u/thetavious

They managed to fix mischief night... they letting this one cook some more so they know they have job security or something?

There was only, like six of us on that server doing the event and it was still only somewhat better than when it first dropped, and by that I mean it at least didn't crash the server.

I left sometime between High Isle and Necrom, and I'm a little confused with the new seasons format for content vs the old "proper" expansions.

I used to have the premium sub, but have gone completely f2p in all my games now, so I'm also curious how the game is balanced to f2p. Like most people seem to say that Fallout 1st is REQUIRED to be able to enjoy Fallout 76, but I have thus far been quite content without it.

This game... I dunno. Been so long since I touched it I don't really remember much past the ridiculous amount of money I sunk into crowns for the crates lol. I wouldn't say I was a whale, but I was definitely a very bloated dolphin.

By that same token, I remember that literally all the coolest stuff seemed to come from crates in terms of outfits, furniture, and mounts, is that still true? For the life of me I can't remember how the character to character inventory worked either, with or without premium.

Last bit in on all this, going back to my first question, looking on Steam I can only seem to find $20 copy that has the base game and Morrowind and a deluxe copy that seems to include everything, including whatever that 2025 content pass is for $60.

There doesn't seem to be a breakdown of the other expansions and/or what that content pass costs to get into (and how the content pass relates to the seasons), but in a way that is all moot, just a curiosity thing, since the copy of the game that has me thinking about rolling around in this game again is the Fanatical Necrom bundle for $7.50

Thanks for any input.

Even with a little heat, they were nearly impossible to get into place. Kinda shocked my crotchety fingers didn't manage to break them all.

I was the dofus earlier complaining about how the first episode was miserable. That still stands. But people were right, and the show did get better. That first episode is still one of the most legendarily worst first episodes of any show I've seen though.

First, a few words about me and my relationship with the franchise. I'm a season 5 and finale apologist. They weren't GREAT, but they weren't the worst thing ever. I didn't mind the upped Holly time, I liked it even! But I didn't like that it seemed to come at the expense of time with the main party. I've been here from the start. When that first season came out, I tried an episode. One call off to work later, I binged it.

So I'd like to think I'm not hoity toity with my feelings. I also diverge from a seemingly large chunk of the fandom, in that I feel that each season, up to season 5, improved on the one preceding it. For me it is literally 4 > 3 > 2 > 1.

I love cartoons too. Everything from the half hour advertisements I grew up with in the 80s on up to my opinion that The Owl House and She-ra 2018 are two of the finest shows put to any media in any format. But I'm not a 2d elitist. Nimona is a masterpiece. Hoppers is the most fun with a Pixar film I've had in ages. Jimmy Neutron is a classic in all of its now primitive jank and excellent characters and entertaining stories.

All that said, Tales imo is an absolute mess. I'd rate the whole show a 6/10 if I had to put a number to it. Will I watch the second season? Almost definitely. Will I rewatch this first season? Prolly not anytime soon.

I get that 3d is cheap and easy(but really, it isn't). I get that there's some "great" shows that had very similar art styles, but they looked at a nostalgia goldmine in the eye, and then chose the cheapest and easiest path. Even with the mediocrity of the show as is, if it had been traditionally animated to emulate those Saturday morning cartoons of my youth, I'd have watched it day 1 and had a grin ear to ear through the whole thing.

Cause as nostalgicly predatory as that would seem, it would at least show a love of the franchise and an understanding of what helped make it a breakout hit.

And that's where the show totally loses me, because past the art style, it didn't feel like it belongs with the rest of the franchise. Nancy and Hopper in it were a joke. I legit wonder if the writers got Nancy and Robin mixed up when they wrote that episode with her in it. Most of the kids felt like community theater facsimiles of their live action counterparts. Which would have been fine!

If, IF, they didn't try so very hard to emulate the main show every chance they could. That said, massive kudos to whoever was steering Lucas and Max, cause the dynamic and chemistry they had in Tales was the dynamic and chemistry I wish they had in the main show. Sorry, Lumax stans, but I didn't think they worked at all in the main show. And Max is one of my favorite characters, so it isn't bias or something.

Steve was fine, and taken on their own, minus the try hard attempts at emulation, if they'd tried a little harder to distance themselves from the main show, the other kids would have been great. But alas, for me they toe the line where they're trying too hard to be something they're not.

Now Nikki, as a character she breaks my heart. I didn't hate the idea of there being a new and temporary party member. Kids make and lose friends all the time and sometimes they're not even lost through a falling out. Growth just happens and sometimes it takes friendships with it.

I didn't hate the idea that she'd be the gadget kid, cause at this time Dustin wouldn't be up to speed on science enough for it himself, and having a friend like Nikki would even help explain where he got his science boost (besides study sessions with Suzie).

But gods and devils, did they do her D.I.R.T.Y. in the show. Making her such a core member of the party? Making her the MVP out of the non-Eleven party members? Tying her mom into the circle of adults that knows what's going on?

I mean, strictly in the context of the cartoon, it rules. She's a great character that adds a decent bit of flavor to an otherwise kinda vanilla lineup. But in the context of the larger franchise and the insistence that the show is functionally a season 2.5 (or 2.1 or whatever, since they're setting every season in 85)?

