That there’s an aspect of every relationship that always starts the same. It’s two people bringing richness to each other, almost like Kings and Queens coming together bringing their lands and wealth with them.

Over time though that richness can fade and instead of bringing richness they start begging for it from the other person. If you find that you’re in a relationship with someone and that both of you have turned into “beggars” whose life can only be complete if the other person performs a task or meets an expectation, the relationship will weaken and that weakness will invite other problems.

The solution, if you have become a “beggar” in a relationship, is to mentally detach yourself from the other person and spend some time alone trying to reconnect with what made you a rich resource in the first place. You must remind yourself what it was that made you a King or Queen and focus on regrowing those seeds of richness and independence from the other person. Then, once you have placed that crown back on your head you can return to the other person and offer your richness once again.

I’ve never forgotten that and it’s led to a happy marriage for 14 years. Also works with friendships and working/business relationships.

Dying industry pats itself on the back one last time.

And Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, Misery, Stand By Me and many others. Wow…

Sadly that is the trend, but not always (thank goodness). I do think people are getting wise to this smoke and mirrors garbage though. Anyone can make a sexy looking rendered scene. Without a hint of what the actual gameplay will look like, it’s just pointless.

Visually stunning? check Meaningless? check About as relevant to the actual game as that Witcher 4 Unreal Engine tech demo? check checkety check.

I’m in this picture and I don’t like it.

Really nice list and well laid out too. Currently downloading the demo for Revenge of the Savage Planet from it :) (and have now bought it. Such a fun game!)

I don’t imagine there are any online forums that aren’t being manipulated by professional shills every day. I recently decided to block any community that posted anything political. The silence that has followed has been quite blissful.

Multiplayer games are absolutely off limits cheating wise for me. HOWEVER… using trainers and mods and things like Cheat Engine in single player games is not only ok, but I often treat it like it’s a mini game. Can I give myself an extra 100k gold? Hmm fire up CE and let’s see :)

The immense thrill I get from reducing some horrible grind from hours to minutes is just huge fun. I’m basically a sandbox guy. GTA5 cheats, for example, have led to more unexpected sandbox fun than I could ever have imagined over the years.

Not using cheats in single player grindfests is like having a first class ticket on a plane but choosing to travel economy. I think it’s basically that I don’t like being told to grind for the sake of it or for some “moral” reason.

I love a FUN grind though. I’ve spent days in games like My Time At Portia just fishing for example. It comes down to this: If a grind is fun, I’ll happily do it but if it’s just like I’m a mouse being toyed with by some cat then hello God mode lol

Sainsbury’s Meal Deal (Xmas themed) “Pigs Under Blankets” sandwich - with cranberry chutney on malted bread. Cumberland sausage, beechwood smoked bacon, cranberry chutney and mayonnaise on malted bread.

Just an average sandwich really, nothing to write home about. Ate it about an hour ago. Best bit was the “grab bag” of barbecue beef hula hoops that I got with it in the meal deal.

Excellent! Thanks for those :)

Oh yeah definitely :) Also I’ve noticed there’s kind of a new feeling of satisfaction when a game does somehow make it through this assault course and I buy it finally. It feels like an achievement in itself.

Douglas Adams absolutely predicted this :)

Well ok but I did say it was long. Tbh, my checklist is almost a minigame itself now 🤣

So once I’ve found a game that looks interesting, I do the following:

Google video search for the game’s title and filter to past week, then month, then year and that shows me how many people are actually talking about this game right now and who’s doing the talking.

I look at the Steam reviews and initially filter to only show negative ones. I find it’s a lot easier to see if the game’s been review bombed that way. Also, a lot of negative reviews complain about features I find positive so that’s helpful too “This game was way too easy! I finished it in 30 hours and I still had all my hair at the end, harumph!”. I also check phrases like “Abandoned by the devs” or “Yet another asset flip” or “Beware! The EULA is a privacy nightmare”.

I then switch to positive reviews and read the short ones. The dissertations are just way too much detail at this stage (or any stage really for me).

At some point early on I check the Steam update history. If the last update was years ago I factor that in. I also try to keep on top of relevant news like that time the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive quit, making a sequel to Stray unlikely.

Also, if it hasn’t had that many recent updates I’ll join the Discord and see how active that is. That’s usually so revealing. Often in a positive way like with the G-Rebels devs.

Then I go through my top YT game reviewers like Raptor, Scarlett Seeker, Splattercat Gaming, Orbital Potato and Nookrium and see if they’ve talked about the game.

I look for the title on Allkeyshop to see if there’s a cheaper EU unlockable Steam game key available.

I check for trainers in case I need an escape hatch if it turns out to be too grindy or tedious but still worth playing.

If all the searches have been positive so far I’ll wishlist it around this point. If there’s a demo I’ll play it. If it looks amazing from the start I’ll install the demo after looking at a couple of gameplay videos.

I also have a 21:9 monitor so I hop into the Steam discussion group for the game and look for confirmation that it’s compatible.

If it’s too expensive I’ll check SteamDB and look at it’s price history. My personal limit is <7 bucks for an old game and <18 for a relatively new one (unless something exceptional suddenly appears like Eriksholm).

I’ll check if there any Steam sales coming and if the theme is likely to match the game I’m looking at.

I really do actually do all this by the way. It’s the only way I’ve been able to get more sensible about the games I buy.

The urge to shout “HE CAN CHANGE! YOU DON’T KNOW HIM LIKE I DO!” is pretty strong right now 🤣

I used to buy Steam games without a care in the world. Now to spend even 5 bucks I make myself go through a quality control checklist so vast it would impress a space shuttle commander. There’s just been too many abandoned games, terrible sequels, fake reviews, unnecessary game launchers and disappointing Steam sales. That’s not to say there isn’t still an excellent bunch of games on there, but they’re all hidden deep in the forest and I have to go sniff em out like a basset hound.

I’d love to see what happens if I keep being nice and you keep doubling down on the negative vibes, but it seems to me we’re already straining several of this community’s rules so I’m gonna leave it there. Enjoy the rest of your day.

I’m being polite. Try it, it’s more fun :)

I get it. You’re basically lovable hippies who found a cool thing and can’t imagine why anyone would want to use something less good (in their view). Best answer to my question so far thanks :)

“Microsoft is an awful company all around that deserves no one’s business”

Wait… all of the 228,000 people at Microsoft don’t deserve anyone’s business? That seems harsh and a little bit of a broad brush.