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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3577 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 9, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Video game thread! What did you get over the holidays, what are you playing?

Having a blast playing Skyrim modded. Been playing a lot and also just looking through modlists. This is one area I've found AI to be extremely fun and useful to work with, which has been rare for me lately.

I was feeling an urge to play XCOM 2 over the Christmas break. When I opened it from Steam, I found that it gave me the option to play the War of the Chosen DLC, which I didn't remember buying. It adds so much new content to the base game that it's a bit overwhelming at first brush, but the base game is so addictive that I got into the swing of it pretty quickly, and I think I've logged a few dozen hours into it so far, having killed my first of the three Chosen assassins.

Any of you XCom fans tried Phoenix Point? It's a newer team shooter by Gallop, who did UFO Enemy Unknown which I loved so much but also XCom Apocalypse which I didn't.

Tried it, and found it a horrible mess. UX was bad, the free-aim gimmick didn't fit the grid-based movement at all, the campaign progression was very opaque, the troopers and items looked silly, the here-are-three-factions-with-one-unique-unit-each system seemed eerily similar to War of the Chosen, the DLCs varied from questionable to godawful...I didn't get far in it. I keep retrying it occasionally; there was a patch recently and a big old mod Terror From The Void ("The Long War of Phoenix Point!", they say), but every time I try it I just end up frustrated by the tactical layer and with no sense of direction in the strategic layer, and annoyed by the UX all throughout.

IIRC, @self_made_human enjoyed it, though?

Thanks that sounds like it has more of what I miss about the originals so I think I'd enjoy it. I'll poke around and see if I can find @self_made_human's review.

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