u/tmps1993

Ive been playing since the first game, so I've played almost every mainline game in the series (sorry, Valhalla and Shadows) in release order.

One of the depressing things about Black Flag is knowing what eventually happens to Edward. Even before reading up on the lore, you know he isn't involved in the events of AC3, and you also know that his son, Haytham, will become a Templar, while his grandson, Connor, will eventually assassinate him. It makes Black Flag's otherwise happy ending feel a little bittersweet — maybe even melancholy — because you know where the Kenway family story is ultimately headed.

Playing Rogue afterward also feels a little strange for a similar reason. You already know that Achilles and Haytham will still be alive by the time of AC3, which takes away some of the tension and stakes surrounding those characters.

So my question is: did any of you play the games out of order? For example, did you play them chronologically (BF → Rogue → 3), or maybe BF → 3 → Rogue? How did that affect your view of the story? Did playing them in a different order change your perception of certain events or characters?

For example, I played Unity before Rogue because I only had a PS4 at the time, and Rogue was still a PS3 exclusive. So when Rogue was eventually released on PS4, I was completely caught off guard when >!Shay killed Arno's father, and the ending of Rogue essentially became the beginning of Unity.!<

I'm curious if anyone else had a similar experience playing the series out of order.

I moved the lady out of the kid’s way so he could see the performance, but every time I talk to him, he’s still sad that he couldn’t see it. I've moved her and gone onstage a dozen times but I can’t get his dialogue to change. Is there any way to reset it so I can get the Pez dispenser?

I just beat all of the Dark Animus missions in Black Flag Resynched, and I’m completely lost.

I’ve played every Assassin’s Creed game except Valhalla and Shadows. I tried to give the RPG-era games a chance. Origins was good, but Odyssey was a grind fest that felt like it took forever to finish.

I actually own a physical copy of Valhalla that I got brand new for $5 at Best Buy, but I wasn’t feeling it after an hour, so I skipped Shadows. I absolutely loved Mirage's gameplay though, because I thought it blended the old and new mechanics really well.

That said, I just finished Black Flag Resynched and all of the Dark Animus missions, and I have no idea what I was supposed to take away from them. I understand that they were trying to show what could happen if the companions abandoned piracy and attempted to convince me to abandon the Creed, but beyond that, everything felt incredibly vague.

Am I playing as the same modern day character from the original Black Flag? Am I a new person inside the Animus who is experiencing the same memories? Is Ego supposed to be a Templar, some kind of AI, or something else entirely?

I’m sure I’m not the only person who skipped most of the RPGs at this point, and I really wish the game had done a better job explaining the purpose of the Dark Animus missions. By far, they were the weakest missions and the weakest part of the story for me.

I have a friend who I think would be the PERFECT candidate for Financial Audit. We make roughly the same income. I live pretty comfortably, with a little money left over for the occasional splurge. Meanwhile, this guy can easily spend 2–3x what I do.

He’s constantly taking out debt-consolidation loans and moving debt around so he can say he’s “paying debt off.” I’m always telling him, “The math is not mathing.” I keep encouraging him to apply for the show, because at the very least, it’s a free trip to Texas.

Hanging out with him is always expensive. He wants to go to the nicest restaurants, and he and his spouse will order drinks, multiple appetizers, the most expensive entrees, and dessert. Then they’ll ask if we want to hit a bar afterward or go get ice cream.

He also has absolutely no concept of the value of a dollar. We’ll be at one event, and he’s already planning the next 10. He hires the most expensive contractors to do work on his house, and they’ll regularly abandon perfectly good home-cooked meals to go to the drive thru instead.

I can already picture Caleb screaming at him, and honestly, I think it would make incredible content. But beyond the entertainment value, I genuinely think having a financial expert and thousands of internet commenters point out how messed up his finances are could be a huge wake-up call for him.

His defense is always: “I have no debt. I paid off all my loans. I only owe the mortgage.”

Conveniently, he leaves out the part where he just moved all the debt into another loan again.

He’s convinced there’s no way he’d actually end up on the show. In his words, it would be a quick 15-minute segment where Caleb congratulates him on how proud he is of all the progress they made.

I’m still pushing him to apply, and if it ever actually happens, I’ll definitely provide an update.

My question is: Has anyone here ever convinced a friend or family member to go on the show? If so, how did you convince them to do it?

I'm at my wits' end. Over the past few months, my RAV4 has developed a sour smell whenever I first turn on the A/C. I've noticed it mostly happens when I have recirculation and Max A/C turned on.

