“Oh. I suppose that is you. So, did you want something, or…?”

Far Cry Blood Dragon’s tutorial section. The game is very aware of how impatient gamers are to get to the killing, and milks it for all the time it can while the PC grumbles about annoying tutorial sections. They throw in a ton of extra dialog boxes like accompanying reading recommendations, obvious tips,etc.

The whole game is meta and corny on purpose. If you like '80s action movies and sci-fi, they packed just about every trope possible into this thing. Heavily recommend if you haven’t played it.

I find the best lore raises more questions than it answers, and Lake and his team do that in spades. And you absolutely should give it a play with some more Alan Wake under your belt. Even outside the DLC they have lore connecting the two games all over. And of course, it only leaves me with more questions than I had. Another dead letter:

To the Esteemed Members of the American Psychiatric Council,

I am writing you to inquire about the significance of dreams in relation to one’s mental health? I am aware that there are many books purporting to contain the True meanings of dreams, but I have reservations about their legitimacy.

I understand that this is not usually done, but if I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on my Condition. Ever since I was young, I have had intensely-vivid dreams. They only occur sporadically, but in them I witness very strange events. I understand dreams can seem real at the time, but these feel markedly different. They do not occur often, perhaps only one or two a year.

Last night I had one. I saw a small, empty town. It was utterly dark. There was a Lake at its center. Shadows of people moved around me, muttering odd things. A bright light woke me up. I was screaming in my sleep. My wife had been shaking me for minutes before I woke.

Because of this recent incident, I have decided to seek help. The doctor says I am physically fine, but I wanted to consult your Expertise. Thank you for your valuable time.

Yours Very Sincerely,

Richard Bowker

Like, how many people did this event affect? It clearly wasn’t limited to Bright Falls and close associates of the artists the Dark Presence is feeding off of. This is some unrelated schmuck living who knows where, and he’s having dreams of the Bright Falls event. And this wasn’t even in the DLC. The Lovecraftian web of influence of other planes of existence in these fictional games fascinate me so damn much.

I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. ███ █ █████ ████ ██ █ █████████ █████ I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I’m a plaid suit in a pinstripe world.

Absolutely, although I’m a Containment/Panopticon fan myself. Langston’s dialogue is great, especially in the AWE dlc. Dead Letters is close behind though. The fish letter is excellent.

Playing AW2 right now after having watched a Quantum Break playthrough, so I’ve got the Remedyverse on my mind constantly and see it in everything. Such a dope company, can’t wait for the next control. I think it’s next on their development list, so hopefully soon!

Write letters to the press. Ripped from Control:

Dear New York Tribune,

Airplanes aren’t real. I figured out how they do it.

The windows are TV screens. The whole thing moves on big tracks like a rollercoaster that moves through underground tunnels in the Earth. Airports are more like train stations.

They do this because the sky is full of monsters that they don’t want us to know about. The planes we see in the sky are the monsters. The government made the Earth-trains look like the monsters so they could lie to us better.

Don’t contact me.

Not real, obviously, but clearly the most effective tactic when no one takes your 100% legit theories seriously.

Oddly enough I have a reverse relationship with this game compared to many others in the thread. I played Dishonored first, and I feel like THAT game spoiled the stealth genre for me. I tried Thief chasing that feeling and was sorely let down. I think if I’d played Thief first like a lot of you guys, I might have that attachment to it. And I know that Thief is likely a large reason why Dishonored exists to begin with, especially with the level design in mind. It just didn’t feel compelling to play, game mechanic wise or story wise. I ended up wanting to just play Dishonored halfway through. I pushed through till the end, it just felt like a worse version of a game i loved. May give the second one a shot, might stick with me more. But the first one left a not-so-pleasant taste

I mean, idk about you but when I pay money to see a musician showcase their music, I kinda of expect them to, you know, use that skill. It’s why I’m here. If I wanted to hear a recording, I could do that on my own. I dont need to see the musician dance. Or be super well lit with a AAA light show. Or have choreographed anything. Im there to see the musician do the musician thing and play the music. If you can’t do the stunt or choreography while performing, it’s a poorly designed stunt or routine.

