Random Updates

Thanksgiving was... muted this year. That's natural with everything that's going on. While I've had a couple Thanksgivings/Christmases during which my parents were unreasonably far away (thus I was by myself), this is the first to be interrupted by other factors. If we hadn't had someone in the office here test positive, we probably still would have gotten together for a porch-based meal, but that one incident was enough to push things over the edge and call off gathering. Bit of a bummer, but so it goes.

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I've been playing through Assassin's Creed Valhalla of late. It's satisfying, though I can totally understand complaints like combat being mediocre at best and the game being stretched out too much. Still, I'm enjoying most of it and I'm reasonably involved in the story being told.

Though I must say, there are some times I really wish I could project into the game more and take some specific action or say something. I certainly could have headed off a couple ambushes if they weren't narratively necessary/enforced. And while maybe a bit more than halfway through the main story, the primary Hidden Ones (Assassin) representative has been saying soooo much that sounds more like Templar philosophy. Not that Eivor, the main character, has any frame of reference for either.

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I got caught up on The Mandalorian episodes as of yesterday. Some thoughts from Season 2 thusfar:

- I do find the Child kind of horrifying now. "Eating everything" is cute until it includes viable eggs of a sentient species, especially one that's right over there and going on about how precious they are as the last of her line. Also, stealing cookies via telekinesis may not be malicious, but shows a lack of morals that could be dangerous later in life.

- I think I like the Fett armor/appearance tribute, though I wonder if that's going to develop further. It goes back to the old EU that had Fett reappear post-Sarlacc as well as Fett imposters.

- I definitely like tying in with the other Mandalorians. Didn't think he'd be tied to the (Death) Watch, but that sort of makes sense. I certainly want to see where that can go, and including the Darksaber implies they're definitely going to follow up.

- Seems like there'd be other ways to go about making Force-using clones/etc. than using blood samples from this one little creature. But hey, I'm on board to see where it goes.

- It's sort of the point, I suppose, but I feel really bad for any attempt at a law enforcement patrol that's just "two guys and their X-Wings."

- She show manages to look good and Star Warsy, but there are times I find myself thinking "yeah, there are some budget limitations going on here." Things like reusing sets/settings a lot and a lack of detail in some areas. It doesn't usually come to mind, but there are occasional moments it comes up.

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