I've tried just about everything I can think of to fix it. I thoroughly cleaned and detailed the entire vehicle, used an A/C fogger, sprayed A/C cleaner into the vents, tried disinfectant sprays like Lysol, and today I used Kool-It evaporator cleaner and replaced the cabin air filter. Every one of these methods gets rid of the smell temporarily, but it always comes back—and seems even worse after a while.

I bought the car brand new in 2023, and this is a relatively recent issue. I'm not sure what else to try. I'd rather avoid taking it to a dealership or repair shop just to diagnose the problem, since I'm sure it won't be cheap.

Has anyone dealt with this before or found a permanent fix? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I appreciate the responses but please read the details of what I've already tried. A lot of the suggestions are things I've already done.

I love using the look ahead calendar to make sure I account for all bills, etc when I budget. Maybe once a week, I will look at my current balance and write down all upcoming bills from my Look Ahead calendar through the next pay day.

Problem is, within the past month the Look Ahead feature has been very finicky. I can see the current week but when I click the full calendar I just get a white screen. I deleted/reinstalled the app, cleared cache, and even had an unrelated phone upgrade within the past week. Problem happened on both a Samsung Galaxy S21 and a Samsung Galaxy S26. It's only with the app, both the desktop and mobile versions of the website load up the calendar perfectly fine.

I messaged Huntington through Facebook but is there any other way to provide app feedback? It's annoying that the feature stopped working on the Android app.

I can't seem to find any recent updates on the class action lawsuit involving Ryobi's defective 22 inch electric lawnmower. I remember it being a huge topic of discussion about a year ago, but now I can't find much of anything. Has there been any progress?

The short version of my experience is that I bought a brand-new Ryobi mower, and within the first year the batteries overheated and essentially melted into the battery compartment. They were stuck so badly that I had to use a pry bar to get them out. About a month later, the motor blew and practically disintegrated when I took the mower apart to look at it.

After seeing countless other people report the same issues, I contacted Ryobi. They asked for the serial number and confirmed both over the phone and via email that my mower was part of a recall and even asked for my shipping address so they could send me a replacement. As soon as I provided my address, they completely reversed course and claimed my mower wasn't actually covered by the recall.

The frustrating part is that I had the entire conversation documented in an email chain, which I forwarded back to them. Despite the paper trail showing they had already confirmed it was eligible, they simply denied it anyway. The denial email supposedly came from a supervisor, but it was full of typos and poor grammar, which didn't exactly inspire confidence in their customer service.

I'm usually not someone who makes a big deal out of these things, but spending around $400 on a mower that failed within a year is hard to accept. Many competing brands offer warranties that cover normal use, and I live in the Midwest — not somewhere with extreme heat that would explain this kind of failure.

I told Ryobi I would be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which I did, but I never heard another update after that.

I own just about every Ryobi product you can think of and this is the only one I've ever had problems with, which makes the whole experience even more disappointing. I'm honestly surprised by how little effort they made to do right by a long time paying customer.

Has anyone heard any updates on the class action lawsuit or where it stands?

I wish there were a legitimate way to resell alcohol after a big event like a wedding.

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My wife and I planned for 110 guests at our wedding and planned food and alcohol accordingly. But 10 people canceled at the last minute and only 94 actually showed up. As a result, we're left with a huge amount of leftover alcohol — opened cases of beer, unopened bottles of liquor, and more. It feels crazy knowing that hundreds of dollars' worth of alcohol is now sitting untouched in our basement.

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The problem is that my wife and I barely drink. We'll occasionally give away a bottle of wine as a gift, but we're not close with many heavy drinkers either. I've even offered to contribute alcohol to future gatherings or BBQs, but those opportunities haven't really come up.

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What makes it even more frustrating is that there doesn't seem to be any legal or practical way to recoup some of the cost. Sites like Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp prohibit alcohol sales and can penalize users who try. I keep thinking about a family friend who used to own a convenience store. When I worked for him, he'd regularly buy 24- or 30-packs of beer, break them apart, and repackage them into six-packs. If he still owned that store, I probably would have called him the day after our honeymoon and worked out a deal to have him buy all the unopened bottles and cans.

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Instead, we're stuck with enough alcohol to last us years. From what I've heard, this is actually a pretty common issue after weddings, which is kind of depressing. Every time I see all that booze in the basement, I'm reminded of the people who canceled or didn't show up, as well as the money that was effectively wasted. They take up space, represent a sunk cost, and serve as a constant reminder of what didn't go according to plan.

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I just wish there was some legitimate secondary market for unopened alcohol after large events. It feels incredibly wasteful knowing that some of it may eventually go bad or end up in a landfill when there are plenty of people who would happily use it.

