was also pissed at how no matter how good your perimeter defenses were hostiles always spawned inside the settlements when you weren’t present at the start of a raid. Tall walls/fences + dozens of automated turrets of various types all arranged carefully with overlapping fields of fire as well as traps were apparently still not enough to keep motley group of poorly equipped raiders from pillaging and ransacking my settlements repeatedly.

I’ve played other Fallout games repeatedly, but I have no interest in playing Fallout 4 again.

Yeah, I played that. Didn’t bother me as much as some boss fights though. They clearly didn’t intend for you to fight that robot, so the only option was to sneak around it and I rather enjoy stealth gameplay.

I have many pet peeves when it comes to games, but the biggest that I can think of off the top of my head is the boss fights in games that don’t let you use the weapons & skills/techniques that you’d used to get to that point. It just pisses me off when they let you develop a character with particular skills and weapons only to force a particular combat style that’s contrary to what you’d used up till that point.

That’s precisely how the debate between myself any my SO was finally ended. The seat stays down now unless in use.

There are multiple reasons why most people don’t shift countries willy-nilly.

Moving, even within the same state is a difficult, stressful, and expensive prospect. Moving to a different country is even more so, and that assumes you have a job lined up when you get there or substantial monetary reserves. Then there are the legal hurdles, which depending on the destination country can be downright daunting. In many countries unless you are a top earner with an in-demand skill-set you are likely to experience significant legal challenges to even achieve temporary residency. And then there are language and cultural differences that can make life difficult once you get there. Unless you have friends/family already in the destination country and/or know the language you can expect it to be rough going for quite a while.

All this would be compounded if you have a family. Not to mention the added difficulty and expense involved with visiting or supporting extended family members or friends back in your original home country after leaving.

Simply put, most people simply can’t move countries whenever the political situation in their home country gets dicey. It’s only after the fighting starts do you see people doing that in significant numbers and at that point they are refugees.

Oh, thanks for letting me know. It appears that I’d inadvertently mangled it. It’s been corrected.

In my second play-through of CP77, I played as a female V just so I could romance Judy. It was great. Even went so far as to decorate V’s apartments with pictures of the two of them together. So when the end came, I was not emotionally prepared for …

While I can’t say I cried, it was probably the closest I’ve come to crying because of a video game.

For folks in the western wold this may seem strange, but it probably makes sense if the intent is lure Chinese vacationers.

No

Like a lot of things, the answer is “it depends”. Probably the biggest factor I’ve seen is the willingness to accept their condition and stick with the prescribed medications. The worst cases I’ve seen all involved individuals who either consistently or intermittently refused to acknowledge their condition and take the meds. It usually resulted in some near tragic circumstances that costs them friends, jobs, and the support of loved ones. In one case I know the end result was fully tragic. However, some people who are bipolar have lived mostly normal lives, so not all hope is lost. It just depends on their willingness to deal with their condition head on.