And yeah, when the body is unwilling the show gets canceled. That’s the way it works. Or if they’re part of a larger set, they may just get replaced. I’d rather deal with that than show up for essentially an overpriced pre-made DJ set. Had Black Sabbath get replaced by Judas Priest for a show I saw. Couldnt be mad, Ozzy was having health issues and i bought the tickets like 10 months out. Not likeq the band or promoters thought it was likely. And if i got there, and they said “Hey guys, Ozzy couldnt be here but heres the rest of the band with some vocal tracks” I’d be pissed.

It’s a rough job being a touring musician, and fans undertake certain risks when they get tickets. It’s not a company with 1500 employees who can call someone else in when someone is sick with uninterrupted service. It’s at largest a small group of individuals who are each integral to the main service being provided, working a very stressful job. For singer/songwriters it’s a person. Expecting the consistency and adaptability of a large company from a small group of individuals is just setting yourself up for disappointment. Support the artist, but recognize they’re just humans and be understanding when shit happens.

If you were somehow still waiting for a reason…

Fuck, I’d settle for a printer that just did its job

It’s only a model…

!Oh, that creepy dude was in the book as well. Iirc he was her stalker. Not sure if they did the deed, been a while, but that was definitely the premise she used to get him with I think the sickle. His little man did not survive either. I dont think it played out the same in the movie though. I think i remember a crossbow? Or maybe that was chisato, i might be conflating those two since they had their scenes pretty close and i think ended up meeting. That or it happens off screen, not sure.

But yeah that Mitsuko scene was in the book and was brutal af!<

Oh damn, I forgot there was a manga. Didn’t they change a lot in the manga? I have the feeling that was why I didn’t get into it, but it’s been like 15 years since then. It might have just been to expensive for me at the time, even at like $10 an issue

Ngl sometimes I swing by the store, buy like 5lbs of various fruit and gorge myself all evening until I feel like a fat fruit bat. I am a slut for fruit, I wish I was in an area where I could actually get some foraged stuff

Absolute fucking classic

Got the book from my sister when I was young, blew my mind that not only did this exist, they’d made 2 movies by that point (a third came later). Young, edgelord me was in paradise.

Still a good book and movie. Highlighted a lot of still very relevant problems. Did Hunger Games both first and better. Recommend if you like that kind of thing and/or are pissed off at your government like I am

Fun fact, urchin originally meant hedgehog, so this actually works. From Etymonline:

Urchin

c. 1300, irchoun, yrichon “hedgehog, small spiny mammal of the Old World,” from Old North French *irechon (cognate with Picard irechon, Walloon ireson, Hainaut hirchon), from Old French herichun “hedgehog” (Modern French hérisson). This is formed with diminutive suffix -on + Vulgar Latin *hericionem, from Latin ericius “hedgehog.” This is reconstructed to be an enlarged form of er, originally *her, from PIE root *ghers- “to bristle” (source also of Greek kheros “hedgehog;” see horror).

SOURCE

This is it exactly. You essentially need to confirm that the Menu Item you are naming is exactly what is being ordered. Otherwise the company is open to lawsuit from customers who argue bait and switch. Could solve the problem by, idk, using the standard terminology? But using “fun” names sets the brand apart and creates a unique brand image. Which sells. So companies will keep using stupid terms and employees are going to have to keep insisting on them.

As someone who has done these jobs, I guarantee you I dont care what you call the Super Sweet n Saucy Baby Barbecue Brisket Burger, but I am going to make sure you want that because I got screamed at by the last person who refused to say that and actually meant the Big Baby Charbroiled Beef n Bacon Burger

Back in the flash game days, big games had their own mini loading screen games since they could take a few minutes to load the main game. One of them on Miniclip or Newgrounds was just driving a school bus at noght down a road that turned with very limited visibility. The bus got faster until you crashed. No real objective, just a keep-your-mind-occupied thing like the Chrome t-rex. I always really enjoyed that game, no idea why.

I tried looking for it after a few years had gone past just because i thought it would be fun, no dice. A year or two later, that era in internet gaming came up in conversation and j checked again, but nothing. I checked for it every time I thought about flash games and had a few minutes, but never found it over the years. Then they shut down Flash.

Never found one screenshot on Google, one blog post, one game comment or anything that reaffirmed my knowledge in its existence. But I know it was there.