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Edit for clarification: The venue ordered our alcohol through a service they use based on headcount. They were able to take back some but not all alcohol. There is no option for us to "just return it" and I've talked to multiple married couples who have faced similar issues.

We watch a two-year-old every few weekends. He’s family, and his home life is pretty chaotic, so we want to give him some stability and a safe, normal environment when he’s with us.

I've paid for every hair cut he's ever had, we have a Pack ’n Play for him, always keep snacks on hand, make sure we’re stocked with diapers, and even have a potty seat ready for when he starts potty training.

The hardest part has been clothing. His parents usually drop him off in a single pair of footie pajamas with no extra outfits or shoes. The last time, the pajamas were so worn they had holes in the legs and butt, and I had to take him home to change before we could even go to the park.

I’ve been checking local Buy Nothing groups like a madman and have found a dresser, some 2T clothes and one pair of play shoes. I am in the process of looking for 3T as well to prepare for when he's growing. I usually wash his pajamas, put them back on him at the end of the weekend when he needs to go home, and keep the extra clothes here. Lately, though, I’ve been sending him home in the outfits I pick up, hoping his parents will let him wear regular clothes instead of old pajamas all the time. It’s difficult because I want him to feel normal and cared for here, but I am exhausting all resources and don’t have the money to build a full wardrobe for a child who only stays here maybe one weekend a month. And if I buy clothes to send him home in, I may never see them again.

Does anyone know of places in Northeast Ohio where I can find clean toddler clothes and shoes for free or very low cost? I want to do right by him, but it’s hard to justify spending money I simply don’t have on items that may not see the light of day again.

I don't want to do anything professionally but I've enjoyed cleaning up the inside of my car and my wife's car. I bought the detailing kit for the Ridgid Shop Vac which includes a 10' hose and a ton of attachments it's been awesome with cleaning dirt, grass, and random debris.

My only struggle so far has been pet hair, my wife is a vet tech and takes the dog with her to work sometimes to hang out. I don't know the secret to get fur out of floor mats and the backseat of her car. If anyone knows a good tool for it please let me know.

I also wanted to ask: What are must haves you all have for detailing interiors of your cars? Again I'm not a professional but just want to make the cars look nice for me and the wife.

I don't want to do anything professionally but I've enjoyed cleaning up the inside of my car and my wife's car. I bought the detailing kit for the Ridgid Shop Vac which includes a 10' hose and a ton of attachments it's been awesome with cleaning dirt, grass, and random debris.

My only struggle so far has been pet hair, my wife is a vet tech and takes the dog with her to work sometimes to hang out. I don't know the secret to get fur out of floor mats and the backseat of her car. If anyone knows a good tool for it please let me know.

I also wanted to ask: What are must haves you all have for detailing interiors of your cars? Again I'm not a professional but just want to make the cars look nice for me and the wife.

My in-laws are extremely difficult people, and it’s hard watching the way they treat my wife. They’re often negative, emotionally draining, and tend to take advantage of her kindness.

Even at our wedding, my brother told me several guests commented on how rude and unpleasant some of my wife’s family members were. My wife is genuinely one of the kindest people I know, but from early on I realized her family dynamic was unhealthy. She’ll admit her family is “crazy,” but I don’t think she fully recognizes how toxic some of their behavior really is.

Some examples:

- Her grandmother guilted her into helping with a move and house projects. It wasn’t really a request — she basically told my wife she’d be spending her Saturday ripping wallpaper down, unpacking boxes and moving furniture. I couldn't and didn't want to be there because I already made plans. I kept reminding my wife that she didn’t have to do it, and my own family even offered her multiple excuses to skip out, abut she felt obligated because “she’s still my grandma.” She ended up doing a lot of work herself while other family members either no showed or just stood around, exhausting herself to the point where she spent most of the next day recovering.

- We watch our nephew every few weeks, but the situation is frustrating. We drive 45 minutes each way to pick him up and drop him off, and my sister-in-law rarely sends supplies or feeds him beforehand. 99% of the time we get a baby and nothing else. We’ve bought clothes, diapers, blankets, and other necessities ourselves so he’s comfortable here. After an entire weekend of caring for him — feeding him, bathing him, taking him swimming, and even arranging and paying for a future haircut — she texted my wife complaining because we didn’t clip his toenails.

