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PaperclipPerfector  23hr ago (text post)   748 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 10, 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 are you playing? Did you pick up anything great in the Steam summer sale?

I'm working my way through Half-Life (1998) and its expansions. It's pretty great even beyond the nostalgia, and I like the general feel of the engine and how you move around in it. Even the much-criticized Blue Shift is kinda fun. The engine was always one of the main strengths of HL and played a large part in its many mods' successes too, IMO. I'm playing with the 'original models' because I prefer how those weapons look and sound. I tried Black Mesa again briefly but I don't really like many of the changes they made. It's not a faithful remake.

Playing the new-ish Rogue Trader Rrazyn DLC. Owlcat does make a nice CRPG. I'm trying to go for a balanced alignment run where I don't exceed rank 2 in any alignment. They show a mirror universe character with that affliction but I'm not sure its possible with all the colony buildings.

I loved the Owlcat Pathfinders and Rogue Trader, but with RT, it felt like I could see the rails on the universe much more clearly than with the others. It felt smaller. Not sure if it actually is, but it feels that way. Maybe it's that a lot of the tedious mechanics (e.g. wealth, inventory) are handwaved because you're a Rogue Trader who doesn't need to deal with such trivial inconveniences, and those are actually load-bearing on the immersion. Maybe it's the reduced narrative complexity and choice branches. I don't think I could bring myself to start another RT playthrough today, whereas there are still things I'd like to try in WotR or KM.

The only real complaint I have with Rogue Trader is that if you have any idea of how the universe functions, you're basically going to be so goddamn hardline in worshipping the Emperor, purging the mutant and killing the heretic you will give your Inquisitor conniptions fits because you're more hardline than he is and it drives him nuts.

...which, admittedly, I take great delight in, so maybe I'm a little bit biased. Xeno artifact whispering in my head? Into the energy reactor it goes. Demon-infestes super computer? Arengta, be a dear and please bathe this foul artifice with plasma. Chaos-corrupted nobles on my planet? Fire. All the fire.

I will never forgive Games Workshop for denying us a romance route with the Sisters of Battle, though.

the obvious way to fix this would be to adjust the events/choices such that strict hardline Emperor Worship is slow suicide, and you are going to need to bend the rules a bit in order to make ends meet.

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