HoboZero

@charongreed: My sister works in television production and that's exactly right. The talent got paid their contracted fee for getting Season 1 in the can, as did all the production companies involved. Production companies are used to bouncing from show to show once a season finishes filming. In this case, since Roseanne S1 was finished filming a while ago all those employees have probably moved on to another show/film/etc. already - and if not they soon will be. They're not all suddenly without work. This is something that happens a lot (stuff gets cancelled, not renewed, delayed) and they're used to it. I am honestly amazed listening to stories from my sister about how quickly they can switch gears from show to show.

Man I Love standup, but the only thing that still consistently makes me laugh is who's on first. The timing, the mounting frustration, Costello's entire performance. I just love it.

Finished it last night, and have to agree the endings are pretty unsatisfying. Aside from the obvious nihilistic downer, I think (for me at least) its because I see what they went for and how badly they fucked it up.

The 'twist' (resist) ending is supposed be a big reveal that you have fulfilled the biblical prophecy of Revelation, that god actually does talk to Joseph, and that the world is ending. That could potentially be a good twist, except for:

1. They made the nuclear Armageddon too ambiguous. You had to have listened to the radio news broadcasts to pick up on the foreshadowing. With the radio being optional, a lot of players missed it and couldn't tell if it was war, or the Seeds setting off nukes.
2. They cherry picked a bunch of stuff from Revelation and inserted it into the game way too subtly. If they had called more attention to them (e.g. Sherrif Whitehorse is the "White Horse" who comes from the heavens, and behind him is one who "in righteousness he judges and makes war") then maybe the ending would have more impact on the player. But as it is the twist is more like an easter egg since the clues are all hidden and obscure.
3. Most players will not have a passing knowledge of the book of revelations, so you need to expose them to that stuff before springing it on them in the end. It would be like (Usual Suspects spoiler ahead) revealing that Verbal Kint is Keyser Soze, without explaining at all who Kaiser Soze is beforehand.
4. The obvious fact that the ending doesn't fit with the tone of the rest of the game.

So, yeah, the actual ending is that Joseph was really a prophet, and you're the "pale rider" or "death" or "lamb of god" or whatever who comes from heaven with the White Horse, opens the seals, and causes judgement day - which is heralded by "trumpets" (air raid sirens). Joseph is chosen by god, he can't be killed, and everything you did was foretold, unavoidable, etc. The twist isn't really the nuclear war, it's that the war is the culmination of the prophecy of Revelations (so, god is real, joseph was right, and you are turbo-fucked), and since they don't make that clear enough it just feels like a random gut punch, rather than a profound twist.

Whats interesting to me is they are sort of ripping off Kevin Smith's Red State. Bunch of religious cultists, outnumbered law enforcement, teen murder - and in Smith's original ending (that they couldn't afford to film) the movie ends with the biblical Armageddon signaled by heavenly trumpets and the world ending.

Schools should also be providing health care benefits to student athletes - benefits that extend beyond their participation in sports if they get injured. So someone blowing out their ACL and dropping from the team doesn't also lose their insurance as a result of being dropped.

And athletic scholarships should be for full degrees, not just for the years the person can play. If they get dropped from the team for an injury, they should be able to complete their degree.

Happened to me at one point. Had oodles of clean water but none of my hunting grounds were spawning animals. Ended up shooting a bird with my last bullet and scoffing it raw at 2%. Then I was all:

Heading into the coop lobby to get back to 25% is a good tip :) As well, I have noticed that there seems to be a point where animals just stop spawning until you quit the game and come back, so if you don't see any try that. At some point food isn't really a problem anymore as you have access to a lot of places where animals spawn on the regular.

Another tip: be careful what sources you rely on for water. My dang ponds done dried up!

@travisrex: Ah dangit. I've been out in the dust like a hyperventilating astronaut, making tiny excursions. I repaired the tank too, just never looked at the cost again. Double dangit. Thanks :)

My own additions:

- drop map pins/badges/whatever when you encounter animals you can hunt for foor. They will respawn and its useful to be able to go back later for more

- don't buy oxygen with kubon unless you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. seems like the cost doubles every time and never goes back down? Wish I had known that earlier. The damn robots just keep yelling "Buy oxygen!" at me. Peer pressure!

Does anyone know if oxygen usage is constant, or if it depends on actions taken?

I am gonna say 2011's Renegade Ops was the last time I remember:

Oh snap! I didn't realize it was going to be live until I saw your thread! Woot!

If we're taking bets, I go with Dan, from a fire, in the kitchen.

I had issues with his characterization, but they are totally my fault and not the game's. I jumped in at 3 without playing 1 and 2. For me, every time I met some NPC the game seemed to be saying "Hey! Remember this guy/gal? All the great times you had together! The meaningful backstory!", and it just kept yanking me out of the game. Like it was telling me Geralt already feels this way or that way about someone, with no set up or reason at all.

For anyone who played 1 and 2 this must have been an (even more) amazing game, but for someone just starting the series it kept yanking me out of the narrative. I had to go read up on characters in the wiki frequently - playing as Geralt felt like being an unprepared understudy stepping into someone else's established character. I would have enjoyed the game a lot more if it had you start out as a new character, learning about the world, creatures, etc., but I totally accept that it wasn't that kind of game, and wasn't really "for" me. I still enjoyed it, I just know I could have enjoyed it way more.

But like I said, totally my failing and not the game's. Not blaming it or saying it should have been different at all. I mean, I love Saints Row 3/4 way more having been a fan of 1 and 2 :)