- My mother-in-law is an alcoholic who dabbles in drugs, she was largely absent during my wife’s childhood., when she was a present mom she was very emotionally and physically abusive. Because my sister-in-law sometimes lives with her, we still have to interact with my mother-in-law to maintain a relationship with our nephew. Recently, we gave her a thoughtful Mother’s Day gift basket, but she became offended because we addressed the card 's envelope with her first name instead of “Mom." We explained that we listed first names because we gave out a handful of cards and didn't want to mix them up. My mother wasn't listed as mom either. She then opened her present and openly accused us of throwing random items together instead of putting effort into the gift

- Her uncle frequently drunk-texts my wife to complain about his life and family drama. He doesn't work and does errands and drives her grandparents to appointments for cash under the table. In one recent incident, he accused us of manipulating her grandparents. He then threatened to immediately renege on his agreements to drive them around and help out around their house immediately

- Her grandfather is deeply religious and heavily into conspiracy theories. While I usually get along with him, one interaction really crossed a line. My wife stepped outside briefly, and her grandparents cornered me to pressure me into converting religions. I was raised Catholic, while they are very strict Baptists. They told me my baptism “didn’t count,” criticized my faith, and insisted I needed a “real” baptism. It upset me enough that I avoided seeing them for a couple months afterward.

What’s difficult is that despite all of this, my wife still stays in constant contact with them. She talks to her grandmother daily, her sister every other day, and her mother regularly as well. Sometimes I leave the room because it’s painful to listen to how they treat her. What hurts most is seeing someone so caring continually brushed aside, criticized, or taken for granted. I don't want to be that spouse that says don't talk to your family, but whenever my wife is upset or angry there is always one common denominator.

I’ve tried expressing that I think her family’s behavior is unhealthy, but she understandably becomes defensive or apologetic rather than fully engaging with it.

At this point, I’m looking for advice on how to navigate this in a healthy way. I want to support my wife without attacking her family or pushing her away, but I also feel strongly about setting boundaries when people treat her poorly.

TL;DR: My in-laws are emotionally exhausting and often treat my wife badly, but she minimizes or accepts the behavior. I want to support her and establish healthier boundaries without damaging our relationship.

I've been married for six months and have been working hard to pay off our debts. Before getting married, I lived very frugally — my mortgage was my only debt, and I didn’t spend much, so I had built up a solid amount of savings.

When we planned the wedding, I dipped into those savings a bit, but my goal was to cover everything without taking on new debt, which I managed to do. We went on our honeymoon, but toward the end, my wife got very sick. Urgent care sent us to the ER, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and given antibiotics. Not long after, we received a $1,500 hospital bill that we’re still paying off.

Once we got back, we created a plan to tackle all our debt. She came into the marriage with $15,000 in credit card debt and $23,000 in student loans. We’ve been using the debt avalanche method, focusing on the highest interest first. With a lot of discipline, we’ve managed to bring the credit card balance down to $2,300 in just five months.

Then we hit another setback — my wife had to go to the ER again for a different issue, which led to another $1,500 bill. We’ve paid off one of the hospital bills, but we still owe about $1,000 in medical debt.

It’s been tough. Nearly all of our income goes toward bills, and there’s rarely anything left over. I lose sleep when credit card bills come due and check our account balance constantly. To make things more stressful, about 90% of our bills are due between the 28th and the 2nd, and we can’t change those due dates.

Yesterday felt like a breaking point. I bought a nice looking Ryobi mower after saving up for it 2 years ago, but last Fall it ended up breaking beyond repair during routing mowing. It turns out the model I owned was recalled and is currently involved in a class action lawsuit, but the company refused to reimburse me or replace it. I had to scramble to buy a used mower off Facebook Marketplace instead to finish out the season.

I’ve disliked my current mower from the start, but I didn’t have a choice. Now it’s sputtering, and even after changing the spark plug and filter it still isn’t running well. I may need to clean or replace the carburetor, but I’m not very mechanically inclined and worry about making it worse. I’m trying to find someone who can help fix it, while also trying to avoid putting more money into it since I’d rather eventually buy a reliable mower that will last for years. My wife has encouraged me to replace it soon, but I’m trying to make this one last just one more season so we can stay on track financially.

It’s just been really tough. I know we’ve made a lot of progress, but it hasn’t been easy. Right now, my top priority is increasing my income and paying down our debt, especially since we want to try for a baby soon and hope to eventually live on just my income.

I’ve never had a problem making sacrifices, but it’s hard to stay motivated when it feels like something keeps going wrong — even when I’m doing everything right. I just want to reach a place where things feel stable and manageable.

I've been married for six months and have been working hard to pay off our debts. Before getting married, I lived very frugally — my mortgage was my only debt, and I didn’t spend much, so I had built up a solid amount of savings.