She's a giant plot hole. As is what actually happens in the show. Was it awesome? You bet it was. For all that the plot gets dragged out and feels like them treading the same ground once they start bashing on the fodder vine beasts post-jerk-o-lantern, that final stretch was great.

Everybody had their role, if this had come out actually between seasons 2 and 3, it felt like it had stakes and any one of them could have joined Georgie in the great paper sailboat in the sky. But it came out in 2026. After we knew all the main cast was safe. But then maybe THAT'S why they don't talk about Nikki! Cause they lost her, and it still hurts to talk about it!

Except they telegraphed fairly early in the show that it wasn't going to be that kind of cartoon. So back to the absurd plot armor they all picked up in season 5.

The music was great, both the liscensed song choices and the score. I'm going to be properly salty if it doesn't get a full release. And the overall soundscape was excellent.

I just... wish that in the end this didn't feel like it was more of a cashgrab than something made with real heart and soul, with the intent to fit into the larger tapestry without stretching to moon logic.

I know, I KNOW! "It's a cartoon, enjoy it for what it is."

But that's the problem, cartoons stopped being "just" cartoons ages ago. There are real, first class classics in animation. There has been since almost as long as it has existed as a medium. Like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. That's not just a good cartoon. That is one of the best post apocalyptic science fantasy movies ever made. Transcending the distinction between cartoon and live action, it's just a movie, and one of the best ever made at that.

So sure, if you want to judge this show with looney tunes logic, it might be the greatest thing since forever. But they don't want us to do that. It's supposed to not necessarily fit perfectly with the existing lore, but it is supposed to fit, and it doesn't.

It doesn't have a deeper meaning. It doesn't try to commit to a message. And it doesn't even try to fit with what we know. There's no way the kids keep this a complete secret. No way they wouldn't bring Nikki and her mom into the fold completely. No way they'd never mention her, that winter, or just forget their gained combat experience.

Eleven was legit doing stuff she had to train to do in season 5 as if she's known how to do that stuff all her life. And don't get me started on the death ray, as cool as it was.

As a show, if it aired between seasons, and they actually shaped the lore to match it, this would have been excellent. If they let the voice actors stop trying to be the main cast from the main show and just do their thing, it would have been better.

If at any point, it felt like they actually believed in what they were making, it wouldn't have felt so soulless and dragged out. If they'd stopped insisting that it fits inside the main lore and is actually a true and proper AU that isn't going to try and connect a seamlessly as possible with the main show, I could like it a lot more than I do.

Cause there is a lot to like, there really is, but boy oh boy do I have no clue how they're going to get this to dovetail with season 3 without either completely disrespecting the fans or their existing narrative.

Thank you kindly if you made it through this wall of text.

Just logged to do the Tuesday challenges and there's no free item...

It's like, you watch a single video, and then your entire feed is FILLED with those videos.

Doesn't matter how many years you've been watching other stuff. I'm starting to get why content creators keep talking about how easy it is to screw up their metrics, cause seriously.

YEARS of watching only specific stuff on my account, and I click through for a single video to find out about something, and now my ENTIRE feed is videos about that thing.

Literally. I scrolled through 30 videos before I gave up lol. Not a one was something besides what youtube has decided is "my new thing".

Yesterday, action figures, retro fps games, snarky movie reviews, and synth music.

Today? Nothing but ai scam product reviews. All because I wanted a video to link to my mom so she stops getting tempted by them.

A single video demolished years of viewing history.

Currently driving a mazda3 hatchback, and hating every moment of it anymore. Decent enough of a car, but on a design level and footprint level, it just suuuuucks in the city. I'm close enough to paying it off that I've been looking online some for ideas about my next car.

I have previously had a 2009 and a 2013 fit, and my parents recently traded in their 2015 fit (without running it by me) for one of those uselessly huge "normal" suvs.

Maybe I'm just dense or can't use google, but I can't find anything new on the market that is similar to the fit. Everything that comes up in the searches are either larger traditional suvs or hatchback cars like my mazda3, all of which have way bigger footprints than I want, which is the near perfect subcompact footprint like the fit.

Is there seriously nothing? Never bought a used car in my life and not really jonesing to start anytime soon, but if there isn't anything like I want on the market... does that leave me any choice?

And no, not hating on nikki despite my jokes leading up to the show. Seems to be a perfectly acceptable addition to the lore, even if there is some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff going on about nobody mentioning her in the main series lol.

It's just, it all feels, off. Like the characters are in some kind of uncanny valley, where they tried to make them sound and act like the live action show, but then forced it too much instead of just leaving them to grow organically.

I can almost see this being a show made IN the stranger things universe, like a meta show like how lightyear is related to toy story.

Nvm that hardly any of the jokes landed for me.

So is it just me, or is the first ep rough, and does it get better? Cause this wouldn't be the first time a show had first episode blues, and it won't be the last. But still, there's a lot of stuff to watch and I really don't want to sit here and plow through a show just to regret it.