When we planned the wedding, I dipped into those savings a bit, but my goal was to cover everything without taking on new debt, which I managed to do. We went on our honeymoon, but toward the end, my wife got very sick. Urgent care sent us to the ER, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and given antibiotics. Not long after, we received a $1,500 hospital bill that we’re still paying off.

Once we got back, we created a plan to tackle all our debt. She came into the marriage with $15,000 in credit card debt and $23,000 in student loans. We’ve been using the debt avalanche method, focusing on the highest interest first. With a lot of discipline, we’ve managed to bring the credit card balance down to $2,300 in just five months.

Then we hit another setback — my wife had to go to the ER again for a different issue, which led to another $1,500 bill. We’ve paid off one of the hospital bills, but we still owe about $1,000 in medical debt.

It’s been tough. Nearly all of our income goes toward bills, and there’s rarely anything left over. I lose sleep when credit card bills come due and check our account balance constantly. To make things more stressful, about 90% of our bills are due between the 28th and the 2nd, and we can’t change those due dates.

Yesterday felt like a breaking point. I bought a nice looking Ryobi mower after saving up for it 2 years ago, but last Fall it ended up breaking beyond repair during routing mowing. It turns out the model I owned was recalled and is currently involved in a class action lawsuit, but the company refused to reimburse me or replace it. I had to scramble to buy a used mower off Facebook Marketplace instead to finish out the season.

I’ve disliked my current mower from the start, but I didn’t have a choice. Now it’s sputtering, and even after changing the spark plug and filter it still isn’t running well. I may need to clean or replace the carburetor, but I’m not very mechanically inclined and worry about making it worse. I’m trying to find someone who can help fix it, while also trying to avoid putting more money into it since I’d rather eventually buy a reliable mower that will last for years. My wife has encouraged me to replace it soon, but I’m trying to make this one last just one more season so we can stay on track financially.

It’s just been really tough. I know we’ve made a lot of progress, but it hasn’t been easy. Right now, my top priority is increasing my income and paying down our debt, especially since we want to try for a baby soon and hope to eventually live on just my income.

I’ve never had a problem making sacrifices, but it’s hard to stay motivated when it feels like something keeps going wrong — even when I’m doing everything right. I just want to reach a place where things feel stable and manageable.

I planned on checking out Stop Talking, Start Communicating but they don't have it on order at my local library system and I don't know if they plan to. Normally I avoid purchasing a book I only plan to read once but I am a huge fan of the DISC assessment and have taken it multiple times over the years to see how I change over time.

People who read the book: Is it worth picking up? Or should I hold off until there's a sale or I can rent it from the library?

I don’t know if it’s because more people are buying digital games, the decline of the used physical game market, corporate price gouging, or just a mix of everything — but it’s wild how expensive video games have gotten.

Right now it’s minimum $45.49 for a new physical copy of two-year-old Astro Bot at just about every retailer, or $59.99 for a digital copy on the PlayStation Store. And when the PS Store finally does have a sale, it’s maybe $5 off. Such a slap in the face.

When did this become normal? Ten years ago, you could count on a solid price drop within a couple of months. A game that’s two years old would’ve been around $30 new, maybe $20 used at the most. There even used to be an incentive to buying digital games, you could get them for 40% off and with a PS Plus subscription you could see 50–60% off. Even five years ago, a digital game that old might drop to $15 during a sale. There's not even an incentive to buy digital anymore.

It's insane that game prices barely move. I long for the days I was able to walk into a used game shop and grab a one-year-old title for half off, a two-year-old game for $20, or dig through a 4 for $20 bin and come away with a stack of great games that were around 3 years old.

I don’t know if it’s because more people are buying digital games, the decline of the used physical game market, corporate price gouging, or just a mix of everything — but it’s wild how expensive video games have gotten.

Right now it’s minimum $45.49 for a new physical copy of two-year-old Astro Bot at just about every retailer, or $59.99 for a digital copy on the PlayStation Store. And when the PS Store finally does have a sale, it’s maybe $5 off. Such a slap in the face.

When did this become normal? Ten years ago, you could count on a solid price drop within a couple of months. A game that’s two years old would’ve been around $30 new, maybe $20 used at the most. There even used to be an incentive to buying digital games, you could get them for 40% off and with a PS Plus subscription you could see 50–60% off. Even five years ago, a digital game that old might drop to $15 during a sale. There's not even an incentive to buy digital anymore.

It's insane that game prices barely move. I long for the days I was able to walk into a used game shop and grab a one-year-old title for half off, a two-year-old game for $20, or dig through a 4 for $20 bin and come away with a stack of great games that were around 3 years old.